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Image Credit Blue Sky Homes I will confess to a case of prefab ennui; I have waited a decade for it to make green modern design affordable and accessible and it has not yet fulfilled its promise. Where once the prefab proselytizers could claim that being better built in a factory was enough, it isn't any more, and one has to look closely to see: is really green? Is it too big? Too far away? Fortunately, Preston at Jetson Green has keeping up with the prefab scene, and covered five of them in February, including this little gem from Blue Sky Homes. It is one of the more interesting prefab ideas around, built with a steel frame and insulated steel panels. More at Jetson Green While the American real estate market is in the tank, the Canadian one is still pretty strong, particularly in Alberta, home of the oil industry. That's where Karoleena Custom Homes builds the Karo Cabin. The Karo Cabin is a factory-built, future-ready structure designed to be used as a summer escape, backyard studio, laneway house, or something similar and can be delivered anywhere in North America (assuming a road or ferry route). More at Jetson Green Another cute Canadian is the Faberhaus. Preston writes: Designed and built by Faberca, faberhaus gives folks a self-sufficient living space in the country. In other words, no electrical grid connection is necessary with solar power for the LED lights and propane power for the fridge, hydronic radiant heat, and everything else. It is tiny, has everything you need, expensive radiant heat, and of course, the commenters complain about the price at $ 237 per square foot. Sigh. More at Jetson Green. I have a real problem with this one by EcoSteel.. Preston writes: This sturdy steel cabin is off-grid, off-pipe, and self-sufficient, making it an interesting case study of sustainability and coastal design. The home was completed just over a year ago on Cusabo Island in South Carolina -- an impressive feat given the remote site accessible only by boat. The owner was able to take advantage of prefab construction and had the parts flown in by helicopter. And therein lies the problem. It is almost 4,000 square feet, built to resist floods and hurricanes, and everything is brought in by helicopter, the most expensive and carbon intensive form of transport in the world next to the Space Shuttle. Sustainable? Puleeze. More at Jetson Green I am going to look more closely at LABhaus. Reading their philosophy, they seem to have a good mix of design, materials and green goodies. They write: At LABhaus, we consider sustainability to have three core components: environmental, economic, and market. Environmental stability means building homes with the lowest possible impact throughout their life cycle. We use non-toxic, renewable materials, constructed using low-waste techniques, to produce a home with the maximum quality and durability with the lowest possible energy use. Economic sustainability means building homes which represent the best possible value for our consumers and which are more affordable to purchase and maintain than similar homes. More at Jetson Green When I first looked at the LABhaus rendering, I thought "another wide lot suburban design, we shouldn't do that any more" and almost wrote it off. That would have been a mistake; there is a lot going on in the prefab world, a lot of good design, ingenuity and innovation. Thanks to Preston for continuing to cover it at Jetson Green. More modern prefab from Jetson Green in TreeHugger: Top Five Super Green Modern Homes Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl Follow me on Twitter! @lloydalter and friend me on Facebook

The bikes have stopped and the riders are enjoying some well-deserved holiday time. Andrea Iannone is spending some time in Ibiza before getting back on his Suzuki in early August at Brno. This evening the Italian rider carried out a phone interview with Sky Sport 24. The Maniac took the opportunity to explain how he's feeling: “This is the hardest break of my life – he stated - unfortunately I've never reached the holidays with such difficulties, there's a real weight when you are so keen to achieve important results”. He won't hear of giving in though: “These are life lessons that help you to grow anyway – he pointed out – I continue to train with the aim of taking the Suzuki to the top”. His GSX-RR has so far failed to meet with expectations this season: “We're continuing to develop the bike – commented #29 - last year the Suzuki could count on a different regulation, with less restrictions”. Iannone is nevertheless confident: “The bike has a good base and can become competitive – he stated – unfortunately I crashed at the Sachsenring but I was trying to bring home the best possible result”. Looking back, this isn't the first time that The Maniac has faced such a situation: “I arrived in Ducati in 2013 with more problems than I have today – he recalled - in some ways it's like returning down a path I've already taken. So as a result I'm not overly worried - he revealed - also because I believe in my team and the people around me". His last words concern Schwantz: “I've always respected Kevin – declared Iannone - he can say whatever he thinks. I would have preferred him to speak to me face to face, like a father does with his son, or if we'd confronted each other”.

The names of Emily and Caleb have been changed to protect their identities because possession of ayahuasca is illegal under Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Jennifer Logan's relatives say they are hoping test results will reveal why she died at a retreat in Peru after drinking a concoction called "tobacco purge tea." The Canadian woman died at the retreat outside the city of Puerto Maldonado on Jan. 17 after drinking the tea, meant to provide a spiritual cleanse through purging, during a ceremony with a shaman. Logan, 32, died of a pulmonary edema, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the air sacs of the lungs. Her sister, Amy Logan, says the family believes the tea played a role in her death. Tobacco purge tea is made from a potent variety of tobacco found in the rainforest called mapacho. When used in tea the plant induces vomiting intended to cleanse. Her memorial took place Saturday in her hometown of Saskatoon. The drink was apparently not ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic tea that is believed by those who practise plant-based healing to have cleansing and psychological healing properties, but it is similar in that ayahuasca also has a purging effect on those who ingest it, and it is a growing trend at spiritual ceremonies. Ayahuasca is being used in clinical research to treat depression, anxiety and PTSD. However, it has been connected to several deaths at spiritual ceremonies. Diligence is urged The indigenous cultures of the Amazon have for centuries been brewing plant concoctions that induce vomiting and contain naturally occurring doses of the hallucinogen dimenthyltryptamine (DMT). Plants used to make tobacco tea and ayahuasca are legal in Peru. Staff at a Peruvian jungle retreat said Jennifer Logan had an 'extreme and unusual' reaction after drinking what they described as a 'tobacco purge' tea. (Facebook) Sonya Weir, co-ordinator for the Institute of Shamanic Medicine in British Columbia, says people have to be very discerning when travelling to South America to participate in plant healing ceremonies. "It's a terrible tragedy, and there might have been compounding factors — we don't have all the facts yet," says Weir, a shamanic healing practitioner, about Logan’s death. "But regardless, you have to do your research." Weir does not participate in ceremonies involving teas mixed with medicinal plants, and they are not endorsed by the Institute of Shamanic Medicine. "We have travelled to Bolivia and done shamanic work with teachers in South America. We would say if you want to do a retreat, we could recommend a shamanic practitioner. Do your homework. Do your research. I would absolutely not go to Peru and meet someone on the street and go off and put my faith in them." Canadian underground culture But tea ceremonies that involve teas containing tobacco or ayahuasca are not just taking place in South America; they also occur right here in Canada. Although the plants do not naturally grow here, there is a plant-healing culture, which remains largely underground because the ceremonies are illegal. Jennifer Logan is shown in a family photo. Relatives say they are hoping test results will reveal why she died at a rainforest retreat in Peru. (Takumi Furuichi/Canadian Press) Those who have participated in ayahuasca ceremonies in Canada that involve purging similar to the effects of tobacco tea say preparation is of the utmost importance. "If you prepare properly, you basically just spit. There’s nothing to really bring up," said Caleb, a 36-year-old Toronto resident. "Sometimes when it’s too intense you want to fight it. The shaman works you through it." "It’s sad to know that happened," he said of Logan. "I think it’s an amazing adventure, but it’s not to be taken lightly." Caleb only agreed to be interviewed if his real name wasn’t used. "Maybe there are blogs and people who are open about this, but for me it is all word of mouth," he said. "I by no means think it's a bad thing, but don't abuse it. Make sure it's right for you. Do your background research and do your homework." Instructions distributed ahead of an ayahuasca ceremony direct participants to alter their diet and fast beforehand. "Cut back on salt, sugar, alcohol, sexual activity a few days prior. The day of ceremony, fast at least half the day with light lunch or a full day if comfortable. Need to know of any medications being used," the directions read. "I’ve purged in ayahuasca ceremonies every time," says Emily, 34, a Toronto woman who has participated in four ceremonies, both in Canada and abroad. "For me, the purge is mostly energetic, meaning even though you go through the motions of vomiting, nothing is actually coming out. You feel like the purge is a release of a blockage of sorts. I think the diet is very important prior to the ceremony." Amy Logan said staff at the all-female retreat made various teas for clients and crafted a tea designed to make her sister vomit and cleanse the body, giving her "clarity on her future path." "The other three women in the group stopped vomiting within 15 minutes … Jennifer didn't stop and began to panic," before she passed out, Amy Logan said. Staff gave her first aid before she was taken by motorcycle and boat to hospital, but doctors could not revive her. Amy Logan said her sister was healthy, about 120 pounds, and a vegetarian who did yoga and meditation. "Who knows how long it took to get her to the hospital," Caleb said. "Here the hospital is maybe 20 minutes away." The CBC documentary The Jungle Prescription looks at the use of plant medicines like ayahuasca to treat addiction:

Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Emergency personnel work at the scene early Sunday, March 19, 2017, of a fatal shooting Saturday in Baton Rouge, La. A sheriff's deputy died after being shot near a barber shop during the course of an investigation, authorities said Sunday. Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Emergency personnel work at the scene early Sunday, March 19, 2017, of a fatal shooting Saturday in Baton Rouge, La. A sheriff's deputy died after being shot near a barber shop during the course of an investigation, authorities said Sunday. The Associated Press - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A sheriff's deputy in Louisiana is dead after being shot near a movie theater in Baton Rouge, police said Sunday. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office deputy Shawn T. Anderson was rushed to the hospital after being shot while on duty late Saturday, spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said in a news release. Anderson, 43, was conducting an investigation with another deputy at a strip mall near the AMC movie theater when the shooting occurred. "Our hearts are broken as we grieve for one of our brothers," Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said. Louisiana State Police spokesman Bryan Lee told local media outlets that the deputies were not responding to a call for service. A suspect was shot and injured and taken to a hospital. The condition of the suspect was unavailable. Anderson began working at the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office in 1999. He was presented the Life Saving Award in 2010 for saving the life of a woman on Old Mississippi River bridge and recognized for serving more than sixty high-risk warrants in 2013 as part of a SWAT team with no injuries or shots fired. He also delivered a baby on the side of the road last year. Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and Police Chief Carl Dabadie asked for prayers for Anderson's family. "I think we are a very praying community and I think that thoughts and prayers are needed here and we come together just like we always do and always have," Dabadie added. "There's no doubt we won't here, also." The New Orleans Advocate (http://bit.ly/2nzNuM0 ) quoted Hicks as saying the Louisiana State Police would conduct the investigation. Authorities did not release the identity of the suspect. The deputy was taken from Ochsner Medical Center shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday with a procession of law enforcement vehicles. "Our hearts and prayers are with the family and friends of the fallen deputy and all the brave men and women in law enforcement who risk their own safety every single day to protect the communities they serve," said Corey Amundson, acting U.S. attorney. "We will devote whatever federal law enforcement resources are necessary to ensure that justice is served."

The catch? Hägerstads Castle itself is uninhabitable, after it was gutted by a fire in 2011. The interiors were completely destroyed, and the agents say frankly it will probably have to be pulled down. Up close, the effects of the fire are more apparent. Over the years the castle, near Hannäs in the Åtvidaberg municipality, has been a home for retired governesses and a council-run centre for people with alcohol abuse problems. For the past few years it has been a private home, and remained so until the fire. From above you can see the potential of the peninsula. The castle - perhaps more accurately a mansion - was built in 1868 on a peninsula jutting out into Lake Vindomen by Hugo Beijer, who is still buried in the grounds. He spent his later life in England, where he is said to have built a miniature copy of Hägerstad, though it is unclear where. The modern homes on the plot might make up in comfort what they lack in aristocratic charm. Beijer not the only one buried there - there are also ancient Viking burials on the plot. Despite the fire, if you buy the property you won’t be short of somewhere to lay your head: the plot contains the old gardener’s cottage and two decent-sized family homes, built in the 1960s. These currently have tenants, but they’ll be gone by the end of the year. You’ll also get a boat house with a pontoon, a stable and a large greenhouse. As for the big house, you would be free to restore it or rip it down - but if you demolish it you will need planning permission to build something in its place. Tempted? FOR MORE INFORMATION: visit Skeppsholmen Sotheby's International Realty.

Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards One of the Nicest Places in America by Nate Wardle The Washington Wizards began their early season west coast swing with a hard-fought victory against the Denver Nuggets, but what’s the Wizards key to success so far in 2018? Atop the Eastern Conference is the 3-0 Washington Wizards, who are the only undefeated team left in the East. So far, the Wizards have taken down the agile Philadelphia 76ers (1-3) to open the season, the new look Detriot Pistons (2-2) and the revamped Denver Nuggets to begin their abnormally early West Coast trip. Not to mention, the Wizards perfect start comes without their starting power forward Markieef Morris and reserve forward Jason Smith. John Wall leads the East with 30 assists, Otto Porter Jr. leads the NBA with 11 steals and Bradley Beal has scored at least 20 points in the Wizards’ first three games. However, there’s one statistic that stands out among the rest and that’s the Wizards success thus far at the free throw line. Heading into Tuesday’s NBA action, the Wizards have converted on 85-of-101 free throws attempts which presents them with the fifth best free throw percentage in the NBA at 84.2 percent. If success continues at the line, it would be a massive improvement from just a season ago when the Wizards shot 78.4 percent from the foul line. After finishing No. 22 in the NBA for free throw attempts last season, John Wall and the Wizards have been aggressive early on this season in getting to the line. It’s possible the NBA, including the referees, finally see the Wizards as a dominant team which has resulted in more calls going the Wizards way. Also, referees grant priority when you have an inspired superstar like John Wall quietly taking the NBA by storm. Want your voice heard? Join the The Baltimore Wire team! Write for us! Last night’s Wizards scrappy victory provides a perfect example of the importance of free throws. The Wizards shot 26-of-28 from the line in a 109-104 win against the Nuggets to extend their win streak to three games. When diving into the NBA stats, all but two teams (Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors) in the top 10 for field goal percentage own winning records.

Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison, thinks he should've worked on Kanye West's Yeezus, as he tells Newsweek. "I should have been on it," he said. "It was kind of weird that I wasn’t. Just being totally real, not on some ego shit.... I was like, 'They didn’t even call!'" It's a fair complaint, given how many people worked on Yeezus. "That's my favorite one of his albums," Ellison continued. "I really wish I was part of it." He also said it wasn't the only album he missed out on. "There's a few things that came out that I really wish I was on. I wish I was on that. I wish I was on the Earl [Sweatshirt] album, the Doris album." When asked if he'd like to feature Kanye on a future Flying Lotus album, Ellison said, "I've been trying, man! I feel like, at this point, it's been expressed enough. He knows here I'm at." In the interview, Ellison was also asked about Thom Yorke, with whom he collaborated on 2010's Cosmogramma and 2012's Until the Quiet Comes. "He’s got some shit. Something happening soon," he said. "I just feel it. Something’s around the corner. I feel it in my bones." Presumably, he was referring to Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, which received a surprise release at the end of September. But maybe we've got another collaboration headed our way. Read Nate Patrin's review of the new Flying Lotus album, You're Dead!, and check out our most recent interview with him. Watch him and Thundercat on an episode of Pitchfork.tv's "Over/Under":

Arcade Mod V2 for MCPE 0.12.3 Mods for Minecraft Pocket Edition (MCPE) Author: DrLazuli Author site : http://mcpeuniverse.com/author/DrLazuli Author youtube channel: Author: DrLazuli Compatible with MCPE: 0.12.3 List of all the games Pac-Man: Eat all the pac dots while avoiding the ghosts to win this game. Pong: Use the left and right arrow keys to move your bar around and bounce the ball past your opponent who now has IMPROVED AI!!! Super Snake: Guide the snake to the melon blocks to eat them and increase your score! Be careful… the more you eat… the longer it’s tail gets and you don’t want to run into that. Galacta: Use the left and right arrow keys to move and the up arrow key to shoot. Destroy all the alien ships before they retreat to get a higher score! Some have to be hit several times to be destroyed! Avoid the retreating ships. Aerial Attack: Watch out for the missiles and get ready for RAGE. Runner: Use the up arrow key to jump and down to duck! Watch out for the obstacles! Frogger: Press up to hop forward! Cross the busy street safely! Be careful! You have to let go of the up key and then press it again to hop again. Holding the key isn’t going to get you anywhere. Mario vs Donkey Kong: Use the left and right arrow keys to walk and up to jump. Watch out for the barrels. Press buttons to clear barriers and create safety paths. Beat all 5 levels for bragging rights. Download Arcade Mod For 0.12.3 Java Script Download: http://www.dl.9minecraftpe.net/ARCADE_MOD_V2.js mcpe 0.12.3 mods

Wilfried Bony: Swansea striker a target for champions Manchester City are set to finalise a £30m deal with Swansea for striker Wilfried Bony on Wednesday, according to Sky sources. The two Premier League clubs opened formal dicussions for the Ivory Coast international to make a January move to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, and Sky Sports News HQ's Jim White reports that the deal is "very, very close". He is also set to finalise personal terms before flying to the Middle East to join up with his country's preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on January 17 in Equatorial Guinea. Bony has been highly sought-after both domestically and abroad since his breakthrough season in the Premier League, the 2013-14 campaign, in which he scored 25 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions for the Swans. Brentford manager Mark Warburton examines where Wilfried Bony will fit into the Manchester City line-up Brentford manager Mark Warburton examines where Wilfried Bony will fit into the Manchester City line-up Bony's representatives held talks with Liverpool last summer, while Tottenham were among other clubs interested in his services in pre-season, but ideas of a move away broke down amid conflict over a £19m release clause in his contract. The striker signed a new contract in November which removed that clause, and he has continued to impress this season, scoring nine goals in 22 appearances so far. Bony began his career in his native Côte d'Ivoire with Issia Wazi before signing for Sparta Prague in 2008, where he scored 27 goals in over 50 games. He moved to Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands for £4m in 2011 and scored 51 times in 69 games before the Swans snapped him up for £12m in 2013. Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini recently played down his interest in Bony amid concerns over the club's transfer restrictions under UEFA's financial fair play protocols and the limit on non home-grown players.

WASHINGTON -- Presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump entered June with just $1.3 million cash on hand in his campaign account, according to a campaign finance report filed on Monday. The tiny sum is the result of Trump’s poor first month of fundraising from donors that netted just $3.1 million. The total is unbelievably paltry for a major party nominee, and places him further behind his opponent in terms of funds and campaign infrastructure than any other modern presidential candidate. In 2012, the collected efforts of the candidates, parties and super PACs of both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent more than $1 billion each. Clinton, by comparison, raised $26.4 million for her campaign in the same time period as Trump's $3.1 million. In May 2012, when Romney was the presumptive Republican nominee, he raised $23.4 million. When party committees and supportive super PACs are factored in, the disparity between Clinton and Trump becomes astronomical. Aside from the $26.4 million raised for Clinton's campaign, Priorities USA Action (the super PAC endorsed by her campaign) pulled in an additional $12.4 million. The Democratic National Committee also raised $12.3 million. In total, these three committees comprising Team Clinton entered June with $103.4 million cash on hand. Team Trump -- his campaign, the Republican National Committee and the super PAC Great America -- had a combined $21.7 million cash on hand. That is five times less than what Team Clinton has available to spend. Team Clinton and Team Trump Cash on Hand (May 31, 2016) HuffPost Source: Federal Election Commission. The astonishing gap in funding has produced massive disparities in both television advertising and staff on the ground. Priorities USA Action just launched a $20 million ad buy across swing states and has already spent $10.5 million attacking Trump and another $5 million boosting Clinton on air. The Clinton campaign just reserved television air time across eight states. The Clinton campaign boasts a massive staff of 685 people, while the Trump campaign’s payroll sits at 69. Both numbers are down from April, but the presumptive Democratic nominee also has already begun to farm out her campaign staff to the DNC and state parties to begin to organize in key swing states and beyond. She has further promised to place staff in all 50 states to help get out the vote for her campaign and down-ballot Democrats. Trump effectively became the party nominee on May 4 after defeating Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the Indiana primary. He quickly stated that he would cease self-funding his campaign and start raising money for both his own committee and the Republican Party. “I'm not looking for myself, I'm looking out for the party, so the party can compete in Senate races and House races. I want to raise money for the party,” he said on Fox at the time. And he did raise $3 million through a joint fundraising committee called Trump Victory, formed in the waning weeks of May, for the Republican National Committee. That is about a quarter of the $13 million the RNC raised last month. The problem, though, is that Trump’s fundraising totals are both little and late, especially compared to both Clinton's current total and the 2012 total of Romney, who became his party’s leader nine days earlier in the election year than Trump did. The majority of Trump’s available cash is housed at the RNC, but the central party committee may have expected much more. In 2012, with the help Romney’s formidable network of wealthy donors, the RNC raised $34 million in May -- $21 million more than this year. Romney, meanwhile, raised $23.4 million in May 2012, his best fundraising month of the cycle and $20 million more than Trump. Overall, the RNC has raised $163 million through May, or $6 million less than in 2012 at the same point. But the RNC’s fundraising strength is centered on the large contributions it has received in special accounts that cannot be used to pay for election expenses. The committee has pulled in $33.4 million for its convention, building and recount accounts from donors who can give up to $100,200 to each one. That leaves just $129 million in their main campaign account to help Republican get elected this fall -- far less than they had in 2012 at this juncture. The DNC trails the RNC, with $108 million raised overall and $100 million raised when not including the convention, building and recount accounts. This will not help make up the astronomical gap between Clinton’s $42 million cash on hand and Trump’s $1.3 million cash on hand. Candidates pay the lowest unit price for advertising, while parties and outside groups pay the expensive going rate. This means that candidate money goes much, much further -- as Romney, who leaned too hard on super PACs in 2012, learned the hard way. Trump has increased his fundraising schedule, and has already made stops in Texas, New York, Arizona, Georgia and Virginia in June. It is increasingly likely, however, that political scientists will finally get to see a real-world test of whether having a fully funded and fully functioning campaign really matters for its results. UPDATE: June 21 -- In a press release sent out Tuesday, the Trump campaign deflected any criticism of the candidate's precarious fundraising position by stating, "the campaign's fundraising has been incredible." It went on to state that the campaign continues "to see a tremendous outpouring of support for Mr. Trump and money to the Republican Party."

Main Gallery Prime's Alpha Trion disguise fooled few. Christmas is a holiday celebrated by humans on December 25, commemorating the birth of someone called "Christ", who is considered God. It seems to revolve around the exchange of material goods, the slaughter and festooning of conifers, and the consumption of roasted avians. Autobot intelligence suggests that at this time, humans gather together and don't shoot each other. More importantly, Christmas is the focus of a powerful "spirit" manifesting in charity, goodwill, and appreciation. Even hardened Decepticon warriors and vengeance-driven humans are subject to its influence. Such spirit is manifest in a saint, named Santa Claus, who travels over the world bearing gifts. Some Autobots have been known to don a red outfit with a bushy, white beard, imitating Santa Claus as part of the Christmas ritual. Another human custom, Black Friday, is rumored to be the busiest day of shopping for the material goods needed for exchange on Christmas. Christmas: Date — December 25th. Annual festival celebrating Christ's birth. Features include family reunion, gift-giving... Starscream's "Internal Data File", "Stargazing" Fiction Generation 1 continuity family Woman's Day magazine The magic of Christmas made Bumblebee and the Autobots do the power company's repair work. The Night the Transformers Saved Christmas Marvel Comics continuity Marvel The Transformers comics Christmas appeared exclusively in the UK portion of the Marvel Comics continuity "Me, Grimlock, love energo letter opener me got for Christmas." God bless us, every one. Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity Macrocosmic Seekers The Headmasters comic The magic of Christmas was spread by the Autobot Headmasters when they visited a children's hospital to hand out presents. Raiden got in on the fun, carrying all the presents in a giant sack and even donning a colossal Santa hat. IDW Generation 1 continuity The real miracle is that every light on that thing is on. Ho, ho, ho...man this itches. The magic of "the holidays" made Optimus think wearing a gaudy sweater was a good idea. [1] Loyal Subjects Nemesis Prime figure bio The magic of Christmas caused Nemesis Prime to attack Santa Claus' village on December 14. Nemesis Prime destroyed his village, burnt his reindeer alive, then defaced the corpse of an elf before Nemesis tried to choke Santa to death. Thankfully, the magic of Christmas also compelled a mysterious stranger to transport Nemesis Prime away. The magic of Christmas may have adverse effects on some entities. Nemesis Prime figure bio Dreamwave Armada comics Animated cartoon "Merry Christmas to all, and to all, some good trash." The magic of Christmas turned the Autobots into humans! Well, it wasn't so much the magic of Christmas as it was Soundwave plugging them into a virtual reality world, but it could have if it chose to. Human Error, Part I The magic of Christmas would also free Wreck-Gar from his entrapment in the lake bed, giving Sari Sumdac another ally in stopping Soundwave. It would also entice Wreck-Gar to give garbage to all the good little girls and boys! Human Error, Part II Live-action film series Revenge of the Fallen film Yakov hopes that the magic of Christmas bonuses will help him achieve his dream of buying those new teeth he saw in Sky Mall. Revenge of the Fallen Revenge of the Fallen Titan magazine The magic of Christmas got Ironhide to give Barricade a present! From Ratchet of course, Ironhide wouldn't douse him in coolant if he was on fire. (It was a large fist shaped object he had in a cardboard box on the end of his arm...) Law and Disorder The magic of Christmas was something Bumblebee was eager to experience, and it got him to sing carols while beating on some guy. The magic then saw Bumblebee give the Witwicky family presents (he seemed to think they were cars but it's the thought that counts). The Nightmare Bee-4 Christmas The Last Knight film The Decepticon Dreadbot wears some Christmas lights on his upper right arm. Aligned continuity family Prime cartoon When Team Prime was put in stasis lock by the Nemesis, Agent Fowler, who bore witness and had hopes that this battle would win the Autobots the war, denounced his plans for a Christmas vacation in Fiji as being cancelled. Flying Mind Prime Titan magazine The magic of Christmas allowed Arcee and Bulkhead to discover their mutual love of ice skating. Ice Breaker Commercial appearances My own dog gone commercial. I can't stand it. AAUGH! Kre-O Kre-O cartoon The magic of Christmas made the Autobots prank Megatron. A Gift For Megatron Kre-O comic The magic of Christmas allowed the Autobots to give Megatron his own room in a rebuilt Metroplex after an attempted Decepticon takeover of the city-bot. Two Giant Bases! Everybody Getting Along, Come On, Fight! Ask Vector Prime The magic of Christmas caused Optimus Prime to invite Vector Prime over to this universe to help celebrate. While he was there, he kept an eye out for any sign of Sideways' mischief. Ask Vector Prime Cyberverse cartoon Upon being informed that they were heading to the North Pole, Bumblebee played an audio snippet of Santa Claus. The Extinction Event Merchandise Holiday Ornaments Seasonal Specialties Autobot symbol Bumblebee Optimus Prime Optimus Prime 2-pack Decepticon symbol Megatron Megatron 2-pack 5-pack American Greetings Generation 1 Heirloom Ornaments Optimus Prime Megatron Bumblebee Movie (2007) Bumblebee Bumblebee (flat ornament) Megatron Optimus Prime Optimus Prime (flat ornament) Animated Autobot Team Bumblebee Optimus Prime Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime Heirloom Ornament Optimus Prime/Autobot logo Holiday Stockings Megatron Optimus Prime Bumblebee (mini) If you build it, they will play. This toys & merchandise-related article is a stub. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. Notes

Craig Shergold was a typical nine year-old living in the UK when, in 1988, he started complaining of ear aches. But his ear problems were not the typical ones suffered by young children. Shergold’s were caused by brain tumors believed to be terminal at the time — he was expected to live only a few months. In 1989, Shergold’s friends and relatives, looking to accomplish the amazing during his short time left on Earth, decided that he should break a world record. They wanted Shergold to receive the most greeting cards — ever. A few decades later, Shergold is still alive, having undergone a successful experimental operation in the U.S. in 1991. And he has that world record, too. He has received an estimated 350 million greeting cards in the last twenty-plus years. The people closest to Shergold started a chain letter, asking the recipients to send Craig a greeting card, explicitly to get his name into the Guinness Book of World Records. The efforts picked up steam quickly, with the Children’s Wish Foundation International, an organization which aims to fulfill the wishes of terminally ill children, helping solicit greeting cards. (Children’s Wish claims to have done so not via chain letter, but by other, less controversial means.) Whether Children’s Wish’s efforts or the chain letter’s were the driving force behind this early success is unknown. But by May of 1990, Shergold’s supporters had met their goal. Shergold has received over 16 million greeting cards, an accomplishment noted by Guinness. And a year later, Guinness updated the record, as Shergold, still alive, hit 33 million. The attention never stopped. The chain letters, which began as paper-and-ink messages requiring a stamp, merged quickly into email, where it spread even faster. By 1998 — seven years after Shergold’s tumors were surgically removed — he had received over 250 million cards, and the postal service gave his childhood home its own postal code in order to handle the volume of mail. And as About.com notes, Shergold’s efforts have now flipped. Instead of asking for more greeting cards, he has asked that people stop — but to no avail. Since then, Shergold’s family has moved out of the home to which the greeting cards are still being sent. Where do all the cards end up? According to the Make a Wish Foundation (which was not involved in Shergold’s campaigns), they go right to a nearby recycling center, most likely unopened. Bonus fact : Both the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake were originally greeting card art. From the Archives: World Record Record Holder: Meet the person who holds the world record for most world records held. Related: A set of flash cards — half Care Bears, half Strawberry Shortcake. Image via Fisk and Fern

A database can never be too optimized, and DBAs will never be completely satisfied with the performance of their creations. As your MySQL databases grow in size and complexity, taking full advantage of the optimizing tools built into the MySQL Workbench becomes increasingly important. DBAs have something in common with NASCAR pit crew chiefs: No matter how well your MySQL database is performing, there’s always a little voice in your head telling you, “I can make it go faster.” Of course, you can go overboard trying to fine-tune your database’s performance. In reality, most database tweaking is done to address a particular performance glitch or to prevent the system from bogging down as the database grows in size and complexity. One of the tools in the MySQL Workbench for optimizing your database is the Performance Dashboard. When you mouse over a graph or other element in the dashboard, you get a snapshot of server, network, and InnoDB metrics. Other built-in optimization tools are Performance Reports for analyzing IO hotspots, high-cost SQL statements, Wait statistics, and InnoDB engine metrics; Visual Explain Plans that offer graphical views of SQL statement execution; and Query Statistics that report on client timing, network latency, server execution timing, index use, rows scanned, joins, temporary storage use, and other operations. A maintenance release of the MySQL Workbench, version 6.2.4, was announced on November 20, 2014, and is described on the MySQL Workbench Team Blog. Among the new features in MySQL Workbench 6.2 are a spatial data viewer for graphing data sets with GEOMETRY data; enhanced Fabric Cluster connectivity; and a Metadata Locks View for finding and troubleshooting threads that are blocked or stuck waiting on a lock. Peering deeper into your database’s operation One of the performance enhancements in MySQL 5.7 is the new Cost Model, as Marcin Szalowicz explains in a September 25, 2014, post on the MySQL Workbench blog. For example, Visual Explain’s interface has been improved to facilitate optimizing query performance. The new query results panel centralizes information about result sets, including Result Grid, Form Editor, Field Types, Query Stats, Spatial Viewer, and both traditional and Visual Execution Plans. Also new is the File > Run SQL Script option that makes it easy to execute huge SQL script files. Attempts to optimize SQL tables automatically via the OPTIMIZE TABLE command often go nowhere. A post from March 2011 on Stack Overflow demonstrates that you may end up with slower performance and more storage space used rather than less. The best approach is to use “mysqlcheck” at the command line: Alternatively, you could run a php script to optimize all the tables in a database: A follow-up to the above post on DBA StackExchange points out that MySQL Workbench has a “hidden” maintenance tool called the Schema Inspector that opens an editor area in which you can inspect and tweak several pages at once. What is evident from these exchanges is that database optimization remains a continuous process, even with the arrival of new tools and techniques. A principal advantage of the Morpheus database-as-a-service (DBaaS) is the use of a single dashboard to access statistics about all your MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, and ElasticSearch databases. With Morpheus you can provision, deploy, and host SQL, NoSQL, and in-memory databases with a single click. The service supports a range of tools for connecting, configuring, and managing your databases, and automated backups for MySQL and Redis. Visit the Morpheus site to create a free account. Database optimization has never been simpler!

Japan and South Korea are still testing the U.S. wheat they buy to make sure the grain is not contaminated with an experimental genetically modified version developed by Monsanto Co., but can stop the practice, the head of a U.S. wheat association said Thursday. The two countries, which are among the top purchasers of U.S. wheat, have been sampling and testing all U.S. wheat they have purchased since last year, when news broke that a farmer in Oregon had found Monsanto’s unapproved biotech wheat growing in his field, according to U.S. Wheat Associates, which markets American wheat to international buyers. All of their test results on more than 5 million tons of wheat have been negative, it said. The testing requirements are a competitive disadvantage for American wheat, said U.S. Wheat President Alan Tracy. But both countries now should be able to stop the testing after assurances last week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the Oregon event was isolated and no biotech wheat had made its way into commercial supplies. “We’re hopeful that they’ll be able to suspend the testing. It is not something they really want to keep doing indefinitely,” Tracy said. “They approach things cautiously. They felt they had no choice until this report (from USDA) was out.” U.S. Wheat Associates will meet representatives from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea later this month, he said. According to U.S. export sales data, Japan bought about 3 million tons of U.S. wheat in the 2013-2014 marketing year, which ended May 31, making it the fourth-largest buyer of U.S. wheat for that period after Brazil, China and Mexico. So far this marketing year, Japan has bought 1.4 million tons. Japan has the sampling and testing of the wheat it buys handled in the United States before it is shipped, Tracy said. South Korea bought 1.3 million tons during the last marketing year, making it the seventh-largest buyer. So far this year, it has purchased 749,000 tons. There is no commercially approved biotech wheat, but Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant Roundup Ready wheat was near commercialization a decade ago before the company shelved the project amid fears that export sales would be hurt. The fact that experimental wheat was found growing uncontrolled in Oregon last year led to fears the biotech wheat might be in commercial supplies. The unapproved wheat was also found this summer in Montana, growing in a research plot where field trials of the GMO wheat were conducted from 2000 to 2003. The USDA said Friday that it is investigating the Montana situation, but like Oregon there are no indications the unapproved wheat entered commercial supplies. Tracy said Asian markets remain very cautious about GMO grains in general. “It’s not up to us to tell them what to do,” he added.

BY: Follow @P_Crookston David Clarke may be joining the Trump administration after resigning Thursday from his position as sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wis. Clarke has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, despite being a Democrat, and two sources told Politico that he is expected to take a job in the White House. Clarke has appeared regularly on Fox News, and spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Politico reported that the administration is unlikely to appoint him to a position requiring Senate confirmation, and is instead going to give him a position in the White House. Administration officials declined to say whether Clarke would be taking a job. "We have no announcement at this time," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told Politico. "Will talk about my future plans next week," Clarke said in a text. Clarke's record has come under increased scrutiny after deaths among his Milwaukee County jail inmates. These include Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration after being denied water for several days. Trump has remained supportive of Clarke, however, even tweeting to promote his book, Cop Under Fire: Moving Beyond Hashtags of Race, Crime and Politics for a Better America. Clarke had previously said he was taking a position in the Department of Homeland Security, but he announced that he was withdrawing his acceptance of the job. It is unclear whether he was ever officially offered a position.

The Chinese digital landscape can be a bit disconcerting at first. You won’t find many familiar faces there, no Google so no Google Plus and no Youtube but also no Facebook, no Twitter… Instead, expect a stream of similar search engines and not-so-similar social media services with a serious Chinese-style look and feel to them. Here are a few things to know to get acquainted with China’s digital landscape and to find your new favorite Chinese sites. Discover new Chinese sites Google and Chinese search engines Google, as we mentioned, was banned from mainland China. Google.cn is now only a picture of Google in Chinese, that redirects to the Google Hong Kong site. The following two sites are well known Chinese search engines you can turn to. 百度, Baidu Baidu is China’s reigning search engine. It’s also much much more. Expect to find Baidu everywhere, from a search engine, obviously, to OS and phone provider, to online Wikipedia, thanks to its 57 services. Baidu is opening a Silicon Valley lab to work on R&D and rumor has it that Baidu Eye is on its way. Sound like Google much? 有道, Youdao This popular alternative is Baidu’s Bing in a way. Youdao offers a range of services, including an exploration-worthy dictionary and translation service, which provides nice, current, English-Chinese sample sentences taken from the web. Understanding social media in China In a similar fashion to Google, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus were locked out of China’s Great Firewall. You, therefore, need to turn to Chinese sites and social media to get your fill of socialities. Fret not, there’s plenty to choose from. In fact, 8 Chinese social brands were on the Most Valuable Social Media Brands list in 2012. Here are a few things to know. A social war between two giants Unlike in the US, where the roles are pretty clear-cut, in China, the hustle isn’t over yet. Two giants, Sina and Tencent are waging a war against each other to rule China’s social world. Sina vs. Tencent in short Basically (although that’s really simplifying things), Tencent rules the instant messaging world and social login with QQ. With over a billion registered users, QQ login is as omnipresent in China as Facebook connect is over here. Some apps and sites are pretty much QQ-member only. On the other side, Sina rules the micro-blogging world with its uber-popular micro-blogging site Weibo (微博). (Tencent also has its own Weibo though, to make things more confusing.) Sina Weibo has often been compared to Twitter but it’s a lot more than that. One of the first things you notice on this site is how incredibly active it is. It’s also (therefore?) a great way to learn Chinese. Who’s Facebook in China? Renren -人人网 – the dominant player? When it comes to being the Chinese answer to Facebook, things are less clearcut. Renren is often said to be China’s Facebook with 170 million registered users and 45 million active users. Truth is, while none of the others look as much like Facebook as Renren, sites like Kaixin001, Douban, Pengyou (Tencent) and QZone (Tencent) are also strong Chinese social network contenders. QZone, the oldest social media of the lot was even named QZone is China’s most valuable social media brand China’s most valuable social media brand in 2012. Giants and new players Some observers, however, base their comparisons on users rather than features and prefer likening Tencent QQ’s billion users to Facebook’s user base. Others see Sina Weibo as China’s answer to both Facebook and Twitter. But that’s not it. The third type of players, mobile chatting apps – smartphone users are on the serious rise – have also decisively entered the playing field. Chat apps like WeChat (Tencent) are already at 200 million users (including me) in two years and their userbase has spread all over the world, scaring even possibly the likes of Facebook. So who knows what the social media scene in China will look like in a few years. There’s a lot more to be said about China’s social media sites and guessed about China’s future digital landscape. In the meantime, nothing beats trying these sites on your own to form your own opinion. So prepare yourself to experience visually different sites, full of pop-ups and Chinese and give Chinese sites a try! If you want to start easy, Hootsuite has recently started offering both Tencent and Sina Weibo and Renren integration in its social management suite. Surround App also lets you enter the Weibo world, sans Chinese. And if you’re going in full-Chinese mode, the Zhongwen Cloze browser add-on is a good travel companion, as it instantly translates any word you don’t know. Happy exploring! Let us know how it was! The Nincha Team Stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest. Try the best way to learn Chinese today Ninchanese is free to use Sign up ——- Credit: Chinese Digital Landscape infographic by digital jungle.

There is fierce competition for places to study medicine – and state school pupils often miss out because they are ill-prepared Over 90% of applications to medicine degree courses were rejected in 2014. For many would-be students, the odds of obtaining an offer to study medicine at university are extremely slim – especially if they are not from a privileged background. With just shy of 85,000 applications to UK medical schools last year, it is obvious that not everybody can secure a highly coveted place. However, the success rates of top applicants vary wildly, with many receiving no offers, while some secure the maximum four. This is often down to the lack of support offered by some schools to students applying. A recent report on university admissions highlighted how “a lack of support and guidance for applying to medical school is a major barrier for many students from less advantaged backgrounds”. Widening access to medicine as a career remains a huge challenge. The financial burden of a degree that lasts at least five years acts as an obstacle for many students. And statistics show that those who study medicine generally come from well-educated homes – 65% of doctors in training have at least one parent who completed a university degree. Jonny Wood, a fourth-year medical student at Oxford University, attended a comprehensive school, and neither of his parents went to university. He says: “My school tried, but knew very little. I wasted time on applications to universities that I didn’t even match the criteria for. “I was one of the lucky ones, but so many of my school friends were excellent candidates who deserved places and didn’t even reach the interview stage of the application process. They were just as good candidates as some of the people I am studying alongside now.” Detailed knowledge of the application and selection processes make a big difference to success rates. It is essential that students match their strengths with the universities that best suit them. The right advice is crucial and the support provided by an experienced teacher or school can enhance an application and give students confidence in their decisions. Self-assurance is vital - too often uncertainty is mistaken for a lack of interest or drive. This is important, as students are usually subjected to multiple mini-interviews (commonly referred to as MMIs). In this style of interview, students can expect to encounter up to 12 “stations”, and have around five minutes to impress at each of them. Each station can present the applicant with a different challenge, from ethical decision-making to situations that test interpersonal skills. Many state school students receive absolutely no preparation for this very specific style of selection process. Students like Wood “didn’t even know it existed”. In 2014, my friends and I founded Applican – a team of 20 Oxbridge medical students using our first-hand experience to try to level the playing field. Our ambition is to offer support to medical course applicants, regardless of their schools’ status or reputation. Five books to read before starting medical school Read more Last summer we worked with around 70 school students, and the results have been excellent. Over 90% of them received at least one offer to study medicine. Ruairi Maguire, 19, from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, came to the August course after unsuccessfully applying the previous year. “It got me thinking, and actually made the preparation engaging and interesting,” he says. “My preparation showed me what to do and how to do it, but most importantly how to enjoy it and find my passions within it.” Another student, Niamh Murray, 18, from Belfast, received offers for all four of the choices she applied for. “In every interview, everything felt so familiar,” she says. “On the course, we had discussed difficult practical and ethical scenarios which meant on the day, nothing stumped me.” Students need resources to navigate the application minefield. Good preparation gives them the confidence to succeed, whatever their background. Keep up with the latest on Guardian Students: follow us on Twitter at @GdnStudents – and become a member to receive exclusive benefits and our weekly newsletter.

SUGAR LAND, Texas - The Sugar Land Police Department is on the lookout for three women who went on a crime spree using other people's credit cards and bank cards. All the cards were stolen from stores at First Colony Mall, in Sugar Land. The first incident happened April 10 at a Dillard's. A woman told police she placed her wallet containing cash and credit cards on a counter while working at Dillard's and was unable to locate the wallet 30 minutes later. She said her bank card was used to make unauthorized purchases at a Walmart the same day. Police reviewed surveillance video at Walmart and saw a woman wearing a blonde wig, glasses, a beige shirt and tan pants use the stolen credit card. The woman was accompanied by another woman wearing a beanie hat, glasses, and a blue and white shirt with the No. 88. Police said they left the store in a gray, four-door Mercedes. The second theft happened April 18 at a Macy's. A victim told police she placed her purse containing a bank card, credit cards and other personal items in a cabinet under a register while working at Macy's. The victim said her bank notified her about suspicious activity on her card that evening, and she returned to the cabinet and saw that her purse was gone, according to police. She later discovered her card was used at a Shell gas station. A review of surveillance video from the gas station showed two women using the stolen card. Investigators said one of the women was also seen on video using a stolen card at Walmart. The third theft happened April 19 at Chico's clothing store. The victim told police she placed a purse containing cash, credit cards and other personal items in an unsecured locker. Her husband contacted her later that evening to report unauthorized purchases that were made with one of her cards, including one at a Target. She said she returned to the locker and her purse was missing. A review of surveillance footage at Target showed two women using the stolen card. Investigators said they were the same two women who used a stolen card at Walmart. Investigators are hoping the surveillance video they released will help solve these cases. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sugar Land Police Department at 281-275-2540 or Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers at 281-342-TIPS (8477). Copyright 2017 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

I stepped into the dark of the ramshackle hillside temple. It was a hot day, and the climb had been steep. There were no other tourists around. The only people I passed on my way up the mountainside steps were two pious old ladies, pausing to catch their breath as they struggled through the afternoon heat. Inside it was cool, the air fragrant with incense. To one side of the door was a table, and behind the table sat a small, neat man in the robes of a Daoist priest. A handwritten sign in front of him announced that temple entrance was two yuan (20p). I paid my fee and he smiled. ‘Welcome,’ he said. I peered into the dark, where deities and mythological beasts clamoured for attention on the painted walls. I had visited other temples elsewhere in China, in larger cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan; but there I had blended in among the hopeful devotees and noisy tourists. Here, on the other hand, I was on my own, and felt somehow out of place, unsure how to conduct myself. The priest, however, was in a chatty mood. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked me in Chinese. ‘England,’ I told him. He smiled. One of his front teeth was missing. ‘What are you doing in China?’ I told him I was writing a book. ‘A book about China?’ he asked. I hesitated. I had heard the old joke several times now. When foreigners come to China for a month or two, they go home and write a book. When they have been there for several months more, they write an article. If they have lived in China for more than a year, they end up writing nothing. I was in China for only a couple of months. I hesitated about what to say, then I decided I might as well tell him. ‘It is about the I Ching,’ I said. ‘I am writing a book about the I Ching.’ I was in China in pursuit of an obsession that, among certain of my more sober-minded and rational friends, was the cause of some alarm. For the previous few years, I had been increasingly preoccupied by that strangest of books, the Chinese Book of Changes or I Ching. In the West, the I Ching is mainly known as a divination manual, found on shelves alongside books about tarot cards, crystal healing, reiki, and contacting your angels, a part of the wild carnival of spurious notions that is New Age spirituality, that great tide of unreason against which the prophets of scientific rationality protest in vain. I knew the arguments against the I Ching: divination doesn’t work, it belongs to the realm of prescientific superstition, it is a primitive attempt to tame the uncertainty of the future. I had heard these arguments many times, and they made sense to me; and yet there was something about the I Ching that continued to fascinate me, something that — the more I studied it — could not allow me to dismiss this book so lightly. My interest in the I Ching had begun several years before, neither as a fascination with Chinese culture, nor as a mystical concern with divinatory practices, but instead in the course of a rambling and idle conversation with a friend. It was 2006, and I was casting around for a fresh writing project. My first novel was due out in the following year. I wanted something new and substantial to work on, but I had no clear sense of direction. At some point during our conversation, we found ourselves talking about the taste for astrology, tarot cards and other forms of prognostication. I was happily pouring scorn on these practices, protesting at their unreason, when my friend interrupted me. ‘Perhaps,’ he said, ‘it is not about predicting the future.’ ‘What is it about, then?’ I asked. My friend shrugged. ‘Perhaps it is about imagining new possibilities.’ I was momentarily silenced. ‘Perhaps,’ I said. Then the conversation moved on, but the thought stuck with me. I was in need of new possibilities. And, after all, hadn’t Italo Calvino, a writer I loved, played with tarot cards in his book The Castle of Crossed Destinies (1973)? So, a few days later, I went to the bookshop, made my way to the Mind, Body and Spirit section, and tentatively picked up a copy of the I Ching: Or Book of Changes, first published in 1951 in a handsome red-and-black jacket, and now in a Penguin edition, with Richard Wilhelm’s German text translated by Cary F Baynes and the rather flaky foreword by Carl Jung. I had come across the I Ching numerous times before on the bookshelves of friends, and had even tried to read it on occasion, but always given up, frustrated by the thickets of obscurity it presented. As I stood in the bookshop flicking through the I Ching, my knowledge of the book was fairly rudimentary. I knew that it was a divinatory text, divided into 64 chapters, with each of these chapters headed by a six-lined symbol, referred to in English as a ‘hexagram’ and in Chinese as guaxiang. I knew that each of the hexagrams was associated with a number of prognostications, and that the book was often put to use by tossing coins or sorting yarrow stalks, to randomly derive a hexagram made up of broken and unbroken lines. There was a pleasing mathematical completeness to this series of symbols. Six-lined figures, with each line in one of two states, meaning that there were two to the power of six possibilities in all, or 64. Associated with these hexagrams were divinatory statements that were often astonishingly obscure and laconic: ‘Flying dragon in the heavens. It furthers one to see the great man… When there is hoarfrost underfoot, solid ice is not far off… Bites through tender meat, so that his nose disappears… The wild goose gradually draws near the tree. Perhaps it will find a flat branch. No blame.’ Finally, I knew that the I Ching had touched almost every aspect of Chinese thought — from philosophy to statecraft, from music to medicine, and from astronomy to painting, and that on account of that alone, it should be counted as one of the most influential books in the world. In the weeks and months that followed, I started getting to know the I Ching better. As I did so, I slowly pieced together the strange tale of its place in history: the connection with oracle bone divination in the Chinese Bronze Age; the philosophical commentaries dating to the third century BCE that forever sealed its place as a central text for Chinese thought, securing the book’s far-reaching influence in all corners of Chinese life; and its eventual arrival in the West, via the Jesuits and the German philosopher G W Leibniz, through 20th-century psychoanalysts, esotericists and hippies — via Bob Dylan, John Cage, Philip K Dick and Raymond Queneau, all of whom made use of the book — down to the present day. It was in this way that I found myself becoming a diviner. A couple of days after getting the book home, for the very first time I took three coins — twopence pieces seemed to be suitably unostentatious — formulated a question, and went about the ritual of casting my first hexagram on the basis of each toss of the coins, thus putting my foot on the slippery slope that would lead first to learning Chinese and, eventually, almost inevitably, to China. My relationship with the I Ching was complex from the very beginning. Despite repeated re‑reading of the text, in translation and later in the original Chinese, I have never come across anything that looks much like wisdom. Meanwhile, on the internet, whole armies of crazies advanced their theories about the book: that it coded the deep structures of human DNA; that it provided mathematical proof of the Mayan prophecy of the ending of the world; that it might hold the secret to that holy grail of the physicists, a Theory of Everything. And when I read these things, I found myself thinking of the 20th-century British Sinologist Joseph Needham, who said that the I Ching was nothing more than a massive filing system for pigeonholing novelty and then doing nothing more about it. The I Ching seemed to adapt to any purpose whatsoever. I felt myself descending into a realm of unfettered lunacy, stumbling across increasingly bizarre claims made on behalf of the I Ching; and yet on the other hand the book seemed, bafflingly, to work. I divined for new hexagrams and new stories, tossing coins or sorting yarrow stalks, sat at my desk with a stick of incense burning, and the longer I did so, the more the stories continued to multiply. I was caught between profound unease at the sheer unreason of what I was doing, and the fact that the I Ching so often bore rich fruit in new thoughts, ideas and images. So, in 2010, I travelled to China to get to the bottom of things. There, covering thousands of miles by train and bus, I set about trying to establish once and for all what this book was about. In Tianshui, I made offerings in the temple of Fuxi, the legendary originator of the I Ching; in Shandong and Hong Kong, I spent time discussing divination practices with philosophers; between Beijing and Guangzhou, I endured an uncomfortable 26-hour train journey in the company of a deranged tattooed diviner who talked the entire time; and along the way, I accumulated books and articles that I sent home in large, unwieldy packages. It was towards the end of my trip that I found myself in the company of the friendly Daoist priest in that hillside temple, and there the thought came to me: ‘Now, perhaps, things will become clear.’ I began to wonder if attempting to understand the I Ching in terms of understanding the I Ching was to risk misunderstanding the I Ching The priest pushed his entrance-fee sign to one side, opened a drawer and took out a notebook, tearing off a page. He took a biro from his pocket and smiled at me. ‘I will explain everything,’ he said. Then he started an impromptu lecture. As he talked, he scribbled complex diagrams and notes on the page. He told me about Fuxi, about hexagrams and their constituent three-line trigrams, about the pole star and astrology, about philosophy and metaphysics, about the Hetu or the River Map, which explains the relationship between the eight trigrams, and about the wuxing or five phases of wood, fire, earth, metal and water, and its relationship to the numerological magic square known as the Luoshu, or Luo River Book. I leant forwards, occasionally asking him to repeat something, trying to look intelligent; but very quickly I found myself lost in thickets of philosophical and linguistic difficulty. I had read about all this stuff countless times, but I have never had the kind of mind that could keep track of complexity. This makes me a poor student of esoterica. As the lecture proceeded, a crowd started to gather, because in the most populous nation on earth, crowds are easily summoned. The two old ladies whom I had passed on my way up the hill now stepped into the cool of the temple and grinned wildly to see the foreigner talking with the priest. A family appeared from somewhere or other, the children peering at me in fascination. Three or four others also congregated behind me. As the priest continued to scribble various astral configurations and hexagrams and mystical diagrams, all annotated in a spidery handwritten Chinese, a debate began to take hold among the onlookers. The foreigner doesn’t understand! Yes, he does! No, look, he clearly doesn’t have any idea what the priest is talking about. But I heard him speak Chinese! Ah, these foreigners, all they can say is ni hao, that’s all. No, I distinctly heard him speak some Chinese! A few words, perhaps, no more. What about Dashan, the Chinese TV celebrity? Dashan is a Canadian, and he speaks Chinese. Yes, but this guy is clearly not Dashan. With the debate behind me, and the priest in front of me spiralling ever deeper into metaphysical complexity, I felt the beginnings of a headache; but at last the lecture came to an end, the priest folded up the paper and handed it to me. I put it in my breast pocket, where later, while hiking up another nearby hill, it would become unreadably drenched with sweat. ‘Now you understand the I Ching,’ he said confidently. ‘Your book will now be very interesting.’ I thanked the little old Daoist. He chuckled as he shook my hand. Then I stood up and smiled at the small crowd that had gathered behind me, and I scuttled into the darkness to nurse my headache and get myself some peace. Now you understand the I Ching, he said; but in truth I understood no more than I had before. The I Ching has always had the curious quality of becoming more baffling the more I have found out about it. While I knew an increasing number of facts relating to the I Ching, as time went on I was not sure that I actually knew the I Ching itself any better than when I started out. By the time I flew home, I felt even further away from understanding the I Ching than at the outset. It was only after my return to the UK that I began to wonder if attempting to understand the I Ching in terms of understanding the I Ching was to risk misunderstanding the I Ching. In other words, although we are accustomed, in this information age, to treat books only in terms of the information that they contain, what is most compelling about the I Ching is not so much the promise of some secret, hidden, innermost meaning. Instead, what is most striking is the very real and concrete impact the book has had upon the world through the centuries. Meaning nothing, containing the seeds of countless possible meanings, the I Ching is the space at the hub that allows the wheel to turn Undeniably, the I Ching has been one of the most breathtakingly productive of books, a book that has put its stamp on some of the greatest philosophers, poets and writers in Chinese history, that gave Leibniz sleepless nights, that fired up the creative juices of the likes of Dylan and Philip K Dick. A book this productive had to have something going for it. The only question was, what? So, more recently, I have started to ask a different set of questions about the I Ching. I am no longer so worried about what the book means, about what wisdom, if any, it imparts. Instead, I have started to content myself with asking about what it does. In fact, I have come to suspect that perhaps the book has no wisdom to impart, that perhaps it means nothing whatsoever, and it might be in this that it is possible to find the secret of its power. Meaning nothing, the seethe of images — dragons and hoarfrost, migratory geese and ice — nevertheless contains the seeds of innumerable possible meanings. It is like a ring doughnut: empty in the middle, but with the meaning around the outside. But, of course, there cannot be a ring doughnut without a hole — or to paraphrase the passage in the ancient Chinese text the Laozi, it is thanks to the hole at the hub that the wheel turns. After seven years, the book I set out to write is complete. I have written 64 stories, with commentaries, each based on a hexagram of the I Ching: stories about gods, bizarre machines, archaeologists and kleptomaniac pensioners, non-existent rulers, fox-spirits, inventors, and infernal bureaucrats. Like the I Ching itself, this book of changes that I have written is a strange beast, a little too strange perhaps for any wholly sane publisher to take a risk on. But long ago, this project stopped being about writing this one book. So much else has followed from my long tussle with the I Ching: five years of studying Chinese, visits to hillside temples in China, innumerable new stories and fresh thoughts, a multiplication of projects, possibilities and friendships, and new scents to follow. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, although my own book of changes is close to an end, I still find myself turning to the I Ching for guidance. I do so not because the I Ching provides me with fresh certainties or with off-the-peg wisdom, but rather because when I put the book to work it tends to give me better uncertainties. The 12th-century poet and scholar Yang Wanli once wrote: ‘The profound implications of the Book of Changes are what plunges people of the world into doubts and makes them think.’ Sitting with the coins or yarrow stalks in my hand, going through the ritual of asking the I Ching a question, I am not looking for some irrational mystical guidance. Instead, I am looking for a release from the prison of competing certainties, a way of letting loose the simmering doubts and confusions that accompany all thought, so that I can take advantage of their creative richness. In other words, I use the I Ching not as a certainty machine, but as an uncertainty machine. Dissolving false certainties, it integrates the fact of unknowing into the fabric of my thinking, opening me up to hitherto unimagined possibilities, scattering the monotony of my either-or dilemmas into a myriad of forking paths. The world we live in is very different from that in which the I Ching first arose. We have access to an astonishing array of tools and algorithms and banks of data that help in predicting probabilities for the future. Nevertheless, the world remains more vast and extensive than all of our data and all of our algorithms. Uncertainty is not just an adventitious fault that can one day be eradicated. It is also a part of being a human, with limited knowledge, in an endlessly complex world. And given that we will never have the complete knowledge to which we might aspire, we must always act in the twilight between certainty and uncertainty, between knowing and unknowing. This is where the I Ching seems to me to be extraordinary: in its ability to multiply uncertainties, in its demonstrated efficacy — whether by accident, by design or by long evolution — to be so exquisitely productive of new thoughts, for more than two and a half millennia. Meaning nothing, containing the seeds of countless possible meanings, the I Ching is the space at the hub that allows the wheel to turn on its axle. And if I still use this weird, ancient divination manual, it is not because I want to flee from reason into the comforts of irrationality, nor is it because I believe the book contains a deep ancestral wisdom. Instead, it is because the I Ching repeatedly prompts me to go beyond false certainties and to create new and unexpected possibilities. In this way, divination might not be the enemy of rational thought but could be a means to its fuller flourishing.

A man has died as a result of an avalanche near Rowe Peak in Waterton Lakes National Park on Saturday, Feb. 15. Lethbridge City Councillor, Wade Galloway, 37, and a friend were split-boarding in the Waterton Park back country, a non-restricted area, when the avalanche hit at 3:30 p.m. The other member of the party was not buried and was able to partially extricate Galloway. After repeated attempts of resuscitation were unsuccessful the man reported Galloway’s death to parks staff. Parks Canada’s efforts to retrieve the body have been hindered by wind and snow conditions. Motorists are advised the Akamina Parkway may close on short notice to facilitate the recovery. On the City of Lethbridge’s website, Galloway is described as a commercial landlord who helped build a skate park and organize fundraisers for the Canadian Avalanche Foundation. He was married and the father of two children. greg.cowan@sunmedia.ca @echo_cowan

Guwahati: Hours after a peaceful first phase Assembly election recorded nearly 80 percent turnout on Monday, a blast rocked Goalpara in lower Assam, going to the hustings in the second phase on 11 April, killing two persons. Suspected ULFA(I) militants carried out the explosion which also injured 21 others, including four policemen, near a temporary election office of BJP at Dudhnoi in Goalpara district, Superintendent of Police Nitul Gogoi told PTI. The bomb suspected to have been kept in a bag on the footpath near the BJP office adjacent to Dudhnoi traffic police point exploded at around 7.30 pm killing two civilians, Gogoi told PTI. The deceased were identified as Bapon Saha and Ajit Dutta. The 21 injured were taken to hospital where the condition of 14 was stated to be serious, police said. The explosion which also damaged two shops in the busy market place caused panic and police cordoned off the area. Assam had a peaceful polling with nearly 80 percent voter turnout in the first phase of polling today for 65 of the 126 Assembly constituencies. Goalpara is among the 61 constituencies going to the hustings in the second phase on 11 April. Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.

Guttenberg leaves after a news conference where he announced his resignation in Berlin on Tuesday Guttenberg leaves after a news conference where he announced his resignation in Berlin on Tuesday THE GERMAN DEFENCE Minister has resigned after it was found that he plagiarised large parts of his university doctorate. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said he was resigning from all political offices at a news conference in Berlin today, Reuters reports. Guttenberg was considered as a possible future chancellor of Germany until the scandal emerged last month. He had already been stripped of his PhD on Constitutional Law in the EU and the United States from Bayreuth university. The story came to light after it was found that Guttenberg may have plagiarised at least eight significant passages in his thesis with more allegations that he copied passages emerging in recent weeks. German chancellor Angela Merkel had stood by her minister but on Monday more than 20,000 academics wrote to her complaining that Guttenberg was still in his job, according to the BBC. Guttenberg said in the news conference: I thank the chancellor for her support but I have reached the limits of my strength. The 39-year-old comes from an aristocratic background and is formally titled as a Baron. He was considered to be a rising star of the party who had also been a minister for economics and technology in Merkel’s first cabinet. Guttenberg had voluntarily given up his title in the wake of the scandal that Der Spiegel reports has divided Germany.

You may have seen Spelunky mentioned somewhere and asked yourself "What's Spelunky?" Spelunky is a platformer with lots of monsters, items, traps, and secrets. Dying in Spelunky can be quick and painful. But each time you restart, you'll play a new, randomly-generated set of levels! It will feel fresh and exciting, and you'll have to think on your feet. You can pick up and use or toss practically everything you come across (to your own detriment, if you're not careful!). There's a lot of freedom to how you want to navigate the levels, which are fully-destructible. And even though they're randomized, you will still get more skilled over time! If you play enough, not only will you get good enough to beat the game, but you may start to unravel some of its deepest secrets... The original game was released on PC in 2008 and is available to play for free. Since then, Andy Hull and I have been working on this new version for XBLA. It's much more than a port of the original game, and has new graphics, music, zones, monsters, items, traps, and secrets. The controls are much smoother, too, and designed specifically for the gamepad. And even though the game is randomized, players of the original enjoyed highscoring and speedrunning, so we're trying to limit the luck involved. You'll be able to compete on XBLA's leaderboards. You'll also be able to play Spelunky with friends at home! There's co-op and deathmatch. With multiple players interacting, co-op becomes a much different game. It's easy to help or hurt each other, so socialization is important! Deathmatch has been likened to a platformer version of "Bomberman" by testers, although it's much faster-paced, with more (and more varied) items and weapons at your disposal. We'll have AI bots for those that want to deathmatch alone. (This AI is also used in the single-player campaign for some of the NPCs.) By the way, Spelunky for XBLA was nominated for 3 awards at the IGF and won the Excellence in Design Award! Whoo hoo! In fact, maybe that's how you heard about it in the first place! One of the IGF judges said this about the game: If that sounds good to you, then we hope you'll try the game! Adventure awaits!

Money raised by evangelical Christians in the United States is fueling a violent antigay movement in Uganda, according to the “Gospel of Intolerance” by filmmaker Roger Ross Williams. “American evangelicals are sending millions of dollars in donations to Africa to spread their message by funding Ugandan pastors and sponsoring missionaries, many of who do good work feeding the hungry and providing shelter to orphans,” Rev. Kapya Kaoma explained in the mini-documentary, which was published online Tuesday by the New York Times. “But some of that money just goes to feed a dangerous ideology that teaches that gays, lesbians, transgender, and bisexual people do not have a place in God’s kingdom and are a threat to society.” Evangelicals from the United States have a strong influence in the deeply religious country, where antigay sentiments are mainstream. A number of Ugandans faced harassment and threats in 2010 after a newspaper published of list of alleged homosexuals. Kaoma said he was forced to flee the country after supporting LGBT rights. The country has also faced international criticism for a proposed law that would make various acts related to homosexuality, including failure to report a gay Ugandan to police, punishable with life in prison. The legislation previously would have allowed those accused of homosexuality to be put to death. In response to the criticism, Uganda banned 38 nongovernmental organizations for “promoting homosexuality.” “In a country like Uganda, what may simply seem like culture war rhetoric in the U.S. gets ramped up to untold heights and sexual minorities pay the price,” Kaoma said. Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by The New York Times, below:

In the country's biggest share sale ever, the government will sell up to 10 per cent stake in Coal India Ltd to raise about Rs 24,000 crore on Friday. The government will sell 31.58 crore shares, or five per cent stake, in a public offer, with an option to sell another 5 per cent, Coal India said in a regulatory filing. The disinvestment will help the government meet half of the Rs 43,425 crore revenue target from stake sale in public sector. At today's closing price of Rs 384.05, a 10 per cent stake sale in the world's largest coal producer will raise Rs 24,257 crore. The floor or minimum sale price for the offer will be announced tomorrow. Government currently holds 89.65 per cent stake in Coal India, which was listed through a record initial public offering (IPO) in October 2010, raising Rs 15,199 crore. With only Rs 1,715 crore being raised this fiscal by way of disinvestment, the government is looking at aggressively selling stakes in public sector firms to help meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP for the year ending March 31. The other major stake sale lined up is in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), but the slumping oil prices have dampened the company's prospects. The ONGC disinvestment was to give the government at least Rs 15,000 crore. To overcome the shortfall, it has lined up a host of companies including NMDC, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), National Aluminium (Nalco) and Dredging Corporation (DCIL). Five per cent stake sale in PFC and REC are also on cards. For the Coal India stake sale, the government has doubled to 20 per cent the quota reserved for retail investors, who can buy shares worth up to Rs 2 lakh in the share sale. They would also be given a 5 per cent discount to the bid price entered by them. Coal India would be second company to hit the markets under the government's disinvestment programme. The government had garnered Rs 1,715 crore through stake sale in steel maker SAIL last year. A minimum of 25 per cent of the Coal India issue would be reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies. The government will sell 5 per cent stake in ONGC this fiscal even though falling global oil prices pose a challenge, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said earlier today. The government faces a daunting task as it has to stick to the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent in the current year ending March and proceeds from disinvestment would be a major boost to Centre's plan of restricting it. Fiscal deficit has reached 98.9 per cent of Budget Estimate (BE) in eight months ended November 2014 to Rs 5.25 lakh crore, highlighting tight financial position of the central government. It was 94 per cent of BE in corresponding period last year.

Alaska Lt. Governor Craig Campbell contended today that Republican Joe Miller’s campaign has changed its tune when it comes to pushing a “literal interpretation” of the write-in ballot count laws in the contentious Alaska Senate race. Miller’s campaign filed a lawsuit yesterday, arguing that the state should not count misspelled write-in ballots as votes for write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski, since the law stipulates that write-in votes may only be counted “if the name, as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided.” In a press conference this afternoon, Campbell argued that the Miller campaign had previously objected to such a “literal interpretation” of the law, back when Campbell initially announced that write-in votes cast for Miller would be tossed since he is not a declared write-in candidate. At the time, Miller accused Campbell of “bias” when he refused to count those votes, and Campbell quickly decided to count them. Campbell said today that he decided to count those votes because he wanted as many votes as possible to be included if “voter intent” could be determined. The Miller campaign argued at the time that the law required those votes to be counted.Campbell told reporters today that the state has given itself a November 29 deadline to decide the election, which accounts for extra time for potential recounts and legal challenges. “We expect to have a recount,” he said. “We expect that it may go to court.” He explained that though there is no specific standard for the write-in ballots, they are allowing “minor misspellings” as long as “voter intent” can still be determined. “If it is so badly misspelled that it cannot be recognized, it will be not be counted.” He added that each ballot is overseen by two election officials, as well as a representative from each of the campaigns. “The intent is to not disenfranchise voters,” Campbell said, adding that previous court cases have given the state “latitude” to look at voter intent “so as not to disenfranchise.” One reporter pointed out that the cited court cases focused on how much the oval on the ballot was filled-in, not how the name was spelled. Campbell contended that the two cases were comparable. But, interestingly, he also noted that ballots with a name written in the write-in slot would not be counted if the oval was not filled in, even if the name is spelled correctly. “The oval part was determined to be a very clear indication that you intended to vote for that person,” he said, adding that the law is clear that the oval must be filled in. The law says: “In order to vote for a write-in candidate, the voter must write in the candidate’s name in the space provided and fill in the oval opposite the candidate’s name.” Campbell also said that a judge will hear from both sides in a hearing today. Enough write-in ballots were cast to force a count to see how many were for Murkowski. Miller currently has about 11,000 fewer votes than the write-ins.

Cluster management is the term that Google uses to describe how we control the computing infrastructure in our datacenters that supports almost all of our external services. It includes allocating resources to different applications on our fleet of computers, looking after software installations and hardware, monitoring, and many other things. I'll present an overview of some of these systems and introduce Omega, the new cluster-manager tool we are building. Much of the talk will be about exciting challenges that we're facing along the way, driven by the scale at which we operate, an acute awareness of failures, and the drive to provide ever-better service-levels while curbing complexity. We certainly don't have all the answers, but we do have some pretty impressive systems. John Wilkes has been at Google since 2008, where he is working on cluster management and infrastructure services. He is interested in far too many aspects of distributed systems, but a recurring theme has been technologies that allow systems to manage themselves. In his spare time he continues, stubbornly, trying to learn how to blow glass. http://e-wilkes.com/john

NAIA Airport Immigration Text Mate: Immigration Officer Uses Personal Info on Forms to Text Pretty Traveler Imagine passing through your airport security with no fuss. No lines, no fuss, nothing crazy. It’s a nice way to start a trip right? But then, imagine getting home and getting private texts on your phone from the immigration officers apparently looking for a text mate?!?! Below is a story posted on Facebook about a travelers’s NAIA 3 airport immigration ordeal: I passed through immigration at NAIA 3 today at around 1230pm. I filled out the required forms which were then received by the immigration officer – no fuss, easy peasy. One hour later, I received this text. This public officer used my personal CONFIDENTIAL information for his own personal use. I find this to be very disturbing – an extreme invasion of privacy. I had my home address written on that form!!! Does anyone know anyone who works for immigration? I hope you can pass this on to the proper authorities. Thanks What are your thoughts on this? Please forward so the proper authorities can see this and take proper action. Our private information should be better taken care of. UPDATE: Response from the Bureau of Immigration Commissioner: As head of the Bureau, kindly accept my apology for the inappropriate and offensive behavior of one of our Immigration Officers. Help us in the investigation. xinfo@immigration.gov.ph Be assured of our prompt administrative actions if warranted. SIEGFRED B. MISON Commissioner What are your thoughts on this? NAIA Airport Immigration Text Mate: Immigration Officer Uses Personal Info on Forms to Text Pretty Traveler

If you look at the history of software development, writing and maintaining software has been a very complicated & time consuming process. Making software development easier and faster by improving developer productivity literally saves companies thousands or millions of dollars annually and this is exactly the function that’s being optimised by many Cloud Vendors around the world. Before we dive into what serverless actually is, let me give you a quick recap on how Cloud evolved in the last couple of decades and why it is the way it is today and lastly, why serverless is the next big thing. Brief History of the Cloud Image Credit : MyCloudBlog Infrastructure To optimise for developer productivity and cost of running apps and services in the last decade — cloud vendors have introduced IaaS, where companies don’t have to buy hardware to host their apps, they can “rent” the hardware out from any of the cloud vendor and can only pay for what they use. This is called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS for short) where cloud vendors provides virtual machines to these companies where they can ssh into and install and maintain their own OS, and can install any software and service on them. It saved companies a lot of money by not having to buy hardware physically, hire a ops team to maintain the server uptime, pay for energy to power and cool these machines, but you still had to install and maintain operating systems, make sure your server is secure by installing security patches and so forth. So, In short IaaS is “I’ll give you virtual machines and you can SSH in them, and install anything you like.” Some of the best known IaaS are EC2, Azure Virtual Machines, Google Compute Engine, etc. Platform IaaS did improve a lot of productivity when compared to legacy enterprise IT, but it did took a lot of work to manage these virtual machines and maintain it (like installing patches, configuring firewalls, etc). Developers wanted a way to just write applications and give it to the Cloud Provider which would host it for them and they would not worry about OS’es, Security, etc. That’s where Platform as a Service (or PaaS for short) comes in. Machines are abstracted away from you and you cant SSH into them. All you can do is, upload your app and a cloud provider would run it for you. Cloud Provider would take care of installing and maintaining OS, patching it underneath, so you don’t have to and with every every abstraction, you lose a little control over your environment but gain an order of magnitude of productivity. Some of the best known Platform as a Service today are Heroku, Amazon Elastic Beanstalk, Google App Engine, and more. Serverless Think of serverless as an abstraction over PaaS. There are actually two types of serverless which I’ll talk about briefly here : Backend as a Service (BaaS) / Backendless : BaaS services like CloudBoost, BaasBox, and more offer developers with a rich set of API’s that takes care of most of the things their app needs like managing state, storing data, authentication and session management, notification and more. A lot of the apps that are built on backend less are typically ‘rich client’ applications (think single page web apps, or mobile apps). Advantages of using BaaS Platforms includes not having to manage your own server for 99% of the tasks and most of the business logic will be client side (which will be secured by ACL’s), so the only thing you focus on is the client which cuts your backend team and dev team in half. : BaaS services like CloudBoost, BaasBox, and more offer developers with a rich set of API’s that takes care of most of the things their app needs like managing state, storing data, authentication and session management, notification and more. A lot of the apps that are built on backend less are typically ‘rich client’ applications (think single page web apps, or mobile apps). Advantages of using BaaS Platforms includes not having to manage your own server for 99% of the tasks and most of the business logic will be client side (which will be secured by ACL’s), so the only thing you focus on is the client which cuts your backend team and dev team in half. Function as a Service (FaaS): Function as a Service typically means you as a developer write pieces of server side logic or “functions” and upload them to the Serverless platform where these functions will be triggered and executed when you need and you only pay for the execution time. Few advantages include, you don’t have to manage a backend as these are small bits of server logic that is uploaded to the serverless platform, you don’t need to worry about scale — the platform will scale your code to thousands of execution instances of need be, and you only pay for the time your code is actually executed which saves companies a lot of money down the line. Most widely known FaaS framework is AWS Lambda. Benefits of Serverless Computing Cost savings: One of the biggest benefits of serverless computing is that you only pay for the execution time of your code. In case of IaaS or PaaS you would be charged even if your application is idle whereas in serverless there is no concept of “idle” resources and you are not charged if the function is not executed. This is especially helpful for applications that are only used a few times an hour, which means any dedicated hardware, VMs, or containers would be sitting idle for the majority of the time, and a user would be charged for underutilized resources. With serverless computing, you could build out an entire infrastructure and not pay for any compute resources until customers start using the application. Scale: Scalability is also simple with a serverless architecture. If your code needs to scale, the platform will make copies of the function to handle the load. An example of this would be if you’re building a service like Yelp, then your peak demand is only during breakfast, lunch and dinner hours. So, the platform would automatically scale your code to thousands of instances automatically during your peak hours and would automatically scale it down when the demand subsides and you only pay for the time your code actually executes. Developer Productivity: Serverless computing is ideal for teams that need to quickly develop, prototype, and iterate. Development is quicker since there aren’t any dependencies on DevOps. Code is usually single threaded which makes debugging easier. The build process is also broken down into smaller and more manageable chunks of code. This increases the number of changes that can be pushed through the CI/CD pipeline, resulting in faster deployment and much tighter feedback loop with users. Less Administration and Ops: Most of the ops element of your infrastructure is eliminated. There are zero servers to manage, maintain, and scale. Thank you for reading. I’m Nawaz Dhandala and I’m the founder of CloudBoost.io. CloudBoost is a serverless and a backend as a service company which does data-storage, search, realtime, and a whole lot more. CloudBoost is open source on GitHub under a liberal Apache 2 license. If you want to truly go server-less, you can also check out the managed offering here.

The placebo effect even works for sleep New research suggests we perform better on cognitive tests if we’re told we had a good night’s sleep How did you sleep last night? Did you get a sufficient amount of high-quality shut-eye? Newly published research suggests that if you believe you did, you’re more likely to perform well at certain challenging tasks. It isn’t the actual amount of sleep that matters, but rather your conviction that you got the rest you needed. Advertisement: That’s the conclusion of Colorado College psychologists Christina Draganich and Kristi Erdal. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, they provide further evidence of the remarkable strength of the placebo effect. They describe two experiments in which they manipulated participants’ perceptions regarding the quality of their sleep. In the first, the participants—50 undergraduates—began by estimating (on a scale of one to 10) how deeply they had slept the night before. They were then hooked up to a machine that supposedly uses certain biomarkers to determine how much REM sleep they had received. In fact, no such machine exists: The only thing that was measured was their brain activity. The students were informed that people who spend one-quarter of their slumber in REM sleep tend to do well on learning and memory tests, while those who spend less than 20 percent of the time in that state tend to do worse. They were then presented with their (completely fictional) reading of either 16.2 or 28.7 percent REM sleep. Afterward, each took the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, a tricky assignment that is “perceived as difficult and stressful,” the researchers write. The results: “When participants were informed that they had experienced below-average sleep quality the night before, they tended to perform worse on the test, regardless of how well they felt they had slept,” the researchers write. “The observed pattern of cognitive functioning is consistent with what one might observe if participants had actually experienced a poor night’s sleep.” Advertisement: The second experiment, featuring 114 undergraduates, replicated the first with a few additions. It produced the same results for the serial addition test. For a second test measuring verbal fluency—the students were asked to say as many words as possible beginning with a certain letter in one minute—participants told they had experienced a high-quality sleep tended to perform better, regardless of their original perceptions. So the “placebo information” influenced their actual performance in both positive and negative ways. The mechanism behind this phenomenon isn’t clear, but Draganich and Erdal offer two likely possibilities. Perhaps the good or bad news the study participants received affected their anxiety and/or motivation level. “Performance then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy based on what is known by laypeople abut the effects of actual sleep deprivation and restfulness,” the researchers write. Advertisement: Or it could be a matter of classical conditioning, the pattern of behavior made famous by Pavlov’s dog. Believing we have slept well (or poorly), we feel the symptoms we associate with that state. The researchers consider this potentially positive news. They conclude that, while this placebo effect clearly has limits, it has the potential of improving our cognitive functioning, “perhaps without even actually altering sleep patterns.” So if your significant other has an important test or presentation to make, and you can tell they were tossing and turning the night before, do them a favor and insist that they, in fact, slept surprisingly soundly. That little lie could make a big difference.

High-speed rail advocates in California have long dreamed of the day when bullet trains would revolutionize transportation, and they're counting on voters to pony up nearly $10 billion to bankroll what would be the nation's first true high-speed rail line. Proponents have been pushing high-speed rail for 25 years and always fallen short. But they say a confluence of events – rising fuel prices, gridlocked roads, jammed airports and concern about global warming – present the best chance yet to bring bullet trains to America. "We have a perfect storm ... those four factors make a perfect case for high-speed rail," Ron Diridion of the state's High Speed Rail Authority, recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. We've heard this before. There once was talk of a bullet train between Los Angeles and San Diego, and of a line linking L.A. and Las Vegas. Both were shot down. Will things be any different this time, and will America finally follow Europe and Japan in embracing high-speed rail? If it does, it will require changing how we live and how our cities grow. Proposition 1A would authorize $9.95 billion in bonds to finance the first phase of an 800-mile high-speed rail line that would connect the San Francisco Bay Area with Los Angeles. Several transportation, environmental and business groups say it would offer a faster, cheaper and greener travel while easing the strain on California's notoriously backed-up highways and airports. Trains would make the 400-mile run between the two cities at about 220 mph (considerably faster than the 150 mph top speed attained by the Acela Express linking Washington, D.C. with Boston). The trip would take about 2 1/2 hours and cost riders $55, according to the High Speed Rail Authority. The project is expected to cost $32 billion, with extensions to San Diego and Sacramento adding another $10 billion. State officials are banking on taxpayers, Uncle Sam and private investors sharing the costs equally. Construction could begin as early as 2011 and trains might be running by 2020. Advocates claim the largest public works project in state history would create as many as 160,000 construction jobs and spur 400,000 more jobs once the system is up and running. Some opponents warn the final tab could be closer to $80 billion. Regardless of the final cost, taxpayer advocates and the California Chamber of Commerce argue California can't afford it. Repaying the $9.95 billion bond issue over 30 years would cost $19.4 billion, with annual payments hitting $647 million. That's a lot of coin for a state that already spends 6.1-percent of its budget on debt service. Opponents also say final tab might be closer to $80 billion. Even some rail advocates and transportation experts say the current proposal would never work. "It's technologically impossible to do what the High Speed Rail Authority claims can be done, for any amount of money," Prof. James Moore, director of the transportation engineering program at the University of Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times. "When it comes to predicting the actual cost of systems like this, I just say a zillion and leave it at that." Voters may be leery of spending any money, given the state of the economy, the collapse of Wall Street and California's budget deficit. And then there's the fact a Metrolink commuter train crashed in L.A. last month, killing 25 people. That could make the high-speed line a tough sell. Of course, it isn't enough to simply build a high-speed rail line. As the Chronicle notes this morning, if bullet trains are going to work here like they do in Europe and Japan, California – and, by extension, America – must develop and live in denser cities while expanding public transportation. "It's a lifestyle change we're talking about," Noriyuki Shikata of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says. "It affects how people lead their lives." It remains to be seen whether people are pony up for high-speed rail, let alone make the changes that might be needed to ensure its success, but polls show the proposition passing by a slim margin. Post updated 11:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. PST. Image by California High Speed Rail Authority.

When we talk about post-punk, we almost inevitably place the emphasis on punk. Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire, Talking Heads, Gang of Four, Television—they’re all bands that were born of punk and evolved from that simple, three-chord ideal into something more sophisticated and complex. Sometimes it arrived in the form of a dark disco, and sometimes it was a haunting dirge, but the direction of its outgrowth came almost exclusively from one simple, abrasively revolutionary starting point. But there are always exceptions to be discovered, and in post-punk that proved true more than a few times. The Pop Group built their abrasive beats out of the scrapyard of dub and free jazz, while Tuxedomoon crafted a darkly alluring atmosphere out of minimal synth and jazz noir. And then, out of a different world entirely, came This Heat. Formed in 1976 by Charles Bullen, Gareth Williams and Charles Hayward, This Heat were an anomaly of the post-punk era. Their background was in experimental music and progressive rock—Hayward briefly played with Canterbury scene cult favorites Gong and Quiet Sun, the latter featuring Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music fame. And though their songwriting style embraced unpredictability, abrasion, anarchy and non-conformity, the end result was a far cry from the dark grooves of Joy Division or Gang of Four (though maybe not that far from Wire at their weirdest). Their forefathers were Throbbing Gristle, Can and Stockhausen, and if those DNA helixes tangled up into the shape of a pop song, it certainly didn’t resemble anything like an actual pop song during their five-year run. This Heat only released three studio efforts during their brief, five years together—1979′s self-titled effort, 1981′s Deceit and the 1980 EP Health and Efficency, all of which have been reissued on vinyl for the first time since their original releases through Light in the Attic—but there’s a world of depth and curiosities to discover within the all too succinct 24 tracks that make up their catalog. Coincidentally, that number makes a conspicuous appearance in the title of one of their landmark recordings, “24 Track Loop.” The centerpiece of This Heat’s debut album, “24 Track Loop” is a pioneering track in use of tape loops to form the basis of a song, essentially using two-inch analog tape as a primitive sampling device. The darkness and chill of the track places it in the same league as the post-punk and industrial artists of the day, but there’s something very foreign about it as well. It’s almost like the post-punk take on ’70s era Miles Davis, who also used tape loops and cut-and-paste methods for reconstructing new grooves. All one needed to know about the strange, unconventional methods used by This Heat could be found in “24 Track Loop,” a track that’s as much curiosity as it is revelation. Yet it’s also the most accessible piece of music on the group’s 1979-released self-titled debut, which juxtaposed fully formed songs with extended periods of improvisation. There are eerie, unsettling chants, avant garde ambient pieces that nod to John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, chilling dirges and shrieking shards of progressive noise rock. This Heat abandoned any adherence to genre. They evaded convention. They deconstructed music itself. “We did stuff that was edgy and floaty, and then stuff that was dense [with] lyrics about politics,” Hayward says in an interview with post-punk historian Simon Raymonde, as published in The Quietus. “Suddenly you’d go into these other places. It was the switch from one to the other that was the true confrontation for me. People would be hearing with the cultural ears of one experience and they’d be confronted with a different set of things and for a moment they wouldn’t know how to listen. And that was what was important to me, making people listen in different ways, with different ears.” Listening to This Heat’s debut album is a bit like conditioning one’s ears to receive music differently with each drop of the needle. Each track turns the previous one’s approach upside down and inside out. It’s disorienting by design, which is part of what makes it thrilling to revisit. The first listen is like plummeting from the sky into a dangerous and unfamiliar place. It transitions from deep pulses and scratches of guitar (“Horizontal Hold”) to ominous, formless dirge (“Water”) to musique concrête (“Not Waving”) to the minimal, eerie pop ballad “Twilight Furniture,” which is one of the other rare moments of accessibility on the album, as well as a song that undoubtedly proved highly influential to Liars’ Drums Not Dead some 27 years later. With each subsequent listen, This Heat’s stunning first effort feels less immediately disorienting, which is essentially the point. Once you’ve taken to This Heat’s method of listening with different ears, their once confounding approach turns from confusing to beautiful. Released between the band’s two studio albums is 1980′s Health and Efficiency EP, its title track the most accessible item in the band’s catalog while showcasing how their own version of accessibility is still a safe distance from normal. And that semblance of catchiness—their flirtation with conventional rock songwriting—lasts only about two and a half minutes, before it tumbles into a sort of motorik-inspired repetition, guitar riffs and rattling, stop-on-a-dime percussion tumbling over and over in a seemingly infinite loop as found sounds turn a briefly upbeat and fun post-punk gem into a menacing and twisted proto-industrial exercise. The first time I heard the song, I didn’t even know that the first part existed; when heading into KCR studios for my college radio show sometime around 2001, the music director was spinning the entirety of “Health and Efficiency” on vinyl (one of the library’s most fascinating artifacts, to be sure). What I heard was a four-minute repetition of some of the nastiest grooves to ever hit my ears. The first few minutes of the song are much more approachable, even fun. Sounding a bit like The Fall with a sunnier disposition and a penchant for hardcore intensity, This Heat crafts a mesmerizing and hard-driving track dedicated to, well, health and efficiency. The opening lyric actually goes, “Here’s a song about the sunshine/Dedicated to the sunshine,” a far cry from the darkness and disorientation that defined so much of the band’s work. And yet, the positive outlook wasn’t in any way insincere, no matter how much of an anomaly it seems by comparison. “We wanted to put a vibe across that wasn’t the doom thing completely, that wasn’t ‘We’re being poisoned by toxins and can’t do anything about it,’” Hayward told Reynolds in 2001. “It was very anti-punk, in a way, because there was a lot of weediness in punk, it became a cult of defeatism. The whole goth thing. So we were responding to that.” The flipside of “Health and Efficiency,” titled “Graphic-Varispeed,” is an entirely different beast, spanning three minutes longer and eschewing melody altogether, more or less. Essentially a long ambient track using pitch control effects (hence the “Varispeed”), it reconjures the unsettling and disorienting experimental tone of the band’s debut album. That sense of foreboding, of intangible yet palpable menace, hits critical mass on the band’s second and final full-length, 1981′s Deceit. That it features their most cohesive set of songs while retaining that harrowing dread is what sets it apart as their true post-punk masterpiece. “We were resolved that maybe the ‘song’ thing needed to be focused on,” Hayward says in an interview with Fact. “We wanted to reconnect with what had been smashed up, almost as a way of moving forward.” Deceit is less a product of the studio-as-art approach of This Heat’s debut as it is that of a group of musicians playing instruments in a room as a fully-formed band. These are rock songs, as peculiar and sometimes twisted as they end up sounding. The multi-part progression of the alternately harsh and groove-based “Paper Hats” nods to the group’s prog roots, while opening track “Sleep” showcases one of the group’s most immediate melodies. And then there’s “S.P.Q.R.”, a two-chord, galloping punk anthem that thumps and gallop with intention and accessibility. Whatever new ears are needed to allow This Heat’s more experimental tendencies to better resonate, there’s a sense of joy in hearing such tautly constructed songs through that atypical filter. Juxtaposed with this newfound sense of immediacy is the heavy presence of Cold War terror. Inspired by a genuine fear of nuclear war and the imperialist nations that would bring it about, Deceit doesn’t feel so much like a protest record as a tense cry of panic set to intriguingly constructed melodies. “Cenotaph” is a none-too-subtle critique of the endless cycle of war, with its mentions of “The war to end all wars/And the war that came after that,” while “Paper Hats” returns to the refrain of “the sound of explosions?” Just as potent a statement is “Independence,” an ominous dub-inflected track that features the opening statements of the Declaration of Independence. And the album art echoes this overarching critique of leaders with itchy trigger fingers, its collage of photographs projected on a face, disturbingly juxtaposing images of Krushchev and Reagan with mushroom clouds against the backdrop of what seems like a primal scream. When Deceit moves away from such explicit statement material, however, the results can be even more terrifying, as in the atonal keyboard drones and factory-crank percussion of “Triumph,” or the variable speed thumps and Czech shortwave warnings in “Radio Prague,” which sounds closer to one of the numbers stations broadcasts collected on the Conet Project than anything else of the post-punk era. It’s hard not to experience some cognitive dissonance when hearing some of the band’s best-written songs under the context of fear and intertwined with some briefly harrowing listening experiences (and maybe not coincidentally, their studio was dubbed “Cold Storage”). It’s what makes Deceit more than a powerful listen, but in fact a wholly visceral experience. More than any other band of the post-punk era, This Heat were about changing perceptions. Not political perceptions, necessarily, though it’s impossible to extricate their music from the sense of Cold War dread that surrounded it. Rather, This Heat were communicating music in an entirely unfamiliar way, and surely it’s been processed differently by everyone that’s heard it. The Slits’ Viv Albertine told the band that their music was “sexy,” while Caribou’s Dan Snaith says that it sounds “like the future.” And though their body of work is between 35 and 40 years old, he’s not wrong. This Heat’s vision still feels like just a faint shape looming over the horizon. You might also like:

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it had detained an American tourist for violating its laws after entering the secretive state in April, bringing the number of U.S. citizens held by Pyongyang to three. Pyongyang has detained a number of U.S. citizens in recent years, using them as a tool to extract visits by high-profile figures, including former President Bill Clinton, for propaganda means. North Korea periodically accuses the United States of military hostility and conspiracy to overthrow its leadership. The two states have been locked in a tense diplomatic conflict over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. The latest American to be held was being questioned by authorities for conduct inappropriate for the purpose of his visit as a tourist, state media reported on Friday. The North’s KCNA news agency named him as Jeffrey Edward Fowle and said he entered the country on April 29. It gave no further details. A State Department official said Washington was aware of reports that a third U.S. citizen had been detained in North Korea. “There is no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad,” the official said, adding no further information was available. Earlier on Friday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said the North had detained a U.S. citizen in mid-May. Kyodo cited unidentified diplomatic sources as saying the American was detained just before he was to leave North Korea, for having left a Bible in his hotel. Two other Americans are currently being held by the North, arrested after arriving on tourist visas and accused of crimes against the state. Korean American missionary Kenneth Bae has been in custody for 18 months and a second man has been held since April. In May, the U.S. State Department issued an advisory urging Americans not to travel to North Korea because of the “risk of arbitrary arrest and detention” even while holding valid visas. “Foreign visitors to North Korea may be arrested, detained, or expelled for activities that would not be considered criminal outside North Korea,” it said. WAR VETERAN RELEASED North Korea has detained and then released other Americans in the past year, including Korean War veteran Merrill E. Newman, whom it expelled after holding him for more than a month accusing him of war crimes. In April, the North said it was holding an American named Matthew Todd Miller who had made “a gross violation of its legal order” after entering the country on a tourist visa. He tore up his visa and demanded asylum, KCNA said in April. Bae was arrested in 2012 and has been sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor on charges of state subversion. His family says he suffers from a variety of health issues, including diabetes, an enlarged heart, kidney stones and severe back pain. North Korea has twice canceled visits by Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to discuss Bae’s case. The United States has no diplomatic ties with North Korea and the interests of its citizens in the country are represented by Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang.

Love can make you do some crazy things as one husband found out first hand when his wife set his hair on fire during a night out. CCTV video from January 9 shows the inside of a bar in one of the US's 16 states which still allow smoking indoors. According to Jukin Media the unnamed couple are either extremely affectionate towards one another or at each other's throats; this video clearly depicts the latter. The husband is seen having a great time, dancing and chatting with other patrons across the bar. His wife sits next to him smoking a cigarette, visibly annoyed. Without warning she reaches out with her lighter to ignite her husband's hair before returning to her cigarette. While the other patrons immediately see his hair light up, the man keeps talking animatedly for several seconds before realising something is wrong. © Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019

The problem I encountered with names in old colonial Philippines was a pain in the neck. The Regidor (Treasury Accountant) had complained constantly like a broken record to the Governor General of the impossibility of fulfilling his tax-collecting task due to the liquidity of naming conditions in the whole archipelago. There was simply no credible way of registering and validating the people and the population because of three anomalies that created confusion for his department First, the natives were named after the area where they lived. If one lived by the seashore he was Kato Tabing Dagat. However, if Kato changed his address to the forest glen, he became Kato Ginubatan. He was the same person yet he was registered as two persons in the municipal registry book. Second, the traditional practice was to be named as the grandson of so and so, as in Apo ni Tuliao or Apo ni Lagmay. In Onofre D. Corpuz’s book The Roots of the Philippine Nation I had come across the signature of some people written in the ancient, extant syllabary that reads: Apo ni Gagui.” If the grandfather died, the name changed to the father’s name as in Anak ni Batak, or Anak ni Tasyo. Third, if the person had a unique characteristic, his name was a physical description of his/her person. Cross-eyed Juan was called Juang Duling. Berto had a misshapen jaw, so his name became Bertong Bukol. A little satirical ridicule happened when a very bald guy was called Kulot (Curly). Sometimes, very cruelly, a disgusting name was given to an individual. Even names of towns did not escape this naming pattern. That is how “Cagayan” was made into a place name. In Spanish cagar means “to poo.” Cagayan means the place where to do your “number two.” Philippine American Writers and Artists President Edwin Lozada tells about his friend, a physician, whose name happens to be Dr. Cagar, or Dr. Shit. His Hispanic patients don’t want him treating their ailments. The given surname changed when the kid grew older or if another signpost event occurred in his lifetime. Fathers, sons, brothers who belonged to the same immediate family tree had different surnames. Tracing one’s genealogy became a daunting endeavor. Examples in the literature are very instructive about European Onomastics. The northern Europeans used the suffix “son” in their names. The son of Anders was called Anderson. Richard’s son was “Richardson.” In Spain, the son of Rodrigo became Rodriguez. Hernando’s son became Hernandez, Gonzalo’s son became Gonzalez and Fernando’s son became Fernandez. With this in mind, Governor General Narciso Claveria, who didn't have anything better to do, asked Madrid for a list of names to be given out to the colonial subjects in the Philippines. Madrid collected all the names in all the provinces of Spain. It was called Catalogo de Apellidos.

Guests: Jordan Morris Jordan Morris Guests: Guy Branum Guy Branum Guests: Margaret Wappler Margaret Wappler Guests: Karen Tongson Karen Tongson Guest host Jordan Morris sits down with Karen, Margaret, and Guy to talk about their favorite topics brought up in the official Pop Rocket Facebook group! They talk chicken nuggets, indie comic books, and Beyonce’s pregnancy photos. Guy chats about Mary Tyler Moore, Karen can’t get enough K Stew and Jordan loves Jen Kirkman’s newest Netflix special. And of course, some jams to top it all off. With Jordan Morris, Guy Branum, Karen Tongson and Margaret Wappler. That’s My Jam: Margaret Wappler - Cherry Glazerr - Told You I'd be with the Guys Karen Tongson - Team Dresch - Freewheel Jordan Morris - Pigeon John - She's Loud Guy Branum - Kids in the Hall - Buddy Cole Each week we’ll add everyone’s jams to this handy Spotify playlist. You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter. Produced by Christian Dueñas and Kara Hartfor MaximumFun.org. Additional Links: SNL's Totino's Sketch Jen Kirkman Just Keep Livin'? Trailer

poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201611/764/1155968404_5210172655001_5210130504001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump’s first ambassador: Barack Obama On his last foreign trip as president, the task ahead of Obama is enormous: Reassuring the world about a successor he said couldn’t possibly win. ATHENS — There was a time, a week ago, when the Obama White House was focused on questions like who would take over tending to the first lady's vegetable garden. Now President Barack Obama is setting out on what was supposed to be a fun post-election farewell trip to Greece and Germany with not just his entire domestic record at risk of being gutted by President-elect Donald Trump, but transatlantic new order he cultivated is in the midst of being rejected. His failure to convince people against Brexit no longer looks like a fluke: British voters recoiled at his campaigning for Remain in the spring, and last week, many from his own coalition of voters weren’t compelled by his warnings that Trump would be a threat to all the progress his administration had made and to the safety of the world. Story Continued Below And he’s going to explain to all the world leaders he meets — he’ll gather with his European counterparts in Berlin on Friday and then with the Chinese and other Asia-Pacific leaders in his stop in Peru over the weekend — why he got the election so wrong, after assuring them all year that they need not be too worried about Trump winning, or even his brand of politics much influencing the future of American foreign policy. Then he’s going to tell them to trust him this time on his promises and assessments of where things will go now that Trump did what he assured them couldn’t happen. Only minutes after Trump finished a friendly phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it fell to Obama to reassure the world that America’s foreign policy actually wouldn’t change much — and it wouldn’t even be made solely by the man who has questioned nearly everything about how the U.S. does business abroad, from support for free trade to opposition to nuclear proliferation to treaty-level commitments to allies. “One of the great things about the United States is that when it comes to world affairs, the president obviously is the leader of the executive branch, the commander-in-chief, the spokesperson for the nation, but the influence and the work that we have is the result not just of the president, it is the result of countless interactions and arrangements and relationships between our military and other militaries, and our diplomats and other diplomats, the intelligence officers and development workers,” Obama said at his pre-trip press conference at the White House on Monday. He added: “And there is enormous continuity beneath the day-to-day news that makes us that indispensable nation when it comes to maintaining order and promoting prosperity around the world. That will continue.” Ahead of the election, White House aides struggled to give good reasons for why Obama was headed to Greece. Now going looks more quaint, a bit of closing presidential tourism meant to congratulate the Greek people on coming through the turmoil of their economic collapse and ongoing refugee crisis — a planned message that perhaps didn't fully account for how this small Mediterranean country’s collapse seems to have shaken the very idea of globalism. Obama was going to Berlin to buck up his friend and spirit sister Angela Merkel against the domestic political backlash she’s facing. He’s arriving with Merkel looking like the last bulwark of Western liberal values, a leader who could be headed for an unexpected fall of her own without anything he or anyone else can do about it. Alternatively, some believe, Germany and Europe overall is where Obamaism will hibernate to wait out 2020, much like they felt happened during George W. Bush’s presidency — when Obama looked like such a welcome restoration to their sense of America that he won the Nobel Peace Prize just for getting elected. Obama remains hugely popular on the continent, and the fears sparked by Trump's election, intense in Germany, seem to be reminding Europeans of that. Trump has emboldened the European nationalist right, but his victory has also woken up the left and center to how real, and how existential a moment the world is in. “This is a time of great change in the world, but America's always been a pillar of strength and a beacon of hope to peoples around the globe and that's what it must continue to be,” Obama added at the press conference. Obama said he was impressed by how much Trump seemed to agree with him on foreign policy during their 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office last week. Trump has not signaled any of that supposed alignment himself. During the campaign, Hillary Clinton accused Trump of being a puppet of Moscow and Obama made a similar case. Trump repeatedly said that Putin was a stronger leader than Obama who needs to be treated with more respect. On that point, the president-elect appears to be sticking to what he said — at least according to the Kremlin. Putin’s government put out a statement on his call with Trump, during which according to the they “not only agreed on the absolutely unsatisfactory state of bilateral relations but also expressed support for active joint efforts to normalize relations and pursue constructive cooperation on the broadest possible range of issues”—words likely to set off a panic in many Eastern European capitals. And, in a signal that the Kremlin expects the sanctions enacted after Russia’s seizure of Crimea to disappear, the statement added: “They emphasized the importance of establishing a reliable foundation for bilateral ties by developing the trade and economic component.” The president-elect’s transition team gave only a cursory account of this call, and made no apparent effort to correct or amend Russia’s version of the conversation. A revamped relationship with Russia could lead to inviting Putin to rejoin the group of leading nations to make the G7 into the G8 again, reversing the decision that booted Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. At the very least, the next G7 meeting scheduled for May in Sicily is going to look very different from the one Obama attended in Japan this past spring. Other than Merkel, who’s up next October, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose election last October represented to many of the president’s supporters the ascent of an Obama-generation progressive, could be the only familiar face left. Obama's compatriot David Cameron has already been replaced by Theresa May in the U.K. Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi, the protégé the president hosted for his final state dinner last month, faces an anti-European Union referendum next month that may force him to resign. Marine Le Pen feels empowered ahead of France’s presidential election next April. And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — who is rushing to New York this week to meet Trump — faces his own internal turmoil from some of his turns to the west, including sticking his neck out for the now-dead Trans Pacific Partnership, on top of Japan’s always volatile domestic politics. On Wednesday, Obama will give a big speech here in the Greek capital that was always meant to be about the future of globalism, said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes last week. That speech hadn't been written before the election results, he noted, so the text hasn't had to be torn up — but obviously, it's needing to be rethought. "Look, there are certain things that have endured for decades under administrations of different parties," Rhodes said, holding to assumptions that Trump insisted throughout the campaign he would challenge if elected. "The transatlantic alliance is certainly one of those. The NATO alliance is certainly one of those. We have taken steps during our time in office to reinforce the NATO alliance, to reassure Eastern European allies, to move significant military personnel and equipment to our eastern flank to ensure that those nations are reassured, and also to work with NATO on counterterrorism and deal with refugee flows."

Interim Chair's comments Dr Tania Mathias, interim Chair of the Committee, said: "Artificial intelligence has some way to go before we see systems and robots as portrayed in the creative arts such as Star Wars. At present, 'AI machines' have narrow and specific roles, such as in voice-recognition or playing the board game 'Go'. But science fiction is slowly becoming science fact, and robotics and AI look destined to play an increasing role in our lives over the coming decades. It is too soon to set down sector-wide regulations for this nascent field but it is vital that careful scrutiny of the ethical, legal and societal ramifications of artificially intelligent systems begins now." Transformational impacts AI systems are starting to have transformational impacts on everyday life: from driverless cars and supercomputers that can assist doctors with medical diagnoses, to intelligent tutoring systems that can tailor lessons to meet a student's individual cognitive needs. Such breakthroughs raise a host of questions for society, including ethical issues about the transparency of AI decision-making as well as privacy and safety. The Committee is calling for a Commission on Artificial Intelligence to be established at the Alan Turing Institute to examine the social, ethical and legal implications of recent and potential developments in AI. The UK is well-placed to provide this type of intellectual leadership. Much of the significant progress in this field—such as improved automated voice recognition software, predictive text keyboards on smart phones and autonomous vehicles—has been driven by UK-based technology start-ups, founded by graduates of UK universities, as well as universities themselves. The Committee found, however, that Government leadership in AI was lacking. Dr Mathias said: "Government leadership in the fields of robotics and AI has been lacking. Some major technology companies — including Google and Amazon — have recently come together to form the 'Partnership on AI'. While it is encouraging that the sector is thinking about the risks and benefits of AI, this does not absolve the Government of its responsibilities. It should establish a 'Commission on Artificial Intelligence' to identify principles for governing the development and application of AI, and to foster public debate." Implications for employment Improvements in productivity and efficiency, driven by robotics and AI, are widely predicted. Yet there are conflicting views about what this would mean for jobs in the UK. Some expect rising unemployment as labour is substituted for AI-enabled machines. Others foresee a transformation in the types of employment available, with the creation of new jobs compensating for those lost and AI augmenting existing roles, enabling humans to achieve more than they could on their own. Despite these differing views, there is general agreement that a much greater focus is needed on adjusting the UK’s education and training systems to deliver the skills that will enable people to adapt, and thrive, as new technology comes on stream. Dr Mathias said: "Concerns about machines 'taking jobs' and eliminating the need for human labour have persisted for centuries. Nevertheless it is conceivable that we will see AI technology creating new jobs over the coming decades while at the same time displacing others. Since we cannot yet foresee exactly how these changes will play out, we must respond with a readiness to re-skill and up-skill. This requires a commitment by the Government to ensure that our education and training systems are flexible, so that they can adapt as opportunities and demands on the workforce change. It is disappointing that the Government has still not published its Digital Strategy and set out its plans for equipping the future workforce with the digital skills we will need." Further information Image: iStockphoto

Affordable Travel Everyone should be able to travel. We don’t all have budgets for an around-the-world ticket, or 4 months in Japan, but if you’re willing to sacrifice immediacy, you can still experience great adventures. I’m defining this category as approximately $500 for an epic travel adventure. This is loosely based around the amount of savings a low-income couple (real circumstances) can accumulate over a 6 month period. All you need is time, and if you’re not making any of that, that’s really nobody’s problem but your own. The internet caters beautifully to this idea, providing us with avenues to connect with our peers, share knowledge and rooms, cars and workspaces. We live in an incredible time for affordable anything really, it just comes down to us taking advantage of the tools we are given. Below I’ve outlined some of my personal go-to services for affordable accommodation and transportation. • Secret Flying can find you a $200 ticket out of the country (almost any country). • With HitchPlanet, you can get across the country (Canada or USA) for around $200. If you’re new to the world of ridesharing, be sure to check out RideShare for Beginners. • BusBud is a great way to find the cheapest possible bus fares on any given route. You can occasionally catch some crazy deals on there for getting around Canada or the USA. • HipCamp offers unique campsites on ranches, gardens, peoples wood lots, etc, all for a small nightly fee. • HostelWorld allows you to connect with hostels everywhere, and search based on location and availablity for nightly or weekly dormatory bed rentals. • Purple Tent is a pretty cool idea. Rent a tent in somebody’s backyard for a small nightly fee. They’ll even send you a free tent if you’re willing to host travellers. Free Travel Now, anyone truly can travel, regardless of budget. All you need is time, and if you’re not making any of that, it’s really nobody’s problem but your own. This category requires a few more sacrifices, but if you want to travel, and you can find the time, you really can do it for free. A clear schedule helps a ton when it comes to taking advantage of free travel opportunities, but you’ll always have to be flexible when it comes to travel. These are some of GoHobo’s top choices for free travel, so dig in and enjoy. Be sure to let us know if you end up using any of these services, we would love to hear about your experiences! • TransferCar or HitTheRoad.ca will even pay you to drive yourself across the country. • RV Relocations can be one of the best (although hard to find) means of getting around a land mass. If you can get yourself one, they often include daily road allowances and all your camping and sleeping gear. • If you’re on your own, Couchsurfing will get you a free couch to crash on. • HouseCarers can find you a place to stay for up to 6 months almost anywhere in the world, for the mere price* of dogsitting a family pet, or maintaining the residence at an automated bed and breakfast somewhere in the jungles of Costa Rica. • Staydu offers rooms for rent around the world for a small labour exchange, and often for free. Work Exchange You can volunteer your time, and have your room and board covered for as long as you want to stay and work. I’ve had the chance to try out similar programs both in Mexico and Australia and had spectacular experiences in both places. Some truly life-long memories were born out of these adventures. If communal living, farming and free travel sound good to you, consider this your new currency. • Projects Abroad offers some pretty interesting programs and initiatives for volunteers. They have a global network of organizations offering internships and volunteer opportunities on almost every continent. • World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms offers a straight-up work exchange program. You get the chance to work and learn on an organic farm, anywhere in the world, in exchange for food and accommodation. • WorkAway is a grassroots program, offering budget travellers opportunities to connect and work (in exchange for food and accommodation) for local communities all over the world. • HelpStay offers accommodation and hospitality on ranches or farms, hostels and more, in exchange for all sorts of skills. Cheap Travel Cheap travel vacations are a great way to enjoy a week or two of relaxing in the sun, ordering all your meals from a menu, all day casual cocktails or playing water polo, all while you take some time away from whatever it is that you need time from. Who doesn’t love cheap travel? These packages work well as a home base to explore another country. Some people fly in, stay at the resort for a night, and hop on a bus, exploring the countryside for several days, before making their way back to the resort. This is a great way to catch a last minute getaway, and interact with the local culture as well - which is by far, one of the most valuable assets when travelling. Here are a few of the usual suspects when it comes to cheap travel: Hotwire has some reasonable deals when it comes to hotels, and vacation packages. If you can fly out of Canada, Trip Central offers last minute deals for as little as $350 for a week on a sunny beach. Expedia Last Minute is a trusty dealer of cheap travel; cars, hotels, flights and package deals. GoHobo is always happy to share or talk about resources and experiences with the community. We strive to be the number one destination for all things alternative travel and are massive adventure enthusiasts. Adventure for regular people. If you think we missed something or have anything to add, feel free to email us at gohoboco@gmail.com or hit us up on Twitter.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co. and Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday that they are teaming again; this time in an effort to make widespread adoption of the electric car a reality. Ford F, +1.37% said it plans to use Microsoft's Hohm electric-car charging optimization service to help drivers determine the ideal time to charge their vehicles and how to best minimize impact on the grid. Ford points out that powering up electric vehicles can effectively double home energy consumption and managing the expected spike in demand is critical. "For Ford, this is a needed step in the development of the infrastructure that will make electric vehicles viable," CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement. The Internet-based service will be used for the Focus Electric plug-in hybrid in 2011, and in two next-generation hybrids in 2012. Microsoft MSFT, +0.69% and Ford have already proven to be a successful partnership with the Sync system, a decade-long effort designed to improve drivers' in-car experiences. Sync was launched in 2007 and has been installed on more than 2 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles.

A farmer has gone on trial, accused of biting his brother’s penis during an altercation over the payment of electricity bill. Adjei Amponsah, 30, pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was granted bail in the sum of GH¢6,000.00 with two sureties by the Juaso Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Alex Obeng Asante, to make his next appearance on February 7. Police Detective Inspector Bismark Peasah said the accused lives together with the victim, Kwaku Amponsah, and some tenants in a family house at Patriensa, near Konongo. Amponsah has always had cause to complain anytime he is asked to pay his share of the monthly electricity bill. Matters came to a head about two weeks ago when he flatly refused to pay his part of electricity charges for the months of October and November, last year. This generated heated argument between the two siblings, then a fight, during which he sunk his teeth into the penis of the victim and bit it, resulting in a deep cut. The prosecution said Kwaku bled profusely and was rushed to the Konongo Government Hospital for medical attention and a formal report made to the police. GNA

Billionaire Paul G. Allen will donate $100 million to fight Ebola, the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft announced Thursday. This will quadruple his earlier promise to donate $26 million to various nonprofit groups and government agencies fighting the most deadly outbreak of the virus ever recorded. He is one the largest individual donors to tackle the disease, which has killed nearly 5,000 people in West Africa and infected nearly 10,000, according to the World Health Organization. The promise of significant relief funds comes as more people are quarantined and placed on “watch lists,” and the country works to contain the disease and prevent another outbreak on American soil. A Connecticut family of six was quarantined after traveling in West Africa, West Haven Mayor Edward O’Brien said late Wednesday. They don’t have any symptoms of Ebola, NBC News reported, but under the executive orders signed by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy this month, anyone who has been travelling in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea must quarantine themselves for 21 days and take their temperature twice daily. The family will be monitored by public health workers, who will phone twice daily to check for signs of the disease. RELATED: Ebola aid group worries about delays and staffing shortfalls This is the latest Ebola containment effort that’s affected hundreds across the country who are being monitored by the authorities, told to stay home, or prohibited from travelling. While a week has passed since the last diagnosis and more and more high-risk healthcare workers have been cleared, many Americans still remain on edge as the deadly virus ravages West Africa. In Ohio, 164 are still under the Center for Disease Control’s watch and three are under quarantine; in Texas, more than 100 are being monitored. Newly released graphic showing remaining Ebola contacts under surveillance and days left @CDCgov pic.twitter.com/UE7DMSQ1sQ — Judge Clay Jenkins (@JudgeClayJ) October 22, 2014 It will be weeks until those in America who are being watched are free from the restrictions put in place to preemptively curb possible spread of Ebola. Starting Monday, the CDC will also begin monitoring anyone who has traveled in the three West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak for the full virus incubation period, 21 days. That new measure will add hundreds more to the CDC’s watch lists. Experts say this kind of contact tracing is key to protecting the U.S. from more cases of Ebola, but across the country, Americans are struggling with the implications of quarantines and anxiety that the disease could spread quickly. There have been instances of forced, medically unnecessary quarantines and ostracizing due to Ebola panic: Rwandan students in New Jersey are being told to stay home for three weeks, despite the fact that Rwanda is thousands of miles from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. In Mississippi, a school principal who visited Zambia (even farther away from the outbreak than Rwanda) is prompting parents to keep their students home. A family who had traveled to Ethiopia — which is across the continent and considered East Africa — to adopt a child was ostracized by fellow parents despite the fact that Ethiopia has fewer cases of Ebola than the U.S. Meanwhile, states are rushing to prepare themselves. In Illinois, both the state and the city of Chicago have launched Ebola-related preparation forces, readying hospitals for the possible handling of Ebola cases. On Wednesday, the governor also announced that he would signed an executive order creating a task force with the state’s Department of Public Health, “to further strengthen our ability to respond to Ebola,” a release said. One of the five airports passengers from Ebola-stricken nations may travel through is in Chicago. Texas, ground zero for the American outbreak, has also hurried to create testing, treatment, and preparedness protocols and facilities, with Gov. Rick Perry speaking regularly and updating the public about their efforts.

Deep in our Galaxy, approximately 30,000 light-years from Earth, a small gravitational monster is sucking matter from a companion star, causing the infalling matter to violently radiate X-rays and occasionally be launched to form radio-wave-emitting jets that emanate close to the speed of light. This enigmatic binary star system, known as Cygnus X-3, has fascinated astronomers over four decades. It is thought to be either a small black hole or a neutron star and an ordinary, albeit massive star orbiting each other. Now, a team of researchers, including TKK's Metsähovi Radio Observatory, have made the first definitive detection of high-energy gamma rays from this system. The findings may provide a new window on how Cygnus X-3 accelerates charged particles to enormous energies. The study is scheduled to appear in an upcoming Nature. Detecting the gamma rays, the most powerful type of electromagnetic radiation, is a feat in itself, and in this study their detection were made possible by sensitive detectors on-board italian gamma-ray satellite AGILE (Astro-rivelatore Gamma ad Immagini Leggero). From these observations an unexpected clockwork pattern of the gamma-ray emission was noted, which always seems to occur just before the onset of the powerful radio jets. "Cygnus X-3 is a strange case indeed, being one of the brightest radio source in the Galaxy except when it descends into a radio quenched state. And now these extremely energetic gamma rays have been observed during this state. This may be indicating the preparation of the major radio flare, which follows just days after, when the source shoots up energetic radio jets from the core of the compact object," says researcher Karri Koljonen from Metsähovi Radio Observatory. The new gamma-ray findings are expected to shed also light on how distant quasars, powered by supermassive black holes, pump even greater amounts of energy into space. Microquasars such as Cygnus X-3 are the ideal laboratory for studying the jet phenomena that dominate the most luminous quasars' emission. Because the emissions from microquasars vary on time scales of days to weeks rather than decades like quasar emissions, they present a convenient test bed for probing quasar activity. The gamma rays observed by AGILE were in the form of flares at energies of about 100 million electron volts. Simultaneously the source was observed by AMILA (Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array) and RATAN-600 radio telescopes from UK and Russia together with NASA's Swift and RXTE (Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer) X-ray satellites, which revealed that the flares preceded radio jets and occurred during a decline in high-energy X-rays from Cygnus X-3. "The very complex behavior of Cygnus X-3 requires monitoring throughout the electromagnetic spectrum from radio through X-rays and now including also gamma-ray emission. Not until we have gathered data from all possible wavelengths we can start to form a unified picture of this enigmatic object. Microquasars have strong magnetic fields which can store enormous amount of energy. During these gamma-ray flares this stored energy can accelerate charged particles to observed high energies which prompts them to emit gamma rays. Then the magnetic gate opens, and radio-emitting blobs are pushed out of the system producing the major radio flares," Koljonen concludes. Metsähovi will stay as a radio eyes for Cygnus X-3 along with other international radio, infrared, X-ray and gamma-ray facilities.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Luxembourg on Friday upped its bid to be a leader in the nascent space mining industry by setting aside 200 million euros ($223 million) to fund initiatives aimed at bringing back rare minerals from space. Luxembourg in February announced plans for a law that would make it the first state in Europe to give legal clarity to the commercial exploitation of asteroids. A similar law was passed by the United States in November. “We have a first budget to get started but if we need more money, we will be able to provide it,” Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s economy minister told a news conference. Luxembourg’s ambitions drew interest from pioneers in the field such as U.S. operators Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries which aim to set up offices in the grand duchy. A first reconnaissance mission to scout nearby asteroids for resources could take place as soon as three years from now. Primarily known for its fund management and private banking industry, Luxembourg has high ambitions for the exploration of space. “Luxembourg’s aims is to be in the top 10 space faring nations in the world,” Schneider said. One of the successes the country can point to is Luxembourg’s SES one of the world’s largest operators of communication satellites. “In 1985 the government decided to launch the first satellite. We had huge discussions then that nobody would need that kind of satellite or that it could fall from the sky,” Schneider added. Under international law, mining in space is a contentious subject as international treaties call for exploration to be carried out for the benefit of all countries. Mining in space could not only help to bring back minerals to earth, but also aid with the exploration of distant planets by producing fuel for far away missions.

Tokyo: Near Akira and Makoto’s apartment - 22/4/2018(Sunday) – Late night Yet another speed bump rattled the small truck. It shook Akira awake once more, he’d felt so very groggy the entire ride. “Time to wake-up kid, we’re almost there,” a gruff voice sounded out from the driver’s seat next to him A truck slowly squeezed its way through the tiny back streets of this residential district. It slowed and the engine wheezed for its last gulp of air before calmly coming to stop in front of an apartment complex. Despite the late hour there were still a few passers buy and a little traffic on the road Its two occupant’s disembarked the still humming vehicle and made their way to the back. The driver held out a bulky hand held computer for his digital signature. Akira yawned as he lazily scrawled something on the machine. The driver didn’t seem to mind as he put the machine away, and opened the back of the van. The driver let out a whistle, “That’s one hot ride.” Akira just nodded as a small smile played on his lips. He tossed Akira a small bag, “You already have the keys. The registration, and other pertinent documentation should be in there. It should have a little bit of petrol in the tank but fill her up first thing, “He lowered a ramp before proceeding to roll a bike out from the truck. He parked it next to Akira, “Now if you don’t mind I should be on my way.” “Alright, thanks for the lift and you have a good night,” Akira said with a polite smile. “Oh, one last thing. As an adult it would be a little bit irresponsible if I didn’t say anything. But don’t go joyriding tonight in that state you hear? You’ve looked tired as hell since you got in the van.” Akira fought back a yawn, “Thanks, but the bike is not for me.” Cocking an eyebrow he asked, “You don’t say… who’s it for?” Scratching the back of his head, “It’s for my girlfriend; she’s always wanted one.” The driver let out another whistle, “Must be a real special girl, if a college boy like you is willing to spend this much cash.” Akira flashed a sheepish smile in return. “Considering how much trouble you went through to have it delivered tonight. Good luck,” a mischievous smirk played on his face as he made to get back into the van. “Thanks…” Akira said an anxiously, running his hand over the brand new bike. The truck roared to life and sped away moments later, leaving Akira alone on the quiet night streets. He calmly rolled the bike towards the apartment complex. Though they never used it before now, they did have an assigned parking spot. Satisfied to have it behind the secured gate. He made for the elevator to go home. Akira hit the button and waited for the elevator to arrive. Massaging his temples in the meantime, ‘I am exhausted, but all that’s left to do is surprise her. It might be nice to thank Haru for her help first. ’ He pulled out his phone and tapped away at messenger app, “I just parked the bike in our garage going up to surprise her now, thank you so much for helping out Haru. I couldn’t have had it delivered on a Sunday without your help, please just let me know how I can repay you alright,” Send. Ting as the elevators doors slid open. Akira boarded and tapped the panel for the top most floor. Bling He pulled out his phone to see a message from Haru, “All I did was pass you the phone number and address, you did the talking and dealing all by yourself.” “Without those Okumura contacts. Getting a vehicle registered and road worthy on a weekend is not a feat I could have done by myself. Tell me how I can make it up to you?” Send. Bling“Well…” Bling”If you insist, I’m going to a movie premier next week, why don’t you and Makoto give me some company?” Ting as the elevator reached its destination. ‘The 20th floor’ Akira walked out onto his floor, ‘Knowing Haru it’s probably another slasher pic and a bloody one at that if she’s gone to the trouble of going to the premier. Makoto’s terrified of those films…’ A devilish smirk played on his lips. “You know how Makoto feels about those films, so obviously we’re coming. Let me know when.” Send Bling”ExcellentJ. Good luck tonight.” Bling”Wish her the best from me to too.” Fumbling for his key ring as he reached his door; one of four on this floor. Akira put his phone away as he finally unlocked and walked inside the modest home he and Makoto had made together. It’s a small one bedroom apartment. The living space was shared with a tiny kitchen, but it had a balcony with an amazing view of Tokyo’s night lights. Akira took of his shoes at the tiny entrance way. All the lights were off with the room lit only by the lighting outside. He stepped onto the elevated wooden flooring and made his way inside as quietly as possible. It was already late, and he had messaged ahead asking Makoto not to wait up for him tonight. In case she was already asleep, he didn’t want to wake her up. Unfortunately the growl in his stomach quickly betrayed his stealth. Sojiro had kindly donated the old fridge from Le’blanc, even if he tried to pass it off as him getting rid of old junk. Most of It lay covered with a never ending list of to-do items such as house hold chores, bills, and other appointments. The remaining space over the freezer was reserved for photos. It had slowly grown to a decent collection with many photos of the phantom thieves, most were from their recent trip to Okinawa. There were also some others with just his mom, Sae, Sojiro, Yukiko, and their many other friends. Akira recognised the obvious gap, where he had removed the few photos with his father. He thought it might be better without a daily reminder, but he missed him all the same. Akira was about to look inside for a quick snack, when he spotted a covered box on the countertop. There was a small note to next to it, “Some of us at work went out for sushi, so I saved you some leftovers.” Akira quickly opened the box, and hungrily ate through it. The rest of the room was much like the photos on their fridge, apart from some essential furnishings like a couch and table, the space was cluttered with various objects and kick-naks they had picked up together. Some coffee beans from Le’Blanc featured prominently on the countertop, while Makoto had brought a small bookshelf from her sister’s apartment. Most of the small appliances, a heater, a microwave, etc, Akira bought in from his home town. After the house was sold, there was nowhere else to put them anyway. Satisfied with his snack, ‘That sushi wasn’t half bad, if the place wasn’t too pricey. It might be nice to eat there together next time. ’ Akira reached towards a sliding door. It opened into their bedroom, the double bed lay empty but neatly prepared. The room was sparse for any other furnishing, besides a study desk that he and Makoto shared. Its surface was stacked with an intimidating number of Akira’s first year, and Makoto’s second year law books. There at the desk he found her slumped over yet another law tome, with the warn study light bathing a side of her face as she slept. Makoto recently took a part-time position as an aide at a law firm. Ever since then Akira had found her in this state far too often for his liking. Back in school she may have had other duties as student council president, but she never worked a paying job. Between her university studies and work she was slowly running her-self ragged. Akira worried about her, but he was in much the same situation. Between university, work and other commitments he was barely getting enough rest some days. The wall facing the desk was decorated with numerous photos of just Akira and Makoto. Many taken by each other on their numerous dates these last two years. Some were also confiscated from their more intrusive friends and family. There was a sketch by Yusuke. It was of the two of them in a boat, hastily drawn from the first time he’d taken Makoto out over the lake. However, his personal favourite was at the arcade. Akira and Makoto had teamed up for a game of Gun’about against Shinya. He had considered the photo proof of their ‘cheating,’ apparently being able to guide each other or hold each other while playing was an unfair advantage. That monster in a red cap had devastated their combined score anyway. But at least he had captured that lovely moment of Makoto between Akira’s arms; the two of them glowing with carefree happiness with guns pointed at the screen. Reaching forward. Akira ran his fingers through her hair. He planted a soft kiss on her cheek, before gently lifting her curled up form. She felt frail in his arms, and he could feel her light breathing in her sleep as he put her to rest on her side of the bed. Laying down next to her, he pushed the night light on his watch. Through the cracked screen, he could make out the time at 11:09. Akira set an alarm for midnight, ‘There’s still time. I’ll let her rest a little more. We both need the sleep.’ The bedroom didn’t have a balcony, but it shared the view. As had become a ritual, he gazed at the slow flickering lights of Tokyo’s skyline until his eyes had become heavy. AlarmBuzzAlarmBuzzAlarmBuzz Akira shot awake dazed. His watch read 12:01. Disabling the alarm, he turned to a still sleeping Makoto. Part of him was tempted to let her sleep, she seemed so peaceful it seemed wrong to wake her up. Akira put those thoughts aside. He gently nudged her awake, snaking his arms around her as he felt her stir. He planted a light kiss on her lips to hasten the process, “Hey...” Eyes still closed and releasing an escaped yawn, “Hey… what time is it?” “Just a little bit past midnight. So, Happy birthday Makoto.” Her eyes still closed, a sheepish smile played on her face, “Well… in that case. Why don’t you give me my present?” Her arms shot free of his hold, pulling him in for a fierce make-out session. Makoto ran her fingers through her hair, cupping his face with her palm. Akira let one hand wonder all over her shapely form, while the other pressed against her ample chest. She guided him on top of her throwing her hands around his neck. Their moans between kisses spurring them on despite their collective tiredness. Both hungered for each other in the moment; desperate to be in their own little world for as long as possible. Makoto widened her legs as Akira’s hips began to rock ever so slightly, he felt her reach down to undo his pants. ’No. Yes…No!’ Akira painfully resolved to make her stop. “Why not?-We have so little time together as it is!” Akira stared into her lovely red eyes. He saw the desire there, it was no doubt mirrored in his own steely sight. He also saw the flashes of frustration play in her eyes. Akira knew she was rather irritated at not getting her way. With a nervous smile, “Grab your things and come with me… I have a surprise for you.” Parking - A short while later… 23/4 Akira escorted Makoto forward, “We’re nearly there.” He had his hands over her eyes. “Is this the parking garage? -What are you planning?” She was as sharp as ever to guess where they were. Akira had the elevator stop at a few random floors just in case, but that didn’t fool her. Makoto slowly fumbled forward as Akira guided her path. Her hands cautiously feeling out the air in front of her. “I distinctly remember telling you to not try anything elaborate this year; especially considering last year’s disaster,” Makoto said, as Akira tried his best not to think about last year’s incident. Tonight was sure to turn that into a distant memory. With only a foot or two left to go, Akira grew very anxious. Leading her to the rear of the bike, “So, it’s right in front of you now. Why don’t you try guessing what it is just with your hands?” Makoto nervously reached forward till her hands made contact with the rear seat, “Is this it?” “That’s right,” Akira said struggling to hide his anticipation as a grin slowly crept across his face. Makoto felt her way around the curves of the bike, “It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting.” She eventually found the rear tire and seemed to quickly determine what it was, “This… but then.” She shot along the side of the bike, Akira struggling to keep up with her sudden motion. Her hands finally settled on the bike handles, “It can’t be…” Akira withdrew his hands; letting her see for herself. He Triumphantly waved his hand around the bike as he made his way to the other side opposite her, “Its last years update, 1000cc, A liquid cooled 4-cylynder engine, fuel Injection, 13,000RPM, 0 to a 100km/h in 2.8 seconds, and I got it in black with the silver accents for the open metal work. Of course, you already know all this. ” Makoto stared at him in disbelief, her beautiful eyes betraying a childlike wonder. With clear excitement she hopped on to the bike, “This is… I’ve wanted this bike for so long… Don’t tell me, this is why you’ve been working so many extra shifts these last couple of months. Akira why did you?-” Silenced her with a quick kiss, “Happy birthday,” he said softly under her breath. Her fingers stroked his cheek. “You’re really spoiling me… thank you Akira,” she replied amorously with a loving smile, before pulling him in for a longer kiss. “But I mean it… this is too much. As amazing as it is, it’s not worth you working yourself to the bone,” Makoto says with a concerned expression. “I didn’t do it for the bike, I did it for you,” he replied wryly. Unmoved by his deflection. She took his hand, “Please promise me Akira, I was really worried seeing you so exhausted on most days these last couple of months. I don’t want you to do something like that again.” Scratching his head he let out a sigh, “Alright. Alright, I promise.” He dangled the keys in front of her, “I’ve missed our rides on Johanna. What do you say, you want to go for a ride?” Makoto snatched the keys with a light chuckle, “Stop teasing and-get-on-already.” Grinning from ear to ear, he took the rear seat. Based on experience, his arms cinched her waist like a corset till she was satisfied. The bike roared into life as they launched towards the exit, testing every bit of Akira’s hold. Petrol Station – a short drive later The two of them let out a sigh of relief when the guzzling petrol tank finally read full, thunk. Suffice to say both of them had been worried about the cost of filling it up. As she paid the amount, Makoto seemed content that it wasn’t beyond their means, but she didn’t know about the insurance rate. As Akira remembered the full amount he grew white as a ghost, insanely chuckling at his new financial ruin. All he could see was floating numbers showing his savings ticking down to zero. He felt a hand on his head bring him back to reality. Makoto was staring at him with a perplexed expression. “Akira, you don’t have a fever, but you’re looking very pale. Maybe we should just head back for today? I don’t want you getting sick.” Despite her concerned tone, Akira could see the disappointment in her eyes, “Just a little tired that’s all. I haven’t had much to eat tonight. Thanks for the Sushi by the way, it was nice. We should go there together sometime.” “Ok, if you say so,” she replied. Akira knew her eagerness was overriding anything else. They set off once more. Ready to go with a full tank, Makoto clearly struggled to keep herself in check while they navigated the quiet residential streets. Her driving had even turned a few disapproving heads from passers-by. Akira could feel her anxiousness to really test her new bike. Once finally on the freeway however, she let loose to her hearts content. He held her close as she whizzed the bike past, and slipped it around, any traffic they encountered. He could sense her Queen persona take over as she grinned at vehicles disappearing in her rear view mirrors, and she seemed far too thrilled by the noise it made speeding through the tunnel. Their hair fluttered in the wind as they cut through the cold night air. This did little to dampen Makoto’s bright glow. After what it took to get her bike, Akira was content seeing her enjoy herself so. He relaxed his grip on her, the cold air seemingly also washing away his exhaustion. He stared up at the sky. Just watching the street lights disappear one after another, ‘Moving far away from anything, everything. Just Makoto and me. Far away from trains, work, bills…and myself.’ He shut his eyes, letting the roaring wind mask all other sound. ‘Right now, it was just the two of us in our own little world.’ “Hey, do you want to get married?” Masked by the wind, his words barely reached Makoto’s ears. “Huh?” she responded, still focused on her driving. Akira leaned in close, and this time speaking into her ear, “I know it’s not exactly a ring, though a bike fits you just as well. Makoto, If all you want is the quiet life counting days until retirement, say no. I can’t promise happiness. I can promise to always chase after it with you; and I promise we’ll never be bored. You’re the love of my life Niijima Makoto, will you marry me?” A sheepish smile played on her lips, “ahh ha ha ha!” as she exploded in laughter. A bemused Akira joined her laughter moments later. Breaking their reverie he planted another kiss on her cheek, “I’ve felt that way for a while; sorry I took so long to say it. I promise, I’ll buy you a proper ring, one you can show off to all our friends.” “Don’t. I like this; this is what I want. This is us… I promise to always stand by your side, come what may. I love you Kurusu Akira, and I’ll marry you,” She said, still trying to focus on the road. ‘We’re engaged… we may not have a ceremony for a long long time, but now she’s my fiancée,’ It was surprising just how thrilling that felt. Akira sensed that Makoto was also feeling the same way. He desperately wanted to kiss her again, but there would be plenty of that later on. No more words needed to pass between them in the moment. The two lovers rode along Tokyo’s snaking freeways into a shared tomorrow. Slicing through that cold night air as they vanished into the night.

Anyone who knows us, knows that we love music, and we now hate KU for trying to pass this off as such. Join us as we watch this video of Kansas’ unprecedented effort to force horrific lip syncing and dancing into one video. Just when you thought nothing could be more embarrassing than the University of Kansas Jayhawks football team, the school releases this video. Allow us to recap some of the highlights lowlights of this music video… Nobody should be this happy while holding a giant silver star. • • • Absolutely loved her work in A League Of Their Own. • • • Actually, this shot does a nice job of showing off KU’s advanced science and discovery department, who apparently successfully created a perfect genetic combination of Forest Whitaker and LeVar Burton. • • • If there is one thing this video had too much of, it’s guys pointing at the camera wearing rolled up jorts. • • • Come to KU! We have plenty of room for you in our half empty football stadium! Yes… we have a football team. • • • Director: “Ok, for this shot, I want you to point your chin as high in the sky as possible while still looking at the camera.” • • • Remember that night Steven Spielberg had a one night stand with that Asian woman? It lives in KU’s dinosaur museum. • • • Two and Seven: Not just KU’s conference record in football. • • • Did we learn nothing from the ’80s? Let’s think twice before we create these music videos. And KU isn’t the only school at fault. The rest of you know who you are. Let’s all sit a few plays out. • • • This post was created by Austin. You can follow him and his jokes on Twitter: @TheAHuff Also, for up-to-the-minute sports jokes, follow Korked Bats on Twitter: @KorkedBats

Photo by @epicantus Let's see Angular route resolvers in action. You are creating an Angular Typescript application. You have created a few services for it that contain a couple of rest calls wrapped in promises. Now you are setting up routes, and you want to load certain resources before the page displays. To load those resources before page display, you need to strap your route with a resolve parameter that references an injectable class called resolver. You can add a resolver to your Angular application the same way as you would add a regular service. ng generate service resolver/projectResolver What Are Resolvers Resolvers are classes that implement the resolve interface and have a resolve method which gets executed when the route is activated. The router expects the resolver to return either an Observable or a Promise. If the returning variable is an Observable the router stops the route navigation and listens for the observable to emit a 'complete' event before resuming. If the returning variable is a Promise then the router waits for the Promise to resolve. A resolver looks similar to the following: /// project resolver import {Observable} from 'rxjs/Observable'; import {ActivatedRouteSnapshot, Resolve} from '@angular/router'; import {DynamoDBService} from '../service/ddb.service' import {Injectable} from "@angular/core"; //// notice how this implements the resolve interface @Injectable() export class ProjectResolverService implements Resolve<any> { /// I'm using serverless architecture so instead of having a service that makes ajax calls I have a service that makes database calls. constructor(public db:DynamoDBService) { } /// This is the resolve method that is inherited from the resolve interface. The resolve method returns an observable. When the observable emits 'complete' the route successfully navigates /// To capture and use URL parameters you need to pass in `ActivatedRouteSnapshot`. resolve(route:ActivatedRouteSnapshot):Observable<any>{ ///My route has an /:projectId parameter. I use that identifier to load a specific resource from the database. let projectId = route.paramMap.get("projectId"); /// My service methods are wrapped in promises. I use the `Observable.fromPromise` method to change the methods returned promise to an observable. return Observable.fromPromise(this.db.getProject(projectId)); } } My resolver class has some extra fluff in it, but don't worry, I added comments to help break things down. The route using the resolver looks similar to the following: /// route.ts import {RouterModule, Routes} from "@angular/router"; import {ModuleWithProviders} from "@angular/core"; import {SecureHomeComponent} from "./secure/landing/securehome.component"; import { ProjectsComponent } from "./secure/projects/projects.component"; import { ProjectResolverService } from './service/project-resolver.service'; const secureHomeRoutes: Routes = [ { path: '', redirectTo: '/securehome', pathMatch: 'full' }, { path: 'securehome', component: SecureHomeComponent, children: [ {path: 'project/:projectId', component: ProjectComponent, resolve: { ///Notice here that I have the resolve paremeter and the resolver service. project: ProjectResolverService } } } ]; const routes: Routes = [ { path: '', children: [ ...secureHomeRoutes ] }, ]; export const appRoutingProviders: any[] = []; export const routing: ModuleWithProviders = RouterModule.forRoot(routes); I stripped away a lot of methods from the following service so that you don't have to scan through a lot of code to figure out what is happening. It should get the point across:

CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla. (January 28, 2016) - The New York Red Bulls opened the 2016 preseason schedule with a 3-1 victory over the University of South Florida Thursday at the Omni Resort in ChampionsGate, Fla. New York and USF played three, 30-minute periods under rainy conditions. The New York Red Bulls controlled play in the first 30 minutes and had several scoring chances before breaking through to score the scrimmage's first goal. New York opened the scoring as Bradley Wright-Phillips scored the first goal of the preseason on a perfect pass from Mike Grella as he one-timed a shot past the USF goalkeeper. "It was a nice play from Mike (Grella) down the left (side)," said Bradley Wright-Phillips. "I just tried to keep my eye on the ball and make good contact." Neither side scored during the second 30-minute period. New York head coach Jesse Marsch rolled out three different starting lineups for each period of play to open the preseason vs. the Bulls. "It was good to get going," said Marsch. "We haven't had as much time to concentrate on enough of the details because we were a little bit sidetracked by the weather back in New York. Overall, to come down here for the first day against a college team (USF) I thought the effort was good and the emphasis was there." In the final 30 minutes of action, Manolo Sanchez scored the scrimmage's second goal on an assist by rookie Chris Thorsheim. Just minutes later, rookie Homegrown forward Brandon Allen scored his first goal of the preseason as he scored from close range. MLS SuperDraft First Round pick Justin Bilyeu assisted on the Allen goal. The Red Bulls continue preseason play with a pair of split-squad scrimmages Sunday at the Omni Resort. New York faces Jacksonville Armada FC at 10:30 a.m. and Montverde Academy at 12:30 p.m. BOX SCORE New York Red Bulls 3, USF 1 Thursday, January 28, 2016 Omni Resort - ChampionsGate, Fla. Scoring Summary: NY - Bradley Wright-Phillips (Mike Grella) NY - Manolo Sanchez (Chris Thorsheim) NY - Brandon Allen (Justin Bilyeu) USF - Penalty Kick New York Red Bulls First Group: Kyle Reynish; Kemar Lawrence, Ronald Zubar, Zach Carroll, Chris Duvall, Dax McCarty ©, Sean Davis, Mike Grella, Vincent Bezecourt, Stefano Bonomo, Bradley Wright-Phillips New York Red Bulls Second Group: Ryan Meara, Connor Lade, A.J. Cochrane, Aaron Long, Sal Zizzo, Felipe, Tyler Adams, Derrick Etienne, Jr., Sacha Kljestan, Lloyd Sam, Gonzalo Veron New York Red Bulls Third Group: Rafael Diaz, Justin Bilyeu, Trialist, Tim Schmoll, Chris Thorsheim, Mael Corboz, Shawn McLaws, Scott Thomsen, Manolo Sanchez, Noah Powder, Brandon Allen

Trudy’s Brides and Special Occasions has a new look at the Pruneyard Shopping Center. On Nov. 30 Trudy’s will hold a grand reopening for its 42-year-old, two-level store. The event is set for 5 to 8 p.m. at 1875 S. Bascom Ave. The bridal and occasion dress store will celebrate generations of brides saying “yes to the dress.” The expansion took a year to complete and includes a new large floor space to accommodate visitors and a grand staircase at the entrance leading to the upper level. Trudy’s renovation is just one of many the Pruneyard visitors will see in the coming years after its owners, Ellis Partners, received the OK last month from the city to renovate existing buildings while adding new ones. “We started off in 1974 in the shopping center, and my parents set it up,” said owner Steven Blechman, son of Trudy Blechman, for whom the store is named. “You know the Pruneyard is exciting with all the changes coming up. (Ellis Partners) wants something really special that has great longer-term advantage for Campbell, really.” Trudy’s wasn’t always a go-to place for wedding and special occasion gowns. Blechman said his parents dabbled with sportswear when Trudy’s first opened. “The next thing they did was they started experimenting a little bit with special occasion dresses, and they found that the market was really responding,” Blechman said. “Customers started asking us for wedding gowns. That was the next step for us.” After finding its niche, Trudy’s began stocking prom dresses, wedding gowns and other dresses. Blechman said he doesn’t think his parents envisioned the store growing so much. “I think just from reinventing ourselves and going through the process in retail, listening closely to our customers and reacting to social media has enabled us to be successful,” Blechman said, adding that his mother still gives the stamp of approval to designer dresses that come into the store. “To be honest with you, after 42 years I feel Trudy’s has made a name for itself.” The reopening next week will feature an informal modeling of gowns, refreshments and a chance for people to donate newly used dresses to charity. Until Dec. 5, Trudy’s will give $50 in store credit to anyone who donates a dress to the store. Donations will go to the Princess Project, which accepts and organizes donated dresses and accessories for giveaways to high school students unable to afford prom dresses. “My goal would be able to have people stop by with their dress and take pictures with Trudy,” Blechman said. “The reason I bring that up is because so many moms have bought their bridal gowns with us, and now they’re bringing their daughters in. There’s a certain kind of celebration with the tradition of the store that people enjoy.”

Get the biggest Arsenal FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Arsenal Wenger is prepared to play a waiting game for Luis Suarez, writes John Cross in Saitama. Wenger admits there is still a long way to go in their £40m pursuit of Suarez and the Arsenal manager tried to be coy with the potential transfer delicately poised. Arsenal boss Wenger has already had a sensational and cheeky £40,000,001 bid turned down and it is now likely that Suarez will have to force the move and may have to ask for a transfer. Wenger fears it will take time but insists the right deals will turn Arsenal into genuine title contenders next season after they made it four straight wins on the tour of Asia. "We are ready to do quick deals but all the transfers do not depend only on us," said Wenger as he spoke about the transfer for the first time. "But we are prepared to wait. It looks unlikely before the Emirates Cup (next weekend). "We still have a strong squad but we are there on the market to try to strengthen our team. With or without additions we can be title challengers next season." Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has insisted Suarez is not for sale and has even claimed that it would be a sideways step for him to join Arsenal. Wenger refused to get into a war of words with Rodgers and said: "He must explain that. I don't know. We are not close to signing Suarez or anybody else so there's no reason why I should talk about it. (Image: Getty) "There is nothing to say. I have been away now for two or the weeks and it's hard to see how things are advanced because everyone is on tour at the moment and it's very difficult to get in touch with people. "I believe that every club competes on a very high level. What has changed recently is that in Europe some countries like France suddenly have bought some very very talented players who two or three years ago would all have come to England. It makes the chase for talent very difficult. "What we want is not as name but as good player. The name is less important. What is more important is the quality of the player. At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody. "We try to do the job and we will try to do it well. But that is in front of us. We have worked a lot but nothing has been concluded with anybody. "Of course we want to do as many top players as we can. But we also have to focus on the players we have and develop them. We have plenty of candidates in midfield now and there is a big fight there. Bacary Sagna settles in well at centre-back with Thomas Vermaelen out." Arsenal yesterday beat Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 thanks to goals from Lukas Podolski and Chuba Akpom to make it four straight wins in Asia. But they looked jaded after 17 days away and now face Napoli in the Emirates Cup on Saturday which means a reunion with Rafa Benitez and Gonzalo Higuain - who so nearly joined Arsenal - will lead their attack after his transfer from Real Madrid. (Image: REUTERS) Wenger is confident that his team are in good shape with the season three weeks away after Jack Wilshere also came through yesterday's game with no ill effects after making his first start. Santi Cazorla will also join up with the squad this week. Wenger said: "We've had two tough, full sessions in the last two days and we had to dig deep tonight to get through. That's part of pre-season. We still managed to create many chances but we are not as sharp physically as we can be. "They were as well aggressive and made many fouled from behind. Wilshere got a lot of fouls but it was planned before the game to take him of at half-time. "I don't have a problem with that. We wanted a competitive game and we got one. We saw overall a team who plays very deep defensively and comes out quickly so it was a good test for us. "We are well advanced in our preparation. It depends now how we well we recover from this trip because it was very difficult and it will certainly take a few days to recover from that."

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