Amidst a rash of database misconfiguration incidents, a report from the RedLock Cloud Security Intelligence (CSI) team has found that 53% of organizations using cloud storage services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) have inadvertently exposed one or more such service to the public as of September.
That’s up from 40% in the group’s May Cloud Infrastructure Security Trends report, and comes after high-profile events like the Verizon snafu and Amazon publishing a warning on this subject to all of its customers.
The RedLock CSI team also discovered 37% of databases are accepting inbound connection requests from the internet, and 7% of those are receiving requests from suspicious IP addresses, indicating they’ve been compromised.
Moreover, the research also revealed that 48% of PCI checks fail in public cloud computing environments.
Vulnerabilities are being neglected in the cloud due to the fact that organizations are unable to leverage their existing vulnerability management investments that lack context on constantly changing cloud resources, the report noted. The RedLock CSI researchers found that 81% of organizations are not managing host vulnerabilities in the cloud, opening up the organization to potential attacks or breaches.
At the same time, risky users are flying under the radar. The research team determined that administrative user accounts for public cloud computing environments have potentially been compromised at 38% of organizations. Malicious actors could use these compromised accounts to infiltrate the cloud environments and cause tremendous damage to business operations.
The findings also included a number of Kubernetes administrative consoles that were not password protected, creating a window of opportunity for hackers. Researchers even found that many of these environments were leaking access credentials for various cloud environments. To make matters worse, some of these environments had already been compromised to mine Bitcoins, which organizations were completely unaware of.


In a call with Wall Street analysts, California Public Utilities Commission head Michael Picker reportedly said he could not imagine letting PG&E go bankrupt as it faces billions of dollars in potential liability from the wildfires ravaging California.
The burned remains of a vehicle and home are seen during the Camp fire in Paradise, California on November 8, 2018.
Shares of utility PG&E popped 37.5 percent on Friday after the head of a regulator eased worries about the California-based utility going bankrupt. Friday's rise marks the stock's biggest in at least four decades.
In a call with Wall Street analysts, California Public Utilities Commission head Michael Picker reportedly said he could not imagine letting PG&E go bankrupt as it faces billions of dollars in potential liability from the wildfires ravaging California. Picker's comments on the call were first reported by Bloomberg News.
Picker later told the San Francisco Chronicle that the agency would implement a provision through which utilities can pass wildfire costs on to consumers.
"Why is the CPUC stepping up now vs. mostly looking for legislative initiatives earlier? Given the reaction in the stock market, we think there was an appropriate level of urgency that something needed to be done," an analyst at Citi Research wrote in a note Friday. The analyst also upgraded the stock to buy from neutral.
"We also think the CPUC is stepping up now because it is easier for them to come out quickly to support the utility vs. something from the political spectrum," the note said.
PG&E's stock had sunk more than 50 percent for the week entering Friday's session amid concerns that its equipment could be partly responsible for the so-called Camp Fire raging in Northern California. The stock ended the week down 38.9 percent.
The Wall Street exodus from the utility began in earnest Wednesday after the company said that, if its equipment is found responsible for the fire, the costs would exceed its insurance coverage and impact its financial well-being.
PG&E said in an email that it's "not going to speculate or comment on what factors may or may not be impacting the stock market."
NBC News reported late Wednesday that at least 63 people have died from the Camp Fire. It is the deadliest wildfire in the state's history.


The Gillmor Gang is set to record a special edition celebrating the 20th anniversary of Iris Associates, the company that Ray Ozzie started with Mitch Kapor's support, and the 15th anniversary of the debut of Lotus Notes 1.0.
We'll begin recording at 1:45 Pacific or so today, so if you have any questions or thoughts about Notes you want to share with the Gang, let 'em rip in the comments below. Although they may not get posted immediately, I'll see them in email.


Hoping to keep up with changing telephone technology while salvaging the city's budget, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to put a $243-million telephone utility users tax on the Feb. 15 presidential primary ballot.
Worried that a pending court ruling could eliminate the 40-year-old tax, the council agreed to ask voters to preserve it and, to ward off future lawsuits, grant the city the power to tax telephone services that have not yet been invented.
Hours before the vote, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa persuaded the two final holdouts -- Councilmen Dennis Zine and Greig Smith, fiscal conservatives who represent the west San Fernando Valley -- that the tax is too important to leave to the courts.
Now the city's elected officials expect Villaraigosa to make a similar pitch to voters, telling them that government services will be gutted unless the tax is preserved.
"We really need the mayor to drive home the need for this tax. His city is at stake," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. "A lot of what he's been charged with, whether it's fixing traffic or hiring cops, is going to depend on this."
Although the tax is now levied at 10%, Villaraigosa asked the council to put a 9% measure on the ballot so city officials can sell the measure as a tax cut. The mayor embraced the strategy after his pollsters told him that a tax cut received a stronger response from voters than did the retention of a tax.
Villaraigosa also pushed to get the measure on the presidential primary ballot after polling data showed that turnout will be slightly higher than in June, providing it with more support. The measure requires only a simple majority for passage.
Still, the timing is less than ideal for tax proponents. The mayor and his negotiating team recently reached a salary agreement that will give a 23% pay hike over the next five years to certain city employees with more than five years' experience.
That agreement has drawn fire from some community leaders, one of whom compared the pay hikes to "going out to a fancy restaurant when you don't have any money."
"You don't give more money and then tell us we have to increase our taxes," said Denny Schneider, who serves on the Westchester-Playa del Rey Neighborhood Council.
The tax campaign also will play out as the council decides whether to approve a plan to hike electrical rates by nearly 9% over the next two years and water rates by nearly 6% over the same period.
Perhaps most distressing to city leaders is that the telecommunications industry -- companies with millions at their disposal -- have been silent on whether they will wage a campaign against the tax. On Tuesday, a spokesman for Verizon said only that the company "doesn't believe that the tax burden should fall disproportionately on telecommunications customers."
"At this time we are assessing our options as it relates to the ballot measure," Verizon spokesman Kevin Laverty said in a statement.
The city's budget analysts have warned that an adverse court ruling could eliminate the tax and therefore result in any number of cutbacks: 2,700 police officers, or half the Fire Department or 4,200 civilian city employees. The loss of the tax easily could erase Villaraigosa's bid to hire 1,000 new police officers -- an initiative that was funded by hiking trash fees from $11 to $28 per month.
Although the city's telephone tax has been in place since 1967, it has become increasingly vulnerable to legal challenges, as cellphones have come into greater usage and phone calls are no longer billed based on the distance between callers.
The council rewrote its telephone tax earlier this year to omit references to the federal rules. But one taxpayer quickly filed a challenge, saying the city should have sent the reworded ordinance to the voters in accordance with Proposition 218, the 1996 ballot initiative that requires a public vote on every new tax.
While legally complex, the changing technology has created a windfall for City Hall in recent years. Telephone tax revenue has increased in Los Angeles from $203 million in 1997 to $274 million this year.
The biggest boost came in 2004, a year after the city imposed the tax on all wireless carriers. That move provided the city an extra $40 million in revenue over the prior year. AT&T; Wireless challenged the tax, prevailing twice in court. If that decision stands, the city would lose $162 million annually.
To comply with Proposition 218, the council had to vote Tuesday to declare an "emergency" -- language that allows it to put the tax on the ballot in February instead of 2009. Because an emergency declaration requires a unanimous vote, Villaraigosa needed to persuade Zine and Smith that the measure should go on the ballot.
During Tuesday's council meeting, Villaraigosa aides ushered the two men into the mayor's office. After 25 minutes, both emerged and said they would vote yes.
Villaraigosa has not yet created a campaign committee to raise money for the ballot measure. But one campaign consultant who has worked with Villaraigosa -- and so far is not involved in the tax campaign -- said firefighters and police officers would make ideal spokespersons.
Villaraigosa seemed to echo that strategy in a statement hours after the vote.
"The mayor believes that this issue is absolutely critical to the health and safety of the city and he will lead an aggressive campaign to support it," said mayoral spokesman Matt Szabo.
For The Record Los Angeles Times Thursday, October 18, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction Telephone tax: An article in Wednesday's California section about the city of Los Angeles' telephone users tax gave the date of the state's presidential primary election as Feb. 15. The correct date is Feb. 5, which is when the tax measure will appear on the ballot.


Drones and the augmented/virtual reality market both offer the company an opportunity to diversify its revenue streams.
There are a handful of things InvenSense (NYSE:INVN) needs to fix before I'd feel comfortable investing in the company. One of those entails diversifying its revenue away from Apple and some other players. That's why it's promising to see the company focusing some of its attention on the augmented/virtual reality market and drones.
Here's why these rapidly growing technologies could open up some great opportunities for InvenSense.
InvenSense makes motion sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) that track movement, primarily for mobile devices. InvenSense's sensors are some of the best, and Apple and Samsung have both counted the company as a key supplier for their devices. In fiscal 2017, InvenSense said its "largest customer" -- widely accepted as referring to Apple -- accounted for 46% of total revenue. Meanwhile, Samsung now accounts for less than 10% of the top line, down from 14% in its fiscal fourth quarter. While these two tech juggernauts have seen mobile sales flounder lately, they've still put significant pricing pressure on InvenSense.
But the company is finding new ways to implement these technologies -- and AR and VR are promising avenues.
In VR, headsets track movement to help create an immersive experience. But to create the best experience, you need smooth and fast motion-tracking, and InvenSense's top-of-the-line sensors could become the gold standard. To help tap this market, the company debuted its ICM-20603 6-axis inertial sensor this past July, specifically targeting AR and VR. The company says the new sensor allows for faster refresh rates and tighter alignment for head-tracking motion.
Additionally, the company believes the recent release of the popular AR game Pokemon Go will make other app developers and tech companies more eager to produce augmented reality content. This could, in turn, push up demand for the company's motion sensors in lower-end smartphones that don't currently feature its products.
Given strong consumer demand, we expect to see the emergence of many more augmented reality applications and games beyond Pokemon Go, and we believe that their proliferation in mobile devices will expand our TAM to the mid-tier and low-tier SmartPhone markets for high-performance gyro.
DigiCapital estimates the AR and VR market will be worth $120 billion by 2020. Not all of that will come from component sales, of course, but with InvenSense's current mobile sensors expanding into new phones for AR, and its new VR/AR sensor for headsets, the company should be able to parlay its technology into a strong position in these markets.
The other massive opportunity for InvenSense comes from drones. Management has said there are now more than 30 million recreational drones sold each year, across multiple tiers, and InvenSense has design wins in all of the leading brands, including DJI and Parrot.
Further, sophistication and the need for performance and reliability in consumer drones continues to increase. In turn, the additional sensor content required for new use cases, such as EIS, OIS, and navigation, presents an attractive opportunity with significant higher dollar content than in mobile.
In short, drones represent an opportunity to not only sell motion sensors but also the company's optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS) sensors as well. Additionally, the company's FireFly-based module allows OEMs to add temperature stabilization into drones and has already been sampled by drone companies.
Today in the high-end drones, we have multiple inertial sensors, and we think that -- and that's actually opened up for us in terms of the integration of other features, EIS where we can get multiples of dollars instead of multiples of cents. That's pretty exciting for us.
Sales from drones are expected to hit $12 billion by 2021, according to BI Intelligence, up from $8 billion this year. And with the company able to sell more components into drones than mobile devices, InvenSense shareholders should be pleased with the potential opportunity in the market.
InvenSense is working on its revenue diversification, and I still believe the company needs to distance itself from its dependence on Apple. But it's clear the company is planning ahead and finding new ways to get its sensors into growing markets and technologies. It's still unclear how successful the company will be pursuing these efforts, but InvenSense has a good shot at snatching significant market share in AR, VR, and drones.


Mandarins at the Foreign Office invited staff to wear Islamic headscarves for the day, claiming they symbolised 'liberation, respect and security'.
The department was accused of backing the 'institutional oppression of women' by giving away taxpayer-funded headscarves at a walk-in event to mark World Hijab Day.
The event was held as women in ultra-conservative Iran burned their headscarves in protest at being forced to wear them or face arrest and prison.
Many Muslim women across the world have shunned the hijab – which covers the hair and neck but not the face – as an antiquated, oppressive, religious tool.


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli forces said they shot and killed a Palestinian who was brandishing a knife near an Israeli settlement on Monday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service confirmed the death near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, but said it had no further details.
“A Palestinian assailant approached an Israel Defence Forces checkpoint near Kiryat Arba, east of Hebron, with a drawn knife in his hand. In response, IDF troops fired towards him ... The assailant was neutralized,” a brief military statement said.
However, a Palestinian resident of Hebron, Abed al-Maw’ti al-Qawasmi, claimed that the man was shot by an Israeli settler who “stopped his car suddenly and then fired at him”.
Al-Qawasmi said he heard four shots, and that the man killed was not carrying “any knives or anything”. No Israelis were hurt.
It was the first killing of a Palestinian by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank since July, when a Palestinian assailant was shot dead after he entered the Israeli settlement of Adam and stabbed three people, one of whom later died.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have surged in the past few months after a series of U.S. and Israeli policy decisions that have angered Palestinians and raised international concern.
They include U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December, the moving of the U.S. Embassy to the city in May, and Israel’s adoption of a “nation-state” law that says only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country.
However there has been a recent drop in violence along the Gaza Strip-Israel border as Egypt, the United Nations and Gulf State officials attempt to enact a truce following a months-long series of protests.
At least 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers during the weekly demonstrations on the Gaza-Israel border, drawing international criticism of Israel. One Israeli soldier has been killed by a Gaza sniper.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014 and a bid by the U.S. administration to restart them has so far shown little sign of progress.
Palestinians want to establish a state in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally, and maintains control over more than half the West Bank, where the Palestinians have limited self-rule.


04/20/2019 05:15:19 95731060 1 0 0 3730 1 1 Technology IT SAP SD Systems Analyst SAP SD Systems Analyst Freelance Eliassen Group | Mason, OH NEW SAP SD Systems Analyst Our client, a leader in their industry, has an excellent opportunity for an SAP SD Systems Analyst to work on a nine-month + project... NEW Do you match?
04/07/2019 00:00:00 92231351 2 TJNBoost30Days,ImmigrationAd 13 0 3396 0 0 Technology IT Professional Services IMPLEMENTATION SPECIALISTS IMPLEMENTATION SPECIALISTS Full Time Bonfiglioli USA | Hebron, KY (41048) 13 DAYS AGO IMPLEMENTATION SPECIALISTS needed by our Hebron, Kentucky facility to direct and oversee aftersales support on different company products including helica... 13 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/18/2019 06:48:06 95231572 3 TJNBoost7Days 2 0 3241 1 1 Technology Database Development SQL Server DBA SQL Server DBA Full Time Main Street DBAS | Cincinnati, OH NEW Job Description This job is for a senior level SQL Server DBA providing operational database management tasks for select customers. The DBA will be self-su... NEW Do you match?
04/18/2019 06:31:01 95228003 4 TJNBoost7Days 2 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development UI Front End Developer UI Front End Developer Full Time Fusion Alliance | Cincinnati, OH NEW Job Description This role will be part of the exciting new Digital customer team. This is a highly innovative team situated in our own new Digital Headquar... NEW Do you match?
04/18/2019 06:03:08 95222736 5 TJNBoost30Days 2 0 3537 1 1 Technology Application Development Java Programmer Java Programmer Full Time Latitude, Inc. | Dayton, OH NEW Job DescriptionJava Programmer at Wright-Patterson AFBWill be involved with or responsible for providing software maintenance for an existing software solu... NEW Do you match?
04/16/2019 14:32:35 94786597 6 TJNBoost30Days 4 0 3537 1 1 Technology Computer Networking HBSS Security System Administrator HBSS Security System Administrator Freelance Intrepid Solutions | Dayton, OH 4 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionCLEARANCE: Active Top Secret / SCI ***TS/SCI required upon application for initial consideration***FUNCTIONAL LABOR CATEGORY: HBSS Security ... 4 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/16/2019 10:22:09 94762648 7 TJNBoost7Days 4 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development Junior Web Developer Junior Web Developer Full Time DonorDrive | Cincinnati, OH 4 DAYS AGO Job Description About the PositionBy joining our passionate team of developers and designers, you will be part of a product that is the gateway for nonprof... 4 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/14/2019 06:23:50 94450702 8 TJNBoost7Days 6 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development Front-End Web Developer Front-End Web Developer Full Time AssureCare | Cincinnati, OH 6 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionDo you have experience building complex enterprise wide software solutions? Are you interested in joining a fast-growing software company de... 6 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/13/2019 20:45:26 94359133 9 TJNBoost7Days 6 0 3730 1 1 Technology Application Development RPA Developer - Req. 3767 RPA Developer - Req. 3767 Full Time, Freelance Brooksource | Dayton, OH 7 DAYS AGO Sr. RPA Developer Location: Dayton, OH Full Time/ Contract-To-Hire Position Organization in the healthcare insurance industry is building an RPA team to wo... 7 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/12/2019 23:32:30 94177061 10 TJNBoost7Days 7 0 3730 1 1 Technology IT Business Quality Analyst Business Quality Analyst Full Time Worldpay 2018 | Cincinnati, OH 8 DAYS AGO The CompanyWorldpay is a global payments leader powering international commerce with deep fintech expertise and a shared passion for our customers. Whether... 8 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/08/2019 10:21:18 93186670 11 TJNBoost7Days 12 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development Front-End Developer | Cincinnati Front-End Developer | Cincinnati Full Time Insight Digital Innovation | Cincinnati, OH 12 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionWe are looking for a Front-End Developer with Responsive Design experience to join our amazing team in Cincinnati. Full-time with benefits. ... 12 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/07/2019 07:23:33 92889383 12 TJNBoost7Days 13 0 3241 1 1 Technology Hardware Design Robotics Applications Engineer Robotics Applications Engineer Full Time Gosiger Inc. | Dayton, OH 13 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionGosiger Automation, LLC Robotics Applications Engineer Dayton, Ohio Candidate must reside within the geographic area of Dayton, Ohio Gosiger... 13 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/04/2019 20:48:40 92269987 13 TJNBoost30Days 15 0 3553 1 1 Technology Application Development Software Engineer ($45k-$57k year) Software Engineer ($45k-$57k year) Full Time Revature | Middletown, OH 16 DAYS AGO Employer is the fastest growing employer of emerging technology talent in the US and we are currently looking to hire over 100 new Software Engineers. Our ... 16 DAYS AGO Do you match?
03/28/2019 07:48:26 90393252 14 TJNBoost7Days 23 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development Technical Architect - Data Solutions - Azure Technical Architect - Data Solutions - Azure Full Time CDW | Cincinnati, OH 23 DAYS AGO Job Description DescriptionCDW’s vision is to be the best national provider of Advanced Technology Solutions. We’ll achieve this reputation by continuing t... 23 DAYS AGO Do you match?
03/26/2019 21:44:56 90092555 15 TJNBoost7Days 24 0 3730 1 1 Technology Computer Networking Devops Engineer Devops Engineer Full Time BCforward | Cincinnati, OH 25 DAYS AGO Devops EngineerBCforward is seeking for an experienced DevOps Engineer. General Function:Responsible for implementing automated DevOps solutions within var... 25 DAYS AGO Do you match?
03/25/2019 05:57:48 89717423 17 TJNBoost7Days 26 0 3241 1 1 Technology Software QA QA Automation Tester QA Automation Tester Full Time Smart Data | Cincinnati, OH 26 DAYS AGO Job Description QA Mobile Automation Tester Job Functions:Work as part of a cross functional agile project team to ensure quality throughout the SDLC lifec... 26 DAYS AGO Do you match?
03/25/2019 05:15:52 89715198 18 TJNBoost7Days 26 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development Senior Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Full Time Barnett Engineering & Signaling Laboratories LLC | Dayton, OH 26 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionPosition Number/Title: Senior Software EngineerSecurity Clearance: Required to be a U.S. Citizen and possess a Top-Secret Security Clearance... 26 DAYS AGO Do you match?
03/22/2019 06:04:45 89069667 19 TJNBoost7Days 29 0 3241 1 1 Technology Application Development Applications Engineer Applications Engineer Full Time Exact Metrology Inc | Cincinnati, OH 29 DAYS AGO Job Description Application Engineer Seeking highly motivated person to work in a team atmosphere with team goals. Daily job tasks include, but not limited... 29 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/18/2019 01:30:58 95187404 21 2 0 3396 1 1 Technology IT Business Intelligence Analyst Business Intelligence Analyst Full Time MedPace | Cincinnati, OH NEW Account Management & Finance Overview Medpace is a scientifically-driven, global, full-service clinical contract research organization (CRO) providing Phas... NEW Do you match?
04/18/2019 01:30:38 95187384 22 2 0 3396 1 1 Technology IT Application Administrator Application Administrator Full Time MedPace | Cincinnati, OH NEW Information Technology Overview Medpace is a scientifically-driven, global, full-service clinical contract research organization (CRO) providing Phase I-IV... NEW Do you match?
04/18/2019 01:30:09 95187356 23 2 0 3396 1 1 Technology Application Development IT Hiring Event - May 2019 IT Hiring Event - May 2019 Full Time MedPace | Cincinnati, OH NEW Information Technology Overview Medpace is a global Clinical Research Organization (CRO) that is currently seeking Information Technology professionals who... NEW Do you match?
04/17/2019 01:45:10 94942954 24 3 0 3396 1 1 Technology IT Help Desk System Support Technician 2, (Entry Level) System Support Technician 2, (Entry Level) Full Time, Internship Greater Cincinnati School Application | Cincinnati, OH 3 DAYS AGO Position Type: Technology Support/Computer TechnicianDate Posted: 4/15/2019Location: Middletown City SchoolsDate Available: TBD Closing Date: Until positio... 3 DAYS AGO Do you match?
04/16/2019 01:39:50 81599404 25 4 0 3396 1 1 Technology Computer Networking Computer Systems Administrator Computer Systems Administrator Full Time University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH 4 DAYS AGO Responsible for advance level support of software packaging and management of the enterprise endpoint management solution, Microsoft System Center Configur... 4 DAYS AGO Do you match?


MANUEL PELLEGRINI has urged Manchester City fans to boo his side into the Champions League semi-finals.
Pellegrini’s men meet Paris St-Germain in a crunch quarter-final showdown at the Etihad tonight.
The clash promises to be one of the biggest night’s in City’s history as they look to book a place in the last four for the first time.
Home fans have jeered the opening Champions League music this season in protest at UEFA’s treatment of their club in relation to Financial Fair Play.
A near sell-out crowd is expected to do the same again tonight - but Pellegrini insists he doesn’t have a problem with it.
The Chilean says the booing has become one of City’s lucky charms because it means his side are still in the competition.
Pellegrini said: “It depends if you are superstitious. If you are superstitious then we continue winning if they boo the anthem.
“Of course the fans can make a difference. I know and they know also.
City’s chances of going through have been dealt a blow with the news captain Vincent Kompany will not figure.
He was hoping to face the French champions, but despite having a light workout with Pellegrini’s squad yesterday he has declared himself unavailable.
Pellegrini urged Kompany to be honest with himself and the centre back knows he is not 100 per cent fit to lead his team into action.
City bosses, meanwhile, remain confident of selling the remaining tickets and having a full house.
Some of the City players have recorded messages to be played on trams around Manchester urging fans to snap up the last few tickets and make it a night to remember.


The only child of Tory peer Lord Kilmartin, 32-year-old Harriet is a very modern woman. She'd be modern now, so in 1923 she is really quite something!
Expensively educated but with little parental influence, Harriet knows her own mind and views life as something to be enjoyed, not endured. An adventurous spirit, she has travelled and read broadly.
Harriet’s a practiced manipulator with a fierce intellect - she gets what she wants. And right now she wants a cover. Lord Kilmartin wants her married and he wants her to behave. Harriet will concede on the first point, but not the second!
She is steely with a cutting wit, but she does not deploy it without reason. Loyal to her friends Harriet will circle the wagons in a crisis. She will become Edmund's closest ally and defend him when Bairstow or Clem attempt to push him in directions that suits their own ambition but not his.
Harriet has a wide circle of fast friends. She is central to it and it is central to her. Harriet will be the moderniser pitted against Clem's desire to hold the line and she is a worthy opponent.
"Harriet is the product of the post war generation - the Bright Young Things - when life was about living for the moment! She’s a social whirl; she drinks, she dances and she says what she means. I showed a friend a picture of me as Harriet, who exclaimed “she looks like the type of girl I want to drink gin and get drunk with!” - a great description for Harriet!
Harriet is more than happy to give the countryside a whirl!
"I’ve always been fascinated by this period, so was thrilled to get to play the part of someone who came from this time and who embraced it so absolutely. [To prepare] I re-watched Stephen Fry’s glorious Bright Young Things, which is great at giving a depiction of the wonderful and new energy of the time and The Great Gatsby (with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow). I also read up a lot on women and fashion of the time, how they both changed and changed each other - how hand in hand a new female silhouette came to be, both physically and metaphorically."


More than 17,000 attendees nibbled, munched and sipped their way through 80,000 specialty food products at last week's 37th Winter Fancy Food Show at Moscone Center.
Organized by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the show gives restaurateurs, retailers, importers, distributors and producers an opportunity to discover new products for consumers.
Here are some standouts that should be appearing on store shelves in the next few months.
We were intrigued by Arette's organic tea seed oil that is 90 percent unsaturated fat has a 485° smoke point. The tea seeds are hand-picked and contain one of the highest amounts of omega9/oleic acid of any oil (aretteorganic.com).
For just a hint of sweetness, we liked the Slims Collection, dessert crackers that are essentially crisp quick breads. Our favorite: banana bread.
Equally good with cheese and coffee, Paso Robles' Vin' Tucci bite-size wine cookies are dairy- and oil-free; the crisper-than-biscotti wafers come in anise, spice and honey flavors (vintucci.com).
Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free anythings are still on the upswing. The Good Bean fruit and no-nut bar from a Berkeley company features chickpeas instead of nuts, so has 40 to 60 percent less fat than many other similar products (thegoodbean.com).
Also local is Petaluma's Redwood Hill Farm and its Green Valley Organics lactose-free product line. The "I can't believe it's lactose-free" sour cream tastes and feels more like creme fraiche (greenvalleylactosefree.com).
Ginger is big in beverages and Q Ginger, an adult ginger ale from Q Drinks, is made with real ginger, lightly sweetened with organic agave, and flavored with spices to deepen its great gingery bite ( www.qginger.com).
Aptly-named Raaw produces raw fruit and vegetable juices that contain no added sugar, and are flash-pasteurized to preserve intense flavors like beets and pineapple-cucumber (rawfoods.com).
Rancho Gordo, the Napa company responsible for bringing heirloom beans to the fore, is expanding its offerings to include banana vinegar made from fallen fruit (ranchogordo.com).
Vinegar is also a new venture for the beekeepers at Slide Ridge in Utah. We could slurp their terrific honey wine vinegar by the spoonful (slideridge.com).
We usually prefer our chocolate straight, but did like the green and Bergamot teas incorporated into Tea Room's gourmet chocolate fusion bars (tea-room.stores.yahoo.net).
For baking, San Francisco's Tcho introduced 99 percent dark unsweetened pieces. For unsweetened chocolate, it has a pleasingly smooth mouthfeel and rich cacao flavor without bitterness - perfect for brownies ( www.tcho.com).


State Department says UN would probably endorse final deal with Iran, denies talks on removing sanctions are taking place.
The Obama administration expects that as a matter of course, the UN Security Council would endorse any final nuclear agreement reached between world powers and Iran, the State Department said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP).
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki also denied reports from Thursday that there are talks already in place to remove the sanctions on Iran, after Western officials said world powers have quietly begun talks on a UN Security Council resolution to lift sanctions on Iran if a nuclear agreement is struck.
Psaki said that if a comprehensive accord is struck by a June 30 deadline, it would be forwarded to the Security Council for its approval. All five permanent members of the council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — along with Germany are currently racing to complete the outlines of a deal with Iran by the end of this month. They have set the end of June as the deadline for a full agreement.
"We would anticipate that, if we're able to reach a joint comprehensive Plan of Action between the P5+1 and Iran, an endorsement vote would be held by the UN Security Council," she said, according to AP, adding that such a step should not be "a surprise" because of who is negotiating the agreement.
A Security Council vote on a resolution to endorse a possible deal would be separate from a vote to ease or remove United Nations sanctions on Iran, which would come only after Iran is found to be complying the with the agreement, Psaki stressed.
A vote to remove UN sanctions would not affect U.S. sanctions, she added.
The administration has been criticized by members of Congress for pursuing an executive agreement with Iran that would not require their advice and consent as a formal treaty would.
Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress this week that an Iran nuclear deal would not be legally binding, meaning future presidents could decide not to implement it, after a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Iran warning it that any agreement signed with President Barack Obama would be void after he leaves office.
On Thursday, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned Obama not to try an end-run around Congress by getting the United Nations to implement a nuclear deal with Iran.
Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said letting the UN consider such an agreement, while at the same time threatening to veto legislation that would allow Congress to vote on it, is a "direct affront" to the American people and would undermine the role of Congress.


“Diabetesville, USA” paints a frightening picture about diabetes at the southernmost tip of Texas — so frightening that the film was the only documentary to be screened at the Scarlet Waters horror film festival in Austin last fall.
“They sent me a note saying it was the scariest film they'd seen, so they were including it, even though they never really do documentaries unless it's the making of a horror movie or something,” said filmmaker Michael Seringer, 39, who lives in San Antonio and shot parts of the film here.
The facts are undeniably bleak in Cameron County, an area in the Rio Grande Valley encompassing Brownsville and Harlingen: Nearly 30 percent of the population has diabetes, including a growing number of children. A majority of the population is overweight or obese. More than half have no medical insurance.
A glimpse into diabetes along the Texas/Mexico border is a glimpse into the future of the country, Seringer said. Experts predict a third of the population will have diabetes by 2050.
“Diabetesville, USA” is Seringer's first film. A self-described “data guy” who works in health care analytics and informatics, Seringer was working on a grant in the Rio Grande Valley when he began learning about the pervasiveness of Type 2 diabetes in Cameron County, where dialysis clinics and advertisements for diabetes supplies are everywhere.
“I was blown away by everything I saw,” he said, so he went in search of a book or film about the phenomenon. When he couldn't find anything, he decided to make his own film. He completed the feature-length documentary in 2011. It's on sale for $19.99 at www.diabetesthemovie.com.
Treating diabetes and its associated health problems in Cameron County is big business, Seringer said, but prevention efforts have been conspicuously absent.
The biggest culprit in the diet? The “massive amount of liquid calories” from soda, he said.
“We had footage of 2-year-olds with Big Red in the baby bottle,” he said.
Hector Ortiz Jr., an accountant in San Antonio, is one of the diabetes patients interviewed in the film. Since 2010, he has undergone dialysis because the disease damaged his kidneys. Because the treatment requires three sessions a week for about five hours at a time, he can't hold a full-time job.
Ortiz believes early education and prevention are paramount to curbing diabetes.
“If you begin the message at home and then you reinforce it in school, I think kids will get the message, and they'll take that with them the rest of their lives, and maybe their choices will be better than the ones that I have made,” Ortiz, 57, said.
Seringer, now vice president of technology at My Own Med, Inc., a health informatics start-up, thinks there's hope for Cameron County as health care experts continue to wave the red flag.


LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Olympic bobsledder Nate Weber will never forget the sound.
"My heart started racing," Weber said. "And then I realized, I might want to run pretty fast right now."
He wasn't seriously injured. He also finished his sprints.
At the Olympics, Weber will be representing red, white, blue and green. He's a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army, and a green beret. And he's one of seven Army soldiers who will be sliding for the U.S. at the Pyeongchang Games that start next week, wearing the American flag in a foreign land — with the same level of pride that the 10th Special Forces member has during his three deployments abroad.
"It's a different kind of adrenalin," Weber said. "The stakes are a little bit higher if I'm with my special forces group, but the atmosphere is very similar in that you're a team and that you're there for the guy on your left and right. That transition is really easy to make."
He's not alone. Besides the seven American soldiers competing on the track at the Alpensia Sliding Center in Pyeongchang — Weber is joined by fellow bobsledders Justin Olsen, Chris Fogt, and Nick Cunningham. USA Luge's Olympic roster includes Army Sergeants Emily Sweeney, Taylor Morris and Matt Mortensen — but several coaches on the U.S. side have military backgrounds as well.
Some are part of the Army's World Class Athlete Program, which was formed in 1997 and has been represented on most U.S. Olympic teams since.
"It's a really special thing," Sweeney said. "We're really excited to represent the military and our sport and our country all at once, especially at the Olympics, such a big stage. I'm really excited to see what we can do. It's a community within a community, where we have a lot of support for each other."
"It's about the teamwork that's required," Fogt said. "In the Army, you have to be part of a team from your very first day of basic training. On top of that, we've been through worse situations. When you're bobsledding and it's minus-20 degrees on the hill and it's snowin' and blowin', you remember you've been on the field without meals in this kind of weather, hanging out in a foxhole. So that mental toughness helps us a lot."
Cunningham was a slider before he was a soldier. After hearing about the Army WCAP program from teammates and seeing the level of support those sliders were getting from the military, he signed up after competing in the 2010 Olympics. Through the GI Bill, he got his master's degree in sports administration as he pursues life after sliding.
"We talk about the team behind the team," Cunningham said. "They really are the team behind the team."
Getting to the Olympics is obviously a big deal for all 242 members of the U.S. team that's headed to Pyeongchang. With the soldiers, the extra significance is also clear.
"For me, getting named to the team wasn't the goal," Weber said. "The goal was to go over there and win some medals."


Matthew Pennington looks to have played his last game for Ipswich Town after rupturing ligaments in his ankle.
The central defender, currently on loan from Everton, suffered the ligament injury in training and is set to miss the rest of the season as a result. There is an estimate of a recovery time of between eight and 10 weeks, meaning he has played his final games for the Blues.
“He has an operation now,” Lambert said.
“He’s been excellent, Matty Pennington, but I thought Toto (Nsiala) came in and had a great game.
“Matty, while he’s obviously not our player, has been excellent. It was a nothing incident the other day in training with nobody near him.
It’s understood Pennington picked up the injury while clearing the ball in training, kicking the post as he did so.
Pennington has been one of the Blues’ most consistent performers during a difficult campaign, hitting the ground running with an impressive debut against Norwich City in September and maintaining those standards since.
In total he has made 31 appearances for the Blues during his season at Portman Road, scoring once in the 2-2 draw at Birmingham in September. He was sent off later in that game.
Teddy Bishop also missed today’s game with an ankle problem, with Lambert allaying fears that the injury will keep the midfielder out for a prolonged period.
“He’s rocked his ankle, which can happen in training,” Lambert said of Bishop.
“I could have taken the risk but I would have been risking his well-being. I obviously don’t want to do that because of his history with injuries.


Substitute Gerard Deulofeu scores twice as Watford come from two down to beat Wolves in extra-time and reach their first FA Cup final since 1984.
M6 West Midlands southbound severe disruption, at J8 for .
M6 West Midlands - M6 lane closed on exit slip road to M5 southbound southbound at J8, M5 interchange, because of a broken down vehicle. Traffic is coping well.
Dean Keates is sacked by Walsall after Saturday's loss to Oxford, with the Saddlers third from bottom of League One.
Millwall claim a deserved win over promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion to remain one point above the Championship relegation zone.
Solihull Moors' push for automatic promotion continues with a deserved 1-0 win at Hartlepool in the National League.
James Dempsey is also accused of driving dangerously in the car while the baby was inside.


Three people have been seriously injured in an attack in Peterborough city centre this afternoon, Tuesday January 17.
Officers are currently at the scene of a serious assault in the Wentworth Street area of Peterborough. There are eyewitness suggestions that a knife or blade was involved in the assault but police said it was too early to say exactly how the injuries to those involved had been sustained.
It is believed at least three people are receiving treatment at hospital for serious, but not life threatening, injuries. The incident happened at roughly 3pm today.
Details are sketchy at this stage and investigations have begun. Four people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The scene of the crime is understood to stretch across Peterborough city centre after police were initially called to Rivergate Arcade.
Shoppers there report seeing men chasing each other through the arcade and blood can be seen on the ground there. A trail of blood can be followed along Bridge Street.
The East of England Ambulance Service were called at just after 3pm to Cowgate in Peterborough. An ambulance officer, and ambulance crew as well as the Magpas Air Ambulance attended.
There were three patients. Two patients made their own way to Peterborough City Hospital. One of those patients suffered chest, back and leg injuries. The other patient suffered stomach and arm injuries.
The third patient was treated at the scene by the ambulance service. He suffered arm injuries. He was taken to hospital by ambulance.


Things have gotten so bad for Dean Skelos that he was apparently hoping for some help from beyond the grave.
One of the witnesses the former state Senate Majority Leader was planning on calling in his defense case is a dead man, prosecutors complained Wednesday.
Assistant US Attorney Rahul Mukhi complained to Judge Kimba Wood that Skelos' lawyers had submitted a list of 29 possible witnesses to testify on Skelos' behalf next week.
"We don't believe this is a real list," Mukhi told the judge, noting it included former state Sen. Owen Johnson, "who passed away."
Johnson's obit in the Daily News — from last December — reads, "Former state Senator Owen Johnson, who served 40 years in the Senate before stepping down two years ago, has died, Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos announced." Johnson, who repped Babylon, LI, died at age 85 of natural causes.
Skelos' lawyer, Robert Gage, eventually acknowledged he'd made a mistake by including Johnson on the list. He chalked the gaffe up to his own uncertainty about who the feds plan to call in the coming days.
"We don't know who to call yet," Gage said.
Testimony continued a short time later Wednesday, with one of the prosecution's live witnesses, Bjornulf White.
White was Adam Skelos' superviser at AbTech - a storm-water company that hired Adam after what the feds say was inappropriate help from his powerful dad.
Watching some of the action was Judge Valerie Caproni, the judge who presided over the trial of Sheldon Silver, the former state Assembly Speaker who was convicted of corruption charges earlier this week.
She was joined at one point by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, who sat next to her. There was no sign that Adam Skelos — who referred to the prosecutor as "f---ing Preet Bharara" on a wiretapped phone conversation that was played in court Tuesday — noticed his nemesis.


The Iranian government’s charges against Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter who has been jailed since July 22, are “serious” and “relate to espionage,” the journalist’s mother told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday.
She said she had “no idea” what the specific charges were, which were officially filed this week.
Mary Rezaian told Amanpour that nothing has been explained to her or her family.
Mary Rezaian, mother of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, appeals to Iran's leadership in English and Farsi. Click above to watch.
Amanpour's full interview with Mary Rezaian airs Friday at 2pm ET, 8pm CET on CNN International.
Failing to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear program would create a very difficult situation for the United States, former U.S. diplomat Frank Wisner told Christiane Amanpour Thursday, but remained optimistic that the gaps could be bridged.
"Both sides are negotiating very seriously, The negotiators are extremely skillful; they've made progress on a number of vitally important points, so I’m going to keep my fingers crossed because the alternative is very difficult for all of us."
A seasoned negotiator, Wisner has been engaging with Iranians on what's called "Track Two" diplomacy in the latest attempts to broker a deal on sanctions and Iran’s nuclear capability.
Many have argued that no deal is better than anything but a very good deal; the Israeli Intelligence Minister told Amanpour that failure to reach a deal would be preferable to many alternatives.
It all started with a harmless comedy clip on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, in which satirical correspondent Jason Jones met with journalist Maziar Bahari in a Tehran café.
The clip marked the beginning of a partnership that would lead to Stewart’s directing and screenwriting debut. Or maybe that just happened by chance, Stewart told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Wednesday.
"I had always wanted to be in the Directors' Guild. And so I was looking for anything. And the script had come across – it could have been a Martin Lawrence, Will Smith buddy comedy. It really didn't matter to me,” he joked.
“Rosewater” tells the story of Bahari’s months-long-imprisonment in Iran following his coverage of the 2009 presidential election. Stewart told Amanpour that he and Bahari became friends after the journalist was released.
On the heels of a damning new report from the United Nations, Iranian Human Rights Chief Mohammad Javad Larijani defended his country’s detention of Washington Post Reporter Jason Rezaian.
Those close to Rezaian, who has been in detention since the end of July, say that there have been no public, specific charges filed against the journalist.
“The charges [have] been raised to them by the security officials as involving activities beyond the sphere of journalism,” Larijani said.
What follows is a transcript of Christiane Amanpour's full conversation with Iranian Parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Mr. Larijani, welcome to the program.
ALI LARIJANI, CHAIRMAN, PARLIAMENT OF IRAN (through interpreter): Thank you.
Iran has “good experience” fighting terrorists, and came to the aid of Iraqis against ISIS, the speaker of the Iranian parliament told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, saying that U.S.-led airstrikes alone would not be enough to destroy the militants.
“I think it is very unlikely to destroy guerilla fighters by just dropping bombs on their heads,” Ali Larijani said through an interpreter.
Along with the president, Hassan Rouhani, and Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, he is one of the most powerful people in the country.
The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, has even been photographed on the ground in Iraq.
Click here for part two of Amanpour's interview with President Rouhani, and here for part three.
(CNN) - Airstrikes against ISIS militants are a "psychological operation," not a military one, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday.
"It is a common threat for all of us," he said. "And this requires a unison effort from all of us."
"We need a vast campaign of operations ... the aerial bombardment campaign is mostly, I would say, a form of theater, rather than a serious battle against terrorism."
Talks with Iran over its nuclear program are “the most complex negotiation I've ever seen,” Chief U.S. Negotiator Wendy Sherman told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday.
Iran and world powers agreed, a little over a week ago, to extend negotiations four months in the hope that a permanent deal could be struck.
Talks between world powers and Iran over that country's nuclear program are "a historic opportunity for all of us to end a rather prolonged chapter," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday in Vienna.
A Sunday deadline is looming for negotiators to reach agreement on a comprehensive solution on Iran’s nuclear program; Iran, in return, is seeking broad sanctions relief and access to international markets. It now seems likely that Sunday’s deadline will not be met and may have to be extended.
"I think we have made enough serious discussion for us to think about the feasibility of continuing these discussions," Zarif said. "I think Secretary Kerry made that recommendation. I have made the recommendation."


Do all religions lead to the same God?
How do Christians make sense of evil in the world?
They're tough questions for anyone who hasn't studied theology.
An upcoming workshop hosted by a leading Anglican evangelist is intended to help Christians better explain themselves to others.
"You may sit down on an airplane going with somebody somewhere and get into a discussion about religion. A lot of folks back off because they don't know what to say," said the Rev. Marc Robertson, rector of Christ Church.
"It helps to be able to say, 'look this is what Christians have believed for 2,000 years.' You don't have be angry or belligerent, but you can engage people and find out where they are."
Christ Church hosts "Sharing Our Faith," a series of workshops taking place Friday through Sunday to help Christians become better evangelists.
The conference at the downtown church is associated with the Anglican Communion Network, a group of Anglican and Episcopal churches working to advance theologically conservative ideals. The network counts 200,000 lay members and 2,200 clergy in more than 900 congregations.
Christ Church and St. John's Episcopal Church in Savannah are among member congregations listed on the Network's Web site.
The featured speaker, the Rev. Michael Green, has a "friendly and winsome fashion" in explaining evangelism, even to those who feel timid about sharing their faith with others, Robertson said.
"He's known well outside Anglican and Episcopal circles, and we're just thrilled to have him," Robertson said. "He's known as the Billy Graham of the Church of England."
Green currently serves as the Canon Missioner of Holy Trinity Church in Raleigh, N.C. Formed in 2004, the church joined the Anglican Communion Network after some members of Raleigh's Christ Church became disaffected with their Episcopal bishop's support for the consecration of Gene Robinson as the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire.
As a British theologian and leader in Anglican evangelism, Green has been on a tour of member churches leading a nationwide campaign called the "Good News Initiative."
The project aims to spread "a renewed focus on evangelism" to churches associated with the conservative organization.
Green has written more than 50 books on early Christianity and evangelism. His resume includes serving as adviser to the Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, as a research fellow at the Church of England's theological college at Oxford University and as a professor and an Anglican priest.
Readers described some of Green's books listed on Amazon.com as "worthwhile scholarship and practical Christian-life reading rolled into one," as well as "exhaustive and sometimes exhausting."


This season, Broadway’s finding its faith.
The subject matter of “Godspell” and “Superstar” seems tailor-made for devout audiences, but as successful outreach for pics including “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” has made clear, faith-based auds can often be attracted to entertainment in which the tenets of faith aren’t a central topic but a thematic undercurrent.
“Never Say Never,” for instance, is essentially a concert pic, but it includes multiple segments that showcase the teen idol’s spiritual roots, including a scene in which performers say a group prayer before taking the stage at Madison Square Garden. On Broadway, secular title “The Color Purple” did strong biz with African-American church groups, drawn by the well-known story’s themes of healing and forgiveness.
Similarly, “Memphis,” about the 1950s interracial romance between an African-American singer and a white DJ who becomes one of the first to play black tunes, doesn’t deal primarily with religion, but the faith-based demo has been sympathetic to the tuner’s themes of tolerance, perseverance and overcoming bigotry. To spur interest among churchgoers, Allen invited some of Gotham’s religious leaders to take in the show.
Allen describes a network of gatekeepers to faith-based auds — including Catholic bishops, pastors at megachurches, leaders of nonprofit ministries and the personalities on faith-oriented radio stations — who can serve as powerful motivators to a demo that’s as hungry for entertainment as any other seg of the population.
In the case of both “Godspell” and “Superstar,” any outreach to the faith-based demo is just one initiative in an overall campaign to target several potentially interested niche auds, along with the broader swath of general theatergoers.
For instance, “Godspell” producer Ken Davenport says the musical revival can also target fans of composer Stephen Schwartz and his megahit “Wicked.” Plus, it benefits from the tuner’s status as a familiar staple of stock, amateur and regional theater.
Like “Godspell,” “Superstar” has made it into the pantheon of landmark tuners regardless of its biblical inspiration. As illustrated by a recently tweeted photo of a man in a yarmulke standing at the box office of “Godspell,” not everyone who wants to see these musicals would identify themselves as a Christian. “There’s a cross-pollination of faith on Broadway,” Lee says.
“Superstar” producer Michael David anticipates courting faith-based auds alongside other demos likely to be interested in the show. A partner in Dodger Properties, David also was involved in the 1988 Broadway run of the Oedipus-with-gospel tuner “The Gospel at Colonus,” and he recalls that at the time, Broadway outreach to religious audiences was haphazard at best.


Get the benefits of a cardio workout and your favorite yoga moves all in one, 60 minute class. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) targets fast-twitch muscle fibers that yoga does not. Yoga works on mostly slow-twitch fibers, which build stamina and endurance for longer holding. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are what help you get stronger for movement without injury, and give muscles more tone. Yoga HIIT intervals are inspired by yoga movements and make less impact on joints than regular HIIT exercises. They are done in Tabata timing – 4 minute blocks of 20 seconds activity, 10 seconds rest, 8 rounds total. There are up to 4 HIIT intervals in each Yoga HIIT class, with the rest of the class composed of Vinyasa yoga flows and holds. Practice the mindful movements of yoga and get a cardio endorphins kick. Get your sweat and your stretch on in one class with Yoga HIIT.


UFC Responds To Allegations Of Drug Test Cover Up, Bonuses, Extended Ronda Rousey - Holm Promo - Wrestling Inc.
- We posted the Ronda Rousey UFC 193 promo that has received almost universal acclaim this weekend, but that ended up not being the complete presentation. As it turns out, the company had a version produced that also highlighted world champion boxer Holly Holm. You can see that video above.
- UFC responded to a Deadspin report of a shaky drug test from Vitor Belfort that came to light from 2012 after UFC 192 Saturday night.
"I think one of the things to keep in mind with this particular topic is, any suggestion or inference that there was a coverup in regards to that was categorically false," said Dave Sholler, UFC public relations head.
"That period of time with TRT is one that was tricky for everyone: For the UFC, for athletic commissions for athletes alike. I think when everyone came to a conclusion it didn't have a place in the sport and was outlawed in 2014, we were quick to make sure that we followed suit, as Nevada has said," said Sholler.
- Speaking of UFC 192, Daniel Cormer vs. Alexander Gustafsson took home $50,000 each for earning "Fight of the Night" honors. Albert Tumenov and Adriano Martins also received $50,000 for the two "Performance of the Night" bonuses.


The leader of an influential group of conservatives on Friday said the House healthcare reform bill still doesn't have the votes to pass the lower chamber despite changes.
In an interview filmed for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said there are at least 40 House Republicans who are opposed to the legislation and another 20 to 30 who are undecided. If every member votes and all Democrats vote no, GOP leaders can't afford more than 21 defections.
The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus made his comments before House GOP leaders announced Friday they are making modifications to the ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill that had been sought by the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC).
A Freedom Caucus source Friday afternoon said, "The Freedom Caucus remains opposed to the [legislation] in its current form. Today's announcement of the RSC's support for the bill doesn't change that. If the bill were brought to the floor today, it would fail to get enough votes."
During the interview — which will appear on C-SPAN Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. — Meadows suggested he knew changes were coming, but indicated they wouldn't be enough to get his support. For example, he expressed major reservations with the voluntary Medicaid work requirements in the revised bill, which he described as "a step backward."
The RSC has 172 members, while the Freedom Caucus has about three dozen. However, it remains to be seen how many RSC members will back the altered legislation. Earlier this month, Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanAppeals court rules House chaplain can reject secular prayers FEC filing: No individuals donated to indicted GOP rep this cycle The Hill's Morning Report - Waiting on Mueller: Answers come on Thursday MORE (R-Wis.) guaranteed that the House would pass an ObamaCare repeal and replace bill.
The legislation is scheduled to hit the House floor Thursday in what will likely be one of the most dramatic votes since Republicans won the House in 2010.
Meadows said he has had more meaningful discussion with the White House than with House GOP leaders on repealing ObamaCare. He also pointed out he is working with GOP senators and trying to find "the sweet spot" — a bill that can pass both the House and Senate.
Meadows has been huddling with Sens. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulBooker, Harris have missed most Senate votes Trump vetoes measure ending US support for Saudi-led war in Yemen Bottom line MORE (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzMJ Hegar announces Texas Senate bid Liberal survey: Sanders cruising, Buttigieg rising Overnight Defense: Trump ends sanctions waivers for buying Iranian oil | At least four Americans killed in Sri Lanka attacks | Sanders pushes for Yemen veto override vote MORE (R-Texas), but declined to name "moderate" senators he is conferring with. At least a dozen GOP senators have problems with the House GOP legislation, Meadows said.
Primary threats. Meadows disputed speculation and a media account that the White House is considering punishing Republicans who vote against the healthcare bill by endorsing lawmakers' primary election challengers, saying it "goes against who the president is and not something he's done or happened in a reported meeting."
Entitlement reform. Meadows said President Trump is adamant about not reforming Medicare and Social Security, which he promised not to touch on the 2016 campaign trail. The North Carolina lawmaker believes entitlement reform is essential to saving Medicare and Social Security, but said until conservatives "make a more compelling case, he's not going there."
Stephen Bannon. While Meadows maintains he has a good relationship with Trump's senior adviser, Bannon is "not our secret path into the White House because his loyalty is undeniably with the president." He also said Bannon "is not the most interactive, talkative guy" because he only gets involved at "critical stages."
Ryan. Meadows, who played a leading role in pressuring then-Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerNancy Pelosi had disastrous first 100 days as Speaker of the House Blockchain could spark renaissance economy 20 years after Columbine, Dems bullish on gun reform MORE (R-Ohio) to resign in 2015, said he gives Ryan "a good grade" as Speaker. He said Ryan is "engaging" and "asks for input," but added, "I will say there was real concern with the way this [bill] was rolled out." He described leadership's initial push for the measure as "this way or the highway." He added, "This is a telling time ... with the most important bill we will vote on in this Congress."
The April recess. If the timetable for passing healthcare reform slips, Meadows said, "I'm hopeful that the president calls on us to stay in session for the next 100 days other than religious holidays. You just stay here. Get it done and don't go home until this is done."
In a recent interview with Ryan, Tucker Carlson of Fox News pressed the Speaker on why the House will be in session for eight days in the month of April. The House is scheduled to be in recess for two consecutive weeks in the middle of next month in recognition of Easter and Passover.


CHENNAI: India was moving into an "era of e-business, e-marketing, e-commerce and e-banking" and encryption technology to protect network communication was the only way to ensure the nation's security, said President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
The president was addressing scientists here Monday evening at the 5th International Conference on Cryptology in India via videoconferencing.
Reminding his audience that Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujam's work was being applied in communication networks today, Kalam said: "Cryptography is a wealth generator and wealth protector."
Noting that India was the only country in the world with a huge linguistic diversity and more than 3,000 languages, he asked: "Can we make use of this diversity to our advantage by using different languages as a cryptographic tool?"
Addressing several hundred delegates from all over the world, who had gathered here for the three day conference that began Monday, Kalam said: "Nations that are capable of generating and managing information in a secure way will become world leaders and economic superpowers"
He called for state-of-the-art technology at competitive costs in India, to secure Indian e-systems.
Inaugurating the conference, hosted by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the Society for Electronic Transactions (SETS), principal scientific advisor to the central government R. Chidambaram said the science of encryption was the "only know-how" technologists had to protect e-systems.
Information flows over open networks. And to secure this information is "of social, political, commercial and strategic" importance, Chidambaram said.
He asked Indian scientists for research inputs into standardisation processes, called 'advanced encryption standard' it could develop quickly in India.
Experts from various countries, including France, South Korea, Australia, Belgium and Germany are attending the meet.
During the conference, 147 scientific papers on the art and science of encryption will be presented.
Cryptology is the science of hiding information through codes. Mathematical systems provide some of the best encryptions the world has so far generated. It is also the art of breaking down codes and getting at secrets.


Not a single UK city averages above the official minimum figure of 24Mbps for superfast broadband, according to new independent research study released today.
The report by comparison website uSwitch.com found that of the 50 largest towns and cities, the average broadband speed is only 14.5Mbps, well below the government's target.
Telford is the fastest of the urban area at 23Mbps, though major cities like London (16.97Mbps), Birmingham (19.15Mbps), Manchester (18.36Mbps) and Liverpool (17.43Mbps) all fall far short of the government's definition of superfast.
This is despite the government's bid to bring superfast broadband to 95 per cent of the UK population by 2017. Lord Inglewood, Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, said last year that the government's original 'Broadband for All' strategy was flawed and needed re-thinking.
Marie-Louise Abretti, a telecoms expert with uSwitch, said: "The Government's blinkered focus on bringing super-fast connections to 95% of Britain by 2017 is all very well but, if they pull it off, it's only half the battle won.
"If people don't actually use super-fast broadband because it's too expensive, or they don't know they can get it, then what's the point? Uptake will be heavily dependent on both price and awareness."
Hull has the lowest speed of all the urban areas at just 10.49Mbps, while the majority of those living in rural areas average less than 3Mbps. At that rate, downloading a BluRay film would take almost six hours.
"Urban speeds in the UK are around three times faster than rural speeds," Abretti said, "but even download speeds in Britain's 50 biggest cities still aren't superfast.
"If you suffer from sluggish broadband, it may be worth checking if you can get superfast fibre. It might not be as expensive to get or as tricky to switch too as you may have feared."


Beautiful Clintonville home w/tons of charm and character. Uniquely open w/original hdwd floors to granite, tile/spa bathroom, arched doorways plus original tile around fireplace. Full unfinished bsmt w/washer, dryer, storage and direct access to driveway. Updated open kit w/SS appl., gas cooktop, rm for 8 person seating, island, wine rack, plank flooring & lots of cabinet space. This multi level home features a bdrm suite one level up and on the upper level is a 2nd bdrm suite w/gorgeous angled roof line accentuating plank ceiling & beam. The oversized master bdrm w/large walk in closet/barn doors. All the bds and bathroom doors in the upper level have pocket doors. The 1100 SF patio is ideal for entertaining w/built in fire pit & pergola and speciously deep back yard. MUST SEE!


PITTSBURGH – An elderly funeral director charged in the shooting death of a contractor last month in western Pennsylvania will be held on house arrest pending trial.
Eighty-nine-year-old William Welsh of Homestead has been ordered to stand trial in Allegheny County in the July 26 shooting death of 58-year-old William Menni of McKees Rocks.
Defense attorney Frank Walker asked Friday that his client be allowed to return home, citing his age. Prosecutors said they wouldn't object as long as certain conditions were met.
The judge said Welsh will be held on electronic monitoring and must surrender all weapons and have no contact with the victim's family. He will be allowed to leave only for medical appointments, religious services or visits with his attorney.
Walker says Welsh acted in self-defense.


When Jim McIngvale woke up on Sunday morning, his home was filled with about two to three feet of floodwater. Once he was able to get out, the popular furniture store owner — better known as “Mattress Mack” — headed to work and saw the devastating damage and impact that Hurricane Harvey already had on Houston.
When he arrived at Gallery Furniture, one of his several stores in the city, he made a decision: He would open a couple of his locations as shelters for his fellow Houstonians. Since Sunday, 400 people have gathered at those locations, where they are welcome to sleep on the brand new sets of furniture that occupy the floors. Each store — designed to be flood-proof on elevated concrete — also has bathrooms, showers and an in-store restaurant.
For McIngvale, a well-known figure in the city who has a history of donating to charitable causes, opening his furniture stores as shelters was an easy decision.
Before so many displaced residents came to McIngvale’s stores, he posted the invitation on social media and offered to use his company’s moving trucks to rescue people trapped in their homes or stranded on highways. From about 2 p.m. on Sunday until 1 a.m., he said, 10 to 15 of his company’s moving trucks took to the flooded streets and helped rescue about 200 people.
Maria Lopez plays with her son Rafael Lopez, 3, in the warehouse at Gallery Furniture where they have been staying after evacuating their flooded home over the weekend, in Houston, Texas, U.S., August 29, 2017.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, McIngvale opened two of his stores to 200 people who had fled New Orleans seeking shelter. Back then, those impacted by Katrina stayed for about two days. McIngvale does not know how long Houstonians inhabiting his stores now will stay there — but his furniture stores will be open as long as they need it. “We’re just trying to supplement where we can,” he said.
A Change.org petition was even created to laud McIngval. The petition asks Houston to create a day in his honor and grant him the key to the city. “This man is a Houston icon and deserves to be remembered forever,” the petition says. One of the fastest growing petitions on Change.org on Wednesday, the petition has quickly reached more than 42,000 supporters of the 50,000 needed.
Outside of Harvey, McIngvale has played instrumental roles in causing helping people with obsessive compulsive disorders, making mental health care available to those in the city, funded a mobile stroke unit from St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and donated thousands of units of furniture to Houston area schools and homes in the community in need.
“There is a lot of heartbreak, but the people have great spirits and are getting better,” McIngvale said.


On the day the U.K. was voting on Brexit, Toronto’s Anayah Phares was in London being honoured by the Queen for her effort to make the world a better place.
“It was an incredible time to be there,” said Phares, 26, who was among 64 young people from across the Commonwealth receiving this year’s Queen’s Young Leaders Award.
“I’m still so pumped and energized by the experience,” she said in Toronto last week after a whirlwind 10 days in the British capital, networking and being mentored by some of the country’s top business and political leaders as part of the prestigious prize.
Phares, who recently changed her name from Rosimay Venancio to reflect her African heritage and new-found activism, was supposed to receive her award last year, but was barred from travelling due to a passport snafu.
Phares, a refugee from Angola who became a foster child after she was abandoned by her parents in Toronto, won the award after surviving a suicide attempt and homelessness and using that experience to develop a peer mentorship program so that other youth leaving foster care won’t face the same struggles.
Research shows youth leaving the children’s aid system are more likely to experience poverty and homelessness, suffer mental health problems and become involved with the criminal justice system. Just 46 per cent of Ontario children in foster care and group homes complete high school, compared to about 85 per cent of their peers with permanent families.
Phares’s program, called CHEERS, an acronym for Creating Hope and Ensuring Excellent Roads to Success, aims to change that by matching youth leaving care with mentors from the system who have already moved into adulthood. It includes academic and career counselling as well as general life coaching to help with housing, banking and budgeting. Mental health counselling is available for both mentors and youth in recognition of the childhood trauma many of them are still processing.
The program has garnered praise from the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Covenant House youth homeless shelter and Ontario’s child welfare secretariat.
And in a first for Ontario, and perhaps even the country, Phares will get the chance to pilot CHEERS starting in September as part of a five-year $600,000 Children’s Aid Foundation grant funded by the Bank of Montreal.
“As far as I know, it’s the only time a young person from care has been supported to enact their idea of a mentoring program run and led by young people from the system for kids in the system,” said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s Advocate for Children and Youth.
Elman and Children’s Aid Foundation executive director Valerie McMurtry both say they have been approached by many young adults who grew up in the care of children’s aid who want to help their younger peers.
“We know the need is great. But we haven’t seen a very credible program,” McMurtry said.
“It has all the wraparound supports, from navigating post-secondary education to life skills and . . . support on the employment side,” she said.
McMurtry was impressed by the leadership training Phares received in London last month and a recent eight-month fellowship at the MaRS centre for innovation where she fine-tuned the program.
Phares has found a community agency to act as her trustee and is already field-testing the concept by mentoring a former foster child currently transitioning into independence, McMurtry noted.
“We’re really excited about backing a former youth in care and showing her that the community will take a chance and get behind good ideas that are well planned and developed,” she said.
Queen West Central Toronto Community Health Centre, which is acting as Phares’s trustee, is delighted to be supporting the pilot and will provide access to family doctors and counselling services these young people often lack, said executive director Angela Robertson.
After struggling for more than a year to fund her mentorship program, Phares is anxious to get started.
50: Percentage of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 29 still living with their parents.
60: Estimated percentage of youth “aging out” of foster care and group homes who become homeless.
46: Percentage of youth in Ontario’s children’s aid system who compete high school.
85: Percentage of all Ontario youth who complete high school.
8,300: Number of Ontario children and youth who have been permanently removed from their families due to abuse or neglect.
3,400: Number of youth “aging out” of foster care and group homes between the ages of 18 and 21.


A man riding a motorcycle was shot Wednesday night in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.
About 11:50 p.m., the 22-year-old was riding his motorcycle through an alley in the 4500 block of South Troy, when a male fired shots from a gangway, police said.
The man was shot in the lower left leg and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition had stabilized, police said.


WELSH, Lynn Barnett. On 12 February 2019, now at peace. Cherished partner of Barbara, who cared for Lynn until the end. Dearly loved father of Martin and Simon. Former husband of Julia. Loving grandfather of Annabelle, Emma and Olivia. Your love, strength, courage and dignity will always be remembered. Our thanks to the wonderful people at Auckland Oncology and Mercy Hospice for their incredible support and care. A Service to celebrate Lynn's life will be held at the All Saints Chapel, Purewa Crematorium, 100 St Johns Road, Meadowbank on Friday 15 February at 12 noon.
"Always in our hearts and we will cherish those precious memories. I remember the stories about when we first met you..."


HP has agreed to transfer 3000 of its employees to the General Motors payroll, as the automaker moves IT operations in-house, the two companies announced Thursday.
GM CIO, Randy Mott, said the car company hopes to add the HP workers, part of a team running GM's IT operations under outsourcing contracts, over the next six months.
Mott, named CIO of GM earlier this year, decided early on in his tenure to bring most of the automaker's IT work in-house, a major shift for a company that has long relied on outsourcers.
Under Mott, GM is consolidating and automating IT operations and plans to use the savings to work on innovating its product lines and business operations.
GM plans to reduce its worldwide data center roster from 23 to two within three years, as well as cut the number of its applications by about 40% "as we drive more application commonality and common processes across GM," said Mott.
In a conference call, Mott said the former HP employees will see their jobs "changing pretty rapidly over the course of the transformation," as the company feels that it's important that the workers become "well-integrated into the GM team."
This new focus on IT innovation will be accomplished in a "really self-funded" way using savings generated by consolidating the data centers and automating "standard IT functions," Mott said.
The HP employees to be offered jobs are based in the U.S. and already support the automaker's business systems, Mott said.
Despite the loss of outsourcing agreements, HP will continue to have a major role at GM under the new agreement.
The contract calls for the expanded internal GM IT operation to rely on HP software, including the networking, operating and monitoring software in the IT Performance Suite.
GM also agreed to use HP's Enterprise Security Suite, and the data analytics and business intelligence software in the Vertica and Autonomy Software product lines.
The value of new software contract wasn't disclosed, though George Kadifa, executive vice president, HP Software, said "this is the largest deployment of our full product portfolio in the world, second to none, at this stage."
HP will also continue to provide some services to GM.
"There is a good chunk of employees that will stay with HP that will continue to provide services to General Motors," said Mike Nefkens, acting global HP enterprise services leader, during the conference call.
GM has for decades relied heavily on outsourcers to run its data centers and to write and manage its applications. A major part of this work was contracted to the former Electronic Data Systems, which was acquired by HP in 2008.
Mott, CIO of HP before taking the GM job, is doing for the automaker, in part, what he did at the computer firm.
During Mott's tenure at HP, the company cut the number of worldwide data centers from 85 to six, and also consolidated applications.
When asked if more HP employees would be offered jobs at GM, Mott indicated that the agreement specifically called for 3,000 transfers. .
The number of HP employees working on the GM account under the outsourcing contract wasn't disclosed. Nefkens did note that HP employees can be working on multiple accounts at any one time.
Mott said the GM IT department is seeking skillsets that cover "all aspects" of application development for its broad range of products, Web, database administration, application development of multitude of kinds, from sales and marketing to manufacturing, and project management.
GM has also been hiring employees for a series of IT innovation centers, including 500 in the Austin, Texas, and up to 1,500 in Warren, Mich.
The company has said that it may hire as many as 10,000 IT workers in a three-to-five year period as insources operations.
Patrick Thibodeau covers SaaS and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @DCgov, send e-mail to pthibodeau@computerworld.com or subscribe to Patrick's RSS feed .


RICHMOND, Va - Jeffrey Gehrlich, GM of Saks Fifth Avenue at Stony Point Fashion Park, showcased the benefits of their Fifth Avenue Club service. You can revamp your wardrobe with the help of a knowledgeable personal stylist at no charge! Saks Fifth Avenue is located at 9200 Stony Point Parkway. For more information call 804-560-7467 or visit www.ShopStonyPoint.com.


As hundreds gathered in Berkeley today to protest University of California fee hikes, the UC Board of Regents approved a budget plan that will increase student fees by more than 30 percent over the next year.
The full board approved the budget at UCLA today, increasing student fees for undergraduate, graduate and professional programs, said Ricardo Vazquez, spokesman for the UC Office of the President.
Undergraduate student fees will increase by more than $2,500, or 32 percent, by the 2010-11 school year, with some increases taking effect in spring 2010. The budget also seeks an additional $913 million in state funding for the 2010-11 operating budget.
All but one regent voted to approve the budget plan. Student Regent Jesse Bernal cast the lone opposition vote.
In response to the budget proposal, hundreds of students, union members and supporters gathered for a noon rally at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza. When the board’s decision was announced, the crowd booed loudly.
Toni Mendicino, a UC Berkeley secretary and spokeswoman for the Coalition of University Employees, was at the rally. She called the decision “an outrage” and said it will severely impact students.
“Obviously the regents are not interested in learning about how the fee hike is impacting students’ lives. If they were here on campus, they’d talk to people who will now be dropping out of school because they cannot afford to go here anymore,” Mendicino said.
Members of some Bay Area unions, including the Oakland-based AFSCME Local 3299, traveled down to this week’s board meetings in Los Angeles to protest the proposed budget plan.
Garla and other members of the union, which represents 20,000 workers at the 10 UC campuses and five medical centers, will now head back to Northern California.
The protests lasted through the three days of the meetings, which ran from Tuesday to today, and Garla said more actions are planned in the near future at the various UC campuses.
“Everyone saw today as the continuation or beginning of something, not the end of something,” he said.


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - President Barack Obama plans to meet with an Albuquerque family at their home before hosting a discussion on the economy with other families from the area when he visits Tuesday.
Obama has already met with families in Virginia and Ohio to listen to their concerns and to discuss specific ways to jump-start job creation and strengthen the middle class.
After Albuquerque, Obama will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, and Richmond, Virginia, for more conversations with families.
The president is scheduled to arrive in Albuquerque on Monday night and will leave Tuesday after his meeting.


I want my black American daughter to be president of the United States when she grows up – and to evade, at all costs, the question of whether a president of the United States of America can be morally just.
I want her to wear boring outfits and pay white people to march in front of cameras after the debates and tell everyone who will listen how well she performed in the debates, regardless of how well she actually performed in the debates.
I want her to say “We’re gonna build a wall” and “Oh, you’re a tough guy, Jeb” so many times that millions of lovely fed-up conservative white voters absolutely adore her.
I want my daughter to take the matter of reparations into her own gifted hands by telling these same conservative white voters how suspicious she is of Muslims, and of all those black folks who want our lives to matter and of Barack Obama (an alleged Muslim who supposedly wants our black lives to matter). Even if my daughter does not win, conservative white voters will bless my daughter with $54m.
My daughter will have her reparations, one way or another.
I want her to lie and never take any responsibility for her role in domestic death and destruction and I want her to have a terrible inside voice like Bernie Sanders.
I want my daughter – who will have to be a devout Christian to be a viable black American presidential candidate – to never once self-critically call her foreign or domestic policy “radical Christian terrorism” while telling the country that “radical Islamic terrorists” and illegal immigration are a bigger threat to justice than housing segregation, abysmal funding for public education and a massive racial wealth gap that disproportionately affects black women.
I want her to say nothing about the engineered lack of healthy choices facing both Palestinians and poor black children in Mississippi.
I want my daughter, who will probably be as ebonically challenged as all the presidential candidates before her, to shamelessly make her voice sound like Martin Luther King or Mahalia Jackson when talking to black Democratic voters.
I want her to go beyond saxophonic riffs and the off-key singing of Amazing Grace when pacifying these black Democratic voters.
We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.
I want her to say anything it takes to get elected and, when called on it, I want her to say something about the fluidity of ideas. I want her to live and govern as if the ends always justify the means.
I have met many self-righteous, supposed justice-oriented parents who do not want their children aspiring to become presidential candidates or president of the United States. Those parents say that being “good” for a president is akin to being benevolent for a pimp, caring for a tobacco executive, moral for a Ted Cruz speechwriter or just a little evil for a Koch brother.
Those same parents say that the work of the American president is necessarily violent shameful American work. They say there’s more effective, loving work in the world than presiding over the richest nation in the history of the world while 38% of black children live in poverty.
To those parents, I say: go straight to hell. If your mediocre children would rather commit to professional lives as activists, music teachers, sexual violence counselors, organizers, nurses, programmers, doctors and plant workers, that’s on them. As president, my daughter will put more money in the pockets of wealthy white people, all the while fortifying their anti-blackness by publicly neglecting the reality of white supremacy.
My daughter will deal with the violent heteropatriarchy and anti-black racism heaped on her back without ever calling it heteropatriarchy or anti-black racism. What parent wouldn’t want that for their child?
I want my daughter to be president of these United States of America when she grows up because it is an honorable, compassionate, morally just job.
Assuming Republicans on the state level haven’t found a way to keep you from voting in 2056, please consider voting for my baby for president of our United States of America after she’s born. My daughter will have what it takes to lead this country from the brink of neo-liberal despair into moral prosperity. Can my daughter change this world for better from the seat of the American presidency?


The gender gap at work is still alive and well according to new research that examined gender roles in the workplace.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cites women working 41 to 44 hours per week earn 84.6% of what men working similar hours earn. It gets worse as women work longer hours — women working more than 60 hours per week earn only 78.3% of what men in the same time category earn.
The disparity between men and women in the workplace is the subject of a recent study by Elisabeth Kelan, Ph.D., from King’s College London.
Dr. Kelan found that workers acknowledge gender discrimination is possible in modern organizations, but at the same time maintain their workplaces to be gender neutral. The author notes “gender fatigue” as the cause for workers not acknowledging that bias against women can occur.
The study, conducted in 2003-2004, included 26 men and women from two information communication technology (ICT) companies based in Switzerland. The companies were given assumed names for this study: “Redtech,” a local 50-person Swiss company and “Bluetech,” a subsidiary of a multinational enterprise, employing 3000 staff in Switzerland.
At Redtech, 11 men and 4 women participated in interviews. At Bluetech, 6 women and 5 men were interviewed; 16 individuals were also followed on the job for several hours. The interviewees, ranging in age from 24-54, were asked about their views on gender discrimination as well as other issues.
Employees from both companies claimed their organizations were gender neutral and that employees were evaluated based on merit.
With further questioning, however, men and women interviewed could describe past situations where gender bias occurred against women, but limited it to happening 10 to 20 years ago, from contacts outside their own organizations (i.e. customer contacts), or to an isolated male colleague from an “older” generation.
“Instead of denying gender discrimination, workers acknowledge it can happen but construct it as singular events that happened in the past, placing the onus on women to overcome such obstacles,” stated Dr. Kelan.
Participants in the study displayed what the author calls “gender fatigue”: Individuals tire of acting upon gender discrimination in spite of the fact that incidents of gender bias either occurred at one time within their organization or could occur again.
“The problem with gender fatigue is that it prohibits productive discussion regarding inequalities between men and women, making gender bias difficult to address,” noted Dr. Kelan.
The findings are available in the September issue of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences.


The actress’s grandmother was raised in Ghana.
Luther star Wunmi Mosaku has said she was “inspired” by the stories she heard when she met female survivors of violence in Ghana.
The Bafta-winning actress visited the country with ActionAid to help highlight a new campaign to secure justice for women and girls who have been affected by violence.
Mosaku, whose grandmother was raised in Ghana, met survivors of domestic abuse and saw how the charity is working with women and girls to understand and claim their rights and report violence.
“I was inspired by the courageous women and girls I met in Ghana,” she said.
“Talking to them and hearing their stories, I understood the deep-rooted beliefs that have taken hold in communities all over the world, from Ghana to the UK.
“All too often, women and girls are made to feel that their lives are inferior, and that they exist for men to control.
The organisation said an estimated 45% of women in Ghana experience domestic violence during their lifetime, and that intimate partner violence is common in poor rural communities. Many incidents go unreported.
Mosaku continued: “I’m proud to be partnering with these women and girls, and with ActionAid, to demand justice for survivors of violence in Ghana and around the world.
“My Grandma was raised in Ghana, and she always said that if she hadn’t spent time here, she wouldn’t have fought back against her arranged marriage in Nigeria – meaning she wouldn’t have met my grandfather and I wouldn’t be here.
ActionAid UK CEO Girish Menon said: “We’re grateful that Wunmi travelled to Ghana with ActionAid to meet the courageous survivors who are calling for change in their communities.
“Millions of women and girls around the world experience violence, but are unable to seek justice due to the barriers they face – from sexist laws to outdated, misogynistic attitudes.


HBO announced they will be bringing their award-winning series Boardwalk Empire to an end after its fifth and final season in fall 2014.
Emmy-winning writer Terence Winter (The Sopranos) and Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese have worked together to bring viewers the series chronicling the life and times of Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the undisputed leader of Atlantic City during the 1920s Prohibition Era.
At last year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, Boardwalk Empire took home awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Bobby Cannavale), Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series for a total of five Emmy wins — more than any other television series.
Additionally, Boardwalk Empire scored myriad other awards throughout its run including other Emmy wins, Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Scorsese and Winter partnered again as director and writer in this year’s Oscar hopeful The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey about the life of Jordan Beflort.


U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, announced Tuesday that a key committee will recommend McAllen as a priority for a new federal courthouse.
The recommendation from the Judicial Conference of U.S. Courts backs a completed feasibility study and inclusion — meaning the city will be considered as a priority to receive a new facility, according to a news release.
The congressman, who directed the U.S. General Services Administration to study the issue, has led the charge for a new courthouse facility for more than seven years, the release states.
In April, a 23-page study conducted by the GSA concluded that while the current facility located on U.S. Business 83 may be adequate for certain federal executive offices, the existing building is inadequate for judicial functions.
Bentsen Tower, where the courts have leased space since 1987, does not and cannot provide adequate space for the courts, the study found.
Additional findings included security being an overall issue, especially regarding secure separation of judges, the public and prisoners. There is also not adequate room in the lobby for proper security screening.
This study is the result of a congressional directive inserted into a bill by Cuellar, whose district extends into western Hidalgo County. The study evaluated the current building and offered four options.
The federal government currently leases room in McAllen to house 95 percent of its agencies, and it does not own a federal office building or U.S. Courthouse in McAllen, according to the study.
The four options the study laid out cost between $107 million and $110 million. However, the study did not account for the city of McAllen offering land for the project and included land acquisition costs in its estimates.
The recommendation from the GSA was a crucial step in advancing the new courthouse plans.