Cuba offers 3G mobile internet access to citizens
Image caption Cubans will be invited to join the 3G network between Thursday and Saturday
Cuba’s population is to be offered internet access via a 3G mobile network from later this week.
Telecom provider Etecsa said citizens would be able to start subscribing to the service from Thursday.
Until now, locals have mostly relied on wi-fi hotspots and internet cafes and the 3G service has been restricted to state-employed journalists and foreign businesses among others.
This will change – but many will still be unable to afford the new contracts.
Etecsa’s packages range from a month’s use of 600MB of data for 7CUC ($7; £5.50) to 4GB for 30CUC.
Users get a bonus 300MB use of local .cu domain websites.
But the average state wage for the island’s 11.2 million residents is the equivalent of about $30 per month.
Looser limits
The launch marks a further relaxation of the government’s restrictions on online activity.
Until five years ago, access was largely limited to tourist hotels and state-operated clubs.
Image caption Many Cubans have relied on wi-fi hotspots to get online
But in 2013, the authorities began opening internet cafes.
In 2014, they began allowing mobile phone owners access to the state’s Nauta email service at a charge of 1CUC per megabyte – the price has since fallen to the same charge for 50MB.
In 2015, the first wi-fi hotspot opened at a cultural centre. Hundreds of other public spaces then followed.
And then in 2017, Etecsa began offering a limited number of home connections.
Access to the new 3G service will be rolled out over a three-day period in order to reduce the risk of it being overwhelmed with demand.
The order in which existing subscribers will be invited to join will be determined by the first two digits of their mobile phone number.
Image caption Cuba’s president began tweeting in October
However, Etecsa has not ruled out the possibility of glitches.
“Incidents could be experienced in certain areas,” it has warned.
“If customers experience any problems, they should inform the company.”
Nearly half of Cuba’s population own a mobile phone although not all are compatible with the radio frequency the service will use.
Analysis: Will Grant, Cuba correspondent
Image copyrightReuters
Cubans have long wanted to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to internet access.
Since Raul Castro stood down and was replaced as president by Miguel Diaz-Canel, that has looked increasingly likely – at least on their mobile phones.
The new president has an active Twitter account and several members of the Council of State followed his lead recently.
Still, based on their experience, most Cubans are distrustful of major announcements and unveilings until they can see real change for themselves.
The last time a 24-hour pilot for 3G was run, for example, other mobile services such as SMS messaging went down.
They will want to see that mobile internet works well and is dependable before deciding whether they can afford the packages.
Still the desire is there, especially among young people who never considered it fair that they lagged so far behind their cousins elsewhere in the world.
One electrical engineer told me he was exhausted with having to sit in hot public squares to get online.
“Why did we have to be the offline island?” he said.
To date, Cuba has generally allowed users to interact with most of the internet if they could gain access.
A report by the US think tank Freedom House last year noted that the US government-backed news site Marti Noticias and local blog 14ymedio were blocked.
However, it added that foreign news sites – including the BBC and Spain’s El Pais – were available, as were social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
Citizens can also use video chat services that allow them to keep in touch with family members who have emigrated abroad.
Game-on for UK’s Team Tao in ocean XPRIZE final
Deliveroo wins latest court battle over rider rights


Cachão da Valeira
Until the end of the 18th century the Cachão da Valeira, or Valeira Gorge, was the easternmost limit of navigation on the Douro River. The gorge was blocked by massive outcrops of rock which formed a waterfall and prevented boats from travelling upstream into the eastern reaches of the Douro. The work of demolishing the rock and opening the gorge to navigation began in 1780. The first vessels were able to pass through the gorge in 1789 and the work was finally completed in 1791. The opening of the Cachão da Valeira to river traffic allowed viticulture to develop in the eastern reaches of the Douro, which became known as the Douro Novo or 'New Douro'. It is now known as the Douro Superior, or 'Upper Douro' and is the location of some of the finest Port estates including Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas. Until the building of the Valeira dam in 1976 just downstream from the gorge, the Cachão da Valeira was one of the most dangerous points on the Douro River. It is infamous as the place where Baron Forrester, a prominent figure in the history of Port, was drowned in 1862 when his boat was wrecked as it travelled downstream through the treacherous fast running rapids of the gorge.
See Traditional measures.
A cask is a barrel used to age Port wine. Casks usually hold around 630 litres of wine but this can vary. Today all casks are made of oak. They are seasoned before being used to age the Port so that the wood does not impart too strong a flavour to the wine. See also 'Traditional measures'.
Chalk mark
The chalk mark, sometimes known as the splash mark, is a dash of white chalk or paint placed on the side of a bottle of Vintage Port to show in which position it was stored in the Port house's cellar. Bottles of Vintage Port should be stored lying down to keep the cork moist. The chalk mark is placed on the upper side of the bottle. Any sediment which forms in the bottle will therefore settle on the side opposite to the chalk mark. This is useful information when decanting a bottle of Vintage Port. If the bottle is held with the white mark uppermost, there is less likelihood of the sediment being disturbed. If there is no white mark, as is often now the case, the bottle should be held with the label uppermost.
Cima Corgo
See 'Sub Regions'
Colheita is the Portuguese word for a harvest. It is also the name given to a small category of Ports which are aged in wood and bear the date of the harvest on the label. These dated wood Ports should not be confused with Vintage Ports.
A cooper is a person skilled in the making and repair of wooden casks and vats. The workshop in which the coopers build and maintain these wooden vessels is known as a cooperage. The skill of cooperage is often passed down from father to son within the same family.
See 'Treading'.
See 'Sediment'.
Crusted
Crusted Port is a full bodied red Port which has formed a sediment or 'crust' in the bottle. Like a Vintage Port, Crusted Port will improve in bottle. Unlike Vintage, however, it is usually blended from wines of more than one year and does not bear the vintage on the label. Crusted Port is a very small category of Port and not many houses produce it. In the past Crusted was also sometimes referred to as Crusting Port but this name is no longer used.


B.I.R. Reminds USVI Residents Not To File Tax Returns With IRS
Community Center / News / Virgin Islands / February 8, 2019
In a release issued Thursday, Bureau of Internal Revenue Director nominee Joel Lee said bona fide U.S. Virgin Islands residents should file their tax returns in the U.S. Virgin Islands and not with the IRS on the mainland.
“Bona fide residents of the Virgin Islands must not file their individual income tax returns, electronically or by mail, with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” Mr. Lee said. “This is a violation of the law. The income tax return is only considered filed on the date that it is received by the Bureau, not the date received by the IRS. Taxpayers who receive erroneous refunds from the IRS will have to repay the erroneous refund issued by the IRS, and will be subject to penalties and interest. The due date for tax returns this year is Monday, April 15, 2019.
The reminder, which has been issued before, comes as Dept. of Finance Commissioner nominee Kirk Callwood said he could not say when tax refunds would be issued.
B.I.R. also reminded taxpayers that the 2018 tax return has been revised. The format has changed significantly, it said, so taxpayers are asked to review the tax return and ensure that the information being provided is accurate.
Taxpayers must use Form 1040 to file their 2018 taxes. Forms 1040A and 1040EZ are no longer available for use by taxpayers. Self-employed taxpayers are required to file two tax returns. The individual income tax return (Form 1040) and the self-employment tax return (Form 1040SS). The Form 1040 is filed with the Bureau. The self-employment tax return must be mailed to the IRS. B.IR. said taxpayers should not include payment of self employment taxes on Form 1040.
Mr. Lee reiterated that there is no electronic filing in the Virgin Islands. Taxpayers must submit or mail the returns to the Bureau for processing.
For more information about filing requirements for bona fide residents, please call the Office of Chief Counsel at 715-1040, ext. 2249 or 714-9312.
Ruling On Fate Of Excise Taxes Could Come 'Any Day Now,' New B.I.R. Director Says
Need Help With Filing Taxes, Let U.V.I., B.I.R., Help


Administration moves to ease drive-time rules for truckers
by: RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press
Posted: Jul 1, 2019 / 04:02 AM PDT / Updated: Jul 1, 2019 / 09:38 AM PDT
Truck driver Terry Button drives his truck near Opal, Va., Thursday, June 13, 2019. The Transportation Department is poised to relax the federal regulations that govern how many hours a day truckers can be behind the wheel, a long sought goal of the trucking industry. (AP Photo/Tom Sampson)
OPAL, Va. (AP) — Truck driver Lucson Francois was forced to hit the brakes just five minutes from his home in Pennsylvania.
He’d reached the maximum number of hours in a day he’s allowed to be on duty. Francois couldn’t leave the truck unattended. So he parked and climbed into the sleeper berth in the back of the cab. Ten hours would have to pass before he could start driving again.
“You don’t want even a one-minute violation,” said Francois, a 39-year-old Haitian immigrant, recalling his dilemma during a break at a truck stop in this small crossroads town southwest of Washington.
The Transportation Department is moving to relax the federal regulations that required Francois to pull over, a long sought goal of the trucking industry and a move that would highlight its influence with the Trump administration. Interest groups that represent motor carriers and truck drivers have lobbied for revisions they say would make the rigid “hours of service” rules more flexible.
But highway safety advocates are warning the contemplated changes would dangerously weaken the regulations, resulting in truckers putting in even longer days at a time when they say driver fatigue is such a serious problem. They point to new government data that shows fatal crashes involving trucks weighing as much as 80,000 pounds have increased.
“I think flexibility is a code word for deregulation,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, an alliance of insurance companies and consumer, public health and safety groups. She said the hours of service requirements, which permit truckers to drive up to 11 hours each day, are already “exceedingly liberal in our estimation.”
There were 4,657 large trucks involved in fatal crashes in 2017, a 10% increase from the year before, according to a May report issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency of the Transportation Department. Sixty of the truckers in these accidents were identified as “asleep or fatigued,” although the National Transportation Safety Board has said this type of driver impairment is likely underreported on police crash forms.
The NTSB has declared fatigue a “pervasive problem” in all forms of transportation and added reducing fatigue-related accidents to its 2019-2020 “most wanted list ” of safety improvements. A groundbreaking study by the Transportation Department more than a decade ago reported 13% of truck drivers involved in crashes that resulted in fatalities or injuries were fatigued at the time of the accidents.
The trucking industry has developed a strong relationship with President Donald Trump, who has made rolling back layers of regulatory oversight a top priority. At least a dozen transportation safety rules under development or already adopted were repealed, withdrawn, delayed or put on the back burner during Trump’s first year in office.
“First of all, this administration is not as aggressive as the prior,” said Bill Sullivan, the top lobbyist for the powerful American Trucking Associations, whose members include the nation’s largest motor carriers and truck manufacturing companies. “Most importantly, the partnership with them has not been as suspicious of industry as in the past.”
Trucking interests had pressed the administration and Congress for the rule changes and last year secured support from 30 senators, mostly Republicans. The lawmakers wrote in a May 2018 letter to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief Ray Martinez that the rules “do not provide the appropriate level of flexibility” and asked him to explore improvements.
Independent truckers in particular have chafed at what they see as a one-size-fits-all directive written by Washington bureaucrats who don’t understand what they face on the highways.
“How can you judge me and what I do by sitting in a cubicle in an office?” said Terry Button, a burly hay farmer from upstate New York who owns his truck. Button estimates he’s logged about 4 million miles since he started driving a truck in 1976. He said he’s never caused an accident, although he’s been hit twice by passenger vehicles.
The regulations have existed since the 1930s and are enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The proposed revisions are being reviewed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and have not yet been released, according to a spokesman for the motor carrier safety office.
The regulations limit long-haul truckers to 11 hours of driving time within a 14-hour on-duty window. They must have had 10 consecutive hours off duty before the on-duty clock starts anew. And a driver who is going to be driving for more than eight hours must take a 30-minute break before hitting the eight-hour mark.
Breaking the rules can be costly. A trucker might be declared “out of service” for a day or longer for going beyond the time limits. Many are paid by the mile, so if they’re not driving they’re not making money. Francois, who was hauling 45,000 pounds of drinking water to a Walmart warehouse in Woodland, Pennsylvania, said he gets 50 cents a mile and earns, after taxes, around $900 a week.
Off-duty and on-duty time for most truckers is recorded automatically and precisely by electronic logging devices, or ELDs. Responding to a congressional directive, the Obama administration set in motion the mandated use of ELDs as of December 2017 — a regulatory requirement that Trump has not overturned.
Paper logs could be fudged pretty easily, but not the ELD, which is wired to the truck’s engine and has a display screen visible to the driver. Chase’s organization says an accurate accounting of a trucker’s hours is one of the most effective ways to help prevent drowsy driving. But for many truckers, the logging devices have only highlighted the inflexibility and complexity of the regulations.
“If you run out of time in the middle of the George Washington Bridge, are you just going to pull over and park?” said Button, referring to the world’s busiest span connecting New Jersey and New York.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small business truckers like Button, said the schedule dictated by the rules is out of step with the daily realties confronting most of their members. Heavy traffic, foul weather and long waits for cargo to be loaded or unloaded keep them idle. All the while, the 14-hour clock keeps on ticking, pushing them to go faster to make up lost time.
Especially vexing is the mandatory break requirement, according to organization president, Todd Spencer. The pause forces drivers to pull over when they don’t really need to rest, he said. And parking for a big rig is often hard to find and they may end up stopping in unsafe places, such as highway shoulders.
Spencer’s organization, which says it has more than 160,000 members, has been pushing for the 30-minute break to be eliminated. In comments filed with the Transportation Department, the group recommended that truckers instead be allowed to effectively stop the 14-hour clock for up to three consecutive hours. During this off-duty period, drivers could rest or simply wait out heavy traffic.
“This is not rocket science stuff,” Spencer said. “Rest when it makes sense to rest. Drive when it makes sense to drive.”
But critics of the stop-the-clock idea said that would result in a 17-hour work window, heightening the risk of drowsy driving and accidents. There’s no guarantee a trucker can or will sleep during that three-hour stop and a number of them would be driving at the end of a long period of being awake, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional society of doctors and scientists.
Harry Adler, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for “appeasing industry.” He said the agency has made the potential rule changes a higher priority than pushing forward with safety technologies such as software that electronically limits a truck’s speed. Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the Senate last week that, if passed, would circumvent the Trump administration’s indefinite delay of a proposed rule requiring new trucks to be outfitted with speed limiters.
“None of this should be up for consideration,” he said. “There is no reason for any of this.”
Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rplardner
Oregon GOP launches effort to recall Gov. Brown
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The chairman of the Oregon Republican Party has filed paperwork to launch a recall against Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, citing some of the laws passed in the 2019 legislative session.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Chairman Bill Currier in the Monday filing also pointed to Brown's announcement the day after lawmakers went home last month that if necessary, she would use executive powers to implement climate change policies similar to the plan defeated at the Capitol this year.
Booker’s Iowa senior adviser leaves, citing personal reasons
by ALEXANDRA JAFFE, Associated Press / Jul 15, 2019
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker's Iowa senior adviser is departing his 2020 presidential campaign, leaving Booker without a top staffer in a key early voting state.
Iowa senior adviser Joe O'Hern confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that he departed the campaign last week for personal reasons. O'Hern was Martin O'Malley's caucus director in 2016, managed a Democratic gubernatorial primary campaign in 2018 and is widely known among Iowa's political class as a seasoned organizer with a deep understanding of the caucus process.
US, Russian delegations to discuss arms control in Geneva
by DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press / Jul 15, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Delegations from the U.S. and Russia are expected to meet this week to discuss arms control and the possibility of coaxing China into negotiating a new, three-way nuclear weapons pact, two senior administration officials said Monday.
The New START treaty, the last major arms-control treaty remaining between the U.S. and Russia, expires in 2021. There has been talk of negotiating an extension to the existing treaty, but the White House thinks the next generation of arms control must include China.
Politics / 1 min ago


← Exit: SEC’s Dan Gallagher – Enter: The Crowdfunders!
JOBS ACT CROWDFUNDING IN 2016 – IT’S TIME TO CONNECT THE DOTS IN THIS NEW ERA →
Final Title III SEC Crowdfunding Rules – Done (almost)!!! Next Act: The Missing Title VIII (a/k/a H.R. 3784)
Posted on October 28, 2015 by Samuel Guzik
[As published on October 28, 2015 in Crowdfund Insider]
I will not be discouraged by failure; I will not be elated by success.”
Joseph B. Lightfoot
The bigger than life headline yesterday? The long-awaited news that the SEC’s five Commissioners would be convening this coming Friday to vote on, and presumably approve final Title III rules. Yet as we wait with great anticipation to see what the final rules will actually say, I wanted to throw out some thoughts to the crowd – thoughts which I and a growing number of others believe are important.
First, a heartfelt thanks, along with my sympathies, to the Staff at the SEC who despite the media headlines to the contrary have worked tirelessly on the Title III rules to get to this day. Not an easy task to build out an entirely new capital formation ecosystem which brings together the riskiest of companies and the most financially vulnerable investors. And to make the task that much more difficult, Congress left much, if not most, of the important details to the SEC. And if that were not enough, the Staff at the SEC was saddled with a statutory structure which was not a product of rational legislative deliberation, but instead the final work product of some very ugly and partisan sausage making on the Senate side of Capitol Hill before Congressman Patrick McHenry’s original House bill would make it to the legislative finish line in April 2012
And I would be remiss in not giving a special thanks to Sebastian Gomez Abero, Chief of the SEC Office of Small Business Policy, who had the herculean task of wrestling with all of the fine details, and assimilating the many views of those inside the walls of the SEC, not to mention the hundreds of persons who took the time to provide the SEC with their brain share in the form of written comments on the proposed rules and meeting personally with the Staff.
But alas, let us not lose perspective – Friday will come and go, like any other day. And regardless of what the final rules say, there will be much important work left to be done. So the question du jour is how will this work will get done? And how quickly?
To answer this question properly, one needs, as their starting point, not the 270-day deadline for Title III rules, set by Congress back in April 2012. Actually, I go back a lot further – 1980 to be exact – to remind everyone that long before the bipartisan JOBS Act of 2012 became part of the legislative landscape, Democrats and Republicans alike came together back in 1980 to forge important legislation with a singular purpose – to strengthen the interests of small and emerging businesses in the legislative and regulatory process. These were to be important reforms for SME’s, some of which included:
Protection of the interests of small business from unduly burdensome requirements in the federal regulatory process (the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980)
Creation of an annual SEC Government Small Business Forum, to provide a sharper focus on issues directly impacting small business at the SEC and to facilitate communication and cooperation between the SEC, state regulatory agencies, and the other stakeholders in the SME ecosystem.
Though these were important steps, the promise of these measures and measures of similar ilk over the past few decades have not really moved the needle very much – given the amount of time elapsed. In fact, I believe it is fair to say that since 1980 it has pretty much-been business as usual for small business interests in Washington – still lacking strong, effective advocates, both at the SEC and in the halls of Congress.
That is not my opinion alone. Indeed, it would be challenging to find well-grounded opinions to the contrary.
So What is Needed? The Missing Title VIII of the JOBS Act: Creation of a Strong Independent Voice at the SEC – Small Business Advocate.
Well, when it comes to my views on how to ease legislative and regulatory burdens on small business, I first spoke to this issue back in February 2014, in an article first published in Crowdfund Insider: an independent office at the SEC – one whose sole mission was to advocate for the interests of small business capital formation – and with the gravitas to actually have a chance to make a difference. Something more was needed than simply an office in the SEC, dedicated to small business, which has a line of authority on the SEC organizational chart which ends with the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance. What was needed was a strong and independent voice, one that reported directly to not only the full Commission but also to Congress.
To me, the need for this new office at the SEC was obvious. Yet I could find nothing in the public literature discussing this idea before I first advocated for it in February 2014. So in the absence of any prior authority on the subject I questioned: was this was really a good idea; would it really make a difference for small business? Or would such a new office perhaps do more harm than good, as some might postulate. Who would know better the answer to this question than now former SEC Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher, I thought. After all, he was not only a sitting SEC Commissioner who was a staunch supporter of small business but one who had headed up the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, amongst other SEC Staff positions, in a former life.
Well, I heard Commissioner Gallagher’s answer to my questions in a private meeting with him back in June of 2014. And the public heard his answer in the affirmative in a major address he delivered at The Heritage Foundation in September 2014, aptly titled “What Ever Happened to Promoting Small Business Capital Formation, complete with a shout out to me in a footnote.” You see, from the perspective of Commissioner Gallagher, one of the line items in his personal “to do list” of necessary reforms to enhance the ability of small business to raise capital and to otherwise comply with SEC rules, was to create an entirely new office at the SEC, an Office of Small Business Advocate.
His words proved to be an inspiration for many, including those within the Beltway who are better positioned than most to make things happen. It started with an organization known as the Small Business Investor Alliance. A stone’s throw from the Hill they took the initiative to garner enough support to have legislation introduced into Congress on October 21, 2015. They started out by finding a friend in the offices of Representative John Carney (D-Del) and Representative Sean Duffy (R– Wisc). Also lending support as co-sponsors of the bill – Ander Crenshaw (R-FL), and Mike Quigley (D-IL).
What started with what seemed like one lone voice with what seemed like a good idea soon became a bill, introduced into the House of Representatives on October 21, 2015, with bi-partisan backing of four members of the House of Representatives, and introduced with a letter of support signed onto by major national trade associations:
Small Business Investor Alliance
Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC)
Association for Corporate Growth National Small Business Association
Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA)
National Venture Capital Association, and
The bill, now officially designated as H.R. 3784, entitled “The SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2015,” is chocked with details. But suffice it to say that this legislation, which empowers a single individual, the SEC Small Business Advocate, and an office dedicated to the single mission of advocating for promoting capital formation for small business, while also protecting the interests of small business investors, contains the key ingredients. This bill envisions, by legislative fiat, the insertion at the SEC of an individual and an office with a singular focus on small business advocacy, and with the organizational gravitas to get the job done – reporting to the full SEC Commission and to both houses of Congress.
And for those who may think that this legislation is not necessary, all one needs to do is to look at the relatively short shrift that small business has received over the past decades, not to mention the (very) long waits to accomplish tangible reform for small business capital formation. Indeed, the long wait for final Title III rules – long not by my watch, but by Congress’s watch – a 270 day rulemaking deadline mandated by the 2012 JOBS Act itself, pales in comparison when one looks at the small business regulatory landscape going back to the then highly touted small business reforms instituted back in 1980.
So yes, when the jubilation of the crowd in many corners of the U.S. over the long-awaited final Title III crowdfunding rules subsides, let’s pause and take a brief moment to look back a few decades – to learn from history – and then, look not down, but forward. There is much work left to be done to facilitate smarter, right sized regulation of small business capital formation – consistent with necessary investor protections. But we need to work at a more efficient pace then we have over at least the past 35 years.
So after the elation from having final Title III rules subsides, please read this new legislative bill – think about how things might be much different – and better – for small business capital formation if this bill were to become law. Perhaps, the final Title III rules might have been even better than the best efforts of the Staff and the Commission could make them, given that they were already hamstrung by defective legislation passed without the involvement of the Commission. And, perhaps they might have arrived just a tad sooner.
For a link to the text of H.R. 3784 and the Letter of Support accompanying the bills introduction, it is available for viewing and download here: bit.ly/1P4Jj00 ]
This entry was posted in Business Formation, Capital Raising, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Crowdfunding, General, Regulation A+ Resource Center. Bookmark the permalink.


VAN DIEST: 5 takeaways from Women's World Cup: United States keep raising bar
WORLD CUP NOTES: Success attracts criticism in the Netherlands
After a U.S. player's controversial tea-drinking celebration, here are some of the most notorious goal celebrations in World Cup history
VAN DIEST: United States should be commended for continuing to raise bar of women's soccer
United States gets past England and move on to Women's World Cup final
WORLD CUP NOTES: United States show up at rivals' hotel
DEREK VAN DIEST: A trip to World Cup final would put semifinal heartbreak in Canada to rest for England
DEREK VAN DIEST: Rapinoe gets last laugh for U.S. against France at World Cup
Updated Jun 28, 2019 at 8:22 p.m.
U.S. soccer captain Megan Rapinoe embodies all it is to be American
DEREK VAN DIEST: French consider themselves underdogs against United States
WORLD CUP NOTES: Canadian referee Carol Anne Chenard missed in France
Derek Van Diest
PARIS — Canadian Carol Anne Chenard was considered an early candidate to referee the final at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup had she not been forced to miss the tournament after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Italian ...
TAKE 3: Janine Beckie still destined for stardom despite loss at Women's World Cup
PARIS — You could not help but feel bad for Canada’s women’s national soccer team as they filed past the media mix zone at the Parc des Princes on Monday with tears in their eyes following a painful defeat at the 2019 FIFA ...
GALLERY: Canada gutted with loss to Sweden at Women's World Cup
PARIS — They had been together so long and worked so hard, it was tough for Canada to hide the disappointment of being knocked out in the second round of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Canada’s tournament came to an abrupt end, ...
Christine Sinclair offers crucial penalty kick to Janine Beckie at Women's World Cup
PARIS — It brought flashbacks of Wayne Gretzky being left on the bench during the shootout at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. This time it was Canada captain and second-leading scorer of all time Christine Sinclair not stepping up to take a ...
TAKE 3: Canada still in the fight at Women's World Cup
PARIS — Canada is not accustomed to losing, at least not the current make-up of the national women’s soccer team. The 2-1 defeat to Netherlands on Thursday at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup was the first time Canada lost since ...
WORLD CUP NOTES: Canada on the wrong side of video reviews against Netherlands
REIMS — The way things were going, it was inevitable Canada would eventually have a run-in with the Video Assistant Referee at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. It took just over a minute for the controversial VAR system, used for ...
ANDREW POTTER: Women's World Cup fiascos show video review has no place in soccer
Before they’d even made it into the Round of 16, video review was wreaking havoc with the Women’s World Cup. It has completely ruined at least two key matches while disrupting many others. The video assistant referee, or VAR, is being ...
VAN DIEST: Canadian defence ready for dangerous Dutch trio
REIMS — Canada is in unchartered territory having qualified for the second round of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup with a game to spare. On the two occasions Canada advanced past the group stage in previous World Cups, they ...
WORLD CUP NOTES: Dutch expected to attack back against Canada
REIMS — Group E at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup saved the best for last when Canada and the Netherlands face each other here at the Stade Auguste Delaune on Thursday. With both teams having already qualified for the second ...
DEREK VAN DIEST: American women's soccer machine keeps rolling at Women's World Cup
PARIS, France — They’re loud, they’re proud, they’re well supported, and for the moment, the United States are taking it to opponents at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The United States defeated World Cup ...


Headlines > Forest: plain pack review "premature"
Sat 23rd November, 2013
Campaigners opposed to plain packaging of tobacco have accused the government of ignoring the views of hundreds of thousands of people who opposed the policy in a public consultation.
They also describe as "premature" the government's decision to commission a further review of the evidence.
The review, announced this morning in a written statement by public health minister Jane Ellison, follows a public consultation in 2012 that attracted over 700,000 responses, almost half a million of them opposed to standardised packaging.
Angela Harbutt, campaigns manager at the smokers' group Forest which runs the Hands Off Our Packs campaign, said:
"Over 700,000 people took part in the public consultation and a huge majority opposed plain packaging.
"Fifteen months later the government seems to be ignoring the outcome of that consultation despite the fact that very little has changed in the intervening period.
"Although Australia introduced plain packaging twelve months ago it's far too early to say what the long-term impact will be.
"Recent reports however suggest that smoking prevalence has remained the same while illicit trade has gone up.
"In contrast, there is no evidence that plain packaging has had any impact on youth smoking rates."
She added:
"Although we think it's premature, we welcome a further review as long as it considers all the available evidence and is genuinely independent and impartial."


University’s Stafford base opens its doors
University gears up for Clearing
Student satisfaction remains high
Inspirational people to be honoured
On-the-spot offers at Open Day
Suzi Perry to star at University business event
Clearing calls to University increase
Name of new Science Centre revealed
New professors help boost University research profile
£500,000 investment in engineering facilities
Capital FM visit University Campuses
Student’s delight at silver medal
Business project to be extended
Students elect new president
University to support Music Festival
The University of Wolverhampton is leading a consortium of universities in delivering a support programme designed to help small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region that are in the early stages of developing new products.
The £1m Innovative Product Support Service (IPSS) project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), has been granted an extension and will now run until December 2015.
Since the project started in early 2013, over 100 companies have signed up to access the wide range of support.
The programme is particularly interested in businesses developing environmental, digital, electronic or medical technologies.
Professor Andrew Pollard, Director of the IPSS programme, said: “Through the IPSS project businesses within the West Midlands area will have access to the expertise offered by four universities from across the region. It is a great opportunity for West Midlands SMEs to get a helping hand in getting their new products to market and will make a real difference to the growth of their businesses.”
IPSS offers eligible businesses up to six days of funded support in areas such as product design, market research, electronics development and intellectual property rights protection. In some cases, SMEs can also access grant support for businesses to continue the development of their innovative products.
As part of the IPSS programme each beneficiary will receive an objective review of their product. For those businesses with a viable proposition, the programme aims to offer assistance regardless of whether it is a concept design model, a review of the IP status of a product or the development of an electronics based prototype
Project Manager, Abi Hopkins said: “The demand for support has been fantastic and new applications are received almost daily. We have established strong referral links with other University projects and external agencies to highlight the support available which has been effective. Regional SMEs are able to access a wide range of new product development support not only through the IPSS project but also through other funded programmes, therefore offering added value.”
The programme has attracted high profile keynote speakers and manufacturing enthusiasts such as TV presenter and historian Adam Hart-Davis, TV star and innovation enthusiast Robert Llewellyn and Martin McCourt, ex CEO of Dyson and additional events are being planned for later in 2014.
The project will continue to run until December 2015. For more information about the project and events, please contact Abi Hopkins on 01902 321105 or visit IPSS.
Date Issued: Tuesday, 26 August 2014


Martin Mor
Snapper -
Martin Mor!
"Martin is the act who has influenced me the most." - Frankie Boyle
One of the world's funniest and most respected comedians comes to Stagetime Comedy Club!
Martin comes from Northern Ireland, and after a successful career as a circus performer, he turned his attention on the unsuspecting comedy circuit.
With over 30 years experience as a professional performer, Martin has established himself as one of the UK’s most popular and in-demand comedians.
Martin has performed successfully at events of all description; from the Hammersmith Apollo to a show for the inmates of an Italian prison, from comedy clubs to performing in some of the most unique, and unusual locations.
In April 2016 Martin was part of a team that set the world record for the highest altitude comedy show by performing at 5,300m/17,600ft at Mount Everest basecamp.
Very much the comedian’s comedian, Martin has been the support act of choice for; Frankie Boyle, Jack Dee, Lee Evans, Jasper Carrot, Patrick Kielty, Johnny Vegas, Steve Coogan, and once Tina Turner. Most recently Martin was part of legendary Doug Stanhope's podcast!
Martin has made numerous appearances on radio and television.As well as devising and performing his own BBC television show, he has written jokes for some of the biggest names in British comedy.
Martin is a specialist MC, and a regular headline act at most of the UK’s major comedy clubs, and also performs at comedy, music, and arts festivals around the world.
A truly global performer, Martin has worked throughout the known world performing his shows in Britain, Ireland, Australia, USA, Canada, Croatia, Belgium, Slovenia, Romania, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Cyprus, Crete, Falkland Islands, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, Hong Kong, and Mainland China.
Martin’s photograph is featured on the popular board game Trivial Pursuits, (The Genus Edition). On an arts entertainments square, he is seen wearing a leotard.
Experience World Class comedy where comedy is supposed to be enjoyed in an intimate up close environment of Thailand's favorite comedy club!
"Explosive, visual comedian who should carry a government health warning!" - City Life
"The comic least likely to be heckled." - The Irish Post
"Off beat , unusual, outrageous!" - Time Out
Special Early Bird Price ฿350!
Advanced ฿500/ Door ฿700
Thursday 11 October 2018 at 8:00 PM
4/8 Sukhumvit Soi 8, Sukhumvit Rd., Khlong Toei Nuea, Khet Khlong Toei, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110


Surprise! Chance The Rapper Is In The 'Lion King'
Chance the Rapper can keep a secret!
On Wednesday (July 10), the 26-year-old surprised fans when he revealed that he managed to make a lifelong dream come true by snagging a role in the forthcoming Lion King. Chance shared the news on Instagram, detailing how his infatuation with the film led to him voicing the character Bush Baby.
"I grew up my whole life obsessed with all things related to #TheLionKing; like all three films, the Timon and Pumbaa tv show, the broadway play and especially the broadway soundtrack. Needless to say the original film was immensely impactful on my music and overall life," he shared. "So when my big bro Donald [Glover] got casted as Simba, he did the coolest thing ever and told director Jon Favreau to call me in as a consultant to keep the original flavor."
Chance continued, "So for about a year I would go to the LK studio and see early animations, scenes, music direction or assemblies and they’d always be out of this world amazing. One day I’m there Jon asked me to do some singing stuff, another day he asks me to do some lines. Its all a blur, but I’ll tell u its one of the best blurs of my whole life. I am so blessed to know people like Donald and Jon man. AMAZING FILM, AMAZING CAST AND AN AMAZING NIGGHT LAST NIGHT. GOD BLESS AND LONG LIVE THE KING."
News of Chance's Lion King role comes ahead of the release of his debut album. As fans know, the "Groceries" rapper is set to release the project this month.
Lion King hits theaters on July 19.
Chance is also performing at this year's iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas in September alongside a lineup of superstar artists. Fans across the country can tune in and watch an exclusive live stream of the show via The CW App and CWTV.com. Then, on October 2nd and 3rd, relive all of the epic performances from the weekend during a televised special on The CW Network at 8pm ET/PT. And leading up to the official television special, The CW will also air an hour-long Best Of Special on Sunday, September 29th at 8 p.m. ET/PT.


Oecd better existence index
February 15, 2018Education in Spain
How’s Existence?
The country performs well in couple of measures of well-finding yourself in the greater Existence Index. The country ranks over the average in work-existence balance, housing, health status, social connections, and private security but substandard in earnings and wealth, social engagement, ecological quality, education and skills, and jobs and earnings.
Money, although it cannot buy happiness, is a vital way to achieving greater living standards. In The country, the typical household internet-adjusted disposable earnings per person is USD 22 007 annually, under the OECD average of USD 29 016 annually. There’s a substantial gap between your wealthiest and poorest – the very best 20% of people earn near to seven occasions around the underside 20%.
When it comes to employment, around 57% of individuals aged 15 to 64 in The country possess a compensated job, underneath the OECD employment average of 66%. Some 62% of males have been in compensated work, in contrast to 52% of ladies. In The country, nearly 6% of employees work very lengthy hrs, under the OECD average of 13%, with 8% of males working very lengthy hrs in contrast to just 3% of ladies.
Good education and skills are essential requisites for locating employment. In The country, 57% of adults aged 25-64 have finished upper secondary education, reduced compared to OECD average of 76%. This really is truer of ladies than men, as 55% of males have effectively completed high-school in contrast to 58% of ladies. With regards to the excellence of the educational system, the typical student scored 490 in studying literacy, maths and science within the OECD’s Programme for Worldwide Student Assessment (PISA), less than the OECD average of 497. Typically in The country, women outperformed boys by 1 point, reduced compared to average OECD gap of 8 points.
When it comes to health, existence expectancy at birth in The country is 83 years, 3 years greater compared to OECD average of eighty years, and among the greatest within the OECD. Existence expectancy for ladies is 86 years, in contrast to 80 for males. The amount of atmospheric PM2.5 – small air pollutant particles sufficiently small to go in and damage the lung area – is 11.6 micrograms per cubic meter, less than the OECD average of 14.05 micrograms per cubic meter. The country performs underneath the OECD average when it comes to water quality, as 71% of individuals appear at first sight pleased with the caliber of their water, underneath the OECD average of 81%.
In regards to the public sphere, there’s a powerful communal feeling and moderate amounts of social participation in The country, where 96% of individuals think that they are fully aware someone they might depend on over time of need, greater compared to OECD average of 88%, and among the greatest figures within the OECD. Voter turnout, a stride of citizens’ participation within the political process, was 73% during recent elections this figure is greater compared to OECD average of 68%. Social and economic status can impact voting rates voter turnout for that top 20% of people is definitely an believed 81% but for the bottom 20% it’s an believed 70%, a rather narrower gap compared to OECD average gap of 13 percentage points.
Generally, Spanish are slightly less satisfied with their former lifestyle compared to OECD average. When requested to rate their general satisfaction with existence on the scale from to 10, the Spanish gave it a 6.4 grade, less than the OECD average of 6.5.
For additional info on estimates and many years of reference, see FAQ section and BLI database.
Resourse: http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/the country/
The Visual Du Jour – OECD Better Life Index
Buying property in the country like a foreigner –…
Property for purchase the country – houses purchase in
The country – history background – education,…
The training system in the country
Cheap hotels in barcelona, the country from $76
Tags: better, existence, oecd


How to Make Clean Versions of Songs
Have you ever had the problem of playing songs with explicit lyrics in public? Well, software such as Audacity and Adobe Audition could be used to censor these lyrics, so that a song with explicit content can be transformed into a clean version like a radio edit.
Install and open Audacity.
Go to File > Import > Audio and after selecting the audio file that has explicit content, click on “Open”.
Click on the “Zoom In” tool and select the area of the track that has to be censored.
Figure 1 : Audio track to be censored
For the next step, there are two options :
Go to “Effect” and click on “Reverse”. This is will flip the selected section vertically, so that the explicit word becomes meaningless.
The other option is go to Effect and click on “Vocal Remover” and then click on “OK”.
Figure 2 : Vocal Remover window
However, it should be noted that sometimes the instrumental part of the selected section could get removed as well by using the second method.
Finally, click on “File” and then on “Export” to save the censored version. After checking the details (info) of the track are correct, click on “OK”.
These are the ways that could be used to remove or alter the f-bombs and s-bombs in tracks. Hope this helps.
2015/05/24 Audacity, censor, clean, lyrics, radio edit, reverse, songs, track, version, vocal removerLeave a comment
Feel Those Beats
Recently, I have been listening to more hip-hop songs, especially the ones produced by Timbaland. According to what I feel, he is the best producer of hip-hop music. Timbaland has worked with so many pop artists such as Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, JAY Z and Nelly Furtado.
I thought of producing my own hip-hop, R&B and dance tracks and the results were satisfactory. These have been shared in my Soundcloud page and on Twitter but I will share them at the end of this post. Various instruments such as piano, drums, koto and violin have been used in the production stage. I use Apple Logic Pro X for music production. A bit of Photoshop was also learnt to create cover art.
Well, check the tracks out. I hope you’ll love them. If you like my tracks, please “like” and “share” them on Soundcloud and other social media.
2015/02/01 2015/02/01 Apple, dance, hip-hop, instruments, JAY Z, Justin Timberlake, Logic Pro X, Nelly Furtado, R&B, Soundcloud, Timbaland, tracksLeave a comment
Producing Music
I have been using Apple loops found in Logic Pro X software for my tracks (except for the first one). After sharing eight tracks on Soundcloud and being satisfied with eight likes, two comments and 82 plays (which I never expected), I thought, “Enough with loops. Why not create my own melodies and beats?”
Then, I had to think of a suitable melody and a beat for my next track, which was not easy because it should be made unique and grooving, so I placed some notes on the piano roll of Logic Pro X software and did a playback. The starting and the middle sections were great but the end was not that good. After fiddling around with the notes, I finally managed to get a fine melody. For the beat, I listened to some sequences in the “Boom” plug-in found in Pro Tools to get an idea and drew the notes on the piano roll again.
My next step was to figure out how to get the “whoosh” sound found in electronic tracks, which can be created from white noise. After watching some tutorials, I was able to do this using the “ES P” and “Autofilter” plug-ins. A screenshot showing the two plug-ins can be found below:
Currently, I am investigating on filter sweeping and time compressing, so that I could get the “weew” sound found in electronic tracks (for example, in Vicetone’s remix of “We Come Running” by Youngblood Hawke).
Here are the tracks that I created after the three tracks found in my previous post. Hope you would enjoy them. One of them is R&B.
2014/02/21 2014/02/28 beats, electronic, filter sweeping, Logic Pro X, melodies, plug-in, Pro ToolsLeave a comment
My Electronic Tracks
Since childhood, I have been interested in music. In the good old days, I liked listening to pop and rap songs. My favourite groups were Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and Five. As time passed by, I started listening to R&B, rap and hip-hop. Eminem is one of my favourite rappers and Timbaland, who can create amazing beats, is my favoured producer of all time.
In the year 2007, one of my friends introduced me to the flavour of house music. At first, I thought it was just noise (as most people in the older generations think) but then after listening to that genre for several times, I got the hang of it. Since then I’ve been listening to artists such as David Guetta, Avicii, NERVO, Nicky Romero, Fedde le Grand, Vicetone…..and the list goes on. House music has several genres, a common one found these days is Progressive House. I don’t really mind about the genre sometimes : If a particular song puts me in the mood, I listen to it.
Recently, after being inspired by some of my friends who produce music, I too started creating my own tracks in my free time using a software called Logic Pro X. Getting used to a different type of software was difficult in the beginning but I continue to learn and master it. After checking out some YouTube videos on producing music, I created three electronic tracks. Hope people will enjoy them. So far, I’ve got some positive feedback on one of my tracks and I wish to increase my fan base as time goes by. Some people will say that it is very easy to produce music using a laptop, but there is a series of stages involved in producing. The major step involved in the production process is coming up with a great idea. I think that is what matters the most, not the techniques or tricks used to release a great track.
Here are the tracks that I have created so far :
2014/02/13 2015/01/10 audio production, hip-hop, house, music, Progressive house, R&B, softwareLeave a comment


Posted by Ricky Zeller on December 29, 2011 – 5:22 pm
Some numbers worth noting as the Packers prepare for the Lions:
18.6 – Average points Green Bay has allowed this season at home. The Packers have scored an average of 39.4 points per game at Lambeau Field in 2011, which ranks No. 2 in the NFL. The club’s record for scoring average at home is 38.0, set in 1942.
6 – The Packers can become only the sixth team in NFL history to finish a season 15-1.
17 – Passing attempts by Aaron Rodgers the last time the Lions visited Lambeau Field, Oct. 3, 2010. It was the fewest attempts by the QB in a game he finished since he took over as a starter in ’08. The Packers prevailed, 28-26, with Rodgers’ 16-yard scramble helping the club run out the final 6:32 of the contest.
In the ’10 victory over Detroit, he recorded a passer rating of 105.3. Rodgers completed 12 passes vs. the Lions, tied for the fewest in his career (vs. Seattle, 12/27/09). The only game where Rodgers has thrown or completed fewer passes was last year at Detroit (7 of 11, 46 yards), when he departed in the first half with an injury.
2002 – The last year Green Bay went undefeated at home. The Packers enter the finale with a 7-0 record at Lambeau Field. Green Bay is one of three teams unbeaten at home this season, joining the Ravens and Saints.
3 – Charles Woodson has returned an interception for a touchdown vs. the Lions each of the last three years. Woodson picked off a pass in the Thanksgiving game at Detroit, no touchdown. The cornerback’s feat of three-straight seasons is an NFL record.
1,089 – Rushing yards combined between running backs James Starks (578) and Ryan Grant (511).
5 – Both the Packers and Lions have lost only five fumbles in 2011.
385 – Completions by Matthew Stafford this season. Rodgers has completed 343 passes. The Detroit QB has 604 attempts, Rodgers has 502. Stafford has set team records with 4,518 yards and 36 TDs.
Tags: aaron rodgers, charles woodson, lambeau field, Lions Thanksgiving, Packers history, Packers interceptions, Packers preview, Packers-Lions


DOJ to sue Texas under Voting Rights Act 'bail-in' provision
By Brentin Mock
July 26, 2013 - The U.S. Supreme Court may have struck down one provision of the Voting Rights Act, but the Department of Justice is turning to another to sue Texas over its discriminatory redistricting law.
Zombie voter fraud attack proved false, again
July 12, 2013 - South Carolina is the latest state where politicians' tales of dead voters casting ballots have been proven false, but restrictive voting laws are still being passed in response to these myths. Perhaps it's time for a law to ban such false claims as a form of voter fraud?
Water pollution a problem for Southern beaches
July 5, 2013 - The NRDC's annual report on bacterial contamination at U.S. beaches finds serious problems at popular swimming spots across the South. The group is calling on the federal government to take action to better protect beachgoers from serious health risks.
South remains the epicenter of U.S. child poverty crisis
June 24, 2013 - An annual report that measures the well-being of U.S. children finds improvements among some Southern states -- and slippage among others. Where does your state stand?
What happens if the Supreme Court cuts out the heart of the Voting Rights Act?
June 12, 2013 - With the high court expected to hand down a ruling soon on the constitutionality of the key section of the landmark civil rights law, a new report warns of what could come to pass if Section 5 is weakened or eliminated altogether.
Rape and other sexual violence prevalent in juvenile justice system
By ProPublica
June 11, 2013 - Georgia and South Carolina are among the states with the highest rates of sexual assault of juvenile detainees, and most of the abuse involves the very staff members charged with supervising and counseling the troubled youngsters.
Reversal of fortune: A prosecutor on trial
May 2, 2013 - In the world of abusive prosecutors, Ken Anderson stands out: Anderson, a Texas prosecutor who abused his authority to help send an innocent man to prison for decades, now faces 10 years behind bars for his misconduct.
The South, still ruled by 'the handful'
By Joe Atkins
April 22, 2013 - As the South's hard-right pols block expanding Medicaid to a population in need, they show that civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer's description of the region's government as "with the handful, for the handful, by the handful" remains true today.
Coal, poor water management endanger Southern rivers
April 17, 2013 - The Flint in Georgia, the San Saba in Texas, the Catawba in the Carolinas, and the Black Warrior in Alabama are among the nation's 10 most threatened rivers, according to the latest tally from American Rivers.
The strange politics of TVA privatization
April 16, 2013 - President Obama's latest budget proposes privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has been criticized as a socialist enterprise, yet Southern Republicans are opposing the plan. What's going on here?


Success is relative for Bill Haas
Jeff Siner / McClatchy-Tribune
Bill Haas, the clubhouse leader with a four-under-par 68 on Thursday in the first round of the Masters, eyes his put on the 17th green at Augusta National Golf Club.
Bill Haas, the clubhouse leader with a four-under-par 68 on Thursday in the first round of the Masters, eyes his put on the 17th green at Augusta National Golf Club. (Jeff Siner / McClatchy-Tribune)
Teddy Greenstein and Dan Wiederer
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Craig and Kevin Stadler ("Walrus" and "Smallrus") became the first father-son combo to play in the same Masters, but perhaps they're not the first family of this week's festivities.
Check out the Haas household.
Bill Haas overcome a first-hole bogey Thursday to shoot a four-under-par 68, good for the first-round lead. Father Jay Haas played in 22 Masters, making 19 cuts. Uncle Jerry Haas participated in 1985. An uncle from his mother's side, Dillard Pruitt, teed it up here in 1992 and '93.
Oh, and great-uncle Bob Goalby won the 1968 event, avoiding a playoff after Argentina's Roberto De Vicenzo signed for the wrong Sunday score.
Bill Haas, 31, said Goalby encourages him by saying, "You're a better player than the scores you shoot."
Jay got Bill on Augusta National when he was in high school, and Bill remembers getting a "full day's worth" — 27 holes plus the par-three course. He caddied in the 1999 Masters for his father, who finished tied for third in 1995.
"He's the person I idolized golf-wise," Bill said. "I wasn't interested in the Masters. I was interested in my dad's score at the Masters."
Jay won nine times on the PGA Tour. At 60, he is still cashing large checks on the Champions Tour.
"I don't beat him much, honestly," Bill said. "Even now."
Jay never won a major, tying for third in the 1999 PGA Championship and fourth in the 1995 U.S. Open.
"I think he deserved a major," Bill said. "But as a family, we all know that he left it out there."
Bill dominated at Wake Forest and was viewed as cocky when he reached the tour in 2006. His fine career includes a heavyweight champion's payday of $11.44 million at the 2011 Tour Championship.
His only flaws are a suspect short-iron game and a fiery temperament that sometimes costs him. That's where Scott Gneiser hopes to help. Gneiser carried David Toms' bag for 16 years, but he just joined Haas.
"We're still in our honeymoon phase," the caddie said. "If something goes wrong, we shake it off and get to the next hole instead of going nuts on each other."
There goes that
Jason Dufner's bid to win a second consecutive major derailed on the par-five 13th. Dufner sent a well-hit second shot rolling just off the back of the green. But he blew his eagle chip past the hole and down a hill toward Rae's Creek. His subsequent chip hit the slope above him and rolled back into the water.
He chunked another chip and eventually made a quadruple-bogey 9, the highest score on any hole Thursday.
With a back-nine 44 that gave him an eight-over 80, the reigning PGA Champion will start Friday tied for 90th in the 97-player field.
Oldies and goodies
In a tournament packed with a bunch of young newcomers, the 50-and-over crowd made a bit of a stand in the first round.
Miguel Angel Jimenez was leading the tournament for a time before stumbling on the back nine. 1992 champion Fred Couples was on the leaderboard himself before tying the 50-year-old Jimenez with a 71 that left both players three shots off the lead.
And two-time Bernard Langer managed to shoot even par in his 31st Masters.
"A 72 is not that shabby," the 56-year-old Langer said.
Power still counts, but sometimes the older players can make up for it by knowing where to put the ball and being crafty.
"Can a 50-year-old win here?" the 54-year-old Couples asked. "I think so. I'm one of them."
Luke Donald got hit with a two-stroke penalty after his round. He failed to exit a greenside bunker on No. 9 and touched the sand with his club before his second attempt. The penalty pushed Donald's score to an ugly 79. "Pretty dumb mistake," Donald tweeted. … Brandt Snedeker assessed himself a one-shot penalty on No. 13 when his ball moved after he took a practice swing. There was no wind, he said, so he could not invoke a new rule that permits players to replace their ball if wind is the culprit. Snedeker still shot a two-under 70.
Dodgers’ Chris Taylor on injured list with a fractured left forearm
Boxing legend Pernell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker dies after being struck by a car
On the matter of the USWNT and equal pay, it’s complicated
Bill Haas
Jason Dufner
Brandt Snedeker


The Birth of a Climate Commons for Theatre and Performance
January 21, 2019 Artists and Climate Change
by Lanxing Fu
On a weekend in June, I sat in a blackbox theatre for three days with a group of mostly strangers.
We talked. We ate. We laughed. We challenged. We listened.
I heard the same refrain over and over again those three days. Wow, I’m so happy to be with others for once. It’s nice to be… un-lonely.
The Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening, hosted in Boston on 8-10 June 2018 gathered people together around a common purpose: to galvanize the community around making theatre and live performance in the age of climate change, to dissect and challenge the present ideas in this emerging field, and to distill all this talk into concrete, positive actions. Our earnest surprise at feeling seen and the joy of solidarity in people who felt they had spent years, decades, their entire lives talking into a void about the intersection of performance and climate are testament to how needed this convening was.
After we took some time to understand the landscape of this intersection of climate and performance, we broke off into groups to develop ideas for action. There were hard questions to ask and attempt to answer. Whose voices were not represented in the room that needed to be there? How can we use our collective power, and the many twisting, interconnected arms of this work to nourish our communities and our non-human brethren? What kinds of shifts in thought do we need to undertake ourselves as we work to shift larger consciousness? How can our collective action outrun the changing atmosphere? It was rich. It was inspiring as hell. The breadth of skills and knowledge expanded my mind like crazy. The voices in the room were beautifully articulate at calling in others who were not. It was far from smooth and sometimes contentious. We all fought the urge to perform when the microphone was in our hand and the cameras were on our faces. Some got lost in the language. Others struggled to be heard. We were as human as can be, as human as any group of humans trying to do something together— the weight of our own egos held in taut balance with strong, strong passion for our collective goal.
The weekend had started off with a cold splash of water to the face. We learned in our opening conversation that The Guardian’s Carbon Countdown Clock gives us just over eighteen years until we exceed the IPCC’s 2C carbon budget, if our emissions stay as they are now. Eighteen years to figure this mess out. Eighteen years to put systems in place to take care of people as the effects of climate change get worse and worse, to shift radically the way we relate to each other, our economy, and the land. In the same span of time as it takes the average American kid to journey from infanthood to adulthood, we need to “fucking save the planet.”
Lanxing Fu and other convening participants. Photo by Blair Nodelman.
From this urgency, this joy of togetherness, this friction of brains and bodies meeting, grew an idea like a sprig of bamboo racing towards the sun. One working group, though I cannot separate this group from the work of the group at large, seeded the idea of a Climate Commons for Theatre and Performance. An expression of our desire for horizontal connectivity, the Climate Commons takes its shape from mycelia, the underground, branching, threadlike fungal colonies that can grow to the size of 1600 football fields. We imagine that this is a network of interconnected nodes of activity at the intersection of performance and ecology, sharing knowledge, strategies, resources like mycelia share sustenance, across vast distances and through all forms of terrain. These nodes could potentially consist of geographic clusters of people already present at the conference; Miami, Boston, New York City, New Orleans, DC, Los Angeles, Standing Rock, Amherst, São João del Rei, London, Abu Dhabi. And it should necessarily expand to include people and geographies not present in the conference, in the Global South, in rural communities, in the Arctic, in the East. You can visit the HowlRound Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening page for updates on our progress with Climate Commons, and to learn how to get involved as it grows.
Convening participants. Photo by Carolina Gonzalez.
One big statement of intent that came forward is that we want to foster the kinds of imaginations that are needed in the future. We want to specifically examine what live performance can bring to the table in service of that pursuit. How do we tackle such a huge endeavor? Step one, understand what we have to work with. Because we were together for a short, intensive period of time, we left Boston having only scratched the surface of the wealth of knowledge and experience in the room. A few members of this group are leading an interview series, in which we who attended the convening interview each other, to dive deeper into the work we do in our home communities in order to gain a holistic understanding of where we are beginning. We want to uplift each other by tapping into and amplifying the abundance of energy, artistry, resilience, and skill that has been driving these kinds of revolutions for centuries.
Without knowing exactly where we are going, or what our ultimate goal is, we are moving forward with the knowledge that we want to keep connecting. We want to keep connecting because it’s easy to not. It’s easy to silo ourselves off into the narrowness of day-to-day life and keep putting on the lenses that already fit. Because the challenge of a global crisis demands that we be more expansive than we are individually built to be, we hope to establish a body that acts as a broker across distances and differences, bringing people together around the shared goal of using performance to change the story around climate and build a more equitable world.
(Top image: Convening participants having a small group discussion. Photo by Blair Nodelman.)
This article was originally published on HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre community, on September 18, 2018.
For more on the convening, read MJ Halberstadt’s Art on a Damaged Planet: The Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening.
Lanxing Fu is a Chinese-American writer, director, and performer. She is the co-director of Superhero Clubhouse, for which she is program director of The Living Stage NYC and a co-creator of Pluto (no longer a play) and Jupiter (a play about power). She has collaborated on and led interdisciplinary projects on globalization and the environment through research in Sri Lanka, Morocco, Turkey, and the United States through The Center for 21st Century Studies, as previous associate director of Critical Point Theatre, and as an ensemble member of Building Home, working in the New River Valley. She participated in JACK’s “Creating Dangerously” series, led by Virginia Grise and Kyla Searle, has trained with SITI Company for two years, and is an alumnus of Orchard Project’s Core Company. She holds a B.A. in Humanities, Science, and Environment and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Virginia Tech.


Tom Steyer Building ‘Political Death Star’ to Run for President
Jeff Chiu / Associated Press
Adelle Nazarian
Billionaire left-wing environmental activist Tom Steyer has reportedly built what some have described as a “political death star” through his multi-million dollar campaign to have President Donald Trump impeached — laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run by Steyer himself.
“If I were a rich person and I wanted to run for president,” one top Democratic strategist told the Daily Beast, “I would be doing exactly what he’s doing.”
He could run for president as early as 2020.
Steyer has so far spent nearly $40 million on his campaign to impeach Trump and take on Republicans through NextGen Rising, his 2018 campaign to increase millennial voter turnout.
The Daily Beast noted:
What Steyer is doing is acquiring the equivalent of prime political real estate. Through his self-funded Need to Impeach campaign, he has now built an email list of more than 5.1 million members, a total that one former presidential campaign manager called “staggering” and a top digital adviser called “one of the biggest Democratic lists out there.”
The first million people reportedly signed up to be on Steyer’s mailing list in the first six days.
Republicans are reportedly also impressed.
Impeachment, however, remains Steyer’s main focus for the time being. He has even started holding town halls on the subject.
In October, Steyer spent $10 million on a TV ad calling for Trump’s impeachment. He soon followed with another.
His efforts are said to be focused on Orange County, where Hillary Clinton won the presidential vote in 2016 and where there are several vulnerable Republican incumbents.
He is also active in contests throughout the country. In 2014, Steyer’s efforts could not help Democrats hold the Senate. This year, however, he is more optimistic about his chances to help House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) regain the Speaker’s gavel.
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
LocalMidterm ElectionPolitics2020 Democratic candidates2020 presidential candidatesimpeachmenttom steyer


Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market- SWOT Analysis, Top Key Players, Trends, Drivers, Strategies, Size, Applications and Competitive Landscape to 2025
Seamus — July 14, 2019 comments off
Global “Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market” report provides useful information about the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) market along with the price forecast for the forecast period of 2019-2025. The report presents a detailed analysis of the parent market based on leading players, present, past & futuristic data which will serve as a profitable guide for all the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market competitors. The Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market data like market drivers, challenges, latest trends & technological developments are also discussed in this report.
Manufacturers in the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market Report:
CDNetworks
EdgeCast
Inisoft
Verivue
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Geographically, the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) market report provides segment analysis and import and export status, demand status, production volume, of Content Delivery Networks (CDN) including regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America & Middle East, and Africa.
About Content Delivery Networks (CDN):
Content Delivery Networks is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers.
CDN is an umbrella term spanning different types of content delivery services: video streaming, software downloads, web and mobile content acceleration, licensed/managed CDN, transparent caching and services to measure CDN performance, load balancing, multi-CDN switching and analytics and cloud intelligence.
In 2018, the global Content Delivery Networks (CDN) market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.
Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market by Applications:
Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market by Types:
Video Content Delivery Network
Standard/Non-Video Content Delivery Network
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What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by regions of the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) market?
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In the end, the report focusses on Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Market major leading market players in Content Delivery Networks (CDN) industry area with information such as company profile of the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) market, sales volume, price, gross margin of the Content Delivery Networks (CDN) industry and contact information. Global Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Industry report also includes Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Upstream raw materials and Content Delivery Networks (CDN) downstream consumer’s analysis.
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Danish-founded log analysis startup Humio raises $9 million
Aarhus-based real-time log analysis startup Humio has raised $9 million in a funding round led by Accel. The company claims to have seen 13-fold revenue growth in 2018 and lists companies including Bloomberg, Microsoft, Netlify, Lunar Way, SpareBank 1, On the Dot, and Logibec. Founded in 2016, Humio currently has offices in Aarhus, London, and […]