Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (19-4) of New Zealand takes on Cuba’s Yoel Romero (13-2) on Saturday night in the main event at UFC 225 at the United Center in Chicago. The belt will not be on the line after Romero missed two chances to make weight. Rafael dos Anjos (28-9) and Colby Covington (13-1) will be featured in the co-main event with the interim welterweight belt on the line. Former champion Holly Holm (11-4) will battle Megan Anderson (8-2) in a women’s featherweight bout, while former professional wrestling superstar CM Punk (0-1) takes on Mike Jackson (0-1).
Jun. 9, 2018, 9:37 p.m.
This was originally scheduled to be for the UFC middleweight title, but Romero missed weight by 1/5 of a pound. That’s the second straight fight Romero missed weight for. Whittaker and Romero fought last year, and Whittaker won via decision. Whittaker is a striker who relies on speed and cardio while Romero comes from a wrestling background and has tremendous athleticism and knockout power.
Round 1. Whittaker opens with a series of kicks. He attacks the lead leg in particular. Romero just stays back in defensive mode. Whittaker continues to attack the leg while mixing in his boxing. Romero lunges in with a powerful hook that misses. Whittaker remains quite active throughout the round while Romero is throwing very little. Romero lands one hard leg kick. Whittaker attacks the body with a few punches. 10-9 Whittaker.
Round 2. As in the first round, Whittaker is the much more active fighter. He’s using his kicks principally to the legs and then utilizing his boxing to keep Romero at bay. Romero is fighting a strange fight, still doing exceedingly little. Romero throws a head kick that doesn’t land. Romero’s eye is swollen shut. Romero, now compromised, becomes more aggressive with his attacks. He lands a nice uppercut but Whittaker answers back and then blocks a takedown. 10-9 Whittaker.
Jun. 9, 2018, 8:50 p.m.
This is being billed as an interim welterweight title fight even though champion Tyron Woodley is ready to fight. Covington comes from a wrestling background and has gained attention with his brash, abrasive trash talking. He has been particularly nasty towards the country of Brazil, angering his opponent for this fight. Dos Anjos is a former UFC lightweight champion now looking to become champion in a second weight class.
Round 1. Covington runs across the cage and gets caught with a hard punch in the process. Covington keeps pressing for the takedown. He gets Dos Anjos down momentarily but Dos Anjos pops back up and they fight for position by the cage. They trade punches and elbows from the clinch but Covington can’t get the takedown. Dos Anjos lands a few hard knees to the body. He is really connecting well there but Covington keeps coming. Both men throw some kicks from distance before Covington again goes to the clinch. Covington was constantly instigating clinches that round but Dos Anjos landed the better shots. 10-9 Dos Anjos.
Round 2. Covington goes for an early takedown again and again gets it quickly but just like in the first, Dos Anjos gets up quickly. Dos Anjos uses a solid body kick on the break. Covington again looks for a takedown. Dos Anjos continues to attack the body with kicks and punches. Covington goes back to the clinch. Dos Anjos lands a nice looping left hand. Covington answers with a right hand of his own and then an uppercut. Covington goes back to the clinch. Covington gets a takedown late but Dos Anjos gets up quick again. 10-9 Dos Anjos.
Jun. 9, 2018, 8:21 p.m.
Holly Holm is the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion who knocked out Ronda Rousey to end Rousey’s reign on top. She has struggled in recent fights but is looking for another major title fight. Megan Anderson is the former Invicta featherweight champion making her UFC debut. She is eyeing a bout with UFC featherweight queen Cris “Cyborg” Justino.
Round 1. Anderson moves in with punches and lands a heavy knee to the head. They clinch and Anderson lands a knee to the body. Neither fighter is able to do much in the clinch but they trade smaller blows. They break and Anderson moves in again throwing big punches. Holm answers with a nice front kick up the middle. Holm then shoots and secures a takedown. Holm ends up in side control. Holm looks for full mount but ends up in half guard instead. 10-9 Anderson.
Round 2. Anderson moves into closer range, with Holm throwing some kicks as Anderson attempts to close distance. They end up in a clinch before Holm backs up. Holm throws a few kicks from range, mostly low. Holm takes Anderson down as Anderson is moving in. Anderson has half guard and Holm passes into side control. Holm lands a series of punches from there. Holm looks to set up an arm triangle choke but gives it up when she gains full mount. Holm opens up with punches from there. Holm lands a series of elbows from there. 10-8 Holm.
Jun. 9, 2018, 7:47 p.m.
Andrei Arlovski is the former UFC heavyweight champion and is toward the tail end of his career. He has won two straight via decision. Tai Tuivasa is 7-0 with knockouts in all of his wins.
Round 1. Tuivasa lets his hands go early. Arlovski knocks him down with a punch, but he quickly gets up and is fine. Tuivasa gets a takedown and lands in full mount. Arlovski is able to tie Tuivasa up and prevent Tuivasa from doing anything in the position. Arlovski then explodes and pushes him off. Arlovski returns to his feet. Tuivasa is bleeding badly. Tuivasa drops Arlovski with a hard punch. Arlovski gets up and goes for the takedown. Tuivasa prevents that. Tuivasa lands a few punches and they clinch. Arlovski lands on the break, but Tuivasa answers back with big punches. Whenever it appears Tuivasa is going for the finish, Arlovski answers back and keeps him honest. 10-9 Tuivasa.
Round 2. Arlovski opens with a few low kicks. Tuivasa connects with a few solid punches. Arlovski then answers back. Arlovski connects with a couple more punches after that. Arlovski’s boxing looks very crisp. Tuivasa clinches but then gives it up. Arlovski lands a few more quality punches and Tuivasa is bleeding pretty badly again. Tuivasa moves in with punches of his own, but Arlovski clinches to neutralize Tuivasa. As Arlovski moves in, he gets countered with a nice hook. 10-9 Arlovski.
Jun. 9, 2018, 7:10 p.m.
CM Punk was an extremely successful professional wrestler, becoming one of the WWE’s most popular wrestlers. After a falling out with that company, Punk decided to pursue an interest in MMA, and UFC decided to give him an opportunity. Punk lost his first fight but now gets a second shot. Mike Jackson was used as an opponent for Punk’s first foe, Mickey Gall, and he competes here with an identical 0-1 record.
Round 1. Punk misses with a kick. He lands a leg kick. Jackson connects with a straight punch. Jackson blocks a takedown attempt. Punk lands a right hand and looks for the takedown. He doesn’t get it. Punk lands a right hand. Jackson lands a hard right hand of his own. Punk clinches. Punk lands a couple knees to the body. Punk pushes for the takedown but can’t get it. Punk looks tired with a few of his strikes. Punk looks for another takedown but again it is blocked. Punk gets a takedown in the final minute. Punk lands a few elbows late but Jackson gets back up. Jackson lands a couple body punches late. 10-9 Jackson.
Round 2. Jackson lands a few nice jabs. They end up in a clinch but Jackson backs away. Jackson hurts Punk with a punch but Punk looks for a standing guillotine. He doesn’t come close and Jackson takes him down. Jackson lands some punches from the top. Punk looks for a triangle choke but doesn’t come close. Jackson continues to land punches from the top. 10-8 Jackson.
Jun. 9, 2018, 6:38 p.m.
Alistair Overeem is one of the most accomplished heavyweight fighters in MMA history. He possesses devastating striking but does have an issue with his chin. Curtis Blaydes is a rising star from Chicago with three straight wins.
Round 1. Overeem switches stances and gives some different looks while keeping his hands low. Blaydes is in a much more orthodox stance. Neither man does much in the first minute. Blaydes attempts a head kick, but it misses. Overeem appears to be waiting for Blaydes to come in, but Blaydes is cautious himself. Blaydes gets a takedown at the midpoint of the round. Blaydes isn’t able to generate a lot of offense but does land some punches here and there while Overeem focuses on tying him up. 10-9 Blaydes.
Round 2. Overeem lands a massive knee to the head and a few big punches as Blaydes moves in. Overeem looks for a guillotine choke but loses it. Overeem then looks for a heel hook. He can’t get that either. Blaydes lands a nice uppercut back on the feet. Overeem moves in with a knee, but Blaydes catches him off balance and takes him down. Blaydes lands punches and elbows from the top as the round comes to an end. 10-9 Blaydes.
Jun. 9, 2018, 6:06 p.m.
Claudia Gadelha and Carla Esparza are two of the top women’s strawweight contenders. Gadelha is 15-3 with her only losses coming to elite opponents, while Esparza is a former champion riding a two-fight win streak.
Round 1. Gadelha drops Esparza with a punch and then lands another big one. Esparza dives in for a takedown but doesn’t get it. Gadelha lands another big punch but moves in recklessly, and Esparza catches her off balance with a takedown attempt. Esparza can’t keep Gadelha down, but it does give Esparza time to recover. Esparza returns to the striking and she rocks Gadelha with a punch. Gadelha’s legs go wobbly and Esparza moves in and gets a takedown. Gadelha goes for a heel hook and then uses the opportunity to get out from under Esparza. Gadelha then takes top position. Esparza gets up but Gadelha then takes her back down. Gadelha goes for a guillotine late but time runs out. 10-9 Gadelha.
Round 2. After trading punches, they end up in a clinch. Gadelha gets a takedown. Esparza attempts to use a headlock to reverse but ends up back on the bottom. Gadelha lands a nice elbow but Esparza stands back up. Gadelha is able to pull Esparza back down. Esparza gets up and takes Gadelha down at the very end of the round. 10-9 Gadelha.


Finding humor in stressful situations at times can be a healthy response. Here are some observations compiled by reporter Jennifer Liebrum from the field over the last 10 days while covering the Beaver Creek Fire.
The Sasquatch expert who visited the Ketchum library last month spoke of numerous reports of sightings coming from Forest Service employees, too afraid of mockery to tell what they saw.
Former team leader and Fire Information Officer Wayne Patterson said a former employee came off a fire in Mount Hebo shaken to the core by a monkey creature he said he had seen on the edge of the forest.
Fire Information Officer Rudy Evenson said he had a buddy who swore Bigfoot was striding beside his truck as he fled an area.
Fire information officers puzzled aloud about the art of AK-47s and prayer flags on the east side of Highway 75 near The Meadows.
Final interpretation? Guns and llamas?
One Elkhorn resident said his evacuation plan, if the fire came over Dollar Mountain, was to grab his cat and his money and jump into one of the pools. A neighbor replied that he had his eye on one pool in particular because it was cleaner.
When pre-evacuation orders were issued for Ketchum and Sun Valley, traffic became so snarled on Main Street that Mountain Rides buses were unable to move and complete their routes. Two passengers, waiting at the Wells Fargo bus stop—one destined for Sun Valley and the other for Elkhorn—waited for a Blue Route bus that didn’t seem to be coming.
Jason Miller, Mountain Rides executive director, was walking the streets that day, trying to make sure that riders were accommodated. He told the would-be riders that they could catch a bus at the corner of Main Street and Sixth Street and suggested they walk there. Once at the location, Miller arrived and diverted a Red Route bus from its normal schedule to pick up the two riders and get them to their destinations.
Fire information officers said local firefighters doing structure protection in the valley saw a mountain lion watching them work. Valley residents have also reported seeing a displaced cougar walking along the highway.
Been there done that, got the T-shirt to prove it. A silk-screener from Wyoming—who acknowledged fires back home—was hawking souvenir t-shirts along Buttercup Road. He had competition, however, and authorities moved the show down the road.
Observers of the Carbonate burn were concerned about the power station being hit. The utility trucks were rolling in every direction during the blaze.
Thick smoke grounds electrical wires, making the mix one of the most dangerous for firefighters. So, in addition to replacing power poles, workers were pressed to beat the heat to save lives.
Someone asked what they want on their T-shirt when this was all over.
When trees begin to burn, the wind makes the sound of a whistle wailing that precedes the snap, crackle and pop.
Fire incident managers have encouraged people who would like to do more for the firefighters to make donations to local charities instead.


I’m so surprised that so many people are convinced that monogamy—heterosexual, human monogamy, in particular—is some type of biological default.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing quite a bit about monogamy—especially within the context of human marriage and what is supposedly “natural.” I use the quotes intentionally. Mostly because I’m so surprised that so many people are convinced that monogamy—heterosexual, human monogamy, in particular—is some type of biological default.
Science doesn’t quite back up that notion. (Though, admittedly, it has not been studied as in-depth as many would have you believe).
Let me explain. Only about 3% of mammalian species demonstrate monogamous behavior. 3%. That’s a pretty paltry number. And those few animals that do exhibit monogamous behaviors only demonstrate what scientists call socially monogamous behavior. The modifier is important, and I’ll get to that in a moment.
Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) might well be the monogamy poster children. These small, furry rodents not only happily burrow underneath meadows in the American Midwest. Male and female prairie voles mate for life, working together to take care of pups. These animals are the model of choice for studying monogamy and pair-bonding behaviors—and when you see headlines touting the latest neurobiological research on monogamy, chances are there were a few prairie vole brains sacrificed to get those findings.
Neurochemicals like vasopressin, oxytocin and dopamine have been linked to forming strong monogamous bonds. And some have suggested that perhaps we can even create a love drug (or vaccine, depending on your particular frame of reference) using those chemicals to strengthen our relationships. Such pharmaceuticals could ensure that everyone is living within that expected monogamous default.
There’s only one problem. Our monogamy poster children, those lovely and talented prairie voles, are not sexually monogamous. Remember my use of socially above? While they do mate for life, and take quite good care of one another, they aren’t above occasionally getting some side action. Yes, prairie voles cheat.
When Alexander Ophir, a researcher at Oklahoma State University, looked at the genetic links between prairie vole pups and the Mom/Dad pair that was raising them, he found something interesting. Approximately 20% of those pups were not related to Mom’s pair-bonded partner. Think of Ophir's study as the prairie vole equivalent of “You are not the father!” from the Maury Povich show. Out in the wild, outside controlled laboratory conditions, prairie voles, while devoted to their pair-bonded partners, are not sexually monogamous.
It may be time, especially given the way American has politicized the concept of marriage, to rethink monogamy. Because just as prairie voles aren’t as pure as the driven snow, there is also no biological evidence to suggest that human beings are naturally monogamous. We may be culturally and socially encouraged to be faithful but it is unclear how much that sway really has over our biology.


When the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee met in mid-March, it had a lot of new developments to consider. Since it had met in January, unrest erupted in the Middle East. Oil and food prices had begun rising quite rapidly. A devastating earthquake hit Japan that shook Asian markets. Finally, the unemployment rate appeared to be declining significantly, while rising consumer confidence continued to boost spending. How do economists synthesize all of these contradictory signals? The FOMC's meeting minutes show the nation's top central bankers citing increased uncertainty, which led to differing views of what the future holds.
Some debate appears to have broken out about inflation. While most Americans probably believe prices are rising, based on gasoline and food prices, the consensus view at the Fed is that these changes won't lead to higher overall inflation in the long-term. Most Fed economists believe that commodities have increased in price just temporarily. Those rising prices have shifted some shorter-term inflation expectations in the market, but longer-term expectations remained stable.
A number of participants noted that, with significant slack in resource utilization and with longer-term inflation expectations stable, underlying inflation likely would remain subdued for some time. However, the importance of resource slack as a factor influencing inflation was debated. Some participants pointed to research indicating that measures of slack were useful in predicting inflation. Others argued that, historically, such measures were only modestly helpful in explaining large movements in inflation; one noted the 2003-04 episode in which core inflation rose rapidly over a few quarters even though there appeared to be substantial resource slack.
In other words, some committee members believed that current market conditions would not produce higher inflation, despite the increased prices of commodities. But others disagreed. This is a big economic question, so it should warrant some controversy.
Some Fed economists have reduced their GDP growth estimates, according to the minutes. It calls these changes modest, but they suggest that the confidence these committee members had in the recovery has been somewhat shaken by recent events and the lack of very robust growth in early 2011. Does the more pessimistic outlook strengthen the possibility of another round of monetary stimulus? Not necessarily.
Specifically, the Committee maintained its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings and reaffirmed its intention to purchase $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011. A few members remained uncertain about the benefits of the asset purchase program but judged that making changes to the program at this time was not appropriate.
In other words, a few members don't like it, but they think it would be worse to shake up the market by ending it prematurely than allowing it to take its course. Yet it's hard to believe that these members will vote in favor of a third round of quantitative easing, unless the economy deteriorates significantly over the next couple of months.
To mitigate such risks, participants agreed that the Committee would continue its planning for the eventual exit from the current, exceptionally accommodative stance of monetary policy. In light of uncertainty about the economic outlook, it was seen as prudent to consider possible exit strategies for a range of potential economic outcomes. A few participants indicated that economic conditions might warrant a move toward less-accommodative monetary policy this year; a few others noted that exceptional policy accommodation could be appropriate beyond 2011.
We could see the Fed begin reducing the amount of money in the financial system as early as this year if those "few participants" have their way. Again, the urgency with which the Fed executes its policy will probably depend on two factors: whether inflation expectations begin to rise and if the economic recovery continues on a stable path.
After about six months of relatively boring Fed meetings, things should begin to heat up in June. At that time, the Fed will have additional information on the recovery's status in 2011, whether oil prices are still stubbornly increasing, and how much global shocks of affected the U.S. economy. It will then have to decide to either initiate another round of monetary stimulus or begin withdrawing some of the massive support it has provided over the past three years. Those are two very different choices, and last month's minutes show that Fed economists may disagree on which strategy to follow.


Alexander Fiske-Harrison’s book on bullfighting has been nominated for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award, announced on Monday. But can it even be called a sport and is it as cruel as we assume?
When my publisher told me that my book had been longlisted for a sports writing prize sponsored by William Hill – the Bookie Prize as it is known – I smiled cynically. The announcement came less than a week after Catalonia banned bullfighting and the Barcelona bullring hosted its last ever fight. This was reported here as “Bullfighting Dies In Spain” – even though of the thousand bullfights a year, less than a dozen were held in Barcelona.
In Spain bullfighting is written about in the cultural pages of newspapers, not the sports section. This year in France it was placed on a list of “cultural patrimonies” making it effectively unbannable. (French bullfights are mainly in the south, most notably in the restored Roman colisea of Arles and Nîmes.) Even Hemingway in Death In The Afternoon wrote that “the bullfight is not a sport”.
Bullfighting is so much more than a sport. Even the dubious phrase “field” or “blood” sport is inapplicable (whatever the League Against Cruel Sports say.) I can say this with authority because I spent two years in Spain studying it, not just from the stands, but also from the sand. Cape in hand a bull tried to kill me, though in the end it was I who killed it.
Originally, my plan was quite different. I wanted to study this strange Spanish pursuit from an impartial perspective.
However, I came to understand that the fighting bulls’ lot of five years on free-release followed by 25 minutes in the arena is equal if not better than the meat cow’s 18 months corralled in prison followed by a “humane” death.
The same applies to the argument that killing for food is not the same as killing for entertainment. We eat meat because we like the taste – ie to entertain our palates.
As for the argument that watching a living creature’s death is somehow a sin: is anyone seriously claiming the astonishing success of the BBC’s Natural History Unit is because we all want to learn a little more biology rather than replicate the thrills of the Circus Maximus?
It was not long before I started to see the beauty of toreo – bullfighting as a word does not exist in Spanish, and in English comes from our artless, riskless and brutal hobby of bull-baiting. It is for beauty that the real aficionados attend the corrida, not for pomp, not for thrill and certainly not for blood. In my adopted city of Seville the bullring is silent until beauty appears. This is usually in the final and most famous of the three acts of the fight, the “Third of Death”, in which the matador passes the bull with a red cape, as closely and as elegantly as he can. The only chant you will hear is that of “olé” at each pass.
The theatre Kenneth Tynan wrote of the “slow, sad fury of a perfect bullfight,” comparing it to Othello in its dark majesty and gravity.
In Spain, I became friends with some of the matadors, like the larger than life figure of Juan José Padilla, who fought the most dangerous bulls of all, the Miuras. This breed has killed more matadors than any other. Today, Padilla is in hospital, a bull having taken away the sight in his left eye, and paralysed that side of his face, in a goring so gruesome the image circulated round the world.
Another friend who stills fights is Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, grandson of the great Antonio Ordóñez about whom Hemingway wrote the book, The Dangerous Summer, and at whose house Welles’s ashes are interred. Cayetano’s father, Paquirri, had a less fortunate career; he was killed by a bull in 1984.
It was these two who encouraged me to venture into the ring so I could write about their world with an understanding that transcended the appreciation of the beauty. Instead of just watching, I came to know the tension, the fear and the injuries suffered by these artists.
Looking at the other books on the shortlist – a young rugby player tragically paralysed, a goalkeeper driven to suicide by depression – one can see there is much in common with the troubled life of toreros.
However, bullfighting is the only art form that both represents something and is that thing at the same time: the matador’s elegant immobility in the face of the bull not only represents man’s defiance of death, it is a man defying death (and there are women who do it too, such as the rising star Conchi Rios).
Love it or hate it, bullfighting is not a sport. To devotees and opponents alike, it is much more important than that.
*Into the Arena (Profile) is available from Telegraph Books at £15.99.


LEEDS UNITED have completed the signing of Leicester City striker Chris Wood on a four-year deal.
Wood has arrived for a fee which will rise to £3m, with the 23-year-old undergoing a medical yesterday after Leeds agreed a deal with Leicester.
New Zealand international Wood had also been the subject of interest from Wolves, but the Midlanders pulled out of the race last night, viewing the fee to be too high for them.
Leeds head coach Uwe Rosler has spoken of his delight at the capture of Wood, who has considerable Championship experience with the likes of Leicester, Millwall and Birmingham City.
He said: “He is another important piece in the jigsaw. We were looking for a number nine type – like Chris Wood is.
“He’s physical, strong and experienced in this league. He has the potential to develop and has best years in front of him.
Wood becomes United’s fourth arrival of the summer, following the signings of defender Sol Bamba, striker Lee Erwin and young goalkeeper Charlie Horton.


PARIS -- France said on Wednesday it was boosting intelligence ties with Nigeria and sending security service agents there to tackle Boko Haram after more than 200 girls were kidnapped by the Islamist group.
President Francois Hollande's office said he spoke by telephone with Nigerian leader Goodluck Jonathan and that Paris would dispatch a specialized team to Abuja to help find the girls. With more than 4,000 troops operating between Mali to the west and Central African Republic to the east, Paris has a major interest in preventing Nigeria's security from deteriorating and has voiced concern Boko Haram could spread north into the Sahel.
Having ousted al Qaeda-linked militants from Mali last year, France is planning to redeploy its forces across West Africa this summer to target Islamist groups taking advantage of porous borders between southern Libya, northern Chad and Niger.
"The president expressed his desire to increase intelligence cooperation with Nigeria, involving all regional countries, so that this terrorist group can no longer carry out such acts," a statement on the telephone conversation said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told lawmakers: "In the face of such ignominy, France must react. This crime cannot be left unpunished."
Around 10 experts from the external DGSE intelligence service with satellite observation knowledge would first be sent to join United States and British teams, official sources said.
Demanding an Islamic state, Boko Haram has been fighting in the northeast for the past five years. It attracted global attention with the abduction of girls taking exams in the village of Chibok, also in the south of Borno state.
French interests have already been targeted by Boko Haram. Last November, the group kidnapped a French priest and held him for a month. Earlier last year, in mid-February, they snatched a French family of seven on holiday in northern Cameroon and held them for two months. Hollande at the time denied a ransom had been paid for the family, but a confidential Nigerian government report seen by Reuters said Boko Haram was given the equivalent of $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators.
The kidnappings were among a series of attacks on French targets in West Africa since France launched a military intervention in Mali in January 2013 to oust al Qaeda Islamists who had forged links with Boko Haram.


"Burke said the access problems are a result of the bank taking measures to manage traffic volume during peak use."
Which, interestingly, could be a euphemistic way of rephrasing "fighting DoS attacks".
If it isn't related to the new fees, or certain protests, it's certainly a pretty coincidental coincidence.
"Bank of America spokeswoman Tara Burke declined to discuss the underlying cause of the outages except to say it isn't related to hacking, denial-of-service attacks, or other incidents related to security."
Well, she would say that, wouldn't she?
>> "There's no compromised customer information."
Note to PR twonks : Nobody believes a word you say anymore, we have been lied to so much!
>> Burke said the access problems are a result of the bank taking measures to manage traffic volume during peak use.
LOL seriously? "We are busy, go away".
Perhaps they just fired, laid off, or out sourced too many people in their IT department.
Care to define Majority, Tara?
"The majority of our customers are able to bank online,"
Guess I am a minority now, since its been down for me solidly since Friday!
side affect is DoS due to higher traffic from disgruntled punters.
Sudden influx of customers to other banks.
The words you are looking for, BOA, are "we apologise for the inconvenience". Your customer's patience is not on offer, nor should you be presuming you can take it, and certainly not thanking them for it when you do!!
We're keeping it. Go away.
"We had your money, we spent it on worthless loans, go away."
I have never heard any good things about Bank of America. People I know tell me nothing but horror stories. Why do people still bank there?
So apparently they do right by some people. I on the other hand am not one of those people.
"We're sorry, our site is running slowly.
As a result, you may experience delays or have difficulty accessing parts of bankofamerica.com, including Online Banking.
We're actively working to resolve these issues. You may wish to defer your transaction until a non-peak time."
since when is 2am a peek time .
If it's convenient, we invite you to conduct your banking business at a banking center or ATM.
Otherwise, you may continue to Online Banking. We do apologize in advance if you experience any delay or difficulty accessing the site.


David Letterman says he stuck around on network television about 10 years too long.
He made that revelation during an appearance Thursday on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show. Letterman quit in 2015 after 33 years as a late-night host on CBS and NBC, and is beginning his second season on his more leisurely-paced Netflix show.
Letterman says it turns out nobody had the guts to fire him.
He says it took leaving the show for him to realize that there's more to life than asking some celebrity to "tell us about your pet beaver."


Letters respond to Jill Lepore’s piece on the state of journalism and Joshua Rothman’s exploration of the art of decision-making.
Jill Lepore, in her insightful piece on journalism in the age of social media and fake news, writes, “Speculation is that BuzzFeed is trying to dump” BuzzFeed News (“Hard News,” January 28th). This speculation is incorrect. Whatever challenges we face in this difficult environment for digital media, BuzzFeed News remains a key part of the future of BuzzFeed. Its investigative reporting has freed men from prison, changed the way sexual assault is handled in Congress, given the public incredible insight into the Mueller investigation, and detailed Donald Trump’s business dealings in Russia during the 2016 campaign. I’m excited to see what our journalists do in the years to come.
Lepore gets a lot right about the many challenges, and a few of the threats, facing journalism today. But the grim picture that she paints of HuffPost underestimates its commitment not just to journalism but to the journalists who produce excellent, agenda-setting reporting each day. The claim that HuffPost, or the publication’s earlier incarnation, the Huffington Post, “paid most of its writers nothing for years” is misleading. While the blog platform, shut down in 2018, was explicitly a place where outside contributors could share their views with a large audience, HuffPost’s unprecedented rise as a leading national publication has been fuelled by the work of top-tier journalists who command (and receive) competitive salaries. We take pride in our newsroom, which today numbers more than two hundred journalists in the United States and many more abroad, and in our commitment to game-changing journalism. The media are indeed facing powerful headwinds, but the need for incisive, balanced reporting has never been greater. At HuffPost, that’s where we see our future.
As I read Joshua Rothman’s piece about how people make decisions, I couldn’t help but think about the unique challenges of end-of-life decision-making (“Choose Wisely,” January 21st). There is no preparing for the experience of being critically ill or close to death, and advance directives often fall far short of anticipating not just the circumstances of illness but also the ways in which those circumstances can change a person’s values and preferences. The decision-science approaches that Rothman describes may help. But, since dying people are not usually able to participate in discussions about their own care, family members and health-care providers often must intuit their values in order to make decisions on their behalf. It is hard enough for us to make end-of-life choices for ourselves; it is all the more difficult to do so for someone else. As decision science develops further, we would do well to keep this issue in mind.
Rothman refers to several factors, often vague ones, that people consider in their decisions about having children. Oddly, all the factors he mentions—I count nineteen—concern the would-be parents. The experience that the child will have does not appear to be a major consideration. It seems to me that one question should supersede all others: What kind of life—what kind of world—will my child endure as an adult? It requires a kind of willful myopia not to be concerned about the answer.


Before Tommy MacDonald hosted his public television show “Rough Cut – Woodworking with Tommy Mac,” he had an alter ego.
Before Tommy MacDonald hosted his public television show “Rough Cut – Woodworking with Tommy Mac,” he had an alter ego. He was T-Chisel, who made videos of himself as he built a copy of an antique secretary desk.
On Saturday’s third episode of Season 4, viewers will see the photogenic, matter-of-fact MacDonald showing Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis – and a national television audience – how to make a white oak memory box, with walnut dovetail and an inlay of the blue and yellow Boston Strong ribbon. In the show, MacDonald placed in the box a photo of his late mother, Mildred, who raised nine children, and his late sister, whose slaying remains unsolved.
Now working on the show’s fifth season, MacDonald still marvels at his unlikely television popularity, where he is watched weekly by 750,000 people. The show received Emmy nominations for both Outstanding Lifestyle Program and Outstanding Directing in a Lifestyle Program.
He had what he called “problems” as a teen, dropping out of Blue Hills Regional Technical School. After training as a carpenter’s apprentice and earning a journeyman’s certificate and supervisor’s license, he worked on the Big Dig. When a shoulder injury ended his days of heavy construction, he enrolled at North Bennet Street School, the acclaimed trade school in the North End.
In fact, he made such fine furniture that he impressed Bob Vila, who included his works on his show “Home Again with Bob,” and later asked him to create content for his website. MacDonald – who previously didn’t own a video camera or a computer – filmed himself over the 14 months in 2006 and 2007 as he built the antique secretary.
MacDonald got his big break when fellow students who had ties to WGBH arranged a meeting for him with Laurie Donnelly, executive producer for WGBH Lifestyle Productions. In 2010, he signed a three-year contract, which last year received a two-year extension.
And that’s what the show does. In the 13 episodes this season, MacDonald makes a bird house and visits with Norman Smith, director of the Norman Smith Environmental Education Center in the Blue Hills. He goes to the Axis Bat Factory in Fall River and makes a bed frame with baseball bat posts. And he visits marquetry expert Silas Kopf in Easthampton and makes a cookbook-size bookstand.
One of the challenges of the show is to explain an entire project in under 30 minutes.
He also offers some advice along the way, as he does when making the memory box.
“I have to tell you it’s a little frustrating (to make it square), so just take your time and make sure you get it as dead on as possible,” he said in the program.
When MacDonald is not working on “Rough Cut,” he is renovating the home he shares with his wife and appearing around the country at woodworking shows.
ROUGH CUT – Woodworking with Tommy Mac, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, WGBH Channel 2. www.wgbh.org.


On Cameroon, ICP Asked UN of Biya Calling Secessionists Terrorists, Now He Orders "Relocations"
UNITED NATIONS, December 1 – A week after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres accepted a golden statue from Cameroon's 35-year president Paul Biya in Biya's palace in Yaounde, there were threats of prosecution against people who refuse to celebrate Biya's 35 years in power. Photo of letter here. So is this was Guterres celebrates, under the Guterres Doctrine? What is the relation to the illegal lumber exports signed off on by Guterres' Deputy, Amina J. Mohammed in the #RosewoodRacket? There were threats to Inner City Press' accreditation at the UN, here. Now upon Paul Biya's return from the African Union - EU summit in Abidjan he has "declared war" on what he calls secessionist terrorists in Ambazonia or Southern Cameroons. Inner City Press asked the UN about it and UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric only said they are "still looking at" or studying what Biya said. Now orders have been issued for civilians to "relocate" and for business people to stop working. See order here. We'll have more on this. This echoes what the UN's Francois Fall said, on Alison Smale's UN Radio no less, that secessionists are extremists and even Federalism is not on the table. The UN has thrown gasoline on this conflict, far from engaging in the preventative diplomacy that Antonio Guterres, when running for his post, said he was about. In the UN, he and his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed have kept up Press restrictions and censorship. On December 1 Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Biya's comment. Dujarric said the UN is still trying to study them - it's not hard, they're on YouTube, here - and said the last time Guterres spoke with Biya was in October (that is, over the golden statue). Now what? In Bamenda, local journalist Elvis McCarty (some say Elvis Macarty) was reportedly roughed up by Paul Biya's security forces, the tools of his journalistic trade confiscated and/or broken, with him being accused of being a secessionist - or, as the UN's Francois Fall has put it, an "extremist." And while Guterres and his envoy Failing Fall purport to urge dialogue in CameroUN on "the Anglophone issue," when the issue was raised in Parliament in Yaounde, there was a walk-out. some dialogue. Meanwhile the Swiss government has responded in a November 17 letter obtained and published by Inner City Press to issues raised by Southern Cameroonians there. On November 21, Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I wanted to ask a question about Cameroon. In the south-west region, a video emerged basically of authorities ordering people out of their cars and to walk on their knees, very much to humiliate them, etc. And so, people… one, they've wondered, like, what's the status of the UN's call for dialogue since they don't see this as dialogue? And, number two, they've seen that the Swiss ambassador has said publicly that he visited the area and is very concerned. So, the question, I guess, I had is whether François Fall, in his various visits… has he actually gone to those regions of the country? Does he have an intention to go? Has he requested to go but been rebuffed? How can it be that the ambassador of a country based in Yaoundé has more… has greater access than the UN… UNOCA [United Nations Office in Central Africa] representative? Spokesman: "Well, Mr. Fall works out his itinerary with the authorities as he can. Whenever we have further travel for him… by him to announce, we will." Well. Meanwhile another part of the UN system -- independent experts whom the UN Secretariat emphasizes are NOT the UN -- has belatedly spoken out where Guterres, Amina "Rosewood" Mohammed and Francois Fall have not. But then Fall essentially undercut the experts, focusing on attacks on security forces and... territorial integrity. Here's from Failing Fall's UNOCA: "The United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) continues to closely monitor the situation in the North-West and South-West Regions of Cameroon... Mr. François Louncény Fall seizes this opportunity to recall the commitment of the United Nations to the territorial integrity and unity of Cameroon." On November 17, Inner City Press asked Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Tweeted video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: this François [Louncény] Fall statement. And the reason I'm asking is that, as you may know five experts of Geneva-based special rapporteurs, including on freedom of expression, defense of human right defenders and others, issued a statement. The statement is largely focused on abuses by the Government of Anglophones, censorship, turning off social media. They have a[n artificially low] death figure. They talk about torture. I know that they're not part of the UN system. They do give briefings in this room. They are appointed by the Human Rights Council. What's the relationship between human rights experts saying the Government is killing Anglophones and François Fall saying territory is important and gendarmes have been killed? It seems like they're two opposing statements. Spokesman: A, I don't think they're in contradiction of each other, and everybody has a different role within the wide and varied UN system. The special rapporteurs, as you do note, are independent from the Secretariat and the Secretary-General, appointed by the Human Rights Council. They are an extremely important part of the UN's human rights mechanism and, as a matter of principle, countries should cooperate with these human rights experts. I'm not privy to their research or how they get their information. As I said, they're independent. We have over the past months, expressed our concern at the violence. We've expressed our concern at the lack of Internet access. The basic message that Mr. Fall and that the Secretary-General have reiterated is the fact that the situation in these two regions will best be addressed by an inclusive and genuine political dialogue. Inner City Press: I want to ask one follow-up. And I asked you before, but I think you'll see the need to actually answer it now. Mr. François Fall, in an interview played on UN Radio, said that secessionists are extremists and that federalism, which used to be the status of this area, is off the table. Number one, that's why people don't see him as a credible mediator, but more importantly, the equation of nonviolent secessionists with extremists is exactly the logic that the Government uses to kill people from helicopter gunships, so that's why I'm asking you. It seems like some of the problems that the human rights experts are criticizing are, in fact… I don't want to say caused by Mr. Fall's statement, but in some way resonant with the logic of… of saying that anyone that says we should be independent is an extremist and should be shot at from a helicopter. Spokesman: "I don't agree with your logic, and I don't think in any way, shape, or form Mr. Fall should be blamed for what is going on in the country." So why did Failing Fall equate secessionists with extremists? And how can he remain Guterres' envoy to Cameroon? Where is the golden statue? Here is the Experts' full text: "GENEVA (17 November 2017) - The Government of Cameroon must engage representatives of the Anglophone population in a meaningful political dialogue and halt renewed violence in the south-west and north-west, where the country’s English-speaking minority are reportedly suffering worsening human rights violations, a group of UN experts has warned. “We urge the Government to adopt all necessary measures consistent with Cameroon’s human rights obligations to end the cycle of violence,” the experts said in a joint statement. Up to 17 people have reportedly been killed, and dozens wounded and arrested in demonstrations in the country’s Anglophone regions since 1 October. The experts are disturbed by reports of a series of measures taken by the national authorities, including curfews, a ban on public meetings, and other restrictions aimed at preventing peaceful protests. Excessive use of force by the security services, injuries, mass arrests, arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment have also been reported. Freedom of expression has been reportedly limited by the blocking of internet connections and of access to social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook, which a UN expert has previously condemned. “These restrictions must stop immediately, and the Government must ensure a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations perpetrated during and after the events of 1 October. The Government must take effective measures to prosecute and sanction all those responsible for such violations.” The appeal for action comes nearly a year after UN experts publicly urged the Government to halt violence against the English-speaking minority, following reports that Anglophone protesters in Buea and Bamenda had suffered undue force. The experts also denounced any use of violence against members of the security forces, after reports that several were killed last week. Since December 2016, the experts have repeatedly raised concerns directly with the Government of Cameroon and continue to monitor and seek clarification of the alleged human rights violations in the north-west and south-west of the country. Ms. Annalisa Ciampi, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Mr. José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez, Chair-Rappourteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Ms. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mr. Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues." What next? When will the UN's Failing Fall go see the Anglophone areas for himself, or be replaced? As Inner City Press asked the UN about on November 16, more than 46,000 people have so far petitioned Guterres to investigate and act on Mohammed's actions with respect (or disrespect) to natural resources in rosewood in Nigeria and Cameroon. But as on Cameroon, Guterres refuses so far to act. Meanwhile in the South West Region, there is a curfew and demand to register and give "weapons" to the government. On November 13, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: over the weekend, in Cameroon, in both the northwest and southwest, there was a collection apparently in light of not only armaments, rifles and handguns, but even hoes and cutlasses, it said, basically a total disarmament and… and… impinging on even farming work by people. And I'm wondering, given that François Fall is… calls for a dialogue, what… is the UN aware of this? There are written orders online that you can see telling people to turn all of these things in… Spokesman: "I have nothing on these reports as of now." Nor six hours later. On November 9, Inner City Press asked UN official Najat Rochdi, who was the head of the UN system in Cameroon until earlier this year and is now its deputy in the Central African Republic where Guterres just visited before Cameroon, if Guterres had spoken to her at all about Cameroon. No, she said, he had wanted to optimize his time. Video here. So apparently Guterres gets his information, and gold statues, from Paul Biya, or from Khassim Diagne, who was part of Rochdi's system. It is closed loop, and a total failure. On November 8, Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric (drawing a response of sorts, that "The Anglophones have been doing some shooting today"), UN transcript here: Inner City Press: on Cameroon, I know that there was a call by François [Lounceny] Fall and, I guess, the Secretary-General for dialogue with the “Anglophone regions”. It's reported in the press in Yaoundé that the Government has sought international arrest warrants for 15 Anglophone leaders, and I'm wondering if that would be viewed as consistent with this call for dialogue and, if not, if the UN has anything to say about it. Spokesman Dujarric: I don't have any information on those arrest warrants. We, obviously, continue to call for calm and reiterate the availability of the UN to support the search for a lasting solution in the Anglophone provinces. And we call on the… also on the authorities to ensure maximum restraint by security forces. Evelyn? Evelyn Leopold: Yes. I think the Anglophones did some shooting today." Video here; Leopold is retired from Reuters, still demands first questions at UN press conferences "on behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association," wihch will charge money for an event with Antonio Guterres in mid-December - we will have more on this. On November 7 Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Duajrric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you two questions about Cameroon. One is, since the Secretary-General's visit, one, there's a… there are reports of a crackdown in a place called Jakiri, where one gendarme was killed, and now basically everyone is being told there will be collective punishment unless a gun is turned over. And I wanted to know, is Mr. [François Louncény] Fall… who… after the visit, who's keeping track of it? Also, bigger picture maybe, the… the Cross River State Governor in Nigeria, Ben Ayade, has said that the border has essentially been closed for people fleeing the Cameroon… the anglophone region of Cameroon, and I wanted to know whether that's something that either Mr. Fall or on the… you know, UNHCR is aware of. Spokesman: UNHCR, you can check with them. I will… I don't have anything on… more on Cameroon. Inner City Press: if Mr. Fall was there on the trip… he wasn't in the photograph with the…Spokesman: He was there. We already said he was there. Inner City Press: All right. So what was the… was any plan reached for continued work…? Spokesman: If there's a further visit that he's able to make, we will announce it." Nothing. On November 6, Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:has to do with Cameroon, where the Secretary-General stopped, met President [Paul] Biya. Today, they're celebrating the thirty-fifth anniversary of his accession to power. And a letter's emerged that orders all Government employees to participate in the ceremony marking the thirty-fifth year in power of Paul Biya, saying, basically, names should be provided, and they will be punished for not. Given… I guess I'm just wondering, is the Sec… was the Secretary-General, when he stopped, when he took this golden statue, what did… was he aware of this? What does he think of… is it… is it permissible, from the UN's point of view, for a Government to order its civil servants to mark the thirty-fifth year in power of a leader or face punishment, or should this be discouraged? And does he have any comment on it? Deputy Spokesman: Obviously, people everywhere have the right to freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly. Those freedoms need to be respected in all circumstances. Regarding the gift, Stéphane [Dujarric] made very clear to you that's a standard protocol gift — which happens in many different countries and contexts." The UN delivered a threat to Inner City Press to “review” it accreditation on October 20, using as its pretext an undefined violation with Periscope in UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' 38th floor conference room, and publishing audio from a UN stakeout, citing Cameroon. On October 31 at the UN Security Council stakeout, Cameroon's Ambassador approached Inner City Press and issued his own threat. Of the UN's 38th floor, he demanded of Inner City Press, "Who asked you to go to 38? I'm going to call, say for Matthew not to go upstairs. You've started... asking nasty questions." On November 2, Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: a statement made by Cameroon's Permanent Representative to me at the Security Council stakeout, in a public area, saying, on 38, "Who asked you to be up there? I'm going to make a call to make sure Matthew is not up there anymore. You ask nasty questions." So my question to you is, if a Member State, in this case a Member State that is subject to questions, nasty or not, were to call the 38th floor and say, I want a particular media to not be up there, why are [they] up there — what would be the response from the 38th floor? I ask because I've gotten an accreditation threat for being up there. That's why it’s strange… Spokesman: Well, I think you're mixing… you know, if an event is open to the press, to the wider press, then everybody is welcome. We are not… journalists here have to do their job. There are obviously restrictions placed, depending on the event, but I guess the answer would be no. Thank you." This from the UN Spokesman who threw Inner City Press out of the UN Press Briefing and then from its office, keeping it still restricted. This is today's UN. But can Inner City Press publish this threat, meant to hinder or prevent coverage of mass killing and displacement of Anglophones, without the UN's Department of Public Information's censorship machinery moving to review its accreditation, or using it as its rationale for continuing to keep Inner City Press from its long time office, keep it restricted in movement? DPI boss Alison Smale said she saw the need to respond to petitions to restore Inner City Press to its office and normal access - then her Department issued its October 20 threat. Now this. Watch this site - audio here. Be aware: the audio is from Smale's own DPI. This UN has become disgusting. The UN official who signed the letter, when Inner City Press went to ask about the undefined violation of live-streaming Periscope video at a photo op by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, had already left, minutes after sending the threat. What to make of the letter's vague statement, "filming and recording on the 38th floor are limited to official photo opportunities, and recording conversations of others in the room is not permitted. It has been brought to our attention that you breached that rule recently"? It's not only vague as to when, but absurd: once a Periscope is authorized to start streaming, it is impossible to not record someone who speaks loudly at the photo op. This comes two days after Inner City Press asked Guterres about the UN inaction on threatened genocide in Cameroon, and the UN claimed Guterres hadn't heard the 15-second long question. Recently at a photo op, Guterres' adviser on Cameroon Khassim Diagne spoke loudly. Inner City Press later reported, based on sourcing, that Diagne who was previously the representative to Cameroon for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency Guterres ran, speaks in favor of Cameroon's government. Is this letter a response to the reporting? Is it retaliation? Is it intimidation to stop reporting on this threatened genocide? We can't ask the complainant, Maher Nasser: after the threat was delivered, he blocked Inner City Pres on Twitter, here.


BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and their would-be partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), have made major progress in talks on forming a coalition government but remain at odds on issues like labor rules, a senior SPD member said on Friday.
“But we also saw that we have differences on some topics,” he said.
Senior conservative Peter Altmaier said Friday’s talks had been good and the parties were optimistic but a “very tough stretch of road” lay ahead.
The parties became embroiled in another dispute over migration on Friday, with some SPD members saying they wanted to revisit January’s coalition blueprint that said the parties did not expect annual migration to exceed 220,000 per year because they were annoyed that Merkel’s CSU Bavarian allies seemed to be considering this as an upper limit.
But SPD deputy Ralf Stegner later said the parties had reached a deal. In an apparent defeat for the SPD, the wording of that migration prediction remained the same - as pushed for by the CSU, which calls for a migrant cap.
Stegner said the figure described “expected migration numbers” and beyond that the parties stood by the right to asylum enshrined in Germany’s constitution.
But he trumpeted an agreement on a “modern and transparent immigration law” as a success for the migrant-friendly SPD. The parties agreed to encourage skilled migration using criteria such as qualifications, age and language skills.
The two camps aim to finalize a deal for four more years of a “grand coalition” by the end of the weekend or early next week, some four months after an inconclusive election plunged Germany into unaccustomed political uncertainty.
The parties have agreed some eye-catching measures, including a 50 percent tax write-down for fleet electric cars and a 12-billion-euro public investment program to improve sluggish data networks, documents seen by Reuters showed.
In the field of labor rights, where the SPD wants to signal to its members that it has set its stamp on the deal, the SPD and conservatives agreed to the right for employees in companies with more than 45 employees to move seamlessly back and forth between full- and part-time work.
But long lines of text highlighted in yellow showed the parties had yet to decide on the exact wording of that agreement.
Other agreements included to raise child benefits by 25 euros per child per month. Senior SPD member Katarina Barley said there would be a women’s quota for management in the civil service after the last government focused on this for firms.
The parties also agreed to give German authorities the ability to deprive people with dual citizenship of their German citizenship if they fight abroad for an extremist organization.
They said they wanted to start allowing collective lawsuits. Consumer associations and politicians had called for class-action lawsuits to be made possible during the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) diesel emissions scandal.
As he arrived for talks, SPD leader Martin Schulz said his party would insist on more progress in labor law and healthcare, where the party hopes to reduce differences in the service experienced by the privately and publicly insured.
They made some progress by agreeing to boost funds for hospitals for restructuring, digitalization and new technologies.
The center-left SPD has sagged further in polls since suffering its worst postwar result in the Sept. 24 election.
Many SPD activists, who must ratify any coalition deal in a postal ballot, would prefer to see their party reinvent itself in opposition rather than join another coalition with Merkel after serving as junior partner from 2013 to 2017.


Ohio Supreme Court Justice addresses Stark County Honor Court.
CANTON Timothy Spickler stood between his two Honor Court mentors, each one complimenting his perseverance for overcoming a felony charge and other struggles.
The 63-year-old Vietnam Veteran was among the five men marking the 26th graduation ceremony in Stark County Honor Court. Spickler stood in front of a courtroom packed with those who assist with the program and family members of the recent graduates.
Also at Friday's ceremony was Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy, who spoke in recognition of the upcoming Veterans Day as well as the success and effectiveness of the specialized treatment court docket.
The Stark County Veterans Service Commission presented special pins to all veterans in attendance.
Following the ceremony, Spickler said that he had hit rock bottom personally before he regained control of his life with the support of Honor Court.
"It helped me find out who I really was in my inner-core, and it helped me find out who I am now and who I was before," he said. "It gave me my life back, my freedom back, it made me a new man."
In 2017, the Army veteran was charged with theft from an elderly person or disabled adult, a second-degree felony. The charge was reduced to fifth-degree felony theft.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation and the conditions of Honor Court.
Obstacles included mental health issues, Spickler said. Alcohol and drugs also plagued his life.
Sober for a year, Spickler credited his Honor Court mentors, Wilson Hall in Massillon, the Veterans In Recovery Support Group and many others for their support and encouragement.
Phil Ridley, one of Spickler's veteran mentors, said the Canton resident didn't give up and "he accepted how much better it was to go on this route."
Completing the year-long Honor Court program successfully "is just the start of my journey," Spickler said.
Founded in 2011, a total of 90 of 136 participants have completed Honor Court successfully. The program boasts a 6 percent felony recidivism rate following completion, said Lisa M. Williams, Honor Court director.
The program's motto is "reclaiming honor, dignity and lives."
Honor Court admits eligible Stark County military veterans and active-duty service members charged with low-level, non-violent felonies. The program utilizes probation, support services, supervision, mentoring and other facets of the court system to assist veterans.
Kennedy spoke of the "1 percent" who have served in the military.
"To the graduates, words alone are inadequate but thank you for your service," she said. "This country is founded on the principle of individual freedoms; the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are words enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, and those words serve as the foundation of all freedoms we Americans enjoy.
"But the burden of protecting and defending those freedoms fall on only a few," said Kennedy, who has assisted veteran treatment courts across Ohio. "Less than one percent of the men and women will serve in the armed services."
She quoted Marine Corps General John F. Kelly: "The protected can't begin to understand the price paid so that they and their families can sleep safe and free at night."
By developing a veterans treatment court, "we are demonstrating to all of you ... who have served that we understand the effects of the price that you have paid for your service," Kennedy said.
She thanked Common Pleas Judge Taryn Heath, who presides over Honor Court, for "answering our call of duty to repayment to all the veterans that come before you."
Kennedy presented each of the five graduates with composition books, asking them to "begin your day with writing down 10 things for which you are grateful for, and at the end of that gratitude, write down the things that you want and wish and pray for your life and then list the things you need to do to accomplish it.
"This book begins your story, the new story, the life that you want to live for the rest of your days."


Everything that needs to be said of Steve Jobs has already been written. Here’s the most meta version of the story you will read online, offline, and everywhere else.
If you read only one story about Steve Jobs today (yeah, right) make it this one. Why? Because his story has already been written–over and over and over again, as the link explosion below makes clear. Also, this will save you a lot of time.
I knew the day would come when Steve Jobs would retire… but I didn’t expect to cry. We could all see this was coming–but it is a shock. The resignation of Apple Inc.’s chief executive Steve Jobs marks the end of an era. He was that rarest of birds: a C.E.O. who actually had a huge impact on his company’s fortunes… [and] genuinely earned the label of superstar. Jobs is often identified as the singular face of Apple–the man who is the energy and creative spirit behind the company. But Apple is much more than just Steve Jobs. With tens of billions of cash on hand, products that sell out as fast as they can be produced, and an ecosystem that continues to expand, the company’s future footing is solid. Indeed, Steve Jobs’s greatest creation may be new Apple CEO Tim Cook. Yet throughout the tech industry… people are in shock. Those who are Apple’s most devoted fans and users are struggling to decide if they should hold on to their faith in the company. With this news, some may cry that the “sky is falling,” believing that Steve and only Steve holds the magic of Apple innovation. Not so much.
The man whose insistent vision that he knew what consumers wanted made Apple one of the world’s most valuable and influential companies has oft been described as a genius, hero, entrepreneur, technologist and visionary, a master inventor, master marketer, an American business magnate, Silicon Valley’s rock star CEO, the driving force behind a string of products that revolutionized the consumer-electronics industry. But he could also be a mean, mean man, a risk-taking, short-tempered tyrant, who “made people feel terrible; he made people cry” and was notorious for his… erratic behavior and poor attitude. But because Steve Jobs is a design perfectionist who thinks different, these foibles were accepted as a small price to pay as long as he remained a creative genius [who] propelled his company Apple into the most iconic technology brand in the world and who reshaped Silicon Valley in his own image. While there were flops among the pops… products created under his direction that failed commercially or functionally, the dropout [turned] living legend–a master of hype, hyperbole and the catchy phrase–leaves a glittering legacy.
Thank you, Steve. For all you’ve done, for all of us.
Check out Design Crazy: Good Looks, Hot Tempers, and True Genius at Apple, our captivating oral history of the company that “taught the world taste.” The ebook is available through Apple, Amazon and Byliner.


Workers with the air traffic control towers in Yellowknife and Whitehorse treated controllers in Juneau and Fairbanks, Alaska, to some Italian fare.
Air traffic controllers in Yellowknife and Whitehorse have joined their colleagues across Canada in sending pizzas to their counterparts over the border.
Workers with the air traffic control towers in Whitehorse and Yellowknife treated controllers in Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska, respectively, to some Italian fare a sign of solidarity.
The United States federal employees are currently working without pay during the government shutdown, which is now the longest in U.S. history.
"We just wanted to do our part for another Northern community." said Ryan Mannen, unit operations specialist for air traffic control at Erik Nielsen Whitehore International Airport. "It's the least we could do."
He said they ordered a dozen pizzas from a restaurant right across the street from the Fairbanks tower and left it up to the workers to decide what toppings they wanted — but the classic Canadian pizza and the controversial pineapple topping weren't on the menu.
"I found that to be kind of weird but ... they are a highly-rated pizza place so we were very happy to do that."
Mark Hilman has worked as an air traffic controller for two decades with Nav Canada in Yellowknife and is also the chairman of the local union branch.
"We caught wind that there were a bunch of towers and area control centres across the country that were involved in doing this so we decided we wanted to join in," he said. They chose Juneau because it's a Northern tower similar in size to Yellowknife's tower.
"We hope that our little gesture kind of helped raise some spirits out there. That's kind of the whole point of it was to try and show that we're supporting them any way we can," said Hamill.
The pizzas came at the perfect time, according to Rob Swinton, union representative for the Juneau tower, as morale was getting low.
"Everybody got to actually log on to the website and see that their paycheck was in fact zero dollars and zero cents and it was a big kick to morale right there," he said. "Then this phone call comes and it kind of raised people's spirits and let them know that people are thinking about them."
Swinton said Hilman co-ordinated with a pizza place located near the airport in Juneau. There was enough food for all the employees, including those with the local flight service station.
To Hilman, the cheesy offering is a sign of the fellowship that exists in the international air traffic control community.
"There's a fairly high amount of camaraderie I would say," said Hilman, adding he's involved in annual air traffic controller hockey tournaments that are attended by Americans and Canadians alike.
"We definitely feel kindred spirits kind of with the guys in the states. I mean air traffic controllers worldwide, I would say that we feel a kinship to."
Swinton said the National Air Traffic Controllers Association also puts on a large safety event every year in Las Vegas that's attended by people from all over the world.
"It's a big community that doesn't really know borders or anything."


Pi Delta Phi, the French Honor Society, invites its members to its second monthly petit dejeuner francais, serving (spooky!) croissants and pains au chocolat at the Grind on October 31, 9am.
Come to an information session on graduate degrees in International Affairs! Columbia University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University and Tufts University will discuss their graduate international affairs programs.
Cross Training Series: H. I. I. T.
This class meets Tuesdays & Thursdays from 5:30pm to 6:30pm in the Multipurpose Studio. The series runs from 10/22 - 11/5.
Choreography by W&M Dance faculty Joan Gavaler, Leah Glenn, and Denise Damon Wade. Performed by Orchesis dance company. This concert will also feature a reconstruction of THE WORD, a piece by world-renowned modern dance pioneer Paul Taylor.


[ Academia ] as a Relevant Course outside SLS for those interested in International Development : A student interested in working with an agency that provides economic assistance to less developed countries should consider 1 or more courses that deal with economic and technological development, and efforts to foster the rule of law.
Global and sociological perspectives on science and technology expansion, comparing nations and regions. Social features such as gender equity; and social impact economic development strategies such as tech incubators, the triple helix model, and UN initiatives. Democratization, human rights, welfare of local populations, and national security. Policy issues, the digital divide, development debates, commodification of the public good, and notions of social change.


In four of the losses, three different Marlins relievers were tagged for homers that dictated the outcomes. Dunn made it a trio Sunday when Utley hit a 1-0 pitch into the bleachers in right.
“He was sitting on a slider, and he wasn’t fooled,” Dunn said of the pitch that the red-hot Utley, who has 20 hits in 40 at-bats this season, hit out.
Carlos Marmol and Dan Jennings also gave up late-inning homers during a week gone bad for the Marlins.
The Marlins’ bullpen had an ERA of 7.36 on the trip.
But Redmond said the bullpen is hardly the only area that needs to improve.
Nothing seemed to go right for the Marlins all week. They lost starting pitcher Jacob Turner to a shoulder injury at the start of the week, which caused the Marlins to move Brad Hand out of the bullpen and into a starting role. That caused a chain reaction that ended up taxing the bullpen.
• Marlins hitters went just 7 for 47 on the road trip with runners in scoring position.
• As a team, the Marlins hit just .230 overall.
• The entire pitching staff’s ERA was 6.16.
• The Marlins were outscored 37-18.
Since starting the season 5-1, the Marlins have lost their past seven games.
It was a trying afternoon for Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez, who was under constant pressure.
He gave up a career-high 12 hits to go with three walks in only six innings of work.
But Alvarez limited the damage by holding the Phillies to three runs when it could have been much worse for him.
The Phillies scored one of their runs off Alvarez on a Ryan Howard solo home run in the third. The home run by Howard was his 37th all-time against the Marlins, most by any active player. Next on the list is Utley, who has clubbed 28 homers off Marlins pitching over the years.
“He was in a lot of trouble most of the day but was able to pitch out of it,” Redmond said of Alvarez.
Alvarez’s counterpart on the Phillies, Kyle Kendrick, fared only slightly better.
Garrett Jones tagged his first home run of the season off Kendrick in the fifth to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead. But the Phillies answered with two runs to tie it in their half of the inning.
In the sixth, Tony Gwynn Jr. — trying to score from first on Utley’s double — was thrown out at the plate on a close play that was challenged by Phils manager Ryne Sandberg. But the call was confirmed after being reviewed.


Photo Op-inion: Move Terror Trials?
Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, these images say it with pictures instead of words. Click through to see YOUR ideas on moving 9/11 terror trials. E-mail foxforum@foxnews.com if you would like daily alerts on the next Photo Op topic. None of these images were created by Fox News.


THEATRE stalwart Alan Abbott has become the first president of Concordia Amateur Operatic Society on his retirement after 42 years as treasurer.
He announced his resignation at the annual meeting when chairman Will Hare announced the committee’s decision to create the post and presented Mr Abbott with a National Operatic and Drama Association president’s badge.
His successor is Jack Staniforth who had prepared the latest balance sheet.
A keen cricketer who played for Hinckley Grammar School, he was playing for the county at 19 and resisted all cajoling from his brother Derek and Roy Hewitt in favour of sport until the society staged Oklahoma!, a show he had enjoyed in the West End, and an appearance that led to many more as he became more involved.
He took over as treasurer in 1967 and was advised by a friend who worked at Sketchleys and kept the same system throughout, going back to it after a brief attempt at computerisation.
Now the last surviving trustee, Mr Abbott was one of the group of pioneers who first saw the former hosiery factory and were inspired by Fred Rowbottom’s dream and worked toward the establishment of the theatre there in 1972.
Married for 55 years to Jo, whom he has known since schooldays and met again when both worked at Sketchleys, they have two daughters, four grandchildren and one great grandson.
production of Anything Goes which opens on Tuesday and runs until November 15.
In the production Billy Crocker (Chris Collis) goes to see old pal Reno Sweeney (Anna Bowtell), who wishes they were more than friends, off on a cruise to Europe where the ex-evangelist now nightclub singer is to entertain.
But Billy becomes a stowaway when he sees his love, the girl he shared a taxi with a few months previously, Hope Harcourt (Abi Hunt) who along with her fiance Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Tim Clay) are also passengers.
They share the liner with an assortment of reprobate clergymen, wisecracking criminals, detectives, chorus girls and fashionable society, but will it be a love boat or sail into stormy waters?
Four members of the cast Malcolm Whittle, Jane Bradley, Jack Young and Pauline Goode recreate the same roles they took when the society last staged the show in 1992.
Tickets (£9, £8.50 OAPs and children Tuesday and November 10, £9.50 Saturdays) are available from the box office on 01455 615005 on Saturday, 10am to noon, or Monday, 7pm to 8pm.


Iceberg dead ahead! Iceberg dead ahead!
Amid yawning imbalances undermining every realm of the national economy, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf- (PTI) led regime, with all its tardy actions on monetary and exchange rate fronts, has only so far tried to tinker with the tip of the iceberg of the economic mess.
There is so much that is yet to be done to bring order into the financial chaos various sectors of the national economy are mired from top to bottom.
On the external front, the government has somewhat decelerated the current account deficit through import compression but so far Islamabad has not been unable to achieve quantum leap for boosting the country’s dwindling exports.
The real challenge lying ahead for this regime in the upcoming budget will be taking steps on fiscal front as the heavy taxation will be required to jack up Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) tax collection as well as they will have to find out innovative ideas to increase non tax revenues to improve rapidly deteriorating fiscal position of the Center in the wake of last NFC Award.
So difficult time is ahead on all economic fronts including fiscal, monetary and exchange rate as well as on utilities of gas and electricity where the government will have to further hike their prices to keep them afloat.
Let’s discuss the strategy that is under the incumbent regime’s consideration to boost up exports. Beyond any doubt, the fundamental structural weakness in the economy is one of the main factors that are widening the gap between exports and imports.
This deficit, in the face of large inflow of workers’ remittances, remains to be the elementary cause of balance of payment vulnerabilities and macroeconomic disequilibrium. This conundrum has been compounded by a advancing imports and retreating exports.
According latest studies, in Pakistan only five percent of economic growth is consistent with the balance of payment (BoP) stability. This is under the long-term rate of GDP growth of 7-8 percent per annum to engage an aggressively expanding labour force in employment. A looming balance of payment crisis has foiled the attempts to push the economic growth over 5 percent per annum.
This is mainly due to the existing lopsided import-export makeup. As energy, industrial raw material, fertiliser, chemical, and machinery, make up three-fourth of our imports, even a modest uptick in economic growth would become springboard for imports.
The ministry of finance given prescription says that since 2000, rupee has remained overvalued for almost 90 percent of the entire duration, thus creating an unfavorable macroeconomic environment for the tradable sector and hence industrialisation.
Regardless of overvaluation, about 70 percent of our export comprises low technology products. It has blown a big hole in the competitiveness, which continues to grow larger and larger.
Low grade textiles command most of the exports because of our inability to introduce more commodities or explore new markets.
Our textiles and apparel sector, which adds about 5 percent to world trade, leads the country’s exports, making up around 58 percent of total exports in 2017–18. Alarmingly, we have only four destinations, i.e. USA, EU, China, and Afghanistan, for over 50 percent of our exports.
Our competitiveness in international markets is eroding fast and finding buyers in our traditional markets for our pet exports is just not that easy anymore. The overall exports-to-GDP ratio is showing no signs of budging.
Then there is this tariff structure that is mired in anti-exports bias. In that area, an army of Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) is at work to deform the trade regime by altering the notified import duties exclusively for which no economic explanation is put forth.
Owing to these ambiguities and lacunas importers keep guessing what taxes/duties apply to the merchandise being sourced into the country from overseas. FBR’s discretion to churn out SROs, whenever its functionaries deem right, without parliamentary or independent scrutiny/approval –this together with Section 31A of the Customs Act, results in adding to the uncertainty for importers as it allows FBR to modify applicable tariff for goods between opening of the letter of credint and landing at the port.
Expensive energy, a discriminatory regulatory environment, and an undereducated and low-skilled workforce, also continue to be some of the most critical drags for competitiveness and productivity growth.
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council has made recommendations to move to more competitive, productivity-led export growth. They recommended ensuring competitive exchange rates by eliminating the remaining overvaluation of the currency and ensure that a competitive exchange rate is maintained in the future, provide reliable access to power and gas supply at competitive prices to export industries.
They also suggested that the government should convert the present short-term measures by institutionalised ones in a long-term plan, rationalise tariffs, reform the SROs regime, and increase transparency of the trade regime.
They further stressed trade policy decisions should not be driven by short-term fiscal considerations and should not be made by the FBR. Instead, they proposed such decisions be made by an independent policy board or the ministry of commerce and aim to reduce anti-export bias, cost of production, tariffs on imported raw materials and intermediate goods, while eliminating the distinction between industrial and commercial importers and reform the SRO regime.
The medium term plan for boosting exports banks upon increasing productivity as it is essential for improving competitiveness and for giving the industry a leg up for technology upgrade. Improved competition and liberalisation in domestic markets (particularly services) will also help do the trick.
Competition leads to innovation that subsequently takes production to the next level. These steps that aim at easing complexity and promoting transparency of the trade regime will spur domestic competition and as a result productivity will also jump.
Without increasing exports on sustained basis, Pakistan’s dependence on foreign loans could not end and the dream of achieving stable exchange rate would also remain a pipe dream.


A story of HIV, attitudes and baking Jump to media player A Shanghai cafe employing people who lost their parents to HIV/Aids has encountered old stigma.
'What my name really means to me' Jump to media player After a racist prank, Chinese students at Colombia University hit back by explaining their names.
A Shanghai cafe employing people who lost their parents to HIV/Aids has encountered old stigma.


(Reuters) - A moderate earthquake of magnitude 5.5 struck the south shore of Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk Kul on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It said the quake, which struck at 7:24 a.m. (8.24 p.m. ET), was very shallow, at a depth of only 6.2 miles (10 km), which would have amplified its effect.
The epicenter was located 8 miles (13 km) east of the town of Kadzhi-Say and 149 miles (240 km) east-southeast of the capital Bishkek.
A magnitude 5.5. quake is capable of causing considerable damage.


Rio Rancho-La Cueva seemed like an inevitable state championship pair in Class 6A girls soccer, and the Rams and Bears will reach the finish line together today.
Rio Rancho outlasted Cibola in PKs, while La Cueva edged Volcano Vista in Friday’s semifinals at the APS Complex.
The top two seeds collide at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. They split two regular-season games.
No. 1 RIO RANCHO 1, No. 5 CIBOLA 0 (Rams won 5-3 in PKs): The Rams (19-3) reached their first state final in seven years, going 5-for-5 in the shootout against the Cougars (14-5-2).
“We were hoping for (penalties),” Rio Rancho coach Uwe Balzis said.
He knew, he said, that he had the right five shooters lined up after neither side could score during 100 minutes of regulation and overtime.
And one by one, they applied pressure to Cibola by going first. Cheyenne Orozco had the game-clinching goal for the Rams.
Sarah Wilmot, Rio Rancho’s goalkeeper, made the crucial save in the shootout, stopping Cibola’s leading scorer, Jasmine Marwan, in the third round.
“Sara is my MVP,” Balzis said.
Her ascension to starter occurred after the season’s first weekend, when the incumbent was felled with a knee injury in Las Cruces. On the bus ride home, the team voted Wilmot as the replacement.
Two interesting things about that: Wilmot wasn’t on the bus (she was driving home with her father), and she hadn’t played goalkeeper in years.
On the crucial save, Wilmot said she used common sense.
“I just thought that since she’s right-footed, she’d go to her left,” Wilmot said.
No. 3 LA CUEVA 1, No. 7 VOLCANO VISTA 0: Cassie Boren, who anchors the center of the Bears’ back line, stood about 50 yards away from the Hawks’ net, not necessarily thinking that one swing of her right leg would be the thing that separated these two powers.
But that’s how it played out.
Boren knocked in a direct kick from midfield in the 43rd minute, and the Bears (18-2) made that stand up as they reached the season’s last day.
It required some accuracy, and a fortuitous bounce, for this to occur.
Boren’s blast landed short of the net, but it hopped over the head and outstretched hands of Volcano Vista goalkeeper Melissa Mancha.
“One of the sweetest feelings,” Boren said.
From there, it was on her and the defense to keep the Hawks (13-7-1) away.
La Cueva, until last year, had never failed to reach at least the state semifinals under Ashcraft.
Volcano Vista was appearing in its seventh straight state semi: two in Class 4A, then four in 5A and now this first season in 6A.
Scoring: Cheyenne Orozco had game-clinching goal for Rio Rancho. Shots on goal: C 3; RR 2. Corners: C 1; RR 2. Saves: C, Haley Brown 2 (regulation); Dmitri Fong (PKs). RR, Sara Wilmot 3. Records: RR 19-3; C 14-5-2.
Scoring: LC, 43rd, Cassie Boren. Shots on goal: VV 8; LC 9. Corners: VV 1; LC 1. Saves: VV, Melissa Mancha 5; LC, Caiti Christiansen 7. Records: LC 18-2; VV 13-7-1.


Jacobson, M.Z. The Climate Response of Fossil-Fuel and Biofuel Soot, Accounting for Soot's Feedback to Snow and Sea Ice Albedo and Emissivity. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, doi:10.1029/2004JD004945,2004.


Over the last year I have been focused on helping students get better grades. What I found isn’t surprising – good lecture notes are the best way for students to succeed. Using my research I created a powerful new way for students to easily take great notes and get better grades – combining lecture note taking with the multimedia capability of the iPhone.
LectureMonkey is a simple note taking system based on extensive academic research and field-testing with college students. LectureMonkey harnesses the power of the iPhone by using image processing and audio enhancement to automatically record multimedia summaries of classes, ensuring you have the material you need, when you need it – before midterms and finals. LectureMonkey’s blended lecture note taking system automatically combines lecture material (presentation, boards and audio) with interactive, collaborative class comments.
LectureMonkey makes it simple for anyone with an iPhone get better grades by creating a crowd sourced slide show of everything that went on in class – audio, boards and presentation. All you need is an iPhone, LectureMonkey app and a free Dropbox™ account.
If you have a good seat with a view of the front of the room just press record, point your iPhone towards the front of the room and LectureMonkey automatically creates a lecture summary by recording the lecture with all its content (presentation, boards, audio, class comments).
If your seat is less than ideal, or you don’t have a stand – just use capture mode. LectureMonkey will record audio – and take an image whenever you pick up the phone and point it at the presentation. Images are automatically integrated as part of your lecture summary.
But that is only a small part of the solution. LectureMonkey also enables comments just by typing a message in the app or at www.lecturemonkey.com during recording. Comments are automatically integrated and at the end of the lecture you have a lecture summary – audio and images of the boards + presentation combined with your comments.
Now for the best part – not only do you have your own recording of class, LectureMonkey gathers the images, video and comments from all participants to create a shared lecture summary when class is over. Just think – before exams you can easily review any lecture using the images and comments to quickly jump the parts you need.
If you are a student – try LectureMonkey. You’ll get better grades and have an easier time preparing for exams – all you need is an iPhone and to remember to use it during class.
If you are a teacher – LectureMonkey empowers your students to get the most from your lectures. LectureMonkey recordings aren’t video, they are a high resolution slideshow of presentation and whiteboard images combined with audio recording and comments. LectureMonkey uses patent pending smart capture technology that compresses an hour lecture into a high quality recording that uses only about 50MB of storage. There is no central repository, lectures are stored in your student’s own Dropbox™ account. Lecture sharing can be limited to allow access only to students with a school email account – or can be made available to everyone with the app. Lectures are viewed through the app or on the web at www.lecturemonkey.com.
LectureMonkey is being offered free for a limited time. Download the app from iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/il/app/lecturemonkey-automated-lecture/id547592845?mt=8 or visit our website.


are you speaking on behalf of virgin media jb66??
are you speaking on behalf of Virgin Media? Rikaka85?
A VM Staff person will pick this thread up in due course and sort you out. They do it chronologically starting with the oldest first. Every time you (or me!) reply to this thread it moves it back to the bottom of the list.
I am afraid that once the installation is complete, a relocation of the equipment would be chargeable at £99.00.
We do not supply splitters for the equipment but if you were to require one, they are available via third parties.
Coax splutters are around the £5 mark, but the cable virgin use is not standard coax it is low loss cable typically WF100 cable that works outs about 50p per meter and connectors £1 to £2 each.
Add on the cable clips, properly terminating the cables, your time to run the cable, it is a lot easier to shell out the £100 to get a Virgin engineer to do the work.
You might save £40 or so doing the job yourself, but it just not worth it.
I don't see why VM can't provide a Quickstart pack which contains amongst other things a splitter and a couple of lengths of connector cable.
Hi quite this thread all started because the OP changed his mind and has been told by several people including a moderater, the correct solution but has not liked it so has thrown his toys out of the pram.


Cockroaches crawling on the wall in the main dining area of one Dublin eatery were among the reasons for enforcement orders served by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland last month.
The authority issued seven closure orders and one prohibition order on businesses after inspections, including three in Dublin.
Among them was Tasty Hut on Dorset Street in Dublin where there was widespread evidence of a cockroach infestation, live cockroaches under and behind a drinks fridge and on the wall of the main dining area.
Inspectors at Mi Thai restaurant on Manor Street in Stoneybatter, Dublin found there was insufficient food preparation space which actively resulted in raw meats being prepared and handled in the same space as high risk ready to eat foods. It found the chopping boards in the kitchen were “filthy” and “ingrained with dirt” with black mould.
At the Diner Thai and Chinese takeaway in Ongar, Dublin 15 inspectors found no running hot water to wash hands or for equipment washing or cleaning. Cleaning was poor throughout the premises and they were unable to identify appropriate cleaning products for sanitising surfaces.
It also found that cooked pork stored was stored at a temperature of 12 degrees which was ideal “for the growth of pathogenic bacteria or formation of toxins that may pose to a risk to public health”.
There was an absence of a cleaning programme and doner meat left at room temperature discovered by inspectors at the take-away Speedo Pizza Kebab , Lord Edward Street, Limerick.
Inadequate procedures to control pests were found at the take-away Phoenix House, Rathcormac, Cork inspectors noted. They said the back door in the kitchen was wide open to the external yard where wheelie bins were stored. They said there was a risk of rodents and flies entering the kitchen when the back door to the external yard, where wheelie bins were stored, is left open.
In Co Kerry, Mike Sheahan Butchers, Cahirciveen inspectors noted the internal column of the mincer had congealed stale particles of meat on it and a layer of congealed dirt was evident on the switch. The butcher blocks were ingrained with stale meat residue and were being supported by plastic crates which were ingrained with dirt.
FSAI chief Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, said all food businesses must take their legal responsibility seriously to ensure they protect the health of their customers by complying with the law.
“There continues to be numbers of food businesses who are failing to meet to their legal requirements under food law. Last month we saw food businesses fail to comply with hygiene and food storage standards and even failing to train staff in food hygiene practices. In one case there was even a widespread cockroach infestation throughout a premises.