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’d be surprised if data said otherwise. But I don’t think that has to do with the superhero genre. I blame the media selling and supporting war.”
Fans with that viewpoint will find much to love in the Netflix show. Whatever one thinks of the end product, you can’t argue that it glorifies the way governments sponsor violence. Frank spends more time going after corrupt officials in the military-industrial complex and high-level law enforcement than he does shooting up mobsters and street toughs — a concept often explored in Punisher comics, especially those by Ennis. Less clear-cut is the show’s relationship to violence as an aesthetic, but the people behind it say they don’t intend to make it sexy. “If I’ve created a guy who lionizes [violence], I’ve failed miserably,” Bernthal told the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t want you to look at him and say, ‘This guy’s clearly a hero.’ That’s never how I’ve looked at him, and that’s never been the purpose. Frank is a guy who is in unbelievable pain, and there’s an unbelievable cost to the violence that he’s gone through in his life.”
It’s an acutely delicate time to tell the story of a disgruntled man who goes on shooting sprees. But the Punisher’s fans in law enforcement and the military think it’s misguided to write their fandom community off as sinister. “General population have a misunderstanding of Frank Castle/Punisher fans,” says Murrieta. “They think we’re crazed, delusional, and — dare I say — lawless types because we view the Punisher character as an individual that picks up where our justice system drops the ball. I, myself, have personally seen certain types arrested for serious crimes and get off easy with either a cake sentence or simply allowed to walk due to a technicality. So a fictional character like Castle coming in and correcting those shortcomings, even if it’s just a comic book, helps one deal with those frustrations.” In the end, he thinks Frank is, for better or worse, a comic-book figure whose moment is here: “Some people want Superman, but then realize that it’s a character like the Punisher that they actually need.” | 600 |
A new study has demonstrated the potential to use digital holographic microscopy (DHM) to detect microorganisms and evidence of life in water collected from the plume rising from the surface of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. The cell detection capabilities of DHM and what may be learned from studying molecules obtained from Enceladus are discussed in articles published in the September issue of Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. These articles are part of a Special Collection on Enceladus that is available free on the Astrobiology website.
Senior Editor Carolyn Porco, PhD, the imaging team leader for the Cassini mission at Saturn and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, organized this special collection of articles on Enceladus, which offers a wide-ranging look at “that little moon at Saturn with the big possibilities” as NASA’s Cassini mission comes to an end.
“The papers in this collection offer a glimpse into the state of a rapidly changing subject at one moment in time… as the Cassini mission draws to a close and we are contemplating the next steps in the exploration of Enceladus,” says Dr. Porco.
In the article “Digital Holographic Microscopy, a Method for Detection of Microorganisms in Plume Samples from Enceladus and Other Icy Worlds,” coauthors Manuel Bedrossian, Chris Lindensmith, and Jay Nadeau, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, describe a light-weight microscope that collects both frequency and spatial information and can distinguish between particulate matter, like bits of rock, and dead microbes. With its video recording capabilities that would allow detection of motility as well, such a device could provide definitive, visual evidence of life beyond Earth.
In another article, Steven Benner, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (Alachua, FL), proposes a universal biosignature that could be used to detect the presence of a biological system that undergoes Darwinian evolution, such as might be found on Enceladus or other ocean worlds. He proposes a particular characteristic, based on the structure of the genetic material found in terrestrial life, that should be present in any genetic biopolymer regardless of underlying chemistry. His article is entitled “Detecting Darwinism from Molecules in the Enceladus Plumes, Jupiter’s Moons, and Other Planetary Water Lagoons.” | 601 |
If lenders want an early warning that you’ve been fired or demoted, Equifax’s Work Number service can hand one over. “This critical and timely information will maximize your efficiency on credit risk and collections decisions,” the company promises lenders. Armed with information about what you’re making or if you’re no longer working, they can turn up the heat on efforts to get you to pay or reduce credit lines accordingly.
Equifax can also use the payroll data to help colleges track the financial progress of its alumni with its “Graduate Outcome Metrics” offering, allowing schools to avoid expensive surveys and what Equifax refers to in its marketing materials as “self-reporting falsehoods.”
And if your mind wandered to where mine did in imagining other Work Number uses, yes — employers can and do ask for job applicants’ permission to check their current and previous salary where it is legal to do that. So fibbing about your past compensation in hopes of securing a raise may not work out so well.
Speaking of falsehoods, I found something that looked like one on my own Work Number report. (You can get yours free on Equifax’s website the same way you would a normal credit report.) It said that in June 2017, Discover Financial Services was able to dive into my Work Number data.
But unless I’m forgetting some long-ago dalliance, I’ve never had a relationship with that company. So why — and how — has it been able to pry? I figured this was a mistake; credit reports tend to have lots of errors, after all. Equifax suggested disputing the item online through its normal process. Discover was unable to offer up an explanation by my deadline.
In the wake of the payroll unit breach that Mr. Krebs reported on, which resulted from thieves using personal information from affected employees to reset their passwords, the University of Louisville stopped doing business with the Equifax service. Another company, the building material manufacturer Saint-Gobain Corporation, made a different call in the moment and kept Equifax while also starting an examination of competing services.
Erickson Living, a retirement community operator, also continued doing business with Equifax, while adding additional security measures and shutting down online access to W-2s. The aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman declined to say what it did, and Mark Root, a spokesman, declined to say why. | 602 |
UNION, N.J. Authorities are investigating two reports of spray-painted swastikas being found at the New Jersey home of a congressional candidate.
Indian-American Democrat Peter Jacob says the swastikas were found outside his family’s Union home on Friday and Monday.
Jacob is seeking the 7th District House seat held by Republican Leonard Lance. The Lance campaign has condemned the incidents and said the display of symbols like the swastika is “abhorrent.”
Jacob says his family has lived at the home for six years without incident. He blames the vandalism on the “ever increasing atmosphere of accepted racism” in the country.
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Authorities say they plan to increase police patrols in the area.
The Republican opponent said he condemns the vandalism and supports an investigation.
Jacob said it has happened twice – swastikas scrawled in orange, first on the sidewalk and then at his home in Union.
“It’s very upsetting,” Jacob said. “It’s very saddening for us to see this.”
Jacob is Indian-American, running against U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, a Trump supporter. Jacob said he has no doubt that Lance’s support of Trump was to blame for the incidents.
“When your national message is to teach America to hate again, you know it’s definitely going to inspire those and trickle down nationally,” Jacob said.
Jacob said Lance’s Facebook page recently shared a blog post featuring his image alongside Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen. It has apparently been deleted since, Silverman reported.
The Lance campaign released a statement in response to the claims.
“The display of anti-Semitic hate symbols like the swastika is abhorrent,” the statement said. “Leonard Lance stands with Peter Jacob in condemning these offensive acts of vandalism and supports a full police investigation into these crimes.”
The statement further said Lance has requested to attend a news conference at Jacob’s home on Tuesday and has asked to speak to Jacob personally about the incidents “in an effort to show bipartisan unity against racism.”
The Lance campaign also said Jacob supporters have launched personal attacks on Lance’s social media platforms.
Jacob said he will have to think over the offer from Lance to attend the news conference. | 603 |
s most volatile areas. In June, the U.N. reduced its annual peacekeeping budget by more than half a billion dollars.
Current and former U.S. military leaders have warned that deep cuts to diplomacy and aid could jeopardize long-term U.S. interests overseas, and some lawmakers have pledged not to pass the budget as it stands.
“This budget, if fully implemented, would require us to retreat from the world diplomatically or put people at risk,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters in May. “You’d have lot of Benghazis in the making if this thing became law.”
In Somalia, development programs meant to counter the lure of extremism could disappear under the proposed budget. USADF grants have reached nearly 6,000 direct beneficiaries there since 2012, said Abdinasir Ahmed Osman, project coordinator for the Somali Consultants Association, which monitors the work.
In the capital, Mogadishu, USADF-funded programs target youth between 18 and 35 - the same demographic that extremist recruiters go after, Osman said.
“We are giving them skills. We are giving them opportunity,” he said. “They can compare which is better: being in battle, dying without a future, or getting skills and working?”
It’s wrong to say that U.S. diplomatic efforts in Africa are not moving forward, said Brian Neubert, director of the State Department’s Africa Regional Media Hub in Johannesburg.
He said several development and trade initiatives such as Power Africa and the African Growth and Opportunity Act continue and diplomats are going about their work. But South Africa, one of the continent’s top economies, remains without a U.S. ambassador.
“It’s pretty routine at this period, given the other challenges in the world,” Neubert said.
Others disagree, saying that without a president visibly engaged in Africa — especially after President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan — U.S. diplomatic efforts could flounder.
“What you have is a policy vacuum when it comes to basic, critical issues in Africa,” said Steven Feldstein, a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration.
“Diplomacy will follow where the president signals his interest.”
___
Associated Press writer Vivian Salama in Washington contributed. | 604 |
Is it O.K. to publicly dump on the newly deceased — or for that matter, to offer them not-quite-heartfelt praise? It’s a tough call. No one likes a hypocrite. Just the same, there is surely a time and a place for everything.
The journalist and cultural critic H. L. Mencken had no doubts. When William Jennings Bryan died in 1925, he denounced the muddle-headed three-time presidential candidate and notorious opponent of evolution as “a charlatan, a mountebank, a zany without sense or dignity.” He added: “He was a peasant come home to the barnyard. Imagine a gentleman, and you have imagined everything that he was not.”
Today, plenty of naysayers are aping Mencken.
In an elephantine piece for Salon in 2011 on the “protocol for public figure deaths,” the journalist Glenn Greenwald scoffed at the effusive coverage years before of Tim Russert, the moderator of “Meet the Press,” and of Ronald Reagan. Dismissing the former as “awful” and “power-worshipping,” Mr. Greenwald complained, “We were all supposed to pretend we had lost some Great Journalist.” The latter’s post-mortem “canonization,” he charged, virtually ignored the Iran-contra scandal, exorbitant military spending, indifference to AIDS, vast income disparities, implicit racism and the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork — all in a sentence of about 160 words.
The proximate peg for this invective, incidentally, was the expiration of Christopher Hitchens. Rejecting the “remarkably undiluted, intense praise lavished on him by media discussions,” Mr. Greenwald exhaustively savaged Mr. Hitchens for his “repellent” advocacy of the war on terror.
Mr. Hitchens most likely would have loved it. In 1997, baffled by the worldwide grief over Princess Diana’s fatal car accident, he ripped into her as “a spoiled child bride, a sulky wife, a narcissist, a borderline airhead with zero interest in books, history or tradition.” After the Rev. Jerry Falwell departed, he said, “I think it a pity there isn’t a hell for him to go to.” | 605 |
Shrinkage in retail indicates the loss or reduction in inventory due to theft of items by employee, damage in transit or in store, shoplifting, vendor fraud, and other such mishaps. It is becoming a major concern for retailers as these losses have a negative impact on their bottom line. An estimate from the National Retail Security Survey on retail theft indicates that, in 2016 shrinkage, cost retailers around $49 billion in losses. In 2017, on an average Shrink cost across retailers was about 1.33% of sales. Shrinkage rate in supermarkets tend to be usually higher at around 2.5% of the total sales.
The top 5 types of retail shrinkages include
Non-Scanning Loss: This loss occurs when any product goes out without scanning at point of sale (POS) checkout, or the POS operators make mistakes while scanning
Basket Based Loss: This loss occurs when customer fails to take out product from trolley to scan at POS. The 3 major types of basket-based losses include bottom of basket, middle of basket and top of basket
Sweet-hearting Loss: This type of losses occurs while giving away merchandise in an unauthorized way and without charge, to a “sweetheart” customer (family, fellow employee, friend, etc.)
Self-Checkout Loss: this type of losses occur when customers try to bypass the checkout system without scanning the products
Poor Demand Planning Loss: This type of losses occurs due to inaccurate replenishment planning, as the products are perishable, and demand is variable
Video and data analytics are being used for analysing any fraudulent activities in the retail stores.
Video intelligence, image processing & recognition algorithms are used for immediately detecting items left anywhere in the cart.
AI can also analyse the unusual behaviours of its staff, to understand what is going on at the checkout system. It can help in identifying if someone is covering bar code, skipping the scanner and directly taking the merchandise, and more.
AI can also identify the mismatch between transaction receipt and the item being scanned in the video, by using computer vision technology.
Shrinkage is the most common problem for all the retail stores, which is quite damaging for retailers as it results in loss of inventory as well as money. AI based solutions are being adopted for enhancing the performance of the retailers. AI can help retailers in mitigating shrinkage in following ways:ICT – Research AnalystInfoholic Research | 606 |
Financial services giant American Express (Amex) has filed a patent for a blockchain-based proof-of-payment system, according to filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Thursday, July 12.
The patent’s applicant is listed as American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., Amex’s travel arm. The proposed system would automate proof-of-payments by encrypting payment payload data with a public key on an initial node of the blockchain –– the data in question comprising the merchant’s identifying information and the transaction amount.
According to the patent filing, the encrypted data could then securely be propagated to a second blockchain node. In one proposed embodiment of the system, the data could then be fetched by a connected smart device that would decrypt the payment payload data and match it with a second identifier, the customer.
In this way, the blockchain-secured system could enable smart devices to detect proof-of-payments and initiate actions to service paying customers:
“A payment processing entity (e.g., a credit card network, bank, debit, bitcoin, rewards points, or ACH) provides evidence of a payment in a tamper-proof manner by writing the proof of payment to a blockchain. A smart device connected to the blockchain may detect the proof of payment, and can extract relevant information. The information may be encrypted on the blockchain such that access is restricted to entities having the correct cryptographic keys. “
The patent then outlines various use cases for such a secured system, suggesting hotel reservations, real estate rental, and ticketless access to events and venues. All of the proposed use cases would potentially facilitated by customers’ uniquely identified smart devices that could retrieve and decrypt proof-of-payments stored on the blockchain.
Amex has already indicated its interest in blockchain technology by becoming a member of the Hyperledger Blockchain consortium, a collaborative effort to define and develop standard blockchain technology for use across industries.
In May, Cointelegraph reported on Amex’s announcement that it would be integrating Hyperledger into its Membership Rewards program. The initiative, in partnership with online merchant Boxed, would enable merchants to design customized offers for Amex cardholders in order to incentivize customer engagement.
Back in October 2017, American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., filed an earlier patent for a personalized rewards system that would also harness blockchain technology to incentivize its customers. | 607 |
A few images of Lollipop running on an Xperia phone have hit the web, and the most noticeable takeaway is what Sony has done to the navigation buttons.
The full-size screenshots can be found over in the original XperiaBlog post. All we care about is what's visible at the bottom of each. To put things simply, Sony has changed the icons, and not necessarily for the better.
Here are the on-screen navigation buttons on a Nexus device.
And here's what we're shown on an Xperia device running Lollipop.
In place of the circle that Google uses as the home button, Sony has inserted a house. The change makes intuitive sense, sure: "This button sends people to the homescreen, so let's put the home button they're used to there." But Android Lollipop's buttons scream PlayStation. Don't know what I mean? Let's just take a look at the PlayStation website.
That's right. Squares, circles, and triangles everywhere! If you want to know why the company isn't bashful about tossing the shapes around, it's because they have been the face buttons on PlayStation controllers for four consecutive console generations, not to mention a couple handhelds and that quirky gaming smartphone.
Sony is passing up on a great opportunity to simply adopt standard icons that already remind users of its other brands. Considering the company has no problem with inserting PlayStation into other parts of the Xperia experience, this feels like a wasted opportunity.
But hey, that's just one icon, why get all bent out of shape? Well, there's also the issue of misalignment. Let's take a look at the icons again, this time with a visual aid layered on.
Top: Nexus 6, Bottom: Xperia device with Lollipop
While the tops and bottoms of Lollipop's default navigation icons all line up with one another, Sony's versions do not. The home button is noticeably taller and starts a few pixels too high. The square is actually comparable to the triangle (though still slightly smaller), but next to the house, it no longer looks balanced.
Here's our take on how the buttons should look, minus our preference for the circular home button.
Hopefully this is a false alarm, and the finished product will at least take care of the alignment issues. After all, these are only the buttons we'll see for nearly every moment the screen is on. It's worth pulling out a ruler for them.
Source: XperiaBlog | 608 |
A new social media campaign is supporting little boys by combatting harmful stereotypes about gender and masculinity.
Mom Martine Zoer, whose clothing line Quirkie Kids offers pink T-shirts for both girls and boys, launched the #StillABoy campaign and Instagram account after facing criticism that her business was "robbing kids of their gender."
"I started using the hashtag #StillABoy as a way of saying, 'Hey … a boy who wears pink is still a boy, just like a girl who wears blue is still a girl,'" Zoer told The Huffington Post. When she started noticing other parents tagging photos of their sons with #StillABoy, she decided to create an Instagram account to share the photos.
@StillABoy_ "A boy who likes pink or plays with dolls is #StillABoy" says mom and campaign creator Martine Zoer.
The gender stereotype-bashing account shows that boys can have a wide spectrum of interests -- from playing with action figures and roughhousing to gently holding hands, playing with dolls and nurturing pets and little siblings.
As a mom of two little boys, Zoer drew inspiration for the project from her sons Tyler and Tristan. "My boys have taught me so much," she said. "They have so much energy and little common sense. They are wild and sensitive at the same time. It’s a challenge to raise boys in touch with their feelings in a world where they are told to'man up,''suck it up,' and be a 'tough guy.'"
"I hope the campaign becomes a celebration of boyhood and gets people talking about what it means to be a boy," Zoer continued. Though tradition tells us boys are made of "snips, snails, and puppy dog tails," the mom said, "boys can also be sweet and kind and caring. And yes! A boy who likes pink or plays with dolls is #StillABoy."
Keep scrolling and visit @StillABoy_ on Instagram to see Zoer's collection of photos that redefine masculinity (and check out her @StillAGirl account as well!).
1 @StillABoy_ 2 @naj_oo/@StillABoy_ 3 @StillABoy_ 4 @jarahillphoto/@StillABoy_ 5 @StillABoy_ 6 @erinicochu/@StillABoy_ 7 @restingroost/@StillABoy_
Also on HuffPost: | 609 |
responding to follows or subscribes in specific ways – learning how something works makes people feel comfortable. It also allows for rituals to take root in your community, like ways the community welcomes new followers.
Pre-stream and post-stream were some of the best advices I’ve had for my livestreams. You announce your stream, and then instead of immediately starting the shwo, you go live to a static image that indicates that you’ll go live soon (some streamers use count-down timers), and play some music (that you have the rights to). You leave that up for ten to fifteen minutes, allowing your followers and viewers to talk amongst themselves and get excited for the show. You can do the same thing at the end of your stream, the post-stream, allowing people to say goodbye for a bit before signing off.
You can also promote interaction between streams. Twitch allows streamers to host other channels, but a less committal and very common thing is to raid friendly channels. While the exact definition of raiding varies, the idea is that at the end of a stream, the caster picks a new channel for their viewers to go to. Sometimes, a caster will ask those raiding to post a message in the target chat, announcing their arrival.
Dare to ask
Twitch doesn’t seem particularly fit for short-form content, and it’s generally more of a slow-burn. While our Vlambeer streams frequently attract several tens of thousands of viewers, the amount of simultaneous viewer count has very rarely gone over 1,500. We tend to stream for five hours or more.
For the first few weeks, we got barely any followers, despite being on the front page of Twitch every episode. It wasn’t until my younger brother pointed out we weren’t asking people to follow us that we realized how important it is to actually ask people to do things.
No matter how corny it sounds, you need to say “If you like the stream, please hit the follow button”. Teach yourself to directly ask people for things you need. Don’t hint at it, don’t expect people to do it on their own, ask. If you need donations, ask for donations. If you need followers, ask for followers. If you need subscribers, ask people to subscribe.
You have to dare to ask. Your audience will ask things of you. Find a nice balance, and enjoy streaming! | 610 |
Nanaimo Bars with a Holiday Twist Recipe
I love Nanaimo Bars and I was super excited to received a special package from Van Houtte with a Nanaimo Bar recipe and all the ingredients to make my own at home. Their recipe includes their Van Houtte Holiday Blend and Holiday Spice Latte, bringing a creative touch to the traditional recipe.
I had lots of fun making them with my little ones and they are so yummy! The full recipe is below.
[wonderplugin_gallery id=”10″]
Yield: 16 squares Nanaimo Bars Print Prep Time 30 minutes Total Time 30 minutes Instructions 1. Lightly oil an 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan and line with plastic wrap. 2. With a fork, mix all dry ingredients for the crust. Add the butter and coffee. Mix well until a homogenous mixture is obtained. 3. Press the mixture in the bottom of the pan to form a uniform layer. Refrigerate. 4. Using an electric mixer, beat all coffee filling ingredients at medium speed. 5. Pour this mixture over the crust and level with a spoon. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. 6. In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt the chocolate and the butter. 7. Pour the chocolate over the coffee filling. 8. Refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting into 16 squares. Enjoy!
The Van Houtte’s Holiday Blend offers woody, spicy notes and a rich aroma. With a heavenly cinnamon scent, Holiday Spice Latte evokes buttery notes and ends with a subtle hint of vanilla. Both are available for a limited time in stores and online at vanhoutte.com and would make great stocking stuffers.
Have you tried Nanaimo Bars before? They are so good! Visit vanhoutte.com, where you’ll find other classic recipes revisited and more info on their coffees.
THE GIVEAWAY
Win it: One lucky Canadian reader will win a ready-to-cook gift pack, including Van Houtte holiday merchandise and a Keurig coffee maker. Enter to WIN the giveaway via Rafflecopter below. Good Luck friends!
Disclosure: This is a partnered post with Van Houtte. A product sample and/or compensation has been received for this review and all opinions and views on this post are 100% my own. | 611 |
New Delhi: Infosys Ltd has declined a request from its most high-profile founder N.R. Narayana Murthy to make public the report of an external consultant appointed to look into the charges of misgovernance.
Murthy, who was chairman of Infosys till 2014 and still holds 3.44% stake (along with family members) in the company, had asked the full report by Gibson Dunn and Crutcher to be made public.
Infosys had claimed in June that the external expert had cleared the management of charges of wrongdoing, as was alleged by an anonymous complaint, after a detailed and extensive investigation.
“The company does not plan to make the report public," Infosys said in a statement.
Gibson Dunn and Crutcher had been mandated to probe the whistleblower allegations of CEO Vishal Sikka being paid excessive compensation in relation to the Panaya acquisition.
“The summary finding statement of this investigation is also available on our website," Infosys said.
The company explained that the investigation involved interviews of over 50 witnesses in India, the US and elsewhere, the review of company policies, Board minutes, public filings and internal documents. It also entailed investigation of “many thousands of internal emails and attachments" and used forensic accounting experts to analyse technical and financial information, the company said.
Infosys had ordered the probe following two letters by an anonymous whistleblower in February that alleged wrongdoing in some of Infosys’s acquisitions, improper contracting and CEO Vishal Sikka’s salary as well as expenditures.
In a statement issued on 23 June, Infosys had said the probe had found no evidence of any kickbacks, inappropriate contracting or unreasonable expenses incurred on Sikka.
Over the past few months, Infosys has drawn flak from some of the co-founders, including Murthy, on a number of occasions alleging corporate governance lapses at the firm. They had also raised questions about the severance package offered to two former Infosys executives.
Infosys had also attached a copy of the letter that Gibson Dunn and Crutcher had written to its audit committee on findings of the investigation. In February 2015, Infosys had announced buying Israeli automation firm, Panaya for USD 200 million (Rs1,250 crore) in cash.
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Share Via | 612 |
gey out of play.
Cost/Benefit
When you adjust mash temperature to get a certain result (usually something to do with the body/fermentability of the beer) you might add in a tiny level of perceivable difference.
But you're also introducing more error and uncertainty into the result, and doing so while moving the desired outcome towards the edges of what we consider "acceptable." You might create a sludge with lots of long-chain sugars if you end up missing too high. You might get a simple-sugar-laden-but-starchy-and-protein-heavy mess if you end up going too low.
To me, the cost just isn't worth it. There are other ways to get body into beer (or take it out). If you want more body, add a non-fermentable to the recipe. Done. And you know how much you've added, so you can adjust it the next time if the beer's too heavy/not heavy enough. If you want less body, add a pure fermentable to the beer. After all, you're ostensibly creating a more-fermentable wort through your lower-temp mash, so why not remove the uncertainty? Start with a lower gravity to begin with and add in something that will ferment off completely - it isn't like we lack for choices, and most won't affect the flavor at all. I once emptied the spice cabinet of every damned simple fermentable I could find when I was making an Apfelwine and realized I didn't have any cane sugar left - that thing got maple syrup, honey, confectioners sugar, and some leftover light candi syrup, and you couldn't taste a one of them in the finished product.
And in exchange for not messing with the chemistry of your mash, you'll get a stable base to work from in any other area that you do want to change.
So, as I said, good ol' 152F for me, every time. If you want to play, do it with things that don't involve whatever sorcery is going on inside that mash tun.
Don't go looking for monsters to destroy.
Keep it simple.
JJW
Please help support BEER SIMPLE by visiting the Support page and saving the links there as your bookmarks, especially this Amazon link! Every dollar you spend will help keep BS coming your way, and more often (which is at least as much a threat as a promise). | 613 |
VIENNA (Reuters) - The Swiss government has filed a criminal complaint over the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s alleged use of a cryptography company as a front to spy on various governments’ secret communications, the Swiss attorney general’s office said on Sunday.
The complaint against persons unknown for alleged breaches of the law governing export controls follows recent reports on “Operation Rubicon”, which for decades involved the CIA and German BND spy services covertly reading other nations’ secret messages encoded with technology sold by Swiss firm Crypto AG.
The case of Crypto, which sold encryption devices and software while being secretly owned by U.S. and German intelligence services that could freely read what it encrypted, is embarrassing for neutral Switzerland and could hurt its international reputation, particularly if it turned a blind eye.
Although the outlines of Operation Rubicon were known for years, new details about its scope and duration were made public last month by Swiss, German and U.S. investigative journalists.
“The Office of the Attorney General confirms it has received a criminal complaint by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) dated Feb. 2, 2020 regarding possible violations of export control law,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. SECO is part of the Swiss Economy Ministry.
The attorney general’s office will review the complaint before deciding whether to open criminal proceedings, the statement said, confirming a report by newspaper SonntagsZeitung.
A spokeswoman for Switzerland’s Economy Ministry confirmed that the complaint had been filed but declined to elaborate.
The technology Crypto sold to dozens of governments including those of Iran, India, Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, Chile, and Argentina had deliberate flaws or built-in back doors that made messages easily readable to U.S. and German spies. In effect, those client countries paid millions to be spied on.
SonntagsZeitung said SECO, which is in charge of authorizing exports of sensitive equipment, believes it was deceived into clearing the sale of Crypto’s machines and software, and argues it would never have done so had it known of the scheme.
The Swiss government has appointed a former Swiss Supreme Court justice to look into Operation Rubicon. He is due to report back by the end of June and the cabinet will be briefed.
But pressure is mounting for parliament to launch its own investigation to find out who in Switzerland knew about the scheme. | 614 |
WASHINGTON — Young voters who had been enthralled by Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can” message are now saying “Maybe not” — and are backing away from the president in a worrisome new poll for the White House.
Obama is losing in a match-up against a generic Republican challenger by 37 percent to 34 percent among voters in the 18-34 age group, according to a stunning Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday.
In March, voters in this group approved of Obama by 54 percent to 37 percent.
“The youngest age group may be the most impatient and the most easily disillusioned among all age groups,” said Molly Andolina, a youth-vote expert and DePaul University political-science professor.
For many young voters in 2008, “it was the first time they’d been really been involved, really paying attention. This is someone telling them, ‘Yes, you can,’ ” she said.
Two years later, with a prolonged Gulf oil spill, “watching how slow it is to respond may be a little disillusioning,” she added.
Obama won an astounding 66 percent of the vote among the under-30 crowd, according to exit polls tracked by the Pew Research Center, the biggest winning percentage for a candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972.
In other poll results:
* Obama’s overall approval rating is 44 percent, with 48 percent disapproval — his worst score ever in the survey.
* The president trails an unnamed generic Republican among all voters by 39-36 percent.
* Voters disapprove of his handling of immigration by a stark 58-30 percent margin, with 60 percent saying the federal lawsuit against Arizona for its tough immigration crackdown is a bad idea.
* Obama beats Sarah Palin 49-45 percent in a 2012 match-up.
* Thirty-seven percent of voters say the country would be better off with John McCain as president, while 35 percent said it would be worse off.
Critically important independent voters continue to drift away from Obama, and disapprove of him by 52-38 percent.
A year ago, independents backed Obama 52-37.
Obama gets just 39 percent approval of his handling of the economy and 43 percent approval on handling of foreign policy.
Michelle Obama does much better. Her favorability rating is 55-19 percent.
geoff.earle@nypost.com
| 615 |
Violent clashes with protesters in Memphis, Tennessee resulted in at least 24 police officers with injuries. The protests came following the shooting death of a man killed by US Marshals during an attempted arrest, according to Reuters.
Two journalists were also injured when a protesting crowd attacked police with bricks and rocks.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said:
“At least 24 officers and deputies were injured — six were taken to the hospital. Multiple police cars were vandalized. A concrete wall outside a business was torn down. The windows were broken out at fire station 31.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says it has been called in to investigate the shooting, which occurred after US Marshals attempted an arrest of a man wanted on multiple warrants. The TBI said that the man rammed his vehicle several times into police cars before exiting the vehicle with a weapon.
The TBI release stated:
“The officers fired striking and killing the individual.”
Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer claimed that nearly 300 people joined to protest the shooting. She tweeted: "Every life lost should matter...every single one. How many times will this be ok? It cannot continue to be."
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings told NBC at a news conference:
“The officers did an enormous job tonight showing restraint in a very volatile situation. Officers had to don protective gear as the crowd threw objects, and a 'chemical agent' was used to disperse the crowd."
The Memphis Police Department reported on Twitter that after the shooting, some police officers “received minor injuries” from people throwing “bricks/rocks” at them. A local newspaper in Memphis reported that the "tense standoff" wound up escalating with dozens of people.
Mayor Strickland concluded:
“Let me be clear—the aggression shown toward our officers and deputies tonight was unwarranted.”
Rallings concluded:
"I do want to commend individuals that did not decide to commit acts of violence toward the police officers, that showed restraint — I know that there were many individuals in the crowd that tried to assist in keeping everyone calm. My message tonight is that, is we should all wait and make sure we know exactly what happened before we spread misinformation or we jump to conclusions."
He said police supported the right to protest, "but we will not allow any acts of violence, we will not allow destruction of property." | 616 |
The Spanish full-back has claimed that his former manager "didn't contribute anything" to his career
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Former right-back Jesus Gamez has hit out at Rafael Benitez, suggesting the manager is "selfish" and “didn’t contribute anything” to him during his spell on Tyneside.
The 33-year-old Spaniard, a cut-price signing from in 2016, praised the Magpies’ fans as “sensational”, but was heavily critical of his former boss.
The full-back played just 10 times in an injury-ridden couple of seasons at St James’ Park, and was eventually allowed to leave at the end of his contract earlier this summer.
Gamez told Malaga Hoy: “Yes, it got complicated at the beginning with an injury, then I broke my collarbone. I struggled to get back.
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“At family level, the experience was very good. At sporting level, the fans and the team-mates were sensational, but the coach did not understand the situations that happened and also the deal was not the ideal one.
“He [Benitez] is a person that I do not like talking about because he didn’t contribute anything to me in these two years and I have nothing to say about him.”
Gamez made over 300 appearances for his boyhood club, Malaga, before securing a move to Atletico. Weeks prior to his move to the north east he won a runners-up medal with Diego Simeone’s side.
Brought in amongst a host of new faces following the Magpies’ relegation to the Championship, Gamez endured a torrid time in, and is cutting in his appraisal of Benitez’s management style.
He said: “When someone is so selfish and wants to understand everything, they do not know how to read situations and understand that things are not always the same.
Show Player
“You cannot distrust everyone. I showed him my professionalism. Time proved me right. I had an injury, I was not fooling anyone at all. The physios and the medical staff at Newcastle knew how to understand the situation.
“You cannot talk or argue with him because he always wants to be right.”
Since leaving Newcastle, Gamez has been without a club. | 617 |
PARIS (Reuters) - Telecoms lobby GSMA will hold a board meeting on Friday to discuss the possible cancellation of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona after several big-name withdrawals because of the coronavirus outbreak, an industry source said on Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: A ZTE sign is pictured at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai, China June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
MWC, scheduled to take place on Feb. 24-27, is the telecoms industry’s biggest annual gathering, with companies spending millions on stands and hospitality to fill their order books.
The world event was put in jeopardy after the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 1,000 people so far, mostly in mainland China, prompted U.S. technology and telecoms heavyweights such as Cisco Systems Inc, Sprint Corp and Facebook Inc to pull out.
A number of companies ranging from Japan’s NTT Docomo and Sony Corp to U.S. chipmakers Intel Corp and Nvidia had already dropped out of the four-day international telecoms conference that draws in more than 100,000 visitors.
Adding to the concerns over the impact of the epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned earlier on Tuesday of a global threat potentially worse than terrorism.
A cancellation of the event would be a big blow for Catalonia’s capital city.
The congress usually gives a $500 million lift to the local economy as delegates throng to the Fira trade fairgrounds, wine and dine contacts and criss-cross Barcelona by taxi.
GSMA, which represents 750 operators and another 350 firms in the mobile industry ranging from Germanys Deutsche Telekom to China’s Huawei, hosts the congress.
Its board is composed of 26 leaders of some of the world’s biggest telecoms groups and is currently chaired by Stéphane Richard, the CEO of Orange, France’s biggest phone company.
In the event of a full cancellation of the event, the financial liability for the organizers may depend on whether the Spanish government changes its health advice on the coronavirus.
Spain’s health minister Salvador Illa told reporters on Tuesday that there is no public health reason for the event not to be carried out.
Illa added that additional health measures related to the MWC could be announced on Wednesday. GSMA did not respond to requests seeking comment. | 618 |
to establish.
Leaving isn’t always the answer. So how do we help those who choose to stay, who choose familial and communal support over economic relief? This is where it becomes incredibly important to build “strong towns” and revitalize neighborhoods, to not just urge people to leave, but to take up the vital work of placemaking. Comparing this concept to that of “homemaking” makes the vision clear: we must foster an ordered place, steward its resources wisely, and ensure that it is safe and comfortable for all those who reside within it. It’s a vision that cannot be achieved without determined placemakers: community and civic leaders, philanthropists, businesspeople, and politicians who are ready and willing to dedicate themselves to their place.
This vision already exists, to some extent, in many of America’s struggling communities: I know an MIT graduate who left his job with Microsoft to return home to small-town Oregon—to one of the poorest counties in the United States—in order to “give back.” He’s helped develop STEM programs at the local community college, worked to develop greater, more affordable broadband connectivity in the community, and provided a multitude of jobs to local workers through his farm. I’ve also met a mayor who is determined to revitalize his small town and bring in new businesses. He’s rescuing it from stasis and decline through his dedicated volunteerism and work on urban revitalization. And there are a multitude of young college graduates I’ve met who have turned down D.C.’s appealing paychecks and glamor and instead returned to their hometowns—to family farm jobs, ministry work, non-profit initiatives, small-town law offices, and more.
I’m beginning to see that there’s a lot of promise in the returners: those who go out from their hometowns, learn vital skills (and perhaps earn what they can’t at home), and then return with a mind to give back, to grow, and to steward. It isn’t a perfect or a full answer. But for many of America’s struggling towns, it may be a start.
Gracy Olmstead is a writer and journalist located outside Washington, D.C. She’s written for The American Conservative, The Week, National Review, The Federalist, and the Washington Times, among others. | 619 |
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Mayor Nutter is promising a full review of Friday night’s “Welcome America” concert on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, after nearly all the musicians filled their performances with expletives.
MUST READ: Man Busted For 9th DUI
Mayor Nutter was in the crowd Friday night and says he wasn’t particularly bothered by the language of the musicians, though he admits he wasn’t always paying close attention.
“I think the instances were fairly few in the course of a four-hour concert. To be honest, I couldn’t understand most of what Nicki Minaj was saying,” the mayor said today.
What Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, and others were saying and singing included numerous f-bombs and other expletives.
Television station WPVI, which carried the broadcast, repeatedly cut away to a slide of the station’s logo as its air delay system struggled to keep up with the bleeps.
READ: Sleeping Teen Struck By Stray Bullet
Nutter says the concert organizers are contractually obligated to make the concert family-safe, and he promises a full review.
“We do have various provisions in the contracts of the folks we contract with about these kinds of issues,” the mayor tells KYW Newsradio, “so we will certainly be reviewing what happened. I believe there is a provision that specifically has to do with language and behavior and those kinds of things. We’ll review that for all of the artists.”
And he says the city will try to make next year’s “Welcome America” concert a bit more G-rated.
“Certainly going forward, we’ll take additional measures and steps to help ensure, by type of artist and other things that go on with them, that there is a strict adherence to those kinds of provisions,” he said today.
Nutter did offer an apology to anyone who was offended by the language at the concert but points out that those who were bothered could simply leave.
“The acts are fairly well known, and people have the choice to either not participate while that artist is on, or not be around, or go to the bathroom. Go get something to eat! Do whatever it is that you have to do,” he advised. | 620 |
really sad."
Mr Rogers first attracted attention when he bought the rare Honus Wagner collectors baseball card for $US1.65 million.
"John has a reputation as a super seller, he's a fast talker, he's smart, he's gregarious. Charismatic even, some say. He was able to get into some very interesting doors to do business with," Waldon said.
Mr Rogers lived a large life in Little Rock with a mansion on the waterfront — which is now up for sale for $US2.5 million — and a beautiful wife.
Hoffman agreed he was an excellent salesman.
"First of all he is one hell of a good talker and your people will attest to that too. He is a superb salesman. I really liked him. Really colourful. Sweet and kind and in love with old objects and history and photography and things I admired," he said.
"But he's a master. You read about these kind of people. He could talk you into buying the Brooklyn Bridge."
Historical photos unlikely to be returned 'for some time'
John Rogers inspects photos at the Rogers Photo Archive ( The Arkansas Times: Brian Chilson )
Other newspaper companies also entrusted Rogers Photo Archive with their materials.
The Alaska Dispatch and Digital First Media contracts have not been completed either.
But the Fairfax deal is the most valuable and finding a solution is the top priority for the receiver.
The Age newspaper has had its photos returned to Australia.
But images from The Sydney Morning Herald and New Zealand publications remain in Little Rock — at least those that the receiver can be confident have not been sold.
Former Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-chief Peter Fray said the photographs are enormously important to the nation's history.
"In this case, perhaps there is a case for the Government to get involved to protect the national heritage," he said.
"I know it's been in private hands, I know it's a private resource, but really in the broader sense it's part of our national identity."
Mr Wallace said the New Zealand government continued to express its concern about the situation and was continually monitoring reports.
He says they are focusing their energies on getting the protected, historical photos back to New Zealand but admitted "it could take some time".
"This story could be a movie," Hoffman said.
"It's got everything."
Loading... | 621 |
What Is The Wild Fox Project?
The Wild Fox project ('Wild Fox', or Wx for short), is a project aimed at releasing builds of Firefox which include features the Firefox builds do not include, including AVC (h.264) support with HTML 5 video.
Why This Project?
The Firefox project has opted to exclude certain features due to software patents, patents which are only valid in a small number of countries, including the USA and South-Korea (Wikipedia link). This means that decisions have been made due to patents which do not apply in most parts of the world. The Wild Fox project aims to rectify this by releasing builds with these features included, builds which will of course only be available to those not in software patent-encumbered countries.
Developers Needed
As I (Maya Posch AKA 'Elledan') am just a single person, help is required to set up this project successfully and to release stable builds for as long as is required.
If you are familiar with the Mozilla source and/or C++ plus have at least passing familiarity with (multimedia) libraries, you are more than welcome to join the project. Please contact me either via SourceForge or via my personal site.
Current Developments
(Updated 2011/02/13)
An add-on is now available for regular Firefox builds which allows any video format to be played back in Firefox depending on the installed browser video plug-in:
The VLC plug-in works, but lacks controls for playback control.
The Windows Media Player 11 plug-in works, but can't have auto-playback of the video disabled.
At this point Linux & OS X probably have the better video playback plug-ins for browsers
You can download the add-on in XPI format from here. Do keep in mind that it's basically an Alpha build, and that I gladly welcome feedback to improve it :)
At this point the goal is to include at least AVC (h.264) support to the HTML 5 video tag. To this end the currently stable Firefox 3.6.3 source code is used and modified to include a decoder for AVC. Possible decoder libraries include Libavcodec which also offers the possibility of adding support for more video and audio codecs if required. There is also the option of using a generic codec framework like GStreamer, which allows for the use of codecs installed on the system. | 622 |
March 6, 2020 Schitt's Creek
This week, in a very special episode of the “Without a Paddle, the Schitt’s Creek Podcast,” Caroline and Mike traveled to Beekman 1802’s Rose Apothecary Pop-Up!
In a series of interviews collected over several days, Caroline and Mike had the opportunity to take in all parts of the Rose Apothecary Pop-Up happening in Sharon Springs, New York! First, you’ll hear Mike and Caroline’s phone conversation with Beekman 1802 Mercantile owners, Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell.
Brent and Josh were so generous with their time and spoke with us on a variety of topics including how they came to be in Sharon Springs, what building a business one neighbor at a time means to them, and, of course, their favorite characters on Schitt’s Creek!
Reporting LIVE From Sharon Springs, NY
Next, reporting LIVE from Sharon Springs, New York, the Schitty Duo spoke with Beekman 1802 neighbors, Deb and Kendal, owners of McGillycuddy’s Naturals, on their wonderful line of all-natural beauty products (including their “Rosebud Motel” line), their Schitt’s Creek love, and their fantastic Moira Rose-inspired Wig Wall!
Caroline and Mike also had the chance to speak with some fans on the street that were soaking in the Rose Apothecary experience, and two AWESOME employees of Beekman 1802, Matt and Veronica.
Just because the Rose Apothecary Pop-Up has ended, the Schitt’s Creek-like magic that is Beekman 1802, McGillycuddy’s Naturals, and Sharon Springs never ends! Visit the town, and all it has to offer, if you have a chance. If not, then at least visit these stores online and take home a little bit of the Schitt’s Creek love for yourself!
For more information on Beekman 1802 Mercantile, visit their Website and drop them a line on Twitter: @Beekman1802Boys.
For more information on McGillycuddy’s Naturals, visit their Website and drop them a line on InstaGram: @mcgillycuddysnaturals. | 623 |
be a valiant martial display. When the two were matched against each other, one observer compared their fight to that between Hector and Achilles.
This new arrangement created a win-win situation for the king. Not only would Brandon joust against all Henry’s Challengers and beat them, he would then do his duty to the crown and let the king beat him. In this way, Henry would effectively triumph – but it was Brandon who would do all the hard work.
The cheques help explain how a non-noble man not born for high office could achieve high status. Charles Brandon proved time and again to Henry that he was indeed a man “as good as himself”.
Pageantry with a punch
How the Tudor joust worked
Jousting dominated the cultural environment of court during the first half of Henry VIII’s reign. Like modern sports events, tournaments attracted competitors and spectators from afar.
The joust was fought between two knights riding from opposite ends of the lists to encounter each other with lances. The Challengers was a small team of knights who would challenge all competitors. The opposing team, known as the Answerers, comprised knights who answered the challenge.
The Challengers often displayed their shields on a tree known as the ‘Tree of Chivalry’ or ‘Tree of Honour’. Each Answerer would respond, indicating the knight against whom he wished to compete, by hitting the shield of his chosen Challenger.
By the reign of Henry VIII, the joust had become a more formalised competition. A number of rules were introduced, as well as score cheques; prizes were awarded by the queen, and her ladies might add a gold crown, a gold clasp, a diamond ring or even a falcon.
Cheques showed the scores of the competing knights. Points were awarded for unhorsing a knight, breaking two spears tip to tip, striking an opponent’s helmet and breaking the most spears.
Yet there was a lot more to the joust than fighting. By the time of Henry VIII’s reign, it had become a lavish spectacle, with knights entering the lists in fanciful disguises and pageant cars before performing heroic speeches.
Emma Levitt is a PhD student at the University of Huddersfield, working on court culture in the reigns of Edward IV and Henry VIII
This article was first published in the August 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine | 624 |
The June through August period was the warmest such period on Earth since record-keeping began in 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Thursday.
In addition, the month of August was the warmest such month on record since 1880 as well, and featured the warmest ocean temperatures ever recorded for any month.
Both of these records, NOAA says, were driven in large part by unusually warm ocean temperatures around the world. In fact, global average ocean temperatures were so high in August — 1.17 degrees Fahrenheit above average, to be exact — that they broke the all-time record set just two months ago.
These temperature records, along with others, have set the world on course to have its warmest year on record, NOAA said.
The NOAA said record warmth was observed across much of the central and western equatorial Pacific Ocean, as well as parts of the western Indian Ocean, especially in the vicinity of Madagascar.
The NOAA data matches information NASA released earlier in the week using slightly different methods of analyzing temperature data, which also found that August was the warmest such month on record.
Temperature departures from average during August 2014.
These announcements are especially significant because this warmth is occurring in the absence of a declared El Niño event in the Pacific. Such events feature unusually warm ocean temperatures and tend to turbocharge the warming already occurring due to manmade greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. For example, El Niño events in 1998 and 2005 led to those years sticking out in global temperature records as the warmest years on record.
The fact that the planet is so warm without an El Niño around to boost temperatures is a sign that global warming has become so noticeable that an El Niño event is no longer needed to set all-time records like this.
The year-to-date is running as the third-warmest year in NOAA's records, but NOAA said that if 2014 maintains the current departure from average (about 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit) for the rest of the year, "it will be the warmest year on record."
Currently, NOAA is predicting a weak to moderate El Niño to develop this fall and winter, which could lead to 2014 or 2015 being declared the new warmest year on record.
The new temperature data also comes just before one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever to take place on the subject of global warming. The daylong U.N. Climate Summit will be held in New York on Sept. 23. | 625 |
Mitch Freeley
Arsene Wenger has suggested that former Arsenal youngster Serge Gnabry was manipulated by Bayern Munich prior to his eventual move to the Bundesliga giants.
Gnabry has transformed into one of the key men at FCB, scoring four goals against Tottenham in the Champions League last week as the German Champions ran riot in North London. Whilst Wenger suggested that Bayern manipulated Gnabry during his 2016 move to Werder Breman.
“We tried to extend his contract for a very long time and I think that Bayern manipulated behind the scenes, that if he went to Bremen he would join Bayern after.”
Wenger was speaking exclusively to beIN SPORTS about the German international who should play some part in die Mannschaft’s glamour friendly with Argentina later today.
The winger was signed by Wenger at the age of sixteen failed to make the grade at North London, despite the then Arsenal boss having plenty of faith in the youngster.
“He was always a very talented boy who lacked confidence in some stages, but we always thought we had a player who could achieve a lot.”
“He came back from a very bad experience at West Brom where his confidence was destroyed. I tried to rebuild him because I believed in him.”
Having returned to Germany, Gnabry has blossomed into one of the best wingers in the Bundesliga, and Wenger revealed his shock at watching his former protégé score four against Arsenal’s feted North London rivals Tottenham.
“They’d just won 3-0 at Paderborn, you wouldn’t expect them to come and put 7 goals away at Tottenham. I think it was one of those nights where everything goes for you and everything against Tottenham.”
A flying start of five goals in nine starts in all competitions suggests that Gnabry should be a regular fixture in the Bayern and German national sides this season. However, Wenger believes the 24-year-old needs to add consistency to his game to be considered as the very best.
“A top-level career is consistency, if you look at the players that dominate our sport it’s the ones that show HUGE consistency and that’s what is it at stake. Can he maintain the quality of performances that he showed the other night?”
You can hear more from Wenger on Gnabry in the video above.
| 626 |
perceptions.
"My personal opinion is that this is purely a marketing and cultural issue," said Dr. Boezaart, professor of anesthesiology and orthopedic surgery in the Division of Acute and Peri-operative Pain Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.
"[Vicodin] is marketed in the US as a serious drug that one uses for serious pain. Common perceptions meanwhile suggest that Tylenol is a safe and mild drug given to children with fevers and colds and used for mild headaches, and is not a serious drug to use for real pain," he told Medscape Medical News.
Patients with acute pain who learn they are receiving Tylenol may have the impression that they are not being treated with a true pain medication, Dr. Boezaart said.
"We experience this every day when we prescribe the very effective [every 6 hours] scheduled [intravenous] Tylenol 1000 mg to patients with severe acute pain," he said. "Patients will be quick to tell you that their pain is real and will not respond to a mild drug like Tylenol."
For that reason, Dr. Boezaart suggested that the name "Tylenol" even be dropped from the formulation of codeine and acetaminophen and replaced with something else.
"The company manufacturing Tylenol #3 would do the population a great favor if they changed the name to something that does not contain the word 'Tylenol,' but something that suggested treatment for serious pain, and then actively market it for that purpose."
In the absence of a name change, studies such as Dr. Chang's can help establish the drug's efficacy in comparison with its more popular competitor, Dr. Boezaart said.
"This is certainly the first study that I am aware of that compares Vicodin (5/500 mg) with Tylenol (30/300 mg)," he said.
"Every instinct would dictate that the latter should be a safer choice, but only further studies like this one by Chang et al would clarify this claim."
The study did not receive funding. Dr. Chang and Dr. Boezaart have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) 30th Annual Meeting. Abstract 163. Presented March 8, 2014.
Acad Emerg Med. Published online March 13, 2014. Abstract | 627 |
The Colorado Rockies will promote right-handed pitcher Chad Bettis from Double-A Tulsa, according to a source within the organization. The team has yet to confirm the move.
It would make sense for the Rockies to have Bettis, 24, start on Thursday, as the team doesn't have anyone to fill that spot in the rotation after demoting Collin McHugh following his rough start on Saturday. However, there are conflicting reports about what Bettis' role with the Rockies will be.
Still, it comes as refreshing news that the Rockies have reportedly decided to bring up the Texas Tech alum. If not for an injury prior to the 2012 season, Bettis would likely already be in Denver, but he has rebounded well with a solid performance at Tulsa, striking out 9.7 batters per nine innings while walking fewer than two and posting a 3.71 ERA in 63 innings.
Bettis has long been talked about as having an MLB future as a reliever, but he has only made one relief appearance in the minors, which came back in 2010 with Tri-City. Across 53 games and 52 starts, Bettis has a career minor league ERA of 2.91 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.34.
The 6'1, 200-pound Texan utilizes a plus-plus fastball and plus-plus slider to dominate minor league hitters, but his change-up leaves a lot to be desired. If he can get that to average or slightly-above, there's no reason to think that Bettis can't be a solid big-league starter, health permitting. Otherwise, he would almost assuredly be a terrific bullpen piece.
Once there is some clarification on Bettis' role with the team when he arrives in Atlanta, we'll be sure to provide an update.
Off-topic
Links
Troy Renck writes about the interest the Red Sox and Indians have in Josh Outman, who pitched a scoreless ninth last night. Included is a blurb about the Rockies' having interest in Cubs reliever Kevin Gregg, who is one of two pieces, along with Nate Schierholtz, that Chicago will more than likely move before the deadline on Wednesday.
The Dodgers are the front-runners for free-agent reliever Brian Wilson, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. Wilson was also being pursued by the Pirates, Giants and Diamondbacks. The Rockies were in attendance for Wilson's workout last Thursday in Los Angeles but apparently aren't interested. | 628 |
Spending time with our loved ones can be difficult today while we're expected to be always "on", willing to drop anything for an email or text from a boss. And with fears of, well, everything, at an all time high, parents are more likely than ever to want to know what their kids are up to. How are you supposed to stay on top of it all while still providing your family with enough stability to survive in a world of skyrocketing living costs and wage stagnation?
Enter Moorebot. This little bot, created by Chinese studio Pilot Labs, is a one eyed monster that sits on your counter, bedside table or desk. An uncannily cheery video for the bot showcases its various functions. Moorebot can communicate, learning words and behaviors quickly. It can use its mawing camera eye to capture action, such as your young daughter running across the room, which can be viewed by parents on their smartphones at a safe distance. It can look up information for you via your online accounts, acting as a personal assistant. Moorebot can also take photos, seemingly autonomously.
This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Moorebot's promo video hammers in the idea that this cuddly device is entirely innocuous. The video even begins with a tribute to the classic Pixar lamp animation, cementing that this is a friendly robot, like WALL-E (not, of course, like WALL-E's cyclops nemesis who keeps humans pacified while it controls them). People seem to agree with this assessment, as Moorebot has already surpassed its $30,000 fundraising goal on Indiegogo.
While it skeeves us out to watch a one-eyed laughing camera read a bedtime story to a girl who looks on lovingly, the really uncomfortable thing about Moorebot is the normalization of surveillance as part of our daily lives. Why wouldn't you install a camera in your home that tracks your family's every move? Well, we can think of a few reasons, but it seems only time will tell. Meanwhile, your kids better practice drawing a laughing machine into your family photos.
Source: New York Magazine
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io | 629 |
Today Google launched the official mobile app for Google I/O which runs between June 25th and 26th of this year. The app continues Google’s trend of introducing more colors and larger icons into their applications. Between the new visual style and the new methods of navigating the application it is essentially a complete redesign of the application we received for Google I/O 2013.
As you can see, the app is much more focused on including color and visuals rather than being a simple list of text with a white background. The main page of the app is a list of the events and sessions that will happen at Google I/O organized in descending order. Each event has a picture with a color filter atop it. The main method of navigating around the app is also changed from the 2013 Google I/O application. Rather than scrolling left and right to navigate between the pages in the app, Google has implemented a menu that slides in from the left and presents the user with a list of all the sections in the app they can navigate to as well as a link to the application settings. This type of app navigation style is becoming increasingly common among Google’s applications as although some may find it causes parts of the application to become hidden away from the user, it allows for more space on each page to be filled with content rather than navigational interface elements. Selecting the dropdown menu on the navigation bar brings up a list of session filters based on theme or topic which can be used to find sessions that best interest the user.
The settings menu accessed from the navigation pane on the left side has some useful options that were not present in the 2013 Google I/O app. Along with the option to only show live-streamed sessions which was present in the 2013 app, the new 2014 app also includes options to automatically sync your selected session schedule with your Google Calendar and to send notifications to your smartphone or tablet when a session you have indicated you want to watch or attend is about to begin. By default, the application also sends anonymous usage statistics to Google to help with app usability and stability improvements.
Like always, the three dot overflow menu has a section for displaying a map of the venue which will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco again this year. The map view also allows developers to view the event layout on each floor of the building in case they need some assistance figuring out where to go for their sessions. The Google I/O app is rolling out now and can be downloaded from Google Play.
Source: Google Play | 630 |
brings us back to the present day. For reasons which others understand better than me, involving thermal design power and ILP, it’s now more cost-effective for manufacturers to pack additional cores onto a die than to push the single-threaded performance envelope much further.
Given the significance of this shift away from single-threaded performance, I was surprised to not find more information about the actual trajectory of performance since 2004. At the same time, I can’t guarantee that the data I’ve presented perfectly reflects single-threaded CPU performance. I think my conclusions are fair, but any feedback or criticism about the approach is more than welcome.
How These Graphs Were Generated
All Python scripts are available on GitHub. These scripts will download, analyze and adjust SPEC’s data, and render the graphs. If you’d like to run them yourself, see the README file for exact instructions.
As already mentioned, recent compilers like Intel C++ and IBM XL feature automatic parallelization, and it greatly skews the results towards certain benchmarks. For example, check out the performance of 462.libquantum in this result! SPEC permits the use of autoparallelization as long as it’s clearly indicated. Unfortunately, this compiler feature is so widely enabled, I couldn’t simply exclude all such results. If I had done so, I would be left with zero results for Intel’s Core i3, i5 and i7 processor families.
The compromise I chose was to identify the top six benchmarks which seem to benefit from automatic parallelization, disqualify those benchmarks from the test suite, and take the geometric mean of the remaining ones. This approach assumes that automatic parallelization does not work on every benchmark. For the list of disqualified benchmarks, and the algorithm which identifies them, check the GitHub files.
In the end, you’ll find that even if you leave the disqualified benchmarks in the results, it doesn’t significantly change the conclusions in this post. It shifts most of the CPU2006 results upwards – up to 25% – which simultaneously shifts the conversion ratios from CPU95 and CPU2000 upwards, keeping everything roughly in line.
In the future, it would be interesting for licensees to submit more results without automatic parallelization. That would help us more easily observe the performance trend of single CPU cores.
[Update: HenkPoley has posted an update of these graphs for February 2014.] | 631 |
If the end of the world will be soon, what do I need to do now?
God has been patient and merciful to the human race for almost 6,000 years since we first sinned. Yet we continue to become more sinful and more rebellious.
We are very near the end of the world when the wrath of God will be poured out on all of us who refuse to repent for our sins and worship Him.
God has given each of us the power of choice and a period of probationary time before the world ends. This probationary period is an opportunity to repent and to have faith in Jesus Christ.
My probation and your probation will end soon. It may well be sooner rather than later.
Repent today, before the end of the world
The most important thing we can do right now, before the end of the world, is to give ourselves completely to God in humility and repentance and by faith to receive Jesus as our personal Savior.
Now is the time to seek the LORD, while He may be found. Now is the time to repent. Today is the day for salvation.
“Seek the LORD while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6,7.
Dear reader, God loves you very much. He wants to live with you forever. I appeal to you to carefully consider your priorities and to choose today whom you will serve.
I invite you to accept Jesus as your personal Savior, right now. Ask Him to forgive your sins and thank Him for dying for you. Ask Jesus to teach you more of the truth from the Bible.
The end of the world is too late
Now is the important time for each of us. We cannot wait until the end of the world to get ready for Jesus to come.
During the next few months or years Jesus Christ will judge every person on earth. For some of us, our probation will end today, for others it will be a short time. But everyone will make his final choice before the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world.
Choose now to serve the Lord with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength. | 632 |
FORT COLLINS — New West Genetics LLC has raised half of an $800,000 funding round that the company plans to use to ramp up sales and marketing, as well as continue research and development of different varieties of industrial hemp.
Founded early last year, the Fort Collins-based company will sell the flower from its first crop this summer to local companies that will extract the cannabinoids out of it to make drinks, oils and edibles. But the company is also developing intellectual property around the genetics of industrial cannabis for uses in the pharmaceutical and agricultural markets. The goal is that the company will have multiple seed varieties available for sale by 2017 that will have guaranteed germination rates and yields.
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Industrial cannabis, or hemp, is a variety of the cannabis sativa plant that contains less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana or pot that is used for recreational purposes. Different parts of the industrial cannabis plant have various uses, ranging from food and supplements to medicinal uses to building-material and textile applications.
New West disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it had raised $200,000 in new funding. But cofounder and chief executive Wendy Mosher said Tuesday the sum is actually $400,000 now.
This summer’s harvest will produce the company’s first revenue.
“But we’ve got customers lined up for the sale of our harvest this summer,” Mosher said. “We’re feeling confident about that at least.”
Mosher co-founded the company with her husband, John McKay, who is a professor of plant genetics at Colorado State University, and Rich Fletcher, who earned his doctorate in McKay’s lab and has worked for several years in the agriculture industry.
The company also has three contract employees. New West is based virtually right now, but Mosher said it could be establishing an office sometime next year. In the meantime, the company has multiple plots in Larimer and Weld counties totaling about 4 acres, where it is growing its cannabis. She said the company would also be leasing warehouse space in the fall to have space to process its harvest. | 633 |
Nicolas Meloche is starting to get comfortable and put points on the scoresheet now that he’s playing regularly for San Antonio. He fired a blistering shot which found the back of the net in the Rampage’s 5-4 overtime loss to Milwaukee as seen below. He’s playing top-four minutes and has been generating an average of 1.6 shots on goal in that 20 game span, 2.6 shots per game in his last five games. Meloche is making steady progress and has the confidence with moving the puck and using his size at that level. It’s too bad it took until January to get him on this path but the important thing now is to keep it going.
JC Beaudin is still playing for the Colorado Eagles as they work through their own injury issues. The Eagles still hold on to the top spot in the Mountain division with a 31-12-5 record but need to stop a five-game losing skid. Beaudin has scored 25 points in 27 games and plays heavy minutes, with some defensive play as seen below.
Nate Clurman finally scored his first goal in the USHL and has two points since joining Des Moines in a January trade.
Nate Clurman finally has his 1st USHL goal:https://t.co/1Xs80r7eTK — Nathan Rudolph (@Nathan__Rudolph) February 10, 2018
Shane Bowers took the lead in freshmen goals in the NCAA with three goals over two games including the Beanpot finale as seen below and six goals in his last six games. That’s now 16 goals and counting for Bowers as he also leads all freshmen with a +14 and is third in shots on goal with an average of 3.47 a game. Quite the freshman campaign for the Avalanche’s newest, and youngest, prospect.
Shane Bowers lights the lamp for BU, but Northeastern is going to win the 2018 Beanpot final. pic.twitter.com/SjnCszBRQW — NESN (@NESN) February 13, 2018
For Your Viewing Pleasure:
Moose Jaw faces Regina (Henry) for the third time in five days on Sunday, February 18th CHL Showcase at 3pm ET on Sportsnet and NHL Network.
Credit to San Antonio Rampage for the photo
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| 634 |
California’s Democrat governor is providing a $500 per person bailout to 150,000 poor illegal migrants throughout the state, according to the Associated Press.
The giveaway will cost the state’s taxpayers $125 million, said the AP report.
California will give cash payments to immigrants living in the country illegally, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, using a mix of taxpayer money and charitable contributions to give 150,000 adults $500 each during the coronavirus outbreak. California has an estimated 2 million immigrants living in the country illegally. They are not eligible for the $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress last month, which gives cash payments to most Americans plus boosts unemployment benefits by $600 per week.
California’s huge population of illegals boosts revenues for California’s companies, investors, and state agencies.
But it also forces down wages for blue-collar and white-collar Americans, pushes up real estate and rental costs, and crowds the state’s K-2 schools.
However, California’s citizens feel gratitude toward the illegals, Newsome said:
“We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” said Newsom, who noted 10% of the state’s workforce are immigrants living in the country illegally who paid more than $2.5 billion in state and local taxes last year.
The announcement comes after Los Angeles’s mayor announced a $1,500 subsidy to the Los Angeles residents — including illegals. KLTA.com reported April 14:
A staggering 56,000 applications were submitted on the first day, according to [Mayor Eric] Garcetti. “Don’t worry if you haven’t gotten through, because there’s two more days still,” he said. The no-fee debit card is available to city residents whose total household income fell below the federal poverty line before the COVID-19 crisis began and who had their income reduced by at least another 50% due to the outbreak. The cards will come with $700, $1,100 or $1,500, depending on the size and income of each household, a news release stated.
Democrats in Congress, in New York, as well as in the established media, are also demanding that taxpayers bailout the huge illegal migrant populations that the Democrats invited into the United States. | 635 |
Olympic Start Gun Gives Advantage to Runners on Inside Lanes
In races where milliseconds count, runners can’t afford any type of disadvantage. Unfortunately for this year’s Olympians, the use of an old technology will give a slight advantage to the runners assigned to the inside lanes of the track.
This problem is introduced because “loud guns” are still employed at the Olympics Games. These are starting guns that fire blank cartridges, creating a loud “bang” to alert athletes of the start.
Although sound travels through air very quickly, it does have a finite speed, meaning that the runners closest to the gun will hear the blast first. This becomes especially significant in races such as the 4x100m relay, where the starters are staggered around the first turn of the track. Scientists have calculated that the sound of the gun in such a race will reach the outermost runner 0.150 seconds after it reaches the innermost runner. This is a big deal in sprinting – amounting to a meter or more at the finish line. Furthermore, the sound of the gun is louder when it arrives at the closer runners’ ears. Scientists at the University of Alberta have found that a louder signal is more likely to lead to a startle response in runners, lowering their reaction time by up to 0.018 seconds.
Most modern track events now place loudspeakers behind the blocks of each runner. These loudspeakers are designed to all give a tone at precisely the same moment, and the gun that the starting official holds is actually silent, producing no sound of its own. This technique guarantees that each runner will hear the start tone at the same moment as the other runners. Although these loudspeakers are employed at the Olympics, a silent gun is not used, and researchers have found that the runners actually respond to the sound of the gun when both are available.
The effects of this phenomenon were confirmed at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Researchers at the University of Indiana found that the runners in the outside lanes were slower out of the blocks by the amount predicted by the speed of sound.
The problem could reach even further than expected, as a bad start will often affect an athlete’s entire race. Runners may tense up and perform worse after a relatively poor start.
The International Association of Athletics Federations says is is aware of this problem and is developing new standards to correct it. Yet, amazingly, it sees no need to make emergency changes before the Beijing Olympics. | 636 |
Coco Gauff burst onto the professional tennis scene earlier this year at Wimbledon, making a huge run that included defeating Venus Williams.
As her fame grew over the summer, Gauff was forced to navigate the waters of keeping a level head while also trying to use her voice and platform for the betterment of society.
AMERICAN COCO GAUFF BEATS JELENA OSTAPENKO FOR FIRST WTA TITLE
“Wimbledon has given me an opportunity to raise money and raise awareness for other things and I’m glad that I was able to,” she told The Guardian in an interview published Wednesday. “With every match I win I seem to get more and more people following me, so that’s good. And that means more and more awareness for subjects I care about. I always wanted to not just be a tennis player.”
The 15-year-old phenom said she is interested in climate change activism and looking for ways to change her own lifestyle.
NAOMI OSAKA TO GIVE UP US CITIZENSHIP TO PLAY FOR JAPAN IN 2020 OLYMPICS
“Lately, younger people are leading movements and I guess the world has to get used to it because we’re used to older people telling us what to do,” she told UK newspaper. “My generation has just decided it was time to speak up on our own about things. I do follow the [climate] movement a lot and I’m learning about ways we can better change, at least my lifestyle and the way my family live.”
She added: “It’s great when they say I’m young and I’m doing great things. It will get frustrating when they say: ‘You’re young, you don’t know any better.’ I think it’s a good thing to point out that to a younger person but I think we shouldn’t put someone’s intelligence down no matter what.”
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Gauff’s hype is only going to get bigger in 2020. She won her first Women’s Tennis Association title last weekend at the Linz Open in Austria. And though she lost in the first round at the Luxembourg Open, the sky appears to be the limit for her. | 637 |
among the high school friends I keep in touch with.
Some who stayed home after graduation felt stuck in rudderless department store jobs while their ambitions withered. Others moved away and will soon be in grad school. And a few who found trekking off harder than they thought have considered falling back on stable jobs in a region they know.
Years after my grandpa gave me that Spider-Man carving, he pushed me to stay local. He had grown up working on a farm in a family with little money and feared for my financial future. It'd be safer to stay put.
But like Stiller's characters, I had to get out. I lived in the woods, couldn't walk to my friends' houses like the kids on TV. The cloistered worldview up there left me ill equipped to understand people with different life experiences. And I didn't want to settle for the attainable when I felt like I could achieve something greater.
So I went to college six hours away in New York's third-largest metro and bounced between summer internships. One brought me briefly back home as a reporter for the Plattsburgh Press-Republican, at the same time as the real Dannemora prison escape.
I plodded up and down winding roads in police search areas, knocking on doors to hear people's fears, talking to the owners of stores where residents were buying locks, flashlights and outdoor lighting systems. When the manhunt ended, I ran around outside the prison's 30-foot concrete wall and scribbled quotes from cheering locals as rain soaked my notebook.
Eventually, I landed in Tampa Bay, at a place that once seemed far from reality.
My grandpa never got to see me outdo expectations. In late 2012, while I was still in high school, he retired from the prison and made plans to spend the winter in North Fort Myers with my grandma, Sandra.
Then he was hit and killed by a car near Gainesville on Dec. 29, their first day in the state.
Anyone who followed the real-life prison break knows Matt and Sweat never really escaped Dannemora.
Watching the show reminds me that maybe I haven't either.
Contact Justin Trombly at jtrombly@tampabay.com. Follow @JustinTrombly.
Watch this
You can stream Escape at Dannemora directly on Showtime's website or through services like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. | 638 |
Using nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) from wood pulp, Canadian researchers have for the first time prepared mesoporous chiral nematic structured silica materials that may have potential as tuneable reflective filters in smart windows, chiral catalysts in synthesis and even as optical sensing devices.
A team led by Mark MacLachlan at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, used an aqueous solution of NCC with silica precursors and found that in a narrow pH range they formed chiral structures with pore diameters in the range of 4 to 5nm and which are organised in a helical thread-like form.1
Mesoporous silica materials have been prepared before but attaining chirality has been a difficult task. ’Others tried it before but it turns out that the pH range over which these structures are formed without any disruption is very narrow,’ says MacLachlan. These structures are chiral because of the sugar chains of cellulose that form the pores.
Viveka Alfredsson is based at Lund University in Sweden and works on the formation of mesoporous silica materials and its functional derivatives. She says, ’It is good to see cheap and widely available cellulose being used to make chiral mesoporous silica. Other chiral mesoporous silica structures have been made - for example by Shunai Che from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China - but by using quite expensive chiral surfactants.’2
The material is also porous, and filling up the pores with water makes the structure completely transparent. This happens because the refractive index of water is very close to that of SiO 2 and the differences are invisible to the naked eye.
The materials also possess impressive photonic properties. ’The origin of colour in the material is really interesting,’ says MacLachlan. ’The material selectively reflects the wavelength of light that matches the helical pitch of the pore.’ So by varying how steeply the pore spirals in the material, it can be made to reflect different colours.
This means that materials can be made that they are transparent to visible light but reflect infrared light, which could be used to coat windows and help stop heat leaking out of buildings.
The team is now looking at ways to use the silica template for building chiral nematic semiconductors and chiral catalysts.
Akshat Rathi | 639 |
Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren likes to disparage Big Money. She's pledged to cross all rich donors off her address book in her 2020 campaign and instead rely on small donations to get her to the White House. Sounds noble. But as the New York Times reminded us on Monday, the popular progressive who is now all about "the grassroots" was once all too happy to host big donor fundraisers. She's accepted donations from major political players all over the country - Boston, New York, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, Martha’s Vineyard and Philadelphia, to name a few.
"The open secret of Ms. Warren’s campaign is that her big-money fund-raising through 2018 helped lay the foundation for her anti-big-money run for the presidency," the piece reads. "Last winter and spring, she transferred $10.4 million in leftover funds from her 2018 Senate campaign to underwrite her 2020 run, a portion of which was raised from the same donor class she is now running against."
The editors quote former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who asks, "Can you spell hypocrite?” He once supported Warren but has switched allegiance to Joe Biden. Last year, he hosted a fundraiser for Warren and said he received a warm thank you note from her. Fast-forward to this year and suddenly the senator is shaming him for holding a similar "swanky" affair for Biden.
"All of a sudden, we were bad guys and power brokers and influence-peddlers," Rendell observed. "In 2018, we were wonderful.”
Former President Obama adviser David Axelrod was one of the political pundits who read the piece. He wasn't surprised by the content or the timing.
With her campaign steadily gaining, this story about the large donor fundraising by @ewarren that laid the foundation for her campaign was going to come. It’s a shot at her oft-repeated boast of foreswearing such practices in the Dem race.https://t.co/FscX7kZ0Vy — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 9, 2019
Warren, still one of the 2020 frontrunners, should be prepared to answer more questions about her former relationship to those major political donors.
Her supporters, like Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, says the "hypocrite" label for Warren is unfair because she's now "trying to change the system step by step." | 640 |
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Tube unions have been urged to call off a planned 24-hour strike which would bring severe disruption.
Up to 4,000 station and ticket staff are set to walk out from 6pm on Sunday in a dispute over staffing numbers.
London Underground is preparing contingency measures if the strike goes ahead, which could see many stations shut and some lines partially closed.
The walkout — and the threat of more to come — is in protest at 800 job cuts and the closure of ticket offices under former mayor Boris Johnson’s regime as a cash-saving measure.
The unions are furious with Mayor Sadiq Khan for not reopening at least some central London ticket offices.
Brian Woodhead, LU operations director, said: “We have always committed to reviewing our new staffing model with the trade unions during its first year. We are recruiting additional staff for stations and believe this will help us to provide a better service.
“We will continue working with the unions, as well as implementing recommendations made by the London TravelWatch review, to ensure our customers feel safe, fully supported and able to access the right assistance at all times.
"We encourage the unions to work with us on this process rather than threatening strike action.”
Discussions between both sides at conciliation service Acas broke up on Wednesday without agreement and talks were due to restart on Thursday.
Mick Cash, the RMT leader, said the strike “remains on. The ball remains in LU’s court and while the RMT remains available for talks it is down to the company to come back into the process with serious proposals.”
Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA union which represents ticket office staff, said: “It doesn’t appear that LU is serious about resolving this dispute. Their complete lack of urgency tells its own story.
“We need a significant increase in staff numbers, in the hundreds, just to be back in a position where our Tube can operate safely and where station closures are no longer the norm.” | 641 |
The news coming out of Paul Brown Stadium this afternoon regarding quarterback Andy Dalton is positive.
Andy Dalton does not need surgery on his thumb, per Cincinnati source. Will depend on how quickly he heals. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 14, 2015
My understanding is, #Bengals QB Andy Dalton believes a week 17 return is possible. But it's a bone and one can't guess how it heals. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 14, 2015
During Marvin Lewis' press conference today, he was in good spirits, making jokes to the media about how fast they could type the news.
Marvin making fun of reporters as we tweeted every word of his Andy Dalton update #Marvinlaugh pic.twitter.com/XUDM3Fn8F4 — Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) December 14, 2015
"We got positive news," Lewis said. "He'll be in a cast and basically we'll go week-to-week with things and that's as good an outcome right now as we can expect. We'll see how he is every week."
Lewis said "we'll see" about bringing in another quarterback while smiling. "Stay tuned," he added.
"It's time to move on and turn the page and get ready for this week and the challenges ahead of us," Lewis said. Regarding the playoffs, Lewis said, "We still have to handle our own business."
Lewis said it is the news he expected, different from the speculative reports that were "blowing up my phone."
Elise Jesse of WLWT spoke with Bengals quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese as well as AJ McCarron on Monday.
Ken Zampese (QB Coach) told me he met with Dalton today to talk about what his role is right now, until he's healthy. #Bengals — Elise Jesse (@Elise_JesseWLWT) December 14, 2015
"Andy is in this for AJ Mccarron and he's in it for the team... This should be an interesting couple of weeks here" -Zampese — Elise Jesse (@Elise_JesseWLWT) December 14, 2015
"AJ has the work ethic and the passion for the game, hopefully those things so more and more as he gets the chance to practice"- Zampese — Elise Jesse (@Elise_JesseWLWT) December 14, 2015 | 642 |
• British rider rides clear of rivals on ascent to Les Praeres • Yates reclaims red jersey with Alejandro Valverde second
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
Simon Yates has reclaimed the leader’s red jersey at the Vuelta a España, holding off a group of his rivals for the overall title to take a statement stage victory on the final climb at Les Praeres.
Yates was part of a heavyweight group – including Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Thibaut Pinot and Miguel Ángel López – that took control of the stage on the narrow, winding ascent to the stage 14 finish line in Asturias.
Yates made his move with some 700m to go, breaking clear with neither López or Valverde able to respond – both finishing two seconds behind the stage winner.
Julian Alaphilippe retains green jersey after gruelling Nottinghamshire stage Read more
The well-crafted victory sees the British rider move into a 20-second overall lead ahead of Movistar rider Valverde, with Nairo Quintana, who could only manage fifth on the final climb, down in third place five seconds further back.
That meant Yates regained the overall race lead ahead of Valverde and Quintana, who are 20 and 25 seconds behind the British rider respectively. The previous leader, Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), fell out of contention during the 171km stage which took in five categorised climbs.
Earlier in the day, there had been a six-man breakaway which included Team Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski, with the lead on the peloton at around three minutes and 43 seconds heading into the final 75km. As it was reeled in, Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) made a late move but could not sustain the pace before Yates timed his attack to perfection on the steep slopes.
As the Movistar due of Valverde and Quintana waited for López to make his move, Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) struck, riding clear and holding off the Astana rider’s late charge to seal a statement victory.
Sunday looks set to be one of the race’s toughest days, with the riders travelling 178.2km and crossing four climbs to another mountain finish at the Lakes of Covadonga. | 643 |
Updated: August 25, 2014, 3:57 PM
Former Sen. Scott Brown (R), now running for Senate in New Hampshire, over the weekend was pretty clear: science has not proven that climate change is real. But back in 2012, when Brown was running for re-election in Massachusetts, he said that he “absolutely” believed climate change is real and that it is a result of both man-made and natural causes.
Brown and the other candidates in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire were asked on Saturday “do you believe that the theory of man-made climate change has been scientifically proven?”
Former Sen. Bob Smith, another former senator running to replace Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), was first asked if he believed “that the theory of man-made climate change has been scientifically proven?” Smith responded “no.” Then the same question was posed to Brown. Brown said “no” too. The question and answer were flagged by the opposition research organization American Bridge 21st Century.
Brown’s comments strongly conflict with an answer he gave on climate change when he was running against now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in 2012. Brown was asked if he believed climate change is real, and if so what would should the federal government be doing about it?
“Yes, yes I do,” Brown said. “I absolutely believe that climate change is real and I believe there’s a combination between man-made and natural. That being said one of the biggest things we could do is get an energy policy and we don’t have one.”
In 2009, when Brown was running against Democrat Martha Coakley for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, Brown also weighed in on climate change with a blurry answer. Coakley said “if you believe there is a climate change issue, then you have to take action.”
Brown responded: “I [have] said the climate is always changing.” He added “The question I have is, is it man-made, or does it just happen naturally?”
TPM has reached out to the Brown campaign for comment.
Listen to Brown’s response at the Saturday event here:
You can see Brown’s answer to the question in 2012 at around 48:00 in the video below: | 644 |
Chris Miller Teases Live-Action Spider-Man Universe TV Series
Back in April, Sony lined up Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord to develop television shows based on characters in “Sony’s Marvel Universe.” Essentially, those are the Spider-Man associated characters under Sony’s control, including Black Cat (pictured above), Silver Sable, and more. Sony has yet to lock down which Spider-Man supporting characters will get their own shows. Regardless, Miller did offer a brief update at the Television Critics Association Press Tour.
“We are developing a handful of live-action shows using Sony’s Marvel characters, of which there are like 900 characters,” said Miller while speaking with Deadline. “We’re figuring out a way to develop the shows so that each are their own unique experience but are also related.”
It’s true that Sony has approximately 900 Marvel characters under its control. However, most of them can’t headline their own comics, much less a TV series or a movie. So there are really only a handful who could realistically be under consideration for these TV shows.
Miller didn’t share any details about which characters he and Miller have in mind. But he did indicate that potential collaborators are already being recruited for the shows.
“We’ve been talking to a lot of potential teammates for trying to do something not like anything else that’s been done on television,” added Miller. “It’ll be a little while before it all comes together and is on the air. But I think it is going to be something really special…Hopefully we’ll know in the next few months where it’ll be and what the schedule will be.”
Sony also has ambitions to make its own version of the MCU, including Venom and Morbius the Living Vampire. Black Cat and Silver Sable were both slated for the Silver and Black movie. However, that project stalled out. It remains to be seen if the two heroines will get another chance on the big screen, or if they’re under consideration for Miller and Lord’s TV shows.
Which Marvel characters would you like to see in Miller and Lord’s Spider-Man Universe shows? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do | 645 |
s so – he thinks outside the box, acts outside the box.”
She thinks Trump should tackle other issues such as education reform.
“We have to do real education reform. We’ve had 50 years of dismantling the humanities and education; that’s a little harder but he could, in the same way he did with EPA and such, he could give some of the power back and cut some of the strings,” she said.
“The other is unfunded mandate reform. We just have to do it and he could – I love the way he operates where he explains it to people the way they think about it, in a common-sense way, and I think he has the ability to bring in young voters,” she added.
Matalin also said Trump has two key qualities she has never seen in one president before.
“I think he is good at two things that I’ve never seen anybody be mutually good at in that office. One, he is a great inbox president, like you never know what’s going to come across your desk, and he has not lost on one of those things. So, he knows how to jujitsu if it’s perceived to be lost in our measurement,” Matalin told PJM.
“And he’s a great overall president, like, he did what he said he was going to do and he is doing things he never imagined he would have to, so that’s really hard to do with a staff that was not quite seasoned – it’s just sheer force of will and force of personality. I think he’s doing great. He’s doing really great. I can die happy now. I was really worried about it,” she added.
PJM asked Matalin if she thought Trump would receive any blowback from conservatives for increasing federal spending.
“Deficit spending is not our problem. The substantive and ongoing unfunded structural debt is our problem. Our culture was founded on deficits,” she said. “Businesses are founded on deficits and people’s families are founded on deficits, OK? But structural debt is like kids graduating with $100,000 in debt, that’s like the individual equivalent, as opposed to deficit spending when you’re starting out in life, OK? We cannot survive with the structural debt.” | 646 |
One can argue whether it is good or bad that some of the income for a goods tax would come from arms importing countries, most of which are in the Global South, and that only some of it would come from arms producers, which are predominantly in the Global North.
That is one reason why a country quasi- tax is an interesting alternative. In this case, it would be the exporting government who would be “taxed” – most likely by an international institution. Unless the exporting government decides to recover the tax from domestic arms exporting companies, such a country quasi-tax would have no effect on the price levels of arms exports. In consequence, there would be no effect on the demand for arms, nor on the level of arms imported. Importing countries would not contribute to the tax revenue. But there would also be no effect on the level of arms traded.
The lack of an effect on the quantity or arms trade implies that a country quasi tax would raise more revenue than a goods tax of similar percentage magnitude. It would therefore be preferable for maximizing income, but not if the objective was to reduce the level of arms traded.
I use the term “quasi-tax” as taxation in the proper sense is the prerogative of states: however, there are numerous examples of quasi-taxes in the form of membership assessments of international organisations or for international treaties. In many cases, these assessments are based on economic aggregates, such as national income. The World Trade Organisation’s members, for instance, have to pay according to their shares in international trade for the last five years for which data is available.
Taxing the arms trade could yield sizeable income. The financial volume of the arms trade can be estimated at about USD$100 billion per year, so even a comparatively small tax, say 10 per cent, could cover all of the costs of UN Peacekeeping (US $7,8 billion for fiscal year 2016-2017) with quite some money to spare. However, this would require all exporters to contribute. More realistic would be a voluntary scheme of governments willing to participate, resulting in lower income, and dedicated to less costly activities such as the UN Peacebuilding Fund (which has a very modest annual funding goal of US $100 million).
An extended version of this paper was presented at the 2017 Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development and will appear in the proceedings of this conference. For further technical detail please refer to this previous blog post on SIPRI’s website. | 647 |
NEW DELHI (REUTERS) - India, the United States and Japan will hold naval exercises in waters off the northern Philippines near the South China Sea this year, the US military has said, a move likely to further raise tensions with China.
The announcement on Wednesday (March 2) comes a day after the US warned China against militarisation of the South China Sea, where Beijing is locked in a territorial dispute with several countries, saying there would be consequences.
Last year, India and the US expanded their annual naval drills in the Bay of Bengal to include Japan after a gap of eight years, in a move seen as a response to China's growing assertiveness in the region.
Admiral Harry B. Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, said the naval exercise will be held in the northern Philippine Sea and that Japan will take part.
Freedom of the seas was a fundamental right of all nations, he told a security conference in New Delhi, adding some thinly veiled criticism of Beijing.
"While some countries seek to bully smaller nations through intimidation and coercion, I note with admiration India's example of peaceful resolution of disputes with your neighbours in the waters of the Indian Ocean, " he said.
Asked about the drills, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: "We hope the cooperation of relevant countries will benefit regional peace and security, and not harm the interests of third parties".
Tensions in the South China Sea have risen recently, with the US and others protesting against Beijing's land reclamations in the Spratly islands, along with the recent deployment of surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets in the Paracel Islands.
Along with China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waters, through which about US$5 trillion (S$7 trillion) in trade is shipped every year.
Harris said the United States wished to expand the naval exercises it held with India each year into joint operations across the Asia-Pacific, which could draw India into the row in the South China Sea.
The two countries have held talks on joint naval patrols and last month a US defence official told Reuters that these could include the South China Sea.
Both India and the United States later said these patrols were not imminent after Beijing warned that interference from countries outside the region threatens peace and stability.
Harris said it was up to the leaders of India and the United States to decide where to hold the joint operations. | 648 |
the Philadelphia Eagles’ recent deal with Malik Jackson, who signed a three-year contract worth $30 million, but Howie Roseman has done such a masterful job of working the cap.
Even with a three-year, $30 million pact, Jackson will only count $2.8 million against the Eagles’ 2019 cap.
How in the world is that possible?
Well, the Eagles first spread out a $9 million signing bonus over five years. There are two void years in this contract with Jackson that will count $1.8 million against their cap in the two years beyond the length of this contract.
The Eagles guaranteed Jackson $17 million at signing but found creative ways to spread that around over the next five years so they can fit Jackson among their other roster moves.
Is that something the Broncos want to get into the habit of doing? Maybe.
Should they do it for Ndamukong Suh?
Yes, absolutely.
Getting Suh at this point in his career is not like getting him when the Miami Dolphins did, but it would unquestionably be a good time for Denver to pursue him. Whether or not Suh would be amenable to this type of deal is up in the air at this point, but the Broncos are clearly chasing another championship with Joe Flacco coming in and players clearly want to be playing for Vic Fangio.
Schematically, Suh could be a fit. Contract-wise, it would be a bit complicated and would require some give-and-take on both sides, but it’s possible to get Suh at a fair market value in average annual salary while also limiting the cap hit to under $2 million if that’s what the Broncos wanted.
It’s also important to remember that the Broncos at least inquired about the price Jackson was going to require as a free agent, and opted either not to make him an offer or Jackson told them he preferred other fits.
The longer Suh sits on the free agent market, the more I hope the Broncos try hard to be the team that gets a deal done for him.
It sets them up to have at least Suh and whatever rookie is brought in this year (maybe Ed Oliver, Dexter Lawrence, or someone else) beyond 2019 along with hopefully DeMarcus Walker and at least one of Wolfe/Gotsis.
If the Broncos are in win-now mode, this is a win-now move. | 649 |
Cells from a woolly mammoth that died more than 28,000 years ago have been partially reactivated inside of mouse egg cells, according to a study published Monday in Scientific Reports.
The achievement shows that biological activity can be induced in the cells of long-dead creatures, but that does not mean that scientists will be resurrecting extinct animals like mammoths any time soon.
A team led by Kazuo Yamagata, a biologist at Kindai University in Japan, extracted cells from the remains of “Yuka,” a young female mammoth discovered in 2010 on the coast of the Dmitry Laptev Strait in the Russian Far East.
Yuka was entombed in permafrost, a frozen ground layer that can often keep the skin, fur, brains, and other softer tissues of dead animals intact. Because Yuka is in particularly great condition, Yamagata’s team was able to extract 88 nucleus-like structures from her preserved muscle tissues.
The mammoth cells were implanted into mouse oocytes, which are ovarian cells involved in embryonic development. The researchers also implanted elephant cells into mouse eggs to provide a control sample.
Once the cell nuclei were incubated, they seemed to reawaken—but only slightly. The cells did not divide, but completed some steps that precede cell division. For instance, the mammoth nuclei performed a process called “spindle assembly,” which ensures that chromosomes are correctly attached to spindle structures before a parent cell breaks into two daughter cells.
About ten years ago, another team tried the same technique using a 15,000-year-old mammoth mummy, but were unsuccessful in stimulating cellular activity from that specimen.
The fact that Yuka’s cells were able to spring back into partial action is both an exciting and challenging development for scientists interested in cloning extinct animals. On one hand, some degree of cellular reactivation is clearly possible. But Yuka is also an exceptionally pristine specimen, and even her cells were not able to complete cell division—a major hurdle that scientists must clear to accomplish de-extinction.
Read More: The Mission to Clone the Woolly Mammoth
“The results presented here clearly show us again the de facto impossibility to clone the mammoth by current [nuclear transfer] technology,” Yamagata and his colleagues admitted in the study. However, the “approach paves the way for evaluating the biological activities of nuclei in extinct animal species.” | 650 |
UPDATE: Politico reports that this bill has now been introduced as of Thursday, July 25.
CNET is reporting that Reps Yvette Clark (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) are planning to introduce a bill this week that would ban the use of facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technology in public housing units that receive federal funding from HUD.
Fight for the Future, a leading digital rights group that has called for a complete Federal ban on government use of facial recognition surveillance, welcomes this legislation, reportedly titled the "No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act."
"Facial recognition surveillance should be banned everywhere, but keeping it out of public housing is an excellent start," said Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future (pronouns: she/her), "This type of invasive surveillance technology is often tested on, and disproportionately used to target poor people and people of color. If public housing units become a panopticon of automated face scanning and monitoring, it will mean more people in prison, more police abuse, and more families torn apart. Surveillance of poor communities isn’t about safety, it’s about social control. Everyone deserves liberty and privacy in their own homes –– no one should have to choose between homelessness and losing their basic rights."
The new bill comes on the heels of growing backlash to facial recognition surveillance that has been spreading across the country. Last week Fight for the Future released an interactive map showing where in the US facial recognition surveillance is being used, and also where there are local and state efforts to ban it. San Francisco, Somerville, MA, and Oakland, CA, recently became the first cities in the country to ban the technology. Berkeley is also considering a ban, and bills to halt current use of the tech are moving in the Massachusetts and Michigan legislatures. In Congress, there is growing bipartisan agreement to address the issue, but it could easily stall under pressure from law enforcement and big tech.
Fight for the Future opposes attempts by the tech industry and law enforcement to pressure Congress to pass an industry-friendly "regulatory framework" for facial recognition that would allow this dangerous technology to spread quickly with minimal restrictions intended to assuage public opposition. But we support narrower efforts to ban or restrict specifically egregious uses of this surveillance. For more on our position, read our op-ed in Buzzfeed News: "Don’t regulate facial recognition. Ban it."
### | 651 |
When I was little, I had no interest in museums. At the time, museums in Istanbul tended to look like cheerless government offices designed to exhibit and preserve archaeological artifacts, and the leftover splendors of the Ottoman era. These were boring places, little more than storerooms. During the 1990s, around the time when my books began to get published in the West, the first places I went to on my travels outside Istanbul were major museums like the Louvre, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the State Hermitage. These massive and highly symbolic institutions did, of course, convey a sense of the creative energy and the wealth of history behind them. But it was only in the smaller museums that I was able to find the fragile histories of individual human beings, to experience the pleasures of that depth of meaning that results from the connection between objects and personal dramas and to feel that metaphysical sense of time that museums must be able to convey.
There is also a political side to the matter. Turning the Louvre from a private residence of the Bourbon royalty to a national museum for the people of France was a liberating transformation, both from a cultural and from a political point of view. This transformation had a democratic aspect, not unlike the move from epic histories describing the feats of kings to novels focusing on the lives of ordinary people. But in the more than 200 years that have passed since the Louvre’s conversion into a museum, these large state museums have turned from catalysts for greater freedom and democratization to tourist destinations acting as symbols of state and national power. The massive, Louvre-like state museums that are being set up, at great expense, in non-Western cities like Beijing and Abu Dhabi, where individual rights and freedom of thought are often suppressed, do nothing to nurture the efforts of local artists and individuals. Instead, these monumental new structures seem to crush the area around them, overwhelming the nearby neighborhoods and the city itself, and acting as smokescreens for the crimes of authoritarian regimes.
The economic growth that we have witnessed in non-Western countries over the past 20 years has brought with it the formation of a middle class. In order to experience the personal stories that come from within these emerging, modern middle classes, what we need are not huge state museums, but small and innovative museums focusing on individuals. The ingenious developments we’ve seen in museums, in regard to curating and architecture over the past 20 years, can turn small museums into wonderful tools through which to investigate and express our shared humanity. | 652 |
Former Microsoft chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has warned that the world is heading for a disease epidemic in the near future, BBC News reports. In a talk delivered at the Ted convention, Gates told audience members that we need to learn from the Ebola crisis, adding that next time, “we may not be so lucky.”
Gates quoted statistics that date back to a similar epidemic: the Spanish flu of 1918, which caused the deaths of over 33 million people worldwide in less than 12 months.
In an article on the Time website, Gates laments that the Ebola crisis is evidence that we are simply “not prepared to deal with a global epidemic.” The billionaire philanthropist urges the world to be better prepared for any future epidemics.
“We can get ready, we don’t need to panic. We don’t need to hoard cans of spaghetti and hide in the basement… If there is any good to have come out of the Ebola crisis it is that it has acted as a early warning, a wake-up call.”
However, despite some pessimism, he believes that technology already exists which can help when a new crisis emerges, saying that it can play a huge role in preventing the spread of diseases. He also added that governments should look to how nations prepare themselves for war.
“Nato plays war games to check that people are well-trained and prepared. Now we need germ games.”
During his talk, Gates displayed a mock-up of an Ebola hospital to indicate how difficult it is for the doctors and nurses working in them. During the recent epidemic, the Gates Foundation — one of the largest foundations in the world which was started by Bill and his wife, Melinda Gates — assisted medical staff by shipping vests lined with ice-packs for protection and to keep cool.
Bill Gates — who recently came under fire from conspiracy theorists when he called for a world government — is no stranger to issues of disease and has contributed millions to the cause since forming the Gates Foundation in 2000.
Since March 2014, the Ebola epidemic had wiped out more than 10,000 people. Although the crisis has been subdued, Gates said that the situation has left a significant mark on the world, saying that “we know the cost of failing to act.”
While Bill Gates’ talk on future disease epidemics is not currently available yet, you can check out his other talks by visiting the Ted website here. | 653 |
though in the New York City case I believe the model has created other dynamics regarding alignment in outcomes. This lesson is that the entire model should be built on the principle of sharing—meaning that the risks and the rewards, financial and otherwise, should be shared to ensure alignment of incentives and to produce the best possible service for the citizens. The success of the Washington and Chicago systems speaks to the collaborative relationship among all the players, including at the regional level through the metropolitan planning organization and adjacent counties and smaller cities. The funding mechanism also brought the players together by providing a consistent, reliable financial stream for expansion regionally and a fair chance for the operator to be profitable. In both cities, the public/private partnership is a fair and balanced relationship, albeit involving slightly different levels of risk and responsibility contractually.
In Paris—which among those outlined has a system most like that in New York City in financial terms—when vandalism threatened the viability of the system, the government coughed up $500 per stolen bike (up to $2 million per year) to help with replacement, even though it was not contractually obligated to do so. After three years of operating losses and complaints about maintenance, bike balancing, and vandalism, Velib became profitable in 2011. As a result, the city has launched a sister car-sharing service, Autolib, with the Bollore corporation as a partner. Autolib offers point-to-point electric car sharing throughout Paris. In just the first year, it has 4,000 charging stations, more than 2,000 cars, and more than 100,000 members.
As cities roll out new shared transportation services in a public/private partnership (PPP) model, it is important to remember that it is a partnership and that the cities and private companies are in the rowboat together. The PPP is definitely the model for the future, and these partnerships will fall on various points in the publicly funded/privately funded continuum. But they will only succeed to the degree that the partners embody the sharing spirit themselves so that the system works for all parties. If they paddle against each other, the end-user and taxpayer lose, and expansion and follow-on services that would have bettered the city and its environment may not be realized.
Gabe Klein, a ULI visiting fellow, was head of the Chicago and Washington, D.C., transportation departments. He helped build Zipcar as a vice president from 2002 through 2006 and regularly consults with cities and private companies on shared transport systems. | 654 |
Werder Bremen and USMNT forward Aron Johannsson said he is hoping for a "fresh start" under new River-Islanders coach Florian Kohfeldt.
The Alabama–born striker - who has featured in just three minutes of Werder’s current Bundesliga campaign – made a big impression after coming from the bench during the Green-Whites’ 2-2 friendly draw against Heerenveen on Thursday, a day before he celebrated his 27th birthday.
It’s welcome news for the 19-time international, who has struggled to nail down a place with the former Bundesliga winners since signing for the club in 2015.
Watch: Werder Bremen fall in Frankfurt last time out in the Bundesliga
A serious hip injury in his first season at Werder preceded him falling down the pecking order under former coach Alexander Nouri. It led to Johannsson featuring in only 17 Bundesliga appearances, and registering three goals, since his switch from AZ Alkmaar.
Yet with Nouri having departed Bremen and Kohfeldt now in charge until at least the end of the calendar year, Johannsson senses a chance to earn a run in a team, who are in need of a lift.
"Aron showed me out there what he has been showing me since I arrived here: that he is very committed," coach Kohfeldt explained after the Heerenveen test. "He was involved in some very good moments during the match, and although he did make a few mistakes, it was clear to see he wants to take his chance."
The former Fjolnir and Arhus striker was brought on in the second half of Thursday’s friendly, and almost found the net with a clever lob that just missed the target. Speaking after the encounter, Johannsson – who appeared for the USMNT at the 2014 FIFA World Cup – said, "Everything starts from zero for me now; this is a fresh start."
Fans of Werder will be hoping their team experiences a fresh run of success with Kohfeldt and Johannsson on board. The four-time Bundesliga champions have failed to win any of their last 14 Bundesliga games – a sequence that stretches back to last season – and currently lie second from bottom of the standings with five points. Die Grün-Weißen host Hannover when the Bundesliga returns to action next weekend.
Click here for more Werder Bremen news and features! | 655 |
:
Around the NFL provides more from Rapoport:
Per Adam Schefter and Michele Steele of ESPN.com, the league has yet to show any indication that it will reinstate Peterson. While a formal suspension is possible, the NFL could just as easily count the eight games he has already missed as punishment enough.
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Although the Vikings are a long shot to make the playoffs in the stacked NFC at this point, they have played well enough to remain in contention at 4-5. A potential Peterson return could lead to some negative publicity, but he would undoubtedly help Minnesota on the field.
Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata have proven capable in AP's absence, but they don't strike fear in opposing defenses like Peterson does.
Since the NFL has no previous precedent to utilize in this situation, it is difficult to predict how Peterson's status will be handled.
The no-contest plea does create the possibility of a 2014 return, which is something that most considered to be unlikely when the particulars of this case were made public.
Peterson is a divisive figure who will generate plenty of debate if and when he comes back. Reinstatement is inevitable at some point, but whether it happens in 2014 remains to be seen.
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter | 656 |
ent of the cafe. “With only the training, we can give them a certificate and a reference letter but in the end, they’re still kind of alone out there trying to find a job.
“This gives them more hope that there will be options post-release and that there’s a community for them.”
Two former Arohata inmates will work in the cafe for six months at a time, after which they’ll be assessed and if they’re ready, assisted to find work in another cafe or elsewhere, making room for two more graduates from the barista programme. Trade School Industries is aiming to train 30 women per year and the hope is that within five years, the Naenae cafe will be run entirely by those with a prison past.
Arohata inmates Kerri* and Sam*, who, having completed the barista programme themselves, now act as mentors to those going through it, say the benefits of the training can’t be overstated.
“Lack of confidence and self-esteem is a common thing here,” say Kerri, “so that sense of achievement does make a big difference.
“Giving the women another skill that they can use to find employment and make a living can really help,” she adds, “because if you leave here and you’ve got nothing, all you do is what you know.”
Both women have hospitality backgrounds and hope to work at Trade School Kitchen on their release. They’re excited about what the future holds.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” says Sam. “They’re willing to give us a go, and I’m so grateful for that.”
*Names have been changed
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Woman saved from mauling Attacking dog shot by passerby licensed to carry.
A man shot a pit bull type dog on the West Side Wednesday morning, when the man spotted the dog attacking a woman on the ground. The dog was later euthanized; the woman was hospitalized, treated and released. Photo by Eva Ruth Moravec; emoravec@express-news.net less A man shot a pit bull type dog on the West Side Wednesday morning, when the man spotted the dog attacking a woman on the ground. The dog was later euthanized; the woman was hospitalized, treated and released.... more Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Woman saved from mauling 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A man shot a pit bull mix as it attacked a woman Wednesday morning on the West Side, authorities said.
Shot in the leg, the dog later was euthanized.
The woman could have been killed if the man hadn't intervened, police said.
The man was driving in the 900 block of North Zarzamora Street about 8:15 a.m. when he saw Angelita Deleon, 58, struggling on the ground with a white and tan dog, police said.
Police did not release his name but said he was a local business owner with a license to carry a concealed handgun. He parked his vehicle and fired several shots, striking the dog, police Sgt. Devon Lambert said.
Deleon sustained bites to her head, neck and face, Lambert said. An incident report says she was walking down the street when the dog attacked her for no apparent reason, knocking her to the ground. She was taken to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital and was released by Wednesday afternoon.
The shooter saw a person in danger and acted accordingly, Lambert said, adding it appeared to be an appropriate use of a concealed handgun.
“If he hadn't come along, it could have resulted in her death,” Lambert said.
A bloody trail led police to a nearby auto repair shop, where the pit bull mix had limped and sought shelter in a back lot. Animal Care Services picked up the dog, which had lost a significant amount of blood but was able to walk.
Lisa Norwood, a shelter spokeswoman, said the dog was euthanized immediately.
Police said the dog had a collar but officers hadn't been able to find its owner. Because the dog was loose, the owner could face a citation if identified. | 658 |
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The virtual pet craze that started with the Tamagotchi is entering a new era with virtual reality, and leading the charge is a new project that aims to give you very own virtual cat, it’s called Konrad the Kitten and it uses SteamVR’s lighthouse technology to track a plush toy for a fairly unique, if somewhat amusing, VR experience.
Most Vive games don’t ask you to strap your controller to a stuffed animal, but this is part of what makes Konrad the Kitten so unique. Konrad the Kitten is a pet simulator for the HTC Vive that attaches a virtual model of an adorable kitten on your controllerm mapping it’s position to the SteamVR controller. To interact with the kitten, you move it around a handful of virtual environments and set it down next to interactive objects like scratching posts and balls of yarn.
See Also: VR Pet Tracking with the HTC Vive and Bandit the Dog
The title uses one Vive controller and because that controller is attached to the real-world plush toy, there isn’t anything that tracks your hands. This wasn’t as problematic as I thought it would be because, thanks to Proprioception (the sense of innate awareness the mind has of your arms, legs and hands etc.), the body does a pretty good job of tracking hand positions by itself. As an added bonus this means your hands and fingers are completely free to hold your cat stand-in just like a real one. While this unusual setup works for what the game is trying to achieve, it’s still one more reason for Valve to make good on its promise to open up its Lighthouse tracking system for third-parties.
Despite the comedy inherent in this type of project (a plush toy with a big SteamVR controller strapped to its back is just funny), it is yet another interesting divergent arena for VR. That said, I can’t help feel it’s augmented reality where virtual pets will come into their own. Imagine donning your Magic Leap visor and being greeted warmly by your collection of exotic pets, mapped convincingly to your real world environment – that would be quite something.
Konrad the Kitten popped up on Steam Greenlight in May, and is still far from a finished product, but developer at KK-Soft, Konrad Kunze, hopes to have it available on Steam Early Access in a couple of months. | 659 |
Aurora Cannabis Executive Chairman Michael Singer said Thursday that he is concerned about the uncertain situation around vaping in the United States.
Singer's comments on CNBC's "Power Lunch" come one day after the Trump administration announced it was preparing to ban flavored e-cigarettes, as federal health officials seek to combat an outbreak of a mysterious yet deadly lung disease. It has sickened hundreds and killed at least six people.
"Personally, I am very worried about what I'm reading in the U.S.," said Singer, whose cannabis company is based in Alberta, Canada. "In Canada, it's very different, and we're heavily regulated by Health Canada, which is a good thing."
Aurora is one of the world's largest cannabis producers.
The Trump administration's plans call for all non-tobacco-flavored products to be removed from the market within 30 days. Companies may be able to sell them later on, but that will require approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
E-cigarettes are a relatively new market, and the FDA was going to begin reviewing them last summer, but former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb delayed that process until 2022. The proposal outlined Wednesday essentially moves the FDA's timeline to review flavors up to this year. The increasing use of vaping products by children has caused worry among health officials.
While the Trump administration's planned crackdown deals with flavored tobacco, there are also cannabis vaping products. The Washington Post reported last week that health officials investigating the lung disease outbreak have found the same substance in some cannabis products that was in products used by people who fell ill.
A spokeswoman for the National Cannabis Industry Association told Marijuana Business Daily that the proposed e-cigarette restrictions have caused "preliminary concern" that it could later impact how marijuana is regulated in the U.S., if it becomes legal.
Singer said Aurora, which has seen its stock drop 8.5% Thursday after it posted weak earnings guidance and a large fourth quarter revenue miss, works closely with Health Canada in order to meet safety standards in the country.
"When it comes to vaping or vaping products that we're going to be launching, we're going to be testing every one of our products to a rigorous standard to ensure the products we offer to consumers are safe and we feel comfortable that we are not in any way putting at risk our customers or our patients with regards to our derivative products," Singer said.
— CNBC's Angelica LaVito contributed to this report. | 660 |
A stunning 40 million Russians from all levels of government will take place in a civil defense “emergency evacuation” drill starting tomorrow.
Federal agencies, heads of regions, local authorities and other organizations will take part in the massive exercise, which runs from October 4-7. The simulation will include 200,000 “professional rescue units” and 50,000 pieces of equipment,” reports Interfax.
“Abnormal emergency rescue teams” will wargame “evacuation” procedures during a national crisis, according to the report.
According to Oleg Manuilov, the director of the Russian Civil Defence Department, the exercise will be a test run of how the population would respond to a “disaster occurrence” under an “emergency” situation.
The drill takes place amidst heightening tensions between the United States and Russia.
As we reported last week, Moscow responded to U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby’s warning that Russian cities could suffer terrorist attacks if Vladimir Putin continued his military campaign in Syria by taking it as a veiled threat.
“Extremist groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which could include attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities. Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and will continue to lose resources, perhaps even aircraft,” Kirby told reporters at Wednesday’s press briefing, adding that if the war in Syria continues “more Russian lives will be lost, more Russian aircraft will be shot down.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova responded by suggesting that Kirby’s announcement sounded, “more like a ‘get ’em’ command, rather than a diplomatic comment.”
Last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford told the US Senate that in order for a no fly zone to be imposed over Syria, the United States would have to go to war with Russia.
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The AJ McCarron trade debacle has laid bare the plain fact that Browns coach Hue Jackson and the people who run Cleveland’s front office are not a good fit. But that should have been clear long ago.
In fact, it was clear to many people outside the Browns’ facility. It just wasn’t clear to the Browns.
When Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam fired coach Mike Pettine and General Manager Ray Farmer after the 2015 season, they quickly moved on to make a radical overhaul of their approach to building a team. That overhaul was exemplified by the hiring of Paul DePodesta, a baseball analytics expert who was one of the central figures in Moneyball. The Haslams were clear: They were going to go all-in on the Moneyball approach, to a greater extent than any NFL team had done before.
And then they proceeded to pair the Moneyball front office with Jackson, who doesn’t have an analytics background and doesn’t seem to believe in that approach. Saying they’re not a good fit isn’t 20/20 hindsight; we’ve been saying it since before Jackson ever coached a game in Cleveland, and an April 2016 ESPN the Magazine profile of DePodesta made it clear. That profile portrayed Jackson and his coaching staff as not only uninterested in analytics, but actively hostile toward the analytics people in the front office.
“It’s not just Hue Jackson,” an NFL executive quoted in that profile said. “When data overrides gut, the majority of his coaching staff will all be there screaming, ‘What the f— are these computer guys doing? They don’t understand football, they don’t understand the locker room. They’re killing us.'”
If the Browns wanted to rebuild their team using some of the same analytics tools that baseball and basketball teams have successfully used, they should have hired a coach who’s on board with that approach. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, for instance, has an economics degree from Georgetown, and has an appreciation for analytics. Would Schwartz have succeeded as the head coach in Cleveland? Who knows? But he at least would have been on the same page as the front office.
Jackson is not on the same page as the front office. The Browns may realize that now, after the current regime has lost 23 of 24 games. It shouldn’t have taken so long. | 662 |
Crossover BLACK
Designer: Denis Guidone
Always in our cities the passing of time is ruled by rhythms, sequences, synchronies
Todayin the contemporarycity is this still valid?
What is the relationship between working time and free time?
Does “work”come before play or the other way around?
Is there a regularity to social activities?
To what extent are people and their activities interconnected to one another’s space?
The Temporal essence of our age reflects itself in the Crossover Black Watch. The dial being the metaphor of the post chronological society, loose from hours; finally free to enjoy one’s own time. The normal three hands placement on the dial has been replaced with three tapered bars that appear to have fallen randomly on top of one another, intended as a nod towards the game of “Pick-Up-Sticks”.
Crossover’s elegant hands appear to be precariously balanced as they rotate around the dial. This illusion is achieved by fixing each of the bars to a central pivot point at different angles, allowing them to move independently while appearing to be stacked on top of each other.
Crossover Watch BLACK is a unisex watch measuring 40mm (1.57″) in diameter and 7.6mm (0.30″) high. It is made of black IP stainless steel with hidden lugs that connect the band seamlessly. Available with a 20mm (3/4″) wide black band or black stainless steel mesh band. Crossover BLACK has black, gray, and yellow hands; Crossover STEEL comes with black, gray and red hands.
Designer Denis Guidone, studied urban planning and architecture in Milan, Italy and Oporto, Portugal. Fascinated by the passing of time, Guidone carries out this intense didactic work for several universities and design schools, in Italy and abroad. His many awards and honorable mentions include: Ida international design award in Los Angeles, IDOT Best Italian Design Product, and The Bruno Munari international award. In February 2018 Denis Guidone was appointed Ambassador of Italian Design and Culture from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Farnesina and “la Triennale di Milano”.
Projects Watches partners with architects, designers, illustrators and other creatives from around the world to create works of art you can wear. Shop the entire collection or browse your favorite designer’s contributions. | 663 |
It’s a story that would have been all over the media if it had been a conservative, an anti-IRS activist, an NRA member, or any organization liberals think are right leaning. In early August, authorities raided a compound in New Mexico, where three women, a man, and 11 children were found in deplorable conditions. One child’s remains were also found. They were reportedly being trained by Siraj Wahhaj to commit school shootings. Siraj’s father, same name, was an unindicted conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
To make things more controversial, the judge in the case, Sarah Backus, granted four of the five potential terror suspects to be released on bond. Siraj remains in custody since he was an outstanding warrant from Georgia regarding the alleged kidnapping of his son, who may or may not be the deceased child police found at the compound. Backus is a Democrat and known for setting low bailfor violent offenders.
And while the Left lusts to abolish of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal law enforcement agency announced that one of the possible terror suspects has been living here illegally for two decades (via Fox News):
Jany Leveille, 35, was detained by immigration officials Tuesday and soon must appear before a judge to resolve her immigration status, which could lead to her deportation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said in a statement. “Leveille has been unlawfully present in the U.S. for more than 20 years after overstaying the validity of her non-immigrant visitor visa,” ICE said. Leveille moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., from Haiti in 1998 after her father died, Von Cehelet Leveille, the woman’s brother, told Reuters. She has moved several times since coming to the U.S., living in Georgia, Philadelphia and New York after separating from her husband, the brother said. Leveille lived at the New Mexico compound with her current husband Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and their children since January, prosecutors said. She has six children, ages 1 to 15, her brother told Reuters. […] The children discovered at the compound earlier this month were both trained to use firearms and taught multiple tactical techniques in order to kill teachers, law enforcement officers and other representatives of institutions they found corrupt, state prosecutors said on Monday.
So, for those of you wondering, yes—ICE also works to protect us from terror threats. | 664 |
points of the trade cycle theories of Roy Harrod, Michal Kalecki and Franco Modigliani. We marvelled at his intellectual nerve.
Mahbub had the guts to tell Nicholas Kaldor that his proposal for an Expenditure Tax, with the aim of helping to establish a welfare state, was unsuitable for India and Pakistan, where the great need was capital formation, and an all-out growth philosophy. Mrs Robinson, deploying the case for Chinese Maoist economics, held no terrors for him; he told her that her views and the Chinese experience were inappropriate to the subcontinent.
When I asked the visiting American professor of the year, Milton Friedman none other, to tea in my rooms to meet the King's College undergraduates in the faculty, it was Mahbub who kept our end up, in the general defence of King's Keynesian welfare economics. To defy Milton Friedman was a feat. We were just proud of him. He was our Mahbub.
Outside King's, Mahbub was a member of Professor Sir Dennis Robertson's Political Economy Club, which met weekly in Trinity. At first hand, I can say the dons from other colleges considered him a star of the future, not least because it was quite clear that he actually wanted to do something for the developing peoples of the world.
In 1955 Mahbub, unable to return to Pakistan, spent the short vacation, reading, at my house in Scotland. My mother, who had lived in India, was entranced by his beautiful manners, and even more by his intense curiosity about the British in India. He wanted to know what made her and other women of the British political class in the subcontinent tick - but he did it in a gently humorous way. A phenomenally quick digester of a book, he would select a volume at night from our shelves, often pretty Blimpish stuff, and talk about what he had read the following morning.
He had a capacity to understand two sides or many sides of every story - a capacity which he clearly retained whenever we met over the years and which he used for the good of the peoples in many parts of the world.
Mahbub ul Haq, economist: born Punjab 22 February 1934; Director, Policy Planning Department, World Bank 1970-82; Planning and Finance Minister, Pakistan 1982-88; Special Adviser, United Nations Development Programme Administration 1989-96; married Khadija Khanum (one son, one daughter); died New York 16 July 1998. | 665 |
“Just last week we were averaging somewhere around 40,000 pageviews each day,” former r/creepshots moderator POTATO_IN_MY_ANUS wrote in September 2012. “Yesterday we hit a total of 1,580,692 pageviews. … Considering we aren’t a default subreddit, and are still relatively new and small (but very rapidly growing) this is quite impressive.”
Since banning Creepshots, Reddit administrators have cracked down on more groups, but they’ve continued to show an unwillingness to remove content and ban communities.
In 2013, administrators banned all links to meme generator Quickmeme for spam and vote manipulation. They shut down the subreddit r/n****rs, not because of its racist content, but because subscribers acted as a “downvote brigade,” launching full-scale downvote attacks on rival subreddits. The subreddit Find Boston Bombers was closed for disseminating false and personal information regarding the Boston Marathon bombings.
I reached out to Reddit administrators regarding r/FacebookCleavage. So far, I haven’t heard anything back, and I don’t expect to; they were equally quiet about r/candidfashionpolice.
I also got no response from a spokesperson from Imgur, the host of all r/FacebookCleavage content.
With Imgur unwilling to take down these images, is there anything a woman can do to protect herself from showing up on either forum? Short of making all her personal Facebook photos completely private, there’s not much she can do to hide them from redditor friends.
“No one cares,” writes Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel, “because dudes want to make jerking off a social activity, and women aren’t people.”
Reddit has consistently prized free speech over all else. In the words of general manager Erik Martin, “Morally questionable reddits like jailbait are part of the price of free speech on a site like this.”
Yet doxing and harassment have always tested the limits of free speech. Using the social news site to spread personal information about its subjects is among the site’s biggest no-nos.
Reddit just can’t figure out whether those rules apply to ripped-off photos of young women in swimsuits.
Update 3/18/14: FacebookCleavage was updated with some new rules: | 666 |
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African opposition firebrand Julius Malema told his followers on Monday to seize any piece of white-owned land they wanted, defying a court trying him on charges of inciting violent property grabs.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leader Julius Malema arrives with supporters for a demonstration in Pretoria, South Africa, November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo
Malema addressed cheering members of his ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party near the courtroom in Bloemfontein, after a judge adjourned the politically charged hearing.
“When we leave here, you will see any beautiful piece of land, you like it, occupy it, it belongs to you... It is the land that was taken from us by white people by force through genocide,” he said.
Malema has rallied an enthusiastic band of backers through calls for the nationalization of mines and the curbing of whites’ economic power, building on frustration over the slow pace of economic progress for many blacks since the end of apartheid.
His three-year-old party controls 25 of South African’s 400 parliamentary seats. But there have been signs of growing support since he stepped up criticism of his former mentor President Jacob Zuma, currently embroiled in a series of scandals.
The EFF emerged as electoral king maker in Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria at municipal elections in August, giving it a foothold that he has promised to expand in national elections in 2019.
Malema was appearing in the courtroom 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, to face charges of inciting his supporters to take over land during a party meeting in 2014.
He faced a similar charge last week of inciting trespass in the town of Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal province, but that trial was also postponed to let him file an application to the Constitutional Court to scrap an apartheid-era law.
After that trial, he called for land grabs “without compensation”, and added: “We are not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now” - drawing criticism from the main opposition, the Democratic Alliance party, which has many white supporters.
On Monday, he told his supporters: “I will never kill white people, why should I kill them? I will never revenge for what they did... I’m asking politely for the land to be returned.” | 667 |
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Riot police have swarmed the French city of Nantes after a wave of violent youth demonstrations saw cars and shopping centres set ablaze. Young people from the poorest housing estates in the city have reacted in outrage to the death of a driver at hands of police officers. The French national and regional governments are struggling to defuse the situation, despite promising a full in-depth investigation into the incident. A 22-year-old man identified publcly as Aboubakar F was shot dead after his car had been stopped for an identity check.
Local eyewitnesses to the shooting have contradicted the police account, which claimed that the driver had tried to run them down. In response to the death, two days of unrest have ripped through the picturesque city in western France. Footage of the violence last night shows protesters throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers. The youths have also torched at least three vehicles, a shopping centre and a library during clashes with police. This morning, police reinforcements were deployed to Nantes to safeguard the city, amid fears the riots will intensify. The full circumstances in which the 22-year-old driver died on Tuesday are being investigated by police. Johanna Rolland, the Socialist mayor of Nantes, said any investigation must take place independently and with full transparency.
Local eyewitnesses to the shooting have contradicted the police account
I’m appealing for absolute calm, as the rule of law will be completely respected Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet
According to the police, the victim was pulled over during the roadside check but his identity was "not clear and officers received orders to bring the driver to the police station". However, the driver refused to comply with orders, tried to reverse his car "at a very high speed" and had hit another officer. In reaction, another police officer shot the man, who later died of his wounds. Local police chief Jean-Christophe Bertrand said the victim's vehicle had been under surveillance as part of a drug-trafficking investigation. He also claimed that an arrest warrant had been issued for the man last year on suspicion that he was involved in organised robbery.
In response to the death, two days of unrest have ripped through the city in western France | 668 |
“There are women, men, and muxes,” says a non-binary individual from the Mexican town of Juchitan in Ivan Olita’s short documentary. “We have our own muxe identity, which is what defines us.”
Muxes explores the indigenous Zapotec culture of Oaxaca, which not only accepts but also celebrates a third category of mixed gender. Some muxes are men who live as women; others are gender-fluid, with both male and female characteristics. All are viewed as good luck—even a blessing—for Zapotec families. Generally, muxes are not defined by the mere fact of their predominantly feminine attire, but rather by the social role they occupy. They are accepted in both male-dominated public spheres, such as sports venues and cantinas, and female-dominated arenas, such as the city markets.
“It was incredibly reassuring and heart-opening to see how 100% of the people in Juchitan seem to celebrate the muxes and recognize them as an asset,” Olita told The Atlantic. “They are aware that [muxes] bring something different to the table rather than worrying about their differences.”
Olita learned about the existence of muxes in a Werner Herzog seminar. Determined to tell their story, he traveled to Juchitan with “absolutely no idea of how to track them down.”
“This is the kind of documentary in which the pre-production research is pretty limited,” Olita continued. “You have to physically go to the place that you want to document and start from there.” Once Olita arrived, he connected with a local film director, Michael Matus, who helped produce the film and began introducing Olita to muxes. “We would jump on these little cars and just cross the city up and down,” Olita continued. “I was trying to find personalities that would fit together, and at the same time help the audience to understand the diversity within the community.”
Although Olita encourages viewers of his film to observe the lack of discrimination muxes face in their society, “we cannot assume that whatever brought the muxes to be accepted will allow transgenders to be accepted everywhere,” he said. “We can, however, analyze and be inspired by the outcome of limited stigma.” | 669 |
://t.co/p7amjzvO8m pic.twitter.com/V0AcXL1hZB — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 9, 2015
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has on numerous occasions reiterated the verdict on Rushdie, most recently in 2015.
The Iranian government vowed it would not act on the fatwa in 1998, but such decrees are “not revocable”, Mehdi Aboutalebi, cleric and doctor of political science at the influential conservative think-tank Imam Khomeini Educational Research Institute in Qom, told AFP.
“Even if 800 years pass, the sentence remains the same,” he said.
The fatwa has caused multiple diplomatic rows over the years — as have other cases of blasphemy, such as the controversy over satirical Danish cartoons of the Islamic prophet printed in the right-wing Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005.
Politics and religion are often intertwined in Iran, Aboutalebi explained, echoing a sentiment expressed in other Muslim countries.
“For instance, Iran’s quarrel with US is not over money or economy…. This is all about our beliefs and our religion,” he said.
The fatwa shows “we will not tolerate anyone breaking our belief boundaries”.
Today the furore over Rushdie interests only “the most radical ayatollahs”, said Clement Therme, research fellow at the Iran International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Iranians are experiencing “revolutionary fatigue”, he said, as Tehran hunts for friends amid criticism over its regional policies and disputed nuclear programme.
“In a context of increased isolation of Iran, realpolitik requires Iranian leaders to avoid escalation on this issue,” Therme said.
In Pakistan, where Rushdie’s books have been available on the black market for years, “Joseph Anton: A Memoir” — which recounts his time in hiding after the fatwa — is quietly but openly on sale in at least one bookstore in the capital.
However most booksellers remain cautious.
“There is a religious issue,” one of them, who gave his name as Ayaz, told AFP.
“That’s why we can’t display (Rushdie’s books) and also can’t order them.” | 670 |
A security researcher has devised a tool capable of compromising hotel room keys, giving attackers entry -- and can also tamper with point-of-sale (PoS) systems to boot.
Rapid7 security researcher Weston Hacker revealed the tool at Black Hat USA, which can be made with off-the-shelf components and cost only $6 to build.
As reported by Forbes, the device can read and duplicate hotel keys, but if a cyberattacker is really keen on disrupting a hotel chain, the $6 tool can also be used to "brute force" attack every guest room in the building -- by guessing the keys to each room.
To wreak havoc in a hotel, the attacker would take their own key which will often include an ID record of the room -- the folio number output -- the hotel room number and a checkout date.
These fields alone give an attacker a starting point to guess at possible combinations for different guest rooms. After being placed near a door's card reader, Hecker's device can make 48 guesses a minute and additional hardware antennas prevent the tiny device from overheating.
If a hotel has gone beyond what you typically find today in terms of room security and there are additional fields which require guesswork, the tool will take longer to work.
However, the hardware can also be used to compromise PoS systems, such as those used in retail outlets and hotel shops. If held close to the PoS system which uses a magstripe reader, Hecker says the tool can inject keystrokes -- which could force the system to visit a malicious website and both download and execute malware such as financial Trojans, force the cash register to open or close the PoS system entirely.
"Hecker started tinkering with hotel key brute force attacks in April, though his techniques were somewhat slower, taking as long as 20 minutes to guess a key. He did, however, discover during that research he could use a cheap Chinese MP3 player to inject credit card numbers into an ATM machine for potential theft." the publication noted.
This is not the first time a security specialist has highlighted the risks associated with PoS and credit cards. In 2015, Samy Kamkar created MagSpoof, a portable device which emulates a magnetic stripe by producing a magnetic field similar to that of a normal magnetic stripe, allowing users to emulate their own cards. While this was built with convenience in mind, the technology could, in theory, be used for more nefarious purposes. | 671 |
An Iranian-made drone was shot down by a US F-15 fighter jet in southern Syria, near At Tanf, the US-led coalition said. It is the fifth time in the past month the US has struck at forces allied with the Syrian government in the area.
An armed Shaheed-129 UAV “displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces” at 12:30 am local time on Tuesday, the coalition said in a statement. The drone was observed in the same area where another UAV was shot down on June 8.
.@CJTFOIR statement on the shooting down of an armed pro-regime drone in southern Syria pic.twitter.com/PbwKIOmmnt — Fergus Kelly (@ferguskelly) June 20, 2017
Tanf is the town on Syrian border with Jordan where US troops are training Syrian rebels, officially described as “partner ground forces.”
The coalition “does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat,” the statement said.
On Sunday, US aircraft shot down a Syrian government jet that was bombing Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) positions south of Raqqa, in eastern Syria.
In response, Russia announced its air defenses would track all coalition targets west of the Euphrates, and suspend the “deconfliction” hotline. Moscow has accused the US of not using the hotline to prevent the Raqqa incident.
Coalition’s airborne objects in Russian Air Force’s Syria missions areas to be tracked as targets – Moscow https://t.co/H4O5QmkXkUpic.twitter.com/xIiwvl3U1h — RT (@RT_com) June 19, 2017
While the US maintains the hotline is still operational, the coalition said it will “not allow pro-regime aircraft to threaten or approach in close proximity to Coalition and partnered forces.”
Hostility towards coalition and partner forces “conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated,” the coalition said. There is no IS-controlled territory in contact with the US-backed forces at Tanf, however.
Reacting to Russia’s warning, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has suspended flights over Syria. | 672 |
'I will not wash my clothes!' - Barcelona new boy Braithwaite elated after debut alongside Messi
The striker made his debut for the Catalan club in their 5-0 rout of Eibar on Saturday, with Quique Setien's side moving top of La Liga
new boy Martin Braithwaite has joked that he "will not wash his clothes" after receiving a hug from Lionel Messi on his Blaugrana debut.
The striker made his debut in the second half of the Catalan club's 5-0 thrashing of on Saturday, to see Quique Setien's side move two points clear at the summit of.
international Braithwaite was signed at short notice earlier this week by the champions after they were handed approval to make an emergency transfer following injuries to Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez.
The 28-year-old, who has been something of a journeyman forward during his career to date, was signed from after Barca agreed to match the club's buy-out clause.
Speaking afterwards, Braithwaite - who previously played for and - acknowledged that he couldn't have imagined pulling on the famed shirt for the club, adding that it was a "spectacular" honour to play for them.
"I will not wash my clothes after receiving Messi's hugs," he stated. "I admit that I didn't think I would be playing for Barcelona a week ago.
"He congratulated me afterwards. He looks like a great man and he wanted to make me feel at ease. He looked for me with the ball after I came on.
"As a child, I watched players make their debut for this club on TV. I thought about how special these moments are. To suddenly be here with this reception from the fans, it has been spectacular."
Braithwaite made his senior debut with Esbjerg in 2009, with whom he won the Danish Cup, before making the move to in 2013.
Having netted 40 goals in 149 appearances for Toulouse, he was sold to Boro on a four-year deal, but failed to leave a major mark at the Riverside Stadium.
He subsequently was loaned to and then Leganes, signing a full-time deal with the club at the close of last term.
His stay has been short-lived though with the move to Camp Nou, one that has sparked controversy over whether Barca should have been allowed to recruit him. | 673 |
Donald Trump. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The prevailing interpretation of Donald Trump, shared by all his enemies and many of his allies, is that he is a con man. It is a theory that explains both his career in business and politics, and has carried through his many reversals of position and acts of fraud against customers and contractors. It remains quite plausible. But new reporting has opened up a second possibility: The president has lost all touch with reality.
The Washington Post and New York Times have accounts from insiders suggesting Trump habitually insists upon the impossible in private. He does not merely tell lies in order to gull the public or to manipulate allies. He tells lies in private that he has no reason to tell. He still questions the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birthplace, despite the birth certificate. He insists voter fraud may have denied him a popular-vote triumph. He tells people Robert Mueller will wrap up his investigation, with a total vindication of the president, by the end of the year.
He questions whether the Access Hollywood tape, on which he was recorded boasting of sexual assault, is even him. (Both the Post and the Times report Trump repeatedly has denied the validity of the tape in private, “stunning his advisers,” as the Times puts it.)
It is of course entirely possible that Trump is lying to everybody, including his own staff. But the lies in these articles do not always fit into any pattern of rational self-aggrandizement. Trump tells senators or his aides the Access Hollywood tape is not him, but they don’t believe him. He has no reason to bring up the birther fabrication in private.
His apparent belief that Mueller will complete his sprawling investigation by the end of the year is not only pointless but self-defeating — rather than prepare allies for a long defense, he is preparing them for a fantastical scenario. (It is also further evidence that, when Mueller fails to vindicate him by the new year, Trump will lash out wildly, firing him, Jeff Sessions, or others.)
If Trump actually has the ability to convince himself of his own lies, it would suggest a possibility far more dangerous than even his critics have previously assumed. He might be in the grip of a mental-health issue, or at least one more serious than mere sociopathy. And the mutterings that he might need to be removed from office through the 25th Amendment could grow more serious than many of us have expected. | 674 |
Loading = false
this.countryList = countries
}
Having such an abstraction layer ensures that communication is type-safe, reliable and features around it are simple to test.
How do we integrate Mysterium Node with MysteriumVPN Application?
Once we’ve rendered the application layer, we still need to connect MysteriumVPN to Mysterium Node. Mysterium Nodeis a software that connects you to Mysterium Network where you are able to exchange value for bandwidth.
MysteriumVPN is a client application of Mysterium Network. The successful running of our dVPN on the network will attract other use cases from existing or future businesses that require end-to-end encryption of data, thereby expanding Mysterium Network’s ecosystem.
We require specific information to ensure the successful running of our dVPN service.
Operation System Service
Since we are running Mysterium Node under the MysteriumVPN application we need to supervise the Mysterium Node to ensure that it works.
Our Data Protection Policy
We make a clear distinction between personal data and usage data. We do not collect information on who you are. We collect data on session and connection inputs and outputs. This is important data for us as it gives us visibility on how our technology fares against the realities of cyber oppression. Check out our privacy policy for more information.
Logging
Since we are integrating Mysterium Node into the MysteriumVPN application, the application itself gets quite complex. That’s why we have to be prepared to log errors from everywhere, — our application, Mysterium Node, and from Electron.
That means that there are three sources of inputs. When we are inspecting something, we need to understand that these errors can happen in three different places. We need to synchronise those and collect all relevant data from these sources.
Data management in the era of web 3 is complex and we hope to do so in an ethical and fair manner. Check out how our no logs policy protects your personal data.
Build on Mysterium Network
We have an npm package that allows for you to connect to Mysterium Node easily. This is the same package that the MysteriumVPN uses to connect to Mysterium Network. This can be used for any application — it’s literally plug and play.
Interested in contributing to Mysterium Network? We are an open source project focused on bringing privacy, security and freedom to web 3. Check out our Github. | 675 |
Britain prides itself on its ability to steal and keep secrets, and the Manchester flap is only the latest in a string of American indiscretions that have infuriated British spymasters. Other recent flash points included the Obama administration’s leak of details about a British-Saudi penetration of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and the suggestion by President Trump’s spokesman in March that GCHQ, Britain’s signals-intelligence service, helped “wiretap” Trump, which GCHQ dismissed as “utterly ridiculous” in an unusual public statement.
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The British complaints about leaks will bolster the Trump administration’s argument that such unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information are the real national-security problem, not the allegations of collusion between the Trump team and Russian intelligence. The Russia probe is probably unstoppable now that Robert S. Mueller III has been appointed as special counsel to investigate the matter. But the push for more aggressive Justice Department investigation of leaks started when Trump took office and will gain momentum now.
British officials argued that the Manchester police photographs that appeared in the New York Times were an unusually specific use of intelligence or law-enforcement information. British newspapers mostly adhere to unwritten rules of deference on such sensitive intelligence matters. U.S. newspapers, too, often refrain from publishing what Ben Bradlee, legendary editor of The Post, once termed “wiring diagram” details.
British police chiefs issued a blunt, angry statement: “We greatly value the important relationships we have with our trusted intelligence, law enforcement and security partners around the world. … When that trust is breached, it undermines these relationships.” Manchester police were reported to have halted, at least for a time, their sharing of information with U.S. partners.
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You could also hear the rage in the statement by Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester: “These leaks are completely unacceptable, and must stop immediately. … This behavior is arrogant and is undermining the investigation into the horrific attack on the city of Manchester.”
News organizations get attacked for publishing sensitive information. But the larger issue is that in this era of instant, pervasive digital communications, it seems almost impossible to control information. The CIA, National Security Agency, FBI, White House, U.S. military and British intelligence have all been unable to stop disgruntled employees and consultants from sharing information. The internal codes of loyalty and discretion within these organizations have frayed. | 676 |
Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted to CNN on Monday that he has received cash payments from Iran after a New York Times report fingered his chief of staff as carrying bags of money back from trips to Iran.
Little noticed in his interview, however, is that he said that President George W. Bush knew Afghanistan was getting cash from their western neighbor.
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“Even when we were at Camp David [Maryland] with President [George W.] Bush, this is nothing hidden,” Karzai remarked.
Karzai likened the bags of cash that he received, which his staff doled out to “Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty,” to the billions of dollars in US aid his country receives.
“The cash payments are done by various friendly countries to help the president’s office and to help dispense assistance in various ways to the employees around here, to people outside, and this is transparent and this is something that I have discussed,” Karzai said. Iran, he added, “asked for good relations in return and for lots of other things in return.”
“We are grateful to Iran for the help that they are giving and to those receiving that help under my instruction,” he said.
Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan delivered the cash — in euros — in large plastic bags, according to a New York Times report published last night.
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According to an Afghan official on the plane, Mr. Maliki handed Mr. Daudzai a large plastic bag bulging with packets of euro bills. A second Afghan official confirmed that Mr. Daudzai carried home a large bag of cash. “This is the Iranian money,” said an Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Many of us noticed this.” The bag of money is part of a secret, steady stream of Iranian cash intended to buy the loyalty of Mr. Daudzai and promote Iran’s interests in the presidential palace, according to Afghan and Western officials here. Iran uses its influence to help drive a wedge between the Afghans and their American and NATO benefactors, they say. The payments, which officials say total millions of dollars, form an off-the-books fund that Mr. Daudzai and Mr. Karzai have used to pay Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty, the officials said. | 677 |
Crazy Mountain Brewery, which has grown extremely quickly since opening in the Vail Valley in 2010, has taken over Breckenridge Brewery's former headquarters at 471 Kalamath Street – a location that has been a brewery for nearly two decades. For the time being, owners Kevin and Marisa Selvy decline to discuss their exact plans for the facility — including whether or not it will include a taproom or restaurant — but Marissa says an announcement should be coming sometime this month.
In the meantime, Kevin released this statement: "This is the first time in the craft beer industry that a facility of this size and scope is being sold as turn-key. It's allowing us to start bottling our beer and distributing to more territories around the world much more quickly than if we had to build a new facility from the ground up. We couldn't be more thrilled to open our second brewery in Denver."
The expansion is a big one for Edwards-based Crazy Mountain, which will keep its facility in the mountain town, since the 42,000 square-foot Kalamath building has the capacity to brew about 60,000 barrels of beer per year and came complete with a brewhouse, numerous fermentation tanks and other infrastructure and equipment.
“It's such a unique opportunity to roll in, turn on the lights and make 60,000 barrels of beer,” Breckenridge head Todd Usry told Westword in February. Breckenridge used 471 Kalamath as its headquarters for eighteen years before moving into a $20 million, twelve-acre beer campus in Littleton in May. Breck's parent company, Breckenridge-Wynkoop LLC, sold the property some time ago to a developer who planned to lease it back to Crazy Mountain, Usry said.
The two breweries had been trying to negotiate a transaction since late 2012, when Breckenridge first announced that it was moving. “We are basically leaving everything behind: all 34 fermenters, ranging from fifty to 300 barrels in size, the brewhouse, the packaging line, the kegging line...all the fittings, clamps, hoses and pumps,” Usry said in February. “[Crazy Mountain] will be able to roll in here and make beer day one.”
Crazy Mountain has expanded quickly over the past five years and brews more than 15,000 barrels annually. It distributes to nineteen states and five other countries.
| 678 |
identity, but as another influence- Blues, surf and jazz. So, for us, we've said this years ago that we have what we call musical ADD, and I don't think us, as musicians, really could stick with just one sound. And that's one thing we always say! You know- we're not great at one type of music. We're just good at a lot of different ones. So, for us, it's always fun to kind of mix different styles, so I don't think we'd ever want to just go one direction because, for us, that's just not who we are.
So, the rumors of you possibly just doing a reggae album would be false?
Yeah. It would be fun one day. We've talked different times about, you know, doing reggae versions of our rock songs and rock versions of our reggae songs, or even doing a split album of ourselves, but as of now, we haven't had any concrete plans to do anything like that.
It seems like what you guys are doing is working great. I mean, like you said, your music is your identity. Plus, that's why your fans love you.
Yeah
How did the Winter Blackout tour go?
It was great, with the exception of the weather, which was disastrous- it was really bad! The worst winter tour any of us on that whole tour had ever done. But it was great because, Stick Figure and Seedless were great bands to have on that tour, and it was really successful for us, and we had a really good time! And yeah, it was a really fun tour- just very cold, icy, slushy, snowy, blizzard!
Definitely a winter blackout, then?
Yeah, it was definitely a winter blackout. By far the worst road conditions too!
I guess that’s why they call them whiteouts too!
Yeah – the whiteouts, and then the alcoholic blackouts!
Anything you would want to say to your fans right now?
Be patient! Our new album is almost finished. We're in the halfway point of mixing, and it should be out in the Fall. So, thank you so much for coming out to our shows and buying our albums and our merchandise, and we hope to get some new music out to you soon!
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Tour dates for the expendables | 679 |
Michael L. Levy, the United States attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, said in a statement the case illustrated how terrorists were looking for American recruits who could blend in. “It shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance,” he said.
Ms. LaRose is white, with blond hair and green eyes, according to the law enforcement official, who was not authorized to share details of the case and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The official said Ms. LaRose was born in Michigan and later lived in Texas and Montgomery County, Pa.
The indictment said that in mid-2008, Ms. LaRose, using the aliases JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, began posting on YouTube and other Internet sites messages about her desire to help Muslims. A MySpace profile for a woman who refers to herself as JihadJane displays pictures of bloodshed and violence in the Middle East scrawled with messages like “Palestine We Are With You” and “Sympathize With Gaza.”
By early 2009, the court papers said, she was exchanging e-mail messages with unidentified co-conspirators in Southeast Asia and Europe and expressed a desire to become a martyr for an Islamist cause.
The indictment refers to e-mail messages in which a conspirator, citing how Ms. LaRose’s appearance and American passport would make it easier for her to operate undetected, allegedly directed her in March 2009 to go to Sweden to help carry out a murder. She agreed to do so, writing, “I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying,” the indictment says. She and another unnamed American later posted online solicitations for money for that project, the document said.
Ms. LaRose had attracted the government’s attention by then. She was questioned by F.B.I. agents on July 17, 2009, and falsely told them that she had never solicited money online for terrorism, had never used the alias JihadJane and had never made postings on a terrorist Web site, the court papers say.
Despite drawing the F.B.I.’s attention, the indictment says Ms. LaRose traveled to Europe in August, joined an online community hosted by the intended Swedish victim in September and performed online searches to track him. She apparently never attempted to carry out the killing.
The indictment also says Ms. LaRose recruited other people on the Internet to wage or support jihadist attacks. | 680 |
× Expand CC BY-SA 4.0 COVID-19 Coronavirus Animation
The Ontario Government has made the decision to close all publicly-funded schools from March 14 - April 5, 2020 in response to the emergence of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) in Ontario. More info to follow when available.
Previous Post: Feb 28, 2020
Halton Region Public Health has issued an update on the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) with additional information for families. We encourage you to review this update carefully as it contains new information for individuals who have travelled to China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
To date, there continues to be no reported cases of the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) in Halton Region.
The list of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) impacted countries is updated regularly. Please refer to the Government of Canada travel health advisory for the most updated information on impacted areas.
If you or someone you know has recently returned from any of these seven (7) countries, please follow the recommendations below from Halton Region Public Health.
Travellers from China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, for 14 days following their return, should:
Self-monitor for symptoms of the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus), which includes fever or cough or difficult breathing, for 14 days after leaving any of these countries
If symptoms develop, individuals must immediately self-isolate and call Halton Region Public Health at 311, 905-825-6000 or toll free at 1-866-442-5866.
If the above applies to your family, please inform your child’s school principal and Halton Region Public Health. Anyone with severe illness should seek immediate medical attention by calling 911 and inform paramedics of their travel history.
Halton Region Public Health is working with the Ministry of Health, Public Health Ontario, and local health care providers to monitor the situation and take actions as appropriate. We are working closely with Halton Region Public Health to identify and communicate news of any COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) cases in the Halton Region that impact the Halton District School Board community. Since this is an evolving situation, we will continue to provide information as it becomes available.
Additional COVID-19 Information | 681 |
Monday, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski urged fellow members of the media to quit putting White House staff members like Sarah Sanders, Kellyanne Conway and Rudy Giuliani on television because they “repeatedly lie.”
Brzezinski slammed Sanders and Conway, saying the two lie and then lie about their lies. She questioned if the show should interview Sanders, explaining they do not invite Conway on because “it’s just literally 20 minutes of nothing — of lies.”
“Do we interview Sarah Huckabee Sanders?” Brzezinski asked. “What happens to briefings, if they ever come back? Where do we go with a situation like this?”
Scarborough agreed, saying he does not understand why anybody would have Sanders or Conway on if they will just lie.
“This isn’t opinion, it isn’t subjective, it is objective, you can stack their words up against words they’ve used in the past and they just lie and they do it openly and if they would like to get angry about that, we’d be glad to run clips all day tomorrow showing their lies. But the same thing with Rudy Giuliani. I was watching some hosts interview Rudy Giuliani, and he was saying things that just were objectifiably false. And I sat there wondering, ‘OK, well if you’ve got to let this guy on – despite the fact that he’s going to lie – why don’t you interrupt him and call out on every lie as they’re moving forward?’ I don’t understand. That’s not even-handed journalism. That’s just allowing a propagandist to come on and tell knowable lies.”
Scarborough then called for reporters to quit putting on White House staff on their shows.
“I don’t think reporters should have White House staff on who repeatedly lie,” stated Scarborough.
He added, “[W]e can’t have people coming on programs who are going to deliberately lie.”
Brzezinski replied, “It’s time to take a stand, I think. If [Sanders] won’t step down, we need to step up. That’s my opinion.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 682 |
Forensic scientists of the future may soon have a new tool at their disposal. Given a drop of blood, researchers in the Netherlands have roughly determined the age of the person it came from. But for now, it really is rough--the researchers found they could only estimate a person's age to within 9 years. Currently, a crime scene investigator who obtained a spot of blood can check its DNA to see if it matches a known suspect or someone in a law enforcement database, and can use the DNA to determine a few other characteristics like gender and eye color. But age is tougher to estimate. Lead researcher Manfred Kayser, who works on forensic molecular biology at Erasmus University Medical Centre, explains that the best methods of determining age rely on testing bones or teeth, but he wanted to find a method that didn't require skeletal remains.
While scouring the scientific literature for a molecular signature of age present in blood, Kayser and his team realized that the organ that pumps out T cells, the thymus, is gradually replaced with fat tissue as people age. Previous research has shown that this process leaves behind genetic artefacts. [Nature News]
For the study
, published in Current Biology, the researchers examined the T-cells of 195 Dutch volunteers who ranged in age from a few weeks old to 80 years old. They found that they could reliably estimate a person's age to within 9 years not only in fresh blood samples, but also in samples that were a year and a half old.
Kayser doesn't expect that simply identifying a suspect's age, give or take a decade, will break open many cold cases. But the technique could be combined with other sources of evidence to rule suspects in or out. The approach could also help investigators to identify victims from disasters, he says. Field ecologists could adopt the technique to identify the ages of animals based on blood that they leave behind. [Nature News]
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Image: Wikimedia Commons | 683 |
Sri Lanka has maintained its high ranking in human development. But the country’s performance in terms of average annual human development index (HDI) growth rate during 1990-2014 was lower than many other South Asian countries.
These findings are among the highlights of the Global Human Development Report (HDR) 2015 released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) here on Thursday.
Sri Lanka has been placed at the 73rd rank with an HDI value of 0.757. In the previous year’s report, it occupied the 74th place. Since the end of the civil war in 2009, the country’s rank went up by five. The report, which studied a total of 188 countries and territories, has determined the HDI values by assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
According to the document, the region of South Asia includes Iran too, apart from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal,Bangladesh and Maldives.
While Iran is ahead of Sri Lanka, standing at 69th rank, the Maldives is ranked 104th. India and Bhutan fall under the category of medium human development countries and Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan come under the group of low human development countries. India is placed at 130th rank and Pakistan, 147th. As for the growth rate during 1990-2014, South Asia’s figure was 1.38, the highest among all regions.
The UNDP took 1990 into account as it was from that year that the series of global HDI reports began. In the context of Sri Lanka, too, the year was significant as the Eelam War resumed in June 1990 after the withdrawal of the Indian Peacekeeping Force three months earlier.
Thangavel Palanivel, Chief Economist for Asia-Pacific, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, attributes this situation to the “size effect” and points out that countries traditionally enjoying higher economic and human development cannot grow much beyond a point. This was why Sri Lanka, which was better placed than many other countries in the region even in the 1970s and 1980s, posted lower growth rate during the 25-year-long period.
In 1990, Sri Lanka’s HDI value was 0.620 whereas the region’s figure was 0.437. In 2014, the region’s tally was 0.607. | 684 |
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Caitlyn Jenner published a Facebook video Wednesday of her taking up Donald Trump on his comments last week that transgender people could 'use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate' at Trump Tower. Caitlyn Jenner takes Trump up on bathroom offer
Donald Trump said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom in Trump Tower. So she did.
“Oh my God, a trans woman in New York,” Jenner says in a Facebook video published Wednesday. “I gotta take a pee. Anyway, oh my God, Trump International Hotel. I love this.”
Trump suggested in an interview last week that transgender people could use whatever bathroom they want. “There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go. They use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate,” Trump told NBC’s “Today” during a town hall event. “There has been so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic — I mean, the economic punishment that they're taking.”
Asked by NBC’s Matt Lauer whether he would allow Jenner to use any bathroom in Trump Tower, the Republican presidential front-runner said, “That is correct.”
“OK, last week, Donald Trump said I could take a pee anywhere in a Trump facility,” Jenner continues in the video. “So I am gonna go take a pee in the ladies’ room.”
Jenner walks into Trump’s facility, asks for directions to the restroom and bypasses the men’s bathroom en route to the women’s restroom.
“M, not anymore,” she says, referring to the men’s room. “W,” she adds as she enters that bathroom instead.
“Thank you, Donald,” she says as she leaves the restroom. “I really appreciate it, and by the way, Ted, nobody got molested.”
Her parting shot at Ted Cruz comes in response to the Texas senator’s remark that allowing transgender people to go into bathrooms other than those associated with their gender identity at birth was “a reckless policy that will endanger our loved ones.” | 685 |
3 April, 2014IndustriALL Global Union repeatedly calls on Swiss-based multinational company Georg Fischer to put an end to violations of union rights in Turkey and demands immediate reinstatement of 37 dismissed workers.
Lastik-Is, the Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Industry Workers’ Union of Turkey, member of DISK national center and of IndustriALL, launched an organizing campaign at the operations of the company called Georg Fischer Hakan Plastik in Turkey a few months ago.
Join the LabourStart campaign here.
Founded in 1802 in Switzerland, the multinational corporation operates in 32 countries, with 124 companies, 48 of them production facilities in the business segments of piping systems, automotive and machining solutions.
Georg Fischer’s reaction against union organizing was harsh, and so far 37 members of Lastik-Is have been dismissed by the local management. The simple reason is that workers exercised their legitimate fundamental rights of freedom of association guaranteed by international labour conventions of the ILO as well as Turkey’s Constitution and national trade union legislation.
Along with this, instead of settling peaceful labor relations at the plants, Georg Fischer management continues to use intimidation and pressure over the union members to rescind their affiliation with Lastik-Is. This particularly happens in one-to-one meetings conducted by the middle level-managers with all union members.
In the meantime, the Turkish Ministry of Labor and Social Security has sent an official certification to all the relevant parties confirming that Lastik-Is has a sufficient majority of the workforce to be a bargaining party. However Georg Fischer maintains its anti-union behavior refusing any meeting at national and international level.
Even though IndustriALL Global Union and its Swiss affiliate UNIA have several times initiated dialogue with central and local management of the company, the response is always negative.
Georg Fischer violates relevant provisions of Turkish Collective Labor Relations and Penal Codes with its acts in Turkey. The company also breaches OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises that explicitly recognize the right of all employees to be or become members of a trade union and to participate in collective negotiations.
“What Georg Fischer does in Turkey is completely unacceptable,” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “If the situation in Turkey remains unresolved as is, we, together with our Swiss affiliate UNIA and all other member organizations, will carry out our campaign to escalate our support for Lastik-Is and union members at Hakan Plastik.” | 686 |
GETTY Federica Mogherini is confident the EU/Africa deal will be a success
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Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal have entered into a €425million (£379.5m) agreement with Europe to try and stem the flow of migrants heading into the eurozone for economic purposes. The EU high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, said: “We are starting to see the very first operational results on ground.” The number of migrants coming from Niger is already decreasing and the EU is carrying out work in Mali and Senegal to ensure similar results there.
One key tactic, being enforced in Ethiopia, is to provide adequate employment opportunities on the ground so locals do not have to leave their countries of origin to find work. Networks of smugglers and human traffickers are also being crushed and migrants are now being returned to their own nations. The EU Africa Trust Fund intends to roll out 24 programmes by the end of the year as part of the Partnership Framework designed to solve the issues leading Africans to feel the need to come to Europe.
GETTY The deal will quell the numbers of migrants coming from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Niger, Mali and Senegal
At the end of day, the measure of success will be the rate of returns Senior EU official
A senior EU official said: “Most of member states will expect results in December. “At the end of day, the measure of success will be the rate of returns." If the scheme is a success, it could be widened to incorporate other African nations, EU officials confirmed.
GETTY Federica Mogherini admits the deal may take time to work
Lebanon and Jordan could also be given similar support in return for housing hundreds of thousands of refugees. Mr Mogherini ruled out such an agreement with Libya, where the majority of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean come from, because of the current security turmoil there.
Evacuation of Calais migrant camp Tue, June 21, 2016 A growing number of migrants seeking to reach Britain are trying to leave from the Belgium and France. Here are some of the scenes from the Calais migrant crisis in France... Play slideshow Photoshot 1 of 83 Mirants clash with police in Calais | 687 |
The essential cognitive skill behind the application of swordsmanship is to see what is really there, not what you think is there. This is a profound and difficult skill to master, as we are all subject to all sorts of cognitive illusions and biases. Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow is perhaps the best single resource on the subject.
For us, in practice, we have to pay attention to what the opponent is doing, all the time- but refrain from telling ourselves stories about what we see. “His sword is coming towards me” is meaningful. But “he is attacking” is not: it prevents us from realising his action may be a feint. Ascribing motives to his motions is to be avoided. Likewise, we must not tell ourselves stories about what we are doing. “I am parrying that attack” is a lie. Because you don’t know whether the parry will work, or whether the attack is real, or anything. “I am moving to intercept his motion” is better, because the movement is real, and its intention is clear, and if the interception fails to occur, there is nothing in that statement to prevent the motion changing to find his weapon.
If we are telling ourselves a story, and the action changes, rewriting the story to fit the new data is hard. So we tend to ignore the data that doesn’t fit- we prioritise the story over the facts. This is normal. But will get you hit. I don’t think we can truly prevent the story-writing process, but we can cast the story in terms that permit endless easy rewrites as the situation changes.
Of course, the fight happens faster than conscious thought can keep up. Which makes story-telling that much worse, as the data is not just incomplete, it’s out of date. Better then to give yourself a set of instructions that fit the goals of the bout, such as “control his sword and hit him”, and let your training do all the hard work of actually issuing specific commands to the sword.
My own solution to the distractions of the conscious mind when fencing is I quietly sing a little song to myself. That keeps my conscious story-telling mind gently occupied, leaving my adaptive unconscious relatively unfettered, and able to see what is happening. It also freaks the hell out of my opponent if they get close enough to hear it. A win-win situation. | 688 |
Puerto Rico’s electricity systems are badly damaged after Hurricane Maria, and nearly half the U.S. territory’s residents lack drinking water following the storm, the Defense Department reported Tuesday.
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is “slowly restoring power to customers,” according to the most recent update, but 80 percent of the island’s electricity transmission lines and 100 percent of its distribution system are damaged. Transmission lines move electricity across long distances, while distribution lines deliver it to homes and businesses.
Only 11 of the island’s 69 hospitals have fuel or power. And 44 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million residents are still without clean drinking water, the Pentagon said.
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In the U.S. Virgin Islands, power has been restored to a key water-production plant, which is now back in operation.
The Defense Department said it expects a total of 240 aircraft to arrive in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands over the next 24 hours. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is shipping up to 350 satellite telephones to the islands to assist officials on the ground.
Puerto Rico officials have urged the federal government to speed up its relief efforts after Maria, which hit the island last week as a major hurricane.
“We need more help. We need more help with resources. We need more help with people being deployed so that we can get logistical support elsewhere,” Gov. Ricardo Rosselló (D) said Tuesday morning.
“And we need Congress to take action so we can have an aid package that is real for the American citizens that live in Puerto Rico and that is flexible so that we can take immediate action.”
President Trump will visit Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands next week, the White House said Tuesday. Trump also expanded his disaster declaration for Puerto Rico on Tuesday and defended his administration’s response to the storm.
"We, right now, have our top people from FEMA, and they have been there," he said at a press conference with Spain's prime minister. "We are unloading, on an hourly basis, massive loads of water and food and supplies for Puerto Rico."
"And this isn’t like Florida where we can go right up the spine or like Texas where we go right down the middle and we distribute," Trump said. "This is a thing called the Atlantic Ocean, this is tough stuff.” | 689 |
Steve O'Shea, a marine biologist who is part of an international team looking at the creature, said he could tell from the creature's beak that it was not yet fully grown. "Perhaps the colossal squid gets up to 750 kilograms. That is certainly not the largest specimen out there," he said.
Only 75 colossal squid have ever been recovered, but the one found last February is the best preserved and most intact. Scientists have had to take great care to thaw the creature. The squid's huge bulk would have taken days to defrost naturally, leaving the outside to rot while the inside remained frozen.
The creature is being gradually thawed in a tank filled with salty water. Because salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water, it will allow the freshwater ice block around the creature to melt, while the surrounding liquid is kept at about 0 degrees. Scientists were disappointed to learn this morning that the creature was taking longer to thaw than hoped, meaning they've so far been unable to take detailed measurements or determine its gender.
But an initial examination had still yielded a lot of useful information, Dr O'Shea said. "In 2003, when we had the first specimen, we didn't have any eyes. When we put a certain gadget in the water here we saw two of the most sensational eyes and they are both perfect. That is a highlight. That is probably the best thing so far," Dr O'Shea said. The eyes of the colossal squid are the largest known in the animal kingdom, and those examined today were about 27 centimetres in diameter, although only about 10 centimetres are visible from the outside.
Mark Fenwick, a technician at Wellington's Te Papa Tongarewa Museum where the squid will be housed, admitted that scientists had yesterday snacked on part of another colossal squid being examined today. "It was almost like a tua tua, you know a cockle. It was very nice. It left a real taste in your mouth and stayed for quite a while," he said.
"It was very much like [sashimi]. This is a gourmet meal. I don't know anyone else who has eaten Mesonychoteuthis." Dr O'Shea said eating the squid was one way to determine whether the colossal type had ammonia in its system, as the giant squid does. "The interesting thing about it is that it was non-ammoniacal. It tasted good, apparently," he said.
AAP | 690 |
Recently the Latium Project has pledged support for the McAfee Alliance. Focused on unveiling and combating the rampant corruption within the blockchain industry as a whole, the McAfee alliance aims to build an ongoing network of like minded projects that believe in the ideals that blockchain was built upon, namely, accountability and transparency.
Similarly, the Latium project and staff have held a like minded belief in ensuring and offering ongoing transparency to our development efforts and business dealings within this industry. Our entire staff stands with McAfee and team in their efforts to combat corruption.
The McAfee alliance states directly within their website pledge:
“The aim of our alliance is to unite all crypto alliances under one banner. The McAfee Alliance shall not constitute any motive of power or succumb to the influence of corruption… We remain besieged by financial institutions yet imprisoned by corruption. The illusion of greed advocates hatred in the name of unification. …We turn aside dismissing the internal dilemma as ‘bear market.’ Leaders must unite all crypto alliances as one.”
One doesn’t need to look far to see blatant incidents of corruption, fraud and dubious business practices within an industry that once prided itself on unification of ideals for decentralization and accountability. With the intent purpose of driving general public adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, Latium holds steadfast in the effort to continue to bring validity and legitimacy to this emerging, yet beleaguered industry.
These difficulties are innate to an industry still in its infancy. We believe, however, that further offensive stances on lowering these barriers will continue to help evolve the technical intricacies necessary to attract the general public towards utilizing crypto transactions, financial and informational alike, within their daily lives.
In fact, Latium is no stranger to many of the ongoing issues within the industry specific to exchanges within the market. Earlier this year, Kucoin accepted our own listing agreement and in progress backed out with little to no information provided. Sadly, this is a common trend with both Kucoin and multiple other exchanges within the industry at large.
Another relative target of the McAfee Alliance, hitBTC has acted in less than transparent methods in communication to Latium and other blockchain projects and platforms. After accepting the LATX listing agreement, and previously managing the LAT listing, hitBTC pulled the active trading of LATX and refused any and all inquiry efforts by Latium staff. Multiple, ongoing efforts were made to establish communication to amicably collaborate on an understanding of events. Sadly, no recourse was offered, nor communication made. | 691 |
AutoGuide.com
Volvo has been at the forefront of self-driving cars, and the Swedish company isn’t being selfish with its expertise.
The automaker has a pilot project for autonomous cars called Drive Me, where a family could lease a self-driving XC90 that records various data about their driving habits and how they interact with the car.
During an interview at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show with Marcus Rothoff, Volvo’s Autonomous Driving Program Director, he explained that having data on how humans interact with real self-driving vehicles is vital to the program’s success. He said Volvo plans on sharing that information with other automakers to expedite research in autonomous cars.
ALSO SEE: The Volvo V90 is Finally Coming to the US
“Collaboration is important when it comes to safety,” Rothoff said. Volvo has a special place in the automotive safety history books because it shared one of the most important safety innovations in vehicles: the three-point safety belt. “We welcome the chance to work with other automakers to improve the safety and development of self-driving vehicles.”
Rothoff imagines a future where the vehicle-to-cloud infrastructure that is used by Volvo is adopted by other automakers. Volvo hopes to have fully autonomous vehicles by 2021.
The Volvo XC90 that is being leased as part of the Drive Me program will be capable of automatically driving on the highway. It uses a variety of sensors and a front bumper mounted LIDAR, in addition to a cloud-connected service that will allow the vehicle to send data to other Volvos. That means that whenever the ABS and stability control is activated, like in slippery driving situations, other Volvos will be warned about the potentially dangerous route. Additionally, as the car drives autonomously on the highway, it will alert the driver of the upcoming off ramp, and the deactivation of the self-driving mode will begin five minutes in advance, issuing plenty of notice for when the driver has to take control.
The Swedish automaker is partnered with Uber for a self-driving collaboration, as they provide XC90s to the ride-sharing service. Uber, however, uses its own software and collects its own data.
This isn’t the first time automakers are sharing research and data in order to benefit the greater good. Tesla and Toyota have both opened up their own patents on electric and hybrid cars for other automakers to use. | 692 |
‘savings’ from early retirement are seldom real savings in the long run,” observed Gerard Miller, a strategist with PFM Group, a public finance consulting firm, in Governing. “Ultimately, taxpayers will pay a higher bill for those early pension benefits and retiree medical benefits.”
Budget gimmicks may be one-shot revenue enhancers, but their harmful effects reverberate down the years, undermining states’ long-term fiscal stability. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than California’s recent history. Back in 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised that the state could fix its woeful finances if voters would just approve deficit borrowing in the form of “economic recovery bonds.” The voters, who had just removed Governor Gray Davis over his mismanagement of the budget, approved the bonds; the state borrowed $10.9 billion, increasing California’s general debt by 31 percent. Relieved by the loans of its immediate financial squeeze, Sacramento then discarded (again) fiscal discipline, hiking spending by nearly a third, or $34 billion, over the next four years. The state found itself in another deep hole by 2008.
But California is only the most obvious example. New Jersey’s current inability to pay for infrastructure improvements out of its depleted transportation fund is the result of sweeps that drained the fund to close budget gaps. Illinois’ dire pension shortfalls didn’t occur overnight, but worsened over years of budget tricks that the state never made right. It has been 20 years since New York, to close a budget deficit, bought Attica Prison from itself with money raised from a bond issue; today, the state is still using current tax dollars to pay off the interest.
Reformers should use the current downturn as a starting point to demand new measures that end many of these abuses. Though reforms will differ from state to state, several sensible principles should govern change. One is for states to switch from yearly budgets to balanced multiyear plans, so that legislators won’t be able to employ tricks one year and ignore their consequences the next. Another is for states to tighten restrictions on borrowing to include debt issued by quasi-governmental entities and authorities. States can also increase the amount of money that their reserve accounts must hold during good economic times, which would both restrain the growth of government during the good times and provide a cushion against severe revenue falloffs in recessions. Such reforms would represent the next stage in taxpayers’ never-ending battle against budget gimmicks. | 693 |
Libya has rejected a EU plan to establish refugee and migrant processing centres in the country, adding that it would not be swayed by any financial inducements to change its decision.
The formal rejection by the Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, is a blow to Italy, which is regarded as being close to his Tripoli administration.
In June, Italy proposed reception and identification centres in Africa as a means of resolving divisions among European governments.
The impasse came as the EU said it was willing to work as a temporary crisis centre to oversee the distribution of refugees and migrants from ships landing in Europe from Libya. Italy has said it is not willing to open its ports and may even reject those rescued by the EU Sophia search and rescue mission, a position that has infuriated other EU states.
Speaking to the German newspaper Bild, Serraj said: “We are absolutely opposed to Europe officially wanting us to accommodate illegal immigrants the EU does not want to take in.”
He dismissed accusations that Libya’s coastguard had shot at aid workers in ships trying to rescue people from the Mediterranean.
“We save hundreds of people off the coast of Libya every day – our ships are constantly on the move,” he said. In practice, Libya is already running detention camps, largely as holding pens, but they are not run as EU processing centres for asylum claims.
European foreign ministers agreed at a meeting on Monday to do more to train the Libyan coastguard by setting up the EU’s own training team inside Libya.
The European parliament president, Antonio Tajani, said after a trip to Niger, one of the chief funnels for people into Libya, that the EU needed to plough more money into the Sahel region to reduce the need to leave the area. He said the number of people reaching Libya from Niger was collapsing.
Tajani said: “Until 2016, 90% of irregular migrants travelled through the Niger to Libya and Europe. In just two years, Niger reduced migration flows by 95%, from over 300,000 to about 10,000 in 2018.”
He said he would host a European conference in Brussels in October to support democratic elections in Libya scheduled for December.
At the same time, Italy is to host a further conference in Rome in September seen as a follow-on to a conference held in May by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, that led to a commitment to hold elections this year. | 694 |
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Raleigh Police are trying to solve a rash of robberies.Four victims were held up in the city's historic Oakwood neighborhood in November.Then, another man was robbed by the same suspects just south of downtown.Police have a number of leads in the crimes that happened primarily here in historic Oakwood just north of downtown. But they told ABC11 they feel there is someone out who can help them break the case wide open.One of the first victims to be robbed here on Bloodworth Street on the night of Nov. 11 certainly hopes police can reel in the two suspects."Anybody walking around with guns that they are willing to point at somebody is clearly in a position to hurt them," Ian Shields said.Shields said he heard the two young men coming up behind him, and when he turned around, he got quite a surprise."There were two guns pretty much like this to my head," Shields recalled.It was right around 9 p.m.Shields gave the men all the cash he had on him and they took off.Shields later found out that about two hours earlier nearby on Brookside Drive, the two had robbed another man at gunpoint.Investigators believe the two then went south to a carwash on Lake Wheeler Road and robbed another man.Forty-five minutes later they returned to Oakwood to Pell Street where Molly Stuart and a female friend were walking."They each pulled out a gun and each one pointed a gun at each of us and one of them suggested we hand over our money," Stuart said.Stuart said she and her friend gave up their purses and ran.But Stuart knew that meant the men had her driver's license with her address."I was very nervous about my house," Stuart said. "I knew they had my address."Stuart said the cell phone in her purse was later found near her house -- evidence they did come there.She said a friend's car key remote was also in her purse."We suspect they were trying the key fob looking for her car which wasn't at my house," Stuart said. "So they didn't find it, but they left my phone in that intersection knowing that it's a tracking device."Like police, Shields believes there's probably someone out there who has information that will break this case wide open, and he hopes they will pick up the phone and do the right thing.Anyone with information can call Raleigh Police at (919) 996-3335 orat (919) 834-4357. | 695 |
So Volkswagen has walked away from the World Rally Championship and its sister brand Audi has left the World Endurance Championship, leaving another sibling brand Porsche to dominate the dance floor.
Audi says it is going to get involved in Formula E, but leaving Le Mans for the all-electric championship is a bit like quitting the Bolshoi in order to star in a clog dancing contest at the Frinton Summer Theatre.
So what is going on? Yes, the VW group needs to save some money to pay for its transgressions relating to fiddling emissions and it said last week that the cost of that scandal has now reached $20.7 billion. Despite this and a drop in profits, the firm is still going to meet revenue projections this year of more than $200 billion. It does need to focus on cutting high-cost operations in Germany to help to pay for the planned shift to new ranges of electric and hybrid cars. While one can understand the need for cuts, the company still needs to advertise its products and Formula E is not going to do that on a global scale, nor will it promote hybrids.
What’s really interesting is that the lead engineer of the original Toyota Prius project, Satoshi Ogiso, has recently been telling Forbes that the cost of hybrid cars is now dropping below both diesel and electric. Diesels have been huge in Europe because they were seen as the only cheaper way than hybrids to meet emission regulations. With diesels now getting expensive new emission systems, their business case is crumbling. Ogiso also doesn’t believe that electric cars will become the dominant force for at least 20 years, because of the cost of developing long distance batteries. He feels that there will now be a lot of investment in battery research – but a lot more hybrid sales, particularly if the price of oil goes up. A lot of European car firms are busy adding hybrids and plug-in hybrids to their ranges in expectation of this trend.
Could it be that this demolition of VW’s sporting programmes is actually the first step towards a major hybrid sporting programme for the company in 2018? And is there any place to do this cost-effectively other than in F1? As I have written elsewhere, I don’t understand Red Bull’s apparent lack of any long-term engine strategy in F1 and I cannot help but wonder if Audi and the Austrians will not take us all by surprise in a few months from now, once it has agreed deals with its powerful unions over cost-cutting. | 696 |
How will you react when you come to know that your personal details and even your bank details is been on sale? Online security is getting one of the major concerns of today's date.
One of the seller had communicated with Motherboard, and claims to have "thousands" for sale, and even provided a sample of them.
On the post Motherboard reports that it tried to reach one of the users whose email address and password was put up for sale. And respective person had confirmed that the login details were correct.
Motherboard reached, James Allan, sales director for OISG, a technology solutions company, whose emails and deails were on sale. Allan confirmed that the username and password Motherboard had seen were correct, as well as the expiry date on his personal credit card. He doesn’t actually use Uber anymore, and the last trip he booked was in December 2013.
"Bloody hell," Allan said over the phone, when he was told what his password was.
He was "extremely surprised" by the revelation, he said. Allan also said that he doesn’t use the internet much for financial transactions, preferring cash "for this very reason."
ArsTechnica has discovered that two vendors on a marketplace in the underground are offering active Uber credential and also in very cheap rate. ArsTechnica have verified that "Courvoisier" is claiming to sell these logins for $1 each on the AlphaBay Market, and another vendor, "ThinkingForward," sells the same items for $5 each."The credentials provided will be a valid login for the Uber website for which you can use to order phones from completely free. The guide is also available on the site" - Wrote Courvoisier.ArsTechnica had reported the issue to Uber, but Uber spokesperson Trina Smith said that the company did not find evidence of a breach.Smith said "Attempting to fraudulently access or sell accounts is illegal and we notified the authorities about this report," “This is a good opportunity to remind people to use strong and unique usernames and passwords and to avoid reusing the same credentials across multiple sites and services.”Earlier in February Uber announced a data breach that resulted in unauthorized access to the driver partner license numbers of roughly 50,000 of its drivers. May the login credentials were also stolen on this breached. But at this time it is unclear that where the data came from and how many users were impacted. | 697 |
Zac Efron Steroids Baywatch Workout
Hey What’s Up Dude,
Zac Efron has had a good body for years, but it was only a couple years ago that it became stand out, and then finally when preparing to film Baywatch, Zac developed a seriously impressive physique.
He is developed but not overly developed, and he looks dry and hard.
I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble here but Zac used steroids to get this look.
I’ve used steroids, and because of that I have a trained eye to the signs of steroid use, I can spot a steroid user in a split second.
The reason I can tell that Zac Efron used Steroids for Baywatch is because of how hard and mature his muscles look. Steroids use does NOT mean big muscles, this is a common misconception. (Look at Lance Armstrong). Hardness, Pop, and 3d effect are how steroid use is detected visually and Zac Efron is basically a walking poster board for these steroid effects.
I can make a guess at his steroid cycle he used, it won’t be exact but it will be pretty close:
Testosterone Propionate 350mg per week
Masteron Propionate 350mg per week
Winstrol Tablets 50mg per day
Clenbuterol 80mcg per day
Arimidex Tablets 1mg every other day
HGH 4IU per day
The thing about Zac’s body is it looks like HOLY SHIT!
It’s so dry and so hard. He actually resembles former Mr. Olympia Frank Zane who was nicknamed “The Chemist” for his extensive knowledge and use of anabolic steroids.
If you think that guys now days can look better naturally
than guys from the 70’s and 80’s who used steroids and were champion bodybuilders. I don’t know what to tell you except for that you are one gullible mother fucker lol.
-The Bodybuilder in Thailand
Below You’ll See my Ostarine Review. It is the strongest legal alternative to steroids.
It works really good to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
Ostarine has been called a “Recomp” Agent.
Zac Efron Steroids | 698 |
The Oklahoma City Thunder are preparing to re-sign veteran guard Derek Fisher, according to sources familiar with the team's thinking.
Sources told ESPN.com that the Thunder, after trading Eric Maynor away last week before the NBA's trade deadline, have made plans to sign Fisher, who joined Oklahoma City for the stretch run in March 2012 after the Los Angeles Lakers dealt Fisher to Houston.
The veteran guard will sign with the team Monday for the remainder of the season, according to multiple league sources.
The Thunder declined comment late Sunday.
Fisher appeared in nine games this season with the Dallas Mavericks before asking for his release in December because the 38-year-old -- after suffering a knee injury -- wanted to return home to his family in Los Angeles.
Fisher, who won five championships with the Lakers, was viewed as a key locker room presence by Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks as the Thunder made it all the way to the Finals, losing to the Miami Heat in five games.
In recent weeks, Fisher -- who doubles as NBA Players Association president -- has been working out of the NBPA offices in advance of the player vote during All-Star Weekend to oust union chief Billy Hunter.
Fisher was productive during his brief stint in Dallas, averaging 8.6 points and 3.6 assists in just more than 25 minutes per game. And he was a natural fit in the Oklahoma City locker room last spring, delivering valuable championship experience to a team short on playoff-tested veterans.
Upon his release from the Mavericks in December, Fisher said: "The recovery time [from the knee injury] will be approximately two weeks. With this news and the difficulty I have been having being away from my family, I have asked the organization to waive me so I can return home.
"[Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban has been extremely supportive and has granted me this request. I cannot say enough good things about this organization. From Mark, to Coach [Rick] Carlisle, to the players on the Mavericks' team, I sincerely thank them for the opportunity.
"I have made decisions in the past, leaving money and opportunity on the table, and I will need to do that again. My family is my priority and that is where I choose to be. I won't close the possibility that I will play again; however, for now my family and being close to them remains the priority."
ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report. | 699 |
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