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The GDP-growth figure released today, at 3.5%, was slightly higher than expected, but camouflages the mounting economic cost of the 2014 coup. Thailand’s output gap is now among the biggest in Asia; the economy is being kept afloat by government spending and foreign tourists’ cash. But last week’s bombings may deter visitors, and autocratic rule is stifling economic progress. Household debt is at a historic high; low agricultural prices have depressed farm incomes. The country’s old-style route to prosperity is blocked: exports will fall for the fourth consecutive year in 2016. Thailand’s economy is bigger than those of fast-growing Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia combined. But its population is ageing and economic policy is deeply conservative. Future growth will have to come from capital accumulation or increases in productivity. Yet the new constitution puts the army in charge, making it responsible for the economy, education and innovation. What could possibly go wrong?

It's been almost a week since I posted this CDr to the WFMU blog, and since then I have been ransacked by e-mails and comments crying "hoax" or "bubble boy," from everyone from random passers-by to the higher-ups at WFMU. Rather than address all the theories being espoused by readers from around the globe, I simply want to aver that this is indeed a true story, and is in no way meant to be a self-promotion tactic. Any alterations to the WFMU blog entry post-publication -- or my own personal blog -- were done in an attempt to quell the uprising of cynics. Had I known that my actions would only add fuel to the fire, I would have simply let things stand as they were. Clearly I've learned a valuable lesson in controversy control. Usually when I find CD-rs out in the world, they've been tossed out of car windows or left on the counters of stupid hipster coffeeshops. The last place I ever expected to find an unlabeled CD-r filled with music would be in the middle of the fucking desert. But nearly two years ago I was hiking in Joshua Tree and I came across a completely surreal sight: an old-school 5 1/4" computer floppy disk. It appeared to have been tossed casually near the side of the trail I was on, housed in a simple plastic baggie. I reached into the bag and pulled out the floppy disc. I noticed that the magnetic tape inside the plastic case had been replaced by a recordable compact disc. The disc had a creepy message scrawled on it which read, . I don't believe in ghosts or extraterrestrials or anything, but standing in the middle of nowhere reading that line was enough to send me into a miniature freak out. What's more, a folded-up piece of paper was also buried inside the plastic cover. A treasure map. Browned edges and everything. It featured a pirate ship (?), a series of footsteps through mountains and palm trees (?), one red X, and ten blue X's. One of of the X's appeard to be floating in the middle of a body of water. Whoa. I listened to the recording on my drive back to LA that night. It was indescribably weird. The dedication to the floppy disk case, chicken scratch message, and treasure map implied that someone with way too much time on his or her hands crafted it. The insanity of the recording -- with one or two kind of pretty moments -- mirrored the obsessively constructed feel of the package. I didn't know if I was listening to the work of a mad genius or a deranged psychopath. The sounds are a combination of heavily processed human voices and schizophrenic space music. The 11 tracks are very short, with only four "tunes" lasting longer than three minutes. Most are in the thirty-second to two-minute range in length. I wouldn't call it "rock," but it's guitar-centric. I also wouldn't say that it is very good, but it made for an interesting listen. When I got home I popped the CD into my computer. I thought that maybe in this age of iTunes and CDDB maybe my computer would recognize the content of the disk. All that came up in iTunes was a series of songs names. In place of artist and title was "???". The song titles made no sense to me at all. The final track is a 14-minute long jam in E called "Matthew 24:14". Google tells me that that bible verse says: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" I have played this CD for record scum collector friends and pop culture junkies in the hopes that someone might recognize something about it, from a riff to a clip from some television show or movie. The only constant is that no one knows what to make of it. I've spent a lot of time needlessly wondering what the fuck this is. What the fuck was that treasure map for? Has anyone else ever found something like this? SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FUCK?! The most frustrating part of this whole thing is that the only identifying mark was a tiny, hand-scrawled e-mail address at the bottom of the back cover for the floppy disk: andernestborgnineasdominic@gmail.com. I could have gotten all CSI on this shit and tried to figure out how to find who registers a Gmail address or taken fingerprints from the package. I didn't. In the end I figured contact information wouldn't have been included if it wasn't meant to be found. I tried to send an e-mail saying that I enjoyed the album -- just to maybe receive some kind of response -- but I never got one. That's annoying. The only rationale I can think of is that a bizarre work of art conceived and executed such as this wouldn't have the same impact if the creator(s) wanted to be discovered. Or maybe someone responsible lost his or her mind (or maybe the Gmail password) in the time it took me to find it. The only thing I can say is: What. The. Fuck. ??? Artist: ??? Title: ??? Tracklist: 01. Breath (MP3) 02. Wound Midnight (MP3) 03. Long Stem Road (MP3) 04. Noah's Dork (MP3) 05. Used (MP3) 06. Iranbow (MP3) 07. Monied vs. Landed (MP3) 08. The Seventh (Clubbed) Seal (MP3) 09. Gloomsday (MP3) 10. Shooting Scars (MP3) 11. Matthew 24:14 (MP3)

I’ve always managed to dodge the bullet and avoid the addictive pull of Pokémon. Leave it to a button-mashing brawler with plastic figurine accessories to finally get me hooked. At first glance, Pokémon Rumble U isn’t much to look at. With its simplistic controls and repetitive gameplay, you might feel inclined to dismiss it as yet another cash-in of the popular Nintendo franchise. But despite its faults, there’s actually much more to Rumble U than meets the eye, making this a satisfying and fun little title for fans of the series and newcomers alike. The gameplay is nothing to rave about. It’s incredibly basic. Using either the Gamepad or Wii Remote, you move your character around tiny arenas and attack using one of two buttons as countless hordes of Pokémon charge you head on. If you and your team of four Pokémon (human co-op or CPU controlled) survive the onslaught, then you’re left to battle the stage’s giant-sized boss Pokémon. Upon victory, you’re ranked according to the points you’ve collected and are presented with all the Pokémon that you’ve managed to catch for the round. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Rinse and repeat. There’s very little room or need to strategize a plan of attack. It really boils down to how powerful your Pokémon are and whether or not you’re lucky enough to unlock more of them.[singlepic id=15820 w=320 h=240 float=right] You may have already guessed it, but most of the appeal does not derive from the monotonous gameplay. While I do admittedly enjoy a mindless brawler from time to time, the real fun in this game comes from the satisfaction of completing challenges to unlock new levels, hoarding coins to upgrade your character (if you purchase the optional figurines) and of course collecting Pokémon. I’m not gonna lie, it really is all about the Pokémon, all 649 of them. There’s something about these odd little creatures that just makes you need to collect them. I’m sorry, but it happens. I don’t know if it’s because they’re each so uniquely designed with creative names like Leafeon and Heatran or if its because each Pokémon has different skills and power levels, but every time you find a new one, there is a slight yet noticeable release of endorphins into the bloodstream, leaving you temporarily warm and gooey inside. I imagine this sense of satisfaction is even more magnified for diehard fans of the series as they constantly dream of catching their favorite elusive Pokémon to add to their collection. [singlepic id=15819 w=320 h=240 float=left]And if that wasn’t bad enough, Pokémon Rumble U introdces a new, real world element to further prey on us hapless addicts. The Near Field Communication (NFC) figurines are probably the most unique and appealing aspect of this title. Pokémon Rumble U is the first game to ever use the Wii U’s NFC scanner that comes already built in every gamepad. I honestly didn’t know it was there before this game came along. I always thought it was just some funny symbol on the bottom left of the controller for aesthetic design. When you place one of the separately sold figurines ($3.99 a pop at Gamestop) onto the gamepad, the coinciding character pops up on the screen. It’s similar to the technology used in Skylanders and, more recently, Disney Infinity. The base of the figure acts as a sort of memory card for the character, storing stats and upgrades. The developers say you don’t need to buy these NFC figures to play the game, and while that is essentially true, without at least one of these little guys you’ll be cheating yourself out of the most rewarding experience in the game. Unlike the two previous Pokémon Rumble titles, in Rumble U the only characters that you’re able to level up are these separately purchased NFC figures. And since all upgrades are purchased in the game using the coins you collect from matches, there really is no other point to collecting them except to occasionally pay for continues. Trust me, I tried playing the game without an NFC and it just wasn’t any fun. There was no incentive to play. It felt utterly boring and unmotivated That’s when I decided to drag myself off the couch and face the lines at Gamestop. They had the Pokéball dispenser prominently displayed at the front desk next to the gift cards. There were two dozen red and white capsules spilling from the boxes, each containing a random and unknown Pokémon just waiting to be revealed. You have no idea what Pokémon you’re getting until you buy it and open it. Nintendo is getting a lot of flak for making the pokéballs randomized, but I know it’s all part of the plan and just another addictive element to the game. I was surprised to find myself actually getting excited about this thing. Would I get a rare character with special abilities? What would it look like? The checkout guy gave me a knowing look and told me these little balls were selling like hotcakes. Feeling uncomfortable from the whole situation, I left as quickly as I could and then, just like one of those guys playing scratch offs in the gas station parking lot, I opened my pokéball and tore through the inside bag.[singlepic id=15822 w=320 h=240 float=right] My Pokémon is a black fox with red hair called Zoroark. He’s not the coolest dude with the best powers on the block, but he came to me and he’s mine. And from that point on I was officially hooked. I finally had something to spend all those coins on. I was going to make Zoroark the strongest Pokémon in the world. I’d start by leveling up his HP and attack traits. I figure he’s specialized in Dark moves so maybe I’ll…Oh dear God what have I become? They got me. I’m hooked on Pokémon and I didn’t even see it coming. Strange how much a good motivator can improve a game’s overall appeal. Suddenly the arena battles weren’t so pointless; I was working towards something. Collecting Pokémon started to matter because the more powerful ones could help me beat challenges to get more points to upgrade Zoroark. My Zoroark. My precious… Beyond the storyline mode that can be beat in roughly six hours of playtime, there are tons of little motivators built in to keep you coming back for more and, just like the worst of addictions, the more you use it, the more this game tightens its sinister grip around you. I must warn you, if you do have an addictive personality, turn back now and save yourself from countless hours of monotonous button mashing. You’ll find yourself hunting down elusive Pokémon to add to your insane collection or trying over and over to complete challenges with ridiculous requirements. Every level has a list of challenges with specifics that’ll keep you searching for the right Pokémon or executing the correct number of moves before you can unlock bonus capsules that sometimes contain Pokémon for your collection. Some challenges ask for you to use only Pokémon with a power level below 200 or to only use Pokémon with names beginning with “O.” There are even challenges that use the Wii U’s internal clock that require you to beat the game on a Monday or in the evening before it can be unlocked. Such requirements may seem excessive and tedious but if you really care about completing the collection, you’ll do just about anything, raising the replay value to fully beating the game somewhere in the week to month range (meaning 300 to 600 hours, and that’s a safe estimate) It’s a good time, but seriously, if you are an addictive personality, consider yourself warned. [singlepic id=15821 w=320 h=240 float=left]Pokémon Rumble U is a game of firsts. It’s the first Pokémon title for the Wii U, which also makes it the first one with HD graphics. It’s the first to use Wii U’s NFC, and it’s the first game to allow in game screen captures that you can post directly into the Miiverse social network for instant likes and comments. It’s a pretty cool feature – with the touch of a button you can take a picture of your game and share it with the Pokémon online community. There’s a lot of new stuff being unveiled in this title and it feels more like an introduction of things to come rather than a stand-alone game, which probably explains it’s low pricing of $17.99. The graphics are flashy and fun to look at, but sometimes there is so much going on in the screen that it’s easy to lose track of your character. I can’t tell you how many times I had no idea what I was doing so I just kept mashing the attack buttons. The couch play co-op is an awesome addition, but I was very disappointed that they missed the opportunity to make a VS. battle mode. I mean, what could be more fun than two friends battling their custom built Pokémon in a one-on-one battle? I think they missed the boat on that one. It’s also saddening that they didn’t provide any online capabilities for the game. So I guess what I’m getting at is that this isn’t a super quality game, but it’s loads of fun and it’s good at what it does. Pokémon Rumble U is designed to keep you locked in and coming back for more. It’s a harmless diversion with a built in sense of accomplishment that I may not fully endorse (I’m not about to hunt down all 18 of the NFC figurines), but I certainly can appreciate the fun here. I’ll definitely continue upgrading my Zoroark. My girlfriend even got a Pikachu that she’s leveling up alongside me in co-op. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll even get around to catching all 649 Pokémon. It could happen. Stefan started gaming the day his dad brought home a shiny, brand new commodore 64. He's been hooked ever since. Whether he's leveling up his ninja in Final Fantasy Tactics, cruising the streets of San Andreas or working on his Terran build order, videogames are never far from his mind. He is currently on the lookout for an appropriate 12 step program to address his electronic addiction.

Is Vincent Gray going to run for D.C. mayor? Should he run? If he does, can he win? As to the first question, only Gray knows. Early signs suggest he would like to make a bid for the job he lost April 1, 2014, when now-Mayor Muriel E. Bowser defeated him in the Democratic primary. This much is known: Gray has been taking soundings around town, testing the mood of the city, gauging voter interest. Gray, who represents Ward 7 on the D.C. Council, reportedly has already assembled a skeletal crew that is poised to blossom into full election- ­campaign mode if he gives a green light. It's a tossup at this point. Look for a decision at the beginning of the year, six months before the June 19 primary election. "Should he run?" calls for an entirely different assessment. Gray, 75, is still smarting from the voters' rejection of his reelection bid. He lays his loss at the feet of Bowser and then-U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., who, with much fanfare, launched a corruption probe into Gray's 2010 mayoral election campaign. Two years before the April 2014 election, then-Ward 4 council member Bowser was one of three lawmakers to call for Gray to resign because of Machen's probe. The investigation dragged on for three years. The political roof fell in on Gray when D.C. businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson entered federal court on March 10, 2014, and pleaded guilty to illegally giving more than $2 million to Gray's 2010 campaign. Thompson said Gray knew about that "shadow campaign." The media took it from there. A March 10 Post headline screamed: "Gray knew of 'shadow campaign,' Thompson prosecutors say; mayor says it's all a lie." Other news organizations followed suit with headlines and extended coverage of their own. That same month, Bowser said at a debate, "I found out that [Gray] didn't actually win the Democratic primary [in 2010 against Mayor Adrian M. Fenty] fair and square, so . . . I could not support somebody who would be almost indicted." There stood Gray, three weeks before the April 1 primary: uncharged, but publicly accused of involvement in unlawful behavior, with no opportunity to confront his accusers or review the evidence against him in a court of law. Instead, he found himself in the court of public opinion. It was no contest on primary Election Day 2014. A year later, another decision was reached: The U.S. Attorney's Office, under the new management of Channing D. Phillips, concluded its investigation into the 2010 campaign with no charges filed against Gray, citing likely insufficient evidence. "Justice delayed is justice denied," Gray said following Phillips's announcement. But it was Machen, not Bowser, who torpedoed Gray. Besides, revenge is a poor reason to seek office. So should he run? Having a passion to get the old job back is not enough. Gray would have to make the case that Bowser needs to be replaced and that he's the one to do it. That's a tall order, according to a Post poll in June, which showed that 67 percent of D.C. residents approve of the mayor's job performance, although there's some softness in that number. Only 20 percent strongly approved of the job she was doing while 48 percent gave her negative marks on curbing the influence of big-money donors in the John A. Wilson Building. And, happiness isn't spread across the city. Management of the city's only public hospital, United Medical Center, is disgraceful. Allegations of high school students barely able to read and write being allowed to graduate are, if true, alarming. City-provided paths from dependency to self-sufficiency, under Bowser's Health and Human Services Department, are as steep and clumsy as ever. And her three-year-old administration has hardly been scandal-free: high-ranking Bowser officials getting preferential treatment in the school lottery; a cabinet member misusing staff for personal business; lingering pay-for-play suspicions. None of that translates into support for Gray, who, despite his denials, must still dispel lingering suspicions about his role in the illegal 2010 shadow campaign. The burden is on Gray not only to make the case for denying Bowser another term in office; he also needs to convince voters that he alone can make the city a better place for all residents. So, can Gray win if he jumps into the race? Dislodging an incumbent is an uphill battle, especially against such a well-financed, politically astute leader as Bowser. The task is even more formidable when voters overall seem generally satisfied with the city's direction. A seasoned strategist, who requested anonymity unless and until Gray declares, sees it this way: In an off-year election, about 100,000 ballots will get cast. Gray wins handily in Wards 7 and 8 and carries Ward 5. He gets votes in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 6 but not enough to win. He and Bowser fight to the finish in battleground Ward 4, where she resides. If, with a volunteer, grass-roots campaign, Gray scores more than 50,000 votes, he squeaks out a win. A tall order, indeed. Read more from Colbert King's archive.

Common Weal director Robin McAlpine argues that universalism is intertwined with Scotland's political identity, and should be protected IF you want to understand what is different about political culture in Scotland as compared to England and Wales, I'd suggest that the best place to start looking is the question of universalism. It is also why I believe that Scotland gives up any ground on the issue of universalism at substantial risk to its very political identity. There are two broad ways to look at social provision, universalism or selectivity. Universalism means that you decide that something should exist, that it is a core part of your society and that you should therefore ensure it is provided to all. It is so dispiriting that this debate has been opened up by comments by the Scottish Government's new 'poverty tsar' Naomi Eisenstadt. The NHS and universal school education are the defining examples of universalism. The alternative - selectivity - instead emphasises that there are things that it is probably important that people have access to but that our collective responsibility is limited only to those in dire need who can't get access to those things by other means. The prime example of a selectivity approach is the kind of benefit eligibility tests run by the likes of Atos. These are not variations of each other - these are fundamentally different political philosophies. The case for universalism is rock solid and is supported by almost any detailed look at the data. You can look across many countries at many times over many policy areas and you will find the same thing. When you provide a service that includes everyone, that service becomes a good service, is widely supported and becomes relied on by everyone. But because everyone starts from a different position, the impact of universal services is different for different people with the positive impact on the poor being particularly high. So for example, if you make childcare free for all, yes this may partially subsidise the childcare needs of the affluent middle classes, but the impact on them (a bit more disposable income) is limited. Universalism means that you decide that something should exist, that it is a core part of your society and that you should therefore ensure it is provided to all. The same policy applied to a family with only one adult working in a low income job may well be to allow the second adult to take a job, which could conceivably double the household income. The positive impact on the poorer household of exactly the same policy is massively bigger. That's how universalism created the era of greatest economic equality Britain has ever seen and why rolling it back has reversed those gains. But why not just target the funding to those on whom the impact is biggest (the selectivity argument)? So only give the childcare support to the poor. The problem with this is measurable - it just doesn't work properly in practice. There are a number of reasons for this (I was one of four authors of a report which has the links to all the data to explain this) . Here I'll just raise three. First, it's incredibly inefficient because immediately a chunk of the money that would be spent on the service is instead spent on assessment and other bureaucracy. Second, because these services then become services only for the poor (who have a low propensity to vote), politicians have little incentive to support them properly, particularly when budgets are being cut (you only need to look at the assault on social services taking place in England just now to see this). And third, because these are then seen as 'emergency' services, we are as a society much less invested in whether they are actually any good or not - the middle classes whom politicians shape policy to woo not longer have any vested interest and so bare-bones services are what result. Academic study after academic study demonstrate that when you increase universalism social equality increases and when you increase selectivity, social equality decreases. Academic study after academic study demonstrate that when you increase universalism social equality increases and when you increase selectivity, social equality decreases. Imagine the impact on society if most of us were in a private healthcare insurance scheme but a proportion of the poorest in our society were relegated to a 'safety net-only' healthcare system for the poor. What do you think would be the result? Better lives for the poorest? But selectivity keeps coming back into our political debate because it is inextricably linked to another political philosophy, one which is currently known as 'austerity'. In this world view, governments have a fixed budget and must then 'spend wisely' by targeting their spending at those in 'most need'. But in fact what this political philosophy is really saying is 'we can't mess with the interests of the wealthy through tax so the rest of society will just have to put up with what little we can afford'. Selectivity is a smokescreen for a political philosophy of inequality and low tax. There is a beautifully simple alternative philosophy, one which has underpinned my entire political world view - 'from the cradle to the grave, from each according to ability to pay to each according to need'. It is a politics which places security for all in society ahead of the pursuit of extraordinary wealth for the few. And it works - it works incredibly well. If in doubt all you need to do is compare anywhere with a universal healthcare system to anywhere without one. Where selectivity believes that 'fairness' comes from how you spend, universalism believes that effectiveness comes from how you spend - fairness comes from how you raise the money you spend. Spending via universalism is measurably more effective in almost every way, so that's how we should spend. It is so incredibly important that we stand our ground and fight the fight for universalism. As soon as we start to give in to the 'something for nothing' arguments, the 'logic' starts to effect everything. To make it fair we have to pay for it through properly progressive taxation. It is an incredibly simply formula which, in the decades after the Second World War, resulted in a more rapid improvement of the lives of the poor than almost anything else achieved in our history. This is why it is so incredibly important that we stand our ground and fight the fight for universalism. As soon as we start to give in to the 'something for nothing' arguments, the 'logic' starts to effect everything. Why should someone on minimum wage subsidise a winter heating payment for a millionaire? Well why should someone on minimum wage pay for the healthcare of a millionaire? Why should middle class children get a free university education when they can afford to pay? Well why should they get fifth and sixth year at high school for free either when lots of poorer children have left school? And so on. This is why it is so dispiriting that this debate has been opened up by comments by the Scottish Government's new 'poverty tsar' Naomi Eisenstadt. This article began by arguing that this is one of the defining differences between Scottish politics and the politics of England and Wales. In Scotland there is a strong consensus in favour of universalism in the 'mainstream' (including government and its institutions and academis). In London there is a strong consensus in favour of selectivity, a consequence of Blair making it a core part of New Labour philosophy. From what I can tell, Naomi Eisenstadt is a well-intentioned, intelligent and thoughtful person. But she seems to come from a different political culture, one where euphemisms like 'failing schools' and 'living within our means' are the norm (although I'm sure she'd never use them). These concepts are not the norm in Scotland and we should fight to make sure that they do not become the norm. This does not mean there are no difficult questions. I have said many times that when we produced the Book of Ideas we tried to find ways to fund a replacement of the benefits being cut by Osborne in a universalist way and concluded that with the limited resources Scotland can raise and the lack of policy control, it is virtually impossible. From the cradle to the grave, from each according to ability to pay to each according to need. Let us keep that most enlightened of social philosophies front and centre in Scottish politics. There are always 'tough choices'. But in making those choices we should never talk down or attack the fundamental philosophies on which progressive Scottish politics are based - the most recent person to attempt this was Johann Lamont and it went very badly for her indeed. I'm not an insular person when it comes to policy. For quite a few years now I've been involved with projects which look round the world to see where we can find best practice. In saying that we should fight against the anti-universalist philosophies which dominate Westminster policy debate from taking root in Scotland, I say it not because they don't work and because when they get a toe-hold they change the very nature of your politics. Rather, I would (as so often) point north to suggest that universalism is at the very heart of the success of the Nordic countries. So by all means let's go looking for the best learning we can find on how to deliver public services. But let's look towards those who do it better than us, not worse. And, above all, let's not cede political philosophy in the face of the ideological attacks coming from George Osborne. Universalism works and works well. It is redistributive and has done more to help the poor and vulnerable than any other social policy in a hundred years. From the cradle to the grave, from each according to ability to pay to each according to need. Let us keep that most enlightened of social philosophies front and centre in Scottish politics. Our next step should not be to introduce fees for university students or means-tested charges for seeing your GP, it should be the creation of a genuinely brilliant universal childcare system to which every citizen of Scotland with children has an automatic right (with a modest tax rise to pay for it if need be). When it works, when it turns out to be transformational, when it is shown to be wildly popular - that'll be one more nail in the coffin of a politics Scotland has resisted for decades. Picture courtesy of YouTube

Turkish Cymbal Making 23.2.2017 by Engin Altunlu As the resident “Turk” of the Bbop team, I thought that it could only be relevant for me to talk about the history of the renowned Turkish cymbals. Throughout the world of music and the many musical styles which exist today, Turkish cymbals remain highly respected for their unique and diverse sound. The production in many companies is still carried out in the traditional way. The History: Cymbal production began in Turkey in the 1200s. The cymbals created at the time were created for just one purpose: the marching band of the Ottoman Army. These cymbals were crafted by Armenian master artisans. The secret to their production has remained just that, a secret, ever since. The man behind the formula for the perfect cymbal was Avedis Zilciyan (Zildjian): “Zilci”, means “Master creator of cymbals” in Turkish and “Yan” means “the son of” in Armenian. Thus, “the son of the cymbal master”. In 1623, with the permission of Sultan Murat IV, the now world-renowned company Zildjian was founded. Towards the end of the 7th century, Westerners had discovered the existence of these cymbals and began to incorporate them into their orchestras. During the 1780s, the cymbals began to be used in Military bands as well as Haydn’s and Mozart’s Orchestras. In 1851, Avedis Zildjian’s son, Kerope Zildjian (whose name is found in the K-series) began to show cymbals in expositions, helping the company's transition into the European market. In 1909, with the aid of the Ottoman Empire, the company was able to build a second factory elsewhere. The cymbals produced bore the description “Made in Turkey, Istanbul” and later in modern times, were used by some of the world’s most famous musicians such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Cream, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses and many more. This craft passed through the generations until when, after the death of the final grandson Mikal Zildjian, the world awaited the end of the legend and its secret cymbal formula. It was however, the 9 year old apprentices of the final artisan who saved the legacy. They knew everything! Their names were Mehmet Tamdeger and Agop Tomurcuk, and the company was to be called Istanbul. Thanks to them alone, the legend could continue to live until today in Istanbul. In 1981, the company started to reproduce the traditional cymbals in an Istanbul studio. After Agop’s death in 1996, Mehmet continued making these but it was Agop’s son who then stepped in. He claimed his father’s section of the company and the Agop cymbals and like that the company was divided in to: Istanbul Mehmet and Istanbul Agop. These days, Turkish Cymabls are produced (in the traditional way and with the traditional formula) only by the companies Istanbul Mehmet-Agop, Bosphorus, Turkish, Pasha, Sabian, Amedia, Masterwork, Diril. If we return to Zildjian, the son of Michael Zildjian left to the United States in 1929 and opened a cymbal factory. These however, were not handmade like the originals. It was the grandson of Mikael, Bob Zildjian who became the creator of the well known brand Sabian. Creation: The first phase of production is the "mixing”. The cymbals are made of bronze (B20) which is an alloy (80% copper / 20% tin). This is one of the most frequently used formulas. It is at this stage also the "secret process" takes place as it has for centuries, which gives the bronze its strength, durability and flexibility. This is truly a guarded practise and only the master builders know the secret. Once I had the good fortune of visiting the studio in Istanbul. There was one small section of the process which they don’t let you see! The second phase is called the “casting”; the molten alloy in the melting pot is poured directly into molds. The quantity of alloy can be different for each mold depending on the type of cymbal. After pouring, the alloy hardens in the cold. The pieces are then very carefully removed from their molds and grouped according to their weight. Now, these folded pieces are ready for the next step, reheating. The castings are now ready to be heated to around 700-800 Celsius in a kiln. Each casting is heated uniformly by a qualified master of the art. They are now soft and ready to pass through a rolling machine. These form round metallic disks which are called “blanks”. The blanks cool down and are then sent to the presser. At this phase the blanks are still very fragile and oversized. After having marked the centre of the blank, they are put back in the kiln in order to soften the metal and make it more pliable so that the pressing machine can perform its job more effectively. The blanks are then placed out into cool air, and the combination of cold/hot hardens the metal to a new level. Now the B20 is stronger, more durable and has a better sound than ever before. After cutting the correct shape from the blanks, the off-cuts are sent back to the melting pot for recycling. The next phase in the process is the “hammering”. This is the most important procedure of the whole production in terms of honing the cymbals' sound and can only be performed by qualified artisans using centuries-old hammering techniques and wisdom. These techniques are responsible for the dark, complex and musical qualities in traditional Turkish cymbals. The process of hammering requires mastering the art, competence and endless hard work. The contours, shape and profile of the cymbals are created just from hammer blows. It is worth noting that, for example, a 16” Crash requires around 1500 hits to be completed. This gives all cymbals a slightly unique sound, even within the same series or size. Now we pass on to the phase which is called “lathing”. This is once again a very important phase of cymbal production and can affect the sound of the cymbal directly. Lathing cuts the circular grooves into the cymbal and permits the vibrations to move easily across its surface. Finally, we come to the testing and labelling phase! After this long and arduous process, in order to assure their quality, the cymbals are tested by professional drummers. The tests all take place in a studio to decide if the cymbal was built well enough. If they pass this test then they are ready to sell. Here is a video of cymbal making in the Istanbul Mehmet workshop: Brands: Of course there are many cymbal companies in existence, however, I will focus on those which produce cymbals respecting the traditional processes. Zildjian Zildjian is a trace of Anatolia in the United States. Founded by Avedis in 1623, Zildjian is one of the oldest companies in the whole world. Know-how, the secret process and luxury instruments have made Zildjian one of the most reputable brands in the whole world for drummers and percussionists. The most well know series include: ZBT Series, A Custom, A Zildjian, K Custom, Z3, FX Series Istanbul Agop Istanbul cymbals are well recognised by their "Traditional" series, specifically ‘Istanbul Agop’. Istanbul Agop is a brand which continues to this day to produce cymbals the traditional way. They are also hugely respected by the drumming and percussion community for the unique sound of their cymbals. Some popular Agop cymbals have included: • Istanbul Agop Signature 21″ ou 22″ Ride • Mel Lewis Signature Series 22″ Ride • 8" Xist Power Splash • 20" Mantra Crash Istanbul Mehmet Another company to continue the heritage of the Zilciyan family in Istanbul. Here are some well known models by Istanbul Mehmet cymbals: • MC Jazz Hi-Hats • Origin dark Rides • Legend Dark HI-Hats • Mikael Z Ride Turkish Cymbals I had heard about this brand in the past but I really got to meet the team of Turkish Cymbals thanks to the chance meeting of Özgür Can Öney, the drummer of Manga (the rock group which achieved 2nd place in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010) during a visit to Musikmesse 2015. He was there to present Turkish Cymbals, a company who has become world renowned for their quality in the world of rock and jazz. We chatted a little about their production and the company in general. Turkish Cymbals has a different formula and has obtained some older artisans who had previously worked in other companies throughout Istanbul. Here are some well-known series: • Crash Ride C-RCR • Crash Paper Thin • China AP-CH • Ride Bell RBR-BBL • HI-HAT J-H Sabian Sabian was created in 1981 in Canada by Robert Zildjian, the son of Avedis Zildjian III. Sabian take their name from the creates children, Sally, Bill and Andy. Some Sabian series include: • Neil Peart’s Signature Paragon 16’’ • AA séries Vintage Bright • XSR séries • Artisan Séries

The DNI report was more about slamming RT (Russia Today) propaganda than it was about proving the Russians hacked. The report doesn’t put much emphasis on Russians hacking elections, it focuses on Russians “influencing” them. What they ignore is the US media propaganda influencing elections. As you read this, keep in mind that no intelligence report refutes the content of the email leaks. Also note that since the first leak, our media has sought to cover up, ignore, and denigrate the findings. In these emails, you will find the American media operates as an arm of the Democrat Party. Wikileaks’ releases prove America’s trusted institutions and the media are lackeys of the left. Nearly 400 Newsmakers Received 80 Sets of Clinton Talking Points Email #5636 from donor-advisor Mary Pat Bonner to John Podesta shows the Hillary Clinton campaign worked with at least 372 news makers to shape an anti-Trump narrative across all mainstream media. Bonner is the link between Team Clinton and CTR. The pro-Hillary SuperPAC, Correct the Record (CTR) “has identified 372 surrogates including influential and frequent pundits on broadcast and cable news for Presidential 2016 politics and provided them around 80 sets of talking points.” CTR Controlled the Media CTR’s website explains their goal is to amplify Clinton’s “accomplishments”, smear Trump, and peddle phony narratives. One of those talking points was and is, “Russia is interfering in our elections to help Trump.” Consider all of this as you look at the documentation showing hundreds of media members using pro-Hillary talking points obtained from CTR. Those documents can be accessed here. Some of the findings: The collusion included media relations. There were 900 interviews to counter-punch Republicans and kill negative stories before publication. Team Clinton provided the nearly 400 media surrogates with 80 sets of talking points. CTR hosted 24 media training sessions across the country for 200 surrogates. Correct The Record also distributed media advisories to 960 members of the national media and 10,756 regional reporters in 28 states. Talking points and memos are also distributed regularly to 369 televisions producers and bookers. Media Told Americans Not to Read Wikileaks Emails The media desperately attempted to keep Americans from reading the emails by claiming it was illegal to read them, if not immoral. Sound advice on @wikileaks, from the #FakeNews. I’d be interested to hear Chris Cuomo’s legal theory that he can see this info but we can’t. pic.twitter.com/VHEyjf8jC3 — Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) December 8, 2016 Ten Most Damning Emails of US Media The free thought project listed 10 of the most damning emails proving the media is controlled and scripted:

Supreme Court Justices to abolish Texas Death Penalty - they want an evening off (ACPA-Houston, TX) Texas is reeling at news that the death penalty is facing the possibility of being declared unconstitutional. Supreme Court Justices, sick of missing Friday night poker and evenings at the symphony, plan to use an upcoming appeal as an excuse to abolish executions. "I'll miss the overtime," said Justice Scalia, "but not the bleeding heart lawyers with their last gasp appeals." Shock and Dismay As details of the plan leaked out, groans of shock and dismay were recorded across the lone star state as Texans started to come to terms with the news that their beloved death penalty might be taken away. "This all started with the abolition of execution for the retarded," said Dwight Johnson of Walker County, "that dang Yankee Supreme Court should stay out of our business." Death row guards concerned for their jobs have decided to take action. Union spokesman Jim Austen stated that, "we are going to start a grassroots nationwide campaign to encourage other states to have more executions." Arguing that the death penalty is a time honored tradition, he was quick to point out that, "the death penalty is just like freedom of religion - use it or lose it." Over in Houston, the Mayor is particularly concerned that mass layoffs could follow in the prosecutor's office and he has weighed in his support for the guards union. "You love the yellow rose of Texas, now it's time to love the Death Rows of Texas," he said in an impassioned plea for support from other cities nationwide. Meanwhile traffic came to a standstill in downtown Huntsville, home of the Texas death chamber, when several members of the strapdown team staged an impromptu strap-in. Trade War looms On the financial front, markets reacted to the news by dumping shares of chemical companies specializing in the manufacture of sodium thiopental. Lean times are ahead unless these companies can break into the burgeoning but restricted Chinese death penalty market. The US is expected to raise the issue in upcoming WTO talks. Also read about the Atlanta woman who loves PBS pledge marathons Trying to improve: After Trayvon Martin, Alabama to introduce "Hoodies For Hispanics" program. or click here for all our satire news stories

Officials doubted someone could have walked away from the crash The wreckage of a plane found near the town of Mammoth Lakes in California does belong to missing US adventurer Steve Fossett, officials say. A number plate confirmed the plane as the Bellanca Super Decathlon piloted by the 63-year-old millionaire. Body parts are reported to have been found inside. The search began after a hiker found items thought to belong to Mr Fossett. He vanished in September last year on a solo flight that took off 90 miles (145km) away in neighbouring Nevada. Click here to see a map of the area A wide-ranging search operation conducted since then had failed to find any trace of Mr Fossett or his plane and he was officially declared dead in February. Fuselage shattered Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said the wreckage had been spotted late on Wednesday during an aerial search of a stretch of the Sierra Nevada mountains near Mammoth Lakes. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement A ground team later confirmed the identity of the plane, which seemed to have struck the mountain head-on, Mr Anderson said. "The crash looked so severe I doubt if someone would have walked away from it," he said. Most of the fuselage had disintegrated, with engine parts scattered several hundred feet away. Mr Anderson initially said no human remains had been found at the crash site. "It's quite often if you don't find remains within a few days, because of animals, you'll find nothing at all," he said. SOME OF FOSSETT'S RECORDS 1998/2002: Long-distance for solo ballooning 2001/2002: Duration for solo ballooning 2002: First solo round-the-world balloon flight First balloon crossings of Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, South Atlantic, South Pacific, Indian Oceans Seven fastest speed sailing titles 13 World Sailing Speed Record Council titles 2001: Fastest transatlantic sailing 2004: Fastest round-the-world sailing Round-the-world titles for medium airplanes US transcontinental titles for non-military aircraft In pictures: Steve Fossett Profile: Steve Fossett But reports later said that some remains had been found in the aircraft and would be sent for DNA analysis. Fifty people and five dog teams would carry out an extensive search of the site for Mr Fossett's remains, he added. On Thursday British entrepreneur Richard Branson paid tribute to his friend and fellow adventurer. "The most important thing is that the family know what's happened," he said. "He led an extraordinary, absolutely remarkable life, and now we can remember him for what he was and move on." The National Transportation Safety Board will be responsible for examining the wreckage. But a local official said snow was expected over the weekend, potentially hampering the investigation. The wreckage was located two days after identity documents bearing Mr Fossett's name - including a pilot's licence - as well as cash and a sweatshirt were found by hiker Preston Morrow. Mr Morrow had been returning from a mountain walk when he spotted the items in dirt and pine needles west of Mammoth Lakes. An employee at a sporting goods store, Mr Morrow said he handed them over to police after unsuccessful attempts to contact the Fossett family. The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani, in Los Angeles, says the items were found outside the vast area searched after Mr Fossett went missing - and also in a different direction to that in which he was thought to have flown. Mr Fossett took off from the ranch of hotel magnate Barron Hilton, south of Yerington, Nevada, on 3 September 2007 on a flight that was expected to last three hours. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon and had about 100 other world records to his name. Click here to return E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?

Joseph Erlanger (January 5, 1874 – December 5, 1965) was an American physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience. Together with Herbert Spencer Gasser, he identified several varieties of nerve fiber and established the relationship between action potential velocity and fiber diameter. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for these achievements. Biography [ edit ] Erlanger was born on January 5, 1874, at San Francisco, California. His family was Jewish and his parents both immigrated from the Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany and met in California during the Gold Rush. Joseph was the sixth of seven children born to the couple. He completed his Bachelor of science in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1895. He then completed his M.D. in 1899 from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, where he finished second in his class. Upon graduating, Erlanger interned at Johns Hopkins Hospital under William Osler and worked in a physiology laboratory. Erlanger also gave lectures at the school on digestion and metabolism. Erlanger also had an interest in cardiology, specifically the way that excitation transferred from the atrium to the ventricle and researched with Arthur Hirschfelder. Erlanger developed and patented a new type of sphygmomanometer that could measure blood pressure from the brachial artery. While working at Johns Hopkins in 1901, Erlanger published a paper on the digestive systems of canines. This paper caught the attention of William Henry Howell, a physiology professor at Johns Hopkins. Howell recruited Erlanger as an Assistant Professor. Erlanger was promoted to Associate Professor some time before 1906. In 1906, Erlanger accepted a position as the first chair of physiology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 1910, he left to take a position as professor at Washington University in St. Louis; the St. Louis position offered Erlanger more funding for his projects. Herbert Spencer Gasser, Erlanger's former student at Wisconsin, joined Erlanger's laboratory soon after the move. During World War I, the pair contributed to the research effort examining the effects of shock. As part of this work, Erlanger was able to produce heart block in an animal model by clamping the bundle of His and tightening it.[4] Together, they managed to amplify the action potential of a bullfrog sciatic nerve in 1922 and published the results in the American Journal of Physiology. It is uncertain why the pair had such a sudden shift in interest to neuroscience, as Erlanger was already widely respected in the cardiology field. Erlanger and Gasser were able to modify a Western Electric oscilloscope to run at low voltages. Prior to this modification, the only method available to measure neural activity was the electroencephalograph, which could only show large-scale electrical activity. With this technology, they were able to observe that action potentials occurred in two phases—a spike (initial surge) followed by an after-spike (a sequence of slow changes in potential). They discovered that neurons were found in many forms, each with their own potential for excitability. With this research, the pair discovered that the velocity of action potentials was directly proportional to the diameter of the nerve fiber. The partnership ended in 1931, when Gasser accepted a position at Cornell University. In 1944, they won the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for these discoveries. He died of heart disease on December 5, 1965 at St. Louis, Missouri. The Joseph Erlanger House in St. Louis was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 8, 1976 as a building of national significance.[9] On January 22, 2009, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the moon after him.[citation needed] Citations [ edit ] References [ edit ]

In Laissez-Faire in Tokyo Land Use I pointed to Japan’s constitutional protection of property rights and it’s relatively laissez-faire approach to land use to explain why housing prices in Japan have not risen in past decades, as they have elsewhere in the developed world. A very useful post at Urban kchoze offers more detail on Japan’s zoning system. Here are some of the key points. Japan has 12 basic zones, far fewer than is typical in an American city. The zones can be ordered in terms of nuisance or potential externality from low-rise residential to high-rise residential to commercial zone on through to light industrial and industrial. But, and this is key, in the US zones tend to be exclusive but in Japan the zones limit the maximum nuisance in a zone. So, for example, a factory can’t be built in a residential neighborhood but housing can be built in a light industrial zone. …[the] Japanese do not impose one or two exclusive uses for every zone. They tend to view things more as the maximum nuisance level to tolerate in each zone, but every use that is considered to be less of a nuisance is still allowed. So low-nuisance uses are allowed essentially everywhere. That means that almost all Japanese zones allow mixed use developments, which is far from true in North American zoning. …[The] great rigidity in allowed uses per zone in North American zoning means that urban planing departments must really micromanage to the smallest detail everything to have a decent city. Because if they forget to zone for enough commercial zones or schools, people can’t simply build what is lacking, they’d need to change the zoning, and therefore confront the NIMBYs. And since urban planning departments, especially in small cities, are largely awful, a lot of needed uses are forgotten in neighborhoods, leading to them being built on the outskirts of the city, requiring car travel to get to them from residential areas. Meanwhile, Japanese zoning gives much more flexibility to builders, private promoters but also school boards and the cities themselves. So the need for hyper-competent planning is much reduced, as Japanese planning departments can simply zone large higher-use zones in the center of neighborhoods, since the lower-uses are still allowed. If there is more land than needed for commercial uses in a commercial zone, for example, then you can still build residential uses there, until commercial promoters actually come to need the space and buy the buildings from current residents. In addition, residential means residential without discrimination as to the type or form of resident: …In Japan…residential is residential. If a building is used to provide a place to live to people, it’s residential, that’s all. Whether it’s rented, owned, houses one or many households, it doesn’t matter. This doesn’t mean that people can build 10-story apartment blocs in the middle of single-family houses (at least, not normally). As I mentioned, there are maximum ratios of building to land areas and FAR that restricts how high and how dense residential buildings may be. So in low-rise zones, these ratios mean that multifamily homes must also have only one to three stories, like the single-family homes around them. So in neighborhoods full of small single-family homes, you will often see small apartment buildings full of what we would call small studio apartments: one room with a toilet.> In short, as the author concludes, Japan’s zoning laws are more rational, more efficient and fairer than those used in the United States. More details in the post. Hat tip: Sandy Ikeda.

Virginia State Parks will offer free parking on Jan. 1, 2018, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy special hikes or self-guided hikes on more than 500 miles of trails across 37 state parks. In addition, Virginia State Parks will hold the First Day Hikes Photo Contest and the New Year Challenge. Each contest has a $500 gift certificate as the top prize, as well as other prizes. In the Richmond area, Pocahontas State Park hosts a New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day hike that begins Dec. 31 at 11 p.m. and ends with a New Years bonfire and a sparkling cider toast. On New Year’s Day, Pocahontas will offer five other hikes, including a stroller-friendly hike, an advanced hike, a First Day Run, an orienteering hike, as well as a hike for family and friends. Other parks with multiple hikes and difficulties include Bear Creek Lake, Holliday Lake and Twin Lakes state parks. Some of the more unique hikes include Grayson Highlands State Park, with the possibility of seeing wild ponies. Guaranteed to be colder than other parks, hikers flock to the park for the challenge, the view of snow-topped mountains and the ponies. New River Trail State Park will feature a hike and bike on the new mountain biking trail. At False Cape State Park, hikers will take the Terragator, the beach transport vehicle, down the beach and then hike to the North Carolina border. Hikers can see bison at Wilderness Road State Park and amazing geological formations at Natural Tunnel and Natural Bridge state parks. The hike at Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park includes a tour of the historic town of Big Stone Gap. Virginia State Parks welcomes bikes and horseback riders at parks with those facilities. Leashed dogs are welcome everywhere except False Cape State Park. Details for all hikes can be found here: http://bit.ly/VSPFDH2018. For more information about Virginia State Parks activities and amenities or to make a reservation for one of the more than 1,800 campsites or 300 climate-controlled cabins, call the Virginia State Parks Customer Care Center at 800-933-7275 or visit www.virginiastateparks.gov.

Mandalay Bay & MGM Ban OnSite Investigator – Armed Guards & FBI Agent Throw Him Out Of His Room An independent onsite investigator by the name of Nick Falco decided to stay at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino and investigate things pertaining to the Las Vegas shooting. He was subsequently banned from the hotel, as well as MGM for life and escorted out of his hotel room by armed guards and an FBI agent. The actions of Falco and the hotel occurred within 24 hours of his arrival. Falco tweeted out his investigation (his tweets require approval to be seen, but I have linked them below), along with the ban he received from Mandalay Bay & MGM. “I questioned the #LasVegas shooting narrative. I went to Mandalay Bay to check for myself. After 24 hours I was banned for life from MGM,” tweeted Falco, providing the following picture to prove his ban: https://t.co/AEdgzRGfG8. Falco spoke with Intellihub and sought to confirm certain things, including the validity of the receipt that was leaked online from Stephen Paddock’s room. Intellihub reports: Falco told Intellihub exclusively that he received a phone call from the front desk of Mandalay Bay shortly before 7:30 p.m. in which a female operator instructed him to answer his hotel room door where four men (two armed guards, a security guy, and an FBI agent) simultaneously met him. Falco was then told to pack up his belongings before the FBI agent conducted a subsequent inspection of his room. Soon after the independent investigator says that he was escorted over to the main entrance of the Mandalay Bay where a security guard stood him in front of a camera and verbally read him the trespass. During Falco’s visit, he was able to prove that the leaked online version of Stephen Paddock’s room service receipt was, in fact, “authentic” after comparing it to a receipt he himself received after ordering room service Saturday morning. Here’s the series of tweets from Falco with links to each tweet. 2. I stayed at Mandalay Paddocks room service receipt was leaked online. It is authentic.https://t.co/us9zDGoU57 Here’s mine- ONE guest pic.twitter.com/JEAyuEzpKM — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 3. There’s 1000s of surveillance cameras in gaming area, mostly visible There’s a surveillance camera in each main elevator. You cant hide pic.twitter.com/qXeOlORYUb — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 He did shoot down theories that Paddock used his wife/girlfriend’s ID to access the service elevator saying, “Service elevators aren’t prohibited from guests. No signs. No locks.” 4. Some People have said Paddock used service elevator w his girlfriends ID- this is FALSE There are No locks, No signs, No keys required pic.twitter.com/rjE5sdr6yD — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 5. Police said Paddock used service elevators. Why? To bypass security? Service elevators arent prohibited from guests. No signs. No locks pic.twitter.com/kHVYc8WPLK — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 6. There are visible surveillance cameras in all service elevators. There was no reason for Paddock to use these to get around security. pic.twitter.com/xNFWYtMF3i — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 Falco also pointed out that the freight elevator is quite a distance from Paddock’s room. 7. Red dot is service elevator. Main elevators are in middle. I’m pointing to Paddocks room Why did Paddock use service elevator? It’s far pic.twitter.com/FSrVnTuY5a — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 9. There is an exit staircase right next to Paddock’s room. No locks, no alarms, no signs & most importantly? No Cameras. pic.twitter.com/GF0JoXJaq3 — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 Falco goes on to say that there was no need for a second window as the vantage point Paddock would have had over the venue didn’t require it. 8. I had clear view of Paddocks room, concert & fuel tanks Shooter didnt need 2nd window to shoot people & fuel tanks Why break 2 windows? pic.twitter.com/Tq5giT76In — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 Additionally, Falco told Intellhub that he is no conspiracy theorist, just someone checking out the facts. And take note of MGM’s privacy policy which Falco notes in tweet number 12 of 14. I don’t think that is far-fetched considering the wealth of information Wikileaks has provided the American people on the illegal activities of the CIA in our own country. Falco then concludes his series of tweets by asking, “I was evicted after less than 24 hours but a shooter w 23 rifles was at their hotel for 7 days & they didn’t know?” 13. I was evicted after less than 24 hours but a shooter w 23 rifles was at their hotel for 7 days & they didn’t know? This guy? Really? pic.twitter.com/ZUGpLqeqMe — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 It seems to me that Nick Falco has provided a plethora of evidence, just in his being banned from the hotel that attorney Brian Claypool may have a proper theory concerning Mandalay Bay and MGM simply being negligent of a high roller like Stephen Paddock, which put lives in danger, grave danger.

No. 1 seed Virginia (21-11) will host No. 8 seed Norfolk State (21-11) in the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, March 19. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 9 p.m. The Virginia-Norfolk State game will be televised on ESPNU and broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. The winner will advance to the second round against the winner of St. John's and Saint Joseph's. Second-round games are scheduled for March 21-25. Virginia is making its 13th NIT appearance and first under fourth-year head coach Tony Bennett. The Cavaliers claimed NIT championships in 1980 and 1992 and are appearing in the tournament for the first time since 2006. Virginia is 15-10 all-time in the NIT. The Cavaliers are 1-0 all-time against Norfolk State, defeating the Spartans, 50-49, on Dec. 20, 2010. Virginia is 19-0 all-time against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponents, including a 75-57 win over Morgan State at JPJ on Dec. 19, 2012. The Cavaliers are coming off a disappointing 75-56 loss against NC State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Akil Mitchell (Charlotte, N.C.) led Virginia in scoring and rebounding for the fourth consecutive game with 19 points and eight rebounds. Joe Harris (Chelan, Wash.) added 13 points and Jontel Evans (Hampton, Va.) had a game-high seven assists. All-ACC performers Harris (first team), Mitchell (third team) and Evans (All-Defensive) lead the Cavaliers into postseason action. Harris ranks fourth in the ACC in scoring at 16.9 ppg and Mitchell ranks third in rebounding at 8.9 rpg. Evans leads Virginia with 114 assists. The Cavaliers, who earned an at-large bid into the NIT, rank in the top 12 nationally in five defensive categories, highlighted by their fourth-ranked scoring defense at 55.1 points per game. Offensively Virginia is averaging 64 points per game overall, shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point land. Freshman Justin Anderson (Montross, Va.) leads Virginia rookies in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocked shots. Sophomore Paul Jesperson (Merrill, Wis.) has made at least one 3-pointer in 12 consecutive games. Freshman Mike Tobey, who made his second career start against NC State, is averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in the last three games. Bennett sports a 74-52 record, including a 1-0 mark against Norfolk State, in four seasons at Virginia. Bennett, who guided the Cavaliers to their first NCAA Tournament since 2006-07 last season, is the first Virginia coach to post back-to-back 20-win seasons since Jeff Jones in 1991-92 and 1992-93. Bennett has a 3-4 postseason record as a Division I head coach. Norfolk State earned the MEAC's automatic bid to the NIT by winning the conference's regular season title with a 16-0 mark. The Spartans were upset by Bethune-Cookman, 70-68, in overtime in the MEAC Tournament quarterfinals. Norfolk State is making its second straight postseason appearance since moving to Division I in 1997. No. 15 seed Norfolk State upset No. 2 seed Missouri, 86-84, in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Guard Pendarvis Williams leads the Spartans in scoring at 14.1 points per game. Guard Malcolm Hawkins averages 11.8 ppg and forward Rob Johnson has chipped in 9.3 ppg and 4.8 rpg. Center Brandon Goode leads the team with 5.4 rebounds per game. Head coach Anthony Evans has a 99-93 record in six seasons at Norfolk State. He guided the Spartans to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Tickets for Virginia's first-round NIT game are on sale. Reserved tickets are $10 each. Fans may also purchase tickets through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office by telephone and in person. The ticket office is located in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Telephone purchases can be made by calling 800-542-UVA1 (8821) or locally at 434-924-UVA1 (8821). Parking will be free of charge and available on a first-come, first-served basis in the John Paul Jones Arena, University Hall and McCue Center parking lots and the Emmet/Ivy Parking Garage. The John Paul Jones Arena Garage will be reserved for permit holders. The University Hall and John Paul Jones Arena parking lots are also available for baseball fans attending Tuesday's game against Yale that starts at 5 p.m. Should Virginia advance in the NIT and host a second and/or third-round game, tickets will be sold for $10 each and available for purchase shortly after the second-round opponent is determined. Tickets will not be available for sale through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office for away games in the NIT.

Lea Michele broke the news on Monday that she would be appearing on the seventh and final season of FX’s Sons of Amarchy by excitedly tweeting, “I’ll be appearing on an episode of my favorite show @SonsofAnarchy! Thank you so much @Harparbar & @sutterink #SOAFX” Earlier today Lea was photographed on the Sons of Anarchy set filming a scene with show matriarch Katey Sagal in which Lea was wearing a waitress uniform and both ladies were smoking cigarettes and chatting on a bench. Click to enlarge: The scene jibes with details about Lea’s character Gertie released by the network, which describe her as a single mom working as a waitress at a truck stop. Gertie “connects with Gemma,” played by Katey Sagal, “during a difficult time.” I assume we are seeing Gertie and Gemma connecting during a difficult time in the photos. 🙂 To wrap things up, here are Lea’s still-excited tweets from the last few days while filming SOA: Day two at @SonsofAnarchy today… pretty easy getting up at 6am when I'm this excited! pic.twitter.com/sSX4g2zVOi — Lea Michele (@msleamichele) July 29, 2014

Things break down, whether due to accidents, negligence, or just plain wear and tear. Instead of shelling out for an expensive repair or replacement, though, you can often fix the problem yourself for much less. Here are 10 repairs you should never pay for. Image from Refat/Shutterstock 10. Bicycles Bicycles are quick to break down, especially if you don't treat them properly, but that doesn't mean you need to take it in for repairs every few months. Most of the fixes you can easily do yourself at home. Check out The Bicycle Tutor for instructions on how to perform pretty much any fix you could ever need, and if you need a repair stand, you can always make one of those for yourself too. Advertisement 9. Headphones Advertisement It always seems inevitable that your headphone cords are going to start fraying, the 'buds will detach themselves, and you'll be stuck buying another pair. Instead of buying new 'phones, though, you can easily fix those stripped wires with a bit of Plasti Dip. Alternatively, if it's the actual connector that's causing problems, you can replace that yourself in a jiffy as well. And, in the future, make sure you wrap your headphones correctly instead of just waiting for the inevitable—we've featured a ton of different ways to do this, so there's no excuse to just let them get ruined! 8. Plumbing Advertisement There are certainly times where you want a licensed plumber on the job, but you don't need to call them for every little clog and leak you get. We've shown you how to unclog almost any drain, from the sink to the shower to the toilet. If you're feeling in the mood for a MacGyver trick, we've also mentioned how to fix your toilet with aluminum foil, use food coloring to diagnose a leak, use a stethoscope to locate a leak, and how to make your own homemade Drano without the harsh chemicals. How to Unclog a Drain There are few more annoying home repairs that demand your immediate attention like clogged drains.… Read more Read 7. Clothing Finding the perfect tailor is great for your nice suits and pants, but when it comes to the minor sewing projects, you shouldn't have to bother them—just fix them yourself at home. Learn the basics of sewing and you'll be ready to take on all sorts of DIY clothing projects—from sewing a button back on to fixing size issues in your new favorite button-down shirt. Advertisement 6. Laptop Power Cords Advertisement You may keep your laptop in perfect condition, but that power cord probably still takes a lot of abuse—from the constant coiling and packing to people tripping over it in the coffee shop. Once the ends start to fray, many people would head off to the store to buy a new one, but not you. If it's of the Apple variety, you know you can just open it up and add a new cable, and then learn how to wrap it properly in the future. However, for an easier fix, you can patch up just about any power cord with a bit of Sugru—heck, you could even throw the Sugru on before it frays to give it some extra protection. 5. Phones and Other Mobile Gadgets Advertisement No matter how careful you handle your phone, accidents happen, but you can save some cash by fixing it yourself. Repairing an iPhone screen is rather easy (heck, even a 10 year old can do it), and so is replacing its dead battery. If your iPod isn't booting, you might be able to fix it with just a business card, and even older non-smartphones are fairly easy to fix. No matter what gadget you have, you can head over to repair site iFixit to see a full teardown guide. You might have to buy a replacement screen, battery, or other part online, but it'll be a lot cheaper than buying a new one. Photo by Lars Plougmann. 4. LCD Monitors and TVs Advertisement There's nothing worse than turning on your computer only to see a dead pixel right in the middle of the screen, ready to eat away at you until you go crazy and buy a new monitor. Luckily, these pixels are often just stuck, not dead, and you can fix them with computer programs, by massaging it away, or, if it really is dead, you can bring it back to life with a damp cloth. If you've burned an image into your LCD instead, you can fix that too with a white screen saver. If it does come time to replace it, do what you have to do—but if it's a laptop monitor, you might want to try replacing the screen yourself instead of sending it in for repairs (or buying a whole new laptop). Photo by whyohwhyohwhyoh. 3. Cars While you aren't equipped to fix more complicated automobile problems, you can easily pull off lots of the low-level maintenance stuff yourself, without taking a costly trip to the dealership. Learn how to change a tire yourself, and check out VehicleFixer for videos on how to change the oil, replace your brake pads, and more. If you have a small dent in your car, you may even be able to fix that with a can of compressed air and a hairdryer. Note that while these are all things you can do yourself, minor jobs are also useful for testing out new mechanics—so don't be afraid to hand that brake job over once in a while if you're trying out someone new. Advertisement 2. Your House Advertisement The walls and floor of your house are subject to wear and tear just like everything else, but much of it you can fix right on the spot. Repairing wall damage is easy, and you can always fill in floor holes with a melted crayon, fix stripped screw holes with a golf tee, and even fix cracks in your furniture with mayonnaise. If you want to get a few DIY skills for the future, we can't recommend volunteering enough—working on a site with someone like Habitat for Humanity is a great way to learn more about home repair while doing something good in the process. Of course, when the problem is serious enough that you need to call a contractor, make sure you don't get hosed in the process. Photo by Sharon Pruitt. 1. Computers Advertisement As many of you may know, rarely should you need to take your computer into the Geek Squad to get it fixed up. Whether it's your computer, your roommate's, or another friend's, we've got a guide to repairing just about any problem they could have, as well as diagnosing a computer that's just plain slow. If it's a hardware problem, you can always head to iFixit for instructions on how to repair Macs, or open up that PC and see what might be causing the problem. Some hardware can even be fixed at home, like if your CPU pins are bent or if your video card's solder points have become loose. Whatever the issue, make sure you read up on computer maintenance when you're done, so you can avoid the problem in the future. In the end, doing it yourself is great, but it's also good to know when a project is over your head and it's time to call someone else. In addition, sometimes it actually is better to replace your gear instead of fix it, so make sure you aren't on a fool's errand trying to fix a gadget that's just reached its time to die. Got your own favorite repair project that you did on your own, or a skill any DIYer should know how to do? Share it with us in the comments.

So i opened up my gift that came earlier on tonight. The postman just left it outside my f---ing door for anyone to take, but luckily i live in a decent are. Well anyway, when i picked it up it was actually really light in a relatively large box, so I was thinking about some million handkerchiefs or something or the infamous 4 paperclips Well anyway, I went up to the study as the things I put in my likes might not be entirely visible to my parents if really fulfilled, so you know, just some viewer privacy just in case it's a bong or a crop. Well i opened the thing, and was blinded by the colours. it took me a while to actually realise what it was, but then i figured it out and turned it upside down. It's actually really awesome. I have no idea how the ss figured out i might enjoy kids toys, but i guess r/teenagers does say enough. Well anyway, take a look at my awesome gift in action in the video below :) Thanks so much mr anonymous, i will enjoy this gift a lot... once the circumstances you told me will happen. I might just get drunk with my mum and my step dad just so that I can enjoy this gift fully. Thanks again, Jonáš :)

A Royal Marine taking part in a selection process for the SAS died after he fell down a gorge which he did not realise was there because it was marked on a map in Welsh. An inquest into the death of 25-year-old marine Ashley Hicks, heard that he plunged more than 100ft down a steep gorge, in the dark, near Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia in October 2012 during an "escape and evasion" exercise. Later the same night a second soldier suffered a broken leg after falling 30ft on to a ledge in the same gorge. The coroner said the marine's death was avoidable as she recorded a verdict of accidental death. "Had the gorge been identified in the recce procedure it would have been out of bounds and he wouldn't have been there," Nicola Jones, the coroner said. She added: "Crucially there will be more attempts to gain local specialist knowledge of unacceptable hazards on training grounds. "The failure to identify this gorge as an unduly hazardous location is clearly the most significant contributing factor to Ashley slipping and falling." The coroner said the word "ceunant" (gorge) appeared on the planning map and asked why no one had identified it, as it was the local language. "It's unlikely they would obtain translation of the words. We tend to operate in symbology," Soldier AA, the assistant chief of staff at the Ministry of Defence responsible for specialist units, told the inquest. A service inquiry had been carried out following the incidentand Soldier AA was one of three panel members. The panel felt the planning and reconnaissance of the area was not as comprehensive as it could have been. He told the hearing that Google maps were now used "to try to fly the terrain." He added :"We are quite proud of our map-reading ability. On this occasion that ability wasn't good enough to prevent the non-identification of this hazard. We have taken steps to make sure that doesn't happen again. One of these steps is to take advice." He added :"We now know what 'gorge' in Welsh looks like." Another officer, known as 'Soldier R' and in charge of selecting new recruits said :"We can't eliminate all risk." He said in a statement that procedures had been reviewed. "Escape, evasion and survival are inherent skills a soldier must demonstrate to join this specialist unit," he added. Around 250 students took part in each course and the inquest heard the pass rate was between nine and 13 per cent. Marine Hicks, of Solihull, was in the top ten of students. The exercise scenario was that soldiers had been in a helicopter downed in hostile territory. A "hunter" force of 100 "enemy" soldiers were seeking them. Soldier R said:"He was a good candidate for whom we had the highest expectations. We would expect rather than hope someone of Ashley's quality would pass the course."

Anti-White Narrat ive: Slurs Slurs are names, labels, definitions, or descriptions of any segment of the diverse white American peoples that demonstrate the state of mind of the speaker as one of bullying, deception, hating, bigotry, dehumanization, or supremacy. Here are six principal themes to use in an attackback. Supremacists Attackback by charging the specific slanderer (not his or her demographic affinity group) with claiming supremacy in naming the other. The defamers are supremacists. Tell them so. Bullies Call them bullies seeking to push diverse white American youth around. It's true and it's powerful. Haters Point out that the slur shows a hate-filled mind. Call them haters. Liars Call them liars for smothering the diversity and nationality, as well as the continental and regional origins, of those slurred. Bigots And the proponents of the anti-white narrative with its slurs are bigots. Tell them so. Dehumanizing In addition, expose them as dehumanizing with slurs that use animal, insect, plant, color, or food names, or by referring to diverse white American youth with a negative label ("non-Hispanic whites") or with a single point of color label ("whites"), always without diversity and nationality. Our all-time favorite dehumanizing hate speech was by the much-lionized critic Susan Sontag who wrote that “the white race is the cancer of human history." [Partisan Review, Winter 1967, p. 57] Susan Sontag was part of the Graetz legacy. He launched a propaganda campaign of "scourging" and "flogging" the majority demographic in his home country (Germany) in 1868, as well as a parallel propaganda campaign "to shatter Christianity." WARNING: Here are some concepts not to use in an attackback. (1) Do not attack the entire demographic affinity group to which the slanderer belongs. We can't do it because we are fighting an attack on our entire demographic affinity group. (2) Do not use "rational" arguments based on logic (logic is dead in public discourse), the double standard (it's applauded by our adversaries), racism (it's been defined in a biased way), history (they twist it), fairness (not going to happen), and dictionary definitions (they distract from the state of mind of the slanderer). 3) Do not use "irrational" arguments based on being offended on the grounds that it is infantile and subjective. Attackback on objective grounds that explain that the slanderer opened his or her mind to us to determine as to whether the slanderer was lying, bigoted, a supremacist, a hater, a bully, or a dehumanizer. We have an entire section on the attackback in this syllabus. CASE STUDIES OF EXAMPLES: Anglo - This is an italicized Spanish-language epithet and claim of supremacy over diverse white Americans -- not shorthand for the English-language ethnic name Anglo-Saxon. It's also an expression of hatred. Goyim - This is a claim of supremacy over the diverse white Americans by claiming the right to label them and an attempt to smother white American diversity and nationality. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted asylum in July 2003 to a Southwest Asian who claimed being called goy as an aspect of his persecution abroad. Ram HaCohen explained goyim on 4/10/10 by saying "no matter how Jewish-friendly (and Israel-friendly) a nation has been historically, Israelis are encouraged to view all non-Jews ("Goyim" is the pejorative term used uncritically by most Hebrew speakers) as inherently anti-Semitic and therefore anti-Israeli." Gringo - This label is a claim of supremacy over white Euro-Americans; an expression of hatred; and a targeting term for violence. This was an important signifying slur during the huge Mexican May Day marches on 5/1/06. Haole - This is a claim to supremacy in Hawaii over the diverse white Americans by claiming the right to name and label them; and an expression of hatred. Non-Hispanic Whites - This is an expression of hatred by the dominant media culture, and an attempt to smother white American diversity and nationality. This term is sometimes defended as a US Census term but the haters who make that claim never use the parallel census terms -- non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic Asian, and non-Hispanic Indian. Redneck - This label is an expression of hatred for diverse white American rural dwelling people like mechanics, farmers, merchants, and farm workers, especially by the urban-coastal class. See Al Sharpton explain redneck and cracker. Begin at 50 on the video. Shiksa - This is a claim to supremacy over, and an act of bullying, the diverse white European American women by claiming the right to name and label them. See Israel Shahak's definition of shiksa, 1994, page 26 -- "unclean animal; loathsome creature, abomination." Even Commentary magazine recognizes the vicious nature of shiksa. Typical White Person - A serious expression of hostility to white Americans' diversity, nationality, and right to self-name; and a disgraceful slander by then US Senator Obama on 3/20/08, just two days after his speech on race in Philadelphia on 3/18/08. White Boy - This is an expression of hatred for white American men, and an attempt to smother white Euro-American men's diversity, nationality, and continental origins. California State Assembly Member Paul Fong of Cupertino is most well-known locally for using this term to describe European American men. This term was used in 2012 to label Tucker Carlson by an employee of Fox News TV. White Skin Privilege - This is a Big Lie by extremists in academia, entertainment, and media claiming that all white Euro-Americans are equally successful in all walks of life, similar to the term "model minority." This label is based on a claim to supremacy in naming; it is an example of bullying; it is based on raw hatred; it is a Big Lie; and it is profoundly dehumanizing. See the 1997 book by Jim Goad for a look at the lives of subordinated and blue-collar diverse white American peoples in the land of "white privilege." For a longer review of "white skin privilege" go here. The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by US Senator James Webb of Virginia on 7/22/10 on this very topic with good arguments if incompletely addressed. White Trash - A term that is officially a race crime in England. You People - This is a variant on "your people," "those people," and "these people." The San Jose Mercury News had a major melt down over these terms on its editorial page on 6/1/03, but the paper engages in similar identifying labels all the time. It was a challenge to understand why it can be categorized as a slur, but the reason is that "you people" is a label or name which denies those so labeled their diversity and their nationality, as well as their right to name themselves. This slur has been frequently applied to the diverse white American peoples, but the best documented example of its use (against another demographic affinity group) was Ross Perot's use of it before a convention of African Americans in 1992.

This week, like much of July, a heat wave is cooking America with extreme temperatures, affecting energy production as well as causing fires and water shortages, sucking electricity like crazy to power the cooling necessary to avoid discomfort and even death. According to the National Weather Service, 122 million Americans are under heat alerts. Fortunately, nuclear power hasn’t minded, scoring record capacity factors of 96% and up with no increase in price. Other energy sources do not fare so well. It’s all about diversity. Whether in biology, in culture, in training, or in technology, when conditions change a system survives if there is sufficient diversity to adapt. Otherwise it dies. This is no less true for electricity production. Having a diverse group of energy systems is key to a society surviving changes in demographics and changes in government, geological processes and natural disasters, disruption in supplies from war, or extreme weather changes. This concept is in full display this month as this heat wave continues to sweep across America. Just like during the polar vortex, when nuclear stepped up to relieve natural gas and coal when they failed to deliver on the demand, nuclear also performs wonderfully during extreme weather at the other end of the thermometer. This kind of constant baseload power during the hottest part of the day is essential to keep our air conditioning going and for stabilizing the grid against blackouts. Nuclear plants are the backbone of the electricity grid, operating all the time even under the most extreme weather conditions. Unfortunately, much of the electricity needed to combat this heat wave is concentrated during peak hours of the afternoon when wind turbines are not turning (see figure 2). Instead, peaker plants have to come online. Peaker plants operate only to make up the difference between base load and peak load (see figure 3). Our current energy grid makes these plants necessary, but they come at a steep price. Peaker plants are usually natural gas, but can also use coal, jet fuel, oil and diesel. In Washington State, hydropower serves as the peaker in a different way. Peakers usually run for short periods of time and so are less efficient and dirtier than conventional base load fossil fuel plants. Though natural gas is certainly cleaner than coal, natural gas does have some environmental issues from fracking, to pipelines, to fugitive emissions of methane. And lots of CO2 emissions, if you care about that. In unregulated markets like the Northeast and California, these peakers can gouge the buyer, tripling and quadrupling the price of electricity, especially during a heat wave when gas supplies are stretched thin. Not nuclear. These plants just churn out power at the same low price, whatever the conditions. But gas has come to be the essential fuel in America, forced to back up renewables, replacing coal and load-following the rest of the grid. However, electric utilities are struggling to meet peak demand in hot summer weather because of limits on their natural gas supply, especially in southern California, where it has been forced to replace so much nuclear power lost from the premature closing of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The situation will get worse if the Diablo Canyon nuclear plants close prematurely as planned. At the beginning of July, citing natural gas capacity problems, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) issued the first Flex Alert in two years as western America baked under triple-digit heat. Up until this summer, California had avoided the gas availability and pipeline delivery problems that plague other power grids during extreme weather, particularly in New England and the Midwest. But when temperatures rise above 90°F, it takes more MWs to serve the same number of buildings, leading to strain on generators. A combination of voluntary demand response programs and calls for voluntary public conservation kept demand below dangerous levels. This time. The California grid also faces limited hydropower imports from the Pacific Northwest because of extreme heat up here, reducing the state’s ability to handle this crisis. “SoCalGas told us they had gas congestion and capacity issues,” said ISO spokesman Steven Greenlee, which led to a decision to issue the public call for conservation. Day-ahead wholesale power prices had risen 51% in northern California and 44% in southern California in response to the heat wave. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, utilities across the western United States withdrew 1 billion cubic feet of gas from storage to satisfy power demand during this heat wave, during a period when they typically inject 11 billion cubic feet into storage. During peak-hours in California, gas supplied over 60% of California's electric load while solar and wind supplied less than 15%. The largest solar plant in the United States, California’s Ivanpah, recovering from a solar fire in May and struggling with bad performance overall, isn’t helping much in this heat. After receiving $1.6 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy and $535 million from the U.S. Treasury, Ivanpah is still unable to meet its promised 940,000 MWhs per year and is failing to even meet it's power purchase agreement. “We got lucky in that there was some monsoon cloud cover from the desert southwest that came into California and kept temperatures lower, but it also added to the variability of solar resources that we had to contend with," said Greenlee. Luck and more gas pipelines…if we close anymore nuclear plants, that’s what we’ll be depending on in the future.

FIRST: Thank you for helping us hit the first stretch goal! We will add wireless communication capability between the STEM Base and the host. NOW, THE UPDATE: The STEM System represents an evolution from the earlier generation of Sixense technology used in the Razer Hydra. The STEM System features lower latency (even with wireless trackers), longer range and better tracking performance at all ranges. To help explain the technology behind these improvements, here is a video with Igor Khalfin, PhD, a member of our Advisory Board and one of the world's foremost authorities in high-precision tracking, guidance and navigation systems. (Dr. Khalfin’s bio is below the video.) Igor Khalfin, PhD Dr. Khalfin has over 30 years of experience in the aerospace/defense industries and academia, holds 5 patents in electromagnetic tracking and has published over 40 scientific papers on related topics. His expertise includes optoelectronics, electromagnetics, imaging systems and sensors, remote sensing, applied physics, signal processing, and nonlinear systems. Dr. Khalfin is currently employed with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, where he leads the projects on spacecraft control systems. His prior experience includes senior engineering positions at Rockwell Collins, Polhemus, State University of New York, and University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He holds a PhD in physics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

The percentage of working-age Canadians who aren’t working – who aren’t even looking for a job – is at a historic high years after the economy supposedly bounced back from the recession. The labour participation rate for Canadian men in their working prime – ages 25 through 54 – is the lowest it’s been since Statistics Canada started collecting that data. Women’s participation rate, rising since the 1950s, has been largely stagnant since 2006. Canadians want to work. They’re settling for temp, seasonal or part-time jobs, without the stability of a pension or benefits, to stay in the workforce. But for many, the numbers just don’t add up. They go back to school; they settle for seasonal, contract work; some just throw in the towel. Read the series Government response: What the feds had to say about Canadians’ labour instability trap ‘Like banging your head against a wall’ Jillanne Mignon quit her job because she couldn’t afford it. She was working a decent gig for the city of Winnipeg’s 311 service – a job she’d left her university program to take so she could support her toddler son, Michael. But even with that salary, she found herself in a cycle of debt just to pay for child care. “When there’s a subsidy, there’s no spaces. When there are spaces, there’s no subsidy. … “When you have people depending on you and you can’t give them all that you want, it’s nightmarish.” Watch: Mark McAllister looks into why so many Canadians have stopped looking for work. Ultimately, she realized it just didn’t make sense. “I’m going to work to pay for childcare because I don’t want to be on welfare. “But then it’s better if I go on welfare because then I don’t have to worry about childcare because welfare won’t force me to go to work until my kid is six. So I’m tired. And I don’t know what I want to do. “It’s like banging your head against a wall.” So she quit her job. Moved to Toronto, where the combination of family support and all-day kindergarten helped with child care. Swallowed her pride and went on welfare. “When you have student loans and you still have to go on welfare, that hurts. Because you’ve tried to educate yourself so you don’t have to be dependent on the government for social assistance,” she said. It sounds like an inconceivable decision, to abandon a decent job in favour of a penurious social-assistance program that’s become (inaccurately, evidence shows) associated with sloth and system-scammers. But that’s the reality for a growing number of Canadians. Job market dropouts The percentage of Canadians over 15 who are working or actively looking for work is 66.1, its lowest point since 2001. (For both men and women aged 25-54, it’s 86.1 – the lowest since 2002. For men 25-54 it’s 90.4, the lowest since at least 1976.) Ontario’s participation rate for the same age group, 65.9, hasn’t been this bad since 1998. In British Columbia, under two-thirds of the working-age population is in the job market – the lowest percentage since at least 1990. “It is indicative of a weak economy, no question,” said Mike Moffatt, an economist with the Mowat Centre and the Ivey School of Business. While it isn’t unusual for job market participation to drop in a downturn, recoveries are supposed to have the opposite effect, as more people re-enter an invigorated labour market. If the percentage of people working or looking for work continues to drop, as it has, something’s wrong. Moffatt sees the historic low participation rates as part of a decades-long trend, hastened by the financial crisis. “It’s a trend, unfortunately, I expect to see continue with globalization and automation: It’s getting tough for men, particularly ones that don’t have levels of higher education,” he said. It’s “problematic not just for the individuals, but it causes an ever-shrinking tax base if you have smaller proportions of adults in the labour force. “It absolutely is worrisome.” A government that wants to reverse that trend, then, would have to both encourage men and women to join and remain in the labour market, and ensure they have the skills they need to do so. And while both federal and provincial governments have touted “job creation” partnerships with businesses, economists have argued it makes more sense to focus on the individuals who need jobs and marketable skills. “People want to be in the workforce. I don’t think anyone wants to stay at home and feel useless,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “The question is, how do we provide circumstances where there’s employment for them?” A fraying safety net Mignon has a plan: In Toronto, on welfare, she spent nine months researching the job market to qualify for Second Career funding so she could go back to school and get back in the workforce. “I worked for that money,” she says. And now, if she can keep up the commute from her Parkdale apartment to Scarborough for classes at Centennial College, she can make it work. But it isn’t easy. Every dollar of the money she’s getting to pay her tuition is being deducted from the welfare cheque she needs to pay rent, feed and clothe herself and Michael, who is now five-going-on-six and adjusting to Grade One and the prospect of homework. “Social assistance is now saying, ‘Well this [Second Career funding] is an income,” she said. “It’s taxed. They’re going to take it off my cheque, dollar for dollar. “I’m basically being penalized [for going back to school].” Ontario Community and Social Services spokesperson Kristen Tedesco confirmed that Second Career funding gets deducted from welfare cheques. But she added that “A recipient’s payment can fluctuate for a variety of reasons. … We encourage Ontario Works clients to contact their caseworker immediately with any payment support issues.” (Mignon assures that she has: “I have a very big mouth,” she said, laughing. “I’ve realized if you don’t advocate for yourself, they’re just going to step on you.” For now, she says, she’s making it work.) At the same time, there are strict limits on anything Mignon can save: Put too much aside, and your welfare gets clawed back. The asset limit on how much Mignon and her son can save, given the assistance they’re getting right now, is $3,000. “They’ve basically said, ‘We are going to keep you in poverty by not allowing you to save enough money to get out of poverty.’” Upping that asset limit by a few thousand, she said, could change everything. “If you have $10,000, you have a stable stand. Maybe a bank will lend you $500. Maybe you can move to a better neighbourhood; if there’s an emergency, if you need your wisdom teeth out, you can afford that,” she said. “You can say … ‘Let me see what my options are.’” “But $3,000? $3,000 gets you nowhere quick.” Economists and advocates who study the social assistance cycle argue having savings, or being allowed to accumulate them without losing income assistance, would help keep people from falling back into poverty. “You have to impoverish yourself to have access to” welfare, says Mary Marrone, director of legal services at Ontario’s Income Security Advocacy Centre, This makes it much more difficult to pull yourself back out. “People are living on a razor’s edge. … You haven’t had a chance to build up any savings.” The goal of social assistance programs, Marrone argues, should be to get people into sustainable financial situations so they stay off social assistance, rather than simply get them out of the program as soon as possible. When social assistance becomes ‘a trap’ About 45 per cent of people who leave Ontario Works to rejoin the job market are back on welfare within two years, the province’s Tedesco said. Frances Lankin, the former head of Toronto’s United Way, co-authored a report on how to reform Ontario’s social assistance framework. She says there’s too much focus and too many resources devoted to policing the program rather than helping people get off assistance, and stay off. “It’s not a joy, being on welfare,” she said. “Social assistance can become a trap. “So if minimum wage is very low and if the jobs available have no prospect of becoming decent, middle-income jobs … let’s say you’re a single parent with a kid with asthma, all of a sudden you’ve got a moral decision: Do you go back to work and get a job that pays a fraction more … but has no drug coverage to pay for the asthma drugs for your kid? That’s not a decision that, ‘Oh, I am lazy and don’t want to work.’” At the same time, Lankin said, people in that position are faced with fewer options. “A number of the supports outside social assistance have become frayed over time. And people can’t live on the margins. So they fall into social assistance quicker and it’s harder to get back out.” On bad days, Mignon is overwhelmed with the juggling her life entails, swamped by self-doubt. Graduation feels far away, the prospect of subsequent employment iffy. On good days, she has plans: Getting Michael into a better school. Moving – maybe someday to a white-picket home in the suburbs around Toronto, with a backyard for Michael. Graduating from Centennial and working in community economic development. “I know what it’s like to be on both ends of the spectrum – to have financial security and to be very, very, very insecure, financially,” she said. “I think that, as Canadians, we kind of have rose-coloured glasses on where our economy really is.” Tell us your story: Have you given up on the job market? Have you been trapped by social assistance? We’d love to hear from you. Note: We may use your response in this or other stories. While we may give you a shout to follow up we won’t publish your contact info.

This is the bizarre moment an Asian woman praised Pauline Hanson by comparing her to both Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The woman's gushing praise of the controversial One Nation leader was captured in an interview with ABC's The Link presenter Stan Grant. He spoke to residents of New South Wales in a segment that aired on Friday night asking them what they think of Ms Hanson. While one man dismissed her as 'too anti-everything,' an Asian woman – who was not named – was filmed in a shopping centre as she heaped praise on Senator Hanson. This woman heaped praise Pauline Hanson in an interview with The Link - comparing her to Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler 'Pauline Hanson is straightforward,' she said. 'She's sincere, she's not a hypocrite. If she doesn't like you, I don't like you.' The woman continued to compliment Ms Hanson by comparing her qualities with two other nationalistic politicians she admires - the current President of the United States and the leader of Nazi Germany. Speaking about why she likes Ms Hanson, the woman continued: 'Just like Trump. I like Trump. Donald Trump is sincere. 'He's sincere, straightforward. If he tells you you're not okay, you're not okay – not okay for America. You're destroying our country.' The unnamed woman described the One Nation leader as 'sincere' and 'straightforward' While some called Ms Hanson (pictured) 'too anti-everything', the woman continued to compliment her Asked if she would like to hear more Trump-inspired rhetoric in Australia, she replied: 'Yes, yes.' She added: 'See like that speech he had yesterday, that was great. Yes, it sounded like Hitler, but you know, Hitler loved Germany.' Later on the programme, American political analyst and author Thomas Frank said the woman's comments were 'alarming'. 'Oh my goodness, well, it sounds like you're going to get your own Donald Trump here soon,' he told Mr Grant. 'That's a little bit alarming. 'Everything those people said, you take out the accent and some of the slang and that's exactly the kind of thing you heard from Americans during the last election cycle.' The woman compared Ms Hanson to other nationalistic politicians Donald Trump (pictured left) and Adolf Hitler (right) Ms Hanson has said that Australians are calling out for a 'strong leader' like Vladimir Putin Meanwhile, Ms Hanson herself recently praised a controversial leader – Russian President Vladimir Putin. She insisted that Australians are calling out for a 'strong leader' like Putin in an interview on Insiders. 'I listened to a speech he gave in Parliament,' she told Insiders host Barrie Cassidy. 'Even the people here in Australia were saying, 'I wish we had a leader like that here, I wish someone would stand up and fight for this country.' 'That's what people expect.'

What makes a great leader? Knowledge, smarts and vision, to be sure. To that, Daniel Goleman, author of “Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence,” would add the ability to identify and monitor emotions — your own and others’ — and to manage relationships. Qualities associated with such “emotional intelligence” distinguish the best leaders in the corporate world, according to Mr. Goleman, a former New York Times science reporter, a psychologist and co-director of a consortium at Rutgers University to foster research on the role emotional intelligence plays in excellence. He shares his short list of the competencies. 1. SELF-AWARENESS Realistic self-confidence: You understand your own strengths and limitations; you operate from competence and know when to rely on someone else on the team. Emotional insight: You understand your feelings. Being aware of what makes you angry, for instance, can help you manage that anger. 2. SELF-MANAGEMENT Resilience: You stay calm under pressure and recover quickly from upsets. You don’t brood or panic. In a crisis, people look to the leader for reassurance; if the leader is calm, they can be, too.

CSU (Photo: CSU) The CSU volleyball team notched another road sweep Thursday night in one of its best all-around performances of the season. The Rams swept New Mexico 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-21) to move to 10-5 and 4-0 in Mountain West play. The Colorado State University offense was nearly unstoppable on Thursday. The Rams hit .389 with the five main attackers all hitting .350 or better as freshman setter Katie Oleksak dished out 39 assists. “That’s a tribute to her distribution,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “We’re getting more comfortable. We’re growing through this offensively. We’ve got talented players in every spot. (Oleksak’s) finding ways to get it to them and quickly.” CSU HOMECOMING: TV, ticket and game day info Jasmine Hanna hit .423 and led the team with 12 kills. Sanja Cizmic, Kirstie Hillyer and Alexandra Poletto all had eight kills each, with Poletto adding seven blocks. Olivia Nicholson added seven kills. New Mexico (10-8, 1-4 MW) hit just .074 and the Rams out-blocked the hosts 12-3. Other than serving (CSU had 11 serving errors and New Mexico had 10 aces), it was the best performance of the season from CSU. The serving kept UNM in sets and Hilbert said that needs to be cleaned up ahead of a big showdown Saturday at UNLV. “The biggest test is Saturday,” Hilbert said. “I’m excited for that one.” Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle. CSU 3, New Mexico 0 CSU 25 25 25 — 3 UNM 19 20 21 — 0 Next up: CSU at UNLV, 4 p.m. Saturday at Cox Pavilion

How to choose the right IT Ops certs to stay competitive Mention certifications in the IT world and you find three camps. There are those who are all for them, which generally includes those who create, administer, and grant certified status. There are many who say that certification is a fool's game because it rests on rote memorization and doesn't really prove ability. And then there those who don't care about the debate—they just want to remain employable. This article is for you. As the computing world shifts and moves ever faster toward greater virtualization, cloud computing, and software-defined everything, you need new skills and knowledge to stay ahead and remain competitive. So here's an overview of infrastructure-related certifications and the specific areas that you should consider. The State of Analytics in IT Operations GET WHITE PAPER Certification pros and cons Not everyone likes the idea of certification. Many say certifications show that someone passed a series of tests, not that he or she is good at actually doing the work of an IT infrastructure professional. The post-nominal letters literally spelling out a certification also don't address someone's work ethic, compatibility with a given corporate culture, inventiveness, or other characteristics that are critical in hiring. It's a good point. Memorizing all the possible settings for a piece of hardware or software may save some time but fails to determine whether someone would be a good infrastructure employee. Among the arguments for gaining certifications, the biggest is the HR department angle. The dynamics of hiring employees are difficult at many companies. Hiring managers tell HR professionals the characteristics they want in candidates for a given position. The HR staff looks for all the specific requirements the hiring managers mentioned, including certifications, for two reasons. One reason is that no one in corporate America wants to be caught making a blatant mistake. If HR focuses on what the manager wanted, their actions are safe. Another reason is the ability to reject candidates. This isn't a game or hard-heartedness so much as an action of self-preservation. An ad could bring in hundreds of résumés, and someone has to go through them. If they make certifications a requirement, then they can eliminate anyone who doesn't meet the profile. Of course, there will be some highly experienced people who could perform the job without having the certification, but the HR staff won't have the expertise to tell, and they don't want to pass along unknown quantities and turn the interview stage into a wild goose chase. Even if it seems unfair or narrow, you'll likely need certifications to safeguard your future as an infrastructure professional who has access to the widest job market. [ Webinar: 5 Things Every SecOps Team Wants Their NetOps Team to Know ] Future-proofing your certifications portfolio The question is what types of certifications you will need in this changing realm of computing and infrastructure. Paradoxically, that means starting with what you need for traditional computing. New approaches to computing don't eradicate all the investment in hardware and software that has taken place over the years. There's still a need for data centers at many companies, whether it's because of particularly strong security or regulatory requirements. Companies need networks, otherwise there's no way to connect to a cloud, or anything else. But now there are multiple cloud services in use. Increasingly, aspects of infrastructure are falling into the "software-defined" camp, so much of the work is now done through scripting and not necessarily changing cabling among sets of equipment. Automation is decreasing the time it takes to deploy and reconfigure resources while also reducing the number of infrastructure professionals that may be needed by a company, which means that greater job safety comes with knowing how to create automation, not performing manual steps. "In these new areas, certifications are becoming more and more important," said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive of Accenture Technology Services. "We believe people need to change their skill sets and stay relevant." For example, his company has spent $841 million on skill development for people across different skill areas, including certification and training. And then there is the issue of being able to migrate among different career options. "You don't want to box in," said P.K. Agarwal, regional dean and CEO of Northeastern University-Silicon Valley. "Everything is moving fast. What if this brand X is the darling tomorrow? I like the idea of certifications that also say you understand this industry and the subject of cloud." Choosing the 'right' certifications But, still, what certifications should you have? Ultimately, this is a matter of personal preference and your own career strategy. Certifications can become a time sink. You could pile one on after another until you retire, but it's not as though they are free to pick up. Part of your decision is recognizing that there are two types of certifications. One is a more general type that says you are knowledgeable in a specific area of infrastructure. The tests check for skills that work independent of specific vendors, which is important. Computing is frequently heterogeneous. Then there are the vendor-specific certifications, created and administered by the vendors themselves. Often, they can be self-serving. "Every vendor is going to find a way to keep you as a captive customer so you cannot leave them," Agarwal said. Ones with greater market share—Cisco in networking is a great example—want to keep professionals close at hand because those are the people who have a lot of influence in what equipment and software companies will purchase going forward. But the certifications continue to expand, making decisions difficult. "There are nine CCNA exams [now]," said Kimberley Parsons Trommler, now a product evangelist but formerly a senior systems engineer also involved in certification and training for Paessler, a provider of network and IT monitoring products. "It makes it very difficult for someone just starting out to know what they should do. And it makes it complicated for the employer. They probably need routing and switching and security, but people applying will probably have only one of those. Which is more relevant to the position they're trying to fill?" What if you want to keep your options open and be able to work for a company that uses networking equipment from a different vendor—for example, Jupiter or Brocade? Trying to cover all possibilities is wildly impractical. There are also entirely new types of certifications coming out that you may need to consider, even though they initially don't seem to be about infrastructure. "As we move toward software-defined everything, the capabilities that companies require are more aligned with dev practices and less aligned with operational practices," said Chris Ciborowski, CEO of Nebulaworks. And yet developers don't understand all the needs of deployment at scale. "If you're going to be a scripting or tool developer, you have to understand those things and translate the tools and monitoring solutions the developers need to use," he said. For example, Jenkins is a popular open-source continuous integration automation tool that can merge all development work into a mainline body of code. CloudBees offers a platform-as-a-service delivery of Jenkins and created the first certification for the technology. "Some products are so important for the market that it means something for them to be certified," said Francois Dechery, CloudBees' vice president of customer success. "You cannot be certified on our certification without being knowledgeable and having hands-on experience with Jenkins." Then there are technologies that may not currently have certifications but might soon. Docker, for example, automates application deployment inside of software containers in a virtual hosting environment. Developing your certification strategy: Seek balance In short, this is a game with a bewildering number of choices and high personal stakes. Your decisions have to depend on developing a personal strategy in the context of technology and market trends. However, here are some principles that will come into play: You need a balance between vendor-specific certifications and those that cover concepts in a vendor-neutral way. Another balance you need is between proven areas that have become a baseline requirement for many employers and those that represent the future and can act as competitive differentiation in the market. A third type of balance to seek is across the spectrum of resource types. You're looking at your future as an infrastructure pro, so be sure you can navigate from an in-house data center, across whatever network architecture you might face, to a cloud, and then across cloud services if necessary. Remember that software increasingly controls configuration of infrastructure hardware, including virtual resources, so don't neglect important development skills. (Check out my guide to coding bootcamps.) What follows are some of the top certification categories for the expanding concept of infrastructure along with specific ones for in-demand technologies. Popularity was largely the driving factor in choosing specific certifications, with more advanced versions of certification taking precedence over lower-level ones. However, remember that a less-sought certification can still be the difference between an interview invitation and radio silence on the company's part if that business has standardized on a given vendor's technology. Also remember that a given certification may require that a candidate has previously passed other specific tests. Prices are in US dollars; testing costs in other countries may vary. Cloud certifications Cloud is the future of computing—not all computing, but so much that you won't be able to avoid it. Certification: AWS Certified Solution Architect - Professional (AWS-CSA) Vendor: Amazon Structure: Multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions in a 170-minute exam available in English or Japanese. Amazon sets passing scores by statistical analysis and does not make those scores public. Recertification: Two years Cost: Practice exam, $40. Exam, $300 Description: Shows advanced skills and experience designing distributed applications and systems on Amazon's AWS cloud platform. Should have the AWS-CSA - Associate certification and at least two years of hands-on experience designing and deploying cloud architecture. Understand best practices on design across applications and projects. Certification: CompTIA Cloud+ Vendor: CompTIA Structure: Ninety-minute test with 100 multiple-choice questions. Passing score is 750 on a 100-to-900 scale. Recertification: Three years Cost: $285 Description: Shows vendor-neutral expertise in implementing and maintaining cloud services. "[C]overs competency in cloud models, virtualization, infrastructure, security, resource management and business continuity." Should have two to three years of networking, storage, or IT data center administration and be familiar with any hypervisor technology. Certification: MCSD: Azure Solutions Architect Vendor: Microsoft Structure: A series of three tests. An exam can contain any of a number of question types, including short answer, multiple choice, case studies, and more. Microsoft regularly introduces new testing techniques and updates content. Recertification: Two years Cost: $495 (three tests, $165 each) Description: Certifies the ability to manage the "full breadth of architecting, developing, and administering Azure solutions." Certification: MCSE: Private Cloud Vendor: Microsoft Structure: A series of five tests. An exam can contain any of a number of question types, including short answer, multiple choice, case studies, and more. Microsoft regularly introduces new testing techniques and updates content. Recertification: Three years Cost: $825 (five tests, $165 each) Description: Certifies that the person can manage and implement Microsoft private cloud computing technologies. Certification: Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA) Vendor: OpenStack Foundation Structure: A hands-on, 2.5-hour test. Candidates must provide own hardware running a Chrome or Chromium browser and should have at least six months of OpenStack experience. Recertification: Three years Cost: $300 Description: Demonstrates that a person who passes "has the skills required to provide day-to-day operation and management of an OpenStack cloud." Data center Even with companies taking advantage of public clouds, there are still data centers for processes considered mission-critical or too sensitive to run on shared services. Certification: MCSE: Server Infrastructure Vendor: Microsoft Structure: A series of five tests. An exam can contain any of a number of question types, including short answer, multiple choice, case studies, and more. Microsoft regularly introduces new testing techniques and updates content. Recertification: Three years Cost: $825 (five tests, $165 each) Description: Holder has the skills "to run a highly efficient and modern data center, with expertise in identity management, systems management, virtualization, storage, and networking." Certification: Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Vendor: Red Hat Structure: Two tests that are hands-on, practical exams. Recertification: Generally three years, but requirements can change depending on version of Red Hat used in original certification and current version. Cost: $800 (two tests, $400 each) Description: Highest level of Red Hat certification. Certification: CompTIA Server+ Vendor: CompTIA Structure: Ninety-minute test with 100 multiple-choice questions. Passing score is 750 on a 100-to-900 scale. Recertification: No required recertification. Cost: $285 Description: Addresses such topics as system hardware and software, disaster recovery, configuration, documentation, best practices, and troubleshooting. Certification: Data Center Design Consultant (DCDC) Vendor: BICSI Structure: Two-hour exam with 100 multiple-choice questions. Recertification: Three years Cost: $645 for non-members for application and exam fees ($395 for members) Description: Covers mechanical, electrical, and telecommunications systems in addition to data center requirements, including reliability, security, and building requirements. Network certifications You have to tie together various parts of a company's infrastructure, and that requires networking. Certification: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Vendor: Cisco Structure: Two-hour written exam (between 90 and 110 questions) and eight-hour practical exam. Recertification: Two years Cost: $2,000 (written exam, $400; practical exam, $1,600) Description: Demonstration of wide-ranging and high-level skills in all aspects of network engineering. Multiple specialty variations are available. Certification: Juniper Networks Certified Expert Enterprise Routing and Switching (JNCIE-ENT) Vendor: Juniper Structure: Hands-on practical exam. Recertification: Three years Cost: $300 Description: Requires JNCIP-ENT certification as a prerequisite. Designed to "validate the networking professionals’ ability to deploy, configure, manage and troubleshoot Junos-based enterprise routing and switching platforms." Certification: CompTIA Network+ Vendor: CompTIA Structure: Ninety-minute test with maximum of 90 multiple-choice questions, drag-and-drops, and performance-based assessment. Passing score is 720 on a 100-to-900 scale. Recertification: No required recertification. Cost: $285 Description: Examines the "the essential knowledge and skills needed to confidently design, configure, manage and troubleshoot any wired and wireless networks." Requires a CompTIA A+ certification and nine months of networking experience. Virtualization certifications Server and desktop virtualization have become popular ways to centralize administrative control of resources. Certification: VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP6-DCV) Vendor: VMware Structure: Depends on background. If you are new to VMware certification, you would need to attend a training course and pass two examinations: the 90-minute, 65-question vSphere 6 Foundations Exam, and the 100-minute, 85-question VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization Exam. Recertification: Two years. Cost: $345 ($120 for foundations exam, $225 for VCP6-DCV exam) Description: "Validates that you know how to administer and troubleshoot vSphere V6 infrastructures, leveraging best practices to provide a scalable and reliable virtualization platform for your company." Certification: Citrix Certified Professional - Virtualization (CCP-V) Vendor: Citrix Structure: One test Recertification: Three years Cost: $300 Description: Requires previous CCA-V certification. Focused on desktop virtualization, not server. As noted above, there are many certification choices you can make. What would you add or drop from the list? What do you think in general about certifications? Image credit: Flickr

Amazon has launched a new cheaper version of its Echo Dot voice-controlled device today. The launch comes six months after Amazon first introduced two new Echo devices — one of which was the $90 Echo Dot, which has a line-out port to connect to third-party speakers. It has been sold out in recent months, which may have been a deliberate move by Amazon to pave the way for the new Dot that is coming to market today. Priced at $50 (£50 / €60 in the U.K. / Germany), the new version is similar to the existing incarnation in most respects, but it has been trimmed by a few millimeters and now packs a more powerful processor, meaning it should be capable of performing more labor-intensive tasks. What’s perhaps most interesting, apart from the price, is that it can be bought just like beer — in six-packs and 12-packs. Image Credit: Paul Sawers / VentureBeat The six-pack effectively gets you half-a-dozen Dots for the price of five, while with the bigger box you get 12 for the price of 10. This isn’t the first time Amazon has introduced beer-style bulk-buying to its products — it did the exact same thing for its quad-core Fire tablet launch last September. But it helps to illustrate what Amazon is striving for here — it wants consumers to embed the Echo and its Alexa-powered brain in every room of their house. The new Echo Dot comes out on the same day that Amazon announced its flagship smart Echo speaker is finally launching outside of the U.S, kicking off with the U.K. and Germany today.

393352 06: (L to R) Actors Sarah Chalke, Zach Braff, and Donald Faison poses for a publicity photo for the television show 'Scrubs.' (Photo Courtesy of NBC/Getty Images) Donald Faison, who played Dr. Christopher Turk on the show "Scrubs," celebrates his birthday today, June 22. As "Scrubs" still has a lasting fan base -- the writers would call their cult following "Our Nerds" -- The Huffington Post has gathered 11 things from old interviews that you didn't know about your favorite gang of doctors, and they'll make you want to yell, "Eagle!" 1. The main cast went skinny dipping together on Faison's birthday. Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Faison appeared on AOL's "Outside the Box" series and were asked by a fan about the weirdest or most memorable moment they'd had on or off the set. Faison told a story about the three of them going to the Bahamas for his birthday, where they went swimming in the ocean. While they waded in the waves, they could look into the distance and see a lightning storm adding beautiful touches of light to the horizon. Originally, Faison was just going to stop there, but then Braff said Faison should mention they were skinny dipping, as well. Chalke said she kept her swimsuit on, but Braff claimed that he and Faison were swimming naked together, "just like J.D. and Turk would." 2. J.D. and Turk were based on real doctors, one of which was "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence's best friend in college. Image: "Scrubs" In 2004, Bill Lawrence and Braff appeared on NPR's Fresh Air to talk about their still relatively new show at the time, along with the upcoming release of Braff's "Garden State." Lawrence talked about how the show was based in reality, partly because his best friend from the College of William & Mary -- where he went for undergrad -- was a future med school student named J.D. Hence the inspiration for Lawrence's group of normal, young, fun-loving friends trying to survive the rigors of becoming a doctor. Lawrence's last memory of J.D. was as a guy with an empty 12-pack of beer on his head. He told Fresh Air that his worst nightmare in the world as a young 23-year-old would have been to end up in the emergency room with J.D. as the doctor. At a talk at his alma mater in 2009, Lawrence said that the relationship between J.D. and Turk is based off his own friendship with J.D. in school, mixed with the stories that came from the real-life Dr. Jon Turk. You can see Faison and Braff meet the doctors they're based on in this video. 3. Braff said that his ideal end for the show was Ted going "postal" and killing everyone. Talking with ABC -- coincidentally, during the same day as the previously mentioned AOL interview -- the main stars were asked how they would write the ending of the show. Braff responded, "I would like Ted the lawyer to go postal and come to work and kill everybody." Faison responded, "Nice." The three seemed particularly annoyed with this soul-patched interviewer, so Braff was probably just joking. He ended up changing his answer to Elliot and J.D. ending up together, Turk ending his relationship with Carla and then Elliot and J.D. adopting him. 4. The actor who played "The Todd" described the character's sexuality as "try-sexual," as in he'd try anything. At a Season 3 party, IGN asked Robert Maschio about the sexual orientation of "The Todd." Maschio responded: I think he's not homosexual. He's not bisexual. He's try-sexual. He'll try anyone. I think "The Todd" would go for the hot girl at the party first, and then as the night goes on, if I may say, he may go for the fat girl, and then when he strikes out there, he's gonna go with the dude who's been eyeing him all night. Just take him home and say, "Just finish that off. As long as I don't touch your ears, it's not gay." That's how I take it. He's a hedonist. He's a sensualist. He's addicted to pleasures of the flesh. 5. The cast and crew had an ongoing game of dares called "Scrubs Factor." Tattoos and eating pigs' feet were involved. "Scrubs Factor" is mentioned in that same IGN interview by multiple members of the cast and crew. At the time, Braff said the grossest one had been, "when the guy ate pigs' feet." Braff continued, "He loved pigs' feet and he downed about 30 in about five minutes for like 500 bucks." In a feature for the Season 3 DVD, Lawrence explained that he started the game as a bonding session and initially instigated the pigs' feet challenge when they all came across a jar of them at a bar. Chalke was once dared by Lawrence to go order coffee at a Starbucks in a burlesque outfit where she apparently had to wait 20 minutes in line. During the IGN interview, Chalke also mentioned that later that night, $1,000 was on the table for whoever got a "Scrubs" tattoo. It's unclear whether anybody followed through. 6. The medical cases in the show were based on actual stories from physicians, whose names would then be written into the show. Image: Getty During NPR's Fresh Air interview with Braff and Lawrence, the show creator said that every single medical story on the show was handed to them by real physicians. The show never used real patients' names, but Lawrence and his writers would make sure the doctors' names were written into the episodes. 7. Lawrence's wife -- who played Jordan -- would dictate her acting schedule while they were in bed. Image: "Scrubs" Also in that NPR interview, Lawrence talked about what it was like having his wife, Christa Miller, play a main character on the show. Lawrence said that he'd take elements of their marriage and put them into the writing, presumably for the relationship between Jordan and Dr. Cox. He jokingly added that it was the one time a week he could tell his wife what to do and she'd have to listen. Lawrence also said that Miller had "the world's cherriest gig" for an actress because she could wake up next to him, say she felt like working Thursday, and then Lawrence and the writers would write her into the script for that day. 8. Braff quit his job as a waiter when he got hired for "Scrubs," but didn't realize filming wouldn't start for another four months. He wrote "Garden State" during this time. During the "Garden State" press tour, Braff was interviewed by Uncut and was asked how long it took him to figure out the movie. Braff said it actually had to do with how the beginning of his "Scrubs" job worked out. I’d been waiting tables when I got cast in 'Scrubs,' and I quit as a waiter only to be told we wouldn’t actually be filming for four months. So I sat down for that time and hammered out the first draft. Then once 'Scrubs' started, I spent the next two years trying to get someone interested in making it. 9. The "Scrubs" scripts were kept top secret from even the main cast during the early seasons. Image: "Scrubs" An early episode of "The Daily Show" featured Jon Stewart interviewing a young Braff just as "Scrubs" was starting to get traction. When Stewart asked what sorts of plot developments were coming up, Braff claimed that the writers told him nothing and he didn't find out what would happen until the day he'd show up to set. "It's all very top secret," said Braff. Braff also asked Stewart to come on the show as a patient or a corpse, which unfortunately never came to be. 10. NBC changed the show's airing time so often that Braff's mom would regularly call him to ask when she could watch. Image: Getty IGN also interviewed Braff in 2004, and he said that he felt that a lot of the trouble with the "Scrubs" ratings at the time was caused by NBC moving the show around so much in their schedule. Braff even told a story about how his mom had a hard time finding out when to watch her son, saying, "My mom will call me and be like, 'When are you on this week?'" 11. If the show only lasted one season, Janitor was going to be just a figment of J.D.'s imagination. "If the show ended after one year, he was just going to be a figment of J.D.'s imagination," Lawrence said during NPR's Fresh Air interview. It wasn't until about midway through the second season that the actor who played Janitor, Neil Flynn, was able to interact with another actor aside from Braff. There was also a couple competing reasons for why the Janitor was always picking on Braff. Lawrence felt, personally, that he'd always had someone in his life latch on to teasing him for seemingly no reason, and so Flynn's character was based on this idea.

37k SHARES SHARE THIS STORY President Donald Trump’s war with the intelligence community is about to go nuclear, says former NSA analyst and national security expert John Schindler. The intelligence community’s efforts to do their jobs and expose the connections between the Trump camp and the Russian government have been met with insults and attacks from our hypersensitive President as he attempts to paint them as the enemy and sides with the Russians against the men and women who work tirelessly to keep our nation safe from foreign threats. Just this morning, Trump decided to smear last night’s bombshell report on the Trump camp’s continued contacts with Russian officials during the election as “illegal:” The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017 This is only the latest in a long string of attacks – like that time Trump compared the intelligence community to “Nazis” – that Schindler says is aggravating the intelligence community – with potentially devastating consequences: US intelligence is not the problem here. The President's collusion with Russian intelligence is. Many details, but the essence is simple. — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 Progress? The President was calling US "intelligence" Nazis only a few weeks ago — now they're merely un-American.https://t.co/5y1T8EHCJy — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 Now we go nuclear. IC war going to new levels. Just got an EM fm senior IC friend, it began: "He will die in jail."https://t.co/e6FxCclVqT — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 Putin never viewed Trump as anything more than a useful lunatic. Moscow wants political chaos in America — and oh boy are they getting it. — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 In this tweet, IC is shorthand for “intelligence community” and EM for “email.” If we take these tweets at face value, Trump’s continued insistence on berating the intelligence community for their work and siding with the Russians over our own national security apparatus is going to come back to haunt him. The only thing “illegal” about this entire scandal are the secret communications that the Trump campaign was conducting with agents of the Russian Federation during and after the election – and every move the Trump administration makes only deepens the suspicion that the Russian government is blackmailing our so-called President – and that is an unacceptable state of affairs. Download our NEW Occupy Democrats app for your iPhone by clicking here or for your Android by clicking here. Add your name to millions demanding that Congress take action on the President’s crimes. IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP!

TOP 5 SPENDING TOP 5 SPENDING WASHINGTON — Tuesday's midterm elections — and the record-shattering amounts outside groups spent to oust Democratic incumbents — are just a warm-up to the 2012 presidential race, analysts and experts say. Conservative groups outspent liberal groups by a more than 2-to-1 ratio heading into an Election Day that brought the biggest Republican sweep in the House of Representatives in decades and sliced into the Democratic majority in the Senate. "The Democrats brought a bat, and the Republicans brought a grenade," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. "If you think spending is out of control by outside groups, it likely will blow your mind in the presidential election." President Obama has repeatedly lambasted conservative groups for their role in the midterm elections and criticized the Supreme Court's decision in January that opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and union spending on election ads. Conservative spending has topped $187 million this year, up from $19.6 million in 2006, the last midterm election, the center's data show. The leader of one of the leading GOP organizations said on Wednesday that it plans to play a big role in 2012. "People wanted Congress and the president to address the economy and felt that instead the Congress and the president were pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with what the average American wanted," said Steven Law, CEO of American Crossroads and a related group that spent more than $38 million combined to influence races. "Our goal was to amplify that," he said. "The main thing for the president to do is to listen to that for his own sake and for the country's sake. If he decides not to, we will amplify it even louder in 2012." In more than 50 House races, outside groups and party committees outspent the candidates, a USA TODAY analysis shows. Other trends: •In the 48 House contests in which outside groups spent a combined $1 million or more, Republicans won two-thirds, a USA TODAY analysis of election results and campaign reports shows. In one Upstate New York district, conservative groups such as American Crossroads, the Tea Party Express and the 60 Plus Association bought $2.8 million in negative ads attacking freshman Democratic Rep. Scott Murphy on health care, helping Republican Christopher Gibson win 55% of the vote. •Self-funded candidates of both parties faired poorly Tuesday. Only four of the 15 federal candidates who put $1 million or more into their own campaigns won on Tuesday, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics. Wrestling executive Linda McMahon lost the Connecticut Senate race, despite spending $46.6 million — or roughly $96 per vote. By comparison, her Democratic opponent, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, spent $12 per vote with campaign and personal funds. Other self-funded candidates who lost include: former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who spent more than $142 million of her own money in the California gubernatorial contest. Some multimillion-dollar-spending candidates did have success. Republican Ron Johnson, CEO of a polymer company, spent $8.2 million of his own to oust Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. Republican Rick Scott, founder of the hospital chain Columbia/HCA, spent $73 million in a successful bid for Florida governor. •U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $32 million on 67 House and Senate races. The USA TODAY analysis shows that 72% of chamber-backed candidates won so far. But, it spent nearly $5 million against Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who won. R. Bruce Josten, the chamber's top lobbyist, said the state's voters were out of step with the rest of the electorate. "You've got a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, with massive budget deficits ... and a body politic that showed absolutely no signs of coming to grips with their own economic reality." This year's spending should spur Democrats to start raising cash for their own outside efforts, said Mark Aronchick, a longtime Democratic fundraiser in Philadelphia. "Interest and advocacy groups that support the Democratic agenda need to stop wringing their hands and step up to the plate," he said. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more

We are eight weeks into the season, and we only have three weeks left of the LCS regular season and fantasy. The pressure to win is increasing exponentially and decisions have more weight behind them now that the end is upon us. Week 8 Analysis Last week, I incorrectly predicted Millenium, Roccat, Dignitas, and Alliance. My data incorrectly predicted Roccat, Dignitas, CLG, and Gambit. I made the mistake of thinking that Mil was on a downswing, when in reality they were just being horribly inconsistent which they showed in their crushing victory over Alliance and their close game with CW. Alliance was the exact opposite: I thought that they were just having a fluke week on super week and that their games vs Roccat and Millenium would boost them back up. Instead, they went 0-2 and look extremely vulnerable for the first time this season. It seemed expected that Dig would at least have close games with LMQ and CLG, but they were crushed in both games and garnered less than half of what was expected of them. Roccat went 2-0 against SK and Alliance. CLG went 2-0 against TSM and Dig in crushing victories. Gambit swapped their roster around and not even NiQ could post a decent score this week. SK did much worse than expected this week, however, they were expected to do the worst, or the 2nd worst in each of their respective positions, so I would say that was still accurate. Overall, my data predictions were extremely accurate and fairly precise last week. I was 0.56% accurate, and +/- 9.53 points precise for both EU and NA last week. A lot of that deviation comes from EU where teams like Gambit, SK, and Roccat scored upwards of 30 points off from the predicted values. In fact, EU was +/- 11.51 points precise while NA was +/- 7.54 points precise. The good thing about EU is that it remains extremely accurate due to many games being stomps. When one team in EU scores over, another team will score just as much under the projection. I found that another good way to compare how well predictions worked is to rank all players based on their predictions, and then see where they ended up for their actual performance. For last week, the two tables are here: Projected Week 8 Actual Week 8 As you can see, even though teams like SK did much worse than predicted, they were still predicted to be some of the worst players going into week 8, and they ended in relatively the same spots. Week 9 Method Not many changes this week. The biggest change is that I am including the chart that ranks the players by their position which can be found directly below. And the points projected for each player (M3): Top Lane FNC SOAZ 42.61 points Fnatic is now #1 in EU by elo, and they have crushed their competition in recent weeks. They also play the two weakest teams in EU this week: Gambit and CW. I’m going to spoil the rest of this for you, Fnatic is #1 in every position, and they will all have the same reasoning as s0AZ. Start them. TSM Dyrus 33.67 points TSM is a strong team that struggles to consistently beat the top teams in NA. This week, they play LMQ and coL. That seems a little contradictory for them to do well this week, but TSM players average 14 points a game against LMQ even though they have not beaten LMQ. They also average 25 points against coL. So expect TSM to do well this week. Dyrus is the biggest risk of the entire TSM roster because he only averages 6.5 points a game against LMQ and about 18.5 points a game against coL. LMQ Ackerman 31.15 points Ackerman has been one of the best top laners throughout the split and he is lucky enough to be playing against TSM and CLG this week. Most teams score a lot of points for their top laners against CLG, and LMQ has yet to lose to TSM this split. If Ackerman performs to his average against these teams, he is in line to get 51 points, 31 from TSM and 20 from CLG. I would definitely start Ackerman. Jungle FNC Cyanide 40.78 points Fnatic player. See Soaz. See the past two weeks. TSM Amazing 39.47 points TSM plays coL and LMQ this week and both teams like to have games that either last extremely long or have a lot of kills. Amazing has 36 points on average from these teams, and his aggressive playstyle will be rewarded in these probably high-scoring games. Mil KottenX 32.52 points KottenX always plays well. He has had maybe one bad week this split, but he has consistently been one of the top performers on a team that goes for kills. Mil plays a struggling SK and a resurgent Roccat this week, so they might have issues, but I thought they would have issues last week and almost all of them were #1 in their respective positions. Mid FNC xPeke 48.48 points I tried warning you guys. Fnatic is #1 in every position, and I think those predictions are fair. Keep reading. TSM Bjergsen 44.61 points Oh, I forgot to mention, TSM is #2 in every position this week as well. Again, I think #2 is fair for all of them except for Dyrus, and entirely possible. Unless they give Vasilii Tristana. Then your fantasy points can RIP. All Froggen 41.99 points Even when most of Alliance underperformed last week, Froggen remained strong. Alliance has an easier schedule this week, and they will hopefully perform better than last week. I feel confident with Froggen being my #3 mid laner. ADC FNC Rekkles 54.72 points Even if FNC wasn’t all #1 right now, I think Rekkles would still be #1. Amazing player, team is playing better than ever, “easy” week; all of that means a lot of fantasy points. TSM WildTurtle 44.63 points TSM is 2nd again. WildTurtle has been playing amazingly ever since the casters started talking about him not having a game with more than 5 (or was it 7) kills in this split. I think the players just enjoy proving Jatt wrong and it is very likely that it can be an NA LCS game that they play amongst themselves. CLG Doublelift 41.69 points He’s in the number three position along with his trusty partner and the more attractive half of rush hour: Aphromoo. He plays LMQ and EG this week, and on average would score 40 points against those teams. EG has not looked like they have improved much since the last time CLG played them, and LMQ vs CLG is always a high-kill game due to both teams always trying to make plays to get back in the game. Support FNC Yellowstar 47.94 points Supports are very reliant on how well their team does. Fnatic is doing well. Yellowstar will do well. He has also played amazingly the past 2 weeks. Start him. TSM Gleeb 37.35 points TSM will probably do well. TSM likes to snowball games from kills. Kills mean assists. Assists mean free fantasy points for whoever started Gleeb. CLG Aphromoo 34.10 points APHROMOO! The community-titled “Best Player NA” has been playing outstanding recently. CLG has historically scored a lot of points against EG and LMQ, and I don’t see that slowing down anytime soon. I would start him, especially alongside his more attractive partner Doublelift. Teams Fnatic 34 points This is like the really bad “Knock Knock” joke involving bananas and an orange. Except there are no oranges to make me glad I didn’t say banana. Fnatic is number one, once again this week, and that’s all I have to say. Dignitas 30 points Dignitas has already started their typical end-season slide with none of their players performing well in the past couple of weeks and a severe lack of coordination. Also, none of their players are expected to be in the top 10 of their respective positions, so it is extremely unlikely for their team to do that much better than the players. They play CRS and EG this week so there is hope, but I find it unlikely. Alliance 30 points Hopefully Alliance can pull it together, but like Dig, they are 2-4 in their last two weeks. They have an easier schedule this week than they did last week, but if they are really slumping, that might not even help them. SHC and GMB are still LCS-level teams, so no win is free, especially with how Alliance has looked these past two weeks. Closing LCS is coming to a close soon, and that means Worlds is coming up. However, that also means that Fantasy will end until January of 2015 (unless Riot has fantasy Worlds with a draft for all the teams for the round robin stage of Worlds. Rito pls!). So far, I think that fantasy data not only has applications in predicting the outcomes of games and scores players will get each game, but that the data is also extremely useful in identifying strength of teams and analyzing their playstyle’s or where their weakest link is. So far, I only have one loss this season in fantasy due to Mil and Roc last week (I hate you Fridge) and I have really enjoyed doing these articles for you guys. I look forward to the next 3 weeks and hopefully the next time Fantasy LCS becomes available. Credit to /u/_Zaga_ and his site http://flcspro.com for compiling all data for me this week. P.S. Have some elo graphs of NA and EU! K = 45.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The phrase, “Go West, young man!” has been around for many decades, and although it will take them 80 years, the American Hockey League is doing just that. Indeed, it’s been in the works for years, and there has been an ever-increasing amount of talk about it over the past few years, but it all became reality on January 29, when the AHL announced that the affiliates of five National Hockey League teams will move to California to form a new Pacific Division of the AHL. The teams in this new division will begin play next season, marking the first time the AHL will have teams in California in what will be their 80-year history. “Today, we are announcing that we will begin our 80th season [2015-16] with another monumental shift in the geography of our league,” David Andrews, President, Chief Executive Officer, American Hockey League, told the media at a press conference in San Jose. “Earlier this week, the American Hockey League’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the purchase of an AHL franchise by the Anaheim Ducks, and the relocation of AHL franchises owned by the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, and the San Jose Sharks, as well as the franchise being purchased by Anaheim. These approvals are paving the way for the launch, next Fall, of the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League, with teams in five California cities.” The new division shakes out this way: Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals and move them from Norfolk, Virginia to San Diego. Calgary Flames will move their affiliate, the Adirondack Flames, from Glens Falls, New York, to Stockton. Edmonton Oilers will move their affiliate, Oklahoma City Barons, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Bakersfield, where the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors will move up to the AHL Los Angeles Kings will swap their ECHL and AHL affiliates, with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs moving to Ontario where they will take on the name of the existing Ontario Reign. Meanwhile, the ECHL’s Ontario Reign will move to Manchester, New Hampshire and become the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs San Jose Sharks will move their affiliate, the Worcester Sharks, from Worcester, Massachusetts to San Jose, where they will play at the SAP Center, sharing the same arena as the NHL’s Sharks. “This is a significant day for hockey, and the growth of the sport in California,” said John Tortora, Chief Operating Officer, San Jose Sharks. “In 25 short years, hockey [in California] has grown from one NHL team to three very successful NHL teams. Each franchise has developed robust youth hockey programs in their markets, culminating with each team having California-trained players on their rosters and in their systems. Now, hockey adds another layer to its California growth, five NHL teams identifying five California cities throughout the state for the home of their top development clubs.” “For the growth of hockey, it’s a tremendous thing, obviously, for California, but [also] for the United States,” said Luc Robitaille, President, Business Operations, Los Angeles Kings. “To have five teams that are going to play on the West Coast now, fans are going to be able to see players who are one phone call away from playing in the NHL.” “When we talk about the AHL, we’re talking about an entirely different level,” added Robitaille. “People who are fortunate enough to see those games, they’re going to see a very, very high skill level, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.” Ducks Executive Vice President/General Manager Bob Murray and Vice Chair, Oilers Entertainment Group Kevin Lowe agreed. “To use a favorite word of our recently retired Teemu Selanne, this is an unbelievable day for hockey in California, for Anaheim, the organization, and for the city of San Diego, where [their AHL affiliate] will be moving to,” said Murray. “When the Samueli’s bought the team in 2005, [former Ducks general manager] Brian Burke and I—our first week on the job—we looked at each other [and said], ‘we’ve got to move our minor league team out here,’ so this is a dream come true.” “All of us will agree that from when Luc Robitaille played for the Kings, and Wayne Gretzky got traded there in 1988, it’s to the betterment of the NHL, and the great game of hockey, that Californians will have [a lot] more opportunities to watch world-class hockey,” said Lowe. It’s All About Player Development Despite all that, providing more professional hockey for California hockey fans is not the priority for these NHL teams—not even close. Rather, their focus is on improving their player development by bringing their top development teams much closer to home. Murray provided an example of the impact the move will have on California’s NHL teams. “On a Tuesday morning in November, now, I can do as the guys on the [East Coast] can do,” he said. “I can get out of bed, and instead of watching our team practice, I can drive down the coast, which is kind of nice, go to San Diego, and watch my minor league team practice.” “There’s no price tag you can put on that,” he added. “That is just so valuable, to your players, and to you. This just exposes them to me, and me to them so much more. It’s a remarkable thing, and again, it’s a dream come true.” For obvious reasons, things will be a bit different for the two Canadian NHL teams. “It’s a great day for hockey, and it’s really going to enhance our development,” said Lowe. “As a Canadian team, we’re a little further away. We won’t have the luxury of driving down the coast to see our American league team. But the players are really going to benefit from the proximity of the teams.” “Presently, we’re in Oklahoma City,” added Lowe. “It’s a wonderful city, and we really enjoyed being there. But our closest opponent was a six-hour bus ride away, and the rest of the teams were, pretty much, a flight away, so this is really going to enhance development for our players.” Flames general manager Brad Treliving echoed Lowe’s sentiments. “It’s really remarkable, when we talk about the growth of the sport within this state,” he said. “When you look at [it] from the pure product standpoint, from the general manager’s standpoint, we can’t really highlight as well as we should how important this is from a development standpoint.” “The biggest thing for us is how can we get a better development model, and I can tell you from having a team on the East Coast—we’re currently in Glens Falls, which is a wonderful community,” he added. “It’s been an excellent market for us. But those cross-country flights, dealing with a different time zone when you play a game on a Friday night, and you need a guy on Saturday, there’s challenges involved with it. There’s a lot of challenges, and I think, for a number of years now, the [Western] teams—the real priority for this is, is there a better way for the teams in the West to develop players?” To be sure, reduced travel will be huge boon to the development efforts of the Flames and Oilers. “The big thing in development in hockey is to have practice time,” Lowe noted. “[But] when you’re flying around all the time, across the country, you eliminate practice days. We anticipate, possibly, somewhere between 20 and 25 extra practice days, and in a season that’s approximately 180 days, that’s a big percentage of time for the development of these young players.” Murray pointed to the San Diego market as an example of how primed some California cities are for an AHL franchise. “There’s been people asking me, ‘who’s going to play on your team down there?’ My answer is quite simple,” he said. “On our Anaheim Ducks roster, right now, there’s only two players who did not play in the American Hockey League. That’s remarkable.” “As for San Diego, five years ago, we started a high school league,” he added. “We had two teams. Today, we have 41. Two years ago, one team from our area won the national championship. Hockey is growing in California. Even in bantam and midget [leagues], we’ve had winners coming out of California in the last few years.” “Hockey is growing in California, and on the West Coast. This is just going to take that one step farther, and ahead.” Move Will Be Tough On Current Fans Although the five NHL teams are opening a new frontier, of sorts, in California, they know that they are leaving the fans of their existing AHL franchises behind. “We’re thrilled to bring the AHL to California, and add to the incredible growth of the game on the West Coast,” said Andrews. “I want to thank, though, our fans, and all of those individuals who have supported the American Hockey League in Adirondack, in Norfolk, in Manchester, in Worcester, and in Oklahoma City.” “This transition in the pro hockey landscape is important for our sport,” added Andrews. “We’re confident, though, that in the near future, our fans in those cities we are departing, will continue to enjoy a high level of minor professional hockey. We’re very thankful for their long-standing support of our league.” Treliving acknowledged the fans of the Flames’ existing AHL affiliate. “As exciting as this, is from a hockey standpoint and a development standpoint, we do understand and recognize that there’s markets today that are losing a team,” said Treliving. “That’s a difficult thing, when people invest, both financially and emotionally, it’s a hard thing, so I do want to thank the fans in Glens Falls who have supported our team over the course of the year, and we hope we can have a strong finish.” The Kings are in a slightly different position, swapping their AHL and ECHL franchises, who will exchange cities and arenas. “On behalf of the LA Kings, we want to say thank you to the people in Manchester,” said Robitaille. “You’re not losing a team. You’ll get another team.” “We’re excited that we’re going to Ontario,” added Robitaille. “It will be a great thing for hockey.” Kings Reaction Back at their practice facility in El Segundo, California, left wing Dwight King, who played for both of the Kings’ minor league affiliates, was pleased to hear the news. “I think it’s great,” he said. “As far as Ontario goes, they have a nice facility. [It’s well-]equipped. The fan base there is great, [and if the building isn’t] full, it’s near full every night. That’s what players want to play in front of.” “For the players, it’s a lot easier for travel and locations, so that’s nice,” he added. “It’s a little different. [For most players], playing hockey in California is pretty rare. If [someone gets] the opportunity, I don’t think they’re going to be disappointed, no matter what city they’re in.” Head coach Darryl Sutter noted that talk about such a change started back when he was general manager of the Calgary Flames (April 11, 2003 to December 28, 2010; he was hired as the Flames head coach on December 29, 2002, and served in both positions from April 11, 2003 to July 12, 2006). “It’s been talked about for a long time,” he said. “When I was in Calgary and Brian Burke was [the general manager] in Vancouver, we were trying to get more teams to be involved, but at that time, we couldn’t get any of these teams in California to be involved. Now, we’ve got all three of the California teams. Hopefully, it works, and it should.” “Glad that they’re finally putting it in place, formally,” he added. “It’ll be interesting to see how they announce the schedule, format, and all that, because it’s going to have to balance, somehow. There’s going to have to be a playoff set-up that works for the rest of the American league.” “The next part is—five [teams] is an odd number. You’d like to have an even number of teams.” Frozen Royalty by Gann Matsuda is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License . You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this site are required. Photographs, graphic images, and other content not specified are subject to additional restrictions. Additional information is available at: Frozen Royalty – Licensing and Copyright Information Frozen Royalty’s Comment Policies

Youngster completes switch to Premier League side Leyton Orient’s under-15s player Jay Beckford has completed a transfer to Premier League side Arsenal.The fee was subject to the Elite Player Performance Programme compensation agreement.And while disappointed to lose the youngster to the Gunners, Academy Director Andy Edwards wishes him all the best for the future.“He has been a credit to the club all the time he has been here,” said Edwards. “We are disappointed to lose him. We wish him all the best at Arsenal.“We have got some exceptional players in our academy of which Jay is one.“Arsenal have met the valuation which is linked to the EPPP guidelines and unfortunately we lose him.“The club have received a sum of money which is quite substantial should he go on and become successful there.“We are doing a good job, and as part of that sometimes you are going to lose your better players, but we still think we have got a lot of good players in our system who have got the potential to come through and play in the first team.”

Former England star Paul Scholes is set to play futsal in India Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes has signed a three-year deal to play in India's new futsal league which starts next month. The inaugural edition of Premier Futsal, an indoor variant of football where players use a smaller and less bouncier ball than in the traditional game, will run from July 15-26. "Futsal is a fascinating format that has played a pivotal role in developing the skills of some of the greatest football players," said Scholes. "Premier Futsal will be a great way to introduce the sport to India and I'm looking forward to meeting the fans across India who I know are some of the most passionate in the world." Deco (l) will also play in the inaugural league Ex-Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder Deco and host of the world's top futsallers have already signed up to play in the league, with organisers promising that more marquee signings are on the way. Premier Futsal co-founder, Nithyashree Subban added: "We are extremely proud to announce Paul Scholes as marquee player for Premier Futsal. "Since our launch, we have maintained that we are committed to bringing the top talent from across the world to India and we are clearly delivering on our promise. "Through a pioneering model for introducing futsal and a holistic approach to breeding home-grown talent, Premier Futsal aims to be the marquee all-star futsal tournament in the world." Scholes retired from playing in 2013 Scholes, 41, won 11 Premier League titles, as well as two Champions League trophies, during more than 700 appearances for Manchester United before retiring in 2013. Futsal is five-a-side and is played on a hard-court surface. Premier Futsal - whose president is ex-Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder Figo - is the latest franchise-based sporting competition in India, following the Indian Premier League, Indian Super League and Premier Badminton League.

Fans who can't make it to University of Phoenix Stadium for 2014 Arizona Cardinals Training Camp presented by Hyundai can follow the team's practice on Tuesday, July 29 on NFL Network's Inside Training Camp Live. Former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and anchor Amber Theoharis will host NFL Network's coverage from the team's practice from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Continuing through August 5, NFL Network's Inside Training Camp Live hits the field at 7:00 a.m., providing nine hours of live coverage each day. As teams report to camp and take the field, NFL Network will provide live look-ins at team practices, interviews with players and coaches, analysis from former players, head coaches and front office executives, and live reports from reporters stationed at various training camp sites. Each day, NFL Total Access airs at 4:00 p.m., followed by a two-hour Training Camp Primetime at 5:00 p.m. recapping all of the day's action and providing up-to-date information and analysis.

Lena Oxton (call sign: "Tracer") was the youngest person ever inducted into Overwatch's experimental flight program. Known for her fearless piloting skills, she was handpicked to test the prototype of a teleporting fighter, the Slipstream. But during its first flight, the aircraft's teleportation matrix malfunctioned, and it disappeared. Lena was presumed dead. She reappeared months later, but her ordeal had greatly changed her: her molecules had been desynchronized from the flow of time. Suffering from "chronal disassociation," she was a living ghost, disappearing for hours and days at a time. Even for the brief moments she was present, she was unable to maintain physical form.Overwatch's doctors and scientists were stumped, and Tracer's case seemed hopeless until a scientist named Winston designed the chronal accelerator, a device capable of keeping Tracer anchored in the present. In addition, it gave Tracer the ability to control her own time, allowing her to speed it up and slow it down at will. With her newfound skills, she became one of Overwatch's most effective agents. : Overwatch: Tracer (Lena Oxton)So I keep going with my Overwatch portraits series. The story of Tracer is also full of drama, and I decided to illustrate her as a ghost when she had a "chronal disassociation": - Overwatch Wiki Programms used: SFM+ PS5 #21DaysofOverwatch

Editor's note: This article was updated with new figures on procurement. MOSCOW — Despite the pressure of Western sanctions, the sharp devaluation of the Russian ruble and runaway inflation at home, Russian defense firms featured in this year's Defense News Top 100 ranking saw surging revenues as exports reached new highs and the government poured money into defense procurement. Russia's largest defense firm, air defense concern Almaz-Antey, saw revenues rise 10 percent to $9.2 billion, up $883.5 million over 2013. The Tactical Missile Corp., maker of air-to-air systems, saw the most drastic increase with a 48.6 percent rise in revenue to $2.8 billion in 2014. Other Russian firms that made the ranking were the United Aircraft Corp., which owns Sukhoi, MiG and Irkut, and saw revenues rise 7 percent to $6.2 billion; Russian Helicopters, which finished at $3.96 billion, up 16 percent over 2013; and the United Engine-building Company, which saw a 25 percent increase over 2013 revenues to $3.3 billion in 2014. Other firms that made the ​ list were tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod, which reported defense revenues of $1.54 billion in 2014 — a 1 percent rise — and electronics component manufacturer RTI, rising 15 percent to $947 million. Russia's shipbuilding conglomerate, the United Shipbuilding Corp., declined to participate in the ranking. The impressive rise in revenues for Russian defense manufacturers, despite the pressure of Russia's economic crisis and Western sanctions, was likely due to record-setting export revenues and government procurement expenditures as President Vladimir Putin's decade-long $350 billion military rearmament drive kicked into high gear. Export and Procurement Surge Russian firms exported a record $13.2 billion worth of military hardware abroad in 2014, continuing a nearly 10-year ​year-on-year rise in export revenues for Russia's defense industry. Exports were largely unharmed by sanctions, as Russia's major trading partners are non-Western nations with close political ties to Moscow, such as China, India, Algeria and Venezuela. At the same time, Russian procurement hit a new high, with about 2 trillion rubles (US $33.2 billion) spent on new equipment in 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in April. This was a large increase over the 2013 state defense order, which Medvedev said was valued at around 1.5 trillion rubles. Devaluation and Inflation Although Russian firms saw soaring revenues, Western sanctions did have an impact on the industry, though their effects are not readily apparent from the revenue data. Sanctions combined with a sharp drop in the global price of oil, Russia's main export commodity, ​ to send the value of the ruble plummeting by 40 percent and inflation soaring in 2014. This is a bigger problem for the Russian Defense Ministry than it is for the defense industry, since equipment is now more expensive to produce and Putin's rearmament can afford almost half of what it was intended to two years ago, said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based defense industry think tank and analytics firm. The impact of sanctions on the defense industry will take longer to manifest itself since sanctions were ​limited mostly to a loss of access to Western credit markets and advanced component imports. "The industry was taking money from Russian banks and loans were guaranteed by the state, but the banks were taking cheap money from the West and selling them to Russian defense industry enterprises, and now the majority of these channels are cut," Pukhov said. Russia has launched an import substitution drive to spur the creation of domestic alternatives to foreign procured components, but the process is expected to take two to three years. The government is working to secure advances for defense enterprises working on import substitution to finance the research and development ​ and the investments needed to launch domestic production lines of components ranging from optics to ship diesel turbines, but not everything can be substituted. Pukhov pointed to production equipment and machine-building tools as one area that Russia will struggle to replace, since much of the know-how was lost in the wake of the Soviet collapse in the 1990s. The problems will take longer to manifest themselves, but they have had immediate impacts in the field of shipbuilding, pointed out Dmitry Gorenburg, a Russian military expert at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. "The impact of sanctions on shipbuilding has been quite significant, because the gas turbines for a number of frigate classes were being manufactured in Ukraine," which imposed an arms export embargo on Russia shortly after Moscow annexed Crimea, Gorenburg said. The loss of Ukrainian-made turbines has forced a production halt on the construction of around eight ships of the Admiral Gorshkov- and Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates. But as Gorenburg notes, the EU arms embargo also deprived Russia of German-made engines being used to construct the new Gremyashchy-class corvettes. Only two of the ships have been built and the eight remaining ships ordered for the class have been canceled. "In general, a lot of the problems caused by sanctions are disruptions to the supply chains," Gorenburg said. "Even if they can find new sources, they still have to set those up and they probably won't be identical to those found in Western Europe." Email: mbodner@defensenews.com

Two guys walk into a bar. They order beers. Bartender says they don’t have any beer. The men look confused. A stranger in a stylish hat suggests they try something different. They order a clear malt beverage. It’s on ice, clear, delicious. The men are happy. The entire ad spot lasts 30 seconds, or roughly the same amount of time Zima could claim to be among the most popular adult beverages in the country. In 1991, with beer sales on the decline across the industry, the Coors company of Golden, Colorado decided to blend two of the hottest trends in consumer marketing: “clear” products like Crystal Pepsi and the smooth, gently-intoxicating appeal of wine coolers. By using charcoal to filter the color and taste from their brews, they were able to deliver a vaguely citrus-tasting drink with 4.7 percent alcohol content. The company asked third-party marketing firm Lexicon Branding to give it a name; Jane Espenson, who would later become a staff writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Game of Thrones, dubbed it Zima, the Russian word for "winter." Armed with a $180 million budget for the 1994 launch, Coors peppered television with commercials featuring a spokesman who exchanged his s's for z's. (“What’s your zign?”) They also pushed a slew of merchandising and even an early consumer-use product website. The goal was to get Zima on the minds and into the hands of young males. Owing to the blanket advertising assault, that's exactly what they accomplished. Zima sold a staggering 1.3 million barrels’ worth of product in 1994, giving it a near-instant 1 percent market share in the booze industry. It was estimated that 70 percent of all drinkers tried the “malternative." As Coors would soon learn, those numbers only work in your favor if people like the product. The company was disappointed to learn that many of them didn’t: Men found the taste off-putting. And those who enjoyed it were precisely the demographic they were looking to avoid. Women who normally passed over beer embraced Zima, giving it an effete quality that marketing considered to be grim death for the valued male customer base. If a man couldn’t feel manly taking a pull of the clear stuff, he'd be likely to reach for something else. On the public relations side, Coors was also having to defend itself against charges that teenagers were growing fond of Zima because its smell was harder to detect than regular beer (it had almost no odor) and was easier to consume out in the open. A rumor surfaced that Zima wouldn’t set off a breathalyzer, which Coors was forced to debunk in letters addressed to police chiefs and school officials. Unfortunately, being in the beer business and having to write letters to superintendents means that something has already gone very wrong. By 1995, Zima's sales dropped by half; in 1996, they dropped nearly in half again. David Letterman began mocking it on his talk show. Coors tried to entice the hip crowd, launching Zima Gold, which had a more liquor-like taste, but they weren’t fooled. Zima XXX and its higher-volume alcohol content (5.9 percent) followed, all to diminishing returns. Nothing could recapture that early intrigue: Citing poor sales, Coors, which eventually merged with Miller to become MillerCoors, discontinued Zima in 2008—but that wasn't quite the end. In 2014, The Japan Times reported that Zima was a popular order in Tokyo bars. The drink’s advertising campaign was focused on appearing cool to young Japanese men, who apparently order it without fear of coming off like a party lightweight. And in summer 2017, MillerCoors banked on nostalgia to fuel a Zima comeback: The brewer has resurrected the suds-free beverage for a limited time through Labor Day.

The world’s first monkeys with genes modified through a DNA engineering method known as Crispr/Cas9 were born in a lab. The scientific breakthrough by Chinese researchers could become a cornerstone for research and prevention of human genetic disorders. Researchers at Nanjing Medical University and Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research in Kunming in China have created two genetically modified macaques with targeted mutations using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. “Our study shows that the CRISPR/Cas9 system enables simultaneous disruption of two target genes in one step without producing off-target mutations,” study author Jiahao Sha told the Science Daily. “Considering that many human diseases are caused by genetic abnormalities, targeted genetic modification in monkeys is invaluable for the generation of human disease models.” The researchers introduced single-cell macaque embryos with modified Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) to generate the genome-editing process. RNA is a ubiquitous family of large biological molecules that perform multiple vital roles in the coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. Using the Crispr method, Chinese scientists were targeting three genes in the experiment – one that regulates metabolism, another that regulates immune cell development and a third that regulates stem cells and sex determination. The birth of the genetically modified monkeys was not an easy process. Scientists had to target the genes in 180 single-cell monkey embryos. Eighty three of those 180 embryos were injected into female macaques, yielded only 10 pregnancies. Only one pregnancy so far led to the birth of a pair with simultaneous mutations in two genes. According to coauthor of the study Wezhi Ji, researchers discovered multiple changes in their target genes at different stages of embryonic development. But the newborn macaques are still too young for researchers to determine if their experiment had an effect on physiology or behavior, though “data from this species should be very useful for curing human disease and improving human health,” says Ji. Monkeys are a natural choice to study human disorders because of their close similarities to Homo Sapiens, although past scientific endeavors of precision gene modification in primates have failed. Inserting, deleting, and modifying DNA in human cells and other animal cells has been performed in labs within the confines of petri dishes. The method of gene modifications was also applied to various rodents and zebrafish, however with the birth of two monkeys the study published in Cell magazine, shows that Crispr can produce practical primates with genomes customized at specific targeted genes. Some researchers have already welcomed the breakthrough, saying that this method can eventually help recreate in monkeys such diseases as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, which can’t be studied in other animals like mice. "If we can identify genes for neurological disorders in a clinical setting and transpose those into a monkey it would be of massive benefit. I don't know that it'll lead to a rise in the use of monkeys, but it will lead to more focused studies," said Tipu Aziz, who used primates for his work on Parkinson's disease at Oxford University, the Guardian reports. "People have been looking for primate models for a whole list of diseases, but in the past it's been either completely unfeasible, or incredibly expensive," Nelson Freimer, director of the centre for neurobehavioral genetics at the University of California, told The Guardian. “It's going to be really critical to define the problems for which this is used, just as you always do with animal research. You want to use all the alternatives before you propose animal research. This will be reserved for terrible diseases for which it offers hope that cannot be gotten any other way.”

One of the strangest sentences in American law comes from Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. “Under the First Amendment,” he wrote, in 1974, “there is no such thing as a false idea.” That is not a decree that the world brims with truth. He meant that we rely on the marketplace of ideas, rather than on judges and juries, to sort out truth from falsehood—and to continually check our understanding of the truth. The Justice was restating the central tenet embraced in New York Times v. Sullivan, in 1964, the Supreme Court’s most important decision about freedom of speech and of the press. The Court extended the scope of the First Amendment to libel law and held that, even if a citizen stated or a newspaper published criticism about a public official that was incorrect, that mistake could be punished as libel only if the critic knew or suspected that the criticism was false. In 1967, the Court applied this rule to public figures as well. The premise of the marketplace applies broadly, not just to libel law. The First Amendment protects a lot of harmful speech, including much that is incendiary, offensive, and untrue. That protection covers President Trump, even if he does not believe the torrent of falsehoods he has uttered. Experts on crowd size estimate that his Inauguration attracted a crowd of about a hundred and fifty thousand, but Trump is free to say that there were as many as a million and a half people there. Public officials who oversaw the 2016 election reported that there were scant numbers of votes cast illegally—virtually none compared to the more than 137.7 million ballots cast in total—but Trump can claim that, had it not been for massive voter fraud, he would have won the popular vote, which Hillary Clinton won by 2.9 million votes, or 2.1 per cent of the total. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes introduced this concept into American law almost a century ago, writing that “the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” That includes Trump’s views that journalists are “among the most dishonest human beings on Earth” and “the enemy of the American people,” and that the federal appeals-court ruling that struck down his first travel ban, a month ago, jeopardized the security of the country. A wide body of scholarship has poked holes in Holmes’s idea. Fifty years ago, Jerome A. Barron, of George Washington University Law School, instructed that the marketplace fails because it assumes incorrectly that all citizens have access to it, that truth is always among the ideas in the marketplace, and that citizens are rational and will see the truth, rather than being irrational or simply subjective. Frederick Schauer, of the University of Virginia, summarized the case against the marketplace concept: “placing faith in the superiority of truth” to persuade—over the authority of a speaker, the frequency with which he makes an assertion, the consistency between the assertion and what a listener believes, and other factors, such as whether an assertion is illustrated or not—requires “an almost willful disregard of the masses of scientific and marketing research to the contrary.” (Elizabeth Kolbert wrote last month about new cognitive research that shows the limits of reason.) Schauer wrote that the belief that “a good remedy for false speech is more speech, or that truth will prevail in the long run, may itself be an example of the resistance of false factual propositions to argument and counterexample.” These days, the most obvious problem with the notion of a marketplace of ideas is balkanization: instead of there being an overarching marketplace where truth can vanquish falsehood, there are at least two very separate markets—“filter bubbles,” as Amanda Hess described them in the Times—for Trump supporters and opponents, resulting from “the tendency of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to lock users into personalized feedback loops, each with its own news sources, cultural touchstones and political inclinations.” There is also the problem that some bubbles are more counterfactual than others. This was clear from the proliferation of bogus news in support of the Trump campaign, like what came out of the Macedonian town of Veles, with its “100 pro-Trump websites, many of them filled with sensationalist, utterly fake news,” during the Presidential election, as Wired reported. That counterfeit content “energized Trump’s partisans,” the scholars Michael C. Dorf and Sidney Tarrow wrote recently, “and may have been decisive in securing Trump’s victory.”

Visitors to the shrine chant a prayer to the saint. Before heading back to their homes, many will give alms to the beggars who sit on the tomb’s marble steps. Mariya Karimjee In Manghopir, the shrine’s caretakers worry about the consequences for their fledgling microeconomy. Vendors struggle to sell flowers outside the shrines, the mosaic tile work at the shrine falls into disrepair as donations shrink, and the beggars who once lived off visitors’ alms have dispersed. The shrine’s caretakers are concerned that eventually there may be no crocodiles left. Currently, they say, there are an estimated 200 crocodiles at the shrine, though the actual number appears to be smaller. “Every so often we’ll sacrifice a goat and cut it up and feed it to the crocodiles, but these animals live off the donations of shrine visitors,” says Mahmood, who has watched over the reptiles since he was a young boy. Each year since 2010, citing imminent threats by Islamic fundamentalists, the Sindh government has canceled the Sheedi Mela, an annual festival that long honored the culture of those responsible for caring for the shrine — all descendants of African slaves brought to Pakistan by Omani traders. Proceeds from the festival could often feed the crocodiles for months. Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, the public-relations manager for the province’s charitable-giving department, which oversees shrines, mosques and historic religious venues, says he saw no choice but to cancel the festival again this year. Manghopir has become one of Karachi’s no-go zones, where violence and crime are so rampant that security forces refuse to enter. These pockets of lawlessness within Pakistan’s largest city have become safe havens for the Taliban, say analysts. In early November, five tortured bodies were found in the area; police have no leads or pending investigations into the crime. Says Shaikh, “Elsewhere in Karachi, homeless men seeking refuge in various shrines are found beheaded simply for practicing their religion.” In January, at another shrine in the city, police found a scroll of paper inside the mouth of a man who had been beheaded. The note, signed by the Pakistani Taliban, said that worshipping Sufi saints was blasphemy and forbidden by Islam. Baba Mohammad, an elder patron of Manghopir’s shrine, says he believes the Taliban consider the local Sufi community a threat. The Sufi culture that thrives in Sindh is one reason the Taliban haven’t made bigger inroads in the province, he says. But more and more people are drawn to the Taliban’s brand of Islam. Mohammad’s grandson, Mohammad Bilal, began taking classes three years ago at a local madrassa. According to Baba Mohammad, his grandson was alarmed to learn how fundamentally opposed Sufism was to the Wahhabi Islam he was learning at the madrassa. He’s now stopped going to the shrine where he grew up, but his grandfather and uncles still visit almost every single day. Iqbal says she saved for months to make the journey. She points to the face of her only son, partially paralyzed after an insect bite. She doesn’t have any money for doctors, she says; working as a maid in a middle-class neighborhood, she earns the equivalent of $50 a month. Even if she did have enough money, Iqbal says, she doesn’t believe that medical care could help her son. Instead, she came to pray to God, to feed the crocodiles and to wash her son in the hot springs, hoping for a miracle. “My husband said, ‘Don’t go. The Taliban will kill you,’” she says. “But I had to try.”

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – The U.S. government issued an urgent plea to nearly 8 million people to get the air bags in their cars fixed, amid concern that a defect in the devices can possibly kill or injure the driver or passengers. The inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed in crashes. Safety advocates say at least four people have died from the problem and there have been multiple injuries. Multiple automakers have recalled vehicles in the U.S. over the past two years to repair air bag inflators made by Takata Corp., a Tokyo-based supplier of seat belts, air bags, steering wheels and other auto parts. The warning covers 7.8 million cars made by BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. Passenger or driver air bags or both could have the faulty inflators. In a statement Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration warned owners of those cars to act right away. The agency has been investigating the problem since June, and has cited reports of six inflators rupturing, causing three injuries. Consumers who are uncertain whether their vehicle is impacted by the Takata recalls can contact their manufacturer with their vehicle identification number (VIN) to confirm whether their individual vehicle has an open recall that needs to be addressed. Worldwide, automakers have recalled about 12 million vehicles because of the problem. Safety advocates say the problem could affect more than 20 million vehicles in the U.S. Automakers have been recalling the cars to fix the problem for several years, but neither Takata nor NHTSA have identified a firm cause. The agency opened a formal investigation into the problem in June, and agency documents detail a theory that the chemical used to inflate the air bags can be altered by high humidity, making it explode with too much force while deploying. NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman said in a statement that responding to the recalls is essential to keep people safe. “It will aid in our ongoing investigation into Takata air bags and what appears to be a problem related to extended exposure to consistently high humidity and temperatures,” he said. The agency, he said, is tracking down the “full geographic scope” of the issue. The rare warning by regulators comes three weeks after a Sept. 29 crash near Orlando, Florida, that claimed the life of a 46-year-old woman. In that crash, Hien Thi Tran suffered severe neck wounds that could have been caused by metal fragments flying out of the air bag on her 2001 Honda Accord. Her Accord was among the models being recalled. One police agency concluded that the air bags caused her wounds, while another is still investigating. NHTSA is seeking information in the case. Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, estimated there are 20 million to 25 million cars in the U.S. alone that are equipped with the faulty air bags. In the Florida case, Tran turned left in front of another vehicle and the front ends collided. Her air bag inflated. The original report on the death said the seat belt could not have cut the right side of her neck. Also, there was no broken glass and no other apparent cause of the neck wounds. Initially the case was turned over to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, whose homicide investigators determined that the air bag caused Tran’s neck injuries, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Because the death appears to be traffic-related, the matter was sent back to the Florida Highway Patrol, which has not finished its investigation. The Highway Patrol will call in an air bag expert to help make the determination, said Sgt. Kim Montes. The car’s steering wheel and spokes were not damaged and appeared to be a normal air bag deployment, she said. Investigators also will look for evidence of metal fragments in the car and try to determine what caused Tran’s neck wounds, Montes said. TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

No self-respecting oligarch these days can afford to be without a superyacht. Ownership of a bling boat is as obligatory as the Ferrari in the triple garage and the private jet on standby. However, within months any billionaire wanting to sail their marine home into US waters will have to comply with stringent new environmental regulations to curb their hulking vessel’s polluting effects. The regulations, which stipulate that certain types of vessel built after 2016 have to be fitted with bulky equipment that converts nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and water, were presented to the International Maritime Organisation, the UN body responsible for reducing shipping pollution, but were resisted by trade bodies representing superyacht manufacturers. They protested that the proposed rules threatened their industry because the engine rooms of some superyachts were too small to accommodate the new equipment, meaning they would have to lose a guest cabin to make room for the technology. A vociferous lobbying campaign was mounted, with some boat builders suggesting that the regulations represented a “doomsday” scenario for their industry. Russia, too, weighed in against the proposals. Amid the standoff, the US has opted to impose its own unilateral obligations, which come into force from 1 January in North America and the US Caribbean, and will force all newly built boats over 24m long and with a gross tonnage of 500 tonnes or more to cut their sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions by nearly 80%. Experts predict that the regulations, which will apply to all vessels over 24m by 2021, would soon be rolled out to other maritime areas, including the Mediterranean. Although the new US rules apply to all types of boat built from next year, it is their impact on superyachts that will be most noticeable. Environmental campaigners have expressed anger that, even when the cheapest of cars are equipped with anti-pollutant filters, superyachts have historically had to meet few environmental obligations to reduce their sizeable diesel emissions. It reportedly costs more than £250,000 just to fill the fuel tanks of the Vava II, which is almost 100 metres long and was commissioned for a former Miss UK, Kirsty Bertarelli, by her billionaire husband Ernesto. The vessel is dwarfed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s 160m Eclipse, which can accommodate 36 guests in 18 cabins. U2 singer Bono owns the more modestly sized Kingdom Come which is 60m long and can hold up to 115,000 litres of fuel. With the super-rich competing to build ever larger vessels, curbing diesel emissions is becoming a priority for engine builders who believe that incorporating anti-pollution systems into their next-generation designs represents a new marketing opportunity. “These yachts can go up to 200 metres and everything is getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” said Ivo Van Den Berg, business manager at Zenoro, a company that specialises in fitting power systems to superyachts. “These boats need more than shore power can provide when they are moored up. You go to Monaco and you see lot of yachts running on generators all the time. When there is no wind, the emissions are like smog in the city.” Dan Houston, editor at classicsailor.com, said the shipping world was a major polluter that had been slow to clean up its act. “Around 95% of all that we use comes in by ships,” Houston said. “I live in Hove, and you can see the diesel fumes out at sea on certain days. The ships are trucking up and down through the straits of Dover, and when you can’t see the yellow smudge out to sea, that’s when you’re in it.” Some studies suggest that the health risks of shipping pollution are worse than those caused by traffic pollution. It is claimed that one giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50 million cars. A German report estimates that 60,000 deaths each year are caused by shipping pollution. But, despite these concerns, the shipping world has not yet been subject to the same level of scrutiny as other polluting industries.

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 13:08 IST The Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment regarding leaders with a criminal background and said that they stand to be disqualified on date of conviction. The number of members of Parliament with a criminal background is 162, which means 30 per cent of those who govern the nation in the Lok Sabha have pending criminal cases. The person with the highest number of criminal cases (46) against him is Kameshwar Baitha, a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader from Jharkhand. Here is a look at the top five MP’s with criminal cases: Kameshwar Baitha: He won the 2009 elections from the Palamau constituency in Jharkhand. Aged 56, he has 46 pending criminal cases against him. He is worth Rs 5,70,000 as per his assets declaration. He has not been convicted as yet in any of the cases. The list of the cases pending against him are mentioned below: 22 charges related to attempt to murder 17 charges related to murder 6 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, 5 charges related to theft 4 charges related to voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means 3 charges related to voluntarily causing grievous hurt 2 charges related to dishonestly receiving stolen property 2 charges related to extortion 2 charges related to theft in dwelling house 2 charges related to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder 1 charge related to assisting in concealment of stolen property 1 charge related to assaulting President, governor, etc., with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power 1 charge related to dacoity 1 charge related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder 20 charges related to rioting 20 charges related to rioting, armed with deadly weapon 17 charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object 15 charges related to assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty 13 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt 11 charges related to punishment of criminal conspiracy 10 charges related to wrongful restraint 8 charges related to mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50 7 charges related to mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house 5 charges related to wrongful confinement 4 charges related to mischief by destroying or moving, etc, a landmark fixed by public authority mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to amount of one hundred or (in case of agricultural produce) ten rupee 3 charges related to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace 3 charges related to acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention 3 charges related to putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion 2 charges related to abettor present when offence is committed 2 charges related to abetment of a thing 2 charges related to causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender 2 charges related to criminal intimidation 2 charges related to house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint The rest of his charges range from harbouring robbers, extortion, trespass, unnatural offence and death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage. Ahir Hansaraj Gangaram -- winner from the Chandrapur constituency in Maharashtra. This Bharatiya Janjhata Party MP is worth Rs 80 lakh and has 30 pending criminal charges against of which he not been convicted as yet in any of them. 1 charge related to assaulting or obstructing public servant when suppressing riot, etc. 1 charge related to criminal intimidation 1 charge related to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty 1 charge related to mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees 1 charge related to wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot-if rioting be committed-if not committed 1 charge related to wrongful restraint 1 charge related to mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc 1 charge related to rioting 1 charge related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object 1 charge related to harbouring deserter 1 charge related to knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse His other offences are pending under sections 135,294,337,427,131,143,188,341,186 of the Indian Penal Code. Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya -- The 'gun-toting' ex-Congressman is a Bharatiya Janata Party member of Legislative Assembly from Gujarat has 20 pending criminal cases against him. He is worth Rs 2 crore. His offences are: 2 charges related to dacoity 1 charge related to voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons 1 charge related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder 9 charges related to Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace 6 charges related to disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant 5 charges related to obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions 4 charges related to being member of an unlawful assembly 3 charges related to rioting 3 charges related to abettor present when offence is committed 3 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty 2 charges related to robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt 2 charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object (IPC Section-149) 2 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt The other charges against him include threat of injury to public servant, voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery, wrongful restraint, defamation, abetment of desertion of soldier among others. M B Rajesh -- This Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate won the elections from Palakkad in Kerala. He has 16 pending criminal cases against him and is worth Rs 11 lakh. He has not been convicted as yet in any of the cases: His list of criminal cases is: 2 charges related to attempt to murder 16 charges related to rioting 10 charges related to being member of an unlawful assembly 10 charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object 8 charges related to danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation 6 charges related to Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty 4 charges related to rioting, armed with deadly weapon 4 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty 4 charges related to joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon 2 charges related to obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions 2 charges related to joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse 2 charges related to assaulting or obstructing public servant when suppressing riot, etc. 2 charges related to voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty 2 charges related to non-attendance in obedience to an order form public servant His other charges include criminal conspiracy among others. Bhonsle Srimant Pratapsinh -- He is the Nationalist Congress Party candidate who won from Satara in Maharashtra. Worth Rs 8 crore, he has 14 pending criminal cases against him. 1 charge related to murder 1 charge related to kidnapping 7 charges related to criminal intimidation 6 charges related to being member of an unlawful assembly 6 charges related to rioting 5 charges related to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace 4 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt His other charges include, mischief, trespass, wrongful restraint, rioting and criminal force among others.

This man is serious about these Tiffanys! Are you a professional sneaker camper? If so, then this job is perfect for you! You may proceed to apply for this job, as long as you meet this guy's requirements: Experienced camper ie: One who has previously camped out for electronics, sneakers, ect. I will provide 1 Tent 1 Lawn Chair 1 Book of Choice 1 24 pack of Deer Park 16.7 oz waters. **Please note, you probably will miss out on the super bowl this Sunday. And if for any reason you lose your spot in line, this terminates your duty as a camper. Please bring toiletry, and warm clothing. Yes folks, this is a real craigslist ad. It is not uncommon to see girlfriends, bestfriends, and relatives camping for someone during a sneaker release, but we have seen it all now. This person who posted this ad is located in Merrifield, Virgina. Cant knock a man's hustle, clearly he is thirsty for a pair of the Nike Dunk High SB Tiffany. Here is the Craigslist Ad if you're curious. Compensation on the bottom of the ad reads, "Pay will be $2.08 an hour which equals $50 per day. If you begin today you will." Would you take him up on the offer? Comment below.

How Rise of the Tomb Raider is forging a gaming icon. Camilla Luddington is frowning seven different ways. She's an experienced actor, so each frown carries its own nuance and meaning: defiance, confusion, vulnerability, fear. She's filming in a Los Angeles facial capture studio for her role as Lara Croft in the forthcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider. Since the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Luddington has provided the basis for the face and voice of one of video gaming's most recognizable characters. A few days later, some 350 miles north of L.A. in the offices of Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, Senior Technical Artist Jon Robins leans into his monitor and carefully studies the Luddington footage. "Making a human being is the most challenging thing when creating video games." He notes how light bounces off the ridges on Luddington's forehead, how her eyes move in a slightly different fashion for each frown, how the lines around her eyes transfer to the particulars of her smile, the angle of her cheekbones, the jut of her chin. He imports the images into facial engine models of Lara Croft. The mesh of her face represents thousand of data points. Robins manipulates blend shapes in order to tweak Lara Croft's expressions, each designed for a specific moment in the game — for a flash of peril, a quizzical exchange of dialog or an internal moment of self-reflection. He is tasked with making Lara Croft look as human as possible. She must seem like a real person while also being an action hero. She must convey both power and vulnerability. She must be visually and emotionally appealing to the player. She must seem like the same Lara Croft we have known for two decades. As Croft shows a variety of on-screen emotions, Robins sits back in his office chair and gazes at her face. He frowns. Something isn't right. It takes a moment for him to articulate the problem. There's a woman on his screen but she isn't Lara Croft. He's looking at an actor. He's looking at Camilla Luddington. Lara Croft is gone. Remaking Lara Croft video New horizons Rise of the Tomb Raider is the first Lara Croft game made specifically for the current console generation. It’s a timed exclusive for Xbox One (and Xbox 360), due out on Nov. 10. Rise of the Tomb Raider picks up after the events of the 2013 reboot, during which young and inexperienced archaeology graduate Lara Croft struggles to survive on a lost island infested with enemies, secrets and mysteries. In the new game Croft arrives in wintry Siberia, once again up against determined, well-armed enemies in hostile terrain, all searching for valuable artifacts. Now she is more self-confident, more assured and more certain of her place in the world. Crystal Dynamics and publisher Microsoft make much of the value of their iconic character, stressing her physical realism in promotional materials. Everyone knows Lara Croft. She is the game’s most marketable asset. "We all see people every day. We can pick up when something is wrong very quickly." Lara Croft was the first major female video game protagonist. She remains one of the most recognizable game characters in the world: a smart, ambitious, athletic, attractive young Englishwoman. Movement has always been a key component of her character, all the way back to her swishing braid in Core Design’s 1996 original. In the intervening years, she has evolved to ever-more detailed polygonal representations and fluidity of movement, up to today’s motion-captured avatar. So making her look great is taking up a lot of Crystal Dynamics’ attention. "Making a human being is the most challenging thing when creating video games," says Senior Character Artist Kam Yu. "Technological advances help us get there but it needs a lot of skills. "To make a believable character you need a good concept, the right model, shaders, animation, performance. It’s a complete package." The trouble with fake human beings is real human beings. We are very good at spotting the slightest fakery, the merest hint of offness. "We all see people every day," says Yu. "We can pick up when something is wrong very quickly. When you’re putting together a well-known character like Lara, you have to be aware of every aspect that goes into making her." The importance of anatomy Cutscenes and action sequences in carefully choreographed Rise of Tomb Raider demos show that Croft’s creators aspire to intense physical details. Extreme cold weather pricks Croft’s skin with red patches. Her eyes reflect light convincingly. Her hair moves more like a collection of strands than a set of shapes. Unlike many inferior game characters, her teeth don’t shine luminescent. When she climbs, the muscles on her back seem connected to one another. Her clothes crease and line according to the shape of her body. This isn’t mere PR puffery. Lara Croft looks like a genuinely impressive video game avatar. It has clearly taken a great deal of work to get her to this point. "Her clothes crease and line according to the shape of her body." Studio scans are the starting point for Crystal Dynamics’ artists. Then they use their artistic skills and a facial technology called Morphology to tweak and twist. "We take elements of the scans and then we add to them," explains Yu. "When we want a particular shape, we add pose-based deformers. We can sculpt the exact shape we want all over the body: on the knees, shoulders, elbows, the waist. "In addition to those pose-based deformers, we add wrinkle maps as well. When she bends a joint, we actually see the wrinkles in her shirt change. Or if she bends her arm you’ll see the musculature in her shoulders deform." Yu’s background is in anatomical art and medical illustrations. Anatomical models and images can be seen around the desks of the art department in Crystal Dynamics’ offices. "We could never get this level of anatomical correctness in the character before," says Game Director Brian Horton, referring to the consoles and the development technology now available. "The systems just wouldn’t allow for it. Now we have so much more artist control. "From a technology standpoint, we’ve put a lot of time and energy into the formation of Lara’s character. Not only her face, but her body. We’ve created a whole new animation system that’s based on artist-sculpted shapes, to create a more believable musculature for the face and the body." In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft’s hair behaves more realistically, with 123 "parent" strands of hair controlling 30,000 "child" strands to give the artists more control. Fixing Camilla The technology used to create humans in games is changing fast. Sometimes, the artists are trying to catch up with the tech and sometimes they find themselves pushing too far. "[At one point] Lara started to look too much like Camilla," says Chief Technology Officer Gary Snethen. "Things were almost too real. We had to bring her back, to make her a video game character again and give her that iconic look. She started taking on too many human qualities. It kind of took away from her character." "Our first tests of this yielded great results and brought a lot more to some of the scenes than we thought they would." When Robins understood that Lara Croft was turning into Camilla Luddington, he and the team-leaders got to work unmaking the current build and restructuring her. It was, he understood, an issue that had been created by technology and would need to be solved the same way. "Moving onto a new console and having new blend shape tech, we wanted to rebuild our facial system from the ground up," he explains. "We looked at as much reference as possible from Camilla and general female facial features in scans and video. We wanted to make Lara as believable as possible and a solid way of doing that is bringing more of our actor to our model so that we could fully convey the emotion Camilla brings. "Our first tests of this yielded great results and brought a lot more to some of the scenes than we thought they would." But the art team thought she looked "too real," meaning that she looked like Luddington. This was the point at which they decided to bring back Croft. Croft is now being made for vastly more powerful consoles than in the past. Her parameters have changed. "We started doing paint overs on the current poses and animations," Robins explains. "This was a long process as we'd not really seen Lara at this fidelity yet and had to create a canon to work within. After iterating and testing each set of shapes on new base meshes we were able to give Lara her own identity and individual movement while preserving the great performances provided by Camilla." The eyes have it For artists, there is no more troublesome part of the human anatomy than the eye. Video games have long suffered from uncanny valley representations of weird-looking people, eyeballs swiveling like marbles in a milky shot glass. In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is often placed in moments of peril generating scenes during which she needs to look scared, troubled, determined. All good screen actors understand that the trick is in the eyes. Recreating this artistic magic in digital, technological form is extremely tough. "The eye is a very complex system," says Snethen. "They have refraction and all sorts of internal curvature. You have to get the look of the eye right, the wetness and the micro-details within the eye. The surrounding tissue has to move just so, as the expressions enter the character." Croft’s eyes in Rise of the Tomb Raider demos aren’t perfect — there are moments when they seem too intense and slightly off — but they are better than those in most other games. "We create this illusion of the way the light bends and refracts and changes the color of the eye through the shader." "There’s only one mesh for the eyes," says Yu. "The way it shades, it makes it look like there’s a cornea over her iris. There’s parallaxing. Her eyes look a little bit different depending on where you look at them from." "When you look at the color of the eye, it bends as you move around it," says Horton. "Even though the mesh is just a simple sphere, we create this illusion of the way the light bends and refracts and changes the color of the eye through the shader. "The contact point, where the eye meets the bottom of the lid, is the tear line. There’s that extra wetness you get, the layer of tears that keeps the eye moist. Those small details are very important." "We have specific cinematic eye shaders that we use as well, so we can control the specularity, the direction of the light, the substance of the eyes," says Yu. A lot of focus has gone into the connectivity of the body and face, the interplay of how one thing connects with another. "We really focused on the connection from the eyes and brows down to the jaw and mouth," says Robins. "In previous rigs and blend shapes systems we focused too much on isolated movements and not about how each muscle is connected across the face and how some can't move without others." Snow days Notable is Rise of the Tomb Raider's snow, which builds in drifts and can be an impediment for the player. It build up on Croft’s clothes and shoulders. It can also be used to track prey, or to hide from enemies. "If you’re going to put snow in a game, you want to do something new with it," says Snethen. "The way it renders is very unique, because you get the glistening and the glittering. All the little micro-facets catch the light at different times. You actually see the contact between the player and the snow. It leaves a persistent trail where you pass and then you’ll see the trails behind Lara gradually fill back in as the snow falls from the sky. It gives the impression that you’re in a blizzard environment." To be young Lara Croft presents a particular problem for Crystal Dynamics, one that many other highly detailed game protagonists don’t face: she’s young. Most game leads are men and they are usually past the first flush of youth. They are often grizzled and wartorn. Their faces are naturally lined. "When we have a grizzled man with a craggy face, deep scars and heavy wrinkles, it’s very easy to express pained emotions. It looks just fine," says Horton. "A younger woman’s features are softer in general. When you put those harsher emotions on her, it tends to make her look different or strange. What we’re always balancing is making sure the emotional intent from Camilla is coming through, but [making sure that] it doesn’t cross a line where [Croft] looks like she’s aged 15 years or she doesn’t look like herself anymore. "There’s an acceptable amount of grizzle and grit you can put on a man in his 40s." "That, I’d say, is the greatest challenge of creating a female protagonist with this range. Their faces are inherently softer. They don’t have the cuts and details you’d see in a man. But we’re still asked to make sure all those emotions come through. It’s creating a more subtle band of wrinkle that still conveys an emotion that’s easier to express on an older male avatar." Yu says that it’s not about ensuring that Croft merely looks pretty. "Wrinkles and stuff tend to make young people look different and too extreme. On older men you have more latitude for that. On a young woman you don’t have as much latitude for that extreme. It just doesn’t wind up looking good." "There’s an acceptable amount of grizzle and grit you can put on a man in his 40s," says Horton. "Deep facial lines come across very well on a CG character. You can really push those things and it doesn’t tend to look wrong. "For a woman in her 20s, everything is much more subtle." Arts and crafts Croft’s story in Rise of the Tomb Raider is about realizing her destiny as an adventurer and an explorer. "She’s not starting at zero in this game," says Horton. "She’s gained a lot of effectiveness, not only in her ability to traverse through the world and solve puzzles, but also as a combatant. She can hold her own. "In Rise of the Tomb Raider, we think we’re in a position to show Lara’s strength, not only her smarts, but also her ability to use the world in a smart way and hold her own in a fight." While the 2013 reboot featured a single crafting resource, Rise of the Tomb Raider tasks Croft with collecting multiple items in order to create and upgrade weapons and ammo. Players can choose to grab guns and use those to defeat enemies, but ammo is limited and guns are noisy. Croft’s collection of bows and arrows can be crafted on the fly. "When we look at Lara, it’s about her journey and her resourcefulness and her intelligence." "What I like about the crafting is that it feels like it ties the world together," says Brand Director Rich Briggs. "Lara gathers everything around you and uses it in different ways. It speaks to her resourcefulness and intelligence." Many resources are gathered by hunting animals. "Players told us that, yeah, there was hunting in the previous game, but it didn’t really have as much gameplay significance." Fan feedback has also influenced other gameplay changes. There are fewer QuickTime Events than in the last game, something which many players found irritating. In this game. Croft has the option to rely more on traversal and stealth skills than gunplay. Tombs are much larger than in the last game, with lots of trademark Lara Croft water puzzles as well as search-and-find puzzles. "She uses her movement to gain the edge on enemies," says Briggs. "Whether it’s traversal, her natural mobility or swimming underwater. She can go up trees as a new tool in combat. "Using her smarts, crafting ammo types out of the environment to whittle down the enemy one at a time, using the environment against them, that’s a way she succeeds against overwhelming odds. When we look at Lara, it’s about her journey and her resourcefulness and her intelligence."

AMD's EPYC Launch presentation focused mainly on its line of datacenter processors, but fans of AMD's new Vega GPU lineup may be interested in another high-end product that was announced during the presentation. The Radeon Instinct MI25 is a Deep Learning accelerator, and as such is hardly intended for consumers, but it is Vega based and potentially very potent in the company's portfolio all the same. Claiming a massive 24.6 TFLOPS of Half Precision Floating Point performance (12.3 Single Precision) from its 64 "next-gen" compute units, this machine is very suited to Deep Learning and Machine AI oriented applications. It comes with no less than 16 GBs of HBM2 memory, and has 484 GB/s of memory bandwidth to play with.AMD also presented a 2U server rack with EPYC processors and Radeon Instinct MI25 GPUs on-board that they have co-developed with Inventec. It is capable of a staggering 100 TFLOPS of performance.It is certainly encouraging to see AMD launching competitive products in this market segment.The high points of the presentation are available below:

Hundreds gather at De la Guerra Plaze to cheer on alternative choice to Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump “For the first time in my life, I have someone I can stand behind as a presidential candidate,” Texas resident Diane Boyd, 69, said at a Santa Barbara rally for Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein. With 31 days left until the Nov. 8 election, Stein brought her campaign to De la Guerra Plaza on Saturday morning, speaking in front of more than 200 supporters. During the rally, she promoted “the push for peace, justice and democracy.” “The biggest wasted vote is the one that is thrown away voting for the political parties that have thrown us under the bus,” Stein said. “The best use of our vote is an investment in the future and a real declaration of the power we have.” Key issues in Stein’s platform are college debt and making public higher education free, she said. The Harvard University graduate and physician said the 43 million people in student loan debt “have one place to put their vote.” “Most people are struggling and they aren’t recovering,” Stein said. “There’s only one candidate who will cancel that student debt and who will bail out the students like we bailed out Wall Street — the crooks who crashed the economy.” Referring to that 43 million people, Stein said the bloc “is enough to win a three-way presidential race and the numbers it takes to turn the election on its head.” Stein also discussed the need for a “Green New Deal,” the idea to create millions of jobs by making the transition to 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030. She said there’s a need to create 20 million livable wage jobs with clean renewable energy that will help restore ecosystems. “In doing this, we not only revive the economy, we turn the tide on climate change,” she said. Enthusiastic fans applauded in support after her statements. Addressing her supporters at the rally, Stein advocated “health care as a human right, for everyone, through a health care-for-all system.” Throughout her remarks, Stein referenced Republican candidate Donald Trump’s position on immigration. “We don’t need your frigging wall, we just need to stop invading other countries,” she said. “We call for a welcoming path toward citizenship for the immigrants who have always been at the front of our economy and community.” She also addressed the Black Lives Matter movement. “We need to put an end to the abuse and should not let one more die in the arms of police,” Stein said. Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will face off at 6 p.m. Pacific time Sunday in St. Louis for a 90-minute town hall at Washington University. Stein said she will join a live debate response via her social media platforms to coincide with the second debate, which has been preceded by extraordinary chaos in the wake of a tape of Trump describing his pursuit of women in lurid and demeaning terms. “The political establishment wants us to believe we are powerless and the problems are way too complicated to solve them,” Stein said. “In fact, in this election, it’s not just about what kind of a world we want but, but whether we will have a world or not going forward.” National polls put Stein at 2 percent, behind even Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at 7 percent, according to a CNN/ORC poll of 1,501 adult Americans interviewed by telephone between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2. Stein was also the Green Party’s 2012 candidate for president. Green Party Ventura County member Michael Cervantes joined the Santa Barbara rally in hopes of getting Stein to the White House. “We are here to listen to a true progressive voice,” he said. “The people still seem to need to hear that. Much of what she is talking about is similar to what Bernie Sanders talked about.” Joining Stein at the rally was rapper Kor Element, who said he started supporting her after Sanders lost the Democratic Party nomination to Clinton. He’s been campaigning with Stein across Southern California and said he supports her progressive ideas. — Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

A counterterrorism catch-and-release campaign by Canada's national police force may have prevented 10 aspiring jihadis from heading off to war, but the roundup at Montréal-Trudeau airport is raising worries about what comes next for radicalized youth. On Wednesday, while federal and provincial political leaders applauded the police work, anti-radicalization experts said only an integrated effort involving civilians and police can deal with youth fixated on taking up arms in the Middle East or joining terrorist groups. In Montreal, which has become a jihadi recruiting hotbed, the only tool appears to be handcuffs. In the past six months alone, at least seven youths have left the city to join the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq. At least 15 other teenagers and young adults have been arrested pre-emptively. Some have volunteered to be monitored, while others, such as those arrested at the Montreal airport on the weekend, were simply released after having their passports confiscated. Story continues below advertisement Acting on a tip from one or more parents, the RCMP arrested the 10 youth at the airport but have released few other details. An 11th teenager was captured on video being led away from a Montreal home by investigators. None of the teenagers have been identified publicly and no charges were laid. The government may opt not to pursue a criminal case for fear that any public trial could force it to reveal sensitive intelligence methods – a situation that is a chronic issue in Canadian counterterrorism cases. The passport confiscations recalled last fall's terror attacks in which two lone-wolf assailants each killed Canadian soldiers after they were thwarted in attempts to travel abroad and possibly join jihadi groups. Officials provided no answer when asked how they might prevent similar backlash in the latest cases. The arrests again turned scrutiny toward a pre-university in Montreal's east end. Four of the people arrested on the weekend attended Maisonneuve College. A total of 11 alleged extremist recruits have now come from the school, which again denied it has a radicalization problem. "It's increasingly clear youth recruitment is happening through social media," a statement issued by the school said. Observers are increasingly asking whether the threat to Canada can be contained if the ranks of extremists and thwarted jihadis continue to grow. The RCMP's terrorism prevention program is designed to intervene before suspects mobilize toward violence, but the details of the program remain murky. In Quebec, Premier Philippe Couillard has promised oft-delayed legislation to deal with radicalization. He said a new law will be presented within weeks, meaning it will be months before any new program is enacted. The City of Montreal has announced a radicalization-prevention centre, but so far it amounts to a phone number at police headquarters. Mayor Denis Coderre said Wednesday that much work remains to be done. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement "How many parents will have to call the police or the RCMP on their children because it's all they have for tools to prevent radicalization?" said Agnès Maltais, an Opposition member of Quebec's Legislature. Vern White, a police chief turned senator, pointed out that police cannot put released suspects under surveillance indefinitely because monitoring can require as many as 25 officers per target. "I do have confidence if charges are warranted they will be laid… If this is an early intervention, [police] might have gotten to this before they crossed the line into criminality," Mr. White said in an interview. But, he added, authorities have to learn how to de-program extremists – and quickly. "Now it becomes a de-radicalization discussion." Civilians who are trying to set up anti-radicalization efforts say they're getting little support and are struggling to build trust – both among police and parents who suspect their children may be radicalized. "You know things have already gone sour when the police are involved," said Abdul Rashid Anwar, a leader in the small Montreal Ahmadiyya community who is trying to get anti-radicalization efforts off the ground in the city but is having little success. "Parents, teachers, community leaders have to do the work of educating these kids before the police get involved. We seem to be missing the bridge from one side to the other." Story continues below advertisement Christianne Boudreau, an Alberta woman whose son was killed in 2014 fighting with the Islamic State, is working with a public outreach program called Extreme Dialogue. She says a hardening stance in law enforcement combined with a recently enacted federal anti-terror law are making it even harder for police to reach for tools beyond arrest and detention. "Every police force is different, but some of them are hesitant. Some have their hands tied. Crown prosecutors often have their own agenda, too," she said. Amarnath Amarasingam, a terrorism researcher who is studying Canadian foreign fighters, said it is significant that no charges have been laid in Montreal. "I think it shows just how difficult this issue is. Tracking these individuals and understanding their networks and intentions is enormously complicated," he said. "I think, perhaps, the government is trying to move away from approaching this from strictly a law-enforcement angle." The size of the alleged cluster caught in Quebec is large, possibly uniquely so in North America, where smaller-scale interdictions against "high-risk travellers" and "foreign fighters" have become commonplace. The Montreal case is also significant because police pounced without pursuing any immediate criminal charges or peace-bond conditions. Charges may yet come, but investigations such as this may be the new normal. Ever since the self-proclaimed Islamic State started to seize swaths of Iraq and Syria, jihadi siren songs on social media have enticed a growing pool of would-be recruits from the West. The conflict has no end in sight and police are increasingly put into the position of trying to stop suspects who cannot be proven to have broken any laws.

1 of 6 View Caption Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack holds her son, December 24, 2015. Bidlack and her son's biological mother who Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack's son grips his mother's hand, December 24, 2015. Bidlack and her longtime pa Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack shows the new birth certificate of her son, stating the names of she and Sara Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack carries her engagement rings with partner Sara Clow in her purse, December 2 Photos courtesy Nicki Bidlack. Nicki Bidlack and her partner Sara Clow on the day of their son's birth in 2013 (top) and a photo Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack wipes away tears as she talks about her deceased love, Sara Clow, December 24

For the bread, see croutons In Quebec cuisine, cretons (sometimes gorton or corton, especially among New Englanders of French-Canadian origin) is a forcemeat-style pork spread containing onions and spices. Due to its fatty texture and taste, it resembles French rillettes. Cretons are usually served on toast as part of a traditional Quebec breakfast. It is not to be confused with "fromage de tête" (tête fromagée in Quebec) or head cheese. Recipes [ edit ] Recipes vary, but traditional preparation involves covering 1–3 lbs of ground pork shoulder in milk or water in a large pot, then seasoning with onions and a mix of spices. The blend of spices varies from recipe to recipe, but nearly all include ground cloves. Other spices often used include cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and bay leaf. Some recipes include minced garlic. Basics The mixture is simmered gently over low heat, and stirred often to prevent scorching until all the liquid is cooked off and the mixture is thick. It is then allowed to cool, then stirred again to incorporate all the rendered fat, and transferred to a large, clean container or individual containers, covered tightly, and refrigerated for several hours or overnight until firm. Pig marrow is also often added to form a gelatin that allows it to congeal. Cretonnade [ edit ] More specifically, cretons is pork-based; otherwise, it is a cretonnade, especially if it is veal- or poultry-based.[1] However, the distinction is often not made, even in French, with either type being cretons. See also [ edit ] References [ edit ]

Clarence Saunders is often credited as the father of the modern-day supermarket with his self-service Piggly Wiggly stores providing grocery needs as far back as 1916. In Western Massachusetts, there have been numerous supermarket chains that have served shoppers, most notably the D'Amour family's Big Y. In 1936, Paul D'Amour, a route sales driver for Wonder Bread, opened the Y Cash Market with his brother Gerald in Chicopee. The brothers opened a second and larger Y Cash Market in a former bowling alley in 1947. Building on their success they opened a 31,000-square-foot Big Y in Northampton in 1960. It was the largest supermarket in Western Massachusetts. Other popular chains over the years have included Stop & Shop, A&P and Food Mart. Here is a look back at where many of us have done their grocery shopping over the years.

After a Palestinian researcher was denied a bug bounty by Facebook, Marc Maiffret, CTO of BeyondTrust, kicked off a crowd-sourced fund yesterday to come up with a reward. The researcher, Khalil Shreateh, expressed his gratitude today to Maiffret and others who have contributed to the fund. “Thank you so much. I never imagined what they will do for me,” Shreateh said in a telephone interview. Seventy-nine people have contributed nearly $9,000 in the last 24 hours to an account that will be handed over to Shreateh once it reaches the goal of $10,000. Maiffret seeded the fund with $3,000 of his own money after appearing on CNN to talk about the Facebook vulnerability that Shreateh found. Earlier this month Shreateh reported a vulnerability to Facebook’s bug bounty program, saying that he had found a way to post content to any user’s timeline, even when not on a victim’s friends list. Facebook rebuffed him in return emails and ultimately claimed his discovery wasn’t a bug. Frustrated, Shreateh took matters into his own hands and planted a message on CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook timeline. That got the attention of Facebook’s security engineers, who quickly locked Shreateh out of his account. After restoring his access, Facebook said it would not pay him a bounty. “The more important issue here is with how the bug was demonstrated using the accounts of real people without their permission,” said Facebook software engineer Matt Jones in a Sunday entry on Hacker News. “Exploiting bugs to impact real users is not acceptable behavior for a white hat.” Jones did acknowledge that Facebook should have asked Shreateh for more information before dismissing his report, but he also ticked off a list of reasons, including the fact that Facebook receives “hundreds of reports each day” and the lack of detailed proof in Shreateh’s original report. He also intimated that Shreateh’s poor English skills had been a problem. In an interview on CNN Monday, Maiffret took exception to Facebook’s decision not to reward Shreateh. “Ultimately, he helped kill a bug that could have been used by pretty bad guys out there to do things against Facebook users,” said Maiffret. “Ultimately, he did a great thing and I don’t think that should be lost in all this.” The vulnerability was certainly worth money to criminals, Maiffret asserted. “It would have been something that was very useful to folks in the underground to be able to post different content on celebrity sites or whatever it might have been, to be able to lure people to websites that would then attack them,” he said. “With the nature of the severity, it would be good for Facebook to pay the guy.” During the interview, Maiffret also said he would pay Shreateh himself if Facebook would not. “If Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have the $2,000 to set this guy on the right path, if he contacts me I’d be happy to do it personally,” Maiffret said. Zuckerberg has the $2,000: In July, the CEO’s net worth was estimated by Forbes at $16.1 billion, or nearly $3 billion more than in March. Within minutes of Maiffret’s move to fund a bounty, others began to pitch money into the pot. Firas Bushnaq, who co-founded eEye Digital Security with Maiffret in 1998, also contributed $3,000. “This was a one-off in the sense that I just wanted to do something cool for the guy,” said Maiffret in an interview today. “I want to inspire the technology companies to pay attention [to researchers] a little bit more, and for researchers to do their part, too. It was much more for an awareness thing for me.” Maiffret, a high-school drop-out and self-proclaimed hacker when he was younger, is one of the country’s best-known security researchers, having founded eEye when he was a teenager. Among his notable finds was the notorious “Code Red” worm that plagued Microsoft’s IIS Server in mid-2001. “Before the [CNN] interview, I was watching television, and it had all the news about Egypt,” said Maiffret today. “It felt weird, that we were going to talk about something so small in a way, and I wondered what I could do to make it better. The point is, even with an old broken laptop and the Internet you can teach yourself and take the right path.” Today Shreateh expressed his gratitude. “I appreciate it, and my best wishes to everyone out there,” said Shreateh. Shreateh, who lists himself as unemployed on his Facebook page, said he has received job offers in the security business, but has not yet accepted one. When asked what he might do with the $10,000, Shreateh said, “It’s not in my pocket yet.” Maiffret intends it will soon be.

Back in 2013, a chance viewing of a Super Mario-themed burlesque show opened my eyes to the wonderfully wacky world of nerdlesque, a sub-genre of burlesque performance that celebrates and satirizes nerdy pop culture. I love a good Harry Potter or superhero satire, which is why NOLA Nerdlesque has quickly becoming one of my favorite local festivals—and I’m pretty sure you will love it too. Nerdlesque is a performance art notable for its inclusivity of all body types. It empowers performers and audience members to not just “let it all hang out,” but to feel daring and confident while doing it. Though nerdlesque is a modern art form, it is rooted in classic burlesque, particularly the smart satire. According to Persé Fanny, Co-Founder, Artistic Director, and one of several producers, “Most people think that nerdlesque is an entirely new concept, but the truth is nerdlesque is at the root of traditional burlesque. It is a parody of pop culture, a mocking of society.” NOLA Nerdlesque, now in its fourth year, “started out of a love for nerdy pop culture and burlesque,” says Fanny, when she and other local nerdlesque performers “decided to combine our dorky efforts and celebrate nerds together.” It is only the second festival solely dedicated to nerdlesque in the world, despite the popularity of nerdlesque at conventions and other festivals. Now sexier (and nerdier) than ever, NOLA Nerdlesque’s 2018 fest runs November 16-17. The festival is curated by Remy Dee, Persé Fanny, Vincent Gallant, Sable Switch, and Honey Tangerine, all well-known names in the local burlesque scene. The well-rounded festival includes four shows, three workshops at the New Orleans School of Burlesque, a closing party at the International House Hotel’s Loa Bar (221 Camp St.), and a nerd market during performances. Get the dirty on this year’s shows below, and be sure to buy your tickets in advance (note all shows are 18+ and tickets will be available at the door). Stripped Crusaders Friday, Nov. 16 at 8:00 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) General Admission, $15 Stripped Crusaders kicks off the festival weekend with superheroes taking off their spandex after long nights of fighting crime and being, well, heroes. Come watch the alluring performances of talented nerdlesque performers from all around the country as they channel your favorite cartoon, comic, and video game heroes. Tease from the Crypt Friday, Nov. 16 at 10:30 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) General Admission, $15 Extending the Halloween spirit just a bit, Tease from the Crypt is a nerdy revue playing on the late 80s/early 90s Tales from the Crypt. Get you heart racing as “glitter covered ghouls, stripping serial killers, [and] mesmerizing monsters” misbehave. The show’s featured performer is Juno from New Orleans. Cyburlesque Saturday, Nov. 17 at 8:00 p.m. Allways Lounge and Theatre (2240 St. Claude Ave.) General Admission, $15 Sci-Fi nerds, get ready! Cyburlesque brings together nerds from across the galaxy for an evening of out of this world performances. Why not? Robots, androids, and Bill Nye can be sexy. Performers include Risky Sour from Atlanta, Little Bo Peepshow & Narvel P Tuffnuts from St. Louis, and Doctor Vu from Burlington, Vermont, among many others. Just Drawn That Way Saturday, Nov. 17 at 10:00 p.m. Allways Lounge and Theatre (2240 St. Claude Ave.) General Admission, $15 The final show of the festival puts a spin on cartoons and comic books with Just Drawn That Way. Come see your favorite characters from the morning cartoons, fairy tales, and video games of your childhood in a totally different light. More than a dozen performers will take the stage including Lady Fingers from Austin, Ginger Oh Snap from Nashville, and featuring Piper Marie from New Orleans. Workshop: Producing for Love and Profit…But Mostly Profit Saturday, Nov. 17 at 11:00 a.m. New Orleans School of Burlesque (830 North Rampart St.) $10 at the door Hear from KiKi Maroon, who produces burlesque shows for a living, about how you can make money doing what you love. During the 90-minute workshop, she will discuss enticing topics such as common marketing mistakes and production budgeting. Plus, attendees will leave the workshop with KiKi’s own project plan which she uses for her own productions. Workshop: Floorwork with Ember Blaize Saturday, Nov. 17 at 1:00 p.m. New Orleans School of Burlesque (830 North Rampart St.) $10 at the door Ember Blaize guides this movement-oriented workshop to help performers learn new techniques and safety increase their flexibility. This workshop specifically focuses on floorwork and you’ll leave with a few new tricks up your sleeve. Workshop: The History of Burlesque Saturday, Nov. 17 at 3:00 p.m. New Orleans School of Burlesque (830 North Rampart Street) $10 at the door While the previous two workshops are designed with burlesque performers and others in the industry in mind, the History of Burlesque is open to anyone. Persé Fanny leads this 60-minute lecture that delves into the genesis and background of American burlesque. Nerd Market Friday, Nov. 16 Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) Saturday, Nov. 17 Allways Lounge and Theatre (2240 St. Claude Ave.) NOLA Nerdlesque’s nerd market pops up during shows on Friday and Saturday nights at the evening’s venue. Stroll by booths from local artists, festival sponsors, and festival organizers, and get your photo taken by New York based photographer Brandon Perdomo. Be sure to stop by on Saturday night to glitterize at Electra Cosmetics’ glitter sampling bar. Closing Party Friday, Nov. 16 at Midnight The Loa Bar at the International House Hotel (221 Camp St.) Free NOLA Nerdlesque’s festival party pops up after the Friday night shows. The Loa Bar will have a late night happy hour menu, including a special festival punch. The party is free and open to all. So go ahead, live a little, laugh a little, and let your freak flag fly. You’ll be in good company. Costumes, of course, are encouraged.

I have spent most of my 20s in emotionally abusive relationships. Until a year ago, I thought I was the worst kind of damaged goods, a girl who could only love men who hurt her. I know there are three sides to every story. In this article, you're going to hear one; mine. I don't write this with venom. The men I've been involved with were handsome, smart, charming and talented. There were good times. The bad times outweighed them. Most people don't know I've been in (to clarify again) emotionally abusive relationships. From the outside, I'd bet my life looks pretty great. Some parts of it always were. I guess I am proof that there is no likely candidate for abuse. For a long time, I found my romantic past embarrassing, confusing and very sad. I didn't want to talk about my experiences because I thought that my kind of pain was self-inflicted. If I was stupid enough to stay, I deserved it. But when "the Jian Ghomeshi thing" happened, it was all I could think about. When people first sided with Ghomeshi and not his victims, I was so mad I started shaking. When I started listening to Serial, I had recurring dreams about Hae Min Lee. I was obsessed with figuring out who killed her. Then, I started dreaming of all my ex-boyfriends again. Trauma is a funny thing. It hides in the shadowy corners of your mind, resurfacing when all you want is for it to be erased from your memory forever. I'm writing this for a lot of reasons. Some of them are: I think abusive relationships are an epidemic in our society. It could help someone understand their friend, their sister, their daughter who keeps going back. It could help someone who keeps going back. Because articles like this helped me. Because what trauma really wants is a voice. To anyone who needs help, You think you are crazy. You're anxious all the time. Your heart beats quickly. You have a lot of questions for your boyfriend that you don't feel like you can ask. You wonder if you're always being lied to. You spend a lot time in the past, likely when you first fell in love him. You apologize constantly. When you explain your fights to anyone who will listen, no one understands why you're apologizing. You are always confused. You're high as a fucking kite when he's nice to you. He says "one small thing," and with an embarrassing clarity, you are reminded of all the parts of yourself you hate. How can he see those parts so clearly? You cry a lot. Sometimes you know why. Sometimes you don't. You are not crazy. When you're with your boyfriend, you're usually with just him alone. You feel weird around your friends and family, the people you used to feel the most yourself around. You can't remember how to feel like yourself anymore. Now, being in your own skin is like a long dull headache that won't lift and then feels like normal. Pretty much all your thoughts about yourself are negative. "I used to be funny, why aren't I funny anymore?" You think you are crazy. There will be good days with your boyfriend. There will be miraculous days of exquisite and suffering beauty between you two. On these days, you will feel better than the best and like everything's okay. You will believe that the chaos has made you stronger; that he loves you more than anything. These days are bright spots in the darkness that has descended upon you. They are the moments of hope that you'll cling to, your proof that everything is okay. But moments aren't a life. Moments aren't enough. You deserve weeks, months and years of feeling like everything is okay. You deserve a lifetime of that. When your relationship ends, you will drown in the confusing, competing narratives in your head, just like you did while in the relationship. Memory is going to be a weird thing for you for a while. Grief is a delusional state. We really loved each other. I could've helped him if I'd tried harder. I'm not perfect. And sometimes, I don't think love should feel like this. The latter will be quieter, the former will roar inside you. Some days, you will think you left the most beautiful relationship and the truest love in the whole world. Some days you will think you are just hysterical and crazy and that you weren't being abused at all. Until very recently, I still had days like that. After you break up with him, you might not feel an immediate sense of relief, empowerment or really anything that resembles "I know this is the right thing." You will likely feel very alone. Unfortunately, coming out of the fog with your eyes open is more painful than slipping into one without noticing. But remember: feelings aren't the truth. You aren't the worst off you've ever been. Expect the sadness. It sounds crazy but welcome it. That sadness is going to live in you for a long time and it will teach you a lot. I know you don't believe me, but that sadness is your friend. That sadness is your becoming. Not everyone you lose is a loss. Tell your story no matter how murky the details seem at first. Keep talking. Read every article you can find on abuse until you feel an intellectual understanding of what happened tunnel into you emotionally. The head will come first, your heart will follow; it will all become clearer. Talk to your friends. Talk to your family. I promise you have more than one person in your life that can sympathize with you in the deepest of ways. You know someone who has lived through this. Maybe it's your mom. Maybe she modeled this kind of love for you. If you're lucky like I was, you'll find a therapist that can help you. There are also a lot of free resources. There are a lot of great 12 step meetings you can go to. There is free counseling available (links below). When getting help, you will have to reflect on your relationship. Don't blame yourself for not leaving sooner, and don't let anyone else blame you, either. In moments of trauma and shock the brain has a funny way of protecting itself. It's called disassociating. You have done a lot of this. You will remember about three months in your ex-boyfriend did something and it was like a mask was lifted. He showed you a person you had never met before. I mention this because statistically an abusive person will do something that throws you completely off balance within the first three months. Then, they will be really sorry. You will come to learn that real love is not a cycle of cruelty, effusive apologies, a honey-moon period, then a dreaded waiting for the other shoe to drop followed by more cruelty. Abusive relationships are defined by this pattern. When you do leave, you will realize that the space that your relationship took up was enormous. It was, whether you knew it or not, the monkey on the back of every thought you had. When it's gone, the emptiness left in its wake will feel like an ocean around you It will take way longer than you want to "get over it," and you will think you will never reach the shore. You will. When I was newly single and going on dates, this is how it went. First, I dated blindly and way more than I should have. I was attracted to guys who were like all my ex-boyfriends, physically and emotionally. Then, I started dating people who were completely different but whom I was not ready to love. Like a scientist, I observed how they treated me with a confusing detachment and thought, "Oh, so this is what it should be like." "So, this is what kindness is like." Dating made me feel like the loneliest person in the world for a long time. I wish now I hadn't done it at all, but withdrawal is painful and uncomfortable. I was willing to try anything to feel just a little better. You will miss your ex boyfriend in a way you didn't know was possible and you don't think should be allowed. You will want to get back together. Abusive relationships fuck your brain chemistry up. They're addictive, and the withdrawal is not fun. Don't worry, with time, your brain will even out. In awhile, you won't want to be with him anymore. Crying helps you detox, so do a lot of it. So does sleeping, exercise, therapy, eating healthy, seeing your friends and laughing. For me, alcohol didn't really help. Or I guess, it did, until it didn't. When you're in the withdrawal phase, you'll begin to understand why you thought being in an abusive relationship was okay for you. You're going to have to look at a lot of your past and your inherited patterns. It can get heavy but knuckle through it. You can do it. I did. You will tell people that know your ex-boyfriend about what happened and how he treated you. Likely, no one will be surprised by his behaviour. Likely, no one will confront him. This is one of the saddest parts of our world. You will feel like the last one in on a sick joke. Your ex-boyfriend will probably never apologize to you. If you do hear from him or see him, he will make you feel crazy. He's really good at that. He will likely minimize your history, dismiss your relationship and pull the rug out from under you again. The way he frames you and your relationship will be distorted. I believe that amends can happen, but usually, not in a timely manner. Like you need time to really unpack and understand why it all happened, so will he. Now factor into this that you have the desire to understand yourself and your behaviour. The closure you desire is a myth and it's not reachable in one conversation. Closure happens slowly and keeps happening. You'll give it to yourself. If you leave your boyfriend for someone else, beware. Until you truly understand why you were in the situation you were, emotionally and intellectually, your subconscious will have a sad way of attracting an identical relationship that looks completely different from the outside. This is not always true, but has been my experience. At first, when the fog is lifting, you will look at your past self with shock and disgust. Then, later, you will look at your past self with sadness. Then, with understanding. Finally, you feel the most visceral pride for the moment you left, even if you didn't want to -- because you did that on the blind faith that life might be better on the other side. You did that on hope alone. You didn't know what you do now. That's so brave. You are so brave. I know how scared you are. I still get scared. My year of recovery has been the most challenging and rewarding of my life. It's not perfect and I don't think it ever will be. I get lonely and restless. I live with those feelings. Actually, I try to understand them. One day, your life will look like a version of mine. Things will keep getting better and better, faster and faster. Good things will keep finding you. You will be really happy. That happiness will get so big that you won't notice how the sadness is lifting until it's almost gone. My life is full of hard work, art, friends who love and support me, friends that I am lucky to know. I have more energy than I know what to do with. I am the most productive I have ever been. I travel, I have meaningful conversation, I rest, I laugh a lot, I stay out too late. I am closer to my family than ever before. I found my way back to my old friends. Maybe I'm becoming myself again. Finally, (I know you're worried about this) you will meet someone else. You will fall in love again and this time, it will be about more than your wounds matching up with someone else's. It will be different and it will be better. But something becomes more important to you than romantic love and it's called self-worth. It will feel like it happens almost over night, but you will grow to love the person you are. You should. You fought hard to become her. Love, Katie P.S. If you have a friend or a family member, male, female or transgender, that you suspect is the victim of emotional abuse, tell them you are there for them. Tell them you support them unwaveringly. Believe what they're telling you. Tell them you will be there for them when they decide to leave. Show them this article or articles like this. Send them these links: ALSO ON HUFFPOST:

This Arsenal is different. That, at least, is what they are trying to prove and so far the evidence is in their favour. The players know that past slip-ups mean many people remain unconvinced of Arsenal's ability to sustain their title challenge as Manchester City and Chelsea breathe down their necks but they are determined not to buckle. The fact that this victory over Fulham could be described as routine shows the progress Arsène Wenger's team have made. "That's something that has changed from last season," said Santi Cazorla, who sealed the win with two sweetly taken second-half goals. "There were games last year where we'd go 2-0 up and we'd end up losing it or under pressure. For a title-winning team that cannot happen. This season the team is much more solid, we're much better at closing out games. We need to continue this form because of Chelsea and Manchester City. "Maybe at the start of the season nobody put us up as high as Manchester City or Chelsea, maybe because of the signings they made, but it's ultimately demonstrated on the pitch and right now Arsenal are above them. Our objective is to keep fighting with them. We're top because up until now we've been the best team." Wenger attributes much of the credit for his team's improvement to its new defensive fortitude. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have formed an authoritative central defensive partnership, Wojciech Szczesny is becoming ever more reliable, the full-backs are secure and the midfield, especially Mathieu Flamini, provides sturdy protection to the rearguard. Wenger suggests his team is now locked into a virtuous circle. Each victory is both a stride forward and a hiccup avoided and enhances the side's belief that they can last the distance. "The consistency of the results of the team since January 2013 has strengthened that maturity and the fact that we are defensively more stable gives us more of a serene attitude and that helps a lot," he says. That "serene attitude" makes it hard to envisage Arsenal collapsing like they did the last time they had so many points at this stage of the season. That was in 2007-08, when they had 54 points after 22 matches (compared with 51 now) but finished third after going on a wretched run of a single win in eight league games between February and early April. That hapless streak was triggered by the horrendous injury that their striker, Eduardo, suffered during a draw at Birmingham City, but the poise of this Arsenal team suggests they would be capable of withstanding even such a traumatic misfortune. If all the challengers have a similar level of mental strength, then the title will be decided by skill. Arsenal seem well-armed on that front too. Cazorla's flourishing against Fulham followed a similarly decisive impact from Jack Wilshere in the previous match at Aston Villa. With Aaron Ramsey unavailable, Theo Walcott out for the season and Mesut Özil curiously off form, it is important that others step to the fore. So far they are doing that. Arsenal's last six wins have brought 12 goals from seven different scorers. "That's the best thing that can happen to us," says Wenger. "If you depend on one player, then you have to put him in cotton wool to keep him fit. For us it's important to know everybody can score." There are, however, concerns and Özil's form is one of them. In addition, it still looks a risk not to sign a striker this month to relieve the burden on Olivier Giroud. Nicklas Bendtner resumes full training on Monday following injury and Yaya Sanogo is expected to do so later inthe week but they may not be enough. Arsenal are seeking an additional centre-forward but it remains to be seen whether they can conclude a deal. They have held talks with Juventus over Mirko Vucinic but are interested only in taking the 30-year-old on loan, whereas his employers want a permanent sale. Discussions with Real Madrid over Álvaro Morata, whom Arsenal would be happy to take permanently, are also at an impasse. Fulham, meanwhile, may just have solved one of their biggest problems, although that cannot be said with much certainty given the way they have fluctuated between respectable and wretched performances this season. At the Emirates they showed a steel that has seldom been seen this season, as the fit-again Brede Hangeland and the 21-year-old debutant, Dan Burn, blended well in central defence. "It gives confidence to the whole team, a feeling that we are more solid and that it's harder for opponents to break us down," said their manager, René Meulensteen. "We just need to make sure that one goal conceded does not create a ripple effect, which then creates a wave of negativity. We are starting to look more solid and that's our way forward." Man of the match Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)

The High Cost of Treating Gun Violence Victims Hits Southerners Especially Hard A new Stanford study tapped a massive database to show how shootings strain hospitals and taxpayers. The cost of treating gunshot survivors is greatest in states with the highest rates of firearm ownership and the most permissive gun laws, new research shows. More than 4 in 10 shooting victims admitted to hospitals between 2006 and 2014 were concentrated in 16 Southern states and the District of Columbia, according to a study published this week by two researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. Of initial hospital admissions for firearms injuries, 43 percent were in the South. The West and Midwest each had 20 percent of hospitalizations, while the Northeast claimed 16 percent. More than a third of patients treated in the South were uninsured. Dr. Thomas Weiser, an associate professor of surgery, and Sarabeth Spitzer, a medical student, analyzed inpatient hospital records to conclude that the initial hospitalization of patients wounded by guns over the eight-year period cost Americans more than $6.6 billion. The researchers used a sample of more than 250,000 patients admitted to American hospitals with gunshot injuries. The average cost per hospitalization was $24,746. Patients with government-funded Medicaid or Medicare were responsible for roughly 40 percent of costs in the survey period. Uninsured patients were accountable for about a quarter of the costs. The costs attributed to the South alone were $2.7 billion. Stay Informed Subscribe to receive The Trace’s newsletters on important gun news and analysis. Email address The Canon Sent every Saturday. Our guide to the week's most revealing, must-read reporting on gun issues. The Daily Bulletin Sent weekday mornings. Get up to speed with The Trace’s latest articles and other important news of the day. Leave this field empty if you're human: The medical community is in near unanimous agreement that owning a gun increases the risk of being shot, whether intentionally or in an accident. As Americans continue to purchase firearms at breakneck pace, this reality has public safety implications: Every year, roughly 110,000 people are shot in the United States. This epidemic also has financial ramifications for the institutions that must treat victims: Most of the roughly 80,000 people who are wounded by a bullet annually enter the healthcare system, incurring massive costs. “For every one person who dies from a gunshot, there are three or four people who survive,” Weiser said. “At the end of the day, injuries are associated with a cost. And that’s a cost that’s [often] borne by taxpayers.” The study draws from a survey of 20 percent of American hospitals conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The survey collects patient information and insurance trends of roughly 8 million discharges annually. The study does not offer state-by-state breakdowns, but does show costs across geographical regions. Southern states were responsible for a disproportionate amount of patients. The study counts Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, as Southern states. The researchers focused on financial costs, and did not attempt to account for how gun ownership and gun laws might play a role. Weiser said he wants to better understand the connection, but “we don’t really have data.” But the finding that the South is the region with the highest number of gunshot victims roughly mirrors gun ownership statistics. According to a survey by researchers from Harvard and Northeastern universities, of America’s 55 million gun owners, nearly 37 percent live in the South, while the West and Midwest claim about 22 percent, respectively. Eighteen percent of gun owners hail from the Northeast. The same survey found that almost three quarters of Southern gun owners said they own their firearms for self-protection. Over the last decade, many Southern states have rolled back restrictions on carrying guns in public and relaxed requirements for obtaining a concealed weapons permit, all while strengthening laws protecting the use of deadly force. On Wednesday, Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas signed a bill that would allow people to carry concealed handguns on the campuses of the state’s public colleges and universities. The Stanford study emerged from Spitzer’s interest in gun violence. When she arrived at Stanford two years ago, she was surprised to learn just how little research had been published about firearms injuries, she said. She hopes that the success of this study will inform researchers more down the road, potentially with a focus on how often gunshot survivors return to the healthcare system for care after their initial injury. “A motivating factor is filling this [research] gap,” she said. The study only focused on a patient’s first trip to the hospital with a gunshot wound. It does not include the subsequent hospitalizations, rehabilitation, or patients treated and released from the emergency room. “This is a very select group of patients,” Weiser said. “And in truth we don’t know anything about patients about once they get out.” A gunshot victim’s recovery can be an arduous and costly process, especially for those without the financial means to access services. Survivors often require long-term care, such as physical therapy or mental health treatment to deal with the aftermath of such traumatic injuries. Past studies have included long-term rehabilitation — and a variety of other factors — when calculating the cost of gun violence, but the majority focus on specific states. In one recent analysis, published in February, Dr. Ted Miller of the Pacific Institute and First Coast News determined that gun violence costs each Florida resident $740 every year. The model included estimated costs to the criminal justice system, loss of work, extended medical treatments, and a decline in quality of life. Miller is the same economist who worked with Mother Jones in 2015 to calculate the national cost of gun violence. The number they landed on, using the expanded criteria of costs: $229 billion per year. Weiser stressed that such additional costs are extremely important when assessing the total impact of recovering from a gunshot. But he said that many of them can “be perceived as arbitrary.” He said it was his and Spitzer’s intent to conduct their analysis with the most iron-clad data available, to prevent the findings from being misconstrued. His objective was to “remove the emotion” from the research, he said, “and look at the actual dollar figures.” That’s one of the reasons the authors believe their work may have an impact outside of the medical community. “If these costs are borne by the government, it has real implications for federal and state budgets,” Weiser said. “If you’re going to argue for increased availability for firearms, you need to calculate the increase in costs.” Uninsured patients and those with Medicaid each accounted for roughly 30 percent of the sample used in the survey. Slightly more than 20 percent of patients had private insurance, while just 6 percent had Medicare. The insurance status of an additional 14 percent of patients was “other”: individuals whom the hospital opted not to charge, and those with “alternative forms of insurance,” according to the study. Demographics varied significantly between payer groups. The average Medicaid patient was 26, and more than 50 percent identified as black and reported a household median income in the lowest quartile, below $37,999. Individuals with private insurance were on average older, more likely to be white, and had a higher median income. Patients with Medicare had an average age of 57 and were the most likely to be transferred to another hospital for treatment, or die as a result of their injuries. However, one factor remained the same: In every payer group, males accounted for more than 80 percent of patients. Weiser said he is energized about continuing work on the issue of gun violence. In the operating room he interacts with shooting victims first-hand, though he’d rather not have to. “If I as a trauma surgeon never had to take care of a young kid with a gunshot wound again, that would be fantastic,” he said. [Photo: Flickr user Airman Magazine]

This is the second part of an ongoing look into the state of online gaming in Japan. If you’d like to read more on the subject head over to part one. Last time, we discussed the issues facing the Japanese online gamer. Of note, Japanese online gaming is so niche that the term MMORPG has very little meaning to your average online gamer, who tends to be more of a console shooter fan than PC playboys/girls. According to Akiba MMO‘s CEO Keiko, “Japan essentially skipped the PC and jumped straight to mobile phones.” Having a big, bulky machine that’s primarily used at one’s place of work hardly seems like something that would have awesome games on it. Worse yet, because of the small market, few western companies translated their games into Japanese. No problem, right? Japanese people must be able to speak English like the rest of the world despite being an island nation no where near an English speaking country… English Only Despite having to learn it for at least six years, Japanese people really don’t speak English. As a teacher, this comes up a lot, but Keiko in particular noted that English’s role in Japan is often restricted to unique wording/phrasing that only makes sense to Japanese. In short, it’s used for adding an exotic flavor for advertisers, but as a communication language, people may only passively understand English. Even then, as founders of gaming, Japanese expect good games to be translated for them if they are indeed any good. While there are certainly Japanese players who like western games, remember that online gaming is already a niche market. Add in the fact that foreign products are even more niche, so it’s more difficult to find translated fan sites of foreign games if you’re a Japanese player. There’s even a stigma that “Western games are shit” partially due to the fact that Japan simply didn’t have the PC gaming market to support localization into Japanese. While localization teams for Blizzard games may advertise in Japanese, the client is often still in English. This is most likely why Blizzard is practically unknown in this country. Everyone I spoke to who knows Blizzard’s games enjoyed them, but when asked why the games didn’t seem popular, the answer was always the same: no Japanese language support, until recently. Even then, keep in mind from last time that Japanese gamers tend to prefer anime style art. This is perhaps why Blizzard needed Square-Enix’s help releasing the game in Japan. But let’s be fair. As Keiko put it, it you can’t understand the story, how to play the game, or the character/item system, it’s very hard to play the game. This is a universal issue, not a Japanese issue, and one reason why importing and raw media is uncommon at best for the general population. However, western PC players have greater access to these games for lower prices than console gamers. Europe and Asian countries with strong PC gaming communities allow us to invade their virtual worlds from time to time so we’re exposed to the idea of playing games in a foreign language more than the Japanese console gamers. This isn’t to say that Japanese don’t play western games, and they certainly don’t avoid online ones. However, culturally speaking, Japanese people would prefer to stay silent and avoid inter-cultural communication issues. That may sound racist, but as someone who lives outside of the major Japanese cities, I can tell you life out here is quite different. It’s a stereo type, but all stereotypes are based on perspective. I’ve seen stupid Americans yelling when they just need to speak slowly, but I’ve never seen them begin to cry because a foreigner was trying to explain (in English) that their traveling companion doesn’t speak English. Now, apply that to games, where you can no longer easily gesture, use facial expressions, draw pictures, or use the tone of your voice. Like in real life, Japanese players want to play games in their native language with other people that speak their language. However, in some ways, Japanese players online are perhaps a bit more clannish. To be fair, Keiko feels that many Japanese players choose games they like and meet new people there. It’s not unheard of, and I even had a lone Japanese guy join my guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, in my experience, many Japanese gamers in the MMO sphere, much like with Monster Hunter, people begin by joining their friends. Outside of Neverwinter Online, I was unable to find a Japanese guild in both the Japanese version of Darkfall and ArcheAge, even though I specifically went of out my way to search for them. Admittedly, these are PvP games, and foreign made ones at that. Often, people do tend to stick with people they’ve previously established ties with when joining these games. I did meet other lone wolf types, but when I asked if they would join a guild, many said they were waiting for a friend to join the game. When I mentioned this issue to Matthieu, developer of Gangs of Space, and the Akihabara eSports Square staff, they had similar responses. Both feel that this is changing, but felt it is a bit of a problem. Part of it is the language. The eSports staff in particular noted that, for Japanese, it was difficult to talk to a person they don’t know outside of a game in English. I can understand this, but also know this is compounded by the fact that, in my experience, not speaking and trying to play with native speakers is worse than admitting you’re not proficient in the language. There are countless times I’ve been grouped with non-native speakers, not just Japanese but Chinese, Korean, even German. Shy people exist in all cultures, but when these people didn’t speak up, they were verbally abused, and those are usually the words people understand. In MMOs, the first thing I do when there seems to be a problem is to check if the other person is a native English speaker. Most of the time, this is the problem, and since I’m an English teacher, if the group has a little patience, we can get through things well enough. Few people play foreign games and possess zero knowledge of the foreign language/culture. Just the same, if a person doesn’t communicate their language handicap and is constantly abused, they won’t really bring their friends to the game. Although there were a few rude comments when I had previously mentioned my language issues when playing with Japanese players, the good ones stood out much more, and I honestly tend to be more of a negative person. Most people seem to stereotype Japanese as being overly polite, so you can only imagine what happens when foreigners who are usually accused of being rude taunt a Japanese player. However, that can’t be the only factor. As Matthieu and the eSports Square staff commented, this may partially originate with Japan’s local co-op traditions. Although playing a game at someone’s house is limited to friends and family, Japanese people have been meeting in front of stores and at arcades for decades to physically play with or against people. The latter is especially relevant in terms of PvP play, in that the arcade scene (particularly fighting games and shooters) in Japan generally has you battling someone you can see and interact with before and after the fight. When taken online, where people can be anonymous and resort to trash talking, which I often saw between Japanese and Korean players on their shared Darkfall server, this tradition breaks down. It’s no wonder the Japanese players would prefer to stick with people they know! The View of Online Gamers in Japan Although online gamers in the west are seen differently than non-online gamers, online gaming is so niche that most of my contacts have said there’s almost no difference. Matthieu says there is a small difference in the perception, with online gamers being seen more for being basement dwelling loners, but that image is going away. This is slightly confirmed by the eSports Square staff commenting on the fact that there being any difference at all only being recognized recently, but, in general, gamers are gamers in Japan, and as all my contacts– professional and casual alike– agree, gamers in Japan are still not highly respected. The overall negative image we hold of gamers in the states is still pretty true in Japan, but like the west, it is starting to soften, partially due to mobile gaming making games more acceptable by your average Japanese citizen. Internationally, however, there are still issues the Japanese gamer must deal with. As I mentioned previously, Japanese gamers are often shy and may not even admit to being Japanese. People who played the original Final Fantasy 11 would also mention how the Japanese players sometimes seemed clannish, though I’ve also witnessed genuine random acts of kindness towards non-Japanese as well. Within the eSports community, I’ve had people (Japanese and non-Japanese alike) personally tell me that Japan simply doesn’t care about international recognition, but that was up for debate. LoL players in particular seem to look forward to seeing what Japanese players are capable of, though many still don’t realize the Japanese players still don’t have their own servers (and Riot games has yet to return my inquiries about the situation). I know some of the eSports Square staff have personally voiced concern about Japanese players’ LoL skills in the competitive community, but the overall tone is that they just hope esports become more recognized in Japan. Mathieu, on the other hand, noted that Japanese players often have different styles. A good example is the shooting scene. At least compared to the people in his non-Japanese gaming circle, the times the Japanese players he knows have joined them in matches, the Japanese are simply in a different league. However, Keiko really brought up what may be the truest sentiment: if Japanese players don’t care about the international scene, it has more to do with their language ability than anything else. The hesitance to community in an international setting, in English, is quite challenging, especially when the games themselves are also often in English. If the tables were turned, and the games were in Japanese and had international players speaking in Japanese, they would be much more open to it. The Future The overall environment for online gaming in Japan is certainly a small and fairly close one. It’s alive and healthy enough, but as Matthieu put it, if you don’t know someone in it, you don’t really have access to it. However, even the most cynical people I spoke to do think online gaming has a future, even with competition from the mobile crowd. I feel that the rise of tablets is giving the PC market a solid middle ground and potential step for those who tire of mobile phone games and need something meatier. The availability of World of Tanks and its Japanese client certainly drew attention to the event Keiko helped with! However, there needs to be support. Steam already provides Japanese language options at least for shopping, which is a good start. Riot’s Tokyo office will hopefully release news on a Japanese server, or at least language pack, for Japanese gamers. Kei’s MMO site, Akiba MMO, serves as a general community site, mostly for PC gamers and developers. It’s actually providing a space where presenting developers are posting about the games they’re bringing to Tokyo Indie Festival. The country is already home to many internet cafes to make-up for the fact that PC aren’t considered a necessity in Japan, but Akihabara eSports Square at least encourages patrons to download their Steam games when visiting their location. It’s a good start, but I wonder if it’s enough. In the west, we had small time developers leading the charge in MMORPG development. Origin Systems and Turbine aren’t exactly household names, but few MMO players have trouble recognizing their work. Perhaps a game like Kantai Collection can help make way for online games’ popularity, but I don’t know if that’s enough, and indie developers are rare in Japan. There’s a big difference between making doushinji (games made for fun more than profit) and being an indie developer trying to make a living, and the latter are quite rare in Japan, though I was lucky enough to meet some. My interview with Matthieu occurred at Pico Pico Cafe, which hosts something called “Picotachi,” a monthly indie game developer (and fan) meet. The place is absolutely packed to the point where I’d certainly call it a “standing-room only” type of event. There were some interesting games, but mostly they were simply, ranging from 2-D platformers to a 100-player Tetris that required 10 people to form a single line across their territories to clear the blocks. Fun stuff but nothing quite on the same level as an online game. In fact, after talking to Matthieu and looking at the list of TIF presenters (so far), it seems the Japanese indie devs are naturally chasing the most profitable market: mobile gaming. Aside from Gangs of Space, nothing seemed to indicate that the indie scene here is looking to bulk up the online gaming market. It feels like the big corporations, like Square and Sega, will be needed to develop the online gaming market. Smaller projects certainly seem to be helping. Before starting this project, most people I talked to seemed, like myself, fairly isolated in their physical locations about their online, PC gaming hobby. We mostly meet and talk to other people online, and if someone changes games or doesn’t log in at the right time, they seemingly disappear. Finally making some business contacts has shown me that there is a community here, but it’s certainly in a position to grow. There are opportunities for people willing to network and innovate, assuming you have the money understand the current culture. I feel that the last point is probably what’s kept western publishers out of Japan. Until they either invest the money or innovation to attract the audience, Japan’s online gaming community will probably remain very niche, limited mostly to shooter fans, monster hunters, and gamers who also are willing to put up a foreign language in their pursuit of finding a virtual paradise…. or Valhalla. Related: Akiba MMO

BALTIMORE (WJZ)–The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the gruesome killing of a cat in Maryland. On September 7, 2016, authorities say a cat was found burned to death in an apartment complex in Hollingsworth Manor in Elkton, Maryland. Investigators believe it was severely tortured and then set on fire. “It is absolutely horrific to imagine someone intentionally and viciously harming an innocent cat in this way,” said Emily Hovermale, The HSUS’ Maryland state director. “Whoever would commit such a crime is clearly a dangerous person, and we are hopeful that this reward will bring forward anyone with information about this heinous crime.” Anyone with any information is asked to call the Cecil County Animal Services at 410-441-2040.

Despite predictions of gloom and doom, the province posted a surplus last year of more than $1 billion, no matter how it’s counted. The previous Tory government initially forecast a $514-million surplus last year, but when oil prices plummeted last fall, premier Jim Prentice warned Alberta could end up in the red. The 2014-15 consolidated surplus of $1.1 billion ends of string of six consecutive deficits and boosts the province’s contingency fund to $8.2 billion — a reserve Finance Minister Joe Ceci says will come in handy in dealing with the drop in non-renewable resource revenue. “Going forward the climate — the economy today — is very different from what it was then,” he told reporters at the legislature Tuesday as the NDP government released the final year-end numbers. But Ceci said he was reluctant to use the cash savings to fill the projected revenue void. “If we can find a way to achieve greater revenue stability without the use of the contingency account — though it’s probably not possible — that would be my first desire,” said the Calgary MLA. “Philosophically, I think contingencies are there to smooth things out. They’re not there to totally drain the bank account.” Although the price of oil has stayed below $60 US per barrel for much of this year, Ceci said he hoped new corporate tax increases and hikes in personal income tax for the wealthiest Albertans will meet some of the projected shortfall. He also mused about other “revenue measures,” but would not elaborate. During the spring election, the NDP campaigned on a budget with a projected $5.4-billion deficit — $400-million more red ink than was forecast in the PC budget for 2015-16 that was released in March. The final Tory budget, however, was never passed as the Prentice government called an early election, which it lost to Rachel Notley’s NDP. PC interim Leader Ric McIver said the fact the province recorded a hefty surplus during a period of falling oil prices proves the former government was fiscally prudent and left the province in strong economic shape. “The government did control expenditures last year because it was the right thing to do,” said McIver, former labour minister in the Prentice government. “This annual report is a good sign post to go look at what good shape Alberta is in overall.” But Wildrose finance critic Derek Fildebrandt said the report doesn’t reflect the deteriorating state of Alberta’s finances because it relies on the same accounting methods that were employed by the former PC government. The Wildrose MLA said the provincial government paid out more than $780 million to finance interest payments on debt last year, and Alberta remains on pace to top $30 billion in debt by 2019. “When you collect record revenues and still have to take out billions in debt, the real problem is overspending,” Fildebrandt said in a statement. “The NDP plan of raising spending faster than they can raise taxes just isn’t sustainable.” Ceci would not comment on the size of the projected deficit for the current fiscal year, which began April 1. The NDP don’t plan to table their own budget until October. Alberta Finance officials say higher-than-expected revenues from taxes and investments in the first six months of last year offset the impact of lower oil prices in the fall. Although bitumen royalties fell $530 million, the province still brought in $8.9 billion in non-renewable resource revenue. The Heritage Savings Trust Fund was reported to be $17.9 billion. Total capital debt climbed to $11.9 billion. The PC government reported a $755-million surplus in 2013-14, but under its new consolidated reporting, that surplus was actually a $302-million deficit. The new reporting method now includes revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities from schools, universities, colleges and health facilities as well as pension liabilities. Under the previous financial reporting method, which was criticized by opposition parties and the provincial auditor general, the surplus in 2014-15 would have been reported as $1.4 billion. dhenton@calgaryherald.com

The message board website 4chan struck at the hearts of every OVO fan this morning when they started a rumor that Drake died in a car crash in Los Angeles. "Operation Drake, as the original thread called it" started in the comment section of Drizzy's "Hotline Bling" video, where users wrote "RIP Drake" before the news then spread to other outlets. The fake news eventually ended up as a community post on Buzzfeed that was syndicated on the front page of Yahoo! before it was eventually removed. CNN also picked up the story through syndication, but it was removed shortly after. Buzzfeed pulled the community post and left an editor's note that a community user posted a false claim about Drake and that it was removed. Drake's Wikipedia page for a time listed his date of death as Nov. 22, though it's unclear if 4chan made that update. The original 4chan threads have since been deleted, but it looks like the damage is already done, with Twitter questioning if Drake actually died. Thankfully, Drake is still alive and Views From the 6 is on the way.

Critics say the plan will only alienate citizens with ties to Somalia, where the militant group al-Shabab is based. Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta said in a speech on Tuesday (Feb. 16) that his government is thinking about building a prison that will hold those with “violent and extremist” tendencies to limit their ability to spread “poison” to other prisoners. “We will establish a new prison to hold violent, extremist offenders,” Kenyatta, speaking at a graduation ceremony for new prison guards, said. “The truth of the matter is that we cannot allow them to spread their poison to vulnerable Kenyans.” It was unclear who, specifically, Kenyatta was referring to. But the language he used in the speech suggests that he may have been talking about individuals with alleged ties to the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab. Kenya has been targeted by the al Qaeda-affiliated organization ever since the country sent troops into Somalia in 2011 to help defeat the group and secure the country for the government. Several high profile attacks by the Shabaab, including at a high end mall in Nairobi and a university in the northeast of the country, have killed hundreds of people. Last June, Kenyatta suggested that the situation is forcing Kenya to think of new ways to combat the threat. “We must accept that we are faced with a new kind of enemy against whom the conventional methods of fighting crime will not work,” he said. “We have amongst us radicalized youths who appear innocent which makes us believe that they are doing God’s work while they are busy planning evil against other Kenyans in the name of religion.” At the time Kenyatta indicated that his government was going to work with community and religious leaders to protect against such radicalization. But the decision to potentially build a special prison to detain individuals suspected of extremism could portend a new phase of Kenyatta’s administration’s anti-terrorism efforts. It follows another radical idea, yet to be fully realized, of building a wall along the Kenya-Somalia border the government says will keep out the militants. Some analysts compare the proposed prison to the controversial US naval base in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay where the US government has been holding prisoners suspected of terrorism. They say this approach will only work to exacerbate the already difficult relationship the government has with Kenyans of Somali ethnic origin, a community it cannot afford to alienate in its anti-terrorism efforts. “There is a real risk that this prison for jihadists may only fuel anti-Kenyan government sentiments, especially if the majority of the prisoners in this jail are Somali Kenyans,” Ahmed Salim, a senior analyst at Teneo Intelligence, told Quartz. “Effective counterterrorism measures requires the support and buy-in from communities.”

We need your help to build wheelchair costumes for kids in walkers and wheelchairs in time for Halloween 2015! So please pledge and spread the word. The more money we raise, the more children we can build for in the future! Our goal is 5 costumes, but we’d love to make more with more donations. What is Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes is a nonprofit organization that turns kids’ walkers and wheelchairs into the best Halloween costume ever! Lon & Anita Davis are the parents of 2 boys, 1 of whom, Reese, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma (a childhood cancer) at the age of 2 months old. The tumor was on his spine and ended up crushing his spinal cord preventing him the full use of his legs and trunk muscles. Together, with the help of now 10-year-old Reese, the family launched Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes with this simple goal in mind: “To provide any child with special needs equipment a unique and custom built costume for them, free of charge to the family.” How it all started. When Reese received his first wheelchair around the age of 3, he was really into the movie, “Wall-E.” So for Halloween he wanted to be the title character. We knew there wasn’t a way to purchase a costume that would work for him, so we decided to build it from scratch. The end result featured mechanical arms that Reese could control from within the body and large track treads on the side of his wheelchair. The costume blew people away and it even ended up in the Kansas City Star newspaper. The first costume built by the Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes team. Each year following, Reese would come up with creative ideas for his costume, and Dad would have to figure out a way to make them work. Year two, Reese wanted to be Buzz Lightyear and wanted his wheelchair to be the Claw Machine from the first “Toy Story” movie. That costume ended up coming in 2nd place for a city wide costume contest and was featured on the home page of the Kansas City Star website. Buzz Lightyear in the Claw Machine Fast forward to 2015. We have numerous costumes under our belt, each being more elaborate than the last. We were even featured on the evening news for our Comic Con costume in 2015 when we introduced the debut of Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes. Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes' mission is “to provide any child with special needs equipment a unique and custom built costume for them, free of charge to the family. There are some great ways you can help. How you can get involved There are a few ways you can help Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes. 1) PLEDGE. Any amount is appreciated, but the more you give, the more children we can build for, and the cooler the rewards you'll receive! 2) SHARE. Please let your friends and family know about the Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes campaign! Your support will not only help some great kids, but will also assist in spreading awareness about the challenges faced by kids in wheelchairs. These kids want to dress up just like every other kid, but not every kid gets a costume like these. 3) VOLUNTEER. Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes wants YOU! If you're a designer, costume builder, craftsperson, social media master, or just want to do whatever is needed to help us on this journey, please contact us on the Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes website. There is a form to fill out to become one of our elite “Custom Costume Builders.” (Sign Up Here) We never know what skills we might need until we have a child with a dream. A variety of some of our costume designs. Three more designs of various styles. Where will the Kickstarter funds go? 100% of your pledge money will go to purchasing materials and supplies for these one-of-a-kind wheelchair costumes, and shipping them to the families (if needed). Each costume, depending on the design, can range in price from $100-$250. Any additional funds beyond our $1,000 goal, will be used to build even more costumes for more kids! The more kids we can help, the better! Please consider donating. Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach How do kids get a costume from Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? Parents can fill out our form on our website, www.WalkinRollin.org, to request a costume. We work with the family to design the costume based on what the child wants. We provide sketches and design concepts for the family to approve. Frank the combine from the movie "Cars." If they are outside of the Kansas City Metro area, we then pair them up with a Custom Costume Builder in their area. That way, the builder can meet with the family and can take precise measurements of the chair or equipment. Since every wheelchair is different, it is important to do this to make sure the costume fits properly for Halloween. We would love to build a costume for every family that contacts us. However, if we are unable to locate a Custom Costume Builder in their area, we will still work with the family to help produce what we can from a distance. Some costume parts can easily be built with simple measurements provided by the family and then shipped to the family. Others, we may have to be more creative. It all depends on the costume that the child would like. Additional costume designs for walkers and wheelchairs. Our first Custom Costume for Halloween 2015 For Halloween this year, we already have a 5 year old girl in a wheelchair who is very interested in dressing up as R2-D2. Her whole family is dressing up as “Star Wars” characters and we want to make sure that her costume will make for an awesome night. Here is an early concept drawing of that costume. R2D2 Costume design How many kids will get a costume from Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? This year our goal is to build wheelchair costumes for 5 kids in time for Halloween 2015. But the number of children we can build for in the future is only limited by the funds we're able to raise and the number of Custom Costume Builders we can locate. So please pledge! We hope to eventually have a full network of Custom Costume Builders around the nation so we can create these awesome costumes for every child with special needs equipment, and ALWAYS, make them free of charge to the family. Belle gown that goes around the walker to hide it with the exception of the handles. The Best Halloween for these kids. Being in a wheelchair is very tough, especially for a child who just wants to run and play with their friends. My son recently told me that he doesn’t think of his wheelchair as a wheelchair. He thinks of it as part of him. Where ever he goes, the wheelchair goes. So when Halloween comes, he wants all of him to dress up, including his wheelchair. I don't think my son is the only kid who thinks that way, do you?

The 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was celebrated loudly as a victory for supporters of gay “marriage” Friday, and yet, the way the case was decided, using a new interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, may have opened the floodgates for gun rights reform. I argued Friday morning that the Obergefell decision validated concealed carry reciprocity nationwide. By using the Constitution in such a manner, the Court argues that the Due Process Clause extends “certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy” accepted in a majority of states across the state lines of a handful of states that still banned the practice. The vast majority of states are “shall issue” on the matter of issuing concealed carry permits, and enjoy reciprocity with a large number of other states. My North Carolina concealed carry permit, for example, was recognized yesterday as being valid in 36 states, which just so happened to be the number of states in which gay marriage was legal yesterday. But 14 states did not recognize my concealed carry permit yesterday. Today they must. Using the same “due process clause” argument as the Supreme Court just applied to gay marriage, my concealed carry permit must now be recognized as valid in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. What I didn’t know at the time is that a more expansive argument had already made by Marc Greendorfer in an amicus brief attached to the Obergefell case. In retrospect, it seems short-sighted to believe that the majority decision by the five justice majority in Obergefell would only apply to something as narrow as one kind of state or local gun law. As Greendorfer argues, if there is any intellectual and logical consistency in the Supreme Court’s arguments at all, the “due process” argument must be applied as equally to state and local gun laws, sweeping them aside entirely, and reaffirming the clear command in the Second Amendment that, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” All, state and local on concealed and open carry would seem to be invalidated, and citizens should be allowed to carry firearms, either openly or concealed, anywhere they want to go. Dare the Court dare claim that the 14th Amendment’s due process clause only applies in specific and narrow instances? [Rainbow Gadsden flag image via Pintrest, possibly originating from the work of Benjamin Sapiens at the Washington Blade]

Foretelling the future can be a tricky business. It’s hard to trust your own psychic abilities. They are skills one comes into by accident and design. There are lots of things that you can try. These can help to hone your skill if you’re a beginner or even a seasoned expert. I’ve been reading the cards and getting psychic readings for over three decades. Over the years I’ve consulted with thousands of professionals and clients about what it is you need to know, what you want to know, and how the different systems work. Keep a Record – It is good magickal practice to keep track of your readings, dreams, and the events that follow. You don’t need to get obsessively anal about it, but if you keep a journal you can begin to see patterns and signs that you may not have recognized otherwise. – It is good magickal practice to keep track of your readings, dreams, and the events that follow. You don’t need to get obsessively anal about it, but if you keep a journal you can begin to see patterns and signs that you may not have recognized otherwise. Observe your own Thoughts – Consider your own personal observations and associations as they relate to the archetypal symbols present in the Tarot. One of the most important things to remember while reading is “wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” – Consider your own personal observations and associations as they relate to the archetypal symbols present in the Tarot. One of the most important things to remember while reading is “wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” Test and Re-Test – Psychic tests can start with something simple. As your cards a question like will it rain on me today? Or Will I get a call from X in the next 24 hours? Choose simple and verifiable questions to start with. Measure your results against the actual outcomes. – Psychic tests can start with something simple. As your cards a question like will it rain on me today? Or Will I get a call from X in the next 24 hours? Choose simple and verifiable questions to start with. Measure your results against the actual outcomes. Practice – How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Ok, I’m a New Yorker, I couldn’t pass that joke up. No matter what you are trying to achieve practice goes a long way. Many readers start by doing daily sessions with their cards, some still do. – How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Ok, I’m a New Yorker, I couldn’t pass that joke up. No matter what you are trying to achieve practice goes a long way. Many readers start by doing daily sessions with their cards, some still do. Make Sure You Have the Right Cards – There are thousands of tarot and oracle decks in existence today, will more being created every day. There are decks based on Pulp Fiction, Fairies, Dragons, and Goddesses. You can find your way with cards inspired by Victorians, Steampunks, Masons, and a whole host of others. – There are thousands of tarot and oracle decks in existence today, will more being created every day. There are decks based on Pulp Fiction, Fairies, Dragons, and Goddesses. You can find your way with cards inspired by Victorians, Steampunks, Masons, and a whole host of others. Make Sure You Have the Right Spread – Tarot spreads can be very open or very rigid. There are three card spreads to represent the past, present, and future. There are spreads that incorporate the entire deck and are designed to tell the story of an individuals whole life. – Tarot spreads can be very open or very rigid. There are three card spreads to represent the past, present, and future. There are spreads that incorporate the entire deck and are designed to tell the story of an individuals whole life. Scry or Die – All forms of divination, tarot included, involve opening one’s mind up to new ways of seeing. Most people are used to practicing the art of scrying with a mirror or a crystal ball. These same techniques used with these methods can be utilized with tarot cards. Obviously there is the image one sees on the card, but tarot challenges your mind to think beyond the four edges of the card. – All forms of divination, tarot included, involve opening one’s mind up to new ways of seeing. Most people are used to practicing the art of scrying with a mirror or a crystal ball. These same techniques used with these methods can be utilized with tarot cards. Obviously there is the image one sees on the card, but tarot challenges your mind to think beyond the four edges of the card. Sleep with your Deck – In many different spiritual tradition the psychic energy of places and things is very important. Sleeping with your tarot cards under your pillow allows you and the cards to access your subconscious power. That way there will be an energy exchange between you. – In many different spiritual tradition the psychic energy of places and things is very important. Sleeping with your tarot cards under your pillow allows you and the cards to access your subconscious power. That way there will be an energy exchange between you. Only You Know– Ultimately, you are the only person who can attempt to be objective about what you are seeing in the cards. Sometimes you may notice a tendency towards wishful thinking or paranoia. That may be when you need to take a break. This list of recommendations is only just a beginning, Tarot provides a whole world of possibilities. More information about learning the tarot can be found in our Divination Space Station series. If you are interested in getting a Tarot reading email me at voodoouniverse@yahoo.com What are your recommendations for learning and trusting your own readings? Please post them in the comments below! If you enjoyed what you have read here please help me out and share, tweet, and pin this post!

Advertisement It's an airport that's been frozen in time, with bold architecture that must have seemed space age at the time. These photographs, which originally appeared in Curbed, of the TWA Terminal at JFK offer a glimpse of the golden age of travel, transporting guests back to what travellers would have experienced in 1962. Photographer Max Touhey was granted access to capture the closed-to-the-public building just ahead of its transformation into a boutique hotel. Scroll down for video The lid has been temporarily lifted on the preserved TWA Terminal at JFK, with fascinating images by photographer Max Touhey transporting you back to what travellers would have experienced in 1962, as reported by Curbed Touhey captured a round capsule departures board at the TWA terminal, as reported by Curbed The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves, and was completed posthumously in 1962, for the now defunct Trans World Airlines (TWA). The futuristic building was designed to replicate a bird's spread wings mid flight in reflection of the company's directive, which they stated was to 'capture the spirit of flight.' Construction on the airport hub lasted six years starting in 1956, and upon completion it was celebrated as an architectural masterpiece that represented a shift in air travel in which middle-class Americans could now afford to fly. 'We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world,' Mr Saarinen had said about his philosophy behind the design. The terminal design reflects a bird's spread wings mid flight in reflection of the TWA company's directive, which they stated was to 'capture the spirit of flight' as captured by Max Touhey for Curbed The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves. The photograph, by Max Touhey, first appeared in Curbed Plans for the hotel are well underway, with a team preparing a digital 3D model of the airport having taken extensive measurements in June. Photograph courtesy of Max Touhey and Curbed High-flying: Airline hostesses for TWA are pictured welcoming people aboard a flight back in 1966 Flashback: Two first class seats aboard a TWA jet from London to Washington in the 1960s. One occupied by a caesium beam timepiece accurate to one-millioneth of a second used in the USA's space programme. This clock was being returned to America from South Africa and as it must not be allowed to stop it is connected to a power point in the aircraft during the flight. The other seat is occupied by one of the clock's escorts Pat Till Twa Air Hostess Who Was Voted Miss Heathrow Airport 1964 With 2nd Place (left) Christine Longthorp, 20, and Linda Stafford, 21 Touhey's photo project was a one-off experience as the TWA terminal has been mainly shut to the public since 2001. In recent years the building underwent a $20million renovation and opened its doors to design buffs, eager for a peek at the architectural jewel, for just a weekend in 2012. The Curbed website features about 98 fascinating photos of the terminal plus a time-lapse video which tours guests through the empty halls, brightly coloured carpets and futuristic chairs. Plans for the hotel are well underway, with a team preparing a digital 3D model of the airport having taken extensive measurements in June. Golden Age: Architect Eero Saarinen said he 'wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment End of an era: The terminal was built for TWA but the airline went bankrupt and was purchased by American Airlines in 2001 After a $20 million renovation project, the building maintained its ambiance of the sixties, including this retro bar Times gone by: Construction on the airport hub lasted six years, beginning in 1956, and upon completion it was celebrated as an architectural masterpiece The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves, and was completed posthumously in 1962, for the now defunct Trans World Airlines (TWA) In recent years the building underwent a $20 million renovation and opened its doors to design buffs, eager for a peek at the architectural jewel, for just a weekend in 2012

It is ok to hate your personal bests. Actually, I’d encourage it. I hate most of mine. When you get a new one, it’s so exciting! You see your name printed next to a fancy new number that you’ve never seen before, and it validates everything you’ve been working towards. But then the next day you wake up, watch the race video and think, ‘I could have gone faster had I just done this, this and this.’ Maybe the next few weeks you’ll still beam with pride when congratulated on the number, but time passes and it grows old. Then you’re sick of it. And then it’s 3 years of self-loathing and conversations about the existence of short tracks. But when I crossed the finish line in South Carolina and saw the clock was way lower than ever before, I flipped out! In 2012, while a senior at Columbia, I was able to use a few connections to gain a late entry into a small Monday night 1500 at Swarthmore College. Training had been going really well, and racing was on a sharp upswing. I stepped on the line calm and ready, knowing that the 3:39 Olympic Trials qualifying time was well within reach of my fitness. The plan was just to follow the leader, and slowly move up in the field. We strung out immediately, and with the help of Nick Willis pacing for 1300 meters, I ran splits of 59-58-57-41 for the American Collegiate Record* of 3:35.59. A couple years later I had a conversation with Nick about why that race was so fast, and I think he summed it up perfectly: Most rabbits go out fast, slow down and step off after their slowest 100. Now the athletes behind have lost their momentum, and have to shift gears again to head into the kick. In that race, we were wound up and released. If your goal is to break 5 minutes in the mile, you can most likely find a race that would set you up for a chance to do it. It’s nice in HS and most of college, to have so many prospective races setup to get the times you are chasing. Unfortunately, at the professional level, you have to earn [deservedly so] the right to be in those races unless you get lucky being in the right place at the right time (i.e-Swarthmore, Furman). Once you reach the Diamond League level, you have world-class rabbits and competition that produce sub 3:35 races with regularity. At a certain level you run into this problem again since 3:26-3:29 races are extremely rare, and getting rabbits that are capable of coming through in 2:45 is a tall order. From Swarthmore until Furman, the fastest race I had been in was a 3:38.5 race last summer in the ‘C’ heat at Heusden-Zoleder [and I won]. Saturday night at Furman, I was lucky enough to be in a fast race that ran from the gun. We had a fresh and capable rabbit, as well as a couple brave runners who were fearless about attacking the pace and chasing the standard. But as noted, these opportunities are special, and it’s of utmost importance to capitalize on them when they do come. And hopefully then, you run fast enough to climb the ladder and get into the next tier of professional meets. It’s a tough, but fair process. During our cool down the conversation was overwhelmingly positive about the success of the meet, and we couldn’t help but wonder why there aren’t more races like this in the United States throughout the summer. The atmosphere was intimate, the field was competitive, and the pace was honest. After last summer, having attended the Michigan Track Classic and the Falmouth Mile, I was inspired to create my own race, The Hoka One One Long Island Mile this September 9th. It’s an easy formula to replicate, and if enough individual race organizers through out the country decided to put one of their own on, we could have a competitive domestic circuit in our own backyard during the summer months that could rival Europe’s. The US distance scene is plenty deep, and it’d be a great boost to the local running community and for athletes who cannot afford to spend multiple weeks overseas. Just food for thought. A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders for the next two US Championships by achieving the World/Olympic ‘A’ Standard. I am stepping away with a lot of confidence having closed in 54-mid off an honest pace. Now the focus shifts to the US Championships and a top 3 finish. Back to work! My next race on the schedule is an 800 this Thursday at the Adrian Martinez Classic in Concord, MA. (By the way, I think it’s an awesome experience and fully support HS runners getting a chance to compete at professional races. I apologize for the inability of sarcasm to be translated via the Internet.) Advertisements Share this: Twitter Facebook Like this: Like Loading... Related

The logical way to start exploring this possibility would be to give elephants the pointing test. But these giant mammals are a lot more challenging to work with than a poodle. In fact, it wasn’t until last year that one of Dr. Byrne’s students, Ms. Smet, was able to run the test. Ms. Smet traveled to Zimbabwe, where a company called Wild Horizons offers elephant-back safaris. Each morning, while the elephants were waiting to take tourists on a trip, Ms. Smet would set up two buckets behind a screen. An elephant handler would bring one of the animals a few yards away from her. The elephant watched Ms. Smet lower pieces of fruit behind the screen and put them into one of the buckets. But the elephant couldn’t see which bucket she put the fruit in. “I actually checked that from elephant height,” Ms. Smet said. Ms. Smet then brought the buckets out from behind the screen and stood between them. She pointed at the one with the fruit inside, and the handler walked the elephant toward the buckets. Ms. Smet noted which bucket it stuck its trunk in first. For two months, Ms. Smet tested 11 elephants. When she crunched the data afterward, she found that the elephants picked the right bucket 67.5 percent of the time. (One-year-old human babies do a little better at these tests, scoring 72.7 percent.) Ms. Smet found that the elephants could follow her pointing whether she stuck out her whole arm or just used her hand. And when she simply stood between the buckets, by contrast, the elephants stuck their trunks in the buckets at random. Ms. Smet and Dr. Byrne published their results Thursday in the journal Current Biology. The scientists were able to rule out the possibility that the elephants learned to associate pointing with food over the course of the experiments. “They were just as good on Trial 1,” said Dr. Byrne.

The title of this article is conjectural. Though the topic is found within The Simpsons universe, a proper name is not available. The Blue-Haired Lawyer, is Springfield's most prominent lawyer known for his pasty face, blue hair, New York accent, and nasal voice. Contents show] Work He was first introduced as one of Mr. Burns' many lawyers. Subsequently, he most commonly appears as the lawyer arguing against the Simpsons whenever they wind up in court. He often makes good points against them and wins over the judge. However, he has attempted to aid the Simpson family at least once.[6] He also occasionally appears to serve as a prosecutor. He worked for "Luvum & Burnham: Family Law" in one episode, where he had a secretary named Uwa (homophone for "YOU WHA?!?!"). His name is never stated, though it's presumably either Luvum or Burnham, given his law firm's name. In one episode, he reveals himself to be the author of a scifi novel called "The 60 Foot Baby" and on the cover he is simply credited as "Burns' Lawyer." Despite being his lawyer, he is, sometimes, intimidated by Burns. An example of this is when Burn begins losing money, he (and Burns's other lawyers) loses his competence and acts as a yes-man out of fear of his wrath, going as far as to encourage Burns into making bad investments that bankrupt him.[7] Politics He is a member of the Springfield Republican Party He graduated from Springfield University. Non-Canon Appearances The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. In the The Simpsons Game , several of him work as The Creator's lawyers/bodyguards. In The Simpsons Guy, he sues the Pawtucket Patriot brewery for copyright infringement. Behind the Laughter Writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss have both stated on the DVD commentaries that the voice is based on McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn, and animator Jim Reardon has said that he is designed to look like character actor Charles Lane. If you compare him to Milhouse, he has a striking resemblance to yet another adult version of him: plus, thin glasses and tuxedo and minus the humor, voice, and relationship with a Simpson. His voice sounds similar to Arnie Pye's voice. Appearances

Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival will return March 2 through April 12, 2018, bringing delicious cuisine, specialty beverages and exciting entertainment to Disneyland Resort guests for its third season. The culinary festival will expand to six weeks, with more days for guests to enjoy the flavors of the Golden State. More than a dozen Festival Marketplaces will feature California-inspired tastes and sips. Guests will experience presentations and demonstrations with celebrity chefs such as Robert Irvine and Alex Guarnaschelli; food and beverage tastings; winemaker dinners; beer, wine and spirit seminars – all in addition to live music, entertainment and special activities throughout the festival. The festival’s signature events will include new experiences such as the Disney Family of Wines Dinner, as well as returning favorites like Sweet Sundays and the Winemaker or Brewmaster Dinners. Another guest-favorite returning to the festival is the Junior Chef experience, with hands-on fun led by Chef Goofy, for children ages 3 to 11. Keep an eye on Disney Parks Blog and Disneyland.com for more information about the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, returning March 2 through April 12, 2018! Additional fees required for the signature events and certain seminars. Separate admission to Disney California Adventure Park is required and is not included with the cost of such events. Space is limited for all ticketed events; advance reservations are recommended. Guests must be 21 years of age or over to consume alcohol and to participate in some events; valid photo ID required. Events and demonstrations are subject to restrictions and change or cancellation without notice.

CTVNews.ca Staff Four people are recovering in hospital after a frightening fall from a chairlift at a ski resort near Kelowna B.C. Rescue crews were called to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort on Saturday after a ski lift chair carrying passengers fell more than seven metres to the ground. One person was airlifted from the scene while three others were taken to Kelowna General Hospital by ambulance. Officials say two of the injured remain in critical condition. Resort staff have confirmed that the injured include two ski patrollers, a ski instructor, and a visitor to the resort. Mike Morin, the resort’s manager, says this is an extremely rare circumstance and the first time an incident like this has happened since the resort opened in 1967. “One of the empty chairs was swinging and struck the tower, tower number two, on our double chair and caused a deropement and the chair came down to the ground,” he told CTV Vancouver. Witnesses say they saw the passengers tumble to the ground. “From what I saw, they fell pretty hard,” said Carson Moss. Tyler Mow told CTV Vancouver that the ski lift did not feel right when he was on it. “The chairs felt springy earlier in the day,” Mow said. “We were just commenting that it felt funny and that something was different.” While paramedics rushed to treat the victims, other skiers remained stuck on the lift and had to be evacuated. “We had to wait for everyone to come up and harness us down,” said Kaite Cornet. Officials say an inspection of the chair lift will now take place to determine what went wrong. With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Norma Reid

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com The more pertinent question is, since when did Iran have a drone program? Ah, that dates back to 2011, when President Obama literally gave Iran U.S. drone technology, during the RQ 170 incident. I know, you think I'm making this up. Why would Obama do anything at all for the Persians, stemming from giving them drone technology to removing sanctions, to paying them billions for the release of US hostages? You'd have to ask him. But I do know this. Source: Wikipedia: On 12 December 2011, U.S. administration asked Iran to return the captured U.S. drone.[27] The day before, on 11 December, General Salami stated that "no nation welcomes other countries' spy drones in its territory, and no one sends back the spying equipment and its information back to the country of origin."[28] On 13 December 2011, Defence Minister of Iran, dismissed the request and said "Instead of apologising to the Iranian nation, it is brazenly asking for the drone back." And the ministry spokesman, Mehmanparast, stated that "it seems he [Obama] has forgotten that Iran’s airspace was violated, spying operations were undertaken, international laws were violated and that Iran’s internal affairs were interfered with. ... Instead of an official apology and admitting to this violation, they are making this request."[29] Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney criticised Obama's decisions on the drone, saying that, after the aircraft went down, the president should have ordered an air strike within Iran: "The right response to that would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it. You can do that from the air ... and, in effect, make it impossible for them to benefit from having captured that drone." Instead, "he asked nicely for them to return it, and they aren't going to".[30] On 17 January 2012, an Iranian company said it would send miniature, pink, toy versions of the captured drone to President Obama as a response to the request for sending the drone back. On 10 December 2011, Iran announced that it intended to carry out reverse engineering on the captured RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft.[6] In April 2012, the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution claimed to have succeeded in extracting the entirety of the data collected by the drone and are currently in the process of building a replica of the aircraft.[33] Iran claimed to have been approached by countries, including China and Russia, seeking information on the drone.[34] Although U.S. officials expressed concern over the possibility of China or Russia receiving the drone's technology, they cast doubt on whether Iran could replicate the technology of the aircraft, as well as the amount of intelligence data available, due to the precautions installed for malfunctioning drones.[35] On May 2014, Iranian state TV displayed what was claimed to be a reverse engineered RQ-170. Sources familiar with the RQ-170's design say that the Iranian RQ-170 is merely a static mock-up rather than a flyable aircraft.[36] In November 2014 Iran claimed to have carried out a successful test flight of an aircraft based on reverse engineering of the RQ-170. The armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 UAV was shot down by a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle about 12:30 a.m. after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces. This is the second the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone in less than a month. The coalition forces were manning an established combat outpost to the northeast of At Tanf where they are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS. This is the same location where another pro-regime UAV dropped munitions near Coalition forces before it was shot down on June 8. The F-15E intercepted the armed UAV after it was observed advancing on the coalition position. The armed UAV was shot down when it continued to advance on the coalition's position without diverting its course. Shortly thereafter, Iran announced it has reverse engineered it.Isn't that heartwarming? Fast forward to today, the United States shot down an Iranian drone over the Syria -- the second drone this month.The Iranian Shaheed 129 drone looks very similar to the MQ-1 Predator Drone made by General Atomics, who sells these armed UCAVs to UAE and Turkey.MQ1Iran's Shaheed 129While the country obsesses over Russian phantoms, the DOD is in the process of expanding an illegal war in Syria -- furthering a neocon strategy that has wreaked havoc upon America's balance sheet for the past 30 years.

3D Systems abandons its Cube printers, but DRM means you can't buy filament from anyone else 3D printing giant 3D Systems has experienced a terrible year and a change in leadership, and seems to be backing away from consumer products, meaning that it's orphaned its Cube home 3D printers. But the Cube was born dead, because it was born with DRM. It only accepts filament -- its 3D equivalent to inkjet ink -- that comes in a package that's been cryptographically signed by the manufacturer. Thanks to laws like the US DMCA, the European Union Copyright Directive and Canada's Bill C-11, it's a crime to defeat this measure and load third-party filament into your printer. That means that once the existing stock of Cube filament is gone, there will be no legal way to keep using your Cube printer. The US Copyright Office did grant a three-year, expiring exception allowing 3D printer owners to jailbreak their devices, but it has so many conditions as to be unusable, and it also doesn't grant an exception for the tools necessary to jailbreak your printer. So even if you satisfy the criteria, you still have to make your own jailbreaking tool from scratch. Michael Weinberg points out that 3DS can do two things to make up for their stupid DRM strategy: Since the Cube is designed to only accept printing filament made by 3D Systems, as part of winding down the Cube - and as an act of good faith to Cube owners - 3D Systems should explicitly open the doors to third party filament. This can take the form of two simple public commitments. First, 3D Systems can promise not to sue any Cube users who use non-3D Systems filament for the Cube. Second, 3D Systems can promise not to sue anyone who wants to make and sell filament that will work with the Cube. Doing both requires circumventing the verification chip that 3D Systems includes in its filament today. Free the Cube [Michael Weinberg]

It’s presidential election season, so it’s obligatory for all candidates to talk about jobs. You have already heard a lot about jobs being lost to China and Mexico (a strong concern of Donald Trump), jobs being outsourced to low-wage countries or moved to tax havens (so-called “tax inversions” are a Hillary Clinton bugaboo), or jobs eliminated because of Obamacare or high minimum wages (a favorite Ted Cruz line). You won’t hear many of the points below, however, either because they are too positive, too subtle to capture in a sound bite, or too long-term to worry about now. But if you want the truth about American jobs, you may want to keep reading rather than tuning into a presidential debate or stump speech. Times Are Good It’s hardly a bad time for jobs overall—official unemployment is at the lowest rate since 2008, and applications for unemployment insurance were at the lowest level since 1973. You won’t hear that from the Republican candidates, of course—the news is much too sanguine. If there’s a problem, it is with low labor force participation, which has dropped several percentage points over the last decade. As testimony before a Joint Economic Committee suggests, there are a variety of reasons for this, although an aging population is clearly part of the issue. The Lack of Middle Class Jobs Growing inequality is another big issue—the hallmark of Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and an issue that is occasionally even mentioned by Republican candidates. An overall lack of jobs is less of a problem for our economy, however, than the shortage of well-paying, middle class jobs. Many of the new jobs in the US over the last decade or two have been low-end service jobs—feeding, selling to, and taking care of our fellow Americans. These jobs don’t generally produce a lot of revenue or grow much in productivity, so it’s difficult for businesses to pay high wages to workers who perform them. And that situation isn’t going to change much no matter who is president. As a New York Times article points out, our economy is a service economy, and it’s been going in that direction for several decades now. Free Trade Isn’t the Problem There is little doubt that some of our well-paying manufacturing jobs have gone to places like Mexico and China. But recent trade deals aren’t the problem, capitalism is. For several centuries now, manufacturing has moved to places where it’s done most cheaply and effectively. And for most industries, that place hasn’t been the U.S. for a while. Donald Trump’s bluster notwithstanding, it seems highly unlikely that any president could change this much. As a society we don’t generally like to tell businesspeople where they can produce stuff, and we don’t like paying high tariffs for stuff made elsewhere. Corporate moves to low-tax countries do some damage to our tax base, but they don’t tend to involve many jobs. Automation Is Good Ironically, our best hope for bringing manufacturing jobs home is automation. Also ironically, the same is true for outsourced service jobs. Since the U.S. is one of the world’s leaders in automation technologies, we’ve got some chance of bringing jobs home if we have the best automation capabilities and the people who are best at working with automation technologies. In factories, this means technologists who can install, maintain, and optimize robots, CAD/CAM, and flexible manufacturing cells. In services, it means working with tools like robotic process automation and cognitive technologies that can do work previously outsourced to low-wage countries. Whether in factories or offices, all those automation machines need people to configure, install, and tend them. Because most of the actual work is done by machines, there won’t be huge numbers of jobs that will come home this way, but there will be some. Information Technology is a Drag Information technology hasn’t eliminated a lot of jobs, but it is keeping some from growing. Take bank tellers, for example. Contrary to what President Obama said in a 2014 interview, automated teller machines haven’t led to many fewer jobs in that field. Mr. Obama may not run into them when he needs cash, but the number of bank tellers in the U.S. has remained pretty constant since 1980, when ATMs really took off. Of course, the U.S. has grown a lot in population since 1980, but the number of tellers hasn’t. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the number of tellers will decline about 8% over the next decade—not a precipitous decline, but certainly not a growth occupation either. The Service Sector Slowdown In the future, many lower-level service jobs are going to stop growing—if not decline—because of technology. There are already some pretty capable technologies that automate truck and taxi driving, hamburger ordering and preparation, lawn mowing, and so forth. They’ll get better and cheaper over time. Human workers will get more expensive. If I were in one of these fields, I’d learn how to sell, install, or fix these machines. Professionals Should Be Wary The same is true for many professional jobs. There are already smart machines that can do some of the key tasks of lawyers, doctors, marketers, journalists, and even scientists. Not all of the incumbents of these knowledge work roles will lose their jobs, but some will. If you don’t want to be one of the losers, again, your best bet is to make sure you know how to work alongside these machines and add value to them. The lessons from all this are pretty clear. If you’re voting for your preferred candidate because you believe they can reverse the economic trends of the last several decades, you might want to reconsider your choice or your reason for it. You may also want to think about whether you want your candidate to bring about more jobs or less inequality. The policies that lead to these objectives are different (though they are both quite difficult to achieve), and candidates tend to emphasize one or the other. Whether you prefer lower unemployment or higher incomes, helping Americans get more college degrees is still a good idea, although it probably won’t be the boon that it’s been in the past. And if you want to be assured of a job over the next few decades, learn how to work closely with smart machines and to do something they can’t. Thomas H. Davenport is a Distinguished Professor at Babson College and a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital. With Julia Kirby, he is the author of Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines (Harper Business, 2016).

Despite the blur of activity by innumerable candidates, the 2016 presidential campaign so far is a mostly shapeless enterprise, save for one dominant factor: the prominence of money in the narrative. More than anything, money has been the defining characteristic of the race, highlighted by the political and private activities of the brand names of Clinton and Bush. In their own ways, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush have brought unintentional attention to the role of money in politics and public life, to the intersection of money and political and public influence, and to the general absence of restraints, self-imposed or enforced. For Clinton, the story is partly about non-campaign money, about fundraising for the Clinton Foundation as well as the extraordinary amounts of money she and former president Bill Clinton have been paid for speeches since early 2014. For Bush, it is the apparent disregard for the spirit of campaign finance laws as he travels the country, filling up his super PAC with tens and tens of millions of dollars, all the while posing as someone still trying to decide whether he will become a candidate. Clinton cannot shake off questions and criticism about how she and her husband have cashed in after leaving public service. Even though much had been written about the amounts each of the Clintons was being paid for speeches to corporate, trade-association or educational institutions, the revelation last week that they have received about $25 million for 104 speeches since early 2014 was eye-popping. Hillary Clinton likes to say the deck is stacked against average Americans. She said Tuesday in Iowa that she wants to “reshuffle” that deck. No doubt that is a genuine belief from a Democratic politician looking at the state of the economy and comes with a conviction that public policies can and should be geared to alleviate the imbalance, at least somewhat. But she and her husband also are evidence of the imbalance. Bill Clinton’s declaration that he will continue to make paid speeches because, as he told NBC News, “I gotta pay our bills” sounds tone-deaf in the face of it all. The Clinton Foundation points to another problem of a Clinton presidential candidacy: the potential conflicts of interest — real or perceived — that the foundation’s fundraising could pose should Hillary Clinton win the White House in 2016. The charitable foundation does good work — few would dispute that. But the sources of money are not all equal, particularly foreign governments. Appearances count. As a candidate, Clinton has chosen to make money in politics one of the pillars of her platform. From the day she did her first campaign event in Iowa in April, she has talked about her belief that the campaign finance system needs to be reformed, even if it takes a constitutional amendment to do so. [Clinton seeks justices who would overturn Citizens United] She told fundraisers last week and repeated in Iowa on Monday that, as president, she would apply a virtual litmus test for Supreme Court nominees, seeking justices who favor overturning the Citizens United decision, which is credited with bringing about the era of super PACs and the further empowerment of billionaire donors at the expense of everyone else. That’s an extraordinary statement, perhaps proof that she is truly committed to changing a system that has led to a dramatic escalation in fundraising and spending, to levels unheard of not long ago, and to the empowerment of the wealthiest people in society. Even those who raise and spend the money for campaigns say it is too much, that it is obscene and distorting and possibly corrupting. Without doubt, it is contributing to the cynicism with which many Americans view the political process. A constitutional amendment, however, is years in the future. It might never happen. In the here and now, are there steps other than rhetorical commitments that Clinton could take to show some break with the past? So far, there have not been any. Why not? In fact, she is exploring ways for her campaign to coordinate directly with a recently formed super PAC, Correct the Record, in what will test the limits of the law. Former U.S. senator and secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that she’s running for president in 2016. Here's the Democrat’s take on women’s rights, Benghazi and more, in her own words. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post) No rational campaign strategist would tell her to do anything that would limit her ability to compete. In other words, no unilateral disarmament. As the saying goes, they gotta pay the campaign bills, and those bills will be costly. Still, it’s a question worth asking, and an explanation worth hearing, from a candidate who has put the issue front and center at the start of her campaign. Meanwhile, Bush continues on with the ruse that he is still deciding whether to run — as he regularly says in front of audiences, the lawyers make him issue a qualifier to keep him on the right side of the law. No one in any audience is fooled. This, after all, is coming from someone who, since late last year, has been running aggressively, who has made multiple trips to Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina to address voters and participate in cattle calls, who has hired a first-rate staff of strategists and communicators, and who has cozied up to rich people in small gatherings in New York and California and Illinois and Florida and Texas. Once he becomes a candidate, the rules will sharply limit Bush’s ability to coordinate activities with his super PAC. Until he is a candidate, he can remain in the thick of building a war chest, coordinating strategy, sharing data and analysis, talking directly to advisers who will later be walled off. He can personally work out which responsibilities will fall to his campaign and which will go to the super PAC. Bush is helping to stockpile money in his super PAC in a way no previous candidate has ever done — and in ways none of his prospective rivals are doing. He is creating a new model, one that may be within the letter of the law but that nonetheless mocks a long-ago-shredded system of campaign finance. His one effort at restraint, if it can be called that, was to ask super-PAC donors at one point to limit contributions to $1 million. Campaign money has rarely been a voting issue for most Americans, however much they deplore the expense of campaigns and the distortions it brings to the way politicians spend their time. It probably won’t be an issue in 2016. But there is no escaping the fact that campaign and non-campaign money continues to define and shape the 2016 race — and at least two of its leading candidates.

EMBED >More News Videos NASA says it is ready to send its next generation space craft on its maiden voyage EMBED >More News Videos NASA has picked Boeing and SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station Saturday was NASA's second shot at inflating the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module , named for the aerospace company that created it as a precursor to moon and Mars habitat. EMBED >More News Videos NASA has selected the four astronauts who will train for and launch from US soil for the first time since 2011. NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle has reached downtown Houston after a trip up the Gulf Freeway.NASA usually looks to the stars, but today all eyes were on I-45 as the space agency hit the road to downtown Houston.The Space Exploration Vehicle is a big machine that NASA hopes will one day be used by astronauts to explore other planets. NASA moved it to Discovery Green for the Super Bowl fan festival taking place there.To get this thing from the Johnson Space Center to Discovery Green, it had to be driven up the Gulf Freeway on a tractor trailer, complete with police escort.

A state of emergency has been declared on the Vanuatu island of Ambae, as the volcano that towers from the island's centre continued to erupt, forcing thousands to flee their villages. The volcano - known as Monaro - has been rumbling for weeks, but its activity increased rapidly on Saturday, when it started belching ash across much of the island, blanketing villages and crops in the north and south. Photo: Vanuatu Disaster Management Office That prompted authorities to evacuate half the island's population - at least 5000 people - from the north and south of the island, sending them to the east and west. "It's quite a serious emergency," said Manuel Amu, the chairman of the island's disaster committee. "Moving people from their communities into an area with very limited houses and very limited resources like food and water. It's really a challenging issue. "At the moment the volcano has blown up ash and dark smoke, with a little bit of lava," he said in an interview. New Zealand scientists were monitoring the volcanic activity with an Air Force Orion due to fly over Vanuatu today. GNS vulcanologist Steve Sherburn told Morning Report recent photographs showed it could have a devastating impact on the island. "There's now a cone in the lake that's completely isolated from the water. So it means the eruptions will be dry and therefore will produce a lot more ash. "And this is where we are going to get the impact on people living downwind and [their] agriculture." The country's Geohazards Department on Saturday raised its alert for Ambae from level three to four, which is classified as a "moderate eruption state." According to a department spokesperson, the volcano's activity had not changed on Monday, with no increase nor decrease in the intensity of the eruption. Photo: Vanuatu Disaster Management Office However, earlier in the weekend authorities swung into action to relocate thousands of people from the remote villages scattered across the rugged, bush-covered 400 square kilometre island, which sits between Santo and Pentecost about halfway up the Vanuatu archipelago. Several ships had been deployed around the coast to pick up evacuees - as many as 1000 people on one journey, said Mr Amu - and cars and trucks packed to the hilt made their way across the island's narrow, winding and bumpy tracks to safety. Peter Korisa, the operations manager at the National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila, said authorities were taking action now in case the eruption intensified. "The major hazard at the moment is to do with ash fall and acid rain. We're using whatever resource we have, some local vessels, commercial vessels, as well as the local transport," he said. "We want to be more proactive before we have to worry about pyroclast (where rocks and other fragments are hurled by the eruption) and stuff like that." Mr Korisa said evacuation was compulsory and police officers were being used to help convince people to move. Photo: Vanuatu Geohazards Department About 15 evacuation centres had been opened in the east and west, mostly in schools and community halls, Mr Amu said. However, assistance from the national government would be needed to deal with such large displacement. "We've got enough accommodation. But at the moment we have to carry out an assessment to consider other issues relating to sick people, the pregnant women and children and people with special needs. We also have to address the issue of food security, wash, and probably education for those schools which have been closed," said Mr Amu. One option, Mr Amu said, was to relocate the vulnerable to neighbouring islands - including Pentecost and Maewo - to help ease the burden on Ambae, which he said already lacked the resources to cope. "The provincial government has been for the last two weeks trying to support these people," he said. "We put our request for the national government to come in if possible to support us with food and water and other necessities. "At the moment we need help from the national level and if necessary then we need overseas friends to help us with the situation we are facing." Photo: Vanuatu Geohazards Department According to the government, the state of emergency it declared on Monday would immediately release funding and national resources for such support. Most of Ambae live on subsistence crops, which were being pelted with ash and acid rain. Additionally, most peoples' water supply came from rainwater tanks, which were now also contaminated. Mr Amu said while only half the island was being evacuated, the whole island would need assistance. Further west, residents on the country's largest island, Santo, said crops risked being ruined by ash if the wind direction did not change. The last time there was a significant eruption on Ambae was in 2005, when a similar evacuation of 5000 people was carried out. It was as long as three months before people could return to villages and there were many complaints of evacuees being contained in squalid conditions. Photo: Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory file Mr Korisa admitted conditions for evacuees would likely be basic again this time around. "There is an issue with basic services," he said. "We're talking about islands that don't have electricity and the water system is a big challenge for us. In 2005 there was the same incident and it's the same situation again we're trying to deal with. We're hoping to have learned from that." However Mr Amu said things were worse than 12 years ago. "In 2005, the evacuation had been done on level 3 [alert]. At the moment the volcano is on stage 4 and at the moment it's more serious than in 2005 and I think it would take much longer than what happened [then]. "Hopefully this time most of the challenges, we hope those challenges won't occur again. That's why we called in the national director of disaster to intervene very quickly during the weekend," said Mr Amu. He said authorities were also preparing for the possibility that the eruption could get worse. If the alert level was raised from four to five, the entire island may have to be evacuated, and authorities were preparing for such a situation while hoping it would never come to fruition. "Most people are not coping very well," Mr Amu said. "We're feeling the pressures."

Averil Macdonald, the chair of shale gas lobby group UK Onshore Oil and Gas, recently made some highly controversial statements about how she believes gender impacts a person’s feelings about fracking. During an interview with The Times of London, Macdonald argued that men are generally more in favor of fracking–the controversial drilling technique used to mine shale gas–because they’re influenced by an “awful lot of facts.” Macdonald may not be wrong that gender plays a role in how fracking is viewed; a University of Nottingham survey found recently that, out of a pool of approximately 7,000 participants, women were less likely to approve of fracking than men or to correctly identify shale gas as the fossil fuel produced by the process. A board member of Women in Science and Engineering, an organization dedicated to encouraging women to enter STEM fields, Macdonald says that women’s judgement is clouded by our emotions and dedication to family. Speaking to The Times, she argued that women compensate for their lack of formal scientific education by instead trusting their “gut reaction”: Frequently the women haven’t had very much in the way of a science education because they may well have dropped science at 16. That is just a fact. Women do tend not to have continued with science. Not only do [they] show more of a concern about fracking, they also know that they don’t know and they don’t understand. They are concerned because they don’t want to be taking [something] on trust. And that’s actually entirely reasonable. But women, for whatever reason, have not been persuaded by the facts. More facts are not going to make any difference. What we have got to do is understand the gut reaction, the feel. The dialogue is more important than the dissemination of facts. Women are always concerned about threats to their family more than men. We are naturally protective of our children. I would similarly be concerned but I read the literature and I feel comfortable that I understand. What I hope is that I can make the women who are concerned comfortable that the myths they are worried about are myths. Macdonald went on to say that more high-level female executives are needed in the shale industry, and that the ten executives who interviewed her for her current position were all men. According to The Telegraph, she’s currently spearheading a campaign to convince women of the benefits of fracking. (via The Independent) —Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.— Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Hulu has acquired exclusive subscription-streaming rights to Syfy’s time-travel thriller “12 Monkeys” under a deal with NBCUniversal. In addition, under the expanded NBCU deal, Hulu has acquired the full library of programming for series “Battlestar Galactica” and “Saved by the Bell,” which are available to stream now. The deal also adds episodes of popular children’s series including “Bob the Builder,” “Thomas and Friends” and “Barney.” The first season of “12 Monkeys” will premiere exclusively on Hulu on Feb. 24, available to subscribers. The series, from Universal Cable Prods., will return for its second season on Syfy on Monday, April 18. The deal is structured by NBCU to drive interest in the show by letting viewers catch up on Hulu ahead of the season 2 bow on TV. It’s a tactic NBC and others have used in the past with subscription VOD services. “12 Monkeys” follows the journey of James Cole, who’s sent back in time to prevent a dark and hellish future from ever happening. The series stars Aaron Stanford as Cole, along with Amanda Schull, Kirk Acevedo, Emily Hampshire, Barbara Sukowa and Todd Stashwick. Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett (“Nikita”) are executive producers and showrunners, with Charles Roven (“Batman v. Superman,” “Suicide Squad,” “American Hustle”) and Richard Suckle (“Suicide Squad,” “American Hustle,” “The International”) as executive producers. Atlas Entertainment and Roven produced the original “12 Monkeys” film — which starred Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeline Stowe — on which the series is based. NBCU is one of Hulu’s parent companies, along with 21st Century Fox and Disney.

55User Rating: 5 out of 5 Review title of Deanne Thank you for still giving users time with this app (for PC): While it's a decent bookmarking alternative, I dislike the layout and navigation. I'm disappointed that I can't import it into Edge, but it's understandable considering the circumstances. What I found insulting and misleading was the solution: open each link in Edge, one by one, save. It is the solution but it was poorly executed. Moving on, Importing the links as favorites and then manually/optionally saving it within the browser is clearly a better alternative. Ideally, I'd use Reading List as my default bookmarking as it appears to sync seamlessly. Edge is rather limited at this early stage of development. On that note, backing up and exporting favorites in Edge would be nice. (WP8.1) I like using this app on my phone. One request: Disable saving duplicates, if possible. Thank you. via WP10: When I wiped my PC's hard drive I assumed I'd lose my favorites saved to Edge. I was wrong. Importing Reading List into Edge also changed awhile ago. Thank you very much.

The rock icon was 66 Tom Petty‘s death has been confirmed. The US rock icon suffered a cardiac arrest. He was 66. Check out the star-studded tributes to the icon below. After suffering a cardiac arrest, rumours of the rock icon’s passing spread yesterday. Now, his death has been confirmed by Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Dimitriades confirmed Petty’s death on behalf of the performer’s family. Petty formed The Heartbreakers in 1976, and their self-titled debut album was released the same year. It featured Petty’s classic song ‘American Girl’. Petty’s breakthrough came with his band’s third album ‘Damn the Torpedoes’ in 1979. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers last released an album in 2014 in the form of 13th LP ‘Hypnotic Eye’. As well as his career with the Heartbreakers, Petty also co-founded supergroup the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. The news of Petty’s death comes following initial confusion and contradicting reports about Petty’s condition. TMZ were the first outlet to report that Petty was rushed to UCLA Santa Monica Hospital on Sunday night (October 1) after being found unconscious, “not breathing and in full cardiac arrest” at his home in Malibu, California. The report added that Petty had been put on life support and his condition was thought to be “critical”. Sharethrough (Mobile) However, the website later reported that “after Petty got to the hospital he had no brain activity and a decision was made to pull life support”. They later issued an update that described previous reports of Petty’s death as “inaccurate”, adding that the musician was “still clinging to life” but “not expected to live throughout the day“. CBS News had also reported confirmation of Petty’s death, citing a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD was later forced to release a statement saying that it had “no information about the passing of singer Tom Petty” and that “initial information was inadvertently provided to some media sources”. CBS then retracted their original story. Petty recently concluded a 40th anniversary tour with his band The Heartbreakers. The final date took place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on September 22. The music world pays tribute Tributes have been pouring in following the news of Petty’s death. Bob Dylan has issued a statement and you can see more tributes below. Nothing left to say A post shared by Taylor Momsen (@taylormomsen) on Oct 2, 2017 at 1:25pm PDT

The battle over marriage equality in Iowa is heating up as Republicans in the State House are moving forward with plans to ban gay marriage and civil unions, an attempt to reverse a unanimous 2009 State Supreme Court decision in favor of marriage equality. To amend the constitution, “an amendment would require approval by state lawmakers during two legislative sessions, and then approval by voters at the ballot box.” Encouraged by major Republican gains in the midterm elections and the removal of three pro-equality Justices through retention votes, Iowa Republicans have emphasized restrictions on gay-rights and reproductive-rights in their legislative agenda, and Religious Right leader Bob Vander Plaats is pressing for the removal of the entire Supreme Court. Vander Plaats’s new organization, The Family Leader, recently blasted pro-equality faith leaders in an alert message that questions their faith, stating: “167 ‘religious’ leaders signed a letter delivered to the Iowa Legislature saying that people of faith support homosexual ‘marriage.’ Don’t stay silent while others speak for you and misrepresnt [sic] God.” The group calls on pastors to sign an alternative petition which describes “homosexual behavior” as “immoral and sinful” and “harmful both to the individuals who choose to participate in it and the society that chooses to accept it.” The mobilization of pastors by The Family Leader comes at a time when, according to the Des Moines Register, Republican leaders are trying to prohibit not only gay marriage but also other forms of legal rights for gay couples such as civil unions and domestic partnerships. The Register reports:

rplotengine: R as a Plotting Engine Generate basic charts either by custom applications, or from a small script launched from the system console, or within the R console. Two ASCII text files are necessary: (1) The graph parameters file, which name is passed to the function 'rplotengine()'. The user can specify the titles, choose the type of the graph, graph output formats (e.g. png, eps), proportion of the X-axis and Y-axis, position of the legend, whether to show or not a grid at the background, etc. (2) The data to be plotted, which name is specified as a parameter ('data_filename') in the previous file. This data file has a tabulated format, with a single character (e.g. tab) between each column, and a headers line located in the first row. Optionally, the file could include data columns for showing confidence intervals. Version: 1.0-7 Depends: R (≥ 2.6.2), xtable Published: 2018-08-07 Author: Pedro-Pablo Garrido Abenza [aut, cre] Maintainer: Pedro-Pablo Garrido Abenza <pgarrido at umh.es> License: GPL-2 | GPL-3 [expanded from: GPL (≥ 2)] URL: http://www.umh.es NeedsCompilation: no CRAN checks: rplotengine results Downloads: Linking:

There are new accusations that the Justice Department colluded with the Clinton campaign about the Democratic candidate's court cases, according to new revelations in emails released by WikiLeaks. The May 2015 email from Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said, “DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge's thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today.” Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a supporter of Donald Trump, weighed in this morning, telling Tucker Carlson that the corruption of the Justice Department started with then-Attorney General Eric Holder being found in contempt of Congress. Clarke said that has continued under Loretta Lynch, pointing out her secret meeting with Bill Clinton shortly before the FBI announced there would be no charges against Mrs. Clinton over her private email server. "The corruption is all throughout the government. It's the courts, it's our institutions of government, the higher-ups at the FBI, the DOJ, the Congress, on and on and on," said Clarke, adding that the only way it will change is through the ballot box. "I believe that the American people are finally going to have to rise up. It is 'pitchfork and torches' time, to use a metaphor, in America to get these people out of here and for the citizens of America to take this country back." Carlson pointed out that if people begin to believe that some powerful people are held to a different legal standard, it's a "threat to our system itself." Watch the full interview above. Gingrich: 'Republicans Willing to Help Hillary' Belong in the Dem. Party WikiLeaks Dump: Top Clinton Aides Mock Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity McCain: 'The Clintons Don't Live by the Same Laws We Do' Trump: 'Shackles Are Off Me,' Now I Can Fight for America My Way

It happens hundreds of times a day: We press snooze on the alarm clock, we pick a shirt out of the closet, we reach for a beer in the fridge. In each case, we conceive of ourselves as free agents, consciously guiding our bodies in purposeful ways. But what does science have to say about the true source of this experience? In a classic paper published almost 20 years ago, the psychologists Dan Wegner and Thalia Wheatley made a revolutionary proposal: The experience of intentionally willing an action, they suggested, is often nothing more than a post hoc causal inference that our thoughts caused some behavior. The feeling itself, however, plays no causal role in producing that behavior. This could sometimes lead us to think we made a choice when we actually didn’t or think we made a different choice than we actually did. But there’s a mystery here. Suppose, as Wegner and Wheatley propose, that we observe ourselves (unconsciously) perform some action, like picking out a box of cereal in the grocery store, and then only afterwards come to infer that we did this intentionally. If this is the true sequence of events, how could we be deceived into believing that we had intentionally made our choice before the consequences of this action were observed? This explanation for how we think of our agency would seem to require supernatural backwards causation, with our experience of conscious will being both a product and an apparent cause of behavior. In a study just published in Psychological Science, Paul Bloom and I explore a radical—but non-magical—solution to this puzzle. Perhaps in the very moments that we experience a choice, our minds are rewriting history, fooling us into thinking that this choice—that was actually completed after its consequences were subconsciously perceived—was a choice that we had made all along. Though the precise way in which the mind could do this is still not fully understood, similar phenomena have been documented elsewhere. For example, we see the apparent motion of a dot before seeing that dot reach its destination, and we feel phantom touches moving up our arm before feeling an actual touch further up our arm. “Postdictive” illusions of this sort are typically explained by noting that there’s a delay in the time it takes information out in the world to reach conscious awareness: Because it lags slightly behind reality, consciousness can “anticipate” future events that haven’t yet entered awareness, but have been encoded subconsciously, allowing for an illusion in which the experienced future alters the experienced past. In one of our studies, participants were repeatedly presented with five white circles in random locations on a computer monitor and were asked to quickly choose one of the circles in their head before one lit up red. If a circle turned red so fast that they didn’t feel like they were able to complete their choice, participants could indicate that they ran out of time. Otherwise, they indicated whether they had chosen the red circle (before it turned red) or had chosen a different circle. We explored how likely people were to report a successful prediction among these instances in which they believed that they had time to make a choice. Unbeknownst to participants, the circle that lit up red on each trial of the experiment was selected completely randomly by our computer script. Hence, if participants were truly completing their choices when they claimed to be completing them—before one of the circles turned red—they should have chosen the red circle on approximately 1 in 5 trials. Yet participants’ reported performance deviated unrealistically far from this 20% probability, exceeding 30% when a circle turned red especially quickly. This pattern of responding suggests that participants’ minds had sometimes swapped the order of events in conscious awareness, creating an illusion that a choice had preceded the color change when, in fact, it was biased by it. Importantly, participants’ reported choice of the red circle dropped down near 20% when the delay for a circle to turn red was long enough that the subconscious mind could no longer play this trick in consciousness and get wind of the color change before a conscious choice was completed. This result ensured that participants weren’t simply trying to deceive us (or themselves) about their prediction abilities or just liked reporting that they were correct. In fact, the people who showed our time-dependent illusion were often completely unaware of their above-chance performance when asked about it in debriefing after the experiment was over. Moreover, in a related experiment, we found that the bias to choose correctly was not driven by confusion or uncertainty about what was chosen: Even when participants were highly confident in their choice, they showed a tendency to “choose” correctly at an impossibly high rate. Taken together, these findings suggest that we may be systematically misled about how we make choices, even when we have strong intuitions to the contrary. Why, though, would our minds fool us in such a seemingly silly way in the first place? Wouldn’t this illusion wreak havoc on our mental lives and behavior? Maybe not. Perhaps the illusion can simply be explained by appeal to limits in the brain’s perceptual processing, which only messes up at the very short time scales measured in our (or similar) experiments and which are unlikely to affect us in the real world. A more speculative possibility is that our minds are designed to distort our perception of choice and that this distortion is an important feature (not simply a bug) of our cognitive machinery. For example, if the experience of choice is a kind of causal inference, as Wegner and Wheatley suggest, then swapping the order of choice and action in conscious awareness may aid in the understanding that we are physical beings who can produce effects out in the world. More broadly, this illusion may be central to developing a belief in free will and, in turn, motivating punishment. Yet, whether or not there are advantages to believing we’re more in control of our lives than we actually are, it’s clear that the illusion can go too far. While a quarter-of-a-second distortion in time experience may be no big deal, distortions at longer delays—which might plague people with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder—could substantially and harmfully warp people’s fundamental views about the world. People with such illnesses may begin to believe that they can control the weather or that they have an uncanny ability to predict other people’s behavior. In extreme cases, they may even conclude that they have god-like powers. It remains to be seen just how much the postdictive illusion of choice that we observe in our experiments connects to these weightier aspects of daily life and mental illness. The illusion may only apply to a small set of our choices that are made quickly and without too much thought. Or it may be pervasive and ubiquitous—governing all aspects of our behavior, from our most minute to our most important decisions. Most likely, the truth lies somewhere in between these extremes. Whatever the case may be, our studies add to a growing body of work suggesting that even our most seemingly ironclad beliefs about our own agency and conscious experience can be dead wrong.

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say the chilly relationship between rival upstate New York ice cream truck operators got out of hand this season, with Sno Cone Joe trying to chase Mr. Ding-A-Ling out of the market. Gloversville police tell local media outlets two Sno Cone Joe operators face harassment and stalking charges after confrontations last month that included one of them yelling "This is my town!" at a Mr. Ding-A-Ling driver. The driver told police that Sno Cone Joe owners Joshua Malatino and Amanda Scott followed his truck, playing their music at high volume and trying to lure away customers with promises of free ice cream. Malatino and Scott were charged Tuesday with second-degree harassment, a violation, and fourth-degree stalking, a misdemeanor. A message left for their lawyer wasn't initially returned Wednesday.

A team led by postdoctoral associate John Heron of Cornell University has developed a room-temperature magnetoelectric memory design that replaces power-hungry electric currents with an electric field. It could lead to low-power, instant-on computing devices. “The advantage here is low energy consumption,” Heron said. “It requires a low voltage, without current, to switch it. Devices that use currents consume more energy and dissipate a significant amount of that energy in the form of heat. That is what’s heating up your computer and draining your batteries.” The researchers made their device out of bismuth ferrite, which is both magnetic and ferroelectric, meaning it’s always electrically polarized; and that polarization can be switched by applying an electric field. This rare combination makes it a “multiferroic” material, allowing for it to be used for nonvolatile memory devices with relatively simple geometries. Other scientists have demonstrated similar results with competing materials, but at impractical cold temperatures, like 4 Kelvin (-452 Fahrenheit). Their results were published online Dec. 17 in Nature, along with an associated “News and Views” article. Collaborators from the University of Connecticut; University of California, Berkeley; Tsinghua University; and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich where also involved in the research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science. Abstract of Deterministic switching of ferromagnetism at room temperature using an electric field The technological appeal of multiferroics is the ability to control magnetism with electric field1, 2, 3. For devices to be useful, such control must be achieved at room temperature. The only single-phase multiferroic material exhibiting unambiguous magnetoelectric coupling at room temperature is BiFeO3 (refs 4 and 5). Its weak ferromagnetism arises from the canting of the antiferromagnetically aligned spins by the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya (DM) interaction6, 7, 8, 9. Prior theory considered the symmetry of the thermodynamic ground state and concluded that direct 180-degree switching of the DM vector by the ferroelectric polarization was forbidden10, 11. Instead, we examined the kinetics of the switching process, something not considered previously in theoretical work10, 11, 12. Here we show a deterministic reversal of the DM vector and canted moment using an electric field at room temperature. First-principles calculations reveal that the switching kinetics favours a two-step switching process. In each step the DM vector and polarization are coupled and 180-degree deterministic switching of magnetization hence becomes possible, in agreement with experimental observation. We exploit this switching to demonstrate energy-efficient control of a spin-valve device at room temperature. The energy per unit area required is approximately an order of magnitude less than that needed for spin-transfer torque switching13, 14. Given that the DM interaction is fundamental to single-phase multiferroics and magnetoelectrics3, 9, our results suggest ways to engineer magnetoelectric switching and tailor technologically pertinent functionality for nanometre-scale, low-energy-consumption, non-volatile magnetoelectronics.

For The Capital's three-part series, education reporter Cindy Huang examined teacher experience levels across 12 public high schools provided by a 2016 database of school employees, their salaries, years of experience and obtained through a public information request. Also examined was data of classroom teachers, including department chairs to determine how many teachers at each high school began the year with three years or less of experience. The school system provided the turnover rates for teachers. The data includes all employees in the Unit I employee union, which is represented by the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County. Among those interviewed over four months; teachers and former teachers at once designated "challenge schools"; Superintendent George Arlotto; Speaker of the Maryland House Michael E. Busch; parents, students and union leaders; and national education researchers.

CC Saad Akhtar (CC BY 2.0)​ Vandaag brengen we op onze website een dossier over detachering – het tijdelijk tewerkstellen van EU-burgers uit een lidstaat in een andere lidstaat, waarbij ze hun sociale zekerheid in hun land van herkomst kunnen blijven regelen. Een aantal zaken valt op. Ten eerste blijkt detachering sterk toegenomen. Recent onderzoek van het HIVA van de KU-Leuven leert dat het aantal gedetacheerden op tien jaar tijd verdrievoudigd is van 80.000 naar 210.000. In de bouw steeg het aantal gedetacheerden van 45.300 naar 130.000 (terwijl de tewerkstelling voor Belgen met 16.000 eenheden daalde). Ten tweede is het opmerkelijk dat er tussen 2011 en 2015 – de nadagen van de financiële crisis met nog behoorlijk wat werklozen - in ons land meer banen zijn geschapen voor gedetacheerden dan voor Belgen: 65.000 Belgen kregen een nieuwe baan als loontrekkende of zelfstandige, tegen 87.000 gedetacheerden, vooral uit Oost-en Centraal-Europa. Daarmee willen we niet beweren dat alle gedetacheerden werk van Belgen hebben ingenomen, maar denken dat geen enkele van die 87.000 jobs voor gedetacheerden door Belgen zou zijn ingenomen, is evenmin realistisch. Ten derde viel ons op dat de ergernis in een sector als de bouw groeit. Zeker bij grote bedrijven worden Belgen stelselmatig vervangen door buitenlanders. Belgen krijgen boudweg te horen dat ze te duur zijn. Dat zet kwaad bloed. Sommigen voorspellen nog meer Brexits als het zo doorgaat, anderen stemmen op het Front National . ‘Op sommige werven ken ik amper nog iemand’, vertelt een Belg die op economische werkloosheid staat en nog een week per maand mag komen werken. Het spreekt voor zich dat vakbonden invloed verliezen als er op de werven amper nog iemand werkt die bij hen is aangesloten. ‘Gedetacheerden gooien onze pamfletten weg’, vertelt Wim Baeyens van ACV Bouw. Ten vierde is het zo dat de stap naar fraude in die omstandigheden snel gezet is. Als Polen, Roemenen of Portugezen blij zijn met lagere lonen, is het moeilijk om overtredingen te controleren. De controle op de fraude is de voorbije jaren versterkt, maar de nochtans zeer gedreven rechters en sociale inspecteurs zeggen unisono: ‘Wij gaan dit probleem niet oplossen. De politiek heeft het probleem geschapen, hij moet het ook oplossen.’ Gevolg is dat fraude ruim verspreid blijft. In het onlangs gesloten slachthuis van Tielt – om redenen van dierenmishandeling - werkten werknemers die aangeleverd werden door liefst twintig verschillende “uitzendkantoren” – “bedrijven” gevestigd in gezinswoningen, die personeel aanleveren. Tien jaar geleden werd Tielt al veroordeeld voor sociale fraude. Of het nu even erg is, is onduidelijk bij gebrek aan onderzoek. Maar arbeidsauditeur Danny Meirsschaut stelt de vraag of de kans op dierenmishandeling niet groter wordt wanneer het personeel niet goed behandeld wordt. Ten vijfde valt op dat België, na Luxemburg, het land is waar detachering verhoudingsgewijs het grootst is. Dat staat wellicht niet los van het feit dat in ons land het verschil tussen nettoloon en de totale loonkost het grootst is. Detachering is een manier geworden om de hoge Belgische loonkosten te omzeilen. Ten zesde: De politiek maakt aanstalten om er iets aan te doen. De Belgische regering maakt zich sterk dat haar loonkostenverlaging de detachering al heeft verminderd. En wil daar in de bouw nog verder in gaan door de werkgeversbijdragen in 2019 en 2020 met zeshonderd miljoen euro te verlagen. België lijkt zich in gevoelige sectoren dus aan te passen aan het Europese gemiddelde inzake loonkost: if you can’t beat them, joint hem. Eurocommissaris Marianne Thyssen wil dat de gedetacheerden hier niet langer de minimale wettelijke verloning ontvangen maar de doorsnee verloning met alle voordelen voorzien in de CAO’s. Wat leren we uit dit alles? 1. Dat er zoveel ongelijkheid is in de EU dat ze arbeidsmigratie in de hand werkt. Vraag is of de arme lidstaten de welvaartskloof kunnen dichten door arbeid uit te voeren. Er is zonder twijfel meer nodig: investeringen in mensen en dingen bijvoorbeeld. 2. ‘Als we de detachering te lijf gaan door sociale zekerheidsbijdragen te verlagen, organiseer je zelf de sociale dumping’, waarschuwt professor Jef Pacolet. ‘En bevestig je dat de EU een machine is die sociale bescherming afbouwt. Tenzij je de sociale zekerheid anders gaat financieren.’ Staatssecretaris voor sociale fraudebestrijding Philippe De Backer is het daar niet mee eens: ‘Door de loonkost te verlagen, schep je meer banen, en krijg je meer inkomsten voor de sociale zekerheid.’ 3. De kwestie van de detachering heeft ook een belangrijke politieke dimensie. Belgische werknemers die als gevolg hiervan hun baan verliezen, hebben het gevoel dat ze de verliezers van het Europese verhaal zijn. En dat heeft zoals recentelijk bewezen politieke gevolgen. De verliezers van de globalisering en de kleine globalisering-genaamd-Europese-eenheidsmarkt roeren zich. Het kabaal is het grootst in de landen die het neoliberalisme het meest onverdund hebben doorgevoerd: zowel in de VS Trump als het Verenigd Koninkrijk legt een nationalistische overwinning grenzen op aan de globalisering. West-Europese landen zijn die dans tot nu toe ontsprongen maar de EU zal moeten bewijzen dat ze de mensen kan beschermen zoals de Franse president Macron belooft. Dat het voor rechtvaardige fiscaliteit kan zorgen. Dat het voor een menselijke migratiepolitiek kan zorgen die gedragen wordt. Het detacheringsdossier zit in het hart van dat debat. Niet toevallig zijn er intussen vijfhonderd amendementen op Thyssens voorstel. Hoe organiseer je een Europese arbeidsmarkt zonder sociale dumping in de rijkere lidstaten? Als Merkel wil dat we als Europa aan een zeel gaan trekken – nu ook op vlak van defensie - dan zal ze voor een sociaal-economisch beleid moeten zorgen dat niet alleen goed uitpakt voor Duitsland maar voor alle landen van de Unie. Dat zal geld kosten. Het zijn spannende tijden.

(CNN) Maybe you noticed that some Target stores have signs in the toy department for "Building Sets" and "Girls' Building Sets." Perhaps, like Abi Bechtel, you questioned the need for the distinction. The Ohio mother tweeted a picture of the signs in a Green, Ohio, store with the caption, "Don't do this, Target." She found that many people agreed marketing toys by gender is "regressive and harmful." The picture was retweeted more than 2,000 times and prompted dozens of supportive responses. But toymakers and distributors like Target say consumer demand is the reason for the labeling, reviving the old chicken and egg argument about who's to blame for gendered toys -- toymakers or consumers. Stores organize products and market them based on consumer feedback, said toy trends specialist Adrienne Appell. "They're categorized in a way that's easier for the general population to find," said Appell, a spokeswoman for the Toy Industry Association, a trade group that represents toymakers. Read More

There are many nauseating aspects of the new reality TV series, "America Picks a Prez," which airs around the clock on every single channel on earth: the cynical, open-air conspiracy between our Fourth Estate and Donald “Ratings Viagra” Trump. Ted Cruz uttering the word "prayerfully" while not exploding into a cloud of synthetic piety. Caucasian patriots heroically exercising their right to punch people of color. Among these, let me nominate one more: listening to Hillary partisans explain to those of us who support Bernie Sanders just how naive we are. Only Hillary, we are told, has a real shot at winning in November. She’s the only one with a realistic grasp of how Washington works, whose moderate (and modest) policy aims might, realistically, be enacted. It often sounds as if Clinton’s central pitch to voters isn’t that she has a moral vision for the country, but that she owns the franchise on realism. Advertisement: Bernie, meanwhile, is just a sweet-shouting rube whose quarter-century as a congressman and senator has somehow failed to instill in him an appreciation for the twin plagues of grift and gridlock. For us benighted hippies, the standard counter-argument at this point is that our man understands all too well the magnitude of Washington’s dysfunction, which is why he’s calling for a political revolution: to obliterate the most heinous aspects of the status quo, starting with corporate-sponsored elections. I happen to agree with this. But there’s a sadder and more pointed response to Hillary’s reality brigade. Namely, that they need to face the reality of what the 2016 election is going to be like with Hillary at the top of the ticket. Before I outline that particular shitstorm, let me issue a few sure-to-be-ignored (and therefore pointless) caveats. First, I myself was a Hillary supporter until Sanders entered the race. (More precisely, until I read his policy positions.) Second, I will enthusiastically support Hillary when and if she is nominated. Years ago, I interviewed the secretary and I say now what I said then: She is a brilliant and compassionate public servant. If presidential elections in this country were based on policy positions and moral intention, on how each candidate hopes to solve common crises of state, Clinton would win going away. Alas, the reality is that Hillary is among the most hated politicians in America. There is, to begin with, her dismal favorability rating, which stands at 53 percent, with a net negative of 12 percent. (Sanders has a net positive of 12 percent.) Advertisement: But even more important is the intensity of the animus against her, and the sad mountain of baggage she carries with her as a candidate. No matter who the GOP nominee is, the battle plan against Hillary will be the same: a tawdry and unrelenting relitigation of all the phony scandals cooked up by the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” that she identified nearly two decades ago. Cue up the Pearl Jam, folks, because we’re going all the way back to the '90s: Whitewater, Travelgate, Troopergate, Lewinskygate, with a little Vince Foster Murdergate, for a dash of blood. But wait—those are just the golden oldies! You’ll also be hearing about the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Pardons. Of course, what respectable slander campaign would be complete without the new material? Benghazi, the private email server, the Wall Street speeches? The dark corporate money and talented propagandists aligned against Hillary will make the Swift Boat Veterans look like toy soldiers. Advertisement: And because our Fourth Estate is driven at this point almost entirely by the desperate promotion of scandal narratives and conflict, every one of these paid attacks will be amplified by so-called free media, or what us starry-eyed hippies used to call journalism. I’m not blaming Hillary for this sad state of affairs. I’m just trying to be—what’s the word I’m looking for? Ah yes, here it is—realistic about how it’s going to go down. Republicans tend to lose when they have to talk in specific terms about policies, priorities and solutions. They win when elections are reduced to brawls and/or personality contests. (See Reagan/Carter, Bush/Kerry, et al.) Advertisement: But if Donald Trump is the nominee, as seems most likely right now, he will also enjoy two genuine lines of attack against Hillary. The first is the same one Bernie just used to upset her in Michigan: the fact that free trade pacts are wildly unpopular with many Americans. Trump has been full-throated (and, as usual, somewhat full of shit) in his condemnation of free trade, and it has been one of his most successful pitches. You can bet your bottom yen that he’ll hammer Hillary on this, as if she personally whipped votes for NAFTA. He’ll excoriate various forms of crony capitalism (deals cut with big pharma, bogus military contracts, etc.) that Democrats such as Hillary either endorsed or enabled through timidity. And he’ll blast her for backing our trillion-dollar boondoggle in Iraq, too. These accusations will be framed in terms of a larger narrative: that Hillary represents business as usual in Washington, that she’s just another career pol beholden to the donor class and to the Wall Street swells who paid her millions to deliver her secret speeches. Advertisement: Trump may be a sexually insecure adolescent with a penchant for inciting racial violence, but the one undeniable aspect of his appeal is that he recognizes the toxic nature of the status quo and will, by sheer force of personality, bring it down. This promise is about as flimsy as a Trump University diploma. But it’s resonating with voters who feel Washington’s carnival of corruption is beyond redemption. All of which brings us back to that credulous waif from Brooklyn, by way of Ben and Jerry’s. Donald Trump can holler all he wants about how Crazy Bernie is a socialist. But he (and the super Pacs) won’t be able to distract voters by digging up scandals in his past. Nor will Trump be able to portray him as a corporate stooge. In fact, the shocking success of the Sanders campaign is predicated on many of the same essential frustrations Trump is exploiting: corporate influence, wage stagnation, trade. This is why polls consistently show Sanders beating Trump more convincingly than Clinton does. Advertisement: The right wing knows how to go after Hillary, because they’ve been doing so for 30 years. Within the media and a significant portion of the electorate, the neural pathways have already been carved out. Hillary is defensive, programmed, ethically suspect. They are going to have a more difficult time smearing a candidate whose biggest liabilities are his “extreme” policy positions, most of which sound more like a common sense corrective to the excesses of capitalism. Higher taxes on corporations and the super-wealthy? Healthcare as a right? A higher minimum wage? Increased funding for education and infrastructure? Good luck demonizing those positions, Big Donald. None of this is to suggest that Hillary won’t beat Trump, if they wind up as the nominees. Nor that she won’t be a great president. But if Hillary supporters want to claim the mantle of realism, they should start by accepting very real liabilities of their candidate.

Everybody knows mock drafts aren’t real. They are fun, but they are “mocks” meant as, hopefully, educated guesses. What, though, if they were real? A number of team sites around SB Nation are looking at what would have happened since 2010 if teams just went by the final mock drafts of ESPN analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay. So, let’s join the party. Which players would the Giants have selected since 2010 had they just followed the advice of Kiper and McShay in Round 1? Would they have done better? Worse? What impact might those choices have had. Let’s go year-by-year. 2010 Giants (15th overall): DE Jason Pierre-Paul Kiper: OLB Sean Weatherspoon McShay: MLB Rolando McClain I think it’s pretty clear that the Giants ended up with the best player. Weatherspoon was a talented player who went 19th overall to the Atlanta Falcons, four picks after the Giants took Pierre-Paul. He has been an injury-prone disappointment, though, playing in only 65 of 96 potential regular-season games (44 starts). He has missed more than half the season twice due to injuries. McClain? Please. A 2013 “retirement.” Two drug suspensions in the past two seasons. He may never play again. 2011 Giants (19th overall): CB Prince Amukamara Kiper: OT Anthony Castonzo McShay: RB Mark Ingram This one is really interesting. Amukamara was a good but not great player for the Giants, but played in only 55 of 80 games. Castonzo has been a six-year starter at left tackle for the Indianapolis Colts. Ingram has averaged 4.4 yards rushing throughout his career and is coming off a career-best season in which he gained 1,043 yards for the New Orleans Saints and averaged 5.1 yards per carry. It’s pretty easy to argue that both Castonzo and Ingram have had better careers than Amukamara, and are currently more important players. 2012 Giants (32nd overall): RB David Wilson Kiper: TE Coby Fleener McShay: OT Jonathan Martin Sadly, injury wrecked Wilson’s career after just 21 games. Could, Fleener, who has 233 career receptions and four straight seasons of at least 50 catches, have been the tight end the Giants have been searching for all these years? What happened to Jonathan Martin in Miami was unfortunate, but he only played three seasons in the league. In the end, seems pretty clear Kiper had the best idea here. Both Fleener and Martin were available when the Giants picked Wilson. 2013 Giants (19th overall): OL Justin Pugh Kiper: CB D.J. Hayden McShay: DE Bjoern Werner Given these three choices, pretty clear the Giants got this one right. Pugh has been a solid player for the Giants and was their best lineman in 2016 before injuring a knee. Hayden has just 25 career starts, only two in 2016. Werner had a non-descript career with just 6.5 sacks in three seasons, did not play in 2016, and has announced his retirement. 2014 Giants (12th overall): WR Odell Beckham Jr. Kiper: OL Zack Martin McShay: TE Eric Ebron Beckham, histrionics aside, is a great player. No real arguing with this choice. Still, I expected the Giants to take Martin with this pick and I think you can still make the case that it would not have been wrong to do so. Martin, like Beckham, has been a Pro Bowler all three seasons of his career. He is also a two-time All-Pro. Little doubt the Giants would be better on the offensive line with Martin. Ebron? He went 10th to the Detroit Lions and has improved each season. His 61-catch 2016 was his best yet. Still, he will never be the impact player that Beckham is. 2015 Giants (Ninth overall): OT Ereck Flowers Kiper: Flowers McShay: OL Brandon Scherff Well, neither Kiper nor McShay are any help here at all. The Giants took Flowers hoping he would be their left tackle of the future, and we know how that’s gone. Kiper would have made the same pick. McShay would have taken Brandon Scherff, who went four picks earlier to the Washington Redskins. For what it’s worth, I still believe Flowers was a consolation prize and that the Giants would have taken Scherff if he had still been on the board. 2016 Giants (10th overall): CB Eli Apple Kiper: OT Jack Conklin McShay: Conklin You know the story. The Giants were widely expected to select either OLB Leonard Floyd or Conklin. Then, the Tennessee Titans moved up to No. 8 and grabbed Conklin and the Chicago Bears jumped to No. 9 to pick Floyd. Apple had a pretty good rookie year and will be a good player. Conklin was an All-Pro right tackle as a rookie, and you know the Giants’ struggling offensive line could have benefited from that. Conklin was the fifth-highest graded tackle in the league, per Pro Football Focus. Kiper/McShay/Giants Comparison Year Giants Mel Kiper Todd McShay Year Giants Mel Kiper Todd McShay 2010 DE Jason Pierre-Paul OLB Sean Weatherspoon MLB Rolando McClain 2011 CB Prince Amukamara OT Anthony Castonzo RB Mark Ingram 2012 RB David Wilson TE Coby Fleener OT Jonathan Martin 2013 OL Justin Pugh CB D.J. Hayden DE Bjoern Werner 2014 WR Odell Beckham Jr. OL Zack Martin TE Eric Ebron 2015 OT Ereck Flowers OT Ereck Flowers OL Brandon Scherff 2016 CB Eli Apple OT Jack Conklin OT Jack Conklin [E-mail Ed at bigblueview@gmail.com | Follow Big Blue View on Twitter | 'Like' Big Blue View on Facebook]

Illustrations by Ben Passmore You probably aren't getting into heaven if you enjoy watching New Japan Pro Wrestling. You are, at some level, sick. That's okay; we live in a sick civilization. I'm sick too. I love watching dudes hurt each other. Let's watch New Japan on AXS TV together. You don't mind if I get comfortable, right? Is it weird that part of why I'm addicted to NJPW is that I barely ever know what's going on? Fat yellow letters fill the screen's bottom third: IWGP JR. TAG CHAMPIONSHIP TIME SPLITTERS BECOME 38th CHAMPION. "This match," the announcer says, "is the latest in the interminable battle between Chaos and the Sakuraba Gund." Duly noted. The bouts on a given episode come from different years; they're highlights cherry-picked from intricately bracketed Cups and Tournaments, the structures of which remain obscure. And now, a commercial break. "I'm... Gregg Allman." Gregg Allman says, in a tone that suggests he might not have been yesterday, "and you're watching (pause) AXS TV." Read More: In Search of My Childhood Wrestling Heroes We're back! Cheesy computer-smoke blows in from both sides behind the NJPW logo and triumphant electric guitar fades into driving synth. A battered wrestler peers into the camera through a sunset of facial bruises; his upper and bottom lips are both split. "I will never let anyone speak lightly of Super Junior," he assures us via subtitle. Is that a division, then? Not a person, tag team or faction? Who fucking cares? After no more than thirty seconds of elliptical promo, we're in the ring, inside "Bodymaker Colosseum, formerly known as Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium," to watch a wrestler named Vampire Chicken get massacred. Some in the audience are wearing surgical masks. There is a shirtless man pacing ringside, presumably invested in the match's outcome, though his presence is not remarked upon. He's wearing a gigantic headpiece reminiscent of Sauron's battle helmet. It looks like a haunted castle is growing out of his shoulders. The outlook is grim for haggard old Vampire Chicken. He is facing a pretty boy hero wrestler with Masters of the Universe musculature, blonde-streaked boy-band hair, and a surgically idealized face. Above a lantern jaw, the hero's cheeks are round as a Cabbage Patch Kid's. His artificially plumped cherry-red cupid's bow lips smile, revealing luminous teeth. His face is uncannily ageless. Without changing expression, he kicks Vampire Chicken in the head so hard the television shudders on the dresser; his forearm chops leave diagonal, turnip-colored welts. The violence is appalling and yet so compelling, so visceral, so... real. This is "strong style," the notorious Japanese approach to pro-wrestling, now available with English commentary on AXS, a channel I had no idea existed. The English commentary is key. Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett are the best pro-wrestling commentary team in decades. Effortlessly in command of the details and characters, they are superlative, enriching guides to each episode's otherwise disconnected and potentially baffling matches. Their approach is sports-like, and they take the action seriously as presented, integrating bits of backstory with flawless, technically informed play-by-play. They project a sort of Bruce Campbell-ish suavity, presiding over the broadcast like confident friends introducing you around a surreally wild party. It's all real, you know. — Illustration by Ben Passmore Ranallo, who's also announced boxing and MMA matches, has a polished, authoritative baritone and a remarkable vocabulary. Barnett, a former combat sports participant, provides an earnest, laid-back counterpoint and knows many of the NJPW wrestlers personally. Barnett's anecdotes span Tokyo, Las Vegas, and Rio de Janeiro, evoking a gritty, glamorous, big-city after-dark showbiz milieu of private suites and international flights. The commentary team's enthusiasm and engagement offer a path into a product that might otherwise be off-puttingly bizarre. When a wrestler cheats, the announcers react with strong disapproval, and their credibility makes it work. Instead of dispassionately evaluating the "heel work" of the villain, I'm nodding in agreement with my cool pals, Mauro and Josh, who are pissed at this asshole disrespecting the sport. I have not seen any women in NJPW, except in the audience. This is a fantasy realm populated entirely by super-tough men, though the NJPW locker room ranges in body type, fashion, and age; it's a broad palette of violent masculinity. There are young boys and faded stars, the latter variously avuncular, mummified or deranged. This is a world of dandies, beefcake pinups, rough-trade bruisers, stone-faced killers, and quasi-human archetypal wildmen who grimace like gargoyles, bellow like gorillas, pull their own hair and bite whatever comes within range. [daily_motion src='//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x23t4j5' width='480' height='270'] The number one reason to watch NJPW—arguably to watch pro wrestling at all—is the wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura, to dip into Japanese cinema, is a Takashi Miike character as played by a younger, more sinewy Beat Takeshi: an otherworldly gangster god whose face alone can hold your complete attention. In more domestic terms, Nakamura is like Omar in "The Wire," the avatar of some mythological force; he transcends not just the show but the medium. I can try and compare him to idols from other fields, but Nakamura is sui generis, a foppish, world-weary thug in a drum major's jacket who prances to the ring like Michael Jackson. His horrific strikes-- Nakamura is "The King of Strong Style"-- come like the dagger inside a phantasmagoric, florid bouquet of stylized balletic flourishes and gyrations, eccentric upper-body twists and Fred Astaire footwork. His face is that of man exhausted by the effort to control his own violence. Nakamura seems a prisoner of his gifts; deep inner struggle is etched into his expressive features. When an opponent provokes him, Nakamura appears to experience genuine moral regret, something like disgust at what he's about to unleash. His face changes: he trembles: he surrenders to whatever terrifying entity dwells inside him and launches a spinning, writhing beat-down that would cripple a plowhorse, an unforgettable mix of guitar solo and Hulk Smash. NJPW offers a few familiar gaijin faces. There's AJ Styles, who is like the AJ Styles of TNA except a hundred times better, and Doc Gallows, previously known as Festus and Luke Gallows in WWE, now wearing Mantaur head-paint. There's also a North American wrestler named Ricochet who moves like a cheat-coded video-game character—some lazy programmer forgot to assign him a weight value. Apparently untethered from earth physics, Ricochet vaults and rebounds and straight-up zooms around the air at will; his conventionally Newtonian opponents appear relics of an earlier evolutionary stage, cavemen trying to swat something flickering through the fourth dimension. A very strong style. — Illustration by Ben Passmore Much could be said about what New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS is not. It exists, of course, in contrast to the delicious McDonald's that is WWE—not only in contrast to, but as an anomaly growing in the substrate of WWE, which remains the global arbiter of what pro wrestling is. NJPW broadcasts on AXS are exciting, brutal and streamlined. Many elements WWE fans are accustomed to, including the soap opera storylines, are absent. The product is purer, heavier yet more sophisticated, somewhere between gonzo porn and art film. It is difficult to expound on how thrillingly strange NJPW is without straying into exoticism. It is so strange, though. The audience sits in darkness, largely silent except for a scattering of bird-like yelps. The ring announcer is past parody, soaring up into a searing, power-metal falsetto gargle while introducing each competitor. Even the ring bell sounds weird, like it's made of wood. The matches are far longer, their rhythms and dynamic composition more complex. There is often a "fighting spirit" segment wherein one competitor mercilessly beats on an adversary who refuses to give up or even acknowledge the very real pain he's being subjected to. Hulk Hogan used to do something similar, shaking off blows when he got angry for his comeback, but his opponents did not hit even a tenth this hard. The moves are wilder: the Dragon Screw Leg Whip, the Magic Killer, Mongolian Chops and Mountain Bombs, heinous neck-imperiling drivers and plexes no wrestling fed should still allow. The wrestlers fight on through legit injuries, including mid-match broken jaws. The violence is reprehensible. I confessed my newfound fixation with NJPW to a friend whose judgment I trust, and found he shared my mix of misgiving and obsession. Watching NJPW, he told me, "I feel I witness more concussions per minute than even the grisliest of World Star compilations. I know I shouldn't like it, but I really, really do." NJPW wrestlers practice disparate styles, a throwback to the days when UFC featured boxers with one glove vs. a karate guy, clashes of what would seem incompatible in-ring technique. A defrosted, vintage 1980s big-man monster, a pop-eyed grimacing 7-foot slob who throws flailing clotheslines, goes up against a solemn, cyborg-like submission machine who knots opponents into flesh pretzels and chokes them out with their own legs. Who the hell wins that one? Will the giant fat dude really get pretzelled? What will it sound like when his tendons tear? I first came upon NJPW on AXS by accident, channel-surfing at 1 a.m. in a motel room, and I'd argue that was the ideal introduction. It's quintessential late-night TV that's very rare these days—late-night TV that isn't merely shown late at night but which emerges from a late-night realm, TV you shouldn't let the kids see. It's dangerous and different, gripping and gruesome, a tantalizing window into a fully formed and radically unfamiliar world. It is art, but wow, wow, wow do those motherfuckers hurt each other.

Cards Against Humanity, before it became go-to entertainment for a generation raised on the Internet and saddled with a backward idea of political correctness, began as a crowdsourced, printable game created by a group of old high school friends. A 2011 Kickstarter campaign produced the actual cards. In the promotional video, we’re introduced to half a dozen white guys who explain that it’s for “horrible people,” or at least the type of people who like to jokingly describe themselves as such. Recently, for a Black Friday promotion, they sent 30,000 people boxes of actual bullshit. It’s that sort of thing. The concept is simple: One person throws out a fill-in-the-blank prompt card, and the rest of the players have to supply the missing words with cards bearing phrases like “pooping back and forth forever” and “not giving a shit about the Third World.” The founders promise that the game is “as despicable and awkward as you and your friends.” Their success is startling: Cards Against Humanity is the No. 1 bestseller in Amazon Toys & Games, with five expansion sets to date, three holiday packs, and bundles with themes like “nostalgia” and “science.” There are more than 14,000 five-star reviews on Amazon. “That’s a level of devotion that can’t be explained by shock value alone,” wrote Nick Summers in Business Insider, as “the humor is calibrated to startle without being outright offensive.” Well, that’s not exactly true. The first time I played Cards Against Humanity, I couldn’t remember having ever laughed so hard. It was at a friend’s engagement party, with 10 people I knew better than just about anyone, our faces turning red and streaming with tears as we envisioned a mopey zoo lion, a frolicking gassy antelope, and Micropenises: The Musical. The hilarity lived in the shock, and each card had us doubled over almost before we could read it. You’re the “horrible person” who played the cards in the first place. It’s not the game’s fault. The second time I played, I still laughed a lot, though I started recognizing all the cards. The third time, I realized that some made me uncomfortable. The fifth time I played, I was thankful that my friend had brought an expansion pack, because there are only so many times I can cackle at the idea of Glenn Beck balls-deep in a squealing hog. I’ve played it about a dozen times, and now I’m starting to make a conscious effort to avoid it. The problems with the game are obvious and two-pronged. On the innocuous side, shock value is a large part of the draw, and it gets old fast—hence all the expansion packs you’re encouraged to buy, each promising further blows to the “easily offended.” The white cards are designed as punchlines to the black cards’ setups. What may be a straightforward concept on its own (“The Trail of Tears”) only transforms into something questionable when paired with “Instead of coal, Santa now gives bad children _______.” This folds into the other issue: the bar for acceptable crudeness is set by college-educated white guys. “A big dick” would be a funny enough response card, but CAH opts for “a big, black dick” (and, in the expansion pack, “a bigger, blacker dick”). Blackness is what’s supposed to send it over the top. Other white cards considered hilarious include “roofies,” “a sassy black woman,” “praying the gay away,” and “two midgets shitting into a bucket.” The plausibly deniable punchlines of rape culture, anti-blackness, homophobia, and ableism are visible just below the gauze, but hey, you’re the “horrible person” who played them in the first place. It’s not the game’s fault. “I think the game perpetuates a pretty nasty culture: ‘Hey, look how enlightened I am because I’m beyond race/religion and can make nasty jokes about it!’” said Adrienne Ciskey, a game designer. “It comes across as a game for overly privileged hipsters who believe they are entitled to this lifestyle where everyone worships them to feel ‘in’ on the joke.” She also introduced me to the phrase “Real Wheaton’s Law”: “Don’t be a dick, unless it’s being a dick in certain pre-sanctioned-by-us situations.” The line about comedy is that no topic should be taboo, and I agree with that. But the more “controversial” the subject, the more carefully it needs to be handled. A good comedian can make a joke about a celebrity, but a great comedian is the one who can gracefully craft a joke about something darker without making the subject the butt of the joke. CAH lets us become the comedians, giving us the setups and the punchlines to mix and match. The trouble is that we’re not great comedians. The game relies on the concept of the equal-opportunity offender, someone who makes fun of all religions, races, sexes, and anything else. Instead of punching up, they’re ready to just punch. It also relies on a bit of bullying over the idea of being “easily offended.” It is “not for the easily offended.” It is a “political-correctness-free zone.” If you’re the easily offended type, you shouldn’t even look at the cards. And you wouldn’t want to be one of those, would you? Cards Against Humanity has literally abandoned all chill. 💀 pic.twitter.com/2eJbAhzGEM — Jacks (@JackkieMarrie) December 17, 2014 A quick look at the illustrations of the Cards Against Humanity team still shows a primarily male, primarily white group. Cards Against Humanity According to David Munk, one of the game’s designers, the team is aware of the cultural power they hold, and their own privileged viewpoints. “When we find that our game has bullied or marginalized people in a way that we didn’t expect, we apologize and amend the game,” he told the Daily Dot. “We do our best to make jokes about people and institutions in positions of cultural power, and not to bully people.” Which is a good thing, for sure, but spot-fixing things only gets you so far. “It’s embarrassing to me that there was a time in my life [when] that was funny.” That policy also differs from what “core team member” Ben Hantoot said in 2011: “Several times, [in testing the game], people have left the room crying. But we’re OK with that. That means the game works!” He suggested removing cards if they’re upsetting, placing the burden on those playing, as if anticipating possible outrage is a waste of the CAH cabal’s time. It’s the sorry if you were offended of card games. It’s entirely possible that in the three years since Hantoot was interviewed, the designers have internalized that fewer people should leave the room crying when playing the game, but the plan still seems to be to see what they can “get away with” before enough people speak up. So what makes the cut? This year’s holiday pack, titled “Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa,” was a sort of advent calendar where people were mailed daily CAH-themed gifts (including that line mentioned above) for 10 days. I admit it gave me pause, as Kwanzaa is certainly not in the position of cultural power that Christmas occupies. “The joke to us is that we (the white authors of the game) didn’t bother to research that there are actually seven days of Kwanzaa,” said Munk. “It’s a joke that we meant to poke fun at white privilege, ignorance, and laziness.” CAH has also done its part to use the campaign for good. The profits from that box of bullshit were donated to Heifer International, and last year they gave more than $100,000 to DonorsChoose to fund public schools. But what was meant as a commentary on the type of person who would dismiss Kwanzaa can simply turn into yet another way to dismiss Kwanzaa, as evidenced by the number of people who rephrased the title as “Kwanzaa or Whatever” on Twitter. Are the jokes too smart for their target audience, or are the CAH boys just too cavalier with material that can be quickly misconstrued? I get why Cards Against Humanity can ‘get away’ with a joke like this. None of them & a lot of us, don’t know anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa. — Isaiah T. Taylor (@Bboy_Izilla) November 12, 2014 (Sorry, this embed was not found.) CAH does seem to understand that comedy still requires social responsibility, especially as people speak out more about the cards they find disturbing. In June, Max Temkin said he had pulled the “passable transvestites” card after Jonah Miller, a transgender player, posted a photo of himself burning it—with the caption “DEATH TO TRANSPHOBIA”—on his Tumblr. Temkin admitted that he regretted the card and called it a “mean, cheap joke.” “It’s embarrassing to me that there was a time in my life [when] that was funny,” he wrote. White cards still include “copping a feel” and “surprise sex!” Meanwhile, Miller faced backlash from around the Web. Many criticized his choice to burn a transphobic card but continue playing with other cards that are arguably racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive. Miller eventually wrote a follow-up post, admitting, “I was only looking at the issues which affected me personally, and I was allowing myself to find everything else funny because I wasn’t the person to whom it’s directed.” Presumably, Cards Against Humanity should be thinking like Miller, anticipating the pain of seeing a card directed at you and empathizing with that, parsing which cards provide a light tease and which are actually hurtful, instead of waiting for fans to force their removal. The list of changes to the lineup is extensive, and includes many justified deletions. But an equal number of harmless cards fall by the wayside, and for every “dwarf tossing” we’ve lost, there’s a “robust mongoloid” or “chunks of dead prostitute” that stays or gets added. Complicating matters further is an accusation of sexual harassment against co-creator Max Temkin. In a blog post addressing the topic, Temkin writes like a considerate, understanding person about sexual assault and rape culture. He said his lawyer told him he’d have a strong libel case, but he won’t take legal action because he’s “not wild about the precedent that sets for other women to come forward in cases of actual sexual assault.” It’s hard to tell if he’s a legitimate ally or just looking for feminist brownie points. Most women I know lose the ability to distinguish, having been burned too many times. In the end, he vowed to keep being a “feminist” and hiring women, and reminded us that “We removed all of the ‘rape’ jokes from Cards Against Humanity years ago. We’ll continue to use the game as best we can to ‘punch up’ and not ‘punch down.’” As of this writing, white cards still include “copping a feel” and “surprise sex!” When I first began to notice the issues with the game’s humor, I remember purposefully, smugly not playing the “my black ass” card. I figured I wouldn’t play it in front of a black person, so there was no reason for me to play it in a room full of white people. Later that summer, a black friend told me how much she loved the game, and how she always picked the “sassy black woman” card as a winner. I was reminded that I should never make assumptions—that she wouldn’t like that card, or that any other black person would. I was also reminded that it’s as easy to ignore sexism and racism as it is to overzealously take up a controversy on behalf of people who don’t need you to speak for them. In an essay about the rise of the “Not All Men” meme, Time‘s Jess Zimmerman wrote of the stages men must go through to overcome sexism. Her insights can be applied to other forms of discrimination by those in privileged positions. Once you’ve acknowledged that these power structures exist, you can learn how you’ve been socialized to accept them and benefit from them, and then take active steps to work against them. The Cards Against Humanity team is stalled in the middle of that narrative: understanding that there is a cultural hierarchy that disenfranchises people, making it clear they’re aware of the privilege they hold, attempting to use their humor to separate themselves from those who don’t get it, and apologizing for their mistakes when they’re called out. And they’ve faced minimal criticism, because, well, those steps are where most fail. People will apologize once they know they’ve done something wrong, but many won’t try to avoid wronging in the first place—by actively seeking diverse viewpoints and hires, for example. We’ve accepted the offense, as long as the apologies are good enough. Dismantling privilege doesn’t matter, as long as you’ve checked yours. The hardest I ever laughed in that first Cards Against Humanity game was when a friend answered “What ruined the school trip?” with “soup that is too hot.” It’s perfectly absurdist, first-world-problem humor, evoking images of finicky fourth graders trying to send their bowls back to their teacher, asking to speak to the chef. Those are the golden moments when the game becomes transcendent, when a joke can be understood across contexts, and nobody has to scan friends’ faces for potential blowback over the card they’re about to play. Great comedy doesn’t rely on a laugh that happens in spite of itself. Photo via Brett Jordan/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The New York Times is reporting the arrest of three RC hobbyists that were flying an RC aircraft at a lake nearby a nuclear power plant. Authorities in France have been searching for suspects in what they call illegal flyovers of their nuclear power plants by drones over the past several months, however they doubt the people that they have arrested are the same people they are searching for. (Original source of story is here in French) Law enforcement officials told Agence France-Presse that the three did not have criminal records; they were suspected of having illegally flown two drones near the plant. Vincent Bonnefoy, a prosecutor from the area in central France, told reporters that the three were hobbyists who had been trying to film a remote-control boat in a lake near the plant. He said that one of the three flew a drone in the same area in October and made a film of the flight. According to the story, it would seem that part of the reason for the arrest is the fact that hearing the RC aircraft caused the security team to go into full panic mode by causing “organized provocation” and, “disrupting the surveillance chain and protection of these sites”. The hobbyists were apparently using their small multirotor to capture video of their RC boat. They had also done this a month before without incident. In this author’s opinion incidents like this highlight the tension between hobbyists and those responsible for security, and also their lack of knowledge of RC aircraft and the technology in general. The key here is there is no behavior analysis to the perceived threat, just over-zealous reaction. Organized provocation can not be blamed on people doing innocent things, even by accident in a restricted area. In reality, an organized threat that wished to use a drone of some sort would not be able to be effectively stopped. But more to the point, a drone or RC aircraft would make a poor choice of weapon for terrorists, so the risk is minimized.

Former UM offensive lineman and Oakland Raiders rookie Jon Feliciano participated in the Duke Johnson Foundation’s charity bowling event on Tuesday at Strike 10 in Gulfstream Park. Here’s what he had to say in an exclusive interview with the Miami Herald. “It’s great to be out in Cali, in Oakland, be in such a great atmosphere and a good position. Our O-line group is great – a good mix between veterans, rookies and guys that are in the middle of their careers,” Feliciano told The Miami Herald. Feliciano added that he’s just looking to compete with the Raiders. “I’ve got great guys in front of me that have helped me out so far. They’ve done everything I could’ve asked of them and more,” Feliciano said. “I just want to go in there, compete and make the 53-man roster.” Feliciano is thrilled to remain teammates with fellow Raider Clive Walford. He said he thought the Raiders were actually going to take him in the third round, but when Walford’s name was called, he was happy for his friend. I was like ‘well, I can’t be mad at that.’ And then to have my name called their next pick was awesome,” Feliciano said. Feliciano swung by the event, he says, first, to give back, but second, to beat Duke. “Me and Duke always compete in bowling pretty heavily,” said Feliciano , whose all-time best was a 236. “Duke’s a good bowler, but I’ve got his number.” Added Feliciano: “Duke’s always been big about doing stuff in the community, and to set this up and have this go down is amazing.” DAVID FURONES

Bolivian President Evo Morales warns that the US will have to pay a price if it launches an aggression against Venezuela, and demands that his US counterpart, Barack Obama, "apologize" to Venezuela for his "threats." Last week President Obama signed an executive order declaring Venezuela a "national security threat" and ordered sanctions be imposed on seven officials from the Latin American country — a possible precursor to sanctions against the country itself, as previously seen in Iran and Syria. © Sputnik / Mikhail Fomichev Hungarian, Croat Jailed in Bolivia Over Plot to Kill Morales “Bolivia is the beloved child of Simon Bolivar and this country is prepared to fight to repel any aggression against Venezuela on the part of the United States,” the Noticias24 news portal quoted Morales as saying during an emergency meeting in Caracas of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), an intergovernmental organization based on the idea of the social, political and economic integration of the countries of Latin America. "This is a perfect moment for us to unite even closer in the face of any such threat,” the Bolivian leader said, adding that he would prefer seeing the US as a true defender of peace rather than a country trying to ensure its global dominion by force. Morales said he wanted the US to be the "great defender of peace in the world", not a country which "dominates in a military way". "I want to tell you that this unit [ALBA] should be strengthened, I really believe that America is afraid of the process of democratic, peaceful and economic liberation of Latin America and the Caribbean," he said.

Pilot: Drone operator has no 'skin' in the collision avoidance game To the Editor: The Post-Standard editorial for May 11 cheerleading the rapid phase-in of commercial drones was myopic. The editors focused exclusively on positive aspects that would benefit news coverage. In the mid-80s I accumulated about 900 hours as a single engine flight instructor and about 500 hours flying twin turbine commuter aircraft. With manned aircraft, the rule is "see and be seen." Most drones would be hard for a pilot to see. The drone operator would likely not be constantly sweeping the sky from left to right as pilots are trained to do. An operator safely on the ground would have no skin in the collision avoidance game. What about loss of propeller power or total loss of control of a drone? What might it hit or where may it fall? Should there be weight, speed and altitude limits? I watched a BBC news clip where a reporter tried to fly a small drone. He lost control and crashed it. Many drones have unguarded propellors which could cut up a person. Should they be flown over crowds, school yards or residential neighborhoods? What kind of training might be required for drone operators? Who will conduct it? Who will certify that operators are competent, as pilots are certified? It is no stretch to see that there will be some who fly drones without training or certification. Who will police the use of drones and what might be the penalties? Since they are controlled by digital radio signal, there will be folks who for fun or profit will hack into drone control systems to try to take them over. What kinds of weapons might be delivered by a non-military drone? Toxins or a bomb? What operating range will drones have? What will they do if they fly out of operator control range? Autonomous drones would not have the sensibility of a pilot for constantly varying flight situations. Captain Sullenberger quickly decided the best option was to ditch his powerless jetliner in the Hudson River. And, what about noise and privacy issues? There should be no rush to get commercial and privately owned drones into the air. Garry Nichols Manlius Editorial failed to address privacy and civil liberties issues To the Editor: It is readily understandable that news corporations would want to use drones to record and report news. The imaging capabilities of drones are mighty impressive. Yes, drones might "enhance the public's understanding of events." And, true, drones may well have been "used to capture footage of massive demonstrations in Ukraine." (Indeed, drones are ideal for identifying and monitoring demonstrators.) However, your May 11 editorial, "Journalists have right to use drones, too," under analyzed the issue. Sure, news corporations may seek to automate where they can. But working journalists and photographers probably value the right to be gainfully employed and not be replaced by those robots. Your editorial criticized the FAA for not licensing news corporations to use drones. But it failed to cite the safety concerns around drones that, given the current regulatory vacuum, the FAA must wrestle with. Or, to enhance the public's understanding, your editorial might have addressed drone-related privacy and civil liberties issues. These are local, national and international. Several months ago our own Common Council wisely and unanimously passed a resolution banning drones over Syracuse absent adequate regulation. Six states even restrict drone use by law enforcement. On May 9 the Wall Street Journal reported that this past March a U.S. passenger jet nearly collided with a drone over Florida - a disturbing news item, which as far as I know, the Post-Standard didn't publish. My hope is that your parent company's eagerness to embrace the drone won't lead you to sidestep covering drone problems. Or to downplay anti-drone agitation - for the past four years focused on the drone war crimes emanating from Hancock's 174th Attack Wing. Ed Kinane Member, Upstate Drone Action Syracuse

The story of professional poker star Mike “The Mouth” Matusow is in development as a biopic by 1984 Professional Defense Contractors. 1984’s Adi Shankar and Spencer Silna are producing along with David Uslan. The project is based on Matusow’s 2009 autobiography “Check-Raising the Devil.” Matusow’s story details his bouts with drugs, depression, promiscuous sex, jail, and suicidal depression along with his success as a four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and winning the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. His nickname comes from his affinity for razzing other players during poker games. 1984 has also acquired the rights to the 2003 novel “Money to Burn: The Ultimate Bank Heist Thriller,” by first-time writer and current U.S. District Court Judge James B. Zagel. The novel centers around a judge robbing the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago of $100 million in used money that is about to be destroyed. 1984’s credits includes “The Voices,” starring Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick; Joe Carnahan’s “The Grey,” starring Liam Neeson; and “Killing Them Softly,” starring Brad Pitt.

What is the cure for American health care? That is a question that a lot of people are trying to answer, and it’s a highly debated topic, but the answer is plain and simple. Single payer health care is the best form of health care a nation can hope to have. It is efficient, provides quality and timely access to everyone, and it is cost effective. A single payer health care system is a system in which the government, rather than private insurers, pays for all health costs. The system is funded typically through income taxes and is free at the point of use. Some countries with a single payer system include Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, and Australia. France is often considered to have the best health care system in the world, but a large group of people (including myself) believe the best system is the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS). This is because of its central and efficient operation, as well as high quality standards, low wait times, and staff quality. To start let’s dismiss some of the common arguments against single payer health care that come from the opposite side, like a single payer system having long wait lists, or that it is very inefficient and expensive. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, fact a recent Public Library of Science study stated, “Reported efficiency tended to be lower in the private sector than in the public sector…Studies evaluated in this systematic review do not support the claim that the private sector is more efficient, accountable, or medically effective than the public sector.” It also found that countries with a single payer system also spend less per capita, and that the United States would save over 150 billion annually. That doesn’t even include personal and business savings which would be thousands of dollars annually, would boost the economy, and make the United States more globally competitive. This is just one example of the several studies on this issue all saying the same thing, that single payer works and it is inherently the best system a nation could hope to have. A study by the World Health Organization also supports this claim and in a world-wide health care ranking, the United States was ranked 37, Canada was 32, the UK ranked 7, and France number 1. All of the countries ahead of the United States had a form of universal coverage and all of the countries in the top 25 had a single payer system. The OECD (The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) performed a study on wait times and found that the wait times in the United States increased by 30% in major U.S. cities, and that the U.S. had above average wait times. However, the U.K. and France were below the average wait times and were in the top five worldwide, both operating under a single payer system. Another organization, based in the United States, that has been pushing for single payer and has also conducted multiple studies is the PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Program), an organization of thousands of doctors, nurses, and health specialists. PNHP has been supporting and proposing legislation at the state and federal level for years, gaining little ground. A large reason is health insurance company money in politics, and “corporate” arguments propped up, in large part, by the republican party. To be clear this isn’t a conservative or liberal issue, in fact, in most countries it’s just a given there are no politics involved. The PNHP explained the conservative argument for single payer health care, saying that it would save money by eliminating bureaucracy, boost American business by eliminating health costs and would also save individuals thousands. Which leads into the next point, the method of payment and how it works. As previously explained, a single payer system is paid for through income taxes, so that means you’re going to see a large increase in income taxes right? Actually no, you aren’t. A recent study by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that it would call for a 2.2% income tax increase on individuals earning less than $200,000 annually, and cost middle income earners roughly $1,100 that is $3,855 less than the average out of pocket premium. Sadly, even though polls for the last 70 years have consistently shown a majority of Americans support a single payer system, Congress is bought and paid for by health insurance companies. So, it’s likely there won’t be any action to move to this system, which every major study finds is better, for a whole, on a national level. However, there has been a growing movement for a single payer system on a national level mainly rallied around the Independent Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, and even though it might not be possible in the next 4 years, it seems like the inevitable future. At the state level, however, it seems like an increasingly likely outcome within the next few years, and there have been efforts in Vermont, California, and even Minnesota. Current Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has been one of the few Democrats to take the lead on this issue, criticizing Obamacare, supporting a single payer system, and even proposing a public option for MNsure. It is an increasingly likely possibility that Minnesota could adopt a single payer system and we could experience the benefits first hand, however, the current problem is the state legislature doesn’t support any government action on health care and you can probably guess why. But with midterm elections in two years it’s quite possible things could change and a single payer option could be back on the table. I would like to take a moment to encourage everyone, Conservative or Liberal, to put politics aside and come together on this issue. No one should be denied the right to health care for any reason, and it is important to support candidates who support this basic idea. A local candidate and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Andrew Falk, has been one of the few outspoken local political advocates for a single payer system and has taken the lead on this issue. It’s important to rally around candidates like Falk who turn down corporate dollars and put the interests of the people first. If we all do that a single payer system could be a reality sooner than we think.