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BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely. There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent. Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology". Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise. Read Next The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the "global baggage of empire" was linked to soccer violence by "racist and xenophobic white males". He claimed the English "propensity for violence" was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were "potentially very aggressive". In the past 10 years I have collected reports of many instances of draconian punishments, including the arrest and criminal prosecution of children, for thought-crimes and offences against political correctness. Countryside Restoration Trust chairman and columnist Robin Page said at a rally against the Government's anti-hunting laws in Gloucestershire in 2002: "If you are a black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you." Page was arrested, and after four months he received a letter saying no charges would be pressed, but that: "If further evidence comes to our attention whereby your involvement is implicated, we will seek to initiate proceedings." It took him five years to clear his name. Page was at least an adult. In September 2006, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher's first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her: "It's racist, you're going to get done by the police!" Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours. She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge. The school was said to be investigating what further action to take, not against the teacher, but against Stott. Headmaster Anthony Edkins reportedly said: "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark. We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form." A 10-year-old child was arrested and brought before a judge, for having allegedly called an 11-year-old boya "Paki" and "bin Laden" during a playground argument at a primary school (the other boy had called him a skunk and a Teletubby). When it reached the court the case had cost taxpayers pound stg. 25,000. The accused was so distressed that he had stopped attending school. The judge, Jonathan Finestein, said: "Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness? There are major crimes out there and the police don't bother to prosecute. This is nonsense." Finestein was fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders, as in those witch-hunt trials where any who spoke in defence of an accused or pointed to defects in the prosecution were immediately targeted as witches and candidates for burning. Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned. A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to "celebrate diversity", the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia. Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children. There have been innumerable cases in recent months of people in schools, hospitals and other institutions losing their jobs because of various religious scruples, often, as in the East Germany of yore, not shouted fanatically from the rooftops but betrayed in private conversations and reported to authorities. The crime of one nurse was to offer to pray for a patient, who did not complain but merely mentioned the matter to another nurse. A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class, faces the sack for seeking support from her church. A private email from her to other members of the church asking for prayers fell into the hands of school authorities. Permissiveness as well as draconianism can be deployed to destroy socially accepted norms and values. The Royal Navy, for instance, has installed a satanist chapel in a warship to accommodate the proclivities of a satanist crew member. "What would Nelson have said?" is a British newspaper cliche about navy scandals, but in this case seems a legitimate question. Satanist paraphernalia is also supplied to prison inmates who need it. This campaign seems to come from unelected or quasi-governmental bodies controlling various institutions, which are more or less unanswerable to electors, more than it does directly from the Government, although the Government helps drive it and condones it in a fudged and deniable manner. Any one of these incidents might be dismissed as an aberration, but taken together - and I have only mentioned a tiny sample; more are reported almost every day - they add up to a pretty clear picture. Hal G. P. Colebatch's Blair's Britain was chosen as a book of the year by The Spectator in 1999.

At least four candidates seeking office in Western North Carolina cities and towns this fall have criminal records. Carolina Public Press conducted a search of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Offender Public Information database and crosschecked with voter registration records for candidates in the state’s 18 westernmost counties. This process identified four candidates with criminal histories: Michael David Rogers, 52, is running for Highlands town commissioner in Macon and Jackson counties. Records show he has eight misdemeanor convictions for passing worthless checks stemming from incidents between April and November 2003. Three Class 2 misdemeanor convictions were in Henderson County and five Class 1 misdemeanor convictions were in Macon County. He received probation. Charles Herman Schmidt, 35, is running for the Sylva council in Jackson County. He has an August 2006 conviction for Level 2 Driving While Intoxicated in New Hanover County on Feb. 4, 2006, for which he received probation. William Alan “Justin” Phillips, 35, is running for mayor of Maggie Valley in Haywood County. He has four class H felony convictions in Buncombe County for obtaining property by false pretenses stemming from incidents between July and November 2004. He received probation. Walter “Chub” Pettit Jr., 73, is running for Rosman Board of Aldermen in Transylvania County. Records show he was convicted on Jan. 18, 1989, in Transylvania County of having received stolen goods on March 10, 1988, a class H felony. He later faced three charges related to the possession and sale of illegal drugs in Transylvania County on Jan. 23, 1989, all class H felonies, for which he was convicted on March 8, 1990. He received probation. While some individuals may have avoided detection, it appears that no other WNC candidates have records of criminal convictions in North Carolina. While convicted felons cannot initially run for office in North Carolina, once they have completed their sentences they may have their rights restored and seek office. Those convicted of misdemeanors are not prevented from seeking office. CPP is providing information about these candidates, not to challenge their eligibility to seek office, but to educate voters, who can then decide whether these criminal histories should affect their decisions at the ballot box. CPP contacted each candidate with an apparent record to discuss the charges against them. Their reactions varied. Michael David Rogers Rogers talked briefly with CPP by phone on Thursday. Asked if he would discuss his criminal record in advance of this article’s release, he responded, “Not really. That’s not anything. That’s in the past,” then he hung up. Rogers is one of four candidates running for three seats on the Highlands Board of Commissioners. Each of his three opponents is an incumbent. Charles Herman Schmidt Also contacted by phone on Thursday, Schmidt thanked CPP for giving him “the benefit of the doubt” and allowing to explain what happened. Schmidt said at the time of the 2004 incident he had recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and had returned to the coast to visit some college friends. After going to a bar, Schmidt said he underestimated how much he’d had to drink and made the mistake of trying to drive back to his friends’ condo when an officer stopped him. “You’re 24 or 25 years old and you don’t make the best decisions,” Schmidt said. Schmidt he doesn’t have a drinking problem and hasn’t had any other run-ins with the law. He is one of five candidates for three seats on the Sylva council. Schmidt’s opponents include one current incumbent, with two sitting commissioners deciding not to defend their open seats as they instead run for mayor. William Alan ‘Justin’ Phillips William Alan “Justin” Phillips, who owns a coffee shop in Maggie Valley, is one of two contenders on the ballot for the mayor’s seat in that Haywood County town. However, the previous mayor died after the filing period and another candidate with ties to town government is also campaigning as a write-in. Phillips’ criminal history became public knowledge earlier this year when The Mountaineer in Waynesville approached him about his convictions and he agreed to be interviewed. Other media in the area have also noted his colorful past The Mountaineer article said Phillips admitted to having made mistakes while battling a drug problem and has trouble recalling details of what he actually did at the time, though it involved cashing large checks in other people’s names. Some of those checks turned out to be on closed or bogus accounts. Speaking with Carolina Public Press by phone on Thursday, Phillips largely confirmed these aspects of the newspaper’s article. He emphasized that his conviction was not for writing thousands of dollars in bad checks, but primarily for depositing bad checks he says he received from other people. He said there’s been some confusion over that distinction. He also noted that he had been unaware of the charges he was facing while he was living out of state and trying to put his life back together. When learned of the charges, he turned himself in, he said. “Circumstances in life can make us do some interesting things,” he said. “I was the common denominator in all of my problems.” Phillips told CPP that he never experimented with drugs when he was younger but began doing so in his early 20s during a relationship with a woman he was dating who “liked to party.” He described his successful career in radio before he became involved in drugs, as well as his success other business enterprises after he went clean. “What happened 12 or 13 years ago, happened 12 or 13 years ago,” he said. Phillips said the negative experience has imparted some important lessons. “For a four-year period in my life … I went off the rails,” he said. “It’s OK to derail sometimes. You can rebound.” He described his drug period as educating him about unscrupulous individuals, something that’s been helpful and business and he believes would be valuable as mayor. “I can spot a con man from a mile away,” he said. Asked whether he had begun using “Justin Phillips” rather than his legal name, William Alan Phillips, to avoid attention about his record, the candidate denied that was the case. Phillips said his use of “Justin” dates to his days as a radio personality on country and rock music stations in Jacksonville, Florida, where his on-air nickname was “Justin Case.” “Justin” is the name by which everyone knows him today, he said. Phillips said he could understand why someone might be suspicious. given the town where he’s seeking office. “There’s something very peculiar about Maggie Valley,” he said. “It does some to attract an unsavory type.” Walter ‘Chub’ Pettit Jr. In one case, a criminal history has already proven not to be an impediment to election and appears unlikely to affect the candidate’s re-election chances. Walter “Chub” Pettit Jr. is a current member of the Rosman board of aldermen. He’s unopposed as he seeks another term. Pettit talked with Carolina Public Press by phone Thursday about his record. A disabled veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange, Pettit said he went through a period in the 1980s when he had trouble with alcohol and drugs. His drug convictions stem from that period. But Pettit said he recovered from those problems and has been clean for more than 20 years. Regarding the conviction for receiving stolen goods, Pettit said he was operating a surplus store and received some items that later turned out to be stolen. Prosecutors pursued him instead of those who had taken the items, he said. “We all have skeletons in our closets,” he said, pointing to the many people who cheat on their taxes. “But you live and learn.” Pettit described his pride in the town’s progress since he’s been on the board. CPP also talked with multiple sources in Transylvania County who confirmed that Pettit’s colorful history is well-known and does not seem to have affected his ability to serve. Arrested, not convicted One candidate who came to CPP’s attention during this process was Bob Spitzen, who’s running for mayor in Flat Rock in Henderson County against the current mayor. “I was arrested four times (in Flat Rock),” he told CPP during a phone interview Friday. “That’s why I’m running for mayor.” In addition to being thrown into jail on trespassing charges in Haywood County, Spitzen has also been arrested multiple times over the last 25 years for various acts of civic activism in Pennsylvania and in Wilmington. But none of the charges ever stuck. In Wilmington, Spitzen was convicted of trespassing on the property of a city official, but appealed the case, which was dismissed when the other party no longer wanted to pursue it. As a result, Spitzen’s record is officially clean in North Carolina. Spitzen describes himself as a “provocateur.” “That’s a couple of things (that led to arrests) out of 50 opportunities,” he said. “Good for me.” “I get involved in whatever appears at the moment that it seems I should get involved in,” he said. Spitzen also explained his sudden withdrawal from the race during one of his candidacies for Wilmington city government in 2001. The decision came because of the 9/11 attacks, he said. “I was from New York,” he said. “I had been on Wall Street. I knew some of those people.” At a forum that afternoon, Spitzen said he announced that he didn’t have his heart in the race and was dropping out. Conducting the search Except for the information that came to light about Spitzen, CPP’s candidate research did not include records from outside North Carolina. It’s entirely possible that some candidates have criminal histories in other places, but that was beyond the scope of CPP’s search. Also outside the scope of this search were records of any convictions on federal charges. Due to limited information in voter records, some candidates who are using different versions of their names or who have changed their names would not have been identifiable in the state’s criminal database. Anyone using an entirely fake identification, including a new birthdate, would also have gone undetected. Another group who would have avoided being flagged includes anyone who was charged but not convicted, or had convictions set aside or overturned on appeal. CPP’s search did screen out a large number of false matches using birthdays, which are given in the offender database and searchable in the voter registration database. For instance, if John Q. Public is seeking office and appears to be a match for a John Q. Public who had a felony conviction and was born on July 4, 1976, then CPP searched the voter record under that name for the 07/04/1976 birthday to see whether they are the same person. In the vast majority of cases, this process showed that they were not the same individuals. But in the four cases identified, the birthdays matched. In many other cases, very near matches of candidates with unusual names with people who had different birthdays and were convicted of crimes in the same area of North Carolina suggested that close relatives may have had criminal histories. But candidates’ families were not the focus of this CPP investigation. In such cases, it’s also possible that the birthday in either the criminal database or the voter registration database was typed incorrectly into a computer. CPP had no way to check for this type of error. One challenging aspect of investigating candidates was the mixed bag of public information about candidates from county to county. In most cases, a full list of candidate is available on the county board of elections website. But that’s not always true. Some county websites provide only the sample ballot, which has less information about candidates’ full names. Other counties have nothing about this year’s elections on their sites. In most cases the sample ballots appear on the North Carolina Board of Elections site, where they are broken down by county. For some reason Avery County’s sample ballot was missing from the state site, but county election officials did email CPP a copy of their ballot upon request. One drawback in trying to check candidates’ background using sample ballots alone is that these documents don’t provide the full names under which the person has registered to vote. With many candidates using their middle names or nicknames on the ballot, this can lead to confusion, especially if other voters in the same area have names that match the one the actual candidate is using on the ballot. Voters who are interested in researching more about candidates using a search engine or other online tool, can attempt to follow some of the same procedures CPP did as they try to educate themselves ahead of Election Day. But researchers should be careful to avoid being fooled false matches due to some of the issues CPP encountered. In addition to the type of background search that CPP conducted, voters could be frustrated in efforts to seek other information about candidates when only the sample ballot is available. For instance, knowing the full names under which candidates registered to vote can also help show pinpoint their party affiliation and voting history.

Navy SEALs are shown here in 2010 performing training at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. (John Scorza/ U.S. Navy) After more than four hours of moving across the rocky, hill-studded terrain of eastern Afghanistan, Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers and other commandos from the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six were within 100 feet of their objective: an American aid worker held hostage by the Taliban. It was Dec. 8, 2012, and three days earlier, a doctor, Dilip Joseph, and his interpreter and his driver had been captured by the Taliban while returning from a medical clinic east of Kabul. Upon his abduction, he was moved to a single-room hut in Laghman province, not far from where he had been taken. According to an unclassified summary of action provided by Navy officials, there was evidence that as early as the next day Joseph might be moved. In his book, “Kidnapped by the Taliban: A Story of Terror, Hope and Rescue by SEAL Team Six,” Joseph said he awoke that night with a runny nose and to the sound of a dog barking and bleating sheep. Minutes later his captors were dead, and Byers was helping him to a helicopter. [Navy SEAL to receive Medal of Honor for 2012 hostage rescue] “The whole operation lasted two minutes,” Joseph said in a recent phone interview. “The only time we had to wait was for the helicopter to pick us up.” The SEALs were yards away from the compound when one of the Taliban spotted the commandos. The point man, Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas D. Checque, fired, missed and rushed the building — probably hoping to keep the element of surprise before the rest of Joseph’s captors could be alerted. The door of the compound was made up of six heavy blankets, a common method for Afghans to insulate their mud-walled houses in the winter. As Checque rushed in, Byers followed, pushing through the blankets behind his comrade. Once inside, Checque was immediately hit by enemy rifle fire. With his teammate down, Byers entered the room and confronted a man pointing a Kalashnikov at him. Now locked in hand-to-hand combat, Byers saw another man dart across the room. Unsure about who was friend or foe, Byers shifted his attention to the new threat, tackling him to the ground while adjusting his night-vision goggles to ensure that the green blur he had tackled wasn’t Joseph himself. As Byers wrestled the two Taliban, the rest of his team filled in behind him, calling out for Joseph to identify himself. According to the summary of action, Byers heard an English voice off to his right and instantly threw himself on top of Joseph to shield him from the ensuing gun battle. While lying on top of the doctor, Byers managed to grab another Taliban fighter by the throat and pin him to the adjacent wall long enough for another SEAL to fatally shoot him. As Byers lay atop Joseph, the rest of the SEALs killed the remaining captors. In Joseph’s book, the doctor describes the initial chaos as the SEALs entered the room, calling for Joseph to identify himself and for the five Taliban to put their hands in the air. With Byers on top of him, he recalled, the SEAL asked whether he had been abused and properly fed, as the room erupted into a firefight. “You’re going to be okay,” Joseph recounted Byers as saying, though at the time he had no idea who was talking to him. “We’re going to get you out of here.” After the team moved Joseph to the landing zone, Byers, a certified paramedic and a graduate of the Army’s 18 Delta Special Forces medical course, began combat life support on his wounded teammate. Byers and his team provided CPR for the 40-minute flight back to Bagram Airfield where Checque, 28, was pronounced dead. For his actions that night Byers will receive the nation’s highest honor for combat valor, the Medal of Honor, in a White House ceremony at the end of the month. Byers will be the eleventh living recipient of the award to come out of the war in Afghanistan. Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.

Modern Baseball are in the UK for their first headline tour supported by Spraynard and Losing Sleep. We had a chat with bassist Ian about the band’s success, Riot Fest and their local scene in Philadelphia. How’s the tour been so far? This tour’s been awesome. We’re only on like our third day but we’ve got the opportunity to tour with Spraynard who are one of our favourite bands, and Losing Sleep are awesome, awesome guys. It’s just been a lot of fun, a lot of hanging out and a lot of playing music [laughter]. You already look tired. [Laughter] yeah I’m kinda tired. We slept in this room last night which they said would have three beds and four couches which would be amazing. But we got here and it was this tiny room and we didn’t all fit in this room [laughter]. Pat from Spraynard slept in this corner between two couches in a tiny corner. I slept kinda diagonally. Sean [drums] slept under a table [laughter], so we didn’t really sleep too well. How was Riot Fest? Riot Fest was amazing. It’s my favourite festival. I’ve driven there the last couple of years from my home in Philly, about 14 hours away from my home because all the bands are incredible. The lineup is always amazing. I think the lineup this year is the best lineup I’ve ever seen. Yeah, it’s incredible. This year when we got asked to play, it was like… “yeah, let’s do that!” It was cool because the first thing we did was play a Riot Fest aftershow with The Get Up Kids which was huge for us. They killed it. They are such a good live band, and I don’t even remember the last time they played together. Then day two we got to see a bunch of friends who were also playing, then I got to see Descendents play Milo Goes to College and that was really something else. Never thought I would see that. And then the next day, we played to a million people. Not like a million people, but there were a lot of people and that was a lot of fun. Then I watched Weezer play The Blue Album. Just a great time. Mark from Spraynard: How’s it been touring with Spraynard? Well here’s Mark from Spraynard [laughter]. Mark from Spraynard: Have fun. I’ll expect the real answer on the recording. I know you won’t say it in front of me. They all smell really bad, especially Mr D., the bassist [laughter]. Well… How’s your scene back home? When we started we played a lot of basement shows, Philly is known for having a lot going on. We don’t really play that many basement shows anymore. We do as much as possible because they’re so fun. But yeah, it’s a great scene. We’re all going to shows when we’re back home. There’s literally one show happening every day. It’s insane. A few years ago there was a poll taken by this one group called DIY PHL which logs all the shows happening and they found there were 73 different houses and DIY venues putting on shows, not even including the real venues because there are a bunch of those, too. Yeah, Corporate Hearts wrote a big thing about the Philadelphia scene for us which is really cool. Oh Corporate Hearts? Yeah, that’s sick. I saw them play once at a house when Tom from The Menzingers was playing a solo set and they opened and it was awesome. Awesome guys. Do you think there’s much difference in audiences between the US and the UK? Yeah, it’s not a huge difference but one thing I’ve noticed is that in the UK it’s way more respectful. I mean, people still go crazy, but in America there’s always this one person who comes up on stage and will just like shove me out the way so they can stage dive [laughter]. Just knuckleheads. But yeah, over here it seems like most people are super respectful but still go crazy. So you guys sort’ve have exploded in the last year or so, does it feel like it just kind’ve happened or do you think you snowballed? Yeah, I still don’t get it. It’s been since Sports, when we put out a pressing of 300 and it sold out within five weeks. We didn’t even think we would sell them or break even on them ever. So since then, Run For Cover signed us and like even just yesterday a show was announced where we’re playing one of Taking Back Sunday’s holiday shows and the lineup is literally just them and us [laughter]. It’s crazy. I’m so thankful, I don’t know how it happened but I’m thankful [laughter]. What do you think the reception to You’re Gonna Miss it All has been like compared to Sports? There’s a lot more people now listening to it just because we’ve grown as a band. People seem to like both of them, but our approach was different with it. These songs were specifically written for the new one whereas for Sports, they were the best songs picked out of a group of fifty-something songs. But yeah, for You’re Gonna Miss it All, everything was written for that record and we recorded it all at once. We used to go from like 11PM to 8AM because it’s all we could book in the studio, then we’d have class at like 10AM, and that was just miserable [laughter]. So for us I think we were able to produce a better product. Are you all still in school? Yeah we are all still in school. We just finished up our summer term before coming over here. We have about a years’ worth of school left. But yeah, I’m 21, Jake’s 21, Sean’s 22 and Brendan’s 23. Is it hard juggling it? Yeah… It’s very busy. Have you got any tips for other small bands starting up? Just be friendly and respectful to other bands, and other people, and then they’ll want to work with you and help you out. Don’t try to do anything, just kinda let it happen, otherwise you’ll try to hard. What’s your favourite song to play live? My favourite song is Re-Done, but we don’t play it all the time, purely because it is so long and we don’t always have the longest sets. So it’s a real treat for us. I think it’s all of our favourites. I also really enjoy playing Rock Bottom, and we just started playing The Old Gospel Choir which is a blast. What are your plans for the rest of the year? When we get back we leave pretty soon for the tour with The Wonder Years, The Story So Far and Gnarwolves which is gonna be a blast. And then, we got a little more coming up in December which I can’t go into detail about, but that’s gonna be fun. Like this: Like Loading...

If you were injured in a car accident and need a car accident attorney in Dallas click here for more information Your browser does not support the video tag. Optimum HealthCare - One Call Does it ALL! We believe that being healthy means more than being pain free—it is the ability to do what you need and want to in regaining quality of life through receiving treatment for your condition by health professionals of your choosing. Health professionals in our Dallas network provide Chiropractic Care, Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy, and Car Accidents injury care in Dallas, to help Back Pain and other joint pain injuries. Our Blog Optimum Health Care Blog - Helpful Car Accident Tips: There’s no planning for the unexpected. And when the unexpected is an unfortunate car ac... Keeping Your Family and Finances Safe After a Car Accident: The Busy Streets of Dallas Are Filled with Car Accidents, Take Measures to Keep your Family and Fina... Optimum Health Care Blog - How to Deal With Jealousy: How can you deal with jealousy? Jealousy is the worst. It makes you feel awful about ... Optimum Healthcare Blog - Dallas Work Ethic: Has Dallas lost touch with it's work ethic? There was a time where the work force of A... What People Are Saying About Us I had never been in a auto accident before. So when I was in a car accident in Dallas, things got really ugly for me. I had been rear ended and my back and neck were hurting me after the accident. So much so that I started to worry. I had consulted the MD after and all he prescribed me were pain meds. First of all, I am only into naturopathic medicine and the idea of taking any sort of drug made me worried out of my mind. But I took them to kill the pain. After taking the meds for few weeks, the pain was still there. I didn't know what to do about covering my bills from the doctor or how the insurance even worked. So I did some research and found OHC, with one call they helped me with treatment for my back and handled all my insurance information, and even set up a lawyer to handle my case. They didn't charge me anything for whatever they did for me. They told me what they were handling and what to do when you are in a car accident. With treatment my back and neck pain lessened. They helped me out through this difficult time. - John Sezar I needed help with my chronic BACK PAIN After an accident a few years ago I hurt my back. I started having weird sharp pains in my body. I would be sitting at work and I would have sharp stabbing pains in my side or arm. It was very painful. I had it after a night of sharp pains that lasted over four hours. It was so painful I couldn't sleep, eat, I couldn't do anything, I was immobile. I found Optimum Health Care online and I set up an appointment. I started rehabilitation, the chiropractor said that my nerves were being pinched and needed to be realigned. I didn't care about what I had to do, I just wanted it gone! I started treatment/therapy and was told do exercises, realignment, stress reduction, and I would start to feel better. I did everything I was told. Within 3 weeks I had less and less sharp pains.. I could sit at work on the computer and not feel the horrible pains anymore- I WAS BETTER! I was ecstatic. I go to the Optimum Health Care Dallas clinic twice a week to this day and have never felt better! - Tess Guzman

In this presentation I use Jam Origin’s MIDI Guitar to send a microtonally retuned MIDI stream to Kontakt 5’s string ensemble. The guitar was run through the cakewalk amp sim. In the top graphic I show where the microtonal midi machine is loaded (lower right) and in the next graphic I show the interface of the microtonal machine. A key is to enable the same amount of pitch bend in MIDI guitar as well as the VSTi you are using. In this case it was the standard 2 whole tones. In the sound demo you can hear the 12 equal guitar playing single notes to full chords in 12 equal and at the same time the Kontakt strings in 125 cents per step tuning driven by the Jam Origin included audio VSTi. In sonar be sure to enable MIDI guitar’s midi out in order to put it into the list of your VSTi. Like this: Like Loading...

Prime universe (Capcom's primary storyline) Duvalia jp name デュバリア Biological information Based: Majini Development information Date of creation: 2009 Created via: Type 3 Plagas Purpose: Experimental Duvalia is a stage in the life of the Type 3 Plaga, a genetically modified species of Plaga engineered by Tricell. Its name is derived from the Duvalia, a species of carrion flower found in tropical Africa. Its most recognizable feature is a large bulb found inside five shorter appendages, which the Plaga mimics with its armored shell and vulnerable core.[1][excerpt 1] History The Type 3 Plagas were being experimented on in humans from Summer 2008, with research taking place on the Ndipaya tribesmen who became known as Marshland Majini. By 2009 the guards working on Excella Gionne's cargo ship were also implanted with this Plaga type. Overall, Duvalia are more commonly seen in Base Majini. Bibliography Sources excerpts ↑ Excerpt from kaitaishinsho, p.254: "デュバリアの名は多肉植物の属名から取られたものだが、 異称となるキャリオンフラワー、 つまり腐肉花という名にもふさわしい異形の姿であると言えるだろう。" references

A clock on Ken Livingstone's campaign website counts down remorsely the days, hours, minutes and seconds to polling day in London, when about 5.8 million voters decide which candidate will be mayor and run the capital for the next four years. But Livingstone, engaged in a longstanding campaign to use the rematch with London's Tory mayor, Boris Johnson, to wrest back the mayoralty, is struggling to make his strategy count as the latter outperforms his own party and his Labour rival. Separate elections are being held on 3 May next year for London mayor and the 25-strong assembly. The next mayor to run a capital with a population of 7.8 million faces a number of challenges thrown up by economic and transport problems, as well as the summer riots and the dire shortage of affordable housing in a city where benefit changes will hit the poor particularly hard. The mayor will also get the prestige role of presiding over the 2012 Olympics. Voting tendencies for the assembly polls tend to align more closely with national party share, but all eyes are on the razzmatazz of the mayoral contest. It is widely seen as a two-horse race involving a pair of larger than life characters with mayoral records to defend, known on first-name terms by the entire country, each willing to speak against the party line when needs must, with a mutual tendency to outpoll their parties. A YouGov survey in June revealed that one in five people who would vote Labour in a general election said they planned to vote for Johnson next May. Those factors make Livingstone's line particularly difficult and there have been signs over the last year that his team is vacillating on the line of attack. In September 2010 Livingstone used his victory speech on being selected Labour candidate over his rival, Oona King, to make clear he would fight on an anti-government ticket. Selected the day before Ed Miliband was declared party leader, Livingstone cast the mayoral race as a referendum on the coalition, by urging Londoners in a Labour-leaning city to "send a message" to David Cameron and George Osborne over spending cuts by "getting out Boris". But this year Livingstone has concentrated on Johnson's record in office, casting the race as a "direct choice" between a candidate whose mission as mayor would be to protect Londoners from rising living costs, and an "out of touch" Conservative. Tapping into the anger of those who think the banks and the City got off lightly following the 2008 crash, Livingstone has seized on Johnson's defence of the financial sector and his call for the 50p top rate of tax to be abolished, and set himself up as the man for the "99%" against "privileged" Johnson batting for the 1%. But polling by ComRes in November indicated that attempts to portray the popular Tory as a privileged, out-of-touch toff were not working. Johnson had an eight-point lead over Livingstone (54% to 46%), when other candidates were stripped out, gaining a bigger winning margin than in the 2008 election, when he finished six percentage points ahead of Livingstone in the first-preference vote under the supplementary vote system. The survey also showed the incumbent mayor to be the candidate most trusted on crime, the economy and policing, indicating he had earned credibility in running the city. His weakness was transport; on this Livingstone led as the most trusted, suggesting early gains following the promise to cut fares by 7% compared with Johnson's 5.6% fare rise. Peter Kellner, president of YouGov, said these most recent findings underlined the need for Livingstone to "depersonalise" his campaign against Johnson and focus exclusively on policy. Kellner said: "At the moment the Conservatives are doing a good job nationally for passing the blame for the economic failure on Labour, and Boris is doing a good job to distance himself from the more difficult things [in] the government. "If the campaign is perceived to be personal between Ken and Boris then Boris will win. Ken had the personality votes in 2000 and 2004, but Boris has them now. "If the campaign is to be about the future of London, transport, housing and the state of the economy, then I think Ken can win. But that depends on how the candidates behave, how the media behave and how voters perceive it. If Livingstone can get half that vote back he could win because London is, relative to the rest of the country, a Labour city." But documents seen by the London Evening Standard last week suggest a return to the earlier line of attack. This follows media reports that Cameron told a private meeting of Tory MPs that winning a second-term Conservative mayoralty was his "number one priority" for 2012, aware his policies and the economic slowdown would be blamed if Johnson lost. The Livingstone idea is to "Tory-ise" the Boris brand, and cast him as a "true blue" Conservative whose re-election would be a boon to Cameron. A document written by Simon Fletcher, Livingstone's former chief of staff and campaign manager, states: "Our campaign team need to use every opportunity to point out how being tied to the Tories is highly toxic for Boris Johnson with many voters – and it is Cameron himself who is binding Johnson to his mast." Tony Travers, director of the Greater London group at the London School of Economics, says a contest driven by popularity would make the result a close-run thing. But he says the notion of the mayoral race as a political test of the parties nationally, in the midterm of the Westminster parliament, risks causing more pain to Ed Miliband than Cameron. Lord Mandelson recently became the most senior Labour figure to express concerns at Miliband's leadership performance and indicated that the Labour leader needed to show progress in 2012. "There is more pressure for Miliband than David Cameron, in the sense that if Boris loses it will be seen as the midterm blues," says Travers. "If Ken doesn't win midterm in a coalition government, it will be worse for Miliband. The only real problem for Cameron would be that if Boris loses, he will try and get back into Westminster." Other candidates also limbering up include Jenny Jones, the Green party candidate, and for the Liberal Democrats Brian Paddick, the former Met deputy assistant commissioner, who came third in the 2008 race. They are widely expected to use the race to raise their respective parties' profile for the more anonymous assembly elections. Both leading candidates have their core teams firmly in place, with Lynton Crosby, the Australian political strategist who led Johnson's successful campaign in 2008, back in harness. Crosby brought out the Conservative vote in the outer suburbs last time – the so-called "doughnut strategy" reflecting the outer ring of the capital. He says Johnson has disproved those who said he was not up to the job or would prove to be a "hard-right Tory Thatcherite" in power. "People in London want a champion and I think Boris has shown himself to be a champion." Crosby says Johnson has been in every borough across inner and outer London more often in four years than Ken had done in eight, a fact that had helped him connect to people whose votes weighed equally at the election. Livingstone, however, is "quite confident" he can turn things around. His team have circled 3 January – the date Johnson's fare rises kick in – for a mass leafleting exercise contrasting the mayor's fare rises with Livingstone's Fare Deal pledge, which, he claims, will save Londoners £1,000 on average over four years. He insists this cut can be funded using the "operating surplus" budget sitting in TfL's coffers – a claim flatly rejected by the body chaired by Johnson, which says every penny is accounted for with regard to improving London's transport system. Livingstone believes the polls will change once people have to pay the new fares. "If you actually look at the polling and you plough through the poll, Boris is the only Tory in Britain who still has a positive popularity rating, but that's based on the fact that it's on the soft issues." He adds: "Boris has refused to debate with me for three and a half years … Once you hit the elections, where there's a detailed focus and people start to think 'what does this mean for me?', he can't get away with that." On fares, Johnson retorts: "I think Londoners have heard twice before from that particular candidate promises to hold fares down, which were then flagrantly broken. So I take those promises with a pinch of salt, and if they were to be fulfilled, taking £1bn off TfL's investment programme I think would be wrong for the city." Asked whether he feels cheered by how the polls are heading before his own campaign has even started, Johnson wards off complacency by muttering that "polls come and polls go". He lists commitments he has delivered for the capital as he sits on a new Routemaster bus – a cleaner, greener, 21st-century version of the hop-on hop-off vehicle. Eight such buses will be on London's roads by late February. "I'm going to fight very hard," says Johnson. "I think we've got a great record and I think if you look back at the things I said I would do and the things we've done, I think it's very considerable."

Like many, I've been disturbed by the roiling of the financial markets and the sheeplike stampede to let the Treasury bail out the banks. Although worrisome in its own right, this is a topic for a different blog (one that I wrote about six months ago). No, what really has me freaked out is the gas going on in metro Atlanta, where I live. As near as I can tell, this is a local phenomenon. Atlanta has a long history of, well, acting stupid when something even remotely out of the ordinary threatens the status quo. We get a snowstorm about every three years, but when it does snow you can count on the grocery stores being cleared of milk and bread. Nevermind the fact that snow only stays on the ground a day or two. It started with Hurricane Ike. Rumors of a disruption in the gas supply caused people to top off their tanks. This, in turn, led to a few gas stations to running dry. The empty pumps freaked out more people, causing even more folks to top off the tanks and now setting off something just short of a full fledged panic. All the gas stations in my neighborhood ran dry this weekend. A few miles away, the one remaining station that did have gas had a line of cars that ran twenty deep. Sadly, his herd behavior is the norm not only for sheep, but for humans. We evolved in social groups, and as a result, our brains are hardwired to place great importance on what other people think. When we see a group of people doing something, our brains are wired to disregard our own perceptions and accept, lock-stock-and-barrel, what everyone else is doing. Fortunately, we have a reasonably active prefrontal cortex that can override this. Sadly, I see little evidence of prefrontal activity in either metro Atlanta or the finance sector (and forget about Washington). What can you do? I gained some insight into this problem several years ago when my research group performed an fMRI study of social . We recreated a version of the famous Asch experiment of the 1950s and used fMRI to determine how a group changes an individual’s perception of the world. Two things emerged from the study. First, when individuals conform to a group's opinion, even when the group is wrong, we observe changes in perceptual circuits in the brain, suggesting that groups change the way we see the world. Second, when an individual stands up against the group, we observed strong activation in the amygdala, a structure closely associated with . All this tells me that not only are our brains not wired for truly independent thought, but it takes a huge amount of effort to overcome the fear of standing up for one's own beliefs and speaking out. The silver lining to this story is that the amygdala response disappears when even a small minority speaks up. All it takes is the recruitment of one like-minded individual to tamp down this fear response. So there it is. I'm speaking out against group stupidity. Join me. Disclaimer: I am also plugging my new book, Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently (Harvard Business Press, 2008).

I think you’ll agree this limited time online offer is more than fair for a simple system designed to quickly give you the gift of confidence and power that comes with mastering the skills that will keep you and your family safe. Yet we’re happy to get this into your hands at such an affordable price because we’ve seen how much these easy-to-learn methods will improve your life in every way. Just consider this small sample of hundreds of notes we’ve received from grateful clients… I was travelling home from Vancouver with my daughter and her friend on BC Ferries. There were 2 young men in a verbal exchange of a heated manner. The aggressor was using VERY salty language in an area that was a designated children's area. So I got up and asked them to move on. The aggressor looks at me, "tough guy, eh"!? I escorted him out of the area and he "promised" me that I was next. I ignored him as for the next hour as he circled the boat staring down his original victim. I had to go to the bathroom before I disembarked. As I was exiting the bathroom, there stood the 2 combatants from earlier. The aggressor turns to me and says "hey tough guy"!!! I told him that I just wanted to take my kids and go home. He said sure, then pushed my face... I grabbed his hood, pulled it across his face and smacked his head into the wall. He threw 2 wild punches which were easily dodged. I then grabbed his arm across my chest, trapped, turned and threw. I landed on him with punches coming up to me. I pushed his arm to the side, slid off to apply a head and arm choke. When I felt him almost go out, I stopped, grabbed the arm, rolled him to his belly and placed him in a pin. Security on the boat grabbed some tie straps and we made a pair of cuffs. He was turned over to the staff, police were called, and my job done. Thanks Ari! George Lopez, Vancouver BC One day on the job I found myself in a close quarters wrestling match over a pistol with a robber at a pharmacy I interrupted. The principles of First Strike, how to control a body and isolate limbs allowed me to end this conflict quickly without having to take this guy's life, losing mine or endangering the store full of bystanders in the backdrop if I would have used my firearm. Frank Bridges, Seattle I was coming out of a local grocery store and heading back to my car. It was about 8pm, dark and cold out. All I wanted was to get home. I walked down the stairwell to the first floor and came upon two guys going through a bag at the bottom of the stairs. All I saw was cosmetics and papers on the ground which I assumed to be a women’s purse. I also noticed a long metal rod near one of the thieves. I rounded the corner and stopped maybe 6 steps above them. One of the guys looked up and said “fuck you… get lost.” His buddy picked up the rod and moved forward, maybe 2 steps up from the landing. He spat and said “get out of here or….” I just reacted and kicked him in the face from 4 steps up. I wasn’t going to wait for him to close the gap or finish his sentence. I had no idea what he was going to do with the rod and I wasn’t going to take the chance. I kicked the guy hard enough that he flew back, crashing his head against the door at the bottom. The second guy just ran. And the first guy was, well, knocked out. I ran up the stairs to the first floor and called the cops. Alex Fraser, Madison

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption This footage is a 3D reconstruction, made up of several X-ray images, and shows of a blowfly's "flight motor" Scientists from the UK and Switzerland have used very intense X-rays to film inside an insect's body as it flies. The resulting footage - a 3D reconstruction made up of several X-ray snapshots - shows a blowfly's flight motor, the "muscles and hinges" that power flight. Researchers say the insights could be useful for the design of micro air vehicles. The results are published in the journal Plos Biology. It's amazing how such tiny muscles have such a large effect Simon Walker, University of Oxford Dr Simon Walker from the University of Oxford's animal flight group, first author of the research, explained that the team used very fast, intense X-rays to record the extremely rapid movements. In the time that it takes a human to blink, a blowfly can beat its wings 50 times. "The X-rays were also focused on to a very small area, which was necessary to achieve high-resolution of such a small object," Dr Walker told BBC News. "The blowfly thorax is about 4mm long." The scientists tethered the tiny fly to a vertical mount, which they rotated as the insect was X-rayed. "Flies have an automatic response so that when their feet leave the ground they start flying," Dr Walker explained. "We also had a small air blower around the insect, which provides a continued stimulus so that they continued flying during the recording." By combining rapid snapshots of the insect's body, the researchers produced a 3D reconstruction of a blowfly in flight. The X-rays also enabled the researchers to see through the insect's thorax, revealing the power muscles (coloured yellow to red in the footage) and the tiny steering muscles (coloured green to blue in the footage). "The steering muscles are responsible for driving the wing beat by deforming the thorax. One of the most surprising things, said Dr Walker, "is how much deformation you see [in the body of the fly] - how everything bends and buckles". Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The "robo-fly", designed by scientists from Harvard University, weighs a fraction of a gram "And it's amazing how such tiny muscles have such a large effect." The steering muscles, he explained, are just 3% of the fly's muscle mass, but they can produce "very big and rapid changes in direction". The team hopes the insights into these very fine-scale movements will prove useful in the design of micro air vehicles that aim to replicate insect flight. There is a great deal of interest in mimicking insect flight in order to produce these types of vehicles. Scientists in the US have already built the world's smallest flying robot, copying the high-speed motion of a fly's wings. The hope is that these could navigate disaster zones - moving through tiny crevices to locate survivors. These "robo-flies", however, have to be tethered to a power source, and Dr Walker says that it remains an engineering challenge to make micro-scale flying vehicles that are much more efficient at converting "fast, small amplitude, linear motions into larger, three-dimensional motions". "Insects have solved this problem," he added.

... Segments ------ 00:00 Not Another Atheist Podcast Interview 46:00 Voter Manipulation and Gerrymandering 01:15:30 Science Segment / Fucking Fracking 01:38:10 Two Party System VS Voting Your Conscious Episode: Subscribe: Facebook: RSS Feed: iTunes: Links ------ https://notanotheratheistpodcast.wordpress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/NotAnotherAtheistPodcast/ @AnAtheistInYYC @Insomnia_Mama ----- http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/12/03/clerks-voters-rip-plan-end-straight-ticket-voting/76712546/ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/03/how-voter-id-laws-are-being-used-to-disenfranchise-minorities-and-the-poor/254572/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credible-incidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/ ------ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401 http://fracfocus.org/sites/default/files/average_frac_fluid_composition_2012.jpg http://www.dangersoffracking.com/ https://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used http://insideclimatenews.org/news/07122015/methane-emissions-texas-fracking-zone-90-higher-epa-estimate?utm_source=Daily+Carbon+Briefing&utm_campaign=bb68b24353-cb_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_876aab4fd7-bb68b24353-303423917 ------ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-spielberg/hillary-clinton-is-better_b_8848632.html https://m.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/30/1152687/-Why-You-Shouldn-t-Vote-Your-Conscience-An-open-letter-to-the-lonely-left http://ivn.us/2015/12/21/discredit-two-party-system-vote-conscience/ Segments------00:00 Not Another Atheist Podcast Interview46:00 Voter Manipulation and Gerrymandering01:15:30 Science Segment / Fucking Fracking01:38:10 Two Party System VS Voting Your ConsciousEpisode: https://www.spreaker.com/user/cellardoorskeptics/13-not-another-new-year Subscribe: http://www.spreaker.com/user/cellardoorskeptics Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CellarDoorSkeptics RSS Feed: https://www.spreaker.com/user/8326690/episodes/feed iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cellar-door-skeptics/id1044088575?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Links------@AnAtheistInYYC@Insomnia_Mama----------- https://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101# .VnNCFfkrLIU------ Ring in the new year with Cellar Door Skeptics. In our 2016 inaugural episode, we tackle fracking, gerrymandering and vote manipulation, and whether we should vote only vote two party in a close election year.We also are joined by our friends in the podcast community, Jen and Keith from Not Another Atheist Podcast as help weigh in on these important topics. They will stick around for the full show to provide their expert and sometimes vulgar yet honest opinions on today's show.

A lot about Iron Fist has been pretty head scratching. That tradition of “What?!” continues with some new attempts to do viral or subversive marketing from Netflix and Marvel. The ideas are interesting but seem to be lacking in execution. Two have come to our attention here at the MCUExchange. First of all is the “New York Bulletin” video which is embedded above. The concept is very similar to some of the Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War videos featuring WHIH news shorts. Generally, these videos try to make a news clip from the world of the MCU, something you might see on TV if you lived in the world of heroes. As with the WHIH clips, this video is relatively lacking in production caliber. The script is stiff. Why is the narrator directly asking questions to the Meachums? Some of the relevant background information is heavy on exposition, but make a nice little primer for the show for new fans. What’s truly odd about the clip as a marketing tactic, however, is how it was rolled out. The clip wasn’t published until March 23rd, a week after release. Many fans were done with the show by then and new fans likely had their first taste of the program already. It’s also an unlisted video. The results are that only about 1,000 people have seen it. While the WHIH pieces were for movies with larger audiences and have been out a while, it’s hard not to compare that 1,000 viewers to the 5 million plus views on some of the predecessor’s videos. Also, Netflix bought a domain and published a website for Colleen Wing’s dojo, over at http://thewingway.com. Very little content is on the site, save for a little basic cable style commercial for Wing’s classes. The site also name drops Claire Temple in the reviews section. In a way this is charming. In a world with squaresapce and wordpress, however, one wonders why Colleen has a website that apparently was designed in 1999. Again, it doesn’t seem like this “viral” attempt at marketing has been particularly viral. For one more easter egg click on the Rand advertisement at the bottom of the screen and check out Ward Meachum’s Linkedin page. These forms of advertising have become important ways for studios to promote their properties without spending heavily on traditional advertising avenues. These particular two attempts seemed to fall pretty flat, however. The chatter about the site and video have been minimal. It would be awesome to see these ideas fleshed out with a little more energy and ability than these two particular examples. If you still have not seen Iron Fist it is available on Netflix right now. Sources: Youtube, thewingway, and Linkedin

Mr. Obama’s spending agreement with Congress will suspend the nation’s debt limit and allow the Treasury to borrow another $1.5 trillion or so by the end of his presidency in 2017. Added to the current total national debt of more than $18.15 trillion, the red ink will likely be crowding the $20 trillion mark right around the time Mr. Obama leaves the White House. When Mr. Obama took over in January 2009, the total national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. That means the debt will have very nearly doubled during his eight years in office, and there is much more debt ahead with the abandonment of “sequestration” spending caps enacted in 2011. “Congress and the president have just agreed to undo one of the only successful fiscal restraint mechanisms in a generation,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union. “The progress on reducing spending and the deficit has just become much more problematic.”

As the U.S. approaches a decade of war, what are feminist writers and artists thinking? On The Issues Magazine Summer 2011 probes peace activism and war reality. Fighting to Gratify a Sex Instinct? War Attitudes Vary by Gender by Lori Adelman In her influential 1938 essay "Three Guineas," Virginia Woolf portrayed war as an expression of male power and self-interest. "If you insist upon fighting to protect me, or ‘our' country," she warned, "let it be understood soberly and rationally between us that you are fighting to gratify a sex instinct which I cannot share; to procure benefits where I have not shared and probably will not share; but not to gratify my instincts, or to protect either myself or my country." Representations of "the enemy" slant male Public attitudes toward war validate Woolf's emphatic stance about the male-centric nature of war and women's responses to it. Although women have always been involved in war -- as soldiers, doctors, drivers, spies and more -- they have not been engaged to the same extent as men. Worldwide, the overwhelming majority of soldiers are men, and the figure jumps to 99.9 percent where combat forces are concerned. And although militarists often invoke rhetoric around improving the lives of women to justify their actions, war has arguably failed to bring about a safer or more prosperous world for women, bringing with its promises of security the threat of gender-based violence: massacre, rape as a tool of war and sexual assault. These realities have left their mark on women's attitudes toward war, with the current U.S.-led "war on terror" proving no exception. Although individual women have diverse and complicated relationships with the war on terror, variously serving as perpetrators, victims, supporters and opponents, researchers largely agree that women are less likely than men to endorse the use of violence for political purposes. Military Divide is Big Gender differences in attitudes towards war have characterized the public opinions of United States military conflicts, including World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. As Professor Richard C. Eichenberg described in a paper presented to the Convention of the Midwest Political Science Association last year, gender is often the single most important correlate of attitudes toward the use of military force, trumping race, class and even partisanship at times. Dr. Victoria Stewart, senior lecturer at the University of Leicester and author of Women's Autobiography: War and Trauma points out that notions of war still cut against deep-seated norms of the role expectations of women. Even in our modern cultural context, the belief is that "women should still nurture children and families," she says, "whereas the man's role has historically been conceived as the active one, going out to defend the family group." The war on terror is no different in its gendered appeal. Today, nearly a decade after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and more than a month after the death of Osama Bin Laden, polling data confirms that public opinion of the war on terror shows a significant gender differential. Media hard-pressed to explain a female suicide bomber Recently released data by USA Surveys indicates that women are more ambivalent and less certain than men about most aspects of the war on terror. This ambivalence extends to the decision to kill Osama Bin Laden, bury his body at sea or celebrate his death – 66 percent of men said it was appropriate to celebrate, as compared to 58 percent of women. Women are also more hesitant to say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been worth fighting (32 percent of women and 40 percent of men say this), and less inclined to name a side as currently "winning" the war on terror (28 percent of women believe neither the United States nor the terrorists are winning the war, as compared to just 17 percent of men). And while more men than women perceive al Qaeda as an ongoing threat, women on the whole feel that bin Laden's death will result in a more dangerous world in the long term. Cultural Embeds At least to some extent, gender still matters in matters of war. But does this data really offer new insight into attitudes towards the war against terror? Or is it merely reflective of a centuries-long and deeply culturally embedded narrative about gender and violence in this country? And given the uncertainty around these questions, is it possible to distinguish women's attitudes towards the current war on terror from their historically attitudes about war in general? Three indicators are useful. First, public opinion of torture, an issue that has occupied a uniquely large place in the public discourse of the war on terror, is conditioned by gender. Data from the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland suggests that gender strongly shapes opposition to harsh interrogation techniques and that this is a relatively new phenomenon. Eichenberg, for example, compares modern surveys on torture to a series of surveys conducted in 1944 on the use of poison gas in World War II (the use of poison gas resembling torture, he points out, in the sense that it was "a policy instrument that was both illegal and widely condemned on moral grounds"). In the two 1944 surveys, gender differences in attitude were practically nonexistent, and in the polls from 1945, women were even found to be mildly more supportive than men of the use of poison gas against the enemy (49 percent of women were supportive, as compared to 42 percent of men). The feminized nature of dissent on torture contributes, in part, greater ambivalence by gender toward the overall war on terror efforts. Second, polls show that women have a heightened sensitivity to casualties. Dr. Louis Kriesberg, Founding Director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, analyzes numerous surveys in his book, Constructive Conflicts: from Escalation to Resolution and concludes that "women are more sensitive to the risk of casualties and tend to withhold support for military action more than do men, particularly as casualties mount." With many sources estimating casualties of the war in Iraq for U.S. military forces at over 33,000, this factor carries great significance. Third, in the war on terror, representations of "the enemy" and terrorists, slant male. This is not a new phenomenon, as Carrie Hamilton demonstrates in "Political Violence and Body Language in Life Stories of Women ETA Activists." "Violent bodies" as she puts it, "are usually described as male." But the war on terror has furthered this trope in a distinctly new way. Dorit Naaman, a researcher and filmmaker with expertise in examining Middle Eastern cinema from post-colonial and feminist perspective, states that "with regard to Western media ... the constructed nature of the label terrorist ... stands in stark contrast to the highly coded and constructed label woman." Naaman describes how Western media, having created a specific and rigid narrative around the hardened and evil male terrorist, is hard pressed to explain a female suicide bomber or terrorist. It is not difficult to understand why women feel more ambivalent about a war that is presented as simultaneously driven and led by men, and fundamentally at odds with their femaleness. These three factors begin to paint a broader picture of gender and public attitudes toward the war on terror. But in the end, I have to wonder if perhaps women's collective aversion to war stems as much from concerns of a practical nature as it does from any moral or gendered stance: the failure of war to fulfill its promise to "protect either myself or my country," as Woolf wrote. Despite some significant differences in attitude by gender, it strikes me that, to the extent that any person -- man or woman -- is reluctant to endorse war, their pacifism may share very similar roots: the suspicion that, in the end, there is little to be won and much to be lost in the act of war. Lori Adelman is a writer and advocate living in Brooklyn, NY. She blogs at Feministing.com. Also see Gender Values: The Costs of War by Susan Feiner in this edition of On The Issues Magazine. See Finding Hope: Reweaving -- Then and Now by Pam McAllister in this edition of On The Issues Magazine. Read the Cafe for new and updated stories. Join the conversation. Leave a comment. All comments will be reviewed before being posted live. All fields REQUIRED.

Milo Yiannopoulos attended a joint-talk with American Enterprise Institute scholar Christina Hoff Sommers at the University of Minnesota on Wednesday, during which he dispelled the gender pay gap myth, declared third-wave feminists were waging war on working-class men, and was protested by a group of the misinformed social justice warriors armed with air-horns. Yiannopoulos also shared his opinion on male feminists. “Male feminism is a sort of disease. It’s a sort of brain disease brought about by I think low self-esteem and lack of sex,” Yiannopoulos told a laughing audience. “There seems to be an undercurrent in the modern progressive movement of men who are so desperate to get laid that they say literally anything,” he explained. “Some of those things can involve demonising their own skin colour, sexuality, and gender simply in order to get plaudits from some of the most awful women on campus.” “It seems this particular progressive male feminism seems to have popped up only within the last couple of years, and you’ll see it sometimes on the pages of Vox and Buzzfeed and Gawker and Mic and terrible places like that, and it seems mainly a result of a failure in journalism,” he continued. “It’s a failure in the way that we as commentators and interpreters of the world are considering our role. Not as imparters of knowledge, or as people who are supposed to be out there and finding the truth, but rather journalism’s become about virtue signalling, and to too many of my colleagues the primary purpose of their job, what they get up to do in the morning, is to advertise their own moral virtue.” “Instead of telling us about the world as it really is, instead of telling us about what the problems are out there and the various different approaches to them might be, the function of the majority of journalism, particularly I have to say on the left, appears to be to advertise what nice right-thinking people we are and how much we hate sexism and racism and all that kind of thing,” he said. Discussing the topic of false rape reports on campus and how the media fails basic journalistic practices in looking properly into them, Yiannopoulos said: The net result is journalists who don’t really care about the truth but just want to advertise what good people they are, and in very many cases these are men; especially the male editors who commission this stuff, the result of this is that fewer women are believed, because of course these stories fall apart. Because the journalist’s primary purpose in writing it wasn’t to tell the truth, wasn’t to find out what actually happened, wasn’t to unearth wrongdoing, wasn’t to punish miscreants, but was rather simply to paint a picture of how he thinks the world ought to look. It’s very dangerous for anyone who actually cares about the truth, It’s very dangerous to any academic enquiry, and it’s cancer to journalism. It seems to be a cancer that’s infected the majority of American journalism. It’s absolutely horrifying, and its apotheosis is the male feminists. The guy who will say anything, no matter how insane, knowingly lying to his readers, and this goes way beyond negligence and into outright mendacity. Shit all over his own gender, and skin colour, and sexuality. Brazenly lie about good decent people, as we saw in the GamerGate controversy which is the greatest professional failure I’ve ever seen in journalism, and for what? To advertise that he’s a nice guy. So when I say that it’s a disease, I don’t mean it lightly, it is the biggest problem in American journalism and I’m willing to bet it’s a significant component in the problems in American academia too. Yiannopoulos packed the 250-seat auditorium on Wednesday and has since moved on to the next dates in his ‘Dangerous Faggot’ tour, having just returned from the Anarchapulco Conference in Mexico and with a talk at the University of Michigan scheduled for Tuesday. Charlie Nash is a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech and former editor of the Squid Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington.

41 Comic Books and Graphic Novels Being Made Into TV Shows Right Now Between Arrow, The Flash, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., iZombie, Gotham, The Walking Dead, Daredevil, and Agent Carter, not to mention the upcoming Supergirl and Jessica Jones, television is already fairly saturated with comic book shows. But we can't get enough of them, so there are no less than forty-one comic book adaptations currently in development for the small screen. Here are literally dozens of comic book shows you should be watching out for: Marvel Marvel's Most Wanted Luke Cage The Hero for Hire, played by Mike Colter, will first be introduced as a love interest in Jessica Jones (we saw Colter in , and he's great), and then will helm his own Netflix series, coming in 2016. Iron Fist Iron Fist is the final member of the Defenders team and a frequent partner of Luke Cage/Power Man. He will get his own Netflix series sometime after Luke Cage and Daredevil season two. Defenders Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist finally team up in this culminating miniseries on Netflix, which will come out sometime after Iron Fist. Damage Control The overworked, underpaid clean-up crew of the Marvel universe finally gets their due in this workplace comedy. The series is currently in development at ABC from Ben Karlin, best known for Modern Family and The Daily Show. Hellfire Marvel and Fox team up for this X-Men live-action series on the Fox network, which will tell the story of the Hellfire Club, an international social club for wealthy elites that has a secret agenda to take over the world. Members in the comics have included classic X-Men villains such as Emma Frost, Magneto, and Sebastian Shaw. The series will be co-produced by X-Men veterans Lauren Schuler Donner, Bryan Singer, and Simon Kinberg, as well as Marvel Television's Jeph Loeb, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Jim Chory. Legion Marvel and Fox team up for another X-Men series, this time on FX, which follows Professor X's son, David Haller, a young schizophrenic who discovers that his visions may be real. The series will also be co-produced by X-Men veterans Lauren Schuler Donner, Bryan Singer, and Simon Kinberg, as well as Marvel Television's Jeph Loeb, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Jim Chory. Empire of the Dead George Romero will develop his own Marvel limited series, Empire of the Dead, a zombie apocalypse tale which features zombies similar to those in his classic Living Dead series. It doesn't have a home yet, but Romero and Living Dead collaborator Peter Grunwald are set to write and executive produce. Dreadstar The first comic ever published by the creator-focused imprint Epic, Dreadstar follows the sole survivor of the Milky Way galaxy who attempts to stop a deadly war between two ancient empires. The series is moving forward at Universal Cable Productions with comics creator Jim Starlin set to write and executive produce. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fan favorite Mockingbird and her ex-husband, Lance Hunter, are getting their own spin-off in Marvel's Most Wanted, which will go forward at ABC with S.H.I.E.L.D. producers Jeffrey Bell and Paul Zbyszewski at the helm. DC Legends of Tomorrow Krypton David S. Goyer, best known for his work on the Nolan Batman trilogy as well as the new DCEU, is currently developing a Superman prequel series, Krypton, for Syfy. Plot details are unknown, but it's presumably an exploration of life on Superman's home planet before its destruction. Powerless Similar to Marvel's Most Wanted, the Office-style comedy Powerless follows normal people who have to contend with all the superhero and villain hijinks of the DC Universe. The show is currently in development at NBC. Teen Titans Ronin Static Shock #4Hero Undoubtedly one of the most exciting comic book shows on the horizon, Legends of Tomorrow follows fan favorite characters from the Flash/Arrow universe as they team up to stop DC supervillain Vandal Savage from destroying the world. It stars Caity Lotz, Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Arthur Darvill, and more, and comes out midseason on The CW.A live-action version of the popular animated series has long been in the works, but as far as we know, this series is going forward at TNT. The show will reportedly follow team leader Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing, as well as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Dawn Granger/Dove, Rachel Roth/Raven, and Starfire.Syfy will adapt this early Frank Miller comic into a miniseries, which will follow a legendary samurai who is reborn into a futuristic New York, where he must avenge his master's death by defeating the reincarnation of his murderer.The live-action version of the Static Shock animated series has been in the works for some time, but as far as we know it's still moving forward. It will air as a webseries, and Jaden Smith is attached to star as the title character.Machinima is developing a digital series based on the DC Comics series Dial H for Hero, which follows a young girl who discovers an app that turns her into a superhero for a short amount of time. Vertigo Lucifer Lucifer, which comes out midseason on Fox, stars Tom Ellis as the devil after he abdicates his throne in Hell and helps the police catch criminals in LA. It sounds stupid, but the pilot was actually kind of great , so give it a shot. Preacher Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are adapting the acclaimed, blackhearted comic Preacher for AMC, which has had a little bit of success with comic adaptation The Walking Dead. It follows a conflicted preacher who is possessed by a powerful creature who has escaped from heaven, and goes on a journey to literally find God. Y: The Last Man After years of development hell, Brian K. Vaughan's Eisner-winning series Y: The Last Man is finally getting adapted, this time as a television series at FX. Vaughan, along with Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson and World War Z producer Brad Simpson, will co-produce the series, which follows the last man on Earth following a plague that kills any living thing with a Y chromosome. Amped Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is developing an adaptation of Amped, which follows a neurotic family man who takes a "smart pill" and accidentally obtains superpowers. The comic hasn't even come out yet, but we're guessing it's high quality if it's already been optioned for television. DMZ Syfy is developing an adaptation of DMZ, which follows a young photojournalist who is wounded and stranded in Manhattan during a crisis and is the only one reporting events within the DMZ. Andre and Maria Jacquemetton (Mad Men) are co-writing the series and will executive produce alongside David Heyman (Gravity) and Jeffrey Clifford (Up in the Air). Dark Horse Harrow County Part of NBC's huge deal with Dark Horse comics to adapt several of their properties, Harrow County will follow a young girl who discovers that she is the reincarnation of a powerful witch who died the day she was born. The Umbrella Academy Also in development at NBC, Umbrella Academy follows estranged members of a dysfunctional, superpowered family who must save the world. It's also created by the lead singer of My Chemical Romance, because of course it is. Back Up Also in development at NBC, Back Up takes place in a near future in which people have achieved digital immortality. Brad Anderson ("Zoo", "Almost Human") is in negotiations to direct. Concrete Also in development at NBC, Concrete is based on an Eisner-winning comic series that follows a man whose consciousness is transplanted into a hulking stone body. Image Outcast The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman is once again developing his own comic into a television show, which can only mean good things. The comics follow a young man who tries to discover why his loved ones have been involved in demonic possession since his childhood. The series is moving forward at Cinemax. Sex Criminals The comics series, written by comics legend Matt Fraction, follows an actor and librarian who, after sleeping together, realize that they stop time every time they orgasm, and ultimately use their powers to rob a bank in order to save her flailing library. Fraction and his wife/collaborator Kelly Sue DeConnick are developing the series for Universal. Hack/Slash In a series that was just announced today, X-Men Origins: Wolverine screenwriter Skip Woods will adapt Hack/Slash, which follows horror victim Cassie Hack as she strikes back at slasher villains who prey on teenagers, including classic baddies like Re-Animator and Chucky. Lazarus Lazarus takes place in a dystopian society in which 16 wealthy families, each of which is protected by a genetically altered, unkillable leader, rule over all of society. The series doesn't yet have a network, but development is moving forward with comics creator Greg Rucka set to pen the script and executive produce. The Wicked + The Divine This Eisner Award-nominated series from Kieron Gillen follows a young girl as she interacts with the Pantheon, a group of twelve humans who discover that they are reincarnated deities, which brings them fame and power, but also means they will die within two years. The show will be produced by comics legends Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick. The Infinite Horizon Greg Berlanti is literally working on a thousand TV shows , but he still has room for one more, as he will helm the adaptation of The Infinite Horizon, a loose interpretation of The Odyssey that follows a futuristic soldier's journey as he leads a group of abandoned soldiers home. Pax Romana Syfy will adapt Pax Romana into a miniseries, which will depict the Vatican discovering the secret to time travel and using it to fix the future by sending enhanced soldiers and modern weaponry to Rome in 312AD. Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia (Warehouse 13) are writing the show, with Scaia and David Alpert (The Walking Dead) executive producing along with comics creator Jonathan Hickman. Other Kill Shakespeare In this darkly humorous series, Shakespeare heroes such as Hamlet, Juliet, and Othello face off against the most nefarious Shakespearean villains such as Lady Macbeth, Iago, and Richard III as they try to kill a reclusive wizard named William Shakespeare. Riverdale Greg Berlanti again! The prolific producer will helm the adaptation of the Archie Comics characters Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Josie and the Pussycats, previously developed by Fox but now moving forward at The CW. Enormous Fox is developing this monster comic into an event series, which will take place in a world that has been taken over by giant monsters who threaten humankind with extinction. Red NBC is developing an adaptation of the Red comics series (also adapted into the Bruce Willis film of the same name), which will follow a retired CIA agent who goes on the run when the CIA decides to assassinate him. Letter 44 Syfy will adapt Charles Soule's relatively new comics series, which follows the new president of the U.S. who learns, via a letter from his predecessor, that seven years earlier, NASA discovered an alien construction project in the asteroid belt. We haven't heard news from this series since it was optioned in 2014, but as far as we know it's still in the works. Protocol Orphans Co-created by actor Peter Facinelli, comic series Protocol Orphans follows a foster family of orphans who are trained as covert operatives by the U.S. government. The adaptation will be written by Person of Interest's Amanda Segel, and is moving forward at Fox. The Disciples The Disciples, which was acquired before it was even released back in May, centers on a religious cult on Jupiter and a group of detectives who are attempting to find a politician's missing daughter. It was supposed to be developed by Wes Craven prior to his death, but Universal has announced that they are moving forward with all of his projects, so it seems that the show is safe for now. Winterworld Winterworld is another comic that was optioned for television before it even came out. The graphic novel by Chuck Dixon and artist Jorge Zaffino takes place in a world that has been encased in ice from pole to pole, causing humanity to regress into a violent tribal society. The show will be developed by XBox Entertainment. RASL The acclaimed black-and-white noir graphic novel by Jeff Smith follows an art thief who jumps to parallel universes in attempts to steal famous paintings, but runs into danger as he is pursued by the government. It has been optioned at Universal, with Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald producing. El Pantera El Pantera is a Mexican comic series that follows a young police officer who becomes a vigilante in order to rid the Mexican-American border of the Mexican mob. Warren Ellis is set to adapt the comic at Universal, with Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead) attached to produce. Possible series Watchmen There hasn't been further news beyond that, but we desperately hope it happens, as a two-hour movie didn't come close to doing the complexities of the graphic novel justice. Zack Snyder has confirmed discussions of a possible Watchmen series with HBO. Punisher Netflix has confirmed that a solo Punisher series is possible , and the rumors have been flying for quite a while now. Considering the popularity of the character, and the relationship between Marvel and Netflix, so long as Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle is well-received in Daredevil season two, we'd expect to see this one confirmed.

Last week, Tracy Staedter from Discovery News proposed an interesting idea to me: Why not use the same algorithm from my Where’s Waldo article to compute the optimal road trip across every state in the U.S.? Visiting every U.S. state has long been on my bucket list, so I jumped on the opportunity and opened up my machine learning tool box for another quick weekend project. Note: If you’re not interested in the technical details of the project, skip down to the Road trip stopping at major U.S. landmarks section. Planning the road trip One of the hardest parts of planning a road trip is deciding where to stop along the way. Given how large and diverse the U.S. is, it’s especially difficult to make a road trip that will appeal to everyone. To stand a chance at making an interesting road trip, Tracy and I laid out a few rules from the beginning: The trip must make at least one stop in all 48 states in the contiguous U.S. The trip would only make stops at National Natural Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Parks, or National Monuments. The trip must be taken by car and never leave the U.S. With those objectives in mind, Tracy compiled a list of 50 major U.S. landmarks — one in each state excluding Alaska/Hawaii and including D.C., and two in California. Tracy wrote about that process on Discovery News here. The result was an epic itinerary with a mix of inner city exploration, must-see historical sites, and beautiful natural landscapes. All that was left was to figure out the path that would minimize our time spent driving and maximize our time spent enjoying the landmarks. Image credit: Dean Franklin Computing the optimal road trip across the U.S. With the list of landmarks in hand, the next step was to find the “true” distance between all of the landmarks by car. Since we can’t just drive a straight line between every landmark — driving by car has this pesky limitation of having to stay on roads — we needed to find the shortest route by road between every landmark. If you’ve ever used Google Maps to get the directions between two addresses, that’s basically what we had to do here. Except this time, we needed to look up 2,450 directions to get the “true” distance between all 50 landmarks — a monumental task if we had to do it by hand. Thankfully, the Google Maps API makes this information freely available, so all it took was a short Python script to calculate the distance and time driven for all 2,450 routes between the 50 landmarks. Now with the 2,450 landmark-landmark distances, our next step was to approach the task as a traveling salesman problem: We needed to order the list of landmarks such that the total distance traveled between them is as small as possible if we visited them in order. This means finding the route that backtracks as little as possible, which is especially difficult when visiting Florida and the Northeast. If you read my Where’s Waldo article, you’re already aware of how difficult it can be to solve route optimization problems like this one. With 50 landmarks to put in order, we would have to exhaustively evaluate 3 x 1064 possible routes to find the shortest one. To provide some context: If you started computing this problem on your home computer right now, you’d find the optimal route in about 9.64 x 1052 years — long after the Sun has entered its red giant phase and devoured the Earth. This complication is why Google Map’s route optimization service only optimizes routes of up 10 waypoints, and the best free route optimization service only optimizes 20 waypoints unless you pay them a lot of money to dedicate some bigger computers to it. The traveling salesman problem is so notoriously difficult to solve that even xkcd poked fun at it: Clearly, we need a smarter solution if we want to take this epic road trip in our lifetime. Thankfully, the traveling salesman problem has been well-studied over the years and there are many ways for us to solve it in a reasonable amount of time. If we’re willing to accept that we don’t need the absolute best route between all of the landmarks, then we can turn to smarter techniques such as genetic algorithms to find a solution that’s good enough for our purposes. Instead of exhaustively looking at every possible solution, genetic algorithms start with a handful of random solutions and continually tinkers with these solutions — always trying something slightly different from the current solutions and keeping the best ones — until they can’t find a better solution any more. I’ve included a visualization of a genetic algorithm solving a similar routing problem below. Road trip stopping at major U.S. landmarks After less than a minute, the genetic algorithm reached a near-perfect solution that makes a complete trip around the U.S. in only 13,699 miles (22,046 km) of driving. I’ve mapped that route below. Note: There’s an extra stop in Cleveland to force the route between Vermont and Michigan to stay in the U.S. rather than go through Canada. If you’re able to drive through Canada without issue, then take the direct route through Canada instead. Click here for the interactive version Assuming no traffic, this road trip will take about 224 hours (9.33 days) of driving in total, so it’s truly an epic undertaking that will take at least 2-3 months to complete. The best part is that this road trip is designed so that you can start anywhere on the route as long as you follow it from then on. You’ll hit every major area in the U.S. on this trip, and as an added bonus, you won’t spend too long driving through the endless corn fields of Nebraska. Here’s the Google Maps of the route: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] (Note that Google maps itself only allows 10 waypoints to be routed at a time, hence why there’s multiple Maps links.) Here’s the full list of landmarks in order: Grand Canyon, AZ Bryce Canyon National Park, UT Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID Yellowstone National Park, WY Pikes Peak, CO Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM The Alamo, TX The Platt Historic District, OK Toltec Mounds, AR Elvis Presley’s Graceland, TN Vicksburg National Military Park, MS French Quarter, New Orleans, LA USS Alabama, AL Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL Okefenokee Swamp Park, GA Fort Sumter National Monument, SC Lost World Caverns, WV Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, NC Mount Vernon, VA White House, Washington, DC Colonial Annapolis Historic District, MD New Castle Historic District, Delaware Cape May Historic District, NJ Liberty Bell, PA Statue of Liberty, NY The Mark Twain House & Museum, CT The Breakers, RI USS Constitution, MA Acadia National Park, ME Mount Washington Hotel, NH Shelburne Farms, VT Fox Theater, Detroit, MI Spring Grove Cemetery, OH Mammoth Cave National Park, KY West Baden Springs Hotel, IN Abraham Lincoln’s Home, IL Gateway Arch, MO C. W. Parker Carousel Museum, KS Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion, IA Taliesin, WI Fort Snelling, MN Ashfall Fossil Bed, NE Mount Rushmore, SD Fort Union Trading Post, ND Glacier National Park, MT Hanford Site, WA Columbia River Highway, OR San Francisco Cable Cars, CA San Andreas Fault, CA Hoover Dam, NV Bonus: Road trip stopping at popular U.S. cities If you’re more of a city slicker, the road trip above may not look very appealing to you because it involves spending a lot of time outdoors. But worry not, for I created a second road trip just for you! The road trip below stops at the TripAdvisor-rated Best City to Visit in every contiguous U.S. state. Note: Again, there’s an extra stop in Cleveland to force the route between New Hampshire and Michigan to stay in the U.S. rather than go through Canada. If you’re able to drive through Canada without issue, then take the direct route through Canada instead. But really, Cleveland is a nice city to stop in (ranked #53 on TripAdvisor). Click here for the interactive version This road trip will more-or-less follow the same path as the major U.S. landmarks trip, covering a slightly shorter 12,290 mile (19,780 km) route around the U.S. Some larger states — like California and Texas — may have multiple cities you’d like to visit, so it’s probably worthwhile to stop at other larger cities along the route. You may note that cities from North Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia are missing. Out of the top 400 recommended cities to visit on TripAdvisor, none were from North Dakota, Vermont, nor West Virginia. This is especially interesting because TripAdvisor reviewers recommend cities like Flint, MI — the 7th most crime-ridden city in the U.S. — over any city in North Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia. I’ll leave the interpretation of that fact to the reader. Here’s the Google Maps of the route: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Here’s the full list of cities in order: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Wichita, Kansas Denver, Colorado Albuquerque, New Mexico Phoenix, Arizona Las Vegas, Nevada San Francisco, California Portland, Oregon Seattle, Washington Boise, Idaho Park City, Utah Jackson, Wyoming Billings, Montana Sioux Falls, South Dakota Omaha, Nebraska Des Moines, Iowa Minneapolis, Minnesota Milwaukee, Wisconsin Chicago, Illinois Indianapolis, Indiana Louisville, Kentucky Columbus, Ohio Detroit, Michigan Cleveland, Ohio Manchester, New Hampshire Portland, Maine Boston, Massachusetts Providence, Rhode Island New Haven, Connecticut New York City, New York Ocean City, New Jersey Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wilmington, Delaware Baltimore, Maryland Washington, D.C. Virginia Beach, Virginia Charlotte, North Carolina Charleston, South Carolina Orlando, Florida Atlanta, Georgia Nashville, Tennessee Birmingham, Alabama Jackson, Mississippi New Orleans, Louisiana Houston, Texas Little Rock, Arkansas Branson, Missouri Make your own road trip If you’d like to customize your own road trip, I’ve released the Python code I used in this project with an open source license and instructions for how to optimize your custom road trip. You can find the code here. What about other parts of the world? I’ve made another version for Europe here and for South America here. I also made a road trip for Michigan, and optimized walking tours for NYC and Philadelphia. Check ’em out! Conclusions The saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Really, that’s not true. Every major journey begins with a plan: where you’re going, where you’re stopping along the way, and how you’re getting there. I hope this article convinced you that machine learning can play a crucial role in that planning phase and save you a ton of time along the way. Of course, it may not be practical for you to take a road trip of epic proportions like the ones described here. But really, this algorithm works just as well when you’re planning a smaller trip within your state as when you’re planning a larger trip spanning the entire world. All the algorithm needs are the distances travelled between every stop so it can try to compute the optimal route. How you get between those stops is up to you. Happy road tripping!

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2017 - The tumultuous relationship between President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has farmers worried about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade pact that is regarded highly by much of the agriculture sector. Trump made repeated promises on the campaign trail to either renegotiate the agreement with Mexico and Canada or pull the U.S. out altogether. NAFTA, Trump charged, was responsible for luring factory jobs south of the border as U.S. companies sought cheaper labor while allowing them to ship products cheaply back into the U.S. One of the first calls Trump made after being sworn in as the 45th president was to Peña Nieto, and the two leaders agreed to talk in person about NAFTA renegotiation. Peña Nieto agreed to visit the White House on Jan. 31. U.S. farm groups, wary about changes to NAFTA but eager to participate in any negotiations, fired off an upbeat letter to Trump. “We are focused on improving the U.S. position in the North American market and look forward to working with the Trump administration on ways to modernize (NAFTA) in ways that preserve and expand upon the gains achieved,” more than 130 farm groups wrote in the letter dated Jan. 23. “In the 20 years since NAFTA was implemented, the U.S. food and agriculture industry has become increasingly efficient and innovative — growing to support millions of jobs.” But the relationship between Trump and Peña Nieto quickly soured. Trump, following up on another campaign promise, signed executive orders on Jan. 25 to start construction on a border wall, build detention facilities for illegal immigrants and hire thousands of new border guards. With mounting political pressures at home, Peña Nieto canceled his visit the next day, leaving the prospects for NAFTA talks in the dark. On that same day, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the administration was considering a 20 percent tariff on imports from countries like Mexico to pay for the border wall. That proposal would essentially add on to the so-called “border adjustable” corporate tax that is a part of the House GOP tax plan. It would apply the tax to the value of imported products, but not to U.S. exports. Further complicating things and casting an even bleaker prospect for friendly trade talks, Trump reacted in a Tweet that if Mexico was unwilling to pay for the wall, canceling the meeting was probably for the better, and that because of Mexico’s $60 billion trade deficit with the U.S., he viewed NAFTA as a “one-sided deal from the beginning.” Largely unmentioned, however, was the boon NAFTA created for U.S. farmers and ranchers by lifting virtually all of the tariffs on agricultural trade with Mexico. “There’s been a lot of talk about the renegotiation of NAFTA, but I don’t think this is what ag had in mind,” said Barbara Patterson, government relations director for the National Farmers Union. “On the dairy side, they thought it was about how do we open up access to markets in Canada, not potentially shutting off our southern border.” The U.S. exported a little over $5 billion worth of farm products to Mexico in 1994, the year NAFTA was implemented. This year, 23 years later, USDA is predicting that the U.S. will sell about $18.3 billion worth of pork, corn, wheat, rice, dairy, beef, sorghum and other farm commodities to Mexico. Mexican exports to the U.S. have similarly increased, but USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson said that is a big plus to consumers here. The U.S. imports a lot of fruit and vegetables, mostly when they’re not available in the U.S., giving shoppers access to the fresh produce even in the winter months. Farmers like Jay Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Farms in Muscotah, Kansas, say they are concerned about the way relations with Mexico are developing. “I would hate to see anything related to agriculture undone because we’ve invested years to get an even playing field,” the wheat farmer told Agri-Pulse. “I’d hate to lose that.” Doug Keesling, a former chairman of Kansas Wheat, said that far too often it’s the negative side of trade deals that are accentuated while the positive side is overlooked. The positive side of NAFTA, he said, is the massive amount of agricultural trade that helps keep farmers in business and helps prop up the U.S. gross domestic product. The U.S. exports about $1 billion worth of wheat to Mexico in most years, according to USDA data. In 1998, the year NAFTA was signed into law, the U.S. exported just $214 million of wheat to Mexico. USDA’s Johansson, in an interview with Agri-Pulse, said that while the fate of NAFTA is impossible to predict, the effects of a potential U.S. withdrawal would likely be dramatic. The cost of imports from Mexico would go up and prices for U.S. crops would likely drop without the Mexican market. Learn about the benefits of subscribing to Agri-Pulse. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. For a taste of what a breakdown in trade between the U.S. and Mexico might look like, he pointed to what happened as the result of a border trucking dispute that broke out almost a decade ago. Mexico imposed retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. farm goods from March 2009 through October 2011, and U.S. agricultural exports to the country dropped by 21.4 percent, costing U.S. producers about $1.1 billion, according to a USDA analysis. The uncertainty over NAFTA’s fate is a reasonable concern for farmers, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts told Agri-Pulse. “Every farmer out there wants to know what the heck our trade policy is going to be,” Roberts said. “If you dismantle NAFTA, what goes in its place?” Roberts said he was particularly concerned about the border adjustable tax plan. “What worries me is the effect of all of this,” he said. “We’re in a rough patch right now in agriculture and we don’t need anything to push us off the edge. I don’t want to go back to the ‘80s and something wrong in regards to the tax code could really result in that. A lot of farmers understand that.” Meanwhile, farmers will have to wait and see what the next developments are between Trump and the Mexican president and how that affects trade negotiations. “We’re watching with great interest,” John Bode, president of the U.S. Corn Refiners Association, told Agri-Pulse. “We’re going to stay focused on working with our government leaders to improve trade relations and opportunities. We’re concerned about every aspect of developments with the relationship (to Mexico), but my organization is focused on staying positive and finding ways to really improve ag trade.” The Farmers Rice Mill in Lake Charles, Louisiana, depends on its ability to access foreign markets, and Mexico is one of the biggest for the company, said CEO Ann Stone. The company is constantly fighting off competition from Asian exporters, she said, and stressed that she fears any changes to NAFTA. “We wish they would leave everything as status quo – don’t do anything with it,” Stone said in an interview. “We have enough challenges as it is.” #30

Protesters in Egypt during the 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations. (Alisdare Hickson / CC 2.0) A June 12 report published by The Guardian exposes what many Americans have long feared: United States military strategists are setting their sights on social movements. The report, written by Nafeez Ahmed, explains how a program under the Department of Defense, the Minerva Initiative, has begun to utilize social science to develop better “operational tools.” Ahmed writes: The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,” and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.” … Among the projects awarded for the period 2014-2017 is a Cornell University-led study managed by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research which aims to develop an empirical model “of the dynamics of social movement mobilisation and contagions.” The project will determine “the critical mass (tipping point)” of social [contagions] by studying their “digital traces” in the cases of “the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the 2011 Russian Duma elections, the 2012 Nigerian fuel subsidy crisis and the 2013 Gazi park protests in Turkey.” Twitter posts and conversations will be examined “to identify individuals mobilised in a social contagion and when they become mobilised.” Another project awarded this year to the University of Washington “seeks to uncover the conditions under which political movements aimed at large-scale political and economic change originate,” along with their “characteristics and consequences.” The project, managed by the US Army Research Office, focuses on “large-scale movements involving more than 1,000 participants in enduring activity,” and will cover 58 countries in total. According to its website, the Minerva Initiative, created by the secretary of Defense in 2008, seeks “to define and develop foundational knowledge about sources of present and future conflict with an eye toward better understanding of the political trajectories of key regions of the world.” Ahmed attempted to contact the initiative’s developers, but received either “bland” responses or no responses at all. One of the most startling aspects of the initiative is its conflation of peaceful activism with terrorism. “[S]upporters of political violence” are “different from terrorists only in that they do not embark on ‘armed militancy’ themselves,” Ahmed explains. And although university researchers were told that the initiative was a “basic research effort” with no real application, Ahmed cites an email that clearly shows “that DoD is looking to ‘feed results’ into ‘applications.’ ” RT provides other examples of the Minerva Initiative’s university projects. The University of Washington received $2 million to study children involved in terrorist movements, resulting in a report titled “Understanding the Origin, Characteristics and Implications of Mass Political Movements.” Another project at the University of Denver seeks to understand “instability in middle-income countries” and “the Tunisias and the Libyas and the Ukraines.” The Social Science Research Council notes potential problems of the project, writing that the initiative “prompts concerns about the appropriate relationship between university-based research programs and the state, especially when research might become a tool of not only governance but also military violence.” According to its website, some of the areas of focus within the Minerva Initiative are “[s]ocial and political dimensions of beliefs;” “[g]roup-internal narratives and their role in driving strategic priorities;” “[a]nalyses of the topology, power structure, productivity, merging and splitting, and overall resilience of change-driven organizations;” and “[m]echanisms of (and factors inhibiting) mobilization at individual and group levels.” “Minerva is a prime example of the deeply narrow-minded and self-defeating nature of military ideology,” Ahmed concludes. Read the entire article here. —Posted by Emma Niles

A Belgian Jew whose leg was blown off in a suicide bombing at Brussels’ main airport said he would immigrate to Israel. Walter Benjamin plans to make aliyah when he recovers from the injury he sustained in the March 22 attack, he told Israel’s Channel 2 Sunday. The attack was part of a series of bombings in the Belgian capital that killed 35 people and wounded hundreds. “I probably will pack my things, get on a plane and start looking for a small apartment in Israel,” Benjamin said, adding that he wants to be near his teenage daughter, who lives there, until she enlists in the Israeli army. “That’s the most important thing in life for me.” Benjamin said he was walking through the airport to check in for a flight to Israel, where he planned to spend Purim with his daughter, when he heard a noise he thought was firecrackers. Twenty seconds later, the second of two explosions at the airport blew off part of his leg. Benjamin said he was shielded from some of the shrapnel because he was holding a large suitcase, he said. Benjamin recalled seeing a dead person next to him after the blast and realizing he had lost part of his right leg. A Belgian soldier helped stop the bleeding and evacuate him to receive medical treatment. “I thought I was going to die,” Benjamin said. Two students from an Antwerp Jewish seminary were also among the 300 people wounded in the bombings, the third of which struck a local subway station an hour later. The students were lightly to moderately hurt.

Between 10 and 11 o’clock on Thursday morning – if all goes according to schedule – the Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, will arrive with a delegation at the office of the prosecutor of the international criminal court in The Hague. In an unassuming modern suite of offices in the ICC’s white tower block, he will hand over a file running to hundreds of pages. Those documents describe to prosecutors for the first time in detail the Palestinian complaint against Israel for alleged breaches of international law, including serious war crimes. In doing so al-Maliki will set in motion a chain of events that could eventually see senior Israeli military and political officials indicted for breaches of international law. The presentation of the Palestinian submission to the ICC will be given added impetus as it follows hard on the heels of the UN Human Rights Council’s report on last summer’s war in Gaza on Monday, which accused both Israel and Hamas of potential war crimes and called for those responsible to be “brought to justice”. Previewing the contents of the submission last week, Palestinian official Ammar Hijazi said it would detail alleged violations of international law by Israel and the Israel Defence Forces. Hijazi stated that the file “draws a grim picture of what Israel is doing and why we think that there are reasonable grounds … for the prosecutor to start investigations.” The ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda must decide based on the complaint whether to order a preliminary examination and then a full criminal investigation. And as states themselves cannot be indicted, only individuals, she will also have to determine which Israelis can potentially be held culpable. Palestinian officials have made clear that even if Bensouda herself decides not to move to the next stage, they reserve the right to make their own formal criminal complaint as they are entitled as members of the ICC. Broken down into three main categories of complaint, the whole file is introduced by a short narrative running to about 30 pages. One section of the complaint will focus on issues relating to illegal Israeli settlement activity; another the treatment of Palestinian prisoners. A final section deals with last summer’s war in Gaza. According to Palestinian sources familiar with the submission, which covers the period from 13 June 2014 to 31 May 2015, high profile cases that will be highlighted include the Israeli decision to develop a new settlement of 2,600 housing units at Givat Hamatos in east Jerusalem, Israeli settlement building in the Jordan Valley and the killing of four boys on Gaza beach during the war, an incident in which Israel recently cleared itself of criminal culpability. The submission is the Palestinian response to a request for information from Bensouda, not a Palestinian-initiated complaint per se. Handing over the submission would appear to set Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority on a potential collision course with Israel, which imposed punitive measures on the Palestinians when they joined the ICC. For its part Israel both has declined to provide information requested by Bensouda while arguing the ICC has no authority to investigate a Palestinian complaint because, it argues, Palestine is not a state. The report was prepared by a 45-member committee under the chairmanship of chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and including Palestinian ministers, heads of NGOs, members of the security forces and, representing Hamas in Gaza, senior Hamas figure Ghazi Hamid. A team led by five senior international lawyers commissioned by the Palestinian Authority guided the drafting. The submission is exhaustive in detail alleging dozens of violations of international law in everything from Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land, to house demolitions, conditions of detention, to serious breaches of the laws of war. While large sections have been compiled from easily accessible open sources including press reports, reports compiled by both Palestinian and Israeli NGOs and by material published by UN and other organisations, some more sensitive sections were provided by the Palestinian security services. One unpublished source to be submitted along with the main report has been prepared by the Applied Research Institute NGO in Jerusalem and runs to 485 pages alone, dealing largely with settlement issues. Sources told the Guardian its contents of this would largely be echoed in the main submission. The Guardian understands that the main force of the complaint on settlement is based on Article 8 of the ICC’s Rome statute, in particular section 2, which deals with: “The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory.” To that end it includes individual sections on settlement expansion, land confiscation, house demolitions, the destruction of Palestinian olive trees by settlers and Israeli military, as well as settler violence against Palestinians and attacks on religious sites. The submission includes maps and aerial photographs, Israeli government documents and press releases, and “evacuation orders” issued by the Israeli military. The section on settler violence alone details every known alleged settler violation documented during the period running to hundreds of incidents. “We don’t focus in detail on individual cases,” said one Palestinian official who has been involved in preparing the submission. “The object is to prove to the court the gravity of the crime. It is about showing a process in the time period covered. If the ICC decides to proceed with an investigation on any of the cases contained we will then provide more detail. This is the first submission but we do not anticipate it being the only one. “Where it relates to settlement building and colonisation we are not in a position to show everything that has happened going back to 1967, only since 13 June last year, so we need to demonstrate how what is happening is a continuation of a longstanding Israeli policy. Colonisation is a huge issue but it will be the first time that the ICC has been asked to consider colonisation as an issue under international law rather than war crimes and that will be difficult.” Mustafa Barghouti, one of the members of the committee that drew up the submission told the Guardian he believed the handing over of the file had been supplied added significance following Monday’s UN Human Rights Council inquiry accusing Israel of potential war crimes in last summer’s war, not least as the events the UN documented would be included with the file. “We are dealing with everything. So many different types of crimes. When you look at the Rome statutes there are a very wide range of possibilities for a criminal investigation. What was important for us in the first place was to show that it is systematic. “One of the questions that people ask is why – since it could take a long time to come to a conclusion. My answer is that it will have a long term and an immediate effect. In the long term it is necessary because those who commit war crimes should be brought to justice. In the short term it is about ending Israeli impunity.”

After nearly a decade-long ban, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said he did “not rule out” renewing work permits for Palestinian laborers from the Gaza Strip to work in Israel if the relative calm in the Hamas-run territory held. After Hamas violently overthrew Fatah in the enclave in 2007, Israel scrapped all work-related travel documents allowing Gazans to enter Israel and the West Bank for employment. In a Tuesday meeting with several mayors of Israeli towns adjacent to the Gaza border, Liberman said he “does not rule out renewing entry permits of workers from Gaza to Israel.” Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up “Israel, as much possible, would like to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, but not at the expense of security,” he said. The work permits would be crucial to the economy of the impoverished Gaza Strip, which some international official say is on the brink of collapse after almost a decade of security blockades imposed by Israel and Egypt. They were put in place to prevent Hamas, a terror group avowedly committed to the destruction of Israel, from importing weaponry into Gaza to use against Israel. Liberman on Tuesday also noted remarks made earlier in the day by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said Israel was committed to improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip by laying a gas pipeline to the Palestinian territory with the assistance of the Dutch government. The defense minister also assured the local mayors that any rocket fire from the Gaza Strip would be met with a harsh Israeli response.

Shawn Lucas, Process Server for One Source Process, Delivering the Lawsuit Against the Democratic National Committee and Debbie Wasserman Schultz on July 1, 2016 According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Washington, D.C., it has still not determined a cause of death for Shawn Lucas, the 38-year old process server who delivered the class action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee and its then Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to the DNC headquarters on July 1. One month later, the girlfriend of Lucas came home to find him dead on the bathroom floor. It has now been more than three weeks since Lucas died with no cause of death announced. We asked the Chief Medical Examiner’s office if the delay was a result of toxicology tests being conducted. We were told it can make no comment beyond the fact that the cause of death is “pending.” The official report from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. indicates that officers Kathryn Fitzgerald and Adam Sotelo responded to a 911 call from the girlfriend of Lucas, Savannah King. The officers arrived “at 1913 hours,” or 7:13 p.m. on the evening of Tuesday, August 2. According to the report, Lucas was “laying unconscious on the bathroom floor” and when “DCFD Engine 9 responded” there were “no signs consistent with life.” A video of the service of process, which has garnered over 474,000 views as of this morning, shows Shawn Lucas saying he was “excited” and “thrilled” to be the process server on this lawsuit. He comments later in the video that it is like his “birthday and Christmas” rolled into one. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the attorneys for the Sanders’ plaintiffs already had significant evidence that the DNC and Wasserman Schultz had put their fingers on the scale to tip the primary results in favor of Hillary Clinton while overtly undermining the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. (The DNC is prohibited from unfair treatment of Democratic primary candidates under its own bylaws.) Then on Friday, July 22, 2016 at 10:30 a.m., just as the DNC was set to open its National Convention the following Monday, Wikileaks released 19,252 emails and 8,034 attached documents that had been sent by top DNC officials. The emails left no doubt that there had been a concerted campaign to undermine Sanders while boosting Clinton’s chances to win the primary. Wasserman Schultz had to announce she was stepping down before the DNC convention even began to quiet the outrage. The Wikileaks emails showed DNC executives plotting to undermine Sanders as an atheist (which Sanders says he is not) and plotting to say that Sanders “never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess.” There was also DNC plotting on how to respond to press charges that the joint fundraising committee set up by Clinton’s campaign and the DNC was illegally laundering money to boost Clinton’s chances. (See related article below.) Prior to Wikileaks releasing its emails, an individual using the name Guccifer 2.0 took credit for a separate hack of the DNC server. One of the documents from the purported hack, posted on a public web site, shows that even after Bernie Sanders had entered the race, the DNC was writing confidential memos on how it could advance Hillary Clinton’s chances. The class action lawsuit on behalf of Sanders’ supporters describe the memo as follows: “Among the documents released by Guccifer 2.0 on June 15th is a two-page Microsoft Word file with a ‘Confidential’ watermark that appears to be a memorandum written to the Democratic National Committee regarding ‘2016 GOP presidential candidates’ and dated May 26, 2015. A true and correct copy of this document (hereinafter, ‘DNC Memo’) is attached as Exhibit 1. The DNC Memo presents, ‘a suggested strategy for positioning and public messaging around the 2016 Republican presidential field.’ It states that, ‘Our goals in the coming months will be to frame the Republican field and the eventual nominee early and to provide a contrast between the GOP field and HRC.’ [HRC is Hillary Rodham Clinton.] “The DNC Memo also advises that the DNC, ‘[u]se specific hits to muddy the waters around ethics, transparency and campaign finance attacks on HRC.’ In order to ‘muddy the waters’ around Clinton’s perceived vulnerabilities, the DNC Memo suggests ‘several different methods’ of attack including: (a) ‘[w]orking through the DNC’ to ‘utilize reporters’ and create stories in the media ‘with no fingerprints’; (b) ‘prep[ping]’ reporters for interviews with GOP candidates and having off-the-record conversations with them; (c) making use of social media attacks; and (d) using the DNC to ‘insert our messaging’ into Republican-favorable press.” The lawsuit (Wilding et al v DNC Services Corporation and Deborah ‘Debbie’ Wasserman Schultz) was filed in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Case Number is 16-cv-61511-WJZ. The complaint makes the following charges: fraud, negligent misrepresentation, deceptive conduct, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence. Read Complete Article on Wall Street on Parade

It may have so far escaped your notice that there is an onion crisis in India, but this thing is serious. Onions are the fundament of every curry ever cooked. Before the meat or the tomatoes or the garam masala, onions sizzle in the pan of 1.2 billion hungry Indians – and when the price of onions goes up too high, governments come crashing down. Indira Gandhi was swept to power in 1980 on a cheap onion ticket. In the last few weeks the government of Manmohan Singh has been driven to a desperate quantitative easing in the supply of the precious bulbs. They have banned exports of onions to Pakistan. They have been freighting them in – and still the price of this essential nutrient can only be described...

Like a bioluminescent creature rising from the depths, these OLED lighting concepts from Audi are simply otherworldly. Eat your heart out, KITT. Audi demonstrated the new lighting today at the Audi Electronics Center in Ingolstadt. As you can see, the R8 and Q7 both feature flat-panel OLED displays running the length of the vehicle—eight segments alone create the flashing turn indicator strip. Advertisement According the Stephan Berlitz, Head of Lighting Technology and Electronics at Audi, OLED is a natural extension of Audi's own pioneering efforts integrating LED lighting into its vehicles, This homogeneous visual effect would not be possible with today's LEDs. These are individual points of light that need additional optical devices – reflectors, optical conductors or scatter optics. OLED surfaces are themselves the source of light, and the thin plates also look attractive. They weigh little, light up extremely fast, develop only a small amount of heat, last for several tens of thousand hours and don't consume any more energy than conventional light-emitting diodes. OLEDs suit Audi perfectly because they combine high-end technology, maximum precision and super design! This technology is still a few years from the showroom floor and Audi still needs to overcome the lights' 80-degree Celcius temperature limit. As soon as that's sorted, Berlitz expects these lights to begin showing up as white daytime running lights (just as the LED's did before them) before being integrated into the larger signal sets. The company is even rumored to be exploring a 3D OLED feature. [Eurocar News via OLED Display]

The NTSB today adopted a study of the prevalence of drug use among pilots involved in fatal plane crashes, the majority of which were general aviation accidents. The study found an upward trend in the use of over-the-counter and prescription medications and illegal drugs, all of which could impair pilot performance. In a statement by Acting Chairman Christopher Hart, "the key take-away from this study for every pilot is to think twice about the medications you're taking and how they might affect your flying. Many over-the-counter and prescription drugs have the potential to impair performance, so pilots must be vigilant to ensure that their abilities are in no way compromised before taking to the skies." The study was based on toxicological tests done of more than 6,000 pilots who died in plane crashes between 1990 and 2012. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of legal and illegal drugs in the systems of these fatally injured pilots. It did not attempt to determine whether drug use caused pilot impairment or contributed to the aircraft accident. According to the abstract of the study published by the NTSB today - the full report will be made publicly available in the next few weeks - "study results showed increasing trends in pilots’ use of all drugs, potentially impairing drugs, drugs used to treat potentially impairing conditions, drugs designated as controlled substances, and illicit drugs. The most common potentially impairing drug pilots had used was diphenhydramine, a sedating antihistamine and an active ingredient in many OTC allergy formulations, cold medicines, and sleep aids. Although evidence of illicit drug use was found only in a small number of cases, the percentage of pilots testing positive for marijuana use increased during the study period, mostly in the last 10 years. " None of the airline pilots who died in fatal accidents were found to have used illegal drugs, although some had used medications that the study believed could be potentially impairing. Of particular interest to current debates about doing away with medical certificates for additional general aviation pilots is the finding that pilots without medical certificates or with expired certificates were more likely to have used drugs, both legal and illegal, that could result in impairment. However, no conclusions were reached with regard to whether pilots without medical certificates had a higher accident rate, in part because the FAA does not maintain records on the number of pilots without medical certificates. The study was characterized as a first step in understanding drug use and accident risk. The study reached conclusions and made recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration and the fifty states. It also issued an alert to pilots "to consult medical professionals about the potentially impairing effects of any drug that they are taking, carefully read medication dosing instructions, and to refrain from flying if they feel impaired in any way."

The term 'legend' is bandied around far too often in football these days. A single goal against your bitter rivals or a last-minute winner now seems to merit such lofty status - but when considered in its original form, relating to a player of quality, dedication and loyalty, there are few who deserve the title more so than Colin Bell. Dubbed 'The King' and worthy of having a stand at the Etihad Stadium named after him, the former City midfielder is still regarded as one of the best players - if not the best player - to have donned the sky blue shirt. Today, the Blues' most famous number eight celebrates his 71st birthday - and so there's no better time to look back on his incredible career at the Club, which heralded a league title, plus FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup success? Particularly as we travel to Wembley on Sunday - a ground the King conquered on several occasions. Bell featured in three cup finals with City at the national stadium, emerging victorious in the 1969 FA Cup clash against Leicester and 1970 League Cup encounter with West Brom. He also found the net in the 1974 League Cup final but somehow ended up on the losing side against Wolves - an incredible feat considering the fact he was part of a front line which included Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Dennis Law and Rodney Marsh! Due to injury, he missed the 1976 League Cup final triumph. The midfielder also gained recognition on the national stage at Wembley, collecting his first England cap in a friendly against Sweden and netting five of his nine international goals there. His most notable strikes came against Czechoslovakia during 1976 European Championship qualification. Bell made 48 appearances for England in total, becoming City's most-capped international at that time. In 2005, he was inducted into English Football's Hall of Fame, named in the Football League 100 Legends list and awarded an MBE in recognition of his charity work. Born on this day in 1946 in Hesleden, County Durham, Bell began his senior career with Bury, who also hold their former captain in high esteem to this day. Having attracted the interest of City boss Malcolm Allison, who attempted to ward off other suitors by publicly declaring Bell was 'hopeless' as he secretly plotted his move, he joined the Blues on transfer deadline day on 16 March 1966 for £47,500. Blackpool were the only other club to attempt to secure his services - but thankfully, he decided against a move to the seaside! Aged 20, he made his league debut for City three days later, and wrote his name onto the scoresheet in a 2-1 triumph over Derby. Renowned for his amazingly high level of fitness and stamina and aptly nicknamed 'Nijinsky' after the champion racehorse, he went on to play 50 times in his first full season at the Club, bagging 14 goals from midfield. In 1968, he helped the Blues to a second League Championship. A particularly impressive display in the penultimate game against Tottenham ensured victory at Newcastle on the final day would clinch the title; typically, a drama-filled 90 minutes ensued, ending with a 4-3 win for City. The following year brought FA Cup success and Bell continued to impress in the 1969/70 season, netting 22 goals in all competitions - his best return for the Club. Inspired by the King, the Blues lifted the League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup that year, becoming the first City side to secure a domestic and European trophy in one season. Bell continued to rack up appearances over the following campaigns, finishing as the league's top scorer with 18 goals in 1975. The subsequent year would sadly bring a moment which would halt his career, as he severely injured his knee in a Manchester derby. Although the midfielder would make his return, the extent of his horrendous knee problem meant he had to hang up his boots in 1979. Though he'd done everything possible to fight his way back to fitness, he could never recapture his previous highs. In total, he made close to 500 appearances for the Blues and remained at Maine Road following his retirement, working with the youth team. He would later become the Club's first ambassador and has been described as 'possibly the greatest midfield talent England has ever unearthed.' As mentioned, the West Stand at the Etihad Stadium is dedicated to him and he holds a place in the Club's Hall of Fame. So we wish a happy birthday to a true City legend - a talented, goalscoring midfielder who spent 13 seasons at Maine Road and delighted the Blue faithful week in, week out. Let's raise a toast and... drink, a drink, a drink to Colin the King, the King, the King! (For he's the greatest inside forward that the woooooooooooooorld has ever seen).

It is commonly thought that those who eat plant-based diets may be more prone to iron deficiency, but it turns out that they’re no more likely to suffer from iron deficiency anemia than anybody else. This may be because not only do those eating meat-free diets tend to get more fiber, and magnesium, and vitamins like A, C, and E; they also get more iron. But the iron found in plants is non-heme iron. Those eating meat-free diets don’t get any of the heme iron found in blood and muscle, which may be a good thing. The avoidance of heme iron may be one of the key elements of plant-based protection against metabolic syndrome, and may also be beneficial in lowering heart disease risk. The link between iron intake and coronary heart disease has been contentiously debated, but the inconsistency of the evidence may be because the majority of total dietary iron comes mostly from plants and so total iron intake is associated with lower heart disease risk. But if you just look at iron intake from meat, it’s associated with significantly higher risk for heart disease. This is thought to be because iron can act as a pro-oxidant contributing to the development of atherosclerosis by oxidizing cholesterol with free radicals. The risk has been quantified as a 27% increase in coronary heart disease risk for every one milligram of heme iron consumed daily. The same has been found for stroke risk. The studies on iron intake and stroke have had conflicting results, but that may be because they had never separated out heme from non-heme iron, until this study, which found that the intake of heme iron–but not non-heme iron–was associated with an increased risk of stroke, as well as diabetes. Higher heme iron (animal iron) intake was significantly associated with greater risk for type 2 diabetes, but not total or non-heme iron (plant iron); 16% increase in risk for every daily milligram of heme iron consumed. And the same for cancer, with up to 12% increased risk for every milligram of daily heme iron exposure. In fact, you can actually tell how much meat someone is eating by looking at their tumors. To characterize the mechanisms underlying meat-related lung cancer development, they asked lung cancer patients how much meat they ate, and examined the gene expression patterns in their tumors, and identified a signature pattern of heme-related gene expression. Though they just looked at lung cancer, they expect these meat-related gene expression changes may occur in other cancers as well. We do need to get enough iron. Only about 3% of premenopausal white women have iron deficiency anemia these days, but the rates are worse in African- and Mexican-Americans. Taking our leading killers into account—heart disease, cancer, diabetes—the healthiest source of iron appears to be non-heme iron, found naturally in abundance in whole grains, beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils, dark green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, and nuts and seeds. But how much money can be made on beans? So the industry came up with a blood-based crispbread, made out of rye and cattle and pig blood–one of the most concentrated sources of heme iron, about two thirds more than chicken blood. If blood-based crackers don’t sound appetizing, there’s always cow-blood cookies and blood-filled biscuits. The filling ends up a dark-colored, chocolate-flavored paste with a very pleasant taste; dark-colored because spray-dried pig blood can have a darkening effect on the food product’s color. But the worry is not the color or taste; it’s the heme iron, which, because of its potential cancer risk, is not considered safe to add to foods intended for the general population. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer. Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

As we await the next Alien movie, now is a great time to build your Alien collection and expand your Alien-themed wardrobe. Check out some products below and click here for even more options ! Stay up to date with the latest news and updates on the Alien: Covenant movie sequel, potentially titled Alien: Awakening by liking us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter and Instagram ! You can also subscribe your email to our Alien: Covenant blog for instant notifications of when new posts are made! The state of the Alien: Covenant sequel continues to remain uncertain. Ridley Scott has mentioned previously that they have a story already in place and know exactly where the sequel to Covenant will go, however the recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox film properties by Disney have potentially put the rumored-to-be-titled Alien: Awakening on hold for the time being. As new details arise concerning Alien: Covenant 2 we will be your premiere source and you can find information on the Covenant sequel by visiting the About Alien: Awakening page here . If you're a fan of Alien / Prometheus and would like to discuss Alien: Covenant and its upcoming sequel with other like-minded fans, be sure to join in our Alien: Covenant forum ! Ranked the #1 Prometheus forum back in 2012 and reigning as the web's top Alien: Covenant fan site, it's a great place to discuss the upcoming Prometheus sequels, dissect details from every trailer and engage with other fans just like you. What do you think this could mean for Covenant? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below! What exactly this means, we're unsure. It's possible Ridley Scott could be attempting to rewrite Alien history and create a completely new perception of the Alien itself, as well as how we view the original 1979 film. Prometheus certainly took the franchise in a bold new direction, but seemed to use the original Alien as a template for its concepts. By referring to Covenant as a "transformative" story could mean that Scott has moved away from that original template and instead have created a new template for the remaining Prometheus sequels and any future Alien films to follow. [Katherine and I] both get to do really transformative things in both [Alien and Fantastic Beasts]," Carmen teased. "It's the best thing as an actress when you get to transform constantly. Alien: Covenant star Carmen Ejogo discussed how the Prometheus sequel will be a "transformative" story for those who have been life-long fans of the Alien franchise. Speaking to Digital Spy yesterday during a promo event for Fantastic Beasts, this is what Carmen had to say: Acasta Gneiss Nov-16-2016 9:10 AM Perhaps an allusion to a physical change depicted in the film as a process in which the characters remain recognizable enough to be performed by the actors. Possible descriptions of one of the aliens describe it as maintaining a deformed likeness of its host within the carapace. My conjecture from the leaked pics of the big pale xeno head with human like teeth is that it's an engineer/alien, but maybe this is a stage that includes it looking more human. David 7 Nov-16-2016 9:38 AM Or that transformative could be like Ripley, who went to becoming a survivalist and fighter. These are just colonists in Covenant,so they will have to fight for their lives. Chris Nov-16-2016 10:31 AM @Acasta, that's a very intriguing theory. I agree the teeth did look rather human, so it's possible it is the result of an Engineer / human transforming. @David007, this could also be true. I definitely see Waterston's character Daniels developing into a Ripley-type character herself. KMel517 Nov-16-2016 11:22 AM So, from what I understand that in Prometheus David and Shaw took off in another Engineers ship and went out looking for the Engineers home-world or where ever they came from to find out more information about how and why what the Engineers created and wanted to destroy. So is Shaw going to be found dead upon the arrival of the ship in the upcoming movie Covenant? Will there be a side line story line as to what happened to them? Slavusha Nov-16-2016 11:32 AM Perhaps it will be a love story between an alien and a human. I'd watch that. BigDave Nov-16-2016 1:38 PM I think this is where we maybe cant read to much into what was said, i dont think they are giving anything away but then maybe she could be giving us a hint? In contrast to her previous appearance in the Movie Fantastic Beasts, well both Ejogo and Waterston..... Its could be a Transitional Change brought upon their state of being as far as Personality, Faith that is transformed by the events of the Movie.. much like how for example if Shaw found that there is no God above the Engineers and she realizes she is tricked by David, her Character would be forced to Transform from a Believer to something entirely new, what impact would it have to find Shaws Faith is Broken, that she has nothing and her Good Nature looking for the Good in things broken too, a Breaking of a Covenant by David for example, would transform Shaw Mentally, Physically more than we saw in Prometheus more than Ripley had done so from Alien to Alien 3.... Maybe it implies this kind of Transformative Process is what the Characters of Carmen Ejogo and Katherine Waterston will go through? Rather than any actual Physical Changes such as say Bruce Banner does to become the Incredible Hulk or Peter Parker to become Spiderman. BigDave Nov-16-2016 1:49 PM However dont take too much into what i mentioned above, because well i have never seen Harry Potter, yep tried to watch the Franchise but it never apealed to me so i cant say for sure what connection the Fantastic Beasts which is in the same Universe would have to those Characters played by those Actresses. The movie is based of a Book that is like a Encyclopedia for Mythical and Magical Monsters and Beasts, and i assume based in the Harry Potter Universe that meadling in Magical Powers or Artifacts or Spells etc could Summon such Monsters. I think this could connect with Alien Covenant as it could be we see some Meddling going on with Powers/Tools that hold a great degree of Danger in the Wrong Hands.. i.e Black Goo. But i do think that Carmen Ejogo is referring to changes as far as how her Character Transforms from the Role/Purpose she has always thought was her Role/Purpose to then become something Personality wise different due to the Traumatic Events of the Movie. You can only imagine being a Female part of a Couple hoping to settle down and Colonize a World that you thought was Paradise a Earthlike Primordial World to start a fresh life. To then discover it was a place that is home to Humanoid Beings called the Engineers who created Mankind maybe because they could and so there is No God, and these Would Be Gods are far from what you would expect a God to be like. Then finding out some hidden Agenda or being tricked and then having to deal with Deadly Horrific Alien Creatures. Yep... thats ONE JOURNEY thats going to have a Person come out the other end Totally Transformed. BigDave Nov-16-2016 2:54 PM Looking at the Xenomorph Prop with Human Teeth, if this is more than a concept and is actually something that we would see in the movie, or very close to. Then looking at the Franchise, and Prometheus i can only arrive and 2 Logical Ways for such a Organism. Well ONE That is that its the result of something being infected with Xeno DNA like Fifield Infection only in a more controlled way or by coming into contact with more of the Black Goo. Or similar to Shaws infection only the Xeno DNA not infecting a Egg but a Human Embryo that is at a latter stage. What i am suggesting is the Organism looks like it is a Human/Xeno Hyrbid and much like the one Failed Ripley 8 clones. Then again i did suggest maybe the Eggs are Grown from tiny Parasites and Grow into patches like a Pumpkin Patch and come to think of it...... That one Alien Covenant image does have that Pumpkin Head look to it LOL Joking aside..... I do feel that Pumpkin Head is actually visually very similar to what i would expect a Human/Xeno Hybrid to look like.... for example if a Human was thrown into a Swimming Pool full of Black Goo, the Result would not be far off Pumpkin Head LOL Chad Ripley Nov-16-2016 3:46 PM I think what everyone said are total possibilities. It could mean they transform mentally into fighters or one of them (I'm thinking Carmen) is gonna become infected with the alien in some way. After seeing that picture of Waterson in a tank top holding a gun it seems like she's our new Ripley. I also think that If the rumor that she's Ripleys mother is true, I don't think that would nessasarly be a bad thing. I know Ridley Scott is aiming for the rafters with this one. I remember seeing an interview or something where he was talking about the force awakens and how that inspired him to get back into his Alien world and reignite it for a new generation. Alien/Aliens and even Alien 3 are my favorite movies ever. With Alien/Aliens being to close to call. Anyway I am really excited about this movie and if he goes with a neomorph instead of a xenomorph that could be cool too. I'm curious as to where he's gonna take this. If the xenomorph is going to show up it won't be til the end of this trilogy he's planning. Maybe we'll get variations of him which could also be cool but not the classic amazing monster. Chris Nov-16-2016 4:31 PM Welcome to the site Chad Ripley! I agree, I doubt we'll see the classic beast as it were in Alien, until the end of this trilogy/quadrilogy. However the rumor suggesting Daniels is linked to Ripley through blood has be skeptical. I definitely think Daniels will emulate Ripley, but I have a hard time seeing them work her into the story as her mother without it coming across as a stretch. @Slavusha lol yeah wouldn't that be something! Though the Alien is incapable of love. I like to think of them as creations by fallen angels and so they lack a soul. Which makes them so merciless. @KMel517, prior to the script revisions we were told the plot would essentially follow 3 tangents, one of which focused on the Covenant crew, the other on David and Shaw and the third would explore flashback / historical scenes. However, since the revisions it's possible Shaw and David's journey will be left to a later sequel, acting as a prequel to Covenant but also a sequel to Prometheus. Unfortunately since the revisions, we're not exactly sure what stuck and what got changed. It seems as though we come into Covenant at a time when Shaw and David's journey has already ended. Chris Nov-16-2016 4:35 PM @Big Dave, indeed it could very well be merely a reference to their characters' developments throughout the film. However, Digital Spy's wording seemed to imply that the transformation would more so affect the perceptions of Alien fans as a whole, concerning the franchise and less so the evolution of its characters. But, I could be reading too far into it, I can do that sometimes hahaha. Aorta Nov-16-2016 5:26 PM I just know this is gonna rock. I can read that into it right now! Chris Nov-16-2016 5:58 PM Hahaha I'm with you on that as well Aorta! I have high hopes. Deep Space Nov-17-2016 12:47 AM I'm reading it as we are going to see new and evolving aliens; so the 'transformative' element being what we see happen to the Xeno and thus our understanding of it. As it was said by an actor id assume it also refers to their roles and character development. Who knows how exactly but I am getting the feeling here that Ridley has some shocks in store. All actors involved are, and have been, very tight lipped which can only be a good thing imo! I also have a feeling that the xeno 'fanboys and girls' may be left feeling underwhelmed by AC as it doesn't look like the classic beast will be featuring. The beast was done so I've cooked up a selection of new ones . . . says Ridley ;) DirtWolf Nov-17-2016 1:23 AM To me it sounds like it will take the story of the Alien franchise as we know it and turn it completely on its head. As in "forget everything you thought you knew about Alien, this is what really happened". It certainly would make for some truly shocking surprises! Oh and @Slavusha God I hope not :) Thoughts_Dreams Nov-17-2016 7:44 AM As far as the traditional alien (Xenomorph) goes I think that it depends on how many prequels they will do. If AC is the last prequel movie then I think that they can have the Xeno there but if they have planned a trilogy then I think that they should keep it until the last one before we get to Alien (1979). Chad Ripley: I think that it will be interesting to see how the characters will develop in the movie. One problem with Shaw was that she was still the same person throughout the whole movie and a dumb one at that. My favorite alien movie is Alien 3. I agree that it will be interesting to see new monsters. S.M Nov-17-2016 11:39 AM This 'transformative' quote has been taken out of context to apply to the story as a whole. Ejogo is talking about how their characters transform throughout the story. Chad Ripley Nov-17-2016 2:34 PM Thank you Chris Picard. I agree that Daniels turning out to be Ripley's mother would be kind of a stretch because that would mean that poor family was cursed by the xenomorph Gods. I also agree Thoughts_Dreams that Alien 3 was a lot better then what people initially thought. If you ever get a chance to watch the Alien box set behind the scenes of that movie you will see how much FOX and a dozen other factors contributed in derailing David Fincher's ideas for that movie. The directors cut which still isn't Fincher's entire vision is better then the theatrical version. You can tell what scenes were added when you watch it because the production value isn't that good. But that version provides more details and character development as well as a better Alien birth scene. I remember being 12 years old seeing Alien 3 in the theater and being upset for that poor dog. Well originally it was suppose to be a giant Ox that was outside when they pulled Ripley out of the crashed ship. An Ox alien is a cooler concept I think, and while I still felt bad for the Ox, it was better then seeing the dog get chestbursted. I also hope that the characters in Alien Covenant are a lot smarter then the ones in Prometheus. Shaw is apparently in Covenant but I bet she's going to be shown in some kind of David flashback when he's explaining to the new covenant crew what happened when they find him. I could also see David playing a part in her death. Since there are two androids this time, David could be the bad version, while Walter is the good one. The flashback maybe has Shaw and David exploring the Engineers planet but then something goes wrong and Shaw is taken by the Engineers and experimented on with the black goo and maybe something else. I basically think she's going to die in spectacular fashion, with David being a part of that reason, and maybe she dies by a xeno/neo (whatever Ridley is thinking this time) coming out of her. I cannot wait for this come out. Hopefully they release a trailer soon. BigDave Nov-17-2016 4:23 PM @DirtWolf Indeed i think thats likely.... or as i and SM have said, rather than it being related to any actual Transformation like we saw with Fifield. @Thoughts_Dreams I have always felt Prometheus could have shown a few more clearly clues and we would have had our Xeno answers, and so i do think with this next movie (AC) and Two more they surely cant have the traditional Xeno or even close being on screen for a lot of time in all 3 movies, not when we look like getting a Alien 5 and no doubt Alien 6 if Aliend 5 does well. So they could somewhat cover the Xeno, and have the next movie cover something else... and the 3rd movie to tie everything into place. @Chad Indeed Fincher had some great ideas. "I remember being 12 years old seeing Alien 3 in the theater and being upset for that poor dog" I bet at that age especially if your fond of pets.... i watched The Thing when i was about 10-11? And the Dog Town Scene was disturbing and its still the only scene in any movie that makes me feel bad, or grossed out etc.... As for Shaw it would be interesting to see what becomes of her and how she will play in the next movie.... The no mention of her in the Synopsis either means she will play a small part like a Flash Back or she appears at the end.... maybe the survivors uncover Davids Juggernaught and find her there.... or some other fate that has happened. or she plays a BIG part of the Plot as far as a device.... its fun to speculate that she is envolved in some experiment but we cant be sure.... i had a Source that teased as such.... but i cant say they was even 0% Correct or 100% But i would edge my bets that Shaw is either. 1) Revealed in a Flash Back Scene.... that explains her fate, maybe the next movie cover this event more? 2)Revealed at the End and the next movie would cover her more. 3) or She will appear shortly only to be killed off.... with no major effect on the Plot which i doubt... I am betting on Number 1 Chris Nov-17-2016 6:39 PM I am betting on scenario #1 as well. However it is also possible Shaw could be preserved in one of the Engineer stasis pods on board their stolen Juggernaut. I'm sure she would need to utilize them anyways during their journey to Paradise. With no food or water, I don't see her lasting 10 years. It's possible David simply leaves her there while he explores Paradise on his own and as mentioned above, the Covenant crew discover her there. They've done a fantastic job though at keeping her involvement a secret. Halloway Nov-17-2016 8:05 PM I be very interested to know the details of covenant ,if this is a contract between wyland & yutni,then the old David has to release all his data to new Walter,will he do that?what would be the consequences ? upgrating of David or dismantle him?like blade runner. DirtWolf Nov-17-2016 11:59 PM @SM Yeah it is most likely being taken out of context. It does make me wonder why they would interpret it that way in the first place. So maybe there is more to it. I was more or less just throwing an alternative guess out there. @BigDave I agree it could mean a physical transformation or a character transformation. Like you said, best not to read too much into it. It does make me wonder why they presented it as some monumental change though. Makes you wonder... As to where Shaw will fit into Covenant... I think it will depend on the plot device they use to introduce the catastrophic event. I could see the Covenant crew arriving at "paradise" and finding an Engineer ship with Shaw inside and in cryosleep by herself with no David in sight. They wake her up and eventually a Chestburster bursts out of her, thus starting the catastrophic event. If that is the case, would she remember that she was infected? If she doesn't, I think that's a perfect way to introduce the aliens and the catastrophic event. If she did remember, then maybe it was just about to burst out of her before she entered cryosleep, and there wasn't enough time to stop it. Although the crew might get infected a different way. There was the leak talking about spores infecting them. If they go this route for the plot device, I think we'll only see Shaw through flashbacks. But I don't know how many people are taking the spore thing as fact. Is there a general consensus on that? The movie can cut back and forth between flashback Shaw and the Covenant crew. Showing how each of them gets infected and seeing how the Covenant crew handles the Alien. Then again, Shaw's flashback could be shorter and we spend more time with the Covenant crew. I really wanna know how Shaw would get infected (which is likely). Did she breathe in spores? Did David experiment on her? Or was it something else? Possibly some form of Xeno. Or a creature that already inhabited the planet and maybe got infected with the black goo? What would be the best ways to infect Shaw and the crew? Where does David come in? Will he be a narrator for a flashback? Will he experiment with the Covenant crew like he did in Prometheus? Or possibly unleash a creature on them that he's concocted in his time alone on the planet? BigDave Nov-19-2016 9:00 AM Indeed Chris.... it will be interesting to see what becomes of Shaw, maybe its a Flash Back... who knows... if so how and why would they show this... does the Covenant crew know of her and ask about her and David explains something, where we cut to a Flash Back. Do they come across her Dead Body and ask Questions and we get a Flash Back... as i dont think Rappace is cast for just a Dead Body with no actual footage of her in some kind of a performance. Maybe the Crew of the Covenant or some/one member comes across the Juggernaught and finds Shaw in Cryo Sleep and awakens her and she asks where she is, they explain their situation and Shaw realizes David kept her in Stasis... and warns them of David or the Engineers... who knows.. @DirtWolf Indeed as i have said above and i agree with you that i think despite Shaw not being in the movie for long i think she plays a KEY ROLE to the Plot of a Big Reveal. Halloway Nov-21-2016 6:38 PM Since Shaw is very spiritual ,l think she will find out that there is good and bad engineer,she drop David and countinue her search for spiritual engineer,once covenant arrived and get to serious trouble,at end when there ship blow up then ,may be they will find a way to contact her for evacuation ....

STOP. Before continuing, click here for important Internet security information about browsing this site. If a web address is not clickable, copy and paste it into the address bar of a new tab. Try to switch to using https://github.com/pinotes/pinotes.github.io if you find yourself visiting this site regularly. PINotes Global news. Global view. News-All HOME | LATEST | CAMPAIGNS | GLOSSARY News & Analysis > All News & analysis from Proletarian Internationalist Notes—news, reviews and analysis from a global perspective The global anti-American economic struggle: Iran and China address trade and investment obstacles Iran and China are illustrating diplomatic struggle on economic and other issues. Despite a likely global decrease in confidence in U.S. leadership, the world is still struggling under U.$. hegemony. Diplomatic struggle can include not inviting the amerikans to peace talks. There seems to be confusion in the media about this, but: ““Iran, Russia and Turkey, as the initiators of the upcoming Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan, have not invited the US to participate at the meeting due to “Iran’s opposition to the US presence”, [Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali] Shamkhani said on Wednesday.”(1) In any case, Iran is saying the amerikans shouldn’t show up. This is sounding like a theme after the trilateral Syria talks in Moscow in December and earlier this month. Last month, China, Pakistan and Russia held another trilateral meeting on Afghanistan. Far away in Switzerland, Iran’s foreign minister discussed potential Iranian-Saudi cooperation in the context of Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere, according to Iranian Press TV.(2) According to Iran’s official IRNA news agency, the Hajj situation with Saudi Arabia is clearly improving.(3) Even if Iranian-Saudi cooperation continues to be limited, a signal has been sent: the world’s countries need to work with each other and isolate the amerikans. At the time of this writing, the u.$. entity still hasn’t recognized the State of Palestine. The persistent flattery of Obama is ridiculous and outrageous. Iran sanctions Also in Davos, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and EU foreign affairs & security chief Federica Mogherini discussed the Iran nuclear agreement, which is commercially important to both Iran and the EU.(4) Iranian Financial Tribune discussed the EU’s lifting of some sanctions. “State news agency IRNA attached special importance to the delisting of OPIC, stressing that the move will ease the attraction of foreign finance for major oil and gas development projects by the company.”(5) Iranian and Arab media earlier this month were discussing violations and potential violations of the Iran nuclear program/sanctions agreement by the united $tates.(6) As u.$. president, Obama signed Iran, Korea, Syria and Venezuela sanctions extensions and new sanctions. Obama recently allowed the Iran Sanctions Act to be renewed, which will allow Trump to impose certain sanctions particularly if the u.$. withdraws from the JCPOA nuclear deal. Iranian leaders have said Great $atan is enemy #1. But, Javad Zarif said in Davos that Iran is open to economic relations with the united $tates.(7) Iran earlier this month suggested it could absorb tens of billions of “dollars” equivalent in foreign investment in a variety of industries.(8) Individual companies involved in arms production, like Boeing is, still have a perverse interest in Middle East conflicts. But right now Boeing and bankers have reasons to worry about u.$. policy and can be distinguished from the u.$. government or amerika as a whole. Hopefully, the reactionary u.$. workers’ interest in exports can help Iran at least with avoiding a reversion to pre-JCPOA sanctions. Though they (like other u.$. economic groupings) don’t have a tendency to support genuine socialism even with Trump heading to the Oval Office, amerikan manufacturing workers and engineers have contradictory interests like other amerikans do. Like various countries, China has been supporting commitment to the JCPOA.(9) Despite the JCPOA, there are still u.$.-caused financial and economic difficulties in a variety of areas. Iran is still having difficulty attracting trade and investment deals because of u.$. sanctions and threats. China President Xi Jinping Davos address Of course the big news from Davos in terms of speeches is President Xi’s keynote.(10) One might think Maoists such as yours truly would have nothing positive to say about a Chinese speech that refers to “opening-up” favorably nine times and lauds so-called reform. However, the year is 2016 and it has been decades since the counterrevolution in China. All countries today are capitalist, and some of the most important questions right now are about how to relate to the united $tates. Globally, protectionism has different forms, some of which favor economic relations with the u.$. and disfavor economic relations with non-amerikans, including both First World and Third World countries. For example, some Europeans doubting the merits of European unity are exhibiting a preference for the united $tates. Xi discussed the development of both global free trade and regional free trade agreements. The u.$. has used various pretexts to oppose free trade. It is undeniable that the u.$. gets in the way of trade, investment, and loans, where northern Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Iran (still), Cuba (still) and others are concerned. Does that make Obama (still president for a few more hours at the time of this writing) some kind of revolutionary – somehow unlike Trump? No. Xi said “global growth” more than ten times and “growth” more than sixty times. Economic growth can exist together with exploitation and class stratification – both domestic and international – and does so in China. By Xi’s own admission, it is a fact (with competing explanations) “growing material wealth and advances in science and technology” have coincided with “widening income gap” and a widening gap between “the South and the North.” It is true both that socialism offers superior growth potential, and that revolution sometimes requires prolonged sacrifice on a large scale. It is hard to argue against promoting global growth, though, when u.$.-caused problems are hampering growth. There is generally too much emphasis on living standard increases in the short term, but larger living standard increases are still possible in the long term under capitalism and require what might be temporarily painful changes in relations with the united $tates. Acknowledging this is a matter of recognizing an economic basis for broad unity against u.$. imperialism. As the amerikan-caused difficulties and u.$. dominance disappear, socialism will become more attractive to more people partly because crisis will continue to exist. Right now, there are too many ways for the bourgeoisie in the Third World and other countries to blame the amerikans – ways that are in fact legitimate. That doesn’t mean independent proletarian thought and action/pressure isn’t necessary. The bourgeoisie in all countries is prone to wavering in opposition to the amerikans. The proletariat has a long-run perspective that supports firm anti-amerikanism. Socialist revolution will continue to stall until major progress is made against u.$. hegemony. Many of those who would disagree with that conclusion don’t fully understand developments in imperialism, exploitation and class structure since World War II and the 1970s. They are prone to getting caught up in (u.$.) Democratic, liberal and CIA projects even while being aware of u.$. worker privilege. Those now focusing on straight white male worker privilege (after many years of defending u.$. white workers) are potentially even worse. This writer didn’t fail to notice recently republished old anti-Stalin anti-Soviet remarks on Ayatollah Khamenei’s website.(11) Both China and Iran have a history of drawing from applicable parts of Western thought, and Ayatollah Khamenei referred to “seek knowledge even if it is in China,” but Khamenei found it necessary to criticize the October Revolution strongly. Of course this writer has some disagreement there, but it is hard to object when so many people professing to be atheist, secular or Marxist have severe problems and even fake “Maoists” in the u.$. and some alleged Maoists in the Third World have contributed to a climate for war against Islamic countries. Some continue to undermine anti-amerikanism. It is also true Iranians accurately perceive there is still more mileage to get out of capitalism by opposing the amerikans. Of course capitalism has long outlived its usefulness in general, but u.$. hegemony can be targeted and needs to be dealt with. It is hard to blame Iranians for not focusing on problems of capitalism and neocolonialism in general when they are still dealing with u.$. sanctions and their consequences. Xi didn’t mention the united $tates by name though the Chinese president discussed figures in u.$. dollar terms. But it is difficult for global growth to happen at a higher rate and with more stability when the united $tates continues to dominate and exploit to the degree it does. Most of the exploitation takes place in unequal exchange (wage-related) in trade, and other hidden transfers; First World protectionism is indeed based on a false premise (though the alternative isn’t just “win-win”) as First World workers largely benefit as exploiters from international trade. President Xi didn’t mention “exports” at all, or “wages” (only “living standards” as in “their living standards are not yet high”) probably to make observers in trade-deficit countries more comfortable, but both exports and imports are relevant to international exploitation of Chinese workers by amerikans including amerikan workers. The strong dollar is of course involved, though Xi said, “China has no intention to boost its trade competitiveness by devaluing the RMB [as if this didn’t help amerikans in certain contexts], still less will it launch a currency war.” Obviously, strengthening the yuan is a part of supporting the yuan’s potential as a reserve currency. Xi said “the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from,” which suggests China might as well be capitalist openly if unequal-exchange neocolonialism is unavoidable. In reality, China’s “opening-up” favored the united $tates unnecessarily though it occurred under pressure and happened because of a combination of both external and internal factors. The Chinese president claimed “the fundamental issue plaguing the global economy is the lack of driving force for growth.” In the present writer’s opinion, the fundamental issue plaguing the global economy involves maintaining and equalizing growth rates of integrated economies while the u.$., a huge First World country, continues to rank at or near the top in terms of GDP per capita and productivity. This involves the exploitive and parasitic aspects of u.$. imperialism and the degree (quantitative aspect) of u.$. international exploitation. To the extent that lack of driving force and unequal benefit from innovation are an issue, it seems foreign investment deficiencies specifically would be related to that. It’s not just government supporting or not supporting innovation and the so-called free market, and removing local impediments to innovation, that is relevant. Xi contrasted protectionism with “investment liberalization and facilitation” and stated, “Since it launched reform and opening-up, China has attracted over 1.7 trillion US dollars of foreign investment and made over 1.2 trillion US dollars of direct outbound investment, making huge contribution to global economic development.” Xi also stated, “In the coming five years, China is expected to . . . attract 600 billion US dollars of foreign investment and make 750 billion US dollars of outbound investment.” In other words, China will have a huge net capital outflow despite being more integrated in the world economy than it was in the 1980s. In addition, net-exporter China still benefits from its foreign investment in other countries less than many First World countries benefit from their foreign investment. Contrary to the notion that China just devalues its currency or allows it to depreciate, China has recently had to stem the yuan’s depreciation against the dollar to slow capital outflow. Xi’s positive portrayal of China’s big net capital outflow, as benefiting both amerikans implicitly and the world, strikes this writer as being ridiculous in various ways. Chinese capital flight has been in the news lately, prominently. Apparently, Xi really was speaking to First World nationalists, not bankers, economists and investors who know better. Not that u.$. workers with bad financial habits would care about this specifically, but whom is the president kidding? Iran was supposedly going to get some amerikan airliners at a discount. Also, foreign investment and so-called aid (loans) played an important role in international exploitation in the past and continue to play an important role. Debt forgiveness without unfavorable terms benefits people in the Third World. (Debt forgiveness sometimes comes with strings attached and is in any case not done disinterestedly by amerikans.) But, most international exploitation that takes place in the world today occurs through various transfers in trade that can be distinguished from foreign investment profit and debt payments. In this context, it has become more necessary to pay attention to capital flow, as a potential area of problems, in a way that has not been traditionally emphasized by some. Xi talked about global governance and transparency. There has been some relevant discussion of tax havens in the context of global inequality. It is undeniable that many people used the Panama Papers leak to portray non-amerikan bourgeoisie as especially corrupt, criminal, or exploitive of their own country’s people. There had to be a struggle over that in media, to correct public opinion. Apart from that, the idea of using a transnational organization to police Third World capitalists has neo-colonial implications as others have discussed. Doing that in a way that doesn’t undermine anti-amerikanism would be complicated. That said, one of the problems with the use of offshore bank accounts and shell companies (other than to circumvent sanctions and First World trade barriers) is precisely a capital outflow problem contributing to investment dearth and eventually international living standard inequality. Foreign loans, other inbound investment, and trade, are all involved in neocolonialism. Yet, after nations in the Third World have already decided to seek expanded economic relations with imperialist countries, it is possible to worsen international exploitation by aggravating financial, investment and even trade difficulties. A Third World country could come under pressure to accept economic agreements with less-favorable terms. Third World countries don’t need to whore themselves out, more than they may already be doing, by accepting higher economic and political costs of borrowing, trading, and domestic development. Although, if the u.$. entity makes things more difficult, with or without getting First World countries to cooperate, that may drive a turn toward non-amerikans as favored investment and trading partners. The united $tates’ December wage growth has been in the news, and minimum wage increases have passed in several u.$. States while there is still no global minimum wage. One thing Xi didn’t discuss specifically was relative changes in wage growth rates. The u.$. nominal wage growth rate has been increasing since around 2012, according to an HSBC report.(12) Though higher, the Chinese nominal growth rate has been decreasing since 2011. The eurozone nominal wage growth rate has also generally decreased since 2011, the year in which the debt crisis peaked or was unfolding rapidly in several European countries. Asia-Pacific and Latin American nominal wage growth rates have also decreased since 2011 or 2012. In 2016, the UK real wage growth rate was higher than the eurozone and u.$. real wage growth rates, but the UK rate is projected to fall below the eurozone and u.$. rates in the middle of 2017. So in the middle of 2017, the u.$. real wage growth rate, which was higher than the eurozone rate in 2015 and 2016, would begin to be higher than the UK rate. The European nominal and real wage growth rate decreases are relevant to European worker support for protectionism. The united $nakes lies at the heart of this. Most European workers are exploiters of Third World workers like amerikans are, and developments in Europe illustrate why it is that First World workers play a vanguard role in fascism and oppressor nation nationalism at this time. Hopefully, though, more Europeans will both reject extreme nationalism and see the sense in looking outside the united $tates for global leadership. ◊ See: • “Iran FM says no contacts with incoming US administration so far,” 2017 January 18. https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/01/18/1300614/iran-fm-says-no-contacts-with-incoming-us-administration-so-far • “EU contacts Trump on JCPOA,” 2017 January 19. https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/57739/eu-contacts-trump-on-jcpoa • “Economic slowdown and productivity: where class struggle meets crisis,” 2016 August. https://github.com/pinotes/pinotes.github.io/blob/master/_posts/2016-08-17-news-economic-slowdown-productivity.md • “U.S. economic outlook improves; structural basis of crisis continues to develop,” 2017 January. https://github.com/pinotes/pinotes.github.io/blob/master/_posts/2017-01-08-news-Jan2017-US-economic-outlook.md Notes: 1. “No invitation for US to attend Astana talks: Iran’s Shamkhani,” 2017 January 18. https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/01/18/1300319/no-invitation-for-us-to-attend-astana-talks-iran-s-shamkhani 2. “Iran-Saudi cooperation possible if Riyadh sees realities on ground: Zarif,” 2017 January 18. http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/01/18/506735/Iran-Sauid-Arabia-Zarif-Astana-talks-Davos-Syria 3. “Iran replies to S. Arabia invitation letter,” 2017 January 17. http://www.irna.ir/en/news/82391231/ 4. Iran’s Zarif, EU’s Mogherini discuss JCPOA, Syria in Davos,” 2017 January 18. https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/01/18/1300628/iran-s-zarif-eu-s-mogherini-discuss-jcpoa-syria-in-davos “Mogherini: EU against renegotiating Iran’s nuclear deal,” 2017 January 19. http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82393663/ 5. “Iranian entities delisted from EU sanction,” 2017 January 19. https://financialtribune.com/articles/energy/57744/iranian-entities-delisted-from-eu-sanctions 6. “Iran not to tolerate JCPOA breaches by a certain country: Araqchi,” 2017 January 9. https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/01/09/1292726/iran-not-to-tolerate-jcpoa-breaches-by-a-certain-country-araqchi “JCPOA implementation commission to discuss ISA extension in Vienna,” 2017 January 10. http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/01/10/505589/Iran-JCPOA-Joint-Commission-Vienna-Iran-Sanctions-Act-US “Trump to be surprised if ditches Iran nuclear deal: Zarif,” 2017 January 19. http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/01/19/506894/Iran-US-Mohammad-Javad-Zarif “Iran warns violation of JCPOA intolerable under any excuse,” 2017 January 9. http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2585231&language=en 7. “Iran open to business ties with US,” 2017 January 19. https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/57774/iran-open-to-business-ties-with-us 8. “Iran capable of absorbing $20bn foreign investment,” 2017 January 7. http://www8.irna.ir/en/News/82377925/ 9. “China urges all parties to stay committed to JCPOA,” 2017 January 18. http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82391903/ 10. “Jointly shoulder responsibility of our times, promote global growth,” 2017 January 17. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-01/18/c_135991184.htm 11. “What was the anti-Stalin book Ayatollah Khamenei commented on?” 2017 January 14. http://english.khamenei.ir/news/4563/What-was-the-anti-Stalin-book-Ayatollah-Khamenei-commented-on “Leader’s speech to students,” 2011 August 10. http://english.khamenei.ir/news/1506/Leader-s-Speech-to-Students 12. “Global economics : great expectations, many limitations.” https://www.research.hsbc.com/R/24/7DlDTPG

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (CNSNews.com) - The United States added 11,000 jobs in manufacturing in March reaching a total of 12,392,000 people employed in the manufacturing sector, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is the greatest number of people employed in manufacturing in the United States since January 2009—the month that President Barack Obama was inaugurated—when there were 12,561,000 people employed in manufacturing. In February 2009, manufacturing employment dropped to 12,380,000—a number it did not exceed until February of this year, when it reached 12,381,000. At the same time, according to BLS, the number of people employed in government increased by 9,000 in March, climbing from 22,309,000 in February to 22,318,000. Since December 2016, the U.S. has gained 49,000 manufacturing jobs and 19,000 government jobs. Government jobs in the United States in March still outnumbered manufacturing jobs by 9,926,000. The number of manufacturing jobs in the United States peaked in June 1979 at 19,553,000. Since then, it has declined by 7,161,000 to the 12,392,000 reported for this March, according to the BLS numbers. During the same time frame—from June 1979 to February 2017—the number of government jobs grew from 16,045,000 to the current 22,318,000, an increase of 6,273,000.

Farmers in Mexico have been given another reason to grow agave, the cactus-like plant used to produce the country's most potent export. In the bar room equivalent of alchemy, scientists have turned shots of tequila into diamonds. The surprise use for the national tipple emerged when researchers at the National Autonomous University experimented with making ultra-thin films of diamond from organic solutions, such as acetone and ethanol. The mix that worked best, 40% alcohol and 60% water, was similar to the proportions used in tequila. Diamond films are extremely durable and heat resistant and can be used to coat cutting tools. By carefully adding impurities to the films, it is also possible to make diamond semiconductors for use in electronic circuits. Luis Miguel Apátiga, a member of the team, brought a bottle of cheap tequila into the lab to see if it could be turned into diamond. When he heated a shot to 800C it vaporised and broke down into its atomic constituents, producing a fine layer of carbon on nearby metal trays. Close examination of the films at high magnification revealed that the carbon had formed into crystal structures identical to diamond. Each was around one thousandth of a millimetre across. "It's true that the fact it's tequila has a certain charm. It's a Mexican product and Mexican researchers developed the project, but a businessman can say to me: 'Great, how pretty! But how can I use it?'," Apátiga said. "It would be very difficult to obtain diamonds for a ring." The researchers plan to make tequila-based diamonds on an industrial scale from 2011, a move that could see agave growing expand beyond the tequila market.

Happy Friday Backers, Here is an update from our Dear Leader for the weekend. Advanced warning - it's long and detailed and in places even a little weird but he has been traveling for weeks so we'll just go with it. Back in London it's a public holiday this coming Monday but no rest for the wicked, well not for the Engineering team anyway which pretty much amounts to the same thing.. These lost souls will be here throughout the weekend in order to meet some pretty aggressive deadlines prior to production. Spare a thought for them and have a great weekend! Love GameStick. ------ Back in China this week and a round of meetings, factory visits, project reviews and road map planning meetings. We’ve been right through the delivery chain with this product. Normally you would spec a product, get a lead partner and let them manage it through, but we have all heard so many stories about production practices and worker welfare in China that I wanted to make sure that our supply chain was ethical and that we liked and trusted the people running the factories. The only way to get even the slighted feel for that is to put in the leg work and spend time with the operators exploring how they work. So far, during this project I have visited over 137 suppliers and selected 24 to work with. It goes without saying that our major suppliers such as chip vendors, tooling and injection molding companies, software engineering teams and product development companies are all top-flight organizations with exemplary credentials. I was not worried about these companies, but I wanted to take a closer look further down the supply chain – at the component level, as these are normally out of sight. So this week and last I have focused on the detail behind the scenes. Why is this important to me and to our team as a whole? 3 reasons: 1) Welfare - I want to know that every supplier is concerned for the welfare of their staff. I want you to feel that the device you will play with is made with care by people who have some interest in making it. I see it as my moral responsibility to make sure this product is ethical from start to finish. 2) Shared vision. I wanted the supplier to share in the vision of what we are trying to achieve. One factory may make only the capacitors on the PCB but it is important to us that they see what they are contributing to as that leads to the next point: 3) Quality. The only way to get what you want is to put in the leg-work and spend hours obsessing about the finest detail with people who are motivated to help. This takes time but is vital if we are to succeed. Yesterday Tim and I spent many hours in a cable factory. It's the 9th cable facility I’ve visited. Some, I am afraid to say, are utterly heart breaking. You might think that USB and HDMI cables are made by machine but sadly most are they are not. Each wire on each solder point, at each end, is done by hand in many many factories. Humans are cheaper than machines. What a painful thought. The workers sit at benches in rows straining their eyes to actually see the solder points. The fact is that we all want commodity prices and China wants to deploy labor and this is where it meets at the thin end of the wedge, but it puts things in to perspective when you realize how much manual labor goes in to the supply chain. Which is precisely why we are spending so much time on it. The factory that we visited was semi automated, but still relies on using manual labor. The working conditions were good and the staff seemed content and were smiling and laughing (at us probably). This factory is very small and produces around 2 million units a year but the management have the right attitude. We walked through the factory, inspected all of the processes, machines and tools etc to satisfy ourselves that they were a fit supplier for GameStick. I think this level of transparency is a requirement in modern manufacturing and I wish that the worlds larger manufacturers spent more time and effort honoring their responsibilities to both the workers who build the products they sell. Several times they said it was unusual for the CEO of an international company to spend time this far down the supply chain, which saddened me. A factory we chose not to work with. Anyway – back to the detail. Our dock has a unique cable entry system – in that you plug the female end of the HDMI socket through a hole in the dock housing and then push it on to the stick. In turn this means we have to create custom HDMI leads with custom fittings which means more tooling and moldings. We spent hours going through hundreds of existing HDMI end points but in the end decided that we would have to start from scratch and design our own. So we phoned London and had our product designers take a look. We phoned the guys doing the dock tooling and had them give us tolerances for the cable to pass through. We then discussed how to make the tools and what the cosmetic ID should look like. We then spent hours looking at cables of every shape, size and length – each with different characteristics in data handling, look, feel and overall performance. We then looked at the 3d drawings for first cosmetic ID for the ends but they were no good – so we started again. This goes on and on and will continue to do so for the next couple of weeks until we are happy with it. When you get the HDMI cable – it will just be an HDMI cable, as it should be, but you can rest assured that a couple of insane Brits sat in a factory in the middle of China at midnight obsessing about every tiny detail of its composition. Meet our very own security guard who is protecting your GameStick controller production line as I write. She wears bright red stilettos and a peaked cap. She's a formidable lady and no-one messes with her. No-one. One of the best aspects of working in China is that there are hundreds of boutique suppliers for almost everything you can imagine. We’ve been having an issue with Bluetooth communication between the GameStick and the Controller. This is in part a frequency issue (which creates lag) and partly a range issue. We have spent many hours exploring the reasons – from changes to firmware, to different components, to antenna locations but each led to a different set of conclusions. So we spent a few days looking for an expert. This is the room that he lives in. That's him on the left. On the right is James – who is the guy running our Chinese operation. A wonderful man who is working his socks off for us all. So we put the controller in this room for a few hours and ran a lot of different tests. We tried lots of antennas and slowly we began to see patterns and even more gradually we began to find solutions. One issue was the location of the antenna. This meant that when you held the controller in a certain way it significantly weakened the signal. We were tempted to go down the Apple route of saying “you’re not holding it right” but in the end we opted to find a fix. The operating parameters of Bluetooth are determined by a myriad of variables that we wont go in to here, suffice to say that we are looking for steady performance at a range of 7 meters in a normal environment. The solution most likely to deliver this is the first option with the separate chip antenna mounted on a separate PCB. The issue here is that the separate PCB occupies the same space used by the stick in the transport slot. So now we are looking at a flexible PCB solution, which is in progress. Dock: We heard your comments about the HDMI and went through them again, but we believe it would be wrong to put in a function that the majority of people would find frustrating to use. Having a manual switch to toggle between only one input and output socket is a poor consumer proposition. It is something we can look at in the future if there is demand but it is not one for now. The Dock has 3 x USB (in fact it has 5 but one is used for Ethernet and the other for the SD card), power via a 2500 mAh power supply, Ethernet, controller charging and SD card storage as well as the Active Power Slot for GameStick. It's a great accessory. Controller Tooling. This is progressing very well now and is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I know many of you have been frustrated by the delay and that you want your GameStick now, (we would also love to give it to you now) but the decision to go with high end tools is the right one. The first 6,000 controllers should be ready June 8th. We then need to wait for the GameSticks, which will be delivered slightly later (see below). Its wonderful to see the machines in action. I went to the factory with Tim, who is one of the great people in the team driving this project forward, helping to pull together its numerous threads. Here are some of the pictures that we took – and we will put up a video as soon as we can download it from the camera as the cables, (handmade no doubt), are in London. Tim and I spent some time trying to work through how many parallel tasks are being managed to deliver this project – from working with games developers, to on boarding games, to sdk, to infrastructure set up and delivery, to development of the UI and UX testing, to business development and marketing to project management and software engineering across OS, Android and apps. From there to hardware engineering: processors, PCBs for the stick, the dock, the controller plus all of the components and sourcing for each of the 2,584 components; each capacitor, resistor, memory, MHL systems etc. Then to tooling and injection molding and on to the cables, plugs, packaging, assembly lines. Then the logistics for FCC and EMC testing, compliance and transport and ultimately shipping. Then we move to in-country logistics, more compliance, more shipping etc etc. Across this chain we are managing around 800 people, 24 separate companies (excluding shipping and supply) and at a very high level 4,789 separate tasks, each of which have sub tasks. But...Here she is!! This is the first GameStick off the production line. No: 00000001. MHL, (the micro HDMI / MHL switch (at this size) is something that we invented), 8GB DDR, Bluetooth etc. Built using a 6 layer PCB with half-thru holes. This is no mean feat of engineering. It still has to go through EMC testing and until this is done we cannot be sure that this is an acceptable product – and so the PCB may need to change again, but we believe and hope not. However, until we are certain we cannot start the tooling for the housing so for the next week we are in a holding pattern. The timing is good however as its Labor day holiday here this week. Once we have the go ahead we will push hard on the GS tooling and I have the factory engaged to work insane hours to get it done quickly. However, just to re-iterate we do not expect this to affect the current target delivery dates. UI. This continues to evolve. I have not seen the latest build yet and there will no doubt be a 100 features that we want to add that are currently not there yet, but this whole project has to be seen as a living platform – one that we iterate and innovate on until we create something that we all appreciate. I’m excited to see what the team in London and Poland have achieved over the last few weeks whilst I’ve been on the road. Android 4.2 Where to start. The low level kernals are causing us all sorts of issues and we are struggling to get through the list of bugs to get this stable. I am pushing hard to make sure 4.2 is available at launch but as a plan B we may push on with 4.1 and then offer a firmware update via either a forced or optional upgrade. 4.2 has been built for a mobile ecosystem and there is a lot of work to do to make it acceptable for TV. It's a timing issue more than anything and we will crack the issues, but I cannot be certain when. We will continue to review this in the coming weeks and update you on the plan of attack, but just to be clear the only noticeable difference between 4.1 and 4.2 from our point of view is the support for Miracast – which is a key feature that we want to offer. Hosting. This is a complex piece and we are still working through some of the dynamics. We currently serve a lot of smart TVs with games and use Amazon to host these services, however we are looking at the volume and costs and speed at which we can scale on that CDN and seeing if others offer a better all round service. I’ll be visiting Amazon to discuss in the coming days. Packaging. Anthony has been driving this and our whole retail push with Stuart and Marco and Mike in tow. The packaging looks awesome. He’s spent hours opening and closing boxes to ‘feel’ the experience. When you open it for the first time give some thought to the hours and hours of effort he has put in to getting it right. Designed by Me. The Designed by Me backers need to be able to assess the UI and how it performs with the controller and for that reason we need to wait for the Bluetooth antenna update – which is currently being done by hand in London and China. We expect this fix to be complete next week and will aim to ship mid week. Dev Units. I took the decision to ship the Dev units because they were going to experienced game developers who should be used to getting prototype hardware. And that it is. Its pretty rough around the edges but at least it offers them something to code against. The antenna fix above should be retro fitted to the 250 SLA prototype controllers we have in China in the next 10 days and then we will send out a fresh batch. Power supply: A bit like the cable company we found I guess. There are many many potential suppliers but the quality of the power supply and the certifications the manufacturers have are crucial. A lot of issues in CE devices are caused because of poor adapters and so we went through the process on this too. Without boring you on the details we again chose a small company. One managed by a good team, who smile and laugh a lot but who make great power supply units and nothing else. That's it for now. I have left Tim in China. I am headed to the airport to the UK for 2 days and then to the US. The next update will be from the team as a whole, but I thought this more detailed and open review might be of interest to a few of you. Tim and my whole team in London, Poland, US, Korea and China are doing an amazing job managing this. Taking a step back; delivering this project is not materially different to the challenge of delivering a fully-fledged traditional console business. Sure they will have bigger supply chains and bigger orders and the overall scale is in a different league but the complexity of the overall project is no different. Except that ours is being managed by a small team 25 great people - many of whom have worked with each other for years. This team has delivered major projects multiple times for some of the worlds largest companies such as Samsung, Panasonic, LG and Sony so it is well versed in project management and delivery. The delay in delivering this project is not down at all to project management or decision making - it is down to how many people like the idea and the complexity of delivering a complex project in a manner that we are all proud to put our names to. So please stick with us. Without your support this all becomes rather pointless and whilst we cannot please all of you all the time I hope you see that my team is doing everything they can to deliver a great product – one that we’ll all enjoy using. Not only that, I hope that the plans we are now laying out will mean you become avid supporters for years to come. You, like us, are the founders of this project and are helping to create a new wave of innovation in the console industry. I am as frustrated as you that we are a bit behind schedule but we are being 100% open with you about the issues we face and the mountains we climb. That openness is offered in the spirit of collaboration and a desire to share our journey with you. Best regards Jasper

Journalists reporting on Libya's civil war have stumbled upon 21-year-old UCLA math student Chris Jeon, who has joined the Libyan rebels because "It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels." Jeon bought an $800 one-way plane ticket from L.A. to Cairo two weeks ago, then snuck across the boarder into Libya. He of course has no actual affinity for the rebels: "At spring break I told my friends a 'sick' vacation would be to come here and fight with the rebels," he told a Christian Monitor reporter. And he is about as good a soldier as you would expect, according to the National: "How do you fire this thing?" he asked on Wednesday as a bearded rebel handed him an AK-47. Locating the trigger of the assault rifle and switching off the safety, Mr Jeon fired it in the air in two short bursts. "I want to fight in Sirte!" he proclaimed, using hand gestures and pointing west towards Sirte. Whether the rebels understood him was far from clear. "It's hard to communicate. I don't really speak any Arabic," he said. This is a metastasized version of that strange affliction many college kids have which forces them to visit the most screwed-up places on earth as an antidote to their college lives being a four-year food-drink-and-drug binge pajama party. Reading the articles and seeing the pictures of this soon-to-be famous war tourist, it's hard not to think: "This guy is going to die so freaking hard." Although if he doesn't, it's safe to say he will not have a problem getting laid when he gets back home.

HOUSTON — So much to do, so much to say, so much to cover. Starting with this: Roger Goodell will spend the 10th anniversary of being named commissioner (he got the gig in Northbrook, Ill., on Aug. 8, 2006) clunking heads together in Canton and New York today over the cancellation of the Hall of Fame Game on Sunday night. The cause: poor artificial turf conditions. The upshot: a serious re-examination whether the game should be played, and if it should, where. The MMQB’s Jenny Vrentas was in Canton, and I asked her to give us a short summary of what happened and why. We’ll get to that in a few moments. But first: It’s probably smart to play the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game—if you’re going to play it at all—54 miles north in Cleveland, on a pristine field, rather than on a glorified high school field at the Hall of Fame in Canton. It’s actually used for high school games, mostly, the rest of the year. There’s just too much at stake, even with a first preseason game with regulars barely seeing the field, to play the game on a risky surface. Suffice it to say the debacle of Sunday night simply cannot happen. It’s an embarrassment of the highest order. Cancelling a nationally televised game, with ESPN marking the occasion with its new pregame team and new crew in the booth, is a ringing exclamation point to those who like to pile on Goodell for his failings in office. It’s a coincidence that it comes as Goodell and the league mark the milestone. (Or don’t mark; in a league that celebrates every anniversary and birthday with PR fireworks, not a peep about Goodell’s 10-year anniversary.) Or millstone. Not sure which it is. • THE MMQB CAMP REPORTS: Jaguars | Panthers | Lions | Falcons |Steelers | Bills | Eagles | Patriots | Giants | Colts | Jets | Packers | More For now, I’ll move on with the column, checking in with: • Carolina, where Ron Rivera continues to stand by his man. • Atlanta, where owner Arthur Blank is standing by his boss too. • Tampa Bay, where patience is not a virtue. • Jacksonville, where Myles Jack has a very strong message for the NFL, and for the college players who come behind him. • Houston, where one of the best players of the last 15 years had a surprise birthday party last night. In training camp. And there’s the Hall of Fame speeches (nice job, Favre and DeBartolo and Dungy) … the return of Monte Kiffin … the return of “Hard Knocks,” with Jeff Fisher whacking someone in episode one … and the Nickname That Shall Not Be Named isn’t going anywhere. On with the show. * * * Cam Newton and Ron Rivera are starting from scratch after a disappointing end to an otherwise electric 2015 season. Grant Halverson/Getty Images Ron Rivera is steadfast behind his quarterback, as he probably should be SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Early in the off-season, Ron Rivera was in need of some advice handling people. One person in particular. He emailed the noted former U.S. Navy admiral, William McRaven, now the chancellor of the University of Texas, and asked another very bright leader of men if he’d handled Cam Newton’s post-Super Bowl press conference mopefest the right way. You may recall that Rivera found no fault with Newton the player or postgame speaker, and even said the NFL shouldn’t subject Super Bowl-losing players to interviews the night of the game. “Did I enable him?” Rivera asked McRaven. No, McRaven said. The retired admiral is a believer in praising in public and criticizing in private, and he thought Rivera did the right thing by standing by his most important player. Backing Newton, McRaven felt, would show Newton his coach cared about him, and provide a good example to learn from. Essentially, the admiral felt that even in a transcendent year for the NFL MVP, a humbling game and postgame aren’t the worst things in the world to experience, because sports mirrors life. Sometime you fail. Deal with it. Here we are, six months after the only bad day of the Panthers’ 2015 season, and Rivera still feels strongly about the events that followed the Super Bowl loss to Denver. He still thinks losing players should talk the day after the game, rather than 20 to 30 minutes after the game, and he thinks the losing coach is the one who should stand up after the game as spokesman for the team. “We want our football players to lay it on the line, to give everything in the biggest game of their lives, and then we want them a few minutes after the game to be all normal and eloquent about it? People want our guys to be gentlemen right after the biggest loss of their lives. Hey, I want my guys to be crushed. “People look at other athletes and how they handle a big loss. Jordan Spieth’s been pointed out to me. He’s been taught to handle losses with elegance. In football, the game’s different. I’m paid to be eloquent after wins and after tough losses, and I should be the one to do that.” That’s not going to happen, players from losing teams cocooned until the next day. I understand Rivera’s frustration, and it does often seem cold to me for a losing player after the Super Bowl to walk off the field and into the media interview area. Often they haven’t been spoken to by coaches yet. The league could bring winners in first, followed by players from losing teams. But the demand is too great and the game too big. The NFL MVP loses the Super Bowl, and he can’t walk into the sunset for 15 hours. Rivera talked to others this off-season, seeking advice. One adviser: Tony LaRussa, who told him to forget last season and build his team all over again in 2016. That’s been one of Rivera’s themes with his team. Put in the work, start from scratch, and the reward—for all 53 players, including Newton—can be bigger in 2016. • FOOTBALL LIFESTYLE: Bold backpacks, camp care packages + more tees * * * Field maintenance workers scrambled to get the turf ready for Sunday night’s game, which ultimately was cancelled due to unsafe playing conditions. Jenny Vrentas/The MMQB An embarrassing night for the NFL The MMQB’s Jenny Vrentas reports from the debacle of the week in Ohio... CANTON, Ohio — The weekend that is supposed to be a celebration of football turned extremely embarrassing for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL on Sunday night. About an hour before the Hall of Fame Game between the Colts and Packers was supposed to kick off, teams were notified the preseason contest would be canceled because of unacceptable field conditions. Thousands of fans sat in their seats, waiting through replays of the previous night’s Hall of Fame speeches, until an official announcement finally came at 8:01 p.m. The issue was a botched paint job on the field turf. The turf at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton has been criticized in the past, with former Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham suffering what would be a career-ending ACL injury in last year’s Hall of Fame game. Suisham led the charge this offseason on this issue, which helped result in the creation of a joint committee between the NFL and NFLPA to monitor field conditions, including at non-traditional venues like Canton. • PETER KING: Why the NFL-NFLPA field condition pact is significant But the turf at the stadium last night was new, installed earlier this this summer with the surface used in the Superdome for the 2016 Sugar Bowl. About 20,000 fans sat on top of the playing surface during last night’s enshrinement ceremony. The cover on the field didn’t come off until Sunday morning, and the issue arose when areas of the turf were painted, including the Hall of Fame logo at midfield. One club official who was on the field before the game, inspecting the turf, said afterward: “There wasn't one person on the field once we got out there who said we should try to play. Even if there was, the players would have called the union and gotten it called off ... I am dumbfounded that they didn't have the field right.” Things looked bad less than two hours before kickoff when both teams’ head coaches, general managers, owners and medical staffs were conferencing at midfield. Looking up close, there were clumps where red, white and blue paint had congealed with the turf pellets, creating patches that were both slick and rock-hard, an obvious safety concern. Workers were spraying around the logo and driving vehicles with what looked like street-cleaning brushes back and forth, in an apparent attempt to break up these clumps. Later, they were shoveling up piles of loose turf pellets into trash cans. It was an ugly scene. “The turf is definitely hard,” Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix said, pushing his foot against the field surface after the game had been called off. “They did a great job putting safety first. But it’s an opportunity missed for the young guys, not just to get experience but to do it in front of 32 teams.” You can see the clumps of congealed paint at midfield logo of HOF stadium field. Rock hard. pic.twitter.com/6mlA0Smffu — Jenny Vrentas (@JennyVrentas) August 8, 2016 The NFL made the right decision in the name of player safety. But as Colts owner Jim Irsay railed in an interview with ESPN, whose Monday Night Football crew was on site to broadcast the game, “this shouldn’t happen.” “First of all, I’m glad that the field safety protocol was followed and the game was canceled,” NFLPA president Eric Winston wrote in a text message. “Shaun Suisham led on this key issue this offseason, and the protocol has become vital already this season. Second of all, the HoF game for, at least, the second year in a row has a surface that is unacceptable.” There are plenty of players and coaches who would like to see the game scrapped. That probably won’t happen, but you can bet they’ll talk about switching venues. * * * NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been a punching bag for the public but still has the support of owners like the Falcons’ Arthur Blank. John Amis/AP The voice that counts FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — I begin a question to Falcons owner Arthur Blank: “As a member of the Compensation Committee …” “The chair,” he says. Today being the 10-year anniversary of the day Blank and the league’s other 31 owners voted for Roger Goodell to succeed Paul Tagliabue, I thought I’d ask one of the men most responsible for Goodell’s power and influence and salary how he’s doing. I saw Blank last week, and so obviously his comments were made before the Hall of Fame debacle Sunday night. Before I sat down with Blank, I got a tour of his office, filled with photos nostalgic and current with people from around the league. There’s a note from Goodell, from 2011. It ends with: “I will work tirelessly to make you proud of me.” The relationship between the two men, clearly, is more than commissioner/owner. If the current climate, in which Goodell is probably the most disliked man in American sports, is wearing on Blank and concerning to him, he doesn’t voice it. • GOODELL WEEK: The MMQB dedicated five days this summer to examine the first 10 years of Roger Goodell’s tenure as commissioner “I give him a lot of good grades—a lot of great grades,” Blank said, sitting on a couch in his office. “There should be more recognition of the great things he’s done for the game in his 10 years. My hope is he brings his passion and intelligence to the job for years into the future.” Then Blank said: “But it’s a hard job. Very hard.” Under Goodell, the league has increased revenues from $6 billion in 2006 to a projected $14 billion this year, a 133 percent increase in a decade. Blank bought his franchise for $545 million in 2002; if he sold it today with the Falcons’ new stadium set to open in 2017, he’d likely fetch at least $2 billion for it. “From a business perspective, we’ve done phenomenally well in the last 10 years,” Blank said. “The valuations of teams are growing at rates that no one expected. We’ve adjusted well in a changing world. Roger does care deeply about the important issues, like player health and safety.” But the universal public animosity? “I don’t know about the ‘universal’ part,” Blank said. “Roger, in my opinion, comes across the best when he’s not scripted, when he’s answering from the heart.” The Compensation Committee approved paying Goodell $111 million in salary and benefits from 2013 to 2015, and I get no indication from owners when I speak to them about a rumbling for change. It’s just hard to imaging Goodell lasting another 10 years if public opinion doesn’t take a turn for the better. * * * Dirk Koetter was an offensive coordinator for three teams, dating back to 2007, before getting his first chance as a head coach. Chris O'Meara/AP The Bucs have to get the coach right one of these days TAMPA — One thing I admire about Bucs GM Jason Licht: He doesn’t shy away from the tough questions or the tough issues, and what they mean to his franchise and his own future. Such as this one: When is Tampa Bay going to pick a coach and stick with him through tough times? Illustrating what happens when the Bucs have remained with a coach, and when they haven’t, going back two decades: Head Coach Seasons Playoff Years W-L Tony Dungy 6 3 56-46 Jon Gruden 7 4 60-57 Raheem Morris 3 0 17-31 Greg Schiano 2 0 11-21 Lovie Smith 2 0 8-24 I spy a trend. Dungy and Gruden got long tenures, relatively speaking. Morris, Schiano and Smith averaged 2.3 years of a chance. On my camp trip, when I’ve asked coaches and executives (three so far) about the impatience of teams with head coaches, every one named Tampa Bay as a problem franchise, particularly after Smith was whacked last January despite having a rock-solid relationship with his defense and the strident support of Jameis Winston, his franchise quarterback. • BUCS CAMP REPORT: Our MMQB crew tests Tampa’s cryotherapy tank So, I asked Licht: How important is it for you for this latest choice, former offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, to be correct? “Extremely,” he said in the Bucs’ cafeteria Saturday morning before an early practice. “Extremely. My career’s probably on the line with this pick. That was the thing I thought about right away: We’ve got to find the guy who’s going to have success and eventually leave on his own terms.” Very few coaches ever do that, of course. None in the past 30 years in this town. The beloved Dungy, a saint in this area, the new Hall-of-Famer, was bitterly disappointed to get fired after a 2001 playoff run. He left Gruden a Super Bowl team. Gruden won one, then got whacked himself six years later. And of course, you don’t know what’s more important in the early head-coaching career of a head man, security or success. But I’d advise Koetter to hold off on building his retirement home on the gulf shore. Still, there’s little question Licht is happy with Koetter. “We had a slew of injuries and a new quarterback and a rebuilt offensive line, and we had the best offense in the history of the franchise,” Licht said. “I starting getting texts that first week, from offensive and defensive players: ‘Please hire Dirk.’” The advantage for Koetter is he was able to bring in a defensive coordinator, Mike Smith, to whom he could cede the defense and who’d been a head coach. So Koetter will still be able to focus heavily on the offense he choreographed successfully last year. And he has a good teacher of the quarterback position in Mike Bajakian, working with Jameis Winston every day. But Koetter’s going to have to earn the respect of the defense now (in fairness, his defensive players have to earn his respect too), and this is his way: “You give respect to get respect.” Those who know Koetter say he prides himself on being a teacher. It felt strange to be in a coach’s office, as The MMQB team was on Saturday, and gather around a coffee table, and look down to see “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” by Dr. Seuss. Reading material in the office of Bucs coach Dirk Koetter. The MMQB “Every message that a coach gives his team is in that book,” Koetter said. Let’s see … “I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. … Oh, the places you go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winningest winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole world watching you win on TV.” Koetter won’t make this game harder than it is. That’s probably a good approach, especially to young players who probably aren’t going to be moved by Lombardi’s words. But however he approaches it, there’s a bottom-line mentality here, for better or worse, and he’d better hurry. * * * Four questions with … Rookie kicker Roberto Aguayo of the Buccaneers. Oh, there will be some pressure on him. Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht dealt a fourth-round pick to move up 15 spots to obtain the late-second-round pick he used on Aguayo. Don Juan Moore/Getty Images ​MMQB: Do you feel the pressure, being a second-round pick? Obviously, most teams don’t take kickers that high. Aguayo: I think I’ve had pressure, I mean, all my life—going into Florida State, replacing Dustin Hopkins, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer. I mean there’s going to be ups and downs, that’s just the way of the sport. … The pressure’s always there but it’s not really for me. I guess it just doesn’t affect me mentally.” MMQB: Strange to think something can be easier in the NFL than in college football, but the hashmarks are narrower in the pros. You were either perfect or close in college when kicking from what would be the NFL’s hashmarks. Is it a big deal to you? Aguayo: It’s a big difference. In the NFL, they’re basically in line with the uprights, and you don’t have those wide angles you’ve got in college when you’re out on the outside hashes. So it’s a different kind of mind game in the NFL. • SAINTS CAMP REPORT: Why Sean Payton is smiling MMQB: You played soccer, and you’re a fan. What did you think when Messi missed that penalty kick in the Copa America final? Aguayo: I saw that. That’s sports. You know, say if I were to miss a kick at the end of the season, it’s just, I mean that’s what the sport is, why we enjoy it, because you never know. That night, everybody thought, Oh, Messi’s going up to take a penalty. He’s gonna make it, guaranteed. MMQB: That’s what they’re going to think about you. How do you feel about that? Aguayo: It’s just the way of the game. It’s that pressure, man. Sometimes at the end of the game, it’s just me, and I need to win, I need to do it. Only a few people in the world get to do that, so it’s fun at the end of the day. * * * Myles Jack hasn’t had any issues at camp with the knee that caused him to drop out of the draft’s first round in April. Gary McCullough/AP Myles Jack is back, and he’s got a message JACKSONVILLE — There was something heartening about seeing number 44 in white turning and sprinting to chase a play Friday night in a Jaguars scrimmage at Everbank Field, or making the defensive play call and lining up his mates. Myles Jack was playing full-speed football again. Jack’s the former UCLA linebacker, still only 21, who sat much of his last college season after knee surgery, whose stock fell from top-five prospect to pick 36 in the 2016 draft. Now he’s tried to put that behind him. (He hasn’t.) And he wants his story to be a cautionary tale for future Myles Jacks. “Please put this in all caps,” Jack told me Friday. (LIKE THIS?) “I want to tell all the guys coming out in the draft next year, and future years: If there’s any questions about you, answer them IMMEDIATELY. Nip it in the bud. If you have to be arrogant, if you have to be rude, whatever. Get your point across. If there’s any questions—and that’s probably my biggest mistake, because I’m not an outspoken person on like Twitter or Instagram if a rumor comes out—don't be quiet. Not to say anything bad about my agent, but don’t let your agent handle it. Just do it yourself, get out there, you know what I mean, and, fight, you know, fight for yourself. Because looking back, if there was one thing I could do, with all the microfracture, I wish I would have just jumped out and clarified it.” • JAGS CAMP REPORT: Even Blake Bortles’ mom knows—Jacksonville is loaded with talent heading into the season Two days before the draft, Jack told Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post that “down the line, possibly, potentially,” he could have microfracture knee surgery. Microfracture is a riskier surgery than ACL surgery and involves creating small cracks in the bones of the knee to spur cartilage growth. Even mentioning it would scare an NFL team. Teams were already cautious about Jack, coming off surgery. The microfracture addition made it worse. “After the story came out,” Jack said, “[NFL Network’s] Ian Rapoport tagged along and he has a bajillion followers so that just went haywire and everybody’s like, ‘Oh you need surgery now!’ And y’all seen me do pro day and I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me? I did a 40-inch vertical [jump], and people with bad knees aren’t doing that.” Jack is settling in Jacksonville, where it’s all football on a very young team. He seems happy enough, and he ran around Friday night with verve, still in the process of getting to know his new mates. But he won’t forget the mega-draft-drop. “In hindsight,’’ he said, “it’s always gonna be a permanent scar. It’s something I’m gonna have to live with, but landing here, I mean, that’s a perfect situation.” * * * It’s pretty hot here HOUSTON — I landed at the Houston airport late Saturday afternoon and got in a rental car. The temperature gauge on the dashboard was 99. It was 100 on Sunday. Forecast highs for the week, beginning today: 99, 99, 99, 100, 100. Heat index (combining heat and humidity) on the field Sunday for the 9 a.m. practice: 120. The one constant at camp for the Texans? Oppressive heat. Bob Levey/Getty Images The medical staff here does proactive IVs. Before Sunday’s training-camp practice (2 hours, 35 minutes) on the fields across the street from the Texans’ stadium and locker room, team medics gave out 35 IVs to players, including DeAndre Hopkins. “Before I got here, I thought you got an IV when you had surgery and that was about it. Now we get them all the time.” Coach Bill O’Brien works the team out two-thirds of the time outside, and one-third inside the Texans’ practice bubble, where it’s 72 degrees. That’s where the team will work this morning. “I think you make it through by determination,” said Hopkins. “I think it keeps guys true. You better treat your body right. Like, you can’t go out and do whatever at night, then expect to come in here the next day and practice outside and practice well. Your body will be dead.” The Texans have equipment guys lugging those eight-packs of small bottles of Gatorade, not just squirts of water; Sunday, some players just grabbed a bottle on the sideline, wrestled it from its plastic coupling and inhaled it. It’s just incredible to stand out in such heat for two-plus hours and imagine players who have to try to make a football team in the oppressive conditions. Other Houston notes: • Re the strange story in New Jersey, where Darrelle Revis and Brandon Marshall fought at practice Friday, with Marshall reportedly taunting the great corner for getting burned by Hopkins (five catches, 118 yards, two touchdowns, including a 61-yard TD bomb) last season: “I was shocked when I heard,” Hopkins told me. “I guess it means I’m doing my job. I knew I’d beat him that day, because no one can cover me man-to-man. I think he’s a great corner. But he has trouble with quick guys and length.” • Sunday was punter Shane Lechler’s 40th birthday. On Sunday night, O’Brien and players Vince Wilfork, Brian Cushing and Johnathan Joseph called Lechler to the front of the team auditorium, gave him a cake shaped like the number 40, and also got him a walker, some Rogaine, and those Steph Curry sneakers people think look old-fashioned. Then the teams sang him Happy Birthday. He’s coming off a season in which he avearged 47.3 yard per punt, fifth in the league, and no one here is trying to nudge him into retirement. In 16 seasons, the 47.3-yard average is better than any of his first six NFL seasons, and just two-tenths of a yard off his career average. Here’s how long he’s been around: Lechler’s had beers with Ken Stabler. “I’m not in any mood to start growing up,” he said. • Too early to tell if J.J. Watt will play the opener. He’s 18 days out from back-disc surgery that is probably a seven-week rehab. “I wouldn’t bet against him,” O’Brien said, “but he’s not going to play ’til he’s ready. He knows that too, and he’s okay with it.” * * * Former Broncos safety David Bruton has found a new home in the Washington secondary. Alex Brandon/AP Six camps, six interesting names Continuing my section of roster-scanning the teams I saw in the past week for interesting old faces in new places: Baltimore: Benjamin Watson, tight end. Watched him in one practice. So who knows what it all means. But watching that one practice, last Monday night in the Ravens stadium, made me think I’d draft Watson as a tight end if I were trying to win a fantasy league. I mean, not as the best tight end, but as a top-five tight end. Healthy, he’ll catch 70 balls. Washington: David Bruton Jr., safety/special teams. After a valuable run in Denver that culminated with a key role on the Broncos’ Super Bowl special teams, Bruton and his mountain bike (he’s as avid a biker as there is in the NFL) are in Richmond for training camp, trying to help Ben Kotwica’s kicking game. Really good signing. Bruton’s a great chemistry guy and valuable player. Atlanta: Matt Simms, quarterback. I must say I’ve never seen four consecutive Matts on any roster in NFL history. (And really, isn’t that what we all look for?) Here we go, by jersey number: 2. Matt Ryan, QB; 3. Matt Bryant, kicker; 4. Matt Simms, QB; 5. Matt Bosher, punter. I just wish Matt Schaub were 6 instead of 8. Simms needs to beat out Sean Renfree, the former Duke passer, for the third QB here. • FALCONS CAMP REPORT: Dan Quinn’s roster remake in full swing Carolina: Mike Scifres, punter. After 100 years in San Diego and coming off left knee surgery, Scifres hasn’t had a great camp so far. He’s battling a rookie named Swayze Waters, and Ron Rivera kept open the possibility last week he could bring in another punter for competition. So we’ll see. Jacksonville: Monte Kiffin, defensive assistant. After his sojourn to USC to coach with son Lane, Kiffin is back in the NFL as an extra set of eyes for coach Gus Bradley. Good to see him on the sidelines Friday night, eyeing Jalen Ramsey in press coverage during the Jaguars’ scrimmage. “I didn’t coach last year,” Kiffin told me. “You know, I’m 76 years old. I love football. You can only take so many long walks.” Tampa Bay: Bryan Anger, punter. The man drafted five picks ahead of Russell Wilson in 2012 wasn't quite the punter-savior the Jaguars thought him to be. Now he arrives to gives the Bucs a unique group of specialists, along with rookie kicker Roberto Aguayo: Has any team in recent years (or ever) had a punter and kicker who entered the league as top-70 draft picks? Houston: Devon Still, defensive tackle. Still and his daughter, Leah, were an inspirational story in Cincinnati, with Leah beating cancer when her dad played for the Bengals. And here he is trying to prolong his NFL career. For now, Still is spelling the great J.J. Watt on the Houston defensive line, and if he has a good August, he’s expected to make the team as depth on a solid group.​ * * * Brett Favre’s 36-minute speech was the longest in the history of the Hall of Fame. Joe Robbins/Getty Images Hall of Fame Quotes of the Week I “I overheard my father talking to the three other coaches, and I heard him—and I assume I didn't play as well the previous week only because of what he said, and he said, ‘I can assure you one thing about my son, he will play better. He will redeem himself. I know my son. He has it in him.’ And I never let him know that I heard that. I never said that to anyone else. But I thought to myself: That’s a pretty good compliment, you know? My chest kind of swelled up. And, again, I never told anyone. But I never forgot that statement and that comment that he made to those other coaches. And I want you to know, Dad, I spent the rest of my career trying to redeem myself. I hope I succeeded.” —Brett Favre, the first Hall of Famer in memory to make his speech without a script, recalling the last game of his high school career. II “I could be the only inductee of this great Hall who did not make his high school football team.” —Eddie DeBartolo III “Who would have ever thought that a young man from Kiln, Miss., whose father ran the wishbone, would hold every passing record in NFL history at one time? Pretty doggone amazing if you ask me.” —Favre IV “I’m not the 10th Steeler from the Super Bowl XIII team to be enshrined. But you could have won a lot of money in ’78 if you bet that I’d be one of those 10. I remember making a tackle my rookie year, and Dwight White asking in the huddle, ‘What’s your name again?’” —Tony Dungy V “Imagine the jitters I felt as a 30-year-old kid walking into the first owners meeting, hearing the roll called out by the legendary Pete Rozelle—Halas, Mara, Rooney, Hunt, Davis. I remember thinking: What the hell am I doing here?” —DeBartolo VI “It was the third round of the 1979 draft, and I remember standing outside our makeshift office in Redwood City, California. Bill Walsh came out and said, ‘There is this kid from Notre Dame on the board. Should we take a shot with him in the third round?’ Having graduated from South Bend I said, how can you go wrong with somebody from Notre Dame? So we drafted Joe Montana, and he came out the next day. I looked at him and almost fell over. He was a kid. He had a big Fu Manchu mustache. He looked like he weighed about 170 pounds. He was listed at 6-2, and he didn't look an inch past 6-foot. I said: Oh, dear God. It turns out that was just his secret identity, because when he got on the football field, Joe Montana turned into Superman.” —DeBartolo * * * Regular Old Quotes of the Week I “Somebody’s gotta lose their job over this.” —Randy Moss, in his first appearance on an ESPN pregame show Sunday night, when the Hall of Fame game was canceled because of poor field conditions in Canton. II “I’ve been a part of teams that went to seven Super Bowls, and I’ve never been to one with a crappy locker room.” —Carolina GM Dave Gettleman, after watching his players go wild at a lunchtime magic show in the camp cafeteria. Gettleman wasn’t sure whether the 20 or so players having great fun in the cafeteria would translate to anything on the field, but his point was that this team is a together team, and that matters on a winning team. I saw the magic show, and wrote this story about it. III "I've been in the league for nine years now, and I've only been on two teams where the guys were a team: the New York Giants and now with the Patriots." —Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett, in a cool story about the Bennett brothers by Mina Kimes in ESPN The Magazine. Weird. Martellus Bennett would have been able to meet his teammates as a group for the first time when off-season workouts began April 18. He did this interview in the summer, before training camp and before any games were played. And he can judge the Patriots’ team ethos already. Not saying he’s wrong. Just saying that is one quick and decisive indelible first impression he got from the Patriots, to make that judgment now. IV “I’m not in the conception business. We’re just trying to play football.” —San Francisco coach Chip Kelly, told the other day by a reporter that there seemed to be a lot of misconceptions about him. V “If it’s 45 or 50 snaps, they’re going to have to give me an IV.” —New Atlanta pass-rusher Dwight Freeney, 36, who most assuredly will not be playing 45 snaps a game in 2016. Freeney played 13 games in Arizona last year, and was on the field between 21 and 33 snaps in those 13 games. * * * Allen Robinson hopes to benefit this season after getting in extra work with his quarterback over the summer. John Raoux/AP Stat of the Week Remember this number: 1,530. Last year, Blake Bortles, then 23, and Allen Robinson, then 22, connected 80 times for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns. They were one of the impressive touchdown combinations in the NFL. What do they do for an encore? And how do they get better? Well, the ages help, first of all. They’re single, and the most important thing in each of their lives is improving at football. They did that by meeting about 25 times, most often with other receivers there too, in the offseason in Jacksonville, and then also nine times in OTA practices at the Jags facility. Thirty-four throwing sessions together. I asked Bortles how many throws he’d made to Robinson at each one. He estimated between 30 and 60, either on routes or with Robinson in a static position downfield, so Bortles could practice. I asked Bortles if it would be fair to take the average—45 throws to Robinson per session. He said yes. “How does that manifest itself now?” I asked Bortles. “How can you tell if it helps?” “We have a simple stick combination,’’ he said, referring to the staple of so many offenses. The stick route sends a receiver or tight end five to seven yards down field, and he and the quarterback read what the defender’s doing on the play and make their decision accordingly; usually the quarterback will throw to the shoulder away from the defender. It works so well because oftentimes, when the quarterback takes a short drops against pressure, he needs a sure-thing intermediate concept, and this is about as sure as it gets. And in practice, Bortles had been enjoying the matchup of Robinson against free-agent import cornerback Prince Amukamara. Continued Bortles: “Three receivers. The two inside run the [stick] route, and the outside guy runs a little fade in the end zone. And Allen was out wide and for the past two or three days, he had been crushing Prince on slants, just low one-step slants. But here, immediately from the snap, he gave a little one-step-in slant and took off running a fade, instead of a slant. That wasn’t necessarily what he should do, and last year he never would have done that. But he knew Prince was a little bit shell-shocked from this slant he’d been crushing him with over the last couple days. • THE MMQB FANTASY RANKINGS: QUARTERBACKS | RUNNING BACKS | WIDE RECEIVERS | TIGHT ENDS “Last year, if the call was a fade, Allen would have just run a straight, normal fade. But he’s gotten better at really understanding our offense and understanding defenses and corners. And I think now us being on the same page, to where if it was our first time together, I would have looked at him and been like, ‘Oh my god, what’s he doing?’ But now I see what he’s doing, I know what he was doing, and I adjust with him, and I throw a ball to him for a touchdown. “This is a game where you just figure things out like that. You do stuff like that on the field, and after it’s done you walk over and give A-Rob a high five and then you go back in the locker room. I said to him, ‘Hey, you tried to sell him on that slant and get back outside for the fade, right?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I got him on it the past two days.’ “It was pretty cool because I thought that was why he did it, and then when he explained it, it was the same exact definition.” I told you to remember the number 1,530. That’s 34 off-season workouts between the third-year quarterback and the second-year-old wide receiver with designs on being great, with, according to Bortles, about 45 throws per sessions between the two … 34 times 45 equals 1,530. Want to get better at something? Do it 1,530 times. * * * Factoids of the Week That May Interest Only Me I Tampa Bay quarterback Mike Glennon and his wife had a baby last Wednesday, which was also Tom Brady’s birthday. The Glennons named their baby Brady, born 39 years after Tom Brady was born in the Bay Area. Dad says Brady Glennon was not named after Tom Brady, but it seems like a little bit too much of a coincidence that Brady was born on Brady day for Brady to not be named after Brady. “Mike said he didn’t name it after Brady,” Jameis Winston reported exclusively Saturday. “But I know he was hoping that baby was born on Tom Brady’s birthday. I know that for a fact.” II There is a video beer ad in Everbank Stadium, home of the Jags, featuring owner Shad Khan holding up a new Bud Light can with a Jaguar logo on the front. Good-looking can. “We call them Khans,” the Jacksonville owner says. WE CALL THEM KHANS, the message board blares. • JAGS CAMP REPORT: Even Blake Bortles’ mom knows—Jacksonville is loaded with talent heading into the season III The MMQB is doing a poll of players on its training camp tour, asking players anonymously some question about the game and about life. One of the questions: “Who do you think is the best player on the planet?” Our Jenny Vrentas asked one player the other day, and the player thought about it for a moment, then said: “Which planet?” IV Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie had the ultimate wildlife vacation. He went on a gorilla trek in Rwanda. Came a few yards from a gorilla family and just observed. Eagle vacation runner-up: President Don Smolenski was in Iceland with his family the day Iceland’s soccer team beat England in the European championships. The Smolenskis were glued to the TV, as were all Icelanders not in France for the game. * * * Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week Some nights on the training camp tour are just cool. Last Wednesday was one of them. By day we saw the Falcons northeast of Atlanta. The next day, we were scheduled to see the Panthers in Spartanburg, S.C. So Wednesday night, we stopped by Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., to see the Class-A Greenville Drive against the Asheville Tourists, with Drive GM Eric Jarinko our host. A beautiful night for baseball—warm but not oppressive. It would have been perfect had I not bounced the first pitch. Which was actually a football. I threw out the first football to former Fresno (Calif.) high school receiving star-turned-Drive outfielder Trent Kemp, and he short-hopped it fluidly. “No problem!” he said after the errant toss. Then we met some fans, had some beers, ate some barbecue sandwiches, talked to some more fans, put it all out on Facebook Live (yes, even the one-hop football throw), and were on to the next stop. Our thanks to Jarinko and his media-relations manager, Cameron White, for being so hospitable, and to the fine people of Greenville for being welcoming. And one more thanks: to Mike Matheny, the manager of the Cardinals. His son, Tate Matheny, is a Drive outfielder, and I went to him before the game to tell him good luck and to say how much I enjoyed his dad’s book, “The Matheny Manifesto,” about perspective and lessons for youth sports coaches. It’s a terrific read, and so valuable today, when some youth coaches (and more parents) forget why kids play sports. “Yes sir,” Tate said—one of about seven “yes sirs” he said to me in 60 seconds. “That book was really important to him.” Anyway, no great dramatic story here—just gratitude to good people for a nice evening at the ballpark. * * * Tweets of the Week I II A lot of 11 p.m. calls to Dads tonight during this Brett Favre speech. What a tribute. — Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) August 7, 2016 III A favorite memory of Alex Rodriguez is of us sitting in dugout at Yankee Stadium years ago, discussing how both of us highlighted our hair. — Kimberly Jones (@KimJonesSports) August 7, 2016 IV Quick takeaway from #49ers camp. 1.Bowman looks fantastic physically 2. Buckner & Armstead look like monsters 3. WR group is very iffy — John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) August 6, 2016 V If I don't die of food poisoning from @BonefishGrill in Buford GA I'll be on w/ @Gil_Brandt 12-3 pm et @SiriusXMNFL @AtlantaFalcons camp — Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) August 8, 2016 * * * Matt Ryan and the Falcons have improved their win total for three straight seasons, a trend they hope to continue after last season’s 8-8 campaign. John Bazemore/AP Ten Things I Think I Think 1. I think I’ve got six random thoughts after nearly two weeks on the road at camps: a. Washington won’t be changing its nickname anytime soon. When I was in camp, talking to club president Bruce Allen the other day, a visitor to camp approached me and said he really liked my stand on the team name, how I proposed a couple of years ago that the name should be “Americans” or “Warriors” instead of “Redskins,” and the team could honor the military at every home game. (I cannot take credit for the idea, by the way.) So I was a bit stunned that this fellow didn’t recognize Allen, who has led the drive to never, ever, ever change the name. At one point, Allen said in no uncertain terms that the name would not be changed. b. Jameis Winston is ripped. He’s lost only eight pounds (he weighs 231 now), but the change in his body is noticeable. He hired a trainer and is eating smart—and not at all hours of the day—after getting a body wakeup call seeing his peers at the Pro Bowl. c. Watched some training-camp tape of Dante Fowler, the pass-rusher Jacksonville drafted third overall last year, then lost for the season in his first practice with a torn ACL. Actually, watched with Jags GM Dave Caldwell. Two impressive things: His lateral quickness and quickness around the edge seem unaffected by his surgery; he’s Von Miller-quick. And on one bull-rush against backup tackle Josh Wells, Fowler—giving up 54 pounds to the tackle—punch-rushed with a shot to Wells’ sternum and Wells went backpedaling fast, to keep his balance. The perception with Fowler is so focused on speed and quickness as a rusher, but it’s not just that. Tackles are going to have to respect his power. d. One of the quarterbacks Albert Breer notes in his video story about Tom House is Matt Ryan. I asked Ryan about what House and fellow QB tutor Adam Dedeaux did. Seems Ryan worked on one of the weaknesses in his game: throwing efficiently, consistently, to his left. “Get your feet underneath you,’’ Ryan said. “Make every throw the same. I worked very hard on that. I think it helped. You want to make the defense defend all 53 yards of the field, and not just one side, obviously.’’ e. Early candidate for breakout defensive player this year: Eagles defensive end Vinny Curry. He’s moving from the 3-4 to a 4-3 rush end under new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. In the old defense, he had 13 sacks in the past two years. “I have a long way to go, but I’ll die trying,” Curry told me. “What I’m better at this year is with my technique—my feet, my first step. I consider myself a core part of this defense, and this year, when our defense is mentioned, I want my name to come up, and not at the end of the conversation.” f. Three early standouts for the Patriots in camp: wideouts Aaron Dobson (who before this season had been unreliable, with just 53 catches in three seasons) and practice-squadder Chris Harper, who, according to Bill Belichick, “has probably made as much progress as any of our players in the last calendar year.” Dobson’s just more mature this year, perhaps realizing year four was his last straw in Foxboro … and guard-tackle Joe Thuney, the rookie third-round pick from North Carolina State. On our visit to Foxboro, Thuney got high grades for toughness, versatility and shutting his mouth. Watch returning offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia get Thuney ready to play meaningful downs by Week 1. That’s what the Patriots do: get young linemen ready to play, then play seven or eight multiple series per game to see what combinations are smart. 2. I think the Pro Football Hall of Fame has this challenge on its hands, and it’s a daunting, and perhaps impossible, one: to make the weekend gauzy and warm and fuzzy and nostalgic, all in one. When baseball inducts its players, you invariably read stories headlined thusly: “Reflections on a weekend with the baseball gods.” (Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe, July 25.) In fairness, Shaughnessy was honored this year for long and meritorious writing on baseball. But the point is, those stories and feelings are common around the baseball Hall’s inductions. Is it the media, celebrating the history of baseball more than football? Is it the fact that so many media members who cover baseball have had such a love affair with the game for so long? Or is the fact that media folk covering football can’t find the same way to celebrate the history of the game when so many former players have long-term health problems? 3. I think the one camp scene that just looked different to The MMQB Team was in Spartanburg, summer home of the Panthers. We saw the seventh of 14 practices slated for Wofford College, the camp home of the team for 21 years. Halfway through camp, the Panthers set an all-time attendance record (79,804). “We’ve done a lot of beautification and modernization here,” said team president Danny Morrison, “but the key, obviously, is a successful team with players the fans like.” 4. I think this video of a Spartanburg High linebacker and a Panthers linebacker—mentee and mentor from the day the two squads practiced side by side—is one I’ll remember for a while. The kid was so honored to be with his idol. 5. I think it’s probably smart to play the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game—if you’re going to play it at all—54 miles north in Cleveland, with a pristine field, rather than on a glorified high school field at the Hall of Fame in Canton. There’s just too much at stake, even with a first preseason game with regulars barely seeing the field, to play the game on a risky field. 6. I think this is the underrated matchup of Week 1: Former Falcons coach Mike Smith and former Matt Ryan tutor Dirk Koetter—now the defensive coordinator and head coach of division rival Tampa Bay, respectively—at Atlanta, where coach Dan Quinn is very noticeably dismantling Smith’s read-and-react defense and replacing it with a voracious one. 7. I think this is the early line on Tom Brady’s attitude in camp: No sadness, no anger (except at defenders on the field), no frustration from the suspension that he shows anyone, and, I’ve heard, hard to tell any difference between this year and a normal (non-suspension) year. As someone who knows Brady told me over the weekend: “He’s doing what he’s always doing: trying to massacre the defense at every practice. That’s how he feels he gets better.” One other interesting note on Brady, from our visit to camp nine days ago: Devin McCourty said Brady, who turned 39 last Wednesday, “reminds me of Benjamin Button. He does not age. I can honestly say there is no difference that I see from Tom now and when I got here [in 2010].” 8. I think I’m ready for the Rams edition of “Hard Knocks,” which debuts Tuesday on HBO. I have not seen any early clips—though I did ask—but I can tell you these factoids: It’s the first “Hard Knocks” featuring a West Coast team and the first time they’ve had the No. 1 overall pick from that year’s draft (Jared Goff). Look for a lot of coach Jeff Fisher and for NFL Films to try to blend in plenty of Hollywood glamour. 9. I think there are three injuries of early camp that hurt teams the most: Chicago center Hroniss Grasu (torn ACL, according to the Chicago Sun-Times), which takes Jay Cutler’s impressive young security blanket away; Detroit tight end Eric Ebron, who may have suffered an Achilles injury in a team scrimmage Saturday; and (this will cause an eyebrow or two to raise) CFL transplant wide receiver Eric Rogers, who tore his ACL in a non-contact kickoff drill the other day in 49ers camp. No one knows much about Rogers, but the Niners had plans for him and had to outbid several teams last winter to sign him. That team needs big contributors on an offense lacking them. But if Ebron is lost, that would put the top three Detroit tight ends out, at least for now, with Brandon Pettigrew (on the temporary NFL PUP list) still rehabbing from knee surgery. And without Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford was going to need a breakout season from Ebron, the underperforming 10th pick in the 2014 draft. If Ebron is lost, the pressure on Stafford multiplies. 10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week: a. I am rooting for you, Yusra Mardini. The whole world is—or should. b. A swimmer for the Olympic Refugee Team … what a great idea. c. How cool was it Sunday evening to see David Ortiz and teammate Travis Shaw make their way to the press box to greet Vin Scully, and to thank him for his years of service to the game? I love that. d. Scully told the story during the Dodgers-Red Sox series this weekend of Ted Williams hitting a homer in his last at-bat of his career, thinking seriously of forgetting his grudge against Boston sportswriters and tipping his cap when he crossed home plate, and then not doing it. Scully quoted John Updike writing, “Gods don’t answer letters,’’ regarding Williams’ refusal to doff his cap. (Actually, it was “Gods do not answer letters,” but who’s counting?) The retelling the story was so beautiful. e. Scully on Ortiz: “Baseball will grieve when he hangs ’em up.” f. Way to go, Ichiro: You not only got your 3,000th hit in American baseball, but you got it with a triple. I feared an infield dribbler, because Ichiro had been struggling so, and residing mostly on the bench. g. I suppose I should have some strong feelings about Alex Rodriguez not playing baseball any more, after Friday. I'm ambivalent. Never liked him much, and certainly not since the positive PED tests. But all sports need villains, and rivals, and he was a good one for such a long time. h. Coffeenerdness: Shoutout to Steve Mejia and the fine service people at Fields Mercedes Benz in Jacksonville. Not only was there terrific coffee in the customer waiting room but also there was great and timely service when The MMQB’s van need three gallons of fluid for some emission protector called diesel exhaust fluid. We had about 50 minutes before Jaguars practice to fix the van, and Steve got us in and out in 20 minutes. Really saved us. And the coffee was good, too. That’s what I call good service—and he gave us a couple of gallons for the rest of trip, just in case we get low in this last week of the journey. i. Beernerdness: One overriding thought about the quality of beer on this two-week tour so far—the quality of craft beer in this country is utterly fantastic. There’s been Titletown Brewery in Green Bay; Upland in Indiana; Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale, from Asheville, N.C.; Fu ManBrew witbier (Monday Night Brewing in Atlanta); and Love Street Kolsch Style Blonde, from Karbach Brewing here in Houston … All you brewers, please take a bow. You’ve helped make this trip fun, with so many options in virtually every camp stop we make. Dinners are fun when you’ve got so many choices for a pregamer. j. I feel so much pressure now that I know Andrew Luck reads number 10 of Ten Things I Think I Think. However will I focus on the inane task at hand?! k. Tom Jackson had his last telecast on ESPN Saturday night. He deserves our respect, and our affection too. He’s a good person. Twenty-one years ago, at the Dallas-Pittsburgh Super Bowl in Arizona, I had my brother-in-law and his dad at the game with me. The night before the game, we were out to dinner at a restaurant in Scottsdale, and I saw Jackson. He said hi, and I introduced him to dad and son. He walked back to his table. Five minutes later, three drinks showed up at our table. “They’re from that guy,” the waiter said, pointing to Jackson. l. And you, Chris Mortensen: So glad to see you recognized by your peers with the McCann Award, given annually to a scribe with meritorious service covering pro football. Great to see you on hand. m. Attention fans in and around Cincinnati: The MMQB team will have a tweet up Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. at the Moerlein Lager House. We'll be there until about 8 p.m. Come join us for a beer and some Bengals talk. * * * The Adieu Haiku No game in Canton. Did this one just get scheduled? Black eye of the week. • Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com.

In a previously unpublicized incident, councillor Linda Mosher hit a cyclist last May. It’s been a bad month for those who share the road with automobiles, given the spate of car-versus-pedestrian accidents. The non-motorized public is so freaked out, that this week the police department took the unprecedented step of releasing a report looking at the 74 times walkers have been hit this year (read about it here). But the report doesn’t have all the incidents. The day after it came out, for example, another pedestrian was hit. Add to this any car-bicycle crashes. And the incidents that aren’t included in the police record, for whatever reason. Is it possible for a driver to hit a pedestrian or cyclist, and that information not be made public by the police? Absolutely. The Coast has learned that Armdale city councillor Linda Mosher struck a bicyclist earlier in the year, and it’s only coming to light now. The incident happened May 7 at the corner of Robie and North Streets. As Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Pierre Bourdages describes it, Mosher hit the cyclist with her white SUV, causing “minor injuries,” and left the scene without stopping, driving north on Robie Street. Another driver, who had witnessed the incident, followed Mosher until she "pulled into a garage," says Bourdages. The witness informed Mosher that she had struck a bicyclist. At that point, Bourdages says Mosher drove to the police station on Gottingen Street. She was given a ticket for a motor vehicle infraction for “Changing Lanes Unsafely,” which comes with a fine of $222.41. Mosher was not charged with leaving the scene, because she said she did not know she had hit the bicyclist, says Bourdages. Despite an injured bicyclist, and at least the appearance of a hit-and-run, police did not publicize the incident when it happened. Mosher sits on the Board of Police Commissioners, the body that oversees the Halifax Regional Police Department, but Bourdages says the May 7 incident was not treated any differently than any other similar “summary offence” tickets. A summary offence is an infraction, not a criminal charge, and those receiving them can simply pay the fine without going to court. Reached for comment, Mosher says she is contesting the ticket, therefore won’t discuss it further because the matter is before the courts. Police policy has been to not make public the names of people---including police officers---charged for summary offences. However, as a result of this article, that policy has changed. When The Coast began investigating the May 7 incident, police declined to make Mosher’s name public, but we asked for the legal justification for withholding the name, and the department could find none. From now on, says Bourdages, police will make public the names of those issued summary offence tickets “when asked.”

Card battle games. Love them or hate them, there’s one thing we can all agree on: they sure do look pretty. And if you play Dark Summoner, things are about to get a lot prettier. Or at least, pretty weird and scary. That’s because H.R. Giger has created some exclusive creatures to haunt your nightmares (and play sessions). Giger’s art is legendary, appearing everywhere from album covers to art galleries. His legacy, though, is that of the creature and set designs he contributed to the movie Alien. Oh – and making a handful of cool illustrations for your Dark Summoner, of course. The in-game event that will feature these creatures begins on August 17th, and will continue each weekend after that. Giger’s trio of creatures, The Divinities, will appear one at a time during these weekend events. And some lucky players, according to developer ATEAM, will be able to summon and acquire these Giger creations for their very own. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a blu-ray of Alien to buy.

An extremely rare eyeless catfish species previously known to exist only in Mexico has been discovered in a National Recreation Area in Texas. "Since the 1960s there have been rumors of sightings of blind, white catfishes in that area, but this is the first confirmation," Hendrickson said. "I've seen more of these things than anybody, and these specimens look just like the ones from Mexico." The Mexican blindcat, a species that grows to no more than 3 inches in length, is known to dwell only in areas supported by the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer that underlies the Rio Grande basin in Texas and Coahuila. The new blindcat finding lends additional weight to a theory that water-filled caves below the Rio Grande may connect the Texas and Mexico portions of the aquifer. Dean Hendrickson , curator of ichthyology at The University of Texas at Austin, identified the live fish, discovered in a deep limestone cave at Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio, Texas, as the endangered Mexican blindcat ( Prietella phreatophila ). The pair of small catfish, collected by a team in May, have been relocated to the San Antonio Zoo. Jack Johnson, a caver and National Park Service resource manager at Amistad, first spotted some of the slow-moving, pinkish-white fish with no eyes in April 2015. After several attempts to relocate the species, Johnson and biologist Peter Sprouse of Zara Environmental LLC led the team that found the fish again last month. Mexican blindcats are a pale pink color because their blood can be seen through the translucent skin, and they dwell exclusively in groundwater. "Cave-dwelling animals are fascinating in that they have lost many of the characteristics we are familiar with in surface animals, such as eyes, pigmentation for camouflage, and speed," Sprouse said. "They have found an ecological niche where none of those things are needed, and in there they have evolved extra-sensory abilities to succeed in total darkness." The Mexican blindcat was originally described in 1954 when found in wells and springs near Melchor Múzquiz in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. It was subsequently listed as an endangered species by the Mexican government, and as a foreign endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hendrickson led efforts to locate additional blindcat sites in Mexico and Texas for years but only located them in Mexico on previous expeditions. "Aquifer systems like the one that supports this rare fish are also the lifeblood of human populations and face threats from contamination and over-pumping of groundwater," Johnson said. "The health of rare and endangered species like this fish at Amistad can help indicate the overall health of the aquifer and water resources upon which many people depend." The fish are not yet on public display. They will be maintained alive in a special facility designed to accommodate cave and aquifer species at the San Antonio Zoo's Department of Conservation and Research. "The San Antonio Zoo has a series of labs specially designed to keep subterranean wildlife safe and healthy," said Danté Fenolio, vice president of conservation and research at the San Antonio Zoo. "The fact that the zoo can participate now and house these very special catfish demonstrates the zoo's commitment to the conservation of creatures that live in groundwater." Others involved in the discovery were Andy Gluesenkamp and Ben Hutchins of Texas Parks and Wildlife, Gary Garrett and Adam Cohen of UT Austin and Jean Krejca of Zara Environmental. The finding brings the number of blind catfish species within the U.S. to three, all found only in Texas. The two other species of blind catfish in Texas, the toothless blindcat (Trogloglanis pattersoni) and the widemouth blindcat (Satan eurystomus), live in part of the Edwards Aquifer complex, the deep Edwards pool below the city of San Antonio.

A MAN WAS arrested following a standoff with police at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 24, in the 5400 block of West Roscoe Street, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. A 30-year-old man called police and reported that an armed man was knocking at his door, and when officers arrived they heard the caller shouting from inside his residence and a woman shouting to the officers that the man was in need of medical attention and that he was suffering from seizures, according to police. When officers forced the door open, the man approached one of the responding officers and threatened him with a loaded crossbow, according to police. The officers retreated and called for the Hostage Barricade and Terrorist unit, police said. The woman left the residence at about 2:15 p.m., and the man was arrested at about 3:30 p.m., according to police. Both individuals were transported to Community First Hospital for treatment and observation, police said. The suspect was identified by police as Simone Bolum, age 30, of the Roscoe Street address. EMPLOYEES OF the Sports Awards store, 5544 W. Armstrong Ave., reported that a man fired a gun at the business at about 6 p.m. Friday, April 24, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The employees reported that they heard three gunshots and that one of the bullets entered the business through a side window and deflected into the office, according to police. A witness reported that she saw a man standing on the sidewalk in the 5600 block of North Elston Avenue firing a handgun toward the business, and police recovered three spent shell casings at the scene and one slug inside the business, police said. A PIZZA delivery driver reported that he was robbed at about 12:20 a.m. Saturday, April 25, in the 4100 block of North Marmora Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The 20-year-old man reported that three men approached him while he was delivering food and that one of them threatened him with a handgun while the other two took his cell phone, $100 in cash and the delivery bag containing food from him, according to police. The man said that the resident at the delivery address said that he did not order food from the business, police said. TWO MEN were arrested following an incident at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the 4000 block of North Long Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. A 37-year-old man reported that two men had trespassed onto his property and that they refused to leave, and the men were arrested after officers found them sitting on a bench on the man’s front porch, according to police. One of the men also was charged with a parole violation, and at the police station he threw his body against a wall and a table and then attacked three police officers, police said. The suspects were identified by police as Joshua Carrasquillo, age 21, of the 2700 block of North Neva Avenue, who was charged with the parole violation and with trespass, and Estaban Perez, age 18, of the 700 block of West Waveland Avenue, who was charged with trespass, police said. A MAN REPORTED that he was robbed at about 4:50 a.m. Wednesday, April 22, in the 5000 block of North Austin Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The 24-year-old man reported that he had arranged to meet a woman he had met online at a gas station and that when the woman arrived, two men were with her and one of the men entered his vehicle with a handgun and took his wallet, a set of keys and his cell phone valued at $700, according to police. A MAN WAS arrested following an incident at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, in the 3200 block of North Cicero Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. Officers attempted to stop a vehicle that was speeding and swerving and that had driven through a stop sign, and when officers approached the vehicle the driver reversed his car, struck their squad car, drove toward one of the officers and fled, according to police. Responding officers stopped the man in an alley and the man was arrested after he reversed his vehicle and struck their squad car twice, then got out of his vehicle and crawled underneath it, police said. The suspect was identified by police as Rocky R. Colon, age 25, of the 4800 block of West George Street. A WOMAN reported that she was attacked and robbed at about 9:35 p.m., Tuesday, April 21, in the 3700 block of North Lavergne Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The 35-year-old woman reported that a man approached her from behind, put his arm around her neck, punched her in the face, kicked her as she fell to the ground and took her backpack, according to police. A MAN REPORTED that his home in the 5300 block of North Oconto Avenue was burglarized between 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, and 9 a.m. the following day, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The man reported that he discovered that the lock on his shed door had been broken and that a Toro lawn mower valued at $500, a Craftsman snow blower valued at $650 and an outdoor fire pit valued at $80 were missing from the shed, and that two tool boxes containing tools valued at $350 and a wooden dolly valued at $90 were missing from his carport, according to police. A WOMAN reported that a man broke into her home in the 6200 West Cornelia Avenue at about 5 p.m. Saturday, April 25, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The 72-year-old woman reported that a man knocked at her front and rear door several times and then entered her home after he pried open the rear door, according to police. The woman reported that she confronted the man in the rear porch area and that he apologized to her and ran to a pickup truck in the alley containing two other occupants, police said.

When it slithers through the grass, the legless glass lizard is indistinguishable from a snake. But harass it and it will perform a very un-snakelike feat. It will leave its tail behind – still wriggling – and slide away. That isn’t the only surprise the glass lizard has in store. A careful look also reveals inflexible jaws, movable eyelids, and ear openings. These are all traits that lizards display but snakes don’t. One way or another, this peculiar creature slithers between the cracks of our familiar categories. To organise the messy diversity of a million-plus different life forms, we need to sort them into the boxes we call species. And what would be more natural than using visible traits such as legs, jaws or ears for that purpose? About a century before Charles Darwin, the systematist Carl Linnaeus did just that when he created our modern classification of life’s diversity. So did Georges Cuvier, the father of palaeontology, when he classified fossils that had been preserved through the ages. Classification requires comparison. In the process, we see how deeply similar the legs of birds and lions are, or the flowers of roses and marigolds. Such resemblances form a cornerstone of Darwin’s great insight that all life forms a grand family. Yet scientists such as Cuvier rejected the idea of evolution’s great chain of living beings, drawing support from the large gaps that then existed in the fossil record. ‘If the species have changed by degrees,’ he wrote in 1827, ‘we should find some traces of these gradual modifications.’ If he had seen the intermediate steps that we have now seen, perhaps he would have changed his mind. But perhaps not. For the reasons to reject evolution go deeper than incomplete knowledge. In fact, we can follow them all the way back to Plato, whose influence looms so large that the 20th-century thinker Alfred North Whitehead could relegate the entirety of European philosophy to a ‘series of footnotes’ to his work. For Plato, the perceptible material world is like a faint shadow of a higher reality. What really matters is the realm of abstract concepts. To a Platonist, the essence of soccer balls, golf balls and tennis balls is their ball-like shape. It is this pure, abstract and unchanging essence that is real, not the physical balls, whose existence is as fleeting and impermanent as a shadow. A systematist’s task might be daunting, but it becomes manageable if each species is distinguished by its own Platonic essence. For example, a legless body and flexible jaws might be part of a snake’s essence, different from that of other reptiles. The task is to find a species’ essence. Indeed, the essence really is the species in the world of Platonists. To be a snake is nothing other than to be an instance of the form of the snake. The only problem: the glass lizard. And hundreds of other creatures that defy easy categorisation, such as Eupodophis, from the late Cretaceous period, a snake with rudimentary hind legs. In an ever-changing Darwinian world, species incessantly spew forth new species whose traits can shade into one another. The 20th-century biologist Ernst Mayr called Plato the ‘great antihero of evolutionism’, and in fact it was Mayr who replaced the essentialist concept of species with a modern biological alternative, based on individuals in the same population that can interbreed. But as has happened many times before, Plato might have the last word. We just need to look deeper than the ephemeral appearance of living things. The glass lizard itself comprises billions of cells. Each cell contains thousands of different kinds of proteins – long string-like molecules made of 20 different kinds of amino acid. And each of these proteins has a unique ability. It might catalyse a chemical reaction, or prevent a cell from collapsing, or sense nutrients, or receive signals from other cells, and so on. Each of these abilities was an innovation – a qualitatively new and useful feature that can make the difference between life and death – when it first arose, millions of years ago. How do random DNA changes lead to innovation? Darwin’s concept of natural selection, although crucial to understand evolution, doesn’t help much. The thing is, selection can only spread innovations that already exist. The botanist Hugo de Vries said it best in 1905: ‘Natural selection can explain the survival of the fittest, but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest.’ (Half a century earlier, Darwin had already admitted that calling variations random is just another way of admitting that we don’t know their origins.) A metaphor might help to clarify the problem. Imagine a giant library of books containing all possible sequences of letters in the alphabet. Such a library would be huge beyond imagination, and most of its texts would of course be pure gibberish. But some would contain islands of intelligibility – a word here, a Haiku there – in a sea of random letters. Still others would tell all stories real and imagined: not only Dickens’s Oliver Twist or Goethe’s Faust, but all possible novels and dramas, the biography of every single human, true and false histories of the world, of other worlds as yet unseen, and so on. Some texts would include descriptions of countless technological innovations, from the wheel to the steam engine to the transistor – including countless innovations yet to be imagined. But the chances of choosing such a valuable tome by chance are minuscule. Evolution can’t look up the chemicals it needs in a giant catalogue. No, it has to inch its way along the stacks A protein is a volume in a library just like this, written in a 20-letter alphabet of amino acids. And while protein texts might not be as long as Tolstoy’s War and Peace, their total number is still astonishing. For example, a library of every possible amino acid string that is 500 letters long would contain more than 10600 texts – a one with 600 trailing zeros. That vastly outnumbers the atoms in the visible universe. The library is a giant space of the possible, encoding all the proteins that could be useful to life. But here’s the thing: evolution can’t simply look up the chemicals it needs in a giant catalogue. No, it has to inch its way painstakingly along the stacks. Imagine a crowd of browsers – each one representing an entire familial line – who must blindly explore the library, step by random step. This sounds like a party game, but there’s a grisly twist. A mutation that compromises an essential protein such as haemoglobin is punishable by death. On that ill-fated volume, the bloodline ends. The challenge, then, is to land on texts that work. Nature has already discovered millions of them. Human engineers have discovered many more, and the pace of discovery shows no signs of slowing. To appreciate the innovative wonders hidden in these libraries, you need to go no further than the bewildering diversity of organisms all around us. Evolution’s giant epic unfolds while its populations scour these libraries. If you had to find a text on a specific subject in such a library – without a catalogue – you would get utterly lost. Worse than that, if missteps can be fatal, you would quickly die. Yet life not only survived, it found countless new meaningful texts in these libraries. Understanding how it did that requires us to build the catalogue that evolution lacks. It demands that we work out how these libraries are organised to comprehend how innovation through blind search is possible. For more than a decade, this endeavour has been a focus of my research at the University of Zurich and at the Santa Fe Institute in the US. We evolve molecules in the laboratory and record their journey through these libraries, together with any new and useful texts they find. We also map the locations of millions of molecules that nature’s populations have discovered in their billion-year journey. We use powerful computer simulations to explore those parts of a library that nature has not yet discovered. Through these efforts, we and others have found a system of organisation in these libraries that is as strange as it is perfect for guideless exploration. One of its features is easily explained once we observe that neighbouring texts in nature’s library have similar letter sequences, and the closest texts – immediate neighbours – differ in just a single letter. Imagine that you could walk from any meaningful text to a neighbour, and from that to its neighbour, and onward from here, until you had traversed most of the library, altering most letters but leaving the meaning of the text (that is, the function of the protein) intact. Imagine also that you could walk from that first text into a different direction, change a different letter, and another one, and so on, again almost all the way through the library, without changing the text’s meaning. And imagine that you could start this journey in not just one but 100 different ways, each one tracing one of a myriad alternative paths through the library, each encoding only synonymous texts that differ in most letters. Nature’s libraries are just like that, permeated with sprawling networks of synonymous texts – I call them genotype networks – each encoding a molecule and its biochemical function. If you laid out a human library like this you would be declared mad. It isn’t just that all the books on, say, transistor design would be spread throughout the library. Even more strangely, myriad texts would explain in different ways how to build the same transistor. In normal human libraries we like to have technical manuals in one section, and Darwin’s writings in another, and Tolstoy’s novels in yet another, so that we can make a beeline to whatever grabs our interest. But when you cannot make a beeline, because each step takes you in a random direction prescribed by a DNA mutation, it turns out that sprawling genotype networks are just what you need to survive. Random DNA changes in some members of a population could disable an essential protein such as haemoglobin and lead to death, but because genotype networks exist, other mutations can create a synonymous text that preserves the protein’s function and saves the organism. This cycle of mutation and natural selection repeats in the survivors’ descendants. Some of them die, but others live and get to take one step further. Step by step, the population of survivors spreads out through the library in a process that unfolds over many generations. Relatives of the lizard’s oxygen transport protein illustrate how far this exploration can go. They are all descendants of a single long-forgotten ancestral protein that existed more than a billion years ago. By now, they occur not only all over the animal kingdom but even in plants. They have travelled far and wide throughout the library. And still they express the same chemical function. They all bind oxygen. Just as the word GOLD emerges from a single letter change in MOLD, some neighbours of a text express new meanings Their amino acid text, however, has diverged beyond recognition. Today’s haemoglobin proteins share as little as four per cent of the letters among their roughly 100 amino acids. It’s as if you could write a poem conveying the same meaning and emotions in myriad different ways. And there are many other molecular poems like it: proteins that help extract energy from nutrients, communicate between our cells, sense the world around us, and so on. The remarkable thing is, having so many different ways to say the same thing means that there are many more possible slips of the tongue. And with each slip of the tongue comes the possibility of saying something different. Just as the word GOLD emerges from a single letter change in MOLD, some neighbours of a text express new meanings. And as the browsers work their way through each synonym for some original text, different innovations become accessible. By creating safe paths through the library, genotype networks create the very possibility of innovation. Let me put this point as strongly as I can. Without these pathways of synonymous texts, these sets of genes that express precisely the same function in ever-shifting sequences of letters, it would not be possible to keep finding new innovations via random mutation. Evolution would not work. So nature’s libraries and their sprawling networks go a long way towards explaining life’s capacity to evolve. But where do they come from? You cannot see them in the glass lizard or its anatomy. They are nowhere near life’s visible surface, nor are they underneath this surface, in the structure of its tissues and cells. They are not even in the submicroscopic structure of its DNA. They exist in a world of concepts, the kind of abstract concepts that mathematicians explore. Does that make them any less real? The question whether we create or discover new concepts – especially of the mathematical kind – has occupied humankind for more than 2,500 years, at least since the Pythagoreans, Plato’s intellectual ancestors, declared that ‘all is number’. Some believe with the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that mathematical truths are human inventions. But others believe with Plato that our visible world is a faint shadow of higher truths. Among them are many mathematicians and physicists, including Charles Fefferman, winner of the Fields medal, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in mathematics. He expressed his experience when breaking new mathematical ground this way: There’s something awe-inspiring. You aren’t creating. You’re discovering what was there all the time, and that is much more beautiful than anything that man can create. In physics, the Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner called it ‘the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics’. And indeed, it is not clear why Newton’s law of gravitation should apply to so much more than the falling apple that might have inspired it, why it should describe everything from accreting planets to entire solar systems and rotating galaxies. Except that it does. For whatever reason, reality appears to obey certain mathematical formulae. Nature’s libraries add another dimension to a centuries-old debate about the reality of the Platonic realm. Until now, this debate largely revolved around abstractions like the ones we find in mathematics. With the genotype networks, a new element enters: experimental science. The law of gravitation is not like the blueprint for a house you can build, but hemoglobin’s text is. We can manufacture this protein – or any other protein we choose from the protein library – and study its chemical meaning with sophisticated instruments. Novel texts found by humans include those encoding heat-resistant enzymes in laundry detergents and insulins that act faster or longer in the body than their natural counterparts. Together with thousands of natural proteins, these inhabitants of the protein library have proven surprising – more than anything we just made up. Nature’s libraries are the fountains of biological innovation that Darwin was looking for. And unlike the realm of abstract forms that Plato envisioned, they are richer, more diverse, and more complex than the visible world. They harbour enough innovations for all the species Darwinian evolution has created – and could create. No planet would be large enough to explore all of them. The legless lizard and the rest of the living world, in all their glory, are just faint shadows of this Platonic realm of the possible.

Yorkshire councillor Andy Quinn banned from driving for 18 months for being over legal alcohol limit while driving - Had asked police in 2013 to combat problem of cyclists who were a 'law unto themselves' A Yorkshire councillor, who in 2013 called for police action against cyclists who he claimed “were a law unto themselves” has been banned from driving for 18 months and fined £480 for a drunk driving offence. At a meeting with police in 2013, and reported by the local newspaper, the Craven Herald, Councillor Andy Quinn asked Chief Superintendent Allison Higgins what could be done about cyclists, who he claimed were flouting the law as they sped through villages on the then upcoming 2014 Tour de France route. Referring to the village of Embsay, which is near Skipton, he said: “Packs of cyclists, sometimes riding three abreast, tore through the village on the National Cycling Route, reaching speeds of 40 to 50mph. They are a law unto themselves. We have an elderly population in Embsay and we’ve had incidents where car wing mirrors have gone missing. Something needs to be done.” According to the Herald, he also said that he’d seen cyclists ignoring temporary traffic lights and failing to stop on red at pelican crossings. At the time it appeared that Chief Superintendent Higgins had some sympathy for his views, because she agreed that cyclists were an increasing problem on the road and likened them to speeding motorcyclists, saying that cyclists needed to be re-educated, particularly because their number was likely to increase with the arrival in the area of the 2014 Tour de France. So it was ironic when Councillor Quinn stopped at the scene of a road accident on June 29 this year, just days before stage one of the Tour de France was due to pass through his district, police noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath. It must be stressed that Councillor Quinn had nothing to do with the accident, and had only stopped to help, but when asked to provide a sample of breath for a breath test he gave a reading of 61 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit for driving is 35 micrograms. The case has sparked a lot of local interest, especially since the report of the meeting where Councillor Quinn’s concerns were raised attracted a lot of pro-cycling sentiment from the local community. People pointed out the possibility that logging trucks and other heavy traffic could have damaged wing mirrors, and the logic that any cyclist hitting a wing mirror at speed was likely to be injured, as well as pointing out unlikelihood of any cyclist other than a Tour de France rider attaining speeds of 40 to 50 mph on Yorkshire Dales roads

-- Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored his 100th point in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in grand style Friday night during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Ottawa Senators. On his second shift of the game, Crosby took the puck at his own blue line and skated through the neutral zone along the left-side boards. At the attacking blue line, he faked out defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was caught a bit on his heels, and got free in the circle to snap off a low shot that beat Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson to the far side to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 3:16 of the first. Crosby's 100th postseason point came in his 75th playoff game. Four players have reached 100 points faster: Wayne Gretzky (46 games), Mario Lemieux (50), Jari Kurri (67) and Mike Bossy (74). Crosby's first 100 playoff points included 37 goals and 63 assists. The goal Friday was his fourth of this postseason and gave him 10 points in seven games. He scored again later in the first period, moving him past Ron Francis into fourth place on Pittsburgh's all-time scoring list for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and completed his second career playoff hat trick 1:15 into the second period. Lemieux (172 points in 107 games), Jaromir Jagr (147 points in 140 games) and Kevin Stevens (106 points in 103 games) are the top three playoff scorers in franchise history.

Five days after the most tragic, appalling and cataclysmic event in modern American political history, it’s hard to know what to do next. For Clinton supporters, for liberals, for people of colour, it has been like waking up to a nightmare that not only never ends, but gets worse each day, as the consequences of a Trump presidency come into focus. Trump will appoint the next supreme court justice and maybe several more. Doing so will ensure that the conservative bloc on the court is likely to remain a majority for a generation to come. Obamacare is likely to be repealed; Medicaid, the health care programme for low-income Americans, will be gutted, along with the social safety net; climate change will be ignored; and the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants is likely to happen in the future. With the Republican party controlling the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives and a majority of state houses around the country, there is precious little that Democrats and progressives can do to stop Trump and his party. Indeed, the only institutional force standing in the way of this apocalyptic turn of events are the 46 members of the Democratic caucus in the Senate. For this group, there will be an enormous burden to hold back the conservative tide. They do have one weapon at their disposal – the filibuster. Indeed, for the first two years of Obama’s presidency, 40 Senate Republicans in a body of 100 were able to block his domestic agenda. For Democrats, however, their job will be trickier. To begin with, there are plenty of Democratic senators who are up for tough re-election fights in 2018 in Republican states, and will be less inclined to man the barricades against Trump. But the bigger problem is that Republicans have shown little unwillingness to violate long-standing governing norms. Nothing stops Republicans from scrapping the Senate filibuster, thus ensuring that they need only a 50-vote majority to pass their agenda. They can also use a tool called the budget reconciliation process, which cannot be filibustered, to eviscerate Obamacare, cut taxes and slash the social safety net. This will put particular pressure on Democrats to use the filibuster judiciously. Blocking a Trump pick for the supreme court is probably not on the cards. Stopping full repeal of Obamacare or undermining efforts to privatise Medicare, the healthcare programme for old people, should be higher on the agenda. But ultimately, they can block only so much and won’t be able to use their position, for example, to stop Trump from initiating mass deportations or blocking entry to all Muslims. And it must be said that if Trump is willing to work with them on policies like infrastructure spending they shouldn’t hesitate to do so. Many Americans will suffer under Trump, but blocking measures that can help working-class Americans – even those who didn’t vote Democratic – is not what Democrats should be doing. Much more, however, will depend on what Democrats can do outside Washington. Already there have been scattered protests in major cities in response to the election result. This is a good start. Considering Trump’s use of openly racist, nativist, misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric on the campaign trail, and his abject refusal to apologise for it, these protests will be a necessary tool in creating solidarity among progressives and building enthusiasm for the incredibly difficult work that lays ahead. It will also be an important sign to people of colour and other vulnerable populations that Trumpism does not represent all Americans. From a political perspective it’s highly unlikely that, no matter how disastrous a Trump presidency ends up being, Democrats will be able to take back either the Senate or the House of Representatives. Thus Democrats will need to focus intently on state and local races. This means not just gubernatorial races, but also state legislature fights. For years, Democrats disregarded these races and it’s high time they began paying more attention. Last, they cannot forget that even though Trump will be sleeping in the White House, America remains a Democratic nation. Hillary Clinton will almost certainly end up winning the popular vote, perhaps by more than a million votes. That means that a majority of Americans will have voted for her vision of a multicultural America, not Trump’s vision of a white nationalist one. Nonetheless, there will be calls for Democrats to put aside that vision and seek to win over the white working-class voters who came out in droves and gave Trump the presidency. It’s not a bad strategy but there are limits to it. After all, the future of America remains a liberal, multicultural one. The electorate is still getting browner and more liberal. Millennials, those between the ages of 18-29, are the most liberal demographic in America. They largely rejected Trump’s vision and cultivating them will be paramount for the Democrats. But above all, Democrats must do what they’ve always done – serve as a voice of economic and social justice in America. Trump and his conservative cohorts will overreach. They will push through legislation like privatising Medicare and cutting the social safety net that appeals to conservative dogma but not to the broad swath of Americans – even those who voted for Trump. In other words, Democrats must do what’s right not because it’s what they are supposed to do as Democrats, but because it’s the smartest political weapon they have. Revulsion about Trump and the excesses of a Republican Congress are the single most effective tool Democrats have to win back the Congress and the White House. Make no mistake: the next four years in America will be singularly awful. Trumpism will rip into the American welfare state and cause untold suffering, both here and abroad. The Democratic party – and American progressives who find a home under their party banner – is the only bulwark against it. That battle will not be easy, but it must be won. Michael Cohen is the author of American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division

Reuters Steel union boss Chuck Jones just accused President-elect Donald Trump of lying "his a-- off," saying Trump's announcement that he had saved over 1,000 jobs from leaving the U.S. was nonsense. The number is more like 800, Jones told the Washington Post. Trump angrily responded to Jones on Twitter, attacking his union work, but did not deny that he had exaggerated the number. This is just one more on a long list of fibs Trump has told over the past few years. Donald Trump has said that Barack Obama founded ISIS. He said that Texas Senator Ted Cruz's father was involved in the plot to assassinate JFK. He claimed he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate on 9/11. He said that he won the popular vote. There isn't a shred of evidence to support any of this. We also know that some of those claims might've come from fake news stories that spread conspiracy theories across the internet. None of this would matter if lying weren't a game of two. For a lie to work, the liar must also be believed. For example, it wouldn't matter that there's a conspiracy theory that says Hillary and Bill Clinton run a child sex ring out of a D.C. pizza shop if people didn't believe it. But some people do. One of those people was a North Carolina man with a semi-automatic rifle willing to drive to Washington and "self-investigate" the situation himself. He managed to fire one or two shots before being arrested. It sounds like madness because it is, so why do some people keep participating? Why do people believe lies? Research tells us it's actually quite simple: It's because humans are desperate to be in control. Born believers Science writer and historian Michael Shermer believes that human beings are conditioned to believe, rather than disbelieve, things. He explained it all in a 2010 Ted Talk called "The pattern behind self deception." During the talk he asked attendees to do a thought experiment, and pretend they were an early human named Lucy, walking the plains of Africa millions of years ago. Just go with it: ...you hear a rustle in the grass. Is it a dangerous predator, or is it just the wind? Your next decision could be the most important one of your life. Well, if you think that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator and it turns out it's just the wind, you've made an error in cognition, made a Type 1 error, false positive. But no harm. You just move away. You're more cautious. You're more vigilant. On the other hand, if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind, and it turns out it's a dangerous predator, you're lunch. You've just won a Darwin award. You've been taken out of the gene pool. A "Type 1" error makes you more cautious, but it really costs you nothing to believe that there maybe danger behind the rustling. What Shermer later calls the "Type 2 error" — not believing in the danger, but actually having it exist — is deadly. And so we believe. But more than that, in that belief we create patterns. That helps us structure our lives. It gives meaning to what could easily be random. It is from there that Shermer believes we develop things like superstition and conspiracy theories. They make sense of what is random. Screenshot/@JustinBarasky I see dead patterns If this were all humans had to rely on for cognition — our limited brains making sense of that which we can't understand — we would be in big trouble. Thankfully, however, we have verifiable facts. They ensure that what is random not only makes sense, but is also true. And that's where we get into some even more fascinating research about why people believe overt lies — easy to disprove lies like the kinds Donald Trump tells. According to Jennifer Whitson, an assistant professor at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin and Adam Galinsky, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, people tend to believe lies when they feel vulnerable. "The less control people have over their lives, the more likely they are to try and regain control through mental gymnastics," said Galinsky. "Feelings of control are so important to people that a lack of control is inherently threatening. While some misperceptions can be bad or lead one astray, they're extremely common and most likely satisfy a deep and enduring psychological need." To test this, Galinsky and Whitson gathered a group of subjects and put them in situations where they had varying levels control. Then they showed their subjects "snowy" pictures. Some of the pictures were just dots, others actually showed an image. Ninety-five percent of the time the subjects, no matter what situation they were in, saw images that were actually there. What's interesting though, is that 43% of the time people who were in situations where they had less control saw images that were not there. Their minds were naturally assigning structure, pattern and meaning where there was none. In normal life people find false patterns in data all the time (think about the stock market). When they do, it's usually because they feel a given situation is out of their control. The man who went to "self-investigate" the pizza parlor was, in a sense, acting very rationally. He was acting on his innate human desire to take control. Comet Ping Pong, the pizza place attacked because of a conspiracy theory Reuters Trump or fiction Of course, the more false the pattern, the more vulnerable you have to be to believe it. And of course, the more gymnastics your brain has to do to accept it. Enter Donald Trump, a man known for spreading falsehoods. He captured the imaginations of many people who felt vulnerable about the past, present and future. Business Insider's Harrison Jacobs aptly pointed out that he won in parts of the country ravaged by the opiate epidemic — the 'Oxy electorate.' Talk about vulnerable. These are also places of higher unemployment, where manufacturing jobs have been on the decline for decades. These are places where a rational structure is needed to explain why things got so bad and why they don't seem to be getting better. But again this is not "rationality" here as we think about it in an economic sense — as a cost-benefit analysis. If it were, individuals would seek the truth no matter what their state of distress, because it is only when a problem is truly understood that it can be solved. Indeed, Whitson herself has said that "sstrategy is better based on reality, not tempting illusions." Here's a relevant example. Trump has dumped on China over and over since he entered the national stage. He's said that we're losing jobs to Chinese manufacturing and that the Trans Pacific Partnership was "was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone." In the world of facts, however, we know that thousands and thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost to automation, not off-shoring to China. We also know that China is not involved with the TPP in any way. In fact, the country has been upset about TPP since talks for the agreement started. The human desire to feel in control supersedes all of those facts, and in turn, pushes us to believe what may be irrational, but is simple, understandable, and gives us a sense of control. Think about it: Say you believe all the lies Trump has told about trade, China and the global economy. It's a comforting notion, ultimately, because it means he also has the solutions. Voting for him, then, is a way to take control of that untruth. Unfortunately, since it's a lie, the problem will remain. Lies never solve anything.

Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Iraqi security forces have launched the second phase of their operation to “crush Islamic State” in the Hawija area west of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, one of its last remaining holds in the country. But the operation does not take place in a vacuum. In the wake of the September 25 Kurdish independence referendum, tensions have emerged between Baghdad and Erbil, which are supposed to be working together with the US-led coalition to defeat ISIS. The ISIS pocket of Hawija looks like a large triangle, each side some 35 kilometers long.The eastern side is composed of low, dry hills with Kurdish Peshmerga trench lines carved on top of them. Iraqi security forces have been assaulting the pocket from the other sides of the triangle, hammering ISIS onto the Kurdish anvil.When I visited the Kurdish front line September 24, all was quiet as ISIS in Hawija prepared for its last stand. Kurdish commanders did not expect to advance from their positions.The US-led coalition is advising and assisting the Iraqis in their advance, letting the Iraqis lead the way. One of the US officers playing a key role in advising the Hawija offensive is Col. Charles D. Costanza, who is on his fourth tour in Iraq. He arrived at the end of the offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS and advised the Iraqis during the operation to take Tal Afar as commanding officer for the Combined Joint Operations Center in Erbil. He also commands the target engagement authority and is the 1st armored division’s chief of staff.“They [the Iraqis] are executing simultaneous operations. The 9th armored division, federal police and counter-terrorism forces are in Hawija,” he says, emphasizing that other Iraqi units are launching an offensive in Anbar province.Up until the second phase of the Hawija battle was launched September 30, there were discussions with the Kurdish Peshmerga about having Iraqi army units come north and attack from both sides. This is what happened with Mosul, when ISIS was struck from numerous axes. The Kurdish referendum appears to have delayed this coordination and the Iraqi army chose to keep moving from one side.Iraq releases video of air strikes on ISISISIS, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be putting up the fight it did in and around Mosul. “A bit of that is attrition of their leadership, a significant amount [were] killed in Mosul,” says Costanza.There was a deliberate targeting effort going after ISIS leadership during Mosul and Tal Afar leading up to Hawija, attacking their key capabilities, such as vehicular-based bombs called VBIEDs and their transport capabilities so they could not carry out an organized defense.“Hawija is so far the same way, but the hard part is to come,” he says, because Hawija has been a center of insurgency and extremist networks since the 2003 invasion.According to strike reports released by the Combined Joint Task Force, Operation Inherent Resolve, on September 28, the coalition destroyed 51 ISIS vehicles, two “tactical units” and staging areas, as well was a weapons cache, headquarters and command center. Later the same day, they also struck 29 vehicles, seven fighting positions and tunnel entrances. On September 29, the coalition hit an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two more tunnels and four “supply routes.”Costanza is in charge of approving air strikes, along with his other duties.“I am the target engagement authority so I run the strike cell and that consumes my day,” he says, sitting in a bland room at the US base next to Erbil International Airport.He has an armored corps background, and to prepare for this command he did six months of study, including a formal certification process” involving a binder “this thick,” he says holding his hands about a foot apart.“The law of armed conflict [and how we] can and can’t operate and how we go through the process and approve a strike and collateral damage,” he says, adding that every strike is scrutinized.That involves a combination of his own team with a lawyer and experts weighing in on the damage that will be caused and the air force assets involved.“It’s not just about the technology, the technology is precise. It is our desire to minimize collateral damage and civilian casualties.”So far, the battle for Hawija has gone smoothly with Iraqis expecting the city will fall soon. Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>

It looks like we’ll be getting a new Wolf Parade EP next week, according to a new Amazon listing that’s popped up saying that their fourth EP (which, like their previous ones, appears to be self-titled) will be out on 5/17. That date coincides with the start of their New York residency, and gels with what we know about the band planning on releasing a Rocky Horror-inspired EP to return with. You can hear 30-second previews the four new songs over on Amazon, and check out the tracklist below. Tracklist: 01 “Automatic” 02 “Mr. Startup” 03 “C’est La Vie Way” 04 “Floating World” (Thanks to black sheep boy in the comments for pointing this out!) The new EP is out, presumably, on 5/17. The Apologies To The Queen Mary reissue is out this Friday (5/13).

In anticipation for its convention next week, the Republican Party has drafted what one committee member called “the most conservative platform in modern history.” The draft platform includes tenets like calling for women to be excluded from combat roles in the military and support for the Arizona anti-immigrant law. But things weren’t always this way. The Republican platform was at one time surprisingly progressive — in 1956. Let’s take a look at some key planks of the party’s platform that year: On Labor and Wages: The platform boasted that “the Federal minimum wage has been raised for more than 2 million workers. Social Security has been extended to an additional 10 million workers and the benefits raised for 6 1/2 million. The protection of unemployment insurance has been brought to 4 million additional workers. There have been increased workmen’s compensation benefits for longshoremen and harbor workers, increased retirement benefits for railroad employees, and wage increases and improved welfare and pension plans for federal employees.” It called for changes to the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act to “more effectively protect the rights of labor unions” and to “assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex.” On Welfare and Health: The platform demanded “once again, despite the reluctance of the Democrat 84th Congress, Federal assistance to help build facilities to train more physicians and scientists.” It emphasized the need to continue the “extension and perfection of a sound social security system,” and boasted of the party’s recent history of supporting “enlarged Federal assistance for construction of hospitals, emphasizing low-cost care of chronic diseases and the special problems of older persons, and increased Federal aid for medical care of the needy.” On Civil Rights, Gender Equality, and Immigration:Ai??The platform supported “Ai??self-government, national suffrage and representation in the Congress of the United States for residents of the District of Columbia.” With regards to ending discrimination against racial minorities, the party took pride that “more progress has been made in this field under the present Republican Administration than in any similar period in the last 80 years.” It also recommended to Congress “the submission of a constitutional amendment providing equal rights for men and women.” Its section on immigration actually recommended expanding immigration to America, supportingAi??”the extension of the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 in resolving this difficult refugee problem which resulted from world conflict.” “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are…a few…Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas.Ai??Their number is negligible and they are stupid,” wrote Republican President Dwight Eisenhower to his brother in 1954. Unfortunately, this splinter group is now in charge of this once-respectable political party.

Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasted world hypocrisy on Monday, saying there is a flood of condemnation of Israel when it “builds a balcony in Jerusalem,” but only a drizzle of censure when Iran tries to smuggle long-range missiles into the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu, standing at the port in Eilat near rows of Syrian missiles and Iranian mortar shells, said there were those in the world who did not want Israel to show the ordnance confiscated from the Klos C, because they were not interested in knowing what was truly happening in Iran, but in promoting “the illusion that Iran has changed direction.” “But the facts,” Netanyahu said, “prove the exact opposite.”Without mentioning EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton by name, he alluded critically to her current visit to Iran.“I heard only isolated and weak condemnation of Iran from the international community regarding this deadly shipment,” he said. “By contrast, we were witness to smiles and handshakes of representatives of the West with the representatives of Iran in Tehran at the very time that these missiles were being unloaded in Eilat. At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said he expected Ashton to raise this issue during her visit in Iran, where she met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.Diplomatic officials told The Jerusalem Post that relations between Ashton and Netanyahu are strained, and that the two have not spoken since August.Netanyahu said that the world’s ignoring Iran’s involvement in the deadly shipment “is more evidence of the era of hypocrisy in which we live.”This hypocrisy is not only morally wrong, he said, but dangerous. Just as Iran camouflaged the arms on this ship, he said, they have also hidden their military nuclear program.“This time there were longrange missiles in these containers,” Netanyahu said. “In the containers in the future, Iran can arm nuclear suitcases that it can send to every port in the world. The world must wake up from its illusions before it is too late and prevent Iran from getting the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons.”Netanyahu’s comments were addressed to a group that included some 70 foreign journalists, 30 military attachés from foreign embassies, and representatives from the Israeli press.In addition to the display of confiscated weapons, a bill of lading showing that the cargo on the Klos C was shipped from Bandar Abbas in Iran to Umm Qasr in Iraq was also shown. The Prime Minister’s Office said this document was clear evidence that the containers of ammunition and weapons were loaded in Iran. A forged manifest was also displayed.Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who spoke after Netanyahu, said the smuggled arms were “another example of the fact that the Iranian regime is actually the largest terror exporter in the world. There is no conflict in the Middle East that this regime does not nourish with weapons or ammunition, with money or knowledge in terrorism. From Afghanistan through Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and, in this case, the Gaza Strip.”The defense minister said the rockets on display were meant to be fired on Israeli citizens.Global arms networks run by Tehran also use diplomatic means to transport explosives to Iranian embassies in Asia and South America, Ya’alon said, referring to Iran’s use of diplomatic mail to transfer weapons for terrorist attacks.“This is the real face of the Iranian regime that is behind the charm and smile offensive,” Ya’alon said. “It has not changed its ways and it has not changed its long-term goals, be they exporting the revolution, harming pro-Western regimes in the Middle East, or challenging what they call ‘the big Satan,’ America, and Western culture that is led by America.”Iran also continues to operate in the fields of missiles and its nuclear program, Ya’alon said.“As you can see, we know how to defend ourselves by ourselves, and we will continue to do so, near and far, at sea, in the air, on land, and with the help of the IDF and other security forces,” he added.Inside the Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, questions were raised whether the event in Eilat was not “overkill.”As one official said, “If you overstate the message, all people will notice is the ‘too much’ factor – not the essence of the matter.”In the six days since the ship was intercepted, Netanyahu has consistently hammered the message that it reveals Iran’s “true face.”Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office deflected criticism that the prime minister was overplaying the issue. “Unfortunately,” they said, “too many in the world are underplaying it.”Because of labor actions by its workers, the Foreign Ministry was not involved in Monday’s event, and has not been pushing the issue in capitals, parliaments or media outlets around the world. 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Corporal Channing Day, 25, from 3 Medical Regiment, became the third British woman soldier to die in the country since the conflict began more than a decade ago. One of her two sisters, Laken, said last night: "I am the proudest sister ever, her legacy will live on." Cpl Day, from Comber, near Belfast, was killed with Cpl David O'Connor, 27, a Royal Marine from 40 Commando, after her unit shot an Afghan policeman by mistake, according to local police. The policeman, who was not wearing his uniform and was carrying a gun, went to wash his hands in preparation for prayers about 50 yards from his checkpoint. Cpl Day's unit mistook him for a Taliban insurgent and opened fire, local officials said. Farid Ahmad Farhang, a spokesman for the provincial police, said another British unit on patrol nearby assumed it was under attack and fired back, killing Cpl Channing and the Royal Marine. The circumstances surrounding the deaths remained confused last night, however. Other reports claimed that the dead policeman's colleagues returned fire, while British officers were also investigating the possibility that the patrol was deliberately attacked by the policemen. On Thursday night all the Ministry of Defence would say about the incident was that the soldiers died as a result of "small arms fire". The deaths followed a series of "green on blue" attacks, in which Afghan police or soldiers have turned their weapons on their Nato partners. Cpl Channing had been determined to join the Army from her first day at secondary school. Paul Maxwell, acting principal at Strangford Integrated College in Carrodore, said she received a "glowing report" after she did a week's work experience with the Forces. She also represented Northern Ireland Ladies Football at junior level. Mr Maxwell added: "She came into school and said, 'I want to join the Army'. She was an excellent sportsman, a very active, outgoing girl. It is hard to believe that someone so young can be killed in those circumstances." A friend added: "She was so proud to be in the Army, so proud to wear the uniform.” Cpl Day achieved top grades in PE, excelling at gymnastics, trampolining and football. Mr Maxwell said her sporting prowess revealed a gritty determination to succeed. “It was not just that she was good but that she always showed commitment, she stayed after school and did all the practice,” he added. She started at Strangford College in 1998, the year after it was established, and left in 2003. The integrated education movement in Northern Ireland was set up against a prevailing system which encouraged children to attend mainly Protestant state-controlled schools or mainly Catholic schools run by the Church, a legacy which some have criticised for entrenching sectarianism from a young age. Mr Maxwell said: “She came in the second year of the school’s existence and at that stage the school had no funding, none until 2000. It was a leap of faith to send your child to an integrated school of that nature.” The school is in a Protestant area, where service in the Army would be more acceptable. Cpl Day was of mixed race but Mr Maxwell said this did not affect how she was perceived at school or by her friends. “Because of her sporting skills she was able to fit right in,” he said. “She came to a school that could have closed because there was no funding, it was a risk for mum and dad to send her.” Cpl David O’Connor from Havant, Hants, joined the Royal Marines in 2002 and was hailed by his superiors as “great leader, great companion and great friend”. Lt Col Matt Jackson, Commanding officer of 40 Commando, said: “He was one of the best. He was loved and respected by those around him and was relentless in the pursuit of excellence in his duties. “Utterly professional, his four tours of Iraq and Afghanistan marked him as one of the most devoted individuals in the Commando. Brave, committed and humorous it is difficult to find words which can possibly fill the void which had been left by this truly excellent junior commander.” His parents, Rosemary and George, and brother Phil, said: “David’s family and friends are greatly saddened by his loss.”

Spread the love Macedonia – Only a week after Hungary announced plans to purge all NGO groups funded by globalist progressive mega-donor George Soros, a new global initiative – Stop Operation Soros (SOS) – dedicated to the countering the influential political/social engineering the billionaire activist is now engaged in across the globe through his Open Society Foundations, was announced in Macedonia. During a press conference last week, SOS founders called on all “free-minded citizens,” regardless of race, ethnicity or religion, to “fight against one-mindedness in the civil sector, which is devised and led by George Soros,” the Vecer newspaper reported. This move comes on the heels of the Hungarian government announcing that it will use “all the tools at its disposal” to target and “sweep out” all non-governmental organizations funded by Soros, a Hungarian-born financier who has become one of the U.S. Democratic Party’s major sources of funding, according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling party. Co-founder of the movement, Nikola Srbov, called out Soros for hijacking civil society, in an effort force his own personal ideology upon others by monopolizing civil discourse through strategically funding certain organizations via his group Open Society Foundations. At the press conference, the group announced that their first step would be to work at uncovering ‘subversive’ activities by Soros-funded NGOs. “We’ve witnessed the takeover of the entire civil sector and its abuse and instrumentalization to meet the goals of one political party. That is unacceptable and goes beyond the principles of civic organizing,” Srbov said at the press conference. “The Open Society Foundation, operating under the Soros umbrella, used its funding and personnel to support violent processes in Macedonia. It has monopolized the civil society sector, pushing outside any organization which disagrees with the Soros ideology,” he stated. Co-founder, Cvetin Cilimanov, editor-in-chief of the state-run MIA news agency, noted that Soros worked to undermine Macedonian sovereignty by colluding with the opposition center-left SDSM party and outside globalist interests. By cooperating with foreign embassies and organizations such as USAID, Cilimanov believes Soros-backed groups have interfered in the political process of Macedonia. “This is unacceptable and has largely contributed to a feeling in the public that the traditional relations of partnership Macedonia enjoyed with some countries are being undermined,” Cilimanov told journalists. These complaints are par for the course with the Soros’ Open Society Foundations, as Russia has banned a progressive charity founded by globalist hedge fund billionaire George Soros in 2015 – noting that the organization posed a threat to both state security and the Russian constitution. In a statement, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office said two branches of Soros’ charity network — the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and the Open Society Institute (OSI) — would be placed on a “stop list” of foreign non-governmental organizations whose activities have been deemed “undesirable” by the Russian state. The Open Society Foundation (OSF) was created by the Hungarian-born billionaire with the stated aim of helping former Eastern bloc countries transition from communism. However, instead, it operates as a lever in the domestic politics of states by funding subversive political activities. For example, Soros publicly supported the violent overthrow of the legitimately-elected government in Ukraine during the ‘Euromaidan’ revolution. Subsequently, leaked memos, appearing on DC Leaks, exposed Soros’ plan to destabilize and overthrow Putin – the ultimate prize for Soros. The document details in an extensive bullet point list, “what must be done” to destabilize Russia, focusing on many recurrent neo-liberal themes that Soros uses to infect host nations and overturn governments. Essentially, Soros works to install his political will on states, under the guise of promoting a free and open society. In reality, he looks to capitalize on the installation of puppet governments that are largely beholden to him and his OSF in an attempt to increase his massive fortune and create a globalist system of governance that supersedes national sovereignty.

Heeey Wickd here! none would probably ever think a european player got first platinium in the world! SEE DIZ http://img814.imageshack.us/i/platinium.png/ Here you can watch how i gained my elo the last couple of days thanks to vodoos awesome armory thing http://armory.clgaming.net/summoner/244 i made this awesome podium for hotshotgg and reginaid because they were so close Btw guys please don't write bad things about reginaid yeah he got a little mad that he weren't first but well i understand him. He might have deserved it more then me since he had been there so long, and if he thinks that hes a better player then me and that i don't deserve it well that's fine for me i don't really mine i just don't my thread to turn into flame against anyone Guys relax about EU vs US it's different servers so just because i got first platinum in the world doesn't mean im the worlds best or anything,,, and it doesn't mean that im EU's best either just that im quite good and that i tryharded enough to actually get it. The reason i made the podium was cause i've seen reginaid and hotshot just fight for spot 1 and never go further, and now that i saw them being so close for ages i just thought **** it let's make a little fun about it.

The Great Divide is a series about inequality. Averages can be misleading. The familiar, one-dimensional story told about American education is that it was once the best system in the world but that now it’s headed down the drain, with piles of money thrown down after it. The truth is that there are two very different education stories in America. The children of the wealthiest 10 percent or so do receive some of the best education in the world, and the quality keeps getting better. For most everyone else, this is not the case. America’s average standing in global education rankings has tumbled not because everyone is falling, but because of the country’s deep, still-widening achievement gap between socioeconomic groups. And while America does spend plenty on education, it funnels a disproportionate share into educating wealthier students, worsening that gap. The majority of other advanced countries do things differently, at least at the K-12 level, tilting resources in favor of poorer students. Photo Historically, the role of the federal government, which takes a back seat to the states in education, has been to try to close achievement gaps, but they have continued to widen. Several changes in federal education policy under President Obama have actually increased the flow of scarce federal dollars toward those students who need it less, reinforcing inequities and further weakening overall educational performance. Reversing America’s slide in international education rankings will require turning that record on its head. America’s relative fall in educational attainment is striking in several dimensions. American baby boomers ages 55 to 64 rank first in their age group in high school completion and third in college completion after Israel and Canada. But jump ahead 30 years to millennials ages 25 to 34, and the United States slips to 10th in high school completion and 13th in college completion. America is one of only a handful of countries whose work force today has no more years of schooling than those who are retiring do. On international tests, American students consistently score in the middle of the pack among advanced countries, but America underperforms most on two measures — preschool enrollment and college on-time completion. Nearly all 4-year-olds in Japan, France, Britain and Germany are enrolled in preschool, compared with 69 percent in the United States. And although the United States is relatively good at getting high school graduates into college, it is horrible at getting them to graduate on time with a college degree. With more than half of those who start college failing to earn a degree, the United States has the highest college dropout rate in the developed world. On average, money is not the problem. Given the country’s relative wealth, per-pupil spending on elementary and high school is roughly on track with other advanced countries. At the college level, the United States spends lavishly, far more than any other country. The problem is that the United States is not spending its education dollars effectively. At every point along the education track, from preschool to college, resources are skewed to wealthier students. The wealthy inhabit an educational realm very different from what national averages suggest. Consider these examples. If ranked internationally as nations, low-poverty Massachusetts and Minnesota would be among the top 6 performers worldwide in fourth-grade math and science. Among 15-year-olds, Asian-Americans, who also tend to be more affluent, are the world’s best readers; white Americans are third only to Finns and New Zealanders. In a 2012 Harvard Business School survey, high-quality universities were rated the country’s chief competitive advantage. The world’s brightest students clamor to attend them. But educational excellence is increasingly the preserve of the rich. Everyone — black, white, rich, middle class and poor — is testing better and enrolling more in college than the previous generation. But rich students, and particularly rich girls, are making bigger gains than everyone else. Strikingly, these achievement gaps exist when children first begin elementary school and are locked in place all the way through to college. Photo Wealthy Americans have an advantage in the admission process for elite colleges, and despite the few who may slip in on family legacy, the advantage is largely based on academic merit. Students from families in the highest income quintile are now eight times more likely than students in the bottom quintile to enroll in a “highly selective” college, one that requires a high school transcript filled with As in advanced placement courses, SAT scores in the 700s and a range of enriching extracurricular activities. Those who get in are doing better than ever. The best colleges are seeing their dropout rates fall to near-zero levels, especially for women. The education they offer is generally better than what students get at less selective schools, too. One very revealing fact is that even for equally qualified students, academic outcomes at selective colleges are better across the board and their graduates earn more and are more likely to progress toward an advanced degree. The real quality crisis in American higher education — where the dropout rate is sky high and climbing — is in community colleges and lower-tier public universities. They have also absorbed most of the historic increase in college enrollment and disproportionately serve minority and low-income students. Money is a big reason for their worse performance. At the college level, the divergence in per-pupil spending is staggering. Since the 1960s, annual per-pupil spending at the most selective public and private colleges has increased at twice the rate of the least selective colleges. By 2006, the funding chasm in spending per student between the most and the least selective colleges was six times larger than in the late 1960s. In short, more money is being spent on wealthy students who have never been more prepared to excel in college. Meanwhile, poorer students who are less prepared — those who a generation ago would not have even enrolled in college — are getting a smaller slice of higher education spending. According to a study by the demographer John Bound and his colleagues, lack of institutional resources explains up to two-thirds of the increase in dropout rates at lower-tier colleges. Of course, this divergence in educational investments begins long before college. Wealthy parents are piling on cognitive enrichment activities outside of school from preschool on up, and at a rate that is leaving everyone else in the dust. Schools could make up some of the difference by intensively investing in poor children, and the majority of richer countries do just that — spending more per pupil in lower-income districts than in higher-income districts. But it is the reverse in the United States, in large part because, unlike most other advanced countries, revenues for public schools continue to be raised mostly from local property taxes. This record is a harsh indictment of the federal government’s efforts to promote greater educational equality. Out of the civil rights era of the 1960s and early 1970s sprang a host of federal programs whose sole objective was to close achievement gaps. One is Head Start, which now serves close to one million low-income 3- and 4-year-olds and has tried for many years, with modest success, to make sure they’re ready for kindergarten. For K-12 public schools, the federal government apportions money, called Title I and IDEA grants, to school districts based on the number of low-income or special-needs students they serve. Then there is the huge Pell grant program to help low-income students pay for college, which is the single largest component of the Department of Education’s budget. Reversing the long-term trend toward education inequality would be an impressive feat for the Obama administration, which has tried to intelligently reform federal programs that serve low-income students. Nonetheless, some of the biggest changes in federal funding priorities have favored wealthy students. Photo On the plus side, the Obama administration has pushed for more cost and quality accountability for education providers who cater to low-income children, while also developing better ways to measure and evaluate quality. The worst Head Start preschools are being forced to re-compete for federal funding under a more rigorous set of standards. States are being encouraged, through No Child Left Behind waivers and the Race to the Top competitive grant program, to improve teacher evaluation techniques, to invest in data systems for tracking teacher performance and student achievement, and to refocus reform efforts squarely on the worst-performing K-12 schools. At the postsecondary level, for the first time vocational college programs could soon be held directly accountable for a “gainful employment rule,” where they will lose federal accreditation if the programs’ costs outweigh labor market benefits for their graduates. In other words, programs would shut down if their graduates don’t land good jobs. There are also new initiatives promoting more transparency at all postsecondary institutions. The hope is that parents and students armed with better information will be better consumers and will punish schools with a record of charging too much or delivering too little. Yet some of the administration’s most ambitious ideas for reducing education inequality have not been implemented. In spite of research that shows that high-quality preschool can make a positive — and ultimately cost-effective — impact on children’s cognitive development, President Obama’s call for universal preschool is going nowhere in Congress, mostly because it would be extremely expensive. The Obama administration has made no attempt to expand Head Start enrollment, even though half of all impoverished children are not enrolled in any preschool program. At the college level, while Mr. Obama has placed community colleges higher on the federal agenda than any of his predecessors, his funding promises have gone unfulfilled. In his first term, he proposed three new community college funds totaling $25 billion and then a further $12 billion in stimulus. But in the end only $2 billion in direct aid for community colleges was appropriated. What is most disappointing about the Obama administration’s oversight of educational programs, though, is the way the administration has arranged its funding priorities. Real baseline funding has been flat for Head Start, Title I and IDEA grants, and their financing will be cut by 5 percent under sequestration. It’s true that the number of Pell grant recipients has surged recently because more students are opting for college in the tough labor market, but Pell grant eligibility has been rolled back, with stricter limits put in place on income and lifetime eligibility. And even after a recent increase in the maximum Pell grant size, it still covers a much smaller share of a student’s college expenses than in the 1970s. The Pell grant program is also chronically underfinanced; it faces a $7 billion budget shortfall in 2014. Where federal education policies have become much more generous, the benefits have disproportionately flowed to the wealthy. The administration has eased repayment terms for student debt, and the biggest gains will go to borrowers with the largest debt, who tend to be graduate or professional students with more earning potential. These already well-off graduates could end up receiving a federal subsidy that is four times larger than that provided to low-income students through Pell grants. Meanwhile, a new, more generous college tax credit also extended tax write-offs to families earning between $120,000 and $180,000. They reap most of the credit’s $10 billion in annual benefits. Photo These education-spending decisions are hard to justify. The politics are understandably tricky; middle- and upper-class families want relief from skyrocketing tuition bills, and poor families have a small fraction of their political clout. But a smarter allocation of scarce resources would focus on boosting lower achievers. Because sometimes averages don’t lie. Historically, broad educational gains have been the biggest driver of American economic success; hence the economist’s rule of thumb that an increase of one year in a country’s average schooling level corresponds to an increase of 3 to 4 percent in long-term economic growth. In his first State of the Union address, in 2009, President Obama set a goal: America would regain the top spot internationally in the percentage of students graduating from college. No matter how much wealthier children keep gaining, there are not enough of them to raise that number. The only way America will again rise to the top in education is by lifting every student up. Rebecca Strauss is associate director of publications for the Renewing America initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations. This article draws on research in a new council report, “Remedial Education: Federal Education Policy,” part of a series on restoring American economic competitiveness.

Daily, countless individuals worldwide go to the closest drug store to purchase non-prescription and prescription drugs. Inning accordance with reports, in the United States alone, more than 3 billion prescription drugs were purchased in the previous year. And as this number continues to increase, lots of pharmaceutical specialists have revealed their issue not just about substance abuse but likewise on the improper prescription of these drugs. While it’s real that pharmacists, medical professionals, and other medical professionals have a legal responsibility to safeguard the public from drugs that can be damaging to them, there are some circumstances where the issues mentioned above can in fact happen. Every year, injuries take place because a pharmaceutical professional cannot recommend the right drug. The client struggles with the drug’s unfavorable negative effects, and in uncommon events, these adverse effects are followed by death. Reports state that there are many of pending cases submitted in court associated with incorrect drug prescription, faulty drugs, and hazardous over the counter medications. These cases generally include a pharmaceutical company or a physician. And in resolving these cases, an extremely certified pharmaceutical skilled witness is summoned by the court for his research, findings, and professional viewpoint. Exactly what do pharmaceutical professional witnesses do to assist in court trials? A professional witness has a legal responsibility to supply the court with exceptional help in all technical things associated with the case. For a pharmaceutical professional witness, he is anticipated to address all concerns associated with over the counter and prescription drugs. The following is a list of the services provided by pharmaceutical professionals. Figure out the existence of dishonest marketing or medical practices. As formerly mentioned, all doctor has a legal task to secure the public from damaging drugs. The specialist needs to can inform whether a treatment complies with the occupation’s code of principles. Translate the FDA’s policies and policies issue the kind of drug in concern. The FDA has a variety of stringent guidelines and policies relating to the use drugs and recommended medication. The professional needs to know all these guidelines to be able to identify whether a drug in concern is safe or postures possible damage. Use existing laws and policies to figure out whether the company in concern has abused the system. Aside from the FDA’s policies, the specialist should be educated on the federal laws connected to drugs and their use. This is to know whether a company in concern has differed requirements. Discuss all the procedures and treatments in the production and prescription of the drug in concern. The specialist needs to likewise know the correct treatment ( medecin de garde aujourd’hui ) and procedure in the production and prescription of drugs. This is available in useful specifically if the drug is being questioned as low in quality or malfunctioning.

In April Ralf Gantzhorn, Jorg Heller and Robert Jasper climbed the west ridge of Monte Giordano in Tierra del Fuego's Cordillera Darwin, completing the second major ascent in the area this year. The German trio reached this region by chartered yacht, having sat out a violent storm on a lonely island part way through the journey. The bay chosen in advance for their proposed anchorage proved too dangerous, and eventually the boat was tied securely to a cliff to prevent it being damaged by storms. The three climbers then made a typical Tierra del Fuego approach, bushwacking through dense rain forest and open swampland. Foul weather, for which is area is renowned, prevented them establishing a base camp at the foot of the peak, and the team had to operate from the yacht. These three knew what to expect: in 2010 they'd climbed a new route on Monte Sarmiento at the western end of the Darwin, perhaps the most famous peak in this little visited range. Their first attempt on Giordano failed: Heller cracked a rib, which made the rest of the trip rather less than comfortable. However, three days before the scheduled departure, they got a weather window and made a rapid ascent of previously unclimbed summit, reaching the topt shortly after midnight in bright moonlight, and returning to the boat in a 27-hour round trip. The spectacular shape of the ice-encrusted west ridge led the three climbers to name it Shark's Fin Ridge. Maximum difficulties were M7. On their maps Giordano has an altitude of 2,042m, but a GPS reading on the summit recorded 1,517m, a significant 500m drop on the previously accepted height. Giordano lies east-southeast of Monte Buckland (1,746m) in the western Cordillera Darwin, southeast of Isla Dawson. Until this year Buckland had only one ascent, in 1966 by the strong Italian alpinists and Patagonian activists Alippi, Ferrari, Guidici, Machetto, Mauri and Pirovano, from an expedition led by Carlo Mauri. These Italians approached via the southern Agostini Fjord and made the first ascent via the southwest ridge. Earlier this year Daniel Gross, Markus Kautz and Robert Koschitzki from Germany made the long awaited second ascent, this time approaching from Fitton Bay to the north and climbing the northeast ridge and northeast face (D), with a crux pitch of WI4 90°. This team managed to set up a high camp at 1,100m, and later in the expedition were able to make the first ascent of nearby Monte Niebla (1,430m) via the northeast face. There is still huge potential for climbing virgin peaks and fine ice/mixed lines in the Cordillera Darwin but a fully justified reputation for lengthy spells of poor and often violent weather has kept activity to a minimum. « Back

The family of Lee Rigby broke down today as two Islamist fanatics were found guilty of butchering the soldier on a London street. A jury found Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, guilty of murdering the 25-year-old after they ran him over and hacked him to death in broad daylight. As they returned their verdicts after just 90 minutes deliberation, Drummer Rigby’s family, who have attended throughout the trial, wept. In a statement as they left they said: "This has been the toughest time of our lives and no one should have to go through what we have been through as a family. "We are satisfied that justice has been done, but unfortunately no amount of justice will bring Lee back.” Michael Adebolajo (L) and Michael Adebowale who have been found guilty of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) Mr Justice Sweeney expressed his “gratitude and admiration” to them as he acknowledged it was a case that will “stay with all of us for a long time”. “They have sat in court with great dignity throughout what must have been the most harrowing of evidence,” the judge said. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale (right) speak to a member of the public (PA) It was described as one of the “most savage” cases ever prosecuted by counter terrorism lawyers. As he was taken down to the cells Adebolajo kissed his Koran. Mr Rigby was knocked unconscious by a car driven at him from behind as he crossed the road close to his barracks. Adebolajo leapt from the vehicle and began hacking at his neck with a meat cleaver, virtually decapitating him, as Adebowale repeatedly stabbed him with a kitchen knife. Adebolajo got one shocked bystander to record his sickening boasts on a mobile phone just seconds after killing the Fusilier, who was just yards from his barracks. . Adebolajo and Adebowale, who are both Muslim converts, then charged at armed police when they arrived at the scene of the bloodbath in Woolwich, south east London, on May 22. Drummer Rigby’s mother, Lyn, said the killers should never be released while his stepfather Ian has suggested they should be treated the same way he was. They will be sentenced on a date to be set. After the verdicts David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said: "The whole country was completely shocked by the murder and the whole country united in condemnation at what happened. "We have to redouble our efforts to confront the poisonous narrative of extremism and violence and make sure we do everything to beat it." Witnesses had described the killing as “horrific and frenzied” and like someone attacking a “joint of meat”. During the trial there were gasps as CCTV footage was shown of the Vauxhall Tigra, driven by Adebolajo, veering across the road and hitting Mr Rigby at 30 to 40mph. They had been driving around looking for a soldier to target and he was the first they saw. The men had planned to be martyred by the police but the quick actions of the armed officers who arrived meant they were shot and disarmed but not killed. In police interview, Adebolajo claimed the slaying had brought him “little joy” but said it was revenge for British foreign policy. During two hours worth of interviews, wearing a blue blanket over his head, he said he was a “soldier of Allah” and that soldiers were a “fair target”. His only regret was that he had not died himself. Giving evidence he said Al Qaeda were his “brothers in Islam” and that the death was a “military attack”. Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, said: “The murder of Lee Rigby was barbaric, heinous and completely unjustifiable. "Fusilier Rigby was a dedicated and professional young man whose life was taken in the most casual, brazen and horrific fashion, in broad daylight on the streets of London.” Speaking outside the Old Bailey, where the two week trial took place, Sue Hemming, Head of Special Crime and Counter Terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The murder of Fusilier Rigby was brutal and its perpetrators carried out one of the most savage offences ever prosecuted by our counter terrorism lawyers.” The extremists admitted killing the father-of-one but tried to argue it was legitimate because they were “soldiers” attacking an enemy in the war between Muslims and the British public. But the jury had been told to ignore the defence by the trial judge. The pair were both cleared of a attempting to murder a police officer. Assistant Metropolitan Commissioner Cressida Dick, who heads counter-terrorism operations, said: “What happened to Lee that day has shocked and sickened people in London, the UK and far beyond. There’s nothing that can justify those atrocious actions.” Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said: “The sickening and barbaric murder of Drummer Lee Rigby united the entire nation in condemnation and I welcome the jury's decision. "But we must not forget that this appalling and public act of violence and terror also robbed his family and loved ones of a brave, young man with his life ahead of him. My thoughts are with them at this difficult time. "Violence and extremism of any kind have absolutely no place in our society and cannot be justified.” The soldier, a father of one, was a member of the Corps of Drums with the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Lieutenant Colonel Jim Taylor described the 25-year-old, who was with Second Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, as "a true warrior" and called his brutal death "a cruel tragedy"

Below is the prepared text of the Commencement address by Drew Houston '05, the CEO of Dropbox, for MIT's 147th Commencement held June 7, 2013. Thank you Chairman Reed, and congratulations to all of you in the class of 2013. I'm so happy to be back at MIT, and it's an honor to be here with you today. I still wear my Brass Rat, and turning this ring around on graduation day is still one of the proudest moments of my life. There are a lot of reasons why this is a special day, but the reason I'm so excited for all of you is that today is the first day of your life where you no longer need to check boxes. For your first couple decades, success in life has meant jumping through one hoop after another: get these test scores, get into this college. Take these classes, get this degree. Get into this prestigious institution so you can get into the next prestigious institution. All of that ends today. The hard thing about planning your life is you have no idea where you're going, but you want to get there as soon as possible. Maybe you'll start a company, or cure cancer, or write the great American novel. Or who knows? Maybe things will go horribly wrong. I had no idea. Being up here in robes and speaking to all of you today wasn't exactly part of my plan seven years ago. In fact, I've never really had a grand plan — and what I realize now is that it's probably impossible to have one after graduation, if ever. I've thought a lot about what's different about the life you're beginning today. I've thought about what I would do if I had to start all over again. What got you here was basically being smart and working hard. But nobody tells you that after today, the recipe for success changes. So what I want to do is give you a little cheat sheet, the one I would have loved to have had on my graduation day. If you were to look at my cheat sheet, there wouldn't be a lot on it. There would be a tennis ball, a circle, and the number 30,000. I know this doesn't make any sense right now, but bear with me. I started my first company in a Chili's when I was 21. My cofounder, Andrew Crick, and I had never done this before. We were wondering if you needed to wear a suit to City Hall, or if you needed to make a company seal for stamping important documents. It turns out you can just go online and fill out a form and be done in about two minutes. It was a little anti-climactic, but we were in business. Over onion strings we decided that our company was going to make a new kind of online course for the SAT. Most kids back then were still using these old-school 800-page books, and the other online prep courses weren't very good. We called it Accolade, an SAT vocab word meaning an award of distinction. Well, actually, we called it "The Accolade Group, LLC" which we thought sounded a lot more impressive. I stopped at Staples on the way home to pick up some card stock. Clearly, the most important order of business was to Photoshop a logo and print out some business cards that said "Founder" on them. The next order of business was to hand them out at conferences, and tell girls "why yes, I do have a company." It was awesome. But the best part was learning all kinds of new things. I lived in my fraternity house every summer, and up on the fifth floor there's a ladder that goes up to the roof. I had this green nylon folding chair that I'd drag up there along with armfuls of business books I bought off Amazon and I'd spend every weekend reading about marketing, sales, management and all these other things I knew nothing about. I wasn't planning to get my MBA on the roof of Phi Delta Theta, but that's what happened. A couple years later, things started going downhill. I felt like I had to paddle harder and harder to make progress, and at some point I just snapped and couldn't deal with any more math questions about parallel lines or the train leaving Memphis at 3:45. I figured something was wrong with me. I felt guilty for being so unproductive. Starting a company had been my dream, and, well, maybe I didn't have what it takes after all. So I took a little break. Of course, if you're in course 6, sometimes "taking a break" means writing a poker bot. For those of you who don't know what a poker bot is, what happens when you play poker online is first, you sit for hours and click buttons, and then you lose all your money. A poker bot means you can have your computer lose all your money for you. But it was a fascinating challenge. I was possessed. I would think about it in the shower. I would think about it in the middle of the night. It was like a switch went on — suddenly I was a machine. In the middle of all this, my mom and dad wanted all of us to come up to New Hampshire to spend a family weekend together. But I really wanted to keep working on my poker bot. So I pull up in my Accord and open the trunk, and next I'm dragging all my computer stuff and all these wires into our little cottage. The dining room table wasn't big enough so I started moving all the pots and pans off the stove to make room for all my monitors. This time it was my mom who thought something was wrong with me. She was convinced I was going to jail. I was going to say work on what you love, but that's not really it. It's so easy to convince yourself that you love what you're doing — who wants to admit that they don't? When I think about it, the happiest and most successful people I know don't just love what they do, they're obsessed with solving an important problem, something that matters to them. They remind me of a dog chasing a tennis ball: their eyes go a little crazy, the leash snaps and they go bounding off, plowing through whatever gets in the way. I have some other friends who also work hard and get paid well in their jobs, but they complain as if they were shackled to a desk. The problem is a lot of people don’t find their tennis ball right away. Don't get me wrong — I love a good standardized test as much as the next guy, but being king of SAT prep wasn’t going to be mine. What scares me is that both the poker bot and Dropbox started out as distractions. That little voice in my head was telling me where to go, and the whole time I was telling it to shut up so I could get back to work. Sometimes that little voice knows best. It took me a while to get it, but the hardest-working people don't work hard because they're disciplined. They work hard because working on an exciting problem is fun. So after today, it's not about pushing yourself; it's about finding your tennis ball, the thing that pulls you. It might take a while, but until you find it, keep listening for that little voice. Let's go back to the summer after my graduation, the summer you're about to have. One of my fraternity brothers, Adam Smith, and his friend Matt Brezina were starting a company and we decided it would be fun for all of us to work together out of one apartment. It was the perfect summer — well, almost perfect. The air conditioner was broken so we were all coding in our boxers. Adam and Matt were working around the clock, but as time went on they kept getting pulled away by potential investors who would share their secrets and take them on helicopter rides. I was a little jealous — I had been working on my company for a couple years and Adam had only been at it for a couple months. Where were my helicopter rides? Things only got worse. August rolled around and Adam gave me the bad news: they were moving out. Not only was my supply of Hot Pockets cut off, but they were off to Silicon Valley, where the real action was happening, and I wasn't. Every now and then I'd give Adam a call and hear how things were going. Things were always pretty good. "We met with Vinod this afternoon," he would tell me. Vinod Khosla is the billionaire investor and cofounder of Sun Microsystems. Then Adam dropped the bomb. "He's going to give us five million dollars." I was thrilled for him, but it was a shock for me. Here was my faithful beer pong partner and my little brother in the fraternity, two years younger than me. I was out of excuses. He was off to the Super Bowl and I wasn't even getting drafted. He had no idea at the time, but Adam had given me just the kick I needed. It was time for a change. They say that you're the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Think about that for a minute: who would be in your circle of 5? I have some good news: MIT is one of the best places in the world to start building that circle. If I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have met Adam, I wouldn't have met my amazing cofounder, Arash, and there would be no Dropbox. One thing I've learned is surrounding yourself with inspiring people is now just as important as being talented or working hard. Can you imagine if Michael Jordan hadn’t been in the NBA, if his circle of 5 had been a bunch of guys in Italy? Your circle pushes you to be better, just as Adam pushed me. And now your circle will grow to include your coworkers and everyone around you. Where you live matters: there’s only one MIT. And there's only one Hollywood and only one Silicon Valley. This isn't a coincidence: for whatever you're doing, there's usually only one place where the top people go. You should go there. Don’t settle for anywhere else. Meeting my heroes and learning from them gave me a huge advantage. Your heroes are part of your circle too — follow them. If the real action is happening somewhere else, move. The last trap you might fall into after school is "getting ready." Don't get me wrong: learning is your top priority, but now the fastest way to learn is by doing. If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying and planning and getting ready for it. What you should be doing is getting started. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been "ready." I remember the day our first investors said yes and asked us where to send the money. For a 24 year old, this is Christmas — and opening your present is hitting refresh over and over on bankofamerica.com and watching your company's checking account go from 60 dollars to 1.2 million dollars. At first I was ecstatic — that number has two commas in it! I took a screenshot — but then I was sick to my stomach. Someday these guys are going to want this back. What the hell have I gotten myself into? You already know this feeling: at MIT we call it "drinking from the firehose." It’s about as fun as it sounds, and all of us have the internal bleeding to prove it. But we’ve also learned it's good for you. Today, one valve shuts off. Now you need to go out and find another firehose. Dropbox has been mine. As you might expect, building this company has been the most exciting, interesting and fulfilling experience of my life. What I haven't really shared is that it's also been the most humiliating, frustrating and painful experience too, and I can't even count the number of things that have gone wrong. Fortunately, it doesn't matter. No one has a 5.0 in real life. In fact, when you finish school, the whole notion of a GPA just goes away. When you're in school, every little mistake is a permanent crack in your windshield. But in the real world, if you're not swerving around and hitting the guard rails every now and then, you're not going fast enough. Your biggest risk isn't failing, it's getting too comfortable. Bill Gates's first company made software for traffic lights. Steve Jobs's first company made plastic whistles that let you make free phone calls. Both failed, but it's hard to imagine they were too upset about it. That's my favorite thing that changes today. You no longer carry around a number indicating the sum of all your mistakes. From now on, failure doesn't matter: you only have to be right once. I used to worry about all kinds of things, but I can remember the moment when I calmed down. I had just moved to San Francisco, and one night I couldn't sleep so I was on my laptop. I read something online that said "There are 30,000 days in your life." At first I didn't think much of it, but on a whim I tabbed over to the calculator. I type in 24 times 365 and — oh my God, I'm almost 9,000 days down. What the hell have I been doing? (By the way: you guys are 8,000 days down.) So that’s how 30,000 ended up on the cheat sheet. That night, I realized there are no warmups, no practice rounds, no reset buttons. Every day we're writing a few more words of a story. And when you die, it's not like "here lies Drew, he came in 174th place." So from then on, I stopped trying to make my life perfect, and instead tried to make it interesting. I wanted my story to be an adventure — and that's made all the difference. My grandmother is here today, and next week we'll be celebrating her 95th birthday. We talk more on the phone now that I’ve moved out to California. But one thing that's stuck with me is she always ends our phone calls with one word: "Excelsior," which means "ever upward." And today on your commencement, your first day of life in the real world, that's what I wish for you. Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward. Thank you.

This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's Jan. 5 Championship Drive Issue. Subscribe today! THE 35-SECOND CLIP encapsulates how far apart they are, one man casually spinning a football on his fingers, the other with his hands on his hips, trying to keep his head from exploding. Only Jameis Winston and Jimbo Fisher could make a pregame conversation the biggest highlight from Clemson-Florida State, a game that will go into overtime and nearly derail FSU's national title defense -- a game in which Winston won't even play. The mega-talented Heisman-winning quarterback is serving a one-game suspension for shouting a sexually explicit Internet meme from atop a student union cafeteria table earlier in the week. But here is Winston, in his pads and helmet, going through warm-ups. What is he thinking? Or better yet, what is Fisher thinking? He looks like a father doing his best not to scream at his son in the middle of the grocery store as he calmly tells Winston to please go to the locker room and change. And so Winston does, coming back onto the field smiling and seemingly unaffected. The 20-year-old kid captivates Fisher; he won him a national title, after all, FSU's first in 14 years. Winston also troubles Fisher, from the cafeteria scene to the student conduct trial over an alleged sexual assault that threatened to keep Winston out of the playoff. (Winston was cleared of the accusations on Sunday.) They seem to be in sync only between the lines, when Fisher is demanding too much from his team and Winston seems to be the only one who gets why. They are bonded by a competitiveness that borders on insanity. How can Winston, so in control on the field, so driven to accomplish the exact same things Fisher wants, be so problematic off the field? The answer to that question won't come against Clemson, with another unblemished record on the line and the world breathing down their necks. Fisher is just doing everything he can to save the season, to save Winston from himself. He has to save Winston. He's lost one before. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher talks to Jameis Winston during the ACC championship against Georgia Tech. Rob Tringali for ESPN NINE WEEKS LATER, in a house nestled in the woods of south Georgia, Greg Reid nervously watches Boston College nearly knock off the Noles, a recurring theme this season. A cold rain taps outside, causing a family of feral cats to hover near the patio door, but Reid is fixated on the TV. He springs to his feet, clapping and imploring FSU to do something big. "You see that effort?" Reid says after one particularly solid play. "That's coaching, man." Three years removed from his final game in garnet and gold, Reid is even more passionate about Jimbo Fisher. He hates that Fisher has become the most polarizing coach in college football, widely known for being an apologist for misbehaving players, most notably Winston. The critics, Reid says, just don't know Jimbo. The only way to understand him is to live through a season with him.In 2008, Reid was just a teenager, the top recruit in Georgia, when he met Fisher, who was Bobby Bowden's offensive coordinator and the head-coach-in-waiting. Reid, a cornerback, had pledged to play for FSU rival Florida. Many smooth-talking coaches had passed through Reid's hometown of Valdosta, and they all started sounding the same. But when Fisher knelt down with Reid's mom, Diane Hart, for Sunday service at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, she was sold. Hart, a single mother, believed in Fisher's faith, that he would take care of her son. Reid believed Fisher when he said they would rebuild Florida State together. And they did, from 7-6 in 2009, Bowden's final season, to 10-4 and an ACC title game berth in 2010, Fisher's first in charge. The two would become so close that teammates jokingly called the coach Reid's "daddy." Reid drew comparisons to Deion Sanders. He got a pit bull and named it Prime Time. Greg Reid had hoped to win a national championship with Fisher but was dismissed before FSU's title run. Reid Compton/Icon Sportswire Then, like a number of FSU players before and after him, Reid made the wrong move. Just a few weeks before his senior season, in July 2012, the flashy DB steered his white Mercury Grand Marquis onto Georgia Highway 7 when blue police lights came up behind him. His seat belt was unbuckled, and his windows bore an illegal tint. The cops found a plastic baggie with a small amount of marijuana on the passenger seat. Within hours, Reid's arrest was national news. It wasn't his first time in the doghouse. A year earlier, in September 2011, he was suspended for a game against Charleston Southern for a violation of team rules. Too afraid to call Fisher the night of his arrest and ashamed that he had let him down, Reid lay low. But just before fall camp in August, Fisher called Reid into his office. "I fought for you for a couple of weeks," Fisher said. "I'm going to have to release you." Reid was stunned. He thought he'd just get a stern lecture -- boy, could Jimbo let the spittle fly when he was angry -- and now it was over? He walked home, tears streaming. Fisher, who had grown close to Reid's extended family, called and broke the news to Andrea Bridges, the high school teacher who had taken in Reid, who was often left alone while his mother worked long hours. Bridges says Fisher was crying. "He could hardly even talk," she says. "He was upset. He loved Greg." Two years later, Reid is back living with Bridges, her husband, King, and their 10-year-old son, Ty. He sits at their home, waiting by a phone that won't ring. He went to Valdosta State after his dismissal and tore his ACL on turf. He was a limited participant in the 2013 NFL combine and ran a 4.69 at FSU's pro day. After going undrafted, he had a second surgery on his knee. The Rams signed him this past March, but a week later Reid was arrested on a charge of violating his probation. The Rams cut him in late August, so he works out now at his old high school gym and doesn't go to many FSU games because it's hard to tell fans and friends that you're waiting for an NFL call. Reid believes -- he knows -- that he'd be playing in the league now had he not been dismissed from FSU. And Bridges is convinced that Reid's story has helped shape Fisher's mindset as he plows toward the playoff on the back of Winston, who was accused of rape but never charged by the Tallahassee police, who has shoplifted crab legs, stolen soda from a Burger King and damaged private property in BB gun fights. Fisher couldn't help Reid, but the coach vigorously defends those he can, no matter how it looks. "He's a tremendous young man," Fisher will say about Winston, as folks outside of Tallahassee cackle. Before Halloween, Fisher's wife, Candi, tweeted a photo of their 13-year-old son, Trey, wearing Winston's jersey to school -- for Superhero Day. Trey used to wear Reid's jersey too. NO MATTER HOW long he lives, or how many national titles he wins, Fisher will always be linked to Winston, much like "Free Shoes University" will follow Bobby Bowden to his grave. But Bowden had a reputation of gentlemanly charm, a way of making you forget the unpleasant side of college sports. He seemed genuine in the media, while his successor is defensive and occasionally terse. Fisher once again made the news cycle when he broke off an interview at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, Alabama, once the questions turned negative about Winston. Fisher -- who didn't respond to interview requests for this story -- now has to answer to the likes of TMZ and the Twitterverse and even the national media about what he feels is right and wrong. Maybe if he let them in like Bowden, people would see that Fisher and Bowden aren't so different. Bowden was never swayed by public opinion either. He'd pray about his decision, then do what he thought was right. No matter how many national titles he wins, Fisher will always be linked to Winston. Rob Tringali for ESPN "I felt like if I kicked them out, they're on the dadgum streets," Bowden says now. "We don't need 'em on the streets. So I tried to save them if I could." But it was a different time when Bowden and Oklahoma's Barry Switzer were among those who ruled college football. Today, a player is busted for weed or shoplifting and the story goes national within minutes. "When I coached, you could handle things in-house," says Switzer, who won three national titles at OU in the 1970s and '80s. "The media didn't know about it. I had a [local] sheriff who was good to us and understood our problems. If it wasn't anything serious, kids getting into a bar fight or [smoking pot] ... it was something we could contain." Fisher has carefully dealt with several incidents this year, from a player stealing a scooter to another leaving the scene of an accident. And he has said he believes Winston never committed rape, though the truth might never be known because the Tallahassee Police Department and Florida State were slow to react after the alleged offense, hindering prosecution. Perhaps in his mind, Fisher can explain away Winston's transgressions on a case-by-case basis, chalking some up to youthful foolishness while the court of public opinion thinks otherwise. The Burger King incident? Theft or just tiny cups of soda that cost pennies? BB guns? Four thousand dollars' worth of property damage or just some fun between boys and toys? And the offensive words Winston shouted on top of that table in September? A public act of misogyny or just an Internet meme the kids like to say these days? When the school stiffened Winston's punishment for that outburst from a half-game suspension against Clemson to a full game, Fisher was so frustrated with the administration that he threatened to quit, says a person close to the situation, although FSU never seriously thought that he'd go through with it. According to the source, Fisher was incensed that the school caved to public pressure and also believed that the matter should've been handled within the locker room. Fisher is very protective of Winston. They may yell at each other on the sideline, making for great TV, but that's just how they communicate. At one point in the ACC title game, Fisher became so frustrated with Winston that he barked "Let me call the game!" over the headset. But then as the Noles were celebrating a 37-35 victory, Fisher told reporters that he was "blessed to be part of [Winston's] life." "They're like twins," says Winston's father, Antonor. "I hate that he's getting a lot of [negative] feedback, because he knows Jameis and nobody else does." FISHER IS TOUGHEST on his quarterbacks. He's also closest to them. Fisher was a quarterback himself, about 5-foot-9, charging toward the pile whenever his teammates got into a fight. He didn't care about getting hurt. He had to protect his teammates. He played for Terry Bowden, Bobby's son, at Salem College and Samford. Terry called the plays, so he had to be in the head of his quarterback. He made Fisher sit in his passenger seat for road games and on scouting trips. They would drive to Tallahassee to learn from Bowden's dad, and eventually Terry hired 27-year-old Fisher to be his quarterbacks coach at Auburn in 1993. After coaching at Cincinnati and then under Nick Saban at LSU, Fisher became Bobby's offensive coordinator in 2007. One of his first projects was a dual-threat QB named Xavier Lee. The first thing Lee noticed about Fisher was how different he was from his head coach. Bowden, then 77, was calm as a Sunday drive; Fisher was rush hour on steroids. He would call for 1s vs. 1s in practice well into the season and lay into a player for being two minutes late. Reid says Fisher had underlings monitor his classes, sometimes standing outside the buildings to make sure he attended. Fisher has always been tough on his quarterbacks -- and cares deeply for them, too. Rob Tringali for ESPN Lee says he once missed a 2007 practice because he was making up an assignment with an instructor. Fisher had to decide to play him or bench him for a Thursday night game at Wake Forest. Lee says Fisher called him the night before and went back and forth over what to do. The conversation must have lasted 30 minutes, according to Lee, and was filled with long pauses. "'You put me in a really bad situation,'" Lee recalls Fisher saying. "'Part of me wants to play you because the team rallies around you and they all respond to how you play. Part of me wants to bench you because this can't happen.' At the end of the day, I did play." But Lee reached his breaking point with Fisher near the end of that 7-6 season. Fisher was yelling at him, and Lee says he balled up his fist and contemplated punching his coach. He concluded that would be a bad decision and ultimately decided to forgo his senior year and enter the NFL draft. "Every practice, if the ball wasn't precisely where he wanted it," Lee says, "he would rip you the entire time because he knew you could do better. He would push you to another level you didn't even know you had." Former FSU QB Christian Ponder, who's now with the Vikings, is thought to have had a relationship that most resembles the one between Fisher and Winston. Both quarterbacks could tune out the cussing and process what Fisher wanted, and they had a playful side that acted as foil to Fisher's gruff demeanor. Once, when Ponder went to the Fisher home for dinner after a mistake-filled loss to Virginia Tech, Fisher's son Trey said, "Hey, Christian, why'd you fumble the ball and cost us the Virginia Tech game?" "We didn't see Trey for a few minutes," Ponder says, laughing. "I think he just got a little spanking. [Fisher] treats everyone like his own kids. It's almost like a father-son relationship there." CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, is just about the opposite of everything that Fisher's critics believe he has become. It's gritty, honest and true, a place where coal miner daddies used to crawl down a hole and stay for long hours to give their kids better lives. Fisher had one of those daddies. His name was John, but everyone called him Big Jim. He stood about 6-2, worked overnights in the mines and then came home to tend the family farm. Big Jim nearly died in a mine explosion when Jimbo was 2, but by God, eventually he got back in those mines. He taught both of his boys two things: Don't lie and never be lazy. In the summers, Jimbo baled hay. In the winters, he'd spend nights sitting on a snowy hill, keeping watch over the family's pregnant cows. Steve Daniels, one of Fisher's best friends, is a sheet metal worker in Clarksburg and still quotes Big Jim's maxims to his own kids. Winston is the focus of Fisher's attention on the sideline. Rob Tringali for ESPN "His mom and dad believed that if you've done something wrong, then you fess up to it," says Daniels. "You only compound the problem when you don't come out with the truth because eventually it all comes back to get you." Sometimes, when the pressure of the season weighs on Fisher, he'll call Daniels for an escape, a reminder of the simpler life of an honest day's work and a free weekend to go deer hunting. Jimbo's dad died 20 years ago and never got to see his son become a big-time coach. But Jimbo makes a point to bring his sons back to Clarksburg every year so that they can see where he's from, where things are simpler but not nearly as easy. Fisher's mom, Gloria, and his brother, Bryan, still live in Clarksburg. Gloria is 78 and substitute-teaches. She runs into people she taught 30 years ago and still remembers names. Bryan is a history teacher and high school football coach. In early December, he was featured in the local paper, a lighthearted Q&A that asked the question, "Lunch duty or bus duty?" But when asked recently about his brother, Bryan naturally becomes defensive. "You're portrayed one way or the other in the media," he says, "good or bad." He says there is no in between. SO HOW DID Fisher get from Clarksburg to here, from a well-raised, scrupulously honest small-town boy to a man many perceive as the symbol of corrupt, self-serving college sports? Maybe, say those who know him best, he hasn't changed much, if at all. Maybe he's still the same as he's always been, only with the responsibilities and expectations of so many others on his shoulders. Maybe, at least in college football, it's become impossible to distinguish the line between good and evil. "Jimbo is one who'll do exactly what he thinks is right," says Bob Tindale, Fisher's pastor at Killearn United Methodist Church in Tallahassee. "That may be stricter than people think at times and much more lax at times, but he's going to do what he thinks is right and is really not going to be swayed by public opinion." The criticism that Fisher is a win-at-all-costs coach bothers him, Tindale says, because he does know there are things more important than winning. In March 2011, Fisher's son Ethan, now 9, was officially diagnosed with Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disorder that causes bone-marrow failure. According to Bryan, Ethan's illness changed Jimbo. It gave his brother perspective. "Everybody says it's all about winning games," Bryan says. "No, it's not with him." His son's illness also made him more protective of family. His players are family. Even the ones who stray. "He gave me the rules," Reid says. "He told me everything to do in life. It wasn't his fault. It was obviously my fault, the decisions I made. I was so caught up in playing football and being G-5 to the fans. I should've been the person he tried to build me into." When Reid and Fisher talk, as they often do, Fisher reminds him about having choices and making the right ones. Reid says he could have left early and been at least a second- or third-round pick, but he wanted to win a national championship with Fisher. The Noles' title came one season later as Winston led the team to the final BCS championship game. Reid was in Pasadena to cheer on his former team. When it was over, he found Fisher on the field. They hugged, and Reid cried. Then Fisher went to celebrate with the one he's still trying to save. David M. Hale contributed to this report.

The UGC has directed all universities and educational institutions to introduce identification mechanisms like student's photograph and Aadhar number besides security features in degrees and certificates awarded by them. "Having security features in the marksheets and certificates issued by varsities are useful for verification and curbing duplication. At the same time, they help in introducing uniformity and transparency within and across the system of higher education in the country," UGC Secretary, J S Sandhu said in a communication to varsities. "You are directed to include identification mechanisms like photograph and Unique ID/Aadhaar number in students' certificates. Further, you are also requested to inscribe the name of the institution in which a student is enrolled as well as the mode of delivery (regular, part-time or distance)," he said. A decision in this regard was taken at a recent meeting of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Earlier this month, I posted a tweet on my Twitter account (@WalderSports) in which I praised the Atlanta Hawks for their successful start to the season (19-10 at the end of December) and their ability to remain under the radar, despite being just 1.5 games behind the Miami Heat. The #AtlantaHawks are just 1.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference, yet no one brings them up as a true threat. #NBA — Christopher Walder (@WalderSports) January 2, 2013 Fast-forward a few weeks later, and things have taken a drastic turn for the worse. The Hawks have lost seven of their last ten games and are slowly but surely falling down the conference ladder. Atlanta now sits 4.5 games out of first place and in the 6th seed, having allowed the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls to pass them overall. To start the month of January, the team has dropped games to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards, who have a combined record of 32-85. Josh Smith, the Hawks top scorer at 16.4 points, was suspended for one game earlier in the week for “conduct detrimental to the team“. He received a technical foul during Monday’s 97-58 blowout loss courtesy of the Bulls, and was clearly frustrated with the team’s performance during practice the following day, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Wednesday. According to a source, Smith was kicked out of practice Tuesday. #ATLHawks — Chris Vivlamore (@ajchawks) January 16, 2013 GM Danny Ferry needs to make a decision as it pertains to Smith’s future with the Atlanta Hawks organization, sooner rather than later. Josh can become an unrestricted free-agent at the end of this season. If he has given/is giving the Hawks any hint that he won’t be re-signing, than Ferry needs to deal him before the February 21st deadline to get any value back in return. According to a report by Ken Berger of CBS Sports, the Hawks could look to acquire an all-star before the deadline to pair up with Smith. Depends on two things: 1) Whether Danny Ferry has a short-term plan or a long-term plan, and 2) whether Smith will be happy with whatever changes will be made this summer, be they personnel or on the coaching staff. One exec privy to Atlanta’s trade posture told me Ferry seems to be in “win now” mode, which suggests he’ll try to add an All-Star-caliber talent alongside Smith rather than trade him. Atlanta is nowhere close to being out of the playoff hunt by any stretch of the imagination. Before this current losing skid, the Hawks were right there with Miami at the top of the standings. Perhaps acquiring another big-name talent to join Smith and teammate Al Horford could be just what this team needs to not only gain some ground in the east, but to finally make some noise once the postseason rolls through. It all depends on what kind of offers Ferry gets thrown his way over the next few weeks. If he can find the right deal to help improve this roster while keeping Smith onboard and happy at the same time, then that would be the perfect outcome. However, if the Hawks continue to struggle as they are, then perhaps cutting ties with Josh Smith and bringing in some young players/pieces/draft picks rather than risking him walking way a free man at the end of the current season is the best option moving forward. Chris Walder is the Editor here at Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter at @WalderSports

Central Station, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon) is this year’s John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner for the best science fiction novel published in 2016, and “The Future is Blue” by Catherynne M. Valente (Drowned Worlds) is the winner of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short fiction of 2016. Other finalists were: John W. Campbell Memorial Award Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award “The Art of Space Travel”, Nina Allen (Tor.com 7/16) “Seasons of Glass and Iron”, Amal El-Mohtar ( The Starlit Wood ) ) “Touring with the Alien”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld 4/16) The Ballad of Black Tom , Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing) , Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing) “The Visitor From Taured”, Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov’s 9/16) “Things with Beards”, Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld 6/16) “Project Empathy”, Dominica Phetteplace (Asimov’s 3/16) A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing) The awards were presented during the Campbell Conference held June 16-18, 2017 at the University of Kansas Student Union in Lawrence KS.

A new study reveals an association between migraine attacks and temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ). TMJ is a stress-related condition and is characterized by joint pain, reduced jaw movement, clicking or popping of the temporomandibular joint, and neck and face pain. Researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine (FMRP-USP), in Brazil, discovered that the more frequent the migraine attacks, the more severe the TMJ. The temporomandibular joint acts like a sliding hinge connecting the jawbone to the skull, therefore the disorder’s symptoms includes difficulty chewing and joint tension. “Our study shows that patients with chronic migraine, meaning attacks occurring on more than 15 days per month, are three times as likely to report more severe symptoms of TMJ than patients with episodic migraine,” said Lidiane Florencio, the first author of a study of women with migraines. Previous studies have indicated that a migraine is somehow associated with pain in the chewing muscles. However, this research was the first to consider the frequency of migraine attacks when analyzing its connection with TMJ. In the study, eighty-four women in their early to mid-thirties were assessed; 21 were chronic migraine patients, 32 had episodic migraine, while 32 with no history of migraine were included as controls. Study results appear in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Signs and symptoms of TMJ were observed in 54 percent of the control participants without migraine, 80 percent of participants with episodic migraine, and 100 percent of those with chronic migraine. Florencio believes central sensitization may explain the association between the frequency of migraine attacks and the severity of TMJ. “The repetition of migraine attacks may increase sensitivity to pain,” she said. “Our hypothesis is that migraine acts as a factor that predisposes patients to TMJ. On the other hand, TMJ can be considered a potential perpetuating factor for migraine because it acts as a constant nociceptive input that contributes to maintaining central sensitization and abnormal pain processes.” Nociceptive pain is caused by a painful stimulus on special nerve endings called nociceptors and is usually described as a sharp, aching, or throbbing pain. The researchers explain that migraine and TMJ have very similar pathological mechanisms. Migraine affects 15 percent of the general population, and progression to the chronic form is expected in about 2.5 percent of migraine sufferers. TMJ is stress-related as much as it has to do with muscle overload. Patients display joint symptoms — such as joint pain, reduced jaw movement, clicking or popping of the temporomandibular joint — but also develop a muscular condition, including muscle pain and fatigue, and/or radiating face and neck pain. Although people who suffer from migraine are predisposed to have TMJ, people with TMJ will not necessarily have migraine. “Migraine patients are more likely to have signs and symptoms of TMJ, but the reverse is not true. There are cases of patients with severe TMJ who don’t present with migraine,” said Débora Grossi, the lead researcher for the study. The researchers believe that TMJ may increase the frequency and severity of migraine attacks, even though it does not directly cause migraine. “We do know migraine isn’t caused by TMJ,” Florencio said. “Migraine is a neurological disease with multifactorial causes, whereas TMJ, like cervicalgia — neck pain — and other musculoskeletal disorders, is a series of factors that intensify the sensitivity of migraine sufferers. Having TMJ may worsen one’s migraine attacks in terms of both severity and frequency.” The journal article concludes that an examination of TMJ signs and symptoms should be clinically conducted in patients with migraine. “Our findings show the association with TMJ exists but is less frequent in patients with rare or episodic migraine,” Grossi said. “This information alone should change the way clinicians examine patients with migraine. If migraine sufferers tend to have more severe TMJ, then health professionals should assess such patients specifically in terms of possible signs and symptoms of TMJ.” Source: University of São Paulo/EuerkAlert Jaw Dysfunction May Intensify Migraines

The largest market is the United States , where tens of thousands of beauty salons offer hair extensions. African-American women have long worn hair extensions, but the trend among women with lighter hair has been popularized by celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton . Great Lengths, an Italian company and major supplier to the United States, has estimated the American retail market for hair extensions at $250 million annually, or about 3 percent of the entire hair care products market. The average price for extensions is $439, according to a 2009 survey by American Salon Magazine, although the procedure can cost several thousand dollars at elite salons. The extension business is also growing in Europe . An estimated 20 percent of Russian hair is used domestically, by the well coiffed of Moscow and St. Petersburg . The blond harvest is not necessarily new, having followed an economic development path in recent decades, moving from Western Europe in the 1960s and ’70s, through Poland in the ’80s and to Ukraine and Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. But as more of the world’s light-haired woman have climbed the economic ladder, the search for poor blondes willing to part with their locks has become ever more difficult. “It’s not hard to understand why people in Ukraine sell their hair a hundred times more often than people in Sweden ,” David Elman, a co-owner of Raw Virgin Hair Company, an importer based in Kiev, Ukraine, said in a telephone interview. “They are not doing it for fun. Usually, only people who have temporary financial difficulties in depressed regions sell their hair.” Here in Mosalsk, a 16-inch braid, the shortest length a buyer will consider, fetches about $50. Natalya N. Vinokurova, 26, grew up nearby in Yukhnov, a town where half the homes lack indoor plumbing and the average monthly wage is about $300. What little cash-crop agriculture there once was collapsed with the Soviet Union. But Ms. Vinokurova cultivated something with market value: strawberry blond hair that hung to her waist before she sold it. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “I wore it in a braid, a ponytail, different ways,” she said. “But I got sick of it, and all the other girls have short hair, so I cut it,” and then sold it, she said with a shrug. She now wears a bob and has no immediate plans to grow it to a marketable length, which she said would take years. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Mr. Kuznetsov’s company here, Belli Capelli, which processes human hair into extension kits, is the largest business of its type in Russia, with annual revenue of about $16 million. Kicking mud from his boots, he clambered into a Land Rover to tour the buildings here and in a neighboring town where a few dozen employees wash, dye and comb hair, then sort it by hue and length. At one sorting table, where about 500 braids were laid out, he stopped to extol the quality of his product. The best hair, he said, is honey-hued, changes color in the light and is soft to the touch. “This is capitalism,” he said. “The people with money want to distinguish themselves from the people with no money. Why does one woman sell her hair to another? The person with money wants to look better than the person without money.” American customers are typically unconcerned about the origins of extensions, other than to ask if they are hygienic, said Ron Landzaat, founder of Hair Extensions Guide, a trade group in Santa Rosa, Calif., who said the hair was sterilized by boiling it. “They are concerned about their looks more than anything else,” Mr. Landzaat said by telephone. Obtaining adequate supplies is the industry’s biggest challenge. Great Lengths, the Italian supplier to the American market, obtains hair that women have ritualistically donated to temples in India, and says it can be dyed to match most hair types. Others in the business, including Mr. Kuznetsov, say European hair is a better option for women with light hair, and so is prized. Russian factory towns in the Ural Mountains , about 900 miles east of Mosalsk, became such contested territory among hair buyers that in 2006 one was shot in a dispute with another, suggesting Russian organized crime involvement, the newspaper Kommersant reported. Although Mr. Kuznetsov has no local rivals that he knows of, he keeps a security guard posted at the entrance to his storeroom. The milk crates, filled with the hair of thousands of women and sorted by categories including “Southern Russian” and “Russian Gold,” might make an alluring target for a heist. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Most hair comes from buyers who roam the rougher parts of Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states, posting fliers on utility poles offering money for hair. In Belarus , President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko , a staunch nationalist, has placed such tight controls on small entrepreneurs that the trade is all but impossible, to the regret of those in the business, because the country is poor and has an abundance of blond women. Generally, about 70 percent of the hair bought in Russia comes from locks kept at home from previous haircuts. Some Ukrainian and Russian women, for example, traditionally cut their hair after the birth of their first child, and may decide only years later to sell it. In areas of dire poverty, it is a final resource to tap in times of desperation. The rest is bought, often after some haggling, directly from the head of the seller, who then gets a haircut on the spot. As a courtesy, in Russia, the deal is nearly always done in a salon so a hairdresser can cut carefully.

A day after implying he could’ve prevented the Civil War through The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump woke up and let the world know he got rolled by a Congress his own party controls. The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017 either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017 Tantrum Trump is the most incoherent Trump, but the most plausible meaning of these tweets is that he thinks a government shutdown would help Republicans get their way in Congress later this year, or win 60 Senate seats next year, and that if Mitch McConnell and his members disagree, they should abolish the filibuster. His budget director, Mick Mulvaney is apparently on board. Suffice it to say these are all great ideas. It is extremely likely that Trump’s Twitter incontinence has poised him to capitulate as humiliatingly as possible once again. After all, if he thought a shutdown would help him get his way, he could have vetoed the spending bill he just signed, and tested the hypothesis. Come October, shutdown or no shutdown, he will still lack the leverage to extract concessions from Democrats and will either fold, or not have a working government for the rest of his presidency, or Congress will fund the government over his veto. Even if we imagine for argument’s sake that Senate Republicans succumb to pressure and abolish the filibuster (something McConnell has vowed not to do) we have just learned that Republicans can’t get government spending legislation through the House without Democratic votes. They also very likely lack the capacity to pass a partisan spending bill with 51 votes in the Senate. So that wouldn’t avert a shutdown anyhow. Taking this all together, count me an enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s plan to abolish the filibuster for the purpose of passing nothing, then riding out the next three and a half years as the first president in history to have shut down his own government—and having zero wins to show for it.

Chinese Scientists Engineer GM Cows to Produce Human Milk Like on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on LinkedIn Pin to Pinterest Share on StumbleUpon + According to China Daily, Li Ning, a scientist from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the State Key Laboratories for AgroBiotechnology at China Agricultural University, claims Chinese scientists have created a herd of more than 200 genetically modified cows that will produce an artificial form of human milk. Ning, an expert in biotechnology, predicts genetically modified dairy products similar to human milk will appear on the Chinese market in two years. The Ministry of Agriculture has allotted a scientific team 22-months to test the GM technology in laboratories; the ministry will then evaluate the results of the tests before deciding whether to allow the milk to be sold. China’s chief expert with the Ministry of Environmental Protection said the government will carry out a series of tests on the transferred gene and the method of transplanting it before the genetically modified cows and their milk are declared safe. Ning explains that until now, the scientific world had not found a way to mass-produce components exclusive only in human milk that can help improve the immune systems and the central nervous systems of children. The components are not available in milk produced by goats or cows, says Ning. The GM milk will be as safe to drink as that of the ordinary cows, he added, claiming the technology will ensure healthy protein contained in human milk is affordable for ordinary consumers. “The milk tastes stronger than normal milk,” Ning said. “Within 10 years, people will be able to pick up these human-milk-like products at the supermarket.” Writing for Planetsave, Chris Milton noted how an award winning Indian journalist, Devinder Sharma, covering international food policy, was stupefied. “Why? Where’s the need?” “I understand the nutritional benefits of breast milk for babies — and even more so for children in impoverished nations who need complete and complex nutrition that isn’t available in local diet,” says Brigid Darragh, with Green Chip Stocks. “But to genetically modify an animal to produce a product that is not of its own species? I, for one, won’t be downing a frosty glass of GM-cow-people-milk anytime soon.” “In ancient China, only the emperor and the empress could drink human milk throughout their lives, which was believed to be the height of opulence,” said Ning, the Chinese scientist. “Why not make that kind of milk more available for ordinary people?” Adults humans are clearly not meant to consume human milk or we’d all still be breastfeeding. And as Brigid Darragh points out, do we really want children drinking milk from an animal genetically modified to produce a product that is not of its own species? Paul Kingsnorth, a prominent UK writer and green campaigner wonders — as I do — “At what point do [scientists] humans just…stop this crap?” Like on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on LinkedIn Pin to Pinterest Share on StumbleUpon + Comments comments

Important Notice: You have to update your device’s firmware if you purchased your device before 6th October 2016 for Arbites Innova 2 to work properly, using Arbites Innova 2 on a device with the older firmware will not work. Diverge, Diverge TM, Terminus Series Firmware Update Guide Terminus Mini, Felix Firmware Update Guide Summary Yay! Finally, after such long waits, Arbites and Animus Innova 2 are finally out. This update does not seem much but a lot of the underlying code on both Animus and Arbites were refactored, you could get the new copy of Arbites over here (Guide also included). Right now only the Windows versions are up but I’ll also post the Linux and Mac versions (gtk2/3 and cocoa respectively) over the weekend once I’ve made sure they are bug free. The new version of Arbites finally adds multi-language support, I haven’t have time to set up the other languages but the capability is there (see arbites/input-method), as far as I know, this makes Arbites the first key remapper tool with a configurable input method, other tools always assume that the user utilises the US input method. Macro editing is finally in the thing, I gotta say the macro editing capability is working like a charm. I’ll have some more detailed info below. Usage Guides for the new Arbites: (Seriously, you will need to read it) Getting Started with Arbites Rebinding Keys with Arbites Editing Macros with Arbites Technical Talk on Animus The older version of Animus stores its layout by ASCII code (97 dec is “a”), the new version of Animus stores its layout by HID scancode (4 dec is “a”), this means that the older version of Arbites will not work with the newer version of Animus and vice versa, I would really love to avoid reverse/compatibility issues but this is really something that I wish I’ve done sooner. The older version uses ASCII codes because Animus’ base code heavily utilises the Arduino libraries, and part of it was using Arduino’s implementation of the HID keyboard, which means the older version of Animus grandfathered the ASCII code storage. This is fine if we could just settle for supporting only US ASCII on the editor, but I’d really like to get multi-language support working, so the HID module was rewritten and standard HID scancodes are used instead. The implementation of macros in Animus is of course, hardware based, but editable via software, (see the Editing Macros Guide for more details) this means you could configure your macros on a machine with Arbites, then you could bring your keyboard anywhere and the macros would still work on any machine. About the expand-ability and future of Animus and Arbites If you have been looking at some of my code, you will realise that Arbites has always been playing the catch up game with Animus, Animus has a lot of capabilities which can be tapped into, but Arbites was never able to fully utilise Animus, for example, the macros and dual roles modules for Animus has been done for over 3 months already (you could check the github commits), but there was no easy way to configure the macros other than manually sending a serial command containing hex code. Now Arbites is finally catching up, so I’m pretty excited about it. Arbites at its current state is still not complete, like previously mentioned, the capability for additional language support is already there, but I haven’t got any time to create the alternate input methods (such as swedish/nordic/german/british/etc) since each set of language has over 1400 entries that I have to manually edit (which is extremely tedious), the key menu is also not completely filled, in the key menu, you will notice that the tabs “ctrl’d”/”alt’d”/”shifted” exists, but tabs for a combination of those keys still do not, the capability is already there in Animus (so no further firmware upgrade in the future is necessary), but I haven’t set it up in Arbites. I was going to also sort out the aforementioned features first before releasing but I figured you guys have waited long enough, so I’ll push out the upgrade progressively. I’ll also make a batch update post in a few minutes, there’s so much to say but for some reason I am finding it quite difficult expressing myself. (heh, I’m probably just tired because its 5:19 AM and I slept for only 2 hours ~20 hours ago)

pointbiz Offline Activity: 433 Merit: 252 1ninja Sr. MemberActivity: 433Merit: 2521ninja Re: [ANN] bitaddress.org Safe JavaScript Bitcoin address/private key [BOUNTY 0.1BTC] October 11, 2011, 02:41:18 AM #121 Quote from: casascius on October 11, 2011, 02:03:30 AM I don't think there exists such thing as a "standard format" in base58 that's < 51 characters. The standard base58 format is the sipa wallet import format. I also wouldn't offer it in base64 unless something else uses it prominently (e.g. OpenSSL, but OpenSSL uses hex). These unused formats will just serve to confuse people. Also, hexadecimal is misspelled on the actual website. LOL. I guess Standard Format didn't exist until MagicalTux created it... maybe I'm adding to the problem. I don't want to cause confusion. Mtgox still doesn't work with WIF. I added the base64 only because it was available in the .toString() method for the ECKey and I assumed Stephan had a reason for that. I'm going to double check Mtgox works with hex. Hopefully they fix the WIF bug soon. Did MtGox stop accepting in the "standard format"? Because I tried it a few days ago and it worked. LOL. I guess Standard Format didn't exist until MagicalTux created it... maybe I'm adding to the problem. I don't want to cause confusion.Mtgox still doesn't work with WIF. I added the base64 only because it was available in the .toString() method for the ECKey and I assumed Stephan had a reason for that. I'm going to double check Mtgox works with hex. Hopefully they fix the WIF bug soon. Did MtGox stop accepting in the "standard format"? Because I tried it a few days ago and it worked. Thread Open Source JavaScript Client-Side Bitcoin Wallet Generator Donations: 1NiNja1bUmhSoTXozBRBEtR8LeF9TGbZBN Coder of: https://www.bitaddress.org Open Source JavaScript Client-Side Bitcoin Wallet GeneratorDonations:1bUmhSoTXozBRBEtR8LeF9TGbZBN PGP Your Bitcoin transactions The Ultimate Bitcoin mixer made truly anonymous. with an advanced technology. Mix coins Advertised sites are not endorsed by the Bitcoin Forum. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction. Advertise here. casascius VIP Legendary Offline Activity: 1386 Merit: 1041 The Casascius 1oz 10BTC Silver Round (w/ Gold B) Mike CaldwellVIPLegendaryActivity: 1386Merit: 1041The Casascius 1oz 10BTC Silver Round (w/ Gold B) Re: [ANN] bitaddress.org Safe JavaScript Bitcoin address/private key [BOUNTY 0.1BTC] October 11, 2011, 02:45:31 AM #123 MtGox only accepted that format because MagicalTux was confused as to how the format worked. Nothing generates keys in that format, and quite frankly there is no advantage to doing it because it takes away the error checking for no good reason. It would be best not to propagate new formats for keys that don't serve any particular purpose, otherwise everybody will have to support them for everything. Companies claiming they got hacked and lost your coins sounds like fraud so perfect it could be called fashionable. I never believe them. If I ever experience the misfortune of a real intrusion, I declare I have been honest about the way I have managed the keys in Casascius Coins. I maintain no ability to recover or reproduce the keys, not even under limitless duress or total intrusion. Remember that trusting strangers with your coins without any recourse is, as a matter of principle, not a best practice. Don't keep coins online. Use paper or hardware wallets instead. casascius VIP Legendary Offline Activity: 1386 Merit: 1041 The Casascius 1oz 10BTC Silver Round (w/ Gold B) Mike CaldwellVIPLegendaryActivity: 1386Merit: 1041The Casascius 1oz 10BTC Silver Round (w/ Gold B) Re: [ANN] bitaddress.org Safe JavaScript Bitcoin address/private key [BOUNTY 0.1BTC] October 11, 2011, 01:16:26 PM #128 MagicalTux reports having fixed this. It now accepts Base58 private keys, and I was able to import one as a test. Companies claiming they got hacked and lost your coins sounds like fraud so perfect it could be called fashionable. I never believe them. If I ever experience the misfortune of a real intrusion, I declare I have been honest about the way I have managed the keys in Casascius Coins. I maintain no ability to recover or reproduce the keys, not even under limitless duress or total intrusion. Remember that trusting strangers with your coins without any recourse is, as a matter of principle, not a best practice. Don't keep coins online. Use paper or hardware wallets instead. pointbiz Offline Activity: 433 Merit: 252 1ninja Sr. MemberActivity: 433Merit: 2521ninja Re: [ANN] bitaddress.org Safe JavaScript Bitcoin address/private key [BOUNTY 0.1BTC] October 13, 2011, 01:36:53 AM #131 Quote from: casascius on September 16, 2011, 04:33:56 AM A deterministic generation function does one more very valuable thing from an auditability perspective that has nothing to do with recreating wallets. Supporting deterministic generation from a passphrase allows the average user to control for the possibility that the RNG in your generator isn't rigged or flawed in a non-obvious manner. If your RNG turns out to be flawed at any time down the road, it would turn into a huge liability for anyone who has ever used your generator. (Google "Debian OpenSSL key flaw" for an example of a past occurrence of this mess). On the other hand, if it produces the same deterministic wallet as any other program made for the same purpose, it can be conclusively deemed to operate as advertised. The Wallet Details tab can now be used for the purpose of creating a deterministic wallet. You can use the tab to determine if you have a valid private key in one of various formats and what the bitcoin address is for that key. It's also useful if you're in a highly adversarial environment and you believe a weakness in the PRNG could expose your private key. To protect against that you could copy the key you generate on the single wallet tab and paste it on the wallet details tab and adjust a few characters then view the details to confirm it's a valid private key and see it's bitcoin address. The Wallet Details tab can now be used for the purpose of creating a deterministic wallet. You can use the tab to determine if you have a valid private key in one of various formats and what the bitcoin address is for that key.It's also useful if you're in a highly adversarial environment and you believe a weakness in the PRNG could expose your private key. To protect against that you could copy the key you generate on the single wallet tab and paste it on the wallet details tab and adjust a few characters then view the details to confirm it's a valid private key and see it's bitcoin address. Thread Open Source JavaScript Client-Side Bitcoin Wallet Generator Donations: 1NiNja1bUmhSoTXozBRBEtR8LeF9TGbZBN Coder of: https://www.bitaddress.org Open Source JavaScript Client-Side Bitcoin Wallet GeneratorDonations:1bUmhSoTXozBRBEtR8LeF9TGbZBN PGP

The United States is dominated by Hydra, with Captain America at its head, in Nick Spencer, Steve McNiven, and Jay Leisten's Secret Empire #1 from Marvel Comics, May's best-selling comic book. Marvel Comics had six titles in May’s top ten. In addition to Secret Empire #1, Mike Costa and Tradd Moore's Venom #150 ranked #2; Christopher Hastings, Edgar Salazar, and Allen Martinez's Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout #1 ranked #5; Nick Spencer, Andrea Sorrentino, and Rod Reis' Secret Empire #2 ranked #6; Spencer, Sorrentino, and Reis' Secret Empire #3 ranked 8; and Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder's All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #1 ranked #9. DC Entertainment had three titles in the top ten: the lenticular edition of Batman #22, the third chapter of "The Button" by Tom King, Joshua Williamson, and Jason Fabok, ranked #3; the lenticular edition of The Flash #22, the final chapter of "The Button" by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter, ranked #4; and King and Mitch Gerads' Batman #23 ranked #7. Image Comics' The Walking Dead #167 by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Stefano Gaudino, and Cliff Rathburn was the publisher's best-selling book at #10. Among the premier publishers, P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton's Neil Gaiman's American Gods: Shadows #3 was Dark Horse Comics’ top book at #95, while IDW Publishing's top-ranked book was Batman/TMNT Adventures #6, the final chapter of their crossover with DC Entertainment, at #114. TOP 100 COMIC BOOKS Based on Total Unit Sales of Products Invoiced in May 2017 RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 SECRET EMPIRE #1 $4.99 MAR170901 -M MAR 2 VENOM #150 $5.99 MAR171008 -M MAR 3 BATMAN #22 LENTICULAR EDITION (THE BUTTON) $3.99 NOV169207 DC 4 FLASH #22 LENTICULAR EDITION (THE BUTTON) $3.99 NOV169210 DC 5 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY MISSION BREAKOUT #1 $4.99 MAR171072 -M MAR 6 SECRET EMPIRE #2 $4.99 MAR170910 -M MAR 7 BATMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170274 -M DC 8 SECRET EMPIRE #3 $3.99 MAR170915 -M MAR 9 ALL NEW GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1 $3.99 MAR170937 -M MAR 10 WALKING DEAD #167 (MR) $2.99 MAR170791 IMA 11 BATMAN #22 REGULAR EDITION (THE BUTTON) $2.99 NOV169206 -M DC 12 STAR WARS #31 $3.99 MAR171111 -M MAR 13 JEAN GREY #1 $3.99 MAR170958 -M MAR 14 STAR WARS SCREAMING CITADEL #1 $4.99 MAR171106 -M MAR 15 ALL STAR BATMAN #10 $4.99 MAR170261 -M DC 16 CABLE #1 $3.99 MAR170977 -M MAR 17 FLASH #22 STANDARD EDITION (THE BUTTON) $2.99 NOV169208 -M DC 18 X-MEN GOLD #3 $3.99 MAR171078 -M MAR 19 DETECTIVE COMICS #956 $2.99 MAR170284 -M DC 20 DETECTIVE COMICS #957 $2.99 MAR170286 -M DC 21 JUSTICE LEAGUE #20 $2.99 MAR170308 -M DC 22 JUSTICE LEAGUE #21 $2.99 MAR170310 -M DC 23 FLASH #23 $2.99 MAR170288 -M DC 24 X-MEN GOLD #4 $3.99 MAR171080 -M MAR 25 SUPERMAN #22 $2.99 MAR170330 -M DC 26 ALL NEW GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #2 $3.99 MAR170943 -M MAR 27 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #27 $3.99 MAR171018 MAR 28 SUPERMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170332 -M DC 29 X-MEN BLUE #3 $3.99 MAR171081 -M MAR 30 OLD MAN LOGAN #23 $3.99 MAR171089 -M MAR 31 TITANS #11 $3.99 MAR170338 -M DC 32 GENERATION X #1 $3.99 MAR170967 -M MAR 33 X-MEN BLUE #4 $3.99 MAR171083 MAR 34 OLD MAN LOGAN #24 $3.99 MAR171092 -M MAR 35 WONDER WOMAN #22 $2.99 MAR170348 -M DC 36 STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #7 $3.99 MAR171114 -M MAR 37 WONDER WOMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170350 -M DC 38 TEEN TITANS #8 $3.99 MAR170340 -M DC 39 ACTION COMICS #979 $2.99 MAR170257 -M DC 40 ACTION COMICS #980 $2.99 MAR170259 -M DC 41 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6 $2.99 MAR170312 -M DC 42 BANE CONQUEST #1 $3.99 MAR170354 -M DC 43 HARLEY QUINN #19 $2.99 MAR170302 -M DC 44 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7 $2.99 MAR170314 -M DC 45 HARLEY QUINN #20 $2.99 MAR170304 -M DC 46 SUPER SONS #4 $3.99 MAR170334 -M DC 47 SUICIDE SQUAD #17 $2.99 MAR170324 -M DC 48 SUICIDE SQUAD #18 $2.99 MAR170326 -M DC 49 TEEN TITANS LAZARUS CONTRACT SPECIAL #1 $4.99 MAR170344 DC 50 NIGHTWING #20 $2.99 MAR170318 -M DC 51 WEAPON X #3 $3.99 MAR171087 -M MAR 52 NIGHTWING #21 $2.99 MAR170320 -M DC 53 SECRET EMPIRE UPRISING #1 $4.99 MAR170920 -M MAR 54 STAR WARS POE DAMERON #14 $3.99 MAR171121 -M MAR 55 ALL NEW WOLVERINE #20 $3.99 MAR171084 -M MAR 56 WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #1 $4.99 MAR170352 DC 57 BLACK BOLT #1 $3.99 MAR170984 -M MAR 58 DEADPOOL #30 $9.99 MAR171095 -M MAR 59 CAPTAIN AMERICA STEVE ROGERS #17 $3.99 MAR170922 MAR 60 MIGHTY THOR #19 $3.99 MAR171002 MAR 61 BATMAN THE SHADOW #2 $3.99 MAR170356 -M DC 62 DEATHSTROKE #19 $2.99 MAR170342 -M DC 63 SPIDER-MAN DEADPOOL #17 $3.99 MAR171023 MAR 64 DEADPOOL #31 $3.99 MAR170928 -M MAR 65 TRINITY #9 $3.99 MAR170345 -M DC 66 LUKE CAGE #1 $3.99 MAR170990 -M MAR 67 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #20 $2.99 MAR170298 -M DC 68 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21 $2.99 MAR170300 -M DC 69 GREEN LANTERNS #22 $2.99 MAR170294 -M DC 70 STAR WARS POE DAMERON #15 $3.99 MAR171123 MAR 71 I AM GROOT #1 $3.99 MAR170951 -M MAR 72 GREEN LANTERNS #23 $2.99 MAR170296 -M DC 73 DOCTOR STRANGE #21 SE $3.99 MAR170925 -M MAR 74 STAR WARS ROGUE ONE ADAPTATION #2 $3.99 MAR171124 -M MAR 75 SECRET WARRIORS #1 $3.99 MAR170931 -M MAR 76 DEADPOOL VS PUNISHER #3 $3.99 MAR171100 -M MAR 77 SPIDER-MAN #16 $3.99 MAR171021 MAR 78 AVENGERS #7 $3.99 MAR171000 MAR 79 SEVEN TO ETERNITY #6 $3.99 MAR170780 -M IMA 80 GENERATION X #2 $3.99 MAR170974 -M MAR 81 BATWOMAN #3 $3.99 MAR170276 -M DC 82 DEADPOOL VS PUNISHER #4 $3.99 MAR171102 -M MAR 83 BEN REILLY SCARLET SPIDER #2 $3.99 MAR171016 -M MAR 84 JEAN GREY #2 $3.99 MAR170965 -M MAR 85 GREEN ARROW #22 $2.99 MAR170290 -M DC 86 SPIDER-GWEN #19 $3.99 FEB170852 -M MAR 87 TRINITY ANNUAL #1 $4.99 MAR170347 DC 88 GREEN ARROW #23 $2.99 MAR170292 -M DC 89 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #7 $3.99 MAR171004 MAR 90 ROCKET #1 $3.99 MAR170945 -M MAR 91 PAPER GIRLS #14 $2.99 MAR170767 IMA 92 BLACK PANTHER #14 $3.99 MAR171034 -M MAR 93 AQUAMAN #22 $2.99 MAR170264 -M DC 94 DAREDEVIL #20 $3.99 MAR171051 MAR 95 NEIL GAIMAN AMERICAN GODS SHADOWS #3 (MR) [*] $3.99 MAR170032 -M DAR 96 UNCANNY AVENGERS #23 $3.99 MAR171001 MAR 97 AQUAMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170266 -M DC 98 JUSTICE LEAGUE POWER RANGERS #4 $3.99 FEB170273 DC 99 INFAMOUS IRON MAN #8 $3.99 MAR171003 MAR 100 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #10 $3.99 MAR170322 -M DC This information may not be reproduced in any format without the express permission of Diamond Comic Distributors. How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop. Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which includes the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from sales made to thousands of comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. Additional sales made to online merchants and other specialty stores may be included as well. Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond customers during any given month, which comprises pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable. Please note that comics marked with an asterisk (*) have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect. About the Diamond Sales Index: The Sales Index of selected monthly Best Seller Charts is presented as a comparative tool for retailers and publishers. It presents Diamond’s monthly sales for individual titles in relation to Diamond’s total sales for the issue of DC Comics' monthly Batman comic book. (Batman is used as the control title – with a value of 100 – because sales of Batman usually remain relatively stable. This month, as Batman did not ship, Convergence #8 from DC Entertainment was used as the control index.) This allows for easy comparison to other titles and helps retailers gauge their orders for all other titles. This formula is only a guide, other factors may impact a titles’ ability to sell in certain locations and clientele.

Born: November 27, 1971 I grew up in a small town in Puerto Rico called Vega Baja. It’s out in the country. My mom was a hairstylist back then. My dad, he was an electrician. Our parents worked hard for us. They didn’t make a lot of money. We lived day to day, but we were a family. 1975 I was just a typical kid. For fun, I’d ride my bike in the neighborhood or skateboard. I played basketball with my friends. My parents made sure I tried out every sport I could before deciding on one. Believe it or not, I was a really good volleyball player. Ivan Rodriguez 1976 Growing up, my parents were all about respect. And they were strict. My brother and I knew that when we came home from school, we had to go in and finish all of our homework right away. Then we’d have an hour or two when we could go outside and play. But it was a rule in my house that we all had to be together for dinner. That was mandatory. It wasn’t, One person is eating and then another one comes later. No. It was always 6:30, 6:45, we’d be eating dinner together, as a family. 1978 I started really focusing on baseball at the age of seven. Pretty much my whole family played baseball, and at the time both my dad and my mom were playing in softball leagues. I loved the game from Day One. I actually used to be a pitcher and a third baseman. That’s how I started. But my dad was my first coach, and he noticed pretty quickly that I had a strong arm. So one day he sat me down and told me, “You are not going to pitch or play third base anymore, you’re gonna be a catcher. And I think you’re gonna be a good catcher.” I immediately started crying. I didn’t want to catch. I wanted to be a third baseman and hit home runs. He said, “You can cry as much as you want, but you’re gonna catch from now on.” I was eight years old. Ivan Rodriguez I cried for about 15 minutes. But from that point on, I was a catcher. 1980 Even before I started catching, my favorite player growing up was Johnny Bench. For some reason those Big Red Machine teams were always on TV in Puerto Rico. And as a kid, I loved to watch Bench play. He did everything well, and he wasn’t all that big. So watching him gave me some hope that I might have a shot. Once I became a catcher, it kind of all made sense why I had liked him so much as a little kid. 1985 When I was 13, my dad moved me from my hometown to the San Juan Metroplex so I could train at the Raiders Baseball Academy. That’s where all the scouts were. I was on a traveling team, and we played all over the island. We also played some games in the States against American Legion teams. We had a really good team back then. We were very complete — good pitching, good offense, good defense. We’d usually win all those tournaments. Ivan Rodriguez 1988 Funny story about the day that I signed with the Rangers. I was 16 at the time, and there was a big Prospects Showcase for a bunch of major league teams in San Juan. Sandy Johnson was scouting for the Rangers then, and he was there with Omar Minaya and Manny Batista, who were also scouts with Texas. Luis Rosa, the owner of the baseball academy, had three or four catchers who he was showcasing. The problem for me was that I was last on Luis’s list — fourth in line. Literally. He was focused more on a few other catchers at the time. But Sandy saw me warming up in the outfield — just throwing back and forth — and he asked about me. He told Luis that he wanted to see me before the other catchers there. So I started out as last in the group, but they jumped me to first. And after my first throw down to second base, like as soon as it got to the bag, Sandy turned to Omar and said: “Stop him. I don’t need to see another throw. Don’t let him throw down to second again. Go tell Luis that I want this kid.” He knew there were scouts from other teams there, and he wanted to get to me first. So I went out to the parking lot and signed a contract on the trunk of a car, and that was that. 1989 My first trip to the U.S. after I signed was a disaster. I was all by myself, without my parents, and the plane was delayed. So I arrived in Miami late. Then I missed my connection to Sarasota, so I had to stay overnight in the terminal at the airport because the next flight wasn’t until the following morning. I slept on the floor. When I finally arrived in Sarasota, no one from the team was there to pick me up. I had to wait another two or three hours to get a ride. So that was my introduction to Florida. And the next morning, I was in Port Charlotte for spring training. 1989 I got my nickname on the very first day of camp. People always think I’m called “Pudge” because of Carlton Fisk. That’s not the case. I’m a huge fan of Carlton Fisk. He’s one of the greatest to ever play the game. But he had nothing to do with me being known as Pudge. Chino Cadahia, who was a Rangers coach at the time, gave me that name. He saw that I was short and stocky, so, from Day One, he started calling me “Pudge.” It caught on, and the rest is history. Ivan Rodriguez 1989 They knew I didn’t speak English very well when I arrived, but I told my coaches that I wanted to learn as quickly as possible. And I did. We took English classes every day from 6 to 7 p.m. back at our hotel. I studied hard, and that helped me a lot throughout my career. But at first when I went out to the mound, I’d be using a lot of hand motions, and just one or two words in English. 1989 It was a grind waking up at 5:30 in the morning every day to be at the ballpark at 6 or 6:30. And at Port Charlotte, from our locker room to the main field where we would do our stretching was almost a mile. So we’d have to walk a mile even before we got started every morning. But as a 17-year-old kid, it was hard to complain. I’d have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then go out and do my work for the whole day. 1989 There wasn’t much to do in Port Charlotte. There was one mall, but it wasn’t a very good one. The Rangers paid for us to go eat every day at a restaurant called Ponderosa. And other than Ponderosa there was a McDonald’s. That was it. Ponderosa was O.K. for two days, but after that, it started to get a bit old. So we’d have to go to McDonald’s … a lot. I can’t even tell you how many Chicken McNuggets that I ate back then. So many Chicken McNuggets. Ivan Rodriguez 1991 I was 19 when I got called up. The Rangers were playing in Chicago at the time. I never expected to be in the big leagues so soon. I should’ve been happy. But it was actually a little depressing. Get this: The day they called me up I was supposed to get married on the field down in Tulsa where I was playing Double A ball. The night before, we had done some rehearsals with all the players out on the field, and it went great. Then the next day my manager at the time, Bobby Jones, calls me into his office and says, “Hey kid, I think we have a problem.” I didn’t know what was going on. “You’re getting called up, so you have two choices. You can either get married here tonight, or you’re going to Chicago with the Rangers. But you can’t do both. If you’re headed to the big leagues, we’re going to have to delay the wedding.” So I went to Chicago. It was difficult to tell my fiancée that we couldn’t get married just yet. We ended up getting married the next year, in the spring, down in Port Charlotte. But not at the Ponderosa. 1991 When people ask me for my favorite memories as a player, I always think of my defense first. Every time I threw out a runner, or picked someone off the base paths, I enjoyed that so much. I’ll almost never talk about my hitting. But the one exception would probably be my first major league hit, because that was special. It was my first game with the Rangers. We were playing the White Sox. I’d just called off a wedding and traveled hundreds of miles to make it to Chicago. I was dead tired. We were losing by a run in the top of the ninth inning and I singled to drive in two runs and help us win the game. It was like something out of a movie. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. Tim Dipace/AP Images Every time I threw out a runner, or picked someone off the base paths, I enjoyed that so much. Ivan Rodriguez 1992 As a young player in Texas, I learned from so many veterans early on — Nolan Ryan, Julio Franco, Kenny Rogers, Rubén Sierra, Dean Palmer, Juan González, Kevin Brown, Tom Henke. That was my introduction to what it meant to be a major leaguer. They taught me from Day One to play the game hard. Those guys didn’t give a damn that I was young, that I was only 19 or 20. They expected me to do my job. They treated me like an adult. They didn’t treat me like a kid. And I learned from them. It’s not so much what they told me, it’s what I saw — it’s what they showed me by how hard they worked. 1993 One of the things that I always tried to remember, and that I developed during my years with the Rangers, was the importance of respecting the fans. I always respected the 45,000 or 50,000 people who paid good money to watch us play. They paid to see a good show on the field. So I always wanted to play my very best every day. I felt that I owed it to the fans. Getty Images 1994 Catching Kenny Rogers’s perfect game on July 28, 1994, meant a lot to me. I’d rather help a pitcher do something like that than hit a thousand home runs. To me, calling a great game and helping a pitcher be at his very best is what being a catcher is all about. 1999 That MVP season was probably the most fun I ever had playing baseball. People remember the 35 home runs that year, and the high batting average. But a lot of people forget about the steals. People think that because my nickname is Pudge, that I was a slow guy. Now, I’m not saying I’m fast. But I stole 25 bases that year. That’s pretty cool. 2002 I have no regrets about leaving the Rangers. Of course, I had wanted to play my whole career there. That was always my goal. But sometimes baseball is a business. A few years earlier, the Rangers had signed Alex Rodriguez to that $252 million contract. So with paying him that much money, they couldn’t really afford me. That’s part of baseball. I understand it. But I played hard every day for that team. I did my job. I worked my butt off. So … no regrets, and no hard feelings. Plus, it definitely helped that the Marlins thing worked out pretty good that next year. 2003 Game 1 of the World Series. Marlins vs. Yankees. At Yankee Stadium. Tie game. 1–1. Nick Johnson is on third base and is the go-ahead run. Well, Nick Johnson was on third base … until I picked him off to end the inning. We went on to win that game by one run, and that victory set the tone for the entire series. I’m pretty sure that’s my favorite play of my career. If I don’t make that throw and nail Nick Johnson, maybe that run scores and we lose that game, and who knows what happens in that series? But I got him. And that one felt so good. 2003 The last game of the 2003 World Series, Game 6, Josh Beckett was on the hill on just three days rest, and he threw a complete game. That was incredible to be a part of. And being able to celebrate in New York was amazing. To me, there’s no bigger stage in the world than Yankee Stadium. 2003 You know, that year, we never really got all that nervous during the World Series, because no one ever gave us a chance. We never felt like we had a ton of pressure on us. We were underdogs the whole playoffs — every series. No one expected us to win a single series in the playoffs. So we were beating the odds the whole time. We just had fun. We were loose. And I’m pretty sure that’s why we won it all. We just had fun. We were loose. And I’m pretty sure that’s why we won it all. 2004 Playing in Detroit was pretty special for me. That Old English D is iconic. There’s so much history there. A ton of Hall of Famers have been a part of the Tigers organization. And that meant something to me. I was proud to put on that uniform. I just have one big regret about my years as a Tiger…. 2006 I still can’t believe we didn’t win the World Series in 2006. It was really painful for me when we lost in five games to St. Louis. I was heartbroken — because we had such a good year. We had the perfect group of players. But everything fell apart. I still think about that one all the time. Baseball is crazy. You just never know. 2008 When I got to the Yankees, I remember being kind of in awe. It was just so cool to be able to put those pinstripes on and that Yankee Stadium was my home field. I really felt like I was part of history. Knowing all the great players who had been in that clubhouse was inspiring to me as a player. I wasn’t there long, but I’ll never forget it. 2011 During my final year with the Nationals, I realized something had changed. By that time, I was only playing one or two times a week. And that was very hard for me. Sitting on the bench was tough. And when I got my two days to play, everything was so different. The game had become much more difficult for me. It wasn’t the same anymore. Everything was faster and more mechanical. So I became frustrated, and it started to bring me down. I had a feeling it was going to be my last season, but when the off-season came, it was hard. I didn’t really want to end my career, but at the same time my mind wasn’t ready to go back to another spring training. I had some opportunities with some clubs. But I didn’t have the same passion anymore. And that’s when I decided to retire. It was time. AP Images 2017 There’s nothing I would change about my baseball career. No changes. Nothing. I’m very pleased with the career that I had. All the organizations I played for were first-class all the way. I’m proud to have played for all of them. And I’m proud of the respect that I showed for the game. Now … I guess if I could do one thing over again, or go back, I would say that I’d love to have 156 more hits, for 3,000. But, you know, 2,844, that’s a lot of hits. That’s not too bad. 2017 Everything that I’ve become and everything I’ve accomplished starts with my parents, Jose and Eva, Mom and Dad. Those two taught me everything in life. For me, everything starts at home, and I still, to this day, apply what they taught me growing up. I’m 45 years old … and I’m still getting advice from my mom. I’m still taking lessons from my dad. You should see me when those two are talking. I shut my mouth and listen, even at my age. And, you know what, to be completely honest, I have no complaints about that at all.

Oakland dad rescued with 2 kids: 'We are so grateful’ Nick Vlahos and two of his young children were rescued after being stranded in a remote part of Sierra County during a camping trip this week. Nick Vlahos and two of his young children were rescued after being stranded in a remote part of Sierra County during a camping trip this week. Photo: Courtesy / Marianne Vlahos Photo: Courtesy / Marianne Vlahos Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Oakland dad rescued with 2 kids: 'We are so grateful’ 1 / 5 Back to Gallery An Oakland man, rescued with his two children after being missing for two days in a rugged section of Northern California, described his frantic efforts to attract attention after his pickup truck became stuck on a camping trip, officials said. Nicholas Vlahos, his 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter were located by rescue crews Thursday night and were airlifted to a staging area near Camptonville, in Yuba County about 100 miles northeast of Sacramento, a dispatcher from the Downieville Fire Department said. Vlahos, 41, told KGO-TV that his pickup truck had gotten stuck and that he had spent the next 50 hours trying to get rescuers’ attention. “We are so grateful to everyone who looked for us, and I’m so sorry that I caused any worry,” Vlahos said. He said he could hear and see the rescuers before they finally spotted him, but “they couldn’t see us.” “We had fires going, I had pink blankets up in trees and yellow straps all over and we left bottles by the river,” Vlahos said. “We did everything we could.” His daughter, Mila, told the news station, “It was really scary.” Asked by her uncle, “But was it fun?” She replied, “Kinda.” “I think I’m still in shock,” Marianne Vlahos, Nicholas Vlahos’ wife, said shortly after she got word of her family’s rescue. “Today was like living in a nightmare. We were preparing for the worst.” Nearly 60 people had scoured a remote wilderness area for Nicholas Vlahos and the children after they didn’t return home from their weekend camping trip. Marianne Vlahos thanked those who spent two days searching for her family. “And the kids got to ride in a helicopter,” she added. “So I’m sure they are over the moon.” Nicholas Vlahos, who lives in Oakland’s Millsmont neighborhood, co-owns two 1920s-style barber shops in Alameda County that provide old-style haircuts and straight-razor shaves. His business partner, Bradley Roberts, described him as an experienced outdoorsman who frequently goes off-roading. Vlahos had last been heard from on Sunday, posting pictures on Instagram of his family along the Yuba River. He and the two children had last been seen in western Sierra County driving from their campsite in their 2015 black Toyota Tundra pickup truck, officials said. Search crews learned from a family member that Vlahos planned to take a drive through a remote and rugged portion of Sierra and Plumas counties on the trip home, said Sgt. Michelle Anderson with the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office. Searchers, including members of the California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, began the hunt for the family Tuesday, with crews searching the widespread wilderness area by helicopter and on the ground as cold weather moved in. Kale Williams, Evan Sernoffsky and Hamed Aleaziz are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, haleaziz@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @sfkale @evansernoffsky @haleaziz

By James Hall 21st Century Wire Leave it to the corporatist tax attorneys, re-incorporating a company overseas in order to reduce the tax burden on income earned abroad, by having a foreign company buy its current operations. The foreign company then owns assets, and the old incorporation dissolves, so goes the strategy of corporate inversion relocation. This Corporate Tax Shell Game, practiced with keen enthusiasm by world-class tax evaders and administered through their legions of CPA accountants, all rely upon a tax code designed to drive business overseas. Professor Kenneth P. Thomas cites the latest trend. “The FT reports that most of the new inversions are taking place in the context of a foreign acquisition. Two U.S. pharmaceutical companies, Perrigo and Activis, have bought Irish drug makers and are shifting their headquarters to Ireland, where the corporate income tax is only 12.5 percent. Other companies are relocating to the Netherlands or the United Kingdom after acquiring firms based there. I use the term “relocation” advisedly, because in fact these maneuvers will leave their U.S. operations unchanged.” A how to guide appears in, A guide to business relocation in Europe, that provides charts and tax rate comparisons by country. It goes on to explain four methods and variations, such as full migration, use of IP holding companies, regional hubs and off-shoring, as well as how relocation can add value under globalization, offer alternative responses during economic downturns, recognition of tax incentives and create competitive advantages. Well, so much for the PR pitch. Since pharmaceutical acquisitions and mergers are in vogue, The Street asks, What’s with all the healthcare and pharmaceutical mergers? “The latest merger talk in pharmaceutical circles is Pfizer’s pursuit of the British drug maker Astra Zeneca (AZN). The latter seems reluctant to be acquired, but Pfizer has been aggressive in its pursuit, despite a long-standing history as one of America’s oldest companies. And yet there could also be another reason to account for the huge spike in activity. Congress is in the process of considering raising the amount of assets a US companies needs to maintain overseas from 30% to 50%, making inversion significantly less attractive.” Heed the warning from chief executive Barry O’Leary of the Irish IDA, when he speaks out against such inversion practices. “As we’ve said for many years, ‘brass-plate’ operations provide no real economic benefit – we want companies that are going to provide jobs and investment.” Mr. O’Leary continues: “In relation to transactions that may not involve real substance in terms of jobs and investment in the Irish economy, the department has concerns and is examining ways to discourage such transactions without damaging legitimate business activity.” Is it not ironic that maximizing after tax returns, well established companies move their business charter to tax jurisdictions that offer new job creation incentives? Who could deny that a dominant aptitude of the globalist transnational’s is to work the system to avoid paying taxes? Just blaming those greedy corporate boards is not sufficient. Even IRS Chief John Koskinen Says Agency Cannot Stop Corporate Inversions. “The US probably cannot take regulatory action to prevent companies from paying lower taxes through corporate deals that shift their tax residences to low-tax regimes outside the country, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).” “We try to make sure people are within the bounds, but if they’re within the bounds, if they play according to the rules, then they have a right to do that,” he added. The point that should be discernible to any businessperson, the rules in the United States, made to encourage the exodus of jobs have disincentives for companies from reinvesting domestically. The globalists only want to sell into the American market. A previous attempt to regulate Inversions under Section 7874 of the Internal Revenue Code: Flawed Legislation, Flawed Guidance, just created different tax incentives to abandon accountability. “Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, adding section 7874 to the Internal Revenue Code. The new law effectively negated the tax benefits of inversions into tax haven parent corporations where the ownership of the group was not significantly affected by the restructuring. If, on the other hand, there was a significant change in ownership and if the change was not due to a public offering of shares in the foreign corporation, the new law sought only to impose U.S. tax on gains accrued by the U.S. parent up to the date of expatriation without being offset by foreign tax credits or net operating loss carryovers. If the group had substantial business activities in the foreign corporation’s country of incorporation, the new law would not apply.” Stuart Webber concludes in Escaping the U.S. Tax System: From Corporate Inversions to Re-Domiciling, illustrates the actual impact of the practice. “Section 7874 has made it more difficult to escape U.S. tax policies, but it has not made it impossible. Most start-up firms would be wise to incorporate abroad, unless they plan to do considerable business with the U.S. government. When a domestic firm merges with a foreign enterprise, they might choose the latter to be the corporate parent, at least for tax purposes. U.S. worldwide tax policies increase tax and administrative costs, and there are no signs this will change soon.” Providing inducements for American enterprises to move corporate headquarters overseas is suicidal. The Negotium essay, Rational Tariffs Lower Irrational Trade Deficits, provides the argument for building a strong domestic economy. A clear solution is possible with a simple tax requirement that if you sell into the domestic market, a foreign company, which includes any corporate inversions of former American businesses, needs to pay a tariff. The globalists fashioned their Corporatocracy as a refugee from accountability on many levels. However, exempting their ventures from paying actual and equitable tax obligations is a prime concern for the Plutocrats. Relocating their business plan to build real wealth creation enterprises needs to be the common goal for everyone. Achieving this vision is possible. The inversion of tax policy that returns to a former import tax, which protected the real economy so well from the inception of the country, offers hope. Read the entire article on the Corporatocracy archive page Subscription sign-up for the BATR RealPolitik Newsletter Discuss or comment about this essay on the BATR Forum READ MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR HERE: 21st Century Wire Hall Files

Union Minister Giriraj Singh has said that there is a need to review the definition of ‘minority’ in the country. “We need to have a relook on the definition of minority tag given to the Muslims having a population of over 20 crores in the country,” he said yesterday during a programme at Kashi Hindu University. Advertising “The places where they (Muslims) are in large numbers as well as where they are less in number…at both places they are called ‘minority’,” he said. On being asked about the current political scenario in Uttar Pradesh, he said, “It’s a fight between ambition and regime. Nobody is interested in healthy politics in the party and this is the reason why the party seems divided. Common people are fed up of family fueds and want a pro-people government”. Reacting to abduction of two brothers, residents of the national capital, who were rescued from Patna yesterday in a joint operation between Delhi police and their Bihar counterparts, he said, “Bihar has become a den of criminals and is limping back to ‘jungle raj'”.

Michigan officially declared on Monday afternoon that Trump was victorious, opening 48-hour window for challenge A recount will happen in Wisconsin and Stein will pay; in Michigan she now has 48 hours to ask for one and says she will She missed state-wide deadline for petition for a recount but her lawyers believe the claims of hacking form a separate legal avenue for them in bid to force recount there on top of one in Wisconsin Green Party candidate Jill Stein is using legal papers to claim Pennsylvania's voting machines could have been hacked as she attempts to force a state-wide recount, DailyMail.com has learned. The move would allow her to get round her failure to meet individual and state-wide deadlines for requests for a recount and is being submitted to a court on Monday afternoon. She had failed to meet the statewide deadline for a voter-initiated recount, which was Monday November 21, the Philadelphia Inquirer had reported. Instead she is questioning whether the electronic voting system in the state could have been tampered with as they tallied results - a separate legal avenue, her legal advisers believe. That would be enough, Stein's camp claim, to force a recount.Her lawyer told DailyMail.com there were four pages of expert evidence that the voting machines used in parts of the state were 'hackable'. Recount efforts are now moving in three states. As well as Pennsylvania: In Michigan, Stein has until Wednesday afternoon to file a formal request after Trump was officially declared the winner; In Wisconsin, officials said they would rush through a recount but would not do it by hand - and stood by the initial result. The moves came as Trump's aides continued to hammer the effort to force recounts in three states that handed Trump his victory over Hillary Clinton. Stein raised more than $6 million to fund recounts in Wisconsin, is bringing the legal case in Pennsylvania, and has 48 hours to do the same in Michigan following close and unexpected Trump wins there. President-elect Donald Trump's campaign spokesman blasted the latest recount effort as 'ridiculous' and said, 'This election's been decided' What did they talk about: Adam Parkhomenko, who was the founder of Ready For Hillary, tweeted this picture of him with the former First Family apparently meeting in Chappaqua Hacked? Jill Stein's claims center around the cyber security of the voting machines used in Pennsylvania. Stein announced her efforts after computer scientists released a study that they wrote showed differences in Trump's margin in counties that used optical scan voting technology as opposed to paper ballots. The study raised the possibility that election systems could have been hacked, but indicated this was unlikely. However the possibility of hacking appears to be central to Stein's legal case. 'It's going to be a Class II election contest in Pennsylvania, something that's never occurred before,' said Bucks County attorney Lawrence M. Otter, who is working on behalf of the Green Party's recount effort. 'It's basically asking for a recount of a presidential election, statewide.' The four-page petition includes an 'Exhibit A' that details 'information about the hackability of the electronic voting machine', said Otter. The move could get Stein out of one difficulty - that she had missed individual deadlines for recounts in some counties, and would not need to find three voters in each district to petition for a recount in each of them. However a recount in Pennsylvania could raise a number of challenges, according to experts. The state does not back up all of its electronic voting machines with paper ballots, which would make it extremely difficult to conduct a recount. 'The nightmare scenario would be if Pennsylvania decides the election and it is very close. You would have no paper records to do a recount,' said Lawrence Norden, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program, in a comment to the Los Angeles Times. The Green Party has a history of challenging vote results in presidential elections. Still, some critics have dismissed Stein's efforts as a 'gimmick' to help raise money, while others have speculated that the Clinton campaign is using Stein as a cut-out to challenge the election results. The Clinton camp this weekend announced that it was 'participating' in the effort, but doesn't expect a change in the outcome of the election. 'I really do think that it's been ridiculous that so much oxygen has been given to the recount effort, where there's absolutely no chance of any election results changing,' Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters on a conference call Monday. 'This election's been decided. It's a conceded election,' he said. Miller said Stein was using the recount as a fundraising effort, and noted that Clinton has already conceded the election, but failed to offer specific evidence for Trump's claim that millions of votes cast by illegal immigrants were being counted in Hillary Clinton's popular vote totals. 'So if this much attention and oxygen is going to be given to a completely frivolous, throwaway fundraising scheme by someone like Jill Stein, then there should be actual substantive looks at the overall examples of voter fraud, illegal immigrants voting in recent years,' Miller said. 'And so that's the broader message that I think should be taken away here.' Stein announced her plan after a report by c omputer scientists including J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, conducted an analysis of the vote. That analysis indicated that Clinton performed 7 per cent worse in Wisconsin counties that have electronic voting machines than in counties that relied on paper ballots that are logged with an optical scanner. Trump began bashing the recount effort from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach over the weekend. Failed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein filed for a recount in Wisconsin on Friday IS GEORGE SOROS BEHIND RECOUNT MOVES? The sources of cash for Jill Stein’s recount legal battle – and Hillary Clinton’s involvement in it – have yet to be disclosed. But among the intriguing questions hanging over it is whether George Soros, the billionaire financier, has aided the efforts of either camp. The question is being raised after links between Hillary Clinton’s general counsel, Marc Elias, and Soros were highlighted by Breitbart. Funder: Soros gave to Clinton lawyer Cash: Marc Elias has taken $5m from Soros Elias revealed the Clinton campaign’s involvement in the recount in Wisconsin on Saturday in a blogpost which did not say how it was being funded. But he has previously received large amounts of Soros funding for legal efforts to battle Republican states on voting laws. The Washington Post reported in August that Soros' spokesman said he had given $5 million to trusts used by Elias after the lawyer approached them with a proposal for legal challenges ‘up and down the ballot’ which would be useful to Democrats. Elias had argued that African-Americans and Latinos were illegally excluded from voting by restrictions brought in by Republicans. Ironically, if he got behind a full effort to overturn Wisconsin, it could be based on the opposite assertion – that illegal votes were mistakenly counted. The claim being advanced in Pennsylvania that the machines were hackable is based on work by the National Voting Rights Institute, which is either currently or was previously funded by the Open Society, a Soros –funded organization, and by the also Soros-funded Tides institute. 'Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California - so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias - big problem!' he wrote. Earlier, he suggested he would have won the popular vote as well as the electoral college – even as Hillary Clinton's lead over him climbed to 2.2 million ballots. The president-elect provided no evidence of the widespread voter fraud he claimed had occurred. 'In addition to winning the Electoral College by a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,' Trump tweeted. Miller referenced a Pew Research study that said 24 million, or one out of every eight, voter registrations were 'no longer valid or significantly inaccurate.' Trump himself has referenced the same study to charge that dead people are voting. Factcheck.org has written that the study argued for upgrading U.S. voting systems, and referenced the need to purge and improve voter rolls, not to claim that millions of people were voting improperly. Miller also referenced a '2014 Washington Post study that indicated that more than 14 per cent of noncitizens in both the 2008 and 2010 elections indicated they were registered to vote.' The article was by two academics who wrote a paper that was contested by some of their colleagues. Neither report dealt with any voting irregularities in the 2016 election. 'So all of these are studies and examples of where there have been issues of both voter fraud and illegal immigrants voting,' said Miller. Asked about whether the Justice Department would follow up on the charges of massive voter fraud, Miller said: 'I think it'd be inappropriate for me to speculate as far as Justice Department activity following – after inauguration or after swearing-in and the transfer of power has been completed.' 'Obviously I do think that it's an issue of concern, the fact that there's a concern that so many have voted who were not legally supposed to.' He mocked the recount story as 'just chasing the shiny object of the Jill Stein recount effort, which is really just a way for Ms. Stein and the Green Party to go and make money.' After his initial forays about the recount over the weekend, Trump followed up with two more tweets. He suggested it would have been easier for him to win the popular vote anyways, because he would have just campaigned in a handful of highly-populated states. 'It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4--,' he began. 'states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!' he concluded in the second tweet. Former White House senior advisor to President Obama Dan Pfeiffer slammed Trump for the unsubstantiated claims. 'We will have a Conspiracy Theorist in charge of our government, our military and our nuclear arsenal. What could possibly go wrong?' Pfieffer wrote. Explosive: Trump's series of tweets which started the storm over claims of illegal voting Loving the spotlight: Jill Stein has been given the sort of attention she never got during the campaign. On Wednesday she will appear on The View Clinton's camp joined Green Party candidate Jill Stein in her efforts for a recount in three major electoral college states; Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said Monday he had 'not seen any voter irregularity in the millions.' 'I don't know what he was talking about on that one,' Lankford told CNN's 'New Day.' Wisconsin's elections commission voted Monday to approve a recount once payment is received from Stein, who is also pushing for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, where Trump's lead reached nearly 11,000 votes. 'We intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides,' said Clinton campaign attorney Marc Elias. In Michigan the state's board of canvassers on Monday certified Trump's 2,279,543 votes to 2,268,839 – a difference of 10,704 votes. He beat her by 47.6 per cent to 47.2 per cent. The official declaration on Michigan gives Stein a 48-hour window to request a recount, which she said she would do. In Wisconsin, the recount was given the formal go-ahead but will not be done by hand. That would need a separate court order, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said, as it also stood by the earlier result. 'If nothing else, this is going to give us a very good audit, it's going to re-assure Wisconsin voters that we have a fair system, that we're not counting illegal votes,' Elections Commission chairman Mark Thomsen said, reported CNN. Just what Clinton intends to do is unclear but in an intriguing development, she was pictured meeting with Adam Parkhomenko, a key member of her inner circle. He tweeted the picture of her and Bill Clinton, apparently in Chappaqua, among a series of tweets about the election recount and criticisms of Trump.

Glenn Beck went on Bill O'Reilly's program last night, protesting his innocence after Paul Krugman ably limned the culpability that people like Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and other right-wing yammerers have in raising the temperature of the national discourse to the level that now violent right-wing nutcases are popping off like so much popcorn. It was, of course, an extended exercise in frantic obfuscation, like a cat trying to cover its dung: Beck: Well, first of all, the only people responsible for anybody's death are the people -- O'Reilly: Are the murderers. Beck: Are the murderers. Ah yes, the nonexistent "lone wolf" defense. Gee, I guess this means that those suicide bombers in Baghdad and Jerusalem are just "isolated incidents" too, and no one but the bombers themselves are responsible. At least in Beck's and O'Reilly's world. O'Reilly: Well, now, Paul Krugman doesn't feel that way. Beck: Oh, no. No. But you know what I found? Paul Krugman -- he's of course blaming you as -- well, you're the baby killer ... killer -- whatever -- O'Reilly: The assassin enabler. Beck: Yeah. And I am, uh, I am responsible for all kinds of conspiracy theories, I think I'm also responsible for the Holocaust shooter -- O'Reilly: Well, lemme, lemme, lemme quote -- here's what Krugman said about you today. He's criticizing Fox News: Exhibit A for the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism is Fox News’s new star, Glenn Beck. Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda ... . Beck: Never said that. Never said that. O'Reilly: But Krugman doesn't care whether you said it or not. It sounds good. Beck: Oh, I know. Never said that. You know, the reason I did that concentration camp thing or that FEMA story was because I snapped on the air one day. ↓ Story continues below ↓ O'Reilly: No! You? Beck: Somebody called me on the radio and I said, 'Can we stop with the FEMA camps? Can we stop with the FEMA camps? I want, one way or another, I want it yes or no.' So I went to my staff and I said, 'I want proof that these don't exist, please?' A couple -- oh, maybe about a week later they came to me and said, 'Well, we don't really have proof' -- I said, 'You've gotta be kidding me. What do you mean, we don't really have proof.' We contracted with Popular Mechanics. It took us, ah, four weeks -- the reason why it took us four weeks is because I said, 'See this video on television? I want you to find that prison, go there, and tell everybody what it is so we can A-B compare.' O'Reilly: And they couldn't find it. Beck: No, we found what's called the 'prison'. It's an abandoned train depot. O'Reilly: But it wasn't a prison. Beck: It's not a prison. O'Reilly: But it doesn't matter what you say, or what I say. They're going to take it and -- what Krugman wanted to do was he wanted to tell is readers -- who never watch you, by the way, they never watch Fox News either -- that you are accusing Obama of building concentration camps. Well, Beck did indeed run a noteworthy segment that actually debunked the FEMA concentration-camp theories. But it was something akin to running a single correction on A23 for a series of sensationally bannered stories on A1. Just as important, Beck has continually charged that the Obama administration is leading us, as Krugman charged, down the path to totalitarianism. That has, in fact, been the entire theme of his show for several months now. You see, what's missing from Beck's account is the fact that he broadcast to the world, on numerous occasions, the fact that "he couldn't disprove" the concentration-camps story. First there was his March 3 appearance on Fox and Friends: Beck: We don't even understand freedom anymore. We are a country that is headed toward socialism, totalitarianism, beyond your wildest imagination. I have to tell you, I am doing a story tonight, that I wanted to debunk these FEMA camps. I'm tired of hearing about them -- you know about them? I'm tired of hearing about them. I wanted to debunk them. We'll we've now for several days been doing research on them -- I can't debunk them! And we're going to carry the story tonight. ...It is our government -- if you trust our government, it's fine. If you have any kind of fear that we might be headed toward a totalitarian state, there is something going on in our country that it's -- it ain't good. Beck tried a month later to portray himself as fundamentally skeptical of the claims -- but he sure had a funny way of showing it a few weeks before. He also reported it credibly, twice, on his own Fox News program. As he promised on Fox and Friends, he announced on the air that night that "we can't disprove" the FEMA concentration camps story. Now, that's modern media ethics for ya: Broadcast to the world that "you can't disprove" a cockamamie, half-baked and wild-sounding theory, do it several times, and then quietly run a story in fact disproving the theory four weeks later. So, I keep hearing that Glenn Beck fellates Bill O'Reilly under the anchor desk each week just prior to his regular appearance on The O'Reilly Factor (why do you think they call it "At Your Beck and Call"?). And you know what, I've set my staff about finding out the truth, and they can't disprove it! We'll get back to you in about four weeks with the real scoop on that one. Have lots of brain bleach handy. In the meantime, we'll repeat this several times: We hear Beck fellates BillO, and we can't disprove it!

It’s been nearly two weeks since Jeffrey Lord, the former Reagan administration official and pro-Trump political commentator, was sacked from his contributor job at CNN. The abrupt firing, officially due to Lord tweeting “Sieg Heil!,” prompted a phone call of support from Steve Bannon, then President Donald Trump’s chief strategist. Now Bannon has lost his job, too. And as he settles back at the conservative website Breitbart, were he once again is head honcho, he may end up bringing Lord along with him. The Daily Beast can confirm that Lord is eyeing Breitbart, one of the most influential Trump-boosting outlets in the country, as a post-CNN gig. Two sources familiar with the situation tell The Daily Beast that, post-firing, Breitbart reached out to Lord regarding writing for the site, for a contributorship or a potentially steadier job. Last week, Lord emailed The Daily Beast that he was indeed actively exploring post-CNN media options, stating that he had “three possibilities already! LOL!” and was “taking a week off and then back to figuring out the future.” Lord did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the specifics of said options. Should it materialize, Lord’s move to Breitbart would come amid a period of transition for the site. Bannon has pledged to further weaponize Breitbart as a vehicle for his brand of right-wing populist-nationalist politics—and against that movement’s political foes, including the perceived enemies working in Trump’s administration itself. One well-placed source notes that discussions between Breitbart and Lord are in the “preliminary stage” at the moment. But Lord knows many staffers at the site, due to his many years working in conservative media, long before the rise of Trumpism. And the site has often praised his work. (Lord is already a contributing writer at Newsbusters, for instance.) Lord has appeared on Breitbart’s radio program, has been quoted as an expert by Breitbart’s political editor Matthew Boyle, and has known Bannon for years. Bannon actually asked Lord several years ago to write for Breitbart, after the two had appeared together on Fox News’s equally pro-Trump host Sean Hannity’s show, according to a source familiar with the conversation. Breitbart’s publicist declined to comment on this story. Outside of a move to Breitbart, Lord is exploring other options in conservative media—which could prove more limited than a CNN alumnus might expect. On the day of Lord’s sudden firing from CNN over a Nazi-related joke, Fox News told NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik that it wouldn’t be hiring the now-ex CNN hand. One America News Network, a pro-Trump cable channel pitching itself as an aspiring Fox News rival, has an opening after recently firing former Trump campaign manager and ex-CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski. But Robert Herring, the network’s chief executive, told The Daily Beast on Monday that the channel was “obviously not” looking to land Lord as a paid on-air contributor. Asked why that was obvious, Herring simply said he didn’t know who Lord is.

The only way forward is back: to retrace our steps and seek to return atmospheric concentrations to around 350ppm The data go back 800,000 years: that's the age of the oldest fossil air bubbles extracted from Dome C, an ice-bound summit in the high Antarctic. And throughout that time there has been nothing like this. At no point in the preindustrial record have concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air risen above 300 parts per million (ppm). 400ppm is a figure that belongs to a different era. The difference between 399ppm and 400ppm is small, in terms of its impacts on the world's living systems. But this is a moment of symbolic significance, a station on the Via Dolorosa of environmental destruction. It is symbolic of our failure to put the long-term prospects of the natural world and the people it supports above immediate self-interest. The only way forward now is back: to retrace our steps and seek to return atmospheric concentrations to around 350ppm, as the 350.org campaign demands. That requires, above all, that we leave the majority of the fossil fuels which have already been identified in the ground. There is not a government or an energy company which has yet agreed to do so. Recently, Shell announced that it will go ahead with its plans to drill deeper than any offshore oil operation has gone before: almost 3km below the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, Oxford University opened a new laboratory in its department of earth sciences. The lab is funded by Shell. Oxford says that the partnership "is designed to support more effective development of natural resources to meet fast-growing global demand for energy." Which translates as finding and extracting even more fossil fuel. The European Emissions Trading Scheme, which was supposed to have capped our consumption, is now, for practical purposes, dead. International climate talks have stalled; governments such as ours now seem quietly to be unpicking their domestic commitments. Practical measures to prevent the growth of global emissions are, by comparison to the scale of the challenge, almost nonexistent. The problem is simply stated: the power of the fossil fuel companies is too great. Among those who seek and obtain high office are people characterised by a complete absence of empathy or scruples, who will take money or instructions from any corporation or billionaire who offers them, and then defend those interests against the current and future prospects of humanity. This new climate milestone reflects a profound failure of politics, in which democracy has quietly been supplanted by plutocracy. Without a widespread reform of campaign finance, lobbying and influence-peddling and the systematic corruption they promote, our chances of preventing climate breakdown are close to zero. So here stands our political class at a waystation along the road of idiocy, apparently determined only to complete the journey. www.monbiot.com

Neil Barofsky was at the very center of the U.S. government's response to the 2008 economic collapse. He spent more than two years, until March of 2011, as Special Inspector General for the TARP program, overseeing and monitoring government bailout funds. Now, Barofsky has written a ferocious book detailing how, he says, "Washington abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street." And he's here to take questions from you, the Main Streeters. From Bailout: I now realize that the American people should lose faith in their government. They should deplore the captured politicians and regulators who took their taxpayer dollars and distributed them to the banks without insisting that they be accountable for how they were spent. They should be revolted by a financial system that rewards failure and protects the fortunes of those who drove the system to the point of collapse and will undoubtedly do so again. They should be enraged by the broken promises to Main Street and the unending protection of Wall Street. Because only with this appropriate and justified rage can we sow the seeds for the types of reform that will one day break our system free from the corrupting grasp of the megabanks. It is my own anger that compelled me to write this book. The pro and anti-Barofsky media tussling in reaction to his book has been a separate drama in itself. Neil Barofsky is here to answer any and all questions you have about TARP, bailouts, the Obama administration, Wall Street fuckery, economics, or anything else, beginning at 2 p.m. today. So put your questions in the box below, now! Photo: AP. Bailout is available in stores today. Neil Barofsky is currently a Senior Fellow at New York University School of Law. From December 2008 until March 2011, he served as the Special Inspector General in charge of oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Before that he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. You can follow him on Twitter here.

The researchers published their results in the coming issue of the scientific journal Physical Review Letters. \”Attempts to calculate the Hoyle state have been unsuccessful since 1954,\” said Professor Dr. Ulf-G. Meißner (Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik der Universität Bonn). \”But now, we have done it!\” The Hoyle state is an energy-rich form of the carbon nucleus. It is the mountain pass over which all roads from one valley to the next lead: From the three nuclei of helium gas to the much larger carbon nucleus. This fusion reaction takes place in the hot interior of heavy stars. If the Hoyle state did not exist, only very little carbon or other higher elements such as oxygen, nitrogen and iron could have formed. Without this type of carbon nucleus, life probably also would not have been possible. The search for the \”slave transmitter\” The Hoyle state had been verified by experiments as early as 1954, but calculating it always failed. For this form of carbon consists of only three, very loosely linked helium nuclei – more of a cloudy diffuse carbon nucleus. And it does not occur individually, only together with other forms of carbon. \”This is as if you wanted to analyze a radio signal whose main transmitter and several slave transmitters are interfering with each other,\” explained Prof. Dr. Evgeny Epelbaum (Institute of Theoretical Physics II at Ruhr-Universität Bochum). The main transmitter is the stable carbon nucleus from which humans – among others – are made. \”But we are interested in one of the unstable, energy-rich carbon nuclei; so we have to separate the weaker radio transmitter somehow from the dominant signal by means of a noise filter.\” What made this possible was a new, improved calculating approach the researchers used that allowed calculating the forces between several nuclear particles more precisely than ever. And in JUGENE, the supercomputer at Forschungszentrum Jülich, a suitable tool was found. It took JUGENE almost a week of calculating. The results matched the experimental data so well that the researchers can be certain that they have indeed calculated the Hoyle state. More about how the Universe came into existence \”Now we can analyze this exciting and essential form of the carbon nucleus in every detail,\” explained Prof. Meißner. \”We will determine how big it is, and what its structure is. And it also means that we can now take a very close look at the entire chain of how elements are formed.\” In future, this may even allow answering philosophical questions using science. For decades, the Hoyle state was a prime example for the theory that natural constants must have precisely their experimentally determined values, and not any different ones, since otherwise we would not be here to observe the Universe (the anthropic principle). \”For the Hoyle state this means that it must have exactly the amount of energy it has, or else, we would not exist,\” said Prof. Meißner. \”Now we can calculate whether – in a changed world with other parameters – the Hoyle state would indeed have a different energy when comparing the mass of three helium nuclei.\” If this is so, this would confirm the anthropic principle. The study was jointly conducted by the University of Bonn, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, North Carolina State University, and Forschungszentrum Jülich. E. Epelbaum, H. Krebs, D. Lee, Ulf-G. Meißner, Ab initio calculation of the Hoyle state, Physical Review Letters, 2011. Online: http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v106/i19/e192501 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.192501 Contact: Prof. Dr. Ulf-G. Meißner Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik der Universität Bonn Ph.: +49 228/73-2365 Email: [email protected] Prof. Dr. Evgeny Epelbaum Institut für Theoretische Physik II Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie der Ruhr-Universität Bochum Telefon: +49 234/32-28707 E-Mail: [email protected]

It's been 6 months since Brenda Durkeee spent time in her own home in Dandridge. She's been in the hospital bed recovering from an accident she never saw coming. "And blast; it just went off," said Brenda Durkeee Brenda said her husband's shot gun went off without warning, shooting her in the stomach. "I can still see it in my mind," said Brenda. "I can see the fire shoot out of the end of the gun, about that far,' she continued. It was all an accident. "I can't put into words," said Bob Durkee, Brenda's husband. Bob was headed to put his gun away inside after shooting a squirrel that was eating the last of their petunias. That's when Bob said his world turned upside down. "I didn't know what I was going to do if she passed away," said Bob. "I don't know how I was going to live without her," he added. When all seemed lost at their home that day, the couple said God led them to a place where they found joy in spite of their situation and love in the nurses and even strangers watching over them. "I had prayers going out all over the world," said Brenda. "I got over 200 cards, and all these nurses telling me I'm praying for you," she continued. The couple said they thankfully passed this test of faith and nothing, not even a shooting, will ever put a dent in their marriage. "God is good," said Bob. "I have to say God is good," he continued.

TORONTO, ON -- After months of anticipation, the Sylvan Lake Local Organizing Committee today announce the ticketing information for the Kraft Hockeyville 2014 NHL pre-season game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Calgary Flames that will be played at the Sylvan Lake Multiplex on September 24, 2014. “We are thrilled to host the celebration of our Kraft Hockeyville win with four days of fun-filled events, including the NHL pre-season game,” said Graham Parsons, co-chair of the Sylvan Lake Local Organizing Committee. “We have a packed schedule of free, non-ticketed events so the whole community can be involved in this historic moment for our town.” To ensure fairness, tickets to the game will be allocated in the following way: The official draw(s) for the NHL pre-season game tickets will be conducted at the Sylvan Lake Multiplex on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 between 5:00 PM MST and 7:00 PM MST. To enter, eligible entrants need to visit the Sylvan Lake Multiplex on 48th Street in Sylvan Lake to complete a ballot during one of the dates and times listed below: - Saturday, August 30, 2014 from 10:00 AM MST to 4:00 PM MST - Saturday, September 6, 2014 from 10:00 AM MST to 4:00 PM MST - Sunday, September 7, 2014 from 12:00 PM MST to 4:00 PM MST The draws are open to: - Residents of the Sylvan Lake area (as determined by those with addresses in postal code T4S) who have reached the age of majority in Alberta on or before September 15, 2014, except immediate family members of the Sylvan Lake Local Organizing Committee and the Kraft Hockeyville Partners. - Individuals who reside outside the Town of Sylvan Lake yet have one or more children registered in a school in Sylvan Lake or a minor sports program offered by a Sylvan Lake based organization and have reached the age of majority on or before September 15, 2014, except immediate family members of the Sylvan Lake Local Organizing Committee and the Kraft Hockeyville Partners. - A limited number of tickets will be available in a separate draw to supporters from outside the immediate Sylvan Lake area who are residents of Clearwater County, Red Deer County, Lacombe County, Ponoka County, County of Stettler No. 5, Mountain View County and/or the incorporated municipalities within their boundaries and have reached the age of majority on or before September 15, 2014, except immediate family members of the Sylvan Lake Local Organizing Committee and the Kraft Hockeyville Partners. Eligibility will be determined by postal code for those areas specified. - Each Eligible Entrant may only submit one (1) ballot in either the ballot box marked for residents or for supporters, not both. For official draw rules, please visit the Sylvan Lake Hockeyville Facebook page and/or the Sylvan Lake Multiplex. Sylvan Lake will be celebrating their Kraft Hockeyville win over four days kicking off with a Kraft Hockeyville Fun Fair on Sunday, September 21, 2014, followed by sports days, BBQs, and community gatherings, which are all free, non-ticketed events for the local community. Further details regarding the Kraft Hockeyville 2014 celebrations in Sylvan Lake will be provided in the coming weeks. The festivities will be anchored by the Arizona Coyotes vs. Calgary Flames NHL pre-season game that will be played at 5:00 PM MST on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. On April 5, 2014 Sylvan Lake was named Kraft Hockeyville 2014, winning the pre-season match up, as well as $100,000 in prizing that will be used towards rebuilding its beloved arena that collapsed earlier this year.

Trombone player Charlie Halloran will appear at this year’s French Quarter Fest on nine separate occasions. Given that each set is slated to last approximately one hour, Halloran expects to perform about nine hours of live music between Thursday, April 9, and Sunday, April 12. He’ll have to play about 70 individual songs in many different styles throughout the festival. That’s like running a marathon, only on stage in front of tens of thousands of people who expect top performances from each musician, and all while playing the trombone. For Halloran, this French Quarter Fest, his seventh since moving to New Orleans from his native St. Louis, will be just another exercise in endurance. “On Thursday, my day is all over the map, which is really cool,” he said. “I’m playing with the Diablo’s Horns in the morning, and then Panorama Jazz Band plays right after them, and then I’m playing with Steve Pistorius at Preservation Hall for a CD release party. I’m not on the CD, but I’m subbing for his normal trombone player. On Friday, I’m playing with Steve Pistorius again, and then that evening I’m playing at d.b.a. Saturday, I’m playing with Tim Laughlin and Orange Kellin, and then I play the Spotted Cat with Panorama. And then on Sunday, I’m playing with the Palmetto Bug Stompers, and then Cori Walters’ band, and then Tom Saunders and the Tomcats.” If the nine French Quarter fest appearances won’t be enough, you’ll be able to see Halloran on Friday and Saturday nights on Frenchmen Street, bringing the total number of shows he will play into the double digits. So how is he going to prepare for such a herculean feat of musical endurance? “I’ll try to get a good breakfast in every morning and get as much sleep as I can each night,” he said. “I’m not going to be going out at night. I’m going to wait until Sunday night before I go out to unwind. It’s always important to me, as dumb as it sounds, that I eat well on weekends like that.” With nine hours of playing on tap, dealing with fatigue and other physical considerations has to be a priority. “I keep a bottle of Advil in my trombone case, and I’ll pop an Advil whenever my lips start to swell up,” Halloran said. “I take a long time every morning warming up. I get up early for a musician. I’ll probably get up at nine every day and I’ll spend an hour playing long tones and warming up really carefully, just to be prepared.” While Miles Teller’s bleeding hands in the recent movie Whiplash and the now-legendary tales of Bruce Springsteen playing guitar until his fretboard was covered with blood from his split open fingertips are familiar to music fans, playing the trombone for excessive lengths of time also creates physical problems. “It does get hard, playing that many hours,” Halloran said. “I’ve been lucky that I haven’t had any problems with my elbow or my back from playing trombone. Most of the people who have issues with that will have to do Alexander techniques, or they have to do carpal tunnel treatments.” Halloran said he has fully recovered from a hernia that may or may not have been caused or exacerbated by his trombone playing, but his main concern is the state of his lips. “Lip-wise, if you don’t warm it up correctly, it’s like going out and sprinting without stretching first,” he said. “Your lips will swell up on you, and they won’t respond consistently the way you want them to for you to play nine hours in a day. They’ll get swollen and slow.” But the hardworking Halloran will not be alone in his ironman approach. Attentive festival attendees will likely see the same musicians on multiple stages throughout French Quarter Fest. “When you’re running from stage to stage, you see all of the other people who are doing that as well,” Halloran said. “I’ll see Matt Perrine a hundred times, I’ll see Craig Klein a hundred times, I’ll see Ernie Ellie a hundred times. I’m going to see all of these people who are just zooming from job to job.” These performers, some of whom have gravitated to New Orleans from across the globe, carry on a rich tradition of sidemen that have helped prop up jazz music since the art form was created. For these musicians, the glory lies in playing within the context of a band, not necessarily from standing in the spotlight. “I’m not the star of any of the shows, so that’s a bit of a relief,” Halloran said. “I couldn’t be the star of nine performances, but I can stand off to the side. That’s fine.” But not being the band leader does come with its share of drawbacks. Halloran will have to meld into the style of drastically different bands on the fly, with only 20 minutes between some sets. Surprisingly, that is what he considers to be the easy part. “Mentally, I love playing with all of these people,” he said. “It’s a total treat for me. It’s always exciting. I’m happy to be there. It’s really easy to stay in the moment because it’s a real treat.” So keep an eye out for Charlie Halloran this French Quarter Fest. You’ll more than likely see him more than once.

Before premiers, liquor unions and corporations start falling all over each other in an effort to cash in on legal cannabis sales, let's remember the real reasons we should be ending cannabis prohibition in Canada. Yes, we should be legalizing cannabis in Canada, but not because of the tax revenue it will generate, and not because legalization a better way to keep cannabis from kids, and not even because polls show that most Canadians now support changing the law. We should be ending cannabis prohibition in Canada because the war on cannabis and cannabis users has always been unjustified, immoral and harmful to individuals and society. Let us remember that cannabis prohibition was founded solely on racism and ignorance. There was never any valid scientific, health, or social reason to ban cannabis and punish cannabis users in the first place. As a society, we need to acknowledge these truths before we can start talking about tax rates and points of sale. The first step must be to immediately end all arrests for possession and personal cultivation, nationwide. That must be at the top of the agenda for any cannabis reform in Canada. These days, Canada's cannabis community is feeling like the Little Red Hen from the classic fairy tale. We remember what happened when we asked, "Who will help us fight against cannabis prohibition?" "Not us," said the unions. "There are a lot of jobs for us in arresting and jailing cannabis users." "Not us," said the corporations. "Legal cannabis would hurt our investments in pharmaceuticals." "Not us," said the politicians. "Instead, we're going to pass stricter laws than ever, because that gets us more votes!" So we did it by ourselves. Canada's cannabis community opened bong shops and seed shops, we created cannabis magazines and websites, we held cannabis rallies and opened medical dispensaries, all in peaceful civil disobedience and in defiance of these unfair laws. When some of us were raided by police and ended up in front of a judge, we asked "Who will help us fund these important court cases, to defend our rights and change these unjust laws?" "Not us," said the unions. "All these new prisons mean jobs, jobs, jobs!" "Not us," said the corporations. "We can't patent cannabis medicines, so we don't care." "Not us," said the politicians. "In fact, we will fight you in court every step of the way!" So the cannabis community raised the funds ourselves. We used the money from our openly illegal bong shops, seed banks and dispensaries to pay lawyers and cover court costs, chipping away at prohibition one case at a time. It was through the courts that we forced the government to first create a medical cannabis program, and every single improvement and expansion of the program has come as a result of lengthy and expensive court battles funded by grassroots activists. Now that we have mostly beaten the laws in court and on the street, with cannabis gardens and dispensaries spreading into every city and town across the country, we ask, "Who will help us sell cannabis and profit from legalization?" "We will sell it to you for profit!" say the unions. "We know how to sell liquor, and it's all the same thing, right?" "We will sell it to you for profit!" say the corporations. "We will sell it to you for $15 a gram, as long as the police shut down all the illegal dispensaries first." "We will sell it to you for profit!" say the politicians. "We will keep the taxes high, so we can pay for all the harm that you cannabis users are causing society." To which we say, "Get lost! We will keep growing it and selling it ourselves. We already have hundreds of dispensaries across the country that are providing great quality cannabis. We already have dozens of court precedents which have forced your police to stop arresting our people. We already have a thriving culture and a vigorous, successful and diversified cannabis industry. We don't need your help, but thanks anyways." The moral of the story? Those who show no willingness to contribute to a product do not deserve to share it. Canada's cannabis community doesn't need the liquor unions, or the corporations, or the politicians to take over our industry. We know what we're doing when it comes to growing, distributing and enjoying cannabis. The groups that have oppressed our culture and fought against legalization should not be the groups that get to regulate and profit from our sacred plant. Just get rid of your ridiculous prohibition laws, stop arresting and hassling peaceful people for pot, and leave the rest to us. MORE ON HUFFPOST:

My name is Thaddeus Bronzewhistle and I was born in the 49th year of the reign of The Queen. I left civilization to promote the ideas and ethics of Science. I worship at the altar of celestial order, as is right and proper for a Subject of The Queen. My barber has commented that I am a fine specimen of my Class, with a stance neither above nor below my correct Station in life: The Middle Class. I hold it not against the Creator that I have been placed thus in life, for my Station is the logical result of the Machinations of Fate. But were I born an Aristocrat I would be able to fully devote myself to the Noble Calling of Science, though I shall not indulge in thoughts which are against the Natural Order of the Universe for such thoughts lead to Madness, as well we all know from the terrible stories one may read in back pages of The Empire Times. My assigned role in our proud Settlement is to Oversee the Chemists Shop. I am not especially well trained in the mixing of tonics and powders (such base concerns when the pure knowledge of Science lies at my finger’s grasp!), but One Must Do One’s Duty for The Empire, and if the Bureaucracy has deemed this the most fitting place for my efforts, then to the task I shall apply myself as a good Subject must. Happily, rather few orders – oh, I shall admit it: no orders at all – requesting the production of Sulphur Tonics, Laudanum, or Fertilisers have been submitted to my shop. Were there, I’m afraid I would have to dirty my hands fetching the ingredients myself, for not a single Lower Class Labourer has been assigned to me by The Bureaucracy. Hauling of goods is certainly beneath me, for I am of the Middle Class and awfully glad not to be grubbing about in the dirt as the Lower Class does — so far from the Infinite Ordered Categories and Perfect Geometries of Science, I whisper to myself and suddenly catch that I am speaking aloud. I look about, but none have heard me for I am perfectly alone in my shop, as I always am. I carefully mark in my log book another full day of my assignment to the Chemist’s shop completed, not an order filled. I find my Mind straying, my thoughts turning to what Unknown Things might be hiding themselves in this Exotic Wilderness which our dear Settlement was founded in. Why, Science is furthered by examination of the Unknown, is it not? Even if it is to appear an abomination to what those of a Traditionalist character would believe be right, is it not our duty to examine the Unknown in whatever form we may find it in? True, there is a standing order of Policy to return any Unknown Object to the outgoing stockpiles immediately, to be returned to The Empire, so that the Royal Ministry of Investigation into The Occult and Other Troubles may subject it to their Examinations and, if not found to require immediate Purging, only then might be submitted to the Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge for study and thereupon advancing the March of Science! My idle sweeping of the perfectly clean geometries of the floorboards became more agitated as I spoke to myself of what Scientific Wonders might be lost forever due to the actions of some small-minded zealots, overeager to fulfill their duties (as, granted, it is every Subject’s Duty). Why, it was a very good thing indeed that I had hidden the statue I had found, the one I had found that moonless night I had slipped out to the beach, to where it had been whispered in my ear as I swept. I had hidden It in the corner of the Chemists Shop at which I was ordered to work every day, doing nothing, Alone all day, every day, each report checked and filed, every line blank. I could drink my fill of the Unknown, with none watching to report me to the Bureaucracy. And as I looked upon the Unknown, it looked upon me and spoke Pure Knowledge to my mind in fits and gurgles and the crash of breakers upon the shore. They knew. I knew they would know. They had come. I knew they would come. The beauty of the moment was broken by gunshots, cries of fear, a shout: “- They’re coming from the sea!”.

A former Republican member of the 9/11 commission, breaking dramatically with the commission’s leaders, said Wednesday he believes there was clear evidence that Saudi government employees were part of a support network for the 9/11 hijackers and that the Obama administration should move quickly to declassify a long-secret congressional report on Saudi ties to the 2001 terrorist attack. The comments by John F Lehman, an investment banker in New York who was Navy secretary in the Reagan administration, signal the first serious public split among the 10 commissioners since they issued a 2004 final report that was largely read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia, which was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11. “There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government,” Lehman said in an interview, suggesting that the commission may have made a mistake by not stating that explicitly in its final report. “Our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia.” (The Guardian) ——————————————————— I don’t think we’re going to get the toothpaste back in the tube on this one. Might as well release those 28 pages now because it’s not going to get any better for our dear Saudi friends. According to RT, the FBI has more potential dirt on the Saudis to the tune of 80,000 files. And what about those five dancing Israelis in New Jersey on 9/11? TTG http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/12/911-commission-saudi-arabia-hijackers?CMP=twt_gu https://www.rt.com/usa/342836-fbi-documents-saudi-arabia-911/ http://abcnews.go.com/2020/[object%20Object] This last ABC News link leads to an error 404 page. To view it, put "Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?" in a Google search and view it from the first link provided.

The Discovery of The Dikika Baby Fossil as Evidence for Australopithecine Growth and Development When scientists discovered a 3.3 million-year-old skeleton of a child of the human lineage (hominin) in 2000, in the village of Hadar, Ethiopia, they were able to study growth and development of Australopithecus afarensis, an extinct hominin species. The team of researchers, led by Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, named the fossil DIK 1-1 and nicknamed it Dikika baby after the Dikika research site. The Dikika fossil preserves much of the skull, including the jaw and teeth, which enabled scientists to study the teeth microstructures and to reconstruct the pace at which individuals of the hominin A. afarensis developed. Researchers study fossils of juvenile hominins because those fossils illustrate the slow rate at which humans grow. One of the ways humans differ from their closest living relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, is by their comparatively long childhood period, or period before they acquire the ability to reproduce. Researchers can study this extended childhood through the microstructures of teeth, which preserve the timing of when humans pass through stages such as weaning and tooth eruption. Scientists can reconstruct the life histories of human ancestors to learn when the evolution of the extended childhood appeared in the hominin lineage. Alemseged recovered the partially exposed fossil in December 2000 from a block of sandstone within the Hadar Formation at a site called Dikika, located in northern Ethiopia. Part of the fossil´s face was exposed from the three-million-year-old strata, whereas the majority of the specimen´s skull remained surrounded by rock. Alemseged spent five years removing the solid material surrounding the fossil, material called matrix, to expose the complete fossil. In addition to the braincase and face, the Dikika baby fossil includes elements such as the shoulder blades and several vertebrae. When much of the fossil had been exposed, Alemseged and his coauthors published the discovery in a 2006 article titled "A Juvenile Early Hominin Skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia." In this publication, Alemseged´s team argued that the Dikika baby was especially useful for explaining the growth patterns of fossil hominin because the specimen included both the head and parts of the body (crania and post-crania). The discovery of many A. afarensis fossils enabled scientists to identify the Dikika baby as a member of that species. The Dikika fossil often referred to as Selam, or Lucy´s baby, referring to the specimen of A. afarensis, discovered in Hadar in 1974, called Lucy. The Dikika baby was the first relatively complete A. afarensis juvenile studied in detail. The authors claimed that Dikika was the first non-Neanderthal juvenile hominin preserved enough to study in order to explain A. afarensis development. In the 2006 article, Alemseged and his team noted that their findings of the teeth led them to claim that the Dikika baby was around three years old. They first noted that the baby teeth, or milk teeth (deciduous teeth), were all erupted. They then used computer-processed X-rays to produce virtual images or slices of a specific area of a scanned object, called computed tomography (CT) scan, which revealed that the first molar crowns were not erupted but were fully formed. The research team also noted the presence of unerupted teeth such as the canine and incisor crowns, which appeared to be at differing stages of development. The scientists then examined the microstructures of the erupted deciduous teeth, based on the methods of Timothy Bromage of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada, and of Christopher Dean of the University College London in London, UK. Those methods count striations on the surface of the tooth crowns, which form the molars, in order to estimate growth periods. Then, following the work of Bromage and Dean, Alemsefad and his team compared these dental developmental stages to a model of African ape molar formation. Bromage and Dean demonstrated that hominins likely had shorter growth periods than humans. They based their estimates on African apes, which develop faster than humans. In addition to providing information on hominin growth and development, the Dikika fossil raised questions about behavior and possible arboreal habits in Australopithecines. In 2002, Alemseged, along with David J. Green from Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Illinois published an article titled "Australopithecus afarensis Scapular Ontogeny, Function, and the Role of Climbing in Human Evolution." They argued that the preserved shoulder blades, or scapulae, of the Dikika baby indicated that members of the species spent a lot of time climbing. This result contributed to a debate on how much time Australopithecines spent climbing versus walking. Based on the Dikika baby shoulder blades, some scientists suggested that Australopithecines may have climbed in trees to forage or to make nests to sleep. In the early decades of the twenty-first century, the Dikika baby was the oldest hominin fossil found that provided information on early hominin growth and development. It provided a detailed example of tooth development in a juvenile. In addition to fossils that approach Homo sapiens more closely, such as Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis, this fossil helps scientist to reconstruct the evolution of humans´ extended developmental period.

Ford Performance Racing has revealed its retrospective liveries for this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. The three factory Fords will represent two of Ford’s great victories at Mount Panorama, including the famous 1977 1-2 finish by Allan Moffat and Colin Bond. The #5 and #6 Falcons will depict the Moffat and Bond XC Hardtops, while the #55 Bottle-O Racing car will pay homage to the 1967 race-winning Falcon of Harry Firth and Fred Gibson. The Reynolds/Canto car will compete under the number ’52.’ The liveries will be part of the celebrations around the 50th year of the Bathurst endurance race taking place at Mount Panorama this weekend. The 1977 form finish is one of the most iconic scenes from the Bathurst 1000, and #6 Trading Post driver Will Davison says that “The passion of our sport really comes to a head at Bathurst every single year, though perhaps never more so than this year with the 50th year celebrations and what we as a team are doing,” 2009 race winner Davison said. “It’s an honour to go there as a factory Ford driver racing with the colours from arguably the company’s greatest moment. Our cars look amazing and I think we’ve really done justice to the 1977 team. “We are going to Bathurst to hopefully replicate that moment for all our die hard Ford fans. There would be nothing better than to repeat that famous 1-2 finish this year with Frosty (Mark Winterbottom), Richo (Steve Richards) and Johnny Mac (McIntyre).” Winterbottom praised FPR’s design team for capturing the likeness of the 1977 livery. “The team has done an amazing job to accurately recreate the colour scheme and I think all V8 Supercars fans, Ford and Holden alike, will appreciate it,” the Orrcon Steel FPR driver said. The team’s garage has also been given a makeover with new walling which carries the names of many of Ford’s past Bathurst winners plus a unique reflective design of the current car against the 1977 race winner. The three FPR cars will join the James Moffat’s ‘Tru-Blu’ scheme and Craig Lowndes, who will reveal his Peter Brock-inspired Commodore on Wednesday. CLICK HERE for a gallery of images of the three FPR Falcons.

Science has spoken and, yes, gentlemen, size does matter. A newly published study by a University of Ottawa researcher has concluded penis length exerts a measurable sway on females evaluating potential sexual partners. "We found that flaccid penis size had a significant influence on male attractiveness," concludes the study that was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. "Males with a larger penis were rated relatively more attractive." Biologist Brian Mautz said he came to the study through curiosity over the evolution of male genitalia. Compared to other male primates, human endowment is generous. "This observation has generated suggestions by evolutionary biologists that the comparatively larger human penis evolved under premating sexual selection," says his paper. "Novels, magazines and popular articles often allude to the existence of a relationship between penis size and sexual attractiveness or masculinity." Nor is the effect limited to pop culture. "Another project I was on, looking at female preferences in genital size in fish, showed that females actually do discriminate in males before copulation even begins," Mautz said. "That potentially influences genital evolution." Previous studies have attempted to discern what women like by, for example, asking them to choose between a series of drawings of men that vary only in the size of the anatomy in question. Mautz believes those conclusions are probably limited by self-censorship. "When you directly ask someone about a sensitive topic, you're likely to get some bias in responses," he said. "Penis size isn't supposed to matter." His study tried to mask its intent by introducing three variations on male appearance: body shape (shoulder-to-hip ratio), height and penis size. Those variables were presented in seven gradients, small to large, and intermixed until there were 343 combinations. Each variation was represented in a computer-generated, life-sized picture of a naked male, which could be rotated to allow an examination of the image in profile. A study group of 105 heterosexual women were then asked which picture they found most sexually attractive. Body shape is biggest factor Perhaps unsurprisingly, they preferred men who were tall, long and V-shaped. Overall, body shape accounted for about 80 per cent of the variation in attractiveness scores, penis size about six per cent and height about five per cent. "The finding suggests that selection on penis size is potentially as strong as selection on stature." That finding was reinforced by slower response times for some pictures. "We found a significantly positive, albeit small, correlation between penis size and response time," the study says. "This finding is consistent with a pattern in adults whereby attractive stimuli are viewed for longer periods." That attraction, however, wasn't a simple formula of bigger is better. "Attractiveness increases rapidly until you reach around average for each of the three traits," said Mautz. "Then, although the attractiveness continues to increase, it doesn't increase as much." What was truly interesting was the interaction between the three traits, Mautz said. Penis influence depends on height "If you look at how penis size interacts with male height, it has a differential effect at the lower height sizes. Take the tall men — you get a really big impact (in attractiveness) of how large your penis is relative to your height. "An increase in penis size if you're of average height does influence your attractiveness. It doesn't do quite as much as it does at the upper end of the height spectrum. "If you're short, it doesn't matter what size your penis is." Statistically, 185-cm tall men get about twice the boost in attractiveness that their 165-cm friends do as length increases from six to 10 cm. If that doesn't seem fair, Mautz hastens to point out his study only considered three male traits. Characteristics such as musculature — not to mention a pleasant smile or great hair — were not considered. Still, he said, his results do suggest that male gentalia factor into sexual selection and are therefore subject to evolutionary pressure. "It shows that females can exert a choice and influence genital evolution, which is a relatively understudied area." His conclusions also have considerable intrinsic interest. "You're my first interview," Mautz told The Canadian Press. "I'm watching emails roll into my account as we speak."

Even as the sun with purple-colour’d face Even as the sun with purple-colour’d face Had ta’en his last leave of the weeping morn, Rose-cheek’d Adonis tried him to the chase; Hunting he lov’d, but love he laugh’d to scorn; Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him, And like a bold-fac’d suitor ‘gins to woo him. ‘Thrice fairer than myself,’ thus she began, ‘The field’s chief flower, sweet above compare, Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a man, More white and red than doves or roses are; Nature that made thee, with herself at strife, Saith that the world hath ending with thy life. ‘Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed, And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow; If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meed A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know: Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses; And being set, I’ll smother thee with kisses: ‘And yet not cloy thy lips with loath’d satiety, But rather famish them amid their plenty, Making them red and pale with fresh variety; Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty: A summer’s day will seem an hour but short, Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport.’ With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, The precedent of pith and livelihood, And, trembling in her passion, calls it balm, Earth’s sovereign salve to do a goddess good: Being so enrag’d, desire doth lend her force Courageously to pluck him from his horse. Over one arm the lusty courser’s rein Under her other was the tender boy, Who blush’d and pouted in a dull disdain, With leaden appetite, unapt to toy; She red and hot as coals of glowing fire He red for shame, but frosty in desire. The studded bridle on a ragged bough Nimbly she fastens;--O! how quick is love:-- The steed is stalled up, and even now To tie the rider she begins to prove: Backward she push’d him, as she would be thrust, And govern’d him in strength, though not in lust. So soon was she along, as he was down, Each leaning on their elbows and their hips: Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown, And ‘gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips; And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken, ‘If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open.’ He burns with bashful shame; she with her tears Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks; Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs To fan and blow them dry again she seeks: He saith she is immodest, blames her miss; What follows more she murders with a kiss. Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh and bone, Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste, Till either gorge be stuff’d or prey be gone; Even so she kiss’d his brow, his cheek, his chin, And where she ends she doth anew begin. Forc’d to content, but never to obey, Panting he lies, and breatheth in her face; She feedeth on the steam, as on a prey, And calls it heavenly moisture, air of grace; Wishing her cheeks were gardens full of flowers So they were dewd with such distilling showers. Look! how a bird lies tangled in a net, So fasten’d in her arms Adonis lies; Pure shame and aw’d resistance made him fret, Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes: Rain added to a river that is rank Perforce will force it overflow the bank. Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, ‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale; Being red she loves him best; and being white, Her best is better’d with a more delight. Look how he can, she cannot choose but love; And by her fair immortal hand she swears, From his soft bosom never to remove, Till he take truce with her contending tears, Which long have rain’d, making her cheeks all wet; And one sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt. Upon this promise did he raise his chin Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave, Who, being look’d on, ducks as quickly in; So offers he to give what she did crave; But when her lips were ready for his pay, He winks, and turns his lips another way. Never did passenger in summer’s heat More thirst for drink than she for this good turn. Her help she sees, but help she cannot get; She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn: ‘O! pity,’ ‘gan she cry, ‘flint-hearted boy: ‘Tis but a kiss I beg; why art thou coy? ‘I have been woo’d, as I entreat thee now, Even by the stern and direful god of war, Whose sinewy neck in battle ne’er did bow, Who conquers where he comes in every jar; Yet hath he been my captive and my slave, And begg’d for that which thou unask’d shalt have. ‘Over my altars hath he hung his lance, His batter’d shield, his uncontrolled crest, And for my sake hath learn’d to sport and dance To toy, to wanton, dally, smile, and jest; Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red Making my arms his field, his tent my bed. ‘Thus he that overrul’d I oversway’d, Leading him prisoner in a red-rose chain: Strong-temper’d steel his stronger strength obey’d, Yet was he servile to my coy disdain. O! be not proud, nor brag not of thy might, For mastering her that foil’d the god of fight. Touch but my lips with those falr lips of thine,-- Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red,-- The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine: What seest thou in the ground? hold up thy head: Look in mine eyeballs, there thy beauty lies; Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes? ‘Art thou asham’d to kiss? then wink again, And I will wink; so shall the day seem night; Love keeps his revels where there are but twain; Be bold to play, our sport is not in sight: These blue-vein’d violets whereon we lean Never can blab, nor know not what we mean. ‘The tender spring upon thy tempting lip Shows thee unripe, yet mayst thou well be tasted: Make use of time, let not advantage slip; Beauty within itself should not be wasted: Fair flowers that are not gather’d in their prime Rot and consume themselves in little time. ‘Were I hard-favour’d, foul, or wrinkled-old, Ill-nurtur’d, crooked, churlish, harsh in voice, O’erworn, despised, rheumatic, and cold, Thick-sighted, barren, lean, and lacking juice, Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for thee; But having no defects, why dost abhor me? ‘Thou canst not see one winkle in my brow; Mine eyes are grey and bright, and quick in turning; My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow; My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning; My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt. Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt. ‘Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear, Or like a fairy, trip upon the green, Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell’d hair, Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen: Love is a spirit all compact of fire, Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire. ‘Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie; These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me; Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky, From morn till night, even where I list to sport me: Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee? ‘Is thine own heart to shine own face affected? Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left? Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected, Steal thine own freedom, and complain on theft. Narcissus so himself himself forsook, And died to kiss his shadow in the brook. ‘Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use, Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear; Things growing to themselves are growth’s abuse: Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty breedeth beauty; Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty. ‘Upon the earth’s increase why shouldst thou feed, Unless the earth with thy increase be fed? By law of nature thou art bound to breed, That thine may live when thou thyself art dead; And so in spite of death thou dost survive, In that thy likeness still is left alive.’ By this the love-sick queen began to sweat, For where they lay the shadow had forsook them, And Titan, tired in the mid-day heat With burning eye did hotly overlook them, Wishing Adonis had his team to guide, So he were like him and by Venus’ side. And now Adonis with a lazy spright, And with a heavy, dark, disliking eye, His louring brows o’erwhelming his fair sight, Like misty vapours when they blot the sky, Souring his cheeks, cries, ‘Fie! no more of love: The sun doth burn my face; I must remove.’ ‘Ay me,’ quoth Venus, ‘young, and so unkind! What bare excuses mak’st thou to be gone! I’ll sigh celestial breath, whose gentle wind Shall cool the heat of this descending sun: I’ll make a shadow for thee of my hairs; If they burn too, I’ll quench them with my tears. ‘The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm, And lo! I lie between that sun and thee: The heat I have from thence doth little harm, Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me; And were I not immortal, life were done Between this heavenly and earthly sun. ‘Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel? Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth: Art thou a woman’s son, and canst not feel What ‘tis to love? how want of love tormenteth? O! had thy mother borne so hard a mind, She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind. ‘What am I that thou shouldst contemn me this? Or what great danger dwells upon my suit? What were thy lips the worse for one poor kiss? Speak, fair; but speak fair words, or else be mute: Give me one kiss, I’ll give it thee again, And one for interest if thou wilt have twain. ‘Fie! lifeless picture, cold and senseless stone, Well-painted idol, image dull and dead, Statue contenting but the eye alone, Thing like a man, but of no woman bred: Thou art no man, though of a man’s complexion, For men will kiss even by their own direction.’ This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue, And swelling passion doth provoke a pause; Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong; Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause: And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak, And now her sobs do her intendments break. Sometimes she shakes her head, and then his hand; Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground; Sometimes her arms infold him like a band: She would, he will not in her arms be bound; And when from thence he struggles to be gone, She locks her lily fingers one in one. ‘Fondling,’ she saith, ‘since I have hemm’d thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, I’ll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer; Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale: Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry, Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie. ‘Within this limit is relief enough, Sweet bottom-grass and high delightful plain, Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, To shelter thee from tempest and from rain: Then be my deer, since I am such a park; No dog shall rouse thee, though a thousand bark.’ At this Adonis smiles as in disdain, That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple: Love made those hollows, if himself were slain, He might be buried in a tomb so simple; Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie, Why, there Love liv’d, and there he could not die. These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits, Open’d their mouths to swallow Venus’ liking. Being mad before, how doth she now for wits? Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking? Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn, To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn! Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say? Her words are done, her woes the more increasing; The time is spent, her object will away, And from her twining arms doth urge releasing: ‘Pity,’ she cries; ‘some favour, some remorse!’ Away he springs, and hasteth to his horse. But lo! from forth a copse that neighbours by, A breeding jennet, lusty, young, and proud, Adonis’ tramping courier doth espy, And forth she rushes, snorts and neighs aloud: The strong-neck’d steed, being tied unto a tree, Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he. Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, And now his woven girths he breaks asunder; The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven’s thunder; The iron bit he crusheth ‘tween his teeth, Controlling what he was controlled with. His ears up-prick’d; his braided hanging mane Upon his compass’d crest now stand on end; His nostrils drink the air, and forth again, As from a furnace, vapours doth he send: His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, Shows his hot courage and his high desire. Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps, With gentle majesty and modest pride; Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps, As who should say, ‘Lo! thus my strength is tried; And this I do to captivate the eye Of the fair breeder that is standing by.’ What recketh he his rider’s angry stir, His flattering ‘Holla’, or his ‘Stand, I say’? What cares he now for curb or pricking spur? For rich caparisons or trapping gay? He sees his love, and nothing else he sees, Nor nothing else with his proud sight agrees. Look, when a painter would surpass the life, In limning out a well-proportion’d steed, His art with nature’s workmanship at strife, As if the dead the living should exceed; So did this horse excel a common one, In shape, in courage, colour, pace and bone. Round-hoof’d, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostril wide, High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong, Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide: Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, Save a proud rider on so proud a back. Sometimes he scuds far off, and there he stares; Anon he starts at stirring of a feather; To bid the wind a base he now prepares, And whe’r he run or fly they know not whether; For through his mane and tail the high wind sings, Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather’d wings. He looks upon his love, and neighs unto her; She answers him as if she knew his mind; Being proud, as females are, to see him woo her, She puts on outward strangeness, seems unkind, Spurns at his love and scorns the heat he feels, Beating his kind embracements with her heels. Then, like a melancholy malcontent, He vails his tail, that, like a falling plume, Cool shadow to his melting buttock lent: He stamps, and bites the poor flies in his fume. His love, perceiving how he is enrag’d, Grew kinder, and his fury was assuag’d. His testy master goeth about to take him; When lo! the unback’d breeder, full of fear, Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him, With her the horse, and left Adonis there: As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them, Outstripping crows that strive to overfly them. All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, Banning his boisterous and unruly beast: And now the happy season once more fits, That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest; For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong When it is barr’d the aidance of the tongue. An oven that is stopp’d, or river stay’d, Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage: So of concealed sorrow may be said; Free vent of words love’s fire doth assuage; But when the heart’s attorney once is mute The client breaks, as desperate in his suit. He sees her coming, and begins to glow,-- Even as a dying coal revives with wind,-- And with his bonnet hides his angry brow; Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind, Taking no notice that she is so nigh, For all askance he holds her in his eye. O! what a sight it was, wistly to view How she came stealing to the wayward boy; To note the fighting conflict of her hue, How white and red each other did destroy: But now her cheek was pale, and by and by It flash’d forth fire, as lightning from the sky. Now was she just before him as he sat, And like a lowly lover down she kneels; With one fair hand she heaveth up his hat, Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels: His tenderer cheek receives her soft hand’s print, As apt as new-fall’n snow takes any dint. O! what a war of looks was then between them; Her eyes petitioners to his eyes suing; His eyes saw her eyes as they had not seen them; Her eyes woo’d still, his eyes disdain’d the wooing: And all this dumb play had his acts made plain With tears, which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain. Full gently now she takes him by the hand, A lily prison’d in a gaol of snow, Or ivory in an alabaster band; So white a friend engirts so white a foe: This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling, Show’d like two silver doves that sit a-billing. Once more the engine of her thoughts began: ‘O fairest mover on this mortal round, Would thou wert as I am, and I a man, My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my wound; For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee, Though nothing but my body’s bane would cure thee.’ ‘Give me my hand,’ saith he, ‘why dost thou feel it?’ ‘Give me my heart,’ saith she, ‘and thou shalt have it; O! give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it, And being steel’d, soft sighs can never grave it: Then love’s deep groans I never shall regard, Because Adonis’ heart hath made mine hard.’ ‘For shame,’ he cries, ‘let go, and let me go; My day’s delight is past, my horse is gone, And ‘tis your fault I am bereft him so: I pray you hence, and leave me here alone: For all my mind, my thought, my busy care, Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.’ Thus she replies: ‘Thy palfrey, as he should, Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire: Affection is a coal that must be cool’d; Else, suffer’d, it will set the heart on fire: The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none; Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone. ‘How like a Jade he stood, tied to the tree, Servilely master’d with a leathern rein! But when he saw his love, his youth’s fair fee, He held such petty bondage in disdain; Throwing the base thong from his bending crest, Enfranchising his mouth, his back, his breast. ‘Who sees his true-love in her naked bed, Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white, But, when his glutton eye so full hath fed, His other agents aim at like delight? Who is so faint, that dare not be so bold To touch the fire, the weather being cold? ‘Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy; And learn of him, I heartily beseech thee, To take advantage on presented joy Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teach thee. O learn to love, the lesson is but plain, And once made perfect, never lost again. ‘I know not love,’ quoth he, ‘nor will not know it, Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it; ‘Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it; My love to love is love but to disgrace it; For I have heard it is a life in death, That laughs and weeps, and all but with a breath. ‘Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish’d? Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth? If springing things be any jot diminish’d, They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth; The colt that’s back’d and burden’d being young Loseth his pride, and never waxeth strong. ‘You hurt my hand with wringing. Let us part, And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat: Remove your siege from my unyielding heart; To love’s alarms it will not ope the gate: Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery; For where a heart is hard they make no battery.’ ‘What! canst thou talk?’ quoth she, ‘hast thou a tongue? O! would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing; Thy mermaid’s voice hath done me double wrong; I had my load before, now press’d with bearing: Melodious discord, heavenly tune, harsh-sounding, Ear’s deep-sweet music, and heart’s deep-sore wounding. ‘Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love That inward beauty and invisible; Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move Each part in me that were but sensible: Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see, Yet should I be in love by touching thee. ‘Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me, And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch, And nothing but the very smell were left me, Yet would my love to thee be still as much; For from the stillitory of thy face excelling Comes breath perfum’d that breedeth love by smelling. ‘But O! what banquet wert thou to the taste, Being nurse and feeder of the other four; Would they not wish the feast might ever last, And bid Suspicion double-lock the door, Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest, Should, by his stealing in, disturb the feast?’ Once more the ruby-colour’d portal open’d, Which to his speech did honey passage yield, Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken’d Wrack to the seaman, tempest to the field, Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds. This ill presage advisedly she marketh: Even as the wind is hush’d before it raineth, Or as the wolf doth grin before he barketh, Or as the berry breaks before it staineth, Or like the deadly bullet of a gun, His meaning struck her ere his words begun. And at his look she flatly falleth down For looks kill love, and love by looks reviveth; A smile recures the wounding of a frown; But blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth! The silly boy, believing she is dead Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red; And all amaz’d brake off his late intent, For sharply he did think to reprehend her, Which cunning love did wittily prevent: Fair fall the wit that can so well defend her! For on the grass she lies as she were slain Till his breath breatheth life in her again. He wrings her nose, he strikes her on the cheeks, He bends her fingers, holds her pulses hard, He chafes her lips; a thousand ways he seeks To mend the hurt that his unkindness marr’d: He kisses her; and she, by her good will, Will never rise, so he will kiss her still. The night of sorrow now is turn’d to day: Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth, Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array He cheers the morn, and all the world relieveth: And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, So is her face illumin’d with her eye; Whose beams upon his hairless face are fix’d, As if from thence they borrow’d all their shine. Were never four such lamps together mix’d, Had not his clouded with his brow’s repine; But hers, which through the crystal tears gave light Shone like the moon in water seen by night. ‘O! where am I?’ quoth she, ‘in earth or heaven, Or in the ocean drench’d, or in the fire? What hour is this? or morn or weary even? Do I delight to die, or life desire? But now I liv’d, and life was death’s annoy; But now I died, and death was lively joy. ‘O! thou didst kill me; kill me once again: Thy eyes’ shrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine, Hath taught them scornful tricks, and such disdain, That they have murder’d this poor heart of mine; And these mine eyes, true leaders to their queen, But for thy piteous lips no more had seen. ‘Long may they kiss each other for this cure! O! never let their crimson liveries wear; And as they last, their verdure still endure, To drive infection from the dangerous year: That the star-gazers, having writ on death, May say, the plague is banish’d by thy breath. ‘Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted, What bargains may I make, still to be sealing? To sell myself I can be well contented, So thou wilt buy and pay and use good dealing; Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips. ‘A thousand kisses buys my heart from me; And pay them at thy leisure, one by one. What is ten hundred touches unto thee? Are they not quickly told and quickly gone? Say, for non-payment that the debt should double, Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?’ ‘Fair queen,’ quoth he, ‘if any love you owe me, Measure my strangeness with my unripe years: Before I know myself, seek not to know me; No fisher but the ungrown fry forbears: The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast, Or being early pluck’d is sour to taste. ‘Look! the world’s comforter, with weary gait His day’s hot task hath ended in the west; The owl, night’s herald, shrieks, ‘tis very late; The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest, And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven’s light Do summon us to part, and bid good night. ‘Now let me say good night, and so say you; If you will say so, you shall have a kiss.’ ‘Good night,’ quoth she; and ere he says adieu, The honey fee of parting tender’d is: Her arms do lend his neck a sweet embrace; Incorporate then they seem, face grows to face. Till, breathless, he disjoin’d, and backward drew The heavenly moisture, that sweet coral mouth, Whose precious taste her thirsty lips well knew, Whereon they surfeit, yet complain on drouth: He with her plenty press’d, she faint with dearth, Their lips together glu’d, fall to the earth. Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey, And glutton-like she feeds, yet never filleth; Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey, Paying what ransom the insulter willeth; Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high, That she will draw his lips’ rich treasure dry. And having felt the sweetness of the spoil, With blindfold fury she begins to forage; Her face doth reek and smoke, her blood doth boil, And careless lust stirs up a desperate courage; Planting oblivion, beating reason back, Forgetting shame’s pure blush and honour’s wrack. Hot, faint, and weary, with her hard embracing, Like a wild bird being tam’d with too much handling, Or as the fleet-foot roe that’s tir’d with chasing, Or like the froward infant still’d with dandling, He now obeys, and now no more resisteth, While she takes all she can, not all she listeth. What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering, And yields at last to every light impression? Things out of hope are compass’d oft with venturing, Chiefly in love, whose leave exceeds commission: Affection faints not like a pale-fac’d coward, But then woos best when most his choice is froward. When he did frown, O! had she then gave over, Such nectar from his lips she had not suck’d. Foul words and frowns must not repel a lover; What though the rose have prickles, yet ‘tis pluck’d: Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last. For pity now she can no more detain him; The poor fool prays her that he may depart: She is resolv’d no longer to restrain him, Bids him farewell, and look well to her heart, The which, by Cupid’s bow she doth protest, He carries thence incaged in his breast. ‘Sweet boy,’ she says, ‘this night I’ll waste in sorrow, For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch. Tell me, Love’s master, shall we meet to-morrow Say, shall we? shall we? wilt thou make the match?’ He tells her, no; to-morrow he intends To hunt the boar with certain of his friends. ‘The boar!’ quoth she; whereat a sudden pale, Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose, Usurps her cheeks, she trembles at his tale, And on his neck her yoking arms she throws: She sinketh down, still hanging by his neck, He on her belly falls, she on her back. Now is she in the very lists of love, Her champion mounted for the hot encounter: All is imaginary she doth prove, He will not manage her, although he mount her; That worse than Tantalus’ is her annoy, To clip Elysium and to lack her joy. Even as poor birds, deceiv’d with painted grapes, Do surfeit by the eye and pine the maw, Even so she languisheth in her mishaps, As those poor birds that helpless berries saw. The warm effects which she in him finds missing, She seeks to kindle with continual kissing. But all in vain, good queen, it will not be: She hath assay’d as much as may be prov’d; Her pleading hath deserv’d a greater fee; She’s Love, she loves, and yet she is not lov’d. ‘Fie, fie!’ he says, ‘you crush me; let me go; You have no reason to withhold me so.’ ‘Thou hadst been gone,’ quoth she, ‘sweet boy, ere this, But that thou told’st me thou wouldst hunt the boar. O! be advis’d; thou know’st not what it is With javelin’s point a churlish swine to gore, Whose tushes never sheath’d he whetteth still, Like to a mortal butcher, bent to kill. ‘On his bow-back he hath a battle set Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes; His eyes like glow-worms shine when he doth fret; His snout digs sepulchres where’er he goes; Being mov’d, he strikes whate’er is in his way, And whom he strikes his crooked tushes slay. ‘His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm’d, Are better proof than thy spear’s point can enter; His short thick neck cannot be easily harm’d; Being ireful, on the lion he will venture: The thorny brambles and embracing bushes, As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes. ‘Alas! he nought esteems that face of thine, To which Love’s eyes pay tributary gazes; Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips, and crystal eyne, Whose full perfection all the world amazes; But having thee at vantage, wondrous dread! Would root these beauties as he roots the mead. ‘O! let him keep his loathsome cabin still; Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends: Come not within his danger by thy will; They that thrive well take counsel of their friends. When thou didst name the boar, not to dissemble, I fear’d thy fortune, and my joints did tremble. ‘Didst thou not mark my face? was it not white? Saw’st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye? Grew I not faint? And fell I not downright? Within my bosom, whereon thou dost lie, My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest, But, like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast. ‘For where Love reigns, disturbing Jealousy Doth call himself Affection’s sentinel; Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny, And in a peaceful hour doth cry "Kill, kill!" Distempering gentle Love in his desire, As air and water do abate the fire. ‘This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy, This canker that eats up Love’s tender spring, This carry-tale, dissentious Jealousy, That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring, Knocks at my heart, and whispers in mine ear That if I love thee, I thy death should fear: ‘And more than so, presenteth to mine eye The picture of an angry-chafing boar, Under whose sharp fangs on his back doth lie An image like thyself, all stain’d with gore; Whose blood upon the fresh flowers being shed Doth make them droop with grief and hang the head. ‘What should I do, seeing thee so indeed, That tremble at the imagination? The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed, And fear doth teach it divination: I prophesy thy death, my living sorrow, If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow. ‘But if thou needs wilt hunt, be rul’d by me; Uncouple at the timorous flying hare, Or at the fox which lives by subtilty, Or at the roe which no encounter dare: Pursue these fearful creatures o’er the downs, And on thy well-breath’d horse keep with thy hound. ‘And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles How he outruns the winds, and with what care He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles: The many musits through the which he goes Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes. ‘Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep, To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell, And sometime where earth-delving conies keep, To stop the loud pursuers in their yell, And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer; Danger deviseth shifts, wit waits on fear: ‘For there his smell with others being mingled, The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt, Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled With much ado the cold fault cleanly out; Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies, As if another chase were in the skies. ‘By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill, Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear, To hearken if his foes pursue him still: Anon their loud alarums he doth hear; And now his grief may be compared well To one sore sick that hears the passing bell. ‘Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch Turn, and return, indenting with the way; Each envious briar his weary legs doth scratch, Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay: For misery is trodden on by many, And being low never reliev’d by any. ‘Lie quietly, and hear a little more; Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise: To make thee hate the hunting of the boar, Unlike myself thou hear’st me moralize, Applying this to that, and so to so; For love can comment upon every woe. ‘Where did I leave?’ ‘No matter where,’ quoth he ‘Leave me, and then the story aptly ends: The night is spent,’ ‘Why, what of that?’ quoth she. ‘I am,’ quoth he, ‘expected of my friends; And now ‘tis dark, and going I shall fall.’ ‘In night,’ quoth she, ‘desire sees best of all.’ But if thou fall, O! then imagine this, The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips, And all is but to rob thee of a kiss. Rich preys make true men thieves; so do thy lips Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn, Lest she should steal a kiss and die forsworn. ‘Now of this dark night I perceive the reason: Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine Till forging Nature be condemn’d of treason, For stealing moulds from heaven that were divine; Wherein she fram’d thee in high heaven’s despite, To shame the sun by day and her by night. ‘And therefore hath she brib’d the Destinies, To cross the curious workmanship of nature To mingle beauty with infirmities, And pure perfection with impure defeature; Making it subject to the tyranny Of mad mischances and much misery; ‘As burning fevers, agues pale and faint, Life-poisoning pestilence and frenzies wood, The marrow-eating sickness, whose attains Disorder breeds by heating of the blood; Surfeits, imposthumes, grief, and damn’d despair, Swear nature’s death for framing thee so fair. ‘And not the least of all these maladies But in one minute’s fight brings beauty under: Both favour, savour hue, and qualities, Whereat the impartial gazer late did wonder, Are on the sudden wasted, thaw’d and done, As mountain-snow melts with the mid-day sun. ‘Therefore, despite of fruitless chastity, Love-lacking vestals and self-loving nuns, That on the earth would breed a scarcity And barren dearth of daughters and of sons, Be prodigal: the lamp that burns by night Dries up his oil to lend the world his light. ‘What is thy body but a swallowing grave, Seeming to bury that posterity Which by the rights of time thou needs must have, If thou destroy them not in dark obscurity? If so, the world will hold thee in disdain, Sith in thy pride so fair a hope is slain. ‘So in thyself thyself art made away; A mischief worse than civil home-bred strife, Or theirs whose desperate hands themselves do slay, Or butcher-sire that reeves his son of life. Foul-cankering rust the hidden treasure frets, But gold that’s put to use more gold begets.’ ‘Nay then,’ quoth Adon, ‘you will fall again Into your idle over-handled theme; The kiss I gave you is bestow’d in vain, And all in vain you strive against the stream; For by this black-fac’d night, desire’s foul nurse, Your treatise makes me like you worse and worse. ‘If love have lent you twenty thousand tongues, And every tongue more moving than your own, Bewitching like the wanton mermaid’s songs, Yet from mine ear the tempting tune is blown; For know, my heart stands armed in mine ear, And will not let a false sound enter there; ‘Lest the deceiving harmony should run Into the quiet closure of my breast; And then my little heart were quite undone, In his bedchamber to be barr’d of rest. No, lady, no; my heart longs not to groan, But soundly sleeps, while now it sleeps alone. ‘What have you urg’d that I cannot reprove? The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger; I hate not love, but your device in love That lends embracements unto every stranger. You do it for increase: O strange excuse! When reason is the bawd to lust’s abuse. ‘Call it not, love, for Love to heaven is fled, Since sweating Lust on earth usurp’d his name; Under whose simple semblance he hath fed Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame; Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves, As caterpillars do the tender leaves. ‘Love comforteth like sunshine after rain, But Lust’s effect is tempest after sun; Love’s gentle spring doth always fresh remain, Lust’s winter comes ere summer half be done. Love surfeits not, Lust like a glutton dies; Love is all truth, Lust full of forged lies. ‘More I could tell, but more I dare not say; The text is old, the orator too green. Therefore, in sadness, now I will away; My face is full of shame, my heart of teen: Mine ears, that to your wanton talk attended Do burn themselves for having so offended.’ With this he breaketh from the sweet embrace Of those fair arms which bound him to her breast, And homeward through the dark laund runs apace; Leaves Love upon her back deeply distress’d. Look, how a bright star shooteth from the sky So glides he in the night from Venus’ eye; Which after him she darts, as one on shore Gazing upon a late-embarked friend, Till the wild waves will have him seen no more, Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend: So did the merciless and pitchy night Fold in the object that did feed her sight. Whereat amaz’d, as one that unaware Hath dropp’d a precious jewel in the flood, Or ‘stonish’d as night-wanderers often are, Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood; Even so confounded in the dark she lay, Having lost the fair discovery of her way. And now she beats her heart, whereat it groans, That all the neighbour caves, as seeming troubled, Make verbal repetition of her moans; Passion on passion deeply is redoubled: ‘Ay me!’ she cries, and twenty times, ‘Woe, woe!’ And twenty echoes twenty times cry so. She marking them, begins a wailing note, And sings extemporally a woeful ditty; How love makes young men thrall and old men dote; How love is wise in folly foolish-witty: Her heavy anthem still concludes in woe, And still the choir of echoes answer so. Her song was tedious, and outwore the night, For lovers’ hours are long, though seeming short: If pleas’d themselves, others, they think, delight In such like circumstance, with such like sport: Their copious stories, oftentimes begun, End without audience, and are never done. For who hath she to spend the night withal, But idle sounds resembling parasites; Like shrill-tongu’d tapsters answering every call, Soothing the humour of fantastic wits? She says, ‘‘Tis so:’ they answer all, ‘‘Tis so;’ And would say after her, if she said ‘No’. Lo! here the gentle lark, weary of rest, From his moist cabinet mounts up on high, And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast The sun ariseth in his majesty; Who doth the world so gloriously behold, That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish’d gold. Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow: ‘O thou clear god, and patron of all light, From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow The beauteous influence that makes him bright, There lives a son that suck’d an earthly mother, May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other’ This said, she hasteth to a myrtle grove, Musing the morning is so much o’erworn, And yet she hears no tidings of her love; She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn: Anon she hears them chant it lustily, And all in haste she coasteth to the cry. And as she runs, the bushes in the way Some catch her by the neck, some kiss her face, Some twine about her thigh to make her stay: She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace, Like a milch doe, whose swelling dugs do ache, Hasting to feed her fawn hid in some brake. By this she hears the hounds are at a bay; Whereat she starts, like one that spies an adder Wreath’d up in fatal folds just in his way, The fear whereof doth make him shake and shudder; Even so the timorous yelping of the hounds Appals her senses, and her spirit confounds. For now she knows it is no gentle chase, But the blunt boar, rough bear, or lion proud, Because the cry remaineth in one place, Wilere fearfully the dogs exclaim aloud: Finding their enemy to be so curst, They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first. This dismal cry rings sadly in her ear, Througll which it enters to surprise her heart; Who, overcome by doubt and bloodless fear, With cold-pale weakness numbs each feeling part; Like soldiers, when their captain once doth yield, They basely fly and dare not stay the field. Thus stands she in a trembling ecstasy, Till, cheering up her senses sore dismay’d, She tells them ‘tis a causeless fantasy, And childish error, that they are afraid; Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no more: And with that word she spied the hunted boar; Whose frothy mouth bepainted all with red, Like milk and blood being mingled both together, A second fear through all her sinews spread, Which madly hurries her she knows not whither: This way she runs, and now she will no further, But back retires to rate the boar for murther. A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways, She treads the path that she untreads again; Her more than haste is mated with delays, Like the proceedings of a drunken brain, Full of respects, yet nought at all respecting, In hand with all things, nought at all effecting. Here kennel’d in a brake she finds a hound, And asks the weary caitiff for his master, And there another licking of his wound, Gainst venom’d sores the only sovereign plaster; And here she meets another sadly scowling, To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling. When he hath ceas’d his ill-resounding noise, Another flap-mouth’d mourner, black and grim, Against the welkin volleys out his voice; Another and another answer him, Clapping their proud tails to the ground below, Shaking their scratch’d ears, bleeding as they go. Look, how the world’s poor people are amaz’d At apparitions, signs, and prodigies, Whereon with fearful eyes they long have gaz’d, Infusing them with dreadful prophecies; So she at these sad sighs draws up her breath, And, sighing it again, exclaims on Death. ‘Hard-favour’d tyrant, ugly, meagre, lean, Hateful divorce of love,’--thus chides she Death,-- ‘Grim-grinning ghost, earth’s worm, what dost thou mean To stifle beauty and to steal his breath, Who when he liv’d, his breath and beauty set Gloss on the rose, smell to the violet? ‘If he be dead, O no! it cannot be, Seeing his beauty, thou shouldst strike at it; O yes! it may; thou hast no eyes to see, But hatefully at random dost thou hit. Thy mark is feeble age, but thy false dart Mistakes that aim and cleaves an infant’s heart. ‘Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke, And, hearing him, thy power had lost his power. The Destinies will curse thee for this stroke; They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck’st a flower. Love’s golden arrow at him shoull have fled, And not Death’s ebon dart, to strike him dead. ‘Dost thou drink tears, that thou provok’st such weeping? What may a heavy groan advantage thee? Why hast thou cast into eternal sleeping Those eyes that taught all other eyes to see? Now Nature cares not for thy mortal vigour Since her best work is ruin’d with thy rigour.’ Here overcome, as one full of despair, She vail’d her eyelids, who, like sluices, stopp’d The crystal tide that from her two cheeks fair In the sweet channel of her bosom dropp’d But through the flood-gates breaks the silver rain, And with his strong course opens them again. O! how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow; Her eyes seen in the tears, tears in her eye; Both crystals, where they view’d each other’s sorrow, Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry; But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain, Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again. Variable passions throng her constant woe, As striving who should best become her grief; All entertain’d, each passion labours so, That every present sorrow seemeth chief, But none is best; then join they all together, Like many clouds consulting for foul weather. By this, far off she hears some huntsman holloa; A nurse’s song no’er pleas’d her babe so well: The dire imagination she did follow This sound of hope doth labour to expel; For now reviving joy bids her rejoice, And flatters her it is Adonis’ voice. Whereat her tears began to turn their tide, Being prison’d in her eye, like pearls in glass; Yet sometimes falls an orient drop beside, Which her cheek melts, as scorning it should pass To wash the foul face of the sluttish ground, Who is but drunken when she seemeth drown’d. O hard-believing love! how strange it seems Not to believe, and yet too credulous; Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes; Despair and hope make thee ridiculous: The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlikely, In likely thoughts the other kills thee quickly. Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought, Adonis lives, and Death is not to blame; It was not she that call’d him all to naught, Now she adds honours to his hateful name; She clepes him king of graves, and grave for kings, Imperious supreme of all mortal things. ‘No, no,’ quoth she, ‘sweet Death, I did but jest; Yet pardon me, I felt a kind of fear Whenas I met the boar, that bloody beast, Which knows no pity, but is still severe; Then, gentle shadow,--truth I must confess-- I rail’d on thee, fearing my love’s decease. ‘Tis not my fault: the boar provok’d my tongue; Be wreak’d on him, invisible commander; ‘Tis he, foul creature, that hath done thee wrong; I did but act, he ‘s author of my slander: Grief hath two tongues: and never woman yet, Could rule them both without ten women’s wit.’ Thus hoping that Adonis is alive, Her rash suspect sile doth extenuate; And that his beauty may the better thrive, With Death she humbly doth insinuate; Tells him of trophies, statues, tombs; and stories His victories, his triumphs, and his glories. ‘O Jove!’ quoth she, ‘how much a fool was I, To be of such a weak and silly mind To wail his death who lives and must not die Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind; For he being dead, with him is beauty slain, And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again. ‘Fie, fie, fond love! thou art so full of fear As one with treasure laden, hemm’d with thieves Trifles, unwitnessed with eye or ear, Thy coward heart with false bethinking grieves.’ Even at this word she hears a merry horn Whereat she leaps that was but late forlorn. As falcon to the lure, away she flies; The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light; And in her haste unfortunately spies The foul boar’s conquest on her fair delight; Which seen, her eyes, as murder’d with the view, Like stars asham’d of day, themselves withdrew: Or, as the snail, whose tender horns being hit, Shrinks backwards in his shelly cave with pain, And there, all smother’d up, in shade doth sit, Long after fearing to creep forth again; So, at his bloody view, her eyes are fled Into the deep dark cabills of her head; Where they resign their office and their light To the disposing of her troubled brain; Who bids them still consort with ugly night, And never wound the heart with looks again; Who, like a king perplexed in his throne, By their suggestion gives a deadly groan, Whereat each tributary subject quakes; As when the wind, imprison’d in the ground, Struggling for passage, earth’s foundation shakes, Which with cold terror doth men’s minds confound. This mutiny each part doth so surprise That from their dark beds once more leap her eyes; And, being open’d, threw unwilling light Upon the wide wound that the boar had trench’d In his soft flank; whose wonted lily white With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench’d: No flower was nigh, no grass, herb, leaf, or weed But stole his blood and seem’d with him to bleed. This solemn sympathy poor Venus noteth, Over one shoulder doth she hang her head, Dumbly she passions, franticly she doteth; She thinks he could not die, he is not dead: Her voice is stopp’d, her joints forget to bow, Her eyes are mad that they have wept till now. Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly, That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three; And then she reprehends her mangling eye, That makes more gashes where no breach should be: His face seems twain, each several limb is doubled; For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled. ‘My tongue cannot express my grief for one, And yet,’ quoth she, ‘behold two Adons dead! My sighs are blown away, my salt tears gone, Mine eyes are turn’d to fire, my heart to lead: Heavy heart’s lead, melt at mine eyes’ red fire! So shall I die by drops of hot desire. ‘Alas! poor world, what treasure hast thou lost! What face remains alive that’s worth the viewing? Whose tongue is music now? what canst thou boast Of things long since, or anything ensuing? The flowers are sweet, their colours fresh and trim; But true-sweet beauty liv’d and died with him. ‘Bonnet nor veil henceforth no creature wear! Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you: Having no fair to lose, you need not fear; The sun doth scorn you, and the wind doth hiss you: But when Adonis liv’d, sun and sharp air Lurk’d like two thieves, to rob him of his fair: ‘And therefore would he put his bonnet on, Under whose brim the gaudy sun would peep; The wind would blow it off, and, being gone, Play with his locks: then would Adonis weep; And straight, in pity of his tender years, They both would strive who first should dry his tears. ‘To see his face the lion walk’d along Behind some hedge, because he would not fear him; To recreate himself when he hath sung, The tiger would be tame and gently hear him; If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey, And never fright the silly lamb that day. ‘When he beheld his shadow in the brook, The fishes spread on it their golden gills; When he was by, the birds such pleasure took, That some would sing, some other in their bills Would bring him mulberries and ripe-red cherries He fed them with his sight, they him with berries. ‘But this foul, grim, and urchin-spouted boar, Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave, Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore; Witness the entertainment that he gave: If he did see his face, why then I know He thought to kiss him, and hath killed him so. ‘‘Tis true, ‘tis true; thus was Adonis slain: He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear, Who did not whet his teeth at him again, But by a kiss thought to persuade him there; And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine Sheath’d unaware the tusk in his soft groin. ‘Had I been tooth’d like him, I must confess, With kissing him I should have kill’d him first; But he is dead, and never did he bless My youth with his; the more am I accurst.’ With this she falleth in the place she stood, And stains her face with his congealed blood. Sho looks upon his lips, and they are pale; She takes him by the hand, and that is cold; She whispers in his ears a heavy tale, As if they heard the woeful words she told; She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes, Where, lo! two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies; Two glasses where herself herself beheld A thousand times, and now no more reflect; Their virtue lost, wherein they late excell’d, And every beauty robb’d of his effect: ‘Wonder of time,’ quoth she, ‘this is my spite, That, you being dead, the day should yet be light. ‘Since thou art dead, lo! here I prophesy, Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend: It shall be waited on with jealousy, Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end; Ne’er settled equally, but high or low; That all love’s pleasure shall not match his woe. ‘It shall be fickle, false, and full of fraud, Bud and be blasted in a breathing-while; The bottom poison, and the top o’erstraw’d With sweets that shall the truest sight beguile: The strongest body shall it make most weak, Strike the wise dumb and teach the fool to speak. ‘It shall be sparing and too full of riot, Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures; The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet, Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures; It shall be raging mad, and silly mild, Make the young old, the old become a child. ‘It shall suspect where is no cause of fear; It shall not fear where it should most mistrust; It shall be merciful, and too severe, And most deceiving when it seems most just; Perverse it shall be, where it shows most toward, Put fear to velour, courage to the coward. ‘It shall be cause of war and dire events, And set dissension ‘twixt the son and sire; Subject and servile to all discontents, As dry combustious matter is to fire: Sith in his prime Death doth my love destroy, They that love best their love shall not enjoy.’ By this, the boy that by her side lay kill’d Was melted like a vapour from her sight, And in his blood that on the ground lay spill’d, A purple flower sprung up, chequer’d with white; Resembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood. She bows her head, the new-sprung flower to smell, Comparing it to her Adonis’ breath; And says within her bosom it shall dwell, Since he himself is reft from her by death: She drops the stalk, and in the breach appears Green dropping sap, which she compares to tears. ‘Poor flower,’ quoth she, ‘this was thy father’s guise, Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire, For every little grief to wet his eyes: To grow unto himself was his desire, And so ‘tis shine; but know, it is as good To wither in my breast as in his blood. ‘Here was thy father’s bed, here in my breast; Thou art the next of blood, and ‘tis thy right: Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy rest, My throbbing heart shall rock thee day and night: There shall not be one minute in an hour Wherein I will not kiss my sweet love’s flower.’ Thus weary of the world, away she hies, And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies In her light chariot quickly is convey’d; Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen Means to immure herself and not be seen.

Described by The Galway Advertiser as: “Galway’s multi award winning, newest oldest bar,” An Púcán’s back bar and smoking area were overhauled in 2014, and to great effect. The front and older part of the pub was retained during renovations, but as you walk through, you enter into a modern open-plan room, bordered with green tinted lights. To the right is a projector where games are screened in high quality. To the left is a generous sized bar and through some double doors is An Púcán’s stunning all-purpose garden. With the ability to squeeze in 200 people inside and a further 260 outside, An Púcán is fantastic for the big sporting occasion. The large projector along with two smaller screens inside, means you should get a view of the action no matter where you are standing. Should you find yourself standing behind Devin Toner, fear not, just outside is An Púcán’s garden area. Unveiled in 2015, it is fully kitted-out with patio furniture, bar, and most importantly a large screen to the rear and smaller screens as you enter. There’s a relaxed and chilled-out vibe in the garden, but as kickoff nears the place will be packed-out. Speakers inside and outside make for a cacophonous atmosphere, especially on big game days. When Connacht’s Ultan Dillane burst through two English tacklers on his Irish debut back in February, those in An Púcán shook the building to it’s foundations with an almighty roar. Hard to fathom the decibel level had Dillane crossed the whitewash. What you get in An Púcán is a great balance of the old and new. You have this quintessential Galwegian pub retaining it’s charm and character, coupled with a modern and vibrant space in the back that lends itself perfectly for live sport. This is a personal favourite and possibly a hidden gem, but I’ll share it anyway. Locals as well as those who have visited Galway City for a boozy weekend should be well versed in everything The Front Door has to offer. But before the weekend warriors and late night revellers appear, the upstairs bar is one of the best places to watch a match in the city. Entering via the Upper Cross Street entrance, (across from Busker Brownes) up the stairs and to your left is a slender walkway and bar. There are several barstools and a large flatscreen bolted onto the wall. Straight away you’ll recognise that this section of the pub does not cater to big groups and this is what makes it so good for viewing sport. Upstairs in The Front Door stands in stark contrast with An Púcán, in that it is the perfect place to watch a game if you’re by yourself or with a friend, and particularly if you’re watching some afternoon Premier League, as it is always on and it is generally quiet at that time, allowing you to focus fully on the game. When going to a pub to watch a game by yourself things can feel a little awkward, even daunting for some, but the staff in The Front Door always make you feel both welcome and comfortable. They are easy to chat to and service is great. The quality of the staff in a pub don’t usually affect your viewing pleasure, but when staff go above-and-beyond, it makes the experience infinitely better If Cleon (yes that’s a name, it’s Greek, look-it up) is working you’re in luck. He’s great fun to chat with during breaks in play, at half-time, and he’ll always make sure your glass is full. To put it simply and in my finest Galwegian accent, the staff in The Front Door are pure sound. In Salthill and need to watch the game? The Oslo has you covered. The Oslo has one of the largest viewing areas for sport in Galway, with a Bavarian style drinking hall located at the back of the building. They claim to have the largest screen in the city and I can’t verify that it actually is the largest in the city, but it is a bloody big drop-down screen and it is great for watching sport. When you walk in off Salthill’s main street, you enter into this surprisingly large dining area covered with quirky tables and chairs. The walls are dotted with Galway Bay Brewery merchandise and as you walk down towards the bar, you’re greeted with a myriad of bar taps. By now you should have a fairly good idea as to what The Oslo specialises in. Yup, it’s beer. Opened in 2008, The Oslo is the flagship pub of Galway Bay Brewery owners Jason O’Connell and Niall Walsh,. They added a brewery on site in 2009, making The Oslo one of the country’s first brewpubs. Since 2009 The Galway Bay Brewery has expanded operations to 11 bars in Galway and Dublin and now produce five core beers along with a plethora of rotational beers. But getting back to why The Oslo is so good for watching sport. “Big screen, lots of beers, yadda-yadda”, I hear you say. Well, I think what makes The Oslo so good for watching sport is of course the set-up they have, but what sets them apart is that on any given night you can be sitting next to fellow beer guzzlers from around the globe. Just up the road from The Oslo is the Galway Cultural Institute which offers foreign students the opportunity to learn English all-year round. In turn what you get is this young demographic of patrons from France, Chile, Germany to name but a few, coming to The Oslo to watch sport, and it’s great. Wondering why Bayern Munich have dominated the Bundesliga year-in-year-out for the last few seasons? Ask that Bavarian looking chap, he’d love to brush-up on his English with a local, and at the same time tell you how great his football team are. As mentioned above, I dont think staff members make the experience of watching sport, but they certainly improve it immensely and that goes for The Oslo too. If the ever-present manager Alan is working, he’ll give you a warm welcome and tell you everything you need to know about the beers available. So there you have it, just some of Galway’s best bars to watch and enjoy live sport. If you think your pub/bar offers a better experience than the ones mentioned, give me a shout and I’ll come check-it out. You can email me at: canross@gmail.com or Tweet me: @Migeycan

The history of geek culture and its exclusion of women Updated about 2 hours ago Fri 6 Nov 2015, 1:04am Computing never used to be seen as a masculine pursuit, but since the 80s we have witnessed a fascinating recalibration of tech and gender, as the beta males became alpha, writes Jeff Sparrow. The first 'computers' had names. They were Kay McNulty, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas, Ruth Lichterman, Adele Goldstine and Betty Snyder. In the 1940s, these women programmed the US Army's Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC), known to the press at the time as "the giant brain" and recognised today as the first electronic general-purpose computer. ENIAC's operators were chosen from the clerks - known as 'computers' - who had previously been working out ballistic tables with desk calculators. Most were women, and because the job entailed crawling within ENIAC to manipulate its switches and cables, they came to understand the machine better than anyone. That's just one example of the important role women played in pioneering today's high technology. Famously, the very first piece of computer programming was performed by Ada Lovelace, who, in the 1840s, wrote an algorithm designed to be employed by Charles Babbage's "difference engine". Grace Hopper came up with the first computer compiler in 1952 and then established the programming language COBOL. Mary Keller helped develop BASIC; Radia Perlman built some of the protocols of the early internet. As Brendan Keogh explains in his fascinating essay about the development of computer gaming , many of these advances took place in male-dominated institutions such as military facilities and engineering laboratories. Nevertheless, during the postwar decades, the proportion of women studying computer science was growing rapidly, faster than in any professional fields. And then something happened. In a piece for NPR , Steve Henn notes that the participation rates for women in computer science began to fall in the mid-80s: that is, at about the same time as personal computers entered the home. At first, the association seems completely counter-intuitive. You'd think home access to computing would increase gender parity. But as Henn says: These early personal computers weren't much more than toys. You could play pong or simple shooting games, maybe do some word processing. And these toys were marketed almost entirely to men and boys. This idea that computers are for boys became a narrative. It became the story we told ourselves about the computing revolution. It helped define who geeks were, and it created techie culture. Studies show that parents bought computers for their sons - but not for their daughters, even when the girls had expressed an interest in computing. As a result, boys arrived at university with a degree of computer knowledge that their female counterparts lacked. For decades thereafter, high technology became an overwhelmingly male field. Yet the masculinism of the computing world was a curious phenomenon. On the one hand, 'geek culture' of the 80s and 90s was almost defined by its exclusion of women. On the other, male geeks were themselves feminised, invariably depicted as socially awkward, somewhat effete individuals whose enthusiasm for technology served as compensation for failure at traditionally masculine pursuits (such as sport and drinking). Today, though, geekdom reigns triumphant. A glance at the box office reveals a Hollywood entirely in thrall to cultural productions once the almost exclusive preoccupation of self-identifying nerds (from comic book superheroes to space opera), while computer games have unquestionably become, in revenue terms at least, the dominant cultural mode. The new ubiquity of the digital world - almost everyone now works, in some way, shape or form, with a computer - has spurred a fascinating recalibration of tech and gender, as the beta males become alpha. At one time, an Aussie bloke would talk knowledgably about the innards of his car but respond incredulously to suggestions he understood anything about the workings of a computer. Today, he'll hold precisely the same mansplaining, kick-the-tyres conversation about RAM and ROM and processing speeds. These days, tech entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are portrayed not only as rich and powerful but somehow sexy, with their most geekish characteristics - the very traits that once might have marked them as slightly apart from the traditional gender roles - now reinterpreted as emblematic of masculine dominance. The digital tycoons present almost as Ayn Rand characters: completely self-centred, casually indifferent to social norms, ferociously dedicated to self-enrichment. Yet Rand's heroes were also defined by the kind of physicality that the high tech sphere traditionally lacks. For Rand, the capitalist was a Real Man but he was also a Man of Action, whose devotion to self-interest created stuff in the real world. Hence her notorious obsession with railways). It's fascinating, then, to watch the Randian masculinity re-invented out of material that Rand herself would have despised, as the internet becomes increasingly central to capital accumulation and thus to power. On the one hand, the recent history of technology is a narrative of misfits and isolates finding solace and community in opposition to the mainstream. On the other hand, that community has often solidified around its own exclusions, particularly the exclusion of women. That's the basis for scandals like 'Gamergate' (in the gaming world) or 'Sad puppies' (in the SF community): a struggle over the soul of geekdom (and thus the modern world), which is still working its way through.

A Russian man has become the talk of the town since he posted an image, titled “Putin scratched women voters’ breasts,” on YouTube.In the 19-minute and 23-second image posted by “myducksvision,” an actor, named Sam Nikel, shakes hands with Putin at an event.Nikel said, “Putin is too busy to meet with potential voters. So I will touch on the breast of women voters and then shake hands with Putin to convey my tactual experience to him.”In the clip, Nikel touched the breasts of as many as 1,000 women for 30 days before shaking hands with Putin.What Nikel did surprised or angered women who appeared in the video. Some of them touched Nikel on his breast, while others slapped his face.In an interview, Nikel said, “I met 70 to 300 women per day. I asked them to allow me to do so one by one. Of them, at least 13 women said OK.”He said that 1,000 women have so far allowed him to touch their breasts, adding that the figure accounts for only 15-20 percent of women he asked.

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” while discussing the popularity of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump liberal filmmaker Michael Moore said angry voters “see Donald Trump as their human Molotov cocktail, that they get to go into the voting booth on November 8th and throw him into a political system.” Moore said, “Yes, which I don’t want him to win. Let’s make that clear. I’ve been trying to say for months here, I live in Michigan. Across the Midwest, across the rust belt, I understand why a lot of people are angry. They see Donald Trump as their human Molotov cocktail, that they get to go into the voting booth on November 8th and throw him into a political system that has made their lives miserable miserable.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Manchester City, 2015-16 edition, are weird. Not, perhaps, by the wider standards of this season's Premier League; when it comes to oddness, they've got nothing on Chelsea's incompetence or Leicester's exceptionalism. But they're weird all the same. Over the festive period just gone — SB Nation Soccer hopes you had a lovely one — City played four games, winning two, drawing one, and losing the fourth. One of the wins, a 4-1 tonking of relegation strugglers Sunderland, was a perfunctory romp that need not detain us here. But the other, Saturday's 2-1 victory over Watford, was of a piece with the loss, 2-1 at Arsenal. In both games, City were kind of broken for 80 minutes, and were losing the game, only for Yaya Toure to score a brilliant goal and the team to suddenly snap into focus. They couldn't quite nick an equalizer against Arsenal, but Bacary Sagna and Sergio Aguero combined for a tasty winner against Watford. That goal had a certain hint of a statement about it. It felt like the kind of goal that could, in the fullness of time, be a turning point, a 'this is when the title was won' moment. Winning badly is the sign of champions, as the cliche has it (though we should note that this same weekend, Arsenal were also unconvincing in victory). But the wider performances — defensively shaky, offensively stodgy, always capable of snapping into moments of excellence — were emblematic of City this season. A team that, though they are in the title race, has rarely looked like a title-winning team. A team that looks far short of the sum of its parts, that doesn't seem to hang together quite right. A team, in short, that is weird. There might be some perfectly prosaic reasons for all this, of course. Aguero is playing on one leg and Wilfried Bony hasn't yet looked convincing either as a replacement or a partner. Yaya Toure retains his capacity for the sublime but now largely deals in moments, not performances. David Silva has been injured, and Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling have shown inconsistency that is entirely forgivable in, respectively, the newly-arrived and the very young. And as for that defense: if reputations increase while a player is missing, then Vincent Kompany is currently on course for sainthood. While City's captain is injured, City's central defensive options amount to Martin Demichelis, who is starting to age beyond the point of utility, Nicolas Otamendi, who is still adjusting to the Premier League, and Eliaquim Mangala, who might just be the most nervous-looking footballer in the Premier League. Like his team, it's not that he's bad exactly; most of the time he looks like an entirely adequate footballer. But for one or two minutes in every 10, his eyes sing with the distant terror of a man who inflated his CV slightly further than is sensible, accidentally landed a job far beyond his actual qualifications, and absolutely has no idea what any of these buttons do. The big red one. Can I push it? Should I push it? I'll push it. Oh. Oh dear. We've lost to Stoke. Enough firm blows to the spine is enough to send any team a bit wobbly. It's impossible not to wonder, however, if something else is distracting City as a club. With Pep Guardiola having announced that he's tired of winning Bundesligas with Bayern Munich, it has been widely assumed that he'll be pitching up at City come the end of the season. We can reasonably assume that however professional everybody's being, this assumption has made its way from the media to the players, to the staff, and to Manuel Pellegrini himself, not that he seems particularly flustered by it. Or, indeed, by anything. Except Alan Pardew. And you can't blame him for that. When Alex Ferguson makes a statement of purported fact, you should always check under the sauce. But he knows a thing or two about managing a football club, and there has arguably never been anybody better at reading and managing the complex psychological forces at work within a dressing room. Here he is in his latest book, Leading, talking about his decision to retire as United manager in 2001/02: I made matters worse by ... announcing that my intention prior to the start of the 2001-02 season, which made the players go to sleep. It was as if I'd put chloroform over their mouths. I knew when I had made the decision and announced it to the players that I had made a mistake. Elsewhere he described the decision to pre-announce his intentions as an "absolute disaster". It's notable that Ferguson blames himself, rather than his players; he seems to be implying that in circumstances like this, in the knowledge that a manager will be leaving his position at the end of the season, the intensity can't help but slip away. It's not hard to imagine why: when you know the person telling you what to do won't be around for much longer, what they have to say naturally diminishes in importance. Is something similar going on across Manchester? Perhaps. While City haven't quite slumped to chloroform levels of non-performance, they certainly look like a distracted team might be expected to look: inhibited, inconsistent, curiously incoherent. But set against that, we need to acknowledge that the circumstances aren't quite the same: Pellegrini's departure is still a possibility rather than a certainty and, as noted above, there's plenty of other, more quotidian reasons we might look to. There's also the fact that Pellegrini isn't as embedded in City as Ferguson was at United; his departure might be a change, but it's not going to shake the foundations of the project. Most important, however, is that while they are weird, they're certainly not bad, at least not as far as results go. United, in 2001-02, slumped down to ninth in the table and crashed out of both domestic cups; City, while they've played appallingly in quite a few games and been on the end of three genuine hidings, go into 2016 in third place, a mere three points off the lead, and with the majority of their tricky away games already behind them. Of the nine road games left this season, only West Ham, Liverpool and Chelsea look particularly tricky. Leaders Arsenal, by contrast, have yet to visit West Ham, Mark Hughes' inconsistent-but-certainly-dangerous Stoke, both sides of Liverpool and both sides of Manchester. Oh, and White Hart Lane. So, if Manchester City aren't by any means clear favorites, then they're certainly well in the hunt. And if they do manage to win the title, then to have done so in the shadow of a managerial change will, perhaps, make it even more notable an achievement. Winning a league is one thing; any fool can do that. But overcoming a problem that frustrated Alex Ferguson? That's something special.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada’s largest oil pipeline company Enbridge (ENB.TO) said on Friday it has reached a long anticipated deal to transfer some of its Canadian pipeline and renewable energy assets valued at C$18.7 billion ($15.3 billion) to Enbridge Income Fund ENF.TO, as it moves to boost its dividend and accelerate growth. In December, Enbridge outlined plans to transfer ownership of the assets and boost its dividend by 33 percent. At the time, the company said it would be transferring C$17 billion worth of assets. Enbridge had said it was aiming to complete the deal by mid-2015. Calgary-based Enbridge said in addition to dividend growth, the move would improve its funding costs for new projects and in turn drive its growth initiatives beyond 2018. Enbridge wants to build the ambitious and controversial Northern Gateway pipeline that would take oil from Alberta’s oil sands to a Pacific coast port in British Columbia. Enbridge Income Fund, which is operated by Enbridge, already holds a diversified portfolio of energy transportation and power generation businesses. “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with the Fund on what we believe is truly a win-win transaction,” said Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Al Monaco, in a statement. Enbridge will receive upon closing C$18.7 billion worth of units in the Fund, comprised of C$3 billion of Fund units, along with C$15.7 billion of equity units of Enbridge Income Partners L.P., an indirect subsidiary of the Fund. The Fund is also going to assume C$11.7 billion of debt, linked to the assets being transferred. The deal to transfer the assets is expected to close in August.

UCLan casts spotlight on male victims of partner violence Chris Theobald World-leading researcher joins real victims for a day of shared experiences A world-leading researcher specialising in male survivors of partner violence has given a public talk on the subject at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). In recognition that domestic violence can happen to men too with figures indicating that men in the North West suffer the highest rate of any area in England and Wales with a higher prevalence that women, Dr Denise Hines from Clark University Massachusetts, USA headlined UCLan’s Male Victims Event Day. As part of UCLan’s Distinguished Visitor Programme, the day included a discussion of Dr Denise Hines’ research around ‘understanding and helping male survivors’. “We are delighted to welcome all our participants to this special day which include solicitors, the police, prison workers, psychologists, NHS staff, academic researchers and students." The day also included first-hand accounts of two male victims one of whom, Ian McNicholls, assisted Coronation Street scriptwriters with Tyrone Dobbs’ abusive relationship storyline. Dr Nicola Graham-Kevan, a research expert in partner violence from UCLan’s School of Psychology, said: “We are delighted to welcome all our participants to this special day which include solicitors, the police, prison workers, psychologists, NHS staff, academic researchers and students. Dr Hines brings a wealth of research experience which centres on issues of family violence, understanding and helping male survivors and establishing research links with policymakers and practitioners. "Society is largely blind to women's aggression. People often won't believe that men are victims. Men have to be seen as passive, obvious victims with clear injuries, whereas, if a woman makes allegations, they are believed much more easily." "Society is largely blind to women's aggression. People often won't believe that men are victims.” The most recent British Crime Survey found that only 10 per cent of male victims of domestic violence had told the police, compared with 29 per cent of women. More than a quarter of male victims tell no one what has happened to them, compared with 13 per cent of women. Presentations from key help support agencies such as Preston Domestic Violence Services discussed their experience of providing support for male victims within a traditional domestic violence service. Margaret Gardner, Director of the False Allegations Support Organisation, presented a talk entitled: The Hidden Victims, covering the false allegation area both with regards to criminal and family matters. AMIS (Abused Men in Scotland) discussed its experiences of working with fathers in Scotland, some of the barriers to abused men receiving appropriate support and the challenges to service providers and policymakers. AMIS unveiled research which examines men’s experience of child protection.

Many cafeterias around the United States are working to provide students with healthy, sustainable meal options. To do this, colleges and universities are changing the way that they purchase and prepare food in their cafeterias, and many of them are beginning to source food locally. Universities can play a big role in their local and state economiesl they provide jobs and attract new businesses to the community. Now, many of these institutions are taking their role a step further and investing in local agriculture by serving locally sourced food in their cafeterias. Here are 12 universities leading the way in sustainability. American University in Washington, D.C., purchases roughly 36 percent of the food served in its dining halls within 250 miles of its campus. The university has also started a community garden on campus and hosts a drop-off location for local CSA initiatives. American University students conduced a survey that showed that by removing cafeteria trays, food waste and the number of dishes used per person declined significantly. In Fall 2009, the university eliminated trays in its Terrace Dining Room. Boston University dining halls committed itself to sourcing 20 percent of their food sustainably by 2020. In 2015, the university surpassed this goal and is currently sourcing 22 percent from sustainable sources. Dining services also serve beef that comes only from grass-fed cows from Maine Family Farms as well as humanely farmed turkey and cage-free eggs. Many of these sustainably sourced products served in the university dining halls are also locally grown. Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, is committed to two primary reasons for sourcing local food for its dining services: to reduce carbon emissions from having food delivered long distances, and to strengthen the local economy by buying from local farms and vendors. Bowdoin College currently sources an impressive 34 percent from local vendors and is dedicated to increasing that number every year. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, purchases approximately 22 percent of its total food from regional sources. The dining department purchases seasonal produce through its partnerships with the local farming community and serves beef that is raised locally without growth hormones and daily antibiotics. The university composts about 850 tons of food waste from its dining halls each year. Duke University’s campus in Durham, North Carolina, offers eateries with both organic produce and antibiotic- and hormone-free meat, and dining services spends 25 percent of its food budget on locally sourced items. Duke is also committed to limiting its amount of food waste. Surplus food is donated to food banks and both pre- and post-consumer scraps are composted. McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, currently spends 47 percent of its food budget on produce from its own on-campus farm and from growers within 300 miles of the campus. The university also offers sustainably harvested seafood products and fair trade coffee across campus. All animal products served are hormone and confinement free, and vegetarian fed. Middlebury College in Vermont partners with 50 year-long and seasonal local vendors, including its own Organic Farm. The college’s dining services currently uses 32 percent of their annual food budget on locally sourced produce, meat and poultry, eggs, soymilk, and dairy products. Since 2001, Oberlin College and Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio began purchasing locally sourced food. That year, 5 percent of its food was locally sourced. Currently, 207 percent of the food served on campus is locally sourced and Oberlin College has committed itself to increasing that amount to 40 percent by the year 2020. The college also supplies its dining halls with produce from its own 70-acre George Jones Memorial Farm about a mile from campus. In 2013, 27 percent of the University of California Berkeley’s food purchases were locally grown, organic, fair trade, or humane. Additionally, 38 percent of its food purchases were produced by locally-owned businesses. In July 2014, the university launched its Global Food Initiative to address food security in a way that is both nutritious and sustainable. The University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign spends 25 percent of its yearly food budget on locally grown or processed food items. Campus dining services also exclusively serve fair trade coffee and almost all seafood is sustainably harvested. The university is also very committed to reducing waste and has enacted efforts to recycle cooking oil for biodiesel production and currently a quarter of the meals served on-campus are trayless. The University of Wisconsin – Madison committed to local purchasing in the late 1990s. The university’s dining halls have partnered with approximately 40 local growers and food distributors to serve meals to the 7000 undergraduates living in its residential housing. The dining services of Yale University located in New Haven, Connecticut, strive to provide students with food that is grown and produced locally and sustainably. Up to 37 percent of the food served in the dining halls meets one or more of the university’s sustainability requirements. Yale University also offers sustainable menu options for its catered events and works hard to eliminate the amount of waste produced in its dining facilities. print Join the Conversation:

Photography: Chris Jepson www.ChrisJepson.com When does your preference become racist? gmfa.org.uk reports: Scott Roberts (@scottjsroberts), former news presenter on Gaydar Radio and editor of Pink News, looks at how sexual racism affects the gay community today. “No Blacks and no Asians please”. Let me ask you, where have we gone to read such an offensive statement? Are we standing in front of a door sign outside a bed and breakfast or pub in a market town in 1950s Britain? Nope, it’s just a typical comment you can see after a quick trawl through the profiles of guys on several of our most popular gay dating platforms. Yes, welcome to sexual racism in the social -networking era. Racism and homophobia are two forms of prejudice that have been around since the start of modern civilisation, but these days they show up online with far greater prominence than you would expect to find in your average street. The large number of celebrity cases in the news in the past year (Olympic diver Tom Daley received homophobic tweets during the London 2012 Games and the former footballer Stan Collymore successfully took a law student to court after he was bombarded with racial messages) illustrate the sharp end of malicious, online bigotry. Many people still have not grasped the fact that what you publish online is the same as saying it out loud in a street. This year’s high-profile Twitter ‘troll’ prosecutions may have been a wake-up call for some of the ignorant and also to parts of the establishment. However, sexual racism, encapsulated by the comments you read at the very beginning, where the author is not seeking to hurt a particular individual, is a more subtle form of stupidity. What does it tells us about our online gay culture if most of us instantly recognise the familiarity of the “no Blacks, no Asians” comment? Of course, everyone is entitled to their own sexual preferences. It would make for a pretty strange world if someone told me who I could and could not fancy – althought that does happen, all too often. The main reason why I believe sexual racism is wrong is because it promotes the idea that ‘casual’ racism is acceptable. By writing “no Blacks, no Asians” on a profile, a person is basically announcing that they believe these two racial groups of people should be avoided sexually. It is their personal opinion, but when displayed in a public setting it constitutes prejudice, regardless of the context. Society has taken the view that displaying prejudice is wrong. However, the minute we start to compromise with ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ discrimination, the journey to a fully equal society travels in a skewed direction. Rejection is always a difficult thing to deal with, regardless of whether it is racially based or because you are 5ft 7. Read more HERE

There’s an enemy anyone given to prolonged thought has to face. Sooner or later the question of purpose and meaning looms like a wall. If all is wiped away when we die, what is the point? Is life worth it, or just a cruel joke? Time and again I’ve heard smart Christians present an unmoved mover, a first cause outside of time, as “proof” of a specifically Christian God. All this really tells us is this universe had to be started from a cause outside the rules that govern our universe. If that means God, at best we can assume a Spinozan God that’s more of a force of nature than a human personality directly involved in our lives. And an afterlife or reincarnation? I can think of no reason to assume such a thing is true. It makes the most sense to assume this is our one chance since we do not know otherwise. It’s easy to fall into the trap that atheism is the “rational” approach while anyone religious is simply deluding themselves. It seems at first to make sense. But then you have to live your life by the values you have chosen… Atheist “humanists” like to point out that lack of religion doesn’t cause them to go out and start randomly being evil. They often live by a moral code. The trouble is that strong atheism must reduce to nihilism. One cannot hold moral values if one explicitly believes in a universe without purpose or meaning. Nothing can be good or bad in such a universe. Strangling puppies is no better or worse than winning the lottery. Life is no better than death. Here, the supreme irony of moral atheists becomes clear. Despite professing atheism they mostly continue to stick to Judeo-Christian moral laws. They don’t practice what they preach…because if they did, it would destroy them. The interesting thing is one cannot be an atheist…at least not for real. I was inspired to make this post when a reader named luciferslibrarian asked me this: So I am curious – you mention that you have used philosophy to arrive at meaning. I am an introvert whose biggest problem has always been that I don’t see meaning in anything. The older I get, the worse it gets. When I was younger, I was far more motivated and creative; driven even. Now I find getting started on the smallest tasks almost insurmountable, because I don’t see the point. Most people I know take solace and find meaning in friends and family, but as an introvert with a less than stellar relationship with my family, the social path is not really for me. I also know that toiling in obscurity for some higher purpose is kind of a pipe dream. Can you shed any light? I replied: Yes! The biggest problem we have to face is the challenge presented by the yawning nothing of nihilism. I approach it something like this: The adoption of nihilism is pretty much guaranteed to destroy civilizations and hamper the progress of individuals, to trick them into living a directionless cursed half life until they finally die. Nihilism seems to make sense based on what we know, but if we implement it, it’s unquestionably destructive. As I see it, living by nihilism is against the observable laws of our universe. It doesn’t work. In this sense it is objectively false. Also, even nihilists don’t really truly act on nihilism. The logical thing to do if you’re a nihilist is to be unaware of the problem of nihilism. That knowledge only causes pain and dissonance and even if it’s the truth, who cares if it has no meaning anyway. Better to be like an insect in the field playing out its role as a biomachine, never doubting. You can’t even be a conscious nihilist or atheist and really be consistent! If nothing has meaning, we might as well kill ourselves, start a party binge to drown out the knowledge of our fundamental irrelevance, or have some of our brain removed to remove the pain inflicted by ennui. Yet no one does the logical thing… A self professed strong atheist or nihilist is a liar. They clearly continue to believe in some kind of meaning or higher purpose. They can say what they want, but what they do says it all. Since meaning is a law of existence for a sentient being, we might as well either completely accept that or self destruct. Faced with a choice…I chose meaning. At least I chose to follow meaning. It’s a battle that never ends for a person of awareness. That creeping feeling of pointlessness and despair is an adversary that’s always there, waiting for an opening. It’s the price we must pay to be aware. It’s a fearful thing to face and those who can avoid it through distractions usually do. I’ve spent some time just thinking about this post, because I know from experience, there’s few greater threats to an introvert’s life than the triumph of meaninglessness within. Often isolated, without any sources of fulfillment in the material world, many of us don’t make it. I am convinced that confronting the problem of nihilism is something that can save lives. Asking those questions without a doubt played a huge role in saving my life. Far from a dramatic conversion to orthodox religion, I’ve come to see things in a way that diverges from both atheists and theists. Consulting both reason and my intuition, I’ve long since come to conceive of “God” as something closer to that Spinozan force of nature. It doesn’t have a mind or personality exactly nor is it remotely human. Logically, the best way to understand its nature is to observe nature’s workings. For the most part, it seems to be an impartial thing, but it does establish certain laws that govern our universe… For years after having rejected strong atheism I was vexed. Many having gone through the same process as I did become religious. But all my life I had marveled how absolute morality legislated by a deity tends to lead to hypocrisy and ambiguity in interpretation. What’s more, “absolute” morals often backfire when “good” people restrain themselves and others happily take advantage of them. If religious moral law isn’t consistent with observable reality, then atheists with their satirical Flying Spaghetti Monster make an excellent point. If God’s law turns out to be arbitrary in implementation, the 11th commandment might as well be Thou Shalt Not Tie Thy Shoes. We’re left with an absurd nothing that reduces to Nihilism! Orthodox religions need an afterlife to “solve” this problem! So a key requirement of a life-preserving belief system for a thoughtful person is that it must make sense within observable reality… At this point, Taoism with its ‘Way’ provided some key inspiration. There are observable laws of the universe that move us along effortlessly when we follow them and crush us when we fight them. We see this everywhere in the natural world and in our lives as human beings. From this perspective, lack of meaning simply violates a timeless law. If we must either hold to purpose or perish, it is clear what we must do… Meaning becomes effectively self-evident because we cannot exist without it! Since finding a way to help nullify the threat of nihilism I’ve since used this basic premise to create the values I live by. It has served as a genuine map telling me what I ought to do next rather than being a burdensome absolute law that spites the nature of reality in hopes of a better hereafter.

The “nihilistic union” of Portland-based duo the Body and Maryland quartet Full of Hell has resulted in one of the year’s most flesh-ripping metal releases, with the napalm-blasting collaborative One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache LP. The title echoes one of Courtney Love’s most famous lyrical sentiments, and the music approximates the internal turmoil she must have been feeling at the time; with jackhammering drums, monsooning guitars, and the ambulance-siren shrieks of Body vocalist Chip King. The album’s closer, “The Little Death,” is now available for listening. Though the term comes from “Le petite mort,” the French-language phrase that’s come to mean “orgasm,” the sound of “The Little Death” has just as much to do with the phrase’s original meaning as “nervous spasm” or “fainting fit.” After five peerlessly brutal minutes, the track leads you out with a sample of Al Pacino as assisted-suicide maestro Jack Kervorkian from the HBO movie You Don’t Know Jack, which seems about right. Slip into it here.

This article is over 1 year old Authorities did not give details on what happened to the men, but drug gangs often hang the bodies of their murdered victims in public to intimidate rivals The bodies of six men have been left hanging from three different bridges near the Mexican tourist resort of Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula on Wednesday, local authorities said. The authorities did not give details on what happened to the men, but drug gangs often hang the bodies of their murdered victims in public to intimidate rivals. Drug gang violence is set to make 2017 Mexico’s deadliest year in modern history. Mexican journalist shot dead at son's school Christmas pageant Read more Two bodies were found on a bridge in Las Veredas, near Los Cabos international airport, and two on a different bridge on the highway between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, local prosecutors said in a statement. In a separate statement, the prosecutors said two further bodies were found on a third bridge near the airport. An official from the prosecutor’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bodies of the men had been hung from the bridges. Quick guide Mexico's war on drugs Show Hide Why did Mexico launch its war on drugs? On 10 December 2006, president Felipe Calderón, launched Mexico’s war on drugs by sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were engaged in tit-for-tat massacres. Calderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own legitimacy after a bitterly contested election victory. Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved in operations across the country. What has the war cost so far? The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008, while Mexico has spent at least $54bn on security and defence since 2007. Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption at every level. But the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, around 230,000 people have been murdered and more than 28,000 reported as disappeared. Human rights groups have also detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses by security forces. As the cartels have fractured and diversified, other violent crimes such as kidnapping and extortion have also surged. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by violence. What has been achieved? Improved collaboration between the US and Mexico has resulted in numerous high-profile arrests and drug busts. Officials say 25 of the 37 drug traffickers on Calderón’s most-wanted list have been jailed, extradited to the US or killed, although not all of these actions have been independently corroborated. The biggest victory – and most embarrassing blunder – under Peña Nieto’s leadership was the recapture, escape and another recapture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel. While the crackdown and capture of kingpins has won praise from the media and US, it has done little to reduce the violence. How is the US involved? Mexico’s decade-long war on drugs would never have been possible without the huge injection of American cash and military cooperation under the Merida Initiative. The funds have continued to flow despite growing evidence of serious human rights violations. Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP Violent crime has spiked in Baja California, particularly around the once peaceful resort of Los Cabos visited by million of foreign tourists every year. Los Cabos’s police chief, Juan Manuel Mayorga, was shot dead last week. Mexico is on track for its most violent year since records began, with the rise of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, now one of the country’s most powerful, and disputes between other criminal groups fueling murder rates. On Tuesday, authorities in the northern state of Chihuahua said 12 people were killed in clashes between armed groups. 'The only two powerful cartels left': rivals clash in Mexico's murder capital Read more The governor of the state of Baja California Sur, Carlos Mendoza Davis, said that authorities were investigating the incidents near Los Cabos. “I condemn these acts and any expression of violence. Today more than ever in #BCS we should be united,” he said via Twitter, using the hashtag for the state’s initials. Homicides have more than doubled in Baja California Sur this year, with 409 people killed through October, from 192 in all of 2016. In June authorities said they had found a mass grave with the bodies of 11 men and three women near Los Cabos. More than 4.4 million passengers, mostly international, have passed through Los Cabos airport so far this year, according to operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico.