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Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders -- (Flickr via Gage Skidmore/MSNBC screen grab) Over a month into his presidency, Donald Trump continues to talk up his win last November with a tweet Saturday morning that was promptly mocked by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). As is his custom on Saturday mornings, Trump tweeted out a random comment first thing in the morning, writing, “Maybe the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN should have their own rally. It would be the biggest of them all!” Sanders quickly shot Trump with a pithy, “They did. It wasn’t,” accompanied with photos showing the dismal turnout for the President’s inauguration. You can see both tweets below: Maybe the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN should have their own rally. It would be the biggest of them all! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 Sanders wasn’t the only one to point out Trump had a very poor showing on Inauguration Day:

If you gasped when you opened your Nova Scotia Power bill this month, you are not alone. The utility says as many as 100,000 customers may have bills that were estimated because of the large amount of snow this winter. Snow banks prevented the company's staff from actually reading many meters, so the power corporation estimated the bill. "So in their cases, they received an estimated bill and that was based on their usage for the previous year," said Bev Ware, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Power. "The bills they are now receiving are based on what they actually did use." Ware says usage was also higher because it was 10 per cent to 20 per cent colder this winter. The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board says it was given some early notice that meter reading was a problem, but didn't know so many customers were affected, says executive director Paul Allen. However, he adds that estimated bills are allowed and the utility board has no jurisdiction so long as the correct rate is applied. "I was shocked and upset and wondering why we owed that much," Wolfville resident Tammi Parnell said about her bill. Parnell said her usual bill is $200. "This most recent bill, more than triple that." At the Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank in Halifax, staff are hearing about higher-than-average bills, too, even though some people say they are barely using their heat. "They would just turn the heat in one room or they would just bundle up , wear extra layers of clothing inside the home just to keep themselves warm," worker Cynthia Louis said. The power company also said meters that were read in one billing period may not have been read correctly. "We're now finding out with … meter readers going back and being able to get a close-up reading that those readings back in February and March were not accurate. They were under-read … but they were back from the meter at the time so it was difficult for them to see," Ware said. Whatever the reason, people like Parnell are still trying to come to terms with their bill. "A little stressed out," she said. "It's not good when you get a bill that big and you're not expecting it." The power company said it is confident that their systems are working correctly and the right rates have been provided. However, it urges concerned customers to contact them and if there is an error, it will be corrected.

37k SHARES SHARE THIS STORY President Donald Trump’s war with the intelligence community is about to go nuclear, says former NSA analyst and national security expert John Schindler. The intelligence community’s efforts to do their jobs and expose the connections between the Trump camp and the Russian government have been met with insults and attacks from our hypersensitive President as he attempts to paint them as the enemy and sides with the Russians against the men and women who work tirelessly to keep our nation safe from foreign threats. Just this morning, Trump decided to smear last night’s bombshell report on the Trump camp’s continued contacts with Russian officials during the election as “illegal:” The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017 This is only the latest in a long string of attacks – like that time Trump compared the intelligence community to “Nazis” – that Schindler says is aggravating the intelligence community – with potentially devastating consequences: US intelligence is not the problem here. The President's collusion with Russian intelligence is. Many details, but the essence is simple. — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 Progress? The President was calling US "intelligence" Nazis only a few weeks ago — now they're merely un-American.https://t.co/5y1T8EHCJy — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 Now we go nuclear. IC war going to new levels. Just got an EM fm senior IC friend, it began: "He will die in jail."https://t.co/e6FxCclVqT — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 Putin never viewed Trump as anything more than a useful lunatic. Moscow wants political chaos in America — and oh boy are they getting it. — John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017 In this tweet, IC is shorthand for “intelligence community” and EM for “email.” If we take these tweets at face value, Trump’s continued insistence on berating the intelligence community for their work and siding with the Russians over our own national security apparatus is going to come back to haunt him. The only thing “illegal” about this entire scandal are the secret communications that the Trump campaign was conducting with agents of the Russian Federation during and after the election – and every move the Trump administration makes only deepens the suspicion that the Russian government is blackmailing our so-called President – and that is an unacceptable state of affairs. Download our NEW Occupy Democrats app for your iPhone by clicking here or for your Android by clicking here. Add your name to millions demanding that Congress take action on the President’s crimes. IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP!

The Apple Watch is set sell millions in its first year on shelves. Already the new, quite possibly redundant, gadget has moved over 2 million in preorders alone, and analysts are betting on anywhere from 9 to 30 million sold in the first year. That's out of myriad different models ranging from just a few hundred dollars for the iPeasant version, to as much as $17,000 for the Apple Watch Edition, with the high-end settling on the customized, diamond-studded Lux Watch Omni which costs a measly $114,995. If you see someone wearing an Apple Watch that cost over $100,000...well, just know that somewhere there's a Swiss watch-maker rolling over in their grave. The first Apple Watches are shipping out this week, but the entire roll-out of the wearable is of the "soft launch" variety, rolling out to stores later in the summer. Customers will need appointments at Apple Stores to demo and purchase the watch, because suddenly Apple doesn't like lines outside its stores. This is one silver lining, no pun intended. The Apple device lines are among the most irritating phenomena of our age. Indeed, the entire Apple hype machine ranks among the most irritating phenomena of our age. While the company has done marvelous work in the realm of marketing and product design---and I don't begrudge them one ounce of success---the willingness of the masses to simply hop aboard that train irks me to no end. I am a reverse-snob in this regard, I admit it. In one sense, it's quite remarkable that Apple Watch sales are projected to be so high, while Android smart watches have made very little of a dent in the fledgling tech genre. There's little reason to believe the Apple Watch will be such a huge step up over the competition, and Pebble still seems like the smart way to go if you want actual functionality and not just hipster-tech social signaling. Then again, as Forbes contributor Paul Lamkin notes "With the Pebble considered a smartwatch success story after around 1 million sales, and Android Wear causing only a minor blip with its estimated 1 – 1.5 million device sales across its multi-branded range in the platform’s first year of existence, the Apple Watch could be the benchmark-raising saviour of a slow-burning new tech genre." A rising tide lifts all boats or some such. It's the Starbucks effect, where the rise of the massive coffee chain actually boosted mom-and-pop cafes all across the country rather than put them out of business. The iPhone in many ways paved the way for other smartphones; the iPad opened the floodgates for Android tablets and even Windows 8 tablets. So it will go with the Apple Watch---while it's late to the party, it's nonetheless the wearables' vanguard, come to ready the teeming masses. But I can't help myself: Smartwatches already strike me as superfluous. True, there's something kind of neat about being able to check your texts and step totals and Twitter at the flick of a wrist---but my phone is already right there in my pocket, or on the table, and its screen is way, way bigger. The added expense of an Apple Watch to an iPhone setup doesn't strike me as a particularly good value proposition. It's much more for show, for style, for fashion, for signaling than for functionality, of course, and as a rather more utilitarian techie, I guess that just rubs me the wrong way. It must be my inner-Luddite, or just the budding curmudgeon in me, but I think we're already overly connected. My smartphone is enough of a distraction from the world. But at least we smartphone owners keep ours in our pockets rather than sporting them around on our wrists for all the world to see in all their gaudy splendor. While Apple and its app-developers may need to find ways to not annoy Apple Watch wearers, the wearers themselves may be a source of annoyance for the rest of us (though I don't recommend shaming them the way non-smokers have attempted to shame smokers. Fighting rudeness with more of the same strikes me as fairly awful.) In any case, I'm hardly alone in thinking this. “These smartwatches can be as annoying as our smartphones and more visible since you wear them,” says Pamela Eyring, the president of The Protocol School of Washington according to MarketWatch. “But smartphones can be hidden easier when you’re with people since you can tuck them into a handbag or jacket pocket.” Others suggest that perhaps social norms surrounding acceptable watch-checking behavior will shift, though not any time soon. “Yes, norms shift," manners-expert and author Henry Hitchings writes to New York Magazine. "We feel different about someone taking a phone call in our presence from how our grandparents might have felt about it. But modern communications technology, of which the Apple Watch is of course just one example, has created uncertainty rather than a new set of social certainties. And while some people may applaud the social fluidity that results from that, there are obvious problems to do with our confusion about privacy, ownership, the distinction between the real and the virtual, and so on.” This uncertainty is emphasized by the fact that the Apple Watch is part of our attire, Hitchings also notes, which brings up deeper questions of how we set social norms and boundaries. Call me a traditionalist hold-out but I believe that a watch's core mission is simply to keep the time. It shouldn't have to be charged every day. I shouldn't have to wake it up in order to check the time. And it shouldn't be designed with planned obsolescence in mind. The truth of the matter is this: Your Apple Watch will be out-of-date in a year or two. Even your $17,000 model will seem slow and clunky compared to whatever Apple makes in 2017. Watches are supposed to be the closest thing we have to engineered immortality. Watches and firearms. Smartwatches do not fit that bill. You might argue that phones were once meant to merely take calls, and now do so much more, and you'd have a point. But phones were never instruments designed to last. They were even more utilitarian than watches. And modern smartphones actually expand on the functionality of a phone in truly useful ways, and might as well be called smart-cameras at this point regardless. Regardless, even smartphones have raised issues of manners and what counts as acceptable behavior. I recall one day, years ago at my daughter's preschool, parents were invited to see what their kids had been working on, talk to the teachers, play in the playground. There were snacks. It was a time carved out for kids and their parents. Yet glancing around I counted probably half the dads glued to their phones for much of the brief morning visit. I have my own moments when I'm sucked away from life, into the bowels of Twitter or some other dark dungeon of social media. An Apple Watch, I suspect, would only hasten my descent. "I can’t seem to get past the worry that Apple’s Next Best And Brightest Thing is designed for a future that I don’t particularly want to inhabit," writes Buzzfeed's Charlie Warzel. "A pingy, buzzy, always visible, always on future that I’ll have to enter begrudgingly." But hey, at least there won't be Apple zealots lining the street. That's something to be cheery about.

This view of a full moon was photographed by an Expedition 14 crewmember onboard the International Space Station. Earth's horizon and airglow is visible at left. As the full moon rises this Wednesday evening, June 18, many people will be fooled into thinking it's unusually large. The moon illusion, as it's known, is a trick in our minds that makes the moon seem bigger when it's near the horizon. The effect is most pronounced at full moon. Many people swear it's real, suggesting that perhaps Earth's atmosphere magnifies the moon. But it really is all in our minds. The moon is not bigger at the horizon than when overhead. The illusion will be particularly noticeable at this "solstice moon," coming just two days before summer starts in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason, according to NASA, lies in lunar mechanics: The sun and full moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging moon and a strong, long-lasting version of the illusion. If it's any consolation, space station astronauts report the same effect. Here's how it works: Your mind believes things on the horizon are farther away than things overhead, because you are used to seeing clouds just a few miles above, but the clouds on the horizon can indeed be hundreds of miles away. So if we think something (such as the moon) is farther away, and it's not, then it seems larger. If you remain doubtful, test the idea yourself. Go out at moonrise with a small object, perhaps a pencil eraser. Hold it at arm's length as the moon rises and compare the sizes of the moon and the eraser, then repeat the experiment an hour or two later when the moon is high in the sky. A rolled up tube of paper works well, too. Moonrise times vary by location. On Wednesday, it will come up at these local times at these locations, according to NASA: New York City, 8:58 p.m.; Miami, 8:35 p.m.; Seattle, 9:51 p.m. The moon rises about 50 minutes earlier Tuesday night, when the effect will also be noticeable because the moon will be nearly full. Oh, and that raises another fallacy: There's no such thing as a full moon. Additional moonrise times for your location are available from the U.S. Naval Observatory Web site.

Most of us can't fully succumb to our techno-lust until we've seen a finished gadget in use. Here's the dirty secret, though – none of your perverted fantasies about multiple-touchscreen smartphones can be realized until someone makes a dual-core chip that would know what to do with them. Samsung's new Orion 1-GHz dual-core ARM microprocessor could make those kinky dreams come true. Samsung announced the new chip in a press release earlier this week; it will be pushed out to "select customers in the fourth quarter of 2010" and go into "mass production in the first half of 2011." So what's the big deal? We've had dual-core processors in our laptops for years! Ah, but those processors are way too big and power-hungry for mobile standards. You don't want to strap your laptop's battery to your phone, do you? By necessity, mobile chips are all about small size and low power-consumptions. That's why IBM's working on mobile chips with super-sleep modes and Intel just went ahead and bought smartphone chipmaker Infineon just to get in the game, as Gadget Lab reported last week. But wait – haven't Qualcomm and Texas Instruments already announced their dual-core processors for mobile devices? And didn't LG even announce that they're going to start packing graphics champ NVidia's Tegra 2 dual-core processor into smartphones? This can't just be about mobile multicore processors. How right you are. This is where we have to unpack those other big numbers attached to the Orion's specs. The real gem of the Orion is its video processing. Part of this is just the multicore processing; lightweight single-core mobile chips can't really handle true high-definition (1080p) video. Like the Tegra, the Orion can. What's more, it's got an "onboard native triple display controller architecture that compliments multitasking operations in a multiple display environment." Translation: three-way. Smartphones with multiple screens that can display different video on each screen, plus output an entirely different video to a third. These chips are polymorphously perverse. So that's the truth about these chips. A smartphone or tablet's hardware body and capacitative touchscreen are just pretty clothes and suggestive sunglasses. Once you strip those away away, all of the hot, sinewy action is happening underneath. Photo: "Big Sister" by Schodts at Flickr. Used gratefully under a Creative Commons license. See Also:

The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an informal investigation on Thursday into the details of the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) notorious $1.3 billion iPad project, which was supposed to give every child in the nation's second-largest school system an iPad loaded with Pearson curriculum. The Los Angeles Times said that a source inside LAUSD confirmed that the commission was asking questions about how the bond money that was set aside to fund the program was used. The iPad program met many roadblocks since its inception in 2013, and recent allegations of improprieties during the bidding process for the bond money derailed the program permanently. Back in December, the FBI raided the school district's offices , taking with them 20 boxes of information pertaining to the program. At the time, the LAUSD superintendent resigned, although he has denied wrongdoing. Just yesterday, LAUSD's attorney wrote to Apple demanding refunds for Pearson curriculum that the school system deemed unsatisfactory. It also said it would not accept any more shipments from Apple or Pearson in the future. Pearson was a subcontractor for Apple in the deal between the tech giant and LAUSD. On Thursday, District officials told the LA Times that “they were optimistic that they had addressed the SEC concerns.” The LA Times also reported that LAUSD had prepared a presentation in March that “outlined measures it took to inform the public and potential investors about how bond funds [for the iPad program] would be spent.” The school district reportedly told the SEC that the bonds used to fund the iPad program were general obligation bonds that were not meant to generate revenue for investors. It also maintained that it was transparent in its dealings and that “all necessary disclosures were made to the public, underwriters, rating agencies, and investors.”

Twilight sparkleboyfriend Robert Pattinson is starring in a new movie, premiering Friday, about a young couple falling in love in New York. It's all romantic and silly, until the film's exploitative gotcha! ending. Want to know what it is? New York Magazine ran the spoiler a couple of weeks ago, and now the Village Voice, the third "Top Critic" review on RottenTomatoes, just spilled the beans. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter kept slightly more mum about the ending, alluding only to some grim foreshadowing of Lower Manhattan skylines... The end? Everything is hunkydory for most of the film. Two young sexys — Bobby Patentleather, crazy Claire from Lost — meet cute during college in the gray whirlwind of New York. They battle past sadnesses, mean daddies, and cigarette addictions on their course to true love. They get married and the Vampyr heads off to his first day of grownup man work. He goes up and up in an elevator and everyone in the audience is saying "My, that's an awfully tall building, where does he work exactly?" And then, can you guess it? 9/11. Edward Pattinson dies of 9/11 at the very end of Remember Me and all the film's happiness goes with him. This is their shocker! It's like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close if Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close had featured just a few more vampire sexpots. And if Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close had used a national tragedy as an opportunistic, zam-bang! instant-meaning hook at the end, rather than throughout the whole book. So well done, filmmakers! Doesn't this oddly make you want to see it? And it makes us curious whether more critics will get so upset/annoyed/tickled by the hokum ending of a twinklevampire movie that they too will let the 9/11 cat out of the 9/11 bag.

S. 3100: Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act passes committee (and what you can do) GovTrack.us Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 5, 2016 A “sanctuary city” is a city that protects illegal immigrants from federal or state prosecution, either by expressly prohibiting or never requiring legal inquiries about immigration status. There are more than 300 sanctuary cities in the United States. There have been many Republican attempts to prevent sanctuary cities. The latest is S. 3100, the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, which would withhold certain federal grants from sanctuary cities. The bill was introduced last week on June 27 and made it past committee the next day. While it may receive a Senate vote, the White House has threatened to veto similar previous bills. What supporters say Many sanctuary cities have another, more controversial, practice to protect illegal immigrants convicted of crimes from being deported. An immigrant arrested for an unrelated crime, and then later determined to be in the country illegally, will often only be punished for the crime. They may serve jail time or pay a fine but they will not be not deported. Many critics of sanctuary cities see this practice as dangerous, citing increasing violent crime rates in San Francisco since 2011. Bill sponsor Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) described a San Francisco murder committed by an illegal immigrant. The shooter had been in police custody three months earlier but was not deported due to sanctuary practices. Many feel that the murder represents a clear example of a death that would have been avoidable if not for the sanctuary city. (Proponents of sanctuary cities argue that the cities are just as safe, if not safer, than other cities.) What opponents say A 2015 Washington Post article presents a different picture on the effects of sanctuary cities. It argues that sanctuary cities were the solution to criticisms about inhumane treatment of immigrants and racial profiling. “Immigrant advocates said all of this deeply damaged already-limited police trust in immigrant communities, making people afraid to call police or provide information. That, these advocates argued, was the real threat to public safety.” How to get involved Support an advocacy group you agree with: Stop sanctuary cities by supporting the Federation for American Immigration Reform Protect sanctuary cities by supporting the American Immigration Council Call Congress: Whether you want to support S. 3100 or oppose it, it is worth letting your senators know. You can do this by clicking on the yellow “Call Congress” button at the top of the bill page. You can also let others know how you feel about the bill by reacting with an emoji.

Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary Nauru is a small island (about eight square miles) half way between Hawaii and New Zealand made largely of bird droppings. If that does not sound particularly promising consider two further points. First, that its European discoverer named it Pleasant Island in 1798: it was once extraordinarily beautiful. And second that the bird droppings can be mined as phosphates, which are worth a lot of money. The following morality tale has, in fact, a lot to do with money… Money… Everyone wanted a piece of Nauru. It is enough to list the island’s owners over the last two hundred years. For most of the nineteenth century the Nauruans ruled themselves and spent a lot of that time fighting each other with firearms brought by European traders. In 1888 Germany intervened to end the war and in an amnesty – and encouraged by the threat that tribal leaders would be executed – over seven hundred guns and rifles were handed over to the new authorities; enough to attempt an invasion of Belgium. The island remained in the German Empire until 1914 when it was occupied by Australians on behalf of the Allies. In 1919 the British created the British Phosphate Commission that ran the island in the interests of Australia, New Zealand and the wider Empire, though not necesarily the Nauruans. In 1923 Australia took over the running of Nauru. In 1942 Japan occupied and Nauru had its worst years: a leprosy outbreak was dealt with by sailing a boat of the afflicted out into the ocean and sinking it. In 1945 a joint New Zealand, Australian and British trusteeship was set up, then in 1968 the island was finally given independence. Nauruans, Germans, Australians, BPC, Japanese, Commonwealth Trusteeship and Nauruans again. Nauru became a kind of Pacific Krakow passing constantly between powers. It would be interesting to see if any other spot in the Pacific rivals Nauruans in terms of the multiplicity of owners. Beach is tempted to quote Kissinger: ‘if they had grown carrots there no one would have given a damn.’ From 1968 the Nauruans should have had a happy or at least wealthy existence. After all, they now had the phosophate for themselves. And for a while the government was immensely rich, particularly given how small the population was. It also proved though immensely stupid and the money was wasted. Nauru is a nice example of the Dutch disease. Never give your kids an oil well. By 2006 the phosphates had run out, as had the money, and the island experienced an environmental catastrophe, much of it having been strip mined to water or rock: note the central moonscape in the image above. The lawyers managed to claw some money back through suing Britain, Australia and New Zealand for overexploitation. But the compensation didn’t last either. And then desperation and creativity set in. In 2003, the island briefly tried to get on the US’s patronage list by helping North Korean defectors escape! 90% of the Nauruans are now unemployed and most of those that have jobs owe them to the authorities: hardly Adam Smith’s invisible hand. Still at least Nauru has survived its colonial masters and the passing of the guano. Here’s to a brighter future for one of the world’s most obscure territories. Let’s hope the birds will return. Beach is always on the look out for ‘forgotten kingdoms’ even when they are republics: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com

A report released by legislative auditors Friday says the State Board of Elections needlessly exposed the full Social Security numbers of almost 600,000 voters to potential hacking, risking theft of those voters' identities. The determination that election officials did not fully protect voters' personal information was one of several highly critical findings in the report. The audit also faulted state election officials' handling of issues including ballot security, disaster preparedness, contracting and balancing its books. State lawmakers called for a hearing in response to the Office of Legislative Audits report, which prompted strong reaction from critics of the board and its longtime administrator, Linda H. Lamone. "This audit is an A-to-Z criticism of the way the board operates," said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland School of Law. He said the "damning" findings call for the establishment of an independent, bipartisan commission of computer experts to examine the board's handling of information technology issues. Doug Mayer, a spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan, said the report underscores some of the Republican governor's longtime concerns about a "lack of executive oversight" at the board, where the day-to-day management is outside the administration's control. "This is a perfect example of why those concerns are valid," Mayer said. "Properly securing Maryland's election data is critically important and needs to be given the utmost priority." Lamone said she agreed with most of the auditor's findings, but "virtually everything" they identified has already been addressed. "We were working on a lot of these things even before the auditors came in," she said. The audit found that the board needlessly retained the full nine-digit Social Security numbers of about 592,000 active and inactive voters in its data base — or almost 15 percent of the state's 4.1 million registered voters — when only the last four digits were needed. The report said the board then shared voters' personal information — including driver's license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers — with a third-party organization without ensuring that the data was safeguarded. CAPTION Anton Black's family speaks about “Anton’s Law,” named after Anton Black, who died in law enforcement custody on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. (Luke Broadwater, Baltimore Sun video) Anton Black's family speaks about “Anton’s Law,” named after Anton Black, who died in law enforcement custody on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. (Luke Broadwater, Baltimore Sun video) CAPTION Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. launches a task force to look into sexual assault investigation in the county. (Alison Knezevich, Baltimore Sun video) Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. launches a task force to look into sexual assault investigation in the county. (Alison Knezevich, Baltimore Sun video) The organization that received the data is the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit that helps state election officials around the country identify ineligible voters. While auditors did not question the board's cooperation with ERIC, they said state officials had not received sufficient assurances that ERIC and its outside contractor were adequately protecting data. Auditors warned that such information is frequently the target of criminals attempting identity theft. Aviel Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University who has frequently sounded alarms about election security, said the report "exposes a lack of best practices in the area of securing personal voter data and protecting the information in their databases." "This report tells me that the [elections board] is way behind the high-tech industry in maintaining the availability and security of their information," Rubin said. He said the board "needs to get its act together and catch up with best practices in the industry." Lamone said she's confident in the protections her agency has adopted to prevent hacking. She said officials do not ask for voters' full nine-digit Social Security numbers, but sometimes people voluntarily provide that information on registration forms. The information the state provides to ERIC doesn't include full Social Security numbers and is encrypted before it is sent, Lamone said. "You can't get into ERIC data. There's no way" she said. Lamone rejected Greenberger's call for an independent commission as unnecessary. "I think we're doing everything we can here," she said. Lamone was appointed elections administrator under Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening in 1997. Under current law, the administrator is appointed by the five-member state board, which the governor is allowed to fill with three members of his own party. Hogan's board has a 3-2 Republican majority, but state law requires a 4-1 vote for the board to take action. Lamone has kept her job with the support of the the General Assembly's Democratic leaders. In addition to the finding on Social Security numbers, the audit identified several other lapses in the state elections process and in board operations. According to auditors: •The board did not ensure the accuracy of its voter registration rolls and allowed too many people — its employees and those of local election boards, as well as contractors — to have access to that database when they did not need it for their job duties. •Officials allowed voters to receive ballots solely by providing publicly available information such as name, address and date of birth. Auditors recommended they also require information such as the last four digits of the Social Security number to guard against voter fraud. •The board could not document why it awarded two contracts worth $18.8 million without competition. Auditors also found other violations of state procurement rules. •The agency ended its 2015 budget year with a deficit of $3.4 million that it could not explain. Greenberger said the report's findings are consistent with his dealings with the board over the years. He said Lamone has run the board as a "personal fiefdom" and has dismissed criticism by outside information technology experts as partisan attacks by Republicans. The board's problems have less to do with dishonesty than with defensiveness and incompetence, Greenberger said. "It is one day going to play out during an election where the results will be called into question and there will be no adequate audit trail to determine who the winner of the election is," he said. Two senators, one from each party and both critics of Lamone, called for the legislature's Joint Audit Committee to meet this summer to delve more deeply into the findings. "There are certainly things [in the report] I'd think would be troublesome to our voters," said Sen. Gail Bates, a Howard County Republican. Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, said the agency has long been mismanaged. "We've got a big election next year and voters have to have confidence that our State Board of Elections is performing in tip-top shape," she said. "This audit is clear evidence we're not there yet."

Blackhawks, Wild Unveil Stadium Series Jerseys The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild have both unveiled their 2016 Stadium Series uniforms, they will be worn for their game against each other outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium in Minnesota on February 21, 2016. The Blackhawks jersey is white with the Blackhawks modern primary logo on the chest, a black shoulder yoke with those giant player numbers now moved up to the shoulders. Things start to look pretty good when you get to the sleeves — we see three large black/red stripes with the Blackhawks standard shoulder logo in the middle of them. A nod to how that patch was placed in the 1950s (and in last year’s Winter Classic) but the stripes were never that large. Hey, that’s not a bad thing, I actually quite like this part of the jersey. On the collar (because this is a thing now) there are four Chicago-flag stars. Also note that the collar is only on the left side of the jersey. An official explanation of the Blackhawks uniform below… yup, they really went with “City of Big Shoulders” for the reason for that shoulder yoke. Minnesota will be decked out in green from head to toe, the big shoulders (so, is Minnesota the “state of big shoulders”?) are in wheat or beige. The standard primary logo is on the chest, with a red and beige stripe on the arms. Giant player numbers on the sleeves, no not on the shoulders. On the left shoulder is their “State of Hockey” patch — first time this has appeared on a uniform I believe, the other has the Stadium Series logo. Speaking of which, that patch looks to be absent on the Blackhawks jersey. Huh. So it’s the Template Bowl, which re-colouring do you like better? Sound off in the comments.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — At around 2:15 PM on the afternoon of September 30, 2011, defenseman Drew Doughty emerged from the dressing room for his first training camp skate. That moment was the first publicly visible sign that the Los Angeles Kings had become whole once again. Late Thursday night, the Kings announced that they had reached a verbal agreement with their top defenseman, who missed virtually all of training camp as a contract holdout. In the end, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi sweetened the pot by offering Doughty an average of $200,000 more per year above his reported original offer of $6.8 million per season, the same average annual value of center Anze Kopitar’s contract. For their part, Doughty and agent Don Meehan reportedly budged on the length of the contract, so the deal ended up at $7 million per season for eight years. “The cap is a delicate balance,” Kings Assistant General Manager Ron Hextall told LAKings.com (Kings executives were not available for comment on September 30). “Every year, there’s moving parts just to try and stay under it. But we’re really excited to have Drew under contract, and, obviously, Kopitar, long-term, along with the rest of our guys.” “We’re excited about the timing,” added Hextall. “It could have, obviously, been a little bit better at the start of camp, but we’re excited to have our team whole again.” The 21-year-old native of London, Ontario met with the media before hitting the ice for a skate with assistant coach John Stevens. “It sucked being at home, and it sucked going through this process, but I’m just really thankful that I’m here, and I’m going to be a member of the LA Kings for eight years,” said Doughty. “[The waiting] sucked, it really did. I didn’t plan to be back home in London for that long. I wanted to be here the whole time. There was never a question about leaving the Kings, or anything like that. But we had to get done what we had to get done, and it’s done before the season. That’s the most important part.” “I’ve had a lot of stress,” added Doughty. “The season’s approaching. I was counting down the days until the season started. At first, I didn’t want to miss camp, either. I was counting down the days until camp started, but I ended up having to miss that.” “I’m not happy about going through all that, but it’s done. I’m just happy that I’m here, happy to be a member of the LA Kings. I want to apologize to all those who had to patiently wait for me to get here, but, now that I’m here, I’m fully committed to making this team better.” Doughty also addressed some of the criticism aimed at him due to his holdout. “It was never a question of me not wanting to be with the Kings, or trying to ruin the team, or anything like that,” he stressed. “I apologize [for not] being here on time. Maybe some people think I didn’t go about doing things the right way. It’s part of the business. That’s in the past. Now I just have to focus on this season, [getting] this team to the Finals and winning it.” Doughty’s absence has been the big story hanging over the Kings’ 2011 training camp. But the players took it all in stride. “Everyone knew it was a matter of time, and they finally figured it out, a deal that worked for both parties,” said right wing and team captain Dustin Brown. “It’s good to have him back. Going through training camp, that was probably the biggest story, unfortunately—him not being here. But we’ve got him back now, and it’s just a matter of getting ready to go.” “From a player’s standpoint, guys aren’t coming to the rink and saying, ‘oh wow…we’re going to have to start the regular season without [Doughty],’” added Brown. “That’s not the mentality of the group of guys who are in here. I think it was more, ‘let’s get ready to go.’” “It was a real non-concern for players. I’m sure, for the coaches, management, ownership—they were all worrying about it. But, as a group of players, we did a pretty good job—the situation was what it was. It was more about getting ourselves ready, because had he not signed, we were going to have to play without him. But now that he has signed, it’s a big plus.” Kings blue line corps member Matt Greene shared a similar view. “I think everyone was confident that [an agreement] was going to happen, it was just a matter of time,” said Greene. “It’s good that they could finally reach an agreement and get this going, because he’s a big part of our team. It’s going to be nice having him to start the year.” “He’ll be in shape, he’ll be fine, ready to go,” added Greene. “Missing training camp—nobody’s going to hold that against him. It’s something that happens. Everybody has either been in that situation, or knows somebody who has, so it’s not a distraction. There’s nothing against him for not being here. That’s just the way it worked out. We’ll welcome him with open arms today.” Management was also keeping tabs on the reaction in the dressing room. “I thought the whole group did a good job of staying focused,” said Hextall. “The coaching staff did an outstanding job getting the players that we had [here] ready to play. I think the guys were really good about it, they understand the business part of the game. Again, the organization’s focus, as a whole, obviously, in the back room, we had some stuff going on. Overall, our focus was terrific.” Newcomer Mike Richards is rather familiar with Doughty since the two were teammates on Canada’s Gold Medal-winning team in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. “He started as a sixth or seventh defenseman [for Team Canada], and just worked his way to the top,” Richards noted. “He’s a confident, skilled hockey player. When you have those two [attributes], you make for a dangerous player on the ice. He’s just got so much skill, and the confidence to go along with it. But, even though he’s got all that skill, he doesn’t put his team in difficult positions if something doesn’t go right.” “He’s a good player, we’ll obviously welcome him to the team,” Richards added. “It’s nice to see that he’s taken that step, and will be here for awhile. He’ll help with our defense in a big way.” Having signed a lengthy contract of his own, Richards shared his own perspectives. “You’re more relieved when it’s done, knowing that you’re going to be an NHL player for the next X amount of years that you’ve signed for,” he explained. “You’re excited to get started.” “For him, it’s more getting excited to get back to the team, where he’s wanted to be all along.” he elaborated. “It’s unfortunate that the business side sometimes gets in the way, but I think everyone’s excited to have him back.” Aside from Doughty, head coach Terry Murray may be the happiest person of all about having his best defenseman back in the fold. “Drew Doughty is back,” Murray beamed. “I’m going to give him a big hug when I see him. It’s ‘welcome back, and get going.’” “I’m real happy for him, and I’m real happy for the organization that this got done,” Murray added. “Mr. Anschutz and Tim Leiweke, they obviously stepped up big time here with a very important player to our team, and I know Dean [Lombardi] and Hexy [Hextall] have been working very hard over the summer, and through the training camp, to get this finalized.” “Now we get everything back to being about the LA Kings, and the team. We move on.” Although the players were all saying the right things, Doughty’s situation had to be, at the very least, a bit of a distraction. “No question,” said Murray. “It was in the front of my mind the whole training camp. He’s a very important player, a very good player. You miss him.” “You know everybody’s working very hard towards getting it resolved, and that’s the most important thing that you can hope for, that there’s a lot of communication going on,” added Murray. “Now that it’s done, we’ll bring him along very quickly, and get him ready to play the first game of the season.” “As a coach, you’re just hoping it happens, that he’s able to get back, and get some quality practice time with the team before the season starts.” Doughty said that his strength and conditioning has improved over last season, and that he is already rarin’ to go. “I’ve been skating back home pretty hard, so I think I can jump right into it,” said Doughty. “But whenever they want me to play, I’m available to play, and I want to get back in action as soon as I can.” “I feel stronger, and I feel better conditioned as well,” added Doughty. “I’m a little bit slimmer, but, at the same time, I have a little more muscle, and my body fat is lower. I worked really hard in the gym, and I was on the ice as well. I feel good. I’m a little bit lighter than I usually am…about 203 [pounds], and I usually play at 210.” Doughty is not expected to be in the lineup when the Kings face the Colorado Avalanche in the annual Frozen Fury pre-season game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena tonight in Las Vegas, but will skate with players not in tonight’s lineup. Going forward, Murray will put Doughty on a fast track towards getting into the lineup. “It’s gas pedal right to the floor boards out there in practice,” Murray stressed. “You’re going to push him right through, and get the amount of work that you feel, as a coaching staff, a player needs in order to get him up to playing speed as quickly as possible.” “[It will be the] ‘Lamborghini’ approach,” Murray added. “Now we can get a week or practice time before the season starts.” With the big contract, Doughty now has to prove that he is worthy of it over the term of the deal, and, after heading in the other direction last season, he will need to make the mental adjustments necessary to improve. “Last year was a little bit of a down year for Drew, when you look at the numbers and the performance from the year before,” said Hextall. “But I think, as a second year player, to be runner-up for the Norris Trophy, and to really raise [his] game to that level, I think, last year—there’s a human tendency to think that you’re going to be that player every year.” “I think Drew probably learned the lesson that you’ve got to push through every year, you’ve got to push through every summer, you’ve got to work hard, and get yourself in the best shape possible, so there’s some good lessons there,” added Hextall. “In saying that, Drew was still a pretty darn good player for us last year. I think he’s one of the elite, young defensemen in the league, and we expect him to be one of the elite defensemen in the league for many years.” Doughty acknowledged that he took a step backwards last season, and that he needs to be better. “I just want to improve every year,” he said. “I’ve been with this team for a long time. I want to win many Stanley Cup Championships. That Norris Trophy would be amazing to win. I know a lot of people didn’t think my last season was great, but I know I’m going to be a lot better this season.” Winners And Losers? As the Doughty Saga wore on during the off-season and through training camp, the contract terms that were being negotiated leaked out, and everyone began taking sides. In the end, Lombardi and the Kings sweetened the deal, offering an average of $200,000 per year over the life of the contract, as reported earlier. But in order to get that payout, Doughty and Meehan had to accept what they reportedly did not want…a long-term deal, one that keeps him in the fold for four years beyond the age of 25, when he can become an unrestricted free agent (he will have played seven seasons in the league at that time). Looking at the terms of the deal, it makes you think, ‘why didn’t Doughty and Meehan make that offer much earlier in the process?’ After all, even with the extra $200,000 per year above the annual average value of Kopitar’s contract, one would have to think that Lombardi would have jumped at such a proposal, and the whole squabble could have been avoided. For his part, Doughty has moved on. “I don’t know if I need to talk about [the negotiations, the process, or the specifics of the contract] anymore,” he said. “It’s in the past now. I’m just really focused and really happy about being here. [Everything about the contract] is in the past, and I’m happy to be a part of this organization for a long time, and just really excited to be here, and [to] be back.” Brown noted that the ordeal had to be tough on Doughty. “I think, for him, [reaching a deal] was sigh of relief,” said Brown. “I think what a lot of people forget is that he’s 21 years old, and [is] in a situation that not a lot of 21-year-olds have to deal with. Whatever your opinion of how it went down [might be], he definitely wanted to be here from day one, and what happens in negotiations—a lot of people don’t understand. He had to deal with it pretty much by himself, seeing how he wasn’t around the guys at all.” But the guys were with him, anyway. “I probably talked to him two or three times a week, either text or voice, so I was probably in contact with him since the beginning of June, just seeing how things were going, and talking to him about what was going on here, once training camp got started, and trying to give him different perspectives,” Brown explained. “When you’re in a negotiation like that, it’s very hard to step outside. Sometimes, you need someone just to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes, he asked for ideas and opinions, so I just tried to be there for him.” Doughty said that he knew he had the support of his teammates. “They know it’s part of the business, and they supported me the whole time,” he noted. “They made sure that I knew that if I ever needed someone to talk to, they were there for me.” But…who won, and who lost? Given that both parties got something they wanted, there were no clear winners or losers. However, the advantage goes to Lombardi and the Kings, who did not have to break the bank when they sweetened their previous offer. More importantly, Lombardi stood firm on requiring a long-term commitment from Doughty—being able to buy out a handful of Doughty’s unrestricted free agent years and locking him up until he is 29 years old is the most critical aspect of the deal. “He’s a young man, a very gifted young man,” said Murray. “He’s blessed with a lot of skill, a lot of talent. He’s a critical part of our organization. We’re all very happy that he’s back on board with an extended contract, an eight-year deal.” “That shows the commitment that Mr. Anschutz is making to this team, that he’d sign a young guy to [a contract of] that length,” added Murray. “It’s tremendous, on his part. Now, it’s our job, as a coaching staff, to get the team to say, ‘thank you,’ by being a good team, play well, and play the kind of game that our fans want to see.” Before too long, Doughty is going to “celebrate” his new contract with his teammates…by treating them to a meal…or two. “I’m sure he’ll be paying for the first team dinner whenever the guys get together,” said Murray. “He’s buying more than lunch, that’s for sure,” said Brown. “That’s a definite,” said Doughty. “I know the boys won’t let that one slide. I think I [owe] it to them to take them to more than one dinner.” In Other News… On September 30, the Kings signed veteran right wing Trent Hunter to a one-year, $600,000, one-way contract. Hunter, 31, was in the Kings’ training camp on a professional tryout contract. The 6-3, 210-pound native of Red Deer, Alberta has scored 99 goals and has added 130 assists for 229 points with 201 penalty minutes in 459 career NHL regular season games with the New York Islanders. Hunter has twice reached the twenty-goal plateau. His best season was in 2003-04, when he scored 25 goals and tallied 26 assists for 51 points in 77 regular season games. The Kings also assigned center prospect Andrei Loktionov to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, their primary minor league affiliate. Additional training camp roster cuts are expected to be announced on October 1. Raw audio interviews (Extraneous material and dead air have been removed) Matt Greene (1:43) Mike Richards (2:49) Dustin Brown (5:11) Terry Murray (8:09) Drew Doughty (5:37) Frozen Royalty by Gann Matsuda is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this site are required. Photographs, graphical images, and other content not specified are subject to additional restrictions. Additional information is available at: Frozen Royalty – Licensing and Copyright Information. Frozen Royalty’s Comment Policies

TAXILA: On the recommendation of the special branch, the local administration has banned the entry of four firebrand cleric in Taxila and Wah Cantonment for 60 days. According to a notification, the step has been taken to maintain peace during Muharramul Harram. The notification revealed that there were reasons to believe that they will give inflammatory speeches or indulge in activities prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of good order in the city as well as district. Their speeches and even presence may promote hatred among different sects and thus posing problems for law and order. Meanwhile, on the directives of the Punjab government, Taxila police have mounted a watch on the activities of the persons included in Fourth Schedule list. The provincial government has directed the police to take foolproof security arrangements for Muharram processions and congregations. Besides, the sources said transfers of the police officials have also been barred to put all their energies on the security arrangements and finalization of the security plan. The police have also been directed to keep a check on the distribution of literature prejudicial to religious harmony. Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2015 On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

CSU (Photo: CSU) The CSU volleyball team notched another road sweep Thursday night in one of its best all-around performances of the season. The Rams swept New Mexico 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-21) to move to 10-5 and 4-0 in Mountain West play. The Colorado State University offense was nearly unstoppable on Thursday. The Rams hit .389 with the five main attackers all hitting .350 or better as freshman setter Katie Oleksak dished out 39 assists. “That’s a tribute to her distribution,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “We’re getting more comfortable. We’re growing through this offensively. We’ve got talented players in every spot. (Oleksak’s) finding ways to get it to them and quickly.” CSU HOMECOMING: TV, ticket and game day info Jasmine Hanna hit .423 and led the team with 12 kills. Sanja Cizmic, Kirstie Hillyer and Alexandra Poletto all had eight kills each, with Poletto adding seven blocks. Olivia Nicholson added seven kills. New Mexico (10-8, 1-4 MW) hit just .074 and the Rams out-blocked the hosts 12-3. Other than serving (CSU had 11 serving errors and New Mexico had 10 aces), it was the best performance of the season from CSU. The serving kept UNM in sets and Hilbert said that needs to be cleaned up ahead of a big showdown Saturday at UNLV. “The biggest test is Saturday,” Hilbert said. “I’m excited for that one.” Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle. CSU 3, New Mexico 0 CSU 25 25 25 — 3 UNM 19 20 21 — 0 Next up: CSU at UNLV, 4 p.m. Saturday at Cox Pavilion

Legalisation of no-fault divorce leads to 350,000 couples splitting in a year since 2010 in world's most populous Catholic country The number of Brazilians divorcing has reached a record high, according to the country's IBGE statistics agency. It said on Monday that there were more than 350,000 divorces last year – 46% more than in 2010 after Brazil's congress made it quicker and easier to divorce in the most populous Catholic nation on earth. Before 2010, Brazilians had to be separated with a judge's approval for a year before they could seek a divorce. But after an amendment to the country's constitution in 2010, such a separation no longer became necessary. The agency said this had prompted the record number of divorces, which have been monitored in Brazil since 1984. Currently, as long as there is agreement between the divorcees and there are no underage children or incapable persons involved, a divorce may be performed by a notary. Divorce only became legal in Brazil in 1977.

It's been almost a week since I posted this CDr to the WFMU blog, and since then I have been ransacked by e-mails and comments crying "hoax" or "bubble boy," from everyone from random passers-by to the higher-ups at WFMU. Rather than address all the theories being espoused by readers from around the globe, I simply want to aver that this is indeed a true story, and is in no way meant to be a self-promotion tactic. Any alterations to the WFMU blog entry post-publication -- or my own personal blog -- were done in an attempt to quell the uprising of cynics. Had I known that my actions would only add fuel to the fire, I would have simply let things stand as they were. Clearly I've learned a valuable lesson in controversy control. Usually when I find CD-rs out in the world, they've been tossed out of car windows or left on the counters of stupid hipster coffeeshops. The last place I ever expected to find an unlabeled CD-r filled with music would be in the middle of the fucking desert. But nearly two years ago I was hiking in Joshua Tree and I came across a completely surreal sight: an old-school 5 1/4" computer floppy disk. It appeared to have been tossed casually near the side of the trail I was on, housed in a simple plastic baggie. I reached into the bag and pulled out the floppy disc. I noticed that the magnetic tape inside the plastic case had been replaced by a recordable compact disc. The disc had a creepy message scrawled on it which read, . I don't believe in ghosts or extraterrestrials or anything, but standing in the middle of nowhere reading that line was enough to send me into a miniature freak out. What's more, a folded-up piece of paper was also buried inside the plastic cover. A treasure map. Browned edges and everything. It featured a pirate ship (?), a series of footsteps through mountains and palm trees (?), one red X, and ten blue X's. One of of the X's appeard to be floating in the middle of a body of water. Whoa. I listened to the recording on my drive back to LA that night. It was indescribably weird. The dedication to the floppy disk case, chicken scratch message, and treasure map implied that someone with way too much time on his or her hands crafted it. The insanity of the recording -- with one or two kind of pretty moments -- mirrored the obsessively constructed feel of the package. I didn't know if I was listening to the work of a mad genius or a deranged psychopath. The sounds are a combination of heavily processed human voices and schizophrenic space music. The 11 tracks are very short, with only four "tunes" lasting longer than three minutes. Most are in the thirty-second to two-minute range in length. I wouldn't call it "rock," but it's guitar-centric. I also wouldn't say that it is very good, but it made for an interesting listen. When I got home I popped the CD into my computer. I thought that maybe in this age of iTunes and CDDB maybe my computer would recognize the content of the disk. All that came up in iTunes was a series of songs names. In place of artist and title was "???". The song titles made no sense to me at all. The final track is a 14-minute long jam in E called "Matthew 24:14". Google tells me that that bible verse says: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" I have played this CD for record scum collector friends and pop culture junkies in the hopes that someone might recognize something about it, from a riff to a clip from some television show or movie. The only constant is that no one knows what to make of it. I've spent a lot of time needlessly wondering what the fuck this is. What the fuck was that treasure map for? Has anyone else ever found something like this? SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FUCK?! The most frustrating part of this whole thing is that the only identifying mark was a tiny, hand-scrawled e-mail address at the bottom of the back cover for the floppy disk: andernestborgnineasdominic@gmail.com. I could have gotten all CSI on this shit and tried to figure out how to find who registers a Gmail address or taken fingerprints from the package. I didn't. In the end I figured contact information wouldn't have been included if it wasn't meant to be found. I tried to send an e-mail saying that I enjoyed the album -- just to maybe receive some kind of response -- but I never got one. That's annoying. The only rationale I can think of is that a bizarre work of art conceived and executed such as this wouldn't have the same impact if the creator(s) wanted to be discovered. Or maybe someone responsible lost his or her mind (or maybe the Gmail password) in the time it took me to find it. The only thing I can say is: What. The. Fuck. ??? Artist: ??? Title: ??? Tracklist: 01. Breath (MP3) 02. Wound Midnight (MP3) 03. Long Stem Road (MP3) 04. Noah's Dork (MP3) 05. Used (MP3) 06. Iranbow (MP3) 07. Monied vs. Landed (MP3) 08. The Seventh (Clubbed) Seal (MP3) 09. Gloomsday (MP3) 10. Shooting Scars (MP3) 11. Matthew 24:14 (MP3)

Best Answer: Several things can happen to the clothes. In reality they aren't considered "clothing" such as you buy at the store. They are technically costumes, even if it looks like what you find at walmart or American Eagle. After production wraps costumes are stored in case they need re-takes or re-shooting. After the release many times costumes end up in storage. There are large warehouses filled with costumes and clothes used in movies. Important pieces are held for display and publicity, but most end up in storage. Sometimes costume departments for other movies will recycle old costumes, re-making them for a new character. When the warehouses get too full the costumes will be culled, some sent to thrift stores, some will be auctioned off, some will be sent to film museums depending on the importance of the costume and the actor who wore it. Some actors have riders in their contracts that allow them to keep a few special costumes, usually ownership belongs to the production company. Costumes are considered an asset and something that can be sold to raise money for other productions. For television programs all costumes are kept until the show wraps up production, then they are dispersed. When productions shuts down the actors are given first dibs at their favourite props and costumes. Julia Louis Dreyfuss kept her entire Elaine wardrobe from Seinfeld; Jason Alexander kept George's glasses, sneakers, velvet clothes and the Yankees sheets and blankets. The girls from Friends kept many items and auctioned off many others as part of a fundraiser. Important pieces are held for publicity and museums (I imagine Horatio Caine's sunglasses will end up in the Smithsonian, like Seinfeld's puffy shirt) and the rest are auctioned off (important pieces again, think Sex and The City) and the rest sent to thrift stores. Stage costumes are not like real clothes in the materials used and the construction. A 18th century court dress may look authentic on stage, but it can be constructed on modern fabrics with invisible zippers to allow the actor to change quickly between scenes. Stage costumes are they are kept in storage and/or recycled into new costumes. The Stratford Festival in Canada re-uses costumes, laces, trims, shoes, wigs etc. There are a few important costumes that are kept for publicity. Every few years the costume department hold a garage sale of costumes, laces, shoes, and grab bags of leftover supplies. I have been to several of these sales and know people who work in the costume shop. They make everything from dresses to wigs to shoes. It really depends on the costumer and the production company. There are cases where costumes are merely trashed, but they have come to realize that people are willing to spend lots of money on old costumes. Source(s): Linda S · 10 years ago

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Heather R. Mizeur received some national exposure on the MSNBC network Wednesday -- thanks in part to the South American nation of Uruguay. The MSNBC cable television network interviewed Mizeur after a segment on Uruguay's move this week to legalize and regulate the distribution -- not just the personal use -- of marijuana. Mizeur, a state delegate from Montgomery County who is seeking the Democratic nomination of governor, has proposed a similar law in Maryland. Such as proposal is also under discussion in New York, MSNBC reported. Introduced by host Chris Jansing as a "dark horse" candidate, Mizeur argued that "prohibition has not worked" and that "our marijuana laws have been enforced with racial bias." As has has in Maryland, Mizeur contended that the money raised by taxing marijuana could be used to finance an expansion of pre-kindergarten education. Mizeur is facing Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, statewide officials with greater name recognition, in the June 24 primary. Jansing gave Mizeur an opportunity to lay out much of her campaign platform for the liberal-leaning MSNBC audience. "People are excited about my candidacy for governor of Maryland because I am an unapologetic progressive," she said. Mizeur also laid out her plans to move beyond a widely supported increase of the minimum wage to $10.10 to adoption of a "living wage" of $16.70 by 2022. "No family should have to work 40 hours a week and still live in poverty," she said. Mizeur, 41, also talked about her selection of the Rev. Delman Coates of Prince George's County as her running mate, saying the combination of an openly gay woman and an African-American minister might strike some as a "very odd pairing." But she said the two share a passion for civil rights and shaking up the system. "We're going to Annapolis to end politics as usual," Mizeur said.

The 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was celebrated loudly as a victory for supporters of gay “marriage” Friday, and yet, the way the case was decided, using a new interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, may have opened the floodgates for gun rights reform. I argued Friday morning that the Obergefell decision validated concealed carry reciprocity nationwide. By using the Constitution in such a manner, the Court argues that the Due Process Clause extends “certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy” accepted in a majority of states across the state lines of a handful of states that still banned the practice. The vast majority of states are “shall issue” on the matter of issuing concealed carry permits, and enjoy reciprocity with a large number of other states. My North Carolina concealed carry permit, for example, was recognized yesterday as being valid in 36 states, which just so happened to be the number of states in which gay marriage was legal yesterday. But 14 states did not recognize my concealed carry permit yesterday. Today they must. Using the same “due process clause” argument as the Supreme Court just applied to gay marriage, my concealed carry permit must now be recognized as valid in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. What I didn’t know at the time is that a more expansive argument had already made by Marc Greendorfer in an amicus brief attached to the Obergefell case. In retrospect, it seems short-sighted to believe that the majority decision by the five justice majority in Obergefell would only apply to something as narrow as one kind of state or local gun law. As Greendorfer argues, if there is any intellectual and logical consistency in the Supreme Court’s arguments at all, the “due process” argument must be applied as equally to state and local gun laws, sweeping them aside entirely, and reaffirming the clear command in the Second Amendment that, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” All, state and local on concealed and open carry would seem to be invalidated, and citizens should be allowed to carry firearms, either openly or concealed, anywhere they want to go. Dare the Court dare claim that the 14th Amendment’s due process clause only applies in specific and narrow instances? [Rainbow Gadsden flag image via Pintrest, possibly originating from the work of Benjamin Sapiens at the Washington Blade]

House Republican appropriators are scaling down an emergency funding bill to address the surge of child immigrants crossing the border. Just three days before the House’s August recess is set to begin, Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is in the process of drafting limited legislation that would provide less than $1 billion in funds and through only Sept. 30, aides said. ADVERTISEMENT That’s a far cry from the $3.7 billion requested by the White House, and less than half the amount in $2.7 billion bill Senate Democrats have written. The differences suggest it will be tough to get a final bill to President Obama’s desk and that Republican leaders are more focused on winning approval from House conservatives to ensure a bill is approved by the lower chamber. As recently as last week, Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerEx-GOP lawmaker joins marijuana trade group Crowley, Shuster moving to K Street On unilateral executive action, Mitch McConnell was right — in 2014 MORE (R-Ohio) said the legislation would likely provide about $1.5 billion and last through the end of 2014. Republicans are making the changes to try to win over conservatives who are reluctant to give the Obama administration any new funding. Most Democrats are expected to oppose the measure. The last-minute tweaks open what could be a frantic final week on the border bill before lawmakers leave town. Under House Republicans’ own rules, legislation must be publicly available for at least three calendar days before a floor vote. That means a bill must be released by Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. at the latest for a vote by Thursday, the last day the House is scheduled to be in session. House GOP leaders could break the rule, but that might spark disapproval from conservatives, who are wary of bringing up a bill to address the surge of unaccompanied child minors crossing the border in the first place. Leadership would likely get heat from members who want sufficient time to review a lengthy appropriations bill. “I don’t like big bills,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert Louis (Louie) Buller GohmertRepublicans force House subcommittee to adjourn during hearing on climate change Trump met with group led by Ginni Thomas at White House: report House passes bill expressing support for NATO MORE (R-Texas). “The one thing I’ve learned in my time here in the House is that, when you hear the word ‘comprehensive,’ what it means in a loose translation is, ‘we got some really bad provisions that would never pass, so we need a big, comprehensive law so we can hide the bad laws in it.’ ” GOP leaders held their cards close to the vest on Monday. A spokesman for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who takes over as majority leader at the end of the week, said conversations about legislation continued through the weekend. But congressional aides would not offer a timeframe of when the House GOP bill might be released. While the House bill would be much smaller than what Obama requested, the shortened timeframe could still address the more immediate aspects of the child migrant issue. The Department of Homeland Security has said it expects Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run out of money in mid-August. It has projected the same for Customs and Border Protection by mid-September. The House bill would ensure those departments get immediate funding. Rogers said he will be presenting a plan before the GOP conference at its weekly meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The chairman said the bill could be released Tuesday for a vote by Thursday. “I hope we file tomorrow,” Rogers said Monday night. “It’s practically ready to go.” Rogers said Congress only needed to approve extra funding for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Funding beyond that date could be part of the regular appropriations process for fiscal 2015. “Well, we can handle whatever is needed next in the regular bills,” Rogers said. “We really don’t need to do the fiscal year [2015].” And with Senate Democrats struggling to line up enough support for their competing border proposal, the House GOP has an opportunity to distinguish itself as potentially the lone group to get something done. But that won’t be easy, given the reluctance some Republicans will have in voting for any border bill. From the beginning, a conservative bloc of lawmakers has urged leadership to ignore Obama’s funding request and simply pass a resolution underscoring their opinion that the president encouraged children to come to the U.S. with lax immigration policies and that the administration has the power already to address the matter. Rep. Trent Franks Harold (Trent) Trent FranksArizona New Members 2019 Cook shifts 8 House races toward Dems Freedom Caucus members see openings in leadership MORE (R-Ariz.) introduced a resolution to do just that Friday afternoon. If passed, the nonbinding resolution would express the sense of the House that the president’s immigration policies have effectively “enticed” children to migrate from Central America, under the belief they would be free to stay if they made it over the border. The resolution only had one co-sponsor as of Monday. If that number grows, it could be an indication that Republicans will have trouble pulling enough support for new funding, even when paired with policy changes to strengthen the border. Meanwhile, nearly all Democrats have remained resolute in opposing the GOP bill. Opposition among Democrats to changing a 2008 human trafficking law many Republicans blame for the influx of immigrant children has hardened. While Republicans are confident some Democrats will come around to the bill if it reaches the floor, so far, only a sparse handful of Democrats have said they are even considering supporting it.— This story was posted at 2:14 p.m. and updated at 7:25 p.m. and 8:41 p.m.

A Royal Marine taking part in a selection process for the SAS died after he fell down a gorge which he did not realise was there because it was marked on a map in Welsh. An inquest into the death of 25-year-old marine Ashley Hicks, heard that he plunged more than 100ft down a steep gorge, in the dark, near Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia in October 2012 during an "escape and evasion" exercise. Later the same night a second soldier suffered a broken leg after falling 30ft on to a ledge in the same gorge. The coroner said the marine's death was avoidable as she recorded a verdict of accidental death. "Had the gorge been identified in the recce procedure it would have been out of bounds and he wouldn't have been there," Nicola Jones, the coroner said. She added: "Crucially there will be more attempts to gain local specialist knowledge of unacceptable hazards on training grounds. "The failure to identify this gorge as an unduly hazardous location is clearly the most significant contributing factor to Ashley slipping and falling." The coroner said the word "ceunant" (gorge) appeared on the planning map and asked why no one had identified it, as it was the local language. "It's unlikely they would obtain translation of the words. We tend to operate in symbology," Soldier AA, the assistant chief of staff at the Ministry of Defence responsible for specialist units, told the inquest. A service inquiry had been carried out following the incidentand Soldier AA was one of three panel members. The panel felt the planning and reconnaissance of the area was not as comprehensive as it could have been. He told the hearing that Google maps were now used "to try to fly the terrain." He added :"We are quite proud of our map-reading ability. On this occasion that ability wasn't good enough to prevent the non-identification of this hazard. We have taken steps to make sure that doesn't happen again. One of these steps is to take advice." He added :"We now know what 'gorge' in Welsh looks like." Another officer, known as 'Soldier R' and in charge of selecting new recruits said :"We can't eliminate all risk." He said in a statement that procedures had been reviewed. "Escape, evasion and survival are inherent skills a soldier must demonstrate to join this specialist unit," he added. Around 250 students took part in each course and the inquest heard the pass rate was between nine and 13 per cent. Marine Hicks, of Solihull, was in the top ten of students. The exercise scenario was that soldiers had been in a helicopter downed in hostile territory. A "hunter" force of 100 "enemy" soldiers were seeking them. Soldier R said:"He was a good candidate for whom we had the highest expectations. We would expect rather than hope someone of Ashley's quality would pass the course."

The religious group known as the Blackburn Cult, the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven, or the Great Eleven Club, was started in 1922 on Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and later formed a retreat in the Southern California Simi Valley. The group's founder, May Otis Blackburn, is said to have received revelations directly from angels, and, along with her daughter Ruth Wieland Rizzio, believed that she was charged by the archangel Gabriel to write books revealing the mysteries of Heaven and Earth, and life and death.[1][2] Newspaper articles from the period reported strange rituals including the sacrifice of animals, sex scandals and attempts to resurrect a dead 16-year-old girl.[3] Police found the corpse of Willa Rhoads under the floor at the Rhoadses' residence, wrapped in spices and salt, and surrounded by the bodies of seven dead dogs.[2] Mr. and Mrs. Rhoads later confessed to the police that they had placed their daughter in the tomb fourteen months earlier at the suggestion of May Otis Blackburn.[2] The cult was also accused of killing a member in an oven, poisoning another during a "whirling dervish" ceremony, and making several other members disappear.[4] Indicted for grand theft [ edit ] In 1929, group leaders were indicted in Los Angeles for grand theft and investigated in connection with the disappearances of several members.[1] These indictments created a sensation after the background of the grand theft was revealed to the public.[3] May Otis Blackburn was charged with twelve counts of grand theft, and articles at that time referred to her as a "cult leader".[5] According to Time magazine , the Blackburn Cult was also known as "The Great Eleven", and May Otis Blackburn was referred to as the "Heel of God".[6] The cult collapsed after May Otis Blackburn was imprisoned for stealing 40,000 dollars from Clifford Dabney.[6][7] Depicted in theatrical productions [ edit ] In October 2007, actresses playing May Otis Blackburn and Ruth Rizzio appeared in the Ghost Tour in Strathearn Park, in Simi Valley, California. The actress playing Blackburn stated: "May Otis is really fun and flamboyant..She's a cult leader. Who wouldn't want to play a cult leader?"[8] The "Ghost Tour" in Robert P. Strathearn Historical Park had previously featured Blackburn in 1999.[9] Subject of fictionalized history [ edit ] In 2008, R.J. Baudé, son of the last surviving member of the Great Eleven, published a fact-based novel about the group, "The Blackburn Chronicles: A Tale of Murder, Money and Madness". "The Kept Girl," [10] Kim Cooper's novel about the cult, Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, was published in 2014. Non-fiction/Historical Accounts [ edit ] In 2014, Samuel Fort published "Cult of the Great Eleven," a detailed historical account of the rise and fall of the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven. References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ]

Renovations began this week to transform the Baltimore Visitor Center into an event space that the city's tourism bureau hopes is used by as many local residents as tourists. An $800,000 project is underway to remove the permanent brochure racks from the Inner Harbor building and open its main room to create a functional event space. The glass building will still function primarily as an information source for visitors, but it will also allow for alternative uses such as convention receptions and private parties. "It’s not just for tourists anymore — locals can use it,” said Tom Noonan, CEO of Visit Baltimore. When the center opened in 2004, visitors were primarily getting their information about tourist attractions through physical brochures, so the space was constructed with a series of permanent racks for them. Now that information is primarily accessed through mobile devices, those racks are defunct. After the renovations are complete, the building brochures and tourist information will be kept in carts on wheels, so they can be moved out to create an open space. Noonan estimates the building could accommodate up to 500 people, though he hasn't been given a cap yet from the fire department. Rental fees for the space have not been determined, but Noonan said those proceeds will go to the Visit Baltimore Education & Training Foundation, which provides scholarships for local students seeking higher education in hospitality. In addition to opening the building up as event venue, the renovation, which is set to wrap up by March, will also upgrade the televisions and other technology in the center. "It kind of gives the building a second life which it really needs,” Noonan said. The revamp is part of a series of changes underway at the Inner Harbor. The USS Constellation Museum is being transformed to a new water taxi terminal, according to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. Additionally, the Harborplace pavilions along Pratt and Light streets are slated for an overhaul, and new vendors like Yard House are already moving into retail spaces there. Rash Field is in the midst of a redesign, too.

Mandalay Bay & MGM Ban OnSite Investigator – Armed Guards & FBI Agent Throw Him Out Of His Room An independent onsite investigator by the name of Nick Falco decided to stay at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino and investigate things pertaining to the Las Vegas shooting. He was subsequently banned from the hotel, as well as MGM for life and escorted out of his hotel room by armed guards and an FBI agent. The actions of Falco and the hotel occurred within 24 hours of his arrival. Falco tweeted out his investigation (his tweets require approval to be seen, but I have linked them below), along with the ban he received from Mandalay Bay & MGM. “I questioned the #LasVegas shooting narrative. I went to Mandalay Bay to check for myself. After 24 hours I was banned for life from MGM,” tweeted Falco, providing the following picture to prove his ban: https://t.co/AEdgzRGfG8. Falco spoke with Intellihub and sought to confirm certain things, including the validity of the receipt that was leaked online from Stephen Paddock’s room. Intellihub reports: Falco told Intellihub exclusively that he received a phone call from the front desk of Mandalay Bay shortly before 7:30 p.m. in which a female operator instructed him to answer his hotel room door where four men (two armed guards, a security guy, and an FBI agent) simultaneously met him. Falco was then told to pack up his belongings before the FBI agent conducted a subsequent inspection of his room. Soon after the independent investigator says that he was escorted over to the main entrance of the Mandalay Bay where a security guard stood him in front of a camera and verbally read him the trespass. During Falco’s visit, he was able to prove that the leaked online version of Stephen Paddock’s room service receipt was, in fact, “authentic” after comparing it to a receipt he himself received after ordering room service Saturday morning. Here’s the series of tweets from Falco with links to each tweet. 2. I stayed at Mandalay Paddocks room service receipt was leaked online. It is authentic.https://t.co/us9zDGoU57 Here’s mine- ONE guest pic.twitter.com/JEAyuEzpKM — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 3. There’s 1000s of surveillance cameras in gaming area, mostly visible There’s a surveillance camera in each main elevator. You cant hide pic.twitter.com/qXeOlORYUb — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 He did shoot down theories that Paddock used his wife/girlfriend’s ID to access the service elevator saying, “Service elevators aren’t prohibited from guests. No signs. No locks.” 4. Some People have said Paddock used service elevator w his girlfriends ID- this is FALSE There are No locks, No signs, No keys required pic.twitter.com/rjE5sdr6yD — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 5. Police said Paddock used service elevators. Why? To bypass security? Service elevators arent prohibited from guests. No signs. No locks pic.twitter.com/kHVYc8WPLK — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 6. There are visible surveillance cameras in all service elevators. There was no reason for Paddock to use these to get around security. pic.twitter.com/xNFWYtMF3i — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 Falco also pointed out that the freight elevator is quite a distance from Paddock’s room. 7. Red dot is service elevator. Main elevators are in middle. I’m pointing to Paddocks room Why did Paddock use service elevator? It’s far pic.twitter.com/FSrVnTuY5a — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 9. There is an exit staircase right next to Paddock’s room. No locks, no alarms, no signs & most importantly? No Cameras. pic.twitter.com/GF0JoXJaq3 — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 Falco goes on to say that there was no need for a second window as the vantage point Paddock would have had over the venue didn’t require it. 8. I had clear view of Paddocks room, concert & fuel tanks Shooter didnt need 2nd window to shoot people & fuel tanks Why break 2 windows? pic.twitter.com/Tq5giT76In — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 Additionally, Falco told Intellhub that he is no conspiracy theorist, just someone checking out the facts. And take note of MGM’s privacy policy which Falco notes in tweet number 12 of 14. I don’t think that is far-fetched considering the wealth of information Wikileaks has provided the American people on the illegal activities of the CIA in our own country. Falco then concludes his series of tweets by asking, “I was evicted after less than 24 hours but a shooter w 23 rifles was at their hotel for 7 days & they didn’t know?” 13. I was evicted after less than 24 hours but a shooter w 23 rifles was at their hotel for 7 days & they didn’t know? This guy? Really? pic.twitter.com/ZUGpLqeqMe — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 It seems to me that Nick Falco has provided a plethora of evidence, just in his being banned from the hotel that attorney Brian Claypool may have a proper theory concerning Mandalay Bay and MGM simply being negligent of a high roller like Stephen Paddock, which put lives in danger, grave danger.

Lea Michele broke the news on Monday that she would be appearing on the seventh and final season of FX’s Sons of Amarchy by excitedly tweeting, “I’ll be appearing on an episode of my favorite show @SonsofAnarchy! Thank you so much @Harparbar & @sutterink #SOAFX” Earlier today Lea was photographed on the Sons of Anarchy set filming a scene with show matriarch Katey Sagal in which Lea was wearing a waitress uniform and both ladies were smoking cigarettes and chatting on a bench. Click to enlarge: The scene jibes with details about Lea’s character Gertie released by the network, which describe her as a single mom working as a waitress at a truck stop. Gertie “connects with Gemma,” played by Katey Sagal, “during a difficult time.” I assume we are seeing Gertie and Gemma connecting during a difficult time in the photos. 🙂 To wrap things up, here are Lea’s still-excited tweets from the last few days while filming SOA: Day two at @SonsofAnarchy today… pretty easy getting up at 6am when I'm this excited! pic.twitter.com/sSX4g2zVOi — Lea Michele (@msleamichele) July 29, 2014

In an abstract from her essay published in Gastronomica, which calls itself The Journal of Critical Food Studies, a leftist professor posits that the reason Greek yogurt has become so popular is because it’s white. The author, one Perin Gurel, also intimates that white Americans had a prejudice against yogurt because it had Middle Eastern origins. That’s not all; Gurel believes that yogurt was viewed as a “strange and foreign food” by Americans until the mid-twentieth century, at which point the dairy industry “adopted a postfeminist ethos,” seizing upon the “intersectional processes of feminization and de-exoticization.” Gurel explains that not only were white females lured into buying yogurt, but the fact that yogurt had dreaded “connections to the Middle east” was obscured by foregrounding a nonthreatening “white” ethnicity. According to statista.com: Greek yogurt is … known as strained yogurt. Through the straining process, the excess watery whey is removed, which gives the yogurt a much thicker and creamier consistency … As of 2014, the category held a share of over 50 percent of the U.S. yogurt market, up from about 4 percent in 2008 … The Greek yogurt category experienced tremendous growth in the United States over the past few years. Dollar sales of Greek yogurt amounted to about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, up from 391 million U.S. dollars in 2010. Gurel received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 2010; she currently serves as Assistant Professor of American Studies; Concurrent Assistant Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame. In 2016 she wrote the multimedia essay “Representing Muslims and Islam in the Sanders campaign.” In 2012 she organized a conference titled, “Beyond Islamophobia: Islam and American Empire.”

FIRST: Thank you for helping us hit the first stretch goal! We will add wireless communication capability between the STEM Base and the host. NOW, THE UPDATE: The STEM System represents an evolution from the earlier generation of Sixense technology used in the Razer Hydra. The STEM System features lower latency (even with wireless trackers), longer range and better tracking performance at all ranges. To help explain the technology behind these improvements, here is a video with Igor Khalfin, PhD, a member of our Advisory Board and one of the world's foremost authorities in high-precision tracking, guidance and navigation systems. (Dr. Khalfin’s bio is below the video.) Igor Khalfin, PhD Dr. Khalfin has over 30 years of experience in the aerospace/defense industries and academia, holds 5 patents in electromagnetic tracking and has published over 40 scientific papers on related topics. His expertise includes optoelectronics, electromagnetics, imaging systems and sensors, remote sensing, applied physics, signal processing, and nonlinear systems. Dr. Khalfin is currently employed with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, where he leads the projects on spacecraft control systems. His prior experience includes senior engineering positions at Rockwell Collins, Polhemus, State University of New York, and University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He holds a PhD in physics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

Common Weal director Robin McAlpine argues that universalism is intertwined with Scotland's political identity, and should be protected IF you want to understand what is different about political culture in Scotland as compared to England and Wales, I'd suggest that the best place to start looking is the question of universalism. It is also why I believe that Scotland gives up any ground on the issue of universalism at substantial risk to its very political identity. There are two broad ways to look at social provision, universalism or selectivity. Universalism means that you decide that something should exist, that it is a core part of your society and that you should therefore ensure it is provided to all. It is so dispiriting that this debate has been opened up by comments by the Scottish Government's new 'poverty tsar' Naomi Eisenstadt. The NHS and universal school education are the defining examples of universalism. The alternative - selectivity - instead emphasises that there are things that it is probably important that people have access to but that our collective responsibility is limited only to those in dire need who can't get access to those things by other means. The prime example of a selectivity approach is the kind of benefit eligibility tests run by the likes of Atos. These are not variations of each other - these are fundamentally different political philosophies. The case for universalism is rock solid and is supported by almost any detailed look at the data. You can look across many countries at many times over many policy areas and you will find the same thing. When you provide a service that includes everyone, that service becomes a good service, is widely supported and becomes relied on by everyone. But because everyone starts from a different position, the impact of universal services is different for different people with the positive impact on the poor being particularly high. So for example, if you make childcare free for all, yes this may partially subsidise the childcare needs of the affluent middle classes, but the impact on them (a bit more disposable income) is limited. Universalism means that you decide that something should exist, that it is a core part of your society and that you should therefore ensure it is provided to all. The same policy applied to a family with only one adult working in a low income job may well be to allow the second adult to take a job, which could conceivably double the household income. The positive impact on the poorer household of exactly the same policy is massively bigger. That's how universalism created the era of greatest economic equality Britain has ever seen and why rolling it back has reversed those gains. But why not just target the funding to those on whom the impact is biggest (the selectivity argument)? So only give the childcare support to the poor. The problem with this is measurable - it just doesn't work properly in practice. There are a number of reasons for this (I was one of four authors of a report which has the links to all the data to explain this) . Here I'll just raise three. First, it's incredibly inefficient because immediately a chunk of the money that would be spent on the service is instead spent on assessment and other bureaucracy. Second, because these services then become services only for the poor (who have a low propensity to vote), politicians have little incentive to support them properly, particularly when budgets are being cut (you only need to look at the assault on social services taking place in England just now to see this). And third, because these are then seen as 'emergency' services, we are as a society much less invested in whether they are actually any good or not - the middle classes whom politicians shape policy to woo not longer have any vested interest and so bare-bones services are what result. Academic study after academic study demonstrate that when you increase universalism social equality increases and when you increase selectivity, social equality decreases. Academic study after academic study demonstrate that when you increase universalism social equality increases and when you increase selectivity, social equality decreases. Imagine the impact on society if most of us were in a private healthcare insurance scheme but a proportion of the poorest in our society were relegated to a 'safety net-only' healthcare system for the poor. What do you think would be the result? Better lives for the poorest? But selectivity keeps coming back into our political debate because it is inextricably linked to another political philosophy, one which is currently known as 'austerity'. In this world view, governments have a fixed budget and must then 'spend wisely' by targeting their spending at those in 'most need'. But in fact what this political philosophy is really saying is 'we can't mess with the interests of the wealthy through tax so the rest of society will just have to put up with what little we can afford'. Selectivity is a smokescreen for a political philosophy of inequality and low tax. There is a beautifully simple alternative philosophy, one which has underpinned my entire political world view - 'from the cradle to the grave, from each according to ability to pay to each according to need'. It is a politics which places security for all in society ahead of the pursuit of extraordinary wealth for the few. And it works - it works incredibly well. If in doubt all you need to do is compare anywhere with a universal healthcare system to anywhere without one. Where selectivity believes that 'fairness' comes from how you spend, universalism believes that effectiveness comes from how you spend - fairness comes from how you raise the money you spend. Spending via universalism is measurably more effective in almost every way, so that's how we should spend. It is so incredibly important that we stand our ground and fight the fight for universalism. As soon as we start to give in to the 'something for nothing' arguments, the 'logic' starts to effect everything. To make it fair we have to pay for it through properly progressive taxation. It is an incredibly simply formula which, in the decades after the Second World War, resulted in a more rapid improvement of the lives of the poor than almost anything else achieved in our history. This is why it is so incredibly important that we stand our ground and fight the fight for universalism. As soon as we start to give in to the 'something for nothing' arguments, the 'logic' starts to effect everything. Why should someone on minimum wage subsidise a winter heating payment for a millionaire? Well why should someone on minimum wage pay for the healthcare of a millionaire? Why should middle class children get a free university education when they can afford to pay? Well why should they get fifth and sixth year at high school for free either when lots of poorer children have left school? And so on. This is why it is so dispiriting that this debate has been opened up by comments by the Scottish Government's new 'poverty tsar' Naomi Eisenstadt. This article began by arguing that this is one of the defining differences between Scottish politics and the politics of England and Wales. In Scotland there is a strong consensus in favour of universalism in the 'mainstream' (including government and its institutions and academis). In London there is a strong consensus in favour of selectivity, a consequence of Blair making it a core part of New Labour philosophy. From what I can tell, Naomi Eisenstadt is a well-intentioned, intelligent and thoughtful person. But she seems to come from a different political culture, one where euphemisms like 'failing schools' and 'living within our means' are the norm (although I'm sure she'd never use them). These concepts are not the norm in Scotland and we should fight to make sure that they do not become the norm. This does not mean there are no difficult questions. I have said many times that when we produced the Book of Ideas we tried to find ways to fund a replacement of the benefits being cut by Osborne in a universalist way and concluded that with the limited resources Scotland can raise and the lack of policy control, it is virtually impossible. From the cradle to the grave, from each according to ability to pay to each according to need. Let us keep that most enlightened of social philosophies front and centre in Scottish politics. There are always 'tough choices'. But in making those choices we should never talk down or attack the fundamental philosophies on which progressive Scottish politics are based - the most recent person to attempt this was Johann Lamont and it went very badly for her indeed. I'm not an insular person when it comes to policy. For quite a few years now I've been involved with projects which look round the world to see where we can find best practice. In saying that we should fight against the anti-universalist philosophies which dominate Westminster policy debate from taking root in Scotland, I say it not because they don't work and because when they get a toe-hold they change the very nature of your politics. Rather, I would (as so often) point north to suggest that universalism is at the very heart of the success of the Nordic countries. So by all means let's go looking for the best learning we can find on how to deliver public services. But let's look towards those who do it better than us, not worse. And, above all, let's not cede political philosophy in the face of the ideological attacks coming from George Osborne. Universalism works and works well. It is redistributive and has done more to help the poor and vulnerable than any other social policy in a hundred years. From the cradle to the grave, from each according to ability to pay to each according to need. Let us keep that most enlightened of social philosophies front and centre in Scottish politics. Our next step should not be to introduce fees for university students or means-tested charges for seeing your GP, it should be the creation of a genuinely brilliant universal childcare system to which every citizen of Scotland with children has an automatic right (with a modest tax rise to pay for it if need be). When it works, when it turns out to be transformational, when it is shown to be wildly popular - that'll be one more nail in the coffin of a politics Scotland has resisted for decades. Picture courtesy of YouTube

This week, like much of July, a heat wave is cooking America with extreme temperatures, affecting energy production as well as causing fires and water shortages, sucking electricity like crazy to power the cooling necessary to avoid discomfort and even death. According to the National Weather Service, 122 million Americans are under heat alerts. Fortunately, nuclear power hasn’t minded, scoring record capacity factors of 96% and up with no increase in price. Other energy sources do not fare so well. It’s all about diversity. Whether in biology, in culture, in training, or in technology, when conditions change a system survives if there is sufficient diversity to adapt. Otherwise it dies. This is no less true for electricity production. Having a diverse group of energy systems is key to a society surviving changes in demographics and changes in government, geological processes and natural disasters, disruption in supplies from war, or extreme weather changes. This concept is in full display this month as this heat wave continues to sweep across America. Just like during the polar vortex, when nuclear stepped up to relieve natural gas and coal when they failed to deliver on the demand, nuclear also performs wonderfully during extreme weather at the other end of the thermometer. This kind of constant baseload power during the hottest part of the day is essential to keep our air conditioning going and for stabilizing the grid against blackouts. Nuclear plants are the backbone of the electricity grid, operating all the time even under the most extreme weather conditions. Unfortunately, much of the electricity needed to combat this heat wave is concentrated during peak hours of the afternoon when wind turbines are not turning (see figure 2). Instead, peaker plants have to come online. Peaker plants operate only to make up the difference between base load and peak load (see figure 3). Our current energy grid makes these plants necessary, but they come at a steep price. Peaker plants are usually natural gas, but can also use coal, jet fuel, oil and diesel. In Washington State, hydropower serves as the peaker in a different way. Peakers usually run for short periods of time and so are less efficient and dirtier than conventional base load fossil fuel plants. Though natural gas is certainly cleaner than coal, natural gas does have some environmental issues from fracking, to pipelines, to fugitive emissions of methane. And lots of CO2 emissions, if you care about that. In unregulated markets like the Northeast and California, these peakers can gouge the buyer, tripling and quadrupling the price of electricity, especially during a heat wave when gas supplies are stretched thin. Not nuclear. These plants just churn out power at the same low price, whatever the conditions. But gas has come to be the essential fuel in America, forced to back up renewables, replacing coal and load-following the rest of the grid. However, electric utilities are struggling to meet peak demand in hot summer weather because of limits on their natural gas supply, especially in southern California, where it has been forced to replace so much nuclear power lost from the premature closing of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The situation will get worse if the Diablo Canyon nuclear plants close prematurely as planned. At the beginning of July, citing natural gas capacity problems, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) issued the first Flex Alert in two years as western America baked under triple-digit heat. Up until this summer, California had avoided the gas availability and pipeline delivery problems that plague other power grids during extreme weather, particularly in New England and the Midwest. But when temperatures rise above 90°F, it takes more MWs to serve the same number of buildings, leading to strain on generators. A combination of voluntary demand response programs and calls for voluntary public conservation kept demand below dangerous levels. This time. The California grid also faces limited hydropower imports from the Pacific Northwest because of extreme heat up here, reducing the state’s ability to handle this crisis. “SoCalGas told us they had gas congestion and capacity issues,” said ISO spokesman Steven Greenlee, which led to a decision to issue the public call for conservation. Day-ahead wholesale power prices had risen 51% in northern California and 44% in southern California in response to the heat wave. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, utilities across the western United States withdrew 1 billion cubic feet of gas from storage to satisfy power demand during this heat wave, during a period when they typically inject 11 billion cubic feet into storage. During peak-hours in California, gas supplied over 60% of California's electric load while solar and wind supplied less than 15%. The largest solar plant in the United States, California’s Ivanpah, recovering from a solar fire in May and struggling with bad performance overall, isn’t helping much in this heat. After receiving $1.6 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy and $535 million from the U.S. Treasury, Ivanpah is still unable to meet its promised 940,000 MWhs per year and is failing to even meet it's power purchase agreement. “We got lucky in that there was some monsoon cloud cover from the desert southwest that came into California and kept temperatures lower, but it also added to the variability of solar resources that we had to contend with," said Greenlee. Luck and more gas pipelines…if we close anymore nuclear plants, that’s what we’ll be depending on in the future.

Is Vincent Gray going to run for D.C. mayor? Should he run? If he does, can he win? As to the first question, only Gray knows. Early signs suggest he would like to make a bid for the job he lost April 1, 2014, when now-Mayor Muriel E. Bowser defeated him in the Democratic primary. This much is known: Gray has been taking soundings around town, testing the mood of the city, gauging voter interest. Gray, who represents Ward 7 on the D.C. Council, reportedly has already assembled a skeletal crew that is poised to blossom into full election- ­campaign mode if he gives a green light. It's a tossup at this point. Look for a decision at the beginning of the year, six months before the June 19 primary election. "Should he run?" calls for an entirely different assessment. Gray, 75, is still smarting from the voters' rejection of his reelection bid. He lays his loss at the feet of Bowser and then-U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., who, with much fanfare, launched a corruption probe into Gray's 2010 mayoral election campaign. Two years before the April 2014 election, then-Ward 4 council member Bowser was one of three lawmakers to call for Gray to resign because of Machen's probe. The investigation dragged on for three years. The political roof fell in on Gray when D.C. businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson entered federal court on March 10, 2014, and pleaded guilty to illegally giving more than $2 million to Gray's 2010 campaign. Thompson said Gray knew about that "shadow campaign." The media took it from there. A March 10 Post headline screamed: "Gray knew of 'shadow campaign,' Thompson prosecutors say; mayor says it's all a lie." Other news organizations followed suit with headlines and extended coverage of their own. That same month, Bowser said at a debate, "I found out that [Gray] didn't actually win the Democratic primary [in 2010 against Mayor Adrian M. Fenty] fair and square, so . . . I could not support somebody who would be almost indicted." There stood Gray, three weeks before the April 1 primary: uncharged, but publicly accused of involvement in unlawful behavior, with no opportunity to confront his accusers or review the evidence against him in a court of law. Instead, he found himself in the court of public opinion. It was no contest on primary Election Day 2014. A year later, another decision was reached: The U.S. Attorney's Office, under the new management of Channing D. Phillips, concluded its investigation into the 2010 campaign with no charges filed against Gray, citing likely insufficient evidence. "Justice delayed is justice denied," Gray said following Phillips's announcement. But it was Machen, not Bowser, who torpedoed Gray. Besides, revenge is a poor reason to seek office. So should he run? Having a passion to get the old job back is not enough. Gray would have to make the case that Bowser needs to be replaced and that he's the one to do it. That's a tall order, according to a Post poll in June, which showed that 67 percent of D.C. residents approve of the mayor's job performance, although there's some softness in that number. Only 20 percent strongly approved of the job she was doing while 48 percent gave her negative marks on curbing the influence of big-money donors in the John A. Wilson Building. And, happiness isn't spread across the city. Management of the city's only public hospital, United Medical Center, is disgraceful. Allegations of high school students barely able to read and write being allowed to graduate are, if true, alarming. City-provided paths from dependency to self-sufficiency, under Bowser's Health and Human Services Department, are as steep and clumsy as ever. And her three-year-old administration has hardly been scandal-free: high-ranking Bowser officials getting preferential treatment in the school lottery; a cabinet member misusing staff for personal business; lingering pay-for-play suspicions. None of that translates into support for Gray, who, despite his denials, must still dispel lingering suspicions about his role in the illegal 2010 shadow campaign. The burden is on Gray not only to make the case for denying Bowser another term in office; he also needs to convince voters that he alone can make the city a better place for all residents. So, can Gray win if he jumps into the race? Dislodging an incumbent is an uphill battle, especially against such a well-financed, politically astute leader as Bowser. The task is even more formidable when voters overall seem generally satisfied with the city's direction. A seasoned strategist, who requested anonymity unless and until Gray declares, sees it this way: In an off-year election, about 100,000 ballots will get cast. Gray wins handily in Wards 7 and 8 and carries Ward 5. He gets votes in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 6 but not enough to win. He and Bowser fight to the finish in battleground Ward 4, where she resides. If, with a volunteer, grass-roots campaign, Gray scores more than 50,000 votes, he squeaks out a win. A tall order, indeed. Read more from Colbert King's archive.

Socialism: Whether it was an accident or sabotage, the deadly explosion at Mexico's state-owned oil firm wasn't an unusual event. The one thing Thursday's incident at the Pemex tower should be is a spur to privatize. Despite a much-publicized war against cartels, the real Mexico story is one of moderately good economic growth with zero net illegal emigration and a public sector financed by a budget showing a $1 billion annual surplus. But then there's Pemex, the supposed symbol of national sovereignty, which in reality is nothing but a millstone around Mexico's neck holding the country back from far greater gains. Pemex's many costs and debts are among the reasons why that $1 billion annual surplus is not $6 billion. It's also a big reason Mexico has $59 billion in debt. Its unionized 150,000-strong workforce is one of the least efficient, yielding an average of $506,000 of revenue per employee per year, far below the $2.865 million each employee at the top five international oil companies brings in, according to a Baker Institute study. Less revenue, less investment, less safety. Oilmen will tell you every incident is different, and some accidents do occur at private firms of course. But the overall Pemex record speaks volumes, with comparable events at its installations in 2012, 2010, 2007, 1993 and 1984. Even as Pemex costs the government, the government costs Pemex. Its earnings are effectively taxed at 60% to finance about a third of the government, leaving it miserably under-invested in its own production. Not surprisingly, Mexican oil production fell from 3.4 billion barrels a day in 2004 to about 2.5 billion a day in 2012. "The government vacuums the cash flow out of this company like an Electrolux because they need to support the government and social services. Is that how a private company behaves? Of course not," noted Garfield Miller, president of Aegis Energy Advisors, who explained to IBD that private and public oil companies have different goals. "When you are a government institution, almost by definition an instrument of social policy, your mission becomes inescapably broader than simply maximizing value for a narrow set of constituents" — as occurs with private oil companies that answer to shareholders. The situation is so bad in Mexico that it cannot take advantage of its vast new deepwater discoveries in the Gulf, just as the U.S.' highly efficient private companies expand production on the U.S. side of the Gulf and the shale revolution increases production, as well. Things are so dire that already Mexico is importing gasoline from the U.S. and by 2019 is expected to be importing oil. That's ironic for a country which by national lore considers oil a symbol of independence and has indoctrinated its people into believing it is therefore impossible to privatize. Yet the hard facts worldwide show that privatized companies outperform public ones — in technology, production, profitability and safety. The Baker Institute's 2007 "Empirical Evidence of the Operational Efficiency Of National Oil Companies" study impartially demonstrated that private companies operate better than public enterprises. The objectively calculated study of more than 80 companies concluded that relative to economically efficient producers, a national oil company is likely to under-invest, over-employ, sell oil products at subsidized prices, and shift extraction of resources from the future to the present. "Technical inefficiencies," the paper concluded, "are largely the result of governments exercising control over the distribution of rents." It ought to be a lesson for Mexico, and yet it's not taking hold. Mexico's new President Enrique Pena Nieto ran for office on a promise to introduce reforms at Pemex that could lead to privatization. But he has already begun backtracking. The explosion at Pemex's 51-story headquarters on Mexico City's skyline should be his wake-up call.

The DNI report was more about slamming RT (Russia Today) propaganda than it was about proving the Russians hacked. The report doesn’t put much emphasis on Russians hacking elections, it focuses on Russians “influencing” them. What they ignore is the US media propaganda influencing elections. As you read this, keep in mind that no intelligence report refutes the content of the email leaks. Also note that since the first leak, our media has sought to cover up, ignore, and denigrate the findings. In these emails, you will find the American media operates as an arm of the Democrat Party. Wikileaks’ releases prove America’s trusted institutions and the media are lackeys of the left. Nearly 400 Newsmakers Received 80 Sets of Clinton Talking Points Email #5636 from donor-advisor Mary Pat Bonner to John Podesta shows the Hillary Clinton campaign worked with at least 372 news makers to shape an anti-Trump narrative across all mainstream media. Bonner is the link between Team Clinton and CTR. The pro-Hillary SuperPAC, Correct the Record (CTR) “has identified 372 surrogates including influential and frequent pundits on broadcast and cable news for Presidential 2016 politics and provided them around 80 sets of talking points.” CTR Controlled the Media CTR’s website explains their goal is to amplify Clinton’s “accomplishments”, smear Trump, and peddle phony narratives. One of those talking points was and is, “Russia is interfering in our elections to help Trump.” Consider all of this as you look at the documentation showing hundreds of media members using pro-Hillary talking points obtained from CTR. Those documents can be accessed here. Some of the findings: The collusion included media relations. There were 900 interviews to counter-punch Republicans and kill negative stories before publication. Team Clinton provided the nearly 400 media surrogates with 80 sets of talking points. CTR hosted 24 media training sessions across the country for 200 surrogates. Correct The Record also distributed media advisories to 960 members of the national media and 10,756 regional reporters in 28 states. Talking points and memos are also distributed regularly to 369 televisions producers and bookers. Media Told Americans Not to Read Wikileaks Emails The media desperately attempted to keep Americans from reading the emails by claiming it was illegal to read them, if not immoral. Sound advice on @wikileaks, from the #FakeNews. I’d be interested to hear Chris Cuomo’s legal theory that he can see this info but we can’t. pic.twitter.com/VHEyjf8jC3 — Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) December 8, 2016 Ten Most Damning Emails of US Media The free thought project listed 10 of the most damning emails proving the media is controlled and scripted:

The tension is high in the starry trailer for “When We Rise,” Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black’s hotly-anticipated dramatization of the LGBTQ rights movement across several decades. The eight-hour, seven-episode ABC miniseries stars Guy Pearce as activist Cleve Jones and Mary Louise Parker as women’s rights champion Roma Guy. Also featured in the cast are Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Denis O’Hare and David Hyde Pierce, among others. “It’s been the honor of my life to research and craft these stories of family, diversity and equality over the past three years,” Black said. “To have collaborators of this caliber sign on to help bring these stories to life is a tremendous vote of confidence, and I hope a testament to the relevancy and necessity of our continued march toward justice for all.” The trailer’s release on Monday couldn’t feel more timely in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise ascension to the U.S. presidency, which has left the future of queer rights in question.

{"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/0f\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/0f\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-760px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 1 Obtain the lasso in the single player game. There isn't a true method or action to hang someone per se, but to hang someone using this article's method, you will need the lasso. The lasso is a length of rope you can equip to hogtie victims, break in wild horses or subdue criminals. It is only available in the single-player game, and can only be unlocked during the quest "Wild Horses, Tamed Passions". Afterwards, you will be able to use it fully. There isn't a true method or action to hang someone, but to hang someone using this article's method, you will need the lasso. The lasso is a length of rope you can equip to hogtie victims, break in wild horses or subdue criminals. It is only available in the single-player game, and can only be unlocked during the quest "Wild Horses, Tamed Passions". Afterwards, you will be able to use it fully. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/d\/d0\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-2-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-2-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/d\/d0\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-2-Version-2.jpg\/v4-760px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-2-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 2 Practice lassoing people in the world. Simply draw, aim and fire the lasso as you would a normal weapon. The reticule will point where the lasso will fire, and if you are close enough, it will lasso the target. Beware, however, the lasso does cause some damage to the target and therefore will count as assault if you are spotted by lawmen, in addition to any counts of kidnapping you will incur. Practice on criminals or gang members instead. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/5e\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-3-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-3-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/5e\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-3-Version-2.jpg\/v4-760px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-3-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 3 Find a suitable area to hang someone. Unlike in real life, where a tree or gallows would be suitable, due to the game's mechanics, you will need to find a low bridge, cliff or balcony. There are several cliffs around the Red Dead Redemption world, although there are fewer Unlike in real life, where a tree or gallows would be suitable, due to the game's mechanics, you will need to find a low bridge, cliff or balcony. There are several cliffs around the Red Dead Redemption world, although there are fewer bridges . A good choice for one would be the bridge to the Tumbleweed gang hideout - it is low enough to hang people from and easily accessible. Balconies or ledges can be found in most towns. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/2\/2a\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-4-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-4-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/2\/2a\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-4-Version-2.jpg\/v4-760px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-4-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 4 Get on your horse and find a victim to lasso. Ideally, they should be close to the area you have picked so that by the time you reach it, they haven't been dragged so far that they die. Alternatively, if you are using the bridge to Tumbleweed, you merely have to wait for a victim to pass by underneath. Ideally, they should be close to the area you have picked so that by the time you reach it, they haven't been dragged so far that they die. Alternatively, if you are using the bridge to Tumbleweed, you merely have to wait for a victim to pass by underneath. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/73\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-5-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-5-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/73\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-5-Version-2.jpg\/v4-760px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-5-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 5 Lasso your target and take them to the hanging spot. With your previous practice, this should be easy. Now it is a matter of dragging the victim to the hanging spot, making sure not to accidentally let go of the rope before you reach it. Try not to go through too dense a bush, as it will kill your victim faster before you reach your destination. If you are using the Tumbleweed bridge or similar, again, you will not have to move far, or even be on your horse to lasso and hang the target; you can simply lasso and enjoy. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/e\/ed\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-6-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-6-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/e\/ed\/Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-6-Version-2.jpg\/v4-760px-Hang-Someone-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-Step-6-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 6 Drop your victim over the edge of the cliff, ledge or bridge you are on. This can be done by riding diagonally at the cliff or similar, and then turning and riding parallel to it. Your victim should swing off the cliff, and if you come to stop, they should be hanging in mid-air off the ledge. Make sure to keep the rope held firmly. This step can be skipped if you are using the Tumbleweed bridge method, as they will already be hanging as soon as you lasso them if you lasso them as they pass underneath.

In Laissez-Faire in Tokyo Land Use I pointed to Japan’s constitutional protection of property rights and it’s relatively laissez-faire approach to land use to explain why housing prices in Japan have not risen in past decades, as they have elsewhere in the developed world. A very useful post at Urban kchoze offers more detail on Japan’s zoning system. Here are some of the key points. Japan has 12 basic zones, far fewer than is typical in an American city. The zones can be ordered in terms of nuisance or potential externality from low-rise residential to high-rise residential to commercial zone on through to light industrial and industrial. But, and this is key, in the US zones tend to be exclusive but in Japan the zones limit the maximum nuisance in a zone. So, for example, a factory can’t be built in a residential neighborhood but housing can be built in a light industrial zone. …[the] Japanese do not impose one or two exclusive uses for every zone. They tend to view things more as the maximum nuisance level to tolerate in each zone, but every use that is considered to be less of a nuisance is still allowed. So low-nuisance uses are allowed essentially everywhere. That means that almost all Japanese zones allow mixed use developments, which is far from true in North American zoning. …[The] great rigidity in allowed uses per zone in North American zoning means that urban planing departments must really micromanage to the smallest detail everything to have a decent city. Because if they forget to zone for enough commercial zones or schools, people can’t simply build what is lacking, they’d need to change the zoning, and therefore confront the NIMBYs. And since urban planning departments, especially in small cities, are largely awful, a lot of needed uses are forgotten in neighborhoods, leading to them being built on the outskirts of the city, requiring car travel to get to them from residential areas. Meanwhile, Japanese zoning gives much more flexibility to builders, private promoters but also school boards and the cities themselves. So the need for hyper-competent planning is much reduced, as Japanese planning departments can simply zone large higher-use zones in the center of neighborhoods, since the lower-uses are still allowed. If there is more land than needed for commercial uses in a commercial zone, for example, then you can still build residential uses there, until commercial promoters actually come to need the space and buy the buildings from current residents. In addition, residential means residential without discrimination as to the type or form of resident: …In Japan…residential is residential. If a building is used to provide a place to live to people, it’s residential, that’s all. Whether it’s rented, owned, houses one or many households, it doesn’t matter. This doesn’t mean that people can build 10-story apartment blocs in the middle of single-family houses (at least, not normally). As I mentioned, there are maximum ratios of building to land areas and FAR that restricts how high and how dense residential buildings may be. So in low-rise zones, these ratios mean that multifamily homes must also have only one to three stories, like the single-family homes around them. So in neighborhoods full of small single-family homes, you will often see small apartment buildings full of what we would call small studio apartments: one room with a toilet.> In short, as the author concludes, Japan’s zoning laws are more rational, more efficient and fairer than those used in the United States. More details in the post. Hat tip: Sandy Ikeda.

NOTE: this website was build using Miraj. The source code is available at: miraj-project/homepage . Many other simple examples with commented code are available at miraj-project/demos/hello-world Components can also be easily defined as one-off elements for use in a single page. Both page and components can be defined in the same project. Miraj also makes it very easy to define and share component libraries. Multiple components may be defined across multiple namespaces; a deflibrary macro then assembles any combination of components into a library namespace, which is independent of the defining namespaces. Miraj can automatically generate a demo page for previewing/testing components under development. Things get a little more complicated when you add web components. Miraj allows the programmer to define and use Polymer-based components in idiomatic Clojure, without having to worry about the directory structures, file names, and href values required to make the generated HTML, Javascript and CSS files work together. Providing Clojure functions for HTML elements is relatively trivial. Miraj also provides macros that make page and component definitions look similar to the deftype and defrecord constructions of Clojure. Clojurescript already eliminates the need to program in Javascript; Miraj does the same for HTML. (A genuine Clojure face for CSS programming remains a future project). Miraj eliminates mixed-language programming, allowing the programmer to define pages and components in Clojure. Miraj compiles this Clojure code into HTML, Javascript, and CSS. An HTML page is analogous to a Clojure program of one function, main. In particular, the <link> and <script> elements in the <head> element are analogous to the :require and :import directives of Clojure's ns macro: they tell the runtime to find, fetch, and load the referenced resources. The goal of the Miraj Project is to create a pure Clojure, 100% functional programming model for web application development, including first-class support for defining and using Web Components ( Polymer only for this version). Pass HTML metadata as a Clojure map; Miraj will validate the map against Clojure.spec specifications (which may be found in miraj_spec.clj and miraj/x/ , and then transform it into the appropriate elements in <head>. BigInt and BigDecimal end up looking like Int and Decimal: With a few exceptions, clojure attribute values go through normal Clojure evaluation and then are serialized as strings. You can use expressions as attribute values: Use the Unicode character \uFEFF, 'ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE', to force display of the delimiters without Polymer interpretation: if you are using Polymer, you must escape opening double bracesand bracketsif you want to display them in a string, since Polymer treats these as special "binding annotations" (see polymer for more info). I.e. if you put something inside double braces or brackets, it will be interpreted as a property and will be displayed as null if it has no value: Character entity references like € require special handling, since & is automatically escaped. Use the Unicode literal (for example, \u20AC for the Euro sign, €). You can embed character literals directly, or you can use ordinary Clojure definitions or bindings to get names: HTML5 empty elements must not be self-closing; they must have a close tag. Miraj understands empty elements: HTML5 void elements cannot have any content; they also cannot be "self-closing"; they may only have a start tag with no '/'. Miraj understands void elements: The miraj.html library wraps the lower-level miraj.co-dom library, providing one function per HTML5 element, as well as some additional goodies. See the Hello World demos for many examples. Polymer Currently Miraj only supports Polymer version 1; support for the recently-released version 2 is in development. Miraj provides a library, miraj.polymer, that supports features specific to Polymer. For example, it supports Polymer bindings, helper elements, and Event protocols. Polymer Component Libraries In addition, Miraj provides a collection of pre-built libraries for the collection of components built by the Polymer Project. These libraries wrap the native Polymer implementations, which can be found at webcomponents.org Warning: only the iron and paper libraries are fully up to date; the remaining libraries are outdated, but will soon be upgraded. miraj.polymer.iron "Basic building blocks for creating an application." (iron-elements) miraj.polymer.paper Material design UI elements. (paper-elements) miraj.polymer.gold "Elements built for e-commerce-specific use-cases, like checkout flows." (gold-elements) miraj.polymer.google miraj.polymer.layout miraj.polymer.molecules miraj.polymer.neon miraj.polymer.platinum Polymer Assets The assets that implement Polymer components are package in miraj.polymer.assets ; this library contains everything you would get if you installed using bower, packaged as a jarfile so the assets become available. via the classpath. Each of the miraj.polymer.* libraries has a dependency on this library, so the user never needs to import it directly. To serve your component-based application statically, or using a non-Java server, you must copy the assets your app needs to a folder on the server's search path. The boot-miraj/assetize task will copy the contents of the miraj.polymer.assets jar to the filesystem. Alternatively, you can use bower to install the components you need, but the path to them must be miraj/polymer/assets. Using Polymer Components To use a Polymer component in a webpage, include the library as a dependency in your boot/leiningen project file, and then :require it in your Clojure namespace, just like any other library: (ns foo.bar ...) (defpage baz (:require [miraj.polymer.paper :as paper :refer [button card]]) ...) See the Polymer hello-world demo for more detailed examples. Miraj generally follows a simple naming convention for Polymer components: <foo-bar> becomes miraj.polymer.foo/bar. For example, paper-button maps to miraj.polymer.paper/button. In some cases, another ns segment is used; for example, the function for <paper-input-container> is miraj.polymer.paper.input/container . (Documentation is incomplete, but the library source code is easily understandable.) Data Binding Helper Elements Polymer's data binding helper elements –<dom-if>, <dom-repeat>, etc. – are implemented in miraj.polymer . Some of the names have been changed to be more consistent with Clojure practice; for example, for <array-selector> we use miraj.polymer/selection. See the source code for the complete list.

Lena Oxton (call sign: "Tracer") was the youngest person ever inducted into Overwatch's experimental flight program. Known for her fearless piloting skills, she was handpicked to test the prototype of a teleporting fighter, the Slipstream. But during its first flight, the aircraft's teleportation matrix malfunctioned, and it disappeared. Lena was presumed dead. She reappeared months later, but her ordeal had greatly changed her: her molecules had been desynchronized from the flow of time. Suffering from "chronal disassociation," she was a living ghost, disappearing for hours and days at a time. Even for the brief moments she was present, she was unable to maintain physical form.Overwatch's doctors and scientists were stumped, and Tracer's case seemed hopeless until a scientist named Winston designed the chronal accelerator, a device capable of keeping Tracer anchored in the present. In addition, it gave Tracer the ability to control her own time, allowing her to speed it up and slow it down at will. With her newfound skills, she became one of Overwatch's most effective agents. : Overwatch: Tracer (Lena Oxton)So I keep going with my Overwatch portraits series. The story of Tracer is also full of drama, and I decided to illustrate her as a ghost when she had a "chronal disassociation": - Overwatch Wiki Programms used: SFM+ PS5 #21DaysofOverwatch

The GDP-growth figure released today, at 3.5%, was slightly higher than expected, but camouflages the mounting economic cost of the 2014 coup. Thailand’s output gap is now among the biggest in Asia; the economy is being kept afloat by government spending and foreign tourists’ cash. But last week’s bombings may deter visitors, and autocratic rule is stifling economic progress. Household debt is at a historic high; low agricultural prices have depressed farm incomes. The country’s old-style route to prosperity is blocked: exports will fall for the fourth consecutive year in 2016. Thailand’s economy is bigger than those of fast-growing Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia combined. But its population is ageing and economic policy is deeply conservative. Future growth will have to come from capital accumulation or increases in productivity. Yet the new constitution puts the army in charge, making it responsible for the economy, education and innovation. What could possibly go wrong?

Amazon has launched a new cheaper version of its Echo Dot voice-controlled device today. The launch comes six months after Amazon first introduced two new Echo devices — one of which was the $90 Echo Dot, which has a line-out port to connect to third-party speakers. It has been sold out in recent months, which may have been a deliberate move by Amazon to pave the way for the new Dot that is coming to market today. Priced at $50 (£50 / €60 in the U.K. / Germany), the new version is similar to the existing incarnation in most respects, but it has been trimmed by a few millimeters and now packs a more powerful processor, meaning it should be capable of performing more labor-intensive tasks. What’s perhaps most interesting, apart from the price, is that it can be bought just like beer — in six-packs and 12-packs. Image Credit: Paul Sawers / VentureBeat The six-pack effectively gets you half-a-dozen Dots for the price of five, while with the bigger box you get 12 for the price of 10. This isn’t the first time Amazon has introduced beer-style bulk-buying to its products — it did the exact same thing for its quad-core Fire tablet launch last September. But it helps to illustrate what Amazon is striving for here — it wants consumers to embed the Echo and its Alexa-powered brain in every room of their house. The new Echo Dot comes out on the same day that Amazon announced its flagship smart Echo speaker is finally launching outside of the U.S, kicking off with the U.K. and Germany today.

Our Chief Justice thinks that if the evidence of gerrymandering is too sophisticated for laymen to grasp, the court should ignore it. Chief Justice John Roberts in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 27, 2017. (Photo11: Rogelio V. Solis, AP) For 12 years, Chief Justice John Roberts has worked overtime peddling the dubious conceit that he and his life-tenured colleagues on the U.S. Supreme Court are above politics and determined to remain so. Yet Roberts himself is a consummate politician — a strategist who worries about appearances and harbors a ward heeler's contempt for the intelligence of the average voter. And his cynicism was on full display last week when justices took up the politically fraught problem of gerrymandering. Plaintiffs in a case known as Gill v Whitford want the Supreme Court to rule that Wisconsin legislators violated the U.S. Constitution when they drew district boundaries that systematically diluted the electoral clout of their state's Democratic voters. More: What if Trump reimbursed us for his Oval Office gains? Time to start a tab. More: Limbaugh, Hannity and Jones on North Korea: A parody in one act A lower court ordered Wisconsin to draw a fairer map after concluding that evidence and voting data submitted by the plaintiffs proved Republicans had configured districts designed to preserve their party’s legislative majority even when Democrats win a majority of the popular vote. Roberts, who knows a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs will jeopardize Republican gerrymanders in more than a dozen other states, wants his colleagues to stay out of a partisan process even simpatico conservatives like Justice Samuel Alito concede is “distasteful.” The chief justice says the public will lose respect for the courts if he and his colleagues stick their noses into all that distastefulness. But what if a majority party uses its mapmaking prowess to effectively disenfranchise the opposing party's voters? And what if those aggrieved voters can use the same technological advances their opponents exploited to prove an election was rigged, and even to quantify the advantage its rivals gained by manipulating a state's political boundaries? That's exactly what has happened in the Wisconsin case, as one of the country's premier scientists explained in a remarkable friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of the plaintiffs. Mapping chromosomes and rigged elections It's rare for disinterested third parties to play a decisive role in landmark Supreme Court cases. But the arguments filed by Eric Lander, a geneticist and mathematician who oversees the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, may prove an exception. Lander was one of the principal leaders of the decade-long effort to map the human genome, and he has advised the White House and the Pentagon on innovative uses of technology for national defense. In a brief that several justices cited during Tuesday's oral arguments, Lander says the sort of data-crunching the federal government uses to assess whether a nuclear weapon will detonate properly or whether Miami is safely outside the path of a hurricane can be used to prove when political boundaries have been manipulated to guarantee one party the largest possible electoral advantage. Lander's argument is a crucial one, because lawsuits challenging the fairness of gerrymandered political districts have foundered on the high court's doubts that challengers could propose an objective standard for evaluating partisan bias. Lander says technological advances that allow mapmakers to project likely electoral outcomes in thousands of different scenarios mean that a party that controls the redistricting process can pick the map that yields the most extreme partisan advantage. But he adds that the same analytical methods allow courts to discover when district lines have been manipulated to produce the maximum distortion of the electorate's will, whether by amplifying the impact of one party's voters or minimizing its opponents' ability to muster an electoral majority in most districts. By comparing the district lines a state has adopted with all the other possible configurations that comply with state and federal law, courts can determine not only whether a given map handicaps one party's voters, but also how much. Using these reliable analytical tools, Lander says, deciding which of several possible maps yields electoral outcomes most consistent with the majority's druthers becomes "a mathematical question to which there is a right answer" — exactly the sort of objective test judges worried about the corrosive effects of gerrymandering have been seeking. Gobbledygook? Chief Justice Roberts, of course, doesn't see it that way. During oral arguments last week, he dismissed the evidence Lander and other mathematical analysts have submitted as proof Wisconsin's legislative elections are rigged as "sociological gobbledygook." In another exchange with the plaintiffs' attorneys, the chief justice appeared to concede that the evidence he disparaged might be persuasive after all, once you took the time to digest it, but hinted that few voters had the patience or smarts to do so. "The intelligent man on the street is going to say that's a bunch of baloney," Roberts insisted. If justices blow the whistle on Republican cheating, he believes, the public will inevitably conclude that they're simply shilling for Democrats — "And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and the integrity of the decisions of this Court in the eyes of the country." More: Las Vegas shooting: Don't attack politicians or me for offering prayers POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media Roberts' argument amounts to a rejection of rational inquiry itself: If the evidence that Wisconsin has violated its citizens' constitutional rights is too sophisticated for laymen to grasp at first glance, he says, the court would be better off to ignore it. This is the same cynically anti-intellectual rationale cheerleaders for the fossil fuel industry have marshaled to discredit the evidence of climate change. Until "the intelligent man on the street" has a keener understanding of the role greenhouse gases play in global warming, why should elected officials kowtow to experts who do? Of course, the same logic could be marshaled to discount the warnings of hurricane forecasters or military strategists trying to anticipate the likely consequences of a military confrontation in the Middle East or on the Korean peninsula. If we don't understand their calculations, why should we pay any attention to them? The answer, of course, is that democratic government, like many other aspects of daily life, requires a reasonable deference to those with superior expertise: the surgeon who does hundreds of bypass operations a year, the repair technician who diagnoses malfunctioning furnaces for a living, or the pilot with 10,000 hours of in-flight service under her belt. Roberts is right to be worried about the credibility of the judiciary, and its capacity to command the confidence of citizens across the political spectrum. But he should be at least as concerned about the credibility of representative democracy itself. As Paul Smith, who represents the plaintiffs challenging Wisconsin's legislative map argues, the stakes in Gill v. Whitford are larger than the public's perception of Justice Roberts and his colleagues. "If you let this go, if you say … we're not going to have a judicial remedy for this problem, in 2020 you're going to have a festival of copycat gerrymandering the likes of which this country has never seen," Smith warned Roberts near the end of Tuesday's oral arguments. "Voters everywhere are going to be like voters in Wisconsin, and (say): No, it really doesn't matter whether I vote." Brian Dickerson is a columnist for The Detroit Free Press, where this piece first appeared. You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @USATOpinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2yQSSMb

This man is serious about these Tiffanys! Are you a professional sneaker camper? If so, then this job is perfect for you! You may proceed to apply for this job, as long as you meet this guy's requirements: Experienced camper ie: One who has previously camped out for electronics, sneakers, ect. I will provide 1 Tent 1 Lawn Chair 1 Book of Choice 1 24 pack of Deer Park 16.7 oz waters. **Please note, you probably will miss out on the super bowl this Sunday. And if for any reason you lose your spot in line, this terminates your duty as a camper. Please bring toiletry, and warm clothing. Yes folks, this is a real craigslist ad. It is not uncommon to see girlfriends, bestfriends, and relatives camping for someone during a sneaker release, but we have seen it all now. This person who posted this ad is located in Merrifield, Virgina. Cant knock a man's hustle, clearly he is thirsty for a pair of the Nike Dunk High SB Tiffany. Here is the Craigslist Ad if you're curious. Compensation on the bottom of the ad reads, "Pay will be $2.08 an hour which equals $50 per day. If you begin today you will." Would you take him up on the offer? Comment below.

Hundreds gather at De la Guerra Plaze to cheer on alternative choice to Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump “For the first time in my life, I have someone I can stand behind as a presidential candidate,” Texas resident Diane Boyd, 69, said at a Santa Barbara rally for Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein. With 31 days left until the Nov. 8 election, Stein brought her campaign to De la Guerra Plaza on Saturday morning, speaking in front of more than 200 supporters. During the rally, she promoted “the push for peace, justice and democracy.” “The biggest wasted vote is the one that is thrown away voting for the political parties that have thrown us under the bus,” Stein said. “The best use of our vote is an investment in the future and a real declaration of the power we have.” Key issues in Stein’s platform are college debt and making public higher education free, she said. The Harvard University graduate and physician said the 43 million people in student loan debt “have one place to put their vote.” “Most people are struggling and they aren’t recovering,” Stein said. “There’s only one candidate who will cancel that student debt and who will bail out the students like we bailed out Wall Street — the crooks who crashed the economy.” Referring to that 43 million people, Stein said the bloc “is enough to win a three-way presidential race and the numbers it takes to turn the election on its head.” Stein also discussed the need for a “Green New Deal,” the idea to create millions of jobs by making the transition to 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030. She said there’s a need to create 20 million livable wage jobs with clean renewable energy that will help restore ecosystems. “In doing this, we not only revive the economy, we turn the tide on climate change,” she said. Enthusiastic fans applauded in support after her statements. Addressing her supporters at the rally, Stein advocated “health care as a human right, for everyone, through a health care-for-all system.” Throughout her remarks, Stein referenced Republican candidate Donald Trump’s position on immigration. “We don’t need your frigging wall, we just need to stop invading other countries,” she said. “We call for a welcoming path toward citizenship for the immigrants who have always been at the front of our economy and community.” She also addressed the Black Lives Matter movement. “We need to put an end to the abuse and should not let one more die in the arms of police,” Stein said. Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will face off at 6 p.m. Pacific time Sunday in St. Louis for a 90-minute town hall at Washington University. Stein said she will join a live debate response via her social media platforms to coincide with the second debate, which has been preceded by extraordinary chaos in the wake of a tape of Trump describing his pursuit of women in lurid and demeaning terms. “The political establishment wants us to believe we are powerless and the problems are way too complicated to solve them,” Stein said. “In fact, in this election, it’s not just about what kind of a world we want but, but whether we will have a world or not going forward.” National polls put Stein at 2 percent, behind even Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at 7 percent, according to a CNN/ORC poll of 1,501 adult Americans interviewed by telephone between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2. Stein was also the Green Party’s 2012 candidate for president. Green Party Ventura County member Michael Cervantes joined the Santa Barbara rally in hopes of getting Stein to the White House. “We are here to listen to a true progressive voice,” he said. “The people still seem to need to hear that. Much of what she is talking about is similar to what Bernie Sanders talked about.” Joining Stein at the rally was rapper Kor Element, who said he started supporting her after Sanders lost the Democratic Party nomination to Clinton. He’s been campaigning with Stein across Southern California and said he supports her progressive ideas. — Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

Officials doubted someone could have walked away from the crash The wreckage of a plane found near the town of Mammoth Lakes in California does belong to missing US adventurer Steve Fossett, officials say. A number plate confirmed the plane as the Bellanca Super Decathlon piloted by the 63-year-old millionaire. Body parts are reported to have been found inside. The search began after a hiker found items thought to belong to Mr Fossett. He vanished in September last year on a solo flight that took off 90 miles (145km) away in neighbouring Nevada. Click here to see a map of the area A wide-ranging search operation conducted since then had failed to find any trace of Mr Fossett or his plane and he was officially declared dead in February. Fuselage shattered Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said the wreckage had been spotted late on Wednesday during an aerial search of a stretch of the Sierra Nevada mountains near Mammoth Lakes. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement A ground team later confirmed the identity of the plane, which seemed to have struck the mountain head-on, Mr Anderson said. "The crash looked so severe I doubt if someone would have walked away from it," he said. Most of the fuselage had disintegrated, with engine parts scattered several hundred feet away. Mr Anderson initially said no human remains had been found at the crash site. "It's quite often if you don't find remains within a few days, because of animals, you'll find nothing at all," he said. SOME OF FOSSETT'S RECORDS 1998/2002: Long-distance for solo ballooning 2001/2002: Duration for solo ballooning 2002: First solo round-the-world balloon flight First balloon crossings of Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, South Atlantic, South Pacific, Indian Oceans Seven fastest speed sailing titles 13 World Sailing Speed Record Council titles 2001: Fastest transatlantic sailing 2004: Fastest round-the-world sailing Round-the-world titles for medium airplanes US transcontinental titles for non-military aircraft In pictures: Steve Fossett Profile: Steve Fossett But reports later said that some remains had been found in the aircraft and would be sent for DNA analysis. Fifty people and five dog teams would carry out an extensive search of the site for Mr Fossett's remains, he added. On Thursday British entrepreneur Richard Branson paid tribute to his friend and fellow adventurer. "The most important thing is that the family know what's happened," he said. "He led an extraordinary, absolutely remarkable life, and now we can remember him for what he was and move on." The National Transportation Safety Board will be responsible for examining the wreckage. But a local official said snow was expected over the weekend, potentially hampering the investigation. The wreckage was located two days after identity documents bearing Mr Fossett's name - including a pilot's licence - as well as cash and a sweatshirt were found by hiker Preston Morrow. Mr Morrow had been returning from a mountain walk when he spotted the items in dirt and pine needles west of Mammoth Lakes. An employee at a sporting goods store, Mr Morrow said he handed them over to police after unsuccessful attempts to contact the Fossett family. The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani, in Los Angeles, says the items were found outside the vast area searched after Mr Fossett went missing - and also in a different direction to that in which he was thought to have flown. Mr Fossett took off from the ranch of hotel magnate Barron Hilton, south of Yerington, Nevada, on 3 September 2007 on a flight that was expected to last three hours. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon and had about 100 other world records to his name. Click here to return E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?

What makes a great leader? Knowledge, smarts and vision, to be sure. To that, Daniel Goleman, author of “Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence,” would add the ability to identify and monitor emotions — your own and others’ — and to manage relationships. Qualities associated with such “emotional intelligence” distinguish the best leaders in the corporate world, according to Mr. Goleman, a former New York Times science reporter, a psychologist and co-director of a consortium at Rutgers University to foster research on the role emotional intelligence plays in excellence. He shares his short list of the competencies. 1. SELF-AWARENESS Realistic self-confidence: You understand your own strengths and limitations; you operate from competence and know when to rely on someone else on the team. Emotional insight: You understand your feelings. Being aware of what makes you angry, for instance, can help you manage that anger. 2. SELF-MANAGEMENT Resilience: You stay calm under pressure and recover quickly from upsets. You don’t brood or panic. In a crisis, people look to the leader for reassurance; if the leader is calm, they can be, too.

Things break down, whether due to accidents, negligence, or just plain wear and tear. Instead of shelling out for an expensive repair or replacement, though, you can often fix the problem yourself for much less. Here are 10 repairs you should never pay for. Image from Refat/Shutterstock 10. Bicycles Bicycles are quick to break down, especially if you don't treat them properly, but that doesn't mean you need to take it in for repairs every few months. Most of the fixes you can easily do yourself at home. Check out The Bicycle Tutor for instructions on how to perform pretty much any fix you could ever need, and if you need a repair stand, you can always make one of those for yourself too. Advertisement 9. Headphones Advertisement It always seems inevitable that your headphone cords are going to start fraying, the 'buds will detach themselves, and you'll be stuck buying another pair. Instead of buying new 'phones, though, you can easily fix those stripped wires with a bit of Plasti Dip. Alternatively, if it's the actual connector that's causing problems, you can replace that yourself in a jiffy as well. And, in the future, make sure you wrap your headphones correctly instead of just waiting for the inevitable—we've featured a ton of different ways to do this, so there's no excuse to just let them get ruined! 8. Plumbing Advertisement There are certainly times where you want a licensed plumber on the job, but you don't need to call them for every little clog and leak you get. We've shown you how to unclog almost any drain, from the sink to the shower to the toilet. If you're feeling in the mood for a MacGyver trick, we've also mentioned how to fix your toilet with aluminum foil, use food coloring to diagnose a leak, use a stethoscope to locate a leak, and how to make your own homemade Drano without the harsh chemicals. How to Unclog a Drain There are few more annoying home repairs that demand your immediate attention like clogged drains.… Read more Read 7. Clothing Finding the perfect tailor is great for your nice suits and pants, but when it comes to the minor sewing projects, you shouldn't have to bother them—just fix them yourself at home. Learn the basics of sewing and you'll be ready to take on all sorts of DIY clothing projects—from sewing a button back on to fixing size issues in your new favorite button-down shirt. Advertisement 6. Laptop Power Cords Advertisement You may keep your laptop in perfect condition, but that power cord probably still takes a lot of abuse—from the constant coiling and packing to people tripping over it in the coffee shop. Once the ends start to fray, many people would head off to the store to buy a new one, but not you. If it's of the Apple variety, you know you can just open it up and add a new cable, and then learn how to wrap it properly in the future. However, for an easier fix, you can patch up just about any power cord with a bit of Sugru—heck, you could even throw the Sugru on before it frays to give it some extra protection. 5. Phones and Other Mobile Gadgets Advertisement No matter how careful you handle your phone, accidents happen, but you can save some cash by fixing it yourself. Repairing an iPhone screen is rather easy (heck, even a 10 year old can do it), and so is replacing its dead battery. If your iPod isn't booting, you might be able to fix it with just a business card, and even older non-smartphones are fairly easy to fix. No matter what gadget you have, you can head over to repair site iFixit to see a full teardown guide. You might have to buy a replacement screen, battery, or other part online, but it'll be a lot cheaper than buying a new one. Photo by Lars Plougmann. 4. LCD Monitors and TVs Advertisement There's nothing worse than turning on your computer only to see a dead pixel right in the middle of the screen, ready to eat away at you until you go crazy and buy a new monitor. Luckily, these pixels are often just stuck, not dead, and you can fix them with computer programs, by massaging it away, or, if it really is dead, you can bring it back to life with a damp cloth. If you've burned an image into your LCD instead, you can fix that too with a white screen saver. If it does come time to replace it, do what you have to do—but if it's a laptop monitor, you might want to try replacing the screen yourself instead of sending it in for repairs (or buying a whole new laptop). Photo by whyohwhyohwhyoh. 3. Cars While you aren't equipped to fix more complicated automobile problems, you can easily pull off lots of the low-level maintenance stuff yourself, without taking a costly trip to the dealership. Learn how to change a tire yourself, and check out VehicleFixer for videos on how to change the oil, replace your brake pads, and more. If you have a small dent in your car, you may even be able to fix that with a can of compressed air and a hairdryer. Note that while these are all things you can do yourself, minor jobs are also useful for testing out new mechanics—so don't be afraid to hand that brake job over once in a while if you're trying out someone new. Advertisement 2. Your House Advertisement The walls and floor of your house are subject to wear and tear just like everything else, but much of it you can fix right on the spot. Repairing wall damage is easy, and you can always fill in floor holes with a melted crayon, fix stripped screw holes with a golf tee, and even fix cracks in your furniture with mayonnaise. If you want to get a few DIY skills for the future, we can't recommend volunteering enough—working on a site with someone like Habitat for Humanity is a great way to learn more about home repair while doing something good in the process. Of course, when the problem is serious enough that you need to call a contractor, make sure you don't get hosed in the process. Photo by Sharon Pruitt. 1. Computers Advertisement As many of you may know, rarely should you need to take your computer into the Geek Squad to get it fixed up. Whether it's your computer, your roommate's, or another friend's, we've got a guide to repairing just about any problem they could have, as well as diagnosing a computer that's just plain slow. If it's a hardware problem, you can always head to iFixit for instructions on how to repair Macs, or open up that PC and see what might be causing the problem. Some hardware can even be fixed at home, like if your CPU pins are bent or if your video card's solder points have become loose. Whatever the issue, make sure you read up on computer maintenance when you're done, so you can avoid the problem in the future. In the end, doing it yourself is great, but it's also good to know when a project is over your head and it's time to call someone else. In addition, sometimes it actually is better to replace your gear instead of fix it, so make sure you aren't on a fool's errand trying to fix a gadget that's just reached its time to die. Got your own favorite repair project that you did on your own, or a skill any DIYer should know how to do? Share it with us in the comments.

The High Cost of Treating Gun Violence Victims Hits Southerners Especially Hard A new Stanford study tapped a massive database to show how shootings strain hospitals and taxpayers. The cost of treating gunshot survivors is greatest in states with the highest rates of firearm ownership and the most permissive gun laws, new research shows. More than 4 in 10 shooting victims admitted to hospitals between 2006 and 2014 were concentrated in 16 Southern states and the District of Columbia, according to a study published this week by two researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. Of initial hospital admissions for firearms injuries, 43 percent were in the South. The West and Midwest each had 20 percent of hospitalizations, while the Northeast claimed 16 percent. More than a third of patients treated in the South were uninsured. Dr. Thomas Weiser, an associate professor of surgery, and Sarabeth Spitzer, a medical student, analyzed inpatient hospital records to conclude that the initial hospitalization of patients wounded by guns over the eight-year period cost Americans more than $6.6 billion. The researchers used a sample of more than 250,000 patients admitted to American hospitals with gunshot injuries. The average cost per hospitalization was $24,746. Patients with government-funded Medicaid or Medicare were responsible for roughly 40 percent of costs in the survey period. Uninsured patients were accountable for about a quarter of the costs. The costs attributed to the South alone were $2.7 billion. Stay Informed Subscribe to receive The Trace’s newsletters on important gun news and analysis. Email address The Canon Sent every Saturday. Our guide to the week's most revealing, must-read reporting on gun issues. The Daily Bulletin Sent weekday mornings. Get up to speed with The Trace’s latest articles and other important news of the day. Leave this field empty if you're human: The medical community is in near unanimous agreement that owning a gun increases the risk of being shot, whether intentionally or in an accident. As Americans continue to purchase firearms at breakneck pace, this reality has public safety implications: Every year, roughly 110,000 people are shot in the United States. This epidemic also has financial ramifications for the institutions that must treat victims: Most of the roughly 80,000 people who are wounded by a bullet annually enter the healthcare system, incurring massive costs. “For every one person who dies from a gunshot, there are three or four people who survive,” Weiser said. “At the end of the day, injuries are associated with a cost. And that’s a cost that’s [often] borne by taxpayers.” The study draws from a survey of 20 percent of American hospitals conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The survey collects patient information and insurance trends of roughly 8 million discharges annually. The study does not offer state-by-state breakdowns, but does show costs across geographical regions. Southern states were responsible for a disproportionate amount of patients. The study counts Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, as Southern states. The researchers focused on financial costs, and did not attempt to account for how gun ownership and gun laws might play a role. Weiser said he wants to better understand the connection, but “we don’t really have data.” But the finding that the South is the region with the highest number of gunshot victims roughly mirrors gun ownership statistics. According to a survey by researchers from Harvard and Northeastern universities, of America’s 55 million gun owners, nearly 37 percent live in the South, while the West and Midwest claim about 22 percent, respectively. Eighteen percent of gun owners hail from the Northeast. The same survey found that almost three quarters of Southern gun owners said they own their firearms for self-protection. Over the last decade, many Southern states have rolled back restrictions on carrying guns in public and relaxed requirements for obtaining a concealed weapons permit, all while strengthening laws protecting the use of deadly force. On Wednesday, Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas signed a bill that would allow people to carry concealed handguns on the campuses of the state’s public colleges and universities. The Stanford study emerged from Spitzer’s interest in gun violence. When she arrived at Stanford two years ago, she was surprised to learn just how little research had been published about firearms injuries, she said. She hopes that the success of this study will inform researchers more down the road, potentially with a focus on how often gunshot survivors return to the healthcare system for care after their initial injury. “A motivating factor is filling this [research] gap,” she said. The study only focused on a patient’s first trip to the hospital with a gunshot wound. It does not include the subsequent hospitalizations, rehabilitation, or patients treated and released from the emergency room. “This is a very select group of patients,” Weiser said. “And in truth we don’t know anything about patients about once they get out.” A gunshot victim’s recovery can be an arduous and costly process, especially for those without the financial means to access services. Survivors often require long-term care, such as physical therapy or mental health treatment to deal with the aftermath of such traumatic injuries. Past studies have included long-term rehabilitation — and a variety of other factors — when calculating the cost of gun violence, but the majority focus on specific states. In one recent analysis, published in February, Dr. Ted Miller of the Pacific Institute and First Coast News determined that gun violence costs each Florida resident $740 every year. The model included estimated costs to the criminal justice system, loss of work, extended medical treatments, and a decline in quality of life. Miller is the same economist who worked with Mother Jones in 2015 to calculate the national cost of gun violence. The number they landed on, using the expanded criteria of costs: $229 billion per year. Weiser stressed that such additional costs are extremely important when assessing the total impact of recovering from a gunshot. But he said that many of them can “be perceived as arbitrary.” He said it was his and Spitzer’s intent to conduct their analysis with the most iron-clad data available, to prevent the findings from being misconstrued. His objective was to “remove the emotion” from the research, he said, “and look at the actual dollar figures.” That’s one of the reasons the authors believe their work may have an impact outside of the medical community. “If these costs are borne by the government, it has real implications for federal and state budgets,” Weiser said. “If you’re going to argue for increased availability for firearms, you need to calculate the increase in costs.” Uninsured patients and those with Medicaid each accounted for roughly 30 percent of the sample used in the survey. Slightly more than 20 percent of patients had private insurance, while just 6 percent had Medicare. The insurance status of an additional 14 percent of patients was “other”: individuals whom the hospital opted not to charge, and those with “alternative forms of insurance,” according to the study. Demographics varied significantly between payer groups. The average Medicaid patient was 26, and more than 50 percent identified as black and reported a household median income in the lowest quartile, below $37,999. Individuals with private insurance were on average older, more likely to be white, and had a higher median income. Patients with Medicare had an average age of 57 and were the most likely to be transferred to another hospital for treatment, or die as a result of their injuries. However, one factor remained the same: In every payer group, males accounted for more than 80 percent of patients. Weiser said he is energized about continuing work on the issue of gun violence. In the operating room he interacts with shooting victims first-hand, though he’d rather not have to. “If I as a trauma surgeon never had to take care of a young kid with a gunshot wound again, that would be fantastic,” he said. [Photo: Flickr user Airman Magazine]

Joseph Erlanger (January 5, 1874 – December 5, 1965) was an American physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience. Together with Herbert Spencer Gasser, he identified several varieties of nerve fiber and established the relationship between action potential velocity and fiber diameter. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for these achievements. Biography [ edit ] Erlanger was born on January 5, 1874, at San Francisco, California. His family was Jewish and his parents both immigrated from the Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany and met in California during the Gold Rush. Joseph was the sixth of seven children born to the couple. He completed his Bachelor of science in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1895. He then completed his M.D. in 1899 from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, where he finished second in his class. Upon graduating, Erlanger interned at Johns Hopkins Hospital under William Osler and worked in a physiology laboratory. Erlanger also gave lectures at the school on digestion and metabolism. Erlanger also had an interest in cardiology, specifically the way that excitation transferred from the atrium to the ventricle and researched with Arthur Hirschfelder. Erlanger developed and patented a new type of sphygmomanometer that could measure blood pressure from the brachial artery. While working at Johns Hopkins in 1901, Erlanger published a paper on the digestive systems of canines. This paper caught the attention of William Henry Howell, a physiology professor at Johns Hopkins. Howell recruited Erlanger as an Assistant Professor. Erlanger was promoted to Associate Professor some time before 1906. In 1906, Erlanger accepted a position as the first chair of physiology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 1910, he left to take a position as professor at Washington University in St. Louis; the St. Louis position offered Erlanger more funding for his projects. Herbert Spencer Gasser, Erlanger's former student at Wisconsin, joined Erlanger's laboratory soon after the move. During World War I, the pair contributed to the research effort examining the effects of shock. As part of this work, Erlanger was able to produce heart block in an animal model by clamping the bundle of His and tightening it.[4] Together, they managed to amplify the action potential of a bullfrog sciatic nerve in 1922 and published the results in the American Journal of Physiology. It is uncertain why the pair had such a sudden shift in interest to neuroscience, as Erlanger was already widely respected in the cardiology field. Erlanger and Gasser were able to modify a Western Electric oscilloscope to run at low voltages. Prior to this modification, the only method available to measure neural activity was the electroencephalograph, which could only show large-scale electrical activity. With this technology, they were able to observe that action potentials occurred in two phases—a spike (initial surge) followed by an after-spike (a sequence of slow changes in potential). They discovered that neurons were found in many forms, each with their own potential for excitability. With this research, the pair discovered that the velocity of action potentials was directly proportional to the diameter of the nerve fiber. The partnership ended in 1931, when Gasser accepted a position at Cornell University. In 1944, they won the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for these discoveries. He died of heart disease on December 5, 1965 at St. Louis, Missouri. The Joseph Erlanger House in St. Louis was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 8, 1976 as a building of national significance.[9] On January 22, 2009, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the moon after him.[citation needed] Citations [ edit ] References [ edit ]

Former England star Paul Scholes is set to play futsal in India Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes has signed a three-year deal to play in India's new futsal league which starts next month. The inaugural edition of Premier Futsal, an indoor variant of football where players use a smaller and less bouncier ball than in the traditional game, will run from July 15-26. "Futsal is a fascinating format that has played a pivotal role in developing the skills of some of the greatest football players," said Scholes. "Premier Futsal will be a great way to introduce the sport to India and I'm looking forward to meeting the fans across India who I know are some of the most passionate in the world." Deco (l) will also play in the inaugural league Ex-Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder Deco and host of the world's top futsallers have already signed up to play in the league, with organisers promising that more marquee signings are on the way. Premier Futsal co-founder, Nithyashree Subban added: "We are extremely proud to announce Paul Scholes as marquee player for Premier Futsal. "Since our launch, we have maintained that we are committed to bringing the top talent from across the world to India and we are clearly delivering on our promise. "Through a pioneering model for introducing futsal and a holistic approach to breeding home-grown talent, Premier Futsal aims to be the marquee all-star futsal tournament in the world." Scholes retired from playing in 2013 Scholes, 41, won 11 Premier League titles, as well as two Champions League trophies, during more than 700 appearances for Manchester United before retiring in 2013. Futsal is five-a-side and is played on a hard-court surface. Premier Futsal - whose president is ex-Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder Figo - is the latest franchise-based sporting competition in India, following the Indian Premier League, Indian Super League and Premier Badminton League.

The percentage of working-age Canadians who aren’t working – who aren’t even looking for a job – is at a historic high years after the economy supposedly bounced back from the recession. The labour participation rate for Canadian men in their working prime – ages 25 through 54 – is the lowest it’s been since Statistics Canada started collecting that data. Women’s participation rate, rising since the 1950s, has been largely stagnant since 2006. Canadians want to work. They’re settling for temp, seasonal or part-time jobs, without the stability of a pension or benefits, to stay in the workforce. But for many, the numbers just don’t add up. They go back to school; they settle for seasonal, contract work; some just throw in the towel. Read the series Government response: What the feds had to say about Canadians’ labour instability trap ‘Like banging your head against a wall’ Jillanne Mignon quit her job because she couldn’t afford it. She was working a decent gig for the city of Winnipeg’s 311 service – a job she’d left her university program to take so she could support her toddler son, Michael. But even with that salary, she found herself in a cycle of debt just to pay for child care. “When there’s a subsidy, there’s no spaces. When there are spaces, there’s no subsidy. … “When you have people depending on you and you can’t give them all that you want, it’s nightmarish.” Watch: Mark McAllister looks into why so many Canadians have stopped looking for work. Ultimately, she realized it just didn’t make sense. “I’m going to work to pay for childcare because I don’t want to be on welfare. “But then it’s better if I go on welfare because then I don’t have to worry about childcare because welfare won’t force me to go to work until my kid is six. So I’m tired. And I don’t know what I want to do. “It’s like banging your head against a wall.” So she quit her job. Moved to Toronto, where the combination of family support and all-day kindergarten helped with child care. Swallowed her pride and went on welfare. “When you have student loans and you still have to go on welfare, that hurts. Because you’ve tried to educate yourself so you don’t have to be dependent on the government for social assistance,” she said. It sounds like an inconceivable decision, to abandon a decent job in favour of a penurious social-assistance program that’s become (inaccurately, evidence shows) associated with sloth and system-scammers. But that’s the reality for a growing number of Canadians. Job market dropouts The percentage of Canadians over 15 who are working or actively looking for work is 66.1, its lowest point since 2001. (For both men and women aged 25-54, it’s 86.1 – the lowest since 2002. For men 25-54 it’s 90.4, the lowest since at least 1976.) Ontario’s participation rate for the same age group, 65.9, hasn’t been this bad since 1998. In British Columbia, under two-thirds of the working-age population is in the job market – the lowest percentage since at least 1990. “It is indicative of a weak economy, no question,” said Mike Moffatt, an economist with the Mowat Centre and the Ivey School of Business. While it isn’t unusual for job market participation to drop in a downturn, recoveries are supposed to have the opposite effect, as more people re-enter an invigorated labour market. If the percentage of people working or looking for work continues to drop, as it has, something’s wrong. Moffatt sees the historic low participation rates as part of a decades-long trend, hastened by the financial crisis. “It’s a trend, unfortunately, I expect to see continue with globalization and automation: It’s getting tough for men, particularly ones that don’t have levels of higher education,” he said. It’s “problematic not just for the individuals, but it causes an ever-shrinking tax base if you have smaller proportions of adults in the labour force. “It absolutely is worrisome.” A government that wants to reverse that trend, then, would have to both encourage men and women to join and remain in the labour market, and ensure they have the skills they need to do so. And while both federal and provincial governments have touted “job creation” partnerships with businesses, economists have argued it makes more sense to focus on the individuals who need jobs and marketable skills. “People want to be in the workforce. I don’t think anyone wants to stay at home and feel useless,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “The question is, how do we provide circumstances where there’s employment for them?” A fraying safety net Mignon has a plan: In Toronto, on welfare, she spent nine months researching the job market to qualify for Second Career funding so she could go back to school and get back in the workforce. “I worked for that money,” she says. And now, if she can keep up the commute from her Parkdale apartment to Scarborough for classes at Centennial College, she can make it work. But it isn’t easy. Every dollar of the money she’s getting to pay her tuition is being deducted from the welfare cheque she needs to pay rent, feed and clothe herself and Michael, who is now five-going-on-six and adjusting to Grade One and the prospect of homework. “Social assistance is now saying, ‘Well this [Second Career funding] is an income,” she said. “It’s taxed. They’re going to take it off my cheque, dollar for dollar. “I’m basically being penalized [for going back to school].” Ontario Community and Social Services spokesperson Kristen Tedesco confirmed that Second Career funding gets deducted from welfare cheques. But she added that “A recipient’s payment can fluctuate for a variety of reasons. … We encourage Ontario Works clients to contact their caseworker immediately with any payment support issues.” (Mignon assures that she has: “I have a very big mouth,” she said, laughing. “I’ve realized if you don’t advocate for yourself, they’re just going to step on you.” For now, she says, she’s making it work.) At the same time, there are strict limits on anything Mignon can save: Put too much aside, and your welfare gets clawed back. The asset limit on how much Mignon and her son can save, given the assistance they’re getting right now, is $3,000. “They’ve basically said, ‘We are going to keep you in poverty by not allowing you to save enough money to get out of poverty.’” Upping that asset limit by a few thousand, she said, could change everything. “If you have $10,000, you have a stable stand. Maybe a bank will lend you $500. Maybe you can move to a better neighbourhood; if there’s an emergency, if you need your wisdom teeth out, you can afford that,” she said. “You can say … ‘Let me see what my options are.’” “But $3,000? $3,000 gets you nowhere quick.” Economists and advocates who study the social assistance cycle argue having savings, or being allowed to accumulate them without losing income assistance, would help keep people from falling back into poverty. “You have to impoverish yourself to have access to” welfare, says Mary Marrone, director of legal services at Ontario’s Income Security Advocacy Centre, This makes it much more difficult to pull yourself back out. “People are living on a razor’s edge. … You haven’t had a chance to build up any savings.” The goal of social assistance programs, Marrone argues, should be to get people into sustainable financial situations so they stay off social assistance, rather than simply get them out of the program as soon as possible. When social assistance becomes ‘a trap’ About 45 per cent of people who leave Ontario Works to rejoin the job market are back on welfare within two years, the province’s Tedesco said. Frances Lankin, the former head of Toronto’s United Way, co-authored a report on how to reform Ontario’s social assistance framework. She says there’s too much focus and too many resources devoted to policing the program rather than helping people get off assistance, and stay off. “It’s not a joy, being on welfare,” she said. “Social assistance can become a trap. “So if minimum wage is very low and if the jobs available have no prospect of becoming decent, middle-income jobs … let’s say you’re a single parent with a kid with asthma, all of a sudden you’ve got a moral decision: Do you go back to work and get a job that pays a fraction more … but has no drug coverage to pay for the asthma drugs for your kid? That’s not a decision that, ‘Oh, I am lazy and don’t want to work.’” At the same time, Lankin said, people in that position are faced with fewer options. “A number of the supports outside social assistance have become frayed over time. And people can’t live on the margins. So they fall into social assistance quicker and it’s harder to get back out.” On bad days, Mignon is overwhelmed with the juggling her life entails, swamped by self-doubt. Graduation feels far away, the prospect of subsequent employment iffy. On good days, she has plans: Getting Michael into a better school. Moving – maybe someday to a white-picket home in the suburbs around Toronto, with a backyard for Michael. Graduating from Centennial and working in community economic development. “I know what it’s like to be on both ends of the spectrum – to have financial security and to be very, very, very insecure, financially,” she said. “I think that, as Canadians, we kind of have rose-coloured glasses on where our economy really is.” Tell us your story: Have you given up on the job market? Have you been trapped by social assistance? We’d love to hear from you. Note: We may use your response in this or other stories. While we may give you a shout to follow up we won’t publish your contact info.

A counterterrorism catch-and-release campaign by Canada's national police force may have prevented 10 aspiring jihadis from heading off to war, but the roundup at Montréal-Trudeau airport is raising worries about what comes next for radicalized youth. On Wednesday, while federal and provincial political leaders applauded the police work, anti-radicalization experts said only an integrated effort involving civilians and police can deal with youth fixated on taking up arms in the Middle East or joining terrorist groups. In Montreal, which has become a jihadi recruiting hotbed, the only tool appears to be handcuffs. In the past six months alone, at least seven youths have left the city to join the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq. At least 15 other teenagers and young adults have been arrested pre-emptively. Some have volunteered to be monitored, while others, such as those arrested at the Montreal airport on the weekend, were simply released after having their passports confiscated. Story continues below advertisement Acting on a tip from one or more parents, the RCMP arrested the 10 youth at the airport but have released few other details. An 11th teenager was captured on video being led away from a Montreal home by investigators. None of the teenagers have been identified publicly and no charges were laid. The government may opt not to pursue a criminal case for fear that any public trial could force it to reveal sensitive intelligence methods – a situation that is a chronic issue in Canadian counterterrorism cases. The passport confiscations recalled last fall's terror attacks in which two lone-wolf assailants each killed Canadian soldiers after they were thwarted in attempts to travel abroad and possibly join jihadi groups. Officials provided no answer when asked how they might prevent similar backlash in the latest cases. The arrests again turned scrutiny toward a pre-university in Montreal's east end. Four of the people arrested on the weekend attended Maisonneuve College. A total of 11 alleged extremist recruits have now come from the school, which again denied it has a radicalization problem. "It's increasingly clear youth recruitment is happening through social media," a statement issued by the school said. Observers are increasingly asking whether the threat to Canada can be contained if the ranks of extremists and thwarted jihadis continue to grow. The RCMP's terrorism prevention program is designed to intervene before suspects mobilize toward violence, but the details of the program remain murky. In Quebec, Premier Philippe Couillard has promised oft-delayed legislation to deal with radicalization. He said a new law will be presented within weeks, meaning it will be months before any new program is enacted. The City of Montreal has announced a radicalization-prevention centre, but so far it amounts to a phone number at police headquarters. Mayor Denis Coderre said Wednesday that much work remains to be done. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement "How many parents will have to call the police or the RCMP on their children because it's all they have for tools to prevent radicalization?" said Agnès Maltais, an Opposition member of Quebec's Legislature. Vern White, a police chief turned senator, pointed out that police cannot put released suspects under surveillance indefinitely because monitoring can require as many as 25 officers per target. "I do have confidence if charges are warranted they will be laid… If this is an early intervention, [police] might have gotten to this before they crossed the line into criminality," Mr. White said in an interview. But, he added, authorities have to learn how to de-program extremists – and quickly. "Now it becomes a de-radicalization discussion." Civilians who are trying to set up anti-radicalization efforts say they're getting little support and are struggling to build trust – both among police and parents who suspect their children may be radicalized. "You know things have already gone sour when the police are involved," said Abdul Rashid Anwar, a leader in the small Montreal Ahmadiyya community who is trying to get anti-radicalization efforts off the ground in the city but is having little success. "Parents, teachers, community leaders have to do the work of educating these kids before the police get involved. We seem to be missing the bridge from one side to the other." Story continues below advertisement Christianne Boudreau, an Alberta woman whose son was killed in 2014 fighting with the Islamic State, is working with a public outreach program called Extreme Dialogue. She says a hardening stance in law enforcement combined with a recently enacted federal anti-terror law are making it even harder for police to reach for tools beyond arrest and detention. "Every police force is different, but some of them are hesitant. Some have their hands tied. Crown prosecutors often have their own agenda, too," she said. Amarnath Amarasingam, a terrorism researcher who is studying Canadian foreign fighters, said it is significant that no charges have been laid in Montreal. "I think it shows just how difficult this issue is. Tracking these individuals and understanding their networks and intentions is enormously complicated," he said. "I think, perhaps, the government is trying to move away from approaching this from strictly a law-enforcement angle." The size of the alleged cluster caught in Quebec is large, possibly uniquely so in North America, where smaller-scale interdictions against "high-risk travellers" and "foreign fighters" have become commonplace. The Montreal case is also significant because police pounced without pursuing any immediate criminal charges or peace-bond conditions. Charges may yet come, but investigations such as this may be the new normal. Ever since the self-proclaimed Islamic State started to seize swaths of Iraq and Syria, jihadi siren songs on social media have enticed a growing pool of would-be recruits from the West. The conflict has no end in sight and police are increasingly put into the position of trying to stop suspects who cannot be proven to have broken any laws.

AMD's EPYC Launch presentation focused mainly on its line of datacenter processors, but fans of AMD's new Vega GPU lineup may be interested in another high-end product that was announced during the presentation. The Radeon Instinct MI25 is a Deep Learning accelerator, and as such is hardly intended for consumers, but it is Vega based and potentially very potent in the company's portfolio all the same. Claiming a massive 24.6 TFLOPS of Half Precision Floating Point performance (12.3 Single Precision) from its 64 "next-gen" compute units, this machine is very suited to Deep Learning and Machine AI oriented applications. It comes with no less than 16 GBs of HBM2 memory, and has 484 GB/s of memory bandwidth to play with.AMD also presented a 2U server rack with EPYC processors and Radeon Instinct MI25 GPUs on-board that they have co-developed with Inventec. It is capable of a staggering 100 TFLOPS of performance.It is certainly encouraging to see AMD launching competitive products in this market segment.The high points of the presentation are available below:

This is the second part of an ongoing look into the state of online gaming in Japan. If you’d like to read more on the subject head over to part one. Last time, we discussed the issues facing the Japanese online gamer. Of note, Japanese online gaming is so niche that the term MMORPG has very little meaning to your average online gamer, who tends to be more of a console shooter fan than PC playboys/girls. According to Akiba MMO‘s CEO Keiko, “Japan essentially skipped the PC and jumped straight to mobile phones.” Having a big, bulky machine that’s primarily used at one’s place of work hardly seems like something that would have awesome games on it. Worse yet, because of the small market, few western companies translated their games into Japanese. No problem, right? Japanese people must be able to speak English like the rest of the world despite being an island nation no where near an English speaking country… English Only Despite having to learn it for at least six years, Japanese people really don’t speak English. As a teacher, this comes up a lot, but Keiko in particular noted that English’s role in Japan is often restricted to unique wording/phrasing that only makes sense to Japanese. In short, it’s used for adding an exotic flavor for advertisers, but as a communication language, people may only passively understand English. Even then, as founders of gaming, Japanese expect good games to be translated for them if they are indeed any good. While there are certainly Japanese players who like western games, remember that online gaming is already a niche market. Add in the fact that foreign products are even more niche, so it’s more difficult to find translated fan sites of foreign games if you’re a Japanese player. There’s even a stigma that “Western games are shit” partially due to the fact that Japan simply didn’t have the PC gaming market to support localization into Japanese. While localization teams for Blizzard games may advertise in Japanese, the client is often still in English. This is most likely why Blizzard is practically unknown in this country. Everyone I spoke to who knows Blizzard’s games enjoyed them, but when asked why the games didn’t seem popular, the answer was always the same: no Japanese language support, until recently. Even then, keep in mind from last time that Japanese gamers tend to prefer anime style art. This is perhaps why Blizzard needed Square-Enix’s help releasing the game in Japan. But let’s be fair. As Keiko put it, it you can’t understand the story, how to play the game, or the character/item system, it’s very hard to play the game. This is a universal issue, not a Japanese issue, and one reason why importing and raw media is uncommon at best for the general population. However, western PC players have greater access to these games for lower prices than console gamers. Europe and Asian countries with strong PC gaming communities allow us to invade their virtual worlds from time to time so we’re exposed to the idea of playing games in a foreign language more than the Japanese console gamers. This isn’t to say that Japanese don’t play western games, and they certainly don’t avoid online ones. However, culturally speaking, Japanese people would prefer to stay silent and avoid inter-cultural communication issues. That may sound racist, but as someone who lives outside of the major Japanese cities, I can tell you life out here is quite different. It’s a stereo type, but all stereotypes are based on perspective. I’ve seen stupid Americans yelling when they just need to speak slowly, but I’ve never seen them begin to cry because a foreigner was trying to explain (in English) that their traveling companion doesn’t speak English. Now, apply that to games, where you can no longer easily gesture, use facial expressions, draw pictures, or use the tone of your voice. Like in real life, Japanese players want to play games in their native language with other people that speak their language. However, in some ways, Japanese players online are perhaps a bit more clannish. To be fair, Keiko feels that many Japanese players choose games they like and meet new people there. It’s not unheard of, and I even had a lone Japanese guy join my guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, in my experience, many Japanese gamers in the MMO sphere, much like with Monster Hunter, people begin by joining their friends. Outside of Neverwinter Online, I was unable to find a Japanese guild in both the Japanese version of Darkfall and ArcheAge, even though I specifically went of out my way to search for them. Admittedly, these are PvP games, and foreign made ones at that. Often, people do tend to stick with people they’ve previously established ties with when joining these games. I did meet other lone wolf types, but when I asked if they would join a guild, many said they were waiting for a friend to join the game. When I mentioned this issue to Matthieu, developer of Gangs of Space, and the Akihabara eSports Square staff, they had similar responses. Both feel that this is changing, but felt it is a bit of a problem. Part of it is the language. The eSports staff in particular noted that, for Japanese, it was difficult to talk to a person they don’t know outside of a game in English. I can understand this, but also know this is compounded by the fact that, in my experience, not speaking and trying to play with native speakers is worse than admitting you’re not proficient in the language. There are countless times I’ve been grouped with non-native speakers, not just Japanese but Chinese, Korean, even German. Shy people exist in all cultures, but when these people didn’t speak up, they were verbally abused, and those are usually the words people understand. In MMOs, the first thing I do when there seems to be a problem is to check if the other person is a native English speaker. Most of the time, this is the problem, and since I’m an English teacher, if the group has a little patience, we can get through things well enough. Few people play foreign games and possess zero knowledge of the foreign language/culture. Just the same, if a person doesn’t communicate their language handicap and is constantly abused, they won’t really bring their friends to the game. Although there were a few rude comments when I had previously mentioned my language issues when playing with Japanese players, the good ones stood out much more, and I honestly tend to be more of a negative person. Most people seem to stereotype Japanese as being overly polite, so you can only imagine what happens when foreigners who are usually accused of being rude taunt a Japanese player. However, that can’t be the only factor. As Matthieu and the eSports Square staff commented, this may partially originate with Japan’s local co-op traditions. Although playing a game at someone’s house is limited to friends and family, Japanese people have been meeting in front of stores and at arcades for decades to physically play with or against people. The latter is especially relevant in terms of PvP play, in that the arcade scene (particularly fighting games and shooters) in Japan generally has you battling someone you can see and interact with before and after the fight. When taken online, where people can be anonymous and resort to trash talking, which I often saw between Japanese and Korean players on their shared Darkfall server, this tradition breaks down. It’s no wonder the Japanese players would prefer to stick with people they know! The View of Online Gamers in Japan Although online gamers in the west are seen differently than non-online gamers, online gaming is so niche that most of my contacts have said there’s almost no difference. Matthieu says there is a small difference in the perception, with online gamers being seen more for being basement dwelling loners, but that image is going away. This is slightly confirmed by the eSports Square staff commenting on the fact that there being any difference at all only being recognized recently, but, in general, gamers are gamers in Japan, and as all my contacts– professional and casual alike– agree, gamers in Japan are still not highly respected. The overall negative image we hold of gamers in the states is still pretty true in Japan, but like the west, it is starting to soften, partially due to mobile gaming making games more acceptable by your average Japanese citizen. Internationally, however, there are still issues the Japanese gamer must deal with. As I mentioned previously, Japanese gamers are often shy and may not even admit to being Japanese. People who played the original Final Fantasy 11 would also mention how the Japanese players sometimes seemed clannish, though I’ve also witnessed genuine random acts of kindness towards non-Japanese as well. Within the eSports community, I’ve had people (Japanese and non-Japanese alike) personally tell me that Japan simply doesn’t care about international recognition, but that was up for debate. LoL players in particular seem to look forward to seeing what Japanese players are capable of, though many still don’t realize the Japanese players still don’t have their own servers (and Riot games has yet to return my inquiries about the situation). I know some of the eSports Square staff have personally voiced concern about Japanese players’ LoL skills in the competitive community, but the overall tone is that they just hope esports become more recognized in Japan. Mathieu, on the other hand, noted that Japanese players often have different styles. A good example is the shooting scene. At least compared to the people in his non-Japanese gaming circle, the times the Japanese players he knows have joined them in matches, the Japanese are simply in a different league. However, Keiko really brought up what may be the truest sentiment: if Japanese players don’t care about the international scene, it has more to do with their language ability than anything else. The hesitance to community in an international setting, in English, is quite challenging, especially when the games themselves are also often in English. If the tables were turned, and the games were in Japanese and had international players speaking in Japanese, they would be much more open to it. The Future The overall environment for online gaming in Japan is certainly a small and fairly close one. It’s alive and healthy enough, but as Matthieu put it, if you don’t know someone in it, you don’t really have access to it. However, even the most cynical people I spoke to do think online gaming has a future, even with competition from the mobile crowd. I feel that the rise of tablets is giving the PC market a solid middle ground and potential step for those who tire of mobile phone games and need something meatier. The availability of World of Tanks and its Japanese client certainly drew attention to the event Keiko helped with! However, there needs to be support. Steam already provides Japanese language options at least for shopping, which is a good start. Riot’s Tokyo office will hopefully release news on a Japanese server, or at least language pack, for Japanese gamers. Kei’s MMO site, Akiba MMO, serves as a general community site, mostly for PC gamers and developers. It’s actually providing a space where presenting developers are posting about the games they’re bringing to Tokyo Indie Festival. The country is already home to many internet cafes to make-up for the fact that PC aren’t considered a necessity in Japan, but Akihabara eSports Square at least encourages patrons to download their Steam games when visiting their location. It’s a good start, but I wonder if it’s enough. In the west, we had small time developers leading the charge in MMORPG development. Origin Systems and Turbine aren’t exactly household names, but few MMO players have trouble recognizing their work. Perhaps a game like Kantai Collection can help make way for online games’ popularity, but I don’t know if that’s enough, and indie developers are rare in Japan. There’s a big difference between making doushinji (games made for fun more than profit) and being an indie developer trying to make a living, and the latter are quite rare in Japan, though I was lucky enough to meet some. My interview with Matthieu occurred at Pico Pico Cafe, which hosts something called “Picotachi,” a monthly indie game developer (and fan) meet. The place is absolutely packed to the point where I’d certainly call it a “standing-room only” type of event. There were some interesting games, but mostly they were simply, ranging from 2-D platformers to a 100-player Tetris that required 10 people to form a single line across their territories to clear the blocks. Fun stuff but nothing quite on the same level as an online game. In fact, after talking to Matthieu and looking at the list of TIF presenters (so far), it seems the Japanese indie devs are naturally chasing the most profitable market: mobile gaming. Aside from Gangs of Space, nothing seemed to indicate that the indie scene here is looking to bulk up the online gaming market. It feels like the big corporations, like Square and Sega, will be needed to develop the online gaming market. Smaller projects certainly seem to be helping. Before starting this project, most people I talked to seemed, like myself, fairly isolated in their physical locations about their online, PC gaming hobby. We mostly meet and talk to other people online, and if someone changes games or doesn’t log in at the right time, they seemingly disappear. Finally making some business contacts has shown me that there is a community here, but it’s certainly in a position to grow. There are opportunities for people willing to network and innovate, assuming you have the money understand the current culture. I feel that the last point is probably what’s kept western publishers out of Japan. Until they either invest the money or innovation to attract the audience, Japan’s online gaming community will probably remain very niche, limited mostly to shooter fans, monster hunters, and gamers who also are willing to put up a foreign language in their pursuit of finding a virtual paradise…. or Valhalla. Related: Akiba MMO

Take action! The principle of integrated education is under attack like never before in this country following the Government’s announcement that it will introduce a new generation of state schools that can religiously discriminate against children for all of their places. We are encouraging everyone to write to their MPs to speak out, and we’ve provided a facility through which it’s possible to do so. In line with its ambition to deliver 500 new free schools by 2020, the Government has given the green light to 11 new religious schools in its latest wave of 77 free school approvals. The schools are the first to be approved since the Government announced that it will move to scrap the requirement that new ‘faith’ schools keep at least half of their places open to local children, irrespective of religion or belief. If these plans go ahead, all 11 schools will be able to religiously select 100% of their places. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has stated that the latest free school approvals are yet another sign of the Government’s backward approach to improving integration in the education system. Of the 11 religious schools given approval, nine are either Church of England or Christian in character. They are: Derby Cathedral School, a Church of England secondary A Level Sixth Form School, Bury St Edmunds, a Church of England school for pupils aged 16 to 19 The Trinity College, an all-through Christian school in Colchester Bishop Arden Church of England Free School, a secondary in Hillingdon Emmanuel Community School, a Christian primary school in Waltham Forest Cathedral Free School, a Church of England primary in Liverpool Cathedral Enterprise School, a Church of England secondary in Bristol East Village C of E Academy, a primary school in Swindon Middle Wichel CE (Primary) Academy also in Swindon In addition, two new Hindu schools have been approved, the Avanti Leicester School and the Avanti Brent School. Both are being set up by the Avanti Schools Trust which currently operates five other existing Hindu schools in England. The approval of these new religious schools comes just days after the Government announced the removal of the so-called ‘50% cap’ on religious selection, meaning that both new and existing free schools may soon be able to religiously discriminate for all of their places when previously they have only been able to do so for up to half. The move has been strongly criticised by a range of individuals and organisations, with Conservative Party grandee Ken Clarke MP asking the Education Secretary Justine Greening to ‘reconsider pretty fundamentally the announcement’, and Professor Ted Cantle CBE of the Institute for Community Cohesion Foundation calling the move ‘retrograde’ and ‘deleterious to integration’. The Catholic Education Service, which has been largely responsible for encouraging the Government to drop the 50% cap, has already announced its intention to open 35 to 40 new religiously selective free schools. This follows the Church of England’s announcement over the summer that they would establish more than 100 new schools in the next four years, equivalent to a quarter of the Government’s target number. BHA Education Campaigner Jay Harman said, ‘In the last few days the Government has stated unequivocally that it wants to tackle segregation in our education system and ensure that children from different religious and non-religious backgrounds are able to learn with and from each other as they grow up. Unfortunately, it has also set out that it intends to achieve this by allowing religious schools to become even more mono-cultural than they are, and approving new religious schools that will divide communities and discriminate against local families. This is quite remarkable. ‘If these policies continue to be pursued by the Government, our education system and our society will become a great deal more divided than they already are. All those who would rather see schools be inclusive, fair, and open to all children, must join us in opposing this entirely counter-productive approach.’ Notes For further comment and information, please contact BHA Education Campaigner, Jay Harman, on jay@humanism.org.uk or 020 7324 3078. See the full list of approved free schools: https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016-02-09-List-of-proposed-Free-Schools.xlsx Read the BHA’s previous news item ‘Comment: Government moves to drop restrictions on religious selection in new faith schools’: https://humanism.org.uk/2016/09/09/comment-government-moves-to-drop-restrictions-on-religious-selection-in-new-faith-schools/ Read the Government’s green paper, where it sets out the proposals: https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone/supporting_documents/SCHOOLS%20THAT%20WORK%20FOR%20EVERYONE%20%20FINAL.pdf Read more about the BHA’s work on ‘faith’ schools: https://humanism.org.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/faith-schools/ The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.

Anti-White Narrat ive: Slurs Slurs are names, labels, definitions, or descriptions of any segment of the diverse white American peoples that demonstrate the state of mind of the speaker as one of bullying, deception, hating, bigotry, dehumanization, or supremacy. Here are six principal themes to use in an attackback. Supremacists Attackback by charging the specific slanderer (not his or her demographic affinity group) with claiming supremacy in naming the other. The defamers are supremacists. Tell them so. Bullies Call them bullies seeking to push diverse white American youth around. It's true and it's powerful. Haters Point out that the slur shows a hate-filled mind. Call them haters. Liars Call them liars for smothering the diversity and nationality, as well as the continental and regional origins, of those slurred. Bigots And the proponents of the anti-white narrative with its slurs are bigots. Tell them so. Dehumanizing In addition, expose them as dehumanizing with slurs that use animal, insect, plant, color, or food names, or by referring to diverse white American youth with a negative label ("non-Hispanic whites") or with a single point of color label ("whites"), always without diversity and nationality. Our all-time favorite dehumanizing hate speech was by the much-lionized critic Susan Sontag who wrote that “the white race is the cancer of human history." [Partisan Review, Winter 1967, p. 57] Susan Sontag was part of the Graetz legacy. He launched a propaganda campaign of "scourging" and "flogging" the majority demographic in his home country (Germany) in 1868, as well as a parallel propaganda campaign "to shatter Christianity." WARNING: Here are some concepts not to use in an attackback. (1) Do not attack the entire demographic affinity group to which the slanderer belongs. We can't do it because we are fighting an attack on our entire demographic affinity group. (2) Do not use "rational" arguments based on logic (logic is dead in public discourse), the double standard (it's applauded by our adversaries), racism (it's been defined in a biased way), history (they twist it), fairness (not going to happen), and dictionary definitions (they distract from the state of mind of the slanderer). 3) Do not use "irrational" arguments based on being offended on the grounds that it is infantile and subjective. Attackback on objective grounds that explain that the slanderer opened his or her mind to us to determine as to whether the slanderer was lying, bigoted, a supremacist, a hater, a bully, or a dehumanizer. We have an entire section on the attackback in this syllabus. CASE STUDIES OF EXAMPLES: Anglo - This is an italicized Spanish-language epithet and claim of supremacy over diverse white Americans -- not shorthand for the English-language ethnic name Anglo-Saxon. It's also an expression of hatred. Goyim - This is a claim of supremacy over the diverse white Americans by claiming the right to label them and an attempt to smother white American diversity and nationality. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted asylum in July 2003 to a Southwest Asian who claimed being called goy as an aspect of his persecution abroad. Ram HaCohen explained goyim on 4/10/10 by saying "no matter how Jewish-friendly (and Israel-friendly) a nation has been historically, Israelis are encouraged to view all non-Jews ("Goyim" is the pejorative term used uncritically by most Hebrew speakers) as inherently anti-Semitic and therefore anti-Israeli." Gringo - This label is a claim of supremacy over white Euro-Americans; an expression of hatred; and a targeting term for violence. This was an important signifying slur during the huge Mexican May Day marches on 5/1/06. Haole - This is a claim to supremacy in Hawaii over the diverse white Americans by claiming the right to name and label them; and an expression of hatred. Non-Hispanic Whites - This is an expression of hatred by the dominant media culture, and an attempt to smother white American diversity and nationality. This term is sometimes defended as a US Census term but the haters who make that claim never use the parallel census terms -- non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic Asian, and non-Hispanic Indian. Redneck - This label is an expression of hatred for diverse white American rural dwelling people like mechanics, farmers, merchants, and farm workers, especially by the urban-coastal class. See Al Sharpton explain redneck and cracker. Begin at 50 on the video. Shiksa - This is a claim to supremacy over, and an act of bullying, the diverse white European American women by claiming the right to name and label them. See Israel Shahak's definition of shiksa, 1994, page 26 -- "unclean animal; loathsome creature, abomination." Even Commentary magazine recognizes the vicious nature of shiksa. Typical White Person - A serious expression of hostility to white Americans' diversity, nationality, and right to self-name; and a disgraceful slander by then US Senator Obama on 3/20/08, just two days after his speech on race in Philadelphia on 3/18/08. White Boy - This is an expression of hatred for white American men, and an attempt to smother white Euro-American men's diversity, nationality, and continental origins. California State Assembly Member Paul Fong of Cupertino is most well-known locally for using this term to describe European American men. This term was used in 2012 to label Tucker Carlson by an employee of Fox News TV. White Skin Privilege - This is a Big Lie by extremists in academia, entertainment, and media claiming that all white Euro-Americans are equally successful in all walks of life, similar to the term "model minority." This label is based on a claim to supremacy in naming; it is an example of bullying; it is based on raw hatred; it is a Big Lie; and it is profoundly dehumanizing. See the 1997 book by Jim Goad for a look at the lives of subordinated and blue-collar diverse white American peoples in the land of "white privilege." For a longer review of "white skin privilege" go here. The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by US Senator James Webb of Virginia on 7/22/10 on this very topic with good arguments if incompletely addressed. White Trash - A term that is officially a race crime in England. You People - This is a variant on "your people," "those people," and "these people." The San Jose Mercury News had a major melt down over these terms on its editorial page on 6/1/03, but the paper engages in similar identifying labels all the time. It was a challenge to understand why it can be categorized as a slur, but the reason is that "you people" is a label or name which denies those so labeled their diversity and their nationality, as well as their right to name themselves. This slur has been frequently applied to the diverse white American peoples, but the best documented example of its use (against another demographic affinity group) was Ross Perot's use of it before a convention of African Americans in 1992.

Fans who can't make it to University of Phoenix Stadium for 2014 Arizona Cardinals Training Camp presented by Hyundai can follow the team's practice on Tuesday, July 29 on NFL Network's Inside Training Camp Live. Former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and anchor Amber Theoharis will host NFL Network's coverage from the team's practice from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Continuing through August 5, NFL Network's Inside Training Camp Live hits the field at 7:00 a.m., providing nine hours of live coverage each day. As teams report to camp and take the field, NFL Network will provide live look-ins at team practices, interviews with players and coaches, analysis from former players, head coaches and front office executives, and live reports from reporters stationed at various training camp sites. Each day, NFL Total Access airs at 4:00 p.m., followed by a two-hour Training Camp Primetime at 5:00 p.m. recapping all of the day's action and providing up-to-date information and analysis.

So i opened up my gift that came earlier on tonight. The postman just left it outside my f---ing door for anyone to take, but luckily i live in a decent are. Well anyway, when i picked it up it was actually really light in a relatively large box, so I was thinking about some million handkerchiefs or something or the infamous 4 paperclips Well anyway, I went up to the study as the things I put in my likes might not be entirely visible to my parents if really fulfilled, so you know, just some viewer privacy just in case it's a bong or a crop. Well i opened the thing, and was blinded by the colours. it took me a while to actually realise what it was, but then i figured it out and turned it upside down. It's actually really awesome. I have no idea how the ss figured out i might enjoy kids toys, but i guess r/teenagers does say enough. Well anyway, take a look at my awesome gift in action in the video below :) Thanks so much mr anonymous, i will enjoy this gift a lot... once the circumstances you told me will happen. I might just get drunk with my mum and my step dad just so that I can enjoy this gift fully. Thanks again, Jonáš :)

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – The U.S. government issued an urgent plea to nearly 8 million people to get the air bags in their cars fixed, amid concern that a defect in the devices can possibly kill or injure the driver or passengers. The inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed in crashes. Safety advocates say at least four people have died from the problem and there have been multiple injuries. Multiple automakers have recalled vehicles in the U.S. over the past two years to repair air bag inflators made by Takata Corp., a Tokyo-based supplier of seat belts, air bags, steering wheels and other auto parts. The warning covers 7.8 million cars made by BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. Passenger or driver air bags or both could have the faulty inflators. In a statement Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration warned owners of those cars to act right away. The agency has been investigating the problem since June, and has cited reports of six inflators rupturing, causing three injuries. Consumers who are uncertain whether their vehicle is impacted by the Takata recalls can contact their manufacturer with their vehicle identification number (VIN) to confirm whether their individual vehicle has an open recall that needs to be addressed. Worldwide, automakers have recalled about 12 million vehicles because of the problem. Safety advocates say the problem could affect more than 20 million vehicles in the U.S. Automakers have been recalling the cars to fix the problem for several years, but neither Takata nor NHTSA have identified a firm cause. The agency opened a formal investigation into the problem in June, and agency documents detail a theory that the chemical used to inflate the air bags can be altered by high humidity, making it explode with too much force while deploying. NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman said in a statement that responding to the recalls is essential to keep people safe. “It will aid in our ongoing investigation into Takata air bags and what appears to be a problem related to extended exposure to consistently high humidity and temperatures,” he said. The agency, he said, is tracking down the “full geographic scope” of the issue. The rare warning by regulators comes three weeks after a Sept. 29 crash near Orlando, Florida, that claimed the life of a 46-year-old woman. In that crash, Hien Thi Tran suffered severe neck wounds that could have been caused by metal fragments flying out of the air bag on her 2001 Honda Accord. Her Accord was among the models being recalled. One police agency concluded that the air bags caused her wounds, while another is still investigating. NHTSA is seeking information in the case. Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, estimated there are 20 million to 25 million cars in the U.S. alone that are equipped with the faulty air bags. In the Florida case, Tran turned left in front of another vehicle and the front ends collided. Her air bag inflated. The original report on the death said the seat belt could not have cut the right side of her neck. Also, there was no broken glass and no other apparent cause of the neck wounds. Initially the case was turned over to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, whose homicide investigators determined that the air bag caused Tran’s neck injuries, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Because the death appears to be traffic-related, the matter was sent back to the Florida Highway Patrol, which has not finished its investigation. The Highway Patrol will call in an air bag expert to help make the determination, said Sgt. Kim Montes. The car’s steering wheel and spokes were not damaged and appeared to be a normal air bag deployment, she said. Investigators also will look for evidence of metal fragments in the car and try to determine what caused Tran’s neck wounds, Montes said. TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Despite predictions of gloom and doom, the province posted a surplus last year of more than $1 billion, no matter how it’s counted. The previous Tory government initially forecast a $514-million surplus last year, but when oil prices plummeted last fall, premier Jim Prentice warned Alberta could end up in the red. The 2014-15 consolidated surplus of $1.1 billion ends of string of six consecutive deficits and boosts the province’s contingency fund to $8.2 billion — a reserve Finance Minister Joe Ceci says will come in handy in dealing with the drop in non-renewable resource revenue. “Going forward the climate — the economy today — is very different from what it was then,” he told reporters at the legislature Tuesday as the NDP government released the final year-end numbers. But Ceci said he was reluctant to use the cash savings to fill the projected revenue void. “If we can find a way to achieve greater revenue stability without the use of the contingency account — though it’s probably not possible — that would be my first desire,” said the Calgary MLA. “Philosophically, I think contingencies are there to smooth things out. They’re not there to totally drain the bank account.” Although the price of oil has stayed below $60 US per barrel for much of this year, Ceci said he hoped new corporate tax increases and hikes in personal income tax for the wealthiest Albertans will meet some of the projected shortfall. He also mused about other “revenue measures,” but would not elaborate. During the spring election, the NDP campaigned on a budget with a projected $5.4-billion deficit — $400-million more red ink than was forecast in the PC budget for 2015-16 that was released in March. The final Tory budget, however, was never passed as the Prentice government called an early election, which it lost to Rachel Notley’s NDP. PC interim Leader Ric McIver said the fact the province recorded a hefty surplus during a period of falling oil prices proves the former government was fiscally prudent and left the province in strong economic shape. “The government did control expenditures last year because it was the right thing to do,” said McIver, former labour minister in the Prentice government. “This annual report is a good sign post to go look at what good shape Alberta is in overall.” But Wildrose finance critic Derek Fildebrandt said the report doesn’t reflect the deteriorating state of Alberta’s finances because it relies on the same accounting methods that were employed by the former PC government. The Wildrose MLA said the provincial government paid out more than $780 million to finance interest payments on debt last year, and Alberta remains on pace to top $30 billion in debt by 2019. “When you collect record revenues and still have to take out billions in debt, the real problem is overspending,” Fildebrandt said in a statement. “The NDP plan of raising spending faster than they can raise taxes just isn’t sustainable.” Ceci would not comment on the size of the projected deficit for the current fiscal year, which began April 1. The NDP don’t plan to table their own budget until October. Alberta Finance officials say higher-than-expected revenues from taxes and investments in the first six months of last year offset the impact of lower oil prices in the fall. Although bitumen royalties fell $530 million, the province still brought in $8.9 billion in non-renewable resource revenue. The Heritage Savings Trust Fund was reported to be $17.9 billion. Total capital debt climbed to $11.9 billion. The PC government reported a $755-million surplus in 2013-14, but under its new consolidated reporting, that surplus was actually a $302-million deficit. The new reporting method now includes revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities from schools, universities, colleges and health facilities as well as pension liabilities. Under the previous financial reporting method, which was criticized by opposition parties and the provincial auditor general, the surplus in 2014-15 would have been reported as $1.4 billion. dhenton@calgaryherald.com

393352 06: (L to R) Actors Sarah Chalke, Zach Braff, and Donald Faison poses for a publicity photo for the television show 'Scrubs.' (Photo Courtesy of NBC/Getty Images) Donald Faison, who played Dr. Christopher Turk on the show "Scrubs," celebrates his birthday today, June 22. As "Scrubs" still has a lasting fan base -- the writers would call their cult following "Our Nerds" -- The Huffington Post has gathered 11 things from old interviews that you didn't know about your favorite gang of doctors, and they'll make you want to yell, "Eagle!" 1. The main cast went skinny dipping together on Faison's birthday. Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Faison appeared on AOL's "Outside the Box" series and were asked by a fan about the weirdest or most memorable moment they'd had on or off the set. Faison told a story about the three of them going to the Bahamas for his birthday, where they went swimming in the ocean. While they waded in the waves, they could look into the distance and see a lightning storm adding beautiful touches of light to the horizon. Originally, Faison was just going to stop there, but then Braff said Faison should mention they were skinny dipping, as well. Chalke said she kept her swimsuit on, but Braff claimed that he and Faison were swimming naked together, "just like J.D. and Turk would." 2. J.D. and Turk were based on real doctors, one of which was "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence's best friend in college. Image: "Scrubs" In 2004, Bill Lawrence and Braff appeared on NPR's Fresh Air to talk about their still relatively new show at the time, along with the upcoming release of Braff's "Garden State." Lawrence talked about how the show was based in reality, partly because his best friend from the College of William & Mary -- where he went for undergrad -- was a future med school student named J.D. Hence the inspiration for Lawrence's group of normal, young, fun-loving friends trying to survive the rigors of becoming a doctor. Lawrence's last memory of J.D. was as a guy with an empty 12-pack of beer on his head. He told Fresh Air that his worst nightmare in the world as a young 23-year-old would have been to end up in the emergency room with J.D. as the doctor. At a talk at his alma mater in 2009, Lawrence said that the relationship between J.D. and Turk is based off his own friendship with J.D. in school, mixed with the stories that came from the real-life Dr. Jon Turk. You can see Faison and Braff meet the doctors they're based on in this video. 3. Braff said that his ideal end for the show was Ted going "postal" and killing everyone. Talking with ABC -- coincidentally, during the same day as the previously mentioned AOL interview -- the main stars were asked how they would write the ending of the show. Braff responded, "I would like Ted the lawyer to go postal and come to work and kill everybody." Faison responded, "Nice." The three seemed particularly annoyed with this soul-patched interviewer, so Braff was probably just joking. He ended up changing his answer to Elliot and J.D. ending up together, Turk ending his relationship with Carla and then Elliot and J.D. adopting him. 4. The actor who played "The Todd" described the character's sexuality as "try-sexual," as in he'd try anything. At a Season 3 party, IGN asked Robert Maschio about the sexual orientation of "The Todd." Maschio responded: I think he's not homosexual. He's not bisexual. He's try-sexual. He'll try anyone. I think "The Todd" would go for the hot girl at the party first, and then as the night goes on, if I may say, he may go for the fat girl, and then when he strikes out there, he's gonna go with the dude who's been eyeing him all night. Just take him home and say, "Just finish that off. As long as I don't touch your ears, it's not gay." That's how I take it. He's a hedonist. He's a sensualist. He's addicted to pleasures of the flesh. 5. The cast and crew had an ongoing game of dares called "Scrubs Factor." Tattoos and eating pigs' feet were involved. "Scrubs Factor" is mentioned in that same IGN interview by multiple members of the cast and crew. At the time, Braff said the grossest one had been, "when the guy ate pigs' feet." Braff continued, "He loved pigs' feet and he downed about 30 in about five minutes for like 500 bucks." In a feature for the Season 3 DVD, Lawrence explained that he started the game as a bonding session and initially instigated the pigs' feet challenge when they all came across a jar of them at a bar. Chalke was once dared by Lawrence to go order coffee at a Starbucks in a burlesque outfit where she apparently had to wait 20 minutes in line. During the IGN interview, Chalke also mentioned that later that night, $1,000 was on the table for whoever got a "Scrubs" tattoo. It's unclear whether anybody followed through. 6. The medical cases in the show were based on actual stories from physicians, whose names would then be written into the show. Image: Getty During NPR's Fresh Air interview with Braff and Lawrence, the show creator said that every single medical story on the show was handed to them by real physicians. The show never used real patients' names, but Lawrence and his writers would make sure the doctors' names were written into the episodes. 7. Lawrence's wife -- who played Jordan -- would dictate her acting schedule while they were in bed. Image: "Scrubs" Also in that NPR interview, Lawrence talked about what it was like having his wife, Christa Miller, play a main character on the show. Lawrence said that he'd take elements of their marriage and put them into the writing, presumably for the relationship between Jordan and Dr. Cox. He jokingly added that it was the one time a week he could tell his wife what to do and she'd have to listen. Lawrence also said that Miller had "the world's cherriest gig" for an actress because she could wake up next to him, say she felt like working Thursday, and then Lawrence and the writers would write her into the script for that day. 8. Braff quit his job as a waiter when he got hired for "Scrubs," but didn't realize filming wouldn't start for another four months. He wrote "Garden State" during this time. During the "Garden State" press tour, Braff was interviewed by Uncut and was asked how long it took him to figure out the movie. Braff said it actually had to do with how the beginning of his "Scrubs" job worked out. I’d been waiting tables when I got cast in 'Scrubs,' and I quit as a waiter only to be told we wouldn’t actually be filming for four months. So I sat down for that time and hammered out the first draft. Then once 'Scrubs' started, I spent the next two years trying to get someone interested in making it. 9. The "Scrubs" scripts were kept top secret from even the main cast during the early seasons. Image: "Scrubs" An early episode of "The Daily Show" featured Jon Stewart interviewing a young Braff just as "Scrubs" was starting to get traction. When Stewart asked what sorts of plot developments were coming up, Braff claimed that the writers told him nothing and he didn't find out what would happen until the day he'd show up to set. "It's all very top secret," said Braff. Braff also asked Stewart to come on the show as a patient or a corpse, which unfortunately never came to be. 10. NBC changed the show's airing time so often that Braff's mom would regularly call him to ask when she could watch. Image: Getty IGN also interviewed Braff in 2004, and he said that he felt that a lot of the trouble with the "Scrubs" ratings at the time was caused by NBC moving the show around so much in their schedule. Braff even told a story about how his mom had a hard time finding out when to watch her son, saying, "My mom will call me and be like, 'When are you on this week?'" 11. If the show only lasted one season, Janitor was going to be just a figment of J.D.'s imagination. "If the show ended after one year, he was just going to be a figment of J.D.'s imagination," Lawrence said during NPR's Fresh Air interview. It wasn't until about midway through the second season that the actor who played Janitor, Neil Flynn, was able to interact with another actor aside from Braff. There was also a couple competing reasons for why the Janitor was always picking on Braff. Lawrence felt, personally, that he'd always had someone in his life latch on to teasing him for seemingly no reason, and so Flynn's character was based on this idea.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The phrase, “Go West, young man!” has been around for many decades, and although it will take them 80 years, the American Hockey League is doing just that. Indeed, it’s been in the works for years, and there has been an ever-increasing amount of talk about it over the past few years, but it all became reality on January 29, when the AHL announced that the affiliates of five National Hockey League teams will move to California to form a new Pacific Division of the AHL. The teams in this new division will begin play next season, marking the first time the AHL will have teams in California in what will be their 80-year history. “Today, we are announcing that we will begin our 80th season [2015-16] with another monumental shift in the geography of our league,” David Andrews, President, Chief Executive Officer, American Hockey League, told the media at a press conference in San Jose. “Earlier this week, the American Hockey League’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the purchase of an AHL franchise by the Anaheim Ducks, and the relocation of AHL franchises owned by the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, and the San Jose Sharks, as well as the franchise being purchased by Anaheim. These approvals are paving the way for the launch, next Fall, of the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League, with teams in five California cities.” The new division shakes out this way: Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals and move them from Norfolk, Virginia to San Diego. Calgary Flames will move their affiliate, the Adirondack Flames, from Glens Falls, New York, to Stockton. Edmonton Oilers will move their affiliate, Oklahoma City Barons, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Bakersfield, where the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors will move up to the AHL Los Angeles Kings will swap their ECHL and AHL affiliates, with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs moving to Ontario where they will take on the name of the existing Ontario Reign. Meanwhile, the ECHL’s Ontario Reign will move to Manchester, New Hampshire and become the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs San Jose Sharks will move their affiliate, the Worcester Sharks, from Worcester, Massachusetts to San Jose, where they will play at the SAP Center, sharing the same arena as the NHL’s Sharks. “This is a significant day for hockey, and the growth of the sport in California,” said John Tortora, Chief Operating Officer, San Jose Sharks. “In 25 short years, hockey [in California] has grown from one NHL team to three very successful NHL teams. Each franchise has developed robust youth hockey programs in their markets, culminating with each team having California-trained players on their rosters and in their systems. Now, hockey adds another layer to its California growth, five NHL teams identifying five California cities throughout the state for the home of their top development clubs.” “For the growth of hockey, it’s a tremendous thing, obviously, for California, but [also] for the United States,” said Luc Robitaille, President, Business Operations, Los Angeles Kings. “To have five teams that are going to play on the West Coast now, fans are going to be able to see players who are one phone call away from playing in the NHL.” “When we talk about the AHL, we’re talking about an entirely different level,” added Robitaille. “People who are fortunate enough to see those games, they’re going to see a very, very high skill level, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.” Ducks Executive Vice President/General Manager Bob Murray and Vice Chair, Oilers Entertainment Group Kevin Lowe agreed. “To use a favorite word of our recently retired Teemu Selanne, this is an unbelievable day for hockey in California, for Anaheim, the organization, and for the city of San Diego, where [their AHL affiliate] will be moving to,” said Murray. “When the Samueli’s bought the team in 2005, [former Ducks general manager] Brian Burke and I—our first week on the job—we looked at each other [and said], ‘we’ve got to move our minor league team out here,’ so this is a dream come true.” “All of us will agree that from when Luc Robitaille played for the Kings, and Wayne Gretzky got traded there in 1988, it’s to the betterment of the NHL, and the great game of hockey, that Californians will have [a lot] more opportunities to watch world-class hockey,” said Lowe. It’s All About Player Development Despite all that, providing more professional hockey for California hockey fans is not the priority for these NHL teams—not even close. Rather, their focus is on improving their player development by bringing their top development teams much closer to home. Murray provided an example of the impact the move will have on California’s NHL teams. “On a Tuesday morning in November, now, I can do as the guys on the [East Coast] can do,” he said. “I can get out of bed, and instead of watching our team practice, I can drive down the coast, which is kind of nice, go to San Diego, and watch my minor league team practice.” “There’s no price tag you can put on that,” he added. “That is just so valuable, to your players, and to you. This just exposes them to me, and me to them so much more. It’s a remarkable thing, and again, it’s a dream come true.” For obvious reasons, things will be a bit different for the two Canadian NHL teams. “It’s a great day for hockey, and it’s really going to enhance our development,” said Lowe. “As a Canadian team, we’re a little further away. We won’t have the luxury of driving down the coast to see our American league team. But the players are really going to benefit from the proximity of the teams.” “Presently, we’re in Oklahoma City,” added Lowe. “It’s a wonderful city, and we really enjoyed being there. But our closest opponent was a six-hour bus ride away, and the rest of the teams were, pretty much, a flight away, so this is really going to enhance development for our players.” Flames general manager Brad Treliving echoed Lowe’s sentiments. “It’s really remarkable, when we talk about the growth of the sport within this state,” he said. “When you look at [it] from the pure product standpoint, from the general manager’s standpoint, we can’t really highlight as well as we should how important this is from a development standpoint.” “The biggest thing for us is how can we get a better development model, and I can tell you from having a team on the East Coast—we’re currently in Glens Falls, which is a wonderful community,” he added. “It’s been an excellent market for us. But those cross-country flights, dealing with a different time zone when you play a game on a Friday night, and you need a guy on Saturday, there’s challenges involved with it. There’s a lot of challenges, and I think, for a number of years now, the [Western] teams—the real priority for this is, is there a better way for the teams in the West to develop players?” To be sure, reduced travel will be huge boon to the development efforts of the Flames and Oilers. “The big thing in development in hockey is to have practice time,” Lowe noted. “[But] when you’re flying around all the time, across the country, you eliminate practice days. We anticipate, possibly, somewhere between 20 and 25 extra practice days, and in a season that’s approximately 180 days, that’s a big percentage of time for the development of these young players.” Murray pointed to the San Diego market as an example of how primed some California cities are for an AHL franchise. “There’s been people asking me, ‘who’s going to play on your team down there?’ My answer is quite simple,” he said. “On our Anaheim Ducks roster, right now, there’s only two players who did not play in the American Hockey League. That’s remarkable.” “As for San Diego, five years ago, we started a high school league,” he added. “We had two teams. Today, we have 41. Two years ago, one team from our area won the national championship. Hockey is growing in California. Even in bantam and midget [leagues], we’ve had winners coming out of California in the last few years.” “Hockey is growing in California, and on the West Coast. This is just going to take that one step farther, and ahead.” Move Will Be Tough On Current Fans Although the five NHL teams are opening a new frontier, of sorts, in California, they know that they are leaving the fans of their existing AHL franchises behind. “We’re thrilled to bring the AHL to California, and add to the incredible growth of the game on the West Coast,” said Andrews. “I want to thank, though, our fans, and all of those individuals who have supported the American Hockey League in Adirondack, in Norfolk, in Manchester, in Worcester, and in Oklahoma City.” “This transition in the pro hockey landscape is important for our sport,” added Andrews. “We’re confident, though, that in the near future, our fans in those cities we are departing, will continue to enjoy a high level of minor professional hockey. We’re very thankful for their long-standing support of our league.” Treliving acknowledged the fans of the Flames’ existing AHL affiliate. “As exciting as this, is from a hockey standpoint and a development standpoint, we do understand and recognize that there’s markets today that are losing a team,” said Treliving. “That’s a difficult thing, when people invest, both financially and emotionally, it’s a hard thing, so I do want to thank the fans in Glens Falls who have supported our team over the course of the year, and we hope we can have a strong finish.” The Kings are in a slightly different position, swapping their AHL and ECHL franchises, who will exchange cities and arenas. “On behalf of the LA Kings, we want to say thank you to the people in Manchester,” said Robitaille. “You’re not losing a team. You’ll get another team.” “We’re excited that we’re going to Ontario,” added Robitaille. “It will be a great thing for hockey.” Kings Reaction Back at their practice facility in El Segundo, California, left wing Dwight King, who played for both of the Kings’ minor league affiliates, was pleased to hear the news. “I think it’s great,” he said. “As far as Ontario goes, they have a nice facility. [It’s well-]equipped. The fan base there is great, [and if the building isn’t] full, it’s near full every night. That’s what players want to play in front of.” “For the players, it’s a lot easier for travel and locations, so that’s nice,” he added. “It’s a little different. [For most players], playing hockey in California is pretty rare. If [someone gets] the opportunity, I don’t think they’re going to be disappointed, no matter what city they’re in.” Head coach Darryl Sutter noted that talk about such a change started back when he was general manager of the Calgary Flames (April 11, 2003 to December 28, 2010; he was hired as the Flames head coach on December 29, 2002, and served in both positions from April 11, 2003 to July 12, 2006). “It’s been talked about for a long time,” he said. “When I was in Calgary and Brian Burke was [the general manager] in Vancouver, we were trying to get more teams to be involved, but at that time, we couldn’t get any of these teams in California to be involved. Now, we’ve got all three of the California teams. Hopefully, it works, and it should.” “Glad that they’re finally putting it in place, formally,” he added. “It’ll be interesting to see how they announce the schedule, format, and all that, because it’s going to have to balance, somehow. There’s going to have to be a playoff set-up that works for the rest of the American league.” “The next part is—five [teams] is an odd number. You’d like to have an even number of teams.” Frozen Royalty by Gann Matsuda is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License . You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this site are required. Photographs, graphic images, and other content not specified are subject to additional restrictions. Additional information is available at: Frozen Royalty – Licensing and Copyright Information Frozen Royalty’s Comment Policies

We need your help to build wheelchair costumes for kids in walkers and wheelchairs in time for Halloween 2015! So please pledge and spread the word. The more money we raise, the more children we can build for in the future! Our goal is 5 costumes, but we’d love to make more with more donations. What is Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes is a nonprofit organization that turns kids’ walkers and wheelchairs into the best Halloween costume ever! Lon & Anita Davis are the parents of 2 boys, 1 of whom, Reese, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma (a childhood cancer) at the age of 2 months old. The tumor was on his spine and ended up crushing his spinal cord preventing him the full use of his legs and trunk muscles. Together, with the help of now 10-year-old Reese, the family launched Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes with this simple goal in mind: “To provide any child with special needs equipment a unique and custom built costume for them, free of charge to the family.” How it all started. When Reese received his first wheelchair around the age of 3, he was really into the movie, “Wall-E.” So for Halloween he wanted to be the title character. We knew there wasn’t a way to purchase a costume that would work for him, so we decided to build it from scratch. The end result featured mechanical arms that Reese could control from within the body and large track treads on the side of his wheelchair. The costume blew people away and it even ended up in the Kansas City Star newspaper. The first costume built by the Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes team. Each year following, Reese would come up with creative ideas for his costume, and Dad would have to figure out a way to make them work. Year two, Reese wanted to be Buzz Lightyear and wanted his wheelchair to be the Claw Machine from the first “Toy Story” movie. That costume ended up coming in 2nd place for a city wide costume contest and was featured on the home page of the Kansas City Star website. Buzz Lightyear in the Claw Machine Fast forward to 2015. We have numerous costumes under our belt, each being more elaborate than the last. We were even featured on the evening news for our Comic Con costume in 2015 when we introduced the debut of Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes. Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes' mission is “to provide any child with special needs equipment a unique and custom built costume for them, free of charge to the family. There are some great ways you can help. How you can get involved There are a few ways you can help Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes. 1) PLEDGE. Any amount is appreciated, but the more you give, the more children we can build for, and the cooler the rewards you'll receive! 2) SHARE. Please let your friends and family know about the Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes campaign! Your support will not only help some great kids, but will also assist in spreading awareness about the challenges faced by kids in wheelchairs. These kids want to dress up just like every other kid, but not every kid gets a costume like these. 3) VOLUNTEER. Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes wants YOU! If you're a designer, costume builder, craftsperson, social media master, or just want to do whatever is needed to help us on this journey, please contact us on the Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes website. There is a form to fill out to become one of our elite “Custom Costume Builders.” (Sign Up Here) We never know what skills we might need until we have a child with a dream. A variety of some of our costume designs. Three more designs of various styles. Where will the Kickstarter funds go? 100% of your pledge money will go to purchasing materials and supplies for these one-of-a-kind wheelchair costumes, and shipping them to the families (if needed). Each costume, depending on the design, can range in price from $100-$250. Any additional funds beyond our $1,000 goal, will be used to build even more costumes for more kids! The more kids we can help, the better! Please consider donating. Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach How do kids get a costume from Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? Parents can fill out our form on our website, www.WalkinRollin.org, to request a costume. We work with the family to design the costume based on what the child wants. We provide sketches and design concepts for the family to approve. Frank the combine from the movie "Cars." If they are outside of the Kansas City Metro area, we then pair them up with a Custom Costume Builder in their area. That way, the builder can meet with the family and can take precise measurements of the chair or equipment. Since every wheelchair is different, it is important to do this to make sure the costume fits properly for Halloween. We would love to build a costume for every family that contacts us. However, if we are unable to locate a Custom Costume Builder in their area, we will still work with the family to help produce what we can from a distance. Some costume parts can easily be built with simple measurements provided by the family and then shipped to the family. Others, we may have to be more creative. It all depends on the costume that the child would like. Additional costume designs for walkers and wheelchairs. Our first Custom Costume for Halloween 2015 For Halloween this year, we already have a 5 year old girl in a wheelchair who is very interested in dressing up as R2-D2. Her whole family is dressing up as “Star Wars” characters and we want to make sure that her costume will make for an awesome night. Here is an early concept drawing of that costume. R2D2 Costume design How many kids will get a costume from Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes? This year our goal is to build wheelchair costumes for 5 kids in time for Halloween 2015. But the number of children we can build for in the future is only limited by the funds we're able to raise and the number of Custom Costume Builders we can locate. So please pledge! We hope to eventually have a full network of Custom Costume Builders around the nation so we can create these awesome costumes for every child with special needs equipment, and ALWAYS, make them free of charge to the family. Belle gown that goes around the walker to hide it with the exception of the handles. The Best Halloween for these kids. Being in a wheelchair is very tough, especially for a child who just wants to run and play with their friends. My son recently told me that he doesn’t think of his wheelchair as a wheelchair. He thinks of it as part of him. Where ever he goes, the wheelchair goes. So when Halloween comes, he wants all of him to dress up, including his wheelchair. I don't think my son is the only kid who thinks that way, do you?

Back in 2013, a chance viewing of a Super Mario-themed burlesque show opened my eyes to the wonderfully wacky world of nerdlesque, a sub-genre of burlesque performance that celebrates and satirizes nerdy pop culture. I love a good Harry Potter or superhero satire, which is why NOLA Nerdlesque has quickly becoming one of my favorite local festivals—and I’m pretty sure you will love it too. Nerdlesque is a performance art notable for its inclusivity of all body types. It empowers performers and audience members to not just “let it all hang out,” but to feel daring and confident while doing it. Though nerdlesque is a modern art form, it is rooted in classic burlesque, particularly the smart satire. According to Persé Fanny, Co-Founder, Artistic Director, and one of several producers, “Most people think that nerdlesque is an entirely new concept, but the truth is nerdlesque is at the root of traditional burlesque. It is a parody of pop culture, a mocking of society.” NOLA Nerdlesque, now in its fourth year, “started out of a love for nerdy pop culture and burlesque,” says Fanny, when she and other local nerdlesque performers “decided to combine our dorky efforts and celebrate nerds together.” It is only the second festival solely dedicated to nerdlesque in the world, despite the popularity of nerdlesque at conventions and other festivals. Now sexier (and nerdier) than ever, NOLA Nerdlesque’s 2018 fest runs November 16-17. The festival is curated by Remy Dee, Persé Fanny, Vincent Gallant, Sable Switch, and Honey Tangerine, all well-known names in the local burlesque scene. The well-rounded festival includes four shows, three workshops at the New Orleans School of Burlesque, a closing party at the International House Hotel’s Loa Bar (221 Camp St.), and a nerd market during performances. Get the dirty on this year’s shows below, and be sure to buy your tickets in advance (note all shows are 18+ and tickets will be available at the door). Stripped Crusaders Friday, Nov. 16 at 8:00 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) General Admission, $15 Stripped Crusaders kicks off the festival weekend with superheroes taking off their spandex after long nights of fighting crime and being, well, heroes. Come watch the alluring performances of talented nerdlesque performers from all around the country as they channel your favorite cartoon, comic, and video game heroes. Tease from the Crypt Friday, Nov. 16 at 10:30 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) General Admission, $15 Extending the Halloween spirit just a bit, Tease from the Crypt is a nerdy revue playing on the late 80s/early 90s Tales from the Crypt. Get you heart racing as “glitter covered ghouls, stripping serial killers, [and] mesmerizing monsters” misbehave. The show’s featured performer is Juno from New Orleans. Cyburlesque Saturday, Nov. 17 at 8:00 p.m. Allways Lounge and Theatre (2240 St. Claude Ave.) General Admission, $15 Sci-Fi nerds, get ready! Cyburlesque brings together nerds from across the galaxy for an evening of out of this world performances. Why not? Robots, androids, and Bill Nye can be sexy. Performers include Risky Sour from Atlanta, Little Bo Peepshow & Narvel P Tuffnuts from St. Louis, and Doctor Vu from Burlington, Vermont, among many others. Just Drawn That Way Saturday, Nov. 17 at 10:00 p.m. Allways Lounge and Theatre (2240 St. Claude Ave.) General Admission, $15 The final show of the festival puts a spin on cartoons and comic books with Just Drawn That Way. Come see your favorite characters from the morning cartoons, fairy tales, and video games of your childhood in a totally different light. More than a dozen performers will take the stage including Lady Fingers from Austin, Ginger Oh Snap from Nashville, and featuring Piper Marie from New Orleans. Workshop: Producing for Love and Profit…But Mostly Profit Saturday, Nov. 17 at 11:00 a.m. New Orleans School of Burlesque (830 North Rampart St.) $10 at the door Hear from KiKi Maroon, who produces burlesque shows for a living, about how you can make money doing what you love. During the 90-minute workshop, she will discuss enticing topics such as common marketing mistakes and production budgeting. Plus, attendees will leave the workshop with KiKi’s own project plan which she uses for her own productions. Workshop: Floorwork with Ember Blaize Saturday, Nov. 17 at 1:00 p.m. New Orleans School of Burlesque (830 North Rampart St.) $10 at the door Ember Blaize guides this movement-oriented workshop to help performers learn new techniques and safety increase their flexibility. This workshop specifically focuses on floorwork and you’ll leave with a few new tricks up your sleeve. Workshop: The History of Burlesque Saturday, Nov. 17 at 3:00 p.m. New Orleans School of Burlesque (830 North Rampart Street) $10 at the door While the previous two workshops are designed with burlesque performers and others in the industry in mind, the History of Burlesque is open to anyone. Persé Fanny leads this 60-minute lecture that delves into the genesis and background of American burlesque. Nerd Market Friday, Nov. 16 Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) Saturday, Nov. 17 Allways Lounge and Theatre (2240 St. Claude Ave.) NOLA Nerdlesque’s nerd market pops up during shows on Friday and Saturday nights at the evening’s venue. Stroll by booths from local artists, festival sponsors, and festival organizers, and get your photo taken by New York based photographer Brandon Perdomo. Be sure to stop by on Saturday night to glitterize at Electra Cosmetics’ glitter sampling bar. Closing Party Friday, Nov. 16 at Midnight The Loa Bar at the International House Hotel (221 Camp St.) Free NOLA Nerdlesque’s festival party pops up after the Friday night shows. The Loa Bar will have a late night happy hour menu, including a special festival punch. The party is free and open to all. So go ahead, live a little, laugh a little, and let your freak flag fly. You’ll be in good company. Costumes, of course, are encouraged.

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 13:08 IST The Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment regarding leaders with a criminal background and said that they stand to be disqualified on date of conviction. The number of members of Parliament with a criminal background is 162, which means 30 per cent of those who govern the nation in the Lok Sabha have pending criminal cases. The person with the highest number of criminal cases (46) against him is Kameshwar Baitha, a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader from Jharkhand. Here is a look at the top five MP’s with criminal cases: Kameshwar Baitha: He won the 2009 elections from the Palamau constituency in Jharkhand. Aged 56, he has 46 pending criminal cases against him. He is worth Rs 5,70,000 as per his assets declaration. He has not been convicted as yet in any of the cases. The list of the cases pending against him are mentioned below: 22 charges related to attempt to murder 17 charges related to murder 6 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, 5 charges related to theft 4 charges related to voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means 3 charges related to voluntarily causing grievous hurt 2 charges related to dishonestly receiving stolen property 2 charges related to extortion 2 charges related to theft in dwelling house 2 charges related to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder 1 charge related to assisting in concealment of stolen property 1 charge related to assaulting President, governor, etc., with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power 1 charge related to dacoity 1 charge related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder 20 charges related to rioting 20 charges related to rioting, armed with deadly weapon 17 charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object 15 charges related to assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty 13 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt 11 charges related to punishment of criminal conspiracy 10 charges related to wrongful restraint 8 charges related to mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50 7 charges related to mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house 5 charges related to wrongful confinement 4 charges related to mischief by destroying or moving, etc, a landmark fixed by public authority mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to amount of one hundred or (in case of agricultural produce) ten rupee 3 charges related to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace 3 charges related to acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention 3 charges related to putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion 2 charges related to abettor present when offence is committed 2 charges related to abetment of a thing 2 charges related to causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender 2 charges related to criminal intimidation 2 charges related to house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint The rest of his charges range from harbouring robbers, extortion, trespass, unnatural offence and death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage. Ahir Hansaraj Gangaram -- winner from the Chandrapur constituency in Maharashtra. This Bharatiya Janjhata Party MP is worth Rs 80 lakh and has 30 pending criminal charges against of which he not been convicted as yet in any of them. 1 charge related to assaulting or obstructing public servant when suppressing riot, etc. 1 charge related to criminal intimidation 1 charge related to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty 1 charge related to mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees 1 charge related to wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot-if rioting be committed-if not committed 1 charge related to wrongful restraint 1 charge related to mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc 1 charge related to rioting 1 charge related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object 1 charge related to harbouring deserter 1 charge related to knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse His other offences are pending under sections 135,294,337,427,131,143,188,341,186 of the Indian Penal Code. Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya -- The 'gun-toting' ex-Congressman is a Bharatiya Janata Party member of Legislative Assembly from Gujarat has 20 pending criminal cases against him. He is worth Rs 2 crore. His offences are: 2 charges related to dacoity 1 charge related to voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons 1 charge related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder 9 charges related to Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace 6 charges related to disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant 5 charges related to obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions 4 charges related to being member of an unlawful assembly 3 charges related to rioting 3 charges related to abettor present when offence is committed 3 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty 2 charges related to robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt 2 charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object (IPC Section-149) 2 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt The other charges against him include threat of injury to public servant, voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery, wrongful restraint, defamation, abetment of desertion of soldier among others. M B Rajesh -- This Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate won the elections from Palakkad in Kerala. He has 16 pending criminal cases against him and is worth Rs 11 lakh. He has not been convicted as yet in any of the cases: His list of criminal cases is: 2 charges related to attempt to murder 16 charges related to rioting 10 charges related to being member of an unlawful assembly 10 charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object 8 charges related to danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation 6 charges related to Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty 4 charges related to rioting, armed with deadly weapon 4 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty 4 charges related to joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon 2 charges related to obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions 2 charges related to joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse 2 charges related to assaulting or obstructing public servant when suppressing riot, etc. 2 charges related to voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty 2 charges related to non-attendance in obedience to an order form public servant His other charges include criminal conspiracy among others. Bhonsle Srimant Pratapsinh -- He is the Nationalist Congress Party candidate who won from Satara in Maharashtra. Worth Rs 8 crore, he has 14 pending criminal cases against him. 1 charge related to murder 1 charge related to kidnapping 7 charges related to criminal intimidation 6 charges related to being member of an unlawful assembly 6 charges related to rioting 5 charges related to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace 4 charges related to voluntarily causing hurt His other charges include, mischief, trespass, wrongful restraint, rioting and criminal force among others.

Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival will return March 2 through April 12, 2018, bringing delicious cuisine, specialty beverages and exciting entertainment to Disneyland Resort guests for its third season. The culinary festival will expand to six weeks, with more days for guests to enjoy the flavors of the Golden State. More than a dozen Festival Marketplaces will feature California-inspired tastes and sips. Guests will experience presentations and demonstrations with celebrity chefs such as Robert Irvine and Alex Guarnaschelli; food and beverage tastings; winemaker dinners; beer, wine and spirit seminars – all in addition to live music, entertainment and special activities throughout the festival. The festival’s signature events will include new experiences such as the Disney Family of Wines Dinner, as well as returning favorites like Sweet Sundays and the Winemaker or Brewmaster Dinners. Another guest-favorite returning to the festival is the Junior Chef experience, with hands-on fun led by Chef Goofy, for children ages 3 to 11. Keep an eye on Disney Parks Blog and Disneyland.com for more information about the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, returning March 2 through April 12, 2018! Additional fees required for the signature events and certain seminars. Separate admission to Disney California Adventure Park is required and is not included with the cost of such events. Space is limited for all ticketed events; advance reservations are recommended. Guests must be 21 years of age or over to consume alcohol and to participate in some events; valid photo ID required. Events and demonstrations are subject to restrictions and change or cancellation without notice.

One of the strangest sentences in American law comes from Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. “Under the First Amendment,” he wrote, in 1974, “there is no such thing as a false idea.” That is not a decree that the world brims with truth. He meant that we rely on the marketplace of ideas, rather than on judges and juries, to sort out truth from falsehood—and to continually check our understanding of the truth. The Justice was restating the central tenet embraced in New York Times v. Sullivan, in 1964, the Supreme Court’s most important decision about freedom of speech and of the press. The Court extended the scope of the First Amendment to libel law and held that, even if a citizen stated or a newspaper published criticism about a public official that was incorrect, that mistake could be punished as libel only if the critic knew or suspected that the criticism was false. In 1967, the Court applied this rule to public figures as well. The premise of the marketplace applies broadly, not just to libel law. The First Amendment protects a lot of harmful speech, including much that is incendiary, offensive, and untrue. That protection covers President Trump, even if he does not believe the torrent of falsehoods he has uttered. Experts on crowd size estimate that his Inauguration attracted a crowd of about a hundred and fifty thousand, but Trump is free to say that there were as many as a million and a half people there. Public officials who oversaw the 2016 election reported that there were scant numbers of votes cast illegally—virtually none compared to the more than 137.7 million ballots cast in total—but Trump can claim that, had it not been for massive voter fraud, he would have won the popular vote, which Hillary Clinton won by 2.9 million votes, or 2.1 per cent of the total. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes introduced this concept into American law almost a century ago, writing that “the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” That includes Trump’s views that journalists are “among the most dishonest human beings on Earth” and “the enemy of the American people,” and that the federal appeals-court ruling that struck down his first travel ban, a month ago, jeopardized the security of the country. A wide body of scholarship has poked holes in Holmes’s idea. Fifty years ago, Jerome A. Barron, of George Washington University Law School, instructed that the marketplace fails because it assumes incorrectly that all citizens have access to it, that truth is always among the ideas in the marketplace, and that citizens are rational and will see the truth, rather than being irrational or simply subjective. Frederick Schauer, of the University of Virginia, summarized the case against the marketplace concept: “placing faith in the superiority of truth” to persuade—over the authority of a speaker, the frequency with which he makes an assertion, the consistency between the assertion and what a listener believes, and other factors, such as whether an assertion is illustrated or not—requires “an almost willful disregard of the masses of scientific and marketing research to the contrary.” (Elizabeth Kolbert wrote last month about new cognitive research that shows the limits of reason.) Schauer wrote that the belief that “a good remedy for false speech is more speech, or that truth will prevail in the long run, may itself be an example of the resistance of false factual propositions to argument and counterexample.” These days, the most obvious problem with the notion of a marketplace of ideas is balkanization: instead of there being an overarching marketplace where truth can vanquish falsehood, there are at least two very separate markets—“filter bubbles,” as Amanda Hess described them in the Times—for Trump supporters and opponents, resulting from “the tendency of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to lock users into personalized feedback loops, each with its own news sources, cultural touchstones and political inclinations.” There is also the problem that some bubbles are more counterfactual than others. This was clear from the proliferation of bogus news in support of the Trump campaign, like what came out of the Macedonian town of Veles, with its “100 pro-Trump websites, many of them filled with sensationalist, utterly fake news,” during the Presidential election, as Wired reported. That counterfeit content “energized Trump’s partisans,” the scholars Michael C. Dorf and Sidney Tarrow wrote recently, “and may have been decisive in securing Trump’s victory.”

The Samsung Group is a South Korea-based conglomerate company that includes a number of subsidiaries. It's one of the largest businesses in Korea, producing nearly one-fifth of the country’s total exports with a primary focus in the electronics, heavy industry, construction, and defense industries. Other major subsidiaries of Samsung include insurance, advertising, and entertainment industry businesses. Samsung History With only 30,000 won (about $27 USD), Lee Byung-chull started Samsung on March 1 in 1938, as a trading company based in Taegu, Korea. The small company of only 40 employees started as a grocery store, trading and exporting goods produced in and around the city, like dried Korean fish and vegetables, as well as its own noodles. The company grew and soon expanded to Seoul in 1947 but left once the Korean War broke out. After the war, Lee started a sugar refinery in Busan that was called Cheil Jedang, before expanding into textiles and building the (then) largest woolen mill in Korea. The successful diversification became a growth strategy for Samsung, which rapidly expanded into the insurance, securities, and retail business. Samsung was focused on the redevelopment of Korea after the war with a central focus on industrialization. Samsung entered the electronics industry in the 1960's with the formation of several electronics focused divisions. The initial electronics divisions included Samsung Electronics Devices, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Corning, and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications. Samsung built their initial facilities in Suwon, South Korea, in 1970, where they started producing black and white television sets. Between 1972 and 1979, Samsung began selling washing machines, changed to Samsung Petrochemical and then Samsung Heavy Industries, and by 1976, had sold its 1 millionth B&W television. In 1977, they started exporting color TVs and established Samsung Construction, Samsung Fine Chemicals, and Samsung Precision Co. (now called Samsung Techwin). By 1978, Samsung had sold 4 million black and white television sets and started mass producing microwave ovens before 1980. 1980 to Present In 1980, Samsung entered the telecommunications hardware industry with the purchase of Hanguk Jenja Tongsin. Initially building telephone switchboards, Samsung expanded into telephone and fax systems which eventually shifted to mobile phone manufacturing. The mobile phone business was grouped together with Samsung Electronics which began to invest heavily in research and development throughout the 1980's. During this time Samsung Electronics expanded to Portugal, New York, Tokyo, England, and Austin, Texas. In 1987 with the death of Lee Byung-chull, the Samsung group was separated into four business groups leaving the Samsung Group with electronics, engineering, construction, and most high-tech products. Retail, food, chemicals, logistics, entertainment, paper, and telecom were spun out among the Shinsegae Group, CJ Group, and Hansol Group. Samsung grew as an international corporation throughout the 1990's. The construction division of Samsung secured several high-profile construction projects, including one of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the half-mile tall Burj Khalifa Tower in the UAE. Samsung 's engineering division also includes Samsung Techwin, an aerospace manufacturer that manufactures aircraft engines and gas turbines as well as supplying parts used in jet engines on Boeing and Airbus aircraft. In 1993, Samsung began to focus on three industries — electronics, engineering, and chemicals. The reorganization included selling off ten subsidiaries and downsizing. With a renewed focus in electronics, Samsung invested in LCD technology, becoming the largest manufacturer of LCD panels in the world by 2005. Sony partnered with Samsung in 2006 to develop a stable supply of LCD panels for both companies, which had been an increasing problem for Sony, which had not invested in large LCD panels. While the partnership was nearly a 50-50 split, Samsung owned one share more than Sony, giving them control over the manufacturing. At the end of 2011, Samsung bought Sony's stake in the partnership and took full control. Samsung's focus in the future is centered on five core businesses including mobile, electronics and biopharmaceuticals. As part of its bio-pharma investment, Samsung formed a joint venture with Biogen, investing $255 million to provide technical development and biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in South Korea. Samsung has budgeted nearly $2 billion in additional investment to pursue their bio-pharma growth strategy and leverage the advantages of their joint venture. Samsung has also continued to expand in the mobile phone market, becoming the largest manufacturer of mobile phones in 2012. To remain a dominant manufacturer, Samsung has earmarked $3-4 billion to upgrade their Austin Texas semiconductor manufacturing facility. Samsung announced the Gear VR in September 2014, which is a virtual reality device developed for use with the Galaxy Note 4. Also in 2014, Samsung announced that they would begin selling fiber optics to glass manufacturer Corning Inc. By 2015, Samsung had more US patents approved than any other company, being granted over 7,500 utility patents before the end of the year.

CC Saad Akhtar (CC BY 2.0)​ Vandaag brengen we op onze website een dossier over detachering – het tijdelijk tewerkstellen van EU-burgers uit een lidstaat in een andere lidstaat, waarbij ze hun sociale zekerheid in hun land van herkomst kunnen blijven regelen. Een aantal zaken valt op. Ten eerste blijkt detachering sterk toegenomen. Recent onderzoek van het HIVA van de KU-Leuven leert dat het aantal gedetacheerden op tien jaar tijd verdrievoudigd is van 80.000 naar 210.000. In de bouw steeg het aantal gedetacheerden van 45.300 naar 130.000 (terwijl de tewerkstelling voor Belgen met 16.000 eenheden daalde). Ten tweede is het opmerkelijk dat er tussen 2011 en 2015 – de nadagen van de financiële crisis met nog behoorlijk wat werklozen - in ons land meer banen zijn geschapen voor gedetacheerden dan voor Belgen: 65.000 Belgen kregen een nieuwe baan als loontrekkende of zelfstandige, tegen 87.000 gedetacheerden, vooral uit Oost-en Centraal-Europa. Daarmee willen we niet beweren dat alle gedetacheerden werk van Belgen hebben ingenomen, maar denken dat geen enkele van die 87.000 jobs voor gedetacheerden door Belgen zou zijn ingenomen, is evenmin realistisch. Ten derde viel ons op dat de ergernis in een sector als de bouw groeit. Zeker bij grote bedrijven worden Belgen stelselmatig vervangen door buitenlanders. Belgen krijgen boudweg te horen dat ze te duur zijn. Dat zet kwaad bloed. Sommigen voorspellen nog meer Brexits als het zo doorgaat, anderen stemmen op het Front National . ‘Op sommige werven ken ik amper nog iemand’, vertelt een Belg die op economische werkloosheid staat en nog een week per maand mag komen werken. Het spreekt voor zich dat vakbonden invloed verliezen als er op de werven amper nog iemand werkt die bij hen is aangesloten. ‘Gedetacheerden gooien onze pamfletten weg’, vertelt Wim Baeyens van ACV Bouw. Ten vierde is het zo dat de stap naar fraude in die omstandigheden snel gezet is. Als Polen, Roemenen of Portugezen blij zijn met lagere lonen, is het moeilijk om overtredingen te controleren. De controle op de fraude is de voorbije jaren versterkt, maar de nochtans zeer gedreven rechters en sociale inspecteurs zeggen unisono: ‘Wij gaan dit probleem niet oplossen. De politiek heeft het probleem geschapen, hij moet het ook oplossen.’ Gevolg is dat fraude ruim verspreid blijft. In het onlangs gesloten slachthuis van Tielt – om redenen van dierenmishandeling - werkten werknemers die aangeleverd werden door liefst twintig verschillende “uitzendkantoren” – “bedrijven” gevestigd in gezinswoningen, die personeel aanleveren. Tien jaar geleden werd Tielt al veroordeeld voor sociale fraude. Of het nu even erg is, is onduidelijk bij gebrek aan onderzoek. Maar arbeidsauditeur Danny Meirsschaut stelt de vraag of de kans op dierenmishandeling niet groter wordt wanneer het personeel niet goed behandeld wordt. Ten vijfde valt op dat België, na Luxemburg, het land is waar detachering verhoudingsgewijs het grootst is. Dat staat wellicht niet los van het feit dat in ons land het verschil tussen nettoloon en de totale loonkost het grootst is. Detachering is een manier geworden om de hoge Belgische loonkosten te omzeilen. Ten zesde: De politiek maakt aanstalten om er iets aan te doen. De Belgische regering maakt zich sterk dat haar loonkostenverlaging de detachering al heeft verminderd. En wil daar in de bouw nog verder in gaan door de werkgeversbijdragen in 2019 en 2020 met zeshonderd miljoen euro te verlagen. België lijkt zich in gevoelige sectoren dus aan te passen aan het Europese gemiddelde inzake loonkost: if you can’t beat them, joint hem. Eurocommissaris Marianne Thyssen wil dat de gedetacheerden hier niet langer de minimale wettelijke verloning ontvangen maar de doorsnee verloning met alle voordelen voorzien in de CAO’s. Wat leren we uit dit alles? 1. Dat er zoveel ongelijkheid is in de EU dat ze arbeidsmigratie in de hand werkt. Vraag is of de arme lidstaten de welvaartskloof kunnen dichten door arbeid uit te voeren. Er is zonder twijfel meer nodig: investeringen in mensen en dingen bijvoorbeeld. 2. ‘Als we de detachering te lijf gaan door sociale zekerheidsbijdragen te verlagen, organiseer je zelf de sociale dumping’, waarschuwt professor Jef Pacolet. ‘En bevestig je dat de EU een machine is die sociale bescherming afbouwt. Tenzij je de sociale zekerheid anders gaat financieren.’ Staatssecretaris voor sociale fraudebestrijding Philippe De Backer is het daar niet mee eens: ‘Door de loonkost te verlagen, schep je meer banen, en krijg je meer inkomsten voor de sociale zekerheid.’ 3. De kwestie van de detachering heeft ook een belangrijke politieke dimensie. Belgische werknemers die als gevolg hiervan hun baan verliezen, hebben het gevoel dat ze de verliezers van het Europese verhaal zijn. En dat heeft zoals recentelijk bewezen politieke gevolgen. De verliezers van de globalisering en de kleine globalisering-genaamd-Europese-eenheidsmarkt roeren zich. Het kabaal is het grootst in de landen die het neoliberalisme het meest onverdund hebben doorgevoerd: zowel in de VS Trump als het Verenigd Koninkrijk legt een nationalistische overwinning grenzen op aan de globalisering. West-Europese landen zijn die dans tot nu toe ontsprongen maar de EU zal moeten bewijzen dat ze de mensen kan beschermen zoals de Franse president Macron belooft. Dat het voor rechtvaardige fiscaliteit kan zorgen. Dat het voor een menselijke migratiepolitiek kan zorgen die gedragen wordt. Het detacheringsdossier zit in het hart van dat debat. Niet toevallig zijn er intussen vijfhonderd amendementen op Thyssens voorstel. Hoe organiseer je een Europese arbeidsmarkt zonder sociale dumping in de rijkere lidstaten? Als Merkel wil dat we als Europa aan een zeel gaan trekken – nu ook op vlak van defensie - dan zal ze voor een sociaal-economisch beleid moeten zorgen dat niet alleen goed uitpakt voor Duitsland maar voor alle landen van de Unie. Dat zal geld kosten. Het zijn spannende tijden.

TOP 5 SPENDING TOP 5 SPENDING WASHINGTON — Tuesday's midterm elections — and the record-shattering amounts outside groups spent to oust Democratic incumbents — are just a warm-up to the 2012 presidential race, analysts and experts say. Conservative groups outspent liberal groups by a more than 2-to-1 ratio heading into an Election Day that brought the biggest Republican sweep in the House of Representatives in decades and sliced into the Democratic majority in the Senate. "The Democrats brought a bat, and the Republicans brought a grenade," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. "If you think spending is out of control by outside groups, it likely will blow your mind in the presidential election." President Obama has repeatedly lambasted conservative groups for their role in the midterm elections and criticized the Supreme Court's decision in January that opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and union spending on election ads. Conservative spending has topped $187 million this year, up from $19.6 million in 2006, the last midterm election, the center's data show. The leader of one of the leading GOP organizations said on Wednesday that it plans to play a big role in 2012. "People wanted Congress and the president to address the economy and felt that instead the Congress and the president were pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with what the average American wanted," said Steven Law, CEO of American Crossroads and a related group that spent more than $38 million combined to influence races. "Our goal was to amplify that," he said. "The main thing for the president to do is to listen to that for his own sake and for the country's sake. If he decides not to, we will amplify it even louder in 2012." In more than 50 House races, outside groups and party committees outspent the candidates, a USA TODAY analysis shows. Other trends: •In the 48 House contests in which outside groups spent a combined $1 million or more, Republicans won two-thirds, a USA TODAY analysis of election results and campaign reports shows. In one Upstate New York district, conservative groups such as American Crossroads, the Tea Party Express and the 60 Plus Association bought $2.8 million in negative ads attacking freshman Democratic Rep. Scott Murphy on health care, helping Republican Christopher Gibson win 55% of the vote. •Self-funded candidates of both parties faired poorly Tuesday. Only four of the 15 federal candidates who put $1 million or more into their own campaigns won on Tuesday, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics. Wrestling executive Linda McMahon lost the Connecticut Senate race, despite spending $46.6 million — or roughly $96 per vote. By comparison, her Democratic opponent, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, spent $12 per vote with campaign and personal funds. Other self-funded candidates who lost include: former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who spent more than $142 million of her own money in the California gubernatorial contest. Some multimillion-dollar-spending candidates did have success. Republican Ron Johnson, CEO of a polymer company, spent $8.2 million of his own to oust Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. Republican Rick Scott, founder of the hospital chain Columbia/HCA, spent $73 million in a successful bid for Florida governor. •U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $32 million on 67 House and Senate races. The USA TODAY analysis shows that 72% of chamber-backed candidates won so far. But, it spent nearly $5 million against Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who won. R. Bruce Josten, the chamber's top lobbyist, said the state's voters were out of step with the rest of the electorate. "You've got a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, with massive budget deficits ... and a body politic that showed absolutely no signs of coming to grips with their own economic reality." This year's spending should spur Democrats to start raising cash for their own outside efforts, said Mark Aronchick, a longtime Democratic fundraiser in Philadelphia. "Interest and advocacy groups that support the Democratic agenda need to stop wringing their hands and step up to the plate," he said. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more

No self-respecting oligarch these days can afford to be without a superyacht. Ownership of a bling boat is as obligatory as the Ferrari in the triple garage and the private jet on standby. However, within months any billionaire wanting to sail their marine home into US waters will have to comply with stringent new environmental regulations to curb their hulking vessel’s polluting effects. The regulations, which stipulate that certain types of vessel built after 2016 have to be fitted with bulky equipment that converts nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and water, were presented to the International Maritime Organisation, the UN body responsible for reducing shipping pollution, but were resisted by trade bodies representing superyacht manufacturers. They protested that the proposed rules threatened their industry because the engine rooms of some superyachts were too small to accommodate the new equipment, meaning they would have to lose a guest cabin to make room for the technology. A vociferous lobbying campaign was mounted, with some boat builders suggesting that the regulations represented a “doomsday” scenario for their industry. Russia, too, weighed in against the proposals. Amid the standoff, the US has opted to impose its own unilateral obligations, which come into force from 1 January in North America and the US Caribbean, and will force all newly built boats over 24m long and with a gross tonnage of 500 tonnes or more to cut their sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions by nearly 80%. Experts predict that the regulations, which will apply to all vessels over 24m by 2021, would soon be rolled out to other maritime areas, including the Mediterranean. Although the new US rules apply to all types of boat built from next year, it is their impact on superyachts that will be most noticeable. Environmental campaigners have expressed anger that, even when the cheapest of cars are equipped with anti-pollutant filters, superyachts have historically had to meet few environmental obligations to reduce their sizeable diesel emissions. It reportedly costs more than £250,000 just to fill the fuel tanks of the Vava II, which is almost 100 metres long and was commissioned for a former Miss UK, Kirsty Bertarelli, by her billionaire husband Ernesto. The vessel is dwarfed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s 160m Eclipse, which can accommodate 36 guests in 18 cabins. U2 singer Bono owns the more modestly sized Kingdom Come which is 60m long and can hold up to 115,000 litres of fuel. With the super-rich competing to build ever larger vessels, curbing diesel emissions is becoming a priority for engine builders who believe that incorporating anti-pollution systems into their next-generation designs represents a new marketing opportunity. “These yachts can go up to 200 metres and everything is getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” said Ivo Van Den Berg, business manager at Zenoro, a company that specialises in fitting power systems to superyachts. “These boats need more than shore power can provide when they are moored up. You go to Monaco and you see lot of yachts running on generators all the time. When there is no wind, the emissions are like smog in the city.” Dan Houston, editor at classicsailor.com, said the shipping world was a major polluter that had been slow to clean up its act. “Around 95% of all that we use comes in by ships,” Houston said. “I live in Hove, and you can see the diesel fumes out at sea on certain days. The ships are trucking up and down through the straits of Dover, and when you can’t see the yellow smudge out to sea, that’s when you’re in it.” Some studies suggest that the health risks of shipping pollution are worse than those caused by traffic pollution. It is claimed that one giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50 million cars. A German report estimates that 60,000 deaths each year are caused by shipping pollution. But, despite these concerns, the shipping world has not yet been subject to the same level of scrutiny as other polluting industries.

Two guys walk into a bar. They order beers. Bartender says they don’t have any beer. The men look confused. A stranger in a stylish hat suggests they try something different. They order a clear malt beverage. It’s on ice, clear, delicious. The men are happy. The entire ad spot lasts 30 seconds, or roughly the same amount of time Zima could claim to be among the most popular adult beverages in the country. In 1991, with beer sales on the decline across the industry, the Coors company of Golden, Colorado decided to blend two of the hottest trends in consumer marketing: “clear” products like Crystal Pepsi and the smooth, gently-intoxicating appeal of wine coolers. By using charcoal to filter the color and taste from their brews, they were able to deliver a vaguely citrus-tasting drink with 4.7 percent alcohol content. The company asked third-party marketing firm Lexicon Branding to give it a name; Jane Espenson, who would later become a staff writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Game of Thrones, dubbed it Zima, the Russian word for "winter." Armed with a $180 million budget for the 1994 launch, Coors peppered television with commercials featuring a spokesman who exchanged his s's for z's. (“What’s your zign?”) They also pushed a slew of merchandising and even an early consumer-use product website. The goal was to get Zima on the minds and into the hands of young males. Owing to the blanket advertising assault, that's exactly what they accomplished. Zima sold a staggering 1.3 million barrels’ worth of product in 1994, giving it a near-instant 1 percent market share in the booze industry. It was estimated that 70 percent of all drinkers tried the “malternative." As Coors would soon learn, those numbers only work in your favor if people like the product. The company was disappointed to learn that many of them didn’t: Men found the taste off-putting. And those who enjoyed it were precisely the demographic they were looking to avoid. Women who normally passed over beer embraced Zima, giving it an effete quality that marketing considered to be grim death for the valued male customer base. If a man couldn’t feel manly taking a pull of the clear stuff, he'd be likely to reach for something else. On the public relations side, Coors was also having to defend itself against charges that teenagers were growing fond of Zima because its smell was harder to detect than regular beer (it had almost no odor) and was easier to consume out in the open. A rumor surfaced that Zima wouldn’t set off a breathalyzer, which Coors was forced to debunk in letters addressed to police chiefs and school officials. Unfortunately, being in the beer business and having to write letters to superintendents means that something has already gone very wrong. By 1995, Zima's sales dropped by half; in 1996, they dropped nearly in half again. David Letterman began mocking it on his talk show. Coors tried to entice the hip crowd, launching Zima Gold, which had a more liquor-like taste, but they weren’t fooled. Zima XXX and its higher-volume alcohol content (5.9 percent) followed, all to diminishing returns. Nothing could recapture that early intrigue: Citing poor sales, Coors, which eventually merged with Miller to become MillerCoors, discontinued Zima in 2008—but that wasn't quite the end. In 2014, The Japan Times reported that Zima was a popular order in Tokyo bars. The drink’s advertising campaign was focused on appearing cool to young Japanese men, who apparently order it without fear of coming off like a party lightweight. And in summer 2017, MillerCoors banked on nostalgia to fuel a Zima comeback: The brewer has resurrected the suds-free beverage for a limited time through Labor Day.

1 of 6 View Caption Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack holds her son, December 24, 2015. Bidlack and her son's biological mother who Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack's son grips his mother's hand, December 24, 2015. Bidlack and her longtime pa Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack shows the new birth certificate of her son, stating the names of she and Sara Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack carries her engagement rings with partner Sara Clow in her purse, December 2 Photos courtesy Nicki Bidlack. Nicki Bidlack and her partner Sara Clow on the day of their son's birth in 2013 (top) and a photo Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Nicki Bidlack wipes away tears as she talks about her deceased love, Sara Clow, December 24

Visitors to the shrine chant a prayer to the saint. Before heading back to their homes, many will give alms to the beggars who sit on the tomb’s marble steps. Mariya Karimjee In Manghopir, the shrine’s caretakers worry about the consequences for their fledgling microeconomy. Vendors struggle to sell flowers outside the shrines, the mosaic tile work at the shrine falls into disrepair as donations shrink, and the beggars who once lived off visitors’ alms have dispersed. The shrine’s caretakers are concerned that eventually there may be no crocodiles left. Currently, they say, there are an estimated 200 crocodiles at the shrine, though the actual number appears to be smaller. “Every so often we’ll sacrifice a goat and cut it up and feed it to the crocodiles, but these animals live off the donations of shrine visitors,” says Mahmood, who has watched over the reptiles since he was a young boy. Each year since 2010, citing imminent threats by Islamic fundamentalists, the Sindh government has canceled the Sheedi Mela, an annual festival that long honored the culture of those responsible for caring for the shrine — all descendants of African slaves brought to Pakistan by Omani traders. Proceeds from the festival could often feed the crocodiles for months. Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, the public-relations manager for the province’s charitable-giving department, which oversees shrines, mosques and historic religious venues, says he saw no choice but to cancel the festival again this year. Manghopir has become one of Karachi’s no-go zones, where violence and crime are so rampant that security forces refuse to enter. These pockets of lawlessness within Pakistan’s largest city have become safe havens for the Taliban, say analysts. In early November, five tortured bodies were found in the area; police have no leads or pending investigations into the crime. Says Shaikh, “Elsewhere in Karachi, homeless men seeking refuge in various shrines are found beheaded simply for practicing their religion.” In January, at another shrine in the city, police found a scroll of paper inside the mouth of a man who had been beheaded. The note, signed by the Pakistani Taliban, said that worshipping Sufi saints was blasphemy and forbidden by Islam. Baba Mohammad, an elder patron of Manghopir’s shrine, says he believes the Taliban consider the local Sufi community a threat. The Sufi culture that thrives in Sindh is one reason the Taliban haven’t made bigger inroads in the province, he says. But more and more people are drawn to the Taliban’s brand of Islam. Mohammad’s grandson, Mohammad Bilal, began taking classes three years ago at a local madrassa. According to Baba Mohammad, his grandson was alarmed to learn how fundamentally opposed Sufism was to the Wahhabi Islam he was learning at the madrassa. He’s now stopped going to the shrine where he grew up, but his grandfather and uncles still visit almost every single day. Iqbal says she saved for months to make the journey. She points to the face of her only son, partially paralyzed after an insect bite. She doesn’t have any money for doctors, she says; working as a maid in a middle-class neighborhood, she earns the equivalent of $50 a month. Even if she did have enough money, Iqbal says, she doesn’t believe that medical care could help her son. Instead, she came to pray to God, to feed the crocodiles and to wash her son in the hot springs, hoping for a miracle. “My husband said, ‘Don’t go. The Taliban will kill you,’” she says. “But I had to try.”

I have spent most of my 20s in emotionally abusive relationships. Until a year ago, I thought I was the worst kind of damaged goods, a girl who could only love men who hurt her. I know there are three sides to every story. In this article, you're going to hear one; mine. I don't write this with venom. The men I've been involved with were handsome, smart, charming and talented. There were good times. The bad times outweighed them. Most people don't know I've been in (to clarify again) emotionally abusive relationships. From the outside, I'd bet my life looks pretty great. Some parts of it always were. I guess I am proof that there is no likely candidate for abuse. For a long time, I found my romantic past embarrassing, confusing and very sad. I didn't want to talk about my experiences because I thought that my kind of pain was self-inflicted. If I was stupid enough to stay, I deserved it. But when "the Jian Ghomeshi thing" happened, it was all I could think about. When people first sided with Ghomeshi and not his victims, I was so mad I started shaking. When I started listening to Serial, I had recurring dreams about Hae Min Lee. I was obsessed with figuring out who killed her. Then, I started dreaming of all my ex-boyfriends again. Trauma is a funny thing. It hides in the shadowy corners of your mind, resurfacing when all you want is for it to be erased from your memory forever. I'm writing this for a lot of reasons. Some of them are: I think abusive relationships are an epidemic in our society. It could help someone understand their friend, their sister, their daughter who keeps going back. It could help someone who keeps going back. Because articles like this helped me. Because what trauma really wants is a voice. To anyone who needs help, You think you are crazy. You're anxious all the time. Your heart beats quickly. You have a lot of questions for your boyfriend that you don't feel like you can ask. You wonder if you're always being lied to. You spend a lot time in the past, likely when you first fell in love him. You apologize constantly. When you explain your fights to anyone who will listen, no one understands why you're apologizing. You are always confused. You're high as a fucking kite when he's nice to you. He says "one small thing," and with an embarrassing clarity, you are reminded of all the parts of yourself you hate. How can he see those parts so clearly? You cry a lot. Sometimes you know why. Sometimes you don't. You are not crazy. When you're with your boyfriend, you're usually with just him alone. You feel weird around your friends and family, the people you used to feel the most yourself around. You can't remember how to feel like yourself anymore. Now, being in your own skin is like a long dull headache that won't lift and then feels like normal. Pretty much all your thoughts about yourself are negative. "I used to be funny, why aren't I funny anymore?" You think you are crazy. There will be good days with your boyfriend. There will be miraculous days of exquisite and suffering beauty between you two. On these days, you will feel better than the best and like everything's okay. You will believe that the chaos has made you stronger; that he loves you more than anything. These days are bright spots in the darkness that has descended upon you. They are the moments of hope that you'll cling to, your proof that everything is okay. But moments aren't a life. Moments aren't enough. You deserve weeks, months and years of feeling like everything is okay. You deserve a lifetime of that. When your relationship ends, you will drown in the confusing, competing narratives in your head, just like you did while in the relationship. Memory is going to be a weird thing for you for a while. Grief is a delusional state. We really loved each other. I could've helped him if I'd tried harder. I'm not perfect. And sometimes, I don't think love should feel like this. The latter will be quieter, the former will roar inside you. Some days, you will think you left the most beautiful relationship and the truest love in the whole world. Some days you will think you are just hysterical and crazy and that you weren't being abused at all. Until very recently, I still had days like that. After you break up with him, you might not feel an immediate sense of relief, empowerment or really anything that resembles "I know this is the right thing." You will likely feel very alone. Unfortunately, coming out of the fog with your eyes open is more painful than slipping into one without noticing. But remember: feelings aren't the truth. You aren't the worst off you've ever been. Expect the sadness. It sounds crazy but welcome it. That sadness is going to live in you for a long time and it will teach you a lot. I know you don't believe me, but that sadness is your friend. That sadness is your becoming. Not everyone you lose is a loss. Tell your story no matter how murky the details seem at first. Keep talking. Read every article you can find on abuse until you feel an intellectual understanding of what happened tunnel into you emotionally. The head will come first, your heart will follow; it will all become clearer. Talk to your friends. Talk to your family. I promise you have more than one person in your life that can sympathize with you in the deepest of ways. You know someone who has lived through this. Maybe it's your mom. Maybe she modeled this kind of love for you. If you're lucky like I was, you'll find a therapist that can help you. There are also a lot of free resources. There are a lot of great 12 step meetings you can go to. There is free counseling available (links below). When getting help, you will have to reflect on your relationship. Don't blame yourself for not leaving sooner, and don't let anyone else blame you, either. In moments of trauma and shock the brain has a funny way of protecting itself. It's called disassociating. You have done a lot of this. You will remember about three months in your ex-boyfriend did something and it was like a mask was lifted. He showed you a person you had never met before. I mention this because statistically an abusive person will do something that throws you completely off balance within the first three months. Then, they will be really sorry. You will come to learn that real love is not a cycle of cruelty, effusive apologies, a honey-moon period, then a dreaded waiting for the other shoe to drop followed by more cruelty. Abusive relationships are defined by this pattern. When you do leave, you will realize that the space that your relationship took up was enormous. It was, whether you knew it or not, the monkey on the back of every thought you had. When it's gone, the emptiness left in its wake will feel like an ocean around you It will take way longer than you want to "get over it," and you will think you will never reach the shore. You will. When I was newly single and going on dates, this is how it went. First, I dated blindly and way more than I should have. I was attracted to guys who were like all my ex-boyfriends, physically and emotionally. Then, I started dating people who were completely different but whom I was not ready to love. Like a scientist, I observed how they treated me with a confusing detachment and thought, "Oh, so this is what it should be like." "So, this is what kindness is like." Dating made me feel like the loneliest person in the world for a long time. I wish now I hadn't done it at all, but withdrawal is painful and uncomfortable. I was willing to try anything to feel just a little better. You will miss your ex boyfriend in a way you didn't know was possible and you don't think should be allowed. You will want to get back together. Abusive relationships fuck your brain chemistry up. They're addictive, and the withdrawal is not fun. Don't worry, with time, your brain will even out. In awhile, you won't want to be with him anymore. Crying helps you detox, so do a lot of it. So does sleeping, exercise, therapy, eating healthy, seeing your friends and laughing. For me, alcohol didn't really help. Or I guess, it did, until it didn't. When you're in the withdrawal phase, you'll begin to understand why you thought being in an abusive relationship was okay for you. You're going to have to look at a lot of your past and your inherited patterns. It can get heavy but knuckle through it. You can do it. I did. You will tell people that know your ex-boyfriend about what happened and how he treated you. Likely, no one will be surprised by his behaviour. Likely, no one will confront him. This is one of the saddest parts of our world. You will feel like the last one in on a sick joke. Your ex-boyfriend will probably never apologize to you. If you do hear from him or see him, he will make you feel crazy. He's really good at that. He will likely minimize your history, dismiss your relationship and pull the rug out from under you again. The way he frames you and your relationship will be distorted. I believe that amends can happen, but usually, not in a timely manner. Like you need time to really unpack and understand why it all happened, so will he. Now factor into this that you have the desire to understand yourself and your behaviour. The closure you desire is a myth and it's not reachable in one conversation. Closure happens slowly and keeps happening. You'll give it to yourself. If you leave your boyfriend for someone else, beware. Until you truly understand why you were in the situation you were, emotionally and intellectually, your subconscious will have a sad way of attracting an identical relationship that looks completely different from the outside. This is not always true, but has been my experience. At first, when the fog is lifting, you will look at your past self with shock and disgust. Then, later, you will look at your past self with sadness. Then, with understanding. Finally, you feel the most visceral pride for the moment you left, even if you didn't want to -- because you did that on the blind faith that life might be better on the other side. You did that on hope alone. You didn't know what you do now. That's so brave. You are so brave. I know how scared you are. I still get scared. My year of recovery has been the most challenging and rewarding of my life. It's not perfect and I don't think it ever will be. I get lonely and restless. I live with those feelings. Actually, I try to understand them. One day, your life will look like a version of mine. Things will keep getting better and better, faster and faster. Good things will keep finding you. You will be really happy. That happiness will get so big that you won't notice how the sadness is lifting until it's almost gone. My life is full of hard work, art, friends who love and support me, friends that I am lucky to know. I have more energy than I know what to do with. I am the most productive I have ever been. I travel, I have meaningful conversation, I rest, I laugh a lot, I stay out too late. I am closer to my family than ever before. I found my way back to my old friends. Maybe I'm becoming myself again. Finally, (I know you're worried about this) you will meet someone else. You will fall in love again and this time, it will be about more than your wounds matching up with someone else's. It will be different and it will be better. But something becomes more important to you than romantic love and it's called self-worth. It will feel like it happens almost over night, but you will grow to love the person you are. You should. You fought hard to become her. Love, Katie P.S. If you have a friend or a family member, male, female or transgender, that you suspect is the victim of emotional abuse, tell them you are there for them. Tell them you support them unwaveringly. Believe what they're telling you. Tell them you will be there for them when they decide to leave. Show them this article or articles like this. Send them these links: ALSO ON HUFFPOST:

How Rise of the Tomb Raider is forging a gaming icon. Camilla Luddington is frowning seven different ways. She's an experienced actor, so each frown carries its own nuance and meaning: defiance, confusion, vulnerability, fear. She's filming in a Los Angeles facial capture studio for her role as Lara Croft in the forthcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider. Since the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Luddington has provided the basis for the face and voice of one of video gaming's most recognizable characters. A few days later, some 350 miles north of L.A. in the offices of Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, Senior Technical Artist Jon Robins leans into his monitor and carefully studies the Luddington footage. "Making a human being is the most challenging thing when creating video games." He notes how light bounces off the ridges on Luddington's forehead, how her eyes move in a slightly different fashion for each frown, how the lines around her eyes transfer to the particulars of her smile, the angle of her cheekbones, the jut of her chin. He imports the images into facial engine models of Lara Croft. The mesh of her face represents thousand of data points. Robins manipulates blend shapes in order to tweak Lara Croft's expressions, each designed for a specific moment in the game — for a flash of peril, a quizzical exchange of dialog or an internal moment of self-reflection. He is tasked with making Lara Croft look as human as possible. She must seem like a real person while also being an action hero. She must convey both power and vulnerability. She must be visually and emotionally appealing to the player. She must seem like the same Lara Croft we have known for two decades. As Croft shows a variety of on-screen emotions, Robins sits back in his office chair and gazes at her face. He frowns. Something isn't right. It takes a moment for him to articulate the problem. There's a woman on his screen but she isn't Lara Croft. He's looking at an actor. He's looking at Camilla Luddington. Lara Croft is gone. Remaking Lara Croft video New horizons Rise of the Tomb Raider is the first Lara Croft game made specifically for the current console generation. It’s a timed exclusive for Xbox One (and Xbox 360), due out on Nov. 10. Rise of the Tomb Raider picks up after the events of the 2013 reboot, during which young and inexperienced archaeology graduate Lara Croft struggles to survive on a lost island infested with enemies, secrets and mysteries. In the new game Croft arrives in wintry Siberia, once again up against determined, well-armed enemies in hostile terrain, all searching for valuable artifacts. Now she is more self-confident, more assured and more certain of her place in the world. Crystal Dynamics and publisher Microsoft make much of the value of their iconic character, stressing her physical realism in promotional materials. Everyone knows Lara Croft. She is the game’s most marketable asset. "We all see people every day. We can pick up when something is wrong very quickly." Lara Croft was the first major female video game protagonist. She remains one of the most recognizable game characters in the world: a smart, ambitious, athletic, attractive young Englishwoman. Movement has always been a key component of her character, all the way back to her swishing braid in Core Design’s 1996 original. In the intervening years, she has evolved to ever-more detailed polygonal representations and fluidity of movement, up to today’s motion-captured avatar. So making her look great is taking up a lot of Crystal Dynamics’ attention. "Making a human being is the most challenging thing when creating video games," says Senior Character Artist Kam Yu. "Technological advances help us get there but it needs a lot of skills. "To make a believable character you need a good concept, the right model, shaders, animation, performance. It’s a complete package." The trouble with fake human beings is real human beings. We are very good at spotting the slightest fakery, the merest hint of offness. "We all see people every day," says Yu. "We can pick up when something is wrong very quickly. When you’re putting together a well-known character like Lara, you have to be aware of every aspect that goes into making her." The importance of anatomy Cutscenes and action sequences in carefully choreographed Rise of Tomb Raider demos show that Croft’s creators aspire to intense physical details. Extreme cold weather pricks Croft’s skin with red patches. Her eyes reflect light convincingly. Her hair moves more like a collection of strands than a set of shapes. Unlike many inferior game characters, her teeth don’t shine luminescent. When she climbs, the muscles on her back seem connected to one another. Her clothes crease and line according to the shape of her body. This isn’t mere PR puffery. Lara Croft looks like a genuinely impressive video game avatar. It has clearly taken a great deal of work to get her to this point. "Her clothes crease and line according to the shape of her body." Studio scans are the starting point for Crystal Dynamics’ artists. Then they use their artistic skills and a facial technology called Morphology to tweak and twist. "We take elements of the scans and then we add to them," explains Yu. "When we want a particular shape, we add pose-based deformers. We can sculpt the exact shape we want all over the body: on the knees, shoulders, elbows, the waist. "In addition to those pose-based deformers, we add wrinkle maps as well. When she bends a joint, we actually see the wrinkles in her shirt change. Or if she bends her arm you’ll see the musculature in her shoulders deform." Yu’s background is in anatomical art and medical illustrations. Anatomical models and images can be seen around the desks of the art department in Crystal Dynamics’ offices. "We could never get this level of anatomical correctness in the character before," says Game Director Brian Horton, referring to the consoles and the development technology now available. "The systems just wouldn’t allow for it. Now we have so much more artist control. "From a technology standpoint, we’ve put a lot of time and energy into the formation of Lara’s character. Not only her face, but her body. We’ve created a whole new animation system that’s based on artist-sculpted shapes, to create a more believable musculature for the face and the body." In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft’s hair behaves more realistically, with 123 "parent" strands of hair controlling 30,000 "child" strands to give the artists more control. Fixing Camilla The technology used to create humans in games is changing fast. Sometimes, the artists are trying to catch up with the tech and sometimes they find themselves pushing too far. "[At one point] Lara started to look too much like Camilla," says Chief Technology Officer Gary Snethen. "Things were almost too real. We had to bring her back, to make her a video game character again and give her that iconic look. She started taking on too many human qualities. It kind of took away from her character." "Our first tests of this yielded great results and brought a lot more to some of the scenes than we thought they would." When Robins understood that Lara Croft was turning into Camilla Luddington, he and the team-leaders got to work unmaking the current build and restructuring her. It was, he understood, an issue that had been created by technology and would need to be solved the same way. "Moving onto a new console and having new blend shape tech, we wanted to rebuild our facial system from the ground up," he explains. "We looked at as much reference as possible from Camilla and general female facial features in scans and video. We wanted to make Lara as believable as possible and a solid way of doing that is bringing more of our actor to our model so that we could fully convey the emotion Camilla brings. "Our first tests of this yielded great results and brought a lot more to some of the scenes than we thought they would." But the art team thought she looked "too real," meaning that she looked like Luddington. This was the point at which they decided to bring back Croft. Croft is now being made for vastly more powerful consoles than in the past. Her parameters have changed. "We started doing paint overs on the current poses and animations," Robins explains. "This was a long process as we'd not really seen Lara at this fidelity yet and had to create a canon to work within. After iterating and testing each set of shapes on new base meshes we were able to give Lara her own identity and individual movement while preserving the great performances provided by Camilla." The eyes have it For artists, there is no more troublesome part of the human anatomy than the eye. Video games have long suffered from uncanny valley representations of weird-looking people, eyeballs swiveling like marbles in a milky shot glass. In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is often placed in moments of peril generating scenes during which she needs to look scared, troubled, determined. All good screen actors understand that the trick is in the eyes. Recreating this artistic magic in digital, technological form is extremely tough. "The eye is a very complex system," says Snethen. "They have refraction and all sorts of internal curvature. You have to get the look of the eye right, the wetness and the micro-details within the eye. The surrounding tissue has to move just so, as the expressions enter the character." Croft’s eyes in Rise of the Tomb Raider demos aren’t perfect — there are moments when they seem too intense and slightly off — but they are better than those in most other games. "We create this illusion of the way the light bends and refracts and changes the color of the eye through the shader." "There’s only one mesh for the eyes," says Yu. "The way it shades, it makes it look like there’s a cornea over her iris. There’s parallaxing. Her eyes look a little bit different depending on where you look at them from." "When you look at the color of the eye, it bends as you move around it," says Horton. "Even though the mesh is just a simple sphere, we create this illusion of the way the light bends and refracts and changes the color of the eye through the shader. "The contact point, where the eye meets the bottom of the lid, is the tear line. There’s that extra wetness you get, the layer of tears that keeps the eye moist. Those small details are very important." "We have specific cinematic eye shaders that we use as well, so we can control the specularity, the direction of the light, the substance of the eyes," says Yu. A lot of focus has gone into the connectivity of the body and face, the interplay of how one thing connects with another. "We really focused on the connection from the eyes and brows down to the jaw and mouth," says Robins. "In previous rigs and blend shapes systems we focused too much on isolated movements and not about how each muscle is connected across the face and how some can't move without others." Snow days Notable is Rise of the Tomb Raider's snow, which builds in drifts and can be an impediment for the player. It build up on Croft’s clothes and shoulders. It can also be used to track prey, or to hide from enemies. "If you’re going to put snow in a game, you want to do something new with it," says Snethen. "The way it renders is very unique, because you get the glistening and the glittering. All the little micro-facets catch the light at different times. You actually see the contact between the player and the snow. It leaves a persistent trail where you pass and then you’ll see the trails behind Lara gradually fill back in as the snow falls from the sky. It gives the impression that you’re in a blizzard environment." To be young Lara Croft presents a particular problem for Crystal Dynamics, one that many other highly detailed game protagonists don’t face: she’s young. Most game leads are men and they are usually past the first flush of youth. They are often grizzled and wartorn. Their faces are naturally lined. "When we have a grizzled man with a craggy face, deep scars and heavy wrinkles, it’s very easy to express pained emotions. It looks just fine," says Horton. "A younger woman’s features are softer in general. When you put those harsher emotions on her, it tends to make her look different or strange. What we’re always balancing is making sure the emotional intent from Camilla is coming through, but [making sure that] it doesn’t cross a line where [Croft] looks like she’s aged 15 years or she doesn’t look like herself anymore. "There’s an acceptable amount of grizzle and grit you can put on a man in his 40s." "That, I’d say, is the greatest challenge of creating a female protagonist with this range. Their faces are inherently softer. They don’t have the cuts and details you’d see in a man. But we’re still asked to make sure all those emotions come through. It’s creating a more subtle band of wrinkle that still conveys an emotion that’s easier to express on an older male avatar." Yu says that it’s not about ensuring that Croft merely looks pretty. "Wrinkles and stuff tend to make young people look different and too extreme. On older men you have more latitude for that. On a young woman you don’t have as much latitude for that extreme. It just doesn’t wind up looking good." "There’s an acceptable amount of grizzle and grit you can put on a man in his 40s," says Horton. "Deep facial lines come across very well on a CG character. You can really push those things and it doesn’t tend to look wrong. "For a woman in her 20s, everything is much more subtle." Arts and crafts Croft’s story in Rise of the Tomb Raider is about realizing her destiny as an adventurer and an explorer. "She’s not starting at zero in this game," says Horton. "She’s gained a lot of effectiveness, not only in her ability to traverse through the world and solve puzzles, but also as a combatant. She can hold her own. "In Rise of the Tomb Raider, we think we’re in a position to show Lara’s strength, not only her smarts, but also her ability to use the world in a smart way and hold her own in a fight." While the 2013 reboot featured a single crafting resource, Rise of the Tomb Raider tasks Croft with collecting multiple items in order to create and upgrade weapons and ammo. Players can choose to grab guns and use those to defeat enemies, but ammo is limited and guns are noisy. Croft’s collection of bows and arrows can be crafted on the fly. "When we look at Lara, it’s about her journey and her resourcefulness and her intelligence." "What I like about the crafting is that it feels like it ties the world together," says Brand Director Rich Briggs. "Lara gathers everything around you and uses it in different ways. It speaks to her resourcefulness and intelligence." Many resources are gathered by hunting animals. "Players told us that, yeah, there was hunting in the previous game, but it didn’t really have as much gameplay significance." Fan feedback has also influenced other gameplay changes. There are fewer QuickTime Events than in the last game, something which many players found irritating. In this game. Croft has the option to rely more on traversal and stealth skills than gunplay. Tombs are much larger than in the last game, with lots of trademark Lara Croft water puzzles as well as search-and-find puzzles. "She uses her movement to gain the edge on enemies," says Briggs. "Whether it’s traversal, her natural mobility or swimming underwater. She can go up trees as a new tool in combat. "Using her smarts, crafting ammo types out of the environment to whittle down the enemy one at a time, using the environment against them, that’s a way she succeeds against overwhelming odds. When we look at Lara, it’s about her journey and her resourcefulness and her intelligence."

A north Idaho police officer, the target of widespread protest following his shooting of a 2-year-old black lab in July, has had his pay cut.Coeur d'Alene Police Officer David Kelley, a 17-year veteran of law enforcement, shot and killed the dog, named Arfee, through the window of a van parked outside a Coeur d'Alene coffee shop. While Kelley maintained that he was afraid of being bitten by the dog—initially reported by police as a "vicious pit bull"—a review of the incident concluded that his decision to fire on the animal violated the department's deadly force policies.A public records request has revealed that Kelley's hourly wage was cut by nearly 10 percent.Outrage over the dog shooting spilled beyond the North Idaho city onto the internet, where the Facebook page Justice for Arfee served as a hub for anger. Earlier this summer, Internet activist group Anonymous issued a pair of threats to the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, demanding a full investigation into the incident.

Advertisement It's an airport that's been frozen in time, with bold architecture that must have seemed space age at the time. These photographs, which originally appeared in Curbed, of the TWA Terminal at JFK offer a glimpse of the golden age of travel, transporting guests back to what travellers would have experienced in 1962. Photographer Max Touhey was granted access to capture the closed-to-the-public building just ahead of its transformation into a boutique hotel. Scroll down for video The lid has been temporarily lifted on the preserved TWA Terminal at JFK, with fascinating images by photographer Max Touhey transporting you back to what travellers would have experienced in 1962, as reported by Curbed Touhey captured a round capsule departures board at the TWA terminal, as reported by Curbed The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves, and was completed posthumously in 1962, for the now defunct Trans World Airlines (TWA). The futuristic building was designed to replicate a bird's spread wings mid flight in reflection of the company's directive, which they stated was to 'capture the spirit of flight.' Construction on the airport hub lasted six years starting in 1956, and upon completion it was celebrated as an architectural masterpiece that represented a shift in air travel in which middle-class Americans could now afford to fly. 'We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world,' Mr Saarinen had said about his philosophy behind the design. The terminal design reflects a bird's spread wings mid flight in reflection of the TWA company's directive, which they stated was to 'capture the spirit of flight' as captured by Max Touhey for Curbed The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves. The photograph, by Max Touhey, first appeared in Curbed Plans for the hotel are well underway, with a team preparing a digital 3D model of the airport having taken extensive measurements in June. Photograph courtesy of Max Touhey and Curbed High-flying: Airline hostesses for TWA are pictured welcoming people aboard a flight back in 1966 Flashback: Two first class seats aboard a TWA jet from London to Washington in the 1960s. One occupied by a caesium beam timepiece accurate to one-millioneth of a second used in the USA's space programme. This clock was being returned to America from South Africa and as it must not be allowed to stop it is connected to a power point in the aircraft during the flight. The other seat is occupied by one of the clock's escorts Pat Till Twa Air Hostess Who Was Voted Miss Heathrow Airport 1964 With 2nd Place (left) Christine Longthorp, 20, and Linda Stafford, 21 Touhey's photo project was a one-off experience as the TWA terminal has been mainly shut to the public since 2001. In recent years the building underwent a $20million renovation and opened its doors to design buffs, eager for a peek at the architectural jewel, for just a weekend in 2012. The Curbed website features about 98 fascinating photos of the terminal plus a time-lapse video which tours guests through the empty halls, brightly coloured carpets and futuristic chairs. Plans for the hotel are well underway, with a team preparing a digital 3D model of the airport having taken extensive measurements in June. Golden Age: Architect Eero Saarinen said he 'wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment End of an era: The terminal was built for TWA but the airline went bankrupt and was purchased by American Airlines in 2001 After a $20 million renovation project, the building maintained its ambiance of the sixties, including this retro bar Times gone by: Construction on the airport hub lasted six years, beginning in 1956, and upon completion it was celebrated as an architectural masterpiece The flight centre was the last project of architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer known for his love of curves, and was completed posthumously in 1962, for the now defunct Trans World Airlines (TWA) In recent years the building underwent a $20 million renovation and opened its doors to design buffs, eager for a peek at the architectural jewel, for just a weekend in 2012

A state of emergency has been declared on the Vanuatu island of Ambae, as the volcano that towers from the island's centre continued to erupt, forcing thousands to flee their villages. The volcano - known as Monaro - has been rumbling for weeks, but its activity increased rapidly on Saturday, when it started belching ash across much of the island, blanketing villages and crops in the north and south. Photo: Vanuatu Disaster Management Office That prompted authorities to evacuate half the island's population - at least 5000 people - from the north and south of the island, sending them to the east and west. "It's quite a serious emergency," said Manuel Amu, the chairman of the island's disaster committee. "Moving people from their communities into an area with very limited houses and very limited resources like food and water. It's really a challenging issue. "At the moment the volcano has blown up ash and dark smoke, with a little bit of lava," he said in an interview. New Zealand scientists were monitoring the volcanic activity with an Air Force Orion due to fly over Vanuatu today. GNS vulcanologist Steve Sherburn told Morning Report recent photographs showed it could have a devastating impact on the island. "There's now a cone in the lake that's completely isolated from the water. So it means the eruptions will be dry and therefore will produce a lot more ash. "And this is where we are going to get the impact on people living downwind and [their] agriculture." The country's Geohazards Department on Saturday raised its alert for Ambae from level three to four, which is classified as a "moderate eruption state." According to a department spokesperson, the volcano's activity had not changed on Monday, with no increase nor decrease in the intensity of the eruption. Photo: Vanuatu Disaster Management Office However, earlier in the weekend authorities swung into action to relocate thousands of people from the remote villages scattered across the rugged, bush-covered 400 square kilometre island, which sits between Santo and Pentecost about halfway up the Vanuatu archipelago. Several ships had been deployed around the coast to pick up evacuees - as many as 1000 people on one journey, said Mr Amu - and cars and trucks packed to the hilt made their way across the island's narrow, winding and bumpy tracks to safety. Peter Korisa, the operations manager at the National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila, said authorities were taking action now in case the eruption intensified. "The major hazard at the moment is to do with ash fall and acid rain. We're using whatever resource we have, some local vessels, commercial vessels, as well as the local transport," he said. "We want to be more proactive before we have to worry about pyroclast (where rocks and other fragments are hurled by the eruption) and stuff like that." Mr Korisa said evacuation was compulsory and police officers were being used to help convince people to move. Photo: Vanuatu Geohazards Department About 15 evacuation centres had been opened in the east and west, mostly in schools and community halls, Mr Amu said. However, assistance from the national government would be needed to deal with such large displacement. "We've got enough accommodation. But at the moment we have to carry out an assessment to consider other issues relating to sick people, the pregnant women and children and people with special needs. We also have to address the issue of food security, wash, and probably education for those schools which have been closed," said Mr Amu. One option, Mr Amu said, was to relocate the vulnerable to neighbouring islands - including Pentecost and Maewo - to help ease the burden on Ambae, which he said already lacked the resources to cope. "The provincial government has been for the last two weeks trying to support these people," he said. "We put our request for the national government to come in if possible to support us with food and water and other necessities. "At the moment we need help from the national level and if necessary then we need overseas friends to help us with the situation we are facing." Photo: Vanuatu Geohazards Department According to the government, the state of emergency it declared on Monday would immediately release funding and national resources for such support. Most of Ambae live on subsistence crops, which were being pelted with ash and acid rain. Additionally, most peoples' water supply came from rainwater tanks, which were now also contaminated. Mr Amu said while only half the island was being evacuated, the whole island would need assistance. Further west, residents on the country's largest island, Santo, said crops risked being ruined by ash if the wind direction did not change. The last time there was a significant eruption on Ambae was in 2005, when a similar evacuation of 5000 people was carried out. It was as long as three months before people could return to villages and there were many complaints of evacuees being contained in squalid conditions. Photo: Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory file Mr Korisa admitted conditions for evacuees would likely be basic again this time around. "There is an issue with basic services," he said. "We're talking about islands that don't have electricity and the water system is a big challenge for us. In 2005 there was the same incident and it's the same situation again we're trying to deal with. We're hoping to have learned from that." However Mr Amu said things were worse than 12 years ago. "In 2005, the evacuation had been done on level 3 [alert]. At the moment the volcano is on stage 4 and at the moment it's more serious than in 2005 and I think it would take much longer than what happened [then]. "Hopefully this time most of the challenges, we hope those challenges won't occur again. That's why we called in the national director of disaster to intervene very quickly during the weekend," said Mr Amu. He said authorities were also preparing for the possibility that the eruption could get worse. If the alert level was raised from four to five, the entire island may have to be evacuated, and authorities were preparing for such a situation while hoping it would never come to fruition. "Most people are not coping very well," Mr Amu said. "We're feeling the pressures."

rplotengine: R as a Plotting Engine Generate basic charts either by custom applications, or from a small script launched from the system console, or within the R console. Two ASCII text files are necessary: (1) The graph parameters file, which name is passed to the function 'rplotengine()'. The user can specify the titles, choose the type of the graph, graph output formats (e.g. png, eps), proportion of the X-axis and Y-axis, position of the legend, whether to show or not a grid at the background, etc. (2) The data to be plotted, which name is specified as a parameter ('data_filename') in the previous file. This data file has a tabulated format, with a single character (e.g. tab) between each column, and a headers line located in the first row. Optionally, the file could include data columns for showing confidence intervals. Version: 1.0-7 Depends: R (≥ 2.6.2), xtable Published: 2018-08-07 Author: Pedro-Pablo Garrido Abenza [aut, cre] Maintainer: Pedro-Pablo Garrido Abenza <pgarrido at umh.es> License: GPL-2 | GPL-3 [expanded from: GPL (≥ 2)] URL: http://www.umh.es NeedsCompilation: no CRAN checks: rplotengine results Downloads: Linking:

This Arsenal is different. That, at least, is what they are trying to prove and so far the evidence is in their favour. The players know that past slip-ups mean many people remain unconvinced of Arsenal's ability to sustain their title challenge as Manchester City and Chelsea breathe down their necks but they are determined not to buckle. The fact that this victory over Fulham could be described as routine shows the progress Arsène Wenger's team have made. "That's something that has changed from last season," said Santi Cazorla, who sealed the win with two sweetly taken second-half goals. "There were games last year where we'd go 2-0 up and we'd end up losing it or under pressure. For a title-winning team that cannot happen. This season the team is much more solid, we're much better at closing out games. We need to continue this form because of Chelsea and Manchester City. "Maybe at the start of the season nobody put us up as high as Manchester City or Chelsea, maybe because of the signings they made, but it's ultimately demonstrated on the pitch and right now Arsenal are above them. Our objective is to keep fighting with them. We're top because up until now we've been the best team." Wenger attributes much of the credit for his team's improvement to its new defensive fortitude. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have formed an authoritative central defensive partnership, Wojciech Szczesny is becoming ever more reliable, the full-backs are secure and the midfield, especially Mathieu Flamini, provides sturdy protection to the rearguard. Wenger suggests his team is now locked into a virtuous circle. Each victory is both a stride forward and a hiccup avoided and enhances the side's belief that they can last the distance. "The consistency of the results of the team since January 2013 has strengthened that maturity and the fact that we are defensively more stable gives us more of a serene attitude and that helps a lot," he says. That "serene attitude" makes it hard to envisage Arsenal collapsing like they did the last time they had so many points at this stage of the season. That was in 2007-08, when they had 54 points after 22 matches (compared with 51 now) but finished third after going on a wretched run of a single win in eight league games between February and early April. That hapless streak was triggered by the horrendous injury that their striker, Eduardo, suffered during a draw at Birmingham City, but the poise of this Arsenal team suggests they would be capable of withstanding even such a traumatic misfortune. If all the challengers have a similar level of mental strength, then the title will be decided by skill. Arsenal seem well-armed on that front too. Cazorla's flourishing against Fulham followed a similarly decisive impact from Jack Wilshere in the previous match at Aston Villa. With Aaron Ramsey unavailable, Theo Walcott out for the season and Mesut Özil curiously off form, it is important that others step to the fore. So far they are doing that. Arsenal's last six wins have brought 12 goals from seven different scorers. "That's the best thing that can happen to us," says Wenger. "If you depend on one player, then you have to put him in cotton wool to keep him fit. For us it's important to know everybody can score." There are, however, concerns and Özil's form is one of them. In addition, it still looks a risk not to sign a striker this month to relieve the burden on Olivier Giroud. Nicklas Bendtner resumes full training on Monday following injury and Yaya Sanogo is expected to do so later inthe week but they may not be enough. Arsenal are seeking an additional centre-forward but it remains to be seen whether they can conclude a deal. They have held talks with Juventus over Mirko Vucinic but are interested only in taking the 30-year-old on loan, whereas his employers want a permanent sale. Discussions with Real Madrid over Álvaro Morata, whom Arsenal would be happy to take permanently, are also at an impasse. Fulham, meanwhile, may just have solved one of their biggest problems, although that cannot be said with much certainty given the way they have fluctuated between respectable and wretched performances this season. At the Emirates they showed a steel that has seldom been seen this season, as the fit-again Brede Hangeland and the 21-year-old debutant, Dan Burn, blended well in central defence. "It gives confidence to the whole team, a feeling that we are more solid and that it's harder for opponents to break us down," said their manager, René Meulensteen. "We just need to make sure that one goal conceded does not create a ripple effect, which then creates a wave of negativity. We are starting to look more solid and that's our way forward." Man of the match Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)

Teams ranked Nos. 1 through 32, as voted on by a panel of 13 NFL.com and NFL Network experts. Total points based on 32 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 32nd-place vote. Don't agree with the experts? Create your own rankings. Rank Team W - L 1st Votes Last Votes Points 1 1 Houston Texans 3-0 13 - 416 2 1 Atlanta Falcons 3-0 - - 396 3 2 San Francisco 49ers 2-1 - - 379 4 2 Baltimore Ravens 2-1 - - 374 5 4 New York Giants 2-1 - - 362 6 8 Arizona Cardinals 3-0 - - 361 7 New England Patriots 1-2 - - 329 8 4 Green Bay Packers 1-2 - - 309 9 7 Seattle Seahawks 2-1 - - 294 10 5 Philadelphia Eagles 2-1 - - 285 11 1 Chicago Bears 2-1 - - 283 12 3 Dallas Cowboys 2-1 - - 277 13 5 Denver Broncos 1-2 - - 262 14 5 Pittsburgh Steelers 1-2 - - 261 15 5 Cincinnati Bengals 2-1 - - 244 16 5 San Diego Chargers 2-1 - - 234 17 2 New York Jets 2-1 - - 194 18 5 Detroit Lions 1-2 - - 182 19 4 Buffalo Bills 2-1 - - 181 20 7 Minnesota Vikings 2-1 - - 175 21 4 Washington Redskins 1-2 - - 153 22 1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-2 - - 150 23 5 Carolina Panthers 1-2 - - 128 24 5 Kansas City Chiefs 1-2 - - 104 25 3 Tennessee Titans 1-2 - - 94 26 4 New Orleans Saints 0-3 - - 90 27 4 Oakland Raiders 0-3 - - 88 28 4 St. Louis Rams 1-2 - - 74 29 3 Miami Dolphins 1-2 - - 62 30 2 Jacksonville Jaguars 1-2 - 1 58 31 6 Indianapolis Colts 1-2 - - 55 32 1 Cleveland Browns 0-3 - 12 14 Voters in the NFL.com Power Poll: Gil Brandt, Bucky Brooks, Charley Casserly, Heath Evans, Daniel Jeremiah, Michael Lombardi, Willie McGinest, Shaun O'Hara, Gregg Rosenthal, Darren Sharper, Kurt Warner, Brian Webber, Steve Wyche.

CTVNews.ca Staff Four people are recovering in hospital after a frightening fall from a chairlift at a ski resort near Kelowna B.C. Rescue crews were called to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort on Saturday after a ski lift chair carrying passengers fell more than seven metres to the ground. One person was airlifted from the scene while three others were taken to Kelowna General Hospital by ambulance. Officials say two of the injured remain in critical condition. Resort staff have confirmed that the injured include two ski patrollers, a ski instructor, and a visitor to the resort. Mike Morin, the resort’s manager, says this is an extremely rare circumstance and the first time an incident like this has happened since the resort opened in 1967. “One of the empty chairs was swinging and struck the tower, tower number two, on our double chair and caused a deropement and the chair came down to the ground,” he told CTV Vancouver. Witnesses say they saw the passengers tumble to the ground. “From what I saw, they fell pretty hard,” said Carson Moss. Tyler Mow told CTV Vancouver that the ski lift did not feel right when he was on it. “The chairs felt springy earlier in the day,” Mow said. “We were just commenting that it felt funny and that something was different.” While paramedics rushed to treat the victims, other skiers remained stuck on the lift and had to be evacuated. “We had to wait for everyone to come up and harness us down,” said Kaite Cornet. Officials say an inspection of the chair lift will now take place to determine what went wrong. With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Norma Reid

BALTIMORE (WJZ)–The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the gruesome killing of a cat in Maryland. On September 7, 2016, authorities say a cat was found burned to death in an apartment complex in Hollingsworth Manor in Elkton, Maryland. Investigators believe it was severely tortured and then set on fire. “It is absolutely horrific to imagine someone intentionally and viciously harming an innocent cat in this way,” said Emily Hovermale, The HSUS’ Maryland state director. “Whoever would commit such a crime is clearly a dangerous person, and we are hopeful that this reward will bring forward anyone with information about this heinous crime.” Anyone with any information is asked to call the Cecil County Animal Services at 410-441-2040.

Critics say the plan will only alienate citizens with ties to Somalia, where the militant group al-Shabab is based. Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta said in a speech on Tuesday (Feb. 16) that his government is thinking about building a prison that will hold those with “violent and extremist” tendencies to limit their ability to spread “poison” to other prisoners. “We will establish a new prison to hold violent, extremist offenders,” Kenyatta, speaking at a graduation ceremony for new prison guards, said. “The truth of the matter is that we cannot allow them to spread their poison to vulnerable Kenyans.” It was unclear who, specifically, Kenyatta was referring to. But the language he used in the speech suggests that he may have been talking about individuals with alleged ties to the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab. Kenya has been targeted by the al Qaeda-affiliated organization ever since the country sent troops into Somalia in 2011 to help defeat the group and secure the country for the government. Several high profile attacks by the Shabaab, including at a high end mall in Nairobi and a university in the northeast of the country, have killed hundreds of people. Last June, Kenyatta suggested that the situation is forcing Kenya to think of new ways to combat the threat. “We must accept that we are faced with a new kind of enemy against whom the conventional methods of fighting crime will not work,” he said. “We have amongst us radicalized youths who appear innocent which makes us believe that they are doing God’s work while they are busy planning evil against other Kenyans in the name of religion.” At the time Kenyatta indicated that his government was going to work with community and religious leaders to protect against such radicalization. But the decision to potentially build a special prison to detain individuals suspected of extremism could portend a new phase of Kenyatta’s administration’s anti-terrorism efforts. It follows another radical idea, yet to be fully realized, of building a wall along the Kenya-Somalia border the government says will keep out the militants. Some analysts compare the proposed prison to the controversial US naval base in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay where the US government has been holding prisoners suspected of terrorism. They say this approach will only work to exacerbate the already difficult relationship the government has with Kenyans of Somali ethnic origin, a community it cannot afford to alienate in its anti-terrorism efforts. “There is a real risk that this prison for jihadists may only fuel anti-Kenyan government sentiments, especially if the majority of the prisoners in this jail are Somali Kenyans,” Ahmed Salim, a senior analyst at Teneo Intelligence, told Quartz. “Effective counterterrorism measures requires the support and buy-in from communities.”

There are new accusations that the Justice Department colluded with the Clinton campaign about the Democratic candidate's court cases, according to new revelations in emails released by WikiLeaks. The May 2015 email from Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said, “DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge's thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today.” Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a supporter of Donald Trump, weighed in this morning, telling Tucker Carlson that the corruption of the Justice Department started with then-Attorney General Eric Holder being found in contempt of Congress. Clarke said that has continued under Loretta Lynch, pointing out her secret meeting with Bill Clinton shortly before the FBI announced there would be no charges against Mrs. Clinton over her private email server. "The corruption is all throughout the government. It's the courts, it's our institutions of government, the higher-ups at the FBI, the DOJ, the Congress, on and on and on," said Clarke, adding that the only way it will change is through the ballot box. "I believe that the American people are finally going to have to rise up. It is 'pitchfork and torches' time, to use a metaphor, in America to get these people out of here and for the citizens of America to take this country back." Carlson pointed out that if people begin to believe that some powerful people are held to a different legal standard, it's a "threat to our system itself." Watch the full interview above. Gingrich: 'Republicans Willing to Help Hillary' Belong in the Dem. Party WikiLeaks Dump: Top Clinton Aides Mock Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity McCain: 'The Clintons Don't Live by the Same Laws We Do' Trump: 'Shackles Are Off Me,' Now I Can Fight for America My Way

Please note that this page has not been updated since early 2015. I now recommend stack Rationale I’m trying to learn the Haskell programming language, and I’m tripping over the cabal-install package management system sufficiently often that it’s putting me off putting time into learning the language. Here are my requirements for a development environment I’m willing to learn in: don’t leave Debian Wheezy 32-bit; Debian Jessie will be out soon, but its versions of GHC and the Haskell platform are still very old so upgrading early is not a way out. minimise how often I have to delete all of ~/.cabal and ~/.ghc ; when using cabal sandboxes, again, minimise the number of core libraries that need to get rebuilt in every sandbox; be simple enough to integrate cleanly with the existing ways I manage my OS installation and the contents of my home directory; be simple enough that I can understand everything as a Haskell beginner and can get things working (again) quickly and get back to trying to write Haskell. In this document I will describe the combination of home directory and system-wide installations that fit these requirements, and the workflow for sorting out packages so that I can get on with trying to make my programs do input and output, and other fun Haskell beginner stuff. Alternative approaches The following two approaches don’t satisfy the requirements given above. Do everything manually This involves having nothing installed system-wide, including the Haskell Platform. Install GHC and Cabal in ~/local/src and then install things into their own sandboxes and add the .cabal-sandbox/bin directories to your $PATH . Someone on reddit describes a balance between installing stuff into .cabal/bin and having sandboxes in which related packages are built and then symlinking those directories. But this requires lots and lots of rebuilding over and over and lots of manual $PATH additions. System-wide Debian packages mitigate this. This might facilitate such an approach. Fails (2), (3) and (4). Use a clever automatic sandboxing solution Halcyon and the Nix package manager (which doesn’t require the full NixOS) are the projects I’ve come across that try to do this. They aim to avoid even more rebuilding than my approach avoids. The Halcyon author doesn’t want to support 32-bit Debian, and I don’t want to be a Nix early adoptor at the same time as trying to learn how to get my programs to take input and produce output. Fails (1) and (5). Drawbacks of my approach We’re living very far away from the edge: we’re using GHC 7.4 and a version of the Haskell Platform from 2012. Someone on reddit expresses the view that since Haskell moves so fast, you’ll end up rebuilding everything all the time anyway so you can use your favourite packages from Hackage. The only thing we’re not getting from the Debian apt repositories that we might is haskell-mode and ghc-mod for Emacs, since we can have newer versions of those without repeated building. We’re doing a lot of rebuilding of libraries, and we’re only avoiding rebuilding those that come with Debian, which will become less and less useful as time goes by and Hackage packages depend on newer versions. This is okay because I’m a Haskell beginner, and I’m not a professional software engineer, so even if I stick with learning Haskell it’s going to take me years before I’m writing anything that needs fancy contemporary libraries. And maybe by then the cabal-install ecosystem will have improved. I basically need Hackage only for building fancy things like Propellor and Structured Haskell Mode so it’s okay to sandbox those things and do a load of builds. System setup Debian packages and dotfiles Get all our basic libraries installed system-wide: “` {.nil} apt-get install ghc ghc-prof haskell-platform “` or if you’re using Propellor: {.haskell} workstationAptPackages :: Property NoInfo workstationAptPackages = combineProperties "workstation apt packages" [ Apt.installed ["ghc", "ghc-prof", "haskell-platform"] , Apt.removed ["haskell-mode", "ghc-mod"] ] Put cabal configuration file in place: The most important thing here is require-sandbox: True . We’re not putting anything in ~/.cabal/bin . So we need to include all .cabal-sandbox/bin directories in our $PATH . I build stuff that is to be built on every machine in ~/local/src . So for each binary we have a sandbox in a directory under ~/local/src , e.g. ~/local/src/propellor . This code will prepend those directories to $PATH . It comes from my ~/.shenv which is supposed to be a POSIX-compatible script to set up environment variables that I can source in .zshrc , .bashrc , scripts run from cron, my GNOME and XFCE startup scripts and wherever. {.bash} for bindir in $(find ~/local/src -path "*/.cabal-sandbox/bin"); do PATH="$bindir:$PATH" done export PATH Upgrading cabal-install Before doing anything else, we upgrade cabal-install . The version of cabal-install in Wheezy is so old that it doesn’t know about sandboxes, and we don’t want to pollute ~/.cabal/bin . So we cheat and get it from Jessie: “` {.nil} apt-get install -t testing cabal-install “` Be sure to have set up apt pinning so that this doesn’t pull anything else in from Jessie! Upgrading cabal-install again Since we want the smartest dependency resolution we can get, we now upgrade cabal to the very latest and greatest. {.nil} $ cabal update $ cd ~/local/src $ cabal get cabal-install $ cd cabal-install-* $ cabal sandbox init $ cabal install Restart the shell ( hash cabal isn’t enough because we only just created the sandbox) and type cabal --version to check that the second decimal is higher than 20. Use which cabal to check that it’s the one from ~/local/src . Usage for Haskell projects Installing other people’s programs Maybe you want the ghc-mod or structured-haskell-mode executables from hackage. Follow the procedure just used for upgrading cabal-install for the second time. Getting libraries for your project This section is a WIP. But some tips: - Basic workflow is cabal init; cabal sandbox init; cabal build . - Use cabal repl to launch ghci. - When you need a library, first try to find a debian package (the name will begin with [lib]ghc- ). - If you can’t find it, you can use cabal install blah to install into the sandbox for testing before adding to the .cabal file as a dependency. Try to install all required packages in one go on one cabal install blah1 blah2 command as this gives cabal the best chance of getting the dependencies right. - Don’t be afraid to clear out the sandbox: rm -rf .cabal-sandbox-config .cabal-sandbox; cabal sandbox init . - Try -v3 to enhance cabal’s dependency resolution some more. Sources & further reading

The logical way to start exploring this possibility would be to give elephants the pointing test. But these giant mammals are a lot more challenging to work with than a poodle. In fact, it wasn’t until last year that one of Dr. Byrne’s students, Ms. Smet, was able to run the test. Ms. Smet traveled to Zimbabwe, where a company called Wild Horizons offers elephant-back safaris. Each morning, while the elephants were waiting to take tourists on a trip, Ms. Smet would set up two buckets behind a screen. An elephant handler would bring one of the animals a few yards away from her. The elephant watched Ms. Smet lower pieces of fruit behind the screen and put them into one of the buckets. But the elephant couldn’t see which bucket she put the fruit in. “I actually checked that from elephant height,” Ms. Smet said. Ms. Smet then brought the buckets out from behind the screen and stood between them. She pointed at the one with the fruit inside, and the handler walked the elephant toward the buckets. Ms. Smet noted which bucket it stuck its trunk in first. For two months, Ms. Smet tested 11 elephants. When she crunched the data afterward, she found that the elephants picked the right bucket 67.5 percent of the time. (One-year-old human babies do a little better at these tests, scoring 72.7 percent.) Ms. Smet found that the elephants could follow her pointing whether she stuck out her whole arm or just used her hand. And when she simply stood between the buckets, by contrast, the elephants stuck their trunks in the buckets at random. Ms. Smet and Dr. Byrne published their results Thursday in the journal Current Biology. The scientists were able to rule out the possibility that the elephants learned to associate pointing with food over the course of the experiments. “They were just as good on Trial 1,” said Dr. Byrne.

Clarence Saunders is often credited as the father of the modern-day supermarket with his self-service Piggly Wiggly stores providing grocery needs as far back as 1916. In Western Massachusetts, there have been numerous supermarket chains that have served shoppers, most notably the D'Amour family's Big Y. In 1936, Paul D'Amour, a route sales driver for Wonder Bread, opened the Y Cash Market with his brother Gerald in Chicopee. The brothers opened a second and larger Y Cash Market in a former bowling alley in 1947. Building on their success they opened a 31,000-square-foot Big Y in Northampton in 1960. It was the largest supermarket in Western Massachusetts. Other popular chains over the years have included Stop & Shop, A&P and Food Mart. Here is a look back at where many of us have done their grocery shopping over the years.

The title of this article is conjectural. Though the topic is found within The Simpsons universe, a proper name is not available. The Blue-Haired Lawyer, is Springfield's most prominent lawyer known for his pasty face, blue hair, New York accent, and nasal voice. Contents show] Work He was first introduced as one of Mr. Burns' many lawyers. Subsequently, he most commonly appears as the lawyer arguing against the Simpsons whenever they wind up in court. He often makes good points against them and wins over the judge. However, he has attempted to aid the Simpson family at least once.[6] He also occasionally appears to serve as a prosecutor. He worked for "Luvum & Burnham: Family Law" in one episode, where he had a secretary named Uwa (homophone for "YOU WHA?!?!"). His name is never stated, though it's presumably either Luvum or Burnham, given his law firm's name. In one episode, he reveals himself to be the author of a scifi novel called "The 60 Foot Baby" and on the cover he is simply credited as "Burns' Lawyer." Despite being his lawyer, he is, sometimes, intimidated by Burns. An example of this is when Burn begins losing money, he (and Burns's other lawyers) loses his competence and acts as a yes-man out of fear of his wrath, going as far as to encourage Burns into making bad investments that bankrupt him.[7] Politics He is a member of the Springfield Republican Party He graduated from Springfield University. Non-Canon Appearances The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. In the The Simpsons Game , several of him work as The Creator's lawyers/bodyguards. In The Simpsons Guy, he sues the Pawtucket Patriot brewery for copyright infringement. Behind the Laughter Writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss have both stated on the DVD commentaries that the voice is based on McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn, and animator Jim Reardon has said that he is designed to look like character actor Charles Lane. If you compare him to Milhouse, he has a striking resemblance to yet another adult version of him: plus, thin glasses and tuxedo and minus the humor, voice, and relationship with a Simpson. His voice sounds similar to Arnie Pye's voice. Appearances

For the bread, see croutons In Quebec cuisine, cretons (sometimes gorton or corton, especially among New Englanders of French-Canadian origin) is a forcemeat-style pork spread containing onions and spices. Due to its fatty texture and taste, it resembles French rillettes. Cretons are usually served on toast as part of a traditional Quebec breakfast. It is not to be confused with "fromage de tête" (tête fromagée in Quebec) or head cheese. Recipes [ edit ] Recipes vary, but traditional preparation involves covering 1–3 lbs of ground pork shoulder in milk or water in a large pot, then seasoning with onions and a mix of spices. The blend of spices varies from recipe to recipe, but nearly all include ground cloves. Other spices often used include cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and bay leaf. Some recipes include minced garlic. Basics The mixture is simmered gently over low heat, and stirred often to prevent scorching until all the liquid is cooked off and the mixture is thick. It is then allowed to cool, then stirred again to incorporate all the rendered fat, and transferred to a large, clean container or individual containers, covered tightly, and refrigerated for several hours or overnight until firm. Pig marrow is also often added to form a gelatin that allows it to congeal. Cretonnade [ edit ] More specifically, cretons is pork-based; otherwise, it is a cretonnade, especially if it is veal- or poultry-based.[1] However, the distinction is often not made, even in French, with either type being cretons. See also [ edit ] References [ edit ]

The battle over marriage equality in Iowa is heating up as Republicans in the State House are moving forward with plans to ban gay marriage and civil unions, an attempt to reverse a unanimous 2009 State Supreme Court decision in favor of marriage equality. To amend the constitution, “an amendment would require approval by state lawmakers during two legislative sessions, and then approval by voters at the ballot box.” Encouraged by major Republican gains in the midterm elections and the removal of three pro-equality Justices through retention votes, Iowa Republicans have emphasized restrictions on gay-rights and reproductive-rights in their legislative agenda, and Religious Right leader Bob Vander Plaats is pressing for the removal of the entire Supreme Court. Vander Plaats’s new organization, The Family Leader, recently blasted pro-equality faith leaders in an alert message that questions their faith, stating: “167 ‘religious’ leaders signed a letter delivered to the Iowa Legislature saying that people of faith support homosexual ‘marriage.’ Don’t stay silent while others speak for you and misrepresnt [sic] God.” The group calls on pastors to sign an alternative petition which describes “homosexual behavior” as “immoral and sinful” and “harmful both to the individuals who choose to participate in it and the society that chooses to accept it.” The mobilization of pastors by The Family Leader comes at a time when, according to the Des Moines Register, Republican leaders are trying to prohibit not only gay marriage but also other forms of legal rights for gay couples such as civil unions and domestic partnerships. The Register reports:

Hulu has acquired exclusive subscription-streaming rights to Syfy’s time-travel thriller “12 Monkeys” under a deal with NBCUniversal. In addition, under the expanded NBCU deal, Hulu has acquired the full library of programming for series “Battlestar Galactica” and “Saved by the Bell,” which are available to stream now. The deal also adds episodes of popular children’s series including “Bob the Builder,” “Thomas and Friends” and “Barney.” The first season of “12 Monkeys” will premiere exclusively on Hulu on Feb. 24, available to subscribers. The series, from Universal Cable Prods., will return for its second season on Syfy on Monday, April 18. The deal is structured by NBCU to drive interest in the show by letting viewers catch up on Hulu ahead of the season 2 bow on TV. It’s a tactic NBC and others have used in the past with subscription VOD services. “12 Monkeys” follows the journey of James Cole, who’s sent back in time to prevent a dark and hellish future from ever happening. The series stars Aaron Stanford as Cole, along with Amanda Schull, Kirk Acevedo, Emily Hampshire, Barbara Sukowa and Todd Stashwick. Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett (“Nikita”) are executive producers and showrunners, with Charles Roven (“Batman v. Superman,” “Suicide Squad,” “American Hustle”) and Richard Suckle (“Suicide Squad,” “American Hustle,” “The International”) as executive producers. Atlas Entertainment and Roven produced the original “12 Monkeys” film — which starred Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeline Stowe — on which the series is based. NBCU is one of Hulu’s parent companies, along with 21st Century Fox and Disney.

The message board website 4chan struck at the hearts of every OVO fan this morning when they started a rumor that Drake died in a car crash in Los Angeles. "Operation Drake, as the original thread called it" started in the comment section of Drizzy's "Hotline Bling" video, where users wrote "RIP Drake" before the news then spread to other outlets. The fake news eventually ended up as a community post on Buzzfeed that was syndicated on the front page of Yahoo! before it was eventually removed. CNN also picked up the story through syndication, but it was removed shortly after. Buzzfeed pulled the community post and left an editor's note that a community user posted a false claim about Drake and that it was removed. Drake's Wikipedia page for a time listed his date of death as Nov. 22, though it's unclear if 4chan made that update. The original 4chan threads have since been deleted, but it looks like the damage is already done, with Twitter questioning if Drake actually died. Thankfully, Drake is still alive and Views From the 6 is on the way.

Foretelling the future can be a tricky business. It’s hard to trust your own psychic abilities. They are skills one comes into by accident and design. There are lots of things that you can try. These can help to hone your skill if you’re a beginner or even a seasoned expert. I’ve been reading the cards and getting psychic readings for over three decades. Over the years I’ve consulted with thousands of professionals and clients about what it is you need to know, what you want to know, and how the different systems work. Keep a Record – It is good magickal practice to keep track of your readings, dreams, and the events that follow. You don’t need to get obsessively anal about it, but if you keep a journal you can begin to see patterns and signs that you may not have recognized otherwise. – It is good magickal practice to keep track of your readings, dreams, and the events that follow. You don’t need to get obsessively anal about it, but if you keep a journal you can begin to see patterns and signs that you may not have recognized otherwise. Observe your own Thoughts – Consider your own personal observations and associations as they relate to the archetypal symbols present in the Tarot. One of the most important things to remember while reading is “wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” – Consider your own personal observations and associations as they relate to the archetypal symbols present in the Tarot. One of the most important things to remember while reading is “wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” Test and Re-Test – Psychic tests can start with something simple. As your cards a question like will it rain on me today? Or Will I get a call from X in the next 24 hours? Choose simple and verifiable questions to start with. Measure your results against the actual outcomes. – Psychic tests can start with something simple. As your cards a question like will it rain on me today? Or Will I get a call from X in the next 24 hours? Choose simple and verifiable questions to start with. Measure your results against the actual outcomes. Practice – How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Ok, I’m a New Yorker, I couldn’t pass that joke up. No matter what you are trying to achieve practice goes a long way. Many readers start by doing daily sessions with their cards, some still do. – How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Ok, I’m a New Yorker, I couldn’t pass that joke up. No matter what you are trying to achieve practice goes a long way. Many readers start by doing daily sessions with their cards, some still do. Make Sure You Have the Right Cards – There are thousands of tarot and oracle decks in existence today, will more being created every day. There are decks based on Pulp Fiction, Fairies, Dragons, and Goddesses. You can find your way with cards inspired by Victorians, Steampunks, Masons, and a whole host of others. – There are thousands of tarot and oracle decks in existence today, will more being created every day. There are decks based on Pulp Fiction, Fairies, Dragons, and Goddesses. You can find your way with cards inspired by Victorians, Steampunks, Masons, and a whole host of others. Make Sure You Have the Right Spread – Tarot spreads can be very open or very rigid. There are three card spreads to represent the past, present, and future. There are spreads that incorporate the entire deck and are designed to tell the story of an individuals whole life. – Tarot spreads can be very open or very rigid. There are three card spreads to represent the past, present, and future. There are spreads that incorporate the entire deck and are designed to tell the story of an individuals whole life. Scry or Die – All forms of divination, tarot included, involve opening one’s mind up to new ways of seeing. Most people are used to practicing the art of scrying with a mirror or a crystal ball. These same techniques used with these methods can be utilized with tarot cards. Obviously there is the image one sees on the card, but tarot challenges your mind to think beyond the four edges of the card. – All forms of divination, tarot included, involve opening one’s mind up to new ways of seeing. Most people are used to practicing the art of scrying with a mirror or a crystal ball. These same techniques used with these methods can be utilized with tarot cards. Obviously there is the image one sees on the card, but tarot challenges your mind to think beyond the four edges of the card. Sleep with your Deck – In many different spiritual tradition the psychic energy of places and things is very important. Sleeping with your tarot cards under your pillow allows you and the cards to access your subconscious power. That way there will be an energy exchange between you. – In many different spiritual tradition the psychic energy of places and things is very important. Sleeping with your tarot cards under your pillow allows you and the cards to access your subconscious power. That way there will be an energy exchange between you. Only You Know– Ultimately, you are the only person who can attempt to be objective about what you are seeing in the cards. Sometimes you may notice a tendency towards wishful thinking or paranoia. That may be when you need to take a break. This list of recommendations is only just a beginning, Tarot provides a whole world of possibilities. More information about learning the tarot can be found in our Divination Space Station series. If you are interested in getting a Tarot reading email me at voodoouniverse@yahoo.com What are your recommendations for learning and trusting your own readings? Please post them in the comments below! If you enjoyed what you have read here please help me out and share, tweet, and pin this post!

Former UM offensive lineman and Oakland Raiders rookie Jon Feliciano participated in the Duke Johnson Foundation’s charity bowling event on Tuesday at Strike 10 in Gulfstream Park. Here’s what he had to say in an exclusive interview with the Miami Herald. “It’s great to be out in Cali, in Oakland, be in such a great atmosphere and a good position. Our O-line group is great – a good mix between veterans, rookies and guys that are in the middle of their careers,” Feliciano told The Miami Herald. Feliciano added that he’s just looking to compete with the Raiders. “I’ve got great guys in front of me that have helped me out so far. They’ve done everything I could’ve asked of them and more,” Feliciano said. “I just want to go in there, compete and make the 53-man roster.” Feliciano is thrilled to remain teammates with fellow Raider Clive Walford. He said he thought the Raiders were actually going to take him in the third round, but when Walford’s name was called, he was happy for his friend. I was like ‘well, I can’t be mad at that.’ And then to have my name called their next pick was awesome,” Feliciano said. Feliciano swung by the event, he says, first, to give back, but second, to beat Duke. “Me and Duke always compete in bowling pretty heavily,” said Feliciano , whose all-time best was a 236. “Duke’s a good bowler, but I’ve got his number.” Added Feliciano: “Duke’s always been big about doing stuff in the community, and to set this up and have this go down is amazing.” DAVID FURONES

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com The more pertinent question is, since when did Iran have a drone program? Ah, that dates back to 2011, when President Obama literally gave Iran U.S. drone technology, during the RQ 170 incident. I know, you think I'm making this up. Why would Obama do anything at all for the Persians, stemming from giving them drone technology to removing sanctions, to paying them billions for the release of US hostages? You'd have to ask him. But I do know this. Source: Wikipedia: On 12 December 2011, U.S. administration asked Iran to return the captured U.S. drone.[27] The day before, on 11 December, General Salami stated that "no nation welcomes other countries' spy drones in its territory, and no one sends back the spying equipment and its information back to the country of origin."[28] On 13 December 2011, Defence Minister of Iran, dismissed the request and said "Instead of apologising to the Iranian nation, it is brazenly asking for the drone back." And the ministry spokesman, Mehmanparast, stated that "it seems he [Obama] has forgotten that Iran’s airspace was violated, spying operations were undertaken, international laws were violated and that Iran’s internal affairs were interfered with. ... Instead of an official apology and admitting to this violation, they are making this request."[29] Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney criticised Obama's decisions on the drone, saying that, after the aircraft went down, the president should have ordered an air strike within Iran: "The right response to that would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it. You can do that from the air ... and, in effect, make it impossible for them to benefit from having captured that drone." Instead, "he asked nicely for them to return it, and they aren't going to".[30] On 17 January 2012, an Iranian company said it would send miniature, pink, toy versions of the captured drone to President Obama as a response to the request for sending the drone back. On 10 December 2011, Iran announced that it intended to carry out reverse engineering on the captured RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft.[6] In April 2012, the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution claimed to have succeeded in extracting the entirety of the data collected by the drone and are currently in the process of building a replica of the aircraft.[33] Iran claimed to have been approached by countries, including China and Russia, seeking information on the drone.[34] Although U.S. officials expressed concern over the possibility of China or Russia receiving the drone's technology, they cast doubt on whether Iran could replicate the technology of the aircraft, as well as the amount of intelligence data available, due to the precautions installed for malfunctioning drones.[35] On May 2014, Iranian state TV displayed what was claimed to be a reverse engineered RQ-170. Sources familiar with the RQ-170's design say that the Iranian RQ-170 is merely a static mock-up rather than a flyable aircraft.[36] In November 2014 Iran claimed to have carried out a successful test flight of an aircraft based on reverse engineering of the RQ-170. The armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 UAV was shot down by a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle about 12:30 a.m. after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces. This is the second the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone in less than a month. The coalition forces were manning an established combat outpost to the northeast of At Tanf where they are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS. This is the same location where another pro-regime UAV dropped munitions near Coalition forces before it was shot down on June 8. The F-15E intercepted the armed UAV after it was observed advancing on the coalition position. The armed UAV was shot down when it continued to advance on the coalition's position without diverting its course. Shortly thereafter, Iran announced it has reverse engineered it.Isn't that heartwarming? Fast forward to today, the United States shot down an Iranian drone over the Syria -- the second drone this month.The Iranian Shaheed 129 drone looks very similar to the MQ-1 Predator Drone made by General Atomics, who sells these armed UCAVs to UAE and Turkey.MQ1Iran's Shaheed 129While the country obsesses over Russian phantoms, the DOD is in the process of expanding an illegal war in Syria -- furthering a neocon strategy that has wreaked havoc upon America's balance sheet for the past 30 years.

Pin 0 Shares I recently found out that one of my associates uses her Roth IRA as an emergency fund. Rather than put money into a low yield savings account, or some other cash account, she uses her retirement account as an emergency fund. Technically, the basics of a Roth IRA are conducive to this arrangement. However, you do want to be careful. Think things through before you use your Roth IRA as an emergency fund. Why Your Roth IRA Could, In Theory, Be An Emergency Fund In theory, your Roth IRA works as an emergency fund because of the withdrawal rules. You are actually allowed to withdraw your contributions to a Roth IRA at any time, and for any purpose – no matter your age. This means that you can take money out of your Roth IRA with no penalty or tax, as long as you are only withdrawing money that you have sent to the account through regular annual contributions. As long as your withdrawal amount doesn't exceed your overall contribution amount, you don't have to pay a penalty or taxes. Keep in mind that previous withdrawals count against your overall contribution amount. Continues after Advertisement You do have to be careful, though. Withdrawing from your Roth IRA can cost you if you don't do it right. If you are under 59 1/2, and you exceed your contribution amounts (except in certain cases), you might be subject to a 10% penalty and to paying income taxes on the amount. Make sure you know what you are doing before you withdraw money from your Roth IRA to shore up your finances in the case of emergency. Opportunity Cost While you might not have the expenses associated with penalties and taxes when you withdraw your contributions to your Roth IRA, you are still subject to opportunity cost. Remember: The money in your Roth IRA is working for you. You are earning interest at a pretty good rate (depending on your asset allocation and market conditions), and if you withdraw principal, you miss out. You can't replace the time that your money might have spent in your Roth IRA, growing with the power of compound interest. On the other hand, though, some insist that the opportunity cost comes when you put that money in a low yielding cash account as an emergency fund. Because your money (theoretically) grows faster in the Roth IRA, the power of compounding interest at a higher rate makes up for the fact that you withdraw some of your contributions for emergencies. Bottom Line What you decide to do depends on what you think is likely to work best for you, and provide for your needs. If you plan ahead sufficiently, it should be possible to get quite a bit built up in your Roth IRA. Of course, for it to work, you need to make sure you only withdraw contributions in cases of true emergencies. If you use your Roth IRA as an ATM, you could easily remove all of your contributions quickly — and then move into penalty areas where it starts costing you more. Make sure you carefully evaluate your situation before adopting this emergency fund strategy. Pin 0 Shares

Despite the blur of activity by innumerable candidates, the 2016 presidential campaign so far is a mostly shapeless enterprise, save for one dominant factor: the prominence of money in the narrative. More than anything, money has been the defining characteristic of the race, highlighted by the political and private activities of the brand names of Clinton and Bush. In their own ways, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush have brought unintentional attention to the role of money in politics and public life, to the intersection of money and political and public influence, and to the general absence of restraints, self-imposed or enforced. For Clinton, the story is partly about non-campaign money, about fundraising for the Clinton Foundation as well as the extraordinary amounts of money she and former president Bill Clinton have been paid for speeches since early 2014. For Bush, it is the apparent disregard for the spirit of campaign finance laws as he travels the country, filling up his super PAC with tens and tens of millions of dollars, all the while posing as someone still trying to decide whether he will become a candidate. Clinton cannot shake off questions and criticism about how she and her husband have cashed in after leaving public service. Even though much had been written about the amounts each of the Clintons was being paid for speeches to corporate, trade-association or educational institutions, the revelation last week that they have received about $25 million for 104 speeches since early 2014 was eye-popping. Hillary Clinton likes to say the deck is stacked against average Americans. She said Tuesday in Iowa that she wants to “reshuffle” that deck. No doubt that is a genuine belief from a Democratic politician looking at the state of the economy and comes with a conviction that public policies can and should be geared to alleviate the imbalance, at least somewhat. But she and her husband also are evidence of the imbalance. Bill Clinton’s declaration that he will continue to make paid speeches because, as he told NBC News, “I gotta pay our bills” sounds tone-deaf in the face of it all. The Clinton Foundation points to another problem of a Clinton presidential candidacy: the potential conflicts of interest — real or perceived — that the foundation’s fundraising could pose should Hillary Clinton win the White House in 2016. The charitable foundation does good work — few would dispute that. But the sources of money are not all equal, particularly foreign governments. Appearances count. As a candidate, Clinton has chosen to make money in politics one of the pillars of her platform. From the day she did her first campaign event in Iowa in April, she has talked about her belief that the campaign finance system needs to be reformed, even if it takes a constitutional amendment to do so. [Clinton seeks justices who would overturn Citizens United] She told fundraisers last week and repeated in Iowa on Monday that, as president, she would apply a virtual litmus test for Supreme Court nominees, seeking justices who favor overturning the Citizens United decision, which is credited with bringing about the era of super PACs and the further empowerment of billionaire donors at the expense of everyone else. That’s an extraordinary statement, perhaps proof that she is truly committed to changing a system that has led to a dramatic escalation in fundraising and spending, to levels unheard of not long ago, and to the empowerment of the wealthiest people in society. Even those who raise and spend the money for campaigns say it is too much, that it is obscene and distorting and possibly corrupting. Without doubt, it is contributing to the cynicism with which many Americans view the political process. A constitutional amendment, however, is years in the future. It might never happen. In the here and now, are there steps other than rhetorical commitments that Clinton could take to show some break with the past? So far, there have not been any. Why not? In fact, she is exploring ways for her campaign to coordinate directly with a recently formed super PAC, Correct the Record, in what will test the limits of the law. Former U.S. senator and secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that she’s running for president in 2016. Here's the Democrat’s take on women’s rights, Benghazi and more, in her own words. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post) No rational campaign strategist would tell her to do anything that would limit her ability to compete. In other words, no unilateral disarmament. As the saying goes, they gotta pay the campaign bills, and those bills will be costly. Still, it’s a question worth asking, and an explanation worth hearing, from a candidate who has put the issue front and center at the start of her campaign. Meanwhile, Bush continues on with the ruse that he is still deciding whether to run — as he regularly says in front of audiences, the lawyers make him issue a qualifier to keep him on the right side of the law. No one in any audience is fooled. This, after all, is coming from someone who, since late last year, has been running aggressively, who has made multiple trips to Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina to address voters and participate in cattle calls, who has hired a first-rate staff of strategists and communicators, and who has cozied up to rich people in small gatherings in New York and California and Illinois and Florida and Texas. Once he becomes a candidate, the rules will sharply limit Bush’s ability to coordinate activities with his super PAC. Until he is a candidate, he can remain in the thick of building a war chest, coordinating strategy, sharing data and analysis, talking directly to advisers who will later be walled off. He can personally work out which responsibilities will fall to his campaign and which will go to the super PAC. Bush is helping to stockpile money in his super PAC in a way no previous candidate has ever done — and in ways none of his prospective rivals are doing. He is creating a new model, one that may be within the letter of the law but that nonetheless mocks a long-ago-shredded system of campaign finance. His one effort at restraint, if it can be called that, was to ask super-PAC donors at one point to limit contributions to $1 million. Campaign money has rarely been a voting issue for most Americans, however much they deplore the expense of campaigns and the distortions it brings to the way politicians spend their time. It probably won’t be an issue in 2016. But there is no escaping the fact that campaign and non-campaign money continues to define and shape the 2016 race — and at least two of its leading candidates.

EMBED >More News Videos NASA says it is ready to send its next generation space craft on its maiden voyage EMBED >More News Videos NASA has picked Boeing and SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station Saturday was NASA's second shot at inflating the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module , named for the aerospace company that created it as a precursor to moon and Mars habitat. EMBED >More News Videos NASA has selected the four astronauts who will train for and launch from US soil for the first time since 2011. NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle has reached downtown Houston after a trip up the Gulf Freeway.NASA usually looks to the stars, but today all eyes were on I-45 as the space agency hit the road to downtown Houston.The Space Exploration Vehicle is a big machine that NASA hopes will one day be used by astronauts to explore other planets. NASA moved it to Discovery Green for the Super Bowl fan festival taking place there.To get this thing from the Johnson Space Center to Discovery Green, it had to be driven up the Gulf Freeway on a tractor trailer, complete with police escort.

A downtown councillor will ask the city to extend the deadline for heritage grants available to preserve 1800s-era Gore Park storefronts set for redevelopment, even though the owners have no interest in applying for the money. The city is offering up to $1.1 million for restoration of the facades of the buildings along the south leg of King Street, but the developer says it would take double that to preserve them and he isn't interested unless someone else comes up with the additional money. They want to keep the facades, fine. Someone will have to pay for that. - Dave Blanchard "The buildings are collapsing as we speak," said David Blanchard, who is a partner in the development company that bought the buildings in 2000. "They want to keep the facades, fine. Someone will have to pay for that." It's been a year since Coun. Jason Farr pushed forward an urgent call to designate the buildings historic and halt their impending demolition. The developers appealed that decision to the provincial Conservation Review Board, which pushes the debate over the properties' status to at least March. And now the buildings are set to head into a second winter with their interiors exposed, their condition worsening. The city had pre-approved $1.1 million in grants if the developers would designate the buildings historic. Those grants have not yet been applied for. On Wednesday at city council, Farr will push to extend the deadline for the developers to take advantage of those grants up until the end of 2015. "We're all trying to work this thing out," Farr said. Blanchard estimates the restoration of the facades to cost at least double what the city is offering, more like $2.5 million. "We don’t want the historic parts particularly — other people do," he said. "Because it’s expensive. ... If someone’s willing to pay to keep it up and fund it, fine, we’ll try to work with that." 'They’ve been sitting there for two years with water running through them' Farr said the council already changed and enhanced the historic designation grant process in a way that would raise the amount available for the Gore Park buildings to the $1.1 million. The Royal Connaught project also benefited from that change, Farr said. Council was "very generous to help the issue along by changing that previous condition," he said. "I think that speaks volumes." Blanchard toured city officials through the buildings when he first bought them in 2000. "We bought the buildings knowing they were a tear-down. Everybody knew that," he said. "Then we nursed it on for another 12 or 14 years. They’ve been sitting there for two years with water running through them." Blanchard said the buildings are full of mould and unsafe to send his staff into. When he thinks back, he said, "We should’ve demolished it immediately." Blanchard said he was grateful to hear about Farr's intention to extend the grant deadline. But he laughed at questions about how soon he might try to restore the facades and comply with the city's historic designation rules. "They gave us a demolition permit to rip it down!" Blanchard said. "So, I mean, it’s a little schizophrenic."