Datasets:

stas

/

openwebtext-10k

like 15

dykeamethyst: so, update: the thing everyone is coming at laverne for is for having read a letter from synthia, a trans woman convicted on a bunk rape charge synthia was a member of the latin kings, and was sent to clean an apartment to help get rid of a body she went there in a rush, and was still wearing a skirt while getting rid of the body someone witneessed it happening, and saw synthia in a skirt, and decided to add on to her story, that synthia wasnt just cleaning the apartment, but had also raped and killed the girl accusations of rape, and especially of pedophilia/being unsafe to be around children r EXTRMELY common accusations at trans women of color simply for existing the witness changed their story a few times synthias now in jail for a lot longer than she would be on just the original charge and laverne is now being targeted for having read a letter from synthia this is a very, very easy way for twefs to attack trans women of color, because they KNOW that most ppl wont bother to fact check, most ppl wont bother to read up on it, most ppl who nominally support trans women will hear that and go “oh no, well, just goes to show u cant trust celebrities” ppl like to make out like laverne landing a role on a tv show means that trans women of color r somehow no longer oppressed as a class, but the fact is that laverne was getting shit for her role from the start, and ppl will take any excuse they can to point to her, and to point at synthia, gladly lap up bogus accusations and go “SEE! TRANS WOMEN OF COLOR R DANGEROUS PPL!” dont fall for this shit do research fact check spread the truth dont let a smear campaign against trans women of color go unchecked

Brendan Rodgers (right) and Luis Suarez will be aiming to avoid a slip-up at home (Picture: Reuters) Liverpool face relegation-threatened Sunderland at Anfield tonight in a Premier League clash the Reds are expected to win, as they continue their challenge for a first league title in 24 years. Every game is a cup final for Liverpool and they can’t afford any slip-ups – especially after slipping to third in the table after Manchester City humbled their city rivals 3-0 at Old Trafford. A win for Liverpool would see them return to second spot but they have to be wary of a Sunderland side fighting for their lives and likely to be fired up for the clash by their manager Gus Poyet, who led them to this season’s Capital One Cup final. Steven Gerrard is only one booking away from a two-game suspension, so it will be interesting to see if that will affect his performance Liverpool’s home form has been outstanding this season with only a loss to Southampton and a draw against Aston Villa contributing to the only dropped points at Anfield. Advertisement Advertisement Brendan Rodgers’ men should remember their performance against Aston Villa, when they could only manage a 2-2 draw because they started so slowly and let Villa gain the initiative in the match. Admittedly Liverpool recovered from a two-goal deficit to scramble a 2-2 draw, but – on paper – that was a game similar to the Sunderland fixture with Liverpool expected to win. Reds captain Steven Gerrard is only one booking away from a two-game suspension, so it will be interesting to see if that will affect his performance. However, more often than not this season manager Brendan Rodgers has inspired his players to go into games with the right attitude and, especially when roared on by the Kop at Anfield, Liverpool have started games at a high tempo, resulting in many victories. Hopefully tonight will see another Liverpool victory to keep the title dream alive. MORE: Club Metro

Ship Naming: Updated Comms Panel: Not 100% sure <- Sandro I believe this is a specific question asking if we could block someone based on their in game name like finding friends but the opposite. Camera Megaships Asteroid Bases General 2.3 related Bugs, balance and Issues Exploration & Visual General Visual Hardware/Software support PS4: Bookmarks BGS & NPCs Missions Ships, weapons, modules & storage Horizons Season & Updates Questions Engineers: 2.4 Questions General Plans Ship Visuals & Livery Misc: Statements: So sorry I'm not going to add exact answers for everything. Lave Radio did a good summary, look there please :)Any chance for name plates without any additional decorations, only text?Will ship nameplates be store only items or will one/some come as standard?Given that we will now have ship IDs, will our call-signs change according to the ship ID instead of CMDR name? Could this option be added?Is it true that the only way for your ship's name to show up in another person's scan is if you have purchased a name plate from the cash shop? If yes does this mean the DDF discussions around ship specific bounties, ship reputation etc are no longer valid?Given the comments about the "block player" feature in the 16/02/2017 stream, has the actual blocking method changed or simply the method by which players block other players?Will this block feature be available on the main menu search function so we don't have to instance with them to block them?Have there been discussions around the comms panel colours, for example direct messages are easy to miss between the frequent and almost identical looking fighter pilot messages?Will there be an option to have the HUD start as hidden on the camera mode instead of visible so we can go straight into filming with no HUD to make a smoother transition for videos?Will planet based camera limit be extended to 2500m rather 250m?Can we please have that big nasty bounding cube removed (in favor of the normal ship collision mesh) so we can get the camera close to the ships?Has any thought been given to a "store view" function so we can quickly swap between a specific camera and normal flying instead of re-setting the camera up each time we activate/deactivate?Recently the ability to use the external camera during hyperspace has been removed (both debug and suite), is there a reason for this? Can we expect the return of this functionality because hyperspace from the cockpit looks awesome?What relevance will the new (dockable?) Megaships have for the BGS? New markets, mission locations, faction specific tasks etc?With Mega-ships being dockable will capital ships become dockable too at some stage?Can megaships be attacked or are they invulnerable like stations?How important do Frontier see megaships in the future gameplay of Elite?Are there/will there be Ice Asteroid bases?Will there be any pirate/outlaw-focused asteroid bases with the pirate holograms etc? Or are they always going to be extraction/mining-themed?What features of 2.3 are passed to non-horizons owners?Will there be the possibility of helm control in multicrew, this is huge for explorers who want to share some of the journey? With no control, rewards, tags etc all there is for crew-members to do is share the sights which won't feel as involved. There will be little difference between joining a ship in say the Veil Nebula to watching a video of someone in the Veil nebula. Even if this requires a special sign-off by the ship owner to take full responsibility for any mishaps.Is there a possibility that at some point multicrew will be extended to full functionality with 2+ players having full access to helm, co-op missions etc?Will there be improvements to prevent multicrew server disconnects or can these issues even be addressed?Will there be further graphical downgrades as part of 2.3?What, if any, Background Sim tweaks/changes are coming to 2.3?Will the BGS "pass" over the missions mooted in the December Dev Livestream be conducted for 2.3? (mission destinations, passenger mission effects, inf/rep etc)Will the surface economy types be represented within the galaxy map, is there a plan to enhance that?How will mining turrets work without a gunner as asteroids can not be targeted? Any way of linking these so they can target prospector tagged rocks?Any response to the allocation of engineer grades throughout the unlock tree discussed here ? DNYI : Why was the starting level for the diminishing returns set so it affects non-horizons & non-engineered ship users when the intent was to counter stacked modifications?)Will the Colonia bubble have its own ship crash sites in 2.3? Tip offs in Colonia region lead pilots to the old bubble's systems now.Any fix for: Keyb and Mouse flight not moving pilot's right hand?Since you are adding Trappist-1 to the galaxy is great how about adding Cassiopeia A?Will Ram Tah's scanner tech used to locate Guardian structures be extended to allow for faster location of other surface features (i.e. abandoned settlements)?Will star colours in 2.3 continue to be based solely on spectral type or are there plans to vary it by temperature to make systems/planets more varied?Can we get an update on the (rough) number of systems explored/visited by CMDRs?Could we have the text from scanned visitor beacons written into the journal?Can you provide a summary or any information around the number of organic structure types and if possible any hints to help us track down ones that haven't been seen before?Fungal Trees have been found, are these tied to the guardians? Are there other tree-variants on different planet types to be found?Can Frontier give a statement as to the FSD distance and their feelings on it's state as many are arguing the current (up to) 4.6x increase to base FSD jump is too little and some that it is too much?Will there be options added to plot more complex routes, for example via waypoints (systems/stations) or set up a loop route etc?Will there be an option in the future to automatically adjust a route plotted after getting a FSD boost with a neutron star?Any plans to allow faster supercruise travel within systems?Any plans for future galaxies such as Andromeda etc?Any comments on the tons of ideas and concepts that ToCoSo put together?Have you considered offering a combined Advanced and Detailed surface scanner unit, for a slightly greater cost of both units?Any timescale on when comets and accretion disks might appear in the game? ( Dave G : and other phenomena such as meteors etc)Any news on the Orrery Map?Will Telescopes ever come for explorers for basic discovery scanning at very long range?Any news on micro jumps between stars in a system, are these rejected/planned/in-development?Any chance of astronomical information for a selected planet under the info tab without having to system map each time?Any update on the multiple light sources for higher quality graphics settings?Any plans to let players store tourist beacon/obelisk data in game or in the journal so we can refer back to them?With the increase to exploration payouts (thank you!) will exploration ranks also be rebalanced as this is the second time that exploration credits have got an increase yet the rank requirements appear unchanged? Is this possibly due to "downranking" people if the requirements are upped?Will there be a Trailer competition, given how successful the last one was, and how good the 2.3 videos already are?Can/will COBRA take advantage of multi-core CPU capability in terms of number of threads?Any update on console-PC crossplay?Can we know when you are planning to announce a release date for the PS4 version of the game? Or any new info about it? Stormyuk : Will it be linked to the 2.3 PC release?ill PS4 version have shareplay option?Are there any planned add-ons for the PS4 version, IE: Profile avatars of powerplay logos/ships, wallpapers, ShareFactory themes?Can you go into more detail on the differences between PS4 and PS4pro? You said performance, is this purely framerates or are there graphical differences?Will the Cobra IV be available to PS4 players? If so how?Will bookmarks (for planets/stations) ever be shown on the radar in supercruise or navigation panel?Any plans to allow players to bookmark persistent things like RES sites, Tourist Beacons etc?Could we have droppable beacons to bookmark specific coordinates/locations on planets (visible to the player only), to allow for an easy return?Can we please get enhancements to bookmark organisation? eg: folders; grouping; tagging etc. (Colours?)Will we ever see explicit links between Powers and Factions/Powers & the BGS? E.g. system states impacting powerplay faction support, faction missions etc?Any plans to develop player minor factions into something more involved?Is persistence of NPCs between instances as good as it is ever likely to get?Any plans to voice the NPC text messages such as "I'm going to boil you up?"If there is life on a part of a planet, wouldn't that life spread out to other parts and adapt to different environmental conditions, even if this planet has no atmosphere?Will the BGS in Colonia and the player integration ever evolve to have their actions affect the cmdr positively and negatively from their work for a faction?Any news on Tier 1 NPC's?SafteyBotWill there be a way for player groups and others to attract megaships to systems for a certain time for example via community goals etc?Any chance of getting NPCs in CG systems in trade ships to carry cargo for the CG?Learn BGS may be long in Elite, a PS4 player may not be aware of the tutorial about BGS make by community in forum, will the interface of the game evolve in the future to bring more precision about BGS in the game ? Edited here : Are the chained missions linear or branching (Decision trees)?Can we get some juicy missions which require the Cmdr. to use specific small ships (f.e Cobra/Viper/Eagle)?Does Colonia fight with the bubble for CG slots (non-expansion initiative)? If so, is there a chance Colonia could be given it's own CG slot?Are there plans to put full motion video/audio into the mission board process in the future?Do unpaid fines/bounties, speeding tickets etc affect the quality/quantity of missions given in said location?When favours get added will we be able to request mission rewards for specific materials/commodities?Will the Colonia faction give players passenger mission for exploring tourist beacon nearby, Saggitarius A for example? They give missions to the old bubble and Jaques only now.Any plans to introduce a way of quickly swapping loadouts for a particular ship?Any plans to increase the storage limits on modules/weapons? ( Teeth_03 : Data/material also?)Any plans to remove the module requirement for the docking computer? (Alexbrentnall: Or extend it to an undocking computer as well?)Any plans for other types of locked modules in addition to combat/passenger such as exploration etc?Will we get heat sink, chaff or point defence synthesis?Can we please have multi-function limpet controllers? ie: a size 3A controller with the functions of 1A Fuel Transfer and 1A Repair controllers.Any plans to make limpets ammo that don't require cargo space, any plans to make them re-stockable via synthesis?During the beta for 2.2.03 it was mentioned that the big 3 would be getting an increase to their hull amount. Will they be receiving this in 2.3?From what I've seen of the beta videos; plasma accelerators can wipe 50% of your shields with one shot and shield boosters are nerfed. How is this in any way "balanced"? More like open season for the NPCs on the big ships.Any reason why plasma accelerators don't exist in Class 1 to help out small ships vs the big ones?Have there been any thoughts about allowing weaponless ships to have the ability to have stronger shields, compared to a fully kitted out combat ship?Will Capital ships' weapons have the same penetration value or will it be adjusted to the new changes to the big 3?Can we have a spaceloach bobblehead please?Can the roles/playstyles search function of multicrew also be applied to Wings in future? Eg to find players in game to wing up with for multi-crew style gameplay goals eg legal Bounty Hunting, illegal Piracy etc.Are we going to be able to land on atmosphere-less lava planets before Season 3?Will we ever be able to use favours to adjust Engineer Upgrade stats, & not just merely Weapon Special Effects?Engineer Special effects, have you considered having these as dedicated engineer blueprints and eliminate random special effects?Are there any improvements in the works for enginering to reduce/remove RNG? For example "Duplicate mod" for other weapons and or increased material/data cost for better chances of better results?Will there be mining laser engineer blueprints?What is the future of multicrew for the upcoming updates (2.4, 3.0 and beyond)?Mixup, this was in the last section but got answered after Q1 from 2.4 section:Why can't we just view available engineer schematics remotely? Pinning system is lame.Can you please confirm that 2.4 will not be combat related?Is there interest in a planned re-run of the ship transfer time poll? (AlexBrentnall: Is there interest in a slider mechanic with more cash for faster transfer options?)Any plans to implement a radio function into Elite?Does the current iteration of multi-crew rule out any future ability to crew a ship when we can physically walk aboard other players vessels?Any plans to create areas for heavily engineered ships above and beyond the difficulty of the current Assassination missions/Haz Res?With credits being easier to come by for wings and multi-crewed ships will there ever be a "hard mode" introduced either for AI difficulty, credit earning difficulty or both?When is there going to be an iron-man mode?Could Frontier (maybe after the Q&A livestream) publish a list of the things that are considered placeholders or desired areas for development? This could be done without spoiling anything or promising anything but would give players an idea of what areas are planned to be improved down the line and presumably allow us to both speculate and suggest.( Chrizhanna : Could FDev do a mini-Kickstarter style aspirational goals type thing, no details no timelines?)Is there a chance of having more foreign characters implemented into the game? Specifically Polish characters, but of course other languages too.Will the gold Anaconda ever come back for sale?Will the other limited ship skins ever come backup for sale? (eg. Chrome / silver Viper MK3)Will the Braben bobblehead ever make a return or has it been perma-banned?Can we get the windshield smudges removed from the external camera?harakan ( ForumsQ&A thread ): Any chance of a holo-me to bobblehead convertor? E.g. Buy a "mannequin" bobblehead, and a one-time button to apply the current holo-me to it as a permanent design?Could we get some different interiours for Viper4, Cobra4, Keelback,DBX & other ships that are based off some "base ships"?Would it be possible to get packs of paint colours that apply to all ships/vehicles instead of a pack for 1 ship? Will there be Fed/Emp/Alliance themed paintpacks?What is your favourite Colour?Thanks for the powerplay decalsExplorers are desperate to have new tools/content!Blocking a player should NOT cause them to de-instance with you, solely because a hostile player group intent on damaging background simulations can abuse the feature to avoid intervention.

Teaching a trick to a chicken increases beliefs that chickens are intelligent and can feel emotions. Learning how to train chickens changes student’s attitudes towards them, according to a new study by Susan Hazel Lisel O’Dwyer (both University of Adelaide) and Terry Ryan (Legacy Canine). The chickens were trained to do a specific task (such as pecking on a red but not green circle) in order to get food. Survey responses before and after the class show more positive attitudes after the clicker-training session. Lead author Susan Hazel told me in an email, “I believe that the main reason for the students’ change in attitudes to chickens was that they realized chickens are smarter than they thought (they learn the colour discrimination tasks very fast) and also when you work with the different chickens you see their personalities.” “Some chickens are fast and other chickens still learn quickly but just respond more slowly,” said Dr. Hazel. “It wasn’t so much of a surprise that students were more likely to believe that chickens were intelligent, are easy to teach tricks to, and that they have individual personalities. It was more surprising that this carried over to students more likely to believe chickens could experience boredom, happiness, and frustration.” Some of the differences are quite striking. Before the class, only 7% of students thought it would be easy to teach tricks to a chicken, but after the class this went up to 61%. Beforehand, 49% thought chickens are intelligent, but afterwards 77% agreed. Most of the students thought chickens had individual personalities before the class (84%), but this went up to 95% after. There were some gender differences, including that women gave higher ratings than men for chicken intelligence. Each year the chickens are named according to a theme. This time it was members of the Royal family, and the brightest chicken was one called Margaret. Students had a clicker attached to the handle of a scoop containing chicken food. When the chicken got something right, the trainer pressed the clicker (making a sound to signal to the chicken they did the right thing) and then let the chicken eat from the scoop. The practical class lasted for 2 hours and included time training chickens and other activities. Chickens were chosen because they are easy to care for and handle in the class – and they are unforgiving of their trainer’s mistakes. The class used a technique called shaping which involves rewarding closer and closer approximations of a task to reach the final behaviour. Students worked in pairs to practice shaping on each other before training the chickens. The class was taught to small groups of students each week over an 8 week period. The specific task that chickens were taught varied over time depending on what they already knew; for example initially they were taught to peck a circle, and later to discriminate between a red and a green or yellow circle. Students had up to three sessions to teach their chicken what to do; each session was 5 sets of 45 seconds each. 94 students completed all of the before and after survey questions. The practical was part of a class in Principles in Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics taken by students reading for a BSc in Animal Science or Veterinary Bioscience. It turned out to be an excellent way to teach them about force free training. Dr. Hazel told me, “The other stand-out has been how much students learn about training animals… Rather than saying ‘my chicken was stupid’ they now say ‘my reflexes were too slow’ and I think from chats with students in their second year that this translates to other animals they go on and train, like dogs.” One of the neat things about this paper is that it does double-duty as both a research study of the effects of learning to train chickens on beliefs about them, and as a model of how to run such a practical class for students. The details of how the class was run are included in the paper, and are based on a chicken workshop run by Terry Ryan in South Australia in 2012. Students were taking a lecture course alongside the clicker training practical. It’s possible that students who took the practical later in the term were also influenced by their greater knowledge; however no such patterns were detected in the data. This study shows learning to train an animal leads to more positive attitudes towards it. The change in views was also apparent from student comments. One said, “I never thought that chickens would be intelligent enough and learn quite so quickly.” Some dog trainers attend chicken-training workshops to improve their skills. Have you ever trained a chicken? Reference Animals, 5 (3), 821-837 DOI: Hazel, S., O'Dwyer, L., & Ryan, T. (2015). “Chickens Are a Lot Smarter than I Originally Thought”: Changes in Student Attitudes to Chickens Following a Chicken Training Class(3), 821-837 DOI: 10.3390/ani5030386 Photo: Gillian Holliday (Shutterstock.com).

The tornado that tore through northern Illinois Thursday night has received a preliminary rating of EF4 based on an initial ground survey of the most heavily damaged area, the National Weather Service reported Friday evening. “Based on early findings, the tornado that tracked from near Rochelle to near Belvidere and impacted the community of Fairdale appears to have been a single long track tornado,” notes an NWS statement. “An aerial survey will be conducted tomorrow, weather permitting, to confirm a final rating.” The EF or Enhanced Fujita Tornado Intentisy Scale measures a tornado’s impact. The scale goes from 0 to 5, with 5 being a storm that causes incredible damage. An EF4 tornado brings with it windspeeds of 166 to 200 mph and causes “devastating” damage. Estimated peak windspeeds of Thursday’s tornado reached 180 to 200 mph. (For more on the EF Scale, here is a detailed article .) Earlier in the day Friday, local officials said they were confident everyone was out of the area. Kirkland Fire Department Chief Chad Connell said they brought in three K-9 teams as a “precautionary measure,” to “double check our work.” Connell said he expected the search-and-rescue portion of the operation to finish before 5 p.m. Central time. “We think we have everyone accounted for,” added DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott. “We have no specific person that’s unaccounted for.” The area struck yesterday still has no power. Local officials said residents could come to assess the damage to their property on an “escorted basis,” but encouraged people not to stay around until conditions were proven safe. (MORE: State-by-State Updates on the Severe Weather Outbreak ) Gov. Bruce Rauner earlier in the day Friday declared Ogle and DeKalb counties disaster areas, making state resources available for the areas hardest hit by this storm, which took two lives. Geraldine M. Schultz, 67, and Jacqueline Klosa, 69, next-door neighbors, were both killed, and 11 more people were hospitalized after at least one tornado ripped through northern Illinois Thursday evening at about 7:15 p.m., officials said. Klosa’s body was found during a second search Friday morning , according to the Chicago Tribune . “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families impacted. Frankly, we’re very blessed that more people were not hurt; this was a devastating storm,” Rauner said Friday afternoon. Every home in the community of 200 about 20 miles southeast of Rockford was affected by the storm, authorities said. After crews had a chance to survey the damage in the town, Connell estimated as many as 18 homes were completely swept off their foundations by the large twister. “It was big. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Connell said of the tornado, according to The Associated Press. Connell watched the tornado move across the area from his front porch. Matthew Knott, division chief for the Rockford Fire Department, told The Associated Press that 17 structures had been destroyed. “All of the others have sustained damage of some sort.” “This town is absolutely devastated,” Knott said. The town’s power was out early Friday, and everyone had been evacuated. A shelter was set up at a nearby high school. The Red Cross and Salvation Army were assisting. Rescue crews worked quickly, going house to house to look for survivors. That’s when they discovered Schultz’s body in the rubble of her home. “The west side of Fairdale was pretty well destroyed,” Scott, the DeKalb County sheriff, told WLS-TV. (MORE: 12 Rescued After Restaurant Collapses in Rochelle ) The tornado that hit Fairdale was one of at least two supercell-produced tornadoes that developed, according to weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen . A second tornado developed in Cherry Valley at 6:40 p.m. Central time. It’s important to remember that all reported tornadoes are unconfirmed until a survey crew from the National Weather Service views the damaged areas and finds the debris was created by a tornado. However, in the case of the twister that left widespread, severe damage in Fairdale, Rochelle and Kirkland, experts believe it’s a foregone conclusion that it will be confirmed as a tornado. Severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes estimated the tornado at a half-mile wide.

Is that Facebook? Or is the U.S. National Security Agency pretending to be Facebook to install malware on your computer? It turns out, that's a question you might have to ask yourself. According to a report by ex-Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald at his new muckraking site, The Intercept, the NSA has purportedly developed malware that can infect computers and automatically collect data from computers around the world. The NSA has even pretended to be Facebook at times to install its malware, under a project codenamed TURBINE, according to Greenwald's report, which is based on top-secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Greenwald, and co-reporter Ryan Gallagher, said the classified files contain "new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware 'implants.'" Greenwald says the documents show that TURBINE, which breaks into targeted computers to vacuum data from internet and phone networks abroad, is set to expand "dramatically" and could "covertly hack into computers on a mass scale." Currently, the program is documented to have deployed between 85,000 and 100,000 implants worldwide, since its inception in 2010. The implants began as a limited program as early as 2004, that was once reserved for "a few hundred hard-to-reach targets" that eluded traditional wiretap surveillance, but Greenwald says the documents he analyzed now show the NSA has accelerated the malware program beyond a process that was previously run by direct human authority. This would "allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants) by creating a system that does automated control implants by groups instead of individually," according to the documents. The NSA has used various methods to infect computers with the data mining malware, including posing as the world's most popular social media network, Facebook. This is known as a "man-on-the-side" attack, where it tricks computers into thinking its accessing Facebook servers, but instead connects to the NSA's network, after which the agency can hack into the computer. Other methods include the kind of thing savvy internet users know to watch out for, including spam emails laced with malware, and corrupted file downloads. The documents say that the malware can be installed as in quickly as eight seconds. The NSA's various malware programs have a wide range of spying capabilities, according to Greenwald, which include some things only the most paranoid (which, in this day and age, is quickly becoming synonymous with the term privacy conscious) could imagine: recording audio from a computer's microphone, logging Internet browsing history, copying logins and passwords from websites, logging users' keystrokes, vacuuming data from flash drives plugged into infected computers, blocking users from certain websites, and corrupting files that computers attempt to download. How the NSA Secretly Masqueraded as Facebook to Hack Computers for Surveillance from First Look Media on Vimeo. A Facebook spokesperson denied the company had any knowledge of the NSA's program and told the National Journal that its new default security HTTPS protocols prevent network disruption of this type. The NSA responded to the report in a statement that said, "Signals intelligence shall be collected exclusively where there is a foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose." For much more technical detail, check out Greenwald's full report at First Look's The Intercept.

The HB2 Provision Few Are Talking About And it has nothing to do with Charlotte's LGBT ordinance, or transgender people in bathrooms By Greg Lacour Noble The Noble Law Firm Update, 4/9: See subsequent post that corrects one mistake below. It’s buried near the bottom of the next-to-last page of House Bill 2, a provision couched in language so legalistic it’s hard to tell at first what it actually means: “The Human Relations Commission in the Department of Administration shall have the authority to receive, investigate, and conciliate complaints of discrimination in public accommodations. Throughout this process, the Human Relations Commission shall use its good offices to effect an amicable resolution of the complaints of discrimination. This Article does not create, and shall not be construed to create or support, a statutory or common law private right of action, and no person may bring any civil action based upon the public policy expressed herein.” Even people directly affected didn’t grasp the ramifications at first. Laura Noble, a Chapel Hill employment lawyer, spoke and exchanged messages with colleagues throughout the day on March 23, when the North Carolina legislature introduced and passed the bill and Governor Pat McCrory signed it into law. Noble told me Friday that she and other lawyers did double- and triple-takes: Wait—does this say what I think it says? “This came out of nowhere,” she said. “It’s just not a debate anyone’s been having.” Much of the public discussion over HB2 in the 12 days since its adoption has centered on its harm to the LGBT community and resulting economic impact. This has gotten lost somewhat, but in its own way is just as momentous: The new law bars workplace discrimination claims from North Carolina courts, nullifying 30 years of common-law precedent and forcing people who say they’ve been unfairly fired from their jobs to turn to the federal courts for relief. Why’s that a big deal? The federal court system is a lot harder, and usually more expensive, to navigate. Before they even file suit, potential plaintiffs have to get permission from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which can take months. They then have 90 days to file the complaint, compared to a three-year statute of limitations for state court. The filing fee is twice as expensive, and damages are capped at $300,000; there’s no such cap at the state level. On her firm’s website, Noble has published a pair of blog posts that outline the differences. Those would be strong incentives for anyone not to sue. Now imagine that you’ve just lost your job. But that’s OK—there’s that Human Relations Commission option at the state level, right? The problem is that the commission has no real enforcement authority. It mainly handles housing discrimination complaints and can only work to mutually resolve them. The commission can’t force anyone to do anything. Its own existence is perilous. Last year, the General Assembly did away with its recurring appropriation in the state budget, funding it only for 2015-16. North Carolina, as an “employment-at-will” state—basically, private employers can fire anyone for any reason—has always occupied the business-friendly end of the employee rights spectrum. But since the mid-1980s, there’s been an exception in common law practice: claims in state court based on wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. Employers can’t fire you, for instance, for refusing to break the law for them. (The principle stems from an N.C. Court of Appeals ruling in 1985, from a case in which a nurse testified truthfully in a wrongful-death suit against Duke University Medical Center and was later fired.) Now, under HB2, even that exception is gone. “We now join Mississippi as the only two states in the union which do not offer our citizens state law protection against the most basic forms of discrimination in private workplaces,” Noble wrote on her firm’s blog. “Being considered a state that does not value principles of equal opportunity for its citizens does not help our businesses in the recruitment or retention of a highly skilled workforce.” She said she doesn’t know yet how the new law will affect her own business. Lawmakers haven’t explained the reasoning behind the provision, but it runs on the same thinking that allows businesses across the state to discriminate against LGBT people for any reason, or no reason at all, without even having to cite a religious belief: the idea that any government regulation of business is inherently bad. The General Assembly has been operating on that principle for a few years now.

Passports with biometric data would do same job and be cheaper than £5bn scheme, says former home secretary David Blunkett, the former home secretary, believes the government should scrap plans to introduce ID cards for all, in favour of mandatory biometric passports, it was reported today. According to the BBC, the MP for Sheffield Brightside said at the InfoSec 2009 security conference, in London, that biometric passports could do the job and that he had put the idea to the home secretary, Jacqui Smith. The proposal represents a significant U-turn for the MP who first mooted the idea of ID cards when he was home secretary in 2001. Asked whether ID cards could be dropped, Blunkett told the BBC: "I think it is possible to mandate biometric passports. Most people already have a passport but they might want something more convenient to carry around than the current passport and may be able to have it as a piece of plastic for an extra cost." Using existing databases to hold the same information already gathered to issue passports could be a way of allaying fears over a new "database of information", one of the key criticisms of the ID scheme. "People don't worry about the Passport Agency but they do worry about some mythical identity database," he said. Last month the home secretary said government plans for introducing ID cards were "on track". But as the recession puts the squeeze on government spending, there have been suggestions that the scheme, which, it is estimated, will cost £5bn, could be dropped. Mandatory biometric passports would be considerably cheaper, Blunkett claimed. "Most of the cost is borne by the person purchasing the passport." The government began issuing passports containing biometric information in March 2006. David Cameron, the Tory leader, has already suggested ID cards would be scrapped if his party won power in the general election.

It’s disturbing that police departments can grant people arrest powers, and arm them with guns, without putting them through the proper training first. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Thinkstock. On the afternoon of Sept. 8, 2012, a white police officer in the town of Alexander, Arkansas, shot and killed a 30-year-old black man named Carleton Wallace. The officer, Nancy Cummings, told investigators she had detained Wallace after noticing a pistol tucked in his waistband, which he threw into a wooded area upon seeing her. According to Cummings’ account, it was while she was patting Wallace down that her service weapon accidentally discharged and struck him in the back. Wallace was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Cummings, who was placed on administrative leave from the department and charged with manslaughter in connection with the incident, had joined the Alexander police force about eight months earlier. But as Alexander’s then-police chief admitted in an interview the week after Wallace’s death, Cummings had not yet received any training or certification from the state. She was not scheduled to attend the police academy until the following year. How could the Alexander Police Department employ an officer who had not yet gone through any of the state-mandated training? Because according to Arkansas state law, it’s perfectly legal to do so. Specifically, said Brian Marshall, the deputy director of the Office of Law Enforcement Standards, Arkansas law states that a person can work as a police officer for up to nine months—with the possibility of a three-month extension in extraordinary circumstances—before she is required to complete the state’s three-month training course. And as long as the new recruit passes a 50-round firearms qualification test—that means hitting a target 80 percent of the time from 25 yards away—the department can legally arm her with a gun. According to Marshall, the law was even more lenient until recently: Prior to a change in regulations last year, newly hired officers could go as long as 20 months before being certified, and they did not have to pass a firearm qualifications test prior to entering the academy in order to carry a weapon. Arkansas is not the only state in the country with such a policy. Indiana has a similar law, David Younce of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy told me: New officers must complete training and receive certification from the state before their first anniversary on the job. In order to carry a weapon they must pass a firearms qualification test similar to the one in Arkansas. The fact that it’s possible for police departments to grant people arrest powers, and arm them with guns, without putting them through the proper training first is especially disturbing at a time when the nation has been gripped by one high-profile officer-involved shooting after another. That includes an April incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma, involving an insurance executive who was working as a reserve sheriff’s deputy when he killed an unarmed man by reaching for his gun instead of his Taser, an act he’s described as a mistake. That case brought national attention to the widespread practice of law enforcement agencies allowing civilians with an interest in policing to volunteer as reserve deputies, often in exchange for donations. But at least reserve deputies are typically required to train for a certain number of hours before they’re put on the street. In Arkansas and Indiana, the law leaves open the possibility of people serving as actual—not volunteer—police officers for significant periods of time before they go through academy training and are taught how to do the job. Fred Weatherspoon, the deputy director of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy, said the reasoning behind the Arkansas law has to do with logistics. Sometimes police departments need to hire someone quickly, he said, either because an officer has retired, or died unexpectedly. The timing of a job opening doesn’t necessarily line up with the prescheduled academy classes that are offered by the state. “For instance, we got a class that started this past Sunday,” Weatherspoon told me. “If an applicant was not able to make it through their hiring selection in time to attend this academy, then through no fault of that agency or that officer … they wouldn’t be able to attend the academy until probably four, maybe five months later.” Nancy Cummings, who left the Alexander police force after being charged, was found not guilty by a jury in October 2013. She is currently being sued in civil court by the Wallace family. A lawyer for Cummings, John Wilkerson, told me his client’s lack of training is not relevant to the case. “She was put out on the streets per Arkansas law,” Wilkerson said. “I don’t want to speak for the plaintiffs too much, but from their perspective she wasn’t trained to go into the streets at all … but it’s irrelevant in that state law allowed her to be out there.” (I reached out to lawyers for the Wallace family but didn’t hear back.) According to Wilkerson, the law is primarily designed to benefit small police departments, which he said have an especially difficult time with staffing. “You get these rural departments, and they’re scrambling for manpower, so they do the best they can,” he said. “Police officers aren’t easy to come by. … You sort of get what you can get” and train them whenever you get the chance. Sometimes the delay in training is the result of all the slots in the police academy being booked. “Our next class starts in July,” said Younce in Indiana. “It’s capped out at 150, and we have people on a waiting list, so some agencies have to wait a little bit before they can get their people in here. And that ends up being something [the officers] have to work through.” A comprehensive picture of law enforcement hiring practices in all 50 states is hard to come by, so it’s unclear how widespread policies like those in Arkansas and Indiana are. If you know of another state where people can work as police officers before they’ve received training and state certification, email me and I’ll update this post. As we’ve been reminded too often of late, even when police do receive training in the proper use of deadly force, they don’t always apply that training in the field. In light of that, it’s sobering to think that there are states where police officers can spend up to a year on the job without first receiving instruction in the life-and-death work of law enforcement.

Rare World War I German Luger pistol surrendered in South Australian firearm amnesty Posted A rare, fully operational World War I Luger pistol is among the thousands of firearms so far surrendered in South Australia. The pistol, in pristine condition, was left on the counter at the Adelaide Gun Shop as part of the firearms amnesty surrender. "It had all of the accessories including the holster with it and I think has some significance to collectors," store owner Robert Paridis said. As part of South Australia's ongoing firearm amnesty, people can drop off weapons to either police stations or participating gun shops. Mr Paridis said the pistol was a stand out in the large number of mainly long arms, particularly single-shot .22 rifles and air rifles. "They tend to be the type of firearms left in a shed somewhere or not seen for many years," he said. South Australia's ongoing amnesty In the first month of the national three-month amnesty, South Australians surrendered 687 firearms. But the state has had its own ongoing amnesty since December 1, 2015. More than 5,300 firearms have been handed in. "We are attempting to legitimise firearms which are out there in the community [and] get them either registered or off the streets," said Inspector Paul Sinor from the South Australian Police firearms branch. "The national amnesty has probably been formulated a lot on what South Australia has done with the use of dealers." Inspector Sinor said not all firearms surrendered had to be automatically destroyed. Licensed owners were welcome to trade or sell unregistered firearms to dealers. One in 10 firearms surrendered at dealers Inspector Sinor said approximately 10 per cent of all firearms were being handed in to dealers. "Nearly all of those were handed in for re-registration," he said. "About 80 per cent are shotguns and rifles, about 3 per cent handguns, and then we have a category of other, which refers to homemade, converted or those that we can't classify." Inspector Sinor said the goal of the amnesty was not to remove firearms from responsible owners but to simply to keep track of the firearms in the community. "If people know of or have firearms which they have had handed down or have found, under any circumstance, they can be handed in [without repercussions]." Topics: law-crime-and-justice, human-interest, adelaide-5000

Concept designs from far-fetched futurists have toyed with the idea for years, but one firm has finally made the vision a reality: towers extensively populated with intensive (meaning: large and heavy) plant life. In short: trees! Situated in Milan, Italy, many skeptics were sure these two towers were just another pie-in-the-sky plan for an impossible building. After all, the load-bearing requirements alone for over 10,000 trees and 5,000 shrubs are extreme. Stefano Boeri Architetti (photos by Marco Garofalo) is showing them otherwise. The added weight is not wasted, nor ornamental – the vegetation layers will reduce the need for temperature regulation within the building. They will also filter the congested air of the city and serve to help reduce the temperature (always higher in urban areas). The pre-grown plant life was carefully selected for the structure based on the regional climate, light and wind exposure, and is even now being hoisted into final positions. When complete, this will be, on some metrics, quite literally the greenest pair of buildings in the world.

Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Hard-partying Andy Dick vowed to stay sober during his recent stint on “Dancing With the Stars.” But once the comic was eliminated, it seems all bets were off. Dick was partying his way through the Hamptons last weekend, sources said, and even took one poor soul who tried to help him on a wild escapade. We’re told Dick was at a bash in East Hampton Friday looking “incredibly intoxicated.” When a friend he’d arrived with disappeared, a spy saw the former “NewsRadio” star visibly “upset.” “He didn’t know where he was staying,” our source explained. “He had no cellphone or wallet.” A woman offered to take Dick to her place — “Big mistake,” she told us, adding that on the way, Dick “grabbed the steering wheel” as she drove, and blasted her radio. But things were about to get much worse. “When we got to the house, [Andy] told my husband he was hungry,” the good Samaritan told us. “My husband made him eggs. [But] Andy spat at me because I could not put a song he requested on my iPod quickly enough. He kept asking . . . if I was a moron.” Then, “He grabbed my breast and said, ‘You’re so hot. I would [bleep] the [bleep] out of you!” When his advances were rebuked, openly bisexual Dick grabbed the crotch of the woman’s husband and tried to kiss him, she said. The couple told Dick to sleep it off for a few hours. When the exasperated wife took him back to the party to see if he could find his friend, he grabbed beers from her fridge to drink on the way, despite her objections. When she dropped him off, “He asked me if he could borrow 20 bucks!” She didn’t hand over any dough. “He is a tortured soul,” she said. Spies saw Dick the next day at Surf Lodge crashing a Beach magazine party, peeing in a bush at the swanky spot and being asked to leave. Dick’s most recent rehab stint was last year, when the staff of “Andy Dick Live!” staged an intervention. His reps did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

When I was doing my big corporate internship after my sophomore year of college, there was one thing I noticed all the time about my co-workers. Even though they were technically wearing “business casual”, they weren’t dressing well. My office was a sea of ill-fitting slacks, lazily tucked-in shirts, and brown Sketchers that only barely passed for business casual. Most people were simply dressed to meet the office criteria – nothing more. Of course, I wasn’t much better. While I did pay a bit more attention to how my shirts fit, my attitude about how I dressed mainly boiled down to: “Who cares how I dress? All that matters is how well I do my work.” This attitude was partly forged through my interactions with people in startup culture. I loved the idea of being a Mark Zuckerberg type – I wanted to build a career for myself that would allow me to wear a hoodie and jeans if that’s what my whim called for. Recently, though, I’ve realized that what I’d once thought of as an expression of freedom from “restrictive” dress codes was, at least partly, also an expression of my own laziness. I didn’t want to dress well because I didn’t know how to dress well. Additionally, I’ve come to realized a couple of other things about dressing well. First, the way that you dress forms a large part of the impression you make on other people. If you want to take advantage of the Halo Effect, dressing well is one of the best ways to do it. Secondly, the way you dress affects your mindset. Since I work mainly from home and don’t have a boss, I can wear whatever I want. I could be writing this very sentence while dressed as Tingle from Majora’s Mask for all you know. However, I noticed a while ago that I felt more motivated to work on the days when I took the time and effort to dress somewhat professionally. As a result, I usually put on a button-down shirt, nice jeans, and my dress boots each day after I finish my morning routine. By doing so, I feel like I’m stepping into the role of a professional – and my work output is definitely influenced by that. All this is to say that I think you should start thinking more deliberately about how you dress (at least if you were as nonchalant about it in the past as I was). But how do you go about doing that? I’d be willing to bet that the majority of you are just like me – you walk into a clothing store and immediately get overwhelmed by all the choices. With all the different garments, fabrics, colors, and combinations, it can be hard to know where to start – especially when you’re trying to assemble a wardrobe that can handle many different levels of formality. This week’s episode should help you to start building a foundation of knowledge for doing just that. My guest on today’s episode is my friend Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men, Real Style. Antonio is an absolute expert on men’s fashion; his site has over 1,000 articles on dressing and grooming, and his YouTube channel has over 700,000 subscribers. He also knows enough about women’s fashion to help girls start to build a foundation, which means this episode isn’t just for guys. In this episode, you’ll learn some basic and not-so-basic things; how to start building a versatile wardrobe, what kind of shoes to buy for an interview, the function of a pocket square, and more. Enjoy! Lastly, here’s a picture of the shirt I was wearing during this interview – Antonio and I talk about it, so I wanted you to be able to see it (it’s from Express if you’re curious): Things mentioned in this episode: Want more cool stuff? You can find all sorts of great tools at my Resources page. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure 🙂 You can also leave a review! Here’s an image for sharing this episode on social media:

One-third of American adults believe that President Trump has successfully repealed Obamacare, a new poll from the Economist and YouGov finds. The poll of 1,000 adults shows that 31 percent believe Trump has repealed the Affordable Care Act, 49 percent say he hasn’t, and 21 percent are unsure. Of those who identify as Republican voters, 44 percent say that Trump has repealed Obamacare. Just to be clear, Trump hasn’t repealed Obamacare. Most of the Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land. But the Republicans’ new tax bill did repeal a key feature of the law, the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance coverage. This poll, conducted from December 24 to 26, could reflect recent buzz around that part of the tax bill, the news that people have heard about Republicans dismantling a major part of Obamacare. Obamacare, though, will obviously go on existing. The Medicaid expansion still stands, largely untouched by the Trump administration, and covering millions of Americans. Obamacare’s marketplaces will continue to exist, as will the billions of dollars of subsidies that go towards making coverage purchased there more affordable. Still, this poll also raises the interesting possibility of a political detente around the Affordable Care Act. A plurality of Republicans believes that the Affordable Care Act has been repealed — or, at the very least, recognizes that Congress has gotten rid of the unpopular mandate, the most-hated part of Obamacare. Is there much political sense in Republicans continuing to pursue repeal? Or will they point to the tax bill, declare mission accomplished, and move on from an issue that has proved quite unpopular? Perhaps this poll suggests that, finally, an end to the Obamacare wars may be in sight.

Greenpeace activists shut down 74 Shell petrol station s in Edinburgh and London in a protest against the company’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic that saw 24 campaigners arrested on Monday. The campaigners are attempting to shut off petrol to London’s 105 Shell stations and Edinburgh’s 14. Seventy-one have been closed in London and three in Edinburgh. There have been 24 confirmed arrests, 18 in London and six in Edinburgh. The police in Edinburgh have reportedly parked cars outside all Shell stations across the capital. Protesters have scaled the roof of the Shell station on Queenstown Road near Battersea Park in London and on Dalry Road in Edinburgh, with police and fire crews attending the scene in Edinburgh. for more information click here Source: guardian.co.uk Advertisements

BEIJING (AFP) – The bodies of all 18 schoolchildren buried under a landslide in China have been recovered, media said Friday, as officials defended returning them to school following recent deadly earthquakes. The landslide, triggered by sustained rains, buried the school and three farmhouses on Thursday in the village of Zhenhe in Yunnan province, where a pair of earthquakes last month killed 81 people and injured hundreds. Any last hopes for survivors among the children evaporated early Friday when rescuers pulled the body of the last missing child from the debris, China National Radio said in a report on its website. The disaster is likely to raise questions over why the pupils had been brought back into the school, located in a deep mountain valley, when China was on a week-long national holiday. School safety is a sensitive issue in China after thousands of students died when an 8.0-magnitude tremor centred in Sichuan province rocked the southwest of the country in 2008. China has a highly competitive education system built around cramming for high-stress testing that determines entry into good schools later. Local officials in Yiliang county, which includes Zhenhe, have said the dead children needed to make up lessons lost due to disruptions stemming from the September earthquakes in the area. The state-run Xinhua news agency said they had been brought in to study from another school which was badly damaged in those tremors, which had magnitudes of 5.6 and left more than 800 people injured and 201,000 displaced. “The mountains around the school are covered with dense vegetation, and there were no signs of potential landslides during investigations after the earthquake,” said Xiao Shunxing, deputy county chief, according to the Yunnan Information news website. But domestic media quoted nearby residents saying they had been concerned about children walking long distances to school over muddy mountain paths so soon after last month’s earthquakes. “If the students were off for holidays, there wouldn’t be this tragedy,” said a user of Sina.com’s micro-blogging service, one of many outraged postings. “Couldn’t they just take time making up the missed classes? Officials, schools, and teachers are too eager for quick success and instant benefits. They are the the biggest killers.” A local villager was also missing after the landslide and yet to be found by rescuers, China National Radio said. Like many schools, homes, and other structures in the poor and rugged region, the disaster-hit primary school was located at the base of steep slopes. Mountainous southwestern China is prone to deadly landslides, a threat worsened by frequent seismic activity. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which killed more than 80,000 people, triggered giant landslides that left whole mountainsides scarred. Many schools collapsed in that disaster, triggering accusations of shoddy construction, corner-cutting and possible corruption, especially as many other buildings near such schools held firm. There have so far been no such allegations in the Yunnan landslide. Families who lost children will receive compensation payments of 20,000 yuan ($3,200), media reports said. State media reports initially identified the school as the Youfang Primary School, but subsequent reports have said its official name is the Tiantou Primary School.

The next time you send a tweet about electronic cigarettes, you might unwittingly be taking part in a clinical study examining what Americans are saying online about vaping. Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center recently analyzed 28 million tweets containing hashtags like #vape, #ecigs and #ejuice to build a monitoring tool that tracks who is commenting about e-cigarettes and what they're saying. By identifying the language associated with e-cigs on Twitter, the researchers hope to better understand who is using them to quit smoking, who is using them for other reasons, and how and to whom they're being marketed. This kind of social media surveillance could have implications for drafting new health policies and interventions associated with e-cigarettes. “We wanted to see what age group is using them and how,” said Paul Krebs, a clinical psychologist in the Department of Population Health who has studied tobacco for 15 years. More than 10 percent of Americans have now tried e-cigarettes, according to estimates that reflect the products' dramatic increase in popularity. But national surveys don't explain why, Krebs said. “Are they really attracted to the flavors? Are they thinking it's safer than smoking?” [Secrets of longevity may lie in long-lived smokers, a ‘biologically distinct’ group with extraordinary gene variants] Krebs and a team from NYU and the Simons Center for Data Analysis in New York built a database of words sent from Twitter accounts that followed some of the largest e-cigarette brands. After filtering by their target hashtags, they classified the resulting 13,146 tweets by hand and then programmed a computer to separate them out. Their study established a system that automatically distinguishes the tweeted messages indicating e-cig use -- because they're about liking a certain brand, for example -- from those with marketing themes or product headlines. “This could have direct clinical applications if we find out kids are really loving these flavors or thinking it's perfectly safe,” Krebs said. “But we do need to validate that what [people are] actually saying is what they're actually doing.” The team presented its study recently at the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, a conference that brings together researchers applying computational methods to biology and peer reviews their studies. This was the first year the meeting has included studies on social-media monitoring for public health surveillance. Previous studies have tracked the explosive popularity of e-cigarettes on Twitter and have looked at manufacturers' pervasive marketing tactics there. Extrapolating public health data on e-cigarette use from a collection of tweets can be precarious, of course. “But that's not necessarily a bad thing,” says Michael Paul, an assistant professor of information science at the University of Colorado, Boulder who has tracked topics like air quality, influenza and bath salts on social media. “Because these products are so new and government-run surveys take a few years to catch up, researchers are still trying to figure out the landscape,” he said. “There's this time lag with national surveys that the social media can fill in.” Chris Danforth, an applied mathematician at the University of Vermont who has built similar tools to scrutinize social media for public health data purposes, agrees that Twitter has a role with topics for which it's hard to get traditional survey data. But there's a lot of noise to filter out, he cautions. Judging from his own work tracking vaping -- in which an e-cigarette's vapor is inhaled and then exhaled -- Danforth says e-cigarette tweets are heavily dominated by robotic spam and marketing bots. Up to 80 percent of tweets have one or the other or both, he said, and Krebs and his team didn't filter out enough of them. “They weren't as careful as they could be,” he said. “We found that testimonials like 'I quit smoking using this brand' were all promotional in nature.” If researchers want to use social media to complement traditional public health surveillance, the computational tools must be improved to eliminate false positives, Danforth said. “We don't want to be basing health policy off promotional material.” Do you 'vape'? Voting is closed on this poll User Poll Results: 1 Do you 'vape'? Yes No Pardon the interruption! We need to verify that you are an actual person. Yes No 2 If so, how often? Daily Once a week A few times a week Once a month A few times a year Pardon the interruption! We need to verify that you are an actual person. Daily Once a week A few times a week Once a month A few times a year View Results This is a non-scientific user poll. Results are not statistically valid and cannot be assumed to reflect the views of Washington Post users as a group or the general population. Read more: Secrets of longevity may lie in long-lived smokers, a ‘biologically distinct’ group with extraordinary gene variants Beware the rule-following co-worker, Harvard study warns Happiness won’t help you live longer (but unhappiness won’t kill you either)

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the Trump administration's accomplishments Wednesday as it neared the 100-day benchmark. "Look at the record that he’s achieved over these first 90 days," Spicer told Fox News' "The First 100 Days." "It’s very clear that he’s committed to the conservative principles and agenda that he outlined in the campaign." The remark came after billionaire Mark Cuban said he is warming up to Trump’s presidency ever since the ‘Democratic invasion’ 'HANNITY': MALKIN: HOLLYWOOD-MEDIA COMPLEX WANTS TO MAKE AMERICA OBAMA AGAIN KRAUTHAMMER: OBAMA 'TORCHED DEMS' ENTIRE MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE FNC's CATHERINE HERRIDGE reports that a former CIA officer who was spared jail time in Italy said that despite her commutation, she may be forced to testify to Italian lawmakers about the secret post-9/11 “rendition” program – and warns the testimony could be extremely "damaging." "The Italian Intelligence Oversight Committee has contacted my lawyer in Italy asking that I come testify on a CIA operation," Sabrina de Sousa said. "Several members have been pushing the Italian intelligence services for release and declassification of documents related to this case." (Watch Herridge on Fox News Channel live at 10 AM ET for latest information) RUSSIAN MEDDLING? A Moscow-based think tank controlled by a Russian official appointed by President Vladimir Putin reportedly hatched a plan to increase Donald Trump’s chances to win the presidency. Reuters, citing three current and four former U.S. officials, reported Wednesday that the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies provided a framework for top Russian officials on how to sway the U.S. election. Five officials told Reuters the institute is the Kremlin’s in-house foreign policy think tank. FOX NEWS OPINION NAPOLITANO: What if our belief in self-government is just a myth? What if the true goal of those whom we elect to Congress is not to be our agents of self-government or even to preserve our personal liberties but to remain in power by getting re-elected? COMING UP ON FNC 3:50 PM ET: President Trump and Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni hold joint press conference in the Rose Garden. COMING UP ON FOX BUSINESS 7:30 AM ET: Philip Hammond, British MP, will be on "Mornings with Maria" 10 AM ET: Rep. Peter King, R-NY, will be a guest on "Varney & Company."

In the 1980s everybody was reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. But, as he publishes a novel for the first time in a dozen years, what is the Czech writer’s reputation today – and is it irretrievably damaged by his portrayal of women? On the first page of Milan Kundera’s new novel published in France last year when its author was 85 a man is walking down a Parisian street in June, just as “the morning sun was emerging from the clouds”. His name is Alain. We don’t know his age, or what he looks like, but we know that he is an intellectual because the sight of the exposed navels of the young women he passes in the street inspires him to a series of reflections, each one an attempt to “describe and define the particularity” of different “erotic orientations”. Who else could the writer of this passage be than Milan Kundera? Two of the main tropes of his novels are present and correct, in the first page and a half: first of all, the primacy of the male gaze, fixed on the female body, “captivated” by it, and spinning an elaborate theory on the basis of what it sees there. Second, the lofty reach of that theory, which homes in on “the centre of female seductive power” as perceived not just by “a man” but “an era”: testifying to the ambition of a novelist who has made it his life’s work to forge connections between the individual consciousness and the shifting currents of history and politics. Milan Kundera’s first novel in more than a decade due in June Read more The Festival of Insignificance, then, is certainly typical Kundera, if not classic Kundera. It is an old man’s book and, while there are flickering signs of a mellow and playful wisdom, it would be surprising if there were not something autumnal about it. A glance at the back covers of Kundera’s novels in the Faber editions reveals a raft of quotes from the likes of Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and Carlos Fuentes, most of them more than 30 years old, reminding us that his reputation was at its zenith in the 1980s, the decade when everbody was reading The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Why did those books seem so urgent, so indispensable at the time? Was it because they coincided fleetingly with the zeitgeist, or do they embody something more robust and enduring? How will history judge them? His reputation will rest, it seems fair to say, on the three great “middle period” novels: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality. Before these, we have a triptych of serio-comic novels – The Joke, Life Is Elsewhere and Farewell Waltz – vividly evoking the milieu of postwar and communist-era Czechosolovakia without staking out a claim to the formal originality that would become Kundera’s hallmark. Afterwards, we have the trio of terse, slender novellas – Slowness, Identity and Ignorance – whose very titles announce their philosophical leanings as much as their status as fictions. The middle-period books, however, are the ones that saw Kundera finding not just his distinctive literary voice but his perfect form. They are novels of exile, written in exile. He left Czechoslovakia in 1975, having by then been dismissed from his teaching position, deprived of the right to work, and seen his novels banned from public libraries. His arrival in Paris coincided with a significant change of literary direction. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting eschews traditional linear narrative and unfolds, instead, as a nest of interconnected stories, held together in part by a handful of recurring characters but more firmly by recurring themes, words, motifs. It was as if weighing the anchor of his homeland meant that Kundera had also freed himself from the bonds of formal convention. The novel had an incredible fluidity, an enviable relaxed ease in its transitions from storytelling to essay-writing and back again. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Juliette Binoche in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar/Cinetext Collection The inseparability of form and content: this is the one of the things Kundera’s work teaches us. Writing in the novella Slowness about the most famous book of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Kundera observes: “The epistolary form of Les Liaisons dangereuses is not merely a technical procedure that could easily be replaced by another. The form is eloquent in itself and it tells us that, whatever the characters have undergone, they have undergone for the sake of telling about it, for transmitting, communicating, confessing, writing it. In such a world, where everything gets told, the weapon that is both most readily available and most deadly is disclosure.” This observation, of course, comes not just from an acute literary historian, but from someone who has lived under the scrutiny of the secret police. Writing, and what it might “disclose” about its authors, is one of the most pressing themes in Kundera’s oeuvre, from The Joke onwards. In The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Tamina, a Czech exile living in an unnamed western city, will go to any lengths to retrieve 11 lost notebooks from her native country. One of the obstacles she faces is the incomprehension of westerners: “to make people here understand anything about her life, it had to be simplified” – so she describes the notebooks to people as “political documents”, even though they are really books of memories, which she wants to retrieve not for political reasons at all, but because her memory of her early life is beginning to fade, and “she wants to give back to it its lost body. What is urging her on is not a desire for beauty. It is a desire for life.” Through this story and its other, interconnected companions, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting beautifully illuminates the points in our lives at which identity – the very construction of our selves through memory – intersects with the political forces that are in conflict with it. It is a theme inseparable from the context in which Kundera was raised, the world of Soviet-era communism, a context which fascinated and to some extent baffled western observers in the 70s and 80s, and on which his novels seemed to open a unique window, bringing its complexities to life with unmatched irony, melancholy and intellectual rigour. No wonder that these novels seemed, on first publication, to be among the most essential literary documents of their time. Hard on the heels of the novels themselves came a book that sought among other things to explicate them: The Art of the Novel, a collection of seven essays in which Kundera laid out his conception of the European novelistic tradition and his own place within it. The key text in his analysis was Hermann Broch’s The Sleepwalkers, a trio of novels with which few British readers were familiar at the time and which even fewer read today. (In fact you can no longer purchase a print edition in this country.) In these books Broch, too, attempted a synthesis of different modes but in Kundera’s view “the several elements (verse, narrative, aphorism, reportage, essay) remain more juxtaposed than blended into a true ‘polyphonic’ unity”. In the light of which, it’s hard not to see all of Kundera’s post-exile work as an attempt to continue the task which Broch had begun, and a triumphant one in the sense that his own blending of these elements feels genuinely seamless and organic. Did Kundera achieve this, however, at the expense of something crucial – psychological truth to life? “My novels are not psychological,” he asserted in The Art of the Novel. “More precisely: they lie outside the aesthetic of the novel normally termed psychological.” This was a bold negative statement – a statement of what his novels aren’t – but when it came to defining what they are, he was less explicit. “All novels, of every age, are concerned with the enigma of the self … If I locate myself outside the so-called psychological novel, that does not mean that I wish to deprive my characters of an interior life. It means only that there are other enigmas, other questions that my novels pursue primarily … To apprehend the self in my novels means to grasp the essence of its existential problem. To grasp its existential code.” This “existential code”, he went on to explain, might be expressed as a series of key words. For Tereza in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, for instance, they would be “body, soul, vertigo, weakness, idyll, Paradise”. Captivated by the philosophical brilliance of that novel (and no doubt swayed, in the case of many male readers, by its chilly eroticism), Kundera’s admirers were happy to accept its use of the existential code as a means of delineating personality; or, to put it in the terms of a more traditional literary criticism, they forgave the thinness of its characterisation. But characters tend to live longer in the memory than ideas. A few years ago, in this newspaper, John Banville wrote an interesting piece reappraising The Unbearable Lightness of Being two decades after publication. His tone was admiring but also gently sceptical. “I was struck by how little I remembered,” he wrote. “True to its title, the book had floated out of my mind like a hot-air balloon come adrift from its tethers … Of the characters I retained nothing at all, not even their names.” Conceding that the novel still retained its political relevance, he added: “Relevance, however, is nothing compared with that sense of felt life which the truly great novelists communicate.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘He has an incredible fluidity, an enviable relaxed ease in his transition from story to essay and back again’ … Kundera in 2010. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images From his own writings, it seems that Kundera would not consider himself to be part of that tradition of “truly great” writers towards which Banville was implicitly gesturing. Many of his favourite novelists – Sterne, Diderot, Broch, Musil, Gombrowicz – really belong to that tributary of ironic, equivocal writing in which the authors are so conscious of the contradictions, pitfalls and contrivances inherent in the act of creating fictions that their books themselves become, on one level, parodies or at least self-interrogations. Kundera’s place within that particular pantheon seems secure, with one important caveat: nowhere is Banville’s sense of “felt life” more uncomfortably absent than in Kundera’s portrayal of female characters. The feminist case against Kundera has been made often, perhaps never more eloquently than by Joan Smith in her book Misogynies, where she maintained that “hostility is the common factor in all Kundera’s writing about women”. By way of example she cited many passages, including a deeply uncomfortable one from The Book of Laughter and Forgetting in which the narrator makes a secret rendezvous with a female magazine editor who has been putting herself at personal risk by commissioning articles from him. She is so nervous about the encounter, which takes place in an anonymous flat, that she loses control of her bowels. On meeting her, however, the narrator’s main, and inexplicable, reaction is “a wild desire to rape her … I wanted to contain her entirely, with her shit and her ineffable soul”. (This is a grim passage, without doubt, but I find it more of a slander on men than anything else.) Against Smith’s damning examples, we have to cite the number of female characters – especially in Kundera’s later fiction – who are at least as well realised as his men. Ignorance is by some way my favourite of the more recent novels, not least because its heroine, Irena, is a complex, sympathetic character whose ambivalent attitudes towards exile are explored with wit and compassion. But even here, at the very end of the book, our final image of Irena is a voyeuristic, objectifying one, as she sleeps naked with “her legs spread carelessly apart”, while her lover fixes his eyes on her crotch and “gazed a long while at that sad place”. Why does Kundera feel the need to expose his women with such thoroughness, such cruelty? And how, for that matter, could he have written a 150-page book of essays on the European novel without mentioning a single female writer apart from Agatha Christie? I can’t help feeling that if anything will undermine Kundera’s long-term reputation, it will not be any absence of “felt life” in his novels, or the fact that his art was developed in a political context that may one day (sooner than we think) be forgotten: it will be his overwhelming androcentrism. I avoid the word “misogyny” because I don’t think that he hates women, or is consistently hostile to them, but he does seem to see the world from an exclusively male viewpoint, and this does limit what might otherwise have been his limitless achievements as a novelist and essayist. Fortunately, The Festival of Insignificance is less disfigured by this tendency than almost anything else he has written; and so, although it may not be a substantial addition to his oeuvre, it might still be a good point of re-entry for those who have been turned off, in the past, by the problematic sexual politics which send ripples of disquiet through even his finest books.

We have many McLean neighbors who are Korean War veterans. Sixty-one years ago today that war began and continued for three years. That war brought us Mig Alley, F86's, Chosin Reservoir, Inchon and the firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Below is a brief summary of the war from The History Channel website. To our neighbors: Thank you. Armed forces from communist North Korea smash into South Korea, setting off the Korean War. The United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years. Korea, a former Japanese possession, had been divided into zones of occupation following World War II. U.S. forces accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in southern Korea, while Soviet forces did the same in northern Korea. Like in Germany, however, the "temporary" division soon became permanent. The Soviets assisted in the establishment of a communist regime in North Korea, while the United States became the main source of financial and military support for South Korea. On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces surprised the South Korean army (and the small U.S. force stationed in the country), and quickly headed toward the capital city of Seoul. The United States responded by pushing a resolution through the U.N.'s Security Council calling for military assistance to South Korea. (Russia was not present to veto the action as it was boycotting the Security Council at the time.) With this resolution in hand, President Harry S. Truman rapidly dispatched U.S. land, air, and sea forces to Korea to engage in what he termed a "police action." The American intervention turned the tide, and U.S. and South Korean forces marched into North Korea. This action, however, prompted the massive intervention of communist Chinese forces in late 1950. The war in Korea subsequently bogged down into a bloody stalemate. In 1953, the United States and North Korea signed a cease-fire that ended the conflict. The cease-fire agreement also resulted in the continued division of North and South Korea at just about the same geographical point as before the conflict. The Korean War was the first "hot" war of the Cold War. Over 55,000 American troops were killed in the conflict. Korea was the first "limited war," one in which the U.S. aim was not the complete and total defeat of the enemy, but rather the "limited" goal of protecting South Korea.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but rest assured today’s post comes in great timing as a lot is changing in terms of what is considered popular music in Korea, what with the instability and volatility of the KPOP machine and a renaissance in Korean hip-hop, there are six major record labels who are now taking hip-hop to a whole new mainstream level in Korea. Here is a brief guide to the six Korean hip-hop labels leading the rise of hip-hop in Korea today. 1) Brand New Music Founded by old-school Korean rapper Rhymer in 2003 originally as IC Entertainment, Brand New Music has undergone many changes as well as played management for some of Korea’s most well-known names in reggae, rap, hip-hop and R&B. In 2006, it was rebranded as Brand New Productions, and later in 2009 it was merged with rapper Cho PD’s Future Flow imprint to become Brand New Stardom, which boasted acts like Skull, BNR, Keeproots, Verbal Jint, Phantom and Block B. Two years later, due to creative and professional differences, Rhymer pulled out of the merger, thus recreating his own label under the current moniker of Brand New Music. Specializing now in hosting a variety of hip-hop and R&B talents as well as well-known in-house production talents, BNM is widely considered to be one, if not, of the top labels in Korea for urban music. The current roster includes names like Taewan, P-Type, Bizniz, Troy, Phantom, San E, As One and Miss S. 2) Amoeba Culture Founded in 2006 by Korean hip-hop unit Dynamic Duo, Amoeba Culture has become a household name for helping bring acts like Supreme Team, Primary, Rhythm Power, Zion.T and Crush to the forefront of Korean popular music. While it has a relatively small roster, it was the key roster from the company’s founding that helped make it a household name. While it has experienced its share of scandal in the past (Primary plagiarism accusations AND disbandment of Supreme Team/’Control’ diss phenomenon), it still continues to be a powerhouse label, which continues to breed new talent. 3) Hi-Lite Records Founded by former Jungle Entertainment rapper Paloalto in 2010, Hi-Lite Records is home to some of the heavy hitting rappers of Korea’s underground and mainstream scenes, including names like Huckleberry P, Evo, Reddy, Okasian and B-Free. Hi-Lite is highly regarded as one of the more ‘purist hip-hop’ labels in that they focus more on their craft rather than on the performance aspects of the music industry. As such, these rappers are all very much like an independent collective and freely create music to reflect their journey as artists. Hi-Lite is also very much well connected to some of the smaller labels like Grandline and former labels like Soul Company and Independent Records – two of the most influential hip-hop labels in Korea that paved the way for the current labels today. 4) AOMG Founded by former 2PM member and soloist Jay Park in 2013, AOMG (or Above Ordinary Music Group) is a relatively new label in Korea, but is home to both new and familiar talent, including Loco, Gray, Simon D (who joined AOMG after leaving Amoeba Culture), Elo, Ugly Duck, DJ Wegun and DJ Pumkin. Having recently announced their first US tour as a label, AOMG is poised to take the pole position as a label bringing in new blood in Korea’s hip-hop scene. With Jay and Simon heading up this fledgling label, they pride themselves on their creative freedom and approach to the urban scene, not just for music but even with music videos and song production also. 5) Illionaire Records Co-founded by Map the Soul alum Dok2 and Soul Company alum The Quiett in 2011, Illionaire is easily the smallest but most energetic label on this list. Comprised of only three artists on the roster – the CEOs as well as rapper Beenzino – Illionaire has built its reputation on keeping things small but impactful. Each artist has accomplished so much on their own and collectively as a label, that Illionaire has built its reputation mainly on that fact. Having also gained notoriety for collaborating with artist Jay Park during the re-start of his career, Illionaire has proven its abilities time and time again, even having performed three shows in the US as a label. 6) Just Music Last but not least, this indie hip-hop label was birthed in 2011 by Brand New Music alum and self-proclaimed ‘Punchline King’ Swings. Home to rappers Giriboy, Vasco, C.Jamm, Black Nut and Genius Nochang, Just Music takes on a very independent approach to their releases, and Swings is very proud of that. Having left Brand New Music after his contract expired a few months ago, Swings is now fully focused on making his imprint grow in the Korean hip-hop scene. Which is your favourite Korean hip-hop label? Have one that is not on this list? Let me know in the comment section below! :) J.

We already knew that BioWare were planning a new Mass Effect , but it's becoming clearer now that the project has moved from vague aspiration to actual development. It's not DLC, it's (presumably) not an iPhone, Android or Nokia N-Gage spin-off; as BioWare Masster Casey Hudson says via Twitter , it's a "completely new Mass Effect game. What would you want to see in it?" Well, you heard the man - what would you want to see in a new Mass Effect? The game's still in the "early stages", giving the team plenty of time to work in suggestions such as "a return to hard science fiction, emphasis on science" (Justin Fassino), "RTS or 4x would be really cool" (R.S. Hunter), and "an ending, cheers" (JulianDM11). BioWare had previously expressed that Shepard wouldn't feature , but maybe there's time to change that too. Feel free to add your own suggestions below - and then tweet them at @CaseyDHudson, so he's legally obliged to put them in the new game. As for us, we want Jennifer Hale to return in some form, we want the chance to romance a Rachni, but more than anything we want a better, more survivable breed of space hamster. Is that too much to ask? (via PCGamesN )

Tens of thousands who applied for a shot at one of America’s best-paid blue-collar jobs found out Friday whether they landed the gig when the Pacific Maritime Association published the sequential list of names of those qualified for part-time positions on the waterfront. It wasn’t all smiles. “Damn, damn,” said Jose Rodriguez, a drug counselor on Skid Row, as he scrolled through the list of winners. “I don’t see anybody that I know and I know a lot that applied, like 100 or so,” he said. “When you see it’s not you, it’s heartbreaking. That’s why I don’t play the lottery.” For those who applied, the names can be found at: apps.pmanet.org (click on “LA/LB casual draw results”). The last time the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the PMA, which employs union dockworkers, opened up a call for potential employees was in 2004, before the recession hit. At the time, more than a quarter-million people applied for 3,000 part-time jobs. This time around, about 80,000 put their names in for the drawing, and 25,000 were picked out and placed in sequential order. The first 2,300 on the list will be eligible for a part-time dockworker position that can lead to full-time employment, PMA officials have previously said. • RELATED STORY: Dockworker lottery is ‘false dream,’ says longshore workers’ union leader Those full-time dockworkers in Los Angeles and Long Beach earn $123,278 on average, get full free medical coverage and receive a pension, according to the PMA, which represents the terminal operators. It’s widely considered one of the best blue-collar jobs available. No university schooling is required and all training is provided by the union. Peter Russell, a San Pedro resident, didn’t immediately see his name in the list. “I figured it would be that way,” he said. “I don’t have much faith in their system.” Negotiated between the ILWU and PMA, the controversial lottery process has been criticized over the years for being a two-tiered system that favors ILWU friends and family. How it works Anyone can put their name in the drawing by sending in a postcard, but ILWU members get a specially marked postcard for their friends and family. The two are placed in separate barrels and drawn randomly from alternating piles. The two groups hired an outside party, Moorpark-based InterOptimis, to conduct the drawing behind closed doors, stoking distrust from those outside the process. The drawing, which began in February, took months to complete and was marred early on by disputes between the union and PMA over the process. “I feel like this is something set up,” Rodriguez said. “A drawing should be done in public, especially for this.” It’s easy to understand the skepticism. The PMA doesn’t take applications. To get a full-time job on the docks, one has to first be a so-called casual. Those jobs are landed only through the drawing and some can stay in the positions for more than a decade. Casuals start about $25 an hour but their base rate adjusts as they gain experience. Also, they have no benefits. In all, there are about 14,000 dockworkers in the Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex and thousands more casuals.

United Til the End In Week 20 of the MLS season, nearly 2/3rds of the year’s fixtures completed, MLS’s own Power Rankings had the following to say on their then-16th-ranked team, D.C. United: D.C. are the ultimate hot-and-cold team as they haven't strung together any type of result since mid-March. That's left them adrift in the East, and it's not clear what the path forward is for this group. In Week 21, Patrick Mullins made his D.C. United debut, and along with newly acquired Lloyd Sam, proceeded to light D.C.’s stagnant offense ablaze. That’s a pretty typical Mullins goal: not very flashy, but effective and good at sensing where the play will end up. That’s good for him, and great for D.C. United. Before Mullins, D.C. scored 19 goals in 20 games, or about .95 goals/game. Since his debut, they’ve scored 32 in 13, or 2.46 goals/game. Mullins has contributed 8 goals and 2 assists to that number, while Sam has chipped in 3 goals and 6 assists. That’s tidy midseason business by D.C., who clinched a playoff birth with a win over Mullins’ former employer, NYCFC. Mullins scored a goal and added an assist. It’s a delicious business, this. All About Bill At this point, I’ve made my peace with the USMNT depth chart at almost all positions. The fact is, there’s a lot to be optimistic about our front line right now. But then I start to think about Bill Hamid. Bill. Freakin. Hamid, man. He turned in another stand-out performance that really, reeeaaaally makes me question the validity of Jurgen Klinsmann labeling him as being 6th or 7th on the USMNT keeper depth chart. Against an average at best side in New Zealand, both William Yarbrough and David Bingham were given a chance to state their case between the sticks last week, and neither performance (or performances made this year in general by the pair) convince me in the least they should be above Bill Hamid in the pecking order. I don’t know what hangup between coach and player is here, but this one looks like a no-brainer to me. Locking Back In The past two friendlies were pretty frustrating for anyone not named Julian Green and possibly Lynden Gooch, but a couple USMNT stalwarts managed to find the groove again in MLS play this weekend. Jozy Altidore contributed a last minute assist, as well as this second half equalizer that somehow managed to find its way in to the net. Meanwhile, back in America, Sacha Kljestan bounced back from a putrid penalty attempt to contribute two assists in New York Red Bulls’ winning effort against Columbus, including the provider on this slick Mike Grella finish. Mike Grella is no stranger to that top corner. @NewYorkRedBulls lead 1-0 #NYvCLB https://t.co/U8c3NZ7PCH — Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 16, 2016 Kljestan now has 17 assists on the MLS season. That’s very good, and he’s once again proving his worth for both club and country in big ways. With playoffs looming, let’s just hope everyone stays healthy and happy heading into the Hex.

In his most apocalyptic language to date, Pope Francis told reporters aboard the papal plane returning from Africa that the COP21 climate change conference in Paris is the last chance for humanity to avert environmental destruction. The pope discussed global warming and other issues during an hour-long press conference aboard the papal plane following his six-day trip to Africa. Asked whether he believes that the leaders gathered in Paris will take important steps to combat climate change, Francis said, “I’m not sure, but I can say that it is now or never.” Little was accomplished at the 1997 Kyoto conference, Francis said, and since then “every year the problems are more serious.” The Pope recounted discussing with college students about what sort of world we want to leave our children, when one of the students asked: “But are you sure that there will be children from this generation?” “We are on the edge of suicide,” Francis said, “but I am sure that just about everybody meeting in Paris is aware of this and wants to do something.” “The other day I read that in Greenland the glaciers have lost billions of tons,” Francis continued. “In the Pacific there is a country that is buying another country in order to move, because in 20 years it’s going to disappear. I believe in these people, that they will do something. I hope so, and I pray for it,” he said. The Pope also had strong words regarding Africa’s place in the world, calling it a “victim” and a “martyr” that has “always been exploited by other powers.” “There are powers that only look to take possession of Africa’s great riches,” he said, “but they don’t think about helping the African nations to grow, or about creating jobs.” “That’s why I love Africa,” he said, “because it has been the victim of other powers.” Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter @tdwilliamsrome

Shortly after WWII in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, anti-fascists made a fiction film, Murderers Among Us, that sought to deal with the crimes of the Nazis after their defeat. I thought of that title when reading about the release of a Justice Department report concerning U.S. government, and especially CIA, complicity in the use and shielding of fascist war criminals after WWII. Written by Judy Feigin and edited by Mark Richard, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, the report outlines the history of the Office of Special Investigations, created at the end of the 1970s to deal with the war criminals; the opposition OSI faced; and its achievements In their trials, the fascists’ standard “defense” was that they were fighting against Communists and the Soviet Union, which was what they continued to do with U.S. military and CIA support. And this defense worked for decades to keep them from being seriously investigated. Let me cite three little-known significant cases. Vladimir Sokolev was a Ukrainian who edited Rech, the Nazi journal in occupied Ukraine (the Nazis considered him ideologically trustworthy in their war against “Jewish Bolshevism”). Some of Sokolev’s writings were as obscene as those of the official German Nazi propagandist, Julius Streicher, who was hanged at Nuremburg. Sokolev came to the U.S. in 1951 as an anti-Communist refugee, and was “interviewed” by the FBI in 1954. He denied both his role and Rech’s pro fascist, anti-Semitic policies. Both the FBI and, two years later, the INS, chose to believe him without much investigation. In 1959 Sokolov was hired by Yale University as an instructor in foreign languages and had no difficulties until his dismissal in the mid-1970s, after Soviet sources discovered his new occupation and began to write about his Nazi activities. This had little effect until the Morning Freiheit, a Jewish left publication quoted materials from Sovietische Heimat, a Yiddish language Soviet publication, which in turn quoted from Sokolev’s rabidly anti-Jewish articles. From the early postwar period on, Sokolev had been involved in various anti-Soviet Russian-language activities and publications. Although Sokolev was reappointed to his position and some of his colleagues and other Yale sources used anti-Sovietism to defend his actions, he resigned from Yale and was eventually forced out the U.S., thanks to OSI perseverance. William Buckley Jr., a Yale graduate, defended Sokolev, who was given “asylum” in Canada where he died years later. Buckley, of course, went on to launch his career as a right-wing publisher, editor and celebrity with the publication of his God and Man at Yale, a redbaiting anti-liberal assault on the Yale faculty. Andrija Artukovic was a major leader of the Croatian fascist Ustasha government, a Nazi puppet state, during WWII. He served as Minister of Justice, the Interior and Religion. Artukovic came to the U.S on a temporary visa, and, in 1948, under an assumed name, worked for a California company owned by his brother. In 1951, Artukuvic was exposed as someone wanted for war crimes in Yugoslavia. Since that country was not an ally of the Soviet Union, the U.S. launched deportation proceeding against him. But these proceedings were to go on for the next thirty-five years. Artukovic was a fascist leader involved in ordering the mass murder of Serbians, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascist partisans. But his lawyers successfully gained endless reprieves with the Catch-22 argument that he would face persecution by Yugoslavia’s Communist government since he had persecuted and ordered the murder of Communists during WWII! In 1978, New York Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, sponsored legislation to create the OSI, and to vacate reprieves for those who had played direct roles in Nazi persecutions. Artukovic’s case was then taken out of the State Department’s hands. Eventually, he was deported to Yugoslavia and tried in a televised trial for his war crimes and crimes against humanity. His initial death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he died in a prison hospital in Yugoslavia in 1988 – making him perhaps the only major fascist war criminal found in the U.S. to face something more than deportation. Baron Otto Von Bolshchwing, who few Americans have ever heard of, is perhaps the most interesting of these fascist criminals. A German aristocrat and something of a chameleon, Bolschwing was a Nazi party member, SS man, and served as Nazi intelligence liaison in British colonial Palestine from 1935 to 1937. He then joined Adolf Eichmann’s “Jewish Affairs Office” from1937 to 1939. Here he worked on ways to more effectively terrorize Germany’s remaining Jewish population. He was an official of the Jewish Affairs Office in November 1938, when the Nazis launched the national pogrom against Jewish Germans known as Kristallnacht (the night of the broken glass) As the war ended, Bolschwing literally switched sides. In 1946, with U.S. support, he joined Reinhard Gehlen, former head of Nazi counter-intelligence who now recruited Nazis to work for the U.S., and later the West German government. He was “hired” directly by the CIA in 1949 and served them in and out of the Gehlen organization. Bolschwing entered the U.S. in 1954, with advice from the CIA to deny his Nazi activities. If cornered, he “should admit [Nazi affiliations] but attempt to explain it away on the basis of extenuating circumstances.” Bolschwing became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959, and his case lay dormant for the next twenty years. When the OSI finally took up the case, it contacted to the CIA and was careful not to compromise the agency that Bolschwing had served. When the case came forward, Bolschwing was in a nursing home. He worked out a plea agreement in which he admitted his Nazi involvements, which he had lied about under CIA advice, but not his work for Eichmann in the Jewish Affairs Office, even though that was a matter of record (the report has “Dear Adolf ” letters to Eichmann in which Bolschwing discusses his plans to more effectively persecute Jewish people). But the plea agreement had the U.S. drop its deportation prosecution until Bolschwing’s health improved (which, from my readings, the U.S. knew very well that it would not). Ten weeks after the agreement, he died in his nursing home. Perhaps as many as 40 million people were murdered by the German fascists and their fascist allies in WWII – twenty-seven million in the Soviet Union alone. Over six million Jewish people, about one third of the Jewish world, were murdered due to the policy of racist genocide carried forward by fascists like Bolschwing, Artukovic and Sokolev. The report deals with this sordid history. It also shows the positive role of anti-fascist organizations, papers like Morning Freiheit and progressive politicians like Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman in fighting to establish the OSI and punish fascist criminals whom the CIA and other U.S. agencies had used and rewarded. It deserves to be read widely. Image: While most of the U.S. and the world looked upon Nazi atrocities with horror, erecting memorials such as this one in Boston, some U.S. agencies worked to keep the criminals responsible for the atrocities free. Photo by Wally Gobetz // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck says that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost the final debate because he was “being guided” by God to be “less contentious” and agree with President Barack Obama. Although Obama was aggressive throughout the Monday’s debate, Romney used a softer strategy, repeatedly endorsing the current administration’s positions on Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the use of drones. The tactic clearly worked for the president because instant polls conducted by CBS News and CNN showed that he won decisively. While conservative columnist Ann Coulter joked that Romney was simply being “kind and gentle to the retard,” Beck was clearly disgusted with the Republican nominee’s performance, tweeting, “I am so glad mitt agrees with Obama so much. No, really. Why vote?” But by Tuesday, the conservative radio host seemed to have come to terms with Romney’s loss, chalking it up to God’s will. “I believe Mr. Romney prays on his knees every day,” Beck said during his radio program. “I know he prays before the debate. I don’t know if it was the right thing, but I believe he’s being guided. And I believe he feels it’s important to be less contentious. It may be that he’s doing exactly what the Lord wants him to do right now.” “A lot of people who are conservatives who have been walking down this road for a long time, we wanted him to eviscerate the president last night, metaphorically speaking. But our ways aren’t necessarily His ways. And I hope and pray and believe Mitt Romney is trying to seek out His way.” He added: “Last night, you saw somebody who took the stage who appeared to me to be George Washington.” Speaking to his radio listeners last month, Beck said that Romney’s poll numbers had fallen as a part of a plan from God to make it obvious to the American people that divine intervention was responsible when Republicans took the White House in November. “I am to the point that — God is trying to make this so clear to us that if it happens, it’s his finger,” he explained. Watch this video via Right Wing Watch, uploaded Oct. 24, 2012.

Image copyright bbc Image caption The powers include control of about half of Scotland's foreshore Powers over the revenue and management of Crown Estate resources in Scotland have been transferred formally to the Scottish government. The move was included in the 2016 Scotland Act, which gave a range of new powers to the Scottish Parliament. It gives ministers at Holyrood control over thousands of hectares of rural land and about half of Scotland's foreshore. Leasing the seabed for rights to renewable energy are also included. The assets were worth a total of nearly £272m in 2015-16 and generated a gross annual revenue of £14m. The Scottish government said the transfer would give communities a stronger voice over how those assets were managed. 'Historic day' Land Reform Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: "This is a historic day. "The management and resources of the Crown Estate now rest with the people of Scotland and we have a genuine, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use them to change the fabric of Scottish society, placing the needs of local and coastal communities at the centre of our long-term planning for these considerable assets. "From today, decisions about both the day-to-day management and the future of the estate will be taken in Scotland. "This will have positive implications, not only for the many people who live, work or have some other direct connection with the Crown Estate, but for many communities across Scotland." A new body, Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management), has taken on the role of managing the asset.

San Francisco Chronicle reporter (and Reason contributing editor) Carolyn Lochhead reports on a disturbing press conference with Michael R. Taylor, the Food and Drug Administration's guy in charge of food safety. That the conference was held at "the Ogilvy Washington public affairs group" doesn't help. What, the FDA's cafeteria wasn't available? From Lochhead's account: "We believe we're doing our job," Taylor said at a presentation at the Ogilvy Washington public affairs group. He promised to "keep doing our public health job," and described his agency's campaign against raw milk producers as based on a "public health duty" and "statutory directive." Our story thus far: In April, Amish farmer Dan Allgyer's Rainbow Acres farm in Pennsylvania was the object of an armed raid by FDA agents and other law enforcement people in search of raw milk products. Allgyer's operation, which sold raw milk products to ultra-willing and ultra-informed customers in the Washington, D.C. area, broke a "technical violation" against selling unpasteurized dairy products. As Lochhead notes, "The agency's actions are likely to put him out of business." Good job! Lochhead explains how a law change last year makes all the difference - and how the FDA's Taylor is planning to get tough on raw milk sellers without the need for pesky court orders: Before the new law, the FDA could only impound food when it had credible evidence the food was contaminated or posed a public health hazard. The detention powers are part of what Taylor described as a new agency focus on preventing food poisoning outbreaks rather than responding to them after the fact. Taylor described the new law as giving the agency "farm to table" control over food safety. Taylor outlined an aggressive approach, saying he would seek a "high rate of compliance" with new food safety rules, touted the agency's "whole new inspection and compliance tool kit," including access to farm records, mandatory recall authority, and enforcement actions that can be accomplished administratively, "without having to go to court." Lochhead notes that the FDA's Ahab-like obsession with controlling the food supply ("big new regulations are coming down the pike on produce") are running headling into the rise of small farm operations that focus on more expensive methods of production and conservation efforts at legacy farms. So when the organic arugula farmers march on the White House, don't say we didn't see it coming. Submitted for your approval: The FDA's focus on raw milk and related issues is a massive waste of time and resources. And it exemplifies one of the reasons why people are sick of government. Read more here. Reason on raw milk here. And watch Keep Food Legal founder (and Reason contributor) Baylen Linnekin talk about raw milk and the outrageous Allgyer raid with Judge Napolitano on Freedom Watch.

The Scottish parliament is expected to be offered total control over income tax after Labour reluctantly backed a cross-party deal to help halt a surge in support for independence. Labour’s decision to drop its opposition to full devolution of income tax, worth about £10.8bn a year, comes after Alistair Darling, the last Labour chancellor, warned that doing so would end in “floods of tears” and increase the UK’s borrowing costs. Darling told the FT he feared the measure, which is expected to be the centrepiece to sweeping new powers for the Scottish parliament being unveiled by Lord Smith on Thursday, would damage the UK’s history of pooling resources and sharing risks. Labour had insisted on giving Holyrood limited powers over income tax until recent polls showed a sharp surge in support for the Scottish National party, hitting record levels of 52% and plummeting backing for Labour. The significant switch will be confirmed on Tuesday by Jim Murphy, the favourite to become the next Scottish Labour leader, two days before Lord Smith of Kelvin publishes his cross-party deal on extra powers for Holyrood. Describing the move as one of the most significant changes in Labour policy since it dropped its Clause 4 policy backing nationalisation, Murphy will argue that giving Holyrood full tax powers will make MSPs far more accountable for their spending decisions. “It will create the clear connection between the raising of taxes and the spending of revenues, which is missing at present,” Murphy will say in a leadership campaign speech in Glasgow, echoing the views of both the Tories and the Lib Dems. Murphy will also signal that Labour will use the new powers to campaign for Scotland to reinstate the 50p top rate in income tax in a bid to outmanoeuvre the SNP, which has repeatedly refused to endorse the policy. Having the power to raise tax rates would “result in there being no hiding place for those who want to talk about radical politics but then fail to deliver them,” he will say. Smith is expected to confirm on Thursday that the main UK parties – backed by the SNP – have agreed to give the devolved parliament a swath of new welfare, tax and legal powers, as pledged by the no campaign before it won the independence referendum on 18 September. The most far-reaching proposal to allow Holyrood to completely control the rates and bands for income tax had been opposed by some of Labour’s heavy hitters, including the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, and former prime minister Gordon Brown, who last month warned that devolving income tax was a “Trojan horse for fiscal autonomy” that could lead to the unravelling of the UK. Backed by some of Labour’s most senior advisers, Balls and Brown fear that breaking up the UK’s entirely integrated income tax system will accelerate moves to restrict the voting rights of Scottish MPs in the Commons. It could allow Scotland to cut tax rates below the rest of the UK, increase the chances of reforms to the Barnett formula system of funding Scotland, and make it far more difficult for a Labour chancellor to push through a controversial budget. Darling has also warned that dividing up the UK-wide tax system also meant that people in Scotland would not pay directly for “quintessential” UK services such as defence, protecting bank deposits and the UK-wide welfare system. “For the first time in 300 years, a UK government would no longer have control over its power to raise income taxes,” he wrote. “It could be left in a position where it determines the rate of income tax only to find it impossible to implement in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

Red Hat's Secure Boot support is a case of the company wanting to "deep-throat Microsoft", according to a forthright posting from Linus Torvalds on the Linux kernel developer mailing list. Torvald's comments were made in response to plans by a Red Hat developer to extend Linux support for Secure Boot. The comments have given rise to an ongoing discussion, during which several prominent kernel developers have shared their thoughts on Secure Boot support in Linux. In submitting a collection of changes for merging into Linux 3.9, Red Hat developer David Howells has triggered a wide-ranging debate on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML). The patches would have enabled the Linux kernel to verify binaries signed by Microsoft. For example, this would enable the Fedora 18 kernel, which, if Secure Boot is activated, only loads kernel modules signed by the Fedora project, to also load Microsoft-signed modules. The Linux kernel currently supports certificates meeting the X.509 standard. Microsoft, by contrast, has developed its own code-signing system in the form of Authenticode. The Red Hat patches would enable companies such as AMD and NVIDIA to have the kernel modules for its graphics drivers signed by Microsoft, enabling distributions such as Fedora to load them even when Secure Boot is activated. Such a capability could also be of interest to systemtap modules. Red Hat does not itself offer a signature service and a Red Hat developer has stated unequivocally that the company will not be signing external modules. In the course of the debate on Howells' patches, Torvalds pointed out that the kernel already supports a system for verifying signatures – X.509 – but not the system used by Microsoft. The debate has now morphed into a more general discussion of the implications of Secure Boot and Secure Boot support in the Linux kernel and Linux distributions. One of the more hotly debated issues is whether, in order to support Secure Boot, the Linux kernel itself needs to be signed and should only load signed modules, as is the case in Fedora 18. Such a procedure is not prescribed in the Secure Boot specification. According to kernel developer Matthew Garrett, who coded secure bootloader shim (which is signed by Microsoft), it is, however, a contractual requirement for obtaining a Secure Boot signature from Microsoft. Microsoft also reserves the right to revoke a certificate if code signed with it compromises the security of UEFI. An unsigned kernel module would theoretically meet this criterion. Whether Microsoft-compatible Secure Boot support requires the kind of restrictions introduced in Fedora 18 has long been disputed. The version of the bootloader shim used in Ubuntu 12.04.2 and 12.10 only checks the signature of GRUB 2. GRUB 2 will, however, happily boot unsigned kernels which will in turn load unsigned kernel modules. Secure Boot support in Ubuntu thus does not restrict users from, for example, using proprietary drivers from AMD and NVIDIA. In order to maintain the chain of trust, Fedora does impose such restrictions. For Ubuntu, therefore, the changes proposed by Howells are superfluous. This issue is just one factor in a wide-ranging ongoing debate. The issue of why the Linux ecosystem does not set up its own infrastructure for signing (Linux) operating systems has also once again been raised. This particular issue comes down to cost – according to Greg Kroah-Hartman, setting up and running such an infrastructure would almost certainly cost more than the Linux Foundation's entire annual budget. (fab)

Taste The Outrage: Donald Trump Jr.'s Tweet Compares Refugees To Skittles Enlarge this image toggle caption Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images Social media have become home to two things in recent years: memes and public shaming. Both came into play Monday night when Donald Trump Jr. tweeted an image of a bowl of Skittles, comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned candy. "If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you three would kill you, would you take a handful?" the meme asks. "That's our Syrian refugee problem." The post by the Republican presidential candidate's son immediately went viral. It earned the support and praise of many Trump supporters, who worry that an influx of refugees poses an existential security threat. It also drew condemnation from many who viewed the tweet as a flip, dehumanizing way to address a humanitarian catastrophe affecting more than 13 million people. The makers of Skittles were quick to join the second camp. "Skittles are candy. Refugees are people," a spokeswoman for the candy's parent company, Wrigley, said in a widely distributed statement. "We don't feel it's an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing." Others were more direct in their response, posting graphic images of Syrian refugees and writing, "Not a Skittle." And, as the Washington Post pointed out, the bowl of Skittles would have to be awfully large for Trump's analogy to be accurate: The odds of being killed by a refugee in a terrorist attack are about 1 in more than 3.6 billion, according to a recent Cato Institute study. Still, the potential danger posed by Syrian refugees has been a central theme of the Trump campaign. Trump regularly warns that refugees could be a "Trojan horse," entering the country with the goal of later attacking it. Trump has called, at varying points, to end all immigration by Muslims, from countries with a high risk of terrorism and from countries without proper screening methods. (Trump's campaign has not clarified which countries fit the second two criteria.) At a Florida rally Monday afternoon, Trump recited the lyrics of a jazz song called "The Snake," something he's done several times before, to underscore his worries. The song tells the story of a woman who takes a snake into her house and rehabilitates it, only to see the snake bite and kill her. "Now I saved you, cried the woman. And you've bit me, even why," Trump recited to the crowd. "And you know your bite is poisonous and now I'm going to die. Ah, shut up, silly woman, said that reptile with a grin. Now you knew damn well I was a snake before you brought me in." These mental images — refugees as poisonous candy, venomous snakes or terrorist cells-in-waiting — come at a time when the Obama administration is working to humanize the world's refugee problem. "They are just like us. They are us. And as Americans, so many of us are the product of families that had refugees and immigrants. And they've contributed so much to our country," Assistant Secretary of State Tony Blinken told NPR. He recently worked with Sesame Street to produce a video aimed at humanizing refugees so that children can better understand the problem. As Blinken explains to the Muppet Grover in the video, refugees are "people who've had to leave their homes because it's not safe for them to live in their countries." Late Tuesday, Trump spokesman Jason Miller issued a statement on the meme and the backlash it stirred up. "America has become less safe under Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," said Miller. "and Clinton's planned 550% increase in Syrian refugees is a dangerous proposal that would put American lives at risk." Clinton has in fact called for a 550% increase — but that's from the 10,000 refugees the Obama Administration has proposed taking in, to 65,000. Clinton has also called for tougher security screening of people entering the United States. As it stands, the United States already implements a detailed security check for incoming refugees. Approval can take up to 24 months, as NPR reported last year.

A police service that failed to keep an informant's identity secret and then failed to take the violation seriously lost its bid Monday to overturn a $460,000 damages award to the victim and her family. In siding with the informant, Ontario's top court found Durham Regional Police Service promised Margaret Stack anonymity but went ahead and disclosed her identity anyway. "If the police tell the witness that they will not reveal his or her identity or involvement in order to get information, they should keep their promise or face the ordinary consequences of violating the assurance they have given," the Ontario Appeal Court said in its unanimous decision. "Simply put: A citizen in Ms. Stack's situation should be able to rely upon what the police tell her." The case arose when Stack, then of Whitby, Ont., went to police to tell them that a teenaged neighbour had broken into another neighbour's home and stolen some guns, which he took to school and used to threaten other students. 'This is between you and I' In persuading her to provide the information, an officer promised to keep her identity secret but, without telling her, videotaped their interview at a police station. At the end of the interview, court records show, an officer told Stack: "This is between you and I. That stuff does not get disclosed." Nevertheless, police gave the video to lawyers for two brothers charged criminally in the case, unleashing a torrent of threatening and harassing conduct by the parents of the accused, court documents show. The Court of Appeal ruled that the original court finding that a confidentiality agreement was in place was amply supported by the evidence. (Giacomo Panico/CBC) Among other things, the boys' father drove his truck at Stack, forcing her to jump out of the way. He also told Stack's husband that he intended to pay her back for having gone to the police, and subjected them to ongoing and ultimately unbearable harassment about which police did little, court heard. Stack, evidence shows, felt hopeless, depressed, anxious and fearful as a result. Police denied promising confidentiality "Ms. Stack and her family were so distressed by this conduct that they sold their home and moved to another community," according to court records. While police denied making any confidentiality promises to Stack, Superior Court Justice Douglas Gray found otherwise. In February 2015, he awarded her $345,000 and another $115,000 for her husband Chad Nissen and their two children. On appeal, police argued Stack had failed to prove she was a confidential informant and that, in any event, the damages Gray had awarded were excessive. The Court of Appeal ruled, however, that Gray's finding a confidentiality agreement was in place was amply supported by the evidence. 'Promised confidentiality' The higher court also rejected police arguments that they had no reason to worry disclosure of Stack's name would put her in any danger because the information she provided was readily available from other sources. The court called that irrelevant. Stack was entitled to rely on the promise of anonymity in exchange for her co-operation, the court said. "This is a civil case between the police and an individual who was promised confidentiality," the Appeal Court said. "That promise gave rise to a common law and equitable right entitling Ms. Stack to have her identity kept confidential." Gray's damages award to Stack and her family for her severe psychological injury was "very generous" but nevertheless reasonable, the Appeal Court said. The court also ordered police to pay Stack $40,000 for the costs of their failed appeal.

Two women in their 20s, both SAS Nagar residents, were arrested for allegedly assaulting a traffic cop and tearing his uniform on Tuesday. The incident happened on Monday late evening after a 29-year-old woman allegedly jumped a traffic light in Sector 43 and did not stop on a cop’s signal. Following this, the cops gave a ten minutes chase and finally caught up with the Maruti Suzuki Swift car in their PCR as the woman driver got stuck in the middle of the traffic behind the district court in Sector 43. However, if the cops expected a tame end to their ordeal by the lawless women ( the police have refused to disclose their identity), they were in for the shock of their lives. The woman driver started an argument with the cop. Going on to create a further scene, she allegedly went on to smash a beer bottle that she had been carrying in the car on her own head. The accused did not stop there and went on to tear the cop’s uniform. Since the incident happened at 6:45pm on Monday, the duty magistrate did not allow the police to arrest the women at night. Area SHO Ram Dayal told HT, “The women who misbehaved with the cop were in inebriated condition and one of them even hit her own head with a beer bottle on the middle of the road. Had there been no traffic behind district court, the we would have failed to catch the accused. One of the cops has made a video of the entire incident which is in our possession.” Both the accused were arrested from the main gate of Sector 43 bus stand on Tuesday afternoon and were later produced before the court but the court has bailed out both the accused. A case under Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 36 police station. Section 332 carries maximum punishment of three-year jail; with a proven offence under 353 punishable with maximum of two-year jail. First Published: May 10, 2017 09:51 IST

New Delhi: Business confidence for the January-March quarter of 2017 plunged to a 31-quarter low as severe cash crunch heightened the degree of uncertainty amongst companies and dented their optimism, says a survey. The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stood at 65.4 during the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 23.9% as compared to the January-March period of 2016. “Business confidence for the first quarter of 2017 plunged to a 31-quarter low as India Inc grapples with disrupted demand and production following the government’s sudden decision to withdraw high-value old currency notes," said Kaushal Sampat president and managing director Dun & Bradstreet – India. He further said that while the move will bring long-term benefits by reducing the size of the shadow economy and enhancing tax revenues, the immediate impact has been demand destruction due to severe cash crunch, heightened degree of uncertainty amongst businesses and dented confidence. Further, the low productivity in the winter session of Parliament and the uncertainty around the implementation date of goods and services tax (GST) are testing the confidence of business community. Also read: Cash crunch leads to biggest drop in private sector activity since October 2013 “The cash shortages in the economy have led to a reduction/deferral in purchase decisions with rural retail being impacted more compared to the urban segment. This has triggered a sharp fall in optimism with regard to net sales and net profits for first quarter of 2017," Sampat said. Going forward, the extent and speed with which the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) re-monetise the economy would have a major influence on the way business sentiment shapes up. “The measures that will be announced in the forthcoming Union Budget in the area of direct taxation and public investment along with the speed of transmission of lower interest rates will play a very important role in reviving confidence," he added. The index, measures the pulse of the business community and is arrived at on the basis of a quarterly survey of business expectations. For calculating the composite BOI, each of the six parameters—net sales, net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventories and employee levels—is assigned a weight. The parameter weights are then applied to these ratios and the results aggregated to arrive at the Composite Business Optimism Index.

Most low-income students who attend top colleges thrive. Merely going to college isn’t enough to change a teenager’s life. The benefits of college – higher income, better health, greater life satisfaction – generally depend on graduating, research shows. Which is one reason you sometimes hear worries about whether low-income students can fit in at top colleges. But the evidence suggests that they can and do. The median six-year graduation rate for Pell students at the colleges in our index is 84 percent, only slightly lower than the overall rate of 85 percent. College certainly involves challenges for many low-income students, but they largely meet them when they attend a top college. That’s a big reason these colleges matter: They don’t leave many students saddled with the toxic combination of debt and no degree. On some campuses, the Pell graduation rate even exceeds the overall rate. One of them is the University of California at Irvine. Irvine’s story is fascinating. It owes its existence to California’s population explosion after World War II, which created a quandary for the state’s public universities. Either they had to step back from their historic mission – and educate a much smaller share of California teenagers – or they had to grow enormously. Despite the costs, a bipartisan group of state leaders chose expansion. On June 20, 1964, one day after the Civil Rights Act passed, President Lyndon B. Johnson joined state officials in a previously unincorporated patch of Orange County to dedicate the Irvine campus. The new campus’s raison d’etre, as with new ones in San Diego and Santa Cruz, was to provide a college education for the masses. Throughout, the University of California took deliberate steps to attract students of modest means. It kept tuition low and did far more to recruit community-college transfers than most elite state universities. The transfer pipeline is crucial, because many highly qualified low-income students— unaware of how much financial aid is available at some four-year colleges — first enroll at a local community college, where published tuition tends to be low.

Our new issue, on what a President Bernie Sanders could actually do in office, is out now. Subscribe today to receive it ! The transformation the tech boom has wrought upon the Bay Area stands in sharper and sharper relief as years of out-migration by those who are priced out cements social inequality. If the Bay Area is no longer for them, who is it for? The easy reply is that the Bay Area is being remade by and for tech workers against the interests of the poor. This idea animates a general antagonism towards tech workers, which manifests in several ways. The protests blockading employee buses in 2013 centered on private usage of public bus stops and lanes, as well as gentrification and tax breaks for tech companies, which undermine public transit — but they contained an undeniable dose of techie hate. A culture war of sorts simmers today. Some on the Left see techies as a rich invasive species that is causing gentrification and deepening inequality. In Rebecca Solnit’s analogy, tech workers are to landlords evicting tenants what ivory buyers are to poachers killing elephants. What’s more, these same tech workers are responsible for creating platforms and services that disrupt the livelihoods of taxi drivers and turn scarce housing stock into hotel rooms. Tech bosses claim that their companies empower people, generate positive energy, make it easier to share (for a fee), and create a more equal world. It is no wonder then that the industry attracts profound skepticism and hostility from those excluded from or displaced by it, not least because its messianic ethos swims awkwardly in a decidedly non-messianic sea of cash. But it’s a mistake to direct that hostility at tech workers themselves. The tech industry’s borders are difficult to define — spanning Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple. It employs miners, call center workers, assembly line operators, and software developers, all around the world. The focus of much media attention and misplaced ire — and of this article — is the software developer, software or hardware engineer, programmer, or interface designer in Silicon Valley. I use the term “tech workers” as a proxy for this cluster of occupations. Of course, tech companies employ many people beyond this narrow definition of a tech worker — service workers, drivers, clerical workers, project managers, as well as temporary and subcontracted workers. They enjoy far fewer of the comforts of the tech worker life, so it is mistaken to see all Google employees as a scourge upon the Bay. But for now, I will focus on the tech workers who are closest to product engineering and development. What About the High Pay? One thing that makes tech workers such an easy target in the culture wars is their high pay. But the wages in tech are not a collegial gift from the employers or a profit-sharing payout. The current high salaries in tech come from two factors. One is that not a lot of people have these skills, so there’s less competition driving pay down. The other is that workers in this particular job make a lot of money for their employers (as with professional athletes, who are also workers). There is also more fluidity between worker and capitalist in tech than in other economic sectors. Founders of startups are capitalists — their interests align clearly with their investors. On the other hand, even if the first employees receive an ownership stake to compensate for a lower salary, the stake is typically not large enough to enable them to live life as rentiers in the unlikely scenario that the startup succeeds. The truth is, the vast majority of tech startups do not succeed and do not leave their founders and early employees with fortunes. The most likely outcome for early startup employees is that their ownership stakes will be worth nothing, and the next most likely outcome is that they’ll be worth a large bonus but not enough to stop working. Setting aside meaningful ownership stakes, large pay packages can enable tech workers to, over time, accumulate enough wealth to make money off of it, be it through rental properties or financial investments. This isn’t fundamentally different from many other industries in which the most skilled layer of employees can make enough to accumulate wealth over decades of work. The only difference is the higher salaries in tech, so the layer of workers who can escape the necessity of wage labor is larger, and their escapes can happen sooner. Paysa’s data suggests that many tech workers make around $250,000 a year when stock shares are included. Several years of pay at that level will yield much more than a down payment for a house in the Bay Area. Tech workers making this kind of money may eventually accumulate enough wealth to start worrying about it. It is no secret that the equity pay for tech talent, which runs around $100,000 a year at the big tech companies, is meant to be a golden cage. The shares take time to vest, incentivizing the employee to stay at the company even if work conditions worsen or better offers become available elsewhere. In addition, stock shares at some companies aren’t easily convertible into cash, particularly if the company isn’t yet publicly traded, so the value of the shares is subject to significant uncertainty (including the possibility of being worthless). Finally, it is worth reiterating that the definition of tech worker for the purposes of this article is narrow. Most tech company employees don’t get anywhere near this compensation. Most tech workers outside of the West Coast (Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Los Angeles) and Wall Street don’t get these large salary plus equity packages; instead, they enjoy what used to be called a middle class living. That said, a significant minority of tech workers, concentrated at the high profile Silicon Valley firms, make enough in bankable equity to substantively alter their class position, even if they formally remain workers. Their employment relationship aside, concerns about protecting their wealth will push their outlook to align more closely with capitalists and small proprietors, and not with the mass of the working class. Still, tech bosses are doing their best to lower wages by colluding to suppress tech worker pay, moving software design and development work to countries with lower labor standards like India, and automating aspects of tech work itself. Tech workers’ relatively high pay doesn’t mean they’re not workers, and it won’t always protect them from the power of their bosses, though it may free them from the necessity of work. Workers Are Not “Gentrifiers” Tech workers, especially in West Coast cities, are at the center of debates on gentrification, epitomized by a San Francisco Chronicle article headlined “Tech Workers Evict Kindergarten Teacher from Mission Apartment for ‘Using Appliances.’” As it turned out, the “tech workers” referred to in the headline were a VP of product development and a marketing manager — bosses, not rank-and-file workers. Setting that aside, it was not their position as tech workers which enabled them to evict the teacher — it was their position as landlords. To confront the power of tech workers who own rental properties, we must confront them as landlords, not as workers. This isn’t to say that many tech workers aren’t happy with gentrification. Some are proudly so — arguing for the privatization of public playgrounds or complaining about the homeless ruining the city (though the author of that letter is a founder, not a rank-and-file worker). But their opinions about the transformation of the city are distinct from their power to enact that transformation, which lies squarely with landlords, business owners, and politicians. It is not as though tech workers desire or demand to pay more for a given apartment or meal, nor are they opening fancy grocery stores or buying parcels to develop condos. Landlords can make more money by remodeling apartments and charging higher rents, restaurant owners can profit more by charging higher prices, and now in tech hubs there’s a larger pool of people who can afford to pay those prices. The profit incentive in a booming housing and food market, not a “techie onslaught, is what’s driving gentrification. The solution to gentrification is encroachment on the property rights of landlords. We have to fight for expanded rent control, vacancy control, taxing empty and second homes, further restrictions and a moratorium on evictions, public housing, and housing as a social right — not for tech workers to voluntarily exclude themselves from the rental market. We have to fight for a living wage for all — not for lower wages in tech. Tech workers may be the most identifiable face of gentrification, seen in your bars, your parks, your cafes. But pinning gentrification on them gets the power dynamic wrong and has the convenient benefit of shielding landlords, developers, and small business owners from scrutiny, many of whom have nothing to do with tech themselves — they’re just taking advantage of the boom. Ruining the World? An additional line of attack on tech workers is that they’re creating tools that are ruining the world. AirBnb accelerates gentrification. Uber casualizes driver labor. Facebook brings more advertising and consumerism into our brains. Blaming this on rank-and-file tech workers is as misplaced as blaming oil-field workers for fracking. Under capitalism, the decision of what to produce and how to produce it rests entirely with the owners of capital, the employing class. Sure, tech workers voluntarily agree to take these jobs, as do oil-field workers, but as a general principle, socialists do not blame workers for seeking out the best wages they can get. And if a particular tech worker is well-off enough to quit their job at Uber over principles, there will be someone else who needs that job — that’s how capitalism works. It’s why (semi-legitimate) coding academies and programming lessons in elementary schools are spreading around the country. There are important shades of difference in the choice of work. If you’re the person designing the newest swarm of armed drones, the latest digital dragnet, or a Muslim registration system, you’re probably lost to the cause of socialism. But that’s not the majority of tech work. Tech workers do get to make meaningful design choices, a rebuttal that has come up repeatedly in this argument. That decision-making ability is shared in common with engineers in almost every other industry, but company executives ultimately set the direction of product design and approve or reject substantive features. It would be hard to argue that dark patterns in application or website design are more pernicious than knowingly selling faulty vehicle ignition switches that kill people. Yet General Motors executives quashed proposals from engineers to redesign the faulty switches and keys, at least in part due to cost concerns. Executives also control design choices in tech, and the responsibility lies with them. Moreover, software engineering does not have the collection of standards bodies (e.g., ASCE, ASME, ASTM) and certifications (e.g., PE) that impose accountability — independent from managers — on auto and other kinds of engineering. That means independence against the boss’s desires, and therefore responsibility, is even weaker among tech workers. Instead of arguing against technology or tech work itself, we should advocate for democratically harnessing technical expertise and engineering know-how to satisfy human needs, alleviate the burden of labor, and fix environmental damage. Engineers tend to be a highly rational bunch, and they may be open to the idea of collectively and deliberately deciding how to apply their talents, instead of remaining subject to market signals suggesting that the world wants another Snapchat clone. The desire for rational application of technical talent can align with the worldview of tech workers themselves, who would have more fulfilling work under socialism.

“Possibly the most solid airsoft pistol i have ever owned” Box and initial presentation As with all the other KWA / UMAREX pistols I have in my collection (M92 PTP and ATP), the packaging is sublime. Sleek black cardboard, in which lies the pistol with the mag in a separate compartment, a small bag of 0.20gr BBs and a few pieces like the different pistol grip back, hop adjustment key and trigger locking key. Pistol addict So for Airsoft CQB, I am a total pistol addict. Even in woodland I use them. Extensively. That’s probably why when I look at getting a new pistol, I do not even contemplate it unless I can get at least two spare magazines and a SERPA holster at the time of purchase. I did precisely that and the grand total through my local retailer was nicely below €280. Now onto the pistol itself. Overview upon holding this treat When you grasp the pistol, the weight is very well balanced. Seeing as it is a double stack .45, it is also not too wide to fit in your hand. Smooth as well as textured polymer in some places on the pistol grip means it sits snugly in your hand and doesn’t slide around. I don’t have massive mitts but if you want to adjust the pistol grip for small or larger hands, that is easily done with the aforementioned adjustable pistol grip back. The large trigger guard means you can fire it with gloves on no problem at all. Both the mag release and slide stop operate flawlessly, the magazine being ejected with no snagging on the frame. I particularly like how the mag catch is tucked away nicely between the trigger guard and pistol grip – meaning no unwanted dropping of mags! Which has happened to me with other pistols. Probably one of the first things you will notice (if you’re an airsoft geek like me), are the fully licensed H&K trademarks and serial number. This is something that I know we all love and want to see on our replicas, no matter what the model. They stand out great with the white print down the slide – giving it even more authenticity. As I said before, I am a pistol enthusiast, and do a lot of pistol shooting. The full metal slide gives the HK 45 reliability of use as well as robust and durable feel to it - especially when firing. More on that later. The polymer frame helps balance it out with the magazine in it, so it’s just right weight wise. Switches and catches. Both the slide stop and mag release are ambidextrous which is awesome, providing ease of use for both left and right shooters. The only thing that isn’t ambidextrous is the left sided safety, with working decocking lever. But who needs a safety on both sides when “this is my safety” – insert picture of your index finger / hooch from Blackhawk down. White dot sights provide excellent target acquisition and make aiming easier and faster. I have looked at purchasing some real steel illuminous sights but not sure if these will fit (if anyone has any experience, please let us know!). The HK 45 also sports a nice, compact underside rail, enabling you to mount a torch and/or laser on it. Another great feature for CQB in my opinion. All those factors combined you have a very accurate tool at your disposable. Cocking the pistol is aided at the front and the back by slide “rails”, and when released it gives a nice chunky click into place so you know you’re ready for action. The mag release (for either hand), could be a little far away for those with short, stubby, baby thumbs like some of my mates, but you then have the option of using your index finger to push the mag catch on the other side, without moving the position of your hand on the pistol (a nice plus to maintain accuracy). Firing The bit you’ve all been waiting for. EPIC BLOW BACK ACTION! Trigger pull is very slick, no effort required, just a light squeeze. Adjust the hop up correctly and with some 0.23gr bbs you get quite obscene range for a pistol. The KWA NS2 Gas System means that the recoil of the blow back leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. It is loud and so crisp (similar to the KWA USP COMPACT I had a few years ago), your arm jolts and the recoil is consistent with each shot fired. Once that last round has been expelled from the pistol, the slide locks back with a cheeky twang as the recoil spring compresses. Beautiful. All you need to do then is reload and repeat. Beautiful. The gas consumption to rounds down range ratio is also excellent: two full mags of BBs on one mag full of gas. No excess gas comes up from the front end or the ejection port, it is all controlled perfectly. The pistol does not get excessively cold with continuous fire – the effect of which remains to be seen in winter, but seeing as I live in Spain I think I will be alright. Also, having spare magazines helps you overcome this. Conclusion If you want a larger frame pistol, with some severe blow back action and bang for your buck, this is the pistol for you. Excellent range, FPS and magazine capacity in one lovely, uber efficient package. It also looks awesome and badass. But if you have tiny girl’s hands and don’t want a big gun, go get a Walther PPK. PS: Get a SERPA holster for it too!

© Getty Among the phishing tools and keyloggers Google examined, 82 percent and 74 percent, respectively, have the capability collect IP addresses. Security threats like phishing, keylogging and third-party breaches are pretty common knowledge. Google wanted to gain a better understanding of how hijackers steal passwords and other sensitive data in the wild, though, so it conducted an analysis of online black markets from March 2016 to March 2017. The result? It found that among the three, phishing poses the biggest threat to your online security. Together with credential leaks, the two represent a threat "orders of magnitude larger than keyloggers." The tech titan found 788,000 credentials that were stolen via keyloggers, 12 million stolen via phishing and 3.3 billion exposed by third-party breaches within a year of investigating black markets. A total of 12 percent of the exposed records it found used Gmail addresses as a username, and seven percent of those accounts reused the Gmail password for other services, making them more vulnerable than the others. Howevever, since Google incorporates safety measures to prevent strangers from logging into your account, the company also saw increasingly sophisticated tools capable of collecting data other than usernames and passwords. Among the phishing tools and keyloggers Google examined, 82 percent and 74 percent, respectively, have the capability collect IP addresses. It also found tools that can collect phone numbers, as well as devices' make and model. Hijackers can then use those info to authenticate the identities of the accounts they're stealing.

Last week, as part of EFF’s annual Copyright Week, we wrote about the need for transparency in creating copyright restrictions in the international arena. As a current legal battle shows, however, it is equally important that copyright restrictions not interfere with transparency and open access to the law itself. In a democracy, no one owns the law—or to put it another way, everyone owns the law. If a judge claimed that she should be paid a toll every time someone copied a passage from one of her decisions, we would find it absurd. If the lobbyist who wrote sections of your city’s business code announced he could decide, at any time, to sharply limit public access to those sections, he would be run out of town. The right to read the law—and just as important, the right to copy, discuss, and share the law—is essential to the rule of law itself. But six huge industry associations are trying to undermine that principle, insisting that it doesn’t apply to a growing category of law: laws that began as private standards but are later incorporated into federal and state regulations. Insisting that they own a copyright in these laws, they’ve joined forces to stop a tiny non-profit, Public.Resource.Org, from posting them online. Public Resource has a simple and important mission: to make government more accessible, including the law. Along with documents like tax filings and government-produced videos (check out the famous 1951 “duck and cover” film here), Public Resource posts federal rules about safety and product design that are initially created through private standards development organizations (SDOs) and later incorporated into federal and state laws. In 2013, three SDOs sued Public Resource, claiming that only they have the right to say who can copy dozens of standards incorporated into law, and at what price. These are some of the most important laws governing our daily lives and the safety of the buildings and products we encounter, yet copies are expensive to obtain. And while the SDOs put some of the standards online, they load up their sites with registration requirements, copy restrictions, and difficult user interfaces in a deliberate attempt to make the sites hard to use. In 2014, three more SDOs sued Public Resource over a standard for designing tests. That standard is part of the U.S. Department of Education’s rules for handing out billions of dollars in financial aid for students, yet the groups that published it make it hard to find and buy, in order to boost sales of a new edition. It’s not available online anywhere right now, so finding out what the law is means tracking down an increasingly rare used copy. Copyright cannot trump the essential public interest in accessing and sharing the law. So this winter, EFF and attorneys at Fenwick & West are fighting back, asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to rule that Public Resource has the right to put these important laws online in standard formats, free of copy protections and cumbersome user interfaces. Other courts, including the Supreme Court, have long since declared that no one owns the law. We hope this court will do the same. The Roman emperor Caligula published his tax laws only in narrow places, in very small letters, to prevent his subjects from actually being able to read them. While standards development organizations have nobler goals than those of a famously corrupt emperor, deliberately making the law more difficult for ordinary people to find, read, and discuss is still a big problem for our democracy. If we must all abide by the law—including the law of building safety, product safety, energy efficiency, and high-stakes testing—then we must all have the ability to access it freely, without fees or restrictions.

British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a statement at 10 Downing Street on Sunday, June 4, 2017, the morning after another terrorist attack in London. (Photo: Downing Street) (CNSNews.com) – Less than a day after terrorists killed seven people in London, Britain’s left-wing opposition leader waded into Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday night, accusing her – four days before a general election – of trying to protect the country “on the cheap.” “You cannot protect the public on the cheap,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a speech in northern England. “The police and security services must get the resources they need, not 20,000 police cuts.” Recalling a spat two years ago between May – in her previous post of home secretary – and an organization representing rank and file police officers in the U.K., Corbyn declared, “Theresa May was warned by the Police Federation, but she accused them of ‘crying wolf.’” In Saturday night’s attack three men rammed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge then stabbed others enjoying a night out in a popular food and drink market, before being shot dead by armed police. In addition to the seven fatalities, 48 people were injured – including off-duty police officers who tried to stop the attackers, one using a baton, another by rugby-tackling one of the terrorists. As has become the norm, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack, which came less than a fortnight after 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing – also claimed by ISIS -- at a music venue in Manchester. Following the London attack, the Conservative and Labour parties agreed to suspend until Sunday night campaigning for Thursday’s general election. But when May then delivered a statement on the bombing at 10 Downing Street, some accused her of breaking the agreed-on suspension. May called for steps to counter the “evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism”; a clampdown on the use of the Internet for spreading extremist ideas and planning attacks; moves to prevent the growth of segregated communities; and ensuring that the police and security services have the powers they need. She warned that there had been “far too much tolerance of extremism” in Britain, said it was “time to say ‘enough is enough,’” and concluded by calling on the country to unite in taking on and defeating “our enemies.” May’s hard-hitting statement did not refer directly or criticize other parties’ positions, but critics said she was effectively campaigning by proposing counter-terror measures which other parties would not necessarily embrace. “She is offering a series of measures which can only be brought forward after 8 June if enough people vote for the Conservatives,” wrote one commentator in left-leaning New Statesman. Emily Thornberry, the Labour party’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, told BBC radio that she regretted the approach May had taken, saying that what the prime minister was proposing was “drawing us into a [political] debate.” “I don’t think it’s right to get dragged into plans at this stage, so soon after the attacks,” she said. “I don’t think that anything she’s proposing is anything that needs to be, or will be, dealt with tomorrow,” she said. “To come out on to the steps of 10 Downing Street immediately in the aftermath of a terrible outrage like this was not something that would be expected,” Thornberry added. ‘Scaremongering’ In his speech in Carlisle hours later, Corbyn said, “Our priority must be public safety and I will take whatever action is necessary and effective to protect the security of our people and our country.” “That includes full authority for the police to use whatever force is necessary to protect and save life as they did last night, as they did [after a similar attack] in Westminster in March." Corbyn then criticized May over police numbers, recalling complaints in 2015 by the Police Federation. At its annual conference that year, federation chairman Steve White said that visible neighborhood policing – the iconic bobby on the beat – was becoming an “endangered species.” When she addressed the same event, May said the federation’s leaders were “crying wolf” and “scaremongering” at a time when statistics showed that crime prevalence was actually falling. At the time, she was minister in charge of policing. At this year’s Police Federation conference last month, White urged whoever forms the next government to make policing a priority. “Politics and politicians will move on, but policing, its officers and people’s safety will always be needed – no matter who is in government,” he said. “It is a crisis that we don’t have enough police officers to deal with the demands placed upon the service,” White said, “and that should be very worrying for government, whose primary responsibility is the safety and security of its citizens.” After a terrorist detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester a week later, a government plan for troops to be deployed to assist police in key locations in the aftermath of a terrorist attack was implemented for the first time. White said at the time that police welcomed the support of soldiers “to free up armed officers,” but added that “we cannot avoid the reasons it is needed at all.” “There is no ignoring the fact that we, the police, simply do not have the resources to manage an event like this on our own,” he said.

Everything you know about ARGs is WRONG 22 Dec, 2008 Warning: this post contains explicit language. This is a re-version of a talk I gave at the Let's Change the Game conference held on Friday 5 December 2008. It was a very casual, irreverent talk, but one that I hoped would bring some light relief to the day as well as (possibly in a rather confrontational manner) highlight some of the current problems - as I perceive them - with this whole "alternate reality game" business. Unfortunately there isn't a recording of the talk, so what I've done is taken my slides and interspersed them with expanded commentary from my rather haphazard speakers notes. This should give you a flavour of what I presented on the day. I wanted to open with a reminder of what I was supposed to be talking about: The taboos of alternate reality games - the number of people playing, the types of people playing and the degree of immersion and ask: where did it all go wrong? (and, hopefully, have some pointers as to how to put the world to rights). which admittedly was written in rather a hurry. And in no way was I honing (writing) my slides during the talks earlier on in the day. I mean: I did have a pretty good outline of what I wanted to talk about, and had a good idea of the tone I wanted to strike, too. There are, it seems to me, a number of differing interpretations as to what an ARG is, exactly, and that makes them quite easy to attack. If you don't know what something is, it's quite easy for it not to have lived up to your expectations. Predictably, I also had some glib advice I wanted to impart, too. This is where I wanted to really set the tone: This talk was none of the above things. It wasn't researched. It wasn't objective, and it certainly wasn't inoffensive. I'm pretty sure that I set out deliberately to say things that others might not have wanted said. Part of the reason for me wanting to style the talk in a somewhat offensive or expletive-laden honest manner was because of this chap: Digression: Charlie Brooker writes the Screen Burn column in the Guardian, presents and produces Screenwipe on BBC 4 and also wrote Dead Set. He is horrifically talented and also quite rude. Also, since TVGoHome he's been one of my heroes, and with this slide I was trying to point out that the whole talk was effectively a homage to his style of ranting. So. Who here's actually designed an ARG? A smattering of hands go up. I'm actually quite impressed and pleased - there've been a number of talks earlier on in the day that have been about ARGish experiments in teaching and learning, and they've generally produced findings that were new to me. Well. We all suck. We suck because of these reasons - no matter whether they're actually true or not: Don't have enough players Our games never have enough players - no matter who you ask. This is probably because there's some sort of horrific disconnect between the people asking the question, or making the assertion, that ARGs don't have enough players. Witness: lots of people knew about Perplex City, but not "enough" people played Perplex City (compared to, say, watching Doctor Who on primetime television on a Saturday night in the UK. Or, if you're American, watching Heroes on NBC). The "not enough players" is frequently something that's brought up by broadcasters or advertisers - organisations or bodies that are used to, effectively, spamming a whole bunch of people with more or less the same content, whether that's a tv show or movie or billboard. The people who play are weird Or: they're not "mainstream". They're the kind of people who, well, play ARGs. They live in their parents' basement and don't ever see sunlight. Also, they're probably geeks. They are not people who dress in white and are smiley and play sports games on the Wii together like a proper nuclear family. The people who play have no money So what's the point in advertising to them? I mean, they're weird, right? They're not mainstream See above. I'm basically making the same point here again, but imagine if I used the word "niche" and sneered at you. We make games for the hardcore What the fuck kind of "normal person" (see: sneering) wants to de-steg a jpeg, or write a distributed brute force attacker against military grade encryption? Jesus. Whatever happened to the kind of people who like playing Singstar? Or, you know, Snake? We're too expensive TV shows are expensive to make. Movies are expensive to make. ARGs should be cheap. Don't come near me with your minimum six figure budget ever again, you charlatan. I mean, they're just a bunch of websites, right? Can't you do that on Geocities? We don't scale It's fine sending a cake to twenty people. You just try sending a cake to twenty thousand people though. Or twenty million. We lie What's all this "This is not a game" shit we have to put up with? Novels frequently comprise made-up stories. We don't really think all fiction ACTUALLY HAPPENED, do we? Aren't we more intelligent than that? So why do we resort to tricks and stunts to get people to play our games? Can't we just say that they are what they are - and have people play them? If we carried through the THIS IS NOT A GAME mentality and required it to be an attribute of every alternate reality game - whatever that is - we'd end up with the Blair Witch Project every single time. And if movies had to carry the characteristics of one of their number across the entire genre, they'd be stuffed, too. So now that I've insulted everyone who's paid to come here, I'd like to start with an apology. When Adrian kicked off today, he told a nice story about one of the speakers who was excited about presenting today - this was going to be the first talk he'd done where he wouldn't have to "explain what an ARG was". This being a conference about ARGs, you'd be pleased to know that no one was going to have to do the whole "this is what an ARG is" thing. Well, tough luck. I'm going to define an ARG and tell you what one is. I'm going to make this easy and break the phrase "alternate reality game" into smaller chunks so everyone can follow me. "Alternate Reality." What the fuck? Picture, if you will, this alternate reality. It's the early nineteenth century. Our protagonist, Ms. Bennet, is in want of a good husband, preferably one with a good fortune. This isn't an alternate reality. We have a word for this. For this sort of "made up world" with "made up people". It's called fiction: See? FICTION. This is what Merriam Webster has to say about fiction: something invented by the imagination or feigned ; specifically : an invented story b : fictitious literature (as novels or short stories) c : a work of fiction ; especially : novel See, when people say that alternate reality games, which have this really silly pirate sound like ARG, are geeky, it might have something to do with the fact that we've used the phrase "alternate reality" to describe what the rest of the world understands as "made up world and character", which apparently is "fiction". Now I understand that the distinction that we may be trying to make is that an "alternate reality" implies multiple media, but the word fiction doesn't imply only one medium anyway. Look. Let me make this even easier: Here's the definition for the word story. Do you see what I'm getting at here? The Beast, Perplex City, Art of the Heist, Project Mu, Who is Benjamin Stove, The Lost Experience, ilovebees. They've got characters. They're set in worlds. Most, if not all, of those worlds and characters aren't real. Some of them have involved "real" characters or settings. But they're, on the whole, made up. They are, to a large degree, stories. That's that sorted then. No more "alternate reality" bullshit. We can use the word "fiction" or "story" instead, so normal people can understand us. Next? Ah, yes. "Game". We all know what a game is, right? See, there's World of Warcraft. Which, although not entirely a game, has game-like bits in it. When it's not being an evil addiction engine. I mostly just wanted to show a picture of my guild. See, there's our commissioning editor. Just in case you don't know what a "game" is, I've looked it up for you. Here's what Merriam Webster has to say about "game": 1 a (1) : activity engaged in for diversion or amusement : play activity engaged in for diversion or amusement (2) : the equipment for a game b : often derisive or mocking jesting : fun , sport <make game of a nervous player> often derisive or mocking jesting 2 a: a procedure or strategy for gaining an end : tactic b: an illegal or shady scheme or maneuver :racket 3 a (1): a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other (2): a division of a larger contest (3): the number of points necessary to win (4):points scored in certain card games (as in all fours) by a player whose cards count up the highest (5): the manner of playing in a contest (6): the set of rules governing a game (7): a particular aspect or phase of play in a game or sport <a football team's kicking game> bplural : organized athletics c (1): a field of gainful activity : line <the newspaper game> (2): any activity undertaken or regarded as a contest involving rivalry, strategy, or struggle <the dating game> <the game of politics> ; also : the course or period of such an activity <got into aviation early in the game> (3): area of expertise : specialty 3<comedy is not my game> 4 a (1): animals under pursuit or taken in hunting ; especially : wild animals hunted for sport or food (2):the flesh of game animals barchaic : pluck c: a target or object especially of ridicule or attack —often used in the phrase fair game I'd like to point out a few things here. One is the appearance of the word "play" in the first definition, as well as the word "amusement". The second is that an alternate reality game where the game are wild animals hunted for sport or food would be totally awesome and is on my list of Next Things to Make. Anyway. Here's a slide to show you what "play" is if you don't understand the English language: and here's what my computer's dictionary has to say about the word "play": 1 [ intrans. ] engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose : the children were playing outside | her friends were playing with their dolls. • [ trans. ] engage in (a game or activity ) for enjoyment : I want to play Monopoly. • amuse oneself by engaging in imaginative pretense : the boys were playing cops and robbers . enjoyment ; and ; and recreation In case you can't get what I'm driving at, the key words there were:This strikes me as meaning, more or less, that the phrase "alternate reality game", as we had like this: actually means "story game". As in: thing that tells a story and a game. Look. Let me make this even easier: Adam Martin posted to the ARG-SIG mailing list, which is a mailing list for people who every so often have an argument about what "ARG" means, that perhaps the word ARG is now just a label and in fact means "story game". Now, I've been to college with Adam and then worked with him at a startup and while he says many things, this is possibly one of the best things he's ever said and is probably something I'd kiss him for. ARGs are just things that you can play and that tell stories. ARG doesn't mean anything. Story Games. See? Now let's look at the first bit of that phrase. I'm going to give you three principles of good storytelling. You should believe what I say here, because I have absolutely no experience in terms of telling good stories, but everything in terms of experiencing them. I have, for example, all of the Pixar DVDs in my collection at home, so I must know what I'm talking about. Speaking of which: This is an excerpt of the script for WALL•E, the latest Disney/Pixar movie. It tells the story of... oh, forget about it. It's one of the finest movies ever made. Watch this, and then despair, because you have to tell stories as good as this. This leads to Clue #1. Clue #1 is: "Tell a good story, in the context of all storytelling." Stories in videogames are shit. I don't care if you have anything you're going to try and use to protest that assertion to me: you're wrong. BioShock is a wonderful game. In the grand canon of all storytelling in the entire universe, ever, it's in the long tail of mediocrity. I don't care if it's supposed to make you cry or anything - crying isn't by any means the only way to judge whether a story's good or not. The reason why I bring this up is because Adrian was telling me about a panel he was on earlier this month at Channel 4 - here, in fact - when he was putting forward his equally valid assertion that all stories in games have, thus far, been shit. I happen to agree with him. A videogame writer who was on the panel with him disagreed, and put forward the example of Grand Theft Auto IV. Adrian wisely disagreed, pointing out that if you compare Grand Theft Auto IV to, say, The Godfather, purely in narrative/storytelling terms, the latter trumps the former in much the same way as you'd be shocked by waking up next to a dead horse's head. GTA IV may well have a good story with respect to other videogames, but again: in the context of everything, ever, it's not that good. Games can, and should, be better at telling stories. Clue #1 means that you should all try much, much harder. Sean Stewart and Elan Lee make fricking awesome games with awesome stories because, in part, Sean Stewart is a fricking awesome author. At work, we say that we can teach a good storyteller about games, but we can't teach someone who's a crap storyteller how to write. Get a good writer, or give up. Clue #2 is "Less is more" which I kind of forgot how to expand upon during the talk, but in essence, means this: I don't want to have to read your blog posts. It's very easy to write. It's very hard to cut down and edit. It's very easy to write lots of nonsensical blog entries, God knows I see enough every day on the interwebs. That's without even trying to tell a story. Pare down what you need to tell a story. Watch Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on television writing, it's on iPlayer or, on certain sites of dubious virtue. Tell a story using the minimum that you need and don't subscribe to bloggorhea. This applies to both text and A/V content. Your audience just doesn't have the time to wade through that stuff. Clue #3 is "The internet is not video". If I see another broadcaster or, well, anyone, proclaim that the future of entertainment is something like Lonelygirl or KateModern or some other tv show on the web, I'll kill a broadcaster, thus in the long run doing something concrete to deal with my rage. The internet can do much more than video. I've already ranted about this before. What's interesting about the internet - one of the interesting things - is that it allowed content creators to end-run around big, expensive distribution platforms. They used things like YouTube. Video is not the only thing that you can do. End of. That's my three clues. Next? Oh yes. The Game part of Story Game. Here's my number one point. Games are supposed to be FUN. Jesus Christ, when did ARGs stop being fun? To help with this, I have formulated a suggestion for you all to take in before you leave and start making even more ARGs: Please, no more of this shit: viewing source code "de-stegging" (which, to be honest, sounds a bit like tea-bagging, and you don't want to know what that means if you don't already know) waiting for stuff to happen breaking codes breaking more codes making use of esoteric knowledge (for no apparent reason) viewing more source code solving stupid puzzles (for no apparent reason) (encouraging me to) buy stock in UV torch companies (because of above stupid puzzles and esoteric codes) more waiting; and importantly not telling me what to do Now, it's not that I don't want to be told what to do. It's that I want to have some sort of semblance, an idea, the merest hint of a suggestion, as to what I should do next. This is what we in the industry call 'good game design', and it involves not putting a bunch of random puzzles online and hoping that interwebnauts will figure it all out in the end, because, OH MY GOD, that's not fun. Instead, I would like more of this: short, snappy, fun gameplay (which may be entirely appropriate in the context of a longer, less snappy and more involved arc) stuff like what 42 Entertainment did with Last Call Poker: which was embed the game of Poker, something a sizeable proportion of the normal human populace understands, into a game that not many people understood stuff like what Jane McGonigal did with The Lost Sport, which was create a playground game that anyone, anywhere, could play, any when. Ignore all the rest of the stuff for The Lost Ring like the amnesiac sportspeople, that's just a red herring. Ignore the blog network too, that was just a diversion. And the classy, expensive trailer video. Just concentrate on the game. You know, the fun bit. Oh, playtesting. That's good. Because, you know, you're making a game. So test it. Just like you'd test your user interface. use proper game design. That means thinking and not going "Well, I guess if we just ROT-13 this piece of text, then it'll be fun!" make your games repeatable. A non-repeatable live ARG (ie one that starts at one time, runs for a period of time, and then finishes and is only really playable while it's live) is the equivalent of investing a sizeable proportion of money on a big budget prime-time tv show that you demand everyone watch at the same time and can't record to watch later. In the world of I WANT EVERYTHING NOW, that's known as Being Stupid. Oh, and be social. You know, with your friends. So we've come to the startling conclusion that we make games, which are fun, and that people can play, and we tell stories, which are less fun, but can move people and encourage people to do things. Like games. Anyway, it's not that complicated. Or is it? I'm going to have to go into some science now. Calm down now, it's not a shampoo commercial. Look, here's the first chart. It's a chart of a pie chart, and how much of the pie chart resembles Pac Man. Some of you may have seen it before, but then again, some of you probably haven't, and I'm the last talk of the day, so I've got to wake you up. Okay, here's the real chart: It's quite simple. On your X-axis, on the left hand side you've got things which are very game-like, like, say, Gears of War 2, and to the right you've got things which are more story-like. You know, like books. On the Y-axis, you've got at the bottom "hardly anyone", also known as "nobody" which is a relative term, really, and "everybody" which is also relative and depends on who you're talking to. For some people, "everybody" is probably "Big Brother on eviction night" if you're Channel 4 or "the number of people who bought a Harry Potter book" if you're JK Rowling or "the number of people who secretly went to see Titanic or Mamma Mia" if you're in the business of throwing shapes onto walls. Now, here's some of the projects that we've worked on superimposed onto the graph. We've got Young Bond, which was more game-y than We Tell Stories, both of which probably got more people to "play" then Perplex City, but to be honest, I just made up all the numbers and placed the graphics on the graph more or less at whim so you got the general idea. Now, Alice has already talked about what she hopes us to do next year for the Channel 4 ARG, and on the next slide, I show where we're aiming for: It's Magical Pony Unicorn Land, which is smack bang in the middle of "story" and "game" as well as right up there with "everybody in the whole world playing" or "the number of people who watched the X-Factor Finale". So no pressure then. Ah. I said I'd have one more thing. Here it is: No more of this, please: This is not a sodding game: by which I mean the ludicrous assumption that every ARG has to pretend that it isn't an ARG and that it might really be happening and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN'T YOU PEOPLE JUST ACCEPT THAT SOME THINGS ARE JUST MADE UP. You know, if we could say a game was a game then we might have a better time promoting it because people would know what they were getting. Lazy calls to action, by which I mean: helping a teenage girl; helping an attractive teenage girl; helping an attractive amnesiac teenage girl; helping attractive amnesiac teenage girls; "the fucking order" or, "some secret society" or anything to do with the Illuminati or any of that crap; more fucking countdowns: you're trying to get people who have relatively short attention spans online and you want them to wait? And you're going to remind them? treasure hunts: oh, I'll smack the next person who proposes a treasure hunt and thinks it will make people play millions of blog entries: that no one will read apart from five people jumping through fucking hoops: by which I mean masturbatory platform excitement What's that, you say? Masturbatory platform excitement? Oh, that's this: seeing an intriguing movie credit that leads you to an intriguing website that leads you to an email address that leads you to an autoresponder that leads you to a phone number that leads you to a voicemail that leads you to a physical address that leads you to a secret note that leads you to another intriguing website that leads you to a secret code that leads you to... Enough already. This was interesting and new when it was, well, interesting and new. But it's not. It was fine when The Beast did it, but now a certain portion of your audience is used to stuff like that, and secondly: stop doing it because you can do it! Do it because it makes the game better and the story better! Just because you can splurge over as many platforms as you want isn't a reason or an excuse to. It'll make your game worse. Use platforms when they make sense and use them naturally. In short? NO. Don't do it. Please stop. Okay, last suggestion and then we can all go to the pub. This, I promise, is actually some interesting and relevant advice: Do you want a game that's going to get lots of eyeballs, or lots of engagement? Those two things may well require two different and mutually exclusive optimisation strategies. Engagement requires something that's more game-like. Things you can get people to do. Viewers may mean more stunts, and more shallow interaction. Bluntly: are you creating a marketing campaign that people will talk about, but not necessarily large numbers of people will play, or are you creating a game that you do want lots of people to play. And lastly, do you actually need a really big story? That's it. The End. Happy Holidays!

Once upon a time I was kissing someone. This was nice. I did not, however, want to do more than kiss this person. And that decision was respected. But sometimes it’s not. I’m being sparse with the details here for a few reasons: I write about sexuality as a scholar, and I’d rather my audience consider my arguments than wonder about the details of my sex life; also, the details don’t matter for my point. I could be talking about kissing or massaging or hugging or cuddling or fellating or fisting and it’d be the same point. The thing I realized, while mulling over this experience and similar experiences, was that consent should be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Consenting to kiss someone doesn’t mean consenting to let them take off your clothing, or give or receive oral sex, or engage in other forms of sexual play. Consenting to kiss someone once doesn’t even mean consenting to kiss them again. You could fill in the blanks with any intimate or sexual act you want, but the truth remains: Consenting to [do X] with someone once doesn’t mean you consent to [do X, Y, or Z] with that person again, or ever. Communication about consent, though, is often difficult to come by. New lovers frequently explore each other’s bodies intuitively, trying to ascertain from sighs or moans or silence what feels good, what’s off limits, and so on. There’s nothing wrong with this kind of playful exploration, but verbal consent and affirmation are also very helpful tools. “That feels good” is one way to encourage a lover to keep going in that direction, while “That’s not feeling good, could you [X] instead?” is a constructive way of telling someone that you don’t like something and suggesting something else instead. The possibilities are endless, though; I highly recommend Dr. Debby Herbenick’s book Because It Feels Good for communication strategies and ideas about how to personalize abstract concepts like consent and desire. Consent, made verbally explicit or inferred through body language, is absolutely necessary for intimate and sexual interactions to proceed. What happens when consent’s missing, though? I believe that it is possible to withdraw consent at any time, during any act, and that any withdrawal should be respected. Sometimes a sexual act starts to hurt for some reason, sometimes you begin feeling sick, sometimes you’re reminded of a bad past experience, sometimes you’re just not feeling it. Any of these reasons (and more) is valid. It might feel awkward or unpleasant to have to verbally withdraw consent; maybe you don’t want to admit to incontinence or that the current interaction reminds you of something icky. But faced with the alternative (an unwelcome or unenjoyable intimate experience), finding a way to disengage isn’t that bad. And it gets easier with practice… take it from me, I used to be very shy and I had a hard time communicating about my feelings, and now I’m assertive to the point of starting to wonder if I’m too expressive about my feelings! The other important thing about consent that I’ve realized while ruminating over it is that anyone who respects you will respect your statements of consent. If someone is questioning your withdrawal of consent or your boundaries, then that person perhaps isn’t intending to respect your boundaries. And I don’t mean questioning like, “Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?” or “Hey, I remember you said you had a yeast infection, how are you doing down there?” or “We’ve both had a little to drink, are you sure you want this?” No, I mean questioning like “Why won’t you have sex with me?” once you’ve already established that you don’t want to have sex with that person at that time. Questioning my decision not to have sex with you is a quick way to lose my trust. Because it reveals a fundamental disrespect of my autonomy, and my decision-making process, and those things that, you know, make me human. This is, in my mind, very much a feminist issue, and I am eternally grateful that feminists – whether or not you agree with all their points – have enabled these kinds of discussions to happen. A feminist friend with whom I was discussing this mentioned the feminist aphorism “When a man says no, it’s the end of the discussion; when a woman says no, it’s the beginning of a negotiation.” I think it totally applies here, sadly. The concept that girls are just playing “hard to get” when they say no initially is a very damaging construct, and I think we should grant people the dignity of believing them when they make statements about their desires and states of being. I should add, however, that in established relationships, where consent is a bit more given and fluid, I think it’s okay for one partner to initiate when the other’s not particularly in the mood, in the hopes that the other partner’s libido kicks in and they start to become desirous too. Why is this okay? I think it’s largely because of the trust that’s been built between people who regularly interact sexually, romantically, etc. The initiating partner trusts the initiatee to call a stop to it if they’re super-not-feeling it, while the initiatee trusts the initiating partner to respect their decision if it comes down to that. But the most important thing is that trust and consent are foregrounded, and acknowledged between these people. I don’t get that sense from people who question my statements of consent. How you decide to enact consent is up to you, but it’s a decision everyone should make consciously, and then communicate. I’d like to end this post with a shout-out to The Consensual Project for all the good work they do in publicizing and discussing issues of consent. Follow us on Twitter @mysexprofessor. Follow Jeana, the author of this post, @foxyfolklorist.

The leader of Jaysh Assud Al-Sharqiyah ‘Talass Al-Salama’ to DeirEzzor 24: The SDF and Assad’s forces are two sides of the same coin. In an interview with D24, the leader of the FSA faction Jaysh Assud Al-Sharqiyah confirmed that there are ongoing heavy clashes between FSA and Assad’s forces, being supported by the sectarian militias and Russian aircraft, on the front lines in the Syrian Badiya. He stated that Assad’s forces have taken more than 300 casualties and more than 60 of their armored vehicles have been destroyed in 45 days of heavy fighting, adding that they also succeeded in shooting down a number of aircraft and helicopters and capturing dozens of soldiers. When asked about who is providing them with ammunition and weapons, he said that ‘ We are receiving arms and ammo from Al-Muk Operation Room in Jordan. D24: Is military support still being given to you, despite the ending of CIA program to arms the Syrian opposition by Trump? Talass: Yes, we are still receiving support and we have not noticed any changes, though the CIA program has been suspended. D24: There are extreme concerns about a possible intervention by Iraqi Hashd Shaabi militias in Deir Ezzor or advances by Assad’s forces towards it. Talass: We have already said it ‘The Land is Ours’ and it will be shown in actions, not just words. D24: But, you are still fighting in the Syrian Badiya. Talass: We are fighting for Deir Ezzor from Al-Badiyah. If we were not based in the Badiyah, Assad’s forces would have advanced to Deir Ezzor. We are the only force hindering their advances. D24: The SDF have begun the handing over of some villages in rural Al-Raqqa to the Assad regime. Would this have any impacts on your operations? And what is your opinion on what is going on in Al-Raqqa? Talass: the SDF and Assad’s forces are two faces of the same coin. The advances of the SDF in Al-Raqqa do not impact our operations in the south. D24: Who is going to capture the province of Deir Ezzor? Talass: Deir Ezzor will be liberated by its sons. We are locals from the province, we are Jaysh Assud Al-Sharqiyah. Assud Al-Sharqiyah is one of the most significant factions in Syria who has been fighting against both Daesh and the Assad regime for years now.

Since opening on Queen West in 2008, Barchef's cocktails have become world famous. But co-owner Brent VanderVeen has a problem. He has to keep reprinting his menu because he can't get the ingredients he needs from the LCBO. Talk to this city's bartenders, especially those devoted to the burgeoning science of mixology, and they'll tell you the same thing. Ontario's liquor control board is falling way short of supplying them with world class brands. "The LCBO makes it hard," said Rob Turenne of Queen West's Parts and Labour. "They release something I think every bar should have on its shelves, and then they delist it because the general public doesn't know much about it and it doesn't sell. Being an enthusiast of booze, it's really frustrating." To hear these bar owners tell it, buying high-end booze in Toronto is shell game. A few bottles of Yellow Chartreuse show up unexpectedly at a random LCBO, they're bought up in short order, and then no one knows when, or if, it will ever come back again. What's on the LCBO's shelves at any given time is so unpredictable VanderVeen and other mixologists have created a network to alert each other when something rare comes in. If a hot bottle is spotted at the store, the texts and emails start flying to a select group of bar owners. "You make sure you've gotten there first and taken as much as you can purchase and then the email goes out," explains VanderVeen. "We want to make sure that the right bars in this city are getting the products." LCBO spokesperson Chris Layton says the board is doing everything it can to satisfy establishments with liquor licenses. "We try to work with licensees to ensure that they can get the products they want," he said. "Our buyers are constantly following trends, looking at what's selling in international markets." The LCBO has set up a consignment warehouse from which licensees can buy products that aren't generally stocked in the board's retail stores. If its not in the warehouse it can be ordered directly from the producer, but it still has to go through the LCBO and VanderVeen says it's hardly painless. "It's such a grueling, long process," he complains. "It can be months, and they never give you a timeline. Sometimes you've ordered something and you've forgotten by the time it gets here." There's also extra shipping and customs charges, but Layton says those only apply to exceptional orders. But it's impossible to order only a handful of bottles; you have to order by the case, or find a company that will package the number of bottles you want in a shippable format. It's illegal for several licensees to split a single case, so bar owners can't group together to make ordering easier. The net result is bartenders wait a long time for their product, and then have too much of it by the time it arrives. As frustrating as the system can be, you can't blame it all on the LCBO's management. After all, Ontario's liquor board was set up in 1927 to ease us out of prohibition. The basic structure of the organization hasn't changed in 80 years. The problem is that because the LCBO has a monopoly on selling booze in Ontario, it needs to be all things to all people; a wholesaler to bars and a retailer to the public, while also attempting to identify niche markets like high-end cocktails. "We would be a pretty inefficient retailer if we kept products on our shelves that didn't sell," said the LCBO's Layton. "There are core popular products that all of our stores have to sell, and the other fifty per cent of products (are based on other factors). For example if the store is in an ethnic neighbourhood and there's a high demand for a certain product, Portuguese wine for instance, we'll put more of that in stock. We keep track of what's selling." But the LCBO's management of supply and demand is imprecise at best. Cocktail connoisseurs were thrilled when the board recently decided to sell Hill's Absinthe, an expensive liquor from the Czech Republic. Their optimism didn't last long; the product was quickly discontinued, and it's been completely bought up in Toronto. Stores in rural Ontario still have it on the shelf however. Unless Killaloe, ON has a booming cocktail scene, something is amiss. "I find they carry a lot of stupid products that no one will buy," said Turenne. "I go to the bigger LCBO's like the one at Summerhill or Queen's Quay, and it turns out there's just a bunch of junk." The consensus among cocktail slingers in this city appears to be that the LCBO could use a little competition from a private booze wholesaler able to offer more variety. In fact in 2005 a government-ordered review found that partially privatizing the LCBO would improve customer selection, while also increasing government revenue by $200 million annually. The Beverage Alcohol System Review recommended auctioning off the LCBO's liquor licenses on a store-by-store basis for fixed-year terms. Putting them up for auction every few years would provide a steady stream of revenue for the province, and competition between private retailers would encourage the introduction of new and hard-to-get liquors. The province could still ensure the responsible sale of alcohol by regulating prices and store hours, and selling licenses on a store-by-store basis would mean that there was no increase in the actual number of liquor retail outlets. The report was flatly rejected by the province, most likely because of fears of a political backlash. The idea of a boutique liquor store that sells directly to cocktail specialists will remain pipe dream until the province decides to loosen its monopoly on liquor. And that's too bad, because behind the bars at places like Goodnight, Barchef, and Miller's Tavern, exciting things are happening. "There's a lot more talk about drink culture, and classics are coming back," said VanderVeen. "Cocktail culture is expanding in this city, but while it's growing there are going to be growing pains, and the LCBO is definitely causing some of them."

Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness characterised by a distorted body image, an extremely low body weight, and a fear of gaining weight. While anorexia affects all people, it is significantly more prevalent among women. Even though it is relatively rare, its effects are devastating. Anorexia is notoriously difficult to treat. Across all mental illnesses, it has the highest rate of mortality, so research in this area is crucial. It is not possible to determine a single cause of anorexia. Nevertheless, risk factors associated with the disease are well known. These include genetics, psychological predisposition, and social or cultural factors. Increasingly, our social and cultural interactions take place online. It is, therefore, not surprising that online interactions intersect with mental illnesses generally, and anorexia specifically. This is particularly when taking into account that the average person who suffers from anorexia tends to be relatively young. “Pro-ana” websites endorse anorexia as a positive choice, as opposed to a mental illness. Other variants include “pro-mia” websites, which endorse bulimia. These sites predominantly target women. They promote a very thin body as the type that women must have. They give advice about how to become anorexic, how to hide an eating disorder from others and how to diet. The websites contain images of extremely thin women, which are sometimes altered to make the women appear thinner. These websites have a long history. In 2001, Time Magazine noted the existence of 400 such sites. Efforts to eradicate these sites are just as old. AOL and Yahoo tried to ban pro-ana material that same year. These attempts have not been successful. Rather, the “survival” of such networks has required adaptation. In practice, this involves these networks “turning inwards”, as “subgroups of ana-mia bloggers will exchange messages, links and images among themselves and exclude other information sources”. Present estimates suggest there may be millions of pro-ana websites. Like other online interactions, pro-ana websites have become integrated with social media. The present legal framework In Australia, there is little regulation of pro-ana material. There are general criminal offences that relate to causing bodily harm. This includes causing a person to have a disease or disorder. It follows that anorexia, while a mental illness, might nevertheless constitute bodily harm. However, it is not likely that these offences will criminalise the publication of pro-ana material. The causes of anorexia are complex and multifaceted. Criminal prosecution usually requires proof that an action caused a particular outcome. Where many complex factors contribute to an outcome, it is difficult to prove causation in a criminal court. Some jurisdictions have offences of “hastening death”. These provisions criminalise making a “substantial contribution” to a death. Where it can be shown that pro-ana material contributed to death, by accelerating the progression of anorexia for example, criminal liability may follow. However, prosecution in such a case remains very difficult. The French legislation France has been an international leader in laws that relate to body image. In 2015, the French government modified its Public Health Code to include an article that states: [c]ausing a person to seek excessive leanness by encouraging prolonged food restrictions which result in exposing the person to life-threatening danger or in directly compromising their health, is punishable by one year in prison and a fine of €10,000. The French MPs who proposed the law, Maud Olivier and Catherine Coutelle, stated that “certain sites known as pro-ana can push people into a vicious circle of anorexia and authorities cannot do anything about it”. Other countries have also proposed similar bans. In Australia, former federal MP Anna Burke has advocated following France’s lead and banning such websites in Australia. Issues with criminalisation Pro-ana websites are commonly interactive. The line between a consumer and a producer of social media is blurry. Laws to prohibit pro-ana material would likely also capture the behaviour of visitors to these sites who interact with them. A considerable proportion of women who seek out pro-ana websites report suffering from an eating disorder. Visitors to these websites commonly report that they are seeking support in relation to those disorders, often after traditional therapies have been unsuccessful. Similarly, most publishers of pro-ana websites are women who themselves suffer from the illness. If creating pro-ana websites is criminalised, then it could make it more difficult for the creators to seek the help that they need to recover. Much of the content of pro-ana websites is shocking. Telling readers to “stop eating until they take you to the hospital” is disturbing. This line might be hyperbole. It might be evidence of the disordered thinking typical of anorexia. In either case it evokes a strong reaction. Yet, similar material is found elsewhere in the public space. The common pro-ana motto, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, is attributed to supermodel Kate Moss. That line, and variations on it, are used in marketing material by clothing retailers. Images used by pro-ana websites are most often taken from other sources. They include photos from fashion and women’s magazines, celebrities and well-known models. These images – shocking in the context of pro-ana websites – are ubiquitous in the public space. Public comment advocating extreme thinness in women is also common. Radio shock-jock Kyle Sandilands used his nationally syndicated show to tell a woman: “I like the starving look … 60kgs is pushing it.” Internationally syndicated celebrity MD Dr Oz’s show is broadcast on free-to-air TV in Australia. It featured Camille Hugh’s book, The Thigh Gap Hack. That book promised women “the shortcut to slimmer, feminine thighs every woman secretly desires” by techniques such as the trademarked “hunger training”. This technique encourages women to skip meals and instead “listen” to their body for signals of “true” hunger. Proposals to criminalise pro-ana websites would make it an offence to collect and collate images, slogans and “tips” that are commonly used to market to women. These laws would criminalise this behaviour when done by women in a pro-ana context, but not when done to women. This seems deeply problematic. Alternatives to criminalisation The alternative to criminalisation is to use online platforms to deliver health information. For example, searching “pro-ana” on social media site tumblr returns the following page: from www.tumblr.com Research on internet search habits found that explicit reference to a celebrity’s eating disorder in traditional media reports decreased the rate at which people searched for material relating to anorexia. This suggests that alternative messaging, rather than criminalisation, may have merit. Another possible alternative is to add some sort of warning on these pages about the dangerous content and the harm that may come from viewing them. If you, or anyone you know, is suffering from an eating disorder, you can contact the Butterfly Foundation for assistance by calling 1800 334 673.

"Won’t you please come to Chicago Or else join the other side" -- Graham Nash On Tuesday, an earnest, unassuming guy named Chuy Garcia did the unthinkable. He forced Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff for election to an office Emanuel thought he purchased outright four years ago. Even better, he did it with the help of United Working Families, a grass-roots movement that with its close cousin, the Working Families Party, is forging a new model of progressive political action. What a week ago seemed a liberal fantasy, Rahm's imminent demise, is suddenly a very real possibility. A Garcia victory would be a historic watershed not just for Chicago or for Democrats but for all progressives. It wouldn’t just frighten the Wall Street Dems who now reign over their national party. It would alter the terms of debate even beyond the party and prove, to cynics and to ourselves, that the power of ideas is still greater than the power of money and that grass-roots politics is not dead. Advertisement: It’s a race progressives know how to win. It’s a general election, but with an overwhelmingly Democratic electorate and likely low turnout it will function more like a primary. If progressives grasp its significance they’ll invest the energy and resources it takes to win. Many are already doing just that. But to those who need convincing, allow me to make the case. It comes down to just two points. The first is all about who Rahm Emanuel is, and who and what he represents. Even in elective office Rahm strikes people less as a political leader than what he is: a lifelong political operative. He was once executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. For a while he specialized in "opposition research," meaning campaigns hired him to dig up dirt on their opponents. But his forte was raising money, in large amounts, from people who had plenty of it. By the time he was 30 he’d taken up permanent residence in the world of political high rollers he inhabits to this day. As Bill Clinton’s 1992 finance director he ran the biggest fundraising machine the Democratic Party had ever seen. While doing that job he was also on the Goldman Sachs payroll, a seeming violation of "black letter" campaign finance law that was never looked into. Upon winning, Clinton named Rahm assistant to the president for political affairs, a job he soon lost due to the number of people he offended. His prior service made him a hard man to fire so he was kept on as "senior advisor to the president for policy and strategy," a job he seemed even less suited for, being no more a wonk than a diplomat. It did, however, prove a decent enough spot for a man skilled in palace politics to plot his comeback. In 1995 I came to work in the Clinton White House and for a time dealt with Rahm on a daily basis. For a White House staffer he seemed strangely inarticulate. (It may explain some, though obviously not all, of the profanity.) When he spoke it was almost always about tactics; almost never about policy. Two things about him stood out. One was the contempt he heaped on unions and liberals. I thought if he were ever caught on tape it would seriously damage the president and be the end of Rahm. Some later claimed to regard these rants as performance art but even at close range they seemed real enough to me. In any case I never heard him say an unkind word about the rich. Advertisement: Most striking was the viciousness of his personal attacks, often over trivial things. He famously sent a pollster a dead fish wrapped in a newspaper— in lore a mafia death notice— for being late with a report. His behavior struck some as merely clownish but many feared him. Watching even senior staff exchange brief pleasantries with him in the White House mess was like watching townsfolk in a Hollywood western politely tip their hats to a gunslinger. These traits have been on view since Rahm left Clinton in 1998. With no prior experience in finance he walked into a job at a Clinton-friendly investment bank. Two and a half years later he walked out with $16 million. He had no background in housing, either, but got appointed to the board of Freddie Mac where he made even more money while watching it slip slowly into ruin. In Congress he hewed right on economic and fiscal policy and was a hawk on defense. As Obama’s chief of staff he purged Clinton-era liberals, which resulted in a team of economic advisers more conservative than that of any Democratic president since Grover Cleveland. Whether following their advice or his own instincts, Obama ditched ethics reform, aid to homeowners with bad mortgages, a minimum wage hike and the public option; a disastrous set of choices from which he never fully recovered. Through it all Rahm cultivated his image as a ruthless operative. By the time he got to be mayor of Chicago he was the Keyser Soze of the Democratic Party, shrouded in legend, a guy who if you crossed him would slit your throat as you slept. It was a reputation he relished. Advertisement: Rahm’s corporatist worldview, bruising personal style and stunted ethics made the city a testing ground for two major conservative agendas: corporate education reform and "privatization." His education agenda led to a bitter teachers’ strike and the closing of 50 public schools, many serving the city’s poorest residents. Those closings are often cited as flash points of the current revolt but there were others. During last July 4 weekend, 82 shootings resulting in 14 deaths focused national attention on the murder rate among Chicago’s young black men. The crisis cried out for creative, sustained civic dialogue but Rahm hadn’t the patience, empathy or eloquence to provide that kind of leadership. The X factor is a deepening discontent over Rahm’s privatization schemes, recently laid out in a superb article by Rick Perlstein in In These Times. Here's but one example plucked from a long, infuriating list: Advertisement: In 2012 the transit authority commissioned a private contractor to issue transit cards that residents without bank accounts could use as prepaid debit cards. Buried in a 1,000-page agreement was an ugly array of hidden fees: $1.50 for ATM withdrawals; $2.95 to deposit money with a credit card; $2 to call a service rep; $10 for "research"; $6 to close an account. For designing a system to bilk the poor on such a grand scale, the company was paid $454 million. Emanuel turned Chicago into a playland for people who, like him, mastered the art of spinning political influence into gold. If Garcia wins, it will reflect voters’ disaffection with a mayor who’s all bully and no pulpit, but also their revulsion to see such blatant profiteering at taxpayer expense. In an interview, United Working Families executive director Kristen Crowell said she was “astounded at voters’ rejection of corporate politics as a way of doing the city’s business.” It is what Justice Kennedy in his willfully naive Citizens United opinion called "soft corruption": not simple bribery but the subtler corruption of modern pay-for-play politics. Citing no proof—there isn’t any--Kennedy wrote that soft corruption does little harm to the state and is of no interest to voters. In fact it is a cancer devouring our democracy and voters care deeply about it. Advertisement: Rahm isn’t just a poster boy for soft corruption; he holds a patent on it. On the Democratic side of the aisle he stands with Tony Coehlo, Chuck Schumer, maybe Terry McAuliffe and, sad to say, both Presidents Clinton and Obama. It’s why his election means so much to the nation and it’s why he may lose. Believing you can dial every day for Wall Street dollars and still stand up for the middle class is like believing you can smoke crack every day and still be a good parent. Left unaddressed, the contradiction between what Democrats do to get elected and what they promise to do in office will destroy them. We need a whole new model, which brings us to who Jésus "Chuy" Garcia is and who and what he represents. Like Rahm, Chuy has spent much of his life in politics. There the similarity ends. Rahm is a longtime ally of Chicago’s fabled Daley political machine, Chuy is a member of the party’s reform wing and was a protégé of the late Mayor Harold Washington, who ran against and beat future Mayor Richard M. Daley. In a real sense, this is but the latest battle in a 30 years’ war between the city’s reform and machine factions. From the first, Garcia was a leader, not an operative. At 28 he got elected to the city council, where he served seven years before moving on to the state Senate. He served six years there before losing a primary to a Daley-backed opponent. When he left politics he turned not to high finance but to the nonprofit sector, becoming director of a community development corporation. Four years ago he reentered politics by winning election to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. In his staunch progressive record and subdued personal style he’s the anti-Rahm; a guy who proves he’s tough just by taking principled stands and then sticking to them. Advertisement: Last Tuesday should never have happened. Rahm had a huge war chest, a vaunted machine, Wall Street and Hollywood connections and an endorsement from Chicago’s own Barack Obama. Rahm outspent Chuy 12-to-1. So what did he do wrong? Nothing really -- except, of course, for how he governed. The answer lies rather in who Garcia represents and in what they did right. A month ago I wrote that progressives need a Tea Party of our own; not an Astro-turfed array of angry extremists but a grass-roots movement fueled by volunteerism and funded by small donors. Like the Tea Party, it would be independent, backing major party candidates who stay true to its values, and ousting ones who don’t. I said then the group closest to figuring it out was the Working Families Party. I wish I could say now I sensed how soon they’d do it. The coalition taking Rahm to the mat works off the same model as the Working Families Party and even shares some of its DNA. It includes a dozen unions and community organizations, including the Chicago Teachers Union. Its basic tools are knocking on doors—it hit 153,000 in round one—and calling people up on the phone. Its members are rooted in their community and its message is rooted in its values. It may be about to topple one of the most powerful and least progressive Democrats in the nation. It is exactly seven months old. The race confuses Washington. It’s a colorless town and for years Rahm was its most colorful figure, a source not just of news but of dark comic relief. Reporters imbibe the views of politicians who think the rules of the game immutable. This week even the astute E.J. Dionne compared Rahm to Bill de Blasio, “a hero to progressives,” calling it “mildly ironic” that “left of center voters” would give Rahm such a hard time. Advertisement: Many progressives don’t get it either. If you put them all on Sodium Pentothal and asked if grass-roots politics can still beat big money, my hunch is they’d say no. Many pray the party will reform itself. Obama’s late awakening fans that flame. But if you want to know how likely that is, peruse the numbingly vacant report the DNC issued last week allegedly laying out its vision. Frederick Douglass said it best. Power concedes nothing without a demand. On April 7 pay-to-play politics goes on trial in Chicago. The voters will be the judges. Crowell says holding Rahm accountable was a victory in itself, but she knows now it’s a fight they can win. For sure it’s an uphill climb, but then just last week it was impossible.

UT: Missing brains disposed of in 2002 Pictured, a brain from the collection. less "Malformed: Forgotten Brains of the Texas State Mental Hospital" — authored by Austin photographer Adam Voorhes and journalist Alex Hannaford — shows dozens of photographs of brains of former patients treated at the State Lunatic Asylum, now the Austin State Hospital, from 1952 to 1983. The collection, housed at the University of Texas at Austin, was intended to aid mental health research. "Malformed: Forgotten Brains of the Texas State Mental Hospital" — authored by Austin photographer Adam Voorhes and journalist Alex Hannaford — shows dozens of photographs of brains of former patients ... more Photo: Courtesy Of Adam Voorhes Photo: Courtesy Of Adam Voorhes Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close UT: Missing brains disposed of in 2002 1 / 29 Back to Gallery SAN ANTONIO — More than 100 brains missing from a collection of abnormal brains belonging to former Texas mental patients dating back to the 1950s were disposed of in 2002, a spokesman the University of Texas at Austin said Wednesday. UT spokesman Gary Susswein said Wednesday that workers with the university's Environmental Health and Safety division disposed of the brains in 2002. The brains arrived at the university in the 1980s. "Faculty members determined they were in poor condition and not usable for research or teaching," Susswein said. A statement issued by the university Wednesday said officials will appoint an investigative committee to determine "how the decision was made to dispose of some of these specimens and how all brain specimens have been handled since the university received its collection from the Austin State Hospital in the 1980s." The Los Angeles Times previously reported that the brains had been found at the University of Texas at San Antonio, but Susswein said there's no evidence to suggest the brains ever arrived in San Antonio. "We are looking at various possibilities, not just locations, about what became of these brain specimens," Susswein said earlier Wednesday. Media outlets, including the San Antonio Express-News, reported the brain of Charles Whitman — a former U.S. Marine who shot and killed 16 people on the University of Texas campus before he was fatally shot by police on Aug. 1, 1966 — was among one of the missing brains. "We have no evidence at this time that any of the brain specimens came from Charles Whitman, though we will continue to investigate those reports," the statement said. The collection — shown in dozens of photographs in the book "Malformed: Forgotten Brains of the Texas State Mental Hospital," authored by Austin photographer Adam Voorhes and journalist Alex Hannaford — was discovered when Voorhes and Robin Finlay, his wife and business partner, while on assignment to photograph a different brain in 2011. They f0und almost 100 abnormal brains preserved in formaldehyde in several glass containers. Though officials with the Austin State Hospital told Hannaford that records of the brains had likely been destroyed, UT professor Tim Schallert — a neuroscientist who curated the collection — knew that one brain in the collection belonged to Whitman, according to KUT. Following the shooting spree, Austin police found a note from Whitman asking that his brain be examined by a pathologist, KUT reported. Pathologist Coleman de Chenar — who began collecting brains for the hospital under questionable legality — found a small tumor in Whitman's brain, which led to disagreement about whether the tumor caused Whitman's sudden violence. The shooter had murdered his wife and mother prior to his spree on the UT campus. Hannaford and Schallert found a number that matched the format on jars that contained the brains while looking at Whitman's autopsy report, according to KUT. "So literally we ran, me and Tim and his assistant ran back into the store cupboard and went through these hundred brains to see if Whitman's might be there," Hannaford said. They looked at each label looking for a matching number, but no luck: Whitman's brain wasn't there. UT-Austin obtained the collection — intended to aid mental health research — after jostling with Harvard University and Yale University among others in what's been dubbed the "Battle of the Brains," according to a news release. Schallert told Hannaford that the collection included about 200 specimens whether they were originally given to the university, Hannaford writes in The Atlantic. Dr. Jerry Fineg, then-director of the Animal Resources Center, asked Schallert during the mid-1990s if he could move half of the jars elsewhere, then taking up shelf space at the center. By the time Schallert did so, he found they had vanished. When Schaller asked Fineg what happened, the director told the professor that he simply got rid of them, Hannaford writes. "I never found out exactly what happened — whether they were just given away, sold or whatever — but they just disappeared," Schallert said. jfechter@express-news.net Twitter: @JFreports

Driving the Jeep was an intense experience once the bombs start falling. Graphics aren't up to par with say, next-gen consoles, simply because the resolution of the OG Rift headset can't display such fidelity. Still, Death from Above uses the Unity game engine, so it'll get there once Chaotic Moon gets the game running on a high definition DK2 headset. Regardless, it's a blast to play. I found my pulse quickening and I started white knuckling the steering wheel once i was enveloped in digital smoke and flame from falling bombs. Every other time I've played a VR game with the Oculus Rift, it's been a visceral, engaging experience, and Death from Above is no different. The game is highly entertaining for the player dropping bombs, too. iPad in hand, you get an overhead view of the area the driver's traversing and a targeting reticle that follows where you tap your finger on screen. There's a delay between when you tap and when the bombs actually land, so leading the jeep is key to success. In short order, bloodlust set in, with folks cheering the bomb dropper as the driver swerves all over the map in an effort to survive. In my experience, the bomber has the advantage over the bombee -- I played as a driver six times, and was only able to make it to the safety of the bunker twice. I highly recommend you check out the game if you get the chance... and if you weren't among the attendees in Austin who played, fear not. Chaotic Moon will be bringing Death from Above to Engadget Expand in NYC this November. Edgar Alvarez and Zach Honig contributed to this report.

John Kessel has developed and posted what he’s calling his “10 New Commandments of Volleyball”. It’s actually commandments for coaching, not something more broad in terms of the overall sport or anything like that, despite the inclusive title. They are worth reviewing in full. Here they are in brief: Be demanding, but not demeaning Use the net Include back row hitting in each training Develop 2-side players (can play left or right side of the court) Catch them doing things right Train more in terms of reading than technique Ask questions, don’t tell them the answer Train the mentality of “good errors” Teach players to use both sides of their body Make things as game like as possible. I’ve definitely written before about making things as game like as possible, which I think ties in with using the net (here, here, here). I’ve also talked about the question of good vs. bad errors and encouraging the mentality of being accepting of mistakes (here, here). The idea of increasing the amount of reading is something I posted on earlier as well. Including back row attacking in training is something I do a lot of myself with my teams, and have done for years. In fact, I had my Svedala team do back row swings for the pin hitters in the first minute of warm-ups. I go that route to get players to reach and focus on hitting deep before hitting on the net. Two of the more thought-provoking commandments, to my mind, are the ones related to players training both sides of the court and both sides of the body. I regularly make use of small-sided games. They feature players playing both sides of the court. I’m not sure if I have really thought much about that from an intentional perspective, though.

Michael Barryte has done the world the huge, frustrating favor of figuring out exactly how to improve the much-aligned Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. No, really. He figured out how to make it not just a good Star Wars movie, but a good movie. To watch. And not want to throw things at. If you can spare about 12 minutes to hear Michael out, join us after the jump and see how this movie could have been excellent. By the end of this video, you will be so angry that Barryte’s ideas are about a decade and a half too late. Seriously, filmmakers: if you have any doubts about your sci-fi script, get in touch with Michael Barryte. He will fix all of the problems. (via Topless Robot) Previously in Star Wars

In a previous post, I’ve argued that no one should call a show good or bad until the end is known. Which means, now that the end is known, we can decide if True Detective‘s second season was good or bad. People love complaining about how confusing the plot of this season was. And I won’t disagree. The show’s storylines sprawled and overlapped, losing its audience. Some moments lingered, while other plotlines appeared and disappeared without explanation. But why is this a bad thing? Are we supposed to understand all the media we consume? Do things have to make immediate sense in order to be good? TD’s second season and its response reminds me of a famous anecdote about William Faulkner and Raymond Chandler. Faulkner had adapted Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep into a film, and during filming he and director Howard Hawks realized there was something they didn’t understand. Had a certain character committed suicide or was he murdered and, if murdered, who did the murdering? And the best part, the part that makes it an anecdote worth repeating, is that Chandler couldn’t figure out the answer either. Chandler didn’t understand the plot of his own novel. Faulkner is no stranger to incomprehensible plots. Some of his best novels are things that no one can understand, at least not on first attempts. And he’s not the only one: how many other great pieces of literature are confusing and elliptical and frustrating? James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Virginia Woolf. I could go on. Is it fair to evoke highly-regarded literature in the defense of True Detective? Maybe, maybe not. But consider what David Simon set out to do with The Wire: create “a novel for television.” As George Pelecanos, a writer for The Wire, said: “That struck home, because if it’s not about something more than the mystery, the thriller part, I’m not going to do it. Life’s too short.” And is it not accurate to say that True Detective is a continuation of The Wire’s legacy? What I liked about the first season of True Detective is the same thing I like about the second season: the plot doesn’t matter. It’s the characters that matter. We watch not to find out who did it, but to watch the relationships between the characters. I cared far more about Ray’s dynamic with Chad than I cared about some stolen diamonds or an unsolved murder. Just as in the first season, it did not matter that many of the killers and conspirators were still out in society at the end. What mattered was that Marty’s family visited him in the hospital room and that Rust dreamt of his daughter and his father. Frank’s journey through the desert mattered far more than the plotlines that brought him there. To dwell on the confusing plot is to miss the point of True Detective. I liked this season of True Detective. But I also think that the best season of The Wire is its second season, and that Tim Burton’s Batman is the worst Batman ever. So we might have to agree to disagree. Enjoy this? Read more True Detective content here. Advertisements Share this: Facebook Print Twitter Pinterest Email

Exclusive Preview | Justice League # 45 The epic showdown between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor appears to have been decided. And the Anti-Monitor has won! But the Darkseid War continues within the pages of Justice League # 45. In “Darkseid War: Gods and Men,” several of the Justice League members have been given the power of the New Gods, and possibly their curse as well. Men were never meant to be Gods, and their very existence may at stake if they can’t hold on to their dwindling humanity. In CraveOnline’s exclusive preview for Justice League # 45, the assembled League and Mr. Miracle witness something that they never thought possible: the broken body of Darkseid himself! And if a God can die, then what comes next? Writer Geoff Johns teams up with guest artist Francis Manapul for Justice League # 45, which will hit comic book stores everywhere on Wednesday, October 21. DC fans, share your thoughts on the Darkseid War storyline in the comments section below! Photo Credits: All Images Provided by DC Comics

A Winnipeg businessman hopes to open a private MRI clinic in a new office complex set to be built on Long Plain First Nation's Winnipeg urban reserve. The Manitoba First Nation will own the $20-million facility building, in which a company owned by former internet pharmacy owner Daren Jorgenson hopes to lease space. Jorgenson plans to offer a wide range of services, including elective MRI scans, dental care and blood and urine tests. He hopes to partner with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Manitoba Health to offer public services, including a family practice, walk-in care and endocrinology. "Hopefully we'll have a contract with Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Manitoba Health to do public pay, and regardless of whether we have a contract … we're also going to do private pay," he said. By offering these services in a private, for-profit facility, Jorgenson believes he can provide them at a lower cost, he said. "Our mantra is we're confident we can do three things: we can increase access to health-care services, we can increase the quality of those health-care services delivered and we can do both those things while reducing cost to the payer." Jorgenson said he hasn't had any discussions yet with the provincial government about partnering with public health care. "We're very sensitive to taxpayer, we're very sensitive to the government dilemma they find with the health-care budget, and we think we can be an innovative partner with Manitoba Health and the regional health authority," he said. The goal of the facility is to offer services for patients in Manitoba who are not satisfied with wait times in the public sector, Jorgensen said. The facility is expected to take 18 months to two years to complete. Jorgenson has been involved in several medical businesses in Winnipeg, including opening Four Rivers Medical Clinic and starting CanadaMeds.com, an internet pharmacy company. For-profit clinics pop up This isn't the first private, for-profit MRI clinic proposed in Manitoba. The Town of Niverville partnered with a private company to open a diagnostic centre that will include an MRI. Jorgenson also partnered with Roseau River First Nation to open a for-profit medical clinic on their urban reserve in 2007. Although the Canada Health Act forbids charging a fee for any medically necessary services, Jorgenson said the act doesn't apply when a clinic is on a reserve. A statement from Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said any facility offering diagnostic imaging in Manitoba must be approved under the Health Services Insurance Act. Health Canada said the Canada Health Act has authority over provincial insurance plans. "Federal and provincial laws of general application, including the requirements of the Canada Health Act, apply on and off reserve," Health Canada said in a statement. "Under the Canada Health Act, medically necessary MRI scans are insured health services and should be covered by provincial plans whether these services are provided in hospitals or in private clinics. The proposed private MRI clinic would raise concerns if insured Manitoba residents are charged for, or pay for, access to insured health services at the facility." The federal government and the Saskatchewan government have argued over the opening of private MRI clinics in that province, which in 2015 started allowing private clinics to charge patients for an MRI, but in return, the clinic had to offer a spot to a patient from the public system. In January, Ottawa gave Saskatchewan a year to develop a case proving its private MRI clinics conform with the Canada Health Act.

We present here, in Arabic and in English, an open letter from participants in black bloc actions in the United States to participants in the Egyptian black bloc, aimed at initiating a dialogue beyond the exchange of youtube videos. This is of interest to everyone around the world struggling for liberation, so please print and distribute widely: The emergence of the black bloc in Egypt at this time should not surprise us as much as it surprises pacifists and authoritarians. The struggles of the 21st century will not be limited to nonviolent civil disobedience, nor to reformism; they are bound to involve open conflict with the state. Moreover, they will be increasingly international in scope and character. Whenever anyone anywhere around the world stands up for herself or himself—however awkwardly, however humbly—it sets a precedent for the next generation of resistance. Let’s rise to the occasion. “Black Anger” by MC Sayed appeared on the two-year anniversary of the Egyptian uprising. These clumsy subtitles are part of our effort to facilitate intercontinental communication. The criticisms of the black bloc in Egypt are all too familiar. Those who have more privilege and power than you accuse you of being spoiled rich kids. Those who are not willing to run the same risks accuse you of cowardice. Those who have different goals than you complain that you are not strategic. Those for whom democracy means the amplification of their own voices insist that you should submit to majority rule in order to silence you. Those who depend on foreign military aid, who bow to foreign political pressure in selling out the people of Egypt, accuse you of importing foreign tactics. You are blamed for the violence of the police, when the police are always precisely as violent as they have to be to maintain their supremacy, and their ongoing violence is only visible because you resist it. Above all, authorities of all kinds do everything they can to isolate you from others who might resist. To the Egyptian Black Bloc from “black bloc anarchists” in the US You strike the note—it sounds in us. It is an honor to address you on account of your courage in the struggle still unfolding in Egypt. For a decade and a half, we have participated in black bloc actions in the US and elsewhere around the world. Of course, we do not represent anyone or anything; the black bloc is a tactic, not a group—that is what makes it so frightening to our rulers. But on the basis of our experience with this tactic, we would like to share some of our perspectives in hopes of establishing a more explicit intercontinental dialogue. We have already been in a kind of dialogue with you, exchanging signals of revolt across the ocean. We’ve circulated reports of your struggle here, and now we are seeing photos and videos of our actions appear in youtube collages from Egypt. But we want more dialogue than youtube collages allow. We want to be able to discuss strategy as well as tactics, and goals as well as strategy. First and foremost: you are not alone. You are part of a struggle against oppressive power that is taking place all over the world. The same economy that is plundering Egypt wrecks our lives and land here in the US; the same networks of armed force that tear-gas you in Cairo maintain “order” in New York City. If we are to win anything in this struggle, we can only do so internationally. It is embarrassing that it took us so long to address you in Arabic—that shows how unprepared we are for the opportunities history is offering. But that may change quickly in the coming years. It will have to. We have gained our experience with black bloc tactics under what you might call adverse conditions—as a small minority acting against a stable power structure, without much support from the rest of society. The black bloc evolved in that context, and it is interesting to see it appear in a situation of more generalized revolt. Indeed, the longevity of the black bloc surprises everyone; over and over it has been pronounced dead, yet it keeps coming back. This is because, like Anonymous, it expresses the spirit of our times. In an era when tremendous disparities are maintained by surveillance and policing, any meaningful movement is bound to involve anonymity and clashes with the authorities. The black bloc is important because it gives that anonymity and antagonism a political content: it ties specific struggles against oppression to the possibility of a generalized struggle against all oppressive power. It is a coup to “brand” anonymous collective confrontation with the authorities as anarchist—this means that everyone who stands up for himself against the authorities must ask, sooner or later, what his relationship to others’ struggles is. It is fitting that the black bloc emerged in Egypt on the two-year anniversary of an uprising that only replaced one tyranny with another. The problems caused by capitalism and government cannot be solved by a mere change of regimes. It will take a struggle from the ground up—the emergence of social formations that can defend themselves against government and capitalism. This is not a matter of addressing demands to those in power, and it is not something that can be won simply by attacking presidential palaces. It requires us to oppose the structures of domination everywhere they appear, shifting our strategy from mere protest to the assertion of another way of life. The criticisms of the black bloc in Egypt are all too familiar to us—we have watched reactionaries read from this same script since 1999. You are blamed for the violence of the police, when the police are always precisely as violent as they have to be to maintain their supremacy, and their ongoing violence is only visible because you resist it. Those who have more privilege and power than you accuse you of being spoiled rich kids. Those who are not willing to run the same risks accuse you of cowardice. Those who have different goals than you complain that you are not strategic. Those for whom democracy means the amplification of their own voices insist that you should submit to majority rule in order to silence you. Those who depend on foreign military aid, who bow to foreign political pressure in selling out the people of Egypt, accuse you of importing foreign tactics. Above all, authorities of all kinds do everything they can to isolate you from others who might resist. Indeed, in our experience, this is the greatest risk in using the black bloc tactic: in giving an identity to anonymity and struggle, it offers the authorities an opportunity to make an “other” out of us, to quarantine our revolt and our ideas. It is a mistake to view ourselves as separate from the rest of society. The black bloc is powerful and dangerous only so long as it remains a space of revolt that anyone can flow into—the tip of the iceberg of something much broader. Our rulers do not fear anarchists—they fear that anarchist values and practices will spread. It is important not to impose a dichotomy between being honest about our goals and participating in movements larger than us. On one hand, we must be clear that we reject all forms of domination; if we do not, everyone will have to learn again and again how little police and the poverty they impose change from one government to the next. This is why we should not hide our values under the same vague banner of “democracy” that disguises others’ hunger for power: doing so only legitimizes the structures that will be used against us later. But at the same time, we have to maintain the openness that enables tactics and ideas to circulate. Anarchism is not an identity, it has no meaning in isolation; it is a relationship that must spread. In the United States, anarchists have erred on both sides of this dichotomy. Often, we have served as shock troops and free labor for liberal causes, taking great risks to advance their agendas while failing to act on our own analysis. We hoped this would connect us to the rest of society, but connections that depend on us hiding our values are meaningless. Other times, anarchists have acted as though we could accomplish our goals on our own, winding up in a private grudge match with the state that everyone else assumed had nothing to do with them. Certainly, we can’t wait for mass consensus to begin our project of revolt; we can only find others in revolt by rising up ourselves—but the point is to find others. Over and over, we’ve thought our own dreams too wild to propose, only to see other people enacting them spontaneously. In fact, the time is ripe for us to advance our proposals: capitalism is in crisis around the world, and soon billions will have to choose between totalitarianism and the kind of freedom no government can provide. If it is true that the state cannot solve our problems, all who wish to wield its authority will discredit themselves once they assume power. The sooner all the Muslim Brotherhoods of the world associate themselves with the state the better: this will clarify things for those who do not yet understand why anyone would be an anarchist. When the opposition parties join the rulers in telling everyone to get out of the street and the streets remain full, this suggests that people are catching on. In this situation, anarchists could help turn regime change into social revolution, a full-scale transformation of everyday life. The US government needs Egypt to have a government with whom to coordinate the resource extraction necessary for global capitalism. The black bloc scares them because it is not legible in their conception of politics—it offers no one to negotiate with. They want to bring all the political parties into “dialogue” in order to map everything in their structures of power; we want to take the struggle out of the hands of political parties entirely, establishing dialogue among people rather than with parties or governments. We seek to spread struggles in which we communicate with and inspire others directly, as you have inspired us. We will continue this dialogue in the most meaningful way we can—by continuing to challenge the power structures here in the United States, which underpin those in Egypt and elsewhere around the world. But if any of you can send us reports from your struggles, or translate materials between English and Arabic, we would be glad to hear from you. May we meet in the streets of a stateless world. rollingthunder@crimethinc.com Further Reading 10 Points on the Black Bloc [Video] Introduction to the Black Bloc Black Bloc Safety and Fashion Guide Debate about Black Bloc Tactics # من "الأناركيين البلاك بلوك" في الولايات المتحدة ## تدقون النغمة – فيتردد صداها فينا إنه لشرف لنا أن نخاطبكم نظرا لشجاعتكم في النضال الذي مازال مفتوحا في مصر. لقد شاركنا لمدة عِقد ونصف في أعمال البلاك بلوك في الولايات المتحدة وفي غيرها من البلدان حول العالم. بالطبع نحن لا نمثل أحدا ما أو جهة ما؛ فالبلاك بلوك طريقة وليست جماعة – وهذا ما يجعلها مخيفة جدا لحكامنا. لكن بناء على خبرتنا مع هذه الطريقة، نود أن نشارككم بعضا من وجهات نظرنا على أمل تأسيس حوار أكثر وضوحا ما بين القارات. لقد كنا بالفعل في نوع من الحوار معكم؛ متبادلين إشارات الثورة عبر المحيط. لقد وزعنا تقارير عن نضالكم هنا، والآن نرى صورا وفيديوهات لأعمالنا تظهر في مقاطع على اليوتيوب من مصر. لكننا نريد حوارا أكثر مما تسمح به مقاطع اليوتيوب. إننا نريد أن نتمكن من مناقشة الاستراتيجية بنفس القدر الذي نريد أن نناقش به التكتيكات، وأن نناقش الأهداف بنفس القدر الذي نناقش به الاستراتيجية. أولا وأخيرا : أنتم لستم وحدكم. أنتم جزء من نضال ضد القوى القمعية يحدث في كل أنحاء العالم. فالاقتصاد الذي ينهب مصر يدمر حياتنا وأرضنا هنا في الولايات المتحدة، ونفس شبكات القوات المسلحة التي تلقي عليكم بقنابل الغاز المسيل للدموع في القاهرة هي التي تحفظ "النظام" في مدينة نيويورك. إذا كان لنا أن نفوز بأي شيء في هذا النضال، فلن يمكننا أن نفعل ذلك إلا دوليا. إنه لشيء مخجل أن استغرقنا كل هذا الوقت الطويل لمخاطبتكم بالعربية؛ وهو الأمر الذي يكشف كم أننا غير مستعدين للفرص التي يقدمها لنا التاريخ. لكن من المحتمل أن يتغير هذا بسرعة في السنوات القادمة. لابد وأن يحدث هذا. لقد اكتسبنا خبرتنا بتكتيكات البلاك بلوك تحت ما يمكن أن تسموه بالظروف المعاكسة؛ باعتبارنا أقلية صغيرة تعمل ضد بنية قوة مستقرة، ودون دعم كبير من بقية المجتمع. تطورت البلاك بلوك في هذا السياق، ومن المثير رؤيتها تظهر في موقف ثوري أكثر عمومية. بالفعل يدهش طول عمر البلاك بلوك الجميع؛ فمرة بعد أخرى يتم الإعلان عن وفاتها، لكنها تستمر في العودة من جديد. ذلك لأنها – مثل مجموعة أنونيموس (المجهولون : وهم مجموعة مستقلة عبر الإنترنت تناضل عبر الاختراق البرامجي) – تعبر عن روح زماننا. في عصر يتم الحفاظ فيه على الفوارق الهائلة عن طريق المراقبة والشرطة، تكون أي حركة لها معنى مضطرة إلى التزام إخفاء الهوية والصدامات مع السلطات. البلاك بلوك مهمة لأنها تعطي لهذه المجهولية والعداء محتوى سياسيا : فهي تربط نضالات معينة ضد القمع بإمكانية نضال عام ضد كل القوى القمعية. إنها ضربة موفقة أن "نَسِمَ" المواجهة الجماعية مجهولة الأسماء مع السلطات بالأناركية – فهذا يعني أن كل من يقف لمصلحة ذاته ضد السلطات يجب أن يتساءل – عاجلا أو آجلا – ما هي علاقته بنضالات الآخرين. إنه من المناسب أن ظهرت حركة البلاك بلوك في مصر في الذكرى الثانية لثورة استبدلت فقط حكما استبداديا بآخر. إن المشكلات التي سببتها الرأسمالية والحكومة لا يمكن أن يحلها مجرد تغيير للأنظمة. سيتطلب الأمر نضالا من أسفل إلى أعلى – بظهور تشكيلات اجتماعية يمكنها الدفاع عن نفسها ضد الحكومة والرأسمالية. الأمر ليس له علاقة بتوجيه طلبات لمن هم في السلطة، ولا هو شيء يمكن الفوز به ببساطة عن طريق مهاجمة القصور الرئاسية. يتطلب الأمر منا مقاومة كل كيانات الهيمنة في كل مكان تظهر فيه، وتغيير استراتيجيتنا من مجرد احتجاج إلى تأكيد شكل آخر للحياة. إن الانتقادات التي توجه إلى البلاك بلوك في مصر مألوفة بشكل زائد عن اللزوم لنا – لقد شاهدنا رجعيين يقرؤون من نفس السيناريو منذ عام 1999\. أنتم تُلامون على عنف الشرطة، في الوقت الذي يكون فيه رجال الشرطة عنيفين كما يجب أن يكونوا بالضبط ليحافظوا على تفوقهم، وعنفهم المستمر يظهر للعيان فقط لأنكم تقاومونه. هؤلاء الذين يملكون امتيازات وقوة أكثر منكم يتهمونكم بأنكم عيال أثرياء مدللون. هؤلاء الذين هم غير راغبين في التعرض لنفس المخاطرات يتهمونكم بالجبن. هؤلاء الذين لديهم أهداف مختلفة عنكم يشتكون من أنكم غير استراتيجيين. هؤلاء الذين تعني الديمقراطية لهم تضخيم أصواتهم يصرون على أنكم يجب أن تخضعوا لحكم الأغلبية لكي يسكتوكم. هؤلاء الذين يعتمدون على المساعدات العسكرية الأجنبية، والذين ينحنون أمام الضغوط السياسية الأجنبية لبيع شعب مصر، يتهمونكم باستيراد تكتيكات أجنبية. قبل كل شيء، تفعل السلطات من كل نوع كل ما يمكنها فعله لعزلكم عن الآخرين الذين من المحتمل أن يشتركوا في المقاومة. في الحقيقة ومن خلال خبرتنا، تلك هي المخاطرة الأكبر في استخدام تكتيك البلاك بلوك : أي في إعطاء هوية للمجهولية والنضال، فهذا يقدم للسلطات فرصة أن يجعلوا منا "آخر"، أن يحجروا على ثورتنا وأفكارنا. إنه لمن الخطأ أن نرى أنفسنا كجزء منفصل عن بقية المجتمع. تظل البلاك بلوك قوية وخطيرة طالما ظلت مساحة للثورة يمكن لأي شخص أن يدخل في غمارها – قمة جبل الجليد لشيء أكثر اتساعا بكثير. إن حكامنا لا يخافون الأناركيين – إنهم يخافون من أن تنتشر القيم والممارسات الأناركية. من المهم ألا نفرض انقساما بين كوننا صادقين مع أهدافنا وبين المشاركة في حركات أكبر منا. من ناحية يجب أن نكون واضحين بشأن رفضنا لكل أشكال الهيمنة، إذا لم نفعل ذلك سيضطر الجميع لأن يتعلموا مرة بعد أخرى كيف أن الشرطة والفقر الذي تفرضه نادرا ما يتغيران من حكومة إلى الحكومة التي تليها. هذا هو السبب في أننا لا ينبغي أن نخفي قيمنا تحت نفس لافتة "الديمقراطية" المبهمة التي يتنكر وراءها جوع الآخرين للسلطة؛ فلن يؤدي هذا إلا إلى إضفاء الشرعية على الهياكل التي ستُستخدم ضدنا فيما بعد. لكن في نفس الوقت يجب أن نحافظ على الانفتاح الذي سيمكِّن تكتيكاتنا وأفكارنا من أن تنتشر. الأناركية ليست هوية، وليس لها معنى في حالة العزلة، إنها علاقة يجب أن تنتشر. لقد أخطأ الأناركيون في الولايات المتحدة على كلا الناحيتين لهذا الانقسام. لقد عملنا كثيرا كقوات صدامية وعمال مجانيين للقضايا الليبرالية، وخضنا مخاطر هائلة للدفع بأجنداتهم قدما مع فشلنا في العمل وفقا لتحليلاتنا الخاصة. كنا نأمل أن يؤدي هذا إلى ربطنا ببقية المجتمع، لكن الروابط التي تعتمد على كوننا نخفي قيمنا هي روابط بلا معنى. في أوقات أخرى عمل الأناركيون كما لو كان بإمكاننا أن نحقق أهدافنا بالاعتماد على أنفسنا فقط، وانتهى الأمر بنا إلى مباراة خاصة في الضغينة مع الدولة رأى كل من هم خارجها أن لا شأن لهم بها. بالتأكيد لا يمكننا انتظار الإجماع الجماهيري حتى نبدأ مشروع ثورتنا، فلا يمكننا أن نجد آخرين في الثورة معنا إلا بأن نثور بأنفسنا – لكن المهم هو أن نجد آخرين. لقد اعتقدنا مرارا وتكرارا أن أحلامنا أكثر جرأة من أن نعرضها، فقط لنرى أناسا آخرين يفعلونها بشكل عفوي. في الحقيقة لقد حان الوقت لنا كي نقدم مقترحاتنا : إن الرأسمالية في أزمة في كل أنحاء العالم، وقريبا سيضطر المليارات من البشر للاختيار ما بين الشمولية وما بين ذلك النوع من الحرية الذي لا تستطيع أي حكومة أن تقدمه. إذا كان صحيحا أن الدولة لا تستطيع أن تحل مشاكلنا، فإن كل من يتمنون ممارسة سلطتها سيفقدون مصداقيتهم بمجرد أن يتولوا هذه السلطة. كلما أسرع جميع الإخوان المسلمين في العالم نحو ربط أنفسهم بالدولة كلما كان ذلك أفضل : سيوضح هذا الأمور لهؤلاء الذين لم يفهموا بعد لماذا يصبح المرء أناركيا. عندما تنضم أحزاب المعارضة إلى الحكام في دعوة الجميع لمغادرة الشارع وتظل الشوارع مملوءة فهذا يشير إلى أن الناس بدأوا يدركون الفكرة. في هذا الموقف يمكن للأناركيين أن يسهموا في تحويل تغير النظام إلى ثورة اجتماعية، إلى تحول كامل في الحياة اليومية. تحتاج حكومة الولايات المتحدة إلى أن تكون لدى مصر حكومة تنسق معها استخراج الموارد الضرورية للرأسمالية العالمية. وتخيفهم البلاك بلوك لأنها ليست واضحة في مفهومهم عن السياسة – فهي لا تقدم أحدا يمكن التفاوض معه. إنهم يريدون أن يجمعوا كل الأحزاب السياسية في "حوار" لكي يرسموا خريطة تفصيلية لكل شيء في هياكل سطوتهم؛ إننا نريد أن ننتزع النضال من أيدي الأحزاب السياسية بشكل كامل، مؤسسين لحوار بين الناس بدلا من الحوار مع الأحزاب أو الحكومات. نحن نسعى لنشر نضالات نتواصل فيها مع الآخرين ونلهمهم بشكل مباشر، مثلما ألهمتمونا أنتم. سنتابع هذا الحوار بأكثر طريقة لها معنى يمكننا إياها؛ وذلك بالاستمرار في تحدي هياكل القوة هنا في الولايات المتحدة، والتي تدعم مثيلتها في مصر وفي أماكن أخرى حول العالم. لكن إذا كان يمكن لأي أحد منكم أن يرسل إلينا تقارير من نضالاتكم، أو يترجم موادا بين الإنجليزية والعربية، فسيسعدنا أن نتواصل معكم. على أمل بأن نلتقي في شوارع عالم بلا دولة. نسخة من هذا المقال جاهزة للطباعة على هذا الرابط pdf https://crimethinc.com/lettertoegypt

Share. That's a lot of dots. That's a lot of dots. The next Tomb Raider is hoping to bring a level of realism orders of magnitude higher than what is usually seen in games. The graphically upgraded version of Tomb Raider that came to Xbox One and PS4 at the beginning of the year showed a marked improvement in realism from the already impressive graphics of the last-gen versions. But a recent tweet by Lara Croft actress Camilla Luddington hints that the next iteration in the franchise could have even more realistic graphics. In Luddington's feed, she said that she had a photo and an explanation of said photo that would hint at the level of realism the next game is expected to have. She then posted a photo of her face under a black-light. "This is MOVA," she captioned the photo, a "fluorescent paint sprayed all over my face to give 7000 points of reference." Those points of reference are used in motion capture. Normal facial motion capture uses 90 points of reference. Exit Theatre Mode Of course, it remains to be seen just how much more realistic this will make the game, as great motion capture needs equally great textures, physics, modeling, and programming to all work in congress to create something that the human brain doesn't find abhorrent. With motion capture in film becoming ever more advanced, and those technologies making their way into games, it looks like the days of traversing the uncanny valley are nearly over. Seth Macy is a freelance writer who likes taking photos. Follow him on Twitter @sethmacy, and MyIGN at sethgmacy.

Love is at the core of what the global Ahmadiyya sect of Islam conveys every day, and has done so for well over 100 years. Yet this is not covered by the global news narrative. "An unstable individual commits an atrocity in the world, and in his distorted state of mind claims it to be in the name of religion and this is global news. Yet the fact that hundreds of thousands of Muslims worldwide are pledging an allegiance to peace and love to all of humankind, and that's not newsworthy?" These were the words of one of the many thousands of Ahmadi volunteers gathered at a farm in rural Hampshire this weekend. Upon arriving at the farm, there is a strong sense of community spirit that can be felt instantaneously, akin to the kind once felt in the UK and which has lost its significance, according to another community volunteer from Leicester, or 'Nayib Naazim' as they are referred amongst their collective brotherhood. Up to 30,000 Ahmadi followers are said to be congregating on this usually quiet countryside location over this weekend, 200 acres of land that also happens to be owned by the Ahmadi community. "Everyone you see working here are all volunteers, and this all gets funded by the community members themselves and for the good of everyone," a member of the security team explained. "Think of it as one big community centre that is there to help and support anyone who requires it. And think of this as like our very own Glastonbury Festival, promoting peace and unity amongst everyone. You just have to walk around for a little while and you will feel the spirit and vibe. This is what being a part of our 'Jamad' (community) represents." he told us. Whilst the tens of thousands congregate over this weekend, global numbers are said to be as much as 80 million, but the community has long suffered persecution at the hands of other Muslims who do not believe that they are true members of Islam. There is a consistent claim of Ahmadiyya being based on "the true teachings of the Quran", and everything has a contextual explanation in accordance to what is written in the holy book. But it is statements such as this that also cause conflict amongst other Muslim sects who believe their claims are almost blasphemous, such as claiming the prophet Muhammad wasn't in fact the last prophet of God to have graced this world. At Friday prayers, His Holiness Masroor Ahmad, known as the Fifth Caliph of the worldwide Ahmadiyya community, called on Allah to give the community "protection" from those he said had "cruel plans" against them. Just seeing the visual presence of the team of security guards surrounding the residence of the Caliph, and accompanying him everywhere he travels including two who even carried briefcases containing devices which we were told are designed to deflect bomb blasts. The security teams, standing fully alert were ready to whisk him to safety in case of any emergency. Why any other group of people would wish to cause harm to a community leader and people who never call for retaliation when community members are faced with persecution, is another question. The community promotes peace and goodness daily to everyone, and wishes to integrate as opposed to segregate or live outside of society in any way. "Britain is our home, and we are taught that your home, wherever it may be in the world, is with whom your allegiance and loyalty must be. We believe in humanity first, and for us living in Britain, being a Muslim and a Briton go hand in hand beautifully." an attendee visiting from Bradford in the north of UK told Sputnik. This year's annual Jalsa is the 50th anniversary event and takes place in the wake of the murder of Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah, who was a member of the Ahmadi community. His attacker, Tanveer Ahmed from Bradford, was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment just this week, and many spoke about the sadness felt by everyone worldwide hearing of this tragic incident. It is however accepted that the conflicts shall exist in the minds of many people and to the extent where many are prepared to even harm others in the name of their own God. "It is about educating each other. It is very much our duty to explain to all that we want to make the world a better place for everyone and that there is no sense in continuing arguing and fighting about differences in opinions, or variations in what we all believe," said Javed Uddin, a member of the Leicester 'Jamad' or 'community.' The three-day event opened with Friday Prayers early on in the day followed by a symbolic Union Flag raising ceremony. "You can say that the flag raising is like a symbolic gesture, but it is also a key part of our faith. It is saying that we are proud members of both the British and Ahmadiyya communities and we represent both positively in everything we live by daily." A non-Muslim attendee who was visiting the event after hearing about it online by chance, told us: "I understand how locally in this rural, predominantly white British town there would be many who would feel worried that this event is taking place here. But they are only the ones who believe everything they read about in the newspapers and who are force fed negative information about the small minority factions worldwide committing unlawful, barbaric acts," he said. He added: "It's time to amplify our positive message of peace and humanity to become the new narrative. That is what the majority of Muslims worldwide believe at the core of their beliefs, and events such as this Jalsa are perfect examples of what masses of people who are promoting goodness can achieve." Over the weekend, visitors can expect to see the world's first community Quran writing project in which men and women in attendance will write individual verses of the Quran by hand, with the aim of compiling the entire Holy Book, verse by verse. Men and women gathered in separate areas of the site, but both sides were identical in terms of what was taking pace, except here the men are doing all the cooking for the women's side too. A culinary army operation called 'Langar' is in full force at the centre of the site where fresh bread and a tasty array of curries are being prepared around the clock, feeding all attendees for free during the whole weekend. Charity and a sense of duty to serve all communities are at the core of the faith. It is common practice for Ahmadiyya mosques around the world to open their doors for wider community members to visit and learn about their faith, and indulge in the free food prepared on site. Visitors to the Jalsa can see exhibits including a life-sized replica of the Shroud of Turin, presented by Barrie Schwortz who is a world-leading expert on the shroud. © AFP 2018 / OLI SCARFF Germany Set to Inspect All Muslim Institutions for Possible Terrorism Involvement While most Orthodox Muslims believe Jesus was a righteous prophet, who was never crucified and, instead, ascended bodily to heaven, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes he was crucified but survived after his friends restored him to health with healing ointments and herbs. But in terms of being able to verify which perspective is the right one to believe, that's insignificant for what this Jalsa event as a whole represents. First and foremost it is about encouraging an open dialogue amongst everyone of all faiths, and from all walks of life, and to promote love for all, and hatred for none. Now that's the kind of world vision no one can argue with, and it is values like this and the reclaiming of the word 'Caliphate' by Ahmadiyya Muslims worldwide to represent a pledge for peace as opposed to a pledge for 'Holy War' that needs to overshadow the media narrative. On Sunday the highlight of this 3 day Jalsa event held in the UK, and attended by members of the community visiting from all over the world, will be a very visual display of the peaceful, collective allegiance to the Ahmadiyya faith. We've been informed that this is something that really must be witnessed.

A state lawmaker from Union County thinks it’s time state officials give credit where credit is due. If public funds went into compiling or publishing a document or website, Republican Rep. Fred Keller said it’s time taxpayers are told they are the ones paying for it. Keller introduced legislation last week that would require all state-sponsored materials, publications and publicly accessible websites to state: “Prepared or Compiled Using Taxpayer Resources.” Keller practices what he preaches. On his website, he already includes that phrase. Brochures Keller posts on his website identify that they were “prepared or compiled using government resources.” The brochures also list only his legislative district number and contact information but unlike other legislators’ literature, his name and photo are nowhere to be found on them. He said while it's good to get the information out, he doesn't think it is necessary for lawmakers to put their name on it, which can create the impression they paid for it. “This legislation will ensure that proper credit for state materials and websites is given to the true source of the funds: Pennsylvania taxpayers,” Keller said. “For too long, officials in Harrisburg have used state resources to add to the power of incumbency at taxpayer expense.” Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said including this line on taxpayer-funded literature doesn’t hurt anything. He said he has seen it on government documents from outside the state. But he said he would be more impressed if the bill also required political and issue-oriented advertisement to more clearly state who paid for them to help the public better assess the message’s credibility. Keller, who also offered a bill that requires school boards to publicly post all proposed labor agreements in advance of their ratification, said he promised in his campaign to work to change the status quo in Harrisburg. Sponsoring legislation that instills more transparency and openness at all levels of government is a way of doing that, he said. Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks County, one of the co-sponsors on Keller’s bill, has been advocating for a similar measure for several years. But so far, Cox's measure has met with little success, yet he remains undeterred. In January, he re-introduced his bill that requires the big presentation checks handed out by legislative or executive branch officials to bear the words "Pennsylvania taxpayers" on the signature line. That bill sits idle in the House State Government Committee. Keller acknowledged his proposal may appear as little more than a symbolic gesture but he hopes it sends the public a message. “I hope it forces the taxpayers to ask what are you doing with this money,” he said. “If we start to be more responsible with what our circle of influence is, we can start to broaden that to reforms to reduce the size of government.”

Orlando City has become accustomed to visiting teams' approach in the Citrus Bowl this season. Through the first four home games, New York City FC, the Vancouver Whitecaps, D.C. United and Toronto FC have all come to Orlando and employed a defensive formation built around counter-attacking. With Orlando City's philosophy of possession and building through short passes and overloads, the visitors' defensive approach has provided a level of protection against a talented Lions roster that nonetheless has yet to prove it can consistently break teams down. The results have been stellar for the away teams. Orlando City (2-4-2, 8 pts.) has lost three straight games at home and has just one goal at the Citrus Bowl — Kaká's equalizer in a season-opening tie against fellow-expansion side NYCFC. Despite that track record, however, the New England Revolution is unlikely to employ a similar formula on Friday night. New England's strength comes in its front three attacking players: forwards Teal Bunbury, Juan Agudelo and Charlie Davies. The Revolution (5-2-2, 17 pts.) is not a team built to sit back and let the other team dictate the tempo. "They're always wanting to get those three guys in behind [the defense,]" Orlando City assistant Mark Watson said. "It's about being aware, having good shape, having good communication. . . . We're very respectful of their quality, they've been together and they're a good team, but with our group, if we have the right mentality we've got a great chance." The attack-minded play of New England, which is as dangerous as any team in MLS, could actually bode well for Orlando City. The Lions have looked better on the road this season in part because teams play a more open style in their home stadiums, and that has provided more space for Orlando City to exploit when it is on the ball. If the Lions are able to handle New England's menacing forward line, it could pay dividends when players like Brek Shea, Kaká and Cyle Larin get on the ball in the attacking third. "When teams come to play against at home they are not scared, but set back about what we're going to do," Lions' midfielder Eric Avila said. "For us, we love going and attacking. If we can handle [New England's forwards] right, I think it'll make a lot of holes for us to counter and be more aggressive going forward." Easier said than done, of course. The combination of Davis, Agudelo and Bunbury has combined for seven goals this season, and New England's 12 goals-scored is tied for third-most in MLS behind only FC Dallas and the Seattle Sounders. The Revolution also might be the most in-form team in the league, and currently sit tied atop the Eastern Conference with Orlando City's next opponent: D.C. United. "We know we've got our hands full," Heath said. The key for the Lions will be to take advantage of the more open play on Friday night with goals, which have been hard to come by at home this season. "When teams come here we outplay them and we just can't finish them," Shea said. "We always beat ourselves by not going ahead in the first half and finishing our chances. I'm not really worried about the other team, I'm more worried about us doing something in the final third and producing instead of playing good soccer and not scoring." ptenorio@orlandosentinel.com

Senegal's President Macky Sall said on Tuesday he will complete a controversial seven-year mandate, ditching a campaign promise to cut the presidential term to its original five years. ADVERTISING Read more Three years after visiting US President Barack Obama hailed Senegal as an example of good governance in Africa, Sall made a U-turn on his 2012 campaign promise to shorten the country’s presidential term. In a statement in French released Tuesday, Sall maintained that, “The mandate currently under way will be completed in 2019." Sall said he would follow the recommendation of the constitutional council, which said such a change would not be consistent with the spirit of the constitution. During his 2012 campaign, Sall said he would reduce presidential term limits if elected. But last year, he said a referendum would be held on whether to shorten the term from seven to five years. The referendum set for March 20 on other constitutional changes would go ahead, Sall said. A continent for old ‘Big Men’ The Senegalese leader’s 2012 promise to shorten the presidential term was welcomed in a continent marked by leaders eliminating or extending term limits. Sall’s statement sticking to a seven-year term came days before Uganda goes to the polls Thursday in an election widely expected to hand 71-year-old Yoweri Museveni a fifth term in office and the start of his fourth decade in power. Museveni, who seized power in 1986, is one of Africa's longest serving leaders, after Equatorial Guinea's President Theodore Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Angola's Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Cameroon's Paul Biya. When he took office in April 2012 at the age of 51, Sall was hailed as one of Africa’s top 10 youngest leaders in a continent historically dominated by “Big Men” – as Africans dub their septuagenarian and octogenarian leaders who have clung to power. Sall’s victory over Senegalese strongman Abdoulaye Wade -- who was running for a third term after a constitutional amendment increased the five-year presidential terms to seven years – was welcomed by the international community. Obama’s first stop on an African tour During a visit to the West African nation a year after Sall’s election, Obama noted that he had deliberately chosen Senegal as the first stop in his three-nation sub-Saharan Africa tour. “Many African nations have made tremendous strides in improving democratic governance and empowering citizens,” said Obama. “And that’s why I’m beginning my trip here in Dakar. Senegal is one of the most stable democracies in Africa.” Obama went on to note that, “democracy is not just what happens on Election Day, it’s also what happens in-between elections, ” before commending Sall on “the ambitious reforms that you’re pursuing to strengthen democratic governance." While Sall’s decision to stick with the controversial seven-year term is not expected to destabilise Senegal, analysts say it could dent his popularity ahead of the 2019 election, when he is widely expected to seek a second term. It could also affect his popularity ahead of general elections set for 2017, a Western diplomatic source told Reuters. "The mid-term risk is that he is seen as back-peddling on his promises and (voters) could punish him in legislative elections next year," said the source.

Story of Seasons (Harvest Moon) Has Its First English Screenshots By Ishaan . May 28, 2014 . 12:31pm Story of Seasons, better known as Harvest Moon: Connect to a New Land, will be published in North America this Winter, Xseed Games have announced. Yes, Xseed are publishing the new Harvest Moon, not Natsume. And that’s why the game is being called Story of Seasons instead of Harvest Moon—because Natsume owns that name in the U.S. In fact, throughout Xseed’s entire press release announcement, the game is referred to as Story of Seasons, while the Harvest Moon franchise is referred to as “Bokujo Monogatari,” its Japanese name. “Story of Seasons represents a new chapter in our amazing tale,” says Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Head of Development at Marvelous AQL, in the press release. “We are creating a new experience that will carry on the spirit of Bokujo Monogatari, and in doing so, will fulfill our loyal fans’ expectations and desires while ushering in a new generation of games to come.”

How to make a Fire Emblem Heroes Paper Doll So it seems like a lot of people on Reddit love my Fire Emblem Heroes paper dolls, so I decided to make a tutorial on how to make your own! So the things you will need are: - A computer with Wi-Fi - A printer - Paper - Scissors - Tape - Glue First, visit the Spriters Resource page for Fire Emblem Heroes and select your character. We will be making Linde for this tutorial. Download the spritesheet and print it out on a piece of paper. I use two pieces of paper for both sides, but that’s completely up to you. Cut out all the pieces you need, disregarding any extra clothing pieces/hands/heads. First, assemble the body pieces together. Next, assemble the arm parts. Next, assemble the leg parts. Add a couple of accessories on, and then put them together. Now assemble the head pieces. If the character is a male or a female with short hair, disregard this and just plop the head onto the body. Place the assembled pieces onto a tiny sheet of paper, preferably from the scraps you made via the spritesheet. Cover the doll up with tape. Cut the doll out. When cutting, stop halfway and open the cut out bits of the doll and put glue on it. Do the same thing for the other side. And you’re done! You can try putting together the other side but it’s totally up to you. I hope you liked my tutorial!

If you ever wondered how those fact-free, invective-filled right wing talking point missives imbed as news nuggets, wonder no more. Tristero recently highlighted a Buzzflash article from Drs. Neil Wollman and Abigail A. Fuller entitled "How Does Right-Wing Media Craft Its Message?" It’s been expanded, and is up at Digby’s. I heartily suggest a full reading of it, in conjunction with this series from Jane: This Is How It’s Done, Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV. It is this point, in particular, from the Tristero piece that I want to highlight: Use loaded terminology to describe a disliked program. For example, use "death tax" instead of inheritance tax or "class warfare" to describe Democratic support of a more progressive tax to benefit lower-income Americans. (George Lakoff has discussed this in his work on political rhetoric.) An accompanying tactic is to make repeated negative associations with key concepts or constituencies so that they conjure up negative feelings (as with "Liberal" or "trial lawyer"). (emphasis mine) On cue, old Novak rises from the crypt of dead memes with this today: …The true reason for blocking the bill was Senate-passed retroactive immunity to protect from lawsuits private telecommunications firms asked to eavesdrop by the government. The nation’s torts bar, vigorously pursuing such suits, has spent months lobbying hard against immunity. The recess by House Democrats amounts to a judgment that losing the generous support of trial lawyers, the Democratic Party’s most important financial base, would be more dangerous than losing the anti-terrorist issue to Republicans. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the phone companies for giving individuals’ personal information to intelligence agencies without a warrant. Mike McConnell, the nonpartisan director of national intelligence, says delay in congressional action deters cooperation in detecting terrorism. Good lord, that’s a fact free load of hooey, isn’t it? When, exactly, did the ACLU and the EFF switch from being non-profit issue-oriented groups to "trial lawyers"? Or standing up for the rule of law become lobby-esque? Oh, that’s right, they did not. Poor deliberately lying confused Bob Novak. Nothing like repeating some right-wing, focus-grouped spew. From where does this sort of idiocy eminate? From a few wingnutty blogs, then by Rep. Boehner on Faux News for a trial run last fall. And then…I’ll let emptywheel take it: It must have polled well, because Dick is developing into an elaborate metaphor including a dig at trial lawyers. One of the main things we need in there, for example, is retroactive liability protection for the companies that have worked with us and helped us prevent further attacks against the United States — [snip] RUSH: The opposition in the Senate is primarily from Democrats, correct? CHENEY: Correct. People who don’t want to — I guess want to leave open the possibility that the trial lawyers can go after a big company that may have helped. (emphasis mine) I wonder how the ACLU and EFF feel about being labeled trial lawyers? Hello, Dick and Rush. Not exactly shocked, are you? From there, it landed with Dana Perino’s WH mouthpiece unit, echoed all over the wingnutosphere, finally landing in an RNC press release. And on to Novak this morning. It’s like playing a craven game of Six Degrees of Wurlitzer, isn’t it? The fact that the claim is factually inaccurate, piggybacking on the fearmongering inaccuracies by raising the favorite wingnutty spectre of "an evil trial lawyer lobby" inaccurately? That they have been trying, unsuccessfully, to float out this idiotic meme for months now? Or that it was wholly manufactured as a wurlitzer pot stirrer? Or that even the conservative CATO Institute has called bullshit? Or that the telecoms have lobbyied for months on this — spending oodles of cash and hours doing so on the Hill? If at first you don’t succeed, sty, sty again, eh, Bob? Cry wolf…let slip the dogs of war. UPDATE: Oh look, Matt Stoller actually spoke with the trial lawyers and they laugh in the general direction of the wingnutties: No matter how much the RNC – at the bidding of telecomm CEOs – tries to deflect the real issue, we have nothing to do with illegal wiretapping since we actually believe in the rule of law. Well, that was simple, wasn’t it? (H/T to Julia, Peterr, Marcy, and dakine for e-mailing me various bits of this. Thanks much!)

This was my first year participating in Secret Santa so I didn't know what to expect. But my Secret Santa was absolutely amazing! He somehow knew exactly what kind of things I would like! First, the letter he wrote me was incredible and encouraged me greatly. And then I found two steam gift cards in the envelope! The wrapping paper was on point, I was so thrilled when I saw it was Star Wars themed. The detachable ornament from the R2D2 Christmas card is going straight onto my tree. The shirt was the perfect mixture of science and Star Wars, what's not to love? I thought "this guy is so cool". Then I found the FULL Cowboy Bebop Series blu-ray. I've had so many people recommend me this show, his gift is the perfect impetus to give it a watch! And last but not least, STAR WARS TRIVIAL PURSUIT! HOW DID HE KNOW THAT TRIVIA IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS?? Now I can kick some padawan ass, just as he suggested. What are the odds that my SS and I had so much in common? He gave me everything I could have wanted and more for my first Reddit Secret Santa experience! What a thoughtful and awesome series of gifts. Thanks so much, S! -troymen11

NO NUDES officially on Noosa beaches is food news for the Member for Noosa Glen Elmes who voiced bipartisan support for of the Queensland Police Minister Bill Byrne’s take on nude beaches. Beaches like Alexandria Bay will not be declared “clothing optional” with Mr Elmes supporting the retention of the state’s wilful exposure laws that are designed “to protect citizens and keep them safe”. “While public safety is clearly the most important consideration, it is has been my firm belief for some time that there are a myriad of other factors such as environmental and social impacts as a result of the proclamation of an official nudist beach’,” Mr Elmes said. He said this was particularly the case for those located in a designated national park like in Noosa. “A-Bay has been an unofficial nude beach for as long as I can remember and has been quietly accepted by the community because it is remote and easily avoided. “Lobbyists for A-Bay to be made an official nudist beach purported in recent times that such a move would attract an additional 100,000 bathers to the beach each year. “If the population were to expand in this way, additional services would be required to support such growth, including the need for surf life savers, toilet and shower facilities, car parking and access for emergency services. “The introduction of additional infrastructure like this is just not feasible in a national park, and would be wildly opposed by conservation and environmental groups, not to mention Noosa ratepayers who would be left to pick up the bill. “Where would Sunshine Beach Surf Lifesaving Club find volunteer resources during the summer, and Noosa Council during the winter months? Similarly, where would our already stretched police force find the extra resources required to keep patrons safe? “I am pleased the verdict is in and that it is a no, “ Mr Elmes said.

“My biggest fear is suicide, that . . . he will hide [symptoms] and kill himself,’’ she said. Finally, on the third day, Lambert, the health advocate, said she called the Vianos’ insurance company and was able to speak to the company’s chief executive. Within 20 minutes, the Vianos were told that a bed suddenly opened up for the teen at MetroWest. He was treated there for two weeks and is now back at school. But Viano worries that her son’s two-night experience in the locked waiting room may make him less open to help in the future. “So for two days he had to hear adults screaming and being detoxed. It was horrible.’’ Viano said. “I was with him and saying, ‘He really needs help.’ ’’ She had taken him to the emergency room of UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, and he ended up spending two nights in a locked area of the waiting room near the emergency department’s adult mental health section. UMass is not licensed to admit mental health patients younger than 16. Meridith Viano, a Leicester mother, said she was told earlier this month that her 15-year-old son, who was hearing voices and not recognizing members of his own family, was “too acute’’ to be admitted to MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, the closest hospital licensed to admit children and adolescents with mental health problems. “But now the hospitals are saying the kids are too acute, which is baffling,’’ Lambert said. “There are plenty of hospital beds,’’ said Lisa Lambert, executive director of the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, a Massachusetts mental health organization that says it has been fielding a lot of calls on the issue from families. Troubled children have experienced periodic delays being admitted to psychiatric units in past years, but the cause was usually a shortage of beds. Advocates for mentally ill children say now the problem is different. Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state’s health and human services secretary, said yesterday that hospitals licensed to treat mentally ill children must provide that care if they have sufficient staffing and beds, regardless of the reimbursement rates. While the precise number of children affected is unknown, Bigby said her agency has heard a number of complaints recently, prompting it to organize a task force of advocates and providers that will soon begin meeting to assess the scope of the problem and forge solutions. The troubled children are often kept waiting in emergency rooms, sometimes for days, or sent home until a hospital agrees to admit them. Children who are hallucinating, feeling suicidal, or suffering other acute mental health problems are increasingly being turned away from some Massachusetts hospitals’ psychiatric wards, a problem the hospital industry acknowledges and blames on insufficient insurance payments to cover treatment of such sick children. Mary Mullany, director of behavioral medicine at MetroWest Medical Center, said she could not comment on the Vianos’ case because of patient confidentiality rules. But she said that during the two days Viano’s son was waiting in the UMass ER to be admitted, her 12-bed pediatric unit was full or had one bed open in a double room but that the youngster in that room was too troubled to have a roommate. On the day Viano’s son was admitted, MetroWest did have an opening, she said. The director of the trade association for hospitals that treat psychiatric patients acknowledged that there has been an uptick in children being turned away by mental health units, and he cited several factors, including lagging reimbursements from the state and private insurers. David Matteodo, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Behavioral Health Systems, said that reimbursement from the state Medicaid program and from private insurers for treating psychiatric patients has been insufficient for several years — about 75 cents for every dollar spent. In better financial times, hospitals often absorbed the losses from their psychiatric units because other departments made up the difference, but hospitals are less inclined to do that now, he said. “The financial pressure that has been put on the units has made it increasingly hard for them to take the difficult patients,’’ Matteodo said. “A difficult patient may need a private room, they can’t share a room, or they may need a staffer 24/7 watching them. That can be costly.’’ He said that a hospital’s psychiatric unit may already have several aggressive or difficult young patients that are taxing the staff, and even though every bed is not full, a decision is made to accept no more patients because they cannot be safely accommodated without bringing in more staff. Eric Linzer, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, which represents most insurers, said hospitals are expected to honor their contractual obligations for pediatric mental health services, regardless of the reimbursement rate. “We recognize there may be certain instances in which a provider refuses to take a child, in which case the health plan will work with the family to find a bed at an appropriate institution,’’ said Linzer. He said soaring hospital costs, not inadequate payments from insurers, are the problem. Mental illness among children tends to be cyclical, specialists say, with problems typically peaking in the fall and spring, and easing during summer months. Bigby said the state has made progress on the related issue of “stuck kids’’ — children deemed well enough to leave hospital psychiatric units but trapped in them for lack of treatment programs outside. That created a backlog of youths who couldn’t get in to the hospital. But today the number of such patients is down to about 50 from 160 children four years ago, Bigby said, because the state concentrated on finding appropriate outpatient care for them. Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com. © Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

Iraq’s political leaders appear set to miss a deadline this weekend for deciding whether to ask U.S. military forces to stay beyond December, according to Iraqi and American officials familiar with negotiations. President Jalal Talabani has given Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top leaders until Saturday to reach an agreement on what, if any, sustained U.S. military presence Iraq might need. But Maliki and his rivals, beset by other domestic political disputes, remain divided over the matter, including how to formally ask the Obama administration for such an extension, officials said. With leaders still at an impasse, and despite Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s remark last week that Iraqi leaders should “dammit, make a decision,” most U.S. officials say they do not anticipate receiving a formal request from the Iraqis until September, meaning that the roughly 46,000 U.S. troops in Iraq remain on course to withdraw by Dec. 31. One senior U.S. military official recently suggested a request might not come until March. “The later they come, the harder it is to respond to that,” Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the lead U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said in an interview late last week. If a request were made in March, he said, the United States “has committed to an enduring partnership with Iraq,” but he added that it would be more feasible for Iraqis to ask for help now, “while we have troops here and infrastructure here.” Since President Obama formally declared the start of Operation New Dawn last September, the U.S. military has shifted from combat missions to training Iraqi forces, conducting joint counterterrorism operations, patrolling Iraq’s skies and providing security for tens of thousands of U.S. diplomats and contractors. Security for U.S. civilians will shift next year to private security firms, but Maliki and others have suggested that training, air defense and border patrol operations could be part of a new security agreement. Panetta and other top officials have said the United States is willing to continue such operations, but only if the Iraqis formally request them. Estimates quoted in recent news reports suggest anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000 troops would stay on into 2012. Any agreement would have to include guarantees of legal immunity for U.S. forces, according to U.S. officials. But such legal protections are a non-starter for many Iraqi politicians wary of a prolonged U.S. military presence, and their resistance is complicating Maliki’s attempts to secure a vote on the issue in parliament. The prime minister — managing a fragile political alliance that relies on the support of the anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr — appears to hope that an up-or-down vote on the issue would force his rivals to share in any potential political fallout. Instead, some Iraqi lawmakers are now pushing Maliki to bypass parliament by having the defense and interior ministries sign new agreements with the U.S. military that would allow training and counterterrorism operations to continue. “We don’t need to go to parliament, because it can be done under the government authorities,” said Khalid al-Asadi, a legislator from Maliki’s State of Law coalition. But if the Iraqi military needs more than training and border protection assistance, “we’ll need parliament’s endorsement, which I think would be difficult,” Asadi said. American officials familiar with the proposal said it is one of several options the Iraqis are discussing but stressed that any agreement will need to include legal immunity for troops. U.S. troop fatalities: June was the deadliest month in two years for U.S. troops in Iraq. (Alicia Parlapiano/The Washington Post) Other Iraqi lawmakers will not even discuss how to ask the Americans to stay — they simply want them gone. “We need them to leave the country at the end of this year,” said Rafea Abdul Jabbar Nushi, a Sadrist legislator. “The government tries to find excuses to let them stay under the cover of embassy protectors or as trainers for the security forces, but we reject all of these,” Nushi said. In far-off southern Basra province, meanwhile, the provincial governor, Khalef Abdul Samed, said any future U.S. military presence should focus only on protecting Iraq’s air space and borders. “I need the Americans with civilian suits, not military uniforms,” Samed said, saying the United States should turn its efforts to economic investment and rebuilding schools. After eight years of war, “we wish to have children thinking of education, not of violence,” he said. “We need the Americans’ help with that.” Alwan is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Asaad Majeed contributed to this report.

After the 9/11 attacks it was revealed that U.S. intelligence agencies, specifically the FBI and CIA, knew of a plot to hijack passenger jets and use them as guided missiles. Ultimately, al Qaeda hijackers would fly planes into into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and probably either the White House or Capitol Building in Washington DC. The plan was well orchestrated and executed by America’s premier enemy. It was the most outrageous, brazen, daring attack on the American homeland since Pearl Harbor, notwithstanding the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995. ADVERTISEMENT In the aftermath, as we began to wrap our collective heads around what had happened, and as President Bush famously put his arm around the firefighter at Ground Zero and vowed through a bullhorn to bring the terrorists to justice, and as “America’s Mayor,” Rudy Giuliani, hugged and blew kisses to all Americans, the dismal information started to drizzle in. In bits and pieces we began to learn how our intelligence agencies let this catastrophe slip through their fingers. A Congressional report found that agencies failed to share intelligence with among one other about the hijackers and the planned attack. They disgraced themselves, they let us down, “big time” as President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE might say. The FBI knew about but did not pursue the eventual hijackers. The CIA certainly saw the red flags. They saw it coming from far enough away to have prevented it. Former Defense Secretary: I don't believe Trump is getting daily intelligence briefingshttps://t.co/Oy6agXvOax pic.twitter.com/NpfHQkhHyO — The Hill (@thehill) December 4, 2016 The intelligence ground work was good, it was accurate, but interagency sibling rivalry and intra-agency competition … along with jealousy, egos, apathy and inaction all got in the way of this information being used to either prevent the attack or lessen the damages. As a result of the competition and mistrust between our own intelligence agencies against themselves, in what must be a vicious and uncompromising chain of command, nearly 3,000 innocent Americans died on an otherwise beautiful, routine September workday morning. Is there any wonder or question why President Trump is being cautious about these “intelligence briefings?” Our U.S. intelligence agencies have a history of rivalry and competition, and information manipulation. Their trustworthiness and accuracy is legitimately questionable. They, in conjunction with the White House, told us Saddam Hussein had “weapons of mass destruction.” This inaccurate information played into the political agenda of the Bush administration, and the result was another embarrassing, devastating chapter in American history. Is there any question why President Trump is swimming upstream against the tide of intelligence agency inaccuracy, and political as well as self-serving, agendas? The NSA told us they would not and did not tap into Americans’ personal telephone calls and internet accounts. They lied. There is simply no other way to put it. Trump suggests he doesn't need daily intelligence briefings: "I'm, like, a smart person."https://t.co/TEGHqhLpZN pic.twitter.com/6yb38ZvRab — The Hill (@thehill) December 11, 2016 Is there any question why President Trump is taking a hard line on his view of the U.S. intelligence community? For all the good our intelligence agencies do and have done, it is compromised by a history of human compromise. At the onset of World War II, British intelligence agencies revealed a plot of collaboration between Japan and Germany. British double agents were used to unravel the information, and their services were offered to the American FBI agency. With unprecedented arrogance, egomania, and jealousy — and a personal agenda of career advancement and legacy — J. Edgar Hoover, then head of the FBI, allegedly suppressed information that revealed the attack on Pearl Harbor. The information was part of a questionnaire the British double agent was given by his German handlers on behalf of the Japanese. In August of 1941, a British double agent was sent to the U.S. on a mission by Germany to obtain specific information regarding U.S. troops, munitions, aircraft, armament, fuel storage, etc., including very specific information about Pearl Harbor’s protection and defense capabilities. J. Edgar Hoover, head of Americas’ FBI, apparently didn’t trust the agent and declined to pass on much of the warning to the White House. The Michigan State University historians who published the evidence, originally found in FBI documents and documents in the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidential library, wrote that Hoover paid more attention to his own ego and self advancement by stealing the undercover work and espionage secrets: "Hoover wanted to look good to the president and gain points against his rivals — namely, the other U.S. intelligence agencies and MI6 (British intelligence).” Hoover underscored his mistrust of the British agencies either unwittingly or by design, by promoting mistrust of his Brit counterpart agencies, by showing the British double agent the door and reporting all this to President Roosevelt. This historical information is also offered in a new book by Larry Loftis, “Into the Lion’s Mouth,” but the pattern proven time and time again in our own era and experience. So, is it any wonder why President Trump is critical and looking closely at the U.S. intelligence community? Or why he is taking a fresh new approach to an entire governmental system seemingly laid waste by complacency and incompetence, and much worse, by politics and arrogance? Trump may be headed for the biggest screw-up in American history, but we elected him. We owe it to ourselves to give him the benefit of the doubt. Let’s not second guess his intent or methods. He’s different from the standard fare politicians we’re used to; that’s why we elected him. His curiosity and caution moving forward may either get him impeached, or, in time, render him the most beloved president in U.S. history. The times we live in present little other choice. John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah. The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill. Follow The Hill's Transition Tracker for the latest on nominations and appointments to the Donald Trump administration.

Here’s the new bottom line: we now have a blueprint of what works for the vanguard of the Left. It was simple enough for them to figure out. And powerfully satisfying. (Or, as one organizer put it, “stunningly successful.”) No more plodding through the difficult work of making arguments. Persuasion is merely an irritating waste of time, especially for those who never mastered the skill. Better just to burn things. Having studied the videos of the “demonstration” at UC Berkeley last week, I was impressed by the high level of furious, directed, violence. This makes the end game very difficult to control. For example, if people keep beating an opponent who is lying motionless on the asphalt (while a mob screams “Beat his ass!”), they cannot know if he will ever get back up. Blasting pepper spray in a woman’s face (even while she is being interviewed for the TV news) may also have unpredictable consequences, if applied to someone who is particularly vulnerable. The shock troops are not running their protests with the precision of a medical trial, in other words. Likewise, their firebombs are tricky to control in crowded spaces. For the fascist anti-fascist, it makes no difference. It’s time, they say, to pronounce their righteous judgment: “Racist, Homophobe, Fascist, (fill in your favorite uninformative epithet),” and start swinging. As I watch this crowd, I begin to understand better how those ISIS guys recruit: “We’re so obviously right, why should we bother making the effort of explaining why our enemies are wrong? Let’s cut to the emotional payoff, where we punish those evil people. Now that we’re in charge, it’s time to stop talking and start meting out our justice. The more public it is, the better.” Of course, the fascist anti-fascists are unaware of what they share with ISIS. They are feeling pretty good about themselves. They now know with certainty they can shut down anyone who might still have the temerity to disagree with them. But all my good liberal friends carefully miss the point of these events, which have nothing to do with free speech. That fine concept has been dead for many years. It died as soon as progressives decided it was only for their allies, and not their reactionary enemies. If you want to know where university administrators like Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks stand, be sure to watch what they do, not what they say. You might also want to check if some of the most violent protesters turn out to be university leaders themselves. This is not your father’s ’60s. Those protests mainly aimed to get attention and irritate everyone. Some rioters I saw first-hand in 1972 did attack police, but it was not for their opinions. It was rather because those ‘authority’ figures got in their way. But having ridden that success for 50 years, today’s protesters are going for something deeper. They already wield authority at Berkeley, and most elite higher-ed outposts around the country. Today they are looking to enforce their way. That means punishment. The fascist anti-fascist leagues no longer need words to express their views. They do listen to words, since that helps them identify their enemies—the ones deserving physical punishment. Milo Yiannopoulos’s appearances are perfect for this. He provides a convenient smokescreen for the real goals of overturning election results and removing political opposition. The actual story from Berkeley and around the country is that violence is working. It is the fascist anti-fascists’ easy path to power, to enforce their will and obtain the demands on their long and growing lists. To my knowledge, it has not failed once. Indeed, using it wins only praise and admiration from the various constituencies (e.g., illiberal liberal academics) they care about. Secret cash payments also may be available. The “protesters” don’t even need courage, since they hide behind black masks. They can freely attack opponents, even with police standing around. All they need is unquestioning eagerness for personal violence. If done swiftly, setting a few examples should be effective. The only problem is that once it starts, it’s hard to control—even assuming none of the unarmed victims try to fight back. So here is a clear prediction: the enforcement riots/”protests” will intensify. Anywhere enemies can be found raising their heads, the protesters’ violent responses will build on, and outdo previous successes. This will unintentionally result in the crippling or death of one of the victims. Berkeley’s “black bloc” militia got lucky this did not happen with them. Sooner or later, though, it is inevitable.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators should examine whether a controversial class of chemicals found in many plastic products including children’s toys can hurt people, a panel of experts said on Thursday. Shoppers Claudia Villagomez (L) and her daughter Amanda, 14, stock up on toys at a Target store in Chicago November 23, 2007. REUTERS/John Gress A panel of the independent National Research Council said the scientific evidence justifies an Environmental Protection Agency assessment of the health effects from cumulative exposure to chemicals known as phthalates. Phthalates, which make plastic products soft and flexible, have been used commercially for decades. They are different from another chemical, bisphenol A, or BPA, found in plastic products including baby bottles that has also come under health scrutiny. The Food and Drug Administration says BPA is safe at current levels of exposure but plans more research. Animal studies cited by the panel indicated that exposure to phthalates affected male reproductive system development. Some phthalates reduce levels of the male hormone testosterone. Studies also link phthalates to liver cancer, the panel said. If the EPA does an assessment, it could lead to new regulations on products with phthalates, the panel said. “If we don’t do this as a cumulative risk assessment focused on these adverse effects, we’re going to be underestimating risks,” said panel chairwoman, Deborah Cory-Slechta of the University of Rochester. Phthalates have been used in toys, cosmetics, personal-care products, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cleaning and building materials. They have been found in products such as teethers and pacifiers that babies put in their mouths. President George W. Bush signed a law this year banning three types of phthalates in children’s toys and child care items, except for minute amounts, while temporarily banning three others pending further study. The same six phthalates have been banned in European toys for nearly a decade. Related Coverage FACTBOX: Chemical concerns phthalates and bisphenol A Chris Bryant of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, expressed concern about the panel’s recommendations, saying Congress had already asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to conduct a risk assessment on phthalates. Bryant said the panel’s proposal for such a broad EPA risk assessment “essentially could result in a study without limits, financially or otherwise.” Some retailers including Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have announced plans to phase out phthalates in toys.

Image copyright OCEARCH / ROBERT SNOW Image caption Lydia was satellite-tagged off the coast of Florida last year, allowing scientists to track her movements The first great white shark seen to cross from one side of the Atlantic to the other may be pregnant, says the head of the expedition tracking her. At the weekend, the satellite-tagged fish, called Lydia, crossed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which marks a rough boundary line between east and west. She has now turned towards the UK, but it is unclear where she will go next. Chris Fischer told the BBC he thought she was pregnant and heading for birthing grounds in the Mediterranean. Mr Fischer, who is expedition leader and founding chairman of the Ocearch shark tagging venture, said that if Lydia continued on to Europe or Africa, she was likely to become "more coastal". If we're going to look after some of these magnificent apex predators - the lions of the oceans - we're all going to have to work together. No one country can do it Chris Fischer, Founding chairman, Ocearch He told BBC News: "I certainly think that it's possible for Lydia to make it to the UK." But he said that he could not know if that was where she was heading. Mr Fischer said there had been sightings of great white sharks in UK waters before, but added: "I think these were anecdotal versus a documented presence. So hopefully we'll be able to help with that." On Sunday (GMT) , Ocearch announced that Lydia had crossed the ridge into the eastern Atlantic. And although it is often argued that the waters of these isles are too cold for the sharks, Mr Fischer cast doubt on this. "One thing we have learnt just in the last year with sharks in the Atlantic is what we used to think was too cold simply is not," he said. "Lydia has come over from Nova Scotia [in eastern Canada]... These sharks have the capacity to deal with very cold water temperatures for long periods." But he said: "If I had to guess, I would guess that Lydia is pregnant, and that she has been out in the open ocean gestating her babies, and that this spring she will lead us to where those baby white sharks are born - the nursery." Mr Fischer, who has led numerous ocean expeditions, added: "If you forced me to guess where that was, I'd say it was over in the Mediterranean, near Turkey... but that's longball I'm playing. She could turn around right now and head back to Florida." Image copyright OCEARCH / ROBERT SNOW Image caption Chris Fischer described Lydia as "super-healthy" and reproductively mature He said that small white sharks had been observed in the Aegean Sea before, but scientists working on the team did not share his view. This was because preliminary analysis of blood samples from Lydia suggested she was not pregnant at the time of her tagging. But Mr Fischer defended his theory, saying there were still uncertainties over the way that white sharks become pregnant, adding: "The sperm from the male comes in a packet with a shell on it. They can carry it around for a while until a special organ inside them breaks down the shell and they get pregnant. "We know it's 18 months from when we discover the breeding aggregation to when they lead us to the nursery... What we don't know is how long do they carry that sperm packet and how long is it until their body breaks down the shell." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Marine biologist Dr Gregory Skomal tells 5 live: "We're as surprised as anyone" Lydia is now roughly 1,600km (1,000 miles) from the western coasts of Ireland and Britain, and nearly 4,800km from Jacksonville, Florida, where the tracking device was attached to her in March last year. The young female shark has travelled more than 30,500km since last year. The Ocearch project was initiated to gather data on the movements, biology and health of sharks for conservation purposes as well as for public safety and education. The scientists have been using a custom-built 34,000kg (75,000lb) capacity hydraulic platform, operated from their research vessel the M/V Ocearch, to safely lift mature sharks so that researchers can tag and study them. Image copyright OCEARCH Image caption Rizzilient's satellite tag now shows a location on land, in northern Portugal Lydia was on the platform for 15 minutes, during which researchers extracted blood for analysis and performed an ultrasound examination, in addition to attaching the tag. Mr Fischer described Lydia as "super-healthy" at the time of her tagging. "I would say she's just been sexually mature for a short period of time, which would put her in her 20s," he said. "She looked like she had a bright future ahead of her - but I never would have dreamed she would lead us over to your neighbourhood. "It just shows that if we're going to look after some of these magnificent apex predators - the lions of the oceans - we're all going to have to work together. No one country can do it." Indeed, the threats currently facing shark species were illustrated when one of Ocearch's tagged animals - a 5ft-long female mako shark called Rizzilient - was apparently caught by commercial fishermen. The most recent fix for Rizzilient's satellite tag shows her on land, in the coastal city of Povoa de Varzim in northern Portugal. Millions of sharks die each year as by-catch or through targeted hunting to remove their fins, which are highly prized in parts of Asia for use in shark fin soup and as traditional cures. The Ocearch project has now tagged nearly 150 sharks, including not just great whites, but mako, hammerhead, tiger sharks and other species. Mr Fischer said one of the project's aims was to move away from the often competitive nature of academic research where data is proprietary. "One of the things we wanted to do [with Ocearch] is disrupt the whole way research like this normally works," he said. "The data is totally open-source, this is multi-institution and multidiscipline." He added: "The great thing about this is that the whole world gets to watch... people feel inspired when they're part of something." Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter

Animal Charity Evaluators updates our recommendations each year on December 1. This year we’re proud to announce that our top charities are Animal Equality, Mercy For Animals, and The Humane League – the same organizations that we selected last year. All three groups continue to operate in an effective fashion and showed substantial growth over the past year. We are satisfied that they continue to use increased funds, including those generated from ACE’s recommendation, in strategic and effective ways. Top Charities Animal Equality continues to have a large reach given their limited resources, and we are impressed with their level of presence and exposure. They have recently established an office in the United States and hired individuals for seven new positions spanning five different countries over the course of 2015. We think they have a strategic approach to growth and continue to optimize their use of resources to benefit animals in an effective manner, as they use key performance indicators to monitor performance across a wide range of projects and then make changes as necessary. Mercy For Animals used additional resources to develop new programs such as the Good Food Institute, a project intended to create and promote plant-based alternatives to animal products. They also increased spending on online ads and created resources for especially important international areas like China and India. They made decisions not to expand efforts in certain areas based on concerns of oversaturation, which shows that they are thinking strategically about their initiatives. We are confident that they will continue to evaluate these new projects and make sound decisions about where to spend additional funds. The Humane League opened two new offices in 2015 and created several specialized leadership roles within the organization. Having noted considerable success with their corporate campaigns, they increased spending in that department by hiring four new campaign staff members. They published the results of new studies via Humane League Labs, providing their findings to the public for free. The Humane League continues to impress us with their dedication to evaluating their internal programs and increasing spending in more impactful areas, such as their decision to direct resources from cage-free initiatives to Meatless Mondays campaigns. Standout Charities In addition to our top charities, we’re also pleased to announce that we’ve added five new organizations to our list of standout charities: Animal Ethics, Animals Australia, Faunalytics, New Harvest, and the Nonhuman Rights Project. In conjunction with our standout charities from last year – Albert Schweitzer Foundation, Farm Animal Rights Movement, HSUS Farm Animal Protection Campaign, and Vegan Outreach – this brings our total number of standout charities to nine. The growth of our list of standout charities this year reveals a difference in how we treat our top and standout categories. We keep the number of top charities to two or three to avoid confusion and allow donors to clearly see all our top recommendations. As with last year, however, we did not impose a limit this year on the number of charities in our standout category. We use this category to recognize a larger number of groups that are either doing especially good work in an area that we recognize as being effective, or that are working in areas that we feel are under-addressed and potentially able to alleviate suffering on an especially large scale. We feel confident that the charities we have selected this year fit into this category, and we’re glad to recognize all of them. Reviews You can find medium depth reviews for all of the charities that we recommend on our website. Additionally, we undertook our first deep review in our evaluation of The Humane League. This deeper assessment involved many additional conversations with THL stakeholders, including staff, volunteers, board members, donors, and those that have invited THL to speak at their school. We chose THL for this review because we were most familiar with their work, they have been particularly inviting of evaluation in the past, and they willingly share all materials that we request. Our deep review of THL helped inform us as to the value of conducting this level of analysis on animal advocacy groups in the future, and we will share our thinking on that matter in the coming months. Looking Ahead We continue to learn more about our evaluation process each time we revise our recommendations, and this year was no exception. We are composing a series of pages explaining our thinking on our process in more detail, and anticipate that being available in the first half of 2016. We are also planning to dedicate time to reconsidering our criteria during the first few months of 2016 to determine if there are ways we can strengthen our evaluation process. We also want to improve the ways we can accurately measure our own successes and failures. Our impact over the past year was substantial for our top charities, as we influenced over $500,000 in giving to them so far in 2015. However, that only includes donations that we are aware of, and we think the number would reasonably be higher if we were able to track donations in every way that we would like. To that end, we implemented a donation redistribution option over the summer that allows donors to support our top charities directly through our donation platform on our site, and we are hopeful that service will continue to assist us with tracking the amount of money that we’ve influenced in giving to these groups. We hope to develop other means for measuring impact in the coming year. As always, we invite feedback on our process and recommendations, either in the comments below or by contacting us directly. We greatly appreciate the cooperation of all groups involved with our evaluation process. We hope that our reports give them insight on how to improve their work, and that our findings provide value to all animal advocates looking to do the greatest good with their time and money.

Audi is introducing a "piloted driving" system, which can steer, accelerate, and brake the vehicle by itself in driving at speeds up to 37 mph. As we've heard the automaker mention before, Audi envisions the car being capable of moving itself in and out of parking spaces in the street or in parking garages. If you're forced to park your precious A7 in a tight parking space and won't have much room to open the doors once you've fit into the space, technology like this would make it possible to exit the vehicle before the car moves itself into the space. When the car reaches its final parking position, it turns off the engine, locks the doors, and sends a confirmation to the driver. On the road, the autonomous driving technology is said to be capable of controlling speed and distance from other cars from speeds ranging from 0-155 mph. When the car comes to a stop, it will automatically accelerating again but if the stop is especially long, the driver must tap the gas pedal to get going again. The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show also hosts Audi's announcement that it will offer 4G LTE wireless connectivity in cars like the upcoming A3. Aside from providing Wi-Fi hotspot access for up to eight devices, the technology will allow for Google Earth and Google Maps Street View graphics streamed to the vehicle when using the navigation system. Audi connect can also read emails to the driver and dictate text messages. Before the end of 2013, Audi will start offering LTE connectivity in its range in Europe and, probably, in a similar timeframe in the U.S. The new Audi A3 also appears at CES showing off the automaker's revised MMI that features a control wheel with a touch-sensitive field; we've seen a similar option on the A8. Though American customers may appreciate the ability to write letters or numbers for navigation input, Audi says the tech may be especially useful for Asian customers as it can discern tens of thousands of characters. The navigation information on the Audi A3 is displayed on a seven-inch screen backlit with LEDs. What intrigues us more is Audi's 3-D display technology. Based on data from a small camera monitoring the driver's eye movements, Audi claims an 11.6-inch display will show a perfect 3-D image. Another part of the feature involves the capability of multiple people seeing 3-D images in the same screen. We've seen Audis before with speakers that pop up from the corners of the dash; at CES this year, the Audi Q7 sound concept had 23 speakers and an output of about 1400 watts. Audi says the system provides "3-D sound" and will be available on a new car probably at some point in 2014. Source: Audi

If more of us would only use cell phones, Canada might be the best country in the world. As it stands, we’re a not-too-shabby second on the newly released 2016 Social Progress Index, trailing only Finland and far ahead of the United States, a much richer nation that staggers in at No. 19. The index, published by the Social Progress Imperative, a U.S.-based nonprofit, uses 53 indicators to measure such things as health care, housing, policing, personal rights and tolerance in 133 countries. Canada ranks first or ties for first on 13 of those indicators. “Canada is unequivocally one of the world’s most socially progressive countries and one of the best countries in the world to live,” said Michael Green, the index’s director. “Second is a very impressive performance,’ Green said in an interview. “It does in a way dispel this myth that it’s only the Nordic countries that can do well on social progress.” We might even have knocked off those pesky Finns for first overall but for a 25th place ranking on access to information and communications, a score depressed by our seriously low level of cell phone subscriptions (we rank 102nd globally). “That’s a very simple aspect of social progress to fix,” Green said. “Many other countries, much poorer than Canada, have got much better levels of mobile phone subscriptions.” If we can improve that and a couple of other measures, Green said, “Perhaps top spot is beckoning.” Here’s a closer look at the Social Progress Index and Canada’s ranking on it: What we do well Canada ranks first in the world in access to advanced education, due in part to our 27 globally ranked universities, the high number of college students who go on to study at top universities (47 per cent) and the number of years women spend in school (an average of 15.5). “Canada’s a clear number one there,” Green said. We also have the lowest level of violent crime and lead the world when it comes to religious tolerance. Tolerance, in fact, is one of our strong suits: we’re second-best in our view of immigrants and third most tolerant towards homosexuals. Though we’re No. 2 on personal rights, we scored first on all but one of the indicators that make up that measure, including political rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Where we fall short Aside from our low number of cell phones per person, we also lag on the environmental quality measure, ranking 32nd overall – second to last among G7 countries, ahead of only the U.S. We’re dragged down by high greenhouse gas emissions (77th) and poor protection of our biodiversity and habitat (90th). As in many countries, obesity is an issue in Canada, though we’re doing OK – 13th in the world – on the broader health and welfare measure. (The U.S. ranks a dismal 68th.) “Every country in the world is struggling with the issue of obesity,” Green said. “If you could solve that for next year, that would be a spectacular result to the world. But it might be a big challenge,” he acknowledged dryly. Has our ranking improved? Hard to say. We were number five last year, but methodological changes mean the 2016 index is not comparable to the one in 2015. Besides, the top 12 countries are quite tightly clustered, so small changes can lead to big changes in the rankings. Why should we care? While social progress broadly increases with GDP per capita, Green said, “GDP is not the whole story. There are a whole bunch of other things that matter. “If you’re a policy maker, having a Social Policy Index to sit alongside your GDP figures can actually help you understand when and how economic growth is being turned into social progress.” With Canada gearing up for its sesquicentennial in 2017, adopting the index would “fit in quite nicely with what Canada wants to be in the future,” Green said. “A measure of what people’s real quality of life is, to complement economic prosperity, can be really powerful.” dbutler@postmedia.com twitter.com/ButlerDon

Daniell Staskos sentenced to mandatory 6 months in jail over police officer assault Updated A Perth woman has been sentenced to six months in jail for assaulting a police officer, with the magistrate noting he had no option as the charge carries a mandatory minimum term. Daniell Brook Staskos was found guilty of assaulting the female officer by biting her on the thigh and hitting her in the face in Fremantle in January 2013. The policewoman was one of three officers who detained Staskos after she became involved in an argument with her former boyfriend. The offence of assaulting a police officer causing bodily harm carries a mandatory six-month jail term in Western Australia. However, before sentencing, Staskos lodged an appeal against her conviction and the verdict was overturned by a Supreme Court judge, who ruled the arrest had been unlawful because Staskos had not been told on what grounds she was being detained. But prosecutors successfully challenged that ruling in the Court of Appeal and the conviction was reinstated. In a final bid, Staskos lodged an appeal in the High Court but the court refused to hear the case. Magistrate Steven Malley said he had read a number of character referrals and was satisfied that Staskos' actions on the night of the assault were out of character but his hands were tied when it came to sentencing. "I'm guided by Parliament as to this sentence," Mr Malley said. "Normally imprisonment would not be my only option. But it doesn't matter if the Queen sends you a referral, I'm bound by the legislation." An emotional Staskos was flanked by several family and friends as she arrived at Fremantle Court for sentencing. Some screamed and sobbed as Mr Malley handed down his sentencing. One called out "be strong" as Staskos was taken into custody. Supporters heckle Staskos' victim Police Union president George Tilbury was joined in court today by Kelly Robinson, the officer assaulted by Staskos. Both were heckled by supporters of Ms Staskos outside court, prompting a call for police assistance, however the crowd dispersed shortly before extra officers arrived. Mr Tilbury said the sentencing sent a strong message to the community and came as a relief to Senior Constable Robinson. "Biting anyone is a disgusting act but to do it to a police officer is unforgivable," he said. "This case has been in every criminal court in the land, but we finally have the correct outcome. "It's good to see the offender has now gone to prison, which is what should occur when anyone bites and punches a police officer and causes them bodily harm. "We've seen today by the comments made by the magistrate that the judiciary are reluctant to sentence people who assault police officers to imprisonment. "This is exactly why Parliament had to intervene, and we pushed for many years to have mandatory sentencing introduced." Mr Tilbury said the incident had taken a toll on Senior Constable Robinson and her family. "She's glad it has come to a conclusion," he said. Topics: law-crime-and-justice, assault, perth-6000 First posted

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Even though it’s been a dry day in the Oakland Hills, water continues to seep out of a hillside with homes on it, causing a landslide. The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) said it is their treated water coming from a leak somewhere above. EBMUD spokeswoman Tracie Morales-Noisy said, “We’re currently listening for leaks in an area where there are aging pipes. These pipes are about 60 years old.” Leak detection specialists drilled holes, even dug up the ground to inspect nearby pipes, but couldn’t find any leaks. Morales-Noisy said crews were installing sound devices today so that they can listen for leaks at night, when it’s the most quiet. Homeowner Kevin Best watched the hillside on Oak Hill Road go down more than a week ago. The next day, a land surveyor he hired got stuck knee-deep in the mud and firefighters had to pull the man out. Best said he just hopes his house won’t get swallowed up. “Your house is your security. Anytime that security is invaded it’s pretty difficult,” Best said. “We’re weathering the storm, no pun intended.” Across the bay, a home near Mount Davidson in San Francisco, had to be demolished before it could slide down the hill and onto houses below. That homeowner has said he suspects a leaking 8-inch water main caused the landslide, but that the city is investigating and hasn’t yet claimed responsibility.

Obama can’t defeat ISIS with soft power, though ISIS could beat him with soft power assuming its Caliph ever decided to agree to sit down at a table with John Kerry without beheading him. Iran has picked up billions in sanctions relief and the right to take over Yemen and raid ships in international waters in the Persian Gulf just for agreeing to listen to Kerry talk for an hour. And that might be a fair exchange. As bad as having your capital or ship seized by Iran is, listening to John Kerry talk is even worse. If ISIS were to agree to a deal, it could pick up Baghdad and Damascus just in exchange for showing up. All it would have to do is find a Jihadi who hasn’t chopped off any heads on camera to present as a moderate. The administration and its media operatives would accuse anyone who disagreed of aiding the ISIS hardliners at the expense of the ISIS moderates who also represent the hardliners. If Obama did that, he would at least lose in a way that he understands; instead of in a way he doesn’t. So far ISIS has preferred the classical approach of killing everything in its path. The approach, deemed insufficiently nuanced by masters of subtlety like Obama and Kerry, has worked surprisingly well. Their response, which is big on the Bush arsenal of drone strikes, Special Forces raids and selective air strikes, hasn’t. But Bush was fighting terrorist groups, not unrecognized states capable of taking on armies. It’s hard to destroy something if you don’t know what it is. And it’s hard to know what a thing is if you won’t even call it by its name or name its ideology. The left loves root causes, but the root cause of ISIS isn’t poverty, unemployment or a lack of democracy. It’s Islam. The Islamic State isn’t unnatural. Its strength comes from being an organic part of the region, the religion and its culture. Its Arab enemies have performed so poorly fighting it because their institutions, their governments and their armies are unstable imitations of Western entities. The United States can’t make the Iraqi army work because Iraq isn’t America. The assumptions about meritocracy, loyalty to comrades and initiative that make our military work are foreign in Iraq and Afghanistan where the fundamental unit is not the nation, but the tribe, clan and group. Iraq and Syria aren’t countries; they’re collections of quarreling tribes that were forced into an arrangement that included the forms of Western government without any of the substance. When the Europeans left, kingdoms quickly became military juntas. Now the juntas are fighting for survival against Islamic insurgencies that are striving to return the region to what it was in the days of Mohammed. ISIS is the ultimate decolonization effort. It’s what the left claims that it wants. But real decolonization means stripping away everything the Europeans brought, including constitutions, labor unions and elections. The cities that ISIS controls have been truly decolonized. There is no music, there are no rights, slavery is back and every decision is made by a cleric with a militia or a militia leader with a cleric. That’s Mohammed. It’s the Koran. It’s Islam. ISIS, or something very much like it, was always waiting to reemerge out of the chaos. Before ISIS, there were the Wahhabi armies of the Ikhwan which did most of the same things as ISIS. The British bombed them to pieces in the 1920s and the remainder became the Saudi Arabian National Guard. The insistence on democratic institutions weakened the military juntas holding back Islamist insurgencies. Islamists took power across the region. Where they couldn’t win elections, they went to war. But whether they won on the battlefield or the ballot box, violence and instability followed them. The fundamental mistake of the Arab Spring was the failure to understand that Islamist democracy is still a road leading to the Caliphate. Turkey’s Erdogan, the Islamist whose rule was used to prove that Islamist democracy can work, now openly promotes the reestablishment of the Ottoman Empire. Or as Mullah Krekar of Ansar Al-Islam put it, “The resistance is not only a reaction to the American invasion; it is part of the continuous Islamic struggle since the collapse of the Caliphate. All Islamic struggles since then are part of one organized efforts to bring back the Caliphate.” A decade later, the Norwegian Jihadist leader has proven to be more accurate than his Western hosts. ISIS is not a reaction. It’s the underlying pathology in the Muslim world. Everything planted on top of that, from democracy to dictatorships, from smartphones to soft drinks, suppresses the disease. But the disease is always there. The left insists that Western colonialism is the problem. But the true regional alternative to Western colonialism is slavery, genocide and the tyranny of Jihadist bandit armies. Our policy for fighting ISIS is colonialism by another name. We are trying to reform Iraqi institutions in line with our values and build a viable Iraqi military along the lines of our own military. We’re doing much of what the British were doing, but without their financial interests or imperial ambitions. ISIS is not a military force. It is a cultural one. Much of its success has come from its cultural appeal. And all of this is reluctantly overseen by Barack Obama; the progressive campaigner against colonialism. To deal with a problem, we must be honest about what it is and what we are doing about it. If we lie to ourselves, we cannot and will not succeed. After the failure of democracy and political Islam, Obama has been forced to return to what works. Islamization has failed and so we are back to trying Westernization. The missing element is admitting that Islamization has failed because Islam was the problem all along. The West is the solution. But institutional Westernization that that never goes beyond a few government offices and military officers won’t work. Neither will the attempt to artificially inject a few big ideas such as democracy into an undemocratic tribal culture. The only alternative to depending on military juntas is transforming the people. Sunni Gulf Arabs responded to their military and economic dependence on the West with a largely successful campaign to Islamize the West. The West won a culture war with the USSR. It is capable of winning one with Saudi Arabia. It has even unintentionally won a culture war with Iran. ISIS is not a military force. It is a cultural one. Much of its success has come from its cultural appeal. As long as the Middle East is defined in terms of Islam, some variation of the Islamic State or the Muslim Brotherhood bent on recreating the Caliphate will continue reemerging. We can accept that and give up, but the growing number of Muslim migrants and settlers mean that it will emerge in our country as well. We have a choice between Islamization and de-Islamization. After defeating Saddam, we pursued the de-Baathization of Iraq. If we are going to intervene in the Muslim world, it should not be to reward one Islamist group, whether it’s Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood, at the expense of another. Instead we must carve out secular spaces by making it clear that our support is conditional on civil rights for Christians, non-believers and other non-Muslims. Our most potent weapon isn’t the jet, it’s our culture. We disrupt Islamists with our culture even when we aren’t trying. Imagine what we could accomplish if we really tried. But first we must abandon the idea that we need to take sides in Islamic civil wars. Any intervention we undertake should be conditioned on a reciprocal degree of de-Islamization from those governments that we are protecting. Instead of pursuing democracy, we should strengthen non-Islamic and counter-Islamic forces in the Muslim world. We can’t beat ISIS with Islam and we can’t fight for freedom while endorsing constitutions that make Sharia law into the law of the land in places like Iraq and Libya. We don’t only need to defeat ISIS. We must defeat the culture that makes ISIS inevitable.

Mayor John Tory was the main attraction at a Scarborough town hall Monday evening that felt more like a rally where he directly implored residents to support the plan to build a single subway stop extension costing at least $3.35 billion. “I’m going to try and make the case to you for why what we’re doing is the right thing to do,” Tory told the room of more than 150 at the Centennial Recreation Centre in Scarborough. He asked them to contact his council colleagues with that message. Mayor John Tory speaks to Scarborough resident Sandra Campbell at a town hall on transit at the Centennial Recreation Centre in Scarborough Monday evening. ( JENNIFER PAGLIARO / Toronto Star ) “We are ending years of indecision and waffling with transit across the city.” Tory framed an upcoming vote at council to advance the subway plan as the last stand in an ongoing “war” waged by advocates of an alternative light-rail plan that would see a network of LRTs built across the region –– including a seven-stop LRT that was to be fully funded by the province to replace the aging Scarborough RT. He was joined by local politicians from both city hall and the province who also pushed support for a subway, citing projected future job growth in a region that has fallen well behind other urban centres in both commercial and residential development. Article Continued Below “I think we’ve waited long enough,” said Scarborough Centre MPP and Ontario’s Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid. “The time for talk is over.” Those arguments received raucous applause from the local crowd. But when it came time for questions, the politicians were met with anxiety from residents over access to new transit. Many asked about the commitment to a 17-stop LRT along Eglinton Ave. East that was promised as part of the revised subway plan, whether it could be built at the same time, and if the city would ensure it would be funded. Last month, a staff report announced the cost of the one-stop extension had increased to $3.35 billion, not including financing and other necessary costs that staff calculations show could push the cost above the allotted $3.56 billion in funding from all three levels of government. Tory and senior staff originally promised both the subway extension and the Eglinton East LRT could be funded within that envelope. But with increases to cost estimates of the subway — what is still less than 5 per cent designed and at risk of further cost fluctuations — the LRT has been effectively priced out. The mayor has said he will look to the provincial and federal governments to make up the $1.6-billion funding shortfall, and earlier on Monday said without that line “we cannot truly serve the people of Scarborough.” On Monday evening he said the major “impediment” to building both lines was “money.” Duguid — who told Tory the subway will be cancelled over his “dead body” — earlier told the Scarborough Mirror there is no additional money available from the province for the LRT. He made no pledges to finance the LRT Monday night. Article Continued Below The city has applied for federal funding for the LRT line in the next round of infrastructure spending, which has yet to be announced. The list of funding requests forwarded from the city includes the TTC’s stated top priority project, the relief line for the overcrowded Yonge-University subway — which is estimated to cost at least $6.8 billion for the first leg and is thus far completely unfunded. One woman asked if there would be a new transit stop at Centennial College, which sponsored the event and whose Progress Ave. campus is located less than two kilometres from the recreation centre where the town hall was being held. Local councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38 Scarborough Centre) explained a station would not be built there. What was left unsaid is that the original plan to build a seven-stop LRT would have included a station at the Centennial College campus. With the subway, there is no plan to connect the school to rapid transit. FACTS ON THE ONE-STOP SUBWAY EXTENSION How many stops is the Scarborough plan? After council flip-flopped on a plan for the province to fully fund a seven-stop LRT, it approved a three-stop subway from Kennedy Station to Sheppard Ave. in 2013. That was revised in January 2016 to a one-stop extension to the Scarborough Town Centre. The city is also now proposing to build a 17-stop LRT extension of the Crosstown line currently under construction from Kennedy Station to the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. How much does it cost? Three levels of governments originally dedicated $3.56 billion to the three-stop subway plan, funding that remains in place today. It was originally stated that a one-stop subway and 17-stop Eglinton East LRT could be funded in the same envelope. Now that the subway is estimated to cost at least $3.35 billion on its own, the LRT is at least $1.4 billion short on available funding. Who’s paying for it? The province committed $1.48 billion (in 2010 dollars) originally pledged to the LRT; the federal government committed $660 million; and the city is meant to contribute $910 million. Of that city contribution, the majority is being raised through a special property tax from all Toronto residents that began in 2014 and will continue for the next 30 years. How many people will ride the extension? Ridership during the rush hour in the busiest direction is expected to be 7,400 per hour in 2031 — well below the accepted minimum threshold for a subway of 15,000 people and the maximum capacity of 36,000 people. The capacity of an LRT is 2,000 to 15,000 people per hour depending on the configuration. The daily ridership of the planned subway extension is expected to be 30,800 in 2031 — less than the SRT’s current daily ridership of nearly 39,000. Will I get where I’m going faster? City staff have estimated up to five minutes will be saved by replacing the existing Scarborough RT with a one-stop subway extension. That doesn’t include the elimination of a transfer at Kennedy Station. It also doesn’t factor in the bus trips for individual users, who may spend more time on a bus getting to a rapid transit station with the one-stop plan. It also doesn’t consider or compare the travel time of the original plan to build a seven-stop LRT to replace the SRT. Hasn’t council already voted on this? Since May 2013, there have been at least seven key votes on Scarborough transit. Though subway proponents have tried to blame a delay on LRT advocates, the delay has been exclusively related to staff reports not being ready on time, additional review of subway options recommended by staff, and regular processes involved with billions-dollar infrastructure projects. Read more about:

EMBED >More News Videos Video shows a police officer and a skateboarder colliding on Dolores Street Tuesday night during an informal skateboarding competition that drew hundreds of people to the Dolores Park. Skateboarders and RIOT police. An only in #sanfrancisco moment. From what I've heard the police are allowing them to take the street. pic.twitter.com/bQsOh5RCDh — DB (@BoyerDina) July 12, 2017 Things turned ugly when officers in riot gear responded to a large gathering of skaters. It happened at Dolores Park and impacted traffic within a one-block radius of the park.Just after 7 p.m. units tried breaking up a large crowd and say people started throwing things at officers. Two cruisers were vandalized.One officer was injured and taken to the hospital.Officers tried to block skaters on the street with their patrol cars. One person tried to skate around them and flipped over. At one point officers let the crowd continue to skate.At least one skater was also rushed to the hospital. Local artist Matt "Milanoart" shared video of what he says is Jake Phelps, editor of "Thrasher" magazine taking a nasty spill.The whole scene ended about two hours after police arrived.

Facebook ads are typically meant to sell you something. Tracking whether or not they actually work can be tricky, since people use Facebook on lots of different devices and often shop somewhere else altogether — like in an actual, physical retail store. To fix that problem, Facebook on Tuesday released an ad update specific to offline shopping. Facebook advertisers can now include an interactive map displaying their physical store locations as part of a carousel ad so users can find, and maybe even visit, the actual stores. Facebook will then use the phone’s location services to track how many users who saw the ad actually visited the store. Advertisers will then get that data to see if their Facebook ads attract shoppers to their brick-and-mortar stores. The final piece is connecting these shoppers with in-store purchases, which Facebook also wants to do. A new Facebook API, called the Offline Conversions API, works with a number of in-store sales systems from companies like Square and IBM to match their customer data with Facebook’s advertising data. The goal is to try and connect your in-store purchases back to an ad you may have come across in News Feed. The obvious incentive is that if Facebook can prove its ads drive sales, it will be able to sell more of them. And while lots of consumers shop online, most shopping still happens in brick-and-mortar stores. The U.S. Census Bureau found that e-commerce retail sales accounted for less than 8 percent of all retail spending in Q1 2016. So even though Facebook still wants to drive online sales, offline sales aren't bad business either. Whether or not these ads will actually work, or how accurately Facebook will be able to track them, is still a mystery. Last summer the company announced it was handing out beacons to retailers in the hopes of sending users info about those retailers as they walked past them. This new retail ad effort is not related, said Maz Sharafi, director for monetization product marketing at Facebook, who said that the beacon effort was about disseminating information, like reviews from your friends, but not advertisements. But Facebook clearly has interest in connecting with your local retailers in the real world, whether these efforts are intertwined now, or simply down the road. Update: Facebook isn’t the only company trying to get this offline purchase data, of course. Google is also measuring in-store visits, and has been for some time. Its employees want to remind you of that. Google's measured over 1B Store Visits in the 18 months since we've launched. Welcome to the store visits party @FB. https://t.co/jmWSi28Nfw — Jason Spero (@Speroman) June 14, 2016 Google has far greater local data for advertisers and than anyone else, which is why Facebook’s efforts around local matter to Google. Local search results are an important part of Google’s business! So you can bet Google is watching Facebook’s moves closely.

President Donald Trump has patently appropriated and employed numerous uniquely Nixonian methodologies since being inaugurated, according to a lawsuit filed by the Richard Nixon Foundation. Trump has “plagiarized and continues to plagiarize from Nixon’s presidency,” the nonprofit foundation responsible for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum claims in its suit. “Since taking office, Donald Trump has pirated Richard Milhous Nixon’s protected intellectual property by blatantly attempting to pattern his presidency after that of the 37th president of the United States,” the suit contends. The foundation — whose board members include Nixon’s two daughters and his brother — also claims it has legal standing to file such a suit since it is charged with preserving Nixon’s legacy, which it alleges is being severely diminished by Trump’s mimicking. “Trump is obviously copying the Nixon presidential playbook, but without a shred of Nixon’s shrewd intellect.” “It was one thing when then-candidate Trump parroted President Nixon by calling himself the ‘law and order candidate,’ or when he referred to African-Americans as ‘the blacks,'” said Caleb McCullough, the foundation’s attorney. “But since becoming president, Trump has increasingly said and done things that many people describe as ‘Nixonian,’ to the point he is violating intellectual property laws.” The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia cites several actions taken and behavioral patterns exhibited by Trump, including “firing the person leading an investigation against the president’s associates and/or the president himself, a total disregard for the rule of law in an attempt to consolidate power, an obsessive need to be loved, an obsessive need to control events and people, blatant animus toward the press, keeping an enemies list, and alluding to the existence of ‘tapes’ of secret White House recordings.” Additionally, McCullough described Trump welcoming Nixon’s Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the White House the day he fired FBI Director James Comey as “a gratuitous attempt to don the Nixon mantle.” “Richard Nixon may have engaged in less-than-honorable activities as president, but at least he never resorted to plagiarizing someone else’s administration. He worked too hard creating his own legacy for some political Johnny-come-lately to steal his work,” McCullough stated. “Trump is obviously copying the Nixon presidential playbook, but without a shred of Nixon’s shrewd intellect. Nixon lasted six years in office before he resigned because he was brilliant and could keep a secret. As much as Trump likes to complain about leaks, his personal Twitter feed is like a real-time global broadcast of everything he’s thinking. It’s hard to believe he’s lasted as long as he has,” he added. In addition to a full confession and apology from Trump, the foundation’s suit demands the president immediately cease and desist from any further notably Nixonian activity. McCullough clarified that the foundation refrained from demanding Trump’s resignation, insisting it would only further overshadow Nixon’s legacy.

Each week The Republican and MassLive showcase dogs and cats available for adoption at shelters at rescue organizations in Western Massachusetts. With the participation of the shelters listed below, many animals should be able to find a permanent home. In addition, we'll include on occasion pet news and animal videos in this weekly feature. Some news update: Free cat adoption marathon WESTFIELD — The Westfield Homeless Cat Project is holding a four-day Cat Adoption Marathon through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. at 1124 East Mountain Road. The cats can be adopted for free by those who can provide a qualified home and make a monetary donation in any amount to the Westfield Homeless Cat Project. The organization is loaded with cats from several recent rescues including: 35 cats dumped and left to starve in Southwick, 11 cats from a filthy trailer in Southampton, and cats from a hoarding situation in Westfield. The adult cats are neutered/spayed, up-to-date on vaccinations, tested for FIV/Felv, free of fleas and worms, and come with a bag of cat food. Funds are desperately needed to treat these cats, all of which needed to be spayed/neutered and required additional vet care. Contributions can be sent to: Westfield Homeless Cat Project, 1124 East Mountain Road, Westfield, MA 01085. Email westfieldhcp@aol.com. Official Statement from Leslie Harris, executive director, Dakin Humane Society SPRINGFIELD — Recently several incidents have been reported to Dakin Humane Society involving individuals who have been collecting money on Dakin’s behalf in outdoor parking lots of popular stores and restaurants in Springfield, West Springfield and Holyoke. The solicitors are described as women, usually two working together, with small dogs on leashes. They are collecting money in coffee cups, and they tend to approach people as they are entering or leaving their vehicles. Unlike most legitimate solicitors, they don’t collect at or near the doors of these establishments, and they are known to become rude and defensive when their legitimacy has been questioned. Despite their claims to be collecting funds on Dakin’s behalf, we have seen no evidence of this. The police have been notified about this activity and will be on the lookout for these individuals. If you are approached by someone you feel is not legitimately soliciting funds on Dakin’s behalf, please follow your instincts. We’d certainly welcome your donations, but only if they’re received through legitimate channels. You can always donate online at dpvhs.org or bring or mail your donations to Dakin Humane Society. We’d also ask that if you are approached by someone who fits the above description, please call us at (413) 781-4000, extension 122. Dakin Humane Society is fortunate to be the recipient of donations resulting from many grassroots efforts, and we hope this continues to be the case. Community loyalty to Dakin runs very deep, and we would not want to see the efforts of classrooms full of children, scout camps, or groups of coworkers to solicit donations on Dakin’s behalf come under suspicion because of the actions of these people. For anyone who is planning to collect funds or items to benefit Dakin, we ask that you contact us first at (413) 781- 4000, extension 136. We will ask you to fill out a simple form that will officially register your fundraising effort and allow us to stay apprised of your efforts on our behalf, for which we thank you. Elephant pool party at Oregon Zoo LOCAL SHELTERS: Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society Address: 163 Montague Road, Leverett Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, noon-4:30 p.m. Telephone: (413) 548-9898 Website: www.dpvhs.org Address: 171 Union St., Springfield Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, noon-5:30 p.m.; Thursday, noon-7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday, noon-4:30 p.m. Telephone: (413) 781-4000 Website: www.dpvhs.org Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center Address: 627 Cottage St., Springfield Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, noon-4 p.m.; Thursday, noon-7 p.m. Telephone: (413) 781-1484 Website: tjoconnoradoptioncenter.com Westfield Homeless Cat Project Address: 1124 East Mountain Road Hours: Adoption clinics, Thursday, 5-7 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Website: http://www.whcp.petfinder.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westfieldhomelesscatprojectadoptions Westfield Regional Animal Shelter Address: 178 Apremont Way Hours: Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Telephone: (413) 564-3129 Website: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/ma70.html Franklin County Sheriff's Office Regional Dog Shelter and Adoption Center Address: 10 Sandy Lane, Turners Falls Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Telephone: (413) 676-9182 Website: http://fcrdogkennel.org/contact.html

I'm trying to figure out how to properly use the OpenSSL.Session API in a concurrent context E.g. assume I want to implement a stunnel-style ssl-wrapper , I'd expect to have the following basic skeleton structure, which implements a naive full-duplex tcp-port-forwarder: runProxy :: PortID -> AddrInfo -> IO () runProxy localPort@(PortNumber lpn) serverAddrInfo = do listener <- listenOn localPort forever $ do (sClient, clientAddr) <- accept listener let finalize sServer = do sClose sServer sClose sClient forkIO $ do tidToServer <- myThreadId bracket (connectToServer serverAddrInfo) finalize $ \sServer -> do -- execute one 'copySocket' thread for each data direction -- and make sure that if one direction dies, the other gets -- pulled down as well bracket (forkIO (copySocket sServer sClient `finally` killThread tidToServer)) (killThread) $ \_ -> do copySocket sClient sServer -- "controlling" thread where -- |Copy data from source to dest until EOF occurs on source -- Copying may also be aborted due to exceptions copySocket :: Socket -> Socket -> IO () copySocket src dst = go where go = do buf <- B.recv src 4096 unless (B.null buf) $ do B.sendAll dst buf go -- |Create connection to given AddrInfo target and return socket connectToServer saddr = do sServer <- socket (addrFamily saddr) Stream defaultProtocol connect sServer (addrAddress saddr) return sServer How do I transform the above skeleton into a full-duplex ssl-wrapping tcp-forwarding proxy ? Where are the dangers W.R.T to concurrent/parallel execution (in the context of the above use-case) of the function calls provided by the HsOpenSSL API? PS: I'm still struggling to fully comprehend how to make the code robust w.r.t. to exceptions and resource-leaks. So, albeit not being the primary focus of this question, if you notice something bad in the code above, please leave a comment.

In the final seconds, when the comeback was finally complete, when the grueling final was finally over, Wayne Selden clutched a basketball in his right hand and flung it high into the air inside Yeomju Gymnasium. The ball sailed into the stands. The clock hit zero. And a wave of red, white and blue flooded onto the floor. In the middle of the celebration, Frank Mason found a large American flag and draped it over his shoulders, like a Superman cape. Somehow, after a double-overtime classic, after nearly losing — twice — the United States had claimed gold at the World University Games with an 84-77 victory over Germany. “Crazy game,” said Mason, the Kansas junior guard who had finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists. “We just had to stick with it.” It was indeed an instant classic — if one can use that word to describe a sloppily played game between two wobbly-legged teams on a summer night in Gwangju, South Korea. After eight games in 11 days, a Jayhawk-infused Team USA had survived eight opponents and two overtimes to stay perfect in South Korea, earning the United States’ first World University Games gold in men’s basketball since 2005. Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The Kansas City Star After eight games in 11 days, Mason, the Jayhawks’ pitbull floor general, would not let the United States lose. In the final moments of regulation, Mason had converted two free throws with 21.7 seconds left, tying the score at 66-66. He had then recorded a steal on the next possession, ruining the Germans’ first chance to win. In the final seconds of the first overtime, with the United States again trailing by two, Mason had willed his way to the basket, forcing another extra period with an athletic finish that tied the game. That set the stage for a final round of heroics. With the United States trailing 77-75, Selden drilled a late three-pointer in the second overtime, and SMU guard Nic Moore picked up a crucial steal, turning a 77-75 deficit into an 82-77 lead with a decisive seven-point run. Before his final three-pointer went down, Selden was just five of 27 from the floor. He had hoisted an ugly air ball in the final minutes of regulation. His legs were heavy and shot. But when he caught the ball on the wing, he didn’t hesitate. “We basically just fought to the end,” Selden said. For Team USA, that was enough. Just barely. Selden finished with 22 points while shooting six of 28 from the floor. Senior forward Perry Ellis scored 19 points and procured 10 rebounds while making just six of 21 field goals. The United States shot just 31.7 percent overall, but they held Germany to 38 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle 59-46. “Our team really bonded and came together,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “And to win it the way we won it tonight, playing against a Germany team that outplayed us the majority of the game … we were dead tired, no legs, no lift. We couldn’t make a shot. “And then basically, (we) just kind of willed ourselves to win late.” Fifteen days earlier, the Kansas basketball traveling party boarded a commercial flight in Kansas City and departed for Gwanju, a city of 1.5 million people in the southern half of South Korea. The Jayhawks were the first college basketball team to represent the United States at the World University Games since Northern Iowa in 2007, and in those first days in Gwangju, Self still didn’t know what to expect. “I just want the kids to go over there and have fun,” Self said then. “See what happens and compete.” Two weeks later, on a Monday night in Gwangju — early Monday morning in Kansas City — Self and his Jayhawk version of Team USA arrived at Yeomju Gymnasium to face Germany in the gold-medal game. Two years after the United States finished ninth at the last World University Games — featuring a collection of college standouts — the Jayhawks’ trip to South Korea had gone about as well as anyone could have expected. The United States was perfect in pool play. Selden had crafted a breakout tournament. Senior forward Hunter Mickelson had been a Korean revelation. The good fortune lasted for one more day. The United States built a double-digit lead in the first quarter behind an early 14-0 run. For long stretches of the first half, the Germans struggled to dissect the United States’ man-to-man defense. But the pace would slow down, and Germany climbed to within 38-33 at the half. Mason picked up his third foul in the third quarter and headed to the bench. With Mason and Mickelson off the floor, the Germans would take advantage, taking a brief 54-53 lead before the United States tied the game at 54-54 heading to the fourth quarter. For most of the fourth quarter — and both overtime periods — the United States looked gassed, missing a bevy of close shots and layups. Selden looked spent. Ellis clanked a litany of decent looks. But in the end, Mason made enough plays to help the United States survive. “Coach just told me to stay aggressive, and my teammates told me to stay aggressive,” Mason said. “And that’s what I did. I went out and tried to make plays for them first and me second.” As the buzzer sounded, Self handed out hugs to his tired team near midcourt as the crowd inside Yeomju Gymnasium chanted “USA, USA!” After more than two weeks in South Korea, the mission was accomplished. “It’s my first one of these,” Selden said, clutching his gold medal after the game. “We’re real happy about this. We’re going to cherish this moment.”

As the tide of locavorism continues to rise around the world, more and more people are looking closer to home for their food with the idea that, by reducing food miles, they are solving the world’s problems. Instead of seriously questioning the eating of animals, and taking the compassionate approach of veganism , people simply shift the source of their consumption habits instead of actually changing them for ethical and environmental reasons. One of the most popular components of the local foods movement in recent years is backyard chickens in urban settings. Not contented with buying the flesh and eggs of chickens from local farmers, people of all sorts are setting up flocks in their backyards. And city ordinances are changing to meet the demand — in big cities like New York, Denver, Seattle, and others, as well as countless smaller cities and towns throughout the United States. The many debates around backyard chickens usually follow the same script, focusing on health and disease, public nuisance, separating “country” activities from “city” life, and so forth. None of these debates, or the ordinances that result from them in cities that do allow urban chickens, really questions the ethics of keeping and using animals primarily for food purposes. Looked at in this way, one can easily see that there are a number of reasons not to open up additional opportunities for people to exploit chickens by “going local” and keeping them in their backyards. Whatever the practical and policy issues associated with backyard chickens, there are a number of ethical problems with approving animals to be kept for use as food. One concern with backyard chickens is inadequate welfare protections. As it is, a LOT of people have a hard enough time providing their dogs and cats with proper care, including shelter and medical attention. Wherever one travels, one finds dogs who are left tethered outside for hours as if they are lawn ornaments. My local shelter has one of the highest euthanasia rates in the state, and there are a number of rescue groups in the Shenandoah Valley (much as everywhere else) trying to help with the deluge of unwanted pets in need — while there continue to be signs along the street or advertisements online for newly bred puppies and kittens. Some people argue that we still allow people to have kids, dogs, and cats even though some individuals treat them badly, so why not chickens as well? The problem with this argument is that dogs and cats are protected under federal, state, and local animal welfare laws, but chickens are not. Chickens are kind of oranges to the pet-species apples because culturally they are viewed solely (or primarily at least) as food animals, not as members of the family. This is why city ordinances rarely, if ever, include welfare regulations meant to protect chickens against abuse. Local welfare regulations such as these, if they existed, would be going beyond any federal or state regulation on animal welfare. The federal Animal Welfare Act excludes all livestock and other farm animals from its definition of “animal,” meaning that they have zero protections from abuse and negligence. This is also true of the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which excludes fowl while covering other livestock. States make the same omissions and bow to “standard industry practice” — meaning that industrial practices set the “norm,” including debeaking and other frightening practices. The backyard chicken ordinances I have reviewed all deal mostly with nuisance issues rather than humane treatment. (I should clarify here that, even with welfare provisions added into a city ordinance, I would still not support backyard chickens; I think the lack of welfare protections is only part of the problem… and indicative of the root problem.) This attitude towards chickens is also evident when it comes to vet care. For most people (other than animal rescuers and sanctuaries), the idea of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on vet care for a sick chicken whom they are keeping merely for eggs or meat is an absurdity — as would be spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on adequate shelter, high-quality feed, and proper protection from predators. Another concern about backyard chickens is that many owners get their chicks from hatcheries, just as most industrial “growers” do. If they are egg-laying hens, the hatchery they came from almost certainly engaged in the practice of male culling — meaning that any male chicks were separated and then killed. And the chicks are usually shipped by mail in boxes, sometimes enduring the better part of a day or more in transit…. Third, chickens can easily live for eight years or more (some sources say up to twenty). Backyard chickens live longer than their industrial kin in most cases, but their lives are still only a fraction of their natural lifespan. One useful example of this reality is from a famous local farm. Polyface Farms, run by Joel Salatin, slaughters its “broiler” birds at 8 weeks of age; industrial birds are usually killed after 6 weeks. Polyface’s egg-laying hens are slaughtered, as “stewing hens,” after about two years, when their productivity declines. Not surprisingly, many backyard chicken-keepers follow these “standard industry practices,” most alarmingly DIY slaughtering. All of us should be horrified at the idea of untrained people slaughtering live animals next door. We should be equally horrified at the idea of getting live chicks delivered and then kept as food animals or other anthropocentric purposes. Of course, there is always the question of avian influenza issues — passing from chickens to local wild birds, or even from chickens to humans. Many sources say the risks of transmission are low, but outbreaks are occurring now in China. Also disturbing in this regard is the fact that the measures to prevent infection are largely related to proper housing — which, in most city ordinances, is not spelled out whatsoever. The Center for Disease Control also has some interesting information about the potential health risks from backyard chickens for salmonella infection (see links below). While all of these problems with backyard chickens should lead to serious questioning of this trend, the central issue here is the ethics of eating animals. No matter how “well” they are treated or the strength of regulations covering their production, animals cannot be viewed as means for human ends — whether that end is a morning omelet or pest control in the garden. Just because the eggs or meat come from a nearby farm does not make them more ethical, more sustainable, or compassionate than industrial (“factory farm”) products — and this is just as true if they come from your backyard. Fortunately, the opportunities that urban residents have to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, and even grains and legumes in city limits are ample… and growing. Cities such as Seattle Portland , and San Francisco (to name a few) are revising their city codes to allow urban horticulture and the growing of plants for personal consumption or for sale. More and more towns are creating community gardens, and people are growing plants in containers, on green roofs, and even on public property via “guerilla gardening” methods. Backyard chickens offer no real solutions to the complex problem of building a sustainable, ethical food system. Only by making the transition to a vegan lifestyle can one address the most damaging components of modern food production. By choosing instead to grow more plants and support urban horticulture, urban residents can combine the benefits of veganism (for animals, for people, and for the planet) with the benefits of going local. Links:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gave a speech in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Oct. 1. He also issued a statement in response to a bombshell New York Times story about his taxes. He said 12 false things: 1. Falsely said, “We have the support of the Hispanics and the African-Americans.” (Trump is losing by massive margins with Hispanics and African-Americans.) Donald Trump's battle with the truth continued Saturday. ( Evan Vucci / The Associated Press ) 2. Falsely said the New York Times “illegally obtained” his tax information. (A reporter simply opened her mail; the documents were sent to her.) 3. Falsely said, “They say she’s worth $200, $250 million.” (Reports the Washington Post: “In the Clintons’ 2015 personal financial disclosure form, they reported valued assets ranging from $11.3 million to $52.7 million. This number does not reflect homes that the Clintons own. In 2015, Forbes estimated their combined net worth at $45 million.”) 4. Falsely said, “She also wants to shut down production of shale energy.” (Clinton has called for strict new restrictions, but not a shutdown. “With strong safeguards in place, natural gas can play an important role in our transition to a clean energy economy,” she has said.) Article Continued Below 5. Falsely said, “We don’t make anything anymore.” (Manufacturing represented 12 per cent of the American economy in 2015.) 6. Falsely said the U.S. has China “trade deficits of $400, $500 billion a year.” (The deficit was about $330 billion last year including services, $367 billion with goods alone. It may be lower this year.) 7. Falsely said: “It’s not like, ‘Oh gee do you think she’s guilty?’ They’ve actually admitted she’s guilty.” (No authority has “admitted” that Clinton is guilty of crimes related to her emails.) 8. Falsely said of Bill Clinton, “He can’t practise law. He can’t be a lawyer. He was a lawyer. He can’t be a lawyer.” (Clinton was not disbarred over his sex scandals. His Arkansas law license was suspended for five years. While he can’t currently work as a lawyer, he could do so within a week or so if he wanted to: Applications for reinstatement are “routinely approved,” a senior official of the Arkansas legal body said in 2006, when he became eligible for reinstatement.) 9. Falsely said, “Like the European Union, she wants to erase our borders.” (Clinton is not proposing to erase borders or create anything like the European Union.) 10. Falsely said of Clinton’s refugee policy: “She wants people to pour into our country without knowing who they are.” (Clinton is not proposing a loosening of the strict screening process for refugees.) 11. Falsely said, “Here’s a person who’s only worked for government, essentially.” (Clinton’s private-sector career was cut short by Bill’s political career, but she worked non-government jobs for several years as a young woman: Lawyer at the Children’s Defense Fund and later Rose Law Firm, and instructor at the University of Arkansas law school. She also served on corporate boards, including Walmart’s.) Article Continued Below 12. Falsely said, “Favours and access were granted to those who wrote checks. She put the secretary of state up for sale.” (There is no evidence Clinton sold favours or tried to.) 13. Misleadingly claimed endorsements from “the Border Patrol, ICE.” (Unions representing officers of these agencies have endorsed him, not the agencies themselves.) Read more about:

Event Japanese/English Introduction Play Alright, let's go! I'm the Ayanami-class destroyer, Amagiri! Take care of me, Admiral! さあ～いってみよう!綾波型駆逐艦、天霧だ！今日もよろしく、提督！ Library Play I'm the 5th ship of the Ayanami-class destroyer, Amagiri! Yeah! A heavily armed special-type destroyer! ...What? I'm slightly an older type? Don't be stupid! I was able to survive many missions including the Solomon mission!? That's right, I even raised a handsome man, who soon became the President! Fate sure is interesting![1] 綾波型駆逐艦、五番艦の天霧だ！そう！重武装の特型駆逐艦だぜ！ ・・・微妙に旧式だって？馬鹿言うな！各作戦や、ソロモンの夜を駆け抜けたあたしだよ！？ そうさ～大統領になる男を見ずもう滴るいい男にしてやったこともある！出会いってのは面白いな！ Secretary 1 Play Wanna go? Alright! 行くかい？いいよ！ Secretary 2 Play Nice~ I need to do better too~ やるね～あたしも負けてらんないな～ Secretary 3 Play President? Oh, it's just the admiral. What's wrong, you bored? Sure, you want me to be your opponent?... Alright, here I come.[2] 大統領かい？ハア～何だ提督か。どうした、暇なんか？いいよ～あたしが相手をしてやろうか？そうかい・・・じゃ、いくぜ？ Secretary Idle Play Ohh~ that guy! Yeah, I didn't think he would get that big~. Fate really is interesting! Well, I like cheering on a person who tries hard! I love that kind of spirit! I'm cheering you on too, Admiral! ああ～あいつか！まさかそんな大きな奴になるとはな～。出会いってやつは本当に面白い！でも、あたしは頑張るやつは応援したいね！そういうの好きなんだ！提督も応援してるぜ！ Secretary (Married) Play What's wrong? What's with that face?...Are you tired? Something not going well?...I see...well, it happens ya'know! You'll be fine, you can do it! I'll be supporting you! That means you can do it! I believe you. どうした？そんな顔して？・・・疲れたのか？上手くいかないのか？・・・そうか・・・まあ、そんなこともあるさ！大丈夫、あんたはやれる！あたしは応援してる！だからやれるさ！信じてる。 Wedding Play Yeah~ We don't know where fate leads us...that's why it's unique~...hm...this is? Wait!? For me!? Eh, eh...admiral, you're fine with this? Alright...well, I'll gladly accept this! I'm not going to give it back! Alright? hehe~ そうだな～出会いってやつはどこにあるか分からない・・・だから面白いのかもな～・・・ん・・・これは？は！？あたしにこれを！？え、えっ・・・提督、いいのか？そっか・・・よし、じゃあ貰っとくぜ！返さないから！いいな？へへ～ Player's Score Play Intelligence? It's important~ Alright, gimme a sec! 情報かい？大事さ～よし、待ってな！ Joining the Fleet Play 11th Destroyer Division heading off! Don't dawdle, Sagiri! Sortie! 出るぞ、第十一駆逐隊！狭霧、グズグズするな！出撃！ Joining the Fleet Play 11th Destroyer Division heading off! Don't be late, Yuu-nee ! Sortieing![3] 出るぞ、第十一駆逐隊！夕姉遅れるな！出撃する！ Equipment 1 Play Oh! Thanks for this~ お！こりゃあ～ありがたいね～ Equipment 2 Play Nice~! With this, I can become stronger! いいね～！これであたしはますます強くなる！ Equipment 3[4] Play Yeah! You can do it! I'll be cheering you on! ああ！あんたならやれる！あたしは応援するさ！ Supply Play Ha~ that helps. Thanks. はあ～助かる。ありがとな。 Docking (Minor Damage) Play Ahh~, it's no big deal, but I guess I should repair it now. ああ～、たいしたことはねえが、まあ～早めに直しておこう。 Docking (Major Damage) Play I'll be taking a long bath. It's alright with you right? Wheeew, baths are amazing! ちょっと長風呂するぜ？いいだろう？ハア～、風呂はいいね～風呂は！ Construction Play Hmm~ a newcomer~. That's good! ふうん～新入りか～。いいね！ Returning from Sortie Play We're back~ I wanna take a bath~ 帰って来たぜ～ひとっ風呂浴びたいね～ Starting a Sortie Play Special-type destroyer Amagiri, set sail! I feel like we'll have some great encounters! 特型駆逐艦天霧、抜錨する！いい出会いがありそうだ！ Starting a Battle Play Enemies! Let's charge! Crush them! 敵だ！突撃する！踏み潰せ！ Starting a Battle Play Enemies! Let's charge! Utterly crush them! 敵だ！突撃する！ガッチリ踏み潰せ！ Attack Play Nice~ I'm getting fired up! いいね～燃える展開だ！ Night Battle Attack Play Assaulting is our only option! 突撃一択だ！ Night Battle Play It's going to be a good night~. Everyone follow me! Let's go! いい夜になりそうだ～皆あたしに続け！いくぞ！ MVP Play Oh! Your going to praise me again? My bad~, but I don't really need it, Admiral. Well, I guess I'll accept it this time... Thanks! お！また褒めてくれるのかい？悪いな～あたし、別にそんなのいらないぜ、提督。でも、貰っとくか・・・ありがとな！ Minor Damage 1 Play Gah! Tch, this is nothing! ぐあ！ちっ、この程度！ Minor Damage 2 Play Uwa! They got me! うあ！やってくれる！ Major Damage Play It's not like a mine, I won't sink! I can still move! 機雷とかじゃねぇんだ、沈みはしない！まだ走れるさ！ Sunk Play Ugh...This is...it, I did all I could...Sagiri, Yuugiri...I'll see you all later...

You can find out how crucial an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software rollout can be for a company from a single word: billions—as in, lawsuits over failed ERP and customer relationship management (CRM) implementations are now being denominated in the billions of dollars. Greg Crouse, managing director at Navigant Consulting, has learned all about this from inside the belly of the litigious beast, serving as an expert court witness or consultant after spending 25 years managing large-scale projects. Twenty-one percent of companies who responded to a 2015 Panorama Consulting Solutions survey characterized their most recent ERP rollout as a failure. So there are a lot of disasters out there. But the high stakes in these projects, and the uptick in litigation, have meant that they're simultaneously more and less visible than ever. When lawsuits go public, that's a flag that there's a juicy story out there — but legal necessities often mean that the full details of the dispute never come out. "You'd have a hard time finding anyone who will talk about it — cases either litigate forever or get settled and sealed," says Crouse. Nevertheless, we've assembled some dramatic ERP flops from over the years and tried to suss some wisdom out of the wreckage. (All comments from Crouse are about his general experience with these kinds of cases; he hasn't actually worked on any of the specific disasters we're discussing here.) 1. Vodafone: The long arm of the law When British telecom provider Vodafone consolidated its CRM systems onto a Siebel platform, they ran into problems: not all the customer accounts migrated properly. The company didn't go out of its way to advertise this, of course, but people started to notice when their accounts weren't properly credited for payments made. The upshot: a £4.6 million fine from the British telecom regulator. And while this incident was concluded with just the fine paid, Crouse points out that regulatory oversight can, somewhat surprisingly, lead to private litigation down the road. "If there's problems with large scale implementations, people are going to find out about it — because you have to report it to your regulator if things go bad." Whereas a company might've been previously tempted to keep quiet about the whole affair, with regulators revealing screwups, that company might decide its best bet is to cast blame on someone else through litigation. 2. Washington community college system: When third parties flop But that litigation can go both ways. For instance, students at Washington State's community colleges have been paying a portion of their tuition every year to help the schools upgrade to a PeopleSoft ERP system that was supposed to go live in 2012. Instead, the project is still limping along. One cause of delay was internal: the 34 campuses in the system had widely varying business processes that needed to be standardized, which wasn't clear until well into the rollout. But now another crisis has emerged: Ciber, the third-party company hired to roll out the PeopleSoft system, went bankrupt in April of this year, only to have its assets scooped up by HTC, a Michigan company — and HTC then cancelled its contract with the school system and sued for $13 million, claiming the failed rollout was due to "internal dysfunction" on the colleges' part. Crouse says that this sort of mutual animosity is not uncommon. "You get into cases where the client is unhappy with the work the implementation firm has done and so they sue them. You also get into issues of the client’s not happy so they stop paying the bills. Then you have the third parties that sometimes get involved from a vendor reseller perspective. You can see either side being the plaintiff or the defendant, based on who got mad first." The rollout is meanwhile stuck in limbo. 3. Woolworth's Australia: The death of institutional memory The Australian outpost of the venerable department store chain, affectionately known as "Woolies," also ran into data-related problems as it transitioned from a system built 30 years ago in-house to SAP. One of the biggest crises that arose was that profit-and-loss reports tailored for individual stores, which managers were accustomed to receiving every week, couldn't be generated for nearly 18 months. The problem lay in the change in data collection procedures, but the root cause was a failure of the business to fully understand its own processes. The day-to-day business procedures weren't properly documented, and as senior staff left the company over the too-long six-year transition process, all that institutional knowledge was lost — and wasn't able to be baked into the new rollout. "I often see companies that don’t take the people who really know business processes and dedicate them to the ERP rollout," says Crouse. "They make it a part-time job, or they hire new people to tell the system guys what to build. None of that works. You have to really dedicate the people who know the process that you’re trying to get right, full-time. And it’s a common theme that, when you don’t dedicate those people, you get into trouble." 4. Target Canada: Garbage in, garbage out Many companies rolling out ERP systems hit snags when it comes to importing data from legacy systems into their shiny new infrastructure. When Target was launching in Canada in 2013, though, they assumed they would avoid this problem: there would be no data to convert, just new information to input into their SAP system. But upon launch, the company's supply chain collapsed, and investigators quickly tracked the fault down to this supposedly fresh data, which was riddled with errors— items were tagged with incorrect dimensions, prices, manufacturers, you name it. Turns out thousands of entries were put into the system by hand by entry-level employees with no experience to help them recognize when they had been given incorrect information from manufacturers, working on crushingly tight deadlines. An investigation found that only about 30 percent of the data in the system was actually correct. 5. PG&E: When "sample" data isn't Some rollouts aim to tackle this sort of problem by testing new systems with production data, generally imported from existing databases. This can ensure that data errors are corrected before rollout — but production data is valuable stuff containing a lot of confidential and proprietary information, and it needs to be guarded with the same care as it would in actual production. In May of 2016, Chris Vickery, risk analyst at UpGuard, discovered a publicly exposed database that appeared to be Pacific Gas and Electric's asset management system, containing details for over 47,000 PG&E computers, virtual machines, servers, and other devices — completely open to viewing, without username or password required. While PG&E initially denied that this was production data, Vickery says that it was, and was exposed as a result of an ERP rollout: a third-party vendor was given live PG&E data in order to fill a "demo" database and test how it would react in real production practice. They then failed to supply any of the protection a real production database would need. 6. Definitely not a sweet experience for hershey Could a failed technology implementation (in this case SAP's R/3 ERP software) take down a Fortune 500 company (in this case Hershey Foods)? Well, it certainly didn't help Hershey's operations during the Halloween season in 1999 or make Wall Street investors thrilled. In the end, Hershey's ghastly problems with its SAP ERP, Siebel CRM and Manugistics supply chain applications prevented it from delivering $100 million worth of Kisses for Halloween that year and caused the stock to dip 8 percent. So I guess a failed technology project can't actually take down a Fortune 500 company for good, but it can certainly knock it around a bit. 7. Just do it: Fix our supply chain system! What did a $400 million upgrade to Nike's supply chain and ERP systems get the world-renowned shoe- and athletic gear-maker? Well, for starters, $100 million in lost sales, a 20 percent stock dip and a collection of class-action lawsuits. This was all back in 2000, and the horrendous results were due to a bold ERP, supply chain and CRM project that aimed to upgrade the systems into one superstar system. Nike's tale is both of woe and warning. 8. HP's "perfect storm" of ERP problems The epic tale of HP's centralization of its disparate North American ERP systems onto one SAP system proves that one can never be too pessimistic when it comes to ERP project management. You see, in 2004, HP's project managers knew all of the things that could go wrong with their ERP rollout. But they just didn't plan for so many of them to happen at once. The project eventually cost HP $160 million in order backlogs and lost revenue—more than five times the project's estimated cost. Said Gilles Bouchard, then-CIO of HP's global operations: "We had a series of small problems, none of which individually would have been too much to handle. But together they created the perfect storm." 9. A new type of freshman hazing Pity the college freshman at the University of Massachusetts in fall 2004: The last thing they needed was some computer program to haunt their lives and make their new collegiate experience even more uncertain. But more than 27,000 students at the University of Massachusetts as well as Stanford and Indiana University were forced to do battle with buggy portals and ERP applications that left them at best unable to find their classes and at worst unable to collect their financial aid checks. Said one UMass senior at the time: "The freshmen were going crazy because they didn't know where to go." After a couple of tense days and weeks, however, everyone eventually got their checks and class schedules. 10. Waste Management trashes its "fake" ERP software Garbage-disposal giant Waste Management is still embroiled in an acrimonious $100 million legal battle with SAP over an 18-month installation of its ERP software. The initial deal began in 2005, but the legal saga commenced in March 2008, when Waste Management filed suit and claimed SAP executives participated in a fraudulent sales scheme that resulted in the massive failure. Several months later, SAP fired back, claiming that Waste Management allegedly violated its contractual agreement with SAP in several ways, including by "failing to timely and accurately define its business requirements," and not providing "sufficient, knowledgeable, decision-empowered users and managers" to work on the project. In the fall 2008, accusations were still flying about documentation, depositions and delays in bringing the case before a judge. And that proposed 18-month implementation now sounds like a dream scenario. 11. The curious case of Oracle Fusion Applications Back in January 2006, Oracle boasted that it was halfway through the Fusion Applications development process. You might remember the hype about Fusion Apps: a killer enterprise application suite that combines the best features and functionalities taken from Oracle's expansive E-Business Suite, J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel product lines. Oracle's master plan was to "build the next-generation of applications that are completely standard." More than three years later, we're all still waiting for the first generation of Oracle's suite of Fusion Apps. Guess what? We'll have to wait some more. How does 2010 sound? 12. Oracle, SAP and a little company named TomorrowNow If enterprise software maintenance wasn't so boring, the details of this sordid story would make Hollywood producers fight over the rights to shoot this movie. Here's a brief summary: In 2005, SAP bought TomorrowNow (TN), a small company that provides ERP software maintenance and services for Oracle's ERP products—at 50 percent off Oracle's prices. Of course, TN's services could work equally as well for SAP's products (but we were supposed to ignore that). We have come to find out that not everyone at SAP thought the TomorrowNow acquisition was a good idea. Flash forward to 2007: Oracle alleges that SAP (via TN) "has compiled an illegal library of Oracle's copyrighted software code and other materials." A nasty lawsuit unfolded (and is still going strong) and SAP abruptly shut down TN in 2008. Meanwhile, a former TN cofounder (Seth Ravin) formed his own TN-like company (Rimini Street) and has been scooping up all the former TN business. And, oh by the way, in addition to the Oracle ERP products his company already services, he's going to start offering half-off maintenance services for some of SAP's ERP products this year. (BTW: I've got the script ready if anyone in Hollywood is interested.) 13. Shareholder pressure halts SAP ERP rollout All was not well with bedding-maker Select Comfort's multi-module ERP implementation of SAP's ERP, CRM, supply chain and other applications. So in 2008, with serious shareholder pressure to end the $20-million-plus project that was "indicative of extremely poor judgment by management" (charged one shareholder's SEC filing), Select Comfort did just that: It put the project on hold. In this economic environment, is this just an incidental sign of the times or a sign of more things to come? 14. ERP + SaaS = Software success or bad idea? When CIO magazine surveyed 400 IT leaders about their ERP systems in early 2008, CIOs said they remained committed to on-premise, traditional ERP systems—despite aggravating integration and high-cost headaches. The results weren't that surprising. CIOs have been reluctant to take chances storing the sensitive data (accounting, HR, supply chain) contained in their ERP systems in another company's data center. In the survey, just 9 percent of respondents reported using an alternative ERP model, which included SaaS applications. That was then. This is now: SaaS ERP providers such as NetSuite have experienced greater acceptance of their house-your-ERP-data-offsite models, which in turn has allowed them to go from upstart to industry player. 15. A legendary "moon" on the high seas The details of the infamous "mooning" between SAP's Hasso Plattner and Oracle's Larry Ellison have become stuff of urban legend. So what actually did happen? Well, during the 1996 Kenwood Cup sailing race, Ellison's sailing crew reportedly ignored Plattner's wounded sailing yacht (which had a broken mast and bloodied crew member). Plattner did admit to mooning Ellison's crew ("I lowered my pants," he told Sailing World) for not helping with his injured crew member and battered yacht. But, alas, Ellison was not aboard that yacht. SAP and Oracle haven't stopped battling it out—on land or on water—since. Surviving an ERP rollout So what have we learned? Well, don't fall afoul of regulators, make sure your data is secure and clean, and document your processes before you move to a new platform: all good advice for any rollout (or any other big IT project, really). If there's one other key word Crouse has for CIOs, it's this: continuity. "I’m working a case today that involves an ERP implementation with a timeline of multiple years," he says, "and there have been four CIOs during that timeframe. That causes a whole host of problems. You have to have an executive sponsor. You have to have someone who's really championing the project. It’s difficult if the people at the top and the people who know the project from the client side continually change."

by Unity This morning’s guest post by Zarathustra, of the excellent Mental Nurse blog, flagged up the existence of a right-wing campaign group calling itself ‘Nurses for Reform’, and as Lib Con’s resident data hound that naturally prompted me to ask a very pertinant question: Just exactly how many of the people behind ‘Nurses for Reform’ are actually nurses? Is this actually a genuine organisation that can point to a significant level of support within the nursing profession or it is, like the Taxpayers’ Alliance, just another small, well funded, right-wing front organisation with a name carefully chosen to mislead the naive and unwary into taking it for something it almost certainly isn’t? So who, exactly, are ‘Nurses for Reform’? Well, their director and primary mouthpiece is Dr Helen Evans RGN and she is, indeed, a nurse with 20 years experience in the NHS under her belt and a PhD in health management from Brunel University. So she’s a doctor, but not in the medical sense of the term. As for her organisation, it claims to be a ‘growing pan-European network of nurses dedicated to consumer-oriented reform of European healthcare systems’, although evidence of any links to like-minded nurses organisations or campaign groups are a bit thin on the ground. The other noticeable feature of the NFR website is, with the exception of a page listing members of advisory board, the marked lack of reference to anyone other than Dr Helen Evans, who appears to be the site’s sole contributor, contact point and, for all anyone knows, chief cook and bottle-washer. Not exactly a flying start then, but there is an advisory board, so maybe we’ll find a few more nurses there… …or maybe not. Let’s run down the list, starting with: Stuart Browning Browning runs a website called Free Market Cure, which is actively involved in the campaign against Obama’s healthcare reforms and ‘socalised’ medicine and is supported by the Moving Picture Institute. Browning is a film director and entrepreneur with an established reputation for knocking out free-market propaganda films. Dr Eamonn Butler Butler is the current director of the Adam Smith Institute and has degrees in Philosophy, Economics and Psychology, although I doubt very much that the latter indicates that he has any background on the clinical side. Dr Tim Evans Evans is perhaps best known to bloggers as one of the two big wheels in the Libertarian Alliance, along with Sean Gabb. He’s also, just for the record, the Chief Executive of the Cobden Centre, a former President and Director General of the Centre for the New Europe and former Executive Director of Public Affairs at the Independent Healthcare Association. Prior to that, in 1991-1992, he was the Chief Economic and Political Adviser to the Slovak Prime Minister – Dr. Jan Carnogursky – and was Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit. In the late 1980s he was the Assistant Director of the Foundation for Defence Studies and subsequently became a Senior Policy Consultant at the Adam Smith Institute. When he’s not working with the Cobden Centre, he’s the Chairman of the Economic Policy Centre, Chairman of Global Health Futures Ltd, a Consultant Director and a Senior Fellow with the Adam Smith Institute. Coincidentally, of course, his wife’s name is Helen… Helen Evans… Mmm, I’ve heard that name before somewhere? Shane Frith Frith is the director of right-wing think-tank Progressive Vision, which recently launched a group called ‘Progressive Conservatives’, chaired by Tory MEP Syed Kamall, as a new group for ‘classical liberals in the Conservative Party’. If anything it looks to be ‘brains’ behind the Hannanite wing of the Tory Party, particularly when pitching for a Singapore-style healthcare system and the break-up of the BBC. According to Conservative Home, Frith has worked for both Tory MP’s in the UK and National Party MPs in native New Zealand and is a former chair of the International Young Democrat Union. His immediate predecessor in that role was Tory MP Andrew Rosindell. Ruth Lea Yes this is the Ruth Lea, economist and former head of policy at the Institute of Directors. You’ve seen her on the TV enough to know her shtick. So far, we’re running a bit short of actual nurses but at least everyone on the advisory board, so far, has the kind of public profile that would make NFR look a bit ridiculous were it to try to conceal information about them. That’s all about to change. Robert LeFever LeFever is billed simply as a ‘blogger’, although I can’t link to his blog at the moment because Google is putting up one of its ‘this site may be harmful to your computer’ messages against its search engire reference. That said, modesty appears not to LeFever’s strong suit as Google does provide this quotation from his blog: “Dr Robert Lefever is a Darwin of our times, speaking a truth regardless of who it may upset; his insights and ideas will prove him to be a man way ahead of …” Apparently, the missing words at the end of the quotation are “…his time in years to come. Anyone seeking The [sic] real promise of addiction recovery should work only with Dr Robert Lefever.”, which is just as well as no one could accuse him of being a man ahead of his own ego or promotional bullshit. What NFR don’t see fit to mention is LeFever’s personal interest in a family-run private rehab clinic (PROMIS). Until fairly recently, Robert LeFever was usually described in the media as the clinic’s director, although he’s no longer listed in the staff page, unlike his son, Robin LeFever, the clinic’s managing director. Dr Robert LeFever was a GP before getting into the rehab business and while his son, Robin, lays claim to a BSc in Psychology on the clinic’s website, he’s not listed on either of the British Psychological Society’s professional registers – which cover chartered psychologists and a very limited number of psychotherapists – so one would hope that he sticks firmly to management and leave the treatment side of things to others. In 1998, Robin told the BBC that he he’d been addicted to cannabis in an article that describes him as ‘running a marijuana rehabilitation centre’. Three years later he was billed, by Glasgow’s Sunday Mail, as a ‘Scots-born financial whizz-kid’ who’d led a ‘seedy double life’ as a drug addict in a feature article published under the headline, ‘Robin thought he was OK.. “heroin addicts didn’t wear suits and work in the city; THE INCREDIBLE RICHES TO RAGS STORY OF A PROFESSIONAL JUNKIE” [their capitals, not mine]. More recently Robert has cropped up in a few places with the claim that he too was once an addict – gambling, shopping and work, apparently – but he’s over all that now, save for his sole remaining addiction to maudlin political reminiscences, such as this lengthy article, which appeared in a Libertarian Alliance publication, under their copyright, in 2003. According to Robert, life was just peachy as an NHS GP until the introduction of Harold Wilson’s ‘social contract’ in 1974, although the reference at the end to “my friend Tim Bell, Lady Thatcher’s PR guru” and the name check for Ayn Rand suggest that he’s not the most unbiased observer of those times. Moving on, we have… Robert McIndoe According to NFR, McIndoe is a ‘British Nurse’ [Hooray! A nurse at Last!] According to Spinprofiles, McIndoe’s real background is… ‘founder and Managing Director’ of a marketing agency called The Marketing House and an advisor for Nurse for Reform, a free market lobby group. According to his ‘LinkedIn’ profile, McIndoe is ‘Senior Business Consultant’ at Logica (December 2007 — Present); Owner, The Marketing House (February 2001 — Present); ‘Principal Consultant’ Capita Advisory Services (March 2006 — October 2007); ‘Communications Consultant’ NHS Connecting for Health (2005 — 2006); ‘Stakeholder Management & Communications Team Leader’ CSC (2004 — 2005). According to the Marketing House his past appointments have included ‘senior public relations, communications and marketing roles for The Nuffield Trust, Surrey Oaklands NHS Trust, University College London Hospitals, The Royal Hospitals Trust and Hays DX. …although he does have a nursing qualification (RNM), which makes him a registered mental nurse, even if his academic background is that of an MA in Fine Arts from the University of St Andrews, which he followed up with an MBA in Creativity, Marketing and Finance via that fine socialist invention, the Open University and an MA in Theatre & Performance Studies at Rose Bruford College. As is apparent from his profile, his ideological views on the NHS haven’t stopped him screwing money out of it as marketing consultant but, looking on the bright side, at least Nurses for Reform has managed to justify the use of a plural despite having previously given the impression that we might be looking here at something that was actually ‘Nurse for Reform’. That brings to the final name on the list: Mr. John Wilden MRCP, FRCS Wilden is a ‘leading neurosurgeon with a practice in Harley Street’ according to his profile at the Adam Smith Institute. According to Grant Thornton, the London-based global network of independent accounting and consulting firms. “Global Healthcare Futures (GHF) is a UK company that is the brain child of John Wilden, a former specialist and consultant neurosurgeon. GHF is developing and promoting software products for “Time to Cure” and “Cost to Cure” Common Diseases based on the advances of molecular biology and other technologies which will underpin the fast looming world of curative global healthcare, thereby ushering in a new age of diminishing healthcare costs across the developed and developing world”. Mmm… Global Healthcare Futures… I’ve heard that name before, somewhere? Silly me, I forgot to include the citation… Dr Tim Evans, Chairman of Global Health Futures Is it just me, or is anyone else getting deja vu?

For the first time in their careers, a Wachowski will be directing solo, as co-director Lilly Wachowski has stepped down from "Sense8," leaving sister Lana Wachowski to handle directing the second season of the Netflix series. Lilly, who announced she is transgender in March, had earlier sparred with one of the series' stars, star Aml Ameen, who left the show last month citing "creative differences" with Lilly, who co-created the series with Lana and writer J. Michael Straczynski. "Lilly needed to take some time off," series star Jamie Clayton told BuzzFeed News, adding that Lilly could return in the event of a third season being ordered by Netflix. Production on the second season of the sprawling, globe-hopping series is still underway, and Lana will now have to handle directing duties solo for the first time in the siblings' career, which has included films like the "Matrix" trilogy, "Cloud Atlas" and "Jupiter Ascending." "Lana is absolutely a superwoman," said Clayton. "The way she channels her energy and her creativity ... it keeps me in absolute awe whenever I'm in her presence. She's an absolute force." Lilly made her first public appearance since coming out as transgender earlier this year at the GLAAD Media Awards, where "Sense8" was honored with the award for Outstanding Drama Series. Netflix has yet to announce a premiere date for the second season of "Sense8."

ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account Zac Goldsmith has refused to rule out a return to the Conservative party. In an interview with Sky News the former mayoral candidate said he was “not thinking ahead that far.” Mr Goldsmith quit as a Tory MP in protest at the Government’s decision to back a third runway at Heathrow. He tendered his resignation in October triggering a by-election in the south-west London seat. The Conservative Party said it would not contest the seat, amid claims it did not want to divide the Tory vote, risking a Liberal Democrat victory. The Liberal Democrats have fielded Sarah Olney in the by-election, which will take place on December 1. Speaking to Sky News on Sunday Mr Goldsmith refused to be drawn on whether he would consider re-joining the Conservative party, saying his sole focus was winning the by-election. He said: "Who knows if I will even stand in the next election. It would be the height of arrogance to start putting this one in the bag." "I could join the Monster Raving Loony Party in five year's time. "I am not thinking ahead that far.” Mrs Olney has tried to shift the focus of the debate away from Heathrow and onto Brexit pledging to vote against triggering Article 50, the formal process for leaving the EU, if she is elected. Mrs Olney also said she would fight for another referendum on the terms of Brexit. She said: “It’s a second referendum but it’s not re-running the first referendum, it’s very much the next step.” Other contendents in the Richmond by-election are Howling Laud Hope, Monster Raving Loony Party; Maharaja Jammu and Kashmir, One Love Party; David Powell, independent; Dominic Stockford, Christian Peoples Alliance; Fiona Syms, independent; Christian Wolmar, Labour.

Anthem, one of the nation’s largest insurers and a major player in the individual insurance market created by the federal health care law, announced Tuesday that it would stop offering policies in the Ohio marketplace next year. Although its departure would leave a small number of people — roughly 10,500 who live in about a fifth of the state’s counties — without an insurance carrier, the move was seized on by Republicans as more evidence that the markets are “collapsing” under the Affordable Care Act. President Trump, meeting with congressional leaders on Tuesday, said it was more proof that insurers are “fleeing and leaving” the marketplaces and added that it was essential for Congress to pass a bill repealing the health law this summer. Republican senators said on Tuesday that they were trying to reach agreement on some major issues, especially Medicaid. Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said that Republican senators spent much of a meeting on Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence discussing health care. Mr. Barrasso outlined some differences with the bill that passed the House.

UPDATE: LAKE ELSINORE: Doughnut store gets “B” health grade after Ariana Grande licking incident Days after pop star Ariana Grande was caught on camera licking doughnuts on a counter at Wolfee Donuts in Lake Elsinore, the shop’s owner filed an incident report Tuesday, July 7, with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Owner Joe Marin, who realized Grande’s stunt after reviewing surveillance footage from Saturday night, July 4, said he hopes the report will result in criminal charges brought against Grande. “What she did was wrong,” Marin said in a phone interview Wednesday. On Tuesday, Marin went to the Lake Elsinore sheriff’s station with the surveillance footage. Deputies told him they would review the video, Marin said. The Sheriff’s Department, in a written statement issued Wednesday, said deputies are working with the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health to investigate the incident. The Department of Environmental Health isn’t investigating Grande’s activity, said spokeswoman Dottie Merki. It is investigating a possible California Retail Food Code violation by Wolfee Donuts. Merki said the food that Grande licked appeared to have been left out. “According to California Retail Food Code, all food must be protected from any type of customer contamination,” Merki said. “Any time food items are displayed without protection, customers can sneeze on, cough on or lick them.” In the footage, trays of doughnuts are seen on top of a display case. However, Marin said doughnuts are never displayed there. Rather, an employee had put the trays on top of the case while she was stocking it. When Grande walked in, Marin said, the employee stopped what she was doing to tend to the customers. If investigators determine Wolfee Donuts to be in violation of food code, the restaurant could have points deducted from its inspection score. Wolfee Donuts’ most recent score was 90, the minimum score for an A grade — the only grade that is considered passing. Points were deducted for violations including food not being separated and protected from contamination, inadequate hand-washing facilities and having food obtained from unapproved sources. In 11 routine inspections over the past six years, Wolfee Donuts has scored in a range between 90 and 100 points. Any score below 90 indicates a facility does not comply with minimum sanitary standards, and it is required to get its grade back up into the A range quickly, according to the environmental health department’s website. Grande was in the doughnut shop, which is open 24 hours, about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The surveillance footage, which Marin shared exclusively with celebrity paparazzi website TMZ, shows Grande and a male companion giggling and talking in close proximity. Then, when the employee’s back was turned, Grande appears to lick a white doughnut and the young man follows suit, Marin said. TMZ identified the man as her boyfriend and backup dancer, Ricky Alvarez. Grande asked to see more doughnuts, and when the employee walked to the back of the store to fetch another tray, the singer and her companion also spat on a doughnut, Marin said. When the employee returned with the tray, the camera recorded Grande saying, “What … is that? I hate Americans. I hate America.” In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, the 22-year-old singer — who was born in Florida and is of Italian descent — says she’s a proud American. She added that “what I said in a private moment … was taken out of context and I am sorry for not using more discretion with my choice of words.” Grande said she chose those words because she’s a healthy person and is upset with “how freely we as Americans eat and consume things without giving any thought to the consequences.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In an unprecedented use of Shari‘a on a non-Muslim in Indonesia, a Christian woman in the conservative Aceh province has reportedly been caned for selling alcohol. The 60-year-old woman was caned 30 times in the presence of hundreds of onlookers on Tuesday, an official told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Aceh is one of the most conservative provinces of Muslim-majority Indonesia, and the only part of the country that enforces sharia law for crimes like adultery, consumption of alcohol and homosexuality. On the same day, a pair of German tourists were reportedly reprimanded by local authorities and let off with a warning for wearing bikinis at one of the province’s beaches. A Muslim couple accused of adultery received 100 lashes along with the Christian woman on Tuesday. Although the religious law was previously only applicable to Muslims, an amendment that took effect last year extended its reach to practitioners of other religions in particular cases, according to an official from the prosecutor’s office of Central Aceh. “This is the first case of a non-Muslim being punished under Islamic criminal bylaw,” the official, Lili Suparli, told AFP. Aceh has operated under Shari‘a since 2001, when it was declared partially autonomous in an effort to quell a separatist uprising. — With reporting by Yenni Kwok Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com.

No. 8 FIU men’s soccer remains undefeated, beats Old Dominion It has been a season of consequence for the FIU men’s soccer team. A two-time champion at the Division II level and a national runner-up in Division I in 1996, the program does know success. However, not since the mid-1990s has FIU reached the heights it’s reaching in 2017. Earlier this week, the program was ranked No. 8 in the NCAA’s latest United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll. It is the highest raking for the program since the conclusion of the 1996 season. The team didn’t rest on its laurels, taking the field and defeating conference rival Old Dominion 3-1 to remain unbeaten on the season. FIU, which boasts a 10-0-3 overall record (5-0-1 Conference USA) is one of only two programs in Division I soccer who are still undefeated this season. No. 2 Indiana is (13-0-3). While the team recognition trickles in, two players received individual honors. Joris Ahlinvi was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week for the week ending Oct. 22, while captain Paul Marie was picked as the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week. The Panthers close out the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 29 as they travel to Lexington to take on Kentucky at 7 p.m. After that, they will travel to Norfolk, Virginia to start their run at the Conference USA Tournament title. The Conference USA Tournament will take place Nov. 8, 10, 12 in Norfolk, Virginia at the ODU Soccer Complex. Photo credit: AJ Ricketts, Twitter Game stats: FIU men’s soccer vs. Old Dominion University

About The main idea is to extend the range of EV's (electric powered vehicles). The "Drag" generator uses the drag or airflow around the vehicle to spin a generator/alternator and in turn power the EV's for longer range. The new inventions of low friction generators allows for the power produced to overcome the drag incurred by the generator. I want to make this an easy addition to an EV that most people will be able to afford to get on their vehicles. My Theoretical models at this time require speeds in excess of 45 m.p.h.. Anything less does not produce enough power to overcome the drag ratio. I plan on using a switch that can be activated at proper speeds, so as not to waste power before the generator starts powering. Keep the cars power output that same as it was without the "Drag" generator under speeds of 45 m.p.h..

WikiLeaks founder says he is disappointed he hasn’t had chance to prove innocence after five-year time limit for bringing some charges expires Julian Assange has criticised what he described as the incompetence of Sweden’s prosecutor after she dropped her investigation into some of the allegations of sexual assault against him due to the expiration of a five-year time limit for bringing charges. Prosecutors will continue to pursue an interview with the WikiLeaks founder over an outstanding rape allegation. “I am extremely disappointed. There was no need for any of this,” Assange said in a statement. “I am an innocent man. I haven’t even been charged. From the beginning I offered simple solutions. Come to the [Ecuadorian] embassy to take my statement or promise not to send me to the United States. This Swedish official refused both.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Julian Assange’s attorney says it is ‘unacceptable’ that his client has been detained for so long without a charge The Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, said she regretted leaving the investigation unfinished, but said she was forced to do so because Assange had refused to leave Ecuador’s London embassy, where he has taken refuge. Two women made allegations against Assange five years ago in Stockholm, but no charges were brought because the prosecutor was unable to interrogate him after he challenged an extradition order and sought political asylum in the embassy in June 2012. Assange, who denies the allegations, believes that travelling to Sweden would leave him vulnerable to extradition to the US to face espionage charges. His repeated requests to the Swedish government for a firm guarantee of his safety have been declined. For more than four years Ny refused to go to London to interview Assange, but changed her mind in March after a Swedish court questioned her failure to make progress in the investigation. Ny cited the impending expiry of the statute of limitations as a reason for the turnabout. But it was June before the Swedish government made an official request to Ecuador to enter the embassy, and an agreed date to begin interrogation a week later had to be scrapped. After a tense standoff in which each side blamed the other for delays, this week they agreed to formal talks over judicial cooperation, potentially breaking the deadlock – but not in time to prevent the time limit on most of the accusations running out. “It is still my hope to be able to conduct a hearing [on the rape allegation] since there is an ongoing dialogue on the issue between Sweden and Ecuador,” Ny said in a statement. Assange said: “She has managed to avoid hearing my side of the story entirely. This is beyond incompetence. I am strong but the cost to my family is unacceptable.” Britain said on Thursday it would make a formal protest to the Ecuadorian government over its decision to provide asylum to Assange. “Ecuador must recognise that its decision to harbour Mr Assange more than three years ago has prevented the proper course of justice,” the Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire said in a statement. The statute of limitations for an allegation of unlawful coercion and one case of sexual molestation expired on Thursday; another allegation of sexual molestation expires on Tuesday. The outstanding allegation of rape expires on 17 August 2020. Claes Borgström, a Stockholm lawyer who represents one of the women whose allegations against Assange will now never be tested in court, said the woman was ambivalent about the situation. “On the one hand, she wanted Assange to face trial and answer for what he has done. On the other, she wants to put this behind her.” Helena Kennedy QC, a member of Assange’s legal team, said he had spent more time in the embassy than he could ever spend in a Swedish prison, and the remaining allegation against him was “just as unlikely to lead to conviction”. “The question remains whether we are dealing with incompetence or bad faith or an agenda set by other considerations. I remain unconvinced that this prosecution has been about securing justice for women.”

It's been awhile since I've uploaded a video. I've been rehabbing these two owls for the last few weeks. They're doing pretty well. The first one is a barred owl and she's really sweet. She was hit by a car a couple of weeks ago. The 2nd is a great horned owl. He was found wrapped in a barbed wire fence and near death. His wing has a large hole in it and I'm not sure if it will ever heal. I'm able to keep the first owl in a large outdoor enclosure. The other one has to stay in the carrier for now. I guess I'd be pissed off too if I were him. Edit: Just to answer a couple questions. Yes, I'm licensed to do this. I've rehabilitated and released 43 raptors in the last 2 years. No, they won't and shouldn't be pets. For those of you who have a problem with the light in his eyes you're right. I normally use an infrared light but clicked the wrong button.

While Democrats and Republicans hurl accusations in the wake of a presidential race marred by Republican schemes to suppress legitimate votes, a rigged Democratic nomination, and corruption by millions of dollars in corporate donations to both parties' nominees, the Green Party is demanding an investigation in free, open, and fair elections. The Senate Intelligence Committee has recently requested documents from 2012 & 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein. We support sincere inquiries into illegal activities and all undemocratic influences in our elections. However, we are currently are experiencing a climate of emerging censorship in social media and the press, and it is important for our elected officials to not participate in forms of McCarthyism. We call for the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate illegal and undemocratic structures of American elections, and which permeate throughout the American electoral system, such as --Mainstream media's disregard for the FCC's Fairness Doctrine of equal media time for candidates. --The private corporation known as the Commission on Presidential Debates which bars alternative candidate participation. --Corporate/lobbyist money spent during the election & the corresponding voting records of elected officials since Election Day. --Legitimate voter fraud, such as experienced during Philadelphia's March 2017 special election for State Representative. --The vulnerability of our voting machines to legitimate hacking --Crosscheck voter ID and other barriers to participation such as access for persons with disabilities. --Discouraging voter participation by not deploying democratic voting techniques such as Ranked Choice Voting or Proportional Representation. --Limitation of access to the ballot through arcane ballot access laws. --As well as instances of illegal interference by the United States in foreign elections and domestic politics around the globe. The corporate, two-party system in Washington needs to stop the sensationalist attacks against dissenting views and ensure they focus on all real and concrete threats to our democracy.

DALLAS -- A Dallas-area man was sentenced to death Saturday for killing his children's baby sitter to prevent her from testifying that he raped her. Franklin Davis admitted in court to killing 16-year-old Shania Gray, describing how he lured her into his car outside her school, shot her and dumped her body in a river. But he said he killed her out of revenge and hatred, not to obstruct the sexual assault case that was nearing trial. Mug shot of Franklin Davis, courtesy of Carrollton Police Department. A Dallas jury convicted Davis of capital murder Tuesday before sentencing him to death. Gray was remembered as a vivacious, friendly girl who often played basketball in the family driveway. Most people did not know that she was at the center of the sexual assault case against Davis. Her mother told police in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite that Davis sexually assaulted Gray while she was baby-sitting his children. Davis, known by the nickname "Wish," exposed himself and had sex with the girl four separate times in 2011, according to a police affidavit. Davis continued to deny the allegations at his trial. "She lied," Davis said on the stand, according to Dallas television station KTVT. "She ruined my life. She took everything from me, everything I work so hard to get. She took it." In the days before he killed Gray, Davis called and sent her text messages pretending to be a boy and asking her questions about the sexual assault case. The day of the killing, Gray got a text message saying her new friend was outside her school to surprise her. Davis' defense attorneys argued he was trying to do his own investigation after police did not. But prosecutors scoffed at that notion. "You know it, I know it and he knows it," prosecutor Russell Wilson told jurors, according to The Dallas Morning News.