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An out-of-the-blue tweet from a Dutch researcher kicked off an unprecedented 24-hour rumor mill yesterday concerning the arrest of Paunch, a hacker allegedly behind the notorious Blackhole Exploit Kit. The arrest, finally confirmed today by the head of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), is likely to put a dent in the shadowy cybercrime underworld. Blackhole is the most well-known malware kit available on the darknet; the kit is leased out to criminals who use the many browser exploits available within the kit to infect users. Cybercriminals use malicious links to lead users to compromised sites and the exploit kit then will determine which exploits will work on the victim’s PC and use them to compromise the machine. Troels Oerting, who runs the EC3 out of The Hague in the Netherlands, confirmed to TechWeek Europe that Paunch was in custody. “I know it’s true, we got some information, but I cannot say anymore,” Oerting is quoted, adding that he could not share further details. The rumor mill kicked off after a tweet from Fox-IT security researcher Maarten Boone announced Paunch’s arrest in Russia. Shortly thereafter, French security researcher Kafeine told Threatpost via email that the kit’s Java archive files had not been updated in almost four days, an indication something was afoot. He provided Threatpost with a graphic, above, that shows a number of Blackhole sites returning gateway errors or JAR files that have been ignored for days; Blackhole JAR files are updated sometimes twice daily. Kafeine also said that distribution of the Reveton ransomware malware has moved from Blackhole to the WhiteHole Exploit kit. In addition, crypt[.]am, an online service allegedly run by Paunch was unreachable yesterday; the service is used to encrypt portions of the exploit kit. Aleks Gostev, chief security expert for the Kaspersky Lab Global Research & Analysis Team, also confirmed via anonymous sources that the arrest was made. “Three scenarios are [now] feasible: Blackhole can disappear, be taken over by other developers, or replaced by other exploit kits,” Gostev said. “What combinations of these scenarios will happen, we will see.” In January, the Cool Exploit Kit surfaced online, also allegedly built and maintained by Paunch. Cool, however, is much pricier than its older brother, fetching close to $10,000 in monthly lease fees compared to $500 a month for Blackhole. At the time, Cool made use of a number of browser zero-days that were meant to be kept private, while Blackhole, a hosted service, is a package of known exploits targeting patched bugs, generally browser redirects that force a victim’s browser to an attack site where more malware awaits. Recently, Blackhole shifted away from exclusively offering browser-based bugs, and began folding in exploits for Java, Adobe Reader and Flash. In 2011, the source code for Blackhole leaked online, which just served to make the landscape for vulnerable organizations that much hairier. But that didn’t hurt business for Paunch and his gang, the alleged creator of Blackhole, who re-invested more than $100,000 in browser and browser plug-in vulnerabilities, according to a post on an underground forum reported by Krebs on Security in January of this year.

Pin Reddit Share 8K Shares Hello! This recipe for BBQ tofu sandwiches comes to you from vegan cookbook author extraordinaire Robin Robertson’s newest volume, Cook the Pantry. I was fortunate to receive a review copy of the cookbook and had the chance to try several recipes – so before I get sharing the one for these BBQ tofu sandwiches, I’ll spend a little bit of time discussing what’s inside. The premise of Cook the Pantry is simple: recipes (which are 100% vegan!) can be made with almost entirely pantry (or frozen) ingredients, and are intended to take 20 minutes or less to make. This is a concept near and dear to my heart, since (as evidenced by my sustained difficulties with posting on this blog frequently) I have been struggling to find very much time to cook recently. One of the other biggest advantages of pantry-friendly cooking is that by stocking up on non-perishable ingredients when they’re on sale, and always having ingredients ready to prepare a quick meal (rather than turn to takeout food), one can save quite a bit of money on food. So I was very excited to receive this particular cookbook. MY LATEST VIDEOS MY LATEST VIDEOS You’ll find Cook the Pantry divided into a few different sections and chapters. First, a chapter on pantry stocking and kitchen equipment, similar to what you see in many other vegan cookbooks. Chapter 2 focuses on soups and stews, including curry-spiced pumpkin bisque, Moroccan-spiced vegetable stew, and chipotle corn chowder. Chapter 3 highlights pantry-friendly salad recipes, like avocado goddess potato salad, hearts of palm ceviche, and taco salad with black bean salsa. Chapter 4 features pizza, burgers, and sandwiches, and was probably the most delicious-sounding chapter of the book. Here you’ll find artichoke muffaleta po’boys, samosadillas, and more (including the BBQ tofu sandwiches, recipe below!). As a tip from me, buy active dry yeast sold in a glass jar, and store it in the freezer. It’ll last pretty much forever in there and then (assuming you keep flour on hand), you’ll pretty much always be ready to make your own pizza dough. Store-bought pizza dough can be used, but I prefer to make my own when I can because the store-bought version often contains ingredients that I avoid and is more expensive. Chapter 5 is titled “Stovetop Suppers”. Some of the most delicious-sounding entries include the Asian-style vegetable pancakes and the layered tortilla skillet. I also prepared, and loved, the Tuscan chickpea frittata (not pictured), which is a vegan frittata made with chickpea flour, and featuring sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and spinach. (Note: many of the recipes in the book call for frozen spinach. I personally don’t care for the taste and texture of frozen spinach so I usually wait for fresh spinach to go on sale or arrive in my CSA share, and then eat a lot of it at once. Another good way to keep fresh greens in stock is to buy heartier, longer-lasting green vegetables like cabbage.) Chapter 6 comprises pasta dishes, such as puttanesca in a pinch (though I daresay my own One Pot Spaghetti Puttanesca takes the trophy and is very pantry-friendly to boot), Manchurian black bean noodles, and giardiniera mac and cheese, which I prepared and photographed. The recipe notes mention something that is part of a frequent theme throughout the book: feel free to swap out the giardiniera vegetables (which are tangy Italian pickled vegetables) for other veggies or mix-ins of your choice. I could not actually find jarred giardiniera vegetables at either of the grocery stores I frequent, so instead I used marinated artichoke hearts, and I also added steamed broccoli and kohlrabi greens (thank you, CSA!). This may not be the best vegan mac and cheese I’ve ever had (and my coworkers did not particularly appreciate the nutritional yeast-y smell coming from the microwave when I brought leftovers for lunch), but it’s quite tasty and I love how adaptable it is. I used dry-roasted whole wheat breadcrumbs in place of the panko, and I toasted them in a skillet without any oil, stirring frequently until they browned evenly (the recipe calls for them to be fried). I also used whole wheat pasta. I prepared the “cheese” sauce as written. In the future I would add just slightly more acid – or use the pickled vegetables, which I imagine would provide the right amount of tanginess to balance out the dish. Even with all the extra veggies I added the result was fairly saucy (not a complaint, just an observation!). Chapter 7 rounds out the book with desserts. Some promising recipes include the raw baklava, fudgy mug brownie, and easy chocolate pie. My overall impression of Cook the Pantry? It’s another winner from Robin Robertson, with a wide variety of easy, appealing, approachable recipes. Probably the biggest drawback – and I will be the first to acknowledge that this is inherent to the concept of the book – is the relative lack of fruits and vegetables in the dishes. Going forward I will most likely use this book by selecting recipes from it as a base, and adding vegetables that I have on hand as either a quick side dish, or incorporating them into the recipe like I did with the mac and cheese. Nevertheless, this is an extremely solid cookbook. All of the recipes that I tried worked as intended and had great flavors. The ingredients used are found at most stores and the recipes are written with simple instructions. You’ll find full-color photos for around 1/3 to 1/2 of the recipes. This is a great book to have around for quick meal ideas, especially ones that would also please non-vegan guests. BBQ Tofu Sandwiches My favorite recipe from Cook the Pantry that I made was the BBQ tofu sandwiches, so I chose to share that recipe with you today. The recipe is originally titled ‘BBQ Jack Sandwiches’ and calls for jackfruit, but suggests using tofu or tempeh, among other choices, as a replacement if jackfruit is unavailable. It’s a bit of a trek to the Asian supermarket from where I live, so rather than pick up canned jackfruit I did in fact substitute extra-firm tofu, which I cut into strips and lightly pan-fried before simmering in the BBQ sauce. P.S. if you’re looking for a homemade BBQ sauce recipe, the roasted garlic sriracha barbecue sauce recipe on my website is a household fave. I served my sandwiches with a quick slaw of finely-shredded green cabbage seasoned with rice vinegar, mustard, black pepper, and cilantro. These can get a bit messy, so keep a napkin handy! 5 from 3 votes Print BBQ Tofu Sandwiches These easy and delectable vegan BBQ tofu sandwiches are a fantastic vegetarian sandwich option and made with pantry staples. Prep Time 20 minutes Cook Time 10 minutes Total Time 35 minutes Total Yield 4 sandwiches Calories Per Serving 379 kcal Author Yup, it's Vegan Ingredients 16 oz extra-firm tofu drained 1 tbsp olive oil 4 oz chopped green chiles drained 1 cup barbecue sauce (I used homemade) 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce 2 tsp prepared mustard 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 tsp liquid smoke 1/2 tsp onion powder salt and pepper to taste 4 sandwich rolls split and toasted (I used Trader Joe's whole wheat sandwich buns) other toppings for serving as desired such as cabbage slaw, chopped green onion, or lettuce Instructions Wrap the drained tofu in a clean kitchen towel and place on a cutting board. Use a heavy object to press the tofu for at least 20 minutes, then slice into slabs. Prepare a plate lined with paper towels. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. When hot, place the slabs of tofu into the skillet, and cook until browned and crisp on the bottom, 3-5 minutes. Gently flip and continue cooking until the other side is also crisp, 3-5 more minutes, then transfer to the paper towel-lined plate to absorb any excess oil. When the tofu has cooled, slice into thick matchstick shapes. Add to a saucepan along with the rest of the ingredients, and cook over medium-low heat until heated through and the tofu has absorbed some of the barbecue sauce. Adjust seasoning to taste, and serve hot on toasted sandwich rolls with other toppings of choice. Recipe Notes To make gluten-free, use your favorite gluten-free sandwich buns (or other gluten-free serving vessels), and be sure to choose gluten-free tamari rather than soy sauce, as well as a gluten-free barbecue sauce. Nutrition Facts BBQ Tofu Sandwiches Amount Per Serving (1 sandwich) Calories 379 Calories from Fat 90 % Daily Value* Total Fat 10g 15% Saturated Fat 1g 5% Polyunsaturated Fat 4g Monounsaturated Fat 4g Sodium 796mg 33% Potassium 520mg 15% Total Carbohydrates 51g 17% Dietary Fiber 10g 40% Sugars 9g Protein 21g 42% Vitamin A 10% Vitamin C 7% Calcium 21% Iron 23% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the product for review. All writing and opinions are my own.

Get the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Liverpool FC transfer gossip today sees Brendan Rodgers handed a boost in his bid to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward Ezequiel Lavezzi as the Ligue 1 giants line up Nicolas Gaitan as his replacement. The Reds are long-term admirers of the Argentine international, having lost out to PSG to sign him from Napoli in 2012. But Lavezzi could finally arrive at Anfield for a measly £8m with PSG looking to offload the 29-year-old in January. These are the players thus far linked with a move to Liverpool FC in January Liverpool forward Fabio Borini will not be leaving in the January transfer window, according to the player's agent. Numerous Serie A clubs have expressed an interest, while Sunderland had a bid accepted in the summer only for Borini to turn down the chance of a move. And, according to Borini's agent, Marco De Marchi, the 23-year-old is set to turn down a transfer again and will stay at Anfield. Alan Pardew wants Liverpool defender Jose Enrique to join Crystal Palace's relegation battle. Pardew, the new Palace manager, has made an inquiry for the Spanish defender and is keen to offer him regular football at Selhurst Park. Enrique, 28, has had limited first-team opportunities for the last two seasons under Brendan Rodgers and Palace have identified a left-back as a priority position in the January transfer window. (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire) Real Madrid's Alvaro Arbeloa will reject a move to Arsenal or Chelsea in favour of a return to old club Liverpool, according to reports. The former Spain international has reportedly told friends that he is seeking a move away from the club this month and fancies a switch to his former club. Liverpool are prepared to pay £5m for Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun who has been likened to an ‘Iranian Lionel Messi’. Reports in Russia say the 20-year-old is on the radar of Brendan Rodgers with the player likely to move to the Premier League and a number of offers expected from other clubs in England. Finally, Rodgers is said to be ready to give four of his players a contract extension. Rodgers is keen to keep Martin Skrtel, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, and Jon Flanagan at the club, and is prepared to offer them new bumpers deals to do so.

Republican Party elders in Congress have nothing but nice things to say about Marco Rubio, but the Florida senator is encountering a nagging problem — they’re not ready to coalesce around him as the man to stop Donald Trump or Ted Cruz from marching to the nomination. While Rubio racked up a string of lawmaker endorsements this fall to rival Jeb Bush's roster of congressional backers, his momentum on Capitol Hill has since stalled. His performance in the endorsement game, on the cusp of primary season, certainly isn’t fatal given Congress’ dismal ratings. But it does point to a struggle to be anointed the establishment candidate of choice. Story Continued Below The reticence around Rubio was punctuated by Sen. Lindsey Graham's surprise move into Jeb Bush's camp last week. The South Carolina senator, seen as one of the few congressional endorsements that could move the needle after he dropped out of the presidential race last month, went on to imply that Rubio is too green to be president. Some senior GOP lawmakers who got behind Bush when expectations were still high say they're not ready to jump ship yet but will reassess if the former Florida governor drops out. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Rubio would likely be his second choice after Bush. "He’s a very attractive, intelligent, hardworking decent man," Hatch said. "And he knows his stuff and has an exceptional foreign policy background.” Endorsements from members are about more than just winning their home states: They bring donors and connections to turnout operations. And a lawmaker with respected expertise can help deflect political attacks against the candidate on an issue that voters care about. According to an endorsement tracker compiled by the website FiveThirtyEight, Bush has 31 congressional endorsements, Rubio has 27 and Cruz is backed by 18 conservative House members but no fellow senators. It's been decades since members of Congress and governors have been so splintered in their GOP primary endorsements. With the candidates at a stalemate, Rubio and Bush’s surrogates have been left to argue whose backers pack more punch. Rubio’s supporters say Bush’s endorsements represent the Republican Party of the past, as opposed to Rubio’s younger set of supporters. “Jeb Bush’s endorsements are legacy endorsements. They’re not endorsements for who he is, as much as for the family,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a Rubio backer. “A number of people made commitments early, and they are going to stick to those commitments until Jeb drops out.” Not so, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who last February became the first member of Congress to endorse Bush. The 37-year-old Air Force veteran says he owes the Bush family “nothing.” “Rubio has a lot of support. Jeb has more,” Kinzinger said. “I’m 100 percent with Jeb. If at some point he decides he’s not running anymore — which I don’t foresee happening — but if he does, then we’ll take a look after that. But you know, Rubio may drop out too.” In many ways, the endorsements for Bush and Rubio track their performance in the race. Bush rocketed to an early endorsement lead, with 15 House members backing him by the end of June of last year; at that point Rubio had just one congressional endorsement. But Rubio made up ground during the fall, clinching 17 congressional endorsements just in November and December. But the New Hampshire primary, widely viewed as a referendum on who is best positioned to challenge Cruz and Trump, is now fewer than three weeks away. After Graham's embrace of Bush, there are few obvious big congressional endorsements left on the GOP side. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is beloved in New Hampshire, is said to be “strongly inclined” to sit things out until that primary is over, according to a person close to him. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, facing a tough reelection race this year, is staying on the sidelines after endorsing Mitt Romney relatively early in the cycle in 2012. Two popular Iowa senators, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, are remaining neutral, too. South Carolina's Tim Scott, a young senator quietly building a profile as a conservative policy workhorse, will not endorse before Iowa but is likely to weigh in before South Carolina, an aide said. On Wednesday, Rubio was glued to his phone as he navigated the Capitol basement, ignoring other senators, but stopped to greet Scott with a hug and a handshake. "I'm from South Carolina," Scott told a reporter by way of explanation. Indeed, as the clock winds down, Bush and Rubio are maneuvering for any edge they can find. Bush is privately leaning on lawmakers to keep their powder dry, while Rubio is looking to peel off as many last-minute endorsements as he can, according to sources on Capitol Hill. Among the coveted potential endorsements is House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul. Rubio’s backers are swarming to the Texas lawmaker as a potential validation of the candidate's national security chops. “Rubio is making a very concerted [effort]. I think he’s pretty well liked. But I’ve stayed out so far,” said McCaul. “The [Bushes] have a strong presence in my state, obviously.” Rubio's latest Senate endorsement was from Oklahoman Jim Inhofe, an old-guard Republican who favors spending on defense and infrastructure and advocates for earmarks. The nod quickly came in handy: When Rubio’s climate change policies were questioned last week, Inhofe blasted out a statement insisting Rubio stood with him against cap-and-trade proposals “every step of the way.” And when a pro-Bush super PAC whacked Rubio for skipping an intelligence briefing, House Intelligence Committee member Mike Pompeo defended him against what the Kansan called a “dishonest” attack. Like Hatch, other lawmakers are beginning to openly talk about who might be their second choice if their top pick falters in Iowa or New Hampshire. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) endorsed Mike Huckabee in August and said he’s sticking by him until the end. But if it does end, Rounds said he'd consider Rubio. “Always thought he’d be an excellent candidate,” Rounds said of Rubio. "He’s bright, he’s got the right demeanor.” Some lawmakers say the scramble for endorsements from members of Congress may not be worth all the effort. In Baltimore last week, the No. 3 Senate Republican, John Thune, spoke highly of Rubio. But Thune, who remains uncommitted in the race, was quick to add, "I always tell people: ‘I’m not sure you want members of Congress endorsing you.’"

In Book 6 of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle presents his conception of practical wisdom. He tells us that it is a state of the soul that is truth-grasping (alethe), "with reason" (meta logou), and practicable concerning things good and bad for human beings (EN 6.5 1140b20-22). In being truth-grasping and "with reason," this psychic state amounts to a form of expertise in matters of human conduct. Possession of this knowledge enables human beings to deliberate well in those situations that call for us to act with regard to what is good and bad for us. It enables us to identify, choose, and perform the particular actions that contribute to or even constitute our own flourishing. Aristotle's strategy in presenting his conception of practical wisdom is to highlight its features by way of contrast with two other kinds of expertise: scientific knowledge and craft knowledge. He begins this contrastive approach by dividing the rational capacity of the soul into two parts, the "calculative part" (to logistikon) and the "theoretical part" (to epistemonikon), and then designating each of the three kinds of expertise to that part of the rational soul which performs the functions and reasons about the matters which are distinctive of the expertise in question. Practical wisdom and craft knowledge are both identified as belonging to the calculative part because that is the part of the soul by which we "contemplate things that could be otherwise" (EN 6.2 1139a8) and practical wisdom and craft knowledge are both expertise as regards human activity, which can always be otherwise. The former is expertise about things good and bad for human beings, and the latter is expertise about bringing into being some product or end (e.g. a house, a table, or health), so while both of these states of expertise belong to the same part of the rational soul, they are nevertheless distinct states. Scientific knowledge is identified as the state of expertise that is distinctive of the theoretical or scientific part of the rational soul, the part of ourselves by which we "contemplate the sorts of things among those things which have being whose first principles (archai) cannot be otherwise" (EN 6.2 1139a6-8). Aristotle goes on to explain that this metaphysical feature of the scientific domain (that it has invariable principles) is what makes facts in that domain eligible for featuring in demonstrative syllogisms. We know a fact scientifically, he tells us, when we grasp a demonstrative syllogism that isolates the cause of that fact's being true and when the fact itself is true of necessity. The fact itself is a theorem of science, and the causes are the first principles. In outlining these significant differences between practical wisdom, craft knowledge, and scientific knowledge, Aristotle makes clear that he thinks of the various forms of expertise as being substantially distinct ways of knowing. They not only carve out their own domains of concern but also depend on different tools of reasoning and even rest in different parts of the soul. Bridging the Gap between Aristotle's Science and Ethics is a collection that, as a whole, invites readers to reassess just how sharp and deep the above described division between science and ethics runs in Aristotle's philosophy. The editors, Devin Henry and Karen Margrethe Nielsen, direct us in their introduction to consider the place of Aristotle's ethical treatises in relation to the divide. Insofar as the Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, and Politics are all philosophical and theoretical treatments of ethical subject matter, they appear to be instances of Aristotle employing tools of scientific reasoning in application to ethical enquiry. The stated aim of the volume is to explore the extent to which Aristotle actually does approach ethics with a scientific framework and "to expose some of the ways in which the received view has over-estimated the gap Aristotle sees between science and ethics" (4). The thirteen essays are organized into three parts: (I) Ethical First Principles, (II) Enquiry and Explanation, and (III) Ethics and the Natural Sciences. The essays vary significantly in their support of the editors' aim of "bridging the gap" and in their conception of what would constitute a bridge. In the first chapter, for example, Nielsen attributes to Aristotle the view that ethics is an "applied science" that has two component parts: theoretical knowledge of moral principles and practical knowledge of how to apply those principles. Clearly, she is firmly committed to the existence of a bridging mechanism in Aristotle's thought: for her, the fundamental part of Aristotelian ethical theory claims to be based on a body of theoretical knowledge. But other contributors offer milder theses, mostly pointing to features of Aristotle's method in the Ethics and of his theory of practical wisdom that resemble features of his scientific theory. There is variation among the authors in how strongly they think these similarities indicate a merging of science and ethics in Aristotle's thought. At the extreme opposite to Nielsen, and coincidentally in the last chapter, Charlotte Witt expresses the greatest doubt about the existence of a bridge. She argues that the "instability of normative kinds" in Aristotle's ethical ontology renders ethical enquiry and ethical knowledge unscientific. I will briefly describe all of the chapters, but I will single out for criticism one from each part. The four essays in Part I each consider the role and content of "first principles" in the ethical domain from different perspectives and with different conclusions. Nielsen argues in the first chapter that the aim of Aristotle's ethical treatises is to examine "the nature of happiness and its causes" and identify principles of right action (33). The definition of happiness and the moral principles themselves are invariable, according to her, which means that investigation and discovery of them is a scientific enterprise. It is only at the stage of application that we find inexactness in ethics because there is a great deal of variation when we "wish to spell out what a life well lived means in practice" for particular people in particular situations (44). The enquiry that constitutes the ethical treatises, she concludes, is the theoretical or scientific component of ethics, and the application of principles is the practical component, also described in those treatises. Nielsen's argument is quite interesting as an interpretation of the precise status of the ethical treatises (e.g., the whole of the Nicomachean Ethics) in relation to practical wisdom itself (e.g. the focus of EN Book 6 alone). But when she isolates ethical philosophizing from practical activity and identifies the former as scientific, she seems to have neglected Aristotle's firm commitment to the separation of science and ethics in the very souls of people engaged in them. Nielsen would have us suppose that ethical knowledge straddles the divide between the theoretical part of reason (to epistemonikon) and the calculative part (to logistikon). This means, of course, that not all ethical knowledge belongs to the logistikon, and therefore practical wisdom -- which is a virtue of the logistikon -- is not the possession of the whole of ethical knowledge. Some form of ethical expertise must belong to the epistemonikon as well if Nielsen's account is correct. However, Aristotle's discussion of practical wisdom tells against the possibility of any such ethical expertise belonging to the epistemonikon. When comparing practical wisdom with philosophical wisdom (sophia) -- which happens to be a state of expertise of the epistemonikon, just like scientific knowledge -- he makes very clear that practical wisdom is the only state of ethical expertise. Philosophical wisdom (sophia) will contemplate none of the things that will make a man happy, for it is not concerned with any coming into being, and though practical wisdom has this merit, for what purpose do we need it? Practical wisdom is the quality of mind concerned with things just and noble and good for human beings (EN 6.12 1143b19-21). The clear implication is that no psychic state other than practical wisdom (the excellence of the logistikon) enables us to know about human goods. As it is, Nielsen's argument seems to have neglected this important aspect of the psychological theory in the Ethics. In the second chapter, James V. Allen sheds light on parallel ways both of knowing and of having mere true opinion that appear to be operative in both the theoretical and the practical domains of knowledge for Aristotle. These similarities suggest a somewhat unified epistemology, and so Allen's work here is quite illuminating. David Charles and Mary Louise Gill, in their respective chapters, each suggest that there is an analogy between scientific knowledge and practical wisdom insofar as the former involves grasping some "first principles" as explanations for theorems and the latter involves grasping some starting point(s) which explain the choice-worthiness of actions and determine which action is a worthy goal. These two chapters, side by side in the volume, discuss entirely separate ethical starting points and never acknowledge the starting points discussed by the other. Part II, "Enquiry and Explanation", contains four essays. The first three investigate the methods employed by Aristotle in the Ethics, each with a slightly different focus. Joseph Karbowski and Daniel Devereux both consider the ways in which Aristotle does or does not rely on endoxa in his ethical enquiry. Karbowski focuses on EN Book 1, arguing that Aristotle mentions widely held opinions there only to dismiss them and certainly not to rely on them as starting points. As such, the presence of endoxa in Book 1 does not indicate that Aristotle is employing a dialectical method. In chapter six, Devereux argues that Aristotle nowhere in his ethical theorizing relies on dialectic but instead employs the "method of endoxa," which has certain likenesses to the method Aristotle deems appropriate in empirical science. And Carlo Natali argues in chapter seven that Aristotle employs different methods at different stages in the multi-faceted discussion of EN Book 5 (the comprehensive discussion of justice). Most importantly, the method applied to the search for a definition of justice is a dialectical one of the sort found in the Analytics. Thus, Natali makes the case for thinking that Aristotle's ethical enquiry, at least in part of EN Book 5, depends on scientific methods. Henry's chapter "Holding for the most part: the demonstrability of moral facts" is one of the volume's more interesting discussions . Henry carefully dissects and examines the various ways Aristotle relies on the concept of "holding for the most part" (hos epi to polu) in his discussions of natural science. Some propositions that "hold for the most part" capture causal relations while others capture mere correlations without causation, and those of the former type are eligible for featuring in scientific demonstrations while the latter are not. It is not sufficient, then, that a proposition "holds for the most part" for it to be ineligible for demonstration. Henry argues that ethical propositions that "hold for the most part" -- such as "wealth is beneficial" and "courageous actions are good" -- belong to the category of causally efficacious facts. After all, that "courageous actions are good," even if only in most but not all cases, explains why courageous actions are choice-worthy. Ultimately, Henry's aim is to show that Aristotle's judgement that ethics is indemonstrable must be on grounds other than that ethical generalizations hold for the most part. Natural scientists, on Aristotle's conception, are in the business of isolating the natures or essences of natural entities as being the reasons why natural phenomena occur. Henry certainly highlights this feature when he identifies hos epi to polu facts about natures as being properly scientific propositions. It is unclear, though, that practically wise people are doing analogous work in the ethical domain. Aristotle is unequivocal in asserting that practical wisdom is knowledge about particular actions that arises from experience in performing particular actions. The generalizations that come to be reliable tools for the practically wise person in her deliberation -- generalizations such as "courageous actions are good" -- capture what is revealed through a rich history of experience. These generalizations do not reveal the nature or essence of actions, or in any case they appear not to be known by the practically wise person as such (EN 2.9 1109b21ff.). Accordingly, these propositions "hold for the most part" not due to imprecision in the nature or expression of nature but because they are rough syntheses of a mass of lived experience. That ethical propositions "hold for the most part" actually is what renders them ineligible for inclusion in demonstration, then, but only because they hold for the most part in a different way from natural scientific propositions. If this analysis goes any way toward reflecting Aristotle's conception of practical wisdom, then Henry's discussion has missed out on a very important metaphysical difference between science and ethics: the former is study of natures while the latter is not. Part III, "Ethics and the Natural Sciences", includes five chapters. Both chapters nine and twelve, by James G. Lennox and Monte Ransome Johnson respectively, provide rich discussion of the natural scientific backing to Aristotle's discussions in the ethics. Lennox focuses on the biological grounding of the concept of natural virtue, and Johnson focuses on the points of contact between the Physics and the Ethics (mostly Eudemian). In the final chapter, Witt argues that it is perilous to model ethics as a science on the basis that craft can be modelled as a science. Craft is dissimilar to ethics insofar as craft knowledge consists, at least partly, in grasping the function of the craft's products (e.g. the function of a shoe), while there is no such function-bearing product in ethics. The ontology is different, and so the whole system of knowledge is different. Finally, Mariska Leunissen and Christopher Shields, (chapters 10 and 11, respectively) tackle the question of how much natural science we need to know before we can have practical wisdom. Leunissen argues that "the level of knowledge of natural scientific theories that is required for understanding of Aristotle's moral project is quite substantial and not rudimentary at all" (217). She points to Aristotle's reliance on biological concepts when he rolls out the "function argument" in EN 1.7 as evidence that students of his ethical lectures are expected to have a sophisticated understanding of biology. Still, she draws the line at expecting ethical or political experts to grasp scientific demonstrations. Shields, however, argues that political wisdom, despite being a form of practical knowledge, depends upon and requires theoretical understanding of the soul. That is, Shields attributes to Aristotle the view that a politikos is someone whose practical knowledge is grounded in scientific demonstrations that fully explain why the final end for human beings (happiness) is what it is. The trouble with this account is that it neglects the epistemological framework set out by Aristotle in the Analytics, where he carves up domains of knowledge according to their separate theorems, first principles, and subject-matter (APo 1.7 and 1.10). When Shields argues that practically wise people ground their practical understanding in scientific demonstrations, we must wonder what set of first principles -- the practical ones or the scientific ones -- are properly upper-limits of explanation of ethical knowledge. Shields attempts to wave off concern by saying that psychological study need not be constitutive of ethical knowledge in any sense even if the latter depends on the former. But to the extent that Shields conceives of practical knowledge as incomplete or inadequately supported if it is not had together with scientific knowledge, he is suggesting that a politikos' wisdom consists in grasping psychological first principles as the ultimate reasons why. Practical wisdom cannot be cleaved apart from knowledge of psychology, then, because the two domains share a single set of first principles. This does great violence to Aristotle's conception of the differences between bodies of knowledge, effectively obscuring an important feature of his epistemology. Overall, this volume offers an enlightening discussion of Aristotle's theory of ethical knowledge. Neglected corners are explored and a strong case is made for thinking that Aristotle's comments about the divisions between science and ethics were only the beginning of the conversation, not the end. However, as I have suggested, there is still a great deal more the volume could do to make good on its promise of "advancing our understanding of the epistemological, metaphysical, and psychological foundations of Aristotle's Ethics" (25).

The McRib is back, baby, and it’s coming straight to your text messages with an iMessage McRib locator app. The McRib is a 70-ingredient, fake rib pork patty topped with barbecue sauce, onion, and pickles. But most importantly, it has an undeniable cult following that looks like it will never die. Every year, McDonald’s sends the McRib out into the world in select locations for a limited time only, causing a rush on certain stores. This year, McDonald’s is getting rid of the mystique surrounding which lucky cities will be doused in the glory of “boneless” ribs (or how far out of town McRib loyalists have to travel) with a locator that can take you straight there before it leaves once again on December 31. Go ahead. Download the app and find your closest rib-filled treasure chest underneath the Golden Arches. We’ll wait. The fact that the McRib is leaving so soon is one of the reasons it has this cultish admiration from a segment of the population, Adam Chandler, a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, tells VinePair. “One day you wake up, and there’s the McRib,” Chandler says. “It’s like a warm day in winter. It has this sort of amazing, surprising aspect to it that gets people excited.” No matter how many stories are published about what the McRib looks like frozen, or how many things are actually put into the pork patty, the McRib has survived. If you ask Chandler, the McRib is almost “so culturally grotesque that it makes people defensive about it.” “I think it’s a scientific fascination,” Chandler says. “This is an item that’s been around for 35 years now and people know it as this marvel of science. It’s shaped like ribs, but it’s not actually ribs, and the fact that it comes and goes is another part of it — there’s this elusiveness about it. Also it tastes really good.” As great as the McRib is, though, there’s a way to make it even better: A drink pairing. VinePair already taught you the perfect fine wine pairing for Mcdonald’s Air, Land & Sea Sandwich (Moulin D’Issan Bordeaux Superieur), but the McRib holds more cultural importance between its buns. Only the best pairing is fit for the McRib, although the time constraint is an issue, and a fine wine with a hefty price tag can easily start to cut into holiday shopping money. If you love yourself a McRib and have some money to blow, however, pair it with a good barolo. For beer lovers, match it with an American pilsner that has some heft behind it, like a PC Pils. Photo courtesy McDonald’s

(Google) The internet is having a little fun with Mitt Romney. "Just for fun! 1. Go to Google Images 2. Type 'completely wrong' 3. Laugh," reads the meme image of Romney floating around the Internet since last week's first presidential debate. The image search returns a page full of Romney's visage. The truth is, the search results aren't a case of digital trickery, like the Google search result that has haunted Rick Santorum since 2003. Google searches turn up images that are associated with articles written about those words. They came during an interview with Fox News in which Romney admitted that his " 47 percent" comments were "completely wrong." "Clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you're gonna say something that doesn't come out right," Romney said. "In this case I said something that's just completely wrong." A spokesperson for Google told ABC News that their engine is producing a "natural search result." Other similar searches produce similar results. Put in "had a bad night" in Google images, and the search turns up photos of President Barack Obama, who in an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer admitted that his debate performance wasn't up to snuff. And something similar happens in a search for the words "a successful dump." Images of Joe Biden appear, which are associated with articles about the now-famous campaign 2008 moment before Biden was selected as Obama's running mate. ""I had a successful dump," Biden told reporters outside of his home in Delaware. "I dropped everything at the dump."

In 2004, the X Prize Foundation celebrated the culmination of its first prize competition, awarding $10 million for successful flights of SpaceShipOne, the first privately financed reusable spacecraft to take a pilot to space, defined as 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. Three years later, the foundation announced a more ambitious prize to spur private endeavors farther out. The Google Lunar X Prize would award $20 million to the first team that could land on the moon an unmanned spacecraft that would then move at least 1,640 feet across the lunar surface and send back photographs and videos. The second team to accomplish the tasks would receive $5 million. The prizes were to have been won more than two years ago, by the end of 2012. But the technology and financing hurdles proved higher than prize organizers had anticipated. In 2010, the deadline was pushed to the end of this year; last year, it was extended to Dec. 31, 2016. The foundation also rejiggered how the money would be paid. Instead of waiting for a successful completion of the feat, it decided to offer partial payments to teams for their efforts. On Monday, it announced what it called the Milestone Prizes, accompanied by $5.25 million, to five teams for progress in three categories: landing, moving on the lunar surface and imaging.

Introduction ASUS GTX 750 Ti Market Segment Analysis GeForce GTX 650 Ti Radeon HD 7790 Radeon HD 7850 GeForce GTX 750 Radeon R7 260X GTX 650 Ti Boost GeForce GTX 750 Ti ASUS GTX 750 Ti OC Radeon R7 265 GeForce GTX 660 Radeon HD 7870 Radeon R9 270X GeForce GTX 660 Ti GeForce GTX 760 Shader Units 768 896 1024 512 896 768 640 640 1024 960 1280 1280 1344 1152 ROPs 16 16 32 16 16 24 16 16 32 24 32 32 24 32 Graphics Processor GK106 Bonaire Pitcairn GM107 Bonaire GK106 GM107 GM107 Pitcairn GK106 Pitcairn Pitcairn GK104 GK104 Transistors 2540M 2080M 2800M 1870M 2080M 2540M 1870M 1870M 2800M 2540M 2800M 2800M 3500M 3500M Memory Size 1024 MB 1024 MB 2048 MB 1024 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB 2048 MB Memory Bus Width 128 bit 128 bit 256 bit 128 bit 128 bit 192 bit 128 bit 128 bit 256 bit 192 bit 256 bit 256 bit 192 bit 256 bit Core Clock 925 MHz 1000 MHz 860 MHz 1020 MHz+ 1100 MHz 980 MHz+ 1020 MHz+ 1072 MHz+ 925 MHz 980 MHz+ 1000 MHz 1050 MHz 915 MHz+ 980 MHz+ Memory Clock 1350 MHz 1500 MHz 1200 MHz 1250 MHz 1625 MHz 1502 MHz 1350 MHz 1350 MHz 1400 MHz 1502 MHz 1200 MHz 1400 MHz 1502 MHz 1502 MHz Price $100 $115 $150 $120 $130 $130 $150 $160 $150 $190 $190 $200 $260 $240 Here it is, NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 750 Ti, one of the first GPUs based on its next-generation "Maxwell" GPU architecture. First reports of the chip being based on "Maxwell" hit us by surprise as we presumed that a new micro-architecture is invariably pegged to NVIDIA's foundry partner, TSMC, to launch its next-generation 20 nanometer silicon fabrication process. The fact that TSMC's 20 nm node isn't in a position to ship out such complex ASICs as graphics processors right now and that NVIDIA wouldn't want its new architecture to in any way be hit by unforeseen issues arising out of the move to a new process may have led to the decision to use the existing 28 nanometer process.The GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750 (also launched today) are based on the 28 nm GM107 (GeForce-Maxwell 107) silicon. This 1.87 billion-transistor GPU features a basic component hierarchy that's not too different from that of "Kepler," but sees some under-the-hood changes in the design of its key parallel processing sub-unit, the streaming multiprocessor "Maxwell" (SMM). The GTX 750 Ti is positioned between the GTX 760 and GTX 660, which is a sizable gap to fill. NVIDIA is promising some huge performance-per-watt gains with "Maxwell." Given that the GM107 is based on the same 28 nm process as the GeForce Kepler series, there's only one way NVIDIA can deliver on its promise - by developing a better overall architecture.Today we are reviewing the ASUS GTX 750 Ti OC. This will be our first review of a GTX 750 Ti with a 6-pin power connector.ASUS has also overclocked the card out of the box and uses their DirectCU dual-fan thermal solution on the card, but without heatpipes.The card is currently available online for $160, which is a $10 price premium over the reference design.

OK, Fools, which of these companies would you rather own? Company A: Trailing P/E: 19.6 times Price-to-Book: 1.4 times 5-Year Earnings Growth Rate: -1.6% (yep, that's a negative) Return on Equity: 7.6% Company B: Trailing P/E: 15.7 times Price-to-Book: 3.1 times 5-Year Earnings Growth Rate: 6.6% Return on Equity: 23.6% Pretty easy call, if you ask me. If you knew nothing else, you'd pick company B because it is both cheaper and better quality. The only way to justify company A would be if it were less risky and had significantly better future prospects. But this is manifestly false. Company A is Vanguard Small-Cap Value (NYSE: VBR) (my newest bearish CAPScall), an ETF that tracks the performance of U.S. small-cap "value" stocks. For the uninitiated, I believe small-cap "value" stocks are some of the nation's riskiest, dirtiest, most volatile stocks. They are to equity what junk bonds are to bonds. They trade at low price/book ratios and low market caps because they're -- on average -- the asset-intensive troubled "losers" of the market. (These kinds of small-cap "value" stocks, by the way, often differ from what you see on Motley Fool Hidden Gems or Inside Value, two services that look for great companies the market has misjudged.) In other words, they're some of the nation's worst publicly traded companies. Because of this, these stocks are supposed to trade at a discount and offer higher returns to investors as compensation for the added risk. And historically, they have. Small-cap "value" has beaten the stocks out of the S&P 500 over the long term. And they've done extraordinarily well over the past decade. But this is not always the case. Small-cap "value" can go through long, long periods of underperformance, like they did during the 1990s. So when the nation's worst companies are trading at 19 times earnings -- and an all-time high with dividends reinvested -- I'd get worried about owning them. But it gets even worse when you realize what you're giving up by owning them... Company B is Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSE: VIG) , an ETF that tracks the performance of stocks that have raised their dividend for 10 consecutive years -- in other words, some of the nation's best companies. Top holdings include IBM (NYSE: IBM) , Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) , and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) , all of which have increased earnings faster than small-cap "value" and are of far better quality. And yet the nation's worst businesses are trading at a premium to them. Unbelievable. "Leverage will save us!" If a Wall Street analyst were reading this, he or she would make the argument that small-cap "value" stocks currently have "cyclically depressed earnings." After all, we just went through the Great Recession. These kinds of companies have considerable operating and financial leverage, so once the economy improves, their earnings should "explode." My response is that we should be seeing more of the fruits already. The economy and stock market have been recovering since 2009. And yet return on equity -- not assets! -- for these companies languishes at 7.6%. With all of that leverage, ROE should be better by now. And once the economy really improves, interest rates will likely go up, making it harder for these capital-intensive companies to refinance profitability. Couple that with the fact they lack pricing power to raise prices with inflation, and I'm not so sure their earnings will "explode." The bottom line is, if you're betting on small-cap "value," you're speculating on future growth with trashy companies. That doesn't sound like value investing to me.

Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press MOSCOW -- Russia has provided air cover to a leading Western-backed opposition group in Syria, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, calling for closer co-ordination with the U.S.-allied coalition -- comments that may reflect Moscow's desire to narrow its differences with the West over the Syrian crisis. At the same time, Putin vowed to further modernize Russia's military and said its forces in Syria will "immediately destroy" any target threatening them, a strong warning to Turkey following its downing of a Russian warplane at the Syrian border. Speaking at a meeting with top Defence Ministry officials, Putin said while supporting the Syrian government forces, Russia has backed some units of the Free Syrian Army, a Western-backed opposition group fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad's army. "Several (FSA) units totalling more than 5,000 people, along with regular troops, are conducting offensive operations against terrorists in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Raqqa," Putin said. "We have provided air support for them as well as the Syrian army, helping them with weapons, ammunition and supplies." While Putin sounded unequivocal, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a few hours later that the president meant to say that Russia is sending weapons and supplies to Syrian government forces and not the FSA, but provides air cover to both. Peskov's statement could be an attempt to assuage Assad, who calls the FSA and other moderate opposition groups "terrorists." Putin and his officials said before that Russia had co-operated with the FSA, but the group's representatives have denied that. If confirmed, Russian support for the FSA will represent a major policy shift for Moscow, which has been accused by the West of striking moderate rebels to back up Assad instead of its declared goal, the Islamic State group. Asked to comment on Putin's claim, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said that "it's unclear to us also, whether these -- these claims of support for the FSA are true." He reaffirmed that "the vast majority of airstrikes conducted by Russian military aircraft are against opposition groups to Assad and not aimed at ISIL." "By and large, there's been no major change in calculus from what we've seen them hit, and they are largely continuing to hit opposition," Kirby added. Asked whether the coalition should co-ordinate more with Russia, British Defence Minister Michael Fallon dismissed Putin's statements saying Moscow has to play a more constructive role in the political transition in Syria. "What they've got to do is stop propping up the Assad regime, stop bombing opposition groups who are opposed to the Assad regime, stop dropping unguided munitions on innocent villages and groups who've been fighting Assad, and get behind the political process that is now under way of leading that country to a more pluralist government and a future without Assad," said Fallon, who was speaking at a press conference in the Pentagon alongside U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter. Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian warplanes have flown 4,000 combat sorties in Syria since Moscow launched its air campaign on Sept. 30, destroying 8,000 "terrorist" targets. He added that Russia moved 214,000 metric tons of supplies to support the military action in Syria and helped restore a tank repair factory in the Syrian province of Homs. Without naming Turkey, Putin said the military should respond in full force to any further "provocations." He said the Russian military base in Syria has been beefed up with additional aircraft and air defence weapons. "I order you to act in the toughest way," Putin said. "Any targets threatening the Russian groups of forces or our land infrastructure should be immediately destroyed." At the same time, he said the military should "develop co-operation with all countries, which have a real interest in destroying terrorists," specifically mentioning the need to co-ordinate with the U.S.-led coalition and Israel to ensure flight safety. Speaking on a visit to Rome, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered a rare praise for the U.S.-led coalition, saying Moscow is glad to see it has "intensified its activities," targeting oil facilities and trucks in IS-controlled territories. He emphasized the need to shut the Syrian border with Turkey, saying that Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane amounted to a "coverup of terrorists." The downing of a Russian bomber by a Turkish fighter jet on Nov. 24 has badly strained relations between Moscow and Ankara. Turkey said it downed the Russian plane after it violated its airspace for 17 seconds despite repeated warnings, while Russia has insisted the plane had remained in Syrian airspace. Putin has denounced the Turkish action, ordered the deployment of S-400 long-range air defence missile systems to a Russian base in Syria and introduced a slew of economic sanctions against Turkey. Turkey's foreign minister said Friday his country is refraining from responding, but added the country's patience has limits. "If we are not responding to all that they have done until now, it is not because we are afraid or because of any psychology of guilt," Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV television. Putin said the Russian military action in Syria is essential for protecting Russia from extremists based there. He has said between 5,000 and 7,000 citizens of Russia and other ex-Soviet nations have joined the Islamic State group. "Our action there hasn't been prompted by some abstract geopolitical interests or a desire to train and test new weapons systems, which is important too," Putin said. "The main thing is to avert a threat to the Russian Federation." Russia's ambitious arms modernization program has continued at full pace this year, even though low oil prices and Western sanctions drove the economy into recession. Shoigu said the military has received 35 new intercontinental ballistic missiles, 243 aircraft, 90 air defence systems and 1,172 tanks and other armoured vehicles in 2015. He added the navy received two new nuclear-powered submarines equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles, two general-purpose submarines and eight surface warships this year. The military also expanded its presence in the Arctic, building several new bases and other military facilities there. Bradley Klapper and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.

This is an altered version of Green Greens, similar in build to Pokémon Stadium. Fox Falco Sheik Marth Jigglypuff Peach If there are attribute changes, there will be an attribute table listing all the changes. The table will simply list the attribute in the first column and the value in the second. If there are any changes to any moves, those changes are reflected in the "Moves" table. The moves table has the following columns: Name This column will list the name of the move (i.e. Raptor Boost), followed by the move type on the next line (i.e. neutral air), followed by a graphic representation of the inputs required (assumes the character is facing right). Speed A list of speed changes (in frames, or 1/60th of a second) are listed here. The types of speeds include: START Stands for Start Up a.k.a. Windup. Refers to the time between a move being initiated and the move having an effect. For dodges, this refers to the amount of time vulnerable before the invulnerable state of the dodge. For attacks, it is the time before the first hitbox. DUR Stands for Duration. Refers to the total time that the move lasts. COOL Stands for Cooldown, a.k.a Ending Lag. Refers to the time between the move's effect finishing and the character being able to do anything else, such as the length of time after an attack's hitboxes ceases that the character can use shield techs. For dodges, this refers to the amount of time the character is vulnerable after the invulnerable state of the dodge. In standard terminology, it normally refers to the time until the end of the animation, but that isn't as useful. LAND Stands for Landing Lag. This occurs when a character in the middle of an aerial attack lands on the ground, resulting in a longer-than-usual landing animation. IASA Stands for Interruptible As Soon As. This is the time after which the move can be interrupted with an action (non-shield tech). This normally refers to ANY interruption, even shield techs, but we use non-shield tech terminology to distinguish between shield tech interruptable and non-shield tech interruptable situations (COOL vs IASA). CAN USE [move] Some moves can only be cancelled into other moves after a certain amount of time. Damage This is the amount of damage the move deals. If there is no label, it is "Normal" damage, or damage it does to an unshielded opponent. If there is a label of "SHLD", that means the value refers to "Shield Damage", the amount of damage dealt to an opponent's Shield. Knockback A list of knockback changes changes are listed here. The types of knockback include: BASE Stands for Base Knockback. Refers to the minimum amount of knockback the attack can deliver. GROW Stands for Knockback Growth a.k.a. Knockback Scaling. Refers to the factor that controls how much the knockback increases as damage increases. SET Stands for Set Knockback a.k.a. Weight-Dependent Set Knockback or Fixed Knockback. This is knockback that is the same regardless of damage and stale-move negation. It is still affected by weight, though. ANGLE This is the angle that the attack knocks the opponent in degrees. 361 is what is called the "Sakurai Angle" and the knockback angle depends on air/ground state and strength of knockback. Other These are anything else that are changed about the move. See SSB Wiki's Game Physics or Smashpedia Terms pages for more info. Much of the info here was either gotten and sometimes directly lifted from those sources.

Malcolm and Tamie Fraser at home in March 2014. Credit:Simon Schluter for Good Weekend Overall Fraser's record shows him to have been one of the Liberal Party's most progressive leaders. Yet after his defeat by Labor's rising star, Bob Hawke, at the March 1983 election, he was disparaged and cast into the wilderness for nearly a decade. Even his own party kept its distance. When he offered himself as the Liberal Party's Federal president in 1987, he withdrew when soundings indicated clearly that party preference was for businessman John Elliott. The trouble was the Dismissal still rankled, even among some Liberals, but particularly with the vocal Left, and it was still being raked over in some quarters of academe. Traces of that sentiment still lingered in 1993 when he almost certainly had the inside running for the Federal presidency, but rather than divide the party, he again withdrew upon Tony Staley becoming a candidate. In some eyes Fraser's reputation also was still smudged by his resignation as Defence Minister in 1971 that led to the downfall of his leader and Prime Minister, John Gorton. He had precipitated that crisis by charging that Gorton had been disloyal to a senior minister (himself) and was not fit to hold office. Added to that was his move to topple Billy Snedden as Liberal opposition leader. He failed in his first attempt, but succeeded in his second on March 21, 1975 when he won a party-room ballot by 37 votes to 27. The total of those events left a mark. Perhaps more so, because he was never a popular figure, though respected for his strength and political authority. So he was politically excommunicated, dashing his hopes of fulfilling an elder statesman role in Australia. His own country was reluctant to court him, though conservative think tanks, universities and the international business community sought him overseas. He would much sooner have been doing those things in Australia, whose rejection he found hurtful. Full public rehabilitation did not come for him until the late 1990s. It gathered momentum after the Liberal Party decided to bring him in from the cold in June 2000 and bestow the party's highest honour, life membership. Even John Howard, whom Fraser had criticised savagely a week earlier, was prepared to be magnanimous, declaring him to have been a great Liberal leader. Howard's praise for his former leader stopped there. Even though Fraser went on to win public support for his strong anti-Howard stand on humanitarian issues and other social causes, Howard never publicly criticised Fraser. That restraint probably stemmed from the fact that when he became Prime Minister, Howard was concerned about the way Fraser had been treated. One of his first actions was to offer Malcolm a diplomatic appointment, but it didn't suit the Fraser's lifestyle and commitment at that time. The 1990s also saw a reconciliation between Whitlam and Fraser. In a speech paying tribute to Fraser's strong anti-Howard stand on humanitarian issues, Whitlam said, "Malcolm Fraser has now replaced me as Public Enemy Number One in the demonology of the Australian right wing. I must say I am much more relaxed about being supplanted by Malcolm Fraser for a second time than I was the first time." Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser with Queen Elizabeth during a speech by Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam at Parliament House, March 14,1977. Fraser won respect for seeking to use his post-PM years constructively. Much of that respect emanated from his role in establishing the CARE organisation in Australia, thus enabling him to make a major impact on overseas aid, both through CARE Australia and through the worldwide body, CARE International. At different stages, he led both organisations and ensured that CARE was in the forefront of humanitarian response around the world. He was also outspoken on affairs of the day, ranging from media ownership, the rights of asylum seekers and their detention, the treatment of Aborigines to the role of the High Court, to name just a few. A re-assessment of his role in government also got under way with an acknowledgement that he faced a tough task after winning the 1975 election with a mandate to curb the excesses of the Whitlam years and restore order to the economy, confidence to investors and sound government. To do this, he set about slashing public-sector expenditure, reducing the tax burden and initiating a drive to beat inflation. But the economic recovery he sought eluded him. It foundered on unemployment, demands for higher wages and developing globalisation. The challenge of globalisation demanded deregulation, whereas Fraser, ever the traditionalist, put his faith in regulation. He also failed to take the opportunity to reform the industrial system. Malcolm Fraser at home in March 2014. Credit:Simon Schluter Nevertheless he chalked up significant achievements in other areas of government. He championed multiculturalism; revived Australia's flagging immigration program, accepted thousands of Vietnamese boat people as refugees and accepted by regular refugee entry more than 50,000 others; extended native land title rights and appointed three particularly sensitive Aboriginal Affairs ministers in Fred Chaney, Ian Viner and Peter Baume. In foreign relations he strengthened Australia as a middle power able to punch well above its diplomatic weight, and for most of his years as Prime Minister he was the leading figure in the Commonwealth of Nations. He saw the Commonwealth as a valuable forum for north-south relations, and he became something of a champion in the eyes of Third-World leaders. He played a prominent part in negotiations that saw Zimbabwe become an independent nation, staring down British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the process. However, he missed out on the Commonwealth Secretary-Generalship because then Prime Minister Hawke was a bit heavy handed in pressing Fraser's nomination and because many saw it as Africa's turn. Moreover, Nigeria's Chief Emeka Anyaoku had an inside running, being a long-serving, highly regarded Deputy Secretary-General. On other fronts, where Whitlam had failed, Fraser negotiated a practical border arrangement between Australia and Papua New Guinea. He also supported environmental undertakings; reformed the family support system; established the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS); and banned whaling around the Australian coast. Fraser was prepared to act boldly and decisively where issues about which he had conviction were concerned and where personal ambition was involved, but was more cautious in government than people expected. After his retirement Fraser admitted, "the major mistake we made was not to go for full industrial power for the Commonwealth in 1976". A radical approach was needed and Fraser never took it. He also felt he made another mistake with the timing of the 1983 election by setting it in March rather than later in the year. A further error of judgment he later admitted to was his decision to quit politics immediately after the 1983 poll. If he had stayed on for a time, he believed the Liberals might not have spent a decade locked in a destructive leadership struggle between Howard and Peacock. As Prime Minister he was in the Menzies mould. Like Menzies he had dominance over Cabinet, Parliament and the Liberal Party. His philosophy in politics was to stay totally in control all the time. Though his ministers could not complain about the amount of consultation he took with them and his senior public servants. He ran Cabinet meetings on the basis of consensus by exhaustion. He had complete command over the machinery of government, was a stickler for due process, while his ability to master briefs and his cross-portfolio knowledge was said to be awesome. That was typical of his hands-on approach in all that he undertook. Throughout his life he maintained an address book that many would give and arm and a leg for. He could, and did, know how to rapidly track down anyone from personal staff to Heads of State, and in the process called in many IOUs to assist the causes that he supported. Tony Eggleton, who worked closely with Fraser as director of the Liberal Party's Federal Secretariat and political adviser, recalls that, whoever you were, whatever the time of day or night, there was always the prospect of a call from Malcolm Fraser. In his case, on one occasion, a local policeman flagged him down on the road from Canberra to Sydney. The policeman had received a call from the Prime Minister requesting that he locate Eggleton's car and get him to phone (before the days of mobile phones!). Eggleton also has a vivid recollection of Fraser's determination translated into bloody-mindedness. I still smile, he said, when I remember Big Mal striding across the ballroom at the Savoy Hotel in London, convinced that he was taking a short cut to his suite. Despite the protestations of personal and hotel staff, Malcolm headed for a door and disappeared into the broom cupboard to an accompanying clatter of mops and buckets. Despite some loss of dignity, he managed to crack a smile. Fraser was a formidable and aggressive politician, a patrician with a high sense of public duty, ambitious for himself and his country. He was also his own man, uncompromising but compassionate. He did not dodge controversy and didn't place great store on personal popularity. Though often described as a poor communicator, he could, and did, make effective public speeches. With his wooden, Easter Island-like face, he was shy and uneasy with people at a personal level, had no small talk at social occasions and admitted that from his earliest days in politics he built a wall around himself, not letting anything get through. That tendency to be a loner was noted during his school days and undoubtedly emanated from his early childhood. John Malcolm Fraser was born in Melbourne on May 21, 1930, the only son and second child of Neville Fraser, a pastoralist who had trained as a lawyer, and his wife, Una Woolf. His grandfather, Sir Simon, whom he came to greatly admire, had served in the Victorian Parliament and then as a senator in the first Commonwealth parliament. His early childhood was spent on his parents' 11,000-hectare grazing property, Balpool-Nyang, on the banks of the Edward River near Moulamein in the NSW southern Riverina. The homestead stood at the edge of a 2000-hectare red gum forest. After his only sibling, his sister Lorri, went away to boarding school, Malcolm was very much on his own. The only other child nearby was the rabbiter's daughter, with whom he played occasionally. In 1940, he was plucked from that environment, where he had developed a robust self-sufficiency, to board at Tudor House on the outskirts of Moss Vale in the NSW southern highlands. He flourished there both academically and at sport until the end of 1943. Then it was Melbourne Grammar in 1944, after his parents sold Balpool and moved to Nareen in Victorias western district. He disliked the atmosphere at Melbourne Grammar, which he found repressive after Tudor House where there was discipline, but also a lot of freedom. After Melbourne Grammar, it was Oxford and Magdalen College, where he took the Modern Greats tripos philosophy, politics and economics, rather than law, which his father had done. He struggled with the economic component of his degree, but finished with a third - not a bad result At Oxford, Fraser had developed an interest in politics, which he studied carefully and thoughtfully. So back in Australia in 1952, the career choice he faced was farming or politics. He joined the Liberal Party, but worked with his father on Nareen until the opportunity came for pre-selection for the seat of Wannon, which he eventually won in 1955. Soon after he was elected Fraser married in December 1956 Tamara (Tamie) Margaret Beggs, daughter of a grazier from Willaura, near the Victorian town of Ararat. An elegant and engaging woman with her social ease and charm, Tamie turned out to be Fraser's best political asset. She supplied the touch with people that her husband lacked. Soon after they married, Fraser became one of the first MPs to set up home in Canberra. The Frasers moved into rented accommodation, which they occupied during parliamentary sittings. When he took his seat in Parliament, Fraser, at 25, was the House of Representatives' youngest member, but he had to wait 11 years before advancement came his way. He was frustrated and puzzled when people like Snedden and Howson, who had also entered Parliament in the same year that he did, became ministers ahead of him. However, his chance came with Holt in 1966 as Minister for the Army. He handled the portfolio with flair and competence during the testing Vietnam War period, before becoming Minister for Education and Science 1968-69, then Minister for Defence 1969-71. He served again in Education and Science under McMahon until the Coalition lost the 1972 election to Labor. Fraser left his mark in each portfolio, but particularly Defence, with Arthur Tange as his departmental head. He had a strong rapport with Tange, who he said was, "the ablest public servant I have ever met". The fruit of their cooperation came with the Tange Report of 1973. The adoption of this report by the Whitlam Government saw the abolition of single service departments and their responsibilities merged under a single Defence Department. He also initiated planning for what became the Australian Defence Force Academy and was a strong advocate of forward defence. Though always wanting ministerial rank, he was prepared to sacrifice it by moving against Gorton, and going to the backbench. For a time he pondered whether he had any future at all in politics until Prime Minister McMahon brought him back into the ministry. In so many respects a strong leader, he was a complex man of many contradictions. Doing the right thing was always important for him, yet many of his actions could only been seen as questionable. While demanding personal loyalty from his colleagues, they couldn't always be sure that it would be reciprocated. His aloofness alienated many within the Liberal fold and beyond. Yet there was another side to Fraser: the man that was not often evident in Fraser the politician. He had a natural rapport with people of other races. As then senator Fred Chaney once famously remarked, "He doesn't have a racial bone in his body, otherwise I wouldn't work for the bastard." He was never condescending nor patronising in his dealings with people of other races, but treated them as equals. This was reflected in the strong role he played as an anti-apartheid campaigner. Also, appreciating that the leaders of the smaller Commonwealth countries were often out of their depth at full Heads of Government Meetings in London, he initiated regional meetings. Fraser's third term in office was not an altogether happy one. It was marked by damaging leaks, reshuffles and forced resignations. Several of the resignations, insisted upon as a matter of principle, were not really necessary, especially those of Senator Reg Withers over impropriety but not illegality, Michael MacKellar and John Moore over a customs issue. But most destabilising of all was the resignation of Andrew Peacock as Minister for Industrial Relations in April 1981. Peacock, who Fraser always saw as a potential rival, had been at odds with the Prime Minister, firstly over the Government's recognition of Cambodia's Pol Pot regime, and then over Fraser's confrontationist stance against the 35-hour week. So Peacock resigned and elected to go to the backbench. Relations between the two continued to simmer until Peacock finally made a direct challenge in 1982. But at the subsequent party meeting Fraser convincingly retained the leadership, defeating Peacock 54-27. These ministry upheavals not only rocked the Government, projecting an image of instability, they also showed up Fraser's poor management of people. For decades, Fraser was stalked by his celebrated enjoinder to the Australian people, "Life wasn't meant to be easy." What few people realised was that the quote, from George Bernard Shaw's play Methuselah, continued, "but take courage child, for it can be delightful". Wherever Fraser's name comes up, so too does the famous incident in 1986 when he was robbed of his passport, money and trousers in a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Reports, which were greeted with hilarity in Australia, said he had wandered into the hotel lobby wearing a towel and saying he thought he had been drugged. His biographer, Philip Ayres, has suggested that Memphis softened and reduced Fraser: softened the image of the man, reduced the stature of the politician. It certainly depicted him as more human, as did the emotion he showed when making his speech conceding defeat in the 1983 election - his voice faltered and his eyes became wet. That humanity became more and more evident in his retirement. However, for those who were able to get close enough that so-called softer side was always there. Wally Brown, former political correspondent of Brisbane's The Courier-Mail, observed he could be genuinely and superbly hospitable as the country gentleman. Wal Fife, a former Fraser government minister, insists that Fraser was always genuinely concerned about people. He tells the story of a woman who wrote a letter of woe setting out to Fraser the sea of problems she was facing. As the woman lived some 160km from Fife, Fraser asked if he would go and see her, which he did. Most of the woman's problems could only be tackled through State assistance, which Fife was able to arrange. And, as Fife said, it showed a side of the Prime Minister that the public was not generally aware of. Though Sir Paul Hasluck suggested that Fraser had few friends from his political days, he retained quite a number from those years, particularly Doug Anthony, who had been his deputy prime minister, and Peter Nixon, another National, who had been one of his senior ministers. However, his former immigration minister, Ian McPhee, always remained on friendly terms and kept in touch with him on a regular basis. He also kept in touch with quite a few members of the Liberal Party organisation with whom he had worked. One surprising friendship across the political divide was with Clyde Cameron from Labor's Left. In retirement Cameron did a lengthy interview with Fraser for the National Library's oral-history program and, in doing so, was a guest on several occasions at Nareen. Cameron also served under Fraser on the board of Care Australia, until the two fell out over some management issues at the aid agency. In retirement, as well as his activities in the public arena, Fraser also had to deal with the future of his 3500-hectare family property. Nareen had been in the family since 1944, but neither of the Fraser's two sons, Mark and Hugh, wanted to take on the place. Fraser might have lost his trousers in Memphis but he also lost his shirt acting as a "name" for Lloyd's of London. There were rumours about how much we was required to pay, but neither he nor LLoyd's ever spoke about such matters publicly. To boost the property's income, the Frasers turned it into a bed and breakfast establishment, while retaining their own privacy. Finally in 1997 they decided to sell and in 1998 moved to a property at Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula. Many people thought the move would be a wrench, particularly for Malcolm. But he had never felt for Nareen as he did Balpool, which he loved. So he and Tamie quite happily settled into their new home, which they called Thurulgoona after the property in Queensland, where Malcolm's grandfather had drilled the first bore that inaugurated the artesian well system that was to so benefit Australian agriculture. There, too, among other things, Malcolm always found time to practice his wood-turning hobby in which he was quite skilled - another unexpected side of the former Prime Minister. As his retirement years progressed, there was greater appreciation of the constructive and positive nature of his post-prime ministerial contribution. His international stature went unquestioned, being enhanced significantly by his determined, and ultimately successful, efforts to secure the release of three CARE Australia aid workers - Steve Pratt, Peter Wallace and Branko Jelen - captured and imprisoned by Serbian forces during the 1999 Kosovo crisis. Fraser flew to Belgrade where, in two separate meetings, he argued and negotiated with the then Serbian President, Slobovan Milosovic, for the men to be set free. There was also a growing respect for his liberal and forthright views on domestic issues. His was the voice that was most often heard when he felt that the government of the day was acting inappropriately at home and abroad. He did not hesitate to register his concerns when, in the context of the terrorist threat, he felt the Howard Government was introducing measures that impinged on basic rights and were a betrayal of Australian principles of a fair go and the abrogation of UN conventions. History may be much kinder to Malcolm Fraser than opinions in contemporary times suggest. In some respects at least, he might well be judged as having contributed as much, if not more, than John Howard. His wife, Tamie, sons Hugh and Mark, and daughters Angela, Phoebe and their families, survive him. John Malcolm Fraser, born Melbourne, May 21, 1930; died March 20, 2015. John Farquharson with input from Tony Eggleton.

KABUL, Afghanistan — For more than a decade, the Afghan first lady, Zeenat Karzai, was virtually invisible. Sequestered deep inside the high-walled presidential palace, she appeared to have abandoned her career in medicine and was only rarely allowed out in public by President Hamid Karzai. “People don’t hear from me very much,” Mrs. Karzai acknowledged in a rare interview in 2004. The new president, Ashraf Ghani, is moving quickly in the opposite direction. During his inauguration speech on Sept. 29, Mr. Ghani’s voice crackled with emotion as he paid loving tribute to his Lebanese-born “life partner and beloved wife,” Rula Ghani. Mrs. Ghani, who sat in the second row amid a sea of men, wearing dark glasses, nodded back. A murmur ran through the crowd. It was a brief but symbolically loaded moment. Many Afghan men are reluctant to talk about their wives with other men in private, let alone before a crowd. Not only did Mr. Ghani introduce the first lady publicly, he announced that she would have a public role in advocating for women, children and the internally displaced.

We’ve made an entirely new version of the devtools, and we want you to try it out! Why entirely new? Perhaps the biggest reason was to create a defined API for dealing with internals, so that other tools could benefit as well and not have to depend on implementation details. This gives us more freedom to refactor things internally without worrying about breaking tooling. The current version of the devtools is a fork of Blink’s “Elements” pane, and is imperative, mutation-driven, and tightly integrated with Chrome-specific APIs. The new devtools are much less coupled to Chrome, and easier to reason about thanks to React. What are the benefits? 100% React Firefox compatible React Native compatible more extensible & hackable Are there any new features? Yeah! The Tree View Much richer view of your props, including the contents of objects and arrays Custom components are emphasized, native components are de-emphasized Stateful components have a red collapser Improved keyboard navigation (hjkl or arrow keys) Selected component is available in the console as $r Props that change highlight in green Right-click menu Scroll node into view Show the source for a component in the “Sources” pane Show the element in the “Elements” pane Searching Select the search bar (or press ”/”), and start searching for a component by name. The Side Pane Now shows the context for a component for a component Right-click to store a prop/state value as a global variable How do I install it? First, disable the Chrome web store version, or it will break things. Then download the .crx and drag it into your chrome://extensions page. If it’s not working to drag it from the downloads bar, try opening your downloads folder and drag it from there. Once we’ve determined that there aren’t any major regressions, we’ll update the official web store version, and everyone will be automatically upgraded. Also Firefox! We also have an initial version of the devtools for Firefox, which you can download from the same release page. Feedback welcome Let us know what issues you run into on GitHub, and check out the README for more info. August 12, 2015 A second beta is out, with a number of bugfixes. It is also listed on the releases page.

Blake Hounshell is the editor in chief of POLITICO Magazine. In the span of one week, President Donald Trump and his team have pirouetted from declaring that Syria’s murderous dictator could stay in power to launching airstrikes against his regime—and possibly committing the United States to a new military conflict whose scope and scale are unknown. It’s a dizzying turnabout for a man who complained endlessly during the presidential campaign about the trillions the United States had wasted on wars in the Middle East—and who urged his predecessor in 2013 not to launch “stupid” airstrikes to punish Bashar Assad for using chemical weapons against his own people. Story Continued Below But Trump is nothing if not “flexible,” as he put it in Wednesday’s news conference, describing how horrific images of gassed Syrian children had changed his “attitude” toward Assad, who U.S. intelligence agencies were quick to deem responsible. As for what punishment the president had in store for the Syrian leader, he wasn’t sharing: “I’m not saying I’m doing anything one way or the other,” Trump said. On Thursday, as reports swirled that the administration was considering military action, Trump remained coy. He sidled to the rear of Air Force One and again told the traveling press corps that he wasn’t prepared to say what he might do about Assad. When pressed on the matter, he said only, "He’s there, and I guess he’s running things, so I guess something should happen." The messages coming from various quarters of the administration were, shall we say, mixed. Earlier Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke only of a multistage, John Kerry-esque process that would involve first defeating ISIS and stabilizing Syria, and then “to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.” By 4 p.m., my colleagues were reporting the National Security Council was meeting to tee up a decision for the president, who phoned in from Florida to make the final call. “Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” Trump said in brief remarks at Mar-a-Lago, casting the move as necessary “to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.” He didn’t say whether this would be his only action, or what he hoped would happen next. He didn’t say his aim was to oust Assad, but rather to “end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.” With these strikes, Trump is taking an extraordinary gamble, one whose ramifications he or his administration can’t possibly have fully examined. The Syrian conflict is mind-bogglingly complicated, with dozens upon dozens of insurgent groups squaring off against the Syrian military and pro-regime sectarian militias along with forces from Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran and Russia. Some of the insurgent groups are aligned with Al Qaeda; others with ISIS. The U.S. works closely with Kurdish groups that are mortal foes of Turkey, a problematic ally that is increasingly at odds with the United States. Has Trump wrestled with all of this complexity? The guy who spent the morning he learned about the chemical-weapons attack riffing to reporters about Susan Rice, Bill O’Reilly and the last time he rode the subway? Only last Thursday, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was saying, “Our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out,” and Tillerson, borrowing language from Russian diplomats, was announcing, “the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.” Months ago, Trump was insisting that the focus of U.S. policy should be defeating ISIS, rather than ousting Assad. "You’re going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton,” he told Reuters in an interview. "You’re not fighting Syria anymore, you’re fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, all right? Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk," he said. That was October. What happens next? It would be foolish to predict what Trump will do—he may not even know himself. But it seems we can dispense with the campaign-trail narrative that he is some kind of dove. Trump is a war president now: So far, he’s bombed both sides of the conflict in Syria; used military force in Yemen, where he dramatically escalated the number of drone strikes and authorized a special operations raid that led to the death of a Navy SEAL; and quietly deployed additional troops in Iraq (and Syria). Trump has also declared Somalia a combat zone, a designation that gives the military more leeway to launch airstrikes without seeking explicit White House approval. Nobody expected Trump, of all people, to wage a campaign to avenge Syrian children—who, after all, aren’t even allowed to come into the United States as refugees. But this is a man who doesn’t like being predictable. Back in 2013, when he was still just a billionaire reality TV star with a Twitter habit, Trump said if he did attack Syria, “it would be by surprise and not blurted all over the media like fools.” Surprise.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption PC Dave Phillips' sister, Hannah Whieldon, said her brother believed there was good in everyone Hundreds of police officers from across the UK have attended the funeral of Merseyside PC Dave Phillips, who died when he was struck by a car. Mourners were led by Mr Phillips' widow Jen, while daughters Abigail and Sophie lit a candle in memory of their father. The cortege, led by a pipes and drums band, made its way through Liverpool to the Anglican Cathedral. Mr Phillips, who was 34, died on 5 October when he was hit by a vehicle in Wallasey. PC Phillips' police hat was placed on the top of his coffin, which was draped in a Merseyside Police banner decorated with the force insignia, while a blue-and-white floral tribute read "Daddy". The coffin was carried out of the hearse and up the steps of the cathedral by uniformed colleagues, through a guard of honour formed by other police officers. The Reverend Lyndon Bannon, assistant priest at Willaston Christ Church, described him as "a loving gentleman" and said his widow Jen was an "inspiration". He said that Mr Phillips had "served the nation" and put his life on the line every day. Image copyright Peter Byrne/PA Wire Image caption Hundreds of mourners filled Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral Mr Bannon added: "If you want to see how many lives he has touched for the better, if you want to know how much he meant to everybody, then simply look around you. Look around at the immense number of people who have gathered here today from across the whole United Kingdom. "Dave was a happy, loyal, hard-working, loving, genuine person. He was quite simply Jen's best friend." Mr Phillips' sister, Hannah, paid tribute to her "selfless and giving" brother. She said he was a devoted family man and "our beacon for good". She said he had the hymn The Lord is my Shepherd stored on his phone so the family would know what to sing at his funeral. His colleague Dave Lamont said he had a "fantastic patience" and was "very disciplined". Image copyright Reuters/Darren Staples Image caption Mourners were led by PC Dave Phillips' widow Jen, their daughters and members of their family Image copyright Reuters Image caption Hundreds of uniformed officers joined the cortege Another of Mr Phillips' sisters, Kate, addressed the congregation with a poem which spoke of "the brightest star in the sky". The procession had paused outside Merseyside Police headquarters, allowing colleagues to pay their respects alongside the public. Ron Robinson, 66, from Hoylake, Wirral, said: "I am retired after 37 years with the coastguard and just wanted to pay my respects to a fallen comrade from the services. "He did not expect to go to work and not come back. No-one expects that." Pensioner Beryl Thomason, from Moreton, said: "When I heard it happened, I could not stop crying. I think it is absolutely awful what happened to him and I had to come to pay my respects." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aerial footage shows the length of the funeral cortege ahead of the service Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A policeman wiped tears from his eyes Image caption Police officers from across the UK travelled to Liverpool for the funeral in full dress uniform, with poppies and white gloves From the cathedral: BBC News reporter Helen Carter-Bennicke A sea of black tunics stretched down Duke Street as far as the eye could see outside Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral on Monday morning. The city fell silent except for the distant sound of a drill from a construction site. PC Phillips' widow Jen followed the hearse with her elder daughter Abigail, seven. Her younger child, Sophie, was carried by one of the mourners. As the cortege passed Canning Place, the Merseyside Police headquarters, the sound of the pipe band and the clopping hooves of the police horses added to the poignancy of the occasion. Drivers on the other side of the Strand, heading to the Three Graces, paused to look over, some bowing their heads respectfully. A lone piper played a lament as about 2,000 officers streamed into the cathedral. Image copyright REUTERS/Andrew Yates Image caption A hearse carrying PC Phillips' coffin arrived displaying his police "collar" number, 6554 Image copyright Merseyside Police 'One of our finest' Merseyside Chief Constable Sir Jon Murphy spoke of PC Phillips as an officer who showed "dedication, humility and great courage in serving his community". He described him as "caring, compassionate and resolute" and "a man we are all proud to say was one of us and was one of our finest". A blessing from the Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend Paul Bayes, said: "Members of the Police Service, you must know that we will remember you as you go back to your duty and keep us safe. May God give you all the comfort and his peace, his light and his joy in this world and the next." Mr Phillips' coffin was carried away as mourners applauded, clapping louder and louder as the pallbearers passed each individual row. A private family service was due to follow. Mr Phillips died after a pick-up vehicle mounted a central reservation where he was standing. Five people have been charged in connection with his death, including Clayton Williams, 18, from Wallasey, who is charged with murder. Image copyright Reuters/Andrew Yates Image caption Mr Phillips' widow Jen comforted daughter Abigail Image copyright Reuters/Darren Staples

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Trophy Guide Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the blockbuster follow up to Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drakes Fortune features 48 trophies consisting of 36 bronze, 8 silver, 3 gold, and the Platinum trophy. Use our Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Trophy Guide to achieve the coveted Platinum trophy. Page 1 – Page 2 – Page 3 Platinum Trophy (Platinum) – Platinum trophy – Achieve all other available trophies. Charted – Easy (Silver) – Finish the game in Easy Mode – Complete a single player campaign on Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulty. Charted – Normal (Gold) – Finish the game in Normal Mode – Complete a single player campaign on Normal or Hard Difficulty. Charted – Hard (Gold) – Finish the game in Hard Mode – Complete a single player campaign on Hard. Charted – Crushing (Gold) – Finish the game in Crushing Mode – Complete a single player campaign on Crushing difficulty. Crushing mode is unlocked by completing the single player campaign on hard difficulty. 20 Headshots (Bronze) – Defeat 20 enemies with headshots – You should be able to achieve this trophy in one complete playthrough of the single player campaign. 100 Headshots (Bronze) – Defeat 100 enemies with headshots – You should be able to achieve this trophy in 3 complete playthroughs or less of the single player campaign. 250 Headshots (Silver) – Defeat 250 enemies with headshots – You should be able to achieve this trophy in 5 complete playthroughs of less of the single player campaign. Headshot Expert (Bronze) – Defeat five enemies in a row with headshots – This is easiest achieved early on in the game on Easy or Normal difficulty. Very Easy turns on “aim-assist” that aims directly at the enemy’s torso, making it difficult to perform headshots quickly. Survivor (Silver) – Defeat 75 enemies in a row without dying – This can be difficult mainly due to the possibility of dying while climbing or jumping from platform to platform. Try for this on Very Easy difficulty (although it can be achieved in higher difficulties; depends on your skill level) and be extra careful while jumping and climbing. Run-and-Gunner (Bronze) – Defeat 20 enemies by shooting from the hip – Fire any weapon with R1 while aiming/running at them. Hangman (Bronze) – Defeat 20 enemies with gunfire by aiming while hanging – This trophy can be achieved in your first playthrough of the single player campaign. Just pay close attention for opportunities to hang from an edge, while having a clear shot at enemies. Page 1 – Page 2 – Page 3 Next Page >> Pages: 1 2 3

Why High School Students Need More Than College Prep Enlarge this image LA Johnson/NPR LA Johnson/NPR I step up to the counter at Willy's Cafe at Willamette High School in Eugene, Ore., and order a latte. There's a powerful scent of fresh coffee in the air, and a group of juniors and seniors hover over a large espresso machine. Carrie Gilbert, 17, shows how it's done: "You're going to want to steam the milk first," she explains. "Then once you have the coffee, dump it in and use the rest of the milk to fill the cup." She hands over my order. Not bad. Yes, this is a class, and these students are earning credit. But I can almost hear parents and students, for whom college is the only option, saying: Credit towards what? Isn't this just training for the dead-end, low-wage jobs of the future?' Gilbert, who helps manage the cafe and train other students, doesn't think so. "Just the overall experience with the cash register and all the different kinds of food preparation and working with money and all that stuff, it prepares you for all kinds of things." Training as a barista may not seem like a big deal, but Gilbert — and educators here and around the country — say she's learning those all-important "soft skills" that employers expect. Roughly seven out of 10 high school grads are headed to college every year — but that leaves hundreds of thousands who aren't. And survey after survey shows that employers are demanding — even of college-bound students — some level of job skills and professionalism: punctuality, customer service, managing people and teamwork. That's the message students at Willamette High hear just about every day over the PA system: You need job skills with real market value. The school's career and technical education program offers courses and training in all kinds of fields; culinary arts, health careers, robotics and welding. Students train as bank tellers with a local credit union, or learn food service and restaurants at Willy's Cafe. The school is affiliated with DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) program, which focuses on merchandizing, retail sales, marketing and entrepeneurship. The nearly 70-year-old program once seemed a relic of the "vocational education" era — a time when a much larger percentage of high school graduates went right into the workforce. But today, DECA is all about giving kids a taste of the real world and getting your foot in the door, says Dawn Delorfis, an assistant principal at Willamette High. DECA teachers and administrators don't discourage students from going to college, she says, but they do try to let every student know that, with the right skills and training, there are good entry-level jobs for them out there. Many of those jobs, "provide a good living for someone coming out of high school," Delorfis adds. "But the thing I think does still exist is the stigma attached: 'Oh, you're not going to college?' " Luis Sanchez, 18, says college and Starbucks are definitely not for him. But he likes the training at Willy's because it's like running a small business: "My parents own a restaurant, and I want to help run it." Which brings me back to parents, and that pressure of college as the only option. What happens when your kid comes home from school one day and says she's training as a barista? "If it were my kid, I wouldn't let it happen," says Anthony Carnevale. He's the head of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. "You don't tell middle-class Americans, 'I'm going to send your kid to trade school.' " Carnevale and others acknowledge that even good programs like DECA, and career and technical education programs in general, are often viewed as second-rate — a pipeline to low-wage, dead-end jobs. "These are not dead-end jobs," says John Fistolera, with DECA's corporate office. Fistolera says DECA teaches specific skills that business and industry require for employees to be successful. That's been DECA's mission since the mid-1940s, thanks to its partnerships with local employers and some of the nation's biggest businesses. It's a message that has broad and growing support, even from the White House. "You can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four year college education as long as you get the skills and the training that you need," President Obama said in 2014. But what high school students usually hear is another message the president touts just as often: "College for all." Carnevale says that's a message that kids and parents need to take with a grain of salt. "Every year more than 400,000 young people in the top half of their high school class go to college, and at least eight years later, they have not gained either a two- or four-year degree or a certificate," he notes. So, he adds, at some point those people need job skills and a path into the workforce. Carnevale warns that the high school curriculum has moved to higher and higher levels of abstraction, away from practical and applied learning. At Willamette High, though, the message to students is simple: Prepare for both work and college. It kind of makes sense, says 18-year-old Kareena Montalvo. The DECA course she fell in love with is graphic design. "I can't tell you how many posters we've done for upcoming plays, musicals," she says. "It lets me understand how artists need to meet clients' needs." Montalvo says she's already getting paid for several projects in the community. She sees herself as an entrepeneur and, down the road, a college student. "I want to get my major in graphic design and a minor in marketing." But right now, says Kareena, the idea of going into debt at such a young age to pay for college is crazy. So, she says, it's great having marketable skills and pretty good job prospects right out of high school.

Iraqi troops trying to retake Anbar province from a mixture of Islamist and tribal foes battled al Qaeda fighters in Ramadi on Saturday after shelling the western region's other main city, Falluja, overnight, tribal leaders and officials said. At least eight people were killed and 30 were wounded in Falluja, and residents of both cities said the fighting had limited their access to food, and that they were running low on generator fuel. Shops were sending food to mosques, and people were being asked through loudspeakers to go to collect it. Falluja has been held since Monday by Sunni Muslim militants linked to al Qaeda and tribal fighters united in their opposition to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a serious challenge to the authority of his Shi'ite-led government in Anbar province. Al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been steadily tightening its grip in the Sunni-dominated desert province bordering Syria in recent months in a bid to create a Sunni Muslim state straddling the frontier. But this week's seizure of territory in Ramadi and Falluja was the first time in years that Sunni insurgents had taken effective control of the region's most important cities and held their positions for days. In Ramadi, tribesmen and the army have been working together to counter the al Qaeda insurgents. However, in Falluja, ISIL's task has been made easier by tribesmen who have joined its fight against the government. Officials and witnesses said the northern and eastern parts of the city were under the control of tribesmen and militants on Saturday after residents fled to take refuge from the army shelling, and that the militants had deployed snipers atop empty houses and government buildings. STREET FIGHTING In Ramadi, military anti-terrorist teams were fighting al Qaeda militants in the streets after tribesmen asked for help from the army, which had been deployed only on the outskirts of the city, tribal sources said. "We asked them to raid the area or bomb it with jets, but they keep refusing as they say they do not want anyone to accuse them of attacking residential areas," a tribal militia leader in Ramadi told Reuters by telephone. Tribal leader Sheikh Rafe'a Abdulkareem Albu Fahad said the tribesmen were finding it hard to hunt down the militants in southern and eastern Ramadi as families had taken them into their homes. "We cannot persuade the people to kick them out," he said. The army said it controlled the entrance to Falluja and were gearing up for strikes against the militants in both cities. "We prefer not to attack now, as the militants have been deployed among the families," said Sameer al-Shwiali, media adviser to the commander of the anti-terrorist squad. "We call on people in Ramadi and Falluja to stay away from the militants as there will be lethal strikes targeting those militants in the coming hours." He said at least 18 ISIL snipers had been killed since Friday night in Ramadi and Falluja. The Iraqi Red Crescent sent convoys with food aid to both cities but could not enter because of the heavy fighting. Tension has been running high across Anbar - the heart of Iraq's Sunni insurgency after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion - since Iraqi police broke up a Sunni protest camp on Monday. At least 13 people were killed in those clashes. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy The escalating tension shows that the civil war in Syria, where mostly Sunni rebels are battling President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Shi'ite Iran, is spilling over to Iraq and threatening its delicate sectarian balance. Additional reporting by Kamal Namaa; Writing by Ahmed Rasheed and Rania El Gamal

CHICAGO — A video released Friday shows a 2012 police shooting in Chicago Lawn where officers shoot and stun a hulking, shirtless man who attacked a CTA bus driver, passengers and passers-by. The Independent Police Review Authority released video of the police shooting of Ismael Jamison, who survived the shooting. The incident occurred the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2012, at 62nd Street and California Avenue, according to authorities. The shooting is seen in the video below. An officer appears to shoot at Jamison after he started charging at him. The following video shows Jamison walking around the 6200 block of South California Avenue shirtless and at one point pulling at a pedestrian. "The Offender battered the elderly CTA bus driver and other citizens on the street with his hands and fists," according to a police incident report. "The offender then attempted to commit a battery to the responding uniformed CPD officer in an attempt to defeat the arrest. The offender was subsequently shot by that officer who was acting in self defense." The officer who shot Jamison told investigators that he was flagged down on California Avenue by someone who said there was a man on the bus beating people up. Jamison got off the bus and walked toward the officer, who told him to get back. Jamison later lunged toward the officer, who then fired several times. Jamison was charged with felony aggravated battery and taken to a hospital. The video and details in the case were released as part of a massive data dump by IPRA on Friday, showing documents and videos in more than 100 Chicago police misconduct cases. The release comes after Mayor Rahm Emanuel's appointed Police Accountability Task Force called on the Chicago Police Department to acknowledge racism and fight the "code of silence" that keeps officers from being held accountable. That task force also called for videos to be more readily released to the public, within 60-90 days. The massive release of videos includes many open cases, some of which are the subjects of lawsuits. At a news conference Friday, IPRA boss Sharon Fairley stressed that videos do not paint a complete picture of what happened in each incident, and many lack context. “It's really important for you to keep in mind that these materials may not convey all of the facts and considerations that are relevant [to an officer's conduct," she said. For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:

Here at One Green Planet, we are very familiar with the many issues that animals face everyday. From suffering in factory farms to losing their homes to deforestation and everything in between, it has never been more clear that the animals of the world need our help! As an individual, tackling all these issues (or even just one!) can seem incredibly daunting. When you think about how many animals there are on the planet that need our help, it seems impossible for one human to even make a dent! Luckily, however, we don’t have to go about saving the earth’s many animal species all on our own… In fact, there are HUNDREDS of organizations across the world that share our passion for animal welfare and have made it their sole mission to help countless species in need. Thanks to these organizations, progress is made everyday to improve the lives of animals. Behind the familiar titles of these organizations are many individuals who work tirelessly, most of whom you’ve probably never even heard of! While there are probably thousands of people who deserve a big THANK YOU on behalf of the world’s animals, we’ve compiled a list of 10 animal rights rock stars who you might not know – but totally should. Check them out! Advertisement 1. Paul Shapiro, HSUS Wikimedia Commons Shapiro recognized his passion for protecting animals at a young age, “Growing up, my dogs were always considered part of the family. So when I started learning about the cruelty farm animals endure in the meat, egg, and dairy industries, the first question that came to mind was, ‘What if these were my dogs?’ I quickly realized that if I wouldn’t want my own dogs to suffer such abuse, I shouldn’t want any animals to suffer it.” Paul Shapiro currently serves as the Vice President of Farm Animal Protection for the Humane Society of the United States. Shapiro also founded Compassion Over Killing in 1995 and has worked as an undercover farm animal cruelty investigator. In has career so far, Shapiro has helped to lead a number of legislative campaigns to improve the lives of animals kept in factory farms. 2. Matt Rice, Mercy for Animals Mercy for Animals Advertisement Advertisement Matt Rice is the Director of Investigations for Mercy for Animals. The numerous undercover investigations carried out by Mercy for Animals has helped to transform the way the public views factory farms and the treatment of animals in these settings. Rice works closely with veterinarians, attorneys, and animal welfare experts to build a case against abusive factory farms and expose the cruelty in “industry standards.” Advertisement “I’ve always been against animal abuse, but it wasn’t until I watched an undercover video showing the horrors of factory farming that I decided to commit myself to advocating on behalf of animals,” says Rice, “I remember thinking, I would do everything in my power to stop someone from hurting my dog and yet here I was paying people to hurt cows, pigs and chickens every time I sit down to eat. But going vegan wasn’t enough. I had to get active in the fight for animal rights.” When he is not organizing investigations, Rice also advocates for animal welfare in a public forum, giving speeches and organizing demonstrations to raise awareness about the suffering of animals. Advertisement 3. Robin Dorman, In Defense of Animals idausa.org Advertisement When Robin Dorman was eight years old she made her first contribution to an animal rescue organization. “Adopting” Cyrus, a whale living at Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, this would be the first step in a long career working in animal protection. “I have always marveled at the vibrant emotional and complex psychological lives of our various animal companions,” says Dorman. And it is this admiration and respect for animals that carries into Dorman’s current role with In Defense of Animals. An animal lover through and through, Robin Dorman is Campaign Director of International Animal Protection for In Defense of Animals. Dorman manages In Defense of Animals’ Anti-Dog and Cat Meat campaign, working closely with other organizations to secure a ban on dog and cat meat in South Korea. Working to raise cultural awareness about the dangers (to both humans and animals) of the dog and cat meat trade, Dorman and her team carry out investigations, educate the public, and hope to change the prevailing perceptions of the trade. Dorman has been involved in a number of rescues and has helped to give dogs intended for the meat trade a chance at the happy lives they deserve. Advertisement 4. Shawn Sweeney, Jane Goodall Institute JGI Shawn Sweeney grew up with a father who taught biology, so he was always encouraged to learn about animals and their environments. He began to research the plight of the mountain gorilla at the age of 10 when his grandmother introduced him to the work of photographer, Alan Brown. After learning about these gorillas Sweeney knew he would one day grow up to protect these animals – and he did! Sweeney now serves as the Director of Community Engagement for the Jane Goodall Institute. A certified humane educator, Sweeney does communications, marketing and advocacy for the Institute. Sweeney has also helped to bring humane education to the educators of the Congo, helping to teach local communities how protecting chimpanzees and the forests they call home ultimately helps to protect themselves. “Through all of my work in wildlife conservation, and studying animals in general I’ve met so many of them that have taught me so much about how they think and feel,” says Sweeney,”When I am near another animal, no matter the species, bunny or a crocodile, I can feel their presence and know deep down how worthy they are of our compassion and respect.” 5. Carole Baskin, Big Cat Rescue Big Cat Rescue To say Carole Baskin is a BIG cat lover is a massive understatement. Baskin is the CEO and co-founder of Florida’s Big Cat Rescue, the world’s largest accredited rescue facility for exotic cats. Before Big Cat Rescue was founded, Baskin kept wildcats as pets, but after learning that this was truly one of the worst ways to enjoy these animals, “The more time I spent around captive exotic cats, the more clear it became to me that no cat belongs in a cage.” Big Cat Rescue has been in business since 1992, and has helped to rehabilitate hundreds of exotic cats since then. Baskin and her family works as unpaid staff at BCR, illustrating their incredible dedication to this cause. BCR is an integral voice against the exotic pet trade and the use of big cats for entertainment. While Big Cat Rescue works to educate the public about the issues of keeping big cats in captivity, Baskin found that, “changing the laws was necessary to bring the relief these magnificent animals needed more quickly.” Basking and Big Cat Rescue are currently working on a bill to ban private possession altogether and already have 114 co-sponsors in the House and a hearing for the bill has been had in the Senate. 6. Shannon Keith, Beagle Freedom Project Shannon Keith founded Beagle Freedom Project in 2010 when she learned that there was a possibility for beagles kept in labs to have a chance at freedom. “Fighting for those who cannot speak has always been my calling,” says Keith, “Animal rights causes are the closest to me because animals literally do not have a voice. Our struggle for their freedom extends beyond what any other social justice movement has had to endure, because the fight for animals is for a different species.” Through Beagle Freedom Project, Keith works to organize the release and rehoming of beagles and other animals used in testing facilities across the U.S. In addition to serving as Beagle Freedom’s founder, Keith is an animal rights attorney and gives speeches internationally on the importance of animal rights. “When I look into the eyes of all of my rescued animals and the ones I save every day, I cannot help but promise that I will fight until I can fight no more – that they will be heard and they will be free.” 7. Diana Goodrich, Chimp Sanctuary NW 10 Amazing Women Behind Your Favorite Animal Sanctuaries Diana Goodrich is the co-director of Washington’s Chimp Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW). Goodrich has worked in the non-profit sector for the bulk of her career and her experience spans from researching gestural communication of chimpanzees to caring directly for these dynamic creatures. “I’ve always had an interest in and fondness for animals, but it took several events in my life, lots of inspiring people, and plenty of education about their treatment in various industries to bring me to the point of advocating on their behalf.” Goodrich’s first experience working with chimpanzees came in working with Washoe, a chimp who was raised using American Sign Language, “That experience was incredibly humbling because it was immediately clear how intelligent and curious chimpanzees are.” At CSNW, Goodrich cares directly for the chimpanzees and also manages fundraising, marketing and communication. While Goodrich deeply enjoys her work at CSNW, she explains, “Captivity for chimpanzees, no matter how enriched, cannot provide the richness of a life in the wild, so our ultimate goal as a sanctuary is to put ourselves out of business. I would love to see the day when there are no chimpanzees in need of sanctuary and they are thriving in their natural habitat.” 8. Theresa Strader, National Mill Dog Rescue National Mill Dog Rescue/Facebook Theresa Strader founded National Dog Mill Rescue after rescuing Lily, a greyhound who had been used for breeding in a puppy mill. Strader found Lily after receiving an e-mail with the subject line, “50 Italian Greyhounds in need,” and she immediately responded to see how she could help. Lily spent seven years of her life in a puppy mill and bore the scars of this horrible experience, but Strader loved Lily nonetheless. Strader saved Lily and 13 other dogs from a Missouri auction, and like that, the idea for National Mill Dog Rescue was born. In 2007, Strader founded National Mill Dog Rescue in Lily’s memory. The legacy of this special little dog lives on in the work the organization does saving other dogs from cruel puppy mills. To date Lily’s legacy is responsible for saving over 7,700 dogs as she is the inspiration and founder of MDRN. 9. Lek Chailert, Elephant Nature Park SaveElephant.org Lek Chailert is the founder of Thailand’s Elephant Nature Park. Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for elephants that are greatly threatened by poaching and the Thai elephant trade. Chailert has also founded Save Elephants Foundation, a non-profit that works to provide aid to Thailand’s captive elephants, educate the public on the issues facing elephants, expand sustainable eco-tourism, and provide training for elephant rescue and rehabilitation. When asked what inspired her to devote her career to protecting elephants, Chailert explains, “When I saw an elephant that worked for a logging company and how the elephant was pushed to work, even though he was not well, I knew I had to do something. His screams still stay in my head, and his eyes to show his pain. There are many elephants in the tourism industry who suffer and are sick, but are still forced to work.” Chailert works very closely with the sanctuary’s elephants – many of which are young orphan calves – ensuring they receive the proper care and socialization they need to grow up like elephants in the wild. Educating the public on why the tourism industry is harmful to elephants is a driving force behind Chailert’s continued passion. “I think people should get educated, and it is why I work.” 10. Virginie Parant & Neda DeMayo, American Wild Horse Preservation Virginie Parant and Neda DeMayo are the co-founders of American Wild Horse Preservation. DeMayo is the CEO and founder of Return to Freedom American Wild Horse Sanctuary in California, and Parant is an Los Angeles based attorney. Together, the pair founded American Wild Horse Preservation to raise awareness of the Federal Government’s wild horse round ups. While horses and burros have been historically protected under the Wild Horse and Burros Protection Act, yet every year the Bureau of Land Management rounds up wild horses to make space for grazing cattle. By advocating on behalf of these iconic animals, Parant and DeMayo are helping to find humane alternatives to round ups to help protect horses and burros. Green Monsters! Are there any amazing animal rights heroes that you think should be on this list? Send us your nominations in the comment section and we will add them in! Lead image source: SheKnows.com

Dry and Orcutt introduced the Model 3 King Midget in 1957. The basic body design of this model was used through the end of production. Other significant changes included unit body construction, with the frame and all fixed body components welded together for strength, four wheel hydraulic brakes, and 9.2 horsepower. As time progressed, other improvements evolved. The Philippine mahogany doors were replaced by aluminum doors and, near the end, steel doors. The electrical system was upgraded from 6 to 12 volts in 1961. The old standby Wisconsin AENL engine was replaced by a 12 horsepower Kohler K301 engine in 1966. The clicker low speed pulley was replaced by a silent Borg-Warner one-way clutch in 1967. The brown canvas top was replaced by a vinyl covered black or white top. An optional electric windshield wiper was offered, along with a windshield washer, radio, carpeted panels, floor mats, safety belts and new paint colors: Corinthian white, Rangoon red, yellow, blue and aqua.

That the U.S. Congress contains more than its fair share of millionaires is fairly well known. But I've never seen it put quite this vividly: If millionaires were a political party, that party would make up less than 10% of the country, but it would have a filibuster-proof super-majority in the Senate, a majority in the House, a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court, and a man in the White House. If the Millionaires' Party ever gets its act together, watch out. That's from Nick Carnes, a public policy professor at Duke University and author of the forthcoming book "White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making". It's easy to brush these numbers off. Members of Congress are, almost by definition, extremely successful, driven individuals. So, too, are Supreme Court judges and presidents. Perhaps this is no different than basketball players being tall or supermodels being attractive. But even if that's true, Carnes' research -- and common sense -- shows that the simple fact of being a white-collar millionaire leads to different priorities. It leads to different social circles. It leads to different bills. While the average member of Congress in my sample voted with the AFL-CIO approximately 56% of the time, models 3 and 4 in Table 1 suggest that if the class composition of Congress were identical to that of the nation as a whole, the average member would have supported the AFL-CIO’s position between 59% of the time (model 4, with controls) and 69% of the time (model 3, without controls), which translates into approximately one to three more major progressive economic policies in each Congress. Professional basketball is a different game because almost everyone who plays it is tall. Similarly, Congress is a different body because so many of its members are rich.

US President Donald Trump had warned ahead of the General Assembly vote that "we're watching" and threatened reprisals against countries that back the measure (AFP Photo/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted by a decisive vote of 128 to nine, with 35 abstentions, a motion rejecting the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. President Donald Trump had warned ahead of the vote in the 193-nation assembly that "we're watching" and threatened reprisals against countries backing the measure, which reaffirms that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations. Seven countries -- Guatemala, Honduras, Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands -- joined Israel and the United States in opposing the measure. Among the 35 countries that abstained were Argentina, Australia, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania and Rwanda. Ukraine, which supported the draft resolution at the Security Council, was among 21 countries that did not turn up for the vote. The measure was sent to the General Assembly after it was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council on Monday, although all other 14 council members voted in favor. "The United States will remember this day," US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the assembly. "America will put our embassy in Jerusalem," Haley said. "No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that. "But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN," she said. "When we make generous contributions to the UN we also have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected." While resolutions by the General Assembly are non-binding, a strong vote in support carries political weight. Israel seized the largely-Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, claiming both sides of the city as its "eternal and undivided capital." But the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state and fiercely oppose any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty there. Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized in 1967 and the resolution contains the same language as past motions adopted by the assembly.

Summary The highest mountains in the western US and Canada enjoyed an early taste of winter last week as a storm coated the highest peaks with a couple inches of snow. Following a quick break this past weekend, another storm will bring snow to most of the west during the middle and end of this week. After that, temperatures should begin a warming trend through early October. This early-season snow is fun to see, but it can't tell us much about how this season's snowfall will shake out. Short Term Forecast Let's take a quick look at gorgeous photos from this past weekend. It is not rare for these higher mountains to receive snow during September. Also, this early-season snow cannot tell us anything about snowfall during the upcoming of the season. Those caveats aside, it sure is nice to see snow, eh? And there is another early-season storm about to bring more snow to the western US and Canada. Here is the forecast for Big Sky, Montana over the coming week. That's a pretty good looking forecast, especially for mid-September! For the upcoming week, September 18-22, we can see that temperatures across the western US and Canada will be about 5-15F degrees below normal. A slow-moving storm is responsible for this cold air. In addition to the cold air, this storm will also bring plenty of moisture, which will fall as snow over the higher elevations. Here is the snow forecast for September 18-22: If this forecast pans out, I'll be back next week with another series of snowy photos. Also, the fall colors are getting closer to peak across the west, and it's quite a sight to see snow-capped mountains alongside golden Aspen leaves. I hope you have a chance to see this view in person! Extended Forecast The longer range 5-15 day forecast shows that initially, the western US will say cool. Here is the temperature compared to average for September 22-26: However, as we reach the last few days of September, the weather pattern will change as the cooler air heads east while the west warms up. Again, the September snow does not tell us anything useful about how the rest of the season will unfold. I am excited to see an active pattern setting up this early in the season, but I can't let that excitement translate into unreasonably high expectations for the season. Thanks for reading, and see you next week with another national update. In the meantime, our forecasts are updated daily, so feel free check a forecast for your favorite western mountain to see if they are going to get snow this week:-) JOEL GRATZ

Hayato Terahara allowed a run in seven innings and drove in two runs to lead the Pacific League’s Fukuoka Softbank Hawks to a 5-2 interleague victory on Sunday and a series sweep of the Yomiuri Giants. In the last of three games between defending league champions and current leaders, Terahara (3-0) allowed a single and a pinch-hit home run, while walking one and striking out four. With the Hawks leading 2-0 on Tomoki Takata’s two-run home run in the fourth, Terahara’s two-out bases-loaded single in the sixth off rookie Hayato Takagi (6-3) iced the game. Takata had never homered at any level since turning pro, while Terahara hadn’t had a hit in two seasons or driven in a run since 2010, when he played for the Central League’s BayStars. Takagi allowed four runs in six innings. The right-hander allowed eight hits and an uncharacteristic four walks, while striking out five. Hisayoshi Chono batted for the pitcher in the sixth and hit his fifth home run of the season. Lee Dae-ho, the PL’s player of the month for May, continued his torrid hitting, going 2-for-4 with a seventh-inning single that drove in Softbank’s fifth run. The Giants got a consolation run in the ninth, when cleanup hitter Hayato Sakamoto went deep to left off closer Dennis Sarfate for his fifth homer. Dragons 4, Buffaloes 3 At Nagoya Dome, it was the Chunichi veterans to the rescue as Kazuhiro Wada moved to within five hits of 2,000 for his career with a two-run homer and a single against Orix. Michihiro Ogasawara tied it in the eighth with a sacrifice fly for the Dragons, who then scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball by Buffaloes catcher Hikaru Ito. Carp 3, Eagles 1 At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Brad Eldred, who led the CL in home runs last season, broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with his fourth of the season, a two-run shot to lift Hiroshima past Tohoku Rakuten behind right-hander Yuya Fukui (5-1), who worked seven innings. Lions 9, BayStars 3 At Yokohama Stadium, Takeya Nakamura struck his 18th home run of the season, a two-run blast off Yokohama’s Kazuki Mishima (4-3) in a four-run fourth. Seibu’s Kuo Chun-lin (3-0) allowed just a run in six frames to claim his first win since April 5. Swallows 8, Marines 4 At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Tetsuto Yamada opened the scoring with a solo homer before tying it 3-3 with another in the seventh for Tokyo Yakult, and Mitch Dening’s grand slam off Carlos Rosa (1-3) in the same inning to put the game beyond Chiba Lotte’s reach. Tigers 4, Fighters 1 At Koshien Stadium, Matt Murton hit an RBI single off Hokkaido Nippon Ham’s Mitsuo Yoshikawa (5-3) to tie it 1-1 in the fifth, and doubled in another in the seventh to give Hanshin a three-run cushion. Atsushi Nomi (4-6) allowed a run in six innings as the Tigers stretched their winning streak to four.

Marouane Fellaini: Set to be out for six weeks The Belgium midfielder underwent the procedure to repair tendon damage at a hospital in the North West over the weekend after a troublesome back complaint failed to clear up as hoped. "He had his operation on Saturday morning," said United manager David Moyes. "We just couldn't get him recovered from his back. We thought it would be okay after 10 days but it wasn't getting any better so we made a quick decision to get the wrist done. "We think it will be six weeks, but there is a chance it could be shorter than that. "His back problem is going to take time. That is a muscle injury which wasn't healing. "It is unlucky. He has not felt 100 per cent because of his wrist. He has been finding it difficult. "I asked him to see if he could get over the Christmas period. He got the back injury against Everton and since then he has never really been right. "I have no doubt he will eventually be a good player for us." The £27.5million summer signing from Everton sustained the injury playing against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in early October but has played since with a protective cast. If Fellaini's recovery goes as scheduled, he will miss seven Premier League games, including the trip to Chelsea on January 19, plus both legs of the Capital One Cup semi-final with Sunderland and the FA Cup third and fourth rounds. However, the 26-year-old should be back well ahead of the trip to Olympiakos on February 25 in the first leg of United's Champions League last-16 tie. Fellaini will miss the Boxing Day trip to Hull, when striker Robin van Persie (thigh) and midfielder Michael Carrick (Achilles) are also set to be missing, although Moyes is refusing to abandon all hope. "This is the time when miracles happen," he said. "Let us hope there is one for Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick." Watch Hull City take on Manchester United live on Sky Sports 1HD from 12.30pm on Boxing Day, or for just £4.99 with a NOW TV day pass.

THE bulk of Norwich City's 2017-18 pre-season schedule has now been confirmed, with the Canaries to contest five matches in England ahead of starting their Sky Bet Championship campaign. They will begin with a trip to Lowestoft Town on Saturday, July 8 (3pm), in a match which acts as a replacement for last year's postponement of Micky Chapman's testimonial in recognition of his service to The Trawler Boys. Following that, City will head to Stevenage on Tuesday, July 11 (7:45pm) before visiting Cambridge United on Saturday, July 15 (2pm). On Tuesday, July 25 they travel to The Valley to take on Charlton Athletic (7:45pm) ahead of their final match of pre-season taking place at Carrow Road on Saturday, July 29 when City host Brighton & Hove Albion (3pm). Ticketing information for all of the above fixtures will be released in due course. Please note, these fixtures remain subject to change. Details of City's pre-season tour will also be made available in due course. The list of confirmed pre-season fixtures is as follows: Saturday, July 8 - Lowestoft Town (A) - 3pm Tuesday, July 11 - Stevenage (A) - 7:45pm Saturday, July 15 - Cambridge United (A) - 2pm Tuesday, July 25 - Charlton Athletic (A) - 7:45pm Saturday, July 29 - Brighton & Hove Albion (H) - 3pm

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A natural enemy has arrived to help control the brown marmorated stink bug, an invasive pest that devastates gardens and crops, particularly orchard fruits and nuts. The samurai wasp (Trissolcus japonicus) is a tiny insect that hunts for the egg masses of brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) and lays an egg inside each egg in the mass. Since there are 28 eggs in a cluster, that's the potential for 28 more wasps. The parasitic wasp develops inside the egg, effectively killing the stink bug, and then chews its way out. The brown marmorated stink bugs, which showed up in Oregon in 2004, feed on more than 100 plants, particularly vegetables, pears, apples and hazelnuts, but also ornamentals. The economic damage to commercial crops in Oregon hasn't yet been determined, but is substantial in other parts of the country, said David Lowenstein, an Oregon State University Extension Service entomologist. The damage done by brown marmorated stink bugs to crops and garden plants makes discovery of the samurai wasp all the more important, he added. So far, tests to determine the success of the samurai wasp against the invasive stink bugs have been positive, said Lowenstein, who was the lead author on a guide to identifying the samurai wasp. "The wasp is a better way to control BMSB because it's a biological control agent that reduces the need for chemicals - which are only somewhat effective - and it's a specialist," he said. "It doesn't lay eggs in other insect eggs except those of other stink bugs." Once the brown marmorated stink bug eggs have been parasitized, the samurai wasp chews its way out, leaving a jagged hole. Homeowners must deal with the added nuisance of the shield-shaped bugs invading houses, especially in fall when they're looking for a place to overwinter. "Brown marmorated stink bugs are unmistakable because of the stinky, irritating odor when they're crushed," said Vaughn Walton, an entomologist with OSU Extension. "They move from wild host plants to our gardens and then in large amounts into our homes. That's when people get really upset. Bugs inside freak people out." Control is difficult, however. Research has shown that pesticides are only a short-term solution and will kill other beneficial insects, including the samurai wasp. Brown marmorated stink bugs can be distinguished from other stink bugs by the bands on their antennae. In spring, adults start eating and laying eggs on the undersides of leaves. Within a week, the eggs hatch into immature bugs and eventually adults and the process starts again. The bug could reproduce up to three times a year depending on conditions, said Vaughn Walton, an entomologist with OSU Extension who helped produce aguide on the invasive pests. The wasp is native to East Asia, the same range as the brown marmorated stink bugs, so is a natural enemy and probably hitched a ride on a ship. Scientists at OSU, including Lowenstein, had already begun rearing and studying the beneficial insect in the lab when it was found last year in 11 areas in the Willamette Valley, including several in Portland. Since none had been released from the lab, the discovery is significant. This summer Lowenstein and other researchers will revisit those areas and some nearby to see if the wasp survived the winter. "Some natural enemy controls do great in the lab, but don't perform as well in the field," he said. "But the fact that it's already widespread across Portland is a positive sign that it can withstand conditions in Oregon." Wooded areas, particularly those bordering orchards, are most likely to serve as habitat for the wasp, which can move quickly over long distances. But since the stink bugs have migrated into urban locations, experts expect the wasps to survive there, as well. The public can serve a key role in samurai wasp research by collecting possible brown marmorated stink bug egg masses and reporting them to Lowenstein on a form at the Wiman Lab website, where more information, tips and photos are available to help with identification. In short, look for black eggs, which means they've been parasitized. Once the wasps emerge, there will be irregular holes. Taking photos is strongly encouraged. -- Kym Pokorny

I was standing on a rooftop in central London on the last day of filming a crucial scene for Sherlock when I got a call offering me the role of production designer on the new series of Upstairs Downstairs BUT - I had to start the following day! This was my introduction to the rollercoaster ride that was to take over my life for the next five months. We pick up the story of 165 Eaton Place in September 1938 which is a great era for design - the height of art deco. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions Returning to 165 Eaton Place As the production designer, I was very keen to utilise this in our distinction between 'Upstairs' and 'Downstairs' - the opulence and crisp elegant lines of art deco as opposed to the rougher, more textured world of the working classes. The interior of the house is all a set and is spread between three studios at BBC Wales' new facility down in Cardiff Bay (next door to Casualty and Pobol y Cwm). We've added a couple of extra rooms to the interior set this year and one of those is a dining room. I enjoyed designing it as we were able to introduce some very contemporary shapes and patterns into the set. Look out for the pair of doors leading into the dining room and the floor inside. We designed and made these ourselves - without seeming too Changing Rooms, they're all paint effect and MDF!! The main hall is in a larger studio than the rest to allow for it to be two storeys, which helps sell the idea of it being a real house. You can follow the actors from the dining room across the hall and up the stairs to the landing and drawing room. The decorating of these sets correctly is very important. We must make sure that the patterns and colours look good on camera, so we co-ordinate with the costume department to make sure that the actors' outfits are complementary to the scenery and don't blend into the background. The cost of redecorating a room could be the difference between coming in on or over budget. Therefore I have to discuss options and themes beforehand - with the producer, director, director of photography and costume. I have to admit that I tend to get my own way most of the time! Harry Spargo (Neil Jackson) and one of the vintage cars Interior design is only one aspect of the job however, and as much as I like my wallpapers, we also have cars, planes, trains and buses to source as well as all the props. I have a very good team helping me with all these as it would be an impossible task on your own - the organising of the vehicles alone is a monumental task. The cars, for example, are mostly privately owned and are brought to set by the owners or drivers on their behalf. Due to their age some are trailered if they need to travel very far. The aeroplane we sourced from Duxford Air Museum, who were, as always, very helpful. It's also a big task sourcing the dressing props (what we use to make the sets look real) and action props, which are used by the actors and often described in the script which means we have to source or reproduce. We hire some, trawl round antiques markets for others, and eBay is also a good resource. We even have some made especially - look for the special gasproof pram! It was based on a real one but there were only a few very sketchy photos that survive of it, which were sourced from the internet and some old newsreel. Downstairs: Anne Reid as Mrs Thackeray There is also all the food and flowers. The end products of Mrs Thackeray 's work in the kitchen need to both look good enough to serve at a royal dinner party and be authentic for the period. Because of this a specialist TV and film food economist was hired in. She would pre-prepare some of the food and then it would be finished in a specially-made food preparation area just outside the studio so that we could serve it piping hot straight to set! To support her expert work, we also depended on the culinary skills of our very own Hannah Nicholson (my set decorator) who also did most of the flower arranging as well as a myriad of other things! It was a very challenging project but with a great team behind me I think we managed to achieve something beautiful - I hope you agree. Arwel Wyn Jones is the production designer on Upstairs Downstairs. Upstairs Downstairs returns to BBC One and BBC One HD on Sunday, 19 February at 9.30pm. For further programme times, please see the episode guide. Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum suffered an avulsion fracture of his left middle finger during the fourth quarter of the team's 101-99 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. He is listed as "probable" for Tuesday night's road game against the Sacramento Kings. Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com first reported the fracture on Twitter. Batum suffered the injury when he committed his fifth foul with 21 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. During post-game comments, Batum said that the injury occurred when he got his finger caught in Michael Carter-Williams' jersey, and cameras showed the finger being popped back into place before he fouled out with 14 seconds to play. "I figured out five or 10 seconds after it happened," Batum told Blazersedge. "I saw my finger hurt. I just shake my finger. I was like uh oh, and I rushed to the trainer and he put it back. You don't really care about it when it happens in the action, it was a close game. ... Now, it's getting cold, it kind of hurts." None of Portland's starters has missed a game this season. "Maybe because it's the left hand, one finger, it should be OK," Batum told Blazersedge. "Next game is in two days so I should be OK." Batum finished with four points (on 1-for-9 shooting), 10 rebounds, 10 assists and four turnovers against the Sixers. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

After the Ohio Turnpike speed limit rose to 70 mph last month, nearly one in five travelers took that as an invitation to drive at least 80, according to the State Highway Patrol. A speed survey earlier this month showed a spike in traffic zoom-zoom-zooming at 80 mph or more, reports Capt. Chris Zurcher, commander of the patrol's turnpike operation. Troopers clocked 19 percent of cars going 80 or faster during the survey, the first one done since the toll road's legal speed increased from 65 to 70 mph on April 1. The trend alarms Zurcher: "Eighty miles per hour is too fast, period," he said. And fyi . . . Zurcher said troopers will write tickets for that speed. Now a few other fast facts: • Overall on the turnpike, the average speedometer reading for passenger cars ticked up to 76 mph with the higher limit, according to the recent survey. (Cars clocked in at 74 mph during a November survey before the speed limit change.) Commercial trucks on the toll road cruised at 68 mph compared to 64 mph in the fall. • The extra dash of speed hasn't led to more crashes. In fact, numbers decreased slightly in April from the previous year. Troopers investigated 141 crashes compared to 145 in April 2010. The turnpike has seen one fatal crash so far in 2011, equal to the number at the same point last year. • Speed seems to work for business. The number of trucks using the turnpike increased with the speed limit in April, rising slightly while total traffic decreased. (Officials attribute the overall drop to higher fuel prices.) The Turnpike Commission had hoped that the change to 70 mph would lure more trucks onto the toll road, pulling them off of smaller parallel routes. • Know what else has gone up on the turnpike? The number of tickets issued. Troopers penned nearly 3,600 citations in April, up 3 percent from the same month in 2010. They're keeping a close watch -- especially in construction zones -- given the extra zip shown by motorists. "People are driving 80 now and the weather has been terrible," Zurcher said. "What are we going to see when it's summer?" Increased enforcement seems like a good guess. Sharing information: Seven Hills set the pace for Chestnut Road drivers. The city installed 25 mph markers where Chestnut branches off Broadview Road to provide travelers some needed guidance. Previously, eastbound Chestnut traffic saw no speed limit signs for more than a half mile -- a stretch that included 25 mph and 35 mph sections, at least according to notices facing westbound travelers. Road Rant noted the missing signage in a recent column. Afterward, the city's service director reviewed the setup and opted to eliminate the brief 35 mph speed zone before installing new signs. The decision makes Chestnut 25 mph end-to-end from Broadview to Brecksville roads. Triple coverage: South Euclid's mobile traffic camera is going to be more mobile. Police intend to use the camera on three residential streets next week, relocating it every few days to maximize its benefits, Traffic Commissioner Bob Abele said. Previously, the photo enforcement lens remained parked on one street for a full week. Day-to-day ticket totals, however, showed that drivers quickly adjusted and slowed down. That's what the city wanted. Now, it hopes to multiply that effect. The camera will start next week on Ardmore Road before moving to Liberty Road and then Princeton Boulevard. South Euclid has pledged to announce the targeted streets prior to making relocations. The landing spots will be in Road Rant's Sunday column through the end of the month. After that, look for the info on Road Rant's Facebook page.

A Mississauga man who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges after conspiring to bomb high-traffic areas in New York City in 2016 “has a long history of drug use,” according to newly revealed court documents. Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 19, and two others allegedly plotted to conduct bombings and shootings during Ramadan on behalf of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, the U.S. Justice Department said. The planned locations included Times Square, concert venues and the subway. Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 19,of Mississauga, pleaded guilty to terrorism charges after allegedly being part of a plot to conspire to bomb high-traffic areas in New York City in 2016. ( FACEBOOK ) The group communicated via online messaging applications with an undercover FBI agent. While in prison, an inmate gave El Bahnasawy suboxone, a drug often used to treat opioid addictions. El Bahnasawy relapsed after taking it, the documents said. As punishment, a disciplinary officer eliminated his visitation rights for 18 months last November. The letter also mentions that a psychiatrist visited El Bahnasawy in prison, but details about his addictions and mental health are redacted. Article Continued Below “Mr. El Bahnasawy’s family travelled down from Ontario frequently to visit him (in the prison),” read the letter from New York prosecutors to a district court in the state. “He has no friends outside of his close-knit family.” Multiple appeals to reverse the visitation ban were rejected before finally being restored after seven months. The letter also refers to a period where El Bahnasawy was in “inpatient drug treatment.” A Facebook friend of El Bahnasawy told the Star that they were in a program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto in 2015. “He walked out of the program not really changed,” said Mike Duran, who said he attended a youth rehabilitation program with El Bahnasawy. “The program concentrated on addictions almost exclusively so his mental health problems weren’t really addressed.” When reached by the Star, CAMH would not confirm or deny his attendance in the program. Article Continued Below Duran said El Bahnasawy was in the program for around two months along with about a dozen people. “I didn’t see this coming, but I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am,” Duran said. “If we helped those with mental illness more seriously, he wouldn’t be in this mess.” In the program, patients practised meditation, attended counselling and played basketball, according to Duran. He added that El Bahnasawy was “the funniest guy you’ll ever meet” and got along with the other patients. Duran said the program was not conducive to helping all the patients, including El Bahnasawy. “The system, as good as its intentions were, weren’t that helpful,” he said. “We were all around people just like us, so it was actually a very fun place surprisingly, which is kind of counterintuitive.” Of El Bahnasawy’s terrorism charges, Duran said: “I think he simply found people who truly accepted him. He liked the feeling of being somebody one can depend on. “He’s jokingly mentioned before how (he) wasn’t friends with many people at his school, implying that peers weren’t exactly the nicest to him.” El Bahnasawy is a Canadian citizen who was born in Kuwait. His education ended in Grade 11 at a Canadian school, which he did not complete, the court documents show. The documents also state that El Bahnasawy spent his first five months in prison in “near isolation” before joining the general population in September, and was denied a request to be served halal food. On Friday, U.S. officials released details of El Bahnasawy’s guilty plea, which was heard by a New York court last October. Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old American citizen living in Pakistan, and Russell Salic, a 37-year-old citizen of the Philippines, have also been arrested and are still before the courts. El Bahnasawy is scheduled to be sentenced in December. Read more about:

On Monday, Trump said he would probably need to terminate NAFTA to get what he considers a fair trade deal with economic partners Mexico and Canada, and revisited his campaign promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall. Asked in Washington if Mexico would continue negotiating if Trump pulled the trigger on the six-month process of withdrawing from the trade deal, Videgaray responded with an emphatic "No." Videgaray said he, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross agreed on Wednesday to continue with a "serious" renegotiation process. At around the same time, during a speech at a Missouri factory, Trump repeated his threat to shred the deal. Videgaray and Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo traveled to Washington following Trump's near daily threats in the build up to the second round of NAFTA talks, due to be held in Mexico Sept. 1-5 A clause in NAFTA allows any of the three countries to withdraw from the deal after giving 180 days notice, and Trump has previously flirted with the idea of starting that process to ramp up pressure on the other trade partners. Some experts in the United States argue that Trump would not be legally allowed to leave NAFTA without the approval of Congress. The first five-day round of talks between the three countries concluded in Washington on Aug. 20, with all sides committing to follow an accelerated process in revamping the agreement.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the Northis a co-op Action RPG, from the developers of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, that immerses you and your friends in a brutal new chapter in the War of the Ring. Set in Middle-earth during the time of the War of the Ring, but separate from its events, War in the North is inspired by both the Lord of the Rings books and movies allowing players to draw their swords, notch their axes, bend their bows and raise their staffs against a wide range of deadly enemies and traverse both established and never-before-seen locations. The result is a journey that is both epic and intimate, familiar yet unexpected. Click Image To Enlarge Become One of the Unknown Heroes on Middle-earth "With his far reaching rich hand Sauron might have done great evil in the North. Yet all that has been averted because a handful of heroes stood in his path."- Gandalf the White The Dúnedain ranger Eradan, Andriel the Elf and Farin the Dwarf from Lord of the Rings: War in the North Playable Characters and Co-op Gameplay The gameplay inThe Lord of the Rings: War in the Northis all about cooperation. Players will take on the role of either Eradan, a Dúnedain ranger, Andriel, an Elf or Farin, a Dwarf. Each will have special abilities tied to their race - for example, a Dúnedain can combine different objects to create unique items for use or sale in-game; Elves possess superior sight, which will lead you to shortcuts and recognition of trouble ahead; and Dwarves have the ability to notice weaknesses at the walls and break them in order to find secret caves with different loots. Each race with have character class possibilities as well as legendary weapons. Once characters are established, they must band together in multiplayer action, working together to combat hordes enemies. These enemies include goblins pouring from their strongholds in the Misty Mountains, Uruk-hai from Isengard, savage wargs in the wilderness, giant spiders infesting Mirkwood, massive trolls and most dramatic and dangerous of all, bosses like Agandaûr, a deadly Black Númenórean lord who long ago was tempted and turned by the lies of Sauron. Along your journey you will also cross paths with Lord of the Rings characters familiar and not so familiar, fulfilling little known but important events of the wider War of the Ring. These include: Aragorn's scouting party of the North, while Frodo recovers in Rivendell from the wound he suffered at Weathertop; missions with the Elven sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir; the responsibilities of the wizard, Radagast the Brown; encounters with the great eagles of the Misty Mountains and more. Features: A brutal new The Lord of the Ring adventure set during, but separate from the main events of the War of the Ring An exciting main story campaign coupled with dozens of side quests Cross paths with your favorite Lord of the Ring heroes, as well as more obscure characters Classic Action-RPG action that centers on co-op gameplay and character development Three playable races - Dúnedain (man), Elf, Dwarf, each with its own storyline and unique quests Multiple character classes including Mage, Scout and Warrior Magic abilities including active (fire, lightning and ice spells) as well passive (morale bonuses, protective shields/wards) spells The ability to craft items and potions A special Challenge Mode consisting of missions and maps built especially for co-op gameplay and not tied to the main campaign Box Contains: Snow Troll Exclusive Figurine Video Game War in the North Art Book Inside Look disc with music and interviews Digital Content - Ranger Avatar and Orc Champion Sword Click Images To Enlarge

The recent Arctic chill has given Fox News an excuse to give "skeptics" a platform to deny climate change and bash climate science. But the network has been remiss to discuss the topic during periods of record heat. During their coverage of cold weather from January 2 to January 8, Fox News brought up climate change nine times, casting doubt on it every single time. They also devoted a significant amount of coverage to a ship getting stuck in Antarctic ice to mock climate change during this period. But this strongly contrasts Fox News' coverage of extreme heat events, in which the network is typically silent on the topic of global warming. A previous Media Matters analysis found that, in a parallel week-long time period in 2011, Fox News did not mention climate change once while reporting on an unusually intense heat wave. And throughout the entire month of July 2012, which was the hottest month on record for the United States, the network discussed climate change in the heat wave's context once -- in order to deny it. Meanwhile, MSNBC primarily featured the anti-scientific "skeptic" claims to dismiss them in its five segments on the topic. CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers rebutted the "skeptic" claims in one segment, but in CNN's only other segment on the topic, the network portrayed the science of global warming as up for a "debate" by non-scientists. As MSNBC's Al Sharpton put it, "It's times like these that you want a scientist around to explain things" -- he brought on Bill Nye "The Science Guy" to make the case:

The Islamic State’s Aleppo Division released three photographs of “the graduation of a new batch of Mujahideen” from a training camp in the eastern Syrian province. The photographs were released on July 24 on the Aleppo Division’s Twitter feed. The exact location of the camp has not been disclosed. The photographs show scores of armed fighters sitting and standing in what appears to be a hangar. Jihadist groups in both Iraq and Syria have promoted the existence of at least five training camps this year. The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda’s branch in Syria and a rival of the Islamic State; Jaish al Muhajireen wal Ansar (Army of Emigrants and Supporters, or Muhajireen Army), a group of foreign fighters led by commanders from the Caucasus; an Uzbek jihadist group known as the Imam Bukhari Jamaat; and the Islamic State have all promoted propaganda that showcase their training facilities and graduates. [See LWJ report, Islamic State touts training camp in northern Iraq.] Most recently, the Islamic State promoted images from its “camps” in Mosul, Iraq, which has been under the jihadist group’s control since June 10. [See LWJ report, Islamic State touts training camp in northern Iraq.] The Islamic State has been destroying mosques, tombs, churches, and other religious sites in Mosul since the beginning of July. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.

Share As aviation authorities around the world try to work out how best to deal with nitwits flying quadcopters close to airports, another piece of kit continues to cause serious concern when it comes to airline safety – the laser pointer. Although it’s hard to comprehend, a few people out there seem to think it’s a good idea to shine lasers into the cockpits of planes coming in to land. Apparently they don’t seem to realize that their actions could, in a worst case scenario, cause a pilot to lose control of the aircraft. The issue is back in the headlines this week after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that on Wednesday night alone, in the space of just a few hours, 11 commercial flights were targeted by lasers as they flew at low altitude into either Newark airport in New Jersey or LaGuardia in nearby New York City. Affected carriers included American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta, United, and Republic, CNN confirmed Thursday. There are no reports of any injuries among those piloting the targeted aircraft, and no arrests have yet been made. A possible five-year jail term awaits the offender or offenders. FAA data shows the problem of handheld lasers being pointed at planes is a growing one – 3,894 incidents were reported in the U.S. last year, a huge leap from the 283 recorded strikes in 2005. On its website, the Transportation Security Administration says a beam from a laser pointer, even from a mile away, has the power to light up a cockpit “like a camera flash going off in a pitch black car at night.” If that isn’t enough to momentarily distract and disorient a pilot who’s focusing on the not insignificant task of landing a plane, a direct hit on their eyes at a crucial moment could certainly cause real problems. Last year the FAA said it’d documented 35 cases where pilots needed medical treatment after being targeted by a laser strike, though up to now there have been no reports of aircraft losses due to laser pointers.

Normal service on the Brown Line has been restored after an unmarked Chicago Police car struck a train when it drove around the crossing gates Friday afternoon on the Northwest Side. The accident happened near the 4600 block of North Kedzie in the Albany Park neighborhood. Trains run across Kedzie Street Friday night but a few hours ago emergency crews arrived for a collision a car and a Brown Line train. Thirty to forty passengers were escorted off the train and in the car was a female police officer. "There was a lady coming out of the train to get out of the car. But she was pinned down. So I think somehow she got her loose and pulled her out of the window. I believe the door was jammed," said witness Joseph Abraham. The officer in the unmarked vehicle was apparently in pursuit of a suspect. "The chase went across the tracks here on Kedzie. The officer in the squad car tried to get across the tracks to assist her partner," said CPD Deputy Chief John Escalante. The police officer's injuries are believed to be minor. The train operator was also taken to the hospital for chest pains. "People don't realize the stress that does come with this job every day. And it's when you go across these gates like this, it can be a car, it can be a person. It can be anything," said Robert Kelly of the Amalgamated Transit Union. The accident and resulting derailment caused commuting delays for motorists on Kedzie and CTA riders who were shuttled by bus around the accident. "It would have been great if they would have told us downtown in the loop that this was happening," said commuter Doris Laser. "I could have taken the blue line to my husband's job and gotten on that way much faster." The CTA Spokesperson says that they will review the incident and look at the video to see if there are any changes that need to be made to improve safety. Also, the union president we spoke with says he recalls in years' past trains had to actually stop before crossing the avenue, but it's not clear if that procedure would have prevented what happened this evening.

Image copyright AFP Image caption ANZ's headquarters in Sydney. ANZ, one of Australia's biggest banks, has suspended seven traders as part of an inquiry into the potential rigging of key interbank interest rates. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has been investigating the country's interbank market since mid-2012. Nigel Williams, chief risk officer of ANZ, said it was co-operating fully with ASIC. The bank has been also been conducting its own investigation. Mr Williams said: "This is a complex issue and ASIC's investigation and ANZ's internal review may not be complete for some time. In light of this, we are taking the precaution of having seven staff involved in markets trading step down pending completion of the investigation into practices to 2013." ANZ said it was not appropriate to comment further while the investigations were completed. Regulators have been examining rate-setting mechanisms after banks including Barclays, RBS and UBS were fined billions for rigging Libor, the London interbank offered rate. Earlier this year, ASIC censured French lender BNP Paribas and Royal Bank of Scotland after revealing that its traders tried to influence the setting of Australia's interbank rate. Australia scrapped its interbank rate-setting system last year after several banks decided to leave the panel. It was the first major market to dismantle the structure. Shares in ANZ fell 0.2%, or 6 cents, to $31.77 in afternoon trading in Sydney. ANZ is valued at 87.7bn Australian dollars ($76bn; £48.6bn) - more than either RBS or Barclays. Last month it announced a record full-year net profit of A$7.3bn, up 15% from a year earlier.

Cerebral coasters. In your cerebral cortex right now, there are billions of neurons working like crazy so you exist. And the neat thing about these neurons is how we've hijacked a bunch of them into reading these words. Think of all the areas of your brain we are commandeering right now! Poop. We just made you read the word poop. We might also have caused memories and images of poop to plop through your brain. Whew, such power. To celebrate the power of our headiest of organs, we bring you these awesome Brain Specimen Coasters. Each set of Brain Specimen Coasters comes with ten glass coasters. Each coaster has four rubber feet (to further protect the surfaces the coasters are protecting in the first place) and a slice of brain printed on it. If you stack your Brain Specimen Coasters in the proper order (which is easy to do, since the coasters are labeled) and look from the proper angle, you'll see a full brain. Plus, if you use your Brain Specimen Coasters at your next science party, your friends will know how thoughtful you really are. Get it? Brain Specimen Coasters? Thoughtful? Uhhh.... poop.

EASTON, Pa. - A 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl raped, tortured and killed at her adoptive mother’s home had been abused or neglected in at least three homes during her short life. A lawyer for Grace Packer’s birth parents told The Associated Press they lost custody of the toddler over allegations that other adults were sexually abusing their young children. Grace was then adopted by adoption worker Sara Packer when she was 3, only to have Packer’s husband go to prison after molesting Grace when she was 9. He also was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old foster child. Authorities near Philadelphia this week charged Sara Packer and a boyfriend with killing Grace in a “rape-murder fantasy” carried out over many hours. The girl was beaten, raped as her mother watched, poisoned and then strangled when they found her still alive hours later in a stifling attic last July, authorities said. “It sounds like this poor girl went through hell,” said lawyer David Tornetta, who had fought for the birth parents to keep their three young children. He called them good people who perhaps lacked the money and skills to care for them. When he learned this week that their middle child, then called “Susan,” was the girl found killed and dismembered, he wondered if he had done enough for the family. By the time Sara Packer reported her daughter missing in July - telling police the teen may have run away - she no longer wanted her, prosecutors said. She and Sullivan started planning her death as soon as Grace returned from a long stay with an out-of-state relative, they said. “She was unwanted. They wanted to ship her out. ... And when that failed, they plotted to kill her,” said Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, who oversees major crimes prosecutions in Bucks County. Sara Packer, 41, and boyfriend Jacob Sullivan, 44, were arrested on murder and other charges last weekend after they were found unconscious from an over-the-counter overdose in what authorities called a joint suicide pact. Sara Packer’s public defender did not return phone messages this week. Sullivan apologized as he was led into court from the hospital, telling reporters he was “sorry for what (he) did.” Investigators in several northeast Pennsylvania counties are now trying to determine how many foster children Sara Packer and her ex-husband, David Packer, took in before he went to prison in 2011 and whether any other children were abused. Sara Packer, by then an adoptions supervisor in Northampton County, lost her $44,000-a-year job amid her husband’s arrest on sex crimes. She was never charged, but there was some concern she was aware of the abuse and didn’t stop it, Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said. Grace was last seen alive at a family picnic July 4. Her mother raised suspicions when she failed to drop off a promised photograph of her daughter to police and moved without telling them, taking Grace’s 12-year-old biological brother, whom she had also adopted, in tow. Hunters found Grace’s body in a wooded area in Luzerne County on Oct. 31. Sara Packer and Sullivan are due in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 20.

Basics of Authentication¶ In this section, we're going to focus on the basics of authentication. Specifically, we're going to create a Java server (using vert.x) that implements the web flow of an application in several different ways. Note You can download the complete source code for this project from the vertx-examples repo. Registering your app¶ First, you'll need to register your application. Every registered OAuth application is assigned a unique Client ID and Client Secret. The Client Secret should not be shared! That includes checking the string into your repository. You can fill out every piece of information however you like, except the Authorization callback URL. This is easily the most important piece to setting up your application. It's the callback URL that GitHub returns the user to after successful authentication. Since we're running a regular Sinatra server, the location of the local instance is set to http://localhost:8080 . Let's fill in the callback URL as http://localhost:8080/callback . Accepting user authorization¶ Now, let's start filling out our simple server. Create a class called io.acme.Server and paste this into it: package io.acme ; import io.vertx.core.AbstractVerticle ; import io.vertx.core.json.JsonObject ; import io.vertx.ext.auth.oauth2.* ; import io.vertx.ext.auth.oauth2.providers.GithubAuth ; import io.vertx.ext.web.Router ; import io.vertx.ext.web.handler.* ; import io.vertx.ext.web.templ.HandlebarsTemplateEngine ; public class Server extends AbstractVerticle { private static final String CLIENT_ID = System . getEnv ( "GITHUB_CLIENT_ID" ); private static final String CLIENT_SECRET = System . getEnv ( "GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET" ); // In order to use a template we first need to // create an engine private final HandlebarsTemplateEngine engine = HandlebarsTemplateEngine . create (); @Override public void start () throws Exception { // To simplify the development of the web components // we use a Router to route all HTTP requests // to organize our code in a reusable way. final Router router = Router . router ( vertx ); // we now protect the resource under the path "/protected" router . route ( "/protected" ). handler ( OAuth2AuthHandler . create ( authProvider ) // for this resource we require that users have // the authority to retrieve the user emails . addAuthority ( "user:email" ) ); // Entry point to the application, this will render // a custom template. router . get ( "/" ). handler ( ctx -> { // we pass the client id to the template ctx . put ( "client_id" , CLIENT_ID ); // and now delegate to the engine to render it. engine . render ( ctx , "views" , "/index.hbs" , res -> { if ( res . succeeded ()) { ctx . response () . putHeader ( "Content-Type" , "text/html" ) . end ( res . result ()); } else { ctx . fail ( res . cause ()); } }); }); // The protected resource router . get ( "/protected" ). handler ( ctx -> { ctx . response () . end ( "Hello protected!" ); }); vertx . createHttpServer () . requestHandler ( router :: accept ) . listen ( 8080 ); } } Your client ID and client secret keys come from your application's configuration page. You should never, ever store these values in GitHub--or any other public place, for that matter. We recommend storing them as environment variables -- which is exactly what we've done here. Notice that the protected resource uses the scope user:email to define the scopes requested by the application. For our application, we're requesting user:email scope for reading private email addresses. Next, in the project resources create the template views/index.hbs and paste this content: < html > < body > < p > Well, hello there! </ p > < p > We're going to the protected resource, if there is no user in the session we will talk to the GitHub API. Ready? < a href = "/protected" > Click here </ a > to begin! </ a > </ p > < p > < b > If that link doesn't work </ b > , remember to provide your own < a href = "https://github.com/settings/applications/new" > Client ID </ a > ! </ p > </ body > </ html > (If you're unfamiliar with how Handlebars works, we recommend reading the Handlebars guide.) Navigate your browser to http://localhost:8080. After clicking on the link, you should be taken to GitHub, and presented with a dialog that looks something like this: If you trust yourself, click Authorize App. Wuh-oh! Vert.x spits out a 500 error (with the message callback route is not configured ). What gives?! Well, remember when we specified a Callback URL to be callback ? We didn't provide a route for it, so GitHub doesn't know where to drop the user after they authorize the app. Let's fix that now! Providing a callback¶ In the Server class you don't need to know the internal of the OAuth2 protocol, the OAuth2AuthHandler can do it for if you configure the protection as: router . route ( "/protected" ). handler ( OAuth2AuthHandler . create ( authProvider ) // we now configure the oauth2 handler, // it will setup the callback handler // as expected by your oauth2 provider. . setupCallback ( router . route ( "/callback" )) // for this resource we require that // users have the authority to retrieve // the user emails . addAuthority ( "user:email" )); After a successful app authentication, GitHub provides a temporary code value. This code is then POST ed back to GitHub in exchange for an access_token which is in turn translated to a User instance in your vert.x application. All this is taken care for you by the handler. Checking granted scopes¶ Before the User object is handled to you, if your handler was configured with authorities they will be first checked. If they are not present then they the whole process is aborted with an Authorization error. However you might want to assert for other granted authorities, in this case you would: ctx . user () . isAuthorised ( "some:authority" , res -> { if ( res . failed ()) { // some error handling here... } else { if ( res . result ()) { // is authorized! } else { // is not authorized! } } }); Making authenticated request¶ At last, with this access token, you'll be able to make authenticated requests as the logged in user: // we cast the user to a specialized implementation AccessToken user = ( AccessToken ) ctx . user (); // retrieve the user profile, this is a common feature // but not from the official OAuth2 spec user . userInfo ( res -> { if ( res . failed ()) { // request didn't succeed because the token was revoked so we // invalidate the token stored in the session and render the // index page so that the user can start the OAuth flow again ctx . session (). destroy (); ctx . fail ( res . cause ()); return ; } // the request succeeded, so we use the API to fetch the user's emails final JsonObject userInfo = res . result (); // fetch the user emails from the github API // the fetch method will retrieve any resource and ensure the right // secure headers are passed. user . fetch ( "https://api.github.com/user/emails" , res2 -> { if ( res2 . failed ()) { ctx . session (). destroy (); ctx . fail ( res . cause ()); return ; } userInfo . put ( "private_emails" , res2 . result (). jsonArray ()); // we pass the client info to the template ctx . put ( "userInfo" , userInfo ); // and now delegate to the engine to render it. engine . render ( ctx , "views" , "/advanced.hbs" , res3 -> { if ( res3 . succeeded ()) { ctx . response () . putHeader ( "Content-Type" , "text/html" ) . end ( res3 . result ()); } else { ctx . fail ( res3 . cause ()); } }); }); }); We can do whatever we want with our results. In this case, we'll just dump them straight into advanced.hbs : < html > < body > < p > Well, well, well, {{ userInfo.login }} ! </ p > < p > {{ #if userInfo.email }} It looks like your public email address is {{ userInfo.email }} . {{ else }} It looks like you don't have a public email. That's cool. {{ /if }} </ p > < p > {{ #if userInfo.private_emails }} With your permission, we were also able to dig up your private email addresses: {{ #each userInfo.private_emails }} {{ email }}{{ #unless @ last }} , {{ /unless }} {{ /each }} {{ else }} Also, you're a bit secretive about your private email addresses. {{ /if }} </ p > </ body > </ html > Implementing "persistent" authentication¶ It'd be a pretty bad model if we required users to log into the app every single time they needed to access the web page. For example, try navigating directly to http://localhost:8080/protected . You'll get an authentication request over and over. What if we could circumvent the entire "click here" process, and just remember that, as long as the user's logged into GitHub, they should be able to access this application? Hold on to your hat, because that's exactly what we're going to do. Our little server above is rather simple. In order to wedge in some intelligent authentication, we're going to switch over to using sessions for storing tokens. This will make authentication transparent to the user. This can be achived with the stock handlers so our server file would be: package io.acme ; import io.vertx.core.AbstractVerticle ; import io.vertx.core.json.JsonObject ; import io.vertx.ext.auth.oauth2.AccessToken ; import io.vertx.ext.auth.oauth2.OAuth2Auth ; import io.vertx.ext.auth.oauth2.providers.GithubAuth ; import io.vertx.ext.web.Router ; import io.vertx.ext.web.handler.* ; import io.vertx.ext.web.sstore.LocalSessionStore ; import io.vertx.ext.web.templ.HandlebarsTemplateEngine ; public class Server extends AbstractVerticle { private static final String CLIENT_ID = System . getEnv ( "GITHUB_CLIENT_ID" ); private static final String CLIENT_SECRET = System . getEnv ( "GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET" ); // In order to use a template we first need to // create an engine private final HandlebarsTemplateEngine engine = HandlebarsTemplateEngine . create (); @Override public void start () throws Exception { // To simplify the development of the web components // we use a Router to route all HTTP requests // to organize our code in a reusable way. final Router router = Router . router ( vertx ); // We need cookies and sessions router . route () . handler ( CookieHandler . create ()); router . route () . handler ( SessionHandler . create ( LocalSessionStore . create ( vertx ))); // Simple auth service which uses a GitHub to // authenticate the user OAuth2Auth authProvider = GithubAuth . create ( vertx , CLIENT_ID , CLIENT_SECRET ); // We need a user session handler too to make sure // the user is stored in the session between requests router . route () . handler ( UserSessionHandler . create ( authProvider )); // we now protect the resource under the path "/protected" router . route ( "/protected" ). handler ( OAuth2AuthHandler . create ( authProvider ) // we now configure the oauth2 handler, it will // setup the callback handler // as expected by your oauth2 provider. . setupCallback ( router . route ( "/callback" )) // for this resource we require that users have // the authority to retrieve the user emails . addAuthority ( "user:email" ) ); // Entry point to the application, this will render // a custom template. router . get ( "/" ). handler ( ctx -> { // we pass the client id to the template ctx . put ( "client_id" , CLIENT_ID ); // and now delegate to the engine to render it. engine . render ( ctx , "views" , "/index.hbs" , res -> { if ( res . succeeded ()) { ctx . response () . putHeader ( "Content-Type" , "text/html" ) . end ( res . result ()); } else { ctx . fail ( res . cause ()); } }); }); // The protected resource router . get ( "/protected" ). handler ( ctx -> { AccessToken user = ( AccessToken ) ctx . user (); // retrieve the user profile, this is a common // feature but not from the official OAuth2 spec user . userInfo ( res -> { if ( res . failed ()) { // request didn't succeed because the token // was revoked so we invalidate the token stored // in the session and render an error page // so that the user can start the OAuth flow again ctx . session (). destroy (); ctx . fail ( res . cause ()); } else { // the request succeeded, so we use the API to // fetch the user's emails final JsonObject userInfo = res . result (); // fetch the user emails from the github API // the fetch method will retrieve any resource and // ensure the right secure headers are passed. user . fetch ( "https://api.github.com/user/emails" , res2 -> { if ( res2 . failed ()) { // request didn't succeed because the token // was revoked so we invalidate the token stored // in the session and render an error page // so that the user can start the OAuth flow again ctx . session (). destroy (); ctx . fail ( res2 . cause ()); } else { userInfo . put ( "private_emails" , res2 . result (). jsonArray ()); // we pass the client info to the template ctx . put ( "userInfo" , userInfo ); // and now delegate to the engine to render it. engine . render ( ctx , "views" , "/advanced.hbs" , res3 -> { if ( res3 . succeeded ()) { ctx . response () . putHeader ( "Content-Type" , "text/html" ) . end ( res3 . result ()); } else { ctx . fail ( res3 . cause ()); } }); } }); } }); }); vertx . createHttpServer (). requestHandler ( router :: accept ). listen ( 8080 ); } } I hope you now can use OAuth2 on your next project!

Washington (AFP) - A SpaceX rocket exploded in midair during a test flight, though no one was injured, as the company seeks to develop a spacecraft that can return to Earth and be used again. The rocket was a three-engine version of the F9R test vehicle that succeeds SpaceX's Grasshopper prototype. "During the flight, an anomaly was detected in the vehicle and the flight termination system automatically terminated the mission," the company said in a statement, released on Friday. "Throughout the test and subsequent flight termination, the vehicle remained in the designated flight area." SpaceX noted that a Federal Aviation Administration representative was present during the test. It stressed that the test was "particularly complex, pushing the limits of the vehicle further than any previous test." The company plans to review flight record details to understand what caused the problem before conducting another test. SpaceX is competing with other companies -- including Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin -- to be the first commercial outfit to take astronauts to space, possibly as early as 2017. Until then, the world's astronauts must rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of $70 million per seat.

Pete Hegseth: Stephen Curry "Dribbles A Ball For A Living" And Thinks He Knows Anything About Leadership? On Sunday's edition of 'Fox & Friends,' co-host Pete Hegseth weighed in on the president's feud with professional basketball player Stephen Curry, who he disinvited from the White House: PETE HEGSETH: So Steph Curry is the son of an NBA player, Dell Curry, a great NBA player. Steph Curry himself, one of the best -- probably the best shooter of all time. My kids – two of my kids have his jersey. We love Steph Curry. Yet, he is a millionaire millennial. He is a coddled -- he’s lived a coddled life where he shoots a ball and dribbles a ball for a living, and somehow now he’s preaching to this president about what leadership really looks like? When it’s a -- and even Steve Kerr, the coach of the team, said it’s a privilege to go to the White House. Instead, the Warriors are saying that they’re going to go to D.C. anyway and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion. (Via MediaMatters

Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. AS HE prepares to call an election later this year Kevin Rudd, Australia's prime minister, is hoping his government's handling of the global financial crisis might help him win a second term. Australia was one of the few rich countries to avoid a recession. Unemployment in December fell to 5.5%. But a report published on February 1st announces an even bigger challenge for the economy: a population explosion. The report, from the federal Treasury, foresees Australia's population growing by almost two-thirds over the next 40 years—to 36m—about 25% higher than the Treasury had predicted just three years ago. Some of the boom will be home-grown, as young Australian women are having more children than did their baby-boomer predecessors. But a larger proportion will come from immigration. Up to last year, Australia had been taking about 244,000 immigrants a year. The big intake will at least help to compensate for an ageing population. Almost 90% of today's immigrants are younger than 40, compared with only 55% of native Australians. Nonetheless the number of Australians aged between 65 and 84 will more than double by 2050, and the number of those aged over 85 will more than quadruple. So many oldies will mean almost half of government spending going to health care and support for the elderly. Yet the proportion of working-age taxpayers will be only about half as big as now. Mr Rudd has said he believes in “a big Australia”. More people, he argues, will contribute to the country's prosperity and boost its influence in Asia. But since these latest demographic projections, he has been touring Australia's big cities warning that the country must lift productivity, or risk unsustainable budget deficits later on. Some experts argue that the environmental costs of a big Australia are an even bigger worry than the fiscal ones. A decade of drought has left the country's water supplies depleted. Until recent rains, the Lachlan river had stopped flowing in some of the farming regions of New South Wales, the most populous state. The Treasury's report says climate change poses as serious a threat to Australia as does the ageing of its population. This week Mr Rudd's government brought back to Parliament a bill to create an emissions-trading scheme, though the upper house rejected it twice last year. He seems determined to force a showdown over the issue. Ken Henry, the head of the Treasury, questions the capacity of a country as hot and dry as Australia to sustain so many people. He is also pessimistic about the prospects for biodiversity. He recently cited the granting of permits over the past decade that have allowed the commercial slaughter of 50m kangaroos “primarily to give household pets a bit of variety in their diet”. This suggests, he said, that even with only 22m people, “we haven't managed to find accommodation with our environment.” The Treasury report does not include a kangaroo-population forecast.

By By Kev Hedges Mar 5, 2011 in Entertainment Mumbai - "Slumdog" child star, Rubina Ali, has said her home has been burned down in an overcrowded slum in Mumbai, India. The 12-year-old child actress, who played a poverty-stricken child in the Oscar-winning film has lost everything. Rubina says she has lost all her awards and her collection of newspaper clippings and photographs from the Slumdog Millionaire film. The rags-to-riches movie won Police are investigating the cause of the blaze but many fires in Mumbai slums are started by faulty electricity cables that hang precariously between shanty buildings. The blaze left The slums were assembled alongside the Bandra railway station in the western suburb of Mumbai. The slum that Rubina lived in had been subject to some In the summer of 2009, Rubina was homeless and waiting for a new home to be issued by state government of Maharashtra. However, on Friday night she said that she and her family were watching television in their corrugated-roofed shack when they heard shouts of a fire and ran out of their home to see the Garib Nagar slums ablaze.Rubina says she has lost all her awards and her collection of newspaper clippings and photographs from the Slumdog Millionaire film. The rags-to-riches movie won eight Oscars two years ago, yet a tearful Rubina said, "It's all gone. Even my best clothes, everything, including books and precious belongings like photographs, newspaper clippings and memorabilia of the film".Police are investigating the cause of the blaze but many fires in Mumbai slums are started by faulty electricity cables that hang precariously between shanty buildings. The blaze left 21 people injured and 2,000 newly homeless.The slums were assembled alongside the Bandra railway station in the western suburb of Mumbai. The slum that Rubina lived in had been subject to some controversy , in particular the exploitation of the the child actors. Some photos of the Mumbai slums before the blaze can be seen here More about Slumdog millionaire, Rubina ali, Mumbai More news from Slumdog millionaire Rubina ali Mumbai

Satellite image of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud formation over Argentina in 2018 [1] Picture of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud, taken from a commercial airliner cruising at about 10 km altitude. The cumulonimbus flammagenitus cloud (CbFg) is a type of cumulonimbus cloud that forms above a source of heat, such as a wildfire, and may sometimes even extinguish the fire that formed it.[citation needed] It is the most extreme manifestation of a flammagenitus cloud. According to the American Meteorological Society’s Glossary of Meteorology, a flammagenitus is "a cumulus cloud formed by a rising thermal from a fire, or enhanced by buoyant plume emissions from an industrial combustion process."[2] Analogous to the meteorological distinction between cumulus and cumulonimbus, the cumulonimbus flammagenitus is a fire-aided or –caused convective cloud, like a flammagenitus, but with considerable vertical development. The CbFg reaches the upper troposphere or even lower stratosphere and may involve precipitation (although usually light),[citation needed] hail, lightning, extreme low-level winds, and in some cases even tornadoes.[3] The CbFg was named following the discovery in 1998,[4] that extreme manifestations of this pyroconvection caused direct injection of large abundances of smoke from a firestorm into the lower stratosphere.[5][6][7][8][9][10] The aerosol of smoke comprising CbFg clouds can persist for weeks, and with that, reduce ground level sunlight in the same manner as the “nuclear winter" effect.[11][12] A cumulonimbus flammagenitus may often form from the eruption column of a volcano. In 2002, various sensing instruments detected 17 distinct cumulonimbus flammageniti in North America alone.[13] Alternate spellings and abbreviations for cumulonimbus flammagenitus that may be found in the literature include Cb-Fg, pyrocumulonimbus, pyro-cumulonimbus, pyroCb, pyro-Cb, pyrocb, and pyro-cb.[citation needed] The World Meteorological Organization does not recognize the cumulonimbus flammagenitus as a distinct cloud type, but instead classifies it simply as cumulonimbus. 2003 Canberra Firestorm [ edit ] On 18 January 2003, a supercell thunderstorm formed from a cumulonimbus flammagenitus cloud[citation needed] associated with a severe wildfire, during the 2003 Canberra bushfires in Canberra, Australia. The supercell resulted in a large fire tornado, rated at EF3 on the fujita scale, the first confirmed violent fire tornado.[14][15] The tornado and associated fire killed 4 people and injured 492. See also [ edit ]

Acting Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Chuck Rosenberg said he stands by his assertion that the DEA would support more research of marijuana. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) The Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions has effectively blocked the Drug Enforcement Administration from taking action on more than two dozen requests to grow marijuana to use in research, one of a number of areas in which the anti-drug agency is at odds with the Trump administration, U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. A year ago, the DEA began accepting applications to grow more marijuana for research, and as of this month it had 25 proposals to consider. But DEA officials said they need the Justice Department’s approval to move forward. So far, the department has not been willing to provide it. “They’re sitting on it,” said one law enforcement official familiar with the matter. “They just will not act on these things.” As a result, said one senior DEA official, “the Justice Department has effectively shut down this program to increase research registrations.’’ DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said the agency “has always been in favor of enhanced research for controlled substances such as marijuana.’’ (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) Lauren Ehrsam, a Justice Department spokeswoman, declined to comment. The standoff is the latest example of the nation’s premier narcotics enforcement agency finding itself in disagreement with the new administration. While President Trump and Sessions have vowed a crackdown on drugs and violent crime, DEA officials have publicly and privately questioned some of the administration’s statements and goals. Late last month, acting DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg wrote in an email to staff members that Trump had “condoned police misconduct” in remarking to officers on Long Island that they need not protect suspects’ heads when putting them into police vehicles. The acting administrator said he was writing his employees “because we have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong.” After public criticism, White House officials said the president was joking. DEA officials say Sessions and his Justice Department have pressed the agency for action specifically on MS-13 despite warnings from Rosenberg and others at the DEA that the gang, which draws Central American teenagers for most of its recruits, is not one of the biggest players when it comes to distributing and selling narcotics. Mexican cartels, DEA officials have warned, will use any gang to sell their drugs, and DEA leaders have directed those in their field offices to focus on the biggest threat in their particular geographic area. In many parts of the country, MS-13 simply does not pose a major criminal or drug-dealing threat compared with other groups, these officials said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they could face professional consequences for candidly describing the internal disputes. “Mexican cartels, Mexican transnational organizations are the greatest criminal threat to the United States,” Payne, the DEA spokesman, said. “There’s no other group currently positioned to challenge them. Whenever drug investigations that we do involve MS-13, we respond, but right now the No. 1 drug threat in the U.S. is the Mexican cartels.’’ (The Washington Post) Sessions frequently speaks harshly about marijuana use, and Justice Department officials have been reviewing the policy of his predecessor when it comes to enforcing federal laws on marijuana in states where the drug is legal. Sessions, too, has called medical marijuana “hyped, maybe too much,” and signaled that he is skeptical about the benefits of smoking it. “Dosages can be constructed in a way that might be beneficial, I acknowledge that, but if you smoke marijuana, for example, where you have no idea how much THC you’re getting, it’s probably not a good way to administer a medicinal amount. So forgive me if I’m a bit dubious about that,” Sessions said earlier this year. The DEA is no shrinking violet when it comes to marijuana enforcement. Last year, Rosenberg declined to lessen restrictions on its use, maintaining its classification as a Schedule 1 controlled substance — which means it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. But Rosenberg wrote at the time that the DEA would “support and promote legitimate research regarding marijuana and its constituent parts.” The DEA, he wrote, already had approved such research, registering 354 people and institutions to study marijuana and related components, including the effects of smoked marijuana on humans. The DEA indicated at the time it was willing to see those studies expand, asking for applications from people who wanted to grow marijuana to be used for research. The only source of marijuana for researchers then was — and is — the University of Mississippi, which has permission to grow and distribute the drug for research. One still-waiting applicant is Lyle Craker, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Craker has spent years seeking approval to do research into whether other parts of marijuana plants have medicinal value. “I’ve filled out the forms, but I haven’t heard back from them. I assume they don’t want to answer,’’ Craker said. “They need to think about why they are holding this up when there are products that could be used to improve people’s health. I think marijuana has some bad effects, but there can be some good, and without investigation we really don’t know.’’ Craker submitted his latest application Feb. 14; after getting additional questions from the DEA in March, he supplied additional information in April. Brad Burge, spokesman for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, said that the federal government for years has prevented important research into marijuana. “That’s a sad state of affairs,’’ he said. “If the DEA is now asking for permission to say yes, then the resistance is now further up the chain of command.’’ Rosenberg indicated in a call with The Washington Post that he still would support more marijuana research. “I stand by what I wrote,” he said. Tension between Rosenberg and Trump is perhaps unsurprising. Rosenberg was appointed during the Obama administration, and he had served as chief of staff and senior counselor to James B. Comey, who was the FBI director until Trump fired him earlier this year. The Justice Department has not rejected any of the 25 people whose applications to grow marijuana the DEA is considering. Rather, the department is not taking any action at all, officials said. Before approving such applications, DEA officials have to assess each applicant and determine whether their facility is secure and whether they had previously been complying with federal law.

Players have been experiencing login issues with Blizzard games this afteroon and Blizzard has confirmed they are victims of a DDoS attack. Diablo, World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Hearthstone players may be impacted by high latency and disconnections during their gaming experience that are the result of a series of DDoS attacks on certain European online services. Although Blizzard’s infrastructure isn’t targeted, the disruption effects rippled and have been felt by a portion of our players’ population. While we are closely monitoring the situation we wanted to thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We have been able to login periodically this afternoon but it’s been up and down. Investigations are continuing but some Blizzard services are still being affected. Live updates are being posted on their Twitter account so if you experience any problems keep an eye on that. The problem surfaced yesterday so it’s an on-going issue and players will just have to persevere when trying to login. Ashley Stephenson, CEO of Corero Network had this to say on these Blizzard outages: “While it appears that Blizzard may not be the direct target of these most recent attacks they are reporting to be suffering from collateral damage. This is a common side effect of larger scale DDoS attacks. The shared infrastructure of the Internet, Service Provider or Hosting center are all subject to possible overload when they are forced to carry the malicious attack traffic and this can impact innocent bystanders such as other customers who are downstream of the overloaded resources even though their online services are not explicitly being targeted by the attack traffic. Think of it as an attempt to create an intentional “rush hour” where all commuters suffer. To combat this issue the intermediate providers also need to deploy First Line of Defense DDoS protection services to prevent the traffic jam from occurring in the first place.”

Veterans Affairs Canada releases pension for life option giving injured Veterans access to lifetime financial support OTTAWA, Dec. 21, 2017 /CNW/ - The Royal Canadian Legion is encouraged after reviewing initial details of a new pension for life option for Veterans, released by Veterans Affairs Canada. Read more at: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/pension-for-life "The pension for life plan offers key components that may provide improved income support and stability to our injured Veterans", says Dominion Command President David Flannigan. "However without full details of the plan implementation we need to wait and see how this progresses," he says. The Royal Canadian Legion's work revolves around helping and advocating for our Veterans. Our initial assessment of the plan is based on years of experience in helping Canada's Veterans obtain the service and supports they need – and fully understanding what those needs are. While we know the plan will not please all Veterans, we are particularly encouraged by the following aspects: the commitment to provide a robust communications plan so that each Veteran and their family will be fully briefed on what the changes mean to them individually; the effort to streamline income support programs into a single financial benefit; the commitment to simplification of the system and its processes when it comes to accessing supports; the focus on lifetime financial security for the most seriously ill and injured Veterans and basing it on the degree of need; and the consideration of the needs of the Veteran's family. The content of the plan is promising but we believe there are still areas of needed improvement, including achieving parity with the Pension Act and definitive financial support for families. Since the plan implementation is expected in 2019, we are hopeful there will be a chance to discuss details further and tweak as necessary before then. The Royal Canadian Legion was part of a policy advisory group that provided input to Veterans Affairs Canada while they were developing their new plan. The latter plan grew out of the New Veterans Charter of 2006 which we supported based on our understanding of ongoing and continual revisions. However, we did not directly help develop this newly-released plan and we operate independently from government. About The Royal Canadian Legion Founded in 1925, the Legion is Canada's largest Veteran support and community service organization. We are a non-profit organization with a national reach across Canada as well as branches in the U.S., Europe and Mexico. With more than 275,000 members, many of whom volunteer an extraordinary amount of time to their branches, our strength is in our numbers. Public Relations / Media Inquiries: 613-591-3335 ext. 241 or PublicRelations@Legion.ca Legion.ca Facebook.com/CanadianLegion Twitter.com/RoyalCdnLegion Instagram.com/royalcanadianlegion youtube.com/user/RCLDominionCommand SOURCE The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command For further information: Nujma Bond, 343-540-7604, nbond@legion.ca Related Links http://www.legion.ca

Welcome aboard Daniel Siskind‘s X-Craft Mini Sub for adventure under the high seas. The captain salutes from the forward top hatch, grabbing a breath of fresh air after months of stale air tinged with the sweet smell of submariner sweat. Waves crash over the bow as the submarine slices through the turbulent seas (a large trove of translucent white and blue studs). With the British Naval Ensign flying proudly astern, the silent hunter of the deep will slip back into the depths and continue to patrol the oceans. Inside, the belly of the beast also features working hatches in the bulkheads, periscope and various crew stations. Like most of Dan’s work, copies of this model are for sale through his company Brickmania, which recently produced our own Senior Contributor Ralph’s Antarctic LC-130 aircraft. The X-Craft Submarine will set you back $445, and new kits often sell out quickly.

At least Richard Nixon had the decency to wait until the weekend. On Tuesday night, just before the first pitch in second game of the Beltway Series between the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, President Donald Trump shredded whatever remained of the independence of the Department of Justice. The nation's 45th president unceremoniously sacked embattled FBI Director James Comey, who arguably handed Trump the White House last November. He joined former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who got hurled onto the scrap heap when she defied the Reality Star-Chief. Almost immediately, veteran Washington hands were raising the spectre of the "Saturday Night Massacre" of October 1973, when President Nixon fired his attorney general and his deputy after they refused to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. "This is Nixonian," U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said in a statement released seemingly moments after the news of Comey's firing sent official Washington into a tailspin. The news enraged Democrats - who accused Trump of running roughshod over the separation of powers - and Republicans, who were furious they got no advance news of the dismissal. Casey continued, calling on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "immediately appoint a special counsel to continue the Trump/Russia investigation." Comey, remember, said back on March 20 that he'd been "authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts." Writing on Twitter, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, R-Ore., a Comey critic, nonetheless called Comey's firing "outrageous." Wyden didn't spare the rod. He called for an appointment of a special counsel, adding that "the president would do well to remember that, in America, the truth always comes out." It's tempting to think that Comey, who was set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, was just about to stumble onto something major in the Russia connection when he got the hook. Reminder: Fired FBI Director Comey was scheduled to testify before Senate Intel on Thursday (h/t @MariannaNBCNews): pic.twitter.com/32l2llhtoQ -- Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 9, 2017 Certainly, Comey wasn't helped when it was revealed that he'd mishandled the probe of Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails during the presidential campaign. But that was a mere fig leaf - a Russian bear shaped shadow hung over the whole matter. In a speech from the Senate floor, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the investigation of the Russia connection was in danger. "Any attempt to stop or undermine this FBI investigation would raise grave constitutional issues," Durbin said. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Rosenstein to hire an independent counsel to continue the Russia probe. If he didn't "every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a cover-up." Strong words to be sure. And they're obviously coming from a seriously partisan place in a seriously partisan town. But they' re still worth considering. Trump, meanwhile is headed into uncharted waters. Who he taps as Comey's replacement will speak volumes. And autocratic and used to uttering "You're fired" to anyone defies him, the president who imagines himself a presidential scholar might do well to study what happened to Nixon after that Saturday night in 1973. Things only got worse. Much, much worse.

A nurse who gave a chemical abortion to a patient who had only come for a consultation has been cautioned. Ann Downer, based at the Calthorpe Clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham, failed to check the woman's personal details before giving her the drug. The woman was recalled when Ms Downer realised her mistake but the drug had already taken effect. The Nursing and Midwifery Council said she could keep her job but would have a caution on her record for three years. First names A spokesman said the council's conduct and competence committee heard the clinic's practice was to only call out patient's first names in a bid to protect confidentiality while in the waiting room. Once the patient was inside a private room, other details, such as full name, birthdate and address were checked to make sure it was the person they were expecting. Ms Downer failed to carry out an identity check and gave a drug, Misoprostol, to a woman who was due to have an initial consultation. This would have consisted of a consultation, blood tests and a scan. She would then have been given the drug at the second stage, if she and the doctor agreed to it. When she was recalled, she was suffering from stomach pains and bleeding and was given a procedure to finish the abortion. She made an official complaint about the mix-up.

Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved (Randolph County Sheriff's Department Photo) Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved (Randolph County Sheriff's Department Photo) Staff Reports - UNION CITY, Ind. (WISH) -- A man is in custody after officials said he attempted to solicit minors using social media. An investigation into the behavior of 19-year-old Alexander Roesly began July 5 after a report that he was sending messages that were "sexual in nature" to children over Snapchat, according to a news release from Capt. Tom Pullins of the Randolph County Sheriff's Department in Winchester. The investigation discovered that Roesly sent messages to 13-year-old and 15-year old girls. In both instances, he asked the girls if they'd like to be "friends with benefits" with him. The 15-year-old girl was an attendee at Praise Chapel of Church God in Union City, where Roesly served as a youth pastor. Roesly faces a felony count of child solicitation for the messages he sent to the 13-year-old girl. He does not face any charges for sending messages to the 15-year-old girl, as Indiana law states a person must be over the age of 21 for child solicitation charges to be enforced.

This booking photo released by the Harris County Sherrif's Office shows Conrad Barrett after he was arrested for DWI in 2003. Barrett, now 27, was arrested Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, on federal hate crimes charges for allegedly shooting video of himself sucker-punching a 79-year-old black man in a "knockout game"-style attack. According to prosecutors, the attack happened Nov. 24 in Katy, but it wasn't until 12 days later that authorities connected the attack to the cellphone video of it. (AP Photo/Harris County Sheriff's Office, via Houston Chronicle) HOUSTON (AP) — A white Houston-area man was arrested Thursday on federal hate crimes charges for allegedly shooting video of himself sucker-punching a 79-year-old black man in a "knockout game"-style attack. Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, made a brief appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy, who scheduled a detention hearing for the Katy man on Friday. According to prosecutors, the attack happened Nov. 24 in Katy, but it wasn't until 12 days later that authorities connected the attack to the cellphone video of it. Authorities learned of the case because Barrett allegedly showed the video on the night of the attack to an off-duty arson investigator he had just met at a restaurant in nearby Folshear. According to the criminal complaint, Barrett asked the off-duty investigator and the woman with the investigator if they knew about the knockout game. He told them he played earlier that day, then showed them the video, prosecutors allege. The investigator then flagged down a uniformed officer across the street and led him to Barrett. The attack video doesn't show Barrett's face, but investigators matched his voice to the voice in the video and the couple at the restaurant told investigators that Barrett was wearing the same shorts and shoes at the person who shot the video. According to prosecutors, the video shows Barrett approach the victim and ask, "How's it going, man?" A "loud smack" is then heard, the victim falls to the ground, Barrett laughs and says, "Knockout." The assailant then flees in his vehicle. The victim lost three teeth and needed surgery to repair his jaw, which had been broken in two places. He was hospitalized for more than four days, authorities said. Investigators retrieved other videos from Barrett's phone, including some in which he uses racial epithets and talks about trying to work up the courage to play the knockout game, the complaint states. In one, Barrett says: "That plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?" U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said Thursday that such crimes won't be tolerated. "Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law," Magidson said. Barrett's attorney, George Parnham, said Barrett has bipolar disorder and has been prescribed heavy medications to treat it. He said Barrett's family "feels horribly sympathetic" for the person who was attacked. "When you start peeling back the layers of the onion and look at the mindset behind the action you soon realize there's a mental issue," said Parnham, who added that he's trying to gather as much information about Barrett's mental health as possible. If convicted of the hate crime charge, Barrett could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000.

A quick guide to help you make the right decision when a baby bird is found. Lazuli Bunting feeds young - Jim Cruce The following is a quick guide to help you make the right decision when a baby bird is found. Many species of birds such as robins, scrub jays, crows and owls leave the nest and spend as many as 2-5 days on the ground before they can fly. This is a normal and vital part of the young birds' development. While they are on the ground, the birds are cared for and protected by their parents and are taught vital life skills (finding food, identifying predators, flying). Taking these birds into captivity denies them the opportunity to learn skills they will need to survive in the wild. Unless a bird is injured, it is essential to leave them outside to learn from their parents. Before taking any baby bird out of the wild, please contact the Wildlife Care Center at 503-292-0304. If you are calling from outside Oregon, please call your State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife for a list of local wildlife rehabilitators who might be able to help you. Nestlings on the Ground If you are concerned that a bird fell from its nest too early, you may try and return the bird to its nest. If the nest has been destroyed or is unreachable, you may substitute a strawberry basket or small box lined with tissue and suspend it from a branch near to where you believe its nest is located. Birds have a poor sense of smell and very strong parental instincts, which means they will usually continue caring for their young. However, adult birds are cautious after any type of disturbance and it may take several hours before they approach the nestling. During this period it is essential that humans not approach the nestling. Fledglings on the Ground Fledglings are typically fully feathered, with a short tail and wings. They are able to walk, hop and flap, and they may attempt short flights, but are still being cared for by the parents. If you find a fledgling, it should be left alone or at the most placed in a nearby shrub. Keep people and pets away so the parents will continue to care for it until it can fly. Placing fledglings back into nests is typically only a short-term solution, as they will quickly re-emerge. Moving fledglings to entirely new locations is also ineffective, as they are still dependent on their parents for survival and will quickly starve. Common Questions and Concerns Why can't I raise the baby bird myself or bring it to the Wildlife Care Center? Raising wild birds in captivity is always a last resort and should only occur when a young bird is known to be injured or orphaned. Although it may seem "safer" to raise young birds in captivity, birds raised without the benefit of learning from their parents only have a minimal chance of survival when released. My neighborhood is full of cats, dogs, cars and other potential hazards These are very real hazards and do lead to mortalities; however, all young birds face hazards regardless of whether they live on urban, suburban or wild landscapes. The best thing you can do is to try to reduce hazards wherever possible. Bringing individual baby birds into captivity will not help either its siblings or the many other birds nesting in your neighborhood. I feel like I need to do something to help this bird As difficult as it may be, oftentimes the best thing you can do is leave a baby bird alone and try to reduce neighborhood hazards. A baby bird may seem helpless and vulnerable, but many do survive even in the most urban of locations. While it may feel safer, removing young birds from the wild usually reduces their chance for survival. So you want me to wait until the bird is injured to bring it to you? Our hope is that you will be able to help reduce some of the hazards facing baby birds in your neighborhood. This is the best way to not only protect the bird you have found, but also all the wildlife in your neighborhood. The Wildlife Care Center is a hospital, and bringing healthy baby birds to a rehabilitation facility to prevent them from being injured makes no more sense than raising healthy human children at a hospital to prevent them from becoming sick. Special Cases Vaux's Swift Nest - Paul Campbell Vaux's Swifts Many people are surprised to hear very noisy birds chattering in their chimney in the late spring. These are almost always Vaux's Swifts. Swifts attach stick nests to chimney walls using saliva. Their young have Velcro-like feet that allow them to actually climb up and down the walls of the chimney. Occasionally a youngster will be found at the bottom of the chimney. The best thing to do is to reach up and affix the bird to the wall of the chimney above the fireplace (it will grab hold) and close the flue behind it. Swifts are almost impossible to raise in captivity, so reuniting fallen swifts with their parents is essential. Learn more about Vaux's Swifts. Owls Owls are some of the earliest birds to fledge. Young owlets leave the nest and begin exploring nearby branches long before they are able to fly. Sometimes a swift gust of wind or a misstep will bring them to the ground. If you find a young owl on the ground, try placing it on the highest nearby branch you can find. They will frequently make their way back up the tree. Killdeer - Jim Cruce Killdeer Killdeer are notorious for nesting in highly traveled areas. Their young are precocial and are able to walk and feed themselves at hatching. People frequently hear young killdeer doing their high-pitched peeping and feel compelled to rescue them. In most cases, a parent is hiding nearby and will return as soon as the area is vacated. Ducklings and Goslings Many of our urban parks are overcrowded with waterfowl. As a result, female mallards and geese will often nest far from water and then have to lead their young back to the park when they hatch. Ducklings and goslings are precocial, meaning they are able to walk and feed themselves as soon as they hatch. People are often tempted to "rescue" goslings and ducklings when they see them traveling near busy roads with their mothers. These well-intentioned interventions usually end badly with the mother spooking and orphaning her young, or with the young scattering and getting run over. It is far more helpful to allow them to proceed as a group and to try and stop traffic for them wherever it is safe to do so. Learn more about urban ducks. Did You Know? At least 209 bird species have been documented in the Portland metropolitan area. The largest known Vaux's Swift roost in the world occurs every fall at the Chapman School in northwest Portland. As many as 35,000 swifts congregate there for their fall migration. Learn more about the Chapman swifts. Four percent of the known Peregrine Falcon nests in the state of Oregon occur within Portland City limits. Our parks and greenspaces serve as valuable rest-over spots for migrating neotropical songbirds. Cat predation is the number-one cause of wildlife intake and mortality at the Wildlife Care Center - it accounts for as many as forty percent of animals brought to our facility. Common Songbird Maturation Schedule (varies by species) Hatchling Days 0-3: Wisps of natal down on body, eyes closed Nestling Day 3: Eyes open Day 4: Primary feathers (also called pin feathers) pierce skin, they look like blue tubes sticking out of the skin Day 6: Nestling responds to alarm call of parent Day 7: Primary feathers unsheath Day 10: Bird is alert, stretches wings and legs Fledgling Days 13-14: Can flutter and hop from branch to branch, fully feathered, but has short tail and wings, leaves the nest. Days 14-28: They do not return to the nest, but are still fed by the adults in nearby trees or on the ground if the young have not yet mastered flying. Download brochure on Baby Birds.

By Cameron Wangsgard, M.D. Recognition of anticoagulant use in the setting of intracranial hemorrhage, GI bleed, etc is important to note as it is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We initiate immediate medical therapy to reverse anticoagulant effects in hopes of decreasing the severity of hemorrhage or promote hemostasis. First, some DOGMA and DOGMA-LYSIS: Classic teaching (aka DOGMA): "This patient has a mechanical valve, so we should not reverse their coagulopathy due to the high risk of thromboembolism and valve thrombosis." DOGMA-LYSIS: "The incidence of mechanical valve embolism resulting in death, stroke, or peripheral ischaemia requiring surgery is 4% per patient-year (95% CI 2.9-5.2%)" (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10945818) Divided by 365 days in a year, this is about a risk of 0.015% per day when a patient with a mechanical valve is not anticoagulated (1 in >6000 patients) or 0.2% over 2 weeks time (1 in 500 patients). So if you think the risk of morbidity from bleeding in the setting of remaining anti-coagulated is >0.2% (which it very likely is if they're in the Emergency Department, you should probably reverse the coagulopathy). Reversing anticoagulation: Part 1: Warfarin (Coumadin) Most commonly used anticoagulant. In 2007, more than 4 million people in the US are on it. Reversal is accomplished by replacing the vitamin K dependent factors blocked by Warfarin (II, VII, IX, and X). You can reverse Warfarin acutely by giving either FFP (which contains all these factors and more) or by Prothrombin Complex Concentrate (PCC). PCC is synthetically derived factors (so you don't need to worry about cross-matching blood type) that are blocked by Warfarin. There are many subtle differences amongst the many types of PCC that different drug companies develop. However, at Mayo we use Bebulin (contains II, IX, X, and additionally a small amounts of Factor VII and heparin). Again, FFP and PCC are for acute reversal (we're talking minutes - hours). You must also give vitamin K to maintain the reversal of Warfarin. However, vitamin K takes several hours to work (up to 12-24 hours to take full effect) as it allows new factors to be made by the liver --- that's why they're called vitamin K dependent factors. The main advantage of Bebulin compared to FFP is that much smaller volumes of administration are needed. Bebulin is around 100cc. People consistently underdose FFP. You need approximately 15cc/kg to start, which for a 70kg patient, is going to be around 4 units of FFP. 2 units is not enough. Sometimes, even as many as 10 units of FFP may be necessary. Keep in mind, that FFP, unlike 0.9% NS, will essentially all stay in the intravascular space. So giving 4 units of FFP is the equivalent intravascular volume of giving at least 3L of 0.9% NS to a patient. You can see that FFP can run into problems with fluid-overload especially in a patient with CHF. Additionally, being reconstituted (meaning you stir the Bebulin magic-powder into a solution and you're ready to give it via IV), it can be administered more quickly as it does not need to be thawed (why it’s called fresh FROZEN plasma). PCC has been shown to reverse INR faster than FFP (this makes sense... because it takes forever to thaw and give 4-10 units of FFP). It has been also been shown to decrease the rate and final size of hematoma expansion in an intracranial hemorrhage compared to FFP. However, PCC has never been shown to improve any single patient-oriented outcome compared to FFP (a patient-oriented outcome is what matters: mortality or morbidity/neurologic function). That said, we hope that PCCs can help patients and we know that it can reverse INR faster in life-threatening situations. Lastly, remember that PCC is concentrated clotting factors. So you can imagine that it would carry some risk of doing more than just reverse anti-coagulation, but actually cause a clot. The incidence of thromboembolic events with 3 factor PCC is around 0.7%. (Slightly higher ofr 4 factor PCC) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21800002 Summary of Warfarin associated bleeding: In any serious bleeding on Warfarin, you should consider PCC or FFP for acute reversal. And Vitamin K 5-10mg IV for long term reversal. PCCs are dosed based on INR and patient weight. Ask pharmacy for help. While PCCs have never been found to help patients compared to FFP, the standard of care these days in serious life-threatening bleeding (including any intracranial bleed) is to give PCC if readily available. In a future shift pearl, we’ll discuss reversal of Dabigatran (Pradaxa), the Xa inhibitors - Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) and Apixaban (Eliquis), heparin and more! Tags: anticoagulation, coumadin, Intern Pearls, pharmacology, warfarin

JS/Nemucod is the detection name given to a family of malicious JavaScript downloaders that have appeared in spam campaigns since last year. They usually arrive as an email attachment, embedded in a ZIP archive, and pretend to be an invoice, a delivery notice, a resume, anything that may seem harmless and can be used as a social engineering trick. Once JS/Nemucod executes, it silently downloads additional malware to the %TEMP% folder of the victim’s machine, before running without the user’s consent. The downloaded payloads vary depending on the bad guys choice of the moment. JS/Nemucod has spread Tescrypt, Fareit, Kovter, Miuref, Dridex, Locky, and Gamarue, to name several. In the last couple of days, we received several JS/Nemucod samples that we detect as JS/Nemucod.hb. This detection is for a variant that uses two layers of basic obfuscation, as pictured below: This malicious sample (MD5 = 4B7207D5AB0DF9D6B0C650EBA0E18EE0) starts with a very long obfuscated string containing the malicious code, followed by a part of code used for the deobfuscation of the first layer, and then some junk. Once the first layer is removed, the malicious parts of code become more visible, yet they are still obfuscated: This is the same sample, now fully deobfuscated: This sample attempts to download a file from one of three URLs (if the first download fails, it will try the second one, and so on), saves it in the %TEMP% folder with a filename made of five digits, followed by the extension .exe, and then silently runs it. The files hosted on these three compromised websites are identical Locky malware, with the same MD5 signature (7905f35038e44c285a10cdefda496d7a). Nothing surprising so far. However while analyzing a few more samples from this JS/Nemucod variant, we happened to deobfuscate one that contains only one URL, repeated three times, which links to a legitimate, noninfected, Notepad++ installer stored on the Notepad++ official website (MD5 = 3BB72C72B73583C72EAB326D8BDB83E6, a legitimate file), and downloads a legitimate file instead of a malicious sample: Why would JS/Nemucod download a legitimate Notepad++ installer? That’s the question we asked ourselves. After some investigations, we managed to collect six samples detected as JS/Nemucod.hb and containing the URL linking to the Notepad++ installer. Here are their MD5 signatures: 68cffdb643c25fe8f3fd6c79c4423558 36ef4cbee8945b69fa04cb7e9e3f2657 15db97414972ca19a88147764bedaa81 eca759dcabec66377ec21fa62d92709e 754d333f8c06085ebb3e32701a5be584 037b04cc520ddb37bbfa1e535e39339a We tracked down where these samples came from. It seems that all were first submitted to VirusTotal: They had more in common. All were submitted: Via Tor, the anonymizing network that makes it hard to trace its communications. Tor is used to remain anonymous, though not necessarily for bad intent. In a short time (about 15 minutes). In JavaScript format (not embedded in a ZIP archive). Only once to Virus Total. With a filename similar to inv_[random string].js, although each filename was unique: inv_kuxxp4vx2e2.js, inv_zx4ft4opwer.js, inv_j1xcvzy3w2h.js, inv_wpmv1slbrvj.js, inv_lnm4ckkexbz.js, and inv_bpcb1t3n2v4.js. The fact that these six samples were submitted to VirusTotal only once and in JavaScript format (not without a ZIP container) suggests they were not found in the wild nor that they were spammed. Moreover, all were submitted in a very short period and via Tor. Could it be that these samples were submitted to VirusTotal by the bad guys themselves? That’s one hypothesis. If that’s the case, for what reason? To confuse the issue? For testing? We compared each sample (especially the parts used to deobfuscate the script) with each other: Sample 1: (MD5) 68cffdb643c25fe8f3fd6c79c4423558 Sample 2: 36ef4cbee8945b69fa04cb7e9e3f2657 (submitted to VirusTotal about two minutes later) Except for the different variable names and the junk variables (which are randomly generated for each malware sample), we do not see any differences. We can confirm that both samples were created using the same generator. Sample 3: 15db97414972ca19a88147764bedaa81 (submitted to VirusTotal about five minutes later) The string “length” was obfuscated in a slightly different way. The part of code used for deobfuscation was duplicated at the end of the script. Sample 4: eca759dcabec66377ec21fa62d92709e (submitted to VirusTotal about two minutes later) The variable q1 now concatenates four strings instead of six. Sample 5: 754d333f8c06085ebb3e32701a5be584 (submitted to VirusTotal about seven minutes later) The variable q1 again concatenates six strings. Sample 6: 037b04cc520ddb37bbfa1e535e39339a (submitted to VirusTotal less than two minutes later) Variable q1 now concatenates four strings. Some characters (C and A) in the obfuscated string “charAt” are now in uppercase. Moreover, the duplicated part of code added at the end of the script was removed. We noticed that the obfuscations used in various JS/Nemucod versions are modified daily before being spammed, in an attempt to bypass antimalware detection. However, we have never seen so many minor modifications in such a short time, so these six samples must have been submitted to VirusTotal for testing purposes, most likely by the bad guys behind JS/Nemucod. Why did the malware developers use a real URL downloading a legitimate file for their tests when they could have used fakes? Most likely to locally test the viability of the generated JavaScript files without infecting themselves: If the legitimate file is downloaded and executes on their machines, then the script is viable. Why did they download an installer instead of another (smaller) executable file? Perhaps to make sure that the downloaded file will not be truncated when saved on disk. Why did they download a Notepad++ installer rather than some other?

This isn't Half-Life 3. Valve will demonstrate its own Virtual Reality hardware early next year, it's announced. During the Half-Life maker's developer and publisher-only Steam Dev Days event in January 2014, Valve will show off VR hardware and reveal how it plans to change Steam to support it. In a talk titled "What VR Could, Should, and Almost Certainly Will Be within Two Years," Valve's respected tech genius Mike Abrash will discuss the mystery hardware. The talk's official blurb is as follows: "We've figured out what affordable Virtual Reality (VR) hardware will be capable of within a couple of years, and assembled a prototype which demonstrates that such VR hardware is capable of stunning experiences. "This type of hardware is almost certainly going to appear in short order, and the time to starting developing for it is now. This talk will discuss what the hardware is like, and the kinds of experiences it makes possible. A few attendees will be randomly selected to try out the prototype following the talk." Abrash's presentation is complemented by a talk by Valve's VR enthusiast Joe Ludwig, called "Virtual Reality and Steam". In it, Ludwig will discuss how Steam will work with Valve's VR hardware. "Come and hear what Valve is working on in Steam to support and promote Virtual Reality (VR) games," reads the presentation description. "This includes a discussion of the Steam Overlay in VR, Steam store changes for VR, and our VR plan for Steamworks." News that Valve has a VR hardware prototype of its own comes as some surprise, given it ditched what sounds like a similar project created by ex-Valve engineers Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson (who have since struck out on their own). However, we do know Valve has worked on gaming goggles. It also comes as Sony prepares to unveil a virtual reality headset of its own, exclusively revealed by Eurogamer earlier this year, for use with PlayStation 4. And then, of course, we have the Oculus Rift, the crowd-funded VR headset currently readying a consumer-focused version for release into the wild. These are busy times for Valve. It's currently managing a number of successful online games, including Dota 2, Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike, as well as developing Steam Machines and the Steam Controller. With all this on its plate, is it also working on Half-Life 3?

Victor Mete was part of a solid 2016 draft by the Canadiens and Trevor Timmins, selected in the fourth round, 100th overall. As part of a dominant London Knights team, he claimed the biggest prize in the CHL this past season, a Memorial Cup. While playing alongside one of the top blueliners in the draft this past season in Olli Juolevi, Mete stood out in his own right. He collected eight goals and thirty assists in sixty eight games played, good enough for eighth on the Knights, and just four points behind Juolevi. While it doesn't appear that Mete is in line for Team Canada at this year's World Juniors tournament, the big key will be increasing his offensive numbers in the OHL. Given his abilities, that doesn't seem like that lofty of a goal, especially given the talent that the London Knights will once again possess this season. Mete and Juolevi will likely be back as the top pairing in London as they prepare to defend their OHL and Memorial Cup titles. While all eyes will be on the host Windsor Spitfires and Mikhail Sergachev, it would be unwise to ignore this offensive force in London as well. Votes Like many of the new prospects from this years draft, there was quite a spread among the EOTP panelists on where to rank Victor Mete. Cara ranked him highest at 15th overall, while Michel had him lowest at 33rd. The majority had Mete in their top 25, with only three ballots listing him on the outside of that range. Top 25 Under 25 History This is Mete's first year as part of the Top 25 Under 25, and coming in at 19th overall is a promising sign for the 2016 draftee. Strengths Mete's biggest strengths lay in his offensive instincts, skating ability, and top end speed. All of these combine to make him an incredibly dangerous player for opposing teams. Scouts praise his skating and ability to move laterally, and for good reason. Mete is a bullet on the ice, able to take off with the puck and leave opposing players in the dust with relative ease. His willingness to carry the puck benefits him greatly in this regard. He regularly leads the breakout from deep in his own end and create chances in the offensive zone for his team. Even if there is a turnover while he's caught deep, his skating helps him easily catch up to the play and get back into position. With his ability to move easily throughout the offensive zone, he opens up chances for his teammates that other blueliners cannot, working everywhere from behind the net to driving to the crease. His passing, even in tight situations, is outstanding, allowing him to roam all over and still thread passes to open teammates for scoring chances. Weaknesses While strong offensively, Mete is not without his flaws as a player, and the biggest critique against him is his size. Scouts have noted that larger forwards have little trouble driving to the net with him on the ice, using their size to back him down with ease. Despite possessing a good stick defensively his size causes him to lose battles along the boards and in the dirty areas of the ice. He also doesn't have a heavy shot. He is capable of getting the puck to the net, but lacks that booming slapshot of many other defensemen. If he could add some more muscle and work on developing a more dangerous shot, he would be a more complete player. Projection While not without his flaws, his positives outshine any negatives about his game right now. Undersized defensemen are commonplace in the pro leagues these days, and with his offensive acumen he will likely carve out a place in the NHL when the time comes. As for right now, Mete will return to London for another season where he will be relied upon to drive offense alongside Juolevi once again. Mete will be a crucial part of their offence, as he serves as a driving force on break outs and the power play. Realistically he's still two OHL seasons away based on his age, in that time Habs fans should look mainly for Mete to increase his offensive output, in addition to pushing for a spot on Team Canada's World Junior squad. His offensive skills make him a highly appealing prospect in Montreal, something the team is in serious need of in the prospect pool. Based on his skating and offensive abilities alone, Mete should excite fans, if he can fine tune his defensive game he could become yet another Trevor Timmins steal.

Getty Image After Tim Duncan’s retirement, the San Antonio Spurs moved decisively to fill the gap left by one Hall-of-Fame center with another, less legendary Hall of Fame center in Pau Gasol. The 36-year-old big man figures to slot right into the starting lineup and has the intelligence and open personality to seamlessly integrate himself into the Spurs’ community. It’s an unsurprising match, which is why it makes sense that it’s not the first time the Spurs have recruited Pau. Scroll to continue with content Ad Speaking at a sponsorship event in Spain, Pau elaborated: Related Links: “Two years ago I declined the option of going to the Spurs. Now it was the right time to go to San Antonio,” he said: “Popovich has he told me that I will contribute a lot and along with LaMarcus Aldridge, without Tim Duncan any more, I will be one of the leaders of the team in the front line”. When Gasol left the Lakers for free agency two years ago, he wound up picking the Bulls over the Spurs at the time. Most likely, his reason for choosing Chicago was the promise of starting, which would have been tough alongside Duncan and Tiago Splitter, who was a Spur back in 2014. Pau won’t come close to replicating Duncan’s all-time great defense, but his skill inside and on the boards should provide an interesting counterbalance to Aldridge’s game and a new canvas on which coach Gregg Popovich can create a cohesive basketball crew. (Via Eurohoops)

It turns out that young adult novels about how everyone will be sad when you're gone aren't the best guide to monetary policy. It's a lesson everybody learns. Well, at least everybody other than Paul Ryan, who, back in 2005, said that "I always go back to, you know, Francisco d'Anconia's speech, at Bill Taggart's wedding, on money," from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, "when I think about monetary policy." And that doesn't seem to have changed, based on everything he's said about the Federal Reserve, in the intervening decade. Which is why Ryan has been so spectacularly wrong about inflation, the dollar, and, well, the whole economy the past few years. Ryan, you see, isn't worried we'll turn into 1970s America with its double-digit inflation every year. He's worried we'll turn into 1920s Germany with its double-digit inflation every day. (At that rate, prices doubled every four days). "Pressed for cash, the government will take the easy way out," Ryan mused in 2013, and "crank up the printing presses." The result wouldn't be any run-of-the-mill inflation, but rather "the debasement of our currency." And in case you have any doubt how bad that would be, well, Lenin supposedly said that's the best way to destroy the capitalist system. So pretty bad. Ryan, though, didn't think this was a scare story. He thought it was our story. In 2009, he philosophized that "a lot of people would observe that we are right now living in an Ayn Rand novel." A year later, he all but accused the Fed of using the printing press to pay our bills when he said its bond-buying "looks an awful lot like an attempt to bail out fiscal policy." And in 2011, he somberly warned then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke that "there is nothing more insidious that a country can do its citizens than debase its currency." It was a weird thing to be worrying about. Inflation was just 1.7 percent when Ryan brought up dollar debasement. It's 1.2 percent now. And, as you can see below, rather than being debased, debauched or otherwise devalued, the dollar is actually up 13 percent against a broad index of currencies over this time. Even if you judge the dollar against a basket of commodities, which you shouldn't, since those prices are set in world markets beyond the Fed's control, there hasn't been anything resembling "debasement": Brent oil has fallen from $100 to $53 and gold from $1,362 to $1,211. And remember, the dollar is up even though interest rates have been zero the whole time and the Fed has "printed" another $1.6 trillion. Or, rather, make that "because." The Fed's unconventional policies weren't, as they're happy to point out, a panacea, but they did help, and now that the recovery is finally picking up, they're getting ready to raise rates—which makes holding dollars that will pay you interest more attractive than, say, euros that won't. The key, though, is that they wouldn't be talking about raising rates soon-ish—maybe too soon-ish—if they hadn't kept rates low before. If they'd tried to raise rates a few years ago, like Europe did, then they'd probably be lowering them all over again, like Europe also did, to try to bring back the growth that they'd killed. Why has Paul Ryan been wrong about everything? Well, he missed what a lot of people miss, which is that the rules change when interest rates are zero. The Fed can't boost the economy like it normally does—buying short-term debt with newly-printed money—because short-term debt and money are pretty much the same when interest rates are zero. The Fed has to buy other stuff with newly-printed money instead, but even that won't help a lot unless it also convinces people that inflation will go up in the future. If it doesn't, which the Fed didn't, then lenders won't want to lend, borrowers won't want to borrow, and all the new money the Fed prints will just pile up in the banks. That's what happened in 1930s America when interest rates were zero, it's what happened in 1990s Japan when interest rates were zero, and, yes, it's what's happened in 2010s America too. You won't learn that from Ayn Rand's books, though. Maybe he should try this one instead.

I was a historian before I was an activist, and I’ve been reminded recently that a lot of younger hackers have a simplified and somewhat mythologized view of how our culture evolved, one which tends to back-project today’s conditions onto the past. In particular, many of us never knew – or are in the process of forgetting – how dependent we used to be on proprietary software. I think by failing to remember that past we are risking that we will misunderstand the present and mispredict the future, so I’m going to do what I can to set the record straight. Some blurriness about how things were back then is understandable; it can sometimes take a bit of effort even for those of us who were there in elder days to remember what it was like before PCs, before the Internet, before pixel-addressable color displays, before ubiquitous version-control systems. And there were so few of us back then – when I first found the Jargon File around 1978 you could fit every hacker in the U.S. in a medium-sized auditorium, and if you were willing to pack the aisles probably every hacker in the world. A larger and subtler change, the one easiest to forget, is how dependent we were on proprietary technology and closed-source software in those days. Today’s hacker culture is very strongly identified with open-source development by both insiders and outsiders (and, of course, I bear some of the responsibility for that). But it wasn’t always like that. Before the rise of Linux and the *BSD systems around 1990 we were tied to a lot of software we usually didn’t have the source code for. Part of the reason many of us tend to forget this is mythmaking by the Free Software Foundation. They would have it that there was a lost Eden of free software sharing that was crushed by commercialization in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This narrative projects Richard Stallman’s history at the MIT AI Lab on the rest of the world. But, almost everywhere else, it wasn’t like that either. One of the few other places it was almost like that was early Unix development from 1976-1984. They really did have something recognizably like today’s open-source culture, though much smaller in scale and with communications links that were very slow and expensive by today’s standards. I was there during the end of that beginning, the last few years before AT&T’s failed attempt to lock down and commercialize Unix in 1984. But the truth is, before the early to mid-1980s, the technological and cultural base to support anything like what we now call “open source” largely didn’t exist at all outside of those two settings. The reason is brutally simple: software wasn’t portable! You couldn’t do what you can do today, which is write a program in C or Perl or Ruby or Python with the confident expectation that it will run on multiple architectures. My first second full-time job writing code, in 1980, was representative for the time: writing communications software on a TRS-80 in Z-80 assembler. Assembler, people!. We wrote a lot of it. Until the early 1980s, programming in high-level languages was the exception rather than the rule. In general, you couldn’t port that stuff! Not only was portability across architectures a near-impossible dream, you often couldn’t port between instances of the same machine without serious effort. Especially on larger machines, code tended to be intertwined with details of individual site configuration to an extent that would shock people today (IBM JCL was notoriously the worst offender, but by no means the only). In that kind of environment, arguing about whether code should be redistributable in general was next to pointless, because unless the new machine was specifically designed to be binary-compatible with the old, ports amounted to being re-implementations anyway. This is why the earliest social experiments in what we would now call “open source” – at SHARE and DECUS – were restricted to individual vendors’ product lines and (often) to individual machine types. And it’s why the cancellation of the PDP-10 follow-on in 1983 was such a disaster for the MIT AI Lab and SAIL and other early hacker groups. There they were, stuck, having folded huge amounts of time and genius into a huge pile of 10 assembler code and no real possibility that it would ever be useful again. And this was normal. The Unix guys showed us the way out, by (a) inventing the first non-assembler language really suitable for systems programming, and (b) proving it by writing an operating system in it. But they did something even more fundamental — they created the modern idea of software systems that are cleanly layered and built from replaceable parts, and of re-targetable development tools. Tellingly, Richard Stallman had to co-opt Unix technology in order to realize his vision for the Free Software Foundation. The MIT AI Lab itself never found its way to that new world. There’s a reason the Emacs text editor is the only software artifact of that culture that survives to us, and it had to be rewritten from the ground up on the way. (Correction: A symbolic-math package called MACSYMA also survives, though in relative obscurity.) Without the Unix-spawned framework of concepts and technologies, having source code simply didn’t help very much. This is hard for younger hackers to realize, because they have no experience of the software world before retargetable compilers and code portability became relatively common. It’s hard for a lot of older hackers to remember because we mostly cut our teeth on Unix environments that were a few crucial years ahead of the curve. But we shouldn’t forget. One very good reason is that believing a myth of the fall obscures the remarkable rise that we actually accomplished, bootstrapping ourselves up through a series of technological and social inventions to where open source on everyone’s desk and in everyone’s phone and ubiquitous in the Internet infrastructure is now taken for granted. We didn’t get here because we failed in our duty to protect a prelapsarian software commons, but because we succeeded in creating one. That is worth remembering.

We also have a selection of Basic Starter Kit, Deluxe Starter Kit, Ultimate Starter Kit that utilize this module. DESCRIPTION RC522 Chip: MF RC522 is applied to the highly integrated read and write 13.56MHz contactless communication card chip, NXP launched by the company for the "table" application of a low-voltage, low-cost, small size of the non-contact card chip to read and write, smart meters and portable handheld devices developed better choice. The MF RC522 use of advanced modulation and demodulation concept completely integrated in all types of 13.56MHz passive contactless communication methods and protocols. 14443A compatible transponder signals. The digital part of to handle the ISO14443A frames and error detection. In addition, support rapid CRYPTO1 encryption algorithm, terminology validation products. MFRC522 support series of high-speed non-contact communication, two-way data transmission rate up to 424kbit/s. As new members of the 13.56MHz reader card series of highly integrated chip family, MF RC522 MF RC500 MF RC530 There are a lot of similarities, but also have many of the characteristics and differences. Communication between it and the host SPI mode helps to reduce the connection narrow PCB board volume, reduce costs. RFID Module: The MF522-AN module the the original Philips MFRC522 chip design circuit card reader, easy to use, low cost, and applies to the user equipment development, the reader and the development of advanced applications, the need for the user RF card terminal design/production. This module can be directly loaded into the various reader molds. Utilizes a voltage of 3.3V, through the SPI interface simple few lines directly with any user CPU motherboard connected communication can ensure that the module is stable and reliable work, distance card reader SPECIFICATION Working current :13-26mA/DC 3.3V Idle current :10-13mA/DC 3.3V Sleep current: <80uA Peak current: <30mA Operating Frequency: 13.56MHz Supported card types: S50, S70 Ultralight, Pro, DESFire Product physical characteristics: size: 40mm×60mm Environmental Operating temperature: -20-80 degrees Celsius Environmental Storage Temperature: -40-85 degrees Celsius Relative humidity: relative humidity 5% -95% Module interfaces SPI Parameter Data transfer rate: maximum 10Mbit/s WHAT'S IN THE PACKAGE

Most of the major party leaders on both sides of the aisle were pretty straightforward about their opposition to voting on the ISIS war before the Tuesday election. President Obama was fine with it at the time, insisting he didn’t need authorization. Now that the election’s over, President Obama is changing his tune, and pushing for the lame duck Congress to quickly rubber stamp the conflict before the new one takes office. “The idea is to right-size and update whatever authorization Congress provides to suit the current fight,” Obama insisted. With the incoming Congress far more hawkish and doubtless to push a far more aggressive scope of the war, the president seems hopeful he can get the formality of a Congressional vote out of the way without them. Legally, such a vote should’ve happened long ago, with the War Powers Act allowing the president only a 60 day window to seek authorization from Congress. If it had been held before the vote, the unpopularity of the conflict might’ve scared some off of backing it. Now, with Congress outgoing and those returning to session years from having to face reelection, there’s likely to be much more stomach for pushing through a quick vote, and less serious debate. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz

President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at a DNC event during his Senate impeachment trial in 1999. (Reuters phot) It’s unclear whether three new creative treatments will be influenced by the sweeping cultural reckoning taking place over sexual misconduct. Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared at Acculturated. It is reprinted here with permission. American Crime Story show runner Ryan Murphy recently announced that he is planning a series on President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. The History Channel just gave the green light to a show on the same subject. And Amazon Studios is slated to do a film related to what has proven to be the biggest crisis to hit the American presidency in the last 45 years. Advertisement Advertisement Murphy’s take is based on CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin’s 2000 book, The Vast Conspiracy. The book appears to pin the blame for Clinton’s troubles not on Clinton for deciding to perjure himself, but on a network of scheming political opponents on the right. Upon its release, the New York Times called the book “highly partisan” and “willfully subjective.” The Times added that the author “ignores Clinton’s failure in his constitutional duty to uphold the rule of law.” However, in a Vox interview, Murphy framed the narrative of the time and of the show as “the birth of a certain movement. The alt-right movement in some ways—a movement that was so riled up against the Clintons.” This characterization seems to clear Bill Clinton of culpability for his actions while straining to tie recent events, such as the rise of the alt-right, with Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, which is absurd. Curiously, one of the people Murphy seeks to depict as a victim differs sharply from him in her view of the alt-right. In an August 2016 campaign speech, Hillary Clinton described the alt-right by quoting the Wall Street Journal, saying the “mostly online” and “loosely organized movement . . . ‘rejects mainstream conservatism, promotes nationalism.’” Advertisement Advertisement It wasn’t the alt-right, but movement conservatives who spearheaded impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton. They were concerned about his serial abuse of power. This wasn’t the fringe faction Murphy suggests he’ll portray in his series. Why complicate an already complicated story? Vox speculates that Murphy is hoping to air the series during the 2018 midterm elections, perhaps hoping to sway voters with his revisionist history. The History Channel, meanwhile, is keeping true to the story—mostly. Their project sidelines the scandal of the president’s inappropriate relationship with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, in favor of focusing on the impeachment trial itself. This approach risks preemptively absolving President Clinton of any possible wrongdoing by omitting the very circumstances that led to the charges levied against him by the House in the first place. At least the History Channel will be tackling the impeachment. Amazon Studios’ film focuses not on the former president’s illegal steps to conceal his impropriety, but instead on the animus between two women, Lewinsky and her friend and confidante, Linda Tripp. Yet even this choice suggests that Amazon is going out of its way to avoid focusing too much negative attention on Bill Clinton. Advertisement The three creative works on the Clinton impeachment were announced before revelations were made about the sexual misconduct of Hollywood titan, longtime heavy Democratic donor and staunch Clinton ally Harvey Weinstein. From Manhattan to Hollywood to Capitol Hill, a sweeping cultural reckoning appears to be taking place. This has prompted long-overdue protests on the left about President Clinton’s behavior in relation to his female subordinates. MSNBC host Chris Hayes acknowledged on Twitter, “Democrats and the center left are overdue for a real reckoning with the allegations against” Clinton. Progressive liberal journalist Matthew Yglesias declared Clinton abused his position over Lewinsky. The Atlantic contributor Caitlin Flanagan penned a piece castigating feminists for giving the former president’s “sex crimes” a pass. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who now holds Hillary Clinton’s old Senate seat, has argued he should have resigned. Advertisement Some people have been slow to learn, however. On November 3, HLN aired a two-hour news retrospective on the Clinton-Lewinsky affair headlined, The Monica Lewinsky Scandal. The show chose to highlight not the man of power and influence in the relationship, but rather his early-twenties underling. Lewinsky tweeted out her disapproval, suggesting the title be about the investigation or the impeachment. Advertisement It remains to be seen if the cultural attitude shift about workplace harassment will influence American Crime Story, the History Channel, and Amazon Studios as they approach Clinton’s impeachment. Thus far, despite the current climate holding alleged sexual misconduct perpetrators accountable in the court of public opinion, none of these projects appear to have altered course. Hollywood’s ongoing effort to protect Slick Willie is almost as chilling as the sordid story it refuses to tell about our 42nd president. READ MORE: Advertisement Kennedy, Clinton, and Weinstein: A Convenient Reckoning Roy Moore & Bill Clinton: Liberals Only Now Rebuke the Latter Juanita Broaddrick’s Bill Clinton Rape Allegation Stands

mizis Hero's, of a hero kalo Tale du this darzhn story, tale, telling kenapo-te-kith was known of old vare (by) many qi but kena-ne-te-javu known not today tharos of the world zhin he dimi wise ones sizal-te-javu-maq Mistake. Should be sizal-te-maq, sustain quietly kalon tale (accusative) sizal-sho sustain in tsogama song (dative) i and labranma book (dative) sizal-ba sustain behind fir closed tapma door (dative) tsosh faint sholma light (dative) sho-ragno In the future zhis his kalo tale lutvo-kaba may be heard around folodma fires (dative) lut heard — the repetition indicates subjunctive lutvo-sha may be heard again kithd the old darzhro Mistake. Should be edarzhro, will tell chids their lidn children (accusative) li child lin child (accusative) lutvo-sho may be heard in vilo public raqbibma square (place) vilim private shapd spaces tsoga song dimi may be heard zhi he po was mizin hero (accusative) lidjs people (genitive) nosh meek nadj mighty tazlkon honorable chuf cunning About — Document — Translation — Grammar — Dictionary Dear Dr. Stacey, I found this manuscript in a museum archive, apparently forgotten for many years. It hasn’t been studied enough to warrant a name, but I’ve come to call it “The Nameless Hero,” or “galtine-mizi” in its own language, for reasons that will be clear in the reading. It’s written in the Darzhran language of south Runlatia, using the familiar scribal cursive script. I’ve attached a translation and primer about the language. It’s really a fascinating piece – it raises more questions than it answers. It was apparently received by the museum in 1817 after being in private collections for years. They estimated that it was written in the 11th century, but I would probably put it a few centuries earlier. At some point, most of the manuscript was lost – only 4 and a half pages remain. Apparently these were lost very early. None of the private collectors recorded having any more pages. Based on the content, I would guess that the remainder was lost shortly after it was written. The story goes that these were salvaged from a fire meant to destroy the monastery and its contents. This could be apocryphal, but I am inclined to believe it. At least, it makes a compelling story if it is true. Compared to other works in the region and time period, this work is actually quite simple. The letter shapes are the work of an experienced scribe, but it seems rushed. I found a few obvious errors in the text – repeated words or mis-spellings. Only the minimum work was done to place the ascenders and descenders of the words. More careful examples of the scribal cursive show that every line is planned so that it matches the other lines. This manuscript is only written in pen, while usually there would be painted illustrations or even gold leaf inlays for works of this type. Let me know what you think. Your friend, Ryan Russell Dept. of Runlatian Studies About — Document — Translation — Grammar — Dictionary

HELENA, MT — Last year wasn’t a good year for medical marijuana in Montana. Between the federal raids in the spring of 2011 and the Republican-dominated legislature’s efforts first to repeal the voter-approved 2004 medical marijuana law, which was vetoed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), and then to gut it with Senate Bill 423, which Schweitzer reluctantly allowed to become law, the state’s medical marijuana industry has been practically decimated. But although 2012 is nearly over, Big Sky County medical marijuana supporters are hoping this year will end up differently. That’s because they have an initiated referendum on the ballot, IR-124, that would undo the legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 423 and restore the status quo ante. From an initiative organizer’s standpoint, IR-124 has some interesting attributes. First, the medical marijuana people behindIR-124 want it to be defeated. A “no” vote on the initiative is a vote against Senate Bill 423, and the conventional wisdom on initiatives is that voters who are uncertain on an issue vote “no.” Second, Montanans who oppose the free-wheeling medical marijuana system that was in place prior to Senate Bill 423 may well be confused by the fact that IR-124 is being run by medical marijuana supporters and vote “no” mistakenly thinking they are voting against medical marijuana. Article continues after ad Advertisement “Our opponents have accused us of muddying the water, but it wasn’t a strategic ploy; it’s just a thumbs up or thumbs down on the current law,” said Chris Lindsay of the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, which is fighting SB 423 in the courts as well as supporting IR-124. There hasn’t been a lot of polling on IR-124, but what there is suggests repeal of SB 423 could well be within reach. There has been no scientific polling this month, but two September polls, one from Mason-Dixon and one from Public Policy Polling, had IR-124 losing with 44% and 46% of the vote, respectively. And that’s just what Patients for Reform — Not Repeal, the primary group behind the campaign, wants. “We’re urging voters to vote ‘no’ on IR-124, because it is a slap in the face to voters as well as cruel and harmful to the seriously sick patients Montanans sought to help,” said Bob Brigham, campaign manager for the group. “The legislature should have fixed the medical marijuana program, not broken it completely with a ‘repeal and destroy’ law,” he explained. “With the federal government also punishing patients and providers and even threatening their gun rights, it is vitally important that Montana voters stand solidly for their own rights.” But while the polls had IR-124 losing, campaign proponents aren’t feeling comfortable. Those same polls showed only around 30% of voters committed to voting “no,” with about 25% of voters undecided. While undecided voters typically break towards a “no” vote on initiatives, Patients for Reform — Not Repeal is going to have to win about four out of five of those undecided voters to undo SB 423. Article continues after ad Advertisement The campaign is counting on Montana voters to reject the legislature’s interference with the voter-approved 2004 initiative that established the state’s medical marijuana program, Brigham said. “We’re calling attention to the fact that this is an issue that revolves around voter rights and the will of the people,” he said. “Rather than work on consensus proposals for strict regulation, all the legislature wanted to do was repeal the law voters had adopted — and they did it twice. Senate Bill 423 was written deliberately to accomplish complete repeal. The tragedy is that the very patients Montanans care about, the sickest among us, are now suffering unnecessarily and unfairly as a result,” Brigham concluded. Under the 2004 law, and especially after the Obama administration took office and signaled it would not target medical marijuana patients and providers, the Montana medical marijuana scene took off, with dispensaries and multi-patient grow operations sprouting up and some entrepreneurs pushing the limits of public acceptance by pulling stunts like taking recommendation-writing caravans across the state and publicly smoking marijuana. The legislature’s attempted outright repeal, followed by SB 423, was in part in a response to the perceived excesses of the program. But SB 423 pretty much wiped out everything except patients growing their own. It limited growers to three patients each, prohibited providers from being compensated, gave local governments the ability to ban dispensaries, tightened standards for demonstrating chronic pain, and required doctors who recommended marijuana for more than 25 patients in a year to undergo reviews at their own expense. Article continues after ad Advertisement The Montana Cannabis Industry Association has been fighting SB 423 in the state courts, but in August, the state Supreme Court overturned a lower court injunction blocking most of its provisions from taking effect. Now the high court is set to rule on a final appeal from the group any time now. Lindsay said Tuesday morning he hoped the election would come before the court rules. “The moment the Supreme Court is done, we expect that 5,500 Montana patients will be told they no longer have a provider and they will have to find a new one, which is unlikely, or grow their own,” he said. “We’re hoping we get to the election first, because a victory there would render moot what the Supreme Court is considering.” That didn’t happen. Tuesday afternoon, the state Supreme Court ruled against the Montana Cannabis Industries Association. “We expect the Department of Health and Human Services to start sending letters out to 5,500 patients saying they no longer have a provider,” Lindsay said in a late afternoon call to the Chronicle breaking the news. While the late ruling hurts patients, it may prove a boon to the “no” campaign. Now, patients and providers who may have thought that life under SB 423 would not be so bad are being confronted with the reality of its actual implementation. It will probably also make life tougher for supporters of SB 423. Although there isn’t a lot of organized support for the law, it does have cheerleaders among the Republican legislators who passed it and among social conservative groups like the Billings-based Safe Communities, Safe Kids. But Safe Communities, Safe Kids doesn’t have money for much of an advertising campaign and is relying on local radio and TV talk show appearances to get its message out. It also tried holding a press conference last week to attack state Attorney General Steve Bullock over the ballot language, but that didn’t work out too well for the church ladies. “You’re trying to pull a political stunt using a mechanism that is not set up for this purpose,” said Jim Molloy, an assistant attorney general to Bullock, who crashed the press conference and noted that the ballot language had been vetted and settled on two months ago. The threat to file a late complaint was “nothing more than political theater,” he said. “We didn’t realize it was going to be such a big problem until the ballots came out,” the group’s Cherie Brady tried to explain. She said after absentee ballots came out on October 9, her group began getting calls from voters unsure of how to fill out their ballots. While foes of medical marijuana are reduced to morning talk shows and exploding press conferences, Patients for Reform — Not Repeal is running limited radio and TV ads urging a “no” vote. It is also preparing a final push to get voters to the polls on election day. “It’s an exciting campaign,” said Lindsay. “We’ve got a lot of momentum behind trying to repeal the law. We’re hoping for the best.”

Earlier tonight, Batman's new Batmobile was spotted on the set of David Ayer's Suicide Squad set in Toronto, and now we have footage of it in action! The new Batmobile, which will makes it debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, was seen chasing after The Joker (Jared Leto), who is in his luxury sports car. Nobody has spotted Ben Affleck in the area, so we assume these scenes will only require a stuntman. Also keep in mind, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is a passenger in The Joker's car, and the scene is taking place in Midway City (cop cars), not Gotham. Check out the videos below. Batmobile!! #batman #suicidesquad A video posted by ERNstagram (@ernievicente) on May 25, 2015 at 10:24pm PDT You NEED to watch this. #SuicideSquad #mrj #capedcrusader A video posted by Nebula* (@starrrs) on May 25, 2015 at 10:32pm PDT Action! #Batmobile #SuicideSquad #Toronto #DC A video posted by Terence Yip (@terenceyip) on May 25, 2015 at 10:52pm PDT The cast includes Jared Leto as The Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag and Cara Delevingne as Enchantress. Viola Davis will play Amanda Waller.

As you may have read, the official Microsoft support for Windows XP will ended at April 8th, 2014. This means the end of life for this 13 years old operating system which has fulfilled it’s purpose. After this date there will be no more updates any more, plugging possible security leaks. At the same time we have also ended support for Windows XP in the upcoming XBMC 13.0 release. It’s time to let go and move on. Some of you may still be using Windows XP including XBMC and are now becoming vulnerable in near future. What are the options There are several options to explore which vary in costs and difficulty depending on your skills. So let’s sum them up. The most expensive is throwing away the hardware and just buying a new one. In this day and age it’s better to save a few bucks and keep using the old hardware of course. Be mindful that when you think you are savings some cash you might actually be spending more than you think. Older hardware have the tendency to be more power hungry than newer and smaller devices. So it could be, that after a few months you would have been better of buying new hardware. Especially when you are going to use it as a HTPC, that will be running couple of hours a day or longer. All this of course depends on the hardware you own, want to buy and your specific needs. Either way, you have to decide which operating system you are going to be using, except of course if you are buying an Android device. You could choose again for a Windows based solution and buy a Windows 7 or 8 license. Another option is to go for one of the free Linux distributions available that have become more user-friendly for the less technical people. Each option has their pros and cons. The internet is filled with information to help you go through this. Disclaimer: There are a many pros and cons on what flavour operating system you should use and everyone has their own opinion. We will not venture into this territory. Please do your own research on the web as there are many reviews and tutorials out there. We simply want to point out the options available to replace the old Windows XP when you want to keep using XBMC “safely”. HTPC use only If you are planning to use your hardware as an HTPC only device, we would highly advice to use one of the available Linux options. This saves you the cost of purchasing a Windows license and they almost fulfil the same purpose. If you still want to have some desktop environment you could go for Ubuntu or our own XBMCbuntu which has XBMC pre-packaged into it. This saves you some hassle if you are not Linux familiar. There are cases you still need Windows. For example when you need to play encrypted bluray discs, for which you need an external player or need Microsoft Silverlight to play some web content. If you don’t need any desktop environment, the best option is to install OpenELEC. It’s a small, fast and easy to install Linux distro which includes XBMC as a dedicated media centre. The installation is quite simple when following the tutorial. OpenELEC boots directly to your favourite media centre software which is XBMC within seconds (depending on hardware). Development of OpenELEC is in close connection with Team XBMC and general support for it is great. They not only offer it for regular hardware, but also for the immensely popular Raspberry-Pi. If you are eager to try it out but are reluctant to completely wipe you current operating system to install it? No worries. You can just install it on some empty USB stick or SDCARD (given that’s adequate in size), plug it in in your computer and you are set to take it for a test drive. Important: https://kodi.wiki/view/Main_Page is the only official place anything XBMC related. This includes news, announcements, information or any XBMC installation downloads. There are of course manufacturers who also provide support with customized XBMC versions, tailored for their devices. Should you have purchased from them it would be wise to first check if it’s a known issue with that specific version. Any other third-party websites, offering you XBMC installations, or people offering you pre-installed devices, are not officially supported by Team XBMC and may contain unwanted and unsupported additions, changes and add-ons. Installing these versions is at your own risk. XBMC does not provide any media content on it’s own and comes with no add-ons installed regarding this. Should you have problems please contact the correct add-on developer or website should you experience any issues.

The Sino–British Joint Declaration is an international bilateral treaty signed between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom on 19 December 1984 in Beijing.[1] The Declaration stipulates the sovereign and administrative arrangement over Hong Kong after 1 July 1997, when the lease of the New Territories was set to expire according to the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. The Declaration was signed by Premier Zhao Ziyang of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom (UK) on behalf of their respective governments. It entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985, and was registered by the PRC and UK governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration, the PRC Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997, and the UK Government declared that it would hand over Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. The PRC Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong in the document. In accordance with the "one country, two systems" principle agreed between the UK and the PRC, the socialist system of PRC would not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years until 2047. The Joint Declaration provides that these basic policies should be stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law and that the socialist system and socialist policies shall not be practised in HKSAR. However, with the start of the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, a campaign against the perceived infringements in the HKSAR by mainland China, the British Foreign Office announced that Chinese officials now treat the Joint Declaration as "void". Background [ edit ] The background of the Sino–British Joint Declaration was the pending expiration of the lease of the New Territories on 1 July 1997.[2] The lease was negotiated between the UK and the Guangxu Emperor of China, and was for a period of 99 years starting from 1 July 1898 under the Second Convention of Peking. At the time of the lease signing, Hong Kong Island had already been ceded to the UK in perpetuity under the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 after the First Opium War, and the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula as well as the Stonecutters Island had also been ceded to the UK in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860 after the Second Opium War. In the early 1980s the territory and its business community grew concerned about the future of Hong Kong.[3] These concerns, regarding the status of property rights and contracts, were spurred by political uncertainty surrounding the scheduled reversion of the New Territories to the PRC.[4] In March 1979, the Governor of Hong Kong, Murray MacLehose, visited Beijing. During this visit, informal talks about the future of Hong Kong began. Upon his return, MacLehose attempted to allay investors' worries about the scheduled reversion, but reiterated that the PRC asserted its intention to regain sovereignty over Hong Kong.[4] The first formal negotiations began with chairman Deng Xiaoping of the Central Military Commission during the visit of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, to China in September 1982.[4] During the following discussions, where the Governor of Hong Kong took part in every round of formal talks as a member of the British delegation, it became clear that the continuation of British administration after 1997 would not be acceptable to China in any form.[5] The Chinese Government has consistently taken the view that the whole of Hong Kong should be Chinese territory, due to them being acquired through the inequality of historical treaties.[6] As a result, the two sides discussed possible measures besides continued British administration, and came up with the concept of Hong Kong as a Special Administration Region of the PRC. In April 1984, the two sides concluded the initial discussion of these matters, and arranged that Hong Kong would retain a high degree of autonomy under Chinese sovereignty with the preservation of the maintained lifestyle in Hong Kong.[5] By 18 September 1984, both sides had approved the English and Chinese texts of the documents and the associated Exchange of Memoranda. The signing of the Joint Declaration caused some controversy in Britain because UK's Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was agreeing with the China's Communist government represented by Deng Xiaoping. However, political analysts believe she had no choice to agree because "the alternative to acceptance of the present agreement [was] to have no agreement",[7] an unacceptable situation considering Britain's weak negotiating position. As Hong Kong was not militarily defensible and relied on Guangdong province in mainland China to supply most of its food and water,[7] the economic feasibility of dividing Hong Kong (with Britain retaining control of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon while the New Territories returning to the PRC) was impracticable. Furthermore, there was an urgency to make an agreement because there were fears that without a treaty the economy in Hong Kong would collapse in the 1980s. Concerns about land ownership in the leased New Territories also added to the problem. Although discussions on the future of Hong Kong had started in the late 1970s, the final timing of the Joint Declaration was more affected by property and economic factors rather than geopolitical necessities.[7] Treaty contents [ edit ] Joint Declaration [ edit ] The Sino–British Joint Declaration consists of eight paragraphs, three Annexes about the Basic Policies regarding Hong Kong, the Sino–British Joint Liaison Group and the Land Leases as well as the two Memoranda of the two sides. Each part has the same status, and "The whole makes up a formal international agreement, legally binding in all its parts. An international agreement of this kind is the highest form of commitment between two sovereign states."[8] Within these declarations the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be directly under the authority of the Central People's Government of the PRC and shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy except for foreign and defence affairs. It shall be allowed to have executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication. The Basic Law explains that in addition to Chinese, English may also be used in organs of government and that apart from the national flag and national emblem of the PRC the HKSAR may use a regional flag and emblem of its own. It shall maintain the capitalist economic and trade systems previously practised in Hong Kong. The third paragraph lists the PRC's basic policies regarding Hong Kong: National unity and territorial integrity shall be upheld and a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) shall be established. [9] "The [HKSAR] will be directly under the authority of the Central People's Government of the [PRC and] will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs." " [10] "The [HKSAR] will be vested with executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication. The laws currently in force in Hong Kong will remain basically unchanged." [11] "The Government of the [HKSAR] will be composed of local inhabitants. The chief executive will be appointed by the Central People's Government on the basis of the results of elections or consultations to be held locally. Principal officials will be nominated by the chief executive of the [HKSAR] for appointment by the Central People's Government. Chinese and foreign nationals previously working in the public and police services in the government departments of Hong Kong may remain in employment. British and other foreign nationals may also be employed to serve as advisers or hold certain public posts in government departments of the [HKSAR]." [12] "The current social and economic systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged, and so will the life-style. Rights and freedoms, including those of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of travel, of movement, of correspondence, of strike, of choice of occupation, of academic research and of religious belief will be ensured by law in the [HKSAR]. Private property, ownership of enterprises, legitimate right of inheritance and foreign investment will be protected by law." [13] "The [HKSAR] will retain the status of a free port and a separate customs territory. It can continue the free trade policy, including free movement of goods and capital." [14] "The [HKSAR] will retain the status of an international financial centre" with free flow of capital and the Hong Kong dollar remaining freely convertible. The HKSAR may authorise designated banks to issue or continue to issue Hong Kong currency under statutory authority. [15] It will have independent finances with its own budgets and final accounts, but reporting it to the Central People's Government. Additionally, "the Central People's Government will not levy taxes on [it]." [16] "The HKSAR may establish mutually beneficial economic relations with the United Kingdom and other countries [...]" [17] The name used for international relations will be 'Hong Kong, China'. In doing so it may maintain and develop economic and cultural relations and agreements with states, regions and relevant international organisations on its own and it may issue travel documents for Hong Kong. International agreements to which the PRC is not a party but Hong Kong is may remain implemented in the HKSAR. The government of the HKSAR is responsible for the maintenance of public order. Military forces sent by the Central People's Government, stationed in HKSAR, for the purpose of defence shall not interfere in the internal affairs in the HKSAR. Those basic policies will be stipulated in a Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the PRC by the National People's Congress and will remain unchanged for 50 years. The Government of the United Kingdom will be responsible for the administration of Hong Kong with the object of maintaining and preserving its economic prosperity and social stability until 30 June 1997 and the Government of the PRC will give its co-operation in this connection. Furthermore, this declaration regulates the right of abode, those of passports and immigration. All Chinese nationals who were born or who have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of seven years or more are qualified to obtain permanent identity cards. Those cardholders can also get a passport of the HKSAR, which is valid for all states and regions. But the entry into the HKSAR of persons from other parts of China shall continue to be regulated in accordance with the present practice. The PRC's basic policies regarding Hong Kong (Annex I) [ edit ] This Annex is called the Elaboration by the government of the People's Republic of China of its basic policies regarding Hong Kong. It is partly mentioned in the summary above and deals in detail with the way Hong Kong will work after 1 July 1997. The annexe consist of following sections: (1) Constitutional arrangements and government structure; (II) the laws; (III) the judicial system; (IV) the public service; (V) the financial system; (VI) the economic system and external economic relations; (VII) the monetary system, (VIII) shipping, (IX) civil aviation; (X) education; (XI) foreign affairs; (XII) defence, security and public order; (XIII) basic rights and freedoms; (XIV) right of abode, travel and immigration. Sino–British Joint Liaison Group (Annex II) [ edit ] Annex II set up the Sino–British Joint Liaison Group. That Group came into force at 1 July 1988 and continued its work until 1 January 2000. Its functions were a) to conduct consultations on the implementation of the Joint Declaration b) to discuss matters relating to the smooth transfer of government in 1997 c) to exchange information and conduct consultations on such subjects as may be agreed by the two sides.[18] This Group was an organ for liaison and not of power, where each side could send up to 20 supporting staff members. It should meet at least once in each of the three locations (Beijing, London and Hong Kong) in each year. From 1 July 1988 onwards it was based in Hong Kong. It should also assist the HKSAR to maintain and develop economic and cultural relations and conclude agreements on these matters with states, regions and relevant international organisations and could therefore set up specialist sub-groups. Between 1985 and 2000 the Joint Liaison Group held 47 plenary meetings whereof 18 were held in Hong Kong, 15 in London and 14 in Beijing. One of the main achievements had been to ensure the continuity of the independent judiciary in Hong Kong, including agreements in the areas of law of Merchant Shipping, Civil Aviation, Nuclear Material, Whale Fisheries, Submarine Telegraph, Outer Space and many others. Furthermore, it agreed to a network of bilateral agreements between Hong Kong and other countries. Within those agreements were reached on the continued application of about 200 international conventions to the HKSAR after 30 June 1997. Hong Kong should also continue to participate in various international organisations after the handover. Land Leases (Annex III) [ edit ] According to the Land Leases all leased lands, granted by the British Hong Kong Government, which extend beyond 30 June 1997 and all rights in relation to such leases shall continue to be recognised and protected under the law of the HKSAR for a period expiring not longer than 30 June 2047. Furthermore, a Land Commission shall be established with equal number of officials from the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the PRC which was dissolved on 30 June 1997. This commission was established in 1985 and met in Hong Kong for 35 formal meetings and agreed on 26 legal documents, within the granting of the land required for the new airport at Chek Lap Kok in 1994. United Kingdom Memorandum [ edit ] In this memorandum the Government of the United Kingdom declared that all persons who hold British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTCs) through an affiliation with Hong Kong would cease to be BDTCs on 1 July 1997. After the declaration, the Hong Kong Act, 1985 and the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order, 1986 created the category British National (Overseas). BDTCs were allowed to apply for British National (Overseas) status until July 1997, but this status does not in of itself grant the right of abode anywhere, including the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. After the handover, most former BDTCs became citizens of the People's Republic of China. Any who were ineligible for PRC citizenship and who had not applied for BN(O) status automatically became British Overseas citizens. Chinese Memorandum [ edit ] "Under the National Law of the PRC, all Hong Kong Chinese compatriots, whether they are holders of the 'British Dependent Territories Citizens' Passport' or not, are Chinese nationals." Those people who use travel documents issued by the Government of the United Kingdom are permitted to use them for the purpose of travelling to other states and regions, but they will not be entitled to British consular protection in the HKSAR and other parts of the PRC. Aftermath [ edit ] Early years [ edit ] After signing of the declaration, the Sino–British Joint Liaison Group was set up according to the Annex II of the declaration. The transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong (referred to as the "return" or "handover" by the Chinese and British press respectively) occurred as scheduled on 1 July 1997. Since the return just a few things changed, such as the flag of Hong Kong and the Prince of Wales Building being renamed into the People's Liberation Army Building. Post boxes were repainted green, as per the practice in China. Street names have remained unchanged and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has kept its "Royal" prefix, although the Hong Kong Jockey Club and other institutions have given up this title.[19] After the Asian financial crisis in 1997 the Hong Kong measures were taken with the full co-operation of the Chinese government. This did not mean that the Chinese government dictated what to do and therefore still follows the points of the declaration.[20] Despite the autonomy, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region sometimes sought the suggestions from the Chinese government. In 1999 the government of the HKSAR asked China's State Council to seek an interpretation of a provision in the Basic Law by the National People's Congress Standing Committee. The Chinese government said that a decision by the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal would allow 1.6 million mainland immigrants to enter Hong Kong. As a result, the Chinese authorities obliged and the Hong Kong judgment was overturned.[clarification needed][21] Pressures from the mainland government were also apparent, for example in 2000, after the election of pro-independence candidate Chen Shui-bian as Taiwan's president, a senior mainland official in Hong Kong warned journalists not to report the news. Another senior official advised businessmen not to do business with pro-independence Taiwanese.[21] With this and other changes,[21] ten years after the return, in 2007, The Guardian wrote that on the one hand, "nothing has changed since the handover to China 10 years ago", but this was in comparison to the situation before the last governor Chris Patten had introduced democratic reforms three years before the handover. A chance for democracy had been lost as Hong Kong had just begun to develop three vital elements for a western-style democracy (the rule of law, official accountability and a political class outside the one-party system) but the Sino–British deal had prevented any of these changes to continue.[22] Wu Bangguo, the chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee stated in a conference in Beijing 2007, that "Hong Kong had considerable autonomy only because the central government had chosen to authorize that autonomy".[23] Waning influence [ edit ] In 2014, against the backdrop of Umbrella Revolution, the British Foreign Affairs Select Committee was banned by China from entering Hong Kong on their planned visit in December as part of their inquiry into progress of the implementation of the Sino–British Joint Declaration. In an emergency parliamentary debate about the unprecedented ban, the chairman on the committee Richard Ottaway revealed that Chinese officials consider the Joint Declaration "now void and only covered the period from the signing in 1984 until the handover in 1997."[24] In 2016, Caroline Wilson, who was the British Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macao, said the Causeway Bay Books disappearances was a violation of the Joint declaration.[25] In July 2017, when British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged democratic progress in Hong Kong,[26][27] China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the legally binding Hong Kong handover treaty with Britain 'as a historical document, no longer has any practical significance,' and that 'It is not at all binding for the central government's management over Hong Kong. The UK has no sovereignty, no power to rule and no power to supervise Hong Kong after the handover.'[28][29][30][31][32] In response the British Foreign office said: "It is a legally binding treaty, registered with the UN and continues to be in force. As a co-signatory, the UK government is committed to monitoring its implementation closely." Johnson restated Britain's commitment to Hong Kong is enshrined in the "treaty" that was "just as strong today" as it was 20 years ago.[29][32] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ]

Over a career of more than 100 Tests, Clarke's numbers are outstanding along certain parameters, but quite ordinary along others Michael Clarke's Test average when batting at No. 5 is second-best among those who've batted at least 50 innings there; at No. 4 Clarke's average is second from bottom © Getty Images Going into the final Test of his career, Michael Clarke needs 222 runs (assuming he is dismissed twice) to lift his career average to 50; if he is dismissed once, he needs 172. Given that he has been in wretched form throughout this series and has an aggregate of 117 in eight innings, it seems highly unlikely he will get there. On the other hand, he needs 45 in two innings to ensure the average doesn't dip below 49. If he does score between 45 and 221 runs in two completed innings, he will become only the fourth batsman to play 100-plus Tests and fall less than one run short of an average of 50. That, in a strange way, also encapsulates Clarke's career. At various times in his career he seemed within touching distance of greatness, but most experts would agree that ultimately he fell marginally short, despite being the fourth-highest run-getter in Tests for Australia; a superb batsman when in full flight, but in the overall analysis not quite in the league of a Ricky Ponting or a Sachin Tendulkar or a Brian Lara. A break-up of Clarke's career stats shows some inconsistency, with periods of high averages interspersed with periods when his average dipped below 40. That inconsistency is probably the difference between his achieving legendary status as a batsman and stopping just short of it. Even so, in the eight-year period from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2013, Clarke was clearly among the top batsmen in the world: among the 31 batsmen who scored 3000 or more runs during this period, only three - Kumar Sangakkara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Younis Khan - had a better average. That period also includes 2012, a year when he scored 1595 runs at an average of 106.33. However, over the entire period of his career, Clarke's average of 49.30 is only tenth out of 28 batsmen who've scored at least 4000 runs during this period. Michael Clarke's Test career Period Tests Innings Runs Average 100s 50s Till Dec 2005 20 31 1072 36.96 2 4 Jan 2006 to Dec 2009 36 60 2854 57.08 10 13 Jan 2010 to Dec 2011 21 37 1389 37.54 5 4 Jan 2012 to Dec 2013 24 44 2688 70.73 9 6 Jan 2014 onwards 13 25 625 29.76 2 0 Career 114 197 8628 49.30 28 27 Higest Test averages between Jan 2006 and Dec 2013 (Min 3000 runs) Player Tests Inns Runs Average 100 50 Kumar Sangakkara 65 115 6735 64.75 25 25 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 62 106 5063 61.74 15 27 Younis Khan 48 85 4377 59.14 14 16 Michael Clarke 81 141 6931 55.44 24 23 Jacques Kallis 71 121 5837 54.04 23 21 Hashim Amla 70 120 5894 53.58 20 27 AB de Villiers 76 125 5711 51.91 15 28 Mahela Jayawardene 65 114 5505 50.50 18 18 Thilan Samaraweera 48 84 3605 50.06 9 20 Michael Hussey 74 127 5640 49.47 16 28 One aspect of Clarke's batting which has always stood out has been his ability to convert fifties into hundreds - his very first Test innings was 151, against India in Bangalore. Even when he had his lean spells - in 2010-11, and then again in the last year and a half - he has still maintained an excellent conversion rate. In the last year and a half Clarke has generally struggled for runs, but on the two occasions when he has reached 50, he has gone on to hundreds, getting a magnificent 161 not out against South Africa in Cape Town, and 128 against India in Adelaide. His ratio of 1.04 hundreds per 50 (28 hundreds, 27 fifties) is fourth among all batsmen who've got at least 15 hundreds. Only Don Bradman, Clyde Walcott and Mohammad Azharuddin have better conversion rates. Best ratios between 100s and 50s (Min 15 hundreds) player 100s 50s Ratio DG Bradman 29 13 2.23 CL Walcott 15 14 1.07 M Azharuddin 22 21 1.05 MJ Clarke 28 27 1.04 ML Hayden 30 29 1.03 Younis Khan 30 29 1.03 MP Vaughan 18 18 1.00 The home-away discrepancy Many batsmen with long careers tend to have fairly even numbers across different parameters. Michael Clarke wasn't one of them. His home-away numbers, as well as his stats at No. 4 and No. 5, contrasted significantly. At first glance, Clarke comes across as a home bully - he averaged 62.05 at home, and 39.74 away. He scored a century every three Tests at home, and one every five-and-a-half Tests away. Among Australian batsmen who played at least 50 innings at home, Clarke's average of 62.05 is next only to Don Bradman's 98.22. However, his away average is 17th out of 29 Australian top-order batsmen who played at least 50 innings overseas. Among 28 batsmen who've scored at least 8000 Test runs, the difference between Clarke's home and away average (home average minus away average) is second-highest, next only to Mahela Jayawardene's 22.35. (The numbers in the table below exclude Tests against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.) In comparison, the difference for Ponting is 10.48, for Lara 10.58, for Kallis 5.17, for Sangakkara 7.22. Some of the other greats have a better average away than at home: for Tendulkar the difference is -2.10, for Dravid -2.29, for Steve Waugh -8.85, and for Allan Border -10.63. Highest difference between home and away average (Min 8000 runs) Batsman home_ave away_ave diff Mahela Jayawardene 58.58 36.23 22.35 Michael Clarke 62.05 40.03 22.02 Javed Miandad 63.79 45.80 17.99 Garry Sobers 66.80 50.73 16.07 Kevin Pietersen 52.92 40.40 12.52 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 56.02 43.64 12.38 Younis Khan 58.17 46.66 11.51 Matthew Hayden 54.05 42.96 11.09 Brian Lara 58.12 47.53 10.59 Ricky Ponting 56.20 45.72 10.48 However, check out Clarke's stats in each country and something different emerges: he has played more than two Tests in six overseas countries, and in each of them he averages at least 39; in three countries - India, England and South Africa - he averages between 40 and 41. Batsmen with higher overseas averages have often struggled in one country - Ponting averaged 26 in India, Lara 33 in India (three Tests) and 36.90 in New Zealand (seven Tests), Kallis 35.33 in England (15 Tests) and Sri Lanka (five Tests), Dravid 29.71 in South Africa (11 Tests) and 33.10 in Sri Lanka (12 Tests), Inzamam 30.87 in Australia and 31.78 in South Africa (eight Tests each), Sangakkara 35.75 in South Africa (eight Tests) and 36.50 in India (six Tests), and Jayawardene less than 40 in Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa and the UAE. (Tendulkar was the exception, averaging at least 40 in every country he played in.) However, they all compensated by averaging well over 50 in another overseas country. Clarke didn't average more than 50 in any overseas country - his best was 49.50, in New Zealand - but there was also no single country where he did poorly. The gap between his home and away average is also partially a function of his extremely high home average. Michael Clarke's Test stats in each country Host country Tests Inns Runs Ave 100 50 in Australia 53 86 4654 62.05 17 13 in New Zealand 5 6 297 49.50 1 1 in Sri Lanka 3 5 214 42.80 1 1 in South Africa 8 16 528 40.61 2 1 in England 21 39 1420 40.57 3 6 in India 13 25 972 40.50 3 4 in West Indies 7 13 435 39.54 1 1 The contrast between No. 4 and No. 5 Throughout his career, Clarke seemed to be at his most comfortable when batting at No. 5. He scored runs by the bucketful when batting at that slot, but strangely seemed to get into a rut when he moved a slot higher, to No. 4. Most middle-order batsmen tend to start their careers at Nos. 5 or 6 and then move up the order as they gain in experience and batting nous, but with Clarke that never really happened, which is perhaps also one of the reasons he isn't quite up there with the batting legends. He did average 45.09 from 24 innings at No. 4 in 2013 and 2014 - a period during which he also scored that 161 not out in Cape Town - but his overall average at that position, in 61 innings, is a mediocre 30.89. Among all batsmen who've played at least 50 innings at No. 4, only one - South Africa's Dave Nourse, who played between 1902 and 1924, has a poorer average. At No. 5 the story is completely different: Clarke averaged an outstanding 60.80 - almost twice his No. 4 average - from 110 innings. With the same 50-innings cut-off, only one batsman, AB de Villiers, has a higher average at that position. Clarke scored a century every 5.5 innings at No. 5; at No. 4, he scored one every 12 innings. Lowest Test averages at No. 4 (Min 50 inngs) Player Inns Runs Average 100 50 Dave Nourse 51 1346 27.46 0 9 Michael Clarke 61 1730 30.89 5 4 Vijay Manjrekar 52 1714 35.70 3 10 Stephen Fleming 82 2902 36.27 2 26 Nasser Hussain 82 2877 37.36 8 17 Allan Lamb 67 2340 38.36 8 7 David Gower 91 3223 38.36 3 20 John Reid 53 1993 39.86 4 13 Highest Test averages at No. 5 (Min 50 inngs) Player Inns Runs Average 100 50 AB de Villiers 66 3574 63.82 13 13 Michael Clarke 110 5959 60.80 20 20 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 151 6883 56.41 19 35 Steve Waugh 142 6754 56.28 24 29 Graham Thorpe 78 3373 56.21 10 18 Andrew Flower 82 3788 54.89 9 22 Misbah-ul-Haq 82 3564 53.19 8 26 Mohammad Yousuf 78 3774 53.15 13 19 The spin problem As Aakash Chopra so lucidly explained, Clarke's twinkle-toed footwork suggests he is excellent against spin, but his record against spinners in Asia isn't that impressive. In Asia, he averages 34.84 against spin; outside Asia, his average against spin increases to 66.86. Left-arm spinners have particularly troubled him - his overall average against them is 42.03, and in Asia it drops to 18.57. Overall, the bowler who has troubled him the most is undoubtedly Stuart Broad, who has dismissed Clarke 11 times at an average of 23.27 runs per dismissal. James Anderson and Dale Steyn have both dismissed him nine times each, Anderson at an average of 33 runs per wicket, Steyn at an average of 28.88. Clarke against different bowling styles Bowling style Dismissals Average Right-arm pace 99 46.82 Right-arm spin 36 63.25 Left-arm spin 27 42.03 Left-arm pace 9 64.33 Clarke the captain In the 46 Tests that Clarke captained, Australia won 23 and lost 16. The win-loss ratio of 1.437 isn't a bad one, but Australia have been such a successful team historically that Clarke's captaincy record is one of the poorest: among the 15 Australian captains who have led in 20 or more Tests, only three have a poorer ratio - Kim Hughes (4-13), Bob Simpson (12-12) and Bill Lawry (9-8). Under his leadership, Australia have lost exactly as many Tests as they did under Ponting, but have won less than half as many - Ponting's Australia won 48 Tests out of 77. Most pundits agree that tactically, Clarke was superb, attacking at every opportunity and never allowing the game to stagnate. His innovative field settings and bold declarations made him one of the most interesting captains, and perhaps Australia's best tactically since Mark Taylor, but the team itself, and especially the erratic batting, meant that those tactics didn't always convert into wins. Australia's home record under Clarke was outstanding - 14-3, which is fourth among all Australian captains who have led in at least ten home Tests - but overseas they struggled, winning nine and losing 13, a record which puts him in 11th place among 15 captains who've led in ten or more away Tests. More Numbers 151 Clarke's score on Test debut, against India in Bangalore, the sixth-highest among Australians in their first Test. Clarke also notched up a century in his first Test innings at home, scoring 141 against New Zealand at the Gabba in November 2004. 4 Double-centuries Clarke scored in 2012, the most by any batsman in a calendar year. His aggregate of 1595 is the fourth-highest by a batsman in a year. 14 Centuries Clarke scored in the 46 Tests in which he captained. Only Graeme Smith, Ponting, Border and Waugh scored more hundreds as captain. 329* Clarke's score against India in Sydney in 2012, the fifth-highest by a captain in Tests. He is one of eight captains to score a triple-century in Tests. 670 Runs scored by Clarke in the fourth innings in his entire Test career, at an average of 31.90. That aggregate is less than 8% of the total runs Clarke scored in his Tests. 6/9 Clarke's bowling figures against India in Mumbai in 2004; he is one of only five bowlers to take six or more wickets conceding fewer than ten runs in a Test innings. With inputs from Shiva Jayaraman S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter © ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Wormholes are normally the stuff of science fiction, but new research carried out by a group of physicists in Spain has shown that it is possible to build the magnetic equivalent of a wormhole that is capable of transporting a magnetic field from one point in space to another. The team has built a spherical wormhole, made from ferromagnetic and superconducting components, that is magnetically cloaked. The researchers say that the work could prove particularly useful in magnetic resonance imaging. Wormholes are hypothetical “topological features” or tunnels that, in theory, would connect two distant regions of space–time, via higher dimensions. They are predicted by certain solutions of general relativity, as a result of massive objects severely distorting space–time, but have never been observed in nature and would be exceedingly difficult to recreate in the lab. Manipulated magnets In the latest work, Alvaro Sanchez and colleagues at the Autonomous University of Barcelona have instead designed and constructed a wormhole for a magnetic field. The 9 cm-diameter sphere guides and cloaks a magnetic field from a dipole source placed one side of it, such that field lines appear to emanate from a monopole on the other side of the sphere. Indeed, it seems as if the field takes an invisible shortcut through the intervening space. “You see the apparatus with your eyes,” says Sanchez, “but magnetically it is undetectable. It is like the field lines have gone through another spatial dimension.” The sphere has three parts. Running through it is a tube made from a thin sheet of the nickel–iron ferromagnetic alloy, which is wound into a spiral – it transports the applied field. This “magnetic hose” is needed because magnetic fields decay rapidly with distance – an alternative design for such a hose being realized by Sanchez and co-workers two years ago. The other two parts then make up the spherical shell: a layer of superconducting tape surrounded by an array of (high-permeability) plates of the alloy. The superconductor repels external magnetic fields, thereby magnetically isolating the hose within; while the array compensates for the fact that the superconductor distorts any external field as it repels it. Designing the array so that it precisely cancels the magnetic signature of the superconductor required extensive computer modelling, notes research co-author Jordi Prat-Camps. To put its wormhole to the test, the team placed the device in an external magnetic field created by a pair of Helmholtz coils and then inserted magnetic probes at two points – at the exit to the wormhole and alongside it. As intended, the researchers found that the first probe revealed a monopole-like field. The latter, when moved back and forth, showed no distortion of the external field (which was not the case when either of the two shells was removed). The work builds on a theoretical proposal put forward by Allan Greenleaf of the University of Rochester in the US and colleagues in 2007. Greenleaf’s group actually outlined the design of a wormhole that would apply to electromagnetic waves in general, including light, and not just static magnetic fields. But Sanchez explains that actually building such a device would be extraordinarily difficult – it would require extreme values of magnetic permeability, as well as harder-to-manipulate electrical permittivity. Sanchez points out that the new device is not the world’s first magnetic cloak, but he believes it is the first such cloak to work in three dimensions, rather than two. He also reckons that it is the first ever artificial wormhole of any variety. Unfortunately, Sanchez does not think that it can help improve our understanding of putative cosmological wormholes. Those objects would rely on the distortion of space–time itself, rather than on a particular field within space–time, and as such would require enormous sources of gravity. “Scientists are very good at manipulating magnetic fields,” he says, “but we don’t have the same mastery over gravitation.” Manifold magnetic applications However, the ability to isolate magnetic fields from one another could prove useful in applications such as MRI – potentially allowing simultaneous imaging of different parts of the body. “Our main motivation was scientific,” says Sanchez, “but since magnetic fields are used in so many different things, our device could have many potential applications.” You see the apparatus with your eyes, but magnetically it is undetectable. It is like the field lines have gone through another spatial dimension Alvaro Sanchez Tie Jun Cui, an electrical engineer at Southeast University in China who was not involved in the work, agrees with Sanchez, and believes that it might now be possible to make analogous devices for sound or heat, for example. “Considering the various acoustic-cloak designs proposed in recent years, it should not be difficult to design an invisible acoustic tunnel,” he says. John Pendry of Imperial College in London, whose technique of transformation optics has been used to develop cloaking devices, notes that there is nothing, in principle, to prevent the magnetic wormhole from working as advertised, but would like further details from the Spanish researchers before endorsing their work. “They don’t give too many details of their design, nor are there any computer simulations to refer to,” he says. The wormhole is described in Scientific Reports.

Demon thumbs, broken controllers, katana-wielding badasses, and spooky ghosts are some of the things we have to look forward to in April’s selection of horror games. I really didn’t think this year could match the frighteningly awesome first half of 2015, but here we are, four months in and it still hasn’t slowed down. Let’s have a look at what’s coming up this month. HTC Vive The Oculus Rift ($599) has had a few weeks to get comfortable before the arrival of its only major competitor, and now the war is on for the virtual reality space. What separates the HTC Vive from the Rift can be summed up as price, specs and support. The Vive costs $799, has superior specs to match its more premium price, and it’s being backed hard by Valve. It also has one fantastic horror game you can grab right away in Albino Lullaby: Episode 1. Release Date: April 5 (PC) Dark Souls III At this point, Dark Souls III doesn’t need an introduction. It’s going to ruin you, but you know this. It’ll break your confidence, leave you feeling incompetent and infuriated with yourself for not pressing the dodge button in time, but you know that too. You don’t care, because that’s the point. You’ll power through the frustration because you know there’s a light at the end of that tunnel, and when you get there, you know it’ll be one of the most rewarding gaming experiences that are out there. Release Date: April 12 (PC, PS4, XBO) Phantasmal: City of Darkness Phantasmal: City of Darkness is a crowdfunded survival horror roguelike that released on Steam Early Access (review) last year. With its Lovecraftian themes and procedurally generated levels, this game has an incredibly high replay factor that should more than justify its budget price. It’s on sale for $11.99 until Thursday, then it’ll go back to $14.99. Release Date: April 14 (PC) The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode 3 Telltale’s spin-off miniseries starring fan favorite Michonne will come to an end this month with the finale episode ‘What We Deserve’ that should tidy up any loose ends left by the first two thirds of The Walking Dead: Michonne so we can all be ready for the premier of The Walking Dead: Season 3 this fall. Release Date: April 26 (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, XBO, iOS, Android) Aliens vs. Pinball This isn’t a “horror” game, but it is related to one of the best horror games of 2014, so here it is. Aliens vs. Pinball is an Alien: Isolation inspired pinball table for Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX2 that takes Amanda Ripley’s fight for survival against an alien and some rogue Working Joes and pinball-ifies it, because why not? And it’s coming on Alien Day, naturally. Release Date: April 26 (PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, iOS, Android) Crowdfunding Campaigns We have two notable Kickstarter campaigns to keep an eye on this month, starting with the atmospheric exploration game Niten that borrows heavily from Dear Esther and Gone Home, then cranks up the isolation factor considerably with its remote Japanese island setting. The game needs to raise a little over $21k by May 5, and with just $4,000 raised as I write this, it still has a long road ahead of it. We also have Ghost Theory, a game about investigating paranormal activity in real-world locales that have been recreated so they’re fully explorable in a virtual space. If it sounds familiar, it’s because this is its second attempt at crowdfunding, after the first failed to meet its lofty funding goal. This time, Dreadlocks is seeking about $71k to get it made. It’s about a third of the way there with more than three weeks left before its campaign closes on May 13, the day Doom arrives. You can give it a little nudge over here.

This week’s breakdown is coming to you a day late (Comcast was installing fiber cables and knocked out my internet for most of the day…..) but is still chalk full of juicy shows that you will be able to see this week! Check out the full breakdown of the biggest and best shows happening right here in Minnesota this week, and as always, we hope to see you out there!! Tuesday, October 17th Skyway Theatre – Getter 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Amsterdam Bar & Hall – Lil Peep ‘Come Over When You’re Sober Tour’ SOLD OUT All Ages Doors @ 6:00 The Cabooze – Kirko Bangz ‘The Progression Tour’ 15+ Show Doors @ 6:00 Ticket Info Here 7th St Entry – Ghost of Paul Revere w/ Collapsing Stars 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Turf Club – Bob Log III w/ Gabriel Douglas 21+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Wednesday, October 18th Xcel Energy Center – Kings of Leon All Ages Doors @ 6:00 Ticket Info Here The Cedar – Bad Suns w/ Hunny and QTY All Ages Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Palace Theatre – The War on Drugs w/ The Building SOLD OUT 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 First Avenue – Violent Femmes w/ Teenage Strangler SOLD OUT 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Turf Club – Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers 21+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here 7th St Entry – Beach Fossils w/ Snail Mail and Raener 18+ Show Doors @ 7:30 Ticket Info Here Icehouse – Thee Commons w/ The Bad Man 21+ Show Doors @ 9:30 Ticket Info Here Thursday, October 19th First Avenue – Gavin DeGraw RAW TOUR 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Skyway Theatre – Milky Chance All Ages Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here 7th St Entry – Pinegrove w/ Florist and Lomelda SOLD OUT 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Skyway Theatre (The Loft) – Dubloadz w/ Tok3n & Friends 18+ Show Doors @ 9:00 Ticket Info Here The Cabooze – Sundance Head w/ Old Desert Road 18+ Show Doors @ 7:30 Ticket Info Here Turf Club – This Is The Kit w/ Rogue Valley 21+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Friday, October 20th The Cedar – Deer Tick w/ Chris Crofton SOLD OUT All Ages Doors @ 7:00 First Avenue – Ron Pope w/ Ages And Ages and The Heart Of 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Palace Theatre – Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue w/ Vintage Trouble 18+ Show Doors @ 7:30 Ticket Info Here Skyway Theatre – Black Tiger Sex Machine – Midnight Terror Tour 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Fine Line Music Cafe – Léon – Surround Me Tour w/ Wrabel 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Triple Rock Social Club – Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers SOLD OUT 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 The Garage – Glass Houses w/ Near An Open Flame All Ages Doors @ 6:00 Ticket Info Here Turf Club – La Femme w/ Jacques 21+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here 7th St Entry – JONWAYNE – ‘Rap Album Two’ US Tour 2017 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Saturday, October 21st The Cedar – Julien Baker w/ Half Waif and Petal All Ages Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here First Avenue – Pert Near Sandstone w/ The Last Revel and Henhouse Prowlers 18+ Show Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Skyway Theatre – PVRIS: North American Tour 2017 All Ages Doors @ 7:00 Ticket Info Here Triple Rock Social Club – Boris Dear/25th Anniversary Tour 18+ Show Doors & 7:30 Ticket Info Here Turf Club – Nora Jane Struthers and The Pary Line 21+ Show Doors @ 7:30 Ticket Info Here 7th St Entry – Max Frost w/ NAWAS 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Skyway Theatre (The Loft) – Terravita 2017 Basslife Tour 18+ Show Doors @ 8:00 Ticket Info Here Sunday, October 22nd Xcel Energy Center – Fall Out Boy All Ages Doors @ 6:00 Ticket Info Here First Avenue – NEEDTOBREATHE – All The Feels Tour w/ The Brummies SOLD OUT 18+ Show Doors @ 6:00 7th St Entry – Tera Melos w/ Speedy Ortiz and Strange Relations 18+ Show Doors @ 6:30 Ticket Info Here Turf Club – Beatallica w/ Burbillies

In a recent study from France, Christophe Lopez, a neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université, teamed up with Maya Elzière, a doctor who sees patient with vestibular disorders. Some of these patients complained of dizziness, with physical causes that ranged from fluid leaking out of the inner ear to an infection of a nearby nerve. Of 210 patients who reported dizziness, 14 percent said they have had out-of-body experiences. In contrast, only 5 percent of healthy participants in the study reported such sensations. Among the patients who had out-of-body experiences, some reported “being attracted by a spiral, like in a tunnel.” Others described “entering my body, like in an envelope, from the top.” Lopez says he thinks the out-of-body sensation is a result of the mismatch between information coming from the damaged vestibular system and the normal visual system. Olaf Blanke, a neuroscientist at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, says that the study “puts previous anecdotal suggestions about a strong vestibular component in [out-of-body experiences] on firm grounds.” Blanke, who has worked with Lopez previously but not on the current study, has also shown that electrically stimulating the brain area that integrates vestibular and visual information can induce an out-of-body illusion. Whether the perturbation is in the inner ear itself or the brain, the end result seems to be the same: a feeling of having defied physics and left one’s body. But there is still another mystery. While 14 percent of Elzière’s patients experiencing dizziness reported out-of-body experiences, 14 percent is not 100 percent. And healthy people appear to sometimes have such experiences, too. A vestibular disorder alone does not cause people to feel like they’ve left their bodies. “We believe out-of-body experiences might be a combination of several factors,” says Lopez. He also surveyed patients about their mental states, and found that those with anxiety and depression in addition to dizziness were more likely to have out-of-body experiences. Jason Braithwaite, a psychologist at Lancaster University, has found that people who have other perceptual anomalies—like feeling the unexplained presence of another person or a body part changing shape—are also more likely to report out-of-body experiences. The out-of-body experience may have to do with a specific way the brain tries to make sense of a space. One way to explain this, says Braithwaite, is that your brain automatically builds a bird's-eye view of the space around you. Usually, you see things from your own perspective. But when something perturbs the brain and it can’t make sense of different streams of sensory information, this bird’s-eye model of the world may take over. To Braithwaite, studying out-of-body experiences gets at the big questions of self and consciousness. “Twenty or thirty years ago, psychology thought consciousness research was a flaky thing, like you get your meditation mat out and light your joss sticks,” he says. (The reaction of Monroe’s psychologist friend to out-of-body experiences suggests as much.) But, says Braithwaite, “aberrant experiences in all their forms and flavors have a great deal to teach scientists and philosophers about the nature of human experiences, even when they’re wacky and wild.”

My santa must have some kind of key to Wonderland because he was on point with the gifts. I'm one of those rare Alice fans that is not a fan of the original Disney cartoon, but more of the effect Alice in Wonderland has had on society. I prefer the darker side of Alice , and everything macabre. My lovely Santa first started this trip with a delightful letter explaining my journey . Disney inspired Alice in Wonderland tea; should I happen to run into my beloved Hatter , I'd have something to offer at his party. Next an American McGee Alice replica , and should I be lost in the looking Glass , or find myself in the dungeon of the Queen of Hearts 1 manga about the adventures in Wonderland and two books starting the aforementioned love , The Hatter . Deepest of gratitude and thanks kind stranger . You've made my journey into madness a lot more fun !

Who would oppose legalizing 64-ounce beer growlers in Florida? A growler is a reusable bottle that is filled at the tap. It allows people to take draft beer home to drink. Craft breweries want to be able to fill the size of growler (64 ounces) that's legal in most other states. A bill to legalize the growlers is making its way through the Legislature. The effort has picked up some opposition, namely the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association, an association of 24 Florida beer distributors, including all the Anheuser-Busch distributors in the state. It's the same group that once opposed lifting the bottle law restrictions that limited Florida beer bottles to 8, 12, 16 and 32-ounce sizes. That 2001 change is frequently credited by others and myself as kicking off the Sunshine State's craft beer renaissance. The Beer Industry of Florida, a smaller association that represents other distributors, has come out in support of the measure. Why would the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association be against it? It turns out the issue isn't as cut-and-dry as it might appear. In fact, looking at the current law, you could make an argument that breweries, which are selling 32- and 128-ounce growlers, should not be selling any beer to go. First, a little background on how beer is sold in Florida. It's a three-tier system. Breweries sell their beer to distributors, who then sell to vendors, who then sell to consumers. Breweries generally cannot sell directly to consumers, and vendors can't buy beer from breweries. Both must go through distributors, who can't sell to consumers or make their own beer. The three-tier system was set in place by the federal government after Prohibition in part to prevent alcohol manufacturers from controlling bars. So you can see why some distributors would be opposed to breweries selling to consumers: It cuts them out of the deal. Breweries are selling growlers, bottles, kegs and cans directly to consumers by using an exception in the law that was set up years ago for Busch Gardens. If a brewery promotes tourism (offering tours), they argue, they can sell directly to drinkers. But that exception isn't as clear as it could be. Mitch Rubin, Florida Beer Wholesalers Association executive director, says the growler bill is putting the cart before the horse, because the bill doesn't say who can or cannot sell growlers. “We want clarification of the law at the same time the 64-ounce container is approved," Rubin said in a phone interview today. His group wants to uphold the current regulatory system and worries about breweries being able to get around the three-tier requirement. “How do you maintain a system when everybody gets to do whatever they want?” he asked. So it's not just 64-ounce growlers, but more of an issue of who can sell them. Rubin's group has helped craft an amendment to the bill that would legalize the sale of 64-ounce growlers while placing new restrictions on breweries and brewpubs.

For music fans the 22,000- seat Shoreline amphitheater in Silicon Valley is iconic. Legendary concert promoter Bill Graham designed it with inspiration from the Grateful Dead logo, and that band played here 39 times. Neil Young, the Bee Gees, Bruce Springsteen--they've all graced the Shoreline stage. A few weeks ago, accompanied by bouncy electronica music and arcade-inspired videos flashing across giant screens, so did Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It would be an exaggeration to say he looked comfortable as he walked onstage. The cerebral 43-year-old is built like a straw, his eyes darting behind rectangular glasses, more Carl Sagan than Carlos Santana. No matter. At the annual Google I/O conference he was a rock star, the headline act. As he took in the hoots and cheers from the crowd of software developers, his face eventually settled into a smile. "We live in very, very exciting times. Computing has had an amazing evolution," Pichai said in his south Indian accent, stretching amaaaaazing as a way to get the crowd going. Okay, not exactly Steve Jobs. Or even Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos or Tim Cook. Pichai is the classic insider CEO, a low-profile, methodical brainiac who would rather geek out over the future of computer science than whip up a crowd of software developers with choreographed product demos. And that's exactly what Google cofounder Larry Page was after when he hand-picked Pichai last year to take over one of the greatest tech franchises of all time. The task at hand is monumental. With a market cap of roughly half a trillion dollars, Google, or rather its parent, Alphabet , is the world's second-most-valuable company, dominating vast swaths of the tech industry, including search, digital advertising, mobile and video. But Page and Pichai know all too well that tech behemoths often lose their way when they are strongest. And while earlier tech giants, from IBM to BlackBerry, were felled by a single foe, Google faces a bruising multifront war with the other four superpowers in tech. It's fighting Apple in mobile and Facebook in advertising, video and communications. It's pitted against Amazon in commerce, a resurgent Microsoft in business software, and Amazon and Microsoft in cloud services. Pichai wages all these battles amid a fundamental technological shift. As Google continues to navigate the transition from desktop to mobile, computing is already moving to multiple screens and in some instances--such as with Amazon's surprise hit Echo smart speaker--no screens. Interactions with devices and apps are quickly becoming two-way conversations, sometimes employing smart "bots" promoted by Microsoft, Facebook and others. Unlike apps, these bots run atop communications services like Facebook's Messenger (900 million users) or Microsoft's Skype (300 million users). Google has the wildly popular Gmail (more than 1 billion users), but it lacks the kind of modern messaging system that the younger set favors. Pichai, however, believes this new tech world is tailor-made for Google because of one thing: artificial intelligence. Pretty much everyone can program simple, rudimentary conversations--Apple's Siri was among the first--but to go beyond flashy "demo-ware" you need more sophisticated algorithms. And artificial intelligence has been in Google's wheelhouse for years. The company invested in fundamental building blocks such as voice recognition, language understanding and machine translation long before most of its rivals. And after years of preparation, Pichai says, the company is ready to bring all that work together in compelling products that will keep the company ahead of the competition. "We have this vision of a shift from mobile-first to an AI-first world over many years," Pichai tells FORBES. Onstage at the Shoreline, Pichai unveiled the early fruits of those efforts: a smart speaker called Google Home that is aimed squarely at Amazon's Echo (and perhaps at an upcoming one Apple is rumored to be developing) and a messaging app called Allo. Powering both is a new service that Pichai calls the "Google assistant," the company's own take on conversational computing. Think of it as Search 3.0--a new, interactive way to communicate with Google itself. With it you'll be able to order a ticket, book a flight, play music, schedule a task, reply to a message; the Google assistant might even write it for you. It might prompt you to order flowers ahead of Mother's Day or to pack for your upcoming trip, and it might be able to pick up an earlier conversation from where you left off. In other words, it will be there, ready to help, in your phone, your speakers, your television, your car, your watch and eventually everywhere. "You are trying to go about your day, and in an ambient way, things are there to help you," Pichai says. Making sure this assistant lives up to its full potential will take years, and building it will be harder than it was for Page and cofounder Sergey Brin to create search itself. Adds Pichai: "In every dimension it is more ambitious." The cheers of the Shoreline crowd weren't enough to distract anyone from the obvious. The release of Allo glaringly reinforces the reality that Google is nowhere in messaging and that it badly needs to get somewhere fast. Google Home suggests that no one at Google saw the smart-speaker wave coming--Amazon had to show the way. And these deficiencies underscore one of Pichai's most significant challenges: While no one disputes that Google excels at complex technologies like AI and machine learning, it is not always a leader when it comes to turning those technologies into killer products. "The risk for Google is that their ability to do really hard AI leads them to overlook simple opportunities to create good-enough user experiences," says Tim O'Reilly, the founder of O'Reilly Media. Google Home will be a test, though the results remain a few months away. What's more, if conversations and messaging, rather than the desktop or even your smartphone's home screen, are to become the new conduits for bots and other digital services, Google needs to lure those services quickly and effectively, just as Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and perhaps Apple try to do the same. "In the end every third-party developer will not connect to every platform," says Harvard Business School's David Yoffie, a respected student of the tech industry. "The question is who is going to be most successful." Pichai's job is to ensure that the answer is Google, while keeping a company of some 60,000 employees and $75 billion in annual revenue humming. This enormous task underscores why Page went for substance over style. Pichai's to-do list starts with monetizing a sprawling digital empire that spans search, Android, maps, YouTube, Play and many lesser properties. It includes maintaining the cohesion of the disparate coalition of competing companies that make up the Android world; unifying Google's two operating systems, Android and Chrome; and grappling with antitrust and tax investigations in Europe and elsewhere. Pichai says he's ready to lead Google's metamorphosis. "Personally, there is a renewed sense of focus on our mission and on transforming the company using machine learning and artificial intelligence," he says. IF YOU RAN THE CLOCK BACK three or so decades, you might find Pichai standing on the front of a motor scooter, his father holding the handlebars, his mother perched on the passenger seat with his younger brother on her lap as the family navigates the chaotic traffic of Chennai. That's where Pichai grew up, in a simple two-room house. By Western standards his father, an electrical engineer, and his mother, a stenographer, were of modest means. For years they didn't own a television, a telephone or a car. But his parents put a strong emphasis on education, and Pichai earned a spot at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. After graduating with an engineering degree, he won a scholarship to Stanford, where in 1993 he began graduate studies in materials science and engineering with the goal of a Ph.D. and an academic career--his parents' dream. As with so many at Stanford, though, Silicon Valley beckoned, and after his master's he latched on to chip-industry pioneer Applied Materials . An M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a consulting gig at McKinsey & Co. followed. Pichai landed at Google in 2004, when the fast-growing search company still considered Microsoft its most formidable foe. Pichai was thrown into the trenches of the company's battle with the software giant. From the very beginning he exhibited a methodical and strategic approach to decision making that propelled him through Google's managerial ranks. He was put in charge of an unglamorous but critical piece of software, the Google Toolbar, which allowed people to search directly on their browsers without having to go to Google's home page. Pichai's strategic work on the toolbar led to his next big bet: the Chrome browser. The project was controversial inside Google, where some feared it would unnecessarily irk Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer dominated the browser market. Pichai argued that Google could build a better browser and that it risked losing a substantial chunk of its search revenue if Microsoft, as many feared, tweaked Explorer to make it more difficult for users to access Google. With a small team, Pichai, who at the time worked for Marissa Mayer, now the CEO of Yahoo , developed the product quietly. While its carefully orchestrated launch in 2008 was a p.r. fiasco, courtesy of a German blogger who obtained marketing materials and broke the news early, Pichai's browser was slicker and faster than anything else in the market, and his team managed to keep it ahead even as rivals raced to catch up. By 2012 Chrome had become the No. 1 PC browser, and thanks to the growth of Android, it's also the most popular on mobile devices. Chrome's improbable victory cemented Pichai's reputation as a product whiz and, even though he never started a company, something of an entrepreneur, and it set him on a vertiginous ascent up Google's corporate ladder. "There is a part of Google that has a professorial style, and Sundar fits that perfectly," says a former senior executive. "But people underestimate how deeply technical and how entrepreneurial he is. He's very, very good at that stuff." His responsibilities grew as some of his would-be rivals fell out of favor. Mayer, his onetime boss, was sidelined and left for Yahoo. In 2013 Pichai, who had gone on to develop an operating system and a set of laptops based on Chrome, was handed control of Android, one of Google's crown jewels, after Andy Rubin, its creator, was pushed aside. A year later Vic Gundotra, the senior exec who led Google +, the company's expensive and ill-fated push into social networking, was forced out as well. Throughout it all, Pichai remained unflappable, burnishing his reputation as a collegial executive and, more important, earning the trust of Page. "He will make tough and difficult decisions, but there is not much swirl around them," the former senior executive says. "People love the lack of drama and the thoughtfulness. It's led to more cohesion." At a retreat for Google's top brass last spring, Pichai was asked to sketch a vision for how apps would evolve in a multiscreen world. When he was done, a beaming Page stepped up to say he couldn't have painted a clearer picture of the future, according to a person who was there. "They really see eye to eye on what the future will look like," this executive says. A few months later, when Page reorganized Google into a holding company called Alphabet, he named Pichai CEO of Google. It accounts for 99% of Alphabet's revenue and all of its profits. GROUND ZERO OF PICHAI'S push into an AI-first world is a nondescript two-story building across the street from the center of the company's sprawling Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., where a skunkworks, appropriately called Google Brain, develops much of the intelligence that will bring Google and its products into the future. The group was formed about four years ago as something of a research experiment involving a set of artificial-intelligence programming techniques called deep learning and neural networks. Computer scientists had developed the techniques years earlier, but they hadn't been properly tested because they required massive amounts of computing power. Google had that power, so it brought one of its leaders in large-scale computing systems, engineer Jeff Dean, together with AI experts. They trained the systems on the task of recognizing images, and the results were immediately encouraging, delivering huge improvements over Google's existing methods. Google Photos, released a year ago, brought those improvements to the masses and wowed the tech world with its ability to recognize and search images and to automatically organize them. You can search for a person, a type of animal or images of people hugging. Despite intense competition from rival products, Google Photos now has 200 million users. To Pichai it's a classic example of how better AI can help Google win. "Were people using other photo products?" Pichai asks. "Yes. Have we seen tremendous adoption and traction with Google Photos? The answer is yes." What worked for image recognition turned out to work when applied to voice recognition, translation and other similar tasks. When Dean's systems were trained to recognize speech, accuracy jumped dramatically. That means there are far fewer times when an "OK Google" query on an Android phone is misunderstood. It also means that Google is more likely to understand someone like Pichai, with his lilting accent, or to detect what is being said in a noisy bar and do it in more than 55 languages. Similarly, the techniques used to recognize images in Google Photos are able to power StreetView's ability to "read" signs and Project Sunroof's ability to identify rooftops that are suitable for solar panels based on aerial images. It's also enabling a small experimental team at Google to effectively detect diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can lead to blindness, by looking at iris scans. "It's a pretty significant shift," Dean says. "Word is spreading throughout the company that there is this new capability to solve problems in this way," he says, in reference to the new AI techniques. What started as a research project with a handful of people has grown to perhaps hundreds--Dean refuses to say how many--who have developed algorithms, computer systems and, more recently, Google's own chips, all customized for these AI approaches. (Google Brain's software tools are known as TensorFlow and the chips as Tensor Processing Units.) As a result there are now more than 2,000 projects inside the company applying Google Brain's capabilities to scores of products. Dean's group has held machine-learning office hours, and thousands of Google engineers have gone through internal courses that can last weeks. "It went from being a research project to a mainstream engineering activity," says John Giannandrea, an AI expert appointed by Pichai to lead the company's search efforts. To see the immediate potential of machine learning to create a new generation of digital products--ones that could change how humans themselves live--Allo, which won't be publicly available until later this summer, is a good place to start. Despite a mature and saturated market for communications apps, Pichai bets that, as with Photos (and with his Chrome browser), a few smart features will help it gain a following. One of them, Smart Reply, automatically suggests three different prewritten answers to a message based on its content. Google developed Smart Reply in less than a year and first tested it in Inbox, a mobile e-mail app. It allows users on the go to select one of the answers and reply with a single tap. With Allo, Google went one step further, blending Smart Reply with image recognition, so it can suggest responses to photos sent via message. Send your friend a picture of yourself skydiving and Allo may suggest replies like "awesome," "brave" or "scary;" send a picture of a kid or pet, and it may suggest "cute." In Allo the Google assistant might also pop up in the middle of a conversation to help you book a restaurant or plan a trip. Google's rivals are also rushing into an AI-powered world. Microsoft has an initiative similar to Google Brain that involves pushing machine-learning techniques into scores of products; its CEO, Satya Nadella, recently showcased conversational bots built atop its Cortana digital assistant. Facebook's Zuckerberg has quickly built a team of hundreds of AI researchers who have made breakthroughs in image recognition and language understanding, and he's demonstrated bots built atop Messenger. Amazon's Bezos has more than 1,000 people working on the family of products tied to Alexa, the conversational interface that powers the Echo smart speaker. Apple is busy expanding Siri's capabilities and is expected to open it up to third-party developers soon. Pichai is convinced Google is further along than its competitors. He cites AlphaGo, which recently defeated the world's best Go player--and may someday be applied to more practical problems--as the kind of investment that will keep it at the head of the pack. "When you look at machine learning and AI, there are things you can do now, some in two to three years and some that are deeper and will take more time to do," Pichai says. Observers like Yoffie, the Harvard professor, agree that Google is well-positioned to lead the transition to an AI-powered world. "Sundar is jumping on the right categories and making a lot of good decisions," Yoffie says. Then he adds: "But he hasn't really been tested yet."

ABC’s Castle is having a changing of the guard. Creator Andrew Marlowe is stepping down as showrunner for season 7, while executive producer David Amann will take over the writers’ room. We’re told Marlowe will continue to maintain a presence on the show, and will develop new projects as part of his overall deal with ABC Studios.”Over the past four seasons, David has proven himself to be a tremendous leader and a great steward of our show’s unique voice,” Marlowe said in a statement. “I’m excited to continue our creative collaboration as he assumes his new responsibilities.” The Monday night procedural drama, starring Nathan Fillion as a mystery author/crime solver, finished this season No. 2 in its time slot, but having posted gains over season 5 among adults 18-49 and total viewers. In fact, the season was the most-watched season ever, with a viewership total that’s significantly boosted by DVR playback. But the show’s most recent finale — which teased Beckett and Castle’s wedding all season only to throw in a last-minute delay — really annoyed fans. (Check out the comments on our react for proof.)

American actor, singer, and director Scott Stewart Bakula (; born October 9, 1954)[1] is an American actor, singer and director best known for his lead roles in two science-fiction television series: as Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap (for which he received four Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award), and as Captain Jonathan Archer on Star Trek: Enterprise. Bakula starred on the comedy-drama series Men of a Certain Age, and guest-starred in seasons two and three of NBC's Chuck as the title character's father Stephen J. Bartowski. From 2014 to 2015, he played entrepreneur Lynn in the only two seasons of the HBO show Looking. In 2014, he began playing Special Agent Dwayne Cassius "King" Pride on NCIS: New Orleans. Early life [ edit ] Bakula was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Sally (née Zumwinkel) and J. Stewart Bakula, a lawyer.[1][2][3] He has a younger brother and a younger sister.[4] His surname comes from partial Czech ancestry.[2][5][6] He attended Jefferson College,[7][8] followed by the University of Kansas for a time, but left, saying: ...because I was offered a tour of Godspell, a national tour that was from St. Louis. I thought that sounded great, and I went to my parents and I said "I want to do this tour", and they said, "Go ahead, maybe it will get it out of your system. And you come back to school in a year or two, you come back." The tour was gonna start in August and the tour never started and school did, and then the tour fell apart, and there I was sitting at home. So I was left holding the bag, basically, and then had to decide where to go from there. And I applied, was applying to other schools. I was gonna go to a Mormon theatrical kind of school, and the more I looked at it the more I spent time examining the school side of it. I just realized what I really needed to do was just pick up, pack up and go to New York.[4] Career [ edit ] Bakula moved to New York City in 1976, where he made his Broadway debut playing baseball legend Joe DiMaggio in Marilyn: An American Fable, and appeared in the well-received Off-Broadway production Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down; he would later appear in its Pasadena Playhouse production.[9] The success of Three Guys Off-Broadway brought him attention, and when his next show, the musical Nightclub Confidential, which co-starred his wife Krista Neumann, moved to Los Angeles, he moved there at the urging of his California agent, Maggie Henderson, and his New York agent, Jerry Hogan. As Bakula recalled in 2000, I call [Henderson] up and said I got a show, I'm gonna be out there, I'm coming out in January. So it'll work out because it's time for pilot season and I'll be doing something so people can come and see me. ... And then I coincidentally had done a Disney Sunday Night ABC movie that was gonna come out some time in the winter. It was the time to go. Came out here on New Year's Day, 1986. The show I did turned out to be a big hit out here. It got me a lot of attention out here and I jumped onto the TV sitcom Designing Women in the beginning and was able to do that pilot ... and things kind of took off.[10] He was cast in two short-lived series: Gung Ho and Eisenhower & Lutz. During a Hollywood writers' strike, he returned to New York to star in Romance/Romance,[10] and then afterward landed the lead role opposite co-star Dean Stockwell in the science fiction television series Quantum Leap (1989-1993). Bakula played time traveler Dr. Sam Beckett, who was trapped by a malfunction of his time machine to correct things gone wrong in the past.[11] His performance in the show earned him a Golden Globe Award (along with three nominations) and four Emmy Award nominations for Best Actor, as well as five consecutive Viewers for Quality Television Awards for Best Actor in a Quality Drama Series.[citation needed] In 1995, Bakula appeared on the cover of Playgirl. He voiced Danny Cat in the animated film Cats Don't Dance (1997), singing in one number with Natalie Cole. He played the aging veteran pitcher Gus Cantrell in Major League: Back to the Minors (1998), the final movie in the Major League trilogy. He also played Jim Olmeyer, the same-sex partner of Sam Robards' Jim Berkley, in the film American Beauty (1999). Bakula played Jonathan Archer, the captain of Earth's first long-range interstellar ship, on Star Trek: Enterprise from 2001 to 2005. In 2006, he reprised the role of Archer for the Star Trek: Legacy PC and Xbox 360 video games as a voice-over. Bakula starred in the musical Shenandoah, a play which also provided his first professional theatrical role in 1976, at Ford's Theatre, in 2006. Bakula is heard singing "Pig Island" on Sandra Boynton's children's CD Philadelphia Chickens, which is labeled as being "For all ages except 43." Scott Bakula said that he might be starring as Sam in a Quantum Leap film as stated in TV Guide Magazine along with Dean Stockwell. At Comic Con 2010, he announced that a script was being worked on and that while he would be in the movie, he would not have the main role.[12] Bakula performed various songs from his career for a one-night-only performance entitled An Evening with Scott Bakula at Sidney Harman Hall on January 18, 2008, as a benefit for the restoration of the historic Ford's Theater.[13] Bakula had three appearances in 2008. He appeared as Atty. Jack Ross in an episode of Boston Legal, "Glow in the Dark", which aired on February 12, 2008 on the ABC network.[14] From March 4 – April 20, he starred as Tony Hunter in the world premiere of Dancing in the Dark at The Old Globe in San Diego, California. Dancing in the Dark is based on the movie The Band Wagon (1953), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.[15] Bakula appeared as the character Chris Fulbright in the five-episode run of the Tracey Ullman sketch comedy series State of the Union on Showtime. Bakula appeared in the dark comedy film The Informant! (2009) as Brian Shepard, an FBI agent working with the title character Mark Whitacre, (played by Matt Damon).[16] In April 2009, he began a recurring role on the television series Chuck as Stephen J. Bartowski, the eponymous character's long-lost father. From July 31 to August 2, 2009, he starred as Nathan Detroit in three performances of Guys and Dolls at the Hollywood Bowl. Beginning in December 2009, Bakula began appearing as Terry, one of the three lead characters, along with Ray Romano (Joe) and Andre Braugher (Owen), in TNT's hour-long comedy/drama Men of a Certain Age. In 2011, Bakula performed a voice cameo in the film Source Code as a slight nod to his character on Quantum Leap, with his catchphrase of "Oh, boy."[17] and appeared in the feature-length documentary The Captains, which was written and directed by William Shatner, Bakula is interviewed by the original Star Trek captain about his life and career leading up to his performances as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise. In the movie, Shatner interviews Bakula at his ranch in California where the pair ride horses and discuss the pitfalls that come with a career in television.[18] In September 2011, Bakula starred in Terrible Advice by Saul Rubinek at the Menier Chocolate Factory.[19][20] In April to May 2012, he guest starred in the last five episodes of Desperate Housewives as Bree Van de Kamp's criminal defense lawyer and third husband. In April 2013, he made a guest appearance on Two and a Half Men as a car dealer. In August 2013, it was announced Bakula would have a recurring role in the first season of HBO's new series, Looking.[21] He also appeared in the film Geography Club (2013). In February 2014, Bakula was cast as the lead in a backdoor pilot for the current NCIS spin-off series, NCIS: New Orleans, which began as a two-part episode of its parent series in the spring season of 2014.[22] The third season of NCIS: New Orleans premiered on September 20, 2016. In 2016 Bakula appeared as a guest judge on the HGTV show Brothers Take New Orleans with Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott.[23] He made a cameo appearance on the season 12 opener of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as himself. Personal life [ edit ] Bakula married Krista Neumann in 1981 and had two children, Chelsy and Cody. They divorced in 1995.[1] He married actress Chelsea Field in 2009 and they have two children, Wil Botfield and Owen Barrett.[1] Bakula says he was "...hardly ever home for four and a half seasons" of Quantum Leap, so he chose to prioritize his family life on later projects. His Star Trek: Enterprise contract required that filming be completed by 6 PM every Wednesday so he could have dinner with his family. During filming of NCIS: New Orleans, he returns home to Los Angeles every weekend to spend time with his wife.[24] Filmography [ edit ] Film [ edit ] Television [ edit ] Awards and nominations [ edit ]

Ferrets are one of the more popular exotic pets and perhaps also one of the most misunderstood. Surprisingly to many people, ferrets are illegal to keep as pets in many areas, including New York City and California. Reasons for banning ferrets include concerns about biting, as well as rabies, and escapees colonizing and threatening native wildlife. Is there truly a threat or is this just hype? There are families all over the country that have this pet with no incidents. So, what is the truth of the matter? A Misunderstood Animal Many people have a negative view of ferrets. Perhaps it is their appearance since they do superficially resemble weasels (and are part of the weasel family). As with some other exotic and domestic pets, some bad press has hurt their reputation. It all comes down to responsible pet ownership. Ferrets must be provided with proper care, training, safety, and supervision. They should also have vaccinations for rabies and distemper (ferret approved vaccines only). They are not low maintenance pets and need attention and training to prevent behavior problems, just like most other pets that do not live strictly in a cage. That being said, most ferret owners will tell you they are wonderful pets and they do not deserve the bad reputation or to be banned. Raimund Linke / Getty Images New York City Ban In June 1999, New York City's Health Department decided to uphold its ban on ferrets. This is a quote from the Health Department's press release explaining the decision: "Ferrets are known for their unpredictable behavior, and they are prone to vicious, unprovoked attacks on humans. Ferret attacks reported nationwide over time have become notorious for their severity and capriciousness, causing serious injuries to some infants and young children in particular... In New York City's multiple dwelling residences, which are not natural habitats of ferrets, a ferret could crawl through holes in walls or travel along risers or ducts to other apartments, with potentially tragic consequences for the neighbor of a ferret owner." —New York City Department of Health This description paints a picture of vicious creatures just looking for a chance to escape and wreak havoc on the city, while others consider this animal an adventurous, cuddly animal that has been domesticated for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years. Other places that have banned ferrets include the states of California and Hawaii, Washington, DC, Dallas, Texas, and Columbia, Missouri. Darren Baker / Getty Images Ferrets and Children Unfortunately, there have been reported incidents of injuries to infants and children. Such incidents are extremely rare, however, especially compared to the estimated millions of dog bites every year in the U.S. Comparatively, the risk of ferret bites is very small. Ferrets, though, may not be the best choice for families with small children, a topic discussed in "A Ferret in the Family." The reasons why, though, are the same for all pets. Small children can be excitable, unpredictable, and rough at times. These behaviors may, in turn, excite or startle a ferret, causing it to nip the child. Just as important, small children might inadvertently injure a ferret. Of course, children should not be left unsupervised with any pet. Children handling ferrets must be supervised. Diane Macdonald / Getty Images Escaping Ferrets Ferrets are pretty flexible and do have the ability to fit through small spaces. The responsible owner must ferret-proof their home to prevent ferrets from harming themselves or escaping from their safe environments. Ferrets can be caged part of the time, as long as they are let out of that cage as often as possible (at least a few times a day) for exercise and fun.

The National Security Agency announced Friday that it would be implementing new measures to prevent classified information from leaking. The measures follow former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's revelations regarding the massive surveillance programs run by the intelligence agency. Advertisement: The head of the NSA, Keith Alexander, said that the agency was implementing a "two-man rule," which would ensure analysts could only access classified information in the presence of a colleague. Server rooms will also be locked and require two people to open them. Data will be better encrypted, fewer users will have access and data will be segmented so that it cannot easily be taken all at once. Alexander said that the new measures would take time to be implemented across the agency. "Some of your sites are small ... and you only have one system administrator, so you've got to address all of those, and we are working our way through it," Alexander said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, according to the Associated Press. Security measures will also be undertaken at the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that the new measures were to protect the system from an "aberrant individual." Advertisement: “So when it comes to nuclear weapon[s]… we don't let people all by themselves do anything. Nobody ever touches a nuclear weapon by him or herself,” Carter said, according to RT. US government officials have claimed that Snowden's leaks damaged national security, but there remains a debate as to how true this is. John C. Inglis, the deputy director of the NSA, told the House Judiciary Committee this week that Snowden's disclosures may be very harmful, but "it's too soon to tell whether, in fact, adversaries will take great note of the things that he's disclosed," according to the Associated Press. During the Aspen Forum, Alexander told the audience that the NSA's spying programs were not classified because the government was trying to hide shady activities, but rather "it's to hide it from those who walk among you and are trying to kill you." Advertisement:

Despite a plethora of reports to the contrary, legendary Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho will not be donning a New York Red Bull uniform — or that of any other MLS side for that matter. Sources tell EOS that the 34-year-old enganche was never seriously considered for the Red Bulls. While team officials did meet with representatives from Ronaldinho’s camp in Brazil during the World Cup, the discussions were of an amicable nature and never involved the possibility of bringing the Miniero midfielder to New York. The topic, sources tell us, was never even broached. Ronaldinho’s agents did contact MLS about a possible move. However, monetary concerns and a general lack of interest or funds from big money clubs quickly quelled that momentum. The endless waves of reports linking Ronaldinho to New York is likely a consequence of an internet echo chamber following a Goal.com piece first establishing contact between the Red Bulls and Ronaldinho. The Brazilian legend has been a target of MLS for years, but neither have been able to find common ground in that time. A league source says his “gut feeling” is Ronaldinho joins either newly promoted Premiership side, Queens Park Rangers or Boca Juniors of the Argentine Primera. The 34-year-old playmaker has also been linked to Fluminense and the A-League as well. According to his agent, Ronaldinho will reveal his future destination this Wednesday.

Former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont has urged his successor Philip Hammond to keep faith with public sector pay cuts and told nurses whinging about austerity that they ain’t seen nothing yet. The Tories are keen to stress that they are “in listening mode” at the moment, but Lamont basically advised ministers to stick their fingers in their ears and hum Jerusalem until it all blows over. The man who oversaw Black Wednesday, which cost the British economy more than £3 billion, told the Today programme: “What concerns me is that there seems to be growing in the Conservative party a feeling that because the electorate disliked austerity, that this is the message that has come back, and therefor it ought to be discarded. “People are talking about austerity as thought it was an issue of too many repeats on television or they’d got tired of watching Poldark and wanted a better programme. “This is not a choice, it is unavoidable that we have restraint on public spending… “Austerity is just another word for living within ones means. It’s not really austerity.” Asked whether he would be prepared to tell that to the nurse who famously asked Theresa May for a pay rise on Question Time, he said: “Public sector pay is on average higher than in the private sector. “I would say in the NHS, where there is an issue of recruitment, if there is a shortage, yes you’ve got to look at that. “What I’m objecting to is the more general pressure that is being applied, the idea that we should abandon restraint on public expenditure. “The control on public sector pay is extremely important. It’s roughly half of current expenditure and its about 30% of total public expenditure, comes to £200bn plus a year. You’ve got to have a restraint on that.” Responding to news that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have spoken out against the pay freeze, Lamont added: “I think it is not right for cabinet ministers to gang up on the Chancellor in this way. I think it is making his position, which is always very difficult, very, very awkward indeed and I do think that, just to say because a lot of voters in the election objected to what was called austerity, we must abandon it.” Laughably, Lamont blamed the Tories poor general election campaign on their failure to “make the case” for austerity and said the party would reap the rewards at the next election if they level with the public about the need for more cuts. Bring it on…

DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina will not retry a white police officer who killed an unarmed black man who had just survived a car crash, state officials said Friday. The officer’s trial ended in a hung jury. Officer Randall Kerrick killed 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell at 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2013, shooting at him 12 times and hitting him 10 times on a dark street in a Charlotte subdivision. Officer Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter. His trial ended this month in a mistrial, with four jurors wanting to convict and eight to acquit. “In consideration of the jurors’ comments, the evidence available to the state and our background in criminal trials, it is our prosecutors’ unanimous belief a retrial will not yield a different result,” a North Carolina senior deputy attorney general, Robert C. Montgomery, wrote to the district attorney for Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Mr. Montgomery said that the charges against Officer Kerrick would be dismissed. Mr. Ferrell’s mother, Georgia, said by telephone from her home in Tallahassee, Fla., that state prosecutors had called her around 9:30 a.m. on Friday to tell her they doubted they could win a second trial.

THE Attorney-General has been accused of "pure hypocrisy" in his defence of VLAD laws. Nicklin independent Peter Wellington has called out Jarrod Bleijie on a speech the then opposition justice spokesman gave to Parliament in 2009 in which he spoke critically of the Bligh Government's proposed Criminal Organisation Bill. The criticism of that legislation rings close to that the Attorney-General is now receiving for his own Orwellianly-labelled Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment laws. Mr Wellington said yesterday Mr Bleijie had gone from talking about the right to a fair trial and the freedom of association to introducing "the most extreme legislation in Australia's history''. On November 25, 2009, Mr Bleijie in Parliament described the Criminal Organisation Bill as "an attack on the right of freedom of association". >> NEWMAN WILL DITCH VLAD LAWS... BY 2016 "While it is currently intended for motorcycle gangs, once again this bill does not mention the term 'bikie' or 'motorcycle gang' and this piece of legislation could be used against any group that may fall into disfavour regardless of the purpose of their gathering,'' Mr Bleijie said. "While I agree that people need to be protected from organised crime, there must also be the protection of personal liberties such as the freedom of association." Similar criticism has been levelled at the VLAD laws which were rushed through Parliament last year and were subject to three revisions. Hansard from 2009 shows Jarrod Bleijie opposing laws similar to VLAD. Three Sunshine Coast men who met for a beer at the Yandina Hotel on November 1 have been imprisoned in solitary confinement since before Christmas, charged with the crime of association. In 2009, Mr Bleijie was adamant that attempts to restrict the right to association were an attack on everyone's freedom. "I say to the people of Queensland that, with this government, they do have something to fear,'' he said in 2009. "This Bill encroaches on their personal freedoms and liberties. "A government that tries to remove these freedoms and liberties is a government that is to be feared." Mr Wellington said Mr Bleijie's questioning of his stance on the issue was disgraceful, given the level of the Attorney-General's "pure hypocrisy". Mr Bleijie responded with a statement. "The criminal gangs forced us to draw a line in the sand when an innocent woman was shot in broad daylight in a shopping centre and when scores of Bandidos rioted in front of families on a busy dining strip,'' Mr Bleijie said. "They were increasingly stomping on the rights of innocent people through drugs, intimidation and violence and we had to take necessary action. "We didn't like doing it but we are not going to get cold feet, unlike people like Peter Wellington who supported our laws in Parliament. "Labor's legislation captured no one in five years and criminal motorcycle gangs flourished. "Specific gangs are named in parts of our legislation but we deliberately allowed it to also capture other criminal groups such as paedophile rings. "The groups that have been listed have been identified by the police and the Crime and Misconduct Commission as criminal gangs who are involved in drugs, extortion, violence, car thefts and break and enters. "They have long and many tentacles and they are involved in a huge range of illegal activity. "We have implemented safeguards such as requiring a jury to determine if an offender is a vicious lawless associate and a statutory review in three years. It is also a defence if an alleged offender can prove that the organisation they are a member of is not a criminal organisation.''

Psychology Today had an interesting post on its website in honor of June being Pride Month: Pyschotherapist Melissa Ritter laid out the argument that Grindr, the ubiquitous geo-social hookup app, is a wonderful example of how far the gay-male community has come. Uh, really? How extraordinary that wherever a gay man lives or travels, he can instantly find other gay men. He need never feel alone, that he is the “only one.” He’s not forced to search out the often marginalized gay ghettos that continue to offer much needed comradarie and support. The Grindr screen display is a riotous grid of various photos of men—smiling, open faces, as well as lots of body shots–arranged from nearest to farthest away. Tap on a picture and the user receives a brief profile, including the precise distance from that person provided in increments of feet or miles. There are options to chat, send pictures and share location. There is an immediacy and intimacy this app offers that distinguishes it from internet sites providing gay men with access to one another. A few taps and you’ve got a whole group of guys who are hanging out in both your cyber and actual neighborhood. Sure it’s nice that gay men no longer have to hide in shame, but has Ritter actually seen how most men use Grindr? We’re not meeting up to play trust games or form a drum circle. In her essay, Ritter shares anecdotes from her patients: One who checks Grindr on a road trip with his partner, just to know “they were not the only two gay men around.” And another who told her about a board-game night where everyone logged on, just to see who was “cute.” “No one had any intention of leaving the gathering to hook up and no one did,” she explains. “But they were able to feel part of a larger gay community, and to talk playfully and frankly about sex.” Thanks Dr. Ritter, but gay men have been able to talk playfully and frankly about sex long before hookup apps came on the scene. Look, we enjoy Grindr as much as the next ‘mo, but its hardly a shining example of how much we’ve accomplished. Not to mention we kind of suspect Ritter’s patients aren’t being totally honest with her about when and why they check the site. How many of us have felt ignored as our buddies stared blankly at a screen checkered with ab shots? And with all of her talk of the “furtiveness and fear” surrounding homosexuality—and the supposed impossibility of courtship and marriage—it kind of sounds like the good doctor is trapped in the 1970s, when even having gay sex was a political statement. Today, it’s pretty much just sex. Grindr is about many things. Sex is one of them, an important one of them. But it is also a place to make friends, combat loneliness, diminish shame and to celebrate gay male identity. Sadly, a part of that identity sometimes includes some self-reproach. Nonetheless, a defiant openness and optimism prevails. And that’s what Gay Pride is about. Sorry, Doc: There’s nothing wrong with using Grindr—or Manhunt, any other tool to help you land a guy—but as we approach full equality on all fronts, we’d like to think gay men have accomplished more than figure out how to hook up faster and more often.

Recording Dog Barking Sound Effects by Andre Philips in Belgium! These free dog barking sound effects coming from André Philips ! He recorded his dog and other dogs in the neighborhood and he contribute these sounds to the FreeToUseSounds community royalty-free and license-free! Who Is André Philips? So let’s talk about André! He is a Sound Designer, a Boom Operator who worked on many film projects especially in Belgium and the Netherland! The sound of the donkey and the dogs are not the last one from him and I am super excited to put them up! Thank you so much, André, for this very special sound and I really appreciate that! André on IMDB! Andrés Homepage Philipsfilmsound! André on Facebook! Download Dog Barking Sound Effects On Dropbox These sound effects are free of charge!!! If you have already access to my “Complete Library” you will find these recordings in the “Belgium Category”! Download File Dog Barking Sound Effects! was last modified: by Related

NEW DELHI: The search engine giant Google and HTC have entered into a long term partnership for manufacturing Nexus devices, according to a new report.According to a report by MyDrivers, the Taiwanese manufacturer has signed a three year contract with Google in order to manufacturer Nexus smartphones . This highlights that HTC will be manufacturing upcoming Nexus handsets starting from 2016.In January, a report from LlabTooFeR also suggested that HTC will be making two Nexus devices which are codenamed as T50 and T55. In 2014, HTC made its first Nexus smartphone dubbed as Nexus One. The company also made a Nexus tablet in 2014 called as Nexus 9.This is the first time when Google has partnered with an OEM for three years for the Nexus Program. However, this is just a rumour and none of the companies has confirmed the news.In 2015, LG and Huwaei made the Nexus smartphones called Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P respectively. Last month, LG backed out from the Nexus program and also stated that it will not be making a successor of Nexus 5X.This partnership can turn out be fruitful for HTC as the company is struggling hard to grab a fair share in the smartphone market.

Slowly, and without much fanfare, urban areas have become overgrown by a tangle of sensors: cameras snapping pictures at red lights, microphones triangulating the sound of gunshots, sensors tracking foot traffic through malls, stadiums, and airports. But every once in a while something happens that illustrates not only how pervasive these surveillance networks are, but how freely they operate and how little say the public has in where they’re put and how they’re used. On Monday, New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications killed a pilot project that involved installing hundreds of sensors in phone booths across Manhattan. The Bluetooth-enabled sensors, called beacons, were used by marketing companies to send commercial messages to people walking by via a smartphone app they had downloaded. Why did the city shut down the project? Because it hadn’t authorized the sensors to be used this way.

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, presidential candidate Virgil Goode Jr. works the campaign trail in downtown Lynchburg, Va. Goode’s presidential run is under the Constitution Party banner with his name on the ballot in a couple dozen states and as a qualified write-in candidate in several more. (AP Photo/Don Petersen, File) less FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, presidential candidate Virgil Goode Jr. works the campaign trail in downtown Lynchburg, Va. Goode’s presidential run is under the Constitution Party banner with his ... more Photo: Don Petersen Photo: Don Petersen Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Possible spoiler riles GOP ranks 1 / 1 Back to Gallery POWHATAN, Va. — Virgil Goode has absolutely no chance of winning the presidency. But here in his home state, his quixotic quest for the White House as the Constitution Party candidate could peel votes away from Mitt Romney, and that is making some Republicans nervous. "Why would you do this?" Susan Ferreri, a small-business owner, asked Goode recently when he dropped by an Italian restaurant in this Richmond suburb to hand out leaflets and rustle up votes. "I'm against Obama, and I will go with Romney, and I just really hope you don't upset it." Goode, 66, a former congressman who is a staunch opponent of immigration and is a fiscal and social conservative, politely defended himself and moved on. "I have heard that argument before," he said later in his distinctive Southern drawl. Indeed he has. In many states, Republicans have worked to suppress Goode's candidacy. He is on the ballot in 26 states and is running as a write-in candidate in an additional 14. Republicans succeeded in blocking him in Pennsylvania; Goode says that it would have cost him $100,000 to fight to have his name included and that he did not have the money. But the efforts failed here in the swing state of Virginia, where President Barack Obama and Romney are running neck and neck in the battle for 13 electoral votes. In the latest Fox News poll in Virginia, Goode is backed by 1 percent of likely voters. Silver-haired and lanky, Goode has roots as a country lawyer in the bucolic southwestern town of Rocky Mount, where he is a household name and has a base of regional support. "The problem for Romney is he is culturally so opposite from most voters in Southside Virginia that there is an area for Virgil Goode to win votes," said David Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. "In 2008, there were close to 40,000 votes cast for third-party candidates in Virginia. What if Virgil Goode took 25,000 votes? That could be a potential difference maker." The Romney campaign says it is not worried. "This election is a very clear choice between two candidates," said Rich Beeson, Romney's political director. "We are running a campaign that will ensure Mitt Romney wins regardless of who is in the race." But Tom Davis, a former Republican congressman from Virginia, is more cautious. "I don't think his candidacy is helpful," Davis said of Goode. To say Goode is running his campaign on a shoestring would be an understatement. He does not take money from political action committees and refuses all donations over $200. So far, he has spent about $200,000 — including, he said, $65,000 to $70,000 of his own money. His platform is fairly simple. His jobs plan is to end all illegal immigration — and legal immigration, too, until the American unemployment rate drops below 5 percent. He also favors ending automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants and would not allow them to attend public schools.

Microsoft has released a new ergonomic split keyboard and mouse combo, and it looks downright weird. The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop kit pairs a new keyboard, the Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard, and a new mouse, the Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse. The purpose of both is to encourage you to hold your arms "just so" and keep your wrists healthy. The mouse has a new, asymmetric shape—no good for lefties, as is so often the case with this kind of thing. Like some of Microsoft's other recent mice, it includes a dedicated Start button so that you can bring up the Start screen or Start menu with, er, just the click of a button. But the mouse looks pretty conventional compared to the keyboard. Split keyboards have been with us for several decades now, with Microsoft's first ergonomic keyboard shipping in 1994. The shape has changed over the years, but apparently the original design wasn't as healthy as they thought. It's been replaced with a new, domed design, and the keyboards have never looked quite as strange as the new one. It's all about the split. Past Microsoft keyboards have just filled the gap between the keyboard's two halves with plastic, occasionally adorning it with scroll wheels zoom sliders or buttons. But the new one? It just has... a gap. Empty space. Microsoft says the keyboard was codenamed Manta Ray, because it apparently looks like a Manta Ray. I think it should have been codenamed Madonna, because it looks like her front teeth. As is unfortunately traditional for ergonomic keyboards, the new Madonna board messes around with the layout of the page navigation and cursor keys. It comes with a separate number pad that you can put on the right or left hand side. Even if lefties can't use the mouse, they can at least punch in numbers comfortably. The mouse and keyboard combo will be available some time this month with an RRP of $129.95. The mouse alone will set you back $59.95. The keyboard will be available on its own, but only in "Business" packaging, for around $80.95.

Among the programs that would be eliminated entirely under the new Republican spending plan announced today is Title X, a which provides family planning for low-income Americans. The GOP plan would cut all $327 million from Title X. That prompted an angry response from pro-choice groups, who said the program provides contraception and cancer screening, among other services. “While these politicians attack abortion coverage from every angle, they now want to deny funding for birth control, even though that’s the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Title X recipients cannot use the money to provide abortions. But some conservatives have sought to tie together the two issues. Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.), has proposed a bill that would prevent abortion providers from receiving Title X money. Mr. Pence has made it clear his legislation is aimed at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which is the nation’s biggest provider of abortion services and also a major recipient of Title X money…

Rookie is an online magazine and book series for teenagers. Each month, a different editorial theme drives the writing, photography, and artwork that we publish. Learn more about us here , and find out how to submit your work here ! Last month I went on a book tour and gave a poetry reading in an art squat in Baltimore with painted murals on the walls and statues of deities whose names I could not place. There were cats everywhere, paintings propped against walls, and a studio where someone was cutting down huge pieces of plywood to make something that I would not stick around to see. It occurred to me very briefly while I was staying there that this was exactly the kind of place my parents feared I would end up when I was a teenager who imagined running away from home and meeting miscreants on the side of the highway not because I loathed my parents or because they didn’t love me enough, but because they loved me too much and suffocated me with their constant barrage of sacrifice that ran concurrent with demands that my dreams align with theirs. I wanted to run away from home because my parents never let me out of the house, except to go to the school and to attend SAT prep school on Saturdays. When the reading was over, we danced softly on our tippy toes because it was a Monday and the rest of the building was not going to play host to our antics and when the soft dancing was over, I crawled out onto the fire escape to dangle my legs next to a boy who made me want to stretch out every minute and every second we sat next to each other into a blanket that I could carry with me until I grew old. “I went on an adventure,” I told my parents on the phone when I got back from poetry tour. “Will you be OK on making rent this month?” my mom asked me in reply. Last weekend, my parents drove to Brooklyn to help me move into my new apartment. My new bedroom has a window that opens into a fire escape that looks out onto the street. I opened it immediately, delirious from dragging my furniture up three flights of stairs. “I’m sooooo happy,” I yelled out to the stars, sticking my head out to see what was out there. “You need to be careful,” my dad said, rushing over to hold the window up with his hands. It is so easy for me to slip back into being the brat I have always been around my father. “Um, how is this not careful?” “I don’t know, why don’t you ask your friend Diana’s grandmother? She crushed her fingers opening her window one afternoon. The whole thing came crashing down over her hands.” “So what you are saying is that I should never open this window in case it comes crashing down on my fingers?” “You never know,” my dad said. “She broke every finger,” my mom said. “Wait, really?” I said. “She can’t open jars anymore,” my mom said, always the accomplice to my father, whose ability to dream up worst-case scenarios is so impressive that I swear he watches 1000 Ways to Die just to confirm that he’s already considered them all. “Good god,” I said. Moments earlier, I’d been dreaming about the summertime adventures I fully intended to have, my head sticking out of my new window over my new street, and now all I could think about was the rattling sound my window made when I opened it and how that probably meant there was a loose screw or an unsteady bar that would send the whole thing crashing down, and how am I supposed to go through life never being able to open a jar again when so many of my favorite things (ALL PICKLED FOODS) are stored in jars? “So what, I can’t ever open my window if I want to have fingers?” I asked my dad. “You never know. That’s the point. You never know,” my father said. “If you want to take a chance on breaking your own fingers, that’s your choice. I can’t stop you. You’re an adult now. I can’t tell you what to do and what not to do. I can only tell you that Diana’s grandmother broke her fingers opening the window in her apartment. She has the same windows you have. With these old apartments, you can’t guarantee everything is in working order. So if you want to chance it, that’s up to you.” I imagined looking out the window to say hi to my friends downstairs and the window collapsing onto my back. I imagined climbing out to the fire escape for some air and the whole thing crashing down and breaking my neck. Oh god, I thought, I am doomed. Must mummify this window shut with tape and never breathe in outside air again. “You never know” has always been my parents’ motto. Growing up, there was so much I could never know and so much they seemed to know. They knew it all: A girl whose parents allowed her to date boys in middle school and a year later she was a pregnant junkie literally found in the gutter, unconscious and bleeding by some cops. A boy whose parents let him take a frivolous trip to Beijing with his cousin before taking the Gao Kao exam, a test in China that every high school student takes in order to place into college, and then missed the cut-off mark for the school he applied to by half a point, which directly resulted in his becoming a raging, eternally broke and embittered alcoholic. Half a point! Not even a full point, but literally half a point destroyed his life, and my parents knew about it and never failed to mention it whenever I brought home a test score that was less than an A+. They knew about a girl who laughed so much that she literally went mute, another who played so many sports that she messed up her body beyond repair, a kid who ran away from home only to come back to shoot his own parents in the head. They knew about the girl who was allowed to stay out as late as she wanted with her friends, and five years later she took her own life when she was just a freshman in college. They knew about every single horrible thing that had ever happened to anyone ever, and in their minds, it all happened because these kids had parents who were too permissive. And by too permissive, I mean these parents allowed their children to do things like GO OUTSIDE. When I was in elementary school, my parents were so suspicious and fearful of trick-or-treaters that we once spent an entire Halloween with all the lights turned off, crouched behind our couch, ignoring knocks at the door until it was midnight and the neighborhood children were back in their homes, pillowcases stuffed with candy, while my dad lectured me on the sheer stupidity of going out into the dark streets and accepting candy from strangers that undoubtedly contained all kinds of razors and needles that, once consumed, would travel through your bloodstream and pierce your once-beating heart. “And for what?” he said. I didn’t speak up, but I knew for what—it was for the happy, careless, childish life I wanted so badly to live before it was too late. I spent so many afternoons alone and locked in my house, pressing my face against the drawn curtains of my living room and watching the other kids on my block play soccer, the dark pit in my stomach growing darker whenever someone passed by my house and remarked, “I think this house is haunted. I’ve seriously never seen anyone go in or out.” When my fifth grade teacher assigned us to write an essay on what we loved about winter, the other kids wrote about snowball fights, building snowmen, and the pleasure of lying down on freshly fallen snow to make snow angels. My essay was a few sentences long and it was about how snowy days were exactly the same as not-snowy days because I spent every day in my house, watching TV, doing my homework, eating the snacks my parents left for me, and waiting for them to come home from work so I could eat dinner and have someone to talk to. Once I asked my dad if I could go outside and play in the snow and he asked if I had brain damage. Another time, in middle school, I asked my parents for permission to go to the movies, and my dad said, “Again? Didn’t you go last year?” and when I whined, “But the other kids in my class go every week, sometimes two or three times a week,” my mom replied, “That’s them. You’re not them. You’re you. We’re not those kids’ parents. We’re your parents.” My parents grew up a few blocks from each other in Shanghai in the 1950s and ’60s. Their entire world was contained within a 10-block radius. They knew all of their neighbors by name. They were children of the Cultural Revolution, a time when schools were shut down and teachers were vilified for purportedly supporting the oppressive bourgeois regime. My dad had friends who chased after their teachers with glass bottles and my mom knew of some neighborhood boys who tied one of their professors to a tree and taunted her until she went mad. When my parents left their apartment building, they couldn’t put one foot in front of another without running into people who had known them since they were babies. They left that world to come to New York, to raise me in a city where a person could go miles without ever running into a familiar face. The rules they grew up knowing had no place in the new country they lived in, and they were fucking terrified. They read horror stories in the Chinese-language newspapers about how American children were growing up to be high school dropouts and teenage moms and druggies. The woman who lived upstairs from us had been mugged at gunpoint two separate times on the way home from the subway. They told me about their first apartment in East Flatbush and how they lived next to a drug house where they saw young girls in belly tops going in and out with zombie-glazed eyes, and when I told them I didn’t get it, they didn’t elaborate, they just told me not to become one of those girls if I knew what was good for me, and of course I didn’t, because how was I supposed to know what was good for me when I lived my entire life indoors? When my only experience of the world was the same five blocks I walked to and from school on the weekdays? When my knowledge of what went on out there was from inside my parents’ car when they took me along to the grocery store, and from inside my house where I spent every afternoon, peering out from behind my living room window to spy on the kids in my neighborhood who rollerbladed when the weather was nice, and I had to wonder, were they all rollerblading their way to certain death, or was it possible that the world was not as horrifying as my parents had made it out to be? “We know what’s best for you” is the party line that all strict parents repeat. When I got to high school, I met kids whose parents didn’t care what they did, and it hurt them in a way I could not even begin to appreciate. I, on the other hand, was dying for my parents to stop caring so much. I didn’t know how to fight them, because every prohibition was always “for [my] own good.” I wanted the right to call them monsters when they wouldn’t let me go to my friend’s house after school, but they weren’t. My dad worked 60 hours a week and took night classes in computer science so he could get a better-paying job to save up for my college fund. When we were too broke to afford meat, they bought it for me anyway and watched me eat and waited until I was done to suck on the bones I left behind. Instead of buying himself new shoes, my dad bought me cowboy boots I didn’t need but coveted because they had little bells attached at the heel that jangled when I walked, which meant my dad had to continue wearing his dress shoes with holes in the soles and one icy winter night, he came home shaking uncontrollably from the cold. How was I supposed to hate my parents when they insisted on constantly sacrificing for me? And how was I supposed to be happy when the life they wanted for me, the life they were constantly sacrificing to make happen for me, was not one I wanted at all?

By David Hargreaves Two recent sets of data, ostensibly both charting the same thing - but showing very different trend patterns - highlight how difficult it is going to be for this country to keep the housing market under control unless the Government gets fully committed. The two sets of data I refer to come from, firstly the Reserve Bank and secondly, CoreLogic, the property information, analytics and services provider. Both sets of data show house buyer by type information; for example whether a buyer is an investor, or first home buyer, etc. The difference is that the RBNZ information tracks these patterns through who is taking out mortgages. CoreLogic tracks buyers regardless of whether they are taking out mortgages or not. And so it is that the RBNZ information is continuing to show that investors have backed off since the 40% deposit rule was introduced in October. CoreLogic, on the other hand, is telling a rather different story. As CoreLogic puts it: "...We can see investor activity holding relatively strong while first home buyer share has still slipped from its 2016 strength. The strength in investor activity is being held up by those purchases not requiring a mortgage, while those investors requiring credit have been impacted by the latest round of LVR restrictions. We have also seen that the bigger banks have reduced their lending to investors over the past two quarters." The picture is more exaggerated, and more stark, in Auckland - with investors surging and first home buyers falling to new lows. CoreLogic again: "Investors appear to have rebounded after slipping late last year, however further investigation has revealed this is mainly due to cash investors remaining active, while those requiring a mortgage have reduced their activity. This is probably an involuntary reduction based on not having the required 40% deposit." So, if I can chip in here; what all this means is that to the extent it can control the market - IE through restricting banks' lending - the RBNZ is currently putting the market in check. But of course it can't control what cash buyers do. The presence of apparently cashed up people in the market without need to resort to borrowing will inevitably lead to questions of where the buyers are coming from and where they are getting the cash - all questions we are still not capable of answering due to the dearth of information available on house buyers. I have been intrigued at how cautious the Reserve Bank has been when commenting on the recent slower conditions in the housing market. It was quite quick to claim credit for the slowdown that occurred after the initial introduction of loan to value ratio 'speed limits' in 2013, but has been reluctant to suggest anything like victory this time around. The RBNZ in fact makes extensive use of data from CoreLogic, which probably points to the reason for the caution; that is, the RBNZ can see on the one hand that its policy is having an impact where it can have an impact - but those with the cash are carrying merrily on their way. Personally, I don't think that's a very good sign. It suggests, as CoreLogic implies, that the pullback in borrowing from investors is very much involuntary and that the demand is still very much there. Where there's a will there's a way and if these investors keep seeing cashed up buyers swooping up houses they will feel frustrated and they will find a way of getting the money. The other point of interest here is the first home buyers in Auckland. As the figures have shown, with the first onset of the new 40% deposit rule for investors there was a surge in buying interest from the FHBs. Does the lull we are now seeing indicate that they suddenly can't get the money to buy, having seemingly previously found a way in the run-up to Christmas? Or is it that they are now taking a 'wait and see' approach amid tales of slower conditions - and hoping that prices might even drop? The question then is what happens if in a month or two some renewed signs of life, particularly in Auckland re-emerge? Do we get a panicky response from both FHBs and perhaps also investors who have been held back by the 40% rule? Here's a quote from CoreLogic again in respect to the Auckland market: "High migration, low interest rates, tight listings and a housing shortage are all strong upwards pressure on prices being constrained currently by the latest lending restrictions. We saw a similar slow down last year after the initial investor LVR restrictions in Auckland and we suspect we’ll see a similar trend this time around, with the slowdown not lasting particularly long." Of the housing market more generally, that is nationwide, CoreLogic's expectation is that the latest lending restrictions "will slow values for a few more months before things pick up again, probably after the election in September". And that would certainly be my pick too around the country generally, with the possibility that the pick-up happens rather quicker than that in Auckland. Of course, from the way I'm talking it might seem that I see it as a bad thing that property values go up. No, not at all. The worry is the extent to which property investment dominates all investment in this country, as this graph, again courtesy of CoreLogic, neatly demonstrates: That really is what you call having all your eggs in one basket, or well, certainly A LOT of eggs. I have said previously that it is a shame, and in fact it is just plain wrong, that this Government got all cute with the Reserve Bank and pushed back (till after the election) on the central bank's hopes of getting debt to income ratios installed as one of the weapons in its macro-prudential toolkit. And that's even after the RBNZ promised it wouldn't use them now. Ultimately, however, when you look at those cash-fuelled investor figures in Auckland courtesy of the CoreLogic data, then so it becomes ever more apparent that anything the RBNZ can do is only part of the story. In fact without full Government commitment to stopping boom and bust cycles in our housing market, the RBNZ measures might arguably just lead to distortions - since the RBNZ is acting on parts of the market it can act on, IE borrowers, while others, those fortunates with cash in their pockets are not affected. So, where does this leave us? It most definitely means that to ensure a market that is fair and even for all, the Government must use its considerable weaponry and stop being half-hearted and sitting on the sidelines as much as it has. We need better information on who is buying houses and the method by which they do this. And then we do need to consider measures such as stamp duties and the removal of tax deductibility on investment properties, just so that the investment playing field is levelled. The way we are going at the moment, if you look at those investor figures in Auckland, the sad fact is that anybody in future who just wants to buy a house to live in better start planning on winning Lotto.

Billboards and banners might make you think all Hong Kongers are obsessed with watches. Not so. I recently walked into a cosmetics store in Hong Kong and asked for eyeliner. In Cantonese. The saleswoman closed her smile, gave me an impatient stare and pointed: "That way." She quickly moved on to the next customer, clearly hoping not to be forced into conversing in the local tongue. I turned away, shamed at not being a high-rolling tourist in my own city. It wasn't that I was worried about finding what I wanted -- there are three more cosmetic stores selling the same products on the same street. We Hong Kongers also have no shortage of jewelry stores, shops selling monogrammed purses and pharmacies stocking milk powder. These businesses have been thriving thanks to a heavy influx of tourists in recent years. But as Hong Kong celebrates its “tourism success,” its residents are at the same time mourning the loss of their local culture and beloved restaurants. Is it possible to enjoy the benefits of the former without suffering the drawbacks of the latter? Shopping paradise or bland mall? Last year, Hong Kong saw another record-breaking amount of tourist arrivals in the city -- 48.6 million, a 16% growth over 2011. But look closely at the official report you'll find that apart from mainland Chinese tourists -- whose numbers grew 24% -- visitors from the rest of the world declined. Despite its global reputation for commerce, today's Hong Kong is hardly a shopper's paradise -- it's become an oversized, bland shopping mall for Chinese tourists. More on CNN: Chinese tourism: The good, the bad and the backlash Property owners push unique local businesses away with excessive rents to make room for luxury brand outlets, further graying Hong Kong’s dulling cityscape. In 2012, the centrally located shopping district of Causeway Bay surpassed New York’s Fifth Avenue as the most expensive retail district in the world. According to a report by Cushman & Wakefield, commercial rents in Causeway Bay averaged $2,630 per month in 2012, a 34.9% increase over 2011. Together with Tsim Sha Tsui and Central, Causeway Bay topped the priciest-district chart in Asia. (See how you can still shop like a local in Causeway Bay here.) "The highlight of Asia this year was Hong Kong where we saw prime rents surge by 21.8% as a result of a strong demand from a diverse group of new international retailers and the scarcity of available space," said Cushman & Wakefield retail transaction services senior director Michele Woo. Woo also noted that retailers continue to see Hong Kong as an ideal launch platform for business in mainland China. But what's been good for certain retailers has been detrimental to Hong Kong as a whole. More on CNN: 5 great local Hong Kong shops Insane property market Sentimental locals took pictures in front of Lei Yuen Congee and Noodles in Causeway Bay before the beloved shop closed down earlier this year.Despite having large and loyal followings, traditional eateries that charge around HK$50 ($6.50) for a meal can no longer afford their skyrocketing rents. In Tsim Sha Tsui, The Sweet Dynasty was the last holdout restaurant left on Canton Road, a street now lined with luxury shops. It was forced to relocate last December due to a whopping rent increase. Originally renting at HK$800,000 ($103,000) per month, its two-story space (with an extra floor) is now leased to the Apple Store for HK$11 million ($1.4 million) per month. Yes, HK$11,000,000. I counted the zeroes twice. Dubbed the world’s cheapest Michelin-star restaurant, the original Tim Ho Wan dim sum restaurant in Mong Kok relocated in January after its rent was raised almost two-fold. Owner Mak Kwai-pui told CNN that property owners raise rents regardless of the shop's popularity. More on CNN: Michelin star wars: Recognition not the tastiest dish On Sharp East Street in Causeway Bay, noodle eatery Ho Hung Kee moved just this month to a nearby shopping mall, and raisied the price on a bowl of its famed noodles from HK$35 to HK$55.80. Also in Causeway Bay, 60-year-old Lei Yuen Congee and Noodles closed in January 2013 after the landlord offered a “milder” rent raise (compared to its neighbors) from HK$300,000 a month to a mere HK$600,000. Vanishing culture The diversity and variety that Hong Kongers pride themselves on is sacrificed when landlords seek immediate returns. Even worse, many of the shops –- with the old businesses hustled off –- are left unoccupied due to unreasonably high rents. Think Hong Kong’s “tourism industry” can be fed on selling high-end brands and milk powder forever? Think again. With the scene in our central business districts continuing to zoom in the direction of luxury sought by mainlanders, I can still ride a dozen stations down the bus lines to look for a bowl of HK$28 wonton noodles, something Hong Kongers can’t live without. But I wonder in a few years how many tourists will be able to experience this special part of Hong Kong culture, or if it'll be pushed so far to the fringes of the city that they won't even be aware it exists? More on CNN: 40 Hong Kong foods we can’t live without

The potential series marks the comic book powerhouse's first foray into comedy and serves as Hudgens' follow-up to Fox's 'Grease Live.' Vanessa Hudgens is getting back to work. The Grease Live alum has been tapped to star in NBC's DC Comics comedy pilot Powerless, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The single-camera workplace comedy is set at one of the worst insurance companies in America — with the twist being that it also takes place in the universe of DC Comics. The project is about the reality of working life for a normal, powerless person in a world of superheroes and villains. Hudgens will topline the pilot and portray Emily Locke, an insurance claims adjuster who loves her job because she gets to help people. Emily likes to fly under the radar and just get her work done, but she finds herself increasingly exasperated by the disruptive antics of the various superheroes that proliferate in her city. Powerless is being written by Ben Queen (A to Z), who will executive produce alongside Michael Patrick Jann, with the latter set to direct the pilot. Christina Kirk co-stars. For Hudgens, the role marks her first gig after she earned critical praise for her role as Rizzo on Fox's Grease Live. The High School Musical grad earned rave reviews for her performance, which took place the day after her father passed away from stage 4 cancer. She dedicated her performance to him. Should Powerless go to series, it would mark Hudgens' first small-screen regular role. She is repped by CAA, Untitled and Ziffren Brittenham. For DC Comics, Powerless marks the comic book powerhouse's first half-hour entry. NBC currently is the only network without a superhero series, with DC behind CBS' Supergirl, Fox's Gotham and The CW's The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. ABC is home to corporate sibling Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter, and has a spinoff of the former, Marvel's Most Wanted, in the works this pilot season. Keep up with all the latest pickups, castings and eventual series orders with THR's handy guide to pilot season.