text
stringlengths 0
667k
|
|---|
In the never-ending quest to improve computing technology, IBM has just taken a big step smaller: It’s found a way to store data on a single atom.
A hard drive today takes about 100,000 atoms to store a single bit of data — a 1 or 0. The IBM Research results announced Wednesday show how much more densely it might someday be possible to cram information.
How much more densely? Today, you can fit your personal music library into a storagedevice the size of a penny. With IBM’s technique, you could fit Apple‘s entire music catalog of 26 million songs onto the same area, Big Blue said.
Atomic-level storage could radically change our computing devices. A smartwatch or ring could carry all your personal data, or businesses could keep potentially useful information that today they can’t currently afford to preserve. And socking away lots of information is important for artificial intelligence, which has a voracious appetite for data used to train machine-learning systems to do their jobs.
The development is a step toward a vision outlined by famed physicist Richard Feynman, a pioneer of the possibilities of quantum computers that work at atomic scales. “We can in principle make a computing device in which the numbers are represented by a row of atoms, with each atom in either of the two states,” Feynman said in a 1983 talk.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Big Blue’s basic research into atomic-scale storage could be decades away from commercialization, said IBM researcher Chris Lutz.
“This work is not product development, but rather it is basic research intended to develop tools and understanding of what happens as we miniaturize devices down toward the ultimate limit of individual atom,” Lutz said. “We are starting at individual atoms, and building up from there to invent new information technologies.”
To make it practical, IBM would need to make atomic-scale storage economically manufacturable, fast at reading and writing data and stable enough to store data for long periods of time. IBM’s atom stored data for the hours-long duration of the experiment, but real-world storage ideally would last years.
IBM’s approach, developed at its Almaden research lab and published in the journal Nature, uses a single atom of the element holmium carefully placed on a surface of magnesium oxide. A special-purpose microscope uses a tiny amount of electrical current to flip the atom’s orientation one way or the other, corresponding to writing a 1 or 0. The researchers then read the data by measuring the atom’s electromagnetic properties.
IBM can be patient with basic research. After decades of research into quantum computing, IBM began its first commercial quantum computing services this week.
The last big transformation in storage was the shift from the spinning magnetic platters of hard drives to flash memory, chips that can read and write data faster and that have no moving parts to wear out. Your phone and faster
PCs use flash memory. Flash memory chips remain more expensive than hard drives for storing a given amount of data, though, so both coexist today.
But progress is tough. “There is simply no perfect replacement today or in the next five years,” said Scott Shadley, principal technologist of storage solutions at flash memory maker Micron.
Flash already has improved through 3D stacking technology to add new layers to memory chips. A promising successor to flash could be resistive random-access memory (ReRAM), which could store data more densely than flash by changing how well a tiny metallic filament conducts electricity.
Another possibility is storing in DNA, the molecules that record every living organism’s genetic information.
They’re all baby steps on the way to atomic-level storage. But the pressure to innovate is fierce. One way or another, the industry will find a way to let us shoehorn more video, photos and music into our phones. |
After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or not. Written by Huggo |
Explore the science behind plane food and learn why food tastes differently in the air. (McKenna Ewen/The Washington Post)
About an hour before United Airlines Flight 40 departed for Rome, two trucks sidled up to the aircraft parked at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The vehicles’ cargo compartments extended to the open cabin doors. Several men in neon safety vests hopped out pushing metal carts.
In less time than it takes to peel a bag of potatoes, the catering crew filled the plane’s three galleys with a multi-course culinary feast. The entrees — filet of Amazon cod with vegetable ratatouille, short rib of beef with wasabi grits, chana masala with aloo ginger garlic rice — read like specials at a high-end restaurant. Nowhere on the menu: tongue de shoe drowning in a mud puddle.
“There was a day when we had mystery meat covered in sauce to keep it moist,” said Gerry McLoughlin, one of the airline’s executive chefs. “That day is gone.”
At United, as well as across the industry, in-flight dining has sprouted new wings — and they don’t taste like overprocessed chicken. Not so long ago, airplane food was a punching bag cinched with a punchline. In a 2009 letter to Virgin Atlantic owner Richard Branson, an aggrieved customer compared the experience of removing the tinfoil covering his meal to opening a Christmas present and finding a dead hamster inside.
The laugh track lost its chuckle more than a decade ago when airlines started to phase out free economy-class meals on domestic flights. The companies distracted hungry passengers with elfin bags of peanuts and buy-your-own boxes of grub. However, airlines’ increasing focus on personalized service combined with an expanding awareness of global cuisine has reversed the decline. Is that a bird, plane . . . or a spiced-rub breast of chicken on a 747?
“The food definitely has an opportunity to improve,” said McLoughlin, who is also the company’s senior manager of food and beverage planning. “Before, it was entertainment and a way to keep passengers in their seats. Now, it is about customer experience.”
United Airlines prepares in-flight meals worthy of a fine restaurant, such as gingered sliced beef and udon salad with edamame. (Courtesy of United Airlines Creative Services)
Every six to 15 months, for example, McLoughlin and his team of chefs refresh the menus for all cabin categories. (United provides free meals on most long-haul flights; economy passengers pay within North America, the Caribbean, some of Latin America, and between Honolulu and Guam.) On Oct. 25, the company unveiled dishes for its BusinessFirst cabin (duck confit ravioli, mushroom ragout, semi-dried tomatoes and sauteed asparagus, for instance) on select routes. In addition, United will roll out a second wave of dishes on Nov. 1 for various destinations and cabin classes, including new choices for economy. Among the options: Napa salad with grilled salmon, goat cheese and figs (premium class), and a French country-style bowl with slow-cooked beef, roasted carrots, onions, parsnips and white rice (coach). And for dessert (premium-only again), cookies baked onboard, ice cream or sorbet — to cleanse the palate for the return flight home.
[One expert weighs in on the airlines with the best meals]
“We want to board enough choices so that everyone can have their dream dish,” said the Irish chef, whose fantasy in-flight meal is roast leg of lamb with mint sauce.
In a conventional restaurant setting, such ambitious menus are hardly surprising. But airlines must contend with a steady stream of obstacles from the ground up, up, up. For instance, dining rooms typically don’t bounce or dry out customers’ taste buds.
To better understand United’s food operations, I slipped on a white lab coat and hair net (hot pink!) for a behind-the-scenes peek at its Newark kitchen and catering facility. Moving from station to station, I watched the airline meal proceed from conception to consumption. Along the way, I witnessed the demise of the Mystery Meat Era and the rise of the Flat-Iron Steak with Grilled Broccolini Generation, with a squirt of red chimichurri sauce on top.
Preparing menus for takeoff
United’s Chelsea Food Services in Newark opened 25 years ago, back when Americans were gobbling up fat-free and fusion foods and a recession was pinching airlines’ purses. Its approximately 140,000-square-foot building on the south end of the airfield caters United-operated flights; a second 15,000-square-foot kitchen on the north side services regional United Express flights. The larger structure is plain and white, like a block of tofu. No tantalizing aromas escape its glass doors.
At the front desk, I received my touring ensemble and headed to a conference room to meet McLoughlin and Robin Carr, executive chef at the Newark site. (The airline also has kitchens in Denver, Houston, Cleveland and Honolulu.) The pair wore traditional chef’s jackets and pants: white for Carr, black for McLoughlin.
Gerry McLoughlin, an executive chef at United, works with the staff to prepare more than 33,000 meals a day at the kitchen and catering facility at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. (Stan Godlewski/For the Washington Post)
McLoughlin lives in Chicago but travels around the world visiting United’s caterers and consulting with staff members on the menus, which are regularly tweaked. Many of the changes are based on customer research and observations by flight attendants. For example, the flight crew might note that, due to popular demand, they need a larger supply of lobster mac-and-cheese. Or they might recommend nixing the hot breakfast sandwich, due to no demand.
“Fruit and the scrambled egg skillet do much better as a.m. meals,” McLoughlin said.
Two decades ago, Carr said, entree choices barely stretched beyond steak and potatoes and roasted chicken. Over the years, the options have vastly expanded with global flavors (Indian, Korean, Japanese) and specialized diets (vegetarian, gluten-free). Travelers can also personalize their meals, adding or subtracting certain items.
“We put the starch in a separate cup and the protein on the side,” McLoughlin said, “so you can adjust the meals to your tastes.”
United’s experts also follow trends and movements that are reshaping the culinary landscape. When possible, they use hormone-free beef, sustainable seafood and local and seasonal ingredients. The menu planners have also been incorporating bolder flavors and more adventurous pantry items, such as flat-iron steak and short ribs; beets, fennel and butternut squash; and aioli.
[The problem with airplane food might be you]
“We should do more lamb and duck,” McLoughlin said about the polarizing proteins.
To spark innovation, the airline partners with chefs affiliated with the Trotter Project, a nonprofit organization that educates and inspires budding talent. Since March, professionals such as “Top Chef” competitor Richie Farina and Della Gossett, pastry chef at Spago Beverly Hills, have tossed ideas into the pot and helped reimagine airplane food.
“Having fresh eyes and chefs with no boundaries gives us a different perspective,” said McLoughlin, who has worked in the culinary field for more than 30 years.
Although the chefs dream big, the reality of serving food at high altitude snaps them out of their reveries. One of their greatest challenges is countering the effects of the high altitude and pressurized cabins. The lack of humidity causes passengers to lose their sense of smell and taste, a roughly 30 percent decline of taste bud strength. Also crashing the dinner party: a persistent engine noise, which is as melodious as the buzz of a busted speaker.
To compensate for the diminished flavor, the staff uses a heavy hand with spices and aromatic herbs. They incorporate tomatoes, basil and rosemary into the recipes but go light on the salt. They roast vegetables, a cooking technique that releases the natural sugars, and sous-vide meats and fish to retain moisture. They also avoid butter-based sauces, such as hollandaise, which tend to break when reheated.
Passengers stay nourished with a plate of smoked duck breast and pickled cauliflower. (Courtesy of United Airlines Creative Services)
Finally, all dishes must fit within the dimensions of the trolley cart, the sole mode of transportation on the ground and in the air. That means no meals can be taller than two inches or wider than 12. To spruce up the (flat) presentation, the flight attendants receive instructions on how to assemble and display the dishes. The tutorial includes a step-by-step guide sheet, photos and, eventually, videos.
“We need them to look inside our mind and think: What did the chef imagine?” he said.
However, time constraints and turbulence can often botch the plating.
To be sure, McLoughlin and his team face unparalleled challenges. Yet he shares the same goal as his earthbound peers.
“The greatest compliment for any chef,” he said, “is, ‘That was a very enjoyable meal.’ ”
[How TripAdvisor altered your vacation-planning universe]
Culinary choreography
United’s food operation is orderly in theory but feels like a frenzied Richard Scarry streetscape. Make way for incoming catering trucks, rolling carts and falling bags of ice!
Brenda Gyory, managing director of the Newark kitchen operations, started our tour at the beginning, and the end, of the meals’ journey: the transportation dock.
Nearly 400 United and United Express flights leave this airport each day, carrying more than 33,000 meals. The number of carts boarded on each plane depends on the size of the jet. A wide-body might require 125; a smaller model, 10. The crew typically loads the containers an hour before takeoff to avoid run-ins with flight attendants and passengers. On a Tuesday afternoon in October, I stood amid a parking lot of carts bound for a Tel Aviv flight departing at 4:45.
“Everything has to be orchestrated so that we are not on [the plane] too early or too late,” Gyory said.
The Newark facility stocks meal service items — entrees, snacks, drinks and settings — that appear on nearly 400 flights a day. (Stan Godlewski/For The Washington Post)
When the planes land at the airport, the employees reverse course. They collect the used carts and strip them of dirty dishware and leftover meals. They send the trolleys through a washing station that sprays water like a heavy rain shower; the dishes and utensils receive a thorough scrubbing in an industrial machine.
Food and beverage deliveries arrive around-the-clock, and a massive walk-in freezer stores four to five days’ worth of meats, frozen treats and other perishables. During a frosty dash inside, I spotted boxes of mango sorbet, salted caramel gelato and ice cream truffles.
A refrigerated warehouse houses an international marketplace of products that reflect the diversity of the menus. In one corner, I noticed bags of kimchi, mint-and-cilantro chutney, vegetable Shanghai dim sum and Kalamata olives in giant red drums.
To maximize freshness, the kitchen staff typically cooks and chills the meals six to eight hours in advance. In the hot-food cooking area, a chef in a black coat and checkered pants grilled shrimp that would later garnish a grilled salmon appetizer. Nearby, another cook sauteed vegetables for a meal plan to Europe.
A chef prepares shrimp to accompany a grilled salmon appetizer. (Stan Godlewski/For The Washington Post)
Meals above the clouds: grilled shrimp with fresh cabbage and grilled pineapple salad. (Courtesy of United Airlines Creative Services)
In the cold-food kitchen, McLoughlin randomly pulled out trays that were tucked inside carts scattered around the floor. He showed me a cucumber-and-tomato salad striped with slices of steak, and a breakfast plate with granola, fruit, Greek yogurt, strawberry jam and an empty space for a croissant. (The bread, which can dry out quickly, is packed separately.) A metal box bound for Israel contained two special meals, kosher and halal.
Until that point, I could identify all of the food items displayed before me. However, I was stumped by three rows of glasses filled with red, brown and white ingredients — some smooth, some chunky.
“These are the toppings for the build-your-own sundaes,” he said, pointing at the whipped cream, cherries, caramel, fudge and Heath bar crunch crumbles.
A number of meal items, such as vegetables and steaks, are about 90 percent cooked before they advance to the boarding stage. The ground staff assembles the plates using photos of the completed dishes as visual guides. At one long metal table, a man wearing a sweatshirt under his sanitation coat placed the components of Asian short ribs into aluminum tins. He surrounded the main event with sides — wasabi grits, julienned vegetables and hoisin sauce — resting in paper cups.
“One hundred and fifty down,” joked McLoughlin, “150 to go.”
Before returning to the docking station, we ambled into a room that resembled an ABC store. A sign announced the land of liquid: “Beer, Wine Margarita Mix Repacking Area.” The occupants included cases of Miller Lite and Goose IPA, cans of Budweiser and bottles of white wine.
I met John Knight near a stack of soda. Knight spent 18 years as a flight attendant before switching to a management position in the kitchen. Back when he was pushing carts above the clouds, “there was not much variety,” he said. “Customers are offered a whole lot more choice now. It’s absolutely been elevated.”
On a recent flight to Brussels, he and his wife experienced these new heights.
“The food was really good,” he said with a lilt of surprise in his voice.
A ground crew loads carts of food and catering supplies on a jet bound for Rome. (Stan Godlewski/For The Washington Post)
Cycle’s completion
Passengers waiting to board the Rome flight were unaware of the swirl of activity taking place inside the aircraft.
A cleaning crew swept through the seats, tossing trash and bagging blankets. Flight attendants snapped group shots to mark the last day of one of their colleagues. A pilot entered the cockpit carrying her lunch tote. And several men quickly moved through the aisles to fill the galleys with meals for 242 people.
Within 15 minutes, Flight 40 was ready — well, at least the dining portion of the trip.
The catering crew returned to the main facility, because the cycle never stops spinning. More planes would soon arrive and depart. Carts needed to be emptied and loaded. And passengers had to be fed.
More from Travel:
One expert weighs in on airlines with the top dining options
The strange afterlife of banned TSA items
Tips on how to travel light without sacrificing comfort and style |
Maine’s Governor Paul LePage has been at the center of more than his fair share of controversy since taking office, but one area where there seems to be little disagreement is over the fact that he’s been good to his word on cutting the budget. Much to the chagrin of Social Justice Warriors, LePage has made a priority of ensuring that public assistance was only going to those who are actually in need, eliminating a lot of fraud and abuse from the system. One way he did that was by requiring younger, childless, able bodied individuals who are receiving food stamps to either be working a part time job or to put in some time working for the state or getting job training. That single move led to a massive drop in the food stamp roles and significant savings for the taxpayers.
Now he’s moved on to another aspect of the food stamp program which is, at least to me, a bit more puzzling. A new regulation will forbid lottery winners (above a certain level of winnings) from receiving SNAP assistance. (Daily Caller)
Maine has instituted a new rule that bans those who win more than $5,000 a month by gambling or the lottery from getting food stamps benefits, the state announced Tuesday. Gov. Paul LePage approved the rule as part of a series of strict measures to reduce the state’s dependence on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also called food stamps, in Maine. “In no way, shape or form should taxpayers be asked to foot the bill for someone who is gambling and winning huge amounts of money,” Maine Department of Health and Human Services commissioner Mary Mayhew said in a statement. “Welfare benefits shouldn’t be used for gambling or lottery, and someone who beats the long odds and ‘wins big’ shouldn’t continue receiving assistance while he or she has that money.”
I suppose the first question which jumped to my mind when I read this story was… lottery winners are collecting food stamps? The SNAP program is not only just a course of last resort for those who have fallen on seriously hard times, but I would imagine that it’s not something most people are particularly proud of to begin with. (I don’t mean there’s shame in getting help when you need it, but people tend to not like to admit that they’ve fallen behind.) This doesn’t apply to someone who hit twenty bucks on a scratch off, but if you landed one of the big cash prizes or some sort of thousand dollars a week for life payouts, would you really continue to go to the store and pay for your purchases with food stamps? I suppose it must be happening or there wouldn’t be a need for the law, but it certainly seems odd.
Still, the Governor seems to be satisfied with not only the need for the law, but with the results. He gave a rather succinct public comment identifying who should or should not be on the SNAP roles.
“Most Mainers would agree that before someone receives taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, they should sell non-essential assets and use their savings,” LePage said when the asset testing rule was approved last fall. “Hardworking Mainers should not come home to see snowmobiles, four-wheelers or Jet Skis in the yards of those who are getting welfare. Welfare is a last resort, not a way of life.”
Nothing much to argue about here. If you are taking in more than $60K per year you are well above the national median in terms of income. You obviously don’t need food stamps at that point. But unlike the previous work requirements which were passed, I’ll be interested to see how much money the state actually saves. Are there really that many lottery winners out there still collecting SNAP benefits? |
Even kids are worried. Glassdoor Automation has become an increasingly disruptive force in the labor market.
Reports of robots taking over jobs through self-driving cars and automated financial advisers stoke employee fears that their jobs will soon disappear.
It's a worry that Cathy Engelbert, the CEO at Deloitte, even hears from her 15-year-old son. "Mom, are robots going to take my job someday?" Engelbert, writing in a post on LinkedIn, recalled being asked by her son.
"I told him: 'Don't worry — I've never met a machine with courage and empathy,'" she continued.
Engelbert's response is most likely heartening to the hundreds of thousands of Deloitte employees worldwide. Accounting and auditing work — Deloitte's bread and butter — are among the jobs that have been flagged as highly susceptible to automation.
And elsewhere, respected figures in the business community, like billionaire investor Mark Cuban, warn that jobs in the engineering, programming, and finance fields are highly at risk.
But to this, Engelbert urges employees to realize that not all is lost.
"Tasks that are highly manual, routine, and predictable will be automated," she wrote. "But jobs are made up of many tasks. So the nature of existing jobs will change, and new careers will be created." |
WERNERSVILLE, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say police officers shot and killed a man after a gun battle along train tracks.
State police in Berks County say Wernersville officers responded shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday to a report of a man walking with two guns stuck in his pockets.
The man, identified as 20-year-old Jonathan David Rutkowski of Wernersville, refused to drop the guns and fled to the Norfolk Southern tracks, where authorities say he aimed both guns at officers, who fired.
Police say he took cover behind a large metal signal control box and aimed at them again.
After more gunfire he went down, but approaching officers said he was still pointing one of the guns at him, so they fired again, killing him.
(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) |
MILTON – A sword that belonged to Daniel Vose, a prominent Milton merchant and a militia captain during the American Revolution, is returning to Milton.
The centuries-old sword, plus scabbard and belt, were donated to the Milton Historical Society this week. Rosalie Godfrey of North Carolina discovered the sword in a closet under a staircase in her great aunt’s house in York Harbor, Maine. Godfrey, a direct descendant of Vose, remembers playing with the sword when she was growing up.
“As a child I would occasionally take the sword out from the closet and pretend that I was a pirate,” Godfrey said. “Little did I guess the history and value of the sword until years later when I became interested in the family genealogy.”
The mouth of the scabbard has a silver fitting with the inscription “Daniel Vose.” The sword handle has a carved-bone grip capped with a lion’s head.
Vose was a leading businessman in the 1700s. The Suffolk Resolves, regarded as a significant step toward the Declaration of Independence, were signed in his house in 1774.
The Suffolk Resolves House is now the home of the Milton Historical Society.
The historical society plans to have the sword on display at its Sept. 10 open house and at all future events at the Suffolk Resolves House. |
Text Size:
Australia as a Lesson on Currency and the Wine Industry
Some of the big news last week in the wine world had to do with the shifting buying habits of our friends Down Under. Thanks to the vagaries of the international currency markets, the Australian Dollar has appreciated greatly against the Euro, and for the first time since the Euro was launched, stuff from Europe is pretty cheap in Australia.
So, what does a wine loving country like Australia (they consume about three times as much wine per capita as America) do when imports get cheap? They stop buying Australian wine all the time and they start buying imported wine.
Much was made in news reports of the fact that Australians can now buy Moet Chandon Champagne for less money than they'd spend on locally produced Chandon sparkling wine (made by the same company).
While this news probably went over like a wet blanket for most wine producers in Australia, it's hard to imagine how this could have been avoided. For decades, Australian's have largely been drinking locally produced wines, both as a measure of pride as well as economic convenience. No doubt the (well placed) pride will continue to drive sales, as will old habits that die hard, but Australians need to be forgiven if they have a bit of a kid-in-the-candy-store moment.
Frankly, this particular situation sheds some light on the possible future for America should the Euro Zone collapse, or any of its major wine producers drop the currency. Many people have speculated as to what the current European economic crisis means for wine, and for the time being, it simply means that business is tough for many European wine producers.
But should things get messy, we may see a lot more gleeful buying on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. As much as I will bite my lip at the turmoil that will doubtless ensue if Portugal, or Italy, or Greece are left to founder on their own, it's hard to imagine not getting a bit excited about the wines of these regions suddenly being available at much more reasonable prices thanks to currency differentials.
Now I'm no economist, so the last thing I'm doing here is making predictions, but I can definitely relate to my friends Down Under who are taking not a small amount of delight in the fact that their money goes a lot further in European wine than it used to.
Photo of Australian currency courtesy of BigStock.
Australia as a Lesson on Currency and the Wine Industry
Photo of Australian currency courtesy of BigStock.
Some of the big news last week in the wine world had to do with the shifting buying habits of our friends Down Under . Thanks to the vagaries of the international currency markets, the Australian Dollar has appreciated greatly against the Euro, and for the first time since the Euro was launched, stuff from Europe is pretty cheap in Australia.
So, what does a wine loving country like Australia (they consume about three times as much wine per capita as America) do when imports get cheap? They stop buying Australian wine all the time and they start buying imported wine.
Much was made in news reports of the fact that Australians can now buy Moet Chandon Champagne for less money than they'd spend on locally produced Chandon sparkling wine (made by the same company).
While this news probably went over like a wet blanket for most wine producers in Australia, it's hard to imagine how this could have been avoided. For decades, Australian's have largely been drinking locally produced wines, both as a measure of pride as well as economic convenience. No doubt the (well placed) pride will continue to drive sales, as will old habits that die hard, but Australians need to be forgiven if they have a bit of a kid-in-the-candy-store moment.
Frankly, this particular situation sheds some light on the possible future for America should the Euro Zone collapse, or any of its major wine producers drop the currency. Many people have speculated as to what the current European economic crisis means for wine, and for the time being, it simply means that business is tough for many European wine producers.
But should things get messy, we may see a lot more gleeful buying on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. As much as I will bite my lip at the turmoil that will doubtless ensue if Portugal, or Italy, or Greece are left to founder on their own, it's hard to imagine not getting a bit excited about the wines of these regions suddenly being available at much more reasonable prices thanks to currency differentials.
Now I'm no economist, so the last thing I'm doing here is making predictions, but I can definitely relate to my friends Down Under who are taking not a small amount of delight in the fact that their money goes a lot further in European wine than it used to.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum revved up designs for improvements to its outdoor plaza, winning approval from the city's Design Review Committee two weeks after the panel initially tabled the proposal.
"We are thrilled," Greg Harris, Rock Hall president and CEO, said after the meeting. "With this approval, we will begin to bring this place to life."
The Rock Hall plans to install the now-revised improvements this summer, and to begin live outdoor performances as early as June, in time for the Republican National Convention in July.
The intention is to liven up a bleak, often lifeless swath of concrete designed by architect I.M. Pei as the forecourt to his Rock Hall, which opened in 1995 off Erieside Avenue in downtown Cleveland, overlooking North Coast Harbor and Lake Erie.
Plans call for the installation of an outdoor stage to accommodate concerts by local bands five days a week, plus an outdoor cafe and a large sign in red metal spelling out "Long Live Rock."
The project is part of the $3 million-$4.5 million first phase of what the Rock Hall calls "Museum 2.0," a redesign that will eventually encompass revisions of its Hall of Fame and main exhibit areas.
The Rock Hall engaged BRC Imagination Arts of Burbank, California, and the Cleveland architecture firm of Westlake Reed Leskosky to design the improvements.
The Design Review Committee, which advises the city's Planning Commission, the body whose approval is required for building permits, tabled the original proposal at its March 3 meeting.
Architect Jack Bialosky, the chairman of the 10-member committee, said the initial designs were underwhelming, static and derivative.
Architects from Westlake Reed Leskosky, the leading national firm based in Cleveland, tweaked the design for sail-shaped canopies that would cover an outdoor cafe at the northwest corner of the Rock Hall plaza.
Instead of serving food from shipping-container kitchens, the Rock Hall now plans to have at least one food truck on the plaza dishing up food and refreshments.
The designers also refined plans for the "Long Live Rock" sign, in part by filling the "O" in "Long" with images of rock performers that could be swapped out depending on whose name is in the news.
As an example, the latest rendering of the sign showed an image in the "O" of the late David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust persona.
Paul Westlake, a principal of the Westlake firm, said the base of the 6-foot-high sign has been raised to 15 inches, creating a seating wall at the base.
"We hope it's co-opted and almost misappropriated by the public," he said. "We'd be happy if they put stickers on it in and interacted with it."
When questioned about the bold, blocky font chosen for the letters in the sign, Harris said the Rock Hall wanted to avoid picking a design that would be too closely associated with one band or one genre of rock.
"You could picture a Metallica fan wanting lighting-bolt letters," he said, "And that's one fan. Another fan wants fuzzy dice. When you start introducing those elements, it is not inclusive. We wanted something that was strong but could speak to many different genres, many different languages, while still having strength and attitude."
Members of the committee questioned Harris about whether the circular concrete planters installed along Erieside Avenue as a defensive perimeter could be removed in the future.
Harris said the planters were purchased with a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration under a Homeland Security program meant to protect public facilities.
He said he'd like to explore in the future whether the planters, now filled with plastic plants, could be removed and replaced with something simpler and more attractive.
For now, the plaza designers propose painting the planters black and covering them with black metal lids emblazoned with the names of famous rock performers.
Bialosky pointed out that the black-painted lids could be unpleasantly hot in the summer, making it impossible to sit on them. The designers and Rock Hall officials agreed to keep working on that aspect of the project.
The committee chairman said he was pleased overall by the improvements in the design, although he said he felt the "Long Live Rock" sign was too imitative of a similar type of sign outside the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
"If you feel really, really strongly about that, I would defer to that, but I personally would prefer something that is very clearly Cleveland, and I don't think this is."
Nevertheless, he and the other committee members voted unanimously, 10-0, to approve the project. The plans next go to the city Planning Commission Friday.
Harris said after the meeting that the improvements would "create a communal space on the lakefront activated with programs and activities to make it a living, breathing lakefront.
"You will hear live music and have great smells and see people from all over the country," he said. "It will set the stage for entering a museum of rock 'n' roll in a way that the current windswept plaza does not." |
Six Chinese mainland universities are among the top 100 in the British Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Graduate Employability Rankings for Universities, published on Wednesday.
Tsinghua University ranked third after Stanford and MIT, with the University of Sydney and Cambridge coming as fourth and fifth respectively. Peking University ranked 11th and Fudan University in Shanghai ranked 14th, 163 news reported.
A total of 300 universities from across the world were ranked using five indicators: employer reputation, partnerships with employer, alumni outcomes, employer's presence on campus, and graduate employment rate.
53 Chinese universities were listed in the overall rankings; 33 from mainland China, 14 from Taiwan, five from Hong Kong and one from Macao.
Formed in 1990, QS is renowned for its annual publication of World University Rankings which is one of the most widely read, along with Academic Ranking of World Universities and Times Higher Education World University Rankings. |
The BT-42 was a Finnish assault gun, constructed during the Continuation War. It was constructed from captured Soviet BT-7 light tanks and British 4.5-inch howitzers (114 mm-calibre light howitzer, model 1908) from 1918, which had been donated during the Winter War. Only eighteen vehicles were constructed.
Development and use [ edit ]
As the Second World War progressed, the Soviets were fielding better and better tanks. The Finnish Army, on the other hand, had to make do with a large number of captured tanks, which were for the most part lightly armored and armed.
The Finns decided to redesign the BT-7 Model 1937 tank. They constructed a new turret and armed it with British-made 114.3 mm howitzers that had been supplied by the British during the Winter War (Q.F. 4,5 inch howitzer Mark II, also known as 114 Psv.H/18 in Finland). Eighteen BT-42 were built and these were pressed into service in 1943.
These converted vehicles quickly became very unpopular with their crews. The weaknesses could mainly be attributed to the new turret, which apart from giving the tank a high-profile also added significant weight to the vehicle, stressing the suspension and the engine.
The BT-42 was used for the first time in 1943, at the Svir River, where it was used against enemy pillboxes. The design worked reasonably well against soft targets but was completely unsuitable for anti-tank warfare. To counter this, the Finns copied a German-designed HEAT round for the gun and it was initially thought that it would be effective against the sloped armour of the T-34. However, problems arose with the copied HEAT shells fuses, which apparently did not arm themselves correctly after firing, due to the different muzzle velocity and round spin rate of the 4.5 inch howitzer compared to the original German guns.[1]
The BT-42s were used again during the major Soviet offensive in 1944. They were deployed in the defence of Vyborg. In one encounter, a Finnish BT-42 hit a Soviet T-34 18 times, failing even to immobilize the enemy vehicle, as this vehicle's fuses failed to work correctly. Eight of the 18 BT-42s in action made no significant contribution to the fighting. At the time Finnish armored units were still composed mostly of older designs such as the Vickers 6-Ton, T-26 and T-28 tanks, and all of these suffered losses.
Emergency supplies of Panzer IV tanks and StuG III self-propelled assault guns from Germany, as well as captured T-34s, made it possible for the Finns to replace its losses with more effective vehicles. The BT-42 was retired soon after the Vyborg battles, replaced in their intended role by German-made StuG IIIs.
Front view
Left-rear quarter view
See also [ edit ]
BT-43 - another Finnish conversion of BT-7 tank
^ The Finnish HEAT shell was called "114 hkr 42/C-18/24-38 is 32-18/24" and it was equipped with a "Hl/C" warhead. The German 10.5 cm HEAT grenade, which it had been modelled after, could penetrate 100 mm of steel at a 60-degree angle of impact. Thus it was estimated that the Finnish shell, with its larger calibre, could penetrate 110-115 mm, but its fuse very often failed to function properly, leaving the projectile simply bouncing off on impact without doing any meaningful damage. |
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge says Georgia cannot close voter registration for any federal election, including runoff contests, more than 30 days before the election.
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law had filed a lawsuit in April challenging the state's registration deadline for voters wishing to participate in a June 20 special election runoff for an open U.S. House seat.
State election officials argued a runoff is a continuation of an initial election under Georgia law and that the registration deadline should, therefore, be 30 days before the initial election rather than 30 days before the runoff.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten in May ordered the registration deadline extended to 30 days before the June runoff election. The consent decree filed Tuesday applies that to all federal elections and runoffs. |
ISS Science for Everyone
Science Objectives for Everyone
Science Results for Everyone
The following content was provided by Stefanie Countryman, M.B.A., and is maintained in a database by the ISS Program Science Office.
Experiment Details
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert – 06: Ants in Space (CSI-06) compares behavior differences in groups of ants living in normal gravity and microgravity conditions. It measures how the interactions among ants in a group depend on the number of ants in a given area. These interactions may be important in determining group behavior. Cameras record ants living on the International Space Station, and software analyzes their movement patterns and interaction rates. Students in grades K-12 observe the videos in near real-time as the ISS experiment and conduct their own classroom experiments as part of a related curriculum.Ants on a spaceship! The way that ant colonies collectively search for resources using local cues has potential applications such as designing search and rescue operations using robots. Ants in microgravity searched less efficiently, perhaps due to difficulty holding onto the surface and getting dislodged. At any time, about seven percent of the ants in space were free floating and do not have a "foothold" on the surface. This may have interfered with each individual ant’s ability to assess the density of ants in an area and adjust its search path accordingly. To what extent this affected collective search behavior is not yet known.
OpNom: Ants in Space
Principal Investigator(s)
Deborah Gordon, Ph.D., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)
Michael Greene, University of Colorado-Denver, Denver, CO, United States
Stefanie Countryman, M.B.A., BioServe Space Technologies, Boulder, CO, United States
Developer(s)
BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States
Sponsoring Space Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Sponsoring Organization
National Laboratory Education (NLE)
Research Benefits
Earth Benefits, Scientific Discovery
ISS Expedition Duration
September 2013 - September 2014
Expeditions Assigned
37/38,39/40
Previous Missions
Space Technology and Research Students (STARSTM), a similar investigation was performed on STS-93 and STS-107. CSI-01 began on ISS Expedition 14 and completed during ISS Expedition 15. CSI-02 was performed during ISS Expeditions 15 - 17. CSI-03 began operation during Expedition 18 and was completed during Expedition 19.
Experiment Description
Research Overview
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert - 06: Ants in Space (CSI-06) compares how the interaction rate of a group of ants depends on density, the number of ants per unit area, in normal gravity and microgravity conditions.
The investigation houses eight ant habitats containing three areas: nest area, Forage Area 1 and Forage Area 2. Each area is separated by a sealed “door.”
Approximately 100 Tetramorium caespitum or pavement ants are launched in the nest area of each habitat. Once the habitats are on the International Space Station (ISS) a crew member “activates” the experiment by releasing the ants from the nest area into Forage Area 1 by lowering a barrier door. Once the ants have thoroughly explored Forage Area 1 (approximately 25 minutes), Forage Area 2 is opened.
Ground controls are conducted on a slight offset from the spaceflight experiment.
The ants’ movements are videotaped using the HD video cameras on board the ISS and a similar HD camera for the ground controls.
Analyses of movement patterns and interaction rates captured on video are completed using a tracking software program.
Description
Ant colonies operate without central control. No one ant directs the behavior of a group of ants and no ant decides what another ant should do. Instead ants use only whatever information they pick up nearby, and in the aggregate, the combination of responses to local cues produces the coordinated behavior of the colony. Such distributed algorithms are now being used to coordinate the behavior of swarms of robots as well as other complex human problems.
How do ants evaluate group density? Studies of different species suggest that they use interaction rate. The rate at which each ant meets other ants is a measure of how many other ants are moving around the same area. Ants need to evaluate group density in many different situations. One example is the search problem. If you asked a group of people to find a needle in a haystack, they might come up with a plan for dividing up the haystack and having each person search part of it. The ants can’t do that. Instead the ants must find a way to cover the ground so that if there is something out there to find, some ant will eventually get close enough to find it.
One way that ants solve the search problem is to adjust their paths to density. When there are many ants in a small space, each ant can move at random, because a random walk tends to go round and round the same place. But when density is low, and there are few ants, each one has to walk a straighter path to cover enough ground to search the area thoroughly. Argentine ants adjust their path shape in this way. (Gordon 1995)
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert - 06: Ants in Space (CSI-06) compares how the interaction rate of a group of ants (Tetramorium caespitum) changes as a result of density, the number of ants per unit area, in normal gravity and microgravity conditions.
The ants are kept in a small container divided into a humid nest area and a foraging area. The foraging area is divided into a smaller and larger part separated by a sealing door.
During transport to the International Space Station (ISS), the ants are in the nest area.Once the ant habitats are on board the ISS, a crewmember opens the door between the nest area and Forage Area 1. Over a 25 minute period, the ants spread out over the forage area. . The initial foray into Forage Area 1 is the high density condition of the experiment. The ant interactions and path shape are monitored on video, for this 25 minute period of time. After 25 minutes the crewmember opens the door to Forage Area 2, which begins the low density condition of the experiment. The video continues for another 30 minutes at which time the experiment is considered complete. The experiment examines how the interaction rate and path shape change once density is decreased.
The experiment is conducted with ants from two different colonies. Each colony has four replicates for a total of eight samples. There are matching ground controls. The investigation seeks to answer the following questions: does the relation of density and interaction rate change when ants have less control over their movement (microgravity)? Does path shape differ in microgravity? Results from this experiment could provide insight into how ants regulate interaction in normal conditions. Additionally, very little is known about how ants control path shape and results could provide some clues about how ants generate a random walk or a straighter path. Finally, the results could help to elucidate how ants coordinate their behavior and may have applications in other systems that rely on distributed algorithms, such as robots deployed for search and rescue operations.
Applications
Space Applications
The investigation brings information about life science research being conducted by the space program to students in grades K-12, generating interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Results from CSI-06 could also provide insight into ant behavior or swarm intelligence, or how the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex behavior of a group. Understanding swarm intelligence helps create mathematical procedures for solving complex human problems, such as routing trucks, scheduling airlines, or telecommunications efficiency.
Earth Applications
Ant colonies do not have centralized leaders; instead, ants coordinate their behavior according to cues from nearby ants. This behavior is being used to design computer programs that can control swarms of robots. CSI-06 investigates whether microgravity alters the behavior of ants in a colony. The investigation also provides an opportunity for educators and students in grades K-12 to participate in life science experiments operating on the International Space Station.
Operations
Operational Requirements and Protocols
There are eight samples each within a different Ant Habitat. Four samples are activated at one time for a total of two activation periods. Each experiment lasts between 50 and 70 minutes. The HD video data is downlinked as soon as possible following video recording of the two experiment activations. The Ant Habitats are returned to Earth on board a future SpaceX mission.. The ants live their life out on board the ISS. Crew time is required to activate the experiments and set-up video recording of the experiment and to downlink the video recording once completed.
The Ant Habitats are soft stowed in the dark in ambient conditions until activated on board the ISS. The crew sets up the area where the Ant Habitats are videotaped. Ambient light within the ISS is used for the recording. The crew activates four Ant Habitats at one time. While the experiment operates (50-70 minutes) the crew is not required to monitor the ants other than to release them from the nest area into Forage Area 1 and then to open Forage Area 2 following saturation of Forage Area 1 with ants.
Decadal Survey Recommendations
Information Pending
Results/More Information
Because ants perceive only locally, mostly by chemical and contact cues, their colonies operate without central control to collectively search for resources and to monitor the colony’s environment. Examining how ants in diverse environments solve the problem of collective search can give insights on how different forms of collective behavior evolve. Solutions to the problem of collective search are currently of much interest in robotics, for example, to design ways that robots can use local information to perform search and rescue operations. An experiment conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) examined how ants (Tetramoriumcaespitum) perform collective search in space. Analysis shows that the ants did not perform collective search as effectively in microgravity as they did in the ground controls. When the area to be searched is expanded in their ISS habitat, they did not thoroughly search the new area. The ants did not spread out or spread out much less than they did on Earth, so more regions were never, or very rarely, visited by ants and the mean number of ant visits to each part of the search area was lower. Space ants traverse less ground and take more convoluted paths when the area to be searched expanded. It appears that the difficulty of holding onto the surface interfered with the ants’ ability to search collectively. Ants frequently lost contact with the surface, but showed a remarkable ability to regain contact. In space, the relation of number of ants and the local density of ants in any one area may have been obscured by the fact that at any time, about 7% of the ants were not in contact with the surface and landed somewhere else, disrupting the relation between population density and encounter with each others. This disruption may have interfered with each ant’s ability to assess local density and to adjust its path shape accordingly. It is not known how much the collective search behavior of ants in microgravity was due to unreliable information about local density, and there was no clear relation of path shape and density either on Earth or in Space.
Results Publications
Countryman S, Stumpe MC, Crow SP, Adler FR, Greene M, Vonshak M, Gordon D. Collective search by ants in microgravity. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2015 March 30; 3(25): 10 pp. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00025.
Ground Based Results Publications
Goulart C, Rupert M, Hoehn A. Habitat Development in Support of Small Scale Biological and Biochemical Space Experiments. International Conference on Environmental Systems, Vancouver, Canada; 2002
ISS Patents
Related Publications
Related Websites
^ back to top
Imagery
NASA Image: ISS038E029155 - Close-up view of an Ants in Space ant forage habitat.
NASA Image: ISS038E029056 - Image of ant habitat on board the ISS.
NASA Image: ISS038E029065 - NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat.
NASA Image: ISS038E029077 - NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat. |
Hillary Clinton could be the first president to be prohibited from looking at classified information if she is ultimately placed on probation for alleged wrongdoing as secretary of state, a former U.S. attorney speculated.
"I think it would be kind of uncharted territory," Matthew Whitaker, a former prosecutor under the George W. Bush administration's Justice Department, told the Washington Examiner. "Some of these statutes that could potentially [have been] violated certainly could bar somebody from future security clearances."
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2590075
Clinton is under investigation by the FBI for storing classified information on a private server during her tenure leading the State Department. The practice may have violated laws preventing the exposure of classified documents, including the Federal Records Act and the Espionage Act.
In the event Clinton is charged with a crime, there is a strong likelihood that federal prosecutors could offer her a plea deal instead of forcing a trial. That deal would include a probationary period, and could prevent Clinton from looking at classified information until the end of that period.
"There are a lot of unknowns," said Whitaker, who is now executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust. "It would be really strange to have a future president of the United States who couldn't look at some of the nation's most important secrets that they would have to make policy on."
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2588011
It would not be the first time that a Clinton administration has led to complications involving someone being placed on probation for violating federal classification laws. Sandy Berger, a national security advisor to President Bill Clinton, was placed on probation for two years, and had his security clearance revoked for three years, for removing classified documents from the National Archives.
Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, is also well-versed on the topic. He negotiated the same arrangement for retired Gen. David Petraeus last year after he was charged with violating the same statutes. Petraeus was placed on probation for two years, though his clearance had already been suspended.
In the event Clinton were to accept such an agreement, a judge could offer flexible terms in light of her difficult circumstances. In addition to exempting her from the drug testing or home visits that would normally be standard, it is possible that she could also be exempted from additional terms that would otherwise be standard.
However, Whitaker said, Congress would still be able to look at whether an agreement constituted a "high crime or misdemeanor" worthy of impeachment. Yet something that could be even more problematic for Clinton are charges related to the Clinton Foundation, which the FBI is reportedly investigating over allegations of illegally coordinating with the State Department. If charges for that coordination came after a plea agreement is reached, it would present serious problems for Clinton.
"If you're charged with another crime while you're still on probation, that would enhance your ultimate sentence and could revoke the probationary period, and potentially result in jail time," Whitaker said. "You would have to go through another process ... but the mere charge could cause a revocation."
That dynamic leaves Clinton, as well as her associates and former employees, with some difficult decisions to keep in mind as the FBI considers whether it will recommend an indictment to the Justice Department.
When that recommendation will happen isn't clear, though FBI Director James Comey has suggested it could come even after the Democratic National Convention in July. Whitaker suggested that if the indictment came in August, the Democratic presidential front-runner would be looking at a trial potentially in November.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2587111
In that event, Clinton could potentially resolve the issue more quickly by accepting a plea deal, or let it play out in court later on. That could leave her with some difficult choices to ponder in the days leading up to the FBI's decision.
"Certainly you wouldn't want that hanging over your head as you head into election day, so I think you'd want to resolve it quickly," Whitaker said. "But the timing of a trial, if an indictment is issued that late, you could be timing a trial as late as the election, and that could be unpredictable." |
Hungarian President Viktor Orbán.
Hungary isn't necessarily a country famed for its defenses. After losing 1.5 million people in World War I, a third of its population deserted the country. Then, during World War II, over 60 percent of its economy was destroyed, leaving the Soviets to take control until 1989. It's the George Costanza of landlocked Central European nations—highly unlucky, kind of testy, and not particularly well equipped to defend itself from outside attacks.
In 2013, however, it's not alien armies they have to worry about: it's the burgeoning far-right movement, a worrying level of state control, and an increase in censorship all brewing within the country's borders.
Last Friday, members of the European parliament met in Strasbourg to discuss the country's human rights—a meeting that follows a succession of criticisms made by heads of states and political commentators; the refusal by acclaimed authors to accept cash prizes in protest against the country's abuse of human rights, and its own people marching almost nonstop since the beginning of last year.
So what's really been going on? And why—when there's already Greece's fascist Golden Dawn, Italy's far-right Lega Nord, and Britain's festering nationalists, the BNP, to deal with—are European politicians spending so much time on a small country with apparently little international presence? Here are a few potential explanations.
Members of Jobbik.
JOBBIK
It might only be ten years old, but Jobbik (a.k.a., The Movement For a Better Hungary)—described by its opponents as fascist and neo-Nazi—is already the country’s third most popular party. At the end of last year, its minister of Foreign Affairs, Márton Gyöngyös, called for the country’s Jewish population to be cataloged and screened as potential security threats. A month later, 10,000 people took to the steps of parliament to protest the move and urge the government to condemn the man who proposed it.
Following that little flirtation with eugenics, FIFA ordered last month's World Cup qualifying match between Hungary and Romania to be played to an empty stadium due to anti-Semitic displays from Hungarian fans. Jobbik responded to that by protesting outside the stadium. There have also been attempts by sympathizers to talk down the extent of anti-Semitism in the country, both from Jobbik and elsewhere. Even though defining Jews as potential threats just for being Jewish would seem to be more or less transparently bigoted.
Also, this week the government had to oppose a nationalist motorcycle club from disrupting the March of the Living, a commemoration of Holocaust victims. Which kind of says it all. Thanks to Anonymous, photos have also been leaked of the group's leader doing his best Max Mosley impression. Seriously, what's with fascists wanting to wear leather thongs and bone each other while hanging from meat hooks?
VIKTOR ORBÁN
Taking a break from having to defend his country’s policies to the EU, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spent last Wednesday rubbing shoulders with Jeremy Clarkson and John Major at Margaret Thatcher's funeral. But he hasn't always been the kind of guy to schmooze with the right-wing glitterati. First emerging as some kind of minor resistance hero, Orbán was a founding member of Fidesz, an alliance of young democrats that resisted the communist regime. During his two terms in office, however, he has continued to push the party further and further to the right and centralized as much state control as possible.
Having won with a two-thirds majority in the last election, the party was granted the right to make constitutional amendments; a right that they have exercised to the fullest. It's already been approved that the government can limit election campaigning to state media alone and demand that students who receive state funding for university remain in the country for three years following graduation. The most alarming amendment of all, though, is one that makes it almost impossible to counter laws that the government seeks to put in place. A bottomless reserve of wishes, yielding to more wishes, yielding to even more wishes—none of which seem to be in the public interest whatsoever.
CENSORSHIP
The most vivid display of the government’s crackdown on freedom of speech comes in the form of Klubradio, a radio station whose license renewal has been refused despite three court rulings in its favor. It’s believed the government is less than happy about the station’s policy of broadcasting comments from anonymous callers.
Granted, there was one guy who proposed assassinating Pal Schmitt, the former president, but the presenter immediately accused him of being unreasonable and hung up. It’s the democratic voice that sparks fears among officials, and because they can’t be seen to overtly shut it down, commentators predict that the government will instead try to ruin the station financially.
Then there’s the problem of replacing the heads of national institutions, including art galleries and theaters, with far-right sympathizers whose contracts far exceed that of the parliamentary term. Most notably, Gyorgy Fekete, the 80-year-old Jimmy Savile lookalike who was recently appointed head of the country’s academy of arts and told to push an “unambiguous national sentiment.” Soon after the election, the mayor of Budapest also fired the director of the New Theater and replaced him with Jobbik supporter György Dörner, who has openly expressed his anti-Semitic, antigay and anti-Roma beliefs.
So, what next? Last week's discussion in Strasbourg warned Orbán and his government that they are at risk of becoming the first EU country to have its democratic rights and liberties put under an international monitoring system if they continue the way they have been. But serious change can only happen through serious action, and with all the limitations currently put in place, that doesn’t look likely to happen any time soon.
Follow Natalie on Twitter: @NROlah
More from Hungary:
Far-Right Terror in Hungary
Budapest Is a Paradise
Town Clown |
With so many plot threads to keep track of in Game of Thrones, it can be hard to remember everything that went on in Westeros and Essos last year. In preparation for the start of Season 7 on July 17, we've got just the thing.
GAME of Thrones is back, which means once again we are being asked to remember who is who in the absurdly convoluted world of Westeros.
As winter finally arrives, you can refresh your memory of where the show left off with our podcast previewing the new season.
But if you’re already confident in your ability to sort your Tyrions from your Tywins, there’s another way to prepare for season seven — with the ultimate test of your Game of Thrones knowledge.
If you can pass this quiz, you’re officially ready to return to Westeros. If you can’t ... you might want to do some last-minute cramming. |
Image copyright Alamy
The shooting of Martin Luther King Jr is one of the most infamous murders in American history. For two months, the FBI scoured America to find their prime suspect - the small-time criminal James Earl Ray. Yet when he was arrested on 8 June 1968 it wasn't in the US but thousands of miles away in London. Almost half a century on, people who met Ray in England have been telling their stories.
Entire books have been written about the role James Earl Ray played in the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. Some believe the facts are just as history records: that Ray, working alone, fired a single shot from a high-velocity rifle which killed the civil rights leader as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
Others have worked hard to prove Ray was an innocent fall-guy. And there are those who suggest he was a small cog in a wider conspiracy who realised too late he'd been set up to let the main conspirators get away.
Image copyright Getty Images
Almost everyone accepts that shortly after the assassination Ray was heading out of Memphis fast.
He later claimed he'd heard on the radio that police were seeking a man of his description travelling in the type of car he was driving - a white Ford Mustang. He had been near the motel shortly before the murder and though entirely innocent of the crime, his later story went, he dumped the Mustang and made his way by train and bus across the Canadian border to Toronto. He arrived on 6 April, two days after Dr King's murder.
Eventually Ray acquired a copy of the birth-certificate of Canadian citizen Ramon Sneyd. He used it to obtain a Canadian passport but a clerical error meant it was issued in the name of Ramon Sneya (that mistake would eventually prove Ray's downfall).
On 7 May he took a flight from Toronto to Heathrow airport, London. A few hours later he flew on to Lisbon, Portugal.
James Earl Ray would later explain he'd wanted to secure a sea-passage from Lisbon to Africa. He planned to be a mercenary and disappear in a country which had no repatriation deal with the US.
In Lisbon, Ray persuaded the Canadian embassy to issue a replacement passport with the name corrected to match the Sneyd birth-certificate. But his African idea got nowhere and on 17 May he flew back to London. Ray was now in urgent need of a Plan B.
Jane Brookes says she doesn't now recall the moment she first set eyes on "Ramon Sneyd" at the hotel in Penywern Road, Earl's Court where she'd only recently started as receptionist.
Image caption Jane Brookes was the receptionist at a hotel in Earl's Court when "Ramon Sneyd" checked in
"In those days people just walked in and asked if there was a room - this was long before computers. The New Earls Court Hotel was never the most salubrious place and almost no one pre-booked." A room was less than £2 ($3) a night.
There didn't seem anything very noteworthy about James Earl Ray. "Except I did spot his southern US accent which was odd as he registered with a Canadian passport. But he just said he'd been living in Canada for some time.
"He was tall and thin and quite dark and not especially good-looking. At first I didn't think there was anything very striking about him. He was smartly dressed but he often seemed nervous. He didn't go out very often and I do remember he had difficulty understanding British pre-decimal currency and the underground system.
"I was only 21 and not really interested in news: I had no reason to connect him to any great world event. And I'm afraid at the time I didn't even know who Martin Luther King was."
But one day Ray approached Jane Nassau, as she then was, to ask for help making a telephone call to the Daily Telegraph.
Find out more
Image copyright Getty Images
The Arrest of James Earl Ray was broadcast on Witness, for the BBC World Service, on Monday 6 June - listen to it on BBC iPlayer Radio.
"That did seem a bit odd for someone I assumed was just passing through London. But I got him through to the newsroom - and then I listened in, which I know was cheeky of me.
"He had a conversation with a journalist and I heard him ask about possible contacts with a view to becoming a mercenary in Africa. So now there did seem something more intriguing about him - although I don't think I really understood what a mercenary was."
The journalist on the Telegraph foreign desk was the late Ian Colvin. Later, in a BBC interview, Colvin said he'd tried to dissuade the caller from becoming a mercenary, telling him "the day is past". But finally Colvin gave him the name of someone in Brussels who might have contacts in the Congo.
After a few days Ray moved on from the New Earls Court to another hotel. Later the BBC was to phone Jane to ask her about the man who had now been arrested in connection with the death of Dr King. "I was on TV news and in demand with journalists. I even got into Time magazine and had a couple of offers of marriage because of it."
Some who've studied Ray's movements after the assassination ask how a small-time crook had the funds to survive a month in Canada and then fly to Europe. What is clear is that by the time Jane Brookes knew him he was getting low on cash.
On Tuesday 4 June he used a pistol to raid the Trustee Savings Bank at 179 Earls Court Road but made off with only about £100. A week earlier there had been an even less successful raid - on a small jewellery store in Praed Street, Paddington run by Maurice and Billie Isaacs. Their daughter Valerie Goldston later heard the story from her parents.
Image copyright Valerie Goldston Image caption Maurice Isaacs and his wife Billie managed to thwart a burglary attempt
"Paddington Jewellers was an old-style mahogany and glass high street jewellery store. It was only just before the incident that my father had put in a bell as an alarm system. It wasn't sophisticated but it's part of what scared Ray off.
"My parents were just closing up when a man walked in and the next thing they knew he was brandishing a handgun. The man, who was clearly American, told them to get in the back room but my father wouldn't comply: I think at first he wasn't sure it was a serious attempt at a hold-up. But my mother decided she wasn't going to let this man harm my father and she ran at him.
"My father knocked the gun into the air and then managed to press the button on the floor to set off the newly-installed alarm. So then all hell broke loose and I suspect James Earl Ray was astounded to find two OAPs getting in his way and all this chaos. So he ran off with nothing."
When detectives later told the Isaacs the man might have been the murderer of Martin Luther King Jr, Valerie Goldston says at first they simply didn't believe it.
"They thought why on earth would the murderer be in London? But when they were shown pictures of Ray they identified him from the raid. Scotland Yard asked them not to prefer charges, which they could have done: it would have hampered Ray going back to America. So they just didn't speak about him."
Ten years later the family had further unexpected contact with the story.
"A committee of the US House of Representatives was taking a look again, to investigate the possibility of a conspiracy. One day when I was serving two big town cars turned up outside the shop without warning. Then these Americans in black suits came in and asked me to lock the door behind them. It was like a scene from a film. They wanted my parents to fly to Washington to give evidence to the government committee. My father refused to go, which seemed to astonish them."
Image copyright Alamy
By the date of the failed raid in Paddington (27 May), the FBI - with assistance from the Canadians - knew of the Sneyd alias and that Ray had flown to London.
Today, the way in which Ray was finally apprehended at Heathrow appears strangely dependent on chance and one man's attentiveness. But Kenneth Human, the 83-year-old retired immigration officer who stopped Ray, says it's how things were in the pre-digital age.
Ray had taken Ian Colvin's advice and bought a ticket on BEA to fly to Brussels.
On Saturday 8 June Human was carrying out embarkation formalities at Heathrow Terminal Two, checking passports as passengers headed for their flights.
"It was a small area and there was always pressure to keep the queue moving. The slightest delay and you'd find a backlog building almost at once. In fact I was already following Ray's progress - not because he looked suspicious but his height and the way he was dressed in dark clothing made him a good way to follow how the queue was progressing."
"99.9% of passengers would always have their passport ready in their hand when they reached the embarkation desk. But this man didn't: he put down his hand-luggage and pulled rather a large wallet from his inside pocket. He opened it up very precisely and went to the documentation section. He took out a blue Canadian passport and handed it to me - everything he did was very purposeful and there was no hint of nerves.
"But I'd caught a glimpse of something you didn't expect: the top corner of another Canadian passport underneath the one in the wallet he handed me, which was in the name of Ramon Sneyd. So without asking his permission I took the second passport out and asked what it was. He explained it was an old cancelled passport and that it had been issued with the name misspelt as Sneya.'
Image caption Kenneth Human was working as an immigration officer - and managed to stop Ray
Kenneth Human says it still puzzles him why Ray had the earlier passport visible in the wallet. "I think he may have been making some attempt to cover it up but if he'd just put it in his pocket somewhere I would never have seen it and would almost certainly have stamped his passport and waved him through because he had an entry stamp from Portugal. We did have a Suspect Index of people to look out for - but the name Sneyd wasn't in it."
Working alongside Human was a Special Branch officer - but he says normally the police only got involved if the embarkation officer had identified a problem. "But suddenly the Special Branch man said quite dramatically that he was a police officer and wanted to ask the man some questions. So off Ray went with the policeman and I didn't see either of them again. But it was obvious Ray was taking everything in his stride. He didn't show signs of panic at any point."
Before long Ian Colvin, Jane Nassau, Maurice and Billie Isaacs and Kenneth Human all realised that - however improbably - they had had encounters with the most wanted man in America.
Scotland Yard ensured the two armed raids were quietly forgotten about and on 18 July 1968 James Earl Ray was flown back to America under FBI guard.
What happened after that is another story and a complex one. Ray initially pleaded guilty to the murder of Dr King but almost at once sought to withdraw that plea. But because he'd admitted to the crime there was no full trial and James Earl Ray spent the rest of his life in jail. He died in 1998 at the age of 70.
More from the BBC
Image copyright Getty Images
Martin Luther King: I have a dream revisited (August 2013)
Has Martin Luther King's dream come true? (August 2013)
Martin Luther King and the race riot that never was (August 2013) |
Motherwell dismantled a vulnerable St Mirren with ease to go 10 points clear of the Paisley side who are rooted to bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
Lee Erwin's near-identical left-footed double put them on course for their third consecutive win.
Scott McDonald steered in another before half-time and John Sutton added two more from close range.
It leaves St Mirren perilously close to surrendering their Premiership place and Well's survival hopes enhanced.
This was also the North Lanarkshire club's biggest win since a 6-0 victory over Morton in the Scottish Cup in 2012.
The Fir Park side are still three points behind 10th-place Ross County, who won 1-0 at home to St Johnstone.
Six games remain for Gary Teale's St Mirren to somehow extract themselves from the foot of the table, and that starts with another proverbial 'six-pointer', maybe even a 'nine-pointer', versus Ross County on Monday.
What an impact 21-year-old Erwin is having on Motherwell's increasing chances of avoiding the relegation play-off spot, the striker scoring his third goal in two games against their hapless visitors.
The realisation of potential relegation - St Mirren are now 10 points adrift
His burgeoning reputation has already drawn talk of a "massive future" from experienced team-mate Stephen Pearson, and much of Erwin's joy comes from using his frame to great effect.
Both his goals were assisted by the ever-lively Lionel Ainsworth, who has re-captured the form of last season in recent games after a quiet opening six months of the campaign.
For the first, Erwin received Ainsworth's low cross with his back to goal and six-yards out, but wasted no time in spinning his defender and shooting low into the near corner.
St Mirren's Kieran Sadler dragged wide of George Long's goalmouth before Marvin Johnson's volley and Stephen McManus's diving header were closer to extending Motherwell's lead.
John Sutton scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season
Erwin succeeded where they failed. The former Arbroath loanee pulled off the same trick; gathering Ainsworth's cross-come-shot with back to goal and swivelling to curl low into Mark Ridgers' far corner.
The killer third was inflicted by McDonald moments before the break. Former Kidderminster Harriers winger Johnson collected Ainsworth's stabbed cross and calmly cut the ball back for the Australian to side-foot calmly home from eight yards. Game over.
Stephen Thompson was introduced for the second-half and Saints centre-back Marc McAusland gave Long a rare piece of work to do saving a goal-bound header.
But it was the head of Sutton that helped Motherwell's goal difference further, escaping the attentions of Viktor Genev to dive and head Johnson's free-kick into the top corner.
Stevie Mallan's curler almost gave Saints a consolation but came back off the post and Sutton administered more pain soon after by scrambling in a blocked McDonald shot.
It was grim viewing for Gary Teale and David Longwell at Fir Park |
Tech billionaires' latest obsession — outside of suing websites into oblivion and attending odd, expensive festivals in the desert — is apparently one that gripped the country in 1999. The bad news: We're all just living in the Matrix. The good news: According to a New Yorker story this week, a couple of tech billionaires are secretly funding research to break us out. (One can only assume Keanu Reeves is onboard the project as a consultant.)
Jokes aside, the idea is called the simulation hypothesis and it's growing in popularity with the Silicon Valley nouveau-riche, as well as in idiosyncratic corners of Reddit. The New Yorker piece by Tad Friend was centered on Sam Altman, CEO of the "startup accelerator" Y Combinator, but took a detour into Matrix territory.
Wrote Friend: "Many people in Silicon Valley have become obsessed with the simulation hypothesis, the argument that what we experience as reality is in fact fabricated in a computer; two tech billionaires have gone so far as to secretly engage scientists to work on breaking us out of the simulation."
The two billionaires from the New Yorker profile are left unnamed, but there is one tech billionaire who has publicly addressed the theory — SpaceX/Tesla CEO, and real life Tony Stark, Elon Musk. In fact, he thinks it's highly unlikely we're not in some form of simulation.
"There’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality," Musk said at the Recode Code Conference in June.
"The strongest argument for us being in a simulation, probably being in a simulation is the following: 40 years ago, we had pong, two rectangles and a dot,” Musk added. "That is what games were. Now 40 years later we have photorealistic 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality, if you assume any rate of improvement at all, the games will become indistinguishable from reality."
This idea more or less originated with a 2003 paper by British philosopher Nicholas Bostrom. Vice's Motherboard did a good job of breaking down the major takeaway from the paper, which posited that one of these is true:
"1 .We’re literally living in a computer simulation 2. There is a strong aversion in advanced civilizations to making “ancestor simulations”—that is, highly evolved civilizations have no interest in making what are essentially video games of their past 3. Something destroys all civilizations before they’re able to advance to the point where they are technologically capable of simulating consciousness."
Musk, in essence, believes the first of these three options is most likely to be true. That conclusion boils down to the idea that if technology is bound to advance far enough to create artificial intelligence that is indistinguishable from life, then that simulated life is bound to create more simulated life.
It's all enough to give you a headache. But if we are in The Matrix, count your intrepid International Business Times correspondent in the camp of the character Cypher, who opted back in to the simulation so he could enjoy a steak again, even if it was a mirage created by machines. Because if this is all a simulation then hot wings probably aren't real — at least in the way we believe they exist — and I don't want to live in a hot-wing-less world. Blue pill, please. |
Investors are getting tired of waiting for the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF (Nasdaq: COIN).
The initial U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) S-1 filing for the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (the fund's official name) was made in July 2013, nearly three years ago.
The Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF proposal outlines an exchange-traded fund more or less modeled on the popular SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE Arca: GLD).
Twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss set out to create the fund to make investing in Bitcoin as easy as buying a stock. People can buy actual bitcoins of course, but for many that remains a technically intimidating option. So theoretically the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF will open up Bitcoin to a much wider pool of investors.
But there's been no news on the regulatory progress of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust for more than a year. Last January the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF filed an amendment to its prospectus of its intent to list 1 million shares at $20.09 a share.
Since then, nada. The long news drought has left many would-be investors discouraged.
"Can we officially declare the Winklevoss ETF dead?" Gunni2000 asked in a Bitcoin thread on Reddit in February.
"I totally forgot about this ETF, it's been that long. I was pumped last year. Not anymore," added hellobitcoinworld.
It's a fair question to ask. Why hasn't the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF gone live yet?
It must be said that only the SEC knows for sure what's holding up approval. But regulations forbid the SEC, Nasdaq, or the Winklevoss twins from discussing it.
Still, we can infer a lot from what we do know.
We can start with the nature of Bitcoin itself…
The Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF Is a Puzzle for the SEC
One of the tasks before the SEC in evaluating the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust is how to classify Bitcoin as an asset. It's an important question, because it will determine how the ETF is regulated, how it's taxed, and the degree of protection for shareholders.
It's also a very difficult question to answer, as U.S. regulators already have come up with several different answers. The Internal Revenue Service declared Bitcoin "property" in 2014. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) classifies Bitcoin as a commodity. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) views Bitcoin as a currency. The SEC in the past has called Bitcoin a security, or money.
But that's not the biggest roadblock the SEC is dealing with right now…
You see, the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF is unlike anything the SEC has ever dealt with before. And it has approved a diverse range of ETFs, from basic stock-based ETFs, to ETFs based on commodities like gold and silver, to derivative-based ETFs.
But a digital currency is a new animal in the financial world. Bitcoin has only existed since 2009, and has only been on the radar of the mainstream financial world for about two years. The SEC is understandably very anxious about approving an ETF based on such a new and untested asset.
"The problem isn't when the price of Bitcoin is going up – everybody will be happy then," said Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani, a former hedge fund manager. "But what happens when some really bad news sets off panic selling?"
Gilani pointed out that ETF managers need to buy and sell a fund's underlying assets to match each day's trading. Buying more Bitcoin on the way up would not be an issue, but selling a large amount of Bitcoin in the event of mass redemptions very well could be.
"What happens if there's no bidders, no trading?" said Gilani. "How would you get out if it all goes horribly wrong? Bitcoin doesn't have a long enough history for the SEC to be able to tell what would happen."
This is a major concern for the SEC. Last August's stock market crash caused hiccups in the trading of hundreds of stock-based ETFs. For many ETFs, trading had to be halted.
The incident put all ETFs under the SEC's microscope – bad news for the approval of an ETF based on an asset as new as Bitcoin.
And that "newness" creates still another complication…
A Bitcoin ETF Will Require New Rules
Because Bitcoin is such a distinct type of asset, the SEC can't approve an ETF based on it using the same rules it has used for other assets such as commodities.
That means approval of any Bitcoin ETF first requires a national securities exchange (Nasdaq in this case) to file a proposed rule change with the SEC. That has not happened yet.
Until it does, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust will remain in limbo. And even when a proposed rule change lands, it won't necessarily mean approval is imminent.
"A rule change is huge," Gilani said. "Not only would it give the Winklevoss ETF their 'stamp of approval,' but it would allow others to create their own Bitcoin ETFs, or ETFs based on other cryptocurrencies."
This is why the SEC would be very, very careful (and slow) with the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust.
As a regulator, the SEC is a guardian against undue investor risk. The last thing it wants is to open the door to cryptocurrency-based ETFs and then have some sort of meltdown in which investors are left holding the bag – and blaming the SEC.
Nasdaq also may have reservations about going forward with the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF – hence the delay in filing for the proposed rule change.
It's maddening, but investors are just going to have to wait – and wait – for the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust. This could take a while.
The Bottom Line: It's been nearly three years since the first SEC filing for the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, and we're still waiting for the ETF to go live. Unfortunately, the unusual nature of Bitcoin as an asset, as well as the fact that it's new and unproven in the financial world, means the SEC must be very, very careful as it moves through the approval process. The Winklevoss ETF probably will get approved, but not for a while longer.
Follow me on Twitter @DavidGZeiler or like Money Morning on Facebook.
Bitcoin's Resilience: Time and time again, whenever the Bitcoin price suffers a significant fall, its critics are quick to write obits for the digital currency. In fact, Bitcoin has been declared "dead" more than 50 times since the beginning of 2015 alone. And yet the price of Bitcoin has recently jumped higher, and has actually doubled over the past twelve months. Here's why Bitcoin refuses to go away… |
"Eat your fruits and vegetables" and "5 a day each" have always been common mantras in Nutritionland. Now the US government has taken this a step further. Forget five a day. Now, "More is better".
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Produce for Better Health Foundation (ref 1) have launched a national campaign with the message, "Fruits & Veggies - More Matters."
The new slogan replaces the old "5 a Day" campaign, which dates back to the early '90s. The belief is that under the U.S. government's latest food guidelines, five servings of fruits and vegetables may not be enough for adults to get all the health benefits. Hence, more is better.
There are two big problems with this recommendation. Can you spot them?
The first is that more of something that is nutritionally poor is hardly beneficial! For more on this topic please see our blog: How to Breed the Nutrition out of our Food (ref 2)
The second problem, and the subject of this blog, is the assumption that fruits and veggies are the same. They are not. They are not the same nutritionally; and have different effects on your body.
For example, you can pretty much eat all the vegetables you want without any negative consequences if they are sourced, cleaned and prepared safely.
In contrast, eating excess, or even moderate fruit has the potential to cause all kinds of health problems, especially if you have digestive and blood sugar disorders.
I am not saying that fruits are to be avoided. On the contrary, they are absolutely a good source of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and more. Like veggies, their nutrients may help to lower blood pressure, fight oxidative stress and reduce the likelihood of many other disorders (ref 3).
But unlike with veggies they must be eaten with more care and moderation. Why?
Fruits are higher in simple carbs
Fruit is said to have around three times the carbs (mainly simple carbs) as non-starchy veggies (15 g vs. 5 g per serving). This can cause your blood sugar to sky rocket, as in contrast with complex carbs, simple carbs are converted to sugar soon after they reach your bloodstream. Add the fact that most real world portions are much larger than one serving and those carbs ratchet up quickly.
Case in point. A typical all-fruit smoothie stuffed with grapes, berries, banana, mangos, and more can pack over 100 grams of total carbs per serving.
Compare that to a green smoothie made with spinach, cucumber, chlorella and broccoli. It has fewer than 20 grams of carbs, all of which are complex, and is unlikely to have a negative effect on blood sugar levels. If anything it will help to lower them.
Most fruits lack protein
Protein can be a dieter’s best friend. When you’re losing body fat, you naturally lose muscle mass as well. An optimal intake of protein for your body helps you preserve more of this critical lean tissue (ref 4). Protein also takes more time to digest, so it helps keep you fuller longer.
Some fruits such as avocados, dried fruits and berries (ref 5) do have some protein. But if your goal is to add more protein into your diet, then you would want to incorporate more vegetables, beans and legumes rather than fruits.
Non-starchy veggies for example provide about 2 grams of protein per serving. It may not seem like much at first glance, but by day’s end, a little here and there throughout the day adds up fast.
Fruits are high in fructose
Fructose or ‘fruit sugar’ is bad news for dieters or those with blood sugar issues. Our bodies can’t use fructose directly for energy. Most of the fructose you consume is shuttled to the liver to be converted to another form of sugar – glucose.
But when your liver is on fructose overload (think of a rich fruit smoothie), it also ramps up fat production.
The result is a double whammy: higher levels of blood lipids (potentially risky for your heart health), and very likely more belly fat, including the most dangerous type: visceral adipose fat.
Even worse, research (ref 6) demonstrates that fructose gets turned into fat more quickly than even simple table sugar. Also, unlike table sugar, fructose does not provide a signal to your brain that you’re full.
So not only are your chances of turning fructose into visceral fat high, you’re also more likely to finish all your dinner, your spouse’s dinner, and polish off a nice piece of chocolate cake without feeling full!
A Good Compromise?
A good way forward is to consider these strategies:
1. If a specific nutrient like phytonutrients can be found in a fruit, ask yourself if it can also be in a veggie without the negative side effects? For example:
Watermelon is rich in lycopene, but you can get lycopene in tomatoes and red cabbage.
Oranges are rich in carotenoids, but carrots also have plenty.
2. Enjoy fruit but in moderation, and choose wisely. For example, have two to three small fruit servings daily, preferably after your veggies and protein! And choose anti-inflammatory fruits more often. These include:
Blackberries Cherries (sweet) Pomegranate Black currants Concord grapes Raspberries (black or red) Black plums Cranberries Red grapes Blueberries Elderberries Strawberries
I hope this information shows how fruits and veggies are not equals, and one should not be used as a substitute for the other. Both have their respective health benefits when sourced, prepared and eaten in the best way for the body.
What do you think?
References: |
Tuxton BEM-090B Details
Serve your guests' favorite hot beverage in the Tuxton BEM-090B diner american white mug. This 9 oz., american white mug is ideal for service in almost any establishment, and its classic american white color is sure to complement almost any decor! Ideal for serving hot tea, coffee, hot chocolate and more, use the Tuxton BEM-090B mug in your diner, restaurant, pub or bar! Backed by Tuxton's lifetime no chip warranty, this mug is oven proof and microwave and dishwasher safe, so you can serve your signature hot beverages time and time again.
Overall Dimensions:
Length: 4 5/8"
Width: 3 1/4"
Height: 3 5/8"
Capacity: 9 oz.
Attention CA Residents: Prop 65 Warning
Attention CA Residents: Prop 65 Warning This product can expose you to chemicals including lead, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.p65warnings.ca.gov. |
GENEVA (25 September 2015) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crépeau, today announced the postponement of his planned official visit to Australia due to the lack of full cooperation from the Government regarding protection concerns and access to detention centres.
The human rights expert was originally scheduled to visit the country -at the invitation of the Australian Government- from 27 September to 9 October 2015, to gather first-hand information about the situation of migrants and asylum seekers in the country and in Australian off-shore detention centres based in neighbouring Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
“In preparing for my visit, it came to my attention that the 2015 Border Force Act, which sanctions detention centre service-providers who disclose ‘protected information’ with a two-year court sentence, would have an impact on my visit as it serves to discourage people from fully disclosing information relevant to my mandate,” Mr. Crépeau explained.
“This threat of reprisals with persons who would want to cooperate with me on the occasion of this official visit is unacceptable,” he stressed. “The Act prevents me from fully and freely carrying out my duties during the visit, as required by the UN guidelines for independent experts carrying out their country visits.”
The Special Rapporteur requested the Australian Government to provide a written guarantee that no one meeting with him during his visit would be at risk of any intimidation or sanctions under the Border Force Act.
“As the Australian Government was not prepared to give the written assurances required by the official terms of reference* for fact-finding missions by Special Rapporteurs, it was not possible for me to carry out the visit in my capacity as a UN independent expert,” he stated.
The terms of reference require, among other things, complete freedom of inquiry, access to all detention centres, and official assurances that no one who has been in contact with the Special Rapporteur will for this reason be subjected to judicial proceedings.
“Since March 2015, I have repeatedly requested that the Australian Government facilitate my access to its off-shore processing centres,” Mr. Crépeau said. “I was also extremely disappointed that I was unable to secure the cooperation needed to visit any off-shore centre, given the international human rights and humanitarian law concerns regarding them, plus the Australian Senate Inquiries on the off-shore detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which raised concerns and recommendations concerning these centres.”
The Special Rapporteur, who had been in discussion with the Australian Government since January 2015 to organize the country visit, including consultations in the past weeks, expressed his gratitude to all those involved in supporting the organization of this mission, in particular the representatives of civil society organizations.
(*) Read the Terms of reference for fact-finding missions by special rapporteurs/representatives of the UN Commission on human rights: www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/torture/rapporteur/docs/terms.doc
ENDS
Mr. François Crépeau (Canada) was appointed Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council, for an initial period of three years. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Mr. Crépeau is also Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of McGill University, in Montréal, where he holds the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law and is scientific director of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/SRMigrantsIndex.aspx
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
Read the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CMW.aspx
UN Human Rights, Country Page – Australia: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/AUIndex.aspx
For more information and media requests, please contac Elizabeth Wabuge (+41 (0)22 917 9138 / ewabuge@ohchr.org)
For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UNrightswire
Google+ gplus.to/unitednationshumanrights
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
Check the Universal Human Rights Index: http://uhri.ohchr.org/en |
Some say there is good religion and there is bad religion, but as the Latin name indicates (re-ligio) they are bond to god and to each other which automatically implies power, and power absolutely corrupts and generates the “flock syndrome”, composed of an infinity of symptoms (there is no demons population limitations in hell), like that famous one: there will be more energy and a priority to preserve itself as a group than dedicated to fulfill the goals and mission that brought about the group/religion in the first place.
For instance, if the group was dedicated to awakening, now it is mostly dedicated to keep the members in line and check that no one steals from the finances, or to cover up the excesses of the guru.
(I‘m coming to my point)
Another symptom of religions is that they cannot keep an ideology merely by stating “we help you find nirvana”, it is too vague and everyone else says it. They need to depart from other groups and other religions, and the most efficient way is to shoot down their heart, what they have best; their finest achievement. What makes the enemy so special and eminent? Find it, Fix it, Finish it.
For example, all the negative reactions against you, the Hindu fundamentalist, are directed on your outstanding ability to make others regret they were not born a realized Indian Brahmin, your skill in demonstrating that India has totally assimilated the science the White Man is so proud of and that the West will never come even close to Indian Spirituality.
And the context you offer to us non-Brahmin, is precisely what Buddha had to put up with in his time. Absolutely nothing has changed, If you don’t follow Hinduism, you will never amount to anything in spirituality.
What differentiates Hinduism from other organized religions anyway?
A definition of Hinduism, given by the first Vice President of India and prominent theologian, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan states that it is not “just a faith,” but in itself related to the union of reason and intuition, he explicitly suggests, that it cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced. Similarly some academics are suggesting that Hinduism can be seen as a category with “fuzzy edges”, rather than a well defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are central to Hinduism, while others are not as central but still within the category.[…] Problems with the single definition or of what is actually meant by the term ‘Hinduism’ are often attributed to the fact that Hinduism does not have a single or common historical founder. Hinduism, or as some say ‘Hinduisms’, does not have a single system of salvation and has different goals according to each sect or denomination. The forms of Vedic religion are seen, not as an alternative to Hinduism but as its earliest form, and there is little justification for the divisions found in much western scholarly writing between Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism. Some suggest that Hinduism does not have a “unified system of belief encoded in declaration of faith or a creed”. It is therefore a very different kind of religion in these respects to the monolithic tradition of Islam, while some suggest there are stronger affinities with the structure of Judaism. […] The ultimate goal of life, referred to as moksha, nirvana or samadhi, is understood in several different ways: as the realization of one’s union with God; as the realization of one’s eternal relationship with God; realization of the unity of all existence; perfect unselfishness and knowledge of the Self; as the attainment of perfect mental peace; and as detachment from worldly desires. Such a realization liberates one from samsara and ends the cycle of rebirth. The exact conceptualization of moksha differs among the various Hindu schools of thought. For example, Advaita Vedanta holds that after attaining moksha an atman no longer identifies itself with an individual but as identical with Brahman in all respects. The followers of Dvaita (dualistic) schools identify themselves as part of Brahman, and after attaining moksha expect to spend eternity in a loka (heaven), in the company of their chosen form of Ishvara. Thus, it is said the followers of dvaita wish to “taste sugar”, while the followers of Advaita wish to “become sugar”.[…]
This cannot be emphasized enough:
The exact conceptualization of moksha differs among the various Hindu schools of thought.
It is a gross mischaracterization to say the Hindus are focused on moksha, most of them don’t have clue how to correctly identify an ultimate spiritual goal, or are plain mistaken, like any human being; and a gross mischaracterization to pose “enlightenment” as the goal of the West, the word doesn’t even mean anything for most religions. And you can’t really talk about moksha, enlightenment, Hinduism, the West and totally blank out on the word and concept of “nonduality.”
What is nondualism?
Not Advaita, not Adi Shankara in any case.
Nonduality is a movement of seekers who are in the process of defining the ultimate goal of human life by looking into their heart and at the example of all the religions in the world while avoiding having to found a religion themselves. Non-duality means, to keep an effort that does not slip oneself, one’s life in two, so not: me and god; me and my soul; me and the guru; me and my goal; me and my suffering. Me, as opposed to any drive, action, motivation to become a second thing.
Nothing to do with the establishment, Hindu, India, Advaita, moksha vs. enlightenment, which most nondual folks wish to get rid of in nonduality as soon as possible.
That you, the Hindu fundamentalist, keep Hinduism as daily rituals and a way of life is an admirable thing, but your belief that Hinduism got it better, or is what we need, or where I should reincarnate next, is a gross mistake and a heavy burden on your side.
PS. To be fair, Hindus have a reason to be proud, and all spiritual seekers and finders should be grateful that generation after generation of Indian sages built that wonderful edifice that gave birth to Hinduism and Buddhism. What would the world have today as vehicles for liberation, if they hadn’t? Animism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Western philosophy, psychotherapy?
I have dropped Hinduism, Buddhism, and all other tools of liberation like a hammer is dropped once the nail is in. But, today, I feel moved to say:
Thank you for all your ancestors. May you, someday, find that you don’t need them!
Advertisements |
The Vancouver Police Department is investigating how an improvised explosive device got into a storage locker in a neighbourhood located close to downtown.
In a statement released Wednesday, the VPD says officers were called to a storage facility at West Seventh Avenue and Manitoba Street at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, after someone reported what they suspected were explosives in a locker there.
VPD spokesperson Randy Fincham says their suspicions were correct.
"Certainly the explosive device was of a size that could cause extensive damage to that building or anyone found in that building," he said.
Police say when explosives technicians examined the locker Tuesday, they decided to evacuate the building and several nearby buildings as well.
Following the evacuation, police say its technicians had disabled the explosive.
Fincham confirmed it as an improvised explosive device but would not give specifics for "investigative reasons."
"This is certainly an explosive device we had concerns about," he said. "It wasn't something you'd traditionally see on the streets of Vancouver."
When asked if it was a pipe bomb, Fincham replied: "Could be something like that."
The VPD's Major Crimes Section is now involved in the investigation. Fincham says the next step is to get a search warrant to look at the rest of the storage locker.
"Our focus right now is to determine exactly how that explosive device ended up in that storage locker, who placed it there," Fincham said.
Fincham would not disclose who found the alleged explosive.
He said police need to confirm who owned the locker and who had access to it. |
With the Star Wars Black 6″ series, the Marvel Universe and the icons from a Galaxy far far away were destined to collide. Fanboy Toys’ Custom Marvel Legends Boba Fett Deadpool crossover figure is a thing of beauty! The two concepts gel together and play off of each so well. For example, the classic Deadpool eyes are integrated into Boba Fett’s helmet in a way that is so natural. You will also notice a Deadpool belt buckle instead of a Mandalorian symbol. The color of the armor is just right and the addition of soft goods and sculpted holsters takes this figure to another level.
The brown soft cape, the belt, and the holsters compliment the armor and give the figure a classic look. It is this attention to detail that really blows me away. If you look closely at the holster, you can see very small stitching, which gives the piece a very realistic feel.
Other really cool aspects of the figure center around the weaponry and jet pack. I also think I see a Rubik’s cube on the back of the figure, which I assume is there for when Boba needs a break from his Bounty Hunter escapades or when he is plotting his next mission.
This figure is on the top of my list for the most coolest, well designed figures I have seen in 2015 and to make this your own, head over to eBay and place a bid on Fanboy Toys’ Custom Marvel Legends Boba Fett Deadpool crossover figure. |
In 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor pulled the United States into World War II, a group of volunteer American aviators led by Gen. Claire Chennault known as the Flying Tigers fought Japanese aggression in China. They were so successful that many people believe they were decisive in holding back Japan, eventually leading to its defeat.
Although they were paid volunteers rather than members of the American military, they were not denigrated as “mercenaries.” The Flying Tigers — who now would be called contractors — fought for China and the United States and, like paid American contractors in theaters of war today, fought as bravely and patriotically as American soldiers.
As policy makers in Washington decide what to do in Afghanistan, they should keep the Flying Tigers in mind. Such a force could be just the solution Afghanistan needs. |
Matt Wilcox thinks that there are fundamental problems with CSS3 and he shared his thoughts. He starts by giving us some history of CSS and then gets into the meat:
HTML has been re-purposed to represent only the semantic properties of the page. Because CSS is only capable of cascading through the DOM, that means CSS can only be applied to elements that have semantic meaning. The trouble is that web-design today is more art than decoration. I’m not taking one wall and painting it green, I’m taking one canvas and painting a complete scene on it.
And then, What does CSS need to overcome these problems?
irst let me say what I think it really does not need. It does not need more ill thought out modules that provide half-baked solutions to explicitly defined problems and take a full decade to mature. We do not need the Working Group to study individual problem cases and propose a pre-packaged “solution” that either misses the point, is fundamentally wrong, or is inflexible (Advanced Layout Module, Marquee Module, display:table;, – I am looking at you). Here’s what we do need:
DOM traversal, reference, and injection on the same order provided by jQuery. There’s a damned good reason why designers are flocking to jQuery.
Programmatic variables, and basic Math
he crux of the issue is that W3C seem to try providing high-level “solutions” instead of low-level tools. It’s a limiting ideology. With the CSS3 WG strategy as it’s been over the last decade, they would have to look at all of the problem points I proposed above, and come up with a module to provide a solution to each. But by giving CSS an ability to traverse and manipulate the DOM, we designers can build out own solutions to all of them, and innumerable other issues we have right now, and in the future. Allow me to give an example; take the first “impossible” CSS challenge above, the unknown number of tabs that must fill a given width. It’s impossible – but the Multi Column Module does in fact allow the exact same functionality – you can specify a container of a given width and then specify a given number of columns (which you can change), and CSS will do the math internally to get the right widths! But I can’t use that module to achieve what I need with the tabs, despite it having the same basic function! Because they’ve provided a pre-packaged “solution” to a very specific problem instead of giving a more abstracted set of tools with which I could build my own solution.
All of the “impossible” CSS tasks set above can be solved by providing CSS an ability to inspect and modify the DOM, and use basic Math. And I can think of a dozen other impossible things that would rock if I had those tools in my CSS.
The CSS WG argue that CSS is meant to be simple, whilst missing the point that CSS is not meant to be anything. It’s a tool that must do a job, and the job has changed over time. CSS needs to keep up with requirements, and the best way to do that is provide adaptable tools rather than pre-packaged modules. There’s continual argument that maths, and dom traversal are too advanced for CSS, which is utter rubbish. I contest that if we are expected to understand selectors like nth-child : 4n+3; (explained in the CSS3 spec as “an element that has an+b-1 siblings before it”) then we can cope very well with creating and assigning variables, a little flow logic, and doing some simple adding. If we can handle jQuery, we can handle that. |
Smoking in New Orleans
Smoking at the Kajuns Pub on St. Claude Ave., New Orleans Wednesday, January 22, 2015. The New Orleans city council passed a ban on smoking in public places including bars and casinos. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com |The Times-Picayune)
Two weeks before New Orleans' smoking ban goes into effect, the city has proposed new regulations on how the prohibition will be enforced, including the placement of no-smoking signs and how people can lodge complaints against non-compliant businesses.
Under the new rules, bars would be required to post signs with the international "no smoking" or "no vaping" symbols near the front entrance and restroom doors. They should be no smaller than 8.5 inches by 11 inches or, if hung in windows, 4 inches by 6 inches. All ashtrays are also to be removed from the premises.
If people are found to be smoking, the bartender, manager, or owner is required to tell them to stop and, if they refuse, ask them to leave.
People can file complaints against businesses ignoring the new smoking ban by filling out a complaint form or calling the city's non-emergency 311 hotline.
After receiving a second complaint, the city's health department will conduct a site visit and "provide educational materials and encourage compliance."
The proposed regulations don't spell out what would happen after additional violations.
The city encourages people filing complaints to include date- and time-stamped photographs documenting illegal smoking.
A public hearing on the new regulations was held Monday (April 6), and the City Council is expected to consider them at its regular meeting Thursday (April 9).
The smoking ban is scheduled to go into effect April 22 and will include bars, hotels, restaurants, the Fair Grounds and Harrah's, though the casino is waging a last-minute battle to sway lawmakers to exempt it from the ban. |
HYDERABAD: Close on the heels of the Tata-Boeing joint venture, the next high-profile company that is set to invest in Telangana’s booming defence and aerospace manufacturing sector is Pune-based multi-national conglomerate Bharat Forge Limited.Telangana industries secretary Arvind Kumar revealed this on Friday while speaking at the curtain-raiser event of the second edition of Defence & Aerosupply India that will be held between November 30 and December 2 in the city.Kumar said that the company will be investing over Rs 500 crore in the state and is set to apply for land next week. “We know that they will be applying for around 40 acres of land next week. Of this, 10 acres will be provided at the Adibatla aerospace and precision engineer park and the rest will be allotted elsewhere,” Kumar said, without disclosing the exact location of the land parcel.Earlier this year, Bharat Forge had announced a 51:49 joint venture with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems to manufacture high-tech defence components in the country. In fact, the company had said that it would set up its JV unit near Hyderabad.Bharat Forge Limited is the flagship company of the $2.5-billion Kalyani Group and a global provider of safety and critical components/solutions to various industrial sectors including automotive, railways, power, construction & mining, aerospace, marine and oil & gas.Speaking about the robust defence and aerospace manufacturing ecosystem in Hyderabad, Kumar said that in the last one year, the state has attracted over Rs 1,000 crore in investments in this sector.Giving examples of the companies that have picked Telangana, he said that there were around 10 precision engineering companies that are coming up near Adibatla and the total investment has been around Rs 200 crore. This apart, Chennai-based Voith too has committed an investment of Rs 100 crore over the next four years to shift its operation to Hyderabad, the industries secretary added.Speaking about the upcoming conference, Kumar said a 10-member French delegation from Bordeaux Aeronautics will be present at the event and the state government is mulling setting up an aviation training centre in partnership with French collaboration.The three-day global conclave is expected to see participation from players such as Airbus, Boing, Sikorsky, Embraer, Thales India, Finmeccanica, Eurocopter, Dassault, UTC, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, and the IAMF (Israeli Aerospace Manufacturing Federation), among others, the officer added. |
President Donald Trump hit back at critics within his own party and described his relationship with Republican leaders as a "love fest".
His comments came a day after Republican Senator Jeff Flake announced he would not run for re-election in 2018 and made a withering speech in Congress attacking Mr Trump.
As the row escalated Mr Flake told US television: "You can't continue to just remain silent. There is a tipping point. I hope we're reaching that tipping point."
Mr Flake, who represents the state of Arizona, said he expected more Republican senators to speak out against Mr Trump.
He added: "It's up to us to stand us and say 'This is not acceptable'. The weight of it causes people to change and say 'I can't take it any more'." |
A letter to the Berlin Startup Scene
What Do You Think Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 25, 2016
Dear Berlin Startup Scene,
I am writing to you because I am tired of you. Your narcissistic attitude annoys me and your oh-so flourish working culture is nothing but a lie.
I am tired of you not investing in human capital. In a startup, employees are not seen as an investment. They must be cheap and willing to work way past their working time. What happened to employees growing their expertise in a company? What happened to proper mentorship? Startups simply aim for the short term. They don’t care about where you are in two years or what you have learned as long as you function right now. Extra hours and running like clockwork is essential. Nobody cares about employees forging close links to a company.
I am tired of your management. Head positions seem to only care about the money but not for the team below them. Having any sort of trouble? Don’t even try to talk to them about it. Having doubts about a piece of content going life on the companies website? Well, you’re just a junior, how would you know? The higher positions don’t care about what you think or what you have to say. Don’t ask anything, don’t question anything — just do as you’re said.
I am tired of your perks. You have a Friday night drinking culture? Nice for you, but I don’t care. Neither do I care about your table soccer or club mate. I care about personal growth. I care about mentorship. I care about responsibilities, team-building and a decent life-work balance.
I am tired of your so-called seniors, seniors who rotate management jobs, seniors, who only care about their salary but not about mentorship. Seniors who know what is going wrong in their rows, but don’t change anything about it.
I am tired of your expectations. You want to hire a junior? Nice, but that only happens on paper. In real life “junior” simply means junior salary with senior demands. Junior means three years of working experiences, a strong network but only a little paycheck.
What “junior” doesn’t mean in a startup, is a starting career after a university degree, a proper mentorship, as promised on job offers, or a decent salary. But hey, you get lots of responsibilities and freedom to bring in your own ideas. There is just nobody there to help you learn to distinguish between a good and a bad idea.
But dear CEOs, what you should be doing is investing in me as an employee.
The returns of investment will come once I grow in your company. The ROI will be me having close links to your company, me being passionate about my job, willing to work the extra hours because I actually like what I’m doing. The return of investment will be someone who cares about your company, someone who is willing to do just this tiny bit more than the target, that little action that actually brings the results.
However, I don’t care about you if you don’t care about me. My work will stay average; I will write my blog post for you, but don’t expect highly unique content. I will do SEO, but I won’t use long-tail keywords. And I will work with influencers, but I won’t use any personal contacts for that. Plainly, I will do my work, but I won’t move mountains for you. I do however, move mountains if my employer cares about me. I move mountains because I am passionate about what I am doing and because I like where I am working. I move mountains because my employer respects that there is a mutual exchange between employee and employer; that I give back as much as I am given. But should I move mountains when nobody gives a shit about me?
Don’t see me as another opportunity to exploit. See me as an investment.
Dear Berlin Startup Scene, I hope you will get well soon.
In case your company is different or you want to respond: berlinwhatdoyouthink@gmail.com
All the best, your startup employee. |
× Emergency crews respond after multiple people report feeling ill in downtown Oklahoma City
OKLAHOMA CITY – Emergency crews have responded after multiple people reported feeling ill in downtown Oklahoma City.
On late Thursday morning, the Finance Department on 100 N. Walker Ave. was evacuated when around 20 people said they began to feel sick.
Some were evaluated by crews at the scene. Two were transported to a hospital for treatment.
There is no word on a cause and no other information has been released at this time.
TAC 1 – 100 N Walker Ave – All patients have been removed from this address and are being evaluated by FD. — Oklahoma City Fire (@OKCFD) October 26, 2017
TAC 1: we are now evacuating the entire building. People on the fifth floor are not feeling well. Cause is still unknown. — Oklahoma City Fire (@OKCFD) October 26, 2017 |
Nebraska’s Public Service Commission approved the Keystone XL pipeline Monday, eliminating a major regulatory hurdle to construction of a project that galvanized people across the U.S. into opposition. The decision comes days after the existing Keystone pipeline, to which the KXL will connect, spilled an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil onto agricultural land in South Dakota. To many pipeline opponents motivated by the inevitability of a spill, the contaminated land proves their point.
Those who have been fighting the pipeline for more than five years, and many more drawn into opposition via last year’s dramatic confrontation at Standing Rock, say the approval of KXL marks the beginning of the next phase of the pipeline battles. Opponents in Nebraska will have 30 days to appeal the decision and have promised lawsuits. “We have to do everything we can in order to make sure that this pipeline never gets built,” said Bold Nebraska founder Jane Kleeb in a press conference after the decision.
Meanwhile, organizers are preparing to stand in the way of construction. A coalition including several tribes, native-led organizations, and environmental nonprofits released a call to action, asking people to sign up to “commit to creative peaceful resistance along the pipeline route when construction begins on KXL, likely next spring.” The statement asserts that anyone traveling to resist must undergo a training and remain peaceful.
Monday also marked the one-year anniversary of one of the most aggressive police actions against Dakota Access pipeline opponents, when police sprayed protesters with water cannons in freezing temperatures. Indeed, the new Keystone XL fight will take place in a climate where anti-pipeline organizing has become increasingly criminalized.
Last month, 84 members of Congress — including four Democrats from Texas — signed a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking whether domestic terrorism laws could be used to prosecute individuals shutting down oil pipelines. In response to queries about the letter, the Department of Justice told Reuters earlier this month that it would aggressively prosecute anyone who damages “critical energy infrastructure in violation of federal law.”
In anticipation of the Keystone XL’s construction, legislation was passed in South Dakota in March that allows the governor or a local sheriff to prohibit groups numbering more than 20 from gathering on public land or in schools, and also allows the Department of Transportation to limit access to highways by prohibiting stopping or parking in designated areas.
Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrate on the Dodge Street pedestrian bridge during rush hour in Omaha, Neb., Nov. 1, 2017. Photo: Nati Harnik/AP
Law enforcement officials in Nebraska and other states have meanwhile been studying the policing of the Dakota Access pipeline protests. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, who led the law enforcement response at Standing Rock, told the Omaha World-Herald that South Dakota officials had asked him to discuss with them the lessons he learned policing the movement, adding that he also intended to meet with Nebraska officials.
Construction cannot begin immediately. The approved route would require the TransCanada pipeline company to obtain easement agreements with an estimated 40 new property owners who were not previously part of the process.
Also standing in the way of the pipeline’s completion is a market that has become less inviting to tar sands oil development, with crude prices dropping dramatically over the past five years. TransCanada has not yet confirmed that it will go ahead with the project, though the company suggested in a recent statement that it had received sufficient interest from oil producers to move forward.
TransCanada’s president and CEO, Russ Girling, issued a lukewarm statement Monday: “As a result of today’s decision, we will conduct a careful review of the Public Service Commission’s ruling while assessing how the decision would impact the cost and schedule of the project.”
Another controversial TransCanada tar sands pipeline, Energy East, which would have carried 1.1 million barrels of tar sands oil per day from Alberta to Canada’s Atlantic coast, was canceled by TransCanada in early October. Although the decision was celebrated by environmentalists and indigenous opponents, it created an opening in the market for Keystone XL, which would pump 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
Before President Donald Trump’s election last November, Keystone XL was dead. In 2015, the U.S. State Department denied TransCanada a key border-crossing permit, with President Barack Obama declaring that the pipeline’s approval would have undercut the nation’s global leadership on climate change action. But days after his inauguration, Trump issued a memorandum encouraging expedited approval of the pipeline — an early confirmation of his administration’s abandonment of U.S. climate leadership.
Organizers have been preparing for the possibility of construction ever since. Until Monday, Nebraska stood in the way. The state’s Public Service Commission was tasked with determining if the pipeline was in the state’s public interest, although it was bizarrely not allowed to consider the possibility of oil spills or the issue of pipeline safety in its decision-making process. Landowners whose property would be taken by TransCanada via eminent domain have promised to continue to fight the pipeline.
Meanwhile, Keystone XL opposition in South Dakota, which has long been led by Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota tribal members, has been re-shaped by what happened at Standing Rock. According to Remi Bald Eagle, the intergovernmental affairs coordinator for the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, the pipeline violates the same 1851 and 1868 treaties that were in question with the Dakota Access pipeline. “The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe will fight the Keystone XL pipeline by any means necessary,” he said. The pipeline cuts right past the southern border of the tribe’s reservation.
Small anti-KXL camps in South Dakota were precursors to the massive anti-Dakota Access camps in North Dakota. Now the movement returns to its roots. New indigenous-led KXL opposition camps opened as soon as the NoDAPL camps were forcibly shut down last February.
But the Keystone XL fight, organizers say, will not be another Standing Rock. In fact, repeating what happened there is exactly what some of the most ardent pipeline fighters intend to avoid.
Joye Braun is helping run a small KXL resistance camp on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, supported by the tribal government. Braun predicts campers will eventually move closer to the pipeline’s route, in order to be well-positioned for direct action protests. “We are still working with my tribe and with our spiritual leaders to determine the best use for the campers at that point.”
Some of the rethinking has to do with a sharpened conception of the risk of surveillance. Documents published by The Intercept confirmed that contractors working for TigerSwan, the private security firm hired by Energy Transfer Partners to monitor the pipeline protests, posed as protesters inside the DAPL resistance camps, apparently in an effort to gather intelligence and sow discord.
Although it’s unclear whether TigerSwan personnel visited Eagle Butte, the camp is mentioned in multiple daily reports from March and April that were leaked to The Intercept by a TigerSwan contractor. A report from April 8 describes in detail the layout of the camp and the number of people there, calling it the “sustainment hub and central coordination point for protestor activities against Keystone XL.” Braun is mentioned by name in the documents. There is no evidence TigerSwan has worked for TransCanada.
This time, any front-line camp will be smaller, more native, and more controlled, Braun said, with visitors vetted. “If we can vet that person and prove them, yeah, we’ll let them in.”
A second anti-Keystone XL camp is in place on the Lower Brule Sioux reservation. “We want to have that security culture, but at the same time, we’re not really doing anything,” said Manape Lamere, who has been involved with the camp since May. Lamere said campers are working on developing a renewable energy system that he hopes could be replicated across Sioux reservations. “It’s more than a revolution, we’re building a country,” he said. Pipeline organizing has spurred a renewed interest in the fulfillment of treaty rights and native nation-building, especially among younger generations of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people. The Lower Brule camp was playing host to a gathering focused on treaties as the Keystone XL decision came through.
Members of that camp have also noticed that they have been subject to surveillance. For example, Lamere said an FBI agent questioned his friends and associates after Lamere posted on Facebook suggesting opponents attack the Dakota Access pipeline. “I meant attack as in protest, but the FBI took it as an actual attack, so they were going around asking my friends if I’m capable of blowing up a pipeline,” he said. Lamere was questioned and ultimately took the post down, concerned that friends who had liked or commented on it would be pressured into developing relationships with law enforcement.
Responding to a request for comment, FBI spokesperson Nora Scheland stated, “I have no comment, as it is our policy to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an FBI investigation.”
Correction: Nov. 20, 2017
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that two Democrats from Texas signed the letter to Sessions. There were four Texas Democrats who signed. |
A cross-functional team is a task force consisting of people with different talents & skills.
Why is it that many of the most innovative software companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon & Spotify have started to adopt the advantages of cross-functional teams?
It’s all about speed and innovation.
Speed
Cross-functional Teams can move faster because they don’t need to wait and rely on other departments (e.g. marketing, sysops, …) or other external sources. Typically they can tackle challenges on their own, start to solve them immediately and react to bumps in the road instantly.
Being able to call their own shots and to work fairly autonomous, allows cross-functional teams to ship faster than other teams. They are especially valuable if you are looking to improve your cycle time and release on a continuous basis.
Warp Drive
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Warp_drive
Innovation & Inspiration
Working tightly with colleagues which have different backgrounds and skills helps to see the bigger picture and to think outside of the box. Compared to a department/silo organizational structure this enables autonomous bottom-up innovation.
Often in organizations structured in siloed departments an “us vs them” dynamic emerges. This kills innovation. Organizations structured around cross-functional teams on the other hand benefit from reduced overhead and increased mutual respect for all aspects of the enterprise.
Back to the Future
https://www.profilesinhistory.com/press-releases/original-screen-used-delorean-time-machine-from-back-to-the-future-iii-on-exhibition/
If your software development teams are currently structured in siloed departments instead of cross-functional teams it might be worth to re-evaluate this.
As software development becomes faster & faster and we move into a world where we can continuously release new versions of a software, it becomes really important how fast development teams can move. |
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rhinos announced on Thursday the addition of Mark Pulisic to the club’s coaching staff as he joins Head Coach Bob Lilley for the 2017 USL season.
Pulisic joins the Rhinos after most recently being an academy coach at renowned German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where his son and U.S. Men’s National Team player Christian Pulisic is currently a member of the First Team squad.
"Bob [Lilley] and I go back a long way, and I wanted an opportunity to come back and coach in the United States,” said Pulisic. “There's nowhere else I'd rather be and nobody else I'd rather learn from than Bob. I'm excited to work with a coach that is an MLS caliber coach, so I'm very fortunate that he's here in Rochester and this opportunity came along for me to work with him.” |
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 30, 2013) - Leaders of the emerging payments and virtual currency industry today announced the formation of the Committee for the Establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority. The Committee intends its work to promote prudent, responsible development of emerging payment networks, establish common rules to protect customers, work as a liaison among businesses, customers and public officials, and thereby speed the acceptance of new payment technologies.
The Committee plans to work toward the establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority ("DATA"), envisioned as the sector's future self-regulatory organization. When established, DATA will provide its members with technical standards and best practices intended to prevent money laundering and ensure compliance with applicable laws. DATA will also develop programs to oversee member compliance with its standards and appropriate accountabilities for non-compliance and provide liaison with regulatory officials with the goal to evolving its standards appropriately in light of changes in the marketplace, technology, and regulatory requirements. DATA members will need to obtain all required license and registrations.
Another immediate priority for the Committee will be the development of anti-money laundering compliance standards for emerging payments and virtual currency firms.
"The virtual currency community must address a number of important regulatory and public policy challenges before virtual currencies can find broad acceptance," said Adam Shapiro, a director with Promontory Financial Group, LLC. "These companies are taking an important first step toward addressing those challenges in cooperation with regulatory authorities."
"Self-regulatory organizations are excellent non-governmental solutions for industry best practices and the Bitcoin Foundation supports inclusive efforts to improve the quality of businesses engaged in exchanging Bitcoin," said Jon Matonis, Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation.
"At a time when virtual currencies are revolutionizing payments through technological innovations, they also are drawing intense regulatory scrutiny as regulators and lawmakers grapple with these developments," said Dax Hansen, a leading payments attorney who represents cutting-edge startups and established technology companies in these industries. "Industry best practices and standards will contribute to productive dialogues as these innovative payment systems roll out."
"For new payment technologies such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Ven and other digital currencies to realize their full potential, making commerce cheaper and easier around the world, customers and merchants will need to have trust in the integrity of the companies in the ecosystem," said Jeremy Liew, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners. "This trust comes from association, with trustworthy investors, trustworthy institutions, and confidence that these technologies and the companies that provide them share a commitment to fair, responsible and prudent business practices."
Founding members of the Committee to Establish the Digital Asset Transfer Authority include:
Charlie Shrem, CEO, BitInstant and Vice Chairman, Bitcoin Foundation
Tony Gallippi, CEO, BitPay
Nejc Kodrič, CEO, Bitstamp
Jaron Lukasiewicz, CEO, Coinsetter
Megan Burton, CEO, CoinX, Inc.
Edan Yago, CEO, Epiphyte
Yoni Assia, CEO, eToro
Stan Stalnaker, CEO, Hub Culture (Ven)
Jeremy Liew, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Patrick Murck
Chris Larsen, CEO, OpenCoin, Inc. (Ripple)
Jesse Powell, CEO, Payward, Inc. (Kraken)
Stephen Sunderlin, President, QikCoin, Inc.
Denis Kiselev, Founder/CEO, SnapSwap, Inc.
Jered Kenna, CEO, Tradehill, Inc.
Sean Safahi, CEO, Yoyocard
Alan Safahi, CEO, ZipZap, Inc.
The Committee welcomes inquiries from other firms sharing its commitment to the responsible evolution of new payment technologies.
An Open Statement by the Committee for the Establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority is available at http://www.DATAuthority.org or follow @DATAuthority. |
Story highlights Theory is someone dropped birthday cake and candles started a fire, media reports
Most victims were between the ages of 18 and 25, report says
Paris (CNN) A fire ravaged a bar in northern France early Saturday, leaving 13 people dead and several others injured, authorities said.
Initial reports indicate the fire in Rouen, Normandy, was accidental, according to the Rouen Police Department.
Following the incident, a major street was blocked and a security perimeter set up around Le Cuba Libre Bar, a witness said. Fire trucks and several police vehicles swarmed around the bar on Avenue Jacques Cartier.
Local media reported the bar was hosting a birthday party at the time, and most of the victims were between the ages of 18 and 25.
On Saturday, deputy prosecutor Laurent Labadie told the Paris Normandie publication that witnesses' statements have investigators working on the theory that someone carrying a birthday cake tripped while walking down steps and the lit candles started the fire.
Read More |
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? made learning about the countries of the world thrilling and fun when it was first released for the Apple II in 1985. In a new book called Break Out: How the Apple II Launched the PC Gaming Revolution, author David L. Craddock tells the story of how a small team at the game publisher Brøderbund brought Carmen to life, and how the genesis of the project was inspired by early text-based computer games like Colossal Cave Adventure.
“One thing I’d always wanted to do, and had even worked on a little bit in the past, was trying to make adventure games more approachable,” said Brøderbund programmer Dane Bigham.
Like so many of his peers in the nascent games industry, Bigham had been both captivated and frustrated by Colossal Cave Adventure. Because the game’s thesaurus was so limited, players had to rack their brains to come up with the exact synonym the game was looking for. The problem, as Bigham saw it, was that Colossal Cave’s authors had been constrained by the technology of the day.
The Apple II was capable of much more than a mainframe—namely, a graphical interface that streamlined adventuring. Rather than paging through a thesaurus and trying every word until one clicked, Bigham envisioned a small adventure game with an elegant menu overlay. “I thought, Maybe I could write an adventure game for kids.”
After a few days, he had a few rooms mapped out—virtual containers able to hold treasures, characters, and other data. “I was starting to do that, and had a little bit of the physical layout and framework that you see in Carmen, where you could pick commands from a little menu in the lower right-hand corner, and you got results somewhere else [on the screen].”
Advertisement
Rubber Room
While Bigham built his menu interface, other developers filled in details. Lauren Elliott and Gene Portwood, Jr., artists at Brøderbund, bounced ideas off of each other in their office, known around Brøderbund as the rubber room. “The artists were considered... crazy is not the right word,” Bigham says. He thinks for a moment, and comes back with a suitable descriptor: “Nutty. Their room was full of toys: these squeeze toys that you’d squeeze, and the eyeballs would pop out, all that fun stuff.”
Before it became a physical space, the rubber room started as an idea. Elliott and Portwood exchanged banter in the hallway while conversing with colleagues, and then continued discussions in their office. Programmers and artists began popping in to ask for their input. Ideas swirled, and inspiration struck like bolts of lightning. Portwood tended to be at the center of creative storms.
“Gene was such a character, such a funny guy,” Bigham says of Portwood, who died of a heart attack in the summer of 2000. “He was the guy who played practical jokes around the office, and had the creative bent to do it. He was a funny, crass artist who had worked for Disney, and the kid in a candy store—a game company where he could create and participate in all this creation.”
Portwood and Elliott listened as Bigham laid out his idea: an adventure based on the children’s game of cops and robbers.
Portwood had the clout to get away with pulling practical jokes. Bypassing college and landing a dream job on Disney’s animation team in 1950, he hit the canvas drawing, illustrating scenes for iconic films including Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. Portwood joked that his expertise lay in crickets: He drew hundreds of renditions of Jiminy Cricket that welcomed viewers to the anthropomorphized conscience’s weekly TV show.
The 1940s and ‘50s were not profitable for the “House of Mouse.” Portwood ended up taking jobs at banks to provide stable income for his family. An artist at heart, Portwood kept a close eye on emerging forms of animation—computer games in particular. A chance series of events led to him befriend Doug and Gary Carlston, who hired him in late 1980.
Advertisement
Portwood and Elliott’s rubber room doubled as the staging ground for some of Portwood’s best gags. One recurring joke was impersonating programmers looking to get software published by Brøderbund. He’d throw together prototypes, brand them with hilarious titles, and write letters under aliases, such as an arrogant programmer who declared that Brøderbund should feel privileged that he deigned to submit his masterpiece.
“We’d start it up, and a story would appear on the screen. The text would appear as if being typed in real time. It would slowly get faster and faster, and then just zip by. Then it would stop, and you’d see: Loading graphics. Loading sounds. Loading smells. Then the game would start, and it would be this graphic game where you’d get stomped and killed right away,” Bigham says, dissolving into laughter. “It was so much fun to work with Gene.”
Once Bigham’s menu-driven system progressed to the point where he could start brainstorming game concepts to wrap around it, Bigham paid a visit to the rubber room. Portwood and Elliott listened as he laid out his idea: an adventure based on the children’s game of cops and robbers. Portwood raised his hand in a so-so gesture. The premise was bland. Not willing to let the idea go, Bigham pushed ahead until he hit a wall. “I wrote a whole prototype in text where you’re chasing a robber, and their henchmen would be stealing two things at a time, and you had to keep track of different thefts at the same time. I said, ‘Wow, this is way too hard. I actually have to make this simpler.’”
Bigham pared down the idea. Instead of pursuing two thieves at once, players would chase one. Focusing on a single criminal at a time would keep the menu simple and the screen more organized. Portwood nodded, warming to the notion. Players would track criminals by analyzing clues and determining which menu option to select based on solutions to the clues.
No one remembers how long Bigham’s embryonic game concept remained centered on cops chasing crooks. What they do recall is Gary Carlston was the one who suggested switching gears to a geography motif. “We moved to Germany for a year when I was eight and travelled all around Europe,” Gary remembers. “Back then, in the ‘50s, this wasn’t very common. It got us interested in geography. My parents liked to travel, and both my brother Doug and I got the bug.”
Advertisement
“Before I wrote the script for the game, I had traveled around the world for nine months.”
Not everyone seemed as excited about the shift in direction. “What I remember most is that Dane [Bigham] thought the idea was a dog and that I was taking advantage of our friendship by asking him to program it,” Gary says. “Dane is captain of the ice hockey team I play on. We’re still friends thirty-two years later.”
Convinced that his game was on the fast track to disaster, Bigham resigned himself to continue writing his menu-driven interface. Meanwhile, the Carlstons hunted for a writer to turn the geography idea into a cohesive narrative. Their search led to David Siefkin. “My wife was a cooking teacher in Berkeley, and one of her students, Joanne Koltnow, worked for Broderbund at the time, and knew that I was interested in computer games,” Siefkin says. “She arranged a meeting for me with [Doug] Carlston.”
Siefkin remembers his initial meeting with Gary. “His idea was to create a game based on the Great Cities series of Time-Life books. There wasn’t anything much more specific than that. Before I had gotten very far, I was told that the idea had changed, and that instead it would be based upon the World Almanac, and that a copy would be bundled with the game. I was given a copy of the almanac, and I started with that.”
Writing a storyline around people and places happened to be right up Siefkin’s alley. “Before I wrote the script for the game, I had traveled around the world for nine months, having to learn about different currencies, languages customs, and landmarks. I wanted a game that introduced these things to young game players, and hoped it might inspire them to make similar trips.”
Advertisement
Siefkin did some of his best writing in quiet, scenic spots. He gathered his writing supplies and headed to Strawberry Canyon, an outdoor pool on the Berkeley campus. Stretching out in a lawn chair beside a three-lane pool, he thought about how the game might be structured. Siefkin was well-versed in text-adventure tropes. A friend at Berkeley had introduced him to Colossal Cave Adventure, helping him get the hang of typing in commands for the text parser to analyze. Siefkin got sucked in; he loved the precept of solving puzzles to advance through rooms and collect treasure. For Brøderbund’s game, however, he imagined a much larger scale.
“When I played Adventure, I wondered why the fantasy world of the treasure hunt in the cavern couldn’t be transposed into the real world, with real clues and real places, which to me was much more interesting. I also imagined that players would use trial and error to track the villain, and that they would learn about the world from their experience.”
“I wanted an exotic name, and took it from the singer Carmen Miranda and from Carmen, the adorable St. Bernard dog of my old roommates in San Francisco.”
His script defined the player’s role and objectives. The player, a detective, would start in one location on the globe and be given a bit of trivia. Multiple-choice answers would be displayed on a menu, and choosing the correct answer would reveal where players needed to go next, and another clue. “The first draft version had a number of villains, with one chosen at random, and a treasure hidden in an obscure place somewhere around the world, with clues based on real-world things, such as language or currency, that could be found in the almanac.”
After deciphering half a dozen clues or so, players would apprehend the criminal and recover the treasure. From there, another case featuring a villain and treasure would begin. Brøderbund approved Siefkin’s early script, which he clarified was more an outline of ideas: incorporate real-world clues based on information from the World Almanac to send players hunting around the globe.
Reading over the script, Brøderbund project manager Katherine Bird skimmed the short bios of the villains Siefkin had invented. One name in particular caught her eye: Carmen Sandiego. “In my draft, she was only one of several villains,” Siefkin explains. “I wanted an exotic name, and took it from the singer Carmen Miranda and from Carmen, the adorable St. Bernard dog of my old roommates in San Francisco.” From there, he explained, “The design team brought her to life. I invented the name, but the design team really created the personality of Carmen.”
Advertisement
(Wo)manhunt
Bird latched on to the name Carmen Sandiego for the same reasons Siefkin had: it was exotic and mysterious—the perfect qualifiers for a villain that would appeal to boys and girls. “We wanted a character that girls could relate to and didn’t give much thought to her being a crook,” says Gary Carlston. “We came up with a back story about her maiden name being something Swedish to deflect concern about her being a bad role model for Hispanic girls.”
Carmen Sandiego suited another purpose. The game would be called Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, a title that succinctly communicated the player’s ultimate objective: track down Carmen and arrest her.
But players couldn’t bring Carmen to justice right away. She was the proverbial carrot on a stick, the final boss that players only encounter once they have cleared a path through her lackeys. Piecing together a structure that would function as both an ongoing narrative and a game structure, Bird and the development team created two organizations. The first was V.I.L.E., or Villains’ International League of Evil, a cast of thieves. There was Katherine Drib, whose last name was an anagram of producer Katherine Bird. Carmen herself was modeled after Marsha Bell, Brøderbund’s manager of marketing services from 1984 through ‘89. “Most of the characters were, in fact, different employees of the company,” Doug Carlston says. “People enjoyed dressing up and coming up with names and so forth. They tried to get as wild and outside-the-box as they could.” Other names were coined as puns—Anita Bath was a play on I need a bath, while Ken U. Sparadigm worked out to Can you spare a dime.
Standing in opposition to V.I.L.E. was ACME Detective Agency, the acronym a running joke in comedy that stands for A Company that Makes Everything. Entering their name registered players as an ACME gumshoe, the lowest rank on the detective totem pole. Every game session charged players with tracking down a V.I.L.E. operative, and cracking a set number of cases earned players a promotion to the next rank up. “One thing I thought was unique about Carmen was you logged into the game, and it kept track of your progress,” says Bigham. “It actually kept track of your [cases] and called you by name. I thought that was kind of unique.”
Earning higher ranks brings players one step closer to apprehending Carmen, who always manages to slip through ACME’s fingers. “To paraphrase Pancho and Lefty, ‘All the Federales say, we could have had her any day. We only let her slip away, out of kindness, I suppose,’” Gary Carlston quips. He pauses. “And a desire to sell lots of software.”
Advertisement
“I did not think I had a gem or a hit on my hands. Not at all.”
Capturing Carmen and her band of thieves took a backseat to compulsive gameplay. Players start each game session in a country where a crime occurred, and receive a strict, to-the-minute deadline—say, Wednesday, June 3rd, at 5:00 p.m. Their goal is to gather clues by selecting options in Bigham’s menu interface, which lets them interview witnesses at major landmarks. For example, a witness might recall the suspect converting his or her currency to pesos. When players feel they have gathered sufficient clues, they pull up the travel menu and jet off to the country indicated by the clues. Witnesses either express confusion to their inquiries, indicating they guessed wrong, or perk up and offer new intel.
As players follow breadcrumb trails and advance in rank at ACME, cases become tougher. Time limits grow tight, and clues befuddle. “I remember there being discussion about the categorization of clue: what was easier, what was harder, and how to move people through that,” says Bigham.
“The one major change I asked for was that it focus on the big stuff, like where Australia is, before getting into the currency of Lesotho,” adds Gary Carlston.
As much a game as an educational program, Carmen introduces elements of suspense and reward to player actions. Actions like interviewing witnesses, traveling, and sleeping drain hours from the allotted time given to complete a case. Witnesses gradually divulge particulars about the suspect, such as gender, hair color, and notable features like tattoos and the automobile they drove. Players must enter those details into their crime computer in order to eliminate false leads and obtain a warrant for a specific criminal. Arresting the wrong person, or failing to obtain a warrant, botches the investigation. As players close the gap, suspects grow desperate and aggressive. Traps, like flowerpots falling from window sills and knives hurled from off-screen, signal that players are nearing a confrontation. When they smoke the suspect out of hiding, an animation of a chase sequence ensues. Back at HQ, players receive a letter of commendation and an update on how many cases they need to solve before they receive a promotion.
Advertisement
While cases are really Trojan horses for educational trivia, Carmen’s number-one goal was to entertain. “We were always very clear that we weren’t trying to sell games to people to make them smarter,” says Doug Carlston. “We wanted to sell the games we thought they would enjoy playing. One of the things we enjoyed doing was learning, and we tried to offer that in a context that was similar to the way we learned. I grew up learning through games. That’s basically how I think people improve their physical and intellectual skills. Since I’d done that all my life, it was a natural thing for us to try.”
Seattle Summer
Dane Bigham had a love-hate relationship with Carmen. “I did not think I had a gem or a hit on my hands. Not at all.”
Although he had taken it upon himself to write the backbone of an adventure-game interface suited for kids, Bigham quickly soured on Carmen. He’d been inspired to program computer games because of action-packed hits like Choplifter. Carmen’s shift from a cops-and-robbers hunt to what amounted to a trivia quiz fell on the opposite end of the spectrum. “I certainly wasn’t going to quit. I was looking for permission.”
Near the end of Carmen’s development, another Lode Runner conversion came up on the docket. To Bigham, porting Doug Smith’s game over to the Mac was a chance to work on a game guaranteed to be a hit, and a return to the types of games he enjoyed. Before he could pounce, another Brøderbund programmer scooped up the project. Bigham returned to Carmen, dejected. Another opportunity came up right away. Dan Gorlin, author of Choplifter, had founded his own studio, Dan Gorlin Productions, down the street from Brøderbund. Impressed by Bigham’s coding skills and work ethic, Gorlin extended him an offer.
Excited, Bigham pulled Gary aside. The response took him aback. “I said to Gary, ‘Dan wants me to work with him, and I think that’d be really cool. How about somebody else finishes Carmen?’ Gary looked at me, pointed at my head, and said: ‘Dane, Carmen is in there. I need you to finish it.’”
Bigham returned to his desk. As he worked, his resentment toward the project grew. Brøderbund had hoped to ship the game in 1984 and had promised a bonus for finishing early. January 1985 rolled around, and Carmen still wasn’t done. Bigham’s bonus check slipped through his fingers.
Advertisement
He finished Carmen that summer. Another job offer came through, and he seized it. “After I finished Carmen, I took a short leave of absence from Brøderbund to go work for Doug Smith for the summer up in Seattle. That was by far the best summer of my life.”
Following his whirlwind summer in Seattle, Bigham returned to Brøderbund feeling refreshed. His colleagues greeted him with surprising news. “Bill Holt, our evangelist who went to user groups and was basically the creative side of sales, would come back from these trips and say, ‘People really like Carmen. They’re really taken to it.’ And I would say, ‘Yeah, we’ll see.’”
In an ironic twist, teachers, not consumers walking into stores looking for hot new action games, were responsible for giving Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? a boost. “We didn’t want to call it ‘educational,’” Bigham explains. “We wanted to call it ‘exploration.’ Educational meant really boring software; it’s ironic that it got tagged as an educational game. That was not our objective, really.”
Doug Carlston corroborated Bigham’s recollection of Brøderbund’s marketing strategy for the game. “Carmen Sandiego was always intended as a game. It was the school systems that decided it was educational, not us.”
Had teachers not taken an interest in Carmen and ordered copies for use in their classrooms, Carmen might have disappeared without a trace. “It suddenly started to take off eighteen months after it was released,” Gary Carlston recalls. “Word of mouth in the educational community did it, I think.”
Advertisement
Before long, Carmen became an essential product in schools. The game’s success came as a shock to Dane Bigham. “Probably the first indication for me was getting a $10,000 check. Something like that. Like, here, have ten grand. Not part of your salary; just an extra check.”
Doug and Gary Carlston made sure that everyone who’d had a hand in developing the game shared in its success. David Siefkin, who had joined the Foreign Service after completing his script, was as happy to be associated with the game as he was by his cut of royalties. “Once I was in the South of France, near the Spanish border, turned on the television, and there was Carmen, talking in Spanish, on Spanish television. That was a nice feeling. The greatest satisfaction I got from working on Carmen was knowing that it got young people interested in the world outside the United States.”
In retrospect, it’s not surprising that Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? became a touchstone of gaming and computer culture, devising a reward loop that entices players to keep going at just the right moments—getting a positive reception upon questioning a witness about crimes, obtaining warrants, closing in on suspects, rationing out promotions from ACME that —made Carmen such a joy to play. Thumbing through a copy of the World Almanac to look up the capital of Peru, or the currency used in Algeria, or the habitat of the indigo macaw, didn’t feel like homework. It made players feel like ace detectives hot on the heels of the world’s most notorious criminals. “Certainly it wasn’t irrelevant,” says Doug Carlston in regards to the book’s effect on Carmen’s popularity. “You could play the game without the almanac, but people did like the exploration and research.”
“It did what I wanted it to do,” says Gary Carlston of the Almanac’s inclusion, “which was to get the kids to thumb through the almanac to solve the clues. The irony is that the almanac is a terribly organized reference book, but it’s full of fun stuff.”
Dane Bigham’s feelings toward Carmen have, understandably, softened over the years. “I was very proud to have created that gameplay. That gameplay alone was something I worked on carefully. I did a version of it that was just too hard, so that progression was something I worked on very carefully: the fact that you could accomplish the first cases without it getting too difficult, and then work your way up gradually rather than getting hit over the head right away.”
Advertisement |
Could Republicans be in for a hard time next year now that the auto industry is struggling back to its feet? Democrats say yes. On a Tuesday morning conference call with reporters, former Democratic Govs. Jennifer Granholm (MI) and Ted Strickland (OH) said voters in their states are enjoying thousands of new jobs thanks to the auto industry bailout Republicans (these days, anyway) love to hate.
And with Chrysler completing its repayment of $7.6 billion in federal loans six years early, Democrats say the Republicans running for president — all of whom slammed the bailout program, they say — have found themselves on the wrong side on what has turned out to be a successful jobs program.“Midwestern families would have been left out in the cold: no job, no income, no industry” if Republican bailout foes had their way, Granholm said. “And these voters are not going to forget it.”
The Democrats on the call had a field day reminiscing about Mitt Romney’s 2008 New York Times op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” in which the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination said American automakers would be on a “suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses” if a bailout plan went ahead.
“Look where we are today,” Granholm said, pointing to what she said is an industry on the road to health.
“When Michigan families and communities needed his support the most, Romney saw this debate as an oppurtune moment to earn some conservative cred,” she added.
Strickland acknowledged that polls don’t yet show a boost for Obama in Ohio, which Strickland governed for four years. But he said that a bailout bump is coming in the important presidential election state.
“I think the president’s going to do well in Ohio,” Strickland said. “Not only because of the saving of the auto industry, but the fact that our state’s economy is on the rebound.”
“People are starting to understand that we are where we are today because of the decisions that were made by this president during the most trying of times,” Strickland added.
Democrats clearly see a big fat win in the Chrysler news. Not only was Obama’s bailout of General Motors and Chrysler fairly unpopular at the time, the decision to spend billions keeping the massive and at time time failing corporations up and running gave Republicans plenty of populist rhetorical opportunities.
Now, with the presidential race looming and both Chrysler and GM showing serious signs of life, Democrats are ready to make Republicans like Romney pay for their anti-bailout talk.
Here’s what that looks like, in the form of a video the DNC posted online Tuesday morning:
But it’s not just the fight with Republicans that gets a boost, say Democrats. On the call along with Granholm and Strickland was Bob King, the president of the UAW. As unions have become increasingly critical of their Democratic allies (if not Obama specifically), King said the success of the auto bailout will lead to union workers in the Midwest pulling the lever for Democrats in future elections.
“We’re bringing many manufacturing jobs into this country because Democrats under the president’s leadership understand the importance of manufacturing to the U.S.,” King said. “The Republican party is doing nothing for the manufacturing base.” |
Topics covered: Attitudes to the future, Prediction Markets, SciCast, Blockchain currency, Quadratic Voting, Artificial Intelligence Development etc.
People are engaged in extreme futures - heaven or hell scenarios - are people's attraction towards, or engagement with certain futures informed by evolved biases?
Prediction Markets in contrast to narratives about the future informed by Moralising Tales - whatever is likely to happen is probably a muddled up mix, a mixture of heaven and hell, not just one or the other - Moralising Tale, ignores statistics - it will all be terrible or fantastic, nothing in between…
Could the world do with futurists in industry? Hard to tell. Sometimes firms (i.e. google) are tied to a particular image - google have the image of innovation - google gets attention for projects like calico - pie in the sky moonshot projects are a compliment to their image. Employees are more likely to want to work for google because of its sexiness…
Justin Rattner (former CTO of Intel) spoke about the singularity quite a bit.. but not many CEOs/CTOs bring it up - with the exception of a few… though this could change.
Updates blockchain currency (bitcoin, etherium) - opportunities / risks
Futurists are often eager for big change - enthusiastic - people who are itching for big change often focus on scenarios for the future where there is big change.
Why is there little interest in quadratic voting compared to small iterations in gadgetry (which seems to get a lot of press)?
There is a lot of new and inventive gadgets, and ideas in physics that have huge communities of interest - but social technologies, ways we organise meetings, for instance Quadratic Voting… Many voting systems don't do a good job at weighing different votes based on how much you care about the issue. QV pays for votes in proportion to the square of the number of votes - can produce outcomes that weigh votes based on how much the voters care about the issue. People can be given votes as a point system, and they can choose to distribute their points based on how much they care about certain issues.
QV: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/node/16996
AI Dev - what are the big improvements? Whole new trend? Or progress in existing ideas?
Omens! There was always the new thing, the omen that promised this and that, cries in the wilderness - what kinds of omens should we be listening to? well… don't follow individual news events, listen to aggregates - for instance there was a whole data series of terrorist attacks - don't make a decision on one terrorist event.
Prediction Markets / Strategic forecasting - SciCast https://scicast.org/
web: http://futureday.org
the website is http://fd2015.scifuture.org
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Science-Technol……/…/220184121/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/futur…
Twitter: @futureday #futureday
G+: https://plus.google.com/communities/1…
Subscribe to this Channel: http://youtube.com/subscription_cente…
Science, Technology & the Future: http://scifuture.org
Humanity+: http://humanityplus.org |
Jackson Lowery has signed a free agent contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, according to the Meridian Community College baseball Twitter account.
The former Arkansas right-handed pitcher played two seasons with the Razorbacks, going 7-1 with a 3.22 ERA in 58 2/3 innings as a senior.
Lowery spent most of the season in the bullpen, but made three starts. Because of several late-season injuries, he became Arkansas' go-to pitcher in long-relief situations.
He started in the Razorbacks' NCAA regional-clinching win over St. John's, allowing only one earned run on one hit in the no decision. He also threw 6 2/3 innings in relief in Arkansas' super regional loss to Missouri State, preserving the bullpen for Game 3.
After beginning his career at Central Arkansas as an infielder, Lowery transferred to Meridian to develop as a pitcher. After one season with the Eagles, the Little Rock native and Pulaski Academy alum came home to pitch for the Razorbacks.
He is the fifth player from this year's team to sign a professional contract, joining Andrew Benintendi (Boston Red Sox), Trey Killian (Colorado Rockies), Bobby Wernes (Houston Astros) and Tyler Spoon (Boston Red Sox), all of which were drafted by their respective teams. |
BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — A high school math teacher who grew up in Arkansas and one of her students on the Red Lake Indian Reservation have built on a lifelong bond since a 16-year-old boy shot his way into their classroom during a rampage in which he killed seven people before shooting himself.
Neither was hurt in the attack, but the trauma of the day has barely receded a decade later, leaving each to nurse their own psychic wounds and speak up for other survivors.
Missy Dodds was nearing the end of a challenging school day on March 21, 2005, having just kicked a few troublesome students out of her seventh-period study hall when she heard a commotion outside. It was Jeff Weise, the teen who had already killed his grandfather and grandfather’s companion elsewhere on the reservation before coming to his high school in search of more targets.
Dodds locked the door to her classroom, only to have Weise shoot out a glass partition to gain entry.
“I didn’t know what was going on but I thought we would be safe,” Dodds said. “Then when I looked up and saw his face in the glass, I thought, oh my God, we are in so much trouble.”
Jeff May, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound freshman who was scrambling to get his algebra homework done before the end of the school quarter, disrupted the shootings when he tried to stab Weise with a pencil. May was shot in the face, but he was credited with saving the lives of others.
Before the attack Dodds, then 30, loved her job and thought she would teach math at Red Lake for the rest of her career.
But she’s never been back in the classroom. She still takes anxiety medicine and attends therapy sessions about every two weeks, though she says she’s getting better since the days she used to walk around Wal-Mart clutching a pound of bacon to her chest — in case she needed it to stop a bullet.
Yet Dodds feels better off than many people who witnessed the shootings. She says she has a strong support system that includes family and friends.
“We’re all in the same boat. We’re all just making it,” Dodds said in an interview near her home in Bemidji. “I think in a way so many people feel like it’s over, it’s done with, and we should all be OK. I worry that a lot of them aren’t getting the help they need.”
Ashley Lajeunesse, a freshman in Dodds’ classroom at the time, said she can still sense the sounds and the smells of that day. She can’t sleep without her bedroom door cracked to let in a little light. But she, too, feels she’s better off than many who witnessed that day because she eventually sought help after struggling with drugs and alcohol.
“There are still a lot of them that have never gotten counseling that need it,” Lajeunesse said. “I was one of them.”
Lajeunesse, who still lives on the reservation, has taken upon herself to memorialize those who died that day and attempt to help those who lived. She spent her own money this year on a plaque that reads, “We will remember March 21.” Everybody knows the year, she said, so she left it off.
Lajeunesse and nine other schoolmates have also asked the tribe to sponsor a survivor’s fund. Their initial goal, she said, was a few thousand dollars to underwrite a potluck dinner and honor ceremony to bring people back together.
“It’s kind of a big deal for everybody,” Lajeunesse said. “A lot of people kind of lost touch after it happened so we would like to make it a reunion to see how everybody is doing.”
Dodds, who has kept in touch with many of her former students through Facebook, calls Lajeunesse her hero for her efforts in recent months to help her schoolmates. Lajeunesse says it’s the other way around and gives Dodds credit for “inspiring me to do everything.”
Dodds wrote to tribal officials asking them to get behind the event.
“I am asking this because I feel it is so important for the survivors of that day — especially the students who are young adults now — to be celebrated and honored for their bravery to have carried on the past decade,” Dodds wrote to Red Lake Chairman Darrell G. Seki Sr. “In the past few weeks and months, I have had several former students reach out to me. They want to tell me their stories of that day and how they have survived the past 10 years.”
Tribal and school district officials declined to comment on the anniversary or the request for a memorial, with Superintendent Anne Lundquist saying that she, Seki and school board President Mike Barrett believe it was “in the best interest of the tribe” not to talk about the topic.
Mark Rodgers, a Bemidji attorney, handled 15 personal injury cases as a result of the shootings and represented teachers and security guards who were working for the school at the time. He said Dodds isn’t the only person who left education after the shootings.
“Essentially most people kind of melted away from that school,” Rodgers said. “It was kind of amazing that over a period of a few years, people left. A few of them got jobs but those people for a large part aren’t working anymore.”
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) |
They are brutal images, showing signs of torture, starvation and in some cases what appears to be outright execution — and they were taken inside hospitals controlled by Syria's military.
The photos — numbering more than 55,000 — were taken by a team of military forensic photographers and smuggled out of the country in 2013 by one of the team's members, a man code-named Caesar.
"I wanted to show the international community the slaughter, the ongoing … massacres that are occurring in Syria," Caesar said in an exclusive interview with CBC's The Fifth Estate as part of a joint investigation with Radio-Canada's Enquête.
WatchThe Fifth Estate: The Truth Smugglers, Friday at 9 p.m. on CBC Television
The photos have been authenticated by the FBI. Human Rights Watch estimates they show evidence of at least 6,000 Syrians who died in Syrian regime custody.
Today, they are being used by international war crimes investigators attempting to build criminal cases against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In his first face-to-face television interview, Caesar told The Fifth Estate about what he witnessed while working in military hospitals.
"Look at this picture, for example," he says, showing a photo of bodies scattered on a floor — some emaciated and some with blood and visible trauma on their faces.
"Even animals, it's not OK to treat animals the way these people are being treated."
Prior to 2011 and the start of popular anti-Assad uprisings, the military forensic unit photographed crime scenes for the Department of Defence.
Demonstrators protesting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gather in Hula, near Homs, on Nov. 13, 2011. (Reuters)
But then came the government crackdown and tens of thousands of protesters were detained. It was shortly after that, Caesar says, that bodies started showing up in military hospital morgues showing evidence of torture.
For the 'higher command'
Caesar said his job then became to document the deaths for soldiers and officers wanting to prove they'd carried out instructions.
"The officers in the regime, soldiers, et cetera, needed to prove to their higher command that they were actually fulfiling the orders of killing and torturing civilians in these horrific ways … just to show their superiors that they were doing what they were told to do," he says.
"[It]'s important to remember that they don't see a consequence for actions that they do, so even in documenting these things they believe that they are above international law."
In the six years since the civil war began in Syria, an estimated 500,000 Syrians have been killed. Five million have been forced to flee and more than 100,0000 are missing, believed to have been detained by government intelligence and security forces.
According to human rights groups, many were arrested for protesting. Among the missing are teens and children.
This photo is one of thousands that the photographer known as Caesar smuggled out of Syria in 2013, depicting scenes of torture, starvation and death. (Caesar collection)
"What did this child do? He is barely 15 or 16 years old at most," Caesar says as he shows a photo of a young person's body on the ground, emaciated.
"What does he know about politics? If anything, he may have joined a single protest where they were calling for equal rights ... but this child, among others, was taken and starved to death or tortured to death for no reason at all."
Rumours of torture
For decades, one of the signatures of the Assad regime, Bashar and his father before him, has been a vast network of prisons and detention centres — places where torture is rumoured to be routine.
In August 2014, concealed by dark glasses and a blue hood, Caesar testified in secret to a United States congressional committee about what he'd seen. He'd hoped his evidence would have resulted in political action. But three years later, Bashar al-Assad seems more securely in power than ever.
In February, he was asked about the Caesar photos in an interview with Yahoo News.
"Who verified they're not edited and photoshopped and so on?" Assad asked.
"If you take these photos to any court in your country, could they convict any criminal regarding this, could they tell you what this crime, who committed [it]?
"If they don't have this full picture, you cannot make judgment. It's just propaganda. It's just fake news. They want to demonize the Syrian government."
Clues on the photos
But there is one thing about the pictures that isn't so easily dismissed — the machinery of Assad's own bureaucracy left clues.
Many of the photos contain a series of arabic numbers that Caesar says are important.
"The top number that appears is the number of the individual when they were detained, so once you enter prison you no longer have a name, you go by this number that you are assigned," he says.
"The number in the middle is the number of the intelligence branch and ... that's the intelligence branch where this individual was held and tortured to death…. It shows the specific branch responsible for the death."
Knowing the specific branch is critical to lawyers who are trying to build a criminal case against Assad and his regime — it helps identify those responsible.
Chris Engels is the deputy director of investigations and operations for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA). (CBC/The Fifth Estate)
"The numbering system … allows us to, in some cases, look at material we have collected and saved from the field and look at the Caesar photos and cross-check" them, said Chris Engels, deputy director of investigations and operations for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA).
3 tonnes of documents
CIJA is one of several human rights groups trying to document abuses by the Assad regime in the hopes of one day bringing it to trial.
Funded in large part by the Canadian government, CIJA focuses on obtaining documents generated by the Syrian regime itself. In five years, the organization has smuggled 700,000 documents out of Syria. The three tonnes of paper are stored at a secret location in Europe.
Bill Wiley, the Canadian legal expert and executive director of CIJA, says among the documents is clear evidence of war crimes — murder, torture and crimes against humanity.
"We've got eight or nine prosecution case files ready which go to the highest reaches of the Syrian regime including the president, Mr. Assad, and all we need now is a court and a public prosecutor to take over these files and proceed."
Bill Wiley is a Canadian legal expert and the executive director of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability. (CBC/The Fifth Estate)
But the problem is that there is no court. Efforts to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague have been blocked by Syria's allies — primarily Russia.
Some European countries have launched national investigations, but those are more limited and have yet to be tested in court.
'It's been depressing'
After all the death, destruction and terror, Caesar says he feels betrayed.
He told The Fifth Estate he risked his life to get his photographs out, thinking they would change everything and that Assad would finally be forced to go.
"To be honest with you, it's been depressing to see this sort of disappointing lack of action by the international community as they view this evidence of war crimes," Caesar says.
"I'm pleading with [the] international community that thousands and thousands and thousands more remain in Assad jails, facing the same fate that the people in my photographs have faced. And it is our responsibility to save the rest.
"We couldn't save these individuals but we must do everything we can to ensure that the rest of the people who sit in Assad jails do not face the same horrible fate."
Caesar and his colleagues were recently awarded the City of Nuremberg's 2017 Nuremberg International Human Rights Award for their "courage in bringing the systemic torture and mass murders in Syria to the attention of the world public," the organization said in a media release. |
Plans for Target in Goleta Fall Through
GOLETA, Calif. - After years of work and complicated property negoitations, plans for a Target store in Goleta ended this fall with the retailer walking away from plans to build in the area. But the retailer says it will consider new opportunities in the future.
When the effort started two years ago, three sites were considered, but the corner at Hollister and Los Carneros in Goleta became the focus of negotiations. Placing a Target store at that location involved talks between Target and the existing business at the site, the Goleta Valley Athletic Club.
GVAC had a long-term lease and had no interest in leaving, but eventually it did reach an agreement with Target to relocate, according to Brad Frohling, partner at Radius Real Estate. His company was involved in negotiations with Target, GVAC and the owner of the existing building.
"They (Target) were aggressive, they spent a lot of money, they were in," Frohling said.
But after negotiations were completed and other significant regulatory hurdles were cleared, the retailer decided to walk away from the deal. "They were the ones who said they weren't going forward," Frohling said.
The agreement fell through sometime in late August or early September. Word hadn't circulated much about the failed deal, until Thursday when the issue was discussed at the 7th Annual Radius Real Estate and Economic Forecast meeting.
At the meeting, speculation on the Target decision included the high cost that would have been necessary to relocate GVAC. One economist said Target should have attempted to locate in the Hollister Village site, a development currently under construction in Goleta across Hollister Avenue from Costco and Best Buy.
There was no definitive word on 'why' Target decided to stop moving forward. Frohling said he was never given a specific reason, but speculated it could have been a combination of factors including the credit card data breach Target suffered last year, or the strain of opening many new stores in Canada.
For now, the only big box discount department store operating in the Santa Barbara area is KMart. That facility at the corner of Hollister and Storke is the second most profitable in the KMart chain, behind a location on Maui, according to Frohling.
In an email response to reporter questions, Target declined to comment on the state of any pending or future development plans.
"Goleta is a great market for Target and we continue to consider new opportunities to serve guests there. However, I have nothing to share at this time around plans for a new store," said spokeswoman Kristen Emmons
Real estate experts speculate Target may never build in the Santa Barbara area, citing slow growth policies and limited land for development.
"Will it circle back? Maybe, but right now it's cold as ice," Frohling said. |
New Boston Rental Property Registration And Inspection Ordinance FAQ
Update: Registration Extended Until Aug. 31, 2013
The Boston City Council and Mayor Menino’s Office have passed a sweeping new rental property registration and inspection ordinance which is now effective for the year 2013. The new ordinance requires, among other things, that all rental property owners register with the Inspectional Services Department (ISD), and are subject to inspections every 5 years. Details of the new ordinance are summarized below.
Who is covered?
All rental property owners, regardless of state residence, must register their rental properties with ISD. This also includes condominium units which are rented out. Excluded from the inspection requirements (but not the registration requirements) are owner-occupied buildings containing no more than 6 units, licensed lodging houses, government owned or operated housing.
What are my registration obligations?
Landlords are required to register with ISD no later than July 1 of each year. A fee of $25/unit will be charged. All non-resident owners must designate a Boston-based resident agent to accept service of process on the owner’s behalf. You can now register online at Cityofboston.gov or download an application from the same site. The City has also posted a Frequently Asked Questions Page here.
When will my rental property get inspected?
ISD will inspect rental properties at least once every 5 years. ISD intends to first inspect the “problem” properties which have a history of code violations. Landlords will receive a notice from ISD about the inspection. Landlords have the option of having an outside “authorized inspector” perform the inspection at the owner’s expense. Annual inspections conducted by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and similar government programs will be accepted by ISD. For most buildings, the inspection fee is $75 for the first two units, and $50/unit thereafter.
Are there any new signage requirements?
Yes. A sign of not less than 20 square inches must be posted adjacent to the building’s mailboxes or other conspicuous location. The sign must contain the contact information of the landlord and property manager, if any.
My property has been cited for violations in the past. Will this be a problem?
It could be. The new ordinance has a new classification for “Problem Property” if:
the police have been called to the property at least 4 times in one year; or
4 or more noise complaints; or
4 or more ISD complaints for unsanitary conditions/code violations
Problem Properties must be inspected every year and the owner must submit a management plan to address the issues.
How do I coordinate the inspection with my tenants?
A tenant is entitled to “reasonable advance notice” before an inspection. If access is denied, the landlord must notify ISD within 7 days, and if ISD verifies same, the landlord will be exempted from inspection for 1 year. Tenants are entitled to a copy of all inspection reports.
I am buying a rental property. By when does the new owner need to register?
ISD must be notified of the sale of any rental property 30 days after the closing, and the new owner must register with ISD within this 30 day window. Within 90 days of closing, the new owner must complete any pending inspection or submit an application for approval of an alternative inspection plan.
__________________________________________
Richard D. Vetstein is an experienced Greater Boston landlord tenant attorney who represents rental property owners throughout Boston and Massachusetts. You can contact him at 508-620-5352 or at info@vetsteinlawgroup.com.
Related Posts |
This week on DineSafe, city inspectors handed Burrito Boyz on College a red card after it wracked up half a dozen citations, including a crucial infraction for failing to prevent a rodent infestation. Two locations from the Ali Baba's chain are also on the list with conditional passes.
See which other restaurants got dinged by DineSafe this week.
Ali Baba's (24 Wellesley Street)
Inspected on: April 18, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 1, Significant: 3)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Chippy's Fish & Chips (893 Queen Street West)
Inspected on: April 18, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 2, Significant: 3)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Ali Baba's (117 Danforth Avenue)
Inspected on: April 19, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 1, Significant: 5)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Flame Shack (506 Queen Street East)
Inspected on: April 20, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 2 (Minor: 2, Significant: 7)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Pete's Open Kitchen (508 Queen Street East)
Inspected on: April 20, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 1, Significant: 3, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated. Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F) or colder.
The Kathi Roll Express (692 Yonge Street)
Inspected on: April 21, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 1, Significant: 4, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Fail to protect food from contamination or adulteration.
Ha Noi 3 Seasons (588 Gerrard Street East)
Inspected on: April 21, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 3 (Significant: 2, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated.
Burrito Boyz (575 College Street)
Inspected on: April 22, 2016
Inspection finding: Red (Closed)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 3, Significant: 1, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F) or colder. Operator fail to prevent a rodent infestation
Paramount Fine Foods (253 Yonge Street)
Inspected on: April 22, 2016
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 3, Significant: 2)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Note: The above businesses each received infractions from DineSafe as originally reported on the DineSafe site. This does not imply that any of these businesses have not subsequently corrected the issue and received a passing grade by DineSafe inspectors. For the latest status for each of the mentioned businesses, including details on any subsequent inspections, please be sure to check the DineSafe site. |
More than 1.3 million people visited Stockholm's iconic Vasa last year, as tourists flocked to take in the remarkably well-preserved wreckage of the ill-fated ship which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, before finally being salvaged in the 1960s.
And now, experts working believe they have found the wreckage of a vessel from a similar time period, the Blekinge, lying on the seabed at Karlskrona, southern Sweden.
"It was around the same size as the Vasa, about 45 metres long and with between 68-70 cannons (the Vasa had 64)," Jim Hansson, the curator of the archaeology unit at the Swedish National Maritime Museums told The Local.
"It's the first ship that was built in Karlskrona, and was launched in 1682. It participated in, among other things, King Karl XII's sea assault against Denmark in 1700."
A model of the Solen, which is a similar size as the Blekinge. Photo: Jim Hansson/Sjöhistoriska Museet
Like the Vasa, it seems the vessel was not particularly reliable at sea however. It ended up in its current location in 1713, but there is even information to suggest it previously ran aground near the island of Getskär in the north of the Bay of Bothnia in 1683, then was rescued and sailed again for a further two decades before it met its final fate.
READ ALSO: The Local takes a rare chance to go on board the Vasa
Hansson's theory is that the ship may even have been downed deliberately in order to use its canons to defend Karlskrona during Karl XII's disastrous campaign against Russia, which would ultimately result in the downfall of the Swedish Empire, and the country's ruler fleeing to the Ottoman Empire.
"My early theory is that the ship may have been sunk deliberately and used as a sort of cannon barge while construction at Karlskrona stopped during the king's catastrophic expedition. They hadn't built and adequate defence, so it may have solved that," he explained.
Anyone hoping for a vessel in equally good condition as the Vasa will be disappointed however. Part of the ship appears to have been flattened by the construction of the stone pier at Karlskrona's shipyard, though it is thought that the lower sections have been better preserved.
"Part of her is embedded in deep layers of sediment. We believe there could be a relatively in-tact level of deck under it. The ship's not at all as well preserved as the Vasa, but the part which lies outside of the pier could be better preserved," Hansson noted.
Divers investigating the Blekinge. Photo: Jim Hansson/Sjöhistoriska Museet
Further research is likely to be carried out on the wreck, which is historically significant as it was the first ship to be built at Karlskrona shipyard, where there is still a naval base to this day. |
My name is Caitlin. I am a young disabled woman who works with a beautiful golden retriever service dog.
My service dog is highly trained. She has hundreds of hours of training in tasks to mitigate my disability, basic obedience, and public access manners.
However, not all service dogs undergo such rigorous training. Some service dogs will display inappropriate behaviors and businesses either cannot, or for fear of being sued, will not ask them to be removed from the premises. For example, an otherwise legitimate service dog might bark at other customers or sniff the open cases of meat in the grocery store. Occasionally, a real service dog might not have been trained to walk nicely on a leash or perform other behaviors that allow them to be as invisible as possible inside a place of public accommodation, or they might have known those skills at one time but their training has since deteriorated. Legally, these ill behaved dogs still might be legitimate service dogs. You cannot judge legitimacy based solely on the animal's behavior. However, these dogs are considered by most to be undertrained service dogs because they are not trained to the high standard that the public both expects and deserves.
There are also people who will take a dog into a public place claiming that it is a service dog when it does not legally meet the definition of one. These fake service dogs are often ill mannered and the owners are usually poorly equipped to handle a dog in a public venue.
There are many arguments favoring taking undertrained or fake service dogs into public. “If it’s okay for service dogs to be here, it should be okay for all dogs!” “That service dog is no cleaner than my dog, so there’s no reason for health codes to exclude my pet dog!” “I don’t want to leave my dog in the car!” “If I keep my dog in a stroller, it won’t bother anyone!” “I’ll only do it this one time!”
The one that I have found the least merit in is this: “Taking an undertrained or fake service dog in public is a victimless crime.”
This is absolutely and inarguably false!
I have identified several groups that are directly harmed when a person brings an undertrained or fake service dog into a place of public accommodation.
1. The Business
The costs to the business are obvious. No one wants to eat at a restaurant where a dog is begging for your food or barking or urinating on the floor. They lose customers.
In addition, were the health inspector to see a dog sniffing food on a buffet or eating from a restaurant dish, that facility could face serious ramifications for the violation of health codes.
2. Service Dog Handlers
The damage that undertrained and fake service dogs do to the reputation of other handlers is also very serious. These dogs break the trust that the public has in service dogs. This directly and immediately affects other handlers. Businesses are less likely to treat service dog teams with respect because they have had bad experiences with dogs in the past.
This is not merely a hypothetical reaction. I have handled a service dog for less than two months and have already experienced difficulties because of the undertrained and fake service dogs in my area.
The other day I walked into my favorite pizza joint. In the past month I had eaten there no fewer than three times, each time accompanied by my service dog. This time, however, things were different. Before I had even entered the establishment the hostess began glaring at my dog. She paused, apparently hoping I would voluntarily leave. “Table for two.” I requested politely. She cast her eyes around and said, "I'll seat you on the patio." It was pouring rain outside. Not yet realizing what was happening, I said blankly, "it's raining."
Without another word to me she turned around and walked away. I saw her consulting with her manager to find out what to do. After a few moments alone to process the situation I began to realize that this woman did not want me inside the restaurant and had no intention of seating me. Luckily, the manager told her she had to seat me and do so inside out of the rain. But when the hostess returned to seat me she was still glaring. She grumbled to herself, "we all remember what happened last time!" She sat me without speaking to me or even looking me in the eye. My service dog has always behaved above reproach in this particular environment, so I had no idea why she was so hostile.
I spoke to the manager to thank him for ensuring that I was given access to my dinner and to complain about how rudely I was treated. He explained that a few days ago there was an undertrained or fake service dog sitting on a chair and causing general mayhem. Many customers complained. This, he said, caused the hostess to be concerned about all dogs. That was the reason that I was treated so poorly.
A fellow SDCer also experienced difficulties with an undertrained or fake service dog. She was at a convenience store when a Chihuahua on a Flexileash charged at her service dog, Mike. The Chihuahua attempted to bite Mike on the face but Mike was directed out of the way just in time. Management asked the woman to remove her ill behaved dog from the store. This request was in accordance with state laws regarding interfering with a service dog and federal laws which dictate that disruptive dogs can be removed from the premises. The woman, however, refused to comply. She screamed that it was a service dog and refused to remove or control it. The situation almost required police involvement to diffuse.
A third member of the Service Dog Central community recounts this tale regarding her experiences with an undertrained dog.
“I will start this by saying I live and work in a small state. Because I work for a branch of local government, I purposely do not work in the same county in which I live. My service dog is a yellow Labrador. Knowing that my dog is a yellow Labrador is important because of the dog she was confused with.
There was a woman who lived in the district where I work. She had a beautiful golden retriever. I had actually met her and her dog several times before the incident I am about to describe. Her dog came from a very reputable program. Sadly, she worked the dog far past its prime. She really should have been retired before this incident. At the time of these events the dog was about 11 years old.
The dog began developing toileting issues. One day she was in a grocery store and - depending on whose side of the story you believe - the dog was either two aisles away from the handler (according to the store) or two to three feet away from the handler (according to the handler). Both sides agreed that the dog had a leash on, but the handler was not physically holding it. The dog defecated in the produce aisle. The handler did not notice until it was pointed out to her by store personnel. Again, depending on whose story you believe, she either refused to clean it up (the store said) or she offered to clean it up and was not allowed to by store personnel (she said).
Because this was not the first time that this happened, the corporate headquarters sent the handler a registered letter within a few days, telling her that she was banned from the store. She immediately went to the media. She called the largest regional paper for that county. She was "front page news" for that story. She told her side of the story. The store told their side.
Of course, the public was given an outlet to comment, both online and with letters to the newspaper. Several people wrote in and commented online "that is the dog that works at ___________" or "is that dog's name GiGi?" (GiGi is the nickname the people in my office gave to my service dog - and people who came to my work knew that - my co-workers were very bad about telling everyone her name) and other similar comments - there were people who actually falsely accused my dog of pooping at my work. Of course, if that had happened, my employer would have withdrawn my accommodation of having a service dog. Human Resources wasn't very thrilled about it to begin with, so it's not that hard of a stretch to think if that was the case, my service dog and I would have been in trouble
It affected me greatly. I was only a year or so into my partnership with my service dog. It made me very nervous - going out and running errands on my lunch hour stopped immediately - because I did not want to run the risk of being chased out of stores. This woman and her dog were banned from at least four other stores in the area because of the same thing. Stores that I frequented myself. I took to carrying a copy of the newspaper article, with the photo on the front page, in my dog's harness to prove the name, the woman, and the dog - were not me just so I could go out to Staples on my lunch hour.
Sadly, the woman died about six months later of a drug overdose. Her dog was with her. A volunteer with the program she was acquired from took the dog, who also passed within a few weeks. But the reputation followed her into death. When it was reported in the newspaper, the article made mention of the stores that she was banned from and why.
There was another young lady - visually impaired - whose dog was also a golden and people looked at her with a bit of trepidation as well.”
These are only a few examples of real life situations where one fake or undertrained service dog has directly and negatively affected a service dog team.
3. The Dog
Taking an undertrained or fake service dog into a place of public accommodation is also damaging to the dog. Very few dogs are temperamentally sound enough to handle the stresses of working in public. Even fewer have the necessary training to ensure that they have the tools required to know how to handle many difficult yet common situations.
Dogs in public are subject to many stressors. There are children who will pull a dog’s ears. There are shopping carts which will run over a dog’s tail. There are other dogs who may bark. There are adults who will call your dog to them. There are pieces of food or trash or even nails on the floor.
A dog that has not been taught how to act in situations like these is going to be understandably stressed and as a result many are terrified. A frightened dog may even bite someone which could result in the dog’s euthanasia. It is undeniably unfair to the animal to drag it into these situations without proper training.
4. The Dog Owner
Yes, that’s right. Taking an undertrained or fake service dog into public is damaging to the owner of that dog.
When a person takes an undertrained or fake service dog into public they are disregarding the needs of the business, service dog teams, and the dog. This shows a fundamental character flaw. In some cases of faking a service dog,depending on where and how the person falsely claims their dog is a service dog, they could face fines, jail time, loss of government benefits including social security and medicare, and/or loss of the dog. Moreover, it is fundamentally unethical to take undertrained or fake service dogs into public access work.
Keeping in mind that many people will usually mistake an undertrained service dog for a fake service dog, the person who brings such a dog into public should be aware that people are going to assume that they are breaking the law. Even if they are never arrested or fined, owners of undertrained and fake service dogs are publicly displaying poor judgement and weakness of character.
It is irreparably harmful to the owner’s reputation to be seen as such a selfish and narcissistic person.
In conclusion, taking your undertrained or fake service dog into a place of public accommodation may seem like a good idea. It may seem as though you aren’t hurting anyone. Well, you are. You are causing irreparable damage to the entire community. Unless your dog is prepared and trained for the rigors of being a service dog, leave your pup at home! |
Gay men are constantly referring to and defining themselves as "tops" or "bottoms." When they consider dating or simply hooking up, gay men typically ask the other guy whether he's a top, a bottom or "versatile." It's important to find this out as soon as possible, because if you are planning to date or get into a relationship, it's vitally important that you and he be sexually compatible with each other.
The whole issue of tops and bottoms came up recently with the release of a new study that looked at whether or not people can determine whether a gay man is a top or a bottom just by looking at facial cues. The study revealed that judgments made about whether an individual is a top or a bottom are based on perceived masculine and feminine traits.
There's so much talk and discussion about who gives and who receives. I've had straight people tell me that they assumed that most gay guys simply take turns. Yes, some do, but most don't. But what if a guy isn't a top, a bottom or even versatile? What about gay men who have never engaged in anal sex and never will, ever?
I think they deserve a name of their own. I call them "sides."
Defining a Side
Sides prefer to kiss, hug and engage in oral sex, rimming, mutual masturbation and rubbing up and down on each other, to name just a few of the sexual activities they enjoy. These men enjoy practically every sexual practice aside from anal penetration of any kind. They may have tried it, and even performed it for some time, before they became aware that for them, it was simply not erotic and wasn't getting any more so. Some may even enjoy receiving or giving anal stimulation with a finger, but nothing beyond that.
Sexual Shame and Masculinity
Sides typically struggle with tremendous feelings of shame. They secretly believe that they should be engaging in and enjoying anal sex, and that something must be wrong with them if they are not. Often they won't publicly admit to not engaging in anal sex, because of the judgments that other gay men might (and most likely will) make about them. I have heard gay men (and even straight people) say that if they aren't penetrating or being penetrated, they aren't having "real" sex.
If a man has undergone prostate surgery that caused nerve damage to the penis or suffers from hemorrhoids or other issues that make anal penetration impossible, uncomfortable or unappealing, then that physiological or medical reason takes most of the shame out of being a side. These men may be genuine tops or bottoms but become sides out of necessity.
The gay male community has its own preferences that often slide into prejudices, and a great many look down on anyone who's not a top. Bottoms get talked about, even dismissed, as if they were women. As the joke goes, "Who pays for a gay male wedding? The father of the bottom." While that may be funny, it shows a cruel contempt for femininity. It makes the insensitive presumption that a man "takes the woman's role" by receiving, and that there's something wrong with him for it, namely that he's not masculine.
Straight men labor under the same misconception. If they enjoy anal stimulation for pleasure, they often worry that they might be gay. In my office I've heard straight men admit that they enjoy receiving anal penetration from sex toys, or by having their female partners strap on a dildo and give it to them. The slang term for that is "pegging," and many straight men love it. I jokingly tell the straight men who are insecure about enjoying anal play that, as a sex therapist, I am obliged to tell them that the human anus has no sexual orientation. The opportunity for anal pleasure exists in men and women alike, whether they are gay, bisexual, straight or of any orientation in between. Whether a man enjoys anal sex or not is no reflection on his sexual orientation, and if he's gay, it doesn't define whether or not he's "really" having sex.
Historically, lesbians were told that with no vaginal penetration, they were not having "real" sex (and even today, some still are told this). These erroneous judgments come from a heterosexist and patriarchal definition of the only "right" way to enjoy sex.
One problem with this rigid model (pun intended) is that as males age and begin to lose their ability to achieve a full, strong erection on demand, they fear that they will never have "sex" again. They must learn other ways to satisfy their partners. But in order to do so, they must first work through the misconception that the only good sex is penetrative sex.
It's OK to Be a Side!
It's high time for sides to come out and feel proud and secure about their sexuality. Not being a top or a bottom doesn't mean that one is less gay or less masculine. It doesn't make anyone any less of a sexual human being.
The Internet is showing us that people get into a wide variety of sexual pleasures, and whatever you get into is exactly right for you.
Given the freedom to experiment and explore new techniques, being a side becomes equally hot and exciting as being a top, a bottom or an aficionado of any other position or practice. |
T&Cs:
Mazda Scrappage Incentive Scheme is available to private customers registering a new Mazda with CO2 emissions up to 136g/km between 18.12.18 and 31.03.19, is conditional on the Scrappage of the part exchange vehicle, of any make, that has been registered to the current keeper for a minimum of 60 days and was first registered on or before 31 December 2010. Vehicles registered under this offer must be registered to the same name or address as the current keeper of the Scrappage vehicle. Retail sales only, subject to availability at participating dealers.
T&C apply. *4.9% APR Mazda Personal Contract Purchase and Mazda Conditional Sale available on all Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda6, Mazda CX-3 and Mazda CX-5 models, excludes models with CO2 emissions of more than 135g/km. Finance subject to status, 18s or over. Guarantee may be required. Mazda Financial Services RH1 1SR. Channel Islands and Isle of Man excluded. Not available in conjunction with any other offer unless specified. Test drives subject to applicant status and availability. |
As self-driving cars move from futuristic concept to plausible technology, the Texas Legislature is looking to become a magnet for the fast-developing industry.
Three lawmakers have filed bills aimed at encouraging the use of the technology in Texas while allowing for some government oversight.
“It’s the kind of futuristic thinking you easily associate with California, New York,” state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said. “Texas ought to not be behind the curve. We ought to be ahead of the curve.”
Last week, Ellis filed Senate Bill 1167, which would create a pilot program aimed at both monitoring and encouraging autonomous vehicle testing in the state. Under the bill, the Department of Public Safety would create minimum safety requirements for autonomous vehicles. Companies building or working with self-driving cars would have to notify DPS before they could drive them on public roadways. Any such vehicles in use would need a “driver” with an “autonomous motor vehicle operation designation” on his or her driver’s license awarded by DPS. The bill would also allow the Texas Department of Transportation to work with private firms to test autonomous technology for freight transport.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Two years ago, Google brought its self-driving car prototype to the Texas Transportation Forum, an annual conference organized by TxDOT in Austin. Google officials acknowledged at the time that they drove the vehicle on autopilot through other parts of Texas en route to the conference without notifying any state or local authorities. They didn’t have to, because Texas law does not address self-driving technology. Only a handful of states have laws specifically permitting the testing of self-driving vehicles on public roads.
Ellis said the bill is intended to make Texas a national leader in transportation while addressing a wide range of other issues including traffic congestion, public safety and climate change.
“I want to be part of helping put a blueprint in place in Texas that goes beyond my service in the Legislature,” Ellis said.
Along with Ellis’ bill, two House lawmakers have filed legislation dealing with self-driving vehicles. State Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, filed House Bill 933, a measure similar to Ellis’ bill that would also allow DPS to explore using autonomous vehicles for border security. House Bill 3690 from state Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, would allow TxDOT to explore using autonomous vehicles for construction and maintenance work.
Aside from bills filed this session to encourage research in self-driving cars, TxDOT is also requesting extra funding to partner with Texas universities and study emerging transportation technology. Last year, the agency had announced plans to request $50 million for the initiative but later reduced that to $20 million.
House budget writers didn’t fund the request but added it to a lengthy legislative wish list.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
“This session, members are calling for more funding for roads to address the mobility issues plaguing our state, so that is where the Appropriations Committee prioritized funding for TxDOT,” House Appropriations Chairman John Otto, R-Dayton, said. He added that the full House would have the chance to weigh in on TxDOT’s request when the budget reaches the House floor for debate just before Easter.
The Senate Finance Committee, where the Senate version of the budget is being written, has not made a decision on TxDOT’s $20 million request.
In recent years, self-driving vehicles have drawn the most attention in California, where Google is developing the technology, and Detroit, where the auto industry is conducting research. Yet Texas is also seeing some early work in the area. Both the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University have researched autonomous technology, particularly the area of so-called connected vehicle networks, in which road systems wirelessly transmit information to vehicles.
“You talk to any car company that’s trying to develop automation, they’ll tell you when they encounter an unexpected event, that’s where the challenge is,” said Ed Seymour, the associate director of the Texas Transportation Institute. “They’re developing the tech. We’re looking at how you might use it.”
Kara Kockelman, a UT-Austin engineering professor who is researching how the state highway system could be updated to pave the way for self-driving cars, said a connected vehicle network could let cars know about an accident up ahead.
“You have to let the vehicle do the driving to make good use of that information,” Kockelman said. “There’s a lot of synergies that come from connectivity plus autonomy.”
TxDOT spokesman Bob Kaufman said the agency would find a way to continue exploring self-driving cars regardless of what the Legislature does this session.
“As technology increasingly impacts transportation, we want to be asking the right questions to be prepared for changes in how we move around our state,” Kaufman said.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Disclosure: Google, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here. |
ENGLISH football club Notts County is using heat lamps confiscated in police raids on illegal cannabis farms to help maintain its pitch.
The equipment, seized by Nottinghamshire Police, is being deployed on lighting rigs to heat up the soil and assist the regrowth of grass on the club's Meadow Lane pitch during the cold winter months.
"This property would normally be crushed, so it is important it gets reused and a lot of people are getting the benefit from it," Superintendent Mark Holland was quoted as saying on the BBC website.
University students in the city in central England have been involved in the design and construction of the rigs, which also use wheels donated by a local golf club and recycled goal posts.
The stadium manager at Meadow Lane, Greg Smith, said new lighting rigs normally cost between 10,000 pounds and 15,000 pounds ($14,500 to $21,700), so the makeshift scheme was cost-effective.
"We have both sports at the club, football and rugby, and we've got a main stand that doesn't allow the light in during the winter," he added.
"So, we can have them from the start of October through to the end of February, hopefully growing grass for us."
Notts County are currently mid-table in the third-tier League One of English football. Meadow Lane is a stone's throw across the River Trent from second-tier Championship rivals Nottingham Forest's City Ground.
The ground is shared with Nottingham Rugby, who play in the second-tier of the English Championship.
Originally published as Bright idea for greener pitch |
Wow! I received amazing gifts from a very generous and talented Santa! I must have been very good this year because six beautifully wrapped presents arrived in box filled with candy. Yum! I was not expecting so much. I am really floored by how awesome this Santa is. All of the gifts were so thoughtful.
As they were numbered, I decided to open the gifts in order.
Gift 1: A cooking thermometer for all manner of tasty items. This will come in handy for my Christmas roast!
Gift 2: Kong Moose for my puppers! As soon as I lifted the gift out of the box my little terrier terror came over to sniff and wouldn't go away. He somehow knew it was for him! I thought he was being naughty, but once I unwrapped the gift I understood. Both dogs were psyched and proceeded to play, immediately.
Gift 3: Mug with a great quote! "I don't care who dies in a movie as long as the dog lives." Perfect gift. I have an extensive mug collection. This is going in the rotation tomorrow! It also reminds me that no matter how cute the dog is, I shouldn't rewatch Marley & Me.
Gift 4: Badass knife to take hiking! My SS must be psychic because the other day I thought to myself, "I should get a knife to carry." It also starts fires, has a bunch of rope, and comes in a cool pouch! I feel the need to smooch my SO behind a tree now and carve out initials into the bark afterwards. This is going everywhere with me. So freaking cool. I'm coming up with every excuse to whip this knife out.
Gift 5: Plush Hedwig owl! Owls are my spirit animal!!! Once again, how did she know?! I adore Harry Potter and love this little furry version of Hedwig. She's going on the shelf of my Christmas display, happily roosting on an evergreen branch. Such a cute, happy little owl with an adorable face that makes me want to squoosh her!
Gift 6: Last, but not least, an amazing handmade Haku from Spirited Away! My Santa is incredibly talented!!! I've never heard of needle fetting before and have no idea how she did it, but what a seriously cool item. I love his blue hair. This one really knocked my socks off!! I'm very impressed! I adore that movie and this gift is so perfect. What a great little companion for me. He seems to like hanging out in my Christmas tree.
10/10, A+ with honors. My Santa went above and beyond and did such a great job. Thank you so much Santa! I really enjoyed everything about this. I feel so lucky and touched that she took the time to do this for me. There was so much love in that box. |
Patreon
Livestream
Youtube
Twitter
Bonus addition for my Season 5 Episode Art! Season 5, Episode 25 & 26 - The Cutie Re-MarkFor more info on my MLP:FIM Season 5 Episode Art Streams Been making so much Applejack&Rarity these last weeks, and since I made Applejack last Saturday I thought let's make Rarity this time!this scene still made me think of sad puppy Spike, though haha.T'was quite an interesting hairstyle she had here. Not the only part of this style that was, though. The colours of the clothing were a fun change, very dark and saturated stuff. Which I tried to translate into a shaded style.Sparkles for additional dramatic effect.I admit, I had a bit of trouble choosing something to make today. Went through different sketches, never really feeling sure about the choice, then ended up going back to one of my original ideas I was levitating towards for this stream. (Zecora or Rarity)... next week the plan isn't any better. |
We found a flight deal for cheap city breaks in Lviv! Now the flights from Kiev to Lviv cost only 19 EUR for a round trip!
It is definitely the opportunity to pack your bags for one of the weekends of upcoming autumn! Go to Ukrainian Western capital to get dissolved in the world of coffee, fine food and medieval architecture!
Travel dates:
September 2015 – May 2016
Sample dates:
18-21 Sep
16-19 Oct
27-30 Nov
11-14 Dec
6-9 May
and many more..
Routing:
Kiev – Lviv – Kiev
How to book:
For flights from Lviv follow this link: Kayak.es, then follow the links to BudgetAir.es
For flights from Kiev follow this link: Kayak.es, then follow the links to BudgetAir.es
Baggage policy:
One cabin bag and one piece of checked in baggage per passenger.
Sample booking:
Kiev – Lviv >>
Lviv – Kiev >>
Accommodation:
If you’re looking for cheap accommodation you should compare hotel rates on HotelsCombined.com. Don’t forget to read hotel reviews on TripAdvisor.
Copyrighted 2019 by Los Internetos sp. z o.o. sp. k. Please be aware that this article and whole website is copyrighted. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher |
A senior Vatican official has accused the media of trying "to imitate Dan Brown" in their coverage of the so-called VatiLeaks scandal and said the Roman Catholic Church's latest travails were part of attempts to destabilise it.
The interview with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who ranks second only to Pope Benedict in the Vatican's hierarchy, was the latest attempt at damage control by senior Vatican officials since the leaks scandal began in January.
In a rare interview with the Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, Dr Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, accused the media of "intentionally ignoring" the good things the church does while dwelling on scandals.
"Many journalists are playing the game of trying to imitate Dan Brown," said Dr Bertone, referring to the best-selling author of novels such as The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons."They (journalists) continue to invent fairytales and repeat legends."
The scandal involves the leak of sensitive documents, including letters written to Pope Benedict, whose butler Paolo Gabriel was arrested last month after a large number of stolen documents were found in his home.
Newspapers are full of "pettiness and lies", Dr Bertone claimed.
"Outside Italy people have a hard time trying to understand the vehemence of some Italian newspapers," he added.
He said the Church was "an unequivocal reference point for countless people and institutions around the world", which is why "there is an attempt to destabilise it".
Dr Bertone branded as false the image of the Vatican as a place of intrigue and power struggles. "The truth is that there is an attempt to sow division that comes from the Devil," he said.
At a briefing with the Vatican's chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, an Italian reporter contested Dr Bertone's portrayal of the media, telling him that the leaks scandal started with a letter in which an archbishop complained to the pope about corruption in the Vatican.
Several leaked documents allege corruption in the Vatican's business dealings with Italian companies that were paid inflated prices for work in the Vatican, rivalries among cardinals, and clashes over the management of the Vatican bank.
Fr Lombardi said that while he did not want to make "generalised condemnations", he believed that some of the coverage of the Vatican was "not founded on objectivity".
Earlier this month, Fr Lombardi acknowledged that it would take time to restore trust within the walls of the Vatican and to heal the damage to the Church's reputation caused by the leaks scandal and the subsequent arrest of the pope's butler.
Mr Gabriele was arrested on May 23rd and has been interrogated several times by a Vatican magistrate who must decide whether he should stand trial on charges of aggravated theft.
Dr Bertone said no cardinals were suspected of involvement in the leaks scandal.He also denied allegations by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the former head of the Vatican bank, that he was removed because he wanted the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), to be more transparent.
Dr Bertone repeated the Vatican's position that Mr Gotti Tedeschi left after a no-confidence vote by the bank's board because he was a divisive and inefficient manager.
Next month Moneyval, the Council of Europe's monitoring mechanism on money laundering and terrorism financing, will discuss a draft report on whether the Vatican, a sovereign city state surrounded by Rome, is complying with international standards.
The Moneyval rating and recommendations are used by other organisations, such as the OECD, which refers to it when deciding whether to place states on its so-called white list - a clean bill of health which could help the Vatican move on from a spate of scandals over the last 30 years.
Dr Bertone said the bank had been much maligned and that its board was working "to recover the esteem it deserves at the international level".
Reuters |
The man who stopped showing signs of HIV after being given a bone marrow transplant for stem cells says he's still cured.
Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," made international and national headlines when it was discovered he was apparently cured of the AIDS virus as a result of the transplant he underwent for the treatment of leukemia.
Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington on Tuesday, Brown said doctors have told him he's "cured of AIDS and will remain cured."
The American had the transplant in February 2007 while a student in Berlin. A year later, his leukemia returned but HIV did not. He had a second transplant in March 2008 from the same donor.
Researchers in California recently found traces of HIV in Brown's tissue, but he said the virus itself is dead and can't replicate. He has debilitating side-effects and scientists continue to test him to try to understand how the treatment worked.
Brown accepts his reputation among the AIDS community as a miracle man with mixed feelings.
"I have a slight sense of guilt, particularly when friends tell me, 'I would like to be cured, too,'" Brown said. "That's hard. Basically that's the reason why I'm fighting for a cure for HIV," he added in announcing a new foundation to fight to cure AIDS.
Preventing false hope
The bone marrow donor had a genetic mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV. An estimated one per cent of Caucasians have the mutation. Brown's oncologist, Dr. Gero Huetter, a blood cancer expert at the University of Berlin, searched for such a person who also was a tissue match.
It's unlikely Brown's experience is transferrable to other patients, cautioned Dr. Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal.
"What we don't want to do obviously is give anybody false hope," Wainberg said. "So to speak of a cure — next year, or two years or even five years — is probably completely unrealistic."
Efforts to replicate the unique treatment have failed. All the other patients died.
Despite that, Wainberg called Brown a symbol of hope to inspire researchers working towards a cure. |
During this election process, we have seen voter fraud stories pop up all over the country. In fact, multiple states have proven to be hacked, so yes, there is a concern.
All the while, our government has said voter fraud is non-existent in this country, until now. As you are about to see, the Director of Homeland Security is considering declaring our election system as “critical infrastructure.”
Translation… the federal government wants to extend its arm over state control of the election process.
Jeh Johnson stated, “We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid.”
This is a very scary thought patriots.
For years, our federal government has said there is absolutely nothing wrong at all, now it is sending the Department of Homeland Security in to the election process.
Conveniently, this declaration is made as Trump gains ground on Hillary and her easy win is in serious doubt.
Is that coincidence or is this a concentrated effort by the Obama administration to insert itself into the presidential election to ensure Hillary wins?
And they wonder where all these conspiracy theories come from?!
So, why do we need to be worried about this?
Because it will give Obama and his thugs jurisdictional control over local election systems and to dictate policy anywhere they see fit.
More concerning is this is flat out unconstitutional! Elections are clearly the responsibility of state and local government, NOT the federal government.
Yes, we need our elections to be more secure to ensure the integrity of the process, but that burden falls on local and state government, NOT the federal government.
This is nothing more than a guise by Barack H. Obama to extend the reach of the federal government and control the results of the upcoming election.
What do you think of the federal government trying to take over the election process? Please share this story on Facebook and tell us because we want to hear YOUR voice! |
.- A European court's new decision in the case of four British Christians claiming religious discrimination in their workplaces was received as a positive step by an attorney representing two of the plaintiffs.
“This decision here is good, in terms of rights, because it acknowledges that belief in orthodox Christian sexual ethics is actually a....manifestation of faith,” Andrea M. Williams, co-founder of Christian Legal Centre, told CNA Jan. 16.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Jan. 15 that of the four plaintiffs, only one had been insufficiently protected by British law to have her right of freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination at work. Each of the cases related to the freedom of express Christian identity in public life and in the workplace.
The court found that the freedom of religion of Nadia Eweida, a Coptic Christian employed at British Airways, was breached after she was kept from wearing a cross while at work.
“Domestic law,” the court found, in the Eweida's case, “did not strike the right balance between the protection of her right to manifest her religion and the rights and interests of others.” The court ordered the U.K. to pay Eweida 32,000 euros, or $42,483.
The other three plaintiffs, who lost their cases, were Shirly Chaplin, a nurse who was kept from wearing a cross at work; Lilian Ladele, who lost her job with a London borough government for refusing to conduct civil partnerships; and Gary McFarlane, a therapist who was fired for saying he would be unable to give sex therapy to homosexual couples, though he did consent to give general counseling to same-sex couples.
The Christian Legal Centre represented Chaplin and McFarlane. The decisions can be appealed to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.
The human rights court found that in all four cases, the religious beliefs motivating the plaintiffs' actions at work were worthy of protection, and must be balanced with concerns for the rights of co-workers and homosexuals.
“What the judges did in Europe was to give a wide margin of appreciation – that employers or the national government could decide how those rights were balanced,” Williams explained.
“But our courts, the domestic courts, have failed to recognize that these were even manifestations of belief. So we've made steps forward. Although we lost, we've made steps forward...in our country, we're beginning to lose even the argument that these were manifestations of faith.”
Williams said that this decision can be used in ongoing cases because “we will be able to say the European Court has recognized these beliefs as beliefs worthy of protection.”
In giving governments a broad “margin of appreciation” to balance competing rights, the court “sort of washed its hands” of deciding precisely how these rights are to be balanced in European nations. The Christian Legal Centre had hoped the court would clarify the balance of rights, but the decision can be used to argue for “how these rights are balanced, as a reasonable accommodation.”
“This means that at the Christian Legal Centre we will now go into our domestic courts on our current cases with fantastic legal argument on our side. In the U.K. these judgments have opened up numerous new legal arguments in our favour.”
Williams said she is hoping for “a change in legislation,” and that the Conservative government's discussion of a new Bill of Rights in the U.K. “would need to ensure that Christians are protected.”
The decision with regards to McFarlane is perhaps the most distressing.
“It's true generally that it's very difficult, increasingly it being Christian will be a bar to office, and if marriage is redefined in our nation, increasingly Christians will find it incredibly hard to be in certain positions in the workplace,” Williams stated.
“So that is the reality we are facing, but the more that we see this is for real, the more we will need to do something about it.”
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States, told Vatican Radio Jan. 16 that the decision suggested “a real risk that moral relativism, which imposes itself as a new social norm, will come to undermine the foundations of individual freedom of conscience and religion.”
Freedom of conscience, he emphasized, is actually a necessary condition for a tolerant pluralistic society.
“The erosion of freedom of conscience also witnesses to a form of pessimism with regard to the capacity of the human conscience to recognize the good and the true, to the advantage of positive law alone, which tends to monopolize the determination of morality.” |
Justice Antonin Scalia predicts that the Supreme Court will eventually authorize another a wartime abuse of civil rights such as the internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II.
"You are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again," Scalia told the University of Hawaii law school while discussing Korematsu v. United States, the ruling in which the court gave its imprimatur to the internment camps.
The local Associated Press report quotes Scalia as using a Latin phrase that means "in times of war, the laws fall silent," to explain why the court erred in that decision and will do so again.
"That's what was going on — the panic about the war and the invasion of the Pacific and whatnot," Scalia said. "That's what happens. It was wrong, but I would not be surprised to see it happen again, in time of war. It's no justification but it is the reality."
The late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who was Japanese-American, was not among those sent to the camps but was declared an "enemy alien." When he got the chance to fight for his country in World War II, he jumped at it, eventually earning a Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry" near San Terenzo, Italy, in 1945. "I was angered to realize that my government thought that I was disloyal and part of the enemy, and I wanted to be able to demonstrate not only to my government but to my neighbors that I was a good American," Inouye told Ken Burns in "The War," as quoted by Reuters.
You should read his Medal of Honor citation here.
CORRECTION : This post has been updated to reflect that Inouye was not sent to the internment camps, and that Inouye was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945, not 1942. The Washington Examiner regrets the errors. |
A ship involved with the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is being fitted with a drone to examine several sonar contacts on the remote seabed west of Australia.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search for the Boeing 777, said on Wednesday none of the sonar contacts are characteristic of a typical aircraft debris field, but some do exhibit man-made properties and must be investigated.
Officials previously said more than 20 sonar contacts picked up by crews in recent months require closer examination by a sonar-equipped water drone. They are between 2,700km and 1,900km from the Australian port of Fremantle where the search ships are based.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
The Chinese vessel, Dong Hai Jiu 101 is being fitted with a video camera-equipped remotely operated vehicle that will scrutinise the sonar contacts. Poor weather conditions during the southern hemisphere winter prevented the drone from being deployed before now.
Crews have picked up hundreds of sonar contacts of interest during the two-year hunt for MH370, which vanished on 8 March 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The contacts are grouped into three classification levels, with those labelled "classification 1" considered most likely to have come from the aircraft.
None of the recent sonar contacts the drone will investigate are classification 1. Only two have fitted into that category during the search - one was an old ship wreck and the other was a rock field.
An underwater search of 120,000 sq km of seabed in the southern Indian Ocean, which is believed to cover the most likely area for a crash site, is almost complete - without any trace of the plane being found.
Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Show all 30 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 1/30 Chinese relatives A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 burns incense as he prays at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing 2/30 Chinese relatives Family members of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 burn incense to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing 3/30 Chinese relatives A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 comforts another relative as they gather to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing 4/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry as they gather at the Lama Temple in Beijing. Chinese relatives marked 100 days since the plane went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing by offering prayers and burning incense at the buddhist temple 5/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 offer prayers at the Lama Temple in Beijing 6/30 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative of passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 prays at the Lama Temple in Beijing 7/30 Chinese relatives Chinese relatives of passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 hold incense sticks and pray at the Lama Temple in Beijing 8/30 Malaysian relatives Intan Maizura Othman (34) wife of MH370 fligh attendant Hazrin Hasnan holds placard during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor 9/30 Malaysian relatives A young relative tries to stick paper planes on a board during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor 10/30 Malaysian relatives Pictures of crews and passengers is displayed during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor 11/30 Search for flight MH370 The Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis is craned over the side of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370. Twenty-six nations have been involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 since it disappeared more than a month ago 12/30 Chinese relatives Chinese women, relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 cry as they wait for Malaysia embassy staff to meet them outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing. About 50 relatives of Chinese passengers on the plane continued a sit-in protest outside the Malaysian Embassy after officials failed to show up to update them on the search 13/30 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 speaks to media as he and others wait for Malaysia embassy staff to meet them outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing 14/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 push through a police line to march to the Malaysian embassy from a hotel in Beijing. Angry relatives who had been waiting for more than 8 hours in vain for a Malaysia embassy representative to attend their daily meeting marched to the Malaysia embassy and protested through the night 15/30 Chinese relatives Chinese police men try to prevent relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 from marching to the Malaysian embassy from a hotel in Beijing 16/30 Search for flight MH370 Flying Officer Elizabeth Vonfinster, an Air Combat Officer with No. 2 Squadron sits at her station aboard the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft during its return from another mission in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean 17/30 Chinese relatives Wen Wanchang, whose son was on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as he pleads with Malaysian embassy representative Bala Chandran Tharman for answers during a meeting in Beijing 18/30 Chinese relatives A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is carried by medical personnel and policemen after collapsing during a briefing Lido Hotel in Beijing 19/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cry during a meeting in Beijing 20/30 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as she asks for answers during a meeting with Malaysia embassy and Malaysia Airlines representatives in Beijing 21/30 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative (C) of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 reacts as he attends a meeting at the Metro Park Hotel in Beijing 22/30 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, demands answers from Malaysian representatives at a meeting in Beijing. Relatives chanted slogans and shouted protests against the lack of meaning answers from Malaysian officials and Malaysia Airlines representatives 23/30 Chinese relatives A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries as she speaks to Malaysian representatives during a briefing at Lido Hotel in Beijing. A tropical cyclone was threatening to hamper the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean, as a submarine drone neared the end of its mission scouring the sea bed with still no sign of wreckage 24/30 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative of passengers onboard missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 reacts in front of journalists as she arrives during a briefing at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The effort to find missing flight MH370 is at a "very critical juncture", Malaysia's transport minister said as authorities mull whether to reassess a challenging search of the Indian Ocean seabed that has so far found nothing 25/30 Search for flight MH370 Commander James Lybrand, Mission Commander ADV Ocean Shield (L) and Chris "Sharkie" Moore, Phoenix team leader, watch the launching of the Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis as it is craned over the side of Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield before launching it in to the southern Indian Ocean in the search of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 26/30 Search for flight MH370 The Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis is craned over the side of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 27/30 Search for flight MH370 Leading Seaman, Boatswain's Mate, William Sharkey searching for debris on a rigid hull inflatable boat at sea in the Southern Indian Ocean 28/30 Search for flight MH370 Boatswain's Mate, Able Seaman Morgan Macdonald (L) observing markers from a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3K Orion at sea in the Southern Indian Ocean. An oil slick in the Indian Ocean is not from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, officials said when insisting underwater search efforts would be 'pursued to their completion' 29/30 Search for flight MH370 HMAS Perth transiting through the Southern Indian Ocean as an Orion P-3K of the Royal New Zealand Air Force searches for debris for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean 30/30 Search for flight MH370 Craig Turner from Phoenix International monitoring the Artemis' depth and speed as the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle scans the ocean floor for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean 1/30 Chinese relatives A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 burns incense as he prays at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing 2/30 Chinese relatives Family members of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 burn incense to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing 3/30 Chinese relatives A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 comforts another relative as they gather to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing 4/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry as they gather at the Lama Temple in Beijing. Chinese relatives marked 100 days since the plane went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing by offering prayers and burning incense at the buddhist temple 5/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 offer prayers at the Lama Temple in Beijing 6/30 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative of passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 prays at the Lama Temple in Beijing 7/30 Chinese relatives Chinese relatives of passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 hold incense sticks and pray at the Lama Temple in Beijing 8/30 Malaysian relatives Intan Maizura Othman (34) wife of MH370 fligh attendant Hazrin Hasnan holds placard during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor 9/30 Malaysian relatives A young relative tries to stick paper planes on a board during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor 10/30 Malaysian relatives Pictures of crews and passengers is displayed during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor 11/30 Search for flight MH370 The Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis is craned over the side of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370. Twenty-six nations have been involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 since it disappeared more than a month ago 12/30 Chinese relatives Chinese women, relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 cry as they wait for Malaysia embassy staff to meet them outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing. About 50 relatives of Chinese passengers on the plane continued a sit-in protest outside the Malaysian Embassy after officials failed to show up to update them on the search 13/30 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 speaks to media as he and others wait for Malaysia embassy staff to meet them outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing 14/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 push through a police line to march to the Malaysian embassy from a hotel in Beijing. Angry relatives who had been waiting for more than 8 hours in vain for a Malaysia embassy representative to attend their daily meeting marched to the Malaysia embassy and protested through the night 15/30 Chinese relatives Chinese police men try to prevent relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 from marching to the Malaysian embassy from a hotel in Beijing 16/30 Search for flight MH370 Flying Officer Elizabeth Vonfinster, an Air Combat Officer with No. 2 Squadron sits at her station aboard the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft during its return from another mission in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean 17/30 Chinese relatives Wen Wanchang, whose son was on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as he pleads with Malaysian embassy representative Bala Chandran Tharman for answers during a meeting in Beijing 18/30 Chinese relatives A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is carried by medical personnel and policemen after collapsing during a briefing Lido Hotel in Beijing 19/30 Chinese relatives Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cry during a meeting in Beijing 20/30 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as she asks for answers during a meeting with Malaysia embassy and Malaysia Airlines representatives in Beijing 21/30 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative (C) of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 reacts as he attends a meeting at the Metro Park Hotel in Beijing 22/30 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, demands answers from Malaysian representatives at a meeting in Beijing. Relatives chanted slogans and shouted protests against the lack of meaning answers from Malaysian officials and Malaysia Airlines representatives 23/30 Chinese relatives A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries as she speaks to Malaysian representatives during a briefing at Lido Hotel in Beijing. A tropical cyclone was threatening to hamper the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean, as a submarine drone neared the end of its mission scouring the sea bed with still no sign of wreckage 24/30 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative of passengers onboard missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 reacts in front of journalists as she arrives during a briefing at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The effort to find missing flight MH370 is at a "very critical juncture", Malaysia's transport minister said as authorities mull whether to reassess a challenging search of the Indian Ocean seabed that has so far found nothing 25/30 Search for flight MH370 Commander James Lybrand, Mission Commander ADV Ocean Shield (L) and Chris "Sharkie" Moore, Phoenix team leader, watch the launching of the Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis as it is craned over the side of Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield before launching it in to the southern Indian Ocean in the search of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 26/30 Search for flight MH370 The Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis is craned over the side of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 27/30 Search for flight MH370 Leading Seaman, Boatswain's Mate, William Sharkey searching for debris on a rigid hull inflatable boat at sea in the Southern Indian Ocean 28/30 Search for flight MH370 Boatswain's Mate, Able Seaman Morgan Macdonald (L) observing markers from a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3K Orion at sea in the Southern Indian Ocean. An oil slick in the Indian Ocean is not from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, officials said when insisting underwater search efforts would be 'pursued to their completion' 29/30 Search for flight MH370 HMAS Perth transiting through the Southern Indian Ocean as an Orion P-3K of the Royal New Zealand Air Force searches for debris for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean 30/30 Search for flight MH370 Craig Turner from Phoenix International monitoring the Artemis' depth and speed as the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle scans the ocean floor for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean
Malaysia, China and Australia agreed in July that the search in the southern Indian Ocean would be suspended after the current search site has been thoroughly examined with deep sea sonar equipment in the absence of credible new evidence that identified the plane’s location.
Officials previously said the search would be finished by December, but on Wednesday, the transport bureau said it is now likely to take until January or February to complete, due disruption from poor winter weather.
Last month, investigators cast doubt on the discovery of "fire-damaged" debris washed up on Madagascar, which were seen as possible evidence to the cause of the crash.
Officials at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are still yet to determine whether the five items of debris came from the missing Boeing 777. But said a preliminary investigation showed at least two of the pieces, panels of fiberglass honeycomb, were discoloured naturally as a result of resin in the material, not exposure to fire or heat.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe now |
Page Content
FEES & PAYMENTS
The following policies apply when paying for corporate and UCC services rendered by the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations:
The fees of the Bureau are nonrefundable . The nonrefundable policy applies to both accepted and rejected filings.
. The nonrefundable policy applies to both accepted and rejected filings. Customers may pay by check or money order made payable to the PA Department of State.
Cash or credit cards are not accepted.
Checks may not be more than six months old.
Checks must be commercially pre-printed with the name and address of the account holder.
Please make sure that checks are signed.
Effective January 6, 2014, credit card payments will be accepted for expedited services only.
Act 135 of 2016 (effective January 2, 2017) - Business Fee Exemption for Veteran-Owned and Reservist-Owned Small Businesses (PDF)
FEE SCHEDULE
Domestic Corporation/Association (Profit and Non-Profit)
Articles of Incorporation or like instrument incorporating a corporation or association $125 Articles of Conversion $70 Each ancillary transaction $70 Articles of Merger, Consolidation or Division $150 Additional fee for each association that is a party to a merger or consolidation $40 Additional fee for each association resulting from a division $125 Annual Report - Benefit corporation $70 Annual Report - Non-profit corporation no fee
Foreign Corporation (Profit and Non-Profit)
Certificates of Authority or like qualifications to do business $250 Amended Certificate of Authority or like change in qualification to do business $250 Domestication $70 Each ancillary transaction $250 Statement of Merger or Consolidation $150 Additional fee for each association that is a party to a merger or consolidation $40
Fictitious Name
Registration $70 Each ancillary transaction $70
Trademark
Registration $50 Renewal/Cancellation $50 Assignment $50
Insignia, Marked Articles and Like Matters
Registration $70 Amendment $70
Domestic Limited Partnership
Registration $125 Each ancillary transaction $70 Certificate of Merger, Consolidation or Division $150 Additional fee for each association that is a party to a merger or consolidation $40 Additional fee for each new association resulting from a division $125
Foreign Limited Partnership
Registration $250 Amended registration $250 Domestication $125 Each ancillary transaction $250
Domestic Limited Liability Partnership
Registration $125 Each ancillary transaction $70 Annual registration at least $340
Domestic Limited Liability Company
Certificate of Organization $125 Each ancillary transaction $70 Certificate of Merger, Consolidation or Division $150 Additional fee for each association that is a party to a merger or consolidation $40 Additional fee for each new association resulting from a division $125 Annual Registration (restricted professional companies only) at least $500
Foreign Limited Liability Partnership/Limited Liability Company
Registration $250 Amended Registration $250 Domestication of Foreign Limited Liability Company $125 Each ancillary transaction $250 Annual Registration (Partnership) at least $340 Annual Registration (Company) at least $500
Municipal and other Authorities
Articles of Incorporation $125 Articles of Merger $150 Each ancillary transaction (includes Articles of dissolution) $70
Miscellaneous Association filings
Surety Bonds $70 Home Rule Charter/Optional Plan $70 Land Bank formation $125 Land Bank ancillary filing $70
Certification Fee
Record searches listing the entity number, name, address, and file date (these may also indicate a no record) $15 Statement of Registration (Foreign Entities)
Subsistence certificates evidencing status $40
$40 Plain copies $15 plus $3 per page Certified copies $55 plus $3 per page Engrossed certificates bearing the Secretary's seal (non-existence certificates and great seals) $125 Printouts of the computer screen are available in the reception room $3 per page All microfilm records are available for public inspection and copying in the bureau reception room $3 per page
Uniform Commercial Code
Financing Statement $84 Financing Statement Amendment $84 Correction Statement $84 Attached pages to UCC-1 or UCC-3 filings NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE UCC-11 Information Request $12 UCC-11 Copy Request $12 + $3 per page of copies; and $28 if certification is requested
Expedited Services
Expedited service fees are in addition to the statutory fees associated with the type of document submitted or service sought. An expedited service request form must be submitted for each request. This form can be found on the forms page. All expedited requests MUST BE SUBMITTED IN PERSON . Expedited requests are NOT accepted through the mail.
Expedited service fees are as follows:
1 hour service (received before 4:00 p.m.) $1,000 3 hour service (received before 2:00 p.m.) $300 Same-day service (received before 10:00 a.m.) $100
Expedited service fees may be paid by credit card, check, money order, or customer deposit account, when these accounts are already established. Cash payment will not be accepted. All fees are nonrefundable.
Other Fees
Change of Registered Office $5 Change of Registered Office by Agent $5 Duplicate certificates are available $70 Name Reservation/Registration $70 Name Availability (3 names) $15 FAX
$3 per page
(outgoing fax) Business List $ .25 per name Service of Process, Each Defendant Named or Served $70
* If you have any questions, please contact the Bureau at (717) 787-1057.
. |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Theis pleased to announce that itsBreaking the Waves, which received its premiere on September 22, 2016 by Opera Philadelphia in conjunction with Beth Morrison Projects. The award was created to honor musical and theatrical excellence in a fully-staged opera that received its world premiere in North America during the preceding calendar year.
The Award will be presented to the winners on July 19 during the opening of the MCANA Annual Meeting in Santa Fe, NM. Mazzoli and Vavrek will be also be profiled in MCANA’s web publication Classical Voice North America. The other finalists were Fellow Travelers, by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce, and Anatomy Theater by composer David Lang and librettist Mark Dion.
After soliciting nominations from MCANA members, the finalists were chosen by an Awards Committee co-chaired by MCANA members Heidi Waleson, opera critic of The Wall Street Journal, and George Loomis, longtime contributor to the Financial Times and Musical America, alongside committee members Arthur Kaptainis, who writes for the Montreal Gazette and Musical Toronto, representing Canada; John Rockwell, former critic and arts editor of The New York Times and co-New York correspondent of Opera (UK); and Alex Ross, music critic of The New Yorker.
Said MCANA president Barbara Jepson of the announcement: “We at MCANA view the launch of this new award as a way to commend the work of outstanding composers and librettists. The Award reflects the overarching mission of MCANA to foster excellence and, through its web publication Classical Voice North America, to communicate the incredible richness of musical life in the U.S. and Canada at a time when classical music coverage in traditional print media is shrinking.”
In responding to the announcement, Mazzoli said: “It’s thrilling to be recognized by five critics I read regularly and respect mightily, and moving to know that Breaking the Waves stood out in a year full of fantastic new operas.” Vavrek added: “Writing “Breaking the Waves” has truly been a dream come true – it’s a libretto that erupted straight from my heart, based on a story that has clung to my imagination since seeing Lars von Trier’s film at the age of fourteen. Collaborating with Missy is one of the great joys of my life, and I thank Opera Philadelphia, Beth Morrison Projects and the rest of our artistic family for their belief in our work, and to MCANA for this incredible recognition.”
ABOUT THE MCANA
MCANA is the only North American organization for professional classical music critics. The association was incorporated in 1957, and early members included leading critics such as Paul Hume of the Washington Post, Irving Lowens of the Washington Star, Miles Kastendieck of the New York Herald Tribune and Harold C. Schonberg of the New York Times. Current members include critics at the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Francisco Chronicle, and Toronto Star; regular contributors to the Wall Street Journal, Gramophone, Musicalamerica.com, Musical Toronto and Opera News; as well as program annotators and broadcast journalists. The organization is a member of the National Music Council. In 2013, MCANA launched Classical Voice North America, a web publication for reviews, features, and commentary with readers in 87 countries. |
Registration and Hotel information
The Hotel
We have now passed the deadline for reserving a room in the block Embassy gives us each year. There are no more guarantees that you will be able to book a room, but if you want to get a room, please contact Sue at Sue97062@aol.com. If the hotel is not fully booked, I may still be able to get you a room. The hotel has two floors out of commission right now due to renovations, but I will try to get you booked.
The hotel provides a shuttle to and from the airport,and there is free parking at the hotel for those who drive. The Embassy Suites also provides a fully cooked-to-order breakfast each morning in the beautiful hotel atrium, and a manager's hosted bar in the evenings - over all, the hotel is a great value!. Staying at the hotel, and being there for the entire conference really does enhance your experience for the weekend!
Schedule
Registration will begin at 4:30 PM on Friday,Social Hour at 6:30 PM and first session at 7:30 PM. Our last session on Sunday usually ends about 12:30 PM.
Children
Due to the nature of the conference presentations and the serving of alcohol during the evenings, we have established a strict policy that no children are allowed except for nursing infants. In addition, since the presentations are recorded for our website, it's important that we control the ambient noise during the recordings. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the Conference Chairman.
Registration and Fees
All registrations must now be made at the door.
Registering At The Door
We prefer that you pre-register in order to have your name tag and materials ready in advance, but if necessary, you may also register at the door. As noted above, this does not guarantee a ticket for the Saturday night banquet. |
BIG SUR, Calif. — “AMERICANS are obsessed with the supernatural,” Jeffrey J. Kripal, a scholar of religion, told me here at Esalen, an institute dedicated to the idea that “we are all capable of the extraordinary.”
Surveys support this. In 2011, an Associated Press poll found that 8 in 10 Americans believed in angels — even 4 in 10 people who never went to church. In 2009 the Pew Research Center reported that 1 in 5 Americans experienced ghosts and 1 in 7 had consulted a psychic. In 2005, Gallup found that 3 out of 4 Americans believed in something paranormal, and that 4 in 10 said that houses could be haunted.
One interpretation of these data is that belief in the supernatural is hard-wired. Scholars like the anthropologist Pascal Boyer, author of “Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origin of Religious Thought,” and the psychologist Justin L. Barrett, author of “Why Would Anyone Believe in God?” argue that the fear that one would be eaten by a lion, or killed by a man who wanted your stuff, shaped the way our minds evolved. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors were more likely to survive if they interpreted ambiguous noise as the sound of a predator. Most of the time it was the wind, of course, but if there really was danger, the people who worried about it were more likely to live.
That inclination to search for an agent has evolved into an intuition that an invisible agent, or god, may be there. (You can argue this theory from different theological positions. Mr. Boyer is an atheist, and treats religion as a mistake. Mr. Barrett is an evangelical Christian, who thinks that God’s hand steered evolution.) |
SAN BERNARDINO >> Police on Sunday continued their investigation into the fatal shooting of a San Bernardino father of seven and the wounding of his girlfriend and another woman.
Harold “Hook” Cook, 49, died at the scene. His girlfriend of seven years, Dawn “Chocolate” Sutton, 36, was reportedly in critical condition and given a 10 percent chance of survival by doctors, said Cook’s children Sunday.
The third victim, Ellen Wimbish, 55, also suffered gunshot wounds, but the injuries were not life threatening, said her husband of 38 years, Dale Wimbish, on Sunday.
A motive for the shooting was not known Sunday, and no suspects had been identified. Two or three people, reportedly walking north on G Street, passed the apartment complex, stopped, and started shooting at the victims, who were in the driveway.
• Related Story: Man shot, killed in San Bernardino identified; 2 suspects remain at large
Detectives gathered more than a dozen spent shell casings of different caliber from the crime scene.
“There is evidence that multiple weapons were used,” San Bernardino police Lt. Rich Lawhead said.
The gunfire erupted shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday at the two-building, six-unit apartment complex in the 900 block of North G Street, north of Ninth Street.
Resident Irene Wilson had just exited her apartment when the gunshots started.
“They started blasting. I ducked because I had just walked outside my apartment,” said Wilson, 62, who has lived at the complex for 12 years.
After Saturday, Wilson said she was having second thoughts about continuing to live there since the shooting occurred right outside her apartment. A bullet hole pocked the stucco wall above her living room window.
“It’s time to go. This was too close to home,” said Wilson.
Police were called to the scene at 8:11 p.m. They found Cook dead in the driveway.
• Photos: Family, neighbors mourn San Bernardino’s 46th homicide victim, Harold Cook
Witnesses said Cook had been sitting in a chair in front of his parked white Toyota Corolla, talking to Sutton, whom everyone called “Chocolate” because of her skin tone, and neighbor Ellen Wimbish, a preschool teacher for the county, just before the shooters fired. Wimbish had just walked over to her parked BMW 740 iL, just feet from where Cook and Sutton were, when the gunshots started, her husband, Dale Wimbish said.
“I asked her why she moved, and she said it was because God asked her to move,” Dale Wimbish said.
Ellen Wimbish was shot in the leg and foot as she stood at the rear passenger side wheel of her BMW. Two bullets pierced the rear passenger side door, and the rear passenger side and front driver’s side tires were blown out and flattened by the gunfire, Dale Wimbish said.
Blood stained the ground where Ellen Wimbish, Cook and Sutton were shot. A makeshift shrine with religious candles and a white sign with “RIP Hook” and “Sleep with the Angels” written on it in bright red, along with a heart drawn in the center, sat in front of Cook’s Corolla Sunday.
Cook’s family said he earned the nickname “Hook” because he loved to fish. He was planning a fishing trip with his children this week at Fisherman’s Retreat in Redlands.
“He loved fishing,” said Bridgette Cooper, Cook’s sister-in-law. She’s the sister of Cook’s late wife, Michelle, who died in 2001 and was the mother of three of Cook’s children, Devanaire, 20, and twin daughters Tajzae and Tajznae, both 19. All three children had been living with Cook at the G Street apartment complex for the last five months.
• Map: Here’s the location of San Bernardino’s 46 homicides so far in 2016
Cook also has two grown children from a prior relationship, Jazmen and Rashad Cook, who both live in Ohio. He also has two stepchildren, Oshakia and Christoper Glover, who were Michelle Cook’s children from a prior relationship, Devanaire Cook said.
Dale Wimbish said Sunday his wife was undergoing surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
“They’re going to put steel plates in her foot. It was shattered and fractured,” he said.
The prognosis for Sutton was more somber, but Harold Cook’s family was trying to remain positive under the circumstances. Devanaire Cook, still in shock, said he could not return to the hospital just yet to see Sutton.
“She’s barely responding. I can’t go back to the hospital because she keeps staring at me and trying to talk to me, but she can’t,” he said outside his apartment Sunday, flanked by loved ones, breaking into heavy sobs.
For Harold Cook’s children, the grief is compounded by a family history of tragedy that began when Michelle Cook died of breast cancer. In 2005, Harold Cook, while working as a manager at a Walgreens in Las Vegas, the family’s prior city of residence, slipped, fell and broke his neck while unloading boxes from a truck.
Doctors gave Harold Cook, who had a steel plate surgically implanted in his neck and needed a cane to walk afterward, 10 to 15 years to live, Devanaire Cook said.
Harold Cook lasted 11 years, until he was gunned down in his driveway Saturday.
Daughter Tajzae Cook, a warehouse worker at the Amazon distribution center, couldn’t understand why anybody would want to hurt her father, whom she said was very strict with is children and held them to high expectations. Her twin sister, Tajznae, is a sophomore at Western New Mexico University.
“My dad didn’t have problems with anybody,” she said. “I don’t know anybody who’d want to hurt my dad.” |
The New Orleans Saints have agreed to a deal with former Canadian Football League star receiver/kick returner Chris Williams, agent Dan Vertlieb confirmed Thursday.
It's not clear yet if Williams will join the practice squad or the active roster. The Saints have not announced the transaction, which won't become official until Friday.
Williams, 25, got NFL looks with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent out of New Mexico State in 2009. But it was in the CFL where he made his mark, scoring a team-record 17 touchdowns last year (11 receiving, five on punt returns and one on a missed field goal return) with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The six return touchdowns set a CFL record.
The dynamic 5-foot-8, 175-pounder was named the league's top rookie in 2011 with 70 catches for 1,064 receiving yards and six touchdowns, plus another 333 return yards. Then last year Williams caught 83 passes for 1,298 yards and 11 touchdowns and led the CFL with 78 punt returns for 1,117 yards and five touchdowns.
It's unclear if the Saints envision Williams as someone who could help immediately in either the passing game or return game, or if they're looking at him as more of a long-term project. They're well-stocked in both areas, though they may want to consider lessening Darren Sproles' workload as a punt returner.
Either way, Williams is expected to need some time to get in game shape after not playing this year in the CFL.
According to The Canadian Press, which first reported the signing, Williams became free to pursue NFL opportunities on Wednesday after a lengthy legal battle to be let out of his contract with the Tiger-Cats. Williams was sitting out the current season, and the team ultimately reached an agreement to let him leave. |
Looking for news you can trust?
Subscribe to our free newsletters.
Florida Governor Rick Scott is highly unpopular with voters, and polls show him losing his reelection race next year to any generic Democrat. But now that at least one Democratic challenger has emerged, it appears that the Democrats may already be shooting themselves in the foot. Case in point: The Florida Democratic Party denied Nan Rich, the only Democrat who’s jumped into the race, a speaking slot at its annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner later this month.
“I think it’s inappropriate, given the amount of attention the governor’s race will draw,” Rich told the Miami Herald. “I’ve been a candidate for a year. I’ve traveled the state and built a significant infrastructure and grassroots support. And I’m just asking for five minutes.”
Party organizers claimed they didn’t want big donors to get “bored by too many speeches” at the event, but the snub is largely viewed as an attempt to sideline Rich, a state senator, in favor of the party’s preferred candidate, former Republican governor Charlie Crist. (Signs that Crist is seriously considering jumping into the Democratic primary: Most recently an independent, he officially switched party affiliation again in December after losing a Senate race to Sen. Marco Rubio. Then, in early May, he suddenly became a supporter of same-sex marriage, which he’d previously opposed.)
Florida Dems clearly see Crist as the stronger candidate, even if he is, well, a Republican. A recent poll showed Crist prevailing in a Democratic primary, with Rich receiving just 1 percent of the vote, and faring much better than Rich in a matchup with Scott. Still, polls suggest that Crist isn’t exactly a shoe-in, with at least one showing him in a dead heat with Scott. And rank-and-file Democrats are understandably leery about jumping on the bandwagon with a candidate who has previously described himself as a “Jeb Bush Republican.”
But Rich, a stalwart liberal Democrat known for her work on child welfare issues and sharp criticism of Scott, has had trouble raising money and her profile. She could have used the platform at the dinner to help boost her visibility. Instead, the state Democratic party decided it’s more important to hear from the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Meanwhile, the head of the state GOP, Lenny Curry, has seized the opportunity to taunt Florida Democrats for dissing one of their own. He started the hashtag #FreeNanRich and tweeted, “Are big donors really more important than 5 min for @SenatorNanRich?” He also sent out a press release targeted at the state’s Democrats to let Rich on the podium, writing:
While Senator Rich and I might not see eye to eye politically, she has a long history of leadership in public service and deserves five minutes of speaking time as the only announced gubernatorial candidate in your party. Because Senator Rich is an experienced spokesperson for Democratic ideology in Florida, it must be disappointing to see your Chairwoman, Allison Tant, put the interests of big-dollar donors ahead of a mere five minutes for Florida’s leading champion of liberal causes.
The Rich snub promises the beginning of a bitter primary battle for the right to challenge Scott, who will certainly benefit from the distraction from his own record. Whether the Democratic primary fight will be enough to keep one of the nation’s most loathed governors in office, though, is still very much an open question. |
The Touareg has been one of the best selling crossovers in its class for quite some time but things changed in the past couple of years. This is mostly because the car became too expensive in comparison with the other cars in its class so it started to lose quite a bit. In order to change that a new model is going to be released by the German manufacturer with the 2018 Volkswagen Touareg. They haven’t confirmed the new version for now but the car has been spied testing in Germany and so far it looks quite interesting.
For starters, it seems the design is all new and on top of that, it will also be built on a new platform. Most rumors point out at Volkswagen’s MLB Evo chassis which is a highly modular longitudinal front wheel drive design. However, some also suggested the car may be in fact based on their MQB chassis which boasts a transverse front engine. Even though this is still nothing but a rumor, we wouldn’t be all that surprised considering the Touareg has been slowly losing its customers base.
The MQB chassis would offer more room inside the cabin at a lower cost with similar performance. While this may be true, we wouldn’t bet on it. The MLB Evo chassis is far better for an executive crossover and on top of that, the all wheel drive system available for the MLB chassis is far superior to the Haldex-based one found on the MQB. Because of that we would go on a whim and say the car will more than likely be based on their MLB chassis, the same that underpins the Bentley Bentayga.
2018 Volkswagen Touareg Release date & Price
The fact that 2018 Volkswagen Touareg was caught almost completely stripped of camouflage means only one thing. The presentation is near; we would dare to say that it’s around the corner. According to autoexpress.com, new Touareg will debut at 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. This means that production will start during this year, while the first vehicles would hit dealership early in 2018. Also, there is a small possibility that this SUV will arrive at local dealerships in 2017. This was nor confirmed nor denied by German Automaker. The only thing left for us is to wait for the final product in Frankfurt and to follow later development.
Thanks to the new platform, slight redesign, ton of new technology, and updated engines 2018 Touareg price will have an increase. The most recent starting price was $49,700 and with added value new SUV could cost in the region $51,000. This is the projected price for US market. In the Europe, the price will go from €53,700 to €55,000. The VW company has plans to make the upper trims of this vehicle a premium one which would be able to go against the rivals such is Range Rover. This means that the more expensive versions of 2018 Touareg could be priced at $89,000.
2018 Touareg Volkswagen Interior and Exterior Design
As we said, the 2018 Volkswagen Touareg has already been spied wearing heavy camouflage and it boasts quite a few interesting design choices. The car had its front and rear heavily covered but unusually enough, the mid-part has been left uncovered. Here we can see pretty much an identical design to that of the Audi Q5 which mostly confirms the MLB chassis. The doors extend all the way to the ground covering the side sills and making the car much easier to get in and out in bad weather.
The windows, mirrors, doors and even the roof rails are identical to the new Q5 which is actually very surprising. However, the car gets a brand new front end which seems to be very different from the Atlas which is great because it means it will remain a premium product. The rear of the car seems slightly longer than that of the Q5 which likely implies more trunk space as well as slightly longer rear quarter windows. However, the tail lights as well as the look of the tailgate seem to be quite similar to those on the Audi.
The current car doesn’t really look like any other Volkswagen on the market. This is more than likely not going to be the case with the 2018 Volkswagen Touareg. Considering how close in design the car is to the Q5, we wouldn’t be surprised if the interior of the two cars will also be quite similar as well. The center stack with the wide center console and the Audi-like controls are likely going to be used on the Touareg as well. However, the upper part of the dashboard is more than likely to be quite similar to that found in the Arteon with the long HVAC vents and the minimalist overall look.
Volkswagen T-Prime Concept Gallery
2018 Touareg Specs
There is no question about the fact the 2018 Volkswagen Touareg will get roughly the same engines as the Q5. The base model will likely come equipped with a 2.0 liter turbo-four good for 248 horsepower and 272 lb-ft of torque. Further up the range a 3.0 liter turbocharged V6 diesel with 282 horsepower and north of 400 lb-ft of torque is also going to be available. Some also suggested VW might offer a 3.6 liter naturally aspirated VR6 engine but this is highly unlikely, especially considering the downsizing trend. We would expect them to offer a more powerful 3.0 liter turbocharged V6 offering north of 350 horsepower. This would allow the Touareg to become a true premium crossover and not just another car. All versions will likely come with all wheel drive and either a 7 speed dual-clutch gearbox or an 8 speed automatic provided by ZF.
2018 Volkswagen VW Touareg 3 / T-Prime Concept GTE – Preview, In-Depth Look |
ALAPPUZHA: Ten days after she got married, a 21-year-old Kerala college student's groom left for Dubai, and three weeks later , texted her a 'triple talaq' over WhatsApp "He said she was like an apple and he had already tasted it. So he did not want her anymore," said J Prameela Devi, a member of the state women's commission adalat.The girl's mother had paid the groom a dowry of Rs 10 lakhs and also given him 80 sovereigns of gold. The unexpected talaq shattered the woman who was enrolled in a dental studies college. She and her sister dropped out college and school, respectively. The girl returned home from her in-laws' residence when they ignored the talaq.On Monday the woman gathered her courage and lodged a complaint at the women's commission's adalat in Pala, Kottayam.The commission, which questions the validity of a ' WhatsApp talaq ', has ordered the department of non-resident Keralites' affairs to find the woman's husband, a 27-year-old, who's originally from Vaikom in Kottayam. It has also told the police to present the man's parents during the next adalat.A recent study conducted across 10 states by an NGO called Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, showed that Muslim women have unequivocally voiced their dissent against the discriminatory practice of triple talaq with 92.1% seeking its ban.Oral talaq delivered through new media platforms like Skype, text messages, email and Whatsapp have become an increasing cause of worry for the community."I don't think a normal youth can act in this manner. The commission should provide protection and legal aid to the girl and her mother,'' said B Sugathakumari, an activist-poet and former chairperson of the state women's commission. She said strict action must be taken against the man.In the meanwhile, the talaq over WhatsApp has divided Islamic scholars.The talaq is valid said a member of the Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulama, on Tuesday "The divorce, however, will be granted only after holding discussions with both the man and wife and their family members. If the husband sticks to his stand, divorce will be sanctioned," said Sayyed Attakoya Thangal, the district president of the Ulama.Another member of the same organization who's also chairman of the state Haj committee, said the WhatsApp message was not a legal document. "Talaq should ideally be done face-to-face. If it is not possible, talaq can be done after presenting relevant documents signed by witnesses," said Kottumala T M Bappu Musaliyar.An "oversimplification of the entire process" is what Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen state president T P Abdulla Koya Madani, called the WhatsApp divorce. "Talaq should be done under unavoidable circumstances and conditions. Mandatory steps for talaq cannot be followed in WhatsApp." |
A Scots council has backed down from its decision to ban the flying of Saltires on library buildings until after the independence referendum,
Aberdeenshire Counil sent an email to its libraries ordering that the flags be removed after a complaint was recieved from a member of the public.
The email read: “It is very important that libraries maintain a position of political neutrality especially in the lead up to the upcoming referendum.
“Therefore we need to ensure that nothing we promote in our libraries is of a politically sensitive nature (e.g display of a Saltire).”
The order added that anyone “with any doubts” about the policy should contact a senior member of management.
A complaint had been made that displaying the Saltire in Aberdeenshire’s Newtonhill library could endorse a Yes vote in September’s referendum.
Two flags were installed in the building in 2009 as part of the annual Homecoming celebrations and were recently being used to draw attention to a local history display.
They were removed after the complaint but have since been reinstalled.
Artist Sandy Cheyne from Newtonhill criticised the Council memo.
He said: “I find it quite unacceptable that our national flag can be used in this way.
“The Saltire is the flag of Scotland - not a political symbol.”
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “A member of the public raised concerns that the use of the Saltire could be deemed political, but as it was being used in a historic capacity and not in a political context it was felt the flag’s inclusion in the display was appropriate.”
John Harding, head of lifelong learning and leisure at the local authority, said: “The council has legal responsibilities in terms of political neutrality and libraries, as council properties, were rightly reminded to observe this in a memo.
“The Saltire was incorrectly mentioned in this e-mail as an example of a political symbol- Aberdeenshire Council is quite clear that the Saltire is our national flag first and foremost.” |
After years of negotiations, the City of Gothenburg in southwestern Sweden has agreed to return its collection of 89 textiles from the Paracas peninsula to Peru. The 2,000-year-old textiles are in extremely fragile condition, so they will be repatriated in phases. The first four pieces arrive in Peru next week and will be unveiled on June 18th. The rest will be transported over the course of seven years until the whole collection is returned by 2021.
These extraordinary embroidered textiles first came to archaeologists’ attention in the early 20th century when they began to appear in private collections. Their intensity of color, size, design and composition were unique, unlike any textiles from known Peruvian cultures. Realizing that the textiles had to have been looted from an unknown site, Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello hired professional looter Juan Quintana to guide him to the find spot in 1925. He led Tello to Paracas, a desert peninsula on the southern coast of Peru, where Tello’s team excavated the remains of a civilization that flourished from around 700 B.C. to the second century A.D. when it became assimilated into the Nazca culture.
The people of the Paracas culture were able fishermen, farmers and craftspeople. They made obsidian tools, ceramics, hammered gold jewelry, basketry and most gloriously of all, complex and beautiful textiles. Made from the wool of camelids (llamas, alpacas and vicuñas) and cotton, the textiles were colored in more than 200 different bright shades using natural dyes. Every fabric was embroidered by hand with cactus thorn needles, and when you consider that textiles have been found that are 34 meters (112 feet) long, you can imagine what an incredibly labor-intensive process it was. Archaeologists believe it took years to produce a single such masterpiece.
Creating such intricate and large textiles was a collaborative effort, the work of many people working at once. The textiles had important religious significance and indicated a person’s status in the community. The most exceptional examples were discovered by Tello on October 1st, 1927, when he encountered a vast funerary complex he named the Wari Kayan necropolis. There 429 people were found buried wrapped in layer after layer of textiles. The dead were adorned in their most prized possessions — jewelry, clothes, headbands — and seated in fetal position in a basket. Grave goods, food and sacrificial objects were added, and then the entire basket was wrapped in layers of fine embroidered textiles with a rough cotton cloth on the outermost layer. That’s why the large textiles were needed, because by the time they got to the outer layers, the bundles got big, as much as five feet high and seven feet wide.
When Tello unearthed these marvels, they had been kept in pristine condition by the arid desert climate and the lack of oxygen and light in the underground burials. As soon as they were excavated, the textiles started to degrade. All the Paracas finds were sent to museums in Lima for study and conservation. In 1930, the dictatorship of Augusto B. Leguía was overthrown in a military coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro. The subsequent social and political upheaval and war with Colombia left the Paracas textiles vulnerable to depredation. Looting and smuggling increased dramatically.
It was during this chaos that 89 Paracas textiles found their way to Sweden. They were smuggled out of Peru in the early 1930s by Sven Karell, then the Swedish Consul General in Peru, who acquired them on the black market and shipped them back home into the appreciative arms of the Ethnographic Department of Gothenburg Museum. They went on display in November of 1932, but they were exposed to UV light, varying levels of heat and moisture, and repeated handling, all of which contributed to their decay.
In 1939 the museum was renovated. To prepare for their new exhibition, the Paracas textiles were sewn onto linen or dyed cotton and framed in glass. In 1963 the textiles were mounted vertically onto panels that could be pulled out. This turned out to be a disaster, as the vibrations from the pulling out damaged the increasingly delicate pieces. Finally in 1970 the textiles were taken out of public view. The museum moved to a new building in 1992, by which time the textiles had been installed in custom-built display cases. Then the Paracas collection moved again in 2001, this time to the Museum of World Culture. Because the fibers were in such poor condition, the textiles were moved on air suspended truck.
They remained out of view until 2008, when after careful analysis the textiles which were found to be able to withstand movement were put on display. They were laid out horizontally and transported the short distance from the archives to the Museum of World Culture in vibration-free cases. A crane lifted them into the gallery through a window. The exhibition ran for three years. When the textiles returned to the museum archives, there was more fiber damage even with nothing but the utmost of caution employed in their transportation and display.
It was that 2008 exhibition that spurred the repatriation talks. Not only did the museum not deny that the textiles had been smuggled by the Consul General, the exhibition was entitled A Stolen World and detailed the whole saga without flinching. It’s quite remarkable, really. I’ve never seen a museum so directly confront its complicity in the traffic in looted antiquities. Peruse the museum’s dedicated Paracas website to see how they handle the issue and to view some exquisite photographs of the collection.
In December of 2009, Peru contacted the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally requesting the return of the purloined Paracas textiles. Since the museum had just opened an exhibition whose catalog included copies of the letters between Karell and the Gothenburg Museum officials overtly plotting the receipt of stolen goods, there was none of the usual nonsense about “good faith” and “anonymous Swiss collections.” Peru’s legal right was undisputed. The main question was whether the textiles could stand transportation across the globe when they could barely stand to be transported a mile or so from storage to the display galleries.
Now those issues have been dealt with as responsibly as possible, and the first four Paracas textiles are on their way home. One of them is a particularly exceptional example, a cloak about 104 by 53 centimeters made of squares with 32 different figures of animals, humans, plants and tools. Paracas textiles usually employ single motifs repeated over and over, so this tiled design is unique. Archaeologists believe it represents the movement of time, like a gorgeously embroidered Advent calendar. According to the felicitously named Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, Peru’s Vice Minister of Cultural Patrimony, the Paracas calendar textile is “the most important textile from Peru and one of the most important in the world.”
This entry was posted on Saturday, June 7th, 2014 at 11:56 PM and is filed under Ancient, Looting, Museums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. |
North Korea writes open letter to Parliament urging Australia to move away from Trump administration
Updated
A letter from North Korea to nations including Australia urging them to distance themselves from the United States has been described by Malcolm Turnbull as "a rant about how bad Donald Trump is".
Key points: The letter comes after Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea during a recent UN speech
It says any attempt by the US to destroy it could lead to a "horrible nuclear disaster"
It is believed the letter was sent to several parliaments around the world
North Korea wrote an open letter to parliaments around the world, a month after US President Donald Trump spoke at the United Nations General Assembly and called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "rocket man on a suicide mission for himself and his regime".
The letter, from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the rogue state's Supreme People's Assembly, described Pyongyang as a fully-fledged nuclear power and said any attempt by the United States to destroy it would be a big miscalculation and could lead to a "horrible nuclear disaster".
"Trump threatened to totally destroy the DPRK, a dignified independent and sovereign state and a nuclear power. It is an extreme act of threatening to totally destroy the whole world," it said.
Mr Turnbull dismissed the letter as "basically a rant" and said it was consistent with North Korea's "ranting and complaining about Donald Trump".
"The fact of the matter is that North Korea is the one that is in breach of UN Security Council resolutions. It is North Korea that is threatening to fire nuclear missiles at Japan and South Korea and the United States," the PM told Melbourne radio 3AW.
"It is North Korea that is threatening the stability of the world.
"That is the regime that has to return to its senses and stop this reckless conduct."
Australia is one of the recipients of the letter, but the Prime Minister said it did not say anything specific about Australia.
"They have sent it to a lot of other countries, like a circular letter," he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the letter was an unprecedented step from North Korea and called it a positive sign.
"I see it as evidence that the collective strategy of imposing maximum diplomatic and economic pressure though sanctions on North Korea is working," Ms Bishop said.
"This is a response to the pressure that Australia, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and others are putting on North Korea so that it will refrain from its current conduct of provocative and threatening behaviour and that it will be compelled back to the negotiating table.
"I think this shows they are feeling desperate, feeling isolated, trying to demonise the US, trying to divide the international community."
While she said it was a positive sign, the language in the North Korean letter continued the regime's recent tone about the United States leader.
It called for "sharp vigilance against the heinous and reckless moves of the Trump administration trying to drive the world into a horrible nuclear disaster".
Topics: federal-government, federal-parliament, parliament, world-politics, foreign-affairs, australia, united-states, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of
First posted |
TL;DR: We’re building a way to connect services to WooCommerce that makes use of hosted components to simplify the process and create a better experience. We’re building a way to connect services to WooCommerce that makes use of hosted components to simplify the process and create a better experience. If you’d like to get involved in testing, join us now. If you want to know more, read on or check out our post on the developer blog.
A few weeks ago at WooConf, Matt Mullenweg gave a sneak peek at a project we’ve been excitedly working on. Now, we’re ready to share it with the world.
WooCommerce Connect is a big part of our vision for the future of WooCommerce. Right now, Connect has just started alpha testing as a feature extension. If all goes well, we hope to make it part of WooCommerce core and available to everyone.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into what we’re trying to accomplish with Connect, how it all works, where the feature currently stands and how you can get involved.
The vision: a simpler way to connect anything directly in WooCommerce
Much of the power in WooCommerce lies in the ability to customize and add anything.
But with all that power comes great responsibility: to make it as simple as possible to do the basic things. Unfortunately, right now, doing basic things like adding a shipping option can be kind of complicated.
For example, here’s how adding USPS currently works:
To break it down:
Get the extension from us and download a file. This contains the code you’re adding to your site. Add the API key from USPS. This tells USPS who you are and what information you’re getting from them. Add the subscription key from us. This tells us which subscription we should link to your site, so we can pass updates to you if you have an active subscription. Dig into the settings.
With Connect, we’re eliminating steps 1 through 3 – there will be no additional extensions, no API keys and no subscription keys.
Instead of downloading a file and then installing an extension on your site, you can see available features directly in WooCommerce. With Connect, adding a new option just means making use of it.
We’ve also eliminated the need to manually add API keys. Because the connection lives on our end, those keys are already in place.
Right now, the service available in Connect and those planned are all free, which is why there’s no need for subscription keys. When we add services that do require subscriptions, we aim to give you a way to connect your store to your WooThemes account, rather than requiring a key to connect to a specific subscription.
All this means setup for USPS through Connect looks like this:
Setup doesn’t end with enabling an option, so we’re also updating settings available through Connect to make them more user-friendly:
Behind the scenes: hosted services and Jetpack making it all happen
To make all of this happen, most of the code you used to have to download now lives on a secure server that we host. We’re using Jetpack to allow your site to talk to that server securely.
Hosting the bulk of the code on our end has some other perks:
You’re less reliant on your site’s host to handle these new features, making it easier to have a fast site .
. Making new features available just means making changes on our servers, so you won’t need to update WooCommerce core for new features .
. Because you’re not having to update the code on your site as often, you should see more stable performance .
. You’re less dependent on your host’s configurations, meaning it’s more likely that your connected services have the right configuration to work.
Of course, extensions remain a critical part of WooCommerce. We’re still committed to our modular approach — a solid and flexible core product with extensions to add just the features you need — and to giving store owners and developers more freedom, not less.
That means extensions will always be an option for you. We see Connect as an easier option and plan to invest in making it great. But it’s an alternative, not a replacement.
The current state of affairs: strong foundation and one service to start
So far, we’ve built the foundation and added our first service: USPS. We chose this service because the US is one of our largest markets.
We’re starting with only one service for simplicity, going with the theme of Connect. We wanted to learn the lessons we could from building one option before moving on, but we have plans to add more shipping options next.
The alpha version of Connect supports real-time USPS shipping rates for stores based in the United States. There are some differences between what’s available through Connect and our USPS extension, so make sure to read up on these.
Also, because Connect is currently a “feature extension,” you will have to download and install it as a separate extension right now. Once it becomes a feature of WooCommerce core, all of that will be a thing of the past for Connect.
The future: to beta and beyond
While you’re alpha testing, we are already actively working on the beta, which includes:
Canada Post support
Integration with the WooCommerce onboarding wizard
UI improvements to the shipping rates section
The ability to set up boxes for shipping
A self-help page with system status info
More iterations on the overall look of Connect
The grand plan is to eventually roll out Connect into a future WooCommerce core release, so anyone running a WooCommerce store can easily connect the service they want to their store.
Get involved: help us test
We’ve started the alpha testing phase and would love your help building the future of WooCommerce. Fill out the form below to get started.
We’re excited to see how users respond to Connect and continue improving it. Ultimately, we hope this approach will let anyone start a store more easily.
Share this: Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest |
Like clockwork, Walter Thurmond is back with the Seattle Seahawks.
The team activated the cornerback Friday at the conclusion of his four-game suspension for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse (non-PED). In a related move, the Seahawks released cornerback Perrish Cox.
Thurmond will take over in the slot alongside Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell, taking away snaps from Jeremy Lane.
It's a boost for a Seattle defense getting used to the absence of Brandon Browner, who was suspended indefinitely by the league earlier this month for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
Still, this stocked secondary hasn't skipped a beat. Stepping in for Browner, the previously untested Maxwell earned a nomination for NFC Defensive Player of the Week after notching two interceptions against Eli Manning and the Giants in Week 15.
Seattle still ranks first in passing defense and hasn't allowed 200 yards through the air since Week 11. Against the frisky Cardinals on Sunday, the Seahawks -- despite the loss -- harassed Carson Palmer into four interceptions on a day that saw Arizona throw for just 168 yards.
We break down all the Week 17 games on the latest "Around The League Podcast." |
Heaping praise on India’s military prowess, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the country can defend itself and has convinced the world that the menace of terrorism needs to be eliminated. Speaking about India’s surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC last year after the Uri attack, the Prime Minister said that these strikes were proof that the nation can stand up in its own defense when needed. Speaking at a community reception at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia, Modi said:”When India talked of terrorism 20 years back, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn’t understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don’t have to.”
Advertising
Highlighting the achievements of the NDA government in the last three years, Modi added: “When India conducted surgical strikes the world experienced our power and realised that India practices restrain but can show power when needed.” He stated that India has been a victim of terrorism but “we have succeeded in conveying to the world the deleterious effects of terrorism on India.”
Taking an apparent dig at neighbour China, the Prime Minister asserted that India believed in following the world order and will never achieve its goals by not following the global rules.He also said that the country has always followed the path of development within the confines of the global order and rule of law. In what could be an apparent reference to China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea, Modi noted that following the global rules has always been India’s tradition and culture.He also promised to the Indian American community that he will fulfil their dreams of India’s development.
Modi also pointed out that he has been relentlessly working towards fast-tracking India’s development, adding that there was no scope for corrupt and dishonest since Indians hate corruption. He added that his government is determined to address the menace of corruption. Boasting that there has been not even a single allegation of corruption levelled against his government since it came to power, Modi said that his government is using technology to develop a system where honesty is the common practice. The Prime Minister stated that technology plays a great role in keeping a check on corruption and said: “”The results are there for all to see.”
Talking about India’s development goals, the Prime Minister further said that his government is focused on setting high standards of development and setting the global benchmark. He also noted that infrastructure is essential for sustainable development. Praising the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Sushma Swaraj for giving a human face to diplomacy and effective use of social media in good governance, Modi said:”MEA is one ministry of the government which has demonstrated through the use of social media, for the first time, that it cares for poorest of Indians.” He also assured the Indian-Americans that the Indian Embassy will always find a solution to any problem faced by them.
Watch Video | PM Modi at Indian Community Event in Washington DC, USA
Advertising
With inputs from PTI |
The City of Ottawa's information technology is facing "significant" risks, and could be vulnerable to security breaches, Ottawa's auditor general is warning.
In his annual report tabled Thursday, Ken Hughes pointed out a number of potential holes in the way the city manages its IT network.
For one, the city lacks a full inventory of all the programs and networks being used by its many departments, Hughes said, adding it has no way to prioritize the "riskiest risks". Some employees have installed cloud-based applications without the IT department being involved, he added.
As well, there are some city staff with "little or no technical training" responsible for identifying technological risks and coming up with strategies to handle them, said Hughes.
"There's a low maturity level of most city departments for IT risk management," Hughes told councillors on the city's audit committee. "This is primarily due to governance and leadership issues."
Security hack last November
It was one year ago this November that the City of Ottawa's website was hacked to display the name of a police officer involved in the investigation of a local teen charged after allegedly calling in fake emergencies across North America.
For about one hour, the city's website displayed the name of the Ottawa police officer and an image of a dancing banana.
That incident was supposed to be discussed in a private, in-camera session Thursday afternoon.
This image appeared on the main page of the city of Ottawa's website last November after it was hacked. (CBC) Upgrading and protecting the IT system is a high priority, said city manager Kent Kirkpatrick. He accepted the report's recommendations and said the city would be working over the next few months to strengthen the role of the city's chief information officer, while also introducing a "suite" of new policies and procedures.
"[This] will require investment in the coming years," said Kirkpatrick, who's leaving the city manager's job next March. "Estimates will be developed and considered as part of the budget priorities for 2017."
'Bit of a Wild West'
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, the vice-chair of the city's information technology subcommittee, said he's "not surprised" by Hughes' findings.
City hall is "a bit of a Wild West" when it comes to dealing with information technology issues, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said Thursday afternoon. (CBC Ottawa) "I think we're moving in the right direction. I am encouraged that the city manager has adopted the auditor general's recommendations. But it is a bit of a Wild West with respect to IT in Ottawa," said Leiper.
Leiper said the practice of making improperly-trained people responsible for overseeing potential security risks "has to stop."
311 calls, bridge repairs
Hughes' also presented resulted from several other audits and made 108 recommendations, all of which the city manager accepted:
An audit of the city's 311 call line, Hughes found people wait too long for their call to be answered. The city's service standard — that 80 per cent of all calls will be answered within two minutes — was lower than the standard found in other large Canadian cities such as Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton.
Hughes found it wasn't necessary for the city to spend $1.2 million paving the whole Mackenzie King Bridge. It paved the bridge in 2008 using a new method,without proper design and testing. That resulted in the city filing a lawsuit against construction company R.W. Tomlinson over whether the job was properly done. Problems wth the new surface required the city to spend a further $700,000 the following year.
An audit of accounts payable found 1 in 5 invoices was paid late, and 5 per cent didn't take advantage of discounts with a value of $600,000.
A study of species at risk found that on major infrastructure projects, the city did not have a protocol to review if anything has changed between its environmental assessment and the work beginning.
Hughes looked at snow plowing operations and suggested the city should look at whether it has the right mix of in-house vs. contracted snow plowing. He noted the city hasn't looked at that mix since amalgamation, and has a much higher proportion of city-owned equipment than other Ontario cities.
Hughes found a couple of underlying themes to the audits, including a lack of financial analysis when staff are making decisions.
"We do this in our own personal lives: Before you make a decision you make sure there's a valid reason for why you are taking a particular course of action," said Hughes. "You have to identify what the various courses of actions are and what we're suggesting, being accountants, is you might want to cost out those alternatives." |
(CBS/AP) SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Prosecutors have taken the unusual step of detaining an alleged teenage rape victim who has a history of running away, saying she is a key witness against a man prosecutors say is a career criminal and serial rapist.
Victims' rights advocates are joining the 17-year-old foster child's attorneys in arguing that her detention, upheld three times by two superior court judges, could discourage other victims from reporting sexual assaults. Moreover, they say the detention conflicts with laws governing the well-being of foster children, and with Marsy's Law, a victims' rights initiative approved by California voters in November 2008.
"This is a very rare step for us. It's really the last thing we want to do, but we do feel that there is a public danger that has to be balanced here," Sacramento County Assistant District Attorney Albert Locher said Monday. "We believe it's important to balance the protection of the community in the process here, and that is done by ensuring a conviction and ensuring that this defendant will not have the opportunity to harm someone else in the future."
The girl has been held in juvenile hall since March 23. Her attorneys are proposing that she be released to a foster or group home with a GPS ankle bracelet. Her next detention hearing is scheduled for April 16, but they hope to move up the hearing to get her released earlier.
"She's being treated like a criminal without having done any criminal act. In fact, she's the victim," said attorney Lisa Franco, who is challenging the decision to hold the girl as a material witness to ensure she appears at the trial of Frank William Rackley Sr., 37. "This is just sending a chilling effect out there for people not wanting to report crimes and rapes. In the larger scope of things it's going to give other people more chance to commit crimes because people will be afraid to report."
The Associated Press is not naming the girl because of her age and because she is an alleged sexual assault victim, though her attorneys complained that she has been identified in court papers and in open court.
Prosecutors had to dismiss charges once against Rackley when the girl failed to appear, though they were able to charge him again with the same crimes the next day, according to court documents. The girl ran away twice from her foster home and did not show up for Rackley's preliminary hearing in October or his first scheduled trial date in February, according to an affidavit by Deputy District Attorney Alan Van Stralen.
He now is set for a trial to begin April 23. His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Richard Berson, was not available to comment, and Berson's supervisor, David Klemer, said he couldn't comment.
Franco said her client recognized the swastika tattooed on Rackley's chest. She and prosecutors said his DNA was found on her client after the then 16-year-old girl was abducted from a Sacramento light rail station on July 22.
Sacramento attorney Amina Merritt, who represents the girl's interests as a foster child, said her client is now willing to testify against Rackley.
"She is at risk and that is the reason she did not testify previously. She's afraid, she's afraid for her life," Merritt said. The girl is a different race than Rackley, and fears that others with a racial hatred might harm her even if Rackley is behind bars, Merritt said.
An adult woman who also is an alleged Rackley victim has not been detained, Merritt noted.
Locher said prosecutors are willing to consider any reasonable alternative that gives them assurance the girl will show up in court. Prosecutors contend the girl can be held as a material witness despite protections for foster children or sexual assault victims that also are written into California law.
Sandra Henriquez, executive director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, known as CalCASA, said this is the first time in her 20 years of working with victims that she has seen one incarcerated.
"We're potentially sending a message that our concern over public safety supersedes our concern over a particular victim," she said. "We could also be jeopardizing public safety if fewer victims come forward."
More from CBS Sacramento: |
Excerpted from Jodi Dean:
‘After the movement was impossible to ignore, after the protesters had demonstrated determination and the police had reacted with orange containment nets and pepper spray, other efforts to efface the fundamental division opened up by Occupy Wall Street emerged. All tried to reabsorb the movement into the familiar and thereby fill-in or occlude the gap the movement installs. Three ways stand out: democratization, moralization, and individualization.
I use “democratization” to designate attempts to frame the movement in terms of American electoral politics. One of the most common democratizing moves has been to treat Occupy Wall Street as the Tea Party of the left. So construed, the movement isn’t something radically new; it’s derivative. The Tea Party has already been there and done that. Of course, this analogy fails to acknowledge that the Tea Party is astro-turf, organized by Dick Armey and funded by the Koch brothers. A further democratizing move immediately reduces the significance of the movement to elections: what does Occupy Wall Street mean for Obama? Does it strengthen the Democratic Party? Will it pull it back toward the center? This democratizing move omits the obvious question: if it were about Obama and the Democratic Party, it would be about Obama and the Democratic Party—not marches, strikes, occupations, and arrests.
A related democratization suggests that the movement pursue any number of legislative paths, that it seek Constitutional Amendments denying corporations personhood, change campaign finance laws, abolish the electoral college and the Federal Reserve. The oddness of these suggestions, the way they attempt to make the movement something it is not, appears as soon as one recalls what the protesters are doing: occupying. In New York, they are sleeping outside in a privately owned park, attempting to reach consensus on a wide range of issues affecting their daily life together (what sort of coffee to serve, how to keep the park clean, how to keep people warm and dry, what to do about the drummers, how to spend the money that comes in to support the movement, what the best ways to organize discussions are, and so on). Democratization skips the actual fact of occupation, reframing the movement in terms of a functional political system. If the system were functional, people wouldn’t be occupying all over the country—not to mention the world for, indeed, an additional effect of the democratic reduction is to reformat a global practice and movement against capitalism into US-specific concerns with some dysfunction in our electoral system.
Finally, an additional democratization begins from the assumption that the movement is essentially a democratic one, that its tactics and concerns are focused on the democratic process. From this assumption it raises a critique of the movement: occupation isn’t democratic and so the protesters are in some sort of performative contradiction. They are rejecting democratic institutions, breaking the law, disrupting public space, squandering public resources (police overtime can get expensive) and attempting to assert the will of a minority of vocal protesters outside of and in contradiction to democratic procedures.5 This line of argument has the benefit of exposing the incoherence in the more general democratization argument: occupation is not a democratic strategy; it is a militant, divisive tactic that expresses the fundamental division on which capitalism depends.
This division should in no way be assimilated into Claude Lefort’s idea of the empty place of democracy. The gap that Occupy Wall Street opens up cuts through democracy as the real of class antagonism, that is, as the division that necessarily exposes democracy under capitalism as a form of government for the sake of capitalism and that democratization seeks to repress, deny, displace, and conceal. Likewise, holding it open is neither for the sake of democracy nor for the sake of plurality, indeterminacy, and multiplicity (as if these were values rather than attributes that may or may not be worth valuing in a given setting). Rather, occupying the gap, maintaining it as the division between the very rich and the rest of us, is crucial for inciting and cultivating collective desire for collective approaches to common goods, resources, and responsibilities.
The second mode of division’s erasure is moralization. Myriad politicians and commentators seek and have sought to treat the success of Occupy Wall Street in exclusively moral terms. For these commentators, the true contribution of the movement is moral, a transformation of the common sense of what is just and what is unjust.6 This line of commentary emphasizes greed and corruption, commending the movement for opening our eyes to the need to get things in order, to clean house. Moralization occludes division as it remains stuck in a depoliticizing liberal formula of ethics and economics. Rather than acknowledging the failure of the capitalist system, the contemporary collapse of its neoliberal form and the contradictions that are demolishing capitalism from within (global debt crises, unsustainable patterns of consumption, climate change, the impossibility of continued accumulation at the rate necessary for capitalist growth, mass unemployment and unrest), moralization proceeds as if a couple of bad apples—a Bernie Madoff here, a rogue trader there—let their greed get out of control. It then extends this idea of corruption (rather than systemic failure), blaming the “culture of Wall Street” or even the consumerism of the entire country, as if the United States were a whole and as a whole needed some kind of spiritual cleansing and renewal. In short, moralization treats Occupy Wall Street as a populist movement, mediating it in populist terms of a whole people engaging in the ritual of repentance, renewal, and reform. Again, this approach to the movement proceeds as if the division Occupy Wall Street reveals and claims were a kind of infection to be cured rather than a fundamental antagonism that has been repressed.
The third attempt to eliminate the gap comes from individualization. Here an emphasis on individual choice displaces the movement’s collectivity. So on the one hand there is an eclectic, menu-like presentation of multiple issues. Occupiers, protesters, and supports are rendered as non-partisan individuals cherry-picking their concerns and exercising their rights of free speech and assembly. On the other hand there are the practices and tenets of the movement itself, particularly as it has been enacted in New York: decisions must be reached by consensus, no one can speak for another, each person has to be affirmed as freely and autonomously supporting whatever the GA undertakes. In each case, individualism not only supersedes collectivity, but it also effaces the rupture between the occupation and US culture more generally, a culture that celebrates and cultivates individuality and personalization. Given that the strength of Occupy Wall Street draws from collectivity, from the experience of groups coming together to occupy and protest, an experience amplified by the People’s Mic (the practice of collectively repeating the words of a speaker so that everyone can hear them), to emphasize individuality is to disavow the common at the heart of the movement. It reinserts the movement within the dominant culture, as if occupation were a choice like any other, as if choices weren’t themselves fantasies that individuals actually could determine their own lives or make a political difference in the context of the capitalist system and the class power of the top one percent.
Democratization, moralization, and individualization attempt to restore a fantastic unity or wholeness where Occupy Wall Street asserts a fundamental division. Whether as a democratic political system, a moral community, or the multiplicity of individuals, this fantasy is one that denies the antagonism on which capitalism relies: between those who have to sell their labor power to survive and those who do not, between those who not only have no choice but to sell their labor power but nonetheless cannot, because there are no buyers, or who cannot for wages capable of sustaining them, because there’s no such opportunity, and those who command, steer, and gamble upon the resources, fortunes, and futures of the rest of us for their own enjoyment.
The three modes of disavowing division miss the power of occupation as a tactic that asserts a gap by forcing a presence. This forcing is more than simply of people into places where they do not belong (even when they may ostensibly have a right). It’s a forcing of collectivity over individualism, the combined power of a group that disrupts a space readily accommodating of individuals. Such a forcing thereby puts in stark relief the conceit of a political arrangement that claims to represent a people that cannot be present, a divided people who, when present, instill such fear and insecurity that they have to be met by armed police and miles of barricades. It asserts the class division prior to and unremedied by democracy under capitalism.
That Occupy Wall Street brings to the fore the fundamental antagonism of class conflict is born out even in the slogan “Occupy Everything.” The slogan seems at first absurd: we already occupy everything, so how can we occupy everything? What matters is the minimal difference, the shift in perspective the injunction to occupy effects. We have to occupy in a different mode, assert our being there in and for itself, for the common, not for the few, the one percent. “Occupy Everything’s” shift in perspective highlights and amplifies the gap between what has been and can be, what “capitalist realism” told us what the only alternative and what the actuality of movement forced us to wake up to.7 The gap it names is the gap of communist desire, a collective desire for collectivity: we occupy everything because it is already ours in common.” |
Jackass.
Tuesday's blockbuster New York Times report detailed Donald Trump’s "sustained" efforts to undermine law enforcement probes into Russian election hacking, its ties to the Trump campaign, and related criminal acts. Among the details presented: an attempt by Trump to get acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to reinstall a Trump-allied U.S. attorney as head of federal investigations of "hush money" payments to several Trump mistresses.
The Trump White House gave no indications it knew such a report was coming, and whether Trump's extremely sour mood of late was related to the upcoming report or to something else is unknown. Instead, Trump blasted "The Press" in general: "The writers don't even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control." He singled out the New York Times reporting as "false," declaring that the Times specifically is "a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"
Trump's objections were, as usual, performative. Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN that of course the Times reporters who prepared the report sought verification and comment from the White House, and that the White House ignored their questions. So Trump is either lying to the American people, yet again, or he got played by his own staff. Said Haberman, “That’s a lie, and I don’t know whether he knows it’s a lie or whether he is telling himself this is true, whether his staff doesn’t tell him that we have reached out, but I find that awfully hard to believe that his staff did not brief him, once again, that this kind of a report was coming.”
Haberman is a reporter with deep White House contacts, one who knows more than most about the inner workings of Team Catastrophe, but this is still a tough call. It seems entirely plausible that Trump's staff would not tell him about an upcoming devastating public report of his attempts to Do Crimes. Who would tell him? Sarah Sanders? Bill Shine? Who would willingly pop over to the Oval Office to face the rage of an always-infuriated man-child to tell him still more leaks of his improper behavior have dribbled out from his supposed allies?
Trump being kept in the dark on this one seems plausible. But it is also possible, even rote, for Trump to be intentionally lying about this as he does about Every. Single. Thing. Ever. The man has one lever, and it flips between smug bluster when someone is praising him to defiant, delusional gaslighting when someone is not.
In the end it doesn't matter. Perhaps he's lying. Perhaps his staff lied to him. Perhaps both. It doesn't change the underlying report: Donald Trump attempted to install a favored, Trump-allied attorney to oversee a criminal investigation into his own actions, not recognizing the impossibility of what he was asking for and not caring about the overt corruption of such a request.
Upon being exposed, he breaks out the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE language yet again, a clear betrayal of the Constitution and his supposed oath. He should be tossed out of office for that alone—and would be, if his party had not slid itself into whatever levels of corruption were necessary to prop the man-child up. |
— The New York Knicks' Kristaps Porzingis and the Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns today were named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played in January. Each player earned the honor for the third consecutive month.
Porzingis ranked fourth among all first-year players in scoring (15.3 ppg) and second in rebounding (7.2 rpg) in January. He also tied Towns for the rookie lead in blocked shots (1.63 bpg) and paced the East's first-year players in three-point field goal percentage (37.5). Porzingis posted four point-rebound double-doubles, including a 28-point, 11-rebound performance in a 100-99 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 8. He scored at least 12 points in 13 straight games from Jan. 3-26.
Towns was the only first-year player to average a double-double in January, with 16.9 points (third among all rookies) and 10.9 rebounds (tops among all rookies), and he shot 53.5 percent from the field and 87.2 percent from the free throw line. In the final seven games of the month, Towns recorded six double-doubles and averaged 22.7 points and 12.6 rebounds. On Jan. 20, Towns finished with 27 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks in a 106-94 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, becoming the only NBA player to reach those totals in a game this season.
Here is a recap of the month for Porzingis and Towns:
Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks
Jan. 8 @ San Antonio: Scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 100-99 loss to the Spurs.
Jan. 12 vs. Boston: Finished with 26 points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 120-114 victory against the Celtics.
Jan. 18 vs. Philadelphia: Contributed 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a 119-113 win over the 76ers in double overtime.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Jan. 20 @ Dallas: Posted 27 points, 17 rebounds, six blocks and three assists in a 106-94 loss to the Mavs.
Jan. 23 vs. Memphis: Shot 6-of-6 from the field en route to 14 points and added nine rebounds and three assists in a 106-101 win over the Grizzlies.
Jan. 29 @ Utah: Scored a career-high 32 points (on 13-of-17 shooting from the field) and recorded 12 rebounds in a 103-90 loss to the Jazz. |
"JiuJitsuPedia is the premier internet destination for learning a complete grappling skill-set. Beyond the technical, yet concise, instruction from the many excellent teachers of Paragon Academy, JiuJitsuPedia also features guest instructors, all elite in their grappling specialty, meaning whatever your personal game is, you will find techniques that will help you.
As a student at Paragon I greatly appreciated the weekly lesson videos, which helped me prepare for the techniques to be shown and then review them afterwords. Without a doubt, this method helped me to both learn faster and retain technical details. My favorite part, however, was, and is, the ability to access high level instruction in any aspect of grappling at any time. Any dedicated jiu-jitsu student will tell you that sometimes a mistake in a roll will keep he or she up at night, but with a quick search of JiuJitsuPedia, anyone can find the instruction they need to fix that mistake.
Having had to leave Santa Barbara I value being able to still get instruction from paragon instructors through JiuJitsuPedia. Wherever I go, and whatever mat I end up on, I always find myself studying and applying techniques from JiuJitsuPedia with great success. I can't recommend it enough! And if you run into me on a mat somewhere, watch out for the Sean Apperson knee on belly guillotine setup; I learned it from JiuJitsuPedia". |
Gingrich Orchestrated GOP Ads Recalling Clinton-Lewinsky Affair House Speaker Newt Gingrich. (AFP file)
Related Links
Full Coverage: Campaign '98 Clinton: Scandal Ads Are Bid to 'Distract' (Oct. 29) GOP Spends Millions on TV Ads Attacking President's Conduct (Oct. 28) On Touchy Subject, Speaker Stays Quiet (Oct. 24)
By Ceci Connolly and Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 30, 1998; Page A1 The GOP's multimillion dollar ad campaign invoking President Clinton's relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky was devised by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and tested before more than three dozen groups of likely voters before Republicans unleashed the assault, party sources said yesterday. In reviving the presidential sex scandal just one week before Election Day, Gingrich and his chief strategists aimed to energize their most loyal supporters, whose enthusiasm appeared to be waning after House conservatives lost the budget fight and the Clinton scandal fell off the front pages. At the same time, the GOP ad-makers tried to calibrate the commercials so as not to infuriate Democratic and swing voters. "We tested and tested and honed and honed until we got to the point we felt our base understood the message we were trying to get to them," said Rich Galen, an informal adviser to Gingrich. "But this is not a baseball bat that allows Democrats to go out and say we need to stop these guys" at the polls. But Democratic leaders -- and even some Republicans speaking privately -- say the last-minute ad gamble and media stir it has caused may well backfire. "Our polling shows this increases Democratic intensity," said White House political director Craig Smith. In April, Gingrich told supporters, "I will never again, as long as I am speaker, make a speech without commenting on this topic," referring to the presidential scandal. But as polls indicated a backlash, he abandoned that plan. And since Congress adjourned last week, Gingrich has campaigned for GOP candidates across the country, refusing to utter one word about the Clinton controversy. Now Republican officials are "caught in a cauldron," said one GOP consultant, noting the party had hoped the harshest anti-Clinton ads would slip under the national news media's radar and only reach conservative voters in the South. "They never intended for this to be an 8 on the Richter scale." In what is expected to be a low-turnout Election Day, both sides attempted yesterday to use the ad controversy to stir up their core supporters. On a black radio station in Baltimore, several outraged callers urged African Americans to vote Republicans out of office to halt the attacks on Clinton. The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, released a new spot accusing Republicans of wasting "millions of our tax dollars on endless investigations." On the other side, amid reports the GOP was thinking of pulling the ads, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh urged listeners to call the National Republican Congressional Committee and complain. One unlucky staffer there received angry messages on a pager such as: "Don't pull the ads, you wimp." In television interviews Wednesday, Rep. John Linder (Ga.), head of the NRCC and a close ally of Gingrich, said the scandal-related commercials were a last-minute decision that "we couldn't pretend Clinton didn't exist." Yet according to GOP congressional aides, the planning for the ads began in earnest about a month ago at a House leadership meeting. At the session in Gingrich's office, Linder said anger over Clinton was the best way to excite conservative voters and win some of the uphill House races. "Nothing else is going to put those second-tier guys over the top except making Clinton the issue," one aide said describing the conversation. In subsequent weeks, Gingrich's pollster, Linda DiVall began conducting focus groups to test themes. Galen and Rich Gaylord, two of the speaker's most trusted advisers, helped develop the spots. Up until the final edit, Gingrich was kept apprised and suggested adjustments in the commercials, one adviser said. While the first news accounts suggested a $10 million advertising assault on Clinton, the money is financing 29 locally tailored issue ads, along with the three Lewinsky-related spots. The purchase for the scandal ads is relatively modest, limited to 30 House districts and for only the few days before Tuesday's election. The harshest attack ad, which hits Clinton for not telling the truth, is running in just three southern districts and is viewed as a bone to disenchanted conservatives there. A second spot, in which two mothers discuss "What did you tell your kids," is being shown in moderate suburban areas such as Santa Barbara, Calif., and parts of New Jersey. The final commercial, which uses the infamous video clip of Clinton wagging his finger as he denied the Lewinsky affair, is airing in places such as Utah, Idaho and Cincinnati, where Clinton is very unpopular. Republican skeptics argue if the goal was to motivate core GOP voters, the party should have used direct mail and telephone banks to spread the anti-Clinton theme. But one nervous Republican who spent yesterday at NRCC headquarters said officials there were looking for a more potent way to remind certain voters why they are disgusted with Clinton. "There's only so much you can do in phones and mail to get the emotions churning," this source said. "That picture of Clinton wagging his finger is very difficult to reproduce in the mail or over the phone." Yet the NRCC went to considerable lengths to keep the ad campaign under wraps. On Tuesday, Linder told reporters that Lewinsky would not be a significant factor in the midterm elections. For GOP candidates to attack Clinton over the scandal, he said, "could be overkill." Hours later, the first of three commercials exploiting the Lewinsky investigation hit the airwaves. "We make it a practice not to signal to the opposition what we're doing a week before the election," said NRCC spokeswoman Mary Crawford. From the minute the word leaked out Tuesday evening, the spots were launched by the booster rocket of news coverage, or what politicians call "free media." They were played on ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN and dominated the cable talk shows. They were pictured on the front page of yesterday's New York Times. "Scandal ads hit campaign," said the banner headline in USA Today. The ads drew responses from Clinton and Vice President Gore. GOP media adviser Greg Stevens said he understood the need to "gin up the vote in certain districts." But while it is easy to second-guess, he said: "That free media coverage probably hurt us in a lot of places. There are some suburban swing voters who potentially could react badly to that. Whoever leaked it, they blew it. It doesn't make sense for the rest of the country to be reading about it." In an NBC-Wall Street poll yesterday, 68 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of the way Congress is handling the impeachment issue. Democratic consultant Peter Fenn said Republicans "are trying to ignite their base. But there is substantial backlash potential: There the Republicans go again talking about scandal, not substance." The story was broken Tuesday night by the Associated Press and confirmed by The Washington Post, New York Times and New York Post. But the NRCC's Crawford said the resulting deluge of coverage has sent the wrong message. "There's a huge problem with the way the press is looking at these ads," Crawford said. While they may "acknowledge" or "address" Lewinsky, she said, "these ads are not about Monicagate. They are about something a lot bigger than the president." Staff writer Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company Back to the top |
Hundreds of years ago, an advanced, seafaring civilization called Rapa Nui built more than 800 monuments that were so massive and ambiguous that they remain a mystery to this day. The Easter Island statues, or moai, are enormous stone figures placed along the coastline as if surveying the island's interior lands. One of archaeology's greatest mysteries is what happened to the Rapa Nui of Easter Island.
Now, new evidence from archaeological investigations has overturned a popular myth about the demise of the Rapa Nui civilization on the island. For centuries, observers believed that the Rapa Nui suffered a catastrophic population crash. But there is no scientific evidence to support this idea, say a group of researchers in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity. That story about environmental collapse and warfare you read about in Jared Diamond's bestseller Collapse? Totally wrong.
Origins of the myth
First of all, the Rapa Nui haven't been wiped off the face of the Earth: the Rapa Nui people still make up over half the Polynesian population today. Their ancestors likely arrived on Easter Island, now part of Chile, roughly a millennium ago. They came in the sophisticated canoes that allowed Polynesians to bring their cultures to dozens of islands in the Pacific Ocean, from Hawaii to Samoa and New Zealand. And they also brought their moai, many of which were quarried on other islands that the Rapa Nui controlled.
When Europeans arrived on Easter Island in the eighteenth century, they were stunned by the sheer awesomeness of the moai. They guessed that an enormous number of people must have built the statues, and they were surprised to discover that the island's population was only about 3,000 people. Archaeologist Carl Lipo, an author on the new paper, told Ars:
When the Dutch captain Jacob Roggeveen arrives on the island in 1722, he estimates roughly 3000 people. Later, when confronted by the massive statues, Europeans such as Captain Cook in 1774 assume that there must have been lots more people on the island at one time. Others follow the same kind of argument, including Jared Diamond. He (and others) argue that there must have been 10,000 or 20,000 (or 30,000!) people, not because of the archaeological record or any direct evidence of demography but from the assumption that the statues must have required huge populations.
This assumption gave rise to a mystery. What had decimated the great civilization of Easter Island? Why were there so few of the Rapa Nui left?
The most common answer, popularized by Diamond, was that the Rapa Nui had greedily used up all the island's resources. They ate all the food, cut down all the trees, and were left to squabble over the remaining scraps. With no more trees left, they couldn't build boats to leave the island and look for more food. So they fell into war and cannibalism, leaving only a few thousand people left to greet the Europeans. It's a perfect parable for our age of environmental collapse and resource depletion. Unfortunately, like a lot of parables, it isn't very historically accurate.
Interpreting the actual evidence
Lipo and his colleagues have spent years sifting through the physical evidence left behind on Easter Island by the ancient Rapa Nui. They believe that the population of 3,000 people met by Captain Roggeveen in 1722 wasn't the tattered remnant of a great civilization. Instead, they represented a normal population for the island. Lipo and other archaeologists have demonstrated how the moai could have been constructed by a population of hundreds rather than thousands, using clever engineering that was common among ancient people.
Assuming a smaller population, it's not difficult to imagine that the group could survive on agriculture and fishing. Indeed, Roggeveen reports that the people he met on the island had plenty of food, which they shared with him and his crew. There was no sign of ecological meltdown, though the islanders certainly had an impact on the local environment.
Still, there was one piece of evidence that remained pretty alarming. The island is strewn with sharpened pieces of obsidian, called mata'a, which look alarmingly like spearheads. When Captain Cook came to the island in 1774, members of his expedition reported that the Rapa Nui "had lances or spears made of thin, ill-shaped sticks, and pointed with a sharp triangular piece of black glassy lava." Given the superabundance of these "spears" all across the island, it seems obvious that a lot of murdering was going on.
That's the myth that Lipo and his colleagues debunk in their new paper. They examined hundreds of mata'a, carefully photographing them and using elliptical Fourier analysis to compare the shapes of each mata'a. If these mata'a were being used for one specific task, namely war, you would expect that they would all have almost exactly the same shape. And you'd expect that shape to be extremely pointed in order to pierce flesh.
Lipo and colleagues found nothing of the kind. In fact, the mata'a come in a range of shapes, and most of them would be terrible for stabbing. Shaped a bit like spades, they're generally too wide to sink deeply into flesh. Wear and tear on many of the blades revealed patterns that archaeologists recognize as coming from tasks like scraping hide and farming. All those mata'a left in the ground weren't the aftermath of battle—they were discarded hoes and rakes.
But why did the population shrink after the Europeans arrived in the eighteenth century? Lipo has a single, stark answer: "Disease that is introduced by Europeans after contact." Smallpox and plague ripped through Easter Island, halving the population in a short time. This crash, whose results were observed by Europeans, strengthened the myth that the Rapa Nui were already in decline from a much larger population that had existed a thousand years before.
A good model
It's time to chuck our myths about Easter Island and learn what we can from scientific evidence. "I think we often assume that systematic violence between groups is inevitable, and in cases where resources are scarce (such as Easter Island) warfare is going to be almost a certainty. We tend to assume that prehistoric populations must have commonly experienced brutal competition," Lipo told Ars. "But when we look more broadly at human history, we find generally that we are pretty good at living in social groups and getting along with one another."
Citing the evolutionary biologist Peter Turchin, famous for developing a theory of history called "cliodynamics," Lipo believes that the common thread in human history is cooperation rather than war. The fate of the Rapa Nui on Easter Island is often used to illustrate how humans destroy their communities with environmental destruction and warfare. But it might actually provide a good model for sustainable civilizations of the future. Lipo explained:
Easter Island is a great case of this kind of sociality in which populations seem to have mediated competition over limited resources through the community building of statues. What looks like strange behavior to us is likely central to their success. This is an area we are following up on in our ongoing research. I think we have a lot to learn from Easter Island as to what it takes to survive on an isolated and remote island with limited resources. But rather than being a "scary parable" about the effects of cultural hubris and ultimate collapse, we can learn valuable insights into strategies that lead to cooperation, resilience, and sustainability.
Antiquity, 2016. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2015.189 |
The US government will allow BP to keep the cap on its damaged Gulf of Mexico well closed for another day, despite the detection of seepage and a possible methane gas leak in the seabed.
The company promised to watch closely for signs of new leaks underground after a warning from Thad Allen, who is in charge of the US government's response to the disaster.
Allen said this morning BP had given government scientists the answers they needed about how it was monitoring the seabed around the mile-deep well, which has stopped gushing oil into the water since the experimental cap was closed on Thursday.
US scientists grilled BP engineers last night after Allen wrote a letter to the BP managing director, Bob Dudley, asking for written details about how the valve would be opened if necessary.
The letter said: "When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed."
The apparent setback caused shares in the oil company to fall more than 5%, though by lunchtime losses had been pared to 2.5%. The company has put the costs of dealing with the disaster at over $3.95bn (£2.6bn), and has already paid out $207m to 67,500 claimants who have lost money due to the spill.
A BP spokesman said that if a seep is confirmed from the well, the cap will be lifted and oil flowed to the surface. In a characteristically technical statement it said: "As directed by the National Incident Commander [Allen], extensive monitoring activities are being carried out around the well site. Information gathered during the test is being reviewed with the government agencies to determine next steps. Depending upon the results of the test and monitoring activities, these steps may include extending the well integrity test or returning to containment options."
Yesterday, officials said the cap was holding and continuing to prevent oil spewing into the gulf for the first time since the rig exploded in April, killing 11 workers.
They expressed hope that it could stem the leak until relief wells were in place to permanently shut off the flow of oil ‑ but the discovery of seepage could mean there are still leaks in the damaged well.
The plan had been for BP to pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the well but require up to three more days of oil spilling into the gulf.
Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said yesterday: "No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."
The new potential blow comes as David Cameron travels to Washington later today for his first full-length bilateral meeting with the US president, Barack Obama, at which they are expected to discuss the BP oil crisis. The spill is the worst in US history, causing economic and environmental disaster in five states along the Gulf coast and threatening to sour Anglo-American relations. |
Donald Trump has been talking a big game about running for president for a long time. Back in 1999, Trump floated the idea that he might just enter the next presidential race. His second ex-wife Marla Maples told The London Telegraph that if the real estate mogul did make a bid, that she would "feel it is my duty as an American citizen to tell the people what he is really like." Buzzfeed reported this week that after Maples threatened to speak out against her ex-husband, Trump allegedly threatened to withhold $1.5 million in alimony that he still owed her from their divorce settlement.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Romper's request for comment.
Trump didn't end up running for President in 2000. Or 2004. Or 2008. Or 2012. Finally, he made good on presidential threat in the 2016 election. The reality star turned GOP nominee plowed through the primary competition and made it to the bitter end of the general election. In 19999, Maples told The Telegraph that "if he is really serious about being president and runs in the general election... I will not be silent." Seventeen years and one Republican nomination later, Maples has pretty much stayed mum about her ex-husband's campaign.
Besides a few expertly placed shady comments in her daughter Tiffany Trump's recent New York Times profile, such as telling The Times that she "had the blessing of raising her pretty much on my own" and that Tiffany would "like to get to know her father better and spend time with him like his other children did," Maples has remained far from Trump's campaign spotlight. Buzzfeed's discovery of Maples' London Telegraph article has many speculating that Trump allegedly threatening to withhold alimony all those years ago is what has her staying quiet this time around.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images Developer Donald Trump (R) and his fiancee Marla Maples watch second round action at the US Open tennis tournament on August 28, 1991. AFP PHOTO TIMOTHY A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
It wasn't just the alleged withholding of alimony that could have Maples refraining from getting involved in the 2016 election. After she publicly threatened to speak out against Trump in 1999, he immediately launched his own press campaign to neutralize Maples as a threat. “It’s too bad the venom that she’s got, and I thought I was very nice to her,” Trump told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, according to Buzzfeed. “I’ve taken good care of her. But she’s got a lot of venom and it’s too bad. And it’s just not becoming of her, but I think she’ll probably be more responsible.”
Trump and his lawyer, Jay Goldberg, publicly painted Maples as the stereotypical woman scorned, hell-bent on getting her revenge. The two even went so far as to insult her intelligence and to call her a failure. Buzzfeed reports that Goldberg said Maples "didn't have the capacity to understand, participate, or take a role in the business world."
Trump and Maples went to court over his alleged withholding of the remainder of their divorce settlement. A manhattan judge sided with Maples by declining to consider Trump's claims that his ex-wife violated her prenuptial agreement. After losing in court, Goldberg told The New York Post that "it was never our intention to withhold the $1.5 million check. Our purpose was to send a message that she was playing close to the fire. That should slow her down."
BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 21: Donald Trump and Marla Maples appear in front of the press 21 December 1993 after marrying in a lavish and private wedding ceremony at Trump's Plaza Hotel in New York 20 December. The couple, who have a two-month-old baby girl, married after a six-year relationship. (Photo credit should read BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images)
This isn't the first time a story has come out about Trump allegedly using his wealth and power to convince others to do things his way. Previously Trump allegedly cut his sick great nephew off from critical medical care after a disagreement with the baby's father. Andrew Tesoro, the architect that designed the clubhouse for the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, NY, also previously came forward with a claim that Trump allegedly cheated him out of thousands of dollars.
While Trump has not issued a statement about the new alimony dispute allegations, it's definitely making waves and stirring the pot even more, just a few weeks out from the election. |