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Two of the three investigations into the actions of Salt Lake City Police officers Detective Jeff Payne and Lt. James Tracy following Payne’s arrest of University of Utah Health nurse Alex Wubbels have finished. The first — the police department’s internal affairs investigation — concluded that Tracy violated five departmental policies. It found that he acted with conduct unbecoming of an officer. Other rules broken include behaving with courtesy in public contacts, a policy favoring misdemeanor citations over arrests ”whenever possible,” the code of ethics and a standards of conduct policy. It also found that Payne violated all five of those same policies, plus an additional policy which required him to report his use of physical force while arresting Wubbels — which he did not do. Of Payne’s actions, the department wrote, “You demonstrated extremely poor professional judgment (especially for an officer with 27 years of experience), which calls into question your ability to effectively serve the public and the Department in a manner that inspires the requisite trust, respect, and confidence.” To both employees, letters said, “disciplinary action, which may include termination of your employment, is being considered in response to actions on your part which appear to be a violation of policy and/or expectations related to the performance of your job duties.” Payne’s lawyer, Greg Skordas, responded to the internal investigation’s results. He complimented their accounting of the facts but took issue with some of the results. He said he feels the report wouldn’t have been so harsh if the body camera footage hadn’t been publicly released and believes the report will be used to “justify major discipline … when it’s not warranted here.” “He made a terrible mistake … But let’s not overstate it because it’s become a YouTube sensation,” Skordas said. The second investigation — an independent review by the Civilian Review Board — concluded with findings that Tracy did not meet the responsibilities of his position as a watch commander, that both officers should have contacted the department’s legal adviser and that both officers did not understand the laws in question. It also found that Payne violated three department policies — public courtesy, blood draw procedures and his obligation to follow policy and orders. The Civilian Review Board’s report also noted that no other police officer or security personnel present at the time of the incident intervened. These officers were from both SLCPD and the University of Utah’s campus police department. The security there was employed by the hospital. Wubbels and her lawyer have named the inaction of those individuals as one of their primary concerns. Their actions are also under ongoing criminal investigation by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office, in coordination with the Unified Police Department and the FBI. Wubbels had called hospital security when Payne became agitated. They came, but did not intervene in any way, telling her it was a “police matter” in which they couldn’t “get involved.” When she asked a U police officer to protect her from Payne, who was threatening her with arrest at the time, he told her that he would not prevent Payne from arresting her if she interfered with his work because her actions were obstruction of justice. One U officer, Steven Worona, appears to assist in Payne’s arrest of Wubbels by placing his hand on her shoulder to hold her still. After she was arrested, he approached Payne and Tracy, offering to help them get the blood they wanted. In a video released online, U police Chief Dale Brophy said, “Having seen the video and firsthand what she went through, and what she tried to do to de-escalate and solve the problem, I think that somebody else — [university] security and/or police — could have stepped up and taken that role from her and been the advocate for her like they should’ve been.” Brophy said he’s met with the department and instituted more de-escalation training “to make sure it never happens again.” On July 26, Payne went to the U’s hospital in search of a patient’s blood on behalf of the Logan Police Department. When Wubbels refused to give him a sample under policy agreed to by the hospital and SLCPD, Payne arrested her and pulled her out of the hospital while she screamed for help. Tracy, Payne’s supervisor that day, arrived shortly after the arrest. He had ordered her arrest. Payne and Tracy have both worked as police officers for decades. Payne has won multiple awards for his work, including a Purple Heart award from the Utah Peace Officer’s Association after being shot during a traffic stop. Tracy has held several leadership positions in the force. Both have been reprimanded in the past. In 2013, then-Chief Chris Burbank gave a written reprimand to Payne over allegations that he had sexually harassed a female coworker over a long period of time, including unwanted physical contact. He had also been suspended in 1995 after a police chase in which he violated several department policies. Tracy’s only formal reprimand was in 1997 after he arrested two people, then released them on the other side of the city, never documenting what happened. Payne and Tracy now have until Oct. 3 to respond to the results of the internal affairs investigation. After that time period, SLCPD Chief Mike Brown will make a decision about the consequences the two officers will face. e.vandersteen@dailyutahchronicle.com @EliseAbril

People travelling to the Czech Republic have been warned to avoid consuming locally produced spirits following a spate of deaths linked to methanol-laced alcohol. To date, 19 people have died and 36 people have been admitted to hospital after drinking illegally-produced liquor that contains high levels of methanol. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today reminded people the Czech government has banned all products with alcohol content of 20 per cent or greater. It said Czech authorities have confirmed that it is confined to the Czech Republic only. The tainted alcohol was sold in bottles under fake labels from at least two Czech liquor makers and the bottles weren't properly sealed, according to police. The poisonous drink was offered at discounts in bottles labelled as vodka or tuzemak, a local rum-like alcoholic beverage. Several people went blind or fell into coma after consuming it. Police have uncovered a chain of producers and distributors who supplied tainted drinks to retail outlets, bars and kiosks. Police have charged 23 people with various crimes related to making and spreading poisonous substances after raiding 40 premises, deputy interior minister Jaroslav Hruska said today. While the ban locked about 20 million bottles of spirits in warehouses and hurt liquor makers and hospitality businesses, the government is not considering easing it for now, health minister Leos Heger told reporters in Prague. "Declining profits, in the context of 19 and potentially more deaths, are a lower priority at this moment," Mr Heger said. Easing the ban "won't be a matter for consideration in the next few days." As many as 35 people have been hospitalised, with five new cases of poisoning occurring in the past 24 hours, Mr Heger said. Two people in Slovakia were hospitalised with cases of "lighter poisoning" after drinking plum brandy bought over the internet in the Czech Republic, Mr Heger said. Slovakia today joined Poland in banning the sale of liquor imported from the Czech Republic. Both countries border the Czech Republic.

DigitalGlobe is enlisting the crowd to scan and tag images of more than 1,200 square miles of ocean for any visible evidence that could help locate the Malaysia Airlines 777 aircraft that went missing this weekend. The Longmont-based earth-imagery company deployed its FirstLook service on Sunday, directing two of its five satellites to snap photos of the area in the Gulf of Thailand, where investigators suspected the plane may have crashed, and then activated its crowdsourcing platform, Tomnod, on Monday afternoon. Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, lost communication while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The missing plane continued to perplex investigators from around the globe three days later. “If there is something to see on the surface (of the water), we will see it. But the question is if we are looking in the right area,” said Luke Barrington, DigitalGlobe’s senior manager of geospatial big data. As each new theory led to a new dead end, the company recalibrated its action plan based on the Malaysian government’s new area of focus, north and east of oil slicks reported soon after the plane went missing. DigitalGlobe activates FirstLook — used by emergency-response agencies in natural disasters, manmade crises and human interest scenarios — about twice a week, while Tomnod is used more selectively and for different reasons, Barrington said. “We try to use the crowd wisely and not tire them out,” he said. “The story here is much more about the search than it is about the response. This whole feeling of not knowing, the lack of information or ability to do anything, we have seen time and again, is why people want to get involved.” Within the first hour Monday afternoon, the Tomnod map had 60,000 page views with more than a thousand tags. Ten minutes later, that was up to nearly 2,000. Barrington said that the crowd actually directed the company on this particular crisis, asking for them to deploy Tomnod. “The people who come to Tomnod are very motivated to solve problems,” Barrington said. “I would say we will have up to 10,000 contributors on this one.” DigitalGlobe is not the only earth-imagery company capable of delivering high-resolution images, but is arguably the U.S. industry leader. “There are an awful lot of assets up in orbit,” said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at The Teal Group. “There’s dozens of earth observation satellites and all of them are very, very capable. If they are taking images, then there’s no lack of imagery. And if you haven’t been able to spot something by now, then I don’t know. It has been three days.” Kristen Leigh Painter: 303-954-1638, kpainter@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kristenpainter

The head of the Colorado Department of Revenue has written a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration asking that federal controls on marijuana be loosened slightly to account for its “potential medicinal value.” Colorado is the third state with a medical-marijuana program to ask the DEA to reschedule marijuana. Revenue Department executive director Barbara Brohl’s letter, written Dec. 22, does not come as a surprise. A law passed last year in the legislature required the state to ask for rescheduling by the end of this year. In the letter, Brohl details briefly Colorado’s regulations for medical-marijuana sellers and argues that current federal law, under which all marijuana possession and distribution is illegal, make it difficult for her to administer Colorado’s laws. “As long as there is divergence in state and federal law, there is a lack of certainty necessary to provide safe access for patients with serious medical conditions,” Brohl wrote. The letter asks that the DEA consider moving marijuana from schedule I — a category that includes such drugs as heroin and LSD that are not considered to have medicinal value — to schedule II. Drugs in that category, such as methadone and cocaine, are considered to have some medicinal value but also can be highly addictive. Schedule II substances are able to be prescribed by doctors but are still subject to strict controls. It is unclear whether Colorado’s medical-marijuana laws — which allow doctors to authorize marijuana use through recommendation and allow patients to grow their own cannabis plants — would clash with those controls. Earlier this year, the governors of Rhode Island and Washington also asked the DEA to reschedule marijuana. The DEA has in the past rejected similar requests to reclassify the substance. John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rapidly spreading lawlessness as Somalia collapses in the worst fighting for two nearly decades is fuelling a wave of piracy that increasingly threatens one of the world’s most important waterways. South Korean ship Maputo 9 (L), which was hijacked by Somali pirates, is escorted by a Yemeni coast guard boat at Aden November 13, 2007. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Although shipping costs have not been affected so far, it is forcing Western navies to take action to protect shipping. Some suspect that ransom payments to pirates could be helping Islamist insurgents fight the weak interim government. The piracy is also hampering aid shipments to Somalia and thereby worsening a humanitarian crisis that encourages the anarchy. Heavily-armed pirates from Somalia have hijacked at least 30 ships so far this year in the Gulf of Aden — last week seizing a record four vessels in 48 hours. “All the shipping companies are taking this very seriously and are very concerned. This is an unprecedented rise in attacks,” said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau, a global piracy watchdog. The waters between Somalia and Yemen are a major artery used by nearly 20,000 vessels a year heading to and from the Suez Canal. The 700 million tons passing through the canal in 2007 was over 9 percent of an estimated 7.7 billion tons carried by global shipping. Merchant shipping carries more than 90 percent of the world’s traded goods by volume. In May, the advisory Joint War Committee of Lloyd’s Market Association designated the strategic channel at high risk of “war, strikes, terrorism and related perils”. “But it’s just a recommendation, and some underwriters may not follow it for their very important clients,” Mukundan told Reuters. “Costs have not gone up. Of course, if you are hijacked they go up quite significantly. But there is no contingent cost to piracy.” Somali pirates are currently holding about 130 crew members hostage on at least seven vessels, including huge chemical tankers and bulk-carriers. Gunmen are holding vessels from Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, Germany and Iran. REBELS BEHIND ATTACKS? Attacks at sea have boomed as lawlessness increased in Somalia, where there has not been a working government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Since the start of last year, more than 8,000 civilians have been killed in fighting between allied Somali government and Ethiopian soldiers and Islamist rebels. Another 1 million have been driven from their homes. There are many theories about who exactly is behind the latest spate of hijackings. Most captured ships bring ransoms of more than $10,000, and in a few cases much more. Some security experts say there are signs insurgents may receive some of the ransoms and use them to fund attacks on the government. Last week, the rebels seized the key southern port of Kismayu. The United States says they have links to al Qaeda. Other experts point to ties forged between Somali pirates, most of whom are based in the northern Puntland region, and criminal networks in Yemen during years of people-smuggling. The Islamists deny masterminding the recent attacks at sea, and other analysts say the insurgents get most of their money from wealthy Somalis abroad, as well as backers in Arab nations. Analysts say some members of the interim government, many of whom are former warlords, may also profit from piracy. All agree that the inability of Puntland’s administration to crush organized crime has fed the chaos offshore. When the mineral-rich region declared itself semi-autonomous in 1998, it hoped to provide a model for a future, stable Somalia — clan-based federal governance with free elections and an effective parliament. “Now we are seeing Puntland essentially breaking down as an entity,” said Rashid Abdi, Somalia expert at the International Crisis Group thinktank. “You’re seeing a gradual takeover of the state by criminal gangs.” COALITION TASK FORCE Puntland officials have been powerless in the face of sophisticated pirates equipped with speed boats and heavy weapons. Onshore, the authorities have also failed to stop money counterfeiters and kidnapping gangs. That has created a climate where the pirates’ new homes, lavish weddings and flashy cars attract more and more young men desperate for work in the one of the poorest countries on Earth. Locals say recruitment is also fed by resentment at European fishing fleets harvesting tuna from Somali waters, and what they say is regular dumping of toxic waste on their shores. “The problem of piracy has to be looked at in the broader context of the failure of Puntland,” the ICG’s Abdi said. “It cannot be dealt with separately” The insecurity has also put a choke on the ability of the United Nations to get food aid to the fast-growing numbers of needy. That figure has leapt 77 percent this year to more than 3.2 million — more than a third of Somalia’s population. Canadian naval ships are escorting World Food Program shipments to Mogadishu until September, and U.N. officials say it is hoped that French and then German forces will take over. Further north in the Gulf of Aden, the recent attacks have also stung the anti-terrorist Combined Task Force 150 into action. The multinational unit, part of Washington’s Operation Enduring Freedom, is based in neighboring Djibouti and has come to the aid of many ships attacked by pirates. This week, it announced a string of waypoints marking a Maritime Security Patrol Area or safe corridor, which navy warships will patrol while coalition aircraft fly overhead. “It focuses our longer-term efforts to improve security and counter destabilizing activity in the region,” Lieutenant Stephanie Murdock, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, told Reuters by telephone from Bahrain.

Spread the love Pocatello, ID — There is a saying among law enforcement when they are questioned for writing asinine tickets for non-crimes and arresting well-meaning people who may be in possession of a plant to treat their child — ‘Just doing my job.’ This phrase is uttered countless times a day as police officers write tickets for everything from window tint to license plate lights — as they somehow think it justifies this level of extortion. The most recent case of extortion for non-crimes is getting a lot of attention in Idaho because police extorted a man who was actually providing a community service. When it snows in his community, Mitch Fisher is ready to help. “I take care of the neighbors. They’re all elderly and I like to help them out,” Fisher said. Fisher’s community service of plowing streets and sidewalks — for free — is so highly regarded that he was featured in a segment on a local news station in December. “I try to clean my spot and all the neighbors around me so we have a nice area to park and pull in,” Fisher said las month. “Also, hopefully, so no one gets stuck in front of my house.” But his good deed did not go unnoticed by the revenue collectors. On Wednesday, a Pocatello police officer came prowling and issued Fisher a citation for ‘depositing material on a public right of way.’ Fisher will now be extorted for over $200 for helping the city clean the roadways. Naturally, according to Local 8 News, Fisher was baffled. “I tried to talk (the officer) out of it and tell him what I was doing, that I was trying to get it out of the street because (the street) hasn’t been plowed since the beginning of snow season,” he said. “Of course, he was doing his job, wrote the citation and went on his way.” The law used to extort Fisher was Chapter 9 of Pocatello’s city code which states, “It is unlawful for any person to deposit, place or allow to remain in or upon any public right of way any material or substance injurious to persons or property.” Obviously depositing trash, debris, or anything else that would obstruct the street is a dangerous practice. However, Fisher was doing the opposite of this as he moved the snow into a pile right next to his curb. “I didn’t want it in front of (my neighbors’) houses because they can’t park. I don’t care if it’s in front of mine,” Fisher explained of his community service. Fisher’s ticket received heavy backlash after he posted it on Facebook in the group “You know you grew up in Pocatello when…” However, the administrator took it down after the conversation apparently got too heated. To highlight how caring of a man he is, Fisher posted to the group yesterday — apologizing for sharing his ticket in it and didn’t mean for it to start any controversy. Within that post, Fisher was praised by his neighbors and community for providing the service and the overwhelming majority of people are on his side. “Sounds like they should fire a cop with too much time on his hands and use that money to hire a snowplow contractor,” said one neighbor. “Inept city hacks hate competition. I saw a neighbor with a plow accomplish more in our neighborhood in 1/2 an hour than the city has all year,” said Facebook user Brad. “The city refuses to clear the street, but punishes a good citizen for doing their jobs for them? Proof that in a police state, it is about collecting revenue. And NOT about protecting public safety,” said Scott. Also, there is good news to this story as Fisher says he will not back down. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. I don’t care about the city,” he said. According to Local 8, Fisher plans on fighting the ticket. However, even if he loses — he will continue to help. “If it cost me 206 dollars a year so be it, I’ll have peace of mind knowing it helps them out,” Fisher said in the Facebook group. It is quite heartening to hear of such resistance to petty tyranny. Unjust laws will remain unjust until they are disobeyed by good people like Fisher. Had brave individuals throughout history not risked imprisonment or worse to challenge tyrannical, racist, and immoral laws, society today, would be much less free. Thank you, Mitch Fisher, for standing up for what is right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbP28sImWfQ

Carlos Tevez says he will snub Chelsea interest to stay at Boca Carlos Tevez won Premier League titles with Manchester United and Manchester City Carlos Tevez claims he will snub interest from Chelsea this summer to see out his career with Boca Juniors. The Argentina forward says Chelsea and Italian side Napoli want to bring him back to Europe, where he spent nine years with West Ham, both Manchester clubs and Antonio Conte's Juventus. Tevez returned to Buenos Aires and first club Boca in 2015, and the message to interested European clubs is clear: 'I'm not coming back'. "I'm fine at Boca," said the 32, year-old, quoted in Italy's Corriere dello Sport. "Indeed my idea, my dream is to finish my career as a player in this wonderful club. "Europe? Yes, it's true Napoli and Chelsea seek me, but I repeat what I said before. My desire is to stay at Boca until I retire." West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan revealed earlier this month he had explored the possibility of re-signing Tevez, claiming the deal broke down over the player's wage demands. Tevez became a cult hero in east London when he helped save the club from relegation in 2007, and Premier League successes with United and City followed. He left for Juve in 2013 when new Chelsea boss Conte was in charge and went on to win back-to-back Serie A titles.

Posted 6 years ago on Sept. 23, 2012, 4:08 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt Tags: police, s17, bloomberg, nyc The first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street was a joyous affair for the 99%. Yet regrettably, it was also a day that illustrated how Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ‘private army’ has been increasingly unleashed to beat, arrest, imprison, and broadly suppress OWS. Please post your videos, photos, and stories about how your rights were infringed on the Occupy Bloomberg’s Army Facebook page. Occupy is a nonviolent movement, but this has not prevented Bloomberg’s Army from engaging in targeted arrests of specific organizers as well as random street ‘snatch and release’ intimidation tactics. On September 17th not even the constant drone of helicopters overhead could drown out the screams of ‘I’m a journalist’ from the reporters who were arrested merely for practicing their and our right to freedom of the press. And not even a cry of ‘I’m a City Councilmember’ was enough to staunch the established policy of brutality within the Mayor of Wall Street’s Police Department. The message being sent by Bloomberg’s Army is being heard loud and clear. In Bloomberg’s New York: anyone who supports Occupy Wall Street in any fashion is being made an example of. Were you one of these people extra-legally arrested or assaulted, or have you witnessed someone who was? Post your videos, photos, and stories on the Occupy Bloomberg’s Army Facebook page. We will not be stymied by the over 180 arrests on our anniversary, nor intimidated by the unprovoked and random nature of so many of them. We will fight for our right to protest Wall Street while we protest Wall Street itself. All Roads Lead To Wall Street -- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team (click here to subscribe)

ONE man is dead and fourteen others have been hospitalised with suspected drug overdoses at a music festival in Penrith, Sydney yesterday. The 23-year-old deceased reveller travelled to the Defqon.1 festival by car with several friends. Just before midday he was taken in to the festival's medical tent, where his condition quickly deteriorated and he suffered several seizures, police say. An ambulance was then called and took the man to Nepean Hospital where he was resuscitated numerous times after multiple cardiac arrests. He died at 10.30pm last night. A police spokesman told The Daily Telegraph they were unsure what substance the man had consumed. "That information is being prepared for the coroner," he said. "It is certainly a warning to others out there if it was an overdose, which is what it is looking like." Over 18,000 people descended on the Sydney International Regatta Centre yesterday to listen to a range of hardstyle dance music. A police operation with drug dogs nabbed 87 partygoers, three for public order offences and the remainder for drug offences. An attendee took to Twitter saying the death may have been associated with a bad batch of ecstasy pills. Police have not confirmed this allegation. Defqon. 1 Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands and Australia. It was founded in 2003 by festival organiser Q-dance and plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as hardcore techno, jumpstyle and hard trance. Many prominent hardstyle and dubstyle artists perform there annually. Police have announced a media conference regarding the man's death and the large number of arrests made at the event for this afternoon. They also warned users of illegal drugs to be aware that while they may believe they are purchasing one drug they may get something completely different. "People who attend dance parties and music festivals need to act with caution when considering taking an illicit drug. The effects of some of the more popular drugs at these venues such as MDMA (ecstasy) can cause overheating and dehydration with sometimes fatal consequences," Penrith Local Area Command Crime Manager Detective Inspector Grant Healey warned. It was the fifth year for the event described as being for "hard dance enthusiasts" with tickets for the Sydney International Regatta Centre event costing as much as $235. On its website organisers stress "This festival is produced to give everyone a positive and safe experience. Q-dance maintains a zero tolerance drug policy. There will be a strong police presence at the event." Headline acts include Coone, Gunz for Hire, Frontliner and Brennan Heart.

There aren’t many places in Seattle that haven’t changed at all in my lifetime. But walking into Tai Tung restaurant in the Chinatown-International District is like stepping out of a time machine. There’s the wood paneling, mauve upholstery and thick laminate menu I remember from special dinners out with my family as a child. But the restaurant’s history runs much deeper than that. “The door that you just walked through, that swinging door? That door is 80 some years old,” says Siang Hui Tay, who adds that the restaurant opened in 1935 and is the oldest remaining Chinese restaurant in neighborhood . Tay would know. Inspired by the history of Tai Tung, she and her partner Val Tan have co-produced “A Taste Of Home,” a documentary showcasing local Chinese-American culinary history, which will play opening night of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival next week. But it wasn’t the restaurant’s door, historic lunch counter or Bruce Lee’s favorite table (he was a regular) that first attracted the filmmaking duo, who work under the brand “Tay & Val.” It was the food — specifically Chinese comfort food from their home country of Singapore. “We were looking for a taste of home,” says Tan, who was hoping for a taste of her grandmother’s egg foo young and “Yelped” her way to Tai Tung, which is famous for the dish. What she found there wasn’t the recipe she grew up with. She says the Singaporean version she knows is more of a shrimp scramble than a gravy-topped omelet. But the experience sparked an interest in the history of Chinese-American food of our region and introduced her to Harry Chan. Chan is a third generation owner of Tai Tung. He’s worked at the restaurant since 1968. In addition to being the devoted boss (he boasts that he keeps a sleeping bag at the ready so he can be sure to open even on snow days), he’s also an expert on the evolution of food in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. “They ate pig feet and pig tails, ox tails, salmon head, peashoot vegetables steamed with pork, preserved pimento,” says Chan listing off some of the popular dishes once served by his grandfather. You won’t find all of those items on the menu today, but there are a few dishes that have remained unchanged since the restaurant’s opening day. “It’s all going to, at some point, disappear.” I ordered “Combination #1” as featured in “A Taste Of Home.” The spareribs were sweet and tender, the pork chow mien fresh and savory and the egg foo young pillowing light and deeply satisfying. What’s more, every bite felt like it brought me closer to the increasingly elusive history of my city. For more of that edible history, Val & Tay’s film — which is funded in part by 4Culture and City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture — showcases five of the oldest Chinese-American establishments in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District including: Tai Tung, the Tsue Chong Noodle Factory (you’ve eaten their fortune cookies), Fortuna Café and the now-closed Mon Hei Bakery and Yick Fung Grocery Store . “We just started it as a passion project,” says Tay who feels an urgency to document this history before it’s gone. “It’s all going to, at some point, disappear.” But Harry Chan and Tai Tung have no plans of disappearing, at least not anytime soon. When I asked him if he thinks the restaurant will make it to 100 he just smiles and answers, “We’ll see.” I’d bet they do. “A Taste Of Home” is playing Thursday, February 23rd at 7:30PM at The SIFF Cinema Egyptian on Capitol Hill as part of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival. You can find tickets at: seattleaaff.org/2017/films/taste-of-home/ 0 email

EU politics: renewing the wedding vows 19/01/2015 Follow @eureferendum Jean-Claude Juncker says he is prepared to examine the UK's demands on how the EU should change – or so we are told by caveat: he will not allow certain "red lines", including on immigration issues, to be crossed. But what grabs the headline is the Commission President comparing EU-UK relations to a love affair. "It's easy to fall in love and more difficult to stay together", Juncker says, also observing that, "people shouldn't stay together if the conditions aren't the same as when things started". That, of course, is horse manure: conditions always change, so the test is whether people can adapt to them. In the case of the EU though, which – at best – was a loveless, arranged marriage, there never was a situation when we should have stayed together. Nevertheless, while Juncker still feels that, "it's in the interest of both the UK and the EU to stay together", he reaffirms that he won't weaken the EU's fundamental principles. "When one mentions the end of the free circulation of workers, there can be no debate, dialogue or compromise", he says. "We can fight against abuses - and national lawmakers can do that - but the EU lawmakers won't change the treaties to satisfy the will of certain politicians". So, it seems, Juncker is still playing the "bad cop" against Merkel's "good cop", although he's not saying anything very new. Interestingly, though, Mr Cameron could be acquiring another ally, in This is Viktor Orban, who says he believes the EU's laws on asylum should be tightened, just a week after he said in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris that immigration into Europe should stop – with not an EU flag in sight (pictured). "This is a Christian country", he said on a Sunday radio talk show. "We can help those who are indeed chased out of their countries, but we have to make it clear we don’t want to be the destination for immigrants seeking to make a living here". The number seeking asylum last year in Hungary was 43,000 last year, double the figure in 2013, Mr. Orban says, a large number in relation to Hungary's total population of a little below ten million. "If Europe continues to bury its head in the sand, these trends won't change. It now seems like Brussels won't shield us from this issue; we have to protect ourselves", Orban adds, then saying that the Dublin Regulation should be upheld, so that those immigrants who manage to escape farther westward within the EU can be transported back to the country where they entered the EU. Hungary is perhaps not the best of allies though. It gets asylum seekers routed through its territory from Greece and Bulgaria, most often via Serbia, where there were 19,951 illegal crossings in 2013, up 212 percent on the previous year. But in Hungary, though – as the German broadcaster The few existing facilities are overflowing, so that many refugees are housed in former military barracks or community buildings converted into prisons for migrants. In April 2014, more than 40 percent of all male asylum seekers were being housed in a prison. The reasons for arrest were arbitrary and unclear. As a rule, migrants were held for a month without having committed a crime. The UNHCR Detainees remained behind bars typically for four to five months, while some for the entire length of their asylum procedure. They were locked in their cells much of the day, suffered verbal and physical abuse by the security guards, and were escorted in handcuffs and on leashes to the court hearings or even to doctors, treated like a criminal. Hungarian authorities often automatically started the aliens police procedure and ordered detention of asylum-seekers. Courts tended to review detention orders in group hearings, dealing with the case of 5-10 people in 30 minutes that was not enough time properly to consider the facts of each individual case. According to UNHCR, asylum-seekers were also routinely deported to Serbia, considered by Hungary as a safe third country. In Serbia, however, asylum-seekers faced chain deportations to Macedonia and Greece, countries with no adequate asylum systems in place, and where asylum-seekers faced the risk of refoulement to countries where they may have fled danger or persecution. However, resistance to the flow of asylum seekers is also manifest in the Czech Republic where, on Friday, hundreds showed up for a rally in which protesters objected to allowing Muslims to settle in Central Europe (even after this Monday's The centre-left Czech government has so far been reluctant to offer asylum to refugees from the Middle East because of concerns that potential terrorists might be among them. It eventually agreed to take in 70 Syrian refugees under EU pressure, against thousands presenting themselves to the rest of the EU. But that also makes the Czech government a potential ally for Mr Cameron, who is not looking quite so isolated on this issue as some might aver. Softly, softly, "Europe" is going his way. He may well confound Juncker, and bring home his treaty, sufficient for him to call upon the British to renew their wedding vows. Jean-Claude Juncker says he is prepared to examine the UK's demands on how the EU should change – or so we are told by Bloomberg . but there is a: he will not allow certain "red lines", including on immigration issues, to be crossed.But what grabs the headline is the Commission President comparing EU-UK relations to a love affair. "It's easy to fall in love and more difficult to stay together", Juncker says, also observing that, "people shouldn't stay together if the conditions aren't the same as when things started".That, of course, is horse manure: conditions always change, so the test is whether people can adapt to them. In the case of the EU though, which – at best – was a loveless, arranged marriage, there never was a situation when we should have stayed together.Nevertheless, while Juncker still feels that, "it's in the interest of both the UK and the EU to stay together", he reaffirms that he won't weaken the EU's fundamental principles."When one mentions the end of the free circulation of workers, there can be no debate, dialogue or compromise", he says. "We can fight against abuses - and national lawmakers can do that - but the EU lawmakers won't change the treaties to satisfy the will of certain politicians".So, it seems, Juncker is still playing the "bad cop" against Merkel's "good cop", although he's not saying anything very new.Interestingly, though, Mr Cameron could be acquiring another ally, in Hungary's prime minister . Yesterday, he was urging the EU to limit immigration, saying that some people were abusing the asylum rules, when they were actually seeking employment.This is Viktor Orban, who says he believes the EU's laws on asylum should be tightened, just a week after he said in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris that immigration into Europe should stop – with not an EU flag in sight (pictured)."This is a Christian country", he said on a Sunday radio talk show. "We can help those who are indeed chased out of their countries, but we have to make it clear we don’t want to be the destination for immigrants seeking to make a living here".The number seeking asylum last year in Hungary was 43,000 last year, double the figure in 2013, Mr. Orban says, a large number in relation to Hungary's total population of a little below ten million."If Europe continues to bury its head in the sand, these trends won't change. It now seems like Brussels won't shield us from this issue; we have to protect ourselves", Orban adds, then saying that the Dublin Regulation should be upheld, so that those immigrants who manage to escape farther westward within the EU can be transported back to the country where they entered the EU.Hungary is perhaps not the best of allies though. It gets asylum seekers routed through its territory from Greece and Bulgaria, most often via Serbia, where there were 19,951 illegal crossings in 2013, up 212 percent on the previous year. But in Hungary, though – as the German broadcaster Spiegel reported in September 2014, there is no functioning asylum system. Illegal detention is routine and guards use drugs to sedate migrants.The few existing facilities are overflowing, so that many refugees are housed in former military barracks or community buildings converted into prisons for migrants. In April 2014, more than 40 percent of all male asylum seekers were being housed in a prison. The reasons for arrest were arbitrary and unclear. As a rule, migrants were held for a month without having committed a crime.The UNHCR has been critical of conditions in the asylum prisons, calling them "inhumane and demeaning".Detainees remained behind bars typically for four to five months, while some for the entire length of their asylum procedure. They were locked in their cells much of the day, suffered verbal and physical abuse by the security guards, and were escorted in handcuffs and on leashes to the court hearings or even to doctors, treated like a criminal.Hungarian authorities often automatically started the aliens police procedure and ordered detention of asylum-seekers. Courts tended to review detention orders in group hearings, dealing with the case of 5-10 people in 30 minutes that was not enough time properly to consider the facts of each individual case.According to UNHCR, asylum-seekers were also routinely deported to Serbia, considered by Hungary as a safe third country. In Serbia, however, asylum-seekers faced chain deportations to Macedonia and Greece, countries with no adequate asylum systems in place, and where asylum-seekers faced the risk ofto countries where they may have fled danger or persecution.However, resistance to the flow of asylum seekers is also manifest in the Czech Republic where, on Friday, hundreds showed up for a rally in which protesters objected to allowing Muslims to settle in Central Europe (even after this Monday's Pegida rally had been cancelled.The centre-left Czech government has so far been reluctant to offer asylum to refugees from the Middle East because of concerns that potential terrorists might be among them. It eventually agreed to take in 70 Syrian refugees under EU pressure, against thousands presenting themselves to the rest of the EU.But that also makes the Czech government a potential ally for Mr Cameron, who is not looking quite so isolated on this issue as some might aver. Softly, softly, "Europe" is going his way. He may well confound Juncker, and bring home his treaty, sufficient for him to call upon the British to renew their wedding vows.

× PHOTOS: Tornado damage in Tupelo, Mississippi Forecasters declared a tornado emergency for three counties around Tupelo, Mississippi, on Monday afternoon as a line of severe thunderstorms swept through the area, the National Weather Service reported. “It’s going to be wave after wave of these storms, from what the forecasters tell us,” Mississippi Emergency Management spokesman Greg Flynn said. Another twister was reported near Yazoo City, Mississippi, north of Jackson, but there was no immediate report of damage or injuries. Monday’s storms hit four years after an April 2010 tornado that killed four people in Yazoo City and 10 across the state, said Joey Ward, the city’s emergency management director. MORE: Storm chaser video of Tupelo tornado | Tupelo meteorologist yells for staff to take shelter on live TV during tornado PHOTOS: Utility pole & crushed utility truck on hwy 45 in tupelo pic.twitter.com/2UxFEUfCyz — Tish Clark (@local24tish) April 28, 2014 Tupelo apts damaged by tornadoes. pic.twitter.com/IZ00brtzt2 — Tish Clark (@local24tish) April 28, 2014 Tornado damage here in Tupelo pic.twitter.com/e2zNEIdX5c — Earl Brown (@cosine55) April 28, 2014 Some stuff hitting us in tupelo, ms #TheWeatherChannel pic.twitter.com/IywvoR8WSL — Nicholas Massey ✌ (@AThinkingMind) April 28, 2014 https://twitter.com/1ChrisForrester/status/460901413623566336 A rare before and after tornado shot from Tupelo pic.twitter.com/EB6tlnlPI9 — Jimmy Carter (@askjimmycarter) April 28, 2014 One of my best high school memories, gone. pic.twitter.com/9rPy032rGv — Kyle Holliman (@thekholly11) April 28, 2014 Another photo from what looks to be from Tupelo area. RT @jayward11: pic.twitter.com/XiZ5EniK4H — Kennan Oliphant (@TVNewsGuru) April 28, 2014 RT @WiscoWX: Car rolled by tornado in tupelo pic.twitter.com/jxLFTzs8iI — The Daily Rapid (@earththreats) April 28, 2014 Major tornado damage in Tupelo area! pic.twitter.com/OMRf1gVh7V — Rock104 (@Rock104FM) April 28, 2014 From @DanielShawAU live stream- flipped semi in Tupelo, MS after tornado pic.twitter.com/OvynGycVPh — SevereStudios (@severestudios) April 28, 2014 This is Vanellis in Tupelo where I work. Everyone is safe. Praising God for His hand of mercy over my coworkers. pic.twitter.com/2iyDneDy9O — Brandy Davis (@brandydavis01) April 28, 2014 Just arrived on scene in Mayflower AR. It's a mess out here. With @edlavaCNN pic.twitter.com/KLvQ7Bm9Sd — Josh Rubin (@jrubin) April 28, 2014

At the sacred convocation of Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton (25 May), and the Call Service of Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines (27 May), the following placements were announced. More news and photos will follow later. Pastoral Candidate Placements Andrew Cottrill (CLTS): Zion Lutheran Church, Yorkton, Saskatchewan Kirk Radford (CLTS): Christ Lutheran Church, Sarnia, Ontario William Rose (CLS): Redeemer/Zion/Christ/St. Paul’s Lutheran Churches, Portage la Prairie/Plumas/Neepawa/McCreary, Manitoba Paul Schulz (CLTS): Trinity Lutheran Church, Mallard, Iowa; Zion Lutheran Church, Ayrshire, Iowa Vicarage Placements Matthew Fenn (CLTS): Our Saviour Lutheran Church and Parish, Dryden, Ontario Michael Mayer (CLS): Redeemer Lutheran Church, Didsbury, Alberta Christopher McLean (CLS): Redeemer Lutheran Church, Kitimat, BC Shiekh Lief Mauricio (CLS): Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Winkler, Manitoba Kenneth Stadnick (CLS): Advent Lutheran Church, Evansburg, Alberta Diaconal Intern Placements Lenora Wallden, DPS (CUE): Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kitchener, Ontario CLS = Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta CLTS = Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines, Ontario CUE = Concordia University Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta

Ed Miliband’s pledge to lower the voting age to 16 has been mostly overlooked, thanks to the furore over energy prices. Aside from the principle of the issue, what impact might it have on election results? As I’ve covered previously (see here and here) there is mounting evidence that today’s young people are more right wing than their parents’ generation – certainly on issues of welfare, taxation, the deficit and individual responsibility. Being so doesn’t automatically make them Conservative voters, of course, but even that measure shows some increases. YouGov regularly find that 18-24-year-olds are the second most likely age group to vote Tory after the over 60s, and Wednesday’s poll produced the remarkable result among young people of both Labour and the Conservatives at level-pegging on 40 per cent. Yet another example of this cropped up on Newsnight earlier in the week in a package exploring how 16- and 17-year-old voters might use their newfound power if Labour were to be elected (you can watch it below in full). The programme asked a focus group of teenagers in the age bracket to choose where cuts should fall and where more spending should be allocated. Their first choice for the axe was the welfare bill, as a near-unanimous decision. They were even divided on whether to make savings from the pension bill. Sure, it’s an unscientific exercise but it was remarkably in keeping with the polling evidence which shows the young becoming remarkable hawkish when it comes to the welfare state. It’s a BBC programme, so needless to say this went entirely unremarked – it’s something we should watch closely, all the same. (video clip courtesy of liarpoliticians)

Amanda Clarke and Victoria Grayson will go one final round in the Revenge series finale. The ABC soap is ending after a sure-to-be-epic showdown in the season 4 finale, and Us Weekly has a sneak peek at the women facing off in the episode. "For you, death is my only true revenge," Amanda (Emily VanCamp) hisses at Victoria Grayson (Madeline Stowe) while aiming a gun at her sworn enemy. The elder Hamptonite was presumed dead after framing Amanda for her murder, but is, in fact, very much alive — and unafraid of death. PHOTOS: TV shows gone too soon "I died long before you were born. This is just a formality," Victoria says. "Are you ready now?" Amanda ominously responds, "More than you know. Goodbye, Victoria." Dun dun dun! Things aren't looking good for the two rivals, and executive producer Sunil Nayar told Us Weekly ahead of the finale that nothing will be the same for either woman if they make it out alive. "Is this a woman that is able to shake off the shackle of what her mission has been? Should she survive, what is that survival going to look like? Because I think there’s no way to get out of this untainted," the showrunner dished of Amanda/Emily's potential fate. PHOTOS: The most shocking TV deaths ever The finale will focus on "the idea that each character, in some form or another, gets their moment of redemption and destruction," he continued. "What is the collateral of what’s happened to all those people? I think we’ve answered those questions very elegantly and in a lot of times very surprisingly in the finale." PHOTOS: Emily VanCamp and Josh Bowman's real-life love story Of course, the Grayson/Clarke rivalry will take center stage. "The show is Victoria and Emily," Nayar said. And as for Victoria, "[the Victoria vs. Emily] dynamic is the lifeblood of the show, and I think the work [Stowe] did this year was exceptional. You’ll see where Victoria’s story ends up next week but it is the right ending." The Revenge series finale airs Sunday, May 10 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox! Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!

ABC chairman Jim Spigelman has strongly criticised the federal government's proposed anti-discrimination law, saying it poses risks to freedom of speech. Mr Spigelman, former New South Wales chief justice, said there was no justification for including the notion of ''offending'' in the definition of discrimination. The legislation consolidates several anti-discrimination laws, including that on racial discrimination, which refers to treatment that offends. The proposed law extends ''offending'' into the definition of discrimination for all purposes. Delivering an oration on Human Rights Day, Mr Spigelman pointed out that none of the other existing Commonwealth acts - covering sex, disability and age discrimination - included conduct that only offended. The freedom to offend was an integral component of freedom of speech. ''There is no right not to be offended. I am not aware of any international human rights instrument, or national anti-discrimination statute in another liberal democracy, that extends to conduct which is merely offensive,'' he said.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese army found a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in a weapons cache left by Nusra Front militants after it took over some of the jihadists’ positions in northeast Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said on Friday. The cache also included U.S.-made so-called TOW anti-tank missiles, the source said. Photographs of the cache sent by the security source showed large numbers of shells and rockets. There have been sporadic reports throughout Syria’s six-year-old civil war of rebel groups gaining access to SAMs. Last year the Syrian government said rebels had used one to shoot down a jet, but insurgents said they had downed it with anti-aircraft guns. The Nusra Front was the official branch of al Qaeda in Syria until it changed its name a year ago and broke formal allegiance to the global jihadist network. It held a pocket of territory straddling the border between Syria and Lebanon until a Hezbollah offensive last month that forced it to accept evacuation to a rebel-held part of Syria. Lebanon’s army has taken over the positions that Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi’ite group allied to the Syrian government, took from the Nusra fighters last month. The Lebanese army is also preparing for an offensive against the last militant presence in the mountainous border area, an Islamic State pocket near to the one previously held by Nusra.

FOR a politician whose party leader called a General Election because the opinion polls told her that she’d get a whopping majority, only to discover once the votes were in that she’d lost the slender majority that she had, you’d think that Ruth Davidson would be a bit more circumspect about demanding that parties in power make decisions based on opinion polls. But no, Ruth Davidson wants the Scottish Government to drop the bill that’s already been passed by the Scottish Parliament, and she wants them to drop it on the basis of an opinion poll. You’d have thought a Tory would have learned their lesson about relying on opinion polls, but not Ruth. It’s not even as though the opinion poll in question, which purportedly showed that 60 per cent of people oppose another independence referendum, was unbiased and neutral. It asked a ridiculously leading question, a question phrased in such a way as to positively beg people to say “no”. The truth is that asking people whether they want another independence referendum is a meaningless exercise, in whatever way the question is phrased, and the reason it’s meaningless is because it takes no account of circumstances or motives. I’m hugely keen on the idea of independence, you may have noticed, but if I was asked in an opinion poll if I wanted a referendum tomorrow, I’d say no. I want another referendum when the circumstances are right for one. I want another referendum when we’re going to win it. So, despite the fact that I spend much of my time travelling the length and breadth of Scotland talking about independence and encouraging the formation of grass roots Yes groups, Ruth Davidson would still take my opinion and include it in whatever she’s citing at FMQs as “proof” that Scotland doesn’t want another independence referendum. The best time for another independence referendum is at the time that the Scottish Government originally proposed to have it – when the Brexit negotiations have played out and we know what sort of deal the UK has struck with the EU. The people of Scotland have a right to vote on that. Ruth doesn’t want us to have that right. She wants us to take whatever it is that the UK chucks at us and to be grateful for it. What Ruth Davidson is demanding is that the people of Scotland surrender now and for all time the right to have a view on what British governments impose on us. The Tories want Scotland to make a pinkie promise to accept whatever Brexit deal Westminster comes up with. Still, it’s not like we should listen to Ruth’s opinion on anything much; her boss certainly doesn’t. Theresa May doesn’t listen to Ruth on the topic of LGBTI rights nor, indeed, on anything much else. Despite the entreaties that Ruth made to Theresa May after the latter announced her intention to make a deal with the arch-homophobes of the DUP and the assurances that she reportedly received that LGBTI rights wouldn’t be affected, Theresa went and appointed David Lidington as Justice Secretary, a man who has consistently voted against every single piece of legislation improving LGBTI rights. Mind you, getting assurances from Ruth Davidson on LGBTI rights wouldn’t inspire much in the way of confidence at the best of times, as she seems to believe that the entire point of the campaign for LGBTI equality was “please don’t be nasty to gay people so that we can be Daily Mail readers too.” What we’ve been witnessing this past week is a shameless attempt by a politician who lost an election to act as though she’d won it. Since her boss in London is attempting much the same trick it’s not like we should be surprised. It’s the most brazen attempt at a power grab since one of the contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race hogged all the electrical sockets with his hair drier. The Tories are doing deals with the orange-sashed DUP, they’re stirring up sectarianism in Scotland, and their media friends are silent all of a sudden about the Ulsterisation of our politics. An elderly relative of mine is your archetypal west of Scotland Catholic, and he voted No in the referendum because, he said, he didn’t want to be “ruled by Presbyterians”. So how’s that working out now, eh? The facts are, however, that despite all the dirty deals, despite all the electoral spending, Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives (TM) won just 13 seats out of 59. They fought the election on the single issue of opposition to another independence referendum, and they still lost. Improving on the number of seats you achieved still doesn’t make you a winner, any more than improving your results in an arithmetic exam from an F to a D means that you’re now top of the class. Scotland looked at Ruth Davidson’s party and still gave them a failing grade – all the Tory triumphalism in the world won’t change that simple arithmetical reality.

Federal employees should be fairly compensated and their benefits protected, according to the 2016 Democratic presidential candidates. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as president that she would ensure feds are paid fairly through “appropriate pay raises” and would “oppose across-the-board arbitrary pay freezes, retirement cuts, or cuts to other employee benefits.” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was a little more specific, saying the federal workforce deserves a pay raise “of at least 3.8 percent to keep up with cost-of-living increases” and pledged his “strong” support for the FAIR Act, pending legislation in both chambers that would give feds a 5.3 percent pay boost in 2017. Clinton and Sanders were responding to a written questionnaire submitted to the 12 Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns still in operation in December by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. As of March 24, only the Clinton and Sanders campaigns had responded to the questions, which covered a range of issues, including federal employee pay, union rights, and the privatization of government jobs. “For far too long, the extreme right wing has demonized, belittled, and sought to destroy the federal workforce. That is wrong, that is unconscionable, and that has got to change,” wrote Sanders in response to IFPTE questions asking the candidates if they would work to ensure pay raises for feds and protect their pensions. “The fact of the matter is that no other worker has been asked to sacrifice more on the altar of deficit reduction than our federal workers.” Federal workers endured a three-year pay freeze between 2011 and 2013. They’ve received across-the-board pay raises of 1.3 percent in 2016, and 1 percent each in 2015 and 2014. All those boosts were below the percentage mandated by the formula in the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act. President Obama has proposed a 1.6 percent pay bump for 2017. Clinton noted that her experience as secretary of State, New York senator, and First Lady have enabled her to witness “first-hand” federal employees’ contributions to the country. “I was serving as Secretary of State when federal salaries were frozen in 2011, and I saw how difficult it was for employees to be told that even though they were working hard and their living costs were going up, their paychecks were not,” Clinton wrote in response to the IFPTE questionnaire. “The government is not going to be able to recruit and retain the high-caliber employees it needs if it does not pay federal employees fairly for their work.” She also said that it’s “unfair to require additional increases in retirement contributions as a backdoor pay-cut for federal workers,” and pledged her continued support for veterans’ preference in federal hiring, in response to a specific IFPTE question. As part of the 2013 budget deal, federal employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2014, with less than five years of service have to pay 4.4 percent toward their pensions -- 1.3 percent more than employees hired after 2012 contribute to their defined retirement benefit, and 3.6 percent more than most workers hired in or before 2012 contribute. Republican lawmakers since then have offered other proposals -- so far, unsuccessful -- to further increase the amount all federal workers contribute to their pensions. Both Democratic candidates, unsurprisingly, also vowed to preserve the right of workers to collectively bargain, and to renew Obama’s 2009 executive order establishing a national labor-management partnership. Clinton and Sanders also expressed similar opinions on privatizing federal jobs, arguing that contractors are often more expensive than federal workers. Clinton said she opposed “numerous Bush administration proposals” to privatize the federal workforce while she was in the Senate. “As president, I will oppose efforts to contract out work unless doing so is necessary, in the best interest of the federal government and is clearly cost effective.” Sanders said “we must do everything we can to make sure that federal workers are given the opportunity to provide the services that the American people need, and when we do hire contractors that they are held to the same high standards we expect of our federal workforce.” IFPTE’s questionnaire asked the candidates for their views on several other issues, including the minimum wage, trans-Pacific partnership, and guest-worker programs. Click here to read Clinton’s responses to IFPTE’s questionnaire, and here to read Sanders’ answers.

On this episode of the Pony Bits Podcast, in case you couldn’t tell from the episode title, Jon and Colton tackle the subject of what exactly makes “Best Pony”. Jon sets up his own diagram to go over important factors to consider such as design, type of pony and personality. While they go over their own individual specifics of what they look for in their ideal “Best Pony”, Jon and Colton also talk about how realistic each of the Mane 6’s characters are, while juxtaposing that with how illogical the world they live in really is. The podcast will be on hiatus until after October 19th when the duo will be back from Texas and can produce another episode, until then, enjoy the episode and send us some emails about your “Best Pony” requirements, the television show or the comics to read on the podcast at ponybitspodcast@gmail.com. DOWNLOAD HERE Jon’s Diagram (http://i.imgur.com/xdV37QZ.png) Advertisements

The chance that intelligent life might ever encounter this interstellar mixtape—let alone listen to it—has always been infinitesimal. Still, argued astrophysicist Carl Sagan, who helped select the tracks, "the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet." There is indeed something lovely about sharing humanity with the universe in this way, as Megan Garber wrote last year: The Golden Records ... carry the transcendent aspects of human existence: the art, the beauty, the ache, the joy. They offer what we have, and what we are, up to the cosmos. But what if the improbable were to happen? Here on Earth, 10-year-old CDs are puttering out. What about a pair of 40-year-old records careening through outer space? Even if extraterrestrials found and figured out how to work the Golden Record, would it play anymore? Actually, yes, experts say. "The gold records that were launched into space were specially constructed discs for the purposes of space travel," said Peter Alyea, a digital conservation specialist at the Library of Congress who specializes in audio recordings. "I believe they were designed to last for a very, very long time and so should still be playable. This kind of disc is not something you could buy commercially at a record store." And besides, Voyager's Golden Record has thus far been kept safe from the elements—high temperatures, oxygen, water—known to deteriorate Earthly records. (Voyager is now operating at about negative 110 degrees Fahrenheit.) “If I had to guess, I'd say it's as fresh and new as the day it was placed aboard the spacecraft," said David Doody, an engineer on the Voyager mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an email. "It's been stored in a vacuum more perfect than any attainable on Earth, and protected from dust and cosmic rays by an aluminum metal case." That protective aluminum case has had quite the adventure—it got a dose of radiation near Jupiter and was blasted with space dust in Saturn's ring plane—but Doody says it has been "basically always shielded" at least enough to protect the record's functionality. "In all, it might have lost a little luster at worst, in my humble opinion," he said. "I'd also venture to guess that it would be in playable condition for many hundreds of millennia.” Which raises a theoretical question about what version of Earth the rest of the universe might first encounter, and what songs or sounds we might include today that didn't exist in 1977. The Golden Record, after all, is more of a time capsule than a broadcast. (It doesn't even include any hip-hop, which was still in its cultural nascence the year the Voyagers were launched.) Of course many of the record's sounds have retained the timeless quality they must have had four decades ago—like this greeting from Kurt Waldheim, then the secretary general of the United Nations: We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship—to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of this immense universe that surrounds us, and it is with humility and hope that we take this step. NASA has since moved on to new projects to share music with other galaxies, and humanity has graduated beyond the record as the go-to audio format. In 2008, for instance, scientists beamed a song directly into deep space, aiming for the North Star 431 light years away from Earth. That tune, a Beatles classic from the decade before Voyager launched, was "Across the Universe." We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

2015 brought record passenger traffic to Bush, Hobby A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 lands at Hobby Airport in March 2015. A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 lands at Hobby Airport in March 2015. Photo: Bill Montgomery, HC Staff Photo: Bill Montgomery, HC Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 2015 brought record passenger traffic to Bush, Hobby 1 / 1 Back to Gallery Houston's two major airports both set records for passenger traffic in 2015, the Houston Airport System reported Wednesday. Hobby Airport had 145,202 international passengers between opening its international concourse in October - the first time Hobby has seen international flights since 1969 - and the end of the year, the Airport System said. Hobby, overall, had 12.2 million passengers, up 1.8 percent from 2014. Bush Intercontinental Airport saw its overall passenger count rise 4.2 percent to about 43 million. The number of international passengers at Bush increased 8 percent to 10.6 million. Combined, the Houston Airport System saw a 3.7 percent increase to 55.1 million passengers.

White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon told a group of House conservatives they had no choice but to back the GOP's ObamaCare repeal bill days before the bill was pulled, according to a new report. Bannon confronted members of the House Freedom Caucus earlier this week during the White House's push for the American Health Care Act, Axios's Mike Allen reported Saturday in his newsletter. "Guys, look. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill,” Bannon reportedly said. ADVERTISEMENT A Freedom Caucus member reportedly replied: “You know, the last time someone ordered me to something, I was 18 years old. And it was my daddy. And I didn't listen to him, either." The conservative group met with President Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE at the White House on Thursday, but the president reportedly did not want to discuss policy specifics of the healthcare legislation. Freedom Caucus members were calling for additional changes to the GOP plan to further dismantle ObamaCare. Trump singled out the caucus in a Friday morning tweet, arguing funding for Planned Parenthood would remain intact should members vote against the GOP plan. “The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!” the president wrote.

A survey of jihadis in Austria reveal 21 percent of people who have either traveled to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq or planned on doing it are women. The study from the Austrian Green Party and the Ministry of the Interior reveals 59 out of 280 prospective ISIS members are women. Close to half of responders who have been prevented from leaving Austria to join ISIS, 22 out of 50, were women. “The number is unpleasant,” Berivan Aslan, a Green Party member of parliament, told The Local. “I did not expect the percentage of female IS-sympathizers to be as high as 21 percent.” The figure in Austria is significantly higher than in Belgium, where just 17 percent of participants in a similar study were women. Aslan said the idea of being the wife of a “hero” is appealing to young Muslim women in Europe. “Disoriented young women in Western Europe feel attracted to IS-fighters and imagine that being on the side of a fighter building their own ‘state’ would afford oneself stability and meaning,” Aslan told The Local. “In the Islamic Statement, women are given the role not only of the wife of a ‘hero’, but are also used as fighters and suicide bombers.” All-female ISIS cells have recently emerged in France, where a group of women were arrested after a car full of gas cylinders were found outside the Notre Dame church in September. Follow Jacob on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Image caption Zack Davies attacked Dr Sarandev Bhambra on 14 January A man has been found of guilty of attempted murder after attacking a dentist with a machete and a hammer in north Wales. Zack Davies, 26, targeted Dr Sarandev Bhambra at a Tesco store in Mold, Flintshire, in a racially motivated revenge assault for the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Davies, of Mold, admitted wounding with intent but denied attempted murder. He was convicted at Mold Crown Court on Thursday. He will be sentenced on 11 September. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "We are in no doubt that had the racial disposition of this case been reversed this would be reported as an act of terror" - Dr Tarlochan Singh Bhambra, Sarandev's brother Dr Bhambra was walking down an aisle in the store on 14 January when he felt a "huge blow" to the back of his head from the 30cm (12in) machete. During the trial, shopper Leanne Jones said she heard the words "white power" and said Davies was acting "like a lunatic" as he hacked Dr Bhambra with the machete. Another witness heard Davies say: "Come here, this is for Lee Rigby". Image copyright PA Image caption Fusilier Lee Rigby, from Middleton in Greater Manchester, was murdered outside Woolwich Barracks Dr Bhambra suffered two cuts to his scalp which went down to the bone and a cut to his back which went down to the muscle. The injury to his left hand caused major nerve, artery and tendon damage and he was in surgery for five hours. Dr Bhambra told the jury that former soldier Peter Fuller saved his life when he intervened during the attack. Image copyright North Wales Police Image caption Davies attacked Dr Bhambra in Tesco using a machete and a hammer The court heard items associated with white supremacy and Nazism were found at Davies's home, including banners, swastika badges and Combat 18 stickers. He also said he was "absolutely fascinated" with Islamic State and described the British man known as Jihadi John as his inspiration. Gareth Preston, senior prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Wales, described Davies as a "dangerous young man whose distorted and racist views led him to commit a terrifying act of violence". He added: "Such was the level of violence involved that, were it not for the extremely courageous actions of ex-serviceman Peter Fuller, this offence could have become an act of murder." Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were jailed for life in February 2014 for hacking Fusilier Rigby to death. Image copyright cascadenews.co.uk Image caption Dr Bhambra said he would have been 'hacked to death' if he had lost consciousness Image copyright YouTube Image caption Davies told police he was a member of a far-right organisation, but had acted alone at the supermarket Image copyright CPS Image caption Davies almost chopped Dr Bhambra's hand off in the attack

Hello there, We’re back earlier than expected, with some unfortunate news that we feel we need share with you. On the weekend, there was a serious medical emergency with one of our team’s close family members. The situation is severe enough that they won’t be able to complete their work in time for Need to Know’s alpha release. As a result, we most likely cannot make the September 26th release date without severely compromising the alpha’s quality and the mental health of one of our team. Their work is almost finished, but given the gravity of the situation, they will need a little extra time to complete it. Our thoughts are with them and their family at this tough time. This news will no doubt come as a great disappointment to many of you, and no one more than ourselves. We’ve pushed ourselves hard to get the alpha ready in time, and development was on schedule before this emergency struck. Delaying this release again is the absolute last thing we want to do. However, a short interruption is probably unavoidable, and we felt you needed to know as soon as possible. As the pending assets can be dropped right into the game, the wait won’t be longer than a week or two. The other parts of development will continue at full speed, and the additional time may give us the opportunity to add an extra feature to the alpha that we thought we wouldn’t have time to include. It’s only fair that you get more to play, given your incredible patience and support. When we’ve solidified a new date, we’ll post it on social media a couple of days in advance. Our next Kickstarter update will announce the release of the alpha, and you’ll be able to download it right away. We can’t tell you how dispiriting this delay is for us all, but at the same time we also want to express how grateful we are for your excitement and encouragement over the last few months. When hit by setbacks like this, your support makes it that much easier to remain focused and motivated. Until next time, Tristram and Quincy [P.S. A reminder for backers at Clearance Level 8 and higher: The backer survey will still close on the 30th of September, so make sure you have your responses in soon! Please let us know if you have any questions or issues with it.]

If you live abroad and are requesting an ITIN for a foreign child who has been adopted or legally placed in your home pending adoption, remember to include a copy of the legal documents evidencing your relationship to the child. If you live abroad and are requesting an ITIN for a foreign child who has been adopted or legally placed in your home pending adoption, remember to include a copy of the legal documents evidencing your relationship to the child. When it comes to ITINs for dependents only IRS employees serving as certifying acceptance agents are empowered to evaluate your dependent's passport on the spot and immediately return the passport. When it comes to ITINs for dependents only IRS employees serving as certifying acceptance agents are empowered to evaluate your dependent's passport on the spot and immediately return the passport.

This is the full 4-1-13 episode of the Labor Express Radio program. In Pilsen, a working class, Mexican immigrant on Chicago’s Southside, Metro Bank has been foreclosing on several apartment buildings and has been attempting to evict the building’s tenants. But little did Metro Bank know that at least two of their tenants were seasoned activists and members of the IWW (The Industrial Workers of the World). And like good Wobblies, these tenants didn’t simple mourn the banks attempts to evict them - they organized! They communicated with friends and neighbors at several buildings in the community that were taken over by Metro Bank and are fighting back. On Friday about two dozen tenants and their supporters held a rally outside Metro Bank in east Pilsen. We will hear what they had to say on today’s program. And we have a very special in studio guest this morning. Oscar Chacon- Executive Director of the National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities (NALACC), is here to talk about developments in the debates over immigration reform in the U.S. and about an exciting event being held next Saturday here in Chicago called Latino Nation. Labor Express Radio is Chicago's only English language labor news and current affairs radio program. News for working people, by working people. Labor Express Radio airs every Monday morning at 10:00 AM on Chicago's Sound Alliance, WLUW, 88.7 FM. For more information, see our website at: www.laborexpress.org or our Facebook page... facebook.laborexpress.org and our homepage on Archive.org at: http://www.archive.org/details/LaborExpressRadio

A four-year old Texas boy found wandering across the border in Mexico this winter finally returned to the United States. Authorities believe his mother traveled from El Paso to Juarez to purposely abandon the child. Over the weekend, the El Paso Police Department announced that the youngster found in the Mexican state of Chihuahua returned to the United States on Friday night. The four-year-old remained in the custody of social services in Juarez for more than four months. The police department tweeted they placed the little boy into the care of Child Protective Services (CPS). Since then, though, it appears authorities reunited the child with his father in El Paso. CAP – 4 year old boy found in Juarez was returned to the United States & CPS Friday evening. dp — EL PASO POLICE DEPT (@EPPOLICE) July 1, 2017 Breitbart Texas reported that Mexican police found the boy wandering alone on the streets of Juarez on February 22. They suspected the child, purportedly named “Luis,” was American because of his command of the English language. Months later the El Paso Police Department identified the four-year-old as a U.S. citizen. In fact, detectives in the south Texas border city only first learned about the boy in late May when an El Paso police supervisor in the Crimes Against Persons unit attended an Amber Alert seminar in Mexico City and heard about the child’s situation. Subsequently, on June 3, El Paso police issued a media alert about the unidentified boy. His mother, Ruby Esmeralda Gonzalez, 25 viewed photographs of her son on El Paso TV news broadcasts and then contacted police to report her child as a kidnapping victim. An ensuing police investigation revealed Gonzalez crossed over the U.S.-Mexico border and into the city of Juarez on February 22 where, allegedly, she left her child in a dilapidated and deserted building. Gonzalez then returned to El Paso on the same day. According to KVIA, a Juarez cab driver actually found the boy who was alone, scared, and hungry. The cabbie contacted local police who then took the child into custody. When investigators examined “Luis,” they noticed bruises on his head, legs, and buttocks. Current El Paso jail records show that police arrested Gonzales on June 5 on one count of child abandonment with imminent danger and booked her into the El Paso County Detention Facility on a $10,000 bond. On June 13, law enforcement officials charged her with filing a false report to a peace officer, federal special investigator, or law enforcement employee. This carries a $10,000 bond. On top of that, they charged Gonzalez with injury to a child with the intent of bodily injury which has a $25,000 bond. She remains incarcerated in the county jail. Reportedly, before releasing “Luis,” Chihuahua police said the unidentified adult male had to take a DNA test in Juarez to prove he was the biological father. Investigators with the Mexican Attorney General’s office, officials from the United States Consulate in Juarez, and CPS authorities worked to bring the boy to home to his father, according to local Juarez newspaper El Diario de Juarez. Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter.

Police across Kansas feel they are targets of “built-in” bias and say they are wrongly accused of racial profiling. Those sentiments underlie findings of a new study by a Wichita State University professor for the Kansas Department of Transportation. Specifically, 39 of 61 officers interviewed for the research said they had been accused of racial profiling at least once during a traffic stop. Yet none said they were the subject of a formal complaint following the traffic stop. One Hispanic officer “said he has been accused of racial profiling at least fifty times,” says a 59-page analysis compiled by Michael Birzer, a professor of criminal justice and director of WSU’s School of Community Affairs. The officers were from 15 agencies, including the Wichita Police Department. Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle Last year, Birzer completed a study for the city of Wichita finding that Wichita police ticketed black motorists at disproportionately higher rates than white motorists. While African-Americans made up only 11 percent of the city’s population, they accounted for 22 percent of the people given traffic citations from November 2012 through April 2013. That report said the results don’t prove that racial profiling exists because a number of factors may influence who gets ticketed by police. For example, if police are deployed more heavily in minority neighborhoods, it might explain why more minorities are being stopped. It can “present the perception of racial profiling even though it may not be occurring,” the report said. The latest Birzer study, commissioned by the state, was designed to get officers’ perspectives. Birzer interviewed or spoke with the officers multiple times and met with them in focus groups. Besides the Wichita department, the officers were from the Andover, Arkansas City, Derby, Dodge City, Eastborough, Kansas City, Lenexa, Newton, Pittsburg, Topeka and Wichita State University police departments and the Reno, Shawnee and Sumner County sheriff’s departments. Many of the interviews were taking place as the tense situation in Ferguson, Mo., where a black teen was fatally shot by a white officer, was unfolding, Birzer said. “We have an opportunity to look at both sides of this issue,” Birzer said. One sound approach to police-community relations, he said, seems to be “good, old-fashioned interaction, communication, just the little things that don’t cost a lot of money.” “If every officer treated their beat like Andy Taylor” – the sheriff in the small town of Mayberry on “The Andy Griffith Show” on TV in the 1960s – “that can go a long, long ways,” Birzer said. On being accused The officers said that when they were accused of stopping motorists because of their race, usually it was an African-American accusing them. Asked how they responded to the accusation, officers said they tried to explain the specific reason – speeding or a defective brake light – but they thought motorists accepted the explanation only part of the time. One white officer told a black driver that he couldn’t see his race until he walked up to his car. One officer shared this: “Some officers don’t care and won’t take a few extra minutes to explain to the citizen why they are being stopped and that’s a problem.” The officers, two-thirds of whom are white, are not identified by name or agency. Another theme: Officers suspected that minority drivers accusing them of racial profiling were trying to intimidate the officers. They suspected it was a way to evade a ticket or to try to distract the officer because the motorist had a suspended license or something to hide. “Only a very few officers indicated that racial minority citizens allege racial profiling because they genuinely believe they were stopped because of their race,” the report said. Officers said minorities had a bias against them that has been taught. One black officer said: “African Americans learn not to trust the police from a young age. … Older generations of African Americans had bad experiences with the police and so that leaves a bad impression of the police which is passed down generationally in families.” A white officer said that when he said “Hi” to children in a car during a traffic stop, the adults “will tell the kids don’t talk to the police.” Media blamed Officers blame the news media for part of the negative image, saying that media skew their reporting against police when it comes to the issue of racial profiling, and that media “over-report” on cases like the shooting in Ferguson, Mo. “So I really think the media are like weather chasers,” one officer said. “They are going to report anything, and objectivity doesn’t really matter.” What people don’t understand, officers said, is that they are targeting crime, not minorities. Police call it “proactive policing.” The problem is, the same neighborhoods where they go after gangs and drug trafficking often are home to many low-income minorities. The officers said they learn from experience to look for certain clothing, gestures and behavior for crime indicators – not race. “So when you’re driving along and these indicators start popping up you’re like wow,” one officer said. Police also defend their use of “pretext” stops, where they are stopping someone for a minor traffic violation because they suspect the person of something more serious. For example, an officer might stop a driver for not signaling soon enough after the car leaves a drug house. The report notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld pretext stops. “My biggest case came from using a pretext stop for a defective headlight,” an officer said. A black officer from eastern Kansas said he once wondered about a fellow officer who always seemed to be pulling over black men. “But getting to know him over the years,” the officer said, “I realized that he is not like that at all, he just has this photographic memory for criminals regardless if they are white, purple, black or red and when he passes you he’s on it.” Training criticized Police say their racial-profiling training is “boring,” “bland” and “mind numbing” and should be more interactive. Some officers proposed bringing in minorities during the training so the citizens would understand the officers’ view. It goes both ways. Birzer noted in an interview about his latest study that when he talked with minorities for his Wichita racial profiling study, they said they wanted to see officer training “so police could have a better understanding of them and their culture.” Part of the problem is that minorities don’t have enough positive contact with police, a white officer said in the latest study. Another sentiment is that officers have to be smart and realistic about their public relations effort. “I mean, holding a feed or a barbeque in the middle of the hood with a bunch of cops is not going to do it,” one officer said. The media also need to be invited to officer training so they can be better educated about police work, officers said. A white female officer said about the media: “Maybe if they gave as much attention to the positive things that we do that would be a start. It takes one bad incident to wipe out all good things that go on.”

President Trump made his debut at the United Nations on Tuesday, addressing the U.N. General Assembly at its annual opening. Afterward, media headlines and news coverage of the speech focused on Trump’s absurd (but admittedly amusing) new nickname for Kim Jong Un, “Rocket Man,” and his threat that the United States is willing to “totally destroy” North Korea to protect itself and its allies. The mainstream media, liberal elites, and the international community have been doing a lot of handwringing about Trump’s rhetoric and his talk of going it alone. They also had a lot to say about his comments concerning the Iran nuclear deal, whose dissolution the president has long desired. Although the focus was on Trump’s supposedly dangerous isolationism and nationalism, what’s really upsetting them is that he dared to say what no one is supposed to say: that the U.N. is broken and that it is unrealistic and dangerous to have a world without borders and without national sovereignty. In other words, Trump violated the Emperor Has No Clothes rule. The Importance of Governments Serving Their People One of the major themes of Trump’s U.N. speech was national sovereignty, both of the United States and of foreign countries: “Our government’s first duty is to its people, to our citizens, to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values. As president of the United States, I will always put America first. Just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always and should always put your countries first.” Although the international community gives lip service to the idea of national sovereignty and the U.N.’s role in defending it, this concept fundamentally conflicts with the liberal belief that the world should be progressing toward a kind of borderless global nationalism, in which no one country can claim superiority over another. That’s the real reason Trump was so roundly criticized for saying that he’s willing to go it alone on North Korea. Trump also dared to praise America for its enduring legacy as a free democracy. His speech was devoid of the kind of America-bashing that President Obama was fond of, especially in front of international audiences. Instead, Trump asserted that the United States should “shine as an example for everyone to watch,” which indeed it should. He also praised the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution as the “foundation of peace, prosperity, and freedom” for Americans and millions around the world who have embraced it as a model of good government. No doubt, this kind of talk disturbs the American Left and international bureaucracies, both of which have grown comfortable with the idea that American exceptionalism is a myth based on an ugly and misguided sense of supremacy and pseudo-colonialism. This goes hand-in-hand with “nationalism” becoming a dirty word that can only be interpreted as a form of fascism. Thus it has become bigoted to desire defensible borders, whether here in the United States or in Europe, and the idea of loving one’s country is now a touchy and uncomfortable subject, something Trump specifically brought up at the end of his speech. The international community has believed in a sort of fictional world since the end of World War II, in which national sovereignty was to be ceded in exchange for peace on earth. Except no one really defined whose peace. Neither did they consider that different countries have different ambitions, not to mention different values that are sometimes irreconcilable. There can never be a utopic one-world order because countries are made up of people, and people have ambition, vice, and self-interest. The best that any world order can do is contain these impulses; it can never eradicate them. Since the U.N.’s founding in 1945, we’ve seen that China and Russia, as permanent members on the U.N. Security Council, have repeatedly and consistently vetoed efforts by the council to take action against rogue members or intervene effectively in genocidal conflicts (like the Syrian civil war). Everyone knows this, yet no one dares to say it for fear it will expose the U.N. for the failure that it is. In light of these problems, Trump stated that he would work outside the U.N. if it became necessary, if the United States and its allies continue to be threatened by North Korea and the body doesn’t do more to prevent that. That makes sense. It’s absurd to defer to an international body that, with the exception of the first Gulf War, has never resolved a foreign conflict and is not now taking the necessary steps to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Trump called out the rogue regimes represented at the U.N. and “have hijacked the very systems that are supposed to advance them.” He pointed specifically to the countries that sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council that have terrible human rights records themselves, like Cuba and Saudi Arabia. He also criticized the U.N. for delays and stagnation in resolving conflicts as a result of “bureaucracy and process.” Trump Also Condoned International Cooperation Although his speech promoted American values and interests, and contained a healthy dose of criticism for the U.N., Trump’s speech wasn’t a total rejection of the U.N. or the international community. Trump called for member states to work together to help protect the sovereignty of other nations, like Ukraine, and protect the international shipping lanes in the South China Sea. He praised the mission of the U.N., urging that we “must work together and confront together those who threatens us with chaos, turmoil, and terror,” and calling for “all nations to work together to isolate the Kim regime.” He said that although the United States is ready to act unilaterally, he hoped that wouldn’t become necessary because he held out hope that the U.N. would step up and function as it was intended. Rather than slamming the very existence of the U.N. or threatening to leave (as he has done with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Trump praised the founding of the international body, calling it a pillar of “peace, security, and prosperity.” He urged the U.N. to make a collective effort to improve, in the hope that one day it would more accountable and be able to effectively advocate for “human dignity and freedom around the world.” That doesn’t sound like the words of an isolationist to me. Trump’s message was not a black and white case of promoting isolationism and denigrating internationalism. After all, he said plainly, “As long as I hold this office, I will defend America’s interests above all else, but in fulfilling our obligations to our nations, we also realize that it’s in everyone’s interests to seek the future where all nations can be sovereign, prosperous, and secure.” He sees the need for both, or so it seems. Despite Trump’s efforts to make a generous nod to the U.N., notwithstanding all the failings he pointed out, half the country (and much of the world) only heard what it wanted to hear—the speech of a dangerous isolationist who threatened to attack North Korea. That way, they don’t have to talk about the real meat of the speech, which shined a spotlight on the manifest and longstanding failures of the U.N.

“Retired” actress Amanda Bynes is quickly gaining on Lindsay Lohan for the coveted title of most troubled former child star. While Lohan has your run-of-the-mill substance abuse issues, the former Nickelodeon star has been reportedly been wreaking havoc in New York City during a spree of bizarre behavior. Over the weekend, Bynes reportedly went to an adult gymnastics class in New York City and “showed up in fishnets and a leotard that looked like lingerie,” Page Six reports. Bynes was allegedly “muttering to herself” and then “burst into tears when she attempted a cartwheel and her dark-colored wig fell off.” “She immediately started acting strangely,” a “source” told Page Six. “She lined up with the other gymnasts, and each took their turn to perform a roll. But Amanda just walked out on the mat, was spinning around in circles and mumbling to herself.” Bynes was then asked to leave the class and was reportedly escorted out. The incident is similar to the time she was allegedly asked to leave a spinning class after she took off her shirt — revealing nothing but a black bra — and began applying make-up in the gym mirror. Bynes tweeted last week that she was planning on suing some gossip sites and magazines for claiming she had mental health issues. She cleared that up by posting that she doesn’t have mental health issues, but that she just “has an eating disorder.” Follow Taylor on Twitter

If sports columns were posted on bulletin boards in town squares instead of the internet, folks would be gathered around Ailene Voisin's Bee column with jaws slung low and "what the Frahms" ringing out regularly. It's a gem. Holy cow, it's a gem. First, Voisin's sources -- which on first glance look like either the Maloofs or close confidants of the Maloofs -- say that the family will accept a matched bid from Sacramento. In fact, On Thursday, sources close to the Maloofs said that if the Sacramento group submits a matching offer that satisfies the league's other owners, they will embrace an outcome that keeps the Kings in Sacramento. And "We're giving Sacramento every opportunity to keep the team," one source said Thursday, "but they keep blowing every deadline. We haven't seen anything in writing." That's good news, I guess? But here's the really fun news. The Maloofs have met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and have for months looked into buying a hockey franchise, with Las Vegas among the possible destinations. Their interests also have expanded and included opportunities in Major League Baseball. I can envision David Stern running over to Gary Bettman during the annual Sports Commissioners Summit (totally a real thing don't try to convince me otherwise) and saying, "Tag, you're it." (And lord, can you imagine if the Maloofs sold the Kings to the Sacramento group and then successfully bought the Coyotes and moved them to Vegas, blocking Seattle's bid for an NHL team!) MALOOFED, indeed. This whole saga has entered the Twilight Zone. Thanks for sending us there, Ailene.

BY: Follow @LizWFB Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a system that can predict the "psychological status" of users with smartphones and hope to private companies to bring the invention to the market. The technology appeared on a list of NIH inventions published in the Federal Register that are now available to be licensed by private companies. The government allows companies to license inventions resulting from federal research in order to expedite their arrival on the marketplace. The system uses smartphones to ask people how they are doing mentally during the day and based on the results can "deliver an automated intervention" if necessary. "The NIH inventors have developed a mobile health technology to monitor and predict a user's psychological status and to deliver an automated intervention when needed," according to the notice published Wednesday. "The technology uses smartphones to monitor the user's location and ask questions about psychological status throughout the day." "Continuously collected ambulatory psychological data are fused with data on location and responses to questions," the NIH said. "The mobile data are combined with geospatial risk maps to quantify exposure to risk and predict a future psychological state. The future predictions are used to warn the user when he or she is at especially high risk of experiencing a negative event that might lead to an unwanted outcome (e.g., lapse to drug use in a recovering addict)." The NIH said the technology has potential commercial applications for "real-time behavior monitoring" and "therapeutic delivery of an intervention via a mobile device." Researchers developed the system from a project that tracked the mood and cravings of drug users in Baltimore. The $8.9 million federal study sought to develop algorithms that could "automatically detect behavioral events (such as episodes of drug use or stress) without requiring self-report." The NIH said the app is currently being used for drug addiction interventions, but that the "inventors are also seeking to test the technology for other health applications." Request for comment from the NIH was not returned by press time.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A nationwide warrant has been issued for a Minnesota couple who allegedly received more than $167,000 worth of public assistance from Minnesota while living in Florida on a $1.2 million yacht. “I’ve never ridden on a yacht that nice, and I bet most of us haven’t, but they were living on it while they were collecting public assistance,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. Colin Chisholm III and Andrea Chisholm are charged with a one count of wrongfully obtaining public assistance more than $35,000, a felony charge. According to Hennepin County Attorney’s office, between Jan. 1, 2005, and May 31, 2012, Colin Chisholm III, 62, and Andrea Chisholm, 54, received the public assistance illegally from several government programs designed to help the poor. According to the criminal complaints, over the years, the Chisholms received medical assistance, welfare payments and food stamp benefits. They also lied about where they were living, who they were living with and their source of income on more than a dozen forms they filled out for the state of Minnesota and Hennepin County in order to get the assistance. During an investigation by the Hennepin County Human Services & Public Health Department (HSPHD) Fraud Unit, it was discovered that Colin Chisholm owned a business and Andrea Chisholm owned a dog kennel which bred and sold championship dogs. The criminal complaints show that hundreds of thousands of dollars came through the business accounts Colin Chisholm III controlled as chief executive officer of the TCN Network, which claims to provide satellite TV and broadband service for countries in the Caribbean. “He created all sorts of false companies, claimed he was a Scottish heir,” Freeman said. “It’s outrageous.” When they first applied for welfare benefits, the couple listed their residence as Andrea’s mother’s home in Minneapolis. However, shortly after getting approved, they moved to Florida. They remained in that state for at least 28 months, first on their $1.2 million yacht, and then moving to a house, officials said. They collected welfare from Florida, as well as Minnesota during that time, which people are prohibited from receiving simultaneously. Furthermore, in depositions for a civil suit over the ownership of the yacht, Colin and Andrea testified that they lived in Connecticut and Florida, and never mentioned Minnesota. During this time, neither the yacht or residences in Florida were reported to Minnesota officials. In 2006 and January 2007, Andrea’s prenatal care was paid for by the state and their welfare benefits increased. According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, the Chisholms returned to Minnesota in April 2007 and applied for more welfare benefits. The couple continued to receive assistance when they moved into a luxury home in Deephaven, Minn., with Andrea’s grandparents, Eloise and Francis Heidecker, in March 2008. They moved into another home in Deephaven on Lake Minnetonka after being evicted from the first home when Francis died, officials said. During this time, the Chisholms hid the fact that they lived with Eloise Heidecker, as Andrea controlled the bank accounts of her elderly grandmother. “It astonishes me, I had no idea this could ever really happen,” said Calleigh King, a neighbor of the Chisholms. “They’ve just been the kindest people ever.” After the HSPHD fraud unit received a report that the Chisholms were employed and they failed to provide tax documents when asked, Hennepin County terminated all welfare benefits to the Chisholms at the end of March 2012. Medical assistance was cut off at the end of May 2012. “It is truly outrageous when persons of considerable means steal from the government and all of us taxpayers through abusing the social welfare system,” Freeman said. Prosecutors will ask that the judge be allowed to impose a longer sentence than the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines call for because the Chisholms committed a major economic offense.

The connection between race and intelligence has been a subject of debate in both popular science and academic research since the inception of IQ testing in the early 20th century. There remains some debate as to whether and to what extent differences in intelligence test scores reflect environmental factors as opposed to genetic ones, as well as to the definitions of what "race" and "intelligence" are, and whether they can be objectively defined. Currently, there is no non-circumstantial evidence that these differences in test scores have a genetic component, although some researchers believe that the existing circumstantial evidence makes it at least plausible that hard evidence for a genetic component will eventually be found. The first test showing differences in IQ test results between different population groups in the US was the tests of United States Army recruits in World War I. In the 1920s groups of eugenics lobbyists argued that this demonstrated that African-Americans and certain immigrant groups were of inferior intellect to Anglo-Saxon whites due to innate biological differences, using this as an argument for policies of racial segregation. Soon, other studies appeared, contesting these conclusions and arguing instead that the Army tests had not adequately controlled for the environmental factors such as socio-economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites. The debate reemerged again in 1969, when Arthur Jensen championed the view that for genetic reasons Africans were less intelligent than whites and that compensatory education for African-American children was therefore doomed to be ineffective. In 1994, the book The Bell Curve argued that social inequality in the United States could largely be explained as a result of IQ differences between races and individuals, and rekindled the public and scholarly debate with renewed force. During the debates following the book's publication, the American Anthropological Association and the American Psychological Association (APA) published official statements regarding the issue, both highly skeptical of some of the book's claims, although the APA report called for more empirical research on the issue. History of the debate Claims of races having different intelligence were used to justify colonialism, slavery, racism, social Darwinism, and racial eugenics. Racial thinkers such as Arthur de Gobineau relied crucially on the assumption that black people were innately inferior to whites in developing their ideologies of white supremacy. Even enlightenment thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, believed blacks to be innately inferior to whites in physique and intellect. Early IQ testing The first practical intelligence test was developed between 1905 and 1908 by Alfred Binet in France for school placement of children. Binet warned that results from his test should not be assumed to measure innate intelligence or used to label individuals permanently. Binet's test was translated into English and revised in 1916 by Lewis Terman (who introduced IQ scoring for the test results) and published under the name the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales. As Terman's test was published, there was great concern in the United States about the abilities and skills of recent immigrants. Different immigrant nationalities were sometimes thought to belong to different races, such as Slavs. A different set of tests developed by Robert Yerkes were used to evaluate draftees for World War I, and researchers found that people from southern and eastern Europe scored lower than native-born Americans, that Americans from northern states had higher scores than Americans from southern states, and that black Americans scored lower than white Americans. The results were widely publicized by a lobby of anti-immigration activists, including the New York patrician and conservationist Madison Grant, who considered the Nordic race to be superior, but under threat of immigration by inferior breeds. In his influential work A Study of American Intelligence psychologist Carl Brigham used the results of the Army tests to argue for a stricter immigration policy, limiting immigration to countries considered to belong to the "nordic race". In the 1920s, states like Virginia enacted eugenic laws, such as its 1924 Racial Integrity Act, which established the one-drop rule as law. On the other hand, many scientists reacted to eugenicist claims linking abilities and moral character to racial or genetic ancestry. They pointed to the contribution of environment to test results (such as speaking English as a second language). By the mid-1930s, many United States psychologists adopted the view that environmental and cultural factors played a dominant role in IQ test results, among them Carl Brigham who repudiated his own previous arguments, on the grounds that he realized that the tests were not a measure of innate intelligence. Discussion of the issue in the United States also influenced German Nazi claims of the "nordics" being a "master race", influenced by Grant's writings. As the American public sentiment shifted against the Germans, claims of racial differences in intelligence increasingly came to be regarded as problematic.[7] Anthropologists such as Franz Boas, and Ruth Benedict and Gene Weltfish, did much to demonstrate the unscientific status of many of the claims about racial hierarchies of intelligence. Nonetheless a powerful eugenics and segregation lobby funded largely by textile-magnate Wickliffe Draper, continued to publicize studies using intelligence studies as an argument for eugenics, segregation, and anti-immigration legislation. The Jensenism debates As the de-segregation of the American South was begun in the 1950s the debate about black intelligence resurfaced. Audrey Shuey, funded by Draper's Pioneer Fund, published a new analysis of Yerkes' tests, concluding that blacks really were of inferior intellect to whites. This study was used by segregationists as an argument that it was to the advantage of black children to be educated separately from the superior white children. In the 1960s, the debate was further revived when William Shockley publicly defended the argument that black children were innately unable to learn as well as white children. Arthur Jensen stimulated scholarly discussion of the issue with his Harvard Educational Review article, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?"[14] Jensen's article questioned remedial education for African-American children; he suggested their poor educational performance reflected an underlying genetic cause rather than lack of stimulation at home. Jensen continued to publish on the issue until his death in 2012. The Bell Curve debate Another revival of public debate followed the appearance of The Bell Curve (1994), a book by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, who strongly emphasized the societal effects of low IQ (focusing in most chapters strictly on the non-Hispanic white population of the United States). In 1994, a group of 52 researchers (mostly psychologists) signed an editorial statement "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" in response to the book. The Bell Curve also led to a 1995 report from the American Psychological Association, "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns", acknowledging a difference between mean IQ scores of whites and blacks as well as the absence of any adequate explanation of it, either environmental or genetic. The Bell Curve prompted the publication of several multiple-author books responding from a variety of points of view.[17][18] They include The Bell Curve Debate (1995), Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth (1996) and a second edition of The Mismeasure of Man (1996) by Stephen Jay Gould.[18] Jensen's last book-length publication, The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability was published a few years later in 1998. The review article "Thirty Years of Research on Race Differences in Cognitive Ability" by Rushton and Jensen was published in 2005. The article was followed by a series of responses, some in support, some critical.[7][20] Richard Nisbett, another psychologist who had also commented at the time, later included an amplified version of his critique as part of the book Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count (2009).[21] Rushton and Jensen in 2010 made a point-by-point reply to this thereafter.[22] A comprehensive review article on the issue was published in the journal American Psychologist in 2012. Some of the authors proposing genetic explanations for group differences have received funding from the Pioneer Fund, which was headed by Rushton until his death in 2012.[18][26] The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Pioneer Fund as a hate group, citing the fund's history, its funding of race and intelligence research, and its connections with racist individuals. Other researchers have criticized the Pioneer Fund for promoting scientific racism, eugenics and white supremacy.[28][29][30] Validity of race and IQ Intelligence, IQ, g and IQ tests The concept of intelligence and the degree to which intelligence is measurable is a matter of debate. While there is some consensus about how to define intelligence, it is not universally accepted that it is something that can be unequivocally measured by a single figure.[31] A recurring criticism is that different societies value and promote different kinds of skills and that the concept of intelligence is therefore culturally variable and cannot be measured by the same criteria in different societies.[31] Consequently, some critics argue that proposed relationships to other variables are necessarily tentative.[32] In relation to the study of racial differences in IQ test scores it becomes a crucial question what exactly it is that IQ tests measure. Arthur Jensen was a proponent of the view that there is a correlation between scores on all the known types of IQ tests and that this correlation points to an underlying factor of general intelligence, or g. In most conceptions of g it is considered to be fairly fixed in a given individual and unresponsive to training or other environmental influences. In this view test score differences, especially in those tasks considered to be particularly "g-loaded" reflect the test takers innate capability. Other psychometricians argue that, while there may or may not be a general intelligence factor, performance on tests rely crucially on knowledge acquired through prior exposure to the types of tasks that such tests contain. This view would mean that tests cannot be expected to reflect only the innate abilities of a given individual, because the expression of potential will always be mediated by experience and cognitive habits. It also means that comparison of test scores from persons with widely different life experiences and cognitive habits is not an expression of their relative innate potentials. Race The majority of anthropologists today consider race to be a sociopolitical phenomenon rather than a biological one, a view supported by considerable genetics research.[36] The current mainstream view in the social sciences and biology is that race is a social construction based on folk ideologies that construct groups based on social disparities and superficial physical characteristics.[37] Sternberg, Grigorenko & Kidd (2005) state, "Race is a socially constructed concept, not a biological one. It derives from people's desire to classify."[32] The concept of human "races" as natural and separate divisions within the human species has also been rejected by the American Anthropological Association. The official position of the AAA, adopted in 1998, is that advances in scientific knowledge have made it "clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups" and that "any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations [is] both arbitrary and subjective."[38] Race in studies of human intelligence is almost always determined using self-reports, rather than based on analyses of the genetic characteristics of the tested individuals. According to psychologist David Rowe, self-report is the preferred method for racial classification in studies of racial differences because classification based on genetic markers alone ignore the "cultural, behavioral, sociological, psychological, and epidemiological variables" that distinguish racial groups.[39] Hunt and Carlson write that "Nevertheless, self-identification is a surprisingly reliable guide to genetic composition. Tang et al. (2005) applied mathematical clustering techniques to sort genomic markers for over 3,600 people in the United States and Taiwan into four groups. There was almost perfect agreement between cluster assignment and individuals' self-reports of racial/ethnic identification as white, black, East Asian, or Latino."[40] Sternberg and Grigorenko disagree with Hunt and Carlson's interpretation of Tang, "Tang et al.'s point was that ancient geographic ancestry rather than current residence is associated with self-identification and not that such self-identification provides evidence for the existence of biological race."[41] Anthropologist C. Loring Brace[42] and geneticist Joseph Graves disagree with the idea that cluster analysis and the correlation between self-reported race and genetic ancestry support biological race.[43] They argue that while it is possible to find biological and genetic variation corresponding roughly to the groupings normally defined as races, this is true for almost all geographically distinct populations. The cluster structure of the genetic data is dependent on the initial hypotheses of the researcher and the populations sampled. When one samples continental groups, the clusters become continental; if one had chosen other sampling patterns, the clusters would be different. Kaplan 2011 therefore concludes that, while differences in particular allele frequencies can be used to identify populations that loosely correspond to the racial categories common in Western social discourse, the differences are of no more biological significance than the differences found between any human populations (e.g., the Spanish and Portuguese). Earl B. Hunt agrees that racial categories are defined by social conventions, though he points out that they also correlate with clusters of both genetic traits and cultural traits. Hunt explains that, due to this, racial IQ differences are caused by these variables that correlate with race, and race itself is rarely a causal variable. Researchers who study racial disparities in test scores are studying the relationship between the scores and the many race-related factors which could potentially affect performance. These factors include health, wealth, biological differences, and education.[44] Group differences The study of human intelligence is one of the most controversial topics in psychology. It remains unclear whether group differences in intelligence test scores are caused by heritable factors or by "other correlated demographic variables such as socioeconomic status, education level, and motivation."[45] Hunt and Carlson outlined four contemporary positions on differences in IQ based on race or ethnicity. The first is that these reflect real differences in average group intelligence, which is caused by a combination of environmental factors and heritable differences in brain function. A second position is that differences in average cognitive ability between races are caused entirely by social and/or environmental factors. A third position holds that differences in average cognitive ability between races do not exist, and that the differences in average test scores are the result of inappropriate use of the tests themselves. Finally, a fourth position is that either or both of the concepts of race and general intelligence are poorly constructed and therefore any comparisons between races are meaningless.[40] United States test scores In the United States, individuals identifying themselves as East Asian tend to have higher average IQ scores than do Caucasians, who, in turn, have higher average IQs than African Americans. Nevertheless, greater variation in IQ scores exists within each ethnic group than between them.[46] Rushton & Jensen (2005) wrote that, in the United States, self-identified blacks and whites have been the subjects of the greatest number of studies. They stated that the black-white IQ difference is about 15 to 18 points or 1 to 1.1 standard deviations (SDs), which implies that between 11 and 16 percent of the black population have an IQ above 100 (the general population median). According to Arthur Jensen and J. Philippe Rushton the black-white IQ difference is largest on those components of IQ tests that are claimed best to represent the general intelligence factor g.[47] The 1996 APA report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" and the 1994 editorial statement "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" gave more or less similar estimates.[48][49] Roth et al. (2001), in a review of the results of a total of 6,246,729 participants on other tests of cognitive ability or aptitude, found a difference in mean IQ scores between blacks and whites of 1.1 SD. Consistent results were found for college and university application tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (N = 2.4 million) and Graduate Record Examination (N = 2.3 million), as well as for tests of job applicants in corporate sections (N = 0.5 million) and in the military (N = 0.4 million).[50] East Asians have tended to score relatively higher on visuospatial subtests with lower scores in verbal subtests while Ashkenazi Jews score higher in verbal subtests with lower scores in visuospatial subtests. The few Amerindian populations who have been systematically tested, including Arctic Natives, tend to score worse on average than white populations but better on average than black populations.[50] The racial groups studied in the United States and Europe are not necessarily representative samples for populations in other parts of the world. Cultural differences may also factor in IQ test performance and outcomes. Therefore, results in the United States and Europe do not necessarily correlate to results in other populations.[51] Global variation of IQ scores A number of studies have compared average IQ scores between the world's nations, finding patterns of difference between continental populations similar to those associated with race. Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen have argued that populations in the third world, particularly populations in Africa, tend to have limited intelligence because of their genetic composition and that, consequently, education cannot be effective in creating social and economic development in third world countries. Lynn and Vanhanen's studies have been severely criticized for relying on low quality data and for choosing sources in ways that seem to be biased severely towards underestimating the average IQ potential of developing nations, particularly in Africa.[55] Nonetheless there is a general consensus that the average IQ in developing countries is lower than in developed countries, but subsequent research has favored environmental explanations for this fact, such as lack of basic infrastructure related to health and education. In the 2002 book IQ and the Wealth of Nations, and IQ and Global Inequality in 2006, Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen created estimates of average IQs for 113 nations. They estimated IQs of 79 other nations based on neighboring nations or via other means. They saw a consistent correlation between national development and national IQ averages. They found the highest national IQs among Western and East Asian developed nations and the lowest national IQs in the world's least developed nations among the indigenous peoples in the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.[56] In a meta-analysis of studies of IQ estimates in Sub-Saharan Africa, Wicherts, Dolan & van der Maas (2009, p. 10) concluded that Lynn and Vanhanen had relied on unsystematic methodology by failing to publish their criteria for including or excluding studies. They found that Lynn and Vanhanen's exclusion of studies had depressed their IQ estimate for sub-Saharan Africa, and that including studies excluded in "IQ and Global Inequality" resulted in average IQ of 82 for sub-Saharan Africa, lower than the average in Western countries, but higher than Lynn and Vanhanen's estimate of 67. Wicherts at al. conclude that this difference is likely due to sub-Saharan Africa having limited access to modern advances in education, nutrition and health care. A 2010 systematic review by the same research team, along with Jerry S. Carlson, found that compared to American norms, the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans was about 80. The same review concluded that the Flynn effect had not yet taken hold in sub-Saharan Africa. A 2007 meta-analysis by Rindermann found many of the same groupings and correlations found by Lynn and Vanhanen, with the lowest scores in sub-Saharan Africa, and a correlation of .60 between cognitive skill and GDP per capita. Hunt (2010, pp. 437–439) considers Rindermann's analysis to be much more reliable than Lynn and Vanhanen's. By measuring the relationship between educational data and social wellbeing over time, this study also performed a causal analysis, finding that when nations invest in education this leads to increased well-being later on. Kamin (2006) has also criticized Lynn and Vanhanen's work on the IQs of sub-Saharan Africans. Wicherts, Borsboom & Dolan (2010) argue that studies reporting support for evolutionary theories of intelligence based on national IQ data suffer from multiple fatal methodological flaws. For example, they state that such studies "...assume that the Flynn Effect is either nonexistent or invariant with respect to different regions of the world, that there have been no migrations and climatic changes over the course of evolution, and that there have been no trends over the last century in indicators of reproductive strategies (e.g., declines in fertility and infant mortality)." They also showed that a strong degree of confounding exists between national IQs and current national development status. Similarly, Pesta & Poznanski (2014) showed that the average temperature of a given U.S. state is strongly associated with that state's average IQ and other well-being variables, despite the fact that evolution has not had enough time to operate on non-Native American residents of the United States. They also noted that this association persisted even after controlling for race, and concluded that "Evolution is therefore not necessary for temperature and IQ/well-being to co-vary meaningfully across geographic space." Flynn effect and the closing gap For the past century raw scores on IQ tests have been rising; this score increase is known as the "Flynn effect", named after James R. Flynn. In the United States, the increase was continuous and approximately linear from the earliest years of testing to about 1998 when the gains stopped and some tests even showed decreasing test scores. For example, in the United States the average scores of blacks on some IQ tests in 1995 were the same as the scores of whites in 1945.[63] As one pair of academics phrased it, "the typical African American today probably has a slightly higher IQ than the grandparents of today's average white American."[64] Flynn has argued that given that these changes take place between one generation and the next it is highly unlikely that genetic factors could account for the increasing scores, which must then be caused by environmental factors. The Flynn Effect has often been used as an argument that the racial gap in IQ test scores must be environmental too, but this is not generally agreed – others have asserted that the two may have entirely different causes. A meta-analysis by Te Nijenhuis and van der Flier (2013) concluded that the Flynn effect and group differences in intelligence were likely to have different causes. They stated that the Flynn effect is caused primarily by environmental factors and that it's unlikely these same environmental factors play an important role in explaining group differences in IQ.[65] The importance of the Flynn effect in the debate over the causes for the IQ gap lies in demonstrating that environmental factors may cause changes in test scores on the scale of 1 SD. This had previously been doubted. A separate phenomenon from the Flynn effect has been the discovery that the IQ gap has been gradually closing over the last decades of the 20th century, as black test-takers increased their average scores relative to white test-takers. For instance, Vincent reported in 1991 that the black-white IQ gap was decreasing among children, but that it was remaining constant among adults. Similarly, a 2006 study by Dickens and Flynn estimated that the difference between mean scores of blacks and whites closed by about 5 or 6 IQ points between 1972 and 2002, a reduction of about one-third. In the same period, the educational achievement disparity also diminished.[68] However, this was challenged by Rushton & Jensen who claim the difference remains stable. In a 2006 study, Murray agreed with Dickens and Flynn that there has been a narrowing of the difference; "Dickens' and Flynn's estimate of 3–6 IQ points from a base of about 16–18 points is a useful, though provisional, starting point". But he argued that this has stalled and that there has been no further narrowing for people born after the late 1970s. A subsequent study by Murray, based on the Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, estimated that the black-white IQ difference decreased by about one-half of one standard deviation from those born in the 1920s to those born in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. Recent reviews by Flynn and Dickens (2006), Mackintosh (2011), and Nisbett et al. 2012 accept the gradual closing of the gap as a fact. In his review of the historical trends, Hunt (2010, p. 411) states: "There is some variety in the results, but not a great deal. The African American means are about 1 standard deviation unit (15 points on the IQ scale) below the white means, and the Hispanic means fall in between." Some studies reviewed by Hunt (2010, p. 418) found that rise in the average achievement of African Americans was caused by a reduction in the number of African American students in the lowest range of scores without a corresponding increase in the number of students in the highest ranges. A 2012 review of the literature found that the IQ gap had diminished by 0.33 standard deviations since first reported. A 2013 analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that from 1971 to 2008, the size of the black–white IQ gap in the United States decreased from 16.33 to 9.94 IQ points. It has also concluded however that, while IQ means are continuing to rise in all ethnic groups, this growth is occurring more slowly among 17-year-old students than among younger students and the black-white IQ gap is no longer narrowing. As of 2008, a study published in 2013 by Heiner Rindermann, Stefan Pinchelmann, and James Thompson have estimated the IQ means of 17-year-old black, white, and Hispanic students to range respectively from 90.45–94.15, 102.29–104.57 and 92.30–95.90 points. They explain that the gap may persist due to the crack epidemic, the degradation of African-American family structure, the rise of fraud in the educational system (especially with respect to No Child Left Behind), the decrease in unskilled real wages and employment among African-Americans due to globalization and minimum wage increases, differences in parental practices (such as breastfeeding or reading to children), and "environmental conditions shaped by [African-Americans] themselves." To resolve this, they ultimately recommend the reestablishment of "meritoric principles" and "blindly graded objective central exams," as opposed to "ethnically based policies," in education.[74] Environmental influences on group differences in IQ The following environmental factors are some of those suggested as explaining a portion of the differences in average IQ between races. These factors are not mutually exclusive with one another, and some may, in fact, contribute directly to others. Furthermore, the relationship between genetics and environmental factors may be complicated. For example, the differences in socioeconomic environment for a child may be due to differences in genetic IQ for the parents, and the differences in average brain size between races could be the result of nutritional factors. All recent reviews agree that some environmental factors that are unequally distributed between racial groups have been shown to affect intelligence in ways that could contribute to the test score gap. However, currently, the question is whether these factors can account for the entire gap between white and black test scores, or only part of it. One group of scholars, including Richard E. Nisbett, James R. Flynn, Joshua Aronson, Diane Halpern, William Dickens, Eric Turkheimer (2012) have argued that the environmental factors so far demonstrated are sufficient to account for the entire gap. Nicholas Mackintosh (2011) considers this a reasonable argument, but argues that probably it is impossible to ever know for sure; another group including Earl B. Hunt (2010), Arthur Jensen, J. Philippe Rushton and Richard Lynn have argued that this is impossible. Jensen and Rushton consider that it may account for as little as 20% of the gap. Meanwhile, while Hunt considers this a vast overstatement, he nonetheless considers it likely that some portion of the gap will eventually be shown to be caused by genetic factors. Health and nutrition at least 10 µg/dL. Black and Hispanic children have much higher levels than white children. A 10 µg/dL increase in blood lead at 24 months is associated with a 5.8-point decline in IQ.[76] Although the Geometric Mean Blood Lead Levels (GM BLL) are declining, a CDC report (2002) states that: "However, the GM BLL for non-Hispanic black children remains higher than that for Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children, indicating that differences in risk for exposure still persist."[77] Percentage of children aged 1–5 with blood lead levels10 µg/dL. Black and Hispanic children have much higher levels than white children. A 10 µg/dL increase in blood lead at 24 months is associated with a 5.8-point decline in IQ.Although the Geometric Mean Blood Lead Levels (GM BLL) are declining, a CDC report (2002) states that: "However, the GM BLL for non-Hispanic black children remains higher than that for Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children, indicating that differences in risk for exposure still persist." Environmental factors including childhood lead exposure,[76] low rates of breast feeding,[78] and poor nutrition[79][80] can significantly affect cognitive development and functioning. For example, childhood exposure to lead, associated with homes in poorer areas[81] causes an average IQ drop of 7 points,[82] and iodine deficiency causes a fall, on average, of 12 IQ points.[83][84] Such impairments may sometimes be permanent, sometimes be partially or wholly compensated for by later growth. The first two years of life is the critical time for malnutrition, the consequences of which are often irreversible and include poor cognitive development, educability, and future economic productivity.[85] The African American population of the United States is statistically more likely to be exposed to many detrimental environmental factors such as poorer neighborhoods, schools, nutrition, and prenatal and postnatal health care.[86][87] Mackintosh points out that for American blacks infant mortality is about twice as high as for whites, and low birthweight is twice as prevalent. At the same time white mothers are twice as likely to breastfeed their infants, and breastfeeding is highly correlated with IQ for low birthweight infants. In this way a wide number of health related factors that influence IQ are unequally distributed between the two groups. The Copenhagen consensus in 2004 stated that lack of both iodine and iron has been implicated in impaired brain development, and this can affect enormous numbers of people: it is estimated that one-third of the total global population are affected by iodine deficiency. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged four and under suffer from anaemia because of insufficient iron in their diets.[89] Other scholars have found that simply the standard of nutrition has a significant effect on population intelligence, and that the Flynn effect may be caused by increasing nutrition standards across the world.[90] James Flynn has himself argued against this view.[91] Some recent research has argued that the retardation caused in brain development by infectious diseases, many of which are more prevalent in non-white populations, may be an important factor in explaining the differences in IQ between different regions of the world.[92] The findings of this research, showing the correlation between IQ, race and infectious diseases was also shown to apply to the IQ gap in the US, suggesting that this may be an important environmental factor.[93] A 2013 meta-analysis by the World Health Organization found that, after controlling for maternal IQ, breastfeeding was associated with IQ gains of 2.19 points. The authors suggest that this relationship is causal but state that the practical significance of this gain is debatable; however, they highlight one study suggesting an association between breastfeeding and academic performance in Brazil, where "breastfeeding duration does not present marked variability by socioeconomic position."[94] Colen and Ramey (2014) similarly find that controlling for sibling comparisons within families, rather than between families, reduces the correlation between breastfeeding status and WISC IQ scores by nearly a third, but further find the relationship between breastfeeding duration and WISC IQ scores to be insignificant. They suggest that "much of the beneficial long-term effects typically attributed to breastfeeding, per say, may primarily be due to selection pressures into infant feeding practices along key demographic characteristics such as race and socioeconomic status."[95] Reichman estimates that no more than 3 to 4% of the black-white IQ gap can be explained by black-white disparities in low birth weight.[96] Education Several studies have proposed that a large part of the gap can be attributed to differences in quality of education.[97] Racial discrimination in education has been proposed as one possible cause of differences in educational quality between races.[98] According to a paper by Hala Elhoweris, Kagendo Mutua, Negmeldin Alsheikh and Pauline Holloway, teachers' referral decisions for students to participate in gifted and talented educational programs were influenced in part by the students' ethnicity.[99] The Abecedarian Early Intervention Project, an intensive early childhood education project, was also able to bring about an average IQ gain of 4.4 points at age 21 in the black children who participated in it compared to controls.[78] Arthur Jensen agreed that the Abecedarian project demonstrates that education can have a significant effect on IQ, but also said that no educational program thus far has been able to reduce the black-white IQ gap by more than a third, and that differences in education are thus unlikely to be its only cause.[100] Rushton and Jensen argue that long-term follow-up of the Head Start Program found large immediate gains for blacks and whites but that these were quickly lost for the blacks although some remained for whites. They argue that also other more intensive and prolonged educational interventions have not produced lasting effects on IQ or scholastic performance.[47] Nisbett argues that they ignore studies such as Campbell & Ramey (1994) which found that at the age 12, 87% of black infants exposed to an intervention had IQs in the normal range (above 85) compared to 56% of controls, and none of the intervention-exposed children were mildly retarded compared to 7% of controls. Other early intervention programs have shown IQ effects in the range of 4–5 points, which are sustained until at least age 8–15. Effects on academic achievement can also be substantial. Nisbett also argues that not only early age intervention can be effective, citing other successful intervention studies from infancy to college.[101] A series of studies by Joseph Fagan and Cynthia Holland measured the effect of prior exposure to the kind of cognitive tasks posed in IQ tests on test performance. Assuming that the IQ gap was the result of lower exposure to tasks using the cognitive functions usually found in IQ tests among African American test takes, they prepared a group of African Americans in this type of tasks before taking an IQ test. The researchers found that there was no subsequent difference in performance between the African-Americans and white test takers.[102][103] Daley and Onwuegbuzie conclude that Fagan and Holland demonstrate that "differences in knowledge between blacks and whites for intelligence test items can be erased when equal opportunity is provided for exposure to the information to be tested". A similar argument is made by David Marks who argues that IQ differences correlate well with differences in literacy suggesting that developing literacy skills through education causes an increase in IQ test performance.[105][106] A 2003 study found that two variables — stereotype threat and the degree of educational attainment of children's fathers — partially explained the black-white gap in cognitive ability test scores, undermining the hereditarian view that they stemmed from immutable genetic factors.[107] Socioeconomic environment Different aspects of the socioeconomic environment in which children are raised have been shown to correlate with part of the IQ gap, but they do not account for the entire gap. According to a 2006 review, these factors account for slightly less than half of one standard deviation of the gap.[109] Generally the difference between mean test scores of blacks and whites is not eliminated when individuals and groups are matched on socioeconomic status (SES), suggesting that the relationship between IQ and SES is not simply one in which SES determines IQ. Rather it may be the case that differences in intelligence, particularly parental intelligence, may also cause differences in SES, making separating the two factors difficult.[48] Hunt (2010, p. 428) summarises data[clarification needed] showing that, jointly, SES and parental IQ account for the full gap (in populations of young children, after controlling parental IQ and parental SES, the gap is not statistically different from zero). He argues the SES-linked components reflect parental occupation status, mother's verbal comprehension score and parent-child interaction quality. Hunt also reviews data showing that the correlation between home environment and IQ becomes weaker with age.[citation needed] Hart and Risley argue that in welfare, working-class, and professional families, children hear a large disparity in the amount of language (between 13 million and 45 million words) in the age range of 0–3, and that by age 9 these differences led to large differences in child outcomes.[110] Other research has focussed on different causes of variation within low SES and high SES groups.[111][112][113] In the US, among low-SES groups, genetic differences account for a smaller proportion variance in IQ than among higher SES populations.[114] Such effects are predicted by the bioecological hypothesis – that genotypes are transformed into phenotypes through nonadditive synergistic effects of the environment.[115] Nisbett et al. (2012) suggest that high SES individuals are more likely to be able to develop their full biological potential, whereas low SES individuals are likely to be hindered in their development by adverse environmental conditions. The same review also points out that adoption studies generally are biased towards including only high and high middle SES adoptive families, meaning that they will tend to overestimate average genetic effects. They also note that studies of adoption from lower-class homes to middle-class homes have shown that such children experience a 12–18 pt gain in IQ relative to children who remain in low SES homes. A 2015 study found that environmental factors (namely, family income, maternal education, maternal verbal ability/knowledge, learning materials in the home, parenting factors (maternal sensitivity, maternal warmth and acceptance, and safe physical environment), child birth order, and child birth weight) accounted for the black-white gap in cognitive ability test scores. Test bias A number of studies have reached the conclusion that IQ tests may be biased against certain groups.[117][118][119][120] The validity and reliability of IQ scores obtained from outside the United States and Europe have been questioned, in part because of the inherent difficulty of comparing IQ scores between cultures.[121][122] Several researchers have argued that cultural differences limit the appropriateness of standard IQ tests in non-industrialized communities.[123][124] A 1996 report by the American Psychological Association states that intelligence can be difficult to compare across culture, and notes that differing familiarity with test materials can produce substantial difference in test results; it also says that tests are accurate predictors of future achievement for black and white Americans, and are in that sense unbiased.[48] The view that tests accurately predict future educational attainment is reinforced by Nicholas Mackintosh in his 1998 book IQ and Human Intelligence,[125] and by a 1999 literature review by Brown, Reynolds & Whitaker (1999). James R. Flynn, surveying studies on the topic, notes that the weight and presence of many test questions depends on what sorts of information and modes of thinking are culturally-valued.[126] Stereotype threat and minority status Stereotype threat is the fear that one's behavior will confirm an existing stereotype of a group with which one identifies or by which one is defined; this fear may in turn lead to an impairment of performance.[127] Testing situations that highlight the fact that intelligence is being measured tend to lower the scores of individuals from racial-ethnic groups who already score lower on average or are expected to score lower. Stereotype threat conditions cause larger than expected IQ differences among groups.[128] Psychometrician Nicholas Mackintosh considers that there is little doubt that the effects of stereotype threat contribute to the IQ gap between blacks and whites. A large number of studies have shown that systemically disadvantaged minorities, such as the African American minority of the United States generally perform worse in the educational system and in intelligence tests than the majority groups or less disadvantaged minorities such as immigrant or "voluntary" minorities.[48] The explanation of these findings may be that children of caste-like minorities, due to the systemic limitations of their prospects of social advancement, do not have "effort optimism", i.e. they do not have the confidence that acquiring the skills valued by majority society, such as those skills measured by IQ tests, is worthwhile. They may even deliberately reject certain behaviors that are seen as "acting white." Research published in 1997 indicates that part of the black-white gap in cognitive ability test scores is due to racial differences in test motivation.[132] Attempts to replicate studies evincing significant effects of stereotype threat however have not yielded the same results. In 2004 Sackett et al. found that eliminating stereotype threat does not eliminate the racial test performance gap, and in 2005 Tyson et al. found African Americans to have motivation similar to or even better than that of white Americans.[133][134] Self-affirmation exercises promoted by research scientists such as Geoffrey L. Cohen have not been shown to be effective by attempts to replicate his studies purporting them to be successful.[135] A 2015 meta-analysis conducted by Flore & Wicherts of studies on the relationship between gender and stereotype threat found the observed estimates to be inflated by publication bias, arguing the true effect to be most likely near zero.[136] Research into the possible genetic influences on test score differences Ongoing research aims to understand the contribution of genes to differences in intelligence. Currently there is no non-circumstantial evidence that the test score gap has a genetic component, although some researchers believe that the existing circumstantial evidence makes it plausible to believe that hard evidence for a genetic component will eventually appear. Growing evidence indicates that environmental factors, not genetic ones, are more important in explaining the racial IQ gap. Several lines of investigation have been followed in the attempt to ascertain whether there is a genetic component to the test score gap as well as its relative contribution to the magnitude of the gap. Genetics of race and intelligence Geneticist Alan R. Templeton argues that the question about the possible genetic effects on the test score gap is muddled by the general focus on "race" rather than on populations defined by gene frequency or by geographical proximity, and by the general insistence on phrasing the question in terms of heritability.[141] Templeton points out that racial groups neither represent sub-species nor distinct evolutionary lineages, and that therefore there is no basis for making claims about the general intelligence of races.[141] From this point of view the search for possible genetic influences on the black-white test score gap is a priori flawed, because there is no genetic material shared by all Africans or by all Europeans. Mackintosh (2011) points out that by using genetic cluster analysis to correlate gene frequencies with continental populations it could possibly be the case that African populations had a higher frequency of certain genetic variants that contribute to an average lower intelligence. Such a hypothetical situation could hold without all Africans carrying the same genes or belonging to a single Evolutionary lineage. According to Mackintosh, a biological basis for the gap thus cannot be ruled out on a priori grounds. Intelligence is a polygenic trait. This means that intelligence is under the influence of several genes, possibly several thousand. The effect of most individual genetic variants on intelligence is thought to be very small, well below 1% of the variance in g. Current studies using quantitative trait loci have yielded little success in the search for genes influencing intelligence. Robert Plomin is confident that QTLs responsible for the variation in IQ scores exist, but due to their small effect sizes, more powerful tools of analysis will be required to detect them.[142] Others assert that no useful answers can be reasonably expected from such research before an understanding of the relation between DNA and human phenotypes emerges.[87] Several candidate genes have been proposed to have a relationship with intelligence.[143][144] However, a review of candidate genes for intelligence published in Deary, Johnson & Houlihan (2009) failed to find evidence of an association between these genes and general intelligence, stating "there is still almost no replicated evidence concerning the individual genes, which have variants that contribute to intelligence differences".[145] In 2001, a review in the Journal of Black Psychology refuted eight major premises on which the hereditarian view regarding race and intelligence is based.[146] A 2005 literature review article by Sternberg, Grigorenko and Kidd stated that no gene has been shown to be linked to intelligence, "so attempts to provide a compelling genetic link of race to intelligence are not feasible at this time". Hunt (2010, p. 447) and Mackintosh (2011, p. 344) concurred, both scholars noting that while several environmental factors have been shown to influence the IQ gap, the evidence for a genetic influence has been circumstantial, and according to Mackintosh negligible. Mackintosh however suggests that it may never become possible to account satisfyingly for the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors. The 2012 review by Nisbett et al. (2012) concluded that "Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range". Hunt and several other researchers however maintain that genetic causes cannot be ruled out, and that new evidence may yet show a genetic contribution to the gap. Hunt concurs with Rushton and Jensen who considered the 100% environmental hypothesis to be impossible. Nonetheless, Nisbett and colleagues (2012) consider the entire IQ gap to be explained by the environmental factors that have thus far been demonstrated to influence it, and Mackintosh does not find this view to be unreasonable. Heritability within and between groups An environmental factor that varies between groups but not within groups can cause group differences in a trait that is otherwise 100 percent heritable Twin studies of intelligence have reported high heritability values. However, these studies are based on questionable assumptions. When used in the context of human behavior genetics, the term "heritability" is highly misleading, as it does not convey any information about the relative importance of genetic or environmental factors on the development of a given trait, nor does it convey the extent to which that trait is genetically determined. Arguments in support of a genetic explanation of racial differences in IQ are sometimes fallacious. For instance, hereditarians have sometimes cited the failure of known environmental factors to account for such differences, or the high heritability of intelligence within races, as evidence that racial differences in IQ are genetic.[150] Psychometricians have found that intelligence is substantially heritable within populations, with 30–50% of variance in IQ scores in early childhood being attributable to genetic factors in analyzed US populations, increasing to 75–80% by late adolescence.[48][145] In biology heritability is defined as the ratio of variation attributable to genetic differences in an observable trait to the trait's total observable variation. The heritability of a trait describes the proportion of variation in the trait that is attributable to genetic factors within a particular population. A heritability of 1 indicates that variation correlates fully with genetic variation and a heritability of 0 indicates that there is no correlation between the trait and genes at all. In psychological testing, heritability tends to be understood as the degree of correlation between the results of a test taker and those of their biological parents. However, since high heritability is simply a correlation between traits and genes, it does not describe the causes of heritability which in humans can be either genetic or environmental. Therefore, a high heritability measure does not imply that a trait is genetic or unchangeable, however, as environmental factors that affect all group members equally will not be measured by heritability and the heritability of a trait may also change over time in response to changes in the distribution of genes and environmental factors.[48] High heritability also doesn't imply that all of the heritability is genetically determined, but can also be due to environmental differences that affect only a certain genetically defined group (indirect heritability).[151] The figure to the left demonstrates how heritability works. In both gardens the difference between tall and short cornstalks is 100% heritable as cornstalks that are genetically disposed for growing tall will become taller than those without this disposition, but the difference in height between the cornstalks to the left and those on the right is 100% environmental as it is due to different nutrients being supplied to the two gardens. Hence the causes of differences within a group and between groups may not be the same, even when looking at traits that are highly heritable.[151] In his criticism of the Bell Curve, Noam Chomsky further illustrated this with the example of women wearing earrings: To borrow an example from Ned Block, "some years ago when only women wore earrings, the heritability of having an earring was high because differences in whether a person had an earring was due to a chromosomal difference, XX vs. XY." No one has yet suggested that wearing earrings, or ties, is "in our genes," an inescapable fate that environment cannot influence, "dooming the liberal notion."[152] In regards to the IQ gap the question becomes whether racial groups can be shown to be influenced by different environmental factors that may account for the observed differences between them. Jensen originally argued that given the high heritability of IQ the only way that the IQ gap could be explained as caused by the environment would be if it could be shown that all blacks were subject to a single "x-factor" which affected no white populations while affecting all black populations equally.[153] Jensen considered the existence of such an x-factor to be extremely improbable, but Flynn's discovery of the Flynn effect showed that in spite of high heritability environmental factors could cause considerable disparities in IQ between generations of the same population, showing that the existence of such an x-factor was not only possible but real. Jensen has also argued that heritability of traits rises with age as the genetic potential of individuals becomes expressed. He sees this as related to the fact that the IQ gap between white and black test takers has been shown to appear gradually, with the gap widening as cohorts reach adulthood. This he sees as a further argument in favor of Spearman's hypothesis (see section below). In contrast, Dickens and Flynn argued that the conventional interpretation ignores the role of feedback between factors, such as those with a small initial IQ advantage, genetic or environmental, seeking out more stimulating environments which will gradually greatly increase their advantage, which, as one consequence in their alternative model, would mean that the "heritability" figure is only in part due to direct effects of genotype on IQ. Today researchers such as Hunt (2010), Nisbett et al. (2012) and Mackintosh (2011) consider that rather than a single factor accounting for the entire gap, probably many different environmental factors differ systematically between the environments of white and black people converge to create part of the gap and perhaps all of it. They argue that it does not make sense to talk about a single universal heritability figure for IQ, rather, they state, heritability of IQ varies between and within groups. They point specifically to studies showing a higher heritability of test scores in white and medium-high SES families, but considerably lower heritability for black and low-SES families. This they interpret to mean that children who grow up with limited resources do not get to develop their full genetic potential. Multiple studies have been conducted over the past several decades to survey scientific estimates on the heritability of the IQ gap. A review by Snydermann and Rothman in 1988 found that 45% of the scientists they questioned believed the gap to be "a product of genetic and environmental variation," 15% and 1% respectively "entirely to environmental" and "genetic variation," while the remaining 38% either declined to answer or stated that the evidence was inconclusive.[158] The heritability of intelligence was estimated on average to be 59.6% for white Americans and 57.0% for black Americans among those who answered that the evidence was sufficiently conclusive.[159] The Wall Street Journal published an editorial by Linda Gottfredson in 1994, signed by 52 professors specializing in intelligence and allied fields, that estimated the heritability of individual variation to range between 40–80%, but also stating that "there is no definitive answer" to explain the racial gap.[160] Social psychologist Donald T. Campbell criticized the report, arguing that it overstated the plausibility of genetic explanations and underestimated the extent of environmental differences between races.[161] A 1995 report by the APA stated that there is more plausible evidence for an environmental than for a genetic explanation, but that there was "no adequate explanation" for the black-white IQ gap.[162][163] In a 2013 followup on Snyderman & Rothman, Rindermann et al. found the average and median estimates of the black-white IQ gap to be heritable by 47% and 50% respectively among surveyed scientists who believed that the available evidence allowed for a reasonable estimate. This survey however yielded a response rate of 18% (228 participants) compared to Snyderman & Rothman's 65% (661 participants).[164] Spearman's hypothesis Spearman's hypothesis states that the magnitude of the black-white difference in tests of cognitive ability is entirely or mainly a function of the extent to which a test measures general mental ability, or g. The hypothesis was first formalized by Arthur Jensen who devised the statistical Method of Correlated Vectors to test it. Jensen holds that if Spearman's hypothesis holds true then some cognitive tasks have a higher g-load than others, and that these tasks are exactly the tasks in which the gap between black and white test takers are greatest. Jensen, and other psychometricians such as Rushton and Lynn, take this to show that the cause of g and the cause of the gap are the same—in their view genetic differences. Mackintosh (2011, pp. 338–39) acknowledges that Jensen and Rushton have shown a modest correlation between g-loading, heritability, and the test score gap, but he does not accept that this demonstrates a genetic origin of the gap. He points out that it is exactly in those the tests that Rushton and Jensen consider to have the highest g-loading and heritability such as the Wechsler that has seen the highest increases due to the Flynn effect. This suggests that they are also the most sensitive to environmental changes. And in turn, if the highly g-loaded tests are both more liable to environmental influences and as Jensen argues, the ones where the black-white gap is most pronounced, it suggests in fact contrary to Jensen's argument that the gap is most likely caused by environmental factors. Mackintosh also argues that Spearman's hypothesis, which he considers to be likely to be correct, simply shows that the test score gap is based on whatever cognitive faculty is central to intelligence, but not what this factor is. Nisbett et al. (2012, p. 146) make the same point, noting also that the increase in the IQ scores of black test takers is necessarily also an increase in g. James Flynn (2012, pp. 140–1) argues that there is an inherent flaw in Jensen's argument that the correlation between g-loadings, test scores and heritability support a genetic cause of the gap. He points out that as the difficulty of a task increases a low performing group will naturally fall further behind, and heritability will therefore also naturally increase. The same holds for increases in performance which will first affect the least difficult tasks, but only gradually affect the most difficult ones. Flynn thus sees the correlation between in g-loading and the test score gap to offer no clue to the cause of the gap. Hunt (2010, p. 415) states that many of conclusions of Jensen, and his colleagues rest on the validity of Spearman's hypothesis, and the method of correlated vectors used to test it. Hunt points out that other researchers have found this method of calculation to produce false positive results, and that other statistical methods should be used instead. According to Hunt, Jensen and Rushton's frequent claim that Spearman's hypothesis should be regarded as empirical fact does not hold, and that new studies based on better statistical methods would be required to confirm or reject the hypothesis that the correlation between g-loading, heritability and the IQ gap is due to IQ gaps consisting mostly of g. Adoption studies A number of studies have been done on the effect of similar rearing conditions on children from different races. The hypothesis is that by investigating whether black children adopted into white families demonstrated gains in IQ test scores relative to black children reared in black families. Depending on whether their test scores are more similar to their biological or adoptive families, that could be interpreted as either supporting a genetic or an environmental hypothesis. The main point of critique in studies like these however is whether the environment of black children—even when raised in white families—is truly comparable to the environment of white children. Several reviews of the adoption study literature has pointed out that it is perhaps impossible to avoid confounding of biological and environmental factors in this type of studies. Given the differing heritability estimates in medium-high SES and low-SES families, Nisbett et al. (2012, pp. 134) argue that adoption studies on the whole tend to overstate the role of genetics because they represent a restricted set of environments, mostly in the medium-high SES range. The Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study (1976) examined the IQ test scores of 122 adopted children and 143 nonadopted children reared by advantaged white families. The children were restudied ten years later.[167] The study found higher IQ for whites compared to blacks, both at age 7 and age 17.[167] Rushton & Jensen (2005) cite the Minnesota study as providing support to a genetic explanation. Nonetheless, acknowledging the existence of confounding factors, Scarr and Weinberg the authors of the original study, did not themselves consider that it provided support for either the hereditarian or environmentalist view. Three other adoption studies found contrary evidence to the Minnesota study, lending support to a mostly environmental hypothesis: Eyferth (1961) studied the out-of-wedlock children of black and white soldiers stationed in Germany after World War 2 and then raised by white German mothers and found no significant differences. Tizard et al. (1972) studied black (West Indian), white, and mixed-race children raised in British long-stay residential nurseries. Two out of three tests found no significant differences. One test found higher scores for non-whites. Moore (1986) compared black and mixed-race children adopted by either black or white middle-class families in the United States. Moore observed that 23 black and interracial children raised by white parents had a significantly higher mean score than 23 age-matched children raised by black parents (117 vs 104), and argued that differences in early socialization explained these differences. Rushton and Jensen have argued that unlike the Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study, these studies did not retest the children post-adolescence when heritability of IQ would presumably be higher.[22][47] Nisbett (2009, p. 226) however point out that the difference in heritability between ages 7 and 17 are quite small, and that consequently this is no reason to disregard Moore's findings. Frydman and Lynn (1989) showed a mean IQ of 119 for Korean infants adopted by Belgian families. After correcting for the Flynn effect, the IQ of the adopted Korean children was still 10 points higher than the indigenous Belgian children.[172] Reviewing the evidence from adoption studies Mackintosh considers the studies by Tizard and Eyferth to be inconclusive, and the Minnesota study to be consistent only with a partial genetic hypothesis. On the whole he finds that environmental and genetic variables remain confounded and considers evidence from adoption studies inconclusive on the whole, and fully compatible with a 100% environmental explanation. Racial admixture studies Most people have an ancestry from different geographic regions, particularly African Americans typically have ancestors from both Africa and Europe, with, on average, 20% of their genome inherited from European ancestors.[173] If racial IQ gaps have a partially genetic basis, one might expect blacks with a higher degree of European ancestry to score higher on IQ tests than blacks with less European ancestry, because the genes inherited from European ancestors would likely include some genes with a positive effect on IQ. Geneticist Alan Templeton has argued that an experiment based on the Mendelian "common garden" design where specimens with different hybrid compositions are subjected to the same environmental influences, would be the only way to definitively show a causal relation between genes and IQ. Summarizing the findings of admixture studies, he concludes that it has shown no significant correlation between any cognitive and the degree of African or European ancestry. Studies have employed different ways of measuring or approximating relative degrees of ancestry from Africa and Europe. One set of studies have used skin color as a measure, and other studies have used blood groups. Loehlin (2000) surveys the literature and argues that the blood groups studies may be seen as providing some support to the genetic hypothesis, even though the correlation between ancestry and IQ was quite low. He finds that studies by Eyferth (1961), Willerman, Naylor & Myrianthopoulos (1970) did not find a correlation between degree of African/European ancestry and IQ. The latter study did find a difference based on the race of the mother, with children of white mothers with black fathers scoring higher than children of black mothers and white fathers. Loehlin considers that such a finding is compatible with either a genetic or an environmental cause. All in all Loehlin finds admixture studies inconclusive and recommends more research. Another study cited by Rushton & Jensen (2005), and by Nisbett et al. (2012), was Moore (1986) study which found that adopted mixed-race children's has test scores identical to children with two black parents—receiving no apparent "benefit" from their white ancestry. Rushton and Jensen find admixture studies to have provided overall support for a genetic explanation though this view is not shared by Loehlin (2000), Nisbett (2009), Hunt (2010), Mackintosh (2011), nor by Nisbett et al. (2012). Reviewing the evidence from admixture studies Hunt (2010) considers it to be inconclusive because of too many uncontrolled variables. Mackintosh (2011, p. 338) quotes a statement by Nisbett (2009) to the effect that admixture studies have not provided a shred of evidence in favor of a genetic basis for the gap. Mental chronometry Mental chronometry measures the elapsed time between the presentation of a sensory stimulus and the subsequent behavioral response by the participant. This reaction time (RT) is considered a measure of the speed and efficiency with which the brain processes information.[176] Scores on most types of RT tasks tend to correlate with scores on standard IQ tests as well as with g, and no relationship has been found between RT and any other psychometric factors independent of g.[176] The strength of the correlation with IQ varies from one RT test to another, but Hans Eysenck gives 0.40 as a typical correlation under favorable conditions.[177] According to Jensen individual differences in RT have a substantial genetic component, and heritability is higher for performance on tests that correlate more strongly with IQ.[178] Nisbett argues that some studies have found correlations closer to 0.2, and that the correlation is not always found.[179] Several studies have found differences between races in average reaction times. These studies have generally found that reaction times among black, Asian and white children follow the same pattern as IQ scores. Black-white differences in reaction time, however, tend to be small (average effect size .18). Rushton & Jensen (2005) have argued that reaction time is independent of culture and that the existence of race differences in average reaction time is evidence that the cause of racial IQ gaps is partially genetic instead of entirely cultural. Responding to this argument in Intelligence and How to Get It, Nisbett has pointed to the Jensen & Whang (1993) study in which a group of Chinese Americans had longer reaction times than a group of European Americans, despite having higher IQs. Nisbett also mentions findings in Flynn (1991) and Deary (2001) suggesting that movement time (the measure of how long it takes a person to move a finger after making the decision to do so) correlates with IQ just as strongly as reaction time, and that average movement time is faster for blacks than for whites. Mackintosh (2011, p. 339) considers reaction time evidence unconvincing and points out that other cognitive tests that also correlate well with IQ show no disparity at all, for example the habituation/dishabituation test. And he points out that studies show that rhesus monkeys have shorter reaction times than American college students, suggesting that different reaction times may not tell us anything useful about intelligence. Brain size A number of studies have reported a moderate statistical correlation between differences in IQ and brain size between individuals in the same group. And some scholars have reported differences in average brain sizes between Africans, Europeans, and Asians. J. P. Rushton has argued that Africans on average have smaller brain cases and brains than Europeans, that Europeans have smaller brains than East Asians, and that this is evidence that the gap is biological in nature. Critics of Rushton have argued that Rushton's arguments rest on outdated data collected by unsound methods and should be considered invalid. Recent reviews by Nisbett et al. (2012a) and Mackintosh (2011) consider that current data does show an average difference in brain size and head-circumference between American blacks and whites, but question whether this has any relevance for the IQ gap. Nisbett et al. argue that crude brain size is unlikely to be a good measure of IQ; for example, brain size also differs between men and women, but without well-documented differences in IQ. At the same time newborn black children have the same average brain size as whites, suggesting that the difference in average size could be accounted for by differences in postnatal environment. Several factors that reduce brain size have been demonstrated to disproportionately affect black children. Earl Hunt states that brain size is found to have a correlation of about .35 with intelligence among whites and cites studies showing that genes may account for as much as 90% of individual variation in brain size. According to Hunt, race differences in average brain size could potentially be an important argument for a possible genetic contribution to racial IQ gaps. Nonetheless, Hunt notes that Rushton's head size data would account for a difference of .09 standard deviations between black and white average test scores, less than a tenth of the 1.0 standard deviation gap in average scores that is observed. Wicherts, Borsboom, & Dolan (2010) argue that black-white differences in brain size are insufficient to explain 91% to 95% of the black-white IQ gap. Archaeological data Archaeological evidence does not support claims by Rushton and others that blacks' cognitive ability was inferior to whites' during prehistoric times as a result of evolution. Policy relevance and ethics The 1996 report of the APA commented on the ethics of research on race and intelligence.[40] Gray & Thompson (2004) as well as Hunt & Carlson (2007) have also discussed different possible ethical guidelines.[40][193][non-primary source needed] Nature in 2009 featured two editorials on the ethics of research in race and intelligence by Steven Rose (against) and Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams (for).[194][195] According to critics, research on group differences in IQ will reproduce the negative effects of social ideologies (such as Nazism or social Darwinism) that were justified in part on claimed hereditary racial differences.[38][196] Steven Rose maintains that the history of eugenics makes this field of research difficult to reconcile with current ethical standards for science.[195] Linda Gottfredson argues that suggestion of higher ethical standards for research into group differences in intelligence is a double standard applied in order to undermine disliked results.[197] James R. Flynn has argued that had there been a ban on research on possibly poorly conceived ideas, much valuable research on intelligence testing (including his own discovery of the Flynn effect) would not have occurred.[198] Jensen and Rushton argued that the existence of biological group differences does not rule out, but raises questions about the worthiness of policies such as affirmative action or placing a premium on diversity. They also argued for the importance of teaching people not to overgeneralize or stereotype individuals based on average group differences, because of the significant overlap of people with varying intelligence between different races.[47] The environmentalist viewpoint argues for increased interventions in order to close the gaps.[199] Nisbett argues that schools can be greatly improved and that many interventions at every age level are possible.[200] Flynn, arguing for the importance of the black subculture, writes that "America will have to address all the aspects of black experience that are disadvantageous, beginning with the regeneration of inner city neighbourhoods and their schools. A resident police office and teacher in every apartment block would be a good start."[201] Researchers from both sides agree that interventions should be better researched.[179][22] Especially in developing nations, society has been urged to take on the prevention of cognitive impairment in children as of the highest priority. Possible preventable causes include malnutrition, infectious diseases such as meningitis, parasites, cerebral malaria, in utero drug and alcohol exposure, newborn asphyxia, low birth weight, head injuries, lead poisoning and endocrine disorders.[202] See also References Notes Bibliography

NYCT/MTA As Earth Day approaches and as part of recommendations from a blue-ribbon commission tasked with reducing the impact of public transit on the environment, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) has installed approximately 6,500 sustainable composite ties in a major Staten Island Railway (SIR) track renewal project to repair significant damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. The St. George SIR terminal is undergoing a major track and switch reconstruction project as the railway continues to recover from Sandy-related damage. Prior to the storm in October 2012, a terminal rehabilitation project had been planned to repair and update signals, switches and track. Sandy made the project critical when storm surge flooded SIR tracks and the entire St. George yard complex with corrosive saltwater, highlighting areas where flood protection or protective infrastructure needed to be installed. The saltwater significantly damaged all 12 tracks, multiple switches, equipment and cables, as well as facilities and the train control tower. “With careful planning and foresight, we took this opportunity to not only make critical Sandy-related repairs but to do it better using environmentally friendly materials,” said Doug Connett, vice president and chief officer for Staten Island Railway. NYCT started the St. George renewal project in September 2014, with plans to integrate resiliency measures while replacing outdated or damaged equipment and making repairs. Those resiliency measures include raising signal equipment to 72 inches above the tracks, raising platforms for battery and generator enclosures and installing a new third rail system. Repairs at St. George include the replacement of 12,000 linear feet of track and installation of a total of approximately 7,500 high-density plastic rail ties. The ties, which are made of 100 percent recycled materials, were manufactured by Axion International. The change in track tie materials from wood to high-density plastic stems from a recommendation made by the MTA’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability, which released a report in 2009 on ways to operate a greener transit system throughout the New York area. The commission’s final report made nearly 100 recommendations to reduce the MTA’s carbon footprint while generating savings and economic growth, one of which included a recommendation that the MTA expand procurement of sustainable railroad ties across all rail agencies. The $105-million St. George Terminal project is taking place with no service interruptions to customers and is 55 percent complete with composite tie installation to be completed by June 1.

Feel the rhythm, feel the ride, c’mon man its bobsled time! Cool runnings! Jamaica’s two-man bobsled team of Winston Watts and Marvin Dixon qualified for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. It’s the first time a Jamaican bobsled team has qualified for the Winter Olympics since 2002. #BREAKING: Jamaica’s 2 man Bobsled qualified for Winter Olympics in Sochi . CONGRATULATIONS!!!! #JamaicaBobsled pic.twitter.com/Ns1nnhqn9b — Team Jamaica (@JamaicaOlympics) January 18, 2014 An entire generation is familiar with the Jamaican bobsled team after Cool Runnings. The Disney movie told the somewhat fictionalized story of how the Caribbean country defied the odds to qualify in the four-man bobsled for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Qualifying for the 2014 Olympics was the easy task for the two-man team of Dixon and Watts. Heading into St. Moritz, they only needed to avoid disaster in order to earn their spot in Russia. The hard part will be getting to the games. Watts told Chadband the financial hardship the team is under at the moment: In truth, we still don’t really know at the moment if we’d even have enough funds or sponsorship to fly to Sochi itself for the Games itself. It all depends. Our families need to be taken care of first. If there’s no funding, who knows? But, I’m one of life’s optimists. I put my heart on the line for this. Any British companies out there interested in sponsorin’ us? Hopefully, the Jamaican Olympic Association will step in and support us now we’ve qualified. Now that the Jamaicans have officially qualified, financial benefactors may come out of the woodwork after hearing of Watts’ story. Perhaps the Jamaican Olympic Association will pony up some dough, too.

OTTAWA—Canadian auto parts companies and their unionized workers are criticizing an influential business group for urging the Liberal government to move forward quickly with a revamped Trans-Pacific Partnership. They say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was right to hold off on signing a renewed TPP last month at the APEC summit in Vietnam and that the government’s critics of that decision are misguided. Flavio Volpe and jerry Dias, pictured here, say critics of the government’s decision on the TPP are misguided. ( Cole Burston / Toronto Star ) The presidents of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association and Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union which represents autoworkers, say that’s because the TPP is bad for the small and medium-sized auto parts companies and their employees. Read more: Canada’s decision to decline TPP agreement shouldn’t have been a surprise: Trudeau Article Continued Below Thomas Walkom: Why Justin Trudeau will eventually join the new Trans-Pacific Partnership Five things to know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Flavio Volpe and Jerry Dias both say the Liberals need to go slow to undo the potential damage done to their sector when the previous Conservative government agreed to concessions in the original TPP that would have given Japanese carmakers an unfair advantage in the Canadian market. Earlier this week, the Business Council of Canada sent Trudeau an open letter signed by 18 chief executives, telling him Canada must immediately join the reconstituted version of the TPP, which Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of in January. John Manley, the council president, said it was imperative for the Trudeau Liberals to join because Asia will move on without Canada at a time when this country needs to diversify its trade portfolio. But Volpe said the Liberal government has taken a “thoughtful approach” that benefits small and medium-sized companies and their employees instead of racing for the “trophies” that completed trade agreements represent. “It’s not un-Canadian to try to get better terms before you get into bed with someone for decades,” Volpe said in an interview Wednesday. Article Continued Below “The U.S. is no longer in it, so there’s no reason to accept terms when the context has changed.” Dias said Manley represents the interests of the chief executives and large companies, not their workers. “It’s about allowing corporations to do anything they want,” said Dias. “It’s about a philosophy of free enterprise, as opposed to putting Canadians to work.” Volpe and Dias said separately that the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper is to blame for agreeing to the original TPP deal during the 2015 federal election campaign. They said it was bad for their sector and was reached without consulting their industry until late in the process. “The TPP was about politics. It wasn’t about economics. Harper was losing in the polls, he needed it as part of his election platform,” said Dias. Japan and the U.S. agreed in secret in April 2015 on what the content provisions of automobiles ought to be and then “foisted” the agreement on Canada and Mexico, said Volpe. The Rules of Origin content levels were set at “historic lows” at 35 per cent for parts and 45 per cent for cars, which would have allowed cars built in non-TPP countries such as China and Thailand to flood the North American market, he said. The current Liberal government listened to the concerns of the auto industry and blocked a plan by the 10 remaining TPP countries to sign a newly-configured version of the Pacific Rim trade pact last month at the APEC summit, said Volpe. Trudeau incurred the wrath of Australia and Japan, who had been pushing the new, non-U.S. version of the deal. Lawrence Herman, a Toronto trade expert with Herman and Associates, said finding a way to eventually join the new TPP is vital to Canada’s trade interests — but not at the expense of the auto sector. “We just need to be sure that any trans-Pacific deal recognizes that Canada, unlike the Asian parties, is part of an integrated North American auto market,” said Herman. Scott Sinclair, senior research fellow with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the new TPP agreement is the same as the old flawed one, and the Liberals are right to be wary. “With the U.S. out, no Canadian-assembled vehicle can realistically meet the pact’s rules of origin, which amounts to a one-way opening of the Canadian auto market,” he said. “It will be impossible for the Trudeau government to honestly square this zombie pact with a genuinely progressive trade agenda.” Read more about:

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Researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park have printed transparent transistors on transparent paper. The finished device is flexible, up to 84% transparent, and in theory this could be the first step towards green, paper-based electronics. As we’ve covered before, printing computer circuits isn’t overly difficult — you just need to find the right conductive and semiconductive inks (which can be tricky), and then print them out on a suitable substrate until you have a transistor. Because these ink-based printed circuits are very thin, though, the smoothness of the substrate is very important. When you’re dealing with layers of ink that are a few nanometers thick, any blemish on the substrate is enough to disrupt the flow of electrons and break the circuit. In the case of regular old paper, bumps and blemishes are usually measured in micrometers — far too irregular to print circuitry on. Not to be deterred, the researchers at the University of Maryland used nanopaper — paper created from wood pulp that’s been specially treated with enzymes and mechanically beaten. Nanopaper has a much more regular structure than normal paper, and is stronger (and transparent) as a result. More importantly, though, nanopaper is smooth to within just a few nanometers. “It’s as flat as plastic,” says Liangbing Hu, one of the researchers who worked on the project. With the nanopaper in hand, the researchers then created some transistors by printing three inks: First a layer of carbon nanotubes, then a dielectric ink, then a semiconducting ink, and then another layer of nanotubes. The nanotubes not only act as electrodes but also act as a structural backbone. The final transistors are up to 84% transparent, and the device continues to work while bent. Moving forward, it’s easy to imagine flexible, printed devices that are responsibly sourced using renewable sources. The fact that these printed circuits are highly transparent could also be useful, either for cosmetic reasons in wearable computing, or for building displays. Before such applications can be considered, though, the researchers will have to find a way of producing these transparent transistors using roll-to-roll printing, or another commercial, mass-producible process. Now read: The first flexible, fiber-optic solar cell that can be woven into clothes Research paper: DOI: 10.1021/nn304407r – “Highly Transparent and Flexible Nanopaper Transistor”

The upcoming Men’s EHF EURO 2016 in Poland will be the chance for all handball fans to see some new faces in European handball. Some of them are already known from their performance in the clubs and national teams, but still they are Under 23, ready to improve and conquere handball world in years to come. Handball-Planet.com made a list of BEST 7 youngstars (generation 1994 and younger) for the upcoming event which we would like to see. The leader of the team is Handball-Planet Young World Player 2015 – Sanders Sagosen. RIGHT BACK: Fabian Wiede (Germany) PLAYMAKER: Sanders Sagosen (Norway) LEFT BACK: Vuko Borozan (Montenegro) LINE-PLAYER: Blaž Blagotinšek (Slovenia) LEFT WING: Rune Dahmke (Germany) RIGHT WING: Darko Đukić (Serbia) GOALKEEPER: Torbjorn Bergerud (Norway) Our list didn’t include some names who will miss the tournament (Lasse Andersson or Paul Drux). However, like in the list of BEST 7 “old guns”, we couldn’t find the left wing player (1994 and younger) who will be close to the final squad, so we decided to put Rune Dahmke (1993). On the other side, the lack of young goalies is more than visible, so our choice is young Norwegian Torbjorn Bergerud, who probably won’t get a chance to play in poland.

Written by Stephanie Siam When I reverted to Islam in March 2005, I have to admit I was afraid. Okay, perhaps nervous is a better choice of word, as I wasn’t scared or frightened. And I know I’m not alone in admitting this feeling, especially with female converts. The process of transitioning into Islam from a previous faith/belief system (because face it, even if you don’t believe in God, you believe there is no God) is daunting: What will my friends think? How will I be received by the public? Does this mean I have to start dressing like an Arab or East Asian-er? Do I have to start my life over from the beginning, rethinking every choice I’ve ever made? While all of those are valid concerns, and ones that I did contemplate at some point in time post-reversion, they weren’t what I was afraid of. My fear came from telling my father. Not my family. Not my Mother. My Father. Now, before you start thinking my dad is this overbearing and close-minded totalitarian who lives for controlling others’ lives, he’s NOT. In fact, he’s the polar opposite. He’s one of the most open-minded individuals I’ve ever known in my life. And if there is a perfect antonym for overbearing, that describes him, too. I mean, for Heaven’s sake, the man used to sit and logically discuss with me the reasons I should pick up my toys when I was 3 years old. If there’s anything my dad is not, it’s overbearing and close-minded. So, why was I scared of telling my dad I had become Muslim? My father has a strong head on his shoulders (don’t confuse strong with stubborn). His choice of worship was not made based on how he was brought up (Nazarene). He didn’t look to his parents to tell him how he should worship God or practice his religion (Christianity). Instead, he went to a Christian college, studied the history and lineage of the Bible and Christianity, and majored in Bible Studies. His goal: to become a preacher. When he became a member of the Church of Christ denomination, he did so knowing full-well that it represented the beliefs he personally held based on his extensive studying. To him, it was correct. Now there I was, his 23-year-old daughter, midway through my graduate school program, and I’d converted to Islam. And I had to tell my Father. The same father who responded to my 16-year-old self’s idea of becoming Baptist with, “I’ve failed as a father!” So, one day while my parents were in town for a wedding, my father and I drove over to the beach at Gulf Shores. We had lunch, talked about religion a little bit, and mostly discussed general life topics. (My father is also a severe introvert, like me, and idle conversation is not a forte of his.) After lunch, we walked out on the beach. I’d planned my delivery. I asked him what it was exactly that he believed about life and death. He started out with the history of religion (he always starts with the history behind the pertinent question), and then he transitioned into his personal beliefs. Once he finished, I offered my part. I told him nobody had ever really asked me what I believe. It was always just assumed because I was part of a certain family or church that I shared the same beliefs. But, obviously, I didn’t. Then came the time to deliver my blow. I told him I was thinking about becoming Muslim. (I couldn’t own up to it full-force yet; I needed time to let the idea sink in for him.) Surprisingly, he didn’t stop walking. He didn’t yell (not surprisingly). He just said one thing, and his response has stayed with me every day since. It has had my back when people were against me. It has given me conviction along my chosen path. And those words were: As your father, it is my job to let you know that I think you’re wrong. But you’re an adult. And if you chose to believe something just because I told you so, that would be just as wrong. It was all I needed. I didn’t need an “I support you” or a “That’s wonderful”. And I know he still doesn’t like my choice. And I know there have been many tears shed on his side on my behalf. But I also think both he and my mom have come to conclusion that after nearly a decade, a husband and a child, I’m not going through a phase. And as each day goes by, I never lose hope that one day my family will join me in truly understanding the history, relevance and authority of our beautiful Islam, insha’Allah. Until that day comes, I will continue to enjoy the avid discussion my father and I have about our beliefs, and I will rest easy knowing that despite our differences, we still respect each others’ beliefs … and rights to have them. Follow us (upper right of the page). Email us (islamwich@yahoo.com). Like our face with your face on Facebook (facebook.com/islamwich). Tumble with us on Tumblr (islamwich.tumblr.com). Pin with us (pinterest.com/islamwich). Follow us on twitter (@islamwich). Like the post, share it, pin it, comment on it, and/or do whatever social media magic it is that you prefer. Find out more about us in the understandably named “About” page and browse other posts in “Table of Contents”.

One of the tough parts of running a business is deciding when to put more effort into something and when to not. We know we've been pretty silent here since the end of the season, and after a lot of internal debate, we've decided to stop posting editorial content on the BBR blog. This obviously has nothing to do with the quality of the content produced by lead writer, Neil Paine. His posts were phenomenal, and I know many readers looked forward to them every week. A big thanks to Neil for making this such a vital place for basketball discussion and analysis. As a small company, focus is vital for our success, and we are choosing to focus our energy on pumping out as much statistical basketball data as possible and that means cutting back in other areas. None of the existing content is going to go away. We'll keep it up here for as long as the site is open (which we intend to be a very long time). If you would like to contact Neil, he's available at np@sports-reference.com. Thank you most of all for your patronage.

Porsche #918 of 918 units has been built. The last one. If you had plans to buy a brand new Porsche 918 Spyder, you’d better hurry because Porsche has just built its last unit. According to The Telegraaf, the last Porsche 918 Spyder rolled off the assembly line earlier yesterday (June. 18, 2015) and its burgundy. All in all, its been 21 months since the Porsche 918 was put into production. Porsche has been working around the clock to produce the number of units planned within a reasonable amount of time. To make one, it takes the work of exactly 100 specialists about 100 man hours from start to finish. On average, that works out to be about 1.4 Porsche 918’s built everyday. There are still plenty of Porsche 918s left to buy, it’s just that you’ll have to secure your spot in line.According to Porsche, it’s on a first come, first serve basis. That means you’ll have your pick of the available Porsche 918’s and don’t have to take necessarily the next one that comes off the assembly line. Porsche released some interesting figures attached to sales so far. For example, did you know that 30 percent of all Porsche 918 sales so far have gone to Americans? That works out to 297 units that have landed on American soil (leave some for the rest of the world, why don’t you!) The Porsche 918 is a tour-de-force that honestly only comes around once in a lifetime. Like a lot of the other examples coming out at this golden age of supercars, it’s a hybrid. That means technically with the battery power available, it can run 12 miles on electricity alone. But those batteries are for strictly for performance and when tied to its power unit (internal combustion engine), there’s a combined 887 HP and 944 lbs-ft of torque available. That’s courtesy of a 4.6 L V8 and two electric motors on the front and rear axle paired to a seven-speed PDK. MSRP for this German hybrid? $847, 975. Better bring your Visa Black Card. And just for old times sake and to lament the fact that the Nurburgring is closed to any future lap records (as this goes to “print”) here’s the 918 straight whipping it around the ‘Ring.

What’s the definition of serendipity? Being randomly selected as winner from thousands of entries to a draw for tickets to a crunch World Cup rugby match where your son, Paul O’Connell, is team captain. Unsuspecting Irish Examiner marketing executive Catriona Buckley was momentarily floored by the answer she received after phoning the lucky winner of the newspaper competition yesterday and asking if she was free to travel. “Yes. But is it OK if I am Paul O’Connell’s mother?” said the equally astounded Shelagh O’Connell. Shelagh actually had the Irish Examiner in her hand and was looking at the hilarious front-page picture of Paul on a ride at Alton Towers amusement park with his teammates when she took the call. “I buy the Examiner all of the time because I think the sports coverage is excellent,” Shelagh said. She had already scanned the newspaper for details of the competition winner. “I didn’t see anything about it, so I assumed it was over and I hadn’t won. When I saw the Cork number flashing up on the phone, I thought it was a call from Cope where Michael’s [her husband] sister is based. I was quite surprised and shocked to hear I had won the competition.” But had her famous son not already sorted tickets for his mum and dad for Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium where Ireland take on France in their final pivotal pool game on October 11? “He doesn’t get tickets until the day of the game,” said Shelagh “But to be honest, match tickets are not the problem. It’s the flights and actually getting there. For the last game, when Ireland played Canada in Cardiff, we had to fly into London, followed by a four-hour drive to Cardiff. I wasn’t the best after sitting in the car for four hours. “And I’m really looking forward to flying straight to Cardiff and having somewhere to stay, which in Cardiff is a huge problem.” Problem solved then, thanks to her win, which guarantees her two nights in the 4-star Morgans Hotel in Swansea, just 65km from the stadium, with match transfers laid on. Her win also includes return flights from Dublin to Cardiff, airport transfers, the assistance of a Killester Travel Rep, a Rugby World Cup souvenir, and two match tickets. So who’s the lucky travelling companion? “I suppose I have to bring Michael, it would look kind of bad otherwise,” Shelagh laughed, adding that Paul’s brothers, Justin and Marcus, “will go mad when they hear”. To win, Sheila had to answer eight World Cup rugby-related questions. And while her son Paul is used to victory, is this her first big win? “I’ve never won anything of significance before so this is a great surprise. But hopefully we’ll have a few good wins in the World Cup too and we’ll have the [Webb Ellis] Cup at the end of October.”

What can be wrong with giving scholarships to the meritorious? A meritorious society is a just society, right? Giving money according to “worth” seems way better, ethically, than giving to the well-connected, or to those of a favored race or religion, right? Well, maybe. But then again, sometimes maybe not. The problem of law school merit scholarships is a complicated and nuanced one, especially for those who have not considered it at length. In brief, here are five background points underlying the ethical conundrum I will subsequently sketch out: Law Schools, like car dealerships, have list prices for their wares. Tuition charges for all law schools must be stated on their web sites and in their written materials, pursuant to regulators’ (ABA, AALS) requirements. There must be some silly people out there who pay list price for their cars, I suppose, and there are certainly people who pay full tuition under the impression that that’s what everyone pays. But in reality not everyone pays list price, and those who have done so are quickly disabused when they arrive at 1L. Law Schools always want to attract the “best” students, and one way to attract them is to price discriminate, i.e., to offer discounts from list. “Best,” of course, is a concept with many possible denotations, and in days of yore American law schools tended to have diverse understandings of it. Today, though, U.S. News and World Report rankings are so influential tha they have become the cart driving the law school admissions horse. USNWR has homogenized our understanding of student value – Law School Admissions Test scores and undergraduate Grade Point Averages are the measures of student excellence. The higher the median LSAT and GPA scores of the admitted student body, the higher a law school’s ranking will be (the two factors combined account for 22.5% of a school’s ranking), and the higher the ranking, ceteris paribus, the better will be the jobs offered to graduates, the better paid will be its alumni base, the better will be the faculty lured to work there, and the better will be the students enticed to apply there. Rising ranking thus stimulates a “virtuous circle” while falling ranking leads to a “vicious circle” that, if left unattended, can result what some fear to be a “death spiral.” Buying better students is one attempt to move from a vicious circle to a virtuous one. Today, law jobs are quite hard to come by for many law school grads, and law school tuition as risen so high during the boom years that many grads are saddled with student loans they have great difficulty repaying. Bankruptcy is not normally available to discharge student loan debt. So minimizing student loans through discounts from tuition list price is a high priority for law school applicants. In our increasingly meritorious nation, the cream has often already risen to the top. The wealthy tend to be smarter and better educated than the poorer – and they tend to have children who are smarter and better educated than are the children of poorer parents. These five factors play out in predictable ways. At super-elite law schools (Yale/Harvard/Stanford, etc.), virtually all students have stellar LSAT and GPA scores. Those with such scores are willing to pay list price for the experience, the contacts and the credential these Brahmin schools provide – and these schools can therefore eliminate merit scholarships and admit selectively based on criteria other than LSAT and GPA. [Did you rise from humble beginnings? Did you overcome your physical handicap and climb Everest, writing a Pulitzer-winning account of your exploit?] But at most schools, merit scholarships will be offered to the high LSAT and GPA scorers among applicants to that school. Most schools must pay to lure those scorers away from other, equally or possibly higher-ranked schools that are bidding for their attendance. And those merit scholars will tend to be more intelligent and from tonier zip codes than lower-ranked admittees to the same law school. One key additional fact bears mention now. It is far from irrational for USNWR to use median LSAT and GPA to rank schools. Student LSAT and GPA scores are, unsurprisingly, significantly correlated with law school performance. So it’s meaningful to say that the student body at a higher ranked school tends to be “better” than the student body at a lower-ranked school. Employers can use school rank as a proxy in making employment decisions – schools are a convenient aggregation of students of a given talent level. That’s how the virtuous (or vicious, as the case may be) snowball starts rolling. The upshot of all this is that, at most law schools, price discrimination results in poorer, less well-educated students “subsidizing” (paying higher tuition than) richer, better-educated students. For their subsidy, poorer students are penalized a second time at graduation – because the subsidized richer students will tend to finish at the top of the class and get better paying jobs, while the poorer students will find it harder and harder to find employment to pay for their higher student loans. Thus are “list price” payers made to seem to be chumps over and over again, while the recipients of merit scholarships laugh, as it were, all the way to the bank. This looks in many ways like a classic regressive tax. What should be done about this? That’s not clear – it’s not self-evident that merit scholarships are “unfair” or “racist” or “classist”, even if merit scholarship recipients tend to be from tonier zip codes and of paler hues. Results don’t correlate with motives. But the results are regressive, it seems, and if regressivity is itself justification for reform, a second question arises: What can be done? As indicated above, the Yales of this world offer essentially no merit scholarships – they attract LSAT and GPA studs willing to pay list price. Their scholarships are need-based, so redistribution tends to be from haves to have-nots. At the other end of the USNWR spectrum, University of La Verne College of Law in California just announced that, like certain innovative car dealerships, it will charge the same non-negotiable “discounted” price to all matriculants. Merit scholarships are out at La Verne, and instead of a list price of $39,900 replete with heavy price discrimination, all new matriculants will pay $25K. It’s “as if” every student got a $15K scholarship, if you will – though in reality the "discounted" price is an indication of the extent of prior price discrimination. La Verne is a lowest-tier USNWR school, recently provisionally re-accredited after being denied full ABA accreditation, and it is unlikely that it attracted many high-scoring LSAT and GPA stars while price discriminating. Perhaps La Verne has little to lose and much to gain in PR benefits from its new, “fairer” tuition system. But can La Verne’s fixed-price model spread to higher ranked schools? That will be hard to do because of collective action problems – for fixed-price law schools risk losing their best students to rival schools that continue to price discriminate. Rationally, the temptation is to continue to impose the regressive tax. For those who believe this to be ethically problematic, outside intervention may be needed to solve what is essentially a Prisoners’ Dilemma. The ABA might, for instance, ban merit scholarships at accredited schools. US News and World Report might cease using student LSAT and GPA scores in law school rankings. Will these things happen? Count me doubtful. If USNWR abandoned LSAT and GPA, a rival publication would spring up and take its place. And the ABA seems hardly likely to resist pressures by firms that are anxious to use law schools as selection proxies in their hiring process. Law professors are, for the most part, lawyers, and we are bound ethically to make access to our profession accessible to qualified and interested people. Have we done this by setting up a system that transfers resources from the more to the less needy? If so, perhaps we need to rethink what we are doing. Or should we stick our heads in the sand and forget about this whole problem – after all, LSAT test taker numbers are finally increasing again, right? What, us worry? As always, your comments are welcome. Contact me at mkrauss at gmu dot edu.

Why the court will uphold Obamacare For its reputation, mainly Predictions are always hazardous when it comes to the economy, the weather and the Supreme Court. I won’t get near the first two right now, but I’ll hazard a guess on what the court is likely to decide tomorrow: It will uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by a vote of 6 to 3. Three reasons for my confidence: Advertisement: First, Chief Justice John Roberts is — or should be — concerned about the steadily declining standing of the court in the public’s mind, along with the growing perception that the justices decide according to partisan politics rather than according to legal principle. The 5-4 decision in Citizen’s United, for example, looked to all the world like a political rather than a legal outcome, with all five Republican appointees finding that restrictions on independent corporate expenditures violate the First Amendment, and all four Democratic appointees finding that such restrictions are reasonably necessary to avoid corruption or the appearance of corruption. Or consider the court’s notorious decision in Bush v. Gore. The Supreme Court can’t afford to lose public trust. It has no ability to impose its will on the other two branches of government: As Alexander Hamilton once noted, the court has neither the purse (it can’t threaten to withhold funding from the other branches) or the sword (it can’t threaten police or military action). It has only the public’s trust in the court’s own integrity and the logic of its decisions — both of which the public is now doubting, according to polls. As chief justice, Roberts has a particular responsibility to regain the public’s trust. Another 5-4 decision overturning a piece of legislation as important as Obamacare would further erode that trust. It doesn’t matter that a significant portion of the public may not like Obamacare. The issue here is the role and institutional integrity of the Supreme Court, not the popularity of a particular piece of legislation. Indeed, what better way to show the court’s impartiality than to affirm the constitutionality of legislation that may be unpopular but is within the authority of the other two branches to enact? Second, Roberts can draw on a decision by a Republican-appointed and highly respected conservative jurist, Judge Laurence Silberman, who found Obamacare to be constitutional when the issue came to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The judge’s logic was lucid and impeccable — so much so that Roberts will try to lure Justice Anthony Kennedy with it, to join Roberts and the four liberal justices, so that rather than another 5-4 split (this time on the side of the Democrats), the vote will be 6-3. Third and finally, Roberts (and Kennedy) can find adequate Supreme Court precedent for the view that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution gives Congress and the president the power to regulate healthcare — given that heathcare coverage (or lack of coverage) in one state so obviously affects other states; that the market for health insurance is already national in many respects; and that other national laws governing insurance (Social Security and Medicare, for example) require virtually everyone to pay (in these cases, through mandatory contributions to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds). OK, so I’ve stuck my neck out. We’ll find out tomorrow how far.

I was in Cleveland the day LeBron announced he would be taking his talents to South Beach. I’ve performed music in Cleveland more times than I can count. One of the things I enjoy about touring is getting to meet sports fans of all different teams, and walks of life. In that one day I gained more respect for Cleveland as a fan base than I have for any other in my life. The sense of absolute misery that overtook everyone – from gas station attendants to elite music promoters and executives – was overwhelming. Even dogs walked around aimlessly, looking like they had been recently kicked. Cleveland is a city that lives vicariously through their professional sports franchises. Win or lose (and there’s been a lot more “lose” both recently and historically) the fans there take it personally. I love that about them. Now, the Cleveland Browns are at a crossroads. Coming off a disappointing 4-12 season in 2011, the organization is faced with a monumental decision: What to do at quarterback, the league’s most vital position. My friends, my loyal readers, my fellow students of NFL sickness; it is here you will learn that whatever road Cleveland takes from their present situation into the wild blue yonder will come through Central Texas. Browns QB Colt McCoy needs little introduction around these parts. While at the University of Texas, he broke nearly every Longhorn single-season and career QB record and took home 13 of 15 major QB awards his senior season as a Heisman and national championship finalist. McCoy is tough, gritty, smart, elusive, and accurate which makes up for his “so-so” arm strength. After being drafted in the third round and getting to start in spot duty in 2010, Colt came into the 2011 season as the Browns’ starting QB in a West Coast system that many close to the team thought he was beginning to get a good grasp of. The Browns’ season went on to be hampered by brutal injuries along the offensive line, a constant merry-go-round freak show at the running back position, and a complete lack of playmaking ability at WR. McCoy was lost for the season to a concussion suffered in Pittsburgh during week 13 via an illegal James Harrison hit. When the dust settled on the Browns’ 2011 season, only three numbers really mattered, though: 4, 12, and 0. Four wins, 12 Losses, and zero career wins for Colt McCoy against AFC North division opponents. There’s a kid from up the road you might have heard of named Robert Griffin III. The Heisman-winning Baylor QB represents most everything a team looking for revitalization on offense could ask for. He has a big arm, he’s smart, he’s a great leader, and he exhibits excellent downfield vision and elite running ability. The best part: He does not rely on his feet to bail him out. Unlike most elite running QBs, he will always look to make the play with his arm first, sometimes taking brutal hits to remain in the pocket until his receiver comes open. The Browns have two first-round picks in this year’s NFL draft. Pick No. 4 and pick No. 22. I will be attending the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis next week, and was invited for inclusion in Mike Mayock’s NFL Combine media conference call, where I had a chance to address the Cleveland QB issue. His thoughts were much different from those of NFL writing legend and Senior Editor for the Browns Vic Carucci who we spoke with in Mobile, Ala., earlier this month at the Senior Bowl. Lets start at the top: The Colts will take Andrew Luck (QB, Stanford) with pick one. Saint Louis picks second. They have too much money tied up in Sam Bradford to even consider a QB. Their reasonable options are as follows: Matt Kalil (OT, USC), Justin Blackmon (WR, Oklahoma State), Morris Claiborne (CB, LSU) or in the best case scenario, trade out of the pick to someone who wants Robert Griffin and accumulate more picks through the very valuable late first, second, and third rounds. The two teams thought to be interested in possibly trading up are the Redskins and the Browns. At pick three, the Vikings would love to have Kalil fall to them, as LT is their single biggest need. If he is not there and Griffin is still on the board, they will try to trade down to a team wanting Griffin as the Vikes reached to draft QB Christian Ponder in last year’s draft. If they cannot trade down and Kalil is gone, I expect them to take Morris Claiborne at this point. Now we come to the Browns at pick four (assuming they did not trade up.) If Griffin is there … should they take him? I say no. “We haven’t seen an athlete like RG3 in many drafts,” Mike Mayock, lead draft analyst for the NFL Network told me. “The chance that the Browns may be able to get him, that’s exciting. It will be a ride, that’s for sure. There are a few flaws to his game, mainly lack of anticipation and waiting on plays to develop leading to too many big hits, but the bottom line is the kid is a playmaker.” To me, the issue is not about Griffin’s playmaking ability or even his ability to be an elite NFL QB. I see the issue as being the system. Browns GM Mike Holgren is a Bill Walsh disciple. He has been building championship variations of the West Coast offense for almost 30 years now. In coming to Cleveland, he put his managerial trust in Head Coach Pat Shurmur who runs what he likes to call a “pure” form of the West Coast offense. Vic Carrucci affirmed our suggestion that there is generally a three-year learning curve for QBs developing into this kind of system. He went on to say that many decision-makers within the organization were beginning to see vast, marked improvement in McCoy’s progression in the system that was cut off too early in 2011 (albeit by only three games). He said that if he had to prognosticate at this early juncture, that he believes McCoy will come in as the team’s starting QB next season. Carucci told us that the Browns scouting department has done such a bang-up job on the defensive side of the ball (drafting four defensive starters in the last two drafts) that he believed 2012 would be the year that Shurmur would finally get to address some of the offensive issues that have been left largely unanswered. So I asked Mike Mayock, "Why would an offensive-minded coach (knowing how hard it is to go through a long QB development process) want to risk the possibility of making his hot seat even hotter by throwing in a wild-card uber-athlete at QB with no surrounding weapons?" “That’s an interesting question – but we saw it all last year. Offenses are showing more and more … Cam Newton, for example. Look at Cam. He comes to Carolina, they build around him. All these guys, Jake Locker [Titans], Christian Ponder [Vikings], if there is one thing we learned last year it is that rookie QBs can come in and contribute," Maycock replied. "But you said he has no anticipation. I agree. Do you not think that anticipation is important in a timing-based precision West Coast offense in which you must 'throw receivers open' as opposed to 'throwing to open receivers'?" I questioned. “Yea, and its another one of these deals,” Mayock said. “You have an exceptional player here and a chance you may be able to get him. Childress, Shurmur, you know; they would have to change how they do some things, sure.” Mike Holmgren doesn’t just “change things”. His staff will not either. Thinking in such broad terms can be messy. Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera had the luxury of “letting Cam be Cam” on offense because he was a first-year defensive head coach with his hands full trying to fix the heap of garbage Carolina runs on D week in and week out. I see the idea of RG3 to the Browns as one that could create a lot of excitement for a fan base in dire need of some sort of positive spark, but I just don’t like the fit. Holmgren has stated publicly he will be taking a QB in 2012. This is not an indictment on the position or its current standing, just an affirmation of his regime’s “bullpen” mantra in either drafting or signing a new QB each season for depth and seasoning. I see so many more reasonable options later in the draft. An accurate, smart passer like Kirk Cousins (Michigan State) in the third round would be ideal to groom under McCoy in case his development does not positively continue given his new weapons and surrounding cast. At that point, you have an accurate passer and student of the game coming into the system without the handicaps that McCoy endured his first season as a starter due to lack of offensive personnel. The position needs to be upgraded, but that does not mean that McCoy could not bring about that upgrade with a better offensive line, an entire off-season/training camp, and at least one offensive playmaker. If Griffin falls to pick four, I believe the Browns could trade down to six and let the Redskins take Griffin. At pick six, hopefully the Browns could land a Justin Blackmon, a Trent Richardson (RB Alabama), or worst case, a Riley Reiff (OT Iowa). Then at pick 22, there will be an embarrassment of riches at offensive skill options, especially WR. Through the second and third rounds is where the greatest value for interior offensive line is found. I do believe Robert Griffin III will be an outstanding NFL QB. I simply do not believe he will be an outstanding Cleveland Brown QB given the current state of the organization. [Alex Dunlap is the host of RosterWatch on 104.9FM ESPN Radio Austin, founder of Rosterwatch.com, and a featured expert contributor to the FantasyPros.com network. He is also an NFL draft analyst for PlayTheDraft.com.]

The minister responsible for Centrelink has been cleared of any wrongdoing following allegations he shared private information without consent. The Australian Federal Police has told Human Services Minister Alan Tudge it will not be investigating the claims any further. Labor asked the AFP in March to investigate whether Mr Tudge had broken the law when he released an individual's personal Centrelink details to the media. "The Australian Federal Police will not be pursuing Labor's allegations that I broke privacy law," Mr Tudge said in a statement on Monday. The AFP's assistant commissioner made it clear that the information released by my office and prepared by my department was approved for release and was therefore not an unauthorised disclosure, Mr Tudge said. "The decision to end the consideration of this referral is no surprise." Mr Tudge reiterated that the law allows for the release of limited information to respond to incorrect or misleading statements in the media about specific cases to maintain the integrity of government programs. He branded Labor's referral as a political stunt and part of a "scare campaign". © AAP 2019

During Jan/Feb AIG would call up and just ask for complete unwind prices from the credit desk in the relevant jurisdiction. These were not single deal unwinds as are typically more price transparent - these were whole portfolio unwinds. The size of these unwinds were enormous, the quotes I have heard were " we have never done as big or as profitable trades - ever ". This is largely due to AIG-FP unwinds. Allowing for significant reserve release and trade PnL, I think for the big correlation players this could have easily been US$1-2bn per bank in this period. far these profits were a) one-time in nature due to wholesale unwinds of AIG portfolios, b) entirely at the expense of AIG, and thus taxpayers, c) executed with Tim Geithner's (and thus the administration's) full knowledge and intent, d) were basically a transfer of money from taxpayers to banks (in yet another form) using AIG as an intermediary. This protocol would allow non-market close outs The purpose of the Protocol is to permit parties to agree upfront that in the event of a counterparty default, they will use Close-Out Amount valuation methodology to value trades. Close-Out Amount valuation, which was introduced in the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement, differs from the Market Quotation approach in that it allows participants more flexibility in valuation where market quotations may be difficult to obtain . Industry participants observed the significant benefits of the Close-Out Amount approach following the default of Lehman Brothers. In launching the Close-Out Amount Protocol, ISDA is facilitating amendment of existing 1992 ISDA Master Agreements by replacing Market Quotation and, if elected, Loss with the Close-Out Amount approach . "This is yet another example of ISDA helping the industry to coalesce around more efficient and effective practices, while maintaining flexibility," said Robert Pickel, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, ISDA. "The Protocol permits parties to value trades in the way that is most appropriate, which greatly enhances smooth functioning of the market in testing circumstances." Zero Hedge is rarely speechless, but after receiving this email from a correlation desk trader, we simply had to hold a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turns keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good.I present the insider perspective of trader Lou (who wishes to remain anonymous) in its entirety:"AIG-FP accumulated thousands of trades over the years, all essentially consisted of selling default protection. This was done via a number of structures with really only one criteria - rated at least AA- (if it fit these criteria all OK - as far as I could tell credit assessment was completely outsourced to the rating agencies).Main products they took on were always levered credit risk, credit-linked notes (collateral and CDS both had to be at least AA-, no joint probability stuff) and AAA or super senior portfolio swaps. Portfolio swaps were either corporate synthetic CDO or asset backed, effectively sub-prime wraps (as per news stories regarding GS and DB).Credit linked notes are done through single-name CDS desks and a cash desk (for the note collateral) and the portfolio swaps are done through the correlation desk. These trades were done is almost every jurisdiction - wherever AIG had an office they had IB salespeople covering them.Correlation desks just back their risk out via the single names desks - the correlation desk manages the delta/gamma according to their correlation model. So correlation desks carry model risk but very little market risk.I was mostly involved in the corporate synthetic CDO side.As these trades are unwound, the correlation desk needs to unwind the single name risk through the single name desks - effectively the AIG-FP unwinds caused massive single name protection buying. This caused single name credit to massively underperform equities - run a chart from say last September to current of say S&P 500 and Itraxx - credit has underperformed massively.I can only guess/extrapolate what sort of PnL this put into the major global banks (both correlation and single names desks) during this period.For those to whom this is merely a lot of mumbo-jumbo, let me explain in layman's terms:AIG, knowing it would need to ask for much more capital from the Treasury imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the banks, and even more egregiously money losing to the U.S. taxpayers, who had to dump more and more cash into AIG, without having the U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner disclose the real extent of this, for lack of a better word, fraudulent scam.In simple terms think of it as an auto dealer, which knows that U.S. taxpayers will provide for an infinite amount of money to fund its ongoing sales of horrendous vehicles (think Pontiac Azteks): the company decides to sell all the cars currently in contract, to lessors atbelow the amortized market value, thereby generating huge profits for these lessors, as these turn around and sell the cars at a major profit, funded exclusively by U.S. taxpayers (readers should feel free to provide more gripping allegories).What this all means is that the statements by major banks, i.e. JPM, Citi, and BofA, regarding abnormal profitability in January and February were true, howeverFor banks to proclaim their profitability in January and February is about as close to criminal hypocrisy as is possible. And again, the taxpayers fund this "one time profit", which causes a market rally, thus allowing the banks to promptly turn around and start selling more expensive equity (soon coming to a prospectus near you), also funded by taxpayers' money flows into the market. If the administration is truly aware of all these events (and if Zero Hedge knows about it, it is safe to say Tim Geithner also got the memo), then the potential fallout would be staggering once this information makes the light of day.And the conspiracy thickens.Thanks to an intrepid reader who pointed this out, a month ago ISDA published an amended close out protocol , i.e. CDS trade crosses that were not alligned with market bid/offers.Of course ISDA made it seem that it was doing a favor to industry participants, very likely dictating under the gun. And, lo and behold, on the list of adhering parties, AIG takes front and center stage (together with several other parties that probably deserve the microscope treatment). So - in simple terms, ISDA, which is the only effective supervisor of the Over The Counter CDS market, is giving its blessing for trades to occur (cross) below where there is a realistic market bid, or higher than the offer. In traditional equity markets this is a highly illegal practice. ISDA is allowing retrospective arbitrary trades to have occurred at whatever price any two parties agree on, so long as the very vague necessary and sufficient condition of "market quotations may be difficult to obtain" is met. As anyone who follows CDS trading knows, this can be extrapolated to virtually any specific single-name, index or structured product easily. In essence ISDA gave its blessing for below the radar fund transfers of questionable legality. The curious timing of this decision and the alleged abuse of CDS transaction marks by and among AIG and the big banks, is striking to say the least. This wholesale manipulation of markets, investors and taxpayers has gone on long enough.

LeBron James has been ridiculed after people pointed out that his rant targeting “uneducated” Trump voters was itself full of linguistic errors that suggest James isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. “And am I saying that the people of Ohio wasn’t educated?” the NBA star pondered. “Am I saying that some of the other states that voted for him was uneducated? They could have been or they could not have been. But that doesn’t mean it was the right choice.” The meme below was created to highlight how James’ rant against dumb Trump voters didn’t exactly make him sound like a rocket scientist, containing at least five linguistic errors in the space of four sentences. “LeBron, please see me after class,” the note sardonically ends. Nobody expects LeBron to sound like the Queen of England, but if he’s going to throw shade at Trump voters for their lack of intelligence, he has to expect to get some back. James was the most high profile figure to attack Trump over his NFL comments in the hours after the president made them in Alabama on Friday night. As with many of the celebrities who threw their weight behind ‘take a knee’ – James campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Ohio, hilariously introducing her as ‘President Hillary Clinton’ at a rally in Cleveland just days before the election. SUBSCRIBE on YouTube: Follow on Twitter: Follow @PrisonPlanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71 ********************* Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.

While the Berenstain Bears is ostensibly a mundane and inconsequential example of the Mandela Effect, there are other instances that are so uncanny, they’re hard to ignore. For example, when Darth Vader reveals his paternalistic relationship to Luke in Star Wars, most remember him saying, “Luke, I am your father.” In ‘reality,’ he says, “No, I am your father.” While an intransigent Star Wars fan might scoff at someone who misquotes such an important scene, it can’t be ignored that most people remember it in the former. Even James Earl Jones, who voiced Darth Vader, remembers the line incorrectly. Movie quotes aside, an example of a famous real-life event that has been brought into the mystery of the Mandela Effect regards the famous protester at Tiananmen Square. The ‘Tank Man,’ whose defiant act of rebellion, standing in front of a tank with grocery bags in hand, is remembered by many as resulting in his death from being run over. In fact, he was not run over and there is no evidence of it, but many remember his crushing demise distinctly. This is nothing new to those familiar with the theory and there are many other examples that support it; so many that there is an entire subreddit devoted to the effect. With topics ranging from movies that never existed, to discrepancies in historical events, people vehemently claim to remember very particular things differently, but on a large, collective scale. Some people’s reactions are visceral when they experience new revelations due to the Mandela Effect, to the point of incurring panic attacks or questioning reality. MANDELA EFFECT THEORIES AND CERN One pragmatist theory for explaining the Mandela Effect is that it is simply a failure in collective memory. Our brains are very easily influenced by our own filters, as well as the perception of others. Many common instances of the Mandela Effect are trivial and maybe just went unnoticed in the past, or are the result of conclusions that our brains jump to based on the context of an image or video. But some are substantial, like an entire country hundreds of miles out of place. One of the more intriguing theories that attempts to explain this phenomenon points a finger at CERN and the large hadron collider in Switzerland. CERN’s experiments are intended to find illusory particles that could potentially show evidence of a multiverse, create tiny black holes or discover dark matter. While all of this sounds very exciting, it also sounds potentially dangerous. What could possibly go wrong if we opened up a black hole in Europe, or tapped into another dimension with consequences unknown? While the scientists at CERN assure us their experiments are conducted on such a controlled, small scale as to have little, if any, negative consequences, some believe that their meddling in quantum fields has led to some strange effects, resulting in some kind of interdimensional entanglement. One of the quantum particles that CERN has been searching for is the graviton. These elusive particles correspond with how gravity would react between different dimensions and are still only hypothetical, but the way CERN describes them is intriguing. “If gravitons exist, it should be possible to create them at the LHC, but they would rapidly disappear into extra dimensions. Collisions in particle accelerators always create balanced events – just like fireworks – with particles flying out in all directions. A graviton might escape our detectors, leaving an empty zone that we notice as an imbalance in momentum and energy in the event. We would need to carefully study the properties of the missing object to work out whether it is a graviton escaping to another dimension or something else.” Is CERN inducing these gravitons, creating holes to other dimensions and swapping idiosyncrasies in our world? Or are we just having a collective memory lapse?

Image caption People took the streets again on Friday in Cairo, the traditional day of protest On chilly, rain-soaked streets, activists turned out for a peaceful march to al-Ittihadiya, the presidential palace in Cairo's well-off Heliopolis district. "Step down, step down, Muslim Brotherhood!" and "Freedom is for us and for you!" were among the chants. Some carried placards showing a red cross through the face of President Mohammed Morsi. Meanwhile, in Tahrir Square, the scene of renewed clashes between protesters and police over the past week, numbers swelled to several thousand after Friday prayers. Rallies against Mr Morsi also took place in cities along the Suez Canal where he imposed emergency measures to try to halt recent violence. Demonstrators carried pictures of young men killed in the fighting. More than 60 people died in the latest wave of unrest that added to the sense of a deep crisis in Egypt. The numbers at the latest demonstrations were lower than expected and greatly diminished from those seen two years ago, at the height of the Egyptian uprising. However, they were another expression of the anger and disappointment that many Egyptians feel over the performance of their new Islamist leader who narrowly won last June's presidential election. 'New authoritarianism' Mr Morsi's critics accuse him of betraying the values of the 2011 revolt and imposing a new brand of authoritarianism that concentrates power in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood, the religious organisation from which he stems. Image caption Protesters say they want to purge the country's judiciary and interior ministry The main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (NSF), demands a national unity government and amendments to the new Islamist-tinged constitution. Revolutionary groups also call for reforms. "We're not for or against Morsi. He just hasn't fulfilled his electoral promises," says Mohammed Adel, a leader of the 6 April Youth Movement which helped organise the latest protests. "We want the constitution to be changed, we want the judiciary and interior ministry to be cleansed and we want violence by the state to stop." The president's supporters argue that his detractors refuse to accept the results of a free and fair election and are trying to seize power through the street. Mr Morsi has not ruled out a committee to re-examine the rushed new constitution but says a new government will be decided after parliamentary elections in a few months. "After the elections we will have a parliament chosen by the people. It is the duty of parliament to make a new government," he told journalists on Wednesday. Al-Azhar agreement This week brought a stern warning from the head of the military that continuing political strife could cause the collapse of the state. Egypt's army 490,000 active soldiers Military governed between February 2011 until June 2012 Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi (pictured above) is head of the armed forces and minister of defence Military's budget not made public or scrutinised by parliament. It is overseen by National Defence Committee made up of military chiefs and cabinet members US military aid to Egypt $1.3bn According to some estimates army controls 40% of economy Profile: Abdul Fattah al-Sisi Suez: the city fighting a curfew Q&A: Egypt's riots and political crisis Black Bloc anarchists emerge Afterwards, Egypt's Grand Imam summoned rival political factions, youth groups and church officials to the headquarters of al-Azhar, the 1,000-year-old institution that is the top seat of Sunni Islam. They agreed to sign up to a charter condemning violence and committed to dialogue as a way to end the crisis. It prompted the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mohammed ElBaradei, a leader of the NSF, to speak of his "optimism" while the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Saad el-Katatni, declared it "a historic day". The agreement appeared to help take away the impetus for further mass protests on what activists had called "The Friday of Salvation". A lot of Egyptians are also weary of demonstrations or are worried about their personal safety. Egypt on edge The economy was already teetering before the latest turmoil. Tourism and foreign investment have fallen dramatically. The central bank has been forced to drain currency reserves to prop up the Egyptian pound. "The country is going down. It's worse now than under the old president," said one man observing protesters at the entrance to Tahrir Square. Another bystander chimed in: "[The former president, Hosni] Mubarak was lousy and he was a thief but at least we had security and we were living". Parts of central Cairo have become no-go areas for many ordinary people with reports of a spike in sexual assaults and increased crime and lawlessness. The Nile-side luxury hotel, the Semiramis InterContinental, has been closed after masked men looted it early on Tuesday, terrifying guests. "This is a disaster," said small businessman, Gamal. "I have loans that I can't repay. We need tourism to come back, we need the economy to come back and we need a strong leader who can make the right decisions."

New York City is a battlefield. I know what you’re thinking — psychological warfare, the endless grim clashing of economic forces — but I am being literal. When we ponder America’s defining war, the Revolution, we think of Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Lexington and Concord, yet its largest battle, a vast and ferociously fought chess match in August and September of 1776, right after the formal declaration of the colonies’ independence, ranged over what are now the five boroughs. As to why the place was so hotly contested, you already know the answer. Then, as now, as ever, New York City was the center of it all. Both sides believed that if the British took control of New York and the Hudson River, the American resistance would likely collapse. The battle isn’t as well known today as other encounters during the Revolution, in part because the city has done an excellent job of removing most traces of it. Where Boston sets aside hallowed historic precincts and wends a handsome brick Freedom Trail through its Revolutionary sites, New York City buries its past under mountains of concrete and steel. Hills have been flattened, islands swallowed up by landfill, shorelines redrawn. But I was determined to find Revolutionary New York, and I did eventually, after a fashion. It helped that I had an organizing principle. I was researching a book, and, since my book isn’t about military strategy I wasn’t trying to cover all of the complex maneuverings of troops. I write narrative history, which to me means focusing on people’s lives. Getting to know the places in which those lives unfolded helps me in my efforts to get into the individuals’ heads and hearts.

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

SpaceX announced an audacious plan on Wednesday to land an approximately 6,000kg spacecraft on the surface of Mars. This simple declaration from the uber-popular rocket company drew a ton of questions from all quarters, and Ars spoke to a range of people across the space industry to get some answers. How big a milestone would this be? Can SpaceX do it? Is the plan realistic? And why does Rice play Texas, anyway? (OK, we didn't actually try to figure out that last one.) Is this really a big deal? Oh, heavens, yes. No private company has ever launched a significant, independently financed expedition into deep space, let alone all the way to Mars. In fact, only two world powers have ever softly landed spacecraft on Mars. The United States has done so half a dozen times, and the Soviet Union did it once with Mars 3 in 1971—although the vehicle failed after sending back just 15 seconds of data. And all previous soft landings have been relatively small and light; SpaceX is talking about landing a Dragon weighing about 6,000kg on the surface of Mars. The previous landing heavyweight was Curiosity, at 900kg. Soft-landing a 6,000kg object on Mars would be a stunning achievement for NASA or any government-backed space agency. For a private company, it's unheard of. Can they do it? Why not? In just the last six months, SpaceX has successfully launched and then recovered the first stages of multiple Falcon 9 rockets, first landing them on the ground and then later landing on an autonomous drone ship. SpaceX is known for making bold promises, and—eventually—delivering on them. However, the company has missed deadlines before, and making the 2018 launch window to Mars will be a real challenge. What’s so challenging about the timeframe? The 2018 launch presupposes that the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket will be ready to fly by 2018. That launch vehicle, capable of hefting 53 tons to low-Earth orbit (almost twice the ground-to-LEO payload capacity of the Space Shuttle), has already slipped in its development several times. SpaceX is now talking about a test flight by the end of this year, but there is low confidence in the launch industry that the company will make the deadline. One reason for the delays may be complexity: Falcon Heavy combines three Falcon 9 core stages for a total of 27 engines. Nevertheless, when SpaceX gets the vehicle flying, Falcon Heavy's economy is tantalizing, slashing the cost of getting tons of cargo into space. If the vehicle isn’t ready for 2018, the launch would likely slip to 2020, when the next window for a fast transit to Mars opens. If SpaceX gets the big rocket to work, then what? Probably the biggest remaining hurdle would be planetary protection. Attorney Michael Listner, founder of Space Law and Policy Solutions, explained to Ars that Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty requires countries to ensure that launches from within their borders take precautionary measures to prevent contamination of other planets. If SpaceX can’t demonstrate that it's complying with the terms of the treaty with Red Dragon, decontaminating both the inside and outside of the vehicle, the Federal Aviation Administration could withhold a launch license. Phil Larson, a SpaceX official, said the company is working toward meeting the requirements. “SpaceX takes planetary protection seriously, and we are working with relevant NASA officials to ensure proper procedures are followed,” he told Ars. Is SpaceX working with NASA, then? NASA is providing advice and guidance to SpaceX through a Space Act Agreement. The agency and the company have been long-time partners through NASA’s commercial cargo and commercial crew programs, and this continued cooperation is an extension of that relationship. It's likely that NASA, with its assets in orbit around Mars, will help facilitate communication between the Red Dragon and Earth. But NASA is not providing any funds to support the effort to land a Dragon on Mars. What’s in it for NASA? Soft-landing on Mars is complicated because of the planet's extremely thin atmosphere. According to Tabatha Thompson, a spokeswoman for NASA, the agency is interested in potentially cribbing from whatever techniques SpaceX uses to slow and land the Red Dragon. “The collaboration offers NASA the potential flight technology demonstration of critical entry, descent, and landing for human exploration—particularly supersonic retro-propulsion—in the Mars atmosphere," Thompson explained. "SpaceX has sought NASA’s support because the agency has unique expertise in deep space exploration in areas such as deep space communication and navigation.” A successful mission may also open the door to future cooperation between SpaceX and NASA's aims to return soil samples from the surface of Mars. How much will it cost? SpaceX isn't saying. The Falcon Heavy list price for a launch is $135 million, and then there’s the cost of the Dragon spacecraft, the mission planning, executing and monitoring the flight, and any number of other factors. Industry sources speculate that the cost probably would be in the range of at $300 million to $500 million for a soup-to-nuts mission. That's just a guess, though—no hard numbers are available. Why is SpaceX doing this? Because Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars. As noted earlier, one of the most important first steps is figuring out how to land stuff on the red planet, which has a thin atmosphere and therefore doesn't provide a very effective medium for aerobraking. A spacecraft must attain a great velocity (and therefore invest a lot of energy) to reach Mars in six to nine months, and once it's there, it must then somehow shed that energy and slow down. Musk believes the upgraded Dragon 2 spacecraft will be able to use its eight SuperDraco engines to hammer away at its velocity and then land on Mars in a powered descent, similar to the way the Apollo Lunar Module landed on the moon. This too is technology NASA would be eager to see demonstrated. But the only way to be sure is to give it a try without cargo or people. If this test works, Musk will have checked one of many boxes required to safely send humans to Mars. Doesn’t NASA have plans to go to Mars, too? Yes, NASA says it's on a Journey to Mars, although there is some skepticism in the aerospace community about how real that venture actually is. NASA is cooperating with SpaceX on its Red Dragon mission, but if SpaceX is successful, it could prove embarrassing for the space agency (though the real shame more appropriately lies with policymakers). NASA has spent nearly $20 billion on the Space Launch System rocket and Orion space capsule to date, and in the absolute best-case scenario will fly them around the Moon at the end of 2018. How would the public react if a private company can, largely on its own dime, develop nearly comparable vehicles and fly all the way to Mars in the same year? But, again, can a private company really do this? Ars put that question to Rick Tumlinson, an aerospace entrepreneur and de facto evangelist for the "New Space" movement—that cadre of young companies like SpaceX that are trying to break the mold of traditional aerospace. “We’re seeing a paradigm shift,” Tumlinson told us. “It’s like a roller coaster moment. You slowly get to the top, and you’re rolling along like we've been, and then all of a sudden it’s going to accelerate. What we’re seeing is the beginning of that with exploration.” Tumlinson argued that in 2016 the SpaceXs, the Blue Origins, and other new space companies are doing remarkable things in space. If SpaceX succeeds, what comes next? Like Musk, Tumlinson is one of the true believers in settlement on other worlds, and he thinks the true purpose of NASA and the nation’s space program should be to enable humans to move into the solar system. The Red Dragon mission would lay down a marker, he said. “Being able to demonstrate that you are capable of putting a spacecraft on Mars that is in the range of one needed to carry the first humans there—that is firing the first shot of a revolution that’s going to lead to the settlement of space," Tumlinson said. "Being able to show you can land that kind of spacecraft puts you on a track that people have to take seriously.” In short, if Red Dragon does land, it validates Musk's vision of colonizing Mars. Keep your hands and feet inside the ride, because this roller coaster only gets faster from here.

There is no shortage of things to protest when it comes to this small Middle Eastern country. From the raging war next door, to its repercussions, to the rampant corruption, human rights abuses, the disappearance of elections, rising unemployment, emigration, crippled institutions, and pollution -the grounds are endless. However, when one looks at Lebanon, protests are virtually non-existent on a large scale at least, not since the 2015 garbage-fueled summer demonstrations -which were an exception to the rule- died out. At every turn of events we witness as those directly impacted take to the streets in small numbers. It is a rarity to see any significant form of consequential solidarity on the advent of crises. Take the kidnapped Lebanese soldiers debacle and the resurfaced waste management disaster for instance. The only protests that occurred related to these issues were those organized by a handful of citizens even though the repercussions of said crises are wide-reaching. In a bid to better understand what has been repeatedly described as a self-induced state of perpetual sleep, I revisited some studies pertaining to cognitive behavior in high stress environments. While I may not be an expert in the field, these models that I am about to present certainly struck a chord. Dissociation: The Hidden Epidemic This seemingly somnambulistic behavioral pattern as exhibited by many Lebanese when it comes to civil rights may in large be due to what psychologists refer to as dissociation. Dissociation is “an adaptive defense in response to high stress or trauma characterized by short or long term memory loss and a sense of disconnection from oneself or one’s surroundings.” (After all how many times have we questioned our attention span and our collective memory?) According to Marlene Steinberg and Maxine Schnall, the authors of “The Stranger in the Mirror: Dissociation – The Hidden Epidemic,” dissociation is a defense mechanism employed to detach oneself from the emotional stimuli that victims have been or are continuously being exposed to. In other terms, it helps us cope with stressful situations, which may otherwise feel overwhelming. Dissociation can happen in varying degrees, from mild to aggressive. In fact it is so wide-ranging that many of us remain oblivious to our very own dissociation -a vital part of our ingrained survival system. Ever driven a car to a destination only to realize upon arriving that you cannot remember a large part of your trip? That’s mild dissociation; a disconnection from part of oneself to the environment. In Lebanon, anecdotal evidence suggests that this pattern seems to have been adopted as the general mode de vie, whereby even the most abhorrent of circumstances can just make their way into becoming another addition to the myriad problems already at hand. As a result, a feeling of powerlessness ensues. It’s a vicious cycle that feeds itself. Dissociation and PTSD; past and present: Dissociation is a sub-type of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event and most commonly diagnosed in war veterans. Several studies indicate that a significant part of the Lebanese population who lived through the 1975-1990 Civil War carry the trauma of the bloody years that saw the killing of over 250,000 civilians and thousands of forced disappearances. According to studies, rates of PTSD and depression reach a staggering 30% in some areas, affecting many children and adolescents as well as adults. PTSD may delay developmental processes by causing regression, dependence on substance abuse and dissociation, putting the brain in a perpetual state of self-defense. When the brain is in defense mode it exhibits symptoms that include amnesia (loss of memory for short or long periods of time), depersonalization (feeling detached from one’s body or one’s emotions), derealization (feeling detached from one’s surroundings or people), identity confusion (uncertainty, conflict about who you are), and identity alteration (alterations in personality and behavior). Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? Dissociation reduces motivation: As mentioned above, dissociation occurs when confrontation with overwhelming experience from which actual escape is not possible alters consciousness in a way that allows those affected to continue functioning under fierce conditions. In other words, and under a state of dissociation, when inconvenient situations are ignored, sufferers are afforded the illusion of their disappearance if only momentarily. Another addition to dissociation is depersonalization, which means that if calamity does not involve one’s group directly, it can be easily swept to the side. Dr. Susan Rosenthal, author of Power and Powerlessness, says “dissociation mentally disconnects us from intolerable experiences. When thinking brings pain, dissociation helps people to move through life without thinking; we shut out the world or imagine it to be much safer than it really is. By numbing fear, anger and pain, dissociation creates a false sense of safety, reducing our motivation to remove the dangers that threaten us.” “Severe dissociation numbs compassion and empathy, making it possible for people to do cruel and monstrous things that they would never do in a non-dissociated state.” Perhaps this can explain why the Lebanese party scene thrived as Israeli bombs ravaged parts of Beirut and South Lebanon during the 2006 war, or why people now feel paralyzed in the face of countless problems. It also explains everyday behavioral patterns that allow many of us to continue functioning when cataclysms, such as terrorist attacks or remote conflicts, occur. Dissociation, the media and politics: According to Dr. Rosenthal, the media encourage mass dissociation when calamities such as war are covered in a sanitized manner and include commentary that “drips with lies.” “Doublespeak”, she says, promotes dissociation to make the unacceptable acceptable. “Invasion is defense; civilian deaths are collateral damage; a freedom fighter is a terrorist working for us; and a terrorist is a freedom fighter working for them. Politicians revel in doublespeak.” “Dissociation separates contradictory experiences to avoid internal conflict, making it possible to love our own children and support wars that kill other people’s children; to want freedom and support wars that deny others their freedom. To feel outrage at being robbed and support wars that rob the people of other lands.” Dissociation in the face of terrible injustice is mistakenly perceived as a lack of caring instead of what it really is: a psychological defense against feeling powerless, Rosenthal concludes. In Lebanon, press institutions are structured around a fundamental schism. On the one hand, there is media that act as a profit making enterprise, gravitating towards neutrality rather that objectivity in order to safeguard access to the powerful, and thus investing heavily in sensationalism in order to increase viewership. On the other, there is media that act as a politically affiliated initiative and is devoted to contextualizing the truth in a way which is beneficial to their party. This media model relies heavily on donations from politicians or well-connected individuals, even though such a thing is against the law. The result? A weak democracy and an even weaker electorate, fueling a never ending cycle of dissociation and powerlessness. Dissociation feeds oligarchy, systemic powerlessness: American presidential nominee Donald Trump can easily be likened to any of our homegrown Lebanese politicians with his tax-evading shenanigans, sexist statements and racist gabble. Like local lawmakers and executives, Trump relies on fear and the power dynamic. In other words he makes the dissociated powerless feel more powerful and in that context nothing else matters. In Lebanon dissociation and powerlessness are the prevailing tropes, and ordinary citizens rely on a structure that supports a multitude of mini Donald Trumps, or what its commonly referred to as the “za’im” (meaning: leader). While this system predates Lebanon’s 1975-1990 Civil War that reintroduced dissociation en masse as a method of survival, it thrived throughout the bloody years and continues, alongside the ingrained powerlessness of the people, to be the modus operandi of the national political landscape. Without dissociation and an overbearing feeling of powerlessness many Lebanese would not have taken part in the bloodshed that lasted so many years, nor would they have sworn allegiance to leaders on the premise of momentary power in an otherwise helpless situation. Years after the end of the Civil War dissociation and powerlessness remain the dominant force at play. The powerful leaders of that war are currently the country’s Ministers and MPs thanks to an amnesty law that allows them to remain in power, widening the gap between the wealthy elite and the people. This structure has largely remained unchallenged even in the face of rampant corruption, culminated in the worst era of governmental performance yet. Poverty, pacification policies seal the deal: Material wealth equals power and as Lebanon’s economy continues to nosedive, so do its people become more powerless. This isn’t the case for the ruling oligarchs and their circle of elites who keep their riches out of state coffers through a ‘Wealth Defense Industry’: a cadre of professionals hired to lobby government and advise ways of hiding wealth, often through keeping it in tax havens. The Wealth Defense Industry’s main objective is to maintain and increase the power and wealth of the elite. In turn, and as part of maintenance works, those in power implement pacification policies, and band aid to bullet wound fixes. They keep things barely running but not bad enough to ignite a revolution. The only way out of poverty comes in the form of making connections with the major game-players. To do that one has to swear allegiance and undying loyalty in exchange for a price or a job. This artificial system (which the Israeli government is widely known for using) ensures that a segment of the population is comfortable enough to suppress any potential uprising. To protect the status quo this segment would find it difficult to abandon privilege for the sake of larger national goals such as restorative justice. As a result, helplessness again prevails and feeds the dissociation mechanism. How to break free: The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. Lebanon cannot move forward without adequately dealing with its past. Anything short of that is leading us to the same results. Although there is a general attitude that seeks to bury the wounds of war, it is counter constructive to continue to pretend that these scars do not exist. The ghost of the events that occurred in the past are still haunting us today; they are on our televisions, in our media, inside parliament and inside our minds. They are being passed down from one generation to the next, feeding the cycle and the broken system; feeding dissociation, separateness and powerlessness. To overcome this we first must agree to openly discuss trauma, mental health illnesses, and inherited and learned behavioral patterns without restraint, without shame. The overall mental health state of a society is a determining factor in its functionality. Mental health issues and self-serving behavioral patterns in Lebanon have long been dismissed as farce at worst and survivalist at best; our general attitude sees them as both contradictory and coexisting weaknesses and strength rather than obstacles, and for that we are paying a high price. Our mental health system is broken and badly funded. (According to a WHO assessment, the budget for Mental Health in Lebanon constitutes only 5% of the general health budget.) Our capacity for sound judgement is clouded with confusion and misinformation. As a result, these alignments continue to reinforce a system that is disintegrative and exploitative. Combating oligarchy and dissociation is no easy business, especially when external threats that first reinforced those patterns -war and conflict- loom. According to Jeffrey Winters, author of “Oligarchy,” the mechanisms needed when fighting such a system on a technical front include reducing the power of money in shaping politics, ensuring equal opportunities for escaping poverty, and the redrafting of a tax system that invests in creating widespread prosperity and growth. In other words, wealth needs to be redistributed as a first step towards democratizing a nation and strengthening its institutions. Unfortunately our very own institutions have come to be weakened and polarized between the one for the poor and one for the privileged. This polarization reinforces oligarchy and inequality. Without strong institutions, the people come to rely more on their za’ims, and are coerced into favoring privatization (which serves the zai’ms and their inner circle) over restorative public policies. This is turn feeds the cycle of powerlessness and separateness. On another front, our education system must include civic engagement, and the development of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make a difference through political and non-political processes. We must learn to overcome our differences in a civil manner, to empower the electorate, to inform the young and old and to contribute positively to an issue even if the issue does not affect us personally. This will restore a sense of community and nationhood. The current system at play is unsustainable at best and self-destructive at worst. Policies of pacification, separateness, poverty and dependence wreak havoc on both land and people. The less engaged, less aware the nation is, the heavier it is on its environment and well-being. This unmistakably affects the quality of life for current and future generations, ensuring a bad ending especially with the threat of climate change, population growth and climate migration. The time to look at that stranger in the mirror has come; deflection is no longer a luxury we can afford.

By Wild Wild here again, and I’ve got us another battle report in preparation for Crucible. For this tournament Rhyas’ full Rearguard theme list was in, as was Thagrosh the Messiah with the Archangel. The tournament was also notable for us as being the final event before we go to Crucible, and several of us were preparing, including two of my opponents. Once again, I forgot to take pictures, but luckily for my 2nd round, Anthony from Frozen Kommander was my opponent and took pictures of the end of each turn starting from his 1st turn. Check out his youtube channel here. That out of the way, time to go over the two lists I’m running. List One: Rearguard theme force, Tier 4 • Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight • Succubus • Nephilim Soldier • Typhon • Shredder • Blighted Nyss Swordsmen 10-man • Swordsmen Abbot and Champion • Blighted Ogrun Warspears 5-man • Blighted Warspear Chieftan • Blighted Ogrun Warspears 5-man • Blighted Warspear Chieftan • Blighted Nyss Shpeard • Warmonger War Chief • Warmonger War Chief Coming in at 50 points, Rearguard acts as not only my infantry list, but also my “Hold the Line” list. There are 3 major points to this tier. The first is at Tier 1, Stealth for the entire army turn 1. This alone wouldn’t sound so bad if Tier 4 didnt exist: All Blighted Ogrun models gain Advance Deployment. That’s 14 models 13-16” already in from the board edge….and stealthed. Heavy Infantry no less. Tier 3 is the icing on the cake, allowing Rhyas to place her Upkeep spells Occultation and Rapport for free before deployment. Standing in at FURY 5, this allows her to have both spells out and cast Dash out on Turn 1, allowing with proper placement her entire infantry army a SPD Buff. Her warbeasts don’t benefit, but since Typhon and the others are acting as a second line along with the Swordsmen, this is not an issue. Now the other list: List Two: Thagrosh the Messiah • Thagrosh the Messiah • Archangel • Succubus • Carnivean • Shredder • Shredder • Shredder • Spawning Vessel • Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters • Bayal, Hound of Everblight And here is my secondary, the beast heavy Thagrosh list. With the inclusion of the Archangel and the Carnivean, Thagrosh has the Hex Hunters as advance forces, though it does have skornergy in that Thagrosh is an Abomination, and the Hex Hunters + the Succubus are not. It’s a dangerous combination. Their job is to break through and assassinate the target, especially with Rabid + Manifest Destiny. With three rounds, my opponents were Trolls, Khador, and Trolls again. Sadly I did not get a chance to get the list for my first round, but I’ll go over and fill in as much as I can. On to round 1. Round 1: Scenario – Incursion An old favorite, this scenario changed from last year. The middle flag no longer disappears, though it doesn’t score as much, whether you dominate it or not it’s still the same. The outer flag if you dominate it is worth 2 points. As for the opponent’s list, in advance I must apologize, as I am missing about 8 points, working completely from memory. Also all the pictures for round 1 will be through vassal, so they’re approximations. • Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels • Troll Axer • Troll Impaler • Dire Troll Mauler • Trollkin Runebearer • Krielstone Bearer and Stonescribes • Krielstone Elder • Trollkin Warders 5-man • Trollkin Warders 5-man • Janissa Stonetide • Stone Scribe Chronicler Opting to go first, my Rhyas list is selected against this matchup. With Rhyas in the middle, my Swordsmen took the right while my Ogrun AD into the left and right flanks, with the War Chiefs directly in front of Rhyas. Swordsmen get their stealth and Typhon maintains his Rapport. His force mirrors my own with Grissel staying in the middle along with the Bearer unit behind and to the right, while the Warders stay on the flanks. The units directly opposing my own are their prey. Aside from one forest, terrain never came up. End of turn 1 comes up and he has popped his feat in anticipation of the Warspears coming in. Round 2 begins, and the left flag disappears, leaving only the right flag. The Warspears are fully walking into a wall against their prey, it was just a matter of could they break the brick. The combination of Assault, Charge Attacks, Prey and the number that could see the War Chiefs….resulted in the right flank holding their line, while the left flank lost more hitboxes and at least one death. The presence of the feat, their battle-driven, and the Krielstone made sure they weren’t breaking or losing anyone. The feat was also in play, and the combination of attacks ate away at my deathclock, leaving me with 30 minutes left. This was in direct opposition to my opponent’s, who had still 50 minutes. Also at all times, Janissa placed a wall in the way, I’m just being lazy to show it but it is there as an influence. I did however end my turn with the Nephilim Soldier basing the flag, forcing a response from my opponent and controlling the tempo of the game. On his turn, the War Chiefs are quickly dispatched of and the Swordsmen fall under attack by Grissel. Grissel also lands attacks by Rhyas, not hitting her directly however. The Shepard and Succubus both fall quickly in the blasts. The Mauler is the only one capable of responding to the Soldier in the end, and is forced to deal with the light, and kill it. It was also the only warbeast in dangerous distance of Grissel. Janissa prevents a potential assassination with her wall. Round 3 begins, and Typhon quickly deals a lot of damage but not killing the Mauler. Rhyas sees to that and steals the precious fury. Sprinting back to base to base with the flag, she makes a nearly critical mistake of keeping Occultation on her Swordsmen, though with other targets and priority its unknown which was the wiser move. The left flank forces the side to fold up more, but they’re keeping the body count even. The right flank however slowly with their heavily damaged side keeps dwindling the Wardens, thanks to the arrival of the Swordsmen. However the aura prevents a total collapse of the right flank. I do score a point for dominating the flag. Legion 1-0 Back to the Trollbloods, and with a combination of transfers and shots, force Rhyas to transfer to Typhon, and Typhon is eventually killed along with the Shredder. The Warspears on the left lose more, down to two men. The Axer and Krielstone bearers are in the fray now, tearing and jamming it up. Note by now most of the Swordsmen are dead, how many actually survived, I do not remember. But the Prey is kept as the Warspears who did not take the brunt on the right side barely get damaged. Of special note is an AOE that did not hit Rhyas but did create a patch of rough terrain at a point between herself and Typhon before he died. I am no longer in control of the point, but nothing is in base to base. Round 4, and endgame is upon us. My force is no longer capable of taking out the caster. However, my front line did do something, prevent the Trolls from advancing to the flags. The right flag is unmolested, and while unable to be reached by Dash, is capable of a full sprint from Rhyas to get there. Knowing that my army can last for one more turn and is much faster, I put it into motion. Of EXTREME Special note is the time at the start of this round: 10 minutes left. Only critical movements were done, as the last Swordsmen fought and killed Krielstone Bearers. The Axer is the only thing capable of contesting it at this point, and is not a heavy warbeast. His turn consists of killing the last few swordsmen left in the way of the Axer, and running the Axer to get close to Rhyas, preventing the Final 2 points as I dominated and scored for 3-0 on my turn. The final round, and with only 5 minutes left Rhyas cuts herself for her 5, and kills the Axer. The sprint caps the objective and ends the game. Time left: 3 minutes on my clock, about 17 left on his. The second round coming soon….

Over the years, I've learned to be cautious with C++ pointers. In particular, I'm always very careful about who owns a given pointer, and who's in charge of calling delete on it. But my caution often forces me to write deliberately inefficient functions. For example: vector < string > tokenize_string ( const string & text ); Here, we have a large string text , and we want to split it into a vector of tokens. This function is nice and safe, but it allocates one string for every token in the input. Now, if we were feeling reckless, we could avoid these allocations by returning a vector of pointers into text : vector < pair < const char * , const char *>> tokenize_string2 ( const string & text ); In this version, each token is represented by two pointers into text : One pointing to the first character, and one pointing just beyond the last character.1 But this can go horribly wrong: // Disaster strikes! auto v = tokenize_string2 ( get_input_string ()); munge ( v ); Why does this fail? The function get_input_string returns a temporary string, and tokenize_string2 builds an array of pointers into that string. Unfortunately, the temporary string only lives until the end of the current expression, and then the underlying memory is released. And so all our pointers in v now point into oblivion—and our program just wound up getting featured in a CERT advisory. So personally, I'm going to prefer the inefficient tokenize_string function almost every time. Rust lifetimes to the rescue! Going back to our original design, let's declare a type Token . Each token is either a Word or an Other , and each token contains pointers into a pre-existing string. In Rust, we can declare this as follows: # [ deriving ( Show , PartialEq )] enum Token < 'a > { Word ( & 'a str ), Other ( & 'a str ) } The type &str represents a slice of a pre-existing String . It's sort of like the pair<const char *,const char *> in C++. But the really interesting part here is the 'a . This is a named lifetime parameter, and it says, “A value of type Token has the same lifetime as the &str that it contains.” Looking at the LLVM intermediate representation, Token looks like a nice, efficient data structure. It appears to be a tag byte for the enum, some padding, and two pointers for the &str : %"enum.Token<[]>" = type { i8, [7 x i8], [2 x i64] } Update: According to keeperofdakeys, those last two i64 values are actually a pointer and a length. Parsing safely Now we can define a safe tokenize_string3 function. Here, the function delaration says, “We take an input value of type &str with lifetime 'a , and we return a Vec<Token> where each token has lifetime 'a .” fn tokenize_string3 < 'a > ( text : & 'a str ) -> Vec < Token < 'a >> { let mut result = vec! []; for cap in regex! ( r "( \ w+)|( \ W+)" ) .captures_iter ( text ) { let token = if cap .pos ( 1 ) .is_some () { Word ( cap .at ( 1 )) } else { Other ( cap .at ( 2 )) }; result .push ( token ); } result } This works quite nicely: # [ test ] fn test_parse_safe () { assert_eq! ( vec! [ Word ( "The" ), Other ( " " ), Word ( "cat" )], tokenize_string3 ( "The cat" )); } But what if we destroy text early? But let's rewrite this function to work like our C++ code, where our temporary string was destroyed before we tried to use our tokens: # [ test ] fn test_parse_unsafe () { let v = { let text = "The cat" .to_string (); tokenize_string3 ( text .as_slice ()) }; assert_eq! ( vec! [ Word ( "The" ), Other ( " " ), Word ( "cat" )], v ); } Rust detects the error, and refuses to compile test_parse_unsafe : main.rs:67:26: 67:30 error: `text` does not live long enough main.rs:67 tokenize_string3(text.as_slice()) ^~~~ main.rs:64:24: 70:2 note: reference must be valid for the block at 64:23... (…code snippet deleted…) main.rs:65:17: 68:6 note: ...but borrowed value is only valid for the block at 65:16 (…code snippet deleted…) In other words, we can do all kinds of apparently reckless things with pointers, and Rust backs us up. There are some good discussions of alternative C++ versions on Hacker News, /r/programming and /r/rust. But just to clarify:

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

“It was an idea whose time had come, and the technology finally caught up with the vision.” -Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D. If you’re at all familiar with VR, you’ve probably heard that VR is more than “just games” a time or two. Used to describe applications of VR that go beyond first-person shooters—think education, conservation, training, etc.—the phrase is something that many in the industry intuitively understand. Still, it continues to merit saying, especially when we talk about the research and clinical practice of virtual reality in cognitive and physical therapy treatment by leading psychologists and clinicians—which goes way beyond gaming; it has the potential to change the way we think about therapy altogether. Despite the recent surge in VR development over the last few years, the idea of using virtual reality in a therapeutic setting isn’t a new idea. Research regarding VR simulations to treat specific phobias was around as early as the nineties, but the technology simply wasn’t advanced enough for such treatment to be feasible. Head mounted displays were clunky, computer processing speeds laughable, and 3D graphics downright primitive in comparison to what’s available VR today. Perhaps even more importantly: the technology required for advanced VR in the 90s was too costly to ever be seriously considered for mass distribution. Clearly, things have changed. “We’re seeing more companies emerge in the last two years than we’ve seen in the last twenty years,” said Skip Rizzo, Ph.D, director for medical virtual reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. “It was an idea whose time had come, and the technology finally caught up with the vision.” An unlikely contributor led the way in funding and support for VR therapy research: the US military. Operation Iraqi Freedom led to an unforeseen number of troops returning home from the battlefront with physical and emotional trauma, prompting the military to seek out new, innovative treatment options for their soldiers and vets—especially those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Virtual Iraq VRET was developed from 2005-2007 as an answer to the military’s problem at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies. During the early stages of development, Rizzo considered different treatment options, but eventually decided on exposure therapy for the project. “Whenever I design a VR application in a clinical area, I look at, okay, what do we know works in the real world that we can use VR to amplify, or extend the effect?” said Rizzo. “Exposure therapy was a no brainer.” Exposure therapy employs the patient’s imagination and memory to actively engage with their “triggers” or source of trauma, as opposed to avoiding it. With time, prolonged exposure to the trauma lessens its hold on the individual. Though traditional exposure therapy is the most widely accepted therapy for PTSD, it has its limitations. Some patients are unwilling or unable to recount the traumatic narrative, resulting in ineffective treatment. VR enhances the treatment by allowing patients and clinicians to take the guesswork out of the experience by dropping them into a virtual scenario that is tailored to their individual experience. In VR, the patient is fully emotionally immersed in the traumatic situation while physically remaining in a safe, controlled setting. The use of VR in exposure treatment also enhances the experience for the therapist, who can view the experience on a screen and witness first-hand what exactly triggers the patient, along with listening to the patient’s recollection of the event. Over time, Virtual Iraq VRET advanced and morphed into project BRAVEMIND, which yielded exceedingly positive results through clinical trials. BRAVEMIND is now being used in VAs, university clinics, and Army, Navy, and Airforce medical centers to treat PTSD patients. “A little known secret is, since we’ve been doing the work, the two iterations of the exposure therapy system have been deployed to over a hundred sites,” said Rizzo. Despite the wide distribution, he hesitates to call VR therapy mainstream just yet, saying instead that “it’s right at the tipping point.” Since its creation, BRAVEMIND has expanded to include treatment scenarios for PTSD in combat medics and victims of military sexual assault. Psychologists are also researching ways that VR can be used in PTSD diagnosis as well as treatment. As Rizzo’s team looks to expand the therapy to non-combat related PTSD patients, the potential seems limitless. “We’re finding out new things all the time,” he said. Though PTSD treatment is a pretty strong focus of research for many VR therapists, in part due to support and funding from the US military, psychologists have also successfully incorporated virtual reality into treatment for patients with a number of other physical and cognitive disorders. For example, the very nature of VR makes it an extremely effective tool for treating patients with phobias—something that the Virtual Reality Medical Center has been doing for the past 21 years. While many VR therapy treatment options are still in conceptual or testing phases, the VRMC has treated a staggering number of cases across its three US based clinics since it first opened its doors. “I’ve conducted over 10,000 VR therapy and training sessions,” said VRMC President Dr. Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCB, BCN. Using VR-enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in which patients are taught breathing with biofeedback techniques that are applied in the VR world, the team of psychologists have successfully treated patients with a fear of needles, claustrophobia, fear of public speaking, flying related anxiety, and more. Patients treated at VRMC often have phobias so severe that facing their fear—be it spiders, blood, flying, etc.—in the real world would be simply inconceivable. VR gives people with phobias the ability and power to confront their fears head on in a virtual setting. “It’s empowering for the patient,” said Wiederhold. VR therapy treatments for PTSD and phobias are similar in that they use the virtual environment to have the patient confront their fear or trauma in a safe, controlled setting. However, VR can be applied in completely different ways to treat other disorders like depression. An innovative study by UCL Barcelona professor Chris Brewin used a “body switch” method to help alleviate depression symptoms in a small, controlled trial. Depressed patients entered a VR world in which there was a crying child who needed their help. After the patients consoled the child, they virtually switched bodies with the child and heard their own voice through an avatar consoling them. Though the study showed overwhelmingly positive results, the small trial lacking a control group needs extensive further testing and research before it can be used regularly as a treatment for people with depression. Other methods of VR depression treatment are being explored by The VR Therapy Center in Grand Rapids, MI. Since it opened in January 2015, the center has treated over 300 patients suffering from depression using VR. Founded by psychotherapist Thomas J. Overly, LMSW, the clinic’s team has found that VR treatment is most effective in patients with comorbid depressive symptoms; 75% of the patients treated at the clinic have depression symptoms that are connected to other behavioral or interpersonal issues such as PTSD. The therapy has improved depressive symptoms in many patients, but Overly and his team are on a mission to improve upon the current platforms available for VR depression treatment. Enter PromenaVR: a software system designed by Overly that allows clinicians to actually enter the VR environment with patients and have customized, two-way interactions with them inside of the virtual world. The experience is tailored so that the clinician appears as any race, gender, age, or body type depending on the specific needs of the patient, creating a “story that is their story.” Settings range from a casual living room to open public spaces. Currently in beta, the software system was created “to treat depression and comorbidity issues that aren’t being addressed in typical VR therapy platforms that are available right now,” said PromenaVR COO, CMO Tanya Kellen. While not being used to treat patients just yet, the team at VR Therapy Center and PromenaVR believes that the interactive, two-way immersion system is the key to successfully treating depression using virtual reality in the future. From PTSD, phobia, depression treatment and beyond, it’s clear that the future of VR therapy is extremely bright. Though it’s unclear how or when the technology will finally “go mainstream,” Rizzo predicts that it will do so in waves, with VR pain management therapy as the first to really be accepted as standard practice nationwide. “I think in the next year you’re going to see more and more hospitals using VR for pain distraction or discomfort reduction,” said Rizzo. VR is a tool that has the power to change the way we think about therapy, but at the end of the day, Rizzo believes that it is just that—a tool. “In one sense, VR offers some magic in delivering this type of content, but, we’re always operating from a base of what we know works in the real world,” said Rizzo. “How can we do it better, more effectively, more consistently, and in a more engaging way.” In other words, VR won’t replace the expertise and care of psychologists and psychiatrists or the tried and true techniques in therapy that have been used for decades. But it can—and will—improve and enhance the therapy experience in ways that haven’t even been imagined yet. After all: “It’s a revolution.” Image Credit: USC Institute for Creative Technologies and UCL Barcelona

Clarifying The Trustwave CA Policy Update We've seen a number of comments and questions on Twitter regarding a recent Trustwave CA Policy Update to our legal repository (https://ssl.trustwave.com/CA). This update discusses a subordinate root revocation. This is a proactive revocation, of the only certificate we issued for these purposes, that is the result of careful consideration in light of recent policy changes and the changing PKI landscape. This single certificate was issued for an internal corporate network customer and not to a 'government', 'ISP' or to 'law enforcement'. It was to be used within a private network within a data loss prevention (DLP) system. The subordinate certificate was subject to a Certification Practice Statement (CPS), Subscriber Agreement and Relying Party Agreement crafted by Trustwave after an audit of the customer physical security, network security, and security policies. The system was created using dedicated hardware device designed for SSL proxy and acceleration, with a FIPS-140-2 Level 3 compliant Hardware Security Module (HSM) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_security_module) for subordinate root storage and for the purpose of private key generation of the re-signed SSL certificates. This means that once the trusted subordinate root was placed into the device it could not be extracted. Additionally, when the system would accept an outbound SSL connection from within the customer network, and negotiate the session with the server outside the customers network, the private key for the resulting re-signed SSL certificate (that is presented to the internal network) would be generated in the HSM and only live for the duration of the SSL request. No party had access to the re-signed SSL certificate private keys at any time, nor could they gain access to them. This is what prevented the customer from being able to perform ad hoc issuance of certificate for any domain and use them outside of this hardware and infrastructure. Trustwave has decided to be open about this decision as well as stating that we will no longer enable systems of this type and are effectively ending this short journey into this type of offering. We take information security very seriously as a trusted CA and we felt that a few clarifications were in order to help everyone understand our actions.

Most Russians acknowledge that the country is facing a potentially lengthy economic crisis, but at the same time don’t expect to suffer any personal consequences such as redundancy or delays in salary payment in the near future as a result. The latest poll conducted by the independent public opinion agency Levada Center in mid-September showed that 82 percent of Russians currently agree with the statement that their country’s economy is in decline or stagnation. When a similar poll was held in 2014 only 61 percent of respondents shared this opinion. A quarter of Russians polled said they expected the current crisis to be long-term, compared to just 16 percent two years back. Around a fifth – 21 percent – said they expected it to end no sooner than in two years. READ MORE: 80% of Russians would not join protests – poll shows At the same time, those questioned were mostly optimistic about their own perspectives amid a stagnating economy. Just under half – 49 percent – were confident that they and their family members would not experience delays in receiving wages, while 24 percent admitted that such a scenario was possible and 17 percent confessed that they had already experienced this. Forty-four percent of respondents said they did not expect to lose their jobs in connection with the ongoing crisis. Just under a third – 28 percent – said that this was possible and 14 percent answered that they knew about ongoing job cuts from personal experience. Deputy director of the Levada Center Aleksey Grazhdankin explained the results of the poll by the fact that people compare the current economic difficulties with the much worse crisis of 1998. “Only a sharp fall in living standards can really affect public opinion. People tend to adapt to smaller deviations.” Researcher Leontiy Byzov from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Sociology institute said in comments with Kommersant daily that the picture revealed by the poll could be explained by the fact that the average Russian thought that the economic crisis was imposed by hostile forces from abroad and therefore could not be really deep or serious. “Russians consider the current problems to be provoked by foreign-based ‘enemies of the people.’ They do not expect any cuts in their wages because they fully trust the authorities not to allow this,” he said. Similar research conducted by the state-run agency VTSION in January this year showed that about 62 percent of Russians saw the economic situation as normal, but 52 percent expect the crisis to deepen in the future. READ MORE: Citizens see situation in Russia as ‘normal’ but expect crisis to deepen, poll shows In September Levada pollsters released the results of research that showed that over 80 percent of Russians are currently unwilling to participate in mass protests over political or economic issues. Only 18 percent allowed for the very possibility of protests caused by decreases in living standards, and only 6 percent said that they would consider taking part in such protests if they happened.

Image caption Andrew RT Davies (L) and Alun Cairns (R) will not take part in the debate A row has erupted between senior Welsh Tories after it emerged neither Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies nor Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns were taking part in Tuesday's BBC Wales leaders' debate. The Tories were represented by education spokesman Darren Millar AM. Mr Cairns said it was intended that Mr Davies would be the representative. But a spokesman for Mr Davies accused Mr Cairns of being "unwilling" to take part himself. He said Mr Davies had been happy to take part, but on the basis that one candidate took part in the three Welsh TV debates. It had been expected that Mr Davies would take part in the earlier Ask The Leader BBC Wales debate, but prior to broadcast, the Conservative Party decided to put up Mr Cairns. It is understood Mr Davies - who had taken part in the ITV Wales debate earlier in May - is on holiday. The other parties put up their campaign leaders - Labour's Carwyn Jones, Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood, Lib Dem Mark Williams and UKIP's Neil Hamilton. Image caption Darren Millar is education spokesman for the Conservatives in the Welsh Assembly Mr Cairns told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show that it was "always intended" that Mr Davies would be the debate's Conservative representative. The Welsh Secretary said he himself was "never" going to be part of the programme, and claimed Mr Davies could not be there for personal reasons. He said he was confident Mr Millar would do an "excellent job". Mr Cairns appeared for the Conservatives in last week's series of Ask the Leader programmes on BBC Wales. Mr Cairns' comments prompted a critical statement from a spokesman for Andrew RT Davies. He said: "With the Secretary of State unwilling to take part in the General Election debates, Andrew was more than happy to fill in - but that agreement was reached on the basis that it would be best for the party to put forward one candidate for all of the programmes. "Given that Alun was willing to take part in the Ask the Leader programmes, Andrew felt that it was no longer necessary to return from celebrating his wedding anniversary to do the debate. "It's a bit of a surprise that Alun isn't taking part tonight, but our Policy Director Darren will do a brilliant job." Image caption Mr Millar is one of five senior politicians taking part in the BBC Wales leaders debate A spokesman for BBC Wales said: "BBC Wales invited the main political parties in Wales to nominate a leader to take part in its Leaders' Debate. "The party chooses its representative and in this instance the Conservative Party has nominated Darren Millar AM." First Minister Carwyn Jones said the decision showed "incredible disrespect to the people of Wales that the Secretary of State, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, can't be bothered to turn up at a leaders' debate". In a statement Plaid Cymru accused the Conservatives of treating "democracy with contempt" and claimed "avoiding scrutiny" seemed to be a "key strategy" for the Tories. UKIP said it was "very strange for a party leader to be replaced in two leader debates". The Liberal Democrats claimed Andrew RT Davies "will be desperate to be avoid being next in line for another car crash TV appearance from the Conservatives". In 2015, then Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb represented the Tories in the debates, while Owen Smith, then shadow Welsh secretary, took part for Labour. Mr Jones says he is now involved - instead of Shadow Welsh Secretary Christina Rees - to reflect a change of rules that officially appointed him Welsh Labour leader earlier this year. Analysis by Daniel Davies, BBC Wales political correspondent The Conservative campaign was supposed to be about the leadership of Theresa May. And yet the Welsh Conservatives will be represented by three politicians in three leaders' TV broadcasts. This is not what they planned. I'm told Andrew RT Davies was willing to do all three, but clearly that has broken down. There are contrasting accounts of why that happened. People have differing opinions over who should be participating. Behind the scenes, there is tension within the party. One source calls it a "shambles". Carwyn Jones - Labour Despite not being a candidate at the 2017 general election, Carwyn Jones is undoubtedly the face of Labour's campaign in Wales - with little or no mention of Jeremy Corbyn. That reflects the view that he is more popular in Wales than Labour's UK leader with the party running a distinct Welsh campaign on this side of Offa's Dyke. Mr Jones grew up in Bridgend, the constituency he has represented in the assembly since 1999, and has been a member of the cabinet since 2000. During that time he has held the post of environment minister, education minister and the Welsh Government's main legal advisor. Following Rhodri Morgan's decision to stand down as first minister in 2009, Carwyn Jones beat off the challenge from Edwina Hart and Huw Lewis to become the third leader of the Welsh Government. When the 2010 general election saw Labour lose power in Westminster, it left Mr Jones as the most senior elected Labour politician in the UK. He has used his role to try to push for further powers for the assembly and for more clarity on how the different governments of the UK should work together. However, his views have often put him on a collision course with Welsh Labour MPs who were said to have given him a "roasting" over his views on one occasion. Mr Jones did not back any of the candidates for the Labour leadership in 2015. And while he has been lukewarm at best in his support for Jeremy Corbyn, he has also criticised Labour MPs who have been openly critical of their leader. Watch Carwyn Jones on Ask the Leader Darren Millar - Conservative Brought up in Towyn on the north Wales coast, Mr Millar had a background in accountancy before being elected to the Welsh Assembly in 2007 to represent Clwyd West. A committed Christian, he is currently spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives on education, and has poked fun at his being dubbed "Millar the Cereal Killer" because of his opposition to free school breakfasts - acknowledging its echoes of when former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was called "the milk snatcher". During the last assembly term, from 2011 to 2016, Mr Millar chaired the assembly's public accounts committee. While at the helm of the influential body the AM led an inquiry into the Welsh Government's sale of public land to raise funds for regeneration. The inquiry resulted in a highly critical report claiming taxpayers had been short-changed by millions. He was previously his party's health spokesman for Wales, where he was vocal on problems such as hospital waiting lists and shortages in GP recruitment and, particularly as a north Wales AM, failings at the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Before being elected to the assembly, Mr Millar was a Conwy county borough councillor, and at the age of 24 was the youngest serving mayor in Wales, for his home patch of Towyn and Kinmel Bay. Like Mr Jones and Ms Wood, he is not a candidate in the general election. Image copyright ITV Leanne Wood - Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood was the outsider who broke the Plaid Cymru mould when she won the party's leadership election in 2012 to succeed Ieuan Wyn Jones. She is Plaid's first female leader, the first to be a non-fluent Welsh speaker and the first from outside the party's heartlands in north and west Wales. Born and raised in the Rhondda valleys - where she still lives - her political awakening came during the miners' strikes of the 1980s. But, unlike many of her peers, Ms Wood turned to Plaid Cymru rather than Labour. The former probation officer and lecturer in social work was hired as a researcher by MEP Jill Evans. In 2003, Ms Wood realised her own political ambitions as she entered the Welsh Assembly as a regional AM for South Wales Central. Nine years later, the staunch republican - considered to be on the left of her party - was elected leader after promoting her economic vision for an independent Wales. Arguably her biggest personal triumph came in last year's Welsh Assembly elections when she won the Rhondda seat by beating the former Labour minister Leighton Andrews. In the 2015 general election campaign Ms Wood enjoyed significant UK media coverage but this high public profile did not translate to any increase in seats at Westminster - the party stayed on three. She is not standing in this election although there was speculation that she would run in the Rhondda. Party officials and members say the public like her and respond to her on the doorstep - but will this result in the party winning more seats this time round? Mark Williams - Liberal Democrats Mark Williams was born in Hertfordshire in 1966 where he lived until 1984 when he went to study politics at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth. On leaving university, he worked for the then Liberal MP for Ceredigion, Geraint Howells, before becoming a researcher to the Liberal group of peers in the House of Lords. After spells as a primary school teacher and deputy head teacher, he was elected to Parliament in 2005 when he won the Ceredigion seat from Plaid Cymru. Mr Williams remained a Lib Dem backbencher when Nick Clegg took the party into the Westminster coalition with the Conservatives in 2010. He was re-elected as the Lib Dems' sole MP in Wales in 2015. In 2016, he was named leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in place of Kirsty Williams, who stepped down after a disastrous assembly election left her as the party's only remaining AM. Mr Williams is pro-EU and a strong supporter of devolution. Neil Hamilton - UKIP Neil Hamilton was born in Monmouthshire in 1949 and spent most of his childhood in Carmarthenshire. His father was a mining engineer and took part in the rescue effort at the Aberfan disaster of 1966 in which 144 people died, most of them children. He studied economics and politics at Aberystwyth University and went on to become a barrister. Mr Hamilton served as Conservative MP for the Cheshire seat of Tatton from 1983 to 1997. Anti-EU, he gained a reputation for being an outspoken MP and was a minister in John Major's government. He lost his seat in the 1997 general election to the independent challenger, Martin Bell, following the "cash for questions" scandal. While away from politics, Mr Hamilton has appeared on many celebrity TV and radio shows - often with his wife Christine - including Have I Got News For You? Mr Hamilton made his political comeback in 2016 when he was elected under the UKIP banner to represent the Mid and West Wales region in the Welsh Assembly , where he leads a group of five AMs. He has been a controversial figure in the assembly, calling two female AMs "political concubines" in the "harem" of First Minister Carwyn Jones. Mr Hamilton also apologised after complaints that he told an opposition AM that "suicide was an option" after she said how disappointed she was with the referendum vote for Brexit. BBC Wales Leaders' Debate - BBC One Wales, Tuesday 30 May at 20:30 BST Followed by reaction on BBC Two Wales at 22:00 BST

in October 2014 after videos of the acts were found She will also serve time for stabbing someone with a fork and biting a child She was let off with The young woman who had sex with a dog three times to 'arouse' her partner has been let off on probation after the court heard she told a psychologist: 'This has ruined my life'. Jenna Louise Driscoll, a 27-year-old Brisbane waitress, choked back tears as a District Court judge handed down a probation order for charges including bestiality. The frizzy-haired waitress breathed a huge sigh of relief upon learning she would walk free. Jenna Louise Driscoll, 27, was let off with a suspended sentence for bestiality at the Brisbane District Court in Queensland on Monday (pictured at hearing last Friday) 'Your conduct in the bestiality offences was repugnant,' Judge Terry Martin said. She had sex with the pitbull terrier on three occasions - in January, March and April of 2014. Videos of the appalling acts were found on her phone by police while she was being investigated for drug trafficking. In his sentencing, the judge said it seemed the bestiality occurred 'in the context of your partner wanting to be aroused by watching such appalling conduct'. 'You were clearly a willing participant in acts of sexual intercourse with the dog,' he said. Driscoll was formally charged in 2014 after police found videos of her having sex with a dog Driscoll was, however, convicted of stabbing a woman with a fork and biting a child, causing minor injuries. She was also handed a two-and-a-half-year suspended jail sentence for drug trafficking, which she 'used to pay the rent and other living expenses'. Her lawyers had argued she had suffered from the publicity of her crimes - providing the court with news articles and a list of Google links. The defence also referred to the case of Harriet Wran - the daughter of a former New South Wales premier - where a judge considered the effect of huge media attention. The Brisbane woman spent the weekend behind bars after pleading guilty to three bestiality charges and other matters But Judge Martin had little sympathy, telling the fidgety redhead: 'The adverse publicity is a result of your conduct'. The judge said Driscoll had a dysfunctional childhood and was subjected to physical and emotional abuse growing up. The court heard she was studying the Year 12 to improve her lot in life. Judge Martin told the court she 'may or may not' be remorseful over her actions but a jail sentence could see her exposed to 'corrupting influence'. 'This has ruined my life. I very much regret what I've done,' Driscoll said in a psychologist's report read out in court. She was also described as extremely embarrassed, anxious and depressed in the report. Driscoll had pleaded guilty to all charges. She had been charged after police discovered three videos of her having inappropriate sexual contact with the dog Under the order, she will have to undergo regular drug tests and must abstain from using illicit substances. Driscoll had spent the weekend behind bars while Judge Martin considered his sentence, but not before branding her acts ‘repulsive’ and ‘against the order of nature’. Driscoll appeared in court on Monday afternoon wearing dark glasses, a grey top and skirt.

July 19, 2016 Tickets to Tacotopia at the Track are $45 if purchased online in advance and provide entry to the track and unlimited tacos. Promo code SDVILLE saves $5 per ticket. Admission for this event is open to all ages and no pets are allowed. Children age 2 and under get in for free, and children's tickets are available for those ages 3-10 for $20 (must be accompanied by an adult). Ticket holders are asked to bring a hard copy of their Tacotopia at the Track ticket to The Reader booth at will-call, located near the Run Admission Gates (look for signage), in order to receive their wristband and an entry ticket to the races. Get your tickets to Tacotopia at the Track before they sell out. For more info and to scoop your passes, visit sandiegoreader.com/tacotopia-at-the-track Participating eateries serving tacos at Tacotopia at the Track include Aquis es Texcoco BBQ, City Tacos, Common Theory Public House, El Paisa Mexican Grill, El Trebol Marisco's, Encinita's Fish Shop, Henry's Pub, La Guerrerense, Lolita's Mexican Food, Lucha Libre, Mariscos El Pulpo, The Patio Group, Parq Restaurant, Meze Greek Fusion, Puesto, Salud, South Park Brewing Company, The Taco Stand, Tacos Kokopelli, TJ Oyster Bar, Tostadas North Park, Un Mundo Mexican Grill and many more! At Tacotopia at the Track, after you eat your weight in tacos and bask in the San Diego sunshine, there will be a live concert from 311 and Matisyahu (for those 18 and over) which is included with admission! There will also be a full cash bar serving beer, wine and cocktails.Tickets to Tacotopia at the Track are $45 if purchased online in advance and provide entry to the track and unlimited tacos. Promo codesaves $5 per ticket. Admission for this event is open to all ages and no pets are allowed. Children age 2 and under get in for free, and children's tickets are available for those ages 3-10 for $20 (must be accompanied by an adult). Ticket holders are asked to bring a hard copy of their Tacotopia at the Track ticket to The Reader booth at will-call, located near the Run Admission Gates (look for signage), in order to receive their wristband and an entry ticket to the races. The San Diego Reader is continuing its search to find the best taco in Southern California, and on Saturday, August 13, over 40 top eateries from America's Finest City, Tijuana & Los Angeles (including Ensenada's famed La Guerrerense!) will compete for bragging rights at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club at the inaugural Tacotopia at the Track . There is also a free concert by 311 & Matisyahu following the event! We're giving away 2 tickets to this already-almost-sold-out event and also offering promo codefor $5 savings on any ticket type. Read on for all the details and be sure to enter.The participants for this event were carefully curated and the best part about Tacotopia is that attendees pick the champion. After trying signature tacos from as many restaurants as possible, each attendee will place their token in a voting box on the table of their favorite vendor. The vendor who receives the most tokens wins the title of "Best Taco"!

Photovore roared, the massive creature’s head thrown back in a cry of victory. The air around it grew dark as it drew in the ambient light. Blaze lay on the asphalt at the monster’s feet, drained and unconscious. Huma was still in the air, trying to get a shot at Photovore but barely dodging the creature’s blasts of scorching heat. Lian—she still didn’t think of herself as Hornet—watched from atop a nearby roof, trying desperately to come up with a new play…but instead, thinking about what Mantis would say when they got back to base. “Why couldn’t you keep control?”, or “You have to do better, Hornet,” or the worst, “Are you sure you still want to be here?” No. She couldn’t let herself get distracted. Mantis would lecture her soon enough. Right now? She and her team had a monster to take down. She put her hand to her ear and clicked on her communicator. “Blaze, if you can hear me, stay low. Huma, get ready to come in at a 45 degree angle along the street. I have a plan. We can do this, boys.” We can do this, she thought, and she dove off the building into battle. Masks is a tabletop roleplaying game in which you play young superheroes who are growing up in a city several generations into its superheroic age. Halcyon City has had more than its fair share of superheroes, superteams, supervillains, and everything in between. Over the course of three different generations of super-people, Halcyon City has seen it all. You play members of the fourth generation, young adults trying to figure out who they are and what kind of heroes they want to be. The rest of the world is telling them what to do, but they’ll find their own path amidst the noise. And kick some butt along the way. After all, what’s the point of being a hero if you can’t fight for the things you believe in? Masks is based on the award-winning Powered by the Apocalypse system developed by Vincent Baker and used in Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts,Urban Shadows, and more. It’s a rules-light system that fuels some of the best innovations in gaming in the last ten years, and Masks has been built from the ground up to incorporate everything I’ve learned about Powered by the Apocalypse games. When you take an action that would trigger a move, you roll two six-sided dice, add them together with one of your Labels (a stat that describes your hero), and look to the move to see what the results are. On a 10+, you get what you want, and maybe a little extra. On a 7-9, you get what you want, but at some kind of cost or with a complication. On a 6 or less—a miss—the GM says what happens next, and chances are things get complicated for our young heroes. Masks produces stories like those found in Young Justice, Teen Titans,Young Avengers, X-Men, and more, using the Powered by the Apocalypse rules to provide an easy but useful skeleton for awesome storytelling! Masks was successfully Kickstarted! Check it out! Halcyon City is a metropolis of gleaming spires and countless cultures, one of the greatest cities in the world. It also has far and away the greatest concentration of super-powered individuals in the entire world. Why that is…no one’s yet been able to say, but the why isn’t as important as the radioactive dinosaur stalking its way down Main Street or the devious mole people burrowing up underneath the Halcyon City Bank and Trust. The people of Halcyon City see more superheroics in a day than most people see in a lifetime. Halcyon City has adapted to the superheroes and their struggles in ways both obvious and subtle, from rapid-action construction crews designed to deal with destruction and mayhem to supervillain penitentiaries (like The Spike) near or even in city limits. It’s a place of wonders and dangers…and it’s awesome to live here. There’s no place like it on Earth. Supers have been around publicly for over half a century, starting with the first folks to put on the mask in the late ’30’s. Supers may have been around for much longer than that, but it’s only since they came forward and became a dominant force in the city that meta-historians, sociologists, and suprologists have tried to classify them by generation. The Gold Generation was the first, filled with costumed adventurers and men and women with powers greater than mere mortals. They were noble and honorable, and they fought for their country, for justice, for freedom and liberty. At the time, they could do no wrong. Nowadays, the historians of Halcyon City acknowledge the many flaws, blind spots, and failings of the Gold Generation, but no one can deny the good they did. Their statues stand across the city, and their names adorn buildings and streets. Though the vast majority of them are dead or retired at this point, the new generation of heroes can still feel their influence. The heroes that would come later were often more powerful, but the Gold Generation started it all. The Silver Generation came next: the first true supers. The Gold Generation was mighty, skilled, and maybe even superhuman, but the new generation could fly, tear holes in the fabric of reality, or summon up the primal forces of nature. The Silver Generation was the first generation to devote themselves to fighting supervillains, monsters, and dangerous phenomena instead of criminals or political wrongdoers. They carried on the “nobility” and “honor” of the Gold Generation–to them, matters were most often black and white. Their powers boosted them to the top of the superhero scene, and most of them are still in positions of power and authority in Halcyon City. They’re in charge of the largest superhero teams, the heads of giant megacorporations, and the most powerful politicos in the city. But they’re aging, passing into obsolecence, and they’re looking for new heroes to carry their torch. The Bronze Generation, the children and proteges of the Silver Generation, came up in a world already filled to the brim with superpowers and cosmic phenomena, with magic and madness. Their elders were still on top for most of their lives, and even those who tried to follow in the Silver Generation’s footsteps found themselves pushed out by their parents’ and mentors’ dominance. Many found new paths, becoming explorers of the strange and unusual or dark vigilantes in the streets that the Silver Generation had abandoned…or even becoming government agents. They were the first cynical supers, the first introspective generation, examining the legacy left them by their elders and finding it wanting and incomplete. While the Silver Generation is still dominant, the Bronze Generation lurks in the niches that the Silver Generation wouldn’t touch. They’ve shaped the world in their own way. And then…there’s you. An unnamed generation, not yet clear in temperament or destiny. No one knows yet how you’re going to reshape the world. That’s all down to you, your team, and your choices. When you create your character in Masks, you use a playbook designed to provide a template for your character. Each playbook is geared toward a different kind of young superhero, offering you options and choices alike to customize your character as a hero of Halcyon City. You can download them here. The basic set includes of playbooks includes: The Bull – You’re tough, gruff, and powerful on the outside, and caring on the inside—oh, and you were made by an evil organization that’d love to get you back: can you learn to rely on the team enough to save you from yourself? The Nova – You’re amazingly, egregiously, horrifyingly powerful, and keeping control is a struggle: can you come to terms with your power before it destroys you? Or someone you care about? The Outsider – You’re not from here, and you don’t quite understand this place, but you find it fascinating: can you find a way to belong? Or will you always be different? The Legacy – You’re carrying on a long tradition of heroism and nobility: how can you balance that legacy with your own identity? The Protege – You’re tied to a mentor who trained you: do you want to be them? Or someone else entirely? The Janus – You put on the mask, become someone different, escape your mundane life, but you know your responsibilities are always waiting for you: who are you really? The mask or the mundane? The Delinquent – You’re a rabble-rouser, a rules-breaker, and an incorrigible prankster, someone who pushes people away while secretly wishing they would stay close: can you stop being a little shit for long enough to let them know you actually care? The Doomed – Your powers are killing you; they come with some awful, nightmarish fate. But until that end comes, you’re going to work to change the world: how much are you willing to give up for your cause before your doom comes? The Transformed – You don’t look human anymore and the world won’t let you forget it: can you learn to accept yourself? Can you deal with their looks, stares, and fear without becoming the monster they see? The Beacon – You’re here because this is awesome, and you may not quite fit in, but screw it, you’re going to do this anyway: can you prove that you actually deserve to be here? Or are you just a wannabe? Characters in Masks each have five mechanical attributes called “Labels.” Labels represent how your character views their identity. Are you a Danger or a Savior? A Freak or Superior? Or are you just Mundane? Each Label ranges from -2 to +3; the higher the rating is, the more the character sees their self by that light. If you have Danger +3, you see yourself as a threatening, violent figure. If you have Mundane -2, you see yourself as anything but a normal person. The Labels include: Freak, which is all about being strange, unusual, unknown, different, unique, powerful, weird, and special. Danger, which is all about being strong, threatening, violent, destructive, badass, frightening, reckless, and mighty. Savior, which is all about being defensive, protective, overbearing, moralistic, guarding, patronizing, and classically heroic. Superior, which is all about being clever, faster, better, arrogant, dismissive, commanding, egotistical, and smart Mundane, which is all about being normal, empathetic, understanding, kind, boring, simple, uninteresting, and human. The Labels shift and change over the course of the game as your self-image changes, most often due to the influence of others. As these Labels shift, so does your position in the story: a hero who sees their self as a Danger is better at directly engaging villains and threats, but their low Mundane means they might struggle to connect with ordinary people after a fight. Influence is a mechanic used to keep track of whose words matter to you. When you have Influence over someone else, it means they care about what you say. When someone else has Influence over you, it means that you’re affected by their words. Much of Masks involves giving, taking, and losing Influence over others. After all, you can’t convince your teammate to stop being a Danger if you don’t have Influence over them. When you do have Influence over them, and you tell them how they endangered civilians, your words might lead their Labels to shift. They might be chagrined at your words, and shift their Danger up, and their Savior down—they see themselves as more of a Danger, because of what you said. Or, they might resist, argue with you, and wind up shifting their Savior up and their Danger down—they don’t care what you say because they define who they are, and they choose to be a Savior. Influence allows for a quick and easy way to understand whose words can cause your Labels to shift. You care about what they say, so your self-image is tied up in how they view you, what they say about you, and what you accept about their perspective on the world. Of course, you are just a young superhero, trying to find your way. And that means in Masks, all the adults have influence over you by default. But you can resist what they say to free yourselves of their words. You just have to stand up to them, and tell them that you make your own path…easy, right? You can keep up with the latest Masks news over at the G+ community, or on our social media. Also check out the long example of play Brendan wrote, as well as our backer appreciation page and the Halcyon City Champions!

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

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

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

Tool Announces"Vicarious" As New Single, Release Date Set Band Photo: Tool (?) Jonathan Cohen of Billboard.com reports: Tool has revealed the track list for its next studio album, "10,000 Days." As previously reported, the set is due May 2 via Volcano. The first single/album opener "Vicarious," which stretches past the seven-minute mark, is due to arrive April 17 at U.S. rock radio outlets. True to form, the 11-track "10,000 Days" sports a number of epic tunes, particularly "Rosetta Stoned" and "10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)," both of which clock in at 11:14. Near the end of the disc are the substantially lengthy "Intension" (7:21) and "Right in Two" (8:56). "10,000 Days" is the follow-up to 2001's "Lateralus," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As previously reported, Tool will play its first U.S. show since late 2002 when it headlines the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on April 30 in Indio, Calif. No other U.S. dates have been confirmed. Afterward, the band will spend the first portion of the summer playing the European festival circuit, with dates on tap through July 9 at Finland's Turku Festival. Here is the track list for "10,000 Days": "Vicarious" "Jambi" "Wings for Marie (Pt. 1)" "10,000 Days (Pt. 2)" "The Pot" "Lipan Conjuring" "Lost Keys (Blame Hofman)" "Rosetta Stoned" "Intension" "Right in Two" "Viginti Tres" Source: Billboard.com

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

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

May 17th, 2017 Wests Tigers five-eighth Mitchell Moses has let the fans down after jumping ship to Parramatta mid-season. (AAP) May 17th, 2017 However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I am looking at the recruitment announcements over recent weeks since new coach Ivan Cleary was appointed at the club. I can see a new team building already. Before I get to that though, just a quick comment on the transfer of 5/8 Mitchell Moses to the Parramatta Eels this week. This is a disappointing result for all concerned. I don’t buy into the notion that Mitchell should be so distracted by his contract situation that he could not perform for his current employers. There have been plenty of examples over the years where players have signed with rival clubs, sometimes 12 months or more before their current contract expires, yet they have been able to continue playing and giving 100% effort to their current club. I see absolutely no reason, why Mitchell Moses, as a professional sportsperson, should not have been expected, and willing, to fulfil his duties under the current contract for season 2017. Peter Sterling takes aim at Mitchell Moses I feel most sorry for the fans who looked forward to this year with great anticipation. The club plans its season, especially around sponsorship, membership, and marketing, very reliant on the playing roster they have available to them for the 12-month period. There are many of Mitchell Moses’ teammates whose own personal careers and performances would have relied heavily on playing with a player of Mitchell’s talent. All this has now been thrown into disarray because Mitchell wants to head off and start his new contract with another club as soon as possible. If that’s his attitude, then quite frankly the team, and the club, is better off without the distraction. On to the future. New coach Ivan Cleary has been very busy in the marketplace. Already the club has secured the services of experienced, representative-class players like Josh Reynolds, Ben Matulino, Russell Packer and Chris McQueen. My mail is that there will be more announcements this week on another two signings from rival clubs. In some respects, it looks like Cleary is “putting the band back together” with his recruitment of Matulino and Packer. These two big boys were a major part of Cleary’s 2011 Grand Final team at the New Zealand Warriors. They now join former Warriors’ teammate Elijah Taylor at the West Tigers. I suggest it may not be the last player the Tigers recruit from across the Tasman. Warriors prop Ben Matulino will join Wests Tigers in 2018 and add some much-needed grunt up front. (AAP) I really like the signing of Josh Reynolds. He will be so good for the Tigers. His experience and competitive nature will complement young half-back Luke Brooks perfectly. His enthusiasm, spirit and courage are infectious. He will have a positive influence on his new teammates. This guy is a real winner. I have always been a fan of Chris McQueen. He is a very tough player. He plays with great passion. As a former winger, he provides great mobility playing in the forward pack. He has given great service to both South Sydney and the Gold Coast Titans. I think this is a tremendous acquisition. The hardest player to replace will be fullback James Tedesco. There is no player quite like him anywhere in the NRL. Proven fullbacks are also very expensive. I’m not sure how much room the Tigers have left in their salary cap after their recent buying spree, but it would seem more likely they will need to search for a youngster who is on the way up, and patiently develop him in this key position. The Tigers currently have two outstanding young outside backs in the shape of David Nofoaluma and Moses Suli. These kids are tremendous athletes. I love watching them play. Wests Tigers rookie Moses Suli has emerged as a genuine talent at the club this season. (AAP) All in all, I can see a really competitive team building here. Despite the pain the fans have had to endure in recent times, I have no doubt there will be better days ahead. One also hopes that the Wests Tigers club has learned a real lesson from the events of the last 18 months. Their aim should be that the club should never have to go through this pain again. In the meantime, let’s hope the boys rally together and put some good football on the field for the remainder of the 2017 season. The fans deserve it. They need to cheer for someone.

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

Innovation is a mindset — not just something you do once or twice a week — and Hollywood’s media companies have done a pretty poor job of it, a panel of New Media experts said in the final panel at TheGrill, TheWrap’s fourth annual Media Leadership Conference on Tuesday. Los Angeles-based legacy companies have been slow to adopt the Silicon Valley way, said Rich Raddon, co-founder of Venice-based Zefr, which helps content owners and brands manage their business on YouTube. “Not a lot of that culture has really rubbed off on SoCal media companies,” said Raddon, a former producer (“A Slipping Down Life”) and director of the Los Angeles Film Festival from 2000 to 2009. “I just found a strong affinity to how people were building business up there.” Also read: TheGrill: Online-Video-Giant Maker’s Chief – We’ll Be the Next Viacom (Video) The panel, titled “Innovators panel: Meet the Folks We’ll All Be Working For in 10 Years,” also included Tumblr’sDavid Hayes and Lowercase Capital partner Matt Mazzeo. It was moderated by TheWrap’s Lucas Shaw. Raddon relayed the story of a major film studio that hosted a weekly “innovation group” – which was managed by, of all things, the company’s human-resources department. (At right: Hayes, Mazzeo and Raddon) “It’s hilarious,” he said. “Innovation is a mindset, not just a word.” But there’s good news: A whole lot of companies who do get it are sprouting up all over town. “This city is seeing this massive growth and explosion in tech companies,” said Mazzeo, whose Lowercase Capital advises and invests in companies at the junction of tech and media. “A lot of this is happening in mobile. It couldn’t be a more exciting time to be playing in both worlds right now.” Also read: TheGrill: Market-Research Leader Bruzzese – Our Industry Is Broken (Video) And there’s no bigger nexus point than YouTube — another thing the panelists don’t think Hollywood is getting its head around. “This town has a misperception about what’s happened with YouTube, which just keeps going up and up,” said Raddon, citing its staggering growth toward 1 billion unique users per month. The reason many traditionalists turn their nose up at YouTube, he said, is that it’s still not easy to monetize there — especially the platform’s wicked-fast growing overseas users. “But you gotta have some vision here,” he said. “In the early days of cable, the big networks were sitting around doing the same thing … My kids know two things: They know YouTube and Neflix. They know a little about what Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel are.” Also read: TheGrill: On the Scene at TheWrap’s Media Leadership Conference (Photos) At the suggestion that emerging storytelling forms — short videos, gifs, the like — would be so disruptive as to put an end to the two-hour movie or 10-season TV show, Mazzeo bristled: “Our consumption patterns might change,” he said, “but the storytelling forms will survive. The people I deal with in tech may think, ‘Well, this is better.’ But they don’t think the other thing has to die.” Hayes, entertainment evangelist at Tumblr and head of the blogging platform’s think-tank CANVAS, said people are simply finding different ways to use different platforms, and young people are already acclimated to those differences. “They’re being trained at a young age to be satisfied by a three-minute video, or a three-second gif,” he said. “A lot of these platforms are being used to market story forms. We’ll soon see them be used to deliver those story forms.”

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

Everyone wants to feel intelligent. We watch Jeopardy!, test ourselves with New York Times crosswords, and check our RSS feeds each day for the news we need to know. Sometimes, we even start to feel pretty smart. But then it happens: Your friend references a book in classic “Amirite?” style, and you have no idea how to respond. Smiling and nodding is the obvious, safe choice, but that doesn’t prevent the paranoia. Your facade has cracked. In truth, it’s likely that no one noticed, and of the few who did, even fewer care that you aren’t familiar with the book. But you still feel the burn of not knowing what is, evidently, a prominent work of literature. The truth is that even the nerdiest book nerds haven’t read everything in the literary canon. If you’re feeling particularly inferior to your bookish friends, though, reading the titles on this list will help. Although they are not, by any means, the most influential works in the canon — (and while I strongly encourage you to read Shakespeare, Milton, and Beowulf) — the 20 books included here are some of the most-talked-about today. Read them, and you probably won’t miss a bookish reference for a long, long time. Image: Stocksy

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

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

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

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

Watch Coach Bloomgren's Introductory Press Conference / Photo Gallery Contact: Chuck Pool , Rice Athletics (cpool@rice.edu) HOUSTON-Rice Director of Athletics Joe Karlgaard announced Tuesday that Stanford Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Mike Bloomgren has agreed to a five-year contract to become the 19th head football coach at Rice University. "The football program is important to our university and this community. Mike Bloomgren is a bright, driven, and relentless coach who fits perfectly with our vision for championships on the field, scholarship in the classroom, and service to others. I'm grateful to President Leebron for his support and assistance in recruiting the Bloomgrens to Rice. I can't wait for Mike, Lara, Tyler, and Parker to join us in Houston." "I am excited and humbled to lead the football program at Rice," Bloomgren said. "In my seven years at Stanford, I have seen firsthand how elite college athletics and academics can not only coexist, but thrive together. I want to create an environment at Rice where every player's dreams are realized on and off the field" Bloomgren comes to Rice after seven seasons with the Cardinal, first as the offensive line coach (2011-12) and then assuming the reigns of Stanford's pro style offensive attack in 2013, setting the stage for one of the most successful decades in the program's rich history. Stanford has won eight or more games in each of his seasons and reached the Pac-12 Football Championship four times, winning three titles. Prior to 2017, Bloomgren had coached 12 NFL Draft selections and 11 All-America selections at Stanford, including 2015 Outland Trophy winner Joshua Garnett and NCAA all-purpose yardage record holder Christian McCaffrey. The 2017 campaign has seen running back Bryce Love nearly match McCaffrey's production on his way to being named a finalist for both the Heisman Trophy and Doak Walker Award. Love burst out of the gate with 180 yards on 13 carries against Rice in season opener in Sydney, Australia and completed the regular season with 1,973 yards on the ground, second only to McCaffrey's school-record 2,019 in 2015. Bloomgren's 2016 unit ended the season on a six-game winning streak in which the offense produced 290.5 rushing yards/game, the most by any Power 5 program over that stretch. McCaffrey, the eighth overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers, earned All-America honors for the second straight season and was an All-Pac-12 first team running back. His 183.87 career all-purpose yards/game were most of any active FBS player at season's end, and his 6,987 career all-purpose yards were second-most of any active FBS player. Bloomgren was instrumental in the breakout season posted in 2015 by McCaffrey, that season's Associated Press Player of the Year and Heisman Trophy finalist. McCaffrey, the program's single-season rushing leader, led the nation in all-purpose yards while breaking Barry Sanders' NCAA record. Stanford amassed a school-record 3,131 rushing yards on 610 attempts that season, the most by the program. The offensive unit's 529 points ranked second-most in a season, its 33 rushing touchdowns, 223.7 rushing yards/game, 30 passing touchdowns, 37.8 points/game and 6,097 total yards of offense ranked third. Stanford scored at least 30 points in a national-best 13 consecutive games and led the nation in time of possession (34:48), the seventh-best by any team in the past 20 years. Four Cardinal heard their names called at the NFL Draft following the 2015 season, including first-round selection Garnett, Stanford's unanimous first team All-America -- and only the ninth in school history. Garnett was the program's first Outland Trophy winner as the nation's top interior lineman, and won the Morris Trophy, presented to the Pac-12 Lineman of the Year. Bloomgren's linemen were named a finalist for the inaugural Joe Moore Award in 2015, given to the nation's top offensive line. While facing six nationally ranked opponents in 2014, including four on the road, Bloomgren helped Stanford win eight games. The Cardinal scored at least 30 points in seven of 13 games on the season and increased its nation-best streak of scoring at least 10 points to 95 games. Stanford also set a record for the most points in a bowl game in program history with 45 in the Foster Farms Bowl win against Maryland. Stanford amassed a program-best 2,904 rushing yards during the 2013 season, Bloomgren's first year at the offensive helm. Individual honors are closely tied to Bloomgren. He has earned recognition for both his coaching and recruiting prowess. Rivals.com named Bloomgren one of its 2014 National Recruiters of the Year -- the latest such honor that began in 2012 when ESPN recognized him as its Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year. Rivals.com tabbed Bloomgren as one of the nation's top-25 recruiters in 2016. FootballScoop.com named Bloomgren its 2013 Offensive Line Coach of the Year following two years of eye-opening accomplishments. Bloomgren joined the Cardinal staff as offensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2011 after spending four seasons with the New York Jets, where he served as assistant offensive coordinator (2010), offensive assistant (2009) and offensive quality control coach (2007-08). In 2013, all five offensive linemen received All-Pac-12 honors, including first-team selection Yankey. Yankey was named Stanford's first two-time first-team All-American selection since Bob Whitfield (1990-91). One of four senior starters on the offensive line in 2013, Yankey was also selected as a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award. Four of Bloomgren's five starting offensive linemen earned All-Pac-12 honors in 2012, including first-teamer Yankey. Yankey was the winner of the league's 2012 Morris Trophy. The consensus All-American was Stanford's first winner of the award since 2002. The Cardinal offensive line afforded 200-plus yards rushing in six games during the 2012 season, paving the way for record-breaking running back Stepfan Taylor. The Doak Walker Award semifinalist produced the best season of his career (109.29 yards/game). Bloomgren's work with the offensive line in 2011, which included three first-year starters, played a pivotal role in providing protection for Heisman finalist Andrew Luck to complete over 70 percent of his passes and throw a school-record 37 touchdowns, in addition to compiling the third-highest rushing total in school annals. Stanford's ground game keyed an offense that ranked seventh nationally in scoring average at 43.2 points/game and eighth in total offense at 489.3 yards/game. Bloomgren launched his coaching career as an undergraduate assistant for Bobby Bowden at Florida State, where the Seminoles captured a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference titles (1997-98) during his tenure. He served as co-offensive coordinator at Catawba College from 2002-04 and offensive coordinator at Delta State from 2006-06. A 1999 graduate of Florida State with a bachelor's degree in sports management, Bloomgren earned his master's degree in higher education from Alabama in 2001. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Mike and his wife, Lara, have two sons, Tyler and Parker. The Bloomgren File Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida College: Florida State, 1999 Family: Wife - Lara; Sons -- Tyler and Parker Coaching Career 1999-2001, Graduate Assistant, Alabama 2002-04, Catawba College, Co-Offensive Coordinator 2005-06, Delta State, Offensive Coordinator 2007-10, New York Jets • Offensive Quality Control 2007-08 • Offensive Assistant 2009 • Assistant Offensive Line 2010 2011-17, Stanford • Offensive Line, 2011-12 • Andrew Luck Director of Offense, 2013 • Andrew Luck Director of Offense/Associate Head Coach, 2014-17 2018, Rice University, Head Football Coach WHAT THEY ARE SAYING DAVID SHAW -- Head Coach, Stanford "It's always important to go to the right place with right fit, particularly with your first (head coach) job. You want to have an opportunity to be successful. Your personality needs to fit the place. Your philosophy needs to fit the philosophy of the athletic department and the school and the fan base. Mike is one of those guys down the road that we'll say is one of the top guys in the profession." KIRK HERBSTREIT-- ESPN College GameDay co-host and analyst "Mike Bloomgren has been an integral part of one of the programs that I respect the most in the country! A true players coach in the sense that he demands the most out of you every day, but is also there for the players to learn and grow as people. His offensive scheme is versatile in his ability to adjust to his personnel." REX RYAN -- ESPN NFL analyst, a former New York Jets Head Coach "There are two things that jumped out to me about Mike -- his work ethic and just how sharp he was. Coaches put in a lot of hours and Mike just loved it. He was full of energy regardless of how long we were working, which impressed me. He brought a lot of out-of-the-box thinking that wasn't being done in the league, like Wildcat formations and direct snaps. I used to challenge him to come up with new stuff, which he did and then we implemented it a lot. It's no surprise he became a head coach at a young age and I think he's going to do some great things there at Rice. They're going to be a fun team to watch and I'm excited for Mike." CAMERON FLEMING --New England Patriots OT (Cy Creek High School) "Coach Bloomgren will be a great addition to the program at rice. He was a great motivator and leader for me and I'm sure he'll do even better down in Houston. I'm excited to see him build a strong program."

According to this report from Replays.net, this is how transfers have been standardized under the ACE Alliance in Chinese Dota 2. The latter half of the article reveals the transfer fees and related details of some of this year’s biggest moves. If Team B wishes to buy Team A’s player C, then B must first approach A and confirm whether the player is available for transfer. If A agrees, only then is B allowed to approach the player C. If player C is open and willing, then Team B can lay out their transfer conditions and offer. If player C does not agree to these terms, then he will remain at his current club; if player C agrees, then all three parties, A, B, and C need to communicate with ACE via email and receive their confirmation. In the ensuing days, the involved parties need to come to the ACE offices in order to sort out paperwork and related processes, and then they are allowed to make official announcements regarding the news. If the new team and their new player decides to use existing contracts, then they perform a trade of contracts while at ACE. If they decide to sign a new contract, then the new contract will be signed and backup files stored with ACE. In the case later on that a party fails to uphold their end of a contract, then ACE will be abe to lay penalties according to existing policies. Below are images from the transfer of KingJ from TongFu to RisingStars: In addition, Replays.net also received information regarding the details of this year’s transfers, as below: TongFu <–> RisingStars 1. KingJ transfers from TongFu to RisingStars 2. XTT is part of the transfer terms, and joins TongFu from Rstars, his contract is exchanged for KingJ’s 3. RStars and TongFu respectively pay to XTT and KingJ their owed prize moneys and promotional fees TongFu <–> iG #1 1. Banana transfers from TongFu to iG 2. TongFu pays to banana all owed prize moneys and promotional fees 3. iG pays TongFu a transfer fee totaling 100,000 RMB for the rights to banana TongFu <–> iG #2 1. iG and TongFu agree to collaborate on themed promotional product(s) 2. iG pays TongFu a transfer fee totaling 110,000 RMB for the rights to Hao 3. Zhou is part of the transfer terms, and joins TongFu from iG, his contract is exchanged for Hao’s 4. iG and TongFu respectively pay to Zhou and Hao their owed prize moneys and promotional fees VG <–> RisingStars 1. CTY transfers from VG to RStars 2. RStars pays VG a transfer fee totaling 45,000 RMB for the rights to CTY 3. VG pays CTY’s August salary and previous promotional fees LGD <–> RisingStars 1. xiaotuji’s contract is exchanged for Sylar’s 2. xiaotuji is traded for Sylar, each player’s official transfer fee consists of the other player’s transfer rights (Dotaland note: they were essentially traded 1 for 1) 3. LGD is to pay Sylar his promotional fees for China Joy, as well as DSL prize money It is easy to see from all this, that the ACE Alliance has a certain amount of influence watching over transfers and related activities, helping clubs and players maintain their rights in the process. The current scene seems to allow both player trades as well as straight cash purchases of transfer rights, akin to something of a mix between what is commonly seen in the sports of basketball and soccer (football). If a new club is willing to spend millions and buy out an entire team, what is to stop them? Additionally, it was not hard to see during this reshuffle from the weibo posts of various team managers that, despite this structure, things were still very chaotic. We hope that ACE can make further improvements to the details and processes. Source: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130917/1852014.html Follow DOTALAND on Twitter for instant updates: https://twitter.com/Dotaland Advertisements

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

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

UPDATE: Large geomagnetic storm brewing means Northern Lights tonight The National Weather Service said the aurora should be visible tonight as far south as Missouri, where clear skies allow. A strong magnetic storm is expected to hit Earth over the next two days. The strength of the magnetic storm means northern lights could be visible as far south as the Detroit and Chicago areas. A large sunspot erupted September 4, 2017, throwing a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward the earth. A coronal mass ejection is a huge explosion of magnetic field and plasma from the Sun's corona. When CMEs impact the Earth's magnetosphere, they are responsible for geomagnetic storms and enhanced auroras, according to NOAA. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a Strong Magnetic Storm Watch for the nights of Sept. 6 and Sept. 7. This means northern lights will possibly be visible farther south than during a typical northern lights event. Northern lights forecasts use a rating system called the kP index to gauge how likely northern lights will be visible at a certain latitude. Northern lights are typically visible as far south as a kP value of 7. On the map above, I drew the expected location of the kP=7. So northern lights may be visible as far south as the Detroit area, Chicago, Cleveland, Des Moines and Syracuse, NY. But you won't be able to see the northern lights in the big cities. You will have to get out into the countryside where it's completely dark. To get updated info on the northern lights, go here. There is a good factor pointing toward seeing the northern lights in the next two nights. Skies at night should generally be more clear than cloudy in the Great Lakes region. We will have afternoon showers pop up both today and Thursday. At night those showers should diminish. While the skies may not clear entirely in all locations, the spotty showers will just leave isolated clouds in most areas. The negative to watching northern lights tonight and Thursday is a nearly full moon. The bright full moon we have been enjoying the past two nights will throw light up into the sky. The extra moonlight won't totally block out northern lights hopes, but could make them harder to see in marginal northern lights areas. Get a nap in this evening, and head to a dark location toward midnight. Any questions or comments, please post below.

Police dashcam video showing the arrest of a former Miami-Dade teacher suspected of driving drunk with her child in the backseat last month was exclusively obtained by NBC 6 Friday. In the video, which is nearly two and a half hours long, Saryna Parker, a former 8th grade science teacher at South Dade Middle School, appears to be stumbling during a field sobriety test and slurring her words as she speaks, telling a Florida Highway Patrol trooper she wanted to kiss him. "I want to kiss you. If you don't stop looking at me like that, I'm going to kiss you," Parker tells the trooper. According to the arrest report from the incident, during the test, Parker was unsteady, swayed, failed to follow directions, stumbled, and at one point touched the trooper on the back and said "I feel like I want to kiss you." 'I Want to Kiss You': Video Shows Teacher During DUI Arrest Police dashcam video showing the night a former Miami-Dade teacher suspected of driving drunk with her child in the backseat was arrested was exclusively obtained by NBC 6 Friday. (Published Friday, April 21, 2017) Parker was placed under arrest, and as she sat in back of the patrol car, she "violently kicked me in the groin with her right leg then continued to kick my right rear passenger side door," the officer wrote in the report. In the dashcam video, Parker can be heard admitting she kicked the trooper but says she was kicking the door. She can also be heard complaining about the students she taught. "I’m so f---ing tired of dealing with these p---- a-- teenagers...let me go home for a while," Parker says in the video. FHP officers responded to a report about a suspect crashing into a car on South Dixie Highway near Southwest 182nd Avenue in Homestead on March 19. School board officials said Parker was a probationary teacher and has been fired. She will never be allowed to apply to Miami-Dade Schools again, officials said. Parker was driving her Cadillac when she slammed into the back of a van, according to the arrest report. During the traffic investigation, the responding officer observed Parker slurring her speech and noticed the smell of alcohol on her breath, and saw a 10-year-old child in her backseat, the report said. Want to Spend a Night in Jail? It Just Takes $40 Want to spend the night in the slammer? Minnesota's Chisago County Sheriff's Office can help make it happen. The department is letting people stay overnight inside the new Public Safety Center to see the facility and help deputies train before inmates arrive. It just costs $40 per person. (Published Friday, April 27, 2018) The former teacher said she "wasn't driving" and said she needed to use the restroom, the report continued. The officer tried to grab her arm and she "violently pulled away" and started walking toward Burger King to use the bathroom, the report said. The 43-year-old was booked into jail and later released on bond. She faces charges of DUI, DUI with property damage, careless driving and battery on a police officer. Police initially charged her with child abuse for having her child in the car, but prosecutors did not pursue that charge.

Stacey Tillman, a 47-year-old woman from Sandusky, Ohio, says she has donated over $300 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure each year for the past nine years. The issue is close to her heart, she says, because her aunt had breast cancer. This year, however, following the news that Komen has pulled breast exam funds from Planned Parenthood for political reasons, Tillman is sending her money straight to the family planning provider instead. "I donated $250 this morning, and then I'll see what I can do in a couple months if I can get more," she told HuffPost in a phone interview. "I've had family members in financial difficulty that have used Planned Parenthood for pap smears and breast cancer screenings. They're getting my money now because they help the needy and the people who fell through the cracks." After partnering with Planned Parenthood for the past five years to provide cancer screenings to low-income patients, Komen announced on Tuesday that it would sever ties with the family planning provider because it is under investigation in Congress. However, the groups that prompted that investigation are anti-abortion advocacy organizations that have long criticized Planned Parenthood over the fact that some of its clinics offer abortions. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) both criticized and revoked their support for Komen on Wednesday. "I was perplexed and troubled to see the decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cut off funding for life-saving breast cancer screenings through Planned Parenthood because of a political witch hunt by House Republicans. I truly hope that they will reconsider this decision and put the needs of women first," Boxer said in a statement. "I have been a big booster of the Susan G. Komen organization, but not anymore," Speier said on the House floor. One of Komen's own affiliates withdrew its support as well. The Connecticut affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure said in a statement on Wednesday that it "shares" people's frustration over the decision and that it will continue funding Planned Parenthood of New England. "The decision regarding the funding of Planned Parenthood was made by Susan G. Komen for the Cure National Headquarters," the group posted on its Facebook wall. "Susan G. Komen for the Cure Connecticut enjoys a great partnership with Planned Parenthood, and is currently funding Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation. We hope that any investigation prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving Komen grants is promptly resolved." Komen has faced a massive social media backlash since announcing the decision, with angry people flocking to its message boards and Facebook wall to announce that they will no longer donate to the breast cancer charity. Many commenters on Facebook have complained that Komen is scrubbing some of the more negative comments from its wall, but a spokesperson for Komen said the organization is only deleting the profane ones. "We have not and do not scrub negative comments from Facebook unless they include profanity," said Leslie Aun, vice president of communications for Komen. "There have been some serious misrepresentations of our position, which is unfortunate. The level of interest reflects the fact that people care deeply about breast cancer and women's health issues." The main sentiment among the thousands of people posting online seems to be that regardless of one's position on the issue of abortion, it is wrong to politicize women's health. According to a new Polipulse analysis of online conversations about the issue, only 26 percent of people believe Komen made the right decision. Nearly a quarter of the people who expressed criticism of Komen's decision online said they were going to pull their donations from Komen. In contrast, Planned Parenthood has seen a huge influx of financial donations in the 24 hours since Komen broke ties. While the organization has not officially released the new donation numbers yet, a source close to the issue said they've raised "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in individual donations during that period. That, combined with a donation of $250,000 from Texas oil executive Lee Fikes and his wife Amy for a "Breast Health Emergency Fund," could put the family planning provider on track to match or surpass the roughly $680,000 it received from Komen in 2011. Planned Parenthood said it also saw a spike in people making appointments for breast examinations Wednesday. "The silver lining is that more people than ever are aware that Planned Parenthood provides breast exams, and we're seeing more people calling us today to make an appointment," Tait Sye, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, told HuffPost. "Politics should not get in the way of women's health, and people respond powerfully when they see politics interfering with women's health." UPDATE: 3:40 p.m. -- Planned Parenthood announced on Wednesday that it has received $400,000 from about 6,000 donors since Komen announced it was cutting funding to the organization on Tuesday afternoon.

Honeymoons don't last forever. But that doesn't mean the love affair has to end — and the love affair Canadians are having with Justin Trudeau's Liberals appears to be enduring in the polls. The Liberals continue to hold the new support they captured after their majority victory in last fall's federal election, when they pulled votes away from both the Conservatives and New Democrats. What do Canadians think of the leaders? Explore the latest numbers for the 5 major federal leaders in our new CBC Leader Meter. Justin Trudeau's own popularity also remains high, with approval ratings well above those of both of his main rivals, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose and outgoing NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, as well as the ratings he posted before last year's vote. The CBC's new interactive tool, the Leader Meter, lets you track those numbers. Over the last three months of polling, the Liberals have averaged 46.7 per cent support. That's an increase of 7.2 points over their performance in the Oct. 19 election and nearly even (up 0.1 points) from their average support during the previous quarter of federal polling calculated three months ago. The Conservatives have averaged 29.1 per cent, also unchanged from where they were in the previous quarter but down 2.8 points from the last election. The New Democrats, after taking 19.7 per cent of the vote last fall, have averaged just 13.6 per cent support. That's down 6.1 points from the last election and one point from the previous quarter. The Greens have averaged 5.1 per cent support since March, while the Bloc Québécois has averaged 4.2 per cent. The Liberals' support has held relatively steady across the board — notable considering that their polling numbers between December 2015 and February 2016 had all the hallmarks of the normal political honeymoon of a new government. But the party has nevertheless seen further gains in some parts of the country, particularly in British Columbia. The party is up 10.3 points from the last election, leading in the province with 45.4 per cent support, and has gained 2.6 points over the last quarter alone. The Liberals' most significant increase since the last election remains in Quebec, where the party has gained 12.2 points since the last election and sits at 47.9 per cent. That level of support is largely unchanged from where they were in the previous quarter. In Ontario and the Prairies, the Liberals have also posted gains since both the election and the last quarter. They lead comfortably in Ontario with 50.7 per cent support and trail the Conservatives narrowly in Saskatchewan and Manitoba with 39.6 per cent. But the Liberals may have reached a ceiling in Atlantic Canada. With 59.9 per cent support, the party is only up slightly over the 2015 election result that saw them sweep the region, and they are down 3.5 points from last quarter. Trudeau, too, may have hit a ceiling. His average approval rating over the last three months (56.3 per cent) is down over three points from last quarter. Perhaps the first hints that the love affair may one day sour. Though the Conservatives are still polling below their standing last fall, they have nevertheless managed to hold on to the support they posted in the initial aftermath of losing power. Since the election, the party's biggest losses have occurred in Alberta (down 4.5 points to 55.1 per cent) and in Ontario and Quebec, where the party is down 3.4 points. That puts them at 31.7 per cent in Ontario and 13.3 per cent in Quebec. Despite the praise Stephen Harper had in his speech to the party's convention last week for the Conservatives' electoral gains in Quebec, that is one province where the party saw its support decrease for a second consecutive quarter. But the Conservatives did see an increase over the last quarter in the province where they held that convention — the Tories were up about two points in British Columbia, to 27.2 per cent, though that is still down almost three points from the last election. This most recent quarter was a difficult one for the New Democrats. Their provincial cousins lost elections in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the latter ending almost 17 years in office, and their federal leader lost a key leadership vote and will be replaced next year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this coincided with a drop in Tom Mulcair's approval ratings. His average approval rating was down more than eight points from the previous quarter, to 34.3 per cent. The party continues to poll well below its results from the last election, down more than six points on the Prairies, eight points in Quebec and almost 10 points in British Columbia. That is where the NDP saw its biggest drop in support over the last three months as well, falling 3.9 points to 16.3 per cent. B.C. will be holding a provincial election in less than a year that the provincial NDP is hoping to win. The Bloc Québécois averaged 16.8 per cent support in Quebec over the last three months. That is a drop of 2.6 points from the last election — the party's worst — but up 2.2 points from last quarter. The Greens saw no significant shift in support over the last three months. The party's best results came in British Columbia, where the Greens averaged 10.1 per cent. That was down marginally over the last three months, but up about two points since the last election. Everywhere else, the Greens, who traditionally poll above their electoral results, averaged less than 7 per cent support. Leader Meter: CBC Politics' new interactive tool The next federal election may be years away, but what Canadians think of how their political leaders are doing today matters — and the CBC's Leader Meter tracks just that. The Leader Meter is an interactive feature tracking the latest public opinion polls related to leaders' approval and disapproval ratings. The Leader Meter lets you choose the data you want to look at, how you want to break it down, and how it compares to past party leaders and Canadian prime ministers. You can check out the Leader Meter here. You can also read a full explanation on how to get the most out of this interactive tool here. Follow CBCPolitics on Twitter @cbcpolitics This article reviews trends in national public opinion surveys, and includes all polls conducted and published by different pollsters between March 1 and June 1, 2016. Methodology, sample size and margin of error if one can be stated vary from survey to survey and have not been individually verified.

Stevie Wonder will cancel his scheduled appearance at a US fundraiser for "friends" of the Israeli military after facing flack from pro-Palestinian activists, JTA reported Wednesday. Just days after Israel's offensive in Gaza, it was announced this week that the singer was due to perform at this year's Friends of the Israel Defense Forces benefit, which takes place in Los Angeles on Dec. 6. Grammy-winning producer and composer David Foster was scheduled to conduct an orchestra to accompany the headliner, according to Arutz Sheva. It is unclear who might now replace the R&B legend as the fundraiser's main attraction. JTA wrote of Wonder's reported change of heart: "Wonder’s representatives will claim that he did not know the nature of the group, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and that he believes such a performance would be incongruent with his status as a UN “Messenger of Peace,” according to a source who has read email exchanges between Wonder’s representatives and organizers of the event." With tickets listed at $1,000 a head, the event is expected to raise millions of dollars for FIDF (one recent gala in New York raised $26 million, Ynet News reported). The US-based organization describes its mission as helping to support "educational, social, cultural, and recreational programs and facilities for the young men and women soldiers of Israel who defend the Jewish homeland," as well as fallen soldiers' families. The proceeds from the LA concert will go to the Negev Wellbeing and Educational Centers, an FIDF project to build sports facilities, a library and synagogues on the IDF's new training campus in the Negev desert. The event's co-host, billionaire TV and movie producer Haim Saban, described it to Ynet as "our opportunity to thank the soldiers who defend the state." The soldiers defended it most recently in Operation Pillar of Defense, the week-long offensive in Gaza that killed over 150 Palestinians, more than 100 of them civilians. Six Israelis died, four civilians and two soldiers. The timing hasn't been lost on activists, who questioned why Stevie would have chosen now to befriend the IDF. More than 4,000 people signed an online petition asking Wonder not to perform, "as a conscientious American advocate for human rights and dignity." The petition, hosted by Change.org, compares Israel to South Africa in the time of apartheid, which Wonder himself was arrested for protesting in 1985. Check out the photo gallery above to see other celebrities who have made friends with the Israeli military.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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