Washington, DC - Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the number of persons under the supervision of adult correctional systems in the United States has fallen to its lowest level since 2003. This finding is highlighted in a study to be released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Sacramento, California - A northern California man was sentenced Thursday to 101 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine, following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations and the Manteca Police Department.
Washington, DC - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has transformed the detainee health recordkeeping system into one of the largest and most robust medical systems in the federal government.
Washington, DC - As part of Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson’s effort to enhance the manner in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) collects and reports statistics, today DHS released its fiscal year (FY) 2014 enforcement statistics from the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In a continued focus by Secretary Johnson to promote transparency and timely reporting to Congress and the public, for the first time this year, ICE, CBP, and DHS’s consolidated statistics are all being reported and released together.
Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has posted data from the 2013 Pesticide Data Program (PDP) Annual Summary. The PDP summary confirms that overall pesticide chemical residues found on the foods tested are at levels below the tolerances established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and do not pose a safety concern.


If people aren't being breath tested, they'll fall back into habits of not watching what they're drinking when they drive, National's police spokesman Chris Bishop says.
There has been a sharp decline in roadside breath tests, at the same time as the road toll climbs in New Zealand.
In 2013, there were 3 million breath tests completed, but last year the number had dropped to 1.4 million - less than half the total of five years earlier.
"I think Kiwis will be concerned about that [number]," Mr Bishop said. "People really do notice it and I think over time it does change people's behaviour because when people know that there's a chance they're going to be breath tested they do think about what they're drinking.
"At the moment it's basically impossible to get stopped because the police aren't doing the tests."
Police have said they are being more strategic, more targeted, using evidence and targeting high risk areas, which all sounded good, Mr Bishop said, but it was the areas which didn't show up as high risk, which people still drove home on after having a few drinks at work or the pub, which needed to be tested as well.
"If you don't test people then you don't get that behavioural change over time and stop that drink driving."
The scaling back started when National was in Government, but Mr Bishop said at the time now-police minister Stuart Nash "talked really big" of bringing the number up again.
"They've been in there [in Government] now for 18 months and the number of breath tests has actually fallen by 350,000 so I'd say it's really easy to talk big in opposition, it's a lot harder to deliver in Government," he said.
Mr Bishop said he was not confident, but hopeful the Government's new road safety strategy, to be announced by Julie Anne Genter in April, will increase the number of breath tests on New Zealand roads.


Me, I was raised a fundamentalist Baptist. We thought Southern Baptists were dangerously liberal. And, most in our crowd knew Northern or American Baptists weren’t really Christian.
My lasting take away from this childhood is a certain discomfort with my body and a deep and abiding understanding of shame.
The narrative is a pretty straight forward Zen presentation.
First a couple of thoughts about the set up. The student presents a nicely poetic version of the perennial question for those of us on the way. What about awakening? When you strip away the pretty words, what is it about?
And here we get the first shame.
Now, I understand we children of the West, Europeans and particularly Americans, are supposed to come from a guilt-based culture, as opposed to a shame-based one. I’ve never fully understood what is being pointed to in that regard, as I have understandings of shame that run to the very core of my being.
What I would suggest is that Huguo, who first mastered the arcane philosophical systems of the Tentai traditions before undergoing Zen training, that, in the best Zen tradition, he is taking the wound we all feel, that sense of shortcoming, of failure of self and family and offers it anew.
Here everything we feel bad about is brought forth.
In some ways an old Zen ploy. But, playing our way through the cases, we’re invited, over and over again, in a sense like Peter Pan, to discover anew the old wounds, and the new possibilities. But unlike the perpetual boy, we’re invited to slip each time a tiny bit deeper into the matter.
So, when shame is exhausted, then what?
When awakening has played its course, then what?
The student of the way is not to be deterred, and he tries, she tries again. This time with another convention of our way, another angle onto into the matter of our heart’s pursuit.
What about when we’ve disentangled from the mess?
And we’ve found the great glacial?
And again Huguo brings it back, brings us back. What about when we return to the world? Where are those bliss bestowing hands then?
I think with that the student has a glimpse of the matter at a deeper level. Certainly the question turns in another direction. Here all the hurt is revealed. What shame really is. He asks about when our loved ones are murdered, and our way is crushed under the heel of tyrants, when we find no place to rest our head, when all that is holy seems to drain away from us like water swirling and disappearing down a sink, when as it says in the original “the guardians have abandoned us,” or as we might more comfortably say in Western and American culture, when God has left us, and our children die, what about the matter then?
And, my Baptist heart resonates with the master, with Huguo who sings from the heart of it all the deep truth that turns nothing away, on both sides, great open and the great mess, there is only shame.
So, on this lovely morning, when the sky breaks blue, and the radio whispers a snow storm is on its way in the next hours, what about then, what about now?


At some point in time, we all face new and challenging responsibilities. It may be for work, for our family, or even for the sake of living on this planet with 7 billion other people.
These responsibilities can encompass small everyday things — brushing our teeth, putting on clean clothes, taking showers, or eating dinner — or special occasions — buying gifts and sending thank you notes to loved ones on their birthdays. They can be boring and tedious like finishing up a report for work or attending that meeting that you really don’t want to go to.
The point is we all face responsibilities we’d rather not. The alarm goes off in the morning and we’re filled with hesitation.
I recently got a new writing gig that requires essays that are larger in scope and more exhausting for me to write than what I’m accustomed to. This has been causing me undue stress. I’m excited to feel it out because it could mean a bigger pay day than I’ve had in a long time.
It seems huge and daunting at first, as a lot of things do when you have a major mental illness, but you have to ease into it, stick out your feelers and you play it by ear. Then you get to see just exactly what’s required of you and where you are going with this new, intimidating — potentially exciting — thing that you just took on.
I know how it usually goes: I feel overwhelmed in the moment, but I’ll eventually get used to it. I understand that stress can be a light switch between mental stability and instability, but stretching the legs can be extremely beneficial. Each time we learn something new, we have a chance to see just how resilient we are.
When you try something new and your anxiety mounts, self-care is of the utmost importance. First of all, don’t be afraid to take it as slow as you need to. You set the pace. Understand your limitations. Know what sets you off and push past those boundaries ever so slightly. Stepping beyond your limits is essential to growth.
If you feel overwhelmed, take time off. Get out and take a walk, eat a nice dinner, take a hot shower and get a good night’s sleep. Be gentle with yourself. Treating yourself well can make all the difference.
Your comfort and satisfaction are top priorities. If you need a moment of understanding from your boss or your family its perfectly ok to be honest about how you’re feeling. Hopefully, they’ll be understanding and provide a safe environment for you to fulfill your responsibilities and obligations.


State-of-the-art firewalls prevent the exploitation of Web application holes.
With a pressing need to do more to protect Web applications from attack, IT staff can turn to a new class of specialized firewalls that do a great deal to protect Web servers, Web applications, and connected internal servers and databases from attack.
Each of the three Web application firewalls eWEEK Labs reviews here—Kavado Inc.s InterDo 3.0, Sanctum Inc.s AppShield 4.0 and Teros Inc.s Teros-100 APS (Application Protection System) 2.1.1—provides next-generation attack defense through a deep understanding of how HTML applications function.
All three products go through an HTML parsing phase where they learn the form field, application structure and cookie usage for each Web page. The firewalls use this information to dynamically inspect all incoming requests. They can therefore block requests that modify hidden fields or cookies or submit malformed requests, such as very long parameters or parameters containing script or SQL commands.
Teros-100 APS goes further yet—and earns an Analysts Choice award—by providing high-level content filtering and recognition algorithms, coupled with simple and effective Bayesian traffic pattern recognition algorithms, to determine legitimate site behavior. No product in this category does what we think a mature effort should, but at this early technology development stage, Teros-100 APS stands out.
The deep level of protocol inspection used by each of the products we tested, customized to each page in each protected application, is the big win for customers adopting any of them.
These tools are an especially good fit for organizations that are having difficulty cleaning up security problems in their Web applications.
Compatibility is one benefit. Because Web application firewalls look only at the outgoing HTML stream (the application code itself is a black box to them), they will work with Web applications written in any language or deployed on any platform. Speed of deployment is another benefit to these application firewalls. Although it may take considerable time to tune them, all three products offer basic protection almost immediately.
Now the downside: All three of these tools can break existing Web applications through their strict controls on allowable behavior. While the firewalls we tested show improvement over their respective past releases in terms of how effectively they are able to infer correct behavior, we advise potential adopters to be ready for several cycles of painstaking reconfiguration and fine-tuning.
An advance wed like to see in this category of products is tighter integration with common Web application development languages and back-end databases. These products have to guess, with varying degrees of accuracy, what data type each HTML form field should be. The ability to parse source code or scan data types in the back-end database tables would let the application firewall know much more precisely what data input was allowable. Were still some time away from this level of sophistication, however.


The third annual Middle Finger 5K is set for May 4 in Geneva.
Over 1,000 people are expected to participate in the Thrive to Survive fundraiser.
All proceeds will go to adults diagnosed and in treatment for cancer living in Yates, Schuyler, Seneca and parts of Ontario counties.


At Phocuswright, Tinyclues will showcase in the Launch Program against 13 other travel technology providers with their breakthrough, AI-first targeting and campaign planning solution.
Tinyclues, provider of a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-first marketing solution, announced today their sponsorship of Phocuswright, taking place in Los Angeles, CA November 13-15th.
Phocuswright’s focus for this year’s conference is the ways in which travel industry giants are able to adapt, grow, scale, and innovate. Marketing technology based in deep learning, like what is seen in the Tinyclues solution, is one way in which it is believed that travel brands can stay competitive and evolve in the rapidly maturing, increasingly demanding landscape.
At Phocuswright, travel leaders and marketers from several hundred brands will have an opportunity to learn more about Tinyclues’ revolutionary solution during the “Launch” program. Tinyclues’ founder and CEO, David Bessis, will be presenting on Tuesday, November 13th at 4:30 pm in the Platinum Ballroom. Tinyclues plans to demonstrate live how simply the targeting and campaign orchestration solution fits into any existing marketing stack, decreases complexity surrounding planning and executing successful campaigns, and the incredible, unmatched results the solution affords major brands such as AccorHotels and Air France.
Tinyclues will also be exhibiting with a kiosk, where they will showcase their revolutionary solution providing leading retailers and travel brands with an average of 49% increase in campaign revenue, dramatic improvements in customer engagement, and an innovative, headache-free interface and experience for marketers.
After opening their doors in North America in New York in November 2017, Tinyclues has already experienced tremendous growth in the region in the retail sector. Tinyclues has also expanded its footprint with major travel brands like AccorHotels, Air France, Club Med and Club Med US, Global Hotel Alliance, Thomas Cook, TUI, and many more.
Many more Tinyclues success stories are available and more information about the product can be requested here.
Tinyclues is the leading AI-first Marketing Campaign Intelligence solution enabling companies to maximize revenue and customer engagement through intelligent campaign targeting and planning. Tinyclues’ solution uses deep learning to identify future buyers for any offer, in the days following a campaign. Companies such as AccorHotels, Brandalley, Cdiscount, Charles Tyrwhitt, Clarins, Club Med, Fnac Darty, Global Hotel Alliance, Lacoste, Manor, Road Scholar, Thomas Cook, TUI, Vente-privee, and Vestiaire Collective are using Tinyclues to optimize and orchestrate more than 600 million messages per month across channels such as email, mobile push notifications, direct mail, call centers and Facebook to generate quantified and sustainable additional revenue. Tinyclues has been listed as a Vendor to Watch in Gartner’s 2017 Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Analytics and as a Cool Vendor in Gartner’s 2018 Cool Vendor in Multichannel Marketing report.


I am fortunate enough to have been enjoying a week at the beach. The weather has been great and the fishing has been wonderful. It has been a needed time to recharge the system. I even had my best friend say she would marry me on this trip. It has been a great week. It is always at the time you least expect it that an event will occur, creating an inspiration for a new post.
Today, I was relaxing in the beach house when my fiancé called to say that something was on fire a street over from our house. Naturally, I went to investigate. I found commercial dumpster against a home under construction with structural building materials burning within. Luckily, the beach winds were headed away from the home, or there would have likely been an exposure issue. The local fire department arrived and pulled a 1.5” trash line. Line deployment went well. A volunteer arrived and fought the fire in boat shoes, shorts, and a tee shirt. That’s when the writing bug bit me. With all off the cancer causing chemicals such as hydrogen cyanide in today’s building materials, glues, and by-products, why do we continue to expose ourselves unnecessarily to these health dangers?
There is a simple solution. TURNOUTS ARE FOR EVERYONE. Wear your turnouts. Wear your air pack. We are firefighters. Firefighters wear gear.
Firefighters are smart people. Use the tools available to protect yourselves. If you are pumping the truck, at least put your pants and coat on and be ready to assist if needed if you don’t have the manpower to support the mission. Chief Officers arriving on the car; you expect your guys to wear their gear, where is yours? Lead by example. Even though you are a Chief, you are STILL a firefighter first and foremost.
In a world of social media, camera phones, and the rapid transfer and receipt of information, public perception in the fire service is paramount. It affects the ability to obtain funding, the ability to secure public confidence and the building of community support. What is the perception you present to the community when you don’t don your gear to fight a fire? Joe citizen may even ask, “why do we even use tax dollars to pay for that gear if they don’t even use it.” Remember public perception in everything you do as an organization. Are you giving the community the performance that you want them to remember or it is the dress rehearsal that wasn’t supposed to be released yet?
Am I guilty of lacking the turnouts department? Yes. When I came up in the fire service less gear was better. I heard the phrase “man up” from time to time. With the changing fire service, organizations I belong to created a culture that took pride in wearing our gear. One may even say that we “over” wear our gear. I just love to wear my gear.
In closing, be smart with your choice of PPE. Your health depends on it. Don’t take unnecessary risks. We have the tools to deal with it. Use them wisely. We all want to go home to our families. Represent your organization by projecting an image of professionalism.
Be safe, smart, and treat every day as game day.


YouTube has taken another step toward reinstalling online internet star Logan Paul since he posted video of a suicide victim, for which he was widely criticized. After being on hold for 10 months, “The Thinning: New World Order,” which stars Paul, is now streaming on YouTube’s subscription-based video on-demand service (SVOD).
YouTube delayed the release of the film back in January when Paul came under fire for filming and then posting to YouTube a video of a suicide victim. The YouTube sensation filmed video of a deceased body while walking through Aokigahara forest in Japan, a location that has come to be known as the “Suicide Forest” due to the high number of people who go to the forest to take their own lives.
However, Paul is now in “good standing,” in line with YouTube policies, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap, citing Paul’s good behavior. As a result, the Google-owned company has decided to stream the film on its $11.99 per month streaming service, YouTube Premium.
‘The Thinning: New World Order” is the sequel to the 2016 dystopian-thriller “The Thinning,” which also starred Paul. Written and directed by Michael Gallagher, the film was made in partnership with Legendary Digital Networks, YouTube, and eOne Entertainment. Gallagher, alongside his Cinemand partners Jana Winternitz and Michael Wormser, produced the film with EOne’s Greg Siegel.
Logan Browning stars in Netflix’s “Dear White People.” It’s nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series.
“Survivor’s Remorse” star Erica Ash arrives at the NAACP Image Awards.
Former “Destiny’s Child” singer Letoya Luckett arrives on the red carpet.
“Scandal” star Kerry Washington arrives on the red carpet.
“Orange is the New Black” star Danielle Brooks arrives for the award ceremony.
Lonnie Chavis, who stars as Young Randall on “This is Us,” arrives on the red carpet.
“Blackish” actor Marcus Scribner stars alongside host Anthony Anderson and actress Yara Shahidi.
“Insecure” star Yvonne Orji arrives on the red carpet.
“Insecure” star and creator Issa Rae arrives on the red carpet. She’s nominated for Entertainer of the Year.
“Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman arrives for the awards. He’s up against Issa Rae for Entertainer of the Year.
“Stranger Things” star Caleb McLaughlin arrives on the red carpet. He won Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children’s Series or Special during Sunday night’s portion of the awards.
“Orange is the New Black” star Laverne Cox arrives on the red carpet.


Bureaucracies can handle themselves. They don’t need me to defend them. But this would be the same California Air Resources Board that presides over the nation’s strictest smog program and the toughest regime to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Without such programs, there would be no market for the $100,000 electric vehicles produced in Fremont.
The air board oversees a rebate program by which purchasers of cars deemed to be zero-emission can collect $1,500-$3,000 checks, courtesy of taxpayers. Because of that rebate program, 25,120 Tesla buyers have received $63 million in rebates. And owners of zero-emission vehicles receive stickers so they can zip along in carpool lanes.
Then there’s the real money: zero-emission vehicle credits. By law, Chevy, Ford, Toyota and all other automakers face a mandate to make and sell zero-emission vehicles. Many do. However, Tesla sells nothing but zero-emission vehicles, and, under the rules of the regulatory road, Tesla receives valuable credits for each car it sells.
Tesla markets those credits to other manufacturers, collecting roughly $14,000 for each car it sells, $450 million since 2013, according to public filings. Since 40 percent of Teslas are sold in California, California accounts for the vast majority of the credits that Tesla sells.
Musk contended that more established car makers are engaged in “massive lobbying” to blunt the impact of zero-emission credits and get out from under the requirement. Certainly, automakers have fancy lobbyists. But it’s funny that Musk would mention massive lobbying.
Demonstrating that he fully grasps how a bill becomes a law, Musk last week hired Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller, the second-richest billing firm in Sacramento, to go with the sixth-, seventh- and 21st-biggest billing firms, Platinum Advisors, California Strategies and Sacramento Advocates, which have collected no less than $26 million from their lobby clients since the beginning of 2015. Various other lobbyists are cruising through the Capitol on Musk’s behalf, too.
The result rolled off the production line last week, in the form of a sleek new piece of legislation that would benefit Tesla. The bill might be a fine idea. Getting gas guzzlers off the road is a good idea. But with two weeks left in the session, lawmakers would need to bend the rules to jam the legislation through.
The bill seeks put into law current policy, that 15 percent of all cars sold in California be zero-emission. The rub comes in the definition of zero-emission. The bill would exclude plug-in hybrids, which run on batteries, with gasoline as a backup, and account for 40 percent of the vehicles eligible to receive rebates.
Without a doubt, Musk is an innovator. But there are other smart and innovative car makers. There are 36 zero- or near-zero-emission cars for sale now, more than twice as many as there were in 2013.
“You need a variety of vehicles produced by different manufacturers,” Nichols said.
Musk has bet the house of Tesla on battery technology. Toyota is manufacturing and marketing the Mirai, a car powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Their exhaust is water.
The issue confronting the state is not what’s good for Tesla, or any other manufacturer, but rather how to persuade consumers that zero-emission vehicles make sense. After reaching 3.2 percent of the roughly 2 million new cars sold in California in 2014, the percentage has fallen to 3 percent. With pump prices low, gasoline sales are rising.
Musk has built a sleek car. But Tesla hasn’t turned a profit yet. Subsidy will remain important to his company’s future. That helps explain why he is building the massive battery factory in Nevada. Gov. Brian Sandoval provided $1.25 billion in subsidies, far more than California was willing to offer.
Even so, California has nothing to be ashamed of. If it weren’t for the Golden State’s gold, there wouldn’t be much of a market for those battery-powered cars.


CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Zoo reopened its gorilla exhibit Tuesday with a higher, reinforced barrier installed after a young boy got into the exhibit and was dragged by a 400-pound gorilla, which was then shot and killed.
The exhibit's reopening came a day after Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said he would not bring charges against the boy's mother, who was tending to another child when her 3-year-old "just scampered off," as children sometimes do.
The barrier, which had passed repeated inspections by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, will now be 42 inches high — a half-foot taller than before — with solid wood beams at the top and bottom, plus knotted rope netting at the bottom, the zoo said. Surveillance cameras also were added.
Director Thane Maynard said the exhibit had been safe for 38 years, but the new barrier helps to reassure guests and protect everyone on both sides of it henceforward.
It "redoubles our effort to make sure that our animals are safe and that our visitors are as well," Maynard said.
The boy apparently climbed over the previous barrier May 28, made his way through some bushes and fell about 15 feet into a shallow moat. A special response team shot the agitated, 17-year-old gorilla to protect the boy, who was treated for scrapes.
Cincinnati resident Rebekah Ridgeway was visiting with her 7-year-old daughter as the exhibit reopened and said while the previous barrier was good, she feels more comfortable as a parent with the new fencing that visitors can see over but that blocks someone from climbing through.
"It was shocking to hear something like that happen at this zoo, because we know that they have such good safety measures here," she said. "So it was really heartbreaking for Harambe the gorilla, as well as for the child and their family."
The gorilla's killing set off a torrent of criticism online, with some commenters vilifying the zoo for shooting the animal and others blaming the boy's mother for not watching her child more closely.
The family has said the boy is doing well and they're taking steps to put the "tragic episode" behind them.
Deters said he has been a bit surprised by the reaction to the gorilla's death. He said the zoo suffered a great loss, "but it's still an animal. It does not equate human life, and they felt that this boy's life was in jeopardy, and they made the painful choice to do what they did."
The zoo's actions will be reviewed separately by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An animal protection group has urged that the zoo be fined.
The zoo says its 10 remaining gorillas are doing well. Two are 20-year-old females that were grouped with Harambe. The others are a family group of eight, led by a silverback named Jomo.


President-elect Donald Trump hasn't even picked a transition team, but that hasn't stopped those in his proposed administration from looking for loopholes to avoid getting congressional approval on the construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexican border.
And that isn't all. Trump has also been seeking advice from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, "an architect of anti-immigration efforts," on a possible Muslim registry, Reuters reports.
Kobach, reportedly a key member of Trump's transition team, was instrumental in writing tough immigration laws in Arizona and has been working with Trump immigration advisers for months.
Trump campaigned on the promise of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border if elected president. He also said that he supports “extreme vetting” of Muslims entering the United States as a national security measure, Reuters reports.
Kobach told Reuters that the team has already begun looking at drafting executive orders for both the wall and possibly a Muslim registry for immigrants from Muslim countries "so that Trump and the Department of Homeland Security hit the ground running."
Kobach added that Trump's immigration advisers were also looking at how the Homeland Security Department could reappropriate funds from the current budget to begin construction on the wall without approval from Congress.


The Massey Mustangs ran to another cross-country title on Saturday.
The Mustangs made it back-to-back senior boys’ titles with a comfortable win at the OFSAA cross-country championships in Hamilton.
Costa and Chase Canty led the way for the Massey at least year’s championship and guided the way for this year’s squad on Saturday.
Canty finished sixth overall in a field of 281 runners over a 6.25km course as he improved on his 20th-place finish a year ago in a time of 20 minutes and 5.7 seconds. Costa came in 34th in 21:01.3.
Matthew Matos was Massey’s third finisher in 71st in a time of 21:43.5 while Max Fazecash, who was part of Massey’s bronze-medal winning junior team a year ago, rounded out the Mustangs scoring four runners with a 79th-place finish in 21:49.8.
“It was really good to see because we lost a lot of good guys, but we also knew we had some good guys coming up, too,” Costa said.
That left Massey with a comfortable 52-point finish over second-place Toronto St. Michael’s College.
Massey’s midget boys’ team placed 11th overall led by Brennan Tedley, who finished 44th in a time of 15:40.1 over the 4.2km course.
That helped the Mustangs take the bronze medal in the overall boys’ standings.
Massey’s senior girls’ team finished eighth overall led by Amber Patten, who was 33rd over the 6.25km course in 24:46.2. St. Joseph’s Nicole LaRue was the area’s top finisher in the race. She was 17th in a time of 24:08.9.
The Sandwich Sabres finished 12th in the junior boys’ division with Ronan Radovich leading the way with a 37th-place finish over the 5.15km course in 18:25.5. The Villanova Wildcats also finished 12th overall in the junior girls’ division. Lily Philcox led the way for the Wildcats with a 19th-place finish in 20:45.5.
Vista Academy placed 19th overall in the midget girls’ division with Sarah McAnally leading the team with a 103rd-place finish in 18:20.9.


Candy cap mushroom French toast, anyone? Proving that he really does have a passion for foraging fungi, that’s one of the dishes Todd Humphries has created for his new brunch service, debuting tomorrow at Kitchen Door in Napa’s Oxbow Public Market.
The menu, offered Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., features some products foraged from his neighbors, too, including corned beef hash made with meat from Oxbow tenant Five Dot Ranch, tossed with potatoes, onions and peppers over poached eggs, while the buttermilk pancakes arrive topped in Silverado strawberry compote and whipped cream.
Other breakfast-y type eats include Aquavit cured salmon gravlax flatbread from the wood burning oven, and “fold and eat” huevos rancheros with scrambled eggs, chile sauce, refried beans, avocado, sour cream and cilantro.
To drink, how about a Valrhona hot chocolate dunked with churros, or a “Bloody Beer” instead of a Bloody Mary?
Humphries and co-owner Richard Miyashiro have actually been pretty busy with their space since opening in June. They’ve also added a big stone fireplace to their patio on the edge of the Napa River.
Kitchen Door: 644 First St., Napa; 707-226-1560 or kitchendoornapa.com.


Thomson Reuters this morning announced that it has identified “the world’s 100 most innovative organizations today” through a proprietary program.
I wouldn’t normally give such a list much attention, but when I was glancing at the top 100 list, I recognized many of the usual suspects on there, such as Apple, Intel, HP, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Sony, Xerox and Alcatel-Lucent.
One notable name that I think everyone in this business would expect on the list was missing, though. Did good old Google really lose that much of its edge of late?
Thomson Reuters looked at all organizations with 100 or more “innovative” patents, and how many of them were granted, over the past three years, and also how often they get cited in other patent filings. They also looked at how many ‘major world markets’ their patents were protected in, ruling out a bunch of innovative companies that don’t have the resources to do this on a global scale (yet).
Now, I’m not an expert, but I daresay patent-related metrics should only be part of the methodology one should use to determine who is innovating or not.
Put differently, if a company like Google – despite its flaws, easily one of the hallmark hotbeds of innovation the world knows today – is not worthy of this list, then my assumption is the criteria used to get other companies ranked on there are pretty much worthless.
Interestingly, Thomson Reuters ranks ‘Motorola Inc.’ as a top 100 global innovator, even if there’s no such company anymore. That company was divided into two separate entities, Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, so it’s worth questioning the quality of Thomson Reuters’ program some more.
Coincidentally, Motorola Mobility is in the process of being swallowed by Google.
Update: also curious, as the NYT points out: there’s not a single Chinese company in the list.
There are many ways to measure innovation. We believe that our peer-reviewed methodology is unique in its unbiased approach, using the best data currently available to measure both the breadth and influence of corporate innovation.
Our methodology is based on four principle criteria: patent approval success rate, global reach of a patent portfolio, influence as measured by patent citations (removing self cites) and overall patent volume. By analyzing corporate patent portfolios in this manner, we are able to identify the sweet spot of innovation where pure R&D meets corporate strategy for protecting intellectual property.
While it is possible that this approach excludes many companies that are major innovators in their respective fields, it is the best measure we have to objectively evaluate corporate commitment to innovation and protection of intellectual property.
Data for the Top 100 Innovator program was aggregated and analyzed using published patent information from 2005 – 2010. All company names listed are those used in published patent data through 2010.


A U.S. Navy warship was denied a request to dock in Hong Kong by the Chinese government amid a bitter trade war between the two nations, Reuters reports.
The timing: It comes one day after the U.S. issued a new round of tariffs against China, which levied its own round of retaliatory tariffs simultaneously. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that previous requests for U.S. warships to dock in Hong Kong have been evaluated "case by case, in accordance with the principle of sovereignty and the detailed situation" when asked about the denial.


L-Tron Corporation has released a brand-new, purpose-built magnetic mount to use to secure the 4910LR Driver's License Reader in the squad car.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - June 7, 2018 - PRLog -- L-Tron Corporation is pleased to announce the release of a new magnetic-style mount for its 4910LR Driver's License Reader. Designed to limit distractions and keep officers safe while on patrol, the Magnetic Mount was built from the voice of law enforcement. The 4910LR Driver's License Reader is widely used in thousands of municipalities across the U.S., as a more efficient way to complete citations during traffic stops, motor vehicle collisions, and incident reporting. The 4910LR-MM is an accessory. The Magnetic Mount enables officers to quickly and easily stow the 4910LR between scans.
The Magnetic Mount was built to withstand dirt, spills, impacts and more in the patrol car environment. You don't have to treat it with care or worry about the 4910LR going airborne. In fact, the Magnetic Mount is rated for up to 70 lbs of force, so it will hold the 4910LR firmly in place during suspect pursuit.
The mounting location for the Magnetic Mount does not have to be visible. It just has to be within arm's reach of the driver's seat. You can decide for yourself where the best place to mount your 4910LR is, and then easily install it with the enclosed instructions.
Don't struggle to lock your 4910LR into place or worry about it falling off the plastic MIC-style clip. The 4910LR will quickly engage and automatically self-center as soon as the Magnetic Mount comes close. Officers can easily pull the 4910LR off the mount for use – or the scanner button can be activated while still mounted.
Officer Ed of the Mohawk Police Department in NY is a long-time eCitation and 4910LR user. He prefers the proximity, ease of use, and safety that the new magnetic mount provides. Referencing the older style scanner mount, Officer Ed explains that the plastic clip can break off.
"Sometimes you'll see the scanners in a cup holder or sometimes they fall on the [passenger] seat," he says. "It's not a good idea to have to go looking for it while you're on a traffic stop because you want to maintain eye contact with the driver of a vehicle."
The Magnetic Mount (Part # 4910LR-MM) is available exclusively through L-Tron Corporation. The product data sheet can be found here.
The 4910LR Driver's License Reader gets officers off the curb and back on patrol quickly. Electronic ticketing (https://www.l-tron.com/ecitation-resources) is an easier and more efficient way to complete citations and reports from the patrol car. Scan barcodes on driver's licenses, registrations and more to capture information into your forms and reports. It easily scans in all lighting conditions and has an image capture feature for radar readings, signature capture and accident sketches.
For over 40 years, L-Tron Corporation has provided the very best hardware and software technology solutions, specializing in law enforcement, public safety and government, as well as manufacturing, data collection and field mobility. A proud New York State business, L-Tron has deployed its law enforcement equipment in over 2,000 municipalities across 49 states nationwide.


COLOMBO: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena said on Sunday he had lifted a nationwide state of emergency imposed on March 6 after Buddhist-Muslim clashes.
“Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday,” Sirisena said on his Twitter feed.
He declared a state of emergency to rein in the spread of communal violence after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean island’s central district of Kandy.
Two people were killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned properties and more than 20 mosques were damaged, media reported.
Tension has been growing between the two communities over the past year, with some hard-line Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites.
Some Buddhist nationalists have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise.


Hastings United Football Club suffered its first home defeat of the season this afternoon (Saturday).
Chris Agutter’s side lost 4-2 against Whyteleafe in the Buildbase FA Trophy preliminary round after conceding three times in 17 second half minutes.
It was a highly disappointing afternoon for Hastings, who shipped some soft goals and missed a second half penalty in a clash between two teams in the Bostik League South East Division’s top five.
Hastings threw new signing Youssuf Bamba straight into the starting line-up on the left of the front three and it was he had the game’s first real attempt at goal, showing great feet to work space for a shot which was well saved by the feet of Whyteleafe goalkeeper Tyler McCarthy.
Sam Adams’ deflected shot from 25 yards was gathered by McCarthy at the second attempt moments before Whyteleafe took a 19th minute lead.
A loose pass from a free kick by Hastings left-back Sam Cruttwell was seized upon by Bryan Akongo, who curled a delightful first time shot into the corner of the net from outside the area.
Bamba’s low cross from near the byeline was almost turned into his own net by Whyteleafe defender Corey Holder and a stinging Bamba drive from the left-hand side of the area was well tipped over by McCarthy.
Harrison Carnegie’s curling effort from 25 yards was only just wide of the far corner at the other end, while McCarthy came out well to deny Bamba after Daniel Ajakaiye somehow threaded the ball through to him.
Bamba was again involved as Hastings equalised in the 36th minute. His cross from the left slipped through the fingertips of McCarthy as he tried to catch the ball above his head and Jack Dixon had the simple task of nodding home from a yard out.
Towards the end of the half, Akonogo headed wide of the far post for Whyteleafe and Bamba flashed a shot across the face of goal after showing more silky footwork near the byeline.
Hastings had the bulk of the play during the first 15 minutes of the second period and Adams headed wide of the far post from Bamba’s cross after Eddie D’Sane had blazed over from inside the box at the other end.
At that stage there was little sign of the collapse that was to follow as the game rapidly got away from Hastings. Whyteleafe retook the lead in the 60th minute when Emmanuel Mensah was adjudged to have fouled D’Sane in the corner of the box and D’Sane scored the resulting penalty straight down the middle.
Akongo spurned a decent chance to make it 3-1 when he ballooned a left-footed shot way over the top from 10 yards, but Whyteleafe did stretch their advantage in the 71st minute.
Hastings defender Sinnkaye Christie made a quick dash off the field back to the changing room and before his replacement could come on, Dan Hector put D’Sane in on goal. Although Mensah did well to get back, D’Sane twisted and turned before rolling the ball home.
Whyteleafe added a fourth goal in the 76th minute. After a neat one-two just outside the area, Bentley Graham went through and finished coolly.
Carnegie’s angled shot was well saved by the feet of Hastings goalkeeper Charlie Horlock, while at the other end, Ajakaiye hit the side-netting at the end of a well-worked move.
Hastings had a golden opportunity to pull one back when Sam Adams was bundled over by Holder inside the box, but the usually reliable Adams saw his spot-kick saved by McCarthy, who also repelled Bamba’s follow-up.
Moments later Adams was again denied from an inviting position inside the box following good work from Ajakaiye and Dayshonne Golding, and Dixon’s well-struck follow-up was blocked.
Hastings did get a second goal in the second minute of added time. Hassan Ibrahim played a good ball down the left to Ajakaiye, who cut inside and got far enough away from Holder to fire a low shot into the net for his 17th goal of the season.
Hastings: Horlock; Fielding (Mensah HT (Ibrahim 78)), Howlett-Mundle, Christie (Vickers 72), Cruttwell; Lovatt, Dixon, Adams; Golding, Ajakaiye, Bamba. Subs not used: Climpson, Taylor. Attendance: 460.


Sixty-seven percent of all highly-targeted attacks are carried out against 'lower-level employees' such as customer service representatives.
Lower-level workers and contributors are the employees most at risk for cyberattacks, according to digital marketing agency Reboot.
To understand who is most at risk, Reboot checked enterprise security firm Proofpoint's latest quarterly analysis of highly-targeted cyberattacks. They found that 67 percent of all highly-targeted attacks are carried out against "lower-level employees" such as customer service representatives.
As you can see in their infographic below, contributors are also common targets, followed by management and upper management, those in operations and production positions, and executives.
"However, given that upper management accounts for a smaller proportion of businesses, it suggests that those in C-level positions, directors, and department managers may be targeted disproportionately more often," Reboot wrote in a news release.
Interestingly, nearly 20 percent of all phishing and malware attacks target employees in public relations, marketing, and human resource positions, Reboot found.
Breaking it down by industry, pharmaceutical drug manufacturers are the most heavily hit, with an average of 71 highly targeted email-fraud attacks per company over a three-month period, the firm said. Construction companies came in second with 61 attacks per company followed by real estate firms with 54 attacks per organization.
To avoid malware and phishing scams, Reboot recommends organizations train their users to spot email fraud and be wary of unsolicited links and attachments; disable email HTML, which can sometimes run malware scripts automatically; scan all external USB and hard drives; and issue a password reset every 90 days.
Think you could spot a phishing attack? Take this quiz from Jigsaw, a company under Google's parent Alphabet, to find out. And if you're not already protected, read our reviews roundup of the best security suites.


Gone are the days when Big K.R.I.T. would hint at his supremacy using the gold coronal logo, his acronym (King Remembered In Time), or song and mixtape titles littered with the word “king.” With the release of his sophomore album, Cadillactica, insinuations are left in the dust as he peels out in his drop top spaceship bellowing “King of the South” in no uncertain terms. The Def Jam MC makes a strong case for the crown this time around, doling out aggressively cerebral bars over plush production to construct an 808-incepted rap dreamscape.
While K.R.I.T.’s first major label release, Live From The Underground, garnered its fair share of critical acclaim, the rapper acknowledged frustration with the lack of production and structural freedom that he enjoyed as a mixtape rapper. Cadillactica seems to be his answer to that, leaving our stratosphere behind to find some breathing room. He pulled in more outside producers than ever to assist with the beats, which, as an almost exclusively self-produced artist, was a sizable risk with a sonically rich reward. The resulting LP is unquestionably a concept album, but not obnoxiously so; all 17 tracks stand firmly on their own. The storyline follows the creation and destruction of the planet Cadillactica.
Krizzle reminds everyone how intros should be done with his album kick-off, “Kreation.” He’s relaxed and poetic over southern tinged G-Funk, letting you catch the vibe before he assaults you with the verbal arsenal. “My Sub Pt. 3 (Big Bang)” does double duty as a key part of the album narrative as well as carrying on his “My Sub” series. It’s a quintessential car banger and, like everything K.R.I.T., a larger metaphor. In this case, for the Big Bang (808 drum machine) that birthed Cadillactica, and the ensuing evolution on the planet. “This is how it all started way back / First the boomin’ voice then the bass crack / And that’s when we first started fire / ‘Cause the speakers wasn’t grounded and he fried all the wires.” The track itself starts out as sparse 808, then becomes slowly populated with more diverse sounds and beat switch-ups. Prepare for a lot of this type of multidimensional storytelling.
Though drums run this show, the outside producers rose to the occasion with some varied musicality, all of which still bear the fingerprints of K.R.I.T.’s heavy creative hand. “Soul Food” is a twangy sepia-toned beat produced by Raphael Saadiq (also on the hook) that equates the lost tradition of good food with the loss of good morals, music, community, and love. It delivers all the rich flavors of R&B with K.R.I.T.’s uncompromising wordplay. The menacing melodies we’ve come to associate with the Mississippi rapper are preserved (by Mike WiLL Made-It in this case) on tracks like “Mind Control.” K.R.I.T. kicks his feet up for one of his more relaxed flows on the album, while E-40 is cleverly cartoonish and Wiz Khalifa just sounds way out of his league.
“Pay Attention” is the Jim Jonsin-produced radio effort, and though it’s a solid single, it wilts next to the bigger moments on the album. Alex da Kid provides the backdrop for one such moment, unsurprising given his penchant for making epically cinematic beats. “Saturdays = Celebration” teeters wildly between tribal and bluesy, with K.R.I.T. throwing existential raps out like darts. Jaws will hit the floor.
“Cadillactica” is another heater, thanks to a ferociously cool hook and K.R.I.T.’s ruthless double-time flow. The hard-hitting, relentless bounce makes it a fitting title track and will be the song to tear roofs off every venue K.R.I.T. runs through. “King of the South” further cements the rapper’s lyrical reign, running a quick spit clinic with colorful inflection and voracious rhymes about why he’s doper than the rest. And while that track gets the king title, “Mt Olympus” might be the record to prove it. K.R.I.T. reads the music industry with time worn clarity and corresponding hostility, while his delivery is so domineering that in spots, his timing seems to bend the tempo to his will.


Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson meets with protestors at an anti-President Bush rally Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006, in Salt Lake City.
As evidenced by his speech at the demonstration, Anderson is not subtle. His words and actions incite plenty of hate mail and nasty letters to the editor. Days before the rally, his office was flooded with emails and calls; three temporary workers had to be hired when Republican-sponsored radio ads urged listeners to voice their displeasure. Most of his critics live outside the relatively liberal "island" of Salt Lake City, and they resent the fact that, though he is not their representative, his actions influence how outsiders see their state.
"He embarrassed himself, the city, and the entire state," says Todd Weiler, the chairman of the Republican Party in Davis County. "Instead of acting as an ambassador, he chose to shout and shake his fist at the President." Weiler also fears that Anderson's actions could hurt Utah's convention and tourism industry if Anderson's antics spark some sort of economic boycott of Utah.
"His narcissism and rush to be in the public eye on President Bush's visit has been a bad thing for the city," says Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. "For 364 days he can be Rocky the activist, but for one day he needs to be Rocky the mayor."
Anderson himself doesn't really seem all that interested in whether someone is conservative or liberal, likes him or not, or has advice on how to play politics right. He's more interested in being the thorn in the side of status quo, and he is a sharp one.
"There are so many people who just play it safe  they think there is safety in remaining neutral," says Anderson. "But as human beings there is no neutrality. We are always on one side or the other. We can choose to make things better, or we can choose not to do anything to change things, and then we are just supporting the status quo."


This is the heroic moment a coastguard helicopter crew winched two fishermen to safety after their boat capsized.
Four fishermen were rescued yesterday in near gale force conditions in the Dover Strait after their boat capsized in the English Channel.
HM Coastguard scrambled units to the south west lane following a sighting of two people sitting on the boat's hull and another two in the water, shortly before 4pm.
Two men were winched to safety before another two men were rescued by a merchant vessel before they were reunited in Dover.
Kaimes Beasley, HM Coastguard controller said all men were rescued safe and well.
"This was a very successful outcome to what could have been a tragic one.
"There was a huge effort to rescue these four men in near gale force conditions in the English Channel," he said.
"Thankfully, all four fishermen have been picked up and despite being cold and wet are otherwise safe and well."
Following the emergency call from those on-board a merchant ship, a mayday call alerted all nearby boats to assist with the rescue.
Many vessels responded to the broadcast and made their way to the scene, a coastguard spokesman said.
Sailors on the merchant vessel who reported the incident picked up two people from the water, while the HM Coastguard helicopter rescued two fisherman stranded on the hull.
Coastguard also received a distress alert from the fishing vessel’s emergency radio beacon, known as an EPIRB, as it scrambled the Lydd rescue helicopter and Eastbourne and Newhaven RNLI lifeboats.
The incident prompted the organisation to release a series of safety tips on its website.
A spokesman continued: "HM Coastguard is also happy to receive radio checks from vessels if they wish to check their equipment before heading out to sea.
"You should always have a plan on board for ‘what if?’ and make sure everybody on board knows their part within the plan.
"In this case, a passing merchant vessel alerted HM Coastguard and we received an EPIRB distress alert which means we were able to respond quickly and get these four casualties safely rescued."


Palestinian Authority security forces “assaulted” Hamas-affiliated protesters in Ramallah Monday evening, the Islamist movement said.
Hamas said it had organized a protest in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners and that PA forces who were trying to prevent the rally assaulted Hamas leader Hassan Yousef, among other protesters.
Additionally, three Palestinian journalists who were covering the rally were also targeted by PA forces.
As the security forces attempted to disperse the rally, brawls broke out, leading to injuries among protesters.
Hamas condemned the forces’ actions and demanded that the PA be held responsible.
Assaults by the security forces “poison the atmosphere of the reconciliation,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri.
The clashes come as thousands of public sector workers await their salaries following the closure of banks by Hamas security forces in Gaza.
Police officers of the former Hamas-run government in Gaza have been stationed at banks and preventing PA employees from withdrawing their wages.
Employees of the previous government see it as Ramallah’s responsibility to pay their salaries, a point of contention yet to be worked out by the new government.
But a Fatah spokesman said Hamas would need to pay the employees of its recently-disposed government.
“Hamas is attempting to burden the Palestinian Authority and the national consensus government with its political and financial crisis,” Ahmad Assaf said in a statement.
He said there had been no agreement ahead of reconciliation for the new government to pay Hamas employees’ salaries.
The fate of the former Gaza government’s civil servants remains unclear.


So, a couple weeks ago, we reached out to the goodly and inquisitive people of the internet, with an unrefusable offer: Send us your questions for Jacques Berlinerblau—eminent educator and scholar of education, genial cut-up, erstwhile vibraharpist, and author of Campus Confidential: How College Works, or Doesn’t, for Professors, Parents, and Students—and he’ll answer them. And you did, and he has. So without further ado, here are Jacques’s answers to our favorites of the questions you submitted. Spoiler alert: This is great stuff. Other spoiler alert: The American system of higher education is in something like trouble.
Maybe in a way this has already happened. So many elite students from socioeconomically non-elite families attend a local and relatively inexpensive school. Or forgo college altogether.
Compared to what I, or the typical Professor/Fuddy Duddy (NB I, too, am a Fuddy Duddy), does to write a scholarly book or article, the research was easy. I was basically reading other people’s research, gettin’ my journalist on. I wasn’t camping out overnight in any archives. There was no complex translation from dead languages. No interviews with esteemed experts no one’s ever heard of. I think if people actually knew how much work scholars typically put into their research they’d vomit, a lot. But they would not vomit if they looked at the research I put into this book. No, Campus Confidential wasn’t about research. The hard part of writing this book was, well, writing it. I wanted it to be fun and funny — which required that I endure an ordeal neither fun nor funny.
This isn’t really an area that I know much about. But if I were to investigate, I’d seek out a different set of facts. Given that study after study shows the earning potential of a college graduate outpacing that of a non-college graduate to the tune of as much as a million dollars across a lifetime, I’d like to know how often our financial aid system leaves a person in crippling debt and how often it doesn’t. Just get some economists—these people are everywhere—and let them answer this question: how often does our system of financial aid work overall benefits in lifetime income for college graduates? How often does it system fail? In other words, I wonder if the policies in place work better than is understood.
True, earlier generations of parents used to want their kids to be lawyers or doctors. Nowadays, however, parents want their kids to be consultants, or work in the financial sector, or to learn how to code. I think it’s important to stress, however, that neither generation of parents wanted their kids to major in English Literature or Philosophy! Now, our job, as professors, is not to be mom and dad, but more like your pothead uncle or aunt. We’re basically the last people on earth who can get away with telling a twenty-two-year-old, “Follow your heart, Katelyn. Just follow your heart.” We impart that wisdom to Katie knowing full well, and believing in our own hearts, that that class on Thomas Hardy or Hannah Arendt will make her a more thoughtful person. It’s the thoughtfulness, we believe, that will help all the professional stuff work itself out.
I see what you’re saying. The solution hinges on colleges and universities actually caring about teaching. They’d invest in teaching, train scholars to teach well, help them improve and so forth. They’d also pay their scholar teachers a goddamn decent living wage. That would be expensive, but it would signal that the school knows what it believes to be important when it comes to instruction. Scholars would understand that students could whine all they want, but the institution had their (i.e., the professors’) backs. Under such circumstances, profs would be less willing to acquiesce to all the annoying things that every generation of eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds does.
I want to address the part of your question that asks how people pursuing higher degrees (e.g. doctorates) and not getting employed in their desired fields (i.e., receiving tenure-track jobs) deal with stress. How do they get through it all? Powerful tricyclic anti-depressants. In Campus Confidential I try to make sense of the experience of: 1) being in graduate school, 2) giving up ten (of the best) years of your life for a field that, 3) has no decent jobs, and, 4) no one really cares about anyway. I don’t know why so many of us do it. I wish I could say: because we so value teaching! But we can’t even say that. “Unriddle the mysteries of human nature!” as Kafka once said.


What possible scenarios might happen in the light of Theresa May’s Brexit deal?
May faces an enormous task to win parliamentary approval, given that Labour, the SNP, the DUP and 51 Tories have said they will not vote for it.
If the remaining 27 EU member states sign off the draft agreement on 25 November, the government will have to win over MPs at a crucial vote in early December.
If May loses the vote, she has 21 days to put forward a new plan. If she wins, she is safe for now.
The prime minister could decide that she will not get the draft agreement through parliament and could seek to renegotiate with the EU.
This would anger Tory backbenchers and Brussels and would be seen as a humiliation for her government. It might spark a leadership contest too.
May could ask the European council to extend article 50, giving her more time to come up with a deal that could be passed by parliament – at present, the UK will leave on 29 March 2019.
Such a request would not necessarily be granted. Some EU governments are under pressure from populist parties to get the UK out of the EU as soon as possible.
How will parliament's many tribes vote on the Brexit deal?
If Conservative MPs believe May is no longer fit for office, they could trigger a no-confidence vote.
Members of the European Research Group claim that Graham Brady, the chair of the powerful 1922 Committee, will receive the necessary 48 letters this week.
A vote could be held as soon as early next week. All Tory MPs would be asked to vote for or against their leader. If May wins, she cannot be challenged for at least 12 months. If she loses, there would be a leadership contest to decide who will become prime minister.
If May fails to get support for the current deal, she could call a snap general election.
She would table a parliamentary vote for a general election that would have to be passed by two thirds of MPs. She would then set an election date, which could be by the end of January.
This is an unlikely option. May’s political credibility was severely damaged when she called a snap election in 2017, leading to the loss of the Conservative party’s majority.
Alternatively, a general election could be called if a simple majority of MPs vote that they have no confidence in the government. Seven Tory MPs, or all of the DUP MPs, would have to turn against the government for it to lose the vote, triggering a two-week cooling-off period. May would remain in office while MPs negotiate a new government.
Another route to a general election would be for the government to repeal or amend the Fixed-term Parliaments Act which creates a five-year period between general elections. A new act would have to be passed through both the Commons and the Lords – an unlikely scenario.
May could decide it is impossible to find a possible draft deal that will be approved by parliament and go for a people’s vote.
The meaningful vote could be amended to allow MPs to vote on whether the country holds a second referendum. It is unclear whether enough MPs would back a second referendum and May has ruled it out.


The bodies of three men who committed suicide at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre have been sent home, according to US officials.
A commercial charter jet transported the bodies from the camp in Cuba to Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Navy Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a defence department spokesman, said on Friday.
Funeral rites were administered at Guantanamo by a Muslim imam assisted by Muslim personnel at the base, Gordon said. "The remains of the deceased detainees were treated with the utmost respect."
The two Saudis and one Yemeni hanged themselves with clothes and bedsheets in maximum security cells on June 10.
The US military identified the three men as Ali Abdullah Ahmed of Yemen, and Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi and Yassar Talal al-Zahrani, from Saudi Arabia. They were the first inmates to die at the camp since it opened in 2002 at a US naval base in Cuba.
The families of the three have questioned the circumstances of the deaths, saying the men would not have committed suicide as they were devout Muslims.
Gordon said there had not been any disturbances involving detainees at Guantanamo since the suicides.
The military said pathologists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner's office conducted autopsies on the bodies of the three detainees but were still awaiting test results before announcing an official cause of death.
Army General Bantz Craddock, who oversees Guantanamo as head of the US Southern Command, said the military was reviewing the adequacy of procedures at the facility, and whether those procedures were followed, in light of the suicides.
Meanwhile, a senior US state department official has said the US president is mindful of European concerns over Guantanamo Bay but is not expected to offer a date for its closure when he visits Europe next week, .
"He [George W Bush] is very aware of the concerns in Europe and elsewhere about Guantanamo, about the damage frankly that it does to the image of the United States," said John B. Bellinger III, the state department's legal adviser, said on Friday.
"The difficulty frankly though is the dilemma about what to do with the people who are there. And what is interesting is despite the many voices who have called for the closure of Guantanamo, not one has suggested what should be done with the people who are there," Bellinger said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The state department adviser said many countries would not accept the return of detainees in the camp was closed.
Bush and leaders of the European Union meet on Wednesday in Vienna, Austria. The EU has renewed its calls for the US to shut down the camp following the suicide of the three detainees, and plans to raise the issue at the EU-US summit.
The US holds about 460 detainees at the prison, most have been held without charges for more than four years. Ten have been charged with crimes but no trials have been completed.


The walkway in front of the Student Union at Nicholls State University was transformed into a dance floor Thursday as Grammy Award-winning Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band blasted their Zydeco music.
The infectious rattling of the washboard and hollering of the accordion proved irresistible to a crowd of onlookers, especially once New Orleans-based Zydeco dance teachers Glenn and Lori Laigast started showing off the steps.
Within minutes, both passing students and curious locals were stepping, sliding and spinning to the beat.
Thursday's performance kicked off this weekend's Swamp Stomp, an annual festival held in and around the school's football stadium that spotlights local musicians, food and art.
Almost a dozen Cajun musicians and bands, including Carrier, Treater, and several other local favorites will play on two different stages. Many of the bands have won numerous awards for their work; several have been nominated for Grammys.
Booths throughout the grounds will feature homemade crafts from hand-painted wooden birds to bullet-casing jewelry.
For detailed lists of what bands, crafts and displays are available, visit nicholls.edu/swampstomp. You'll find the link with this story at dailycomet.com or houmatoday,com.
Parking will be available on streets near the stadium; premium, paid parking is also available immediately adjacent to the grounds.
Tickets can be purchased at the gate; they cost $10 per day or only $25 for the entire weekend. Children under 11 get in free.
The Laigasts will be offering lessons in Zydeco dancing throughout the festival.
Unlike ballroom dancing, Laigast said Zydeco music is “barroom” dancing, invented by Cajun families purely to have a good time.
Along with the concert outside the Student Union, Nicholls is hosting about 2,000 students from local schools for “Tresors du Bayou,” an event where historians, artists and several other musical groups showcased the Cajun culture.


FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Abortion opponents notched another victory Monday when the Kentucky Senate passed a bill requiring doctors to perform ultrasounds prior to abortions and to describe what’s seen to the pregnant woman.
It’s part of a series of measures being pushed by abortion foes to impose conditions before abortions.
One measure already signed into law by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin updates the informed consent law requiring women seeking abortions be told of medical risks and benefits at least 24 hours beforehand. That bill gives patients and doctors the option of consultations in person or through real-time video. Its supporters say some doctors had patients listen to a recorded message on the phone with no interaction.
The ultrasound bill cleared the Republican-controlled Senate on a 32-4 vote and goes to the House next.
In past years, abortion-related bills often stalled in the Democratic-led House, but Republicans have been more forceful this election year in using procedural motions to try to force votes on some abortion legislation.
The ultrasound bill would require doctors to display the images so the pregnant woman may view them. The woman could choose to avert her eyes from the images without risk of penalty to her or the doctor.
The doctor would be required to provide a medical description of the images, including the dimensions of the embryo or fetus and the presence of internal organs, if seen. Doctors violating terms of the bill would be fined up to $100,000 for a first offense and up to $250,000 for subsequence violations.
Republican Sen. Whitney Westerfield, the bill’s lead sponsor, said the bill aims to prevent what happened to a friend and constituent of his years ago when she underwent an ultrasound before an abortion.
Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, said that when his friend asked to see the ultrasound image, a nurse ignored her until finally saying it would be best not to do so.
Critics say the bill would intrude on the doctor-patient relationship. Derek Selznick, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said at a committee hearing that the bill “is about politicians trying to bully, shame and humiliate women” seeking abortions.
Other abortion-related bills under review this legislative session include banning the sale of fetal body parts and putting Planned Parenthood clinics at the end of the line for family planning funds.
In response to the abortion legislation, Democratic Rep. Mary Lou Marzian of Louisville has introduced a bill to require Kentucky men to visit a doctor twice and have signed permission from their wives before obtaining a prescription for Viagra or other such drugs for erectile dysfunction.
The ultrasound legislation is Senate Bill 152.


Japan's population is falling faster than ever before.
Burdened by a low fertility rate and widespread aging, Japan is losing its young people who can perform everyday jobs.
Economists call situations like these "demographic time bombs," since they create vicious cycles of economic downturn and population loss.
Japan's demographic time bomb has forced the country to get creative in how it stays afloat in the global economy — here are some of its strategies.
The federal government is hosting speed dating events.
For the past two years, Japan's government has sponsored speed dating events around the country. People are encouraged to go on multiple dates in the hopes they'll eventually get hitched and have kids.
If the conversation gets too awkward, a "marriage promotion committee" will step in to smooth things along.
In Japanese, the practice is known as konkatsu, or "marriage hunting."
Couples can project their faces onto a virtual-reality baby to feel like parents.
At this year's SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference, Motherboard's Marissa Clifford tested out a virtual-reality game in which her own face was projected onto a digital baby.
The idea was that by caring for a baby that bore her resemblance, she might be more inclined to have kids of her own.
Clifford could feed the baby (using the VR controller) and put the baby in her crib. It had all the trappings of motherhood, except it existed only in the digital realm.
Bachelors are taking fatherhood classes in which they play with dolls.
In a similar vein, the Osaka-based company Ikumen University has launched workshops that involve men putting on weight suits, changing diapers on dolls, and learning what it takes to be a dad.
The term ikumen comes from a term coined by advertisers to describe men who take an active role in raising their children.
The goal is to increase feelings of bonding and maturity among the bachelors, so they feel more like capable men.
Airports are outfitting older employees with robotic exoskeletons.
Tokyo's Haneda Airport has partnered with robotics company Cyberdyne to equip its staff with robotic exoskeletons that can assist with the grueling practice of lifting luggage.
The device, known as HAL for Labor Support, sits on the user's waist and picks up bioelectric signals from his or her muscles to aid movement. A person weighing roughly 110 lbs. could pick up a 45-lb. suitcase with ease.
The exoskeletons work in tandem with floor robots that can cart loads upward of 400 lbs. and clean the airport terminals.
Prisons are turning into nursing homes to accommodate older inmates.
About one-fifth of all crime committed in Japan is done by the elderly. Most of it is petty theft and shoplifting.
As crime rates among the elderly rise, prisons have effectively turned into nursing homes. Guards are made to bathe the inmates and help them get dressed, and experts say living conditions are too good to keep recidivism rates down.
Seniors are living with robots that keep them company.
So-called "carebots" are slowly entering the homes of Japanese senior citizens.
As they get more developed, these robots will come to serve a number of purposes, including keeping the resident company, picking them up if they can do it themselves, monitoring their health, and responding to commands.
Sales of these robots are expected to have reached 12,400 units between 2015 and 2018, according to a 2015 Merrill Lynch report. That number is expected to "increase substantially" over the next 20 years.
'Corpse hotels' are keeping dead bodies amid a crematory shortage.
So-called "corpse hotels," where families can store their dead relatives for several days before space frees up at crowded crematoriums, are popping up around the country.
The demand comes from Japan's accelerating rate of old-age deaths. Each year, approximately 20,000 more people die than in the year before, and space in crematoriums is running out.
Corpse hotels might just be a necessary evil when a country starts dying quickly.
Psychedelic death temples are storing people's ashes.
Japan's aging population and expensive end-of-life care market are making traditional burials crowded, expensive, and impersonal. Instead, families are finding a new way to honor the dead.
They are storing their relative's ashes in tiny statues, which get housed in protected glasses cases inside designated temples. The ashes stay in their statues for a few decades, until the staff deposits them beneath the building to make room for the next person's remains.
The temples are often dimly lit save for the multi-colored lights emanating from behind the statues.


What is the Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle drove following the Royal Wedding?
PRINCE Harry drove his new bride Meghan Markle away in an iconic Jaguar E-Type, here's all the info on the British sports car.
The car was built between 1961 and 1975 with Enzo Ferrari calling it "the most beautiful car ever made".
What is the Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle drove off in a 1968 silver blue E-Type although the Concept Zero version is an adapted version to make it electric, which Jaguar Land Rover converted last year.
The couple used it to get to Frogmore House for the after-party.
Prince William and Kate Middleton left Buckingham Palace after their wedding in 2011 in a vintage Aston Martin DB6.
Last year Pippa Middleton and hubby James Matthews sped off in Britain's oldest surviving Jaguar E-Type following their wedding ceremony at St Mark's Church in Englefield, Berks.
It is still a high performance sports car, capable of doing 0-60mph in 5.5 seconds, one second faster than an original Series 1 version.
The car the newly married couple rode in had a special number plate E190518 - the date of their marriage.
Out went the car's six-cylinder XK engine and gearbox and replaced with a 220kw battery and motor, with a reduction gearbox.
The old analogue dials have been removed and replaced with digital ones.
Jaguar has limited the car's top speed to 100mph.
They're not cheap. The Concept Zero version is said to cost £350,000 - that doesn't include a personalised number plate.
If that's out of your price range a 1965 version of the car, which Sterling Moss once raced in, is coming up for sale on June 5 which expected to fetch between £110,000 and £130,000.
The cheapest one currently for sale on Autotrader is a 1972 V12 model with 75,000 miles on the clock and a price tag of £45,000.
At the other end of the scale is a 1963 Series 1 Roadster convertible which can be yours for £149,975.


A group of women are hoping they get one of 25 spots in a pre-apprenticeship program after they complete a 40-hour workshop that helps prepare them for a career in the skilled trades.
A group of 40 women are hoping to write a new chapter in their life by getting into one of 25 spots in a pre-apprenticeship program offered through St. Clair College.
And to prepare for the test and interview to snag a spot, they are attending a 40-hour workshop that exposes them to a variety of different skilled trades and even math classes.
"We're a wealth of knowledge pouring it on them for a whole 40 hours," said Terry Weymouth, coordinator for the women of skilled trades from Unifor.
The Local 444 Unifor has developed the workshop and is offering it with Women's Enterprise Skills Training in Windsor, with funding support from the Ontario government.
The idea of the workshop is to give the women a taste of what working in skilled trades is like before they commit to a lengthier program, Weymouth said.
The pre-apprenticeship program has free tuition and a 12-week paid placement. It starts in August.
This workshop targets women who are unemployed or underemployed, and may be facing a number of barriers to furthering education or getting a stable job.
One of the workshop participants went to school for graphic design years ago, but she now wants to start working with her hands.
And even though Sarah Mitchell's never done robotics or electronics, learning about it has lit a fire inside her.
"I know I can do it, and it's really interesting," she said.
Some of her family members work in the skilled trades and she took a machinist course when she was in high school in Amherstburg.
It's been difficult for her to find a job and she's hoping that getting into the pre-apprenticeship program will change her life.
"I know not everyone may get selected, but [the workshop] gives me a jump start to find the path that I need to take," Mitchell said.
Part of this 40-hour workshop includes bringing in women who have graduated from the pre-apprenticeship program to talk about their journey working in skilled trades.
Weymouth said one of the barriers that women face in skilled trades is the lack of confidence. And that's on top of the other struggles such as child care options and transportation access.
Over the years, she's heard women talk about how they want more stability in employment and want to get out of the precarious nature of retail or service industry jobs.
And when they got into skilled trades, they were "challenging themselves like they never could," Weymouth said.
During the workshop she hopes the participants can get a confidence boost from being around other women in skilled trades.
"It's not based on the fact that we're women, it's based on the fact that we're capable, and just as capable."


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For Syrian students now living in Turkey, the path through higher education is far from smooth.
ISTANBUL—In the middle of a crowded flea market bustling with shoppers and aromas of fresh produce and spices, Khaled Al-Asas stands at his booth selling smartphone accessories: selfie sticks, chargers, headphones, and so on. It has been three years since Khaled arrived in Istanbul with his family. They fled from Syria to Yemen, and then to Turkey—the only country that would welcome them and allow them to work.
Khaled’s story of disrupted education is the story of more than 30,000 university-age Syrians living in Turkey. And while data on the number of Syrians seeking postsecondary degrees in the country vary significantly—from 600 to 5,600, depending on the source—it's clear that the vast majority of college-age Syrian refugees have had to discontinue their educations. Of those Syrian students attending universities, the Turkish Disaster and Management Authority reported in May that 1,080 of them were receiving government financial aid.
“The increase [of Syrian university students in Turkey] may reflect the reality that Syrians themselves are increasingly finding ways to navigate the higher-education system,” said James King, the assistant director of the Scholar Rescue Fund at the Institute of International Education, in a phone interview. Regardless, the newly reported numbers are still only a small number of university-age Syrians in Turkey. The Turkish Ministry of Education failed to respond to questions about these statistics.
Khaled and tens of thousands more Syrians are still attempting to maneuver the higher-education system after having their education trajectories disrupted by the Syrian conflict. Syrian university students face multiple obstacles to graduate with a bachelor’s degree: financial obstacles, lack of proper documentation, and cultural and societal limitations. Turkish higher-education institutions have also struggled to adjust their admissions processes for incoming students, with few administrative staff members who speak Arabic and can transfer Syrian course credits to Turkish ones. The process to permanently integrate Syrians into Turkish institutions is one that will take time, and will also require the help of the international community.
Ali is an 18-year-old from Aleppo, Syria, who works at a wholesale clothing store in the textile district of Istanbul. He left Syria in the middle of his senior year of high school.
“Higher education is an incredibly important alternative to more negative outcomes: crime, radicalization, and early marriage for young women,” King said. “Education can provide a pathway to integration within the country and durable solutions for Turkey and Syria.” Ali, like so many other Syrians who have been displaced, understands this.
Ali’s desire to seek out educational opportunities while having to financially provide for himself is just one of the many challenges young Syrian adults face. According to IIE’s report based on findings in Turkey, Syrians face the added challenges of navigating the decentralized Turkish higher-education system and obtaining proficiency in Turkish or English to participate in courses at the university level. They also struggle with lack of or incomplete documentation and ability to transfer past credits.
And young women are especially vulnerable to prolonged disruptions to their education. In Syrian universities prior to the war, the ratio of men to women was 50 to 50, according to IIE’s study. In IIE’s study in Turkey, however, men outnumbered women three to one. Between 2013 and 2014, women made up less than 1 percent of the Syrians attending Turkish universities. Amid the war, young women are taking on more responsibilities in the home while their male counterparts are going to school, which may set back decades of progress Syrian women had made in terms of entering the workforce.
Tasneem, 20, arrived in Istanbul from Aleppo in 2014. Like Ali, she does not have the proper documents, nor can her family afford university tuition. Tasneem spends her days at home helping with her 1-year-old sibling and taking English, French, and Turkish classes at a nonprofit that assists Syrian families called Small Projects Istanbul (SPI).
She would like to return to school in Istanbul to become a chemist but can’t scrape together the funds: Her mother doesn’t work, and her sisters work for very little. “There really is no money,”she said.
SPI is trying to help Tasneem enroll in school by getting her the necessary documents. In the meantime, Tasneem is part of the SPI’s women’s craft group, which makes jewelry such as earrings and bracelets to sell for profit, saving money so she can one day continue her education in Europe. “I would like to work there and do something completely new,” she said.
However, there are some anomalies in which some Syrian students have managed to find a way into Turkish universities. Amer, 30, from Homs, Syria, finished his bachelor’s degree in finance this past May. One of the lucky ones, he had proper documentation and was able to navigate the higher-education system in Turkey with SPI’s help. In Syria, Amer was in his final year at university and failed his graduation exams three times. When he arrived in Turkey, he received help from friends and sponsors to pay for his tuition to Bahcesehir University, a private institution in Istanbul. “The fun part was the dinner that I would make every month to raise money,” Amer said as he proudly sat in a classroom.
Amer’s main challenge was repeating two years of his studies because Bahcesehir University would not allow him to transfer all of his credits. Amer recalls the difficulty in 2014 dealing with university admissions and explaining his situation. At the time of Amer’s acceptance into the university, Turkey’s role began to shift from being a place offering temporary hospitality to being a destination for long-term integration of Syrians into Turkish institutions.
While many universities in Turkey, like Bahcesehir, are proactive about enrolling Syrians, others do not have the will or the facilities to accommodate foreign students. The Turkish government has created government-funded scholarships and elementary-education programs for younger Syrians to slowly start a Turkish curriculum, among other policy initiatives to promote integration, but implementation is left up to the administrations of the individual institutions.
“Policies that support the integration efforts are making Syrians a little bit of a political football,” King said. Integration and its direct effect on the lives of Syrians are complicated by Turkish political volatility, especially following the July 2016 attempted military coup.
Syria is now categorized as a “low human-development” state with the collapse of its economy, health, and education sectors. Educating Syrians now could help rebuild Syria later. “You also need educated leaders who can help foster diaspora communities with hybrid identities in places like Germany, the U.S., and elsewhere,” King said.
The task of funding and supporting educational opportunities for Syrians is not just the job of one government, institution, or nonprofit, but the responsibility of multiple actors. King said more funding is still needed for language instruction in English and Turkish, and for initiatives to open Arabic-language universities. Openness to Syrian students and transparency of courses offered is crucial for institutions to create ease in the admissions process.
Muhammad Abunassr worked as a fixer/translator.
This piece was funded by the International Center for Journalists.
Dominique Bonessi is a fellow at the International Center for Journalists in Istanbul.


The nutrients in bacon and eggs comprise more than just saturated fat and cholesterol. A bacon and egg sandwich contains a powerful portion of protein. It also has a sufficient amount of calories that provide your body with energy that keeps you feeling satisfied for hours after eating.
Eggs are the main source of protein in a bacon and egg sandwich. They offer a high biological value protein, which is more easily used by the body. On average, eggs provide 6.3 grams of protein per large egg. Depending on the size of the egg the protein content will vary; you'll get 7.03 grams in an extra large egg and 7.91 grams in a jumbo egg. If you only use egg whites to make your sandwich, you'll get 3.6 grams of protein per large egg white. Egg substitutes contain 6 grams of protein per quarter cup.
One slice of cooked pork bacon provides 3 grams of protein per slice, and grilled Canadian bacon has 2 grams of protein per slice. A 1-ounce slice of cooked turkey bacon contains 4.74 grams of protein. There is more protein in turkey bacon since it contains less fat. A typical sandwich usually contains more than one slice of bacon.
A regular 1-ounce slice of wheat or white bread provides 2 grams of protein, and light or thin crust varieties that are lower in calories provide 1 gram per slice. A 3 1/2-inch-diameter kaiser roll and a regular English muffin both provide 3 grams of protein. Some breads marketed for dieters are lower in calories and will be even higher in protein since they are fortified with extra fiber and protein.
A bacon and egg sandwich can have a minimum of 13.3 grams of protein per sandwich. A more typical sandwich consisting of two extra large eggs and three strips of bacon will contain 27 grams of protein. If cheese is added to the sandwich it will provide an additional 7 grams of protein per ounce. The average recommended protein intake for adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Eating an average size bacon and egg sandwich can help you meet your protein requirements, but only eat it in moderation. This sandwich is high in fat, sodium and cholesterol, which can lead to weight gain and increase your risk of heart disease. A healthier option would be egg whites and 1 ounce of Canadian bacon on whole-wheat bread.
Choose My Plate.Gov: How Much Food From The Protein Foods Group Is Needed Daily?
Tomesko,, Jennifer. "How Much Protein Does a Bacon & Egg Sandwich Have?" Healthy Eating | SF Gate, http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-protein-bacon-egg-sandwich-have-6299.html. 27 November 2018.


Tropico 2: Pirate Cove is the sequel to the award-winning simulation Tropico. As a Pirate King, rule a secret pirate island full of despicable 17th century sea dogs. Fuel your economy by plundering wealthy merchant ships and taking prisoners back to the island as captive workers. Keep your scurvy buccaneers satisfied with rowdy gambling, jolly feasting, and barrels of rum. World powers fear you, brigands respect you, captives obey your every command, and don't forget about the wenching! Arrr, thar ain't nuttin like bein' a Pirate King!


The number of asylum seekers in Slovakia keeps declining: from the start of 2013 until May 31, a total of 184 foreigners sought asylum, most of them from Somalia, Eritrea, Georgia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam. The data were released by the Interior Ministry, which administers asylum claims.
“To compare, in 2004 there were about 11,500 starts of asylum proceedings, while in 2012 there were 732 cases,” the TASR newswire reported, quoting the ministry statistics. Most asylum seekers came from Afghanistan.
"Asylum was granted in two cases, while in 14 cases additional protection was granted,” Zuzana Miškolci of the Interior Ministry told the SITA newswire.
Several events were organised to mark World Refugee Day on June 20. In the Opatovská Nová Ves residential camp and the Humenné detention camp there were events for refugees, as well as an umbrella march in Košice and a cultural performance in Bratislava, TASR wrote.


Ed Halter's From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006) opens with a description of the invasion of 2003. No, not that invasion.
At the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), U.S. Army troops infiltrated the Los AngelesConvention Center. Special Forces officers, clad in fatigues and carrying machine guns, descended from Black Hawk helicopters and stormed the front doors. Traffic stopped. Civilians fled. And yet, somehow, the incident went relatively unnoticed by the mainstream press.
The invasion was not, in fact, a terrorist cell bust-up, but instead an elaborate promotion for America's Army, the official Army videogame released in 2002. As Halter explains, this E3 publicity stunt profoundly illustrates a fusion of war and gaming. But the relationship, sometimes called "the military-entertainment complex," is really nothing new.
From Sun Tzu to Xbox traces the evolution of war gaming throughout history, from its roots in board games like chess and go, to the Cold War-era battle simulations built by the Department of Defense, to modern day first-person shooters and tactical sims funded by the military. To do this, Halter examines almost every military-themed videogame ever made. But the real heart of From Sun Tzu To Xbox is the relationship between war and videogames, and how each influences the other.
What's most appealing about the book is its evenhandedness toward its subjects. Although Halter asks tough questions that have few answers, From Sun Tzu to Xbox is no radical diatribe against the evils of the military machine. Instead, the book is a thoughtful, measured approach to one of today's most intriguing political and philosophical quandaries: where does war end and entertainment begin? Even readers who've never seen a PS2 or wouldn't know an AK-47 from an M16 should find it an entertaining, enlightening read.


"Do My Part For the Sake of All Life Including Mankind"
Mankind and All Wildlife Our Earth Sustains are approaching a catastrophic convergence of global resource exhaustions in the range of 2025 to 2050. Earth cannot sustain the growing human population nor the already-declining wildlife population if rampant greed and ignorance continue devouring the resources needed to sustain life at the rate they are today. Earth will be forced to begin purging billions in our children's lifetime if we do not change course. I'm speaking on the basis not of crazed doom-saying emotion but inarguable and documented facts available to all but seldom put together so one can see the forest for the trees. I'm the Co-Founder of Sustainability Education Network, Chairman of Green Education Network, and a Director of Greenhouse Neutral Foundation. Working fulltime unpaid with GNF's Suzanne Sparling, we've Co-Founded the launch of a website inspired by Care2 friends that asks all who care about earth's life to Boycott Corporate Greed, to Pledge themselves to act to SUSTAIN the resources on which all life depends, to Join a Prayer Chain, to do anything but let others bury their heads in the sand. ACT! To learn more, please click the link below and then, dammitall, DO SOMETHING!
About Me Just a man like so many men and women who have given their all, and a man who will continue to give all he can for the sake of his children and all life now and ever to be born on this, our Mother Earth, the womb God gave us, but not to destroy.
Wild Fact About Me I've been a leader my whole life and roar like a lion, but beneath am a lamb. I have a gifted intellect and more post-grad education than many PhDs, but boy, sometimes I'm the stupidest person I know and I truly mean that! I'm trying to earn angel's wings, but I'm not half so good as those who have them. I've had connections with many famous and highly-placed people in my life (see for yourself on this PDF http://www.mediafire.com/?2yjdmjgnknr ) but the ones with an enduring place in my heart are mostly just giving people known to even fewer people than me.
If I were Mayor, I'd make the world a better place by ...I HAVE THAT GOOD KIND OF CRY WHEN I LISTEN TO THE FRIENDSHIP SONG, AT PEACE FOR THE BIRDS SINGING, WISER FOR WATCHING THE PLANTAGON MESSAGE, RENEWED AND ENERGIZED BY EVERY LAST ONE! THANK YOU!
I've turned off "automatic posting" of new comments awhile, I can't stand to see the ones already there disappear. Every day I go look at the new ones you send that are not yet posted. I must fear starving, because I go look at them, like a child taking the lid off a cookie jar, looking at each loving cookie and putting each one back, saving them to look at again tomorrow. Thank you for filling my not-yet-posted cookie jar!
What/who changed my life and why Chalice and the Blade, An Inconvenient Truth, Zero Greenhouse Emissions, Profiles in Courage, Chaos Theory (I love The Butterfly Effect, it proves you CAN make a big difference), Einstein's God, Future Shock, The Third Wave, Megatrends, Sept 11, Flags of Our Fathers, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Sea Biscuit, The Cove, Dances With Wolves, Scientists and Their Gods, how many hours do you have for this?
Quotation Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Sorry I missed your Birthday as I have been offline.
Hope you had a fabulous day! Happy Belated Birthday my friend.
Sorry I'm Late..Hope it was a great one!
Dear Gregory Wishing you a Magnificent Birthday!
My Beloved Gregory Wishing You The Best Birthday Ever. May All Your Dreams Come True. GOD Bless You Today, Tomorrow, and Forever!!!!
Gregory, I wish for you many years of good health, full of Peace, Light and Happiness!
Bette M. (91) Big Happy birthday Gregory!!