CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers reached one magic number and lowered another.
LeBron James scored 27 points and Cleveland entered an elite fraternity of NBA franchises with its 60th win, scoring 14 straight points in the fourth to pull away and beat the Atlanta Hawks 93-88 on Friday night.
With their 60th win, the Cavaliers moved within one victory — or a loss by the Los Angeles Lakers — of clinching the league's best record and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Cleveland (60-16) became the ninth team to post back-to-back 60-win seasons. But while that's impressive and may look nice in the record book, the Cavaliers are chasing a title they seem more prepared than ever to go after.
Mo Williams scored 24 and J.J. Hickson added 16 rebounds for the Cavs, who trailed 76-74 before James scored nine points and Williams drained a 3-pointer during Cleveland's decisive spurt.
Josh Smith scored 20 and Jamal Crawford 17 for the Hawks, who went more than six minutes without a field goal in the fourth.
Cleveland won its 10th straight at home and improved to 34-4 this season at Quicken Loans Arena, which was at a playoff pitch throughout the game.
The Cavs dominated inside, but weren't able to put away the up-and-coming Hawks until their late flurry. Williams started it with a short jumper and James made a layup. After a steal, James knocked down one of his "heat-check" 3-pointers to make it 81-78.
After another misfire by the Hawks, Williams made his 3 and James dropped a jumper to give Cleveland an 86-76 lead.
James then got free for a spectacular, exclamation-point dunk and was bathed with chants of "M-V-P," an award he seems to have locked up with his finest season yet.
The Hawks, who were coming off a win at home over the Lakers, had been looking forward to this matchup.
Not only did they want to show the Cavs and a national TV audience that the win over L.A. was no fluke, but they wanted payback from a Dec. 30 loss in Cleveland that they felt was the result of a 24-second shot-clock malfunction. The Hawks filed a protest with the league that was turned down.
But while Atlanta appears to have a promising future, the Hawks can't beat the present Cavs and have dropped nine straight games — including a sweep in last year's playoffs — to Cleveland.
James was forced to do it mostly alone in the third quarter, when the Cavs shot just 32 percent and their offense went stagnant. He was 4-of-7 from the floor while his teammates went a combined 2-of-13, allowing the Hawks to hang around and enter the fourth trailing just 69-66.
Atlanta's defense deserved some of the credit, but the Cavs didn't do a good job of moving the ball and paid for it.
Cavs F Antawn Jamison sustained a shoulder stinger in the fourth and didn't return. … Hawks coach Mike Woodson still can't believe the Hawks' protest from the Dec. 30 loss was denied. Atlanta did not get its full allotted time after a late turnover. "Every time I go back and look at that, it's amazing they didn't see it the other way," Woodson said. "There's nothing you can do about it. We've moved on." … Add Jamison to the list of those opposed to seeing the NCAA tournament field expanded to 96. "I'm old school," said Jamison, who made it to the Final Four with North Carolina. "It's been working for a long time. Why change it?" … Cavs F Jawad Williams and Cleveland assistant Chris Jent had an animated conversation during a timeout in the second quarter. It wasn't clear what Williams was upset about.


Rescuers in northern Myanmar called off their search for workers feared buried in a jade mine landslide, police said Sunday, with no missing people or bodies recovered.
A wall of rocks, mud and debris careered down a hillside on Friday afternoon at Hpakant in Kachin state, the war-torn area that is the epicentre of Myanmar's secretive multi-billion-dollar jade industry.
Locals reported as many as 50 people might have been buried. But officials played down those numbers, saying only three men had been reported missing.
More than 100 people were killed in the same area in a landslide last month, highlighting the huge risks people take to fuel global -- and particularly Chinese -- demand for jade.
A police officer in Hpakant said rescue efforts were called off because the risk of further landslides was too great.
"The rescue process was stopped this afternoon because there were possible dangers and cracks appearing on the debris dump site," the officer, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
"We haven't found anybody and we don't know how many casualties there were," he added.
Another police officer had earlier told AFP three people were thought to be missing. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar Sunday reported the same figures.
The paper quoted Tin Swe Myint, head of the Hpakant Township Administration Office, as saying that the landslide took place after most workers had finished work and unlike last month's tragedy it had not engulfed a row of shanty houses.
However a second police officer warned it was difficult to say for sure how many have been caught up in the landslide.
"We have no idea how many might be buried there," local officer Thet ZawOo told AFP by phone.
Myanmar's shadowy and poorly regulated jade trade is enormously dangerous, with landslides a frighteningly common hazard.
Those killed are mainly itinerant workers who scratch a living picking through the piles of waste left by large-scale industrial mining firms in hopes of stumbling across an overlooked hunk of jade that will deliver them from poverty.
A civilian rescuer who asked not to be named said the landslide site was far from Hpakant town and had no phone coverage.
"There are many cracks (in the ground), it's very dangerous for rescue teams to drive diggers there," he said, adding that locals still believed dozens could be buried.
Myanmar is the source of virtually all of the world's finest jadeite, a near-translucent green stone that is enormously prized in neighbouring China, where it is known as the "stone of heaven".
But while mining firms -- many linked to the junta-era military elite -- are thought to be raking in huge sums, local people complain they are shut off from the bounty.
In an October report advocacy group Global Witness estimated that the value of Myanmar jade produced in 2014 alone was $31 billion and said the trade might be the "biggest natural resource heist in modern history".


Busan (South Korea) (AFP) - A Korean drama about desperate teens and a movie that exposes the hardships of daily life in the Iranian capital Tehran shared the top prize at Asia's premier film festival on Saturday.
The two grim tales left award jurors at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival concerned that modern cinema was heading "towards visions of darkness and desperation".
Korean director Kim Ui-seok's teen-themed drama "After My Death" and "Blockage" from Iran's Mohsen Gharaei were announced as the two winners of this year's New Currents award for first or second-time filmmakers.
Both films were praised for their "vivid detail and excellent craftsmanship" but jurors -– led by the Oscar-winning US director Oliver Stone -– said they were concerned by how the dramas mirrored the current state of the world "as presented by media".
"But the jury believes tomorrow's filmmakers can find more hope and light in this life, and bring it to their films to encourage their audiences to see all kinds of life," said veteran Philippine director Lav Diaz, who announced the awards.
Along with Stone, Diaz was joined on this year's New Currents panel by Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, Korean director Jang Sun-woo and French cinematographer Agnes Godard.
Contemporary local politics were also to the fore in the festival's other major prizes, with director Park Baeil's documentary "Soseongri" claiming the BIFF Mecenat Award.
Jurors praised its "carefully balanced" focus on a group of elderly women protesting the controversial instalment of the US Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system near their town to guard against growing missile threats from Pyongyang.
The Busan festival has been mired in politics in recent years, having seen its funding cut following the screening in 2014 of "Diving Bell: The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol".
The documentary was critical of the South Korean government's handling of the Sewol ferry disaster that claimed around 300 lives.
BIFF director Kang Soo-yeon and the festival's 81-year-old founder Kim Dong-ho, brought back onboard in 2015, will step down from their posts after this year's event.
Their departure follows a letter of criticism from staff who claimed they had not properly -– or openly -– dealt with BIFF's woes.
Kang said on Saturday she was proud that BIFF had been able to continue through the troubles and hoped it would now be left to focus on cinema. "For any festival, that's the most important thing," she said.
Local media in Korea have pointed to the presence of President Moon Jae-in this year -– he attended a screening of the E Oni's socially charged drama "Missing" -– as a sign that government support has swung back in the festival's favour.
Highlights among the 300-odd films from 76 countries that screened this year included the world premiere of director Jeon Jae-Eun's heartfelt drama "Butterfly Sleep".
The film stars Miho Nakayama and is sure to be a commercial hit given her following internationally. Another big draw was the premiere of rising Chinese talent Li Xiaofeng's gripping murder mystery "Ash".
The curtain officially comes down on the festival at the Busan Cinema Centre on Saturday night with the world premiere of veteran Taiwanese director Sylva Chang's generation-crossing drama "Love Education", and the official handing over of the awards.


In 2011, Anthony O'Donohue told police he was afraid he would attack someone. Five years later, he was untreated, unsupported and set a Brisbane bus driver on fire.
An independent report into Queensland's mental health services, released on Friday, found the killing may have been avoidable.
Manmeet Alisher died while working as a bus driver.
Manmeet Sharma, 29, was burnt to death at Moorooka as he was behind the wheel of his Brisbane City Council bus in October 2016.
Mr O'Donohue threw a lit backpack containing a bottle of fuel at Mr Sharma while he was collecting passengers.
On August 10, Queensland's Mental Health Court declared he was of unsound mind at the time, and therefore not criminally responsible for his actions.
On Friday, Queensland Health published the final reports that looked at the quality of care Mr O'Donohue received between 2010 and 2016 to judge whether it influenced the attack.
Smoke billowing from the bus at Moorooka.
A report by forensic psychiatrist Professor Paul Mullen led the investigation.
"This is a tragedy that could not have been predicted," the report said.
"Inevitably, had different decisions been made at certain times then the killing might not have occurred."
Mr Mullen reported Mr O'Donohue suffers from a delusion disorder that led him to believe he was being persecuted by the trade unions and public servants.
"Mr O’Donohue was first admitted in 2010 following a suicide attempt," he said.
Moorooka man Anthony O'Donohue remains in a mental health facility.
"He was re-admitted a year later when he told police he was afraid he would attack those he believed were persecuting him.
"In August 2016 he was discharged with a plan for him to receive the care of a General Practitioner."
Mr Mullens said when Mr O'Donuhue was discharged he refused communication between the clinic and his GP and later tried to return to treatment at the community clinic but his attempt to gain help "failed".
"These two failures conspired to leave Mr O’Donohue in the community untreated and unsupported," he said.
Mr O'Donohue killed Mr Sharma on October 28, 2016.
Emergency services react to the attack.
Queensland Health deputy director-general John Wakefield said events like this were "incredibly rare", but did happen.
"We are a people business and nothing that people do is ever perfect," he said.
"When things go wrong ... we leave no stone unturned in understanding what happened here, what can we learn and most importantly what do we to address that."
The bomb squad was called in to search the bus.
Mr Wakefield said it was clear, from the report, that it was impossible to blame an individual for what happened.
"We will always have bad outcomes because we're a human business," he said.
"Our job is to make sure we learn from them and I'm sure from a community trust perspective, they don't expect us to be perfect, they know we're not perfect, humans are not perfect.
"What they do expect is that we will admit if we make mistakes, that we will review and understand and learn from those and we will take every action that we can to continually improve the system."
The reports found Queensland Health staff were compliant with legislative and policy obligations but identified several deficiencies in practices and protocols, particularly around the care provided at Metro South Hospital and Health Service and the Mental Health Service.
It was found while patients with complex mental illness were frequently assessed, there were gaps in the process.
Further, it was identified there was room for improvement in the sharing of information within the services.
A lack of integration between the forensic mental health service and community follow up was also described as problematic.
In response to the investigation, Queensland Health has new tools and staff training for violence risk assessment and the new Mental Health Act requires every health service to have an oversight committee to review risk decisions.
Further, all forensic reports are uploaded to an electronic system that can be accessed by all Queensland clinics, including GPs.
A state-wide approach to forensic mental health services will also be implemented to reduce fragmentation within the health services.
Finally, investment will be made towards capacity in the community sector to care for complex patients.
Mr O'Donohue will be held in a mental health facility for at least a decade.


10News Anchor Courtney Robinson took concerns straight to Superintendent Jeff Eakins as he met with a VPK class.
Students in Hillsborough County headed back into the classrooms Friday morning even though there have been serious health concerns in the schools.
The issues ranged from air conditioning problems, reports of lead in drinking water, gaps in radon testing and mold in at least one Hillsborough County high school.
10News anchor Courtney Robinson took those concerns straight to Superintendent Jeff Eakins as he met with a VPK class.
Mold was found in the auditorium at Plant High School. School district officials said a faulty AC unit was to blame, and they were working to get it fixed. They said the mold was removed, the room was cleaned, and the air quality was tested. The auditorium will reopen when the air quality tests get back to them.
After hearing about reports of lead in the water at schools across the country, the Hillsborough County schools started testing the water in its own facilities for the dangerous element -- and found it.
Superintendent Eakins said that the levels weren’t high enough to report it to families.
“None of our buildings across Hillsborough County ever exceeded the levels by which you have to communicate out to any families that there is some sort of health issue, so we’re going to continue to test," he said. "We’ve tested about 20 percent of our buildings, we had about 80 percent more to go. We’re going to ensure the safety of our students that’s Hillsborough County public schools. That’s what we do to ensure safety for our kids, and I want to make sure the public is very clear about that."
Air conditioning also remains a big problem for Hillsborough schools. Officials said about 40 AC units need major repairs or to be replaced by 2021. The estimated cost for that is around $340 million.
Eakins said he thinks the schools were absolutely safe for children to be in, and issues would be found in schools across the country.
“It’s really about ensuring the safety of our kids," Eakins said. "We don’t just sit around and wait for these things to happen. That’s why we have results out there, because we do the testing we do, all those kinds of things. We’ve done it for years and we feel like that we owe that to our parents,” said Eakins.
Eakins said proper funding for the schools could help solve many of the problems the Hillsborough County School District is facing.
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Four oil spill sites in Nigeria identified by the UN, which Shell has claimed to have had cleaned up by contractors since 2011, are still polluted, says a report by Amnesty.
One of these sites, the Bomu manifold close to the village of Kegbara Dere in Ogoniland, is Nigeria’s oil central: five major northbound Shell pipelines join four southbound ones which together carry 150,000 barrels of oil a day to the huge oil export terminal at Bonny 50 miles away. The junction is considered so important to the economy of Nigeria and Shell that it is surrounded by a high fence and guarded day and night by the military.
But the ageing 50-year-old pipes and rusty pumps have burst and spilt large quantities of oil at least seven times since 1990, and in 2009 a fire broke out lasting 36 hours, leading to another major spill. When UN environment programme (Unep) inspectors visited the site in 2010, they found high levels of contamination all around Bomu, pollution 5m deep in places and oil spreading into nearby cassava fields, and water supplies.
Back in 2010, Unep inspectors said, “Nothing appears to have been done about the pollution,” and urged an immediate decontamination of the Bomu manifold along with 60 other heavily polluted sites in Ogoniland, all of which, they said, had been left untouched or only cursorily cleaned up by Shell and other oil companies since the 1970s.
Earlier this year Amnesty International revisited the Bomu manifold three times and found the site still massively contaminated, despite claims from Shell and the Nigerian government’s watchdog pollution body that it had been cleaned up satisfactorily in 2012.
“Water containing oil … flows along the path of the Shell pipelines. At places there are pools of oil. Some soil is black and hard. The three fish ponds, owned by a local family, are covered in a thick oily sheen, and show no signs of life. The spills … have contaminated fields and a neighbouring forest and have spread down into the Barabeedom swamp,” says Amnesty, working with the Port Harcourt-based Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD).
The joint report is published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the execution of nine Ogoni leaders, including the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. Amnesty alleges that in some cases, contractors employed by Shell admit simply to burying the pollution.
“This is just a cover up. If you just dig down a few metres you find oil. We just excavated, then shifted the soil away, then covered it all up again,” one contractor employed by Shell told Amnesty.
The report concerns sites at Bomu Manifold, Boobanabe, Barabeedom swamp and Okuluebu. It says: “Claims by Shell that it has cleaned up heavily polluted areas of the Niger delta are blatantly false. The only plausible explanations for why the four sites could still be polluted, four years after Unep found high levels of contamination at each of them, are that no remediation was carried out, or remediation was carried out but was ineffective, or that other spills have occurred since then.
“In two of the four cases explanation one is ruled out by Shell itself. The company has publicly stated that the sites were cleaned up. In those two locations, explanation three [that there was subsequent re-contamination from spills after 2011] is also not possible.
“All four sites remain visibly contaminated, even though Shell says it has cleaned them. The investigation demonstrates this is due to inadequate clean-up, and not new oil spills,” says the report.
Amnesty says its investigators sought meetings with and wrote to both Shell and the government’s oil spill regulator, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (Nosdra), seeking an explanation.
“Shell said they were not available for meetings. A subsequent letter from the company suggested researchers look at information on Shell’s website. But this provided little information on clean-up.
“Nosdra is under-resourced and continues to certify areas as clean that are visibly polluted with crude oil,” says Amnesty. “The government of Nigeria is failing to fulfil its duty to protect the human rights of people living in the Niger delta. It must substantially strengthen the capacity of Nosdra to regulate Shell and the activities of Shell’s contractors,” it says.
“By inadequately cleaning up the pollution from its pipelines and wells, Shell is leaving thousands of women, men and children exposed to contaminated land, water and air, in some cases for years or even decades,” says Amnesty researcher Mark Dummett.
“Shell says theft is to blame for most oil spills on the Delta, but even if that were true it would not excuse the company’s historic failure to clean up oil pollution. Shell’s blame game can no longer deflect attention from its broken promises and neglected infrastructure,” says Dummett.
Shell operates around 50 oil fields and 5,000km of pipelines in the Niger delta. According to the oil giant’s own figures, there have been 1,693 oil spills leading to more than 350,000 barrels of crude oil being lost since 2007.
Shell has said it intends to clean up all the spills identified in the 2011 Unep report, but argues this could take some years.
In a statement to the Guardian, Shell said: “Without access to the full report it is difficult to verify and respond to the detailed claims.
“Implementation of the Unep report is part of a wider programme of remediation, pipeline protection, community engagement and social investment activities being undertaken by the SPDC JV with its government, community and civil society partners in Ogoniland.
Unep estimated in 2011 that it could take up to 30 years and $6bn to clean up the region. The organisation made detailed recommendations to Shell and the Nigerian government.


Size and mobility helped Dumoulin become a college champion and Stanley Cup champion.
A second-round draft pick (No. 51) of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2009 NHL Draft, Dumoulin went on to a decorated collegiate career at Boston College, which included an NCAA championship in 2010 and 2012. During his time with the Eagles, Dumoulin was twice named an All-American (2011, 2012), twice named All-Hockey East (2011, 2012) and made the 2009 Hockey East All-Rookie Team.
In 2012, Dumoulin was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top player in college hockey. He was named to the 2010 and 2012 NCAA all-tournament teams.
After signing his entry-level contract with Carolina on April 10, 2012, Dumoulin was traded to Pittsburgh on June 22, 2012, with the No. 8 pick in that year's draft and forward Brandon Sutter for center Jordan Staal.
The 6-foot-4, 207-pound defenseman spent the next three seasons honing his game in the American Hockey League with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, appearing in 14 regular-season games with the Penguins between 2012 and 2015 and five playoff games with Pittsburgh in 2015.
It wasn't until the 2015-16 season that Dumoulin earned a full-time role in the NHL, and he played a prominent role in the Penguins' championship run. In the playoffs, Dumoulin averaged more than 21 minutes per game, more than 2:30 over his regular-season average. Dumoulin scored his first NHL playoff goal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the same team he scored his first NHL goal against on Dec. 15, 2014.
Dumoulin also scored the opening goal in the clinching Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks. With the victory, Dumoulin became the first native of Maine -- he hails from Biddeford -- to win the Stanley Cup.
Dumoulin, who played in 24 games in the 2016 playoffs, played 25 postseason games in 2017 when the Penguins won a second straight Stanley Cup.
Traded to Pittsburgh by Carolina with Brandon Sutter and Carolina's 1st round pick (Derrick Pouliot) in 2012 NHL Draft for Jordan Staal, June 22, 2012.


Everyone went nuts for Adobe’s “content-aware fill” in Photoshop when it came out. The boring-sounding feature is in fact an incredibly useful tool, essentially an AI-powered clone stamp that intelligently brought in other pieces of the image to replace your selection. But it still failed in hilarious ways that only an AI is capable of. That should happen a lot less with the hot new tools Adobe is shipping soon.
Teased in a sneak peek video today, the new content-aware fill has a ton of new settings that shooters will love playing with. Photographers love tweaking things — that’s just a fact — and the more things they have to tweak, the better.
…now has a whole right-hand menu full of lovely options to choose from.
The most important difference is certainly the ability to choose which parts of the image the filling agent samples when it’s looking for stuff to put inside your lassoed area. If, as in the fail above, it decides to fill the field in with horse parts, you just exclude the horse from the agent’s consideration with a few brush strokes. No need to be exact — the algorithm is smart enough to work without the handful of pixels that are casualties of overeager mousing.
The improved algorithm also lets you tell the algo that it should be liberal with rotation and scaling of the elements it uses, or that it should mirror-image the content it finds to make it fit better.
Lastly, you can output the fill to a new layer — non-destructive editing is critical to any digital artist’s workflow. I can’t imagine why this wasn’t the case before.
Okay, so maybe some purists will scoff at those who use such heavy-handed means to fix a shot. But sometimes you have to go with the shot you’ve got, and sometimes there’s one too many cows in it. So I at least appreciate the option to do some major alterations without the hassle of manual clone-stamping and other techniques.
The new updates are “coming soon,” so keep an eye out for updates to your client.


Email platform Litmus has formed a partnership with Asana, supplier of a work management app, to help marketers integrate their email workflow into the overall creative process.
The arrangement enables teams to “streamline their workflow, improve collaboration, and send quality emails at scale,” states Erik Nierenberg, CEO of Litmus.
"Getting a great email out the door is a complex process that requires managing a broad range of tasks, deliverables, and stakeholders,” he adds.
The partnership with Litmus supports Asana for Marketing and Creative Teams, Asana's new creative management tool. Asana is also partnering with Adobe and Slack or new program.
According to Litmus, the partnership will allow marketers to integrate email creation into larger marketing projects; streamline email project status updates and communication with stakeholders; and gain visibility into the status of email projects.
Litmus recently announced a partnership with Slack, in which Slack adds communications capabilities to Litmus’s email creation, testing and analytics services.


Make your holiday season merrier with these local (and not-so-local) parades and events. Want to check out some local lights? We rounded up the best light displays here.


The shares, floated at 575p, nearly doubled on the first day and are now £28.68p (up 2 1/ 2p). First-quarter profits soared 91pc to £3.2m pre-tax, on sales 51pc ahead. Former parent, computer group Acorn, wants to join the party. Its market value is £220m, but its 24.4pc stake in ARM is worth £330m.
Acorn is looking at tax-efficient ways to unlock the value. The likeliest option is a demerger of the ARM stake.


The FINANCIAL -- In what may be the biggest boost to zip code envy since “Beverly Hills 90210,” RealtyTrac has released a data survey ranking the Top 20 U.S. zip codes of more than 2,500 residents with the highest average prices for single-family residences.
Clearly the primetime soap that ran throughout the 1990s and topped the Nielsens in 1993 was set in the right state. The RealtyTrac data shows that California has 17 of the 20 zip codes with the highest average home prices.
The infamous 90210, however, is not one of them. Now it’s 90212.
Topping the list, with homes topping $2.9 million, is New York City’s 10282, followed by Los Altos, California, with properties averaging $2.6 million and then zip codes in Palo Alto and Santa Monica, California where homes average in the $2.5 million range.
The only neighborhood in the survey outside California and New York City is the fifth-ranked 62016 zip code of Carrollton, Illinois. There, a population of 3,717 live in homes averaging $2.469 million.


Pop star Selena Gomez once again has placed her luxurious mansion on the market. The residence located in the exclusive community of Montserrat, west of Fort Worth, Texas, is now for sale a third time.
The property is listed at just under $3 million. The 10,000-square-foot house was on sale for the first time in 2016 and the second time at the beginning of 2017.
The house features a variety of amenities, including a movie theater, golf course, and a tennis court.
The 25-year-old singer bought the house in 2015 to use when she was visiting her family in Texas. Gomez, who was born in Grand Prairie, considers northern Texas her home.


Taipei, July 18 (CNA) U.S.-based search engine giant Google on Wednesday launched a new Google Maps service for motorbike riders in Taiwan that will help them plan their routes and calculate their travel time.
The two-wheel navigation mode was launched by Google for the first time in December 2017, and Taiwan became the fourth country worldwide to have the service, after India, Indonesia and Malaysia, Google said.
The new services are a good fit for a country with a big motorbike population like Taiwan, which has more than 14 million motorbike riders, Google said.
The new services will help riders identify the best routes to arrive at their destinations as quickly as possible, even during rush hour, the company said.
The new navigation mode can recommend legal shortcuts for motorbikes, show vehicle speeds for riders to precisely calculate travel times, and help them schedule a better route to get them to their destinations, according to Google.
The new navigation service will also speak to motorbike riders through voice assistance to alert them to turns they should take and remind them of road conditions.
Motorbike riders will need mobile devices powered by Android Kitkat 4.4 or more advanced operating systems to be able to use the new map service, Google said.
Google Maps previously provided navigation services for car drivers and pedestrians in Taiwan, and it also launched up-to-the minute information on public transportation services in the country in January 2017.


The Waste Land as an iPad app demonstrates how we might re-imagine the book, but it also illustrates how editorial choices can limit value.
The Guardian recently documented a June trek of 25 people through the city of London, on (TS Eliot's The Waste Land 2012 – a multimedia walk, (Henry Eliot, 30 July 2012). That a poem written in the early 20th Century remains resonant with people who live nearly a century later offers a testament to its often misunderstood and always daunting language, allusion and structure.
But being citizens of the 21st Century, we need not rely solely on the manuscript and printed commentary to bring the poem to us. With new devices like Apple’s iPad, the very idea of the book as a book has been reconsidered. The Waste Land, a cooperative work between Touch Press, Faber and Faber, BBC Arena and other collaborators, releases the text of the poem through the lens of the iPad. From its earliest incarnations, The Waste Land was as much a initiator of non-fiction as it was a poem. As Eliot sought to pad out his poem for book publication, he included a series of notes, which have become famous in their own right. The scholarship and commentary on the poem continues with the Touch Press treatment, which migrates much of its new insights from print to video.
The Waste Land app first reveals a navigation screen that offers seven content choices and a Tips screen. First is the full text of poem as published in the book from in 1922 (The poem had previously appeared in Eliot’s own journal, The Criterion, and in The Dial, without notes). The app also offers the facsimile manuscript of the poem, previously published as book.
Unfortunately, the editors of the app, trying it appears to stay aligned with the published text, omit the first manuscript page with Eliot’s excision, leading to an incomplete context for the work and its history. They also fail to share any of the scholarship from the book, just images with short captions. The introduction and the editorial notes from the published version of the manuscript do not appear in the app. This is a first incompleteness. I will come to others later.
The Waste Land, like any good poem, is meant to be heard, not read. This is where multimedia offerings succeed beyond the standalone text, the random MP3 file or an LP gathering dust in a garage. Touch Stone includes five different readings of The Waste Land, two by Eliot himself. Others include Alec Guiness (Star Wars' original Obi Wan Kenobi,) Ted Hughes (British Poet Lauret and husband to poet Sylvia Plath,) Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of the The Lord of the Rings) and Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter’s Aunt in the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series).
Shaw also offers a performance interpretation of the poem, complete with music and sound effects. Shaw’s performance is available as a short, standalone film, and as an audio reading that, like the other readings, follows the text as the performers read it.
The performances are all good, and hearing Eliot with his mid-Western-affected-proper-English continues to haunt and delight. Although the other readings offer more thoughtful emoting on behalf of the audience, Eliot's rendition provides the poet's internal rhythm and pauses, inflections and glottal stops.
Eliot's own notes, as mentioned, fueled enormous amounts of scholarship. Much of that scholarship was curated and condensed into line-by-line annotations derived taken from B.C. Southam’s excellent A Student’s Guide to the Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot. Southam’s book serves as the source for the app’s annotations. Click a line and the annotations display. These notes are fine for the casual reader, but because parts of Southam’s book, like sources (on page 31-42 of the sixth edition) aren't included, the notes ultimately prove incomplete. To do the annotations justice, Touch Press needs to include Southam’s introduction and appendix.
As my three bookshelves dedicated to Eliot attest, I will acquire interesting material related to Eliot, and this app counts as interesting material, especially given the lack of DVD or download access to the original BBC documentary from which its interviews were drawn (though most of the BBC Arena documentary can be found on YouTube). The commentaries are joyfully affirmative and personally insightful.
Former punk rocker Frank Turner draws connections to Bob Dylan and contemporary pop culture. Paul Keegan provides erudite comments on Eliot and his relationship to the poem. Jim McCue a history of publication. Craig Raine dishes haughty interpretations and observations. Fiona Shaw marvels and connects with personal anecdotes. Jeanette Winterson offers right-professorial insight. And Seamus Heaney discusses what The Waste Land means to him as a poet. Unfortunately, the entire collection of commentary fits much more with documentary film-making than with serious literary scholarship.
I return to incompleteness here. Many important voices on Eliot don’t appear in the app beyond scattered references to particular lines in the annotations. Most notably, these missing scholars include Hugh Kenner, Frank Kermode, F.O. Matthiessen, Lyndall Gordon, Helen Gardner, George Williamson and Russell Kirk. They may not be available as video (or audio), but their text remains important. The majority of these critics and scholars might have presented Touch Stone with licensing issues, but given the partnership with Faber, Helen Gardner’s excellent tome, The Art of T.S. Eliot, would have been a good addition to the app’s content.
Much of the early scholarship about Eliot and The Waste Land has not yet arrived in e-reader format, though much of it is available on scholarly websites. Selections of essays or chapters would go a long way to making the app a more useful resource. Even better, given the publication and financial resources associated with Touch Press, would be a site that linked to the app, providing additional reference material on-demand.
The app offers some additional data in the form of a very small set of poorly integrated snapshots meant to illustrate the poem, its author, his collaborators and the publishing process. Given the visual and location-based references in the poem, more images could surely be found that could lend value to the reading. The app would benefit from the publishers going beyond the slideshow by fully integrating the images with the line readings and annotations.
I always felt that The Waste Land prepared me for success in the Internet age. The poem that Eliot wrote and Ezra Pound helped craft fills the consciousness with fragmented jumbles of allusion and synthesis, of memory and creation, of studied eloquence and discerning observation. Blogs and other web-based content sources with their wildly far-flung links echo The Waste Land in reality, if not intent.
On the surface, the poem seemingly weaves together incongruities, but on deeper study it reveals a multi-layered structure. That hodgepodge of sources force the reader to engage beyond the surface, much as the Internet forces one from the page being scanned, to underlying sources or additional commentary. Before Vanevar Bush suggested a hypertext-like idea, Eliot apparently thought in hypertext-like form, recording his internal musings, broad reading, personal experience and intellectual associations into an exculpated whole.
For readers coming to The Waste Land for the first time, an app on an iPad with video commentary and clickable links that illuminate its language and allusions provides an appropriate entry point. For people who have studied the poem over the years, the app offers convenient access and a few new, easily consumed perspectives. I can also argue for The Waste Land app as a compelling and relatively inexpensive tool for teaching the poem, but one far from complete in its library of criticism and interpretation, and shameful in its lack of references.
The app is perhaps best for those who want to re-read The Waste Land and reconnect with a writer and an age now far removed from contemporary experience. As a work of art, The Waste Land continues to reveal truths 90 years after its first publication, in a new era of raging uncertainty and despair tempered by emergent potential.


Major U.S. stock averages rise Wednesday after encouraging U.S. data.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Major U.S. stock averages were trading higher late Wednesday morning as investors cheered a larger-than-expected rise in pending home sales, an increase in durable goods numbers, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's reiteration of easy monetary policy at his second-day of testimony before Congress.
Investors were also focusing on Apple(:AAPL), whose annual shareholders' meeting is set to begin Wednesday at 12 p.m. EST. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, is likely to be asked what the iPhone maker plans to do with its massive cash hoard of more than $137 billion.
"We have some rumors about Apple and what they might do today at a meeting ... I'm going to focus on what we see in tech ... and if we really get a solid bounce and Apple stays above ... maybe there's some credence to the rumor," Matthew Cheslock, equity trader at Virtu Financial, told TheStreet late Tuesday, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq rebounded strongly along with Apple.
Apple shares were down 0.7% Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 73.64 points, or 0.53%, at 13,973.The S&P 500 was rising 8.17 points, or 0.55%, at 1,505. The Nasdaq was up 18.55 points, or 0.59%, at 3,148.
Major U.S. stock averages rebounded Tuesday from the prior session's swoon after a raft of upbeat economic data and earnings reports, and after Bernanke indicated continued support for monetary easing in his semi-annual testimony before Congress.
Speaking before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Bernanke said, though, that the Fed alone couldn't bear the entire burden of spurring the economic recovery, and urged lawmakers to find alternatives to the sequestration ahead of a March 1 deadline.
On Wednesday, Bernanke was giving his semi-annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington. He reiterated his continued support for easy monetary policy and once again voiced his concerns about the looming spending cuts in Washington.
The Census Bureau reported that durable goods orders fell 5.2% in January after rising 3.7% in December. Excluding transportation, orders rose 1.9% after a 1% increase the prior month. Economists were expecting durable goods orders to fall 3.5% in January and the number to rise 0.2% excluding the transportation component.
The National Association of Realtors said that its pending home sales index rose 4.5% in January after falling 1.9% the previous month. Economists were forecasting a rise of 1%.
"Between this report and the upside surprises in the housing market data released yesterday (prices for December and new home sales for January), housing market activity appears to have ended 2012 on a positive note and is off to a strong start in 2013," said Cooper Howes, U.S, economist for Barclays.
Gold for April delivery was sliding $10 to $1,605.50 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, while April crude oil futures were down 5 cents to $92.58 a barrel.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury was rising 9/32, diluting the yield to 1.857%. The dollar was falling 0.27%, according to the U.S. dollar index.
In corporate news, Groupon(:GRPN), the daily deals site, is forecast to report fourth-quarter profit of 3 cents a share on sales of $638.4 million after the markets close. Shares were rising more than 2%.
Priceline.com(:PCLN), the travel Web site operator, said Tuesday that fourth-quarter net income rose 28%, as bookings on its Web sites jumped 33% to about $6.6 billion in the quarter. Shares were popping 2.75%.
Coach(:COH) shares were jumping more than 4.5% amid rumors that the luxury goods company is thinking about selling itself, and following its announcement of new appointments to its creative team, including Zach Augustine. Augustine joins Coach from Nike, where he held the role of global creative director.
First Solar(:FSLR), the solar panel manufacturer, swung to a profit in the fourth quarter but issued first-quarter net income and sales guidance below analysts' forecasts. Shares were plunging 16.5%.
Accretive Health (:AH), a provider of services to the health care industry, announced that it will postpone the release of its financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2012, as well as its previously announced investor conference call scheduled for Wednesday, because it is evaluating the timing of revenue recognition for its revenue cycle management agreements. Shares were plummeting nearly 26%.
Edison International(:EIX) booked better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Shares were rising more than 2%.
Target(:TGT) shares were falling more than 1% after the company reported that its fourth-quarter gross margin rate declined to 27.8% in 2012 from 28.4% in 2011.
DreamWorks Animation(:DWA) shares were falling more than 3% after the company reported a quarterly loss of $82.7 million, or 98 cents a share, including the impact of a write-down of film costs for "Rise of the Guardians" and charges related to the decision to return "Me & My Shadow" back to development.


The town will now consider changing its animal ordinance.
A Berlin woman is trying to keep her pet goat despite a town ordinance.
A dwarf goat named Benny has been living in a backyard pen at 452 New Britain Road in Berlin for five years, but in December, his owner was notified that her quarter acre of land is too small for a goat.
Zoning regulations require three acres, but Sheri Sala is fighting to keep Benny and got some unexpected help on Tuesday when a town board agreed to look into the zoning issues at the heart of the ordeal.
"No one has three acres in this town unless you have a farm. That goes back to 1965," said Sala.
Sala stepped in to take care of Benny when he was young.
"His mom wouldn't feed him so I took him in to bottle feed him for six weeks and he's been with me ever since," Sala said.
And, she has been fighting the zoning that would prohibit her from keeping the goat and she has received lots of support.
Hundreds of people have "liked" a Facebook page about Benny's plight. Meanwhile, three dozen Benny supporters have been writing to town officials, saying Benny should stay.
"We have received a lot of letters. A lot of people have had concerns about this," Helen Riggins, Berlin's director of development, said.
On Tuesday night, Sala planned to ask the Berlin Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance to keep Benny. However, before she could speak Bruce Moore, the planning and zoning commission chairman, asked the board of appeals to table the issue while the Planning & Zoning Commission decides whether the ordinance needs to be changed.The Zoning Board then voted unanimously to table the issue.
"I'm not sure what they're going to say, but it's kind of a good thing that they are going to study it," Tony Fracanlangia, the Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman, said. That means Benny can stay, for now, but Sala isn't declaring victory.
"No it's not. It's just postponing. It's still waiting," Sala said.
It's unclear when the Planning and Zoning Commission will take up the issue and how long the process could take.
If Sala can't keep Benny in Berlin, she'll move to a town where she can keep him.


United Bank at the Fair Lakes Shopping Center caught fire just after 4 p.m. May 2 after someone discarded a cigarette into mulch, which ignited a pine tree and spread to the roof of the bank, investigators said.
Now Dmitry Christensen is charged with burglary and larceny.
Police were investigating Christensen on a drug charge when he gave an officer permission to search his phone, according to a search warrant. That revealed photos of safes and computer parts.
Christensen admitted going into the burned-out bank and taking money, computer equipment, safes, surveillance equipment and keys to the bank's locks and putting the items in a storage unit, according to court documents.
A search of the storage unit found some of the stolen items.


Adele has broken down in tears on stage as she dedicated the latest leg of her worldwide tour to victims of the Orlando shooting.
A seven-year-old Adele fan had his dream of meeting her come true when he was invited backstage before her gig last night.
Adele has topped a chart of the most popular acts in the world according to an international music trade body; the IFPI.
The London born singer has been named as the most popular recording artist in the world for 2015 for sales, downloads and streams. That's despite her album 25 only being released in November but still managing to sell more than 15 million copies.
The lead single from the album, Hello, was number one in more than thirty countries globally, including the UK, US, Germany and Australia.
Pop star Adele is one of the hot favourites to headline next year's Glastonbury as tickets for the 2016 festival sold out in minutes.
Madame Tussauds have revealed the multi-award winning singer Adele as the latest celebrity to join their waxy Hall of Fame.


Pat Maloney was a gifted experimental musician in the 1970s, until he suddenly stopped playing entirely.
This story starts with an ending.
Pat Maloney passed away in the late summer of 2016. He'd been facing terminal cancer, and died at home in the village of Arden, Ontario, with his wife, Joanne Pickett, by his side. Their final years together were some of their strongest.
"We became the best of friends," she said. "We just spent such great time together. We took road trips, we talked a lot… We did all of the things that we hadn't taken the time to do before."
Maloney had been a father, a friend. He was a carpenter and a conversationalist, with a sharp wit and a sense of humour. He loved reading books and watching a good hockey game.
He also used to play the flute — but that was a very long time ago.
For years, it sat in a kitchen cupboard, not so much an instrument as a relic. To his kids, the flute was evidence of a former life back in the 1970s, when Maloney worked in Toronto as a recording engineer and played in numerous bands.
"I'd pull it out of the cupboard and force him to play a couple of notes," said Luke Maloney, Pat and Joanne's son, "But it wouldn't last more than a couple of seconds and he'd put it away. Playing music was something he was sheepish about in the time I was around."
The flute gathered dust. They never heard him use it, or make music at all. After Maloney's death, there were traces of him all over the house — woodworking materials, paperwork, half-finished projects — but it took a year for his wife to decide she was ready to climb the stairs to the attic, which Maloney had managed to fill from floor to ceiling, over the years, with boxes and tools and who knew what else.
That's when she found them.
Tapes. Dozens and dozens of tapes. And the old reel-to-reel machines Maloney had recorded them on.
Everything was in pristine condition, untouched for decades. Pickett didn't know what to do with the discovery, but she had a feeling that a neighbour of hers would.
Jonas Bonnetta fronts the band Evening Hymns and runs a recording studio, called Port William Sound, on his property.
Pickett called Bonnetta, and he was like a kid in a candy store. "When I saw the machines and the shape they were in, I was like, '…Let's use these machines to digitize all the tapes!'" he said.
"I was interested in being able to give [Pickett] recordings of this person she spent a huge portion of her life with. Because I think anybody would want that."
But Bonnetta was not prepared for what he uncovered.
Why did Maloney give it all up, and put it away?
"Because he was invested in the intellectual side of music, I find it so bizarre that he would just stop making recordings," said Bonnetta, "And that (his kids) don't know that Pat."
He gestured to the piles of tapes. "I mean, what a gift, you know?"
So Bonnetta decided to share what he found with Maloney's family. They all gathered in the family home in Arden, Ontario. Before he pressed play, Pickett was nervous. "It's a little overwhelming, to tell you the truth," she said.
After hearing some of his father's music for the first time, something clicked for Luke Maloney. "That makes sense. He was always a rebel and that seems to be reflected in his music as well. I guess he liked to be a challenge in all aspects."
"It does kind of bring him back to life," Pickett said. "I feel like I'm going to turn around and see him... it's a gift for us but it would've been a greater gift had we discovered it sooner and maybe it could've been part of his life for the last years."
To hear the documentary on Pat Maloney's lost tapes, click on Listen Now at the top of this article. Or download and subscribe to our podcast so you never miss a show.
Jessa Runciman is a reporter with CBC Ottawa, a radio producer and music writer who lives in the woods of Quebec, north of Ottawa.
This documentary was co-produced by Veronica Simmonds, and edited with Acey Rowe.


A Terre Haute man will have his initial hearing on Wednesday for an arrest dating back to July.
VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - A Terre Haute man will have his initial hearing on Wednesday for an arrest dating back to July.
Dominic Pope is being charged with criminal confinement, kidnapping, and strangulation.
The charges are from an arrest on July 23rd.
According to court documents, Pope held a woman against her will, battered her, and threatened her with a machete.
Pope is scheduled to appear before Judge Michael Lewis on Wednesday for his initial hearing.
He is currently in the Vigo County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Do you want a Casino in Terre Haute?


Manifesto is silent on the dangers copyright abuses pose to Internet freedom.
The Campaign for Liberty, a libertarian advocacy group founded by congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), is gearing up for an "Internet freedom" project that focuses on opposing government regulation of the Internet.
A draft of the project's manifesto was first leaked by Buzzfeed. It warns that "collectivist special interests" are pushing for harmful Internet legislation.
According to "Internet collectivists," the document says, "'Net neutrality' means government acting as arbiter and enforcer of what it deems to be neutral." The document criticizes antitrust regulation of successful Internet companies and government micromanagement of everything from the electromagnetic spectrum to tech companies' privacy practices.
It's not surprising that a libertarian activist organization would denounce government regulation of the high-tech economy. But we were surprised to see the document denounce the "Internet collectivist" view that "what is considered to be in the public domain should be greatly expanded."
We don't see anything "collectivist" about expanding the public domain. Due to repeated extensions by Congress, copyrighted works from the 1920s are still under copyright protection, a situation that has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. Indeed, a constitutional challenge to Congress's 1998 extension of copyright terms enjoyed the support of the libertarian Cato Institute and Nobel prize-winning economists such as Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, and James Buchanan.
In a Thursday interview, Campaign for Liberty spokesman Matt Hawes assured Ars that the organization did not intend to endorse today's long copyright terms. "We think the public domain is a terrific part of the Internet," he told us. Rather, he said, the group was worried that "Internet collectivists" would use the phrase "public domain" as "code for getting the government more involved" in copyright issues.
Still, it would be nice for the organization to take a clearer stance against Hollywood-backed copyright legislation that threatens Internet freedom. Ron Paul was an early SOPA opponent, but SOPA is hardly the only example of bad copyright legislation. For example, Congress last added 20 years to copyright terms in 1998. That means we're due for another debate on extending copyright terms between now and 2018. Opponents of that inevitable proposal could use the Campaign for Liberty's support.
More importantly, Congress has already enacted copyright legislation that threatens Internet freedom. Perhaps the most alarming example is the 2008 PRO-IP Act, which gives the federal government the power to seize domain names, servers, and other assets of Internet companies without proving their owners have committed any crime. Libertarians have long railed against the abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws in the war on drugs. There's even more reason to be alarmed about the government using those powers to enforce copyright laws.
It's important to remember that the debate over Internet freedom is not strictly a left-vs-right debate. While the left and right are never going to agree on every Internet policy issue, they've frequently found common ground when Internet freedom comes under attack.
In particular, we don't agree with the manifesto's claim that "openness" is an "Internet collectivist" code word for "government control of privately owned infrastructure." Openness is an engineering concept that is embraced by people with a wide variety of political perspectives. There are reasonable arguments against openness being mandated by the government, but there's no reason libertarians should be hostile toward openness as such.
Protecting Internet freedom in the future will require the same kind of ideologically diverse coalition that stopped the Stop Online Piracy Act. Branding left-of-center Internet policy advocates as "Internet collectivists" seems unnecessarily divisive.


If we hope to preserve Social Security and Medicare for seniors, younger workers and our children, we must begin the conversation about common-sense ways to reform both programs.
These are big things — and there is little question that turning trillion-dollar deficits into surpluses, while starting to pay down our national debt, is an enormous mountain to climb. Yet the long climb to fiscal responsibility must begin with a few smaller, but necessary, steps.
These are big things — but proposing cuts to these program would be an electoral disaster. If Republicans proposed real federal spending reductions we’d get our hats handed to us in November. So we’re not going to do it. We’re just not. And we’re not going to do anything serious about cutting spending after the election either. Instead we’re going to distract the rubes with some chatter about a problem that even I admit is trifling. They’ll eat it up. I might be pandering here, but that’s sure better than the alternative.


Dog licenses are available in the town clerk's office. The fee is $5 if neutered/spayed, and $12 if not. A record of the dog's current rabies vaccination must on file before the license can be purchased.


Get the Web as screensaver. NESSIE displays as screen saver the links of an Internet Explorer favorites directory or a specified URL address. You can also use NESSIE to make efficient push of informations. Version 1 includes unspecified updates.


Completing BT’s Complete WiFi solution is the digital set-top box. Manufactured by Humax, this compact YouView compatible unit is available in either two versions, either with or without a hard drive. I opted for the version with a 500GB hard drive – the Humax DTR-T2100 – which would normally set you back around £125 if you were buying it ‘off the shelf’, rather than as part of a subscription deal.


Image caption Mr Ban has pledged to work as a "bridge-builder"
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been re-elected to serve a second five-year term, in a vote at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mr Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, was the only candidate after the UN Security Council unanimously recommended his re-election.
Critics say he is too deferential to major powers, but he has won praise for his policies on climate change and the protests sweeping the Middle East.
He took over at the UN in 2007.
His second term will formally begin on 1 January 2012 and run until the end of 2016.
Mr Ban smiled and bowed to ambassadors and diplomats gathered at UN headquarters, who backed the reappointment through applause without a vote.
"In a complex, difficult international environment, you have strengthened the role and the visibility of the United Nations by adopting reform measures, launching exciting, innovative initiatives, and calling faithfully and constantly for respect for human rights, the rule of law and the other values rooted in our charter," UN General Assembly President Joseph Deiss told him.
When he announced his candidacy two weeks ago, Mr Ban pledged to keep leading the world body as a "bridge-builder" in a time of unprecedented global change.
He has referred to himself as a "harmoniser, balancer, mediator"
Correspondents say when Mr Ban was first elected, powerful nations in the Security Council seemed to want a low-profile leader after the schisms of the 2003 Iraq war.
However, his low-key approach has sometimes been criticised. He came under heavy attack from human rights activists for failing to take a public stand on the jailing of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.
More recently, he has spoken out in support of pro-democracy activists in the Middle East and North Africa.
He has also taken a strong stand on climate change.


What is Mississippi State getting in new baseball coach Chris Lemonis?
What is Mississippi State getting in Chris Lemonis? Let's talk about it.
With the news that Mississippi State has hired Indiana's Chris Lemonis to be its new baseball coach, Clarion Ledger sports editor Hugh Kellenberger and Indianapolis Star IU insider Zach Osterman had an email conversation about the hire and what it means for both schools.
Hugh Kellenberger: "OK Zach, Indiana baseball coach Chris Lemonis is now the head coach at Mississippi State. I guess we should start with the basic, obvious question that most MSU fans are asking themselves today: Is this a good hire?"
Zach Osterman: "I think it is. Having grown up in SEC country (Y'all need to get more Publix in that state), I'm well aware of expectations at a place like Mississippi State. And while I know Lemonis doesn't necessarily have every resume trimming you'd want, he's a proven recruiter, a college baseball lifer and a guy who in four years at Indiana did things nobody else has done in the history of IU's oldest varsity program. His teams are balanced and deep, and in all four seasons, I covered him, the best way I could describe his style is that he brings a high floor virtually every year. Will his ceiling raise with time and the advantages of a Mississippi State? Obviously, I can't tell you that for sure. But I think there's every chance."
Kellenberger: "That's I think the biggest question right now with Mississippi State: what is the ceiling? So Lemonis did a nice job taking the baton from Tracy Smith at Indiana and he had some success, including three regionals in four years. That's all very nice. But success at Mississippi State is not judged by trips to the regionals. It's super regionals and trips to Omaha. Lemonis has been to Omaha, albeit as an assistant at Louisville. So he knows what it takes to get there. But what do you think he has to do differently than he did at Indiana in order to unlock that higher ceiling? Or is it simply a matter of when you load the bus with better players, you're going to get better results?"
Osterman: "I tend to think it's probably more the latter. Most casual college baseball fans (for understandable reasons) don't realize all the obstacles Big Ten programs face — weather, scheduling, recruiting base, prestige, restrictive recruiting rules. The conference has at least invested more in recent years, and loosening a few things up, but look at it this way: Since 2013, Indiana has made five NCAA regionals in six seasons, and one College World Series. Of those five regionals, the three Lemonis landed represent the program's three at-large berths ever. No Big Ten team since Ohio State in the mid-1990s has been in the tournament as often, and IU's World Series appearance (pre-Lemonis, I know) was the conference's first in 29 years. The point is, as much as IU baseball has improved — and it undoubtedly has — sustaining that level of success at a Big Ten program is a generational accomplishment. If you told me 36 wins a year would become 47 wins a year with the talent and advantages of a top-tier SEC program, I'd believe you. There are clear areas for Lemonis to improve. But he's done more here than a lot of folks probably realize."
Kellenberger: "So let's talk about the recruiting because that's probably one of the biggest reasons why national baseball writers are liking this hire: Lemonis' reputation is that he's excellent at it, first at Louisville and then at Indiana. But there are two very different kinds of recruiting I think, especially in college baseball where you could have a very nice recruiting ranking that means very little when your whole class just used you as leverage with MLB teams and never show up on campus. So can you point to any players in Lemonis' past that are either A) Guys that he shouldn't have gotten in the first place but did, either because he kept them from blue bloods or the MLB Draft and B) Players that he "discovered," for lack of a better word, and have developed into key contributors for Indiana."
Osterman: "Yea, this is a tougher one for me to judge, because there are so many layers to college baseball recruiting. When I say his teams always had high floors, that came first from solid recruiting. His staffs were deep, whether they had a true ace or not. His lineups never fell off after the four or five guy. IU admittedly sometimes lacked some of the star power of the Tracy Smith era (was there ever a Schwarber or a Travis or a Phegley?) but his teams were always, always deep. He also had some bad luck with committing guys early who took huge leaps late, and looked like the kinds of talents that would get drafted but then thrive in college, before they wound up going higher or getting greater slot money than anyone expected.
"He's still hit on a combination of good local recruiting -- many of Indiana's best players are either in state or regional, Illinois and Ohio -- and smart junior college additions to fill gaps created by unexpected attrition. Lemonis' reputation, as you said, precedes him as a recruiter. He'll emphasize local ties as much as possible. He's 100 percent the guy that will go to every tournament, watch every game, work 14-hour days. And like Dan McDonnell at Louisville, he'll happily commit a kid young (although he's not exclusive to that policy)."
Kellenberger: "Alright, last question: Where do you think Indiana goes from here? Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen made it quite clear he was going big-game hunting when he began his search, and it ended up with TCU's Jim Schlossnagle and Louisville's Dan McDonnell both publicly saying they were staying where they were and not going to Mississippi State. Part of Cohen's problem in the pursuit of those guys, I think, was that those guys just don't leave where they are. College baseball is a sport where coaches are much more apt to go to a place, build it up and then stay for the long-term. And now that salaries have risen to the point where generational wealth is at play, there's even less reason to jump into the unknown. So, from that perspective, MSU hiring someone who has been to Omaha as an assistant and has won a lot of games at the best school in a not-great baseball conference makes sense. And if Cohen got this right, then maybe Lemonis is that guy who stays 15-20 years. But if you're Indiana, what's your move? I would guess Fred Glass would want his own McDonnell, but that's easier said than done. Do any of the assistants have a chance at the gig? Does Glass look to the mid-majors for someone else on the rise and hope for the best?"
Osterman: "That's an interesting question without a clear answer right now. Indiana is in this weird place where it's paying better than just about the rest of the Big Ten, and its facilities are really good, but it's still a clear step or two below say, Mississippi State in resources. Again, IU's having a generational level of success right now. If Glass, IU's AD, wants that to continue, he could easily justify taking that spending up another level and trying to get a home-run hire. Or he could do what Indiana's done the last two times the job came open: stick with someone young, up-and-coming and in the Midwest. Jeff Mercer at Wright State sort of straddles those two possibilities. Either way, I think Indiana will look external before considering the existing staff, and I think Glass will probably step up his financial commitment again. There's an argument to be made for IU basically just bridging the financial gap, paying high six figures (or more) for a head coach and making it harder for this to happen again. I think Glass would probably prefer this be his last baseball hire."


ASA said its women’s 4x400m relay team had been invited to compete.
The federation first said three athletes were added to the world championship squad of 23‚ and then in the afternoon upped that to four when Zoe Engler was named alongside Justine Palframan‚ Gena Lofstrand and Ariane Nel.
They will team up with Semenya and 400m hurdler Wenda Nel for the relay.
Of the remaining 20 athletes‚ ASA had picked only five on discretion‚ although that increases to six with the addition Palframan‚ who will now get to compete in the 200m after all.
Appeals by the other excluded athletes failed.
What is it about South African sports administrators that they like to cut the number of athletes who represent the country abroad?
She will get two fulls days off before the 800m heats on August 10‚ with the semifinals the following day and the final on August 13.
Semenya is ranked No1 in the world in the 800m‚ and her 4min 01.99sec 1500m personal best from last year ranked her 14th in 2016. However‚ that time would have earned her gold at the Rio Olympics.


Q. I have an annuity worth about $70,000. I am retired and I need the money. They say I would get $125 a month for 10 years. This isn't enough to help me. Can I break the annuity contract to get my money back?
Without seeing your actual annuity contract, we're going to have to be a little general here.
When choosing between annuitizing and surrendering your annuity contract, there are many options to consider.
We're glad to see you're not jumping to make a decision without asking questions.
Also know that owning an annuity contract does not mean that you are locked into it forever, said Michael Green, a certified financial planner with Wechter Feldman Wealth Management in Parsippany.
That said, a payout of $125 per month for 10 years seems extremely low for a contract of this size, he said.
He said there are several types of annuity payouts available to an annuitant, and it sounds like you were provided only one option.
Some of the payout options that could be available to you include: "life," "period certain," "life with period certain" and "joint life and survivor."
Green explained what they all mean.
A "life" payout will ensure that you will not outlive your payments.
"Period certain" guarantees that you will be paid for a certain number of years, usually 10, 15, or 20.
"Life with period certain" guarantees a payout for the number of years chosen for the period certain.
"If the annuitant dies during this period, the payments will continue for the remainder of the period certain," he said. "If the annuitant lives beyond the period certain, then payouts will continue for their lifetime."
"Joint life and survivor" will pay out the annuity over the lifetimes of two people, he said.
"Should you decide to annuitize, your selection of a payout option is final," Green said. "Therefore, you should confirm that these payout amounts are accurately quoted before making any decisions. The more risk the insurance company takes, the lower your payout will be."
If you have considered all payout options and determined that none of them are in line with your financial goals, you may also consider liquidating your annuity to receive a lump sum distribution, Green said.
"It is important to keep in mind, however, that there may be additional tax consequences associated with surrendering your contract," he said. "If the surrender period for your policy has already expired, you can liquidate or 'break' the annuity contract with no penalty."
But the taxation and flexibility of your withdrawal options depend on the classification of your annuity. Specifically, is the annuity qualified or non-qualified?
Green said a qualified annuity may be eligible for a tax deduction when purchased, but would be subject to income tax upon distribution. A non-qualified annuity is funded with after-tax dollars, and when withdrawals are taken, only the earnings are taxable.
In short, you have options -- but it can be easy to choose the wrong one.
And, Green said, it is extremely important to know what you are getting into before signing on the dotted line.
"When making an irreversible decision, such as the type of annuity payout to receive, be sure to explore any potential unintended consequences," he said. "For example, it is possible that you could unknowingly lose the death benefit of your policy if the wrong choice is made."
He said you should think about working with a qualified professional before making your final decision.
"The best option is the one that's right for you -- not the insurance company," Green said.


Mr. Susumu Miyoshi has been serving as Independent Director in Kaga Electronics Co., Ltd. since June 2015. He is also working for Hitachi Maxell Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation. He used to work for OSAKA TOYOTA Co., Ltd. and OSAKA TOYOPET CORPORATION.


A British-born sailor presumed lost at sea was not wearing a safety tether when he was knocked overboard during a yacht race, it has been revealed.
John Fisher, who lived in Adelaide, Australia, plunged into the Southern Ocean, around 1,400 miles west of Cape Horn, during the Volvo Ocean Race on Monday.
Officials of the round-the-world race say the team searched for several hours in high wind and big waves, although deteriorating conditions forced the crew to resume course toward South America.
Fellow crew from Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag said Mr Fisher had unclipped his tether to tidy up a sheet when the boat was caught in an accidental crash gybe - where the mainsail and its supporting boom swing across to the opposite side of the vessel.
According to a timeline of events released by the team, Mr Fisher was hit by the mainsheet system and knocked overboard. The crew believe he was already unconscious from the blow before hitting the water.
The 47-year-old, who was an experienced big boat sailor and was sailing in his first Volvo Ocean Race, was wearing a survival suit with a wetsuit hood and gloves and a lifejacket at the time.
Team manager Tim Newton described it as "the worst situation you can imagine happening to your team".
He added: "We are absolutely heart-broken for John's family and friends. I know for David (Witt, the boat's skipper), he has lost his best friend. It's devastating."
Following the incident, it took some time to get the boat under control and sail back to a position near where Mr Fisher had been thrown overboard.
A search and rescue operation was carried out for several hours, but there was no sign of the sailor, and the decision was made to abandon the search as weather conditions deteriorated.
The crew are now making their way back to shore.
"This situation isn't over yet for our team," said Mr Newton. "The conditions are extremely challenging, with strong winds and a forecast for a building sea state over the next couple of days.
"Our sole focus, with the assistance of Race Control in Alicante is to get the team into port safely.
"Once we have achieved that, we have time to de-brief more fully and ensure that any lessons that can be learned from what happened to John are incorporated by the rest of the fleet going forward.
"That would be a tremendous legacy for John, who spent so much of his time passing the learnings from his lifetime of experience at sea onto the younger sailors on our team."
Earlier in the race, Scallywag crewman Alex Gough was swept overboard during a sail change and was rescued within seven minutes.
Mr Gough was not wearing a safety harness or life jacket, and skipper David Witt said at the time that he was lucky to be alive.
In May 2006, Dutch sailor Hans Horrevoets was swept overboard in the Atlantic Ocean. The crew turned back and found Mr Horrevoets but could not revive him.
This edition of the race had already been tarnished by a collision involving Vestas 11th Hour Racing and a fishing boat that killed a fisherman in January.
The collision off Hong Kong sank the fishing boat and caused severe damage to the racing yacht, forcing it to miss the next two legs.
The entire race covers some 45,000 nautical miles.


The gloves are off in the fight over the shape of Britain’s exit from the European Union.
A showdown in Salzburg in Austria punctured the unreal bubble of collusion that had endured since the Brexit referendum in 2016.
The messy break-up of the European summit on Thursday revealed both sides are entering the next phase as punch-drunk protagonists swinging wildly, with no clear idea of the end point.
To the dismay of those who cherish international systems and institutions, it is now clear that Brexit won’t settle the argument over Europe’s future. Instead it now threatens to set up the long-range break up of the continent.
The Brexit argument that the overarching politics of Europe is self-interested and unbending is now unanswerable.
Politicians steadily losing their grasp on their own politics on Thursday rallied for the cheap thrill of knocking down the vulnerable British leader.
Emmanuel Macron, who has alienated more French people than he has won over, lead the sneer-fest, kicking at “the liars” responsible for Brexit.
Riding shotgun was Angela Merkel, the veteran German leader who now barely clings to the chancellor’s office. Enfeebled, she spent last week failing to sack a German domestic intelligence supremo who consorted with the far-right and rubbished her version of a race-hate protest.
In the end the spymaster was promoted, not ousted.
Virtually every one of the heads of government gathered in Austria could be found wanting in this fashion.
Yet these men and women are the custodians of Europe. At the table, which was visually reminiscent of a villain's lair in a James Bond movie, the group decided to rough house Theresa May’s carefully modest proposal for a Brexit that was not horrendously disruptive.
The summit resembled nothing so much as a giant act of collective displacement to camouflage the real issue. This is a European culture war that is centred on immigration.
There is broadly a split between the most developed countries and those with less dynamic economies.
Appropriately for the Salzburg setting, the dividing line is currently centred on the Tyrolean countries (Germany, Austria and Italy) but shifting ever further north and west.
Unfortunately for Mrs May, the moment of clarity over the Brexit negotiations heightens her domestic difficulties. As her motorcade travelled to Downing Street on Friday, the British prime minister was frantically pulling together her response.
On Friday, newspaper front pages screamed “humiliation". It felt like she was an ambush victim. A day later, the headline writers were defiantly behind Mrs May.
For what choice did she have but to stand firm? While the split screen showed the pound falling on the foreign exchanges, she made two clear statements of resolve. She would not offer concessions on the Irish border as the price of Brexit and she demanded serious consideration of a trade partnership that would not congeal the western European economy.
Yet the grenade-throwers who scorn a negotiated Brexit, both in Europe and in Britain, are freshly emboldened.
There is much pointless talk, including by some of the European leaders indulging in idle speculation, about a second referendum to keep Britain in Europe on the current terms.
The cavalier and dogmatic approach that Europeans have shown towards the British has alienated swathes of moderate opinion. As a result of not being listened to by the other side, the Brexit world view has a growing credibility.
The history of Europe is one of coming together because the collective group gave shelter from geopolitical ravages. A vision of close and neighbourly partnership is a tricky proposition when an acrimonious divorce is on the table.
The British must now bear the consequences of having thrown down their defences and almost all strategic advantages in the Brexit process.
The one certainty – that Britain would leave the EU at the end of March – must now be in doubt. Shifts will be quick and transformational. Lurking in the wings is the Marxist Labour Party.
It is possible that Mrs May will be unseated by a Conservative revolt when her party meets for its annual conference next week. Alternatively, she can capitulate and accept a new strategy.
It is possible that the complete breakdown of the talks will happen next month. It might not be possible for the two sides to even agree a temporary deal to keep ports open when Britain leaves.
If there is a divorce, agreeing the trade deal – which is supposed to kick in during 2020 – might never happen. Europe might just have said "auf weidersehen" to Britain.


This stunning hand-crafted home is situated in a secluded location perched above San Miguel. With soaring double-height living room with Rumsford fireplace, open chef's kitchen, and walls of windows, this home is perfect for entertaining on a grand scale. Outside is a tranquil common space including an antique chapel, swimming area, and lawn. The home has two large bedrooms with Moroccan baths and a spacious downstairs media/game room, which could also function as a bedroom, as there is an attached bath. Outside is a private barbeque area with wood-burning Morocan grill. The views from the rooftop terrace are phenomenal, showcasing the architectural beauty of San Miguel, the valley and the surrounding mountains.


EXCLUSIVE: Fox Searchlight, which distributed the Natalie Portman-starrer Black Swan, is courting Portman to come back into the fold and play the title character in Jackie, the Noah Oppenheim-scripted drama about Jackie Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy.
This project has an interesting past. Darren Aronofsky and Rachel Weisz, then a couple, planned to do it together. Aronofsky, who helmed Black Swan, dropped out when he and Weisz split and she has since fallen out as well. Portman likes the script but her participation will depend on who the director is. If Aronofsky came back, that would be easy, but nothing in Hollywood works out that way, does it? There had been a report that Steven Spielberg was intrigued back in 2010, so it’s not inconceivable that Fox Searchlight will find a director who pleases Portman. I think she is an inspired choice for the role.


This is the first of two major announcements I am making this week.
Now that the dust has settled from last month’s Many Gods West conference for polytheists, I have divined and listened and decided that YES, Many Gods West 2016 WILL HAPPEN. Both Rhyd Wildermuth and PSVL have decided for various reasons to sit this next one out. I shall be carrying the torch onward. I have assembled a crack team of co-conspirators – more people, more hands, which hopefully means more time for me to participate next year!
MGW will happen in Olympia again. The opening and closing rituals will be facilitated by Rynn Fox of the Coru Cathubodua. Aaaaaaand that’s all we know at this time. You can follow MGW’s Facebook page for updates as they occur. There will be a new website forthcoming as well. Stay tuned! And if you have any desire to prepare a proposal, please do! We’ll be putting the call out for those sometime this fall.
The enthusiasm, support, and love for this conference – from the gods and from humans – exceeded any expectations I had. I am hoping that MGW 2016 will be even better.
To read about this year’s conference, click here for a list of presentations available online, as well as reviews.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s second announcement!
Maybe I won’t have to be out of country for this one! looking forward to it. Don’t know how much I could help you being on the other side of the state though.
I doubt I’ll be able to make it next year, either (I’ll hopefully be right in the middle of graduate work then), but this makes me feel better for more MGWs in the future that I WILL be able to attend!
If there’s anything I can do over the Internets to help, let me know! If it’s in my abilities, I will!
Yay! Can’t wait. 🙂 THANK YOU!
Congratulations! I’m glad to hear this will continue. If you’ll have a Wiccan among you, I may be able to make that one (you’re not that far south of me there in Olympia).
Wiccans can be polytheists too! Jason Mankey deftly proved this at last year’s MGW. You would be more than welcome.


A Canton-based food pantry that feeds hundreds of families across western Wayne County is getting a boost as it heads toward the Thanksgiving holiday.
Open Door Ministry, which feeds about 430 struggling families every week, has been chosen for a food drive by Bayloff Stamped Products, a Belleville-based auto parts stamping plant, and Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Westland.
Adrienne Erwine, Bayloff administrative assistant, said it's important for those who have jobs and food to help those who don't.
"We recognize that we are very blessed," Erwine said. "We have jobs. We don't have to worry about providing for our families. We also have the capability to give back to our community."
Open Door helps families from communities such as Canton, Westland, Plymouth, Wayne, Livonia, Redford, Garden City, Belleville and others as far west as Ypsilanti and as far east as Inkster.
The latest food drive occurs 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Texas Roadhouse on Ford Road, east of Newburgh, in Westland. Erwine said items such as cereal, canned goods and "anything that has a long shelf life" may be dropped off at the restaurant. Donors who give five or more items will be entered into a drawing for two main floor, general admission tickets to country singer Kip Moore's concert Dec. 8 at The Fillmore in Detroit. Everyone who donates will get a $5 coupon for Texas Roadhouse.
Steve Darr, Open Door Ministry director, said the organization depends on the help of the community. He said businesses, scouting organizations, school groups and many others pitch in.
"It just blesses my heart to see all all these organizations come out to help us or donate money," he said. "We do depend very much on all the donations we get."
Open Door has distributed about 900,000 pounds of food so far this year, compared to 1.1 million pounds for all of last year. It gets much of its food from Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners Community Food Bank, but it also relies on help from local groups.
Open Door is in its 14th year. During that time, it has touched the lives of 6.500 families and more than 20,000 people within its service area.
"That's huge," Darr said. "That many people at one time or another have had a need for food assistance."
For more on Open Door, go to http://www.opendoorfoodministry.org/.


A new Coast Guard cutter commissioned Friday honors a petty officer who was killed in a confrontation with suspected smugglers.
LOS ANGELES — A new Coast Guard cutter commissioned Friday honors a petty officer who was killed in a confrontation with suspected smugglers off the Ventura County coast.
Horne was killed in December 2012 as crew members from the Marina del Rey-based cutter Halibut were maneuvering an inflatable boat near Santa Cruz Island to intercept a panga, a type of boat favored by smugglers trying to bring contraband and people north from Mexico.
The cutters, part of efforts to modernize the Coast Guard fleet, have advanced systems and can reach speeds of 28 knots. Each ship has a crew of 24, a range of 2,500 miles and is capable of patrols lasting up to five days.


This article was published 15/2/2011 (2991 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
City paramedics want locations that have been treated for bedbug infestations publicly disclosed in the same way the city publicizes restaurant health violations and city police reveal the location of indoor marijuana grow operations.
On Tuesday, Chris Broughton, president of Manitoba Government and General Employees Union Local 911, which represents Winnipeg paramedics, the bedbug scourge is a growing health risk to emergency personnel and the general public.
"You don't want to create hysteria, but there has to be a balanced public response," Broughton said. "It's also a dicey subject, especially when you start getting into personal health information."
But the risk of people unknowingly spreading the bedbugs outweighs privacy concerns, he added.
"What we need is for people to disclose it to us," he said.
He said the city currently publicizes restaurants that have been forced to close temporarily because of insanitary conditions on a City of Winnipeg web page as a public service.
In the same vein, Winnipeg police use a website to disclose locations where indoor marijuana grow operations have been uncovered. Police say conditions in the house caused by the grow-ops, such as mould spores, could be injurious or dangerous to public health.
The same could be done with buildings that have been treated for bedbugs, Broughton said, so people are more aware of their surroundings.
Plus, it would also give emergency workers a better idea of precautions they need to take, he said.
"We think government needs to take a stronger approach on these issues," Broughton said. "The bedbugs are exploding in our city. No one wants to take their work home with them."
Health officials are currently putting together a province-wide response plan to deal with the bedbug invasion, Premier Greg Selinger said Monday. It will include a public awareness campaign and new ways to kill the pests.
Broughton added there has only been a handful of instances where paramedics have spotted bedbugs on their equipment after treating a patient. That equipment and clothing had to be decontaminated before being used again.
Alex Forrest, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, said several firefighters have also been bitten by bedbugs during the course of their work.
"It's become another hazard of the job that we're being exposed," Forrest said. "All you can do is educate people to minimize the risk, because it really doesn't matter where you go, a movie theatre or restaurant or hotel, you can be exposed. All it takes is one person to bring in a couple of bedbugs and increase the risk."
City police have also said they're also worried about unwittingly picking up bedbugs on calls. A handful of WPS lockers and cruiser cars have been fumigated after single bedbugs were spotted.
"It just boils down to what we're facing in any emergency service... you're going into a variety of different environments," Winnipeg Police Association president Mike Sutherland said in an earlier interview. "These insects are relatively pernicious, and hey, they do like to travel and they spread easily."
Should locations that have been treated for bedbug infestations be publicly disclosed?


Pic Stitch offers and easy way to create attractive layouts for groups of photos.
13 Jun 2018, 10:37 p.m.
To get started in Pic Stich, you choose from among a vast array of layout options, grouped by how many photo slots they contain.
Alternatively, you can build your own customized photo collage layout.
By default, the app creates a square image, but you can choose from several other popular aspect ratios.
Your collage background can be one of any number of textures, including wood, animal skins, and patterns.
Rounded corners add elegance to your photo collage.
You can share to Facebook, Tumblr, and Flickr, or just to your camera roll, but there's no direct printing support from the app.
I created this lovely collage of some of PCMag's software team in Pic Stitch.


The rampage, which started on a rural highway, did not fit the general pattern of previous mass shootings in the nation's endless series of such tragedies.
At least two heavily armed attackers opened fire on a holiday banquet at a social services center for the disabled Wednesday (Dec. 2), killing 14 people and seriously wounding more than a dozen others in a precision assault that looked "as if they were on a mission," authorities said.
"That's my boy right there," Flanagan wrote. "He got NEARLY double the amount that Eric Harris and [Dylann] Klebold got . . . just sayin."
Researchers think violence is no different. Although it's a somewhat recent area of focus - the Institute of Medicine held a workshop on the subject in 2012 - the evidence for contagion of criminal or dangerous behavior has lurked in academic research for decades.
Studies have shown that the aircraft hijackings of the 1970s were contagious. Product tampering - also contagious. So is highway speeding, rioting and even military coups. Contagion is especially pronounced in suicides.
In many of these events, the primary vector - what transmitted the behavior - was some form of mass media. Coverage of hijackings bred more hijackings. Coverage of suicides, particularly of famous people, had the same effect. In the month after Marilyn Monroe overdosed on barbiturates, suicides increased 12 percent nationally.
Mary Ellen O'Toole, a former senior FBI profiler who has worked on mass shootings, said, "It's only infective if they are entertaining a similar ideation."


A new study by researchers at The Kinsey Institute and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that the timeless, multicultural tradition of grandmothering might have an unexpected benefit: helping some women temper their hot flashes and night sweats during menopause.
The researchers, two clinicians and a bioanthropologist, examined how close relationships can help women in midlife with this inevitable change - with the clinicians looking for therapeutic benefits that might help patients deal with this unpredictable, poorly understood transition, and the bioanthropologist predicting an evolutionary connection. Their study, which focused on the relationship between mid-life women and young children, found that women who underwent rapid menopause, caused by the surgical removal of ovaries, had fewer hot flashes and night sweats when young children lived in their homes.
The study was published in Menopause: the Journal of the North American Menopause Society. Study authors are Tierney Lorenz, postdoctoral fellow at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University Bloomington, Bonnie A McGregor, researcher at University of Washington's Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Virginia J. Vitzthum, professor of anthropology and senior research scientist at The Kinsey Institute.
The study involved 117 participants in the study; 69 women were menopausal or postmenopausal at the time of their surgery, with 29 of them having at least one child at home, and 48 women were premenopausal, with 28 of them having at least one child at home. Researchers measured hot flashes and night sweats just before the surgery and then again at two months, six months and 12 months post-surgery.
"These are intriguing findings," Lorenz said. "For women who were menopausal when our study began, those with young children at home actually showed more symptoms of hot flashes. But the women who underwent rapid menopause because of the surgical removal of their ovaries showed a dramatic reduction of symptoms."
The process of menopause, when ovaries no longer produce eggs and menstruation stops, varies widely. Some women have almost no bothersome symptoms, while some women experience almost crippling symptoms. Lorenz said a small subset of women experience very severe effects longer than would be expected.
The numerous studies on menopause have generated little consensus, Lorenz said, leaving women with a wide range of questionable treatments, such as supplements, hormonal treatments and even hot yoga. This new study is one of the first involving social interaction and menopause symptoms to control for the age of the women and also for the type of relationship - only relationships with young children were considered.
The study got its start with Vitzthum's interest in the evolutionary role of social structures - grandmothering in this case. The institution of grandmothering can be seen across cultures, but is it really necessary for the survival of the species? Is there an immediate benefit to the women? Is it a coincidence that women often undergo the physiological change of menopause at an age when they might have young grandchildren on hand?
Lorenz cautioned that the findings of their study cannot be generalized to all women, particularly since menopause affects women so differently. But they point to a need to examine the hormone oxytocin more carefully because of its possible role in the results. Oxytocin is associated with nurturing care and a wide range of effects across the body, including interactions involved in regulating body temperature. It also can affect mood and sleeping patterns, which can be disturbed during menopause. She also thinks it is significant that the benefits only involved young children.
"The fact the effects observed were limited to only women with children younger than 13 years suggests that parity was not sufficient to produce changes in flashes and points instead to the increased nurturance needs of young children," the authors wrote in the journal article. "Presence of young children at home may moderate development of hot flashes during the menopausal transition."
The research was supported by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Indiana University. "Having young children in the house may lessen menopausal symptoms." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 29 Oct. 2014. Web.


Lane was charged with one count each of manufacture, delivery or possession, conspiracy and criminal use of a communication facility, all felonies. She was also incarcerated, in lieu of $10,000 monetary bail.
Preliminary hearings for both are scheduled for May 7.