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The slight nuisance added to getting into or out of one's car was more than made up for by the view. Good God, that view. It seems the whole city was lit up by an array of yellows, oranges, pinks, and purples. A couple rainbows crashed the party. This spectacular arrangement of backlighting wasn't lost on anyone outside, or anywhere near a window. Or holding a camera, or a phone with a camera tool. Within an hour, Instagram was flooded with gorgeous images of the City of Lakes illuminated by colors that usually require a painter's palette or hallucenogenic drugs. No need to try to explain this. We have no idea what's going on in these photos. Consult your priests and poets. And don't stop looking to the sky. A photo posted by Waris Syed (@warbux2000) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:18pm PDT A faint double rainbow!! Absolutely love our view!! #minneapolis #downtown #rainbow #condolife A photo posted by Derek Shuck (@dlsphoto) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:31pm PDT #nofilter #yellowsky #minneapolis #mpls #traffic #rain #rainyday #raining #wierdsky #mplsphotographer A photo posted by Nouri A (@nourixone) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:31pm PDT �� #rainbow #sunset #minneapolis #mpls A photo posted by Leia Gravon (@leia433) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:43pm PDT The sky's on fire tonight �� A photo posted by Amy Thom (@amylinnea_photo) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:42pm PDT My delay comes with a view #nofilter #onthego #worktrip #missingchi #mua #minneapolis #sunset #stormysky #americanairlines A photo posted by Ryane Michaels (@rylms) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:37pm PDT #PurpleRain tonight in #MPLS #prince #rainyday #minneapolis #home A photo posted by Bennett Porter (@gottahavemyhops) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:36pm PDT mpls // purple rain(bow) A photo posted by Dakotah Rae (@dakotahraejohnson) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:37pm PDT The sky over Mpls is stunning right now A photo posted by Lucy H (@lucy612) on Sep 15, 2016 at 5:30pm PDT
Navigation Words of Radiance Deleted Interlude: Stick Way of Kings Prime Chapter 12: Merin 3 Way of Kings Prime Chapter 17: Merin 4 Way of Kings Prime Chapter 22: Merin 5 Words of Radiance Bandit Attack Draft Words of Radiance Chapter Shallan 13 Words of Radiance Chapter Kaladin Insert 3 Words of Radiance Chapter Adolin 3-3 Words of Radiance Chapter Climax 1 Words of Radiance Ikraa Interlude This is a chapter from the original 2002 draft of The Way of Kings. The 2010 published version was completely rewritten. Note: This chapter contains minor spoilers for Words of Radiance. Merin stood uncomfortably, trying not to blush in embarrassment as the tailor pulled out yet another seasilk cloth—this one red—and draped it over Merin’s shoulders. The thick-mustached man turned, eyebrows upraised questioningly. Aredor tapped his cheek musingly. The room was well lit and crafted of typical Kholinar granite, with woven mats on the floor and decorative pillars along the walls. Aredor leaned against one of the room’s pillars, watching the tailor work. “Well, ladies?” Aredor asked, turning to the six young women who sat, arrayed in bright-colored tallas and jewel-riddled hairbuns, to his side. “Better,” one of the women said. Merin still struggled to remember all of their names—he thought her name was Irinah. A creature with dark hair and a plump face, she was the daughter of one of Lord Dalenar’s trusted Shardbearers. “I agree,” said the one with light hair and a greenish dress. Rahnel, he thought. “But he doesn’t look good in colors that bright. Try something darker, master tailor.” The other women agreed, nodding and chatting among themselves. Merin flushed at the attention as the tailor removed the cloth and waved his aides to bring him some other choices. It seemed ridiculous to Merin that people could spend so much time worrying about clothing. Before the colors, Merin had spent the better part of an hour trying on different cuts of shirt and trousers behind the changing screen, then presenting each new combination for Aredor and the women to judge. Yet Aredor and the ladies didn’t seem to find the experience boring. As a matter of fact, they appeared to be enjoying themselves immeasurably. Of course, they weren’t the ones standing on tired legs while the entire room gawked—if it hadn’t been for his military training, Merin was certain his legs would have given out long before. “Hang in there, Merin,” Aredor said, reading Merin’s expression with a chuckle. “You’ll be glad for the effort—these ladies are the finest judges of apparel in the court. When they’re finished with you, your wardrobe will be the envy of the city.” The women laughed demurely at the compliment. It seemed to Merin that they were paying more attention to Aredor than the clothing selections. That, however, was not a problem—better Aredor than Merin. “It certainly is good to have you back in the court, Lord Aredor,” Irinah said as the tailor draped another cloth across Merin’s shoulders, letting it fall around his body like a cloak. Irinah seemed the leader of the women, though from what Merin understood, she was one of the lesser ranked of the four. That was another thing he couldn’t quite figure out, though—noble ranks. “Oh?” Aredor said with a raised eyebrow. “I wasn’t certain the court would even notice my absence.” “Lord Aredor!” one of the other ladies said with indignance. “Why, the court wasn’t the same without you!” Aredor chuckled, nodding toward Merin. “Don’t get distracted, ladies.” They turned their attention to Merin again, studying the new colors—a deep charcoal draped with grey. “Far too dreary,” Rahnel pronounced. “Lord Merin is somber enough without covering him in greys.” “Besides,” Irinah said, “black reminds of Awakeners. No court-conscious man should wear anything too similar to it.” The tailor nodded, rifling through his cloths again as his assistants pulled off the black and grey. Somber? Merin thought. “Have you heard the story of Lord Merin’s bravery on the battlefield, ladies?” Aredor asked. “You know he saved the king’s life?” Merin flushed at the comment, but the women only grew more excited. “Oh, yes,” said one of the more quiet women—Merin had forgotten her name, though she had a thin frame and wide eyes. “We’ve heard of it.” She sighed wistfully. Merin’s flush deepened. Of course she’d heard of it—everyone had. In fact, most of the people he met couldn’t stop talking about his heroic rise to nobility. To them, his exploit was as something out of the ballads. They didn’t know how hasty and uncoordinated it had been. Of course, most of them seemed more fond of moaning over its dramatic power than actually congratulating Merin on his success. It was as if there were two Merins—one the romanticized lord, the other the awkward peasant-made-nobleman. “Did you really defeat a Shardbearer without even a dagger?” one of the girls asked. “Not exactly,” Merin said with a sigh, his voice muffled as the tailor pulled a cloth over his head—this one had a hole in its center so it fell evenly around his body. “I just pulled him off his horse. Someone else actually killed him.” “Lord Merin is too modest,” Aredor informed. “The Prallan Shardbearer had broken Protocol, and was about the strike the king down. Everyone else scattered, and we were sure His Majesty was doomed. Only one man was brave enough to come to his king’s rescue.” The women turned properly amazed expressions toward Merin, mouths forming Os of wonder. The tailor stepped back, regarding Merin critically. “No brown or tans, master tailor,” Irinah said, frowning. “Lord Merin has only recently become a Shardbearer. Brown is too mundane a color—there is no reason to give a reminder of what he once was, now is there?” The tailor nodded, moving to remove the cloth. Merin sighed to himself. “Aredor,” he said as the tailor worked. “Isn’t there something more important I should be doing?” “A man has to look good,” Aredor replied. “Half of being a lord is looking the part.” “That’s the thing,” Merin said. “I’m still not sure what it means to be a lord. What is it I’m supposed to do? Surely there’s more to it than dressing well.” Aredor chuckled. “You’re always so concerned about what you should be doing. People aren’t going to tell you what to do all the time anymore. Being a lord isn’t so much about what you’re supposed to do as it is about what you feel you need to do. Besides, having a Shardblade doesn’t mean you can’t relax once in a while.” Standing and being draped with cloth didn’t seem much like ‘relaxing’ to Merin. However, he simply sighed and decided to bear it—Aredor probably knew what he was doing. The tailor finished again and stepped back. “That’s perfect!” Lady Irinah proclaimed, a sentiment that the others agreed to after a moment of discussion. Merin looked down. The chosen color was a dark maroon, crossed with a sash of deep navy. It was only one of four color combinations the women had decided they liked. All of them were darker colors—maroon, dark green, and several shades of blue. “Yes,” Rahnel said with satisfaction. “Well done, master tailor.” The man bowed at the compliment, motioning for his assistants to gather up the cloths and repack them. Merin looked questioningly toward Aredor, eyebrows raised hopefully. Aredor nodded, waving him down off the raised platform. Just then, the door opened and Renarin stepped in, a customarily dazed expression on his face. Immediately the room fell silent, as the women stopped their chatting. Renarin stood for a moment, looking across the room. His hair was disheveled, as it often was, and he somehow managed to stand halfway in shadow despite the room’s brightness. The women sat in silence, shooting glances at each other. They tried to maintain their smiles, but even Merin could see that they were uncomfortable. “I’m . . . sorry to interrupt,” Renarin said, turning to go. “Nonsense, brother,” Aredor said, waving him forward. “We were finished here anyway, weren’t we, ladies?” The women rose, smiling and offering belated welcomes to Renarin. They bid Aredor farewell, each getting promises from him that he would call upon them soon. Renarin watched them go, then turned to Aredor as the door closed behind them. “It didn’t take them long to start fighting for your affection,” he noted. “Ah, you’re too cynical, brother,” Aredor said, still watching the door, shaking his head wistfully. “We’ve been gone too long. There haven’t been any men here to give them attention. Poor things.” “They could have come with us to Prallah,” Renarin replied. “The winds know, we could have used a few more scribes.” Aredor chuckled. “That lot would never have survived the stormlands. This is their element—and now that we’re back, our dear Merin had better watch out.” Merin frowned as he joined the two brothers, picking up his Shardblade as the tailor and his assistants left out the back door. “What was that?” Merin asked. “Why do I have to watch out?” “Unmarried Shardbearer?” Aredor asked. “Savior of the king? Newly adopted into house Kholin? You’re a prime catch, my friend. If you don’t watch yourself, one of those ladies’ mothers will have you wedded before you realize what happened.” “And, knowing my brother,” Renarin added, “he’s doing everything he can to help them out. You realize half the reason he held this little tailoring session was to introduce you to the local eligible women.” “A little socializing never hurt a man,” Aredor said. “You should try it sometime, Renarin.” Merin fastened on Dalenar’s cloak, testing the new length—Aredor had ordered one of the tailor’s assistants to hem it, and they had returned it when they arrived. “I appreciate the help, Aredor,” Merin said. “But the truth is, I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford much clothing this month. I planned to send the stipend your father gave me to my parents in Stonemount.” “Oh, don’t worry,” Aredor said with a wave of his hand. “If you need more, I’ll lend it to you. Now, are you ready for today’s other activity?” Merin frowned. “There’s more?” he asked, stretching his tired limbs. “You’re the one who’s always asking what his duties are,” Aredor reminded. “Well, it’s time to start them. If you’re going to compete in Elhokar’s dueling competition, you’ll need to learn how to use that Blade and Plate of yours.” “Dueling competition?” Merin asked, feeling a twinge of excitement. “Me?” “Of course,” Aredor explained. “The king ordered all Shardbearers to attend, and you’re a Shardbearer. Unless you want to be made a fool of, you’ll want to learn how to duel a bit before you get thrown into a ring.” Merin smiled. Finally, something that made sense. The ballads made one thing clear: Shardbearers dueled. “When do we start?” Aredor nodded. “To your room,” he said. “We’ll start with the Plate, then we’ll go find you a dueling instructor.” “Father thinks it was a group known as the Rantah,” Renarin explained. “Rantah?” Aredor asked as he unpacked Merin’s Shardplate, arranging the various pieces on the floor. “It means ‘Distant Mountain,’” Renarin said. “When he founded Pralir, King Talhmeshas had to conquer a number of smaller nations—he had to hold both the Prenan Lait and the western coast of Prallah if he wanted to found a kingdom with any measure of stability. Rantah is an underground rebellion populated by the noble lines of those conquered kingdoms. They’ve been a stone in Pralir’s shoe for the last two decades, burning villages, attacking caravans, and destroying soldiered garrisons.” “An underground rebel group?” Aredor asked skeptically. “That doesn’t sound like the kind of organization who could destroy an army of twenty thousand. If they could do something like that, why stay underground? In fact, if they had those kinds of numbers, I doubt they could have stayed underground.” Renarin shrugged. “The old nobility of Pralir—the ones who have made peace with Elhokar, hoping that he’ll let them retain a margin of power—are convinced it was the Rantah. They say the group has been hiding in Distant Prall for a few years, gaining strength. If they attacked at the right time, as an ambush, it’s conceivable they could have destroyed the Traitor’s secret force. At least they had motive—if there was a group out there who hated Talhmeshas Pralir more than Elhokar, it was the Rantah.” Aredor shook his head, not convinced as he regarded the Shardplate. Merin’s room was relatively small, but it was blessedly big compared to the simple floor mat and crowded troop tent he had used during his time in the military. There was a bed, a table, and a stool—and while the floor was empty of rugs or mats, Aredor said Merin could purchase either whenever he wished. Right now, the stones were covered with the array of metal Shardplate sections. There were over a tenset pieces, and all had leather straps, but strangely no buckles. Merin looked down, bewildered—he didn’t even know where to begin. “Shardplate is kind of a misnomer,” Aredor began, selecting a piece of armor—the largest piece, a breastplate-shaped cuirass. “It doesn’t really bond to a person the way Shardblades do. It probably got the name because Shardbearers were the ones who tended to wear it.” He motioned for Merin to hold his arms out, then fitted the breastplate across Merin’s chest. The leather straps constricted quickly, and Merin cried out in surprise. The piece of armor felt like something living, clamping onto his chest like the jaws of an animal. It halted a moment later, however. Merin wiggled slightly, amazed at how freely he could breathe. The metal was heavy, but weighed far less than the metal breastplates he had occasionally trained with as a spearman. In fact, despite being a single sheet of metal, it felt less constrictive than even his layered wooden spearman’s armor. “Shardplate fits to its owner,” Aredor explained, reaching for the shoulder guards. “However, it doesn’t bond to you—if you take it off, it will fit to the next person just as quickly as it did you.” Aredor placed the shoulder guards, and they too immediately locked into place, their straps clamping on and fitting to Merin’s body. “You can put the armor on by yourself, but it’s a bit awkward,” Aredor explained, moving on to the left arm. “If you want to take it off, you can touch the clasp underneath each piece and it will unlock. The armor will stop pretty much any weapon, as long as it doesn’t manage to slide into a chink between two pieces. Shardblades are the exception—Plate will only stop a Shardblade on the first blow. If you get hit squarely in the same place twice, the plate will probably give way.” “Then what?” Merin asked as Aredor affixed pieces of Plate to both arms. “Is my armor ruined?” Aredor shook his head, picking up some pieces of armor that fit around the bottom of the chestplate, protecting his sides and waist. “It will repair itself, molding back into its original shape. That takes time, though, so you’ll want to avoid getting hit.” Merin nodded as Aredor handed him the codpiece, then moved onto helping him attach the leg pieces and metal boots. When he was done, Merin was covered completely in steel except for head and hands. It was a strange feeling, like he had been dipped in a pool of molten metal. Merin wobbled slightly. It was awkward—that was for certain. However, not because of the weight. Strangely, he felt no more burdened than when Aredor had affixed the first piece. Instead, it was just . . . different. There were tugs on his body in irregular places, and his balance felt slightly irregular. He raised an arm, and it swung up with ease. Carefully he tested his motion, squatting down and standing up again. Then he tried a small jump. He cried out in surprise as he went higher than expected—almost as high as he would have gone if he weren’t wearing several tenset brickweights of metal. Aredor steadied him as he teetered maladroitly. “It takes some getting used to,” Dalenar’s heir said with a chuckle. “The Shardplate was made by Awakeners, like your Blade. It compensates for itself, making you stronger and quicker. If you know how to balance the combination of awkwardness and enhancement, you can actually be more fluid in the Plate than you would be normally. You’ll definitely be stronger. The Plate also cushions you from blows—wearing this, you could probably take a catapult boulder in the chest and come out alive.” Aredor bent over, picking up the last three pieces of armor. “These are the most important pieces of equipment,” he explained. “The gauntlets and the helmet. Most people who attack you will go for your head—it’s the most exposed part of the body. We don’t know why, but no suits of Shardplate were made with faceplates. Some people try affixing them with regular steel faceplates, but many prefer visibility instead. No Shardbearer following Protocol will swing for your face, though they may attack the side of your head. Spearmen and other citizens, however, will always go for the face—that’s practically the only place they can hurt you.” Merin nodded, accepting the helmet and placing it on his head. Like the other pieces, it immediately sized to fit him, and rested more snugly than his spearman’s cap ever had. “The gauntlets are designed to give you flexibility,” Aredor explained, holding out the left gauntlet for Merin to slide his hand into. The gauntlet was crafted from what appeared to be a heavy leather glove fitted with intricate plates of steel running along the back. However, flexing his hand, he realized he could feel through the leather as if it were extraordinarily thin. “It’s amazing,” Merin whispered. Aredor smiled, holing out the other gauntlet, and Merin slid his hand into it as well. Immediately, the room pitched around him. Merin stumbled, disoriented, at the strange sensation. The air seemed . . . thick, somehow. Liquid. It rippled and shifted, like— It stopped. Merin shook his head uncertainly, lifting a gauntleted hand. “Is that supposed to happen?” he asked. “What?” Aredor asked with concern. “I . . . I’m not sure,” Merin said. “The room suddenly felt different. I can’t explain it.” Aredor looked toward Renarin. The younger brother shrugged. “It’s probably just the initial surge,” Aredor explained. “Every time I put the last piece of Plate on, I just feel a slight burst of strength as the Plate completes itself.” “Maybe that was it. . . .” Merin said slowly. “Well,” Aredor said, standing. “That’s your armor. Now that you know how to put it on, take it off. We’ve got to get to the monastery while there’s still some light left for training.” Kholinar was beautiful. Merin couldn’t remember a day when it had been the capital of Alethkar, but it had an Oathgate, which meant it dated back to the days of the Epoch Kingdoms. Before his ascension to nobility, Merin had never visited a lait. He had known that there were valleys where rivers ran down the center. The idea of a constantly running river itself was amazing enough—back in Stonemount, water had only flowed right after a highstorm. Rain had to be collected carefully, so that there would be water to drink between storms. Merin had imagined the river to be like the waterways back home—small and swift-running, flowing through cracks with the quick energy of a storm. He had never imagined such a broad, rushing mass of water. It passed by a short distance from Kholinar—far enough away that floods following highstorms wouldn’t be a problem. There was so much water that when he had first seen it the week before, Merin had stood stunned for at least ten heartbeats before Aredor was able to get his attention. The Lait itself was a valley, one with relatively stiff sides. They were smooth, worn by countless highstorms, but the incline was steep enough for Merin to finally understand just why laits were so perfect for cities. In Prallah, his squad had been taught to avoid narrow canyons for fear of being in one when a highstorm caused a flash flood. The lait valley, however, was wide enough not to be dangerous, but still steep enough that it weakened storms greatly. Indeed, the highstorms that had come since Merin’s arrival in Kholinar had been almost laughably docile. The result was fertility. Rockbuds lined the sides of the valley—so many of them, in fact, that he could barely see the rock underneath. All of them were in bloom, despite the fact that the last highstorm had been several days before. The landscape was green instead of stoneish tan—it had been unsettling at first, all of that color, but he was quickly growing to appreciate it. Aredor said that the rockbuds only withdrew into their shells during the very height of summer—when the air grew too dry for even the humid valley—or the dead of winter, when the rains fell so steadily that many plants had to withdraw lest the moisture rot them. The roads of the city were kept free of rockbuds, and the ground was so smooth that Merin had begun copying Aredor, wearing only a pair of comfortable slippers. Back in his village, most buildings had been allowed to give in to the elements. Rockbuds were not removed, and continual buildup of cromstone from winter storms formed stalactites on overhangs, making the buildings look almost like natural formations of stone. In Kholinar, however, everything was sculpted with neat lines. Triangular shapes predominated, with peaked arches and doorways, and many buildings were constructed on grand scales, with massive columns and large open foyers—something only possible in a place where the highstorms lacked fury. Aredor led Merin toward the edge of town, where they would find Shieldhome Monastery. As they traveled the smooth streets, Merin shook his head in wonder. Two years earlier, he had traveled to a monastery to learn to wield a spear. What would he have thought, had he known he would be returning several years later to take up dueling as a nobleman and a Shardbearer? Such thoughts were banished, however, as Merin idly caught sight of a passing building. He froze immediately, staring with awe—and more than a little apprehension. The large black structure was crafted in a bulbous shape that seemed to defy regular architectural conventions. It almost looked like an enormous pyre—a massive burst of flame that had somehow been captured and transformed into rock. Aredor and Renarin paused beside him. “It’s the Kholinar Kablan,” Aredor said. “Hall of the Awakeners. A little eerie, isn’t it?” Merin nodded. He’d heard of Kablans before, of course, but they didn’t have one in Stonemount—or in any of the nearby villages. In the rare instance an Awakener was discovered in a rural area, they were always sent to a larger city, and the village was paid a percentage of the profits that came through the Awakenings the creature performed. A group of servants were driving a line of carts toward the Kablan, each one bearing a large block of stone. A couple of figures stood at the base of the marble building—and they wore black. Merin shivered as one of the figures turned toward him. Merin couldn’t see what it looked like because of the distance, but he knew the stories. Awakeners weren’t quite human, not anymore. Their arts . . . changed them. “I’ve always wondered what the inside looked like,” Renarin noted, looking at the Kablan. Aredor shivered visibly. “I have absolutely no idea, and no desire to find out. In fact, if I never had to see an Awakener except on the day of charans, it would be fine with me.” “They are the fuel of our economy,” Renarin said in his unassuming voice. “Without them gemstones would be useless, and we would be paupers, my brother.” “Well, that’s fine,” Aredor said. “Let them fuel the economy—as long as they do it from within their building.” Merin nodded. “I agree,” he mumbled. The figure was still looking at him. He had only seen an Awakener once, during his charan. It had been a young man, one who hadn’t been an Awakener very long—only the unlearned were wasted on the charan. That Awakener hadn’t looked any different from a regular person, but he would change. Apparently they all did, eventually. Merin could still remember the glowing bit of quartz hovering above the Awakener’s hand. He could remember his fear as the quartz floated forward, still glowing, to touch Merin’s skin. It had shattered, sending a strange sensation through his body—a sudden vibration, a feeling like each of his bones had been scraped against rough stone at once. Supposedly, that one experience made Merin immune to Awakening for the rest of his life. There was no reason to fear the creatures, for they no longer had power over him. Even still, when the day of the charan came each year thereafter, he had found a way to be out in the fields when the Awakener arrived to perform the ritual on the children of age that year. “Be thankful, Brother,” Renarin noted, “that the Almighty didn’t decide to make you an Awakener.” Aredor snorted. “Come on, let’s get to the monastery while there’s still light.” Merin nodded eagerly, joining Aredor as they walked away. Renarin lingered for a moment, then followed. Soon they had left the Kablan behind, and a structure with a familiar architecture rose up before them. Aredor said that Shieldhome Monastery was one of Kholinar’s most famous landmarks. Founded during the Ninth Epoch, the monastery contained the most skilled masters of dueling in all of Alethkar. As they walked through the broad, glyph-covered gates, Merin immediately felt a familiarity. Two years earlier, when he had first joined the military, he had been taken to a Strikehome Monastery in Norkedav for initial training. While the city had been much less grand than Kholinar, the monasteries were nearly the same. The ground was covered with sand for training, and the monastery was made up of four walled courtyards with quarters for the monks lining the outer perimeter. Aredor kicked off his slippers, motioning for Merin to do the same. “I need to go speak with the monks,” Aredor explained. “And have them gather their masters to see if any are willing to train you. Go over and watch the men spar, if you like. It will give you a feel for the training.” Merin nodded as Aredor wandered off. There were several groups practicing in the courtyard, including one to his left that was composed of men in colorful clothing—obviously lords. Merin wandered their direction, curious. Several pairs dueled with Shardblades—an action that Merin would have considered dangerous, had Aredor not explained that once a Shardblade was Bonded, it could be dulled for sparring. The majority of the men, however, dueled with regular swords. As Merin approached, he realized with a sinking feeling that he recognized several of these men. “Well,” Meridas said, holding up a hand to stop his duel. “Greetings to you, peasant Shardbearer.” Merin frowned, wishing he’d recognized the man earlier. What was he doing in Kholinar? Meridas was attendant to the king; he should have remained in Ral Eram. “Come to learn how to duel, little citizen?” Meridas asked, sword held casually at his side as a few other noblemen gathered around him with interested expressions. “You’ll have to be careful. Wouldn’t want to get . . . hurt by accident. Then someone else would have to be given that pretty Blade of yours.” Merin sighed, turning away from Meridas and the others. He felt their laughter on his neck as he walked away. Every time that he felt like he was growing to be accepted in Dalenar’s court, someone reminded him that he didn’t really belong. Aredor and Renarin could only do so much—they had their own lives, and their own duties. They couldn’t watch out for Merin forever—eventually he would have to find his own way. You won’t be able to make everyone like you—but you might be able to make them respect you. Dalenar’s words from before returned to him. Merin looked down at his Blade. Perhaps dueling was the way to earn that respect. He wandered across the courtyard, looking for other duels to watch. Most of the noblemen were near Meridas, so Merin instead found himself watching a group of older monks. Like many monks who followed the Order of Khonra, they wore long tan skirts and loose shirts instead of traditional robes. They fought with swords, though they weren’t necessarily noblemen—monks were considered to have neither class nor gender, and they could practice any art they wished, whether it be painting or dueling. The monks were very good. They fought with wooden practice swords, and their motions were fluid. Rhythmic. Watching their smooth, controlled motions seemed to calm a bit of the chaos in Merin’s recent life. After a few moments, one of the monks noticed him watching. The man paused, regarding Merin with the eyes of a warrior. “Shouldn’t you be practicing with the other lords, traveler?” Merin shrugged. “I don’t really fit in with them, holy one.” “Your clothing says that you should,” the monk said, nodding to Merin’s fine seasilk outfit. Merin grimaced. The monk raised an eyebrow questioningly. He was an older man, perhaps the same age as Merin’s father, and had a strong build beneath his monk’s clothing. He was almost completely bald, save for a bit of hair on the sides of his head, and even that was beginning to grey. “It’s nothing, holy one,” Merin said. “I’m just a little bit tired of hearing about clothing.” “Maybe this will take your mind off it,” the monk said, tossing him a practice sword. “And don’t call me ‘holy one.’” Merin caught the sword, looking down at it blankly. Then he yelped in surprise, dropping his Shardblade and raising the practice sword awkwardly as the monk stepped forward in a dueling stance. Merin wasn’t certain how to respond—all of his training in the army had focused on working within his squad, using his shield to protect his companions and his spear to harry the opponent. He’d rarely been forced to fight solitarily. The monk came in with a few testing swings, and Merin tried his best to mimic the man’s stance. He knew enough not to engage the first few blows—they were meant to throw Merin off balance and leave him open for a strike. He retreated across the cool sand, shuffling backward and trying not to fall for the monk’s feints. Even still, the man’s first serious strike took Merin completely by surprise. The blow took Merin on the shoulder—it was delivered lightly, but it stung anyway. “Your instincts are good,” the monk said, returning to his stance. “But your swordsmanship is atrocious.” “That’s kind of why I’m here,” Merin said, trying another stance. This time he managed to dodge the first blow, though the follow-through caught him on the thigh. He grunted in pain. “Your Blade is unbonded,” the monk said. “And you resist moving to the sides, as if you expect there to be someone standing beside you. You were a spearman?” “Yes,” Merin said. The monk stepped back, lowering his blade and resting the tip in the sand. “You must have done something incredibly brave to earn yourself a Blade, little spearman.” “Either that, or I was just lucky,” Merin replied. The monk smiled, then nodded toward the center of the courtyard. “Your friend is looking for you.” Merin turned to see Aredor waving for him. Merin nodded thankfully to the monk and returned the practice sword, then picked up his Shardblade and jogged across the sands toward Aredor. Standing with Dalenar’s son was a group of elderly, important-looking monks. “Merin,” Aredor began, “these are the monastery masters. Each of them is an expert at several dueling forms, and they’ll be able to train you in the one that fits you best. Masters Bendahkha and Lhanan are currently accepting new students. You can train with either one of them, though you’ll need to pay the standard hundred-ishmark tribute to the monastery out of your monthly stipend.” Merin regarded the two monks Aredor had indicated. Both looked very distinguished, almost uncomfortably so. They regarded Merin with the lofty expressions of men who had spent their entire lives practicing their art, and who had risen to the highest of their talents. They stood like kings in their monasteries—not condescending, but daunting nonetheless. Merin glanced to the side, a sudden impression taking him. “Holy ones, I am honored by your offer, but I feel a little overwhelmed. Could you tell me, is the monk I just sparred with accepting students at the moment?” The masters frowned. “You mean Vasher?” one of them asked. “Why do you wish to train with him?” “I . . . I’m not certain,” Merin confessed. One of the masters waved for a younger monk and sent him running off toward Vasher’s group. As he did so, Aredor pulled Merin aside with a concerned face. “What are you doing?” Aredor asked quietly. “Those masters make me uncomfortable, Aredor,” Merin said. Aredor rolled his eyes. “You’re going to have to get over that, Merin. You’re a lord now.” “I’m trying,” Merin replied. “But . . .” “The man you sent for isn’t even a proper monk,” Aredor said. “He’s Oathgiven, not Birthgiven. He joined the monastery by choice, rather than being given by his parents before the age of his charan. He won’t be a dueling master—he probably just came here by happenstance.” “Aredor,” Merin said frankly, “I came here by happenstance.” Aredor just sighed as the young monk approached, the man Merin had spared with—Vasher—following behind. “What is this about, masters?” Vasher asked in a calm voice. “This child wishes you to be his master,” the senior master said, waving toward Merin. “He wishes to know if you are taking any students.” Vasher snorted. “You really don’t know what you’re doing, do you, little spearman?” Merin just shrugged. “Very well,” Vasher said. “If he is willing to do what I say, I’ll train him.” Aredor groaned quietly, but the masters just nodded and began walking away. Vasher turned back toward the corner of the monastery, where the monks he had been sparring with still practiced. Uncertain what else to do, Merin tagged along behind. Once they reached the place he had dueled before, Merin set aside his Shardblade and reached for a practice sword. Vasher reached out a foot and placed it on the sword just as Merin began to lift it. “No,” he said. Merin rose uncertainly, watching as Vasher walked over to the weapons pile and selected an object. He returned with a large, thick-hafted horsekiller arrow and handed it to Merin. “An arrow?” Merin asked slowly. “A little spear,” Vasher said. “For a little spearman. I don’t want you thinking you are a duelist—you haven’t earned a practice sword yet.” “You let me fight with one before, master,” Merin protested. “That was before you were my student,” Vasher informed. “And don’t call me ‘master.’ My name is Vasher. From this moment on and until I declare your training complete, you are not to duel with anyone unless I give you permission. You may not swing a sword—even that Shardblade of yours—unless it is under my direction. Do you understand?” “Yes, sir!” Merin snapped, spearman training returning. “And don’t call me ‘sir’ either,” Vasher said with a bitter scowl. “You’re a lord, not a footman. Follow my rules if you wish, learn from me as you wish, and leave as you wish. I care not.” “Okay . . .” Merin said, eyeing the arrow with skepticism. “Good. Now, watch.” Vasher turned, falling into a stance and raising his sword. He stood there for a moment, then turned expectant eyes on Merin. Merin quickly mimicked Vasher’s stance. The monk walked over to him, nudging Merin’s foot forward a few inches, correcting his posture, and showing him how to grip the arrow. “Good,” Vasher said. “How high can you count?” “Uh, I don’t know,” Merin confessed, holding still in the stance. “As high as I want, I suppose.” “Good,” Vasher said, turning and walking back toward his dueling partner. “Hold that stance for a thousand heartbeats. When you’re done, let me know and we’ll do another.” Merin frowned, but the monk said nothing further. A bead of sweat rolled down Merin’s cheek in the sunlight. What have I gotten myself into? he wondered, sighing internally.
A combination of a whirlwind and heavy rain on Thursday morning has flooded the Flood Museum in Ouwerkerk, Zeeland. According to the museum, the rainwater is usually drained by municipality pumps. But this time there was so much of it, that it could not simply be drained away. And so the water ended up in the museum through a side wall, NOS reports. The fire brigade was called in to pump the water out of the reception hall. "They pumped out most of the water", Lianne Kooijman of the Flood Museum said to local news agency PZC. "Now we're waiting for the cleaning crew to suck up the remaining water with a water vacuum." The museum is open as usual, despite the flooding. "Visitors can easily avoid the hall, so it's not a big problem." See the whirlwind on the video below:
Last week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, through the power of Dodd-Frank, passed a rule giving the agency unprecedented power to shut down businesses, no matter what the reason, at any time it wishes through a cease-and-desist order. Further, the rule puts businesses at the mercy of the CFPB and they cannot go back into operation until government approval or a court ruling is made over an issue. Subsequently because bureaucratic decisions and court rulings take a substantial amount of time to happen, businesses cannot survive during those waiting periods. Here are the details (bolding is mine): In a notice published in today’s Federal Register, the CFPB has announced that it has adopted its interim final rule on temporary cease-and-desist orders (C&Ds) without change. The final rule takes effect on July 18, 2014. The CFPB is authorized to issue temporary C&Ds under Section 1053(c) of Dodd-Frank. That provision authorizes a temporary C&D as an adjunct to a cease-and-desist proceeding brought under Section 1053 against a covered person or service provider. A temporary C&D is effective immediately upon service and remains in effect unless modified or terminated administratively by the CFPB or set aside on judicial review. The new rule comes on the heals of revelations the Department of Justice has been smothering firearms dealerships and other "high risk" entities out of business by "choking" banks and stripping funding through Operation Choke Point. Consumer groups are pushing back against the rule and issuing a warnings to businesses everywhere about what the rule means for them. The United States Consumer Coalition in particular is sounding the alarm: "This unprecedented rule created by the CFPB grants the agency unilateral authority to literally shut down any business overnight. It is a doubling down of Operation Choke Point (OCP), the Administration's program to target lawful industries by intimidating banks from doing business with them. This rule allows the CFPB to immediately issue a cease-and-desist order, which terminates all business practices — and a hearing doesn’t have to be granted for 10 days, effectively shutting down businesses for at least 10 days. This is a 'guilty until proven innocent' tactic of the Administration that goes against every historical notion of justice under the law in America." "The Administration got caught with their illegal intimidation tactics in Operation Choke Point, and now they are taking radical steps to ensure the goals of shutting down these lawful businesses are met. This is just the next step in using unaccountable agencies, with their ever-expanding agency powers, to meet the political goals of the Administration. This is a much more efficient way of shutting down lawful industries than just relying on intimidation. It is also no coincidence that this rule was released the day that CFPB Director Richard Cordray finished testifying at oversight hearings on the Hill." "This is a direct attack on every free-market business in America, and every single business should be alarmed. No business should have to operate while questioning daily whether or not they will be the victim of a cease-and-desist order. This will cause uncertainty on Wall Street and uncertainty in the job market, leading to a loss of jobs and devastating the families that rely on them, while irreversibly damaging the economy and threatening consumer choice." I have no doubt a few Senators will have a few things to say about this.The rule can be opposed and overturned through legislation and oversight. "The best solution would be to pass the CFPB reform bill that Rep. Duffy introduced adding bipartisan oversight to the Bureau through an appointed commission," USCC Senior Advisor Brian Wise says. "Having a Director-led agency with this much authority puts too much control in the hands of one unelected man. Otherwise they could repeal Dodd-Frank but that isn’t practical at this point.” Stay tuned. This post has been updated.
Mining company Pacific Rim, now owned by OceanaGold, is suing El Salvador for halting mining within its borders. A decision by an international trade tribunal could determine whether mining resumes El Salvador is an impoverished country, but its citizens live above riches: the country has an estimated 1.4m ounces of gold buried underground, as well as silver and copper. It may be surprising, then, that no mining is allowed. In 2008, after mining operations polluted the water supply in San Sebastián, sparking a clean water crisis, then-president Antonio Saca stopped issuing new mining permits. Its legislature has considered and failed to pass an official moratorium or permanent ban on mining since then, but the government has continued to deny all permit applications. Environmentalists want to keep El Salvador mining-free. As the smallest country in Central America, and one that is densely populated, El Salvador is particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation. The outcome of a high-profile case between the country and a Canadian mining company, due any day now, may serve to move the government in one direction or another. The judgement comes at the same time that the El Salvadoran government is struggling to decide whether it should continue to protect water as a human right. In the mid-2000s, Canada-based mining giant Pacific Rim began exploring for gold in El Salvador. The company was granted exploratory permits and was on track to receive extraction permits when the government put an official halt to mining. El Salvador wanted to wait until it could determine whether it was possible to mine without causing irreparable environmental damage. This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy \| George Monbiot Read more Pacific Rim, saying it had done its due diligence on environmental impacts, pleaded with the government to reconsider. When the country wouldn’t budge, Pacific Rim sued. That’s not as crazy as it might sound. More than 3,000 free-trade agreements govern international investor-state disputes, many with clauses that are open to interpretation when it comes to whether or not a government has violated a company’s rights. In the absence of system-wide reform, some countries have attempted to tackle this issue by introducing more specific language into free trade agreements. “Most modern free trade agreements give significantly less room for interpretation,” Burgstaller says. “You’re seeing requirements for transparency in any tribunal proceedings, certain requirements for arbitrators used in those proceedings, including approved lists of arbitrators to choose from, and more specific language around which factors would constitute a violation of the treaty.” While such language could improve the investor-state dispute process, Pedro Martinez-Fraga, partner and co-leader of the international arbitration team at international law firm Bryan Cave, points out that each trade agreement is still setting out its own definitions of the process, creating a complicated web of what he calls “custom international law,” that’s difficult for most governments to navigate. The phrase “fair and equitable treatment” is used in the vast majority of trade agreements to describe what a company can reasonably expect of a host country, but each company and government has their own interpretation of what constitutes “fair and equitable”. Any two countries entering into a bilateral treaty can decide for themselves what “fair and equitable treatment” means, completely disregarding any definitions of those terms in previous treaties if they so choose, says Pedro Martinez-Fraga, partner and co-leader of the international arbitration team at New York law firm Bryan Cave. US fast-track trade bill clears key hurdle in Senate Read more The majority of the trade agreements currently in place also include a clause that requires any dispute between a foreign investor and a government to be decided via international investor-state arbitration. In the arbitration process, which is initiated by an investor, a tribunal of typically three international law experts hears arguments from both sides and then decides whether the state in question has breached either a trade agreement or its own laws – and, if so, the monetary value of that breach. In some cases, the proceedings and relevant documents are made public, but in others they are kept secret. “I have acted in a number of [United Nations Commission on International Trade Law] cases where very little information was in the public domain and people would not know what the dispute was about and pleadings would not be known,” says Markus Burgstaller, a partner in New York law firm Hogan Lovells’ international arbitration group. The Pacific Rim case, which has been ongoing since 2009, has been a mix of public and private. Pacific Rim initially claimed that El Salvador had violated the Central American Free Trade (Cafta) treaty. The tribunal proceedings for the case were streamed on the internet and all documents were posted to the World Bank International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes website. Canadian mining company spied on opponents and activists in Brazil Read more Then in 2012, the tribunal found that Pacific Rim, as a Canadian company, could not invoke Cafta. The company changed its claim, accusing El Salvador instead of violating its own investment law. At that point, the arbitration proceedings became less transparent, according to Marcos Orellana, a senior attorney and director of the human rights and environment program for the Center for International Environmental Law, and a consultant on the El Salvador case. OceanaGold, the Australian mining company that bought Pacific Rim in 2013, isn’t giving up its hopes of mining in the country. Despite the arbitration process, Andrea Atell, a spokeswoman for Oceana, says the company’s “strong preference is to negotiate an outcome to the permitting impasse”. To that end, Atell says the company is continuing to engage with local stakeholders in El Salvador and support a range of community programs focused on education, health, sustainability and capacity building. Meanwhile, El Salvador has spent $6m arguing its case in arbitration proceedings, and is on the hook for $301m – nearly 2% of the country’s gross domestic product – if it loses. All in favor of reform Because they initiate arbitration, investors get to decide which set of rules they want to use: those drafted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, which require less transparency, or the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Then there’s the conflict of interest inherent in a system that allows an individual to act as both an arbitrator and an attorney. Australian mining is poisoning El Salvador. It could soon send it broke, too \| Damien Kingsbury Read more “If you sit as an arbitrator in one case where you helped develop a law and then act as counsel in another case, that may be a problem,” Burgstaller says. “The independence or impartiality of arbitrators may be compromised.” The bigger issue for many is the lack of clarity or consistency in the language of treaties, and the role of precedents. Charles Gordon, an arbitrator with global mediation firm Jams International, said he’d like to see binding precedents used in arbitrations, and tighter language used across treaties. “I think that the language in many treaties is too vague in respect of investor rights and existing and future treaties should have much tighter language, which would limit the range of claims that can be brought under ISDS processes,” he says. Finally, there’s the issue of sovereign governments and their domestic laws. “Corporations are entitled to certain rights – with respect to property, for example – but only after exhausting domestic jurisdiction,” Orellana says. El Salvador's communities battle to keep their gold in the ground Read more Negotiating a compromise Meanwhile, every actor in the current system has a different idea of what a better international legal system might look like. Gordon would like to see more arbitrators suggest mediation as a way of avoiding tribunal hearings altogether. Orellana would like to see both vastly improved transparency and a requirement that companies exhaust domestic legal systems before heading to international court. Martinez-Fraga envisions a centralized international investment law system, akin to the international criminal court system. “It’s challenging to implement but much less challenging than an international criminal court, which we’ve done,” Martinez-Fraga says. “I think we are headed in that direction, but as with all aspirations, first you have to go through the pain and suffering of systems that don’t work. You need to touch bottom and have a realization of the limitations of these systems before you can gather the energy to move in a different direction.” The role of business in development hub is funded by Business Call to Action. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “brought to you by”. Find out more here.
Welcome to Sketch a Day #50!!!! It was a very rainy day, and I was feeling very much in the mood for some Totoro. Then today, I watched a bunch of Adventure Time on my lunch + dinner break. What resulted is Fionna and Cake all Totoro style. I know a lot of people have drawn Cake as the Cat Bus (which makes sense), but one of my favorite scenes in My Neighbor Totoro, is where the girls fall asleep on the comfiest friend ever! I wanted Fionna and Cake to be all cozy and cute like that too. Here’s a LINK to watch my process or check out below… Fionna and Cake as My Neighbor Totoro \| SOLD PROCESS VIDEO TIME! Sketch a Day #50 My Neighbor Fionna and Cake from Annie Stoll on Vimeo.
I tweeted about this earlier today and posted a clip from the 2009 documentary Defamation in which an Israeli-Jew discusses the politicization of the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism in modern times. Abe Foxman the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the world’s largest advocate for Israel and fighting Anti-Semitism meets with Yushchenko’s advisors and warns them not to compare the two genocides – the Holodomor and the Holocaust: Abe Foxman (head of the ADL): But one thing that you need to be sensitive about is not to link it (the Holodomor) with the Holocaust. Be careful that it not be linked as ‘your genocide’ and ‘our genocide’, because that would be counter-productive. Israel has still yet to recognize the Holodomor as genocide. Stay connected! Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, Subscribe with RSS feeds or Sign-up for E-Mail updates.
Just a few days before the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton criticized her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders’ plan to implement a single-payer health care system in America, so it would probably have been newsworthy if Clinton had then promised to implement just such a system during her Iowa victory speech. Of course, that never made the news because Clinton never said it … but that didn’t stop Glenn Beck from “reporting” that she had on his television program last night. “Last night, she said she would achieve a single-payer health care system,” Beck stated. “Just four years ago, they were all saying that was a conspiracy theory, that there’s no way any of them wanted a single-payer health care system. But apparently, Obamacare is exactly what we warned it would be: a system designed to crush the health care system and give the government an excuse to swoop in and implement a single-payer health care system. But who’s the kook? Who’s the crazy one? Who’s the conspiracy theorist? Me? You? Or perhaps has the media and the left been lying to you the whole time?” Beck repeated this claim on his radio program today, which utterly surprised his co-hosts, who could not imagine how they had not heard this piece of news, while Beck insisted that “he was pretty darn sure” it was true because “it was in my morning briefing.” After admitting that he had not actually heard Clinton say this, Beck had his staff try to find any evidence the Clinton had made statement — after, of course, he’d already reported it on television the night before — but they came up empty, which was very confusing to Beck because he was sure that he had seen it in his briefing “and I don’t think I misunderstood that.” This is another pretty telling example of how Beck “verifies” information before he goes out and reports it as fact on air: He simply doesn’t bother. UPDATE: Later in the radio broadcast, Beck reported that Clinton actually promised “universal health care for every single payer,” which he insisted was essentially the same thing as single-payer health care. He’s still wrong, as what Clinton actually said was that “I know that we can finish the job of universal health-care coverage for every single man, woman and child.”
Former New York Mets slugger Darryl Strawberry does not approve of NFL players protesting the national anthem, or any athlete using the stage they’re given to make a political statement. ‘The national anthem stands for what America is all about regardless of what’s happening,’ the eight-time All-Star told the Fox Business Network. Free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the trend of protesting police violence against minorities during the 2016 preseason, when he was still a member of the San Francisco 49ers. Since that time, players across the NFL have followed in a variety of ways. Some, such as Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett have remained seated on the bench during the anthem whereas others have remained standing with one fist raised in the air. ‘I would tell them,’ Strawberry continued, ‘really leave the politics alone as far as your job. You go out and do your job and play sports because you only really have [a] one-time window open to play sports and have an impact and sports is going to pass away, but what legacy will you leave in life? And that’s the most important thing.’ Strawberry did not specifically name any current athletes, and stressed that he has no problem with any of the people who have chosen to take a knee during the national anthem. The problem, as Strawberry sees it, is that the protests are becoming divisive. ‘I wouldn’t do it and I’m not against guys that are doing it, but we have a problem in America, and we need to come together as people, not color but as people,’ Strawberry said. ‘And we need to understand that God has a perfect plan for all of us to come together and love each other and really work together. And I think when we work against each other, it separates us.’ Strawberry’s message comes after Seattle Seahawks star Michael Bennett accused the Las Vegas Metro Police Department of profiling him for being black and violating his civil rights. The Pro Bowl defensive end, who happens to be one of the players protesting during the anthem, says officers pointed their weapons at him and threatened to ‘blow my f****** head off’. ‘Las Vegas police officers singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time,’ Bennett wrote in a letter he posted on Twitter. The Las Vegas Metro Police Department announced an investigation into the matter but has not admitted to any wrongdoing. These days, Strawberry is an ordained minister, who runs The Darryl Strawberry Foundation, which is aimed to assisting children with autism. Prior to becoming a born-again Christian, Strawberry’s playing career and early retirement were marked by trouble with the law. In addition to receiving three suspensions from Major League Baseball for drug use, he was also suspended for 140 games in 1999 after being arrested for attempting to solicit sex from an undercover police officer. Strawberry served an 11-month sentence for a parole violation before being released in April of 2003. A four-time World Series champion, most notably with the Mets in 1986, Strawberry was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 1983 and finished second in the MVP voting in 1988 behind Dodgers outfielder Kirk Gibson. Strawberry retired in 1999 after winning three titles as a member of the Yankees. Original Article Share This
Podiatry in Sports: Orioles’ J.J. Hardy out 6-8 weeks with fractured foot Baltimore Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy is headed to the 15-day disabled list with a hairline fracture in his left foot and is expected to miss at least six weeks, according to ESPN. Hardy, 33, was injured in the fourth inning of Sunday’s game against the Chicago White Sox when he fouled a pitch off his foot. He finished his plate appearance with a walk, but would later exit the game in the top of the sixth inning. A three-time Gold Glove Award winner, the Orioles are just 32-46 without Hardy in the lineup since 2012. The two-time All-Star was hitting 2.44 with two home runs and seven RBIs this season, but is only one of four starting shortstops without an error this season. At Delray Beach Podiatry, Dr. Ian S. Goldbaum, a podiatric physician and surgeon with over 30 years of experience, has treated numerous fractures of the foot and, although not much information is known at this time, can offer insight into what exactly Hardy’s treatment and recovery could entail. “He probably has a non-displaced fracture into the bone,” said Dr. Goldbaum. “At three weeks, they’ll X-ray it to make sure there’s bone granulation, which is the formation of the bone callus that acts bridge of woven bone between the fracture fragments.” A hairline fracture, also known as a stress fracture, is a small crack in a bone, or severe bruising within a bone. These fractures occur most often in the second and third metatarsals in the foot, which are thinner (and often longer) than the adjacent first metatarsal. After Hardy’s likely re-evaluation in three weeks, Dr. Goldbaum notes that although there are numerous advanced treatment methods that can be used to expedite the healing process, it’ll take at least six weeks for the bone to fully heal. “It takes six weeks for bone to mend,” said Dr. Goldbaum. “They might utilize a bone stimulator, which sends an electrical charge into the bone to bring the two ends of the bone together and speed up the healing process, but that still won’t heal the injury faster than six weeks.” Although the Orioles would certainly love to have him back in the lineup as soon as possible, returning to activity too soon after a stress fracture would put Hardy at risk for larger, harder-to-heal stress fractures or chronic problems. Once his pain has subsided, a doctor will likely confirm that Hardy’s stress fracture has healed by taking x-rays or (CT) scan. In the meantime, Hardy should be able to begin rehabilitation before the bone has fully healed, slowly working on range of motion in order to return to game shape. At this point, Dr. Goldbaum believes the initial reports of Hardy’s 6-8 week recovery are accurate, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he returns on the earlier end of that estimate. “If he is able to begin rehabilitation early in the recovery process and there are no problems with his bone granulation, I wouldn’t be surprised if he returns to the lineup in 6-7 weeks,” he said. — Follow Delray Beach Podiatry on Twitter @Delray_Podiatry The content on this website is for informational purposes only. Do not rely or act upon information from www.DelrayBeachPodiatry.com without seeking professional medical advice. If you live in South Florida and would like a consultation with Dr. Ian Goldbaum, a podiatric physician and surgeon with over 30 years of experience, please see our contact information below: BOCA/DELRAY 16244 S. Military Trail #290, Delray Beach, FL 33445 561-499-0033 BOYNTON BEACH 8198 Jog Road #100, Boynton Beach, FL 33472 561-499-0033
. Subsection All of the Bible Commentaries of the Scottish Covenanters . . Order of Contents Why Read the Scottish Covenanters? About this Collection Alphabetical Order Chronological Order Rev. Travis Fentiman Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) Why read the Scottish Covenanters? Because it is in fire that gold glows the brightest and most purely, and God, in his infinite wisdom, graced the Scottish covenanters with some of the hottest fires that Church history has ever seen. It is when the fire is stoked seven times hotter than ever that one like unto the Son of God has been known to appear with his beloved people in their midst (Dan. 3:19,24-25). Immanuel has promised to be with us in the valley of the shadow of death, and it is there, in the midst of enemies, that He prepares a table for us and causes our cup to run over (Ps. 23:4-5). As Samuel Rutherford said, it is in the bottom cellar of affliction in God’s House where God keeps his choicest wine. Come, taste and drink these old, fragrant wines at no cost (Isa. 55:1-2): The covenanters were first and foremost ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20) calling, in Christ’s name, dying sinners to eternal life in the Savior. To see Christ and his grace freely opened up to poor, penny-less sinners, see ‘Gospel Presentations are the Strongest Invitations’ and ‘The Best Wares at the Lowest Rates’ in James Durham’s The Unsearchable Riches of Christ Buy pp. 43-79 & 136-160 (excerpts). Hear Christ’s voice in the young, bright burning star of the Scottish Church, Hugh Binning, in his sermon on Mt. 11:28, ‘Come unto Me…’ Buy Durham said of this one who died at 26 years, ‘There is no speaking after Mr. Binning.’ Andrew Gray, another ‘spark from heaven’, preached on Christ calling out to strangers, ‘Behold Me, Behold Me!’ Buy from Isa. 65:1. In two sermons on Heb. 2:3, Gray holds out The Great Salvation Offered and Tendered First by Christ Himself. It is God that speaks to us in Prov. 23:26, ‘My son, give Me thine heart.’ Gray opens this text up in his communion sermon, ‘The Duty of Giving the Heart to Christ’ in Loving Christ and Fleeing Temptation Buy pp. 597-613. Durham said of the young Gray, ‘he could make men’s hair stand on end.’ Gray died in his 23rd year. After the Great Ejection of 1662, when Christ was kicked out of the churches in Scotland, 400 of the most godly ministers went with Him outside the camp. It is there to the fields we must go to find Him (Song 6:1-2). Gabriel Semple powerfully exhorts us in the fugitive worship meetings to ‘Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.’ (Isa. 55:6) PoD For proof that the Gospel promise is true, that no tribulation, peril or any power on this earth can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35-39), go with James Fraser of Brea into the dungeons of the Bass Rock and Blackness Castle, and there you will find him Trusting God and Hungering and Thirsting and Spiritually Feasting upon Christ. As James Renwick (†1688), the last of the field preachers to be executed, testified on the scaffold, the covenanters were the ‘most in the main things.’ (Mt. 23:23) As Christ is ‘all in all’, He was the substance of all that they lived and died for. Writing from exile in Holland, John Brown of Wamphray expounds on how to practically make use of Christ: the Way, the Truth and the Life Buy. Take some time and slowly go through and digest Robert Rollock’s 700 pages of lectures expositing the Scripture-history of Christ’s Suffering, Death, Resurrection and Ascension Buy. Peer into the pastoral heart of the one that authored these pages in the sonnets that James Melville composed upon Rollock’s death. The Lord our Rock (2 Sam. 23:3; Ps. 18:46) has been smitten friends (Zech. 13:7; Num. 20:11; 1 Cor. 10:4) and Refreshing Streams are Flowing from the Fullness of Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:1,17). Drink with William Coleville to your heart’s content, and you will never thirst again. For a lifetime of sobering meditation and wonder, descend into the valley of the shadow of death with Durham on the Atonement, in his 52 sermons on Isa. 53, entitled, Christ Crucified, vols. 1, 2 Buy. You will see the Face of God marred more than any man (Isa. 52:14). And why? While you will find no depth to his love, you will find your name, Believer, written on his heart (Eph. 1:4). Pour your soul out in a drink offering by Meditating on the Death of Christ with William Guild and you will find riches few know of, even ‘the fellowship of his sufferings.’ (Phil. 3:10) Yea, let us be able to say with the psalmist, ‘I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches.’ (Ps. 63:6) Make sure of your legal right (or ‘interest’ in the old sense of the word) to Christ and Heaven following Him. Examine yourself (2 Cor. 13:5) by trying your faith upon Scripture to see if it is saving in William Guthrie’s The Christian’s Great Interest Buy. Fear not: while puritans such as Thomas Hooker in New England thundered against hardened hypocrites (rightly, as the town churches were filled with them), Guthrie handles the reader gently and winsomely in ‘a most homely and plain style’, not crushing the bruised reed but building up even the smallest babe in Christ to know how to attain an assurance of salvation, even ‘Heaven on earth’. Thomas Chalmers, one of the fathers of the later Free Church of Scotland, who wrote an Introductory Essay to the work, said that ‘while it guides, it purifies,’ and that it ‘is the best book I ever read’. Be not fooled, though the book is sweetly simple, John Owen said of Guthrie and his work, ‘That author I take to have been one of the greatest divines that ever wrote… I have written several folios [there are 23 volumes in Owen’s Works], but there is more divinity in it than in them all.’ Discern the testimony of the Holy Spirit crying ‘Abba’ in your heart to your adoptive Father in Heaven with John Forbes’ Letter on assurance from Rom. 8:14-16. Make sure that Jesus Christ is in you by way of Gray’s three sermons. But most of all, finding yourself, genuine Believer, to be a favorite of the King of Heaven and his beloved (Song 6:3), relish in Christ’s love for you in Guthrie’s heart-warming sermon Buy on Gal. 2:20 ‘Who loved me, and gave Himself for me…’. The Christian’s life is found and kept alive in communion with God: ‘for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.’ (Col.3:3) Let the seraphic Letters Buy of Samuel Rutherford inflame your soul. Held ‘to be the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men’ by Charles Spurgeon, Richard Baxter said that ‘such a book of letters the world never saw the like.’ The thing lacking in most sermons today is worship. Make your home in communion with the Living Christ in Rutherford’s Communion Sermons Buy and hear preaching like you have never heard before. Find out why the Bride is irresistibly attracted to, and enraptured with the King’s love (Song 1:2-4) in Gray’s sermon: ‘The Intercourse of Divine Love between Christ and his Church’ Buy. Spiritually seek for Christ with Gray in his three sermons on Job 23:3 ‘Oh! that I knew where I might find Him!’ and God’s immutable promise is that we will find Him (Mt. 7:7) whom our soul loves (Song 3:4). Next akin to these Christ saturated letters and sermons is Margaret Durham’s ‘Epistle Dedicatory’ to her husband’s Commentary on the Song of Solomon Buy. Her letter (not in the online editions) is much more spiritually full and edifying, savoring of a rich, experiential acquaintance with the deep truths of Christ’s Word, than even the preface to the reader to the same work by the justly renowned scholar, John Owen. These excerpts will take you into the soul-ravishing embraces of your heavenly husband where you will find that his kisses are better than the choicest wine (Song 1:2). Prayer is the air that the Christian breathes, and thus the apostle tells us, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ (1 Thess. 5:17). Knox teaches us what true prayer is (27 pp.); Gray gives us directions for prayer and how to diligently keep our heart in it Buy (9 sermons). How did the covenanters endure the greatest trials with such long-suffering, patience and hope? Join John Brown of Wamphray on his knees in his prayer closet for 310 pages Buy. Why is prayer so lovely before God? a fragrant perfume to Him? William Guild opens up this sacrifice of sweet smelling incense so that we would love conversing with Him as much as He does with us (143 pp.). Thy Beloved calls Christian! ‘O my Dove!… let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice!’ (Song 2:14) The true Christian, as Christ (Ps. 40:8), delights to do the will of God (Ps. 119:35). His commandments are a lamp shedding light for our path (Ps. 119:105). The ever-savory Robert Leighton gives us some summary Rules and Instructions for a Holy Life Buy from God’s Word. Durham gives a practical manual of Christian living in expounding the Ten Commandments at length in The Law Unsealed Buy. Here is a digest of how to ‘fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.’ (Eccl. 12:13) It is in the light of God’s holy Law that we come to see, with James Fraser of Brea, the evil of sin and the power thereof. We find ourselves to be ‘a people laden with iniquity’ (Isa. 1:4). The confession of sin is the vomit of the soul; purge yourself with acknowledging the causes of God’s Wrath against us: the most searching and thorough confession of sin ever expunged from a national church over its land. It will break your heart. For ministers: see your mirror and make humble acknowledgement of the sins of your ministry. Let the purification of excoriating your soul-decay produce the deep-seated cleansing that brings life. John Welch’s (†1622) eight convicting and renewing sermons on repentance PoD will help us turn to the Lord again. ‘Thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help.’ (Hosea 13:9) If our eye is on loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourself, we will fulfill the whole Law (Rom. 13:10). The classic treatise throughout the centuries on Christian Love Buy, to help us do that, is by the covenanter Hugh Binning. While this short book will greatly soften our rough edges and endear our fellow brothers and sisters to us (a reward in itself), what is not always known is that this priceless and tender-hearted gem was written by one of the most doctrinally strict and uncompromising Christians ever to walk this earth, even of the Protestor variety in the mid-1600’s Resolutions controversy. May this be an example to us, and may we find, as did Binning, where truth and mercy kiss (Ps. 85:10). In their doctrine, the covenanters had a back-bone of steel. Imprisoned during ‘the Killing Times’ in the 1680’s, William Wishart later became the Principal of Edinburgh University and published his Discourses of God, vols. 1, 2 PoD, being 120 sermons on the being and attributes of God, something akin by genre to Charnock’s work on the same subject. Binning preached on the first third of a systematic theology’s topics in 25 sermons in his The Common Principals of the Christian Religion, taking the reader up through the Trinity, the Decrees of God, Creation, Providence, the Covenant of Works and Original Sin. On Predestination, forget Norman Geisler and read John Knox’s God’s Eternal Predestination Buy (460 pp., in old English). The pure scriptural light will chase away all vague, shadowy doubts and wonderings. With all reverence and thankfulness to the ministry of R.C Sproul, contemporary authors do not write on predestination with the practical relevance, experiential fervor and soul-soaring relish that you will find in Rutherford’s Influences of the Life of Grace (only just made available online in 2015). It is not a book of doctrine, though it contains more than most doctrinal books; it is a tactical-guide for thriving in the means of grace upon God’s absolute promises. God calls us to lay our faith upon no other pillow than that of Omnipotence Himself. Rest upon the Lord, oh Christian! and be strengthened. Continue through the wilderness of this world, from well to well and strength to strength (Ps. 84:5-7), to Rutherford’s Covenant of Life Opened Buy, the best book on the older (and better) Covenant Theology that there is (though the treatise’s organization leaves a bit to be desired). You won’t find in any other systematic theology or modern academic press seraphic strains of devotion leaving you breathless. To delve further into the heart of the covenants, even Christ’s over-redeeming bankrupt sinners and drawing them out of sin and the grave by invincible power, set your mark on Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself Buy. If one has to tread over spans of polemical combat in these works, marvel not: Not only has the truth often been best hammered out upon the anvil of controversy, but these missiles of truth were not launched from easy-chairs, but under religious persecutions from principalities in high places with a price upon one’s head, for the sake of the existence and continuance of the truth of God in the world and for the good of the souls of perishing men. The theology of the covenants came to a fullness (which hasn’t been superseded since) in the covenanter, Patrick Gillespie’s (brother of George) Ark of the Testament Opened… A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace (1661) and his Ark of the Covenant Opened, or a Treatise on the Covenant of Redemption (1677), being condensations of all the major theologians that came before him on nearly every point related to the divine compact binding our everlasting persons to Christ. If you are not sure what the difference is between the Covenant of Redemption that the Father made with the Son in eternity to redeem his lovingly-chosen people to Himself, and the Covenant of Grace between God the Trinity and us by faith through Christ the Mediator in time whereby we receive all the blessings that Christ has purchased, be sure to start with James Durham and David Dickson’s The Sum of Saving Knowledge, Heads 2-4. One of the inestimable blessings received by those who lay hold of Christ offered in the Covenant of Grace is Justification: sinners receiving the Righteousness of Christ for our own, gratis. The covenanters, though reputed to be the off-scouring of the earth (1 Cor. 4:13) by those who seek honor from men (John 5:44), were reputed by God to be ‘in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’ (1 Cor. 1:30) While Papists and Arminians were defending the righteousness of their own muddied faith and good-works to save them, John Forbes and John Brown of Wamphray were defending Christ’s spotless and pure (Heb. 7:26) righteousness alone to be sufficient to save sinners with no good works at all, destitute of any legal-righteousness in their faith. In a day of a New Perspective on Paul, read here of the Old Perspective. When the subtle error reared its ugly head that Christ only provides half-righteousness and half the Law’s requirements to the believer, only the passive righteousness of suffering under the punishment of our curse, then it is time, with Brown, to set forth the whole of Christ’s life and righteousness, even the active righteousness of Christ in obedience to every jot and tittle of the positive commands of the Law, given to Law-ommitting believers in order to fill up the full measure of God’s glory (Lev. 26:14; Rom. 3:23; Jer. 33:6). With time new errors soon crept in. In response to the Scylla of Antinomianism roaring that God’s precious Law is of no use for the believer (‘anti’, against; ‘nomos’, the Law), the Charybdis of Neonomianism sought to whirl people down into obeying a new, lowered and easier form of the Law in order to contribute a few mites to our salvation (‘neo’, new). Give no heed to such fables! (1 Tim. 4:7) but deeply consider and lay up in your heart what is perhaps the most profound, brief setting forth of the Biblical doctrine of Justification that Church History has bequeathed to us: Robert Trail’s letter to a friend of 24 pages: A Vindication of the Protestant Doctrine of Justification Buy. While the benefits and liberties of being declared righteous before God as servants is great, yet there is a large difference between the upright servant that stands aside waiting to do the Master’s command, and being adopted into God’s family whereby we are legally secured as sons and daughters into the embraces and intimacy of our Father in Heaven. Climb into your Father’s lap with your older brother Binning’s five sermons on Rom. 8:14-15 and learn from of the Holy Spirit to cry, ‘Abba, Daddy!’ What is God’s will for your life? ‘For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.’ (1 Thess. 4:2-3) Being sanctified, or, growing in holiness in conformity to the image of Jesus, is not a formulaic process. Rather, walk with Binning in the spirit while resisting the flesh through Rom. 8:4-13 in 20 sermons from The Sinner’s Sanctuary. Binning exhorts us from Christ’s words to ‘seek first the Kingdom of God’ (Mt. 6:33) in five sermons. Gray instructs us with tactical training for spiritual warfare in eight sermons, shows us how to resist temptation in four sermons in Loving Christ and Fleeing Temptation Buy pp. 338-421, and directs us how to keep our heart in 3 sermons, for out of it are the springing waters of our life. Scripture says, ‘All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.’ (1 Pet. 5:5) Cultivate spiritual beauty before the Lord: put on ‘Humility: the Christian’s Best Ornament’ with Gray (Loving Christ Buy pp. 253-265) and be humbled by this touching sermon of William Guthrie’s on sympathy for others. Everyone who is made alive by the Spirit of God loves God’s Word (Ps. 119:140); it is the textbook of sanctification: ‘Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.’ (Jn. 17:17) Meditate on God’s Word day and night (Ps. 1:2) with All of the Bible Commentaries of the Scottish Covenanters. Charles Surgeon gave many of these commentaries his highest rating, and a number of them have earned a spot in Banner of Truth’s justly prized Geneva Commentary Series. Wet your taste by reading 7 Reasons to Study the Bible with the Covenanters. What would it have been like to walk on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-27) and have had Christ opened up to you from Moses and all of the prophets? William Guild shows us the Types of Christ in the Old Testament and gives us a Harmony of the Prophecies of the Messiah for all those who have ‘waited for the consolation of Israel’ (Lk. 2:25-32), even ‘God manifested in the flesh’ (1 Tim. 3:16). How will one ever find time to read all of these books? God has given us a simple solution to that: one day in every seven is to be devoted to Him. ‘Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.’ (Ex. 20:4) Thomas Young, the Scot-born Westminster divine who lived and ministered in England, demonstrates that the moral (Ex. 20:4), creation ordinance (Gen. 2:3) of the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week, The Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10), not by the Roman Church, but by Jesus Christ and the apostles. (Ps. 118:22-24; Mt. 12:8; 28:1-6; Jn. 20:19; Acts 20:7) The second half of the book shows us how to sanctify the Lord’s Day unto God with spiritual worship so that we would ‘call the sabbath a delight’ and receive all that which God promises to those who do so. (Isa. 58:13-14) Putting the Lord’s things first (Mt. 6:33), the Covenanters devoted the chief portion of their strength to building and beautifying with purity the House of God on earth: the Church. Sometimes it is wondered how the Scottish Covenanters compare to the English puritans. The answer is that while they both had a passion for God-infused living, feasting on and preaching of the deep spiritual things of the Lord, the Scots were even better on the doctrine of the Church, the Church of Scotland during the mid-1600’s being a model of classical Presbyterianism according to the Word of God. James Wood, an esteemed colleague of Samuel Rutherford, was, according to the later Free Church of Scotland professor, James Walker, ‘among our ablest men’, and wrote perhaps the best Scottish discussion of Church authority in his treatise against Independency, A Little Stone Pretended to be Out of the Mountain [Dan. 2:35], Tried (412 pp.). The Scriptural model of the outward form of the visible Church is that she has a universal fellowship and is ruled ministerially by elders (in the Greek, presbyters). The root court of authority, having the full power of the spiritual Keys that Christ has given to her, is the regional presbytery. This is argued at length from Scripture by Rutherford in his section, Independent Churches do not have the Authority for Greater Excommunication (57 pp.), from his Due Right of Presbyteries (470 pp.), which also argues at length every other Church question that one could think of as well, plus a few more. For a much more concise outlining of classical presbyterianism, in its major characteristics, see George Gillespie’s 111 Propositions Concerning the Ministry and Government of the Church, the leading heads of which were adopted by the Church of Scotland. For an even briefer, historical description of what the Church of Scotland was like in her simple, Biblical ordinances during the days of this high-water mark of Biblical presbyterianism, see the section of Rutherford, A Defense of the Government of the Church of Scotland (1642, 21 pp.), and Alexander Henderson’s, The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland (1641, 92 pp.). The Scottish Church did more than any other in practically instituting, defining and theologically defending the office of the Ruling Elder from Scripture. James Guthrie, martyred on the gallows in 1661, summarized Scripture’s teaching in his treatise, Ruling Elders and Deacons PoD (89 pp.). The young Gillespie, with the whole field of scholarship at his command, takes up perhaps the most detailed defense of the office that has ever been written: An Assertion of… the Points of Ruling Elders and of the Authority of Presbyteries and Synods Buy (1641, 282 pp.). The Scots, along with virtually the whole of the Reformation and Puritan Churches (excepting the Church of England), held to a 4 office view of Church government, that of: (1) ministers, (2) teachers, (3) ruling elders and (4) deacons. This view is usually looked upon as an idiosyncratic, historical oddity. To see that the Reformation, Puritan and Covenanter viewpoint is what the Bible teaches, and is right, first read Sherman Isbell’s short article demonstrating that ministers hold a separate office from ruling elders: Order in the Offices: a Review. Then, to see that the office of Teacher is distinct from the office of minister, see Travis Fentiman’s Introduction to the Biblical Office of Teacher. If the Messiah and the true Church can be historically discerned by the marks given in Scripture, then so can the Anti-Christ and the apostate Church by the same principles, and it is very necessary that we do so. While there is much doubt about this today, there was none in the Reformed theology of yesteryear. To see the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 25.6 proven to the settling of your conscience, read the covenanter, William Guild’s Antichrist:… The Popes of Rome proven to be that Man of Sin… fore-prophesied in Scripture. Though there are many such treatises in the writings of the covenanters, for a further work on that Great Whore of Revelation, see Guild’s The Novelty of Popery… Proven by Romanists Out of Themselves. While people today are making up their own ways to worship God, the Covenanters were being killed for seeking to preserve the purity and simplicity of worship that Christ has instituted, and that alone. Thus, David Calderwood, in loving and sanctifying the Lord’s Day, argues from Scripture against adding man-made holy-days, such as the Christ-Mass, Easter, etc. to God’s divinely prescribed worship, in ‘Reasons Against Festival Days’ Buy (1619, 25 pp.). Regarding singing divine praise, Robert MacWard, the protege of Rutherford, argues that (1) singing is a distinct element from prayer with different Biblical regulations, and (2) that inspiration is a requirement for sung praise (contra man-made hymns and praise songs), in The True Non-Conformist, Dialogue 5, pp. 272-280, reflecting John Calvin’s quoting of Augustine: ‘No one is able to sing things worthy of God unless he has received them from Him.’ Since historical revisionism is rife today with people claiming that the Reformation Scottish Church sang hymns in its public worship and allowed them therein, see the renowned Scottish historian, David Hay Fleming’s ‘Hymnology of the Scottish Reformation’ part 1, part 2, part 3,part 4 Buy (1886) which overwhelmingly and exhaustively demonstrates that the Church of Scotland was exclusive psalm-singing in its public worship and constitution from the Reformation through the end of the 1600’s. Needless to say, this piece has never been refuted, nor likely ever will be. For the fullest exposition and defense of the Biblical teaching of Exclusive Psalmody, see Michael Bushell’s The Songs of Zion Buy. (More is forthcoming, Lord willing) About this Collection This is intended to be a reasonably comprehensive collection of all of the writings of the Scottish covenanters (in all languages, both online and not online), including 290+ persons with 225+ of them having writings in English online. The symbol: * designates a major writer; there are 30 of them. A covenanter is one who believes and practices social covenanting: banding with our fellow countrymen under the oath and assistance of God in order to better seek first God’s Kingdom (Mt. 6:33), this morally required duty under appropriate circumstances being exampled and blessed of God in Scripture (Josh. 24:25; 2 Kings 11:17; Isa. 44:5; Jer. 50:5; 2 Chron. 15:15). The Scottish Christians exampled this practice since shortly before their Reformation in 1560 and through the puritan era more than any other group in history. If you have not yet fallen in love with the Scottish Church of better days, read the best short book on Scottish Church history there is: G.N.M. Collins, The Heritage of our Fathers Buy It reads like an adventure story and you probably won’t be able to sleep until you finish it. The best longer and more detailed account of Scottish Church history, including all of its fascinating anecdotal stories, is Thomas M’Crie’s, The Story of the Scottish Church Buy James Walker gives an overview of the principal writers and theology of the Scottish covenanters during the puritan era in The Theology and Theologians of Scotland Buy For the one more advanced in the good old paths of our Scottish fathers, try the densely packed, but rewarding lectures filled with gems, of the master of Scottish history and theology: John MacLeod, Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History Buy For a (very) detailed account of the many covenants of the Scottish covenanters, peruse David H. Fleming’s, The Story of the Scottish Covenants in Outline Buy (1904, 84 pp.). The collection on this page encompasses a broader definition of ‘covenanter’ than what the term more normally, historically designates, namely: every good and godly Scot of the ‘hotter sort’ since the 1500’s through A.D. 1700. Included are: some of the early protestant proto-reformers before the Reformation (including a few court jesters), some of the good bishops and moderates (not all of them were bad), a number of the godly ‘ladies of the covenant’, and many martyrs, along with every covenanter you can think of, plus quite a few more. As you become enthralled in the works above, check back to this page for all of the writings they reference, and many others. The bulk of this collection stems from every relevant person (and their works) listed in the Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology Buy. But to make sure we didn’t miss anyone, we also combed through: The Cloud of Witnesses Buy Sermons in the Time of Persecution Buy John Howie, Scots Worthies Buy Robert Lippe, Selections from Wodrow’s Biographical Collections ed. Michael Shields, Faithful Contendings Displayed PoD ed. W. Tweedie, Scottish Puritans, vols. 1, 2 Buy Robert Wodrow, Lives of the Reformers… of the Church of Scotland, vol. 1, 2 plus many other works. To make the cut, the covenanter had to hand down more than a paragraph of their own writing to us; anything less is not included, nor is purely historical information where there is no attendant testimony in their own words. Sometimes duplicate editions of a given work can be found elsewhere on the internet if you are so desirous; we have striven for readability (which usually means preferring the newer edition). Background info on many of the covenanters on this page can be found online at the Dictionary of National Biography (1900) or in the works above. But you should really save your pennies, buy the Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology Buy and flip around in it like a little kid in a candy store. Please enjoy all of the writings of the Scottish covenanters! The Scottish Covenanters Alphabetical order Alesius, Alexander 1500-65 Latin Reformer, theologian Alison, Archibald †1680 Both. Bridge, Airsmoss, martyr w/Malcom Alison, Isabel †1681 IA A lady, hearer of Cargill Anne, Lady 1630-1716 Duchess of Hamilton Arbuthnot, Alexander 1538-83 Minister, principal, 2nd BofD, friend: Melville Balcanquhal, Walter 1548-1617 Presbyterian minister . Joint Attestation, Avowing that the Discipline… . The Honor of Christian Churches . The Collegiat Suffrage of the Divines of… Balknaves, Henry 1502-70 IA Early reformer, 1st BofD, Justification Baillie, Robert * 1599-1662 TC Westminster, wrote Letters, Resolutioner Balfour, John, Klinloch n.d. Murderer of Archbish. James Sharp, army officer Bannantyne, Adam fl. 1595-1630 Minister Falkirk, Bishop Aberdeen Binning, Hugh * 1627-53 Preacher, Protestor, Christian Love Black, David 1550-1603 Presbyterian minister, Bass Rock Blackadder, Adam 1659-96 Son of John, Blackness Castle, Darian Colony Blackadder, John 1615-86 Covenanting Field Preacher . Diary and Letters . Vision of the Last Judgment: a Poem Blackburn, Peter fl. 1580-97 Bishop of Aberdeen Blair, Robert 1593-1666 TC Minister, St. Andrews, moderator 1646 Boig, James †1681 Student of theology, martyr with W. Smith Borthwick, John †1569 Early protestant reformer Boyd, James †1581 Protestant, tulchan Archbishop, 2nd BoD Boyd, Lady †1646 Married to cousin of Robert Boyd, Robert * 1578-1627 Latin Son of James, principal, professor, minister . Remains Boyd, William Informatory Vindication, joined CofS 1690 Boyd, Zachary 1585-1653 EEBO Minister, poet, took National Covenant Brodie, Alexander 1617-80 Covenanting statesman, Lord of Session, Diary Brown, John, Wamphray * 1610-79 EEBO Exiled minister, theologian, apologist Brown, John, Priesthill 1627-81 Ministry to children, murdered by Claverhouse Bruce, Michael fl. 1680’s Field preacher Bruce, Robert * 1554-1631 Minister, leading churchman, Lord’s Supper Brysson, George b. 1649, fl. 1666-78 Merchant in Edinburgh Buchanan, George * 1506-82 EEBO Humanist writer, political theorist Calderwood, David * 1575-1650 EEBO Church historian and apologist for Presbyt. Cameron, John 1579-1625 IA Innovative reformed theologian Cameron, Michael fl. 1680’s Brother of Richard Cameron, Richard 1648-80 TC Leader of the Cameronians Campbell, Archibald 1530-73 Chancellor of Scotland, moderate Campbell, Archibald 1607-61 Covenanter leader, Marquis of Argyle Campbell, George 1635-1701 Professor of Divinity, Univ. of Edinburgh Campbell, John †1652 Earl of Loudon, covenanter Cant, Andrew 1590-1663 Covenanter minister in Aberdeen Cargill, Donald 1627-81 TC IA Cameronian field preacher Carmichael, James 1543-1628 Minister and presbyterian reformer Carstairs, John †1686 Minister . Letters Carstairs, Mrs. fl. 1680’s Wife of John Carstares, William 1649-1715 CofS minister, advisor to William of Orange . Letters Carswell, John †1572 Translator: Book of Common Order to Gaelic Carswell, John fl. 1560-1580 Superintendent of Argyle Clark, Andrew †1684 A smith, 19 years old, martyr Cochran, John †1683 Shoemaker, martyr Cochran, William †1682 Martyr, suffered with Robertson Colville, William †1675 Principal of Edinburgh Univ. Craig, John 1512-1600 EEBO IA Scottish reformer Crawford, Matthew 1640-1700 CofS minister prominent in the 1690’s Cunningham, Alexander †1547 Earl, prominent early Scottish reformer Cunningham, David †1600 Bishop, contributor to 2nd Book of Discipline Robert Cunningham †1637 Minister, friend of Blair and Livingstone Cuthill, William †1681 Martyr Davidson, John 1520-c.1574? Principal Glasgow Davidson, John 1549-1604 IA IA IA IA Of Prestonpans, presbyterian minister Dick, John †1684 IA Student of divinity, Bothwell, martyr Dickson, David * 1583-1663 TS TC Eminent preacher, educator, federal theologian Dickson, John †1700 SW Field preacher, Bass Rock, joined CofS 1690 Douglas, John 1494-1574 Contributor to 1st Book of Discipline Douglas, Robert 1594-1674 Leader in CofS in 1640’s-50’s, Resolutioner Dunbar, Lillias Wife of Alexander Cambell Duncan, Andrew 1560-1626 Schoolmaster and committed presbyterian . Rudimenta Pietatis, Torrance, School of Faith Buy Duncan, Mark 1570-1640 French Professor at French Academy at Saumur Dunlop, William 1649-1700 Presbyterian principal of Glasgow Univ. Durham, James * 1622-1658 Covenanter minister and author . The Unsearchable Riches of Christ Buy excerpts Durham, Margaret Wife of James Durham . ‘Epistle Dedicatory’, Durham, Song of Sol. Buy . excerpts Durie, John 1537-1600 IA Presb. minister, contributor to 2nd Book of Disc. Erskine, Henry 1624-1696 Minister, father of Ralph & Ebeneezer Erskine, John, of Dun 1509-1590 IA Protestant Reformer Farrie, David †1681 Heard Blackadder & Welsh, martyr w/Forman Ferguson, James * 1621-67 Minister and biblical commentator Fergusson, David 1525-98 IA Reformation minister Ferme, Charles 1566-1617 Presbyterian, influenced Calderwood Fleming, Robert 1630-94 EEBO Minister and theologian Finlay, John †1682 Drumclog, Friend of Robertson, martyr Forbes, John 1568-1634 EEBO Presbyterian writer Forbes, Patrick †1635 Minister Keith, Bishop Aberdeen Forman, Patrick †1681 Heard Cargill, martyr with Garnock Forrester, Thomas 1635-1706 EEBO Presbyterian minister and controversialist Fraser, James, of Brea 1638-98 Persecuted covenanter, origin of New Light Galloway, Patrick 1551-1626 Presbyterian minister and royal chaplain Garnock, Robert †1681 A smith, martyr Gau, John †1553 Early Scottish Lutheran, The Right Way Gillespie, George * 1613-48 Eminent divine, Commissioner to Westminster Gillespie, Patrick * 1617-75 TC Leading Protester, Principal, bro of George . Western Remonstrance, 1650 Gladstanes, George fl. 1596-1612 First protestant bishop of St. Andrews Goodall, Mrs. fl. 1677-90 Memoir Goodman, Christopher 1519-1603 Major Reformation figure, friend of Knox Gordon, Alexander 1516-75 Reforming bishop, helped John Wycliff Gordon, Alexander 1587-1654 Earlstoun, Pioneer of Protestantism: Galloway Gordon, Alexander 1650-1726 Son of William, Bass & Blackness Castle Gordon, John 1599-1634 Viscount Kenmure, friend of Rutherford Gordon, William 1614-79 Of Earlstoun, son of Alex. 1654, Drumclog Gouger, William †1681 Bothwell, martyr w/Miller & Sangster Graham, James †1684 Martyr w/G. Jackson Gray, Robert †1682 Englishman, martyr Grey, Andrew * 1633-56 EEBO TC Popular preacher, Protestor Guild, William * 1586-1657 EEBO Principal, prolific writer Guilline, Andrew †1683 Weaver, witness to Sharp’s death Guthrie, James 1612-61 EEBO TC Covenanting minister, Protester, cousin: William . Discovery of the Dangers that Threaten Religion Guthrie, John †1688 Minister, Breach of Covenant Guthrie, William * 1620-65 IA EEBO TC Minister, Protester Hackston, David †1680 Drumclog, Bothwell Bridge, martyr Haliburton, George 1616-65 Chaplain to Covenanting army Hall, Henry †1680 Queensferry Paper, martyr Hamilton, Janet c. 1687-95 Wife of Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun Hamilton, Patrick 1504-28 TC First martyr of Scottish Reformation Hamilton, Robert Of Preston Harkness, Thomas †1684 30 years old, martyr Harvie, Marion †1681 IA A lady, hearer of Cameronians Hay, Andrew †1593 Contributed to 2nd Book of Discipline Hay, Laurence †1681 Fife, martyr w/Pittilloch & Philip Hay, George 1530-88 Minister at Reformation Henderson, Alexander * 1583-1646 TC Minister & commissioner to Westminster Hepburn, John 1649-1723 Leader of the sect of Hebronites Hog, James fl. 1660-89 Of Carnock, minister in Edinburgh, Letters Hog, Thomas 1628-92 Influential Highland covenanter Howie, James †1691 Of Fenwick Howie, Robert 1568-1646 Latin Reformed theologian at Aberdeen . J.K. Cameron, Letters of.. Robert Howie Hume, Alexander 1560-1609 IA Minister at Logie, Admonition, poet Hume, Grisell 1665 Lady Baillie of Jerviswood, poem Hutcheson, George * 1615-74 EEBO Divine, biblical commentator, Resolutioner Jackson, George †1684 Bothwell, indicted w/Graham, T. Wood, etc. Jameson, William fl. 1689-1720 EEBO Presbyterian historian, controversialist, blind Johnsone, John fl.c. 1530 Protestant writer Johnston, Archibald 1611-63 Politician, Westminster, Protester Johnston, John 1565-1611 Latin Latin poet, letters w/Beza, friend: Melville . J.K. Cameron, Letters of John Johnston Buy Keith, George 15553-1623 Rich politician, student of Beza Ker, Robert †1680 At Lanark, Dumbarton Castle Kid, John †1679 EEBO Field preacher, martyr w/King King, John †1679 IA EEBO Chaplain, rescued at Drumclog w/Kid Kirk, Robert 1644-92 Gaelic scholar, eiscopalian Kirkton, James 1628-99 Minister, scholar, History Kirkwood, James 1650-1709 Advocate of Gaelic literacy, episcopalian Knox, Andrew 1559-1633 Bishop, son of John, student of Melville Knox, John * 1514-72 Scottish reformer Lauchlane, Margaret Martyr by drowning with M. Wilson Lauder, Alexander 1668-1719 Presbyterian apologist Lawson, James 1538-84 Presbyterian minister, successor to Knox Lawson, James †1684 Martyr with A. Wood Leighton, Alexander 1568-1649 EEBO Persecuted presbyterian Leighton, Robert * 1611-84 Archbishop, pious episcopalian conformist Lindsay, David 1490-1555 Court poet, dramatist, reformist in religion Lindsay, David 1531-1613 Reformation minister Lindsay, David 1565-1627 Son, minister at Leith Lindsay, Henrietta 1657- Lady Campbell of Auchinbreck Lindsay, Robert 1532-1580 Scotland’s first vernacular prose historian Lining, Thomas Last 3 Cameronian ministers, joined CoS 1690 . Various Letters Little, Clement 1527-80 Reformed advocate, elder, lawyer, scholar Livingstone, John 1603-72 IA Popular preacher, revival, Protester Lockhart, Robert fl. 1545-60 Supporter of reform, religious middleman Lockhart, William 1621-76 Soldier and diplomat Logie, Gavin †1539 Reforming principal of St. Andrews MacAlpine, John †1557 Early protestant Macbean, Angus 1656-89 Presbyterian minister of Inverness Macdowell, John f. 1530-55 Early protestant MacWard, Robert * †1681 TC Dutch Minister, protege of Rutherford, Protester . Letter, Letters Main, John †1684 Martyr w/Johnston, Richmond, Stewart, etc. Maitland, John 1545-95 Protestant judge and chancellor Maitland, John 1616-82 Secretary of State, Helped draft S.L.&C. Maitland, William 1528-73 Protestant Secretary of State Makemie, Francis 1658-1708 EEBO Scotch-Irish, founder: American Presbyter. Malcom, John †1634 Latin Minister, defender of Presbyterianism Malcom, John †1680 Bothwell Bridge, martyr w/Alison Marshall, Edward †1685 Husband with 7 children, martyr Martin, George †1684 Notary, schoolmaster, martyr M’Clelland, John †1650 Minister, bro-in-law: Livingstone McKail, Hugh 1640-66 Covenanting preacher, author of Naphtali McKillican, John 1630-89 Minister, Protester, field preacher . Diary: Beaton, Some Noted Ministers Buy p. 20-22 Meldrum, George 1634-1709 Prominent minister in post-1690 CofS Melville, Andrew 1545-1622 Academic, presbyterian leader, uncle of James Melville, Elizabeth Lady Culross, poetry . Cook, Rutherford’s Friends Buy p. 115 Melville, James fl. 1525-35 Franciscan, became a Lutheran sympathizer Melville, James 1556-1614 EEBO Minister, nephew of Andrew, wrote Diary Menzies, John 1624-84 Vacillating professor of Divinity Methven, Paul †1606 Protestant preacher at Reformation M’Ewen, Samuel †1684 17 years old, martyr Miller, Christopher †1681 Bothwell, martyr w/Gouger & Sangster Miller, Robert †1685 Stoneworker, martyr with R. Pollock Milne, Walter 1476-1558 Last pre-Reformation martyr in Scotland Mitchell, James 1621-43 Minister, taught by Dickson, Baillie Mitchell, James †1678 With J. Fraser in Bass Rock, martyr Moncrieff, Alexander †1688 Minister, Protestor . Western Remonstrance, 1650 Napier, John 1550-1617 EEBO Mathematician, invented logarithms, Revelation Nevay, John 1606-72 Minister, banished . 32 Sermons on Christ’s Temptation . Paraphrase on Song of Solomon, Latin Nicol, James †1684 Merchant, Bothwell, martyr Nisbet, Alexander * 1623-69 Minister and Bible commentator Nisbet, James †1684 Ayrshire, related to J. Richmond Nisbet, James 1667-1728 Survivor, diary: Our Covenant Heritage Buy Nisbet, John, younger †1683 Bothwell, martyr Nisbet, John, Hardhill 1627-85 Soldier, martyr, Our Covenant Heritage Buy Nisbet, Murdoch †1545 Reformed Lollard, translated: N.T. Paton, John †1684 Captain, Bothwell Peden, Alexander 1626-86 TC IA Legendary covenanting field preacher Petrie, Alexander 1594-1662 EEBO Covenanting divine Pittilloch, Andrew †1681 Fife, martyr w/Laurence & Philip Pollock, Robert †1685 Shoemaker, martyr Pont, Robert 1524-1606 IA Latin Reformer and minister Potter, John †1680 Hearer of Cargill, martyr w/Stewart & Skene Pringle, Walter c. 1685 Of Greenknow Ramsey, Andrew 1574-1659 Divine, preached at National Cov., 1638 Renwick, James 1662-88 EEBO TC Last field preacher killed Richardson, Robert 1491-1572 Early protestant . Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine Buy Richmond, John †1684 Martyr w/ Main, Johnston, Stewart, Winning Riddell, Archibald Cameronian field preacher Robertson, James †1682 Heard Cargill & Cameron, martyr Robertson, Thomas †1684 Martyr Rollock, Robert * 1555-99 Principal, Covenant theologian, commentator Rough, John †1557 Dominican friar, protestant martyr Row, John (I) 1525-80 Reformer and minister, 1st & 2nd Books of Disc. Row, John (II) 1568-1646 Covenanting minister, historian Row, John (III) 1598-1672 Latin Principal, Hebraicist Row, William n.d. Minister c. 1600, son of John (1) Russel, James c. 1679 Murderer of Archbishop Sharp Rule, Gilbert * 1629-1701 EEBO Minister, principal, leader in post-1690 Church Rutherford, John 1520-77 Protestant minister, philosopher, humanist . Commentariorum de Arte Disserendi Rutherford, Samuel * 1600-61 Theologian, polemicist, Westminster, Protester Sangster, Robert †1681 Bothwell, martyr w/Gouger & Miller Scot, John 1585-1670 Lawyer, statesman and covenanter Scot, William 1558-1642 EEBO Presbyterian writer, against innovations Scougal, Henry 1650-78 Bishop, professor of divinity, infl. Whitefield Scrimgeour, John fl. 1590-1620 Minister, resisted Articles of Perth Semple, Gabriel Minister at Kilpatrick, field preacher Semple, John †1684 IA Of Craigthorn, martyr with J. Watt Sharp, John 1572-1647 Professor of divinity, Edinburgh, theologian . Tractatus de Justificatione, 1609 . Tractatus de Misero Hominis, 1610 . Cursus Theologicua, 1618 . Symphonia Prophetarum et Apostolorum, 1625 Sharp, Patrick †1615 Principal and professor of divinity, Glasgow . Doctrinae Christianae Brevis Explictio, 1599 Shields, Alexander * 1660-1700 IA EEBO TC Cameronian apologist, joined CofS 1690 Shields, Michael fl. 1680’s Clerk of United Societies, bro of Alexander Simson, Alexander 1570-1639 Minister Simson, Archibald * 1564-1628 IA EEBO Minister, poet, brother of Patrick Simson, Patrick 1556-1618 TC Presbyterian minister, grandpa of Patrick Simson, Patrick 1628-1715 Minister, reared by Gillespie, leader post-1690 . Spiritual Songs, or Holy Poems. A Garden of… Simson, William 1580-1625 Early presbyterian Hebraicist, bro to Archibald . Accentibus Hebraicis Breves et Perspicuae, 1617 Skene, James †1680 Hearer of Cargill, Cameron, martyr w/Potter Smeaton, Thomas 1536-83 Latin Principal of Glasgow Univ. Smith, James †1683 Martyr Smith, Walter †1681 IA Follower of Cargill, martyr Spalding, John 1631-1699 Minister, leader post-1690 Spang, William 1607-64 Latin Scots minister in Holland, letters: Baillie Spottiswoode, John 1510-85 Superintendent, 1st Book of Discipline Spottiswoode, John 1565-1639 Initially presb., Archbishop Glasgow, historian Stevenson, John †1728 Of Carrick, land-laborer, Comforting Cordial Stewart, Archibald †1680 Airsmoss, martyr w/Potter & Skene Stewart, Archibald †1684 20 yrs old, martyr w/Main, Johnston, etc. Stewart, James 1531-70 Protestant civil leader, advisor to Queen Stewart, James 1635-1713 Covenanter lawyer, apologist, Naphtali Stewart, Mrs. †1675 Lady of Coltness Stewart, Robert 1521-86 Bishop, conformed to Reformation Stewart, Robert 1550-1633 Reader and pious epsicopalian minister Stodart, Thomas †1685 A common country man, martyr Straiton, David †1534 Protestant martyr Strang, John 1584-1654 Latin Principal Glasgow, moderate . De Voluntate et Actionibus Dei circa Peccatum . De Interpretatione et Perfectione Scripturae Stuart, James †1570 Leading reformer, Earl of Moray Stuart, James †1681 Young man, martyr Symson, Andrew 1638-1712 Minister, printer, editor Tacket, Arthur †1684 Tailor, Bothwell, martyr Thomson, William †1681 Servant, tried with Cargill, martyr Ure, James fl. 1679 Captain, Narrative of Bothwell Bridge Veitch, Mrs. 1638-1712 IA Wife of minister William Veitch Veitch, William 1640-1720 Minister, remarkable deliverances Walker, Patrick 1666-1745 Covenanter historian, joined post-1690 CofS Wallace, Adam †1550 Protestant martyr Wallace, James fl. 1666 Colonel, Narrative of Pentland Watt, John †1684 Kilbride, martyr w/Semple Webster, James * 1659-1720 Covenanter, joined CofS 1690, Marrow . Sacramental Sermons and Discourses Buy . Discourse, Government of the Church Buy . An Essay on [against] Toleration Buy . Lawful Prejudice Against the [1707] Union Buy . Vindication of the National Covenant Buy . Covenants of Redemption and Grace Displayed . Two Great Promises… Covenant of Grace Buy Wedderburn, James 1495-1553 Protestant sympathizer, dramatist Wedderburn, John 1508-56 Protestant sympathizer, poet, Ballads Weems, David fl. 1587-1609 Minister Welch, Josias †1634 Son of J. Welch, grandson of Knox, minister Welsh, John 1570-1622 EEBO Reformed minister Ayr, son-in-law of Knox . Letters Welsh, John 1624-81 IA Grandson, Covenanting field preacher . Sermons on 2 Cor. 5:10 & 2 Cor. 5:11 Welwood, Andrew Son of James, Glimpse of Glory Welwood, James fl. 1665 Father of John and Andrew Welwood, John 1649-79 IA Minister, son of James Weemes, John * 1579-1636 Minister, Hebrew scholar . Works, 4 vols., 1636 Wharry, John †1683 Bothwell, martyr Willock, John fl. 1555- Minister Edinburgh, superintendent Wilson, John †1683 Captain at Bothwell Wilson, Margaret †1685 Covenanter martyr by drowning Winram, John 1492-1582 Turned protestant, 1st BoD, superintendent Wishart, George 1513-1546 Protestant reformer, martyr Wishart, William 1660-1729 Covenanter, CofS minister, Discourses of God . Sermons Wodrow, James 1637-1707 Professor of Divinity, father of Robert Wodrow, Robert * 1679-1734 Church historian, minister, antiquary Wood, Alexander †1684 Martyr with J. Lawson Wood, James * 1609-64 EEBO Professor, principal, Resolutioner Wood, Thomas fl. 1560-92 1st Scot. metrical psalter: St. Andrew’s Psalter . See also U. of Edin.’s Wode Psalter Young, Thomas 1587-1655 In England, Westminster divine, Smectymnuus Various, Poems of Fighting Faith Buy Poems of the Covenanters from the 1600’s The Scottish Covenanters Chronological by death Hamilton, Patrick 1504-28 TC First martyr of Scottish Reformation Johnsone, John fl.c. 1530 Protestant writer Straiton, David †1534 Protestant martyr Melville, James fl. 1525-35 Franciscan, became a Lutheran sympathizer Logie, Gavin †1539 Reforming principal of St. Andrews Nisbet, Murdoch †1545 Reformed Lollard, translated: N.T. Wishart, George 1513-1546 Protestant reformer, martyr Cunningham, Alexander †1547 Earl, prominent early Scottish reformer Wallace, Adam †1550 Protestant martyr Gau, John †1553 Early Scottish Lutheran Wedderburn, James 1495-1553 Protestant sympathizer, dramatist Lindsay, David 1490-1555 Court poet, dramatist, reformist in religion Macdowell, John fl. 1530-55 Early protestant Willock, John fl. 1555- Minister Edinburgh, superintendent Wedderburn, John 1508-56 Protestant sympathizer, poet, Ballads MacAlpine, John †1557 Early protestant Rough, John †1557 Dominican friar, protestant martyr Milne, Walter 1476-1558 Last pre-Reformation martyr in Scotland Lockhart, Robert fl. 1545-60 Supporter of reform, religious middleman Alesius, Alexander 1500-65 Latin Reformer, theologian Borthwick, John †1569 Early protestant reformer Balknaves, Henry 1502-70 IA Early reformer, 1st BofD, Justification Stewart, James 1531-70 Protestant civil leader, advisor to Queen Stuart, James †1570 Leading reformer, Earl of Moray Richardson, Robert 1491-1572 Early protestant . Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine Buy Knox, John * 1514-72 Scottish reformer Carswell, John †1572 Translator: Book of Common Order to Gaelic Maitland, William 1528-73 Protestant Secretary of State Campbell, Archibald 1530-73 Chancellor of Scotland, moderate Douglas, John 1494-1574 Contributor to 1st Book of Discipline Gordon, Alexander 1516-75 Reforming bishop, helped John Wycliff Rutherford, John 1520-77 Protestant minister, philosopher, humanist . Commentariorum de Arte Disserendi Row, John (I) 1525-80 Reformer and minister, 1st & 2nd Books of Disc. Little, Clement 1527-80 Reformed advocate, elder, lawyer, scholar Lindsay, Robert 1532-1580 Scotland’s first vernacular prose historian Carswell, John fl. 1560-1580 Superintendent of Argyle Davidson, John 1520-? IA Principal Glasgow Boyd, James †1581 Protestant, tulchan Archbishop, 2nd BoD Winram, John 1492-1582 Turned protestant, 1st BoD, superintendent Buchanan, George * 1506-82 EEBO Humanist writer, political theorist Smeaton, Thomas 1536-83 Latin Principal of Glasgow Univ. Arbuthnot, Alexander 1538-83 Minister, principal, 2nd BofD, friend: Melville Lawson, James 1538-84 Presbyterian minister, successor to Knox Spottiswoode, John 1510-85 Superintendent, 1st Book of Discipline Stewart, Robert 1521-86 Bishop, conformed to Reformation Hay, George 1530-88 Minister at Reformation Erskine, John, of Dun 1509-1590 IA Protestant Reformer Wood, Thomas fl. 1560-92 1st Scot. metrical psalter: St. Andrew’s Psalter . See also U. of Edin.’s Wode Psalter Hay, Andrew †1593 Contributed to 2nd Book of Discipline Maitland, John 1545-95 Protestant judge and chancellor Blackburn, Peter fl. 1580-97 Bishop of Aberdeen Fergusson, David 1525-98 IA Reformation minister Rollock, Robert * 1555-99 Principal, Covenant theologian, commentator Craig, John 1512-1600 EEBO IA Scottish reformer Cunningham, David †1600 Bishop, contributor to 2nd Book of Discipline Durie, John 1537-1600 IA Presb. minister, contributor to 2nd Book of Disc. Row, William c. 1600 Minister, son of John (1) Goodman, Christopher 1519-1603 Major Reformation figure, friend of Knox Black, David 1550-1603 Presbyterian minister, Bass Rock Davidson, John 1549-1604 IA Of Prestonpans, presbyterian minister Methven, Paul †1606 Protestant preacher at Reformation Pont, Robert 1524-1606 IA Latin Reformer and minister Hume, Alexander 1560-1609 IA Minister at Logie, Admonition, poet Weems, David fl. 1587-1609 Minister Johnston, John 1565-1611 Latin Latin poet, letters w/Beza, friend: Melville . J.K. Cameron, Letters of John Johnston Buy Gladstanes, George fl. 1596-1612 First protestant bishop of St. Andrews Lindsay, David 1531-1613 Reformation minister Melville, James 1556-1614 EEBO Minister, nephew of Andrew, wrote Diary Sharp, Patrick †1615 Principal and professor of divinity, Glasgow . Doctrinae Christianae Brevis Explictio, 1599 Balcanquhal, Walter 1548-1617 Presbyterian minister . Joint Attestation, Avowing that the Discipline… . The Honor of Christian Churches . The Collegiat Suffrage of the Divines of… Napier, John 1550-1617 EEBO Mathematician, invented logarithms, Revelation Ferme, Charles 1566-1617 Presbyterian, influenced Calderwood Simson, Patrick 1556-1618 TC Presbyterian minister, grandpa of Patrick Scrimgeour, John fl. 1590-1620 Minister, resisted Articles of Perth Melville, Andrew 1545-1622 Academic, presbyterian leader, uncle of James Welsh, John 1570-1622 EEBO Reformed minister Ayr, son-in-law of Knox . Letters Keith, George 1553-1623 Rich politician, student of Beza Cameron, John 1579-1625 IA Innovative reformed theologian Simson, William 1580-1625 Early presbyterian Hebraicist, bro to Archibald . Accentibus Hebraicis Breves et Perspicuae, 1617 Galloway, Patrick 1551-1626 Presbyterian minister and royal chaplain Duncan, Andrew 1560-1626 Schoolmaster and committed presbyterian . Rudimenta Pietatis, Torrance, School of Faith Buy Lindsay, David 1565-1627 Son, minister at Leith Boyd, Robert * 1578-1627 Latin Son of James, principal, professor, minister . Remains Carmichael, James 1543-1628 Minister and presbyterian reformer Simson, Archibald * 1564-1628 IA EEBO Minister, poet, brother of Patrick Bannantyne, Adam fl. 1595-1630 Minister Falkirk, Bishop Aberdeen Bruce, Robert * 1554-1631 Minister, leading churchman, Lord’s Supper Stewart, Robert 1550-1633 Reader and pious epsicopalian minister Knox, Andrew 1559-1633 Bishop, son of John, student of Melville Forbes, John 1568-1634 EEBO Presbyterian writer Gordon, John 1599-1634 Viscount Kenmure, friend of Rutherford Malcom, John †1634 Latin Minister, defender of Presbyterianism Welch, Josias †1634 Son of J. Welch, grandson of Knox, minister Forbes, Patrick †1635 Minister Keith, Bishop Aberdeen Weemes, John * 1579-1636 Minister, Hebrew scholar . Works, 4 vols., 1636 Cunningham, Robert †1637 Minister, friend of Blair and Livingstone Melville, Elizabeth fl. 1603-37 Lady Culross, poetry, friend of Rutherford . Cook, Rutherford’s Friends Buy p. 115 Spottiswoode, John 1565-1639 Initially presb., Archbishop Glasgow, historian Simson, Alexander 1570-1639 Minister Duncan, Mark 1570-1640 French Professor at French Academy at Saumur Scot, William 1558-1642 EEBO Presbyterian writer, against innovations Mitchell, James 1621-43 Minister, taught by Dickson, Baillie Boyd, Lady †1646 Married to cousin of Robert Howie, Robert 1568-1646 Latin Reformed theologian at Aberdeen . J.K. Cameron, Letters of.. Robert Howie Buy Row, John (II) 1568-1646 Covenanting minister, historian Henderson, Alexander * 1583-1646 TC Minister & commissioner to Westminster Sharp, John 1572-1647 Professor of divinity, Edinburgh, theologian . Tractatus de Justificatione, 1609 . Tractatus de Misero Hominis, 1610 . Cursus Theologicua, 1618 . Symphonia Prophetarum et Apostolorum, 1625 Gillespie, George * 1613-48 Eminent divine, Commissioner to Westminster Leighton, Alexander 1568-1649 EEBO Persecuted presbyterian Calderwood, David * 1575-1650 EEBO Church historian and apologist for Presbyt. M’Clelland, John †1650 Minister, bro-in-law: Livingstone Campbell, John †1652 Earl of Loudon, covenanter Boyd, Zachary 1585-1653 EEBO Minister, poet, took National Covenant Binning, Hugh * 1627-53 Preacher, Protestor, Christian Love Strang, John 1584-1654 Latin Principal Glasgow, moderate . De Voluntate et Actionibus Dei circa Peccatum . De Interpretatione et Perfectione Scripturae Gordon, Alexander 1587-1654 Earlstoun, Pioneer of Protestantism: Galloway Young, Thomas 1587-1655 In England, Westminster divine, Smectymnuus Grey, Andrew * 1633-56 EEBO TC Popular preacher, Protestor Guild, William * 1586-1657 EEBO Principal, prolific writer Durham, James * 1622-1658 Covenanter minister and author . The Unsearchable Riches of Christ Buy excerpts Durham, Margaret fl. 1650’s Wife of James Durham . ‘Epistle Dedicatory’, Durham, Song of Sol. Buy . excerpts Ramsey, Andrew 1574-1659 Divine, preached at National Cov., 1638 Rutherford, Samuel * 1600-61 Theologian, polemicist, Westminster, Protester Campbell, Archibald 1607-61 Covenanter leader, Marquis of Argyle Guthrie, James 1612-61 EEBO TC Covenanting minister, Protester, cousin: William . Discovery of the Dangers that Threaten Religion Petrie, Alexander 1594-1662 EEBO Covenanting divine Baillie, Robert * 1599-1662 TC Westminster, wrote Letters, Resolutioner Dickson, David * 1583-1663 TS TC Eminent preacher, educator, federal theologian Cant, Andrew 1590-1663 Covenanter minister in Aberdeen Johnston, Archibald 1611-63 Politician, Westminster, Protester Spang, William 1607-64 Latin Scots minister in Holland, letters: Baillie Wood, James * 1609-64 EEBO Professor, principal, Resolutioner Haliburton, George 1616-65 Chaplain to Covenanting army Guthrie, William * 1620-65 IA EEBO TC Minister, Protester Hume, Grisell fl. 1665 Lady Baillie of Jerviswood, poem Welwood, James fl. 1665 Father of John and Andrew Blair, Robert 1593-1666 TC Minister, St. Andrews, moderator 1646 McKail, Hugh 1640-66 Covenanting preacher, author of Naphtali Wallace, James fl. 1666 Colonel, Narrative of Pentland Scot, John 1585-1670 Lawyer, statesman and covenanter Row, John (III) 1598-1672 Latin Principal, Hebraicist Livingstone, John 1603-72 IA Popular preacher, revival, Protester Nevay, John 1606-72 Minister, banished . 32 Sermons on Christ’s Temptation . Paraphrase on Song of Solomon, Latin Douglas, Robert 1594-1674 Leader in CofS in 1640’s-50’s, Resolutioner Colville, William †1675 Principal of Edinburgh Univ. Ferguson, James * 1621-67 Minister and biblical commentator Nisbet, Alexander * 1623-69 Minister and Bible commentator Hutcheson, George * 1615-74 EEBO Divine, biblical commentator, Resolutioner Gillespie, Patrick * 1617-75 TC Leading Protester, Principal, bro of George . Western Remonstrance, 1650 Stewart, Mrs. †1675 Lady of Coltness Lockhart, William 1621-76 Soldier and diplomat Scougal, Henry 1650-78 Bishop, professor of divinity, infl. Whitefield Mitchell, James †1678 With J. Fraser in Bass Rock, martyr Brysson, George b. 1649, fl. 1666-78 Merchant in Edinburgh Brown, John, Wamphray * 1610-79 EEBO Exiled minister, theologian, apologist Gordon, William 1614-79 Of Earlstoun, son of Alex. 1654, Drumclog Welwood, John 1649-79 IA Minister, son of James Kid, John †1679 Field preacher, martyr w/King King, John †1679 Chaplain, rescued at Drumclog w/Kid Ure, James fl. 1679 Captain, Narrative of Bothwell Bridge Russel, James c. 1679 Murderer of Archbishop Sharp Balfour, John, Klinloch fl. 1679 Murderer of Archbish. James Sharp, army officer Brodie, Alexander 1617-80 Covenanting statesman, Lord of Session, Diary Cameron, Richard 1648-80 TC Leader of the Cameronians Alison, Archibald †1680 Both. Bridge, Airsmoss, martyr w/Malcom Hackston, David †1680 Drumclog, Bothwell Bridge, martyr Hall, Henry †1680 Queensferry Paper, martyr Ker, Robert †1680 At Lanark, Dumbarton Castle Malcom, John †1680 Bothwell Bridge, martyr w/Alison Potter, John †1680 Hearer of Cargill, martyr w/Stewart & Skene Skene, James †1680 Hearer of Cargill, Cameron, martyr w/Potter Stewart, Archibald †1680 Airsmoss, martyr w/Potter & Skene Cameron, Michael fl. 1680’s Brother of Richard Semple, Gabriel fl. 1680’s Minister at Kilpatrick, field preacher Hamilton, Robert fl. 1680’s Of Preston Welsh, John 1624-81 IA Grandson, Covenanting field preacher . Sermons on 2 Cor. 5:10 & 2 Cor. 5:11 Brown, John, Priesthill 1627-81 Ministry to children, murdered by Claverhouse Cargill, Donald 1627-81 TC IA Cameronian field preacher Alison, Isabel †1681 IA A lady, hearer of Cargill Boig, James †1681 Student of theology, martyr with W. Smith Cuthill, William †1681 Martyr Farrie, David †1681 Heard Blackadder & Welsh, martyr w/Forman Forman, Patrick †1681 Heard Cargill, martyr with Garnock Garnock, Robert †1681 A smith, martyr Gouger, William †1681 Bothwell, martyr w/Miller & Sangster Harvie, Marion †1681 IA A lady, hearer of Cameronians Hay, Laurence †1681 Fife, martyr w/Pittilloch & Philip MacWard, Robert * †1681 TC Dutch Minister, protege of Rutherford, Protester . Letter, Letters Miller, Christopher †1681 Bothwell, martyr w/Gouger & Sangster Pittilloch, Andrew †1681 Fife, martyr w/Laurence & Philip Sangster, Robert †1681 Bothwell, martyr w/Gouger & Miller Smith, Walter †1681 IA Follower of Cargill, martyr Stuart, James †1681 Young man, martyr Thomson, William †1681 Servant, tried with Cargill, martyr Maitland, John 1616-82 Secretary of State, Helped draft S.L.&C. Cochran, William †1682 Martyr, suffered with Robertson Finlay, John †1682 Drumclog, Friend of Robertson, martyr Gray, Robert †1682 Englishman, martyr Robertson, James †1682 Heard Cargill & Cameron, martyr Cochran, John †1683 Shoemaker, martyr Guilline, Andrew †1683 Weaver, witness to Sharp’s death Nisbet, John, younger †1683 Bothwell, martyr Smith, James †1683 Martyr Wharry, John †1683 Bothwell, martyr Wilson, John †1683 Captain at Bothwell Leighton, Robert * 1611-84 Archbishop, pious episcopalian conformist Menzies, John 1624-84 Vacillating professor of Divinity Clark, Andrew †1684 A smith, 19 years old, martyr Dick, John †1684 IA Student of divinity, Bothwell, martyr Graham, James †1684 Martyr w/G. Jackson Harkness, Thomas †1684 30 years old, martyr Jackson, George †1684 Bothwell, indicted w/Graham, T. Wood, etc. Lawson, James †1684 Martyr with A. Wood Main, John †1684 Martyr w/Johnston, Richmond, Stewart, etc. Martin, George †1684 Notary, schoolmaster, martyr M’Ewen, Samuel †1684 17 years old, martyr Nicol, James †1684 Merchant, Bothwell, martyr Nisbet, James †1684 Ayrshire, related to J. Richmond Paton, John †1684 Captain, Bothwell Richmond, John †1684 Martyr w/ Main, Johnston, Stewart, Winning Robertson, Thomas †1684 Martyr Wood, Alexander †1684 Martyr with J. Lawson Nisbet, John, Hardhill 1627-85 Soldier, martyr, Our Covenant Heritage Buy Lauchlane, Margaret †1685 Martyr by drowning with M. Wilson Marshall, Edward †1685 Husband with 7 children, martyr Miller, Robert †1685 Stoneworker, martyr with R. Pollock Pringle, Walter c. 1685 Of Greenknow Pollock, Robert †1685 Shoemaker, martyr Stodart, Thomas †1685 A common country man, martyr Wilson, Margaret †1685 Covenanter martyr by drowning Blackadder, John 1615-86 Covenanting Field Preacher . Diary and Letters . Vision of the Last Judgment: a Poem Peden, Alexander 1626-86 TC IA Legendary covenanting field preacher Carstairs, John †1686 Minister . Letters Renwick, James 1662-88 EEBO TC Last field preacher killed Guthrie, John †1688 Minister, Breach of Covenant Moncrieff, Alexander †1688 Minister, Protestor . Western Remonstrance, 1650 McKillican, John 1630-89 Minister, Protester, field preacher . Diary: Beaton, Some Noted Ministers Buy p. 20-22 Macbean, Angus 1656-89 Presbyterian minister of Inverness Hog, James fl. 1660-89 Of Carnock, minister in Edinburgh, Letters Lindsay, Henrietta 1657- Lady Campbell of Auchinbreck Bruce, Michael fl. 1680’s Field preacher Carstairs, Mrs. fl. 1680’s Wife of John Dunbar, Lillias fl. 1680’s Wife of Alexander Campbell Riddell, Archibald fl. 1680’s Cameronian field preacher Shields, Michael fl. 1680’s Clerk of United Societies, bro of Alexander Welwood, Andrew fl. 1680’s Son of James, Glimpse of Glory Goodall, Mrs. fl. 1677-90 Memoir Howie, James †1691 Of Fenwick Hog, Thomas 1628-92 Influential Highland covenanter Kirk, Robert 1644-92 Gaelic scholar, eiscopalian Fleming, Robert 1630-94 EEBO Minister and theologian Hamilton, Janet c. 1687-95 Wife of Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun Erskine, Henry 1624-96 Minister, father of Ralph & Ebeneezer Blackadder, Adam 1659-96 Son of John, Blackness Castle, Darian Colony Fraser, James, of Brea 1638-98 Persecuted covenanter, origin of New Light Kirkton, James 1628-99 Minister, scholar, History Spalding, John 1631-99 Minister, leader post-1690 Lining, Thomas fl. 1680’s-90’s Last 3 Cameronian ministers, joined CoS 1690 . Various Letters Boyd, William fl. 1680’s-90’s Informatory Vindication, joined CofS 1690 Crawford, Matthew 1640-1700 CofS minister prominent in the 1690’s Dunlop, William 1649-1700 Presbyterian principal of Glasgow Univ. Shields, Alexander * 1660-1700 IA EEBO TC Cameronian apologist, joined CofS 1690 Dickson, John †1700 SW Field preacher, Bass Rock, joined CofS 1690 Rule, Gilbert * 1629-1701 EEBO Minister, principal, leader in post-1690 Church Campbell, George 1635-1701 Professor of Divinity, Univ. of Edinburgh Forrester, Thomas 1635-1706 EEBO Presbyterian minister and controversialist Wodrow, James 1637-1707 Professor of Divinity, father of Robert Makemie, Francis 1658-1708 EEBO Scotch-Irish, founder: American Presbyter. Meldrum, George 1634-1709 Prominent minister in post-1690 CofS Kirkwood, James 1650-1709 Advocate of Gaelic literacy, episcopalian Symson, Andrew 1638-1712 Minister, printer, editor Veitch, Mrs. 1638-1712 IA Wife of minister William Veitch Stewart, James 1635-1713 Covenanter lawyer, apologist, Naphtali Simson, Patrick 1628-1715 Minister, reared by Gillespie, leader post-1690 . Spiritual Songs, or Holy Poems. A Garden of… Carstares, William 1649-1715 CofS minister, advisor to William of Orange . Letters Anne, Lady 1630-1716 Duchess of Hamilton Lauder, Alexander 1668-1719 Presbyterian apologist Veitch, William 1640-1720 Minister, remarkable deliverances Webster, James * 1659-1720 Covenanter, joined CofS 1690, Marrow . Sacramental Sermons and Discourses Buy . Discourse, Government of the Church Buy . An Essay on [against] Toleration Buy . Lawful Prejudice Against the [1707] Union Buy . Vindication of the National Covenant Buy . Covenants of Redemption and Grace Displayed . Two Great Promises… Covenant of Grace Buy Jameson, William fl. 1689-1720 EEBO Presbyterian historian, controversialist, blind Hepburn, John 1649-1723 Leader of the sect of Hebronites Gordon, Alexander 1650-1726 Son of William, Bass & Blackness Castle Nisbet, James 1667-1728 Survivor, diary: Our Covenant Heritage Buy Stevenson, John †1728 Of Carrick, land-laborer, Comforting Cordial Wishart, William 1660-1729 Covenanter, CofS minister, Discourses of God . Sermons Wodrow, Robert * 1679-1734 Church historian, minister, antiquary Walker, Patrick 1666-1745 Covenanter historian, joined post-1690 CofS Various, Poems of Fighting Faith Buy Poems of the Covenanters from the 1600’s Related Pages All of the Bible Commentaries of the Scottish Covenanters Social Covenanting A Defense of the Majority Opinion in the Free Church of Scotland on Covenanting The Church of Scotland on the Spiritual Conferencing of Elders Against Separatism Unity of the Church Presbyterianism The Simplicity of Worship The Establishment Principle Against Separation from Impure Civil Governments The Free Church of Scotland The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) All of the Writings of the Westminster Divines Online Psalm Singing Table in Communion The Administration of the Lord’s Supper The Extent of Christ’s Mediatorial Kingdom Holy Days Resistance to Tyranny The Right of Continued Protest Theonomy
PASADENA, CA — Detectives investigating a string of guitar thefts from shops in Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley believe they've closed the case with the arrest of a 38-year-old parolee-at-large who's facing a half-dozen felony charges. The suspect, Enrique Jason Velasco, dubbed the alleged "Guitar Bandit" by investigators, was arrested last Wednesday in Sun Valley. Investigators describe him as a career criminal "suspected of brazenly walking out without paying for the guitars and later pawning them for cash," according to Pasadena police Lt. John Luna. "Detectives from Pasadena Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department North Hollywood and LAPD Topanga Division had suspected Velasco since September, when the guitar thefts first landed on their radar," Luna said. "With the help of store owners, who exchanged surveillance photos of Velasco and his getaway car with each other and the police, a break in the case came when a camera caught his full license plate number. The license plate came back to an acquaintance of Velasco's in North Hollywood." Pasadena police Detectives Victor Cass and Kourtney Zilbert obtained search warrants that were served at locations in North Hollywood and a motel in Sun Valley, where Velasco and a female accomplice were taken into custody, Luna said. "A cache of evidence was recovered, including a guitar, drugs and money," the lieutenant said. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has charged Velasco with six felony counts, including grand theft, identity theft and identity theft with 10 or more victims, Luna said. Velasco's bail was set at $120,000, but he remains in custody at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles on a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation hold, according to sheriff's jail records. He is next due in court in Pasadena on Nov. 30, according to the sheriff's department. City News Service; Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash
When two best friends are sorry for hurting each other but still feel hurt, who apologizes first? On tonight’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) and Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) grapple with this very issue through the therapeutic art of song. In ‘80s style power ballad “You Go First,” Rebecca and Paula—both in Joan Jett-meets-Tina Turner rock mullets—sing, “I really want to tell you that I’m sorry and I really want to tell you that I am the worst. And I just want to say I miss you every day, and I will. But you go first.” Please enjoy this preview of tonight’s episode, exclusive to Jezebel, in all its billowing white curtains and rain-streaked glass glory. Considering that Rebecca and Paula’s friendship is the real romance at the center of the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend story, I really hope these two work it out. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays, 9/8c, on The CW.
The Toronto Blue Jays have released left-hander Ricky Romero. It's been a frustrating journey for the once-promising pitcher, as Romero has toiled away in the minor leagues the past two seasons unable to make it back to the majors. Romero compiled a 42-29 record and 3.60 ERA through his first three seasons, earning his first and only All-Star appearance in 2011. Disaster struck in 2012, however, as Romero went 9-14 with a 5.77 ERA and 1.67 WHIP. He's made just four appearances in the majors since. The Blue Jays signed Romero to a five-year, $30.1-million extension in August 2010, with the deal wrapping up at the conclusion of this season. General manager Alex Anthopoulos told reporters Saturday that it didn't make sense to keep Romero in the organization because he was in the final year of his deal and nowhere near returning to the majors. Romero, who's recovering from knee surgery, plans to try and catch on with another organization. The sixth-overall pick by the Jays in 2005 went 0-3 with a 5.50 ERA in nine starts last season before surgery.
It’s interesting who the liberal media trots out as moral spokesmen when it comes to attacking Republicans, often turn out to have their own scandal-ridden past...that the networks will conveniently not mention. Such is the case with disgraced, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, whose reputation has been getting an overhaul lately thanks to Hollywood and his friends in the media. Rather got another boost today from CNN’s Brian Stelter, who touted the disgraced news anchor’s criticism of Donald Trump, as “a new low” without any sense of irony. In the article posted today on CNN.com, Stelter reported on Rather’s “challenge” to “colleagues” in the media to be harsher on Trump. Trump’s latest comments at a rally on the 2nd Amendment, “cannot be treated as just another outrageous moment in the campaign," Rather wrote in a Facebook blog post. Since he has no network home anymore, Rather relies on Facebook posts, and Facebook live to reach his audience, which Stelter praised as going "viral.” Stelter made sure to add that Rather “covered the J.F.K. assassination” as if Trump’s comments were akin to Hillary Clinton getting assassinated: Rather -- who covered the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas -- called Trump's 'Second Amendment people' remark 'a new low,' unprecedented 'in the history of American presidential politics.' Stelter added that Rather was "the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News for more than 20 years. He now hosts an interview series on AXS TV and runs a production company." Yet one glaring fact was left out of Rather’s biography; his botched attempt to create a scandal surrounding then-sitting President George W. Bush as the election loomed a scant few months away. As we all know, it was discredited, as well as his reputation as a credible and unbiased journalist. Stelter, who hosts Reliable Sources, doesn’t seem to be following his own show’s namesake. And this isn’t the first time. Rather has been a guest on CNN several times in recent years, as recently as June 26. Reversing Rather’s reputation seems to be one of the media’s priorities in recent months. Last year, he got the Hollywood sympathy treatment in the ironically-named film Truth, which the networks covered endlessly and Stelter did his own part in promoting. Most recently, MSNBC gave Rather ample opportunities to offer his political insights during the conventions.
Image copyright Getty Images "Folks, if this is your first time tuning in to the Colbert Report, I have some terrible news," Stephen Colbert announced on episode 1,447 of his Comedy Central cable show last night. "This, in fact, is your last time tuning in to the Colbert Report." And so began Mr Colbert's soliloquy on the historical import of his Comedy Central show, whose last episode aired Thursday night. He's moving on to replace David Letterman on CBS's Late Show next year, and he's retiring the character of "Stephen Colbert" - a right-wing blowhard pundit used to skewer right-wing blowhard pundits - that he has essentially lived in for the past decade. What we were seeing was the perfect indictment of the world of political punditry Hank Stuever, The Washington Post "In the annals of history, or whatever orifice they stuff it in, let no one say what we did together was not important or influential or importulential," he said. "You see from the beginning of my show, it was my goal to live up to the name of this network, Influence Central. And if all we achieved over the last nine years was to come into your home each night and help you make a difficult day a little better … man, what a waste." While Mr Colbert joked about the show's influence, other writers have noted that the programme has had a significant impact on US culture. "What we were seeing was the perfect indictment of the world of political punditry, yes, but also a send-up of our inflexibility when it came to opinions, reason and the truth," writes the Washington Post's Hank Stuever. The Daily Beast's Noel Murray observes that Mr Colbert's show was about more than spoofing right-wing talk show hosts like Fox's Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, which explains why it was able to stay fresh and engaging for so many years. Image copyright AP Image caption Stephen Colbert will take over for retiring late-night talk show host David Letterman on CBS in September 2015 "Colbert kept building out his character's backstory, turning a single-panel cartoon into something more like a long-running comic strip, with a myriad of subplots." He continues: "All the looks back at this Colbert character have been a clever way of pointing out that some of the most trusted names in politics today are little more than escapees from some local radio station's Morning Zoo." The "Colbert Nation", Mr Colbert's millions-strong band of viewers, is perhaps the best demonstration of the show's reach. At Mr Colbert's urging, they raised millions for charity, altered Wikipedia entries and swamped countless internet polls around the world. (At one point the Hungarian ambassador to the US appeared on the programme to apologise that that his country would not name a bridge after the host, despite "Stephen Colbert" having received the most votes.) The all-star sendoff is a staple of talk-show finales, but this one seemed to say something here about the vast world that Colbert created with the Report James Poniewozik, Time magazine The show's decade long-run was a remarkable bit of performance theatre unlike anything on US television - one so convincing that some polls showed some conservative viewers didn't understand that the show was satire. "It's hard to wake up every day and try to change the world," writes Salon's Sonia Saraiya. "Stephen Colbert has a set of talents that he could deploy with devastating effect, and he decided to use them for making the world funnier and saner." As Mr Colbert's final show wound to a close, he accidentally became immortal by killing death and engaged in a rousing rendition of We'll Meet Again with George Lucas, Henry Kissinger, Willie Nelson, Tom Brokaw and dozens of other celebrities, journalists and politicians. "The all-star send-off is a staple of talk-show finales, but this one seemed to say something here about the vast world that Colbert created with the Report," says Time magazine's James Poniewozik. "The show itself was not the sum total of the production that Colbert has put since 2005. It was just the flagship product of a larger performance that extended to the internet, to public rallies, to political campaigns and even to space." In the final scene, Mr Colbert stood atop his studio's building holding a Captain America shield, where he was met by Santa Claus, an e-cigarette smoking Abraham Lincoln unicorn and game-show host Alex Trebec. He climbed aboard Santa's sleigh, and they flew off into the night. "From eternity," he said as he signed off, "I'm Stephen Colbert." Like Lincoln, it seems, "Stephen Colbert" now belongs to the ages.
Matthew Broderick’s best movie was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In the film, Broderick’s character, a teen named Ferris Bueller, was able to skip school while avoiding the consequences of an absenteeism policy he ran afoul of many times over. In the movie, Ferris is the hero, but from a public policy perspective, truancy is a problem and one can imagine a government wanting to take action to prevent or reduce it. (In fact, in some areas of Los Angeles, repeat truancy is punishable by a fine.) But in deciding how to best find a solution to the problem, one would hope that the relevant legislators would understand what truancy is, how it works, and how to best prevent it. And if they didn’t know that beforehand, they could bring in well-qualified, expert witnesses to educate them on the topic. One would further hope that the lawmakers wouldn’t simply watch part of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and use that as their basis for addressing the issue. But when it comes to computer crimes, that’s basically what Congress did. In 1983, the government began work on what would later become the “Computer Fraud and Abuse Act” or CFAA, a law originally intended to prohibit significant, unauthorized access to government computers. But it was the early 1980s and most legislatures didn’t know much about computers. So they turned to a Matthew Broderick movie: WarGames. Slate explains: A 1983 congressional hearing on computer security began with a clip from WarGames in which the main character [played by Broderick] hacked into a school computer in order to change his grade (“a sequence I’m told is quite realistic in terms of what real hackers do,” announced Rep. Dan Glickman). Had Congress kept watching — and given the popularity of the movie, it’s likely that many had already seen the whole film — they would know that this “quite realistic” hacker didn’t stop by changing his grades. He accidentally connects up with a government war games simulator run by NORAD (that’s short for “North American Aerospace Defense Command”) and put humanity at risk as a result — only to miraculously save it. Through a series of impossible events, not only did Broderick’s character accidentally almost launches a series of nuclear warheads at the Soviet Union, but he also somehow manages to avert the disaster by teaching a computer how to teach itself about higher-level philosophical concepts. To say WarGames is unrealistic is a vast understatement. Nevertheless, Congress and then-President Ronald Reagan were sufficiently spooked, as CNET recounts: “WarGames,” the first movie to profile hacking so prominently, spilled over into unrelated discussions about national security: a biography of Ronald Reagan recounts how the president asked a group of Democratic congressmen meeting at the White House to discuss arms reduction if they had watched the movie. Rep. Vic Fazio, a California Democrat, recalled Reagan saying: “I don’t understand these computers very well, but this young man obviously did. He had tied into NORAD!” And as a result, Congress drafted the CFAA. The law was originally intended “to criminalize ‘only important federal-interest computer crimes,’” per George Washington law professor Orin Kerr (via Business Insider), but as laws often do, CFAA became more and more stringent over time. There have recently been a spate of cases where, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes, prosecutors argue “that violating a private agreement or corporate policy,” including, perhaps, violating those billion-words terms of service agreements no one ever reads, “amounts to a CFAA violation.” (Here is a list of notable CFAA cases if you’d like to explore further; the Swartz, Drew, and Drake cases are particularly interesting although some take tragic turns.) If that seems like something not based in reality, that may be because it’s based in part on a 1983 sci-fi movie. Bonus Fact : Another effect WarGames had on the government: it improved NORAD itself. When WarGames came out, the real NORAD didn’t have anywhere near the gadgets and gizmos that the fake NORAD had in the film. In 2008, Wired put together an oral history of the movie and spoke to a guy named William Lord, then a commander in the Air Force Cyberspace Command. “A few years [after the movie came out],” said Lord,”I was an executive officer with the Air Force Space Command stationed at Norad near Cheyenne Mountain. And I’m wondering, ‘Gee, where can we get such cool-looking displays?’ It was a good forcing function. It required us to all of a sudden say, ‘If it really can look like this, why doesn’t it?'” From the Archives : Thermonuclear War and Taxes: Had WarGames been real and played out differently, the world may have come to an end — but the few survivors would still have to pay taxes. Take the Quiz : Name all the games that Joshua, the WarGames computer, can play.
I Waited For Many Years To Lose My Virginity To My Husband: I Regret It Anonymous in Culture Shock on 26 October, 2016 Report this story. Spam/misleading content Hate speech Copyright infringement Please select a reason for reporting. Submit Cancel After a long time, I went to watch a Hindi movie with my favourite actor in it. I live in America now and there are a few things from home that I can't stop craving for. As expected, Piku was good fun and I was roaring with laughter. That is until he said it- "This is my daughter Piku. She is not a virgin," boomed Amitabh Bachchan's voice through the theatre. The scattering of Indians around me laughed, and so did I- but a little consciously. That dialogue made me flinch. Sitting somewhere in the middle of America, I could not help but say "What if". What if my parents had been as open-minded about raising a daughter as Amitabh Bachchan was? What if they had given a thought to what purpose my marriage would bear, instead of just getting me married? I was a good daughter- the best they hoped to have. I listened to everything they said and never broke a single rule. I could have had my fair share of puppy love and a dating life in my college days. But I was too afraid to even think of it. I was the ultimate "good" girl. In a generation of girls who were becoming "loose", I was the only hope that our sanskriti would survive. Yet, it was my life that turned out to be a tragedy in the end. I was ideal by every standard- beautiful, educated, just the "right" age, and a virgin bride. I waited till my wedding night to allow myself to be touched by a man. I wish I hadn't. It is the biggest regret of my life. I was scared to death to talk to boys right from the time I was in school. My mother would constantly admonish me for interacting with boys, no matter how innocent it may have been. She kept saying that I would bring a bad name to the family. So, I kept my head down and studied. I topped the class most of the times, but by the time I made it to college, I had such low self-confidence that I couldn't even be around a male classmate. Words like "lab" and "group assignments" would give me nightmares. I felt terribly guilty and self-conscious if I was around any boy my age. I could not be comfortable around a man unless it was a family member or an elderly professor. But it didn't matter- I still did well in my studies and I was boyfriend-less. So my family's honour was safe. Then came the day when I finished my engineering with flying colours and even got a job in a reputed MNC. So far, so good. And just like my family had hoped and expected, they found a groom for me in no time. For the first time in my conscious adult life, I found myself in the same room with another man, struggling to make eye-contact. We were left there to "get to know" each other. Amid all the small talk we engaged in, the most significant question I asked was "Do you read any books?", to which he said that he liked non-fiction more than he liked fiction. To me, it seemed like a sign of a well read man. I did not even have the smallest reason to reject him. My parents had already married us both in their heads, and I had never learned how to say "No" to them anyway. And that's how we were married. Husband. On my wedding night, it was a heavy word weighing on my mind. I still have no idea how my family expected me to spend the night alone with a stranger. "He's your husband now," they said, as if it answered each and every question I had. Thankfully, the most intimate thing that happened that night was a conversation. A conversation where my husband said "You seemed like the (good girl) type, but I had still hoped that you wouldn't be a virgin." I was shocked. Share this quote My face burned with shame and embarrassment and I had no idea what to say. I had lived my entire life doing exactly what my parents had expected of me, and the man I was supposed to spend forever with negated my existence in one line. Suddenly, I felt as if I wasn't good enough. I felt as if I would never be a satisfactory wife. But my good and kind husband laughed off the look on my face and said "Don't worry, we have plenty of time to figure this out". In the days to come, he went on to assure me that he would help me discover my sexual side and I would come to enjoy it very much. He said we would share the best kind of happiness ever. That's what he said. I HATE sex. Share this quote I wish these three words can do justice to all the bitterness I feel inside me. True to his word, my husband tried everything to help me "enjoy" it. Sometimes, with a little too much enthusiasm, if I may add. But nothing could make me appreciate what was supposed to be the most natural human thing. I was revolted every time I felt his hands on me. It felt dirty and disgusting. Each time we did it, even with my consent and my desperation to make it work, I felt violated. Forget giving it, even receiving oral sex was nothing short of torture. Had he been my brother or my father, I could love him without any reservations. But I was stuck with a man who was nice to me, who had an unfortunately high libido, and I had to give him my body. My life was dark. I would constantly slip into depression because sex felt wrong. There have been times when I cried so much after having sex, that my husband would get scared that he may have physically hurt me. I was never privy to the secret giggles of my other married female colleagues. There were some things I could never discuss with them and so I deliberately distanced myself from them. My parents and my in-laws could see that I was struggling, but they could never understand what was wrong because there was really no marital discord. We were just like any normal couple who went out once in a while, understood each other, had minor arguments, and had sex... unfortunately. But for whatever sympathy they had for us, the struggling couple, they had just one advice that I was doomed to take: Have children. Baaki sab theek ho jayega. Share this quote This time I struggled even harder to accept what was happening to my body because I believed that if we had a baby, we would become even closer as a couple, and surely then sex should become better? And with that hope, I conceived a couple of months later. Being pregnant was my most liberating excuse to not have sex. I needed rest and taking care of, right? Besides, I had a terrible time with nausea and morning sickness in my first trimester. It wasn't easy. I was supposed to be glowing with a life I made that was nesting inside me, but I was sick all the time. Even this wonderful experience of becoming a mother was not agreeing with my body. I miscarried at six months. Share this quote I had lost every reason to be alive. The little light that was shining through was permanently eclipsed. My depression came back worse this time. I couldn't take it anymore. Our marriage was in tatters and I was enduring the worst kind of domestic life. I made my husband suffer with me. I would accuse him of being insensitive and fight with him venomously. I did not allow normal life to resume. We were never the same dysfunctional-but-keeping-it-together couple again. Thankfully, we did not take long to come to terms with the fact that our marriage wouldn't work. We faced severe opposition from our families, but we knew it was a lost cause. Even though he was severely disappointed, we parted amicably and with mutual consent. And in divorce, the man I struggled to call husband finally showed such understanding towards me that I couldn't help but love him a little more. All my life, I had protected the honour of my family and suddenly, I was the black sheep that had brought them badnaami. Some people started vicious rumours that I was having an extramarital affair, that I was always a difficult wife. I earned my "bitch" label in more than one language variety. I had to endure all this shaming and name-calling. I had to put up with my own parents' resentment, and they wouldn't even let me live by myself, even though I was grown woman who had seen all sorts of ups and downs in life. Becoming a complete workaholic gave me some sort of relief. And it finally paid off with an opportunity to work in the US. I took it without giving a second thought about what my family might say again. This time, I said "No". I said a strong "No" that made them threaten that they would sever ties with me if I left India, but nothing they did could stop me. Moving and starting a new life was not easy, but at least I had a shot at a fresh beginning. I don't want to commit the heinous crime of advocating "Western culture", but one of the most important things that I have learned and observed here is how women are not stuck in a taboo atmosphere when it comes to choosing the men they want to be with. Sure, you'll almost never be wrong to assume that a woman has engaged in premarital sex, but the question is not about morality. I keep thinking that these women are so fortunate to have discovered early on what they wanted from a man, from their love lives or sex lives, and even from life itself. I envy young girls who interact with young men with ease. I keep going back to my own college days and early twenties and compare my socially fearful self to them. Someday, I hope I can stop blaming my family and the backward mindset with which they raised me. I was never a fully socially functioning person, and was always afraid of being a woman. I was guilty about my femininity and I dressed as shabbily as possible. My sexuality was so repressed that it ruined my marriage and wrecked not only mine, but my ex-husband's happiness also. Sometimes, I want to pretend as if I was never that girl. I want to make my past disappear. I have done "odd" things like eating beef and wearing thongs to feel different. This is something I would have never done in the past. But there is one thing I did that made me a little less like my former self... I went to a salon to get my hair cut. The person who cut my hair was a man. It felt strange that the fate of the long, thick hair that my mother had plaited all my life was literally in the hands of a strange American man. And I let him chop it all off. I felt an eerie sense of unburdening as I lost all my hair. It was as if my life was losing its tinge of tragedy, and finally beginning to progress. Sometimes, that's all the change you need to turn your life around. Share this quote Author's Note: It was one small dialogue in a movie that made me pour out my heart. I would never have discussed this before, but now I feel responsible to talk about it. It's all hunky-dory to see a progressive mindset in a movie, but I know that it is still not the case. Parents are not wrong to set moral standards for their children, but what happened to me and to thousands of other girls, is actually hindering our development as people. I don't know if I will ever be whole again. But there's hoping.
FLICKR, DANI LURIEGenetic sequences called transposable elements (TEs) that can jump from chromosome to chromosome, increasing their own frequency in the genome, may play a role in the development of schizophrenia, according to a study out of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan published last week (January 2) in Neuron. Schizophrenia runs in families, suggesting it has an underlying genetic basis. Identifying genes with a strong role in the disorder’s development, however, has proven difficult. Environmental factors are also expected to contribute. Recently, researchers revealed that human neural precursor cells are particularly rich in a common TE called L1. Additionally, they found that higher levels of L1 correlated with the occurrence of brain disorders, including Rett syndrome (a disorder related to autism) and the neurodegenerative disease Louis-Bar syndrome. Now, examining the brain tissue of deceased schizophrenia patients, Tadafumi Kato, Kazuya Iwamoto, and their RIKEN colleagues found a 1.1-fold increase in L1, as compared with healthy controls. Other mental disorders such as major depression were also associated with elevated L1. Moreover, the team found that viral infection in pregnant mice could lead to an increase in L1 levels in the brains of their offspring. Results from infant macaques also supported the notion that external factors could trigger an increase in the TE, and neural stem cells extracted from schizophrenia patients revealed higher levels of L1. Of course, the team is far from having established a causal relationship between TEs and schizophrenia. “Now that we have multiple confirmations of this occurring in humans with different diseases, the next step is to determine if possible what role, if any, they play,” University of California, San Diego’s Fred Gage, whose work has revealed the link between L1 and other brain disorders, told ScienceNOW.
As Democratic leaders from Kamala Harris to Cory Booker to Elizabeth Warren line up behind Bernie Sanders’s proposal for a single-payer, “Medicare-for-all” health care system, there’s at least one person who is still not convinced: Hillary Clinton. In an interview with Vox’s Ezra Klein, Clinton repeated attacks on single-payer she made during her primary campaign against Sanders, arguing that more modest measures like a public insurance option or a Medicare buy-in for people 55 and older are more realistic and achievable. "I don't know what the particulars are" on Sanders's latest plan, Clinton said, but added, "He introduced a single-payer bill every year he was in Congress — and when somebody finally read it, he couldn’t explain it and couldn’t really tell people how much it was gonna cost." She clarified that she'd support a bill opening up Medicare or Medicaid and cutting prescription drug costs, but cautioned, "I think it’s going to be challenging if within that bill, there are tax increases equivalent to what it would take to pay for single-payer, and if you’re really telling people — about half of the country — that they can no longer have the policies they have through their employer." She noted that this issue arose in 1993-’94, when she was crafting a health reform plan in the Bill Clinton administration, and she concluded then that the forces arrayed against single-payer, not least of which were the public's fears about such a program, were insurmountable. She also had a more recent example. “Look at what happened in Vermont,” she said, alluding to the failed effort to pass a single-payer plan in that state. “It wasn’t for lack of trying in Vermont. The Democratic political establishment was behind single-payer, and they worked for years to achieve it. This is in, you know, a small state, where it might’ve been possible. They were talking about an increase in the payroll tax of 9.5 percent, or I think, no, maybe 11.5 percent, they were talking about a sliding income scale, they went up to 9.5 percent — it just was so difficult to put pieces together.” (Clinton’s higher estimate was right. The plan being considered would have involved an 11.5 percent increase in payroll taxes and a progressive income tax hike, with top earners paying 9.5 percent more.) The in-one-leap approach of Vermont, Clinton argues, is doomed to failure, and a more gradual approach of building up public programs is preferable. “You’re going to tell 50 percent of America, ‘You are no longer to have your employer-based health care, but oh, trust us, it’s going to be really good when we finally work out all the kinks’ — you’re going to have massive resistance by people, who are gonna say, ‘I’m happy with what I’ve got,’” she told Klein. “But if you say, ‘You know what, we need to lower the age for Medicare, and here’s how we can do that, and we need to continue the expansion of Medicaid,’ we will be at universal coverage. Then once we’re at universal coverage, and people know what that feels like, then we can begin to say, ‘Okay, here’s what we’re going to do to make it work better, to get the costs down.’” Clinton is setting up an opposition that congressional Democrats are not The set of approaches to expanding health coverage that Clinton alludes to are not exactly being ignored by Democrats in Congress and at the state level. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) has a plan to let states open up Medicaid to anyone who wants to sign up, modeled off a bill that almost became law in Nevada that would’ve done the same. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is working on legislation to open up Medicare to everyone, including employers, telling Vox’s Jeff Stein that “you’d naturally transition to a single-payer system without a massive political fight. … This may be the fastest way to a single-payer system.” This is the same intuition behind AmeriCare, former Rep. Pete Stark’s (D-CA) 2006-era universal health care plan, modeled on work by Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker and UC Berkeley economist Helen Halpin. But while Clinton presents an aggressive public option–based transition as an alternative to the single-payer proposals of Sanders, a lot of Democrats in Congress don’t see things that way. Schatz is co-sponsoring Sanders’s Medicare-for-all bill. Sens. Cory Booker (NJ), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Jeff Merkley (OR), and Richard Blumenthal (CT) have all co-sponsored a bill from Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) that would let people buy into Medicare at 55. But they’ve also stated their intention to co-sponsor the Sanders bill. Where Clinton sees an and/or debate, in other words, many senators see a both/and. That makes a certain degree of sense. All of these proposals — switching to Medicare-for-all overnight à la Sanders, transitioning with a buy-in à la Murphy, opening up Medicaid à la Schatz and Medicare à la Stabenow — move in the same broad direction, toward the government directly insuring more people and employers insuring fewer. Current senators are choosing not to be particular about what specific plan they choose, and instead are embracing an array of options. Clinton’s counterargument is that some options are more viable than others, and some will get you killed politically — and she thinks overnight single-payer falls into that category.
Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) was leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party and Chancellor of Germany from 1933-1945; he led that country into World War II in 1939. The documents in this file range from 1933 to 1947, but primarily fall either in 1933 or between 1945 and 1947. In 1933, the FBI investigated an assassination threat made against Hitler. In the aftermath of Germany’s surrender in 1945, western Allied forces suspected that Hitler had committed suicide but did not immediately find evidence of his death. At the time, it was feared that Hitler may have escaped in the closing days of the war, and searches were made to determine if he was still alive. FBI Files indicate that the Bureau investigated some of the rumors of Hitler’s survival.
After searching through the Ashley Madison database and private email last week, I reported that there might be roughly 12,000 real women active on Ashley Madison. Now, after looking at the company’s source code, it’s clear that I arrived at that low number based in part on a misunderstanding of the evidence. Equally clear is new evidence that Ashley Madison created more than 70,000 female bots to send male users millions of fake messages, hoping to create the illusion of a vast playland of available women. Today Ashley Madison released a statement saying that I couldn’t have figured out how many active women are on the site based on the data dump. The company is right about that. It may still be true that a relatively small number of women are active on Ashley Madison, but the evidence that I thought supported my claims means something else entirely—more on that below. Advertisement What I have learned from examining the site’s source code is that Ashley Madison’s army of fembots appears to have been a sophisticated, deliberate, and lucrative fraud. The code tells the story of a company trying to weave the illusion that women on the site are plentiful and eager. Whatever the total number of real, active female Ashley Madison users is, the company was clearly on a desperate quest to design legions of fake women to interact with the men on the site. The Missing Data and the Bots The Ashley Madison source code comes from the second dump released by Impact Team—at 20 gigabytes compressed, it was about twice the size of the first. Though partly corrupted, it did hold hundreds of readable company emails that revealed the company was paying people to create fake women’s profiles and to chat with men on the site. It also contained multiple git repositories, or containers for source code, that appear to go back to mid-2010. Advertisement The first thing I learned when I looked at the code was that the database Impact Team released on August 18, and on which I based my reporting about the number of active female users, was just a tiny portion of the actual member data collected by Ashley Madison. The code makes references to 550 data tables, but there are only 4 tables in the data from Impact Team. That radically changes the picture of what we’re actually seeing in the database. When I first looked over the data, I wrongly assumed that I had all or most of the tables. As I wrote last week, I came across three columns in one of those tables called “bc_email_last_time,” “bc_chat_last_time,” and “email_reply_last_time.” After consulting with two analysts, and determining that these columns were the only ones with names typically used to track user activity, I concluded that the datestamps in those columns referred to the last time people checked their Ashley Madison messages, or tried to start a chat. And when I saw the radical disparity between numbers of men with a datestamp and the number of women, I interpreted it to mean that men were emailing a lot with bots, and women barely ever emailed anyone at all. But I was wrong. It’s a lot weirder than that. Those columns in the data don’t record human activity at all. They record the last time a bot—or “engager” in Ashley Madison’s internal parlance—emailed or chatted with a member of the site. Advertisement What that means is that we have absolutely no data recording human activity at all in the Ashley Madison database dump from Impact Team. All we can see is when fake humans contacted real ones. In other words, the dramatic discrepancy between men and women is entirely because Ashley Madison’s software developers trained their bots to talk almost exclusively to men. Two intrepid researchers came forward to tip me off to what those columns actually measured. Software developer Jake Perkowski and pseudonymous Gizmodo commenter Mr. Falcon had both pored over the code and realized that when bots called “engagers” talked to humans, they were programmed to make a note of it in the database under fields called “bc_chat_last_time,” “reply_email_last_time,” “or bc_email_last_time.” Once I’d checked the sections of code they pointed to, the evidence was undeniable. Those columns had been populated by bots, obediently checking in every time they talked to a human male. Advertisement Perkowski also pointed me to a column in the database called ishost. When ishost was set to 1, he said, it meant that the member was actually a bot. A quick search of the code revealed that indeed bots were using accounts with the value ishost=1. So I decided to delve more into what else these host accounts held. Advertisement Out of 70,572 hosts, 70,529 were female and only 43 were male. So we can say for sure that roughly zero percent of bots on Ashley Madison are male. The bots also tended to have ashleymadison.com email addresses, though other popular addresses included things like passthecake@hotmail.com, kimmakesprofiles@hotmail.com, and digital-romeo@hotmail.com. And finally, tens of thousands of the bots had IP addresses that suggested the accounts had been made by people working at the Ashley Madison office. But where can we find human activity in the Impact Team dump? Apparently, nowhere. Looking at the code, there appear to be several database tables where the system keeps track of when humans chat or message with other humans. It also seems that Ashley Madison even keeps records of what each member says to the other in chat sessions. Had the Impact Team been more nosy, or had more time to dump the data, we might be looking at extremely detailed information on what humans said to each other as they flirted and planned their hookups. So much for Ashley Madison’s guarantee that they’ll keep your affair hushed up. Right now, the company has reams of incredibly incriminating personal information about everything its human users are doing and saying. Advertisement But in the database dump from Impact Team, all we can see is the ample evidence that male users were contacted by bots pretty much constantly. Those data fields tell us that 20 million men out of 31 million received bot mail, and about 11 million of them were chatted up by an automated “engager.” And in the code, I discovered that for many members, these robo-encounters could come roughly every few minutes. At last, I was able to see how a group of engineers tried to create bots that would make men feel like they were in a world packed with eager, available women. How to Snare Millions of Men with Web Bots It’s not easy to sort through thousands of lines of code, but two things can make it faster. One is a simple but powerful search program called grep that can search text for any phrase you like. The other is a habit that engineers have of writing comments about what they’re doing in the code. Armed with grep, I could look for key phrases in both comments and the code itself. Advertisement I knew from the company emails that the engineers and managers used certain terms for the bots, including “hosts” and “engagers.” Perhaps one of the most poignant parts of reading the engineers’ comments in the code was when I uncovered a set of descriptions for how the engager bots should act. I found these in a database devoted to engager activity. Here are a few of them: host bot mother creates engagers birth has been given! let the engager find itself a man! randomizing start time so engagers don’t all pop up at the same time for every single state that has guest males, we want to have a chat engager These comments describe a bot being born and immediately turning to its one purpose in life: finding a man. Then the developer notes that it’s important that “engagers don’t pop up at the same time.” The engager bots are basically pieces of software. They operate by inhabiting, as a demon might, previously existing fake profiles that the company calls “Angels”—these are the profiles that Ashley Madison CEO Noel Biderman was pushing his people to create at scale in internal company emails. The Angels, also called “hosts” by the company’s engineers, lay dormant until a bot animates them and uses them like a skin to contact a male user. Which is why the engineers sought ways to prevent them from all grabbing the same identity at the same time. Basically, they look a lot less fake if there aren’t a zillion bot clones running around chatting men up. And finally, we learn that one of the rules was that every state with non-paying “guest” males—from Nunavut to California—should have a chat engager. Advertisement Of course, things didn’t always go as planned. In a patch, or edit, to the code, I saw this comment: “Stopped engaging gaymen.” That made me laugh. I imagined a frustrated developer, getting complaints from gay men who kept being assaulted by female chat bots looking for heterosexual love. Based on what I’ve seen in the code, the chat bots were fairly annoying. First of all, they weren’t exactly smart. Here’s a verbatim list, taken directly from the code, of the random messages that the chat bot was programmed to spew—probably the repeats are in there to make it more likely that the bot would say them: ‘hi’, ‘hi’, ‘hi’, ‘hi (s)‘, ‘hi there’, ‘how are you?’, ‘hey’, ‘Hey’, ‘hey there’, ‘hey there’, ‘Hey there’, ‘u busy?’, ‘you there?’, ‘any body home?’, ‘Hi’, ‘Hi’, ‘Hi’, ‘hows it going?’, ‘chat?’, ‘how r u?’, ‘anybody home? lol’, ‘hello’, ‘hello’, ‘Hello’, ‘hello?’, ‘whats up?’, ‘so what brings you here?’, ‘oh hello’, ‘free to chat??’, Once the man struck up a conversation, the bot would say things like this: Hmmmm, when I was younger I used to sleep with my friend’s boyfriends. I guess old habits die hard although I could never sleep with their husbands. I’m sexy, discreet, and always up for kinky chat. Would also meet up in person if we get to know each other and think there might be a good connection. Does this sound intriguing?” Advertisement It’s unclear what else the engager would say—either the bots really are this simple, or further chat phrases weren’t in the code. Most likely, based on what I saw from other bot code, the bot would urge the man to pay credits to talk further. Mr. Falcon pointed out that there’s actually a special bot service, called “RunChatBotXmppGuarentee.service.php,” apparently designed just for interactions with customers who paid the premium $250 for a “guaranteed affair.” When I checked the code, I found Mr. Falcon was right. It appears that this bot would chat up the man, urge him to pay credits, and then pass him along to what’s called an “affiliate.” Likely the affiliate is a third party that provides a real person for the man to chat with. It might also be connecting him to an escort service. Earlier this year, one Ashley Madison engineer spent a couple of days mocking up a possible system for paying actual human women for engaging the men. The code calculates a “FemaleValue” (percentage credited to the woman’s account) based on “MaleProfit” (amount the man pays to Ashley Madison). If the woman engages the man within 20 to 30 minutes of the time he buys credits, she’ll be credited with 5 percent of the profit. It doesn’t appear that this system was deployed, but it was obviously something Ashley Madison developers were thinking about. Advertisement Map via Jake Perkowski We know from company emails that management constantly struggled to find people to create fake accounts in languages other than English. Bots needed to speak 31 different languages, and they chatted and sent messages to people in roughly 50 countries and 1,500 states or provinces. In the map above, Perkowski has visualized “the rate of engager accounts to total female accounts per country.” The darker the blue, the more ubiquitous robots are in your Ashley Madison dating pool. No matter where you are in the world, Ashley Madison probably has a bot that can say “anybody home? lol” in your native language. Advertisement Perhaps because of the company’s international focus, you can see ripples of geopolitical events in the code. I found evidence that a developer updated the system in May to change the handling of payments in Crimea. No doubt responding to the Russian invasion of that region, he changed the payment system language from Ukrainian to Russian. In another comment, a developer noted, “south african engagers can only engage pnums [members] of same race.” Ashley Madison aspired to be a global network of people breaking the bonds of monogamy in the name of YOLO. Instead, it was mostly a collection straight men talking to extremely busy bots who bombarded them with messages asking for money. I found a set of email templates called “mistress” which were sent out to urge men to spend money on Mistress Day, a pre-Valentines holiday on February 13. Ashley Madison CEO Noel Biderman did a huge publicity push for the holiday in 2014, doing interviews about it in the media and blasting out emails urging all members to buy more credits so they can find a mistress in time for the day. Those email blasts were another way the bots hassled Ashley Madison’s straight men. One engineer comments in the code that bot mail blasts for new members are sent to straight men on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; but they’re only sent to men seeking men on Tuesdays, and women seeking women on Thursday. Advertisement The engagers are so annoying that developers had to write special exceptions to exclude their own bots from being nuked in spam sweeps. They also exclude several IP addresses in India and the Philippines, which suggests that they may have had a lot of people operating their host accounts in those regions. The Humans After I published my first article about Ashley Madison data, I got several dozen emails from women and men who told me their stories about using the service. Some agreed with my assessment that the place is a sexbot farm. But many women described how they’d enjoyed the service for years, and men talked in glowing terms about all the amazing women they’d met, including some who fell in love and formed relationships after their “affair.” Advertisement Several women specifically urged me to investigate how “women seeking women” were handled in the database and code. Many had met other women for threesomes with men, or just for a lesbian romp outside their heterosexual marriages. I decided to take their advice, because now it was clear that a lot more women were active in the membership than I initially believed. What I found was that there are over 770,000 women seeking women in the database, out of 5.5 million women overall, and none of them are hosts. That’s 14 percent, much higher than the estimated 1.5 percent of lesbians (and .9 percent of bisexuals) in the U.S. population. These may not be active accounts, but they don’t appear to be Ashley Madison engagers either. If there are real women behind these accounts, we know they aren’t getting bombarded with bot messages. Bots avoid women. And comments in the code reveal that “woman seeking woman” profiles aren’t shown to straight men. It would seem that the only members of Ashley Madison who aren’t inundated by spam and randos are women who seek trysts with other women or couples. There are also about 345,000 men seeking men in the database, and we know from the patch I mentioned earlier that developers were working hard to prevent the engagers from harassing these guys too. It’s possible, as one person put it to me in email, that Ashley Madison was actually a pretty decent hookup site for gay people—but that was mostly because the system was designed to ignore them. Advertisement In fact, there are only 5 possible categories of desire allowed in the Ashley Madison code. Here they are, from a comment: 1: Attached Female Seeking Males 2: Attached Male Seeking Females 3: Single Male Seeking Attached Females 4: Single Female Seeking Attached Males 5: Attached Male Seeking Males 6: Attached Female Seeking Females Note that you can’t be a single woman seeking attached women, or a single man seeking attached men. Nobody building this source code thought very hard about options for gay people. Advertisement Nobody thought much about women either. Now that we know how rarely women were contacted by bots, it seems certain that any human woman on the site would have been able to meet human men with little difficulty or interference. There is a certain freedom in being the group that is ignored the most. Hiding in a haze of spam bots, women were connecting with each other and with men. We don’t know how many, nor how often, but we know they were doing it. That said, a huge portion of Ashley Madison’s software development efforts are aimed at refining their fembot army, to make it seem that women are active on the site. Either they did this because the number of real women was vanishingly small, or because they didn’t want men to hook up with real women and stop buying credits from the company. Whatever the reason, it appears that the Ashley Madison money-making scheme was bots all the way down. Art and data tables by Tara Jacoby Thanks to the data researchers, anonymous and named, who helped me analyze this code. Advertisement
“Parents hold their child down – three of them holding them down – and give this stuff as an enema,” says Emma Dalmayne. “Many feed it to their children. They even put it into their babies’ bottles.” Dalmayne, a stay-at-home mother and autism campaigner from London, is describing Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), a “supplement” being sold online to parents as a “cure” for their autistic children. But MMS is essentially bleach. It is 28% sodium chlorite, and when used as instructed, generates chlorine dioxide – a potent bleach that’s used to strip textiles and for industrial water treatment. Kent police receive complaint over bogus bleach-based autism 'cure' Read more It is highly dangerous to ingest. Taken directly, MMS can cause severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, damage to the gut and red blood cells, respiratory problems, and can be fatal. “MMS can cause serious damage to health and in some cases even death,” says a spokeswoman for the Food Standards Agency (FSA). “Anyone who has bought these products is advised to throw them away.” Dalmayne – who has two children with autism and three others under assessment for diagnosis, and has autism herself – first became aware of the fake cures in 2014, after setting up an autism support group online. “Parents would ask me, have you seen this? Isn’t it awful? Or, does it work?” she says. Over the past 18 months, the 40-year-old has found dozens of websites selling MMS under the guise of curing autism, as well as GcMAF, an unlicensed product derived from blood plasma that claims to treat autism as well as cancer and HIV. There are no figures on how widespread the manufacture and use of fake autism cures are in the UK, but the FSA says local authorities have made it aware of a number of cases where MMS has been marketed for sale. And the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency confirms it is investigating GcMAF products after it found manufacturing conditions were “unacceptable” and the material “unsuitable for human use”. Last year, more than 10,000 vials of GcMAF were seized at a production site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, with the product being sold on various European websites that UK citizens may have bought from. Kerri Rivera, a prominent proponent of MMS and author of Healing the Symptoms Known as Autism, says: “Almost all of the people with autism have high levels of pathogens; virus, bacteria, parasites and heavy metals. Chlorine dioxide kills pathogens and helps the body to detoxify itself. It is considered safe at doses we use for weight.” She adds: “There are over 225 people who no longer have autism after using it.” The National Autistic Society (NAS), which has repeatedly warned about GcMAF and MMS, is running a Google advertising campaign that directs anyone searching for these products online to its own accurate information. Sarah Lambert, NAS’s head of policy, says: “Not only is there no verified scientific evidence for these so-called cures, but any autistic adult or child using them risks serious harm.” Carol Povey, director of NAS’s Centre for Autism, says: “We know how difficult life can be for families affected by autism, particularly just before and after diagnosis when there’s so much uncertainty and, in some cases, no understanding or support from public services and people around them. Some families end up feeling so isolated and disillusioned that they’re desperate for anything that might help, which can leave them vulnerable to the dangerous claims of quacks and charlatans.” 'Some post photos of bleeding children … It’s like parents are going to war with their own offspring’ Emma Dalmayne Dalmayne has discovered a Facebook group for parents of autistic children – many from the UK – that’s centred on these “cures”. With the tagline “Solving the puzzle one drop at a time”, the more than 9,000 members of the group discuss using chlorine dioxide, often posting photos of their children with skin rashes and bleeding – “bragging” that it’s a sign it’s working or asking for help when they’re afraid. “People post, ‘my child can’t walk because she’s/he’s doubled up in pain’ or ‘their urine’s pink’,” Dalmayne says. “One had three seizures in a day. But they’re always told by the other members, ‘That’s normal. That’s the autism leaving them.’” The people being given the “solution”, who are discussed in the group, range from vulnerable adults to children as young as 10 months, Dalmayne tells me. “It’s like they’re going to war with their own children,” she says. In 2015, Dalmayne created a fake profile – Anna Smith – to infiltrate the group, posing as a mother wanting to use MMS on her daughter. For eight months, she formed relationships with members and passed information on to the police and social services (she had to stop when group administrators noticed people “Anna” had been speaking to were being contacted by the police). And last month, she reported a suspected case in London. Police are making inquiries. Although the FSA’s food crime unit is working with councils and government departments to combat the promotion and sale of MMS, Dalmayne says the law needs to be changed. While it is unlawful to sell a product such as MMS that is injurious to health, “you can say, ‘this is a cure for autism’ – and right now there’s nothing we can do about it”, she says. She is campaigning with Change.org for the government to introduce legislation to ban the marketing of products to the public based on the false claim it will cure autism, as is already the case with alleged remedies for cancer. “This is child abuse. It’s happening in the UK right now,” she says.
Reality is not a genre that typically sees significant improvement from DVR views. As much as networks have (justifiably) been focusing ratings attention on time-shifting, it's largely an arena for scripted dramas and comedies. But Utopia's initial DVR boosts show a stronger-than-typical delayed audience for Fox's big unscripted play for the fall — after largely stumbling out of the gate in live-plus-same day showings. The second episode of Utopia rose a full 56 percent in the key demo — the biggest lift of any broadcast show last week (Mon. - Wed.) outside of CBS' Extant. The average 1.4 rating among adults 18-49, after the DVR lift, put it as No. 3 for that Tuesday — and not the last-place position it was in same-day showings. It's good news for the freshman series, which opened on the eve of the official 2014 fall TV season. Friday's episode averaged just a 0.7 rating in the demo in same-day showings. Newly-minted Fox Broadcasting chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman say that they're banking on the show to grow. "We're definitely going to exhibit patience," Walden told The Hollywood Reporter last week. "What exactly that means, it's hard to tell. I'd say that as long as we're feeling creatively satisfied with the show, we're going to do everything in our power to give it an opportunity to thrive and grow." Utopia adopts its regular twice-weekly schedule this week, airing on Tuesday and Friday.
South Sydney's premiership defence has been thrown into further chaos following a bizarre bottle-throwing incident which could see George Burgess suspended for two weeks. Burgess launched a plastic drink bottle while sitting on the Rabbitohs interchange bench at rival Kane Evans as Evans walked from the field during the Roosters 30-0 win against the Rabbitohs on Friday night. The brain snap will cost Burgess two games even if he takes an early guilty plea. He will need to beat the charge to play against Cronulla in the Rabbitohs' elimination final as a grade-one charge – with his 20 per cent loading for a non-similar offence – will bring a one-game ban. Bottle incident: George Burgess, right, and the bottle are circled. Burgess' actions came after Evans and Rabbitohs teammate Paul Carter clashed. Roosters player Sio Siua Taukeiaho was penalised for working Carter over as he tried to play the ball, to which Carter objected – throwing the ball in the direction of the Roosters players.
Last summer television personality and columnist Fareed Zakaria was suspended by both TIME magazine and CNN for committing plagiarism in a piece he wrote for the Washington Post. Yet the ubiquitous voice of conventional wisdom about foreign policy was soon back in his familiar haunts undaunted by his humiliation and allowed to pretend as if nothing had happened. But the problem with Zakaria wasn’t his lack of acknowledgement of the work of others so much as it is his penchant for ignoring inconvenient facts when advocating the policies that he urges the country to adopt as if they were self-evident. A particularly egregious example of this trait was made clear last month when Zakaria was writing about President Obama’s trip to Israel. Zakaria wrote a column that endorsed the president’s speech to Israeli youth to pressure their government to make peace with the Palestinians. While, as we pointed out at the time, this appeal was directed to the wrong side of the dispute, Zakaria was entitled to his opinion about Israelis ought to do. What he was not entitled to was his own facts about the situation. Zakaria wrote the following in support of his belief that the Israelis should go the extra mile and start making concessions: After all, Israel has ruled millions of Palestinians without offering them citizenship or a state for 40 years. As anyone who has paid even cursory attention to the conflict in the last generation, this is patently false. Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians statehood and independence in almost all of the West Bank, Gaza and a share of Jerusalem in July 2000 at Camp David. Yasir Arafat refused it to the chagrin of President Bill Clinton, who thought the offer would win him the Nobel Peace Prize he coveted. The Israelis repeated the offer the following January at Taba with advantages and got the same answer. In 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made an even more generous offer of statehood that gave the putative state of Palestine even more territory. Arafat’s successor Mahmoud Abbas fled the talks rather than be forced to give an answer. One may argue that Israel’s offers were insufficient, even though doing so means taking a position that goes far beyond the parameters for peace that President Obama has endorsed and which would compromise Israeli security as well as its rights. Anti-Zionists can say that an offer of separate Palestinian statehood that requires them to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn is unreasonable. But you can’t claim that Israel hasn’t made any offers of statehood and retain credibility. Unless, that is, your name is Fareed Zakaria. When Israeli blogger Jeffrey Grossman pointed this blatant error out, Zakaria could have quickly and quietly corrected the record and moved on. He did not. And when Grossman wrote to Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, he received the following reply: The history of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians is contentious and, as I’m sure you know, subject to widely differing interpretation. Mr. Zakaria’s statement is within the bounds of acceptable interpretation for an opinion columnist. The response of Hiatt, who has a well-earned reputation for fairness, is puzzling. After all, as Grossman has pointed out, not even the Palestinians claim they haven’t received an offer of statehood. They just say it wasn’t nearly good enough, especially since it didn’t include the poison pill they demand of every negotiation—a “right of return” for the descendants of the refugees of Israel’s War of Independence. No one is saying that Zakaria isn’t within his rights to dismiss Israel’s offers, but he can’t ignore them and stay “within the bounds of acceptable interpretation.” His comments were not couched with language that gave him any wriggle room about the facts. If the Israelis have made offers—and they have—he’s made an error that requires a correction. Of course, the reason why he won’t willingly make such a correction because reminding readers that Israel has tried and failed to entice the Palestinians to end the conflict by trading land for peace undermines the fallacious narrative of Zionist intransigence that he’s trying to promote. That’s a point that President Obama acknowledged in the very speech Zakaria was endorsing in his column. Zakaria plays an authority about foreign policy on television but the closer you look at his views, the shakier his claim to expertise looks. Opinion columnists who need to doctor the facts in order to make their points aren’t merely wrong, they are charlatans of the sort that makes plagiarism look benign. The Post, which stood by Zakaria when he was embarrassed by his shoddy practices last year, needs to hold him accountable.
Sixers sharp-shooter Nik Stauskas launched the first episode of his new podcast today, Sauce and Co., alongside regular Sixers podcaster extraordinaire Brian Seltzer. He talked about many things -- mostly about how good the food is over at the Sixers' new training facility in Camden. Stauskas also talked about how he got into basketball up in Canada after suffering a freak broken arm playing soccer. At some point in his teens Stauskas and his family realized he needed to get out of the Great White North if he wanted to get real attention for his hoops game. "When I was 15-years-old I decided to go to a school called South Kent in Connecticut, it's a prep school. It's 150 kids, all boys, in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere. The school just breeds athletes. Fun fact: my roommate from South Kent is now Shayne Gostisbehere who now plays for the Flyers. We laugh about it all the time that two kids from this school in the middle of nowhere in CT are now both playing professional sports in Philadelphia." "My goal is to get him on the podcast at this year. He's a very good friend of mine. I didn't really enjoy going to school at South Kent because I was away from home for the first time and I had to make all new friends. But Shayne was one of the reasons I stayed sane. He was a really good friend of mine and we stayed in touch ever since." You can listen to the entire podcast below. https://soundcloud.com/sixers-digital/sauce-co-episode-1-1172016
A woman was arrested in the lobby of the Ottawa courthouse and charged with assault and intimidation Wednesday, minutes after attending her son's brief court appearance on a charge of second-degree murder. Brayton Kennedy, 19, is charged in the 2016 homicide of Jacob Thompson, a man the teen's mother had been in a relationship with, according to a police source. Investigators allege Kennedy shot Thompson, who was 40, at a home on the 2100 block of Elmira Drive in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 2016. Thompson died in hospital. Kennedy, wearing long, brown, curly hair and a black T-shirt, appeared in court via video Tuesday afternoon and is being held in custody. He was also ordered not to communicate with several relatives and witnesses in the case. His next appearance is scheduled for April 25. Four supporters sat in the front row. Ottawa police major crimes detectives were also present in the courtroom. Moments after the brief appearance was over, Kennedy's mother, Geneva Kennedy, was arrested just steps away from the courtroom. Charged with intimidation, assault She was charged with two counts of intimidation by threat, one count of assault and two counts of failing to comply with a probation order, and was expected to appear in court Wednesday. It's not the first time she's faced charges since Thompson's death. In November, 39-year-old Geneva Kennedy pleaded guilty to obstructing police in the homicide investigation and spent 18 days in jail. Brayton Kennedy is facing a series of other outstanding charges, including:
Here it is, the spoiler for Link Vrains Pack! Including a noticeable Errata to Mermail Abyssteus. LVP1-JP001 – Super Rare Perpetual King Daemon (Perpetual King Archfiend) Rating 2 DARK Fiend Link Effect Monster ATK 2000 Link Arrows: Bottom Left, Bottom Right Link Materials: 2 Fiend monsters Once per turn, during your Standby Phase, pay 500 LP or destroy this card. You can only activate each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per Chain. (1) If you pay LP (except during the Damage Step): You can send to the GY 1 Fiend monster from your Deck whose ATK and/or DEF equals the paid amount. (2) If a Fiend monster(s) is sent to your GY (except during the Damage Step): You can roll a six-sided die and apply 1 of these effects, depending on the result. -1: Add that monster to the hand. -2-5: Shuffle that monster into the Deck. -6: Special Summon that monster. LVP1-JP006 – Super Rare Gladial Beast Dragases (Gladiator Beast Dragases) Rating 2 WIND Winged Beast Link Effect Monster ATK 2000 Link Arrows: Bottom Left, Bottom Right Link Materials: 2 “Gladiator Beast” monsters You can only use the (2)nd effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If a “Gladiator Beast” monster you control attacks, it cannot be destroyed by that battle, also your opponent cannot activate cards and effects until the end of the Damage Step. (2) At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card battled: You can return this card to the Extra Deck; Special Summon 2 “Gladiator Beast” monsters with different names from your Main Deck. LVP1-JP011 – Ultra Rare Lightlord Dominion Kyrios (Kyrios, Dominion of the Lightsworn) Rating 3 LIGHT Warrior Link Effect Monster ATK 2400 Link Arrows: Top-Center, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 3 monsters with the same Attribute but different Types You can only use each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can send 1 card from your Deck to the GY. (2) If a card(s) is sent from your Deck to the GY by a card effect: Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the GY. (3) If this face-up card is destroyed by battle, or leaves the field because of an opponent’s card effect while its owner controls it: You can target 1 card in your GY; add it to your hand. LVP1-JP016 – Super Rare Gem-Knight Phantomroots (Gem-Knight Phantomcore) Rating 2 EARTH Rock Link Effect Monster ATK 1450 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 “Gem-” monsters You can only use each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 “Gem-Knight” card from your Deck to your hand. (2) You can pay 1000 LP; Fusion Summon 1 “Gem-Knight” Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by shuffling into the Deck Fusion Materials listed on it from your GY and/or among your banished cards, but the Summoned monster cannot attack directly this turn. LVP1-JP021 – Super Rare Inverz Origin (Steelswarm Origin) Rating 2 LIGHT Fiend Link Effect Monster ATK 2000 Link Arrows: Top-Center, Bottom-Center Link Materials: 2 “lswarm” monsters (1) While this card is in the Extra Monster Zone, neither player can Special Summon a monster from the Extra Deck to a Main Monster Zone that this card does not point to. (2) While this card points to a monster, it cannot be targeted by an opponent’s card effect and cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. (3) Once per turn, when a monster(s) on the field is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon Level 4 or lower “lswarm” monsters from your Deck in Defense Position, up to the number of monsters destroyed. LVP1-JP026 – Super Rare Inzketor Pico-Falena Rating 2 DARK Insect Link Effect Monster ATK 1000 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Insect monsters You can only use each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can discard 1 card, then target 1 other Insect monster you control; equip 1 Insect monster from your Deck to that target as an Equip Spell with this effect. – The equipped monster gains 500 ATK/DEF. (2) You can target 3 Insect monsters in your GY; shuffle them into the Deck, then draw 1 card. LVP1-JP031 – Ultra Rare Tenkyuu no Seikokuin (Hieratic Seal of the Celestial Spheres) Rating 2 LIGHT Dragon Link Effect Monster ATK 0 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Dragon monsters You can only use the (2)nd effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) Once per turn, during your opponent’s turn, if this card is in the Extra Monster Zone (Quick Effect): You can Tribute 1 monster from your hand or field; return 1 face-up card on the field to the hand. (2) If this card is Tributed: Special Summon 1 Dragon monster from your hand or Deck, also make its ATK and DEF 0. LVP1-JP036 – Ultra Rare Madou Genten Crowley (Crowley, Origin of Prophecy) Dark Spellcaster / Link / Effect Link 2 1000 / BL BR 2 Spellcaster monsters You can only use the (1)st effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can reveal 3 “Spellbook” cards with different names from your Deck, your opponent chooses 1 of them for you to add to your hand, and you shuffle the rest back into your Deck. (2) Once per turn, 1 Level 5 or higher Spellcaster monster you Normal Summon can be Summoned without Tributing. LVP1-JP041 – Super Rare Fresh Madolche Sistart Rating 2 EARTH Fairy Link Effect Monster ATK 1500 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 “Madolche” monsters (1) While this card points to a “Madolche” monster, “Madolche” Spell/Trap Cards you control cannot be targeted by, or destroyed by, card effects. (2) If this card on the field would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can shuffle 1 “Madolche” monster from your GY into the Deck instead. LVP1-JP046 – Super Rare Mermail Salaciabyss (Mermail Abyssalacia) Rating 2 WATER Sea Serpent Link Effect Monster ATK 1600 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Fish/Aqua/Sea Serpent monsters You can only use each effect among the (2)nd and (3)rd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) Monsters this card points to gain 500 ATK and DEF. (2) During your opponent’s turn (Quick Effect): You can send 1 card from your hand to the GY; add 1 “Mermail” monster from your Deck to your hand. (3) If this card in its owner’spossession is destroyed by battle with an opponent’s attacking monster, or by an opponent’s card effect: You can send 1 WATER monster from your Deck to the GY, then target 1 WATER monster in your GY; Special Summon it in Defense Position. LVP1-JP048 – Rare Mermail Abyssteus Level 7 WATER Aqua Effect Monster ATK 1700 DEF 2400 You can discard 1 other WATER monster to the GY; Special Summon this card from your hand. If Summoned this way: You can add 1 Level 4 or lower “Mermail” monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Mermail Abyssteus” once per turn. Note: this errata means you can no longer place Abyssteus’ search effect on a lower chain link than an Atlantean effect. LVP1-JP051 – Ultra Rare Seikishi no Tsuisou Isolde (Iseult, Memory of the Noble Knights) Rating 2 LIGHT Warrior Link Effect Monster 1600 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Warrior monsters You can only use each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 Warrior monster from your Deck to your hand, and if you do, for the rest of the turn, you cannot Normal Summon, Normal Set, or Special Summon monsters with its name, or activate the monster effects with its name. (2) You can send any number of Equip Spells with different names from your Deck to the GY; Special Summon from your Deck 1 Warrior monster whose Level equals that number. LVP1-JP056 – Super Rare Shaddoll Nephilim (Shaddoll Construct) Rating 2 LIGHT Fairy Link Effect Monster ATK 1200 Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Middle-Right Link Materials: 2 Flip monsters You can only use each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) During your Main Phase: You can Fusion Summon 1 “Shaddoll” Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using monsters you control or have in your hand as Fusion Materials. (2) If this card is in your GY: You can send 1 “Shaddoll” card from your hand or face-up from your field to the GY, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your GY. LVP1-JP061 – Super Rare Qliphort Genius Rating 2 EARTH Machine Link Effect Monster ATK 1800 Link Arrows: Bottom Left, Bottom Right Link Materials: 2 Machine monsters (1) This Link Summoned card is unaffected by Spell/Trap effects, also it is unaffected by other Link Monsters’ activated effects. (2) Once per turn: You can target 1 other face-up card you control and 1 face-up card your opponent controls; both face-up cards have their effects negated until the end of this turn. (3) When 2 monsters are Special Summoned at the same time, to the zones this card points to (except during the Damage Step): You can add 1 Level 5 or higher Machine monster from your Deck to your hand. LVP1-JP066 Seireijuuki Kimunfalcos (Ritual Beast Ulti-Kimunfalcos) Rating 2 WIND Psychic Link Effect Monster ATK 1800 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 “Ritual Beast” monsters You can only use the (2)nd effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) “Ritual Beast” monsters this card points to gains 600 ATK and DEF. (2) You can banish 1 “Ritual Beast” card from your GY; immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon 1 “Ritual Beast” monster from your hand. (3) (Quick Effect): You can return this card to the Extra Deck, then target 2 of your banished monsters (1 “Ritual Beast Tamer” monster and 1 “Spiritual Beast” monster); Special Summon them in Defense Position. LVP1-JP071 – Super Rare Sefira Metatron (Zefra Metaltron) Rating 3 LIGHT Wyrm Link Effect Monster ATK 2500 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Center, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2+ monsters Special Summoned from the Extra Deck You can only use each effect among the (1)st and (2)nd effects with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If a monster(s) this card points to that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck is destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect: You can add 1 monster from your GY or 1 Pendulum Monster face-up from your Extra Deck to your hand. (2) You can target 2 other monsters that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck (1 on each field); banish both of them until the End Phase. LVP1-JP076 – Super Rare Aromaseraphy Jasmine Rating 2 LIGHT Plant Link Effect Monster ATK 1800 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Plant monsters You can only use the (2)nd effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) While your LP is higher than your opponent’s, both this card and Plant monsters this card points to cannot be destroyed by battle. (2) You can Tribute 1 monster this card points to; Special Summon 1 Plant monster from your Deck, in Defense Position. (3) Once per turn, if you gain LP: Add 1 Plant monster from your Deck to your hand. LVP1-JP081 – Super Rare Higan no Kurotenshi Cherubini (Cherubini, Black Angel of the Burning Abyss) Rating 2 DARK Fairy Link Effect Monster ATK 500 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Level 3 monsters You can only use the (3)rd effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) Monsters this card points to cannot be destroyed by card effects. (2) If this card on the field would be destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect, you can send 1 other card you control to the GY instead. (3) You can send 1 Level 3 monster from your Deck to the GY, then target 1 “Burning Abyss” monster on the field; it gains ATK/DEF equal to the sent monster’s ATK/DEF until the end of this turn. LVP1-JP086 – Super Rare Heavymetalphosis Electrum (Heavymetalfoes Electrum) Rating 2 FIRE Psychic Link Effect Monster ATK 1800 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 Pendulum Monsters You can only use the (3)rd effect with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 Pendulum Monster from your Deck to your Extra Deck, face-up. (2) Once per turn: You can target 1 other face-up card you control; destroy it, then add 1 face-up Pendulum Monster from your Extra Deck to your hand. (3) If a card(s) in your Pendulum Zone leaves the field: Draw 1 card. LVP1-JP091 – Ultra Rare Crystron Harifiber (Crystron Glassfiber) Rating 2 WATER Machine Link Effect Monster ATK 1500 Link Arrows: Bottom Left, Bottom Right Link Materials: 2 monsters, including 1+ Tuner monster(s) You can only use each effect [among the (1)st and (2)nd effects] with this card’s name once per turn. (1) If this card is Link Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower Tuner monster from your hand or Deck in Defense Position, but it cannot activate its effects this turn. (2) During your opponent’s Main or Battle Phase (Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your field; Special Summon 1 Tuner Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck. (This is treated as a Synchro Summon.) LVP1-JP096 – Super Rare Bousou Shoukanshi Aleister (Aleister the Meltdown Invoker) Rating 2 DARK Spellcaster Link Effect Monster ATK 1800 Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right Link Materials: 2 monsters with different Types and Attributes (1) This card’s name becomes “Aleister the Invoker” while on the field or in the GY. (2) If a Fusion Monster is Fusion Summoned while this card is already in a Monster Zone: You can discard 1 card, and if you do, add 1 “Invocation” or “The Book of the Law” from your Deck to your hand. (3) If this face-up card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card effect: You can add 1 “Omega Summon” from your Deck to your hand. REPRINTS: LVP1-JP002 Archfiend Commander – Rare LVP1-JP003 Archfiend Heiress LVP1-JP004 Archfiend’s Oath LVP1-JP005 Falling Down LVP1-JP007 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus – Rare LVP1-JP008 Gladiator Beast Bestiarii LVP1-JP009 Test Tiger LVP1-JP010 Gladiator Beast War Chariot LVP1-JP012 Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn – Rare LVP1-JP013 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner LVP1-JP014 Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden LVP1-JP015 Charge of the Light Brigade LVP1-JP017 Gem-Knight Seraphinite – Rare LVP1-JP018 Gem-Knight Lazuli LVP1-JP019 Gem-Knight Fusion LVP1-JP020 Brilliant Fusion LVP1-JP022 Evilswarm Ophion – Rare LVP1-JP023 Evilswarm Heliotrope LVP1-JP024 Evilswarm Kerykeion – Rare LVP1-JP025 Infestation Pandemic LVP1-JP027 Inzektor Giga-Mantis – Rare LVP1-JP028 Inzektor Centipede LVP1-JP029 Inzektor Dragonfly LVP1-JP030 Inezktor Hornet LVP1-JP032 Hieratic Dragon King of Atum – Rare LVP1-JP033 Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit LVP1-JP034 Hieratic Seal of Convocation LVP1-JP035 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon LVP1-JP037 High Priestess of Prophecy – Rare LVP1-JP038 Spellbook of Secrets LVP1-JP039 Spellbook of the Master LVP1-JP040 The Grand Spellbook Tower LVP1-JP042 Madolche Queen Tiaramisu – Rare LVP1-JP043 Madolche Puddingcess LVP1-JP044 Madolche Messengelato LVP1-JP045 Madolche Anjelly LVP1-JP047 Mermail Abyssmegalo – Rare LVP1-JP049 Atlantean Dragoons LVP1-JP050 Atlantean Heavy Infantry LVP1-JP052 Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights – Rare LVP1-JP053 Noble Knight Medrault LVP1-JP054 Noble Knight Borz LVP1-JP055 Noble Arms – Gallatin LVP1-JP057 El Shaddoll Shekhinaga – Rare LVP1-JP058 El Shaddoll Grysta LVP1-JP059 El Shaddoll Wendigo LVP1-JP060 El Shaddoll Winda – Rare LVP1-JP062 Qliphort Scout LVP1-JP063 Qliphort Disk – Rare LVP1-JP064 Saqlifice LVP1-JP065 Summoner’s Art LVP1-JP067 Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio LVP1-JP068 Ritual Beast Ulti-Kannahawk – Rare LVP1-JP069 Spiritual Beast Kannahawk LVP1-JP070 Ritual Beast Steeds LVP1-JP072 Denglong, First of the Yang Zing – Rare LVP1-JP073 Zefraniu, Secret of the Yang Zing LVP1-JP074 Zefraxi, Treasure of the Yang Zing LVP1-JP075 Oracle of Zefra LVP1-JP077 Aromage Jasmine – Rare LVP1-JP078 Aromaseraphy Angelica LVP1-JP079 Aroma Garden LVP1-JP080 Humid Winds LVP1-JP082 Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal – Rare LVP1-JP083 Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss – Rare LVP1-JP084 Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss LVP1-JP085 Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss LVP1-JP087 Metalfoes Goldriver LVP1-JP088 Raremetalfoes Bismugear LVP1-JP089 Metalfoes Fusion – Rare LVP1-JP090 Metalfoes Counter LVP1-JP092 Crystron Quandax – Rare LVP1-JP093 Crystron Sulfefnir LVP1-JP094 Crystron Thystvern LVP1-JP095 Crystron Citree LVP1-JP097 Invoked Mechaba – Rare LVP1-JP098 Invoked Raidjin LVP1-JP099 Aleister the Invoker LVP1-JP100 Invocation – Rare
Nanosolar HQ (TGW) – Nanosolar unveiled Wednesday its thin film coater that it says can coat 1 gigawatt worth of solar cells a year, the solar industry’s largest coater. Credit: Nanosolar The tool, which cost $1.65 million, can ink 100 feet of solar cells a minute. The ink used is Nanosolar’s trademark nanoparticle ink.The machine delivers solar cell with efficiencies of up 14.5% efficiency.Company CEO Martin Roscheisen said the speed can be increased to up to 2000 feet per minute.“At the 100 feet-per-minute speed shown in the video, that’s an astonishing two orders of magnitude more capital efficient than a high-vacuum process: a twenty times slower high-vacuum tool would have cost about ten times as much per tool,” he also said, in a press release.Via :: Press Release
Managing a top-class football team is about finding the right balance between cohesive team strategy and maximising individual talent. For elite teams, when individuals underperform, the overall strategy proves resilient, and when the strategy doesn't work, individual brilliance shines through. Liverpool, alas, currently find themselves able to depend upon neither. It's not difficult to work out the major difference between last season and this season for Brendan Rodgers' side, but it's worth outlining the nature of their 2013-14 title challenge. First, it was entirely unexpected -- Liverpool started the season as outsiders for the top four and very distant title contenders. They were propelled to within touching distance of the title through sheer individual brilliance. Luis Suarez had one of the greatest individual seasons in Premier League history, Daniel Sturridge was scoring impressively alongside him and Raheem Sterling developed quicker than anyone could ever have expected. In terms of the system, however, things were more confused. Rodgers received plaudits for his formation switches, which were effective but little more than putting the "SAS" -- and, increasingly, the "SASAS" -- in their most dangerous positions for individual matches and overrunning opposition within the opening half hour. Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge combined to score 52 of Liverpool's 101 league goals last season. The strategy of attacking with speed and directness was actually the opposite of the approach Rodgers had initially preached at Liverpool, which was about ball retention and patient build-up. To a certain extent, things simply fell into place. Liverpool's title charge was comparable to Chelsea's victorious 2009-10 season, when Carlo Ancelotti never found his best system, or even his best XI, but won the title by maximising the individual brilliance of Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard at different points of the campaign. The next season, when those players couldn't reach the same heights, Chelsea went alarmingly flat because there was no system to fall back upon, and Ancelotti was dismissed at the end of the campaign. Individually, Liverpool are without their best player from last season, Suarez, though at least they were able to invest the proceeds of his transfer in a quantity of attacking players. The team was therefore supposed to be based around Sturridge -- last season's joint-second top scorer in the Premier League with 21 -- which made perfect sense. He, however, has been out injured for the majority of the campaign so far. Other star performers from last season, like Sterling, Jordan Henderson and (to a certain extent) Steven Gerrard have been unable to reproduce last season's displays, partly because of post-World Cup fatigue, partly because of tiredness given the added pressures of European football and partly because they're simply no longer riding the crest of a wave, which originated from Suarez and Sturridge. We already knew Liverpool were unable to fall back upon their default strategy, in terms of playing style or formations, because they never really had one. Now, however, they're an individual-based team without top-class individuals. Rodgers has concentrated on signing youngsters who should develop into excellent players and who can be moulded to Liverpool's favoured characteristics. Some of them, though, are nowhere near ready for a Premier League title challenge; anyone who watched Lazar Markovic at Benfica last season would have been well aware that he was still extremely raw. The Serbian winger was most effective as a supersub ... and that was in the Portuguese league. Javier Manquillo, who signed on loan from Atletico Madrid, is also an extremely inexperienced player still completing his footballing education, even without the pressures of adapting to a different league. Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert have Premier League experience, but the difference in expectations at Southampton and Liverpool is significant, and they also need time to adapt. The signing of Mario Balotelli hasn't enabled Liverpool to gain a definitive identity, either. At his best, Balotelli is the complete all-round striker, capable of coming short to become involved in interplay, sprinting in behind to reach through-balls, and getting on the end of crosses. In truth, though, we've seen little from him in any of these respects so far, but it feels like Liverpool don't really understand what Balotelli wants, or how to provide him with service. This is simply a reflection of the uncertain strategy, however, rather than the problem itself. There is, however, no need to panic. Liverpool have done exactly what they should in the circumstances: sold their best player for a huge amount of money; constructed a team around their next-best players -- Sturridge, Sterling and Henderson -- and ploughed the money into younger talents. The problem, though, is that takes time for players to settle individually and time for them to start playing cohesively. The defence shows no sign of improving, but 75 percent of Rodgers' back line are new to the club and it will probably be a year before they work properly as a unit. Recovering from the departure of a player who dominates a team is often a two-year process, because there's an initial dip after the turnover in playing staff. Arsenal have often encountered this problem: starting slowly after losing a key player, then rallying late in the season before being in a good position to start the next campaign. Borussia Dortmund are in a similar position to Liverpool. They lost Robert Lewandowski, replaced the quality with quantity -- signing Ciro Immobile and Adrian Ramos -- and the newcomers are struggling to adapt. Amazingly, Jurgen Klopp's men are joint-bottom of the Bundesliga in terms of points but they are playing good football and should mount a fightback. However, just as Arsenal often struggled to reach the second year of the two-year process because others left, Dortmund will worry about Marco Reus' future. Equally, Liverpool must ensure Sturridge and Sterling aren't tempted elsewhere. Liverpool are not in a particularly bad situation. It was difficult to see anything other than a straight fight between Manchester City and Chelsea for the league; Arsenal were likely to finish third or fourth, as they have for each of the past 10 seasons, so it looked to be a straight fight between Liverpool and Manchester United for the fourth Champions League slot. Liverpool are currently one point ahead, having played more difficult fixtures and been forced to cope with European football. It's hardly a disaster. The difference between last season and this season is essentially two sides of the same coin: Liverpool overachieved because of Suarez's brilliance and are now suffering because he was so brilliant. Just as Rodgers received too much credit for the Suarez-led title charge, he's now being criticised too much for struggles following the Uruguayan's departure. If Liverpool finish fourth this season, and are in a good position to build on that, then Rodgers has achieved the goal of establishing Liverpool as a Champions League club once again. Michael Cox is the editor of zonalmarking.net and a contributor to ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @Zonal_Marking.
Earlier this week the Dallas Farmers Market was handed over to DF Market Holdings, LLC. The management group (formerly known as the Farmers Market Group) is now responsible for market operations and working with farmers, vendors and the business owners of Shed 2. While some business owners retain their optimism for the coming renovation, many are uncertain exactly how the transition will be carried out. Yesterday, Pecan Lodge created a stir when it announced three different mayors from surrounding cities are offering incentives to move the barbecue restaurant outside of Dallas. So far Dallas has been silent. There are many reasons why owners Justin and Diane Fourton are considering moving their restaurant, but the biggest is uncertainty. "They're willing to do whatever they can to help us out," said Justin of DF Market Holdings, "but there are still no concrete plans."
INDIANAPOLIS -- NFL combine participants don't often admit to shedding tears about anything, but Landon Collins didn't hesitate when asked how he was impacted by the death of former Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor. "I cried," the former Alabama star said. "That's a definite." Considered the top safety available in the 2015 NFL Draft, Collins models his game after the former Miami Hurricanes star who was tragically killed in a shooting in November, 2007. He wore No. 26 at Alabama in Taylor's honor. And as the kind of safety who supports the run like an extra linebacker, Collins' style isn't unlike Taylor's, either. "I idolized Sean Taylor for his physical play, his passion for the game, you could see it every time he touched the field," Collins said. "... and I like being physical in the box." The early-entry junior said he started watching Taylor in high school. Taylor was killed before Collins was even of high school age, but he clarified the comment by citing the homework he has done on the former first-round pick. "I've watched youtubes on him, I've watched everything -- hour-long videos on him, I watched a 30 for 30," Collins said. Collins, a potential first-round pick, is at the top of a draft class of safeties that is considered a weak one overall. Clubs that conducted informal interviews with him at the onset of his combine stay included the Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons. "Easy first day," Collins joked. Taylor's former team hasn't yet spoken to Collins, but he's looking forward to it happening. Filling Taylor's shoes as a player is too much to ask of any rookie safety, particularly in Washington. But according to the latest mock draft of NFL Media analyst Bucky Brooks, the Redskins will give Collins that chance by making him the No. 5 overall pick of the draft. Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
Men who speak out about personal issues, and those advocating men’s issues are sometimes charged with being ‘angry men.’ The accusation is designed to reduce a man’s story to a single emotion; no longer a man telling his story with a tone of anger, but a storyless freak whose entire manhood is synonymous with anger – angry man – no more and no less than a single taboo emotion. By labeling him an angry man, a complex human being is reduced to a one-dimensional caricature that dehumanizes him, discredits his claims to a wider audience, and ultimately aims to censor his evidence of pain or unfair treatment. The implication is that angry men are irrational and should be listened only after they have calmed down and domesticated the raw emotionalism. However calming down would be better termed as pushing down, because that’s what happens to a man’s concerns and sense of passion in the face of the angry man charge. Calming down leads that initial anger, which longs to effect positive changes to the world, to look for another outlet. Sometimes it intensifies into destructive or violent acting out, or worse, is converted into a neurotic self-censorship through the aid of drugs, depression and not infrequently suicide. If censorship is the desired aim of the angry man taunt, then suicide is delivering it in spades. One would assume psychotherapists and counselors are savvy to the therapeutic benefits of anger, and sometimes they are. The more aware therapist knows that even the famous and talented are driven to greatness by giving expression to anger, with the trick being to direct it intelligently toward a goal. The bulk of the therapeutic industry however is captured by the feelgood cliches of PC culture, advising men to find ways other than anger to express themselves, referring to it as an ‘anger problem,’ or ‘toxic anger’ or perhaps simply ‘unhealthy anger.’ Such practitioners are unlikely to consider any expression of anger acceptable, preferring instead to nip it in the bud with kindly admonishments about it being a barrier to progress and personal growth. While we can agree that some expressions of anger move beyond healthy expression and into the rage-zone, these incidents often come on the tail of being ignored, perhaps serially and over a long periods of time when a man is expressing anger within more normal ranges. That rejection is what the PC therapist ironically tends to specialize in through his refusal of the anger that a man might otherwise use to articulate what’s pissing him off. For many men anger is the vehicle that gets the message out, a message that remains buried in its absence. The purpose of emotions, or rather the aim of them is to find a way out; as tears on the cheek, smiles on the lips, clenched fists, or the quivering of the bowels. Anger likewise wants out – as outrage. In this move anger finds a target; it rages out at the family law courts, the misandric TV ads, the lack of funding for male health problems, infant circumcision, male homelessness. Outrage gets political – takes its concerns to the polis; letters to politicians, making a stand at the polling booth, a placard in the street, or thoughts written on a blog. So too with a man’s personal life; his long hours in a shitty job, his pressurized marriage to a nagging wife, his lack of liesure time, all of which might be tackled with some healthy outrage. We don’t even need to have solutions to the things we’re angry about, at least not initially. As the late psychologist James Hillman suggests we can start out with an empty protest: Take your outrage seriously, but you don’t force yourself to have answers. Trust your nose. You know what stinks. Don’t try to replace the helpless frustration you feel, the powerless victimization, by working out a rational answer. The answers will come, if they come, when they come, to you, to others, but don’t fill in the emptiness of the protest with positive suggestions before their time. First, protest! I don’t know what should be done about most of the major political dilemmas, but my gut (my soul, my heart, my skin, my eyes) sinks, creeps, crawls, weeps, cringes, shakes. It’s wrong, simply wrong, what’s going on here.1 How different his advice from that of the average therapist! The idea here is that we follow our animal response to the insults and thoughtlessness of the world around us, and not follow the therapists’ advice that we have cold rational answers before we open our mouths in protest. The real danger here is that if you don’t get the anger out, if you don’t engage in outrage, it always finds another way. One of those ways is through conversion of anger to psychosomatic symptoms, often crippling ones which cause long-term disease and disability. Alternatively the reaction might be to convert anger into a less outwardly destructive mood such as depression, which is all too common. The old saying “Anger turned inward is depression” rings true for far too many men. The process of anger morphing into depression can be referred to as sublimation, a swapping of a supposedly unacceptable emotion for a more acceptable one in the eyes of our PC culture. The end result of that process is often suicide, and the therapeutic industry is directly implicated for some of those suicides by reason of its suppression of male clients’ anger. On the other side of that coin, depressed people who receive encouragement to express anger often experience a lessening of their depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. Psychologists have given moving accounts of men who, when put in touch with the things that anger them, experience a lifting of depression and witness the blood flow back into their cheeks. The upshot is that contrary to the therapists who recommend we men bury our anger, the opposite is a likely way to bring about psychological health. In summary it is therapeutic per se to express anger, and when allowed that opportunity it’s less likely to be intensified into uncontrolled rage or conversely transmuted into a death wish. The man-friendly therapist encourages expression of anger as a prophylactic against depression and suicide, and as a way to potentially reverse depression and suicidality in those already there. Outrage might even bring the bonus of changing an ugly world into a better one, because a man sticking apologetically to his convictions compels the world to sit up and listen. Reference: [1] James Hillman and Michail Ventura: We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy and The World is Getting Worse, HarperOne 1993
Carlos Carvalhal has extended his stay as head coach at Hillsborough. The former Sporting Lisbon and Besiktas coach joined Wednesday in the summer of 2015 and oversaw a superb maiden campaign with Wednesday, which culminated in a place in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. The Owls were the surprise package of the 2015/16 season, rising from mid-table in the previous term, to strong promotion contenders. Wednesday secured sixth spot ahead of the final game of the season away at Wolves, before defeating Brighton over two legs in the semi finals – which brought about scenes that will never be forgotten at Hillsborough. Although the club fell at the final hurdle in the Wembley showpiece final, under Carvalhal Wednesday went again in what was without doubt a much tougher 2016/17 challenge. With expectations high and the competition even stronger, the Owls more than stabilised their position as one of the strongest sides at the Championship table, amassing more points and finishing two places higher in the division. In a remarkable finish to the season, with teams battling for a top six spot, Wednesday produced their hottest winning streak in over 24 years by posting six consecutive wins in April. The Owls rose to fourth in the division and Carlos was named as the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month. There was nothing to separate the Owls and Huddersfield in the play-off semi finals as Wednesday were agonisingly defeated on penalties to deny them a second successive attempt at promotion via the Wembley play-off final. Carlos and his backroom staff – who have also extended their S6 contracts - will regroup for the 2017/18 campaign which begins with pre-season in July.
Template Haskell, argument munging and operads, part I [Mar. 5th, 2008\|10:37 am] pozorvlak [The hope was that this post would come in three somewhat independent sections: one pure programming, in which we develop a small utility in Template Haskell; one largely mathematics, at the upper-level high school to beginning undergraduate level, wherein we describe another approach to constructing our utility; and one purely mathematical, more sophisticated but fairly handwavy, wherein I relate all this stuff to my research interests and describe where it leads. The idea was that you could skip the code and jump to the maths, or read the code and skip the maths, or whatever. However, just the first section has now taken far longer than I'd budgeted, both in time and in space, so I'll save the other two for a later post.] In a recent post, Hitesh Jasani writes about Haskell's flip operator, which takes a function f and returns a function which behaves like f with the order of its first two arguments reversed. So (flip f) x y z w = f y x z w (we write function application without brackets, as is customary in Haskell). I pointed out to Hitesh that actually, we could write such a function in almost any language which supports higher-order functions, and in dynamic languages (like Perl or Lisp) we can go further, and write a function argmunge , which accepts two functions and permutes the arguments of the first one (the "victim") according to the second (the "munger"). So (argmunge f g) x 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 ... = f x g 1 x g 2 x g 3 x g 4 ... Here's an implementation of argmunge in Perl, and some code to exercise it: sub argmunge { my $func = shift; my $munger = shift; # not necessarily a permutation return sub { $func->(@_[@$munger]); } } sub myprint { print "Called with args ".join(", ", @_)." "; } argmunge(\&myprint, [2,5,5,6])->(0,1,2,3,4,5,6); argmunge(\&myprint, [3,2,1])->("fred", "barney", "betty", "wilma"); When run, this displays Called with args 2, 5, 5, 6 Called with args wilma, betty, barney Here we don't pass the munger in as a function, but rather as a list of values [g(0), g(1), ..., g(n)]. I'm prouder of that code than I probably should be, because it relies on some nice Perl features to work as it does; namely, Perl's argument-passing convention (in which all arguments are passed to a function as a single array called @_ ), list slicing (in which you can index into a list with another list), and list flattening (in which inclusion of one list in another splices the inner list into the outer list, resulting in a flat list). I remarked that it wouldn't be possible to write a general argmunger in Haskell, because the type of the result depends crucially on the actual value of the munging function. It ought to be possible to write one in a dependently-typed language like Cayenne - anyone care to do so? [Edit: it's possible to write an even nicer version in Arc.] Anyway, it may not be possible in vanilla Haskell, but it is possible using templates, provided the munging function is known at compile-time. Unfortunately, several features of Haskell make the approach we used for Perl non-viable: Pervasive currying, in which every function actually takes only one argument and returns another function that will consume the rest of the arguments. Lists are homogeneous: it's not possible (at least at my level of knowledge) to construct a list with elements of varying types. Tuple types exist, whose elements can be of mixed type, but support for them is poor. I'm not trying to be critical; all of these things are consequences of features that are usually beneficial. But all engineering decisions are trade-offs, and unfortunately we've hit a lot of downsides all at once here. Still, hope remains. We have at least three options: programmatically construct a lambda-expression, like the zipN example in the original TH paper; example in the original TH paper; curry everything into (a, (big, (nested, tuple))), and then unpack it using something like Audrey Tang's code from the TH wiki; decompose the munging function into a chain of flips, face and degeneracy maps, and then call that chain on the victim function. More on this approach in a later post. Of the three, I like the first one best. Let's generate the expansion by hand for a simple case, apply the runQ trick to see what its parse tree looks like, and then write the generating code. Our simple case will be: argmunge [0,2,1,1] = \f a0 a1 a2 a3 -> f a0 a2 a1 a1 Applying the runQ trick gives Prelude> :m +Language.Haskell.TH Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> runQ [\| \f a0 a1 a2 a3 -> f a0 a2 a1 a1 \|] Loading package template-haskell ... linking ... done. LamE [VarP f_0,VarP a0_1,VarP a1_2,VarP a2_3,VarP a3_4] (AppE (AppE (AppE (AppE (VarE f_0) (VarE a0_1)) (VarE a2_3)) (VarE a1_2)) (VarE a1_2)) By the way, you can turn that stuff back into readable code by applying the "pprint" function, only you have to be careful: a naive attempt to do so with the above will trigger errors saying that a0_1, f_0 etc are all out of scope. You have to replace any variables or functions with calls to mkName , like so: Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> runQ [\| 3 + 4 \|] InfixE (Just (LitE (IntegerL 3))) (VarE GHC.Num.+) (Just (LitE (IntegerL 4))) Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> pprint $ InfixE (Just (LitE (IntegerL 3))) (VarE mkName "+") (Just (LitE (IntegerL 4))) "3 + 4" OK, so we're going to want to construct a lambda expression using LamE, and the first argument it takes is the list of arguments to the lambda expression. As a first cut, let's try argmunge munger = LamE (f:args) -- rest of code here where f = VarP (mkName "f") args = map (VarP.mkName.('a':).show) [0 .. (length munger)-1] Now, the "rest of code here" bit needs to be a data-structure made of nested AppE's: perhaps we can construct this with a fold. A quick :t AppE in GHCi revealed that it has type Exp -> Exp -> Exp : perfect. But do I want foldl or foldr ? I can never remember what they both mean. But here's a nice trick I saw on the web recently: Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> let evshow x y = "(f " ++ x ++ " " ++ y ++ ")" Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> evshow "3" "4" "(f 3 4)" Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> foldl evshow "5" $ map show [0 .. 3] "(f (f (f (f 5 0) 1) 2) 3)" Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> foldr evshow "5" $ map show [0 .. 3] "(f 0 (f 1 (f 2 (f 3 5))))" Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> foldl1 evshow $ map show [0 .. 3] "(f (f (f 0 1) 2) 3)" Looks like I want either foldl or foldl1. By the way, GHCi got about a million times more useful to me when I discovered that you could define new functions and variables in it using let , which I learned from a post in michiexile at best an eighth of a Haskell programmer, and so I may on occasion spell out things that you think are obvious: besides, nothing is trivial. So, let's try argmunge munger = LamE (f:args) (foldl AppE f mungedargs) as our main body. But what does GHC think? Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> :l ArgMunge.hs [1 of 1] Compiling ArgMunge ( ArgMunge.hs, interpreted ) ArgMunge.hs:9:14: Not in scope: `VarP.mkName' Drat it - GHC thinks that VarP.mkName is a call to a function called mkName in a module called VarP , not the composite of the constructor VarP and the function mkName . That's easy enough to fix - put spaces around the dot. But then... ArgMunge.hs:7:44: Couldn't match expected type `Exp' against inferred type `Pat' In the second argument of `foldl', namely `f' In the second argument of `LamE', namely `(foldl AppE f mungedargs)' In the expression: LamE (f : args) (foldl AppE f mungedargs) Failed, modules loaded: none. Bunch of arse. Looking more closely (and checking the type of VarP ), I see the problem: I've constructed a load of pattern variables, when what it wanted was a load of expression variables, constructed using VarE . OK, so let's try argmunge munger = LamE lhs rhs where lhs = map VarP (f:argVars) rhs = foldl1 AppE $ map VarE (f:mungedargs) mungedargs = [argVars !! munge_i \| munge_i <- munger] argVars = map (mkName.('a':).show) [0 .. (length munger)-1] f = mkName "f" Will GHC accept it? Prelude Language.Haskell.TH> :l ArgMunge.hs [1 of 1] Compiling ArgMunge ( ArgMunge.hs, interpreted ) Ok, modules loaded: ArgMunge. Yay! Let's test it. ArgMunge> :m +Language.Haskell.TH ArgMunge Language.Haskell.TH> pprint argmunge [0,2,1,1] <interactive>:1:0: Couldn't match expected type `[t1] -> t' against inferred type `String' In the expression: pprint argmunge [0, 2, 1, 1] In the definition of `it': it = pprint argmunge [0, 2, 1, 1] Gah! That always catches me out. ArgMunge Language.Haskell.TH> pprint $ argmunge [0,2,1,1] "\\f a0 a1 a2 a3 -> f a0 a2 a1 a1" Zonino! On trying to splice it, I discover again that actually, $( ) requires its arguments to be in the Q monad, so I actually need to change argmunge so there's a return applied to LamE lhs rhs . Fix that, then try :t $(argmunge [0,2,1,1]) : it returns (t -> t2 -> t1 -> t1 -> t4) -> t -> t1 -> t2 -> t3 -> t4 , which surprised me for a while but is actually what I wanted. But how about :t $(argmunge [0,3,2,4]) ? <interactive>:1:2: Exception when trying to run compile-time code: Prelude.(!!): index too large Code: let argmunge = argmunge Q $dMonad $dMonad = Language.Haskell.TH.Syntax.$f20 in argmunge [0, 3, 2, 4] And I realise at this point that I've forgotten something major: you need to specify what arity you want the result function to have. Let's try again. argmunge munger arity = return (LamE lhs rhs) where lhs = map VarP (f:argVars) rhs = foldl1 AppE $ map VarE (f:mungedargs) mungedargs = [argVars !! munge_i \| munge_i <- munger] argVars = map (mkName.('a':).show) [0 .. arity - 1] f = mkName "f" ArgMunge Language.Haskell.TH> :t $(argmunge [0,3,2,4] 5) $(argmunge [0,3,2,4] 5) :: (t -> t3 -> t2 -> t4 -> t5) -> t -> t1 -> t2 -> t3 -> t4 -> t5 Looks good! Let's test it: ArgMunge Language.Haskell.TH> let concat4 a b c d = concat [a,b,c,d] ArgMunge Language.Haskell.TH> $(argmunge [0,3,2,4] 5) concat4 "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "adce" Hurrah! We should probably put in some error-handling code to make the "wrong arity passed" error less opaque, though. And (he discovers, belatedly) there's no need for an explicit return : instead, one can use the lowercase wrapper functions lamE, appE, varE etc, which return their results already in the Q monad. Also, I don't think there's any possibility of variable capture here, as we're immediately wrapping all our variables in a lambda expression, but it can't hurt to use gensyms for practice. implements Actually, yes it can. After quite a bit of debugging and grovelling around checking the types of things, I was able to come up with import Control.Monad argmunge munger arity = (liftM2 LamE) lhs rhs where lhs = mapM (liftM VarP) (f:argVars) rhs = foldl1 appE $ map (liftM VarE) (f:mungedargs) mungedargs = [argVars !! munge_i \| munge_i <- munger] argVars = [ newName "a" \| i <- [0 .. arity - 1]] f = newName "f" but since it's uglier than what was there before and fixes a bug that doesn't, as far as I can tell, actually exist, I'll revert it. Note, by the way, that I had to use liftM instead of fmap : though the docs claim that Q is an instance of Functor, they appear to be full of lies. Is there actually meant to be any difference between liftM and fmap, by the way? Or rather, if M is an instance of both Functor and Monad, should its implementation of fmap be equal to its implementation of liftM? Implementing the error handling was also tricky: the recover function in TH returns something of type Q (), so you need to bind it to something of the expected type with (>>) before it will typecheck. There didn't seem to be any sensible choices, so I just stuck with the usual expansion. So now the user gets my custom error message and the lower-level "array index out of bounds" message: maybe both will be helpful. The full code is now as follows: argmunge munger arity \| and [i `elem` [0 .. arity -1] \| i <- munger] = lamE lhs rhs \| otherwise = report True "argmunge: illegal argument number" >> lamE lhs rhs where lhs = map varP (f:argVars) rhs = foldl1 appE $ map varE (f:mungedargs) mungedargs = [argVars !! munge_i \| munge_i <- munger] argVars = map (mkName.('a':).show) [0 .. arity - 1] f = mkName "f" Whew! Compare that to the original Perl version. I'm sure there are ways this code could be improved, but I've spent far too long on this post already. The final code can be found here. As always, all suggestions for how I could improve my code or my development practices are gratefully received!
Filter by Manager: All Managers Brendan Rodgers Manuel Pellegrini Pep Guardiola Alex Inglethorpe Sir Kenny Dalglish Rodolfo Borrell Filter by Season: All Seasons 18/19 17/18 16/17 15/16 14/15 13/14 12/13 11/12 10/11 09/10 Filter by Club: All Clubs Manchester City Liverpool FC U23 Liverpool FC League ranking / League type: All types First Tier Youth league Domestic Cup International Cup Play-Offs Reserve league Filter by Competition: All Competitions World Cup 2018 UEFA Champions League World Cup qualification Europe UEFA Champions League Qualifying Europa League Europa League Qualifying European Qualifiers EURO 2016 UEFA Nations League A Premier League Premier Reserve League FA Cup EFL Cup Premier League 2 U21 Premier League Elite Group World Cup 2014 U17-Weltmeisterschaft 2011 U17-Europameisterschaft 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifying International Friendlies This statistic show the performance data of the player, sorted by managers.
A planned subscription service from YouTube is facing delays related to Google executives' insistence that the product be competitive from the day it launches, according to a new report. Billboard, citing an interview with an unnamed executive briefed on YouTube's plans, say that a service originally scheduled to launch earlier this year has been bumped "to the second quarter or beyond." Google, which offers a separate subscription called Google Play Music All Access, already has the licenses in place to offer a $5 or $10 monthly service to compete with Spotify, Rhapsody, and Rdio. But Billboard's sources say executives are insisting that YouTube's offering be compelling immediately, rather than steadily iterating a beta version in the manner of so many Google products before it. The product is reportedly taking longer than expected as the company works to create an intuitive, elegant design. YouTube, which offers millions of tracks already on an ad-supported basis, is the No. 1 music streaming service in the world. The company is still working through which premium features would persuade its audience to pay a monthly fee, according to Billboard. Those curious what the finished product will look like will have to wait a while longer.
The theme of this issue is worker cooperative replication. It addresses an issue which is central to the growth of the democratic worker cooperative movement. How do we reproduce the success stories we have already achieved? That is, how do we replicate successful worker cooperatives in different locations? Worker Cooperative Replication The Replication of Arizmendi Bakery: A Model of the Democratic Worker Cooperative Movement By Joe Marraffino, Arizmendi Development and Support Cooperative Arizmendi's Secret, 12 minute documentary on Don Jose Arizmendiarrieta, Mondragon and the San Francisco Bay Area's Arizmendi bakery cooperatives, by Phil Murphy Cooperative Replication at WAGES By Joel Schoening, Shippensburg U. Free Geek, a Computer Recycler: Testing the Limits of Reproducing Worker-Managed Enterprises By Jim Johnson, GEO Collective Spinning into Control: Inkworks Press spins off Design Action Collective By Innosanto Nagara, Design Action Reviews A Review of "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein By Lisa Stolarski There's a lot going on this year in solidarity economics - be sure to check out our updated calendar of events. Get involved with GEO! If you have articles, pictures, or graphics on worker cooperatives and solidarity economics that you'd like to contribute, we want to hear from you.
With decentralized applications growing exponentially, censorship is gradually being removed from the powers that be and is being placed in the hands of consumers. Censorship is often a heavily debated topic, with its foundation stemming from opinions on politics, religion, culture, and even a person’s social upbringing. Censorship as it pertains to the internet, however, is unique because of the complexity surrounding the laws, ethics, and technology that drive the web itself. Since the mass adoption of the internet in the 1990s, there have been varying opinions on how and if the internet should be censored, yet, the majority feels that "freedom of expression should be guaranteed on the Internet". Through blockchains like Ethereum, a new and decentralized web is being built with the promise of limiting censorship and centralized authority and will transform the internet as the world currently knows it. Now, more than ever, developers are in a position to create a web that mirrors early internet pioneers’ ideologies of a decentralized web. Censorship Problems Although the internet has spread its reach across most parts of the globe, it has done so with varying degrees of restriction. On one end of the spectrum, countries like Norway and Sweden have the least internet censorship, while China and Pakistan exert heavy surveillance and access control. North Korea has limited access and less than one percent of its population is able to go online. Suffice to say, censorship of the internet runs the gamut with the United States possessing neither the least restrictions nor the fastest internet speeds. Censorship-heavy countries like China restrict political news, pornography, and entire websites, such as YouTube and Facebook. Attempts made by the social media giant to enter China have been difficult, to say the least, after the country banned Facebook in 2009. Even in countries where social media sites flourish, censorship is still wielded by controllers who restrict politically charged posts or content that insults companies and their founders. Besides website owners, individual users on social media platforms can flag content as “inappropriate” thus reporting the violation to “authorities” who then decide on the appropriate action (leave a post or remove it). While some internet censorship is ethical and necessary, such as DMCA and COPPA, many people disagree with the banning of individual accounts and posts that are opinion-based and well within the law. With this current trend, it seems that a “free internet” is one in which censorship thrives and is increasing globally. Blockchain-based Solutions ETHNews reached out to several of the leading platform founders who utilize blockchain technology. Although the persons queried represent profoundly different applications, each of the projects they are developing has redefined censorship as it exists today. The AKASHA Project AKASHA is an Ethereum-based social media alternative created by Ethereum co-founder, Mihai Alisie. The project is a peer-to-peer application that is part Facebook, part Medium, and part Reddit. It possesses a unique model of publishing unlike anything else on the mainstream web. AKASHA Founder Mihai Alisie explains: “When people ‘publish something on AKASHA,’ they are broadcasting a hash point into the IPFS and Ethereum network where other peers can access and spread the information. From this perspective, it is quite different from how normal ‘publishing platforms’ store your content on their servers in order to make it accessible to your friends/followers. In our case, AKASHA can be seen more as a visual interface simplifying complex peer-to-peer interactions, blockchain transactions, and data exchanges. Thanks to how things are designed, we don’t actually publish anything ourselves.” Because AKASHA does not own servers, any user’s request to remove a post would be futile since no intermediary exists. Content on the platform is neither hosted nor served by AKASHA, and responsibility of the users’ actions do not rest on the project creators’ shoulders either. “The people using AKASHA are in full control over what they say - we’re merely providing a new kind of canvas on top of which people can freely express their thoughts, ideas, and experiences. I think AKASHA should not responsible for users’ actions just as BitTorrent is not responsible for users’ actions when it comes to what files they choose to share through the p2p protocol.” The removal of censorship liability that Alisie refers to is a reoccurring theme of many decentralized applications (Dapps). Because information on public blockchain systems is distributed across multiple public nodes, there are no means of centralized control. With centralized models of Facebook and others, (e.g. Reddit, Twitter, Instagram) there is censorship control. With AKASHA’s system of “up –voting” as an alternative to Facebook’s “likes,” (costing users small amounts of Ether for each click) a “reputation value system” is created for users to determine which posts contain the most valid sources of information. Rather than censoring “fake news,” the AKASHA Project has designed a method for users to grade the validity of content themselves. Augur Augur is an Ethereum-based decentralized prediction market that rewards users for correctly predicting future real-world events. Platform users are able to purchase and sell shares (REPutation tokens) based on the predictions of the outcome of an event. Augur allows anyone in the world to pose any question and create a prediction market based on the proposed event, allowing any actor to freely buy and sell shares in the outcome of that market. Barring any censorship, prediction markets can even be made for natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other catastrophic events. Betting on the future occurrence of any tragedy may seem unethical to most, but according to comments made on Augur’s website, prediction markets could be useful in thwarting terrorist attacks through the collection of information surrounding the event. When ETHNews asked Augur co-founder Joey Krug, “Is there any predictions Augur doesn’t allow?” he said: “There is no central group on the platform that decides what can be on the platform and what can’t, the ‘reporters’ in Augur actually decide that. They [reporters] have the option to report things as unethical which translates into; ‘this is an unethical market’. If the majority of reporters say that, then all the money is returned at even odds - that’s for ethicality issues. There’s one other thing they can do – if someone puts markets in the system that are “abcdefg” which is just spam – they can report that as indeterminate. It’s actually safer legally to have the decentralized reporting system decide whether something is ethical or not. When you start saying ‘we created the UI [user interface] so we’re going to decide certain things to censor and not censor on the UI’, then it becomes more of a legal issue. If a mistake is made and something is not censored that some agency thought should have been, we could be liable. They only meaningful way to ban a market is for the reporters to say it’s unethical.” LBRY LBRY (“library”) is a decentralized digital platform where users can play, share, and earn funds from media content, such as films, TV shows, podcasts, and other original content. Utilizing its own blockchain, tokens, and custom URL (lbry://) instead of Ethereum’s, the platform is reshaping the way media is accessed, distributed, and monetized. According to their homepage video: “LBRY empowers creators to share their work on their terms with no censorship.” While still complying with DMCA and COPPA guidelines, users can upload content and set a price-per-view with no ads or intermediaries to get in the way of user experience. Describing themselves as “a platform that no one will fully own,” LBRY provides both a safe haven for controversial entertainment, as well as an alternative to YouTube, Netflix, and other media streaming websites. LBRY founder Jeremy Kauffman explains: “A lot of people don’t realize the vulnerabilities and tradeoffs they're facing when they use the alternatives. I think that if what LBRY is doing was possible ten years ago, it would be what everyone is using. When people are given the choice between experiences that involve being controlled by a giant corporation, versus “not,” they’re going to take not – they rather have that direct connection – they rather have an unfettered, more free experience. For the other side, the people who are making stuff, they rather have more control. The only reason that someone didn’t do this ten years ago is because it simply wasn’t possible.” The vulnerabilities and tradeoffs Kauffman refers to directly correlate to censorship, as Sam Hyde, creator of sketch comedy show Million Dollar Extreme, experienced with cable network, Adult Swim, in 2016. Hyde is one of three creators of the controversial MDE show, “World Peace,” which contains crude humor and ‘politically incorrect’ views and satire. After the show was criticized for racism and sexism, Hyde was labeled to have “Alt-Right” ties. Adult Swim ended up canceling the show due to mounting pressure from network directors, writers, and executives. Kauffman elaborates: ”We actually started working with MDE prior to the whole Adult Swim cancellation, we have someone on our team who reaches out to YouTubers and other creators we think would be of interest to our users - that person contacted MDE and Sam [Hyde] was like, “go for it.” While LBRY neither agrees or disagrees with views of MDE’s content, Kauffman and his team felt compelled to give shows like this a voice. “At LBRY, we're proud to have MDE's content available. Not because we necessarily support what they say, but because we think that censorship and political correctness is disgusting.” Similar to how AKASHA and Augur operate, LBRY does not administrate any censorship. “We’ve designed the networks in such a way that we can’t remove a piece of content. We think that’s what actually makes it so trustworthy – we do not have the power that other alternatives have.” Rather than succumbing to the pressure from censorship advocates, LBRY allows its users to police themselves. “The nodes [users] who are making the network possible are welcomed and encouraged to subscribe to whatever kinds of blacklists to filter out content that doesn’t meet their morals. Once there is a certain density in the network of content not provided, it also becomes very expensive [to host] or not available at all. Our hope is that this will prevent the abuses of the old model while still preventing the stuff that everyone prefers would not be distributed on the internet. To be clear, we do have the obligation and will be preventing access to illegal content in clients that we release. If we receive a DMCA notice and that takedown notice is legitimate – the clients that we release will not allow access to that – however, that’s not the equivalent of removing it from the network, that just makes it inaccessible in our clients.” Limited Censorship With the insights provided by the founders of AKASHA, Augur, and LBRY, a pattern emerges with powerful implications: future internet use will be about self-policing as opposed to centralized authorities holding control. Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, summarizes his notions in an Ethereum Foundation blog post, “The Problem of Censorship”: Censorship-resistance in decentralized crypto economic systems is not just a matter of making sure WikiLeaks donations or Silk Road 5.0 cannot be shut down; it is, in fact, a necessary property in order to secure the effective operation of a number of different financial protocols.” One can conceivably imagine a scenario where a large group of stakeholders collude to first undermine specific highly undesirable types of transactions (eg. child porn, to use a popular boogeyman of censors and civil liberties activists complaining about censors alike), and then expand the apparatus over time until eventually it gets into the hands of some enterprising young hotshots that promptly decide they can make a few billion dollars through the cryptoeconomic equivalent of LIBOR manipulation. In the later stages, the censorship may even be done in such a careful and selective way that it can be plausibly denied or even undetected. Knowing the results of Byzantine fault tolerance theory, there is no way that we can prevent a collusion with more than 33% participation in the consensus process from doing any of these actions absolutely. However, what we can try to do is one of two things: Make censorship costly. Make it impossible to censor specific things without censoring absolutely everything, or at least without shutting down a very large portion of the features of the protocol entirely. While Buterin’s comments on censorship pertain to smart contract use in financial markets, he outlines a plausible strategy to keep the internet relatively censorship-free while protecting consumers from manipulators through the use of smart contracts. Decentralized blockchain platforms, whether Ethereum-based or not, are already reshaping notions of governance that extend into censorship. With autonomy at the core of blockchain technology, consumers will gain more access to uncensored media that contain fewer intermediaries and centralized control.
OneDrive for Windows Phone has just picked up a little update. Head into the Windows Phone Store and you'll find OneDrive at version 4.3.0.0. Like usual you'll find stability improvements and bug fixes in today's update, but we're also getting recycle bin access. Update to the new version of OneDrive and you'll find the new recycle bin by pulling up the app bar. At the very bottom is the recycle bin, just beneath the settings. Tap it and you'll be able to view recently deleted files in OneDrive. You can then select one or more items to permanently delete it or restore it. A very useful feature if you've ever accidently deleted something in OneDrive. Grab today's update for OneDrive and let us know what you think of the new feature! Via: @WPScoops
Tom Segura is a comedian originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. His specials Mostly Stories (2016) and Completely Normal (2014) are currently streaming on Netflix. His television credits include Conan, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, Happy Endings, The Late Late Show, Comedy Central Presents: Tom Segura, Mash Up and How To Be A Grown Up. Additionally, his noted podcast, Your Mom’s House, which he co-hosts with his wife, comedian Christina Pazsitzky, was a finalist for Best Comedy Podcast at the Stitcher Awards and profiled by VICE. Segura also co-wrote and starred in the short series, Cutman, which aired on Comedy Central. When he’s not touring clubs, Tom continues to perform at the top comedy festivals in the world, including Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Comedy Festival – Las Vegas, The South Beach Comedy Festival, and The Hong Kong Comedy Festival. Tom also regularly appears on radio shows like Ron and Fez and some of the most downloaded podcasts in the world of comedy such as The Joe Rogan Experience and WTF with Marc Maron among others. Tom recently released his third hour-long stand up album, which sat atop the iTunes and Billboard Comedy charts for consecutive weeks. Tom’s first two albums Thrilledand White Girls with Cornrows also debuted at number 1 and continue to play heavily on satellite radio and streaming music platforms. When Tom isn’t performing on stage or recording a podcast he’s watching College Football or waiting for College Football to come back.
Probably as long as there has been war, there have been war artists whose interpretations of the battlefield feed cultural understanding of conflict. Modern armies appoint official artists to chronicle military triumphs; dissident poets and painters provide portraits of victims and the aftermath. Though made decades after the Revolutionary War, Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” is but one example of a work that lingers in the public consciousness. Image One of Mr. Khaled's works. In Gaza, where art supplies are scarce and expression often stifled, the fierce fighting that began July 8 unleashed a barrage of creativity, fueled by social media networks, which have been a prime tool in the parallel propaganda war between backers of Palestinian militants and Israel. At least a half-dozen artists, some far from Gaza, have circulated drawings like Mr. Khaled’s, overlaid onto pictures of the explosions from Israeli bombs. (He is one of several claiming to have been the first to do this.) Others posted more straightforward paintings of death, destruction, rockets and warplanes, stark graphic designs of strident slogans, digital manipulations and political cartoons. Among the most interesting is a series of mash-ups by Basel Elmaqosui, pairing classic works by the masters with scenes from the street. Mr. Elmaqosui inserted “The Card Players” by Cézanne into a photograph of men playing cards on a blanket in one of the United Nations schools that have sheltered thousands of displaced residents for weeks. He put Picasso’s “Child With a Dove” next to an actual dove — or perhaps a white pigeon — perched on one of the only walls that remain standing in the destroyed village of Khuza’a, in front of a Palestinian flag. Beside a Beit Hanoun neighborhood reduced to rubble, the figure in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” howls. “It must be famous drawings so the vision is familiar to people,” said Mr. Elmaqosui, 42, as he sat on the porch of the Windows studio in Gaza City, where he and two others paint, exhibit and run workshops for children. “Many of these drawings are related to our reality. They happened before in the world. It’s like they are happening again now.” The artists see their work as a form of resistance to Israeli aggression. The resistance is also what Palestinians call the men who launched rockets into Israel, dug tunnels into Israeli territory, and killed Israeli soldiers during their ground invasion of Gaza. But it is much more than a respectable term for militancy or terrorism: Resistance is an admired value, an essential part of life’s fabric after decades living under Israeli occupation and restrictions.
CO2 emissions? It’s China China China all the way down… No matter which way we slice and dice it, China is The-CO2-Player that matters. India is forecast for a larger percentage-wise increase, but it’s starting from a small base. By 2030 even after doubling its output, it will still be barely a quarter of China’s total mega-ton production. The Congo and Indonesia are among countries forecast to ramp up production of CO2 massively, yet both of them are but a spec. The hard numbers show that if CO2 actually mattered, and the eco-greens really cared about it, they be talking about “The China Problem”. Australia is irrelevant, except in some symbolic sacrificial way. The 28% massive reduction, at great cost, will amount to nothing globally (assuming it can even be achieved). Though Tasmania may win the global race for the fastest transition from first to third world. (North Korea here we come). In the end, the real drivers of global CO2 may or may not be things like forest and peat fires, ocean currents, phytoplankton in any case. Won’t it be a great day when we figure exactly where all that CO2 is coming from and going to? — Jo COP21 Pledges for greenhouse gas emissions Guest Post by Tom Quirk 189 countries submitted pledges to the COP21 meeting in Paris at the end of 2015. These have been sorted and summarised in a very useful website Carbon Brief[1]. The following analysis is based on the top 12 countries for greenhouse gas emissions. This covers 72% of the world total but ignores forest and peat fires. The pledges cover broadly defined greenhouse gas emissions. For instance Brazil has land use emissions that are estimated at 4 times the sum of their other contributions. The total greenhouse gas emissions for 2012 were 10.85 Gt C in CO2-eqivalent while total CO2 emissions were estimated to be 9.68 Gt C in CO2. (Source Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center CDIAC[2]) The pledges have been standardized to be from 2012 to 2030 as countries have chosen various starting points to indicate their plans. The most important and most uncertain pledge is the target for China. The 75% increase indicated below is a “best estimate”. … For greenhouse gas emissions the pledges would see an increase from 7.83 Gt C to 9.59 Gt C for the 72% fraction analysed. This is a 23% increase. It is clear that China is both the major contributor to the increase and the source of the greatest uncertainty. USA performance for CO2 For the USA the CDIAC record of CO2 emissions shows the conversion from using coal to natural gas in power stations has driven the decline in CO2 emissions. An example of an innovation by reduced cost not subsidy. The indicated targets for USA emissions are labelled intention with a 28% reduction of total emissions by 2025. The extension to 2030 gives a reduction of 25% from 2012 to 2030. China performance for CO2 For China the CDIAC record shows the importance of coal use in power stations. This will drive emission increases. The key pledge is a 60% cut to the 2005 CO2 emission intensity (CO2 emissions per unit of GDP). The table below shows the relationship of GDP to CO2 emissions. The estimates used to calculate the 2030 emissions are based on 5% annual GDP growth and a pledged CO2 intensity of 0.96 CO2 in tonnes C-equiv per $10,000 of GDP. Population 2012 (million) GDP per capita 2013 (World Bank) CO2 emissions per capita in tonnes C 2012 (CDIAC) CO2 Intensity: CO2 per GDP in tonnes C per $10,000 GDP USA 317 $54,629 4.5 0.82 China 1351 $14,520 1.9 1.31 Australian performance for greenhouse gas emissions The Australian performance is reported by two agencies, first CDIAC giving CO2 and second greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 equivalent C from the Federal Government Department of the Environment[3]. It is worth noting that the present annual increases in China’s annual emissions are equal to the annual emissions from Australia. For Australia the use of black and brown coal provides the fuel for power generation. The plateau in energy emissions which is seen in both records may be due to increasing electricity prices limiting demand as well as the closing of mineral processing plants such as aluminium smelters. The decline in greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2006 appears to be due to changes in the land use contribution. Land contributions are not well measured and subject to accounting rule changes. The present government has avoided a direct carbon tax that would impact commercial activity by introducing a Direct Action plan for plant and soil sequestration of CO2. Further the changes in land use accounting rules will help the Direct Action plan but the time needed for this plan to have an impact is uncertain. So the 31% reduction in emissions from 2012 to 2030 remains problematic. Conclusion A glaring omission in the COP21 meeting was consideration of forest and peat fires which may produce as much as half of all fossil fuels burned. (See also “Where have those fossil fuel emissions gone?“). [They forget phytoplankton too, says Jo.] The fires are treated as “acts of God” since He or She is not anthropogenic (an interesting philosophical question). Thus these emissions are no longer included in the inventory of contributions. However the annual forest and peat fires CO2 emissions are estimated to be equal to 50% of present total annual fossil fuel CO2 emissions[4]. Only one country, North Korea has decarbonised itself at great cost to its people. There, per capita emissions have dropped from 3 tonnes C in CO2 in 1997 to less than 1 tonne C in CO2. The best illustration of this is the NASA image of the Korean peninsula at night. Night image of the Korean Peninsula in 2014 shows that North Korea is almost completely dark compared to neighboring South Korea and China (source NASA). Finally the best summary for COP21 is to be found in the Bolivian submission where capitalism is “a system of death”, carbon markets are rejected and a call for a world carbon budget between countries, with 89% allocated to the developing world. However what is clear from the pledges is that China and India will become the largest emitters of greenhouse gases with rises in the standard of living in both countries. Why should they curtail their growth? So how can this COP21 “construct” work? [1] http://www.carbonbrief.org/paris-2015-tracking-country-climate-pledges [2] http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/meth_reg.html [3] http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-measurement/tracking-emissions [4] David M. J. S. Bowman, Jennifer K. Balch, Paulo Artaxo, William J. Bond, Jean M. Carlson, Mark A. Cochrane, Carla M. D’Antonio, Ruth S. DeFries, John C. Doyle, Sandy P. Harrison, Fay H. Johnston, Jon E. Keeley, Meg A. Krawchuk, Christian A. Kull, J. Brad Marston, Max A. Moritz, I. Colin Prentice, Christopher I. Roos, Andrew C. Scott, Thomas W. Swetnam, Guido R. van der Werf, Stephen J. Pyne: Fire in the Earth System, Science, Vol 324 24 April 2009 481 VN:F [1.9.22_1171] please wait... Rating: 8.8/10 (65 votes cast)
It's good to be Lyft right now. The company announced on Tuesday that it has raised a fresh $600 million from investors. The new funding bumps up Lyft's valuation to $7.5 billion -- still far short of Uber's estimated $68 billion worth. The news comes at an interesting time, as Uber's ethics and company culture are being sharply criticized. A former female engineer alleged sexism and harassment at Uber in February. The company hired Eric Holder to conduct an investigation, which is supposed to close at the end of the month. Uber is also fighting a lawsuit against Alphabet's (GOOGL) self driving car unit, Waymo, which is accusing Uber of stealing trade secrets. And in January, a boycott of Uber went viral. Social media users urged customers to #DeleteUber after the company was perceived as breaking up a taxi strike of drivers protesting President Trump's travel ban. Lyft said it saw a 60% increase in new passenger signups the week after the #DeleteUber debacle. According to a source, Lyft has been fundraising since late last year, just before Uber's troubles began. Related: Lyft says round up your fare and donate to charity But Lyft has used Uber's situation as a chance to position itself as the ethical alternative to Uber. And apparently, Lyft's new investors agree. "Every ride we requested began with our asking the driver which service they most preferred to drive for. Time and again, the answer was Lyft," wrote Vincent Letteri, director of private equity at KKR about the firm's decision to invest in Lyft. "In our analysis, we also saw a mature, focused management team that stands out." Letteri cited Lyft's new Round Up & Donate program -- announced at the end of March. It's one way the company has worked to generate a more wholesome image for itself. It gives passengers the ability to round up fares to the dollar, donating that change to a charity of choice. Related: Uber's No. 2 exec quites after six months In addition to new funding from existing investors, Lyft's latest round of funding comes from new backers like KKR, AllianceBernstein, Baillie Gifford, and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board. "We have big plans on the horizon, and will continue investing in new technology and hospitality in order to create experiences that passengers and drivers will love," said cofounder John Zimmer in a statement.
8 Shares 0 8 0 0 Saudi Arabia’s nearly yearlong offensive against Ansarullah fighters in Yemen has continued unabated since the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, backed by the U.S and U.K., began an airstrike campaign and subsequent ground intervention to push back Ansarullah from the capital city of Sana’a. Yemen’s self-claimed president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi was forced into exile by the Ansarullah-offensive, ultimately taking refuge in Saudi Arabia. But some hope for the millions of displaced Yemeni civilians came on Thursday when the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia until it complies with international law and its human rights abuses are investigated. The parliament’s vote of 359 MEPs in favor versus 212 against echoes calls for the EU’s High Representative Federica Mogherini to “launch an initiative aimed at imposing an EU arms embargo against Saudi Arabia, given the serious allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in Yemen,” according to Middle East Eye (MEE). In a statement to MEE, MEP Alyn Smith of Scotland said he was “delighted” at the parliament’s passage of the resolution. “It is the actions of the Saudi-led coalition that have brought us here,” Smith said. “There is a clear case to answer and as a lawyer by profession, I believe EU-made weapons systems are being exported to Saudi in breach of international and EU law, given concerns over their use in Yemen." A report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute earlier this month found a composition of European Union countries—including France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain—to be the third largest exporters of arms after the United States and Russia. The same report found Saudi Arabia’s arms imports up a staggering 275% between 2011 and 2015. In addition to a ruthless air campaign that has directly killed more than 3,000 civilians and internally displaced 2.3 million more according to the U.N., a separate report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN found that approximately 14.4 million Yemenis are food insecure. Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East, home to some 24 million people. The crisis is almost entirely a product of the Saudi-led coalition’s upholding of a strict air, land and naval blockade of the country. Because Yemen imports around 90% of its staple food and resources, the blockade has all but paralyzed the country. Conditions are so dire that the UN in December stated that Yemen is nearing a famine and the World Food Program noted that the country’s food insecurity is at “emergency” levels. “We and NGOs want more scrutiny,” said Scottish MEP Smith. He highlighted the staggering statistics of the Saudi blockade adding “The humanitarian situation is getting worse, not better [in Yemen]. That message is politically significant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia must show a lot more consideration for civilian lives in Yemen.” Saudi diplomats pressured the EU parliament into delaying the vote from 4 February, with Saudi ambassador to the EU Abdulrahman al-Ahmed, penning a letter to MEPs urging them to vote against the resolution. The letter mimics Riyadh’s jockeying against regional rival Iran, blaming the Islamic Republic for backing Ansarullah and thus justifying Saudi intervention in Yemen. “Saudi Arabia has also answered the call from the West to take a greater role in combating terrorist instability throughout the Middle East and the consequences of our not intervening in Yemen’s conflict would have been far worse than the west could as yet imagine,” wrote the ambassador. Director of Amnesty International UK’s arms control Oliver Sprague indicated that the Saudi-led airstrikes are in breach of international law, and thus the EU’s continued sale of weapons violates the standard against providing arms used against civilians. “Thousands of Yemeni civilians have been killed and injured in devastating and indiscriminate Saudi coalition airstrikes, and there’s strong evidence that further weapons sales to Saudi Arabia are not just ill-advised but actually illegal,” Sprague said. There are countless confirmed reports of Saudi airstrikes hitting hospitals, among them a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières.
On 22 July, the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán stood before university students and delivered a speech titled “Will Europe belong to Europeans?” It contained rambling passages about how a “Soros plan” was in place to bring in “hundreds of thousands of migrants every year – if possible, a million – to the territory of the European Union from the Muslim world”. The aim was to transform the continent into “a new, Islamised Europe”. This, Orbán argued, was what lay behind “Brussels’ continuous and stealthy withdrawal of powers from the nation states”. Orbán has form when it comes to this kind of paranoid vision. He’s an authoritarian populist who has made a habit of stoking xenophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment. He eagerly amplifies far-right conspiracy theories about the Christian majority being threatened by demographic “replacement”. His message isn’t just fake news about the present, however. It comes laced with historical distortion. Orbán's message isn’t just fake news about the present. It comes laced with historical distortion “Not since the treaty of Trianon”, he gloated, “has our nation been as close as it is today to regaining its confidence and vitality” – a reference to the post-first world war treaty that deprived Hungary of two-thirds of its territory. Orbán’s guiding idea is that Hungary must seek redress for historical humiliations. The suggestion is that, as his government clashes with the EU on migration quotas, it is avenging grievances rooted in the 20th century. Orbán’s manipulations go further, and involve completely rewriting dark chapters of the past. He’s on the record as saying Miklós Horthy, the Hungarian leader who cooperated with the Nazis, was an “exceptional statesman”. Of course, he’s not alone in twisting history to further his political goals. In Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey, school books have been modified to de-emphasise Ataturk, the founder of the secular republic. It’s all part of an effort to reverse that legacy and glorify the Ottoman past, as Erdoğan carves out ever more powers for himself. Controlling memory is at the heart of the Putin regime in Russia. Not only has Stalin been rehabilitated, with new monuments built to honour him across the country, but historians and human rights activists who work to document Stalinist crime have come under political pressure. Some, like Yury Dmitriyev, have been tried on trumped-up charges. And rewriting the Soviet past doesn’t just serve domestic political purposes. Negating the crimes of Soviet occupation in central and eastern Europe, and excusing the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact with the Nazis, provides justification for Moscow reclaiming its “zone of influence”. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump delivers a speech in Warsaw. Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP In Xi Jinping’s China, any mention of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution or of the Tiananmen square massacre is stamped out because it’s seen as a challenge to Communist party rule. Collective amnesia is what the regime seeks on issues that risk undermining its legitimacy. It’s not enough to throw dissidents in prison or censor information; the past is purged. And while it’s tempting to think the rewriting of history is something found exclusively in illiberal or dictatorial systems, it has increasingly become a feature of democracies. Donald Trump’s speech in Warsaw last month strove to cast Poland’s historical struggle for freedom and independence as a “civilisational” battle for family values, “tradition” and “God”, rather than an aspiration to democracy. The narrative entirely left out of the rich and varied political tapestry that gave rise to the solidarity movement. In a strange twist, Trump also drew a parallel between the threat Islamist terrorism poses to “the west” and the “danger” of “bureaucracy and regulation”. His nativist vision of the west as an embattled fortress of Christian nations in cultural danger reflected not only a personal political credo, but a wider attempt to rewrite the history of liberal democracies and the principles they are meant to uphold. He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past George Orwell In Britain, Brexiteers have proven willing to supply their own version of history. Nostalgia for the days of empire and their “swashbuckling spirit” comes accompanied with the mantra that the European project was a tyrannical straitjacket all along. Britain never had a say in anything the EU decided, and now it has a chance to “free” itself, so the story goes. Never mind that Britain was at the table, a full and influential member of a club its citizens and its economy have benefited from. Fanaticism alters not only the perception of current realities (as negotiations limp forward), it also adjusts the past to suit one set of beliefs. George Orwell’s 1984 contains a well-known phrase about history and its importance: “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past”. We worry rightly about the impact of fake news, but today’s nationalist passions are even more deeply rooted in the distortion of history, which citizens in many countries lap up despite the fact it is poison. The past has always been a battleground. The 20th century showed to what extremes state control over memory could go. Primo Levi, who experienced the nightmare of Nazi concentration camps, once wrote that the entire history of the Reich “can be re-read as a war against memory”. My fellow Americans, it’s time to intervene in our failed state \| Moustafa Bayoumi Read more One of the blessings of living in a democracy is that researchers, students, journalists and citizens at large can all access the past without having to subject themselves to any form of centralised, censoring control. The philosopher Tzvetan Todorov has described this as “one of the most inalienable freedoms, alongside the freedom to think and express oneself”. Yet the security of memory in democratic societies may not be as assured as we think. Some politicians want to lead us in a march towards forgetfulness. But that way lies a world of senselessness and deceit. Learning about history, and being able to question some of the narratives advanced in the name of politics is as important as knowing where to get reliable news. “Can history save us from ourselves?” asked the historian Timothy Snyder at a recent conference on the nation state and the many falsehoods politicians attach to it. Perhaps it can. • Natalie Nougayrède is a Guardian leader writer, columnist and foreign affairs commentator
Supporters of President Donald Trump quickly dealt with a young protester who decided to stand up and protest while flying a hammer and sickle flag at Trump’s campaign rally. “Honestly, if you don’t point, nobody’s even going to know he is here,” Trump said, asserting that the protester had a “weak voice.” Trump mocks Communist protestor with a “weak voice” as supporters rip the flag out of his hands pic.twitter.com/o75A0BxDNS — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) July 25, 2017 The crowd roared when the flag was snatched by a Trump supporter who threw it to the ground and stomped on it. As the young man was escorted away from the rally by police officers, Trump continued to mock him. “Boy, he is a young one,” he said. “He is going back home to Mommy. He in trouble,” Trump said as the crowd cheered. “And I’ll bet his mommy voted for us, right?”
When we imagine Neanderthals, we typically picture them like much dirtier, hairier versions of ourselves. Imaginative depictions of Homo neanderthalensis usually mean fur pelts, cave paintings, heavy clubs, and grunting. Lots of grunting. But maybe that’s wrong. In the BBC documentary Neanderthal: The Rebirth a team of scientists investigated Neanderthals’ skeletal remains to recreate how they moved and behaved. For this segment, the BBC employed renowned voice coach Patsy Rodenburg to examine a model of a Neanderthal’s vocal tract and theorize what their voice might have sounded like. It’s not at all what you thought it was. A short voice box, huge ribs, a wide nasal cavity, and a thick, heavy skull made for a sound that was… well, just watch. A very serious reenactor named Elliot gets the job of reproducing the Neanderthal’s voice with Patsy’s instruction. Elliot deserves an Emmy in the category of Not Laughing. Every day we track down a Video Wonder: an audiovisual offering that delights, inspires, and entertains. Have you encountered a video we should feature? Email ella@atlasobscura.com.
Image copyright AP Image caption John Kerry said US officials had been "deeply engaged" with France over the attacks The US government has said that it should have sent "someone with a higher profile" to Sunday's Paris unity rally. It comes after US media criticised President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry for not attending the demonstration. The rally, which followed three terror attacks in Paris, was attended by an estimated 1.6 million people and some 40 world leaders. The US ambassador to France was the highest ranking US official attending. Speaking on Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama wished he could have attended, but the "onerous and significant" security preparations for a presidential visit required more than the 36-hour advance notice the White House received. He added, however: "It's fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile." Seventeen people died in attacks in Paris last week at a satirical magazine, on a police officer, and at a kosher supermarket. 'Not about one day' Mr Kerry told reporters in India he would visit France to reaffirm US solidarity with the country, which he called America's oldest ally. A fluent French speaker, he has visited the country 17 times since becoming secretary of state. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption About 40 world leaders and dignitaries marched arm in arm Among those linking arms in a symbolic gesture at the Paris march were UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. US Attorney General Eric Holder, in Paris for an anti-terror summit, did not attend the march because he was giving media interviews. Mr Kerry was visiting India, for an international development trip, and Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "I would have personally very much wanted to have been there," Mr Kerry said, but "it is important to keep these kinds of commitments". Mr Kerry said US officials, including himself and Mr Obama, had been "deeply engaged" with French authorities since the first attack and had offered intelligence assistance. "I want to emphasise that the relationship with France is not about one day or one particular moment," Mr Kerry said. "It is an ongoing long-time relationship that is deeply, deeply based in the shared values, and particularly the commitment that we share to freedom of expression." Mr Kerry is expected to arrive in Paris later this week. Meanwhile, the White House announced there would be an international summit in Washington in February on countering violent extremism.
As for the band itself? Members have been tweeting in vague terms. After news of Fallon's succession broke Questlove said: What's this about The Tonight Show? — Questo of The Roots (@questlove) April 3, 2013 Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson, meanwhile, has simply been retweeting Fallon's good news from a variety of sources: Keyboardist James Poyser had this to say: Times a'changing.... — JamesPoyser (@jamespoyser) April 3, 2013 All of which perhaps suggest The Roots are in fact going to The Tonight Show—if you want to read it that way—but none of it explicitly confirms it. It wouldn't be unprecedented for a band to come with a host to a new gig. Paul Shaffer, for instance, followed David Letterman from NBC to CBS when he moved from Fallon's current slot to the 11:35 hour. Max Weinberg also went with Conan O'Brien from his edition of Late Night to The Tonight Show, even though he is not currently on the host's TBS show. NBC and Fallon would be silly to attempt The Tonight Show move without The Roots. One reason? Note the folks on Twitter hoping they are part of the new gig: If Fallon leaves The Roots behind, he leaves behind some of what's best about Fallon. This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
No event is happening in a vacuum. It is critical to emphasize this basic point when evaluating the foreign policy of President Trump and his administration. There is a very well planned multidimensional construct within the sequencing of individual events which shows a policy thread weaving throughout. The challenging aspect for most of the current U.S. electorate, and specifically those who follow politics closely, is the Trump administration’s position to not publicly espouse targeted and strategic policy objectives. This deliberate yet not publicly promoted approach is a paradigm shift for those who reference modern diplomatic politics through the prism of past doctrines and their public advancement. The Trump foreign policy approach is a planned, deliberate, consequential, and intentionally quiet undertaking. That LOOK ! The Trumpian approach is becoming increasingly easier to see. However, it is not the typical approach customary amid politicians who use momentary events to elevate the appearance of their self-importance. Quite the contrary, with the Trump team each action and participant provides visible dots, but the administration intentionally does not connect those dots for the media or the consuming public – or trumpet their importance. The Administrations’ focus is on the ultimate outcome each individual event brings to the aggregate conclusion. ie. ‘the goal’; and not on the individual elements as they are assembled. The background of the ‘Freedom Alliance’ stands as a baseline for understanding Trump’s mid-east policy goals –Review Here- And far below the media radar this quiet coalition approach continues: •Yesterday and today Defense Secretary James Mattis is in Saudi Arabia discussing U.S. regional policy intended toward the larger aspects of stability. •Yesterday the U.S. State Department released a JCPOA statement. •Earlier today, Secretary Tillerson spoke at a U.S. Saudi Economic Summit (remarks here). Secretary of State Tillerson then delivers very deliberate remarks specifically focused on Iran, its ongoing nuclear program, sanctions and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). WATCH: . Small people, small pundits and disconnected MSM opposition to Trump, bite at these individual moments to frame a narrative that Trump policy seems like more of the same type of interventionism. However, the reality is 180° divergent. The larger objectives of each element is toward an outcome where the U.S. does NOT intervene, does not exhaust military action, but rather manages a process of stability through maximum diplomatic and economic leverage. It is really quite remarkable, and more importantly it’s working: ♦ The number of NATO countries now fulfilling their defense spending obligations has increased from 3 to 5, with all nations agreeing to reach the compliant 2% GDP spending within 12 months. ♦ NATO and EU countries now emboldened to stand up to Russia. ♦ Russia has become more isolated and somehow, f**king incredibly, President Trump has cut the cord connecting Russia and China. ♦ China abstained, and did not veto, a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Bashir Assad in Syria. Russia became isolated in their veto position and only Bolivia would concur. ♦ U.N. and international leadership praise Trump administration position of taking a hardline on chemical weapons attacks in Syria. ♦ Russian Vladimir Putin refused to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, then abruptly did an about face after the G-7 meeting with T-Rex – because Russia’s influence was being further reduced and Putin felt threatened by diminishment. ♦ President Trump announces he will not label China as a currency manipulator. China has made no efforts to manipulate their currency since the Nov 8th, 2016, election. ♦ China turns back 12 North-Korean cargo ships laden with coal. ♦ China offsets N-Korean coal refusal with increased purchases of coking coal (steel-making) from the U.S. ♦ China halts direct air travel between Beijing and Pyongyang. ♦ China begins oil and fuel embargo of exports to North Korea. ♦ Stunningly, China announces their willingness to consider “Five Party Talks” about the denuclearization of North Korea without the government of Pyongyang at the table. (China, Russia, U.S., Japan and South Korea) None of these outcomes are delivered through the continuance of Bush/Obama/Clinton foreign policy of interventionism. Each of these outcomes is occurring because of talks, leverage and alignment of economic influence on a larger scale than the individual interests of the countries involved. […] “I fully trust the capabilities of President Trump … he can succeed in so many fields that others cannot. I trust him wholeheartedly.”… ~ Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Pretty darned remarkable. Advertisements
109 SHARES Share Tweet Advertisement It all started with her parent’s dog, Toby. The 140 pound Akita and Great Dane mix had been adopted as a puppy and quickly developed stomach issues ranging from diarrhea to vomiting. After many tests, the conclusion was that Toby suffered from a weak stomach and it was recommend that the dog be given Pepcid every day. “We were at our wit’s end,” said Jordan Roberts of Saugus. “You don’t want to see a dog suffer like that. It was becoming a quality of life issue.”Roberts thought there had to be a better way. She decided to switch Toby’s diet and after doing some research with her veterinarian, Roberts came across a new product called Canna-Pet. Launched in 2013, Canna-Pet was the first company to offer capsules, oil, biscuits, and treats that include cannabidiol and other cannabinoids, or CBDs, derived from enriched oil extracts of cannabis. Canna-Pet products are available for cats, dogs, and horses. The company also offers a human product called Assisi Botanicals. Prices start at $30 and range up to $80. “My vet was like, nothing else is working, let’s give it a shot,” Roberts recalled. While she cooks with hemp seed to help with her own symptoms of Chrohn’s disease, Roberts was still a little hesitant. “I’ve heard THC can be dangerous for pets,” she said.While headlines have called CBDs “pot for pets,” it’s actually quite different than medical marijuana use for humans, as Canna-Pet spokesperson Samantha Wormser illustrated. “Our products are made from industrial hemp, which has such low levels of THC. and the process is strictly controlled. It doesn’t have psychoactive or side effects. Pets are not getting high off of this,” she said. Instead, according to “Cannabis and CBD Science for Dogs” by Caroline Coile, Ph.D, CBDs work because they “fit into the body’s cannabinoid receptor sites, which regulate other neurotransmitters, as well as a host of body systems, especially the immune systems.” Roberts started Toby on a quarter percent of the suggested dosage, slowly working up to the recommended amount. Three years later, Toby very rarely has bouts of diarrhea or vomiting. “It’s really done amazing things for him and I haven’t witnessed any side effects,” Roberts said. She was so impressed that she added Canna-Pet to the diet of her own dogs: Cole and Wyatt, two pit mixes who also suffer from weak stomachs, and Sadie, a German Shepherd whose hips “were starting to go.”So far, everyone has benefitted, even a hospice foster with advanced cancer dog named Foxy, whom Roberts gave the product to help with pain and anxiety. “I’m extremely comfortable using it. I just don’t see any risk after the number of dogs I’ve used it on. I feel it’s safe,” Roberts said. Consumers like Roberts are increasingly searching for naturally derived products to help with their pet’s health issues. According to Bloomberg.com, recent data from cannabis industry analytics firm MJ Freeway indicate that CBD pet products are the newest trend in a half billion dollar pet supplements market and will continue to boom with anticipated sales growth of more than $150 million over the near four years. Wormser is not surprised about the increasing success of the CBD market. “Prescription drugs can have negative effects long term. This is a more holistic approach, an organic option. We’re concerned about what we’re putting into our own bodies and now, people are caring more about what they’re putting into their pets,” Wormser said. Evelyn Vega, veterinarian and owner of Happy Pets in Valencia, has had several customers ask about CBDs over the last year. She has recommended it for senior pets with arthritis or those with anxiety. “Pets can benefits from the medicinal effects of cannabis,” she said. “I believe it has a place in veterinary medicine, if used properly.”
I have never seen and heard the divisiveness of Filipinos expressed so graphically, so loudly. Half of Filipinos have Facebook accounts and their opinions, commentaries, likes and dislikes have become public. There is, of course, the other half—voiceless, silenced by poverty. Unfortunately, the noise is not really about pro-candidate as it is about being anti-someone else. It is not enough anymore that partisans extol virtues of character and leadership because the greater motivation is to demonize and demolish others. The noise is important because it gives us all a preview of things to come, on May 9, 2016, and more importantly, beyond May 9. ADVERTISEMENT Life is not about May 9 but every day thereafter. Yet, since May 9 and the key personalities that define it will trigger a powerful wave, May 9, indeed, will dictate how people and nation will move in the short term. This short term facing Filipinos will be crucial. This is not a prediction; this is fact. Observing the noise in social media that has overshadowed even the usual dominance of traditional print, radio and television, what jumps out so powerfully is the intensity of partisanship. Thankfully, there have been serious gains over those times when warlords had a great say over what happens during campaigns and elections. Without those gains, just from truly crass and demeaning insults that proliferate social media today, thousands would have been shooting at each other. We are at a crossroad. The old and the new intersect—old and new perspectives, old and new methods, old and new dreams. In population, the young are definitely greater in number. But in attitude, it remains the old that control. It is still divisiveness that colors societal relationships, it is still poverty that mutes the poor, it is still the rich that controls the country, and it is still the super powers that can make the Philippines move according to their global dynamics. I speak too far ahead, though. The essentials of societal life like business and employment, health and education, poverty and hunger, diplomacy and global cooperation, all these will temporarily make way to where national attention is riveted, where emotions are wrapped or warped around. And that is May 9 and its immediate aftermath. May 9 will not come quietly and peacefully. It will be a mad scramble for victory and survival by all candidates and all their partisans. There will be little patience, little understanding, and the little there is will be quickly swept aside by the more aggressive and passionate, the more rabid and fanatical. Usually, the submissive majority will make way for those superior in strength, wealth, position or noise. The problem is that the superior ones will fight one another, and their followers will do the same. Why am I so sure that they will fight? Well, they are already fighting, not just competing for votes. Their voices are already confrontational, which show how confrontational their thoughts and feeling are. It is a thin line between harsh words and harsh actions. It needs only disrespect and anger to overpower tolerance and moderation. Guess what? Disrespect and anger are already taking over the national mood. The mechanics of vote-buying, too, have been transitioning to more sophisticated ways. There will still be vote-buying, and no one can stop this if poverty is not substantially reduced, but vote-buying is already at work, some as early as several months ago. Those who have money to buy votes have already incorporated as many voters as they can afford into their political machinery. Through those they have been paying and giving allowances to, their families, neighbors and friends are supposed to be part of the arrangement. Candidates who rely mostly on volunteers or their charisma must measure the passion of their unpaid partisans, as well as their numbers and expertise just before, during and immediately after Election Day (throughout the whole counting process, that is). In 2004, a most popular presidential candidate lost the counting despite the rabid following he had. Throughout the canvassing from precinct to Congress, his passionate followers protested and protested. He was not proclaimed, and no revolution erupted. Things did change after that, they say. The 2010 presidential elections happened quickly, peacefully and the results quietly accepted. Yes, there were the usual electoral protests but they did not elicit popular attention and sympathy. The national candidates who were declared winners occupied their positions within the time frame set out by law. ADVERTISEMENT But things are changing again—if we listen to the words and emotions expressed by the partisans on all sides. Their tone and tenor do not promise resignation and acceptance of results. What they do promise is more of the same—anger and disrespect. The military and the police must prepare, as individuals and as institutions. After all, when push comes to shove, only the armed and uniformed services of society can keep violence to a minimum, or take over a fractious and turbulent environment. Even today, elements within the military and the police have become quite partisan themselves. Instead of securing the peace, they may trigger the war. It is a catharsis, no less. The personalities involved have not placed anger and disrespect in our hearts—they have only stoked these hot emotions to come out. It is similar to some political dynamics in America where racism and bigotry have been provoked to rear their ugly heads. Worse, it is similar to the terrorism and genocide that plagues several nations and peoples. Yes, there is much progress in technology, but not much in giving respect and preventing violence. I carry mixed feelings, guided by contrasting wisdom. One says that the scourge of the world is man’s propensity to exploit his fellow man. The other says that our lives must be driven, not by our fears but by our hopes. For my people, especially for those enslaved by poverty, for a nation yet to be, for a future we must build by the day, I must hold on to hope. Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READ
SEVEN dogs are believed to have eaten their owner after he left them starving without food for two weeks, The Jakarta Post said today. Andre Lumboga's mutilated body was found with his head cut from his body Monday inside his home at Greenland, Batam Center, in the Riau Islands, a province of Indonesia. Seven dogs belonging to Lumboga attacked their master apparently as a result of being famished, police chief Eriyana, who uses one name, said. "The victim was believed to have had nine dogs as pets. He went to Manado [North Sulawesi] during the Eid al Fitr holidays, leaving the dogs for 14 days without any food," the newspaper quoted him saying. Two of the dogs were eaten by the others, Eriyana said. The seven surviving dogs also lashed out at police when they tried to enter the house. "We had to paralyze them," Eriyana added.
Bryant Glick was among five speakers grateful to President Donald Trump Wednesday as sweeping tax reform moves closer to passage. “Well done. Many of your predecessors promised this reform was coming. But you did it,” said Glick, of New Holland, Pennsylvania, attending a White House ceremony with his wife Ashley Glick. The Glick family, who have two children and a third on the way, will go from a 15 percent tax bracket to 12 percent. With tax reform, their tax bill will go from $2,600 to $600, as Trump noted when he introduced the couple. Bryant Glick is a manager at a farm equipment store, while Ashley Glick works in health care. “We are greatly excited about this,” Bryant Glick said. “With the tax savings we are going to see, we are going to put that money into home renovations. I’m excited that you are the one that got it over the finish line.” ‘Reclaiming Our Destiny’ Trump said Congress has reached a deal on an overhaul of the tax code to lower rates for individuals and businesses and eliminate loopholes. While conference committee negotiators have hammered out differences between the House and Senate reform plans, the compromise must still be passed by both chambers — and could reportedly get a vote as early as next week. “We are reclaiming our destiny as Americans, as a nation that thinks big, dreams bigger, and always reaches for the stars,” the president said. “We didn’t become great through massive taxation and Washington regulation.” Trump didn’t talk about details yet, but said if Congress sends him a tax reform bill by Christmas, Americans will see fewer taxes taken out of their paychecks by February 2018. “As a candidate, I promised we would pass a massive tax cut for the everyday, working Americans who are the backbone and heartbeat of our country,” Trump said. “Now we are just days away from keeping that promise and delivering a truly amazing victory for American families. We want to give you the American people a giant tax cut for Christmas.” Trump was surrounded by middle-class families from Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington state. “Our current tax code is burdensome, complex, and profoundly unfair — it has exported our jobs, closed our factories, and left millions of parents worried that their children might be the first generation to have less opportunity than the last,” Trump said. “I am here today to tell you that we will never let that happen.” Both the House and Senate passed plans that would reduce the corporate tax rate from the highest in the industrialized world at 35 percent to 20 percent, the Associated Press reported. However, to make up for revenue, House and Senate negotiators decided on 21 percent. Reduction in Economic Growth The change will have some impact on growth, said Adam Michel, policy analyst for economic studies at The Heritage Foundation. Estimates showed the difference between a 20 percent rate and a 22 percent rate would mean a reduction in economic growth of 10 percent, Michel said. “This could cut into the growth that Americans were promised, but it is still a big improvement,” Michel told The Daily Signal. Michel was encouraged by initial reports that the top individual rates will go down from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. Under the House plan, the top rate stayed the same and the Senate plan only lowered it to 38.5 percent. Critics of tax reform raised concerns about the debt and deficits. “That concern is overblown,” Michel said. “It is a pro-growth plan and will recoup most, if not all, of that revenue.” The House and Senate bills rolled back the deduction for state and local taxes but allowed for a $10,000 property tax deduction. This deduction faced criticism for essentially subsidizing high-tax, high-spending states to the detriment of fiscally responsible states. Help us champion truth, freedom, limited government and human dignity. Support The Stream » Negotiators also agreed to eliminate the alternative minimum tax, long criticized for hitting middle-class families even though it was designed to ensure wealthy earners don’t escape taxes. The House and Senate negotiators also are lowing the mortgage interest deduction from $1 million to $750,000. The House bill proposed to cap the mortgage on $500,000 homes, and the Senate bill kept the entire deduction in place. During a meeting, while making public comments, with some of the conferees at the White House earlier, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, “We’ll get it done.” During the meeting, Trump thanked Hatch and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas. But, in a vague reference to the failed effort earlier this year to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump sounded a note of caution. “You guys have been just really, really amazing,” Trump said. “Although I shouldn’t say that until we sign. We’ve been there too many times. Let’s count the vote first. Right?” Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal. Copyright 2017 The Daily Signal
A rating for a new edition of Bulletstorm has popped up on Brazil’s classification board, pointing toward a current-gen release for the 2011 shooter. Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is coming in 2017 to PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, according to the Brazilian rating. Gearbox Software is listed as the publisher instead of Electronic Arts, which put out the original version of the game. Polygon discovered assets for a possible remaster of Bulletstorm during E3 2016 in June, when Microsoft included screenshots in a press kit. Despite the new, 4K-resolution images, neither Microsoft nor original developer People Can Fly has confirmed that the remaster is in the works. Bulletstorm first launched on PlayStation 3, Windows PC and Xbox 360 to positive reviews. A year later, Epic Games acquired People Can Fly; the studio regained its independence three years later, in 2015. People Can Fly took back the rights for the Bulletstorm franchise in the process and announced it was working on an undisclosed new project.
Hello, everyone! We are on a roll this week! After releasing the exciting Smooth Variable Layer Height, I have some better news today! MK2 has been around for almost a year! Wow time flies! The MK2’s that we are shipping now are quite a bit different than the first ones we got out the door. For example, it did not have the auto-calibration feature. Since then, almost every part has been tweaked, reinforced or optimised for better assembly. We iterated very rapidly, basically every two weeks or so. For us launching a product does not mean the job is done! If we find a way to improve it, we cannot resist. I love to believe, that this is the reason why we are successful. MK2 life in numbers ~18000 shipped 10 firmware revisions 5 drivers revisions 5 big assembly instruction updates 5 big handbook updates Countless printed parts updates Our farm has grown to 184 printers and they run 24/7 in very hot and harsh conditions, we have been collecting data and different failures which occurred throughout the year. We sat down and tried to improve everything to prevent most of these typical failures. Before I show you the details of the improvements, I just want to note that MK2S runs the same firmware and the same g-codes. The print quality is the same as with a brand new MK2 so no need to rush with upgrading. We are gradually rolling this update to the production. Price remains the same and upgrade kit from MK2 to MK2S is available for $49. Upgrade will contain smooth rods, better LM8UUs, U-bolts and misc fasteners. G-codes to print the upgraded printed parts are available. Now let’s get down to business. Better LM8UU mounting on Y axis On our farm, parts never cool down completely. This makes them quite hard to remove and sometimes our staff has to use excessive force. This way of removing the parts weakens the zip ties holding the LM8UUs on the Y axis and allows the whole bed to wobble. This reduces the print quality slightly. MK2S is now using U bolts to hold the bearings. From our farm experience it works very well and is quick and simple to install. Better LM8UUs and smooth rods MK2 bearings might have been little noisy, so we sourced better bearings and rods for the MK2S. They are matched together and run very smoothly and are quieter. The smooth rods are now ground and hardened stainless steel. Igus polymer bushings upgrade is still an option for even less noise, but I think the new bearings are pretty good as they are. If you still want to upgrade, we strongly suggest to get the printer working with stock bearings first as Igus can easily bind when ever so slightly misaligned and prevent successful XYZ Calibration. BTW these better parts were used on pre-assembled printers for couple of weeks already 😉 Better P.I.N.D.A. probe mount Loose print or overhang curling up might have broken the old mount. Not with the new one. As a bonus, the probe is much easier to adjust, just loosen the two holding screws and move it where it needs to be. Improved cable stress relief on extruder If the cables were not routed to optimally on the back side of the X carriage or if some users left out the nylon reinforcement, the cables tended to break from fatigue. MK2S has reinforcements to further stress relief the cables. Improper cable management is the number 1 cause of failed probes and nozzle cooling fans which leads to clogged nozzles. Better electronics cover The most commented part of our assembly instructions was the RAMBo mini cover, more specifically that it is hard to mount on the frame. With the revised version, you can easily mount the RAMBo into the housing and just slide it onto bolts on the frame. The cable bundle from the X- carriage have been re-routed to the top now to prevent sagging of the wire harness over time. This is pretty much it. Thank you for your continued support and always look out for new announcements 🙂 Happy printing! You can get the upgrade pack in our eshop here and gcodes/stls are available here. Comments comments
Apple's anticipated launch of new iPhones —including the "iPhone 8" —should take place sometime after Sept. 17, a memo sent to AppleCare workers suggests [updated]. "As you know, there are new product announcements and launches in September," part of the memo shared by leaker Benjamin Geskin reads. To deal with an expected jump in call volume, the company is imposing a "black out" on time off for AppleCare staff between Sept. 17 and Nov. 4."Keep in mind that these dates are subject to change as our support volume expectations fluctuate," the memo cautions.AppleInsider sources within Apple not authorized to speak for the company have confirmed the blackout dates.Apple typically hosts an iPhone press event in early September and ships products later in the month. Sept. 17 is a Sunday, but the company could ship later in the week, or even hold its event around that time and ship phones farther out than usual.It's possible that only two phones —the 4.7-inch "iPhone 7s." and 5.5-inch "7s Plus" —may be ready to ship in September. The "iPhone 8" , predicted to feature a 5.8-inch, edge-to-edge OLED display, may only just be overcoming production problems related to embedding Touch ID in its screen. Some reports have suggested that mass production will only begin in October or November , which could mean that very few units will be available in 2017.The practical screen space on the "iPhone 8" should be closer to 5.1 inches, since about 0.7 is expected to be dedicated to virtual buttons. Other device features should include an "A11" processor, wireless charging, faster cable charging, and 3D facial recognition and/or iris scanning. The processor and charging features, at least, may carry over to the "7s" line.
Emails released under FoI suggest the company is in advanced preparations to introduce the chargers on its forecourts from next year Electric car charging points could appear alongside petrol pumps at Shell’s UK service stations as soon as next year, the oil giant confirmed after emails between the company and government officials revealed discussions on introducing them. The company also asked the government how serious it is about wireless charging roads which could top up an electric car without the need to plug in, as mooted by Conservative MP Oliver Letwin. The diversification into infrastructure for battery-powered cars would mark a new departure for the company, which has largely backed biofuels as a greener alternative to petrol and diesel in the past. It could also suggest a softening of stance from an industry which Telsa co-founder Elon Musk has accused of using misinformation campaigns against electric cars. Emails released after a Freedom of Information request by DeSmogBlog, a site which monitors fossil fuel lobbying, shows that Shell staff and government transport officials discussed both electric cars and hydrogen fuel this year. In one exchange, a Shell staffer on secondment from the Department for Business writes to the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles to suggest electric cars are being held back by a lack of public charging points and the cars’ range, which is typically around 100 miles for many models. “You will know more of the challenges around electric cars than me but the availability of fast charging infrastructure, and how that links to range anxiety, is probably up there with one of the main issues concerning customers,” they wrote. “As a sample of one, I do not have access to off road parking so buying an EV myself is not currently viable.” In a later exchange, a Shell employee appeals for more detail on the regulatory regime for charging point operators. “I have been asked whether Shell will need an electricity supply license if we are to provide a service to customers to charge their electric cars.” Shell also asks about whether the idea of wireless charging roads in Britain “has legs” and how ambitious the government is about the idea. Asked if the emails show Shell is moving into charging points, a spokeswoman said: “We are examining the potential to introduce electric vehicle charging points across some parts of our UK retail network from early 2017 onwards.” Shell will be going into competition with companies such as Chargemaster, Ecotricity and Tesla, which have all been building out networks of charging points in the UK. According to Zap Map, there are more than 12,000 chargers in the UK. David Martell, CEO of Chargemaster, which owns more than 4,000 of the UK’s chargers, said: “I think it’s great. They see the tide moving toward electric cars and they want a piece of the action. They’d be crazy not to, wouldn’t they? We are in discussion with a number of fuel companies. We fully expect the first charging points to be put in in the next year [by fuel companies].” It is not yet clear how many of Shell’s 1,000-plus service stations will get the chargers, or who will provide the technology. There were 20,000 100% electric vehicles on the road at the end of last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, though they still make up a minuscule fraction of new car sales, which numbered 2.6m in 2015. Nissan said on Tuesday that it had sold 15,000 of its electric Nissan Leaf model since it launched in 2011. Policymakers see electric cars as a key way to tackle air pollution and meet climate targets, but MPs warned earlier this month that the UK was failing to encourage their take-up fast enough. Shell’s stance on electric cars is in stark contrast with that of ExxonMobil, whose communications with government officials are also shown in the email and document cache. The US oil company, which has more than 1,000 Esso-branded service stations in the UK, sent slides to Department for Transport officials saying the government should avoid policies that support electric cars because cutting carbon emissions from power stations was cheaper. “Switching from petroleum to renewable or alternative fuels [i.e. EVs] is not the most cost effective way to to reduce GHG emissions; actions in other sectors (e.g. power generation) typically cost less per ton of CO2 avoided,” one presentation said. The company told the government that, in its opinion, “liquid petroleum fuels will remain the primary transportation fuels in the foreseeeable future.” Exxon and Shell’s discussions were disclosed after DeSmogBlog lodged several freedom of information requests with the Department for Transport, to discover how oil companies were lobbying the UK government on electric cars.
Kyunghyang News via Nate1. [+224, -6] Woollim's not as good as I thought. They said that Seo Jisoo was crying and so in shock that she had to go to the hospital after hearing about the rumors but it seems more like she felt nervous about all that she's done coming to light;; either way, I hope that the victims win and receive consolation... The police better not team up with Woollim. Investigate both Seo Jisoo and the victim thoroughly~2. [+202, -4] Now Woollim can't get out of this ㅋㅋ3. [+158, -7] To all the people who have been busy putting down the victims for lack of evidence, lack of logic, for the inability to confidently unveil themselves to the public... Have you not realized how difficult it must be for them as sexual minorities to not only stand up against a company but to deal with their media play... I bet the victims are even more hurt by all of the netizens who are accusing them of this and that. All of those fake accounts who pretended to be victims need to be thrown in jail too.4. [+40, -2] Oh, she's confident. There was a reason Seo Jisoo was so scared.5. [+30, -3] Seo Jisoo needs to leave the group for the sake of her team6. [+28, -1] Woollim needs to realize that they need to throw Seo Jisoo out for the rest of them to float. They're holding on to her for too long.7. [+28, -2] I can already hear the gears in Woollim's head turning ㅋㅋㅋ Can't imagine how scared they are right now and the emergency meetings they're going into ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ8. [+22, -2] Some idol bitch is not only a lesbian but a sexual criminal... first time in my life seeing something like this. Why does she bother living? Just go kill yourself~~ tsk tsk9. [+16, -1] So the truth comes out...10. [+13, -1] I knew that the rumors would be true because of how unbelievable it all was. Most rumors draw the line at "so and so was an iljin" but a rumor of this mass scale...11. [+12, -3] I hope the victim goes all the way. And if there's a cafe made for her, I'd like to donate to help her with the legal fees.
8 shares Eni Norge has resumed oil production on its Goliat floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit in the Barents Sea after the facility was shut for more than two months as it worked to fix electrical safety issues flagged by Norway’s offshore regulator. Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority ordered Eni to cease production at the Goliat field on October 5 due to serious safety deficiencies related to the ignition threat of faulty hazardous area (Ex) motors installed at the field. The order prevented production from resuming until all issues had been rectified. Eni said it resumed production at Goliat on 17 December 2017 after receiving notice from the NSA on 8 December that it could bring the field back on stream. In addition to the order, Eni said it simultaneously completed extensive maintenance and modification work on the FPSO that had been planned for this fall. The Goliat FPSO, located at the Goliat Field about 55 miles northwest of Hammerfest, Norway, within the Arctic Circle, has been touted as the largest and most sophisticated floating cylindrical FPSO concept in the world. The unit, which designed specifically for Arctic operations, has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of 950.000 barrels. The FPSO is powered from shore through a subsea electrical cable. Production at Goliat started on March 12, 2016. As operator, Eni holds a 65% stake in the Goliat field, with Norway’s Statoil holding the remaining 35%.
Part 1: Less vs. Sass * hat tip to Douglas Crockford for this title For the last several years, I’ve been a core member of the volunteer Less team. Part of my job is to work with people in the Less community: answer questions, respond to issues on Github, etc. During that time, I’ve found that there are some fundamental misunderstandings about Less, especially when it is compared to Sass, and perhaps even because it’s compared to Sass. One of the things you often see in a web development article about pre-processors is a set of simple examples like the following: Sass (SCSS) $color: red; .my-element { color: $color; } Less @color: red; .my-element { color: @color; } In this case, the output will be very similar and predictable. The element will have a foreground color of red. But did the same thing happen? The Answer May Surprise You Based on that Upworthy-worthy heading, you may have guessed that the answer is no. That’s because Less and Sass, while syntactically similar, are fundamentally different in an important way: Less is a declarative language. Sass is an imperative language. “Whaaaaaat?” It’s true. And in case you need a quick refresher on imperative and declarative languages, a declarative language describes to a machine what we want, and an imperative language tells the machine how to do it. If that’s still a little abstract, we can compare it to other languages of the web. Declarative HTML CSS Less Imperative JavaScript PHP Sass What that means is that Less extends the CSS language under the same declarative model, whereas Sass is a programming language whose syntax is based on CSS. Another way of saying it: both Less and Sass look like CSS, but Sass does not act like CSS. Now, in practice, knowing that Less is declarative and Sass is imperative isn’t really that important when learning one language or the other (nor is this going to be one of those articles that declares “a winner” based on attributes of the language), but it can help you understand some of the basic concepts of each. For instance, like JavaScript, you can think of a Sass file as “running from top to bottom”. It runs like a script. A Less file, on the other hand, evaluates values, and creates a “final value” for that particular scope, which is the same whether it’s at the top or the bottom. The description of Less’s scope might sound more complex until you realize that you’re already familiar with it in CSS, and rely on it all the time. Here, let me show you: .box { animation: fade-in 5s; } @keyframes fade-in { 0% { opacity: 0; } 100% { opacity: 1; } } The fact that the keyframes are declared “after” when they are used does not matter in CSS. If it’s defined anywhere, it can be used anywhere. Less is the same way. Let’s reverse the example at the beginning of this post. .my-element { color: @color; } @color: red; Just like CSS, Less doesn’t mind what order something is declared, so long as it is declared somewhere. It outputs: .my-element { color: red; } Now let’s flip Sass. .my-element { color: $color; } $color: red; As expected, Sass outputs: Undefined variable: "$color" Sass hasn’t “run through” that part of the script, so, unlike CSS/Less it doesn’t know the value of $color. Let’s take another example of “variable-like” behavior in CSS and compare to the two languages. This time with the currentColor value of CSS. Here’s an example I came across this week, in a 2011 article from css-tricks.com: div { color: red; border: 5px solid currentColor; box-shadow: 0 0 5px currentColor; color: black; } Chris Coyier notes in that article that the value of currentColor won’t be red; it will be black. Because, as you know from CSS 101, the foreground color for that div will be black. As CSS is not a “script” that runs from top to bottom, the “final value” is the one that’s last within the declaration. Less follows this same declarative model. Let’s watch! div { @color: red; border: 5px solid @color; box-shadow: 0 0 5px @color; @color: black; } This outputs: div { border: 5px solid black; box-shadow: 0 0 5px black; } Now, let’s check Sass’s homework. div { $color: red; border: 5px solid $color; box-shadow: 0 0 5px $color; $color: black; } The output is: div { border: 5px solid red; box-shadow: 0 0 5px red; } Note that Sass is not “wrong”. I’m just illustrating that it operates as an imperative language. An equivalent example to Sass would probably not be CSS’s currentColor , but something more like JavaScript. color = 'red'; div = { border: '5px solid ' + color, boxShadow: '0 0 5px ' + color }; color = 'black'; console.log(div); The output is: {border: "5px solid red", boxShadow: "0 0 5px red"} It’s Not Your Fault One thing that’s led to some confusion about Less’s variables has been in the documented descriptions. The original Less docs used to say Less’s variables were actually constants, which is not true, because they’re not immutable. Now, the docs say that variables are “lazy-loaded”, because they can be used before being declared. Which is also not really true. They are not used before they are declared. Lazy-loading implies a kind of imperative paradigm, and many users initially believe that Less is imperative even though CSS is not. What Less has is an evaluation order. The value of variables have to be determined in a particular scope before dependent values can be determined, no matter what the placement of those declarations and values are. Although, like CSS, if you do declare a variable more than once, then the last value is the final value. This is part of the cascade in CSS. The color property is not “lazy-loaded” when you reference it via currentColor . That’s simply the current color value for that element. Probably the Less documentation should say simply that variables cascade, but it’s unclear if people would intuit the behavior based on that description. We’re working on it. What’s also contributed to this misunderstanding is in online articles about Sass and Less. This Smashing Magazine article says, “The only difference in variables between LESS [sic] and Sass is that, while LESS uses @ , Sass uses $ .” Well… not really. However, that article does go on to explain the concept of scoping, which is a concept present in Less and not Sass, and another important difference that I’m not going to delve into at the moment. The concept of scope is used extensively in Less, and would be a little to broad of a subject to fit within the scope (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) of this article. As far as which model, declarative or imperative, is more intuitive? It’s hard to say. If you work with both declarative and imperative languages, either result can be intuitive if you know what mental model you’re using. “No. Pick a Winner. The Internet is About Making Other People Wrong.” Okay, my (biased) opinion is that having a language that looks like CSS, a declarative language, but which behaves differently from the language it’s extending is somewhat strange. Sass takes a language where properties are bound to a selector, and then runs through them like a script. However, that’s not entirely wacky, as this was the same model of Classic ASP and traditional PHP, where script blocks are interspersed through the declarative language of HTML. More importantly, when I was first delving into the world of CSS pre-processors, I was working at a web design shop where a lot of the people who worked with CSS every day did not know any JavaScript. And one of my responsibilities was training staff in newer web technologies. Therefore, choosing Less over Sass was obvious to me, as Less presented as much more teachable to someone who already knew CSS (but didn’t know JavaScript). The two languages are conceptually very similar, and Less adds fewer new concepts for someone to have to learn. (Note: it’s also the reason I built Crunch, for that specific web team, because I knew that requiring them to type on a command line in order to compile their styles would be a deal-breaker. And did you know that Crunch 2 now edits everything, not just Less/CSS, as well as compiles a number of other languages?) (What, you thought I wasn’t going to shamelessly plug something?) In other words, knowing CSS will help you understand the concepts of Less. And, in the case of variable-like values in CSS, and with the upcoming CSS Custom Properties syntax (a.k.a. CSS Variables), using Less can help you learn CSS, since those variables also cascade. But the same doesn’t seem to be true for Sass. You’ll be learning a number of different disciplines at once, and some of what you get used to in Sass looks like it may make some newer features of CSS, in contrast, counter-intuitive. I think of Sass as a script operating on your styles (like traditional PHP does with HTML), whereas Less adds to them, in a kind of CSS+ model. If you’re picking a CSS pre-processor to introduce to a team, I think Less is going to be a shorter learning curve with fewer curveballs. If you’re picking one for your open-source project, Less is going to be less (haha) of a barrier to entry. There’s just less (okay I’ll stop now) to learn. Less has fewer features, on purpose, to make usage of the language as easy as possible. “Wait, You Said Sass Has More Features. Doesn’t That Mean It’s Better?” Is the Zune better than the iPod because it has more features? If you said, “What’s a Zune?” then that may tell you the direction that argument went in the early days of MP3 players. “Sass Is More Popular. That Means It’s More Better.” I’ve heard that a lot, but I’m not sure where that comes from. The Sass project has, at the time of writing this, 6,756 stars on Github, and Less has 12,848. If stars were votes, Less would appear to be more popular. (If you follow that first link, you can see the comments that inspired me to write this article.) Regardless, “better” depends on your criteria. In fact, in Github, Less contributors often recommend Sass depending on a specific user’s use case. If you’re doing something incredibly complex with your stylesheet, and that complexity absolutely depends on features that Sass has and Less doesn’t, or if you prefer an imperative model, you should probably use Sass. If you have average requirements or are just starting out, or know CSS but are weak on your programming skills, I would probably recommend Less. But of course I would, because I’m a Less contributor. It works for me. Use whatever works for you. Probably the perception of the popularity of Sass comes from the fact that, currently, it has some core members and contributors who are able to devote quite a bit of time to the project, and, at the moment, are much better at evangelism than Less. That means a lot of people hear about Sass, its features, and its benefits, and the same unfortunately hasn’t been true of Less. This has contributed to it being the world’s most misunderstood CSS pre-processor. Less, right now, may have more users, but could use some help in contributions, both in code and documentation. (Go contribute!) As an example of this misunderstanding, PostCSS, the new kid on the block, originally had some copy on their front page describing how different it was from Less and Sass. I told them that a lot of those claims were wrong, at least in the case of Less, and they said that, in truth, they really only knew Sass, and assumed Less was the same way. (I’ll be covering Less v. PostCSS in a future post. Incidentally, PostCSS’s docs were subsequently updated to something slightly less wrong.) A Few More Tidbits So, now that you know Less is declarative and Sass is imperative, it might help you understand some of the other design decisions in each CSS pre-processor. Sass has script-like control directives: if, for, while, each. Those affect how a script runs. Less has things like mixin and selector guards. Those affect how a stylesheet is evaluated. Sass and Less look the same (or similar). They use many of the same ideas. (History tidbit: Less was, in fact, based off of an early version of Sass, but used a declarative model and CSS syntax rather than Sass’s indented syntax. Having to convert CSS to Sass’s proprietary syntax was seen as a barrier to adoption, so Sass later developed the SCSS format, which resembled Less’s approach.) Hopefully, though, this helped you get some understanding of how the programming models for each differ, and how they compare to the language (CSS) that they are based on. In summary: WINNER = LESS …Just kidding. In part 2 of this series, I’ll be talking about Less plugins. “Less has plugins?” It’s a good thing I’m writing this.
On August 29, 2005, at six-ten in the morning, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the border of Mississippi and Louisiana, just east of New Orleans. Katrina had spent days wobbling over the Gulf of Mexico, and by the time it reached the coast it was classified as a strong Category 3 storm. As it pressed inland, its winds, which were clocked at up to a hundred and twenty-five miles an hour, pushed water from the Gulf westward into Lake Pontchartrain, and north, up a mostly abandoned shipping canal. The levees that were supposed to protect New Orleans failed, and low-lying neighborhoods were inundated. That day in Louisiana, at least six hundred and fifty people died. Katrina was widely described as a “wake-up call” for a country in denial about climate change. President George W. Bush and his Vice-President, Dick Cheney, during their first term, had withdrawn the United States from a global climate agreement and dismissed the findings of the government’s own climate scientists. Now, a few months into their second term, the nation was facing just the sort of disaster that the scientists had warned about. Even if global warming hadn’t caused Katrina, clearly it had intensified the damage: with higher sea levels come higher storm surges. And, with sea surface temperatures rising, there was more energy to fuel hurricanes, and more evaporation, which inevitably produces more rain. “How many killer hurricanes will it take before America gets serious about global warming?” the journalist Mark Hertsgaard asked at the time. Last week, as Hurricane Harvey lingered over Houston, dumping so much water on the city that the National Weather Service struggled to find ways to describe the deluge, this question sloshed back to mind. Again, climate change can’t be said to have caused Harvey, but it unquestionably made the storm more destructive. When Harvey passed over the western part of the Gulf, the surface waters in the region were as much as seven degrees warmer than the long-term average. “The Atlantic was primed for an event like this,” Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told the Guardian. Harvey was less lethal than Katrina; as of this writing, forty-six storm-related deaths have been confirmed. But in financial terms the storm’s costs are likely to be as high or even higher. One estimate put the price of repairing homes, roads, businesses, and the petrochemical plants that line the Houston Ship Channel at a hundred and ninety billion dollars. And that estimate was made before storm-damaged plants started to explode. As misguided as the Bush Administration was about climate change, Donald Trump has taken willful ignorance to a whole new level. The President has called climate change an “expensive hoax” dreamed up by the Chinese. After much posturing, he announced in June that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. With less fanfare, he has rolled back Obama Administration regulations limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from both old and new power plants and from oil and gas wells. (Regarding the wells, a federal appeals court recently ruled against the White House, saying that it could not simply suspend the regulations.) Trump also revoked a 2013 executive order directing federal agencies to prepare for the impacts of warming and tossed out a plan, issued the same year, that outlined steps that the U.S. would take to combat climate change. Then, just ten days before Harvey hit, the President rescinded a 2015 executive order requiring public-infrastructure projects in flood-prone areas to be designed with sea-level rise in mind. This move is likely to have particularly unfortunate consequences for Houston, a city with no zoning code, where thousands of buildings constructed on floodplains but lacking flood insurance are now filled with soggy debris. Last Monday, as rainfall totals in Houston were topping forty inches, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Congress that he was planning to eliminate his department’s special envoy for climate change. Many members of Congress share Trump’s climate-change delusions, especially in the Texas delegation. Lamar Smith, a Republican who represents parts of San Antonio, chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Smith has spent the better part of his career harassing climate scientists, and in a recent op-ed for the Daily Signal, a Web site sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation, he celebrated the effects of global warming, arguing that they were producing “beneficial changes to the earth’s geography.” At a town-hall meeting in April, Joe Barton, a Republican who represents parts of Fort Worth and is the vice-chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, repeated the old denier canard that clouds are the cause of climate change. And, in June, House Republicans introduced a bill to prevent federal agencies such as the Department of Energy from considering the societal costs of carbon pollution when fashioning regulations. Among the co-sponsors were three Texas representatives. Over the next few months, Congress and the President will have to agree on a package of federal assistance for Houston. (With typical bluster, Trump, visiting Texas last week, declared that he wanted a recovery effort “better than ever before.”) In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, when Congress voted on two measures to provide aid to New York and New Jersey, twenty-three out of Texas’s twenty-four Republican representatives voted against one of the bills, and eight voted against both. Most of the state’s G.O.P. lawmakers supported an amendment to the second bill that would have required spending cuts in other federal programs to offset the disaster aid. Politicians from New York and New Jersey have been quick to say that they will not mess with Texas the way that Texans messed with them. “I’ll vote 4 Harvey aid,” Representative Peter King, a Republican from Long Island, tweeted during the storm. Lawmakers from the Northeast should vote for aid to Houston, but with conditions. In the place of spending cuts, they should demand that Texas lawmakers and the President face up to the facts. The earth is warming, fossil-fuel emissions are the major cause, and the results are going to be far from “beneficial.” The U.S. needs to radically reduce its carbon emissions and, at the same time, prepare for a future in which storms like Harvey, Sandy, and Katrina increasingly become the norm. ♦
0 of 32 Rick Scuteri/Associated Press The most important player on an NFL team is undoubtedly the quarterback. Although the quarterback isn’t solely responsible for wins and losses, a great playmaker at the position helps mask other issues on the roster. Many of the top quarterbacks subsequently separate themselves via statistics. Raw numbers require more context for full judgement, but they play a big role in swinging popular opinion on the quality of individual performance. Under the assumption that every projected starter will play a full 16-game schedule (with the exception of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who was suspended four games), we have predicted the statistics for all 32 starting quarterbacks. Some players will see more efficient seasons than 2015, while others will decline. It’s just the nature of the NFL. Let’s take a look at how each quarterback could fare in 2016. We’ve predicted the major statistics, such as completion percentage, yards, touchdowns and interceptions. There’s also justification for the predictions. Note: Some slides have text repeated from 2015's edition of this article.
NEW YORK (RNS) Our Lady of Vilnius Church, built by families of immigrant Lithuanian longshoremen, started out a century ago as a beloved worship space. Now, it’s a coveted real estate asset. In 2013, six years after the church was closed, it was sold for $13 million to one of the city’s biggest developers. The following year, that company flipped it like a pancake to another developer for $18.4 million. Now the yellow brick church near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel awaits demolition to make way for an 18-story luxury apartment house. “It makes you cynical,” says Christina Nakraseive, a former parishioner who supported the legal case against the church closing until it was rejected by the state’s highest court. “It seems like it’s all about real estate.” The issue has taken on added significance since the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, citing declining attendance, rising costs and a looming priest shortage, announced plans to merge scores of parishes and close dozens of churches this year. The move raises an issue that has been faced by thousands (no one seems to know exactly how many) of shuttered houses of worship across the Northeast and Midwest: what to do with buildings that are often architecturally important and always sentimentally important, especially since a church’s shape, age and location make the building hard to reuse. The booming residential real estate market in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn offers a solution, albeit controversial: Demolish them — or even convert them — to allow for housing. Several closed churches have been torn down to make way for apartment houses, including Mary Help of Christians in the East Village, which preservationists failed to save. A few have been converted to apartments. A developer who paid $13.8 million in 2011 for St. Vincent de Paul Church in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn turned it into the Spire Lofts, a 40-unit apartment house. A former Pentecostal church in the Greenpoint section was converted into three apartments, each renting for about $100,000 a year. Wood-beamed ceilings and peaked windows remind residents of the building’s ecclesiastical roots. Several other such projects are in the works. The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Brooklyn probably will be torn down, and St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the same borough will be converted into apartments, with a triplex in the steeple. There are worries that real estate values might undercut gospel ones. Robert Corti worships at Our Lady of Peace, whose red brick 1866 building will close when the parish merges with another on the East Side under the archdiocesan program called “Making All Things New” (which skeptics have dubbed “Making All Things Condo” or “Making All Things Revenue”). Our Lady of Peace was established by Italian immigrants who felt unwelcome in other parishes. Corti’s grandparents were married there; he, his mother, his aunt, his sister and his grandchildren were all baptized there. He walks eight blocks to go there, even though another church is closer. Corti, a former CFO of Avon Products, understands cost cutting and downsizing. But he says closing a church in good physical and fiscal condition will alienate its loyal and generous parishioners. The church sits in an official city historic district. Its façade is protected, but the building could be sold and its interior changed or demolished. Corti notes that the ongoing five-year renovation of the 137-year-old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan will cost $180 million, of which about $70 million has yet to be raised. That’s a big gap,” he says. As for a possible connection between his church’s real estate value and the decision to close it, he wonders, “Could it be a factor? They say not.” The archdiocese says that some churches in merged parishes will not totally close (Our Lady of Peace may be used on unspecified “special occasions”); those that are closed will not be sold anytime soon; and any sale proceeds will be used to endow things such as Catholic schools and religious education — not for archdiocesan operating expenses or St. Patrick’s. A church closing is not a quick way to turn real estate into cash, if only because it takes time to deconsecrate a church when the process is contested. The 2007 closing of St. Vincent de Paul in Manhattan is still on appeal to the Vatican. About a mile uptown from Our Lady of Peace, St. Thomas More parish also finds itself endangered (even though it’s not yet clear the parish will be merged with another or what might happen to its buildings, which are not city landmarks). St. Thomas More is a rich church in a rich neighborhood. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis worshipped there, and it was the site of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s memorial service. Its building, which has a 19th-century pastoral elegance, is usually filled on Sunday. It’s also the parish of The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan, who wrote a testy column in which she reported that parishioners wonder if “the archdiocese is driven by what drove Henry VIII, politics and real estate.” She wrote that the church and its land “could bring in $50 million, maybe $100 million, adding: “Any developer would jump at the chance.” Instead, she suggested that Cardinal Timothy Dolan sell his palatial residence on Madison Avenue. In a testy rebuttal, Bishop John O’Hara, a Dolan aide who has supervised the consolidation, wrote that “the process has nothing to do with real estate.” Dolan says his archdiocese can’t keep spending $40 million a year to support “unneeded” parishes. “We have too many parishes!” he wrote in a pastoral letter. “We no longer need 368 parishes in their current locations! … There are 29 parishes in the South Manhattan Vicariate alone — all concentrated on 14th Street or below!” It’s not just money, Dolan says. The archdiocese will soon face a critical shortage of priests to administer its parishes. They no longer include Our Lady of Vilnius, once a touchstone of Lithuanian Catholic identity and closed in 2007 because of what the archdiocese described as a dwindling congregation, a weak roof and a pastor who could not “understand, read or speak Lithuanian.” Former parishioners such as Chris Nakraseive still gather occasionally on Sunday to pray outside their old church’s locked front doors. They came Thursday, the eighth anniversary of its closing, to display icons, burn candles, sing hymns in Lithuanian and say the “Hail Mary.” They’re not the only ones who mourn the church. A neighborhood resident, Laura Barker, also stopped by. “I still miss the sound of the bells,” she said. MG END HAMPSON
Story highlights Japan's "Water Discharge Tunnel" complex drains floodwater into Edo River Underground complex is higher than five-story building, stretches nearly four miles System's heart is four turbines powered by jet engines similar to those in Boeing 737 plane On the outskirts of Tokyo, behind a small government building, underneath a soccer field and skateboard park, sits a remarkable feat of engineering. It's an example of how Japan's capital, which lies in a region at high risk from flooding and tropical cyclones, is trying to figure out how to contain the elements to protect its 13 million inhabitants. The entrance, which is locked at all times, is so nondescript a visitor may walk past dozens of times without ever noticing it. But today, we are given a tour down below of the so-called "Water Discharge Tunnel." Built between 1993 and 2006 at a cost of nearly $3 billion, the stunning complex is far more impressive than its name suggests. JUST WATCHED Sandy floods New York City subways Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sandy floods New York City subways 01:01 JUST WATCHED Staten Island devastated by Sandy Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Staten Island devastated by Sandy 04:47 JUST WATCHED Frustration, Desperation after Sandy Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Frustration, Desperation after Sandy 02:24 Winding down a series of stairs, you soon come upon a massive hall, resembling an underground Parthenon, or a scene out of a science fiction film. The initial water tank stretches more than 320 feet in length and towers higher than a five-story building. When you add it all up, the complex features five massive shafts, or tanks, that are able to move water along a tunnel that stretches nearly four miles. In this area of Saitama prefecture, heavy rains would often flood the Naka River Basin. But now, that valuable farmland has an incredible drain system sitting below. When the tanks and tunnel fill, engineers are able to turn on the heart of the system, which is a series of four turbines powered by jet engines similar to those used in a Boeing 737 airplane. The turbines are then able to rapidly funnel floodwaters to the nearby Edo River. It's worth noting that this part of suburban Tokyo can hardly be compared to the dense underground of New York City, which is a maze of subway tunnels, sewage systems and power lines. The engineers here are the first to point out that their system, while remarkable, is meant to deal with heavy rains -- and that it would struggle to cope with a Sandy-type storm surge coming from the Atlantic Ocean into New York's Upper Bay. Still, the underground marvel could inspire engineers to look for new ways to try to contain Mother Nature in the future.
Amino acids are gaining popularity in Lymeland. I am writing this not to prescribe you anything, but rather because I talk to a lot of people living with chronic illnesses, and I’ve had enough conversations in praise of amino acids with a few of these lovely people. The amino acids I am sharing with you here are not the only amino acids that I’ve talked about with others; this is simply a list of amino acids that I like to use above the rest. I will give you a brief summary of what amino acids do, why I supplement with them, and which ones work for me. Why Amino Acids? Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. There are about 20 amino acids that occur commonly in proteins. Of these, humans can synthesize 11 from simple organic molecules, but the other 9 are “essential,” which means we cannot create them within and need to supplement them in our diets. (A “complete protein” contains all of the essential amino acids. Generally animal proteins are complete proteins, while vegetarian proteins usually need to be combined to get all of the essential amino acids in one meal.) The number, types and sequences of amino acids are unique for each specific protein. Proteins make up the structures within us; some are structural components of our cells and tissues. Others act as antibodies in the fight against diseases. They build up into proteins to build new tissues and to replace old damaged ones. If there are insufficient carbs and fats in the diet, they are used for energy. Chemically, hormones may even be classified as proteins (or steroids), so amino acids are behind the scenes for many processes. With that said, these are the amino acids I like to supplement with and why: Lysine is important for proper growth, carnitine production, calcium absorption, and collegen formation. The reason I take lysine, personally, is because it’s famously an anti-viral. I use it as an anti-viral and pro-immunity supplement when I have colds, and also with my Epstein Barr Virus in the back of my mind. I think that antibiotics can weaken the immune system, and that perhap lysine is a good antidote to that. Glycine is one of the precursors to glutathione (the others are glutamine and cysteine or NAC). I prefer supplementing with these over doing glutathione IV pushes. The glutathione IV pushes are known to produce significant but fleeting improvements in patients (like getting up out of a wheelchair for 20 minutes). I prefer the turtle-paced but lasting effects of the precursors. Not to mention, all three of these have many other benefits. Glutamine is good for digestion and GI inflammation, NAC is good for detoxification. I think glycine is overlooked because what it’s known for is kind of boring: cellular repair. It’s also known to help with sleep and inflammation. If you’re interested, you can watch this guys endorsement of glycine with a better explanation: (P.S. gelatin is a natural source of glycine, which is also rich in collagen and protein. One tablespoon of gelatin = 11 gram of protein! Great if you have stomach issues and are finding it hard to eat enough.) Creatine is one of the most important energy producers for our cells and bodies. (Read this article to learn about why creatine is important in metabolic processes. And read my book to find out how your metabolism can help you fight chronic infections.) I know placebo is always a possibility, but I’m quite positive that creatine makes weight-training and work-out recovery dramatically easier on my body. I love this one and owe it many thanks in helping me build my muscles. Taurine insufficiency is common in autoimmune patients. It’s found in nerves and the heart, and is allegedly good for longevity (high taurine geolocations correlate with longer life spans, although correlation does not prove causation). I take it because it gives me great mental clarity; it’s my redbull. You can read Jenna’s Lyme Blog for a rave review on taurine. Tyrosine and iodine together create T3. Tyrosine is also a precursor to dopamine. It helps with weepiness (if you are soft like me) and can give your thyroid a subtle boost. I took tyrosine daily for years with no side-effects to my knowledge. In Conclusion This is what’s in my medicine cabinet. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and are typically good pre- or post-workout supplements. But they are not just for bodybuilders. They can repair tissues anywerhe from your six pack to your GI lining. They can change your mood and boost metabolism. Healthy or ill, I think amino acids are worthy of acknowledging and supplementing with. And while I have you here, I would also like to mention the the second annual Lyme Summit will be on June 16-26. There will be a lot of free information, but register soon! Related Spread the love
As you may have noticed, I still quite like Spitfires. I have another 3 or 4 currently sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets while I work out where the hell to put them. Naturally I assumed I'd be a lot better at sticking kits together. I mean, I'm older and wiser...right? Wrong. While I may be a lot more patient and less inclined to rush the job so I can play with the finished product, it hadn't occurred to me that I might still have the dexterity of an 80 year old alcoholic who had his arms amputated then sewn back on upside down. Basically I still have the same cack-handed fingers that I had when I was 12, except now they are twice the size . Here's another slight problem. When you are trying to fit one tiny bit into another tiny bit it helps if you aren't simultaneously short-sighted and longsighted. My neighbours think I have Tourettes. Nope, it's just that the bastard radio aerial just pinged off into the gap behind the fridge yet again. But if you think this is going to stop me making kits, you are sadly mistaken. Here's what I've been building recently. I saw it in Waterlooville models and thought it looked really cool, with the little finlets and all. Plus, it's quite an obscure aircraft in a colour scheme you don't see very often. Take a closer look at the cover again. Bottom right hand corner. I didn't notice that until I got home. It turns out that this is a hypothetical version and I can't help feeling that that's cheating. Why not just paint it bright purple and have it belong to the 2nd Fighter Bomber Wing of the Imperial Lemurian Air Korps? A bit of research reveals that the F6U Pirate is obscure for a reason. Quite a lot of the early jets were underpowered and tricky to fly but even by 1950s standards the Pirate was an utter turkey. The USN bought a few for trials then quickly got rid of them after they saw what the pilots were putting in their reports. Evidence suggests that if the El Salvador Air Force had bought Pirates, they would all have quickly ended up embedded in one ploughed field after another. In the next post we shall see how I actually got on with building this kit. I warn you now, it won't be pretty. Like a lot of kids I used to make plastic model kits when I was growing up. I even had the classic "Spitfires hanging from a string" display over my bed for many years. They fell down quite a lot.But truth be told, I wasn't actuallyat making models. Thanks to a combination of impatience and being epically cack-handed the end result was never going to win any prizes. Gluey-thumbprints, lumpy paintwork, wonky wings, decals slapped onto unpainted plastic - all present and correct.Not that this ever stopped me, of course. I may never have won any "Model of the week" contests but I was having fun and I could pretend that I was Air Marshall of the Royal Dalanian Airforce when nobody was looking.After a while I drifted away from Airfix in favour of LPs, comics and alcohol and managed to spend the next thirty years or so without gluing my fingers together even once.Then one day I was poking about Matalan and somehow ended up coming home with an Airfix Typhoon kit .Next thing I knew, the top of my fridge looked like this.
Alasdair MacIntyre explores some central philosophical, political and moral claims of modernity and argues that a proper understanding of human goods requires a rejection of these claims. In a wide-ranging discussion, he considers how normative and evaluative judgments are to be understood, how desire and practical reasoning are to be characterized, what it is to have adequate self-knowledge, and what part narrative plays in our understanding of human lives. He asks, further, what it would be to understand the modern condition from a neo-Aristotelian or Thomistic perspective, and argues that Thomistic Aristotelianism, informed by Marx's insights, provides us with resources for constructing a contemporary politics and ethics which both enable and require us to act against modernity from within modernity. This rich and important book builds on and advances MacIntyre's thinking in ethics and moral philosophy, and will be of great interest to readers in both fields. Draws upon examples from Hume, Aristotle, Aquinas, Marx, and others in order to provide a first step in rethinking the relationships between philosophical theorizing and everyday practice Elaborates upon MacIntyre's position in moral philosophy and connects it concretely with some of the more important realities of the contemporary world Uses the case studies of four twentieth-century figures to rethink the relationships between theory and practice, and between desire and practical reasoning Reviews & endorsements 'For readers of Alasdair MacIntyre who have wondered how the views of his After Virtue, Whose Justice? Which Rationality? and Dependent Rational Animals hang together, this book is as good a response as we could have hoped for. In Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, we see the fundamental continuity of the ideas that MacIntyre has developed and defended over the past forty years. It is a canonical statement of MacIntyre's mature views in moral, political, and social philosophy.' Mark Murphy, Georgetown University, Washington DC 'Alasdair MacIntyre is one of the greatest living philosophers and any new book by him is bound to raise the highest expectations. Readers will not be disappointed by a book that represents the culmination of MacIntyre's life long project to situate ethical thought in its historical and political context. Beginning with academic discussions in meta-ethics, the work develops into a general theory of modernity from MacIntyre's Thomistic perspective. The range of reference is remarkable: from the work of Oscar Wilde and D. H. Lawrence to that of Aquinas and Marx. MacIntyre's scholarship and insight are evident on every page. Everyone - from moral and political philosophers to the reflective general reader - will greatly benefit from reading it.' Alan Thomas, Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands 'It's as important a work of philosophy as there has been in some time and a must-read for MacIntyre's followers, detractors, and everyone in between.' Christian Century '… astonishingly wide-ranging work …' Marx and Philosophy Review of Books '… especially where the misdeeds of the powerful are at issue, MacIntyre writes with great trenchancy; and one detects, underneath a cool and measured argumentative surface, the heart of an Amos or Isaiah, burning with righteous anger.' Commonweal 'Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity is an essential addition to MacIntyre's distinguished body of work.' Richard Kraut, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews '[Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity] is a rich and nuanced text that provides a foundational restatement of Thomistic practical philosophy for the 21st Century. It links moral philosophy, business ethics, and political philosophy in a way that contrasts with standard academic practice.' Caleb Bernacchio, Acta Philosophica 'For over three decades, Alasdair MacIntyre has been arguing that Thomistic Aristotelianism offers the best path forward for contemporary politics and ethics. While his philosophical career began in the 1950s, it has been this project … that has established his reputation as one of the most significant philosophers of the twentieth century.' Jennifer A. Herdt, Studies in Christian Ethics Customer reviews Not yet reviewed Be the first to review Review was not posted due to profanity × , create a review (If you're not , sign out) Please enter the right captcha value Please enter a star rating. Your review must be a minimum of 12 words. How do you rate this item? Reviews must contain at least 12 words about the product. × Product details Date Published: November 2016 format: Hardback isbn: 9781107176454 length: 332 pages
Justice Antonin Scalia is really worried about whether the Voting Rights Act is fair to white people. (Jeffrey MacMillan / The Washington Post) In heated oral arguments Wednesday, the Supreme Court justices gave the impression that they're ready to get rid of a key section of the Voting Rights Act. At issue is section 5, which requires the Department of Justice to issue a "preclearance" of any changes to districting or other voting laws in a number of set jurisdictions, covering most of the South but also Manhattan, Brooklyn, some counties in California and South Dakota, and towns in Michigan and New Hampshire. Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the laws had the effect of requiring racially motivated gerrymandering, amounting to the "perpetuation of a racial entitlement" on the part of black legislators and constituents benefiting from the districting. Chief Justice John Roberts agreed, asking Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, "Is it the government's submission that the citizens of the South are more racist than the citizens of the North?" Justice Anthony Kennedy, the swing justice on the court, seemed less concerned than Scalia about whites being treated unfairly and less concerned than Roberts about the risk of discriminating against Southerners. Instead, he questioned the law on on federalism grounds. "If Alabama wants to have monuments to the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, if it wants to acknowledge the wrongs of its past," Kennedy asked Verrilli, "is it better off doing that if it's an own independent sovereign or if it's under the trusteeship of the United States Government?" Assistant U.S. Attorney for Civil Rights Tom Perez, who is in charge of approving or objecting to proposed voting law changes. (Getty Images) But what would actually happen if Section 5 were overturned? Rick Pildes, an election law expert at New York University, thinks some of the reactions to those questions on the voting law are hyperbolic. He notes that the home page of the Huffington Post Web site featured the headline "Back to 1964?" Nonsense, he argues. "No one in their right mind can think that there’s a risk that we’re on the verge of going back to the world that existed before 1965." So, what is the risk, if there is one? Pildes notes that the Justice Department has come to use section 5 more as a tool to that ensure minority populations are represented in legislative bodies than a way to tackle "ballot box" issues, like voter ID, wait times at the voting booth, and so forth. "For several decades now, it’s been far more significant in terms of redistricting issues than it has in 'access to the ballotbox' issues," he says. "We like to talk about first generation versus second generation claims. First generation claims are about access to the ballot box. Second generation claims are about the representativeness of districts and how they are constructed." And Pildes isn't convinced that doing away with section 5 would have much of an effect on second generation claims. For one thing, the Justice Department rejects only a tiny fraction of changes to voting and districting laws. An internal study found that the agency raised objection to less than 0.1 percent of all law changes between 1995 and 2004. But, more significant, section 2 of the law allows for very similar objections to be made through federal lawsuits, rather than as complaints to Justice. "Section 2 is used in litigation all the time to challenge redistricting," Pildes says. "Section 5 is mainly a procedural device for challenging redistricting, and the stakes are high enough generally that the losing side will turn to section 2 if section 5 is no longer available." What does worry Pildes is the possibility that section 5 has deterred localities from creating harmful ballot box regulations and that without it local governments would move to make it harder for disadvantaged groups to vote. But there are other tools there, he says, that could work to avert that. "There are a lot of other laws by now, both statutes at the national and local level, that provide mechanisms for challenging objections to voting," he notes. "These voter ID laws, those were struck down in many parts of the country through litigation under state constitutions in areas that section 5 doesn’t apply to." But it's worth noting that these mechanisms are less immediate than section 5. Pamela Karlan, a voting rights expert at Stanford Law who filed a brief in support of section 5 in the current case, noted to NPR that all districts have to do to be exempted from the law is have a clean record of 10 years without Justice Department objections. Shelby County, Ala., the plaintiff in this case, does not meet that requirement because it tried to redistrict a city councilor out of his seat. The councilor didn't realize what had been going on until Justice rejected the plan. Under section 2, he would have had to take the council to court for its actions, potentially leading to a long court process before he was able to keep his seat. "Section 5 might make those challenges cheaper or easier," Pildes notes. But the debate the Supreme Court is considering only covers part of the range of views on section 5. In a redistricting context, the Justice Department has tended to promote the creation of districts with a majority of a racial minority within their bounds (majority-minority districts), the theory being that members of oppressed groups should be represented in legislative bodies if those groups are to be represented adequately. This type of representation is referred to by political scientists and legal scholars as "descriptive representation." Harvard Law's Lani Guinier, a critic of the view that the black community is best served by laws intended merely to maximize the number of black representatives. She was nominated for Perez's job in 1993 but forced to withdraw. (Stanford) Others have argued that this is not enough. Lani Guinier, a professor at Harvard Law School, wrote a famous paper called "The Triumph of Tokenism" in 1991, arguing that a system of proportional representation would do a better job of representing black interests than does simply maximizing the number of African Americans in legislatures. "Black electoral success has neither mobilized the black community nor realized the promised community-based reforms," she wrote. Political scientists Charles Cameron, Sharyn O'Halloran and David Epstein backed up that argument when they found that majority-minority districts like those created by the VRA do not maximize substantive representation, or the election of legislators who agree with the prevailing view of a racial minority group. That's because they concentrate like-minded minority voters into certain districts, meaning those voters have little representation outside those districts. That makes it easier for candidates judged by members of the relevant minority group to not share their interests to gain those outside seats. Epstein and O'Halloran have found that each additional majority-minority district increases the number of conservative-held seats by two. Still, even O'Halloran and Epstein think section 5 is worth preserving, as in truly egregious cases it's better than less efficient mechanisms and it doesn't make the situation markedly worse than it would be with only section 2. Heather Gerken, a professor at Yale law school, adds that majority-minority districts provide safe seats that allow minority groups to build seniority and thus better serve their constituents. "That’s where having stability really matters," she says. But Gerken acknowledges that there's a tradeoff. Promoting minority interests, legal scholars are increasingly arguing, requires balancing a need for equitable representation in government with the potential that districting allowing for such representation will end up hurting the very community it was designed to help. Whether we're on the right side of that tradeoff curve is perhaps a more interesting question than "is the Voting Rights Act unfair to the South."
1.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter If our founding fathers could see the cesspool that the U.S. Congress has become today, they would roll over in their graves. Most Americans don’t realize this, but we already have a “part-time Congress”. Members of Congress only “work” a little over a third of the days on the calendar. The rest of the time they have off. It is no wonder why so many members of Congress are involved in so much corruption – they have so much free time on their hands that they are bound to get into trouble. Many members of Congress also use their positions of power and the information they learn during the course of their duties to become fabulously wealthy. At a time when incomes nationally are actually declining, our Congress critters are becoming stinking rich at a staggering pace. Yes, politics in America has always been a game that is funded and played by wealthy individuals, but things have gotten so extreme that it is hard to argue that average Americans have any control over Congress at all at this point. Instead of a government “of the people, by the people and for the people”, we now have a government “of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy”. If you doubt this, just keep on reading. Over the past couple of decades, the “wealth gap” between members of Congress and average Americans has grown to ridiculous proportions. Things have gotten so bad that now even the New York Times is reporting on these things…. “Largely insulated from the country’s economic downturn since 2008, members of Congress — many of them among the “1 percenters” denounced by Occupy Wall Street protesters — have gotten much richer even as most of the country has become much poorer in the last six years” So how wealthy have members of Congress become? Many of you won’t believe the statistics posted below. The truth is that Congress has become all about money. It takes huge piles of money to get elected to Congress, it takes huge piles of money to stay in Congress, and most members of Congress seem to be able to accumulate gigantic piles of money while “serving” their country…. -Today, there are 250 members of Congress that are millionaires. -According to the Wall Street Journal, the median net worth of members of Congress is now $913,000. -The collective net worth of all of the members of Congress increased by 25 percent between 2008 and 2010. Meanwhile, the standard of living in the United States has fallen farther over the past three years than at any other time that has ever been recorded in U.S. history. -After adjusting for inflation, between 1984 and 2009 the median net worth of members of Congress rose from $280,000 to $725,000 while the median net worth of all Americans actually declined slightly over that same time period. -The collective net worth of all of the members of Congress is now slightly over 2 billion dollars. That is “billion” with a “b”. -In 2009, Congress was only scheduled to be in session for 137 days out of the 365 days of the year. In 2010, Congress was also only scheduled to be in session for 137 days out of the entire year. For much more on the pathetic “work schedule” of the U.S. Congress, just check out this video. -The net worth of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi increased by 62 percent from 2009 to 2010. In 2009 it was reported that she had a net worth of 21.7 million dollars, and in 2010 it was reported that she had a net worth of 35.2 million dollars. -The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, saw his wealth grow by 29 percent from 2009 to 2010. He is now worth approximately 9.8 million dollars. -U.S. Representative Darrell Issa is worth approximately 220 million dollars. His wealth grew by approximately 37 percent from 2009 to 2010. -The wealthiest member of Congress, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, is worth approximately 294 million dollars. -Those that won U.S. Senate seats during the last election spent an average of nearly $10 million on their campaigns. -More than 5 billion dollars was spent on political campaigns back in 2008, and it is being projected that 8 billion dollars will be spent on political campaigns in 2012. -When it comes to federal elections, the candidate that raises the most money wins about 90 percent of the time. -Since 1964, the reelection rate for members of the U.S. House of Representatives has never fallen below 85 percent. It is also amazing how deeply corrupt Congress has become. In a previous article, I detailed how a number of Congress critters used confidential information about the coming financial crisis that they received from U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in September 2008 to make beneficial stock market moves before the stock market crashed later that fall…. On September 16, 2008 Paulson and Bernanke held “closed door meetings” with members of Congress and warned them that the financial system was about to totally collapse. But instead of racing out to save the financial system, author Peter Schweizer says that many of our representatives in Congress raced out to save their stock portfolios. In his new book, Schweizer alleges the following…. Schweizer says that U.S. Senator Dick Durbin sold $74,715 worth of stock on September 17th and $42,000 worth of stock on September 18th. Schweizer says that U.S. Representative Jim Moran sold off shares in 90 different corporations on September 17th. Schweizer says that U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse sold off at least $250,000 worth of stock between September 18th and September 24th. Schweizer says that U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus bet very heavily against the stock market in the days following the September 16th meeting and made tens of thousands of dollars doing so. *Schweizer says that U.S. Senator John Kerry bought up approximately $350,000 of Bank of America stock and approximately $550,000 of Citigroup stock during October 2008 and November of 2008. It was during this time period that the bailout programs for the big banks were being developed and debated. So has anyone gotten into trouble for any of that? Of course not. Congress critters play by an entirely different set of rules than the rest of us do. At this point, the American people are absolutely disgusted with Congress. According to the latest polls, the approval rating for Congress is sitting at about 12 percent. But of course the vast majority of our Congress critters will be re-elected over and over and over again. Most members of Congress do not care about you. What they do care about is taking care of their political careers and taking care of their big donors. As noted earlier, it takes enormous amounts of money to win national elections in America, and most members of Congress are not about to do anything that will threaten the gravy train. Our system is fundamentally broken. It is time to quit pretending. But of course the mainstream media will never admit this, because mainstream media outlets are owned by many of the same corporations and wealthy individuals that fund political campaigns. For the establishment, the current system is working just fine. So until the American people wake up and start demanding fundamental reforms, our Congress critters are going to continue to live the high life and we are going to keep on getting the same pathetic results out of Washington.
Posted on: March 15, 2016 The National Historic Landmark previously known as The Ahwahnee, a name that has been in use since 1927. Soon after midnight on March 1, 2016—when the Park's concession holder changed from DNCY to Aramark—this location was renamed The Majestic Yosemite Hotel. [Photo] Julia Reardin The recent renaming of many of the facilities at Yosemite National Park is drawing considerable criticism from current and former Valley climbers, residents and visitors. "It's a shame when financial interests are able to trump the importance of cultural heritage in our own national parks," Colby Brokvist, general manager of Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides, wrote in an email. advertisement "I think that it's terrible that DNCY [the Buffalo, New York-based concessionaire Delaware North Corporation Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc.] feels that they own the name of something that is part of our history," added Jacob Schmitz, a former long-time resident of the Valley. "I don't understand how a corporation that ran the park for 23 years can copyright a name that the public and the NPS has been using for over 100." Schmitz was speaking in a generic sense, not singling out one name in particular. Some of the names for man-made facilities and sites in the park have been used even longer. Camp Curry was started, for example, in 1899. That name was later changed to Curry Village. The park's natural features, like Half Dome, are not affected by the concessionaire change; although their names were changed earlier in the history of the Valley by some of the first European visitors to the Valley. (For example, "Tis-sa-ack" is the original Ahwahneechee name for Half Dome.) The recent name changes are a result of the March 1 concessionaire change. In mid-2015, the outgoing concessionaire, DNCY, was unable to win a new contract with the Park Service to run hotels and retail outlets in the park. Yosemite Hospitality, LLC, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Aramark, a food-services company, bid successfully for the job. According to NBC during the competition for the concession, DNCY sent letters to the Park Service letting the agency know it owned trademarks for many of the names that have been tied to famous facilities for decades—properties such as The Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village. And, according to court records, "...before, during and after the solicitation process, DNCY repeatedly sought assurances from NPS that it would comply with its obligation under the Contract to require a successor concessioner, as a condition to being granted the New Contract, to purchase and pay for DNCY's Other Property at fair value." The National Park Service and Aramark subsequently learned that DNCY valued these names at $51 million. However in the lawsuit, filed September 17 with the US Court of Federal Claims, DNCY, "Prays for judgment in its favor against the Government for damages in an amount to be determined at trial, together with costs, reasonable attorneys' fees and other relief that Court deems just"—in other words, no specified amount. "Because the [previous] concessioner, DNCY, claimed ownership and the right to payment for trade names, trademarks, and other intellectual property that it argues is worth over $50 million, the National Park Service included the option to change the names of these sites...." noted a January statement from the Park Service. "While it is unfortunate that we must take this action, changing the names of these facilities will help us provide seamless service to the American public during the transition to the new concessioner," said Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher in that statement. "Yosemite National Park belongs to the American people. This action will not affect the historic status of the facilities, as they are still important cultural icons to the National Park Service and the public. Our stewardship of these properties is unwavering." The statement went on to note the renaming was "to eliminate potential trademark infringement issues." While DNCY suggested its names are worth $51 million, the Park Service has suggested the value of the names is worth $3.5 million, according to CBS News. So, to avoid possible costs for the trademarked names, just after midnight on March 1, once DNCY's contract had expired, park workers began mounting new names onto road signs and placing black tape over plaques that carried the old names. "I know we need to go with the flow, accept change and all that, but it sure seems like this whole business is indicative of the corporate greed so prevalent in our society," said longtime Yosemite climber Steve Bosque. Signs covering the previous names of two locations in Yosemite: The Majestic Yosemite Hotel (The Ahwahnee) and Yosemite Valley Lodge (Yosemite Lodge at the Falls). [Photo] Julia Reardin A reservationist who books visitors into The Majestic Yosemite Hotel (The Ahwahnee) told Alpinist there was considerable push back from people looking to stay there. For its part, DNCY issued a statement regarding the name changes, stating that "DNCY has offered to license these trademarks, free of any charge, to allow NPS or the new concessionaire at Yosemite to use the trademarks and avoid any name changes or impact on the park visitor experience while this dispute is being settled by the courts." Additionally, the press release states: "DNCY has not 'grossly overvalued' the trademarks. DNCY had two independent appraisals of the intellectual property—which includes trademarked names, websites and customer databases—performed by reputable third-party experts.... Months prior to the bid submission deadline, DNCY shared its appraisals with NPS. After NPS disputed DNCY's appraisals and failed to share its own appraisal, DNCY offered to enter binding arbitration to set a fair value for the intellectual property.... It is common practice for concessionaires to use trademarks at federal locations. This is done to safeguard the treasured names, words and symbols from improper use by entities not under contract with the government. "DNCY hopes NPS and the new concessionaire will not change the names of historic places or venues at Yosemite National Park. We purchased these trademarks when we commenced our work in 1993, as required by our contract with NPS, and our only interest is selling them on to the new concessionaire for fair value, a requirement NPS is obligated to enforce." Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman responded to DNCY's statement in an interview with Alpinist on March 15. "First of all DNCY made that offer to both us and Aramark," he said. "We did not accept the offer for two reasons. One—if we accepted the offer we would acknowledge that they owned them. We contest this in both the lawsuit and the petition. And the second reason is that there is no guarantee that DNCY will either rescind the offer in the future or instigate further legal action. We just don't know. That's been the narrative even before March 1." DNYC also trademarked the expression "Go Climb A Rock," according to DNCY spokesman Glen White, as well as the park's name, "Yosemite National Park." Gediman contests: "[The name] Yosemite National Park is in public domain so they couldn't get the trademark but they can use it for T-shirts and hats—that's what they own it for. We're contesting that in the trademark office and the court of federal claims. At the end of February, the National Park Service filed a petition to ask the trademark office to cancel these trademarks because we don't think they're legitimate and DNCY is no longer the concessionaire as of March 1." For the moment, The Ahwahnee Hotel now is the Majestic Yosemite Hotel, the Wawona Hotel is the Big Trees Lodge, Curry Village is Half Dome Village, Yosemite Lodge at the Falls is Yosemite Valley Lodge, and Badger Pass Ski Area is the Yosemite Ski and Snowboard Area. (Top) Curry Village before the concessionaire change. (Bottom) Half Dome Village after the concessionaire change. [Photos] Julia Reardin In a March 15 email to Alpinist, Aramark spokesman David Freireich wrote, "As you know, the NPS previously announced the names will be changed and that's how we are proceeding. We would have liked for this matter to have been resolved prior to March 1, however, when it became apparent that was not going to happen, the NPS was left with no choice but to change the names to ensure a smooth transition for visitors. Although the names are changing, the historical status of these properties will not change." On February 26, the National Park Service filed a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the disputed trademarks so that the old names could still be used by the Park Service and Aramark. "This is just about price, and their asking price is outrageous.... DNCY made millions and millions a year off us for 23 years," said longtime Valley climber Doug Robinson. Prior to Delaware North taking over in 1993, the Yosemite Park and Curry Company ran the concessions for 94 years, noted Frank Clifford in a 1993 LA Times article. "The brainchild of schoolteachers David and Jennie Curry, the Curry Co. started out doing business from a few tents in 1899 and eventually grew into an $80-million-a-year enterprise." DNCY trademarked Curry Village, Wawona and The Ahwahnee in 2002, Yosemite Lodge in 2003, and Badger Pass in 2009. Meanwhile, there are community-oriented moves afoot to restore Yosemite's names and to halt similar debacles in regard to historic names. Name-change opponent Marya Gomez has created an online petition titled Don't Let Corporations Rename Yosemite Icons! which already has more than 105,000 signatures. Three additional online campaigns against the name changes—"Delaware North: Release the name Yosemite National Park, "Yosemite National Park names should not be changed," and "Stop a corporation from stealing Yosemite's identity"—have been launched via MoveOn.org. In the California state legislature, three representatives recently introduced legislation to "protect California's state parks from similar exploitation—and to, by the way, ban the state from contracting later with concessionaires who try to trademark park place names," according to the Sacramento Bee. Big-wall climber Sean Plunkett says the name changes of facilities appear less significant when you look at the larger historical background. The designations of some natural features have already been changed several times from the names the original indigenous inhabitants gave them several times—first by Spanish explorers and then by Anglo visitors, acts that obscured some of the rich cultural heritage of the region's first people. Nineteen sixties and seventies climbing pioneer Ken Boche noted, "In daily practice, the [most recent] name change doesn't seem to be that big a deal. Yes, it is outrageous, yet in keeping with the current pro-corporation political system, that the Trademark office allowed traditional names like 'Ahwahnee,' 'Yosemite National Park' and the others to be taken out of the public domain and given to a temporary concessionaire. But people will continue to use the traditional names as long as they convey best the localities to their audiences. When I climbed here in the '60s and '70s, it was always called 'The Lodge.' It's still being called that, and I've only referred to it as, 'The Lodge At the Falls' to distinguish it from 'Yosemite View Lodge,' located near the park boundary at El Portal." Yosemite local Anna Horn told Alpinist: "The dispute to me can only be compared to a bunch of toddlers fighting over a shiny toy. Worse, because this is a fight amongst adults who should have intelligence that is developed beyond a toddler's. However, at the end of the day, I have not chosen to spend my life in this amazing place because of the names men gave to the buildings. Will I sling drinks at The Half Dome Village bar with the same smile and heart I did at The Curry Bar for so many years? Of course. I love this place and that is because of what Mother Nature created. It is home." The good news for climbers is that one facility—the scene of many long tales and the place where thousands of mad plans have been hatched—is keeping its old name: Camp 4. [This story was updated on March 17 at 3:04 p.m. EST—Ed.] Sources: Ken Boche, Steve Bosque, Colby Brokvist, David Freireich (Aramark), Anna Horn, Glen White (DNCY), Sean Plunkett, Doug Robinson, Jacob Schmitz, with additional reporting by Chris Van Leuven, The (Bend, Ore.) Bulletin, buffalonews.com, cbsnews.com, fresnobee.com, nytimes.com, nationalparkstraveler.com, npr.org, National Park Service, thepetitionsite.com, prnewswire.com, sacbee.com, US Court of Federal Claims, yosemitepark.com Alpinist, our small editorial staff works hard to create in-depth stories that are thoughtfully edited, thoroughly fact-checked and beautifully designed. Please consider supporting our efforts by Here at, our small editorial staff works hard to create in-depth stories that are thoughtfully edited, thoroughly fact-checked and beautifully designed. Please consider supporting our efforts by subscribing advertisement
Abbott sorry for 'target on forehead' comment Updated Tony Abbott has apologised for saying Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a "target on her forehead" during another heated Question Time in Federal Parliament. The Opposition Leader interrupted the normal business of Parliament for the 50th time since the election to move a motion aimed at forcing Ms Gillard to apologise for saying there would not be a carbon tax. While the Government was keen to highlight its co-investment deal with Holden to keep the carmaker operating in Australia, the Opposition's focus was on the carbon tax. In moving a motion to suspend standing orders, Mr Abbott tried to tie federal policies to Saturday's poll in Queensland, declaring it a referendum on the carbon tax and Ms Gillard's integrity. "It'll be a referendum on political leaders who don't tell the truth. It'll be a referendum on political leaders without honour and principle," he said. "The people of Australia are waiting to pass their verdict. We don't have a federal election, but Mr Speaker we certainly do have a state election and isn't the whole of Australia waiting. "The voters of Queensland, they won't miss... this Prime Minister and this Leader of the House have got targets on their foreheads." Leader of the House Anthony Albanese took offence. "What we saw when the Leader of the Opposition said across the chamber that the Prime Minister and myself had targets on our foreheads, from the political party that quite proudly introduced John Howard's gun laws is an outrage, Mr Speaker," he said. "We see it day after day that he simply does not have the temperament required of a prime minister." Mr Abbott said he was sorry for using the phrase. "Mr Speaker, at the close of my contribution to the suspension of standing orders debate I said something across the table which I shouldn't have," he said. "I used a metaphor that I regret and I withdraw, and I apologise." And Mr Albanese again attacked the Opposition's tactics to repeatedly bring Question Time to an end. "Already in the 43rd parliament, we have lost 27 hours of Question Time - 27 hours as a result of their shutting down of Question Time," Mr Albanese said. "That is enough time to watch all the Harry Potter movies, to watch the Lord Of The Rings trilogy... It is enough time to complete a course in basic Spanish." As with the 49 other attempts to suspend standing orders in this parliament, the Opposition lost the motion. Parliamentarians will now take a six-week break from Canberra before returning in May for the federal budget. Threat claim Meanwhile, Liberal MP Dennis Jensen told Parliament he had been threatened by Labor senator Glenn Sterle. Dr Jensen says Senator Sterle made the threatening comments at Canberra airport on Saturday night. Earlier this week, Senator Sterle challenged Liberal senator Eric Abetz to "bring it on" and to "take it outside" during a debate in the Senate. Dr Jensen says after reading about that incident he decided to tell the Parliament about his exchange with Senator Sterle. "Senator Sterle then physically threatened me in front of two of my young staffers, and this threat was repeated on quite a few occasions, basically, saying he would meet me at any truck stop in Australia, any time, as well as using foul language," he said. But Senator Sterle denies he threatened the MP. "I just told Dennis Jensen in a roundabout sort of way I thought he was an idiot," he said. "At not one stage did I physically threaten him. "I hear that he says that I repeatedly or continued to threaten him - there was half the West Australian Liberal Party there, and if I was threatening him in front of everyone, well, it says a lot that none of them came to his defence. No-one said anything to me." Topics: federal-parliament, government-and-politics, federal-government, parliament, liberals, alp, australia First posted
Steffon Armitage made his England debut in 2009, when he was a London Irish player England internationals would oppose the inclusion of overseas-based players for the World Cup, BBC Sport understands. Under Rugby Football Union rules, only players playing in the domestic leagues can represent England, unless there are "exceptional circumstances". BBC rugby correspondent Ian Robertson said current squad members he had spoken to would be "outraged" if expats were made eligible for selection. "The players don't want outsiders to come in," he told BBC Radio 5 live. Clermont's former Bath full-back Nick Abendanon was named European Player of the Year for this season, while Toulon flanker Steffon Armitage picked up the award in 2014. Nick Abendanon left Premiership side Bath to join Clermont last summer Both have been mooted as potential inclusions in Stuart Lancaster's England squad, as the exceptional circumstances clause could apply to this summer's home World Cup. "Strictly on merit they would be good enough to be in the England squad," Robertson said of Abendanon and Armitage, who have two and five international caps respectively. "But the players I've spoken to are unanimous that it would disrupt the squad enormously, that they would have had a free ride, taken the big money abroad and come in for the glory of the World Cup. "And, of course, this also would affect Stuart Lancaster and his coaching team. "I'm certain they're of exactly the same view that they have a tight squad, they've worked together non-stop for the last three years building up to the World Cup and it would be exceptionally unusual for somebody like Lancaster to want to bring in people from outside."
Transcript Shows Obama Admin Worked With Palestinians to Draft Anti-Israel UN Resolution Egyptian paper Al-Youm Al-Saba’a published the transcript of meetings between top US and Palestinian officials that prove the Obama administration was behind the anti-Israel UN Security Council Resolution that passed last week in a 14-0 vote. Last Week, in a final despicable act against Christians and Jews, on Christmas weekend, Barack Obama effectively signed over Christendom’s and Judaism’s holiest sites to radical Muslim groups. Barack Obama refused to veto a Security Council resolution condemning settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. This resolution effectively turns over the Old City to Palestinian groups. The Palestinians are led by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Fatah Islamists in the West Bank. Obama thought this was a good move. Jewish leaders were very upset with the move. As Breitbart.com reported, a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu observed the second night of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah on Sunday evening by lighting the candles at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest existing site. The Western Wall is now officially an illegal “settlement,” according to an anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution passed last Friday. And the holiest sites of Christendom, according to the UN and Obama, are no longer Israeli land. Obama gave all of this away. The Times of Israel reported: Egyptian paper published what it claims are the transcripts of meetings between top US and Palestinian officials that, if true, would corroborate Israeli accusations that the Obama administration was behind last week’s UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements. At the same time, a report in an Israeli daily Tuesday night pointed to Britain helping draft the resolution and high drama in the hours leading up to the vote, as Jerusalem tried to convince New Zealand to bury the Security Council measure. In a meeting in early December with top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, US Secretary of State John Kerry told the Palestinians that the US was prepared to cooperate with the Palestinians at the Security council, Israel’s Channel 1 TV said, quoting the Egyptian Al-Youm Al-Sabea newspaper. Also present at the meeting were US National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and Majed Faraj, director of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service. Kerry is quoted as saying that he could present his ideas for a final status solution if the Palestinians pledge they will support the proposed framework. The US officials advised the Palestinians to travel to Riyadh to present the plan to Saudi leaders. Israel fears that Kerry, who is slated to give a speech Wednesday on the subject, will then lay out his comprehensive vision for two-state solution at a Paris peace conference planned for January. Israel has refused to attend. Israel further fears that this Kerry framework could be enshrined in another UN Security Council resolution. The Egyptian report fits with Israeli claims that it had received “ironclad” information from Arab sources that Washington actively helped craft last week’s UN resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal.
Recently, 2015 Major League Baseball schedules were released, and a notable quirk was found by Reddit user Antithesys: the Chicago Cubs will open a three-game set at Wrigley Field against the Miami Marlins on July 3, 2015 — the 30th anniversary of the release of Back to the Future. You might be wondering, why is this notable? Well, in Back to the Future II, when Marty McFly travels to 2015, he learns that the Cubs have swept the World Series against Miami. The gag was that, in the ’80s, Miami didn’t even have a professional baseball team — and the Chicago Cubs hadn’t won a World Series in 80 years. Of course, now, Miami does have a baseball team — and, unfortunately, they play in the National League, same as the Cubs, which ensure this October Classic match-up will never occur. And with the Cubs likely to finish 2014 in the NL Central basement, it’s likely that their 106-year World Series drought will extend beyond 2015. Also, while it would be even more serendipitous if the two teams could meet up on the anniversary of the release date of Back to the Future II, that would be impossible: it was released November 22, 1989, well after the end of baseball season.
Barbara De Angelis (born March 4, 1951)[1] is an American relationship consultant, lecturer and author, TV personality, relationship, personal growth adviser and spiritual teacher.[2] De Angelis received a master's degree in psychology from Sierra University in Los Angeles,[3] and a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia Pacific University, a now-defunct and non-accredited university previously located in San Rafael, California.[4] De Angelis has written fourteen best-selling books in these fields, including the New York Times bestselling books How to Make Love All the Time, Secrets About Men Every Woman Should Know, Are You The One for Me? and Real Moments. Her infomercial "Making Love Work" won an award as Best Infomercial of 1994. She was the founder and executive director of the Los Angeles Personal Growth Center for 12 years and is president of Shakti Communications, Inc. De Angelis was born and raised in Philadelphia,[4] and has been married five times as of 1995.[3] Her spouses have included magician Doug Henning[5] and author John Gray, who along with De Angelis while they were married, received an unaccredited PhD degree by correspondence from the now-defunct Columbia Pacific University.[6] Books [ edit ] How To Make Love All The Time: Make Love Last a Lifetime (1991) (1991) Secrets about Men Every Woman Should Know (1991) (1991) Are You The One for Me?: Knowing Who's Right and Avoiding Who's Wrong (1993) (1993) Real Moments: Discover the Secret for True Happiness (1995) (1995) Ask Barbara: The 100 Most-Asked Questions About Love, Sex and Relationships (1997) (1997) Real Moments for Lovers: The Enlightened Guide for Discovering Total Passion and True Intimacy (1997) (1997) The Real Rules: How to Find the Right Man for the Real You (1997) (1997) Chicken Soup for the Couple’s Soul (co-editor) (1999) (co-editor) (1999) Passion (1999) (1999) What Women Want Men to Know (2002) (2002) Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul: Inspirational Stories About Love and Romance (co-editor) (2003) (co-editor) (2003) Confidence: Finding It And Living It (2005) [7] (2005) How Did I Get Here?: Finding Your Way to Renewed Hope and Happiness When Life and Love Take Unexpected Turns (2005) (2005) Secrets About Life Every Woman Should Know (2011) (2011) Soul Shifts (2015) (2015) The Choice For Love (2017)
Illinois’ finances are in dire straights. Some fear the state is a hair’s breath from (gasp!) bankruptcy. "We would like all the stakeholders of Illinois to recognize how close the state is to bankruptcy or insolvency," Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a fiscal watchdog in Chicago told Crain’s Chicago Business. Bankruptcy is defined as an inability to pay debts out of current assets, and it’s no secret that Illinois can’t pay its bills. The latest count puts Illinois’ unpaid bills at around $5 billion – a contentious fact among the state’s gubernatorial hopefuls. The question is: what can Illinois do about its near-bankrupt status? Answer: not much. Federal bankruptcy protection doesn’t apply to states, so there's no way for Illinois to hide from its creditors. And none of Illinois politicians are willing to make the tough choices needed to close the budget gap, like raising taxes or cutting spending, Crain’s notes. The Top 10 Illinois Stories of 2009 Many foresee a governmental collapse in which vendors will stop bidding on contracts, investors will stop buying bonds and employees will be paid with IOUs, similar to what California has done. "I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel," Dan Strick, CEO of SouthStar Services, a Chicago Heights non-profit that helps people with developmental disabilities told Crain's. "It seems to be getting worse and worse, and the delays longer and longer." Indeed, Illinois is not taking in cash, its liquid assets have dipped below $1 million at times, Comptroller Dan Hynes said, and the state is supposed to pay $5.4 billion into its pension fund next year and $10 billion the year after that. And that's just the beginning. "The crisis will come when you see state institutions shutting down because they can't pay their employees," David Merriman, head of the economics department at the University of Illinois at Chicago told the publication. No-one wants to see a budget crisis. Read more of the gritty details at Crains.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will retain coach Dirk Koetter, a source confirmed to ESPN's Adam Schefter, despite a disappointing season that started with high expectations. In his first season as an NFL head coach, Koetter led the Buccaneers to a 9-7 record in 2016, which included a five-game winning streak late in the season. The Buccaneers fell short of making the playoffs by one game, but it was their first winning season since 2010. Tampa Bay's 2016 season substantially raised expectations for 2017, especially with an upgraded roster on both sides of the ball and quarterback Jameis Winston having one more year of experience. The team garnered national attention by appearing on HBO's "Hard Knocks" during training camp. But the season has been marred by injuries, including Winston missing three games with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder. Running back Doug Martin and the ground game have been stuck in neutral, and last season's best defense on third down ranks as the NFL's worst in 2017. Editor's Picks Bucs opt for stability with Dirk Koetter, but does he deserve it? The Bucs' decision to retain Dirk Koetter might not be a popular move, but it brings organizational consistency, particularly around Jameis Winston. The Buccaneers have tumbled to a 4-11 record, but lost the past four weeks either in overtime or by three points. Koetter's return in 2018, as first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, is surprising because several league sources believed he would be on his way out and that the team would be poised to make a run at the Bucs' only Super Bowl-winning coach, Jon Gruden, an ESPN Monday Night Football analyst. Ownership believes the organization and Winston need stability, even with reports that surfaced of a rift between the quarterback and coach -- an issue Winston has denied. "I think he has taught me a lot, especially just me playing quarterback," Winston said Thursday. "You just don't understand that relationship in that quarterback room. We spend so much time together -- me, him, Coach Mike Bajakian [and] those other quarterbacks -- it's like a family. Everybody has their different characteristics, but at the end of the day we all love each other." The Buccaneers have gone through a difficult 2017 season, but coach Dirk Koetter will get another chance in 2018, a source confirmed to ESPN. Todd Kirkland/Icon Sportswire Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy also voiced his support for Koetter earlier this week. "Coach Koetter and Coach [Bob] Stoops are on the same level to me for guys that I've played for," said McCoy, who played at Oklahoma before entering the NFL. "Just for who they are and what they've been to me and just how they are as coaches. I love Coach Koetter." Koetter will be the first Buccaneers coach to reach a third season since Raheem Morris in 2011. Lovie Smith, who led the Buccaneers to an 8-24 record in 2014-15, and Greg Schiano, who went 11-21 in 2012-13, were fired after two seasons.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina casts its so-called bathroom bill as a "common sense bodily privacy law." The federal government calls it discrimination, pure and simple. The two will face off in federal court in North Carolina after two of the state's top officials Monday sued the U.S. Justice Department, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and one of her assistants. The lawsuit calls last week's demand that the state "remedy" its Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act by Monday or risk being in violation of federal law "a baseless and blatant overreach." The act bans individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond with their biological sex, as dictated by their birth certificates. In its letter last week to Gov. Pat McCrory, the Justice Department asserted, "Access to sex-segregated restrooms and other workplace facilities consistent with gender identity is a term, condition or privilege of employment. Denying such access to transgender individuals, whose gender identity is different from their gender assigned at birth, while affording it to similarly situated non-transgender employees, violates Title VII." North Carolina's lawsuit, filed by McCrory and state Department of Public Safety Secretary Frank Perry, calls the Justice Department's position a "radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act." In a Monday news conference, McCrory blamed the city of Charlotte for raising the issue of gender identity and public restrooms. The matter was not on the state's agenda, he said, until the city imposed a mandate that "caused major privacy concerns about males entering female facilities and females entering male facilities." Because, he said, this is now a national issue -- and could affect every U.S. company with more than 15 employees -- McCrory called on Congress to revisit the anti-discrimination provisions under Titles VII and IX of the Civil Rights Act. "Our nation is one nation, especially when it comes to fighting discrimination, which I wholeheartedly support," McCrory said. 'Not a protected class' Title VII, among other things, outlaws discrimination in federally assisted programs and authorizes the attorney general to file lawsuits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities. Title IX, meanwhile, prohibits discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funds. North Carolina homes in on Title VII in its lawsuit, saying precedence is clear: "Transgender status is not a protected class under Title VII," and it cites a half-dozen cases that it says back its stance. Only Congress can change this, the lawsuit says. Even if the state felt transgender individuals were afforded federal protection, the Justice Department demands overstep because the law "allows accommodations based on special circumstances, including but not limited to transgender individuals." In a statement announcing the lawsuit, McCrory said the federal government was trying to tell every government agency and company employing more than 15 people "that men should be allowed to use a women's locker room, restroom or shower facility." He said later that the "new, complex and emotional issue" pitted privacy against equality. Lynch is expected to address the lawsuit publicly later Monday. Even application? The lawsuit emphasizes that no one is facing discrimination because the law applies equally to everyone. "All state employees are required to use the bathroom and changing facilities assigned to person of their same biological sex, regardless of gender identity, or transgender status," it says. Perhaps the writing was on the wall. Before Monday's action, McCrory repeatedly said his response to the Justice Department would resonate beyond the Tar Heel state. "This is no longer just a North Carolina issue," he said in a Fox News interview Sunday. "This is a basic change of norms that we've used for decades throughout the United States of America and the Obama administration is now trying to change that norm -- again not just in North Carolina, but they're ordering this to every company in the United States of America -- starting tomorrow I assume, or Tuesday." Boos But there seems little middle ground in the reactions to the lawsuit: Folks are either incensed at what they see as McCrory's attempt to legislate discrimination, or they applaud the governor for defending the state in the face of federal intervention. State Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue wondered aloud if the decision was fiscally responsible, tweeting, "We now face a costly legal battle over HB2 in addition to the threat of losing federal funding. Add it to McCrory's tab." Progress NC Action, a nonprofit, accused McCrory of "doubling down on discrimination," while other opponents to the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal and Equality NC -- many of which have been outspoken throughout the process -- decried the decision. "Lawsuits are normally filed to stop discrimination -- not to continue it," the joint ACLU-Lambda Legal statement said. Added Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, "The idea Gov. McCrory is going to waste even more time and millions (of) more taxpayer dollars defending it is reckless and wrong. HB2 is a vile law attacking transgender North Carolinians and leaves many more unprotected from discrimination. Rather than defending it, Gov. McCrory should be working with state lawmakers to fix the mess he's created." Hoorahs But McCrory is not without his supporters either. Ahead of Monday's lawsuit, the conservative Civitas Institute dubbed the Justice Department's letter "federal blackmail," and the American Family Association announced last month it was organizing a boycott of Target due to its "dangerous bathroom policy." (Target said it would allow employees to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.) Following news of the lawsuit, Keep NC Safe, a group that says it strives to "protect women's bathrooms, showers and locker rooms," lauded the state's decision, tweeting to McCrory, "Well done!" Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a statement that President Barack Obama was trying to "fundamentally transform America" and commended McCrory "for his political courage and moral clarity." "If the White House can dictate the bathroom policies of America, what could possibly be beyond their reach?" Perkins asked. "Gov. McCrory has already stared down big business seeking to topple North Carolina law. Now, the governor is making clear he's not going to be intimidated by President Obama's big government either." Federal funds North Carolina could lose a lot of federal money for failing to comply with the Justice Department -- potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for its universities alone. The Justice Department also sent a letter to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors telling it that new act was in violation of federal law. It was given the same Monday deadline. In his Monday statement, McCrory said he simply wanted a federal court "to clarify federal law." He pointed out that he had directed state agencies to "make a reasonable accommodation of a single-occupancy restroom" and that the state allows private entities to dictate their own bathroom policies. "I'm taking this initiative to ensure that North Carolina continues to receive federal funding until the courts resolve this issue," he said. Governor calls deadline 'unrealistic' McCrory's argument against the feds is twofold -- that the state of North Carolina hasn't been given enough time to respond and that the federal government is overstepping its authority. "This unrealistic deadline by the federal government is quite amazing," he said in his Fox News interview. "It's the federal government being a bully." McCrory said Monday that he requested an additional two weeks to respond but was told he would be granted one week, and only if he issued a statement concurring with the Justice Department. "I could not agree to that because I do not agree with their interpretation of federal law," he said. McCrory also points to the fact that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act uses the term "sex" when it comes to gender issues, and "Congress does not define sex" as something that can be chosen. "The Justice Department is making law for the federal government as opposed to enforcing it," McCrory said. Former Attorney General Eric Holder disagrees, and said in a 2014 memorandum that transgender discrimination claims are covered under Title VII. The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission also interprets Title VII as forbidding discrimination against transgender people Lawsuits and petitions The act puts in place a statewide policy that bans individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex and stops cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances to protect gay and transgender identity. That power is reserved for the state under the new law. Since its passage in March, it's drawn a flurry of condemnation from civil liberties groups, LGBT advocates, Democrats and some business leaders. The ACLU of North Carolina and Lambda Legal are presently challenging the law on behalf of six LGBT North Carolinians, the groups said. After the law's passage, musicians Bruce Springsteen, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, and the bands Pearl Jam and Boston have canceled concerts in the state -- which has cost one major venue nearly $200,000 in ticket sales. PayPal and Deutsche Bank have both canceled plans to expand into North Carolina
Plan to replace 457 visas just the start of adjustments to migration program, which must promote social cohesion, PM says Malcolm Turnbull has flagged changes to Australia’s immigration and citizenship program, saying it is important to attract people who will “embrace our values and positively contribute”. The prime minister used a speech to a business breakfast on Wednesday morning to warn that support for migration had “disintegrated” in countries without strong border controls, and he said irregular migration had “threatened the social fabric” of European countries. Australian government to replace 457 temporary work visa Read more Turnbull said changes to the 457 skilled visa program, outlined by the government on Tuesday, were the start of adjustments to the migration and citizenship program which would put “Australian jobs and Australian values first”. “Changes to citizenship will enable our migration program to contribute still further to our social cohesion while enhancing our security,” Turnbull said Wednesday. “Australia must continue to attract people who will embrace our values and positively contribute, regardless of nationality or religious belief.” “This is important for temporary visas, vital for permanent residency and citizenship. Citizenship must be valued and we’re making changes so the practices and principles of those obtaining citizenship are consistent with our cultural values.” The government has been telegraphing its intention to overhaul the current citizenship test for several months, reflecting ongoing deliberations in the national security committee of cabinet. Turnbull’s comments suggest an announcement is imminent. In early February the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, signalled a new, tougher citizenship test could consider behaviour including whether or not parents sent their children to school in the country they lived in before they applied for permanent residency in Australia. “It could go beyond that,” Dutton said. “We could look at whether or not somebody has been involved in an outlaw motorcycle gang, we could look at whether somebody has been involved, for example, in domestic violence, we could look at whether or not somebody had children that were of school age, but had not attended school for extended periods over that preceding three or four years.” Dutton said the new test would be about ensuring new arrivals wanted to share Australian values. “If you want to live in this country you need to abide by the law and if you’re not going to abide by the law, or you’re not going to work if you’ve got a capacity to work, if you’re going to spend your time on welfare, or your kids are involved in Apex gangs in Victoria, for instance, then really we need to question whether that person is the best possible citizen.” On Wednesday he said the government was of the view that people applying for Australian citizenship needed to demonstrate adherence to Australian values and a concrete commitment to abide by Australian laws. The immigration minister said “measures” would need to be taken before people achieved permanent residency under the revised test. In the country we don’t see 457 visa holders as a threat, we see them as a benefit \| Barnaby Joyce Read more His comments are consistent with a proposal under which would-be permanent residents would be granted a provisional visa before achieving permanent residency. Documents obtained by Fairfax Media last November indicated the government was contemplating such a system. The leaked documents also made it clear that federal officials had significant concerns about the government’s proposal, with a briefing note that said: “The proposed reforms could undermine Australia’s social cohesion and potentially increase the risk factors that may lead to violent extremism by creating a two-tier society where migrants are treated substantially differently to Australian citizens.” The briefing paper also suggested the overhaul could contravene Australia’s internal obligations if the provisional visa system imposed an additional waiting period for access to the social safety net.
In a message released on Tuesday, the Leader praised all members of the Iranian Olympic delegation, including sportswomen who competed in the games while wearing Hijab. Ayatollah Khamenei’s message reads: In the Name of God To the sports delegation returning from the Olympics: to the champions who brought joy to the nation by winning medals; to the heroes who were deprived of what they deserved due to unfair refereeing; to the athletes whose lack of success makes their efforts and endeavors no less valuable; to the sportswomen who demonstrated to everyone the proud symbol of Iranian women’s attire; to the brave lady who shone at the forefront of the (Iranian Olympic) squad in full Hijab; and to the coaches and the country’s veteran athletes; welcome back and I thank you all. We appreciate you. Seyed Ali Khamenei Shahrivar 2, 1395 (August 23, 2016) Iran finished 25th in Rio 2016 Olympics with 8 medals (three gold, one silver and four bronze).
But for now, here is the beauty shot! And here it is before... of course I had cut the foot board in half before I took the before shot. Am I being redundant?? I had planned to use the hooks already provided to make the front brace so I had to take one side apart to get to the brace so I could see how it all went back together. Removed wood piece covering the metal plugs holding the brace in place. Since I couldn't get to these, I just cut off the end and pried the pieces apart. which then presented me with another wood piece to remove before ....finally getting to the brace. At which point I gave up for about 2 months because I realized I would not be able to reattach the brace in the same fashion and have any hope of it holding. So I painted some other furniture and just kept thinking on a solution. I finally decided to just counter sink screws from the outside of the side pieces and then cover with a wood peg. I actually like the added detail. So then I got to painting my bench in what I thought was a perfect frenchy grey. Nope. Too blue and no amount of distressing, or added white paint or stain (see the lower left corner of the front brace) was making it any less blue. Fast forward to our Living Room Reno in February and I had found my frenchy grey! It was living on my ceiling the whole time! So I slapped some paint on the bench (very professionally of course), distressed lightly, and then waxed to nice shine. UPDATE: Thank goodness for comments! I totally forgot to show how I had created the brace on the back to hold the slats until Patty left a sweet comment and wanted to know this so she could make one herself. Well, Patty, here are the pics and info. and I apologize for leaving this out! This is what the front brace looked like. Remember I used the original side piece so I did not have to do anything here except connect it to my side pieces. If I have not said it before, always use wood glue and screws to make you benches. Much sturdier than just screws. Once I had the frame all made, then I measures how high the front brace was from the floor and marked it on the back headboard with pencil. Use a long level to make sure your brace will be level. Measure in a few places to make sure all is level. I purchased a 1"x 2" piece of pine and cut to length. Add glue to the back side of your 1 x 2, and clamp your wood piece in place using 5-6 squeeze clamps. Pre-drill holes for your screws. You will need screws that will go through both the headboard and wood brace. I used 1.5" wood screws. Now screw in your screws. I had a few slats left over from when my son had a loft bed so I was able to cut these to length to fit across and provide support for the mattress. So now you know how to do the braces. Back to our regularly scheduled post...... And then couldn't get the thing out of my basement. I was ready to cry when my hubby came home and noticed my distress. His response? "Why didn't you come to the expert?" See, in a past job life my husband was a furniture mover. He had it wrapped in plastic in 10 minutes flat, took the basement door off and it was up and out in about 30 minutes so I could take said "beauty shot" in the house! What he does for me is amazing. Love. that. Man! You can see the wood buttons on the front leg. The cool thing about double beds that you have turned into a bench is that they are the perfect width for a crib mattress! This will save some money on the cost of making a cushion and cushion cover. You can get all kinds of cool crib sheets now a days and you could even add an egg crate to the top if you wanted more "smooshiness" (aka comfort) for the top of the mattress. Just add pillows, a good book, and some french roast coffee, of course, and you are well on your way to an afternoon of ease. Oh and maybe some chocolate cake. Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies! Oh my. This bed gave me pups trying to turn it into a reading bench. But I am so glad that I persevered and took my time because I love it and can't wait to get it to the booth! Unless of course one of you is interested in it for your reading nook then email me and let me know asap and we can talk pricing!Always being renewed,
The following is an analysis of Nintendo’s strategic position in the marketplace. What we’re looking at here is analyzing how they performed in the past, what are the strategic challenges? What is the challenges of their industries, because they are in several industries actually if you think about it, and how can they improve the performance? So hopefully, you enjoy. Nintendo-Strategic-Analysis-for-2017-&-Beyond-Infographic Share this Infographic On Your Site <p><strong>Please include attribution to ProfessorNerdster.com with this graphic.</strong></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p><a href=’http://professornerdster.com/nintendo-business-strategy-analysis-2017-beyond/’><img src=’http://professornerdster.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Nintendo-Strategic-Analysis-for-2017-and-Beyond-Infographic.png’ alt=’Nintendo Strategic Analysis of Consoles 2017 and Beyond’ width=’540px’ border=’0′ /></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p> As I said, it’s a strategic analysis of the consoles and handheld devices industry with Nintendo and where it fits within that. So it’s a hardware dedicated video game platform that we’re interested in understanding. That means we’re not interested in necessarily at the core of the software, which is where Nintendo actually does really well and they sell quite a lot of licensing etc. around their products and characters. It’s not the core focus, it will be on consoles. So just give an introduction, the team here, this is the team that we had and their names are below. I’ve just kind of made everyone anonymous. Because I thought it was more appropriate to do so. Anyway, so here we go, let’s talk about the first thing. Let’s get a bit of a business overview here. So there’s a $4.6 billion worldwide market for hardware and games and software and this industry is very competitive and it requires a lot of intensive research and development. So that’s just the general gist of the industry, so how does Nintendo fit into this? What is Nintendo, first of all? Well, if you remember maybe as a kid, at least I did on Christmas day, getting a Super Nintendo was probably the best Christmas present I ever got. It was I think 1992 and I was pretty excited about it. I didn’t really know what it was to a certain extent. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did know what it was because a buddy down the road, he had the original Nintendo system and we used to play Mario together. Anyway, so what makes Nintendo interesting is their core value proposition. What is it about Nintendo that makes them so strong in the marketplace? And I think there’s three or four, in a sense, core areas where they dominate, and its one is the plug-and-play. So here, much like Apple, it’s a user-friendly computer interface that you can use here and Nintendo allows young children to play video games interchangeably without any technical skill whatsoever. So you can swap in games easily done, and that was quite a significant initiative in the early ’80s. You also have this element of characters and trust. So you’ve got Mario, who’s basically a Disney-like Mickey Mouse and at the same time, you have parents who know that the video game content is tightly curated by Nintendo and it’s well-put-together. Everyone loves Nintendo products for this reason, right? And you also have this integrated closed sys, so like Apple or even we use in this sentence here, Amazon’s Kindle line of e-readers, Nintendo really needs to have cooperation from a whole ecosystem of publishers because it’s a closed system. They’re very controlling of the content that’s made and of course, this is the big revolution we’ll talk about later in terms of timing. They basically disrupted the arcade industry and video computer…computer games industries in the ’80s. In terms of business units, we know Nintendo’s quite complex. It’s got quite a few subsidiaries and it really thrives on locking customers into their closed system through the appeal of flagship characters and obviously, we can think of Super Mario Brothers as that leading experience and software that everyone wanted to play. But we wanted to focus in on the console hardware itself because that is an area where we can parse and avoid talking about the App Store and Android stores in great depth which complicates our analysis quite a bit. So in essence, were treating Nintendo here as a manufacturer and in fact, they’re on the 8th generation of consoles at this point. I think it’s important now to talk about the value chain that exists for Nintendo. So you’ve got this idea of a pretty well-established industry now. It’s about 25-30 years…35 years old actually. And it’s gone through quite a bit of change but there’s still some fundamentals. So you have publishers, they’re the people who are responsible for financing and managing the marketing titles. They’re very much a part of getting game developers to produce good content, and then launching it on various console platforms. So you can think, of course we’re talking about Sega historically, Sony, Xbox and Nintendo. Then you’ve got the actual developers, really a critical piece obviously, the people who actually create the games. Sometimes that’s third party, but sometimes Nintendo itself creates games in-house. But no matter what, you still have to have third-party developers to really give the ecosystem as it were, right? The array of potential games you can play. You want to give it the widest breadth as possible. And then you’ve got at the core of it, what we care about here, is the console makers themselves and that’s Nintendo’s story directly. Certainly, consoles actually are a loss leader to a certain extent. That’s kind of built into the model and there’s a lot of in-house research and development that is undertaken to make the consoles effective and innovative, so you can think of when Wii came out there was a lot of R&D that must have been at play in order to make that major leap that they did in 2006. So you also have distributors, so those are obviously kind of connected to publishers in that they sell and get the video game software, part two and the consoles, to the various marketplaces. And of course, you’ve got your retailers, so you’ve got the classics, the major players like Walmart, but you also have these small boutique electronic stores like E&C Games on Spadina in Toronto, Canada. You know, these are enthusiasts who love Nintendo. So you can actually see here then that… I’m just going to bring my cursor out, 1.87% is where they are and the industry is .84%. So the industry is unattractive but they actually are doing competitively well in an industry that is very unattractive. Still an unattractive industry, but they have a competitive advantage in an underperforming industry, interesting enough. You’ve got a 10%, so just giving a little more color to that, I don’t think it’s really worth getting into the nuance here. And again as I was saying, a return on sales is way more important than ROA. You could read that on your own time. So looking at this in a more visual format, I’ve got this piston chart. You’ve got the industry average here… Sorry I can’t get this cursor out of the way. Maybe I’ll just remove the cursor. And then you’ve got industry average and you can see that Nintendo has a competitive advantage. If we look at just 2015 data… If you look at the ROS globally again, it’s 5% and then the industry is underperforming at -4.2% of less of the actual average there and you can see Nintendo has a disadvantage in the global economy but actually an advantage in the industry. A bit nuanced here, but basically the message is: “Stay out of consoles. Don’t go… If you’re going to start a new business, don’t try to build a plug-and-play console system for television sets”, that’s pretty much the message here. But the console generation pressures is why arguably this is all happening. So the technology change makes every manufacturer of this hardware wary and probably weary as well because you have to basically start a new… Build a new console roughly every 2.5 to 5 years, and you’ve seen that. You’ve got your PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, so clearly they have to generate new platforms regularly to stay relevant. And the ROS piston chart here, again just giving a little more flavor to this, it’s much like Macintosh’s 1984 situation with the Macintosh. What I mean by that is actually, the original Macintosh which was released in 1984 was actually not very successful. It wasn’t very powerful as a computer and as a result, of a lot of software developers really didn’t line up to build on the Apple Macintosh platform. Now, as a result, Apple struggled greatly. They even got rid of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple in 1985 because of the struggles the company was under. So if you’re going to make a closed system, you better make sure your product is very very good. This is why consoles are just so unattractive if you’re unsuccessful in your product. Of course, Nintendo’s in this business because, you know, secretly if you can create a really great console and get lots of buy-in from software developers, you’re in the money as it were. Expanding a bit on this, Michael Porter’s five forces are probably one of the most critical tools for analyzing any business, so we will just go through it really quickly here. Buyer power is medium… Sorry. As a Power of Suppliers’ medium, Buyers Power’s medium, Threat of Substitutes medium, Rivalry is high and Threats of Entry are low. Let’s go through this quickly. So there’s a high dependency on outside manufacturers that produce key components or simple products. You also have the sort of everyone wants to work for the big three if you’re going to be producing software products or hardware, sorry. Again sorry, confusing… We’re working on the hardware suppliers issue here so the cables, the actual plastic casing and all this has to be accounted for, so they don’t necessarily have that much to pop supplier power, but another supplier would be the game developers themselves. So you might actually have a game that launches exclusively on the Wii U as is the case with Bayonetta 2. Here clearly they don’t have that much as a supplier power. They’re giving it up, they’re saying, “Nintendo you’re so great, we want to work with you”, so the relationship isn’t, you know, like Nintendo completely owns the suppliers that they work with. They can affect Nintendo’s success, and as I said earlier if they don’t want to play, if they don’t want to cooperate with you and build games for your platform, you’re in serious trouble. On the buyer’s level, so buyer power, consumers are constantly looking for the next console, so they can kind of mess around with your goals, but at the same time they’re really loyal. A lot of people love Nintendo consoles, so it’s a bit of a mixed conversation here and sales of consoles are really all about the video games that are launched which are extremely popular. In fact, I remember when the Nintendo 64 came out, I was really excited about Goldeneye because that was an amazing game that my cousin had bought and was playing on his Nintendo 64, so I had to get a Nintendo 64 for that reason. Threats of substitute is another key idea. Here it’s a… just to make sure you understand it, the threat to go do something else with your money, your time. So there’s obviously lots of substitutes now, particularly with smartphones and computers which we’ll talk about a bit. And then there’s the development of portal system,s which is good because you know, Gameboy and Nintendo DS actually really do well in this space, but there is always that threat. There’s so many other places and areas of activity that you can apply for entertainment and so as part of this, Nintendo’s responded by trying to create “a home entertainment centre” around their product. Rivalry is really interesting. I mean, you can recall perhaps there was Sega company which eventually was disband. Basically, they in the 1990s were really competitive against Nintendo and really critical of Nintendo’s Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis advertisements were really aggressive and even to this day, you can see a lot of game theory between the different players. So Sony and Xbox, they’ll try to time the release of their latest console in line with what their competitor is going to do. So it’s kind of a prisoner’s dilemma situation if you’re familiar with that theory. And then you’ve got the Threats of Entry, it’s really not that high. People don’t want to go create consoles, particularly because of the fact that it is so difficult to do but an important point at the very bottom that I wanted to highlight is that entry is possible. In fact, that’s what Sony and Microsoft did in the ’90s. Of course, entry is possible when you’re a huge successful business already, when you look at Microsoft in particular and Sony as well. And I also want to point out at the bottom there, I don’t know if you can see that flashing thing there, okay. So value creation, those three: the supplier, buyers, and substitutes. That’s the places, those are the ideas, factors that inhibit or allow for the creation of value. So and then if you look at the value capture side of things it’s the rivalry and entry that is really critical. So clearly the value capture area is a bit weak in this particular industry because of the intense rivalry when they’re competing to steal literally, take away customers or hopefully have customers buy both platforms or, you know, multiple platforms. So I think we need to dive a little deeper on Nintendo’s brand identity and so again, I’ve already emphasized it’s about beloved characters, child-friendly and plug-and-play components, but I wanna understand what they did recently that’s quite fascinating. They’ve kind of moved to broad differentiated and again, we have to give a little background around what Michael Porter talks about here. If you can see at the bottom here you have four quadrants, so you’ve got on the left, you got broad and narrow and at the top, you’ve got low cost and differentiated. These are different businesses or positions that you could take as a business, so you could see that the arcades were narrow and low-cost. So they were only focused on, you could only literally play one game on an arcade machine and it was relatively low cost. It’s not like customers had to buy an arcade to play it. No, you actually had arcades, literally the places where you could play these games and for the longest time, I’d say Nintendo was quite narrow and differentiated. When we see differentiated, we mean premium so more expensive, exudes premium characteristics like distinctiveness whereas low-cost is not as distinctive so, clearly they are… They were for the longest time narrowly differentiated and then 2006 they said, “Why don’t we include…expand our market”, “Let’s go after adults”, “Let’s go after seniors”, “Let’s try to have fun with that” and that’s exactly what they did. So customer segments is really important, I think. As you can understand, with the introduction of the Wii, Nintendo was really targeting on non-gamers quite a bit and if you look on the right I’ve got a quote here from Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and other major successful characters from Nintendo, was basically saying, “We’re trying to make it from machine that everyone, parents can love” this is what the brand is. And I think earlier on, I think in the business overview section I had sort of the value propositions of Nintendo, and here I’m saying that we’ve actually added one. So you’ve got the plug-and-play closed system, beloved characters, child-friendliness but then you also have the non-gamers casual gamer segment. That’s what Nintendo said, “We’re going to take over in 2006 with the Wii” and they were very very successful in doing so. And again, their philosophy is it’s a toy. They are very much a playful company in that sense and the Wii contributed to the idea of who they are rather than detracting from it. They actually made a lot of sense for them, so you’ve got…and this is a really tough market. You have to have, you know, strategic issues here. So there are a lot of strategic issues that they have to deal with and I’ve mentioned it earlier. As mentioned, you know, this decision of the short life cycles of their platform. So you have a lot of other issues as well like excess and industry…inventory. So for example of your console’s really unsuccessful and you produce a million versions of this device and only half a million are actually sold, then you’re in serious trouble and you have too much inventory, and as we’ll discuss later, there’s a resource intensive console life cycle again, so you’re constantly propping up and preventing the industry from going into decline through releasing a new console or literally distracting yourself which is what they did with the Wii. And that was really a critical move, by the way. So the traditional gaming to new neo-gaming, this is kind of how they managed to keep themselves propped up, and you can read a little more on this on the bottom. I’m not gonna go through this in detail. They have some obvious strategic challenges. You’ve got cannibalization I’ll just mention, where you have handheld devices and then now Nintendo is considering working a lot more with other platforms like smartphones, very similar to what Apple had to do with iTunes for the PC, and of course as I mentioned again and again, the closed system disadvantages, I should say closed by the way. Nintendo is a premium game developer with exclusive hardware and so if you people don’t buy into it then you really suffer and there’s a nice little quote at then end there just to round this whole section up. Industry trends, so Nintendo started multiple S-curves and I think it’s quite interesting just to see how they might have been…they might be about to be toppled by smartphone but it’s not totally clear what the future holds. So here’s the story, you’ve got way back in 1980, you’ve got the PC revolution and arcades, the market is growing. And then the home entertainment games industry kind of explodes with Atari and Nintendo. Atari goes bankrupt pretty quickly but Mario Brothers and the Nintendo system is very successful and throughout the ’90s in 1995, you have a Nintendo 64 and you’ve got a lot of success. So that should be shifted over this thing here, probably should be over here but what… No worries. So you’ve got multi-dimensional games, 3D games, and then take a look at this. Basically they jump their own curve, their S-curve and bring in and reposition Nintendo radically with the Wii and that’s sort of been the curve they’re going on, and now we have… We are seeing further hybrids. Nintendo’s bringing out its own hybrid called Nintendo Switch, but smartphones are clearly disrupting them and this is in a very short period of time here, this is 2006 and 2007. So things are changing fast. An interesting sort of look at what the consoles did. You had Nintendo, you had Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, the Wii, and the Wii U, you can clearly see the stock prices impacted by the success and innovativeness of a console. So clearly Nintendo’s Super Nintendo was I remember when I got it at Christmas like I mentioned earlier, it was a pretty big deal for me, and then Wii was also quite revolutionary because it was saying, “Let’s have casual gaming rather than hardcore gaming as the true value proposition of Nintendo.” And I think the big challenge now is to understand, is this actually a glide path to history? Are the consoles as an industry in complete decline? And I think actually the answer is no, I think there’s still space here. But principally, I think also that the space is portable. People want to have the portability that a Nintendo DS or Gameboy allowed. Given that everyone is so used to smartphones now, the smartphone culture which has emerged in effect since 2007 since the release of the iPhone has been shaped by this drive towards portability. And actually, if you look at the performance of the consoles historically, Gameboy is actually one of the most well received consoles and Nintendo DS as well. So more so, than even the PlayStation Sony, the original CD-based PlayStation and PlayStation 2 was quite successful. So there’s a story here that people… The customers do like handheld devices and Nintendo needs to respond to that. So now we want to look at sustainability. What is Nintendo going to need to do in the next couple years in order to remain relevant and grow as a business? Is it sustainable? Should they just abandon hardware, get rid of consoles and just focus on licensing their various characters? That’s a very legitimate question to ask, it’s a really legitimate question to ask because if you look at that industry as we already looked, at it’s not that great. So we applied the VRIO approach here, so we’re asking the question is this valuable company? Obviously, they’re valuable. It’s a great manufacturer, well-known IP. Do they have the resources and capabilities? Yes, they’ve got the resources and capabilities, and is it easy to imitate them? No, it’s not easy to imitate Nintendo. They’ve got such a great reputation and style. I mean, I can imagine people could, it’s not that unbelievable to imagine but when it comes to the console, I don’t see that many big opportunities in the space. Although you could argue that with the Raspberry Pi anyone can build the console pretty quickly and do something cool with it. So I mean, I expect maybe the console industry to actually be disrupted independently of the software components, eroding of smartphones, eroding Nintendo’s profitability, but you also have the are they organized question? So is the firm organized? Nintendo is organized to succeed. I mean, they have had difficulties with CEOs not knowing where to go, being incredibly dependent on the success of consoles, the console that they launched, so those are also major issues but generally I think they’ve they focused on hardware which is has been a risk, but that’s their true identity. It’s a combination of software and hardware like an Apple. So, and as you can see with Apple, if you get things right the sky’s the limit in terms of profit. Sustainability through innovation. So I just want to walk through these ideas about what Nintendo’s doing. They’re an industry where it’s a Red Queen industry, in a sense that you have to be running full speed at all times just to stay in place in the console industry because all these competitors, there they’re coming up with great new consoles to compete against you. And so I created sort of this quadrant system here. You’ve got on the vertical axis, you’ve got the real world to virtual and then to the left is ultra violent and the right as child-friendly. Clearly, Nintendo occupies that right side, the child-friendly side with Super Mario Maker and Pokemon Go which is augmented reality. So I can expect in the near future maybe they’ll do Mario Kart outdoors. I think that’d be hilarious, people running around in parks playing Mario Kart. And the competitors on the other side, there they’re just dominating in Halo, Battlefield, really graphic intensive games, high-resolution graphics. So an interesting thought will be where do they go with this augmented reality? Do you think you can imagine people running around pretending to shoot each other? Probably not a good idea. But anyway… And then just to emphasize this is Mario’s Super Mario Run which is now available on Apple devices, so smartphones obviously. Big deal because for the longest time Nintendo refused to work with Apple’s platform, predominantly because of the terms and conditions and the commission that Apple gets for every company that has software on their platforms. So I guess just to close off on this section, sustainability through new console adoption is critical. You need to get everyone on board and as I’m saying here, in order to succeed in 2016 everyone needs to switch to Nintendo Switch, and why I think Nintendo Switch is exciting because they are taking into account the revenue realities that, yes, Gameboy and Nintendo DS were the most successful Nintendo platforms. So if they’re the most successful Nintendo platforms then maybe we should make our console portable. That’s exactly what they’ve done here, so you’ve got plug-and-play, a closed system, as usual, beloved characters, child-friendly, casual gamer plus the new core proposition has to…core value proposition has to also take into account portability. So clearly, they’re making some great strides in the right direction. Of course, it all depends on execution. It depends on the execution for Mario Run, it depends on the execution for Nintendo Switch games, are the games any good? That has yet to be seen yet, so no judgment either way but that’s going to be critical. The actual customer experience has to be first and foremost. Finally, I just want to talk about strategic options. You’ve got the sort of, you know, general launching more hybrids, which is what they’re doing with the Switch, continue with the idea of the home entertainment center with the Wii Karaoke you can see here, you know, there’s potential areas that they could work on. They certainly have also done some work on past glories and they could look into virtual reality like everyone else is trying to do, just to introduce some additional value to a really challenging industry with consoles. So one framework that I’ve applied here is Roger Martin’s five questions framework. And we’ve positioned this as two options, so you’ve got remain as a game, toy company, or become a technology expert. This is sort of a throwaway thought about what Nintendo could do. And I think they generally seem to be doing the right things as you might have noticed with the sustainability section, they seem to be kind of doing exactly what we’re talking about. But this section just all popped up at once. There’s a lot of words here but the questions you have to ask for any strategic decision is what are your aspirations as a company? What do you want to achieve? If you want to remain a toy then you want to be the preferred toy to play at all time and you want to make sure that Mario is marketed even to the level of theme park ride and create situations where you play Mario as a toy and he’s a fun character. If your aspiration is to be a technology expert, Nintendo would have to go and extend its expertise into retail channels and probably go build some Nintendo stores in every urban center and have intense video game parties or what not. Where do you… Where we play? Which is important, but what areas does our company need to play to win? So with the option one, remain a toy, the current profit profitable niches and then also a family in senior homes and casual settings. Same thing with the option to how do we win? This is kind of a key question, the character awareness, creation of new characters, expand the fun to other dimensions. Option two, if you want to be a technology expert, you’d want to specialize in stores and promote Nintendo expertise, become the industry technology champion for high-resolution graphics, which is not what they’re doing as you know. What capability do they need to make this happen? They need to attract more technology and creative talent, acquire more Miyamoto-style talent, you know, the creator of Mario. If they want to be a technology expert they should hire retailer management from existing tech examples, IE, you know, hire someone from Apple Store who runs the logistics around that and get some experts actually in those stores like the Apple Genius Bar. Get some Nintendo geniuses. Finally, management systems. What management systems do they need to succeed? In option one, if you want to remain a toy company you want to have that horizontal diversification to create different plat…different areas of your marketing and that includes a theme park, for example. We’ll throw that idea out there because Nintendo is so similar to Disney, it’s kind of shocking. And finally option two for technology experts, what would you do with the management system? What management systems do you need? You need that vertical integration within the value chain, so actually try to absorb the publishers and developers a bit more. Don’t try to diversify, so don’t go into theme parks or cruise ships or whatever you want to do with your loved characters. Stay within your niche and focus on the technology, and own the value chain, thereby making it more difficult to imitate. So, in conclusion, that’s the whole presentation. Thank you very much for listening to this. If you have any comments or questions, awesome. Please leave them below the video. If you liked this video please subscribe to Professor Nerdster and thank you very much for your time. References 1.Nintendo Annual Report 2016. (2016, April). Retrieved November 30th, 2016, from 2.Shah, Nick. MBA Fellows Project: The Video Game Industry, And Industry Analysis from a VC Perspective. Tuck, Dartmouth. Center of Digital Strategies. (2005). Retrieved November 30th, 2016, from The Videohttp://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/digital/assets/images/05_shah.pdf 3.Microsoft X-Box’s Gamble. Tuck, Dartmouth. Center of Digital Strategies. (2002). Retrieved November 28th, 2016, from http://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/cds-uploads/case-studies/pdf/6-0011.pdf 4.Krishnan, Vijai. Gaming: Corporate Strategy in a Multi-Screen World. (April, 2013). Retrieved November 28th, 2016, from http://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/digital/assets/images/Krishnan.pdf 5.Business Case: Nintendo’s disruptive strategy: implications for the video game industry. Harvard Business Review, 2008. 6.Game Industry Magazine. (2016, April). Retrieved November 30th, 2016, from http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-09-08-the-end-of-the-console-era-as-we-know-it 7.Nintendo President Challenge. Fortune. (2016). Retrieved December 8th, 2016, from: http://fortune.com/2015/09/16/nintendo-president-challenges/ 8.Pokémon Go. Fortune. (2016). Retrieved December 8th, 2016, from: http://fortune.com/2016/07/18/pokemon-go-may-force-nintendo-to-change-its-long-term-business-strategy/ 9.List of Best Selling Game Consoles. (2015). Retrieved December 8th, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles 10.Extensive Industry Analysis Interview with Erika Szobu: Youtube Personality (https://www.youtube.com/user/erikaszabo) at A&C Games on Spadina Ave, December 12th, 2016
With Koukash claiming he was prepared to offer the Kiwi superstar $1 million a season, Marshall could earn good money at Salford this year and then join Cronulla on a lesser deal. While such speculation will not become reality as Marshall has no interest in moving from Auckland to England's north, there are sure to be players in Super League who will catch Flanagan's eye, and it remains unclear what the NRL would do were he to sign any for the Sharks. Under the terms of Flanagan's one-year ban from coaching in the NRL for his role in the supplements program at Cronulla in 2011, he is prohibited from having any direct or indirect contact with the club until at least September 17. The finalisation of a new three-year contract with the Sharks leaves no doubt Flanagan has had some detailed discussion with Noyce and other officials but negotiations were well under way before the NRL imposed penalties against the coach and club for risking the welfare of players. Flanagan's manager Wayne Beavis would also have been heavily involved in finalising the terms and details of the Cronulla deal, as he was in organising his three-month stint as a coaching consultant for Salford.
WOW! Even the Morning Joe hosts, who openly hate Donald Trump, said his performance last night was “epic” and “rocked the political world.” Joe Scarborough: I think there were a couple of things people in the press did not want to admit but it was plainly evident watching it on TV last night. Number one, it was Donald Trump’s most effective debate performance to date. There’s not a close second. There’s not a close second. Secondly, despite the fact she had an unprecedented cheering section in the media, the fact is for somebody who was watching, and people will see this as they go back and watch today, or of they see parts in a week from now or a month from now, Hillary Clinton was on defense most of the night. She seemed unsure of herself most of the night… Donald Trump, who has made the Republican Party members’ lives a living and breathing hells for the past year-and-a-half, turned it up to 11… And all of those people who jumped ship were looking at their TV last night and about halfway through the debate were saying, “Oh shoot.”… This is the political reality, that for the Republican base, Donald Trump delivered the political attack against the Clinton machine that the Republican base and middle America have been waiting for for years now… Mika Brzezinsk: And no Republican could have done what he did last night. It was epic. It was vintage Trump. He produced a daylong show that rocked the political world.
Dubai: The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE has announced that there are no legislations in the country that obstruct the economic movement or the work of local or international companies based in the UAE. This comes in response to several inquiries the TRA has received from companies or institutions about what has been published in the media recently regarding the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) in the UAE. The TRA has assured businesses and the public that it is fully committed to the safety and the smooth flow of economic activities for UAE-based companies and institutions, highlighting that there are no regulations which prevent the use of VPN technology by companies, institutions and banks to access their internal networks through internet. However, business users can be held accountable, like the use of any other technology, if it has been misused. Referring to a recently issued amendment on the Federal Law No. (5) of 2012, the TRA noted that the law is not new in its essence and that the only changes were related to tightening the penalty or punishment for any violation. The TRA further urged to read the actual violation mentioned in the law; which says: “using a false IP address or a third-party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime or preventing its discovery”, in order to understand the law correctly and where the punishment is exclusively linked to the mentioned fraudulent act and the intent to commit a crime or prevent its discovery. “The UAE is proud of being one of the countries that encourage investment and openness to ICT-based economic activities. This trend is embodied the UAE's history since the founding of the union in 1971,” said Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, Director General of TRA. “It is also included in the strategic directions of the UAE, particularly in our national Vision 2021, which aims to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world – and clearly outlined as well in our national agenda and major programs and projects that confirms the UAE’s leadership in this field worldwide.” The TRA further emphasised that any misuse of the licensed and organized services in the UAE will lead to legal accountability. It is worth mentioning that the laws are targeting those who misuse the services and not those activities that are consistent with UAE’s laws. “The leadership of the UAE in the field of internet applications and IT in general, is on the contrary to what has been circulated by some media regarding the use of VPNs. It is known that the UAE is keen to embody the directions of the UAE Government’s wise leadership regarding smart transformation, including the smart government, smart cities, Big Data, and Internet of Things, in addition to promoting investment, competitiveness and focus on building a knowledge-based economy and society,” Al Mansouri added. What the UAE Cybercrime Law says According to the UAE Cybercime Law, any individual is committing a crime if he or she uses the internet to promote child pornography or terrorism, commit financial fraud or engage in cyber bullying. VPN users in UAE speak out Meanwhile, UAE residents told Gulf News that there are reasons why they have been using VPN over the years. They use VPN to access blocked apps that offer video chat and voice call services. They also said that the public should be allowed to continue using VPN. Abdullah Z., a Jordanian accountant, said he uses VPN to access apps like Viber and Skype to call his brother, who studies in Turkey, and also to watch series not made available here. “International calls are expensive here and I need to be able to check on him regularly. These apps are blocked in the UAE. I also need VPN to watch certain series online, which are never broadcast here because of violence and certain degrees of sexual content,” he said. He believes most people in the UAE also use VPN to access the international version of sites such as the Apple store in the UK and US, where certain music albums, that have not been made available here, can be downloaded. “I recently used it to download the game Pokemon Go, as it still hasn’t been officially launched in the UAE. I think it’s OK for VPN to be used, but with certain limits, of course. If someone is using it for fraud or has a criminal intention, then they should definitely be punished by law, but if people are using it for social and entertainment purposes, it should be allowed.” Nada K., from Egypt who studies abroad but visits the UAE regularly, said she also switches her IP address with VPN when on vacation here to stay in touch with her mother and siblings in the US. “I use Viber and other apps offering video calls, which are blocked here. There are also apps I use for my college and need to access when I’m here on vacation,” She said many VPNs don’t work that well in the UAE, which forces her to find an alternative VPN that is not blocked and can run properly. “I’ve recently heard about a fine and jail term for those caught using VPN, but It didn’t make sense to me and now it has been made clear that users will be punished if they use it to commit fraud or crime. If it is being used for purposes that are not for any criminal activities, it should be fine to use it,” she said.
On the August 25 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, when asked by host Chris Matthews about "this civil war" between "the PUMAs, the holdouts ... and the majority, apparently, of [Sen.] Hillary [Clinton] people who really want [Sen.] Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to win this November," NBC News political director Chuck Todd said of the story, "I kind of think we're hyping it up a little bit. It's getting a little overheated. ... And I wonder if in three days, we look back and say, 'Why did we waste all of our time with that?' " Notwithstanding Todd's comments, during MSNBC's August 25 coverage of the Democratic National Convention, in interviews with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), former President Jimmy Carter, and Obama communications director Robert Gibbs, 18 of the 20 questions asked by NBC and MSNBC correspondents and anchors dealt with Clinton, her supporters, or former President Bill Clinton. Following NBC News correspondent Savannah Guthrie's interview with Schumer -- in which three of the four questions she asked dealt with Hillary Clinton -- Matthews asserted: "Savannah Guthrie there with Chuck Schumer, the senator from New York, talking up Hillary's role in this. Of course, it is going to be the story of the week, no matter what we say. Will the Clintons get aboard? Will they be invited aboard with all the right protocols?" On Hardball, Todd asserted of Matthews' purported "civil war" in the Democratic Party: They feel almost like -- they're becoming like Ron Paul supporters were back in the Republican primaries. I think they're a much smaller group than we make them out to be, frankly. TODD: And I wonder if in three days, we look back and say, "Why did we waste all of our time with that?" The big moment tonight is going to be [Sen.] Teddy Kennedy [D-MA], when he does something tonight. Does he speak? I think we all assume he's not coming out here to go on stage to wave. That's not -- that's not the Teddy Kennedy we've all come to watch over the years. That's going to be a bigger moment than any Clinton people who are bitter, arguing outside looking for cameras to get attention. I kind of think we're hyping it up a little bit. It's getting a little overheated. TODD: But, look, I think this is one of those stories that we're -- we're in the bubble. We are in the Denver bubble right now. And as [MSNBC political analyst] Howard [Fineman] said, there are Clinton people everywhere. You could find a PUMA, not just on your feet for shoes that you might need to be using to do all the walking that you do, but you can find a PUMA anywhere you want and you can write this story. But that doesn't mean it's a story. All of the six questions Ann Curry, co-host of NBC's Today, asked Pelosi dealt with the Clintons or Hillary Clinton's supporters: Questions Guthrie asked Schumer about Hillary Clinton included: Questions Curry asked Carter about the Clintons included: All six questions Matthews and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann asked Gibbs dealt with the Clintons or Hillary Clinton's supporters: From the August 25 edition of MSNBC's Hardball: They feel almost like -- they're becoming like Ron Paul supporters were back in the Republican primaries. I think they're a much smaller group than we make them out to be, frankly. TODD: And I wonder if in three days, we look back and say, "Why did we waste all of our time with that?" The big moment tonight is going to be Teddy Kennedy, when he does something tonight. Does he speak? I think we all assume he's not coming out here to go on stage to wave. That's not -- that's not the Teddy Kennedy we've all come to watch over the years. That's going to be a bigger moment than any Clinton people who are bitter, arguing outside looking for cameras to get attention. I kind of think we're hyping it up a little bit. It's getting a little overheated. But, look, I think this is one of those stories that we're -- we're in the bubble. We are in the Denver bubble right now. And as Howard said, there are Clinton people everywhere. You could find a PUMA, not just on your feet for shoes that you might need to be using to do all the walking that you do, but you can find a PUMA anywhere you want and you can write this story. But that doesn't mean it's a story. TODD: I tell you, in here, they actually just started the convention, so I'm sort of confused. I do see the crowds out there going a little nuts, but they actually did start the convention behind here with -- Howard Dean just dropped the gavel, gave the opening remarks. MATTHEWS: Chuck Todd, give us analysis of where this civil war stands right now. Out here, it's pretty noisy between the PUMAs, the holdouts, and the people -- and the majority, apparently, of Hillary people who really want Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to win this November. From MSNBC's August 26 coverage of the Democratic National Convention: OLBERMANN: Our correspondent Ann Curry is inside the Pepsi Center, in fact at the podium, with the woman we just heard, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Ann, good evening. CURRY: That's right. That's right. Good evening, Keith and Chris. Good evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In your remarks tonight, you talked about Barack Obama being the man who will take America into a new future. Here's the question I have to ask for you. Should Senator Clinton have called on her supporters to back Barack Obama already? PELOSI: Senator Clinton, I think, has done exactly the right thing. It's very important for voters who have -- workers who have worked so hard in the campaign, they have to follow the lead of the candidate they are supporting. CURRY: But has she hurt Barack Obama, given what the polls are looking at -- like? PELOSI: I don't think so. I don't think so. CURRY: Why not? PELOSI: I don't think so. I think -- first of all, let's put it the way, this -- Barack Obama won the nomination with full confidence that he could win the general election. Now, 80 percent -- what is -- Barack Obama is leading among women right now, the bulk of Sen. -- much of Senator Clinton's support, by 20 points. By 20 points. So he is taking his message directly to the American people. Senator Clinton has emerged as a great leader in our country. She was before -- a greater leader now. And her support of course is very important -- CURRY: You mentioned the 20 -- PELOSI: -- but this is the natural course of events. CURRY: The natural course of events -- but it's three months until the election, Madame Speaker, and what we have is -- you talked about 20 percent. There are a lot of disgruntled, some of them actually angry, supporters of Hillary Clinton. PELOSI: Well, they are, but that is not the point. The point is, here we have come here together to be unified, focused, disciplined. We will leave here with a clarity of message of the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. We will leave here mobilized to drive a grassroots operation, to get out the vote, and we are confident of victory. CURRY: What gives you confidence of party unity? PELOSI: It doesn't mean party unanimity; you never have that. This is my 12th convention, and I can say that this is a pretty enthusiastic convention because in those earlier days, sometimes you didn't know the outcome going into the convention when you came out. We knew the outcome going in, and we knew what one of those outcomes would be a unified, confident Democratic Party coming out. You know why? Because everybody knows what is at stake. People are concerned about their -- losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their standard of living, losing their purchasing power, and they know that we must have change. And that's why we're confident that with our message of an economic agenda for all Americans that we will win. CURRY: What do you say to Hillary supporters who are now being wooed by John McCain? PELOSI: Well, I would say to them that women have the most to lose with the election of John McCain and the most to gain with the election of Barack Obama. Take any day in Congress, whether you're talking about childrens' health or pay equity, equal pay for equal work for women, or talk about issues like Medicare where John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was right. Or issues about our national security and going to war, or our economy, where, instead of investing in good paying jobs here, our economy is on the downturn. So on all of the issues, whether they're national security, economic security, or issues as personal to women as their right to choice or their pay equity or Medicare, whatever it happens to be -- children's health -- this -- the difference between the parties in policy and the individuals in terms of leadership on those policies are clear. CURRY: Hillary -- Hillary speaks tomorrow night. President Clinton speaks on Wednesday night. What do the Clintons want, and what role do you think they will play? PELOSI: Sorry? CURRY: What do the Clintons want, and what role will they play once this convention is over? PELOSI: Well, President Clinton is a former president of the United States. So his role is a very clear one, and I would like to hear Senator -- President Carter here. So he will always be a force in our country and certainly in the Democratic Party. So everyone is looking forward to being inspired by him, by hearing what his views are about the future and his support for Barack Obama and [Sen.] Joe Biden [D-DE]. Senator Clinton, a candidate in her own right, brings a different credential. In some ways her speech is more important than President Clinton's because she was currently in this race and now her supporters want to take their lead from her. But she's been absolutely great. Our country, our party have been strengthened by her candidacy, and we're all very, very proud of it. CURRY: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, thank you so much for stopping to speak to us. Thank you so much. All right now, Keith, right back to you. OLBERMANN: Ann Curry at the podium. Thank you, Ann. MATTHEWS: And now to Savannah Guthrie, who is with New York Senator Chuck Schumer -- senior Senator Chuck Schumer. GUTHRIE: Chuck Schumer is with me now. I have to ask you, first of all, about that other senator from New York. A lot has been said and written about lingering division in the party. Do you see that in your delegation? SCHUMER: I don't. We're probably the most pro-Hillary delegation of all of them, and there is great unity. Hillary this morning spoke to the delegation, and she said, "We need unity," and that makes sense because Hillary cares about this country and knows we can't afford another four years of John McCain. GUTHRIE: Is there some aspect to this that Hillary herself has not been able to control? I mean, there are people who clearly feel strongly about it and, no matter what her signals are, want to make a stand. SCHUMER: There are a few outliers who will be never happy, but the overwhelming majority of Hillary delegates here at this convention -- and I was the first senator to be for her and last off -- but the overwhelming majority are going to be for her and for her big time. GUTHRIE: What do you think her role will be now? SCHUMER: Sorry -- for him, and for him big time. We were for her big time, now we're going to be for Barack big time. GUTHRIE: Old habits die hard. SCHUMER: Exactly. GUTHRIE: What do you think her role in the Senate will be now? Is she going to be the lioness of the Senate, in the mold of Ted Kennedy? SCHUMER: Well, you know, she -- you know, sometimes you lose an election. You hate to lose it. But you actually grow in stature. That has happened to Hillary, and I think she could on major issues be really a seminal voice. GUTHRIE: Obviously, the presidential election is what has brought us all here, but you're very integral to the Senate campaigns. How many seats do you think the Democrats will gain? SCHUMER: We're going to pick up a whole bunch. Now, 60 is the dream. It's hard 'cause there are so many red states, but it's not out of the question, and we're finding in places we never thought we had a chance -- Oklahoma, this week, Georgia, we're much closer than we thought in addition to other 11 states. GUTHRIE: Senator Chuck Schumer, thanks for your time. SCHUMER: Thank you. GUTHRIE: Chris, back to you. MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you, Savannah Guthrie there with Chuck Schumer, the senator from New York, talking up Hillary's role in this. Of course, it is going to be the story of the week, no matter what we say. Will the Clintons get aboard? Will they be invited aboard with all the right protocols? [...] OLBERMANN: Let me do the -- run the risk of interrupting you because we don't want to keep a former president waiting. Ann Curry back inside the Pepsi Center with former President Carter. Ann? CURRY: That's right. Thank you so much, Keith. Thank you so much, Mr. President, for sticking around. Now, let me ask you, you know, you're the elder statesman, really, of this party. CARTER: I guess so. I think this is my ninth convention. CURRY: I need to ask you your feelings about why -- what is your sense about why this race is still so tight? CARTER: Well, I think the main reason is that a lot of supporters of Senator Clinton have not yet made up their minds. I noticed in news media this morning that only 46 percent of them so far are completely dedicated to Obama. But I think after this convention, you'll see a massive move by them to support Obama, and I think the polls will change very quickly. CURRY: In part that is probably because we will hear from Senator Clinton on Tuesday night and she will make her statements known. However, it is now three months until the election. You know how this rolls. Do you think that she should have thrown her support and asked her supporters to go to Obama before now? CARTER: No, I think this is working out quite well. You know, I know this from history -- you said I'm an elder statesman, and I know it from history. In 1976, when I got the nomination for president, there was an intense argument or debate between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan at their Republican convention. They divided horribly, and it was about four or five -- almost two months later before the Reagan people finally said, "OK, we will support Gerald Ford as a last choice." That's not going to wait this long this year. I think immediately after this convention, you'll see a massive move by the Clinton supporters to Obama. CURRY: Have you spoken to the Clintons? Have you asked them to have a certain kind of message? In other words, have you tried to guide what they're going to do here? CARTER: Not really. I don't think that's appropriate for me. They know a lot more about politics than I do and have been in it a lot more recently. CURRY: But have you called to talk to them about what they need to do here? CARTER: Yeah, in fact, Bill Clinton has called me. I think he called me last time. I called him earlier. But we stay in communication. And I don't think there's any doubt that Bill and his wife will be completely committed to Obama. I don't have any doubt about that. CURRY: All right. Mr. President, I know you've got to make it to another location. Thank you so much for staying. CARTER: Pleasure to talk to you. CURRY: It's a pleasure to see you, sir. CARTER: I think it's going to be a wonderful convention. CURRY: Well, you're looking very well and I'm very glad to see you. CARTER: Thank you very much. CURRY: So now back to you, Keith and Chris, back in the studio. [...] MATTHEWS: Robert Gibbs is the Obama campaign communications director. Robert, thank you for joining us. You're right near us now. When are we going to see a real coming together of Bill Clinton, the former president, and the Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama? When will we see them in the same picture together, having lunch together, hanging out together in a friendly environment? When will that happen? GIBBS: Well, look, they're trying to get together real soon but they had a long conversation last Thursday on our campaign bus as we were rolling through Virginia. You know, Chris, this party is united. This party's going to be united coming out of -- coming out of Denver here on Friday. We're gonna -- we're united by a simple message, and that is: We need change in this country. We can't have four more years of the same George Bush-John McCain policies that have taken this country in the wrong direction. That's what unites a lot of different delegates that have come here supporting different candidates in the past. But it's important that people understand we are going to be united. We have to have change in November. MATTHEWS: Well, again, I haven't seen a picture yet of Bill Clinton with Barack Obama. When will I see them together? GIBBS: Real soon. MATTHEWS: Real soon. Let me ask you about this very bad blood that went on during South Carolina, all the primaries in the beginning, when comments were made by former President Clinton, you know, "this is a fairy tale," comparisons of the success in states like South Carolina by Barack Obama with those of Jesse Jackson in the past in a way that seemed to minimize the success of Barack Obama, his dominance, if you will of this effort. Were they racist or were they just unfortunate? How would you describe those comments by Bill Clinton? GIBBS: You know, Chris, I remember South Carolina. It was -- it all happened so fast. We were quickly off on to I don't know how many states for February 5th. We didn't have a lot of time to focus on this. Look, I don't think in any way, shape, or form were those comments racist. There's been no better advocate for the African-American community than former President Bill Clinton. We're a united party. Somebody -- a very exclusive club, former presidents, and we look to hope to use the wisdom and the campaign skills of Bill Clinton to good use in the fall to bring Democrats together, to bring independents and Republicans out in places like Colorado and all throughout the West, and win the White House for the first time since he occupied it a little over eight years ago. MATTHEWS: Let's talk about the roll call. Keith's been raising it -- he may want to jump in on this -- he's been raising the question as to what's the choreography come Wednesday night? We've watched a number of conventions where the loser grandly and magnificently or magnanimously says, "I ask that this be made unanimous." Will there be a moment like that of unity? GIBBS: Well, look, the logistics of this are in some flux and they're being worked out. But again, what I think you'll see after that roll call is a party that's united. Look, again, we understand that people came with strong passions. Look, Senator Clinton ran a fabulous campaign. She was an outspoken and eloquent voice for working families, for better health care, for better schools. That's exactly what Barack Obama wants to see in this country, and that's what we're here to advocate each and every night in this platform. OLBERMANN: Mr. Gibbs, what's the best-case scenario? What do you see as the best-case scenario of these conversations, if we don't call them negotiations, between you and those supporters sort of running what's left of the Clinton campaign as we wait for the Kennedy thing tonight? GIBBS: Well, look -- here's what I think is going to happen. I think you're going to hear a very passionate, a very eloquent speech tomorrow night from Senator Clinton, and she's going to tell the hall and all of America that the candidate that she most wants to see as president of the United States is Barack Obama. I think that's going to carry a tremendous amount of weight with Democrats that may not be as excited right now as we'd like them to be. But I guarantee that 10 weeks, a little over 10 weeks from now on election night, Democrats will be -- will come out in full force in numbers like you've never seen before. MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about the question as to the role they're going to play. Do you expect Bill Clinton to barnstorm his way through those areas where he did well -- Southern white guys, if you will -- in the Appalachian area, states that can be tricky -- portions of Ohio, portions of Pennsylvania? Are you going to really surgically use Bill the way, for example, Eddie Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania, was able to call in the airstrikes by the Clintons? GIBBS: Well, look, former President Clinton has expressed a desire to get out and campaign. Obviously, Senator Clinton has been in key states for us -- Florida, New Mexico, and other places recently. They've both been fabulous. They've both been extraordinarily helpful. We couldn't ask anything more. And I think you mentioned it. Look, this race is going to be decided in places like Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Youngstown, Ohio, and Macomb County, Michigan, and look, you've got a great choice between these two candidates, right? John McCain was asked last week fairly innocently, I would presume, by a reporter, "How many houses do you own?" And his answer was, "I'll get back to you. I'll get some staff to get you that answer." For your viewers, guys, the answer was seven. That's how many houses they own. But I think there are voters sitting here tonight in Scranton, in Youngstown, in Macomb County, that are just trying to make their mortgage payment for next month. They want a president that's in touch with their problems, that understands that this economy has to get moving again, and that choice is Barack Obama. MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you for joining us over here at the MSNBC site. GIBBS: Thanks, guys.
Would LeBron James visit Donald Trump after a title? “We’ll see.” (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Thursday afternoon, LeBron James visited the White House with his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates for the final time while President Barack Obama, a man he had come to know well, remained in office. He had not yet decided whether it would be the final time he visited the Rose Garden, period, regardless of how many NBA championships he adds to the three he already has won. James, who endorsed Hillary Clinton both at rallies and in a newspaper editorial, said Friday morning at Verizon Center he would have to consider whether to celebrate a potential future championship with President-Elect Donald Trump at the White House. “I don’t know,” James said. “That’s something that we’ll cross. We’ll have to cross that road if we get there. We’ll see. I would hope to have to cross that road. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want another championship.” James, sitting underneath a basket before shootaround, chuckled as he finished the answer. The past three days have been hard on him. He had a personal stake in the election. Having waded into social issues for the past several years and helped more than 1,000 underprivileged kids enter college, James gave a full-throated endorsement to Clinton. “Only one person running truly understands the struggles of an Akron child born into poverty,” James wrote Oct. 2. “And when I think about the kinds of policies and ideas the kids in my foundation need from our government, the choice is clear. That candidate is Hillary Clinton.” [Will LeBron James remain politically active after Hillary Clinton’s loss?] And then James’s home state played a significant role in her defeat. Just 44 percent of Ohio, viewed as a critical swing state, voted for Clinton. The loss stung James, a wildly popular figure failing so decisively in a popularity contest. “It was difficult,” James said. “It was difficult watching it. Me and my wife didn’t go to bed until 4 o’clock in the morning. It was very difficult seeing what happened not only in our state, but in our country. Like I said, it is what it is. That’s in the past. We need to live in the present and make our future better.” Across the NBA, a league in which the vast majority of players are black, players and coaches expressed despair about Trump’s victory. Pistons Coach Stan Van Gundy denounced Trump as “brazenly” misogynist and racist. “Words cannot express the honor I feel being the last team to visit the White House tomorrow,” Cavaliers veteran Richard Jefferson wrote in an Instagram post. James vowed he would continue his advocacy and his community involvement, regardless of the presidential outcome. Friday morning, he wore a black cap with the phrase “Always Believe” in gold lettering above his personal logo. He insisted Trump’s victory would not fundamentally change the nation and called on fellow people who felt disappointment not to let the outcome diminish their civic participation. “He’s our president,” James said. “No matter if you agree with it or disagree with it, he’s the guy, and we all have to figure a way to make America as great as it can be. We all have to do our part. Our nation has never been built on one guy, anyways. It’s been built on multiple guys, multiple people in power, multiple people having a dream and making it become a reality by giving back to the community, by giving back to the youth, doing so many great things. “We always have a guy that has the most power, and that’s the President of the United States. But it’s never been built on one guy. We all have to figure out a way we can better our country. We all know, we all feel, that this is the best country in the world. We have to all do our part. It’s not about him. It’s not about him at all, especially not for me and what I do.” [TNT’s Ernie Johnson isn’t sticking to sports after Election Day] Though the celebration came two days after Clinton’s defeat, the ceremony included typical moments of levity. Power forward Kevin Love handed Obama a jersey, the sleeved version the Cavaliers wore during their Game 7 victory, and Obama cracked, “These sleeves get tight. Can I tear these out? Can I rip them?” James is known in NBA circles for his propensity to tears the sleeves during games. Love reconnected with Vice President Joe Biden, whom he had met two years ago filming a PSA for domestic violence. “Biden’s a guy you’d love to have a beer with,” Love said.“But the first lady is the star.” James took a selfie with Michelle Obama with teammate Channing Frye in the background. “She’s so cool,” Love said. “She did the mannequin challenge with us. She took us to the basketball court. She made the joke that Kyrie [Irving] was hanging on to the Larry O’Brien Trophy too long, and she didn’t get to see it.” The Cavaliers, James said, did not speak with Obama or his staff about Trump’s victory or ensuing presidency. But Obama told the crowd Thursday that James and several teammates had met with senior advisor Valerie Jarrett in the Roosevelt Room to discuss the relationship between black communities and police officers, an issue James has been outspoken about, particularly during a speech this summer at the ESPYs awards show. “That’s an ongoing conversation,” James said. “That’s every day. We’re always having that conversation. It’s an open dialogue. Having that conversation, it’s an open dialogue. At this point, we just have to find ways we can all be better. It’s not just about one group or one person. It’s about all of us having a conversation, and then having a plan and executing that plan. That’s a conversation that has to go on.” “These Cavs exemplify a growing generation of athletes that are using their platforms to speak out,” Obama said Thursday. “We’ve seen Kevin on combating campus sexual assault. LeBron on issues like gun violence and working with Michelle to help more kids go to school.” [President Obama as Cavaliers visit the White House: ‘Cleveland was always Believeland’] Thursday’s visit meant more to James, even more than the first two title ceremonies he experienced with the Miami Heat, because it would be the final one with Obama. “We made sure we was going to go before he was out of office,” James said. In his 13-year NBA career, James has transformed from a high school phenom to perhaps the most prominent athlete on the planet. Obama praised him Thursday as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. His achievements, fame and political leanings have prompted a “real genuine relationship” with Obama, James said, which he called “surreal.” James also promised his relationship with Obama would last beyond the day his term ends Jan. 20. He did not believe Thursday’s visit in the Rose Garden was the appropriate time to detail how it would continue. “But we looked at each other, and we know there is a lot to still be done,” James said. “We will regroup.”
Watching the chaos unfold as an unwitting public awoke to many popular websites going on strike in protest of SOPA and PROTECT IP just made my day. Searching for tweets containing both the words “fuck” and “Wikipedia” was hilarious at first. I opened @whatthefuckwiki to curate the most hilarious results. But as the hours and hours of self-entitled teenage venting went on, my usually oh-so-optimistic faith in humanity started to wear thin. What follows is an overview of the kind of reactions that sped through Twitter all day. The initial shock was catastrophic: http://twitter.com/Tucks_Winning/status/159561098276773888 http://twitter.com/JayohOWA/status/159521374317182977 pardon, why the fuck isn't wikipedia working when i need it for fuck sakes bullshit — Fat Jess (@jessicabyreiter) January 18, 2012 FUCK MY LIFE. FUCK MY LIFE. GUYS, NO WAY. DUDE, WIKIPEDIA DIED. HOW AM I GONNA. FML. guys, im gonna fial my frnech project. — um (@mimi_1997) January 18, 2012 No wikipedia is already killing me, trying to do my daily research FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!! — M△RK ELZEY (@cmykcolours) January 18, 2012 http://twitter.com/CraayZee/status/159702854666424321 http://twitter.com/MEEJIIAA/status/159829797562884097 Some got specific with their calls for redress. Shut up wikipedia I want free knowledge right now! Trying to fuck — DUSTIN DUSTER (@IceBrosKillZs) January 18, 2012 IM TRYNA FIGURE OUT WHAT THE FUCK NUTELLA IS AND WIKIPEDIA DIRECTIN TO JESSE MOTHAFUCKIN JACKSON — Dat Freaky Cap ♑ (@TheREALmrPaTRoN) January 18, 2012 http://twitter.com/GangstaBitchhh/status/159520252735143937 so i can't go on Wikipedia to research what the fuck kind of creepy swamp rodents are mating in my backyard? FUCK. — cynzodiazepine (@Ninja_Wh0) January 18, 2012 Okay, So Wikipedia Blacked Out There Site Too ! Fuck, Im Trying To See If I Can Get My Handgun License ! -_- — Jordan White (@taylor_whitley) January 19, 2012 Fuck. Without Wikipedia, I can't check the plot of this movie I'm watching where this dude's smashing this retarded chick. Goddamn you. — X-Pac Shakur (@LSE7ENZ) January 18, 2012 COME THE FUCK ON WIKIPEDIA I CAN ONLY MEMORIZE THESE SUBTLE EDITS ABOUT CAPTAIN KIRK'S DEMONSTRABLE SUPERIORITY FOR SO GODDAMN LONG — Bruce K. (@Hex_Machine) January 18, 2012 High School students with tests and homework weren’t the only ones to complain, though. Professional journalists and other office-dwellers resigned themselves to their Wiki-free fates: Out of office: Wikipedia is closed. I have no answers. Fuck off. — * (@jessjodi) January 18, 2012 fuck I was just going to use wikipedia to look up information about General Petreaus wife, fuck fuck fuck — Mike Elk (@MikeElk) January 18, 2012 FUCK I actually need Wikipedia now! There's a category "Christian Radio stations in Australia" that would be perfect right now! #internbitch — Reese Williams (@reesieboi) January 19, 2012 FUCK YEAH WRITING A COLUMN WITHOUT WIKIPEDIA IS ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS I'LL EVER HAVE TO DO BESIDES THE CRYPTIC CROSSWORD AND CHILDBIRTH! — Nadine von Cohen (@nadinevoncohen) January 19, 2012 Blame went all around. Some didn’t care about the issues and just needed their Wikipedia fix: Fuck you Wikipedia! -___- you're setting all us last minute students up for failure — Backwood Barbie (@DMxSHAW) January 18, 2012 #wikipedia used to be my nigga, but fuck him — (@TiaraCubana) January 18, 2012 Some became aware of the issue thanks to Wikipedia, and voiced their new opposition to SOPA & PIPA: WIKIPEDIA IS DOWN! Go to the site, contact your representatives and tell them how you feel. FUCK THE GOV'T! LET THEM TRY TO CENSOR ME. #FUCK — Tom Dough (@TomGetsFD) January 18, 2012 Could live with the government pretty much saying fuck the constitution…until they messed with Wikipedia. — Brandon (@ThatAlcornKid) January 19, 2012 Fuck you mean Wikipedia is blacked out for all of wensday? The fuck we in Egypt or something? — Nick McGee (@Pharaohs_Son) January 18, 2012 http://twitter.com/Hayden_Bouren/status/159604908826443776 If the government shuts down Wikipedia and Tumblr, I will literally fuck the American government's shit up… — Imani. (@ManiStayFreshh) January 18, 2012 Many thought the government actually blocked Wikipedia, or came up with other ideas out of thin air: http://twitter.com/angie_single/status/159749977902551040 http://twitter.com/JordanHURose/status/159763670790963200 The government wants to charge to use Wikipedia FUCK THEM!!!!! — CALLMEWAVE☎️ (@DREW_S95) January 18, 2012 So Obama woke up this morning and went to his computer and said "yeah what the fuck let's shut down wikipedia" and it just happened. — Abyssal Maw (@Ze0nite) January 19, 2012 Surgeon General C.Everett Koop helped shut down Wikipedia. Fuck Obama care. — EARTH COBRA (@MikeNRoush) January 19, 2012 U.S. Congress go fuck yourselves. I just got blacked out of Wikipedia. Figure out your debt problems other ways. See military. — FlyQ (@FlyQtheAnchor) January 19, 2012 But, more than anything, this blackout shows just how lazy and unafraid of blatant plagiarism (or even cheating) many students are. Take fucking facebook down for fuck sakes. Not fucking wikipedia. It helped me graduate highschool by plagiarizing lol. — David Adade (@DavidAdade_) January 19, 2012 fuck .. how do you do homework without #wikipedia — isaac (@DJbluemonkey) January 18, 2012 Why the fuck has the us blocked wikipedia when I needed it to copy and paste me work for college >:\| they have no consideration — BigD (@DByrnzy) January 18, 2012 FUCK OF WIKIPEDIA YE FUCKIN DIKED U BEST GET BAK ON NOW AM TRYNA PASS ME MASTAS DEGREE HERE YANO FUCKIN DIKED. #WIKIPEDIA — Scouser FTM (@ScouserFTM) January 18, 2012 Fuck, I have to write an essay tomorrow and I was gonna rely solely on Wikipedia. #PickingTheWorstTimeToProtest — Pretty Girl (@ChrisMasih) January 18, 2012 http://twitter.com/SratGirlStories/status/159534312851636224 http://twitter.com/DemiGangsta/status/159769951006240768 Fuck you, Wikipedia! I know what you're trying to do, but fuck you all the same. Now I have to crack a book, like I'm Amish or something. — Laura (@hellobrisvegas) January 18, 2012 I need a drink.
“Beauty and the Beast” just waltzed past a major box office milestone. The live-action remake of Disney’s 1991 fairy tale crossed $500 million at the domestic box office after Saturday earnings were totaled, making it the eighth movie ever to do so. “Beauty and the Beast” has been a box office darling — and one of the few bright spots in 2017 — since it was released on March 17 and went on to a $174.8 million opening weekend. Overseas the film has been a hit as well, earning over $732 million. Its worldwide total sits at over $1.2 billion. It is currently the tenth highest grossing movie of all time behind “Frozen.” Bill Condon directed the movie starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast. The strong supporting cast includes Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, and Josh Gad who made headlines for being the first opening gay character in a Disney movie. Those who enjoyed seeing a non-animated version of “Beauty and the Beast” should get used to the concept. Disney has a lineup of live-action remakes of its animated classics in the works, including “Snow White,” “Mulan,” and “Lion King.” The other movies to break $500 million domestically are “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($936.7 million); “Avatar” ($760.5 million); “Titanic” ($658.7 million); “Jurassic World” ($652.3 million); “Marvel’s The Avengers” ($623.4 million); “The Dark Knight” ($534.9 million); and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ($532.2 million).
Kellyanne Conway, the advisor to President Donald Trump, must be credited for having coined a new philosophical concept: that of “alternative facts”. When confronted with the episode in which White House press Secretary Sean Spicer had grossly misstated the figures concerning the people present at the presidential inauguration, Conway disputed that Spicer had been wrong, minting in passing an expression which has since entered the lexicon: One must grant the possibility, Conway pleaded, of something like “alternative facts.” The episode is telling, as it confirms that an obscurantist backlash takes place in the very name of tolerance and the hospitable accommodation of plural opinions. Contrary to what Nietzsche saw as the coming “bacchanal of free spirits,” a pluralism of perspectives seems to pave the ground for regressive politics (not by accident, at a rally in Nevada in February 2016, Donald Trump outspokenly confessed preferring “the poorly educated”). At large, conspiracy theories are making a great comeback, with the rise of creationism, vaccine hostility or climate denial, and what is significant, is that this time, they wield the banner of emancipation from imposed narratives. No one has ever invoked as often the need for pluralism as the advocates of “alternative truth;” no one has ever called more vociferously for democratic freedom of speech than xenophobic isolationists. While high US government officials discuss the need to introduce creationist teachings in school curricula, and governmentally funded agencies for climate research are shut down on the pretense that climate change predictions are not uncontroversial, the effects of this shift are palpable. History becomes a welcome reservoir for weighing in on the present, e.g. when conservative media pundits such as Glenn Beck or evangelical activists such as David Warton claim that the Founding Fathers had already proven evolutionary theory wrong (according to them, Thomas Jefferson supposedly rejected the arguments in Darwin’s Origin of Species, although the book was in fact published 33 years after his death). But this rewriting of history is not an American prerogative: Rio de Janeiro’s current mayor thinks that Darwinism is a lie and that evolutionary theory should be replaced with creationism, on the grounds of freedom of speech; and in Turkey, the official position does not recognize the genocidal killing of 1.5 mio. Armenians, under the guise that no nation should have the right to impose a hegemonic narrative of the past and that alternative accounts should be possible. The Lure of Factualism In the face of such symptoms, it may seem natural wanting to defend the facts. In the light of Donald Trump’s allegation that global warming is a Chinese hoax in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive or Education Ministers who claim that the world was created 6000 years ago, we seem to have good reasons for upholding something such as the existence of objectivity. Indeed, such barefaced disregard for things as they are has stirred numerous reactions: many public and private actors are increasingly worried about the effects of the post-factual on epistemological and ethical issues, and try to find conceptual means to fight back. With this whitewashing of mendacity, sales figures of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 are skyrocketing, while to this alleged “crisis of truth,” global tech players such as Facebook are already responding through the implementation of algorithmic filters for spotting fake news. On the intellectual front, the main reaction was to designate the assumed culprits: relativism and the driving force supposedly working in its back: postmodernism. The postmodern credo, so the critique goes, has its roots in Nietzsche’s aphorism in Truth and Lie in an Extramoral Sense, according to which “there are no facts, only interpretations.” No doubt, the boundless interpretationism that proliferated on such grounds has been detrimental to contemporary thinking. Moreover, as often noted, such a statement is self-defeating. As any general relativist statement, it must also include itself, which would mean that the fact that there are only interpretations is itself subject to interpretation. Yet the opposite claim – that of factualism – is equally unfounded. The preferred case of factualists is that of Pharaoh Ramses’s II death. According to a famous reading Bruno Latour put forward, Ramses II could not have died of tuberculosis, as Egyptologists believe, because the tbc bacillus was only discovered by Pasteur in 1881. In his book Who’s Afraid of Truth? Paul Boghossian mocks this as an exemplary case for the wrongdoings of constructivism and relativism. Yet this caricature misses out that Latour’s point was not to make any claim about causes of death, but about the categories of knowledge and the history of its truth conditions. What does it mean for a bacteria to “exist”? The very notion of “existence” must be problematized. At this point, some philosophers will say that we must draw a distinction between facts (which are unalterable by definition), and interpretations (which are subject to social conventions). The case can easily be exemplified by recalling the debate between John Searle and Hilary Lawson. In a way, Searle repeats what Apple CEO Tim Cook had replied to Kellyanne Conway: there are no “alternative facts;” there are only – at best – alternative interpretations. To Searle, an epistemological sense has to be distinguished from an ontological sense, where “epistemological” has to do with the knowledge of a fact and “ontological” has to do with the existence of a fact. The top of the Everest is covered with snow even if no one knows about it, and in this sense, ontology precedes epistemology. Moreover, we must distinguish ontological facts and the statements about them: one might disagree whether Rembrandt is the greatest painter who ever lived, but there are no objective grounds to disagree that Rembrandt was born in 1606. This is where Hilary Lawson has made valuable objections. To Lawson, the very distinction into epistemology and ontology is problematic. To what extent can ontology claim to be immune from the epistemological concerns? The very claim of ontological objectivity for the statement ‘Rembrandt was born in 1606’ rests on a tight web of social references. Depending on the social convention, different calendars will be used (Chinese, Gregorian, Julian, Islamic and so forth) and each will provide a variety of dates for Rembrandt’s birth (just as it would absurd to claim that according to “objective truth,” the Soviet October revolution took place in November, which it did according to the Gregorian calendar). Similarly, a statement such as “Rembrandt was born” is also not straightforward, since an art historian might very well argue that the individual that was to become Rembrandt was indeed born in 1606, but the great artist we know as Rembrandt was not born until at least the 1630’s. In the same vein, one might imagine a culture theorist beginning a lecture saying “Rembrandt was born along with the first cave paintings some 35000 years ago.” As it becomes clear, there is a certain range of alternative dates that compete for truth. A factualist will then have to distinguish between literal and metaphorical truths, in order to exclude competing claims and retain something like “core” facts. However, the very distinction between core and derived truths is itself the result of a social practice. But first and foremost, Lawson contends the appeal to common sense: statements such as “Rembrandt was born in 1606,” “Paris is the capital of France” or “these are my hands” are only superficially obvious, and are de facto persuasive because they are embedded in a tight web of social conventions. In other terms, the appeal to common sense may be just as populist as the politics a certain strand of realism want to contest. Disconnecting ontology from epistemology and reverting to a situation of separation such as we knew it from pre-Kantian philosophy is, to say the least, a move that is far from innocent. Regaining True Alternatives No doubt, relativism is self-contradictory. If relativism is just one among many other possible opinions one may hold, why should we have any reason to accept it rather than its negation? Also, rather than fostering openness, relativism muzzles critique and leads to regression. Under the disguise of stressing interdependence, relativism actually promotes hegemony: the “anything goes” gives free floor to the principle that might is right. Yet, from this double rejection of relativism, no necessary need for factualism follows, if we mean by factualism the existence of a reality made of facts that would be thoroughly independent from our relationship to it. It is another demonstration of the poverty of critique today when intellectuals and philosophers see their main role in fighting back post-truth and defending hard facts. For long, it was the conservative right that rejected any notion of alternativity. After all, wasn’t Margaret Thatcher’s politics in the 1980’s based on the so-called TINA principle (“There Is No Alternative”)? By now, cards seem to have been completely reshuffled. Whereas the “what if…” question had been historically preempted by progressive politics, now it been taken over by conspiracy theories. Some might remember the X-Files series from the 1990’s, with its iconic agents Scully and Mulder. Every episode always ended with the famous tagline: “The truth is out there.” The “out there” has very little to do with the realist’s credo that reality is what lies out there, right in front of us. Rather, it refers to some kind of alternative truth in some sort of remove and to which someone wants to block us the access to. Since then, this idea towers above current public debates. Just as there are alternative facts, we have witnessed the emergence of ALT-TRUTH, ALT-Reality and more generally, of the ALT-Right. At this very moment, we must reflect whether the counterstrategy was effective. Rather than trying to defend the existence of indisputable facts, it is the skyjacking of the very idea of “alternativity” that should be vigorously contested. Against the heralds of “alternative facts,” but also against the nostalgia for some sort of univocal, solid reality made of uncontroversial facts, true alternatives must be defended. Only where things could truly be different can we hope for social as well as for epistemic progress.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is resigning after nearly four decades in power, according to an official close to the talks on his departure, in an extraordinary end for the world’s oldest head of state who had vowed to rule until death. The news came hours after the ruling party’s Central Committee on Sunday fired Mugabe as party leader and said if he didn’t resign as the country’s president by noon Monday it would start impeachment proceedings. Mugabe was set to address the nation shortly on state-run television. The official close to the talks spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. The 93-year-old Mugabe has been under house arrest since the military moved in Tuesday, angered by his firing of his longtime deputy and the positioning of unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe to succeed him. Mugabe tried to buy time in negotiations with the military on a dignified exit but quickly found himself isolated. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of the capital Saturday to demand that Mugabe, one of Africa’s last remaining liberation leaders, step aside after overseeing the once-prosperous country’s economic collapse. The deputy whom Mugabe fired, former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is poised to be Zimbabwe’s next leader after the Central Committee made him its nominee to take over when Mugabe goes. Mugabe was speaking at the State House building where he holds official functions, a symbol of the rule of the man who took power after independence from white minority rule in 1980. Clinging to his virtually powerless post, Mugabe earlier on Sunday discussed his exit with the army commander who put him under house arrest, in a second round of negotiations. Meanwhile, members of the ZANU-PF party’s Central Committee stood, cheered and sang as Mugabe was recalled. Meeting chair Obert Mpofu referred to him as “outgoing president” and called it a “sad day” for Mugabe after his decades in power. “He has been our leader for a long time and we have all learned a great deal from him,” Mpofu said. But Mugabe “surrounded himself with a wicked cabal” that brought him down. The meeting replaced Mugabe as party chief with Mnangagwa and recalled the first lady as head of the women’s league. The Central Committee accused the first lady of “preaching hate, divisiveness and assuming roles and powers not delegated to the office.” The committee’s decisions will be formalized at a special party congress next month. The Central Committee also expelled several high-level members close to the first lady, including minister of higher education Jonathan Moyo, finance minister Ignatious Chombo, Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, foreign affairs minister Walter Mzembi and several others. Zimbabwean officials never revealed details of Mugabe’s talks with the military on his exit, but the military appeared to favor a voluntary resignation to maintain a veneer of legality in the political transition. Mugabe, in turn, likely was using whatever leverage he had left to try to preserve his legacy or even protect himself and his family from possible prosecution. Chris Mutsvangwa, head of the country’s liberation war veterans, vowed to “bring back the crowd” if the president didn’t step aside but said he was concerned that the military would end up opening fire to protect Mugabe from protesters. “We would expect that Mugabe would not have the prospect of the military shooting at people, trying to defend him,” Mutsvangwa said. “The choice is his.” On Saturday, most of Harare’s population of 1.6 million poured into the streets in an anti-Mugabe demonstration that just days ago would have brought a police crackdown. They clambered onto tanks moving slowly through the crowds, took selfies with soldiers and surged in the thousands toward the State House building. The euphoria came after years of watching the once-prosperous African nation fall into decay, with a collapsing economy, repression of free speech, disputed elections and international sanctions. Even as concerns remained about who next would be in charge, people reveled in the rare chance to express themselves freely. Let us have this moment, Zimbabweans said. If the next leader becomes trouble, they vowed to return to the streets again.
The DJI Mavic is one of the most popular quadcopters at the moment, and it’s very clear why – it’s extremely portable so you can take it anywhere with you, it has some very cool smart features and shoots great photos and videos. However, the Mavic Pro still lacks one thing, and that is FPV connectivity. Sure, you can connect your phone to the remote controller and use the screen as “your eyes” in the sky, but you can’t really immerse yourself in the flight like you can with some other FPV quadcopters. Every now and then I get the question “How can I fly my Mavic Pro with FPV goggles?“, and honestly – that’s a great question. Flying FPV is awesome – if you’ve never done it, you need to try it – sliding a pair of FPV goggles on, launching the drone and flying it is a completely different experience. It’s a lot more immersive and tricks your mind into thinking you’re actually in the drone, flying. It’s almost like you’re Superman flying above the ground 🙂 Unfortunately, flying FPV on the Mavic Pro is not as easy as on some other drones such as the Phantom 3 Pro or the Phantom 4. With those two, you’re able to modify your controller in a way that you can add direct HDMI output, so the video you output could drive an external monitor so if you’re flying with friends they can all watch on this external monitor, or you can of course connect your FPV goggles to it. With the Mavic Pro though, it’s a bit more difficult, but still perfectly doable. So here are a couple of ways you can fly FPV with the Mavic: Solution #1: Use the DJI Goggles (Best official way) DJI has officially released their FPV Goggles which could be used both for the Mavic Pro, the Phantom 4 series and even the smaller DJI Spark. Just like Apple, DJI has started to develop their own ecosystem with products that will be easy to connect to each other, and the Goggles are no exception. The FPV goggles can easily connect to the Mavic Pro and will not require any additional cables or connections, which basically makes this one of the easiest and best overall way to connect the drone to FPV goggles. A pair of goggles costs $449/549€ and can be found on the official DJI’s website. You can learn more about the DJI FPV Goggles in their official video below: Solution #2: Using the Nvidia Shield K1 Tablet (Very reliable, but requires more cables) The second solution to fly your Mavic with FPV goggles is by getting the Nvidia Shield K1 Tablet. Yes, it requires some extra cash but in my opinion is the easiest and most straightforward process out of the bunch. Now, obviously the first step is to acquire the Shield K1 tablet. This is crucial as this tablet has HDMI-out connectivity, which you’ll need in order to connect your FPV goggles. The next step is quite straightforward: connect your DJI Mavic Controller by cable to the Nvidia Shield K1, and make sure your connection is established successfully. Then, use the HDMI-out connection on the tablet to connect your tablet to your FPV glasses. And that’s it basically. You’ll see the video mirrored on your FPV goggles and you’ll be good to go. Here’s the whole process on video: Solution #3: Using the Litchi App (Cheapest) I’d say that the easiest and cheapest way to fly FPV with the Mavic is to download the Litchi app (it’s available both for Android and iOS). Then, you should simply put the app into VR mode and put your smartphone into supported VR goggles. There’s one advantage using the Litchi app – you can control the gimbal and rotation with your head movement. Here’s a demonstration of how the Litchi app works for FPV: However, in the March 2017 update of the Litchi app, there’s the following statement which you should be aware of: “Due to a bug in the DJI firmware, Focus, Track and VR with Immersive/Joystick Head Tracking modes are no longer usable with the following drone models and firmware versions: Mavic Pro (v01.03.0500), Inspire 2 (v01.0.0240) and Phantom 4 Pro (v01.03.0418). If you are using one of these firmware versions and wish to continue using the affected flight modes, either downgrade to a previous firmware version using the DJI Assistant 2 PC/Mac app or wait for DJI to release a new firmware that will fix this bug.” Solution #4: Using Google Chromecast (Not optimal) A user in the DJI Forum shows how he’s using Google Chromecast and the Avant Glymph FPV Goggles to fly FPV. In order to make this work, you’ll need a smartphone, an HDMI to HDMI adapter, a Battery Powerpack and some patience 🙂 Here’s how you should connect the devices: Once you have the Chromecast setup on the wifi/hotspot you would simply setup the Mavic Pro as you normally do, then connect the Battery Powerpack >Chromecast>HDMI adapter> Goggles. When everything is ready to go mirror the screen to the Chromecast However, this solution is not ideal, as other users report that the connection is laggy and there’s a lot of latency in the FPV signal. Still, it’s a great way to test out the waters by only investing in the Litchi app (currently priced at $23) Over to you So those are the best ways to fly a DJI Mavic Pro with FPV goggles. Which one do you prefer? Do you know another way? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks 🙂
The Assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC Printer Friendly Version >>> In January of 49 BC, Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon River in Northern Italy (see Caesar Crosses the Rubicon, 49 BC) and plunged the Roman Republic into civil war. Caesar's rival, Pompey, fled to Greece. Within three months Caesar controlled the entire Italian peninsula and in Spain had defeated the legions loyal to Pompey. Caesar now pursued Pompey to Greece. Although outnumbered, Caesar crushed the forces of his enemy but not before Pompey escaped to Egypt. Following Pompey to Egypt, Caesar was presented with his rival's severed head as a token of friendship. Before leaving the region, Caesar established Cleopatra as his surrogate ruler of Egypt. Caesar defeated his remaining rivals in North Africa in 47 BC and returned to Rome with his authority firmly established. Caesar continued to consolidate his power and in February 44 BC, he declared himself dictator for life. This act, along with his continual effort to adorn himself with the trappings of power, turned many in the Senate against him. Sixty members of the Senate concluded that the only resolution to the problem was to assassinate Caesar. Death of a Dictator Nicolaus of Damascus wrote his account of the murder of Caesar a few years after the event. He was not actually present when the assassination occurred but had the opportunity to speak with those who were. He was a friend of Herod the Great and gathered his information during a visit to Rome. His account is thought to be reliable. The Plan: "The conspirators never met openly, but they assembled a few at a time in each others' homes. There were many discussions and proposals, as might be expected, while they investigated how and where to execute their design. Some suggested that they should make the attempt as he was going along the Sacred Way, which was one of his favorite walks. Another idea was for it to be done at the elections during which he bad to cross a bridge to appoint the magistrates in the Campus Martius; they should draw lots for some to push him from the bridge and for others to run up and kill him. A third plan was to wait for a coming gladiatorial show. The advantage of that would be that, because of the show, no suspicion would be aroused if arms were seen prepared for the attempt. But the majority opinion favored killing him while he sat in the Senate, where he would be by himself since non-Senators would not be admitted, and where the many conspirators could hide their daggers beneath their togas. This plan won the day." Brutus Persuades Caesar to Ignore his Apprehensions: ADVERTISMENT "...his friends were alarmed at certain rumors and tried to stop him going to the Senate-house, as did his doctors, for he was suffering from one of his occasional dizzy spells. His wife, Calpurnia, especially, who was frightened by some visions in her dreams, clung to him and said that she would not let him go out that day. But Brutus, one of the conspirators who was then thought of as a firm friend, came up and said, 'What is this, Caesar? Are you a man to pay attention to a woman's dreams and the idle gossip of stupid men, and to insult the Senate by not going out, although it has honored you and has been specially summoned by you? But listen to me, cast aside the forebodings of all these people, and come. The Senate has been in session waiting for you since early this morning.' This swayed Caesar and he left." Bad Omens: "Before he entered the chamber, the priests brought up the victims for him to make what was to be his last sacrifice. The omens were clearly unfavorable. After this unsuccessful sacrifice, the priests made repeated other ones, to see if anything more propitious might appear than what had already been revealed to them. In the end they said that they could not clearly see the divine intent, for there was some transparent, malignant spirit hidden in the victims. Caesar was annoyed and abandoned divination till sunset, though the priests continued all the more with their efforts. Those of the murderers present were delighted at all this, though Caesar's friends asked him to put off the meeting of the Senate for that day because of what the priests had said, and he agreed to do this. But some attendants came up, calling him and saying that the Senate was full. He glanced at his friends, but Brutus approached him again and said, 'Come, good sir, pay no attention to the babblings of these men, and do not postpone what Caesar and his mighty power has seen fit to arrange. Make your own courage your favorable omen.' He convinced Caesar with these words, took him by the right hand, and led him to the Senate which was quite near. Caesar followed in silence." The Attack: "The Senate rose in respect for his position when they saw him entering. Those who were to have part in the plot stood near him. Right next to him went Tillius Cimber, whose brother had been exiled by Caesar. Under pretext of a humble request on behalf of this brother, Cimber approached and grasped the mantle of his toga, seeming to want to make a more positive move with his hands upon Caesar. Caesar wanted to get up and use his hands, but was prevented by Cimber and became exceedingly annoyed. That was the moment for the men to set to work. All quickly unsheathed their daggers and rushed at him. First Servilius Casca struck him with the point of the blade on the left shoulder a little above the collar-bone. He had been aiming for that, but in the excitement he missed. Caesar rose to defend himself, and in the uproar Casca shouted out in Greek to his brother. The latter heard him and drove his sword into the ribs. After a moment, Cassius made a slash at his face, and Decimus Brutus pierced him in the side. While Cassius Longinus was trying to give him another blow he missed and struck Marcus Brutus on the hand. Minucius also hit out at Caesar and hit Rubrius in the thigh. They were just like men doing battle against him. Under the mass of wounds, he fell at the foot of Pompey's statue. Everyone wanted to seem to have had some part in the murder, and there was not one of them who failed to strike his body as it lay there, until, wounded thirty-five times, he breathed his last. " References: Nicolaus of Damascus' account appears in Workman, B.K. They Saw it Happen in Classical Times (1964); Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics), translated by Robert Graves (1957). How To Cite This Article: "The Assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2004).
In 2009, six pregnant teens allowed MTV to film their pregnancies in the hopes that youngsters watching the resultant show — 16 and Pregnant — would learn from their mistakes and wait to start families. (They were also hoping for good ratings, of course.) Four years into 16 and Pregnant‘s run, teen pregnancy rates are at a record low. Births to teen moms have been steadily dropping since 1991, down 44 percent in nine years, according to the CDC. Rates dropped nine percent from 2009 to 2010 alone, reaching a historic low of 34.3 births per 1000 women aged 15-19. Considering that 16 and Pregnant premiered in the summer of 2009, it’s tempting to wonder whether the show is in some way responsible. A study featured in the New York Times Monday and conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, asserts that the popular show reduced teen births by nearly six percent just in 2010. But a different study conducted by researchers at Indiana University published Thursday found the opposite to be true: 16 and Pregnant and its spinoff show, Teen Mom, lead viewers to think that teen mothers have an enviable quality of life. So which is it: do these MTV shows encourage or discourage teen pregnancy? Or are they having no effect at all since determining the link between media and behavior is almost impossible to do? 16 and Pregnant was originally designed by MTV to show viewers (mostly young women) what life as a pregnant teen was really like. Every time the show airs, MTV promotes a website called StayTeen.org that “encourage[s] you to enjoy your teen years and avoid the responsibilities that come with too-early pregnancy and parenting.” The site provides information about birth control, STDs and dating abuse. But after the show became a hit (episodes can draw up to two million viewers), parents and educators worried that 16 and Pregnant glamorized teen pregnancy. “Only 40 percent of teenage mothers ever graduate high school; two-thirds of families begun by an unmarried teen mother are poor. So what does MTV do? It shows how cool teen pregnancy is with a new reality series,” one review of the show by the Media Research Center, which offers a guide for appropriate television to parents, reads. And the fact that many of the show’s stars become celebrities in their own right — gracing the cover of People magazine — doesn’t hurt the impression that having a child while in high school is one way to get attention. MTV created a spinoff show, Teen Mom partly in response to such criticism. Whereas 16 and Pregnant only traces the nine months leading to birth, Teen Mom follows the lives of the same teens after the baby showers are over and the reality of life with a baby sets in. A typical episode of the show follows the new moms a they fight with the fathers of their children (many of whom have now left them), fight with their parents (who are usually supporting them), struggle financially, struggle to finish their degree and watch their friends enjoy prom and college without them. Yet some suspected even Teen Mom was having a copycat effect. The New York Post pointed out in 2011 that three of Teen Mom 2 star Janelle Evans’ friends had gotten pregnant within a year of Evans starring on the show. Nobody knows whether these friends purposely became pregnant to follow in Evans’ footsteps and potentially garner media attention, but clearly Evans did not serve as the cautionary tale she was supposed to be even to her closest friends. And just the existence of the show can normalize teen pregnancy. And yet teen birth rates continue to drop. The teen mom scenario highlights the difficulties researchers face when trying to measure how (and whether) media actually influences behavior. For years, researchers have been trying to draw a connection between violent video games and violent behavior. And though most recent research has concluded video games do not cause such behavior, contradicting studies seem to come out every week. (Obama said in Jan. 2013 that research on media violence is inconclusive and that he wants more studies on the topic.) Meanwhile, crime rates are down in the U.S. overall. Similarly, researchers are struggling to determine how reality TV shows like 16 and Pregnant affect the life decisions of teenagers in a whole variety of demographics. So it’s not surprising both of these new contradictory studies have flaws. The study suggesting a link between the show and a drop in pregnancy rates, conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that the rate of teenage pregnancy declined faster in areas where teenagers were watching more MTV programming. After crunching the numbers, they concluded that the shows prevented more than 20,000 births to teen mothers in 2010 alone. Former ‘Teen Mom’ star Farrah Abraham appears at the 2013 Gentlemen’s Club EXPO & Tradeshow kick off party at the Crazy Horse III Gentlemen’s Club on August 20, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/FSA / WireImage “The assumption we’re making is that there’s no reason to think that places where more people are watching more MTV in June 2009 would start seeing an excess rate of decline in the teen birthrate, but for the change in what they’re watching,” Mr. Levine told the Times. Though researchers who reviewed the study said the results are sound, it only proves correlation, not causation. The study does not rule out other factors, like increased sex education at schools in those same areas where families can afford to pay for cable television and allow their children to watch a liberal channel like MTV. As TIME pointed out in 2011, Teen Mom almost exclusively tells the stories of white, middle class girls. Anyone who does not fit that demographic has a hard time relating to the show. By contrast, the Indiana University study surveyed 185 high school students (who were more representative racially and socio-economically of the national demographic) and found that viewers who frequently watched 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom had the unrealistic perception that teen moms have a lot of time to themselves, can easily find child care, will complete school, have affordable access to health care, finished college and lived on their own. Researchers theorized this was because many of the girls featured in the two shows had become celebrities and therefore role models. “Maybe that’s what’s drawing viewers’ attention: the fact that one of the teen moms, Farrah Abraham, repeatedly is on the cover of Us Weekly for all the plastic surgery that she’s had. Well, a teen mom living in this country can’t afford that; most unmarried teen mothers are on welfare,” researcher Nicole Martins said. (Mom of the year, Abraham — pictured above — has leaked a sex tape, been photographed giving lap dances and skyrocketed to reality TV stardom on VH1 show, Couples Therapy.) But just because frequent watchers of the show may have skewed views about teen pregnancy doesn’t mean that they will attempt to get pregnant themselves. After all, young boys playing Grand Theft Auto may think that stealing cars leads to a glamorous, rich lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean they’re dropping out of college to steal cars instead. Yes, there are always the horror stories like the 2008 Gloucester High School pregnancy pact in which 17 girls agreed to get pregnant together. (This was before 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom were on the air, but at the time critics blamed recent movies like Knocked Up and Juno for romanticizing pregnancy.) But such purposeful pregnancies have much deeper roots than seeing a movie or a TV show. Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High in 2008 after giving birth her freshman year of high school, said at the time of her schoolmate’s pregnancy pact, “They’re so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally. I try to explain it’s hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m.” Family and social circumstances are much more likely to be factors in a teen’s decision-making process about becoming pregnant than media — though media may play some part. The most insightful study on this topic is perhaps an earlier Indiana University study published in Sexuality & Culture in 2012 that found how 16 and Pregnant affects teens depends on their family background. This study — which surveyed 313 female undergrads at two universities — found that frequent viewers of the programs whose fathers often spoke with them about sex education and the ramifications of unprotected sex were less likely to have recently had sex. Viewers whose fathers rarely offered them information about sex, were more likely to have recently engaged in sexual relations. (For whatever reason, the study did not look at the mother-daughter relationship.) The show didn’t influence the girls’ sexual choices so much as their relationship with their parents and background in sex education did. Spreading the word about contraception, birth control and the risks of unprotected sex through popular media may be having some positive effect. Glamorizing teen pregnancy may be diminishing that effect. But either way, MTV can’t do the work of the adults in the lives of teenagers. The 2012 study echoes other research that indicates what matters most when it comes to sex ed is what kids hear at home and in schools. Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.
93629141 story Hundreds of AT&T wireless workers and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) will protest outside the launch of the iPhone 8 at Apple HQ on Tuesday, we were told. "Marking the start of a critical sales period that's expected to bring in billions for the telecom giant, workers are calling out AT&T's pay cuts for its retail employees and the company's rampant outsourcing and offshoring that undermine their job security and ability to provide quality customer service," the Communications Workers of America said in a press statement. Over the years, AT&T has increasingly handed over the operations of its retail operations to third-party dealers that now represent over 60 percent of all AT&T branded stores. On top of this, AT&T retail employees allege that they are seeing their pay decline by thousands of dollars because the company manipulates their commission structure.
NEW YORK — Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan banned Charles Oakley from the arena Friday, though said he was open to reconciling with the former Knicks forward. In an interview with ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay, Dolan also confirmed a report that he had fired the Garden’s security chief, two nights after Oakley was forcefully removed from his seat and arrested at a Knicks game. Dolan said the firing of the security head stemmed from more than just the handling of the incident. The Knicks said Oakley was "abusive" Wednesday even before reaching his seats in the first quarter, and on Friday distributed a witness report featuring more than a dozen witnesses who described his behaviour and their interactions with him. Oakley said he did nothing wrong and thanked fans and players for support in a pair of tweets Friday night, adding that he would hold a press conference next week. The team shared with The Associated Press a 1-minute security video of moments leading up to the altercation, containing brief clips of Oakley in his seat, talking to a hostess and being confronted by Garden officials. There was no audio. Dolan said Oakley used racial and sexual overtones and that games must remain safe for fans, so he was enforcing the ban. "We are going to put the ban in place and hopefully it won’t be forever," Dolan said. The Knicks have been criticized by current and former NBA players, as well as some of their fans, for the treatment of Oakley during the game that was televised nationally on ESPN. Fans chanted his name during a New York Rangers hockey game on Thursday, and earlier in Friday’s game there were chants of "We want Oakley!" and "Free Charles Oakley!" Dolan praised Oakley as a great Knick and said he hoped that the power forward would be able to join his former teammates to be honoured on the court someday. But he said Oakley first must address what he characterized as anger and perhaps alcohol issues, adding that the team would help if asked. "He should be up there being recognized because the fans do love him," Dolan said. "But this behaviour just doesn’t work with that." Oakley maintains he did nothing wrong before arena security approached him his seat Wednesday, just a few rows behind Dolan. On Friday, DnainfoNewYork.com reported that Frank Benedetto , the senior vice-president for security at the Madison Square Garden Company, was fired Friday. "That was just a situation where the person didn’t work out and this was probably the last straw," Dolan said. "We’re obviously looking at everything that we did here along the way and what happened, and that’s one of the casualties." Oakley played for the Knicks from 1988-98, helping them become one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. But they have been one of the worst franchises of the last 15 years, and Oakley’s criticisms of the team and management has led to a strained relationship with the organization. "This is not just a day-before-yesterday incident. We’ve had a relationship with Charles since he retired and left the Knicks, right, and every time we have tried, right, to do, to patch things up with him, to mend things with him, we invite him to games, that every time it ends the same way, right: abusive, disrespectful," Dolan said. "And we eventually gave up, right, and we stopped trying to reach out for him." Oakley is no longer comped tickets or invited to official team functions, though still goes a few times a year when he buys his own tickets. He was there only a matter of minutes Wednesday before the altercation that included him hitting one security guard in the face and shoving at least one other before he was dragged away and handcuffed. "The manner in which Mr. Oakley has been treated is troubling and he intends to pursue all legal rights and remedies he may have," attorney David Z. Chesnoff said in a statement. "We look forward to resolving this matter and welcome anyone who may have additional information, photographs, or videos of the events that took place to contact us." The Knicks contend the trouble with Oakley on Wednesday started even before he reached his seat, and Dolan said in the interview that Garden officials never should have let him get there. "It’s very clear to us, right, that Charles Oakley came to the Garden with an agenda, right, with a mission in mind, and from the moment he stepped into the Garden, and I mean the moment he walked through the first set of doors, he began with this behaviour, abusive behaviour, disrespectful behaviour," Dolan said. While Dolan understands why fans are so supportive of Oakley, because of the way he played and how much more the Knicks won, he feels he can’t allow anyone in the building who can ruin the experience for others. "The same people that fans who come to the game tonight, who are going to help those fans, right, find their seats, get them food, try to make them comfortable, they were abused and abused not — in really horrible, right, angry, nasty way, with racially, with racial overtones, the sexual overtones, the stuff you never, ever want to hear," Dolan said. "And how do you bring your kids to a game if you think that’s going to happen? You don’t."
It is their version of the Christian/Catholic Crusades that not only set out to conquer the Holy Land, slaughtering non-believers along the way. It also drove out and slaughtered the Jews of Spain, Portugal, Britain, and other European countries. It conquered and converted much of Africa, Central and South America, and spread into Asia. What was done on the name of Christ is now being done in the name of Mohammed or Allah. There are a number of serious problems here. -Conquering the Holy Land. Rather, Crusaders were trying to re-conquer it, as Muslims had been waging war and slaughtering pilgrims in the region for hundreds of years. (God's Battalions by Rodney Stark lays out the history.) Historian Thomas Madden puts it this way: It is often assumed that the central goal of the Crusades was forced conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders' task to defeat and defend against them. That was all. That sounds pretty close to what many Americans are calling for today when it comes to ISIS. -Slaughtering non-believers. The popes and bishops throughout the crusading periods condemned such activity, particularly in the case of the Jews. One can't establish an equivalence between massacres that were incidental to the Crusades in the Middle Ages – a time before Geneva Conventions, surveillance drones, and federal databases, when "war is Hell" was an understatement – and massacres that are the explicit aim of ISIS in the present day. There are apples and oranges, and then there are apples and a Kalashnikov soaked in apple juice. -Drove out and slaughtered the Jews of Spain, Portugal, etc. Shaw includes no citations or specific figures, perhaps because the claim that the Crusades or the Christianity of the time endorsed such atrocities cannot be substantiated. (Check Myth 5 here.) A good treatment on the Catholic Church's legacy regarding Jews can be found in Rabbi David Dalin's The Myth of Hitler's Pope. "Popes regularly condemned anti-Semites who sought to incite violence against Jews," Dalin writes. He quotes Madden: "of all medieval institutions, the Church stood alone in Europe in its consistent condemnation of Jewish persecutions." And he quotes Cecil Roth, who "achieved international renown as the most prolific and widely read Jewish historian of his generation": Of all the dynasties in Europe, the papacy not only refused to persecute the Jews ... but through the ages popes were protectors of the Jews. ... The truth is that the popes and the Catholic Church from the earliest days of the Church were never responsible for physical persecution of Jews and only Rome, among the capitals of the world, is free from having been a place of Jewish tragedy. For this we Jews must have gratitude. One could also research Israel Zolli, the World War II-era chief rabbi of Rome, who converted to Catholicism in 1945. The Crusades must not have bothered him overmuch. -Conquered and converted much of Africa, etc. A sore spot for any Christian who wants to defend the Crusades is the requirement to admit that they were a failure. Regarding Africa, the Crusaders held their kingdoms in the northern part of the continent for only a few generations before Muslims overwhelmed them. All the subsequent Crusades likewise failed. So there was not much conquering or converting to be found. As for Asia and the Americas, Shaw will have to take those up with the missionaries. Perhaps Catholics are to be execrated for evangelizing as well. -What was done in the name of Christ... It bears repeating that ISIS's campaign is called for in the Quran. Those seeking similar exhortations in the Bible, or among history's popes, will be hard-pressed to find them. Thus, when Muslims open fire in a theater or military base shouting "Allahu akbar," they follow the prescriptions of their faith. If a Catholic were to do the same (presumably sans "Allahu akbar," but this is, it is worth emphasizing, a hypothetical), he would defy the prescriptions of his faith. It makes sense when liberals, who despise Christianity and especially the Catholic Church, peddle malicious falsehoods about both. On the other hand, why a conservative writer in a conservative publication would slander the Church in a piece taking Islam to task should be an occasion for much puzzlement. Shaw's blog post is about 800 words long, with a mere hundred comprising anti-Catholic fulminating. Those words could easily have been edited out and replaced with a true parallel – say, to the blood-soaked legacy of the USSR, who pursued communist colonization with ISIS-like fervor and similar gruesome results. (While we're at it, we can replace the evil, evil Church hates science because Galileo myth with the far more apt reference to Soviet-enforced and utterly bogus Lysenkoism.) Rabbi Dalin trenchantly notes in The Myth of Hitler's Pope that to demonize the Catholic Church in the fight against anti-Semitism is to travel a path of lies. Likewise when it comes to misrepresenting the Crusades to excoriate the campaign of ISIS. It's not that there is no comparison between the two; obviously, a comparison can be made. It just happens to be a terrible one. One commentator yesterday noted that "Mr. Shaw needs to expand his reading list on the Crusades a bit." That about sums it up. Dalin's Myth and Stark's Battalions would be good places to start. Drew Belsky is American Thinker's deputy editor.

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