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.- The lawyers of the bakery owner who made headlines for declining to make a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding is “evaluating all legal options” to preserve the man’s First Amendment rights after the state’s highest court declined to take the case. “We asked the Colorado Supreme Court to take this case to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the people’s freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a living,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said in an April 25 statement. On April 25 the Colorado Supreme Court declined to review an earlier decision from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission requiring Jack Phillips and his staff at Masterpiece Cakeshop to undergo re-education training and file quarterly compliance reports for two years. “Jack, who has happily served people of all backgrounds for years, simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message and event with which he disagrees, and that freedom shouldn’t be placed in jeopardy for anyone,” Tedesco continued. Now Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization that advocates for the rights of citizens to live out their faith freely, says that they are “evaluating all legal options to preserve this freedom for Jack.” The baker made headlines when in 2012 he declined to bake a wedding cake for a couple’s same-sex wedding ceremony, citing his religious beliefs about gay marriage in an exchange that lasted less than a minute, according to Phillips. The baker told the clients he’d gladly make them any other kind of cake, just not one celebrating their same-sex marriage. At the time, same-sex marriage was not legally recognized in the state of Colorado, but the two men filed a legal complaint against him. As a result, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ordered Phillips and his business to have his staff staff to undergo anti-discrimination training while submitting quarterly reports on how his company is changing its policies to comply. Since then, Phillips’ shop has stopped baking wedding cakes in order to continue operating his business without violating his religious beliefs, he says.

Planned Parenthood sues antiabortion activists Planned Parenthood and its California affiliates filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against antiabortion activists, accusing them of secretly filming staff members to appear as though they were illegally trafficking fetal tissue to advance a larger goal to end women’s access to legal abortions. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, is Planned Parenthood’s first legal action against the conservative Center for Medical Progress in Irvine and alleges the group violated numerous state and federal laws and put patients, health providers and others at risk. “It’s time to hold these antiabortion extremists accountable for the laws they have broken and the harm they have caused,” said Beth Parker, chief legal counsel for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, in a call with reporters. The filing comes six months after the Center for Medical Progress released covertly recorded videos that purported to show Planned Parenthood officials seeking to make money from the sale of tissue from aborted fetuses to medical researchers, which is against the law. The controversy triggered a series of hearings led by Republicans in Congress and a failed attempt to end federal funding to Planned Parenthood. Program defended Planned Parenthood officials have said the videos were deceptively edited and vehemently defended the fetal tissue program. Stem cells derived from fetal tissues have been instrumental in creating various vaccines, including those for measles and polio, and hold great promise in developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s as well as spinal cord injuries and blindness. “Planned Parenthood provides high-quality, compassionate care and does nothing wrong,” said Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. California features prominently in the controversy because it is one of just two states involved in Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue donation program, which procures tissue from aborted fetuses for stem cell research. The other state is Washington. Planned Parenthood has accused the defendants — including the center’s leader, David Daleiden, and five others in the organization — of engaging in a three-year “complex criminal enterprise” that involved setting up a sham tissue procurement company called Biomax. The suit says members used fake identities, even going as far as creating bogus driver’s licenses, to gain access to private conferences. Numerous claims The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims the defendants violated federal racketeering laws and engaged in wire fraud, mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording and trespassing. Officials from the Center for Medical Progress called the lawsuit frivolous, saying it was filed in retaliation for the group’s “First Amendment investigative journalism.” “This last-ditch move of desperation is going to expose all of the sordid dealings of the California Planned Parenthood affiliates to the light of the legal system, and the public will see them for the corrupt abortion and baby body parts profiteers that they really are,” the group said. Planned Parenthood’s Bay Area affiliates stopped donating aborted fetal tissue after the videos surfaced because it lost its contract with the agency that processed the specimens as a result of the controversy. The agency, StemExpress, has since filed a state lawsuit against the Center for Medical Progress, accusing the group of violating California’s wiretapping laws. In October, Planned Parenthood decided to stop accepting any compensation related to the administration of its fetal tissue donation program in an attempt to eliminate monetary concerns. Since the videos were released, Planned Parenthood officials said its employees have received death threats, been forced to move or go into hiding. In November, a gunman attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, killing three people and injuring nine. Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver

By Moni Basu and Chelsea Bailey, CNN (CNN) - A small tray of vegetable samosas costs $35 at the Mughal Express restaurant. But one particular tray, sold to strict Hindu vegetarians, might end up costing the Edison, New Jersey, restaurant a whole lot more. The Hindu customers said the restaurant served them meat samosas, harming them emotionally and spirituality. A state appellate court ruled Wednesday that they can sue for the cost of travel to India to purify their souls. Two summers ago, Durgesh Gupta and Sharad Agrawal walked into the popular Mughal Express on Oak Tree Road, in the heart of Edison's Indian community, and ordered samosas. They were strict vegetarians, they said in making sure there was no meat in their order of the traditional Indian snack. Gupta said a restaurant employee assured them that it did not make meat samosas, according to court documents. A half-hour later, the two men picked up a tray labeled "VEG samosas." But after Gupta and his group of 16 people began eating the triangular deep-fried pastries, they grew concerned they were eating meat. When they went to return the uneaten samosas, the restaurant said it had made a mistake, court documents showed. Yes, the vegetarians had consumed meat and believed they were complicit in inflicting death and injury to God's creatures. They sued Mughal Express but a lower court deemed they did not have a case - until this week, when the appellate court reversed that decision. What the 16 Hindus want is compensation for a trip to the Hindu holy town of Haridwar, India, where the Ganges begins its downward flow to the ocean. There, they want to take dips in the river and, by Hindu belief, cleanse their souls of sin. And they want the restaurant to pay for it all. K. Raja Bhattacharya, the lawyer for the vegetarian diners, and David Novack, an attorney representing the restaurant, both declined comment because the case is ongoing. In 2002, McDonald's Corp. paid $10 million to Hindu, vegetarian and other groups in order to settle a lawsuit against the company for failing to disclose that beef flavoring was used in French fries. The company began advertising the fries were vegetarian after they switched to vegetable oil to reduce cholesterol, but the fries contained small amounts of beef flavoring added at the processing plant. But the McDonald’s case may have been more compelling because it was not just an isolated incident of accidental service of meat, said Suhag Shukla, legal council for the Hindu American Foundation. The Mughal Express customers who sued thought it otherwise. An Indian restaurant should have been more sensitive to this issue, they argued. Still, some Hindus felt the diners were taking things too far. They doubted whether there was any karmic debt associated with the consumption of meat. Pradip Kothari, president of the Indo-American Cultural Society in Edison, suggested the diners could easily go to a temple to cleanse their souls. Indian-Americans have much to be grateful for in America, he said, and the lawsuit takes advantage of a U.S. judicial system that has afforded them individual protections. "I understand how they feel," Kothari said. "I myself am a Hindu. But this is hypocrisy of the law." And of religion, he said. "If you are a true religious person, God teaches you to forgive." He did not know the diners, he said, but they should be ashamed for bringing a bad name not just to Hindus but to the Indian-American community. As for Mughal Express, there were no non-vegetarian samosas on the online menu Thursday.

The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War, by Robert J Gordon, Princeton University Press, £27.95 Read an extract here And an interview with Gordon here Robert Gordon’s The Rise and Fall of American Growth is an extraordinary work of economic scholarship. At a time when too much of the economics profession prioritises theorising about small issues, Gordon provides new data bearing on what may be the most important economic question of all—what will economic growth be like over the next couple of generations? Moreover, this is one of the rare economics books that is on the one hand deeply analytical, with over 100 figures and tables, and on the other a pleasure to read: it is chock full of anecdotes about everything from flying out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport in the 1970s to the spread of radio in the 1920s to the travails of pharmaceutical research. Pick any random page and you will learn something interesting about American life. It has been said that the further forward you want to forecast, the further back you have to look. Gordon’s interest in this volume transcends the business cycle and even momentous fluctuations like the Great Recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis. His interest is in what kind of growth in living standards average people entering the labour force are likely to see during their working lives. Gordon lines up with Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel, who has said that, “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” Despite all the hype coming out of Silicon Valley, Gordon believes we are in a period of modest progress. Whereas many observers worry that because of technology there will no longer be work for an increasing share of able-bodied adults, he thinks there will be work for all, but very little increase in productivity. Disturbingly, his reading of history and his assessment of a variety of factors in the current environment that he calls “headwinds” lead him to the judgement that, “headwinds are sufficiently strong to leave virtually no room for growth over the next 25 years in median disposable real income per person.” “Gordon’s most compelling argument is that the greatest generation was also the luckiest generation” The strongest part of Gordon’s book is his evocation of the remarkable 50-year period between 1920 and 1970. My grandmother was born around the turn of the century and died in the mid-1970s. Reading Gordon’s chapters, I was reminded that over her adult lifetime she saw the flush toilet, electricity for lighting and central heating go from being luxuries enjoyed by a quarter or less of the population to becoming universal. She saw radio come into being and then be supplanted by black-and-white and ultimately colour television. She saw air-conditioning, washing machines, dryers and refrigerators go from non-existent to universal. Over her lifetime, transportation went from meaning walking, riding a horse or taking some kind of train to being primarily based on cars and aeroplanes. When she had my mother in 1922, infant mortality was 75 per 1000 and large families could expect to suffer an infant or childhood death. When her youngest grandchild was born in the 1960s, infant mortality was below 20 per 1000 and life expectancy had risen by more than a decade. It is striking to contrast the changes during my grandmother’s lifetime with those during mine. I have seen the microwave become universal in American kitchens. Automotive air-conditioning has gone from common to universal. A much wider range of TV programmes are now available and with a much sharper picture. There is a wider array of healthy foods. And, of course, I carry a smartphone that keeps me more connected to information sources, friends and colleagues than was imaginable 50 years ago. But whereas my grandmother would have been at sea if returned to her girlhood home, I would miss relatively little if suddenly placed in the home I grew up in. It takes longer and is less comfortable to fly from Boston to Washington or London than it was 40 years ago. There are more highways now but much more traffic congestion as well. Life expectancy has continued to increase, though at about half the pace it did during my grandmother’s day. But the most important transformation—child death being an extraordinary event—had already happened by the time I was born. Gordon’s most compelling argument (although this is not how he puts it) is that the greatest generation is in some ways also the luckiest generation. He provides an onslaught of statistical evidence and carefully considered anecdote in support of the idea that the 1920-1970 period stands out as a period of extraordinary progress in the annals of economic history. While Gordon provides rich discussions of the impact of the Depression, the Second World War and much else, his basic explanation for the remarkable character of the 1920-1970 period is simple. Certain kinds of progress can happen only once. Living in a controlled climate, having access to indoor plumbing, largely eliminating child mortality, controlling infectious disease, and being able to communicate immediately in the absence of physical presence are all examples of transformations that can be built on and improved but seem hard to replicate. Of Gordon’s many charts and graphs the one that impressed me most shows the growth in officially measured total factor productivity by decade from 1900 to the present, pictured above. It steadily escalates from 1900 to 1950 when productivity grew at almost 3.5 per cent and then unsteadily declines to the point where it has averaged well under 1 per cent in the generation since 1990. Many rightly wonder about mis-measurement of productivity as new products become available and quality improves. Gordon is compelling in arguing that productivity growth is indeed significantly underestimated. He is also more persuasive than I expected in arguing that, if anything, this understatement was greater decades ago than it has been recently. In part this is because there were more of these transformational changes that are inherently hard to assimilate in standard frameworks. In part it is because the statisticians do a much better job than they once did of taking account of quality change. Gordon’s aspirations go far beyond writing history. He also seeks to describe the current epoch and to forecast the future. Gordon confronts and largely rejects the views of those he calls the techno-optimists like MIT scholars Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee and most of Silicon Valley where Marc Andreessen’s view that “software is eating the world” is widely shared. This optimistic view points to the internet and developments like driverless cars, robotics, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence to argue that we are in the midst of a vast economic transformation in which much of the work currently being done by people will be mechanised leading, presumably, to huge gains in output per worker while raising profound questions of job availability and inequity. “Quality improvements and new products are improving life in ways that do not show up in economic statistics” Gordon acknowledges a “third industrial revolution” built around software and IT but argues that it is much less significant than the “second industrial revolution” of the mid-century because its impacts are largely confined to telecommunications and entertainment. He further argues that it may already be largely played out, and that in any event concerns of technology replacing jobs are not new; workers displaced by new technologies tend to find new jobs, often in sectors created by those new technologies. Gordon is right in pointing to the huge disjunction between the techno-optimist narrative and the productivity statistics. It is hard to see how technology could be displacing huge numbers of workers without raising measured productivity. And if its effects are so pervasive as to lead to large shifts in the distribution of income with innovators capturing huge rents, why do we not see more evidence of increased output? I do not have compelling answers to these questions. Yet it is hard to shake the sense that something unusual and important and job threatening is going on. The share of men between the age of 25 and 54 who are out of work has risen from about 5 per cent in the 1960s to about 15 per cent today as it appears that many who lose jobs in recessions never come back. Perhaps, as Gordon seems to suggest, this is a sociological phenomenon or a reflection of increasing problems in education. But I suspect technology along with trade have played an important role. Economic historians like Paul David have long noted that it took surprisingly long for the benefits of electricity to show up in the economic statistics. Creative destruction takes time. Think about a canonical major innovation like the supermarket. Initially when it is first introduced all the other shops remain in business with reduced volumes. Measured productivity—defined as total sales per retail worker—go down as employment in retailing rises and total sales remain roughly constant. Only with the passage of time and the closing of traditional shops will measured retail productivity increase. If this story is playing out in many different sectors on different rhythms, overall productivity growth could be relatively slow even as there is substantial job losses in sectors further along in the adjustment process. The question of how to square developments that are large enough to have a major impact on wage and employment patterns with the paucity of measured productivity growth looms for future research. But it is not only the expectation of slow total factor productivity growth that informs Gordon’s pessimistic belief that median incomes will be stagnant over the next generation. He points to reduced growth in average educational attainment, rising inequality, an ageing population, a growing national debt and breakdowns in family structure as headwinds that will further slow growth. I wish that I could convincingly rebut his claims. While there is room for argument—for example, with his analysis of fiscal policy (which gives too little weight to the substantial reduction in debt carrying costs) or his confidence that inequality will continue to rise—his broad point seems likely valid. While as already noted, I find Gordon persuasive in his claim that the slowdown in productivity growth is not a figment of mis-measurement, the fact that measured median incomes will be stagnant does not mean that most people will not see rising standards of living over time. Incomes rise as people get further into their careers. And quality improvements and new products are improving life in ways that do not show up in economic statistics, though possibly less so than in the past. So it would be a mistake to regard our children as condemned to economic stasis even before considering Gordon’s various ideas for accelerating growth. Economic frustration is a central challenge of our time. It is surely intimately connected with political dysfunction, loss of faith in institutions and much else. Like most things, it is best viewed with historical perspective. There is no better way to get that perspective than by reading Robert Gordon’s landmark work.

The Navy is investigating the disappearance of 20 concussion grenades from the San Diego-based destroyer Pinckney, according to a Navy official briefed on the incident. The missing ordnance turned up missing during an inventory inspection, said Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Haggard, spokesperson for Naval Surface Forces Pacific. Haggard would not confirm or deny that the missing ordnance was 20 grenades, citing anti-terrorism force protection policy. "While conducting an inventory accounting review during a Shipboard Explosive Safety Inspection, USS Pinckney (DDG 91) Sailors discovered ordnance was missing," Haggard said. "Immediately after determining the missing inventory could not be otherwise accounted for, the ship conducted two subsequent comprehensive ship-wide inventories and found no other discrepancies. The ship contacted the chain of command and NCIS to initiate an investigation." Pinckney is currently undergoing maintenance pier-side.

Dearest Rebecca, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Wow, what an extremely awesome gift. I am humbled by your generosity. Thank you for being such a nice Santa. I was chilling at work today when I was informed I had a parcel from Amazon waiting for me in the mail room. I hurried downstairs and thought 'shit that is a large box' when I saw my parcel. Retrieved box and excitedly scurried back up to my desk. It was the longest elevator ride of my life as I went back upstairs. I opened up the box and inside was a familiar grey 'Magnum Essential Equipment' box. By this stage I was pretty excited. Seeing the Magnum box, I was ecstatic. I opened up that box and WOW, HOLY SHIT!. Santa Rebecca had gifted me a pair of Magnum Men's Elite Spider 8.0 Boots. I had a pair of these on my wishlist (my dream list as I call it) and had mentioned them in my Cozy Toes bio. Never did I imagine I would actually get a pair. I love the outdoors, hiking, ruck marching, camping under the stars. Until recently I had had a pair of Magnum boots from my old Army days, until they finally succumbed to the Gods of wear and tear. I was pretty upset and was in dire need of a new pair. Thank you so much Rebecca, this has made for an excellent exchange and has made me so happy. I intend to go for a hike in them this weekend. I have tried them on and had a brief stroll down the road in them. They are super comfortable and fit my size 13 feet just right. Awesome, awesome gift. Rebecca, thank you again. All the best.

EAST LONGMEADOW – Two police officers, training on patrol rifles at the Smith & Wesson shooting range in Springfield, suffered injuries Wednesday morning when one of the firearms exploded. “For one reason or another the weapon had a failure, we really haven’t determined the cause yet,” said Sgt. Patrick Manley. “A round exploded in the chamber and caused the weapon to blow to pieces...It just blew up.” Officer Daniel Atwater, who had been firing the rifle, suffered burns and trauma to his left hand, The three-year veteran could be out for some time while he recuperates, Manley said. Officer Edward Rice, a 20-year-veteran was struck in the shoulder by a piece of the exploding firearm and suffered a minor laceration. He may be out for a short time as well, Manley said. Both officers are expected to fully recover, Manley said, adding that both Smith & Wesson and East Longmeadow police are attempting to determine what caused the rife to explode. “Smith & Wesson’s interest in this is probably as keen as ours,” Manley said, adding that the firearm pieces are currently being held by the company for testing. Paul Pluff, director of marketing and customer service at Smith & Wesson, said an initial on-site inspection of the firearm indicated that the explosion was not due to a defect in it. Such malfunctions are extremely rare Pluff said. “Right now this is a stand-alone incident.” Smith & Wesson engineers and metallurgists continue to probe the malfunction. “There is a number of things that can cause this to happen,” Pluff said. Manley said Atwater’s injuries were consistent with someone who had had a firework go off in his hand. “Luckily, the energy was dissipated forward to his hand and not towards his face,” he said. The weapon in question is an M&P 15, Manley said, adding that the department has had them since 2008. The department has taken its rifles out of service while it probes the malfunction. Manley said the department had been on its third day of training at Smith & Wesson and the rifle in question had been used in prior training sessions. The rifle had probably been fired some 80 to 100 times that morning when “all of a sudden - boom - it didn’t work properly,” he said. The explosion caused the rifle to break into two large pieces and several smaller pieces, Manley said, adding that both officers had been standing at the time. The M&P 15 is widely used by law enforcement agencies and is known for its reliability, Pluff said. “They are all across the country.”

The acclaimed author, who is publishing a long-awaited memoir of his decade in hiding from a murderous fatwa, finds himself threatened once more by fanatics over The Satanic Verses Following several days of rumour, it was confirmed last week that Salman Rushdie had cancelled his appearance at the Jaipur Literature festival, the largest and most prestigious literary gathering in Asia. Rushdie explained his decision on Twitter: "I was told bombay mafia don issued weapons to 2 hitmen to 'eliminate' me. Will do video link instead." Who can blame him? There's nothing like being the target of an assassination plot to make a video link seem the more prudent option. When it was mooted that Rushdie would appear at Jaipur, the Darul Uloom Deoband, an influential fundamentalist Islamic seminary in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, demanded that his visa be withdrawn. But as Rushdie, who was born in India, drily noted, he didn't need a visa. With the "diplomatic" approach having failed to thwart Rushdie, some of his religious opponents resorted to a more reliable means of censorship: the threat of death. The depressing fact is that almost 23 years after Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa calling for Rushdie's murder, and 13 years after the Iranian government promised to stop supporting his assassination, the novelist is still subject to summary execution orders. Yet it would be wrong to see this latest example of intimidation as just another case of pious oversensitivity to The Satanic Verses. After all, some clerics are in a permanent state of murderous rage, but that hasn't prevented Rushdie paying several visits to India over the past decade, including an appearance at Jaipur in 2007. Just as the original British protests against The Satanic Verses in 1988 were the creation of communal politics back in India, so has this latest furore been manufactured to gain local advantage. An election is soon to be held in Uttar Pradesh, where almost 20% of the voters are Muslim. With religious groups threatening to mobilise that kind of voting block, the governing Congress party clearly decided that it was no time to demonstrate spinal fortitude. "Rushdie has hurt the sentiments of many Indians," announced Chandrabhan Singh, head of the Congress party in Rajasthan, the state containing Jaipur. "He must not be allowed to come to India." Rushdie was no longer welcome. The novelist Hari Kunzru, who was due to appear with the older writer at Jaipur, called Rushdie's absence "a stain on India's international reputation". There had never been any plan to discuss The Satanic Verses, but as if to prove the absurdity of the rumpus, Kunzru decided to "defy the bigots and shoe-throwers", as well as the organisers of the event, by giving a reading from that supremely misunderstood text. It was more than just symbolic literary resistance because The Satanic Verses is still banned in India, which enjoys the dubious honour of having been the first country to proscribe the book. This little saga in Jaipur highlights the fact that little has changed in the past three decades. Political cynicism still wears the clothes of multicultural sensitivity and the posture of tolerance continues to genuflect to intolerance. The irony is that Rushdie is hardly a firebrand these days. If he was once a fearlessly irreverent chronicler of the subcontinent's growing pains, it's been a long time since his novels have openly wrestled with contentious subjects. Even his response to the Jaipur affair has been measured and subdued, as though he were wary of becoming the subject of another fabricated dispute. The fatwa, and the decade lived under police protection at a series of secret locations, inevitably left their mark on Rushdie and his fiction. Seldom has a writer's creative energy had to withstand such a withering shock. Aside from the pressure of living under a death sentence, Rushdie also had to contend with being cut off from the subcontinent, the teeming reality that gave such vivid purpose to his imagination. Born and brought up in Mumbai, Rushdie was the only son of a successful textiles businessman who insisted on sending him to England to attend Rugby school. Removed from the frenzy and colour of India's great port, he was "very unhappy" boarding in the English countryside. After a degree in history at Cambridge, and a stint as an advertising copywriter – he is reputed to have come up with the line "Naughty but nice" for cream cakes – he published his first novel, Grimus, aged 28. It wasn't a great triumph, but six years later his next novel, Midnight's Children, won the Booker prize and ushered in an era of intercontinental post-colonial literature. It was followed by Shame, which was shortlisted for the Booker, and then The Satanic Verses. It's not that he hid from trouble thereafter, for he has been outspoken in his condemnation of religious fundamentalism and the cultural relativism that excuses it, but his fictive instincts seemed to grow less antagonistic and more elliptical. Novels such as The Moor's Last Sigh and Shalamar the Clown, while bold and complex, lacked the vitality of his earlier work. And not wishing to be defined by Khomeini's decree, and doubtless anxious not to prolong his situation, he also tended to avoid talking about the fatwa in interviews. "I was always a writer who was interested in politics," he said in 2008, "and then I think I had an overdose of it. Be careful what you wish for. And one of the effects on my sensibility is to make me want to back away from public discourse. I just want to stay at home and write stories and send them out every couple of years. That's why I got into the game, not to be some major public spokesman on political issues." But later this year, Rushdie will publish a memoir about that lost decade in which he almost OD'd on politics. For the first time, he will explore his experience of the fatwa. It's taken almost a quarter of a century because, he has said: "I needed to have real distance from the material, so that I could approach it like a writing project, not like some Oprah confession. I didn't want it to be a kind of blurt." The Times has already called it "the most significant literary memoir of the 21st century". Whether or not that proves to be the case, it's certainly the most eagerly awaited book since his friend Martin Amis's Experience in 2000. As bizarre as Khomeini's St Valentine's Day message of hate seemed at the time, the fatwa marked one of the major tectonic shifts in the 20th-century cultural landscape, the reverberations of which continue to be felt across the world. Rushdie's late friend Christopher Hitchens claimed that he instantly recognised the fatwa as the opening salvo in a new war, one that would be more dramatically confirmed on 11 September 2001. It will be interesting to see what Rushdie actually felt within the claustrophobic belly of history. Many murders and attempted murders were inspired by the fatwa, but the first casualty was Rushdie's marriage to novelist Marianne Wiggins. The pair split a few months after he was forced into hiding and, while never going into detail, Rushdie has made it clear that the parting was not amicable. The memoir is bound to lift the lid on those painful weeks of shared seclusion. Wiggins was Rushdie's second wife and he has gone on to add two more, plus a second son, Milan – his eldest son, Zafar, was from his first marriage to the late Clarissa Luard. Although the break-up with Wiggins obviously hurt, Rushdie's most injurious union, at least in terms of public profile, was his three-year marriage to Indian-American actress-model Padma Lakshmi. Twenty-three years younger, with a pronounced weakness for celebrity spectacle, Lakshmi met Rushdie at the Manhattan launch party of the doomed magazine Talk, an apt title in this case. People did talk, but at least Lakshmi steered Rushdie's public image away from that of a victim of religious tyranny. Unfortunately, it was towards that of a victim of romantic folly. One consequence is that Rushdie's relationships have since gained more attention than his books. The fatwa memoir should correct that error. It is a momentously large yet profoundly intimate subject, ideally suited to a writer whose best work has always combined historical breadth with psychological depth. "Our lives teach us who were are," Rushdie once wrote. Of the many lessons that his life story might provide, it's the most important one that the Indian authorities have chosen not to learn: give in to gangsters and they always come back for more.

Some departments are facing cuts of up to 40% that are likely to lead to large reductions in Whitehall staff numbers The government is seeking another £16bn in spending cuts of current or “resource” spending by 2020, according to an IFS analysis of its plans. Separately from that, the Treasury is seeking £12bn in cuts to welfare spending, from tax credits managed by HMRC and other benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. Capital spending on big-ticket investments such as road and rail improvements is protected. George Osborne must get a grip on the care home crisis | Letters Read more A number of departments, including health, international development and defence, as well as part of the schools budget are also ringfenced. This means other departments are facing cuts of up to 40%, which are likely to lead to large reductions in Whitehall staff numbers. Cuts agreed Treasury Osborne’s own department oversees HMRC, which is responsible for tax credit spending. The department has already agreed to resource spending cuts of 30% but is still working out how to reduce the impact of a plan for £4bn of cuts to tax credits that was rejected by the House of Lords. Communities and Local Government DCLG has agreed to cuts of about 30% over the next four years. This is separate to funding for local government, and is likely to involve the closure of what the Treasury refers to as “low-value programmes”. Facebook Twitter Pinterest George Osborne at Manchester Victoria Station, on the Manchester to Liverpool line where electrification has recently been completed. Capital spending is protected. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Transport Cuts of 30% have been agreed to the DfT’s current budget over the next four years. It could affect sustainable transport and funding for buses, walking and cycling programmes. Capital spending is protected so big investments in road and rail will go ahead as planned. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Cuts of 30% have been agreed, with the department expected to scale back the extent of its footprint while trying to prioritise spending on flood and disease prevention. Still negotiating Education The Conservatives promised to protect spending per pupil at the general election. This leaves a slim amount of spending available for cuts, including post-16 learning, early years and universal free school meals for infants. David Cameron has already indicated he wants the meals to remain because it was a Conservative manifesto pledge. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Free school meals. David Cameron has already indicated he wants the meals to remain. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian Business, Innovation and Skills There are potentially rich pickings for the chancellor at BIS, which has a resource budget of around £13bn. There had been talk of abolishing BIS altogether, but business secretary, Sajid Javid, has said that would be a backwards step. However, he has identified areas for savings in consolidating the BIS estate, which has 80 sites. Higher education, further education, research funding and grants for business could all be in the firing line. Home Office The department has a big resource budget of around £10bn but police chiefs have been warning of dire consequences if this leads to a need to reduce the number of officers. Theresa May, the home secretary, has said she believes there is more scope for collaboration between forces but it is said she has been fighting hard behind the scenes against accepting the scale of cuts due to hit most departments. What is the 2015 spending review and how will it affect public services? Read more Justice Michael Gove, the justice secretary, has struck a deal to build nine new prisons and sell off the old estates for housing. The level of cuts to his resource budget of around £6bn is not yet public but Gove has signalled he would like to save money by reducing the number of people in prison. Foreign and Commonwealth Office The FCO budget is only small at around £2bn so cuts at the pace of other departments could bite hard. Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, is said to be trying to hold out against the prospect of having to close embassies. Energy and Climate Change The department has a small resource budget and it is likely to find remaining subsidies for green energy – such as the renewable heat incentive – coming under pressure or scrapped altogether. Culture, Media and Sport The department could further cut grants for the arts, with lottery money potentially expected to make up the shortfall. Ringfenced Health The department is ringfenced and its budget will grow, but it will still have to make efficiency savings because of rapidly rising demand for services thanks to an ageing population. The chancellor has pledged to spend an extra £8bn on the NHS by 2020. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Spending on foreign aid is ringfenced at 0.7% of GDP. Photograph: Neil Bryden/RAF/EPA Defence Cameron has committed to the Nato target of spending 2% of national income on defence, meaning the budget will rise over the parliament. International Development Spending on foreign aid is ringfenced at 0.7% of GDP. However, it might be possible for some spending from other departments, particularly on climate change, the FCO or conflict prevention, to creep into overseas aid spending.

Benny Fairfax has one of the smoothest parts in the entire Real Street contest. His style is so effortless he could be asleep at the wheel doing tricks. There are plenty of people that work very hard to attain the nonchalant look in their skating. For Benny, that style just comes naturally. He's having fun and it shows. Blasting and catching a frontside shove-it like this one is no easy feat. Benny makes it look all too easy. Yoon Sul Tell us a little about filming for this Real Street video. How did it feel to film for this compared to filming for other video parts you've worked on in the past? I guess, to be honest, I didn't really find out I was filming for the Real Street thing until the footage actually went to it. I was just out skating and filming like usual. What filmer/editor did you work with for the Real Street vid and what's you're relationship like with at guy? I worked mostly with a filmer named Cole Matthews. He is a really good friend of mine. We were born only a week apart. We've been good friends and roommates on and off for about six years now. He is one of my favorite guys to film with, real easy, no pressure. It's just like doing what you normally do when you go out and film with a friend. Benny navigates a Lego-like ledge setup to ollie over into this backside nosebluntslide with style. Ben Karpinski What do you think of the whole concept of video part for cash and prizes as opposed to structured contest environments? It's the best way I think. It's not like you are under some crazy pressure being expected to perform in runs. I think this is how all contests should be run. It's amazing. Did any one trick or line make for a memorable experience: either a battle or really fun/memorable session? There was one line I filmed in Orange County where I focused my board. I never do that either. I just got really angry and let myself snap. Afterwards I looked down at my broken board and thought, "I really wish I hadn't done that." I wanted to carry on filming but I had sealed my own fate. Was there anything you wanted to get for this part that you couldn't? There was quite a bit. The deadline was looming and I lost my passport and visa so I had to go back to the U.K. to sort all that out. I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked. Tell me about this passport thing. How did you lose it? I forgot it in a taxi. My passport is my prized possession and losing it is a big deal. I had to go to the English embassy in Los Angeles to get a temporary passport for about $200. Fly to the U.K. and get my real passport for another $200. Then go to the American embassy in England to get my visa. It was terrible. Portrait of the skater as a young artist. Benny gets in tune with his inner hippie. Daniel Shimizu That sounds like the most expensive cab ride ever! It was. Now I keep my passport in a safe. I can only take it out when I am about to get on an airplane [laughs]. Of the other skaters in the Real Street contest, apart from yourself, who would you put your money on to win the whole thing? Nick Trappaso for sure. If you win, what will you do with the $50,000? I'm pretty sure that I don't have any chance of winning because everyone in the thing is so raw. But if by some miracle I do win I'd probably throw a party mate! Who would you like to see in next year's Real Street contest? Nick Trappaso, again. Danny Brady, Andrew Brophy, Raymond Molinar and Clint Peterson.

Small / No Frame - $29.99 USD Large / No Frame - $47.99 USD Small / With Frame - $77.99 USD Large / With Frame - $149.99 USD Add to Cart DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND ALL PRODUCTS MAY TAKE UP TO 3-5 WEEKS TO ARRIVE! * JUST RELEASED HIGH QUALITY PRINTS! * Available in TWO sizes with frames or without SMALL: 2 pieces in (8x14in), 2 pieces in (8x18in), 1 piece in (8x21in) LARGE: 2 pieces in (12x16in), 2 pieces in (12x24in), 1 piece in (12x32in) An Item with a frame is a canvas that is already on a wooden frame and is ready to hang. It looks exactly like the image displayed above. An item without a frame is just a print on a canvas without a wooden frame. This item is NOT sold in stores! Guaranteed safe checkout: PAYPAL | VISA | MASTERCARD* Click ADD TO CART To Order Yours! * Due to popular demand. Please allow up to 3-4 weeks for delivery depending on our most popular products! It will be worth the wait! Apparel products usually only takes 4-7 business days to arrive at your door steps!

DTRAC is designed to relieve "SITTING PAIN". When we sit on a chair or couch, we naturally hunch and slouch. Your hips and back suffer. DTRAC helps relieve tension and stress on your back! You will feel super relaxed in your low back and hips anytime anywhere. Portable so you can use it at your personal spaces or in Hotel room after long flights & long road trips. No need for Fancy $100 Yoga Clothes. Put on PJ & any shirts. You are ready to rest your low back now. You can even play games on your smart phones on DTRAC because it uses your body weight to achieve "disc traction," "spinal decompression," and "lumbar support" effortlessly. You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with sound 00:00 00:00 Spinal decompression is a type of traction therapy applied to the spine in an attempt to bring about several theoretical benefits including: Create a negative intra-discal pressure to promote retraction or repositioning of the herniated or bulging disc material. Create a lower pressure in the disc that will cause an influx of healing nutrients and other substances into the disc.1 SITTING is one of the biggest contributor for your Back Problems. You do not need to ask your friends or husband/wife to massage your back anymore. Stop the awkward conversion. Just use DTRAC. By decompressing the spines, you can finally relax your spines & discs, and plus all the muscles around them. JUST REST ON DTRAC. DTRAC relieves the tensions in your low back so you can wake up refreshed every morning. Before bed, to release stress. Start your morning with DTRAC. Rest comfortably in effortless perfect posture in your low back. It will get yourself ready for work. You may notice the differences immediately. In both x-ray and c-arm pictures, the increase in intervertebral disc spaces is about 2mm. DTRAC creates the negative pressure. Discs will be nourished with moisture and nutrients. If you are sitting at your desk or driving more than 4 hours a day, your back needs DTRAC to reverse the damages on your discs. With the daily use of DTRAC, most patients & users will see the differences in weeks. Just pulling you up and down is not traction. Hanging upside down? Yes, it has a traction effect, but not every one can stay that way for a long time. Plus, ankles and hip joints open up more than low back pain. Therefore, chiropractors started to look for solutions. In 2012, on Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics introduced a way of new traction. In short, it states that Disc Traction is most effective when achieved with the natural curvature of the low back (a.k.a. lumbar lordosis at 45 degrees). GUESS what that is? DTRAC! Using your own body weight, DTRAC can achieve "spinal decompression" effortlessly. Therefore, safe and natural for the spines! FIR is the newest addition to DTRAC. With the help of Zirconia, in the lap test, it was recorded to release 91.2% FIR. I am Dr. Kang, D.C., a chiropractor, myself with 20+ clinical experiences. I graduated from Cleveland chiropractic college here in Los Angeles. These clinical years were very crucial for me as I can now distinguish what works and what does not. (Textbooks are not reliable once you are in the filed; they only become the references or decorations) My wife had experienced a spinal disc problem during her pregnancy years and have suffered from a weak lower back ever since. I developed a DTRAC prototype for my wife at first. Under my careful supervision, she started to train with it for 5-10 minutes in the evenings. I was not to become fully aware of DTRAC's real power until 3 weeks later when she starts to notice no pain and no sciatica even long days of work on her feet. My wife also was suddenly struck by the realization that she had been on my feet all day long without even noticing the effort. Before DTRAC, she would only last a couple of 2 hours before having to sit down to rest my poorly, aching back! That was all the proof I needed to close my clinic and went ALL-IN with DTRAC. Now as the original developer of DTRAC, I stand by with the quality and effectiveness. I finally teamed up with a GOOD team that I can elevate DTRAC to the next level. Without the burdens from the old team, I am very excited to explode its potential. I hope you can be a part of it! JOIN US! Get Your Project Funded Today! The Brand-New DTRAC team purchased all the patents, rights, moulds, manufacturing processes, etc. from the first DTRAC team and improved the product inside out. You can call it ALL NEW DTRAC. The only thing that we kept from the v1 is the concept & color. We are actually re-considering the color. If you have a great suggestion in color, please email us here: hello@DTRAC.ca Different from the previous team, we have partnered with reputable manufacturer, packaging & fulfillment team ready before the launch. Now all we need is your support to make it to reality once again. We hope you enjoy DTRAC v2 as much as we do.

Romney Leads GOP Contest, Trails in Matchup with Obama Gas Prices Offset Good News about Jobs Overview Mitt Romney has retaken a significant lead nationally in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, even as he has fallen further behind Barack Obama in a general election matchup. Moreover, Obama’s own job approval rating has reached 50% for the first time since last May, shortly after the killing of Osama bin Laden. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 7-11 among 1,503 adults, including 1,188 registered voters and 538 Republican and Republican-leaning voters, finds that Romney leads Rick Santorum, 33% to 24%, in the GOP nomination contest. A month ago, the two men were in a virtual tie (28% Romney, 30% Santorum). But both GOP frontrunners are running well behind Barack Obama in general election matchups. Among all voters, Obama leads Romney by 12 points (54% to 42%) and Santorum by 18 points (57% to 39%). Obama’s advantage among women voters, while largely unchanged from a month ago, remains substantial – 20 points over Romney and 26 points over Santorum. Obama also holds an enthusiasm advantage over both of his main GOP rivals. In a matchup with Romney, 41% say they support Obama strongly, compared with only 28% who strongly support the former Massachusetts governor. Obama holds a commanding 45% to 28% lead over Santorum in strong support. Republicans have a modest lead in engagement; 71% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they have given quite a lot of thought to the presidential election, compared with 64% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. However, this is far short of the engagement advantage the GOP held in pre-election polls in the 2010 midterm campaign. Obama is widely viewed as likely to defeat either Romney or Santorum in November. Nearly six-in-ten registered voters (59%) say that Obama is likely to prevail if the election is between Obama and Romney; just 32% expect Romney to win. About seven-in-ten (68%) say that Obama is likely to beat Santorum, if he becomes the GOP nominee. While overwhelming majorities of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters think that Obama will win against Romney or Santorum, Republicans are far less confident in their parties’ candidates. Just 60% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say Romney is likely to defeat Obama. In an Obama-Santorum matchup, even fewer GOP voters (46%) predict victory; about as many expect Obama to best Santorum (43%). The poll includes other positive signs for Obama, as well some potential vulnerabilities. For the first time since last May, significantly more approve (50%) than disapprove (41%) of his overall job performance. That is little changed from a month ago (47% approve, 43% disapprove), but in January 44% approved of the way Obama is handling his job as president, while 48% disapproved. Obama’s approval rating for handling the economy also has improved over the past several months. Currently, 43% approve of his handling of the economy, while 53% disapprove. In November, 35% gave him positive marks on the economy and 58% disapproved. Gas Prices Offset Good News about Jobs The public’s view of overall economic news – as well as news about the job situation – has shown decided improvement since last summer. Yet perceptions of news about gas prices have taken a sharp turn for the worse. Fully 85% say the news they are hearing about gas prices is mostly bad, which is up from 47% last November. In contrast, the percentage saying they are hearing mostly bad news about the job situation has fallen 26 points since November – from 64% to 38% – and stands at one of its lowest points in a measure dating back nearly three years. The mixed perceptions of economic news have had little effect on underlying opinions about the state of the economy. The public’s rating of current economic conditions remains stubbornly negative. Nearly nine-in-ten (89%) say economic conditions are only fair or poor, a figure that has changed little over the last four years. Economic optimism increased sharply between December and February and is unchanged since last month. Currently, 44% say they expect economic conditions in the country to be better a year from now, 14% say conditions will be worse and 38% say they will be the same. Views of Candidates, Parties The survey finds that the contentious Republican primary has taken a toll on the image of the leading GOP candidates. In the current survey, just 29% of Americans say they have a favorable view of Romney, while 51% say they have an unfavorable impression. In November, opinions about Romney were more closely divided (36% favorable vs. 42% unfavorable). Santorum’s image has grown much more negative in the past month alone: 27% say they have a favorable view of Santorum, while 44% view him unfavorably. In February, about as many said they had a favorable opinion as an unfavorable one (33% vs. 36%). Obama’s personal image remains much more favorable than either Romney’s or Santorum’s. Currently, 56% of Americans say they have a favorable impression of Obama while 41% have an unfavorable view. Moreover, while the Democratic Party is viewed more favorably than it was a few months ago, the Republican Party’s image is little changed – and remains much more negative than positive. Just 36% have a favorable opinion of the GOP, compared with 56% who have an unfavorable opinion. That is largely unchanged from January (35% favorable vs. 58% unfavorable). Currently, 49% say they have a favorable impression of the Democratic Party, while 43% view the party unfavorably. In January, 43% viewed the Democratic Party favorably and 51% had an unfavorable impression. The Democratic Party has opened a slim 44% to 39% advantage as the party better able to improve the job situation. The Democrats also are viewed as better able to represent people’s views on abortion (by 16 points), and to deal with health care (14 points), Medicare (13 points) and the nation’s energy problems (11 points).The two parties run about even on dealing with the federal budget deficit (41% Democrats, 42% Republicans). Half of Americans (50%) say the Republican Party is more extreme in its positions; just 35% say that phrase better describes the Democratic Party. Those opinions have changed little since July. Still, about as many say the Republican Party (39%) as the Democratic Party (42%) can better manage the federal government. Health Care Law: Two Years Later The survey also finds that, two years after the passage of comprehensive health care legislation, the public is evenly divided over the law. Overall, 47% approve of the law, while 45% disapprove. In January 2011, 41% approved and 48% disapproved. About half of Americans (53%) say that Congress should either expand the health care law (33%) or leave it as it is (20%); 38% favor its repeal. However, substantially more disapprove (56%) than approve (41%) of a key provision in the law that requires individuals to have health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. This provision is at the heart of a constitutional challenge to the law, which will be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in late March. Opinion on health care legislation is sharply divided along partisan lines. Republicans overwhelmingly disapprove of the 2010 law (84%) and the individual mandate (83%). About three-quarters of Democrats (76%) approve of the law and 66% approve of the individual mandate. Independents are divided over the health care law (44% approve, 47% disapprove), but 60% disapprove of the individual mandate.

ROMA, Texas — Five members of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel were arrested near this border city as they tried to illegally enter the country. The arrests took place this week when the group tried to cross the Rio Grande near the Mexican City of Miguel Aleman into this border city, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the 229th District Attorney’s office revealed. The men were arrested by Texas state troopers and U.S. Border patrol agents moments after crossing. The men had managed to get into an F-150 pickup that had arrived at the banks of the Rio Grande to pick them up. The driver of the pickup has been charged by state prosecutors with human smuggling. The names of the five confessed Gulf Cartel members have not been released since they were turned over to federal authorities for prosecution. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the Texas border area known as the Rio Grande Valley has been a haven for drug cartel members where they try to hide out when Mexican authorities come close to arresting them. While in Mexico cartel members move around with large armies of gunmen; in Texas the drug lords keep a lower profile in order to avoid drawing the attention of U.S. law enforcement. In Starr County which includes Roma and Rio Grande City, authorities have arrested Benicio “Comandante Veneno” Lopez and Orlando Roberto “Comandante Boris” Rodriguez . Lopez had been living in Texas where he has a long criminal history that includes murder and other charges. In Hidalgo County, the area that includes McAllen, authorities have arrested the regional cartel commander known as Juan “Panochitas” Saenz Tamez and Francisco “Comandante Paquito” Martinez. Both cartel commanders were arrested in Texas where they had been hiding out. Saenz had been hiding out in the border city of Edinburg, while Martinez was arrested by the Law Enforcement Emergency Regional Response Team in rural Mission. Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

Of all the locations to hold a retreat in all of the world, they had to choose this one. Republican Party leaders, fresh from an electoral shellacking among black, Hispanic, Asian and women voters, have decided to put their heads together Friday and figure out how to do better, particularly given the changing demographics in the country. But they’ve chosen an awkward venue for their session entitled “successful communication with minorities and women”: an historic Virginia plantation. NBC’s Luke Russert reported Thursday: Friday’s panel, according to the published names, indicate it will include two Latino women, three white men and a Latino moderator. Yet the panel is not without an issue in optics; the room where the discussion will take place is called the “Burwell Plantation” room at the Kingsmill Resort. In fact, the room is named after the Burwell Family, a wealthy family that owned many slaves in 18th century Southern Virginia. Records pertaining to the families owning of slaves is well-documented by the city of Williamsburg on their website. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who heads Republicans’ campaign efforts, deflected a question regarding the irony of a panel trying to help the GOP woo minorities happening in a room named after a slave-owning family’s plantation. “I don’t pick the rooms we meet in,” Walden said. “I know the Democrats have held their retreats here too and I assume you’ll go and figure out if they ever held meetings in that same room.” Walden was also asked why the panel on appealing to minorities included three white men among six panelists, and he responded that he doesn’t “do this part of it.” Asked and answered. The choice of the former plantation (now a resort) has drawn raised eyebrows and snickers that even stretch overseas. Richard Adams, a blogger at the Guardian UK, even quoted from the Kingsmill sales literature, writing: “When the first English foot was placed in Virginia, it was here on these grounds that once served as a central part of the area’s plantation life in the 1600s through 1800s,” boasts the website of the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, which draws a discrete veil over whatever events in the 1800s may have caused that to end. Slate’s Dave Weigel has thrown cold water on the snark over the GOP’s choice of venue, pointing out — correctly — that Democrats have “sat atop dead slave bones” at Kingsmill too, holding their legislative retreat on the grounds in 2009. President Barack Obama even prepped for his second presidential debate there. But the reverse umbrage misses the point: the problematic optics for Republicans are not just the former plantation, or the bones and ghosts of dead slaves that share space with a lavish resort and golf course. The optics are a party that is almost entirely made up of white men, holding a strategy session on how to appeal to minorities and women while ensconced in a plantation, surrounded by the aforementioned bones and ghosts.

Viral histories of the undead In 1953, Richard Matheson, inspired in part by the movie Werewolf of London, wrote the iconic novel I Am Legend (yes, the one that became the Will Smith movie). It was a novel nominally about vampires, but not the rural cape-wearing paramours popular up until then. Matheson pitted a lone protagonist researching and testing a cure for a global pandemic that created a horde of base, animalistic vampires. Sound familiar? Matheson’s vampires are the embryonic version of the modern day zombie. Zombie master George Romero even admits he “basically ripped off” Matheson in writing one his first short stories about a dystopian world of the undead. In Rabid, Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy actually name check World War Z in a chapter-length overview of the history of zombies and how they connect to rabies through their sister-monster: the vampire. Yes, zombies, part of our culture for less than a century, find their roots in the thousands of years old myths of vampires. There’s not just a casual relationship between the virus and the monster: zombies and their much older cousins, vampires, share a causal connection. The myth of vampires, imbued with traits of rabies victims, was popularized long before we fully understood rabies Spanish physician Juan Gomez-Alonso explains four connections between rabies and vampire myths in a 1998 Neurology journal article, the most obvious being infection through the blood via bites. Rabies victims also often suffer from facial spasms, lending them an animalistic appearance. The third connection is the time frame: vampire lore had them living for forty days before being turned, the same amount of time it usually takes for the victim of a rabies attack to die after their initial bite. The final connection is probably the most surprising: sex drive. The insatiable sexual desire that’s a trademark of both traditionally gothic and sparkly modern vampires can also be traced to rabies. Male rabies victims often get involuntary erections and have spontaneous orgasms. Unsurprisingly, this was not often spoken of outright, but was alluded to in much of the early medical literature, with one eighteenth century Austrian physician noting “his seed and his life were lost at the same time.” The myth of vampires, imbued with traits of rabies victims, was popularized long before we fully understood rabies. Even further back than the vampire is a tale that is part myth, part metaphor: in Homer’s epics, the Trojan hero and Achilles’ foe Hector has a strong fury akin to primal possession that made him terrifying and superhuman on the battlefield. The word used to describe his state is lyssa. As Wasik and Murphy describe it in Rabid: “Lyssa was rare, terrifying, violent, and animalistically destructive of self. It made creatures maim and kill those closest to them. It hollowed out reason and left nothing but frenzy.” In Attic Greek (the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica) lyssa literally translates to rabies. World War Z has its own version of the lyssa crazed warriors: quislings. Quislings were once humans, reduced below a feral state into thinking and acting as zombies. It’s an involuntary coping mechanism on the part of some weak-willed percentage of the population. They were so ingrained with the idea they were zombies, they’d lay motionless while they were eaten alive. We personify and mythologize what we fear to try to understand it in whatever way we can.

As part of his “drain the swamp” campaign promises, in January US president Donald Trump signed an executive order to limit conflicts of interest. It required all his appointees not to deal with matters relating to people they had worked with up to two years before their appointment. A thoroughly sensible policy. Except it turns out that one of the main people charged with overseeing it, and other White House ethics issues, is in violation of it. The financial disclosure form (pdf) of Stefan Passantino, a deputy White House counsel and the White House’s “designated agency ethics official,” reveals that within the last two years he’s done paid work for housing secretary Ben Carson, health secretary Tom Price, and, much to Democrats’ chagrin, the unpaid ”special adviser to the president,” Carl Icahn. Icahn, a billionaire investor who came to Trump’s rescue when his Atlantic City casinos hit rock bottom, has been the target of consistent ethics complaints alleging that his role as a regulatory adviser—particularly on environmental issues—directly benefits his energy investments. Since Icahn is unpaid, he doesn’t have to disclose his financial interests—worth $15.8 billion according to Forbes. The mogul has brushed off the complaints, telling CNN in March that “we vetted this with the lawyers a number of times. I think the criticism is nonsense.” Passantino would presumably have been one of the lawyers in charge of that vetting. In a letter on April 21, Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse wrote to Passantino (pdf) to request details on his prior services to Icahn, and whether he has worked on matters relating to Icahn, Carson, and Price while in the White House. The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the letter, or on whether Passantino has recused himself from matters relating to those three—we will update if they do.

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Jan. 16, 2016, 10:56 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 16, 2016, 10:58 PM GMT By Maggie Fox A baby born in Hawaii with a birth defect that affects head size had also been infected with Zika virus, state health officials said Saturday. The finding even more strongly links the fast-spreading virus with the defect, called microcephaly. “The Hawaii State Department of Health has received laboratory confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a past Zika virus infection in a baby recently born with microcephaly in a hospital on Oahu,” the health department said in a statement posted on its website. “The mother likely had Zika infection when she was residing in Brazil in May 2015 and her newborn acquired the infection in the womb. Neither the baby nor the mother are infectious, and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii," the health department said. On Friday night, the CDC issued a travel advisory suggesting that pregnant women put off travel to affected regions, and issued a health alert to doctors to be on the lookout for the virus. Microcephaly is an often severe birth defect that can kill an unborn child or cause disabilities throughout life. The brain and head are smaller than usual. The condition can be caused by genetics, alcohol use during pregnancy or infections such as rubella. Zika had never before been suspected of causing microcephaly and was considered a fairly benign virus. It’s a cousin of dengue virus but only causes symptoms in about one in four or one in five people. But Brazil has been raising increasingly loud alarms about Zika. The virus only showed up there last year but it’s rapidly spread, carried by mosquitoes that bite infected people and carry it to others. Related Gallery: Zika Linked to devastating Birth Defect At the same time, Brazil noticed a startling increase in the numbers of microcephaly cases. Then CDC and other experts found evidence of the virus in babies diagnosed with microcephaly. Zika has now been found in 14 countries in the Americas, from Colombia to Mexico. It’s not been found in Hawaii yet except carried by travelers like the mother and her child. But Hawaii suffers outbreaks of dengue and the same mosquitoes that carry dengue are found there, so the state is vulnerable. "We are saddened by the events that have affected this mother and her newborn," Hawaii’s state epidemiologist, Dr. Sarah Park, said in a statement. "This case further emphasizes the importance of the CDC travel recommendations released today." Park said the case highlights the importance of reducing mosquito populations, avoiding areas where the insects are likely to be, and to use mosquito repellent. It will take months for scientists to fully understand how and why Zika might cause birth defects and to figure out why it had not been noticed before. Before 2015 Zika had only been seen in parts of Africa, southeast Asia and some Pacific islands. "Pregnant women in any trimester should consider postponing travel to the areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing. Pregnant women who do travel to one of these areas should talk to their doctor or other healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to avoid mosquito bites during the trip,” CDC advised.

New types of CC|utility|gapclosers|escapes Created by Xeran Version 2: 15-07-2013 New types of CC and Escapes Abstract I wanted to make a list of possible new and unique types of CC (especially more soft types), utility and gapclosers/escapes, without the ne ed of giving everyone a leap or dash. This list can be us ed for further god design concept inspiration or as an example for how new gods could be designed without giving them everything. Especially carry’s, assassins (and mages) should been giving less (or not at all) higher tier o f CC/escapes. To create ‘balance’ b etween power, C C/utility and escapes. I would appreciated any feedback, but moreover additions and suggestions of you own, because I want to make an as complete list as p ossible. Therefore I will try to make several u pdates if needed. Disclaimer: Because this is only about new ideas an concepts I didn0t bothered about mana costs, CD’s and actual values, because this aren’t finalized abilities. Most aren’t complete abilities and need some extra effect, other target area (cone, circle, line) and/or damage applied to it. Currently in general and in my opinion: CC: Stun>taunt>Root>mesmerize>silence>cripple>etc. Escapes: Jump>dash>etc. (teleport depends) Crowd control Disarm (can’t AA) For X amount of seconds auto attacks cannot be used by enemies (doesn’t affect minions). This is basically a specialized version like silence, cripple and cleave. < Chill (attack speed debuff) Thought of, because of Chromzepher The attack speed of enemies is decreased by XXXX % for XXX seconds. Cleave (Cut through buffs, cancels all channeled bu ffs like steroids)

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town on Monday released a list of the top 100 water consumers in the city. In a statement, the city said water consumption increased to 837 million litres of collective use per day compared to the target of 700 million litres per day. Capetonians have to date been unable to achieve the target of 700 million litres per day after it was set in the middle of February, consistently using roughly 100 million litres more. "We may not have control over the weather, but we do have control over our use of potable water for non-essential purposes. Our actions can change the scenario," Mayor Patricia de Lille said. The city's top 100 water users use a total of roughly 25 million litres per month. The top 100 users, with the highest water usage per month, are located in:

CBN host Pat Robertson (screen grab) Televangelist Pat Robertson warned this week that women could have their pregnancies cursed by a “coven” of witches if they posted ultrasound photographs on Facebook. In an email to Robertson on Monday’s 700 Club, a viewer explained that her daughter was pregnant. “Young parents now regularly post fetal ultrasound photos as their Facebook photo,” the woman wrote. “From a spiritual point of view, is there any harm in doing this?” At first, Robertson said that he didn’t think that posting ultrasound photos was harmful, but then he seemed to change his mind. “There are demons and there are evil people in the world,” he said. “And you post a picture like that, and some cultist gets a hold of it or a coven and they begin muttering curses against an unborn child.” “I just don’t think this business of posting photos of the most intimate parts of your body on Facebook, I just can’t see it,” the TV preacher added. “To me, it’s abhorrent. But it isn’t necessarily unbiblical. It’s just abhorrent.” Watch the video below from CBN’s The 700 Club, broadcast Feb. 16, 2015. (h/t: Right Wing Watch)

"A sponsor agency passed out 2,000 free tickets + another V app event today that gave out 170x2 = 320 more free tickets. Meanwhile, articles about iKON claim that the concert was sold out immediately after tickets were put up for sale."1. [+156, -3] Never have I seen an idol pass out this many invite tickets ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ hilarious considering their media play ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ it's written explicitly in their articles that they sold out their concert on Naver all the time ㅋㅋ hilarious2. [+146, -3] So they just gave whoever was the first 340 to show up free tickets? Daebak3. [+141, -4] The V app rep said that one person could get two free tickets and that he'd take his post down after 170 were given out. It was taken down three hours later. Meanwhile iKON fans are whining about how they can't go even with all these free invite passes ㅋㅋ4. [+71, -0] So the kids paying to go to this concert are idiots ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I bet they've already given out over 2,000 seats for free5. [+58, -0] The ikon of media play ㅋㅋㅋ6. [+50, -0] V App is even streaming the concert. Anyone who paid for this concert is an idiot.7. [+42, -0] Wow, I'm so pissed considering I'm paying for my tickets ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I'm even on on the third floor, f*ck8. [+35, -0] Would be such a waste of money to go with your own money ㅋㅋ mediaplaykon9. [+32, -0] I'm a YG fan myself but this is so stupid, it just makes anyone who paid for the concert an idiot ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ10. [+27, -0] ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Embarrassing11. [+25, -1] Please stop the media play about being monster rookies now ㅋㅋ so why hold a concert you can't even fill the seats of yet?12. [+24, -1] Practically begging people to come with these free tickets13. [+18, -1] Hilarious how they media play about selling out their concert with all these free tickets

The cable industry has done a remarkable job building out its networks, offering consumers a service that lets them watch hi-definition television and download Web content at blazing speeds. But as Apple (AAPL) and the iPhone taught the cellphone industry, hardware isn't everything. Software -- especially the interface that your customers interact with -- is arguably more important. That's where cable giants like Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) are weak. And potential rivals, such as Apple, Hulu, and Boxee, are strong. We are surprised by how lousy today's set-top box software is. The user interface has barely changed in ten years. Searching through programs on hundreds of channels (and various on-demand listings) requires an immense amount of patience or muscle memory. And the set-top box shows no signs that it's connected to the same pipe as the Internet. What needs to happen? A much better user interface all-around. Clearer and simpler, especially menus. Browsing shows shouldn't just be a linear channel guide, but a real search experience, that's as visual as text-based. Get inspired by the iPhone and the Nintendo Wii -- not an old TV Guide magazine. Apps, widgets, motion-sensitive remotes, whatever. Use the Internet more. Pull in reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix, and Amazon. Let subscribers send out the shows they're watching on Twitter. Let us watch what our Facebook friends are watching. Figure out a way to get every Web video ever on the cable box via On Demand. We shouldn't have to boot up our laptop if we want to watch YouTube, MTV music videos, or our favorite video podcast.

As a professor, I’d feel safer if guns were not permitted on campus. I worry more about being the target of a student upset about failing grades than about a mass killer roaming the hallways. But there is little evidence to support my gut feeling. Utah, for example, has not seen an increase in campus gun violence since it changed its law in 2006. And a disturbed student can simply sneak a gun on campus in his backpack, as the Virginia Tech killer did in 2007. Indeed, lost in the debate is the fact that guns, being easy to conceal, are almost certainly on campus already. On the other hand, gun rights advocates are too quick to assume that laws allowing guns on campus will discourage mass murderers. Arizona has among the most liberal gun-carrying laws in the nation, but that didn’t prevent Jared L. Loughner from shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killing six other people in Tucson in January. Nor did permissive carry laws lead to people defending themselves by shooting back. (Mr. Loughner was tackled and brought to the ground by unarmed bystanders.) Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Even if a student with a gun can use it to defend against a mass murderer, it’s hardly clear that anyone, including the armed student, is made safer. Policemen or other students with guns might not be able to differentiate among gunmen, putting the person defending herself at risk of being shot by mistake. Even well-trained gun owners suffer enormous mental stress in a shootout, making hitting a target extremely difficult. Gun control groups are fighting to retain the bans. This is one of the few areas in which they’ve had success in recent years. There have been more than 40 attempts to lift the bans in 24 states, and nearly all have failed. Even the proposed Arizona law was a victory of sorts, as the final bill omitted provisions allowing guns in classrooms; it would permit guns only on campus streets and sidewalks. Yet gun rights proponents are redoubling their repeal efforts. They aren’t reacting to a wave of violence on campus. The true motivation is to remove the stigma attached to guns. Many in the gun rights movement believe there should be no gun-free zones and seek to make the public possession of firearms a matter of course. The protesters who last year carried guns into Starbucks shops and Tea Party rallies had the same goal. They weren’t expecting to defend themselves; they were aiming to build broader public acceptance of guns. Exposure can breed tolerance. Arguably, that is exactly what’s behind the growing acceptance of gays and lesbians. The visibility of gay couples in society and popular culture has led many Americans to realize that homosexuality is not wrong. Gun advocates are betting the same can happen with firearms. The strategy, however, is risky. Teenagers might begin to see carrying a gun as a mark of adulthood, like smoking and drinking. Without the maturity of age, they might turn to violence too quickly. Gun rights advocates are willing to take these risks because colleges are where the next generation of America’s leaders will be produced. What better place to affect people’s attitudes about guns than the very institutions responsible for teaching our most cherished values and ideals?

Harold Camping, rapture prophet: 'We were wrong' Harold Camping, shown walking to his car after his "Open Forum" show on Family Radio in Oakland last year, had first predicted the rapture would occur on May 21, then on Oct. 21, 2011. Harold Camping, shown walking to his car after his "Open Forum" show on Family Radio in Oakland last year, had first predicted the rapture would occur on May 21, then on Oct. 21, 2011. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Harold Camping, rapture prophet: 'We were wrong' 1 / 3 Back to Gallery The 90-year-old Alameda preacher who convinced hundreds of followers that the world was going to end last May now acknowledges he was wrong. "Events in the last year have proved that no man can be fully trusted," Harold Camping wrote in a letter Thursday to listeners of his evangelical Family Radio program, "Open Forum." "Even the most zealous of us can be mistaken." Camping had predicted that the rapture would occur at 6 p.m. May 21, 2011. Believers would rise to heaven while the rest would be left to wander a godforsaken planet until Oct. 21, when Camping promised a fiery end to the world. But nothing happened. Standing on his front porch the next morning, Camping said he was "flabbergasted" that the rapture he'd predicted had not come. He promised an explanation after prayer and talks with friends. But Camping had a stroke less than a month later and was hospitalized until September. Once he was released, Camping said both the rapture and the end of the world would take place Oct. 21. "I really am beginning to think as I've restudied these matters that there's going to be no big display of any kind," Camping said at the time. "The end is going to come very, very quietly." Once again, the date came and went without incident. "God has humbled us through the events of May 21," Camping wrote Thursday. "We have learned the very painful lesson that all of creation is in God's hands and he will end time in his time, not ours! "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing."

They popped the wine and brought out plates of glazed shrimp, chicken skewers and Mr. Chow noodles – a signature item at the famed, namesake Beverly Hills restaurant – and yet, Ronda Rousey still didn't truly understand why she was even there. This was last August and Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had called a couple days prior to invite Rousey out with a big group of people. First there would be dinner at Mr. Chow, White's favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. Then the premiere for season five of the FX hit "Sons of Anarchy." Scroll to continue with content Ad Rousey was stunned yet excited. She was, after all, a fighter – a bronze medalist in judo at the Beijing Olympics with a budding mixed martial arts career and thus the dream of one day making the UFC, the sport's elite promotion. The problem was White's long-held opposition to ever letting women fight in the UFC. Over and over he had said he wouldn't even entertain the thought. "Do you know what's special about this restaurant?" White said he finally asked Rousey that night at Mr. Chow. "No," Rousey recalled answering. "About a year ago TMZ stopped me outside this restaurant and asked me if the UFC would ever have a female fighter," White said. "I said, 'never.'" Rousey's heart sank a bit. "Well, I brought you here to say women are going to be in the UFC," White said. "And you're the first fighter." [Kevin Iole: Ronda Rousey is a promoter's dream come true] This may not be Jackie Robinson breaking into the majors or even Billie Jean King whipping Bobby Riggs, but it was a groundbreaking moment nonetheless. On Sunday, in Anaheim, Calif., Rousey takes on Liz Carmouche in the first UFC women's fight ever. Story continues This isn't some soft opening or novelty act, either. White promises it's part of a long-term investment in women's MMA. It's the UFC trying to use the star power of Rousey to build entire weight classes, an entire sport nearly from scratch. Rousey and Carmouche aren't just on the card, they're headlining the pay-per-view telecast, as in: "UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche." The undercard is all men – high-profile fighters such as Dan Henderson, Lyoto Machida, Urijah Faber and Josh Koscheck – serving as the warm-up act, if you will, for the ladies. "A dream come true," Rousey said. A dream that wasn't easy to come by. Rousey returned from the 2008 Olympics with few options and less money. There were a limited number of women fighting in mixed martial arts, which she still needed to learn and develop at, and even then major paydays were rare. She's not one to be intimidated by great challenges though so she trained for it anyway. To pay the bills, she tended bar around Los Angeles. That included a stint at the pirate-themed Redwood in downtown Los Angeles where one day, Rousey said, actor George Wendt came in and ordered an Oban Scotch. "I served Norm from Cheers," she said. "I figured that was the Holy Grail of bartending." By 2011, she made her professional MMA debut, winning in 25 seconds with an arm bar. She would win five more the same way, which was part of the reason she found herself on White's radar. His company, Zuffa, bought the Strikeforce promotion that Rousey was fighting under, but the acquisition didn't necessarily mean a job for Rousey in the flagship promotion. For myriad reasons White was opposed to bringing women into the UFC, even as pioneers such as Gina Carano became a viable draw for other companies. He just didn't think there were enough elite competitors and too often fights were lopsided, which he struggled watching. "It's bad enough when a guy is getting beaten up, but a woman?" he said. He was concerned the most marketable women weren't true fighters and he wasn't sure how much they really wanted to battle. The UFC, for all its flash, is about violence and toughness. At the level of a major pay-per-view card, a dull, boring fight would be an embarrassment. "Then I met Ronda," White told Yahoo! Sports with a laugh on Tuesday. "Meeting her is the key to everything. This girl is for real. This girl is a fighter." [Also: Movie centered on Bruce Lee's most legendary fight in the works] She's also a natural born promoter and outspoken talker. She cracks jokes, is down-to-earth and self-deferential. Every time White met with her he couldn't stop considering the possibilities. This was no longer just about women's mixed martial arts. It was about being in business with Ronda Rousey, crossover superstar in waiting. "Obviously she's pretty," White said. "That's the first obvious thing. No. 2 is her fighting style, which is impressive, exciting. She won the same way every time even though they knew it was coming. And then when you meet her and I mean really hang out with her, you see that personality. I don't mean this the wrong way but she's a guy in a girl's body. She reminded me of hanging out with any other fighter. "There is no way you can meet Ronda Rousey and not be interested in seeing her fight. " So as White dreamed of America meeting a high-action, photogenic, big personality female fighter via Leno or Letterman and then buying up her pay-per-view fights, he commissioned some of his people at the UFC to look into whether it was feasible to start a women's circuit. What they found was that there was enough competition at the bantamweight class (135 pounds). As White watched tape after tape of female fighters, he became convinced. He'd been wrong about women's MMA. "I never saw a Ronda Rousey coming," he acknowledged. So last August, he called the now 26-year-old and invited her to meet up for dinner. She didn't know what to expect. Rousey grew up in Santa Monica but had never heard of Mr. Chow's, which isn't surprising since it sits a block off Rodeo Drive and a tomboy high school dropout isn't its usual clientele. [Also: Courageous Liz Carmouche is comfortable in her own skin] As someone who rarely watches television, she also had never seen an episode of "Sons of Anarchy." She frantically streamed episodes from Netflix in an attempt to catch up in case White asked her about it, but she ran out of time just half a season in. In the end, none of it mattered. The moment she'd dreamed of came unexpectedly: a reversal of opinion from the most powerful man in the sport. The entire group celebrated over Chinese food, hit the premiere and then came a final surprise. The after party was in Malibu, at Gladstone's, another one of the bars that Rousey delivered drinks at back when headlining a UFC card felt like little more than a pipe dream. "So now I'm there with my new boss, Dana White, and my old bosses are having to wait on me," she laughed. "It was justice all around." The night was truly historic. White, always aware of the magnitude of a moment, knew it deserved more than just a phone call and contract emailed to a manager. "I thought it would be a cool part of the story," White said. "He delivered that [expletive] in style," Rousey said. On Saturday, Rousey, the fighter that almost single-handedly forced the UFC to open itself up to women's fighting, promises to deliver back in similar fashion. Related MMA video on Yahoo! Sports: Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports: • Tim Tebow causes controversy with choice for speaking engagement • NBA union head Billy Hunter ousted by unanimous vote • Rafael Nadal gets upgrade on $525K watch • Will Giants restructure Eli Manning's contract to keep Victor Cruz?

The long-awaited results of an internal review of the Corps' tattoo policy may be pushed out to Marines as early as this month, the top enlisted Marine said this week . The Marine Corps expects to release a service-wide administrative message announcing the review's findings within weeks, Sgt. Maj. Ronald Green told Marine Corps Times in an exclusive interview . The message is expected to provide Marines with better clarity on their tattoo policy — but it first must be reviewed by Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford . Multiple Pentagon sources have said the panel reviewing the tattoo policy recommended no major changes, and the forthcoming message will only clarify and reconcile any inconsistencies. But Green said nothing was certain until the commandant gave final approval. "The policy’s not final until he signs it ," Green said, adding that Dunford could still send it back and tell them to take another stab at it. While Green did not detail the changes, pending Dunford's final approval , he said professional image had been a top concern in examining possible changes while ensuring that "every Marine is heard in formulating this policy." "America ... [looks] for a certain image in the Marine Corps," Green said. "We want to make sure that the image that we project is the image that America wants [and one] that the Marine Corps can live with ." Marines have long complained about the Corps' tattoo policy, calling it too restrictive and confusing. × Fear of missing out? Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. Thanks for signing up. By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter: Sign up for the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup In April, Sgt. Daniel Knapp, a North Carolina-based infantryman who was the subject of a Marine Corps Times cover story, said the unclear policy cost him his career. When he got a crossed rifles tattoo on his arm, Knapp said he didn't know it would run afoul of the service's policy. He had the tattoo for four years before it became an issue, he said. "They didn't have an issue meritoriously promoting me when I had a tattoo," he said. "I had never heard anything about my tattoos. Nothing was said until I went to the career planner." I can't say exactly what areas [it affects] because once we get it all in a box, we've got to give it back to him again."Green promised, however, that the wording on the final policy would be clear enough for any Marine to understand. It's so that w The Cape Fear Tattoo and Arts Expo provided Marines with many opportunities to get tattoos at the Wilmington Convention Center, April 27-29. A Marine gets new body ink during a tattoo convention. Marine officials plan to release a smartphone application that details the Corps' tattoo policy in order to provide better clarity on the regulations. Photo Credit: Cpl. John Suleski/Marine Corps The review Green said Marines are ready for any changes to be set so they can make decisions about tattoos without fear for their careers. "The consensus I've gotten lately, traveling around, is they don't want to talk about it anymore," he said. "They just want the policy." Regardless of what the final policy update permits, Green said he expects Marines to fall in line . "Once that policy goes out, that MARADMIN, [the commandant ] expects every Marine to take a full 30-inch step and follow the policy," Green said. "That’s the end state." According to multiple Pentagon sources, the panel of Marine Corps leaders conducting the review concurred with the existing policy and recommended that no major changes be made. The forthcoming message, officials said, will only clarify existing policy and reconcile any inconsistencies in rules and enforcement throughout the Marine Corps. But Green declined to characterize the update this week, saying a final decision was still in the hands of the commandant, Gen. Joseph Dunford. A spokesman for Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs, which participated in the review, confirmed that a message was pending publication, but did not offer a timeline for release. "This is still an ongoing process, with working groups meeting to solidify details and hone in on specificity on the draft MARADMIN that is subject to change," Maj. Rob Dolan said. The tattoo policy received significant updates in 2007 and 2010, when the 34th commandant, Gen. James Conway, banned sleeve tattoos and created strict rules regarding tattoo number and placement. The current policy prohibits permanent ink on hands, feet, wrists and inside mouths, places limitations on imagery depicted in tattoos and limits how many tattoos can be visible in uniform. Marines have commonly been tripped up by "grandfathering" regulations, which permitted troops to continue to serve if their out-of-regs tattoos dated from before the policy changes, but prohibited them from holding certain positions, such as recruiting jobs.

Parents vow to pull their kids out of school or move to another state to avoid draconian vaccination mandates (NaturalNews) California Governor Jerry Brown has reportedly signed into law the contentious Senate Bill 277, which eliminates the freedom of California parents to opt their children out of vaccinations for personal reasons. All school-age children without an approved medical exemption will now be forced to get vaccinated in order to attend publicschool, a tyrannous mandate that has already driven many objecting parents to homeschool their children instead.The text of SB 277 explains that the bill, which was signed by Gov. Brown on June 30, will "eliminate the exemption from existing specified immunization requirements based upon personal beliefs," while at the same time allowing "exemption from future immunization requirements deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health for either medical reasons or personal beliefs."In other words, California parents will no longer be allowed to just fill out an affidavit for their children declaring a personal objection to vaccinations. They will instead have to go through DPH to obtainto opt out of vaccines, either for medical reasons or for personal reasons that the state deems worthy of an exemption.It's a declaration of war against medical freedom, a line in the sand that demarcates government tyranny in direct opposition to the will of the people. And the fallout is that many parents are now going off the radar in pursuit of an education for their children that isn't contingent upon first injecting them with neuro-damaging chemicals and genetically altered live viruses.According to reports, Gov. Brown was eager to sign SB 277 into law, delivering an official signing statement just one day after legislators brought the bill to his desk. It's a tune completely different from the one Gov. Brown was singing three years ago when he issued a signing statement in conjunction with Assembly Bill 2109 that seemingly supported both personal and religious vaccine exemptions.In his letter, Gov. Brown admitted that vaccines come with risks, but insisted all the while that they're necessary to benefit and protect the community. And with the stroke of a pen, he eliminated one of the only options that parents have to forego subjecting their children to forced medical treatments that could seriously injure or kill them.Prior to the bill's passage, a number of California parents vowed to pull their children out of school if it was enacted. Dr. Robert Sears, a pediatrician from Capistrano Beach, toldfollowing SB 277's signing into law by Gov. Brown that he expects a huge exodus from the conventional education system as parents opposed to vaccines seek greener pastures."[We] will see a big shift in children leaving schools for homeschooling ," stated Dr. Sears to the. "And families will group together in co-ops to educate their kids."As an added benefit, these same children will avoid being brainwashed in California public schools, which thereported back in 2013 rank the third-worst in the nation for both math and reading. Still, SB 277 represents nothing short of medical despotism, and its passage is likely to spur a whole new black market for forged and/or falsified vaccination records.Many Californians are also likely to flee the state entirely to places like Oregon, where public pressure blocked a similar bill, SB 442, from moving forward back in March."Parents don't like being told what to do, they don't like feeling like their rights are stripped away," stated Kimberly McCauley of the San Francisco Bay Area to KESQ.com. "People are going to start moving away. [Gov. Brown] just screwed California. Single-handedly screwed California."

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Currently just a “proof of concept” from Mozilla Labs, TowTruck is a service which adds real-time collaboration to any website. Similar to what you’d find in Google Drive, the awkwardly named TowTruck works with just a snippet of JavaScript code, and allows for real-time authoring, messaging and voice chatting via Web RTC. Mozilla’s goal with this project is to make it easier for everyone to work together on the Web — given how important remote communication has become, it’s great to see Mozilla developing an open-source solution. And because it’s open source, don’t be surprised to see customized TowTruck-powered features and services pop up. You can view a demo of the service in action below: Mozilla warns that TowTruck is “alpha-quality software,” and in our own tests, we found the service to be clunky, yet promising. It’s particularly interesting that collaborators can stay connected while navigating separate pages of the same site. That said, there was just enough lag to make the experience feel heavy. Try the service out for yourself via the link below and grab the code here. ➤ TowTruck Example For more on Web RTC, check out this plugin-free video chatting experiment on a Nexus 7. Image credit: JOSEP LAGO / Stringer / Getty Images Read next: The Internet Archive aggressively expands its software collection, now the largest of its kind

The stealth jihad. If you’re not against sharia, you’re for it. We know where GoFundMe stands. Source: GoFundMe Bans Glazov Gang from Accepting Donations | Jamie Glazov Productions h/t Cori Crowdfunding online company GoFundMe has banned The Glazov Gang, a web-tv show that tells the truth about the threat from the Left and Islam, from accepting online donations. GoFundMe suspended The Glazov Gang campaign without any notice or explanation, nor have they responded to any queries. This conduct by GoFundMe is part of its larger effort to shut down the efforts of Anni Cyrus, the producer of The Glazov Gang. Recently, also with no notice or explanation, GoFundMe deleted Anni’s entire account while she was raising funds for her anti-Sharia tour — wiping out all of her donor history and four open campaigns, one of which was The Glazov Gang campaign. This development is part of a current onslaught by companies who are closing their platforms to those who dissent from the Left’s totalitarian worldview. Freedom of speech and conscience are being annihilated each passing day right before our eyes. The Glazov Gang will not take this lying down. Please spread the message that GoFundMe has surrendered to leftist fascism and kindly write to the organization to request that The Glazov Gang get its campaign back: 1) Click the “Contact Us” button here: https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us. 2) Answer the series of drop down choices however you wish. 3) At the end of the series, select “Other” to be directed to the email entry window. Also contact GoFundMe on Twitter: @gofundme By direct email: support@gofundme.zendesk.com Reference the url of The Glazov Gang campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/Helpglazovgang For more info, visit: https://www.facebook.com/aynazcyrus/posts/10209980742943666?pnref=story Supporters can still donate to The Glazov Gang here: https://www.paypal.me/glazovgang Thank you everyone! More via GoFundMe Removes Account of Woman Fundraising Anti-Sharia Tour, Conservative Web Show Cyrus also confirmed that GoFundMe had removed her account in a post on Facebook, where she has over 20,000 followers. “Dear supporters, today, with no notice or explanation, GoFundMe has deleted my entire account, wiping out all of my donor history, and four open campaigns,” Cyrus claimed. “You can help me by writing a brief email note to GoFundMe Customer Service, to lobby them to restore my account history, at the very least.” In 2015, GoFundMe removed a fundraising campaign for the family of a “Draw Muhammad” organizer, who went into hiding following violent threats, while last year, the platform removed a campaign which sought to raise funds for an advertisement linking failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to an anti-Israel author. In the past, left-wing journalists and activists have also attempted to pressure the platform into removing fundraisers for events featuring former Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Following left-wing riots on President Trump’s inauguration day in January, where a limo owned by a Muslim immigrant was set on fire and destroyed by rioters, Trump supporters raised nearly $24,000 for the man using GoFundMe.

There are many more than 10 great books about Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean writers of the last decade alone, particularly Nozipo Maraire, Alexandra Fuller, Irene Sabatini, Bryony Rheam, NoViolet Bulawayo, Peter Godwin, Ignatius Mabasa, Brian Chikwava, Wonder Guchu, Christopher Mlalazi, Tendai Huchu, Memory Chirere and Togara Muzanenhamo could be part of this list, as could the American James Kilgore. The prolific triumvirate of Charles Mungoshi, Ndabezinhle Sigogo and John Eppel could each have a top 10 list of just their own work. The fiction and non-fiction titles in this list echo my own obsession with the history of Zimbabwe, and, most particularly, its social history, a subject in which my novel The Book of Memory is steeped. I am particularly interested in the external and internal struggles reflected in these books, struggles both national and personal – whether over land ownership and national identity or the individual’s right to self-determination. I hope that this “personal canon” provides a good introduction for those who may be new to Zimbabwe, and inspires debate among Zimbabweanists about who else I should have included. 1. Zambesia, England’s El Dorado in Africa by Edward Peter Mathers (1895) Zimbabwe is an unusual case study in African colonialism in that it was invaded by a private company under Royal Charter. First published in 1895, this rare book provides the inside track on the Pioneer Column, the occupying force of Cecil Rhodes’s British South Africa Company. From speculation over the location of the fabled “lost mines of Ophir” to the meticulous enumeration of the many titles of Lobengula, the soon-to-be-deposed “King of the Matabele”, this Victorian delight is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to understand the motives for and mechanics of the colonisation of Zimbabwe. 2. The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing (1950) This bleak and unsparing novel, set on a remote farm in Southern Rhodesia in the 1940s, is propelled by three deeply unlikeable but pitiful people: Dick Turner, an inept but stubborn white farmer; his wife, the frustrated, proud Mary, and Moses, the domestic servant whose brooding presence oppresses the book and leads to its catastrophic conclusion. Lessing’s novel is a masterly study of the unnatural and constricting artifices that were necessary to maintaining Rhodesia’s “colour bar”. 3. Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera (1998) Set in the Bulawayo township of Makokoba in the 1940s, this is the story of the doomed May-December love affair between Fumbatha, a construction worker, and the much younger Phephelaphi who dreams of being a nurse. A brutal event separates the couple. Vera’s prose can be elliptical – the horrors that befall the couple are described with such lyrical beauty that they are not always fully felt by the reader – but no other writer has so powerfully captured the many faces of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest, and loveliest, city. 4. Pafunge (Think of It) by TK Tsodzo (1972) Supposedly a morality tale in which the reader is meant to recoil from the unwitting incestuous relationship between Rudo Moyo and her long-lost father, Josiah Rugare, aka Joe Rug. But this Shona novel is, in reality, a joyous caper that moves between a mission school and hospital in Fort Victoria province and the seedy nightspots of the town of Gwelo. Published by the Rhodesian Literature Bureau, which was established to encourage black writers away from political writing, Pafunge riotously glories in the many sins and pleasures of city life before piously renouncing them. The character of Phainos Kamunda, a young man enamoured of made-up English jawbreakers (dananability, syllambability, gigotism) is particularly popular with Zimbabweans, who can perhaps be forgiven for seeing in him the forerunner of a certain verbose and highly excitable former minister of information. 5. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (1988) “I was not sorry when my brother died,” begins the first novel to be published in English by a black Zimbabwean woman. With its echo of Camus and title from Fanon, this haunting novel is an intelligent and penetrating exploration of young Tambu’s fight for the education that will lift her out of rural poverty. It is her brother Nhamo’s death that creates the opportunity she deserves. Considered too radically feminist for conservative Zimbabwe, the novel was rejected locally and eventually published by the Women’s Press in London. It has since become a deservedly cherished novel about what it means to be a young woman in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal cultures. In addition to rooting for Tambu, the reader is not sorry at all when Nhamo dies – like the generation of Zimbabwe’s first political leaders to which he belongs, so strong is his sense of entitlement that he would have most likely used his elevated position to close off to others the very doors that had been opened for him. 6. The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera (1978) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clear-sighted ... Dambudzo Marechera. Photograph: Peter Johns for the Guardian This superb collection (a novella and nine short stories) was a co-winner (with Neil Jordan’s Night in Tunisia) of the Guardian fiction award in 1979. With its publication, Marechera, the exceptionally gifted enfant terrible of Zimbabwean letters, seemed poised for a glittering career. He died in poverty just eight years later. Easily his most accessible work, The House of Hunger is clear-sighted, beautifully observed and far removed from the sometimes histrionic solipsism that characterised his subsequent work. 7. Harvest of Thorns by Shimmer Chinodya (1989) The prolific Chinodya has written a number of striking books, most notably Dew in the Morning, an exploration of an idyllic rural boyhood; the sophisticated Strife, in which sins from the pre-colonial past cast shadows into the present; and the rich and varied short-story collection Can We Talk? But it is Harvest of Thorns, widely acclaimed as the best novel ever written about Zimbabwe’s independence war, that is his crowning glory. As well as being a fine novel about the pitiful waste of war, it has at its heart a touching love story and a trenchant critique of the hypocrisies of religion. 8. Kunyarara Hakusi Kutaura? (Is Silence Not Also Speech?) by Charles Mungoshi (1983) A novelist, poet and playwright who writes equally well in Shona and English, Charles Mungoshi is Zimbabwe’s finest and most versatile writer. His life project has been to interrogate the notion of family. In this groundbreaking novel, he uses multiple voices to unfold, in a stream of consciousness, the unease caused by the return from England of the arrogant Eric Chimbimu. His poor judgment and unthinking actions ensnare him in a love triangle with his half-brother, the weak-willed Paul, and Paul’s beautiful and ambitious wife Lorna. The tensions between the three bring to boiling point the resentments that have been simmering for two generations in their polygamous family. This very modern novel takes an old language in new and unexpected directions. 9. Becoming Zimbabwe edited by Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo (2009) This is an impeccably-researched collection of essays by the historians and political scientists Brian Raftopoulos, Alois Mlambo, Gerald Mazarire, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Joseph Mutisi, Munyaradzi Nyakudya, Teresa Barnes and James Muzondidya. It chronicles the history of Zimbabwe from pre-colonial times to the unity sharing government of 2009. Rich in insights and incisive in its analysis, Becoming Zimbabwe is animated by the influence of the Zimbabweanist historian Terence Ranger, who died last year. He inspired this generation of historians to give both dignity and academic rigour to a history that both the Rhodesia and Zimbabwe regimes have, at one time or another, sought to distort for political reasons. 10. The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers (2010) This warm and funny memoir is a love letter to a country in the grip of madness. Lyn and Ros Rogers are the owners of Drifters, a farm they bought after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. Their son Douglas tells the story of how they and their motley staff seek to coexist with the Comrades who try to take over their farm while the economy crashes and spins out of control around them. This book gives the reader an understanding of why there will never be an Arab spring in Zimbabwe – we Zimbos are resilient to the nth degree. We don’t revolt, we “make a plan”. In my favourite passage in the book, a most unlikely character turns out to be the biggest pothead on Zimbabwean soil since Bob Marley and the Wailers played the independence concert. Magic. • The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah is published by Faber, priced £14.99, and is available from the Guardian bookshop for £10.49.

Just days after a lorry caused severe delays by shedding 24 tonnes of lard across a motorway slip road, BBC News takes a look at the strangest items spilled on England's roads. Baked beans, M11, Essex Image copyright Juliet Kinsman Image caption A passer-by stuck in traffic snapped a picture of the bean spillage Thousands of tins of beans were strewn across three lanes of the M11 in Essex in 2012 after a lorry swerved to avoid a car and smashed into the central reservation. No-one was hurt in the accident near Epping, but a mini-digger had to be called in to scoop up the cans of pulses and clear the road. The southbound carriageway between junctions six and seven was closed for around three hours. Yeast extract, M1, South Yorkshire Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A spillage of yeast extract caused a jam on the M1 The M1 ground to a halt in the winter of 2011 when 20 tonnes of yeast extract oozed across the carriageway near Sheffield. Specialist teams were dispatched to stop the sticky black mess spreading in a clean-up operation that took 12 hours. The Environment Agency was called in to help over fears the substance could pollute local waterways and suffocate fish. Lager cans, M6, Coventry Image copyright West Midlands Ambulance Service Image caption The van was carrying cans of lager when it overturned Hundreds of cans of lager rolled across the M6 at Coventry in 2011 after a van overturned and shed its load. The link road between the M69 southbound and the M6 northbound was closed for almost four hours while Highways England picked up every single tin of beer by hand. Salmon, M62, East Yorkshire Image caption The salmon spillage on the M62 was a 'complicated clean-up' Ten tonnes of salmon had to be picked up by hand in the dead of night after an HGV overturned near Goole in 2013. The frozen fish was strewn across both the east and westbound carriageways and the 44 tonne lorry was blocking several lanes. Highways England worked into the early hours to get the road reopened in time for rush-hour traffic in what they described as a "complicated" clean-up mission. Chickens, M62, Manchester Image copyright Ian C Patterson Image caption Around 1,000 chickens were killed in the M62 smash Hundreds of chickens perished on the M62 in Greater Manchester last year after a lorry smashed into a safety barrier. The vehicle was carrying 6,800 chickens when it crashed and about 1,500 died from the impact or were killed by passing traffic. Some 2,000 birds escaped and had to be recaptured by rescuers scouring nearby fields in the dark. Animal blood and human sewage Nasty substances spilled on our roads pose quite the challenge for agencies cleaning them up. It took almost four hours for specialist teams to mop up animal blood from the eastbound carriageway of the A50 at Stoke-on-Trent in 2011 after the tanker carrying the liquid sprang a leak. Similarly, in 2009, the Environment Agency had to be drafted in to deal with the aftermath of an HGV crash which saw raw human sewage seep across the A3 near Guildford. It took five hours for the hazardous material to be removed. Acid, M11, Essex Image copyright Essex Fire and Rescue Image caption Motorists trying to get to the airport had to be diverted following the spillage An acid spill closed the M11 near Stansted Airport for more than 12 hours last year after a lorry overturned, pouring melamine formaldehyde resin and phosphoric acid across several lanes. More than 325 metres of carriageway had to be cleared and teams scrambled to clean up the mess before the substance solidified on the road. Powdered cement, M6, Lancashire Image copyright North West Motorway Police Image caption It took 18 hours to clear the road of powdered cement Highways England was faced with a similar challenge just a couple of weeks later when powdered cement was spilled across the M6 on the hottest day of the year. Motorists were left stranded between junctions 34 and 35 following a smash between two lorries and a car, which saw several hundred gallons of diesel from one of the vehicles mix with the powder, causing it to set. It took 18 hours to clear and resurface the road.

You would think that for something to be called a ‘national value’ it would be enshrined in the life of, and championed by, that nation to an extent where the rest of the world would recognise it as quintessentially so, right? Let’s assume that by ‘values’ we mean ‘moral principles’ or even vaguer, a moral ‘framework’ or ‘compass’ – or how about ‘a shared moral understanding.’ It’s not too hard to think of nations that explicitly claim these, for example the French revolutionary ‘Liberte, Egalite, Fraterne’, the South African post-apartheid ‘Rainbow Nation’ ideal, the USA’s equally revolutionary ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of property’ (taken from John Locke and slightly re-worded to equate property with happiness). No matter how far short any of these countries fall from these, they have been universally recognised and constitutionally enshrined in each to make it plain to their own citizens and to outsiders: this is the substance of who we are. Here, most politicians love ‘British Values’. Well, they say that, but they can’t possibly love the substance of them, because they usually don’t seem to have thought too much about what they actually are. What’s the stuff that defines the common conduct of four constituent nations, what’s the glue that holds together all of the people within each? When pressed they say things like ‘common decency’ – a platitude which to my mind could be used by any individual on earth to describe the principles they themselves hold, effectively saying that they describe their own ethics as ‘correct’. We’re told terrorists don’t share British values, but that’s because they kill innocent people, which is usually always illegal everywhere. When pressed even further the politicians will start to praise the commitment of these Isles to ‘democracy’ and ‘democratic rights’, things common to a great deal of different states and, given the very slow and gradual path into participatory democracy that Britain took, with its constitutional basis therefore being an unelected second chamber and a hereditary monarch, a very odd thing to claim as our own. Even if you want to call democracy a defining value (it’s more of a process, surely a value is something bigger?) it certainly doesn’t belong to the British. It’s more Greek than anything else, it’s quite possibly Indian; the Americans and the French don’t even include it in their formulations despite both being known to erroneously claim to have brought it to the world. But, undeterred by any actual meaning, still those politicians love their British Values, because it’s just so bloody convenient for them. It allows them to be so very vague about what their principles actually are while at the same time managing get all misty-eyed and patriotic about their country. In the ever-narrowing centre ground of mainstream parliamentary politics, it’s the perfect platitude, an uncontroversial way to say “I like good things, I don’t like bad things, and I threaten no-one.” That is until recently. My hope is that now several issues, not least the independence referendum, can lead more and more people to reject British values, or more accurately to question if national values actually have any use or make any sense at all. It’s worth stressing that the term as most often used is completely vacuous. Ed Milliband, for example, is often fond of citing ‘British values’ as a catch-all term for everything decent about him, his party, and the good people he wants to vote for them. This is a way to detract from ‘red Ed’ tabloid jibes, and means nothing of substance other than ‘not scary.’ Gordon Brown was the very same of course, though given his further unfortunate disability of a Scottish accent he had to go much harder on it, leading to such absurdities as the proposed ‘Britishness Day’ and his claim that his favourite footballing moment of all time was when Paul Gascoigne scored for England against Scotland in 1996. It’s true that when ‘Britishness’ gets pushed far enough for a definition it often ends up in depictions of England and Englishness, given that is the governing interest in the union, as served here in Brown’s attempt not to seem threatening to the UK’s deciding voting base. But as unusual as a self-proclaimed Scottish football fan enjoying Scotland getting beaten by their local rival seems, still none of this amounts to a political or moral ‘value’ as such, and is still vacuous. It is with some irony then that the Daily Mail earlier this year attacked the deceased academic Ralph Milliband for hating British values. Ed Milliband was stuck in a situation where he quite rightly wanted to defend his father’s memory and challenge the outright lies in the Mail, while still wanting to claim access to and sympathy for those elusive nationalistic values of your plucky, Mail-reading Brit, the very things they accused his father of attacking. So he made his argument on their terms. According to Ed his father, like him, adored British values. He fought for Britain in the war. He lived and worked in Britain for the vast majority of his adult life, and raised a family in it. He watched Dad’s Army. He ate Fish N’ Chips. I’m sure Ed would have claimed his old man read the Daily Mail if the ‘Marxist’ and ‘intellectual’ prefixes so often accompanying his name didn’t each by definition disprove it. The fact that those prefixes alone adequately explain a value system which led him to fight fascism in Europe is also a little inconvenient. But this whole stooshie gave us an amazing thing that I’d never seen before: it provided a clear definition of British values. This happened when Jon Steafel, deputy editor of the Mail, appeared on Newsnight in debate with Alistair Campbell, he of lying, warmongering New Labour spin doctor fame. Staefal had a clear plan, which was to state that when Ralph Milliband, in his teenage diaries, criticised the institutions of the Queen, Oxbridge Universities, the Houses of Parliament, and the military, he was attacking British values. Staefel equated these insititutions with Britishness itself, and preservation of them in their existing form as the morality which supports that identity. He was defining ‘British values’ as deference to Britain’s ruling-class institutions. To them, if you don’t show that deference to the institutions that rule you, not only are you not British, you in fact hate Britain itself, enough to leave “an evil legacy.” Which is ultra-conservative ‘cult of the pharoah’ stuff, but at least gives us an answer for what these values we’re so often preached to about actually consist of; we now have at least one view on what they are that we can categorically reject. And not only is this the only explanation of substance that I have ever heard, it does make sense as a definition. Those institutions which put the ‘Great’ into ‘Great Britain’, long may they rule over us, may represent the exact opposite of the values of a lefty like me, but they were the real decision-making architects of the Empire. Whether we want to be or not, being ruled over by them is definitively what every British person has in common. So in this case, it’s easy: I denounce British values. They do not apply to me whatsoever. They don’t apply to anyone I know, quite possibly to anyone I’ve ever met. I want the institutions which define them to be constitutionally separated from the state that I take part in electing at the ballot box, and the people of the country that I live in to be sovereign. I have a fantastic opportunity to help that happen soon by voting Yes. But say the Daily Mail definition isn’t correct, and like Alistair Campbell claims, these are the wrong British values, then still all that we’re left with are those platitudes of the careerist politicians frightened for their Westminster salaries and second homes. We have a choice between a highly authoritarian cult of the elite and screeds of nicey-nicey nothingness. And I denounce those British values too. I denounce the British values of ‘common decency’ and ‘fair play’ when they are used in this context to say absolutely nothing and serve only to get in the way of what is actually at stake in the world. I certainly don’t hate Britain, but it makes some kind of sense to me if this means that I don’t have a British identity – and so be it. Are there competing ‘Scottish values’? I really don’t know that there are, so claiming that Scottish values are superior won’t really cut it. I’ve heard a variety of attempts to explain them and again it ends up being much the same kind of nothing: “a sense of fair play”, “friendliness”, I even once heard “thrift.” That last one’s an inaccurate stereotype, it’s not a national value. The explanation of British values often drifts into Christian values, which should be easy to describe given that they have a guide book, but it doesn’t tend to turn out that way. We’ve heard recently that upon independence, the disestablishment of the Church of Scotland is highly likely, swept away as they would be in the wave of de-centralising democracy which unfortunately will, initially at least, stop short of the Queen. We could choose a Daily Mail, or maybe a Daily Express, definition of Scottish values, where deference to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, still the Queen, and one of the Old Firm always winning the league is the way, the truth, the life. Not only would that still be shite, it would be wasting the opportunity that independence offers by merely changing the colour of the flag. I have my own values, I’m sure you’ll have yours, and building a society is about negotiating between them. I’ve heard that in an independent Scotland we will be able to come up with new values. That’s exciting, but I’d rather the values of our new constitution were more outward-looking and avoided platitudes which amount to saying “we’re nice here.” Do any supposedly national values really speak to the specific character of that given nation? The real reason that the French, South African and American examples I gave have force isn’t, unfortunately, because any of them are greatly accurate defining characteristics of those places today, but because they all came from a place of rejecting a previous tyranny and giving birth to new societies by defining themselves directly against it. We do indeed have an opportunity to start something new, so let’s try to make it mean something. Values are essential, they can and often do mean something. I’ve recently had cause to try and re-assess what my own values could be. For one aspect of my life it’s quite simple. I’m a musician, and since my early teens my approach to the music I’ve made has always been informed by the values of punk, even if the music itself isn’t traditional punk rock. Here’s the way that I see them; you can Do It Yourself, rough edges show your character so are a welcome and happy accident rather than a mistake, the influence or aspiration to money or fame should be distrusted, please yourself with anything you do first and foremost, if what you do starts provoking or rubbing people up the wrong way that should be embraced, and that a general anti-authoritarianism should be accompanying all of this. I often feel old fashioned when I say stuff like that, but when any of these values are challenged that’s usually the basis for me disapproving of other music, if I do. Those values don’t belong to a creed or a nation and without being in any way prescriptive they apply to me in a very practical manner. They have guided a great deal of what I have done in my adult life, and I found it surprisingly easy to just detail what they were. Although I’ve always played about with Scottish imagery, and you’d certainly never hear me say that I enjoyed seeing Gascoigne scoring against the international football team I support, Scotland, I’ve never written anything that could be called nationalistic because I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing so, it’s not me, and it doesn’t fit with those values I’ve had since I was a wide-eyed wee boy just trying to make as much noise as I could. I intend to vote Yes and I am not a nationalist. Furthermore, and it may sound odd in a climate where even every No campaigner is clamouring to drape themselves in the Saltire, I would not even describe myself as particularly patriotic. I love and feel a deep connection to a great deal of Scottish culture, I am proud to take part in it in my own small way, it burns at me when our culture is denigrated, but I can also think of many things that us Scots should collectively be thoroughly ashamed of (sectarianism and an odd and prevailing sort of pride in our violence and our alcoholism spring to mind). I also feel a connection to English culture. Just like a famous German Jew who lived in London once did, I can try to lend weight to the argument I’m eventually going to make here by quoting Shakespeare on money (“Thou common whore of mankind, that put’st odds / Among the rout of nations”) and feel I’m pulling from a shared cultural understanding in doing so. I just think that the best way that this particular piece of the world can be governed is if the people that live here have the ultimate say on it. I’m voting Yes for two reasons: because so many of the great injustices carried out against the people in Scotland have only been possible because they have been ruled by successive governments that they did not elect; and from out of a belief that the best road to internationalism is via decentralisation, the dismantling of the old imperialist world powers, and self-determination. Many will tell you that they are voting No in the name of internationalism – that we should not create more borders. But what this non-debate on national values further illustrates is that we currently don’t have an option between Scottish independence and no-borders internationalism. If we did, I’d vote against Scottish independence, thank you, and bid a hopeful farewell to war. The Scottish border (which already exists, giving a constintuency to the Scottish Parliament and its existing powers) is indeed an arbitrary national boundary. But voting No and staying with Britain, with it’s imperialistic past, its UK Independence Parties and its English Defence Leagues, is ultimately still choosing one arbitrary national boundary over another. It’s a shame that we can’t just immediately do away with all of them and have anarcho-syndicalistic direct democracies across the globe, but this is the option that we are faced with at the moment. One global super-state has never been my idea of internationalism anyway; it really doesn’t follow that the broader the reach of the government the better. Scotland is already defined within the highly nationalistic Treaty of Union as a nation. It has its own education system, its own legal system, its own Parliament. That we have all of these things yet could still be taken to war or have our budgets held to ransom by an old-Etonian Tory government is madness. And that government, despite its vague attempts at towing the platitudinous ‘British Values’ line, does indeed have real, substantive values. They are a prescribed self-reliance for the poor and vulnerable while the existing social hierarchy is maintained at all costs. The fact that Scottish interests and, yes, the values of those people, whatever they may be, should be reflected in a government of its own is not necessarily a result of having superior values or more pressing priorities, but of having undeniably distinct ones. It is un-democratic that they are not reflected in how we are governed. That’s it. Maybe in an independent Scotland we can get shot of these inadequate ideas of national values and finally accept that class and the power structures in place in a capitalist society are the things that really define what seperates people, are the things that really explain conflict and define the values of our age. If not, at least things like the Bedroom Tax can’t be imposed on a clearly defined population which has again so clearly voted against it. The talk of national values is not helpful when the fundamental issue which drives politics is class. So please don’t say “I’m not a nationalist but I’m voting Yes”, please say “I’m voting Yes because I’m not a nationalist.” British nationalism, like all nationalisms, is dangerous, and in Scotland we have a chance to build something genuinely new without either falling into the same clichés or the same apology for existing power structures. Say it loud, say it proud: “I denounce British values, and most probably Scottish ones too while we’re at it.” If we vote Yes we’ll have a fighting chance to negotiate something else between us. We currently don’t have that opportunity. Gav Prentice National Collective

Wrestling superstar "Rowdy" Roddy Piper has died at age 61. Multiple reports indicate that Piper died in his sleep from a heart attack. "Rod passed peacefully in his sleep last night," Piper's agent Jay Schacter told Variety. “I am shocked and beyond devastated.” Upon learning of his death, WWE chairman Vince McMahon tweeted that Piper was "one of the most entertaining, controversial and bombastic performers ever in WWE beloved by millions of fans around the world." Piper, whose real name was Roddy Toombs, is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, and was one of the core members of the '80s-era WWE (then known as the WWF). Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Piper competed in the very first Wrestlemania, working a faux-Scottish angle in a tag-team match (along with Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff) against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, and quickly became one of the sport's most hated villains. Piper's rivalries with Hogan, Jimmy Snuka and even Cyndi Lauper set the tone for the WWF, helping the wrestling organization achieve the nationwide prominence that it enjoys to this day. Piper's key gimmick was "Piper's Pit," a mock talk show in which Piper would sit down with fellow wrestlers to talk out the issues of the day. Naturally, the talk lasted less than a minute before the fists flew. Here's a representative installment from 1984, where Piper interviewed Sgt. Slaughter: Just last week, Piper was on the Rich Eisen Show, talking of his life and times as well as his old rival Hulk Hogan: Once more, then, Piper's music: Piper later became an actor, with over 100 credits to his name, according to IMDB, including the 1988 cult classic "They Live." Reactions to his death poured in on Twitter: RODDY PIPER. I LOVE YOU FOREVER. GOD BLESS YOU BUBBA — The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) July 31, 2015 One of the true greats of all time. My heart goes out to his family and the fans he entertained over the years. RIP Rowdy. — John Cena (@JohnCena) July 31, 2015 He was a friend and a mentor! HotRod, you will be missed. #RIPRoddyPiper — GOLDUST (@Goldust) July 31, 2015 WOW the battle Royal in Heaven is filling up. RIP Roddy you'll be greatly missed — Wade Boggs (@ChickenMan3010) July 31, 2015 ___________________ Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. Follow @jaybusbee And keep up with Jay over on Facebook, too.

Roy Sexton, a Saline resident, has been cast as one of the principals in “Legally Blonde the Musical,” a show that will be presented by the Farmington Players beginning April 26. Sexton – vice president of marketing and planning for Trott & Trott, PC, a real estate law firm in Metro Detroit – will portray Callahan, the pompous and scheming head of the law firm that hires Elle Woods as a summer intern. The 2007 Tony-nominated musical is based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film from MGM. Callahan was played by Victor Garber in the movie. The Farmington Players’ production opens April 26 and runs through May 18. Tickets can be purchased at www.farmingtonplayers.org or by calling (248) 553-2955. Sexton most recently had the lead role of Georg Nowack in last summer’s production of “She Loves Me” with Ann Arbor’s The Penny Seats, a theatre company he co-founded. He also has appeared in “Goodnight Desdemona,” “Oklahoma,” “Bells are Ringing,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Fantasticks,” among other productions. He also is an active cabaret performer, and he holds a master’s in theatre from Ohio State University. In 2007, Sexton, a graduate of Wabash College, received his MBA from the University of Michigan.

Sacramento Republic were in preseason form in their 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids in the first preseason game of the year. A late goal by Colorado Rapids defender AJ Cochran broke the deadlock between the two teams, taking away what looked to be an earned draw by the Republic. The level of play from both teams was fairly disappointing in the first half, with both teams displaying decidedly preseason levels of passing, movement, and play in general. The Republic's attack looked toothless, with no quality scoring chances created and just two poor shots. Defensively the picture was a bit brighter for the Republic, with new defensive additions Mike da Fonte, Chris Christian, and Evan Newton putting on a fairly good showing. Simply put, there was no real offensive threat being put forward from either team and on the whole it was a pretty boring first 45 minutes. SRFC vs Colorado Rapids first half analysis. pic.twitter.com/jrkwkmtJkW — Hector (@Hec18) February 14, 2016 Things picked up a bit in the second half, with most of the game's high points coming in the second 45 minutes. The passing was crisper, the movement was better, and the overall level of play improved. While the Rapids subbed out seemingly all of their field players at the half, Republic waited until the 54th minute to make the bulk of their substitutions, with Matt LaGrassa, Max Alvarez, trialist Mackenzie Pridham and trialist Alex Risdale coming on for Cameron Iwasa, Agustin Cazarez, Alfonso Motagalvan and Thomas Stewart. The high point for Republic came in the 67th minute when Max Alvarez went on a nice run down the left flank, crossed the ball looking for Pridham but after a deflection found Barrera, whose shot went just a hair wide. It was the home team's best chance of the night and was a glimpse of what we would all like to see more of in the coming months. In the 73rd minute it appeared that Pridham had broken the deadlock, but his goal was called offside, much to the disappointment of the crowd. Another highlight reel moment came in the 84th minute from Joaquin Rivas, who sent a great long ball over the top of the Rapids defense to Pridham. Pridham then laid the ball off to Risdale, whose shot went wide. Despite a few chances for Sacramento, it was the Rapids who eventually broke the deadlock, scoring in the 86th minute on an AJ Cochran header off a free kick delivery from Marc Burch. The goal seemed to energize the Republic attack and they went looking for an equalizer that they were unfortunately unable to find. Many of the chances that the team got late came from their series of corner kicks in the last minute, all of which — in true Republic fashion — went unconverted. With the Rapids loss now behind them, the Republic look forward to a midweek match against the PDL's Burlingame Dragons and then a meeting next Saturday against their rival and MLS affiliate, the San Jose Earthquakes. Look for a more in-depth reaction to the match, including quotes from Coach Buckle, Ivan Mirkovic and Chris Christian tomorrow on Indomitable City Soccer. Republic Lineup and Final Stats Staring Lineup: Evan Newton; Agustin Cazarez, Mike da Fonte, Chris Christian, Emrah Klimenta; Danny Barrera, Alfonso Motagalvan, Ivan Mirkovic, Cameron Iwasa; Harry Williams, Thomas Stewart. Subs: Derek Foran (45) Alex Risdale (54), Matt Lagrassa (54), Max Alvarez (54), Mackenzie Pridham (54), Joaquin Rivas (73) Final Republic Stats: Shots: 6, Shots on Goal: 0, Saves: 2, Fouls: 16, Corner Kicks: 5, Offside: 2.

Twenty bankers from National Australia Bank have been sacked or have left the lender for breaching its policies when issuing 2300 home loans, including some that may be based on false information. NAB on Thursday said it had also disciplined a further 32 staff for failing to follow its strict policies when writing the loans, which mainly went to foreign buyers of Australian property. In the latest example of misbehaviour in the banking industry, NAB said that in 2015 it became aware of the problematic mortgages, many of which were sold via "introducers" – people outside the bank who collect a fee for referring a customer. NAB said some of the loans may have been submitted without accurate information about the customers, which could include incorrect documents such as payslips.

A former Chicago store owner charged with fatally shooting a man who stole a can of beer in 1979 was arrested at O'Hare International Airport after returning to the area 34 years later to attend a graduation, authorities said. Ata Yousef El Ammouri, 65, was wanted on warrants alleging murder and bail jumping, and was ordered held without bail on Saturday when he appeared in bond court, according to a release from the Cook County sheriff's office. El Ammouri is accused of fatally shooting Joe Harris, 31, on July 22, 1979 when Harris walked out of El Ammouri's store on the 500 block of East 67th Street without paying for a can of beer, the release said. After he was charged with murder, El Ammouri posted a $100,000 bail, authorities said. In November 1979 he failed to show up for court and was named in fugitive arrest warrants for murder and jumping bail. On Friday about 5 p.m., members of the sheriff's Central Warrant Unit took El Ammouri into custody at O'Hare after he arrived from Jordan, where he resides, the sheriff's office said. He was traveling to the U.S. to attend a graduation, but the sheriff's office did not release additional details. The investigation involved coordination between various federal and state law enforcement agencies across two countries, the sheriff's office said, specifically mentioning help from the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service. chicagobreaking@tribune.com Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

Of course, Israel does nothing unilaterally. It is a stunted, militaristic faux-state that depends entirely on the West for its continued existence. From the funds it builds its military with, to the very hardware it buys and maintains, starting from the day the modern state of Israel was founded up to and including today, Israel is in reality a state-sized forward operating base (FOB).Wikipedia defines a FOB as follows: “The base may be used for an extended period of time. FOBs are traditionally supported by Main Operating Bases that are required to provide backup support to them.[citation needed] An FOB also improves reaction time to local areas as opposed to having all troops on the main operating base.” As such, Israel’s constant and otherwise irrational belligerence makes perfect sense. An FOB’s priorities are not prosperity and peace as would a nation’s, but rather to engage forward into enemy territory. The trick over the years has been to portray Israel as a nation, while propping up its constant belligerence and aggression as “self-defense.” To keep this illusion in motion, Israel and its regional and Western collaborators have even created full-time enemies, including Hamas itself – a creation of Israeli intelligence and to this day primarily propped up by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both of which are defacto regional partners with the West and of course Israel itself. The Wall Street Journal reported in their article, “How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas,” that (emphasis added): “Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” says Mr. Cohen, a Tunisian-born Jew who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. Responsible for religious affairs in the region until 1994, Mr. Cohen watched the Islamist movement take shape, muscle aside secular Palestinian rivals and then morph into what is today Hamas, a militant group that is sworn to Israel’s destruction. Instead of trying to curb Gaza’s Islamists from the outset, says Mr. Cohen, Israel for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged them as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat’s Fatah. Israel cooperated with a crippled, half-blind cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, even as he was laying the foundations for what would become Hamas. Sheikh Yassin continues to inspire militants today; during the recent war in Gaza, Hamas fighters confronted Israeli troops with “Yassins,” primitive rocket-propelled grenades named in honor of the cleric. This is in fact exactly what Hamas is still being used today for – to counter real opposition movements by dividing against each other different factions of Muslims and secular organizations alike, in confusion and armed combat, preventing a greater, unified front against Western expansion and exploitation throughout the region. Extremist groups closely aligned to Hamas, including Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, would flood into Iraq during the US occupation to “serendipitously” disrupt united Sunni-Shia’a resistance, and create bloody infighting that broke the back of meaningful opposition against foreign occupation. The same method is being used again in Syria, and with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) incursion into Iraq weeks ago, yet again against Baghdad. Divided and in perpetual conflict, the Arab World across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has not been able to create strong, secular, nationalist nations to protect Arab socioeconomic and political interests. In the process, the West has been able to exploit, divide, and conquer regions of MENA over and over again. Israel’s role as the ultimate casus belli, instigator, and aggressor, has been instrumental in keeping this hegemonic enterprise alive and well with the region kept in a perpetual and crippling defensive posture. Israel’s Role as “Unilateral Aggressor” is Stated US Policy Logistically, it is obvious Israel does not exist without Western support, and therefore does not act without Western approval. The illusion of its unilateral aggression is designed specifically to lend the West plausible deniability for brutality and unprovoked aggression it believes it cannot afford to be associated with directly. This is stated across years of US policy papers, including the most definitive report on the subject, Brooking Institution’s 2009 report “Which Path to Persia?” The report itself conspires to use covert provocations to trigger a war with Iran, to undermine it politically through foreign-sponsored “protests” augmented by covert armed groups, the direct funding, arming, and use of listed terrorist organizations against the Iranian people, and specifically the use of Israel to attack Iran with covert Western backing to make it appear as if Tel Aviv took the steps unilaterally. It specifically states: “An Israeli air campaign against Iran would have a number of very important differences from an American campaign. First, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has the problem of overflight transit from Israel to Iran. Israel has no aircraft carriers, so its planes must take off from Israeli air bases. It also does not possess long-range bombers like the B-1 or B-2, or huge fleets of refueling tankers, all of which means that unlike the United States, Israel cannot avoid flying through someone’s air space. The most direct route from Israel to Iran’s Natanz facility is roughly 1,750 kilometers across Jordan and Iraq. As the occupying power in Iraq, the United States is responsible for defending Iraqi airspace. “Which Path to Persia?-page 105 (.pdf) “From the American perspective, this negates the whole point of the option—distancing the United States from culpability—and it could jeopardize American efforts in Iraq, thus making it a possible nonstarter for Washington. Finally, Israeli violation of Jordanian airspace would likely create political problems for King Abdullah of Jordan, one of America’s (and Israel’s) closest Arab friends in the region. Thus it is exceedingly unlikely that the United States would allow Israel to overfly Iraq, and because of the problems it would create for Washington and Amman, it is unlikely that Israel would try to fly over Jordan.” Which Path to Perisa?-page 106 (.pdf) “An Israeli attack on Iran would directly affect key American strategic interests. If Israel were to overfly iraq, both the Iranians and the vast majority of people around the world would see the strike as abetted, if not authorized, by the United States. Even if Israel were to use another route, many Iranians would still see the attack as American supported or even American orchestrated. After all, the aircraft in any strike would be American produced, supplied, and funded F-15s and F-16s, and much of the ordnance would be American made. In fact, $3 billion dollars in U.S. assistance annually sustains the IDF’s conventional superiority in the region.” Which Path to Persia-page 106 (.pdf) “…the Israelis may want to hold off until they have a peace deal with Syria in hand (assuming that Jerusalem believes that one is within reach), which would help them mitigate blowback from Hizballah and potentially Hamas. Consequently, they might want Washington to push hard in mediating between Jerusalem and Damascus.” -page 109 (.pdf) With the US fully withdrawn from Iraq and Damascus significantly weakened, many of these problems have been adequately addressed, and with the US’ perceived “failure” in and “withdrawal” from the region being eagerly reported by the Western press itself, the stage is set for the ultimate staged “unilateral” attack by Israel, not only against its own Hamas provocateurs, but through a series of dubious associations, Hezbollah, Damascus, and even Iran itself. Of course, another possibility exists. As seen before, Israeli belligerence and intentional role as regional arch-villain has been used to undermine targets throughout the region as well as boost others up. That Hamas’ current and most public supporters are Israel’s own regional collaborators, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, a quick and humiliating stalemate for Israel would help boost the credibility of Riyadh and Doha across the region ahead of renewed pushes against both Damascus and Baghdad. Whichever route Israel takes, it will be apparent soon enough. Should the conflict expand rapidly and involve Hezbollah, the final battle may be underway. If the conflict remains limited to Hamas, the possibility that the Israel is trying to lend Hamas’ public sponsors in Riyadh and Doha credibility and momentum throughout the region will be greater. Israel: The Bottom Line What Israel is doing across the region is both criminal and demands condemnation. However, it must be condemned in the context of a belligerent client regime acting not in the best interests of the Israeli people or toward peace, prosperity, and coexistence with its neighbors, but rather for foreign interests that see the nation instead as a massive forward operating base. Protesting Israel alone is not enough. Boycotting Israeli businesses and industries is also fruitless and even helps play into the engineered strategy of tension constructed by Israel’s sponsors. Israel does not fund its military might by local cottage or even national industry, it does so via immense foreign aid. Instead, to protest and undermine Israel’s role as regional provocateur, target the corporate-financier interests that feed it billions of dollars annually. Separate, isolate, and protest Israel’s political leadership rather than Israel’s existence and population. Reach out to Israelis who oppose their government’s current posture of perpetual provocations, and those in the middle who may be swayed one way or another. By throwing rocks at Israel as a whole, one plays into the besieged mentality the government invests immense resources in perpetuating among common Israelis. Those who might otherwise see their government as the villain will seek its protection against irrational external hatred directed at the entire nation rather than at those responsible for its criminal extraterritorial brutality – whether it is in the occupied territories of Palestine, or across the borders of its neighbors in Syria, Iraq, Iran, or beyond. Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

The Ubuntu Touch platform is very close to the release, and very few people have actually realized what kind of potential it holds. It's open source, it has quite a few apps in the store, it's completely Linux based, and it's designed by a dedicated team. It has the possibility of becoming a real success and it's well under way towards that goal. Canonical announced a couple of years ago that they had started the work on a new operating system for the mobile platform. The team was doing releases for many years, they had a working OS for TVs and they have dabbled with the idea of putting Ubuntu or the Unity desktop on the phone. In fact, one of their first projects in this direction was called Ubuntu for Android. Some users might remember their demos that were working from the original Nexus phone. Users would just plug in the device to a monitor and the OS became a full-fledged Linux distribution. It captured the imagination, and even if nothing really came out of it, the same kind of thinking went into the design of the phone and into the idea of convergence. Convergence is the future The idea of convergence is not something new and it meant a different thing two or three years ago. Today it means two things. Developers want to make a single operating system that can run on PCs, tablets, phones, and everything else from a single codebase, and app developers want to make a single apps that can run on all of them. It might sound like a difficult thing to accomplish, but Ubuntu is already there and this is happening right not. It won't become the norm at least for a couple more years, but there are already apps that can run on different platforms without modifications. Ubuntu Touch is the tip of the spear for the idea of convergence and it will be the first operating system out there with this kind of capability. This opens new horizons for the OS, which will be able to run apps that would otherwise be confined to a life on the desktop, with just a minimal implication from its developer. It's difficult to envision the future of Ubuntu Touch as a successful platform and I'm guessing that its developers are having the same difficulties. They know a lot more about the project and about its capabilities, but this is a very volatile industry that loves you today and hates you tomorrow. Canonical now has an opportunity to make a real impact with a product that is radically different from everything else. If you take all of these features together, the convergence, the fact that it's open source, the unique design, and the huge community behind Ubuntu, you will find that there is nothing like it in the entire industry. This is the main feature of Ubuntu Touch, its uniqueness. It's not the fastest, it doesn't have the most apps, but it has heart and the people who are building it are really passionate and opened about their work. This alone makes it a winner.

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about weapon enchants, and which ones are the best for tanks. There are some enchants that are obviously intended to be tanking choices: River’s Song gives us dodge rating, while Colossus gives us absorption bubbles. And Dancing Steel gives a nice chunk of strength, which is almost a 1:1 conversion to parry rating after raid buffs. Given our new-found affinity for haste and mastery, a lot of people have thought favorably of Windsong, which in previous expansions would have been a pure DPS option. My initial intuition told me that, based on the proc rates and effect types, Colossus would be a decent choice. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the time to finish writing the detailed simulations I needed to prove it, though the data in my raid logs seemed consistent with what I expected. And before I got around to writing simulations, the “Real Proc Per Minute” (rPPM) mechanic was announced, throwing a wrench into the works. Since it seemed clear they were thinking about migrating the other effects to this system, I decided to wait on writing anything rigorous until the dust settled. And in due time, it was announced that all of these enchants are moving to a rPPM implementation in 5.1. Ten points for lazy Theck! More seriously, though, this means we can now cleanly compare the different effects. I worked through some of the math for this in several forum posts, albeit a little sloppily. I’ve consolidated those posts here, and updated/corrected the math where it was a little less rigorous. Uptime Calculations The rPPM proc mechanics were described in this post by Daxxarri. The proc chance for any given attack is $p = P H T/60$ where $P$ is the proc rate (i.e. “2 rPPM”), $H$ is your haste modifier (which is the higher of your melee and spell haste; in practice this will always be our spell haste thanks to Seal of Insight and the 5% spell haste raid buff), and $T$ is the time since the last eligible proc source (in this case, the last time you dealt damage, healed someone, or missed/dodged/parried). It’s relatively simple to show that for one of these enchants, this gives an uptime of approximately: $U = P H D/60,$ where $D$ is the duration of the buff the effect grants. I say “approximately” because technically a proc-based effect with $x$ rPPM won’t give you exactly $xHD$ seconds of uptime per minute. The reason is that you can get “unlucky” and have overlapping procs that refresh the buff, reducing the overall uptime. Hamlet has already described how to do this, so I won’t go into it here. This will reduce the effectiveness of Windsong, Dancing Steel, and River’s Song. The table below gives the time-averaged uptime of each of the enchants we’re interested in with and without this correction, assuming 10% spell haste: Enchant P (PPM) P*H*D/60 1-exp(-P*H*D/60) Windsong 2/3 0.1467 0.1364 Dancing Steel 2 0.4400 0.3560 River’s Song 4 0.5133 0.5133* In this case, the Windsong result is for any one of the three buffs – i.e., we get about 13.64% uptime on each one. River’s Song is a bit of a special case as well – the buff it grants stacks twice, which changes the uptime calculation a bit. In that case, we only care about the situations where we get 3 procs in a short time period, such that one of them is “wasted.” That’s a much more complicated probability question, and the result will be very small, so we’re going to ignore it for the purposes of this post. The effect this type of “munching” has on Colossus is harder to model. Colossus is 6 PPM, but it’s not a fixed-duration buff either. It lasts up to 10 seconds, but in practice it will be consumed much faster than that while you’re tanking. Exactly how fast depends on a myriad of factors – the boss’s attack speed, your avoidance, your attack speed, and what spells you cast (and in what order!). It’s too complicated a problem to accurately treat here, so we’re going to fudge the numbers a bit and assume about 10% Colossus munching, such that it completely offsets our haste bonus from Seal of Insight. This is almost certainly an overestimate of the munching effect, so our numbers for Colossus should be a lower bound on what you can reasonably expect. Analysis I had been saying that Dancing Steel was going to be better than River’s Song, but now I’m not so sure. Without the stacking mechanic the uptimes would be similar, which would give Dancing Steel the edge. But the stacking mechanic changes things – since it’s harder to waste a River’s Song proc we get considerably higher average uptime out of it. Dancing Steel still has some advantages – the ~587 average strength it provides gives you parry (which in some gear sets may be diminished less than dodge), plus some DPS, plus some SoI healing. But I’m not certain that it’s strictly superior to River’s Song (which gives ~847 dodge rating) anymore, even for raw avoidance. The math for Windsong is sort of interesting. Since each buff is independent, we get an average of 13.64% for each of the three buffs it can grant. That’s 1500 of each rating with 0.1364 uptime, or an average of ~205 rating of each type. If we ignore crit, that’s about 410 rating total, which seems like a lot more than the other options (for example, the weapon chain’s static 200 expertise). However, remember that in terms of raw TDR, haste is abysmal. Putting my current stats into my spreadsheet, I get the following stat weights: Armor 0.8358 Parry 0.4324 Dodge 0.4339 Strength 0.4224 Mastery 0.4380 Hit 0.2248 Expertise 0.1445 Haste 0.1722 So haste is about 0.1722/0.4380=39.3% as good as mastery for TDR. Having 205 haste and 205 mastery is roughly equivalent to having 286 mastery. To put that in terms of damage reduction, let’s use a simplistic model: the damage reduction is approximately equal to (SotR uptime)*rating/600, such that at 100% SotR uptime 600 rating gives 1% damage reduction. In practice, SotR uptime is generally only about 40-50%. If we take the generous assumption of 50% SotR uptime, that 286 rating is only 0.238% reduced damage taken. However, this is absolute damage taken, not relative damage taken. To get relative damage reduction, we’d need to divide by the amount we actually take (i.e. if we only take 70% of the damage that’s coming at us, it’s 0.00238/0.3=0.0079, or ~0.8% relative damage reduction). In practice, this number is about right. With my stat weights, my TDR is around 71.5%, or 28.5% of raw boss damage taken. So, using our guess of about 0.8% relative damage reduction, how much DTPS must we be seeing in logs for this to equal Colossus absorption? It should be (0.8%*DTPS)=800, or about 100k DTPS. Note that I’ve assumed that the free 10% spell haste we get from SoI is counteracted by Colossus munching, and haven’t included other haste contributions (spell haste raid buff, haste on gear, bloodlust, etc.). In practice both Windsong uptime and Colossus absorption per second will be a little higher because of those additional haste factors, and generally in Colossus’ favor. For example, in my gear set I have 4.14% haste, for 14.55% total before raid buffs and 20.28% after raid buffs, which means I’d be getting around 962 HPS from colossus and 14.82% uptime on Windsong (222 rating per buff, 310 effective mastery, 0.2583% absolute damage reduction, 0.8611% relative damage reduction), raising the threshold to 111.7k DTPS. These values are well above steady-state damage intake in heroic content (though on par with peak or high-damage periods). So in 5.1, Windsong will definitely not be the best TDR enchant. Colossus has it beat by a fair bit, and even during high-damage-intake situations they’ll be about equal. As of right now, Colossus’ proc rate is a little lower – on our last Stone Guard 25H kill, it procced 34 times for 272k absorption in about 7 minutes, for about 650 HPS. That’s still well ahead of Windsong’s TDR performance. In other words, if you are choosing Windsong for reasons of TDR, you’re doing it wrong. Control Considerations Now, you might argue that we’re not gearing for hit/exp/haste/mastery for the purposes of TDR, and you’d be right about that. We’re gearing for them because it gives us greater control over our survivability. But I think that’s makes for an even weaker argument for Windsong. Which gives you more reliable damage mitigation (or phrased another way, better smoothing): an 8k absorb every 10-12 seconds, or an uncontrollable proc that may or may not be up when you need it, and has a chance of giving you back-to-back crit procs that don’t help you? Personally, I’d take the 8k absorb. Because my usual death scenario is a 5-8 second window where I’m bursted down without enough healing. There’s a very good chance that I’ll have one Colossus proc in that window (at roughly 1 proc every 8.3 seconds with 20% raid-buffed haste, the overlap chance is greater than 65%). There’s a much smaller chance that I have a useful Windsong proc covering that window. Admittedly, if it does line up, it’s a much stronger defensive effect than an 8k absorb, but I’d rather have the 8k absorb ~80% of the time than the much larger effect 25% of the time (roughly estimating, 12s*(4/3)/60s=26.6%). There’s also something to be said for the Living Steel Weapon Chain. A static 200 expertise is always on, so it’s got the whole “consistency” thing in the bag. And it’s expertise, which we value much more highly than expertise or haste, right? Well, not exactly. If you can reach the caps via reforging already, all this enchant does for you is allow you to reforge less of that itemization on gear into expertise, and subsequently keep more mastery or haste. In that sense, it’s not worth 200 expertise, it’s worth 200 of whatever stat you’re reforging into after hit/exp caps – either 200 mastery or 200 haste. It’s only if you can’t reach the caps via just reforging that the enchant keeps its higher value as an expertise source. Conclusions Despite some early enthusiasm for Windsong, I think we can conclusively say that it isn’t as attractive as many thought it would be. In fact, despite the fact that we like haste and mastery, I think River’s Song is a stronger enchant. Remember that after hit/exp cap, avoidance is almost as good as haste and mastery, and River’s Song’s superior uptime gives you a lot more avoidance than Windsong gives haste and mastery. I still think Dancing Steel has some allure as well – the fact that it grants parry might make up for the lower uptime, but that will depend on exactly how lopsided the avoidance on your gear set is. In my setup, parry’s actually being diminished more than dodge, so River’s Song would hold a commanding lead over Dancing Steel in TDR and survivability. Your mileage may vary. For consistency, I think the Colossus enchant is unmatched. Yes, the absorb bubbles are small, but their reliability is what makes them attractive. Another 8k off of a 100k swing is still a good chunk, and in a longer death scenario I could get two of them. The fact that it’s fairly strong for TDR is a bonus. I’m mixed on the weapon chain. I think it’s a good option when you’re at low gear levels, and really need that 200 expertise to get closer to the expertise hard cap. Once you can do that with gear and reforging alone, it loses a lot of its allure. If I had to choose between a 200 haste enchant and Colossus, I think Colossus would win every time. So I think the chain is probably worth setting aside once your gear improves.

Netflix has announced that its ‘Post-Play’ feature, which plays the next episode in a TV series automatically at the end of an episode and that recommends similar titles at the end of a movie, is now available when casting to Google’s Chromecast device. It might not be a particularly new feature for iOS users but Android owners only got it in June this year, and it’s only today beginning to roll out for Android and iOS devices capable of sending content to a Chromecast dongle. Alas, if you’re a desktop user-only, you’ll have to wait for support for Post-Play to be added in the future; the company said it’s “coming soon”. ➤ Post-Play on Google Chromecast [Netflix] Image credit: Ryan Anson/AFP/Getty Images Read next: Google unveils Applause, a Hangouts on Air tool that lets viewers cheer and jeer in real-time

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The end of the year is fast approaching, but the fun doesn’t have to end after the ball drops in Times Square. When you’re ready to kick off your travel plans for 2018 and take a weekend getaway, check out our trending destinations for travel inspiration, and our new features to feel confident you’re getting a good deal. Get tips when the price is right Long weekends are a great excuse to escape to warmer weather, but worrying about getting the best price for your vacation can be stressful. A recent study we did indicated that travelers are most concerned about finding the best price for their vacations – more than with any other discretionary purchase. Google Flights can help you get out of town, even when you're on a budget. Using machine learning and statistical analysis of historical flights data, Flights displays tips under your search results, and you can scroll through them to figure out when it’s best to book flights. Say you were searching for flights to Honolulu, and flights from your destination were cheaper than usual. A tip would say that “prices are less than normal” and by how much to indicate you’d spotted a deal. Or, if prices tend to remain steady for the date and place you’re searching for, a tip would indicate the price “won’t drop further” based on our price prediction algorithms.

Papierfabrik Wolfswinkel is a disused paper mill about an hour from Berlin by train and bus (including waiting for connections) and an urbex enthusiast’s wet dream. Last week I met up with a couple of fellow Berliners eager to explore Berlin’s past through its abandoned buildings – Digital Cosmonaut and Irish Berliner of Abandoned Berlin. You can see Digital Cosmonaut’s post about our adventure here. After a couple of false starts due to the unsettled weather we decided to head to Eberswalde to check out Papierfabrik Wolfswinkel, which I first heard about when Sherry of Ottsworld took a Photo tour there during her time in Berlin as a guest blogger for Go With Oh. The abandoned paper factory at Wolfswinkel was built in 1762 and is listed as a Baudenkmal – recognition that it is a building of historic importance. The district of Barnim has a long tradition of paper production dating back to the 1530s and at one time the mills in the area were responsible for the production of all of the paper used by the Deutsches Reich for the printing of banknotes. Another mill in the area, Papierfabrik Spechthausen, produced the paper used to create the counterfeit pound notes for Operation Bernhard – an attempt to destabilise the British economy during the Second World War. In 1956, Papierfabrik Wolfswinkel took over the production of a famous handcrafted paper with a woodpecker watermark when the Papierfabrik Spechthausen was acquisitioned by the army. Unfortunately, the paper factory like many of Berlin’s abandoned buildings was a victim of German reunification. Paper production ceased in 1992, though it seems some stock still exists and the former owner has opened a paper museum on the site. Now, the factory is not a lot more than a shell. Here and there though there are some reminders of it’s industrial past in the machinery, vats and pipework that remain. And the various signs and writing on the walls. There was also a wealth of art throughout the building – so much that I will devote a whole post to it. Entering one of the buildings we stopped in our tracks when we heard what we first thought was machinery running. Having decided to carry on towards the source of the noise we were surprised to find it was water gushing from a stream outside and through the building. It was obvious as we were wandering around that some of the buildings are in use and ironically, as we started to think of going home we came across someone at the perimeter of the grounds who could tell from the way we were sneaking around that we didn’t have permission to be there. But much to our surprise, rather than telling us to leave, he told us that we should have reported ourselves when we arrived and to let him know when we were leaving. It seems that visitors are allowed at the site but in the interests of safety and in attempt to curb vandalism the owners like to know who is there. The one disappointment of the day was that it wasn’t possible to climb the tower we had seen from the outside of the building. The ladder that had presumably run up the inside of the tower had been removed. Climbing the pipework inside wouldn’t have got us very far so we had to be content with looking up into the empty space. But that was only a minor irritation after roaming around freely in the rest of the buildings. Even a sudden downpour as we left and made our way to the nearest bus stop couldn’t dampen my spirits. I had enjoyed exploring the abandoned Papierfabrik Wolfswinkel so much that wet jeans clinging to my thighs on the journey home was a small price to pay.

Crowdholding’s Pre-Sale — A Case Study Crowdholding Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 20, 2017 Crowdholding is a co-creation platform startup that is registered in the UK. We are aiming to allow both startups and the crowd to mutual prosper through co-creation and blockchain technology. On Sunday the 17th of September, Crowdholding concluded their pre-sale ICO, after 32 days, Crowdholding raised 514 Ethereum tokens, decimating our target of 200. We would firstly like to thank everyone who helped us achieve this target. This article will be a case study on how we went about implementing our pre-sale and what we have learnt to improve on for our ICO, which will launch on the 1st of November. Crowdholding Crowdholding was first conceived back in January 2016 between the three co-founders of the startup, from then on the startup has grown its product and size of its team. A working Beta was created back March 2017 and we have over 1200 users on the platform. Crowdholding moved towards a Initial coin offering as it was an opportunity to show the power of the crowd, receive feedback to improve user experience and keep control of our concept. Breakdown Our ICO starts on the 1st of November where 44% of the 631 million tokens will be on sale to the public, during the pre-sale 0.8% of all the tokens created were available for purchase. We set a goal of raising 200 Ethereum, and we were more than successful as we managed to raise over 500 in that period. The breakdown of the other token percentages can be found in the white paper here. Reason for our success There are a few reasons for our success during the pre-sale that will be implemented during the ICO. Strong organic marketing — Most of our marketing power was not spent on ads or paying for articles, but rather through content marketing, growth hacking and connecting with people who would be interested in our ideology. We made sure that we had all forms of communication. Social media channels and we were constantly pushing out new content. Strong customer service — We made sure that any curious visitor to the website were greeted with a someone from Crowdholding. If they had any doubts, questions or comments we were there to receive them and to reply back. This grows a strong relationship, and shows that we are here to advise and help. Use of Bounties — We made sure to use the public who would be interested in our concept / cryptocurrencies. Crowdholding used our own platform to structure bounties. Once this was created, the general public started to share and post to increase the visibility of Crowdholding. Improve through feedback — During the whole pre-sale we were constantly improving our website, whitepaper and presentations from feedback from the crowd. We cannot have an ideology praising the power of the crowd, if we do not utilize it as well. We value the crowd’s power so much we had bounty systems for feedback on our website and our whitepaper. Tracking what was successful and what wasn’t — ICO’s are still a new concept in investment and with any new investment idea, it can be difficult to market. We consistently looked at what channels worked and what channels were not as effective, which channels need more focus and which channels are growing so much, that they are sustaining themselves. What we learnt There were also some concepts we learnt and will add to make our ICO more successful: ICO’s are a global phenomenon and although China has recently banned ICO’s there is still a lot of different nations who are interested in ICO’s. We were a little late in getting translations and we will have more translations when the ICO comes around with research to back those markets. Connecting / networking — Because we were so focused on marketing and making sure we are connecting with people who visited our website, we didn’t have too many chances to get our ideology into events and network with cryptocurrency / blockchain enthusiasts face to face. We are now focusing on growing our team and networking so when it comes around to the 1st of November we will have a wider network to connect. We cannot wait for our ICO on the 1st of November, if you want to read more about our pre-sale and our concept, click here to read more.

ESPN broadcaster and former NFL head coach Jon Gruden, left, walks with his brother, Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden, after a recent practice. (Photo11: AP) Jon Gruden is strolling the streets of Georgetown in the nation's capital Sunday with his wife, Cindy, celebrating his 51st birthday by sharing memories of growing up with his best friend and notorious taunter – younger brother, Jay, the first-year Washington Redskins coach. As the former high-strung Oakland Raiders and Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach notes, Jay has the more even-keeled, less irritable coaching persona. "I wore my emotions on my sleeve. Jay is going to live a lot longer, happier life than me,'' the ESPN Monday Night Football analyst tells USA TODAY Sports. "He has a lot of work to do. Expectations are soaring in D.C. So I just hope for the best for Jay.'' Jon interviewed his younger brother Saturday in preparation for tonight's preseason telecast when Jay Gruden's Redskins host Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns. "Jay's team has a short week and a big game against Baltimore Saturday,'' Jon says. "So we didn't spend a lot of time reminiscing, eating birthday cake.'' But Jon Gruden spent 20 minutes recalling how ultra-competitive brothers grew up to answer their coaching calling, earning a Super Bowl ring together with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They had their share of fights growing up on the fields of northeast Ohio, but always had each other's back as sons of a football coach. Jim Gruden, an assistant under Notre Dame's Dan Devine, later served as San Francisco 49ers regional scout. "Jay and I are really close and I'm really proud of him, obviously,'' Jon says. "We were on the same baseball team. He was the second baseman. I was shortstop. He was always just better than me. Period. "We competed at everything from Wiffle Ball to tackle football. We fought a lot. But we also supported each other. "I could tell you a million stories.'' One stands out. Jon was proud of how hard he trained twice a day when he was Dayton's backup quarterback during the 1980s. "I'd challenge Jay every day to a 1.2-mile run I had mastered,'' Jon says. "Every day, he'd turn me down, lay on the floor drinking soda pop, chilling. "But one day, I said, 'Want to race?' And he got up and said, 'Let's go.' "And without doing any exercise in his life, he beat me by 250 yards and did the Rocky Balboa dance taunting me in the driveway. He still rubs that in my face. "That's when I realized I'm a small-college backup. And he's got a chance to be really good.'' Younger brother finished his 1985-1988 Louisville career with 7,024 yards passing (fourth all-time in school history), completing 572 of 1,049 passes for 44 touchdowns. As a senior, he led the 8-3 Cardinals to their first winning season in a decade. He was signed as Dan Marino's developmental backup on the 1989 Miami Dolphins before chasing his dream in the Arena League. "Howard Schnellenberger (Jay's coach at Louisville) would tell you, Jay had a lot to do with putting Louisville football back on the map,'' Jon says. "He was a heck of a quarterback, an Arena Bowl MVP. He just didn't get an NFL opportunity. And I think he still deep down has a chip on his shoulder because he didn't.'' After three years as Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator grooming quarterback Andy Dalton, Jay is tasked with helping Robert Griffin III take the next step as a polished pocket passer. "Jay is really good with quarterbacks, he can adjust to his personnel, the strengths and weaknesses of his quarterback,'' Jon said. "It's going to take time. He's implementing a new offense, changing to a degree the style of Robert. He's had tremendous success. And we all know what a tremendous athlete and a great kid (Griffin) is. "But maybe by improving within the pocket and utilizing his supporting cast, hopefully, Robert continues to grow in all areas.'' What will Jay's coaching identity be? "He's still writing his script,'' Jon says. "The Redskins won just three games last year. Hopefully, he gets the chance to put his program in place and see it grow. He's prepared himself well. "He was a head coach in the Arena League and United Football League. A lot of people roll their eyes at that. But he was in charge of a budget, had to find and release players, make all kind of game day decisions. "He's dealt with some real characters.'' The Gruden brothers realized the ultimate dream when they earned a Super Bowl XXXVII ring. "Jay didn't get a lot of credit for that ring,'' Jon says. "He was the guy I talked to in the press box every game day for seven years. In the Super Bowl, he called, '374 WASP' at the end of the first half, the fly stop from Brad Johnson to Keenan McCardell.'' That 5-yard touchdown put the Bucs up 20-3 at halftime en route to a 48-21 throttling of quarterback Rich Gannon's Oakland Raiders, whom Jon coached the previous four seasons. Jay was asked if big brother would go easy on him. "No,'' he says. "He called a couple of my games last year in Cincy. Jon is Jon. "He's going to be positive if he can. But if I do something that's out-of-line ignorant, I'm sure he'll call me on it. "Jon is obviously very good at what he does. And he won't jeopardize what he does for my feelings. He never has.'' Hey, older brother has to get payback for that Rocky Balboa taunt, right? "You're going to be second-guessed when things don't go well,'' Jon says. "You have a job to be yourself. I'll do the best I can to keep improving as an analyst. "I'm not going to go out of my way to destroy anybody. I just want to have fun, showcase our ESPN preparation.'' Jay and his family bought a home in the same neighborhood as RG3 and his wife. "Jay plays golf once in a while on those hills,'' Jon says. "And Robert is running up those same hills with a tire strapped to his back. I don't think they're on the same page in terms of how to use that golf course. "It's going to be a great battery. It's just like any great relationship. There will be times where they bump heads and have to fight through adversity. It might be Monday night.'' Jon told USA TODAY Sports if he had the No. 1 pick in the May draft, he would have taken Manziel, who gets his last shot to win the starting job from Brian Hoyer alternating first-team reps. "It's going to be a challenge alternating series,'' Jon says. "I never liked to do that. "I expect Johnny to improve every time out. "I don't think the crisis is, is he ready for opening day? It's get himself ready to be a starter, whether it's Week 1 this year or next. He's still raw.''

HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) can bounce back from the scandal over its rigging of diesel emissions tests in two to three years, its new CEO predicted on Thursday, as the carmaker outlined plans to recall 8.5 million affected vehicles in the European Union. Matthias Mueller, who took the helm last month after Europe’s biggest automaker admitted to cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests, said the German company needed to give more power to its brands and regional operations while working to get to the bottom of the biggest business scandal in its history. “We have a good chance of shining again in two to three years,” he said in a speech to Volkswagen managers in Leipzig. Volkswagen has said up to 11 million vehicles worldwide could contain banned software that allows them to know when they are being tested and temporarily reduce toxic emissions. The German company said on Thursday it would recall around 8.5 million vehicles affected in the European Union following an order from Germany’s KBA automotive watchdog, which is taking the lead for other national EU regulators. Volkswagen had said previously there were around 8 million vehicles affected in the EU. A spokesman said it was recalling a further 500,000 “voluntarily,” but did not know whether they might also contain the cheat software. The KBA said the recall, involving 2.4 million vehicles in Germany, should start at the beginning of next year and would be mandatory, meaning drivers do not get to chose whether or not to bring in their cars and vans for servicing. A recall of all 11 million vehicles would be among the biggest in history by a single automaker, similar in scale to Toyota’s 2009-2010 recall of more than 10 million vehicles over acceleration problems, though dwarfed by the number recalled by multiple carmakers due to faulty Takata air bags. Some analysts have said the scandal could cost Volkswagen as much as 35 billion euros (25.80 billion pound) to cover vehicle refits, regulatory fines and lawsuits. Prosecutors in Italy said on Thursday they were investigating local managers at Volkswagen and its Lamborghini sports car business for alleged fraud. Nearly four weeks after it publicly admitted to rigging U.S. emissions tests, Volkswagen is under pressure to identify those responsible. It has been criticised by politicians, investors and consumers for the time it is taking to produce answers. Two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday the company had suspended Falko Rudolph, who oversaw the development of diesel engines between 2006 and 2010, as part of its investigation into the wrongdoing, which has already seen three top engineers suspended. FUTURE OF DIESEL The scandal has wiped around a quarter off Volkswagen’s stock market value, forced out its long-time CEO and rocked the global auto industry and German establishment. “We will significantly streamline structures, processes and (decision-making) bodies. We must become leaner and take decisions more rapidly,” Mueller said of his recovery plan. “Our competitors are only waiting for us to fall behind on technology matters because we are so preoccupied with ourselves. But we won’t let that happen,” he added. German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said on Thursday the government should think about ending tax breaks for diesel cars and promoting electric ones, though she later said higher taxes for diesel vehicles were not on the agenda. Tax breaks have given a big boost to diesel vehicles in Europe, where they account for about a half of sales compared with just a small fraction in the United States. Abolishing them could have business implications for European carmakers including Renault (RENA.PA), Peugeot (PEUP.PA) and Fiat (FCHA.MI), as well as Volkswagen. France said on Wednesday it planned to reduce a tax break on diesel fuel. German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the KBA had given Volkswagen until the end of the month to come up with a plan for a software fix needed for 2.0 litre vehicles affected by the recall. Volkswagen logos adorn a sign outside a dealership for the German automaker located in the Sydney suburb of Artarmon, Australia, October 3, 2015. REUTERS/David Gray The carmaker has until the end of November to come up with a technical solution for 1.6 and 1.2 litre vehicles, he added. Volkswagen has said it aims to complete a refit of all affected vehicles by the end of 2016, with some requiring more complex and expensive changes to hardware. Germany had previously said 2.8 million Volkswagen vehicles were affected by the scandal in the country. Dobrindt said only 2.4 million needed to be recalled because the other 400,000 were no longer on the roads. He reiterated the affected vehicles were safe and could be driven as normal.

Sponsors and government officials marched away from the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Monday — with the New York Yankees, JetBlue and even the city’s top cop ditching the event over its decision to honor a deadly terror organization’s kingpin. Police Commissioner James O’Neill cited the bloodshed caused by the Puerto Rican nationalist group once run by Oscar López Rivera, who will be hailed at the June 11 march by the organizers of the annual celebration. “I can’t support a man who was the co-founder of an organization that engaged in over 120 bombings, six people killed and seriously injured police officers,” O’Neill said. “I usually do march in most of the parades with the fraternal organizations, but I am not going to be marching this year . . . I am not going to march.” Before President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January, López Rivera spent 36 years in prison for his role as a leader of the FALN, which was behind a series of bloody attacks, including the 1975 bombing of Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan that killed four people and a blast that maimed a cop at Police Headquarters in 1982. López Rivera’s defenders say he never directly participated in plotting a terror attack. The Yankees and JetBlue had been slated as sponsors of the parade, but both issued statements Monday announcing they would not take part, citing the López Rivera furor. They join another major sponsor, Goya Foods, which also recently bailed out. The Yankees’ boycott particularly stings. Bronx Bombers who have graced the parade include Puerto Rican native Bernie Williams. “The New York Yankees are not participating in this year’s Puerto Rican Day parade,” the team said in a statement. “However, for many years, the Yankees have supported a scholarship program that recognizes students selected by the parade organizers. To best protect the interests of those students, and avoid any undue harm to them, the Yankees will continue to provide financial support for the scholarships, and will give to the students directly.” The Yankees had no further comment. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is expected to march in the parade, said he had “respect” for O’Neill’s views, but defended his own decision to participate. “This is a very important event in New York City,” he told NY1 Monday night. “Look, the parade decided to honor a certain individual, but that does not change the basic nature of the parade, and what it means to the city, so I look forward to marching.” JetBlue, which was named the official airline of the parade, said it pulled out because “it became clear that the debate about this year’s parade was dividing the community and overshadowing the celebration of Puerto Rican culture that we had set out to support.” JetBlue said it would direct its funds to support scholarships for “Puerto Rican students in both New York and Puerto Rico.” “We did not make this decision lightly and hope all sides will come together to engage in a dialogue about the parade’s role in unifying the community at a time when Puerto Rico needs it most,” JetBlue said in a statement. It was unclear if other sponsors will bail out. They include AT&T, Coca-Cola, CUNY, the Daily News and the United Federation of Teachers. A police union is urging the companies to back out or face boycotts by its members. “We are asking our members not to participate in the Puerto Rican Day parade. More importantly, as long as Oscar López Rivera is allowed to participate, we will be asking our members to boycott any corporation that continues to help fund this event,” said Lou Turco, president of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association. see also JetBlue pulls out of Puerto Rican Day Parade amid controversy JetBlue Airways has pulled out as a sponsor of the... He said his members should remember come election time which politicians supported the release of a “convicted terrorist.” “We support the NYPD members who were seriously injured and the families of the innocent people who lost their lives during these attacks throughout the United States and in our city,” Turco said. “We took an oath to protect and serve the people. Unfortunately, this year’s views and values of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade committee do not conform with the society’s mission of promoting peace and unity.” Detectives’ Endowment Assocation president Michael Palladino slammed City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for her role in advancing López Rivera’s release and parade honor. “When elected, the speaker took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Mark-Viverito violates that oath every time she celebrates this terrorist,” Palladino said. The speaker, a native of Puerto Rico, said she was “disappointed” by sponsors that quit the parade, saying they acted based on “misinformation” and “lies.” She said the police unions put out “inflammatory statements.” She said the support for López Rivera was about “human rights,” not politics.

Day 6 Team NB vs SK Telecom T1 S Match 1 SKTS Picks: Renekton, Evelynn, Orianna, Vayne, Sona SKTS Bans: Anivia, Annie, Sivir NB Picks: Singed, Lee Sin, Zed, Lucian, Soraka NB Bans: Elise, Syndra, Rengar NB’s duo lane went top to make 2v1 lanes at game start, Pony took starfall first to almost immediately push the wave into the turret. H0R0 roamed top immediately after taking double buffs and secured first blood on asd. Both junglers moved to support top lane, resulting in SKTS taking bottom turret shortly before NB could reply with top turret. SKTS then roamed into NB’s blue jungle and stole the buff followed by the first dragon. SKTS then roamed into NB’s Red jungle, killing Longpanda and taking that buff as well. Both teams moved to dragon as it respawned. SKTS took the dragon then engaged, taking a 5/0 teamfight followed by the 1st and 2nd mid turrets. NB immediately rushed mid to attempt to reply with SKTS mid turret. SKTS engaged and took a 3/0 teamfight followed by NB’s mid inhibitor, trading for their bottom turret to Elf’s split push. SKTS then roamed top, took 2 more unanswered kills and the 2nd top turret. Then bottom another kill and the 2nd bottom turret. NB attempted an engagement as SKTS sieged bottom but SKTS took 4 more kills and closed out the game. Match 2 NB Picks: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Ezreal, Annie NB Bans: Syndra, Rengar, Kassadin SKTS Picks: Rumble, Lee Sin, Zed, Lucian, Taric SKTS Bans: Sivir, Evelyn, Gragas The teams started standard lanes. H0R0 ganked top just before 6 minutes but minjae and Elf followed up, ending in a 2/1 fight for NB. BANG and Wolf dove asd and pony, forcing them out of lane, allowing H0R0 and Wolf to take dragon while bottom lane was empty. Just before dragon respawned, both junglers ganked bottom, resulting in a 3/1 fight, bottom turret, and a second dragon for SKTS. Your members of NB grouped up mid, potentially to gank, but left when Easyhoon backed off, allowing Easyhoon to take mid turret for free. SKTS ganked bottom just before 20 minutes, trading 2nd bottom turret for their top turret after a 1/1 fight. NB moved to mid turret to kill Wolf then pushed into their red jungle and were ambushed by SKTS. SKTS came out of the fight 4/0 then took their third dragon while MaRin destroyed top turret. Both teams moved to mid lane, SKTS killed pony in a pick and both teams engaged, resulting in a total 4/3 teamfight for SKTS. Both teams returned mid, SKTS got a pick on asd then took 2nd mid turret. SKTS moved toward Baron to set up a pick. MaRin baited an engagement that resulted in a 1/0 teamfight for SKTS after which they took baron and began to split push all three lanes. Easyhoon quickly took 2nd top turret then SKTS began a prolonged siege, bring NB’s mid and bottom inhibitor turrets low before baron buff expired. After backing to buy, SKTS split push mid and bottom lanes. After scoring a kill on pony, SKTS took both turrets and mid inhibitor before NB engaged. SKTS came out of the fight 4/1 and took the Nexus. KT Rolster Bullets vs NaJin Black Sword Match 1 Bullets Picks: Lee Sin, Elise, Nidalee, Ezreal, Leona Bullets Bans: Lucian, Mundo, Annie Sword Picks: Rengar, Olaf. Syndra, Vayne, Sona Sword Bans: Kassadin, Sivir, Evelynn Teams began with 2v1 lane, Swords duo going top. At 6 minutes KaKAO moved to the tribush behind Expession’s turret and placed a ward for InSec to teleport in. Expession read the dive and backed off just in time. Bullets traded their top turret for the first dragon. Sword switched their duo lanes bottom to allow Expession to farm the empty lane. When dragon respawned, Bullets ran interference while KaKAO soloed it. Bullets then pushed Sword out of their blue jungle and took bottom turret. inSec was caught invading Sword’s red jungle but escaped into mid lane and finished off a kill on Peng. Bullets then returned mid to siege and took mid turret. Sword attempted to take the next dragon but Bullets catch and kill Expession then take their third dragon of the game. Bullets begin moving around Baron to deny vision, ultimately taking top turret while Sword piles in to take their mid turret. Bullets traveled to bottom lane to siege the 2nd turret. After an engage by Sword resulting in no deaths, Sword was forced to back while Bullets took the turret. KaKAO then secured Bullet’s fourth dragon. InSec started farming bottom lane, baiting out 3 members of Sword to attempt a gank while his team began Baron. After avoiding all of Sword's abilities, InSec teleported to Baron to take the objective. Bullets used the buff to rapidly secure the 2nd mid and top turrets. Sword attempted to engage mid lane ending in a perfect 5/0 teamfight for Bullets. Bullets capitalized on the fight and pushed mid all the way to the Nexus. Match 2 Sword Picks: Rengar, Evelynn, Syndra, Twitch, Sona Sword Bans: Lee Sin, Kassadin, Lucian Bullets Picks: Olaf, Elise, Orianna, Ezreal, Taric Bullets Bans: Mundo, Annie, Sivir Sword late invaded Bullets blue buff at level 1 resulting in a stand off. Mafa attempted an engage which ultimately resulted in PraY getting first blood. With the number advantage, Watch stole Bullets blue and secured a large cs lead for both Sword’s solo lanes. Bullets duo lane moved top while Sword stayed bottom, resulting in 2v1 lanes. Sword took bottom turret then rotated to take the first dragon while Bullets took top turret and stole Sword’s blue. Sword repeatedly ganked Ryu mid, either killing him or pushing him out of lane to put him further behind after his deficit from level 1. Sword eventually took mid turret off of the pressure then rotated top to kill InSec. Sword took their second dragon when it respawned with no contest from Bullets. An engagement by Bullets in bottom lane leads to an extended 2/2 teamfight. Sword picked up 2 more kills before both teams moved toward the next dragon. Bullets contested, killed Expession, and took the third dragon. Sword made repeated successful picks on KaKAO which they attempt to convert into Baron. The first attempt resulted in Bullets rushing mid turret and taking it out from under Sword, although Sword was able to secure the fourth dragon. The second attempt resulted in a 3/3 teamfight. After both teams respawned, Bullets rushed Baron and secured it for themselves then engaged on Sword but losing the resulting teamfight. Bullets returned and took dragon then rotated to also secure bottom turret. Sword attempted to siege mid turret but KaKAO initiated on Peng for a 3/0 teamfight for Bullets who pushed all the way in to take Sword’s mid inhibitor. Both teams returned mid and Sword attempted another engagement. Bullets won the teamfight 4/0 then pushed in and took the Nexus. Day 7 CJ Entus Frost vs JinAir Falcons Match 1 Falcons Picks: Renekton, Elise, Tryndamere, Ezreal, Karma Falcons Bans: Nunu, Rengar, Sivir Frost Picks: Mundo, Olaf, Kayle, Vayne, Taric Frost Bans: Shyvana, Annie, Lucian Frost invaded Falcon’s blue, resulting in the teams trading blue buffs and 2v1 lane matchups with Frost’s duo going top. Falcons’ duo took their turret first in bottom lane at 7 minutes. Roar forced Shy out of lane, allowing Falcons to safely secure the first dragon at 9 minutes. At 10 minutes, Frost finally took top turret while Falcons took the 2nd bottom turret. ActScene ganked middle, pushing MakNoon back while Falcons entire team grouped mid, taking mid turret at 11 minutes and almost destroying the 2nd mid turret while Frost took the 2nd top turret. Space and Reapered both rotated bottom to split push while the rest of their teams went top. Falcons sieged Frost’s turret until Frost engaged 4v4 and MakNoon took first blood at 14 minutes. Reapered rotated top to split push against shy as both teams roamed to dragon, Falcons securing their second dragon at 16 minutes. Frost ganked Reapered and killed him 3v1 while Falcons group mid and took 2nd mid turret, ending in a trade as MakNoon took bottom turret solo. At 21 minutes Falcons took control of vision around Baron and waited for a pick. Falcons ambushed Helios and forced out his Ragnarok and Ghost to get away then began Baron while MakNoon and Space were taking dragon. shy and Madlife rushed the pit and shy killed starlast as Falcons took Baron. The teams fought and Frost won the fight 4/2 but were too low to take an objective. Upon respawning, Falcons rushed top and took top turret at 24 minutes then attempted to push in and group siege the 2nd turret. Frost engaged once again, winning another 4/2 teamfight. Frost grouped mid at 27 minutes with shy split pushing bottom. MiSo was caught out a killed and Frost immediately took mid turret. MakNoon roamed bot to join shy and both lanes dove Falcons, Reapered dying bottom but no turrets taken. Frost backed off and took their second dragon. shy remained bottom, forcing Reapered to stay with him while the rest of Frost started clearing Baron area. shy baited Reapered into an all in, allowing Space to roam bottom and take the kill. Frost then moved to Baron. Falcons engaged and shy teleported into the fight from bottom lane. Frost killed MiSo and took Baron then piled in mid lane, taking 2nd mid turret then 2nd bottom turret and group sieging the lane. Falcons engaged again, Frost taking the teamfight 2/1 as well as mid and bottom inhibitors before backing off, securing their third dragon, and buying. Frost pushed in mid lane, took the final inhibitor at 38 minutes and scored 3 more kills before taking the Nexus. Match 2 Frost Picks: Shen, Elise, Kassadin, Ezreal, Taric Frost Bans: Sivir, Annie, Shyvana Falcons Picks: Lissandra, Riven, Tryndamere, Lucian, Karma Falcons Bans: Mundo, Kayle, Olaf Frost unsuccessfully attempted to late invade Falcons’ blue. Teams moved into standard lane matchups with duo lanes top. ActScene invaded red with Reapered, scoring first blood on Helios and stealing red. Both junglers ganked mid at 6 minutes, ending with a double kill for Reapered. As Frosts blue respawned, Actscene invaded with Falcons’ duo lane, stealing blue and killing Helios and Space while Reapered killed MakNoon under tower when he attempted to assist. MakNoon and shy switched lanes while Reapered and ActScene took the first dragon at 10 minutes. Meanwhile, MiSo teleported top and killed Frost’s duo lane 3v2, taking the score to 8/0 then securing the top turret. Both duo lanes rotated bottom, ActScene showing up in lane 2 minutes later and pushing Frost out while they took bottom turret. Frosts 3 man dove Reapered top, killing him then taking the turret while the remainder of Falcons traded for Frost’s mid turret. Frost managed to pick Roar as he was withdrawing from bottom then pushed in the lane and 5v4 dove bottom turret, losing the fight to Falcons 5/2 while Reapered took 2nd top turret. After respawning, Falcons went directly to Baron and snuck the objective at 16 minutes. Falcons immediately ambushed Frost with the buff, resulting in a 3/0 teamfight, and then rotated to take their second dragon. Reapered moved to bottom and pushed to the 2nd turret to set up for a 5v4 tower dive, taking 2 kills and then 2nd bottom turret. When Frost respawned, Falcons dove again, taking another kill and the bottom inhibitor. The kill gap grew to 19/4. MakNoon was ambushed and killed in top lane, allowing Falcons to 5 man siege mid, taking another kill and the mid inhibitor at 21 minutes. With both inhibitors down, Falcons rotated to top lane with Tryndamere split pushing bottom. Frost engaged under top turret 5v4 and won a 4/1 teamfight while minions destroyed one of the Nexus turrets. Falcons respawned and took their second Baron then pushed in to retake bottom and mid inhibitors before returning to siege top lane. Falcons engaged under turret for a 5/2 teamfight and the Nexus. Day 8 SK Telecom T1 K vs CJ Entus Blaze Match 1 SKTK Picks: Shyvana, Olaf, Gragas, Sivir, Lulu SKTK Bans: Annie, Lee Sin, Caitlyn Blaze Picks: Rengar, Mundo, Lucian, Thresh Blaze Bans: Taric, Elise, Evelynn Blaze invaded blue buff, forcing SKTK to trade for their buff. The lanes began with 2v1 matchups with Blaze’s duo lane going top. Both junglers moved to support their 1v2 lane, DayDream scoring first blood on Piglet before 4 minutes. After another unsuccessful gank bottom, SKTK’s duo lane froze the lane to farm under their turret while Blaze continued to pressure the tower top. SKTK 3 man dove and killed Ambition mid just before 9 minutes.They then moved toward dragon to bait a check and scored another kill on LustBoy before taking the first dragon, trading for their top turret at 10 minutes. After securing top turret, Blaze’s duo lane rotated bottom for a 2v2 matchup. Bengi ganked mid at 13 minutes. Faker killed Ambition and they took mid turret. Impact and Bengi roamed bottom, counterengaging when their duo baited a jungle gank from Blaze. SKTK scored a triple kill bottom while Faker killed Ambition in the river, resulting in a 4/0 fight and a 7/1 kill score at 15 minutes. Faker killed DayDream in his own jungle, resulting in a skirmish mid that scored 2 more kills for SKTK. SKTK used the number advantage to secure their second dragon. SKTK grouped bottom to push while Impact split push against Flame top. Blaze defends for some time but is forced to respond when Faker starts pushing mid. SKTK killed Pact Jack and took 2nd bottom turret at 22 minutes. Blaze attempted a pick on Impact in the jungle but SKTK took 2nd mid turret then killed DayDream and forced Blaze to retreat, securing SKTK the 2nd top turret as well. Faker caught Ambition in mid lane at 25 minutes and SKTK sieged mid with a number advantage, forcing Blaze off their turret and taking the mid inhibitor. With a 13/1 kill score and over 15k gold lead for SKTK, Blaze surrendered at 26 minutes. Match 2 Blaze Picks: Mundo, Xin Zhao, Gragas, Lucian, Taric Blaze Bans: Anivia, Caitlyn, Lee Sin SKTK Picks: Rengar, Olaf, Nidalee, Vayne, Nami SKTK Bans: Sivir, Elise, Evelynn SKTK invaded Blaze’s red while Blaze invaded SKTK’s blue. Both teams ran into each other in the river on their way into bottom lane, resulting in a 2/1 fight for Blaze with Flame taking Blaze’s red buff back from Bengi. When everyone had returned, the lanes were traditional matchups with duo lanes bottom. Bengi and Impact caught Flame and DayDream stealing SKTK’s wolves and fought, coming out with 2/1 fight for SKTK and giving a double kill and double buffs to Impact. DayDream roamed to bottom at 7 minutes, pushed in the lane and moved to dragon. SKTK contested 4v4. Blaze secured the dragon despite Faker killing DayDream with a spear. Blaze retreated over the wall. Ambition and DayDream roamed bottom at 11 minutes to tower dive SKTKs duo lane. Faker way caught by the two in the river but escaped, drawing them into the river while Bengi ganked bottom and got a double kill. Flame was forced to cancel his teleport and SKTK took bottom turret. Blaze returned with DayDream and took bottom turret, but Bengi and Faker roamed bottom, killing Blaze’s duo lane yet again. SKTK moved to dragon but Ambition stole it with his ultimate. SKTK’s due lane rotated top, catching Flame teleporting onto his tower with Bengi. They chased Flame down to his 2nd turret but Blaze turned and killed Impact. Bengi and Faker used the distraction to take mid turret. Blaze’s duo lane remained top to keep the 2v2 matchup while Flame rotated to bottom against Impact. Skirmishes broke out in all 3 lanes, resulting in another kill for each team and Ambition taking mid turret. As dragon respawned, SKTK grouped in the bottom river and secured it at 20 minutes without contest. Blaze grouped top with Flame teleporting in to siege top turret but were repelled by SKTK. Upon respawn, both teams grouped at dragon. Blaze managed to kill Impact then secured their third dragon. Blaze then roamed top, killing Impact again under his turret and taking 2nd top turret before being driven away. Blazed recalled and SKTK started Baron while top lane pushed. Top turret fell to minions and SKTK left Baron, rotating into Blaze’s blue jungle and forcing them to take the long way around while they took the 2nd top turret. SKTK engaged as the turret fell. During a prolonged fight, SKTK took the top inhibitor and a 2/1 teamfight. Blaze pursued as SKTK backed off, preventing them from recalling and then rotating to Baron to take it while SKTK was too low to contest. Blaze them moved to dragon and secured that as well, obtaining a gold lead. Despite the active Baron buff on Blaze, SKTK immediately pushed down mid lane and took the 2nd mid turret, making the gold almost dead even at 35 minutes. After Baron buff expired, SKTK began sieging mid lane once again. Blaze engaged, both teams becoming very low and backing off without any kills. Baron respawned and both teams began vying for vision in the river, SKTK securing dragon and Flame split pushing bottom during the contest. SKTK grouped mid and almost destroyed the mid inhibitor turret before Blaze repelled them as SKTK’s 2nd bottom turret dropped to minions. Impact was forced to return to base to deal with the huge minion waves pushing in the side lanes and Blaze started Baron. Impact rushed back and SKTK engaged in Baron pit. Bengi stole Baron and SKTK won the teamfight 3/2. SKTK pushed mid, scored another kill, and took mid and top inhibitors. With top and mid pushing, SKTK grouped bottom at 45 minutes and took the bottom mid and inhibitor turrets, losing Impact to Blaze during the conflict. SKTK backed off and took another dragon. Blaze’s inhibitors respawned and SKTK returned bottom. Blaze engaged once again. SKTK won the fight 1/0 then took the bottom and mid inhibitors. SKTK backed yet again and Baron respawned. SKTK stood in Baron pit while mid and bottom pushed. Blaze was forced to return to defend and SKTK tok Baron for free at 51 minutes. SKTK took top inhibitor and Blaze engaged. SKTK won the fight 5/1 and took the Nexus at 52 minutes. Samsung Galaxy Blue vs Incredible Miracle #2 Match 1 IM#2 Picks: Mundo, Elise, Gragas, Vayne, Annie IM#2 Bans: Lucian, Riven, Sivir Blue Picks: Rengar, Lee Sin, Orianna, Twitch, Karma Blue Bans: Nidalee, Olaf, Syndra IM#2’s duo lane hid to the top bush with PLL to ambush Acorn as he came into lane, forcing out his flash when he went to check the bush. PLL then teleported bottom to make 2v1 lanes with IM#2 in top lane. Spirit took both his buffs then moved top to support Acorn in lane while Reign over stole his jungle then ganked mid to give Kuro first blood at 4 minutes. Blue engaged top, trading Acorn for Ondal 1/1. Blue engaged top once again at 6 minutes, taking a 2/1 trade while their duo lane killed PLL bottom. Spirit roamed down and took the first dragon with Blues duo lane. At 10 minutes IM#2 took top turret while Spirit ganked bottom, scoring another kill on PLL and taking bottom turret for Blue. With the side towers down, IM#2’s duo lane rotated bottom and Blue’s duo rotated mid. IM#2 attempted to group invade and steal red at 13 minutes but Blue responded, winning a 2/1 teamfight. IM#2 took bottom turret then both teams moved to dragon at 14 minutes. Blue engaged as IM#2 began the objective. IM#2 took the dragon, but Blue took a 5/3 teamfight. The stream became intermittent at this point. From here in it is only what I could piece together. At 21 minutes IM#2 grouped mid and attempted to take mid turret. Blue engaged, resulting in a 1/1 teamfight then a re engagement and another 1/1 trade. At some point afterward Blue took mid turret. At 29 minutes IM#2 attempted Baron. Blue engaged in Baron pit but IM#2 took the teamfight 5/0 and Baron. IM#2 then pushed in to take the mid turret. AT 31 minutes IM#2 pushed in top while PLL split bottom. IM#2 took 2nd top turret and engaged. Although Blue came away from the fight 1/0, they were all forced to back and IM#2 took a Nexus turret. At 36 minutes IM#2 engaged on Blue, winning a 4/3 teamfight. IM#2 attempted Baron but PawN stole the buff At 39 minutes IM#2 engaged on Blue in their base, taking a 4/0 teamfight and the Nexus. Match 2 Blue Picks: Rengar, Elise, Katarina, Caitlyn, Thresh Blue Bans: Olaf, Annie, Vayne IM#2 Picks: Riven, Evelynn, Syndra, Ezreal, Tariic IM#2 Bans: Lucian, Sivir. Orianna IM#2 started by giving blue to Kuro while Reign over took red. They then invaded Blue’s blue jungle with 4 members and took first blood on Acorn. IM#2 then moved their duo lane to top to make 2v1 lanes. Deft remained bottom to solo lane against PLL while Heart roamed mid with Spirit. Together with PawN they killed Kuro and gave blue buff to PawN. Reign over ganked bottom twice, the 2nd time resulting in a 1/1 trade. At 6 minutes Spirit ganked mid again and gave another kill to PawN. Acorn roamed at level 6 and ganked mid, taking Kuro very low. When Kuro didn’t back, Blue used the advantage to take the first dragon at 9 minutes. Reign over ganked bottom yet again at 10 minutes. Spirit counter ganked and the fight ended in a 1/1 trade when BenKyo killed Deft with his ultimate from across the map. Despite an even trade, Blue forced Reign over back and took bottom turret. IM#2 grouped mid and pushed, forcing Blue to defend. BenKyo almost took top turret while Blue was on the defense but Blue roamed top, killed BenKyo, and took top turret for a 2/0 turret score at 15 minutes. IM#2 moved to dragon and Blue engaged on them. IM#2 took the dragon but Blue won the following teamfight 3/2. Blue scored another pick on PLL in top lane then grouped mid, catching and killing Reign over before taking mid turret at 18 minutes. Acorn pushed top, PawN mid, and the rest of blue bottom until dragon respawned at 21 minutes. Blue’s bottom lane backed to dragon and took their second dragon unopposed. Blue rotated top and attempted to get a pick in IM#2’s red jungle. IM#2 took the fight 2/0 and quickly secured mid turret with their number advantage. Blue grouped mid again at 27 minutes, diving IM#2 for a 3/1 teamfight and taking 2nd mid turret. Blue then moved to dragon and began taking it. The remaining 2 members of IM#2 attempted to interfere but Blue took the dragon and killed them both for a delayed ace. Both teams grouped mid and Blue engaged and came out of the fight 5/0 and took mid inhibitor then retreated to Baron and took it before IM#2 could reach them. After recalling, Blue group bottom lane, taking the 2nd turret uncontested. Blue unsuccessfully dove IM#2 under turret, losing PawN, but managed to destroy the bottom inhibitor turret. They then backed and took their third dragon at 35 minutes. Blue returned mid and took both exposed inhibitors then fought IM#2, resulting in no kills. After backing, Blue and IM#2 moved to the newly respawned Baron. Blue waited until the super minions were on the IM#2’s Nexus turrets before starting. Half of IM#2 backed and Blue secured the buff. Blue pushed in, took a 4/1 teamfight, and claimed the Nexus. Group Standings Group A Team W/T/L Points SK Telecom T1 K 3/0/0 9 SK Telecom T1 S 1/1/1 4 CJ Entus Blaze 0/1/1 1 Team NB 0/0/2 0 Group B Team W/T/L Points KT Rolster Bullets 1/1/0 4 Samsung Galaxy Blue 0/3/0 3 Najin Black Sword 0/2/1 2 Incredible Miracle #2 0/2/0 2 Group C Team W/T/L Points Samsing Galaxy Ozone 2/0/0 6 NaJin White Shield 1/0/0 3 Alienware Arena 1/0/1 3 Team Dark 0/0/3 0 Group D Team W/T/L Points CJ Entus Frost 1/1/0 4 Xenics Storm 1/0/0 3 JINAIR Greenwings Falcons 0/2/1 2 JINAIR Greenwings Stealths 0/1/1 1 (Click the present to find out what it is!) Trends First and foremost, Team Dark was disqualified from OGN Winter since the last article based on their last game vs Ozone in the previous week. As a result, Alienware is automatically considered to have gone 2/0 against them in their scheduled match. Patch 3.14 was introduced into OGN this week and with it we see some huge shifts in the game. Siege compositions have dropped and split push and teamfight compositions have made their triumphant return. Some new champions have also made it into the upper echelons of pick and ban which I will be going over. Olaf and Syndra were both reintroduced into gameplay, their bugs having been corrected with the latest patch. Both had extremely high priority in week 1 with 100% and 83% pick ban ratios. Olaf came back in very strong with an 80% pick/ban this week, placing him at 91% overall and maintaining a respectable 60% win ratio after doubling his number of games played. Syndra had a less impressive return with a 60% pick/ban, putting her at 73% overall. This probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since her win total remains 0% after quadrupling her games played. With the new patch come in some crazy pick/ban numbers for a few champions who were unpicked until this week. Sivir came out the strongest with 100% pick ban and 100% win ratio (although she was only let through for a single game). This comes as no surprise as her update makes her extremely slippery and gives her insane waveclear, perfect for the Korean split push meta. Coming in at a close 2nd was Rengar with a 90% pick/ban, although his in game performance was less impressive (if a bit more informative) at a 50% win/loss over 6 games. He came in as a bit of a surprise despite the large amount of play he has been seeing on the solo queue scene. It seems most of the pro teams love to have him roam the moment he hits 6, trying to gank other lanes with his ultimate. Tying for 3rd of the newcomers are Taric, Mundo, and Evelyn all at 70% pick/ban. Among these priority picks, Mundo was the surprising champion with a 75% win ratio over 4 games. Next was Taric with a 50% win ratio across 6 games. Finally Evelynn made it through only 2 games and came out with a 50% win ratio. Taric saw a huge buff with 3.14 which gives him great scaling and the ability to absolutlely destroy a lane opponent by shredding their armor and letting his marksman melt them. The vision changes have made an Evelynn an absolute terror. Mundo was a surprise hit and a huge success. Although there were no direct changes to him, the new defensive masteries have made him nearly unkillable and make him a real pain at all stages of the game. Among the old guard, Elise remains the queen of the pick/ban phase. Still 100% pick/ban three weeks into the season. Although her pick number have been impressive, she did have a rough week on Summoner’s Rift, dropping from a 90% to a 76% win ratio. Behind the Queen, Lucian remains the prince. After this week he actually shows a small increase in his numbers, rising from 96% to 97% pick/ban and bringing his abysmal 31% to 33%. Annie remains on the top of the charts as well, dropping ever so slightly to a 94% pick/ban while maintaining her 50% win ratio. Behind her is Lee Sin despite dropping 7% to an 85% pick/ban and losing a bit of his Rift cred by coming perilously close to 50/50 with his 53% win ratio. Behind Lee is Nid, the new patch and her nerfs throwing her numbers in the dumpster. Nidalee dropped 20% in pick/ban to now sit at 76% pick/ban despite taking her win ratio from 33% to 60% this week. Also suffering is Shyvana, her pick/ban continuing its descent at 56% and her win ratio following right after to 57% Everyones favorite mid matchup showed up a few more times this week after a dip in week 2. Orianna vs Gragas has now shown up in 18% of all games this season. Orianna came back from a devastating first week and is now 4-2 against Gragas. It looks like the patch hasn’t affected their priority, we will see if Gragas can make a comeback before we hit the Round of 8.

2.2k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard In a Sunday interview with CBS’ Bob Schieffer, GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush credited his brother George W. Bush with keeping America safe and “protecting the homeland”. Jeb said he learned from his brother’s ”success” at protecting the homeland. Schieffer asked Jeb Bush pointedly about his brother: What do you think you learned from him, successes and mistakes? Jeb responded by saying: Well, the successes clearly are protecting the homeland. We were under attack, and he brought — he unified the country and he showed dogged determination. And he kept us safe. Of course in arguing that his brother kept America safe, Jeb is rather conveniently glossing over the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Rather than protecting the homeland, George W. Bush presided over the worst terrorist attacks in history on U.S. soil. However, instead of acknowledging that intelligence failures while his brother was in the White House made America less safe, Jeb instead tries to pretend that his brother’s presidency began on September 12, 2001. This way he can argue that George W. Bush heroically rescued America from the terrorists and made us safe, while ignoring that it was the Bush White House that was in charge when the twin towers and the Pentagon were attacked by terrorists. Republican revisionists have long tried to argue that George W. Bush kept America safe, by conveniently ignoring the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. For example, in January 2010, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani astonishingly claimed that America “had no domestic attacks” under President George W. Bush. Somehow Mayor Giuliani’s partisan amnesia made him completely forget that terrorists had launched an attack on his city, under George W. Bush’s watch, killing nearly 3,000 people and knocking down the twin towers of the iconic World Trade Center. Giuliani was the mayor of New York City at the time. He probably should have remembered that day, but apparently it slipped his mind, while he was comparing Bush’s record to Obama’s record on preventing terrorism. Republicans are in such deep denial about the failures of the George W. Bush administration, that they have created a mythology surrounding the former president, recasting him as a courageous hero who protected the homeland from all acts of terrorism. The myth is so deeply internalized that Republicans choose not to even remember 9/11 as occurring during those Bush years. If Jeb Bush thinks George W. Bush’s greatest success is protecting Americans from terrorism, he has set the bar very low. In that case, Jeb Bush, like his brother, is not fit to be President of the United States. If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:

Flight will replace TUr Door and Owl Loop, and be usable through a smartphone app. Temple Student Government is working with Facilities and Campus Safety to launch a brand new bus service on Main Campus. The new service, called Flight, will replace the current systems of TUr Door and Owl Loop. Flight is free and will operate in the same service area as TUr Door—from Cumberland to Girard streets, and 5th to 20th streets. The 5:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. operating times will also remain the same. The main difference between Flight and TUr Door and Owl Loop is Flight will up pick students from their residences, whereas the old services would just drop them off. Students can request the bus to pick them up by typing in their address to an app called TapRide. “TapRide will allow you to go in and demand a car just like Uber,” Student Body President Ryan Rinaldi said. “You go in and select where you want to go and it’ll take you there,” “They’ll even send you a text when the bus is outside your door.” With Flight in place, TUr Door and Owl Loop have been disbanded and are no longer operating. Both of those systems were ineffective, officials said. “When the current model [TUr Door and Owl Loop] was implemented in 2010, ridership was averaging close to 3,000 rides per week. The ridership today is almost down 33 percent,” facilities superintendent Mark Gottlieb said. “It didn’t drop precipitously, it’s been an incremental drop in ridership.” When Rinaldi was writing his platform in early 2015, he said he spoke with students who recognized the lack of transportation back to campus as a problem. “When Eric [Hamilton, TSG’s chief of staff] and I were writing part of our platform, it seemed that there was a problem with the current TUr Door and OwlLoop because students wanted to come back to campus and there was nothing to bring you back,” Rinaldi said. There will be eight locations that will pick students up and drop them off on campus—Tyler School of Art, White Hall, Morgan Hall, Johnson and Hardwick, Fox School of Business, The Tech Center, the IBC and The Student Center. Students who live off-campus are looking forward to trying out the new service. “When I go to the Tech I make a day out of it and I have to prepare myself to go, but if the shuttle picked me up I could go on a whim,” said sophomore media studies and production major Melissa Payavis. Payavis lives off-campus, on the 1500 block of Fontain St. The main reason why the new system was implemented is student safety. “We needed to find ways to get students to and from campus to keep students safe,” Rinaldi said. Sophomore advertising student Lauren Marks agreed safety is important on campus. “Things do happen on this campus just walking places and it’s been during the daytime and at night, so I think any way to get students off the streets is a good thing,” said Marks. Both Gottlieb and Rinaldi have high hopes for the service. “I would expect and would be disappointed if we didn’t have ridership of almost 3,000 riders per week immediately. We might even see 4,000 riders per week,” Gottlieb said. Rinaldi’s goals are more technically oriented than Gottlieb’s. He anticipates making the app accessible on Tech Center computers as well as putting a kiosk in the lobby to allow students to request rides there as well. “We’re also looking to add this to the Tech Center and have a desktop icon to request ride and also trying to get a kiosk in the tech center so people can stay inside while requesting a ride.” Flight is expected to begin service on Mar. 14. Jonathan Gilbert can be reached at jonathan.irwin.gilbert@temple.edu or on Twitter @jonnygilbs96.

Can mom afford to work only part-time? (MONEY Magazine) -- Shawn and Mary Kate DeRose live comfortably on a combined $133,000 income. They pay their debts, save for retirement, even have room to splurge on dinners out and high-end gym memberships. But the birth of their second child, Regan, in May has Mary Kate, 33, a literacy coach for a school district, thinking of dialing back to part-time work. "In a perfect world, I'd be able to spend more time with my girls," she says. Her employer will let her go half-time for half pay: $32,600. But is that enough -- along with the $78,000 that Shawn, 33, earns as an assistant principal -- to support their lifestyle? With a $3,600 monthly debt load that includes payments on a mortgage, home-equity loan, auto loan, and credit cards, their budget will be tight, warns Alexandria, Va., financial planner Tim Wesling. They'd need to cut debt by $500 a month and other expenses by $1,300, he says. That's more than the DeRoses had bargained for. "We really have to think about it," says Mary Kate. Their Goals 1. Meet current expenses on a smaller monthly income: $8,600 rather than $11,000. 2. Keep saving enough for retirement. Right now they have $7,500 in cash, $38,500 in retirement funds and $2,100 in college savings accounts. What They Must Do 1. Cut the debt. The DeRoses are paying 7.8% on a $63,000 home-equity loan. They could refinance and shave more than 2 percentage points off that rate, reducing their minimum payment by $200 a month. Wesling also wants them to nix the $300 a month they put on credit cards (for meals out, clothes, and the like). 2. Take the ax to expenses. The couple will save $500 a month on day care, but that still leaves them with $800 to cut. They might get rid of their older car and reduce costs across their budget to do it. 3. Keep saving. Shawn should continue stashing 10% of his income for retirement even as the couple trims elsewhere. As he gets raises, he should direct the cash to retirement and the home-equity loan.

dragon age has been one of my biggest inspirations and influences to get into fantasy art. without it, i would honestly think i would be doing something else. if i remember correctly the first character i painted digitally (never posted btw) was my warden from DAand my sketch for my art school entry exam was of hawke. i invested HOURS into the two games and totally got immersed in the lore. so i really owe bioware onemorrigan is probably my favorite character of the bunch because of the constant banter with allistair and the fact she's sarcastic all the timeuntil now i've been meaning to do some dragon age art but never really got around to it till now so here it ishope you like it! and sorry for the SEVERE lack of updates

Explore the Unexplored: Lakes, rivers, and oceans are still alive when the sun goes down. Reveal wildlife, plant-life, and otherwise hidden treasures in the dark and you'll soon discover a whole new world under the water. Safely navigate your route above water with the paddle's super-bright LEDs. A Torch Paddle illuminates your surroundings wherever you end up. Intuitive: We’ve designed our paddles to be user-friendly and ergonomic so that you’re comfortable with it from the moment you pick it up. Durable: Our paddles are built strong so that the LED lighting system is protected from all that Mother Nature has to throw at it. Fiber-reinforced nylon, carbon fiber, and an integrated design ensures that nothing will stop these paddles from doing their job. LEDs are built straight into the paddle inside the channels for protection. LIGHT UP YOUR NIGHT WITH TORCH PADDLES! designing from sketches to prototypes to testing in the water A little bit about Moab: Everyone has a second home and Moab happens to be ours. From jeeping to rock climbing to canyoneering and endless other activities, we've found our adult playground. Corona Arch is our swing set and just like our paddles, we've improved the design over the years so that its a flawless experience and not to mention very safe. We made a video a few years ago that shows what we like to do. (click the link) This is what some of our donors can have a chance of doing. http://youtu.be/4B36Lr0Unp4

What does it mean to be present? It's knowing that when you’re sitting in your cubicle at work, crammed in the middle seat of an airplane, being entranced at a concert or working up a sweat at the gym that what you’re experiencing is real. It’s not a dream or trick, and reality’s realness is something we just take for granted. See also: Virtual Reality Is Ready to Manipulate Your Memories Presence is also the term most thrown around this weekend Oculus Connect, because it’s the concept so important to making virtual reality successful. "We went from trying to convince ourselves we’re there, to trying to convince ourselves we’re not there,” said Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe during his keynote address to a room of a thousand or so people, mostly developers currently working on virtual reality software of their own. But so far the Oculus Rift has remained a portal into another world that’s not quite transportive. The two different development kits, the second a big improvement over the first, have technical limitations that even the Oculus team admits pull you out of the experience. A stuttering display, low resolution and problems with motion tracking have kept VR from sucking us in. But on Saturday, I finally felt that presence inside a world that wasn't my own. And I can't stop thinking about the experience. Secrets in a Room The first thing about the Oculus Crescent Bay, the newest virtual reality headset prototype announced at Oculus Connect on Saturday, is that it takes a room to simulate. You aren't stuffed into an office chair — even though the Oculus team loves repeating, for liability reasons, that the Rift is a sitting experience. Instead, I stood on a square pad in the middle of an 8-by-8 room. I stared at a camera while the headset was lowered over my eyes. The first things you notice, immediately, is that this Oculus Rift is a lot lighter. The team said it has improved the design so the headset no longer feels bulky. The first version was hardly something you could see yourself wearing for an extended period of time, and while this is still bulky, it's less so. The second thing immediately apparent are the built-in headphones, which snapped over my ears. They looked cheap, like something from a call center headset, at first glance. This is the first time Oculus included audio to the Rift headset experience. I'm told to try to stay on the mat in the center of the room. Then the demo is switched on. Virtual reality may be amazing, but it still doesn't look cool. Here I am wearing the Crescent Bay prototype. Diving Into Crescent Bay A small dinosaur was looking right at me. It was undeniably a Tyrannosaurus Rex, miniaturized to a the size of a horse. It looked at me with its amber eyes and rolled its head about. Then it chuffed right in my face, steam rising from its nose. I could almost feel the heat of it. That T-Rex, spotlighted on a black field, felt more real than any dream. It was also crisper than anything on television. And, thanks to the Crescent Bay’s motion tracking, it saw me. Having such a powerful beast follow my gaze was chilling. It faded out, and was replaced by a new scene, an experience that happened several times ever. Describing each in long detail would probably be about as exciting as listening to someone monologue about their dreams, but here are some highlights: A gray-skinned alien sassed at me in a unearthly tongue. It too followed my every move. I leaned in, right in its face, and it leaned back to avoid me. Its dark, iridescent eyes followed me as it continued its brusque speech. Moving and crouching were things I wanted to do in each experience. The ability to walk in virtual reality made it feel far more real than sitting. A toy city sprawled in front of me. My first reaction was to lean in close, watching the cars zoom by. As I loomed above, I tried to peek into windows of skyscrapers, or follow the path of a train as it whipped around buildings. In a gilded, ornate room I became distracted with the furniture, only to raise my head to a mirror and notice a happy mask bobbing there. The mask moved and floated on a ephemeral figure, trapped there as I made it dance. I felt real vertigo when I found myself on top of a tall building in some near-future city. Looking over the edge to the streets below made the blood rush to my head, and made me remind myself it wasn't real. A second T-Rex, this one full-size, charged me. I instinctively crouched, then looked up to see his torso passing over me. Then I turned around quickly to watch him disappear into the darkness. These experiences were short and to the point, each designed to let you feel something brief and wondrous before snapping you to the next. There were no frame-rate issues, no pixelated display and no latency issues if you turned your head too quickly. It was a forward-looking vision on how powerful virtual reality really can be. Oculus VR would not release the specs of Crescent Bay, and said there are no plans to make this hardware available to developers. Instead, it represents a proof of concept for the consumer version, which still doesn't have a release date. The company has confirmed this is the final update it will release before the consumer Oculus Rift though. The attendees were thrown headfirst into a deeper virtual reality experience than we've ever seen. It's like Oculus VR's staff intended us to go out and proselytize its power, which is hard to describe beyond, "you're going to have to try it yourself."

The two-time FIFA World Player of the Year and 2002 World Cup winner is a free agent after parting company with Fluminense in September, and intermediaries in Australia are scrambling to pull off what would be the biggest coup in the competition’s 11-year history. Behind the scenes negotiations are underway to bring the 35 year-old showman for a guest stint of up to 14 games from 29 January onwards, as Ronaldinho also fields offers from Swiss club Sion and teams in Turkey. Sydney-based Milton Da Rocha, from Demanly Management, is working with Sergio Bastos from the Flash Forward agency to lure Ronaldinho to a competition devoid of star power and crying out for a marquee magician. “I would suggest that if a good offer is placed in front of him, he might well be inclined to take it very seriously,” said Da Rocha, who has been in discussions with Ronaldinho’s management team. “The conversation we had with them when I was in Brazil recently centred on the fact that if the offer is right we can have a genuine discussion and negotiate. “We are looking to create a collaboration between a club and some corporate entities to make this happen. There is great benefit financially to having him on board in terms of the crowds he would generate and also around his image because of the huge social media interest he generates. “There is a level of interest from clubs in the big cities of Melbourne and Sydney, but nothing is concrete as yet. “I am hoping to have something on paper soon to present to his management. The opportunity is there for him to play from round 17 of the A-League all the way to the finals. “We are trying to come up with an offer which is closely related to his recent previous salaries.” Ronaldinho has floated from Flamengo, to Atletico Mineiro to Queratero in Mexico since departing AC Milan - where he spent three years - and is currently in Kuwait as one of the key attractions on the Football Champions Tour, which showcases legend matches around the globe. His capture would trump even the acquisitions by Sydney FC of fading luminary Alessandro Del Piero and that of Dwight Yoke, and would put thousands on to gates, with the Sydney or Melbourne markets his natural destinations. “The point is he can still deliver on the pitch,” added Da Rocha. “He doesn’t need to train like normal players; he operates a lot on his natural talent.” Ronaldinho’s aura remains undimmed, with tens of millions of followers on social media where each post generates on average over 120,000 likes through Twitter and Instagram. The A-League has just 120,000 Twitter followers and some 40,000 on Instagram. “If he lands here it would be unbelievable … he’s been in Singapore and China recently (promoting the sale of kids’ scooter) and it’s like a Michael Jackson arrival. “It goes crazy at airports and for the A-League it would a massive thing. It would be like bringing Roger Federer here in five years to play tennis."

Oscar night is days away. Presumably the Stonecutters are just about done rigging it, so let’s lay out our best predictions for who’s going to go home with statuettes. Here’s how we figure this: Unlike presidential elections, there’s no clear-cut way to predict the Oscar winners. Betting markets are probably your best bet. But there are a dozen or so lesser awards — including the Golden Globes, Writers Guild Awards, and Satellite Awards — that precede the big dance, and we can use these as quasi-polls. For example, the winner of the Directors Guild of America award for best director usually wins the Oscar for best director. And just as our presidential model gives more weight to surveys conducted by pollsters who have a good track record, I turned the 25-year accuracy rate for each of these award shows into scores, prioritizing awards by organizations whose voting members aligned with the members of the Academy (actors and directors, for instance) : The result? We add up the scores for the winners, assign partial credit for nominees, and voila! Here’s the state of the best picture race: It’s pretty tight. Sometimes — such as in the 2012 race — there’s an overwhelming front-runner. Not this time. “Boyhood” took home top honors at a lot of the reasonably predictive awards — Golden Globes (drama), BAFTAs, several critics groups — but “Birdman” took home the gold when it really counted, at the Directors Guild, Producers Guild, and Screen Actors Guild award shows. As a result, “Birdman” is the slight favorite to win, mostly based on the historical predictive rate of the guild award shows. This category is the only one we measured in which the model splits from the prevailing wisdom of the (generally reliable) betting markets. On the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX), one such market, options on “Boyhood” are substantially out-pricing options on “Birdman.” Also seeing some love at HSX is “American Sniper,” which was excluded from basically every other award show. Upsets do happen with some regularity, and given the film’s recent box office success, it may be a dark horse in the race. But personally, I’m going with “Birdman.” I wouldn’t be shocked if the actors, writers and producers of the Academy find it in themselves to give the Oscar to a film about an actor-writer-producer putting on a play. Of the other five top honors at the Oscars — best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress — only two are truly competitive this year. The first is best director, another “Birdman” versus “Boyhood” fight: Sure, Wes Anderson has a fighting chance here, but this is another category in which Richard Linklater got the vast majority of the wins in earlier awards, but Alejandro G. Iñárritu got the one that counts, the Directors Guild award. In the past 25 years, the winner of the Directors Guild award for best director of a feature film won the Oscar for best director 84 percent of the time. Still, the sheer number of wins puts Linklater ahead here, and betting markets agree with the model that Linklater has an edge. Finally, to break up the tedium, we get Eddie Redmayne leading the pack for best actor. This is the last category in which it’s even close to a fight. Redmayne has been scooping up awards left and right for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking. Redmayne took home the heavily predictive BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, and Golden Globe (drama) awards for best actor. And while Michael Keaton has done well among critics, Redmayne appears to have a substantial lead. There’s consensus in the other categories. Julianne Moore has all but swept the best actress categories in any awards show worth a damn. While Marion Cotillard grabbed the New York Film Critics Circle award, Moore won in everything else she was a contender for. J.K. Simmons — who dominated in “Whiplash,” my personal favorite best picture nominee — also nearly pulled off a sweep, but the National Board of Review gave Edward Norton its best supporting actor award. Not quite my tempo. Patricia Arquette is the only best supporting actress nominee to win any of the awards we track. She’s the odds-on favorite for her part in “Boyhood.” The good news? This year, the most exciting awards will be saved for the very end of the Oscars presentation. There’s always an opportunity for an upset, though. Next up, I’ll see just how likely we are to get a surprise.

Powerhouse crab pulsar MAGIC telescopes detect extremely energetic photons The Crab Pulsar has set a new record: it is sending out the most energetic light radiation that has ever been measured from a star. This observation could challenge our current understanding of pulsars. Moreover, a new mechanism, little understood up to now, appears to play a role in accelerating the particles to such high energies. These findings were reported by a research team associated with the MAGIC telescopes. Bundle of energy: with its strong magnetic field (white lines), the Crab Pulsar spins around itself nearly 30 times per second injecting energetic electrons in the space region around it. The green and blue shaded regions depict different particle acceleration zones from where the detected photons could originate. The green zone lies in the vicinity of the pulsar's magnetosphere, whereas the blue zone could be as far as 100,000 km away from the pulsar. © Patricia Carcelén Marco Bundle of energy: with its strong magnetic field (white lines), the Crab Pulsar spins around itself nearly 30 times per second injecting energetic electrons in the space region around it. The green and blue shaded regions depict different particle acceleration zones from where the detected photons could originate. The green zone lies in the vicinity of the pulsar's magnetosphere, whereas the blue zone could be as far as 100,000 km away from the pulsar. © Patricia Carcelén Marco The Crab Nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion that was observed on Earth in the year 1054. The neutron star has a diameter of just around ten kilometers and rotates around its own axis approximately 30 times per second. Thus, it emits light pulses like a lighthouse, and these pulses stretch across the entire electromagnetic spectrum — from long radio waves to visible light and beyond, to the short waves of energetic gamma rays. Magnetic fields: Dynamo for light energy With the help of the MAGIC telescopes, scientists have discovered photons — that is, particles of light — with energy many times higher than what has been seen before. Until just a few years ago, the highest energy observable from the Crab Pulsar was thought to be at 6 GeV (gigaelectronvolts). In 2008, the MAGIC telescopes recorded an energy spectrum of more than 25 GeV. The observatory trumped its own result in 2012 with measurements of 400 GeV. Since then, MAGIC has measured gamma rays up to 1.5 TeV (teraelectronvolts). However, the researchers are not yet able to explain how the charged particles are accelerated to these extremely high energies. “In the production of high-energy particles, a central role is played by the enormously strong magnetic field typical for neutron stars, which generates extremely strong electrical fields,” says Razmik Mirzoyan, speaker of the MAGIC collaboration and project leader at the Max Planck Institute for Physics. “In the magnetically charged, complex atmosphere of the neutron star, electrons and their antiparticles, the positrons, are accelerated to nearly the speed of light before they annihilate each other. In this model, gamma ray energies up to a few gigaelectronvolts can be explained as synchrotron and curvature radiation. To account for the gamma pulses of more than 1.5 TeV that have now been observed, however, there must be another mechanism. Where on the neutron star is the highly energetic radiation produced? Mirzoyan elaborates: “We can only observe extremely energetic gamma rays if these electrons somehow succeed in escaping the complex topology of the neutron star’s magnetic field and accelerating themselves in the electric field. Then they join together with the lower-energy radio waves and X-rays to form the pulsar’s cone of light.” For the “escape” of the gamma rays, an indirect path is considered a possibility: In this process, it is the electrons and positrons emerging directly from the pulsar that escape, but rather the second or third generation of their accelerated “offspring.” These arise at the outermost edge of the magnetic field, at a height of approximately 1500 kilometers. Here, simply put, energy-rich charged particles interact with ultraviolet radiation and X-rays as well as with the magnetic field. Subsequently, the secondary particles transfer their energy to lower-energy photons, thereby transforming them into highly energetic gamma quanta — which then exit the magnetic field. This energy transfer is known as the inverse Compton mechanism. By means of the inverse Compton effect, gamma photons could also form far away from the pulsar, in the pulsar wind region — where, likewise, the accelerated particles can encounter X-rays. However, the extreme gamma rays arrive at the MAGIC telescopes simultaneously with lower-energy radio waves and X-rays — indicating that they are produced within the magnetic field. “That would mean that all of the radiation is produced in a relatively small region at the edge of the magnetic field, or that the high-energy gamma rays retain a kind of ‘memory’ of radiation at lower energy. At this point in time we can hypothesize that the inverse Compton mechanism is capable of explaining the existence of such energy-rich gamma rays from the pulsar. In the long run, however, we need new, detailed theoretical models that describe this phenomenon,” Mirzoyan concludes. BW / HOR

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images After suffering through the worst season in franchise history, the Jacksonville Jaguars will have a fresh start in 2013. It includes a new general manager, new head coach, new logo and new uniforms. It may even include a new quarterback. General manager David Caldwell said the Jaguars will have a "wide-open competition" (per Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com) at quarterback and will add players (via Alex Marvez of Fox Sports) to compete at the position. Jacksonville could be looking at its quarterback of the future with the No. 2 overall pick in West Virginia's Geno Smith. The franchise has a preliminary interest (per Peter King of Sports Illustrated) in Smith, and head coach Gus Bradley said he was impressed (via Ryan O'Halloran of The Florida Times-Union) with what he saw from the quarterback at West Virginia's pro day. It's easy to see why Bradley was singing Smith's praises: He had an outstanding pro day as he completed 60 of 64 passes while showing off his accuracy and mobility. Of course, all of this interest could be a smokescreen to try to lure quarterback-hungry teams into a draft-day trade. If it's genuine, however, the Jaguars have a major question to ask themselves: Is Smith the first piece to their rebuilding puzzle? If he is, Jacksonville has to consider him with the No. 2 overall pick. Smith is widely considered the top quarterback, but is he worthy of the second overall pick and being the future of a franchise? All statistics are courtesy of SecondRoundStats.com unless otherwise noted. Looking at his career at West Virginia, the answer seems to be a no-brainer. He improved each year as a starter and finished his senior campaign by completing 71.4 percent of his passes for 4,205 yards with 42 touchdowns and six interceptions, according to Sports-Reference.com. Critics could say his completion percentage was inflated from West Virgina's reliance on the screens and short passes. That criticism isn't unwarranted as almost 30 percent of Smith's passes were screens, which is almost 13 percent more than the average quarterback. He quieted those criticisms by showing accuracy all over the field, especially on mid-range throws. After taking dropped passes out of the equation, Smith completed 64 percent of his 11- to 20-yard passes, which is four percent higher than average. Smith is more accurate than the other top-tier quarterbacks in this year's draft. Only North Carolina State's Mike Glennon comes close to matching his accuracy, but Smith has a higher percentage in almost every yard range. In addition to Smith's accuracy, he is also mobile, which head coach Bradley said (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk) he wanted in a quarterback. Smith showed off his speed and athleticism at the scouting combine in February, where he ran the fastest 40-yard dash (4.59) among quarterbacks. His game isn't without faults, though, which causes some to question him as a top pick. The biggest concern is Smith's lack of production while lining up under center. Although he completed 80 percent of his passes out of shotgun, he completed just 33.3 percent of passes from under center. This could be a product of the system he ran in college, but the issue could also follow him into the NFL. It is something that could be coached, though. He also had an extremely low average distance of passes, which is yardage (before YAC) divided by completions. Even though he had a high accuracy in mid-range throws, he rarely threw the ball that deep. His passes traveled 4.69 yards on average, which is the lowest (per SecondRoundStats.com) of any of the draft's top quarterbacks. Smith's positives seem to outweigh his negatives, and he could become a franchise quarterback with the right coaching. Jacksonville has to be sure he will become one to use the second-overall pick on him, and he looks to be worth it. If the Jaguars look elsewhere at No. 2, the most realistic possibility would be a speed rusher who could fill the LEO role in Bradley's defense. Oregon's Dion Jordan, LSU's Barkevious Mingo and BYU's Ezekiel Ansah would all fit the position and are talented enough for the Jaguars to draft in the first round. If Jacksonville passes on Smith, the Jaguars would have to add a quarterback with the top pick of the second round. If they wait any longer, none of the quarterbacks are guaranteed to be available at their next pick. History also shows it pays off to take a quarterback high in the draft, as 12 of the last 16 Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks were drafted within the first 60 picks (including Steve Young in the 1984 supplemental draft). So, is Smith the first piece of Jacksonville's puzzle? In a league as quarterback-driven as the NFL, the answer has to be a resounding yes.

(CNN) -- The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rejected a state law Friday that banned same-sex marriage, and opponents wasted little time in pushing for a state constitutional amendment that could send the issue to voters. Larry Hoch, left, and David Twombley, one of six couples that filed suit, celebrate Friday at a news conference. But nothing could dampen the spirits of the six same-sex couples who shouted and clapped at a news conference held by Lambda Legal after hearing the court's opinion. Lambda Legal bills itself as the nation's oldest and largest legal group working for the civil rights of gays. Two by two, the excited couples -- some with children -- spoke at the briefing. "Good morning, my name is Kate Varnum, and I'd like to introduce you to my fiance, Trish Varnum. I never thought I'd be able to say that." Dawn BarbouRoske told the group, "We're proud that our kids will be able to grow up knowing their family is respected." Her daughter added: "Hi, I'm McKinley, and I'm really, really happy. I feel that my family has always had this right, and today it is true. No longer shall we be just people who aren't allowed to be married. We are able to get married." Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit against Polk County's former recorder on behalf of the six same-sex couples. "This is a great day for civil rights in Iowa," said former Iowa Solicitor-General Dennis Johnson, a co-counsel with Lambda Legal. "Go get married. Live happily ever." The court's decision becomes effective in 21 days, and county recorders then will be required to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Lambda senior staff attorney Camilla Taylor said at the news conference. "You do not have to be an Iowan to seek a license here," she said, and Iowa should recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Iowa will become the third state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts and Connecticut. Not everyone was pleased. "It's, quite frankly, a disaster," said Brian English, a spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, a nonprofit research and educational organization committed to strengthening the family. "Obviously, we're extremely disappointed," he said. "We're saddened. Perhaps a little bit surprised in the unanimous decision that the court handed down." English, who said opponents of gay marriage prayed outside the courthouse Friday as they awaited the court's decision, already has begun lobbying the legislature for an Iowa Marriage Amendment. "It (the proposed amendment) will be very brief. It will reaffirm in the state constitution that marriage is the union of one man and one woman," he said. "We're beginning the next step in the process." A spokesman for One Iowa, which supports gay and lesbian equality, said the earliest the issue could get on a ballot would be 2012. Friday's decision upheld a 2007 ruling by a lower court that Iowa's 1998 law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples went against the state's constitution. The state's highest court determined that "the Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution," court spokesman Steve Davis said in a written statement .Read PDF of court ruling "The decision strikes the language from Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman. It further directs that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage," the statement on the court's Web site says. The Iowa Supreme Court said it has the responsibility to determine whether a law enacted by the legislative branch and enforced by the executive branch violates the Iowa Constitution. "The court reaffirmed that a statute inconsistent with the Iowa Constitution must be declared void, even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion," the court said. Polk County District Judge Robert Hanson earlier determined that the law violated the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection and hurt gay and lesbian couples "in numerous tangible and intangible" ways. "Civil marriage in Iowa is the only gateway to an extensive legal structure that protects a married couple's relationship and family in and outside the state," Hanson ruled in Des Moines. "Iowa reserves an unparalleled array of rights, obligations and benefits to married couples and their families, privileging married couples as a financial and legal unit and stigmatizing same-sex couples." The case was joined on appeal by several state lawmakers who opposed Hanson's ruling, calling it "a mockery of the judicial system." They argued that the ruling stepped on the state legislature's authority by using the courts "to effectuate fundamental changes in public policies regarding marriage." At the news conference, Jason Morgan, who was with his partner, Chuck Swaggerty, said they had been together nearly 12 years. "We've been together in sickness and health, through the death of his mother, through the adoption of our children, through four long years of this legal battle," Morgan said, choking up. "And if being together through all of that isn't love and commitment or isn't family or isn't marriage, then I don't know what is." All About Gay and Lesbian Relationships • Des Moines • Same-Sex Marriage

Children with disabilities are frequently discriminated against in Australian schools. It has been an ongoing issue for years, with reports showing that little has improved since 2002. Exclusion practices – dubbed “gatekeeping” – include: advising parents to send their child to another school that could better support them; allowing a child to attend a school only on the days that funding is available; and asking parents to pay more so the school can employ support staff or purchase equipment. Although this happens across all school types, it tends to be more prominent in, and easier for, non-government or private schools. As these schools compete for enrolments and top exam results, there is a disincentive for them to take any risk that might dilute those results. Unlike public schools, private schools are not required to run open enrolment processes. Their charter is to provide schooling of “choice”, not to provide for everyone. Because of this, the exact size of the gatekeeping problem is unknown. While government schools receive some extra funding from the state to support children with learning difficulties and disabilities, private schools aren’t entitled to this. This has led to the over-representation of students with a disability in government schools, particularly those in disadvantaged areas where parents have fewer options. Over time this leads to a significant burden within some schools, adding to teacher stress and negatively affecting their wellbeing. The concentration of students with additional support needs also impacts other students. The less diversity there is within schools, the less opportunity there is for students to learn from one another. This is the case for abled and disabled students alike. Which children are most affected? Parents with a child who has learning difficulties or a disability find it hardest to enrol their child in a suitable school. Research shows that children with severe social, emotional or behavioural disorders are the least welcome of any student disability group. This is usually due to a lack of resources, impact on other students and parental disapproval. They are also over-represented in government schools. Some schools are more open to enrolling extremely high-functioning students with Autism Spectrum Disorders because of their strong academic abilities. However, their difficulties in social communication are often ignored. This increases their exposure to punitive responses such as expulsion. How do schools get away with ‘gatekeeping’? Australian discrimination law – which includes the 1992 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the 2005 Disability Standards for Education – is designed to ensure that children can’t be denied enrolment in any public or private school on the basis of their disability. While all schools must adhere to these standards, due to a lack of knowledge about their responsibilities under the legislation, some schools have developed ways to get around this. As part of their enrolment application process, some private schools request copies of prospective students’ NAPLAN (literacy and numeracy) results. The reason given is often innocuous, such as using the results to determine class placements and support availability, but there is also a high likelihood that a child with a poor NAPLAN record will not be offered a place. Since there is no transparency or oversight of private school admission processes, parents have little recourse. This is unconscionable given that parents are required to pay considerable application fees and may have done so at a number of schools. Private schools may also employ a student interview process and some require children to sit academic entrance tests. In the government school sector, catchment boundaries are used (sometimes selectively) to deny enrolment to children with additional support needs. These are all formal processes, advertised on websites and school prospectuses. But there are many more informal practices designed to present barriers to the enrolment of particular students. The practices used These informal practices are more insidious and involve school personnel quietly advising parents that their children would be better supported and happier in another school. Another common practice is limiting the time that the child spends in school, either through partial enrolment (allowing the child to attend school only on the days that funding is available) or informal suspension (regularly calling the parents to pick up the child during the day). Other practices include pressuring parents to accept a place in a separate support class or special school, or requesting parents to pay an additional “contribution” to enable the school to employ support staff or purchase equipment. What can be done? The ongoing plight of many disabled students highlights the need for more support for classroom teachers and better resourcing of the school sector more broadly. This is what the Gonski disability funding, which was meant to begin in 2016 but has recently been delayed again, was designed to achieve. Allocating government funding to both private and public schools to support students with a disability will help to address gatekeeping, so these students receive a fair go regardless of which school they attend. An overhaul of the disability discrimination complaints process to protect children’s and parent’s rights is also well overdue. Gatekeeping can only occur in a system where schools and systems are relatively confident that they will get away with it. Despite multiple inquiries, all saying the same thing, gatekeeping against students with additional support needs continues unabated, which suggests that current protections are inadequate. • This piece is part of a three-part series on Disability Discrimination

ISLAMABAD: On fourth day of the military operation in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan, two bomb blasts went off at a university in Islamabad on Tuesday that left seven people dead and nearly 30 injured, officials said.Eyewitnesses and police officials said that one attacker struck at a women���s cafeteria of the International Islamic university campus while another bomber blew himself up at the law department of the university.The blast at the cafeteria left bits of flesh splattered on the floor with shattered window panes. The second attack took place in the Islamic law department. At least 29 injured have been shifted to the nearby PIMS hospital in the federal capital where several of them are said to be in critical condition. The injured included 14 girls and four of them are said to be in serious condition. The International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) has more than 12,000 students, nearly half of them women. Students from around the world attend the university, with most taking Islamic studies.Interior minister Rehman Malik said that six people were killed ��� two suicide bombers, two men and two women while a senior police official Rana Akmar Hayat told the media that seven people were killed and 29 injured.���Seven people, including two suicide bombers were killed in the twin-attacks while 29 got injured. Among the dead is one female���, Rana said at the scene of the attack.���Within seconds, the attacks occurred one after another. There were 3,000 and 4,000 students on the campus at the time of the attacks���, said Shandana Butt, a third year law student who saw the attack at cafetaria.TV footage showed women stained in blood being carried out by security officials and fellow students from the cafeteria building.Security at educational establishments had been tightened in response to the recent campaign of violence by militants. In the run-up to the offensive, militants attacked a police station in Peshawar, a United Nations office and the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and three different police facilities in Lahore on the same day.Before the launch of army operation in Waziristan, it was feared that militants would retaliate by attacking civilians to create panic.The government knee-jerk reaction was to shut down educational institutions in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and several other cities for one week. Pakistani forces launched a ground offensive on Saturday to drive out the Taliban and al-Qaida militants from their bases in a tribal region of South Waziristan.To win support of the tribal people, the Army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, on Monday, wrote an open letter to the Mehsud tribes of Waziristan, saying: ���The operation in South Waziristan was not meant to target the brave and patriotic Mehsud tribes, but aimed at ridding them of the elements who had destroyed peace in the region.������The target of the operation were Uzbek terrorists, foreign elements and local militants���, Kiyani said.The US and other western allies would be uncomfortable over the tactical compromises that Pakistan made with two other Taliban groups in the region controlled by Wana-based Maulvi Nazir, in South Waziristan, and Miramshah-based Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan.Both Taliban groups were blamed for carrying out significant numbers attacks on Nato and US forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Mercedes-Benz previews new CLS' interior Nov 20, 2017, 2:25am ET by Ronan Glon The CLS will make its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Mercedes-Benz has released a second teaser image to preview the third-generation CLS. The next evolution of the original four-door coupe will make its official debut in a few short weeks during the annual Los Angeles Auto Show. The latest teaser image sheds insight into what the model looks like inside. We see a wide color touch screen nearly identical to the one found in the S-Class, and Mercedes' Energizing Comfort technology with five modes including "joy" and "vitality." Although dark, the first teaser suggests the CLS takes Mercedes' design language into a sharper, sportier direction. The front end wears angular headlights that are better proportioned than the ones on the outgoing car and a wide, GT-like grille. We'll have to be patient to find out what the rest of it looks like. The new CLS shares its MRA platform with the current E-Class, according to British magazine Autocar, yet it borrows its engines and tech features from the bigger S-Class. We expect a 48-volt electrical system will come standard on most -- if not all -- variants sold in the United States. Buyers in Europe will have access to four- and six-cylinder turbodiesel engines, but don't expect to see those cross the pond. Mercedes-AMG will make its own version of the CLS with roughly 600 horsepower. It will slot beneath the Porsche Panamera-fighting sedan the sub-division is developing as a four-door alternative to the GT.

I’m stunned by what Senator Jim DeMint says about moral requirements for teachers. Not only is he against gay teachers, but also against single women who sleep with their boyfriends. Not clear what he thinks of those boyfriends having sex before marriage, but they don’t seem to alarm him so much. Here’s how he was quoted in the Spartanburg, S.C., newspaper: DeMint said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn’t be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who’s sleeping with her boyfriend — she shouldn’t be in the classroom. “(When I said those things,) no one came to my defense,” he said. “But everyone would come to me and whisper that I shouldn’t back down. They don’t want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion.” To me, job discrimination against people on the basis of private sexual practices, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is what is truly immoral. Senator DeMint’s first comment plays into larger anti-gay bigotry and the second into anti-women narratives. But there’s a larger point here. So many conservatives focus on morality as a function of personal, private behavior, such as sexual orientation, while ignoring more basic issues of poverty and social justice. And it astonishes me that they seem driven by the Bible, when Jesus was profoundly concerned with social justice and was hostile to nit-picking judgmental codes. There certainly are immense moral challenges in this country, but aren’t they more along the lines of children who don’t get health care? Or school kids who don’t get the same opportunity in life because they go to third-rate inner-city schools? Or kids who are trafficked into a modern version of slavery? Or the need to raise the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund so that fewer people die around the world of AIDS, malaria and TB? Or working more energetically to end the brutal war in Congo and forestall the war that may be coming in South Sudan? It seems to me that there are plenty of genuine opportunities for Senator DeMint to get on his high horse, and I’d love to see him show some moral leadership. But discriminating against teachers on the basis of their private sexual conduct is pathetic and ludicrous — and, in my eyes, immoral to boot.

Maurice Brown has spent the summer doing something that’s increasingly unusual for American teenagers: going to work. Brown, 17, works 25 hours a week as a fry cook at a McDonald’s down the street from where he lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. While classmates were at the beach or the mall, Brown was learning life skills — how to behave in a professional workplace, how to multitask when the lunch rush started, how not to talk back when his managers criticized him. He said he hopes the experience will help him get a job after college. And though the pay was low, he was able to buy his own school clothes and save some money toward a car. “I was tired of having to wait for my mom and ask her for things,” Brown said. Research has shown that teenagers — and especially teenage boys — who work are more likely to graduate high school, more likely to go to college and less likely to get into trouble with the law. They also gain valuable work experience that can make it easier to get a job and get promoted more quickly in adulthood. But for a variety of reasons — fewer job opportunities, more emphasis on schooling, changing societal expectations — fewer young people are getting summer jobs. In the 1970s, more than half of teens ages 16 to 19 — and nearly two-thirds of boys in that age range — worked in the summer, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2014, less than a third did so. The drop has been even more dramatic for 16- and 17-year-olds: Just 20 percent of them worked this summer, down from about 45 percent in the 1970s. “If kids don’t work when they’re young, a lot of the behavioral traits that are important just don’t get developed down the road,” said Paul Harrington, an economist at Drexel University in Philadelphia who has studied the youth labor market. “These are the ages when you’re making these huge decisions about where you’re going to end up in life.” New data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed that somewhat more young people worked this summer than last, but their recovery remains slow. Employers are reluctant to hire teens even in the best of times. With unemployment still elevated and plenty of more experienced workers available for hire, companies see little reason to turn to inexperienced and at times unreliable high schoolers. But the decline in youth employment long predates the recession. Harrington said longer-term forces are also at work, such as the disappearance of many low-skilled jobs that were once the core of the youth job market. Reduced high school dropout rates, increased college attendance and an increased focus on student testing have also likely played a role in pushing down teen employment, particularly during the school year. And Harrington said that as more Americans work into their 60s and beyond, there are fewer opportunities for younger workers to get in on the ground floor. The decline in employment has cut across demographic and socioeconomic groups. But low-income and minority teens like Brown, who is black, are especially unlikely to work. Black teens ages 16 and 17 were barely half as likely as whites to work this summer, 11.5 percent compared to 23 percent. And only 11 percent of teens from families earning less than $30,000 a year worked this summer, compared to 21 percent of those from families earning between $30,000 and $75,000, and 26 percent of those from families earning $75,000 or more. The decline in employment among low-income and minority teens is particularly worrisome to economists because these are the ones who benefit most from early work experience. Teens from more affluent backgrounds might be able to make up for a thin resume with family connections, extracurricular experiences or the ability to accept an unpaid internship. Teens from low-income backgrounds rarely have those advantages. But for similar reasons, low-income teens often face additional barriers to finding work. Jobs are scarce in many poor communities, and simply getting to work can pose a major challenge. In Los Angeles, for example, city officials said a food manufacturer recently had more than 100 entry-level jobs available for local teens, but at a facility that was inaccessible by public transit. The city ended up working with the company to provide a free shuttle bus. Other hurdles aren’t so readily overcome. Low-income teens are less likely to have parents who can help them find jobs or navigate the working world once they get them. Nancy Snyder, president of Commonwealth Corporation, a Massachusetts nonprofit that runs workforce development programs for low-income youth, said employers are often reluctant to hire young people without a recommendation. “For low-income teens, this issue of how do you create someone who can help them connect to the labor market and vouch for them becomes really important,” Snyder said. “They’re probably much less likely to have the connections and network that you use to find a job.” Commonwealth Corporation has tried to help close that gap, not just by placing teens in jobs but by running training programs on interviewing, resume writing, workplace behavior and other skills to help teens find and keep jobs. Brown was one of about 5,000 Massachusetts youths who got a job through the program this year. An aspiring architect who hopes to go to Virginia Tech when he graduates from high school next year, he said he’d been looking for a job since the day he turned 17 without success. Now that he has a job, he plans to keep working during the school year in part because his mother will give up her low-wage job to return to school in the fall. Besides the income, Brown said the job has helped him learn to communicate with adults and manage his emotions, even when he thinks he’s being criticized unfairly. It’s helped his organizational skills, too, he said. “Working at McDonald’s, because it’s so busy, I was able to multitask and actually get things done,” he said.

Update on Nov 7, 2018 : Back to OrgMode. Again. What I want Notes app needed. Must support images and attachments. Mobile-first. Absolutely need a notes app that syncs across computer and phone. That’s just how I function. Ideally, there should be a backup option that keeps my notes unlocked if when the app starts degrading a few years from now. when the app starts degrading a few years from now. OrgMode is ideal, but images cause Emacs scrolling to be wonky on the desktop, and recreating agenda mode on the mobile would be a challenge. But glad to see apps like Orgzly take on it. Since my blog and books are already in Markdown, it would make sense to just stick to Markdown for notes as well. What I tried before Evernote sync was so unreliable that I had stopped using it. OneNote wouldn’t let me even create an account (would complain about password, regardless of how small or long, how simple or complicated a password I try) Quiver seemed promising, but the iOS app is still in beta and currently only provides a read-only view to the notes. And it does not support iCloud sync, only third-party sync mechanisms, which is strange for a Mac+iOS app combination. Currently using Apple Notes. The downside is that exporting notes for publishing / sharing is a pain. For example, I can’t copy a note for sharing as text on messaging platforms like Slack, because it loses all the links and formatting. Why Bear app Mac app and iOS app that syncs seamlessly Markdown CommonMark FTW CommonMark FTW Real tags Cross-Note Links (yay, a personal wiki) Web Clipper that converts a web page into Markdown and saves images as well Copy to clipboard as Markdown Export as PDF, image, etc. Privacy – uses iCloud Sync, no servers of their own Backup into an open format called textbundle Beautifully designed app by an Italy-based studio Why not Bear app No web version, esp. to access from my Linux laptop. They are working on it. Long-term availability? I’m glad they have a subscription model, so that they are encouraged to maintain the app, instead of creating an upgrade treadmill ( I’m looking at you, Alfred app [1]). Worst case, they have a really good backup feature, that also exports attachments. Last time I checked, Evernote does a bad job at this. The “export” menu command only exports the text of the notes as an xml file. How can you not include attachments in the backup? [1]). Worst case, they have a really good backup feature, that also exports attachments. No Siri integration, not sure if Apple has provided a Siri “intent” for note-taking though. This is a quick note on why I have started using Bear notes app [1] Alfred now has a Mega Supporter License with lifetime free upgrades.

Getty Images The last time the Broncos won a Super Bowl, the victory may have been influenced at least some by the distraction that former Falcons safety Eugene Robinson provided the night before the game. Robinson has provide the next team the Broncos will face in the Super Bowl with a simple warning: Don’t do the dumb thing that I did. Robinson, who works as an analyst on the radio broadcasts of Panthers games, was arrested the night before Super Bowl XXXIII for soliciting prostitution in Miami. He talked to the Panthers about the incident before the team left Charlotte for San Francisco. “That’s the first time I heard that story. I didn’t know anything about it,” tight end Ed Dickson said, via Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. “It says a lot that he would open up and say something about it. Because a lot of people would hold it in and not even talk about that moment. . . . Him being an ex-player, him being in that moment, he wanted to make sure nobody else would be that guy again. That’s huge.” Robinson declined to comment on the speech that he gave to the players, but it was smart for the Panthers to take advantage of the fact that they have a compelling in-house reminder of the pitfalls that can arise during Super Bowl week.

Getty Images Titans running back DeMarco Murray had a miserable game on Sunday, but he says he’s not concerned about it. Murray finished Sunday’s game with 12 carries for nine yards, which concluded an absolutely brutal November for Murray. In four November games, Murray finished with 43 carries for 80 yards, an average of just 1.86 yards per carry. Still, the Titans beat the Colts on Sunday and are in first place in the AFC South, and as a result Murray feels fine about where he is. “I’ve done a lot of great individual things in my career, playing in this league, and [winning], that’s why we all play, why we coach,” Murray said. “That’s all I’m worried about. I’m not worried about stats. Obviously, you want to play better and obviously you’ve got pride about yourself and things of that nature, but, hey, most importantly, we got the win. We’ll all watch film and . . . we’ll make corrections and that’s it.” It remains to be seen how effective those corrections can be. Murray will turn 30 in February, an age at which running backs often slow down. It might just be time for the Titans to accept that Murray is never going to be the player he was in Dallas — or even the player he was in Tennessee last year.

PETALING JAYA - An array of Malaysian political leaders past and present including former foes stood together on Friday (March 4) to demand Prime Minister Najib Razak's resignation from office at a press conference chaired by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In an unprecedented show of solidarity across the political divide, civil society leaders and opposition politicians joined their former rival Dr Mahathir to sign a declaration backing his movement to seek the removal of Mr Najib. "We're not here as representatives of parties and NGOs (non-government organisations). We are here as citizens of Malaysia," Dr Mahathir told reporters. "It's not about joining the opposition or joining any particular group. It's about citizens joining together to show support," he said. The signed declaration by a total of 58 representatives on Friday entailed four demands. They included the removal of Mr Najib as Prime Minister through legal non-violent means, the removal of those who acted in concert with Mr Najib, the repeal of laws that violate fundamental rights, and the restoration of institutions whose integrity has been undermined such as the police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Related Story Anwar backs arch nemesis Mahathir's plan to oust Najib Related Story Muhyiddin to stay in Umno and challenge suspension Dr Mahathir had on Monday (Feb 29) quit the ruling Umno party, saying he could no longer stay in Umno because the party had turned into an organisation dedicated to supporting the scandal-plagued Najib. He had also proposed the setting up of a core group to oust Mr Najib, and the Opposition parties had in recent days indicated their willingness to cooperate with the former premier. Among those who were in attendance at Friday's meeting were opposition heavyweights, including Democratic Action Party leader Lim Kit Siang, Parti Keadilan Rakyat Deputy President Azmin Ali and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu. Opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) MP Mahfuz Omar and PAS elections director Datuk Mustafa Ali also attended as concerned citizens, even though PAS had said it would opt out of the core group. The opposition figures were flanked by their old rivals from Barisan Nasional who have been outspoken in their criticism of Mr Najib. They included Dr Mahathir's son and former Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was suspended from the party last week, and former Malaysian Chinese Association president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik. Other members of the core group included former Cabinet minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and prominent voices in Malaysian civil society, including the leaders of the Bersih electoral reform group Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin Abdullah. Mr Najib has been under pressure to step down since last year over the scandal surrounding state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) amid allegations that funds from 1MDB had been channelled into his private accounts. He has said he has not used the funds for personal gain, and has been cleared of any criminal offence or corruption. Dismissing the declaration, the government in a statement said the move by Dr Mahathir and his allies "demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation". "There is an existing mechanism to change the Government and Prime Minister. It's called a general election. And it is the only mechanism that is lawful, democratic, and fulfils the people's will," the statement added.

GENEVA Turkey attaches a great deal of importance to the security and well-being of Tartars in Crimea and does not recognize the legitimacy of Sunday's referendum in which it voted to join the Russian Federation, Turkey’s parliament speaker, Cemil Cicek, has said. Reminding delegates of the great sufferings that Tatars underwent in 1944 -- when about half of 200,000 Tartars deported from Crimea by Soviet troops died of starvation, thirst or illness -- Cicek said on Monday at the 130th assembly of Inter-Parliamentary union in Geneva: "Turkey does not recognize this unlawful fait accompli." He stressed that Turkey supports the independence, sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Following the results of the Crimean parliament's referendum, which showed that 96 percent of voters favored joining Russia, the region's parliament formally declared its independence from Ukraine on Monday. The referendum is opposed by the peninsula's Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, which together form up to 40 of the region's population -- 24 percent Ukrainian and 12 percent Tatar. The U.S. and the EU have called the vote "unlawful." englishnews@aa.com.tr

Josh Brook joined the Montreal Canadiens at this year’s NHL entry draft, part of a good second round by the scouting staff. Brook and Joni Ikonen were selected 56th and 58th overall, respectively, and rounded out what was a solid first two rounds for the Habs. Brook was the first of four defencemen selected on the second day of the draft, as the organization addressed its pressing need for defensive prospects. With Mikhail Sergachev being traded to Tampa Bay days before the event, in addition to Noah Juulsen and Simon Bourque graduating to the AHL next season, the pipeline of junior-aged prospects on defence had virtually dried up. With 40 point in 69 games, Brook’s production is very similar to that of Victor Mete’s in his draft-eligible season. Even after his WHL team, the Moose Jaw Warriors, were eliminated from the playoffs, he went on to represent Canada at the U18 World Championship, collecting another two points in five games in Slovakia. Brook will be back in the WHL again next year, and in addition to seeing further progression in his production, it’s also entirely probable he takes on a larger leadership role for his team. Voting The votes were a little bit spread out on Brook, given how new he is to the franchise and the unfamiliarity with his abilities. His range extends from 32 to 14 among the 24 ballots cast. Strengths First and foremost, Brook is a highly capable puck-mover on the blue line, with an assertive style of play that sees him pinching up the ice with regularity to keep the offence moving. He times those pinches well, keeping the puck below the faceoff dots in the offensive zone. He can keep plays alive in the attacking end by using a soft touch pass and shifting his positioning frequently to stay a viable option for teammates, and keep defenders moving to cover constantly shifting lanes. If he decides not to rush the puck up ice himself, he has a solid first pass and will often look to begin a breakout this way. He has some good puck-handling skills, able to deke around defenders in the neutral or offensive zone to help buy teammates time before setting them up for zone entries or scoring chances. His 40 points ranked 23rd among defenceman in the WHL, ahead of players like Juulsen and the newly drafted Cale Fleury. Now with a full year under his belt, it’s expected that those numbers will increase once again, and he could land near the top of the heap for WHL scoring from the blue line next season. Weaknesses One issue, and one that’s common for younger players, is that Brook needs to have a more consistent effort on a nightly basis. He shows flashes of high-end talent, like a great deke to beat a defender on a net drive, but he doesn’t use those abilities as often as someone of his skill level could be doing. Despite his high energy level, and decent skating ability, Brook can sometimes find himself behind the eight ball in one-on-one situations. He is sometimes outmuscled in physical battles, and his recovery speed leaves a bit to be desired. When Brook plays the game at top speed and cuts down decision time with his aggressive play, he is the best player on the ice most nights. It’s when the game slows to a pace he isn’t controlling that difficulty ensues. His transition game, whether it be carrying the puck out or with a breakout pass, suffers a bit in this situation. It goes back to his issues with consistency. As he grows and develops more as a player these flaws are likely to be overcome as well. Projection #25 Cale Fleury Fleury combines offensive instincts with a physical approach to the defensive game. While he isn’t on the same level as Mete in terms of offensive ability, he is more than capable of being a point-producer in his own right. It’s hard to fully project what Brook is capable of, but early indications are that he can be a dynamic defender throughout his career. This upcoming season in Moose Jaw should be one that sees him increase his production and iron out some of his defensive flaws. His aggressive style of play could place him on the radar of Team Canada for the World Juniors either this year or next. There’s a lot to like about Brook, and his presence in the prospect pool is a much needed addition to a group that was dwindling in terms of raw talent. Adding Brook was a good use of a late second-round pick, getting a player with the potential to one day become an offensive NHL defenceman.

They say it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere, but given Chicago’s boozy history, we think it’s fair to say that it’s always 5 o’clock in Chicago. That’s why this summer we’re raising a glass to the Chicago spirit each Friday by sharing original cocktail recipes that celebrate some of Chicago’s most colorful politicians. Belly up to the bar and get a little taste of Chicago’s spirited history. More from this series: New Deal, Old Deal; Blood Sport; Kentucky Colony; How's Harold?; The Man on Five; The Hinky Drink; Lord of the Levee and Mayor Bossy. William B. Ogden (1805 – 1877) Prepare to clutch your pearls, Chicagoans: Our city’s first mayor was – gasp! – a native New Yorker. The upside, though, is that once he was here he used his New York real estate expertise to create a city out of the swampy town of Chicago. William B. Ogden was born in Walton, New York in 1805. He was orphaned young and took over his late father’s real estate business at just 14 years old. When he was sent in 1835 to oversee a purchase in the burgeoning town of Chicago and saw his investment tripled, Ogden’s real estate antennae twitched. He left the seat he had just won in the New York state legislature to put down stakes in Chicago. That keen business acumen is what got him on the committee that officially created the city of Chicago in 1837, and he was elected the new city’s first mayor. Ogden believed that business and government could, and should, exist in harmony. He raised taxes so that sidewalks, streets and bridges could be built. When that wasn’t enough, Ogden and his investors (many of whom were New Yorkers themselves) paid out of pocket for what they could. Ogden’s most lasting contributions to the city did not come from his 10-month tenure, but his later real estate developments and railroads, including the Illinois-Michigan Canal and the Galena and Union Pacific railways. He also literally put Goose Island on the map when he directed the dredging of a canal through a bend in the North Branch of the Chicago River to provide a straighter path for boats, thereby creating an island that would later lend its name to one of Chicago’s best-known beer purveyors. He even designed one of the city’s trademark moving bridges himself – a pontoon-float swing bridge at Clark Street. But Ogden was ultimately a businessman, and he did have a ruthless side. He mercilessly evicted tenants from his land purchases and used the Illinois-Michigan Canal to dispose of harmful waste from his own properties. You didn’t think Chicago’s first mayor was all sweetness and light, did you? Still, his misdeeds were forgiven when the Great Fire of 1871 leveled the young city. Ogden lost all his properties in the fire, including his family home. When he received news of the disaster, he took an express train from New York to grieve with the rest of the city. Afterward, Ogden returned to New York, where he remained until his death in 1877. The Chicago Tribune wrote of him: “No one else in the history of the city better understood its prime commercial position, and no one did more to influence the world to appreciate it.” For the Swing Bridge, we pay tribute to the late great railroad tycoon by starting with a drink named for the men who worked on locomotives: the Boilermaker. (And what’s more Chicagoan than a shot and a beer?) The beer in this case is Goose Island’s Matilda Belgian ale, and the shot is Chicago’s own Koval Oat whiskey. We add spiced syrup to sweeten the affair. The Swing Bridge swings both ways – you can serve it separately as a shot and a beer, or combine the shot and beer as a cocktail. Cheers! Swing Bridge 1.5 oz. Koval Oat Whiskey 8 oz. Goose Island Matilda 1 oz. spiced syrup Cherry garnish For a cocktail: Combine the whiskey and syrup together with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a glass. Top with Matilda and stir gently. Garnish with a cherry. For a shot and a beer: Pour syrup in glass, top with Matilda, and stir gently. Serve with whiskey shot on the side. Sign up for our morning newsletter to get all of our stories delivered to your mailbox each weekday. More from this series: Classic Chicago Cocktail: New Deal, Old School July 1: This week, we raise a glass to five-time U.S. Congressman and two-time U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, the O.G. hipster of the Senate, with a new twist on an old-school cocktail. ​Classic Chicago Cocktail: Blood Sport June 24: Longtime U.S. Congressman Dan Rostenkowski famously called Chicago politics “blood sport.” We raise a glass to one of Chicago's own with a Polish twist on a classic cocktail. Original Chicago Cocktail: How's Harold? June 17: Whether it was dancing with a polka queen or meeting with protesters, Mayor Harold Washington was always smiling. We celebrate Chicago’s first and so far only African-American mayor with the signature drink, How’s Harold? Original Chicago Cocktail: Kentucky Colony June 10: Chicago’s early history has a surprising amount of Kentucky in it, including five-time Chicago Mayor Carter Henry Harrison. We honor Harrison’s old Kentucky home by putting a Chicago spin on the classic mint julep. Original Chicago Cocktail: The Man on Five June 3: Forty years after Richard J. Daley’s death, Chicago still identifies itself with the man who steered it for more than two decades. Belly up to the bar and get a little taste of Chicago’s spirited history: an Irish whiskey and smoky mezcal blended drink. Original Chicago Cocktail: Mayor Bossy May 27: Following a whopper of a blizzard in 1979, Sauganash native Jane Byrne narrowly upset Mayor Michael Bilandic for the Democratic mayoral nomination. Belly up to the bar and get a little taste of Chicago’s spirited history: a frosty milkshake spiked with whiskey and vodka. Original Chicago Cocktail: Lord of the Levee May 20: For our second installment, we’re saying “cheers” with the Lord of the Levee drink, inspired by Aldermen “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna. Original Chicago Cocktail: The Hinky Drink May 13: Belly up to the bar and get a little taste of Chicago’s spirited history. We're raising a glass to Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna, who famously crowed “Chicago ain’t no sissy town.”

It was fun to be back at the arena again to see all of the familiar faces and some of the new ones. The Leafs were split into two teams/practice squads (Team A and Team B, very creative) that took over the ice on the Leafs rink and the Marlies rink. Maple Leafs Training Camp Roster 2013 Latest Cuts: Stuart Percy, Andrew MacWilliam reassigned to Marlies. # Player Pos. # Player Pos. * Indicates rookie tournament attendee 31 Garret Sparks* G 35 Drew MacIntyre G 34 James Reimer G 45 Jonathan Bernier G 72 Antoine Bibeau* G 82 Christopher Gibson* G 2 Mark Fraser D 8 Petter Granberg* D 3 Dion Phaneuf D 12 Mason Raymond F 11 Jay McClement F 21 James van Riemsdyk F 15 Paul Ranger D 22 Joe Colborne F 26 John-Michael Liles D 23 Trevor Smith F 32 Josh Leivo* F 25 T.J. Brennan D 37 Carter Ashton F 29 Jerry D'Amigo F 38 Frazer McLaren F 36 Carl Gunnarsson D 39 Greg McKegg* F 44 Morgan Rielly* D 40 Troy Bodie F 47 Tyler Biggs* F 41 Nikolai Kulemin F 51 Jake Gardiner D 42 Tyler Bozak F 52 Sam Carrick F 43 Nazem Kadri F 55 Korbinian Holzer D 46 David Broll* F 56 Spencer Abbott F 48 Brad Ross* F 57 Andrew MacWilliam* D 49 Jesse Blacker D 58 Andrew Crescenzi F 50 Stuart Percy* D 59 Jamie Devane* F 54 Frederik Gauthier* F 61 Dylan Yeo D 60 Kevin Marshall D 63 David Bolland F 68 Zachary Yuen D 67 Kevin Raine* D 69 Trevor Murphy* D 78 Connor Brown* F 71 David Clarkson F 79 Ryan Rupert* F 81 Phil Kessel F 86 Matt Rupert F 92 Carter Verhaeghe* F 94 Fabrice Herzog F It is a big task to try and watch any given player due to the sheer number (59 individuals at camp) of skaters, but I tried my best. I wanted to focus on the newest additions and the ones who were trying to make the team. The practice started with drills and then progressed to an organized scrimmage that stopped the shift every 20 seconds (dictated by the irritating horn on the score clock). While I was trying to watch the new guys, it was very evident that Phil Kessel is absolutely flying. His puck skills (undressed Bozak at one point) were incredible and skating is second to very few in the NHL. I am sure most of you want to know about Jonathan Bernier, Mason Raymond, and Paul Ranger. So without further rambling, here we go. Bernier was solid. His movements are incredibly poised and under control. During the second scrimmage, I am not sure he let in a goal the entire time he was on the ice. Up/Downs are so very quick, he makes it all look very effortless. Mason Raymond is a roadrunner on the ice. Absolutely one of the fastest guys on an already quick team (caveat: I said similar about Lombardi last camp). Onto Paul Ranger, who was simple and effective in what I saw, but certainly didn’t stand out in any real regard. That is a good thing in an NHL defenceman, and I cannot wait to see more from him tomorrow. Team B, as they are known, didn’t have the same intensity and pace that Team A did. I’m not sure why; maybe they are less talented as a group or just young, but there was a noticeable drop off in play from rink to rink. While the hockey was fast paced, it had a few solid hits today. The first one was Mark Fraser stepping into Bradley Ross just inside the blue line. Ross got up looking pissed but realized it was Fraser, and skated to the bench with a smile on his face. Good choice. Next up was a solid battle between David Clarkson and Kevin Marshall. It was behind the net along the boards, and I thought it just may escalate to a fight; sadly, it wasn’t to be. Finally, at the end of scrimmage, Carter Ashton stepped into Dion Phaneuf in the middle of the ice. Dion wasn’t pleased but just hopped back up and continued his shift. I had a great chat with Paul Hendrick again today, who is always engaging. We got to talk hockey for a solid 20 minutes during one of the scrimmages. He has excellent insight to the team personnel and genuinely loves hockey. New favourite media members are Jonas Siegel and Caroline Cameron from SportsNet. I think even Big Daddy smiled in my general direction today. The security lady told me where the muffins and coffee were and to “help myself,” but I prefer the Dallas Eakins style with veggies and fruits. Sorry if this has been a huge rambling run-on sentence. My mind is spinning at this point from all of that action crammed into three hours of fun. Thanks for reading, and see you all tomorrow.

We all know the feeling. You lose your friends at a festival, you find yourself at a stage you didn't even know existed, and you realise the only way forward is to hide how insanely out-of-place you feel, by pretending you know and love every track ever released by whoever that band or DJ is on stage. Now imagine doing that for an entire weekend. As Wilderness Festival unfolded in rural England this weekend, a priceless photo emerged of a man attempting to do just that. And, to be brutally honest, failing miserably. David Cameron at Wilderness Festival, popping up in a selfie taken by Labour supporter Vanessa Price. Photo credit: SWNS.com Unsurprisingly for a politician whose background, career and celebrity set him a world apart from the average festival fan, David Cameron didn't quite manage to blend into the background. But even the most ardent critic of the former UK Prime Minister would have to admit his photobombing game is strong. It takes a while to spot him, but finding his distinctly awkward face among the crowd is a triumph reminiscent of picking out Wally (or Waldo, if you're from that part of the world) from a sea of football fans, factory workers or beach-goers. The fact that no-one around him seems to have noticed he's even there is either real creepy (like, he still exists in bodily form, right?) or further evidence that he's simply not part of the world he's stumbled into. And to make matters worse – or better, depending on your viewpoint – Cameron also managed to get himself snapped in an affectionate embrace with a supporter of The Worst Man In History. That's right, Dave, this photo is real and can never be untaken. Photo credit: Lucy Edwards Lucy Edwards said she "couldn't have even planned it. Big Dave C in the house, shame he can't read. He was so mad when he saw me walk off with what was on my back." At least he can console himself with a large glass (is that white wine on the rocks?) and a cheeky cigarette. Couldn't have got away with that as PM, could you Cam? More like this:

Dorohedoro Ch.151 Abridged (Slightly) larger versions of pictures can be found HERE. If you missed it: 150 abridged. DISCLAIMER: I am NOT fluent in Japanese. Chapter 151: Dreaming of Another Dimension Devil Nikaido has asked Kaiman to give her Store’s Kitchen Knife, but he doesn’t want to hand it over. Devil Nikaido: Give it to me, Kaiman. It’s too heavy for you. Kaiman: .oO(…How embarrassing!! But I can’t deny that it’s heavy!!) Kaiman: If you want it, come and take it from me. Devil Nikaido: Fine. Asu: It’d be better to hand it over peacefully. This is why humans disgust me. Magic Users: ……… Zombie Haze: Oogagah. Devil Nikaido: *poof* Kaiman: She disappeared! Devil Nikaido: *comes up behind Kaiman* I didn’t disappear. I’m just moving at high speed. Kaiman: You… *is grabbed by Devil Nikaido* Eh? Devil Nikaido: *throws Kaiman in the air* Higher, higher! Kaiman: UWAAAAH!! Kaiman: *gets knocked out by ceiling and loses grip on Store’s Kitchen Knife* Devil Nikaido: *catches both Kaiman and Store’s Kitchen Knife* Devil Nikaido: .oO(This Kaiman was revived from the head that was submerged in formalin… It has to have been [done by] the me that came from the future… There must’ve been a reason for it…) Devil Nikaido: .oO(If that’s the case, then I can’t afford to expose Kaiman to danger…) Kaiman: Umm… Okay, I get it, you can put me down now… Devil Nikaido: *tosses Kaiman* There you go! Kaiman: I didn’t say “throw me”! Asu: It’s useless to argue back and forth. Zombie Haze: Oogaga. Kaiman: To Hell with you! I’ll get my face back myself! Devil Nikaido: Kaiman’s face…? It was changed by Ebisu’s magic… Hm…? Magic Users: ……… Meanwhile, at Hole’s Central Hospital… Thirteen: It’s so quiet. Vaux: We have to drive the magic users out of the hospital! Note: in the previous chapter, Vaux hurried to get to the hospital before Hole could find the magic users inside to prevent Hole from wrecking the hospital. Vaux: AHH! Hole: *peeks out from behind hospital* En Family Minion: Wh… what’s that……? Vaux: Shit, he got inside! En Family Minion: Uwaah! En Family Minion: *runs* WAAA!! En Family Minion: *pant pant* Gotta make it to the others… and warn them… En Family Minion: *looks behind* He’s not here yet… Hm!? What the… Hole: *bursts up from the floor* En Family Minion: WAAH! Hole: *plows through the floor* En Family Minion: UWAAA!! Chidaruma: Hole-kun is so reckless and messy… En Family Minion: Everyone…! Danger…!! Ugh. Kaiman: *sulking* Devil Nikaido: Kaiman…… Asu: Nikaido… stop worrying about Kaiman so much. After all, he’s just a human. You are an elite magic user, and now a devil. You are worlds apart. Kaiman: I can hear all that, you little brat! You’re pissing me off! Asu: More importantly, we have to come up with a way to retrieve your magic box… Devil Nikaido: As for that… there’s nothing I need to do… I think. Asu: What do you mean? Devil Nikaido: When I used time magic in the Central Department Store, I met my past self inside the Black House… I gave my past self Store’s Kitchen Knife and returned to my own time. Then, according to Kaiman, the past self who I gave the knife to suddenly vanished. Devil Nikaido: This magic is directed by the self which used it. Asu: In other words… Devil Nikaido: For instance… I used the magic at 9 o’clock… and traveled to 20 minutes in the past, to 8:40… So now in that past there were 2 of me: the 9 o’clock self who used the magic, and the 8:40 self. Devil Nikaido: At that point the past me thought she’d have to fight Haru, but I gave her Store’s Kitchen Knife. I gave it to her to influence her behavior, to change the future… The 9 o’clock self who used the magic returned to 9 o’clock… Devil Nikaido: But that 9 o’clock was created as the result of changes I made to the past… It was a new 9 o’clock where I didn’t fight Haru… Devil Nikaido: In that new timeline, the past self who I met with at 8:40 also existed… And naturally, after 20 minutes passed and it became 9 o’clock, there should’ve been 2 Nikaidos at the same time… Devil Nikaido: But my magic doesn’t allow for that. When the self who used the magic returns to her original time, the other self disappears… Devil Nikaido: Disappears… or, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the extra self is integrated… Asu: Yes, I see, that must be a rule governing your magic. But what does that have to do with getting your magic box back? Devil Nikaido: There is no doubt that my devil self which came from the future exists. My future self gave my current self some advice… Devil Nikaido: Then, most likely, she also revived Kaiman from the formalin head… Asu: What?! Kaiman: R-revived me…?! Devil Nikaido: That is to say… my current self is… living within her changed timeline… ~Chapter 152 comes out February 7, 2017 in Japan!~ Poor Vaux is feeling helpless as he watches Hole tear apart his beloved hospital. Poor Kaiman is feeling useless as his best friend far surpassed him in power. All he wants is his human face back. One way to do that is for the magic user that hexed him to die. That magic user is Ebisu, who Chidaruma believes is dead, but could Kaiman’s lizard face be proof that she is alive? And, if so, who else may be alive? Dokuga (and Tetsujo and Risu) better be alive…

As citizens of Earth, we have layers of identity that make us unique from those around us as well as affiliating us with certain groups. Religion usually plays an important role in forging our personal identity. In developed countries, you don’t necessarily have to subscribe to a particular organized religion, although the same is not true in countries where theocratic governments demand that their citizens pledge allegiance to a particular faith. Moreover, the law in these societies doesn’t permit people to convert from one religion to another—such governments often have a declared state religion that allows adherents from other traditions to join, but not the other way around. Then there is Buddhism, which is in many respects a unique tradition. Some practitioners do not regard it as a religion, but more as a way of life, a journey to inner awakening founded by the Buddha. Many contemporary Buddhists will say that Buddhism is more Dharma than religion. Obviously, Buddhism in the West is evolving as a spiritual path that is non-dogmatic and values the internal development of love and wisdom over doctrine. This is a trend that is also beginning to emerge in Asia. It is simply a matter of time before it becomes more widespread. There are now millions and millions of people across the world who identify as Buddhists. For many of them it is because they were born into a culture that itself identifies as Buddhist, although this does not mean that they automatically understand the depth of the Buddha’s teachings. Identifying as a Buddhist is a tricky business when one does not truly understand what Buddhism is. It must be more than worshiping statues, or visiting temples on holy occasions or when one seeks divine intervention in the midst of a personal catastrophe such as losing a loved one, falling ill, or encountering a serious mishap. In the purest sense, to be a Buddhist means to be someone who follows the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, such as the Noble Eightfold Path. Some might say that taking the vow of refuge is a bona fide initiation that renders someone a Buddhist overnight. This makes the process sound quite simple. Usually, performing a refuge ceremony can be done in less than half an hour, but is the ceremonial repeating of the vows after a Dharma teacher and receiving a symbolic haircut sufficient for someone to be transformed into a new Buddhist? Most ordinations in the Buddhist tradition require preparatory steps before one can even become a candidate. And there must be proper intention and right understanding about the path that one is preparing to embark upon. Merely participating in such an initiation ceremony is not the complete rite of passage to becoming a true student of the Buddha. There is also the danger of turning Buddhism into an “ethnic” religion—when someone becomes a Buddhist by the sheer merit of being born in a Buddhist country or culture. Buddhism is not an ethnic religion; the Buddha himself stated that caste and race are irrelevant in his sangha, or holy community. For him, what matters most is understanding the Dharma that he discovered. During his lifetime, the Buddha welcomed men, women, Brahmins, and “untouchables,” transcending all of these divisions in the world of his Dharma. This all-embracing spirit resonates with many people still considered “untouchables” in today’s India. When the celebrated Indian scholar, activist, and social reformer Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) was searching for a new spiritual tradition for himself and his fellow Dalits, in the end he found that Buddhism was the most appealing because its egalitarian philosophy would accept his people no matter their race or caste.

"I think Trump is in the White House because of me." Following Donald Trump's win, a conversation has emerged about whether or not fake news on Facebook helped swing the election his way. The Washington Post interviewed the man behind many viral fake news stories, 38-year-old Paul Horner. "I think Trump is in the White House because of me," said Horner, adding that his sites were constantly picked up by Trump supporters. "His followers don't fact-check anything — they'll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist." Horner claims he was trying to make Trump and his supporters look bad. "I thought they'd fact-check it, and it'd make them look worse," Horner told the publication. "Looking back, instead of hurting the campaign, I think I helped it, and that feels [bad]." The fake news writer said he never thought Trump would win and become president. "They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore — I mean, that's how Trump got elected. He just said whatever he wanted, and people believed everything, and when the things he said turned out not to be true, people didn't care because they'd already accepted it. It's real scary. I've never seen anything like it." Horner fancies himself a writer of satire, saying he likes to get lumped in with The Onion. He said he makes $10,000 a month from Google AdSense. He thinks that the "horrible sites" that have "no creativity or purpose" behind them should be washed out by Google and Facebook's new desire to clean up fake news, but he hopes his own sites that have "purpose and meaning" will not be affected.

The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel means that citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries will continue to be able to travel to the US, despite Trump's executive order last month. It is a significant political setback to Trump's new administration and raises questions about how the courts will view his apparent vision for an expansive use of executive power from the Oval Office on which he is anchoring the early weeks of his presidency. "The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States," the judges wrote. "Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the Executive Order, the government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all." The judges added that while "the public has a powerful interest in national security and in the ability of an elected president to enact policies... the public also has an interest in free flow of travel, in avoiding separation of families, and in freedom from discrimination." Trump immediately tweeted his reaction to the ruling: "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017 "It's a political decision, we're going to see them in court, and I look forward to doing that," Trump told reporters in the White House Thursday. "It's a decision that we'll win, in my opinion, very easily." Trump's presidential rival Hillary Clinton celebrated the decision, tweeting simply "3-0." 3-0 — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 10, 2017 The states of Washington and Minnesota had challenged the ban. "Bottom line, this is a complete victory for the state of Washington," said state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a unanimous decision effectively granted everything we sought." Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell, who argued the case, responded to Trump's tweet on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." "The irony from our perspective is that we've seen him in court twice now, and we've won both times. It's not like it doesn't count until you get to the Supreme Court," Purcell said. The Justice Department is reviewing the decision, it said in a statement. But given that the Supreme Court currently lacks its ninth member, there a real chance of a 4-4 split on the bench along ideological lines, which would have the effect of affirming the ruling of the 9th Circuit, inflicting a more permanent blow to the new administration. Fight over executive power The legal drama over the immigration executive order was the first episode in what could be a series of legal challenges to Trump's governing style and agenda and represents the first confrontation between his White House and the checks and balances of the American political system. The judges addressed each of the Justice Department's proffered reasons for reinstating the ban in great detail and rejected them all. Perhaps the most sweeping language came concerning the government's vast claim of executive power. The court rejected that in strong language: "There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy." They added: "Although our jurisprudence has long counseled deference to the political branches on matters of immigration and national security, neither the Supreme Court nor our court has ever held that courts lack the authority to review executive action in those arenas for compliance with the Constitution." The administration also argued the states did not have standing -- or the legal right -- to bring the suit. But the court disagreed. "(A)s the operators of state universities, the states may assert not only their own rights to extent affected by the Executive Order but may also assert the rights of their students and faculty members," the judges wrote. National security argument The court also chastised the Trump administration for failing to provide an explanation for how national security concerns justified an "urgent need" for the executive order to be immediately reinstated. It suggested the administration "could have provided the court "with classified information" but failed to do so. And while the administration had set forth a fallback argument in order to limit the scope of the temporary restraining order currently in place -- arguing that if the judges were inclined to uphold the lower court's decision to block Trump's ban, then the ruling should at least be limited to people who have previously been admitted to the US -- the appellate court was unconvinced. "It is not our role to try, in effect, to rewrite the Executive Order. ...The political branches are far better equipped to make appropriate distinctions," the court explained. The court said that it had to look at the interest of the public. It acknowledged that the public had a "powerful interest" in national security and in the "ability of an elected president to enact policies" but that the states had a stronger argument. "The public has an interest in free flow of travel, in avoiding separation of families, and in freedom from discrimination," the judges wrote. What's next? Trump's executive order bars citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria. Trump issued the travel ban January 27, causing chaos, confusion and protests at international airports as the legal status of people in transition was suddenly thrown into question. Lawsuits have been filed across the country, but it was one from federal Judge James Robart in Seattle last Friday that blocked the travel ban nationwide, clearing the way for resumed travel from the seven countries. The administration appealed, and the three-judge panel heard oral arguments Tuesday evening via telephone and issued the ruling Thursday per curiam, meaning it is unsigned and there was no dissent. Judge Michelle T. Friedland, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge William C. Canby Jr, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, and Judge Richard R. Clifton, an appointee of President George W. Bush, heard the case. "The Trump administration has lost dramatically and completely," said Jeffery Toobin, a CNN political analyst, on "The Situation Room." "This decision will have a lot more public credibility because it is unanimous, and I think it complicates the Trump administration's attempt, if they choose to make it, to disparage this decision as a political act," Toobin said. The administration has not announced its next step, but Trump has previously indicated that he would take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, a move that would set up a legal showdown of even higher stakes and visibility. Should it choose, before it goes to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department has the option of asking for an en banc review of the three-judge panel ruling among judges of the full 9th Circuit.

Seven scientists and experts on trial for manslaughter linked to an earthquake in Italy that killed more than 300 people have been convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, a court has ruled. The victims of the earthquake in L'Aquila have also been awarded between €40,000 to €450,000 ($52,000 to $584,000 Cdn), said freelance journalist Megan Williams. Italian prosecutors say that the scientists gave inaccurate and incomplete information about whether smaller tremors before the April 2009 quake should have been grounds for an official warning. The 6.9 magnitude earthquake left 309 people dead and injured more than 1,500 others. Judge Marco Billi took slightly more than four hours to reach the verdict, the BBC reported. In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after an appeals trial, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Charges 'unfair and naive,' scientists say Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the national Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. "I am dejected, desperate," Boschi said after the verdict. "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of." Another convicted defendant, Bernardo De Bernardinis, a former official of the national Civil Protection agency, said "I consider myself innocent before God and men." During the trial, which began in September 2011, the defence had argued it is impossible to predict quakes. Seismologists have long concurred, saying the technology doesn't exist to predict a quake and that no major temblor has ever been foretold. The chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a non-profit organization which publishes the journal Science, wrote a letter in 2010 to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano calling the charges against the experts' "unfair and naive". "The basis for indictments brought by the local prosecutor in L’Aquila appears to be that the scientists failed to alert the population of L’Aquila of an impending earthquake," wrote Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the AAAS and executive publisher of Science. "However, there is no way they could have done that credibly." 'They would have fled that night' But prosecutors focused on a memo issued after a meeting of the Great Risks commission — a committee which the scientists were part of, and which evaluates potential for natural disasters — before the earthquake. The March 31, 2009 meeting was called because of mounting concerns about the months of seismic activity in the region. Many much smaller earth tremors had rattled the area in the months before the quake, causing frightened people to wonder if they should evacuate. According to the commission's memo, issued one week before the big quake, the experts concluded that it was "improbable" that there would be a major quake though it added that one couldn't be excluded. Afterward, members of the commission gave reassuring interviews to local media stressing the impossibility of predicting quakes and that even six months worth of low-magnitude temblors was not unusual in the highly seismic region and didn't mean a big one was coming. The BBC reported that prosecutors, in their closing statement, quoted one of their witnesses whose father died in the earthquake. The statement described how Guido Fioravanti called his mother on the night of the earthquake, after the first tremor, the BBC said. "I remember the fear in her voice. On other occasions they would have fled but that night, with my father, they told themselves what the risk commission had said. And they stayed."

Lebanon's Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abou Khalil speaks during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil on Thursday said a tender had closed on a first round of offshore energy blocks, and told local media that two consortiums had submitted bids. It will take years for revenue from any of the blocks to start flowing to the country, he said in a televised news conference. “The first licensing round for oil exploration closed,” he said. The country’s petroleum authority and the cabinet will evaluate the bids, he added. The local English-language Daily Star reported that Abi Khalil told it that two bids were submitted and that there were French, Italian and Russian companies involved in those bids. Lebanon relaunched the licensing round for five offshore blocks (1, 4, 8, 9 and 10) in January after a three-year delay due to political paralysis. It extended the bid deadline in September. Lebanon sits on the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean along with Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and Syria. A number of gas fields have been discovered there since 2009, such as the Leviathan and Tamar fields. A total of 52 companies qualified earlier in the year to bid in this round. When the process was first launched in 2013, 46 companies qualified to take part in bidding, 12 of them as operators, including Chevron Corp, Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp.

"My greatest fear in the state of Maine: newspapers," he said to laughter from the children. "I'm not a fan of newspapers." [...] "There's a lack of objectivity," he said. "If they were fair and balanced, I would be a supporter." Maine Gov. Paul LePage has stood out from the crop of far-right Republican governors elected in 2010 not for being less extremist than his peers like Ohio's John Kasich and Wisconsin's Scott Walker, but for being the biggest buffoon of the lot. So no wonder, when a student asked him about his greatest fear as governor, LePage answered:Right. Fair and balanced. Of course a governor who signed a law weakening child labor laws not long after making clear he didn't really know what was in the law has reason to fear newspapers or anything other than "fair and balanced" (wink wink) news coverage. Of course a governor who said the IRS was headed toward being like the Gestapo has reason to fear reporting lacking that special "fair and balanced" flavor being read by the people of his state. LePage also said that education unions "are doing an awful, awful thing to future generations of Mainers," assailing the state's public education system and pushing charter schools as an alternative. For the record, Maine is above the U.S. average on every category of National Assessment of Educational Progress testing and has a high school graduation rate well above the national average. Basically, LePage hates and fears anyone who stands against his extremist agenda. And because in his case the perpetual debate over whether Republican politicians are stupid, evil, or both is answered with a resounding "probably both, but definitely stupid," you get a buffoon elected with 38 percent of the vote lashing out at a lot of targets much more respected than he is.

Critical Enquiry Forgotten History US and Allied Wars in Russia, 1918-22 Many Americans would be surprised to learn that the USA, along with Britain, France, and Japan, fought a campaign in Russia just after the Great War (World War I). The primary objective of this action was the re-establishment of an Eastern Front following the collapse of the Russian government during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, but Allied fear of communist ambitions in other countries also played into the intervention as will be seen below. The overall campaign was named the Polar Bear Expedition, but was also known as the Northern Russian Expedition, the American North Russia Expeditionary Force - ANREF or the American Expeditionary Force North Russia - AEFNR. These efforts are not mentioned in most history survey courses, and few texts even mention that US troops (or those of any other nation) fought against the Bolsheviks during this period. The presence of US Army units from Michigan in Vladivostok, Archangel, and other Russian locations is rarely noted although the University of Michigan maintains an archive of photographs and other primary evidence relating to the period. From the Louis E. Schicker collection in the University of Michigan's Polar Bear archives Troops were sent to Russia near the close of World War I for several reasons, all of which were related to the instability of the Russian government. First, the Russian army's disastrous defeat at the hands of the Germans resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Initially his government was replaced by an interim democratic administration (the only democratic regime that has ever existed in Russia) under the leadership of Alexander Kerensky. This change in government structure caused president Woodrow Wilson to change his mind about participation in the war. He had initially refused to commit the US to an alliance with the despotic Tsarist government. Thus, US troops were mustered for action on the Western Front. However, in October 1917 the Bolshevik revolution replaced the Kerensky government with communist rule under Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin. This resulted in the withdrawl of Russian troops from the Eastern front as the new government negotiated a separate peace with Germany under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Loss of the Eastern Front placed additional pressure on Allied troops from the US, France, Britain, and other countries fighting on the Western Front. The Germans were able to move troops from Eastern borders to French battlefields, thus strengthening their hand. The change of government also left at risk vast amounts of military materiel and armaments provided by Britain to the Kerensky government. There was concern that these supplies would be captured by the Germans or (worse) the Bolsheviks. This was unacceptable, both from a military and economic standpoint. There was also a concern that the armaments might be used against other European powers once the newly established communist government built up the newly minted red Army's power. Western nations greatly feared Marxism, which taught that industrial powers would eventually be overthrown in "peoples' revolutions" as the "proletariat" took their rightful place. The idea of a heavily armed communist state was, as a result, extremely unpalatable to most Western governments. The various Allies are estimated to have sent the following strength of troops to the Russian campaign (from Wikipedia): 50,000 Czechoslovaks [4] 28,000 Japanese (later increased to 70,000 [5] Vladivostok region) Vladivostok region) 24,000 Greeks (in Crimea and the Ukraine) 13,000 Americans (in Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions) 12,000 Poles (mostly in Crimea and the Ukraine) 4,000 Canadians (in Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions) 4,000 Serbs (in Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions) 4,000 Romanians (in Arkhangelsk region) 2,000 Italians (in Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions) 1,600 British (in Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions) 760 French (mostly in Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions Obviously the British and French were desperately short of troops due to commitments on the Western Front. Thus their contribution to the Eastern campaign was very small in terms of personnel. American troops were deployed in Archangel (Arkangelsk), Murmansk, and Vladivostok. Many of these troops were from units organized in Michigan, including the 339th Infantry, 310th Engineers, 337th Field Hospital, and 337th Ambulance Company. This group later adopted the name "The Polar Bear Expedition," and members referred to themselves as Polar Bears. American Troops Arriving at Vladivostok US involvement in this ill-conceived expedition was short. Once the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 the Wilson government began receiving letters and petitions to bring the troops home from Siberia and other regions in which they were deployed. Most were withdrawn from Russia by mid 1919, having lost several hundred men to combat as well as sickness (including the Spanish Flu). Video from YouTube showing US soldiers from the 339th in Russia circa 1918. Consequences The Allied incursion generally accomplished nothing significant in terms of either foreign relations or military success. The small forces deployed to Russia were unable to break the power of the Red Army, and simply watched as the White Army (composed of anti-communist Russians) was slowly destroyed. Worse, the Allies are said to have made and then broken numerous promises of additional assistance made to Admiral Kolchak, the leader of a "government in exile" established at Omsk following the Bolshevik revolution. John Ward, who lead the British force known as "Die-Hards," states that It is certain that Admiral Koltchak would never have gone to Siberia, nor have become the head of the constitutional movement and government of Russia, if he had not been advised and even urged to do so by the Allies. He received the most categorical promises of whole-hearted support and early Allied recognition before he agreed to take up the dangerous duty of head of the Omsk Government. Had these urgings and promises been ungrudgingly performed a Constituent Assembly would be now sitting at Moscow hammering out the details of a Federal Constitution for a mighty Russian Republic or a parliamentary system similar to our own. (Ward, 1920) Having agreed to assist Kolchak and the anti-communists, the Allies then apparently worked at odds with each other rather than forming a united front behind his government. The British and Japanese were rabidly fearful of communism as a whole. The former were mindful of Marx' prediction that communism would be established first in England and France (the most industrialized nations when he wrote The Communist Manifesto), while the latter feared communism as a threat to the monarchy. [...] [the Allies'] help took the form of positive wilful obstruction. The Japanese, by bolstering up Semianoff and Kalmakoff, and the Americans, by protecting and organising enemies, made it practically impossible for the Omsk Government to maintain its authority or existence. The most that could be expected was that both would see the danger of their policy in time to avert disaster. One did; the other left when the evils created had got beyond control. Koltchak has not been destroyed so much by the acts of his enemies as by the stupidity and neglect of his Allied friends. (Ward, 1920) It may also be argued that this incursion into the fledgling Soviet Union (then called the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) by Allied forces set the stage for later Soviet fear of attack from the West. Certainly the intervention of foreign troops and their action against the new communist regime was a useful propaganda tool. It could be used to justify fear of capitalist states, the later creation of the eastern European Soviet bloc (as a buffer against invasion), and even the extermination of Soviet soldiers who came into contact with non-Soviet governments and military agencies. As is so often the case, a badly thought out short term foreign policy decision had serious ramifications for decades to come. Is it any surprise that this incident is not even discussed in US history classes? References Note: All information contained in these pages is © 2008 Richard E. Joltes. Excerpts may be used where proper credit is given and permission is obtained in advance. All rights reserved.

Sarah Jones has never shied away from strong female characters, and in her newest role she sparks a movement to empower women everywhere. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jones about her upcoming role in USA’s newest period drama Damnation and how it’s ignited her passion and impacted her life. Damnation is about the fictional battle of corporate greed and the cultural revolution that encompasses Seth and Amelia Davenport as the dust settles. “Amelia is sort of the mastermind of this cause that surrounds one of the themes of the show,” Jones explained. “Seth and Amelia are moonlighting as a preacher and preacher’s wife to try to radicalize the local farmers strike against the food distributors who aren’t giving them a fair price for their crops and goods.” Jones has played strong female characters before, but Amelia left quite the impression. “What struck me initially about the character, aside from her tenacious commitment and cunning approach to furthering the cause, was that she has the ability to find the balance of living her truth while using societal expectations to her advantage without compromising her moral code,” she noted. She continued to explain that it was something that connected with her and that she wanted to learn from it as a woman living in 2017. “Amelia is driven by her compassion and righteous anger, and does it with grace, purity, and intention.” “What interested me most about Amelia was that her foundation is actually her moral compass, and her decisions and tactics aren’t coming from a place of manipulation or ambition to obtain some sort of power or personal gain,” Jones explained. She also said that’s something she hopes to take with her in her own life. When Jones was first given the script, she said she knew she had to be apart of this series. “My first reaction was, “wow.” I hadn’t read something like that in a long time, where I was struck by the content, by the message, and the characters. It had the whole package.” She quickly got the ball moving because she knew this was a huge opportunity. “I just thought, I have to be on this show, and I thought it was an important story to tell and an interesting way of doing that.” Jones said the preparation for the role was much more personal than for any previous one. “Aside from watching countless documentaries of that time period and women, my Bible became a book called Mother Jones Speaks,” she said. “It was about speeches and writings of Mary Harris Jones who was before Amelia’s time, but she at one point was called the most dangerous woman in America.” Jones spoke with passion as she went on to say, “I’ve grown so fond of Mary Harris Jones, and in my opinion, she was one of the largest contributors for the working class in having more rights, being treated fairly, and getting laws made to protect them and put them on higher ground. And I’d like to think she had an impact on Amelia somehow.” The impact that Amelia and Damnation has made on Jones is something she’ll take with her, both personally and professionally. “Ultimately, knowing you’re safe and ok to allow yourself to be vulnerable and exposed.” “If you really connect with a character and their voice, you can immerse yourself in it and do so safely as an actor” she said. Getting into character was something that profoundly impacted Jones. “You know, I’ve never had such a personal relationship with a character before playing Amelia, and in doing so shed light on a lot of aspects of my personal life that has required me to recognize some hard truths and respond with tough love. I’ve never felt so vulnerable in the work as I have representing Amelia.” At times, Jones said she worked through those moments of vulnerability that left her feeling uncomfortable because she knew it was necessary. “I wanted to represent Amelia and these women with honesty and responsibility. That’s been my biggest challenge, and it’s certainly a challenge I welcome and that I’ve been incredibly grateful for.” Another thing that Jones mentioned she was grateful for was the platform this kind of show gave to women everywhere. “I thought a lot about how women could make a change back then when they weren’t given nearly the kind of platform we have now. And if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have these kinds of platforms now.” Be sure to catch Sarah Jones on Damnation, premiering Tuesday, November 7th on USA. Featured image credit: Logan Cole, Hair / Makeup: Travisean Haynes Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_ Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here! You might also like:

Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif. (Source: Facebook/Maryam Nawaz Sharif) Pen is mightier than the sword? Forget it. These words written in 1839 by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in historical play Cardinal Richelieu may have found a new meaning in the digital age of 2017. What about a font is mightier than sword? Ask Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam and they will answer in the affirmative. Pakistan is staring at the fall of Nawaz Sharif government due to a popular font – Calibri. It has been found that Maryam misled the Pakistan Supreme Court with fake documents in the ongoing Panamagate corruption case against her family. Maryam sent to the SC-appointed Joint Investigative Team (JIT) documents dated before January 31, 2007 and typed in Calibri font. But Calibri was not commercially available before 31st January 2007. Calibri has an interesting history of being on the top. Yes, literally. Microsoft describes Calibri as a “modern sans serif family with subtle roundings on stems and corners. It features real italics, small caps, and multiple numeral sets. Its proportions allow high impact in tightly set lines of big and small text alike. Calibri’s many curves and the new rasteriser team up in bigger sizes to reveal a warm and soft character.” The “warm and soft” Calibri was designed by Lucas De Groot in 2004 reached people on January 30, 2007 with the launch of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista. The Calibri started its journey by replacing Times New Roman as the default typeface in Word and also replaced Arial as the default in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and WordPad. Watch this also: Calibri made on-screen reading more enjoyable and continued so in all versions of Microsoft Office since 2007 until 2016. It may just now leave Pakistan sans Sharif. UPDATE: Pakistan Supreme Court is set to deliver the verdict in Panama Papers case against PM Sharif today. It is expected that the verdict would force Sharif to resign. (This article was first published on July 14, 2017. )

0 Man arrested during BMW test drive ATLANTA - A man who went car shopping in Gwinnett County ended up in jail during a test drive. Jon-Christopher Sowells had just driven a BMW out of Philips Motors on Highway 78 in Snellville when an officer stopped him. Sowell told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh he pulled over, unclear about why the Snellville police officer stopped him. "He said you don't have any tags on the car. I said, ‘No problem, I don't have any tags on this car because it's not my car. The dealer is right there we can get it all clarified,’” Sowells said. Sowells said he asked the officers to call the dealer three or four times, then the officer asked to see some paperwork on the back seat. Not knowing what the papers were, Sowells refused. “They asked me to get out of the car. I said 'I don't feel comfortable.' They commenced to open up the car door and they tried to drag me out of the door by my left arm," he said. At that point, Sowells says, the officer had called for backup. According to the police report, Sowells pulled away from the officers. Two officers grabbed their Tasers and Sowells got out of the car. He was arrested for obstruction. “They're treating me like I'm a criminal and I hadn't done anything," he said. Snellville Police Chief Roy Whitehead emailed Kavanaugh a statement. "The officer observed a paper on the rear seat that appeared to be of the type dealers use when placing a vehicle for sale. He asked if he could retrieve it and Mr. Sowells refused. Based on his refusal to provide information and his passive and then active resistance, Mr. Sowells was charged with obstruction," the statement said. Whitehead also noted that because no one answered the phone at the dealership, the officer drove there to verify Sowell's story. "The dealer comes out to pick the car up and at this point, I'm thinking we can all go home everything is OK now. No it's not OK, I'm going to jail," Sowells said. Sowells said he has never been arrested before and he plans to fight the charge. He also bought the BMW. Snellville police contend he had opportunities to cooperate with their investigation.

U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy Is the Definition of Insanity Show me someone who publicly insists that the United States has an effective counterterrorism strategy, and I’ll show you someone who draws a paycheck from the U.S. government. “This week we have seen success across a broad spectrum,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters on June 16, commenting on the death of Yemeni al Qaeda leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, reportedly killed as a result of a U.S. drone strike. “Any time a terrorist is removed from the battlefield, is killed or captured, I think the net gain outweighs any potential loss.” Loyalty to your employer is a fine thing, especially in a press spokesman, but outside the ranks of officials in President Barack Obama’s administration, experts are far more dubious about the heavy U.S. reliance on air power and targeted strikes. “The tactical, whack-a-mole approach is not having the desired effect,” my Foreign Policy colleague Micah Zenko told the New York Times. “Not having the desired effect” was a polite circumlocution: As Zenko recently noted for FP, State Department figures show a substantial recent uptick in global terrorism. In 2014, terrorist attacks increased 39 percent over the previous year, while the number of fatalities caused by terrorist attacks went up 83 percent. In Yemen, which the administration inexplicably continues to tout as a counterterrorism “success,” U.S. policy in in shambles. “If you’re looking for logic here, you’re not going to find much,” Stephen Seche, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, told the New York Times. In mid-June, the Washington Post reported that “[al]-Qaeda affiliates are significantly expanding their footholds” in both Yemen and Syria. And the Islamic State also continues to gain ground in both countries. Meanwhile, in Libya, it’s “utter chaos,” former U.N. advisor Dirk Vandewalle told the Times: The Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked groups are vying for power, and a recent U.S. drone strike against al Qaeda operative Mokhtar Belmokhtar “shows that we’re still relying on ad hoc measures.” In Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan, it’s the same story. The United States continues to rely heavily on airstrikes and targeted killings, while terrorist groups continue to cause mayhem and gain adherents. Even some of those who do get paid by Uncle Sam have grown more openly skeptical of U.S. counterterrorism policy. Capt. Robert Newson, a Navy SEAL who served as director of the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Terrorism, told an interviewer at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center that “drone strikes, manned airstrikes, and special operations raids … buy space and time. But by themselves they are only a delaying action, and everywhere I have been, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, every military person up and down the chain of command acknowledges this. This ‘CT concept’ — the solution that some people champion where the main or whole effort is drone strikes and special operations raids — is a fantasy.” Like Newson, I haven’t encountered many defenders of U.S. counterterrorism strikes. Last year, I co-chaired a Stimson Center commission on U.S. drone policy with retired Gen. John Abizaid. The commission, which included former senior military and intelligence officials from both Obama’s and George W. Bush’s administrations, concluded in June 2014 that “the Obama administration’s heavy reliance on targeted killings as a pillar of US counterterrorism strategy rests on questionable assumptions, and risks increasing instability and escalating conflicts. While tactical strikes may have helped keep the homeland free of major terrorist attacks, existing evidence indicates that both Sunni and Shia Islamic extremist groups have grown in scope, lethality and influence in the broader area of operations in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.” In dozens of interviews and conversations with national security experts since June 2014, I have yet to find anyone who won’t admit, off the record, that U.S. counterterrorism policy is flailing badly. So here’s the question: If no one except administration press flacks thinks the whack-a-mole approach to counterterrorism is working, why are we still using it? To me, that’s one of the unsolved mysteries of the universe, right up there with “what is dark matter?” and “why do we yawn?” Why do smart people like Obama and his top advisors continue to rely on counterterrorism policies that aren’t working? I can think of a few possibilities. 1. They know something we don’t. This is the most generous hypothesis I can come up with. Maybe there’s secret intelligence information showing that, contrary to all appearances, al Qaeda, the Islamic State, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, and other major terrorist groups have all been fatally weakened and peace on Earth is right around the corner. Maybe. But not very likely. 2. We know something they don’t. Back in 2003, many of us were skeptical of the Bush administration’s claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but told ourselves that senior officials probably knew something we didn’t. Not so, as it turned out. Internal and external critics were ignored or silenced, and everyone from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Secretary of State Colin Powell convinced themselves that dubious intelligence was the gospel truth. Had they paid more attention to critics, the United States might never have launched its misguided war in Iraq — the same war that became an inspiration and training ground for many of the terrorist leaders who continue to plague the region today. The critics were right. There’s no particular reason to think that today’s senior U.S. officials are any less prone to self-delusional groupthink. Maybe they’re trapped in their own little bubble; maybe they’ve started to believe their own hype. 3. They don’t know what they don’t know. Or maybe they don’t — and can’t — know that they don’t know what the rest of us know. Maybe no one draws their attention to critical reports. Maybe the internal critics — of whom there are clearly many — censor themselves when they’re around the president and his inner circle. I sometimes think that the U.S. government is a giant machine designed to prevent senior decision-makers from every getting any useful information. For one thing, it’s a vast and sprawling bureaucracy, and the right hand is frequently oblivious to the machinations of the left hand. In a sense, there’s just no “there” there: The State Department doesn’t always share important information with the Defense Department, the Defense Department doesn’t always share important information with Department of Homeland Security, and the intelligence community generally doesn’t share important information with anyone. Within agencies, it’s no different. Central Command doesn’t necessarily know what Special Operations Command knows, and Africa Command may not know what either knows. Military intelligence and surveillance assets are concentrated in the Central Command area or responsibility, leaving commanders elsewhere with less ability to monitor and understand what’s going on. Meanwhile, the CIA’s shift toward paramilitary operations has left it less able to gain vital human intelligence. Put all this together, and you get a situation in which U.S. officials can see millions of trees, but almost no one can spot any forests. Add to this the natural desire to bring good news rather than bad news to the boss — and combine it with a bureaucratic culture that insists that everything be boiled down to a few slides or a page of bullet points before it goes to senior officials. Maybe, at the end of the day, Obama can’t be expected to know whether his approach to counterterrorism is succeeding or failing, because the structure and incentives of the players in his own government make it impossible for him to know. 4. They don’t want to know. Maybe that’s too generous. Bush used to boast that he never read the newspaper. Maybe Obama has stopped reading the news too. Or maybe he skips articles that look critical or negative and goes straight to the sports section. It will be many years before current intelligence assessments are declassified, but so far, journalistic reports of leaked documents and comments by former officials suggest that there’s no shortage of internal evidence that U.S. counterterrorism policy is failing. According to the BBC, leaked CIA reports concluded that targeting killings of Taliban leaders were ineffective, for instance. Other internal documents reportedly acknowledge that U.S. officials are often uncertain whom they’re killing in the first place. But maybe senior officials find reasons to avoid reading such reports. Taking such information fully on board — or grappling with the full implications of the recent rise in global terrorism — would require senior officials to admit (to themselves, even if not to the general public) that a counterterrorism strategy centered on air power and targeted killings isn’t working. Not fun. 5. They know, but don’t care. Perhaps I’m still being too generous. Maybe senior administration officials know perfectly well that their approach to counterterrorism is failing, but simply have no incentive to change it. Why bother? In less than two years, this administration will be gone, and the next crew will have to clean up the mess — which won’t be easy, since no one has any magic solutions. In the meantime, politics trumps policy. The experts, analysts, and pundits can yap all they want, but airstrikes and targeted killings scratch the itch to “do something” and look tough while doing it. The long-term efficacy of this approach is immaterial. 6. They’re just really conflicted and confused. It’s definitely possible. In May 2013, Obama told an audience at the National Defense University that counterterrorist drone strikes raise “profound questions” and that “the use of force must be seen as part of a larger discussion we need to have about a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy.” In May 2014, he repeated his commitment to having that discussion and added, “I also believe we must be more transparent about both the basis of our counterterrorism actions and the manner in which they are carried out.… When we cannot explain our efforts clearly and publicly, we face terrorist propaganda and international suspicion.” In September 2014, he admitted, “We don’t have a strategy yet” for dealing with the rise of the Islamic State.” A few weeks ago, he amended this to “we don’t yet have a complete strategy.” It shows. Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

Ex-NRL player Craig Field charged over fatal assault Updated Former NRL player Craig Field has appeared in court on Monday, charged over a fatal assault in far northern New South Wales. Police say they responded to reports of an assault outside a hotel at Kingscliff around 9:15 on Sunday night and found a 50-year-old man lying unconscious on the ground. CPR was performed before the man was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital where he died on Monday afternoon. Field, 39, and Shaun Fathers, 41, were initially charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm but that charge was later upgraded to murder. Both men appeared briefly in the Tweed Heads Local Court and were remanded in custody until the matter returns to court in Lismore next month. Field, who made his debut with South Sydney as a 17-year old in 1990, was promoted to captain in 1994 before he was stripped of the role in 1995 for missing a training session. He later joined the Manly club and was a member of the side which lost the Grand Final to the Newcastle Knights in 1997. He also had a stint at Wests Tigers before heading to France to play for and coach the Pia Donkeys. The veteran of more than 100 first-grade rugby league games currently works as an electrician in Kingscliff. Topics: assault, police, crime, law-crime-and-justice, rugby-league, sport, nsw, tweed-heads-2485, southport-4215, qld, lismore-2480 First posted

With all the craze surrounding gold over the last few years, it’s probably a good idea to remind everyone, especially the younger generation, about gold’s beginnings. For me, just the mere mention of the word “gold” conjures up the likes of Croesus, the wealthy Lydian king who reigned from 500-547 BC. The Lydian’s, during this time, are believed to be the first people to mint gold coins. As far as a pop culture reference, gold often reminds me of Goldfinger, the antagonist in the 1964 James Bond movie, who was planning to attack the gold depository at Fort Knox. Whatever association or reference you have with gold, we all share the same envy for the highly valuable and greatly sought-after metal. So, Where’s The Gold? Most of the gold is held in reserves by central banks around the world. It was used and still is in many countries, to secure the value of their currency. It is estimated that all the gold mined by the end of 2011 totaled over 170,000 metric tons. As of July 31, 2015, the Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service published that the book value of U.S. Treasury-owned gold exceeds $11 billion dollars. Most of the gold in the U.S. is held at Fort Knox, KY. To put this in perspective, not withstanding what Goldfinger thought, if the U.S. sold off its entire gold reserve position at a current market price, it would only be able to pay off about 3 percent of our national debt. In order to cover the whole debt, the gold price would have to be approaching a market value of around $63,000 per troy ounce! Gold floats at a dollar valued market price. As of the writing of this article, it had recently closed at $1,146 per troy ounce. When people get nervous about the economy, there is often a flight into gold. As a result of the recent recession, gold hit an all-time high of $1,900 an ounce in 2011. There are other reasons to buy gold, but the main one is that it is considered a safe haven to protect investors against a possible catastrophe in the economic markets. A 2014 article in USA Today reported that the U.S. holds the most gold, over 8,000 metric tons, with Germany at second place with over 3,000 metric tons and Italy running third, at nearly 2,500 metric tons. By the way, China is supposed to hold approximately 1,000 metric tons. Gold has been the primary accepted tangible asset used as money for thousands of years. It is real, scarce, cannot be artificially reproduced (even today) and it has an agreed upon inherent value that has stood the test of time more than any other form of currency. It can be physically held and traded. It is a tangible fiat currency that can’t be created or hacked into like our latest Bitcoin, fabricated fiat currency. The demand remains as high today as it was thousands of years ago. Consider a quote from the founder of renowned Wall Street firm, E.F. Hutton & Co, Gerald M. Loeb, who once said, “The desire for gold is the most universal and deeply rooted commercial instinct of the human race.” Our money used to be redeemable for gold and silver; however, in 1934, Congress amended the Federal Reserve Act to read, ”The said (Federal Reserve notes shall be the obligations of the United States…” Our currency was backed by gold until President Nixon ended the tie between the dollar and gold in 1971. Bars/Bullion/Coins “Gold bars are what most people think of when they consider gold bullion, and with good reason. Gold bars come in many different shapes and sizes. Starting off at 1 gram, gold bars can be as large as you can possibly imagine. The most commonly traded bars fall into the 1 oz. and lower range, with many different varieties available. Gold bars are a primary choice (for investors) because they offer the most pure, real gold per dollar,” according to JM Bullion. Is Gold A Good Investment? If you are dying to own something that is volatile and reactive to world markets and economic scares, pays no interest, no dividends, and realistically can go without going up in value, sure… go for it! I’m being facetious, but crisis causes a surge of gold buying, although I’m not sure that is the best decision. Those of us, who lived through power outages and gasoline shortages after Hurricane Sandy, know that gold wouldn’t have helped. Although people flock to gold in times of crisis, if a real crisis occurs, I have my doubts as to how effective a stockpile of gold would prove to be. If you stockpile gold somewhere safe, and a crisis occurs, how are you going to use your gold to provide useful goods and services? Do you think people are going to start pulling out their kitchen scales, weighing gold and trading it for eggs and chickens? If a real crisis occurs there are numerous things I’d rather own than gold; things like batteries, guns solar panels, chickens, a garden and oil and gasoline,” notes Dana Anspach, in an article she wrote for About.com. I lived through 14 days of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. We had no power and our gasoline supply began to come under pressure. The long gas lines and falling temperatures made tempers rise. Gold wouldn’t have made a difference. When you are having the “gold” or “no gold” discussion with your next generation, here is my take on it: It is fine to have some gold in your balanced portfolio. I don’t like to see more than a 10 percent holding in gold. There are numerous studies and articles, which show the inverse reaction of gold prices to a stock market crash. So, this 10 percent holding is somewhat of a hedge. This is intuitive. When the market crash happens, money flows from the stock market into gold and when it is over, the money flows back into the stock market. Stay the course and, if you have the stomach for it, as your 10 percent gold holding increases, sell it and buy the low valued stocks. The major point is not to panic when the market reacts to this situation. Do not get caught up in the doom and gloom syndrome, where people firmly believe that this tangible asset of gold that you can hold in your hand is far above the promises of our politicians and the unbacked paper issued by our governments.

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:07 am, May 30th, 2015 - 25 comments Categories: child abuse - Tags: david clendon, David Seymour, domestic violence, jan logie, kelvin davis, massive, ria bond, steffan browning, violence Yesterday I attended the start of Kelvin Davis’ Hikoi against sexual violence. He is intending to walk from Waitakere to Cape Reinga over the next two weeks, and stopping in towns and settlements on the way to talk about sexual violence. His message is clear, men need to own the violence problem that is a plague on our community. In his own words: Our group’s name is Men Against Sexual Violence and we’re encouraging all men to speak out about this evil lurking within our communities which is the violence towards men, women and children. We don’t want it swept under the carpet, let’s protect our families.” The launch attracted representation from all of the political parties. Labour had a full contingent, the Greens were well represented with David Clendon, Steffan Browning and Jan Logie attending, and New Zealand First’s latest MP Ria Bond came all the way from Invercargill to be present. The Maori Party’s Marama Fox was there. Even Act’s David Seymour turned up. He gave a rather bizarre speech about the importance of liberty but at least he showed up. National was represented by Alfred Ngaro who spoiled the effect by turning up late but again at least he was there. Following is the itinerary. Click on it for a more legible version. If you are in the area I am sure Kelvin will be happy to talk to you. Kelvin will be posting photos and updates on his own Facebook page and on the Massive Facebook page. Share this: Twitter Facebook Reddit

I Bought It Affiliate Links I received the Su:m 37 Skin Saver Melting Cleansing Balm yesterday from 11st (they have an AMAZING international EMS shipping deal right now–check out my Facebook post on how to get the 40,000 won-off coupon; this balm cost 26,000 won plus 2,500 won for domestic shipping and it arrived one week after I placed my order. MAGIC!). Cleansing balms are soft, sort of grainy-waxy-seeming solids until they hit your skin and get massaged in–at that point they become an oil that slices through your makeup, oil, and face grime and then emulsifies when in contact with water to wash all that nasty away. It’s the first step in my double cleanse (followed by a foaming face wash). Notable examples include the Banila Co Clean It Zero balm and The Face Shop’s Seed Fermentation Oil Cleansing Balm. I picked this up for my upcoming (in forever) mega comparison review of oil, oil-gel, and balm cleansers. And also because I wanted it. ahaha I was wondering about the ingredients, of course. So I translated the ingredient list from Korean into English. I’m not a professional Korean-English translator or even an unprofessional translator (I’ve only passed translation exams in a few European languages, but no Asian languages). I just try my best and welcome translation help. <3 Let me know if you see any errors! Korean Ingredient List: 하이드로제네이티드폴리데센, 카프릴릭/카프릭트리글리세라이드, 트리에칠헥사노인, 피이지-20글리세릴트리이소스테아레이트,폴리에칠렌, 사이클로헥사실록산, 세틸에칠헥사노에이트, 피이지-30소르비탄테트라올리에이트,아스코빌테트라이소팔미테이트,클루이베로미세스/락토바실러스/아프리코트커넬발효오일여과물, 기름야자오일, 육두구추출물, 오렌지껍질오일, 드럼스틱나무씨오일, 라임오일, 센티드제라늄꽃오일, 한련초추출물, 로즈마리잎오일, 인도멀구슬나무잎추출물, 소듐스테아로일글루타메이트, 시트랄, 시트로넬룰 [this is how it is typed in the list, but the correct Korean spelling seems to be시트로넬롤], 리모넨, 제라니올, 리날룰. English Ingredient List (done using the Lioele product dictionary): Hydrogenated Polydecene, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Triethylhexanoin, PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate, Polyethylene, Cyclohexasiloxane, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, PEG-30 Sorbitan Tetraoleate, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Kluyveromyces/Lactobacillus/Apricot Kernel Oil Ferment Filtrate, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Myristica Fragrans (Nutmeg) Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Moringa Pterygosperma Seed Oil, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil, Eclipta Prostrata Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Citral, Citronellol, Limonene, Geraniol, Linalool. Here’s the link to the CosDNA analysis. Guess what? This product (unless the obscure Kluyveromyces/Lactobacillus/Apricot Kernel Oil Ferment Filtrate turns out to be evil, but it’s unlikely) contains no acne or sensitive skin triggers. Holy mother of balm, this product is worth the price. Updated: find the full review in my roundup of 15 Korean oil cleansers. Buy it on Amazon. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Clicking those links before you shop means that fan-b receives a small commission, which helps to support the blog. Please see my full disclosure for more information.

The Narendra Modi government's record in tacitly supporting the actions of a bunch of vigilante thugs who have been terrorizing the country, especially the Muslims and the Dalits, in the guise of gau rakshaks, or opponents of love jihad, or 'nationalists', has been so outrageous that it has grabbed all the critical attention. In the process, the government's abysmal failures in other spheres have gone virtually unnoticed. One such sphere is the economy, the dismal state of which is sought to be camouflaged by hyped-up figures of growth of the gross domestic product. In fact, GDP figures these days engage one like an Edmund Crispin detective novel: in Crispin's novels one is forever occupied trying to identify the murderer from the clues the author gives; likewise with GDP data these days one gets primarily occupied trying to discover how truth has been done away with by the estimates. It is their 'post-truth' character rather than the data themselves which absorbs one. But even official data cannot hide certain things about the Modi years, and in what follows I rely exclusively on official data. The gross domestic product at factor cost originating in agriculture is the source of the incomes of all those engaged in this sector: agricultural labourers; peasants of different categories; capitalist farmers; and landlords, both feudal and capitalist. True, some of them, notably the landlords and capitalist farmers, may have incomes from other, non-agricultural sources, such as trade, cinema halls, or the transport business, but their numbers being relatively small, as long as their share in the GDP originating in agriculture does not fall, we can safely infer that an observed fall in per capita GDP originating in agriculture implies a fall in the per capita income of the agriculture-dependent population. Income of course should mean net income, that is, gross income minus a deduction for the depreciation of fixed capital, but the ratio between gross and net incomes does not change much over short periods; so, taking per capita GDP at factor cost for examining trends in per capita income of the agriculture-dependent population seems legitimate. Now, to see what has been happening during the three Modi years, let us make a point-to-point comparison of the pre-Modi base year 2013-14 with the last of these three years, 2016-17. This way we also avoid the two middle years, 2014-15 and 2015-16, which were poor harvest years because of successive droughts, and whose inclusion would have exposed us to the charge that we are unfairly blaming the Modi government for a natural phenomenon like drought. Since over such a short period as three years, there is unlikely to have been much shift in the sectoral composition of the workforce, and hence of the population dependent upon it, we can quite legitimately take the rate of growth of the agriculture-dependent population as being equal to the rate of growth of the overall population of the country. Let us now come to the calculations. From official data it can be seen on this basis that the per capita GDP at factor cost in current prices increased by 16 per cent between 2013-14 and 2016-17, which everybody acknowledges to have been a very good crop year (so that none can accuse us of unfairness). But exactly over the same period the consumer price index for rural India increased by 16.8 per cent. The per capita nominal income of the agriculture-dependent population in other words increased less than the price index, which means that there was a marginal decline in the per capita real income of the agriculture-dependent population over these three years. Agriculture accounts for roughly half of the total workforce of the country. Assuming identical work-force to population ratio in agriculture as elsewhere, what this means is that roughly half of the country's population witnessed no increase whatsoever, indeed on the contrary a marginal decline, in its real per capita income over the three Modi years. This is a fact of great significance. The agrarian crisis of course pre-dates Modi, and has to do with the withdrawal of State support from peasant agriculture, and the exposure of this sector to the operations of agribusiness and domestic and foreign monopolists, as part of neo-liberal economic policy. The point, however, is that the Modi government has been fully complicit in this squeeze on the agriculture-dependent population by neo-liberalism. Indeed, as I suggest below, it has been unthinkingly neo-liberal, and for that reason ultra-neo-liberal, to a degree far surpassing anything we have seen earlier. In the non-agricultural sector in general, output and employment (employment here must exclude 'disguised unemployment'), are demand-determined. Now, a part of the demand, what one may call the 'endogenous' component of demand, comes from the output of this sector itself: larger output means more incomes generated in this sector and hence a larger demand out of these incomes for the sector's own products. To see why the output of this sector is what it is, we have to focus, therefore, on the 'exogenous' or the 'autonomous' element of the demand for this sector's product, the element not dependent upon its own income. One important exogenous element of the demand for non-agricultural goods and services, comes obviously from agricultural incomes. But these, we have seen, have been stagnant in per capita terms over the three Modi years, which means that this source of demand has not grown over this period. Since investment tends to respond to the change in the size of the market and hence to the size of output, it cannot be taken as an exogenous element at all. This leaves us with only two other elements which can be taken as exogenous; one of these is net exports and the other is government expenditure. (Boost to autonomous consumption through asset-price bubbles, which leave asset-holders feeling wealthy, and hence consuming more, play a relatively small role in the Indian economy). The demand arising from net exports (that is, exports minus imports) has been fairly sluggish over this period, because of the crisis in the world economy and also the protectionism increasingly adopted by the United States of America. Such protectionism, by discouraging US firms from 'outsourcing' service sector activities, hurts the exports of services from countries like India. True, the lower oil prices in the world economy should have had the effect of boosting domestic demand, if these lower prices had been passed on to the consumers. But this did not happen; on the contrary, the government just took advantage of the lower world oil prices to garner larger revenues through excise duty. With such larger revenues, or even without them, if government expenditure had increased significantly, then we could have had a genuine exogenous boost to demand, and hence an increase in the output and employment in the non-agricultural sector. But here we come to the real crux of the matter. The total nominal expenditure by the Central government increased by 6.7 per cent in 2014-15, by 7.6 per cent in 2015-16, and by 12.5 per cent in 2016-17 (RE), when the Pay Commission's recommendations had to be implemented. The increase in total expenditure proposed in the 2017-18 budget is again only about 6 per cent. Since in each one of these years, the nominal GDP growth has exceeded 11 per cent, what this suggests is that Central government expenditure as a proportion of nominal GDP has been falling; even the Pay Commission-driven increase in 2016-17 scarcely contributes to an increase in this proportion. In a situation where per capita agricultural income has not been increasing and the stimulus from net exports has been waning, the need of the hour was an increase in the stimulus from government expenditure. But we find instead that government expenditure as a proportion of GDP has been declining over this period. The government in other words has been more keen to keep finance capital happy by restraining expenditure, than to sustain output and employment growth in the economy. And while this fact may not be manifest in the GDP estimates (because of the flawed methodology adopted of late for estimating GDP), it is certainly manifest in the employment figures. The number of new jobs created in the organized sector of the economy, which used to be about eight to nine lakh per year in 2010 and 2011 and which was nonetheless lower than the number of new persons seeking work, has now fallen to less than two lakh per year, which expresses the seriousness of the crisis. The government's fiscal conservatism arises from an unthinking adherence to the neo-liberal prescription of 'fiscal responsibility'. The effects of such unthinking adherence have been compounded by its unthinking 'macho' measures like the demonetization of currency notes. All these measures reflect the government's generally unthinking character. The country's economy has scarcely been in the hands of more unthinking persons. The author is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

It’s a pretty simple, but very ingenious idea that Glenn Berger started doing 14 years ago: Berger will travel to golf courses all around Florida, dive into the course’s various water hazards, retrieve all the golf balls, then sell them for a $1 a piece. Golf balls become relatively ineffective after 24 hours underwater, but there are plenty of driving ranges still willing to buy them from him. The math is, admittedly, a little fishy. $15 million — or “between 1.3 and 1.7 million golf balls per year” as Berger says — means he’d have to fish seven days a week and catch somewhere north of 3,900 golf balls a day. Related Golfer Boo Weekley is rocking an epic beard But these types of contracts don’t generally work on a per-day basis. Guys like Berger will partner with courses to fish its various ponds once or twice a year. So, with that in mind, the average golf course hosts about 30,000 18-hole rounds every year, and let’s make a very conservative estimate an average golfer will lose 1.5 balls to a water hazard every 18 holes. That would mean Berger would need exclusive rights once-a-year to retrieve all the golf balls from about 34 different course’s water hazards. If he does that, he’d hit his “between 1.3 and 1.7 million golf balls” figure. A bit of a stretch, but certainly doable. One thing that’s not debatable: golfers are very good at hitting golf balls into water hazards.

We look at malware delivered by a campaign that has infected thousands of websites around the world – and the various control flow obfuscation techniques that make its analysis as interesting as it is challenging. Nymaim – Obfuscation Chronicles Introduction Last month, my colleague Sébastien Duquette detailed the home campaign, a long-lasting operation consisting of compromised web servers running a malicious Apache module named Darkleech (detected by ESET as Linux/Chapro) that redirects visitors to a Blackhole exploit kit. Sébastien stated that one of the final payloads dropped by this operation was the Win32/Nymaim downloader/ransomware family. In this blog post, we will look at the technical details of this particular malware and how it ends up getting installed on an end-user’s computer. We will also look at the various control flow obfuscation techniques that make its analysis as interesting as it is challenging. Trail of infection We know that the home campaign has successfully infected thousands of websites all over the world. While we don’t know exactly how many people got their computer compromised by this campaign, we can assume that their number is fairly large. A typical infection flow is shown below. When a user visits a Darkleech-compromised website, he eventually sees his computer locked by Win32/Nymaim. As seen in this figure, a malicious program called Pony Loader (detected by ESET as Win32/Fareit) is used to drop the first stage of Win32/Nymaim. During the course of our research, we collected several self-signed Pony Loader samples with the certificate shown below. We have collected hundreds of Pony Loader samples signed with this certificate. The fact that a self-signed certificate is used is most likely intended to make the file look less suspicious to some heuristic-based engines. By analyzing these samples, we were able to identify and monitor a static URL hosted on the domain catch-cdn.com used by one Pony Loader sample to fetch the payload to install. While the filename downloaded was always the same (6.exe), we saw that its content varied in nature. We have seen three different malware families on this URL: Win32/Sirefef (aka. ZeroAccess), Win32/Urausy (detected by ESET as Win32/LockScreen) and Win32/Nymaim’s first stage. The following figure shows a timeline of which malware families were downloaded from this static URL over the course of the summer. The algorithm behind the family rotation is still unclear. We can note that several Win32/Urausy samples were available from this URL, but only during the first fifteen days of July. Win32/Sirefef made its appearance in early August while Win32/Nymaim has been present throughout the monitoring period. The rest of the analysis will focus on Win32/Nymaim’s functionalities. Nymaim – First Stage & Common Features The Win32/Nymaim infection is a two-stage process. The first stage is merely a downloader and does not stay active on the infected computer. It will try to download Win32/Nymaim’s second stage by contacting a list of hardcoded IP addresses. Once the second stage is downloaded, the first stage just renames itself to a random filename. In spite of this separation, both stages share several common techniques to hinder malware analysis and we will now take a look at some of them. Control Flow Obfuscation During execution, call stack modifications are used extensively to hide the true relationships between functions. The following figure highlights two of the most common obfuscated control flow techniques. The first red square is hiding a simple register push. The next screenshot shows part of the function used to obfuscate this simple instruction. The constant that is pushed before calling the function above dictates which register gets pushed onto the stack. For example, if 0x34 is pushed as an argument to the function, the equivalent behavior would have been to replace the original “push” and “call” instructions by a simple “push ECX”. The second red square highlights a control flow obfuscation technique used to hide the true function call. The two constants pushed on the stack are used to derive the address of the function that needs to be called. One example of such a function is shown below. The function depicted above is XORing the two constants and then adding the result to the return value on the stack, but other functions will perform other mathematical operations on these two constants such as subtraction or addition. Since the return value on the stack is changed in this function, instead of returning to the caller, the “retn” opcode at the bottom of the screenshot will in fact jump to the beginning of another function. The return value of the original caller is stored on the stack so that when this function returns, it will go back to the first caller. The figure below illustrates this process more clearly. Win32 API Calls Obfuscation All calls to the standard Win32 APIs are obfuscated. When a specific function needs to be called, the base address of the DLL containing the function is fetched from the encrypted data section. Each function in its export table is then hashed and compared to the hash of the function name it wants to call. The following screenshot shows the function responsible for computing the function name hash used in the comparison. When the target function is found, its address is kept in memory and the code will then jump to this address. The return path is also obfuscated. Instead of returning from the API call directly to the malware code, the return address contains an address in ntdll.dll that executes Call EBX Before jumping into the API, the stack is modified to return to the correct address in ntdll.dll and EBX contains the true return address. This whole process is highlighted in the figure below. Not only is it hard to follow while single-stepping, but this will also impede the debugger “execute till return” functionality as there is no return that goes back to the user code. Strings Encryption All strings in the binary are stored encrypted. The function to decrypt the strings can be found in the next figure. Each character is encrypted depending on its position in the data section. The decryption routine is called for each character and the strings are decrypted only when they are needed. Nymaim – Second Stage Win32/Nymaim’s second stage uses the same obfuscation techniques as the first stage, but its functionalities are expanded to include persistence, dropper capabilities and a locking mechanism. Persistence is achieved by adding the executable path to the registry key “Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\shell” Our analysis revealed that occasionally, the second stage would download and install Win32/Sirefef on the machine. When this occurs, both Win32/Sirefef and Win32/Nymaim are persistent on the computer. Thus, additional malware can be downloaded at a future time by Win32/Nymaim. When Win32/Nymaim’s second stage does lock the computer, it will download the HTML locking screen, but will also customize it by gathering some information on the infected system, such as media files or active torrent clients. The resulting lock screen becomes much more believable to the user. More specifically, the malware searches the active processes for the following torrent clients: – Azureus – Utorrent – Mediaget – Bittorrent – Bitcomet It will also search for files with the following extensions: .doc, .xls, .psd, .bmp, .jpg, .mpg, .mov, .rtf, .fla and .mp3. The gathered information will be stored in a file called compdata.js that will be included by the locker HTML code. An example of a compdata.js file is shown below. The HTML code, scripts and images used to render the lockscreen are stored in the “Documents and Settings\[user_name]\Local Settings\Temp” folder on a Windows XP system. To lock the computer, the malicious code will create a window covering the whole screen. It will also spawn at least two threads. One will monitor the current running processes and will terminate taskmgr.exe (Task manager) if it is active. Another one will make sure that the current desktop is the one created by the malware, otherwise it will switch to that desktop. This behavior is very similar to the Urausy ransomware described by AVAST. The US lockscreen design (retrieved 2013/08/20) is shown in the screenshot below. As with most ransomware, the images are customized depending on the infected computer location. When the second stage is installed on a machine, it will communicate its bot ID to the server which will then decide what happens next. Throughout our research, we found that once a particular system has been locked, it is not possible to lock it again. The server seems to keep host information and will not send the HTML code required to lock the computer if it has already been served once to the requesting bot. After analysis, it appears that the computer ID is generated through the registry key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\MachineGuid” and simply changing this value enables the same computer to be locked at will, regardless of the bot’s IP address. Conclusion The home campaign has been delivering the Win32/Nymaim ransomware since at least March 2013. In this blog post, we saw that several malware families were dropped by this campaign. Our current understanding of the potential malware families delivered is shown in the next figure. Win32/Nymaim is a complex piece of malware that is used both as a downloader and a locker. It hinders malware analysis by implementing several control flow obfuscation techniques. For the end user though, the result is always the same: a thorough cleaning of their compromised computer is necessary. Stay tuned for the next blog post containing more information on this very interesting malware. Special thanks to Mathieu Lavoie for his contribution to this analysis. SHA1 hashes of analyzed files Pony Loader: ce6ae8bca368be676d6adae57d632f42187d762c Nymaim – first stage: c8a5bafb51039ec9d3c1291c1ebfe4886c81130d Nymaim – second stage: acef628f6d33e31c5f03ed6b386fbe2091a7f110

Dr. Rosen was a lifer at Los Alamos. Where other scientists drifted away, he spent his career there, and built the most intense atom smasher in the world. He was also part ambassador, part lobbyist for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, promoting its continuing importance as a center not only of weapons development but also of basic research. His atom smasher was his most spectacular project. “This monstrous gadget will give us new windows on the nucleus, a new set of probes,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. Existing accelerators at the time smashed a high-speed beam of protons or electrons into a target. The resulting debris of subatomic particles would yield information on the composition of the nucleus. Dr. Rosen’s machine used the beam of protons to create a secondary, highly intense beam of particles called pi mesons, or pions. When smashed into the target material, the meson beam — 1,000 times as intense as that of any existing accelerator — could be used as a probe to study how pions interact with other nuclear materials. The continuous interchange of pions between proton and neutron is part of the glue holding the nucleus together. Photo By contrast, higher-energy but less intense accelerators obliterated more of the nucleus but could not study the same kind of internal nuclear dynamics. Another scientist at the time compared the two kinds of accelerator this way: think of the earlier version as hitting the nucleus with a baseball bat, and Dr. Rosen’s as doing so with a rapier. In an article in Physics Today in 1966, Dr. Rosen called his machine “a badly needed bridge between nuclear and subnuclear physics.” Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. In the 1990s, after Dr. Rosen had formally retired but remained involved in decision making, the group at Los Alamos in charge of the accelerator shifted course, in line with changing directions in physics. No longer did it harvest pions. Instead, it concentrated on neutrons, which were being used in more and more basic research and in practical applications. Advertisement Continue reading the main story One application was to probe stockpiled nuclear weapons that could no longer be tested. Other applications included studying the structure of complex biological molecules and re-examining the nuclear fuel cycle. In particular, Los Alamos became known for testing neutrons in very cold temperatures — a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero. Louis Rosen was born in Manhattan, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Alabama, and a doctorate in physics from Pennsylvania State University. He said he never took a course in nuclear physics. With his doctorate he went directly to Los Alamos to join the Manhattan Project, the code name for the group of scientists, mathematicians and engineers who built the first nuclear bombs. He worked at the laboratory until two days before his death. Dr. Rosen’s wife of more than 60 years, the former Mary Terry, died in 2004. He is survived by his brother, Bernard; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. After the war, as many scientists began to leave Los Alamos, Dr. Rosen set about trying to retain as many as he could as well attract top-level replacements. It was partly with this in mind that he and Norris Bradbury, the laboratory’s director, came up with the idea of the accelerator. Dr. Rosen lobbied federal agencies and members of Congress alike for support. Writing in 1983 in Los Alamos Science, Dr. Rosen recalled a visit by the comptroller of the Atomic Energy Commission, who spotted him in the audience. “Ah, Louis Rosen is here,” the official said. “Every time I talk to him it costs me a million dollars.”

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - With 1 billion posts, likes and comments in just the first half of the World Cup, the soccer tournament is already the most talked-about event in Facebook Inc’s decade-long history, data obtained by Reuters showed. A smartphone user logs into his Facebook account in Rio de Janeiro April 15, 2013. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes The soccer conversation measured between June 12 and June 29 involved 220 million people and 1 billion interactions, the Facebook data showed. And since the ball will be rolling for another two weeks, the tournament is set to break new records as the biggest social media event to date. “People are having conversations on Facebook about what they watch in a really unprecedented scale,” Nick Grudin, the company’s director of partnerships, told Reuters. “In addition to sharing and connecting with friends, people are engaging in real time with the media and the public voices they care about most.” Facebook is the latest social media company to capitalize on TV-related traffic around big events like the World Cup, a trend started years ago by the microblog website Twitter Inc. People use Facebook to comment about things they watch live, an interaction that could turn into a source of ad revenue for the company. Facebook’s record numbers were possible because of widespread mobile penetration. Seven out of 10 users globally connect to the network from mobile devices, which represent roughly 60 percent of the company’s ad revenue. There is also soccer’s global appeal. The first week of the World Cup alone saw 459 million interactions on Facebook, more than this year’s Super Bowl, the Sochi Winter Olympic Games and the Academy Awards combined. The 1 billion mark was reached after traffic accelerated as the World Cup moved into the knockout round. On Saturday, more than 31 million people put up 75 million posts, likes and comments about Brazil’s nail-biting victory over Chile, which propelled the home team to the quarter-finals. “This Cup has been a catalyzing cultural moment for people around the world,” Grudin said, “and we see it reflected on Facebook.”

'Batman: The Brave and the Bold' rounds out Batman Month on CartoonClack. Does this nod to the Silver Age of comics hold its own? The last edition of CartoonClack’s Batman Month is here. We left off with The Batman, which was not as popular as the DCAU Batman continuity but still lasted 4 seasons and over 50 episodes. The show did find it’s pacing in the later seasons when there was a definite lean towards lighthearted humor mixed with the action. I think it’s clear that DC’s animation department wanted to avoid copying Batman: The Animated Series because the Batman series that premiered in November of 2008 brought the goofy back to the Batman universe. Yes, we’ve come to Batman: The Brave and the Bold! You might have noticed a little trend in these articles, namely that after Batman: The Animated Series ended I was immediately skeptical of any other Batman cartoon. Well, I was the same for Brave and the Bold. Look, I was younger and not as wise as I am now at the grand old age of 26. Realize that for Brave and the Bold, the first news-pieces I saw for it described it in the vein of Schumacher’s Batman movies … that was not the best parallel to give me. But the big difference between Batman and Robin and this show (which ran from 2008 — 2011 with 65 episodes) is that this show is actually incredibly funny … good funny, that is. The 22ish minute run time is just enough time to tell a tight, goofy story in a charming way. It doesn’t grate on you in the same way a two hour movie of this would. But more than that, the writing is just solid. It’s writing in a very particular style, but they did the style well and with deliberation. It even took the chance on a normal basis to have a character step back and comment on how ridiculous a situation was. In other words, the show and the audience is in on the joke and the joke is legitimately funny. Unlike the other three shows featured during Batman Month, there aren’t many (or any) ongoing story lines. The large majority of the episodes are one shots. This makes the show incredibly difficult to analyze, at least difficult to analyze in the same way as the other shows I’ve reviewed this month. So, let’s talk about the main character a little and then I’ll go into a few of my favorite side characters, a few of my favorite episodes and how they fit into the whole series … sound good? Similarly to The Batman, Brave and the Bold‘s Batman is like the rice in fried rice … it’s the main aspect of the dish and is certainly a good part of the dish but the different ingredients accompanying it are what stand out. You can certainly eat the white rice on its own, but the extra stuff gives it flavor. While the villains aren’t bad (depending on the episode), for me it’s really the sidekicks and superhero team-ups that make this show unique and fun. It was a clever move by DC — Batman is easily one of the most recognizable and popular superheroes, so bringing in the audience with this recognizable character and then introducing these various lesser known characters is smart. What also works for the character that we haven’t seen in the other shows I’ve reviewed is this Dark Knight is rarely shown as Bruce Wayne … he still is Bruce Wayne and we do see him in civilian clothing sparingly, but his onscreen persona is almost entirely as THE BAT. Quiet, contemplative, bad ass but also a throwback to the Silver Age so he’s also pretty heavy on the puns. Most of the puns actually play like CSI: Miami one-liners, so his deep, grizzled straight man voice just makes the puns funnier. If you’ll believe it, he’s voice by a very serious Diedrich Bader of Drew Carrey fame. But like I said before, Batman is the canvas of this show — let’s check out the paint. Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the U.S. is supplying Kiev with lethal weapons, telling reporters that the conflict in Ukraine will not be resolved through military escalation This article originally appeared in The Moscow Times Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the U.S. is supplying Kiev with lethal weapons, telling reporters that the conflict in Ukraine will not be resolved through military escalation. Poroshenko denies it of course -- just like the cauldron that didn't exist "According to our intelligence, [U.S.] weapons are already being delivered," Putin was shown on state television Channel One as telling a press conference on Tuesday, when asked if a shipment of lethal hardware from Washington to Kiev would fan the flames of war in eastern Ukraine. Putin, speaking in Budapest during a presidential visit to Hungary, added that arms deliveries would only contribute to the loss of lives in the war-torn region. "I am deeply convinced that whoever and whatever weapons are delivered to the conflict zone, the [outcome] will always be bad … the number of victims could increase," he said in comments widely published by Russian media. Kiev and Western nations, in turn, have for months accused Moscow of arming pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine — a charge the Kremlin has repeatedly denied. In December the U.S. Congress passed legislation authorizing the sending of arms to Kiev. But while U.S. President Barack Obama signed the measure into law, he has been hesitant to use the option, amid widespread warnings arming Kiev would be seen as a declaration of war. Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Putin gave the press conference in Bucharest instead of Budapest.

Bronze Age weapons are discovered in field Andy Nock discovered Bronze Age items in a field in Diss. Picture: Rebecca Murphy Archant A treasure hunter has made a discovery of two weapons which date back to the Bronze Age. Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. Andy Nock's find. A Bronze Age sword. Picture: Andy Nock Andy Nock's find. A Bronze Age sword. Picture: Andy Nock Andy Nock was searching a field near Diss when he happened upon a spearhead and part of a sword which have both been confirmed by a local finds liaison officer to be around 2,500 years old. The 54-year-old said since he started the hobby in 1998 he has found Roman coins and pistol balls dating back a couple of hundred years but nothing on this scale. He said: “I did not realise at the time what it was. It is a great find, really. “The strange thing about it was the spearhead had wood traces in a handle and it is so strange it has lasted all this time but it has. Andy Nock's find. A Bronze Age spearhead. Picture: Andy Nock Andy Nock's find. A Bronze Age spearhead. Picture: Andy Nock “I suspect it could have been a burial site. If the field has been ploughed it could turn up more things.” Mr Nock, who lives on Ensign Way in Diss, said he enjoys metal detecting because of the “interesting objects” that can be found. “There are lots of interesting things out there like buttons and pistol balls,” he said. “Most of the time you find rubbish or you can find coins, which are quite common. “You can be surprised by what you find in a field. It is interesting and it is a good way to get out and about.” The items are currently in the possession of the landowner. Dig into the Bronze Age The beginning of the Bronze Age in Britain is believed to have begun in 2,000BC. Although it is not certain, it is thought the new bronze tools and weapons identified with this age were brought over from continental Europe. The skulls recovered from burial sites from the Bronze Age are different in shape from Stone Age skulls. This suggests new ideas and new blood were brought over from the continent. Before coming to Britain, the Bronze Age was prominent in Europe with Crete seen as the centre for bronze trade. The Bronze Age lasted for almost 1,500 years and was followed by the Iron Age.