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ad revenues are forecasted to decline with 16.8 percent. And there’s more bad news for print media. While Omdia expects other media categories to return to growth in 2021 or 2021, print media would only return to a lower negative growth rate in 2021.
Updated Omdia forecasts indicate that the market share of internet advertising revenues will grow from 48 percent in 2019 to 51 percent in 2020, eating into shares of other media including outdoor, cinema, radio and print
What the impact of the pandemic and its ripple effects on digital marketing is a different story. It’s, for instance, not immediately apparent what the effect on digital outdoor advertising could be.
In the worst-case scenario and a prolonged lockdown, Omdia expects global advertising revenue to decline by 17 percent in 2020 and only return to modest growth in 2023 or later. However, that scenario is not highly likely at the time of reporting (May 2020).
Media companies and the global advertising ecosystem, including the Internet advertising market, need to prepare for a more prolonged slowdown as during the period from 2021 through 2024, advertising revenue growth rates will remain rather conservative per Omdia.
Needless to say that the overall picture of the global advertising market and of Internet advertising will differ per industry the advertiser is active in.
We already see Internet advertising in the technology industry returning, again with differences per region. Within an industry such as the technology sector, it’s clear that those technologies organizations will use to digitally transform and those types of digital services that are increasingly adopted by people will see more advertising budgets than others.
One can also expect that the share of Internet advertising will be more significant for online platforms, tools, and services in that context.
This happened in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada... In case people think racism doesn't happen in Canada pic.twitter.com/havZSB7UXE — Beelawl (@BilalSpeaks) October 24, 2016
A disagreement over parking took an ugly racial turn in a border town in British Columbia in Canada.
In the video above, a man can be seen hurling a torrent of abuse and racial slurs at the man filming, with the added problem that most racists have – of confused geography.
"You f*****g Paki, go back to f*****g India, you f*****g Hindu, you camel-rider m*****f****r. White power!"
After the tirade, the man begins filming the proceedings himself and asks, "When did you come to Canada," and gets the reply, "I was born here."
The incident took place on October 21 and videos of the incident have gone viral online. The police are investigating the incident and examining if it calls for an arrest.
"These types of comments and this retaliation to our community is very concerning to us," a member of the local police force told CBCNews. "It's disturbing, not something that we want to see in any community in Abbotsford or British Columbia or Canada for that matter."
In early October, flyers promoting the Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist group primarily active in USA, were found outside homes in British Columbia, prompting fears of a rise in racism. In September, posters went up at the University of Alberta targeting Sikhs. "F**k your turbans," the posters read.
An article on VICE News suggested that right-wing extremism is on the rise in Canada and concluded:
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��卡路里滚过我喉咙时那种甜腻的感觉，我觉得每个美国人都应该吃汉堡，这是我们民族的象征和文化的认同。我有一次路过本镇唯一的一家all you can eat寿司店，我好奇的想进去尝试下，结果被我爸爸揪了出来回家被打断了狗腿，因为我爸爸说寿司这种东西只有伯克利的hipster左派叛国者才吃，一个真正的白种美利坚人永远都是啤酒和汉堡，我爸爸抚摸着我的脸庞，递给我一个big Mac, 说，Awesome, 记住，这是你的根。America is white, it always was, it always will be. for that you should always eat white people's food. 我眼泪在那一瞬间顿时滚了下来，觉得自己因为一瞬间想吃寿司而感到非常内疚。那个晚上我枕着星条旗入睡。转眼间我17岁了，开始去考SAT。我好讨厌历史上那些人名，还有那些奇奇怪怪的公式，但是有什么关系，出生在美国这样的国家已经足够幸运，我只需要挥舞着星条旗守护好我的国家就可以了。我高中绩点也不大好，也没什么课外推荐信，一年后我去了本州的公立学校，但是我想说我很骄傲的在留在了德克萨斯，which is 美国最伟大的州。offer收到了学费很贵，虽然比私校便宜很多了，但还是很大一笔钱。我爸爸脸色不大好看，但是也没什么办法。后来就去申请了学生贷款，如果一切顺利能够找到工作的话，也就五六年就可以还清了。我觉得只有美国这么
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An Italian man has taken extreme measures to ward off coronavirus, after it was classed as a pandemic by the World Health Organization this week.
In a clip shared to Twitter on Wednesday, he strolls along the streets of Rome wearing a giant disc in an attempt to enforce social distancing amid the global outbreak.
There have been 827 deaths from 12,462 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy - the most anywhere outside of mainland China.
An Italian man has taken extreme measures to ward off coronavirus, after it was classed as a pandemic by the World Health Organization this week
The man leaves the social media user who captured his appearance in hysterics as he visits Testaccio market while shielding himself from fellow shoppers in the elaborate object, which he pairs with a tool used to pick up litter.
Speaking in Italian, he is asked: 'And would this be the security distance for?'
'For coronavirus!', the man responds, before the filmer jokes: 'Wonderful. I can't cope!'
Italy has encouraged the shutdown of travel for its entire population as the European country currently has the highest coronavirus death rate in the world.
In a clip shared to Twitter on Wednesday, he strolls along the streets of Rome wearing a giant disc in an attempt to enforce social distancing amid the global outbreak
The man leaves the social media user who captured his appearance in hysterics as he visits Testaccio market while shielding himself from fellow shoppers in the elaborate object
Earlier this week, Italy implemented a nationwide lockdown in a desperate bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Social distancing, advised by WHO, involves maintaining at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who coughs or sneezes, as the small liquid droplets sprayed could contain the virus.
The measure also includes staying at home if you have a cough or fever even if you have not travelled and 'cocooning' elderly people suspected of being more vulnerable to the infection.
The European country has the highest coronavirus death rate in the world
An empty street due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak in Alzano Lomabardo last week
At least 125,000 patients have been infected and 4,000 have died since the outbreak began last December.
The virus has been spreading between humans in four continents since February 28, the WHO has admitted.
The killer coronavirus rapidly spreading around the world can survive in the air for three hours, scientists have found.
US government researchers, who worked with other experts, also found the deadly infection can live on surfaces for up to three days.
Tests showed the virus can survive on copper for four hours, cardboard for an entire day and up to 72 hours on plastic and steel.
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Israel has released 26 Palestinian prisoners on the eve of renewed Middle East peace negotiations.
Buses carrying the inmates, most of whom were held for attacks on Israeli citizens, left Ayalon prison in the centre of the country late on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera's Marwan Bishara assesses the upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas greeted the 11 Palestinian prisoners sent to Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, while jubilant crowds met the other 15 in the Gaza Strip.
Israelis and Palestinians are set to relaunch talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday, following a preparatory round two weeks ago in Washington.
The prisoner release is part of an agreement to restart the talks after a five-year freeze.
The 26 inmates are the first of a total of 104 that Israel has promised to free within a year as part of a deal secured after months of shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has visited the region six times since March.
But Palestinian rights groups say that, upon close inspection, the deal is not the concession the Israelis are touting it to be.
Most of the detainees released on Tuesday have already served 20 years behind bars.
Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from Ramallah, said some of the prisoners had written to President Abbas and said that they did not want to be used as a bargaining chip in the talks.
Israeli protests
Disdain for the Palestinian prisoners is strong in Israel, where media have featured detailed accounts of their attacks on Israelis since a release roster was published two days ago. Palestinians, however, regard the men as heroes in a struggle for statehood.
A small gathering of Israelis demonstrated outside the prison during the release. The protesters included family members of Israeli prisoners calling for the release of their relatives rather than the Palestinian inmates.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Kerry called the Israeli prime minister to discuss settlement approvals Israel had announced earlier in the day. Palestinian officials have said that these announcements "threatened" talks with Israel.
Israel approved more than 900 new illegal settlement units near the Palestinian town of Beit Jala in occupied East Jerusalem, in addition to 1,200 settlement homes approved two days ago.
"At the end of the day, I think people realise that the prisoners were detained precisely because they wanted to stop Israeli control over Palestine," said Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst.
"So it's ironic that they are releasing [the prisoners] while they continue settlements."
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� he said.
He said he has compassion for the plight of the caravan migrants, “but at the same time we have 1,800 people that want to come here and most of them are going to be applying for asylum—with some crossing illegally. And obviously they’re not the ones paying for this, it’s us, the taxpayers that are doing that.
“You know, we can’t pay for all of this without it having to come from somewhere else. And when we have the VA the way it is right now, where we can better it with this kind of money that we could be saving, it would help out Americans that have fought for their country, as opposed to people that want to come here illegally.”
Border Wall Funding
Trump is currently mulling over a bipartisan border security package that would put $1.4 billion towards 55 miles of border fencing—less than the $5.7 billion he was asking for to construct 234 miles of fence.
The border fence funding resulted in the longest government shutdown in history after Democrats refused to provide any money towards a wall. If Trump signs the new bill, it will avert a second shutdown, which would be triggered on Feb. 15.
“I don’t want to see a shutdown,” Trump said on Feb. 13. “A shutdown would be a terrible thing. I think a point was made with the last shutdown; people realized how bad the border is, how unsafe the border is. I think a lot of good points were made, but I don’t want to see another one—there’s no reason for it. We’re going to look at the legislation when it comes and I’ll make a determination then.”
Over the first four months of fiscal year 2019, Border Patrol apprehended more than 201,000 illegal aliens. The numbers are on track to reach 600,000 apprehensions for the year, whereas in fiscal 2018, just fewer than 400,000 were apprehended.
“January border stats show a sustained, high volume of families & unaccompanied children from Central America illegally crossing along the [southwest] border,” said Customs and Border Protection in a Feb. 8 tweet. Border Patrol agents encountered 58 large groups of 100 or more people so far this fiscal year, compared to 13 total in fiscal 2018.
The administration said the asylum system is being gamed by illegal immigrants who use it to gain access into the United States without any intention of turning up in court for their case ruling.
If an illegal alien is apprehended at the border and claims fear of returning to their home country, an initial screening gives them an 89-percent chance of being released into the United States. The chances are higher if an adult brings a child.
The largest group of asylum-seekers are from Central America, yet only 9 percent of those who then formally apply for asylum are granted such protections by a federal immigration judge, according to the Justice Department. Forty percent don’t officially apply for asylum once they gain access into the United States. A further 31 percent don’t turn up at their court hearing.
In fiscal 2017, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 94,285 family units from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador at the southern border. Of those, 99 percent remain in the country today.
Legal loopholes in the asylum system have bogged down the immigration court system, which has around 800,000 pending cases and no end in sight to the backlog.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the agency is doing what it can to combat the caravan phenomenon.
“Such caravans are the result of Congress’s inexcusable failure to fully fund a needed physical barrier and unwillingness to fix outdated laws that act as an enormous magnet for illegal aliens,” Nielsen said on Feb. 5. “This crisis won’t be solved until we have comprehensive border security.”
Meanwhile, in Eagle Pass, concertina wire, jersey barriers, and other impediment measures are being installed on the international bridges.
Force drills and joint exercises between the Department of Defense and Customs and Border Protection officers are being conducted to guard against a mass incursion.
“We know there’s migrant caravans out there at different points along the way. We do not know where they will hit the border,” said Collins.
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, and when asked if a cement failure allowed the well to "flow" gas and oil, he wouldn't capitulate.
Hafle said he made several changes to casing designs in the last few days before the well blew, including the addition of the two casing liners that weren't part of the original well design because of problems where the earthen sides of the well were "ballooning." He also worked with Halliburton engineers to design a plan for sealing the well casings with cement. ref
graphic of fail: ref
Casing joint: ref
Casing: ref
Kill may take until Christmas: ref
BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Well Before Blast: ref
BP memo test results: reg
Investigation results
The information from BP identifies several new warning signs of problems. According to BP there were three flow indicators from the well before the explosion. ref
BP, what we know: ref
What could have happened:
1. Before or during the cement job, an influx of hydrocarbon enters the wellbore.
2. Influx is circulated during cement job to wellhead and BOP.
3. 9-7/8? casing hanger packoff set and positively tested to 6500 psi.
4. After 16.5 hours waiting on cement, a negative test performed on wellbore below BOP.
(~ 1400 psi differential pressure on 9-7/8? casing hanger packoff and ~ 2350 psi on
double valve float collar)
5. Packoff leaks allowing hydrocarbon to enter wellbore below BOP. 1400 psi shut in
pressure observed on drill pipe (no flow or pressure observed on kill line)
6. Hydrocarbon below BOP is unknowingly circulated to surface while finishing displacing
the riser.
7. As hydrocarbon rises to surface, gas break out of solution further reduces hydrostatic
pressure in well. Well begin to flow, BOPs and Emergency Disconnect System (EDS) activated but failed.
8. Packoff continues to leak allowing further influx from bottom.
Confidential: ref
T/A daily log 4-20: ref
Cement plug 12,150 ft SCMT logging tool
SCMT (Slim Cement Mapping Tool) Schlumberger Partial CBL done. ref
Schlum CBL tools: ref
Major concerns, well control, bop test. ref
Energy & commerce links to docs" ref
well head on sea floor: ref
Well head on deck of ship: ref
BP's youtube propoganda page, a lot of rarely seen vids here....FWIW
Deepwater Horizon JIC
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1097505/pg1
About the author:
I used to cover the energy business (oil, gas and alternative) here in Texas, and the few experts in the oil field -- including geologists, chemists, etc. -- able or willing to even speak of this BP event told me early on that it is likely the entire reserve will bleed out. Unfortunately none of them could say with any certainty just how much oil is in the reserve in question because, for one thing, the oil industry and secrecy have always been synonymous. According to BP data from about five years ago, there are four separate reservoirs containing a total of 2.5 billion barrels (barrels not gallons). One of the reservoirs has 1.5 billion barrels. I saw an earlier post here quoting an Anadarko Petroleum report which set the total amount at 2.3 billion barrels. One New York Times article put it at 2 billion barrels.
If the BP data correctly or honestly identified four separate reservoirs then a bleed-out might gush less than 2 to 2.5 billion barrels unless the walls -- as it were -- fracture or partially collapse. I am hearing the same dark rumors which suggest fracturing and a complete bleed-out are already underway. Rumors also suggest a massive collapse of the Gulf floor itself is in the making. They are just rumors but it is time for geologists or related experts to end their deafening silence and speak to these possibilities.
All oilmen lie about everything. The stories one hears about the extent to which they will protect themselves are all understatements. BP employees are already taking The Fifth before grand juries, and attorneys are laying a path for company executives to make a run for it.
dougr on June 13, 2010 at http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593
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German police in a coordinated effort conducted a series of raids targeting hate speech online. Federal police (BKA) performed operations in 14 of Germany's 16 states, reportedly investigating roughly 60 suspects. No arrests were made but computer equipment, cameras and smartphones were seized in the first-ever mass raids targeting online hate speech.
The operation focused in particular on the German state of Bavaria, where according to police sources, a secret Facebook group had posted messages glamorizing National Socialism, which is illegal in Germany. The police said that this group and others spread xenophobic, anti-Semitic and other radical far-right content.
BKA head Holger Münch said that the marked increase in online hate speech had to be curbed
BKA President Holger Münch said the operation exemplified the resolve with which the government was determined to combat hate speech and incitement online. He added that hate crimes had increased since the onset of the refugee crisis and were poisoning public discourse.
"That's why we have to curb this increase in hate speech and make sure that criminal content is prosecuted without compromise," he added.
United front against hate speech
The raids built on the work of task group aimed at combating hate speech, which had been established in December 2015 between the federal government and the federal states.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere meanwhile said that "violence, including verbal violence, in any form and in any context" was "unacceptable."
He stressed that the German law against hate speech was equally applicable and valid online.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas said that the resolute approach toward hate postings on the part of the police should also serve as a deterrent, adding that internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter needed to find and block hate speech.
ss/msh (AFP, epd)
The real economic value of the two companies at their peaks would today be in the range of $10 trillion, with the South Sea Company worth $4 trillion and the Mississippi worth $6 trillion. Since neither company ever managed to trade much with the Americas, this resembles nothing so much as the dot-com bubble on a hyper-manic level. To imagine something similar happening in dot-com terms, you'd have to picture the CEO of Webvan raising $10,000 from every single person in the United States, in exchange for exclusive shipping rights to the city of Athens.
Not every shipping company was full of false promises, though. The Dutch East India Company was the first company to go public on the world's first stock exchange. It raised enough capital in 1602 to later create a globe-straddling multinational conglomerate, with over 70,000 employees at its peak. That didn't make it immune to irrational exuberance -- its market capitalization would reach 78 million Dutch guilders at the height of Tulipmania, since at least a few investors must have wanted to buy something more stable than the Beanie Babies of the 17th century. That would place its modern-day valuation in the $7.4 trillion range, making the Dutch East India Company the largest company in history.
Sources: Sources: Barry Ritholtz, Marc Faber, Richard Dale, Bloomberg, Clem Chambers, Wikipedia, Yahoo! Finance, and Sheridan Titman. Adjusted for inflation.
These old records are like baseball's dead-ball era marks. Modern pitchers won't win anywhere near 500 games, and Apple won't be worth a substantial chunk of the global economy. That doesn't make today's 250-game winners less impressive, or Apple's accomplishments less notable. Things have changed, and a look back can help us remember how far we've come.
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Images of a light fixture swallowed by flames, smashed windows, battered ATMs and black-masked demonstrators throwing firecrackers at police officers were broadcast on TV screens across the US earlier this month when protests erupted at the University of California, Berkeley.
"Become ungovernable" read a banner carried by the anti-fascist demonstrators. "This is war" was scrawled across another.
Thousands of people protested that night against the university providing a platform for a far-right speaker known for his anti-immigrant rhetoric, but about 150 black-clad demonstrators decided to use force, tearing down rows of police barricades.
As fires burned outside the university, Milo Yiannopoulos, an 'Alt-Right' provocateur and editor at the far-right Breitbart news blog, was evacuated from the campus before he could deliver his lecture
A day before the incident, Breitbart announced that Yiannopoulos and the far-right David Horowitz Freedom Centre were using his talk at the university to launch a campaign against sanctuary campuses that protect undocumented students.
In a statement before the talk, university officials expressed concern that he would use the platform to publicly name undocumented students. Yiannopoulos called the statement "a total fabrication".
A week earlier, a Yiannopoulos supporter shot an anti-fascist activist protesting against a lecture by the Breitbart editor at the University of Washington campus in Seattle.
By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a left-wing civil rights organisation, was one of the militant anti-fascist groups involved in the protest.
"The movement effectively shut down Yiannopoulos because it was a mass action with thousands of people who were united in the immediate goal of preventing fascists from gaining a foothold at UC Berkeley," Yvette Felarca, BAMN's northern California coordinator, told Al Jazeera by email.
"BAMN, Black Bloc [protesters] and thousands of others found a way to protect each other and unite together because we shared the same political and tactical goal," she said.
Black bloc is a tactic in which protesters - often anarchists - dress all in black and conceal their identities with hoodies, ski masks, sunglasses or scarves. Making it difficult to identify protesters serves to protect them from legal consequences.
Felarca added: "Our success at Berkeley, with thousands united together to shut him [Yiannopoulos] down by any means necessary, was a rebellion against Trump's attempt to build a fascist movement in America and destroy the hard fought democratic gains that have been won here."
What is Antifa?
The violence at Berkeley was just the latest in a series of events involving anti-fascist protesters and others who advocate the use of force against the far right.
Based on principles of anti-racism, anti-capitalism and anti-authoritarianism, anti-fascist groups - often known as Antifa - are loosely knit and generally made up of semi-autonomous individuals dedicated to preventing the spread of fascism.
On the day of President Donald Trump's inauguration, Antifa protesters also used black bloc tactics.
During those protests, a limousine was set on fire, and a masked Antifa activist punched white supremacist Richard Spencer as he was being interviewed on camera.
READ MORE: White Lives Matter - A new US hate group shows its face
More than 200 protesters were charged over their involvement.
Earlier this month, about 100 anti-fascists protested at New York University, disrupting a lecture by far-right public figure Gavin McInnes. Local media reported that at least 11 people were arrested, and McInnes was pepper-sprayed by a protester during the tussle.
McInnes, who co-founded Vice Media and left the company in 2008, is a Trump supporter who has boasted of his anti-feminist views and defended racism, transphobia and other forms of discrimination. He also founded the Proud Boys, an online group whose motto is "West is best".
A debate within the US left
In a statement released after the UC Berkeley protests, the university's administration condemned the violence and argued that it violated the principles of free speech.
Writing on Twitter, Trump threatened to revoke federal funding for the university. But experts say the president is not legally permitted to withdraw funds from a university for prohibiting someone from speaking on campus.
Yet the violence also sparked a debate between factions of the US left.
In the Socialist Worker, a newspaper affiliated with the International Socialist Organisation, Mukund Rathi defended the protests against Yiannopoulos but condemned the use of black bloc tactics.
"These tactics endangered several thousand people who were not given an opportunity to say if they should be used or not," wrote Rathi, who participated in the protest.
"Later in the night, anarchists tagged and smashed the windows of several off-campus banks and other businesses, a pointless exercise in property destruction that doesn't politicise anyone."
But BAM
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location to another to yet another, with no signs of harm or stress. Warner Archives does a great job of re-purposing these films into new editions without taking them too far, however, I simply wish they would go one step further with most. Something more than just an amaray case, outdated artwork, and artwork on the disc (points for this) would simply mean all the difference between edition and special edition.
The Packaging 2/5
Special Features
However bitter I may seem I do not expect Warner Archives to go out and film new features for each release, they are not Criterion, and do not release as infrequently as Shout Select so I completely understand that point from a very logical and rational point of view. On the other hand. I WANT MORE!! This time around they actually did give us two items (again Not bitter). The first is a featurette from way back when donned a “Vintage Featurette” entitled Harper Days are Here Again a promotional featurette undoubtedly designed to be an advert to promote the film. The other as most would have guessed ins the Theatrical Trailer.
Special Features 2/5
Overall
There is a lot of this film that I can see in the films I hold dear now, (mostly Shane Black films) but that means a lot to me knowing that sarcasm and one liners have been something audiences have craved for a long time now. However ironic the use of them are now they were meant more seriously then I’m sure. However there is a lot about this film that simply doesn’t work for me. I don’t appreciate the fourteen year old seductress (their word not mine). I don’t appreciate the shallow plot that only seems deep because it takes the full 108 minutes to solve. I feel as if the Harper character had such opportunity and it may have been wasted on its time. Paul Newman undoubtedly plays the role the best the pages allow and I have no doubt that any other actor would have tanked this film even lower for me. If you loved the first one you will simply like this one and crave more Harper and Newman cool at the end. You can purchase this film HERE.
Overall 2.5/5 – An Unnecessary Sequel
Arthur is the missing piece, and the Camp Nou knows it Opinion - FC Barcelona Brazilian excelled in victory over Inter
They say that what the public wants is sacrosanct, and the Camp Nou made clear exactly what they want during the clash with Inter: they want Arthur in the starting line-up. It's as simple as that. In the 77th minute of play Ernesto Valverde elected to substitute the Brazilian for Arturo Vidal and the supporters responded with whistles.
Valverde has spent almost a season and a half looking to fill the gap left by Neymar and then Andres Iniesta. At the time of his arrival he resolved the issue of the Brazilian's departure by using a flat 4-4-2 formation with Paulinho's arrival greatly aiding that endeavour. He also tried Ousmane Dembele when possible and there seemed to be a lot of experiments which simply didn't succeed. This was made abundantly clear in Rome as record signing, Philippe Coutinho, was forced to watch as he was ineligible to play in the Champions League.
This season Coutinho has been readily available in all competitions, however Iniesta has not been. As such it's the former Liverpool midfielder who has played in the Spaniard's position. His style isn't comparable with the great Iniesta though. Valverde's starting line-up seemed clear with Coutinho and Dembele playing most matches, until the French winger showed that he still lacks the consistency one would associate with a more experienced individual.
In these matches the Spanish coach gave Arthur the chance to play and light at the end of the tunnel appeared. Barcelona were once again in control of matches, their midfield dominated proceedings and these performances moved away from the lack of consistency the Blaugrana have recently showed in which their shortcomings have been highlighted.
Arthur was born to play for Barcelona. At times, in conjunction with Sergio Busquets, if it's not too audacious to say, the Brazilian looked like Xavi. His touch is fast but sensible, he overcomes defensive lines and pulls opposing players this way and that. Following the departure of the two best midfielders Los Cules have ever seen, supporters clamoured to see another player in the same mould and treat him with huge affection. Arthur has been welcomed as that individual.
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EW DAYS, Liberia will turn 171. These days, one is not sure whether superiority in age is a good or a bad thing. But being up there in age as the oldest country on the continent should count for something.
IN A FEW DAYS, RWANDA will turn 57. On April, the East African nation celebrated twenty-five years since violence ripped the nation apart.
A FEW MONTHS FROM NOW, Liberia will mark 29 years since its civil war started.
RWANDA WHICH ONCE struggled to offer healthcare for its citizens, now have clinics are equipped with basic medical equipment and a cupboard of essential medications and even more.
IN FACT, things have been so good, the Rwandan government recently through its Military Hospital (RMH) offered support for the ground-breaking invention of Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan, a renowned scientist and medical doctor from Liberia.
DR. NYAN’S invention is a single test that rapidly detects and distinguishes a host of different infections, at least 3 to 7 infections simultaneously. The test also distinguishes multiple infections which bear the same symptoms, for example yellow fever, malaria, typhoid or Ebola. The test detects and identifies HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis viruses, Dengue, West Nile, and Chikungunya. Most testing methods take about 3 hours to 7 days or more, but this device gives test results within an hour, is simple to perform, and cost-effective for struggling economies. This new invention could prove to be revolutionary in the African and global markets, and provide a significant step in the detection and management of infectious diseases everywhere.
RWANDA AND LIBERIA – TWO POST-WAR NATIONS, with similar traits, seemingly trekking on the opposite end of time.
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. But nothing comes easy. The sooner Liberians begin to realize their potentials, the better the nation will become.
THE SOONER Liberia begin to embrace its smartest minds and erase hate, envy and jealousy of each other; the better the nation will be.
THE SOONER LIBERIANS begin channeling their hateful rhetoric and social media insults to develop their country, the better the nation will be.
THE SOONER those at the helm of power begin to tap into the sea of talented Liberians doing great things in the world, the better and more open the nations will be.
THE SOONER Liberians begin to embrace those on the frontlines advocating for justice, war against the corrupt and pushing transparency and accountability, the better the nation would be.
TEARING EACH other apart is no way to build a nation.
AS AFRICA’S OLDEST republic moves up in age, the young must learn from the old; those in high places must understand more, the plight of those languishing at the bottom of the economic ladder; and those at the helm of power must make it a priority to put country before self, by ensuring that government provides the basic necessities of life to avoid the pitfalls that led us to war, chaos, confusion and the current state of uncertainty.
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President Obama’s plan to allow 10,000 new Syrian refugees into the U.S. is facing fresh criticism after Friday evening’s terror attacks across Paris, which were carried out by least one person who had reportedly slipped into France among the migrants.
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The White House is insisting that nothing had changed, and that the United States is fully capable of vetting the refugees.
Yet top lawmakers and GOP presidential candidates made clear on Sunday that they don’t have the same confidence in U.S. intelligence, due to the lingering blind spots caused by the chaos in Syria. According to reports, at least one of the men behind the Paris attack, which killed 129 people in a string of coordinated violence, made his way into the country by hiding himself among refugees.
"We won’t be able to take more refugees,” Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioOvernight Defense: Pentagon redirects pandemic funding to defense contractors | US planning for full Afghanistan withdrawal by May | Anti-Trump GOP group puts ads in military papers Democrats step up hardball tactics as Supreme Court fight heats up Press: Notorious RBG vs Notorious GOP MORE (R-Fla.) bluntly declared on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos." “It’s not that we don’t want to — it’s that we can’t. Because there’s no way to background check someone that’s coming from Syria.”
“You can’t pick up the phone and call Syria,” added Rubio, whose presidential campaign has been on the upswing in recent days.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) echoed the concern about the U.S. officials’ inability to peer deeply into the past of the thousands of refugees on course to enter the country.
“We are losing the capability to track these terrorists around the globe,” he claimed on CBS’s Face the Nation.” “There's no possible way to screen them. It should be stopped immediately.”
Earlier this year, in the face of global outrage about the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the millions of desperate refugees fleeing the country’s borders, the Obama administration announced that it would increase the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. next year to 10,000.
That’s a dramatic increase from the roughly 2,000 refugees that have so far been admitted into the country, but still relatively minor compared to policies of some countries in Europe and the Middle East. Of the more than 4 million Syrian refugees, 2 million have fled to Turkey. Germany expects to take in 800,000 this year.
On Sunday, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes insisted that the administration’s plans remain on course.
“We’re still planning on taking in Syrian refugees,” Rhodes said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We had very robust vetting procedures for those refugees.”
“There are women and children, orphans of this war, and I think we need to do our part along with our allies to provide them a safe haven.”
It’s clear, however, that the plan will face new opposition from Congress in light of Friday night’s carnage.
Top Republican lawmakers had long been concerned about the ability of Islamic extremists to slip in among the refugees’ ranks, and they appear primed to fight back in light of the Paris killings.
“We don’t want to be complicit with a program that could bring potential terrorists into the United States,” insisted House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
President Obama is “rolling the dice” with this refugee plan, added Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
The debate appears primed to spread to the campaign trail, as multiple top Republicans claimed that Obama’s plan was yet further evidence of what they call his underestimation of ISIS's strength.
“Bringing people into this country from that area of the world I think is a huge mistake, because why wouldn’t they infiltrate them with people who are ideologically opposed to us?” GOP candidate and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The White House has insisted that refugees will be fully vetted, both by the U.S. as well as international officials.
However, the claim has gotten some pushback from members of the president’s own administration.
Earlier this year, FBI Director James Comey warned a Senate panel that intelligence officials had “gaps” in their ability to screen the refugees, due to the lack of reliable information coming out of Syria.
“There is no
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[one for] StarCraft, we had them for WarCraft III. They just weren’t really as formalized.”
Blizzard South’s strike team, made up of co-founders Mike Morhaime and Allen Adham, vice president of R&D Pat Wyatt, and other leads, viewed North’s input on their products differently than the feedback they gave North.
“Certainly from an intellectual standpoint, if we’re bossing them around all the time, it would be totally understandable if they would want to have some input on our games,” reasoned Pat Wyatt. “But we made all these great games that were great without their input, whereas they needed our help and involvement to build Diablo to be a really high-quality game. We already got plenty of feedback from our friends, family, and other testers. We already know what we want to do; we don’t need other people telling us what to do. We’re going to go make the game
To Blizzard North, the dividing line between their culture and Blizzard South’s had nothing to do with sports, politics, or even game development. The clearest difference between the two cultures could be seen in the microcosm of a vending machine. Karin Colenzo, office manager and de facto den mom to a lot of the guys, kept the kitchen stocked with drinks and snacks. She also bought paper cups in bulk so nobody had to keep track of mugs and glasses. “One of the famous things that was always said about down south was that they had a soda machine, and they would have to pay for sodas themselves, but they wouldn’t be provided with cups. Cups were not a free thing that were given to them,” said Mike Scandizzo, a programmer at Blizzard North.
“We got everything at Blizzard North. They were very generous. Snacks, drinks, everything,” said Marc Tattersall, environment artist. “Down there, they had a vending machine where you had to pay for sodas, and they had water. But there were no cups. You had to bring in your own mug. It was just a whole different mentality than we had up north. We used to joke around about Karin bringing them cups when we went down there.”
“There was always a desire to not become Blizzard South. We saw them as pussies in a way: no cups, having to pay for soft drinks, all this regimentation,” agreed Tom Ricket.
Managers and developers at Blizzard South knew why Karin brought cups with her when she visited the SoCal office. “We provided free soda!” Pat Wyatt exclaimed. “We don’t want five thousand paper cups to get thrown away every week. Just bring a frickin’ cup and wash your damn cup. Here’s free soda. What more do you want? I don’t think that was corporatism. I think it was more a desire not to go through 5,000 cups per week.”
Large-scale gatherings between both studios were infrequent.
“Blizzard North had a party at some bar. They hosted a party for everyone at Blizzard, and that was the first time I met anyone from that studio,” said Harley Huggins.
Chris Arretche, a QA tester at South, recalled one occasion when North’s team flew to Irvine for a meet-and-greet in the middle of summer. South treated their guests to an outdoor barbecue. The food was hot, but the weather was hotter: 103 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Everybody was just dying in the heat, so nobody’s really in a good mood. They’re cranky and have gone to their corners to try and find shade. It was a really awkward meet-and-greet. I remember thinking, Wow, this sucks. It’s too bad this happened.”
Though ill-timed, the companywide barbecue was important. It was one of the few times each year when Blizzard’s teams got a chance to mingle. Day-to-day communications took place over the phone or email, and tended to color each studio’s impressions of the other.
“North was a little bit different from Blizzard South,” said Frank Gilson, a QA tester later promoted to a producer in Irvine. “They seemed a bit more family-and-friend connected: So-and-so worked there because he was friends with such-and-such a person—a little more of that than is usual. They were a much tighter social network, the Blizzard North office.”
Studio leads from Blizzard Entertainment would stop by Blizzard North and then report back to Entertainment with details on
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Introduction
Not a lot of people working with the Python scientific ecosystem are aware of the NEP 18 (dispatch mechanism for NumPy’s high-level array functions). Given the importance of this protocol, I decided to write this short introduction to the new dispatcher that will certainly bring a lot of benefits for the Python scientific ecosystem.
If you used PyTorch, TensorFlow, Dask, etc, you certainly noticed the similarity of their API contracts with Numpy. And it’s not by accident, Numpy’s API is one of the most fundamental and widely-used APIs for scientific computing. Numpy is so pervasive, that it ceased to be only an API and it is becoming more a protocol or an API specification.
There are countless advantages when an an entire ecosystem adopts an API specification. The wide adoption of the Numpy protocols will certainly help create a standardized API that will provide seamless integration across implementations, even for the ones that are quite different than the ndarray.
The main goal of the NEP 18, is to provide a protocol that is materialized on the method named __array_function__, where it will allow developers of frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Dask, etc, to provide their own implementations of the Numpy API specification.
The __array_function__ protocol is still experimental and will be enabled by default on the next Numpy v.1.17, however, on the v1.16 you can enable it by setting the environment variable called NUMPY_EXPERIMENTAL_ARRAY_FUNCTION to 1.
PyTorch example
It’s easy to provide an example of how the protocol can be implemented in PyTorch in order to get a feeling of what it will allow you to do.
First, we define the protocol that we will use to monkey-patch PyTorch (but you can change the framework itself, of course, that’s the whole point):
HANDLED_FUNCTIONS = {} def __array_function__(self, func, types, args, kwargs): if func not in HANDLED_FUNCTIONS: return NotImplemented if not all(issubclass(t, torch.Tensor) for t in types): return NotImplemented return HANDLED_FUNCTIONS[func](*args, **kwargs)
After that, we create a simple decorator to set the HANDLED_FUNCTIONS dictionary with PyTorch’s implementation of the Numpy API:
def implements(numpy_function): def decorator(func): HANDLED_FUNCTIONS[numpy_function] = func return func return decorator
Later, we just have to monkey patch PyTorch (not required if you change PyTorch code itself) and provide a Numpy implementation of the PyTorch operations:
torch.Tensor.__array_function__ = __array_function__ @implements(np.sum) def npsum(arr, axis=0): return torch.sum(arr, dim=axis)
And that’s it! You can now do things like this:
>>> torch_tensor = torch.ones(10) >>> type(torch_tensor) torch.Tensor >>> result = np.sum(torch_tensor) >>> result tensor(10.) >>> type(result) torch.Tensor
This is quite amazing, given that you can easily mix APIs together and write a single piece of code that will work in PyTorch, Numpy or other frameworks independently of the multi-dimensional array implementation and diverging to the correct backend implementation.
Dask example
Dask is already implementing the protocol, so you don’t have to monkey-patch it:
>>> import numpy as np >>> import dask.array as da >>> dask_array = da.random.random((5000, 1000), chunks=(1000, 1000)) >>> type(dask_array) dask.array.core.Array >>> u, s, v = np.linalg.svd(dask_array) # Numpy API! >>> u
>>> s
>>> v
As you can see, when we used the singular decomposition from Numpy, we were able to define the Dask computational graph using the Numpy API:
>>> v.visualize()
And we can now compute the result using Dask lazy eval:
>>> result = v.compute() >>> result array([[ 0.03178809, 0.03147971, 0.0313492,..., 0.03201226, 0.03142089, 0.03
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with it’s plea to avoid “Machine Minds and Machine Men.”
That track outlines what is to be a complete assault on modern culture and technology continuing with Signs of Life — a track that thematically echoes Porno or Blur’s Girls & Boys. If Anna Wood of The Quietus claims that Win is “a huffy bloke who thinks he’s wry and wise when he tells you about how staying out late every night is bad” or that he thinks “Love is hard, sex is easy” she reflects “You’re doing it wrong, mate” although she couldn’t be more right about her former sentiments. How could Win think otherwise? He connects sex with the spiritual — “I’ve got to see you/Hear your sacred sighs.” he states on Porno. The concept is yes — that sex is something more meaningful than just a physical act.
This is a morally firm notion when contrasted with the age of Everything Nowish sensory overload. In a way I feel it echoes the sentiments of some modern artists like Kendrick Lamar whose tracks like Lust and Keisha’s Song explore similar themes — albeit addressing his own community. On his Breakthrough album good Kid, m.A.A.d city Kendrick reflects and responds to his critics in verses 2–3 of Sing About Me. When Anna reflects that “There is something dangerous about supporting what is comfortable and lazy without ever challenging anything that is uncomfortable or complicated” the irony of her statement does not dawn on her. When she states that “this album is exactly what none of us needs right now” she reveals how little she is prepared to step outside her own comfort zone — or take Arcade Fire’s message at face value or examine her own life.
That’s where the criticism of this album seems to fall apart. As the album moves through Creature Comfort — a reggae dancehall track about Teenage Suicide and the impact of Snapchat and Instagram on the modern psyche — I’m stricken at how much the advent of social media has insulated people to their own lifestyles. These feedback loops are referenced all over the album — but seem to have been recreated almost perfectly by the polarized response to it.
But there’s nothing new here beyond technique and music style. The themes and points Arcade Fire make on the album are the same kind they’ve been making their entire career. One would wonder if the reviewers of Funeral had been Parents their responses would be the same. Or the reviewers of Neon Bible pastors. Or the reviewers of The Suburbs had been Real Estate agents.
The album clocks in at 14 tracks. Many memorable and emotionally impactful — ranging from criticisms of America (Peter Pan) to Corporations (Chemistry), tribute tracks (Electric Blue), religion (Good God Damn), to love (Put Your Money On Me) and despair (We Don’t Deserve Love). But they all fit in thematically with Arcade Fire’s Modus Operandi.
There is a certain level of unreasonableness in the response from the music review community that has revealed a very big hole in their claims to professionalism. One could almost posit that maybe the entire goal of the album was to reveal their weaknesses and insecurities by eliciting this sort of very personal backlash. If that was the goals it has succeeded and in many ways the organizations like Pitchfork that influenced heavily to the rise of Arcade Fire through their reviews may have in a somewhat ironic way had any facade of professionalism or trustworthiness destroyed by Arcade Fire’s latest Album. It’s a ending fit for a play.
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In the immediate aftermath of the horrific attacks at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, internet companies faced intense scrutiny over their efforts to control the proliferation of the shooter's propaganda. Responding to many questions about the speed of their reaction and the continued availability of the shooting video, several companies published posts or gave interviews that revealed new information about their content moderation efforts and capacity to respond to such a high-profile incident.
WIRED OPINION ABOUT Emma Llansó is Director of Free Expression at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
This kind of transparency and information sharing from these companies is a positive development. If we're going to have coherent discussions about the future of our information environment, we—the public, policymakers, the media, website operators—need to understand the technical realities and policy dynamics that shaped the response to the Christchurch massacre. But some of these responses have also included ideas that point in a disturbing direction: toward increasingly centralized and opaque censorship of the global internet.
Facebook, for example, describes plans for an expanded role for the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, or GIFCT. The GIFCT is an industry-led self-regulatory effort launched in 2017 by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube. One of its flagship projects is a shared database of hashes of files identified by the participating companies to be “extreme and egregious” terrorist content. The hash database allows participating companies (which include giants like YouTube and one-man operations like JustPasteIt) to automatically identify when a user is trying to upload content already in the database.
In Facebook's post-Christchurch updates, the company discloses that it added 800 new hashes to the database, all related to the Christchurch video. It also mentions that the GIFCT is "experimenting with sharing URLs systematically rather than just content hashes"—that is, creating a centralized (black)list of URLs that would facilitate widespread blocking of videos, accounts, and potentially entire websites or forums.
Microsoft president Brad Smith also calls for building on the GIFCT in a recent post, urging industry-wide action. He suggests a "joint virtual command center" that would enable tech companies to coordinate during major events and decide what content to block and what content is in "the public interest." (There has been considerable debate among journalists and media organizations about how to cover the Christchurch event in the public interest. Smith does not explain how tech companies would be better able to reach a consensus view, but unilateral decisions on that point, made from a corporate and US-based perspective, will likely not satisfy a global user base.)
One major problem with expanding the hash database is that the initiative has long-standing transparency and accountability deficits. No one outside of the consortium of companies knows what is in the database. There are no established mechanisms for an independent audit of the content, or an appeal process for removing content from the database. People whose posts are removed or accounts disabled on participating sites aren't even notified if the hash database was involved. So there's no way to know, from the outside, whether content has been added inappropriately and no way to remedy the situation if it has.
The risk of overbroad censorship from automated filtering tools has been clear since the earliest days of the internet, and the hash database is undoubtedly vulnerable to the same risks. We know that content moderation aimed at terrorist propaganda can sweep in news reporting, political protest, documentary footage, and more. The GIFCT does not require members to automatically remove content that appears in the database, but in practice, smaller platforms do not have the resources to do nuanced human analysis of large volumes of content and will tend to streamline moderation where they can. Indeed, even YouTube was overwhelmed by a one-video-per-second upload rate. In the days after the shooting, it circumvented its own human-review processes to take videos down en masse.
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ta tha ludicrousnizz of tha sort of low-level hype dat surroundz BoJack". Right back up in yo muthafuckin ass. Biatch likened it ta 30 Rock up in its mobilitizzle ta "[present] big-ass scams without havin ta commit ta them".[56] Chris Mitchell of Popzara was equally optimistic bout tha showz future, sayin dat "Fanz of FXz Archer or Foxz Bobz Burgers will definitely wanna check dis one out, as its rapid-fire delivery be always consciously spot-on".[57] Da New York Times busted lyrics bout tha show as "hilarious n' ribald".[58] Margaret Lyonz of Vulture gave a positizzle review, describin it as "radically sad. Y'all KNOW dat shit, muthafucka! I gots a straight-up boner fo' dat shit."[59]
Da second half of tha season, however, received much mo' positizzle props. Lil' Bow Wow Traverz of IndieWire believed one possible reason fo' mixed propz of tha show was muthafuckas reviewin only tha straight-up original gangsta half of tha season, wit tha second half changin drastically up in tone n' pimpin a thugged-out darker n' deeper meaning. This chizzle was so drastic dat it hustled ta IndieWire changin its policy ta only review entire seasonz of shows on Netflix, instead of just tha straight-up original gangsta six episodes, which would have boosted BoJack Horseman's C+ grade.[60]
Keith Uhlich of Da A.V. Joint named tha straight-up original gangsta season of Bojack Horseman tha fourth-best motion picture of 2014.[61]
Season 2 [ edit ]
Da second season received universal props. On Rotten Tomatoes, tha second season holdz a approval ratin of 100%, based on 19 muthafuckas,[14] while on Metacritic, tha season has a score of 90 outta 100, based on 7 muthafuckas.[62] Emily VanDerWerff of Vox freestyled dat tha show had "found its footin dopely up in season two, earnin tha title of not just tha streamin servicez dopest show yo, but of one of televizzlez dopest shows".[63] Liz Shannon Milla of IndieWire gave tha series a grade of "A-", praisin tha depth of tha showz storyline, tha voice cast n' tha superior comedy up in comparison ta tha straight-up original gangsta season.[64] Vikram Murthi of Da A.V. Joint also gave tha series a "A-", commentin dat "for da most thugged-out part, itz a entirely unique, funky, n' melancholic exploration tha fuck into tha ass n' mind of one of mah thugs strugglin ta put his wild lil' freakadelic game back on track afta a seriez of dark turns".[65] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine awarded tha series four-and-a-half stars outta five, commentin dat "BoJack Horseman's second season be a even mo' Kool & Tha Gang blend of tha various tones it experimentally donned last year, as itz simultaneously melancholic, mad salty, goofy, playful, n' often uproariously funky up in a gangbangin' finger-lickin' distinctively ineffable what-the-fuck fashion".[66] Entertainment Weekly gave tha series a B rating, statin dat shiznit was "one of TVz dopest meta-skewerz of Hollywood".[62]
Season 3 [ edit ]
Da third season received near-universal props. On Rotten Tomatoes, tha third season has a approval ratin of 100%, based on 31 props,[67] while on Metacritic, tha season received a score of 89 outta 100, based on 12 props.[68] Daniel Fienberg of Da Hollywood Reporter lauded tha season, commentin dat tha show "evolved from frothy rappin'-animal Hollywood satire ta character-rich treatise on depression up in its first season, deepened n' darkened tha fuck into one of TVz dopest shows up in its second season n' gallops tha fuck into its third season wit a profound confidence".[69] Entertainment Weekly gave tha series a A rating, statin tha season is "more digressive than tha showz first two years, n' much mo' open-ended, bustin core charactas up in different directions" n' dat it "buildz ta one of tha funniest, weirdest, n' most profound moments eva peeped up in a televizzle show".[70] Da A.V. Joint awarded tha series a A-, commentin dat "Netflix has
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(CNN) Junior lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee could get shut out of next week's highly anticipated hearing with special counsel Robert Mueller — and they're not happy about it.
The agreement reached between congressional Democrats and Mueller allowed for a limited time agreement where 22 members of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees would question the former special counsel. That's the exact number of members on the Intelligence panel, but includes just over half of the 41-member Judiciary Committee.
The arrangement has prompted an outcry, with junior committee Democrats publicly and privately grumbling about the arrangement and pushing for the committee to reopen negotiations so Mueller could potentially appear for a longer period. Republicans, meanwhile made their complaints loudly known at a Thursday hearing to vote on subpoenas, repeatedly criticizing House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler for agreeing to limit the length of the hearing in order to get Mueller to testify.
Giving some members the chance to shine — while others will have to sit quietly at the panel's most-anticipated hearing in years — has created a headache for Nadler, because his members feel they're being robbed of the chance to press the special counsel in front of millions of people watching the proceedings,
"It's definitely a problem for only a couple of us to be able to ask questions," said Rep. Karen Bass, a California Democrat who would be in line to ask questions of Mueller.
"First of all, no hearing happens that way," she added. "I mean, the hearing goes until everybody's had an opportunity to ask a question. That's standard practice, that's what everybody's used to. But considering the significance of this issue, the fact that people have read the report, they want to drill down. That would be very, very frustrating,"
Others echoed those concerns.
"Absolutely," said California Rep. Ted Lieu when asked if he would be concerned if he's not allowed to ask questions.
Several committee Democrats -- who indicated they are mainly frustrated at Mueller for his unwillingness to testify longer -- have aired their concerns directly with Nadler, who has told them he would seek to accommodate them in his negotiations with the special counsel's team over the format of the hearing.
Ultimately, congressional sources said, Democratic leaders had to make a decision given that talks were dragging for months with Mueller, who didn't want to testify. Democrats had a choice: Should they push for unlimited testimony with the risk that Mueller would continue to refuse to appear and potentially defy a subpoena? Or should they cut a deal to get him sooner and ensure he appears, hoping they would be able to get what they needed in a shortened hearing. They chose the latter.
Still, it's a bitter pill to swallow for many lawmakers if the format doesn't change.
"I'll be disappointed, but I'm hopeful," said Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean, a freshman Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. "I feel it's part of my duty to be part of this oversight. Hopefully if I don't get public questions I get private questions. But I feel an absolute duty to fulfill this role."
Rank-and-file committee Democrats were able to raise their concerns at a closed-door member meeting Wednesday evening with members. It was a subject of debate inside the room, but Nadler suggested the senior members of the committee were the ones likely to do the questioning. However, he indicated they were still trying to work out some way for other members to get in on the action, according to multiple sources.
Several Democratic members who are not expected to get questions privately raised objections to the format, saying they argued all members should be able to ask questions given that they are all elected and they all have different constituencies to represent.
"I reminded the committee that — roughly two hours, a month ago we had zero hours. Let's take the time, let's use it wisely," said Rep. Val Demings of Florida, one of three members on both Judiciary and Intelligence. "I think if every member wants to ask a question they should be allotted that time. But we just have to be very strategic, very precise."
One option that's being proposed for the members who may be shut out is that they would ask questions during the closed-door session that's slated to follow the public hearing with Mueller. But the special counsel isn't expected to attend that session: two of Mueller's deputies would be answering questions if they ultimately appear.
"It is my expectation that in some form or fashion, everybody will participate in the hearing," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a member of the House Judiciary Committee. "Either in open session or closed session."
The agreement for Mueller to testify for a limited period of time before the two committees was struck last month when the former special counsel agreed to appear if he was issued a subpoena. The agreement was made that he would appear before both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees for an equal amount of time, as well as that both panels would get a
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AMES, Iowa -- Baylor's shot a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament appears to be slipping away.
Senior Fallon Ellis scored a career-high 18 points and unranked Iowa State stunned No. 3 Baylor 76-71 on Saturday, handing the Lady Bears their second straight loss after a 26-1 start and giving coach Bill Fennelly his 600th career win.
Brynn Williamson added 17 for the Cyclones (18-10, 9-8 Big 12), who knocked off their second top-five opponent this season. Iowa State beat then-No. 3 Texas 59-57 on Jan. 10.
Nina Davis scored 16 points for the Lady Bears, who dropped consecutive games for just the second time since 2010 -- though coach Kim Mulkey was quick to point out that they went to the Final Four that year.
"I just think it's the way our schedule fell," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "You just address it and talk to them. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that this young bunch hasn't experienced it more. We're 20-something and 3 and we're Big 12 champions. That's what I'm going to focus on when we get back on that practice floor."
Baylor's first back-to-back losses to unranked teams in 15 years couldn't have come at a worse time though. The Lady Bears competing against -- and falling behind -- the likes of South Carolina, UConn, Tennessee and Notre Dame for a top seed.
Baylor (26-3, 15-2), which trailed by as much as 10, got within 72-71 with 1:53 left. But Ellis picked up a steal after a Seanna Johnson layup, and Nikki Moody's layup with 40 seconds left sealed it for the Cyclones.
Baylor clinched its fifth straight Big 12 regular season title when it beat TCU last week -- and promptly lost to Oklahoma on the road.
The Lady Bears committed six turnovers in less than seven minutes and went into halftime up 31-30 despite shooting 54 percent.
The Cyclones took control with a 14-2 run, jumping ahead 61-52 midway through the second half on back-to-back 3s from Ellis.
"It's just youth. When things break down, you've got to improvise. You've just got to be a baller out there, and we're just having to understand how to do it when you play good teams and coaches who guard you differently," Mulkey said.
Ellis, who started her career day by singing the national anthem, was 6 of 9 from the floor. Her previous high was 11 points, which she scored five times this season.
"The game? Oh man. It was crazy," Ellis said. "I'm glad we went out with a bang."
TIP-INS
BAYLOR: The Lady Bears beat Iowa State 79-47 in their first meeting in Waco...Baylor was outrebounded 37-30, and it hit just two 3s.
IOWA STATE: The Cyclones had dropped six of nine before beating the Bears...They were able to circumvent Baylor's zone from inside the arc, shooting 15 of 23 on 2-pointers. "We beat a great team. A team we've struggled with forever," Fennelly said.
PIVOTAL MOMENT
Niya Johnson missed a jumper that would have given Baylor a one-point lead with 1:30 left. Seanna Johnson was wide open down the floor for the layup that made it 74-71 Iowa State, and Ellis's steal allowed the Cyclones to burn some clock before Moody's final layup.
STAR POWER
The battle between Niya Johnson and Moody, two of the nation's top point guards, didn't disappoint. Johnson had 13 points and eight assists for Baylor, while Moody scored 13 points and broke Iowa State's record for career assists with 11. She now has 730 assists.
UP NEXT
Baylor closes the regular season at home against Texas Tech on Monday.
Iowa State plays at Kansas on Monday.
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Pandora “The Company Most Likely To Collapse In 2014”, Says Top Analyst
Pandora has been named "The Company Most Likely To Collapse In 2014" by The Street analyst Rocco Pendola. In addition to increased online competition and high royalty obligations, traditional broadcasters are finally waking up and getting innovative. By contrast, he sees Pandora as standing still. "It's acting a lot like traditional radio acted when Pandora was busy disrupting it," says Pendola.
Yesterday, Wall Street appeared to agree, sending Pandora stock down 8.9%.
Pandora stock had already taken a beating over the last 10 days after releasing slower than expected growth predictions. Yesterday, Pandora released new audience metrics for the month of April 2014, and while they showed significant growth, investors bid the stock price down again.
What's the bottom for Pandora?
Pendola thinks its a sale, perhaps to Apple. "Sooner or later somebody's going to come for Pandora," he writes. "So why not Apple?"
New Pandora Audience Metrics For April
Listener hours during the month of April 2014 were 1.70 billion, an increase of 30% from 1.31 billion during the same period last year.
Share of total U.S. radio listening for Pandora in April 2014 was 9.28%, an increase from 7.33% at the same time last year.
Active listeners were 76.0 million at the end of April 2014, an increase of 8% from 70.1 million during the same time period last year.
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at Russia as a junior partner and that's not something that they like."
Though President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently exchanged letters, Ashley said the findings of the intelligence community -- or "IC" -- have not changed.
"We still continue to assess within the IC that Kim Jong Un is not ready to denuclearize... We're still doing everything we can to make sure that we can characterize the capability that the North Koreans have, that they continue to train hard and build out their forces. And so, whether weʼre in discussions or whatever is happening on the political side of that, for the policymakers and for the senior decision makers, our job is to make sure that we're able to tell them what is happening, because they may go into a negotiation and hear something, but we're able to give them as much ground truth as possible which gives them leverage and advantage."
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One of Ashley’s goals is the MARS project -- which is short for Machine-Assisted Analytic Rapid-Repository System -- which brings together current military intelligence databases with artificial intelligence to put together "a virtual environment so that the decision makers can understand strength, weaknesses, capabilities, and that we can do it in a very dynamic fashion."
Ashley said, "the goal is not to go to war, it's to prevent war, and that really is the outcome that we desire. But, if we do go to war, obviously the objective is to win."
Fox News' Cecilia Duffy contributed to this report.
In 2018, around 1.5 million people died from tuberculosis (TB) — an infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. A major obstacle in the clinical treatment of TB is the long therapy time required to clear the infection. An infected patient needs to take antibiotics for over 6 to 9 months to prevent a relapse — a duration so long that many discontinue their medications. This negligence leads to a recurrence of tuberculosis in such patients and helps Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria responsible for the disease, to become resistant to drugs.
In a recent study, a group of researchers, led by the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology (MCBL) and Centre for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have identified factors that aid the tuberculosis bacteria in tolerating drugs for extended durations. Using this new knowledge, they successfully mapped out a drug regimen that uses existing drugs to curb the growth of drug-tolerant Mtb and possibly shorten tuberculosis treatment time.
“This is a significant discovery because we have minimal new drugs to treat tuberculosis. Discovering new anti-tuberculosis drugs is a lengthy process involving tedious approvals, taking 10–20 years to reach clinics from laboratories,” says Prof Amit Singh.
He is an associate professor at MCBL-CIDR and corresponding author of the current study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. It was funded by the Wellcome Trust–DBT India Alliance, Department of Biotechnology and DBT-IISc Partnership Program.
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Nikki) are going to once again show how good they are at what they do. As much as I want to say the Bellas are going to win, I have a feeling the frenemies are going to pick up the win.
WWE United States Championship Match
Rusev vs. John Cena
source: wwe.com
Since this is a rematch, I was hoping they would do an I Quit Match or Submission Match. Even though is a regular one on one I still think this will be a great match. I’ve grown to become a fan of Rusev’s in ring work. His style is very different and sets him apart. I’m not sure how far the Anti-American gimmick is going to run, but the office has faith him and I’m sure they’ll find a way to keep him hot. As I mentioned earlier, WWE plans to elevate the US and IC titles. With Cena needing to get his revenge and with WWE’s plan for the mid card titles, I see Cena winning the title and also being used to main event pay per view and house shows defending the US title.
Sting vs. Triple H
source: wwe.com
I’m pumped for this match! I’ll always be a Sting mark. Besides the weird voice promo video, this rivalry probably has had the best build. Having Sting on the last two Raws definitely help pick up momentum for this match. I’m surprised that Triple H has gotten much heat on Sting before this match. I think it’s obvious that Sting is winning this one. There’s no way Sting’s first and possibly only WWE match ends in a loss.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
source: wwe.com
Brock Lesar re-signing with WWE has definitely breathed new life into this main event. There are now so many potential endings for this match. Whether Reigns wins or lose this will be an opportunity to show the wrestling world he has what it takes to be a top star. My wife is not going to be happy with me, but I’m picking Brock to retain his championship. After what should be a hard fought battle, will be the perfect opportunity for Rollins to finally cash in his money in the bank and leave Wrestlemania as the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Share your Wrestlemania 31 predictions in the comments below.
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For the first few months of this baseball season, everything had been coming up “Belli vs. Yeli.” Of course, this was for good reason.
Since the two sluggers got off to scorching starts, the race for the National League Most Valuable Player award has centered entirely around Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich. Major League Baseball itself basically even recognized that these two candidates had lapped the field, releasing a commercial prior to the All-Star break featuring Bellinger and Yelich playing a comical game of M-V-P.
But baseball is a long season, and even the surest things are never a given. We might just be witnessing that right now. Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon is one of baseball’s most underrated players. Despite ranking ninth in WAR since his debut season in 2013, Rendon was finally voted in to his first All-Star game in 2019, though he did not attend. He is a player who Sam Fortier of The Washington Post described as “infamously attention-averse,” and he is also a player who just completed the third-best offensive month of his career. Anthony Rendon demands attention, and in a big way. With his excellent play last month, he might have thrust himself into the mix for the league’s highest individual player honor.
First, let us gawk at Rendon’s incredible month. In August, he hit.394/.450/.712 with a.467 wOBA and a 189 wRC+. He produced 1.9 WAR, the second-highest total among all position players:
Clearly, it was quite the month for Rendon, but it wasn’t even the best offensive month of his season, let alone his career:
Anthony Rendon’s Best Months Year Month PA AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ 2017 July 90.392.500.689.493 206 2019 Mar/Apr 86.356.442.740.472 192 2019 August 120.394.450.712.467 189 2018 Sept/Oct 123.352.439.657.456 189 2017 May 109.308.422.615.430 165 Minimum 70 PA
Rendon’s April this season was actually better than his August on a rate basis. It was cut short, however, after Rendon was hit by a pitch on April 20 and placed on the injured list on April 27. From April 21 through May 6, Rendon made just one appearance, going 0-for-3 with a walk on April 26. Since overall value depends heavily on volume, this injury put Rendon into a fairly sizable hole from the get-go. Even though his April was technically better than his August, he produced four more weighted batting runs in August (15.3) than in April (11.3).
What also makes Rendon’s August especially key as it pertains to the NL MVP race is the fact that the two favorites, Bellinger (0.9 August WAR) and Yelich (0.8), are absent from the above list, allowing Rendon to close the gap in full-season WAR and enter this very conversation. Had Bellinger and/or Yelich continued their early-season dominance, Rendon would still be a distant third:
WAR by Month, NL MVP Candidates Month Bellinger WAR Yelich WAR Rendon WAR March/April 3.0 2.1 1.4 May 1.2 0.6 0.9 June 1.0 1.8 1.0 July 1.0 1.4 1.1 August 0.9 0.8 1.9
As you can see, August was the first month in which Rendon led the other two candidates in WAR. Outside of March/April, however, he’s been pretty close this entire time. In fact, since May 1, Rendon has produced 5.2 WAR, the second-most in the National League, behind only Ketel Marte (5.4). Yelich (4.7) and Bellinger (4.2) are in third and fourth, respectively. Using WAR can be a little iffy with breakdowns like these due to the nature of how defensive stats are treated in smaller samples, so let’s compare their offensive numbers with wRC+:
wRC+ by Month Month Bellinger wRC+ Yelich wRC+ Rendon wRC+ March/April 246 205 192 May 154 122 140 June 140 187 141 July 143 179 146 August 129 140 189
In both tables, we see an interesting trend. Bellinger jumped out to a huge lead over the other two players before Yelich took over in the midsummer months. August was the only month in which Rendon led in either statistic, and you can see he led in both. We can do better at visualizing this though. While putting Rendon
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Javascript has seen a lot of change over the last years and with it, the number of JS plugins available today is huge. I would’ve loved to share an impressive number with you, but I wasn’t able to find one in this big ocean of Javascript plugins. However, on NPM alone there are over half a million packages. This is not a bad thing if you know how to find the one you need.
As web developers, we’re always looking for ways to increase website performance, and naturally a common word used for Javascript plugins is “lightweight”. Because in Javascript, size matters! Though, there is a certain point where lightweight becomes small, and that’s the point where you’re website is not awesome anymore.
Lightweight is about balancing the Javascript size in order to obtain maximum performance, functionality, usability, in other words awesomeness. Unfortunately, there’s no exact size to look for when choosing a Javascript plugin. This value highly depends on what the plugin is meant to do.
If a Javascript plugin passes in the Heavyweight area, then first of all performance is starting to drop. There might also be other problems, such as messy code, poor architecture, cluttered user interface and so on.
If the plugin is in the Small area, then we have exactly the opposite of a Heavyweight plugin: since there isn’t too much code, it’s probably not messy and it doesn’t have or need an architecture, it merely has a user interface, the UX is bad, but performance should be okay, if you have anything to perform at all.
Small Javascript plugins widely affects many areas of the Javascript world. For example WYSIWYG HTML editors have developed a bad reputation among web developers. Although it may seem easy, web editing is quite hard to tackle and this lead to the creation of over 50 small Javascript WYSIWYG HTML editors that I know of. With only a handful of good editors and tens of poor quality, there’s no wonder web devs confuse this technical challenge with a “WYSIWYG Hell” on their first interaction with it.
So let’s dig deeper and learn more about the Small Javascript plugins.
1. What’s the value?
How many lines of code are you writing daily? What’s the size of the file containing those lines? If the size of a Javascript plugin is somewhere near, then why not write it yourself?
We shouldn’t reinvent the wheel, but we first have to make sure we’re even talking about inventing something at all. Or is it just some plain obvious code there? If the Javascript plugin is too small, then it probably has some basic code and it would be far better for you to write it yourself and have more control.
Javascript plugins should bring some value in our projects in regards of technical know-how, performance, quality and time. Unfortunately, small Javascript plugins most of the time bring nothing, but pain to integrate, customize and extend. For example, just using the contenteditable attribute is not enough for a WYSIWYG HTML editor and building something only around the execCommand feature is a very bad idea.
2. UX
One of the reasons Javascript goes through continuous evolution is because of user experience. We live in a changed world and users are expecting more and more from our web apps. User experience is what makes your users stay or leave your website. This is probably the second most important aspect of your website, after performance (cause you want your website to load, right?).
If a Javascript plugin plays an important role in the UX of your website, as a WYSIWYG HTML editor does, then you might want to test it thoroughly. A small Javascript plugin, is very unlikely to have anything done for UX. The first critical aspects you should look for are:
Adoptability: is it easy to start using?
Usability: is it easy to use?
The answer to the questions above should be obvious from the beginning, if not you might want to consider doing some changes to it. How easy can you make them? The fun fact is that the integration and customization code you write might exceed the initial size of the plugin.
3. Cross browser
Although things started to change recently, Javascript is still plagued with browser compatibility issues, this should be one of our main concerns when dealing with JS plugins.
First of all, a good and respectful Javascript plugin should have some browser compatibility information somewhere. If you can’t find one, ask for it. Secondly, never blind trust that information. Test it yourself!
Some Javascript areas are known to have more problems with browser compatibility than others. Take for example contenteditable, there are no clear
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In a leaked phone call, believed to be between EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton and Estonia’s foreign minister, it is claimed Ukraine protesters were shot on the orders of their own leaders.
Above: YouTube video posted by Russia Today purportedly reveals a recent discussion between Cathy Ashton and Urmas Paet
In the conversation the speakers discuss a suspicion that snipers who shot protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square, at the height of the Maidan protests, had been hired by opposition leaders, not the Ukrainian government of ousted President Yanukovych.
It is reported that Ukraine‘s special services, friendly to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, bugged the conversation between Baroness Ashton and a man believed to be Urmas Paet, the Estonian foreign minister. It is thought the conversation took place around the 26 February, shortly after Yanukovych fled the country.
There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition. Urmas Paet
In the recording, the male voice says he has been told of evidence suggesting that one group was responsible for shooting both riot police and protesters alike, and that there is a “stronger and stronger understanding” that one of the Maidan leaders organised the shootings.
It has previously been reported that government gunmen were responsible for the majority of 88 protester deaths in the uprising.
The man alleged to be Mr Paet describes how he spoke to “Olga” – a person whom the female voice on the tape, believed to be Baroness Ashton, seems to know. He describes Olga as a doctors’ leader in Ukraine. It is understood that Olga refers to Dr Olga Bogomolets.
Mr Paet says that Olga told him that “all evidence shows that the people were killed by snipers from both sides – among policemen and people from the streets – that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides.”
He continues: “And it’s really disturbing that now the new coalition [government], they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened, so that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”
Baroness Ashton apparently responds: “I think they do want to investigate, and I didn’t know… pick that up – gosh.”
Mr Paet says the evidence “discredits from the very beginning” Ukraine’s new leadership.
State-controlled television network Russia Today, which has been criticised in the west for airing Russian propaganda around the Ukrainian crisis, posted the recording on the day that western leaders were meeting in Paris with the new Ukrainian coalition government.
Michael Mann, Baroness Ashton’s spokesperson, told Channel 4 News: “We do not comment on alleged phone conversations.”
Ms Bogomolets said she had not told Mr Paet that policemen and protesters had been killed in the same manner. “Myself I saw only protesters. I do not know the type of wounds suffered by military people,” she told The Telegraph. “I have no access to those people.”
She said finding out who was responsible for the deaths could only be determined by “fact”, and that she had been assured by the new Ukrainian government that an investigation was underway.
Ukraine’s propaganda war
RT has criticised western media outlets, saying that a “western media frenzy” is underway. The view of what is happening in Crimea differs greatly between Russia and the west.
One report on RT supported Vladimir Putin‘s statement that the Russian troops in Crimea are “local defence groups” – the images they showed differed greatly from the men, in Russian uniform but without insignia, seen at the Belbek airbase on Tuesday.
(Above: local defence groups at Belbek airbase, and local defence groups as seen on RT)
A video that went viral this week also showed an RT anchor in the US rebelling against her television channel, showing her distaste for the way Russia was behaving in Crimea.
Western media, it has been argued, has turned a blind eye to the extreme right wing elements in Kiev’s protests.
Television shutdown
There are other worrying signs that Russia and Russian media are deploying underhand tactics in order to boost the propaganda in Crimea and wider Ukraine.
Two days before Russian forces began taking control of airports and bases on the Crimea peninsula, two Molotov cocktails were thrown through the window of Black Sea TV.
Alexandra Kvitko, editor-in-chief of Black Sea TV, the only independent television station in Crimea, said the attack was a “warning to stop”. “We continued,” she said.
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It’s not too late to fire up the grill! If you are looking for a fantastic homemade BBQ sauce recipe, this is the one. This is hands down the best BBQ sauce I have ever made. Once you try this recipe, you will never need to find another. Perfect for chicken, pork, shrimp, etc. This recipe has various seasonings that all blend to create an amazing flavor. The cayenne pepper gives this sauce just the right amount of heat. Nothing complicated about this, just mix well ingredients and simmer. The longer the simmer the thicker the sauce. Bring this barbeque sauce to your next cookout and everyone will love you. This will make quite a bit of sauce so you may want to half the recipe unless you are making a lot of food. Enjoy.
clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon print print icon squares squares icon BBQ Sauce Recipe Author: Bobby Print Recipe Pin Recipe Scale 1x 2x 3x Ingredients 2 cups ketchup
ketchup 2 cups tomato sauce
tomato sauce 1 ½ cups brown sugar
brown sugar 1 ¼ cups red wine vinegar
red wine vinegar ½ cup unsulfured molasses
unsulfured molasses 4 teaspoons hickory flavored liquid smoke
hickory flavored liquid smoke 2 tablespoons butter
butter ½ teaspoon garlic powder
garlic powder ½ teaspoon onion powder
onion powder ¼ teaspoon chili powder
chili powder 1 teaspoon paprika
paprika ½ teaspoon celery seed
celery seed ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon salt
salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper Instructions Over medium heat, in a large saucepan combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. For thicker sauce simmer longer, for thinner sauce less simmering time is required. Brush sauce onto any type of meat during the last 10 minutes of the meat being cooked.
Sporadic ties between Riyadh and Tel Aviv have existed since the mid-70s, but have become more frequent over the past 15 years, during which both countries became convinced that Iran was building a secret nuclear weapons program.
Saudi Arabia, too, is determined to mark a reset after years of increasing bitterness towards Obama. When Trump’s predecessor visited Riyadh last year, he was snubbed by the King and greeted at the airport by the governor of Riyadh. Trump’s planned welcome could not be more contrasting.
“It’s a little bit personal for King Salman,” said one Saudi newspaper columnist who said he had been forbidden from giving interviews. “He doesn’t care if Obama wriggles as he writes his memoirs, but doesn’t expect him to either. He made it very clear that he thought Iran were the good guys and we were the villains.”
The perception that Saudi Arabia had facilitated the rise of extremist groups was widespread among senior Obama officials, who viewed some Saudi leaders suspiciously and claimed that proselytising by senior clerics and some officials had had spread rigid wahhabi thought into Islamic countries it had regarded as “moderate”.
The new administration has eschewed such comments, but Trump himself has claimed that “Islam hates us”, attempted to bring in a travel ban targeting six Muslim-majority countries and has hinted at immigration policies that make it more difficult for muslims to live and work in the US.
His stance towards an Arab Nato will be closely studied by Riyadh, which has suggested the idea for many years within the framework of standing arrangements – that the US offer leadership and financial support.
Trump has so far favoured bilateral models that shift the burden of payment to allies. But his reluctance to write cheques may be tempered by the suggested size of the arms deal: up to $100bn in new weapons to the Saudi military, much of which will be diverted to the ongoing, contentious, war in Yemen that has pitched Saudi forces against Houthi rebels, which Riyadh claims are directed by Iran.
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Cryptocurrency markets are growing slightly today, Bitcoin (BTC) going back over $ 9,000. the 100 best pieces, except one, listed on CoinMarketCap in the green of the press time.
BTC had reached over $ 11,500 during its week high on March 5, before dropping below $ 9,000 yesterday, March 9. is currently trading at around $ 9,500, up about 5% over a 24 hour period to press the hour.
<img alt=" Bitcoin Charts "src =" https://cointelegraph.com/storage/uploads/view/4a4e884a73230037f0ec64436902c222.png "title =" Bitcoin Graphics "/>
Ethereum (ETH ) is still below $ 800, but up from its monthly low of $ 700 yesterday, March 9. The top altcoin is now trading around $ 740 5.5 percent over a 24-hour period by the press time.Ethereum has always remained below $ 1,000 – a price point it had already broken in mid-January – since the fall of the market in early February.
<img alt=" Ethereum Cards "src = "https://cointelegraph.com/storage/uploads/view/a6d61cdad6d43df2ab30ea83ef7c909d.png" style = "width: 1150px; height: 622px;" title = "Ethereum Cards" />
Among the first ten pieces listed on CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the highest over a 24-hour period, about 9 percent, and trade Our Altcoin Ripple (XRP) is the smallest of the top ten coins on CoinMarketCap, just over 1% over a 24 hour period, trading around $ 0.84 per press time.
The total market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies is about $ 389 billion per hour press, at the lower end of its February highs above $ 500 billion, but at a record low of $ 344 billion on March 9.
<img alt=" Coin360 "src =" https://cointelegraph.com/storage/uploads/view/6eecc05330fe9b5103cfbad19c5cd4a7.png "title =" Coin360 "/>
] Source of the image: coin360.io
Although the markets are experiencing a slight recovery today, the global collapse since the beginning of the year. 39 year was awarded to the sale of $ 400 million by the trustee in bankruptcy of the former crypto exchange Mt. Gox.The recent collapse of this week can be credited to global regulatory news, including the 39, announcement by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that all encryption platforms should register with the SEC.
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BIONICS FOR BLINDNESS. Think exceptional sight would be a cool superpower? You’re in luck: Researchers from the University of Minnesota have built a bionic eye prototype that could restore sight to the blind and give superhuman vision to those who can already see.
They published their research on Tuesday in the journal Advanced Materials.
LIGHT CONVERSION. The researchers used a custom-built 3D printer to construct their bionic eye prototype. First, they printed a base of silver particles on the inside of a hemispherical glass dome. Next, they used semiconducting polymer materials to print photodiodes, devices that convert light into electric signals, on top of the silver base.
The entire process took about an hour, after which the team had a bionic eye that could convert light into electricity with 25 percent efficiency (safe to say that’s less than our natural eyes can do, since they can detect a single photon).
A FIRST STEP. We won’t be able to transplant this eye into a human any time soon. A glass dome probably wouldn’t feel great in a person’s eye socket, so the team is trying to figure out a way to print on a soft hemispherical material. It also wants to add more light receptors to increase the device’s efficiency.
Still, as co-author Michael McAlpine noted in a press release, the team’s prototype is a significant step forward toward the goal of creating usable bionic eyes.
First, it shows that the 3D-printed semiconductors are just as efficient asthose found in devices produced in microfabrication facilities, high-tech labs outfitted with cutting-edge equipment researchers use for small-scale engineering. Since 3D printers can do basically the same thing, more researchers could now start working on their own inventions that use the semiconductors, no matter whether or not they have access to those sophisticated facilities.
Second, it reveals a way to print semiconductors on a curved surface — something McAlpine says is impossible at those facilities.
BETTER VISION FOR ALL. McAlpine decided to tackle the challenge of creating a bionic eye because his mother can’t see out of one of her own,. But people with vision problems aren’t the only ones who could benefit from the devices. Bionic eyes could eventually improve the sight of anyone (though whether they’d have to remove perfectly healthy eyes to implant bionic ones remains to be seen).
Still, we’ll first need to figure out a way to convert the electric signals from the eye into something the brain can interpret. That might take awhile. But once researchers make that happen, the rest of us can start thinking about our super-sighted superhero names.
READ MORE: Research Brief: Researchers 3D Print Prototype for ‘Bionic Eye’ [University of Minnesota]
More on bionic eyes: Researchers Just Found a Way to Create Better Bionic Eyes
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Tenants of the Madison Park North Apartments have filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Baltimore City Circuit Court against the owner and management of Madison Park North Apartments for deplorable living conditions.
Advertisement City tenants file suit over deplorable living conditions City also in legal battle with Madison Park North Apartments Share Shares Copy Link Copy
Tenants of a west Baltimore apartment complex are fed up with what they say are deplorable living and security conditions. Now they're fighting back and have filed a lawsuit.To Baltimore City, the Madison Park North Apartments are a notorious place.Mobile users tap here for video."It's affectionately known throughout Baltimore as 'Murder Mall' because of the type of violence that has happened there and taken place there over the past couple of decades," Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby said.But for the complex's residents, it's home. The president of the tenants association said it has lots of problems."We live with mice. My son fell through the steps," resident Yolanda Pulley said.Pulley said when she's complained on behalf of her family and other tenants, she's faced harassment and retaliation, including having her home raided and threats of eviction."Security lied on us and told them my son was a drug dealer. He doesn't have a criminal record," Pulley said.Pulley, along with 31 other adults and 44 children, are part of a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Baltimore City Circuit Court against the owner and management of Madison Park North Apartments, Central Maryland Security Services and All County Security Agency."To address the horrible maintenance, horrible health hazards and horrible crime situation that goes unaddressed by the landlord Shelby Kaplan Sloan," attorney Billy Murphy said.Sloan lives in California. Baltimore City housing revoked the license to operate the property. The battle is still in court. On appeal, Murphy said even if the city prevails, that's no compensation for the tenants -- all receive housing vouchers, but only for the Madison Park North Apartments."These vouchers are location specific, and so essentially the residents, because of their poverty, are trapped in this building. They can't move," Murphy said.He said he hopes to change the living circumstances of the tenants with the lawsuit. No monetary figure is listed."What may be necessary is to tear this place down, relocate the tenants into safe and sanitary housing, and put something there the community can be proud of instead of ashamed of," Murphy said. WBAL-TV 11 News contacted the All County Security Agency, which is based in Ellicott City, and was told "no comment."Messages for Central Maryland Security Service in Glen Burnie and calls to Sloan and her companies were not returned.
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Endless Series is a unique audio tool from Oli Larkin. It is tough to describe it in a single sentence. The description on the ‘box’ says “Shepard/Risset Tone Modulation”, which only scratches the surface of what this plugin is capable of.
What are Shepard/Risset tones?
From the manual:
Endless Series is an experimental effect/tone generator based on the auditory illusion known as The “Shepard Tone/Scale” after Roger N. Shepard who discovered it in the 1960s. Shepard demonstrated that using basic additive synthesis principles it’s possible to create the illusion of a continuously rising or descending chromatic scale. Although Shepard’s scale appears as if it is constantly moving in one direction, in fact, after twelve steps it returns to where it started. The composer Jean-Claude Risset did further work with circular pitch illusions and created a version based on a glissando rather than a scale (sometimes known as a Risset-Tone), which he used in several compositions.
So, what does it do?
Endless Series synthesises Shepard/Risset tones and most importantly allows you to change and modulate the parameters that affect the synthesises of these tones = lots of cool design options! More importantly, it can also modulate an audio input signal using different modulation modes (more below). The plugin might not make sense on first run, but the manual is quite extensive and very clear.
Installation
It installed itself without any problems in the usual flavours – RTAS, AAX, AU, VST2 and VST3 (both Windows and OS X). It can also be used as a standalone program if you don’t fancy opening up a DAW. I tested it on OSX 10.7.5 with Pro Tools 9.0.5 and Logic Audio 9.1.6.
First Impression
I tried playing around with the plugin without reading the manual. I didn’t get very far and it also bothered me that I didn’t know what I was doing. The fifteen minutes spent reading the manual was worth it and quickly got me creating sounds that are worthy of a sci-fi film. The UI is well designed and it comes with thirty two great presets to get you started.
Modes
Endless Series operates in different modes: Tone, AM Sine, AM Input, Phaser, Flanger and Filter. Each of these change the way the plugin operates and different UI controls get activated/deactivated accordingly. Tone and AM Sine synthesise audio (additive synthesis) and AM Input, Phaser, Flanger and Filter process audio – all around the concept of Shepard/Risset Tones.
What do Risset tones sound like? Here’s what Endless Series sounds like with its default preset and the ‘wet’ knob turned up:
Control
The pitch controls are probably the ones that are used the most. ‘Centre’ sets the midpoint of the scale (in semitones), ‘Range’ sets the lowest to highest pitch range and therefore affects tonality of the sound (harmonic/inharmonic), ‘Rate’ is the rate of pitch change (it can be set all the way down to zero to generate interesting drones), ‘Shape’ sets the amplitude profile and ‘Spread’ controls the stereo width (in different ways depending on which stereo mode you are using).
The type of tone can be set with the ‘Control Mode’ menu, where, it can be changed from glissando to auto step (steps through semitones) or midi step (any MIDI note other than ‘C’ causes the scale to advance).
Additional controls allow for changing the musical scale, root note, number of partials and tuning reference.
Modulation
In AM Sine mode, it is possible to modulate the amplitude of the left and right channels individually. The modulation frequency goes all the way up to 1KHz (ring modulation). This makes it possible to create cool beating effects and crazy modulation within the audible frequency range (modulation rate between 20Hz and 1KHz).
In Tone and AM Sine mode it is also possible to add a bit randomised modulation through the ‘Noise Mod’. This is a clever addition and in my opinion a very powerful one as it allows the possibility of adding small amounts of uncontrolled modulation, which is great for adding character to a sound. The ‘Rate’ controls the rate of random pitch modulation and ‘Depth’ controls the modulation range in semi-tones.
The phase, flanger and filter are interesting to use because they do not behave like regular modulation effects (more about the sound below).
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at the hospital and who has helped Das throughout her stay, translates the conversation between Bengali and English.
Das, who weighed less than 80 pounds when she arrived in Toronto, has slowly relearned how to eat with the help of speech pathologists.
She now uses her tongue to throw small bites of food to the back of her throat. She then swallows hard to move the food down her new esophagus.
Each week she gains a little weight.
Registered dietitian Anthony Ng thinks it’s nearly time to take out Das’ feeding tube. By the look on her face, it is a momentous occasion.
On the days she has hospital appointments, Das walks between Toronto General and the downtown apartment she shares with her mother, Ajanta.
The two are almost always together.
“For all this time the thing that kept me alive was my mom’s love for me,” says Das as Ajanta, 50, looks on. “My mom used to think about me constantly, for every moment, and all she did was pray to God that I get better. This pain I suffered through my mom also suffered.”
Das smiles when she talks of her mom. She also smiles when she talks about Gilbert, who she has nicknamed “Doctor Magician.”
“What he did for me was like magic,” she says of the two surgeries Gilbert performed that allowed her to once again swallow. Scars from those procedures curve along her delicate neck, still visible behind her gold lace scarf.
But even more than Gilbert, Das is grateful for her social worker Shobha Sawh, one of the 20 members of her medical team.
This is the person who has helped Das process her husband’s violent attack and given her strategies to manage the post-traumatic stress.
“To me,” says Das, “Shobha is like medicine.”
Since Das’s arrival, the pair has met nearly every week. Sawh has explained the risks attached to her three surgeries, coached her through the frustrations of recovery and rehabilitation and created coping tactics for when she returns to Bangladesh.
At almost every step, Sawh has reinforced Das’ belief in herself as a survivor.
“We say that the past is done and now she has a clean slate,” Sawh says. “This is her new narrative to start life all over again.”
Early next year, Das and her mother will return to Bangladesh. She will not need any more care from Toronto General.
Das says she wants to become an advocate for survivors of acid violence. She wants other women with stories like hers to know they are not alone.
“For seven years, I just struggled in a hospital, in a bed, in one room,” she recalls. “But I have come through that now.”
Das will return to the Acid Survivors Foundation Hospital before making further plans for her and her mother. She is eager to see her friends and show them how far she has come since leaving for Toronto nearly one year ago.
That Das wants to become an advocate for survivors of acid violence is no surprise to Zhong. It’s yet more proof that bringing this young woman to Toronto for medical help was the right thing to do.
“We have never said: ‘Popi, you should go home and be a spokesperson for all that has happened to you,’ ” Zhong says. “We have never said that to her. But because of how many people who have helped her, she now believes her role is to go out and help more people.
“I think that is how goodness spreads.”
The fund that Zhong started in 2016 to bring Das to Toronto is now a permanent fixture at UHN. It will help other adult international patients in crisis get life-saving surgery in the city.
Officially, it is called UHN Helps. But those who started this journey with Das will think of it as the Popi Fund.
And that, like once again eating ice cream after so many years, is something that will always make Das smile.
UHN Helps, otherwise known as the Popi Fund, will officially be accepting new patients in spring 2018. To donate, go to uhnhelps.ca.
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risk too?
Yet another source of concern is the safety of your vehicle-generated data from attackers. As vehicle technology continues to evolve, the security of your car desperately needs to adapt with the times. Attackers will move on from mobile phones and laptops to the car sitting in your garage or parked on the street.
Vehicles have become gold mines, and this makes them valuable targets for hackers and malware.
No one with a smart phone or computer wants their device to be targeted for private information and details to be stolen. The same goes for today’s vehicles.
The Cost Of Convenience
Imagine this: your check engine light just turned on and you take it to a mechanic for repairs. Your repairman has access to the data stored on your car and it tells him exactly what’s wrong with it. This would revolutionize the auto-mechanic industry. It expedites the mechanic’s job and therefore saves the consumer money.
But at what cost?
We need to be aware of what we are giving away in the name of convenience. Are the small perks worth the encroachment of privacy? Are they worth the monetization of your data?
Are they worth the very real possibility of someone analyzing every word of every personal conversation and phone call you’ve ever had in your vehicle, including that one with your spouse after celebrating your anniversary, or that one you had with your daughter after picking her up from school?
A Step In The Right Direction
In a recent proposal by a California senator, the contest between vehicle data ownership was confronted and a new bill was unveiled that would allow vehicle owners to see their car’s data and decide whether or not they wanted to share it.
This is an encouraging step in the right direction. But so much more is needed.
As consumers we need to be aware of what is happening in the ever-changing world around us. We need to be realistic in terms of how the marketplace views our data and us: money.
Protecting Your Data
It is our responsibility to hold both the automobile industry and lawmakers accountable for the protection of our rights. We need to mandate transparency from our automakers and require advancements in security and privacy. Additionally, we need to stay current with the knowledge of our rights and our legal protection as new bills are put into place.
The vehicle industry has previously had practically nothing to do with technology and little-to-no need for the security of such. Having no prior experience in this field, automakers need to begin bringing in software analysts, networking engineers, and data scientists to begin shaping the security and privacy we as consumers need.
But we also need consumers to be aware of what is going on.
We need to be aware that our vehicles are becoming data-generating machines on wheels, we need to be aware of what we are sacrificing in the name of comfortable convenience, and we need to be aware of the steps we need to take in order to protect ourselves.
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Written by: Rebecca Nanako Juchems
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City Ballet of San Diego and graduated from the University of California at Irvine. City Ballet of San Diego does not have dancers, it has dance artists.
New York Times Corrections on Fast Forward: In the last six months the Paper of Record has, according to its corrections page:
• Referred to the former Baltimore Colts quarterback as "Johnny United."
• Said "millions of Americans" retire each week. At that pace the entire country would be retired by 2013.
• "Misidentified the location where Norman Mailer stabbed one of his wives."
• In an article deep inside the paper, said a black hole named Sagittarius A* will swallow the entire Milky Way. A correction reported the black hole threatens only a distant gas cloud: "It is not the case that Sagittarius A* will consume everything in the galaxy." If a black hole was in fact about to devour the galaxy, shouldn't that have been on the front page?
• On the same day published four separate corrections concerning the World Series.
[+] Enlarge AP Photo Johnny United -- according to the Paper of Record.
• Incorrectly described "Angry Birds." The correction declared, "Slingshots are used to launch birds to destroy pigs and their fortresses, not to shoot down birds." The mistake occurred in the New York Times Book Review!
• Said the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground off Tuscany, carried "half a billion gallons" of fuel. That amount is 45 times the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Correct was half a million.
• Got the wrong title for a theatrical performance that was untitled.
• "Referred imprecisely" to "an eastern box turtle that escaped from the Inwood Hill Nature Center in Manhattan. While many such turtles can be identified by 'fiery red eyes,' that is not the case for all of them. Males have fiery red eyes, but females have orange or brown eyes. The escaped turtle, Lionel, is male." Lionel the escaped turtle must have had his publicist call the Times to complain.
• Confused Snow White with Sleeping Beauty.
• "Misstated a greeting exchanged between the captain of a crew that killed a whale and a crowd onshore. They shouted 'aarigaa,' an Inupiaq word meaning'very good.' The captain did not shout, and the crowd did not respond, 'Ah ha ha!' "
• Confused thousands of dollars with millions of dollars -- reporter responsible, would you like to be chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee?
• Confused a million dollars and a billion dollars -- reporter responsible, would you like to be CEO of Fannie Mae?
• Confused drachmas with euros -- reporter responsible, would you like to be finance minister of Greece?
• "Misidentified the founder of a hazelnut venture in Bhutan."
• Described a research facility as located "700 miles east of the South Pole."
The Overlooked Tax Returns Story: Everyone's heard a lot in the past week about the low tax rate paid by Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett, compared to the high rate paid by Buffett's secretary. But there is an overlooked aspect to the release of tax returns by the leading presidential candidates -- the rate of charitable contributions.
This comparison shows that in 2010, Barack Obama gave 14 percent of his income to charity, Romney gave 14 percent, and Newt Gingrich gave 3 percent.
[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Paul Sakuma Wealthy politicians should be listing a lot more under "charitable contributions."
TMQ has noted before that if Obama believes, as he said in last week's State of the Union address, that the wealthy including "people like me" should pay higher taxes, nothing stops him from taxing himself, by the simple expedient of not claiming deductions. (Claiming deductions is an option, not a requirement.) Or Obama could tax himself by donating more to charity. Obama earned $1.7 million in 2010, and his living costs were covered by U.S. taxpayers. Yet he gave away only $245,000. The exemplar of hypocrisy is the public figure who hectors others about how they should be more generous, then doesn't give himself.
Romney does not advocate higher taxes, so his donations -- $3 million against $22 million in income -- aren't hypocrisy. But according to his IRS returns, after taxes and charitable donations, in 2010 Romney was left with $15 million in disposable income. That means Romney gave away $3 million while keeping $15 million for himself. Judged by the numbers, Romney thought his own luxury was five times more important than helping the poor, the arts, schools and churches. Taxes are what you must do; donations are what you do from the heart. Romney doesn't do anywhere near enough.
Then
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inspire you. Who brings out the best in you? Find ways to spend more time with these types of people, even if it’s just going out to lunch. Minimize time with people who hurt your mood and emotions – While we can’t always avoid negative people, we can still find ways to minimize our time with them. Is there a certain coworker who seems to always be grouchy? Then keep your interactions strictly work-focused and don’t spend an extra second with them.
– While we can’t always avoid negative people, we can still find ways to minimize our time with them. Is there a certain coworker who seems to always be grouchy? Then keep your interactions strictly work-focused and don’t spend an extra second with them. Be mindful of social media – Our online relationships can also have an emotional contagion effect. One study published in PLOS One discovered evidence of wide-spread emotional contagion through social media like Facebook and Twitter. Considering many of us spend a lot of time on these sites, it’s important that we manage the types of people (and posts) we see on a daily basis, as it is having a strong influence on our everyday mood and emotions. For example, on Twitter you can create a personal list that is only for positive people, then you can check that feed whenever you need an extra boost in motivation or inspiration (to start, follow me on Twitter).
– Our online relationships can also have an emotional contagion effect. One study published in PLOS One discovered evidence of wide-spread emotional contagion through social media like Facebook and Twitter. Considering many of us spend a lot of time on these sites, it’s important that we manage the types of people (and posts) we see on a daily basis, as it is having a strong influence on our everyday mood and emotions. For example, on Twitter you can create a personal list that is only for positive people, then you can check that feed whenever you need an extra boost in motivation or inspiration (to start, follow me on Twitter). Improve your emotional intelligence – You also have the power to control what emotions you are sending to others, so don’t forget that you play a role in this “psychological ecosystem” we all live in. Practice improving your emotional intelligence; the better you can manage your emotions, the better you can change the emotional dynamic in a room even when around negative people. Download my “Emotional Intelligence Toolkit” under free guides to learn a variety of tools and techniques to regulate your emotions – and be aware of what emotional vibes you are sending out in any given social situation.
– You also have the power to control what emotions you are sending to others, so don’t forget that you play a role in this “psychological ecosystem” we all live in. Practice improving your emotional intelligence; the better you can manage your emotions, the better you can change the emotional dynamic in a room even when around negative people. Download my “Emotional Intelligence Toolkit” under free guides to learn a variety of tools and techniques to regulate your emotions – and be aware of what emotional vibes you are sending out in any given social situation. Pay attention to all information you consume (news, movies, television, etc.) – Just as we pick up emotions from people in our personal lives, we are also influenced by the emotions we are exposed to through movies, television, and news media. The news can be especially focused on negativity since that is what grabs people’s attention the most and gets clicks. Knowing this, you should be super careful of how much news you consume on a daily basis (and how engrossed you become in news stories, which often have very little effect on our personal lives). There’s also a reddit dedicated to /r/UpliftingNews that may be a refreshing change from your everyday broadcasting.
– Just as we pick up emotions from people in our personal lives, we are also influenced by the emotions we are exposed to through movies, television, and news media. The news can be especially focused on negativity since that is what grabs people’s attention the most and gets clicks. Knowing this, you should be super careful of how much news you consume on a daily basis (and how engrossed you become in news stories, which often have very little effect on our personal lives). There’s also a reddit dedicated to /r/UpliftingNews that may be a refreshing change from your everyday broadcasting. Search the internet for pictures and videos of positive people – With the internet, we have more choice than ever about what type of information we consume. One quick trick you can use to boost your mood is to search for videos on YouTube that are funny, cute, uplifting, or positive. Even just doing a quick Google image search for “happy faces” or “silly faces”
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there as Hashad Nimrud, and another as the Hashad Nineveh, two different local Hashad groups.A nongovernmental organization working in the area confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the screening site is under Iraqi military control, but the road and area are under PMF control. Human Rights Watch has been unable to locate the detained men or any families of men detained at the site.The PMF do not have an official mandate to carry out screenings, and as far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine, have not been trained to carry out screening, raising concerns about possible ill-treatment.The authorities should ensure that no groups are carrying out screening without legal authority. They should inform family members of the location of anyone detained, allow family members to contact them, and ensure that anyone detained is brought before a judge within 48 hours to comply with Iraqi law. The authorities should publicly issue and update numbers on how many people are being held, where they are from, and where they are being held.“Some men appear to be vanishing into the night even after official screenings by Iraqi security forces confirmed they were not on their wanted lists” Fakih said. “It is crucial for the authorities to take all measures to ensure that their whereabouts are known and the scale of detention is documented.”Human Rights Watch interviewed three men from the village of Nzara, which residents call Nzaza, 40 kilometers west of Mosul. They all said that on the morning of November 4, at about 7 a.m., five other men from the village, which was under ISIS control at the time, left to sell sheep at a market in Tal Abtah, 30 kilometers south and also under ISIS control. One of those interviewed said that two of the five were his brothers, and that he saw them set out that morning.Two of the men interviewed said that a few hours later, over 100 fighters from Badr, one of the most prominent groups within the PMF, took control of Nzara and forcibly bused all the residents, about 260 families, to the village of Jurn, 25 kilometers east. The Badr fighters were recognizable from their badges and banners. Once in Jurn, the PMF checked the men’s identity cards and cleared everyone for release. They kept the residents in Jurn for 15 days, providing food, drinks, and shelter, then bused them to refugee camps.The five men who had gone to Tal Abtah did not join their relatives in Jurn, the men interviewed said. Instead, about 10 days later, they saw the men on film on al-Walaa TV, a channel affiliated with Badr. A banner under the footage said they were ISIS fighters in the custody of Badr’s third brigade in the village of Um Hijarah al’Ulya, six kilometers south. The men said the families have tried to locate the detained men through negotiations led by tribal leaders but have found out nothing more about them.Another Nzara villager, “Ahmad,” 44, said that he and three other men had left the village at 6:30 a.m. that morning for Tal Abtah to sell some of their sheep and that PMF, also recognizable by badges and banners, attacked them on their way home. He was wounded and detained, along with the villager who had driven the truck with the sheep to market, and did not know what happened to the other two men in the car. He said the fighters helped stabilize his condition, blindfolded them, and drove them somewhere about 30 minutes away.There, he said, he was moved into a room, where he was held blindfolded for the next seven days. On the first day, the fighters took his documents, including his identity card and about US$660 from selling the sheep. He did not know what happened to the driver. Someone else was in the room with him, but he did not know who, and was afraid to ask. People there treated his wounds. No one interrogated him or raised any specific allegations against him, he said, but he was not allowed to contact a lawyer or his family. On the eighth day, they put him in an ambulance and took off his blindfold. The ambulance drove him to Jurn, where he found his family.Ahmad said that the brother of the driver who was with him the day of the arrest told him that he called a friend in the Iraqi Security Forces who said that he had located his brother, who was getting medical treatment for injuries at Tal Afar airport, 60 kilometers west of Mosul, which the PMF was using as a base. A PMF fighter told Human Rights Watch that the forces have a detention center in the area, but would not divulge where. Ahmed said he has not received any news about the other two men he was with.
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, and we have kept alive the idea of common consent. But in reality we have increasingly adopted a more episcopal church government model. We run a top down system, our finances are not transparent, the people have very little say in the affairs of the church, we spend a great deal of time policing, surveying and disciplining those who disagree with church leaders.
I’ve given this lengthy introduction to my public response to the current crisis in the LDS church over the changes to the Church Handbook of Instructions that render those in same -sex marriage as apostates and their children as eligible for the LDS ordinances only with harsh qualifications. because I think now is a time for clear-headedness. And sometimes that clear-headedness can only come about by taking a step back and thinking broadly.
We need facts and we need to make decisions based on those critical facts. So I’m providing some:
Fact: The LDS church is an exclusive, high demand church that organises its power structures around the central authority of an elite group of males who pay themselves out of charitable donations without any accountability to the people. Fact: General Authorities are on a pay grade and the benefits get better as they go up the ladder. Fact: The law of Common Consent as currently practiced in the LDS church is a pretence of democracy. There is no Common Consent. Fact: Not everyone is welcome. There are many, many, many lines in the sand. Fact: The more novel a church’s faith claims the more tied the people will be to that religion because extreme belief pulls them out of dialogue and narrows them into small social circles that evoke a strong sense of belonging and identity. Fact: The LDS church’s hidden curriculum works to generate loyalty to the organisation and its leaders. It rewards fidelity and disciplines disloyalty. Fact: The principle of the atonement as taught applies only to the general population. It doesn’t apply to the hierarchy or the organisation who believe themselves excused from either apology or accountability to the people. Fact: The majority of Mormons believe that the President of the Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in constant conversation with Jesus and that the Brethren are incapable of mistakes in their governance of the church. That rhetoric is supported in the church’s formal and hidden curriculum. Fact: LDS corp has never wanted, nor embraces, nor seeks for, nor advances, nor enjoins the opinions of, nor is very changed by the concerns of the poor, women, people of colour, non-Americans, or those who are LGBTQ. These days any adjustments made to the central operations of the church on behalf of any of these groups are primarily led by pragmatics and PR more than compassion. Fact: The LDS church’s foundational organisational, policy, procedural, and sometimes theological decisions are informed by the cultural, political and economic climate and exigences of the United States of America.
These are difficult times for many, many people who have been rocked to their Mormon core over the last couple of days. In social media a flood of Mormons have announced their outrage followed by their decision to leave the church. But many more people have announced their support of the change and their absolute belief that this decision comes from Jesus.
Fact: There is only one determination that one can make about the changes in Church Handbook of Instructions that have much to say about those in same-sex marriages and their children. Either you believe the church leaders were right or they were wrong. There is no room for in between. Fact: The decision that Mormons have been required to make is not their fault. That’s the system. It operates using strict binaries, exclusions and hard lines. Mormonism is about fences and offers only wells when the sheep are inside the boundaries. That’s not the members’ fault. That’s the church’s intention. Choose the church and be saved or don’t choose the church and lose all of your eternal blessings.
Perhaps the church will change from its current governance model – but its unlikely. Organisations like this tend to make only incremental adjustments to policy and procedure when pushed – enough to take the lid off the pressure cooker – but won’t, of their own volition, change the order of things. Its unlikely that the power structures of the church will be revised any time soon. That’s the reality. There’s no will to change from the top and there are no mechanisms to force that change from the bottom. Sure people can vote with their feet but the church is flush with money (our money). It can absorb the financial cost of member attrition because it still has its property – and lots of it.
However what it can’t do is manufacture moral authority or high social status where the church community is experiencing low morale, poor publicity, and is sparking with the religious extremism that emerges when high demand religions feel threatened. Without significant
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Lori Lightfoot on Friday capped a triumphant week with the coveted endorsement of a former rival who could help boost her standing among African-American voters.
Millionaire businessman Willie Wilson, who won 58,831 votes and captured thirteen African-American wards on the city’s South and West Sides on Feb. 26, chose Lightfoot after a heavy courtship by both candidates.
“She’s the right person,” Wilson said, with Lightfoot at his side at the Chicago Baptist International Institute, 5120 S. King Drive.
Addressing the people of Chicago, Wilson added: “I’m going to ask you now to endorse her. She represents those changes that we so much need.”
News of the endorsement had actually leaked out hours earlier during Lightfoot’s appearance at a City Club of Chicago breakfast.
Lightfoot praised Wilson there as an “incredible man” with an “unbelievable life story” whose “generosity to people all over the city, particularly to the black communities that are struggling, I think warrants our support and our applause and our thanks.”
Asked what difference it would make, Lightfoot noted that Wilson is “deeply respected in black communities across the city” after spending “a significant amount of his time, his personal resources and wealth, to do everything he can to address some of the most urgent needs in those communities.”
Preckwinkle accused Wilson of making his endorsement “contingent upon him receiving guaranteed clout appointments for various city commissions and departments.”
She also accused him of demanding that Preckwinkle help retire the debt that remains from his self-funded mayoral campaign.
Those are promises that, Preckwinkle said, she was unwilling to make.
“Yet again, it seems Lightfoot is succumbing to a textbook example of pay-to-play politics, rather than looking out for Chicago’s best interests,” the Preckwinkle campaign said in a statement.
Preckwinkle’s deputy campaign manager, Jason Lee, was quoted as saying: “If Mr. Wilson’s endorsement can be bought, that is certainly not an endorsement that reflects the values of integrity of Toni’s campaign. And frankly, not one our campaign is interested in.”
Wilson said the charge “doesn’t make sense” coming from a candidate who, up until Thursday, was calling him and asking for his endorsement.
“I didn’t ask her…Why do I need anybody to retire my debt?” he said.
“I have not asked Dr. Lightfoot for anything for myself personally…When you got your own money, you don’t have to pay nothing.”
Turning the tables on Preckwinkle, Wilson noted that “the problem with Chicago— one of many, many problems — is corruption.”
“How can you expect things to change when she [Preckwinkle] is the machine?” he said.
Four years ago, Wilson got 10 percent of the vote in Round One of the mayoral election, then endorsed Jesus “Chuy” Garcia over Rahm Emanuel in the runoff.
It barely moved the needle.
In the six-week period between Feb. 24 and the April 7 runoff, Emanuel’s support increased by 14.5 percentage points among African-American voters, who had been alienated by his decision to close a record 50 elementary schools.
A former City Council ally of Mayor Harold Washington, Garcia had high hopes of resurrecting the black-Hispanic coalition that culminated in Washington’s 1983 election as Chicago’s first African-American mayor.
But it was Emanuel who came closer to bringing the old rainbow band back together.
Wilson’s endorsement of Lightfoot packs greater potential to help the former Police Board president expand her base because he won more wards than any of the fourteen candidates in Round One.
If Wilson can persuade even a fraction of those who supported him to back Lightfoot and actually show up to vote on April 2, she will take a giant step toward the mayor’s office.
Like Dorothy Brown, Wilson has deep religious roots and an older, church-based constituency.
Last week, Wilson openly acknowledged that the fact that Lightfoot is a lesbian would not play well with those voters.
“That’s a pretty hard sell... But I’m talking about contracts and jobs and schools and things of that nature,” Wilson said then.
“People have got religion. They believe in their religion, and so do I. But I have gays and lesbians in my workplace. And
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Should rape be treated differently from every other crime? This is what we’re asking when we ask about anonymity for accused rapists, which is what is being discussed, once again, this week, after the subject was addressed by the chairwoman of the bar council, Maura McGowan QC.
Rape is treated differently to other crimes already, to some extent, by the fact that the accuser is given anonymity. But that’s not the only thing that makes it a bit different. For one thing, rape is (usually) very difficult to prove because there are (usually) no witnesses, and because proving that the actual act happened doesn’t automatically prove it wasn’t consensual. That isn’t the case if someone stabs you or shoots you. So rape cases are different from a lot of other violent crimes in that they come down to one word against another.
Another crucial difference is the number of widely-held misunderstandings about what actually constitutes a rape in the first place.
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High profile politicians, like George Galloway, and columnists, like Brendan O’Neil, split hairs in the discussion of rape. Some say there should be ‘degrees of rape,’ like we have ‘degrees of murder,’ as if rape can be like manslaughter or self-defence; as if a rapist might rape as a result of provocation, or even out of helplessness.
False accusations
These ‘debates’ about whether rape is rape matter. It’s disturbing how many survivors, despite the trauma, flashbacks, nightmares, the physical injuries, still question, guiltily, whether their experience really ‘counts’ as rape. And in the same way, some rapists do not realise they are rapists. And no, that’s not an excuse: you have no excuse for not knowing that you’re not allowed to stab people, so you have no excuse for not knowing that you’re not allowed to put your penis (or anything) inside someone without their consent.
And we can’t leave gender out of this. Men are raped too but it’s impossible to separate the hysteria about false accusations from a deep-rooted sexual suspicion of women. Male rape is treated worse in lots of ways but the myths about false accusations are usually gender specific. What if your ex is bitter and wants revenge (women are crazy)? What if she wants your money (women are gold-diggers?) What if she seduces you and then cries rape (because you can’t entirely expect men to control where they choose to put their penis)?
Rape shouldn’t be different from other crimes, but it is; it’s just not different for the sexist reasons that get thrown around so often. (Reading Carol Sarler you’d think making a rape accusation is one big barrel of chuckles.)
Interestingly, the worst examples of high profile “smearing” or false accusations wrecking lives is the result of a grossly irresponsible, male-dominated, profit-driven media. Chris Jeffries? Lord McAlpine? Who talked up those stories?
Bias
All of this means that the way a rape case is portrayed in the media, and how it is interpreted in courts, often comes down to a subjective character judgment, about both the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator, in a way that doesn’t happen so much with other crimes. That’s why anonymity for the victim is essential. As soon as an accused rapist is named, especially if they’re well-known, the victim is likely subject to a hate campaign, including a public naming and character assassination, even when they have anonymity.
This is extremely unhelpful. If there are other victims out there, the naming of the accused can encourage them to speak up. But if the accused is powerful, popular, has access to money, or friends in the media, their identity can act as a shield. How many times have we heard people say about an accused rapist: “But he seems so nice” before finding that he’s guilty? Or, of course, the inverse: “He seems so creepy and weird,” before finding that he’s innocent?
Some people will go to any lengths to avoid the reality that there’s no sure-fire way of knowing what a rapist looks like. The unfortunate truth is, they look the same as everybody else, until they’re raping you. Anonymity is a complicated legal area but until we get to grips with the mythical notion of what a rapist is and what a rapist isn’t, society’s judgment of rapists will always end up being as much about subjective character judgments than about who did what to whom without
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we need it now.” And he’s done a good job of it.
So what I’m about to say should not be taken as a critique of Guy’s work, but rather the Heresy series’s path as a whole. Titandeath feels…rushed. Like one part of a much larger story, shoehorned in to make sure that Beta-Garmon is mentioned, but at a time when the ship has already sailed. And this is the only treatment of it we’re going to get. The Legios get, by and large, taken off the table. That’s all. There is a massive theater of war here, and it’s being skipped over entirely. That’s a little painful in a series that has, to be frank, its share of filler material. Titandeath leaves me wanting more – but not in the good way.
And that’s where we get to…
The Imperial Idiotball
At times, in 40K fiction, someone needs to be duped, stupid, or otherwise incompetent to make the story work. Usually, you can wave your hand and go “The Changeling Did It”. Not so here.
In nominal command of the theater on the Loyalist side is Sanguinius, accompanied by the Khan, who shows up briefly and then does…things…I suppose, entirely off-screen. And he does get a really cool scene of an aerial assault on an Imperator Titan. But as a commander, the plotting makes me feel…underwhelmed. Or something stronger than that. It left me feeling like the Angel is a moron. He’s consistently outfoxed by Horus, not because Horus is written as particularly clever, but because Sanguinius is written as willfully not clever. Important objectives are left entirely unguarded. Imperial forces are led into traps.
At the end of the day, Beta-Garmon doesn’t feel like the grim and bloody holding action it was set up as, using the system as a way to bleed the Warmaster’s forces and wait for the Lion and Guilliman to arrive. It feels like a rout. Perhaps that’s what Haley intended it to feel like, and the fact that we are leading into the closing acts of the Heresy means he’s somewhat boxed in, but it rang a little hollow for me.
Titandeath as a Feminist Work
“One of the biggest decisions I took was to make the Heresy-era Imperial Hunters entirely female. The Horus Heresy, being a war of Space Marines, is naturally skewed towards the male perspective. When we do meet female characters they are mostly individuals surrounded by men. I wished to avoid that and try something a bit different. I could bang on about the inherent narrative tensions of female characters negotiating male power structures, but suffice it to say, having female characters with real power was great to write about in the setting, and you don’t get more powerful in Warhammer 40,000 than the Grand Master of a Titan Legio.”
I’ve got to laud Guy Haley for setting out to do this deliberately, and I will say that the Imperial Hunters are awesome – and awesome in a way that feels relatively natural. They exist in the setting for the greatest of all 40K reasons – an unexpected twist on someone being too clever for their own good. In this case, a King and a bit of youthful indiscretion on the part of his daughter letting him think he was going to outwit the Mechanicum by sending the daughters of his court off to whatever fate they had in store for them, while the men stayed behind with their awesome and newly rebuilt Knights.
A good idea, until one learns that the fate those daughters were destined for was piloting Titans.
The Imperial Hunters aren’t portrayed as perfect. They have their advantages – born of their heritage, as well as the fact that unlike other Legios, they still recognize familial bonds and, having been part of a close knit group to begin with, have a sort of tangled relationship with one another that manifests itself for both good and ill. Which is especially interesting as a Mechanicum-aligned force that hasn’t completely abandoned the notion of humanity. They have agency in the setting, both as women and as commanders of some of the most powerful forces the Imperium can bring to bear. They feel interesting, and it’s not just because they’re women. They have a distinct culture – one that I feel like the White Scars would feel right at home with, which makes the absence of fast moving Scars-Legion Solaria scenes all the more disappointing. And yes, at times there is a fair amount made of the bond between sisters, and between mother-and-daughter, but how many novels
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metal body forming a shield between them and the fire. He can feel the searing heat above and beside him, but Weaver's body is blocking the rest of the flames from reaching them.
John is overwhelmed. He wasn't expecting Weaver to be a terminator. This third faction then, are they all machines?
"Run," Weaver orders.
John doesn't waste any time. He can think on this later. Sarah drags him to his feet and they run for the staircase, dodging the small explosions in the hallway. Ellison and Weaver not far behind them.
"The basement." Weaver states flatly as she comes down the stairs behind them. "Mr. Ellison. John Henry."
"We need to get out," Sarah insists. "They're trying to kill my son."
"No, they're trying to kill my son." Weaver says calmly. "Just like you are."
"I'm sure she's already done it." Sarah shoots back.
"You better hope not." Weaver replies in a cold monotone. "Your John may save the world, but he can't do it without mine."
She continues down the stairs and John exchanges a confused look with his mother before following. As they reach the end, John sees the unconscious security guard and his pace quickens, feeling a sense of urgency. What if Cameron wasn't able to kill John Henry? What if she had been too badly damaged in the breakout? But what if Weaver is right? That I will need John Henry in the future.
He charges forward, ahead of his mother, ahead of Weaver. As he bursts through the door first, he halts suddenly, his eyes widening in shock and fear.
Cameron sits in the chair, completely still, her eyes dead and unfocused. His mind is screaming. Nooooo!
Frantically, he rushes to her side, pulling back her hair and skin to see the port where her chip is. Where it usually is. He looks up at his mom and Catherine Weaver, his face ashen.
"Her chip, it's gone." NO! This can't be happening! He fights against the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. His eyes desperately searching the table, spotting Cameron's bloodied knife.
"Where is he?" He shouts. "Th-th-the John Henry!" He stutters. "He took her chip! Where did he go?" He is aware that he is shouting, his voice edged with fear. I'll kill him! I'll kill him!
Weaver slowly approaches, glancing at the knife, at Cameron's unmoving body. "He didn't take the chip. She gave it to him." She replies in a cold analytical voice.
What?
"John," Sarah says softly, nodding to something behind him.
He turns, not knowing what to expect. What he sees is a computer screen that keeps flashing words, Cameron's words:
I'M SORRY JOHN.
I'M SORRY JOHN.
I'M SORRY JOHN.
I'M SORRY JOHN.
John can feel the tears coming. Why, Cameron? Why did you do that? His whole world was suddenly crashing down. Just like Cameron thought. He never got to say goodbye to her, never got to tell her how he felt, never got to kiss her....
I would not have let anyone else, if that's what you mean. Just you. Cameron had told him.
"Where is he?" John asks.
"Not where," Weaver replies. "When."
John sees Ellison frown, standing in the doorway. "What? What do you mean when?"
Time machine... John realizes with shock.
"I know that," Sarah says, her eyes locked on a computer piece behind a clear static protection shield. "I've seen it before."
John turns around, his eyes widening. "Is that the Turk? That's Andy Goode's Turk!"
"Three dots," Sarah whispers. John looks back. Sure enough, there are three red dots on the machine.
Weaver is programming something into a computer that looks similar to the one Cameron had used in the bank vault... to time jump.
We're going to find John Henry. We're going to save Cameron. He is vaguely aware of his mother going off on Weaver.
"You Terminator Bitch. You're building Sky Net!" Sarah accuses, her voice hard with rage.
"No I was building something to fight it." Weaver replies. "And I'd watch who's calling who bitch."
Will you join us?
John squeezes his eyes shut before glancing once more at Cameron's lifeless body. He hates seeing her like this. He turns to
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Be Michael Jackson?
Hello, I was searching through the web when i came across a video. At first I thought it was a fake..... but then i looked at the hands and I knew that michael always wore a red wrist band and the person inthis video is wearing the exact same one!! I think it's him. email received from P.C. New Video Game Teaches You to Dance Like Michael
but.......
IS IT REALLY MICHAEL SINGING?
"Breaking News" is Full of Clues
We all know that Monday at midnight a new song was released by MJ called “Breaking News”. Have you listened to the lyrics of this song. In the song Michael is angry with the media because they won’t leave him alone. He talks about the public’s fascination with him in the media. He talks something about an obituary things about MJ? Now isn’t that strange considering his estate claims that this song was written in 2007. The contents of this song is current (meaning it describes MJ now for example mention of the obituary). In “Breaking News” Michael also mentions something about an adventure? Remember at the close of a rehearsal Michael said this is an Adventure? “Breaking News” I feel has a lot of clues. Do you wonder why Michael’s mom is saying that, the person sing the song is not Michael? It sounds like Michael to me, but a lot of people don’t like what “Breaking News” is saying. Michael’s mom may be trying to appeased the media by saying that it is not Michael singing “Breaking News”. I think it is Michael and that song I feel is full of clues. What do you think? Do you think Michael is singing “Breaking News”? Did you hear any of the clues in “Breaking News”? For the non believers that Michael is still alive they don’t understand the song and this is why many people feel that it is not Michael. I’m not sure why his mom is saying that Michael’s not singing “Breaking News”? I would love to hear your thoughts about what I think about “Breaking News”. Do you agree or disagree? Thank you very much and I love your sight. email received from Kimberly
I see clues in "Breaking News" which I will elaborate with more detail. In the first verse of "Breaking News" Michael I think gives reasons why he went into hiding. The first verse is: "Everybody wanting Michael Jackson, Reporters stalking the moves of Michael Jackson. So, that verse to me are some of the clues to why Michael went into hiding. He's saying everybody wanting Michael Jackson and everybody includes" fans, enemies, papparazzi, reporters, and more. He was tired of reporters following his every move (almost like stalking). But the most important clue is the second verse that states: "Just when you thought he (Michael) was done, he comes to give it again!!!! This verse to me TALKS ABOUT MICHAEL'S COME BACK!!!!! Are you excited YET!! When Michael says in the second verse "Just when you thought he was done (done meaning dead), he (Michael) comes to give it AGAIN!!!! (meaning that he will come out of hiding to perform and Direct, and be better than before.
Another, very important clue in "Breaking News" to show that this version is relating to Michael today and not 2007 when the original was supposed to have been recorded, is this verse in the beginning of "Braking News": I went around the world today, He wants to write my obituary??? Now it is possible that this part pertaining to the obituary was recorded in 2007, but I dont't think so. Because, when I first heard "Breaking News" I wanted to see the lyrics because I wanted to make sure that I heard right when he said "he wants to write my obituary". But the strange thing was that every site that I went to, to see the lyrics for "Breaking News" the lyrics did not include the part about the obituary. I knew I clearly heard Michael say " I went around the world today, he wants to write my obituary". Now this part and clue is very important, READY. Being confused that all of the sights that I clicked on for "Breaking News" lyrics didn't have the obituary
part I went to the official Michael Jackson web sight and "Breaking News" lyrics was on the sight and guess what? The lyrics on the Official Michael Jackson web sight did include the part about the obituary, AND IT IS ON THE SONG!!! Michael Jackson's Official web sight is the only sight that I clicked on that had the ob
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. Diplomats say American officials are given less access to PLA officers than colleagues from other Western embassies, who themselves are kept largely in the dark. Senior Western government officials have told me that U.S. military leaders have less knowledge of command systems, and far fewer avenues of communication, than they had with their Soviet counterparts during the Cold War. Michael Swaine, a China security expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, writes that the "fragmented and stove-piped structure" of the Chinese system means it has great trouble communicating even with itself, especially in crisis situations. He, like most other analysts, does not study corruption in the PLA because of the difficulty in measuring it.
In some ways, though, it’s hiding in plain sight. Outsiders can glimpse the enormous flow of military bribes and favours in luxury cars with military license plates on Changan Avenue, Beijing’s main east-west thoroughfare, and parked around upmarket night clubs near the Workers’ Stadium. Business people gravitate toward PLA officers because of the access and protection they bring. PLA veterans told me they are organising "rights protection" movements to protest their inadequate pensions, which they contrast with the luxury lifestyles they observe among serving officers. Retired officers have told me that promotions have become so valuable that it has become routine to pay the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to even be considered for many senior positions.
The February address, the second and most detailed of Liu’s corruption speeches, suggests the problems run much deeper than anecdotal evidence suggests. "Certain individuals exchange public money, public goods, public office and public affairs for personal gain, flouting the law and party codes of conduct, even resorting to verbal abuse and threats, clandestine plots and set ups," he said. "They physically attack loyal and upstanding officials, kidnap and blackmail party leaders, and drag in their superiors to act as human shields. They deploy all of the tricks of the mafia trade within the army itself." The way Liu describes it, the web of military cliques, factions, and internal knots of organized crime sounds more like the workings of warlord armies before the communist revolution than the rapidly modernizing force that is currently rattling China’s neighbors.
Chairman Mao spoke of "curing the disease to save the patient" in the times of discipline and austerity before the revolution. Perhaps because Liu was talking about the PLA — where putrefaction appears more advanced than elsewhere in China’s sclerotic bureaucracy — he took the metaphor beyond its usual graphic limits. In his February speech, Liu recalled a childhood tale about a surgeon in Siberia who saved himself from acute appendicitis by using a mirror to guide a knife into his lower abdomen.
"How many people on this earth are really able to operate on themselves?" he said, according to sources who verified the speech. "No matter if it is an individual or an organisation, to fix a problem when it arises requires this type of guts and nerve."
Liu’s legendary pedigree gives him license to do and say things that others cannot. He is the sole surviving son of former President Liu Shaoqi, who had been Mao’s anointed successor for 20 years until Mao turned on him at the start of the Cultural Revolution. Arrested and publically beaten, the elder Liu died in 1969 in a cold concrete prison cell — naked, emaciated, and caked in vomit and diarrhea. One of his brothers died when his head was forced onto a railway track; the other lost his sanity in jail and died shortly after his release. In 1979, Liu’s mother was released after a decade in jail; his father was posthumously rehabilitated the next year in the lead up to a great show trial for the family’s old assailants, including Mao’s wife Jiang Qing. Liu Yuan and his friend Xi Jinping, who also suffered during the Cultural Revolution, resolved to be grassroots officials in the countryside and began ascending through government ranks.
When he talks of a "life-and-death" struggle to save the PLA and the Communist Party system his father helped create, few would doubt that Liu means it. What is less clear, however, is whether the PLA can simply remove its own rotten parts as if they were an infected appendix, and whether the divided and compromised civilian and military leadership, reeling over Bo Xilai’s downfall, can provide so much as a scalpel to enable Liu do the surgical work.
Liu’s Dec. 29 "life-and-death" speech heralded what could become the biggest expose of PLA corruption since former president Jiang Zemin opened an investigation into the Yuanhua Group in 1999. In that scandal, widely covered in official media, Yuanhua used military connections to evade a staggering $6.3 billion in taxes by smuggling everything from cigarettes and luxury cars to fully laden oil tankers. The case brought down hundreds of
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Making Wall Street Tremble: Case Studies from Innovative Corporate Campaigns
Session Type(s): Panel Starts: Thursday, Jun. 20 9:00 AM (Pacific) Ends: Thursday, Jun. 20 10:15 AM (Pacific) Room: 210 AE
Over the past year, grassroots campaigns have taken on some of the biggest Wall Street corporations in the country and scored real, tangible victories against behemoths like Walmart, Bank of America and Hyatt. Come learn from the strategists and on-the-ground organizers running these campaigns and hear their case studies to learn what they did, how they did it and where they’re headed next.
[View the story “#NN13: Making Wall St. Tremble” on Storify]
Moderator
Brian Young Brian Young is the co-founder and Managing Director at the Corporate Action Network, a hub to support campaigns fighting corporate abuse with innovative organizing technology and tactics. Previously, he directed John Kerry’s digital operations in his political and official offices, including overseeing fundraising and organizing using Senator Kerry’s 3-million+ contact email list and revamping the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s web presence. He also consulted on Howard Dean’s ground-breaking Presidential campaign, ran a Congressional campaign, and, before getting involved in politics, was an award-winning documentary filmmaker. my website Follow @BrianYoung
Panelists
Shabnam Bashiri In 2011, Shabnam Bashiri helped bring the energy of the Occupy movement into Atlanta neighborhoods, by taking on foreclosures and evictions. Shab was one of the founding members of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, and has worked to build a national housing justice movement which has brought countless victories to homeowners across the country facing foreclosure or eviction. She is now the national coordinator for Occupy Our Homes and is on the National Leadership committee of the Home Defenders League. Recently she played a key role in organizing the ‘Justice to Justice’ week of action, where homeowners from around the country traveled to Washington D.C. and risked arrest at the Department of Justice to demand prosecution of Wall Street executives. my website Follow @_shab
Barbara Collins Barbara Collins has worked at Walmart for over six years in Placerville, California. As one of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart’s (OUR Walmart) top leaders, Barbara bravely led her coworkers out on strike last Black Friday, demonstrating to Walmart workers nationwide that they could take bold action and return to work. Barbara supports her two children on her Walmart wages as a single mother and is forced to rely on public assistance. Her bravery in speaking out about issues in her store has led to major local victories and inspired others to become part of the movement to change Walmart.
Andrea Dehlendorf For the last 17 years, Andrea has been a union organizer committed to working with low wage workers and building a progressive labor movement. Andrea is Assistant Director of the Making Change at Walmart campaign and directs worker organizing and the development of Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). OUR Walmart is an association of Walmart workers across the country who are coming together to build power by striking and taking action to change working conditions at Walmart. Previously, Andrea was the Executive Vice President and Organizing Director of SEIU United Services Workers West (USWW) an umbrella organization of property services worker local unions in California that have organized and secured and maintained health care and living wages 40,000 janitors, security officers, higher education and airport workers in. For 11 years Andrea led organizing for Justice for Janitors, and Airport Workers United campaigns in California that brought over 10,000 new workers into the union over the last decade. Andrea started her union organizing work with the Hotel and Restaurant Worker’s union (HERE) in Las Vegas, NV organizing hotel workers into the union. Andrea Dehlendorf lives in Oakland her five year old son, Enzo.
Maurice Weeks Maurice Weeks is the Campaign Coordinator for ACCE – The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. For the last year and a half Maurice has organized community led campaigns in the areas of Education, Predatory Debt, and Housing Justice that expose the unaccountability of wealthy Wall Street businesses and individuals and demand that they pay their fair share to Re-Fund California. In 2012 Maurice worked with student activists as they occupied their campuses, took over the capitol, and inspired their fellow classmates to rally behind the Millionaires Tax (later Proposition 30). More recently Maurice has helped shape a campaign to stimulate local economies by demanding big banks write down principal on mortgages and that they renegotiate predatory debt with California municipalities. In 2009 Maurice earned a bachelors degree in Sociology and Peace and Conflict Studies from Swarthmore College. Originally from Newark, NJ, he currently lives in Oakland, California. my website Follow @mo87mo87
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Bobaj's "Status" Video Gronze Island’s VX master branches out for an all-terrain takeover through the EU. This crew just hit a whole new status.
Rough Cut: Gronze in Barcelona Among the cuts and makeshift bumps of Barci, Geronzi and the usual suspects stack clips in surplus. Alley lurking pays off.
Hélas' "Fellas: A Cappella France and Basque Country" Video In pursuit of the flawless clip, the gang finds their footing on familiar French soil, comfortably flipping in and out of unthinkable combos. From board-flinging frustration to tech triumph, you gotta trust the process.
Hélas' "Fellas: A Cappella Paris" Video Tech gold from the Parisian streets, this footy is stocked with impeccable ledge lines, near-misses, and an epic battle at Le Dome. Enjoy...
asdf:*central-registry* :test #'equal)
and since ASDF is integrated into Quicklisp, we can quickload our project.
Happy hacking!
More settings
You might want to set SBCL’s default encoding format to utf-8:
(setf sb-impl::*default-external-format* :utf-8)
You can add this to your ~/.sbclrc.
If you dislike the REPL to print all symbols upcase, add this:
(setf *print-case* :downcase)
Beware that this might break some packages like Mito. Avoid doing this in production.
Read more
Source code organization, libraries and packages: https://lispmethods.com/libraries.html
Credits
Page source: getting-started.md
, five Forum Titles, five Badges and 4800 points. A Conquerors of the Atlas Cloth Map, Gamebook and a pack of signed Path of Exile prints are also available in this Supporter Pack. Check out the preview video below!You can upgrade from one of these Supporter Packs to another in the same series by clicking "Upgrade" on the desired pack. The process will include any pure points packs purchased since yesterday. The maximum amount that upgrades can contribute is 80% of the value of a pack.Upgrades can be done automatically via the purchase page on the website. If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to help.The Core Supporter Packs for consoles will be released at the beginning of next year. We apologise for the delay.We hope you really enjoy these Supporter Packs! Thank you so much for your generous support!
.2 nerfs do to me in PVE? It seems really unfair to the purely PVE players when the nerfs hit?
Austin: Many of the class story bosses are intentionally very difficult. This is something that all classes face and is not unique to Smugglers. The fact of the matter is that Scrapper DPS is closer to target in 1.2. Understandably, if you were already struggling with an encounter, you may view this as an undesired change. For clarity, we don't agree that this is "unfair" for "pure PVE" players as the changes are not meant to (despite popular perception) specifically target PVP over PVE.
Thanks for all of your questions, and thanks to the team for answering them. If you’d like to put forward a question for next week’s Q&A, please visit this Forum thread!
Discuss this article
Story highlights There was no container breach
No one was exposed to radioactive materials, officials say
The containers fell when a rack holding them gave way
There has been no leak of radioactive material after large containers holding it fell on a transport ship at a port in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a local fire department spokesman said Friday.
There were also no injuries and no contamination in the incident, which occurred Thursday, said spokesman Phil McNulty.
Hazmat crews inspected the ship for hours before determining that the containers had not been breached, CNN affiliate CTV reported. People working on the site were also cleared of exposure to radiation and sent home.
A rack used to transport four radioactive containers fell back onto the ship while they were being offloaded, fire spokesman Steven Martyn said.
An emergency response team from Toronto is on its way to Halifax.
Initially, a fire official reported radiation had been detected.
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Improve Your Android Coding Through Annotation
Annotations are Metadata.
And Metadata is a set of data that gives information about other data.
There are many ways in which annotations can be used. But, here we will talk about how the annotations can be used to improve our android coding.
Officially Android already provides the support annotations which you can include through the dependency as below:
compile ‘com.android.support:support-annotations:x.x.x’
Everybody wants to be a good programmer. I am also trying to improve my coding day by day.
Anyone can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand — Martin Fowler
Let’s explore the few useful annotations:
Nullness annotations
@Nullable and @NonNull annotations are used to check the nullness of a given variable, parameter, or even the return value.
@Nullable : It indicates a variable, parameter, or return value that can a null.
@NonNUll : It indicates a variable, parameter, or return value that cannot be null.
Example:
@NonNull public View getView(@Nullable String s1, @NonNull String s2) { // s1 can be null // s2 should not be null // it must return non null view }
So, when you call this method like below:
View view = getView("Amit", null);
During the code inspection, the Android Studio will show you the warning that s2 should not be a null value.
Resource annotations
As we know that Android references to resources, such as drawable and string resources, are passed as integers so we must validate the resource types. Code that expects a parameter to reference a specific type of resource, for example Drawables, can be passed the expected reference type of int, but actually reference a different type of resource, such as an R.string resource.
public void setText(@StringRes int resId) { // resId must be string resources // resId should not be a normal int }
So, when you call this method like below:
textView.setText(56);
During the code inspection, the annotation generates a warning if a R.string reference is not passed in the parameter.
Thread annotations
Thread annotations check if a method is called from a specific type of thread from which it is intended to be called.Supported annotations are
@MainThread
@UiThread
@WorkerThread
@BinderThread
@AnyThread
If you put something like below:
@WorkerThread public void doSomething(){ // this method must be called from the worker thread }
So if you call this method from the thread other than the worker thread, it will show you the warning.
Value constraint annotations
Sometimes, we have to put some constraints on the parameters, so use the @IntRange, @FloatRange, and @Size annotations to validate the values of passed parameters.
These are useful when the caller of the method are likely to pass the wrong value(out of the specified range).
Here, in the below example, the @IntRange annotation ensures that an integer value which will be passed must be in a range of 0 to 255.
public void setAlpha(@IntRange(from=0,to=255) int alpha) {}
Permission annotations
Use the @RequiresPermission annotation to validate the permissions of the caller of a method.The following example annotates the setWallpaper() method to ensure that the caller of the method has the permission.SET_WALLPAPERS permission:
@RequiresPermission(Manifest.permission.SET_WALLPAPER) public abstract void setWallpaper(Bitmap bitmap) throws IOException;
If you call this method without having required permission in the manifest, it will show you the warning.
Recommended further reading:
How to create your own custom annotations?, read here.
Happy Coding :)
Apply Now: MindOrks Android Coding BootCamp and Learn Advanced Android
Also, Let’s become friends on Twitter, Linkedin, Github, and Facebook.
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This photo taken on June 4, 2019 shows the Chinese flag flying over the Juma mosque in the restored old city area of Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang region.
Chinese official media excoriated the United States and called for harsh reprisals in editorials on Thursday after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation requiring a stronger response to Beijing's treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority.
The commentaries follow warnings from China on Wednesday that the legislation could affect bilateral cooperation, including a near-term deal to end the two countries' trade war.
A front-page editorial in the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper said the passage of the U.S. legislation "harbors evil intent and is extremely sinister".
"Underestimating the determination and will of the Chinese people is doomed to fail," it said.
By a vote of 407 to 1, the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the Uighur bill, which would require the Trump administration to toughen its response to China's crackdown in Xinjiang, a region in China's far west.
The bill still has to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate before being sent to U.S. President Donald Trump to sign into law.
The White House has yet to say whether Trump would sign or veto the bill, which contains a provision allowing the president to waive sanctions if he determines that to be in the national interest.
U.N. experts and activists say China has detained possibly one million Uighurs in mass detention camps in Xinjiang.
China says the camps are part of an anti-terror crackdown and are providing vocational training. It denies any mistreatment of Uighurs.
QRZ Callsign Search Page last updated on: Friday, December 18, 2015 Defence Minister is radio ham Sweden's Minister for Defence is radio amateur, Carl Anders Peter Hultqvist SM4HCF, he was appointed on October 3, 2014
On Friday, December 11, 2015 the Swedish national amateur radio society, SSA, had the honor to receive Peter Hultqvist, SM4HCF. He was in Karlsborg on official mission, but after this Peter took the time to complete a telegraphy test in a classroom at the old S2 led by Kjell SM6CTQ and Fredrik SA6CJZ, and then devoted an hour to the SSA archives.
The Defense Minister expressed surprise that the archive was so extensive. Eric SM6JSM had picked up some interesting documents such as QSL card from the Swedish military and humanitarian operations in a distant land, from the Palestine conflict in 1948, Katanga, Cyprus, Afghanistan and so on.
A small gift was presented, consisting of old issues of the QTC from the 30's. We hope that at some later time have the opportunity to present other delights. The picture (follow the link below) was taken in our archives and shows from left Eric SM6JSM, Peter SM4HCF and Kjell SM6CTQ.
Source SSA
http://tinyurl.com/SwedenSSA
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UK's Intelligence Watchdog 'Group' Only Has One Full-Time Member, Oversight Efforts Compared To British Sitcom
from the by-comparison,-our-piss-poor-oversight-looks-positively-robust dept
We have firmly established that the NSA's oversight is a joke. The House Intelligence Committee routinely hid documents from their fellow Congress members. The Senate side is headed by one of the most shameless champions of the surveillance state. (Well, right up until her office was subjected to it…) The administration finally began distancing itself from the NSA's activities months after the first leak, responding to the concerns of Americans with a brief list of weak reforms.
Unfortunately, it appears that we in the US are completely spoiled, at least in terms of oversight. If nothing else, we're willing to throw a lot of bodies at the problem. Over in the UK, the so-called "intelligence watchdog group" doesn't put in enough manhours to be considered a "watchdog" and certainly doesn't have enough personnel to be considered a "group."
Britain's intelligence services had a system of oversight no better than that seen in the TV comedy Yes, Prime Minister, an MP said on Tuesday during a meeting of a Commons committee.
Julian Huppert, a Liberal Democrat, said the sitcom depicting ineffectual government was an appropriate comparison after it emerged that the intelligence services commissioner appearing before MPs worked only part-time, and operated with only one other staff member.
Waller, who looked ill at ease during much of the questioning, said he had gone to see GCHQ to see if there was anything to the allegations. He saw the deputy chief of the GCHQ and was satisfied the allegations were without foundation.
Vaz said: "And how did you satisfy yourself? It seems from your comment that you had a discussion with them."
Waller replied: "Certainly."
Vaz said: "You heard what they had to say."
Waller replied: "Certainly."
Vaz probed further: "And you accepted what they had to say?"
Waller: "Certainly."
"Is that it?" asked Vaz.
"Certainly," replied Waller.
Vaz added: "Just a discussion?"
Waller: "Certainly."
Vaz, in conclusion, said: "And that's the way you were satisfied that there was no circumventing UK law. You went down, you went to see them, you sat round the table, you had a chat?
"Can I come back to this comparison between Britain and the US? I presume you are both familiar with Yes, Prime Minister. There is a line there where it says, 'Good Lord, no. Any hint of suspicion, you hold a full inquiry, have a chap straight out for lunch, ask him straight out if there is anything in it and if he says no, you have got to trust a chap's word'."
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Two members, one part-time, to oversee the activities of British intelligence services. With that level of involvement, it's hardly a surprise that 6% of the 1,700 warrants issued last year received any sort of scrutiny. With this dearth of personnel, it's hardly a surprise (albeit still unexcusable) that the initial response to the leaks from Mark Waller, the part-time intelligence commissioner charged with overseeing MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, was incredulity: "Crikey. I wanted to know if I had been spoofed for 18 months."Being a decent guy, but one who felt he had been seriously misled during his 18 months of part-time oversight, Waller immediately tried to get it all sorted out. The recounting of his vigorous efforts to get to the bottom of the intelligence community's misleading portrayal of its
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have a bit more of the good life. In addition, explore your values so they align with your work and give satisfying meaning to your life.
Jupiter can bless your ability to earn money and afford a higher standard of living, so go after new clients and business and expand opportunities with existing customers. If you're not self-employed, expand your financial life with a better job or a promotion at your current job. VIPs will favor your abilities, so chat up mentors and bosses so you can get in on opportunities and get on track for leadership. Remain conscious of budgets, as Jupiter can promote overspending, and indulge within your means. But do allow yourself to enjoy pleasures and a dash of excess at times, as Jupiter wants you to enjoy this period and have a bit more of the good life. In addition, explore your values so they align with your work and give satisfying meaning to your life. Scorpio: Grow your optimism and faith related to health and your personality by getting outdoors to enjoy activity and seeking help from a medical expert if you need one. Jupiter in your sign can increase your tendency to indulge (and your clothing size), so keep an eye on nutrition and fitness. Instead of overconsumption, enjoy a university class or lecture, study meditation or any topic that interests you, or pursue the projects you're passionate about. Also, Jupiter in your sign begins a new cycle of abundance and benevolence, so think about your character and personality and see how you want to upgrade them to reflect your ability to be kind, generous, and tolerant toward others. Increase charitable giving and volunteer more to give your life meaning.
Grow your optimism and faith related to health and your personality by getting outdoors to enjoy activity and seeking help from a medical expert if you need one. Jupiter in your sign can increase your tendency to indulge (and your clothing size), so keep an eye on nutrition and fitness. Instead of overconsumption, enjoy a university class or lecture, study meditation or any topic that interests you, or pursue the projects you're passionate about. Also, Jupiter in your sign begins a new cycle of abundance and benevolence, so think about your character and personality and see how you want to upgrade them to reflect your ability to be kind, generous, and tolerant toward others. Increase charitable giving and volunteer more to give your life meaning. Sagittarius: Jupiter in Scorpio gets you ready for the coming year, when your ruler enters your own sign and becomes super strong and highly auspicious for you and your entire life. Use this time to attend to health concerns, especially ones that affect your psychological health, tendencies toward addiction or escapism, or that require extended time for rest and recuperation (perhaps at a rehab facility or retreat center). This period also favors expanding your consciousness and spirituality, especially through dreams and studying the unconscious. Read books or attend lectures on these topics or search the internet for interesting and reputable information. If you need to create something and don't want to announce it yet, this is your best time to work behind the scenes before making something public, such as for a new business or important project.
Jupiter in Scorpio gets you ready for the coming year, when your ruler enters your own sign and becomes super strong and highly auspicious for you and your entire life. Use this time to attend to health concerns, especially ones that affect your psychological health, tendencies toward addiction or escapism, or that require extended time for rest and recuperation (perhaps at a rehab facility or retreat center). This period also favors expanding your consciousness and spirituality, especially through dreams and studying the unconscious. Read books or attend lectures on these topics or search the internet for interesting and reputable information. If you need to create something and don't want to announce it yet, this is your best time to work behind the scenes before making something public, such as for a new business or important project. Capricorn: Networking can take on a life of its own, with your contact list growing by leaps and bounds. Get out and meet new associates by attending every mixer and industry event you can. Follow up promptly by putting new contact management systems and processes in place so you can leverage these new connections for mutual benefit. You also may decide to join an exclusive club or industry association or affiliate with an organization related to your community or industry. You also likely will feel more generous and charitable, so consider endowing a scholarship, volunteering, joining a nonprofit board, or helping on a major fundraiser for a cause you care about.
Networking can take on a life of its own, with your contact list growing by leaps and bounds. Get out and meet new associates by attending every mixer and industry event you can. Follow up promptly by putting new contact management systems and processes in place so you can leverage these new connections for mutual benefit. You also may decide to join an exclusive club or industry association or affiliate with an organization related to your community or industry. You also likely will feel more generous and charitable, so consider end
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When Saudi Arabia's veteran foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, made no annual address to the United Nations General Assembly last week for the first time ever, his unspoken message could hardly have been louder.
For most countries, refusing to give a scheduled speech would count as little more than a diplomatic slap on the wrist, but for staid Saudi Arabia, which prefers back-room politicking to the public arena, it was uncharacteristically forthright.
Engaged in what they see as a life-and-death struggle for the future of the Middle East with arch-rival Iran, Saudi rulers are furious that the international body has taken no action over Syria, where they and Tehran back opposing sides.
Unlike in years past, they are not only angry with permanent Security Council members China and Russia, however, but with the United States, which they believe has repeatedly let down its Arab friends with policies they see as both weak and naive.
Like Washington's other main Middle Eastern ally, Israel, the Saudis fear that President Barack Obama has in the process allowed mutual enemies to gain an upper hand.
The alliance between the US, the biggest economy and most powerful democracy, and Saudi Arabia, the Islamic monarchy that dominates oil supplies, is not about to break.
But, as happened 40 years ago when an Opec oil embargo punished US war support for Israel, Riyadh is willing - albeit without touching energy supplies - to defy Washington in defence of its regional interests. The two have been at odds over Egypt since the Arab Spring, and increasingly so on Syria, where Saudi Arabia could now do more to arm Sunni Muslim rebels.
The real focus of Saudi anger is the Shi'ite Muslim clerics who have preached Islamic revolution since coming to power in Tehran 34 years ago, and whose hands Riyadh sees orchestrating political foes in half a dozen Arab countries.
Already aghast at U.S. reluctance to back rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Tehran's strongest Arab friend, Saudi princes were horrified to see Washington reaching out to Hassan Rouhani, the new Iranian president, last month.
"The Saudis' worst nightmare would be the administration striking a grand bargain with Iran," said former diplomat Robert Jordan, who was US ambassador to Riyadh from 2001 to 2003.
Although any meaningful US-Iranian rapprochement looks distant, Obama telephoned Rouhani, an emollient self-described moderate, during the United Nations General Assembly.
The Saudis now fear Obama may be tempted to thaw ties with Tehran by striking a deal to expand inspections of its atomic sites in return for allowing Iranian allies to go on dominating Arab countries such as Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. That such a bargain has never been publicly mooted from within the Obama administration has not stopped Saudis voicing their concerns.
"I am afraid in case there is something hidden," said Abdullah al-Askar, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Saudi Arabia's advisory parliament, the Shoura Council. "If America and Iran reach an understanding it may be at the cost of the Arab world and the Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia."
Askar stressed he was not privy to government thinking on the issue and was speaking in a purely personal capacity.
The US has no interest in alienating the Saudis. But as it balances priorities, some friction may be unavoidable - friction that worries Washington less than before, as rising U.S. domestic oil output makes it less beholden to Riyadh.
In a rare appearance, King Abdullah, who is aged about 90, was shown on state television on Monday meeting Egypt's visiting military-backed interim head of state, Adly Mansour.
His words, carried prominently in Saudi media on Tuesday, were a forceful condemnation of the "terrorism, delusion and sedition" of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which was ousted from government by the armed forces in July after street protests.
That even these comments conveyed a clear subtext of Saudi-U.S. friction showed how far the two allies' differences extend today on issues across the Middle East.
It was Obama's decision not to back Egyptian military strongman Hosni Mubarak against mass protests in early 2011 that first infuriated the Saudi royals, inspiring in them a sense of betrayal as they saw a mutual friend abandoned by Washington.
The American president's willingness to work with Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood figure elected Egypt's president last year, further vexed the Saudis, who see the organisation as a direct threat to their dynastic rule.
The kingdom was critical of US support for the rule of the modern Islamists of the Brotherhood in Egypt and privately contemptuous of Washington's qualms about July's military takeover in Cairo.
When US politicians suggested cutting aid to Egypt after Mursi was ousted, Riyadh offered to make up for any lost funds,
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West Ham are trying to sign 18-year-old defender Goncalo Cardoso from Boavista
West Ham are close to agreeing a deal to sign teenage defender Goncalo Cardoso from Boavista.
The 18-year-old centre back is on the verge of completing a £2.75m move to the Premier League side, which would see him become their fifth signing of the summer transfer window.
After making his professional debut in October last year, Cardoso went on to make 15 appearances for Boavista in the Portuguese top flight.
Cardoso has made 11 appearances for Portugal's U19 side, and played every minute as they reached the final of the U19 European Championships in July.
Cardoso made 15 league appearances for Boavista during the 2018-19 season
West Ham's major signings this summer have come at the other end of the pitch, with striker Sebastien Haller and attacking midfielder Pablo Fornals arriving for eye-catching fees.
Cardoso will face a major challenge to break into the starting XI, with Winston Reid, Fabian Balbuena, Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop all already competing for a place in Manuel Pellegrini's team.
Follow the Summer Transfer Window on Sky Sports
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Start your day with Good Morning Transfers at 9am as our team of reporters bring you the latest news and insight. Transfer Talk then follows at midday delivering analysis of the biggest stories. Then join us at 7pm for the definitive round-up of the day's news with The Transfer Show.
As well as tuning into Sky Sports News, don't miss a thing with our dedicated Transfer Centre blog.
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“It’s never politically safe, or easy, to ask the most privileged Americans to pay more in taxes,” Mr. de Blasio said.
Still, some prominent Democrats say they are concerned that Mr. de Blasio, who has a short track record as mayor, is more focused on symbolism than substance.
The mayor “wants to be a big shot,” said William M. Daley, President Obama’s former chief of staff. If Mr. de Blasio wants a national profile, Mr. Daley said, he should “lay out specifics for urban America that are doable, not just, ‘We want the wealthy to be taxed more so we can spend their money somehow.’”
“Something specific that’s urban related,” Mr. Daley added. “Not just something amorphous, like ‘the progressive agenda.’”
Friends and colleagues of Mr. de Blasio’s say that his idea for a liberal coalition — it has not yet been given a formal name — is fueled by genuine moral dismay at the rise of economic inequality and that he wants to take advantage of his bully pulpit while it lasts.
“We’re talking about the state of the United States of America; we’re talking about the direction of the country at a time of crisis,” Mr. de Blasio told reporters in the Bronx on Tuesday, before his trip. “This is something that I’m going to speak about every chance I get, everywhere I go,” the mayor said.
Some of those opportunities are not exactly by chance. When Mr. Harkin, visiting Manhattan in September, suggested an Iowa visit to Mr. de Blasio, the mayor was intrigued, and he aggressively followed up. He enlisted one of his political consultants to work with contacts in Iowa to ensure that the trip would happen.
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Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate futures increased to the widest in almost five years, raising the specter of local oil producers curtailing operations.
Western Canadian Select’s discount for November widened US$1 to US$41.75 a barrel Wednesday, the biggest since November 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The discount deepened as new supply from Suncor Energy Inc.’s Fort Hills mine helps to fill pipelines to capacity.
“If you get this sustained wide differential, you are going to see these guys start to ramp down production,” Mike Walls, a Genscape Inc. analyst, said by phone.
When discounts widened to US$30 a barrel early this year on the back of a pipeline outage, companies including Cenovus Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said they were cutting some production or starting maintenance earlier than planned. Yet, with oil-sands maintenance soon to wind down and further work not planned until next spring, there is “no relief valve for the next two to four months,” according to Walls.
Other grades of Canadian crude are also suffering. Light synthetic crude, produced from bitumen processed in an oil-sands upgrader, fell to a US$21-a-barrel discount to New York futures on Wednesday, the widest in six years, as Syncrude Canada Ltd. prepared to ramp its upgrader back to full production after a plant-wide shutdown in June. New pipeline projects, including the Trans Mountain LP expansion to the Vancouver area, have been stymied by court-imposed delays.
Existing pipelines including the Enbridge Inc. Mainline and the Keystone pipeline are at or near capacity, according to Genscape. Utilization on monitored pipelines by Genscape averaged 97 per cent for the week ending Sept. 28 and “remained near that level through Oct. 2.”
Western Canadian oil inventories are declining and crude-by-rail shipments are picking up. Stockpiles at storage facilities fell below 60 per cent of capacity last week amid oil-sands maintenance after rising to a record in mid-September, according to Genscape.
Crude-by-rail loadings in Western Canada reached a record above 220,000 barrels a day the week ended Sept. 28, according to Genscape, which monitors about 50 per cent of rail loading capacity in Western Canada.
While increasing volumes of oil are being shifted onto rail cars, the pickup hasn’t been fast enough, Walls said. Cenovus said last month it signed oil-by-rail agreements to ship about 100,000 barrels a day on tracks but the agreements won’t go into full effect until the second quarter next year.
“There’s no margin for error,” Clay Siegle, managing director of oil and alternatives at Genscape, said in an email. “If in the coming days or weeks we do experience a transportation problem, or oil operators produce more supply than the pipes can handle, then the overhang will worsen in Canada.”
The prospect of plants shutting down is not imminent, Kevin Birn, a director on the North American crude oil markets team at IHS Markit, said by phone. Although Canadian crudes are weak, absolute prices for the year are higher than the cost of operating the facilities.
Companies need WCS to be at US$25-US$30 a barrel and synthetic crude at US$38-US$42 to remain profitable, Birn said. In early 2016, even when synthetic crude outright prices were around US$14 and WCS at under US$30, there weren’t any material shutdowns, he said.
Not all barrels are exposed to the current prices. “Many companies have take-or-pay agreement for supplies to customers, Birn said. “We think the majority of production should be getting out, avoiding the deeply discounted spot market, and seeing higher prices.”
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a porn stash since Mark Penn told his mom 'I'm keeping that stack of Juggs for a friend?'"Ironically, one of the Yankovic songs in his directory gave a title beginning with the words "You Don't..." presumably the song parody "You Don't Love Me Any More." ("I guess I lost a little bit of self-esteem," Weird Al sings, "that time that you made it with the whole hockey team.") It's an odd bit of synchronicity, since the judge now faces a media firestorm — and ironically, his curiosity about free speech may ultimately make it harder for him to rule in defense of it.Though Judge Kozinski has had a stellar career, it may be Weird Al who's ultimately provided its epitaph.
Nothing pleases Amanda like a hard one deep inside her other hole
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Amanda has one of those butt holes that just looks better with a freshly dumped cum load dripping out of it, so when Jason gets a good look at her behind, hes glad she got his dick wet because he plunges it right into her anus and doesnt stop thrusting until his big wad of cum makes its way out of his balls and into her pussy.
Registration is open for todays Poker Freeroll Tournaments at STEEM's original Poker site, @lucksacks - Lucksacks.com, which has now moved to:
Showing some love and hopefully we can get a good game going!
Although everyone's not a gambler, we should embrace the STEEM casinos. Like any (healthy) community, we need them for social structure and excitement. We need a plethora of content to attract a plethora of early adopters and no-coiners.
STEEM is the leading blockchain for DApp development, so go on... get you some divs:
I play DrugWars, LuckSacks Poker and SteemBet
Hope to see you at the tables,
After announcing the grand opening of a St. Louis Hackerspace, we received a tip that another group of our readers had an event coming up. Twin City Maker of the Minneapolis/St.Paul area are hosting a Maker Faire and art show next weekend. Unfortunately, we don’t have any writers in that neck of the woods, so there wont be an official Hack a Day presence, but we are sure all of you who make it out there will do us proud. Take pictures, wont you?
The Minne-Faire will be located at:
Hack Factory
3119 E 26th St. Minneapolis, MN 55406
Mini Maker Faire 2-6 PM
Art Show & Party 7-11 PM
using drones, sensors and satellites. A further €244 million is slated to be spent on the project up to 2020.
In addition, in 2003, Spanish firm European Security Fencing patented the concertina wire used on the border fence separating the country’s North African exclave of Melilla from neighboring Morocco. That product is now also used on the Serbia–Hungary border.
According to estimates cited by Baird, the global border security industry will be worth €50 billion in 2022 but he warns the figure is deceptive. There is no official accounting as to how much migration control costs, and it is not clear which activities are covered by the sector and which are not.
“There is very little transparency,” confirms Foresti.
discounted resources for startups. Don’t pay for consulting, if you can get free mentorship from a peer. Don’t pay for rent, if you can hangout out at a free shared meeting place like Starbucks or 1871 in Chicago. And, check out preferred vendor discounts for startups negotiated by organizations like Startup America.
The key for being a good startup CEO is learning how to stretch pennies into man-hole covers. Hopefully, this post helped you learn how to best stretch your very limited cash resources and find capital sources from previously unknown methods.
Read Next: Startup financing options – equity vs debt vs convertibles
Image credit: Shutterstock
Read next: iOS 9 review: Apple finally focuses on stability and smarts
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list of available Ham frequencies in 1979. These are very small slivers of frequency, and they are used very little.
But what you will see on Ebay are a few radios here and there that have what is called “the MARS/CAP” mod. Officially, these are radios that were modified to broadcast just outside the Ham bands for official purposes. MARS stands for Military Affiliate Radio System, and CAP is Civil Air Patrol. In real terms, the MARS/CAP mod usually means that the radio has been freebanded, and can now transmit on all frequencies within the frequencies covered by the radios. For a prepper these radios are ideal because if you get a hit on a signal, you can then contact the person on the other end. Broadcasting on non-Ham frequencies, with or without a Ham license, is a pretty serious FCC offense, so beware that as long as the government has policing power, you have to be careful.
If you haven’t read my article on RTL-SDR dongles, you really should check that out. Those tools are perfect for use with these radios, because you can monitor huge blocks of bandwidth for active signals, using your computer, then if you want, contact the other party with your Ham transceiver. There are Hams that have spent many thousands of dollars to get the performance of a $50 RTL-SDR dongle and Up Converter, and their transmitter in the HF bands is no better than your FT-101 that you paid $325 with shipping.
There will be a time when “radio silence” will use up its usefulness and you are going to want to communicate with the outside world, and one of these cheap Ham radios is your best bet to do just that.
AC vs. DC Operation
I didn’t address in the video that the FT-101 and 520 run primarily on AC. They actually run on 12 volts DC, like all of the solid state radios, but they come with a built in voltage converter and rectifier box. The manual on the FT-101 shows you the pinout on the plug to wire the radio for DC, and there have been people selling the cables on Ebay from time to time. I don’t know if it also works on the Kenwood, as they are the same plug. Theoretically, if you have the pinout, you can just look up the DC inputs on the power plug and use alligator clips to power the radio from a 12 volt DC source, such as a solar charged battery. I have bought a DC cord for the FT-101, but haven’t played with it yet. The FT-101 was specifically created for low power draw in receive mode, somewhere around 400 milliamps @12v. On transmit all of these higher wattage radios require 20-30 amps @12v, which is ~400 watts. To run them AC, a cheap 400 watt inverter from Costco works fine.
Antennas for HF
As I’ve explained several times in this series, antennas for HF communications are more important than the radio itself. You can spend a fortune on a huge aluminum monstrosity and tower, or you can use a cheap wire antenna strung either between two trees, or just strung up in one tree, and get almost as good results. I elect for the latter.
For most of the contacts in this video I used a Diamond WD-330 folded dipole between two trees in the backyard, about 15′ off the ground. I bought that antenna as one of my first investments because it says that it can receive from 2-30mhz, which is most of the Ham spectrum for long distance. I like the folded dipole because it didn’t need a ground wire counterpoise, and it doesn’t need to connected to a ground rod. As you can see, it works great, worldwide, with these radios.
Since they I have learned that there are plenty of both folded and regular dipole antennas that are cheaper, and that most likely work as well, though I haven’t had the time to work them. You can get a military G5RV design for as little as $45, and other brands of folded dipole claim that they can handle the 1.8mhz 160 meter band as well, up to the legal limit of 1500 watts.
To broadcast effectively, you should also invest in a decent antenna tuner. These can be had that will handle the 200 watts on the most powerful of these radios for under $200, both automatic and manual, from MFJ Enterprises, as well as LDG. When I finally get my Ham license I will experiment with tuners to see how they effect my outgoing signal. But alas, I still am not licensed.
These radios will of course work fine with the single wire antennas from my last article
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In the last marketing and monetization interview I’ve interviewed Elbert Perez who has been very successful on Windows Phone with 15 great games. This time I’m talking to guys from 4Bros Studio who managed to become comparably successful with only one game. The game is called Taptitude and it gets a new mini-game on a weekly basis.
Your company is called 4Bros Studio. Are you literally 4 brothers?
Yes we’re real brothers. We each have full time jobs as software developers and make games in our spare time. We started working together a few years ago on our first project which was an XBLIG game called “Zoomaroom“. We had a ton of fun making this game, and ended up creating the foundation for our game engine (ZoomEngine) that we currently use to make Taptitude games.
Taptitude is the top rated app on Windows Phone. Is this the case worldwide or only in some markets?
I believe we’re #1 world wide. There isn’t a good ‘official’ site that shows the top rated apps, so depending on where you go you get different results. In the US we’re the top rated game, but it looks like we’ve fallen to #2 top rated app based on some sites. A great site for ratings is bestwp7apps.net, although at this time it looks like they only use US ratings.
For a more detailed look at game ratings, this is a fantastic site zTop (Ed.: I’ve interviewed Alexey Strakh and Alex Sorokoletov, creators of zTop in these series last October). They show ratings across all markets…here are our numbers at the time of me writing this:
Taptitude – All markets
Rating Count: 15722
Average Rating: 9.45
Tapitude – en-us
Rating Count: 10027
Average Rating: 9.43
As you can see, US ratings account for about 2/3 of our total ratings. Compared to Flixster in all markets, we have about 1,600 more ratings than them but our average is 0.04 less (10 star scale).
Flixster – All markets
Rating Count: 14175
Average Rating: 9.49
Do you do anything special to encourage users to rate the app?
Yes. We have a ‘Please Rate’ button on our main menu and we prompt the user to rate after they play a few times. This is something that most apps should do because getting reviews is a valuable feedback mechanism which can be used to drive changes in future updates. We read all the reviews and try to address concerns, and on several occasions we’ve added new features based on requests from the reviews.
Unfortunately, being highly rated doesn’t usually translate into being highly downloaded. We originally thought the Windows Phone Marketplace had a category for Top Rated apps, but it appears it don’t currently have one. “Top” on the marketplace refers to top downloaded apps.
Was it the plan from the start to do one game with lots of mini-games? Why not create 60 small apps instead?
Taptitude is ever-evolving, so I’d be lying if I said we had solid plans from the start. The initial idea was to create a few simple games with leaderboards that people can compete on. We committed ourselves to releasing a new game every week because it would keep us focused on making the games fun and scoped to something that works well on the mobile platform. All too often I see games being released that can’t be played in a 5 minute break while waiting for the bus, or between meetings or whatever. With Taptitude you can get in, feed your fish, craft some upgrades, and get a new high score in Ultra Tapper all before your waiter takes your order. We believe this bite-sized approach to mobile gaming is how people actually use their phones. Most AAA games with tons of polish look nice, but people don’t play them for very long before getting bored.
Early on we would release the new games in both standalone form and as an update to the ‘Unlimited’ version. Over time it became obvious that the thing people liked best was the sheer quantity and variety of the Unlimited version, so we stopped with the individual releases. Now that we have features like coins, upgrades, stats, crafting, etc. The meta-game aspects are what seem most compelling. Having lots of mini-games allows us to take familiar concepts and add an interesting cross-game twist. For example, you might craft a recipe in Craftitude while you’re earning coins in Coin Miner, then use the resulting upgrades in Bally Bounce to get a new high score.
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It looks like #2 Oklahoma State will face #1 LSU if the season ends today in the BCS National Championship. Who would play where in my BCS Bowl predictions? I think a lot of different unlikely scenarios will shake up. I think this season will finish on an extremely crazy note. I have lots of upsets and controversial picks in this segment. In the end I see the BCS working itself out on a very controversial note.
Vizio Rose Bowl
Wisconsin Badgers 11-2 Big 10 Champion VS Arizona State 9-4 PAC 12 Champion
Right now Penn State leads the Big 10 Leaders division. I had Penn State losing to Alabama and then winning out prior to losing their final 3 regular season games to Nebraska, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. Even if Penn State defeats Ohio State they will still lose to Wisconsin. Michigan State is 5-1 in the Legends division and has to play Indiana and Northwestern. We see a Wisconsin VS Michigan State rematch in the debut of the Big 10 Championship. This time Wisconsin wins.
Remember the 1998-1999 Kansas State team that was #1 in the country that lost to Texas A&M in the Big 12 Title Game before ending up in the Alamo Bowl? I think something similar could happen with Oregon. I could see Arizona State winning a rematch against Oregon because they have the defense led by Vontaze Burfict and quarterback in Brock Osweiler. Everyone will write off the Sun Devils and call Oregon a lock to win the PAC 12 Title since the game will be in Oregon. Oregon beat Arizona State at home and crushed Stanford so no main critic in their right mind would give the Sun Devils a chance. This and UCLA’s upset over Arizona State are 2 reasons why Arizona State would get dismissed.
I think this Oregon team loses to Arizona State in the PAC 12 Title if they have a rematch. This would basically screw the Ducks out of a BCS Bowl game because Stanford would be ranked higher in the polls thus qualifying for an At Large Bid.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma State 11-1 At Large Bid VS Stanford 11-1 At Large Bid
Oklahoma State loses to Oklahoma which causes them to drop to the Fiesta Bowl. I believe Stanford is ranked higher than Oregon in the final BCS Poll which results in Stanford getting an at large bid while Oregon gets screwed out of a BCS Bowl game. Relax Ducks fans. You may hate this prediction, but you will love my Sugar Bowl Prediction.
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Houston Cougars 13-0 At Large Bid VS Arkansas Razorbacks 11-1 At Large Bid
Believe it or not I think Arkansas and quarterback Tyler Wilson will knock off #1 ranked LSU in a few weeks. If Arkansas knocks off LSU it creates a 3 way tie with Arkansas, LSU, and Alabama in the SEC West. This 3 way tie will be similar to the 2008-2009 3 way tie that occurred 3 years ago in the Big 12 South between Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Texas. The highest ranked team Alabama would move up to #1 in the polls as Arkansas would get the BCS Bowl bid for beating LSU. LSU would get screwed out of a BCS appearance and this would cheer Oregon fans up to a certain degree if Oregon gets screwed out of the BCS due to Arizona State winning the PAC 12.
Houston deserves to play in a BCS Bowl game as an at large bid if Case Keenum guides the Cougars to an unbeaten season. Arkansas lost the 2011 Sugar Bowl to Ohio State so they would look for redemption against an unbeaten Houston team.
Discover Orange Bowl
9-3 Rutgers Big East Champion VS 12-1 Virginia Tech ACC Champion
Rutgers hosts Cincinnati on Saturday. This game could hold Big East Implications. Cincinnati is 7-2 (3-1) in conference play. West Virginia is 7-3 (3-2) in conference play. Rutgers is 7-3 (3-2). Other 3-2 teams in Big East Play like Louisville and Pittsburgh are 5-5 on the year so they may lose the overall tiebreaker to represent the Big East in a BCS Bowl game. These teams are not out yet, but they need to win out and have the conference leaders lose their remaining games. That is a lot to ask almost too much. Below is a list of the remaining schedules for each of these 3 Big East Teams
Cincinnati Bearcats Remaining Schedule
@ Rutgers
@ Syracuse
VS Connecticut
Rutgers Remaining Schedule
VS Cincinnati
VS Connecticut
West Virginia Remaining Schedule
VS Pittsburgh
@ South Florida
Looking at the schedules of those 3 Big East Teams I like Rutgers. I feel like Mohammed Sanu is due for a big homecoming game down the stretch again. Rutgers holds a tiebreaker over 3-2 Pittsburgh.
I also feel like West Virginia could lose either of their final 2 games
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, just as successful games like “All-Star” and “Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest” were choosing one style or the other. “World Series Baseball” took a brief hiatus after the Sega Saturn was phased out; its return (for the Dreamcast) looked fantastic but suffered from truly abysmal gameplay.
Given all that, the biggest challenger to “All-Star Baseball” was probably another N64 exclusive: the “Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest” series. “All-Star” provided the realism simulation-junkies were after, while “Griffey” served up a faster-paced arcade experience. Either way, 1998 to 2000 were the greatest years to be a baseball gamer who owned a Nintendo 64.
2002-2003: “World Series Baseball”
After the catastrophe that was “World Series Baseball 2K1,” Sega dropped developer Wow Entertainment and turned to Visual Concepts, the group behind its widely-praised “NBA 2K” and “NFL 2K” series. Visual Concepts’ baseball debut on Dreamcast — “World Series Baseball 2K2” — was a major improvement over “2K1,” but the series enjoyed its biggest breakout after Sega gave developing responsibilities to indie studio Blue Shift for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions, resulting in the highest-rated baseball games of both 2002 and 2003.
The trend toward realistic gameplay, which helped propel “All-Star Baseball” to the championship a few years earlier, continued unabated during this period. How else to explain the second-place finish for “High Heat,” a series with consistently subpar visuals but a slavish devotion to accurate simulation? And while “World Series Baseball” won the belt on the strength of many factors, the biggest was smooth, balanced gameplay that produced realistic results.
A look at this period, when some studios were still fully transitioning from the fifth generation of consoles to the sixth, also highlights the unevenness of baseball game franchises before the age of exclusive contracts. For instance, “High Heat,” which had struggled mightily in its ports to the original PlayStation, built on the surprising success it found on the PS2 in 2001, and ended up boasting one of the best baseball franchises of the 2002-03 period.
At the other end of the spectrum, 989 Sports’ “MLB” series — a shadow of its former self — fared poorly, struggling to adapt to the PlayStation 2. And the once-proud “Triple Play” franchise continued its decline, bottoming out in 2002 with shockingly weak reviews as critics blasted just about every aspect of the game.
However, from the ashes of “Triple Play” came “MVP Baseball 2003,” an innovative debut from EA Sports that laid the groundwork for the next great baseball series.
2004-2005: “MVP Baseball”
In one of the all-time great one-year turnarounds, EA Sports went from releasing the laughingstock “Triple Play 2002” to a fresh, exciting title-on-the-rise with “MVP Baseball 2003.” It was more than the smoke and mirrors of a name change; as obvious as it seems today, “MVP’s” meter-based pitching interface was considered revolutionary at the time. And with its next two follow-ups, “MVP” reached near-mythical status, refining the gameplay engine and adding a deep franchise mode the likes of which no console game had ever attempted before.
At the same time, Sega/2K Sports’ offerings surprisingly failed to build on the successes of 2002-03, stalling out critically with “ESPN Major League Baseball” and “Major League Baseball 2K5.” It wasn’t so much that 2K’s games were moving backwards, but they hadn’t improved as sharply as EA’s had over the two-year span. Considering 2K’s stagnation, a pair of mediocre releases from Sony and the dissolution of Acclaim’s once-great “All-Star Baseball” series, “MVP Baseball” was a shoo-in for the crown in 2004 and ’05.
Like that of Barry Sanders, there’s no doubt the legend of “MVP Baseball” (which persists to this day) was enhanced because it vanished at the top of its game. Because high-level boardroom machinations left rank-and-file gamers feeling deprived of the most critically acclaimed baseball title on the market, there was always a certain “fight the power” appeal to hyperbolizing the greatness of
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The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Liberals are insane. That’s not news, at least to anyone who watched even clips from the Democratic debates this week. They promised a unicorn that poops gold while paying for your health care and college, giving you a high-paying job and foot rubs at will. If you completely ignore the reality of the hell on earth their socialistic policies would create, it sounded wonderful.
But you can’t ignore reality with these people. Any of them. It’s reality they want to “fundamentally transform.” To do that they’re not only willing destroy what exists now, they have to destroy it.
Leftists are very open about this. They want to “tear down” the system – health care, capitalism, etc., you name it. By “tear down” they mean decimate. Most people like their health care and support capitalism, and the country, so they’re unlikely to willingly allow its “transformation” to something else.
But Democrats aren’t interested in what people want. They’re only interested in what they want to force people to do. The party of people who chants, “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE,” has no actual interest in democracy. You need only look at the lawsuits filed every time they lose a statewide referendum to see that.
So even though taking money from American citizens to pay for the health care of illegal aliens while simultaneously decriminalizing illegally entering the country is less desirable than Jeffrey Epstein crashing your daughter’s sweet 16 party, Democrats are promising to plow ahead with it anyway. Before the system collapsed and the country went broke, the world’s sick would beat a path not only to the southern border, but to every airport in the country. Mick Jaggar didn’t return the UK for his heart surgery, he had it done in New York. The late King Hussein of Jordan sought treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the Mayo Clinic, not from the best doctors in the country he ran or anywhere else in the world.
These aren’t accidents or coincidences. People with means from all over the world vote for the best health care in the world with their bodies, and those bodies flee their “free” government-run horrors. Why would anyone in this country get behind the idea of screwing that up?
They wouldn’t, willingly. So you get sad stories of people going through hell, like the one Elizabeth Warren told Tuesday night about the guy with ALS and crushing medical bills. As sad as the story is, it is the rare exception, not the rule. Yet, Warren wants to uproot the entire system for the exception rather than simply address these rarities.
Warren has a fairly large fundraising email list for her campaign and has raised tens of millions of dollars. She could ask them to help that man and his family, likely paying off his bills pretty easily, but she didn’t. That would be a private solution to a rare problem, and she has no interest in private solutions. She’d rather his family suffer and use him as a prop for the cause.
This is just one example of the crazy, there were so many. The only thing that didn’t fall out of the clown car on that stage in Detroit was any ideas that advanced the cause of liberty or paid even passive respect to the Constitutional limitations on the federal government.
I’d say it was shocking, but it’s not. I kept waiting for one of them to promise to increase the amount of money the Tooth Fairy gives.
If any of these people win, we’re screwed.
Yet these are the people who are running on the idea that we have a “moral” imperative to implement their agenda. Mayor Pete attacked Christian Senators for not supporting a minimum wage hike, for crying out loud. The party that lectured my entire life about how “you can’t legislate morality” are now demanding we all buy electric cars and pay for abortions on demand because it’s the moral thing to do.
I’m gonna take a hard pass on that.
But one of these people will be the nominee of the Democratic Party and stand a chance of being elected President of the United States next year. That’s not only crazy, it’s scary as hell.
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the "Purple Bug". This is a trick that I found which makes reflective textures purple. This may sound like a hindrance but when you're wandering through a pitch black area... you can see a lot more than nothing. By doing this I could see tons of stuff while in the dark which really helped me move around while doing this segment. Things to note here are the wall climb over the combine train, running around in the dark and extreme bunny hopping.
Ep1_c17_00a: Phase 1 time: 3:06
Our time: 3:03 Segment 1 [CooL] [0:28]: This segment wasn't as bad as some of the others, all I was required to do was bunnyhop down the corridor, do a gravity jump to get to the top of the parking garage, and then start turning the wheel as soon as I had reached the top. I was doing this map along with Typical and cRZYFST, things did get pretty competitive, but I managed to come out with 28 seconds. Segment 2 [TYPICAL] [2:35]: I really don't like this segment because it's long and there are some pretty tricky bits at the beginning. The explosive container is necessary because there is a regular zombie that blocks the door otherwise and takes ages to get rid of with any other method. The next trick is wall climbing over the fence with that chair. This simply saves me having to go all the way around the fence to get to that door and cuts off a couple of seconds. Sadly I run into a barrel but the part after went so well that I just kept the segment. After that it's just hitting the switch that starts the wait which is pretty hard to do quickly since taking damage makes use "un-usable". After that I need to survive two minutes while taking an explosive barrel into the elevator. I use a god spot which is close to the elevator and hope that Alyx doesn't get gimped while I wait. The explosive barrel is to be used later in the game. Watch very carefully and you'll see a fast zombie on fire jump past me a few times.
Ep1_c17_01: Phase 1 time: 3:22
Our time: 1:54 Segment 1 [Inexistence] [0:42]: This is the second segment in the run that drove me insane. We originally didn't plan for the barrel from the previous level, but Typical had thought of that while he ran it, so we had it to use. Not getting hurt by the barrel exploding isn't too hard, nor is running and opening the gate just enough to get the valve out. Sometimes it's hard to get the valve actually out, I used a method of pressing secondary fire a lot of times, which would remove any debris from around the valve, so I didn't pick up broken pieces of crates instead of the valve. It's possible to get to Alyx quicker, so she doesn't even manage to get into her talk, but I only got that a few times, and it's only a second difference or so and needs real luck, and along with everything else expected in this segment, not worth trying to get every time. Pretty easy getting to the combine. Sometimes I'd mess up getting through the gap or punting the crate too late, but generally easy enough. Now, the next part. What you have to do is kill the combine as fast as possible, which will let us get to the next area. Since we don't really have any guns at this point, apart from the pulse rifle, which isn't fast enough, we have to make do. Originally, we didn't throw the dustbin across, and just went slightly off-course later to pick another one up, but this one was far more convenient and faster. At one point I began to use the gas cylinder and set one of the combine on fire, so I could just kill three and the other would die, but he was taking longer than it'd take me to kill all four, so I stopped using it, as it was just adding difficulty. I'm embarrassed about the miss on the combine, but I'd been running this for days when I managed this demo, and it was the time I was aiming for and very very difficult. Earlier on in running this, I managed to get a time of 44 seconds, which we actually thought was almost impossible to beat, because as I was bunnyhopping past the antlions, they both hit me in the back and it gave me some extra speed. However, I found that just from improving at running it, I was getting matching times of that, so I knew we could get lower. The wallclimb was the thing that really cinched it for me. I found it was very hard to get a fast wallclimb with the bin, but I remembered that the more speed you go into the wallclimb with, the faster it is generally. So I
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Major report by government agencies goes against senior members of Trump administration and finds evidence of global warming stronger than ever
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
A comprehensive review by 13 US federal agencies concludes that evidence of global warming is stronger than ever and that more than 90% of it has been caused by humans.
The conclusion contradicts a favorite talking point of senior members of the Trump administration.
From Miami to Shanghai: 3C of warming will leave world cities below sea level Read more
A 477-page report released on Friday said it was “extremely likely” – meaning with 95 to 100% certainty – that global warming is manmade, mostly from carbon dioxide through the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
The energy secretary, Rick Perry, and Environmental Protection Agency chief, Scott Pruitt, have said carbon dioxide is not the primary contributor to global warming.
Despite fears by some scientists and environmental advocates, David Fahey of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and several authors said there was no political interference or censoring. It is the most comprehensive summary of climate science since 2013, showing a warming, worsening world.
“A lot of what we’ve been learning over the last four year suggests the possibility that things may have been more serious than we think,” said Robert Kopp of Rutgers University, one of the dozens of scientists inside and outside the government who wrote the studies.
Since 1900, the report says Earth has warmed by 1C and seas have risen by 8in. Heatwaves, downpours and wildfires have become more frequent.
Scientists calculated that human contribution to warming since 1950 is between 92% and 123%. It’s more than 100% on one end, because some natural forces such as volcanoes and orbital cycle are working to cool Earth, but are being overwhelmed by the effects of greenhouse gases, said study co-author Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech.
“This period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization,” she said.
For the first time, scientists highlighted a dozen “tipping points” of potential dangers that could happen from warming, things that Hayhoe said “keep me up at night”.
They include the slowing down of the giant Atlantic Ocean circulation system that could dramatically warp weather worldwide, much stronger El Niños, major decreases in ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, which would spike sea level rise, and massive release of methane and carbon dioxide from thawing permafrost that could turbo-charge warming.
Researchers did not provide an estimate of how likely it was that tipping points would occur, but “there is certainly some chance of some of these things happening,” Fahey said.
The report also documented how different climate change-caused events can interact in a complex way to make life worse such as the California wildfires and Superstorm Sandy five years ago.
“It shows that if anything the findings of scientists have become more dire” since 2013, said University of California Berkeley climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, who was not part of the work.
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leverage and unreal strength enabled him to manhandle Fusco and others in one-on-one matchups. After Daniels’ utter domination in the first quarter, offensive coordinator Norv Turner made doubly sure he’d be double-teamed. Letroy Guion was off to a solid start against his old team before departing after eight snaps with a knee injury. It opened the door for rookie Kenny Clark to play 38 snaps and, for the first time, show what he’s about. He showed a burst to the ball laterally. He recoiled off a double team to tackle Jerick McKinnon for a 2-yard gain. He split a double team with a back-door move that led to a tackle for loss. He batted a pass. He played with some emotion. Christian Ringo and Dean Lowry split 12 snaps.
LINEBACKERS (4½)
Julius Peppers, almost invisible in the opener, demonstrated he still has life with a team-leading 1½ sacks, two knockdowns and 4½ pressures. Much of his damage came against RT Andre Smith, the ex-Bengal who appeared petrified of getting beat by quickness and backed up five or six steps before engaging him. Peppers’ 27 snaps included 16 at OLB and 11 as an interior rusher in sub. Until the last series, he almost never played in base. With the Packers in the 3-4 base on 23 snaps, Datone Jones was the 5-technique for all but three ahead of Lowry. Jones is so strong and determined that the coaches must feel he can hold up even at a reduced weight. Clay Matthews (38) sat out the seven-play final series apparently due to injury. He’s playing fast and strong. Nick Perry (49) had 2½ pressures and, along with Matthews and the other OLBs, set a rugged edge so Adrian Peterson had no room to bounce outside. Even rookie Kyler Fackrell flashed ability on several of his seven snaps. On the inside, Jake Ryan (45), Blake Martinez (41) and Joe Thomas (17) were gap sound, tackled crisply and played with the confidence necessary to compete against Peterson. Ryan played a role in three tackles for loss and was sticky in matchup coverage. It won’t be long before Martinez notches an interception or two. He sees routes developing and gets in throwing lanes. Thomas continues to show that he can break down in space, come to balance and hammer small, quick backs in their tracks.
DEFENSIVE BACKS (1½)
In Jacksonville, Damrarious Randall (58) played as well as almost anyone on the roster. In Minnesota, he got torched. Stefon Diggs’ nine-catch, 182-yard night wasn’t all his responsibility but the bulk of it probably was. In the first 16 minutes, slot receiver Adam Thielen beat Randall easily on sideline passes worth 15 and 12 yards when he played too soft. When Diggs crossed behind the line on fourth and 1, Randall was too nonchalant getting into position and didn’t look ready when Diggs broke it across his face for four yards. At times, Randall appeared to expect safety or linebacker help, but he was within range to make plays and didn’t on Diggs’ catches for 44, 46 and a 25-yard TD. He also was penalized twice for interference, and the last one killed the team’s last chance. There’s no excuse for having a game like that. He must get into better football position earlier and stop thinking he can open his hips and run with everybody. With Sam Shields (concussion) out, LaDarius Gunter (35) started, forced a fumble and was OK, as was nickel back Quinten Rollins (41). Shields is the stopper that the Packers lacked. TE Kyle Rudolph didn’t run much of a route but still was able to win a contested eight-yard TD from Morgan Burnett (45). It’s a tough coverage but with faster reaction it can be defended.
KICKERS (1½)
Even though P Jacob Schum had the pleasure of working in a dome, two of his five punts were unsatisfactory. His averages were 38.6 yards, gross and net, and 4.35 seconds of hang time. Mason Crosby’s three kickoffs averaged 72.3 and 4.10.
SPECIAL TEAMS (4)
Montgomery, with a timely assist from Thomas, broke through the middle and blocked the second of Jeff Locke’s seven punts. The dynamic Cordarrelle Patterson returned one kickoff for 37 yards before Randall made a sure tackle. His other runback, 25 yards, could have been for far more if Marwin Evans hadn’t made a hard-nosed frontal hit. It’s hard to quibble with Davis’
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This post is part of a series expanding on suggestions from twitter users and contributors on reddit.com’s rstats forum about tips and tricks that they wish they had learned earlier.
Writing functions in R isn’t something that people start doing right away, and it is something that people often actively avoid since functions often require rewriting code, and, in some cases, mean you have to think hard about how data looks and behaves in the context of your analysis. When you’re starting out a project, or a piece of analysis it can often seem easier to just cut and paste pieces of code, replacing key variable names. In the long term this kind of cutting and pasting can cause serious problems in analysis.
It’s funny. We have no problem using functions in our day to day programming: lm, plot, sqrt. These functions simplify our data analysis, we use them over and over, and we’d never think about using the raw code, but when it comes to our analysis we’re willing to cut and paste, and let fairly simple sets of operations run into the hundreds of lines just because we don’t want to (or don’t know how to) add a few simple lines of code to make operations simpler.
Functions can improve your code in a few ways:
Fewer overall lines of code, makes it easier to collaborate, share & manage analysis Faster debugging when you find mistakes Opportunities to make further improvements using lapply, parallel applications and other *ply functions. Fewer variables in memory, faster processing over time.
So let’s look at what a function does: A function is a piece of code – a set of instructions – that takes in variables, performs an operation on those variables, and then returns a value.
For example, the function lm takes in information about two variables, as a formula, and then calculates the linear model relating them. The actual function is 66 lines of code (you can just type lm into your console), but it includes calls to another function, lm.fit that is 67 lines long, and that too includes calls to other functions. I’m sure we can all agree that
null.model <- lm(satisfaction ~ 1) # the null model my.postdoc <- lm(satisfaction ~ functions.used) ideal.postdoc <- lm(satisfaction ~ functions.used + work.life.balance)
is much cleaner and satisfying than 180 lines of code, and it’s much easier to edit and change.
If you look at your code and you’ve got blocks of code that you use repeatedly it’s time to sit down and do a bit of work. This should be fully reproducible:
library(analogue) data(Pollen, Climate, Location, Biome) # Cleaning pollen data: # Is the location in our bounding box (Eastern North America) good.loc <- Biome$Fedorova %in% c(‘Deciduous Forest’, ‘Prairies’) Pollen.clip <- Pollen[good.loc,] Pollen.trans <- apply(Pollen.clip, 1, sqrt) pol.mean <- rowMeans(Pollen.trans) Climate.clip <- Climate[good.loc,] Climate.trans <- apply(Climate.clip, 1, scale) clim.mean <- rowMeans(Climate.trans) Location.clip <- Location[good.loc,] Location.mean <- rowMeans(Location.clip)
This is a simple example, and it doesn’t exactly make sense (there’s no reason to average the rows). But, it is clear that for all three datasets (climate, location and pollen) we are doing the same general set of operations.
So, what are the things we are doing that are common?
We’re removing a common set of sample sites We are applying a function by rows (except Location) We are averaging by row.
So, this seems like a decent candidate for building a function. Right now we’re at 9 rows, so keep that in mind.
We want to pass in a variable, so we’ll call it x, and we’re applying a function across rows before averaging, so we can pass in a function name as y. Location is a bit tricky, we don’t actually transform it, but there is a function called identity that just returns the argument passed to it, so we could use that. Lastly, we do the rowMean, so we can pass it out. Let’s try to construct the function:
library(analogue) data(Pollen, Climate, Location, Biome) clip_mean <- function(
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in property damage.23
Sex, date of birth, race/ethnicity, and insurance payor at last visit were determined from the EHR. We used ICD-9-CM codes to determine the presence of seizure disorder (345x) and disruptive behavior disorders (conduct disorder [312x] and oppositional defiant disorder [313.81]). For each participant with ADHD, we determined from the EHR whether an ADHD medication was prescribed by a CHOP clinician within 12 months of licensure (a proxy for ADHD severity) and within 30 days of licensure (given that ADHD stimulant medications prescriptions cover 30 days and cannot be refilled). We used the 2010 US Census Gazetteer Files and 2007 to 2011 American Community Survey data to categorize residence zip code at last visit into quintiles of population density and median household income, respectively.24,25
Statistical Analysis
Analyses were restricted to 2479 individuals with ADHD and 15 865 individuals without ADHD who had at least 1 full month of follow-up after becoming age-eligible for licensure (Figure 1). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to estimate cumulative probability of licensure and crash involvement over time; the log-rank test was used to compare differences. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs). The proportionality assumption was assessed using Kolmogorov-type supremum tests and by considering the interaction of ADHD status with follow-up time. The association between ADHD and time to licensure was observed to vary temporally in males (supremum test: P <.001), but not females (P =.10); thus, to account for time dependence among males only, final Cox models that used linear and quadratic terms determined to provide the best model fit by likelihood ratio tests. The association between ADHD and time to first crash did not vary over time (P =.40). Adjusted models include potential confounders chosen a priori based on known or suspected associations with ADHD (or its clinical diagnosis) and driving outcomes including sex, race/ethnicity, insurance payor, disruptive behavior and seizure disorders, licensure age (for crash outcome), primary care practice, birth year, and zip code–level income and population density. Multiplicative interaction was assessed using likelihood ratio tests. We examined the association between medication and crashes among the 1036 licensed drivers with ADHD who had a CHOP network visit in the year before licensure. We compared crash hazards in the 2 years after licensure for 3 groups: those not prescribed ADHD medication within the year before licensure; those prescribed medication in the year before licensure but not in the 30 days before licensure; and those prescribed medication within 30 days of licensure. Estimates were considered significant at the.05 level, and hypothesis tests were 2-sided. Analyses were conducted in SAS, version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc).
Results
Study Population
Individuals had a median of 19 primary care visits (interquartile range [IQR], 10-33), had their last visit at a median age of 18.0 years (IQR, 16.0-18.9), and were a median age of 22.2 years (IQR, 19.7-24.8) at the end of the study period (Table 1). Individuals with ADHD had a median of 2 primary care visits (IQR, 1-5) that included an ADHD-specific ICD-9-CM code. Table 1 shows comparisons of relevant characteristics.
Licensing Rates
Overall, 222 of 691 females with ADHD (32.1%) and 3874 of 8323 females without ADHD (46.5%) were licensed in their first month of eligibility, and 311 of 391 (79.5%) and 4502 of 5210 (86.4%), respectively, were licensed by age 21 years. Table 2 shows the unadjusted cumulative probability of licensure by select ages. Licensing rates among males were lower in ADHD and non-ADHD groups but followed a similar pattern. Unadjusted curves of time to licensure by ADHD status and sex are shown in Figure 2. Among males, adjusted Cox models indicated that differences in licensure between ADHD and non-ADHD groups diminished over time (by age 17.5 years: aHR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.61-0.70 vs by age 19 years: aHR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.87-1.14). Among females, the difference remained constant over time (aHR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.58-0.70). Among individuals ultimately licensed, females with ADHD were older at licensure than females without ADHD (median age, 17.2 years; IQR, 17.0-17.8 years vs 17.0 years; IQR, 17.0-17.5 years; P <.001) and
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to fit in with the social world around us.”
Yeah, it sure is uncomfortable. I think that this is what is messing me up. My belief — one instilled by naïve romanticism for an era briefly preceding mine and reinforced by the older creative types with whom I hang — is that artists should be paid. I believe music still holds immense cultural and social capital. Music is how I identify myself. It’s the thing I find most interesting in life. But, are my actions consistent with that?
I’m not…sure. Frustratingly, I don’t think you can recognize this effect within yourself, and, if you could, maybe only in hindsight. I mean, I want to believe that I buy what I like, but looking at my collection, I apparently do a pretty shitty job. Predictably, I’ve tried to rationalize this away:
When everything is available, “like” is a high bar that only gets higher.
The thrill of the hunt is still engaging, but more and more, it feels like the thrill is the sole end instead of…you know…enjoying the music you find.
The fact that everything is just sitting there, in perpetuity, for me to eventually “discover” even bestows upon masterworks the air of disposability.
Pair all of that with metal’s general self-esteem issues, and it’s like…if you’re convinced that your music should be free because a socially acceptable and thus unconquerable system is just going to make it free anyway…why would I disagree with you?
These rationalizations might be accurate, but, man, they are incredibly unsatisfying because they don’t really get to the heart of the matter: It’s just plain disturbing how easy it was for me to contort my expectations to make myself fit in. Hmmm, YouTube is drinking artists’ milkshakes…but all of these Swedeath demos my friends are sharing, though.
And then, I re-read that last paragraph and the egoist in me is like, “What kind of pearl-clutching, local-evening-news-hysterical bullshit are you writing, dude?” BREAKING: Chronically worried dope has philosophical paroxysm, believes good thing is bad. Is any of this even as bleak as I’m making it out to be or am I just holding onto a calcified ethos like a security blanket that no longer has any application in the modern world? If that’s true, that might freak me out even more. Gah.
Quick story and then I’ll finally get out of your hair. Way back when Blogspots ruled the file-sharing seas, I briefly ran a label. Running a fringe indie label is like standing above a bottomless pit and tossing time and money into it. You’re either like, Man, this feels so good, or you’re like, Oh…shit…this is a pit. Anyway, there was a point when I was putting some real energy into trying to get our music out there, trying to find anyone who would listen. I didn’t think the older print mag crowd would care, so I submitted stuff to the peer-run download blogs I frequented. And then, one day, there we were: one of our releases was featured in a blog post complete with a Mediafire link, sandwiched between other posts highlighting, like, real artists. It felt great. It felt like I made it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I downloaded some stuff while I was there. –Ian Chainey
10. Depravity – “Insanity Reality”
Location: Perth, Australia
Subgenre: death metal
All hail the death metal bands that remember to be entertaining. Instead of insulating itself within an ultra-dry riff asceticism, Depravity, a nutso Australian quintet, does the listener a solid and spices things up with a dash of fun. As if you couldn’t already infer that from the title of its first LP, the pleasingly repeatable Evil Upheavel. Reminding me of a less retrograde version of Aeon, Depravity decorates its bangers with sharp hooks and succulent ear candy. “Insanity Reality” is ruthless, yes, but, more importantly, you’ll wake up tomorrow with growls of “insani-tee reali-tee” stuck in your head. However, the catchiness and melo gilding belies the solidness of the beatdown. Certainly, many hours were collectively sacrificed to smooth out these transitions and maximize the blast radius. I mean, check out the bridge around the three-minute mark: a
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Restricted free agents: Sam Jacobs
Unrestricted free agents: David Mackay, Cam Ellis-Yolmen (rookie), Paul Hunter (rookie)
State of play: Jacobs is set to leave the Crows after attracting interest from Greater Western Sydney and former club, Carlton. The 31-year-old ruckman has a one-year offer on the table from the Crows, but could get a two-year contract and more opportunity at the Giants. The Crows have yet to offer 220-game stalwart Mackay, 31, a contract for next year, while the future of Ellis-Yolmen, 26, is also up in the air. Ruckman Hunter, 26, is likely to be delisted after four years on the rookie list without a senior game. Veteran Richard Douglas has already been told he won't be getting a new contract, but is open to playing on elsewhere next season. - Lee Gaskin
Veteran ruckman Sam Jacobs is set to leave the Crows. Picture: AFL Photos
Restricted free agents: Nil
Unrestricted free agents: Ryan Lester, Ryan Bastinac
State of play: The Lions have locked in much of their impressive young list for next year, and well beyond that, too. Lester has been out of the senior Lions team since round 17, and has managed only nine games this season. But he's a member of the club's leadership group and is expected to get another year there, particularly if Luke Hodge retires and another place in the Brisbane back half opens up. Things are more clouded for Bastinac, who has played only five games for the Lions in two years and could be forced out depending on moves in the trade period. Out-of-contract runner Tom Cutler continues to attract attention from Victorian clubs. - Callum Twomey
Tom Cutler has managed only three games in 2019 and could be on the move. Picture: AFL Photos
Restricted free agents: Nil
Unrestricted free agents: Levi Casboult, Josh Deluca
State of play: Casboult triggered a one-year extension in his contract after playing 30 games across the past two years, however he is still expected to look for more security before agreeing to exercise that clause. After perhaps his best season with the club in 2019, the Blues are hopeful he will extend his career at Ikon Park. Rookie forward Deluca played the final six games of the year after being recruited with the first pick in the NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft, with the expectation being that he will soon pen a rookie extension with the club. - Riley Beveridge
Restricted free agents: Nil
Unrestricted free agents: Ben Reid, Jamie Elliott, Lynden Dunn, Daniel Wells, Tim Broomhead, Sam Murray
State of play: Elliott is adding value to his contract with his strong late-season form, but Collingwood remains confident he will re-sign soon. It has big calls to make on three veterans – Reid, Dunn and Wells are all over 30 years of age, while they all have unreliable recent injury records. Broomhead has spent the entire season in the VFL, while a decision will need to be made on Murray – who is available to play next year after missing the last 18 months due to a doping ban. - Riley Beveridge
What does the future hold for Pies veteran Ben Reid? Picture: AFL Photos
Restricted free agents: Nil
Unrestricted free agents: Zac Clarke, Michael Hartley, Mitch Brown, Will Snelling
State of play: After playing 16 games for the Bombers this season, including their final against West Coast, Brown is likely to play on, in what would be expected to be a one-year deal for the forward. He turns 30 next year. Hartley has been on the outer and is in the logjam of key defenders at Essendon so is gettable and will have some interest as a versatile tall, while Snelling is set to stay on with the Bombers after being a successful addition through the mid-season draft. He booted two goals in last week's elimination final defeat. - Callum Twomey
Forward Mitch Brown looks likely to earn a new one-year deal. Picture: AFL Photos
Restricted free agents: Nil
Unrestricted free agents: Nil
State of play: The Dockers have made calls on the five players named on the AFL's last free agency list. They have re-signed wingman Stephen Hill and veteran midfielder David Mundy, while they have said goodbye to club greats Aaron Sandilands and Hayden Ballantyne. Young rookie Ryan Nyhuis was also delisted, leaving the club with no free agency decisions left to make ahead of October's exchange period. - Riley Beveridge
Find AFL Exchange on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and
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If the blue wave our nation just experienced doesn’t address public education and how we educate our kids, we will miss a generational opportunity to make major gains in this country – particularly in places where Democrats control all branches of government.
In California, a blue state got much bluer as the Republican Party became irrelevant in ways that it was hard to imagine in the days before the election. Not only did Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom win in a 60 percent landslide, Democrats have also secured two-thirds Democratic supermajorities in both bodies of the legislature.
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Importantly, many of these winning candidates were heavily supported by the teacher unions, proving once again that labor is the most powerful political force in the state.
It is for this reason of Democratic dominance that we must now hold Democratic leaders accountable to provide public schools with the funding that they so desperately need. In a state that is the fifth largest economy in the world, the per pupil spending is lagging behind much of the country. It is a place where policy makers spend $75,000 per year on each prisoner in the state but only $16,000 per year on each student. We can do much better.
So despite the fact that Sacramento now has an overwhelming number of legislators they helped elect, the leadership of United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) is seriously considering a strike.
Those who have been paying attention to this have been inundated with contradictory and misleading information.
Here are the facts.
Los Angeles Unified has a budget crisis. The district is spending half a billion dollars more each year than it brings in and is headed toward insolvency in about two years if nothing changes. The California state superintendent, along with several independent commissions, have noted the perilous financial condition that Los Angeles Unified is in. It simply does not have the money to fund UTLA’s demands.
On class size, Los Angeles Unified has an average of 26 students per class. Of the 10 largest school districts in California, only one has a smaller average class size than Los Angeles. There isn’t a parent or educator or student in the country who wouldn’t want smaller class sizes, but smaller class sizes won’t help if we don’t have a high quality teacher in each of those classrooms. As a parent, would you rather have your child in a class of 26 students with a highly effective teacher or a class of 22 with a less than effective teacher?
Finally, when it comes to teacher pay, Los Angeles Unified has offered teachers a six percent raise, which builds on the ten percent raise they received in 2015. It’s the exact same size of the raise that was agreed to by every other union that the district works with. Teachers deserve to get paid even more; it is an important statement on the value of their work. But paying teachers more and hiring more teachers to reduce class size costs money, money Los Angeles Unified does not have.
These issues are not limited to Los Angeles. Local school districts are facing similar problems across the state. In large part, that is because 90-percent of the funding of local school districts comes from Sacramento. Local school districts, from the smallest, like Desert Center Unified with about 20 students, to Los Angeles Unified do not control their funding. Only the Democratic majority in California’s capital can truly solve the financial issues.
Imagine the power of Los Angeles Unified walking hand in hand with UTLA and going to the state capitol to demand, together, more money to serve California students. What is the point of fighting so hard to elect legislators but then not working together to solve these problems on behalf of California’s children?
Let’s never forget the impact of a potential strike on Los Angeles’ most vulnerable students. Students who live in poverty and who are already behind will spend days or weeks not learning in the classroom. And we are talking about children who rely on school for two meals a day and whose parents are counting on those schools to be open so that their kids can be in a safe place while they’re hard at work.
It's just like a family, when adults fight, it’s kids that lose.
California is a state near the bottom of when it comes to school funding and performance. Fixing this crisis is going to require great teachers and more resources. Now that Democrats are in charge in historic proportion in California, it is up to the Democratic state leaders in Sacramento to lead on education.
Duncan is former Education secretary.
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Disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner seems to be looking for pen pals while he's serving time in a federal prison for sexting a minor.
The father-of-one started his 21-month sentence on Monday at Devens Prison in the northern Massachusetts town of Ayer – the same facility where Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev served out his first two years in federal custody.
The 53-year-old's away message on his personal Gmail e-mail address that DailyMail.com obtained has detailed instructions for those who may want to stay in touch with him while he's behind bars.
'Thanks for reaching out,' the automatic reply note first reads.
'I'll be away for a while but I would love to stay in touch.
Scroll down for video
Disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner seems to be looking for pen pals while he's serving time in a federal prison for sexting a minor. His automatic email reply lists his address at the prison for those who want to send him letters
The 53-year-old's away message on his personal Gmail e-mail address has detailed instructions (above) for those who may want to stay in touch with him while he's behind bars
'As quaint as it may sound, the best way to reach me is by sending me a letter. When you write, I’ll get you the information about how e-mail might work.
'So please include your full mailing address here and, of course, include it when you write.
'And although you didn’t ask – yes, you may send me books via Amazon. (No crockpots or washer/dryers though).'
He then lists the prison address along with his inmate number before ending the note.
If the registered sex-offender wants to reply to any messages, he can buy stamps for just 49 cents.
The father-of-one (above in court with estranged wife Huma Abedin) started his 21-month sentence on Monday at Devens Prison in the northern Massachusetts town of Ayer – the same facility where Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev served out his first two years in federal custody
The prison offers a number of leisure activities, including Weiner's favorite sport – hockey – as well as a hobby craft shop, a music practice room and cooking classes
Weiner started his sentence just over one year after his pervy text messages to an underage girl destroyed his marriage and career. Weiner had spent his final day of freedom in his Manhattan apartment with his father, Morton, who was spotted at a nearby Starbucks around 11am on Sunday.
And on Monday morning, his younger brother Jason drove the disgraced politician to prison while Weiner's estranged wife Huma Abedin stayed back in New York City to drop off the couple's five-year-old son Jordan at school.
It's the end of a long descent for the former political star, whose compulsive sexting habit and repeated scandals wrecked his congressional career, his promising campaign for New York City mayor and his marriage to Hillary Clinton's closest aide.
Weiner's conduct ultimately caught the attention of federal authorities after DailyMail.com first revealed last September Weiner's secret sexting relationship with a 15-year-old girl.
Weiner started his sentence just over one year after his pervy text messages to an underage girl destroyed his marriage and career
The high school sophomore told DailyMail.com that Weiner asked her to undress for him and engage in sex acts over video chats and sent her explicit messages and photos over several months in 2016 – despite knowing she was underage.
The scandal played an unexpected role in the presidential election one month later, as federal investigators looked into the case.
FBI agents searching Weiner's laptop stumbled over emails from Hillary Clinton's private server, prompting the bureau to reopen its investigation into her email use just 11 days before the election.
Clinton and many of her supporters have blamed that announcement for costing her the presidential race.
Weiner – who pleaded guilty to sending explicit materials to a minor last May – asked a judge to spare him prison time in September because the impact on the election had already turned him into a 'national pariah.'
Although prisoners at Devens are allowed to use the internet for outside communication, Weiner is not likely to have this access because of his conviction for sexting with a teenage girl. Hence, his automatic reply listing a physical address to send mail
But the judge disagreed and sentenced him to 21 months in prison.
FMC Devens, which was a former military facility for nearby Fort Devens, houses inmates of all security levels, but specializes in prisoners with medical conditions and sex offenders, and is considered a relatively pleasant assignment as far as federal prisons go.
It offers a number of recreational activities, including Weiner's favorite sport
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DRED THOUSAND BEES, all of them working on their own separate novels.
And tonight, we are going to talk about another one of those novels, Neverwhere. I’ve read it—and I gotta admit, it’s pretty good, for a bunch of friggin’ bees.
And so, tonight, the final slap. You come to my city―Chicago―where I live―my house―where my children sleep, Neil―you breeze in here and effortlessly become the selection for this spring’s “One Book, One Chicago”! Congratulations, old friend. I guess you did “make it” in Chicago after all. And you know what?
Even after everything... I’m actually proud of you. Despite myself, I can’t help but enjoy each and every one of the books your bees have written.
I... forgive you, Neil Gaiman.
I, James Kennedy, forgive you! I do! And when I think back to that fateful Fourth of July, so many years ago – when you stood over me, silhouetted in the rocket’s red glare, my black leather jacket and my lustrous long black hair clutched in your hands – I no longer see a bully, a spaz who beat me senseless, violated me, robbed me of my youth, my confidence, my manhood―and practically scalped me―no, I see a little boy―a scared little boy who just wanted to prove to his best friend Jamie that he could be just as good as anyone else.
And I if I could go back in time, I would sing to you―yes, sing, for I can’t help but feel that one of your lovely wife’s songs perfectly encapsulates that fateful Fourth of July―your Independence Day from me―in your wife’s words, I would say
You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July
Cause Neil Gaiman, you’re a firework
Come on show ’em what you’re worth
Make ’em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
As you shoot across the sky-y-y
Baby you’re a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make ’em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
You’re gonna leave ’em fallin’ down-own-own
Thank you, Neil Gaiman. Thank you for everything.
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Man was allegedly attacked after he opposed her attempt to fill water out of turn at a public hand pump; he went to the police station, but woman had torn her clothes and was trying to file molestation case
For residents of several areas in the city, having to queue up, and even fight for, something as basic as water every single day is something that they have learnt to take in their stride. Quarrels with both parties hurling the choicest abuses at each other over whose turn it is don’t even raise eyebrows.
Doctors say it will take at least a week for Rajneesh Yadav to see clearly from his right eye again
One such tiff near a public hand pump in Nalasopara took a rather ugly turn on Monday, however, with acid being hurled at a 30-year-old man by a housewife of around the same age. The acid entered local furniture worker Rajneesh Yadav’s right eye and he was lucky to have not lost vision, but his ordeal was far from over.
After getting treatment, when Yadav reached the local Tulinj police station to file an assault complaint, he was shocked to see his attacker there already. She had allegedly torn her clothes and was attempting to file a molestation complaint against him.
Assault
The incident took place around 6.30 pm, when the residents of Om Sai Chawl in Yashwant Nagar were filling water at the public hand pump located opposite Yadav’s house. Yadav said he was waiting for his turn to fill two cans of water, when another woman from the same neighbourhood, known as Pinki Yadav, forced her way in and began filling water out of turn.
“I asked her politely to let me fill water first and she could await her turn. As soon as I opened my mouth, however, she flew into a rage and began abusing me. I retaliated in the same way and she left in a huff. I thought the worst was over, but I was wrong,” said Yadav. According to eyewitnesses, Pinki returned in a few minutes with a bottle in her hand and hurled the liquid at his face.
Yadav ducked but some of the liquid, which he later found out was acid used to wash floors, went inside his right eye. “My eye began burning severely. I dunked my head into an open can of water in front of me and ran to the nearest hospital,” said Yadav. He was immediately rushed to Risha Eye Hospital where doctors gave him first aid and asked him to rest for at least seven days.
Pre-emptive strike
Yadav then reached Tulinj police station, under whose jurisdiction the area falls, to file a complaint, only to find Pinki and her friends already there. They were trying to file a molestation complaint against him. It was then that a few women from the same neighbourhood, who had witnessed the assault came forward and told the police that Yadav had not molested anyone.
“After he (Yadav) left, Pinki began tearing her clothes and asked her friends to take her to the police station. Pinki and her group have been creating a ruckus in the neighbourhood for a long time,” said an eyewitness, requesting anonymity. The police officers then counselled both the parties and asked them to keep distance from one another and maintain peace.
“Both parties were persistent. We tried to counsel them and made them aware of the gravity of the charges. After some time, both sides decided that they did not want to press charges and wanted to resolve the issue amicably,” said an official from the police station. When mid-day tried contacting Pinki, she said she did not want to comment on the issue. Yadav’s right eye, meanwhile, is still sore and doctors said it will take at least a week for him to see clearly from that eye again.
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This article originally appeared on Climate Central.
A sweeping climate change lawsuit filed against the Obama Administration will move forward, a judged ruled on Thursday, setting up an extraordinary legal battle between environmentalists and President-elect Donald Trump.
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The lawsuit claims the rights of 21 young Americans have been unconstitutionally violated because the federal government has allowed greenhouse gas pollution to be pumped into the atmosphere for 50 years, despite knowing the risks, “resulting in a dangerous destabilizing climate system.”
Despite the preliminary nature and uncertain future of the unusual case, Thursday’s ruling was celebrated by activists and lauded by legal scholars for going further than any other ruling on climate change in American legal history.
Federal government lawyers argued that the lawsuit should be tossed out. On Thursday, as climate scientists and experts were trying to regroup following Trump’s win, District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the lawsuit “adequately alleged infringement of a fundamental right” and could proceed. During the campaign, Trump denied that climate change is real.
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The lawsuit doesn’t allege violations of laws. “They are not arguing any specific tax break, royalty rate or contract runs afoul of an agency's governing regulations,” Aiken wrote in the ruling. The complaint goes further, claiming the government’s overall actions in allowing the release of dangerous climate pollution violates the plaintiffs’ rights.
“The prospect of a Supreme Court with one or more Trump appointees does not instill confidence,” said Michael Gerrard, a professor at Columbia Law School. “But this kind of litigation is all the more important in the Trump era.”
What had been a legal problem for a federal government that prided itself on being a leader of climate action is about to become a legal problem for the administration of a president who has called climate change “a hoax.”
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“President Trump and his administration will be substituted in as the defendants in the case — I think,” said Julia Olson, executive director and chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, the nonprofit behind the case. “During the next two and half months, Obama has an opportunity to come to the settlement table and stop fighting this case in court.”
The lawsuit is moving forward at a time when experts are projecting a sudden rise in the use of lawsuits to try to force American governments to tackle global warming and regulate climate pollution.
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This year will be third in a row to set a global heat record, with warming exacerbating wildfires, floods and heat waves. An abrupt rise in temperatures helped propel world leaders to unite to tackle global warming at the United Nations — unity that’s suddenly been threatened by Trump’s election.
“True, the results here may not survive later procedural steps in the case, and, yes, the odds of being upheld on appeal are low,” said Emily Hammond, a professor at George Washington University Law School. “But this case is prescient in light of the changes the presidential election will bring.”
President Obama drove the United States to become a leader on global climate action, and his diplomats helped craft the historic Paris climate agreement, which was adopted at United Nations climate talks a year ago. Under the pact, countries made voluntary pledges explaining how they would tackle warming in the years ahead.
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America’s ongoing involvement with the pact is now uncertain. Many of the climate rules written by Obama’s administration to help fulfill its international climate promises were crafted to protect them from being blocked by Republicans in Congress — and could quickly unravel under Trump and a Republican-led Senate and House.
“We can expect more climate-related litigation in the absence of regulatory leadership at EPA,” Hammond said.
The White House, Congress and most state legislatures will soon be controlled by Republicans, which are opposed to efforts to protect the climate. Trump supported climate action before he ran for president, but on the campaign trail he vowed to wind back environmental regulations and exit the Paris agreement.
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Since last week's election, environmental groups have been saying they intend to try to convince Trump of the economic benefits of climate action. Failing that, they intend to fight his administration tirelessly — just as they waged protracted battles against the administration of George W. Bush.
Many of those battles will be fought in court. Prominent climate activist Bill McKibben on Friday welcomed the development in the Oregon case, saying it will be “one of the first times” that climate change issues make it to a courtroom.
“Given the election, a courtroom may be the last place left where science will get a hearing,” McKibben said.
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to indicate that the 21 plaintiffs in
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latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-dogs-domesticated-twice-20160602-snap-story.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3621957/Dogs-domesticated-TWICE-Canines-man-s-best-friend-Europe-Central-Asia-12-000-years-ago.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/06/2016/research-suggests-dual-origin-of-domestic-dogs
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mans-best-friend-may-have-been-domesticated-twice-180959297/
Agriculture apparently ‘saved’ males:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/scp-mws060316.php
Pondering the world wide effects of potato blight:
http://phys.org/news/2016-06-potato-disease-world.html
A Viking ship recreation:
http://sciencenordic.com/replica-viking-ship-will-recreate-norse-voyages-greenland
The changing view of the universe:
http://phys.org/news/2016-05-copernicus-revolution-galileo-vision-view.html
On hidden messages in Alice in Wonderland:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160527-alice-in-wonderlands-hidden-messages
… while a rare copy of the story is coming to auction:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/31/rare-copy-of-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-expected-to-fetch-2-million-at-auction/
A WWII German encryption device turns up on eBay:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/29/479943359/museum-finds-piece-of-wwii-history-for-sale-on-ebay
http://www.timesofisrael.com/german-wwii-coding-machine-found-on-ebay/
… of related interest:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36446422
Podcast on Shakespeare and religion:
http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited-episode-49
Latest really ancient beer recreation:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160526-a-beer-older-than-the-bible
Interesting feature on Geneva warehouses and what’s in them:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/arts/design/one-of-the-worlds-greatest-art-collections-hides-behind-this-fence.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts
OpEd on the importance of historians:
http://www.historytoday.com/charles-west/sorry-vice-chancellor-we-need-more-historians-sixth-century
Big bucks for a Ming cup:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-36419623
What coral can tell us about human history:
http://phys.org/news/2016-06-scientists-coral-history.html
On ‘death photography’ in Victorian England:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36389581
Review of Thompson, *Possession*:
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/01/479728899/possession-charts-the-tangled-paths-of-art-and-antiquities
Using a computer to fake a Rembrandt:
http://www.dw.com/en/computer-fakes-a-work-by-rembrandt/a-19297687
I think we had this Shakespeare and Germaine Greer piece before:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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wouldn’t cover treatment for a brain injury. Coburn replied, “The idea that the government is the solution to our problems is an inaccurate, a very inaccurate statement”—and told her to contact his office.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) decried government-run medical care while describing how he’d had a heart attack on Capitol Hill: “I was lucky that was in the basement of the Capitol and there was a doctor with an EKG machine literally between myself and where that door is. That was pure luck. And I’m also lucky that because I’m a congressman there was an ambulance outside the Capitol.”
“I hope when we go back in after Labor Day that we will step back, start over, and think about the incremental adjustments we need to make in the world’s finest healthcare.” —Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
“This is the abortion industry bailout bill of 2009. It will cause hundreds of thousands per year additional abortions because it will market it, provide new venues, new abortion clinics and public subsidies, public funds will be paying for abortions.” —Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
“The goal of this legislation has been clear from the beginning. To pass a public option that will serve as a gateway to single payer, government-controlled health care…Once the government is the only option, it will inevitably have to ration care.” —Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.)
“I would rather stop this socialization of health care because once the government pays for your health care, they have every right to tell you what you eat, what you drink, how you exercise, where you live.” —Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
“What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing…We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass…Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom. And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up and take this one on.” —Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.)
Obama Hysteria
In March, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said that if Obama were elected, Al Qaeda would be “dancing in the streets…If they don’t dance in the streets, I will come and apologize to you and everybody in America.”
“I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views. That’s what the American people are concerned about.” —Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.)
“The way to look at the reasons Obama doesn’t place his hand over his heart when the national anthem is playing, or wear an American flag pin is primarily because he is not willful or spiteful, but because it just doesn’t occur to him because it’s not the way he’s been raised. American patriotism is not imprinted on his mind or in his heart, because he wasn’t raised as an American.” —Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)
“I don’t know why President Obama is obsessed with turning terrorists loose in America…Barack Obama is disarming America…Those of you who think like I do hope this country can hang on another 16 months.” —Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
“Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope. I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington.” —Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.)
“He [Obama] has the three things that are necessary to establish an authoritarian government…And so we need to be ever-vigilant, because freedom is precious…They’re trying to develop an environment where they can take over. We’ve seen that historically.” —Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.)
“[Obama is] the star of ACORN, the lead, chief organizer.” —Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)
On Obama’s national service program: “It’s under the guise of quote ‘volunteerism’…I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call reeducation camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and
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far beyond Steele's work for Fusion GPS into Trump. Ohr first came into contact with Steele in the mid-2000s, people who know him said, as both fought against the evolving threat of Russian organized crime for their respective countries.
At the time, Russian syndicates were supplanting elements of the Italian mafia and drug cartels as a key target of US law enforcement.
Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker, who partnered with Ohr on Russian transnational crime cases in the early 2000s, called him a "very personable, very hardworking and very collaborative DOJ attorney."
"We appreciated him because of that collaborative part. Sometimes DOJ attorneys look at FBI agents as sort of the knuckle-draggers, like, 'We're the smart guys, just do what we tell you.' He was not that kind of guy," Swecker said.
As a section chief, Ohr traveled extensively as he built relationships with foreign partners, but mostly stayed out of the courtroom -- and the limelight.
Mark Matthews, an attorney who worked with Ohr at the Manhattan US attorney's office in the 1990s and maintained a relationship with him later in Washington, described him as a "very decent" and "classic public servant" who excelled at his supervisory role.
"Bruce was known in Washington for managerial skills. He was a guy who got along, without that ego," Matthews said.
Ohr's name first started appearing in the media last year as lawmakers investigated the origins of the dossier, and he has been amplified in recent weeks in tweets by the President, who has criticized him and his wife.
Simpson disclosed in a court filing last year that Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion on "research and analysis of Mr. Trump" and that Simpson met with Bruce Ohr "at his request, after the November 2016 election to discuss our findings regarding Russia and the election."
Nellie Ohr, an academic and Russia expert, relied on open source documents to pull together information on Russian oligarchs as part of her employment with Fusion GPS, according to a person with knowledge of her work for the firm.
Neither Bruce nor Nellie Ohr has remarked publicly about the President. Ohr's attorney, Joshua Berman, declined to comment.
Ohr interviewed behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee in December. He was scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee in January, but lawmakers canceled that meeting, according to a person familiar with the committee investigation.
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Dana White said the UFC 249 card will be unveiled Monday amid Khabib Nurmagomedov’s drop out as the company reportedly found a site on the West Coast of the U.S. to host the event.
It’s unclear where the site will be. UFC is still finalizing the location and is hoping to close in the coming days, ESPN reported Sunday. UFC 249 is set for April 18.
KHABIB NURMAGOMEDEV FIRES BACK CONOR MCGREGOR OVER UFC 249 REMARKS, SAYS HE'S STILL WAITING FOR A LOCATION
The company has reportedly considered hosting the event on tribal lands since they do not adhere to state athletic commission policies.
The California State Athletic Commission announced last week that all combat sports would be canceled through May. The group said it made its decision based on guidelines set forth by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Health.
“The Commission didn't take this decision lightly and understands the potential economic loss to promoters and the industry of combative sports,” the CSAC said. “We had to weigh the best interest of our fighters and the community around us.”
TONY FERGUSON SAYS UFC CHAMP KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV SHOULD BE 'STRIPPED OF HIS TITLE'
Another question mark surrounding the event is who the main event will feature.
Tony Ferguson was supposed to fight Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight title. Nurmagomedov said last week he wasn’t going to fight because of the coronavirus. He had flown back to his native Russia after UFC moved the 249 fight from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
According to ESPN, the potential for Ferguson to fight Justin Gaethje was not a done deal.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
“It doesn't matter who we have. We're gonna try to make this thing go,” Ferguson told ESPN. “At least some of the people in the world have a little bit of hope. The guys that are really doing it are the doctors and the nurses and the people taking care of everybody. If we can do our little bit of part to try and make something happen, I'm down with that.”
more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 57 million connections as of June 30, 2015 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past four years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
1Rankings based on 125 RootMetrics (January – June 2015) RootScore Reports for mobile performance as tested on best available plans and devices on four mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of Sprint. Visit www.rootmetrics.com for more details.
2Requires turn in of old phone with valid port from AT&T or Verizon to consumer account with $10 min. monthly rate charge. Discount does not apply to certain charges such as taxes, surcharges, add-ons, apps, premium content, int’l services, devices, partial charges or add’l lines. Usage Limitations: To improve data experience for the majority of users, throughput may be limited, varied or reduced on the network. All lines must be ported from an active wireless line at another carrier. Must activate a device on Sprint Easy Pay, Sprint Lease, iPhone Forever or pay full retail price with a new line of service and turn in your current competitor device associated with the bill. Limited time offer. Allow 15 days for Reward Card to arrive.
3Sprint Easy Pay requires 24-mo. installment agreement with 0% APR. iPhone Forever is a 22 mo. lease & other lease options include 21, 22 or 24 mo.– No security deposit required. Early termination of service on Sprint Easy Pay/lease (iPhone Forever): Remaining payments will be due immediately. Lease also requires device return or payment of purchase option device price in lease.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150908006109/en/
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House That Took Five Hours To Clean Destroyed By Kids In Fourteen Seconds
CORONA, CA—According to sources close to the Manning residence, local mother Linda Manning spent over five hours cleaning her two-story home Monday. She painstakingly cleaned the kitchen, picked up toys all over the house, and found dishes and clothing in random spots all over the house.
Finally, she declared the house to be completely spotless.
But, sadly, her home was then completely destroyed by her three kids in a little under fourteen seconds.
The children realized the home was clean and declared they wouldn't stand for it. "Not on our watch," said Calvin Manning, 4. "Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!" Working with the speed of the Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil, the Manning children charged through the house, doing their best to undo literally everything their mom had done for the entire day. They pillaged and plundered like a horde of Dothraki warriors, pulling toys off shelves, throwing suspicious substances on every possible surface, and pouring a bunch of half-cups of juice and leaving them all over the house.
At publishing time, Manning was starting the process all over again.
Get Free Access To Our Brand New Site: Not the Bee After creating The Babylon Bee in six literal days, Adam Ford rested. But he rests no longer. Introducing Not the Bee — a brand new humor-based news site run by Adam himself. It's loaded with funny content and all the best features of a social network. And the best part? Everyone with a subscription to The Bee gets full access at no extra cost. Get FREE Access *with premium subscription to The Babylon Bee
The now iconic Tuthill Porsche 997 R-GT is set for a new home in Sicily after the 2015 FIA R-GT Cup winner sold the championship winning car to Italian driver Domenico ‘Mimmo’ Guagliardo. Team owner Richard Tuthill says he looks forward to seeing the car in action in it’s new owners hands and said farewell to the car with a private test at Curburough Sprint Circuit for Guagliardo.
“Winning the R-GT Cup was a great achievement, but the real satisfaction came from entertaining so many thousands of rally fans all over Europe,” said Tuthill.
“We developed the car right through the season and were still applying upgrades through R-GT’s pre-sale refurbishment. It’s a wonderfully capable rally car, and we look forward to seeing the Italian fans out in force to welcome R-GT to its new home in Sicily.”
Guagliardo will debut the car at the iconic Targa Florio event which runs from May 4-8, the event is also celebrating it’s centenary.
“Richard and his team have built a wonderful car that is great fun to drive,” said the Italian driver, “We are delighted to bring the R-GT Cup winner home to Sicily for this very special Targa celebration. When we announced our new purchase, I had many requests to drive the car in the Targa Florio, but that pleasure will be all mine. We are excited to get started!”
Tuthill Porsche is sending a technical team out to support the 997 R-GT on the
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Robert Doar, who ran New York City’s anti-poverty programs under two mayors, knows this from personal experience. Commenting on Ryan’s plan, he stated: “As a former state administrator, I like that he is offering states, through his Opportunity Grant, greater flexibility and a way to combine funding streams to come up with solutions designed for the particular circumstances of the people we are trying to help. Too often our solutions are restricted by the particular demands of a narrow program designed in Washington.” He dispels the notion that this is simply liberalism-lite: “As conservatives who are properly skeptical of what government can accomplish, we need to be careful as we engage in discussions on poverty policy that we not lose sight of the importance of the individual and the community in helping people in need. So it’s ok to offer a better federal government solution but we should be sure not to couch in it the language of the left that always promises far more than government can really deliver. The key to success will always be to create an environment where individuals can work and move up economically based on their own efforts, because it is only in earning success that one really escapes poverty.”
That gets to the nub of the difference between liberals and conservatives on this topic. For the left, fighting poverty means giving people stuff (primarily money); it’s a problem of resources. What they do when resources run out isn’t an issue, in part, because the goal is not independence but relief from physical deprivation (e.g. poor housing, insufficient food). Conservatives, however, see poverty as the result of behaviors (out-of-marriage children, absent fathers, school dropouts) that are counterproductive and keep people from earned success (enjoying the spiritual and economic rewards of work). Since liberals fear that this amounts to “judging” or “blaming” the poor, they are often loath to direct their energies to help people change habits of behavior and reprioritize their goals.
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David Brooks calls this a matter of “character.” (“Social research over the last decade or so has reinforced the point that would have been self-evident in any other era — that if you can’t help people become more resilient, conscientious or prudent, then all the cash transfers in the world will not produce permanent benefits.”) That, I fear, will really turn off liberals, since it implies that the poor have “low” character. In fact, what Brooks describes boils down to making behavioral changes of the type Ryan and other conservative reformers recommend. (“If you can change behavior you eventually change disposition. People who practice small acts of self-control find it easier to perform big acts in times of crisis. Quality preschools, K.I.P.P. schools and parenting coaches have produced lasting effects by encouraging young parents and students to observe basic etiquette and practice small but regular acts of self-restraint.”)
Whatever you call it, the results of anti-poverty programs should be subject to study, analysis and measurement. We can’t keep measuring success by the dollars flowing into these programs. That’s a measure of how much poverty we have. Rather, we need to attend to the numbers of people returning to work, the number of degrees obtained by former recipients, the family income of former recipients five or 10 years down the road and the rate of recidivism (drug or alcohol addiction relapse) and re-incarceration. In business-speak, what you don’t measure, you can’t manage or improve.
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Police: DUI Suspect Claimed His Dog Was The One Driving Erratically Share
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A man arrested for drunk driving told police that his dog was at the wheel when officers spotted the vehicle weaving across lanes on a Florida roadway, court records show.
State troopers last month pulled over a 2005 Nissan after spotting the auto being driven erratically on Interstate 95 outside Port St. Lucie.
When cops contacted the driver, they detected the “obvious and distinct odor” of booze “coming from inside the vehicle.” The motorist, Scott Garrett, 56, was lethargic, slurring his words, and had “red, very glassy, and blood shot” eyes. On the car’s front passenger seat was an open bottle of Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum.
Before performing a series of field sobriety tests, Garrett, pictured above, asked troopers to give him a ride to his Jupiter home. Garret then sought to pin the dangerous driving on another party: “He then stated he wasn’t driving the vehicle but it was...actually his dog,” an investigator noted.
Despite Garrett’s alibi, he was arrested for drunk driving (a breath test recorded his blood alcohol content at more than three times the.08 legal limit). A Florida Highway Patrol report noted that Garrett’s rap sheet includes three prior DUI convictions.
Troopers reported that Garrett “was the only occupant” of the Nissan.
Garrett, who has pleaded not guilty to the DUI count, is next due in court on July 30.
One of the first virtual reality (VR) peripherals that VRFocus ever reported on over two years ago now was PrioVR, a full body motion capture suit that could be used for control in VR videogames and more. The kit was created by Yost Labs, formerly known as YEI Technology. Today, the company is announcing the closure of a Series A round of funding in which it has raised $1 million USD to help it work on this product and more.
Alongside the PrioVR developer kit, which passed a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign back in 2014, Yost Labs is also working on an ‘Attitude Heading Reference System’ (AHRS)/Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that aims to bring highly accurate, low latency tracking to a consumer device. The company even suggests that the tech could be used with a head-mounted display (HMD).
“Yost Labs is an impressive example of taking innovations from the lab and refining them based on market need and opportunity,” said John Glazer, Director of TechGROWTH Ohio, one of the Series A investors. “Ohio is committed to technology entrepreneurship. Ohio’s Third Frontier program and the TechGROWTH Ohio Fund is designed to support the State’s most promising tech startups and provide them with venture development assistance and investment capital. We are focused on the best of the best. Yost Labs is a big part of why the Ohio Valley is on its way to becoming the next Silicon Valley.”
Stay tuned to VRFocus for the latest on Yost Labs’ work in VR.
A former Pinellas sheriff's deputy will spend nearly a year in jail after a jury on Friday found her guilty of improperly exhibiting a firearm during a road rage argument in February.
Sheila Langlais, 47, will also have to pay a $500 fine.
On Feb. 7, Brett Dowd and his fiancee, Brittany Byrne, had just arrived at the Twin Lakes apartment complex in Palm Harbor for a cookout with friends. Their 2-year-old son was in the backseat.
But as Byrne, who was driving, pulled into a guest parking spot, Langlais, driving a black Nissan, headed toward them. Both cars came to a halt and avoided a crash.
Dowd and Langlais lowered their windows and exchanged profanity-laced words. When he insulted Langlais with another obscenity, Langlais grabbed her gun and pointed it at Dowd with both her hands, prosecutors said, before driving away.
Prosecutors also said during the two-day trial that Langlais initially denied carrying a gun. Investigators later found the Glock pistol inside the apartment of another deputy Langlais was visiting that day. Her defense attorney argued that she was relying on law enforcement training.
Langlais resigned from the Sheriff's Office during the investigation. She was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault, but a jury of six found her guilty of two misdemeanor counts of improper exhibition of a firearm. Pinellas Circuit Judge William Burgess III dismissed one count on grounds of double jeopardy.
Langlais was booked into the Pinellas County jail Friday night.
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9-CM code: 493.X), allergic rhinitis (AR) (ICD-9-CM code: 477.X), otitis media (OM) (ICD-9-CM code: 382.X), adenotonsillitis (ICD-9-CM codes: 474.0X or 474.1X), atopic dermatitis (AD) (ICD-9-CM code: 691.8), and pneumonia (ICD-9-CM code: 480–6). In both groups, subjects with a prior diagnosis of GERD, CRS (ICD-9-CM codes: 473.X or 471.X), human immunodeficiency virus infection (ICD-9-CM code: 042), or primary immune deficiency (ICD-9-CM code: 279.X) before the index date were excluded. Ultimately, 63,228 subjects were enrolled. The flowchart for the selection process is shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1: Flow chart of selection of GERD patients and matched controls from the NHIRD in Taiwan. CRS = chronic rhinosinusitis, GERD = gastroesophageal reflux disease, ICD = International Classification of Diseases.
Main Outcome Measures
The primary endpoint of the present study was a subsequent diagnosis of CRS, including CRS without nasal polyps and CRS with nasal polyps, during the study period following the GERD index date. A diagnosis of CRS was defined as diagnosis of CRS without nasal polyps followed by at least one NHI ambulatory care visit (including hospital and clinic outpatient visits). The diagnosis was certified by an otolaryngologist experienced in airway endoscopic examinations, including sinoscopoy (Specific Diagnosis and Treatment [SDT]:28003C), nasopharyngoscopy (SDT:28002C), or flexible laryngoscopy (SDT:28004C), or 1 inpatient record indicating CRS without polyps. To be included, the patients with CRS without nasal polyps could not have a prior or subsequent diagnosis of nasal polyps listed in the medical claims records throughout the study period. We only included patients with CRS with nasal polyps if they fulfilled the requirements listed above for CRS without nasal polyps and they were further diagnosed as having CRS with nasal polyps subsequent to their inclusion indicated by the date that its ICD-9 code was recorded. In other words, the subjects could be recategorized if nasal polyps developed.
We tracked each subject (N = 63228) individually until the occurrence of CRS or the date of death, dropout from the insurance program, or to the end of 2012 if no CRS was diagnosed.
Statistical Analysis
All statistical analyses were performed using SAS software version 9.3 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) and STATA software package version 12.0 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX). Pearson χ2 tests were used to explore the differences between categorical variables and t test for continuous variables between cases and controls. We accessed the cumulative incidence of CRS using Kaplan–Meier analysis and calculated CRS incidence rates (per 10,000 person-years). Difference between cumulative curves was compared using the log-rank test. Risk of CRS following a diagnosis of GERD between the 2 cohorts was performed Cox proportional hazard regressions (stratified by gender, age strata and index year), using the controls as the reference group. Furthermore, we explored individual adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for CRS with and without nasal polyps in both cohorts. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify independent risk factors in GERD patients with CRS without nasal polyps and CRS with nasal polyps, respectively. A 2-tailed P-value <0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS
Characteristics of Study Population
This study identified 15,807 patients newly diagnosed with GERD (mean age = 50.87 years, standard deviation [SD] = 16.25) and 47,421 match controls (mean age = 49.47 years, SD = 17.58 years) for the 2007–2009 study period. Most patients (42.62%) were aged 45 to 64 years, and asthma and AR were the most common comorbidities (6.60% and 16.26%, respectively). There were no significant statistical differences between the 2 cohorts with regard to age, sex, and comorbidity types (Table 1). However, there was a difference in duration of follow-up, which was longer in the non-GERD population without nasal polyps (P = 0.0239) (Table 1).
TABLE 1: Demographic Characteristics and Comorbidities of GERD and Non-GERD Patients (N = 63,228)
Incidence of
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I need a very simple plugin system for one of my projects. The project is a small WSGI application called mysysadmin that allows you to launch some commands on your system to manage some applications. It also allows you to view log files in your web browser.
It’s similar in some ways to WebMin,
So in my application, every tab is a plugin that manages one application. I have a plugin for Apache, another one for MySQL, and so one.
Back to my plugin system. So every plugin that is registered becomes a tab in the WSGI application, as long as it provides all the methods my web application needs to interact with it. So I want to check that each plugin strictly provides the API needed by the main program.
The first tools that came in mind were :
zope.interface, to be able to provide that each plugin meets the requirements.
setuptools entry points, so it’s easy for a third party code to implement a plugin.
But I find both projects a bit complex to implement such a simple plugin system.I could use the standalone Plugins package Phillip provides instead of setuptools, but it still does too much things imho. That’s someting I am currently learning by working on packaging matters : one library should not provide too many features.
Extensions : a simple plugin system
So I have started to implement a light-weight plugin system called extensions, which reuses setuptools entry points principles but is more simple to use. The goal of this project is to provide very simple APIs to handle plugins, and to make it work without introducing a new argument into the setup.py setup method, like setuptools does.
For instance, if you want to define an apache function in your modules module, in your myapp package, you just call the register function :
from extensions import register register('mysysadmin.modules', 'apache','myapp.modules:apache')
That’s it!
And to use it, the mysysadmin application can use a simple API called get, that iterates over all plugins defined for “mysysadmin.modules” :
from extensions import get for plugin in get(group='mysysadmin.modules'): # do something with the plugin
The magic is done by writing in the.egg-info directory installed for the package that contains each plugin, a PLUGIN file that contains the list of registered elements. It’s an idea borrowed from setuptoools entry points. So get iterates over all.egg-info directories in your path and load the PLUGIN files it finds. Nothing new here. That’s how setuptools does, and that’s perfect.
If you have any feedback on extensions, let me know!
Strict plugins
The other need is to strictly check that every plugin provides the API needed, e.g. fulfill the requirements. This is what we could call Design by contract.
You can provide a base class for this, and ask the plugins to inherit from it. Or you can ask the Plugin to provide a marker to specify it implements a given behavior. zope.interface can do a nice job for the latter,and let you check that a given object implements an interface.
But I wanted to give a shot to the brand new Python ABCs and make sure anyone can write a plugin in plain Python, without having to rely on any kind of marker system. ABCs will let you check that a class implements some methods without requiring it to inherit from a specific class, to implement a specific interface or provide a custom marker. Pure duck typing!
So let’s define for our application a Plugin class, that gives the signature every plugin will need to provide. It uses ABCMeta as its meta class, and the abstractmethod for every method that should be implemented by every plugin.
Here’s an extract :
from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod class Plugin(object):
__metaclass__ = ABCMeta
@abstractmethod def get_command_list(self): return [] @abstractmethod def run_command(self, name): pass @classmethod def __subclasshook__(cls, klass): if cls is Plugin: for method in cls.__abstractmethods__: if any(method in base.__dict__ for base in klass.__mro__): continue return NotImplemented return True return NotImplemented
The __subclasshook__ method is a class method that will be called everytime a class is tested using issubclass(klass, Plugin). In that case, it will check that every method marked with the abstractmethod decorator is provided by the class.
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If families aren't open about suicide, it will be more difficult for their community to help them, she says. But she also recognises that some communities don't know how to help, or don't want to. For that reason, she was inspired to start blogging about her brother's death and giving talks about suicide. Together with other volunteers at Elijah's Journey, she is putting together a document of tips for Jewish people, to help them make shiva calls after a suicide.
"I can't find a silver lining in my brother's death, so I'm making a silver lining. I'm talking about it, I'm involved in suicide prevention and I'm involved in conversations about mental health in the faith community at large. I'm creating that silver lining because I need it."
Esther and Gil also hope that the documentary about them will make a change.
"It's a very touching film, that penetrates the heart," says Esther. "But on the other hand, it isn't made in a way that will make the religious part of our society say that it's wrong or portrays things in an inaccurate way, because it was made with a lot of respect and love for our communities."
Elijah's Journey: How can you help a family after a suicide?
Image copyright Thinkstock
Dos:
Do make the effort to see the family, even if you feel unsure what to say
Offer support and a recognition of the tragedy - you might say "I can't imagine what you are going through, but I am here for you" or "I know there are no words that can heal your pain, but I want you to know that you are in my thoughts"
Give the mourner space to talk, even if it means sitting in silence for a while
Don'ts:
Don't say "Your relative is in a better place now" - that implies that the family home was a bad place
Don't say "I'm sure your relative loved you" - you really don't know what the deceased was thinking or what the family relationships were like
Saying "You did everything you could" or "There was nothing more you could do" is not a great idea - despite the intention to reassure, it places a burden on the mourner's shoulders
Excerpt from the Elijah's Journey, "Guide for Visiting Mourners after a Suicide'
Esther Alexander and Assaf Banitt spoke to Outlook on the BBC World Service. Listen to the interview on iPlayer or get the Outlook podcast.
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.
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�Joe Frazier is an Uncle Tom.” And further, “Ninety-eight percent of my people are for me. They identify with my struggle.... If I win, they win. I lose, they lose. Anybody black who thinks Frazier can whup me is an Uncle Tom.”
In fact, because of Ali’s work for racial justice and because of the sacrifices he made in his stand against the Vietnam War, the vast majority of blacks—as well as an increasing number of whites—saw his battles as theirs and were drawn to him as a force for social change. The most prominent voices of the 1960s, a decade torn by conflict and rebellion, had been silenced. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was dead. Bobby Kennedy was dead. Senator Eugene McCarthy had drifted like a blip off the screen. Ali alone remained alive in the ruins—the most commanding voice for and symbol of the decade’s causes.
In the months leading up to the fight, he brought to bear all the horsepower of his eloquence. His demeaning of Frazier, Ali now says, had but one purpose: “To sell tickets.” Of course, Frazier says there was no need to sell anything, because their purses were guaranteed, but this argument ignores the fact that Ali was always selling more than tickets. The consummate performer, he was selling himself. And there are those who say that Ali's rhetoric was merely a part of his act, the tappety-tap-tap of his every-day walking shtick. But whatever compelled him to violate all canons of fairness and decency in his portrayal of Frazier—whether it was meanness, bravado or a calculated plan to enrage and rattle his opponent--he succeeded in isolating Frazier from the black community.
And Frazier? He felt manipulated, humiliated and betrayed. “He had me stunned,” Frazier says. “This guy was a buddy. I remember looking at him and thinkin’, What's wrong with this guy? Has he gone crazy? He called me an Uncle Tom. For a guy who did as much for him as I did, that was cruel. I grew up like the black man—he didn't. I cooked the liquor. I cut the wood. I worked the farm. I lived in the ghetto. Yes, I tommed; when he asked me to help him get a license, I tommed for him. For him! He betrayed my friendship. He called me stupid. He said I was so ugly that my mother ran and hid when she gave birth to me. I was shocked. I sat down and said to myself, I’m gonna kill him. O.K.? Simple as that. I’m gonna kill him!”
So by the time they climbed through the ropes that night in the Garden, the lure of the fight went far beyond the exquisitely contrasting ring styles of the two men. For many viewers Ali was still the mouth that poured, the renegade traitor and rabble-rouser whose uppity black ass needed dusting. For many others, of course, he symbolized all successful men of color who did not conform in a white man's world—and the hope that one, at least one, would overcome. Frazier had done nothing to earn the caricature of Uncle Tom, but Ali had lashed him to that stake as if to define their war in black and white. Frazier knew the scope of Ali’s appeal. A Bible-raised man, he saw himself as David to Ali's Goliath.
“David had a slingshot,” Frazier says. “I had a left hook.”
For 14 rounds, almost a full hour in which the Garden never stopped rocking, Frazier pursued and pounded the former champion like a man simultaneously pushing a plow and chopping wood. Ali won the first two rounds, dancing and landing jabs and stinging rights, but by the third, under a remorseless body attack climaxed by a searing hook to the ribs, his feet had begun to flatten, and soon he was fighting toe-to-toe, his back pushed against the ropes.
It was a fight with two paces, fast and faster, and among its abiding images is that of Frazier, head down and body low, bobbing and weaving incessantly, taking lashing lefts and rights from Ali, then unloading that sweeping hook to the jaw, and Ali waving his head defiantly—No, no, that didn’t hurt—and coming back, firing jabs and hooks and straight rights to Frazier’s head. It was soon clear that this was not the Ali of old, the butterfly who had floated through his championship years, and that the long absence from the ring had stolen his legs and left him vulnerable. He had always been a technically unsound fighter: He threw
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While Doug Ford has been promising alcohol in corner stores for quite some time, it seems that he finally got what he wished for. After what seems like an uphill battle, the government has officially announced that Ontario beer in corner stores sales will be expanding throughout the summer months. The government has promised that 300 new stores will be selling alcohol across Ontario by the end of the summer.
The Ontario government made the announcement this afternoon that its legislation to cancel the Ontario government's contract with the Beer Store passed at Queen's Park today, allowing the province to expand alcohol sales throughout Ontario. This contract between the province and The Beer Store was set until the end of 2025 and limited the number of retailers that could sell beer across Ontario.
While the break of the contract with the Beer Store could result in Ontario taxpayers footing the bill for $100 million in penalty fees, Ontarians will now be able to pick up a case of beer at their local convenience store before heading out to their cottage this summer.
CBC reports that this broken contract could lead to compensation that needs to be rewarded to the Beer Store and the brewers for the lost income that would result in breaking the contract six years early.
Yet, the Ontario government states that this broken contract will allow 87 grocery stores, as well as additional corner stores and big-box stores to open their doors to alcohol sales this summer.
While there seems to be a lot of controversy involved in this choice, the Ontario Government is more concerned about the 'life' of the people, stating, "by opening up more alcohol retail outlets across the province, we are not only making life easier for the people, we are enabling growth and job creation in the province's booming beer and wine industry".
According to City News, both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce warned the provincial government not to break the contract with the Beer Store due to the negative signal it would show to future Ontario businesses and investors.
However, this warning didn't seem to matter today as the Ontario government passed to vote to cancel the contract.
Despite the controversy, it's hard to deny that this new deal will make getting beer a whole lot easier for local Ontarians this summer.
On 7th November 1541, Queen Catherine Howard received important visitors to her apartments at Hampton Court Palace, and they weren’t welcome ones. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Catherine’s uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, had been sent to interrogate the Queen and to arrange that she should be confined to her chambers.
Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, reported to the Queen of Hungary:
“On the evening of the 6th the Privy Councillors returned and stayed nearly all night deliberating in the King’s apartments, and then the day after, night and day, at the house of the bp. of Winchester, where it was resolved to discharge most of those who were at Hampton Court with the Queen, all coffers and chests being sealed and the doors guarded. Among others who remained inside the palace was the abp. of Canterbury, who has charge of everything.”1
As I mentioned in my previous articles on this event, Cranmer and Norfolk did not confiscate Catherine’s keys to her apartments, so she could move between her chambers and she certainly wasn’t confined to one room. However, it was ‘house arrest’ and that, combined with the fact that her jewels were seized, shows that Catherine was in big trouble. Realising this, Catherine burst into tears and became hysterical. Archbishop Cranmer recorded in a letter to Henry VIII:
“I found her in such lamentation and heaviness, as I never saw no creature; so that it would have pitied any man’s heart in the world to have looked upon her: and in that vehement rage she continued, as they informed me which be about her, from my departure from her unto my return again […]”2
The hysterical queen could not be interrogated and so Cranmer arranged to visit her the next day.
Notes and Sources
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16, 1540-1541, 1328. The Remains of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, Volume 1, p307-308.
Categories: Six Wives
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and anger management,” he added.
The water in the coconut or calabash base is also used in the ritual. “The water in the chalice can also be used to ‘anoint’ one's locks as a form of baptism or vow. The aroma from anointing is very pungent, and here we get into terpene and aromatherapy,” Fatari said. “The smoke blown from the nostrils is likened to clouds. During the ritual, there is a ‘channeling’ of positive thoughts and uplifting vibes.”
I grew up in the Caribbean, and protecting and properly representing its people and culture is of great importance to me. I expressed concern over writing about the steam chalice. Is this sacred tool meant for public consumption and widespread adoption, or should it be kept to Rastafarians? “You don’t have to have locks to be rasta; it’s more like culture,” Fatari told me. “The steam chalice is not unique, but it is special to the rasta community, as the rasta community endeavours to be as ital as possible.”
It’s true that other cultures, such as parts of India, have traditionally consumed cannabis in a sacred manner. While the US tends to put cannabis into categories (medicinal, recreational, etc.) everyone interviewed for this piece felt no need to establish such labeling, as long as respect is practiced during consumption.
“It’s a sacred piece, but in the day of commercialization, many use it in that recreational way,” Gordon said. “Because of its meditation and how it makes you feel, it naturally makes the link to a spiritual experience.” In other words, the act of putting together the steam chalice is a ritual in and of itself.
“The process of steam is not as immediate as lighting a spliff. Put in the water, warm up the charcoal, and inhale it a few times before you get the steam, which requires patience,” Gordon told me at one point. “Give thanks to the creator. Used recreationally, you need to respect this, as well. The steam chalice is a spiritual piece, it is also a recreational piece, and it is also a medical piece.”
Those of you who believe in the power of prayer should pray for Mark Driscoll. Most of you have probably heard of him, as he is quite infamous. Not only does he regularly refer to a Bible he doesn’t believe in and set himself up as the representative of a God he seems not to know, but he also tweets things that show this to be the case. Here is an example of the result from earlier today:
If Driscoll thinks that Obama doesn’t believe the Bible but he does, then Driscoll clearly has not read the Bible in full or carefully. I am sure that president Obama doesn’t believe the entire Bible, because no one who has read the whole thing carefully could do so, not only because it says things that no one today can accept, but also because its contents include different authors saying different things. But president Obama has shown himself to be aware of such issues related to the Bible’s diverse contents, and inspired by some of its core principles – even if also failing to live up to others of them, as we all do.
And so Driscoll’s tweet simply highlights the sad truth, namely that those who are most likely to accuse others of disregarding the Bible, with an implicit or explicit contrast with themselves, can only be those who are profoundly unfamiliar with the Bible’s contents. And yet so many Christians who share that unfamiliarity with the Bible follow after those who praise the Bible and denounce others based on their own ignorance of its multifaceted contents.
I had the privilege of listening to most of the presidential inaugural address live while watching it on a big screen at the Indiana History Center. I was impressed by the vision for progress, the clarity, the stand for equality, the appeal to core historic shared principles as a basis for that stand, and the passion with which president Obama appealed to the American public as part of “we the people,” calling on us to overcome obstacles and seek to do away with persistent injustice and inequality to the extent that we can. The challenge remains how to win over to a commitment to equality, love, respect, and consideration those who resist those things, the most disturbing and offensive of which, for me, are those who use a selective appeal to the Bible to justify selfishness, bigotry, racism and a variety of other things.
If you didn’t hear it, here’s the video:
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but not me as well. She's got a houseful of evacuation children, and what a noisy lot. Where is your muffler?" she said. "It's dreadful cold up here on the hill." "I..." I said, unable to answer, "I lost it." "You'll never get another one," she said. "They're going to start rationing clothes. And wool, too. You'll never get another one like that." "I know," I said, blinking at her. "Good things just thrown away," she said. "It's absolutely criminal, that's what it is." I don't think I said anything to that, just turned and walked away with my head down, looking for bombs and dead animals. December 20 - Langby isn't a Nazi. He's a communist. I can hardly write this. A communist. One of the chars found The Worker wedged behind a pillar and brought it down to the crypt as we were coming off the first watch. "Bloody communists," Bence-Jones said. "Helping Hitler, they are. Talking against the king, stirring up trouble in the shelters. Traitors, that's what they are." "They love England same as you," the char said. "They don't love nobody but themselves, bloody selfish lot. I wouldn't be surprised to hear they were ringing Hitler up on the telephone," Bence-Jones said. "'Ello, Adolf, here's where to drop the bombs." The kettle on the gas ring whistled. The char stood up and poured the hot water into a chipped teapot, then sat back down. "Just because they speak their minds don't mean they'd burn down old St Paul's, does it now?" "Of course not," Langby said, coming down the stairs. He sat down and pulled off his boots, stretching his feet in their wool socks. "Who wouldn't burn down St Paul's?" "The communists," Bence-Jones said, looking straight at him, and I wondered if he suspected Langby too. Langby never batted an eye. "I wouldn't worry about them if I were you," he said. "It's the jerries that are doing their bloody best to burn her down tonight. Six incendiaries so far, and one almost went into that great hole over the choir." He held out his cup to the char, and she poured him a cup of tea. I wanted to kill him, smashing him to dust and rubble on the floor of the crypt while Bence-Jones and the char looked on in helpless surprise, shouting warnings to them and the rest of the watch. "Do you know what the communists did?" I wanted to shout. "Do you? We have to stop him." I even stood up and started toward him as he sat with his feet stretched out before him and his asbestos coat still over his shoulders. And then the thought of the Gallery drenched in gold, the communist coming out of the tube station with the package so casually under his arm, made me sick with the same staggering vertigo of guilt and helplessness, and I sat back down on the edge of my cot and tried to think what to do. They do not realize the danger. Even Bence-Jones, for all his talk of traitors, thinks they are capable only of talking against the king. They do not know, cannot know, what the communists will become. Stalin is an ally. Communists mean Russia. They have never heard of Karinsky or the New Russia or any of the things that will make "communist" into a synonym for "monster". They will never know it. By the time the communists become what they became, there will be no fire watch. Only I know what it means to hear the name "communist" uttered here, so carelessly, in St Paul's. A communist. I should have known. I should have known. December 22 - Double watches again. I have not had any sleep and I am getting very unsteady on my feet. I nearly pitched into the chasm this morning, only saved myself by dropping to my knees. My endorphin levels are fluctuating wildly, and I know I must get some sleep soon or I will become one of Langby's walking dead, but I am afraid to leave him alone on the roofs, alone in the church with his communist party leader, alone anywhere. I have taken to watching him when he sleeps. If I could just get hold of an artificial, I think I could induce a trance, in spite of my poor condition. But I cannot even go out to a pub. Langby is on the roofs constantly, waiting for his chance. When Enola comes again I must convince her to get the brandy for me. There are only a few days left. December 28 - Enola came this morning while I was on the west porch, picking up the Christmas tree. It has been knocked over three nights running by concussion.
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Vice President Mike Pence is putting some distance between himself and President Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., following the revelation that Don Jr. accepted a meeting with a Russian lawyer in order to obtain supposed damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government.
A statement released by Pence’s press secretary, Marc Lotter, specifically noted that the meeting took place before Pence joined the campaign as Trump’s running mate. (RELATED: Emails Show Trump Jr. Knew Information May Have Come From Russian Government)
“The Vice President is working every day to advance the President’s agenda, which is what the American people sent us here to do,” Lotter said in a written statement. “The Vice President was not aware of the meeting. He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories before he joined the ticket.”
Pence has kept a certain distance from the Trump White House in recent weeks, staying above the chaos of the latest Trump tweet or Russia story. (RELATED: Everybody Is Forgetting That Clinton Allies Did The Same Thing As Don Jr.)
The vice president has recently been spending time in private with high-dollar Republican donors, leading to “speculation among Republican insiders that he is laying the foundation for his own political future, independent from Mr. Trump,” according to a recent New York Times report.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) was a Republican star during the sham impeachment proceedings by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. Stefanik scored hit after hit on the anti-Trump witnesses during hearings on Capitol Hill.
Because of this the left hates Rep. Stefanik today.
Saturday while shopping with her husband a far left goon left a threatening note on her car.
These type of threats and abuse are becoming more and more common from unhinged leftists.
TRENDING: ANGRY LEFTIST Smacks 84-Year-Old Female Trump Supporter Across the Face at Trump Rally in Aliso Viejo -- Beats Another Senior (VIDEO)
It is truly sad that the radical Far-Left cannot see beyond their vicious hate. My husband and I went grocery shopping this morning before district events and enjoyed chatting with constituents throughout the store. This vile anonymous note was left on our car. pic.twitter.com/4K5OBN8qVj — Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) March 7, 2020
In response to this threat former DNC Chairman Howard Dean did not apologize or condemn the threat — he piled on the New York female lawmaker.
Howard Dean lashed out at Stefanik calling her a “shame to her district.”
This is the modern day Democrat party — violent and unhinged.
President Trump moved Monday night to impose a total economic embargo of Venezuela.
In a letter to Congress, Mr. Trump said he signed an executive order under the National Emergencies Act and other laws.
“I have determined that it is necessary to block the property of the Government of Venezuela in light of the continued usurpation of power by the illegitimate Nicolas Maduro regime, as well as the regime’s human rights abuses, arbitrary arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens, curtailment of free press, and ongoing attempts to undermine Interim President Juan Guaido of Venezuela and the democratically-elected Venezuelan National Assembly,” Mr. Trump told congressional leaders.
The executive order freezes all Venezuelan government assets and prohibits transactions with Venezuela by other countries, including Russia and China.
The rare move puts Venezuela in the isolated company of embargoed nations such as Cuba, North Korea and Iran.
The administration has been taking a broad range of sanctions and other actions to topple Mr. Maduro and allow for Mr. Guaido to take power. But Mr. Maduro has kept hold of most of the country’s national security apparatus amid a worsening economic and political crisis.
Last week, Mr. Trump told reporters he was considering a blockade of Venezuela.
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don’t understand me and I hate everybody.'” – Brooke Lynn Hytes
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Five aid groups that operate migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean have refused to sign up to the Italian government’s code of conduct, the Interior Ministry said, but three others backed the new rules.
Charity boats have become increasingly important in rescue operations, picking up more than a third of all migrants brought ashore so far this year against less than one percent in 2014, according to the Italian coastguard.
Italy, fearing that the groups were facilitating people smuggling from North Africa and encouraging migrants to make the perilous passage to Europe, proposed a code containing around a dozen points for the charities. Those who refused to sign the document had put themselves “outside the organised system of sea rescues, with all the concrete consequences that can have”, the ministry said.
Italy had previously threatened to shut its ports to NGOs that did not sign up, but an source within the Interior Ministry said that in reality those groups would face more checks from Italian authorities.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has taken part in many of the rescues of the 95,000 migrants brought to Italy this year, attended a meeting at the Interior Ministry but refused to sign the code. MSF objected most strongly to a requirement that aid boats must take migrants to a safe port themselves, rather than transferring people to other vessels, which allows smaller boats to stay in the area for further rescues.
“Our vessels are often overwhelmed by the high number of [migrant] boats … and life and death at sea is a question of minutes,” MSF Italy’s director, Gabriele Eminente, wrote in a letter to the interior minister, Marco Minniti. “The code of conduct puts at risk this fragile equation of collaboration between different boats,” he continued, adding that MSF still wanted to work with the ministry to improve sea rescues.
But Save the Children backed the measures, saying it already complied with most of the rules and would monitor constantly to be sure that applying them did not obstruct their work. “We would not have signed if even one single point would have compromised our effectiveness. This is not the case – not one single point of the code will hinder our activities,” said Valerio Neri, director of Save the Children Italy, after the meeting.
The Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) and Spanish group Proactiva Open Arms agreed to the conditions, but Germany’s Sea-Watch, Sea-Eye and Jugend Rettet, and France’s SOS Mediterranée abstained. MSF, SOS Mediterranée and Jugend Rettet also called for clarification of the rules and took issue with a clause in the code that would oblige groups to allow police officers on board.
“For us, the most controversial point … was the commitment to help the Italian police with their investigations and possibly take armed police officers on board,” Jugend Rettet coordinator Titus Molkenbur said. “That is antithetical to the humanitarian principles of neutrality that we adhere to, and we cannot be seen as being part of the conflict.”
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ghetto, were drawn in by party culture. They rode the shifting musical tides — buying samplers, attending free parties, and experimenting with ecstasy. The excellent seven-inch Smash Clause 28!/Fight the Alton Bill! was their last noisy punk record before they moved into pop and techno. The Criminal Justice Act sought and succeeded in quashing the various strains of British traveler culture by criminalizing them as “anti-social” — squatting, direct actions, hunt sabotage, and illegal parties were all targeted.
Liberation/Stagnation We desperately wanted to move away from the post-punk ghetto we could see was already stagnating — a scene so obsessed with its do-it-yourself ethos that it was beginning to disappear up its own unwashed drainpipe trouser leg. —Boff Whalley In 1996, fate dealt Chumbawamba an ironic development in the form of a fax that appeared backstage at a gig. EMI Germany offered them 100,000 pounds to sign and release their next record, Tubthumper. Chumbawamba had just been told by their long-time independent label One Little Indian (run by Derek Birkett of Flux of Pink Indians) that he wasn’t interested in releasing the Tubthumper recordunless Chumbawamba reworked it to sound more “punk.” Chumbawamba had been bashing EMI for nearly a decade — they had even gone as far as to smear an EMI building in blood. In 1989, they appeared on a record called FUCK EMI that decried EMI’s involvement in arms manufacture and apartheid South Africa. Left with no other option, Chumbawamba took EMI’s proposition seriously. A round table between the eight members about whether to release Tubthumper on EMI provides a through-the-keyhole glimpse of this process: One: I don’t think it’s a good idea. It stinks of opportunism and desperation. And we’re not that desperate, d’ you know what I mean? I don’t think we should go for it. But I’m not completely convinced. Two: I’m in favour of signing. I think we have to, because we need to give ourselves a good kick up the arse. We have to change. Not just for us, to stop us getting tired of what we do, but because we’re in danger of becoming trapped in a scene which hates change. And we’ll be boring and we’ll be bored. Three: The way I see it, we’re in this band not just for entertainment, but to stir things up, get people talking. And I think this’ll be a way of getting in people’s faces and making some sort of impact. Four: I think we’ll get crucified, to be honest. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But I wasn’t around when you were doing that anti-EMI stuff so at least I have an excuse! Five: I reckon we have to be practical about the money and what it means. We’ve tried unsuccessfully to go back and tour the States for like, six years or whatever. And we can’t cos we still don’t have the record label willing to put out our records there. This EMI deal will give us a chance to go to the USA, go to Japan, sell records in countries where we’ve never been able to sell records before. So I think we have to do it. And I don’t want to go back to changing the beds and cleaning out the toilets at Wortley old folk’s home. Six: I’m not convinced by the arguments about money. The money really doesn’t matter to me, if it was just about that I think we’d find another way of getting the record out and playing gigs. The idea of change for change’s sake appeals to me but there are countless other ways to change Seven: We have to sign. I don’t give a shit what other people think. I understand the arguments against it, but I think we ought to stick our necks out and go for it instead of treading water. Eight: Well, signing to EMI worries me. It’s what it symbolizes, isn’t it? Pop culture’s all about symbols, and us going with EMI is a bloody big symbol. It says, we’ve changed our minds, we’ve changed our ideas. I know it’s not like that, but that’s what it looks like, and that’s what people will pick up on. So I don’t want it. But I can see what you mean about us needing a kick up
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I grew up in the age before digital devices. But we had a TV and I liked it just like any kid! There were about four channels and they were all in black and white. As you can tell, my memories go back pretty far. A big cultural thing here in Canada in the 70s and 80s was Saturday morning cartoons. So despite the fact that I struggled to get up for school, come Saturday morning, I’d be up at 05:30! My dad would later come down the stairs to bring me toast and orange juice while I watched as many episodes of Transformers as I could. That’s one of my favourite memories.”
Not only did Balaji’s parents allow him to watch his favourite cartoons, they brought him breakfast on a tray! And in case you wonder whether his parents ascribed to a bohemian parenting model, they didn’t.
Balaji graduated from high school with the top grades in his year, obtained an Engineering degree from the University of Toronto, and an MBA (Master’s of Business) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, has several patents behind his name and went on to start and scale several noteworthy companies in the industries of aerospace, medicine and education. But we digress, cartoons were part of Balaji’s childhood and are now part of his children’s. Here’s why cartoons didn’t ruin the children of the 70’s and 80’s.
TV’s were self-regulating when we grew up
Not only were we limited in terms of channels, the television in the sitting room simply didn’t have programmes to fill the airwaves 24/7. Remember these Pal test cards that would stare back at you between programmes?
Over time more programmes were added, thank goodness, but we certainly didn’t have our favourite cartoons available at our command until much later and by that time, we had learnt to self regulate to some degree. When comic books came alive on screen in the likes of Superman, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, along with other greats such as H.R. Puffnstuf there were, as you can imagine, a swathe of parent lobby groups petitioning against it.
Why were parents concerned? Television networks were seen to be commercialising cartoons by showing extensive advertising to young children and allowing cartoons to portray violent and anti-social behaviour as admissible. Perhaps this is something modern parents broadly sympathise with?
Yet Balaji’s parents chose to keep an open relationship instead of banning cartoons altogether, something he is practicing with his own daughters (aged 6 and 4). Fully aware of the benefits and risks handheld devices, and in particular tablets bring to his children, he decided to give each of his daughters tablets but only after he figured out how he could manage their devices and in so doing teach self-regulation early on.
Turn it on when you know how to turn it off
This might sound simple, but many parents don’t know how to remove wifi access from their children or how to turn their children’s devices off without physically locating said device and then living through the often times painful arguments that ensue.
Like every parent, Balaji thinks highly of his daughters but also knows them them well enough to realise that they would find it difficult to turn their new tablets off. And he is not alone.
Screens certainly aren’t in short supply; but knowing how parents can manage these devices clearly seems to be. Ofcom reports that as of 2014, 80 percent of children aged 15 own a mobile phone in the UK. However the UK’s communication regulator also flagged up that “Almost two thirds (62%) of parents of 12-15 year olds say they know less about the internet than their child.”
Far too few parents know they can actually help their children manage their phones and tablets, which was something Balaji himself wanted to solve before proceeding with the tablet purchases.
We had an iPad sitting around the house and I was thinking, ‘Well I don’t want them getting addicted to a digital screen but then there are benefits to the things they can do in terms of educational stuff.’ I thought it would be good to give them access to it but wanted to know how to control it because knowing them, like any kid, they would just keep going. I’d heard that there are abilities to limit this stuff and so I searched on Google Play, read reviews and decided to try Screen Time, which has worked brilliantly.
Children self-regulate if their early device use is regulated
The most interesting thing Balaji noticed over time it is his daughters eventually got to the point where they know when their time has run out. His children realised that he could control their tablets and turn them off when their time limits ran out and
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The Kavanaugh hearings have shown McConnell’s true colors. Democrats need to take note.
Mitch McConnell at a 2016 press conference. Source: Slate
Saturday’s confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was a victory lap for several people. One was President Donald Trump, whose ability to nominate anti-abortion justices most likely clinched his election. Another man proud of the Kavanaugh ascension was Senator Lindsay Graham, who has spoken frequently in recent weeks about the idea of Kavanaugh as an aggrieved victim of evil, vindictive Democrats. But the proudest supporter of Kavanaugh’s confirmation has been Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell praised his own actions in nominating Kavanaugh, decried protesters against the judge as a “mob,” and confidently predicted that anger over the nomination would “blow over.”
In a recent New York Magazine article, Chas Danner described what this victory meant for McConnell’s overall approach to governance and Supreme Court nominees, including Kavanaugh and failed Court nominee Merrick Garland. Danner wrote
with his dream achieved on Saturday, McConnell admitted that his whole stated premise for blocking Garland — that it was, as he once said, ‘about a principle, not a person’ — was bullshit, unless the right to take over the judicial branch by any means necessary was the principle.
But while McConnell is certainly an extremist, he is an extremist in an entirely American mold. McConnell belongs to a body of American thought known as republicanism. This branch of thought, opposed to the democratic approach to governance but not to be confused with today’s Republican Party, has animated McConnell’s entire career. It is the mechanism by which he justifies his actions and the secret to Democrats’ eventual hope of unseating him from power.
The ideology of republicanism is opposed to democracy (or, as it is sometimes referred to, classical liberalism) in a number of ways. Most importantly, the republican ideology asserts that the most virtuous individuals in a country should be elected to run that country the way they see fit without constantly responding to shifts in public opinion. Individuals of wealth, education, and status are elected and then use their skills to solve the nation’s problems. If they perform inadequately, the educated people of the country will come together in a regularly held election to unseat those officials and replace them with new ones. The most obvious example of this ideology in today’s politics is the United States Senate. Senators’ six-year terms and higher minimum age for service point to the institution’s beginnings as a body driven by virtue and status.
The influence of republican ideology can be gleaned from two of the most striking features of McConnell’s career before he became Senate Majority Leader in 2015. One aspect was his studious devotion to his constituents. Back in 2014, millions of liberals around the country wondered why McConnell’s Senate campaign against Allison Lundergan-Grimes was so successful. How could McConnell trounce such a smart, charismatic opponent by ten points more than most polls had predicted?
The answer, according to POLITICO, was a combination of his tenacity and his constituent service programs. McConnell used constituent service programs and the money he secured for Kentucky while in Congress to convince voters that his position in the Senate directly benefited them. Spending the government’s money and his office’s time to help Kentuckians was not an example of a free-market governing ideology, but instead a reflection of republicanism. Elect me, McConnell was saying, and I will use my virtue and skills to serve you.
Another feature of McConnell’s earlier career was his zealous devotion to striking down campaign finance laws. McConnell had filed lawsuits and spoke out against campaign finance legislation in the Senate for decades. His name is attached to the 2003 Supreme Court decision, McConnell v. FEC, that validated a 2002 campaign finance reform law. These actions have usually been interpreted as fulfilling a small-government, laissez-faire ideology. But McConnell was simply following republicanism’s focus on elections and the stakeholders of elections.
Just like the colonial officials who restricted the vote to white, property-owning men, McConnell wanted to ensure that the individuals with the highest economic stake in society had the most influence in its elections. Money spent on campaign finance is a pittance compared with the energy, banking, health care, or transportation sectors. But for those interested in gaining and maintaining political power, campaign finance reform can mean the difference between political success and crushing defeat. McConnell’s focus shows that he knows that dynamic more than most.
Democrats are at a disadvantage against this philosophy. Their approach to governance mandates that the representatives of the people govern according to the people’s will and desires. Senators, members of Congress, and presidents all have to respond to the popular will between elections and change their behavior accordingly. This sentiment is why liberals place such a high priority on petitions
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, I wanted to be a football player, I wanted to make assists for Pauleta (note: Pauleta was a PSG forward that scored more than 100 goals in 5 years during the noughties.)
Okay, now you can relax a bit, the hardest part is done. We will go to random questions, about everything and nothing.
You're a big fan of Paris Saint-Germain, can you give us a word about the PSG eSport project? Do you already imagine wearing the shirt of your dreams? Do you have a message for them?
I'm delighted, it's just a shame that the CS image in France improves only very slowly, sadly I can not see PSG being involved in CS in a short/medium term. As I said, I feel wonderful at Envy, this is the first time in my career that I really feel at home somewhere and I would like to stay here as long as possible, because everything is great!
But yeah, officially wearing the PSG jersey would be a great pleasure. For the anecdote I'm a fan of PSG for 16 years and when I was little kid, my only goal in life was to live in Paris, so I could subscribe to the “Parc des Princes”. PSG was always one of the most important things in my life, I know it’s only football but gives me so much.
It has been more than 5 years now, that you are around the French scene, and there still haven’t been a team with two of the “strongest” French players according to most observers and community. When will finally see a team with Kennys and shox, goddammit?
That seems inevitable, we will one day. When? I don’t know. We both have teams and we feel good with them. We're friends, we want to play together one day or another, but both of our priorities are now to lead our respective teams to the top.
Playing with shox? We're friends, we want to play together one day or another. That seems inevitable, we will play together one day.
What do you think about the new look of inferno? Did you test it already? According to you, what maps should receive a makeover?
Yes I was able to test only once. Inferno always was my favourite map, thanks to the multiple possibilities to pick aggressively with the AWP. I really love the makeover, we have to see how it goes when we play competitively, but for now it all seems positive.
For other maps, I think dust2 and Train need a makeover, I find Train quite lame to be honest... And yes, I am one of the few, who absolutely love the new nuke!
Should the map pool change more regularly? Would you like to see old maps like Season, Contra, Cpl_mill, Tuscan or any new ones like Overpass is?
We need a long time to adapt to the new maps, but yes indeed, I think that changing the map-pool every 10-12 months would be beneficial for the quality of the games, and yes we all miss tuscan :(
What do you think about the comeback of the graffitis? Why not “teams graffitis” for the next major?
I don’t really have an opinion. It's pretty trivial, but yes it would be cool to have graffitis with the team’s logos or even with the picture of the players.
We talked about the evolution of the game in an esport way, what about the technical evolution, after adjusting almost all of the weapons, some of the maps, fixing different bugs, etc. what remains to be adjusted in the game? Can you give us a word about the AWP and its evolution?
Well... Difficult question, I am relatively satisfied with the evolution of the game, I think hitboxes are not 100% accurate but otherwise, the game seems relatively good, I do not have specific criticisms to make.
Regarding the AWP, it is the hardest to master it’s every component (Quick scoping, movement...). I reached this level because I mastered it completely, but nowdays, the snipers have lost the impact. Some will be happy about the awpers losing their impact, others (like me) won’t. The nerf that happened in February-March 2015 was necessary, but I think that the movement with it was too slowed down.
shox - kennyS, the beginning of a beautiful story?
Why did you choose kennyS and not a horrible nickname like shadow05 or eagle23? Have you ever had any other nickname?
It is quite simple, Kenny is my first name and S is the first letter of my
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Trump administration continues its mission to wipe out the US middle class and the poor. After hiring some top banksters to run the economy, returning to the path of full-mode deregulation of Wall Street, preparing more tax-cuts for the super-rich that will deteriorate further the already bad condition of the social state, it's time to attack the poor who can't pay electricity.
Dr. Richard Wolff explains:
Last summer, 900,000 homes in Texas went dark because of unpaid bills. That's triple the number ten years ago in the state of Texas. Number two, California, 714,000 homes, the most on record for the state of California. Across the US as a whole, millions of people are being disconnected from electricity.
The Trump administration released its 2018 budget. And in that budget they got rid of the LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program). It's a program of the federal government that helps poor people, if they qualify, to pay at least part of their electricity bills.
Last year, 2.9 million households turned and got some help. So, why is it being canceled by the Trump administration? According to Mick Mulvaney, Director of the US Office of Management and Budget, he cited the figure of eleven thousand people who didn't qualify, but who got help. 2.9 million people disconnected and needed help. Eleven thousand, which is 0.0001 percent of this cheated in some way, weren't qualify, or even dead in some cases. To use a tiny fraction of corruption to cancel out what millions of people need, there is no justification for that.
So, while on the one hand, the Trump administration puts inside the government the most corrupted features of the parasitic capitalism who almost ruined the economy in 2008 and have been saved with billions of taxpayers money, it finds this cheap and ridiculous excuse to cut help on nearly 3 million poor citizens.
Couldn't sound more neoliberal. It comes straight from the neoliberal narratives and propaganda by the mainstream apparatus. The fact that a small fraction probably "cheated" to get some subsidy is being used to paint as corrupted millions of poor who indeed need and should take this additional help from the government budget.
The 'anti-establishment' Donald is doing everything in his power to maintain neoliberal pro-establishment status inside the US. He is just continuing the destructive neoliberal policies, just as has been planned by the US plutocracy with either Hillary Clinton or him.
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With deals in Burma, Vietnam and Thailand it seems Japan is ready to dominate Southeast Asia football.
In the ‘real world’ Japan may be starting to challenge China’s long-standing influence in Burma, but in football, China is nowhere to be seen. The Land of the Rising Sun is leading the way.
The J-League, widely regarded as Asia’s best domestic competition at least in terms of operation, administration and organization, has been making inroads into Southeast Asia.
For Japan, access to new markets to show games and offer opportunities for sponsors coupled with the possibility of access to young talent from the region is attractive.
Almost no players move from Southeast Asia to the big European leagues, but plenty of stars move from the J-League to England, Germany and elsewhere, which can be an attractive to rising Southeast Asian football players. In August, the J-League signed an agreement with the Myanmar football association which will allow the Japanese to demonstrate how to run a professional football league.
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Local officials will work with Japanese partners to learn about all aspects of management, marketing, sponsorship and pretty much everything else. Zaw Zaw, chairman of the Myanmar Football Federation, was in no doubt that the deal would be beneficial.
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"It is important to have a good partner for us to be able to develop soccer in our country," Zaw Zaw said.
J. League chairman Kazumi Ohigashi. "We want to put forward to our fellow Asian countries the knowhow we have acquired.
It is not only Burma. The J-League has been getting involved with other countries in the region trying to gain access to new fans and potential talent. Earlier this year, a deal was signed with Vietnam.
The J-League and the Vietnam Professional Football Company (VPF) will share information and experience in addition to engaging in all kinds of exchanges at the coaching and training level.
VPF chairman Vo Quoc Thang has vowed to apply the lessons learned from Japan.
“The J-League will also help Vietnam exploit the commercial rights of the V-League and support VPF’s development and integration, especially as the private football management sector in Vietnam is still in its infancy.”
“Based on the cooperation agreement signed between the two sides, VPF will make specific cooperation plans for the purposes of improving the organization, management and operation of the leagues in the near future.”
In February, a similar agreement was signed with Thailand which sees the two –among other things- exchange information, coaches, referees, arrange friendly games and training camps and support marketing and other activities.
Thai fans can now see J-League games on television and Japan Dream Football Association (JDFA) representative Masao Kiba wants to help a south-east Asian player go to the J-League.
"I learnt from two years here that Thai players, especially the youngsters, are very good technically. I think if these players were able to train in a better environment, they would develop into top-class footballers," said Kiba.
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"What these kids need is the opportunity to receive proper training. Young Thai players are just as good as their Japanese counterparts at the same age. I see no reason why Thais cannot play in the J-League.
"Anyone can have the dream of playing in the top leagues. If they believe they can do that, we'll try to help them achieve it. We want to make those dreams come true together.”
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When and Where
Vegan Summerfest 2020 runs from July 1 to July 5. Events are held at the Conference Center at Pitt-Johnstown, located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, PA. The campus is a 650-acre mountaintop wildlife preserve with 40 acres of hiking trails.
Join us for all five days or purchase a weekend pass. On-campus housing is available. For more information or to register in advance, please explore our website.
Register for 2020! Learn More
ISLAMABAD: Demand of Pakistani rice has increased due to its special fragrance, colour and quality across the world.
A spokesman of Agriculture Department said the Agriculture Department has launched a special campaign about toxin-free paddy crops this year, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.
He said international rice export companies have lauded the initiative of the agriculture department.
Pakistan produces world class rice and has a well-developed rice processing industry as proven by its exports to high-end and the most sensitive markets around the world.
Given the import of the EO, the names listed in the follow video may be subject to scrutiny and perhaps maybe, possibly, potentially SOME REAL LEGAL CONSEQUENCES. Do notice though that the EO is non-descript on the matter of what penalties, aside from blocked financial trasactions might be consequenced. If this EO is on par with other law enforcement activities undertaken by the Executive Branch, then we might expect another proverbial NOTHING BURGER.
Source (see Video Production Notes):
as schools.”
Sound familiar?
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email [email protected]. Twitter: @matierandross
New Promos — Ultimate Box Topper
by mtggoldfish // Nov 2, 2018
"UMA" promos have been popping up all over social media. Not much is currently known about UMA. Previous purchasers of Guilds of Ravnica: Mythic Edition were sent special UMA promos in the mail as an apology for the chaotic checkout on HasbroToyShop.com. Details will be revealed by Wizards of the Coast on Monday November 5. So far we know of the following cards:
�s Essential Consultants, three critical questions will determine a large swath of potential liability under these laws: First, what did Cohen and his company promise to other corporations? Second, what did those corporations reasonably believe he could deliver? Third, was any public official, or any "official act," involved?
Danny Cevallos is an MSNBC legal analyst. Follow @CevallosLaw on Twitter. He attended the American Swiss Foundation Young Leader's Conference in Switzerland in 2016, which was partially funded by Novartis.
LEGO Technic Street Bike
I have recently gotten the urge to put things together and what better to satisfy that urge then with Lego Technic. I was just think how I’m being childish about this until I came across this beauty of a model, they made a model of the Ducati 749, how appropriate is that. The lines look great on this piece, it seems to have a V4 based on the commentary. Who doesn’t enjoy putting a Lego model together that really functions like this motorcycle.
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The South is legendary in its affinity for great literature, storytelling, humor and famous quotes. A rich tapestry of strong family relationships mixed with hyperbole and a strong sense of character and sense of place remain the common themes.I are truly indebted to your work.Great Southern Writers Syndicate brings you the best of current great southern writers, columnists and cartoonists for your newspaper, magazine, web site, or publication. Pull up a rockin' chair, relax, and breathe the fresh clean air of great Southern rhetoric and muse.
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It's a serious problem.
I'd like to know what the Internet is going to look like in 2050. Thinking about it makes me wish I were eight years old.
Published in the May 2008 issue.
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Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia belongs to Horikoshi Kohei
Zootopia belongs to Disney
Inktober 16And here's another bnha x zootopia crossover. I'm on a role with thisOchako = Beaver (because her parents runs a construction company and when it comes to building stuff, I think of beavers)Iida = Doberman dog
the citizen and the citizen to the soldier. The traditional civil-military relationship is frayed and ill-defined. Our military and defense structures are increasingly remote from the society they protect, and each must be brought back into harmony with the other.
Barack Obama, busy on other fronts, had no time for this. The rest of us should make time, if we hope to choose our wars more wisely, and win them.
The Challenge starts and ends based on each runner's local time zone.All activities logged during the Challenge period must be uploaded to Strava no later than three days after the Challenge ends.Manual entries, virtual runs, or treadmill runs are not eligible. Activity privacy settings must be marked "Everyone" to count towards the Challenge goal.To learn more about Strava Challenges and Virtual Races, please visit the Strava Support Center
Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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Why do computer programmers eat so fast? they take mega bites!
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Why the fuck Hasn't Florida even come close to legalizing marijuana
Follow that logic through, though. Maybe there will be a Luck or a Griffin in the 2013 draft, when the Eagles might have to find their next QB. Maybe not. If the Eagles really believe Griffin is that special talent who can lead a team to a Super Bowl, this is the one and only time to get him. Reid likely would follow the blueprint he used with McNabb, so Vick would be the starter this year, anyway.
tax-cutting Trump” was in the ascendant or whether “trash-talking Trump” (on the foreign policy side) took the helm. The former would be positive for share prices, at least in the short term; the latter uniformly negative. One final thought; your blogger has not always been a great enthusiast for gold, but if there ever were an argument for buying bullion, a Trump presidency would be it.
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Waitress mishears order I guess that's my order now
Caption
Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Pad 39B on mission STS-97. This is a five minute exposure taken from the Causeway (about 7 miles away from the pad). Taken with a borrowed all-manual Nikomat camera, 24 mm lens, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100 film. When the exposure was stopped in this shot, the shuttle was approximately 229 statute miles downrange.
Dozens of people in a New Zealand mosque were gunned down by a terrorist who live-streamed the entire massacre. Additionally, at least 48 are suffering injuries ranged from minor to critical. Today’s special guests include regional expert Syrian Girl, SEAL graduate Matt Bracken, and founder of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes breaking down the terror attack. Millie Weaver and Dr. Nick Begich join Alex Jones in the final hour.
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Despite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's recent summit with President Donald Trump, North Korea doesn't appear to have abandoned its nuclear ambitions.
Recent reports indicate the country is also working on another ballistic-missile submarine.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to meet with North Korean officials in Pyongyang on Friday to further discuss denuclearization.
North Korea appears to be working on a new submarine capable of firing nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, according to information gathered by South Korea's military.
Kim Hack-yong, a South Korean lawmaker who until a few weeks ago was head of the legislature's defense committee, told The Wall Street Journal that North Korea appeared to working on the sub at the port of Sinpo on the country's east coast.
An aide to Kim said South Korean intelligence had noticed workers and materials moving at the port, where work on the sub appeared to be taking place at an indoor facility. Kim, whose term as the defense-committee chief recently ended, is a member of the conservative party that has been wary of talks with North Korea.
An underwater test-firing of a submarine ballistic missile shown in an undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on April 24, 2016. KCNA/File Photo via Reuters
US military intelligence noticed similar activity at the port late last year, detecting what appeared to be construction on a new diesel-electric submarine at the Sinpo shipyard, The Diplomat reported in October, citing a US government source.
US intelligence estimates at that time gave the sub a submerged displacement of 2,000 tons and a beam of 36 feet, making it the largest ship built for the North Korean navy.
The Journal report comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Pyongyang on Friday, where he is likely to push North Korea for more solid commitments regarding denuclearization. While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump pledged at their mid-June summit in Singapore to "work toward" denuclearization, no specific agreement was reached.
The US made some concessions to Pyongyang at that summit, including halting Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a major US-South Korea military exercise scheduled for August. But evidence has emerged suggesting North Korea has not abandoned its nuclear ambitions.
A Hwasong-12 long-range strategic ballistic rocket test-launched on May 15, 2017. KCNA via REUTERS
Five US officials told NBC News that North Korea has increased its production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
While missile and nuclear tests have halted, one official said, "there's no evidence that they are decreasing stockpiles, or that they have stopped their production."
North Korea has one of the world's largest navies by number of ships. South Korea's defense ministry estimates Pyongyang has 430 surface vessels and about 70 submarines.
Many of those subs are thought to be obsolete, but that fleet includes one Gorae-class ballistic-missile sub, which was outfitted with a new missile-launch tube in summer 2017, according to The Diplomat. (South Korea is reportedly looking to buy six US-made P-8 Poseidons, one of the world's most advanced sub-hunting aircraft.)
The sub under construction at Sinpo may be a successor to that Gorae-class boat, advancing a program that US officials consider a threat because it could allow North Korea to achieve greater surprise for a nuclear strike.
"It's too early to say if the North Koreans have defaulted on the Singapore agreement to denuclearize," Yang Uk, chief defense analyst at Seoul-based private think thank the Korea Defense and Security Forum, told The Journal.
"But earlier satellite images have already shown enough evidence proving North Korea has not abandoned its SLBM program," he added, referring to submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
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A senior researcher who can't get an answer from a shutdown NIH about a proposed clinical trial on a neurodegenerative disease, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who fears that a generation of innovators will be lost, and a young investigator wearied at the lab by endless funding cuts and frustrated at home by the halt to promising research into a genetic disorder that affects her daughter -- these are the leaders and members of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) who today told a press conference at the National Press Club that the "temporary" shutdown of the federal government is making an already bad situation far worse for biomedical researchers and jeopardizing America's long-term leadership in global bioscience.
ASCB Executive Director Stefano Bertuzzi, PhD, told reporters that shutting down the driving engines of American bioscientific research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), will have effects well beyond the days or weeks the Capitol Hill standoff lasts. "As America keeps hitting the brakes on scientific research, we are, in effect, accelerating the damage done to our continued leadership in global bioscience, in health outcomes and in the economic power that we have always derived from basic research," Dr. Bertuzzi said, "Americans will pay dearly for these slowdowns, sequestrations, and shutdowns in finding cures and on maintaining economic competitiveness."
Dr. Bertuzzi added, "Today I am wondering what U.S. science will look like in a week, a month, five years from now."
ASCB President Don W. Cleveland, PhD, from the Ludwig Cancer Institute at the University of California, San Diego, said that the NIH shutdown has put researchers like himself, who rely on NIH guidance and support, into an untenable position. "We have some reserves and we are running on those reserves but (long term) we have nothing to keep the team together but public funding and philanthropic organizations," said Dr. Cleveland.
Ironically, last month was a great one in his lab, Dr. Cleveland told reporters. "We identified a way to introduce gene silencing therapy to silence a gene in neurodegenerative disease." His lab has a collaborator lined up to start a clinical trial. "We wrote the grant application and now nothing is happening. We need public support."
Carol Greider, PhD, ASCB member, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine, and Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology & Genetics, John Hopkins University, said that the shut down and cutbacks are especially cruel on the young scientists training in her lab. "It's often assumed that the dollars they're talking about are for fancy equipment but the bulk of the funding in my lab goes to training the future scientific leaders. This training is truly in jeopardy with the decreased funding."
Dr. Greider said that when she was doing the research on telomeres, the repetitive nucleotide sequences that mark the end of chromosomes, that won her the Nobel Prize, the NIH "success" rate on grants was 30%. "Now it's 15%. Breakthroughs usually come through the youngest generation," said Dr. Greider. "A generation of innovators might be lost. We can surely do better. We must."
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"I represent the younger generation of scientists," said Rebecca Burdine, PhD, ASCB member, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, and mother of a child affected by Angelman syndrome, a genetic disorder that recent NIH-funded research has linked to a mistake in genomic imprinting. "My generation has been feeling the strain of the NIH budget for over a decade. You're fighting for a pool of money with people who are just as brilliant, just as ambitious, and have just as good ideas," she said. "This prevents really good science from being done. I've seen many of my peers spiraling down the drain. They are slowly shutting down their labs and leaving science."
Beyond the impact on her own career, Dr. Burdine said that the slowdown and now the shutdown are hurting her child. "My daughter has Angelman's syndrome," she explained. Because NIH-funded research identified the cause of Angelman's as a mistake in genomic imprinting, new therapies are possible. "This is a disease that we could treat and potentially cure," said Dr. Burdine. "The only thing keeping my daughter from living a seizure-free life is money. It's like the government threw a concrete brick at a group of people already treading water. My daughter is one of the ones affected by this."
The current shutdown, said Dr. Bertuzzi, only adds insult to injury, putting the future of America's long-term leadership in bioscience in doubt. The shutdown comes on the heels of a nine stagnant years of virtually flat NIH and NSF budgets, falling purchasing power for America's biomedical research labs, and unprecedented low "success" rates for grant
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Revised as of 09/29/20, through Week 3.
Compiled by Mike Harris
The playoff odds report plays out the season 30,000 times. A random draw assigns each team a win or loss for each game. The probability that a team will be given a win is based on an equation which considers the current DAVE ratings of the two teams as well as home-field advantage. (DAVE and DVOA ratings are explained here.) Mean Wins is the average number of wins for this team over the 30,000 simulations. Odds are given for winning each playoff seed, as well as for winning the division (DIV) or winning a wild card (WC). TOT represents odds of making the playoffs in any fashion.
Carolina DAVE is reduced by -9.0% in Weeks 4-6, -6.0% in Week 7, and -3.0% in Week 8 to reflect the Christian McCaffrey injury.
Denver DAVE is reduced by -9.0% in Week 4 and then gradually returns to normal until it is at the listed value for Week 9 to reflect the Drew Lock injury.
New Orleans DAVE is reduced by -9.0% in Weeks 4-6, -6.0% in Week 7, and -3.0% in Week 8 to reflect the Michael Thomas injury.
San Francisco DAVE is reduced by -6.0% in Week 4 and -3.0% in Week 5 to reflect the Jimmy Garoppolo injury.
Mean Wins includes 0.5 wins for each tie.
NFC East
Team W-L DAVE Mean Wins #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 DIV WC TOT CHANGE DAL 1-2 5.4% 8.3 2.6% 6.5% 14.7% 33.2% 0.5% 1.4% 2.2% 57.0% 4.1% 61.0% -0.9% PHI 0-2-1 -3.1% 6.5 0.5% 1.5% 4.1% 13.9% 0.5% 1.2% 2.0% 19.9% 3.7% 23.6% -0.0% WAS 1-2 -18.0% 6.0 0.3% 0.9% 2.8% 9.9% 0.4% 1.0% 1.8% 13.8% 3.3% 17.1% -4.5% NYG 0-3 -14.4% 5.3 0.1% 0.3% 1.4% 7.5% 0.1% 0.4% 0.8% 9.3% 1.4% 10.7% -8.7%
NFC North
Team W-L DAVE Mean Wins #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 DIV WC TOT CHANGE GB 3-0 4.2% 9.9 16.3% 17.1% 13.8% 6.0% 7.8% 8.0% 7.5% 53.1% 23.3% 76.4% 9.0% CHI 3-0 -3.1% 9.3 10.2% 11.5% 9.8% 3.8% 9.5% 9.5% 9.6% 35.2% 28.6% 63.9% 7.8% DET 1-2 -1.2% 7.6 1.6% 2.8% 2.7% 1.3% 5.3% 7.6% 8.6% 8.4% 21.4% 29.9% 7.8% MIN 0-3 -4.1% 6.0 0.3% 0.8% 1.2% 0.9% 1.7% 3.0% 4.1% 3.2% 8.7% 11.9% -5.2%
NFC South
Team W-L DAVE Mean Wins #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 DIV WC TOT CHANGE TB 2-1 12.5% 9.5 11.3% 13.5% 14.0% 7.1% 7.4% 7.6% 7.5% 45.9% 22.6% 68.4% 12.2% NO 1-2 18.9% 9.1 7.4% 11.1% 15.9% 7.8% 6.7% 7.4% 7.7% 42.3% 21.8% 64.1% -12.7% ATL 0-3 2.0% 6.5 0.3% 1
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In a hard-hitting speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked Pakistan to shut down 'terrorist machinery' on its soil while making it clear that there can 'never, ever' be a compromise on the territorial integrity of India of which Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part.
United Nations: In a hard-hitting speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked Pakistan to shut down "terrorist machinery" on its soil while making it clear that there can "never, ever" be a compromise on the territorial integrity of India of which Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part.
In his address to the UN General Assembly, he virtually rejected Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's demand for resolution of the Kashmir issue on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions, saying India favoured settlement of all issues on the basis of the Simla Agreement.
Yesterday, Sharif had made the demand when he raked up the Kashmir issue in his speech. "India is committed sincerely in resolving all issues with Pakistan, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, through bilateral dialogue on the basis of Simla Agreement," he said. India considers the UN resolutions as outdated.
Singh said terrorism remained a grave threat to security and stability everywhere and extracts a heavy toll of innocent lives around the world.
"From Africa to Asia, we have seen several manifestations of this menace in the last few days alone," he said in an apparent reference to the twin terror attacks near Jammu on Thursday that claimed 10 lives and the Kenyan mall attack.
"State-sponsored cross-border terrorism is of particular concern to India, also on account of the fact that the epicentre of terrorism in our region is located in our neighbourhood in Pakistan."
While expressing readiness to solve issues including Jammu and Kashmir through bilateral dialogue, the Prime Minister said, "However, for progress to be made, it is imperative that the territory of Pakistan and the areas under its control are not utilised for aiding and abetting terrorism directed against India.
"It is equally important that the terrorist machinery that draws its sustenance from Pakistan be shut down. There must be a clear understanding of the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is integral part of India and that there can never, ever, be a compromise with the unity and territorial integrity of India."
Singh, who arrived here last night from Washington, will hold his first one-on-one meeting with Sharif since the latter assumed office in June.
The India-Pakistan dialogue process was put on hold after an Indian soldier was beheaded on the Line of Control (LoC) in January. Ties hit a new low when five more soldiers were killed by Pakistani troops along the LoC last month.
The terror attacks near Jammu virtually threatened to derail the New York meeting, with main opposition BJP demanding that Singh call off his meeting with Sharif. But Singh decided to go ahead with the meeting, saying such attacks will not succeed in derailing the dialogue process.
Expectations from the high-profile meeting will be toned down, as the Prime Minister himself put it in the media briefing after his talks with President Barack Obama, "given the terror arm which is still active in our subcontinent".
PTI
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ANALYSIS/OPINION:
If happiness had a political tag, conservative would be its name.
So goes the findings of a massive study published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal that found conservatives are happier than liberals — a circumstance that comes because those of right-leaning ideologies are far more likely than their left-leaning counterparts to grasp the “meaning of life.”
The heck, you say.
But yes, this is indeed a classic case of science proving common sense.
First, the science: “According to the study, which compiled survey results from more than 50,000 participants in 16 countries, people who identified as political conservatives were more likely to find meaning and satisfaction in their lives than liberals were,” Life Science reported.
Happiness, for the purposes of the study, was defined and measured by determining two facets — day-to-day satisfaction and an overall sense of meaning for one’s life.
And now, the common sense: Take a look around, and who’s protesting wildly in the streets?
Leftists.
Unhappy, disgruntled, outraged, angry, flag-burning, fire-starting, free-speech-shouting, intolerant leftists. Apparently, according to science, they just can’t seem to help themselves.
Some of them — some of the supporters of California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters — just staged vicious, fiery antics outside her California office, setting fire to the U.S. banner and screaming “black power,” all the while counter-protesting Oath Keepers who didn’t even show to the scene.
One of them — Whoopi Goldberg — just rocked national headlines for an outlandishly rude exchange on “The View” with invited guest Jeanine Pirro that reportedly wrapped with a backstage f-bomb demand for the good judge to exit, and never return.
Those are just a couple recent examples.
For months now the news cycles have been filled with stories of leftists shutting down conservative speech on college campuses; Black Lives Matter types taking to the streets to protest police; pink-hatted feminazis demanding an end to Donald Trump’s administration; House and Senate Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer plotting charts to resist all-things-Trump; Barack Obama supporters working behind scenes and not-so-behind the scenes to press against Trump and toward progressivism; and of rising socialists — Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — peddling their class warfare politics, pressing for more protests, more uprisings, more rebellion against all-things-conservative.
These are not the actions of happy people.
“Finding meaning in life is related to the sense or feeling that things are the way they should be and that there is a sense of order,” said study author David Newman. “If life feels chaotic, then that would likely dampen your sense that life is meaningful.”
Yes, liberals have been in a tailspin. Their normal expectations have been shocked by chaos.
Democrats have never accepted the failure of their chosen one, Hillary Clinton, to win the White House. Since, they’ve watched with growing alarm as Trump has dismantled much of the progressive-socialist gains of the previous administration.
They’ve felt their power recede with each passing week.
Now? Now, they tremble to think that voters have developed a taste for “America First” politics, and that this president may win another four years — another Republican-controlled Congress, another chance to influence the country’s courts.
No wonder liberals are so unhappy. No wonder they feel adrift at sea, unable to grasp life’s meaning, incapable to control their chaotic environments.
Trump’s in the White House, Republicans control Congress, and more of the same could be on the way for the next few years. Too bad, so sad, what a scary, chaotic, unhappy world for the left.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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