Despite the obvious differences between the biggest IT markets of today, one thing that they all have in common is the importance of data. Focusing on that common thread, it might be easier than you think to shift from one market to a totally new one.
At least, that’s what Modus Operandi, a small software company that serves the defense and intelligence communities, is doing as it pushes into the health care market.
The company’s niche is semantic technology, which helps “intelligence analysts find specific unique data and correlations of data within the multitude of databases across the intelligence agencies and the military services,” said Rick McNeight, Modus Operandi president.
In practice, an intelligence analyst can put a query into a semantic wiki, such as the name of a known terrorist, at which point software will search relevant databases and automatically fill in the wiki with information not only about the terrorist, but about his associates, notable locations, and so on, McNeight said.
“We don't just find a needle in a haystack; we find the right needle in the right haystack,” he added.
The semantic technology capabilities that McNeight described are just as useful in health care as they are in the defense and intelligence space, and that’s because of how semantic technology works.
“The key to semantics is that you create intelligent kinds of models around people's data, and the models you create form these graphs,” said Dr. Eric Little, vice president and chief scientist at Modus Operandi, said Dr. Eric Little, vice president and chief scientist at Modus Operandi.
These “knowledge” graphs, as Little called them, can be built into software systems, and analytics can translate them into understandable concepts and relationships, he said.
Despite coming from a great number of sources, the data that goes into this process can be divided into three general groups: structured, semi-structured and unstructured, Little said.
In terms of Modus Operandi’s defense and intelligence work, structured data can be database information, such as map information or people characteristics. Semi-structured data is derived from things like spreadsheets or from table information on the web. Unstructured data can be information that isn’t necessarily stored somewhere, but is rather collected from various internet sources like social media sites.
“We spend a lot of time in very large sects of this varying kind of data, and when you look at the health care space, you find a lot of striking similarities,” Little said.
Health care data has continuously been collected over the past couple of decades, and especially in the past few years, there has been a push to digitize all of it for easier storage and access.
With Affordable Care Act requirements, there has been a push for doctors to not only convert to electronic means of communications, but that the newly electronic information be portable, searchable, and able to provide meaningful use, like better analytics and a more holistic patient approach, Little said.
“To put this together in the medical field, you would need access to structured data, to semi-structured data and to unstructured data,” he added.
From a medical perspective, structured data could be things like lab results in a database, or any information about your stay in a hospital, such as what drugs were administered, whereas semi-structured data could be things like billing information. Unstructured data could be things like handwritten doctors’ notes pointing to things like your attitude, mood, family health history, and other things, Little said.
Broken up into the categories of structured, semi-structured and unstructured, it isn’t difficult to see how data could be used in similar ways despite belonging to different spaces. And it’s with that confidence in mind that Modus Operandi will continue to push into the health care space.


The infamous “polar vortex” made a return to North America last week. Temperatures plunged to as low as minus 50 degrees across the northern U.S. that led to several states of emergencies. Thousands of flights were canceled, and people were warned to stay inside to avoid instant frostbite.
One of our weather and commodity clients near the Canadian border reported a low of minus 56 degrees last week. Wind chill tempera-tures in North Dakota have been down to near minus 60 degrees. In Chicago, the Windy City, a low of minus 21 degrees was reported with a wind chill temperature of close to minus 40 degrees. The frigid temperature was just 6 degrees short of its all-time low temperature of minus 27 degrees.
It was so cold in the Chicago area that residents were hearing “frost quakes.” Also known as “cryoseisms,” water expands underground when it freezes very quickly. The fast expansion can stress the soil and split rocks resulting in loud booms. It’s a phenomenon that is relatively rare.
Many of us have heard about this polar vortex. It started to become more familiar during the 2014 North American cold wave as extreme frigid temperatures were affecting parts of Canada, the north-central and upper eastern portions of the U.S. during an extended period through the late winter months of the 2013-14 season. Record lows were felt in those areas well into March of 2014.
This same polar vortex also brought our region the unbelievably frigid temperatures in January of 2014. From the 1st through the 17th, Coeur d’Alene’s high temperature was below the freezing mark. During that time, the normal high temperature during that time was only 25 degrees, or 11 degrees below normal. The average low at Cliff’s station then was only 12 degrees.
The most intense coldwave in North Idaho’s history that was likely caused by a polar vortex occurred in late January and early February in 1950. Records lows were reported that still stand today.
On Feb. 28, it was minus 21 degrees in Coeur d’Alene. The mercury went down to minus 28 degrees at a station northeast of Sandpoint. The most frigid day was Jan. 30, 1950, when Coeur d’Alene reported its all-time record low of minus 30 degrees. On that date, Post Falls went down to minus 31 degrees and Sandpoint reported a low of minus 38 degrees. Record lows in the minus 20s were reported in the lower elevations through Feb. 3, 1950 before recovering.
Most of the time, when the polar vortex moves southward, the strongest portions are near Baffin Island, Canada, an area just southwest of Greenland, and northeastern Siberia. Also, the Cascade and Rocky Mountains often protect the West from these intense Arctic blasts as most of them go to the east over the central portions of the country. However, there are occasions when there is an intense Arctic outbreak over the northern portions of the western U.S. and southwestern Canada like in 1950 and 2014.
The polar vortex is a relatively large upper-level low pressure system consisting of large masses of cold, dense Arctic air that is located near the North Pole. There’s also a polar vortex at the South Pole. When the polar vortex is strong, the frigid cold air mass will often stay confined near the North Pole as the jet stream increases in strength. But, when the vortex weakens and splits into two or more vortices, like what occurred last week, the cold air will often push southward into North America, Europe and Asia.
As some of that cold air to the east moves west, we will see some very cold weather here in North Idaho. However, the air mass would not be nearly as cold as the one last week over the center of the country.
Thanks to the warmer Pacific Ocean, temperatures last month across North Idaho were milder than normal. Our coldest day in Coeur d’Alene in January was 18 degrees on the 30th. By contrast, we had a high of 47 degrees on the 4th.
January’s precipitation total for Coeur d’Alene ended up at 3.21 inches, a little below the average of 3.77 inches of rain and melted snow. Speaking of snow, Cliff measured 14.8 inches last month, which is below the normal of 21.4 inches.
For February and March, we still see about another 20 inches of snow for Coeur d’Alene. February of 2018 was our snowiest month and it’s quite possible that February of 2019 will also be our snowiest month as storms will be coming from the colder northwestern regions rather than from the south.
We should see some snow toward the end of this week with a good chance of snow next week as a series of storms are expected to move through the area. February should also be colder as well.
Could North Idaho have another rough wildfire season?
It was a cold meteorological winter for the U.S.


St Helens' Australian centre Jamie Lyon today brushed aside stinging criticism from Kangaroo legend Peter Sterling over his surprise call-up for the Tri-Nations Series.
The Australian selectors broke with tradition by choosing a British-based player in their Test squad and they have been rebuked by outspoken former Origin coach Phil Gould and ex-Parramatta scrum-half Sterling.
Gould labelled Lyon's call-up "a disgrace" while Sterling said he was "filthy" with the player for walking out on his old club three years ago.
"Jamie Lyon 'duded' Parramatta like you wouldn't believe," Sterling said in a speech at a charity function at the weekend.
"He got 125,000 (£50,000) for an off-season and one game. I don't want him back in the Test side and I don't want him back in the NRL.
"He's had a great season over there but I just think he showed no style or class or grace in the way he left our club."
The 24-year-old Lyon, who will return to Sydney to play for Manly Sea Eagles after Saturday's Super League Grand Final against Hull, said he was aware of Sterling's comments but was happy to ignore them.
"I've never had much to do with him at all and I couldn't really care less."
But when Saints, needing a centre to replace Martin Gleeson, came calling he was given permission by Parramatta to see out his contract in England and has not looked back since.
Twelve months ago he was named Man of Steel after a brilliant first season at Knowsley Road and goes into Saturday's Grand Final at Old Trafford as the leading points scorer in the English game.
A Kangaroo tourist five years ago, he won the last of his five caps in the 2003 Anzac Test and the laid-back Lyon admits a return to the national side was far from his mind.
"I didn't really think too much about it," he said. "I was just over to play good footie and I've done that. I've had two really good years and really enjoyed myself.
"It's definitely a bonus and a bit of a confidence boost. It's nice to know the selectors are thinking about you over here.
Lyon will miss the opening two Tri-Nations matches against the Kiwis but hopes to line up against a St Helens-dominated Great Britain in Sydney on November 4.
"There's quite a few of them in there and they're playing well," he said of his club-mates.
"Hopefully I'm in the team when we play Great Britain. There is a bit of ribbing going on and a few jokes."
Before then, Lyon hopes to sign off from his stint with St Helens by helping them to a fifth Super League title in 11 years and make up for his own Grand Final disappointment with Parramatta in 2001.
"We played Newcastle and got beat," he recalled. "We had a great team and were playing well. We only lost about four games all year, similar to Saints this year, but hopefully we can go one better.
"It would be great to do the double. To get the Challenge Cup was special with the tradition and everything but everyone wants to get the Grand Final as well. It probably is a bit bigger.
"I'm really looking forward to it. It should be a great atmosphere and a great spectacle."


Republicans are, naturally, united in their opposition to the preliminary deal the Obama administration struck with Iran to restrain its nuclear program. And now, the presidential candidates in particular are going to compete with each other to see who can make their opposition more categorical. They're all criticizing it, of course, and Scott Walker has already said that on the day of his inauguration, he'll pull out of the deal. I'm guessing the rest of them will follow suit and pledge something similar. The question is: OK, so on January 20, 2017, you announce that we're out of the deal (since we're in the Republican fantasy world for the moment, let's put aside the involvement of Europe and the UN). What happens next?
Well for starters, the Iranians would no longer be constrained by the things they agreed to. They could kick out all the inspectors and institute a crash program to create a nuclear weapon if they wanted. Are Republicans saying that Iran would never do that? I don't think so. Yet in practice, the Republican position seems to be: 1) We can never trust the Iranians to adhere to the terms of any nuclear deal we sign with them because of their insatiable thirst for nuclear weapons, so 2) If there's no agreement at all—no limits on nuclear research, no limits on the quantity and purity of uranium they can enrich, no inspections—then everything will be OK.
To be clear, I'm not saying this deal is perfect, though a lot of people who know a lot about this issue are arguing that it's far stronger than what they expected (see here, for instance). But Republicans aren't saying we need to reopen negotiations and push for something better. They're just saying we should scrap the agreement, and then ... well, they actually don't say what happens then.
In effect, the Republican argument is, We've put this dangerous criminal in prison, but I don't think this prison is secure enough. He might escape! So the answer is to tear down the prison and let him go. Then we'll be safe from him.
So they ought to be asked: Are you proposing a re-negotiation of this deal? Or are you just saying that if we scrap it and reimpose sanctions on Iran, then they'll capitulate to all our demands? And if that's what you're saying, is there any reason at all to think that might happen? After all, Iran has been under sanctions from the U.S., the EU, and many other countries for years, yet their nuclear program has continued. What will be different without an agreement?
We should hear conservatives out on all their specific complaints about this deal. They might have a case to make about particular weaknesses. But in every case, we have to ask: What's your alternative? I haven't yet heard an answer from any of them, other than the few honest enough to say what so many of them are thinking, that no deal will ever work and we should just go ahead and start bombing.


STAN COLLYMORE has mixed thoughts on Arsenal’s impending appointment of Unai Emery.
Mikel Arteta was originally expected to succeed Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, but former Paris Saint-Germain boss Emery is expected to be announced later this week at a news conference.
Emery, who won five trophies in two seasons in charge of PSG, comes with a wealth of pedigree.
However, after spending freely at the French giants, he is likely to be restricted to a £50million budget.
And Collymore is a little bit unsure about the Spaniard.
When asked to elaborate his concerns, Collymore tweeted “Emery. Fascinating hire. Almeria, Valencia and Seville delivered improvement plus managed resources well.
"Can't help but think Arsenal have got him because he's available though rather than the best man for the job.
Elaborating his viewpoint, he added: “I like it because I think his philosophy will dovetail with Arsenal beautifully.
“Perhaps feel a bit meh because will he go in be ruthless enough to get rid of a lot of nice boys and stamp authority on the place?


Some 200 British jobs were put at risk on Monday after infrastructure group Balfour Beatty axed three of its UK offices.
The company, which issued two profits warnings in the space of six months, has been looking for ways to slim down its domestic operations and focus on faster-growing emerging markets.
After reviewing 21 offices Balfour will close sites at Dartford, Rochdale and Doncaster, resulting in a ‘small number’ of job losses.
The offices account for 8 per cent of UK business, with around £1.5billion in combined revenues.
Balfour also appointed former Skanska director Nick Pollard to lead the turnaround of its British operations, which have been hit by the economic slowdown.
Shares rose 5 per cent after investors cheered the action by new boss Andrew McNaughton, who only started in April.
‘The recent UK issues are being addressed,’ said analyst Andy Brown at Panmure Gordon.
Shares, which have fallen by a fifth over the last 12 months, rose 10.3p to 226.3p, valuing the group at £1.6billion.
In April Balfour warned that UK construction was facing a 20 per cent shortfall in revenue.
McNaughton took on responsibility for the division, and fired some of the managers in charge.


Li Chunke began carving ivory after leaving school as a 15-year-old boy.
Today, at 68, this master craftsman is working until the early hours of every morning, trying to finish a 20-inch statuette of Buddha on an unforgiving deadline — before China implements a total ban on ivory sales at the end of this month. The art of ivory carving survived even the tumult of China's Cultural Revolution, but he's worried it may soon die out.
"What makes China great is that its traditional culture still exists," he said. "If it disappears in China, it will be a loss for the whole world."
Yet China's commitment to put craftsmen like Li out of business and close down its ivory industry has thrown a lifeline to African elephants and brought new hope in the battle to end the poaching of tens of thousands of animals every year for their tusks.
The Chinese government shut down 67 ivory-carving workshops and retail outlets in March, and will have closed the remaining 105 by the end of this year, honoring a commitment President Xi Jinping first made alongside President Barack Obama in 2015.
"China's ban is one of the most important things that has happened to elephants in the last 10 years," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, one of the world's leading elephant conservationists and founder of Save the Elephants.
"It's a highly significant step, and I think the impact is increasingly being felt in parts of Africa. But although the net is tightening, the battle is not won at all," he said.
Poaching levels have dropped slightly in each of the past five years, according to research for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and stronger law enforcement efforts have pushed ivory seizures to a record high. But the total number of elephants in Africa is still thought to be declining because of illegal killings.
However, the looming prospect of China's ban appears to have pricked the speculative bubble that had contributed to the poaching crisis. The wholesale price of raw ivory in China is reported to have fallen by almost two-thirds in the past three years, from $2,100 per kilogram in 2014 to $730 in February 2017.
China had been the world's biggest ivory market. Until this year, craftsmen were legally allowed to work with ivory from a stockpile imported in 2008 — but that business provided cover for a vast illegal trade.
Rising wealth, a growing appreciation of ivory as part of Chinese cultural heritage, its value as a status symbol and popular gift, a sense that it was an inflation-proof investment, and its use in Buddhist beads, pendants or figurines had all combined to create a boom in the industry, experts say — and a huge opportunity for global crime syndicates to exploit.
At the peak of the ivory boom, from 2010 to 2012, more than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered every year, research showed.
But the global conservation movement fought back: Instead of pointing fingers, advocates made China feel part of a joint effort to end the trade, involving source countries, transit countries and destination countries, said John Scanlon, secretary general of CITES.
It helped that Xi wanted to curb corruption. Ivory was a popular gift to woo an official or grease a business deal. Poaching was also damaging China's image in Africa, where it has been investing and gaining influence.
Within China, a public awareness campaign was crafted by the San Francisco-based group WildAid, backed by state media and fronted by former National Basketball Association player Yao Ming and other Chinese celebrities. Most Chinese people had not been aware before then that elephants had to die for their ivory to be harvested.
With a total ban in place, the job for law enforcement will be much easier: Any sales of elephant ivory anywhere in China will soon be illegal.
Yet the battle to win over the Chinese consumer is far from over.
A survey released Wednesday by two affiliated wildlife organizations, TRAFFIC and the World Wildlife Fund, found that less than half of consumers surveyed recalled having heard of the ivory ban. After being told of the ban, most people said they would support it, and many said they had already stopped buying ivory. But the survey found a "die-hard" 19 percent of consumers who were inclined to keep buying ivory, even after it is banned.
In Beijing, shopkeepers are offering heavy discounts to shift stock before the ax falls. An intricately carved tusk in one outlet was recently reduced from nearly $1 million to around $600,000, and other items were offered with similar discounts.
But just outside China's borders, ivory is still openly on sale and is still being eagerly snapped up by some Chinese consumers.
A study by Save the Elephants released in September found that Laos was the fastest-growing ivory market in the world, with Chinese tourists buying up 80 percent of the ivory on sale there at prices significantly lower than in China.
Vietnam is another big market, with ivory openly on sale and smugglers crossing back and forth across the border to supply Chinese consumers, said Zhou Fei, head of the China wildlife programs for TRAFFIC. The Golden Triangle, a lawless opium-producing region straddling Burma, Thailand and Laos, is another region where Chinese-run businesses supply Chinese consumers with African ivory, experts say.
Cambodia has become another transit point for the illegal trade. Earlier this month, officials there seized nearly 1.1 tons of ivory hidden in hollowed-out logs.
"When you tighten the screws in one place, criminal groups will target another place," Scanlon said. "The last thing we want to do is let the pressure off and think we've won yet."
Peter Knights, chief executive at WildAid, applauds China's leadership, but he laments that "Britain is dragging its feet" and that Japan is the only major consumer still unwilling to join the global effort.
Under Obama, the United States tightened federal laws to ban cross-border and interstate trade; seven states have enacted their own intrastate bans.
"China took the first step, and it needs to feel that other countries are supporting it and also stepping up to the plate," said Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
In November, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Authority set alarm bells ringing in the conservation community by announcing it would reverse a ban on trophy-hunting imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Two days later, Trump tweeted that elephant hunting is a "horror show" and put the move on hold.
"There were leaders on the Republican side in Congress and Fox News hosts pleading with him not to allow elephant trophy hunting," said Iris Ho, wildlife program manager for the Humane Society International in Washington. "On the elephant protection issue, there is strong bipartisan support, especially on the Republican side."
Yet, despite the global concerns, Knights and Ho say China is unlikely to waver.
"Don't forget, this ban came from the top," Knights said. "Once these things happen, they don't tend to get reversed. China sees this as a matter of pride."
Ivory carving in China traces its origins to the Ming and Qing dynasties, from the 14th to the early 20th centuries, when the craft's main consumers came from the imperial court and elite scholar-officials.
It was revived after the communist takeover in 1949 but soon ran into trouble. Master carver Li remembers well the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, a decade of upheaval unleashed by Mao Zedong in 1966, when Red Guards mounted frenzied attacks against the Four Olds — old ideas, customs, culture and habits — and destroyed books and art and ransacked museums and temples.
At first, Li said, ivory carvers were banned from traditional subjects and had to focus instead on "modern" art, including scenes from revolutionary ballets like "The Red Detachment of Women."
But revolutionary art didn't sell, and Mao's government needed foreign currency. By 1968, Li and his fellow carvers were ordered to return to more traditional subjects, carving pieces that would be sold abroad to earn foreign exchange.
"Outside, they were destroying the Four Olds. Inside, we were creating the Four Olds," he said.
Today, he loves carving people and conveying emotion in his figures, as well as creating impossibly intricate images of flowers, birds, mountains and rivers. Every piece of ivory he carved, he insists, came from approved and certified sources, and never from poachers.


High fashion hits Bellevue this week as Front Row Fashion event unfolds at the Bellevue Collection. This is Bellevue’s signature fashion event.
Fashion Week is presented by Vogue Magazine, and this, it’s second year, will be better than ever with all sorts of events for you to attend.
Last evening’s Cocktails at Tiffany’s proved to be a wonderful kick off to get this party started.
Attendees got in the mood to shop while sipping the Bradshaw, a cocktail with sugar rimmed around the glass..delicious!
Tiffany’s Bellevue Square is such a crowd pleaser with classic styling and the launch of their new leather goods line. I fell in love with the Tiffany blue clutch purse.
The ladies were out on the town and we all were coveting the jewelry, purses, and other items.
Puget Sound Business Journal writer Patti Payne was in the house shopping with her Tiffany clad dog Pepper in tow.
I have to admit, cocktails at Tiffany’s sure beats breakfast at Tiffany’s!
This is the week for the Bellevue Collection’s Front Row Fashion if you love clothes, shopping, style demos, and meeting like minded people. More info HERE.
Also coming up on Sunday at the Bellevue Square grand opening of Report Shoes is the Girl Power Hour party. For stylish networking, this event is a don’t miss. Love swag, shoes and food? Get your ticket HERE.


The new MacBook Air, disassembled.
Now that Apple's new MacBook Air has hit the stores, repair specialists iFixit have immediately cracked it open to see what's inside.
And frankly, if you've seen some of the teardowns of recent MacBooks, you won't see too many surprises here. The new Air is a tightly packed machine that requires lots of specialized tools and patience to open and repair.
But if we compare apples to apples — that is, the new MacBook Air with the last version of MacBook Air, which launched in 2015 — the differences are substantial. Check them out below: The new Air is on the left.
On the left, the 2018 MacBook Air. On the right, the 2015 MacBook Air.
The Air of yesteryear was practically all battery: It had a 54Wh cell, while the new one only has a 49.9Wh cell. Despite this fact, both Airs have the same (advertised) 12 hours of battery life — talk about improvements in energy management.
The new Air also has a ton of new tech, including a better, larger trackpad as well as Apple's T2 chip with a fingerprint scanner.
On iFixit's repairability scale, the 2018 Air scores just a hair worse than the 2015 Air: 3/10 vs. 4/10. As another reminder of how things have changed in three years, on the 2015 Air you could theoretically change/upgrade the flash-based storage; on the new model, that's no longer possible.


Residential building lot in Sango/ Adams area! County taxes only with City services available (sewer, gas, water). No neighborhood restrictions. Beautiful setting with large farm pond and trees on lot.
Attention Investors! Prime Multi Family lot zoned R-3. Seller has a tri-plex site plan that has been approved by the county. Site plans and construction appraisal available upon request. Don't let this one get away!


The Home of Hope Orphanage’s Surfing Safari officially began on Monday along the Arabian Sea (part of the Indian Ocean) at the beautiful cliffside town of Varkala Beach. Today’s post will not be too wordy because the pictures speak for themselves.
The experience today has been one of the more emotionally draining assignments I’ve ever shot. It’s strange because normally when I would refer to an emotional assignment it would a sad or tragic story, whereas today was filled with only happiness. To see the absolute joy on the faces of the 27 orphans was something I’ll never forget. The unbelievably tragic backgrounds that they come from and the fact that they have no real childhood cannot be forgotten when looking at the pictures. The word “vacation” does not exist in their vocabulary.
Sister Deva plays in the water with the girls of Home of Hope Orphanage in the Arabian Sea at Varkala Beach, India Monday April 18, 2011.
The patience and love that instructor Jack Viorel demonstrates while working with the girls is wonderful to watch.
Jack Viorel, President of Indo Jax Surf Charities, hi-fives the girls of Home of Hope before surfing next to the Arabian Sea at Varkala Beach, India Monday April 18, 2011.
Shency catches a wave in the Arabian Sea at Varkala Beach, India Monday April 18, 2011.
I can honestly say I never thought I would photograph a surfing nun in full habit.
Sister Deva catches a wave in the Arabian Sea at Varkala Beach, India Monday April 18, 2011.
I just realized I was focusing so much on the girls and sisters that I didn’t shoot too many of the many wonderful volunteers from Wilmington including Jeff Murtha, Anthony Shimkonis and UNCW student Dan Williams. There are some in the gallery but I’ll be sure to shoot more of them tomorrow. For the entire 55 picture photo gallery click here.
Also, if you are inspired by these girls (how could you not be) here are ways that you can help.
For the Homes of Hope charity and for the Indo Jax Surf Charities.
I soooo love this Matt!
Thanks to those of you who are giving of yourselves to these beautiful girls.
Thank you Matt for sharing your photos and feelings! It gives me such hope when I learn about efforts that bring joy and empowerment to girls and women around the world.
Wonderful photos! I have enjoyed following this expedition and the smiles on the faces of the girls and the staff are priceless. Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings!
Thanks Matt for bringing this home to us! The photos are amazing!
WOW. amazing pics Matt. What an experience. the smiles in the first photo, no words can top that.


They may have struggled to connect with their Coachella crowd, but Outkast certainly impressed at CounterPoint.
Outkast returned home to Georgia for their stint at CounterPoint Festival 2014 - and fans were a lot more pleased this time round than they were at their comeback gig at Coachella.
Nothing was going to spoil the mood at this year's CounterPoint Festival. With a line-up headlined by one of the world's favourite veteran hip hop duos and also featuring Pretty Lights, Foster The People and STS9, not even the ferocious storm that swept the venue over the weekend engulfing festival goers in streams of mud was going to ruin the experience for anyone.
Sonar Barcelona 2014 Announces A Further 17 Acts Pretty Lights, Flux Pavilion, Rudimental, Dj Harvey Plus Many More..
Get ready to enter the New Year in style at Colorado's third annual Decadence festival with Bassnectar, Tiesto and many more.
2013 will meet an exciting conclusion at the third annual Decadence festival in Colorado this December, toasting the New Year to the tune of some of the world's finest electronic music.
Dubbing itself 'Colorado's Biggest New Year's Celebration', Decadence will entertain the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver between December 30th and 31st 2013 bringing an impressive line-up to two fabulous stages. So far, the acts that have been announced are Californian DJ Bassnectar, Dutch musician Tiesto, English trance group Above And Beyond, Swedish duo Dada Life and Colorado's own Pretty Lights who released his fourth album 'A Color Map of the Sun' earlier this year.
Outside Lands offer up legendary headliners plus a huge choice of food, beer, wine and art.
The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is back on August 9th - 11th 2013 bringing us the best in art and music as we see the likes of Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers top this year's bill.
San Francisco hosts this annual festival which has soared in popularity since the first event in 2008. It takes place at Golden Gate Park and, as well as some brilliant bands and artists being on show all weekend, presents some fantastic food and drink offerings from the Bay Area. Food includes everything from mac and cheese and hot dogs to falafel and noodles and there'll be food trucks and special cheese and chocolate stalls good enough to pull you away from the awesome music for a while. There'll also be a wide array of wines and beers to enjoy plus live painting and Levi's Mobile Bike Shop as Outside Lands is all about being eco-friendly and reducing our carbon footprints.


CRISTIANO RONALDO will not win an appeal over his Champions League red card because of the nature of the incident.
That’s the view of ESPN pundit Craig Burley, who says that although he didn’t think it was a red card, there was still physical contact and so it will be difficult to overturn the decision.
Ronaldo was given his marching orders in Juventus’ 2-0 win over Valencia at the Mestalla last night - his first game in the competition for the Old Lady.
As a result, the former Real Madrid forward gets an automatic one-game Champions League ban, meaning he definitely misses Juventus' home game against Young Boys on October 2.
But it could get worse, with UEFA opening disciplinary proceedings over the incident, meaning the 33-year-old could see his ban increased to two or even three matches.
Should he be banned for one extra game, Ronaldo would miss the trip to Old Trafford to face his old club Manchester United.
Should he be banned for three, he would miss the return game against them in Turin.
Ronaldo was sent off for an altercation with Valencia defender Jeison Murillo, with suggestions he pulled his hair.
Burley thinks that had VAR been in place, it would have cleared the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
When Burley was asked if he thought it was even a yellow card, he said: “I don’t think so.
Ronaldo’s case will be dealt with by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body next Thursday.
It will then be announced exactly how many games Ronaldo will be banned for.
Ronaldo is the Champions League’s record scorer, having netted on 120 occasions, 17 more than Lionel Messi, who is next on the list.
He was won the competitions five times - once with United and four with Real.


Marc Lamont Hill: "We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action. "
In a brief statement made yesterday, the US TV channel announced that “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN”. Though CNN did not explicitly state that Lamont Hill had been fired due to the content of his UN speech, it is widely understood that it was this which prompted the news outlet’s move.
His use of the phrase “a free Palestine from the river to the sea” sparked an immediate backlash from Israel supporters who were quick to launch a tirade of accusations against the pundit, including claiming he had called for the destruction of Israel and killing Jews and was therefore anti-Semitic.
It is thought that CNN’s decision was swayed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – a powerful American NGO which monitors anti-Semitism – after it objected to Lamont Hill’s speech. Al Jazeera quoted left-wing activist group Jewish Voice for Peace as saying: “While the ADL markets itself as a civil rights organisation, its history betrays an extensive record of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian advocacy,” calling into question its motives for denouncing Lamont Hill’s comments.
What I would do if I had money, is to publish the names of the U. S. politicians of the 25 states that proposed anti-BDS Legislation, as traitors since we lost Trillions of dollars and thousands of loved, needed, gullible American kids fighting just for propaganda of Zionism.
Very professional, well explained article-> Israel is not above the Law & it is normal to reprimand all unacceptable behaviour against individuals with no justification. PAST ISRAEL LEADERS HAVE OPENLY SAID “We control USA & they know it.” -this is pathetic that USA is allowing this This anti Semitic bias for complaining about deliberate violation by Israel of human rights of Palestine people- is unacceptable. Liberty of freedom to speak, write & have an opinion is a deliberate violation of our human rights & has dangerous consequences. It is another form of bullying as pressure groups set out to control what we do, what we say & what we write -> this is a form of Dictatorship not Democracy.
Of corse Marc Lamont Hill is right. The native Palestinian people were etnically cleansed in 1948 by zionist intruders and the robbing of land and cleansing of the native people continues up till now. The establishment of Israël, ánd the support it even today gets from the US, is clearly an act of neocolialism. Demographic figures of 1947 leave no room for other interpretations.


The N.B.A. season unofficially began with a superstar’s trade demand before the superstar in question (Jimmy Butler) and his team at the time (Minnesota) had even convened for training camp.
Seven months and more than 1,200 games later, Magic Johnson upstaged the retirements of two legends — Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade — in unbecoming fashion by abruptly walking away from Jeanie Buss, LeBron James and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers through a chaotic hour of unscheduled interviews with the news media.
And there were countless dramas and controversies between those bookends, from the Houston Rockets’ poor start and near-instant divorce from Carmelo Anthony ... to the sad disintegration of the New Orleans Pelicans’ season after Anthony Davis’s trade demand … to the Lakers’ injury-driven collapse that ultimately prevented King James from reaching the postseason for the first time in 14 years.
Regular season? Hardly. From Butler’s trade request to Friday’s announcement from the Lakers that they were parting ways with Coach Luke Walton, it was an exhausting ride. Yet we’ve finally arrived where we wanted to be all along: Saturday’s start of the playoffs.
Can anyone out there beat the Warriors four times in a seven-game series?
My answer remains a firm no. But what will make this postseason unlike any other, beyond LeBron’s absence, is the array of ancillary questions sure to sprout about the futures of the Warriors and many of the teams chasing them.
Only 80 days away, remember, is the July 1 start of a free-agent frenzy that is bound to be strongly influenced by playoff results. The principals: Golden State’s Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins; Boston’s Kyrie Irving; Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard; Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris and Butler; Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton; Charlotte’s Kemba Walker; and Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic.
Just to name 10 past, present and future All-Stars.
Any chance the Raptors have of persuading Leonard to stay in Canada, after months of noise suggesting that the Los Angeles Clippers are the front-runners to sign him, would seem to depend on a run to the N.B.A. finals. The Raptors are indeed my pick to get there by winning the post-LeBron East, but the high stakes involved, along with Toronto’s tortured playoff history, will weigh heavily on this team despite its potential as a defensive juggernaut.
The pressure is even more tangible in Philadelphia thanks to the 76ers’ all-in trades for Harris and Butler. Those two, along with the sharpshooting J J Redick, are all free agents-to-be. It’s a lot for Sixers Coach Brett Brown to manage, especially when his best player, Joel Embiid, may not be available for the start of Philadelphia’s first-round series with the Nets because of a knee issue that has lingered since the All-Star Game. Whispers about Brown’s job security, as a result, are starting to circulate.
Uncertainty likewise smothers the Celtics, who failed to even win 50 games and openly grappled with chemistry issues after finding the reintegration of Irving and Gordon Hayward, the former All-Star swingman, far more complicated than anyone — Boston officials included — expected. Fears of a two-round injury absence for the rugged guard Marcus Smart don’t help, with the looming specter of Irving’s free agency and a possible trade pursuit of Davis adding to the tension.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, has the statistical profile of a team that should be heavily favored to represent the East in the finals and potentially take down the Warriors — except for the fact that the next playoff series won by the otherworldly Giannis Antetokounmpo will be his first. The Bucks are the only team in the league that ranked in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency, but I confess to being one of those old-school pundits hung up on their lack of big-game experience.
Denver is the West’s answer to Milwaukee and proof as a No. 2 seed that there were some uplifting tales to celebrate amid all of the transactional chaos and personality conflicts that tend to dominate the league’s slice of the social media universe. But the Nuggets’ own inexperience didn’t just steer me away from naming them as the Warriors’ top threat in the conference — it makes them vulnerable in Round 1 against San Antonio.
It’s Houston, then, which stands as the team most capable of derailing the Warriors’ bid for a three-peat. Houston’s problem is that a costly slip to the No. 4 seed in the West dropped it into Golden State’s half of the playoff bracket. The Rockets now must face the Utah Jazz in a first-round matchup featuring the hottest (Houston went 20-5) and third-hottest (Utah went 18-7) teams since the All-Star break.
For all the talk that the Rockets may benefit from a rematch with the Warriors in the conference semifinals rather than the West finals, when James Harden and Chris Paul are theoretically fresher, it may actually be Golden State that benefits the most from watching Houston and Utah beating each other up so early.
The Warriors won’t refuse the help, either, because their veterans and coaches would undoubtedly argue that their regular-season grind is longer than anyone’s after four consecutive trips to the championship round. Ceaseless speculation about Durant’s potential free-agent defection to the Knicks or the Nets — yes, I’m indeed warning you now not to sleep on Brooklyn — has only added to Coach Steve Kerr’s daily challenge to keep his team focused.
Another warning: Don’t forget that the Warriors tend to find that focus quickly once the calendar flips to the postseason. So many of their last 82 games were billed as uncharacteristically joyless, but Golden State is 32-6 in the playoffs since adding Durant.
As long as Stephen Curry’s ankle scare earlier this week scare proves as minor as it appeared, bank on the Warriors to become the first team in 52 seasons — out of the 744 teams to reach the playoffs in that time — to make a fifth straight finals appearance. And then snag title No. 4 to cement themselves as indisputably dynastic.


In the week following the announcement of PostScript Level 3, PCDN spoke to Ian Mitchell, Adobe's European OEM business manager, about page description languages (PDLs), the Web, and Hewlett-Packard's (HP) decision to forsake the standard.
PCDN: What's a capsule summary of PostScript Level 3? It's being painted as `PostScript for the Web'. Is that right?
The whole thing is it brings freer exchange of information between PDF and PostScript so you can print any digital document without losing look and feel. It's a new paradigm of distribute-and-print, rather than print-and-distribute. It's a complete democracy of where you print. We do it all so users don't have to worry about it. For example, in the office where you have a PostScript Level 2 printer you would push a PostScript file byte by byte so it would be slow. PDF is structured in much more intelligent way so that's not necessary.
It was a mistake to introduce [PostScript] Level 2 and leave it a year before products and longer for drivers. Drivers will be available immediately with the release of Level 3. Level 3 will be much more of an architecture. Level 2 was a new Red Book. We'll work closely with Microsoft, Apple and others to bring a new component system into place.
When can we expect the first Level 3-based products?
The first products will ship in the third quarter of 1997. We're announcing now because we want ISVs to become aware of it although we'll openly publish very little until the first products appear.
How much will HP's decision not to use PostScript in the future hurt you?
It's a double-edged sword. HP's defection isn't a sign that they don't [like Adobe technology]. To Adobe, it's a revenue and PR loss but it's a recognition that HP sees us as too dominant. On the other hand it allows us to be far more aggressive in positioning ourselves against PCL, which we haven't been able to do in the past. HP hasn't abandoned us; it's only the laser printer side.
But I think they've shot themselves in the foot. If you look at the way printing is going, it's all towards colour and speed. To add the same functionality as PostScript to PCL, you'll have to add the same cost. PostScript printers are expensive because you need more RAM, more ROM, more processing, and there's a little bit of market inflation because it's the high-end. The fee we charge is purely based on the cost of the device. You pay a percentage the way CBS pays Sheena Easton a percentage.
How does the arrival of Level 3 affect positioning of Adobe's other PDL products?
PrintGear is far cheaper. It's at the bottom for Windows and Macintosh and it brings all the benefits of GDI but its shareable and faster. It's cheaper than a PCL printer. The next step is Personal PostScript, and the best is Level 3.
The Web will change everyone's lives and we think we have the technology to [help with] that. HTML is always going to be there. PDF is getting stronger and stronger but it's probably never going to be ubiquitous. We're working with Microsoft, Apple and several others on OpenType to make a new font standard. We have an ongoing dialogue with Hewlett-Packard and everybody else who's important. We feel we're in a pretty good position.


There is more to the holiday season than searching for the best deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
SANTA ROSA BEACH � There is more to the holiday season than searching for the best deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Nineteen local nonprofit groups are teaming up to promote Giving Tuesday, an effort to harness the collective power of charities, families, businesses and individuals to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season.
Giving Tuesday will be Dec. 3, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It will use social media to create a national campaign around the holidays dedicated to giving.
Shelter House and Food For Thought learned about Giving Tuesday and wanted to be part of the movement. The leaders of those organizations reached out to other non-profits to join.
The Boys and Girls Club of the Emerald Coast (bgcec.com); the Emerald Coast Children�s Advocacy Center; Children�s Volunteer Health Network (cvhnkids.org); Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County (culturalartsalliance.com); Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation (dcwaf.org); Emerald Coast Autism Center (ecautismcenter.org); Family Life Ministries (familylife-sozo.org); Food For Thought Outreach (foodforthoughtfl.org); Habitat for Humanity of Walton County (waltoncountyhabitat.org); Horizons (horizonsfwb.com); Judge Ben Gordon Visitation Center (familyvisitationcenters.org); Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation (mattiekellyartsfoundation.org); Mental Health Association (mhaow.org); Opportunity Place (okaloosawaltonhomeless.org); Shelter House (shelterhousenwfl.org); Taylor Haugen Foundation (taylorhaugen.org); White-Wilson (white-wilson.com) and Youth Village (nelliesyouthvillage.org).
To find out what each nonprofit will be doing, visit www.givingtuesdaynwf.org or each nonprofit�s website.


TORONTO — Rogers Media Inc. said Thursday it’s cutting 110 jobs from its television operations, mainly at its Omni multicultural stations, as it replaces traditional newscasts with interactive current affairs shows.
The subsidiary of Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B) said it will no longer produce Omni newscasts starting on Monday, laying off production staff and reporters.
The changes come as the broadcaster shakes up its programming across Omni stations in an effort to merge the multicultural brand’s operations with its City stations.
Omni currently airs local news in Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin and Punjabi.
Under the new programming, Omni will launch interactive current affairs shows that will broadcast in Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi.
The Italian newscast is being scrapped entirely and replaced with popular novella “Raccontami,” an import from Italy.
Omni newscasts had production costs of about $9 million last year and brought in $3.9 million of advertising revenue, said Colette Watson, vice-president of television and operations at Rogers.
“The math didn’t work,” she said.
The new shows will have a stronger focus on community stories, rather than news from overseas, Watson said.
As part of the changes, Rogers will scrap its Edmonton edition of “Breakfast Television” on City, and launch a new show called “Dinner Television” in the evening, hosted by NHL veteran Jason Strudwick.


Street parking in D.C. is changing as district officials are trying to get more money from those who drive in the city.
The hours in which drivers are required to feed the meters were set to expand. The council voted to keep many meters in effect until midnight, which was expected to raise more money for D.C. government, but a problem with how the expanded hours were calculated forced the council to rethink the plan.
The council voted Tuesday to roll back the hours from midnight to 10 p.m. but to increase the cost of parking meters.
“At this point it’s better than to increase the hours to essentially all meters … and to have the rate uniform at meters across the city,” Mendelson said.
Under the new plan, the parking fee will increase from 50 cents per 15 minutes to 50 cents per 13 minutes.
It’s the first parking meter fee increase in several years, Mendelson said.
“I don’t think this is out of step and I think that this is a better approach than the extended hours,” he said.
The new fee goes into effect June 1.


The 24-hour operation remains in place until 7am tomorrow.
GARDAÍ HAVE CAUGHT 133 vehicles driving over the speed limit today as part of National Slow Day.
Since 7am this morning, gardaí have checked the speed of 105,567 vehicles, with the 24-hour operation in force until 7am tomorrow morning.
Gardaí are urging motorists to be aware of road, traffic and weather conditions as part of the initiative aimed at reducing speeds.
Supported by the Road Safety Authority, National Slow Day aims to raise awareness about the dangers of speeding and to act as a deterrent to driving over the speed limit.
“When someone decides to speed they put members of their community at risk, including children, older people, cyclists and other motorists.
Nobody has the right to do that.
There were 157 road deaths in Ireland in 2017. As of 15 October there were 117 fatalities.
94km/h in a 60km/h Zone on the N11 Stillorgan Road Stillorgan, Dublin.
128km/h in a 100km/h Zone on the N20 Kilmona Grenagh, Cork.
134km/h in a 120km/h Zone on the M9 Woodlands East Castledermot, Kildare.


Falling short in the World Series in consecutive years, perhaps a more bitter ending than not playing for the championship at all, offers the Dodgers front office one perk this early in the offseason.
There is plenty on the Dodgers’ checklist as they begin reshaping the club over the next week. For starters, determining whether their face-of-the-franchise ace’s future is in Los Angeles.
Clayton Kershaw originally had until Wednesday at 9 p.m. PT to opt out of the two years remaining on his contract. But Kershaw and the Dodgers agreed to extend the deadline to Friday at 1 p.m. PT, which offers more time to possibly come to terms on a deal that would keep Kershaw in Los Angeles for longer than the next two seasons.
Neither offered specifics on the negotiations.
The club did remove one thing from its checklist Thursday, signing David Freese and saving $1 million doing it. The Dodgers held a $6 million team option to on Freese, but paid him a $500,000 bonus and then signed him to a one-year, $4.5-million deal.
The Dodgers have until 2 p.m. Friday to extend the one-year, $17.9 million qualifying offer to their free agents. Yasmani Grandal and Hyun-Jin Ryu are candidates to receive the offer. Manny Machado, another free agent, isn’t eligible to receive the qualifying offer because he was traded during the season. If the offer is extended and declined, and the player signs elsewhere, the Dodgers would receive a compensatory pick in next June’s draft.
The Dodgers have until 10 days after the season — Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. — to exercise the $1.1 million team option on manager Dave Roberts’ contract. The Dodgers engaged Roberts in contract discussions during the season without reaching an agreement. Roberts has said he would like to return and the Dodgers have said they would like to retain him.
On Thursday, Friedman and Zaidi defended Roberts’s decision-making during the World Series, particularly in Game 4 when he pulled pitcher Rich Hill in the seventh inning with a four-run lead after Hill had held the Red Sox scoreless over 6 1/3 innings.
Friedman and Zaidi attributed the team’s troubles in the World Series to the offense’s struggles. Machado was acquired during the regular season to help the Dodgers avoid those spells, but the shortstop went 4 for 22 with a walk and zero extra-base hits in the five games while adding to his reputation as someone allergic to hustling. Machado is expected to sign a mega contract this winter as either a shortstop or third baseman.
The Dodgers have third baseman Justin Turner under contract for $39 million the next two seasons and are “optimistic” that Corey Seager, whose injuries created the hole at shortstop that Machado filled, will be ready for Opening Day next spring. Seager has undergone elbow ligament replacement and hip surgeries. A return to Los Angeles for Machado is unlikely.
To retain Machado — or sign slugger Bryce Harper or any other marquee free agent — would almost certainly require the Dodgers to surpass the luxury tax threshold. That’s a line they mindfully dropped under in 2018. Asked whether the front office had been approved to venture into that territory, Friedman was coy.
Now the onus is on Friedman and Zaidi to reconfigure the club over the next few months and place it in the best position to return to the World Series — and hurdle the final obstacle.
The San Francisco Giants are reportedly interested in Zaidi as their president of baseball operations. Friedman declined to say whether the Dodgers had granted the Giants permission to interview Zaidi, who worked in the Oakland Athletics’ front office for nearly a decade before joining the Dodgers in 2014. … Zaidi said the Dodgers would like to bring back the entire coaching staff, but Dodgers third-base coach Chris Woodward is reportedly a strong candidate to become manager of the Texas Rangers. … The Dodgers traded left-hander Manny Banuelos to the Chicago White Sox for minor-league first baseman Justin Yurchak. Banuelos, 27, had a 3.73 earned-run average with 127 strikeouts and 42 walks in 108 innings for triple-A Oklahoma City. Yurchak, 22, batted .256 with a .674 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 96 games with Chicago’s single-A affiliate.


BEIJING – One of the hottest items in bookstores across China is a map for a place that is closed to visitors, home only to animals such as goats and crabs, and the reason China's relations with Japan are at their lowest point in years.
China calls them the Diaoyus; Japan, the Senkakus. The map shows a kidney-shaped main island with splotches of green, and a list of 70 affiliated "islands" that are really half-submerged rocks.
China published the map amid outrage over Japan's purchase of some of the islands, and has engaged in another type of mapmaking that may escalate the conflict.
It has drawn territorial markers around the islands and submitted them to the U.N. That could generate more serious attempts to claim the islands and valuable ocean around them.


India's largest entertainment conglomerate is investing millions of dollars to produce films in collaboration with a Hollywood studio.
Mumbai-based Reliance Big Entertainment says it will invest $325 million to help finance the production of five to six films a year by the American film company, DreamWorks Studios.
The Indian conglomerate entered into a partnership with DreamWorks Studios last year as its co founder, Steven Spielberg, looked for capital for new projects.
Reliance Big Entertainment said it is providing the "financial muscle" to help "uniquely talented individuals such as Steven Spielberg realize their dreams." Steven Spielberg said "the venture with Reliance opens a new door to our future."
The movies to be produced by the joint venture are expected to star some of the biggest Hollywood stars, and will be commercial, general entertainment films. The first film is slated to be released next year.
Mumbai-based film trade analyst, Komal Nahata, says Reliance's partnership with DreamWorks will give global exposure to the Indian entertainment industry.
"It comes on the international map. That is the biggest advantage. Now imagine reading Reliance's name in the credit titles of a Steven Spielberg film. It means a lot," Nahata said.
The venture between Reliance Big Entertainment and DreamWorks Studios comes at a time when monetary constraints due to last year's financial crisis has made it difficult for Hollywood studios to find credit.
Analysts say the deal may encourage more international film makers to look toward India for financing.
Komal Nahata says Reliance's foray into Hollywood could also be instrumental in bringing Hollywood a step closer to the Indian film industry known as Bollywood.
"It is a step toward marriage of Bollywood and Hollywood, what we have been talking of for long. This would mean that they are partners in international projects. Suddenly Bollywood will be viewed far more seriously by Hollywood than ever," Nahata said.
Bollywood stars, musicians and technical talent got international exposure recently with the Oscar-winning film Slum Dog Millionaire, produced by British film maker Danny Boyle. Since then the Indian film industry has expressed hopes that it will see more international directors head its way for film projects and collaborations.


A viewing and funeral service was held for four members of the Caneiro family who were killed in an arson fire at their Colts Neck home.
As a community reeled from the news that a family of four had been murdered, then their house set on fire, school officials and counselors mobilized.
Eleven-year-old Jesse Caneiro and 8-year-old Sophia Caneiro were students at Colts Neck Township schools. Their deaths meant school employees, as well as parents, faced a task that felt impossible: consoling their friends in what may be their first brush with death.
A memorial card that was distributed to media members gathered at the Holmdel Funeral Home, Sunday, December 2, 2018, depicts the four members of the Caneiro family who were killed in an arson fire at their Colts Neck home. Paul Caneiro has been charged in their deaths.
"I don't know how to describe a school environment after something like this happens," said Superintendent MaryJane Garibay. "I can say closer to the event, we utilized school spaces, classrooms and offices to speak with students individually and in small groups."
Young students may already be exposed to trauma from a nonstop news cycle: the Parkland school shooting, the Kroger shooting in Kentucky and days later the attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue, to name a few.
The Colts Neck fire and murders, however, hit closer to home for friends, neighbors and especially people who went to school with the Caneiro children.
"What's a little bit trickier is when it hits close to home, we as adults and parents may get tripped up in the reality," said Maureen Brogan, the statewide coordinator for the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth.
Adults may feel inclined to protect their children from the information surrounding a violent death, Brogan said. Instead, she recommends parent take the time to explain a soundbite their children hear on the news or a rumor they hear around school, just like they would explain any other bad news.
"It is a careful balancing act," Brogan said. "Most parents would like to keep their kids in that bubble and safe and as protected as they can. That's unrealistic, but it's a balancing act."
Brogan remembers what Fred Rogers, the beloved children TV personality, said to viewers about bad things happening.
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You'll always find people who are helping,'" he said.
A Holmdel Funeral Home employee hands out a statement from the Caneiro and Karidis families outside the site where the viewing and funeral was being held for the four members of the Caneiro family who were killed in an arson fire at their Colts Neck home. Paul Caneiro has been charged in their deaths.
Talking about death, even violent death, doesn't mean discussing every graphic detail, she added, but it gives parents an opportunity to address the loss of a classmate while explaining that the world isn't all bad.
After the Caneiro murders, the Colts Neck school district deployed its "internal crisis team," which includes guidance counselors, psychologists, a social worker, learning consultants and administrators. They also brought in help from the Monmouth County Traumatic Loss Coalition and posted worksheets online detailing resources and tips for parents about how to broach the subject with their children.
Garibay said she got calls from administrators across the county offering help and condolences. Colts Neck received two counselors from the Marlboro Township public schools, two from Howell Township public schools and one from the Belmar school district.
Garibay wouldn't discuss how many counselors are in the schools or how students are responding two weeks later because she didn't want to violate student confidentiality.
"Counseling and grief are very personal," she said. "There have been a lot of conversations about the students' needs."
The Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth started in 2000 after a series of suicides in Mercer County prompted officials to consider offering mental health resources to schools across the state.
Then 9/11 happened. Multiple chapters sprang up to help schools and families affected by the terror attack cope with the carnage.
"When younger children saw the towers fall, they thought the whole city and all the big buildings in the country were falling down because they kept seeing that visual over and over again," Brogan recalled.
Seventeen years later, the organization has a coalition in each county ready to work with schools, religious institutions and Boy and Girl Scout troops after a traumatic event, as well as beforehand. Along the way, Brogan said, they learned what works and what doesn't for children experiencing trauma.
A silver lining of a grisly fire or murder, she said, is that "it's really an opportunity to foster resilience, which will help them down in life." Like finding healthy ways to grieve.
Some children ask a lot of questions, like whether the dead get hungry, why their friend is gone or what to expect at a funeral.
"Be honest and say we don't have all the answers," Brogan said, "but we can say we're going to be here and we're going to get through this."
It's OK to use the word "dying" or "dead." That can help a child process the reality that someone is gone.
Avoid analogies like saying someone "fell asleep." A child can develop sleep disturbances or become anxious when a relative takes a nap.
Don't just rush to turn off the news. Maybe change the channel or take a minute to talk about a traumatic death with a child and explain that bad things happen sometimes.
If a child asks a question about death, don't over-explain. Let the child lead the conversation.
Children show grief just like adults. Below are some ways adults can respond to those signs, per the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth.


Nicholas Panas directs us to a Lego application concept he’s created for the iPhone SDK. It’s a great example of the types of apps we might expect to see in the near future, with the newly unveiled SDK.
“Lego Touch” aims to bridge the creativity of Lego with the portability of Mobile, without any compromise. In his demo, Panas proposes being able to “touch and build while on the move, moving from finger to brick to creation.” Users can also save, share and challenge friends to Build-offs. Looks like great fun, and perhaps an indication that we’re at the cusp of a wave of creativity and innovation that’s going to be possible through the new iPhone SDK.


Authorities are investigating a “swatting” incident Tuesday morning after someone called in a false report about a shooting threat at a north suburban Gurnee home.
The Lake County sheriff’s office received reports about 5:15 a.m. about a man threatening to shoot his wife in the 17600 block of Dawn Court in Gurnee, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
During the interviews, investigators “learned there was no domestic incident and no indication there was going to be a shooting or acts of violence,” the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities are investigating the case as a “swatting” incident and “further investigation revealed a likely source,” the sheriff’s office said.
Officials did not identify the source and the case remained under investigation Tuesday morning.


A Northamptonshire County Council social worker has been suspended for a year after failing to keep accurate records for 64 children in care.
A panel of the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC) Conduct and Competence Committee heard that Lee Higginbottom was responsible for a number of failings while working as an Independent Review and Conference Officer.
The panel heard he did not keep accurate records for approximately 87 Statutory Looked After Children Reviews, relating to 64 children.
Mr Higginbottom also failed to keep his managers proactively informed about the significant backlog of his work, with reports of a “disconnect” between what they were told and “reality”.
The panel ruled to suspend the name of Lee Robert Patrick Higginbottom from the HCPC Register for a period of 12 months on the grounds of misconduct.
Panel Chair Polly Clarke said: “The panel concluded that a suspension order of this duration demonstrates how seriously the we regard Mr Higginbottom’s failings in fulfilling statutory duties which were fundamental to his role and vital to service users.
Mr Higginbottom was neither present nor represented at the hearing.


Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Saturday there is no guarantee closer Aroldis Chapman will pitch again in the regular season.
Chapman was placed on the 10-day disabled list Aug. 22 with left knee tendinitis. Since then, he has had two platelet-rich plasma injections and has been dealing with knee pain since at least May. Zach Britton, Dellin Betances and David Robertson have shared the closer duties in Chapman’s absence.
On the season, the five-time All-Star Chapman is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA. He has appeared in 50 games and has 31 saves.
—The Yankees activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day disabled list and also added outfielder Andrew McCutchen and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria to the active roster.
Sanchez had been sidelined with a groin injury. He last played for the Yankees on July 23 but was in the lineup batting fifth for the team’s game against the Detroit Tigers, going 0-for-4.
McCutchen, who was obtained from the San Francisco Giants on Friday, played right field and hit first against the Tigers, going 0-for-3 in his Yankees debut. Hechavarria, also acquired Friday from the Pittsburgh Pirates, wasn’t in the starting lineup but later appeared as a defensive replacement.
—The Cleveland Indians added third baseman Josh Donaldson to their big league roster and reinstated outfielder Rajai Davis from the disabled list during a busy day of transactions.
Donaldson joined the active roster one day after the Indians acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a player to be named later. The 2015 American League MVP hit .234 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in just 36 games this season for the Blue Jays while hampered with injuries.
Davis, 37, is hitting .246 with one home run, six RBIs and 16 stolen bases in 81 games this season. He has been out since Aug. 19 with an illness. The Indians also promoted right-hander Jon Edwards and catcher Eric Haase from Triple-A Columbus while designating right-hander Evan Marshall for assignment.
—The Los Angeles Dodgers reinstated infielder Chase Utley from the disabled list and added recent acquisitions David Freese and Ryan Madson to the active roster.
The Dodgers also recalled infielder/catcher Kyle Farmer, infielder/outfielder Tim Locastro and outfielders Andrew Toles and Alex Verdugo while reinstating left-hander Zac Rosscup from the disabled list.
Los Angeles entered the day one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West and hopes its new arrivals will help close the gap in the season’s final month.
—The Chicago Cubs activated third baseman Kris Bryant and shortstop Addison Russell from the disabled list.
The moves bolster the Cubs’ lineup as the team seeks its second World Series championship in the past three seasons. Chicago entered the day with the best record in the National League at 79-55 despite the extended absence of one of its best players.
Bryant, 26, last played on July 23 after experiencing inflammation in his left shoulder. The former NL MVP entered the day hitting .276 with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs in 76 games. Russell, 24, was placed on the disabled list retroactive to Aug. 20 with a sprained left middle finger.
—The Seattle Mariners activated ace left-hander James Paxton from the disabled list to start the team’s night game against the Oakland Athletics.
Paxton had been sidelined since taking a line drive off his pitching forearm on Aug. 14 against the Athletics. He was struck in the first inning of that start by Jed Lowrie’s sharply hit ball. Paxton is 10-5 with a 3.68 ERA in 24 starts this season.
Seattle expanded its roster by promoting right-handers Chasen Bradford, Ryan Cook and Justin Grimm, left-hander James Pazos, catcher David Freitas and infielder/outfielder Kristopher Negron from Triple-A Tacoma. The Mariners also designated right-hander Rob Whalen for assignment and outrighted right-hander Christian Bergman to Tacoma.


Police are appealing for witnesses following a burglary in the Circular Road area of Newtownabbey.
It was reported that a garage of a house was entered sometime between 12pm on Wednesday, January 2 and 5.30pm on Thursday, January 3, but details have only been made public by the police today.
Three military service medals were stolen during the incident. The medals, a Northern Ireland General Service Medal, Iraq Medal and Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, are of great sentimental value to the owner and police are appealing for anyone with any information on their whereabouts to contact them.
Constable Scott is appealing for anyone who witnessed the burglary or anyone with any information that can assist with the investigation to contact officers in Newtownabbey Police Station on 101, quoting reference 237 04/01/19.
Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is 100 per cent anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime.


In an instance of life imitating art, a Nike exec confirmed that the company is working on getting its Marty McFly "Back to the Future" shoe — with Power Laces — out to customers in 2015, the year that they appeared in Back to the Future II.
Speaking at the Agenda Emerge industry conference in Long Beach, California, on Monday, Nike's innovation chief Tinker Hatfield said the shoe — known as Nike Air MAG — would hit in 2015. He declined to give a release date or pricing info and distribution info, reminding the crowd that there are still "11 and two-thirds months left in 2015," according to sneaker blog Nice Kicks.
"The anticipation for this release is something that few understand," Matt Halfhill, publisher of NiceKicks, told Mashable. "I don't even know if everyone at Nike realizes just how much demand there is for this shoe."
Nike has been teasing the release since 2011, when it dropped a video promoting the self-lacing shoes. The company even filed for a patent for the Power Lace technology. At the time, Nike auctioned off 1,500 pairs of the shoes with net proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which funds research to fight Parkinson's Disease. Fox, who starred in the BTF trilogy, suffers from that disease.
A pair of Nike MAGs, as shown in a 2011 unboxing.
As 2015 rolled around, many revisited BTFII's predictions for the year. Reddit users also pointed out that Pepsi has a marketing opportunity for 2015 since futuristic bottles of the soft drink appear in the film as well.
Turn raisins back into grapes and keep dehydrated pizza in your back pocket. Mmmm.
Snowing? Raining? Just feeling lazy? Let Fifi take herself for a walk.
Perfect produce, delivered from the ceiling.
Oh, they're making a comeback. Stock up on thermal transfer printer.
*Note: This looks much cooler than Google Glass.
Pesky paparazzi will now come in robot form.
Sorry, electric cars -- automated gas stations make the fossil fuel worth it.
You won't have to worry about finding a place to store keys in your yellow spandex jumpsuit.
Never know the difference between night and day. It's like a casino without the gambling and regrets.
For people who like the convenience of Velcro without all the trouble.


The "most senior geek" after Gates got the OS onto almost every desktop, but he also influenced the decision that prompted the landmark antitrust case.
Jim Allchin, to some Microsoft's biggest senior geek after Bill Gates, is retiring at the end of 2006. His legacy: Windows on almost every desktop.
The 53-year-old Allchin joined Microsoft in 1990, initially working on the company's networking product strategy. He came from Banyan Systems, where he had been the architect of the now-defunct Vines network operating system. At Microsoft, Allchin's main achievement was in leading the development of the Windows operating system.
"When it comes to Windows, the buck stops at Jim," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "Allchin has been the guiding father of Windows for many years and had a tremendous responsibility for charting the flagship product for Microsoft."
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that Allchin plans to retire at the end of next year, after it ships Windows Vista, the successor to Windows XP. Until then, Allchin will head Microsoft's new Platform Products and Services division alongside his successor, former sales chief Kevin Johnson, Microsoft said.
But while Johnson has been a star at Microsoft, rising through the sales and marketing ranks, he is not really a replacement for Allchin, said Rob Helm, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.
"Johnson will occupy the box that Allchin occupied, but he is not a dweeb. He is a very capable manager but not the company's senior technical architect," Helm said. "It was striking to me that Microsoft did not name anyone, really, to replace Allchin. There is a job he did that is currently vacant."
After Bill Gates, Allchin is Microsoft's "most senior geek," Helm said. "He succeeded beyond everyone's wildest dreams, basically putting Novell on the margins of IT with Windows NT," he said. "Microsoft moved from a follower to a leader in the networking area on his watch."
Allchin's departure will be a loss on many levels, said Israel Hernandez, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. "He's had a long history with Microsoft," Hernandez said. "He's gone through practically every major product release with them and was one of their chief architects. He was a key lieutenant under Ballmer and Gates."
Allchin is also known for his strong belief in Windows as the jewel in Microsoft's crown, even during the emergence of the Internet in the mid-1990s. It was Allchin who pressed for the integration of Windows and the Internet Explorer Web browser, while others inside the company argued for a faster and more complete embracing of the Net.
In early 1997, Allchin sent Gates an e-mail titled "Losing a Franchise--The Microsoft Windows Story (a new Harvard case study)," according to the book "Breaking Windows," by author David Bank. Allchin wrote that he was troubled by plans to release IE for other operating systems as well as for Windows. "I consider this cross-platform idea a disease within Microsoft. We are determined to put a gun to our head and pull the trigger." Gates agreed and began to steer the company back towards Allchin's view.
The integration of IE into Windows caused a senior-level shake-up at Microsoft, including the departure of Brad Silverberg, who had headed development of the Web browser.
The episode is an example of the power Allchin has inside Microsoft, said Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group. "He was one of the powers in the company. After Gates and Ballmer, he was an easy third--very powerful and very well-liked by most people," Enderle said.
Ultimately, the bundling of IE with Windows led to a landmark antitrust case against Microsoft. Still, Allchin's legacy has to be that Windows today runs on the vast majority of personal computers, Gartenberg of JupiterResearch said.
In his years at Microsoft, Allchin has become known to be open about the company's mistakes. He avoids travel and spends most of his time in meetings, but prefers "think days" in his lab. Typically Allchin works 12-hour days--from 7.30 am until 7.30 pm--at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters. His focus is on quality even made it hard for Microsoft to recruit him: "It took a year for me to actually agree to come here, because I did not think the quality was appropriate, and I did not think much of DOS, did not think much of Windows and OS2 was a complete blowout," Allchin said in a recent interview on Microsoft's Channel 9 Web site.
After making sure that Vista hits store shelves, Allchin will likely begin spending his time with his family and his other love: music. He is an avid guitar player and has even shared some of his work on Channel 9, part of Microsoft's online community for developers. Before making it big in software, Allchin was a starving musician eating Cheerios without milk after his food stamps ran out, he told Channel 9 in an interview.
In an e-mail sent Tuesday, Allchin reminded Microsoft employees that he isn't going away yet. "This is not a retirement announcement e-mail," he wrote. "My intensity will not abate. My commitment to excellence is as strong as ever."
He decided to retire at the end of 2006 after an unspecified medical event led him to evaluate his priorities, according to the e-mail.
"Now...lets's ship, ship, ship!" he closed the message, referring to the delivery of Windows Vista.
CNET News.com's Scott Ard contributed to this report.


Kendall Jenner had nowhere to hide when she left her hotel with Harry Styles (inset) of One Direction in New York City over the weekend.
Kendall Jenner looked like she wanted to be anywhere in the world except in a throng of paparazzi as she left a New York City hotel behind smirking “One Direction” Lothario Harry Styles over the weekend. Talk about a walk of shame.
The 19-year-old boybander clearly looked like he had bedded her on Friday (Dec. 6).
Both were spotted leaving the Gansevoort Hotel in New York’s Meatpacking District on Saturday morning (Dec. 7) on what amounted to their third date.
The two reportedly met at the studio where the “X Factor USA” music competition is taped in Los Angeles. Harry’s manager an Kendall’s momager Kris Jenner reportedly introduced them.
Kendall and Harry were later spotted having dinner Nov. 20 at Craig’s in West Hollywood, a well-known celebrity hangout teaming with paparazzi. They could hardly have been missed and made all the tabloids.
Jenner played down the connection with the One Direction star when asked at the American Music Awards a few days later. Harry did the same when asked by CNN’s Piers Morgan at the band’s 1D Day.
But they reportedly went out again on Nov. 25 after Styles visited with Kendall’s father Bruce Jenner in Malibu, according to UsWeekly. The ate dinner at the members-only SoHo House in West Hollywood.
Kendall reportedly flew in on Friday before the show and stayed at the same hotel as Styles, the only boybander who checked in there. When Harry and Kendall came down the next day, not surprisingly, a horde of paparazzi were waiting.
They quickly separated. Harry walked about 10 feet in front of Kendall an acted like she wasn’t there. He put on sunglasses and posed with fans.
Kendall never looked up and kept nervously running her hand through her hair. Her face was somber and at one point she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Harry had a high-profile relationships with Taylor Swift that ended badly last January. In September, he was reportedly seeing UK model Cara Delevingne, who is bisexual.
He’s also had two scandalous affairs with women almost twice his age, one of whom was married.
Whether momager Kris is pushing Kendall into the relationship is unknown, but Kendall should at least try to look happy when they’re spotted in public together.


Extreme Networks has appointed Chris Georgellis as managing director for Australia and New Zealand replacing John Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was the company’s managing director from 2013 until early 2017.
Georgellis will be based in Sydney and will be responsible for setting the strategic direction and growth plan for the “new” Extreme in A/NZ markets.
He will report to the company’s vice president for Asia-Pacific and Japan, Simon Naylor.
In July, Extreme Networks completed the acquisition of Avaya’s networking business, which included new customers, personnel and technology assets from the vendor.
Georgellis has more than 15 years of experience in the area having worked in a variety of roles across networking, telecommunications and systems integration industry.
He worked for Encoda Systems, Cisco, Getronics, and others such as UXC Connect where he was a business development manager for almost four years before being promoted to data centre and cloud practice manager.
He then moved on to HP where he was the business manager for wireless and mobility for two years, then taking up a sale4s manager role with Aruba, which was acquired by HPE.
“I am very excited to be joining the “New” Extreme at such a dynamic time for the company,” Georgellis said. “The company’s vision to be the leading customer centric networking company is complementary to my beliefs on what a company should strive to be.
"I am looking forward to working with our team and channel partners here as we expand on the next phase of growth in the ANZ market,” he said.


It’s a beautiful day. The family’s in attendance, side dishes and beer in tow. Your sister-in-law brought a trunk full of Super Soakers. It’s BBQ time. Time to kick back in the yard and fire up the … stove?
Hmm, that doesn’t sound terribly exciting, does it? But that’s basically what you’re doing when you cook out on a gas grill, which is powered by the same largely flavorless fuel as your kitchen stove.
True fact: Cooking on a gas grill is more convenient than cooking with charcoal.
It’s also a lot less special. And, scientifically speaking, it creates less flavorful food.
True fact: A gas grill is more convenient. But it also creates less flavorful food.
In other words, a burger is more than the sum of its ingredients. Sure, there are chemical processes occurring in your food that alter its flavors as it heats – amino acids interacting with sugars, fats breaking down, and so on – but this delicious chemistry happens whether you cook on gas, charcoal, an electric burner, even an engine block.
What charcoal brings to the party is a healthy heaping of aroma compounds, the other half of the power couple that is flavor. In fact, aroma might be the super starlet in that relationship, because our tongues are actually pretty limited. “There are only five taste receptors that are well-agreed-upon to exist within your taste buds,” says Sacks. He’s referring to sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and the new kid: umami.
Anything else you perceive while eating – that smoky deliciousness, for example – is courtesy of aroma.
What charcoal brings to the party is a healthy heaping of aroma compounds, the other half of the power couple that is flavor.
Aromas are released when you bite into your food. They travel up your retronasal cavity, and light up your olfactory receptors. That neurological signal mixes with whatever your taste buds are saying and tells your brain what’s going on in your mouth.
Of course, even food cooked on a gas grill gives off aromas – all food does. But food grilled over a charcoal flame has a special one: guaiacol.
Translation: Cooking over charcoal makes your food taste like bacon. Let me repeat that: blah blah charcoal blah blah BACON.
So if you have two identical steaks, cooked at identical temperatures, for the same amount of time, where the only difference is that one is cooked over charcoal and one is cooked over gas, what will be the end result? The charcoal-cooked steak will taste more like bacon.
Check out the other side of the debate: why gas (yes, gas!) is better than charcoal.
Joe Brown is the editor of Wired.com.


Once, we were happy if our watches told the correct time. Now, we expect our necklaces to tell us when we get a text, our bracelets to measure our heart rate and our rings to unlock our front doors. Here are some of the most exciting wearable gadgets on the way.


David Hilliard is a visiting artist at the Carpenter Center this year.
“I like that a photograph alludes to something and doesn’t really fully tell the story,” says David Hilliard, a visiting artist at the Carpenter Center this year. For Hilliard, who has backgrounds in theater and film, photography has a “magic” related to but unique from that of cinema and stage. His paneled photographs, which show glimpses of human scenes in progress, feel like a spectacle unfolding at the viewer’s pace. Hilliard sat down with the Crimson to talk about his work, which will be on display at the Carpenter Center through September 28.
The Harvard Crimson: How long does it take for you to set up the photographs?
David Hilliard: There’s no recipe. Some are preconceived: I have an idea and I build or find a location and I make the photograph, and sometimes it’s the recreation of a moment or an illustration of an idea. And other times, like if I had time right now and I were with you and I had my camera, it’s the newness of somebody in nice light…. The photographs are rectangular. They’re not panoramic; I’m not cutting up a negative. So when you see a photograph, that’s three pieces.
THC: You’re actually shooting separate pieces.
DH: Because they are actually separate moments, with shifting time, with shifting focus. The way the written word, storytelling, works: language. The way a cinematic camera works: je-je-je-je-jer. And so all of that is not about formally breaking them up…. Sometimes I’ll give a lecture on my work and someone will say, why are you cutting up your negatives? I’m like, no, they’re like separate moments. Your day, our day, are separate moments of time, that if laid out, would look like that: boomboomboomboom. So it’s about finding these moments, and acknowledging them, and editing them down to the best moments.
THC: But it’s also that [in your work], even while each moment can exist on its own, the moments are all residues of each other; each is visible in the others.
DH: Right. I do think of each one as its own moment, but they are all touching upon each other. Each moment in my life and yours is rubbing shoulders with the previous one and the next. And that’s what’s happening in my work…. Moments rubbing up against other moments. Really sensual, if you think about it—life and art.
THC: You do frequently expose the human body, but it’s not a sensuality that’s comfortable with itself.
DH: Right, and there’s a kind of quiet, a discomfort, and a celebration at the same time…. It’s part of our lives, and we don’t always talk about it.
THC: Are you interested in the fact that we don’t talk about it?
DH: Yeah, sure. And in especially my case—in my political statement as a gay man, it isn’t important that my work always be about that—but it is important that the audience knows that these images were made by the lenses of a gay man…. My work is about intimate relationships: the ones that I share, the ones that a heterosexual might share, the ones that a different culture might share…. I am very interested in the nuances of maleness…. And also being lower middle class. Growing up in New England and growing up poor. So there’s a lot of biography, [a] lot of autobiography in the work.
THC: To what degree do you put yourself in the photos?
DH: There was a time when, I think as a young artist I felt that if my work were about me, I had to be in all of the pictures. [But] I realized, and it was so obvious, that the work was always about me. And it was easier to step out of the frame and find other people; there were surrogates for myself, or other people who are more like me, or unlike me. So the [photographs] became more about me once I stopped being in them…. I still occasionally seep into some of my work, but with more forethought about why I need to be there.
THC: You were talking about how there’s different kinds of intimacy between people in your work. Is there a kind of intimacy that they have with the environment? The environment figures in your work very prominently; there’ll be entire panels with no people.
DH: I am interested in environmental portraiture. How does our environment act on your subject, your sitter, in the photograph? And vice versa. What does your sitter bring to the environment? So there’s this dialogue that goes on when we look at photographs. It matters where somebody is in the picture. I like to question that. Sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t. There can be irony; this person really doesn’t belong in that setting, and it does change, switch up the read of the photograph.


Private equity fund Actis LLP plans to set up a new firm to house its operational renewable energy assets in India, attracted by the nation’s growing green economy.
Actis will likely accommodate the solar projects of Essel Group in the new firm that the private equity fund plans to acquire in a deal valued at around $600 million, said a person aware of the development. It also plans to acquire around 200 megawatts (MW) of Shapoorji Pallonji group’s solar assets through Sprng Energy Pvt. Ltd.
The third firm being set up by Actis which is focused on the renewable energy space follows India’s largest clean energy deal wherein ReNew Power Ventures acquired Ostro Energy Pvt. Ltd from Actis LLP at an enterprise value of $1.5 billion last year. Actis plans to grow Sprng Energy to 1.75 gigawatts (GW) from its present 750MW portfolio.
“The new firm will house the operating assets for setting up a yield-based product. It will be a new platform wherein the bulk of the focus will be on renewable. It may also house roads and transmission assets," said the person cited above.
Backed by Actis, Ostro Energy grew through a prudent renewable energy auction strategy entailing an equity investment of $280 million and a debt of about $900 million. It helped Ostro Energy leapfrog from one 50MW project in Rajasthan to 1.1GW when it was sold.
Actis India’s playbook is guided by the size of the clean energy business here. India is ranked fifth globally in terms of installed renewable energy capacity, according to the government. India has a solar installed capacity of 24.33GW, with another 22.8GW capacity under implementation, although there are concerns about the asset quality.
Mint reported on 28 November about Actis LLP agreeing to buy Essel Infraprojects Ltd’s solar power projects. “The Essel deal is on and has an enterprise value of around $600 million. The Shapoorji Pallonji assets are expected to have an enterprise value of around $200 million," said the person cited above.
Essel Infra put its solar assets on the block in early 2018 and has spent most of the year negotiating with potential buyers. Essel has 685MW of installed capacity and under-construction projects. Shapoorji’s portfolio currently comprises seven operational projects with a total capacity of 272MW and an additional 130MW under development.
An Actis spokesperson declined to comment.
An external spokesperson for Shapoorji Pallonji group in an emailed response said: “The Group would not like to respond to market information and would be making suitable announcements when appropriate."
An Essel Group spokesperson in an emailed response said: “Essel Infra’s solar asset divestment process is in progress as per the planned approach. At this stage, we do not wish to comment on any other information and the same will be communicated when the deal concludes, since we are bound by confidentiality agreements signed with the potential suitors."
Ostro Energy and Solenergi are among the energy platforms that Actis has created globally, following Globeleq Meso America in Central America, Zuma Energia in Mexico, Aela Energia in Chile and Atlantic Renovaveis in Brazil.


Twenty-five percent of shoppers revealed that email is their favorite marketing channel, according to a new report from Message Systems. Email led the pack against mobile which only 9 percent of shoppers preferred and social which only 5 percent prefer. In the new year, expect to see more hashtags in subject lines, as well as more real-tome personalization and responsive design. Expect to see less batch and blast campaigns and less static emails.


Seating for 6 people. One LCD screen, wifi, USB ports and electrical outlets.
Has a conference table that seats 5 people. One LCD screen, wifi, USB ports and electrical outlets.


Issa revealed at a committee hearing Wednesday that the immunity granted to Clinton aides during the FBI investigation of her mishandling of classified documents in her private e-mail server went far beyond the scope that was previously reported.
Former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and another senior staffer had “some” classified material on laptops they turned over to the bureau for its investigation, but the aides still received broad immunity. At least five Clinton aides received similar immunity.
“Isn’t there a double standard that when you granted immunity to these 5 individuals you took them out of the reach of prosecution for crimes committed related to destruction of documents or withholding or other crimes pursuant to Congressional subpoenas?,” Issa asked FBI Director James Comey at the committee hearing Wednesday.
“I don’t think anybody was given ‘transactional immunity,’” Comey responded.
Comey at that point admitted that he could be wrong, but later said he was “pretty sure” what was granted was “use immunity” and that “transactional immunity” was not granted.
“The FBI director seemed to act like it didn’t happen until we re-read and called him on it. And that’s because those documents were never in our possession. We were just allowed to see them, so when there was some dispute we called the Justice Department so we could review them again and we reviewed them again and they are already a quid pro quo—a trade,” Issa told TheDC.
Issa noted that the immunity given to the Clinton aides will protect them long after the Obama administration has packed up and left Washington.
“Either [the FBI] gave too much for too little, which they got nothing, or they were corrupted essentially by the Obama-Clinton machine. That, quite frankly, has now given people a pass. There were criminal acts committed and no one was punished. That’s what we learned today,” the congressman said.