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is deeply concerned with language mapping, as we find maps of language distribution to be highly useful and, if done properly, aesthetically appealing. But we also tend to be critical of linguistic cartography, as the spatial patterning of language is often too complex to be easily captured in maps. Dialect continua, zones of pervasive bilingualism, overlapping lingua francas, areas of linguistic interspersion, urban/rural language discrepancies, and mobile language communities all present major challenges for the mapmaker. Differences in population density is another tricky issue. Should one map a virtually unpopulated area in the same manner that one depicts a densely populated zone? And if one decides to leave uninhabited (or mostly uninhabited) areas unmarked, how large and how unpopulated do they have to be before they appear on the map?
As a result of these and other issues, linguistic maps, whether of a particular place, an individual language, or a language family, often vary greatly from one cartographer to another. Such differences were recently brought home as I examined various language maps of Iran, many of which are readily available on the internet. In particular, the area covered Farsi/Persian, the national language, differs significantly. I therefore decided to overlay these different depictions of Persian/Farsi on a uniform base-map of Iranian provinces so that they can be easily compared. Eleven such maps are posted here, both in their original form and with the Persian/Farsi zone extracted and placed on the common base map. The overlays are not particularly precise, owing largely to differences in map projection; a large amount of tedious handwork was necessary to make them accord as closely as they do with the originals. It is also important to note that the original maps themselves vary in regard to the area depicted. Some show merely Iran, but others include neighboring countries as well. The overlay maps, however, show only Iran.
The maps are arranged in rough descending order, with the first map showing the largest expanse of Persian/Farsi, and the last map showing the smallest one.
Depiction 1. The first map is by far the simplest, as it shows Iran as uniformly Persian-speaking. Such a depiction is accurate in one sense, as Persian/Farsi is the national language, and hence is used for official purposes throughout Iran. It also serves as the lingua franca of those parts of the country in which it is not the dominant mother tongue. The source map for Depiction 1, however, is problematic, as it purports to show the overall distribution of Persian, yet it does so entirely on the basis of national boundaries. Depicting Afghanistan and especially Uzbekistan as uniformly P ersian-speaking is far from accurate.
Depiction 2. The source map for De piction 2, found in the Wikipedia Commons, is oddly titled “iranethnics,” implying that it is concerned with ethnic identity rather than language per se. All of the categories mapped, however, are rooted in language, although the term “Fars” (the name of a province and, more generally, a region) is used rather than “Farsi.” In purely linguistic terms, “Fars” refers to a series of Persian dialects that are quite distinctive from standard Farsi. As one Wikipedia article puts it: “Northwestern Fars is one of the Central Iranian varieties of Iran. Its name is purely geographical: It is not particularly close to Farsi (Persian), but rather to Sivandi.” The Wikipedia’s family tree of Iranian languages treats Fars a distinct minor language, with some 100,000 speakers. On the source map for Depiction 2, however, all languages in the Iranian family are subsumed under the “Fars” category except Kurdish and Baluchi. Linguistically, this maneuver makes little sense, as the Iranian languages or northern Iran, such as Gilaki and Talysh, are more closely related to Kurdish than they are to Persian/Farsi. But it is also true that that Gilaki- and Talysh-speakers tend to be much less ethnically distinct from Persians than the Kurds. Finally, this map restricts the extent of several minority languages, particularly Arabic, more than many other language maps of Iran.
Depiction 3. The base map used for Depiction 3, also found in the Wikipedia, depicts the various languages of the Iranian family, both in Iran and neighboring countries. As non-Iranian languages such as Arabic and Azeri are not depicted, areas in which they are spoken are generally mapped as Persian speaking (“Persan,” on the French map) or at least as partly Persian speaking* (as in the case of the Azeri-speaking area). The Caspian languages (Gilaki, Mazandarani, etc.) are depicted, but only in the
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Alborz (Elburz) Mountains; the Caspian coast is instead shown as Persian speaking, a somewhat unusual depiction. The base map is also distinctive in elevating the Mukri dialect to the status of a separate language (even the Ethnologue, which tends to split languages, treats it as a mere dialect), and in depicting a sizable “Sangesar” area in the mountains of northern Iran. Yet according to the Wikipedia, the Sangsari language has only 36,000 speakers and is largely limited to the town of Sang-e Sar** (Mehdishahr), located south of the Alborz Mountains in Semnan Province. Related tongues in the Semnani branch of Iranian languages have similarly restricted distributions.
Depiction 4. The base map used for Depiction 4, found on the website of a Farsi translation service, is crude and politically compromised, as it incorrectly depicts the distribution of several languages as coincident with provincial boundaries. It incorrectly labels Azeri as “Turkish” and Balochi as “Pashto.” (In contrast to Turkish and Azeri, which are closely related, Balochi and Pashto are only distantly related, as they are members of distinct branches within the Iranian family.) It also unconventionally classifies the dialects of Farsi spoken in Khorasan as Dari, a term gen erally limited to Persian as found in neighboring Afghanistan. But the boundary between Farsi proper and Dari—both forms of Persian—is difficult to draw. As the Wikipedia explains:
The dialects of Dari spoken in Northern, Central and Eastern Afghanistan, for example in Kabul, Mazar, and Badakhshan, have distinct features compared to Iranian Persian. However, the dialect of Dari spoken in Western Afghanistan stands in between the Afghan and Iranian Persian. For instance, the Herati dialect shares vocabulary and phonology with both Dari and Iranian Persian. Likewise, the dialect of Persian in Eastern Iran, for instance in Mashhad, is quite similar to the Herati dialect of Afghanistan.
Depiction 5. The base map used for Depiction 5, found on a website devoted to Iranian languages, is similar to that of Depiction 3, although it shows a more limited distribution of Persian.
Depiction 6. The base map used for Depiction 6, found in the Wikipedia, is labeled “Languages of Iran.” This map shows a relatively limited distribution of Persian, barely depicting it as reaching the sea. It also shows much larger than usual Arabic- and “Lorish”-speaking areas. It subsumes Mazanderani and the Semnani languages into the “Tabari” category, although according to most analyses Mazanderani is closer to Gilaki (mapped here as a separate language) than it is to the Semnani tongues. (Significantly, the people of Mazandaran call their own tongue “Gileki.”) Oddly, the Qashqai Turkic area in Fars Province is missing.
Depiction 7. The base map used for Depiction 7 is found on the “Maps of Net” website and is based on Ethnologue cartography. This map also restricts the distribution of Farsi; again it barely reaches the sea, but it does so in a different place than that indicated on Depiction 6. This map shows much larger than usual areas covered by Azeri (“Azerbaijani” here), Arabic, and “Balouchi.” It also incorrectly portrays the northeastern Kurdish area as Turkic, labeling it “Khorasani Turks” and coloring it as if it were “Azerbaijani.” The extent of the Qashqai Turkic area in Fars province seems surprisingly large. Perhaps the oddest feature of this map is its exaggeration of the area covered by the southernmost Luri dialect, a very minor tongue by most accounts, and its elevation of this dialect to the status of a separate language (designated here as “Lari” to distinguish it from the “Lori” language of the north). This map also shows one uninhabited area, the Dasht-e Kavir (salt desert), in north-central Iran.
Depiction 8. The base map used for Depiction 8 is found in a Wikipedia article on Iranian languages. It shows large areas in central Iran as non-Persian speaking; presumably most of these areas are excluded by virtue of being largely uninhabited rather than by speaking a different language, but the mapping conventions make it impossible to be certain. This map also shows a much larger than usual distribution of the Balochi language, in several discontinuous patches, in northeastern Iran. As in Depiction 3, the Caspian lowland is depicted as Persian
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Here I am, just like old times. Qrow thought to himself as he sat alone in the dark. Qrow was completely blind at this hour of the night, but he didn't bother turning on the lights. It's not like he needed them. He knew this house - and everything that came with it - better than the back of his hand.
Nothing's changed. Sure, there were differences- but not in any way that truly mattered in the end. The cabin had remained practically identical for decades. Or rather, it was once again in the state that it always seemed to fall back into. It was the darkest hour of the night, and any faint ember of light that might have once resided within its wooden walls had long since been snuffed out.
Why did I do it? Qrow had been trying to determine an answer to that question ever since the last Grimm outside the old barnyard had dissolved into black smoke. He had brought the two girls back to the cabin- he'd needed to carry them, the child was too exhausted to walk, and the toddler would never be able to walk that long- in silence. The same question wracking his brain again and again.
He hadn't planned on saving them. He had given up on saving anyone two years ago. He was only heading over to the barnyard to try and remember what it was like before. Back when he was just a little boy, and Raven had played with him. Back when he still had a big sister.
Then he'd seen the little blonde girl- practically the spitting image of his sister in all but hair color - standing paralyzed in fear. He'd heard the growls, and the next thing he had felt... it was as if someone had plunged a dagger into his chest, something that finally pierced the numbness that had surrounded him for two years. Qrow didn't know what to call it. It's not like he was a poet or something.
Whatever it was, it made Qrow fight with more ferocity than he had in his life. With more ferocity than his initiation, than when he was in the Vytal festival, even than when he had fought against his own sister. Back when he dared to assume some tiny ember of light was inside him.
He'd long accepted that he was the biggest fool in Remnant for ever believing that.
But yet, he'd saved the two of them. Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose.
Why? As if to fill the silence of the house, that question roared in his mind, refusing to give him any rest.
Unable to sleep, he roamed, alone in the hollow home in the middle of a dark forest. Wandering past the kitchen where Raven had gashed her hand while making salad when they were young. Sitting on the couch, where Qrow had found Grandpa dead, having died while reading a newspaper one morning. Walking up the stairs, where he had seen Raven be a mother to Yang for the last time in her life. Past the empty master bedroom, once again devoid of life and love.
It always comes back to this, doesn't it? The bird had left the nest. The dragon had been slain- or he might as well have been. The rose had wilted. And now, only Qrow was left, alone in the dark. Right back where he started. Every spark of light to pass under this roof had flickered and died. It was inevitable as the sun setting in the west.
But in a way Qrow was grateful for it. He was used to the dark by now. He had been for quite some time. And besides, he had been reliving all those memories of this miserable cabin for hours, intermixed with the question burning through his brain. He didn't want to see it. He didn't want to make the agony any more vivid than it already was.
He had done this for hours. Back and forth, back and forth. Repeating the same question time after time. And through it all, the darkness had been absolute.
Absolute, until Qrow saw some light hit the wall now in front of him as he faced the bedroom. Qrow turned around as he looked at the last light remaining in the cabin. It wasn't bright- just a small flicker of light coming out from a closed door across from the other bedroom. Into the room where Raven and Qrow had grown up in, where another new pair of siblings now rested. Why is there a light? There shouldn't be any light now. It's too late for that. As Qrow pondered the existence of the light, he heard the footsteps of a child walk across the room, followed by something placing itself down on a bed.
Just go. Leave them. There's nothing more you can do for them.
That's what he should have done. If he was being honest
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with himself, if he were to put everything he'd ever done and add it all together, it didn't amount to much.
A small noise came from inside the room, the sound of a toddler's yawn.
Qrow grasped the knob on the door, and hesitated, frozen in place for over a minute. This will only end in sorrow, and you know it. He accused himself. It always does in the end. Go, before you wind up dragging them down with you. Let them have their time in the light before the darkness takes them.
Here he was, a trained huntsmen, champion of the Vytal festival tournament, with more Grimm kills to his name than he could ever hope to count. Yet here he stood behind the door, too terrified to face a toddler.
You gave up on caring about any of this two years ago. The past two years had consisted of little more than him wandering from bar to bar in various towns on Patch, building up bar tabs he never intended to pay off. He was more of an animal than a man, really. You don't deserve any better. Don't bring them down with you. Don't snuff out what hope those two girls have. That will happen on its own. The denunciations churned through his mind, slowly numbing him again, and Qrow's grip on the doorknob began to loosen.
But then, the strangest of memories came to him. It wasn't anything he'd remembered for years.
Just a smile from Summer Rose. It had been after one of their missions. Not even an important one at that. Just some basic perimeter duty in Forever Fall.
Qrow opened the door.
There were two beds in the room, their headboards backed up against the wall across from the door, separated by a small nightstand with a lamp on it. Qrow was greeted by a familiar sight as he looked to the bed on his left. A young girl with long hair wrapped up in pigtails was sprawled under the sheets, covered in several bruises and scratches from her excursion in the forest, and sleeping the sleep of the utterly exhausted. He had seen his sister sleep like that more times than he could remember. She's got far too much of Raven in her. Yang was practically the spitting image of the big sister he had grown up with in this very house, down to sleeping in the same bed.
And to think that she was trying to learn more about that woman. Damn it Tai, why did you tell her? The only thing keeping Qrow from flying away right then and there was the brilliant mop of golden hair on the young girl's head. Something to remind him that this child was more than just a younger form of his sister. Nothing good came from my family. In spite of being birds, we Branwens always fall when all is said and done.
Even as Qrow lamented what he thought would be the fate of his little niece, he caught sight of something he hadn't expected to see out of the corner of his eye. To his right, resting on a desk, was a small red lamp.
And its light was on.
The lamp dimly lit up the room, fighting valiantly to cast out the suffocating darkness that was filling the cabin. But what struck Qrow the most wasn't the cabin- he was used to that by now. No, what struck Qrow was the sight waiting for him on the other bed.
Ozpin had told him a story years ago- that men and woman born with silver eyes were destined to be the greatest of warriors.
Yet all Qrow saw before him was a child.
The silver eyes where there- those brilliant pools of metal that belonged to the greatest huntress who had ever lived. Yet now those silver eyes belonged to the body of a small, trembling toddler dressed in a red onesie. She was sitting on her bed, her arms wrapped around her legs as she had her back against the headboard. Qrow looked at the frightened daughter of Summer Rose, and the knife he felt several hours ago plunged itself into his heart once again.
It was at this moment that the little girl looked up at him, and the strangest thing seemed to happen. The fear that feared her seemed to melt away, and she looked at him with an expression he no longer even knew the meaning of. She smiled, and spoke to him, "Hello mister hero."
What? Qrow thought to himself in utter disbelief.
Even in the happiest days of his life, he had never considered himself to be one of those. Nobody had- except, of course, for Summer. But she didn't count- she was just too naive to see what he truly was. For a time, he had almost believed her. That had all changed two years ago.
The little girl seemed to answer
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for a moment before answering. "Well, the two birds and the dragon of course."
"Oh."
"Anyways..." Qrow said, forcing himself to go on through the story. "Before long, the Dragon and the bird's sister fell in love, and the two of them were happy together. Until one day... until one day she... she was kidnapped. The Grimm took her."
"Of course, her friends were all worried about their friend." Qrow said, oblivious to the redundancy and wondering how he could turn what happened next into a children's story.
Qrow held the infant in his hands, looking down at his young niece with a smile on his face. He was sitting on the couch in the living room of his family's cabin, talking to the newborn baby girl.
"Now... you be a good girl while I'm gone. Tai's going to be a horrible influence on you, so don't listen to a thing he says. Got it?" Qrow chuckled at his own joke, knowing full well the girl wasn't old enough to even understand him, let alone follow his advice.
"Qrow." The huntsman looked up and saw Summer rose, standing at the bottom of the stairs. Wrapped up in her white cloak as always. She had hid behind that thing from the day he had met her in Beacon. He made eye contact with her beautiful silver eyes as she began to speak, "You know you don't have to do this, right?" Her voice was sweeter than a song to him. It had been for quite some time.
"Huh?"
"I'll go. She's your niece. You deserve to spend these moments with her."
The smile faded from his face as he stood up from the couch and walked over to her. "Summer" he said. "Thank You. I mean it. But tell me the truth. Tell me that if you had a sibling, captured by God-knows-who, that you would let me take your place while you stayed at home and did nothing to help her."
"Qrow-" Summer tried to comply, but her voice refused. She knew the answer just as well as he did. The thought would never cross her mind. The woman didn't have a selfish bone in her body.
"Summer, you don't understand..." Qrow hesitated a moment before continuing. "Or maybe you do. I don't know. Raven wasn't just my sister. After what happened to my parents, she was the only one who was there for me beyond Grandpa Jay, and while the old man cared about me, you know he wasn't exactly the nurturing type. I would have died more than a dozen times if it wasn't for her. How can I just leave her when she needs me the most?"
Qrow handed the sleeping girl over to Summer, "You taught me better than that you know." Qrow wasn't a fool. He knew he had been a less than stellar model for huntsmen for quite some time. The cloaked woman before him had changed all that though. She had that effect on people. Of course, it helped that Qrow had loved her for several years now.
And for years, he had known better than to say anything about it. She was out of his league in so many ways.
But now...
Summer held the baby in her arms. "I don't even need to ask you to watch her as if you were your own daughter, do I?" Qrow asked. "You're going to do that whether I want you to or not."
"Yep!" Summer said as she gently rocked the baby back and forth in her arms. Qrow wrapped his arms around Summer, hugging her. Maybe for a bit longer than he should have.
When he was finished and separated from her, he rested his hands on her shoulders. "I'll be back with that little girl's mommy before you know it..." Qrow hesitated before he spoke up again. "I'll... I'll miss you."
"Me too." Summer said. Her smile seemed to have faltered somewhat, realization reaching her eyes. "Come back soon, okay!"
Qrow stopped at the door and turned to face his partner with a smirk on his face. "Will do, captain!" With that, Qrow picked up his scythe and headed out on his quest to save his sister.
"And so the bird, the dragon, and the girl set out together." Qrow lied. "They cared so much for their friend that they traveled all across Remnant just to save her. They searched for two long years, and battled hundreds of monsters. But they didn't care. They were all good friends." Qrow stopped there, hoping that the girl wouldn't ask him to tell him what happened next.
Raven stood before
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him, her back facing him. Her long black hair billowed in the wind as it always had. Qrow payed no attention to his surroundings. A nevermore could have been swooping down from the sky to swallow him whole, and he wouldn't have even noticed.
He had found his sister. Nothing else mattered to him in that moment.
All of these years of searching would finally be over. He'd traveled from one end of the planet to another, fought against types of grimm he had never known even existed. Listened to countless lies about his sister. That she was one of them now. Nothing but lies. They had to have taken her. He knew his elder sister better than he knew himself. She had put up with when he was a kid, and he knew he hadn't been the best of little brothers. But she had loved him anyways. She would never consider doing something so vile as abandoning her own daughter.
She was better than Summer. She had practically raised him when her parents were gone. She was the caring mother to his adorable little niece. She was the woman who had grown up beside him. They were the Branwen siblings, and the whole world wouldn't be able to keep them apart.
He was with his big sister now. It would be all right.
"Raven!" Qrow cried out, his voice filled with joy, running towards her.
The woman standing before him turned towards him and all at once, Qrow began to notice his surroundings as he stopped in his tracks. The howling wind blowing through his hair. The dark clouds blotting out the moon and blacking out the sky. The smell of ozone and ash in the air. The cliff over which his sibling stood. His mind raced and raced to try and avoid the undeniable truth of what was standing before him.
His big sister faced him now, the mask of a grimm covering her face. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to join me. I thought you would have come here sooner." Raven said, a faint happiness in her voice. The mask completely covered her face, leaving only narrow slits through which Qrow could see blazing red eyes.
"Raven... what are you doing wearing that thing? What are you doing here?"
"You genuinely were trying to save me? Really Qrow, I had heard rumors, but truly hoped better of you." Raven shook her head. As if she were a parent disappointed in their child. "Well, no matter. You can join me now." Raven began to step forward, and Qrow noticed that she was holding another grimm mask in her hands that Qrow knew would fit his face. The woman began to step towards him. "This is what we've always wanted, isn't it?"
"Raven, what are you talking about. You have a daughter- Yang needs her mom. I traveled, I've fought, I've killed, just to find you here. I'd do it all again. Come with me, sister. Come back home."
Raven tilted her head to the side, as if she were confused. For as well as Qrow knew her older sister, even he couldn't read her emotions from behind that damnable mask. Qrow pulled out his scroll and opened up to the photos of Yang he'd taken back in the cabin. "Raven, you put up with me for years. This girl-"
"And I'd rather die than do that again." The monster before him said, her voice flat but edged with steel.
Qrow was taken aback by the words of the beast before him. "Raven... what did I-"
"Oh don't take it personally." She said, as if that would reassure him. "You were fun to be with. And besides, that's in the past now. You want to be with me, right?" The monster held up the mask of it's ilk as it continued. "This can be our day. We can be together. Free from all the burdens and shackles mankind has placed on us. Our family has done this before. We can do it again."
Qrow started stepping back, away from the demon that was once his sister. "Raven... what happened to you? What did they do to you? When did you become so... so... so selfish? What happened to the woman who gave birth to my niece?"
"They, whoever you think they are, did nothing. And my daughter will join me once she comes of age. But for all your faults Qrow, I never took you for a hypocrite. You, of all people, accuse me of selfishness?"
The words stung deeply. Her sister was right. Seeing his weakness, Raven pressed him further. "Did Summer really clip your wings so much, little brother? All I'm asking you to do is what you've always wanted
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."
Qrow deeply inhaled and shut his eyes, trying to hide the agony that his sister was causing him.
"Besides," Raven continued. "You won't have anyone waiting for you when you get back."
"I'm not going back." Qrow said angrily, disregarding the lie that had just come out of his sister's mouth. "Not without my sister."
Raven stood motionless for a moment before lifting up her weapon in one hand and her mask in the other. "Then you have two choices. Make one."
With trembling hand and wrath growing in his heart, Qrow pulled his weapon out from behind his back and readied his sword. Raven cast the other mask to the side as she drew a long purple blade of dust out of her sheath.
"Even if I have to drag you back home unconscious, I am not leaving without my little niece's mother." Qrow said, realizing the absurdity of his proposal as he said it. Rain began to fall and obscure his vision.
Raven gave no response, and through his blurred vision he saw the world around him get darker. Raven brought the edge of her sword over her left hand, over the same spot she had gashed when she was little. A swirling darkness coalesced itself beneath her feet, and Qrow staggered back in horror as the monster before him slowly lifted up in the air.
The monster cut her hand, a tenebrous energy flowing from the wound and up into the sky. Lighting made of some vile red force filled the clouds in the sky above him, red lightning arcing through the clouds above him. As a bolt of red lightning landed on his sister's blade, it was shot down towards him. Qrow rolled out of the way, only to be greeted by his sister when he stood back up again.
The rain fell; the thunder roared; the blade of darkness hummed with some vile energy as the light and the dark fought in the storm. The darkness grew, and grew, while the light was slowly snuffed out.
A spirit can only take so much before it breaks.
Qrow rolled on the ground, the wounds overwhelming him. A he was on his hands and knees, the monster began to walk towards him.
"Qrow… why would you make me do this?", she asked, flicking her brother's blood off the edge of her blade. "I offered you everything you've ever wanted. Why would you turn me away?"
As his former sister approached him, Qrow looked up at the monster she had become, earning a kick in the stomach which sent him to his back.
"If you won't join me, and you won't leave…" Raven placed her blade next to his throat, "then this is the only option I have left. Goodbye, little brother." His sister lifted up her blade.
"Okay…"
The demon's blade halted, her head tilted to the side in curiosity.
"I'll… I'll go. Forever." Qrow said, all the fire and wrath out of his voice as he laid broken on the ground. The lights in the sky suddenly were snuffed out, leaving him nearly blind.
Something lifted him up, and he felt his wounds closing. "You'll come back to me in the end little brother. I'll see you soon." The monster whispered in his ear. With that, he was thrown backwards, and felt some dark energy wash over his body.
Luckily for Qrow, the little girl he had saved earlier knew the answer. "And they saved the bird's sister!" The little girl said, with total confidence.
No. I didn't even have the courage to let her kill me then and there. He said that he would leave. That he wouldn't try to make his big sister come home again.
And worst of all, I meant it. Qrow could only nod his head at the little girl's words, not trusting himself to lie with his words. He hoped the girl wouldn't be able to determine falsehood through a simple head motion.
The light-bulb in the red lamp flickered for a moment before Qrow continued. "And so... when that adventure was done, these people went on with their lives." He said flatly.
The portal Raven sent him through had opened up outside a town on Patch.
Qrow found the nearest bar and got a drink.
Then another.
Then another.
After a few days of blackouts, Qrow stumbled his way through the forest and back towards the cabin. Out of a nightmare, and into a more personal form of hell.
It was Summer who had opened the door, holding a little baby girl in her eyes. She looked up at him in first in shock and joy... then in horror, knowing full well what this would
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mean.
They explained it to him. Raven had come to them, personally. Said she had no interest in raising her niece and that Qrow was with her. That neither of them had ever cared. Taiyang had lost his love, Summer lost her closest friend: her partner not only in battle but also in life. Summer had held out hope for months that Raven was wrong, that Qrow would come back any day.
She eventually stopped waiting, and Yang needed a stable home to grow up in. And so, helping each other through their own griefs, the two of them had fallen in love themselves and had been wed. Summer was so happy to have him back, but Qrow could see the guilt in her eyes every time she looked at him. So Qrow left, moving into some cheap apartment in Patch's biggest port, Stitch.
And for the next two years, he drank his sorrows away.
"And they were happy, right?" Ruby asked him.
"Huh?" Qrow asked the little girl as the light began to flicker even more.
"Well, the girl and the dragon and the bird saved the sister. So then they were all happy. Right?" The little girl's confidence in her own statement began to waver.
"Qrow..." Summer Rose reached out for him from underneath her white cloak. As if that would shield her from the decrepit condition of the bar and the world around her. Her voice was pleading and desperate.
"Just leave me alone." Qrow managed to say, his voice slurred from the copious amounts of alcohol he had been consuming for the last... well, for the last two years, really. "I'm done with all this mess."
Summer had been by his side for hours. She was going on a mission, and she needed his help. But that's not even the main reason she was here, although there was an air of desperation in her voice usually absent.
She had visited her old partner every week. Every week- barring times she was on missions- since he had come back from his journey in disgrace.
"I already told you - you were wrong about me. 'Bout all of this." Qrow waved his arm in the air. "Just go back home to that little girl of yours. Enjoy it while you can... it will die like everything else one day."
"No it won't!" Summer said forcefully. She didn't shout, he had seen her shout before. But as Qrow looked up at the huntress, he saw an anger in her eyes that he had never seen in her. "I don't care what Raven said to you. She was wrong about you. She was wrong about all of this. Don't you remember what you said to me when you left out to find her? What happened to you since then?"
"Raven. Life. Reality." Qrow said, taking another drink of alcohol.
Summer inhaled sharply. "Qrow, I'm sorry." Qrow looked up at the woman he had once loved and saw her silver eyes fill with water. "I never should have believed that... that bitch." Some faint sense of surprise registering through the thick veil of alcohol. Summer almost never swore. The cloaked woman turned to leave taking a few steps before stopping. "I suppose you're right. I was wrong about you." She turned around to face him one last time. "You're better than I ever thought you were. You came back. And you stayed in spite of what Raven did to us. I should have trusted you. I should have known better. You are worth so, so much more than you say you are. And you're tossing away your life for nothing!" Qrow saw tears streaming out of her eyes in full force. "Why can't you see that, you miserable crow?"
With those final words, Summer turned away and wiped the tears from her eyes before setting out on her final mission.
And as Summer Rose left his life forever, Qrow had no response but to order another drink.
Qrow placed his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands as he realized the truth.
Summer was right. All this time. The little girl in front of him was answer enough to that question. He had saved her.
And I abandoned her when she needed me the most. I betrayed her.
I'm the reason Summer's dead.
Qrow felt the tears welling up in his eyes, doing his best to keep them from the girl in front of him. "You're not supposed to cry." Qrow turned his head at the little girl, who he could tell was trying to restrain tears of her own, trying to remain quiet so she wouldn't wake up her big sister, "Heroes don't cry... Daddy and Yang keep trying to tell me that Mom
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2017 was a year for Learning, Progress, and Overcoming Obstacles …
Let’s make 2018 the year of Knowledge, Results, and Growth!
The Voice of the DCORP Community
As part of our most recent marketing efforts, we have conducted a series of ‘Buyer Persona Interviews”. These interviews included analyzing the voice of community members, and have given us valuable insight on what the community would like to see from us. One thing being more frequent small updates.
That said, we will ensure that a member of the communications team takes part in all DCORP development scrum meetings. This will allow us to relay internal updates, bug fixes, and excerpts on progress from our development team, no matter how small they may seem. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for these updates!
Quick Poll on Exchange Listings
We are pleased to announce that we have come to an agreement with Cryptopia exchange. Cryptopia will be the next exchange to list DRPU, the utility variant token of DCORP. There is not a defined listing date, however we will keep you updated.
We know that about one-third of the DCORP community is eager to see more listings on exchanges, and that about one-third are long-term holders. Therefore, in line with our promise of transparency we would like to get your opinion on a decision. We have the opportunity to list DCORP’s DRPU token on Coinexchange.io, for a price. We are quick to agree that additional exchanges would be better by the increased exposure and trade volume, but we continuously aim to take into account the consideration of all of you, so let us know what you think by voting through the poll below!
Risk Mitigation
In the mass volatility of today’s cryptocurrency market, it is not wise to “keep all of your eggs in one basket”. This has never been the case in any market, of course.
After careful consideration, a decision has been made to liquidate 500 Ether from DCORP’s reserve fund, converting it into Euros. This will be done to consolidate additional reserves, taking advantage of the price increase of ETH since June last year. Also this helps to mitigate the potential risks associated with the volatility of ETH prices. In doing this we take another step to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of DCORP. The funds will be held in a company bank account under the legal entity DCORP B.V., which we previously announced as having become a legally licensed corporation in the Netherlands.
Like the information above concerning the exchange listings, this is not a proposal that requires voting since this concerns the spread of reserve funds of DCORP and not the portion of funds raised that are allocated to the development of the VC platform and the derivatives platform. However, we figure that in light of transparency you’d appreciate to be in the loop of decisions like this, and understand that DCORP management is very diligent concerning DCORP’s funds.
Update on the VC Platform
We have been working very hard on further developing the VC platform, and some of you have volunteered to help with testing. This is highly appreciated, and such things makes us proud to be part of this community. We are currently running final checks on a new and exciting milestone of the VC platform. One in line with DCORP’s promises of unlocking blockchain potential and growing talent. One that will bring more value to DCORP, and to you as token holders. It will help navigate the increasingly complex landscape that the crypto industry is, and allow you to benefit from new initiatives while minimizing risk. Given all the hype and confusion around ICOs, most recently with all the commotion about the Telegram ICO, we feel we have an important role to play here in line with DCORP’s mission. Always safe, always smart!
Just a heads up, if you haven’t converted DRP yet, there is no better time to start than the present. Before long, the potential of DRPU and DRPS will be realized and you would not want to miss out. Once you complete the KYC process, the DCORP token changer will be made available to you. Remember, you will need to have converted from the original token in order be able to play your part in DCORP’s future.
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any updates!
Yasin Mahmutogullari
We would like to welcome Yasin Mahmutogullari as the newest employee of DCORP. Originally a volunteer in the DCORP community, his dedication and selflessness have led him into becoming a full time team member. Bringing seven years IT experience, along with a proactive and analytical attitude, he has helped to shape our community into it�
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Kristian "Kellex" Keller plays support for Boston Uprising and it's a job that, lately, has become pretty demanding. Between trying to learn the newest hero Brigitte, keeping up with major changes to support heroes nearly every patch, and trying to stay alive against the best DPS players in the world in the middle of a dive-centric meta, Support players like Kellex are arguably under the most pressure in game, second to maybe Winston players.
So, when I spoke to Kellex, I wanted to talk about what it's like being a support hero in these turbulent times:
Tell me your experience with the new support hero, Brigitte. Have you had a chance to dive into her kit at all?
I tried her out in the practice range for three minutes so I have an okay idea of how she works but not an in-depth one. She seems like a hero that is very counter-dive. She can one-shot Tracer. If Winston jumps, she can use her Shift ability to knock kim back. I would say these are very counter-dive.
Is she the type of hero you would see yourself playing if it proves to be competitively viable?
It’s hard to say for me right now. It’ll be easier to say once we start practicing with her. Right now, I don’t think so. Maybe later in the future because I don’t know how she will fit at all.
Right now, what is the hero you are most confident and most capable with?
It would be Lucio. I’ve been playing him since Season 1. Although I also played Mercy during her buff. It’s either Lucio or Mercy.
" I don’t know if you’ve heard of DSPStanky -- but a lot of Lucio players go for boops and try to frag out. "
How has playing Lucio changed from Stage 1 to Stage 2 with regards to the new meta?
In Stage 1, you would only play Lucio if you played Pharah-Mercy. Yet in the end, people would still run Zenyatta instead of Lucio. Now with Mercy’s nerf, people would pick Lucio more often, especially with dive compositions.
It’s basically to make everything go fast. Since Mercy can’t insta-rez people anymore using Valkyrie, Lucio will see a lot more play. He used in a lot of different comps.
Say you were coaching me and I wanted to get better at Lucio. What do you think would be the top mistakes that I’m probably making that I should improve on?
If I look at Lucio players on Ranked, they mostly go for these plays- --I don’t know if you’ve heard of DSPStanky -- but a lot of Lucio players go for boops and try to frag out. I used to do that too, but once I joined this team, I was told that I should protect my other support player Neko because it’s Lucio’s main job to keep him alive as much as he can.
One mistake everyone does in Ranked is that they don’t protect their other support. That’s the biggest issue I’ve seen people do.
So most Lucio players are too aggressive.
It’s not that they’re too aggressive. Let’s say you play Ranked and it’s dive vs. dive. Most Lucio players will go frontline, jump in and try to do some flashy plays, but they can still speed your team up and still play safe.
For me, if I want to go aggressive, I need to make sure that the threats to my other flex support are non-existent. If both Winston and Tracer are dead or they don’t have any abilities, that means I can go aggressive because they won’t be able to kill the flex support. But when they’re alive, I have to look to peel as much as I can.
What’s it like trying to peel and play that role against a team like NYXL?
The biggest challenge is that they coordinate the dives really well. Usually, you want to boop the Winston or Tracer away. But Tracer comes from behind, Winston comes from the main and Genji is on your left. It’s really hard to peel off everything so you need to tell your D.Va and your teammates to help you.
You can boop the Winston, but you can’t turn around and kill the Tracer 2 vs. 1 -- and then comes the Genji. It’s really hard to peel against
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White racism towards African Americans causes black adolescents to become depressed, to underachieve academically, become violent, join gangs and take drugs!—this is the unequivocal message of a new meta-analysis recently published in the top journal American Psychologist, the journal of the American Psychological Association [Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Well-Being During Adolescence, by Aprile Benner et al., American Psychologist, 2018]. Everything wrong in the lives of African Americans, in other words, is the fault of the White Devil. I say: Bunk!—what about IQ?
It only goes to prove how startlingly ideological US psychology departments have become. This is not some tendentious misreading of the team’s findings by Antifa or some other group composed of the developmentally arrested. It is actually how the researchers themselves interpret their findings that minorities who believe they are the victims of racism as children display these tendencies. Lead author, Dr. Aprile Benner (herself white) actually thinks this is the simplest explanation….or, at least, she pretends to.
“The psychological, behavioral and academic burdens posed by racial and ethnic discrimination during adolescence, coupled with evidence that experiences of discrimination persist across the life course for persons of color, point to discrimination as a clear contributor to the racial and ethnic disparities observed for African-American, Latino and Native American populations compared with their white counterparts,” says Benner, in an official press release about the study. [Racism Can Affect Your Mental Health From As Early As Childhood, By Kimberley Truong, Refinery 29, September 19, 2018]
We should expect a freshman psychology student—who has learnt that correlation does not equal causation and who has heard of Occam’s Razor—to be able to see the gaping flaws in this study’s conclusions. Yet it seems that Aprile Benner [Email her], armed with her University of California PhD, and even those august luminaries at the American Psychological Association, cannot.
Let’s go through this slowly. Northeast Asian children in Western countries also experience racism at school. If anything, they probably experience more racism than Hispanics or blacks because they tend to be physically weaker (so less able to stand up for themselves), are on average academically abler than whites (meaning that they’re “nerds”), and have slanted eyes that bullies can mockingly imitate. Most of these characteristics are true of Jews as well.
Yet both of these groups are less likely than whites to under achieve academically, behave violently, join gangs or take drugs [Racial and ethnic differences in psychopathic personality, By Richard Lynn, Personality and Individual Differences, 2002].
Northeast Asian Americans are, however, more likely than whites to suffer from depression and kill themselves [Understanding Asian American Female College Students and Their Sense of Belonging, By Delia Cheung Hom, PhD Thesis, Northeastern University, 2015] but there’s a clear reason for this that we’ll look at later.
The simplest explanation is one which explains the most evidence with the fewest assumptions. “Racism” may theoretically cause the pathologies that Benner highlights among blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. But these pathologies are not found—with the exception of depression—among Northeast Asian Americans or American Jews, who are surely also victims of racism. So Benner’s explanation is hugely question-begging. The Northeast Asian (and Jewish) anomaly implies that there may be another, simpler, explanation which explains all of the empirical evidence.
And, of course, there is just such an explanation: race differences in intelligence!
African Americans have an average IQ of 85, Native Americans about 87, Hispanics about 89, Whites—100, Northeast Asians—105 and Jewish Americans—112 [Race Differences in Intelligence, By Richard Lynn, Washington Summit, 2015]. Intelligence is negatively associated with a distrusting nature, high self-esteem, and the inability to understand the intentions and feelings of others (in other words “low empathy”) [The g Factor, By Arthur Jensen, 1998]. Intelligence is also, in general, negatively associated with schizophrenia (which makes you paranoid.) [Intelligence in schizophrenia: Meta-analysis of the research, By E. Aylward et al., Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1984]
It follows that the less intelligent you are, the more likely you are to believe that people are being racist towards you.
As Arthur Jensen also pointed out in The g Factor, intelligence is also negatively associated with poor academic achievement, criminal activity, dropping out of school and poor impulse control. So, clearly, intelligence is the simplest explanation for most empirical evidence pf pathology. Members of minority groups who have low intelligence are going to believe that they are the victims of racism and—independently of that—they will display behavior
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It didn’t last long, but for a moment at the end of the Supreme Court’s history-making term last month, there was a brief examination of the role of gender in the court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “the second woman to serve on the high court, was making her argument about how the majority opinion made it easier for sexual harassment to occur in the workplace,” the Washington Post reported, “when [Justice Samuel] Alito, seated immediately to Ginsburg’s left, shook his head from side to side in disagreement, rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling.”
While a short-lived discussion played out as to what this gesture conveyed, the interpretations over Alito's intra-court antics obscured another point worthy of exploration: There are still few women in a position to attest to his demeanor on the bench. It’s not just his fellow justices, but the people who argue before it.
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According to a recent analysis by the Associated Press, women made around 17 percent of the arguments before the high court this term. (The numbers were even starker for African-American representation: just one lawyer, Debo Adegbile, delivered an argument in defense of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act this term, for only 11 minutes.) Lisa Blatt, the head of Arnold and Porter LLP’s Supreme Court practice, who in 2011 earned the distinction of giving more arguments before the court than any woman in history, is a comparatively rare figure in the exclusive circle of lawyers who argue before it.
“There’s a very small and elite Supreme Court bar that argues very regularly before the court. I can pick off on 10 fingers who they are, and almost all are men,” says Lisa T. McElroy, an associate professor at Drexel University who has written for the New York Times and SCOTUSblog.
Many of the lawyers in that group started as Supreme Court clerks or worked in the solicitor general’s office, or both — serving in positions that, until relatively recently, were given almost exclusively to men. Since the mid-1990s, the number of women serving the justices as clerks has grown to a third or more in some terms. Until 1972 there were no women working as attorneys in the solicitor general’s office; Elena Kagan, the first woman to head the office, served just over a year before being nominated to the court. But women who have served as deputies or assistants in that office have had some of the best opportunities to argue before the SCOTUS.
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“The solicitor general's office is a launching point for many Supreme Court advocates, and there are now a number of great women in that office,” says Deanne Maynard, a former assistant to the solicitor general who has argued 13 cases before the court. Of the few women who frequently appear from a private practice, many of the most prominent, like Maureen Mahoney and Patricia Millett, once served in key roles there.
The women who have made it to the high court describe the current numbers breakdown as a vast improvement in the context of the profession’s mostly male history. The first woman to ever argue before the Supreme Court, Belva Ann Lockwood, was initially denied entrance on account of her sex; she went to Congress and successfully lobbied them to write legislation forcing the court to recognize her in 1879. The first African-American woman to argue a case before SCOTUS in 1962, Constance Baker Motley, drew crowds of courtroom gawkers at the beginning of her legal career.
Compared to Lockwood's and Motley's perseverance and what they later accomplished — Lockwood won a massive claim for Cherokee Indians forced to march the Trail of Tears; Motley played a major role in Brown v. Board of Education and won Meredith v. Fair, the case that desegregated the University of Mississippi — the more recent courtroom cultural debates about gender may seem relatively minor. According to Nina Pillard, who has written about her own experiences arguing before the SCOTUS, the number of oralists who were women grew by about 5 percent each term since the mid-1960s. Maureen Mahoney said she never felt unwelcome serving as a law clerk for then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist, though at the time very few women were being hired to do so, and Rehnquist’s liberal colleague William Brennan pointedly refused to hire women.
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After one case in 1996, Beth Brinkmann, then an attorney in the solicitor general’s office, received a letter from Chief Justice William Rehnquist informing her that her brown skirt suit was inappropriate for court. Brinkmann’s boss defended her by noting not enough women had worked in the solicitor general’s office yet to have established standards for women’s dress.
There are a
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During Star Trek Online’s 2017 Summer Event you will be able to obtain Lohlunat Prize Vouchers (2017) by participating in the “Flying High” event on a daily basis. These Prize Vouchers can be earned once per day, and used to complete an Event Reputation project to obtain the Vorgon Ryn’kodan Carrier [T6]! This project requires 1000 Lohlunat Prize Vouchers (2017).
Once this starship is obtained by any character on your account, any characters on this account can claim the Vorgon Ryn’kodan Carrier [T6] from the Account Claim tab within the Event Store (in the Event Reputation window).
Vorgon Ryn’kodan Carrier [T6]
The Vorgon Ryn'kodan Carrier is the durable command and control vessel that makes up the focal point of any Vorgon attack fleet. Though lacking the maneuverability of other Vorgon vessels, this extremely resilient ship is capable of outlasting foes foolish enough to underestimate its capabilities.
This starship features a Lieutenant Universal/Temporal Operative Specialist seat.
Ship Details
Tier: 6
Faction: All
Availability: Event Reputation – Summer 2017
Rank Required: Rear Admiral, Brigadier General or Sub Admiral I (Level 40)
Hull Strength: 48,750 at level 40, 56,063 at level 50 and 65,000 at level 60
Shield Modifier: 1.05
Fore Weapons: 3
Aft Weapons: 3
Device Slots: 4
Bridge Officer Stations: 1 Lieutenant Commander Tactical, 1 Ensign Engineering, 1 Commander Engineering, 1 Lieutenant Commander Science, 1 Lieutenant Universal/Temporal Operative
Console Modifications: 3 Tactical, 5 Engineering, 3 Science
Base Turn Rate: 6.5 degrees/second
Impulse Modifier: 0.15
Inertia: 25
+10 to Shield Power, +10 to Auxiliary Power
Console – Universal – Subphasic Defense Drone
Can Load Dual Cannons
Hangar Bays: 2
Hangar Bays loaded with Vorgon Echentis Frigates
Subsystem Targeting
Starship Mastery Package (Engineering Carrier) Quick Deployment (+Hangar Launch Recharge Speed) Armored Hull (+Max Hull Capacity) Enhanced Hull Plating (+Energy Damage Resistance Rating) Advanced Shield Systems (+Max Shield Capacity) Restorative Support (Starship Trait)
Console – Universal – Subphasic Defense Drone
The Vorgon developed this unique drone in an attempt to duplicate the effects of the Tox Uthat - a powerful device they once aggressively sought across the time-space continuum. The drone is equipped with a phasic inhibitor which can absorb directed energy, inverting the flow in such a way to debilitate attackers' weapons. To add to its utility, the Vorgon also outfit these drones with defensive enhancements that fortify and regenerate the shields of the ship that launches them.
This console provides a passive boost to Shield Subsystem Power and Projectile Damage.
This console may be equipped on any Vorgon starship.
Restorative Support (Starship Trait)
After achieving Level 5 in your Vorgon Ryn’kodan Carrier (T6), you will unlock the Restorative Support Starship Trait. While this trait is slotted, using Hull Heal abilities will create a support probe at the target's location (or self). This probe will constantly restore a small amount of Hull on its target, as well as passively draining the shields of nearby foes.
Hangar Pets: Vorgon Echentis Frigate
Vorgon Echentis Frigates
Availability: EC Store
Weapons: 2x Tetryon Beam Array (Fore) 1x Tetryon Dual Beam Bank (Fore) 1x Tetryon Beam Array (Aft) 1x Chroniton Mine Launcher (Aft)
Abilities: Mine Dispersal Pattern Alpha I Suppression Barrage I
Advanced Vorgon Echentis Frigates
Availability: Dilithium Store
Weapons: 2x Tetryon Beam Array (Fore) 1x Tetryon Dual Beam Bank (Fore) 1x Tetryon Beam Array (Aft) 1x Chroniton Mine Launcher (Aft)
Abilities: Mine Dispersal Pattern Alpha II Suppression Barrage II
Elite Vorgon Echentis Frigates
Availability: Fleet Shipyard
Weapons: 2x Tetryon Beam Array (Fore) 1x Tetryon Dual Beam Bank (Fore) 1x Tetryon Beam Array (Aft) 1
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bớt một người mà bạn thân nhất. Bạn nằm mơ thấy trúng số độc đắc báo hiệu điều gì? Bạn có đang băn khoăn trăn trở về những giấc mơ như vậy nhưng chưa có lời giải cụ thể. Hãy cũng ngày đẹp đi tìm lời giải cho nó nhé
Tuy nhiên, theo các chuyên gia cho hay, khi nằm mơ thấy trúng số trong giấc mơ thì thường ở ngoài thực tế là điềm ngược lại với giấc mơ, nghĩa là bạn sẽ không gặp may mắn đâu, thậm chí bạn còn mất mát của cải, tiền bạc nữa nên hãy hết sức cẩn thận nhé.
Khi nằm mơ thấy bạn thân trúng số độc đắc thì người bạn ấy sẽ được lợi về tiền tài, lộc lá theo quan chức. Nằm mơ thấy đi lĩnh tiền trúng số là điềm báo bạn sẽ nhặt được món tiền nhỏ.
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Nên đánh con số đề nào khi mơ thấy mình trúng số
Giải mã giấc mộng của nằm mơ thấy trúng số và tham khảo thêm nằm mơ thấy đám ma cho ta được những con số may mắn như sau : 68-86-01-24
Bên cạnh đó, mời bạn tham khảo thêm những con số tương ứng với các tình huống trong giấc mơ thấy mình trúng số như sau:
Bạn nên đánh ngay con số 08 và 28 là số lô đề may mắn nếu bạn mơ thấy vé số.
Ngoài ra, đánh ngay con 39 và 41 nếu bạn mơ thấy số
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Stanford study on brain waves shows how different teaching methods affect reading development
Stanford Professor Bruce McCandliss found that beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading.
Beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, instead of trying to learn whole words, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading, according to new Stanford research investigating how the brain responds to different types of reading instruction.
L.A. Cicero A study, co-authored by Professor Bruce McCandliss, provides some of the first evidence that a specific teaching strategy for reading has direct neural impact.
In other words, to develop reading skills, teaching students to sound out "C-A-T" sparks more optimal brain circuitry than instructing them to memorize the word "cat." And, the study found, these teaching-induced differences show up even on future encounters with the word.
The study, co-authored by Stanford Professor Bruce McCandliss of the Graduate School of Education and the Stanford Neuroscience Institute, provides some of the first evidence that a specific teaching strategy for reading has direct neural impact. The research could eventually lead to better-designed interventions to help struggling readers.
"This research is exciting because it takes cognitive neuroscience and connects it to questions that have deep meaning and history in educational research," said McCandliss, who wrote the study with Yuliya Yoncheva, a researcher at New York University, and Jessica Wise, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.
Instructional strategies
Theories on reading development have long supported the importance of a phonics foundation, especially for early learners and struggling readers, yet investigating the way in which brain mechanisms are influenced by the choices a teacher makes is a fairly recent endeavor, according to McCandliss.
As the field of educational neuroscience grows, however, both brain researchers and educational researchers can improve their understanding of how instructional strategies can best be harnessed to support the brain changes that underlie the development of learning, he added.
In the study, released this month in the journal Brain and Language, the researchers devised a new written language and contrasted whether words were taught using a letter-to-sound instruction method or a whole-word association method. After learning multiple words under both approaches, the newly learned words were presented in a reading test while brainwaves were monitored.
McCandliss's team used a brain mapping technique that allowed them to capture brain responses to the newly learned words that are literally faster than the blink of an eye.
Remarkably, the researchers said, these very rapid brain responses to the newly learned words were influenced by how they were learned.
Words learned through the letter-sound instruction elicited neural activity biased toward the left side of the brain, which encompasses visual and language regions. In contrast, words learned via whole-word association showed activity biased toward right hemisphere processing.
McCandliss noted that this strong left hemisphere engagement during early word recognition is a hallmark of skilled readers, and is characteristically lacking in children and adults who are struggling with reading.
In addition, the study's participants were subsequently able to read new words they had never seen before, as long as they followed the same letter-sound patterns they were taught to focus on. Within a split second, the process of deciphering a new word triggered the left hemisphere processes.
"Ideally, that is the brain circuitry we are hoping to activate in beginner readers," McCandliss said.
By comparison, when the same participants memorized whole-word associations, the study found that they learned sufficiently to recognize those particular words on the reading test, but the underlying brain circuitry differed, eliciting electrophysiological responses that were biased toward right hemisphere processes.
"These contrasting teaching approaches are likely having such different impact on early brain responses because they encourage the learner to focus their attention in different ways," McCandliss said. "It's like shifting the gears of the mind – when you focus your attention on different information associated with a word, you amplify different brain circuits."
While many teachers are now using phonics to teach reading, some may be doing it more effectively than others, McCandliss said.
"If children are struggling, even if they're receiving phonics instruction, perhaps it's because of the way they are being asked to focus their attention on the sounds within spoken words and links between those sounds and the letters within visual words," he said.
"We can direct attention to a larger grain size or a smaller grain size, and it can have a big impact on how well you learn."
Monitoring brain waves
The study involved 16 literate adult participants, yet, according to McCandliss, gained its statistical power by teaching all participants in two different ways
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Cheapskates Liquidators owners George Schappert (L), Diana Schappert (M) and Richard Bear (R) Cheapskates Liquidators
On July 9, Amazon put out a press release saying that Prime Day, the giant upcoming shopping extravaganza, "has proven to be a huge growth opportunity for many small and medium-sized businesses." That same day, an online seller named Diana Schappert got an email from an Amazon employee who goes by Paul. It came with a very different message. "Jeff Bezos received your email and I am responding on his behalf," wrote Paul, who didn't include a last name but said that he's part of the Seller Performance team. "I have thoroughly reviewed your account and the information you have provided and determined that you may not sell on Amazon.com."
For Schappert, who is one of millions of third-party sellers on Amazon, the email is potentially a fatal blow in a costly saga that's lasted the better part of the year. It has left her family business — Cheapskates Liquidators — in tatters. Since mid-March, Cheapskates has been suspended from Amazon for a few vague complaints related to the sale of inauthentic items, all of which Schappert and her husband, George, say can be easily explained. Amazon has refused to readmit them, despite multiple appeals. The July 9 email came after the couple escalated their complaints all the way to the CEO. CNBC has viewed extensive documentation, which seems to back up the Schapperts' tale. During the 36 hours of Prime Day, stretching across Monday and Tuesday, Coresight Research expects Amazon to reel in $3.4 billion, as consumers flock to deals on electronics, clothes, furniture and snacks (though that estimate was made prior to a glitch at the start of Prime Day on Monday). Third-party sellers account for more than half of all items sold on the site, and many of them are small family businesses like Cheapskates. Amazon said last week that on Prime Day 2017, thousands of smaller businesses generated more than $50,000 in sales, allowing them to "grow their businesses, create new jobs, and invest in their communities." But for some small sellers, working with Amazon has become a complicated mess of infringement claims, confusing suspensions, fees and one-way correspondence. A number of Facebook groups for Amazon sellers are loaded with complaints from people who were suspended for reasons that aren't entirely clear and have struggled to get anyone at Amazon to help. Merchants have filled up Amazon seller forums looking for advice about getting reinstated when they think they've been unfairly suspended or have had their products blocked. In a statement to CNBC, Amazon said the Schapperts were suspended for selling counterfeits, among other infractions: "The seller in question was found violating multiple Amazon policies, including our anti-counterfeiting policy. They were given multiple opportunities to address the situation but showed a repeated pattern of behavior that was not in our customers’ best interest, so we took actions to protect our customers and stop their illegal activity." But the Schapperts say Amazon never gave them this explanation, and the couple's recent correspondence with Amazon, which they shared with CNBC, offers little detail. Now, they're faced with two bad choices. The first option is to keep their $200,000 of inventory in Amazon's fulfillment centers and continue to try and get reinstated while racking up fees from Amazon for storage, which amounted to $367.37 in June, when they couldn't even sell anything. Or, the Schapperts can pay 50 cents an item — several thousand dollars in total — to have it all shipped back so they can try to sell it elsewhere. If they don't decide soon, Amazon could destroy their inventory, according to emails they've received from the company. "We thought this was what we were going to be doing for the rest of our lives," said George Schappert, 41, in an interview. "It was a real wake-up call to be kicked off like this."
The costs of doing business
The problems stem from Amazon's efforts to address a counterfeit crisis, which has plagued the site since the company opened the doors a few years ago to manufacturers and sellers from all over the world. Infringement complaints are now a common occurrence, and can be triggered by as little as a single review from a buyer, or even false reports from competitors. Amazon told CNBC: "Amazon has large teams dedicated to helping sellers—many of them small businesses—be successful reaching and delighting customers. We expect all sellers to comply with the law and our policies, and we take steps to protect customers if they do not. We are committed to providing a great shopping experience and work closely with customers and sellers to resolve any concerns they may have." The company also explained a little about its methods, which rely heavily on automation: "When a business registers to sell products through Amazon’s Marketplace
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, Amazon’s systems scan information for signals that the business might be a bad actor, and Amazon blocks identified bad actors before they can offer any products for sale. Amazon’s systems also automatically and continuously scan numerous data points related to sellers, products, brands, and offers to detect activity that indicates products offered might be counterfeit."
In its zeal to control counterfeiting, Amazon has taken a heavy hand in removing sellers and forced them to respond with a detailed plan of action, or POA, accepting responsibility for what went wrong and promising to fix it. Dealing with these disruptions is just a cost of doing business on Amazon, even for legitimate sellers. In the Schapperts' case, the ordeal has been much more dramatic. The couple are longtime online sellers on eBay, but stepped up their Amazon business in 2015, after George became sick and was unable to continue his electrical work. Cheapskates built its online business by sourcing goods from local businesses, like a friend who makes yard signs, buying from distributors and snapping up clearance products at RadioShack and other retailers. Like many Amazon sellers, Cheapskates has faced some infringement complaints in the past, according to documents the Schapperts shared with CNBC. Two of them included allegations they were selling counterfeits. One was from a rights owner in February 2017, claiming that Cheapskates was listing a counterfeit light bulb, which they deny. The other was a notification saying they were selling a counterfeit Bluetooth speaker; in fact, the Schapperts say, the product was authentic but they later learned that it wasn't authorized for sale online. Neither notification resulted in suspension, and they stopped selling both products.
They make you feel like you're being rewarded. George Schappert
The Schapperts were also briefly suspended in July 2017 for "poor seller performance," partly because of a buyer complaint that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle camera was inauthentic. They were reinstated within two days after telling Amazon they had the receipts to prove the authenticity of the items. Then things improved. For a while, the business was so good that Amazon almost doubled Cheapskates' storage capacity, allowed the storefront into the global sellers program and offered loans to the Schapperts with rates that kept getting lower. "They make you feel like you're being rewarded," said George Schappert. The business peaked at $60,000 in December after a solid holiday season. Soon thereafter, the Schapperts leased a 6,000-square-foot warehouse that costs them about $2,300 a month as they prepared to grow their operation, which George Schappert said was on pace to at least double its revenue this year. Then, on March 15, Amazon sent the Schapperts an email saying that some of their listings had been removed because of "buyer complaints about the items ordered from you." Amazon provided six product codes and said four of them had complaints for "used sold as new," two were "not as advertised" and one was "damaged/defective." The next day, March 16, the Schapperts got another note from Amazon saying they could no longer sell on the site because of complaints about "the authenticity of items listed at the end of this email." The three codes were entirely different from the six in the prior day's email and provided no explanation about what was wrong with the products — two types of cigarette rolling paper and some children's bedding. The Schapperts said that after scanning all of the user reviews about those three products, the only complaint related to authenticity came from a single buyer of rolling papers. Amazon did not explain to the Schapperts or to CNBC why the March 15 and March 16 emails differed in terms of the products listed, nor did they say why Cheapskates was suspended without warning.
Inventory could get destroyed
To try and get reinstated, Cheapskates explained to Amazon that it cancelled its relationships with distributors tied to inauthentic item claims and provided a full list of suppliers for all the products in the suspension. It wasn't enough. On April 3, Amazon said that the information was insufficient and that the Schapperts "could no longer sell on Amazon.com." There was no further explanation, just the boilerplate language that, "for privacy reasons, we do not provide details about our investigation methods." Now the Schapperts are potentially on the verge of having thousands of dollars worth of products destroyed. Twice this month, Amazon has told Cheapskates that it's "submitted a disposal order" for its inventory because the company missed the deadline for removing it.
Getty Images
In April, Cheapskates hired Chris McCabe, a former Amazon employee who specializes in working with third-party merchants, to help get them reinstated. McCabe said he's dealt with hundreds of sellers who have run into similar problems, but he's almost always able to get them back up quickly as long as
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As they both walked through a dimly lit parking garage, one of the pair of men peered at a black, laptop-sized device inside his messenger bag. Using buttons on its outer case, he flicked through various options on the device's bright LED screen before landing on his choice.
With the device armed, the second man walked towards a bright white Jeep parked in the garage. He held his own piece of technology: a small box with an antenna jutting from the top. The man tried to open the car's door, but it was locked. He pushed a button on the top of his handheld device, a light flickered, and instantly the car was open. He clambered into the driver's seat, and pushed the button to start the vehicle.
To show the power of the device, the man switched off the box with the antenna and pushed the car's button again. "Key Fob Not Detected," the dashboard's screen read, indicating that the man in the driver's seat didn't have the wireless key needed to start the vehicle. "Push Button with Key Fob to Start."
Ignoring the message, the man turned on the device in his hand, and tried the car once again. Like magic, the engine started with a distinctive growl.
"EvanConnect," one of the men in the video who goes by a pseudonym online, embodies a bridge between digital and physical crime. These devices he sells for thousands of dollars let other people break into and steal high end vehicles. He claims to have had clients in the U.S., UK, Australia, and a number of South American and European countries.
"Honestly I can tell you that I have not stolen a car with technology," Evan told Motherboard. "It's very easy to do but the way I see it: why would I get my hands dirty when I can make money just selling the tools to other people."
The video doesn't depict an actual robbery; Evan made the video using a friend's Jeep to demonstrate the devices' capabilities for Motherboard, and uploaded another version to his YouTube channel afterwards. And the devices are sometimes used by security researchers to probe the defenses of vehicles. But the threat of digitally-enabled grand theft auto is real.
Police departments around the world over the past few years have reported an increase in the number of vehicle robberies that they suspect were carried out with a variety of electronic tools. In a 2015 press release, the Toronto Police Service warned residents of a spike in the theft of Toyota and Lexus SUVs seemingly carried out with electronic devices. A 2017 video released by the West Midlands Police in the U.K. showed two men approach a Mercedes Benz parked in the owner's driveway; similar to Evan's video, one man stood next to the target vehicle with a handheld device, while another positioned a larger piece of tech near the home, hoping to pick up the signal emitting from the car keys stored inside. Police in Tampa, Florida said last year they were investigating a car burglary where the owner locked their vehicle and could have been due to electronic interference.
Not all car robberies with electronic devices are necessarily using the same technology. Some techniques rely on jamming the signal from the owner's keyfob to the vehicle, so the owner believes they've locked their car when in reality it's ripe for the criminal to open. Evan's devices, instead, are known as "keyless repeaters" and carry out so-called relay attacks.
Longtime security researcher and hardware hacker Samy Kamkar reviewed Evan's video and explained the apparent attack in an email. It starts with the car owner locking their vehicle and walking away with the key. One of the people trying to hijack the vehicle then walks up to it, holding one of the devices that listens for the particular low frequency the vehicle sends out to check if the key is nearby, and the device then retransmits it "at a higher frequency, such as 2.4Ghz or anything else that will easily travel much longer distances," Kamkar wrote. The second device, held by the second hacker, takes that high frequency signal and replays it again at the original low frequency.
Do you know anything else about digital-meets-physical crime? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on [email protected], or email [email protected].
The keyfob sees this low frequency, and goes through the normal challenge response it would as if it was physically next to the car.
"This happens back and forth a few times for the entire challenge/response between the key and the car, and the two devices are just relaying that communication over a longer distance," Kamkar wrote.
Using
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In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.
Since 9/11, there has been, at first secretly but increasingly openly, a revocation of the bill of rights for which this country fought over 200 years ago. In particular, the fourth and fifth amendments of the US constitution, which safeguard citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government into their private lives, have been virtually suspended.
The government claims it has a court warrant under Fisa – but that unconstitutionally sweeping warrant is from a secret court, shielded from effective oversight, almost totally deferential to executive requests. As Russell Tice, a former National Security Agency analyst, put it: "It is a kangaroo court with a rubber stamp."
For the president then to say that there is judicial oversight is nonsense – as is the alleged oversight function of the intelligence committees in Congress. Not for the first time – as with issues of torture, kidnapping, detention, assassination by drones and death squads –they have shown themselves to be thoroughly co-opted by the agencies they supposedly monitor. They are also black holes for information that the public needs to know.
The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country.
Obviously, the United States is not now a police state. But given the extent of this invasion of people's privacy, we do have the full electronic and legislative infrastructure of such a state. If, for instance, there was now a war that led to a large-scale anti-war movement – like the one we had against the war in Vietnam – or, more likely, if we suffered one more attack on the scale of 9/11, I fear for our democracy. These powers are extremely dangerous.
There are legitimate reasons for secrecy, and specifically for secrecy about communications intelligence. That's why Bradley Mannning and I – both of whom had access to such intelligence with clearances higher than top-secret – chose not to disclose any information with that classification. And it is why Edward Snowden has committed himself to withhold publication of most of what he might have revealed.
But what is not legitimate is to use a secrecy system to hide programs that are blatantly unconstitutional in their breadth and potential abuse. Neither the president nor Congress as a whole may by themselves revoke the fourth amendment – and that's why what Snowden has revealed so far was secret from the American people.
In 1975, Senator Frank Church spoke of the National Security Agency in these terms:
"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."
The dangerous prospect of which he warned was that America's intelligence gathering capability – which is today beyond any comparison with what existed in his pre-digital era – "at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left."
That has now happened. That is what Snowden has exposed, with official, secret documents. The NSA, FBI and CIA have, with the new digital technology, surveillance powers over our own citizens that the Stasi – the secret police in the former "democratic republic" of East Germany – could scarcely have dreamed of. Snowden reveals that the so-called intelligence community has become the United Stasi of America.
So we have fallen into Senator Church's abyss. The questions now are whether he was right or wrong that there is no return from it, and whether that means that effective democracy will become impossible. A week ago, I would have found it hard to argue with pessimistic answers to those conclusions.
But with Edward Snowden having put his life on the line to get this information out, quite possibly inspiring others with similar knowledge, conscience and patriotism to show comparable civil courage – in the public, in Congress, in the executive branch itself – I see the unexpected possibility of a way up and out of the abyss.
Pressure by an informed public on Congress to form a select committee to investigate the revelations by Snowden and, I hope, others to come might lead us to bring NSA and the rest of the intelligence community under real supervision and restraint and restore the protections of the bill of rights.
Snowden did what he did because he recognised the NSA's surveillance programs for what they are: dangerous, unconstitutional activity. This wholesale invasion of Americans' and foreign citizens' privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the
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Zim and Gir hanging out. Image : Netflix
When Invader Zim first began airing on Nickelodeon back in 2001, there really wasn’t anything quite like it in the animation space, particularly when it came to series squarely aimed at a younger audience.
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Invader Zim was filthy, and often morbid in the way it depicted a world well on its way to falling apart long before Zim showed up planning to conquer Earth. That grossness was a big part of what ended up endearing the show to fans.
Ahead of Invader Zim’s return to the small screen in Netflix’s upcoming Enter the Florpus special, we spoke with series creator Jhonen Vasquez about what it’s been like to watch as the show developed a cult following in the wake of its initial cancellation— and how Invader Zim’s dark, misanthropic ethos feels even more relatable today.
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io9: How has Invader Zim becoming a cult classic with a dedicated fanbase influenced your own relationship to the franchise?
Jhonen Vasquez: Is it horrible to say it doesn’t influence it that much? I’m always happiest working on things when I feel it’s coming from a genuine place driven by my own needs and wants. The audience is an observer with this stuff, not so much a contributor, but an observer that I hope is enjoying what’s happening.
So I guess the process of working on Zim stuff, the show, comics, or this movie, hasn’t changed a whole lot in terms of the audience being in on the creation. I sometimes try to feel it, that whatever it is that is having an audience like that, but it’s not in my makeup. It’s why when I attend conventions or meet fans out in the world, sometimes in the weirdest places, it’s great to actually talk to one who clues me in as to just how my stuff exists in their world. Surreal, flattering, and just forever strange for me to hear about.
io9: Talk to me a bit about Dib’s relationship with Professor Membrane. Membrane’s always been an absentee father, but Enter the Florpus really centers how his absence has factored into Dib’s sense of self. What were the things about their relationship you wanted to hammer home in the movie?
Vasquez: Yeah, Membrane’s a bigger part of the story here than he was in the series. His inattentiveness to Dib’s mission was always a thing but in the movie, it’s a driving force for everything that happens. It was a way of taking advantage of having more time to tell a story while still pulling from easily graspable concepts like being frustrated by your parents’ seeming inability to recognize your greatness, even if you’re not exactly thinking of the consequences. Dib’s the “hero” of Invader Zim, but he’s also the villain, and he doesn’t just strive to help, he strives to help and be recognized for it.
io9: It’s really interesting how Zim and Dib end up on these parallel quests for approval from their father figures. What are the aspects of Zim and Dib’s dynamic with one another that you wanted to put front and center with Enter the Florpus?
Vasquez: It’s always been there, but it just happens to be what drives the movie. They’re not exact mirrors of one another, but they have a lot in common, and looking for validation from their respective “dads” is one of the core things. Thing is, neither one of them is approaching the problem from the perspective of “Am I good? Please tell me.” They’re approaching it more as “BEHOLD HOW GOOD I AM! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU THAT YOU’RE NOT SAYING SO?!”
io9: Where does the filthy aesthetic—the saliva, Gir rolling around in cheese, etc.—that’s always defined Invader Zim come from?
Vasquez: That I’m not entirely sure about. I think it’s probably just the result of my fidgetiness when drawing, this OCD need to fill spaces up with little scratches and shapes. All that grime is hypnotic to throw down and I love how it sits on a page and thus in
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× Expand AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Say what you will about his hot-mess way with issues, but President-elect Donald Trump has already raised the cause of manufacturing jobs higher than any president in memory. His maneuver with United Technologies that convinced Carrier Corp. to keep 800 jobs in Indiana has drawn both praise and scorn. But by casually endorsing interstate job wars, Trump has also invited a sorely needed debate over a truly egregious aspect of corporate welfare.
The Indianapolis deal is clearly a one-off with no policy precedents to benefit any other workers. But it has cued up an issue that progressive advocates can embrace and that should force Trump supporters to grapple with tough questions. Specifically: Trump's America First populism could be channeled to make real progress toward curbing wasteful taxpayer giveaways to footloose corporations.
Unbeknownst to Trump, this debate is about to get super-charged: Over the next 18 months, a torrent of newly-mandated data about the costs of corporate welfare will flow from cities, counties, school districts, and state capitals everywhere. Thanks to an obscure new government-accounting rule that is just now kicking in, tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue will be revealed to taxpayers for the first time.
Dithering about "Job Blackmail"
Many academics and pundits have claimed that Trump's stunt at Carrier will prompt more companies to threaten to move to Mexico, as a way of shaking down states for "job blackmail."
It ain't so; here are the economics. Two critical numbers: two and 98. For the typical company in the United States, all state and local taxes combined equal 2 percent of their cost structure. Business basics make up the other 98 percent: labor, occupancy, raw materials and components, energy, logistics, executive pay, etc. (The mix of these business basics costs varies greatly by industry and by facility function.)
That means tiny changes in any of those big cost factors will dwarf anything public officials can do with tax breaks. If a company is able to relocate to a low-wage country, and its production has appreciable labor content, the savings it can achieve will normally dwarf anything a state or local government could offer in tax breaks. (That's why the $700,000 per year Indiana gave Carrier can't be the reason United Technologies reconsidered a move it said would save it $65 million per year.)
But stateside, large companies can extort huge tax breaks by threatening to leave their current locations-even if they have no intention of leaving. Indeed, job blackmail is a longstanding, deeply entrenched practice in American economic development, a raw measure of corporate domination in this space.
And if an interstate move is initiated instead by a state that actively recruits companies, the practice is known as "job piracy." Often traced to Mississippi's invention of what some consider the first corporate welfare program in the 1930s, it has plagued our country's economic development for decades, helping runaway shops evade unions and depress wages, fueling inequality, and undermining the tax base needed for public goods and services that benefit all working families and all employers.
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This "second war between the states" (as Business Week dubbed it in 1976) has never been addressed by the federal government, was last debated by the National Governors Association in 1993, and was the subject of an inconclusive Supreme Court case in 2006 (DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno).
Left so unchecked, interstate job piracy reached an ugly nadir in 2013 when then-Texas Governor Rick Perry turned it into a partisan sport.
Using a mix of taxpayer and private money for television and radio ads featuring himself ahead of his arrivals, Perry visited six states, all with Democratic governors, who of course felt compelled to push back. Perry landed no jobs but oodles of earned media ahead of his ill-fated second presidential bid.
The Core Problem is Interstate Job Fraud
Job blackmail and job piracy are only possible because of what we call "interstate job fraud." That's what happens when a state receives existing jobs and declares them "new" for the purpose of qualifying a company for eight- or even nine-figure subsidy packages. If states were to quit lying about existing jobs being "new," they'd have no bait for piracy, and companies would lose their leverage to extort their hometowns.
This fraud reaches its most absurd dimension in metro areas that straddle state lines. So in Charlotte, Kansas City, Memphis, New York, and other multi-state metro areas, companies can-and often do-move very short distances, changing people's commuting patterns while creating no new jobs, enabling them to get showered with massive tax breaks, grants, and other subsidies. An unknown share of the $70 billion-plus spent annually by states and cities for economic development is devoted to such deals.
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After 9/11, for example, Goldman Sachs relocated some of its Lower Manhattan back office operations across the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey. There, they were treated for incentive purposes as "new jobs" (even if they'd been held all along by New Jersey residents) and the investment bank was awarded a massive share of its employees' state personal income taxes-revenue that would otherwise have gone to Trenton.
Memphis, facing job piracy by adjoining DeSoto County, Mississippi, loses one in seven of its property tax dollars by giving huge retention abatements to companies like FedEx and International Paper.
Business groups are getting fed up, and some are acting. Since early 2011, a group of 17 Kansas City-area business leaders led by the Hall Family of Hallmark Cards, Inc., has been publicly and privately urging Missouri and Kansas to quit this wasteful practice that has now cost taxpayers more than $300 million. In July 2014, they prevailed upon Missouri's Republican-led legislature and Democratic governor to put a legally binding offer on the table to Kansas. If the Sunflower State would legally reciprocate, the offer stated, Missouri would agree to carve out the Kansas City metro area and disqualify interstate job fraud deals.
Tragically, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback missed his chance to make U.S. history: He let the deal expire last summer, and soon renewed his piracy efforts, even direct-mailing a Business Improvement District in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Logically Extending Trump's Nationalist Rhetoric
In his rambling speech at Carrier, Trump appeared to endorse this ruinous economic war among the states, saying:
And they can leave from state to state and they can negotiate good deals with the different states and all of that. But leaving the country is going to be very, very difficult.
Under federalism, Uncle Sam has practiced laissez-faire on interstate competition for jobs, but we've never had a president who endorsed companies whipsawing states against one other.
But then, I doubt Trump will remember what he said.
By contrast, we do know that Trump's tough talk on jobs is deeply soaked in his nationalist rhetoric: denouncing trade agreements, criticizing China, threatening to punish companies with tariffs for offshoring. So why shouldn't he turn that framework inward, to rally Team America? What if Trump said instead:
How crazy is it that we allow companies to get paid for dislocating workers and playing states against each other? Some companies might need to move occasionally, but we're not going to pay them to do that. Not anymore. We need all of us working together, pulling in the same direction to make America competitive again. This is about America in the global economy.
All of our states and all of our governors are in this fight together for good American jobs. We can't let states keep wasting taxpayer dollars stealing jobs from each other, right? We're all on the same team! Our fellow states are not the enemy!
That's why today I have directed HUD Secretary Ben Carson to withhold 10 percent of Community Development Block Grant dollars from any governor or any mayor who will not sign our Make America Cooperate Again pledge. That pledge says: We will not actively recruit companies from other jurisdictions, and we will not fraudulently call existing jobs "new jobs" and award them corporate welfare.
This is the like the way the Transportation Department got the states to raise their legal drinking ages to 21. That cut way down on traffic accidents and saved thousands and thousands of lives.
And you know the beauty of this, folks? It won't cost taxpayers a dime. In fact, it's going to save us billions, and we're going to use those billions right here in America for infrastructure and helping our small businesses and rebuilding our inner cities.
Here Comes GASB Statement No. 77 Corporate Welfare Data!
Amping up this debate over the next 18 months-amid a sea change that Donald Trump cannot stop or slow-there is a little-known but very significant shift in how state and local governments keep their books.
Under Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 77, more than 50,000 state and local government bodies will soon have to report how much revenue they lose to economic development "tax abatements" (GASB's umbrella term for property, sales and income tax breaks granted for economic development).
The data will start trickling in this March, will flow strongly by June, and will reach fire-hose proportions by November and December of 2017. Tens of billions of dollars never revealed before will come to light. Even school districts that lose revenue passively when cities and counties grant giveaways will have to report their share of the losses.
Of
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The national advocacy group Color of Change is asking Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to suspend State Attorney Angela Corey to halt the second prosecution of Marissa Alexander, the battered mother facing decades in prison for firing a “warning shot” at her abuser.
Alexander was arrested in August 2010 for firing one shot inside her Jacksonville, Fla., home after then-husband Rico Gray allegedly attacked her. Nobody was injured, but after refusing a plea deal for three years in prison Alexander was convicted in May 2012 of aggravated assault and given a 20-year mandatory sentence.
The conviction was overturned Sept. 26 by an appeals court, and Alexander was released on bail Nov. 27 after 21 months behind bars. Corey refiled charges and a second trial is scheduled to begin July 28. If she’s reconvicted, Alexander will receive a 60-year minimum sentence.
"The way that Angela Corey has conducted her job …. shows her to be a throwback to those Jim Crow era prosecutors and legal authorities – where there were instances of black people needing justice and they could not count on their local government official,” Color of Change Executive Director Rashad Robinson tells U.S. News. “I think Angela Corey is a bit unhinged and she’s playing for political points, and she believes she can make this black woman a target and win political points.”
So far, Robinson says, about 50,000 people have signed his organization's appeal to Scott. After 100,000 signatures are collected, the group plans to deliver print and electronic copies to the governor.
“These petitions are not just pieces of paper, these are the voices and stories of people who want to be involved in this effort,” Robinson says.
Florida’s constitution gives Scott the power to “suspend from office any state officer not subject to impeachment … for malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.” The state senate is tasked with evaluating suspensions and has the power to either remove the official from office or rescind the suspension.
National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill tells U.S. News she strongly supports the campaign to get Corey suspended.
"Any way to get her out of office and for her to stay out of office is the goal," O'Neill says. "She is either incompetent or just not doing her job correctly."
O'Neill says "the worst kind of stereotypes are being applied in the course of exercising prosecutorial discretion [by Corey] … that black women with guns are dangerous, that they need to be controlled … that stereotype of the black woman who can give birth then hours later jump up and be back in the fields."
She adds: "there's this whole stereotype that black women can bear any kind of abuse and keep working and being docile and submissive and accept any kind of abuse that's heaped on them. Well Marissa Alexander breaks that stereotype and Angela Corey comes down on her with both feet – to me that's playing into the grossest and basest kinds of stereotypes that our country has every created."
Alexander’s supporters point to Gray’s domestic battery arrests in 2006 and 2009 – and Alexander’s acquisition of a restraining order in 2009 – as proof her actions were justified. They also point to a deposition before Alexander’s first trial, in which Gray admitted: "I got five baby mammas, and I [hit] every last one of them, except for one.”
Corey – elected in 2012 to a second four-year term – argues Alexander fired the shot out of anger, not fear, and says two children in the home could have been injured.
Corey spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard denies that the prosecutor is prejudiced.
"Ms. Corey's 32 year record of seeking justice for all victims, regardless of gender or race, speaks for itself," Barnard tells U.S. News. "As for the Marissa Alexander case, the State Attorney's Office is vigorously seeking justice for its two child victims and their father."
Responding to the campaign, John Tupps, Scott’s deputy press secretary, tells U.S. News "Angela Corey, as well as all state attorneys in Florida, are answerable to the voters in their districts."
Bruce Zimet, Alexander’s attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the Alexander case, Color of Change activists are upset with Corey’s high-profile failures to convict George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn of murder for killing black teenagers Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, respectively. Robinson says race should have been front-and-center during the trials. In an emailed appeal for signatures Monday, Color of Change also said, “Over the past 5
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Submitted on Fri, 08/25/2017 - 7:35pm
By Milwaukee IWW - It's Going Down, August 21, 2017
On Saturday August 12th, white nationalists converged on the city of Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee and the renaming of Lee Park to Emancipation Park. The fascists were outnumbered by antifascists and were driven from the park, but not without great cost, as we all know. On that day a fascist drove his car at high speed into the antifascist demonstration, injuring over 20 people and killing one, a 32 year old paralegal named Heather Heyer.
In Milwaukee we had been communicating with people in Charlottesville since Friday night. A friend said he worried someone from our side would be killed. To our horror this came to be true. The event gripped the country, and people were called to the streets to condemn the rising tide of fascism and racism, and in remembrance of the brave antifascist Heather Heyer.
As news of Heather’s death spread on Saturday afternoon, we called for an emergency meeting that night in a park in the Riverwest neighborhood. Around 30 people came together to discuss how to respond to the attack in Charlottesville and move forward. The assembly agreed to call for a vigil the next day at 7:00 PM in the same park, rather than downtown.
Mass demonstrations against Trump and other targets are typically held in Milwaukee’s downtown area in the evenings. We decided that since few people live downtown, and that the downtown area is not a working class neighborhood, we should instead hold the vigil where we stood, in the heart of Riverwest. There was some consideration of stepping outside of the comfort zone of a friendly neighborhood, but ultimately the group determined that for this demonstration, we should organize where we have a base. It was this decision which helped ensure a large turnout of working class people.
We went about doing the work to make the vigil happen. We gathered literature for tabling, collected our megaphones, banners, and flags. Artists provided sign making materials for people to make their own signs as the vigil was getting underway. We edited our General Defense Committee outreach flier to announce a follow up meeting, and quickly found space to host it. Organizers put together a speakers list and made sure to raise the voices of our comrades of color and women members. Members even put together a screen printing table in the park with a “Good Night Far Right” image. Allied organizations turned out their members and provided support. We made sure to have marshals wearing identifiable vests who knew how to handle themselves in the street. The marshals were tasked with managing traffic and ensuring the march proceeded slowly so everyone could stay together as a group. An experienced member crafted a media advisory and called all the major media outlets in town.
On Sunday night as 7:00 neared, people poured into the small park. Speakers opened with a moment of silence for Heather Heyer and emphasized the importance of the broader struggle. We spoke of the need to support the fights against deportations, the police, racism, and white supremacy, and the importance of organizing the working class. The crowd had swelled to around 400 people by the time the last speaker finished.
After the speeches, people then flooded into the streets to march through the neighborhood. Chants of “No Nazis, No KKK, No Fascist USA” reverberated off the polish flats and duplexes of Riverwest. We headed down a side street and people came out of their houses to join in and cheer us on. Families waved and cheered from their porches, joining us in the chants even if they didn’t join the march. A sea of people waved red and black flags, IWW flags, and antifascist flags. The march was led by two black IWW banners, one reading “Direct Action Gets the Goods” and another for the General Defense Committee that reads “Defend the Union, the Community, the Working Class.”
The march rounded the corner onto a major through street and paused in front of a popular local coffee shop to allow the march to tighten up, but it still filled an entire city block. The strength and power of our community was undeniable. The police looked on from a distance, a police liaison approached. They simply gave thumbs up and didn’t even attempt to control the demonstration. We turned another corner and marched back up another side street chanting “Say it Loud, Say it Clear, Refugees are Welcome Here.” As we rounded the final block and poured back into the park our numbers had grown to over 500 people.
After the demonstration we stuck around to clean up the park and retired to our favorite bar to hang out, decompress, debrief and plan next steps. We also set about planning our next General Defense Committee meeting which was looking like it was going
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Have you ever had the urge to get away by yourself? Just luxuriate in your own company? I recently spent a weekend alone, which was…okay…incredible. And afterwards, I realized it helped in 8 vital ways…
First, I didn’t have to go far. I travelled thirty minutes to a beautiful seaside inn on Long Island Sound. I had a lovely view of the water and because I went on Thursday and Friday nights, rates were cheaper.
I could’ve saved money and picked a boring business hotel, but that’s not what this was about. I wanted somewhere beautiful, restorative, and inspirational. I wanted to treat myself. If I was going to do this, I wanted to do it right.
It felt adult. Checking in. Having luggage brought to my room. Tipping the bellman. After 35 years, these are things usually done by my more worldly, well-travelled husband. I’m not used to navigating the world alone.
Yet later, as I sat on that big, comfortable bed I realized I like it. I wondered why I hadn’t done it more often, especially when the kids were younger and I could’ve used this break.
It’s the right time of life. Middle-aged females are in that sweet spot – kids older, more freedom, and with luck, we still have our health. There’s something “anything goes” about this time. If we don’t start pushing the envelope and exploring who we are now…when will we? Life at this time is like fine, aged wine. Pull out a bottle and drink up!
I can’t think of anything sadder than getting to the nursing home and thinking, “If only.” If only we had taken a chance. If only we had explored who we were on our own, not only in the roles of wife and mother. If only we had allowed ourselves adventures.
Solitude is important. Anna Morrow Lindberg, wife of aviator Charles Lindberg, occasionally had solo weekends and sometimes weeks by herself. She called this time “sinking into oneself” and believed it was vital for women. She wrote the bestseller, “A Gift from the Sea” about time alone.
Mother of six (including the famous kidnapped Lindbergh baby), she felt solitude essential in finding our true essence. This in turn breeds confidence. We realize we’re capable of much more than we knew.
You learn about yourself. I always knew I was an introvert with no problem spending tons of time alone. I love reading and writing. But I also learned I need people and was grateful I booked dinner both nights with friends.
I thought I’d sleep late but rose at 7:00 a.m. each morning with coffee in my room. Everything was quiet and still. I wrote in my journal, read, took long walks, and sometimes wondered what was going on back home. A few times I sighed with contentment. I liked it so much, I felt guilty.
It feels indulgent, but it’s not. Sometimes it’s necessary to step out of our lives. And it’s different than staying home alone for the weekend. In the house there’s always laundry, cooking, and cleaning. The dog has to be walked and the cat fed. At home, even by yourself a few days, you’re still in charge. And that’s a different feeling than being untethered somewhere else.
To get the full effect of solitude, you have to go somewhere without distractions. Then you’re able to concentrate on what you love. You’re free to listen to your inner voice.
Going away makes me appreciate what I have. After two days I came back refreshed to my beloved home. My husband and two sons did a surprisingly good job keeping the home fires burning. “How was your time away?” Randy asked, as I started to unpack. I gave him a kiss. “It was just what I needed. Thank you.”
I realized then how he’s always supported my growth in life. I’m grateful and lucky.
It whets my appetite for more. Now I’m working my way up to somewhere further, maybe even a solo stay in Manhattan. Beyond that…. who knows? This weekend was simple, but it’s the first chapter of what I hope will be many.
My husband’s burnt out on travel. One hundred business flights a year will do that. So that leaves me, at least for now, to my own devices. What’s next? California? Paris? India?
Sigh. The world beckons.
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If one were to ask Hillary Clinton why she spent so much of her campaign sequestered in fundraisers with the ultra-rich, she would no doubt point to cold-blooded electoral necessities. Campaigns are expensive, and you must hunt where the ducks are. In an age of extreme wealth inequality, that means the plutocrats.
And it is true, campaigns — presidential ones especially — cost money. But there is a strong case that taking money from the ultra-rich in particular is an electoral handicap for Democrats. For even the most hardened, cynical Democratic operative, it's time to think about ditching the donor class.
The most obvious piece of evidence is Clinton's campaign itself, which outspent President Trump's by something like 2-1 and still failed. You could argue that was a fluke: Perhaps Clinton would have won if not for then-FBI Director James Comey effectively trying his best to get Trump elected, the political press' hate grudge against the Clintons, Russian meddling, and other odd factors.
But regardless of where one lands on that argument, there are more fundamental reasons to be suspicious of big donor cash. The first is that it comes with big, and potentially very unpopular, strings attached. Michael Bloomberg, for example, is reportedly planning on spending some $80 million on Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterms — but only on people who share his weaselly centrist politics (like, er, Republican Peter King). What that means policy-wise is unclear, but at an informed guess, it means big cuts in social programs so as to reduce the deficit, and maybe some kind of intensely irritating nanny state thing.
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all extremely popular. Virtually no one supports cutting those programs. Adopting milquetoast centrism for money means abandoning potentially election-winning stances, like the increasingly popular Medicare for all, and possibly even espousing severely unpopular ones.
Or take Haim Saban, a Democratic megadonor. He has one issue, and that is the ferocious defense of Israel no matter how many children's legs have been blown off. He directs his donations with the frank purpose of purchasing Democratic allegiance for this view. Now, Israel policy may not be all that directly relevant politically, as foreign policy generally doesn't move that many votes (though Democratic voters are increasingly suspicious of Israel). But it does concretely help the Republican Party, because the extreme right-wing government of Israel has tried to help the GOP in the last two presidential elections. If Democrats could get clear of Saban and similar donors, they might be more amenable to the idea that the Israeli government shouldn't be getting so many gigantic sacks of U.S. foreign aid cash if they're going to meddle in American elections.
But in general, one should be suspicious of the political salience of anything the top 0.1 percent thinks or wants. It's practically guaranteed to be unpopular among the broad population, and probably a policy disaster to boot.
The second is that campaign cash has diminishing returns. A candidate needs a decent initial sum to be competitive, depending on what she's running for (a state legislative campaign only needs maybe $10,000 or so to get off the ground, while a presidential race will obviously need many tens of millions). But beyond that seed money, the additional value of more campaign cash declines fast — particularly when it means bringing in hordes of expensive consultants who just drain the coffers for little benefit.
Third, going for the big donor cash means foreclosing alternative sources of money and significant enthusiasm. Small donors in large numbers can add up to sums that compete with or even exceed the big donor haul, and dedicated volunteers can make up for a lot of expensive ads through individual canvassing. But such people are not going to pony up or volunteer nearly so much for someone raking in corporate cash by the boatload. A reputation for integrity is a valuable political asset to cultivate — but one easy to the perception of taking bribes.
Finally, taking big donor cash is unpopular in itself. Consistently around two-thirds of voters say corporations have too much influence in society, while 84 percent say there is too much money in politics. Conversely, one of Bernie Sanders' most popular stances was his refusal to take money from corporations or the ultra-rich.
All these factors came together in the shocking upset victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary in New York's 14th district. She was outspent 10-1 (her opponent was one of the biggest corporate stooges in politics), but still raised a goodly sum through small donors. Her policy literature was bold, clear stuff like Medicare for all and tuition-free college — stuff to enrage the Michael Bloombergs of the world. She released some excellent posters and ads — made at a steep discount by lefty artistic types enthused by her campaign message.
That was a deep-blue district, to be
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OpenSesame is a device that can wirelessly open virtually any fixed-code garage door in seconds, exploiting a new attack I've discovered on wireless fixed-pin devices. Using a child's toy from Mattel.
Update to attack rolling codes: I've demonstrated a new tool, RollJam, which additionally attacks rolling codes of garages and vehicles, presented here at DEFCON 23.
Follow me on Twitter or join my mailing list to hear about future projects and research.
By @SamyKamkar
Live demonstration and full details available in the video:
Released June 4, 2015
Source code: https://github.com/samyk/opensesame
Vulnerable Vendors: The following vendors appear to directly sell (obviously) insecure products as of June 4, 2015:
Nortek / Linear / Multi-Code, example product
NSCD/North Shore Commercial Door, example product
Previously Vulnerable Vendors: The following vendors have old models that are vulnerable, but current models appear secure from these attacks (or are no longer offered):
Chamberlain
Liftmaster
Stanley
Delta-3
Moore-O-Matic
Prevention: If you are using a gate or garage which uses "fixed codes", to prevent this type of attack, ensure you upgrade to a system which clearly states that it's using rolling codes, hopping codes, Security+ or Intellicode. These are not foolproof from attack, but do prevent the OpenSesame attack along with traditional brute forcing attacks. Suggested vendors: current products from LiftMaster and Genie.
Criminals: The code I've released is bricked to prevent you from abusing it. It almost works, but just not quite, and is released to educate. If you are an expert in RF and microcontrollers, you could fix it, but then you wouldn't need my help in the first place, would you.
(U) Capabilities
OpenSesame exploits not only the limited key space of most fixed pin wireless garages and gates, but employs a new attack I've discovered reducing the time it takes to open any garage by over 95%. This means most garages will take only seconds to open.
OpenSesame uses the Radica Girltech IM-ME texting toy from Mattel, as it sports all the equipment we need to pull off the attack -- an effective TI CC1110 sub-GHz RF chip, an LCD display, keyboard, backlight, and more. And it's pink.
This tool builds off of the shoulders of giants, including the original opensesame by Michael Ossmann, IM-ME code & goodfet.cc by Travis Goodspeed, IM-ME LCD reverse engineering by Dave, and effective ideas from Mike Ryan. Additional links and resources included at the end.
Note, this will not open garages using rolling codes. Garages with rolling code technology (often called "Intellicode", "Security+", ""hopping codes", etc) are much more secure than fixed-pin garages but are susceptible to other attacks.
(U) Primary Issues
See The OpenSesame Attack section below for the new attack.
The simple, less-interesting vulnerability in fixed code systems is the clear fact that their key space is extremely limited. For example, a 12-bit (12 binary dip switch) garage/remote supports 12 bits of possible combinations. This is essentially a fixed password that opens your garage. Since it's binary and 12 bits long, that's 2**12, which is 4096 possible combinations.
A 2-character password on a website is more than twice as hard to solve than to brute force the 12-bit binary dip switch garage. This is a basic (and sadly long-standing) issue that we exploit, but the exciting attack is in The OpenSesame Attack section.
Now in a common garage and clicker, we're going to be using between an 8-12 bit code, and we see a single click sends the same code 5 times, and we see each "bit" takes 2ms to send, with a 2ms wait period per bit after the entire code is sent. So a single 12-bit combination takes (12 bits * 2ms transmit * 2ms wait * 5 times = 240ms). To brute force the entire 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12-bit key space, that's:
(((2 ** 12)*12) + ((2 ** 11)*11) + ((2 ** 10)*10) + ((2 ** 9)*9) + ((2 ** 8)*8)) = 88576 bits
88576 bits * 4ms * 5 transmits = 1771.52 seconds = 29 minutes
So it takes 29 minutes to open an (8-12)-bit garage (assuming you
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With recreational cannabis legalization happening in states like Nevada–where alcohol is a huge part of the economy–beer and liquor companies seem to be watching with raised eyebrows. This became heavily apparent after measures were taken by the state’s alcohol industry in 2017 to stunt the cannabis industry’s launch and distribution processes. Many have even surmised that nationwide marijuana legalization has not been a priority to the federal government, because of the financial impact it will have on the alcohol, pharmaceutical, tobacco, and private prison industries.
Amazingly, legal marijuana sales in Aspen, Colorado overtook alcohol sales for the first time in 2017. If this is any indication of what the future holds, we may eventually see cannabis become the nation’s drug of choice. (Considering the black market sales that aren’t accounted for, that may already be the case.) But why is America slowly moving towards cannabis as an alternative? Here are a few theories.
1) Weed only requires minimal intake to feel great: The problem with drinking, is that it leads to more drinking. One might set out to just have one or two drinks, but because alcohol lowers your inhibitions, two can become three, three can become seven, and so on. Additionally, the type of high (or low, rather) that hard drinking gives you feels great, but only temporarily. Once you are drunk, the minute that perfect, euphoric feeling wears off, you are constantly trying to replenish it by drinking more, either not realizing or caring that you are slowly destroying yourself in real time.
For many, the average cannabis user doesn’t need to consume a lot to achieve that similar euphoric effect and one isn’t compelled to constantly replenish it like they are with alcohol. The cannabis come down is more like landing with a parachute, while alcohol’s descent can be like crash landing without one.
2) There’s no hangover with cannabis: A night of drinking is a blast while you’re doing it, but not when you have to face the morning after. Ever wake up wondering how you got home? Or worse, opening your eyes in a strange or unfamiliar place? That’s par for the course with alcohol binging. Unless you over-consuming edibles or take a ridiculous amount of dab hits, it’s highly unlikely that you will find your body trying to eject the contents of your stomach after ingesting cannabis like you would if you drank too much. You might feel a little tired the morning after using cannabis, but you surely won’t be fighting a massive hangover headache all day.
3) Weed is more likely to make you happy and relaxed, not violent or belligerent: Ever know someone that alcohol brings out the worst in? At best, they might be stumbling around, trying to keep their balance. At worst, they might become hostile or violent.
However with cannabis, an Indica strain will relax you and bring out your humorous side, while a Sativa will make you feel uplifted, energetic and creative. Research has shown that markets with legal cannabis programs have actually seen a decrease in violent crimes. It’s unlikely that you’ll be blacking out or coming to blows with anyone after you take a hit from that vape pen.
4) Unlike alcohol, weed by itself has no extra calories: Sure, certain strains of cannabis might send you on a beeline towards the refrigerator, but unless you are eating it, the use of cannabis alone won’t add any extra, unnecessary calories to your diet. In fact, a recent study showed that pot smokers have typically slimmer waistlines than non-users. Alcohol, however, well… there’s a reason why they call it a “beer belly.”
5) Studies have shown that cannabis heals, alcohol harms: While research into the benefits of cannabis is still underway, there have been plenty of studies have shown cannabis has been used as an effective treatment for chronic pain, seizures, muscle spasms, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and PTSD. It has even been used a treatment for multiple sclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Alcohol, however, is linked to depression, liver disease, heart disease, diabetes, alcohol poisoning, fetal alcohol syndrome, infertility, hepatitis, cirrhosis, and cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver and colon. Let’s not forget good old fashioned alcoholism.
Here’s your biggest takeaway: Nobody has ever died from using marijuana, yet we’re counting over 80,000 alcohol related deaths in America each year. Yes, marijuana is safer than alcohol.
6) People are actually using cannabis as a treatment for alcoholism, nicotine and other drug addictions: Cannabis use can create a similarly euphoric or relaxing effect of other substances like liquor, cigarettes, and even opioids, without the long list
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Most voters support Donald Trump’s plan for temporarily restricting immigration from countries with a history of terrorism and for testing to screen out newcomers who don’t share America’s values. Most also agree that such a test is likely to reduce the number of terrorists entering the United States.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey find that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a temporary ban on immigration into the United States from "the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism” until the federal government improves its ability to screen out potential terrorists from coming here. Thirty-two percent (32%) oppose such a ban, while 10% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Seventy-three percent (73%) agree with the Republican presidential nominee’s call for a government screening test for those looking to enter the country that determines whether they have hostile attitudes towards the United States and its constitutional freedoms. Only 18% are opposed to this kind of test.
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While Democrats by a 52% to 38% margin oppose the temporary ban on immigrants from countries with a history of terrorism, most voters in Hillary Clinton’s party (57%) agree with the use of a government screening test. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 74% of voters not affiliated with either major party support such a test. But 81% of GOP voters and 59% of unaffiliateds also agree with a temporary ban on those coming from countries with a history of terrorism.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of all voters believe an ideological screening test for immigrants to the United States would decrease the number of potential terrorists entering this country, but that includes only 27% who say it is Very Likely to do so. Thirty-four percent (34%) think the screening test is unlikely to reduce the number of potential terrorists getting into America, although just 10% say it’s Not At All Likely to work.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 17-18, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of voters believe the federal government does not focus enough on the threat of domestic Islamic terrorism. Just 26% now think the country is safer than it was before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the lowest level of confidence ever.
Sizable majorities across nearly all demographic categories support Trump’s proposed screening test to determine whether potential newcomers are hostile to America and its basic freedoms. But voters are more divided over his call for a temporary immigration ban from areas with a history of terrorism.
Most voters of all ages support such a ban, but the older the voter, the more likely he or she is to favor it. Only 44% of blacks support putting a temporary hold on immigration from terrorist countries, compared to 61% of whites and 59% of other minority voters.
Self-described politically liberal voters are much less supportive of both the temporary ban and the screening test than conservatives and moderates are.
Republicans believe more strongly than Democrats and unaffiliated voters do that the screening test is likely to reduce the potential for domestic terrorism.
Among voters who favor the ideological screening test, 76% say it is likely to decrease the number of potential terrorists entering the country. Eighty-one percent (81%) of those opposed to the test say it is unlikely to reduce the domestic terrorist threat.
President Obama and Hillary Clinton still won't say it, but most voters continue to believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism.
In late March, voters were closely divided over Trump’s call for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States until the federal government improves its ability to screen out potential terrorists from coming here.
Following the massacre at an Orlando nightclub in June, most voters think the government won't be able to stop further terrorist attacks on the homeland and say the country’s Islamic community should be doing more to condemn such violence.
A government report earlier this year said over 500,000 visitors to the United States overstayed their legal visas in 2015 and didn’t go home. Most voters think those who overstay their visas are a serious national security threat and that the feds need to take stronger steps to deport them.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily email update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep
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The Baker Mayfield hype train is leaving the station. Could it's final stop be in Cleveland with the No. 1 pick? Even for a 6-foot quarterback, I think so. He put three consecutive years of historic production on film at Oklahoma and has a passion for football front office members will love.
Mayfield being picked first would create mayhem early in the Round 1, with both long-believed top quarterbacks, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, available at pick No. 2 with a real possibility one slides to No. 5.
They're two signal-callers talented enough to garner serious on-the-clock trade talk, so let's examine what it would look like if two teams come to an agreement.
Below is the current draft order, which is just a mere coin-flip away from being 100 percent set.
1. Cleveland Browns
Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma. After weeks of leaning Darnold to Cleveland, the latest speculation centers on Mayfield going to the Browns. I think he'll ace the pre-draft tests ahead of him to bolster his stock, which in this scenario leads to him going No. 1 overall.
2. New York Giants
Sam Darnold, QB, USC. The Giants will receive a copious amount of phone calls here with Darnold and Rosen on the board, and while general manager Dave Gettleman will listen to every offer, he'll take his quarterback of the future, the signal caller no one really has the Giants picking. It's not crazy to believe Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur ultimately see more upside with Darnold.
3. Indianapolis Colts
Bradley Chubb, DE, NC State. The Colts hired an offensive-minded coach but someone who undoubtedly knows the importance of a strong, deep defensive front in Frank Reich. Chubb is the clear-cut top defensive end in this class.
4. Cleveland Browns (from Texans)
Joshua Jackson, CB, Iowa. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will love Jackson's ball-hawking skills, fundamentally sound zone-coverage skills and athletic talent.
5. Arizona Cardinals (via mock trade)
Josh Rosen, QB, UCLA. As Rosen slips through the first few selections, it's likely many teams will be more comfortable moving up for the former UCLA quarterback. After adding Kirk Cousins to a roster with a fair amount of holes, the Broncos like the idea of moving back. The Cardinals are in dire need of a franchise quarterback and make the move to land Rosen.
6. New York Jets
Josh Allen, QB, Wyoming. New Jets offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates was in Denver during the early stages of Jay Cutler's career. It's not hard to draw physical parallels between the two quarterbacks.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Minkah Fitzpatrick, CB, Alabama. Fitzpatrick will give the Buccaneers what they desperately need -- length in their secondary. He can play safety on occasion or lock down off-coverage duties as an outside corner. He's even twitchy enough to stay with bigger slot receivers.
8. Chicago Bears
Calvin Ridley, WR, Alabama. Ridley is a sudden route-runner with good downfield speed. He'll be a movable pass-catching option for Mitchell Trubisky and a matchup nightmare in the slot.
9. San Francisco 49ers
Saquon Barkley, RB, Penn State. At this point, I think the best (and only?) possibility Barkley goes in the top five is if he's picked by Cleveland at No. 4. The next four teams aren't picking a running back. That would leave Barkley to be scooped up by the Jimmy G-led 49ers.
10. Oakland Raiders
Roquan Smith, LB, Georgia. Jon Gruden needs to get himself a field general on the defensive side of the ball. Smith is an old-school middle linebacker with dazzling range and effectiveness in coverage.
11. Miami Dolphins
Quenton Nelson, G, Notre Dame. The free-agent offensive line class is mediocre at best, and the Dolphins can't afford another season of shoddy offensive line play. Nelson is a people-mover at guard and is ready to be an impact player the moment he steps on the field in the NFL.
12. Cincinnati Bengals
Connor Williams, OT, Texas. Based on his 2016 film, Williams would be a top-10 lock. In 2017, he started strong, hurt his knee and had some bumps upon returning. As one of the youngest players in this draft, he has room to grow as a player.
13. Washington Redskins
Denzel Ward, CB, Ohio State. Ward isn't Marshon Lattimore, but he plays with a similar technically sound, pass-breakup style and is a reliable tackler. The Redskins like their starting corners, as they
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should. However, Bashaud Breeland is set to hit free agency, and Josh Norman is 30.
14. Green Bay Packers
James Washington, WR, Oklahoma State. Washington plays with shades of Greg Jennings, a scary deep threat who can also put his cleat in the ground and abruptly create separation on comebacks and in-breaking routes as a chain-mover.
15. Denver Broncos (via mock trade)
Will Hernandez, G, UTEP. To validate the movement and subsequent draft pick to their fans, the Broncos can film one of those videos for their website of all the staffers celebrating when this pick is in, as they smoothly moved down and technically got better value for a player they had been zeroing in on all along. Hernandez reunites with his collegiate head coach, Sean Kugler, who was recently hired as Denver's offensive line coach. This is an ideal pairing. Denver nets a second and the last of three third-round picks the Cardinals have in this draft and send a seventh-rounder -- along with No. 5 overall -- in the trade back.
16. Baltimore Ravens
Orlando Brown, OT, Oklahoma. Brown on the right side of the Ravens offensive line, next to Marshal Yanda, is the making of nightmares for strongside defensive linemen in the NFL.
17. Los Angeles Chargers
Da'Ron Payne, DT, Alabama. Payne two-gaps like he has been playing in a traditional 3-4 for a decade, and unleashed in the College Football Playoff, we saw the explosiveness of a quality interior pass-rusher. Look out, AFC West.
18. Seattle Seahawks
Derwin James, S, Florida State. With the uncertain future of Seattle icon Kam Chancellor, the Seahawks are fortunate to grab a comparably versatile safety in James. Yes, he would fit the "freak" label and will thrive as the "Robber" in the Seahawks cover 1 and cover 3 based defense.
19. Dallas Cowboys
Leighton Vander Esch, LB, Boise State. I think Vander Esch is going to have a ridiculous combine, one that, without the presence of Tremaine Edmunds, would be viewed as one of the best in a long time at the off-ball linebacker position. Rashaan Evans is considered here, but the Cowboys place a high priority on athleticism, and Vander Esch covers a lot of ground really fast at 6-4 and 240-plus pounds.
20. Detroit Lions
Marcus Davenport, DE, UTSA. The Lions recently hired Bo Davis to coach their defensive line. Who's Bo Davis, you ask? Well beyond having a very "defensive line coach" name, he coached that spot at... the University of Texas-San Antonio in 2017. Connecting the dots here. Would fill a huge need too.
21. Buffalo Bills
Courtland Sutton, WR, SMU. While I think Mason Rudolph is the favorite for pick No. 21 if the Bills stay put, let's examine how the first round would look if they decide to pass on him. Sutton is a huge, power forward-type wideout with better athleticism than his size would suggest and dominant ability on jump balls.
22. Buffalo Bills from Chiefs
Maurice Hurst, DT, Michigan. This pick stays the same from last week. Hurst seems like a Bills type of prospect. Super experienced. Super productive. No off-field issues. You get the picture. Oh, and he's the perfect type of interior defensive lineman for Buffalo's one-gap system.
23. Los Angeles Rams
Jaire Alexander, CB, Louisville. Alexander likely would've gone in the top 15 had it not been for an injury-riddled final season at Louisville. He's not a menacing cornerback physically but plays with outstanding quickness and tenacity when the ball is arriving.
24. Carolina Panthers
Michael Gallup, WR, Colorado State. Gallup can provide everything the Panthers need at wideout. Downfield speed? Check. Plus ball skills? Check. Elusiveness after the catch? Check.
25. Tennessee Titans
Rashaan Evans, LB, Alabama. The Titans roster isn't littered with holes, and Evans would bring more toughness to Tennessee's defense in the middle. He's a between-the-tackles thumper with some range to the sidelines.
26. Atlanta Falcons
Vita Vea, DT, Washington. Vea would give Dan Quinn a Brandon Mebane or Red Bryant type of mammoth nose tackle who can two-gap when needed or get upfield in obvious passing situations.
27. New Orleans Saints
Dallas Goedert, TE, South Dakota State. This is the spot where a quarterback could land, but instead of planning for the long-term future, the Saints keep the Super Bowl window open with Goedert
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Election analysts have zeroed in on Donald Trump’s weakness in well-educated suburban districts to explain the outcome of the 2018 midterms, in which Democrats won back more than 30 House seats. But the biggest losses of the night for Republicans, in terms of raw vote share, actually happened in rural districts, long presumed to be GOP territory.
Based on data compiled by the Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman, the top House vote swing from Hillary Clinton’s vote share in 2016 was in West Virginia’s 3rd District, where Democrat and newly christened presidential candidate Richard Ojeda improved on Clinton’s performance by 36.5 percentage points. Among non-incumbents, the second-largest swing was Talley Sergent, another West Virginia candidate, who improved Clinton’s numbers in the 2nd District by 25.3 points. The No. 3 non-incumbent vote swing came from J.D. Scholten, the Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, who came within 3 points of Rep. Steve King, a 23.7-point swing over Clinton’s race against Trump.
Those margins are far bigger than the gap that successful Democratic candidates had to bridge: The biggest House vote swing from a Democratic challenger who actually flipped a district was 15.9 points, by Congressperson-elect Anthony Brindisi in New York’s 22nd District.
Scholten, like anyone who would run in Iowa’s 4th, got a tailwind by mere virtue of the fact that he was opposing King, a white nationalist who squandered his support from business interests and the national GOP in the race’s final days, after a series of racist statements and endorsements. But all but one of King’s eight previous opponents lost by 22 points or more. What did Scholten, a 38-year-old former minor league baseball player, do differently?
“A lot of it was just understanding and knowing the district and being relatable,” Scholten said. His persistence was palpable. Scholten toured all 39 counties in the district multiple times in a Winnebago vehicle nicknamed “Sioux City Sue.” He slept in Walmart parking lots along the way. He drew hundreds of voters to town halls in deep-red areas and wasn’t afraid to talk to anyone. “Some of it is just knowing where to go,” Scholten said. “A lot of these small towns, they don’t have a coffee shop. If you hang out at the gas station, you’ll find people coming in for their coffee and you’ll have good conversations.”
The outreach paid off. In a district tailor-made for a Republican, Scholten came out 18 points ahead of Fred Hubbell, the Democrat at the top of the ticket who lost his race for governor. There are 120,023 registered Democrats in the entire district; Scholten earned 146,698 votes.
Scholten dramatically improved on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 margins, even in areas that are normally rural strongholds. In Clay County, Clinton earned 26.3 percent of the vote; Scholten got 45.6 percent. In Emmet County, Clinton got 28.8 percent; Scholten, 46.8 percent. In Dickinson County, Clinton got 29.8 percent, Scholten, 44.8 percent. And in Woodbury County, which includes Scholten’s hometown of Sioux City, he won with 53.2 percent, easily outpacing Clinton’s 37.5 percent. It was the first time King ever lost the county, according to local election data.
King’s ultimate success largely came down to his performance in two counties in the far northwest corner of the state: Sioux and Lyon counties. In the 19,700 votes cast in those two counties alone, King picked up 9,500 votes more than Scholten. King only won the race by about 10,500 votes.
Lyon County’s turnout increased from the last midterm election, in 2014, by 16 percent; Sioux County’s increased by 8.7 percent. Scholten wondered whether the final surge of attention — triggered by a poll showing a 1-point race and renewed questions about King’s anti-Semitism in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting — was a double-edged sword. Scholten raised well over $1 million in the last week, enough to run two-minute ads and increase name recognition. But it also activated King’s base in the northwest corner. “Republicans showed up there,” Scholten said. “Insiders in Iowa were like, ‘Did that last little bump hurt you?’”
Scholten was one of a handful of
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Dutch symphonic rockers WITHIN TEMPTATION will release their sixth studio album, "Hydra", on January 31, 2014. The album will be available in several luxury formats. The cover artwork was created by by Romano Molenaar ("X-Men", "Batman", "The Unforgiving"), and can be seen below.
The Hydra, a mythological serpent creature from ancient Greece, couldn't be killed. When one of its many heads was cut off, two more grew in its place…
"It's like us – undefinable!" laughs WITHIN TEMPTATION guitarist and songwriter Robert Westerholt. "What's more, 'Hydra' is a perfect title for our new album, because like the monster itself, the record represents the many different sides of our music."
WITHIN TEMPTATION collaborated with several special guests on "Hydra": Tarja Turunen (formerly of NIGHWISH), Dave Pirner of SOUL ASYLUM, metalcore hero Howard Jones, formerly of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and U.S. hip-hop icon Xzibit.
Says Robert: "Xzibit is amazing.
"'And We Run' song is about how you've got to live your life now. He's rapping at full force on this song, it's really heavy." Singer Sharon Den Adel adds: "Xzibit brings a new element to our music that we've never had before! It's a new cross-over and we love it!" As for the mighty Tarja, Sharon recalls: "The way she delivers those high melody lines left us all speechless. We had a great time, and the fans responded beyond our expectations."
One of the album's heaviest tracks, "Dangerous", was recorded with the former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Howard Jones, whose epic vocals are a perfect fit for Sharon's.
"I always loved Howard's voice," she says. "He makes the song even heavier than it already is. That song is one of my favorite songs on the record and one of the fastest we've ever written. It has the most bass drums we've ever used, too, and a very fast riff which we doubled with synths. It's not a typical synthesizer, though — it's distorted like a guitar, and it's very aggressive."
"Hydra" goes from strength to strength with "Whole World Is Watching", featuring SOUL ASYLUM singer Dave Pirner.
"When we wrote 'Whole World Is Watching', Dave was at the very top of our list. He has such a captivating voice: it made the song exactly how it needed to be."
Right now, "Hydra" can be pre-ordered in two luxury formats: the digital premium version and a deluxe box set including extra "Hydra" products.
The digital premium album, complete with digi-booklet, will be available on iTunes and includes 18 audio tracks and a music video. The digital premium album features bonus "Evolution Versions" of four new songs, which contain audio commentary from Robert and Sharon and give you unique access to the development of the songs, their lyrical inspiration and the sound of the initial demos and vocals.
"Hydra" digital premium album track listing:
01. Let Us Burn
02. Dangerous (feat. Howard Jones)
03. And We Run (feat. Xzibit
04. Paradise (What About Us?) (feat. Tarja)
05. Edge Of The World
06. Silver Moonlight
07. Covered By Roses
08. Dog Days
09. Tell Me Why
10. Whole World Is Watching (feat. Dave Pirner)
11. Radioactive (originally performed by IMAGINE DRAGONS)
12. Summertime Sadness (originally performed by Lana del Ray)
13. Let Her Go (originally performed by PASSENGER)
14. Dirty Dancer (originally performed by Enrique Iglesias)
15. And We Run (evolution track)
16. Silver Moonlight (evolution track)
17. Covered By Roses (evolution track)
18. Tell Me Why (evolution track)
19. Paradise (What About Us?) (feat. Tarja) music video (exclusive to iTunes premium version)
Aside from the digital premium version, "Hydra" will also be released in a deluxe box set including exclusive items many of you have been asking for, for a long time:
"Hydra" deluxe box set
* "Hydra" 18-track album including bonus tracks in the form of a media book with a hot foil print cover, featuring a 100-page booklet
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We’ve seen 3D scanning and 3D printing used in the medical field as a way to make life easier on injured patients, like this custom sleep mask designed for a patient suffering from Graves’ disease and this 3D printed wrist brace. 3D printed casts can certainly offer patients a lot of benefits that the traditional plaster cast can’t, such as being water-safe and non-permeable (no one likes the smell of body sweat trapped inside plaster). Colorado-based company ActivArmor has completed the necessary field tests for its 3D printed casts, and though the casts have previously been available across the Colorado Front Range, we learned this week that the company will be going nationwide with the versatile new casts later this year.
ActivArmor casts are custom fit support devices that are unique to each patient’s body. They are “mapped to the contours of the limb or injuries requiring stabilization and support.” Looking through the images available on their website, it appears that ActivArmor casts are only available for finger, hand, wrist, and arm injuries, and not for broken legs. The injured limb is 3D mapped so each client can get an exact fit, unlike options such as progressive layers of molded tape or low temperature thermoplastic. These Class 1 splints are fabricated from 100% high temperature ABS plastic, and use indications note that they are “not intended to provide bone-level strength to the extremity.”
ActivArmor is unique for a number of reasons. First, it is obviously much easier to observe the condition of a patient’s skin, and a cast’s exact fit “allows the tissues to remain in the desired position for optimal rest and healing.” Doctors are able to better immobilize specific areas that would not be possible with prefabricated casts; it also helps doctors reduce the need to maintain and store an inventory of casts.
Through its patent-pending closing mechanism, the ActivArmor device can be designed to be easily removable. As previously mentioned, 3D printed casts like ActivArmor are generally safe for use in water, so patients can bathe, and even swim, without worrying that the device will lose the ability to provide support to their injury.
This is pretty interesting: if someone with a medical or food handling job needs a cast, ActivArmor can also be cold sterilized for safe use in their field! When Pro Circuit Rider Adam Cianciarulo broke his wist this summer, he used an ActivArmor cast to keep on riding.
Cianciarulo said, “My brace has given me the freedom to do things I couldn’t do with a standard cast while giving me the support I need to protect my wrist fracture. I love it and would recommend it to anyone with any problem requiring extra support!”
Some of the other positive features of the ActivArmor devices include:
Comfortable
Available in multiple colors
Hygienic
Ventilated
Lightweight
Temperature resistant
Quick, painless application and removal
Reusable
The ActivArmor website says that the device is covered by insurance. Doctors can prescribe ActivArmor to their patients; the prescription needs to include the diagnosis code and any special design or fit instructions. They can send their patients to one of the company’s partnering clinics, or become a partner themselves. Referring physicians can contact the company to request ActivArmor script pads.
Some of the common injuries that can be treated with ActivArmor include thumb fractures and dislocations, collateral ligament injuries, sprained wrists, and carpal tunnel syndrome. The website notes that “ActivArmor is not suggested for use when there is acute edema or may be present in the future. For athletes, it is not intended for use in activities that incur high force impact or torque on the device.” These devices have not been formally tested for acute injuries, and are only labeled for external use to provide “support, stability, and immobilization for extremities.”
If a doctor prescribes an ActivArmor device, the first step is having a 3D scan of the patient’s injured limb performed. This does not require any contact with skin, and should take less than a minute to get a precise, custom 3D body contour. The mapped image, along with any special design instructions for the device, is uploaded to ActivArmor, and the patient is then put in a temporary splint or bivalve cast while waiting for their device to be fabricated and shipped. The completed custom device is generally received by the provider within 3-4 business days.
3D printed medical devices offer customized care and can optimize healing when correctly created and worn. While some individuals with medical experience have seen success in making their own 3D printed casts, please note that you should always consult your doctor for injury. Discuss in the ActivArmor forum at
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Oliver McManus tells us the story of Jean-Pierre Adams.
Jean-Pierre Adams is an extraordinary man with an extraordinary tale to tell and if you were to whisper his name outside of his home nation of France, people wouldn’t bat an eyelid.
Despite being capped 22 times by the France national team, it is not his exploits on the pitch for which I’m writing about but rather his misfortune off it; aged 69, Adams has been in a coma for over half his life – since 17th March 1982 – and when I’ve been doing my research about him there is always one overwhelming theme to the years that have followed and that, very simply, is one of love.
To profile his playing career firstly before moving onto his current coma; born in Dakar, Senegal (at the time French West Africa), Adams left his native country with his grandmother on a pilgrimage to Montargis, a tiny village in the north-central region of France, where he was enlisted in the Saint-Louise de Montargis school before being adopted by a French couple.
Playing initially as a second striker for the youth teams of US Cepoy, CD Bellegarde and USM Montargis, Jean-Pierre Adams joined semi-professional RC Fontainebleau in 1967 when he was aged just 19; quickly persuaded into dropping back into defence by the coaches, he helped the club win the Championnat de France Amateur (4th division) twice before signing professional terms with Ligue 1 club, Nimes Olympique, in 1970.
Staying with the club for three years, he helped the club to a best-ever 2nd place as they secured UEFA Cup football for the following year with 21 wins, 76 goals and a goal-difference of +39.
Between 1973 and 1977 he played for Nice, again in Ligue 1, during a phase of ambition for the club – having been relegated from the top-division in the 1968-69 season with a measly 21 points, they were out to prove a point and nearly succeeded in bringing Jairzinho to the club.
This ambition was not, however, matched by their on-field ability but Adams somehow managed to enhance his reputation despite being part of a, relatively, struggling squad; being named in France Football’s team of the 1975-76 season with the newspaper going on record as stating “Adams remains without a rival in his role, where his extraordinary athletic qualities can match the best”.
The following season would prove to be his best ever (on paper) with Nice running Saint-Etienne close but eventually finished 2nd in the league with their failure to claim the title put down, in large parts, to an onslaught of injuries across the team – unfortunately, though, Adams was to be slain at this peak as during the season he was one of those to suffer from such issues and his time at the club came was to draw to an unfortunate close.
Internationally, Jean-Pierre Adams was first recognised in 1972 when he was still at Nimes as the, then, 24-year-old came off the bench against an “Africa Select” team when he replaced Marius Tresor in a tournament dubbed the Taca Independencia taking place to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Brazil’s independence from Portugal.
The name Marius Tresor, in France, is synonymous with that of Jean-Pierre Adams and vice versa owing to their “Garde Noire” which, admittedly looking back with my GCSE French goggles the nickname probably has some racial overtones to it, was a fabled partnership in French football throughout the 70’s.
It was such a good partnership for the reason being that they were completely different to each other stylistically – Tresor was a robust, technical player and Adams was a young, sprightly, athletic defender.
Like his spell at Nice, his international career would be put to bed by the injury he suffered in the 1976-77 season with the last of his 22 international appearances coming in 1976 against Denmark.
Still Adams would go on to play for Paris Saint-Germain between 1977 and 1979 before his 9 year spell in Ligue 1 would end as he joined, firstly, Mulhouse and then Chalon before announcing his retirement aged 33, in 1981.
On the 3rd day of a coaching course in Bourguignon in the spring of 1982, Adams suffered a knee injury and headed to a hospital in Lyon the morning after. The first scan showed that the tendon towards the back of the knee had been damaged but an unplanned meeting with a surgeon on his way out of the hospital would prove to be the turning point in his life.
The brief conversation that they had would lead Adams to decide that the best option of treatment would be to have an operation as soon as possible and
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, so, he was booked in for the operation on the 17th March.
After three calls to the hospital his wife was finally told to “come here, now” and being in such an emotional state, she was joined by two official Chalon officials to the hospital where they were told that her husband had gone into a coma.
For 5 days and 5 nights, Bernadette (Mrs Adams’ first name) sat by his bedside desperate for his condition to change with their two young children, both boys, being looked after by their grandparents.
The question that needs to be answered is how did a simple knee operation result in someone slipping into a coma and the answer is both simple and complicated so, here goes;
The simple part is that there was a problem with the administration of his anaesthetic which created an unwanted air bubble, causing something known as a bronchospasm – which covers a whole array of breathing difficulties from very mild asthmas all the way up to what Adam’s has where his brain is starved of oxygen, forcing him into a coma.
Negligence then, you’d assume? Again, yes and no because this is where the complicated (ish) part comes into play, the anesthetist was overworked no-end by the hospital and at the time of Jean-Pierre’s operation, he was also in charge of eight other patients, including a young child requiring a particularly delicate procedure. In situations where medical negligence has occurred, victims may well want to get in touch with lawyers form the likes of the Rieders Travis Law Firm in order to begin taking legal action against those responsible. Having someone with the expertise to handle such a case with care and delicacy is likely to be of value to anyone going through this.
In November he was moved out of the hospital into a smaller one in Chalon, where the couple lived. Despite the obviously precarious nature of this situation there was still a lacklustre approach from the staff with Adams losing 11kg in the space of a month and having to undergo another, unnecessary, operation as a hospital infection has spread to his bones.
In August of 1983 the hospital suggested that he should be moved to an elderly residence but Bernadette rejected this and instead opted to bring him back home where she would look after him.
She would sit with him hour after hour, sleep with him in the same room and turn him over in the middle of the night, every night. She did this not out of necessity, because there were other options, but out of love and devotion to her childhood sweetheart, while he was attached to a continuous oxygen supply, stationary oxygen concentrators are equipped with a large tank and are usually used at home. If the senior in question could potentially spend much time outside of their home, a portable oxygen concentrator is often the better choice, although this was not a choice for Adams.
A custom built house dubbed “Mas du bel athlete dormant” (House of the Beautiful Sleeping Athlete) with the help of some of Adams’ former clubs as Nimes and PSG provided 15,000 French Francs (as the currency was back then), with the French Football Federation (FFF) contributing an initial 25,000Fr followed by 6,000Fr per week in an offer that would, nowadays, equate to over EUR 1,140,000 a year (as the currency is now).
The whole issue of how this come came about was slogged out in the French courts over a lengthy period of time with the relative authorities finally coming to a conclusion towards the end of 1993 with the anaesthetist and trainee operation manager being given suspended jail sentences (1 month apiece) and measly fines surmounting to less than 1,000Fr.
35 years after Jean-Pierre went in for that knee operation, Bernadette is still caring for him with hospitals unable to provide staff to look after him but improvement is being made – Adams can’t speak, walk or talk, but is able to breath by himself, digest his own food and open and close his eyes.
Everyday Bernadette gets him dressed and just sits by his side, talking to him, just passing the time and, in an interview with CNN, she said “I’ll buy things so that he can have a nice room, such as pretty sheets or some scent… no-one ever forgets to give Jean-Pierre presents, whether it’s his birthday, Christmas or Father’s Day”.
12,917 days (as I write this) since Jean-Pierre Adams’ entered into his coma, Bernadette hasn’t lost hope that his situation, nor has she lost love for her husband and that’s what this story is about – yes it’s also about football, it’s about tragedy but it’
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She was sold as a “mini Merkel”, a centrist in the same liberal mould as her predecessor as leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union. But Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has worked hard to court the conservative wing of her party since taking the top job, leading to controversy over comments she made about gender-neutral bathrooms.
Entertaining an audience at a carnival event in Baden-Württemberg last Thursday, Kramp-Karrenbauer – who was voted “Miss Homophobia 2018” by an LGBT group last year – said such bathrooms were “for the men who don’t know if they are still allowed to stand or already have to sit down when they pee”.
The CDU leader, who is favourite to succeed Merkel as Germany’s chancellor, made the comments at the High Favourable Court of Fools, a traditional carnival event in Stockach where a prominent guest is put on trial in front of a jury in jester hats.
Remarking on the fact she was facing an all-male jury, Kramp-Karrenbauer said women had been forced to become more emancipated because modern men were too feeble, especially the “latte macchiato delegation” in the liberal German capital.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, a Catholic from the Saarland region in the south-west, appears to relish comic turns in beer halls in contrast to Merkel, a Protestant from northern Germany, who has made little effort to hide her bewilderment when forced to attend events during carnival season, which southern Germans traditionally celebrate from 11 November until Ash Wednesday.
Asked on Monday about the chancellor’s reaction to the comments, Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, pointed out that the government had recently strengthened the rights of intersex people by allowing the inclusion of a third gender, “diverse”, on birth registers.
Kramp-Karrenbauer’s comments have garnered a more explicit backlash from elsewhere in her party. Alexander Vogt, the chair of the CDU’s gay and lesbian association, told the broadcaster SWR: “Of course we are owed an apology. If it [her comments] happened without thinking, then it’s a sign of how common this kind of thinking is across the country.”
Lars Klingbeil, the general secretary of the Social Democrats, a junior coalition partner in Merkel’s government, said: “Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer shows what kind of arch-conservative views once again prevail in the [Christian Democratic] Union. Such comments – even during carnival – are utterly disrespectful.”
Sven Lehmann, a Green politician, tweeted: “After a period of modernisation through Angela Merkel, I am sorry to see that the leader of CDU … cannot do without cheap gags at the cost of minorities in our society.”
Like her predecessor, Kramp-Karrenbauer has previously voiced moral objections to same-sex marriage. But while Merkel repeatedly said she had “difficulties” with the concept, she also enabled a free vote in the Bundestag that led to the legalisation of same-sex marriages in October 2017.
Kramp-Karrenbauer recently reiterated her belief that the concept of marriage should be tied to the ability to conceive a child, and she refused to modify a 2015 statement in which she linked same-sex marriages to incest and polygamy. Last December she was voted Miss Homophobia 2018 by the LGBT organisation Enough is Enough.
Who is Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the new leader of Germany's CDU? Read more
Such awards and the backlash to her carnival appearance are likely to boost her standing among German conservatives. Since narrowly beating two notionally more conservative candidates for the party leadership last December, Kramp-Karrenbauer has launched a successful charm offensive in regions where the party base had distanced itself from Merkel over her handling of the refugee crisis.
The CDU agriculture minister, Julia Klöckner, tweeted in defence of her party leader: “We make jokes about men, we make jokes about women. Those who don’t make jokes about the third gender just because it’s the third gender discriminate against it.”
In the big debates that have gripped German media in recent weeks – whether over speed limits on the autobahn or stripping former Isis fighters of their citizenship – Kramp-Karrenbauer has adopted hardline conservative positions.
“More and more CDU politicians who last autumn were in favour of [her rivals] Friedrich Merz or Jens Spahn are pivoting to the new leader,” said a report in Frank
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What would you say if your grocery store decided to spy on you and if they didn’t like what you said or did wouldn’t let you buy food? Well it’s an inconvenience but free association. What if it was more than just one grocery store, what if it was all of them acting in conclusion and what if the power companies joined in, and if the transportation companies you needed to get around joined in as well and your bank decided it didn’t want to business with you?
You would think “Ha the author must be deluded that could never happen it’s ridiculous”. Well it is ridiculous and I wish I were actually deluded because it’s already happening here now.
You may have heard of the Carl Benjamin AKA Sargon of Akkad case where he was banned from Patreon allegedly at the behest of their payment processors, and ostensibly for the crime of making fun of NAZIs years ago on another platform. No big deal a talking head has to change things up. Well when he moved to a new platform and many of the Patreon’s larger draws came with him. Well and good you might say, except that Paypal and Stripe decided to cut off Subscribestar in response to this. WUT? The two largest internet payment processors decided to cut off a tiny little company because it gave people a way not to use Patreon? Needless to say there is legal action in the works on this and there is a FTC complaint being prepared already.
Next up you have the case of Laura Loomer, who has been simultaneously banned from Uber,Lyft,Venmo, Twitter, Uber Eats, Paypal, MGM Resorts and GoFundme. When I read that I thought damn this lady must take the cake in the annoying Olympics. As someone who has been personally accused of being able to trigger snowflakes by just walking in a room, all I have to say is “I am not worthy”. Just what did she do to warrant this? Did she call for children to be put in woodchipper? Did she make threats to kill someone in a graphic way? Well apparently neither of those things is enough to get you banned from these services as long as you are threatening the right people. No Ms Loomer blamed Muslims for October 2017 terrorist attack in NYC
Conservative commentator Laura Loomer was banned from using Uber and Lyft after she posted a series of anti-Muslim tweets following the terrorist attack in New York. A spokesman for the ride-hailing service Lyft confirmed Thursday that Loomer’s account had been “deactivated” following her daylong tweetstorm that blamed Islam and Muslims for the deadly attack. A representative for Uber also confirmed that Loomer was banned permanently from using the service. –NBC News
Well I guess being upset about a terrorist attack conducted by people that believe in death to America is worse than wanting to put children into a wood chipper because they smiled the wrong way.
Kidding aside in the case of Patreon and Subscribestar I could actually appreciate the payment processors moving against Subscribestar if they had a valid financial interest. At that point it’s fictional people (corporations) competing with other fictional people and trying to protect the real interests of real people (their shareholders). However that idea is destroyed by the actions taken in concert against Ms. Loomer. She is literally being persecuted by these companies at potential risk to their shareholders because the company has decided they didn’t like what she said even though it had nothing to do with them.
This should be absolutely chilling to anyone in this country. Amazon is rapidly putting brick and mortar retailing in the grave, internet banking and payment systems are vital for nearly everyone to transact business, and if you live in a city access to a ride/taxi service is vital to get around. She is literally being destroyed for having an opinion.
And make no mistake about this. It is nothing at all like the baker forced to bake an offensive cake. He did not make that kind of cake or offer it before. He even offered to provide a cake sans decoration. Uber and Lyft Drive people and deliver things, Paypal processes payments, and Twitter makes people hate each other, sends short messages. These are all things these companies do and they can hardly claim to not to cater to people with unpopular opinions, they just pick and choose particular unpopular opinions.
These companies have decided to force people to act the way they want, and if you don’t they will stop you from buying or selling unless you conform to their whims. A hundred years ago the nation was worried because Standard Oil wanted to heat and light your homes cheaply, could you imagine how things would have been if John D. Rockefeller insisted on spying on you. I am comfortable with companies competing to supply products for my cash, I am not comfortable with them trying to
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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has expanded a stay-at-home order to include the Lehigh Valley, the latest measure to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.
The order applies to Lehigh and Northampton counties, where at least 82 cases of COVID-19 and three deaths were reported as of Wednesday, almost two weeks after the region’s first coronavirus patient was reported.
The governor’s office officially announced the order in a noon news release. It will take effect at 8 p.m. Wednesday and will stay in effect through April 6.
Just got word that Governor Wolf will be issuing a stay at home order for Lehigh County and Northampton County. It will begin at 8 P.M. tonight.
This means the entire 131st District is now under stay at home order. I will keep you posted as I know more. — Rep. Justin Simmons (@RepSimmons) March 25, 2020
Wolf has already given the stay-at-home order to Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Monroe and Montgomery counties. One was already in effect in Philadelphia. Erie County was added on Tuesday.
Decisions about a stay-at-home order are made in conjunction with the governor’s office, Pennsylvania Department of Health and local leadership, according to Health Secretary Rachel Levine. An order is issued when there is evidence of “community spread” – when a patient has no other known or obvious source of exposure to the virus – and when there is sufficient concern about increases in cases.
In the Lehigh Valley’s case, Levine said there was concern about the rise and spread of coronavirus cases and particularly with the number of deaths in Northampton County – three of Pennsylvania’s 11 deaths have been reported here, the most anywhere in the state so far.
Under the Pennsylvania stay-at-home order, residents are asked only to leave their houses for essential travel or other specific activities, such as:
Ensuring the health and safety of family members and pets, like by obtaining medicine, visiting doctors and getting supplies to work from home.
Traveling to care for relatives or pets in another household, for volunteer efforts or to aid the elderly, minors, dependents or other vulnerable people.
Going to work at a life-sustaining business
Getting to and from educational institutions for distance-learning materials, meals or related services.
Traveling home from outside the county, or for non-residents to return home.
Any travel required by law enforcement or court order.
Outdoor activities such as walking, running or hiking are still OK as long as proper social distancing is observed, the order says.
Grocery stores, pharmacies and other “life-sustaining” businesses will remain open. Also exempt from the order are health care providers, food banks, law enforcement, the federal government, religious institutions and news media.
Lehigh County, in a news release, says it is looking for help from the community for residents who lack shelter or basic amenities and seeks donations of hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies. The county said it is setting up portable toilets for those who need them, along with access to shelters so homeless individuals who become sick can stay safely isolated or otherwise protected.
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said the order, which is more stringent than the current status, has one goal and that’s to “bend the curve” in the increasing outbreak. The goal is to limit the current spike and draw out infections over a longer timeline to keep health care workers healthy and intensive care beds empty, he said.
“We’re trying to keep the hospitals from being overrun,” he said.
Right now the number of cases is doubling within a short time, he said. It was “very wise” for the governor and secretary to issue the order through April 6, he added. His simple advice to county residents is to stay home unless it would “adversely affect” your health or that of someone with whom you live.
McClure said he’s guided by facts and science, not anecdotes, but driving around the county he said he sees most people staying off the streets and non-life-sustaining businesses complying with the governor’s recent order to close.
It’s not an incredible jump. People on average transact their lives within nine miles of home, he said.
As financial actions both taken and pending by Congress indicate, “we have to do as much as possible for businesses,” McClure said.
But this is a public health emergency that has caused an economic crisis, he said.
“I think Congress recognizes that. … Let’s get the public health emergency under control,
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/r/bulletjournal demographic survey results
Cassolotl (pronouns: they/them)
I ran this survey mainly because occasionally men come into the apparently-female-dominated /r/bulletjournal subreddit, ask to see some men's journals, and get a bit of hostility.
There's two sets of assumptions here. One, by the men, that all the bullet journal images posted to the subreddit are by women. The other, by the women, that all bullet journals are genderless and therefore men should be satisfied to see bullet journals by mostly women. Both assumptions bothered me, so I wanted to find out if either of these was actually true.
I ran this survey for two days ending 3rd January 2017, with some resistance and a lot of support. There were 301 responses, and I deleted two troll responses, leaving 299 useable.
You can see the full spreadsheet of results here.
You can discuss this post on Reddit here.
Content note: WILD SPECULATION.
Age and gender
Let's start with the basics.
Age
Six people didn't give an age, but here's a graph of the rest. Ages ranged from 14 to 61, and most were in their 20s; the average age was 26.
This seems to be representative of Reddit users:
From Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/517218/reddit-user-distribution-usa-age/
Gender
That's 72% women, 22% men, and 6% nonbinary people. (The person who chose [other] wrote "Pre gender revolution grunge metal," which I did appreciate.)
The reason this is not a pie chart is because users were able to select more than one gender. One nonbinary person also chose female, and one also chose male. Any of their responses have been counted in both categories.
These results are pretty interesting. 6% nonbinary is a lot compared to the general population, which is thought to be around 0.4%. It's also consistent with other surveys I've done on Reddit several years ago. However, the male/female split is very different; /r/bulletjournal is, perhaps unsurprisingly to many, predominantly female. Sometimes science involves confirming what everyone already basically knows.
With 1 in 4 members of /r/bulletjournal being not-women, there's two ways this can go. Either:
a) the assumptions are right and women post proportionately more (and men less),
or
b) the assumptions are wrong and people think that a bunch of posts by men are actually by women.
So I asked a couple more questions to find out which it was.
Frequency of posting photos and videos of one's own journal on /r/bulletjournal
Here's the pie charts:
The blue section is people who've never posted their own bullet journal to the subreddit before. That's over 80% of respondents. The red section is for people who've posted their own journal a bit, and the orange section who've done so a few times.
As you can see, women were more likely than anyone else to have posted their own bullet journals at all. Men had not posted their own journal more than once or twice. Since only a little over 20% of respondents are men and only 12% of them had ever posted their bullet journal to the sub... well, that's not much male representation on the subreddit.
The samples are small - only 85 non-women responded. And most people overall were lurkers anyway. But still, working with what we've got, that's a significant female bias.
"Which of the following best describes your bullet journal style?"
Here I was curious to see whether there was any gender bias in either style or description of style.
Here's an unintelligible yet colourful graph, for those of you with your spectacles to hand. You can at least see that regardless of gender, most people are somewhere in the middle - attention is paid to attractiveness and order, but not many people are going to cry if they have to scrap a page or anything.
Here's a slightly different but equally unintelligible table of data:
Those blue shades show percentages. The darker the blue, the higher the percentage. I arranged the sentences approximately by effort and prettiness, with the least attractive and effortful at the top of the list and the most attractive and effortful at the bottom, more or less.
Here we see that men are more likely to describe their style as "not exactly messy, but I don't put in a lot of effort to make it look good." Do they tend to put in the same amount of effort as everyone else but not want to admit it because girls are
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taught that it's okay to want to put effort into making something pretty and boys are implicitly or explicitly taught that that's girly and makes you gay and if you're a dude you should be sawing it in half with your bare hands instead of decorating it? Or do they actually put in less effort, but end up with a bullet journal that is the same, quality-wise, as a woman's? Sexism. It's an enigma.
We also see that women are more likely to describe it as "I like it to look nice but I don't go overboard."
"Not exactly messy, but I don't put in a lot of effort to make it look good."
"I like it to look nice but I don't go overboard."
Those two statements are so similar in terms of actual meaning, but have subtle differences in wording, and the gender split is very noticeable.
Similarly, women are more likely to say they put in a lot of effort (6% compared to none of 67 men). See the above paragraph involving men sawing up notebooks with their bare hands.
For some reason nonbinary people are really likely to be professional artists or illustrators, to say that it kinda shows, and who are fine with mistakes. Generally they were likely to be less attentive to attractiveness and order, and also more likely to post regularly. Okay, cool.
Everything else was kind of even across genders.
Behold, the Victorian keysmash, style choice of 3% of respondents. http://bbcsherlockftw.tumblr.com/post/15928346173/earlfoolish-kovaniy-you-know-i-wonder-if
Some comparisons and wild speculation
Here's some posting tendency compared to bullet journaling style:
I didn't include the fourth option from the survey in this table, "I regularly post," because literally no one chose that option at all.
Basically, everyone likes their journal to look nice, but the sample for the people who post frequently-ish was only 4 people - about 1% of respondents. The one significant detail I can see is that plenty of people said they hate mistakes, but none of those four frequent-ish posters did. To put this another way, people who hate mistakes are less likely to post regularly. (Maybe. Wild speculation: check.)
For the people who had posted at all, this is tricky. They were more likely than non-posters to say that they put in a lot of effort, but also to say that they don't put in a lot of effort...?
I don't really know what to say about that. *cough* I guess, maybe, can we have more posts from people who just put in an average amount of effort, or...? No, I don't know. Carry on.
The feedback box
This part is where it gets interesting for me. I usually just expect people to tell me about problems with the questions and whatnot, but there's always lots of people who tell me a bunch of stuff I didn't ask for, and that's often pretty cool.
There was one person who basically thought the survey was stupid, but there were plenty of people who were looking forward to seeing the results, or were supportive, or were just plain grateful. Hi, nice people! o/
Here's a selection of the comments I found particularly interesting:
It's bothered me too that people assume without any real evidence that a) there are no men in the community and b) that there are automatically gendered differences.
[I] feel like this idea that minimalism is better just causes further division. People can take what they want from Ryder's original, and expand or take away what they don't need. It's all valid, and no one should feel bad about how they've chosen to do theirs.
Thank you, the assumption that fancy=female is bothersome
My husband thinks his handwriting is uglier than mine, but my bujo is much more minimalist than his is. (By a woman who's part of a partnership that defies stereotypes! Awesome.)
I never post because I don't fit in. I have zero interest in decorating my bujo. I was looking for a sub about quick logging and minimalism (in the context of journaling) when I stumbled upon this sub. I keep an eye on it, but I don't belong at all.
thanks for doing this lol, all the unfair assumptions were starting to become jarring
I feel like my BuJo is too boring to post because everyone seems to be in the "Internet-famous for my bullet journals" category (I think a lot of us know this feel, anon!)
I work with a lot of women in scientific fields (anecdotal evidence, I know) and their handwriting is not
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President Trump blasted California's sanctuary state law for providing safe haven for illegal immigrant drug dealers, gang members, and "some of the most vicious and violent offenders on earth," pledging to redouble his administration's efforts to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
Trump on Wednesday met with more than a dozen conservative California officials and sheriffs who oppose the state's Democrat-led efforts to block local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The president thanked the "courageous mayors and sheriffs and local leaders" from across the state who, he said, "bravely resisted California's deadly and unconstitutional sanctuary state laws."
"The state of California's attempt to nullify federal law has sparked a rebellion by patriotic citizens who want their families protected and their borders secured," he told the group of California officials gathered at the White House for the meeting.
Early on in the meeting, he also suggested to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was sitting nearby, that he "look into obstruction of justice" charges against Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Schaaf in February warned her constituents of an impending federal raid targeting 1,100 illegal immigrants that resulted in the arrests of roughly 200.
"I mean, you talk about obstruction of justice, I would recommend that you look into obstruction of justice for the mayor of Oakland, California, Jeff," Trump said to Sessions who didn't respond.
"She informed them and they all fled—or most of them fled—and that whole operation took a long time to put together," Trump said. "It's a big deal out there, and a lot of people are angry about what happened. There was a lot of hard work and danger involved. And that was a terrible thing."
Along with Sessions, several federal officials were on to hand to participate in the roundtable discussion, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen; the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Thomas Homan; and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.).
Homan has repeatedly slammed Schaaf for putting ICE officers in danger on the day of the raid because the illegal immigrants they were seeking were tipped off to their raids and prepared to either flee or fight their efforts.
He also said three of the people ICE could not locate the day of the raid have since reoffended, with one of them arrested for robbery and multiple weapons violations.
Despite California officials' attempts to thwart federal immigration authorities' efforts, Trump said his administration remains committed to deporting violent criminals, such as MS-13 gang members, by the "thousands."
Since the sanctuary state law, officially known as California Values Act, went into effect early this year, he said the Los Angeles Police Department arrested an illegal immigrant from Mexico on drug possession charges but did not honor the ICE detainer and set him free.
"Just a few weeks later, he was arrested again, this time for murder," Trump said.
At one point, when describing a separate rape and murder of a California woman by an illegal immigrant he said was previously arrested six times, Trump said illegal immigrant gang members who commit heinous crimes aren't "people, they're animals."
Kevin de Leon, the author of the sanctuary state law who is challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) from the left, fired back.
"Our hardworking families aren't ‘animals,' Mr. President," he said in a tweet. "The families you're tearing apart are people, just like you. No matter how hard you try, you can't strip away their humanity."
De Leon accused Trump of hosting the California officials, most of whom are Republicans, because "he's terrified Republicans will lose control of Congress."
"But CA—the largest state in the union and the strongest driver of our nation's economy has shown it has its surest conscience as well," he tweeted. "We will not allow this one electoral aberration (I'm talking abut you @realDonaldTrump) to reverse decades of California's progress. Not at the height of our historic diversity, economic output, and sense of global responsibility."
Local California lawmakers and officials on hand for the meeting said their constituents support their efforts to fight the sanctuary state law because they value the safety of their communities.
"My constituents—and those are Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike—they don't want to see another Kate Steinle—that's what I hear every single week," said Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez.
Sam Abed, the mayor of Escondido, said before the sanctuary law passed, city officials regularly worked with ICE to see 2,700 illegal immigrant criminals deported, which he attributed to lowering crime rates back to 1980s levels.
Residents in heavily immigrant communities in his city report more crime so providing safe harbor to illegal immigrant criminals is hurting the immigrant communities the most, he said.
"This narrative that sanctuary cities will allow more
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Twelve Palestinians from one family killed in Israeli rocket attack in single biggest loss of life since crisis began.
An Israeli air attack has killed 12 members of one family in the Gaza Strip, just hours after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, said his country was ready to “significantly expand” its operation against Palestinian fighters in the territory.
Barack Obama, the US president, said that while Israel had a right to defend itself, it would be “preferable” to avoid an Israeli ground invasion.
Airstrikes have continued in Gaza overnight
Sunday’s 30 deaths in Gaza, including the deaths of seven civilians on Monday, have brought the total number of Palestinians killed to 82 since the Israeli air strikes began targeting the Hamas-ruled territory six days ago.
On their part, fighters in Gaza continued to fire rockets into Israel. Two of them, aimed at the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, were shot down by Israel’s anti-missile system, police said.
“The operation in the Gaza Strip is continuing, and we are preparing to expand it,” Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
“We are extracting a heavy price from Hamas and the terror organisations.”
Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli troops backed by armour massed along the Gaza border, fuelling fears that Israel is poised to expand its aerial bombing campaign into a ground operation.
Gaza fatalities
Ashraf al-Kidra, spokesperson of the health ministry in Gaza, said on Sunday that civilians accounted for half of the Palestinian death toll. More than 750 other Palestinians have been wounded.
In the single deadliest attack of the Israeli operation so far, 12 civilians were killed in Sunday’s air attack on a four-storey house in northern Gaza City, health officials said.
Two or three missiles fired by F-16 fighter jets reduced the house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood to rubble, witnesses said.
Five women, including one 80-year-old, and four small children were among the dead, Kidra said.
The Israeli military said the target was a top rocket mastermind of the Islamic Jihad group. The claim could not be verified, and Kidra said the two men killed in the attack were also civilians.
Earlier, medical sources in Gaza said at least three children – including an 18-month-old infant – and two women were killed in a air raid east of Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
An air raid before dawn in Gaza City targeted a building housing the offices of local Arab media, wounding several journalists from al-Quds television.
“At least six journalists were wounded, with minor and moderate injuries, when Israeli warplanes hit the Al-Quds TV office in the Showa and Housari building in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City,” Ashraf al-Qudra, health ministry spokesman, told AFP news agency.
He said one journalist lost his leg.
Witnesses reported extensive damage to the building, and said journalists had evacuated after an initial strike, which was followed by at least two more on the site.
A second media centre was targeted later on Sunday morning. Sky News, Al-Arabiya and the official Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV channel have offices in the building.
Russian television station RT said its office was destroyed, adding that none of its staff were injured.
The Israeli military said it had targeted “two Hamas operational communication sites” and had only targeted communication devices located on the roof to “minimise the damage to non-involved persons”.
Huge plumes of smoke were billowing in the sky after a security building in Gaza City was hit.
Two other attacks on houses in the Jabalya refugee camp killed one child and wounded 12 other people, medical officials said.
Hamas remained defiant, however, with Abu Ubaida, its military spokesperson, insisting that despite Israel’s blows the group “is still strong enough to destroy the enemy”.
“This round of confrontation will not be the last against the Zionist enemy and it is only the beginning,” he said on TV.
‘Ground incursion’
Gaza has been under attack since Wednesday, when Israel launched a military offensive with the declared goal of deterring fighters in the Palestinian enclave from launching rockets into its territory.
During this period, more than 500 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel, killing three people and injuring dozens.
Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba, reporting from Gaza City, said some people who live near the northern and eastern borders with Israel had been leaving their homes to seek shelter with relatives elsewhere.
In Gaza City, streets were relatively quiet on Sunday.
“People still do think
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Hong Kong-based Spark has just launched a decentralized exchange, or DEX, aimed at cash-based businesses like money-transfer operators.
For Spark founder Maxine Ryan and other people in the crypto-currency world, DEX is the future, and more projects in Asia have recently launched or on the drawing board.
“Decentralized is the right way to go,” said Ryan. “We’ve been reliant on central exchanges, beholden to their fees and their structures.”
Amanda Liu, general manager at OAX Foundation, a Hong Kong non-profit that raised the US dollar equivalent of $19 million from an initial coin offering last summer to build a DEX, said, “Decentralized is the trend; central exchanges are too vulnerable.”
But for others, DEX represents a distraction from building the infrastructure necessary for attracting liquidity to crypto markets. No DEX has yet generated the kind of trading volumes needed to establish the sector. And it’s only a matter of time before DEX face regulatory scrutiny.
There’s DEX and there’s DEX
Decentralized exchanges are blockchain businesses with no physical jurisdiction that facilitate peer-to-peer trades of a token or crypto-currency. In their purest form, they are a set of smart contracts that match buyers and sellers anonymously. More hybrid versions are meant to act like centralized crypto exchanges but without handling custody.
Amanda Liu, OAX Foundation
Some like Spark’s exist to serve a customer base with a more efficient service, in this case remittance companies and MTOs that want to transmit payments without a bank (see case studies, below). Other DEX cater more directly to crypto traders by linking liquidity available on multiple centralized venues, or to exchanges looking to remove themselves as a target of hackers (by diffusing the custody of assets back to the account holders).
Many centralized exchanges have announced DEX projects, extending their reach into a pure P2P capacity, including ANX International (whose founders also set up OAX Foundation) in Hong Kong, exchanges such as Binance and Huobi that originated in China but have since moved to Malta or other jurisdictions, Thailand’s OmiseGo and Taiwan’s StarBit, and U.S. players like Kraken and Coinbase.
There is also a new breed of standalone DEX projects, such as AirSwap, IDEX, Kyber Network and Waves Platform. Many of these are built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Industry officials say there are already as many as 50 DEXs in operation or going live worldwide, with more to come.
Challenges
Even DEX’s proponents acknowledge these P2P venues have their challenges. “Decentralized exchanges aren’t popular,” said Antoine Cote, co-founder and CEO of Enuma Technologies, the vendor building OAX Foundation’s exchange.
They seek to get end users to trade peer-to-peer without providing other services, and because these are meant to be anonymous, there’s no know-your-customer (KYC) function available – that has to take place somewhere else, on a centralized exchange or with an over-the-counter broker.
DEX is secure: P2P is just a private exchange between two parties, and it can’t be hacked. But building a P2P capacity does nothing to address the needs for custody elsewhere in the chain.
Antoine Cote, Enuma
DEX are meant to provide liquidity by enabling people trading two coins to transact literally anything that’s tokenized, so in theory this should connect liquidity among centralized exchanges. Companies like AirSwap have developed Google-like search capacities for users to find bids or offers.
So far, however, several industry execs tell DigFin that liquidity on existing DEX is poor and the user-interfaces terrible. P2P is likely to play a useful niche, like OTC brokers do in classic finance, but they have yet to show they can aggregate liquidity.
Moreover, P2P has appeal to a narrow set of traders: individuals that are familiar with the industry infrastructure, but mainstream retail investors are probably not going to use these.
And more: because of the lack of custody as well as the lack of any licensing for private networks to operate, institutional investors – the holy grail of crypto infrastructure projects – are unlikely to ever use these.
“It’s hard to onboard fiat money if there’s no licensing,” said John Patrick Mullin, managing director at Trade.io in Hong Kong, which launched a centralized exchange this year. “The ICO boom is over, so the industry needs liquidity – now. To expand crypto [volumes] we
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need regulated exchanges.”
If DEX remain a niche play, they will also struggle to compete for talent against centralized exchanges that enjoy high volumes and high revenues, such as Binance or derivatives platform BitMEX, says a fintech founder working on a custody solution.
It’s also unclear how long DEX can go without entering some kind of regulatory oversight if they don’t have an answer to customer due diligence. The Financial Action Task Force, a global body overseeing anti-money laundering efforts, is looking to apply its principles for banks to crypto, including DEX, and other regulators will follow.
The promise
Against these concerns are hopes that DEX can improve liquidity and security.
Enuma’s Cote says DEX, by allowing users to chop orders as they need, can help investors transact large blocks, as liquidity is problematic for many coins on even large centralized exchanges.
Others such as Spark’s Ryan say the adoption of stable coins – tokens pegged to a fiat currency or a commodity – will facilitate more institutional or corporate money into crypto. Waves Platform, for example, handles dollars and euros.
Others are working on improving the interface to make DEX more retail friendly. Kyber Network, for example, has removed the order book function from the user’s app, and instead customers just see the best bid or offer for a given token from market makers using its DEX.
But security is the most important driver for DEX.
Michael Oved, co-founder at AirSwap, at a conference earlier this year, noted that his former employer, Virtu, a broker, cleared everything through AIG. This gave it access to financial markets – until AIG went bankrupt in the 2008 financial crisis. The lesson: centralized entities of any kind present a systemic risk.
Case study: SparkDEX
Unlike most DEX, Spark’s is not intended to attract crypto speculators. It was launched to support Spark’s business of providing bitcoin-based payments for companies that are being shut out of the banking system. “We allow any business to be bankless,” said founder Maxine Ryan. “We are replacing traditional financial infrastructure.”
Spark was the first money-transfer business to use bitcoin, beginning in 2014, she says. With its DEX, Spark is transitioning from the bitcoin blockchain to its own, so it can evolve into a platform for any customer to use to transfer among any fiat currency pair.
She sees growing demand from money-transfer operators and other cash-based businesses that are being “de-risked”, i.e. fired as customers by banks. These players deposit cash physically at Spark’s vault (in Hong Kong and in three other locations), and in return get Spark tokens denominated in Hong Kong dollars. Until now, Spark would let them transact against other currencies by trading in and out of bitcoin, but this left it exposed to the mercies of other crypto exchanges.
Now with its own exchange, built on a third-party blockchain called BitShares, users can generate tokens to trade or distribute to Spark’s other cash-out centers. These come in two varieties.
One is a user-issued asset, which allows users to create their own coin on BitShares – which could represent any kind of asset, unit of value or ownership. The other is a market-pegged asset, a “stable coin” whose value is linked to an underlying fiat currency’s; the value is meant to be secured by the issuer putting in a large collateral amount of the underlying. (See our article on collateral-backed stable coins and their challenges.)
The medium-term goal for Spark is to have up to 180 currency-backed tokens on its exchange, each liquid enough to support a market for MTOs, remittance companies and other cash-based businesses. First, though, the company is launching its DEX just with bitcoin and ether, because the exchange needs to attract enough liquidity to convince customers to launch their own stable coins there.
Case study: OAX and Enuma
OAX Foundation, a non-profit entity set up by the principals behind ANX International (affiliated with the company OSL), launched a prototype in June and aims to launch a formal offering in 2019. Enuma Technologies is building the platform (on the Ethereum blockchain) and the governance to go with it. It intends to create a secure and stable DEX that depends on some centralized aspects, including for KYC. The foundation’s ICO last summer sold OAX tokens that users will use to transact in and out of other tokens (such as bitcoin) that trade there. “Trading is peer to peer,” said Antoine Cote, Enuma’s CEO, “but client onboarding is centralized.”
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WASHINGTON—A former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians, special counsel Robert Mueller said Monday, while Trump’s former campaign manager and that official’s business partner pleaded not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts.
The guilty plea by former adviser George Papadopoulos marked the first criminal case that cites interactions between Trump campaign associates and Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential campaign. The developments ushered Mueller’s sprawling investigation into a new phase with felony charges and possible prison sentences for key members of the Trump team.
Read more:
‘NO COLLUSION,’ Trump tweets in response to charges against his former aides
Here’s what’s in the indictment of Trump aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates
Former Trump adviser Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russians
Court papers also revealed that Papadopoulos was told about the Russians possessing “dirt” on Democrat Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails” on April 26, 2016, well before it became public that the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails had been hacked.
Papadopoulos has been co-operating with investigators, according to court papers, a potentially ominous sign for others in the Trump orbit who might be implicated by his statements.
The separate charges against Manafort and Rick Gates contend the men acted as unregistered foreign agents for Ukrainian interests. The indictments also include other financial counts involving tens of millions of dollars routed through offshore accounts.
Manafort’s indictment doesn’t reference the Trump campaign or make any allegations about co-ordination between the Kremlin and the president’s aides to influence the outcome of the election in Trump’s favour. The indictment does allege a criminal conspiracy was continuing through February of this year, after Trump had taken office.
The indictment filed in federal court in Washington accuses both Manafort and Gates of funneling payments through foreign companies and bank accounts as part of their political work in Ukraine. The two men surrendered to federal authorities Monday, and were expected in court later in the day to face the charges brought by Mueller’s team.
The indictment lays out 12 counts including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, making false statements and several charges related to failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts. The indictment alleges the men moved money through hidden bank accounts in Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Seychelles.
In total, more than $75 million flowed through the offshore accounts, according to the indictment. Manafort is accused of laundering more than $18 million.
A spokesman for Manafort did not immediately return calls or text messages requesting comment. Manafort and Gates have previously denied any wrongdoing.
During the daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders downplayed Papadopoulos’ role in the campaign, saying it was “extremely limited.”
“He was not paid by the campaign,” Sanders said, adding later: “Any actions that he took would have been on his own.”
She said the White House has had “indications” that Mueller’s investigation would conclude “soon.”
The president quickly tweeted about the allegations against Manafort, saying the alleged crimes were “years ago,” and insisting there was “NO COLLUSION” between his campaign and Russia.
He added, as he has a number of times recently, “Why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????”
The White House held its first briefing since the indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates indictment. Trump's White House Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly downplayed the role of George Papadopoulus who pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.
Manafort and Gates appeared in federal court in Washington and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Papadopoulos’ plea occurred on Oct. 5 and was unsealed Monday. In court papers, he admitted lying to FBI agents about the nature of his interactions with “foreign nationals” who he thought dhad close connections to senior Russian government officials. Those interactions included speaking with Russian intermediaries who were attempting to line up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin and offering “dirt” on Clinton.
The court filings don’t provide details on the emails or whom Papadopoulos may have told about the Russian government effort.
The FBI interviewed Papadopoulos about his Russian connections on Jan. 27, a week after Trump’s inauguration. The interview predates Mueller’s appointment but was part of the FBI probe into Russian election interference that he has taken over
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Sarah Silverman has revealed that she was recently fired from a film after producers unearthed an old photograph in which she sports blackface.
While appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, the comedian explained that the photo, taken from a sketch in her 2007 comedy series The Sarah Silverman Programme, convinced the film to drop her the night before she was due to begin shooting.
10 best black comedy films of all time Show all 10 1 /10 10 best black comedy films of all time 10 best black comedy films of all time Bad Santa (directed by Terry Zwigoff, 2003) The perfect antidote to the usual Christmas slush-fest, Bad Santa has an outrageously profane and debauched Billy Bob Thornton using his seasonal job as a shopping mall Santa Claus to rob the mall’s stores. A needy child latches on to him, thawing the misanthropic alcoholic only slightly, but Zwigoff makes no compromises, and leaves no yuletide convention unscathed. One can only guess at how many unsuspecting families have had their festive celebrations scarred after innocently viewing just a smidgen of this disgusting but hilarious monument to bad taste. 10 best black comedy films of all time Monsieur Verdoux (Charles Chaplin, 1947) Hugely controversial on release, the hostile reception garnered by Monsieur Verdoux helped precipitate Chaplin’s eventual exile to Europe. The years between 1940’s The Great Dictator and Chaplin’s most polarising film hadn’t been kind to Chaplin thanks to scandal in his private life and the increasing perception of his supposed communist sympathies. Chaplin’s subsequent feelings of isolation and alienation informed this pitch black tale of a bluebeard who woos and murders a series of wealthy women so that he can support his own family. Chaplin’s satirical social commentary and his character’s defence that his crimes paled into insignificance in comparison with the horrors of the real world found no favour either at the box office or with critics, and the little tramp’s journey from the world’s most loved entertainer to public enemy number one was complete. 10 best black comedy films of all time The Heartbreak Kid (Elaine May, 1972) Forget the wretched Ben Stiller remake and try and view a (very rare) copy of this superb comedy of embarrassment and while you’re about it, go for a double header of the oft overlooked Miss May’s work with 1971’s A New Leaf. A Jewish boy (Charles Grodin) marries a gauche young woman in haste (Jeannie Berlin) and decides to end the marriage when he falls for and woos alluring blond goddess Cybill Shepherd whilst on honeymoon, to the uncomprehending disbelief of Shepherd’s Wasp father, Eddie Albert. There are superb performances all round, with Oscar nominated Berlin (May’s daughter), a stand out. In other hands the whole premise could have dissolved into bathos, but May and screenwriter Neil Simon produced a film that is wise, funny and true, and in the restaurant scene when Grodin dumps his new bride, well... heartbreaking. 10 best black comedy films of all time Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987) A British movie that inspired a student drinking game and has its’ many hilarious lines quoted verbatim by fans (“Don’t you threaten me with a dead fish!” etc.) must have something going for it, and Withnail and I certainly does. Paul McGann and a marvellously wasted and acerbic Richard E Grant make the most of Robinson’s terrific semi-autobiographical script in this hilarious tale of two base, out of work actors living in squalor who drown themselves in a diet of booze, pills and lighter fluid on a disastrous holiday in the country circa 1969. The whole movie is basically one long bender followed by the mother of all hangovers, (“Look at my tongue, it’s wearing a yellow sock.”) and stands as a perfect farewell to the flip side of the so-called swinging Sixties. 10 best black comedy films of all time Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) A cult favourite dismissed and panned by critics on its’ release, Harold and Maude’s reputation has grown immeasurably over the years. The story revolves around the tender romance between Harold (Bud Cort), a death obsessed 20-year-old and 79-year-old Maude (Ruth Gordon), a holocaust survivor whose joie de vivre stems from that experience. Critics and cinema goers couldn’t get past Harold’s elaborately staged fake suicides and the love story between the pair, (If it had been a 79-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman, would there have been so much resistance?), but
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beneath the gallows humour lies a rather warm and moving film. Paramount Pictures 10 best black comedy films of all time The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955) Mackendrick was soon to depart for America to make the very dark Sweet Smell of Success and The Ladykillers was his final film at Ealing and a fitting swansong. Mackendrick himself viewed the film as an ironic joke about the condition of a decaying post war England and the breakdown of the old order. A gang of thieves rent a room in a sweet old lady’s house (a scene stealing Katie Johnson), and masquerade as musicians while they plan and execute their latest caper. When the indomitable old lady threatens to reveal all to the police, the gang decide they have to kill her. The gang, a marvellous gallery of grotesques played by Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, and Danny Green then have to decide who’s going to do the dirty deed but only end up offing each other in a series of gruesome but highly amusing vignettes. The movie’s plot supposedly arrived fully formed to screenwriter William Rose in a dream, and The Ladykillers remains one of Ealing’s greatest works. 10 best black comedy films of all time Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996) One of their finest achievements, and one of the standout films of the 1990s, Fargo put the Coen brothers in the major league, winning a best screenplay Oscar. Frances McDormand lifted the best actress award for her role as the heavily pregnant Minnesota police chief who hides a razor-sharp mind behind her congenial, homely persona. This quality allows the chief to piece together the convoluted tale of a kidnapping for ransom that goes disastrously wrong. Jarringly violent in places and with an other-worldly ambience, Fargo is shot full of the brothers’ trademark dark humour and lives up to its’ blurb: “a lot can happen in the middle of nowhere”. Chris Large 10 best black comedy films of all time MASH (Robert Altman, 1970) MASH fully deserves its’ exalted status as the landmark antiwar film of its’ time or indeed of any time. Made at the height of the Vietnam War but set during the Korean War, the parallels between the two conflicts couldn’t have been clearer. The audience was left in no doubt about MASH’s intended targets – the horrors and absurdities of war which in real life were being beamed from Vietnam into a weary nation’s living rooms, bungling military bureaucracy, the head nurse who is immune to the suffering around her, Uncle Sam, God, the whole nine yards. The outrageous practices and cruel capers perpetrated by Trapper, Hawkeye, et al on their victims, the jokes and ad libs in the operating theatre while the surgeons are covered in blood and gore, are a coping mechanism, a way of staying sane in an insane world. In other words, we laugh, lest we cry. 10 best black comedy films of all time Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949) Alec Guinness famously played eight roles in this very dark comedy of manners and is of course, brilliant, but he is matched all the way by a marvellously urbane and detached Dennis Price as the serial killer who calmly murders his way to a dukedom. The film takes barbed pot-shots at the aristocracy and the class divide and the talented but troubled Hamer directs with a sureness of touch that does full justice to the billboards declaring the film “a hilarious study in the gentle art of murder”. Price’s exquisite voiceover and the savage twist in the tail are the icing on the cake in a film with no room for sentiment or remorse, the pinnacle of Ealing’s wonderful body of work, and one of the greatest British films ever made. 10 best black comedy films of all time Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) A deranged US general deliberately launches a nuclear bomb on the Soviet Union and the hapless American President (“Dimitri, we have a little problem...”) has to deal with the fallout. Possibly only Kubrick would dare make a film about a nuclear attack on the USSR while the Cuban Missile Crisis was still fresh in many people’s minds, but he created an instant classic in this justly famous and celebrated example of his dark art. Dr Strangelove boasts a wonderful screenplay by Kubrick and Terry Southern that aptly sums up the warped rationale of the so-called nuclear deterrent and has a uniformly brilliant cast, including Peter Sellers playing three roles. It is a film that has to be watched time and time again to marvel at how Kubrick finds humour in an unthinkably horrific situation and if anything, this devastating and timeless cold war satire has improved with age and is just
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Rise in short interest comes even as shorts lose money and have to cope with high borrow costs relative to overall market, says S3
Short sellers, or those betting stocks will fall, have steadily increased their exposure to the cannabis sector this year with short interest in the top 20 most shorted stocks climbing 78% to $1.89 billion, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners.
The increase has come even though short sellers have not had a profitable year with the 20 most shorted stocks garnering $690 million in year-to-date losses, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3’s managing director of predictive analytics.
“The rally we saw in cannabis stocks from late 2017 through 2018 has short sellers jonesing for a price reversal in the sector,” he wrote in a new report published Thursday.
Short sellers take a view on a stock that it will fall in price. They then borrow the shares so they can sell them, hoping they can later scoop them up at a lower price, return them to the original lender and pocket the difference.
The cannabis sector has hit a summer slump following a series of scandals and continued regulatory deadlock. A crop of weaker-than-expected earnings from Canadian licensed producers, the ousting of Bruce Linton from market leader Canopy Growth Corp. and a scandal involving illegal growing at CannTrust Holdings Inc. have weighed on stock prices.
MJ, +3.59% HMMJ, +5.19% The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETFhas fallen 24% in the last three months, while the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETFhas declined 26%.
ACB, +7.69% ACB, +6.68% At the midyear point, the biggest losers were those who had shorted shares of Canada’s Aurora Cannabis, who were facing losses of $274 million, according to S3.
TLRY, +4.06% CTST, +3.67% TRST, +5.92% HEXO, +5.22% On a brighter note, short sellers of Tilray Inc.had profit of $64 million, while short sellers of CannTrust Holdingshad profits of $53 million and short sellers of Hexo Corp.were looking at gains of $21 million.
Source: S3 Partners
CannTrust shares have plunged 58% in the past month after Health Canada seized more than five metric tons of the company’s cannabis after discovering it was growing in unlicensed rooms.
The selloff intensified after the Globe and Mail uncovered email traffic showing top management was aware of the illegal grow and a Danish partner confirmed that some of the product had been exported. The company pushed out Chief Executive Peter Aceto, and President Eric Paul resigned. A special committee continues to investigate the matter, and on Wednesday, hired Greenhill & Co. Canada Ltd. to help the company explore its strategic options, including a possible sale of the company.
SNAP, +1.74% TWTR, +1.69% Hexo was in the news this week in reports that it used Snapchatand Twitterto advertise its products, testing Canada’s strict laws on cannabis advertising, which ban targeting young people and teenagers.
Still, the overall weakness in the cannabis sector in July allowed short sellers to recoup more than half their prior year-to-date losses, according to S3.
“The top 20 shorts were up $735 million in mark-to-market profits in July, reducing year-to-date losses to -$690 million,” said Dusaniwsky. “The big winners in July were Canopy Growth (+$301 million), Aurora Cannabis (+$173 million) and Cronos Group (+$82 million).”
Cannabis stocks are expensive to borrow for the purpose of shorting relative to the overall market, he said. “It is 21 times more expensive to borrow stocks in the cannabis sector than in the overall U.S.\Canadian market,” said Dusaniwsky.
The average cost to borrow a cannabis stock in either the U.S. or Canadian market is a 16.75% fee, well above the average 0.80% fee in the broader market. Cannabis short sellers are paying an average of $2.4 million in daily stock borrow costs, “a meaningful offset to alpha gains,” said the analyst.
APHA, +40.19% APHA, +38.26% The most expensive stock borrows are Tilray, which has a small float and comes with a 41.32% fee; Aphriawith a 41.12% fee, Aurora with a 26.12% fee and Canopy with a 25.87% fee.
Those high financing costs and the extreme price volatility in the sector have not acted
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I've been uneasy about the enthusiasm for Narnia. Then one morning I woke up vividly remembering some things in the third Narnia book. And now I recognize the root of what has been troubling me.
I had read all of C.S. Lewis' books, including his essays, his collections of letters, his science fiction, and the Narnia books. I read most of the books more than once, and I read the Narnia books many times. I also read all the books of Charles Williams because he was a close friend of Lewis' and Lewis spoke so highly of his books. And I read all of George MacDonald's books because Lewis admired him and spoke well of his books."
" The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is the third book in the Narnia series. It directly promotes spells and magic.
Chapter 10 ("The Magician's Book") features a book of spells that is on an island inhabited by invisible creatures called Dufflepuds. Lucy works a spell to make the Dufflepuds visible. She goes through a spell book, and it is beautiful and fascinating. Then she finds the right spell and says the words and follows the instructions. And then the Dufflepuds (and Aslan) become visible. Her spell made Aslan visible, and he is pleased with what she did.
The book of spells is beautiful and fascinating. One spell is illustrated with pictures of bees that look as if they are really flying. In the world of C.S. Lewis’ day, this would not have caused practical problems. However, these days, kids can go to regular bookstores and buy spell books written by modern witches.
Many Christians are treating the Narnia books as being an allegory, with Aslan representing Jesus and the children representing Christians. If you do this with “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” then you portray Jesus as being pleased when Christians do magic and work spells. And you support the idea that that there are “good” spells and “good” magic. That belief is the basis for modern “white” witchcraft. However, the Bible clearly forbids any form of witchcraft:
"There shall not be found among you anyone who... practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD." (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
In the book, the Dufflepuds are ruled by a wizard. He uses magic to rule the Dufflepuds because they aren’t yet mature enough to be ruled directly by Aslan. So there is good magic and a good wizard. This magic prepares people for relationship with Aslan. Again, if Aslan is taken as a symbol for Jesus, then magic prepares people to become Christians. In our modern culture, that would mean that Wicca is a way to get to know Jesus and become His follower.
Back when C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnia stories, Wicca did not exist. Kids who read the books couldn’t experiment with spells. But this is a different world today. Now kids are surrounded by movies and TV shows that promote witchcraft, and they may know kids at their school who dabble in it.
What will happen when Disney comes out with a movie of “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”? Christian kids may wind up feeling free to practice magic. And this could help break down the barrier between Christianity and Wicca. It could “Christianize” witchcraft in the eyes of some Christian kids.
There are some other problems with C.S. Lewis' widespread influence. Blending God's truth with occult tales, he laid an enticing foundation for apostasy.
For starters in understanding the man, here is a quotation from a letter that he wrote describing a trip that he and his wife Joy took to Greece in 1960. He wrote,
“I had some ado to prevent Joy and myself from relapsing into Paganism in Attica! At Daphni it was hard not to pray to Apollo the Healer. But somehow one didn’t feel it would have been very wrong”.
Lewis also said that “Christianity fulfilled paganism” and “paganism prefigured Christianity.” [1]
In his autobiography (Surprised by Joy), Lewis tells how at age 13 he abandoned his Anglican faith due to the influence of a school mistress who was involved with “ Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Spiritualism; the whole Anglo-American Occultist tradition.” And Lewis
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developed a “lust” for the occult that remained with him even after he returned to Anglicanism. He said,
“And that started in me something with which, on and off, I have had plenty of trouble since--the desire for the preternatural, simply as such, the passion for the Occult. Not everyone has this disease; those who have will know what I mean. I once tried to describe it in a novel. It is a spiritual lust; and like the lust of the body it has the fatal power of making everything else in the world seem uninteresting while it lasts.” [2]
Lewis said that he described that lust for the occult in a novel. It occurs in the third book of his science fiction trilogy. A man is in the process of being initiated into an inner ring of scientists who are occultists. They worship demons, which they call “macrobes” (huge, powerful invisible things, as opposed to microbes, which are tiny invisible things).
“Here, here surely at last (so his desire whispered to him) was the true inner circle of all, the circle whose centre was outside the human race--the ultimate secret, the supreme power, the last initiation. The fact that it was almost completely horrible did not in the least diminish its attraction.” [3]
“These creatures [demons]... breathed death on the human race and on all joy. Not despite this but because of this, the terrible gravitation sucked and tugged and fascinated him towards them. Never before had he known the fruitful strength of the movement opposite to Nature which now had him in its grip; the impulse to reverse all reluctances and to draw every circle anti-clockwise.” (“That Hideous Strength,” p. 269.)
Note that Lewis said that he had trouble with that lust for the occult ever since his encounter with the Matron in his boys’ school. He wrote that statement in 1955. By then, he had written all but three of his books. [4]
Lewis dedicated his autobiography (“Surprised by Joy”) to Bede Griffiths, a former student of his who became a long-time friend. Griffiths founded a “Christian ashram” in India. He said that Hindu temples are a “sacrament.” And he said, “No one can say in the proper sense that the Hindu, the Buddhist or the Muslim is an ‘unbeliever.’ I would say rather that we have to recognize him as our brother in Christ.” [5]
What Bede Griffiths did and said is the logical conclusion of a statement that C.S. Lewis made in “Mere Christianity.” He said,
“There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it. For example, a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain other points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth may have been in this position.” [6]
Lewis said that he was strongly influenced by George MacDonald, who was a universalist. MacDonald’s book “Lilith” is based on an occult teaching that Adam was married to a demon named Lilith before he married Eve. By the end of MacDonald’s book, Lilith is redeemed, and Adam says that even the devil will eventually be redeemed.
This universalism shows up in some of Lewis’ fiction books. In “The Great Divorce,” Lewis is in Heaven. He speaks with George MacDonald and asks him about universalism, and MacDonald answers that Lewis cannot understand such things now. In the last of the Narnia books (“The Last Battle”), a pagan makes it to Heaven (“Aslan’s Land”) because of his good works and his good motives, in spite of the fact that he did not believe in Aslan and he worshipped Aslan’s enemy, a false god named Tash.
Lilith shows up in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Mr. Beaver tells the children that the White Witch is descended from Lilith, who is the “first wife” of Adam. This could cause confusion, especially for children. Although Mr. Beaver is a fictional character, he is speaking authoritatively about the real world--the real Adam and Eve of the Bible.
Lewis spoke very highly of Charles Williams and his books, so I read all of his books.
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Long before Stephen Colbert became a household name, the comedian was struggling with crippling anxiety that would only subside when he was on stage.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the 54-year-old Late Show host opened up about his anxiety, recalling how he would walk in circles around his couch after he married his wife, comedian Evelyn McGee-Colbert, in 1993.
'I had a bit of a nervous breakdown after I got married — kind of panic attacks,' he explained.
No laughing matter: The Late Show host Stephen Colbert, 54, has opened up about his struggle with crippling anxiety, which started when he was a child
'My wife would go off to work and she’d come home — because I worked at night — and I’d be walking around the couch.
Looking back: The comedian revealed that he had a 'bit of a nervous breakdown' after he married his wife, comedian Evelyn McGee-Colbert, in 1993. They are pictured in March
'And she's like, "How was your day?" And I’d say, "You’re looking at it." Just tight circles around the couch.'
Colbert took medication for his anxiety when he was a child, but he said he didn't feel like it was an effective treatment for him when he got older.
'I was actually medicated. I mean, in the most common, prosaic way. Xanax was just lovely. Y’know, for a while. And then I realized that the gears were still smoking,' he said.
'I just couldn’t hear them anymore. But I could feel them, I could feel the gearbox heating up and smoke pouring out of me, but I was no longer walking around a couch.'
At the time, Colbert was 29 years old and still performing the Second City show that he had created with his friends Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris.
His friends had moved to New York, and he admitted that he was in a 'weird panic' that he would never create anything new without them.
'I would go to the show, and I would curl up in a ball on the couch backstage and I would wait to hear my cue lines,' he recalled.
Throwback: Colbert revealed he used to take Xanax to treat his anxiety as a child
More than stage fright: When he was 29 years old and performing at Second City in Chicago, Colbert said he used to 'curl up in a ball on the couch backstage' while waiting for his cue
'Then I would uncurl and go onstage and I’d feel fine. Which occurred to me at the time: Like, "Oh, you feel fine when you’re out here." And then as soon as I got offstage, I’d just crumble into a ball again.
'Nobody ever asked me what was wrong!' he added, laughing, 'It went on for months.'
Colbert eventually realized that performing helped curb his anxiety, and he opted to focus on that rather than take medication.
'I stopped the Xanax after, like, nine days. I went, "This isn’t helping." So I just suffered through it,' he said.
'I’d sometimes hold the bottle, to go like, "I could stop this feeling if I wanted, but I’m not going to. Because I know if I stop the feeling, somehow I’m not working through it, like I have got to go through the tunnel with the spiders in it."'
'And then one morning I woke up and my skin wasn’t on fire, and it took me a while to figure out what it was,' he continued.
Family: Colbert and his wife have three children: Madeline, 22, Peter, 19, and John, 16. They are pictured in 2008
'I wake up the next morning, I’m perfectly fine, to the point where my body’s still humming. I’m a bell that’s been rung so hard that I can still feel myself vibrating.
'But the actual sound was gone [because] I was starting rehearsal that day to create a new show.
'And then I went, "Oh, my God, I can never stop performing." Creating something is what helped me from just spinning apart like an unweighted flywheel.
'And I haven’t stopped since. Even when I was a writer I always had to be in front of a camera a little bit. I have to perform.'
According to Colbert, comedy has saved his life in more ways than one.
'I’m so grateful. Comedy was my savior as a child. And still [is],' he said. '
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Do you know that you can now change settings on your ESC in BLHeliSuite, via your flight controller? That’s right, no complicated programming tool, USB linker or Arduino. All you need to do is just connect your flight controller, and you can flash firmware and change settings on your ESC!
Update (Jan 2018): BLHeli is the first generation firmware. It has been replaced by newer firmware such as BLHeli_S (2nd gen), and BLHeli_32 (3rd gen). If you are buying new ESC’s today, get those newer ESC’s instead.
This feature basically turns your FC into a ESC programming tool!
Well, as we speak, it still isn’t working yet on the latest Cleanflight v1.10, but it’s making its way there I believe. It’s already implemented in Betaflight firmware, so if you are running Boris’s Betaflight, then you can try it!
This features is awesome IMO, it really helps someone lazy like me. I no longer need to take my quad apart just to change some settings on ESC. It also means direct soldering of ESC on FC is now possible and no more headache :)
Requirement (dated 26/Oct/2015)
Running Betaflight on your FC
Running BLHeli already on your ESC (Not sure what the oldest version it supports, the oldest I tried was 14.0 )
BLHeli Bootloader installed on ESC ( Important! ). Firmware and bootloader is not the same thing.
). Firmware and bootloader is not the same thing. Latest version of BLHeliSuite (I am using 14.1.0.3).
News and Updates
27 Oct – There are also reports of problem running this features on some F3 boards. However I cannot verify this as I have only tested this on Naze32 and it’s working perfectly.
28 Oct – Pass-through programming won’t work on a Tornado. The 5V buffers on the PWM outputs aren’t bidirectional. You’ll have to connect directly to the ESCs. BorisB said Seriously Pro Racing board (SPR F3) has issues with auto detecting the ESCs. He said you can connect to each ESC one at a time.
Here is a quick Demo how I use it.
How to Flash / Program ESC via Cleanflight in BLHeliSuite
My Setup: Naze32, Blueseries 20A ESC with BLHeli 14.0
Select Cleanflight Interface
First of all, in BLHeliSuite, select your choice of interface, with (Cleanflight) at the end of the option.
Wrong Interface
Don’t worry if you chose the wrong one (whether Atmel or Silabs), you will be warned if you have selected the wrong interface.
Connect and Read settings
Once you have chosen the correct interface, and the COM Port of your flight controller, click Connect, then Read Setup.
Flash Latest BLHeli Firmware
Flashing firmware is the same as the usual way.
ESC not in Sync with Master
You might see this message saying “Setup not in Sync with Master”. That basically means some of your ESCs have different settings.
Settings including PPM Min/Max and PWM Frequency/Damped and so on would trigger this warning. Difference in Motor Rotation setting would not trigger this warning.
You will also notice the number is grey colour when it’s not in sync, with a warning when hover over it.
Changing settings on a particular ESC
To change settings on a particular ESC, you first need to select it.
To select an ESC, you need to click on all the ESC except that one, when you do that, those ESC number would disappear. For example, when ESC number 1 2 and 4 disappear, number 3 will become blue and bold, that means it’s now selected.
It’s possible to configure multiple ESCs at the same time. The Blue bold number indicates the master, all other ESC will copy the master’s settings when Write Setup is pressed.
Checking ESCs are in Sync
Okay once you have programmed all your ESCs, you want to do a finally check. There is a Check button on the bottom right.
And below shows you the All Okay message. And you should see all the ESCs are green and happy. (except ESC 1 is blue, because it’s the master ESC)
Motor Tab in BLHeliSuite
You will also notice a motor tab in BLHeliSuite. I find it really
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Ah, the Concacaf Champions League draw, a magical world where "let's play a game" can be immediately followed by "there was a recent study from FIFA..." A world where Darren Eales and Miguel Herrera would be sitting next to each other, with grins stretching across each face. Looking dapper at the red carpet event, of course. And DaMarcus Beasley pulling balls out of pots to reveal the fate of this year's 16 CCL clubs.
After 51 minutes, for all the star power and interviews, the main event came and went as this year's 2020 Concacaf Champions League bracket was revealed. I almost forgot why we all showed up, just getting lost in more shots of the crowd. What other odd pairings were out there? Let our imaginations run wild, you know, start theorizing about what these big-shots at some of the continent's biggest clubs are talking about.
I can only imagine the euphoria my man and our resident transmitter of #CCLFever Andrew Wiebe was feeling. Oh, wait — it’s 2019. Silly me, we don’t have to wait for anything, ever:
Jacked for LAFC-Leon, Seattle-Olimpia, Montreal-Saprissa. Would love to be in Cuidad Quesada for NYCFC-San Carlos. Atlanta-America possible in the QFs.
Can we just fast forward to February? — Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) December 10, 2019
Here's the bracket:
Where Champions Are Crowned 🏆#SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/kJN4F4Q7r4 — Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 10, 2019
And here are some takeaways:
Someone had to draw Club Leon in the round of 16...
... and unfortunately for LAFC, it was them.
Club Leon, the lone Liga MX side in Pot 2 and thus a team all MLS sides would have been hoping to avoid. Leon finished atop Liga MX in last season's Clausura and fell in the Liguilla Clausura final. The club are losing 20-year-old budding star J.J. Macias, who is returning to Chivas after a loan stint with Leon, while superstar winger Brian Lozano has been linked with LAFC in recent weeks.
Obviously it's not an ideal draw for Leon, either, who out of their five possible MLS opponents drew the regular-season record-breakers led by Carlos Vela, Diego Rossi and Brian Rodriguez. It's easily the round of 16 matchup to watch.
Tough luck for Atlanta United, too
If Atlanta United and Club América each win their round of 16 matches, they face each other. First, of course, Atlanta face Honduran side Motagua and just ask Toronto FC about the perils of looking past a lesser opponent. But, if all goes as expected, the quarterfinals will be América vs. Atlanta.
Hey, maybe this is what Club América manager Herrera and Eales were talking about in the crowd.
America will be hungry for revenge after falling in the Campeones Cup to Atlanta, a hard-fought 3-2 ATLUTD win. Currently led by reported Inter Miami target Roger Martinez as well as Guido Rodriguez and former LA Galaxy attacker Gio dos Santos, America aren't short on star power, not to mention support.
There are few easy quarterfinal matches, to be fair. But Atlanta and América also have LAFC, Leon and Cruz Azul on their side of the bracket. Not ideal. If the eventual CCL winner comes from this side of the bracket, they'll come along an arduous road.
Are the Seattle Sounders poised for a run?
How about some good news? The Sounders landed in ostensibly the weaker side of the bracket. They would avoid the likes of LAFC, América, and Atlanta until the final and the earliest they could see Tigres UANL is the semifinals.
For MLS clubs entering this competition before league play starts, continuity is key to CCL success. The Sounders made a few key changes from their MLS Cup-winning squad, but leading stars Nico Lodeiro, Raul Ruidiaz, Jordan Morris and Stefan Frei remain, ditto for head coach Brian Schmetzer.
Last season, Atlanta came into the competition with a new head coach. They fell in the quarterfinals to Monterrey, after a heavy first leg defeat. Toronto were without Jozy Altidore and had yet to sign Alejandro Pozuelo and were upset by Independiente in the round of 16. Sporting KC returned largely the same core as the season prior, went to Mexico and thrashed Toluca,
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Image Credit: US Department of Agriculture @ Flickr
Aquaculture is the farming of fish and other aquatic life while growing plants in a nutrient solution instead of regular soil is called hydroponics.
Aquaponics combines these two methods of food generation into one.
The Aztec Indians that lived over a thousand years ago are credited with growing plants on rafts floating in lakes, but modern aquaponics is only a few decades old.
Many problems and one solution
Both aquaculture and hydroponics give good yield, but they are not without challenges.
In the case of hydroponics, special nutrient solutions are necessary for running the system successfully. They have to be constantly replenished as the plants use up the nutrients.
The resulting salt residues should be regularly flushed out of the unit.
As for aquaculture, large amounts of nitrogenous waste are generated by the fish and they have to be removed from the tanks as fast as possible. Safe disposal of this nutrient-rich water is a big challenge.
Channeling it to the water bodies has dangerous consequences. As the wastewater is removed, fresh water has to be added to maintain the water level.
Keeping the water aerated is important too.
The solution to the above problems lies in combining the two methods as they can complement each other.
Simply put, when the nutrient-rich wastewater from the aquaculture tanks is fed to the plants, they utilize the nitrogenous waste, effectively cleaning up the water, which can then be recycled.
However, it is not as straightforward as this; there are several steps to the process, many of it involving microorganisms that help breakdown some complex substances.
The Benefits of an Aquaponics System
Many gardening enthusiasts invest in hydroponics only to be discouraged later by the cost of proprietary nutrient formula to be used.
Aquaponics negate the need for special nutrient solutions, so the system can be run without high recurring costs.
It provides high-quality protein and a variety of vegetables with minimal investment and running expenses.
It is hard to believe, but an aquaponics system requires only 10% of the water required for growing the same amount of food by traditional soil-based gardening.
Any home gardener can make and run an aquaponics system to increase his personal food production. It is as viable on small scale as it is for commercial food production.
The recycling of water takes care of the twin issues of waste water disposal and sourcing of fresh water. The absence of soil reduces soil-borne diseases and pests such as nematode worms.
Above all, it ensures healthy food free of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
How Does An Aquaponics System Work?
The simplest aquaponics system would be just growing a bunch of watercress on a piece of foam floating in your aquarium.
But for generating any significant amount of food, you will need an arrangement on a much larger scale. It involves a few pipes and pumps and a lot of biochemical reactions.
In a functional model of aquaponics, the aquaculture section, and the hydroponics sections are interconnected through pipes.
In the aquaculture section, the fish waste and the decaying food particles result in water with high concentration of ammonia and carbon dioxide.
This water is pumped into the hydroponic section where the plants are growing in an inert media like gravel or clay pellets. However, the plants cannot use the nutrients directly unless they are broken down further by microbial action.
Most of the cleaning process is accomplished by a large variety of microbes colonizing the surface of this media.
They break down solid waste and convert toxic substances into harmless byproducts before the clean water trickles back into the fish tank.
The nitrifying bacteria such as Nitrosomonas convert the ammonia into nitrites. Another type of bacteria known as Nitrobacter then converts the nitrites into nitrates that can be utilized by the plants.
This nitrogen cycle is at the heart of aquaponics.
The different options
You can choose from the different aquaponics systems that have been developed over the years. Although all of them essentially work on the same principle, they differ in the actual operation.
Media-based aquaponics system – As the name implies, the plants are cultivated in grow beds filled with a chemically inert media. This is the most popular method, since plants of almost any type or size can be grown in the same bed. Small-scale farmers and home gardeners wishing to grow a variety of vegetables generally prefer this method.
Raft-based deep water culture – In this system, the plants grow on floating rafts directly placed in the fish tank or in channels into which the wastewater is pumped out. Since the rafts may not support heavier plants with uneven structure
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, it is generally used only for small plants like leafy greens and herbs. Commercial monoculture often uses this method.
Nutrient film technique – This another method developed for commercial hydroponics. The fish tank water is channeled in a thin film into gutters in which small plants are grown.
Hybrid aquaponics – It combines the media-based and raft-based systems. The water from the tank is first passed through beds filled with media and then diverted into channels housing raft planting.
The planting beds are irrigated with the water from the aquaculture in two different ways.
Continuous flow system – In this system, a continuous flow from the fish tank to the grow beds is maintained with the help of a small water pump. The filtered water dripping down from the grow bed is directed to the fish tank.
Flood and Drain system – Instead of creating a continuous flow of water, the pump is worked intermittently to flood the grow beds for a fixed amount of time, which is then followed by a dry spell.
However, the media is never allowed to dry out completely because it can affect the microbial population. The on and off circuit is built into the pump for reliable working of the system.
Flood and Drain water circulation with media-based grow beds is considered the most efficient aquaponics system for a novice home gardener.
There are many minor variations to the general methods, so it may take some time to identify the right one for you.
Once you have decided on the type and capacity of the aquaponics system you want to install, your attention should be directed to selecting the right location and growing media and the types of fish and vegetables that you want to grow.
Choosing The Location For Your Aquaponics Setup
The large size of the fish tank containing gallons of water and fish makes it difficult to move the system once it is set up. So the location should be carefully selected.
The plants in the system thrive in good sunlight, so the grow bed should be kept where it can receive at least 5-6 hours of direct sun.
It ensures luxurious plant growth and good yield.
However, light exposure can trigger the growth of green algae in the water and on the sides of the tank, so the fish tank should be located away from sunlight.
If that is not possible, grow floating plants like water lettuce or Eichornia in the water so that they shield the water. You can even have some foam rafts with edible plants floating in the tank.
Avoid keeping the system under trees that drop flowers or leaves. The rotting plant materials can overstrain the system.
Some plants may contain toxic chemicals that can be harmful to the fish.
The Right Media for the Grow Bed
The grow bed media is where most of the bacterial decomposition of waste takes place. It should be non-reactive and ideally have a neutral pH value.
Other main considerations are the weight of the media, availability, and the expense involved.
Particulate size is also important. Small particles get compacted easily and provide fewer air spaces.
If the media is too big in size, the total surface area available to the bacterial colonies is less, reducing the overall efficiency of the system.
Some of the commonly used media are:
Crushed rock – Any locally available crushed rock should do, but some rocks that have high lime content can raise the pH of the system. If testing with alcohol produces a fizzy reaction, it is better avoided.
River gravel – If you can find river gravel of the right particulate size, it is a great but inexpensive option.
Expanded clay pellets – This hydroponics staple has the advantage of being extremely light and porous. But it can be prohibitively expensive when you intend to make large grow beds.
A half and half mix of rock and clay pellets is a good option since it helps reduce the total weight of the grow beds while keeping the expenses down.
How To Start Your Aquaponics System
Before you can have a full-fledged aquaponics system with a well-stocked fish tank, the setup needs to be primed with microbes that drive the nitration cycle.
Without them, the waste products can accumulate to dangerous levels and can even kill the fish.
To cultivate the bacteria that handle ammonia, the same substance is first introduced into the system.
You can choose any of the good ammonia sources, including household ammonia as long as it does not contain additives like scents and colors.
Some of the commonly used ammonia starters are:
Urea fertilizer– It breaks down into ammonia, but use it sparingly to avoid overdose.
Urine – It is a good source, and comes free. It is better to store the urine for a few days before tipping it in. If the donor
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The American Health Care Act debacle was President Donald Trump's initiation into how the sausage is made in Washington and odds are that he is not a fan.
Since the bill was pulled on Friday, Trump and his allies have lashed out at any and every person outside of the White House, including the Freedom Caucus and House Speaker Paul Ryan. They are the ones he blames for the AHCA's failure, as, in his view, his administration performed exactly as it should (it didn't). Were the president to be honest with himself, he would recognize and comprehend that he too is at fault for the failure of this dumpster fire of a bill.
Trump's actions and words reveal a man who does not seem to comprehend the role and function of Congress. This attitude is dangerous, not only for his presidency, but for the country as a whole because it makes it that much harder to pass key legislation and work together to raise the debt limit, as well as avoid a government shutdown - something that could happen next month, as the federal government will run out of money on April 28.When one examines the evidence, it is rather clear that the president believes that Congress is a subservient body. Trump does not recognize that the legislative branch is a separate, but co-equal branch of American government. By design, they march to the beat of their own drum, but are always willing to work with a president on legislation.
Congress itself is watching Trump's attitude toward them and silently taking stock. They understand what his actions, even if unintentional, toward them signal and are waiting to react. Now, in the wake of the AHCA failure, the public is seeing how Trump offers slights to Congress. However, members of the House and Senate have been seeing the president's casual regard toward them play out since he took office just over two months ago.
On February 9, in a White House meeting with aviation executives, Trump proudly declared that his comprehensive tax reform plan was ahead of schedule and would be released in two to three weeks. What should have been cause for celebration among congressional Republicans only produced confusion and befuddlement.
Ordinarily, a president works hand-in-glove with Congress to craft legislation, but this simply had not happened. Cable news made brief mention of the president's comments and noted how anonymous GOP members of Congress- commonly heavily involved in crafting such a plan - were perplexed and wondered why they were not consulted, made aware of the White House's plan or if this were just another off the cuff remark by a president who has a casual relationship with facts. Since then, the plan has not been released, nor has any hint of one been uttered again.
Fifteen days later, on February 24, Trump met with his former rival Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Oval Office. No agenda had been set, as it was meant to be a bury the hatchet-style meeting where the two could sow the seeds for working together in the future. The Washington Post reported that this meeting turned to the issue of Obamacare and how to best repeal and replace it with minimal negative impact on Americans.According to the Post's account of the meeting, the president was keenly interested and even excited by what Kasich was suggesting. He called senior aides into the Oval Office and even had Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on speakerphone. Then, Jared Kushner politely tried to walk Trump back by telling him Speaker Ryan had a plan of his own (what turned out to be the debacle of the AHCA) that he was drafting. "Well, I like this better," Trump shot back.
This might seem like much ado about nothing, but it was yet another signal, be it intentional or not, to Congress about their perceived value. Trump could and should have brought Paul Ryan into the conversation with Gov. Kasich. He did not and it sent an unmistakable message to members of Congress: they and their work are readily cast aside at a moment's notice. Their value to the president is minimal.
At the same time, some members of Congress have acted in a manner that could help cement the idea that they serve the president. Last week, Rep. Devin Nunes informed Trump that his wiretapping accusation might not be as baseless as many have claimed. This is a highly unusual move, as presidents rely on the national security apparatus and not members of Congress to provide such information. Through his actions, Nunes effectively told Trump that he and, by extension, other representatives report to him.
In the wake of the AHCA's failure on Friday, the president did himself no favors by indicting Speaker Ryan and Congress. By blaming them and absolving himself from guilt, he only increased the likelihood that congressional Republicans will be wary to genuinely work with him and, in doing so, made it even easier for the great paralysis that grips Washington (which Trump campaigned against) to be sustained.
While Americans are not necessarily concerned with the aforementioned instances of Trump hurting himself with Congress and, by extension, future legislation
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HOUSTON – It’s no secret, Houston has a traffic problem -- one the Texas Department of Transportation is trying to solve.
Texas Department of Public Transportation is hoping to eliminate congestion through the expansion of I-45 through the middle of the city, calling the project the North Houston Highway Improvement Project. But there are voices of opposition who say the billion dollar project is unnecessary.
Here's what you need to know:
What is the project?
A TxDOT project that will cost billions and is years in the making, would redirect I-45 from the west side of downtown to the east side. So behind Minute Maid Park, drivers would have I-69/U.S. 59 and I-45 side by side, as opposed to having I-45 on the west and I-69/U.S. 59 on the east side.
How long is it expected to take?
TxDOT said the project will be years in the making.
How long has this project been in the works? Does it have the public's approval?
We have been working on this project for over 15 years. These efforts have included significant stakeholder involvement including multiple public meetings, speaking engagements and various communications with the public.
We began with various alternatives for each of the three segments, and through this public engagement, we were able to determine the preferred alignment for each segment.
When does the project go into effect?
TxDOT expects to issue a Record of Decision (ROD) for the NHHIP in early 2020, after completion of the Final Environmental Impact Statement later this year.
Is it the resolution to congestion in the city? How bad is the congestion in the city?
The need for the proposed project is to address significant growth in the Houston area and remedy the “bottleneck” that regularly impacts those driving through the downtown area. In addition, the project will address future traffic growth and bring the system into current design and safety standards.
This project will move traffic more efficiently including during evacuation events such as an evacuation for a hurricane. Another major improvement that the project offers is increasing the number of lanes that are dedicated to high-occupancy and transit vehicles that will aid in relieving congestion.
How much will it cost?
The entire project is anticipated to cost about $7 billion.
What is TxDot saying?
Its plan is to address the infrastructure of the highway system, envision how surface streets reconnect neighborhoods and create catalysts for new development. TxDOT says the plan will allow pedestrian and bicycle access to surrounding neighborhoods.
How does TxDOT factor in air quality in its expansion projects?
We work with the general public and we partner with local, state and federal entities to address air quality concerns. We fund a variety of programs that help improve air quality and support Clean Air Act goals such as traffic management systems through our partnership at Houston Transtar and travel demand programs such as transit, carpool, and bicycles/pedestrian initiatives.
Moreover, we work to incorporate greenery along our roads through our Green Ribbon program. The purpose of the TXDOT Green Ribbon Program is to improve the visual character of highway corridors and minimize the negative impacts of air pollution through the planting of trees and shrubs.
With North Houston Highway Improvement we will continue to look into ways to mitigate air quality issues as we move forward on the project.
The group is claiming in their report that the I-45 expansion project will displace schools, churches and businesses. Is this true and how are they compensated if any?
The proposed project would displace multiple residences including some public and low-income housing units, multiple businesses as well as several places of worship and a couple of schools. In order to assist those who are required to move, TxDOT provides, through our relocation assistance program, payments and services to aid in movement to a new location.
You can get more information on this program here.
What are the opponents saying?
The Texas Public Interest Research Group says the expensive project will worsen the city’s congestion problem and negatively impact climate change and public health from dirty air.
The group claims the I-45 expansion project will displace four houses of worship, two schools and hundreds of homes. Instead, the group says the public money should be spent on repairing roads and expanding mass transit.
Bey Scoggin, director of the Texas Public Interest Research Group Education fund, held a press conference Tuesday morning to speak out against the project.
“When the Katy freeway was built and expanded to one of the nation's largest highways commute times increased by 40 percent,” Scoggin said.
Scoggin said Houston has the second-most expensive commute in the country, the deadliest roads in the nation and ranked ninth for the highest smog days in
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Fans look on as Patrick Corbin of the Washington Nationals delivers a pitch in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on October 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Rob Carr/Getty Images
Major League Baseball and its fans have raised alarms in recent years over a perceived decline in the popularity of baseball in the United States. Falling attendance, poor World Series ratings and a lack of nationally recognized stars are often cited as evidence of the sport’s impending collapse.
However, if viewed through the lens of total tickets sold and local television ratings, a somewhat more optimistic picture emerges: one of strong, local fan bases — and a national following that could have a lot more room to grow.
Annual Ticket Sales by League 75 million Major League Baseball 50 Minor League Baseball National Basketball Assn. 25 National Football League 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 75 million Major League Baseball 50 Minor League Baseball National Basketball Assn. 25 National Football League 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 75 million Major League Baseball 50 Minor League Baseball National Basketball Assn. 25 National Football League 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 75 million Major League Baseball 50 Minor League Baseball National Basketball Assn. 25 National Football League 2017 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 Note: The 1998-99 and 2011-12 N.B.A. seasons were shortened by lockouts, and the 1994 M.L.B. season was shortened by a players’ strike. Sources: ESPN, MiLB.com
It’s well documented that attendance at Major League Baseball games has been declining since 2012. About 68.5 million fans attended major league games during the 2019 regular season, down from a peak of nearly 80 million in 2007.
But M.L.B. cashes in on its sheer volume of games, vastly outperforming the N.F.L. and the N.B.A in ticket sales every year. M.L.B. teams play at least 2,430 regular-season games each season, compared with only 256 regular-season games for the N.F.L. and 1,230 for the N.B.A. Even the 160 M.L.B.-affiliated minor league teams sold nearly 50 million tickets in 2017.
A lot of people are going to a lot of baseball games.
Tom Brady vs. Mike Trout
A major concern for baseball is the meager national profiles of its stars. By nearly any measure, pro football and pro basketball players outpace baseball players in national popularity.
According to YouGov’s ratings of active sports personalities, 91 percent of Americans have heard of LeBron James and 88 percent have heard of Tom Brady, but only 43 percent have heard of Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, baseball’s best player.
You don’t have to look any further than the national reach of each league’s television broadcasts to see why this may be the case.
An analysis by The New York Times of television broadcasts by county shows how widespread the broadcasts of the N.F.L. and N.B.A. stars are — and how minimal they are for baseball’s stars like Trout.
Percentage of games aired by county in the 2018 season 0% 50 100% Tom Brady Mike Trout LeBron James N.F.L. N.B.A. M.L.B. 100% of counties air at least a quarter of Brady’s games. 1% of counties air at least a quarter of Trout’s games. 98% of counties air at least a quarter of James’s games. Percentage of games aired by county in the 2018 season 0% 50 100% Mike Trout Tom Brady LeBron James N.F.L. M.L.B. N.B.A. 100% of counties air at least a quarter of Brady’s games. 1% of counties air at least a quarter of Trout’s games. 98% of counties air at least a quarter of James’s games. Percentage of games aired by county in the 2018 season Tom Brady N.F.L. 0% 50 100% 100% of counties air at least a quarter of Brady’s games. Mike Trout LeBron James M.L.B. N.B.A. 1% of counties air at least a quarter of Trout’s games. 98% of counties air at least a quarter of James’s games. Percentage of games aired by county in the 2018 season Tom Brady N.F.L. 0% 50 100% 100% of counties air at least a quarter of Brady’s games. Mike Trout LeBron James N.B.A. M.L.B. 1% of counties air at least a quarter of Trout’s games. 98% of counties air at least a quarter of James’s games. Percentage of games aired by county in the 2018 season 0% 50 100% Tom Brady Mike Trout LeBron James
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N.F.L. M.L.B. N.B.A. 100% of counties air at least a quarter of Brady’s games. 1% of counties air at least a quarter of Trout’s games. 98% of counties air at least a quarter of James’s games. Sources: ESPN, DirectTV, 506 Sports
Few of Trout’s games are shown outside Southern California. For example, only six of his 162 games in 2018 were aired in Chicago. By contrast, 42 percent of LeBron James’s 82 games and 56 percent of Tom Brady’s 16 games were aired there.
Since even baseball’s best players rarely get airtime in markets outside their own, baseball struggles to promote its national stars on the same level as other sports do.
Over the past several seasons, baseball has tried to broaden the reach of its stars. But there may be no better solution than to find ways to let fans actually watch them play.
Baseball Is Local
Further evidence of the local nature of baseball’s fandom can be seen in Google searches. Teams like the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies have very little following outside their areas and a few neighboring states compared with the N.F.L. teams from the same city. The Rockies, for instance, aren’t as popular across the country, but they get more searches in Colorado than the N.F.L.’s Broncos do.
Google Search popularity for N.F.L. and M.L.B. teams 0 50 100 New York Giants New York Yankees Denver Broncos Colorado Rockies N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Cleveland Browns Cleveland Indians Atlanta Falcons Atlanta Braves M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. N.F.L. Detroit Lions Detroit Tigers Seattle Mariners Seattle Seahawks N.F.L. M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. Minnesota Twins Minnesota Vikings Green Bay Packers Milwaukee Brewers M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. Washington Nationals San Francisco 49ers San Francisco Giants Washington Redskins N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Google Search popularity for N.F.L. and M.L.B. teams 0 50 100 New York Giants New York Yankees Denver Broncos Colorado Rockies N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Cleveland Browns Cleveland Indians Atlanta Falcons Atlanta Braves M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. N.F.L. Seattle Seahawks Seattle Mariners Detroit Lions Detroit Tigers N.F.L. M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Twins Green Bay Packers Milwaukee Brewers N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Washington Nationals San Francisco 49ers San Francisco Giants Washington Redskins N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Google Search popularity for N.F.L. and M.L.B. teams 0 50 100 New York Giants New York Yankees Denver Broncos Colorado Rockies N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Cleveland Browns Cleveland Indians Atlanta Falcons Atlanta Braves N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Seattle Mariners Detroit Tigers Seattle Seahawks Detroit Lions N.F.L. M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Twins Milwaukee Brewers Green Bay Packers N.F.L. M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. San Francisco 49ers San Francisco Giants Washington Nationals Washington Redskins N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Google Search popularity for N.F.L. and M.L.B. teams 0 50 100 New York Giants New York Yankees Denver Broncos Colorado Rockies N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Cleveland Browns Cleveland Indians Atlanta Falcons Atlanta Braves N.F.L. M.L.B. N.F.L. M.L.B. Seattle Seahawks Seattle Mariners Detroit Lions Detroit Tigers N.F.L. M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Twins Milwaukee Brewers Green Bay Packers N.F.L. M.L.B. M.L.B. N.F.L. San
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Kevin Feige has famously said that Marvel Studios already has plans through 2028. With the roster of heroes Marvel still has left, we can believe it. This is Part five of a five part series. Part 1 is the Marvel Retro Realm. Part 2 the Marvel Horror Realm. Part 3 is the Marvel Cosmic Realm. Part 4 is the Marvel Espionage Realm.
We’ve talked before about how pivotal the Inhumans are to the MCU’s future. Thus far, all of Marvel’s heroes have been highly trained warriors or super-intelligent geniuses, and with SPIDER-MAN excepted, all of their future heroes will be in the same vein. Though Marvel Studios has defined itself with world-famous superheroes, the best Marvel Comics have featured much more intimate stories and heroes. There haven’t really been any civilian heroes in the MCU, characters who are trying to make a difference in the world while still living a normal life.
The Inhumans are Marvel’s chance to introduce street-level superpowers to the MCU. Instead of creating superpowers to threaten the world, Marvel can create smaller superheroes with more personal stories. We don’t think all of the heroes on this list must be Inhuman, but if INHUMANS makes superpowers a lot more common, then why not bring these characters along for the ride?
Ms. Marvel celebrates her first birthday this month, and the character has been an absolute sensation for Marvel. Kamala Khan is a Pakistani American teenager just trying to live a normal life in New Jersey. However, she’s a huge superhero fan, in particular idolizing Captain Marvel. When Kamala discovers that she is an Inhuman and possesses shapeshifting superpowers, she decides to adopt one of Danvers’ old superhero names and begin fighting crime as Ms. Marvel. Sales of the comics have been astonishing; the first issue is in its 7th printing, and she’s Marvel’s “#1 digital seller.” Though Kamala Khan is Marvel’s youngest hero, she’s one of their most wildly popular.
Given how much Marvel loves supporting heroes and sidekicks, Ms. Marvel is virtually assured to appear on film, probably sooner than later. We could see her debuting in a CAPTAIN MARVEL sequel before spinning off into her own film series. The plot would probably be mostly original, though we’d love to see The Inventor fly onto film.
Our biggest hope is that MS. MARVEL would feature heroes like Captain Marvel, Black Panther & Hulk, even if only in small roles. Like Spider-Man, half of the joy of Ms. Marvel is watching her infectiously bounce off more stoic Marvel heroes.
Hell, with Spider-Man himself joining the MCU, a SPIDER-MAN/MS. MARVEL team-up film might be the best idea ever.
Cloak and Dagger are two of the oddest heroes in Marvel’s pantheon. At first appearance, they don’t seem like much: two teens with punny names and a pretty obvious dark/light motif. But unlike most other heroes, Cloak and Dagger aren’t above killing their enemies, and their powers make them as deadly as any super villain. Tyrone Johnson, alias Cloak, has the ability to open portals to the Darkforce Dimension, a shadowy realm draining people of their life-force. But he suffers a deficiency in his own life-force, and uses the Darkforce to feed himself to stay alive. Tandy Bown, AKA Dagger, is the opposite; she produces an excess of life-force, which manifests as blinding light she can project as weapons. But if she doesn’t release her own life force, it runs the risk of killing her.
Obviously Tandy “feeds” her excess life-force to Tyrone. Though the two are symbiotic, there’s nuance to their relationship. They’re both teenagers, often homeless and unloved by the world around them. They fall in love, but when they inevitably fall out of love, it’s not like they can just part ways. They need each other, for better or worse. There’s a tragedy to Tandy and Tyrone, knowing that they’ll spend their whole lives together, and when the first dies, the second won’t be far behind.
Years ago, CLOAK AND DAGGER was being developed as a series at ABC Family, set in a post-Katrina New Orleans. In the comics, Cloak & Dagger get their powers from a pharmaceutical experiment. Appropriately, since Cloak and Dagger debuted in the pages of Spider-Man, we would love if the pair got their powers through drugs from Spider-Man’s greatest foe, Norman Osborn. It would be a way of introducing
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Norman Osborn to the MCU without becoming yet another Goblin film. It would also give Osborn a much larger scope in the MCU than Spider-Man alone; he’s a villain big enough to take on almost any hero. Osborn is just the type of corporate pharmaceutical slimeball that Tyrone and Tandy are best at fighting.
Even though generally speaking, Marvel has lighthearted adventures, all of their films and TV series are firmly dramas. More than anything else, we’ve been antsy for Marvel to finally sit down and just make a sitcom.
She-Hulk initially seems like one of the least necessary heroes in the Marvel Universe. The Hulk’s Distaff Counterpart and the last Marvel creation of Stan Lee, She-Hulk started life as Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin who also transforms into a savage rage monster. But early in She-Hulk’s career, John Byrne reworked the character into a sharp-tongued green-skinned lawyer. Byrne’s THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK is a blast, maybe Marvel’s funniest series, skewering superheroes, pop culture, and even the authors themselves. Throughout the decades, She-Hulk has lead some of Marvel’s most joyful and fun series. For cinematic adaptations, Jennifer Walters is absolutely Marvel’s greatest untapped character.
As far as a SHE-HULK TV series? We’d want it to be the most meta, self-aware Single Female Lawyer series ever. She-Hulk puts the Serpent Society behind bars, only to be asked to represent them in court! She-Hulk causes an international incident after beating up a member of the Inhuman Royal Family. She-Hulk is sued by Iron Man… for sexual harassment! She-Hulk is forced to mentor her niece, but ends up learning the most valuable lesson of all. She-Hulk quits being a lawyer and opens a bar! We want every single hoary sitcom cliche dusted off and thrown at Jennifer Walters.
Throughout this series, we’ve talked about a lot of Marvel heroes and teams that we’d like to see in the MCU. Though we love every character listed, there are quite a few we doubt actually show up in the MCU anytime soon. So we’d like to end the series focusing on one team who not only should appear soon, but barely missed appearing back in 2012…
Runaways hold the dubious distinction of being the only film that Marvel Studios has canned. It had a director, a screenwriter, and even began auditioning actors. Marvel even managed to pull off a racially-based casting controversy, like a proper superhero movie. Sadly, Marvel cancelled the film, focusing all its attention on THE AVENGERS. It’s a shame, because RUNAWAYS is the most exciting superhero concept Marvel’s produced in decades: what would you do if you found out your parents were actually supervillains?
A RUNAWAYS film should adapt the first comic arc, straight from page to screen. A group of kids discover that their parents are the leaders of a syndicate called “The Pride,” who rule criminal activities all along the west coast of the United States. The Pride has begun expanding into mystical operations, with potentially devastating results. The Runaways consist of…
Alex Wilder, the son of mafia bosses and a genius at strategic planning;
, the son of mafia bosses and a genius at strategic planning; Nico Minoru, the daughter of wizards and magically adept herself;
, the daughter of wizards and magically adept herself; Chase Stein, the hooligan son of mad scientists who steals high-tech weaponry from his parents;
, the hooligan son of mad scientists who steals high-tech weaponry from his parents; Karolina Dean, the daughter of alien invaders who discovers her solar-based powers;
, the daughter of alien invaders who discovers her solar-based powers; Gertrude Yorkes, the daughter of time-traveling criminals, and the owner of a pet dinosaur;
, the daughter of time-traveling criminals, and the owner of a pet dinosaur; Molly Hayes, the daughter of mutants (likely Inhumans in the film) who has super-strength powers of her own.
The kids run away from their parents, learning about their own abilities and heritages along the way. Though they go to the police, and even try to contact the Avengers, nobody believes them. Eventually, the kids realize that if no one else will stop their parents from wiping out humanity, the Runaways will have to do it themselves.
Joss Whedon wrote a run of the RUNAWAYS comic series after creator Brian K. Vaughan stepped away. Though Whedon might be done with THE AVENGERS after AGE OF ULTRON,
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"Under a gold standard, the amount of credit that an economy can support is determined by the economy’s tangible assets, since every credit instrument is ultimately a claim on some tangible asset. […] The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit." — Alan Greenspan, 1966
BALTIMORE – That old rascal!
Before joining the feds, former Fed chief Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan was a strong proponent of gold and the gold standard.
He wrote clearly and forcefully about how it was necessary to restrain the Deep State and protect individual freedom.
Then he went to Washington and faced a fork in the tongue.
In one direction, lay honesty and integrity. In the other, lay power and glory.
Faking It
Under the Bretton Woods monetary system, the U.S. promised foreign central banks that it would convert their dollars to gold at a fixed price of $35 an ounce.
This constrained the amount of dollars the U.S. could print to the amount of gold it had in its reserves.
A smart man, Greenspan quickly realized he could not advocate for this old, tried-and-true gold standard and run the Deep State’s new credit money system.
In 1987, he made his choice. He took over the top job at the Fed and faked it for the next 19 years.
Since 1978, we have had four different Fed chiefs. Some were smart. Some were honest. Only Paul Volcker was smart and honest.
Bernanke was honest… we believe. As near as we can tell, so is Janet Yellen. Both may mean well, but both are careful not to think out of the Deep State box.
Alan Greenspan was smart. But he is a scalawag. He knew all along that the system was corrupt and self-serving. He had explained it in essays he’d written prior to joining the Fed.
But he also knew he would never get his picture on the cover of TIME magazine if he told the truth.
(In 1999, Greenspan eventually got his mug on the cover. The magazine pictured him alongside then Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and his deputy, Larry Summers, under the headline “The Committee to Save the World” for their handling of the Asian financial crisis.)
It was power Greenspan wanted; he knew he would have to play the Deep State’s game to get it.
Models display clothes decorated with Austrian gold coins at the Bunka Fashion college student's fashion show in Tokyo November 1, 2007. Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters
Golden Period
Now, Mr. Greenspan is 90 years old. Either he feels the cold downdraft of the beckoning grave… or he is simply forgetting to mumble.
In an interview in the wake of Britain’s decision to end its membership of the European Union, he had this to say:
If you look at human history, there are times where we thought that there was no inflation and everything was going fine. […] The oil prices have had a terrific impact on global inflation and [I] would not be surprised to see the next unexpected move to be on the inflation side. You don’t have it until it happens.
The former Fed chairman says he believes another debt crisis is inevitable. He believes it will lead to high levels of inflation. His solution? Gold:
Now if we went back on the gold standard and we adhered to the actual structure of the gold standard as it exists let’s say, prior to 1913, we’d be fine. Remember that the period 1870 to 1913 was one of the most aggressive periods economically that we’ve had in the U.S., and that was a golden period of the gold standard.
The Fed’s minutes from its last meeting reveal no intention to return to the gold standard. Instead, the Fed’s central planners want their photos on TIME, too.
They can’t give up their control of the nation’s money or risk a correction. It would be “prudent to wait for additional data” before raising rates, they say.
Mr. Greenspan might have said so, too… perhaps with a hidden, sly smile on his face.
A woman looks at a Rolls Royce "RRR65" car model made from pure gold. Babu Babu/Reuters
Misbegotten Bubble
We have been connecting dots; we want new readers to see what we see, so we can all look at some more dots together.
Like everything else in economics and the markets, credit is cyclical.
At the beginning of an expansion, people borrow more and more. Then
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David Fenton / Getty Images
In August 1967, notorious FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent out an urgent directive to all of his field offices under the file name “COINTELPRO-Black Nationalist Hate Groups.” It instructed “Racial Matters”(RM) agents to take aggressive — and highly illegal — actions to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black-nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership and supporters.” On March 4, 1968, exactly one month before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, another urgent Bureau-wide COINTELPRO directive from Hoover’s desk instructed RM Agents to devise COINTELPRO actions designed to “prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement.”
On December 4, 1969 — 48 years ago today — RM agents in the Bureau’s Chicago office secretly congratulated themselves and hailed their “success” to Hoover for masterminding the bloody pre-dawn police raid that left Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) — and most certainly a rising “messiah” — and Peoria Panther leader Mark Clark dead, and several other young Panthers seriously wounded.
From an early age, Hampton was a charismatic speaker and natural leader. At the age of 14, he had organized a student chapter of the NAACP in Maywood, Illinois, and the chapter soon grew to 700 members. He led a march on the Maywood Town Hall and organized to build an integrated swimming pool there. After he graduated from Proviso East High School, the administration asked him to come back to mediate a confrontation between Black and white students, then had him arrested when he did so. Influenced by Malcolm X, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the realities that he observed and experienced in the movement, Hampton consistently spoke out strongly against police brutality. His politics became increasingly more militant.
In the fall of 1967, Hampton enrolled in Crane Junior College, later renamed Malcolm X College, which was a center of radical Black activity in Chicago. He continued his dynamic organizing there, and injected a new militancy into the student body. During 1968, Hampton, Bobby Rush and several others organized the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and opened their offices at 2350 West Madison Street on the West Side of Chicago.
By this time, Hampton had been expressly targeted by the Chicago FBI office, which was already quite experienced in disruption tactics and techniques, having taken several sophisticated actions in the mid-60s that were designed to exploit and exacerbate the political division between Nation of Islam leaders Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammed. Within days of the opening of the Panther office, Chicago’s Racial Matters Squad directed one of its operatives, William O’Neal, to join the Party. O’Neal soon maneuvered himself into a leadership position as chief of security, and served as Hampton’s bodyguard during the early days of the Illinois chapter.
Under the leadership of Chairman Fred Hampton and Minister of Defense Bobby Rush, the Chicago BPP grew into a strong organization. Hampton began to negotiate with Chicago street organizations, attempting to convince them to give up their violent activities and embrace the Panther philosophy. Under his leadership, the Party built the original Rainbow Coalition that united the Panthers, the Puerto Rican Young Lords Organization, the Young Patriots (a group of radical Appalachian whites) and the Students for a Democratic Society.
The BPP opened a Breakfast for Children program at several locations in the city, and fed hundreds of hungry young children before they went to school. Hampton frequently spoke at colleges and high schools and met with a wide range of leaders and organizations. He led by example, starting his day at six in the morning at the Breakfast program, and would never ask someone to do something he would not do, from selling the Panther newspaper to defending the Panther office from police attack.
At the same time, the FBI, both nationally and locally, was increasing its efforts to “neutralize the Panther Party and destroy what it stands for.” Not only had the Bureau targeted the leadership, including Hampton, whom it registered on its Rabble Rouser, Agitator and Security Indexes, but it also specifically set out to destroy the BPP newspaper and the Breakfast program, as well as the Panthers’ liberation schools and health clinics. Under the COINTELPRO banner, utilizing “ghetto informants” who often acted as provocateurs, Racial Matters operatives sought to exploit ideological differences and resultant tensions between the Panthers, street organizations and Black nationalist organizations. In Chicago, RM agents attempted to provoke the Blackstone Rangers to attack Hampton and the Panthers by sending a forged letter to Ranger leader Jeff Fort, that purported to
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warn him of a “hit” the Panthers had ordered against him — with the stated goal of provoking Fort to physically attack Hampton. Continuing his work as a COINTELPRO operative, FBI informant O’Neal, who later played a key role in setting up the murderous December 4 raid by supplying the floor plan of Hampton’s apartment, blossomed as a provocateur who repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — encouraged the commission of illegal acts.
The local police and prosecutors also sought to destroy the BPP with a vengeance. Panthers were constantly harassed and arrested, often for selling the Panther paper. Hampton had been arrested in Maywood for allegedly taking $71 of ice cream and distributing it to neighborhood children. The politically aggressive Cook County state’s attorney, Edward V. Hanrahan, put Hampton on trial for robbery. In May 1969 he was convicted and sentenced to two to five years in prison. In August, the Illinois Supreme Court granted Hampton appeal bond, and he returned to Chicago to a joyous welcome at People’s Church on South Ashland Avenue. In an inspiring and memorable speech, he told of how he heard the “beat of the people,” and was “high off the people” while he was locked up in a downstate maximum-security prison. Upon his release, Hampton immediately resumed his speaking and organizing at a breakneck pace. His unique leadership skills had been duly noted, not only by the FBI, but also by the national leadership of the BPP, and he was being groomed to be an important national spokesperson.
Three months later, Hampton lay dead on his bed in a pool of blood, assassinated by a Chicago police raider who shot him twice in the head at close range. Hampton was a victim of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program.
As evidence emerged over time, it was established that the 14-man, pre-dawn police raiding party, operating under the direct supervision of State’s Attorney Hanrahan, was armed with O’Neal’s floorplan that marked the bed on which Hampton would be sleeping. They carried a submachine gun, semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and handguns. The raiders were led by Chicago police Sgt. Daniel Groth, a shadowy figure with suspected connections to the CIA, and included James “Gloves” Davis, so nicknamed because he donned gloves before he beat people up.
The raiders burst in the front and back doors of the tiny apartment, and Davis killed Mark Clark, who was just inside the front door, with a shot through the heart. They then charged into the front room, shooting Brenda Harris, a 17-year-old Panther who was lying on a bed next to the wall, and “stitched” that wall with machine gun and semiautomatic fire. These bullets tore through the wall and into the middle bedroom, where three Panthers were huddling on the floor, and many of those high-powered bullets continued through another wall into the bedroom where Hampton and his fiancé, Deborah Johnson, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, were asleep. The trajectories of many of these bullets were toward the head of Hampton’s bed.
In the back bedroom, the mattress was vibrating from the gunfire as Panther occupants Louis Trueluck and Harold Bell were unsuccessfully trying to wake Hampton. The raiders burst through the back door, firing at the bedrooms. They then took Bell, Trueluck and Johnson out of the back bedroom into the kitchen, leaving Hampton alive but unconscious on the bed. In the front, the officer with the machine gun had moved to the doorway of the middle bedroom and fired several machine gun blasts at the defenseless occupants. Ronald “Doc” Satchel was hit five times, while Blair Anderson and another terrified teenager, Verlina Brewer, were also shot.
In the kitchen, Johnson and Bell heard two shots ring out from Hampton’s bedroom, and heard a raider say, “He’s good and dead now.” The toxicological evidence strongly suggested that O’Neal had put secobarbital in Hampton’s Kool-Aid hours earlier so that he would not wake up.
Hampton’s body was dragged from the bloodstained bed to the hallway floor, to be displayed as the raiders’ trophy, while the seven survivors were physically abused, subjected to threats and racial epithets, and then jailed on charges of attempted murder. The raiders then rushed from the apartment to the state’s attorney’s office where they appeared with Hanrahan at a press conference. There, Hanrahan described a fierce gun battle initiated by the “vicious” and “criminal” Black Panthers, during which his raiders acted “reasonably” and with “restraint.”
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Level design is one of the fundamental building blocks of creating a game; it is the world that we inhabit. We can all think of great games with some excellent level design and all in different ways.
Some games use their design to aid you with traversal through a single path; Faith’s “Runner’s Vision” in Mirror’s Edge guiding the way through colour, or scratched/worn down walls in Prince Of Persia showing you can wall run are two that come to mind.
In a similar vein, other games allow a wide range of possibilities from a single starting point. Metroid and Castlevania have an almost exclusive hold over this type of design (so much that “Metroidvania” is a portmanteau in gaming culture). Newer titles such as Hitman and Ratchet And Clank also deliver this type of world. You may not be able to reach all the nooks and crannies until you have gone away and learnt new skills.
Other games use their level design to bring their worlds to life. Bioshock’s flooded and rusting hallways, blossoming gardens and…everything about Fort Frolic perfectly paints the dying embers of a Galtian wonderland. Remember Me’s narrative snakes around its levels, with the Bastille Lake and St. Michel Rotunda amplifying the narrative beats that occur in those levels. The hidden tombstones in Modern Warfare 2’s “Contingency” highlight a possible cultural heritage of the area.
Today I wanted to write about a level that encompasses all three types of design, to varying degrees. That level is “St Francis’ Folly” from the Tomb Raider series. “St Francis’ Folly” is a level in the first TR game, meaning that it was remade in Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider Anniversary. So I wanted to talk about the two in tandem, because even though they are the same level, the way they differ gives a different tone to each level.
How “St Francis’ Folly”’s Meaning Changes Through Different Level Design
“St Francis’ Folly” is probably one of the most recognisable and memorable of the original Tomb Raider levels. Jason Botta, creative director for Tomb Raider Anniversary ranked the level second only to the “Lost Valley”, (mainly because the latter had a T-Rex) (2:14).
“St Francis’ Folly” is a really good example of a jump in a difficulty spike. The first four levels of TR1 are spent getting you used to the controls. You’ve done a bit of swimming, a bit of climbing, running, jumping, and most of it is forgiving. If you miss a jump, you just climb back to the spot and try again. “St Francis’ Folly” does not give you that privilege. If you mess up, you will most likely die. It’s really easy to die because the whole point of the level is being REALLY HIGH UP. The structure is so tall in the original game you can’t see the bottom; the draw distance fades to black.
Toby Gard, designer for the original Tomb Raider and Anniversary, stated the goal for the area;
“…It’s quite common that game designers even when they have a 3D vertical space that they can play with, they tend to sort of end up making long, flat things anyway. So that particular area from the original game was just sort of let’s go as vertical as we possibly can…” (2:55).
The level is virtually unchanged from game to game, only with a few trickier challenge rooms for TRA’s more nimble Lara and appropriately named rooms (TR1 had “Neptune” and “Thor” in a tomb in Greece).
The major change to the level is the opening just before the vertical room, so let’s jump back a bit and discuss that section.
Let’s Rewind To The Beginning
The openings of the level are again, very similar. All the designers really had to do was update the climbing and traversal mechanics and it was pretty much set.
But the main difference is GETTING to the vertical room and where in relation it is to the rest of the level. Lets start with TR1.
The start of the level introduces the vertical aspect, in a safe-ish way. You jump from pillar to pillar, working your way around the room. You have some fun with pressure plates and open the big door at the other end of the room. However, this does not lead to the next stage. It is another room with a switch.
The door is in fact above the entrance where you came in.
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Kiev refuses to recognize the elections in eastern Urkaine – but has not provoked any hostilities either.
The Donbass elections resulted in a predictable outcome, bringing victory to Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the Oplot battalion, who scooped more than 70 percent of the votes. Turnout varied from 65 percent to 100 percent at 350 polling stations, where 1,148,000 people had registered to vote.
This election has been surprising in two ways.
First, not a single shot has been fired in Donbass since November 2 – a situation unseen since spring, including the ceasefire declared in early September after the Minsk talks.
Second, the most successful Donbass commander, Igor Bezler, handed in his resignation just before the election.
On Sunday, Alexander Zakharchenko made his first public appearance in a tieless shirt (instead of his military uniform). Accompanied by his wife and a few dozen combatants, after casting the ballot he showed up to Lenin Square, where white trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Russia had lined up next to the Lenin Monument. Previously, humanitarian cargos used to be unloaded outside warehouses by the railway. Now the square is also a concert venue to celebrate the elections.
Whenever Zakharchenko goes, the militia cordon off the adjacent streets, causing annoyance to many. But those who make it through his bodyguards can still approach him.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has no president. Zakharchenko is the prime minister.
His deputy is IT professional Andrey Purgin.
Purgin is a smart, well-educated man who moves around unescorted, walks often, and does not intend to change his habits.
When asked if what happened in Donbass was a “left-” or “right-led” revolution, he said that “right-wing ideas dominated the revolution, and its soundtrack was Zhanna Bichevskaya’s songs.”
Zhanna Bichevskaya is a Soviet folk singer who borrowed a lot from Joan Baez in her singing style. In the 1970s, she was the first performer in the USSR to sing songs of the White movement, who fought the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. She also sang numerous Russian folk and Cossack songs. In the Soviet Union, many sought escape from ideology into music. Many former Soviet citizens, including residents of Donbass, prefer to lament Soviet and imperial Russia’s past rather than develop new ideas.
“Our biggest problem is that our political class is too weak,” said Purgin. “Too few people can generate ideas today. Meanwhile, intellectuals are in self-imposed isolation. Their only connection to this land is banknotes with Mazepa’s portraits (Ivan Mazepa was a Cossack leader who opposed Peter the Great 300 years ago), and they do not remember the taste of victory.”
He calls these intellectuals “professional Russians.” As the fighting began, they fled the country.
“It is unclear who the winner is,” said Purgin.
This sounds bitter and painful.
The Communist party was banned from the elections. Only 20 years ago, Communists were the most popular party in Donbass. Both left-wingers and right-wingers have yet to give proper wording to their ideas.
One can often hear people in Donbass say that militias oppose Ukrainian oligarchs, who are to blame for the bloodshed.
“We are going to see large corporations grab seats in parliament – vicariously, of course,” added Purgin.
Looks like the time for ideas has yet to come in Donbass.
Purgin confirmed Igor Bezler’s resignation. “He was a great commander. But the active military phase is over,” the vice-premier told me.
Purgin has put some unusual ideas on the agenda – he wants to make the church as powerful as in Greece and Cyprus, with amendments to this effect to be enshrined in the region’s constitution.
“The church must be an additional arbitrator, an institution with authority that weighs in on issues, including ethical ones,” he explained.
The vacuum of ideas is the most startling thing about Donbass today, as all the banners – as varied as imperialist and monarchist – are gone six months after the May independence referendum. All that’s left is the black and orange St. George’s ribbon.
Foreshadowing of a grim future
Polling stations look very much alike, the only difference being the number of windows shattered by the shockwave from explosions.
When we come to the city center, we see some stands outside a polling station with vegetables sold by local businessmen. They
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After failing miserably to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have set their sights on tax reform, confident that if there's one thing the party can agree on, it's tax cuts for the rich. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has even suggested the "markets may tank” should the government fail to provide financial relief for the people who need it least.
Against this backdrop, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held a town hall Wednesday night to debate not just the benefit of tax reform, but the very function of federal government. While Cruz trotted out his tired and oft-debunked talking points about the benefits of trickle-down economics, Sanders forcefully explained how the GOP tax plan hurts the middle class, reminding us again why he's an early Democratic frontrunner for 2020.
Here are eight of the Vermont senator’s best lines from their showdown on CNN.
1. On past tax cut plans.
"In two minutes, Senator Cruz is going to tell you that if we give tax breaks to the billionaires like George W. Bush did, like Ronald Reagan did, we're going to create zillions of jobs and you're all going to become very, very rich, that we have a trickle-down economic theory, tax breaks for the wealthiest people, the largest corporations, and, whoa, everything is good. That is a totally fraudulent theory."
2. On the Kochs' support for tax cuts.
"Now, the Trump Republican tax proposal that's before us today, this proposal is being pushed by Senator Cruz's campaign contributors, some of the wealthiest people in this country, by the Koch brothers, who are worth $90 billion. Why are they pushing this agenda? Because 80 percent of the tax breaks in this proposal will go to the top 1 percent."
3. On the Bush tax cuts.
"Under President Bush, he did it. He gave tax breaks. And you know what happened? He gave tax breaks to the rich. And you know what happened? We lost 500,000 private sector jobs, and the national debt almost doubled under Bush."
4. On the long-term effects of the Reagan tax cuts.
"So this idea—of giving tax breaks to large corporations—is basically a fraud. Listen to what Ronald Reagan's domestic policy advisor Bruce Bartlett said. He said that virtually every Republican, what every Republican says about taxes today, is a lie. Reagan's OMB director David Stockman said that the idea that closing loopholes and adding growth will pay for trillions in cuts, quote, 'is just completely fanciful and irresponsible.'"
5. On his alternative tax plan.
"I happen to believe that if you want to really get the economy moving, you do things like raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, put money into the hands of working people, provide targeted tax breaks to small businesses and working people, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, creating 15 million jobs."
6. On so-called 'deficit hawks.'
"Now, Ted, I gather you are a big deficit hawk, yeah? How did you vote on the authorization bill for the Department of Defense which increased military spending by, if I'm not mistaken, $700 billion, so that we are now spending more on the military than the next 12 nations combined? Check—correct me if I'm wrong, Ted—I think you voted for that huge increase in military spending. I think that at a time when we have people working two or three jobs trying to make ends meet, where kids can't afford to go to college and are leaving school deeply in debt, I happen not to think that spending $70 billion more on the military and giving a huge boondoggle to the military industrial complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about, I happen to think that was not a good idea."
7. On Ted Cruz's ulterior motives.
"Let's examine what Senator Cruz really wants to do. He wants to see legislation passed that would give $1.9 trillion in tax breaks to the top 1 percent, significantly increase the national debt being passed on to our kids and our grandchildren. And in order to pay for these tax breaks for billionaires, he wants to throw 15 million people off of Medicaid, cut Medicare by over $450 billion, cut Pell Grants, cut programs like the WIC program, women, infant and children program, designed for low-income pregnant women and their little babies."
8. On tax structures in Scandinavia.
"Second point that I want to make, Ted, you said earlier—two points that I want to make here. Number one, we can have a debate about whether you like what's going on in Denmark or not. Don't compare Denmark to Cuba. Don't compare Denmark to communist countries. Denmark has a higher voter turnout rate than we do. They're a vigorous democracy,
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The 30-year-old resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia, may have been born without any arms and legs, but it never occurred to her that her body should limit her athleticism, which has been on display since she began playing organized sports as a kid.
By middle school, she was playing on her school soccer team. In high school, she added field hockey and rugby to her list. The love affair with rugby continued through college and after graduation, when Hilton joined the Halifax Tars, a club team that she still plays for.
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She’s always been drawn to being outdoors, pushing her physical limits and competing with teammates.
“People have called me inspirational throughout my entire life,” Hilton told The Washington Post. “I just think, you know, I’m kind of doing everyday activities. Because I’ve been the same way my whole life, I don’t see myself as different than anybody else.
“I’m not setting out to be inspirational. I’m trying to do things that I enjoy and that challenge me.”
Hilton’s latest challenge: CrossFit, the workout regimen practiced in warehouses around the world that combines a mixture of Olympic weight-lifting, sprints, gymnastics and plyometrics, also known as jump training.
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She got involved with CrossFit by chance, when a local gym set up a booth at a rugby game Hilton was attending and offered a free membership to the person who could do the most “burpees” (example here) in a minute. That person, as it turned out, was Hilton, who managed to bang out 34 of the torturous exercises in 60 seconds.
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That was in September. Over the past six months, Hilton has embraced the sport, including those exercises that have initially presented significant challenges for her body type. The sport has no shortage of adaptive athletes, many of whom are missing arms or legs or rely on wheelchairs to move around. Hilton has studied those that she’s been able to find, but she has yet to find someone like her — a person figuring out, among other things, how to do pull-ups and power cleans without hands.
“There is no blueprint,” she told The Post, noting that this is her first experience doing pull-ups and working with heavy weights. “Basically, everything I have accomplished with CrossFit has been trial and error. I may not be able to do every movement, but my attitude is I’ll just figure out a way to make it all work.”
Her adaptability does not come without effort, but she has a way of making that effort look natural. For deadlifts and pull-ups, she attaches a velcro wrist wrap to her arms. The wrap is connected by chains to metal hooks that allow her to raise a weighted bar or hang from one above to lift her own body weight.
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“Any overheard stuff with a bar is a work in progress,” she said, noting that for now she uses kettle bells to simulate power cleans. “Maybe I can’t do a full snatch, but I can still do something that works those same muscles in a different way.”
“Every workout at CrossFit is scalable and adaptable,” she added.”
During a recent day in the gym, Hilton asked a friend to film as she performed several of those exercises. She was hoping to watch the film and critique her pull-ups.
She never expected that the footage would make its way to CrossFit headquarters, which posted Hilton’s workout on its Facebook page, where it went viral.
“One of our awesome adaptive athletes crushing 16.1!” —Jenny Mulock, CrossFit OnSide Posted by CrossFit on Wednesday, March 9, 2016
For Hilton, the video’s value does not lie in its ability to inspire lazy people with arms and legs to get in shape. What makes the footage special, she said, is that it may help future adaptive athletes realize that a sport like CrossFit can be inclusive and that a wide range of body types can lead active lives.
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She’s not an inspiration, she said, but an example, one that she’s been setting since childhood.
“I had a great childhood,” she told The Post. “I had great coaches and teachers who were always willing to make things work for me and encouraged me to take risks. Adaptive athletes — especially young ones — need people who say, ‘Let’s figure it out!’ versus ‘No, it’s too scary.”
“I’ve
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It’s been known since 2005 that Saturn’s 300-mile-wide moon Enceladus has geysers spewing ice and dust out into orbit from deep troughs that rake across its south pole. Now, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope (after 23 years still going strong) we know of another moon with similar jets: Europa, the ever-enigmatic ice-shelled moon of Jupiter. This makes two places in our Solar System where subsurface oceans could be getting sprayed directly into space — and within easy reach of any passing spacecraft.
(Psst, NASA… hint hint.)
The findings were announced today during the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
“The discovery that water vapor is ejected near the south pole strengthens Europa’s position as the top candidate for potential habitability,” said lead author Lorenz Roth of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas. “However, we do not know yet if these plumes are connected to subsurface liquid water or not.”
The 125-mile (200-km) -high plumes were discovered with Hubble observations made in December 2012. Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) detected faint ultraviolet light from an aurora at the Europa’s south pole. Europa’s aurora is created as it plows through Jupiter’s intense magnetic field, which causes particles to reach such high speeds that they can split the water molecules in the plume when they hit them. The resulting oxygen and hydrogen ions revealed themselves to Hubble with their specific colors.
Unlike the jets on Enceladus, which contain ice and dust particles, only water has so far been identified in Europa’s plumes. (Source)
The team suspects that the source of the water is Europa’s long-hypothesized subsurface ocean, which could contain even more water than is found across the entire surface of our planet.
Read more: Europa’s Hidden Great Lakes May Harbor Life
“If those plumes are connected with the subsurface water ocean we are confident exists under Europa’s crust, then this means that future investigations can directly investigate the chemical makeup of Europa’s potentially habitable environment without drilling through layers of ice,” Roth said. “And that is tremendously exciting.”
One other possible source of the water vapor could be surface ice, heated through friction.
In addition the Hubble team found that the intensity of Europa’s plumes, like those of Enceladus, varies with the moon’s orbital position around Jupiter. Active jets have been seen only when Europa is farthest from Jupiter. But the researchers could not detect any sign of venting when Europa is closer.
One explanation for the variability is Europa undergoes more tidal flexing as gravitational forces push and pull on the moon, opening vents at larger distances from Jupiter. The vents get narrowed or even seal off entirely when the moon is closest to Jupiter.
Still, the observation of these plumes — as well as their varying intensity — only serves to further support the existence of Europa’s ocean.
“The apparent plume variability supports a key prediction that Europa should tidally flex by a significant amount if it has a subsurface ocean,” said Kurt Retherford, also of SwRI.
(Science buzzkill alert: although exciting, further observations will be needed to confirm these findings. “This is a 4 sigma detection, so a small uncertainly that the signal is just noise in the instruments,” noted Roth.)
“If confirmed, this new observation once again shows the power of the Hubble Space Telescope to explore and opens a new chapter in our search for potentially habitable environments in our solar system.” – John Grunsfeld, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Science
Read more: Hydrogen Peroxide Could Feed Life on Europa
So. Who’s up for a mission to Europa now? (And unfortunately in this case, Juno doesn’t count.)
“Juno is a spinning spacecraft that will fly close to Jupiter, and won’t be studying Europa,” Kurt Retherford told Universe Today. “The team is looking hard how we can optimize, maybe looking for gases coming off Europa and look at how the plasma interacts with environment, so we really need a dedicated Europa mission.”
We couldn’t agree more.
The findings were published in the Dec. 12 online issue of Science Express.
Sources: Hubble news releases (US and ESA)
Image credits:
Graphic Credit: NASA, ESA, and L. Roth (Southwest Research Institute and University of Cologne, Germany)
Science Credit: NASA,
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Every movement has its moment and, in fantasy football, the moment has come, my fellow Americans, for "Kill The Kicker." So let’s start Splitsville here this week. I don’t think I need to detail the impact that Justin Tucker had on many leagues in our Week 15 playoffs, as it’s already bad-beat legend. And Tucker wasn’t even the highest scoring kicker last week (Dan Bailey).
Let’s take the arguments against killing the kicker on one by one.
“Kickers are a part of real football and we should be as much like real football as we can be.” Huh? This is fantasy football. Kickers are never a part of any football fantasy. No cheerleader has ever even fantasized about marrying a kicker, for cryin’ out loud. We have the power to make our fake game anyway we want. We can play with two quarterbacks, three running backs and, clearly, no kicker.
“We need kickers because we should play with as many players as possible. More is always better than less.” I’m not saying to get rid of kickers and not replace them with anything. Add another flex, a second QB, coach scoring (based on team wins and total points scored). The sharks who say this don’t really want more players played, they want usually meaningless kickers sucking up roster spots so the waiver wire is easier for them to mine. So they really want us to play less “real” players, not more. It’s a con.
“There is skill in picking kickers. So learn how to play the game better.” Yes, Tucker’s six field goals were totally projectable. The problem here is that none of us pick kickers because we think the kicker is so good. They’re all good (well, except Garrett Hartley, but he’ll be good again soon, I guarantee it). We try to pick the team that has an offense that’s good but not too good with a good defense and that plays close games. But even after all that, these Tucker days are totally random.
“We’ve always had kickers. It’s tradition.” We must evolve. Kickers are making 86.1% of all field goals now. They are making 65.1% of 50-plus yarders. So even penalizing misses doesn’t work. Distance bonuses only make things worse. Back when fantasy football was first popularized in 1990, teams made 74.4% of field goals and 36% of 50-plus yarders.
Another reasonable fantasy football complaint: “Head-to-head play is too random.” The most important thing to have in our game is the best defense, which we obviously have no control over. I talked about that this week, and other fantasy football happenings, on the Wall Street Journal “Sports Retort” podcast. An alternative that doesn’t destroy head-to-head play is to play two games every week, a head-to-head game and a game against the league average point total. So if you have a great week but play a team that had a better week, you go 1-1 (not a disaster). And if you get lucky by playing a worse team on a dud week, you’re only going 1-1, too. There is no way around this come playoff time. But these leagues don’t have playoffs. The champion is just the team with the best record (but of course with twice as many games). If this is too complicated for you, since it requires manual work by the commissioner, you could simply award two of the six playoff spots based solely on points, which is the best barometer of fantasy football skill.
Garbage time is another complaint about fantasy football. If you played against Drew Brees this week, I feel for you. But is it overrated? Here are the leaders at QB, and WR in fantasy points scored when trailing by two scores or more in the fourth quarter. I understand this doesn’t necessarily mean garbage time, cough, Cowboys, cough. But we have to draw the line somewhere that’s aggressive enough to fully illustrate the point.
Quarterbacks:
Player - Fantasy Points
Totals - 667.6
Robert Griffin III - 47.9
Ben Roethlisberger - 40.1
Chad Henne - 32.0
Eli Manning - 31.3
Sam Bradford - 28.9
Andrew Luck - 26.8
Brandon Weeden - 25.9
Jay Cutler - 24.8
Matt Ryan - 24.7
Philip Rivers
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The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
(This essay was originally posted on Lostgarden.com. Visit to read additional comments.)
We often consider artistic works from a creative or cultural perspective, but I find it just as enlightening to examine them from an economic or evolutionary lens. How does the economic environment within which a developer finds themselves shape the form that art takes?
As a case study of this in practice, I’ve been fascinated by a class of content-focused game that’s recently found a stable niche in the maturing mobile, PC and console markets. In mobile, we see examples like Sword & Sworcery, Device 6 or Monument Valley. In PC, you've got Kentucky Route Zero, Proteus and Gone Home. On console the trend is less pronounced, though Journey and Flower share some aspects.
These games generally have the following characteristics
Strong focus on evocative content : Most of the game is composed of arcs that deliver heavily authored payloads. The player’s cognitive load is consumed by interpretation of stimuli not the planning or execution of actions.
: Most of the game is composed of arcs that deliver heavily authored payloads. The player’s cognitive load is consumed by interpretation of stimuli not the planning or execution of actions. Light use of systems : Mechanically, the games tend to have limited interactive loops. There is little room for play within a mechanical space. The systems used are often highly traditional with a long history within other genres.
: Mechanically, the games tend to have limited interactive loops. There is little room for play within a mechanical space. The systems used are often highly traditional with a long history within other genres. Short playtime: Often 1-3 hours.
This form thrives not due to some sudden explosion of artistic appreciation within the human race, nor due to universally-applicable intrinsic attributes of Truth and Beauty. No, instead these games thrive because they competently execute a development strategy that matches well with the current socioeconomic environment.
Form shaped by environment risk
Form is an accepted and standardized structure for a work of art. A painting stretched on canvas painted in oils that fits roughly on a living room wall is a common form of painting. A haiku is a form of writing.
Unlike many media, the forms that a game might take are still quite fluid. Where authors of literature might feel locked into to well-established structures such as poem, short story, essay or novel, game forms are both broader and have less sharp boundaries. They vary radically in mechanics, scope, topic, number of participants, and hardware. The difference between a game of Tetris and a game of Charades can seem far vaster than that of a Shakespearean play and an encyclopedia entry. And as a designer, you often get to chose the unique form of your game.
How risks shape game forms
However, different forms of game have different levels of risk and trade offs. There’s internal risk such as design risk, technical risk, production risk. And then there's external risk such as distribution risk, market fit and many others. If any one of these aspect of the project fails, the development investment is lost. Any game design can be judged by the costs associated with building the game, the benefits of success and the downsides to failure.
Fig 1. Valid terrain based off existing environmental risks
These are not abstract decisions. Most developers (even large ones) operate a paycheck or two away from bankruptcy. Paying the rent and putting food on the table are very real concerns. Many smart teams therefore choose projects of a form that minimize overall risk in order to dramatically increase their chances of future survival.
Thus game developers have a great incentive to evolve game forms to fit whatever environmental pressures are present. If something changes in the environment that increases a type of risk, then you’ll see developers selecting, from this vast palette of potential forms, the options that mitigate that risk. Picture a thousand little Brownian developers blindly adapting their game forms to half felt market forces and thus converging on useful strategies.
Using survivors to determine dominant strategies
The process of evolving games forms can feel invisible. The vast majority of projects that don’t balance their risks correctly, fail and sink out of the cultural consciousness. Most creators are barely conscious of their influences and constraints. All we really know are the the survivors.
When you see a new species of game thriving in the marketplace, you can start to ask some interesting questions. What are the culling mechanisms that let those games survive? What strategy was used that gave them an advantage over other possible designs? The things that make it through the filter give you some insight into the shape of the filter.
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Some forces at play
What are some meaningful forces acting upon the modern indie developer attempt to sell a game for a fixed upfront price?
Digital distribution and cheap tools: At the heart of the emergence is ability for small teams to build and release games at low cost. However, those markets are now maturing.
At the heart of the emergence is ability for small teams to build and release games at low cost. However, those markets are now maturing. A large audience trained on content consumption: The past decade of AAA titles perfected a variety of secondary content delivery standards via cutscenes, level design, voiceovers, etc. Gamers know and understand these methods. Over the decades, we've built up the equivalent of a trained audience that knows how to read.
The past decade of AAA titles perfected a variety of secondary content delivery standards via cutscenes, level design, voiceovers, etc. Gamers know and understand these methods. Over the decades, we've built up the equivalent of a trained audience that knows how to read. Average revenue for a product is dropping. In fact they are close to zero in mobile markets. The exponential distribution of revenue looks more L-shaped, with small number of titles making the majority of the money and no middle market to speak of. You have hits or failures with little in-between.
In fact they are close to zero in mobile markets. The exponential distribution of revenue looks more L-shaped, with small number of titles making the majority of the money and no middle market to speak of. You have hits or failures with little in-between. Price per unit for games with an upfront cost is less than $0.99. As Steam opens up further, bundles proliferate and consoles introduce more free games, expect further price erosion for premium titles. You need to reach more people to make less money.
. As Steam opens up further, bundles proliferate and consoles introduce more free games, expect further price erosion for premium titles. You need to reach more people to make less money. Discoverability is weak. Discovery mechanisms are weak and heavily gated. Channels are also flooded with games of difficult to determine quality. A game benefits from being able to signal quality 1 to 30 seconds of exposure since that is likely all the time it will get.
. Discovery mechanisms are weak and heavily gated. Channels are also flooded with games of difficult to determine quality. A game benefits from being able to signal quality 1 to 30 seconds of exposure since that is likely all the time it will get. Cost of production is increasing: Cheap tools bring the capital cost down, but labor costs remain stable. The need to hit ever increasing levels of quality results in an escalating cost curve. Five years ago, a hit premium game on mobile might cost $50,000 to build (including sweat equity). Now, for less revenue, you’ll see costs range from $200k - 1M (or higher). This expense is almost entirely due to content and feature competition: more art, more animation, increased use of 3D, more ‘required’ features.
So it is hard to stand out, hard to make money and very easy to spend more than you make.
A content-focused strategy
Given such a landscape, what is a species of game that might survive? We are looking for solutions to the problems listed, but also ways of tackling multiple problems with the same resources. Efficient solutions survive.
Fig 2. A strategy that mitigates technical and design risk. While taking on some distribution risk.
Note that the following is by no means the only strategy. If you look around at other thriving developers, there are many alternatives. Nor is it a preferred one. This strategy has no inherent value beyond its functional benefits. Nor for that matter is it likely that the half-blind creators explicitly planned out their strategy. Like the flying fish and the (sadly extinct) flying shark, common strategies converge unwittingly from disparate perspectives as if shaped by an invisible hand. Environments have local maxima whether or not we are smart enough to perceive them ahead of time.
With those disclaimers duly dispensed, consider a content-focused development strategy for small teams...
Reduce costs
Target a smaller scope : Content is expensive, but what if you make a game that is 1 to 3 hours, not 20 or 30? This simple change means you can cost 1/10th what a bigger title might. This is the defining economic attribute of this game form.
: Content is expensive, but what if you make a game that is 1 to 3 hours, not 20 or 30? This simple change means you can cost 1/10th what a bigger title might. This is the defining economic attribute of this game form. Remove systems and features : Trim as many standard elements as possible and focus the game on one or two key features. Dear Esther, you walk around. In Gone Home
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, you walk around and click on objects. NPCs? Cut. Combat? Cut. Branching narratives? Cut.
: Trim as many standard elements as possible and focus the game on one or two key features. Dear Esther, you walk around. In Gone Home, you walk around and click on objects. NPCs? Cut. Combat? Cut. Branching narratives? Cut. Keep your team small. Since labor is your largest cost, a small team means lower investment. Team members should being able to execute multiple aspects of development so you don’t need part time specialists.
. Since labor is your largest cost, a small team means lower investment. Team members should being able to execute multiple aspects of development so you don’t need part time specialists. Keep your development cycle short(er) : Spend 9-12 months on a title, not 18-24 months.
: Spend 9-12 months on a title, not 18-24 months. Excel at what you attempt: It helps to have at least one or more people who are world class. Then build your game around their signature style. This makes up for some of the inevitable weaknesses that arise from small teams sizes, wearing too many hats and short schedules.
Reduce distribution risk
Make high impact video and images. Since you have limited contact with potential players, you want the briefest glimpse of a game to excite them. Gorgeous visuals, evocative narrative hooks that can be grasped in a couple seconds work well. All many buyers need to see of Monument Valley is a single screenshot.
. Since you have limited contact with potential players, you want the briefest glimpse of a game to excite them. Gorgeous visuals, evocative narrative hooks that can be grasped in a couple seconds work well. All many buyers need to see of Monument Valley is a single screenshot. Form relationships to amplify your signal for free: With a small team and a low marketing budget, free distribution is ideal. By forming relationships with journalists, streamers, taste makers and platform curators, you may get a mention or a feature. Of course, what you provide in return is a sellable story or validation of their long simmering world view. ‘Games as art’ is currently easy topic to bond over and all games with this form make the most of it.
Reduce design and production risk
Rely heavily on static content: Art and video rarely fails on a functional level. There’s a risk in discovering an artist initially, but once on board, a competent artist tends to continue to produce competent art. Especially over short production schedules. You already need to make high impact visuals in order to get distribution, so there’s synergy here.
Art and video rarely fails on a functional level. There’s a risk in discovering an artist initially, but once on board, a competent artist tends to continue to produce competent art. Especially over short production schedules. You already need to make high impact visuals in order to get distribution, so there’s synergy here. Use existing mechanics: New mechanics take time to discover and often don’t work out. Invention is hard. By using well proven traditional mechanics, it is unlikely that the systems will delay your game. Turning a page or clicking a hyper-link is quite reliable.
New mechanics take time to discover and often don’t work out. Invention is hard. By using well proven traditional mechanics, it is unlikely that the systems will delay your game. Turning a page or clicking a hyper-link is quite reliable. Reduce systemic emergence: Unplanned surprises hurt the schedule and cost you money.
Reduce technical risk
Use existing technology: Well proven, simplistic technology. Again, you can get away something that simply puts quality content on the screen
Well proven, simplistic technology. Again, you can get away something that simply puts quality content on the screen Avoid complex technologies: Technology that require strong expertise such as multiplayer servers or advanced 3D rendering is likely to blow up. So don’t do that.
Reduce audience risk
Make the game easy to finish: You want people to play the game, finish it and then talk to their friends while still in midst of the afterglow. This is a fast virus, not a slow one. Challenge is a useful tactic in other contexts (Dark Souls, Spelunky), but it is a poor fit when you want to deliver your beautiful load of content as smoothly as possible.
You want people to play the game, finish it and then talk to their friends while still in midst of the afterglow. This is a fast virus, not a slow one. Challenge is a useful tactic in other contexts (Dark Souls, Spelunky), but it is a poor fit when you want to deliver your beautiful load of content as smoothly as possible. Keep content highly interpretable : To offset the risk of the game being too short,
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you can implement content that either vague or open to many interpretations. This means that quality of your content can be lower without anyone being able to concretely describe it as such. A certain air of mysterious brilliance can act as a prophylactic against common criticisms; seed the doubt that a player may simply be unschooled in Imperial fashion.
: To offset the risk of the game being too short, you can implement content that either vague or open to many interpretations. This means that quality of your content can be lower without anyone being able to concretely describe it as such. A certain air of mysterious brilliance can act as a prophylactic against common criticisms; seed the doubt that a player may simply be unschooled in Imperial fashion. Engage the community: Ideally, you kick off a secondary wave of community engagement as players and critics invent their own detailed explanations for what may in fact be random (yet highly evocative) noise.
Notice how all these pieces fit together into a coherent strategy. A small team with a strong artist and / or writer makes a short, attractive game that sells a light narrative. This also happens to be small enough a scope that they can finish and release it. Such a game is pretty enough to be featured and can be easily talked about. There’s also little risk for the player...they get this nice watchable nugget of content that’s super cheap and feels like a reasonable value relative to other comparable consumables like books or movies.
A deeply conservative take on games
This strategy formula isn't new in the grand scheme. Cheap, consumable content differentiated on gatekeeper-approved quality variables is at the heart of most media markets.
In the grand spectrum of possible games, the crop of boutique content games is one of the most conservative possible development strategies. Rosy cheeked media critics who might imagine the real history of games started in 2007 are likely excited by such titles. However, when compared to the rich systemic and narrative experimentation of the last 30 years, these forms are ultimately a retreat; survivalist risk mitigation marketed as hip cultural advancement. Such games tacitly give up on the idea that games could be a different type of thing than traditional media and adopt whole hog similar methods and limitations. At the crudest level, you flip pages, you see content.
One should tread lightly in labeling this as a ‘bad’ change. Evolution does not judge. This strategy works. Good, passionate people are making money and surviving to build another game. That’s all you can really hope for as a game developer in a staunchly capitalist world.
The future
Since we are dealing with a conservative product strategy, comparable markets suggest where these might evolve over the next 5 years.
Fig 3. Increasing costs put new pressure on the content heavy form.
Player desire for the new form increases the overall market opportunity.
Rapid market saturation : Since costs of entry in terms of skills and technology are quite low and first movers have almost zero competitive moats, new entrants should flood the market. This reduces the average success rate; most will not be profitable.
: Since costs of entry in terms of skills and technology are quite low and first movers have almost zero competitive moats, new entrants should flood the market. This reduces the average success rate; most will not be profitable. Costs increase : As more entries appear, quality becomes more important. Those with cash spend more to keep or capture profitable audiences. Form-specific blockbusters emerge that spend the maximum amount to get the maximum audience. (I've called these genre kings in the past).
: As more entries appear, quality becomes more important. Those with cash spend more to keep or capture profitable audiences. Form-specific blockbusters emerge that spend the maximum amount to get the maximum audience. (I've called these genre kings in the past). Shorter length : Increased costs put pressure on decreasing the length even further. At some point players may decide that even an amazing 20 minutes is not worth 99 cents.
: Increased costs put pressure on decreasing the length even further. At some point players may decide that even an amazing 20 minutes is not worth 99 cents. Use of portfolios : Anthologies, bundles or subscriptions to content streams (aka magazines) are common methods of paying a population of authors in a hit driven ecosystem. If this shift in market structure occurs, middlemen begin dictating tastes even more strongly.
: Anthologies, bundles or subscriptions to content streams (aka magazines) are common methods of paying a population of authors in a hit driven ecosystem. If this shift in market structure occurs, middlemen begin dictating tastes even more strongly. Attempted differentiation based off thematic genre : Essentially the market fragments. As customers become trained in this new form, they’ll start to prefer specific types of content, much like we we see romance or mystery novels. First movers in thematic areas could tap a new
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[digg-reddit-me]Today, as the President Zardari of Pakistan is scheduled to meet with Obama, the news about Pakistan is growing worse and worse.
A nation with nuclear weapons seems on the brink of collapse. Yet it often seems as if the country’s leadership is still more focused on the threat from its historic rival, India. As the New York Times editorial board explained last week:
If the Indian Army advanced within 60 miles of Islamabad, you can bet Pakistan’s army would be fully mobilized and defending the country in pitched battles.
The Pakistani Taliban is now within that distance – 60 miles – of the capital. It’s advance has not been halted and it continues to destabilize and then take over large portions of Pakistan. You can see the strong position the Taliban is in by reading the story published just a few days ago by Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah also in the Times telling the story of a Taliban strategist who gave them an inside look at the Taliban’s regional strategy – which focuses in a large part on exploiting the border between Afganistan and Pakistan over which the Taliban move without qualms, but which U.S. forces generally respect. The Pakistani army and intelligence agencies are both said to be sympathetic to the Taliban and islamist extremism in general – and U.S. strategists believe their goal is to wait out America’s interest in the region and then use these Taliban forces to exert control over Afghanistan and to destabilize India, which they still consider the main threat to their national security. This is why – despite the billions of dollars in funding given to the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies since September 11 for the purpose of aiding them in their war against the Taliban – their forces they have arrayed against the Taliban are ill-equipped and too few in number – as they have used most of these funds to build up their military for a more conventional war against India. David Sanger, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations some weeks ago told a story he described as telling you “everything you need to know about the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.” It is a story, essentially, of a leadership that is friendly with the Taliban – even as they tell the Americans they are doing everything they can to stop them.
President Zardari meanwhile tried to assure American lawmakers – who he met with yesterday – that the money they were sending to Pakistan was being used wisely by likening it “to the government’s bailout of the troubled insurance giant, American International Group” according to the Times.
The fall of Pakistan to the Taliban is perhaps the worst case scenario national security experts can imagine. The Taliban is allied with Al Qaeda – who have planned to use weapons of mass destruction against America. Pakistan has nuclear weapons in numerous locations throughout the country – and is already responsible for more nuclear proliferation than any other nation on earth. It is, what Dick Cheney might call, the nexus of America’s worst fears. And worse yet, none of America’s policies in the region seemed to have had the desired effect – former President Musharraf seemed unable to truly take on the Taliban and terrorist elements, despite his being motivated their attempts to kill him – and America, by continuing to support Musharraf in the face of his desperate bids to hold onto power, alienated many Pakistanis and was finally removed from office due to the pressure from both America and groups organizing for a civil society; Benazir Bhutto, martyred running for office, said all the right things and seemed to recognize that the fundamental enemy of Pakistan was no longer India – but the religious extremists within it’s own borders; but she never had an opportunity to lead Pakistan again; her widower, the current President Zardari has followed too much in the path of Musharraf and had likewise angered many Pakistanis by using his power to undermine political rivals (leading to massive destabilizing protests until he backed down due to pressure from America and groups organizing for civil society) – while at the same time, despite fine words, he has been unable to make progress in combating the Taliban. Instead, he signed a deal with them to allow the Taliban to impose their extremist religion on a large region of the country. Despite the glaringly self-interested actions of Pakistani leaders – and the fact that even today with the Taliban encroaching upon the capital, it is not clear that the government is yet committed to rooting out these insurgents or terrorists – America has been forced time and again to double down in our support of Pakistan’s leaders. What other choice do we have? Pakistan is too important to allow it to fail – and it has nuclear weapons.
Which is why we can longer accept the constant refrain from Pakistan’s leaders that “Everything’s fine; please send helicopters.” Pakistan is “ground zero in many of the worst-case scenario exercises gamed out by national security officials [and
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Ver Party Suggestion HP Stone Time Like Memo 6.10
Reply >15000 0 ~5 min 0 By Alf : S rank build I put all my monsters that gave extra time, just try to him 8 combo each time. Ideally you want haku and yomi up for the boss, but just haku is ok. 9-10 combos at boss destroys him 6.10
Reply >19081 0 ~15 min 0 By song : Floor 1-2 stall a bit if possible for echidna at least (easier with grundy). FLoor 3 kill other right away (with echidna if you want to be safe), then stall on grundy. Floor 6 bonia+bubblie for both bane and deathstroke. Floor 7 pop echidna. Kill within 3 turns (4 if you have over 21060 hp total). 5.40
Reply ~11000 0 ~60 min 0 By Zyd : Props to Gorilla for dual-odin. 1: Kill to 1, Grind skills. 2: Finish with all skills up. 3: Firefly=grav, ninja, Odin. Grind. 4-5: see 1 6: PRAY for Bane. 7: First turn: Grav, Grav, Ninja, Odin, Ninja. He's got ~6000 HP left. 1503750*.7*.7-300,000-130,000-300,000= 6840 LUCI/NINJA STILL KING! 6.10
Reply ~16500 0 ~5 min 0 By KewlBewbz : All Max Awoken. Lvl 99/78/99/99/99/99. +total=120. Clear red orbs on rando-floors to kill green guy. Casually take out blue guy. Venom Bane took rOdin's shot & 3 25X hits to kill (he "charges" on 1st turn, so you get 4 tries). Needed both U&Y skills. I used Echidna's Menace on Joker. Luckily not orb trolled, killed w/2 25X hits. 6.10
Reply ~16500 0 ~6 min 0 By gammon : Extremely safe team with room for error -Always stall as long as possible -Kill priority: Bane, Copper, Fire, Grundy -F3 kill Copper (4 combo of 25x) or Fire ( 5 combo of 25x) 1st -Kali if orb trolled on F6-7 -F6 Bane, delay AFTER Venom Strength; he will reuse the skill -F6 Deathstroke, delay and kill ASAP -F7 delay, gr 6.10
Reply >21060 0 ~5 min 0 By Shynee : Have Echidna up before stage 6. Burst and stall stages 1-5. On stage 6, if emergency use Echidna. On boss, if Echidna used, remove jammers and take the killing joke. Hopefully you have enough colors and light orbs to OHKO with Izanagi. 5.00
Reply ~15000 0 ~30 min 4 By Gorilla : All full awoken, fl.1 charge skills. Fl.2,3,4,5,6kill all but one and charge skills. Fl.7, 3×grav, MS, 2×gungnir. End 1 0 Bēbelin : If you get Bane as your miniboss, you're fine. If you get Deathstroke, you're pretty much hosed with this build unless the heart gods smile upon you. 5.00
Reply ~17000 0 ~10 min 1 By netcom@PFG : Stall at 1,2,4,5. At 3 if Grundy and Cooper appear then kill Cooper first. If not, take grundy out asap. At Fl 6 if Bane appear then pop Freyr at the final turn and pop 1 leilan active skill. At Joker pop Echidna and bring back the loving memory of Heath Ledger. 6.10
Reply ~16000 0 ~10 min 0 By snchopanda : S Rank Build: Friend Ronia +297, max skill. Wicked Lady skill lvl. 7 was super helpfull. Stall as much as you can floors 1-2. Floor 3, use Wicked Lady if needed. Floors 4-5, stall for rest of skills. Floor 6, esp if Bane, Ronia, Hime, Baddie to OHKO. Floor 7, Ronia, Lubu should OHKO with descent dark orb count. Tamadra Get! 5.20
Reply ~17000 0 ~15 min 1 By jecht III : Max lvl/awok sakuya's and echidna.max skill valk and echidna(11is good).FL1 to FL5 stall and sweep,use skills as needed.FL6 IF DStroke echinda and
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25×,if Bane use echinda during venomS. If u didn't kill him he'll most likely do VS again.orochi and use all turns so echinda is ready for joker.FL7 Sakuya's, delay and 4turn 25x win 6.10
Reply >11087 0 ~5 min 2 By pxxl : S Rank build. High slvl pers and lucifer is a must, all awkn, 6 combo average. With high + eggs, you can switch persephone with wicked lady. Use luci if Bao Bane appears. Save light & heart orbs on f2 and use persephone f3. Stall and use Ronia + baddie on f5 and f6. If you meet deathstroke, activate a turn after silent approach. 6.10
Reply ~22000 0 ~5 min 1 By Ken★Kirin : Max skill D-Luci, Ronia, Perseph. All awoken/ max lv. 1-2F Blast through. Try to leave Lt+Ht orbs. 3F Use Perseph and make rows. 4-5F Blast through. 6F Even if orbs become hidden, use Ronia then D-Luci and you'll see + sign on dark orbs. Make rows. 7F. Ronia, LuBu and make rows and win! 6.10
Reply ~16000 0 ~10 min 0 By MooSama xD : FL1-2: Stall, use 4 dark orbs to clear low hp mobs, FL3: Clear, Echidna if needed, FL4-5: Stall for Baddie/Echidna, clear, FL6: Echidna w/DJ & Vamp, easy with 4/5 turns, no need for Haku. FL7: Haku + King Baddie for OHKO. You'll have the 2nd Haku if you need a better board. All max skilled preferred for very safe and easy run :) 5.00
Reply ~12000 0 ~10 min 1 By Quantum : S-RANK BUILD!!!! Pretty much just one shot every monster with around a 7+ combo, and STALL JUST ENOUGH for Echidna's delay. On Joker, just pop echidna, and then get rid of the jammers. And then one shot the Joker. 5.30
Reply ~60000 0 ~15 min 2 By Amitosh : Switch in tengu if you have to face Bane on floor 5, otherwise its pretty easy. Grind bane with poison and some dark damage, but with tengu, you have 4 turns to heal 15k (which is pretty much 3 or 4 hearts). This team can easily pimp slap the Joker if you charge the skills before hand. 0 0 Bibbo : Good build. Warning: Make sure you have several hearts on the board when you kill Bane because you'll need 21k HP heal to survive Killing Joke. EDIT: Actually, on Joker, you're better off like this: 2x grav, rodin, clear jammers. Tank 21K KJ, lucifer, autoheal. Next turn is Acid Blossom poison for no dmg, safe luci kill. 6.10
Reply >8418 0 ~5 min 1 By Anthar : lvls 90 78 52 49 max and max firend +eggs no skill ups Stall as hard as you till floor 6 if its bane use vamp and the turns you have sonia lilith kill 7 grav + sonia +baddie=OKO. could use hera for hades. 5.30
Reply ~12400 0 ~10 min 5 By Mhotep : Echidna, Angelion, Valk max skill... all max level Floor 1-2 stall for skills, killing Copperheads fast. Floor 3- mass attack combo /w yellow orbs, use Echidna if needed or orb changers. Floor 4-5 stall for skills. Floor 6- use orb changers + Shynee to OHKO. Floor 7- Use Echidna and combo the joker down =) 6.10
Reply ~23000 0 ~7 min 2 By S hole@PGF : Avg lvl 90. CDD and Haku fully awoken. The 2 skill boots is essential. Try to stall, dont over kill too many. f3 if eat Grundy Stomp dont take any hit after that. Save heart and dark orbs for f6. Pop echidna or not on f6 is your choice. for bane combo hard; for death I match orbs in the dark. f7 haku and/or CDD, 2 links. gg. 6.10
Reply ~17000 0 ~5 min 2 By Tenora@PF : R1-2 stall for Sersephone skill. Setup board for R3 with light/heal/dark/red R3- Kill ASAP using Persephone R
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4-5 Stall for Persephone R6 - Use Sonia x2, Persephone to finish off. R7 - Sonia, Hera, Baddie WIN 6.10
Reply ~18900 0 ~5 min 0 By AmonAmarth : Max Awk/Lvl - One Ronia max skilled. ~675 +eggs (1&2) Very important to stall here, you'll need Ronia up by... (3) Ronia. Grundy will one-shot you (4&5), clear normal, stall a bit for skills. (6) Ronia. Deathstroke pre-empt is a pain, Bane can be OHKO with good combos- use a second Ronia if needed. (7) Ronia,Hera,Baddie - OHKO 6.10
Reply >14000 0 ~10 min 2 By J@h : stall on fl1 & 2 to activate Baddie & Chaos Dragon. Fl3 kill then stall fl4 & 5. Fl6 : baddie / chaos dragon. Fl7 ; lubu/ronia/fallen OHKO 6.10
Reply ~27000 0 ~5 min 0 By koda : Ronia on floors 3, 6, and 7. For the other subs, I used FD Shiva and FA Luci, but they can be whatever devils you have. Having 3 Ronia actives and Ronia or Lu Bu as lead makes this lazy mode though. 6.10
Reply ~15000 0 ~10 min 0 By dgawd : this team barely makes it. stall when you can. echidna skill lvl 3 was used. flr 1-2, 4-5, stall if the turns allow, if you can leave 1 monster standing without triggering x25, stall, its ok if you killed. flr 3 and 6 is kill asap. must have echidna up by flr 7. activate umiyama and yomi for max combo. odin and ama is for heals. 5.00
Reply ~35000 0 ~45 min 3 By RedStorm : Floor 1,2,4&5 play normally.Floor 3,if Grundy appears,kill his partner asap,if MS is ready,can be used.Grind down Grundy to just above 10% and either kill him normally in 3 turns or use Gungnir to help,but do it in 3 turns.Floor 6, grind down while stalling for skills, use heal orbs wisely.Floor 7,3x Grav,MS,Gungnir,MS for win. 0 0 Tigerfish : I don't understand why I couldn't get past the Brute Strength on level 6. I had well over 15,000 hit points on my team, but he killed me. According to the calculator, he only hits you for 14,717 if there is an 80% reduction for Grodin. What happened? 0 0 Singsiblaw : Brute Strength is enhanced by Venom Strength for first attack. Therefore, the first attack is 29435. 6.10
Reply ~15000 0 ~7 min 1 By Mirira : Used Rainbow Keeper as wildcard for the HP, anything works. Stall on floor 1/2, use D/F Haku leader skill to snipe (match 2 colors + heart, 3.5x instead of 12.25x). Vamp on fl3. Haku active on fl6 (may use Alma but make sure you have at least 1 turn left on fl7) and all skills on fl7. Leaders max lv, subs 70+ & max awoken 6.10
Reply >16000 0 ~10 min 0 By chipacabre : Sonia, luci, lu bu all max awoken, lubu was level 90 and sonia was lev 75 but +160ish. Stall for echidna and use rd 3 with vamp. Stall again till rd 6 and echidna, vamp, baddie. rd 7 sonia, luci, lu bu OHKO. 6.10
Reply ~11500 0 ~5 min 1 By Wolverine : Baddie can replace lu bu, wicked lady can replace persephone. Stall for persephone and lilith for f3, then use skills to sweep. If ronia not up, stall for f6. Use ronia + lu bu/baddie for f6 and f7 for easy win. 5.30
Reply ~15000 0 ~6 min 1 By iwillbot : It helps if Sieg and Angelion are max skilled. Stall when possible. Use delays on last two stages. Use gravity on enemies with the most HP. Use other skills to help stall or 25x. 6.10
Reply ~22000 0 ~10 min 0 By MeatGun@PF : Floor 1-2 stall. Floor 3 vamp lord and Loki
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. Floor 4-5 stall. Floor 6 echidna and kill. If you have Loki up again use it here. Floor 7 Hades (skill ups help), Rsonia, Lu Bu 1 shot. 6.10
Reply >1981 0 ~7 min 0 By Vaynes : All maxed level, Sonia's +297. FL1 & FL2 kill all. FL3 Stall on Grundy (preferred but watch heal) or Flamethower but kill Copperhead right away if she comes up. When all skills up, use Persephone, make rows and kill. FL4 & FL5 kill all. FL6 Sonia and Shiva (I had Deathstroke). FL7 Sonia, Hera-Ur, King Baddie for overkill. 6.10
Reply ~17000 0 ~5 min 0 By okgav : F1, left one and stall all skill, can be done in F1-2. F3 u need to use Persephone. F6, Echidna + Ronia. F7, Ronia+Shiva+Lu Bu OHKO. good luck~ 6.10
Reply ~15000 0 ~5 min 0 By David@PG : Ez Ronia build. Wildcards can be any high atk devils (I.e Hera/Vamp/Lubu/Shiva/Belial) Stall on rounds 1/2 Burst through round 3 Ronia active round 6 Ronia + Baddie + Hera OHKO round 7 6.10
Reply ~16000 0 ~3 min 1 By 闇の力 @ SG : must max skill at least vamp duke and hanzo, best is max skill all of them. Must awakening all except vamp duke. Pretty much orb change every round using 9x unless its a boss just 16x. 6/7 stage use pandora + vamp duke orb change. 7/7 use haku + hanzo to clear. More or less confirm 0 stone. rider can exchange to D/D lucifer. 6.10
Reply >14521 0 ~10 min 0 By 「空白」 : Round 1-2, 4-5 stall for skills. Vamp was maxed skill. Round 3: use Vamp, match rows, if needed also use Haku. Round 6: If its Venom then grind him down and on the last turn, use Sonia+ hera-ur, if its Deathstroke then reveal all orbs and only use Sonia.Round 7: OHKO. If all skills are up, stalling rounds 4-5 isnt needed. 6.10
Reply ~15000 0 ~5 min 0 By Ch0de : Max Lvl leads, ~70 subs. Stall on F1/2/4 for skills, any stage that isn't a mini-boss. One hit or stall F3/6 if confident. Echidna on final stage, clear fire orbs and jammers. One 25x should one shot. I put dmeta for 2x damage on F6, use dark att. just in case and orb changers just in case of troll. 14k + 3k rcv to heal. 6.10
Reply ~14000 0 ~10 min 1 By 雞蛋仔 : I found with two Delays work better, you can use two Echidnas in place of Orochi. Use one on Floor 6 and one one 7. Skill ready on Floor 3 and before 6, 1 Haku for 6 with 6 + combo and follow up kill, save 1 for floor 7. On 7 use Tsukuyomi and Haku with 6+ combo and 1 to 2 follow up to get egg, good luck! 6.10
Reply ~20000 0 ~3 min 2 By cc : Nearly all full awoken. Clear trash with R/L orbs while removing B/G/H orbs, save dark orbs for RNDs 3 and 6, charging when safe. Remember GrundyReborn/V.E-Bane's first attack won't kill you. On RND5, memorize your dark orbs in case you're blinded on RND6. Can use Ares or Gryps early in emergency, else use all on Joker. 6.10
Reply ~1650 0 ~7 min 2 By Horizon@PF : Stall rounds 1&2. CDK + vamp actives round 3. Stall rounds 4&5. Byakko active round 6. Round 7 make boom boom. Farmable build! (My team was max level) 6.10
Reply >20000 0 ~4 min 1 By gorilla : Hera replace with ^HP Mech, Horus with +fr atk, and any two fr orb changer. HP over 20K to be safe. fl1 stall on 1 as long as you can. fl2 stall as long as you can. going into fl3 make sure you have at least 2014HP
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How to Always Have Something Better to Talk About Than the Weather
Six years ago, when I lived in a snowy mountain village and paid my bills by cleaning high-end sinks and toilets, someone said something that prompted me to confront an uncomfortable truth about myself.
A well-meaning coworker mentioned that she had been talking to another housekeeper about me. Oh?
“She said, ‘David is a such great guy to work with, it’s just that he’s just so quiet.‘”
I don’t remember how I responded, but I assume I tried to disagree somehow, and went back to my work hoping nobody would ever say that to me again.
Quiet. As if I have nothing to say.
I remember the rest of that day. As I scrubbed luxury-suite shower stalls, I played out an imaginary rebuttal in my head:
“Maybe I don’t want to talk about what any of you want to talk about. I have plenty to say, I just don’t want to talk about TV shows or how much I hate my job, like everyone else does. Maybe all you people do is complain, and I don’t want to participate. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not quiet.”
My little internal rant echoed a common human pattern, though I didn’t see it at the time:
When people feel inadequate in some way, they tend to make up whatever prejudices or beliefs they need to feel okay about it.
Of course, nobody realizes it while they’re doing it. Forming beliefs out of self-defense is very common behavior, and it’s probably the source of most of the erroneous and destructive beliefs people carry. I knew my coworkers weren’t all complainers and ingrates. They talked about things I was interested in too, but they did it much more freely and comfortably than I could, and I hated that.
Another typical example of a self-defense belief: a person feels like he doesn’t make as much money as he wants, so he forms the belief that highly-paid people are greedy or materialistic, to defend himself from feelings of inadequacy about his ability to earn.
I told myself that everyone else talked too much, so that I could spare myself the rotten feeling of recognizing that I was really bad at something I knew was important. I was painfully shy and I knew it, but like so many other behavioral problems I had, I rationalized it away. I argued to myself that I had every reason for speaking exactly as much or as little as I did. That belief kept me slightly less uncomfortable, but also prevented me from ever fixing the problem.
The Black Hole of Social Anxiety
I suspect that most shy people are not hardwired to be that way. They don’t lack any innate social talent, they just had one or two bad social incidents early on, and in an effort to avoid further social pain they began to err on the side of silence. Where last time they said something and regretted it, the next time they said nothing, and did not regret it.
Unbeknownst to them, this seemingly innocent little lesson is actually the seed of a devastating habit. Every shy person knows that the safest thing to say is nothing. Once a person chooses this safe approach a few times in a row, an insidious snowball begins to pick up speed.
The default approach to conversation soon becomes minimalism. Say what is necessary, but don’t volunteer anything extra. Anything you say is a liability. Every statement makes you a target for scrutiny. Every question you ask reveals your ignorance. Every passion you confess opens you up to ridicule. Better to say nothing.
Silence seems to quickly become the smartest policy. And in the short term, it is. Humiliation happens far less often.
But the long-term consequences are brutal.
You always look to someone beside you to address questions asked of your group. You slow down your pace when you enter a restaurant so another member of your party will reach the maître d first. One easily sinks into the habit of deferring social responsibility in this manner, and that dynamic begins to influence other aspects of life, such as work and family roles. You never feel like a leader, and that’s because you’ve always avoided leading. To lead is to be responsible. And shyness, at its heart, is about avoiding responsibility for what you say.
Shyness is so devastating to a personality because its effects compound so quickly, creating an outward personality that does not match the person, and an anemic social skillset that makes it difficult to ever recover.
First you begin to avoid conversation, because it presents risk. This reluctance becomes habitual. Then,
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because saying nothing is the standard approach, the prospect of speaking up becomes scarier, which only makes you avoid it more. The thought of humiliation becomes a looming, stalking monster, who can only be thwarted by keeping your mouth firmly shut. The more you avoid disapproval, the scarier it gets.
Being shy just kills self-esteem. People begin to treat you like you have nothing to say. It’s not even that they’re trying to marginalize you. It’s just that when you consistently contribute little or nothing to the conversation, they can’t help but assume you have nothing to contribute. And if everyone seems to be treating you like that, you begin to believe it. You begin to play out the role that is expected of you, even if it isn’t who you are or who you want to be.
Does any of this sound familiar?:
People you’ve already met introduce themselves to you multiple times. They don’t remember you because you didn’t say anything.
People know they’ve met you, but forget your name every time.
Somebody speaking to your party always looks to someone else for a response, never you.
You often hope someone else in the group will say something, to kill the silence.
You get nervous, or even resentful, when your friend departs to the restroom, leaving you with someone you don’t know well.
To make things worse, the consistent lack of practice prevents you from getting any better at conversing. So when you do find yourself wanting to speak up, it’s because you’re in a situation where it’s crucial to do so, such as at a job interview. Your underdeveloped conversation muscles make you much less likely to succeed in these high-pressure situations, which only creates more bad results and feeds the fear that much more.
This cycle is a big, slippery black hole, and once a person slides too far, they may never get out. Many come to a point where they give up on ever being comfortable socially. I wonder if this is what happened to Eleanor Rigby.
Public speaking still outranks death as most people’s greatest fear. No wonder.
Recovering From Shyness
I’ve spent a lot of time in online forums discussing ‘recovering from shyness’ with other people, and it’s comforting to know so many people have been in the same place I was in.
There are two primary pieces of advice I received, and now give. The first is watch how more skillful people do it. There are always opportunities to watch people interact. How do they begin conversations? How do they end them? How do they change topics? Even watching bad conversations can give you a great idea of what to do instead. Just watching people can give you a short go-to list of ways to open and close conversations. Make conversation-watching a habit.
The other piece of advice is, of course, to practice speaking up. And practice always means allowing yourself do something badly until you can do it not so badly. It means making habit of doing things that are uncomfortable at first. So when it comes to overcoming shyness, that means speaking more than you feel like speaking. If you’ve established a habit of leaving most of the speech to others, it will feel unnatural to open up. That’s good, do it anyway. Discomfort indicates growth. Always say a little bit more than you’re used to.
Everyone eventually recognizes that social muscles will atrophy if they are never exercised, so there is no salvation from social discomfort that does not include deliberately making conversation.
That was a huge sticking point for me: I hated the idea of making conversation. I thought it was phony to try to force something to happen like that. If there was something meaningful to be said, it would be said, right? Unfortunately that just isn’t true; it’s another false belief created for self-defense. I see now that making conversation is one of the most important life skills.
The bottom line, when it comes to overcoming fear of anything, is this:
Whenever you give in to a fear, it grows. Whenever you act in spite of it, it shrinks.
Luckily, it tends to shrink fast once you start opening up. You’ll find people have an easier time opening up to you. Uncomfortable people tend to make others uncomfortable, and open people tend to make others open.
However, when it comes to creating the habit of being un-shy, there is a roadblock almost everyone seems to encounter, even after the anxiety of speaking up begins to wane.
The problem almost everyone seems to have is that they simply don’t know
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what to say. They may be no longer afraid to speak up, but they just can’t think of a place to start. Those who have been social butterflies their whole lives probably have an entire arsenal of conversation starters at the ready — an inevitable byproduct of experience. But for the rest of us, it is often a struggle to find something to say that isn’t either trite or self-absorbed.
The Three Stooges of Conversation: Weather, Work and Current Events
Making conversation is uncomfortable for many people, because “made” conversations so often turn out to be contrived exchanges about the weather. I heard it’s supposed to be nice tomorrow. Yeah, but I think they changed the forecast. Might be cloudy. Oh, that’s too bad. Yeah, it is…
Awful. Why did we create this banal monster? Surely silence would have been preferable.
The reason the weather turns up as a topic so often is because we know that it’s something that is relevant to the other person’s life. In that sense it’s somewhat ‘safe’ territory. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could think of something (anything!) else that might be a little more… engaging?
Even with good friends, I’ve often found myself scrounging for conversation fodder, offering up such winners as: “So how’s work?” “Man is it windy today.” “So what did you do yesterday?”
Sometimes these tired offerings do get the words flowing, but so often the conversation limps along on topics neither person really wants to talk about. Most people I know aren’t especially excited to spend their leisure time talking about their jobs, or spending today talking about what they did yesterday. We dutifully play out these dead-weight conversations because it seems to be more wholesome than a conspicuous, lingering silence. I agree that it is marginally better, but it sure is refreshing when someone offers up something specific to us as a topic.
When you bring up something the other person genuinely cares about, enthusiasm begins to flow. A sense of collaboration emerges, and bonds form.
Best friends usually have an easier time getting a meaningful conversation going, because they know each other so well. They each know what the other wants to talk about. With acquaintances or ‘second-tier’ friends, it is more difficult to peg a particular topic as a good one, and so we lean on the old standards: weather, news and work.
It really comes down to making the habit of discovering what other people value. You can connect with anyone, if you know what is important to them, and if you give them an opportunity to talk about it. Just ask about their boat/kids/trip to Mexico/new motorcycle/squash club/kitten/sustainable household/homemade jam.
People are so grateful to get a chance to gush about their pet topics. They’ll remember the conversation, and they’ll certainly remember you. And that’s because you gave them a tremendous gift: you gave them a chance to be themselves with you. You rescued them from the slow agony of a dead-end work or weather conversation, and you let them feel good about being who they are. Don’t underestimate how profound an effect this has on a person. You can be the best part of a party for a lot of people.
It doesn’t really matter if you’re not interested in the topic. Just become interested in their interest. We all know what it’s like to be in our element, subject-wise. Help them to get there. Once the enthusiasm gets flowing, there is usually such openness and understanding that it becomes easy to work in virtually any topic you like. Then you can be in your element, if you want.
When you’re in a conversation with somebody, (or better yet, when you’re just watching a conversation) see if you can pick out what you think they really want to talk about. Everyone has their own pet topics that excite them What makes their eyes light up? Here’s a quick hint: all parents love to talk about their kids. And they’re so impressed when you remember what sport they play or what university they go to.
It’s not such a terrible idea just to sit down and write a list of friends and acquaintances, and for each, a few things you know they’d be happy to talk about. Then there you have it: starting points for any conversation you might find yourself in. If you can’t think of anything, make a point of finding out next time you speak with them.
Now I don’t suggest getting creepy with this
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Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay break down why Kyler Murray is a better match for the Cardinals and Kilff Kingbury than Josh Rosen. (1:36)
The 2019 NFL draft is a little less than two months away. Teams spent the past week at the NFL scouting combine getting a look at the top talent.
Now they have to decide what to do with their picks. Here's a look at some of the biggest questions they will be answering.
What would it take for the Cardinals to trade the No. 1 overall pick?
A lot. The Cardinals have yet to set a price for the top pick, but they won't move back unless it's just right -- whether or not that offer includes quarterback Josh Rosen. Coming out of the combine, it seems the Cardinals have zeroed in on Ohio State pass-rusher Nick Bosa. But they are doing their due diligence on Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, which means that if they don't get an offer that blows them away, the Cardinals might be comfortable staying put at No. 1. -- Josh Weinfuss
Would the 49ers rather trade down from the No. 2 spot or add an elite edge rusher?
Coach Kyle Shanahan has emphasized the need for "closers" for a team that has lost 11 one-possession games in the past two seasons, and he likened having a top edge rusher to having a top quarterback. Considering that and the Niners' position with the No. 2 overall pick, San Francisco appears to be better served to stay put and take a real difference-maker on the outside. That's not to say the 49ers wouldn't listen if someone came calling, and free agency could change things. -- Nick Wagoner
The Jets pulled off the biggest trade of the 2018 draft. How likely are they to do it again this year at No. 3?
The motivation is there, no question. General manager Mike Maccagnan would love to pull a reverse of last year, trading down and recouping what he sent to the Colts: three second-round picks. To make it happen, though, he will need a quarterback-needy team as a partner. Did someone say the Giants? The local rivals haven't made a trade since 1983, but they could help each other out by swapping places. With extra picks, the Jets could plug multiple holes, especially on the offensive line. If a trade makes sense, the Jets will do it. -- Rich Cimini
Oakland has three first-round picks. How would you define a successful Day 1 for Jon Gruden & Co.?
Talk about a loaded question, because you cannot fairly judge a class until two or three years after draft day, right? Let's just say Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock have to absolutely nail these picks. And by nail, I mean address specific needs at pass-rusher, at receiver and in the secondary. If one of those elite pass-rushers falls into their lap at No. 4 (paging Nick Bosa, Josh Allen, Quinnen Williams), so be it. But if the Raiders are able to trade back, pick up additional selections and address said needs, that would be a successful Day 1. Just check back in a few years. -- Paul Gutierrez
Let's fix the Bucs' defense with the No. 5 pick. What positions (and prospects) could they eye?
The Buccaneers have needs at every level of the defense, so they can go best available with the pick. Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat's experience in both a 3-4 and 4-3 scheme and his speed (4.41 40-yard dash at the combine, with a 1.44 10-yard split) could make for a great pairing with Jason Pierre-Paul. If Kwon Alexander doesn't return, LSU linebacker Devin White would be terrific on the inside next to Lavonte David. Even though they used two draft selections on cornerbacks last year -- Carlton Davis and M.J. Stewart -- the Bucs could use an impact player like LSU's Greedy Williams because Brent Grimes is not likely to return. -- Jenna Laine
Quarterback Kyler Murray is rising up the draft board. Will the Cardinals bite at No. 1 and trade Josh Rosen? Brett Deering/Getty Images
Give us a percentage chance the Giants take a quarterback with the No. 6 pick, and is there a QB they like over the others at this point?
72.2 percent. General manager Dave Gettleman said he wants to drop a quarterback on the franchise and then eventually watch him from his retirement digs on Cape Cod. He also noted evidence that you get franchise quarterbacks in the first round, not elsewhere. So it's clear he wants a first-round quarterback as long as there is an option with a high-enough grade. Dwayne Haskins seems to be their favorite after impressing the Giants
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Hello everybody. Today we will visit Arnhem, another town in the Netherlands. Who is with us to begin a new beautiful adventure? Let’s go!
Arnhem (which literally means “home of the eagles”, because of the many eagles that once lived in the hills and forests of Arnhem) is a city located on the Lower Rhine and is the capital of the province of Gelderland. It has also two rivers Nederrijn and Sint-Jansbeek. The city is rich in history and is one of the largest cities in the Netherlands but is also known as the most important city in terms of fashion.
To know more (where to eat, what to eat, where to have fun, acculturate …) continue to read.
We will start from the culture.
PLACES TO VISIT (MUSEUMS/THEATERS..)
Groote Kerk (St. Eusebius o Eusebiuskerk): is the largest church in the city and of the Netherlands. The tower, however, is not part of the church but it is owned by the municipality. Within it we can find an elevator which allows visitors to travel to the top of the spire and enjoy the magnificent view of the city. But there’s more of this because in the dark crypt (in medieval architecture means a room below the floor of a church) you can observe the different skeletons. We hope you aren’t scared that much because contrary to what you might think, the church is very beautiful and bright and offers many places to explore and many works to be seen, including the statues hanging from the ceiling in honor of military paratroopers.
(St. Eusebius o Eusebiuskerk): is the largest church in the city and of the Netherlands. The tower, however, is not part of the church but it is owned by the municipality. Within it we can find an elevator which allows visitors to travel to the top of the spire and enjoy the magnificent view of the city. But there’s more of this because in the dark crypt (in medieval architecture means a room below the floor of a church) you can observe the different skeletons. We hope you aren’t scared that much because contrary to what you might think, the church is very beautiful and bright and offers many places to explore and many works to be seen, including the statues hanging from the ceiling in honor of military paratroopers. Maarten van Rossum : is the town hall. The structure earned the name of the Duivelshuis (Devil’s home) for the satyrs in its Renaissance decorations.
: is the town hall. The structure earned the name of the Duivelshuis (Devil’s home) for the satyrs in its Renaissance decorations. KEMA Toren : it is the tallest structure in the city. It’s a transmission tower used for radio or for television.
: it is the tallest structure in the city. It’s a transmission tower used for radio or for television. Nederlands Openluchtmuseum : is a fantastic open-air museum. The museum shows the life and economic and cultural aspects of the Netherlands, in different historical periods, through exhibitions of traditional structures of the country, such as: windmills, carriages, trams and so on. It will be also possible to visit the interior of the exposed buildings. During the visit you will be accompanied by guides dressed in traditional costume. Don’t miss it!
: is a fantastic open-air museum. The museum shows the life and economic and cultural aspects of the Netherlands, in different historical periods, through exhibitions of traditional structures of the country, such as: windmills, carriages, trams and so on. It will be also possible to visit the interior of the exposed buildings. During the visit you will be accompanied by guides dressed in traditional costume. Don’t miss it! Museum Bronbeek : museum focuses on the colonial history of the nation.
: museum focuses on the colonial history of the nation. Museum Arnhem : is the art museum of the city. This has a garden and two large terraces over the Rhine. It is, in fact, classified as the best museum in the Netherlands.
: is the art museum of the city. This has a garden and two large terraces over the Rhine. It is, in fact, classified as the best museum in the Netherlands. Airborne Museum Hartenstein: a museum dedicated to the wars.
The most famous theater of the city is Het Posttheater while Luxor Live is the best-known concert hall.
ENTERTAINMENT (PUB/DISCO/PARKS…)
Lots of fun waits for us and for this..let
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Mexican Americans have a unique history with the United States that other Latinos simply don’t share.
In yet another blow for Chicano Studies, the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCLA voted 15-1 last month to change its name to “The César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies” after complaints from a small faction of students.
The vote was just the latest of several changes made to Chicano Studies departments across the country over the past year.
In April, multiple chapters from MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán) voted to drop “Chicanx” from their name, arguing it has homophobic and sexist connotations. And in October, the MEChA chapter of the University of Portland voted to change their name to the “Latinx Student Union.” I wrote about the former earlier this year in a post the went viral here.
But this incident feels particularly disappointing. Not because the students that complained the loudest got their way—as usual. But because the change was facilitated by Chicano studies professors who seem more concerned with appearing “woke” than devising an actual long-term solution to a legitimate problem.
I say this because the change solves nothing. On the contrary, it creates more problems. Not just for Mexican Americans and Chicano Studies, but for the Latinos who advocated for the change to begin with.
For example, what happens when Latinos from other nationalities and regions complain about lack of representation? Do we tack them to the end of Chicano Studies as well? If the answer is no, then why not? If the answer is yes, at what point do we stop adding regions and nationalities? Until we run out of countries and regions?
That sounds like a really long department name. Worse, a really watered-down version of Chicano Studies—which is what happens every time a new region or country is incorporated.
The real problem in universities isn’t the existence of a Chicano Studies program, but the non-existence of a comprehensive Latino studies program. And to this extent, the faction of Latinos who are advocating for change have a legitimate grievance that deserves to be heard.
“Latinos who are not of Mexican descent demanding to be included in the Chicano experience is like Chicanos demanding to be included in the black experience. It makes no sense.”
But even if most universities did offer a comprehensive Latino studies program, Chicano studies would likely still exist as a standalone discipline because Mexican Americans have a unique history with the United States that other Latinos simply don’t share.
This isn’t a matter of opinion. This is a matter of historical record. And to pretend otherwise simply to avoid hurting someone’s feelings is not only intellectually dishonest and does a disservice to Latinos, but epitomizes everything that is wrong with the state of academia.
As I wrote in April:
“Mexicans were cowboys before cowboys. It was Mexican Americans who fought sailors in the streets of Los Angeles during the Zoot Suit Riots. It was Mexican Americans who were rounded up by the hundreds during World War 2. It was Mexican Americans who marched in the streets of Texas, Colorado, California and New Mexico during the 60s. It was the Southwestern portion of the United States that once belonged to Mexico.
These events were momentous and can’t be ignored. Their remnants are all around us. And Chicanos—not “Latinos”—deserve credit for what they specifically achieved and overcame. As do all cultures and nationalities for their own achievements. But in either case, erasing or lumping everyone together with generic terms is a slap in the face to those who fought to be distinguished.”
Chicanos being rounded up prior to the Zoot Suit Riots.
None of this, of course, means concessions can’t still be made. That being said, even if every Latin American region and nationality did receive equal representation at the university level, I suspect a faction of people still wouldn’t be happy. I suspect a faction of people would still find something to complain about.
Why? Because I’m not entirely convinced the attacks on Chicano Studies are rooted in equity and inclusivity, but rather the product of ignorance, jealously, and animosity—something I find ironic considering Mexicans still absorb the brunt of attacks on behalf of other Latinos (El Paso anyone?).
Yet the feeling is rarely reciprocated. In fact, complaints against Mexicans feel never-ending: “Mexicans are sexist,” “Mexicans are homophobic,” “Mexicans are racist.” And my favorite one of all—”Mexicans are privileged
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After two years, a case’s status changed due to a student media investigation
By Julia Contarelli
Editor-in-Chief
Two years after an attempted sexual assault was classified as unfounded, Campus Police have redefined it as a forcible sex offense.
“Upon further review of the incident, it did fit the definition of an act of fondling as described under the Clery Act guidelines,” Randy Melton, Chief of Campus Police in a written statement. “The recently submitted Clery Report included the updating of the 2014 data to include this incident which was unintentionally left off the original 2014 report.”
The Clery Act is a federal law that requires colleges to report crime statistics.
Click here to read the Clery Act regulations.
According to Kimberly Lessner, Executive Director of Marketing, Media and Communications, the changes happened because student media questioned the report and Campus Police took a second look at it.
Click here to read the incorrect Annual Security Report.
“Chief Melton … makes the decisions to reclassify. I did not,” said Lessner. “They’re the ones making the decision. I think what it says about Campus Police is that they take their roles very seriously, they strive to do their best at every point in time.”
In the last issue of The DrumBeat, the story “TJC failed to report ‘unfounded’ crime as required by law” reported that experts believe the attempted sexual assault should have been listed on the Annual Security Report.
Click here to read the updated Annual Security Report.
“If and when a point arises about a case, they are very open to going back. They’re open to looking at it, to check if, you know, ‘did we do this correctly,’ and if in their estimation, they could’ve done something differently,” said Lessner. “They are gonna correct it immediately. I think that that’s what happened in this case, and I think that’s what they did.”
The case was considered ‘unfounded’ beforehand because the victim exchanged text messages with the perpetrator 10 days after the incident, on Jan. 26.
According to the police report investigation narrative, Officer P.Scott on Jan. 22:
Click here to read the police report. (WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE)
“I explained I could not go any further with the case because of the text she sent, (victim) said she sent it for a friend. I advised her that with her name and number it would be very hard to prosecute. (Victim) understood.”
The police report shows ‘case is closed’ after the quote from Jan. 22, five days before the text messages were exchanged.
Together with the normal investigation, all sexual assault cases are required by law to have a Title IX investigation as well. TJC officials could not confirm if this case had one.
Click here to read the Title IX regulations.
According to the U.S. Department of Education:
“Even if a student or his or her parent does not want to file a complaint or does not request that the school take any action on the student’s behalf, if a school knows or reasonably should know about possible sexual harassment or sexual violence, it must promptly investigate to determine what occurred and then take appropriate steps to resolve the situation.”
After analyzing the report, experts said the case should not be ‘unfounded’ because victims often have a sense of denial and self-blame.
“If the police talked the victim out of pressing charges based on that exchange of text messages, that reflects a real lack of training and professionalism on the part of the police department,” according to Frank D. LoMonte, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center. “It’s well-documented that especially in a campus setting where people encounter each other socially, victims sometimes will act pleasantly toward the people who’ve assaulted them, partly because it’s hard to conceive of yourself as having been sexually assaulted.”
The revised 2014 report and the 2015 report was sent to students and faculty on Sept. 30 through an email. The new corrected version that now shows the forcible sex offense from 2014 has not yet been emailed. The Department of Education requires that if a Clery Act report undergoes a correction after being issued, it must be sent again in the same way as it was first issued.
“If there was an email notification to the entire campus when the report first came out, then there must be another notification using the same method … the report must be redistributed campus-wide and, if it is posted online, the
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It is hard to count all the investigations into the Benghazi, Libya, attack — the exhaustive hearings and extensive testimony, the State Department review, the Senate report, the House report, the piles of newspaper and television stories. All failed to reveal any cover-up, any orders for the military not to help, or any lies from administration officials.
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Yet Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, told a conservative radio host last week that Americans still do not have the “full story” behind the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
Also last week, a Republican invited the father of one of the Americans killed in the terror attack to be his guest at the State of the Union address. And, by the end of last week, a House resolution to form a select committee to investigate the episode had more than 181 Republican co-sponsors.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Republican National Committee is openly saying the party’s negative research team is focused on Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhat Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE. He specifically mentioned Benghazi.
“We have to be very aggressive,” in looking at Clinton, said Reince Priebus in a December interview with talk radio host Hugh Hewitt.
At this point, Americans can conclude on the basis of available evidence that the Republican fixation on Benghazi has less to do with the facts of the tragedy than with their assessment that it is their best and only remaining hope to derail Clinton’s chances of winning the White House.
The GOP may be right to keep the fire hot.
A new Fox News poll finds 60 percent of registered voters believe Clinton is to blame for what happened in Benghazi. There was no surprise that 80 percent of Republicans blame Clinton. But it is news that 41 percent of Democrats agree with that opinion. That’s a danger to Clinton.
A December poll by YouGov and The Economist found Clinton, who was the nation’s most popular political figure for much of her time at the State Department, with favorable ratings higher than 50 percent, had seen her numbers fall to 46 percent. Those holding a favorable view were outnumbered by an eye-catching 48 percent who had a negative opinion of her. The most recent Washington Post poll has her back to 58 percent favorability with 38 percent negatives.
But the YouGov pollsters directly attributed Clinton’s approval drop in their poll to “negative press surrounding the tragic September 11, 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi.”
In December 2012, Nate Silver, the statistician and predictions expert then working for The New York Times, wrote that if Clinton “runs for president in 2016, one thing is almost certain: she won’t be as popular as she is right now.” At that time 65 percent of Americans, in a politically divided nation, viewed her favorably. “Those are remarkably high numbers for a politician in an era when many public officials are distrusted or disliked,” Silver wrote.
He predicted that the excitement around Clinton as the nation’s first likely female president as well as her resumé and fundraising skills translated into real “advantages.”
Silver later concluded the potential harm to Clinton from Benghazi would endanger her “perceived ‘inevitability.’ ”
That explains the GOP’s persistent efforts to keep Benghazi from fading away in the minds of American voters. Republicans cannot afford to run against a titanic political figure who is widely regarded as the inevitable next president.
The GOP is frantic to keep Clinton within reach as just one more generic Democrat.
The Benghazi story is their best hope, though a very thin one. So they have to keep pumping a dry well in hope something might bubble to the top.
Now the nascent Clinton campaign is beginning to respond to the GOP’s preemptive attacks.
Last week, Clinton said publicly the deaths in Benghazi are her “biggest regret” from her tenure at the State Department. She now calls the situation a “terrible tragedy.”
The tone of her remarks is far different than when she testified before Congress. When asked if the attack was a response to an anti-Muslim video or the work of terrorists, she dismissively told Congress: “What difference does it make?”
Now she conveys a sense of sorrow.
Last October, David Brock, a well-known liberal activist and Clinton ally, released an e-book titled The Benghazi Hoax. It is a hard- edged attack on the GOP for exploiting the story to score political points. Now it is also a guidebook for the Clinton campaign.
Clinton knows that many of her husband’
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Satanists are masters at trolling conservatives -- just ask Megyn Kelly If conservatives were smart, they'd ignore Satanists, but they just can't seem to help themselves from engaging
The Satanists have gotten conservatives to rise to the bait again. Recently, Megyn Kelly of Fox News brought Lucien Greaves of the Satanic Temple onto her program to discuss his decision to withdraw a request to put a statue of Baphomet at the Oklahoma state Capitol. As Greaves explained, the Satanic Temple had only requested the statue as a response to the state putting up a statue of the Ten Commandments. Now that the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ordered the state to take down the Ten Commandments statue, the Satanists are, according to Greaves, satisfied that the state will not “allow a single viewpoint to co-opt the power and authority of government institutions.”
Obviously, Kelly’s purpose in having Greaves on was not to give a secularist viewpoint a fair hearing, but to drive up Fox News ratings by whipping her conservative audience into a what-is-this-world-coming-to outrage at hearing not only that Satanists exist, but they think they have rights and stuff, just like Christians. She probably accomplished that goal, but at the expense of making herself look like a fool. She was visibly angry at Greaves, spitting out words like “Satanist” and “pagan” and condescendingly sneering at “your devil figure.”
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But to the discerning viewer, Greaves kept the upper hand throughout the segment. As Kelly worked herself up, he calmly made the case for a government that truly respects freedom of religion and does not try to impose a specific belief on citizens. Once again, Satanists show they are the absolute masters at trolling conservatives. Here's why.
1. Satanists play off the conservative victim complex.
If conservatives were smart, they would ignore Satanists as much as they could. But, as this Fox segment shows, the right just can’t avoid engaging. So much of conservatism is built on this silly notion that the world is out to oppress conservative Christians. The idea that real Satanists are out there just feeds that narrative that the world is out to get them, meaning they can hardly help freaking out and calling even more attention to Satanists.
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Satanists turn conservative disingenuousness over on itself. As the court found, the original decision to put the Ten Commandments statue up at the Capitol was a direct attempt by conservative Christians to suggest state endorsement of Christianity, which directly contradicts the state constitution’s ban on using public money to push religion. But Kelly kept using the defeated and clearly disingenuous argument that the Ten Commandments isn’t about religion, but “historical meaning.” Greaves calmly put that down, pointing out that Baphomet also has historical meaning, and the image of the demon god has been important occult imagery since the 19th century.
This argument irritated Kelly, and it’s no wonder. Conservatives love to trot out this “historical meaning” argument, but tend to be vague about what specific meaning this kind of gesture had in history. That’s because the history being honored is a lengthy and dishonorable history of previous attacks on religious freedom from their conservative Christian forebears. It’s an attempt to rewrite history to make it seem like the theocrats of our past were more relevant than the secularists. In reality, it’s the opposite: This country has been secular from the beginning, with separation of church and state written into our Constitution. Greaves’ comment about the 19th century was funny, sure, but it was also an important reminder that secularism and plurality are hardly new ideas.
2. Satanists force conservatives to be more blunt about their theocratic intentions.
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Obviously, the right does not want to let Satanists put up their own competing monuments for every Christian monument conservatives sneak onto government grounds. But, as Greaves’ appearance on Fox News shows, it’s very difficult to explain why Christian monuments are OK but Satanist ones are not if you’re sticking to the vague “historical meaning” arguments. By pressing their point, Satanists force the hands of defenders of the Christian monuments.
Case in point: On this segment of Fox News, Kelly turned from Greaves to Randy Brogdon, the former Oklahoma state senator who got the Ten Commandments monument in the first place. Unable to answer any of Greaves’ arguments, Brogdon resorted to basically admitting that the purpose of the monument was to endorse Christianity above all other religions, by arguing that Oklahoma has “different values.” In other words, since Oklahomans have elected a bunch of Christian fundamentalists to state government, it should
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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Lim Sivhuy owns four mobile phones and has five different phone numbers but it’s nearly impossible to get her on the line.
Meanwhile, an entire day can go by trying. Upon first attempt, you’re told Lim’s number is busy. A different number you’re told doesn’t exist. Later, when you try again with yet a different number, you only get ringing. Then an automated voice encourages you to try again — but you don’t.
In this small Southeast Asian country wedged between Thailand and Vietnam, the experience calling 20-year-old Lim in western Cambodia's Pursat town is not in any way unusual.
Urban Cambodia is so over-saturated with mobiles and telephone numbers that it’s often impossible to get anyone, anywhere on the line.
Rice farmers own two mobile phones for no apparent reason. Markets teem with dozens of mobile phone shops all hawking the same ware.
There are way too many service providers. In 2006, Cambodia was host to three mobile-phone service providers, but by the end of 2010, there were nine — a shocking occurrence given that Cambodia has a population of 15 million people and many countries with far more people manage with fewer providers. Thailand, for instance, with a population of 61 million, has four providers, and Vietnam's 90 million citizens are serviced by seven.
Recognizing that competition had become too crowded, two mobile phone service providers — Smart Mobile and Star-Cell — announced a merger in early January, a move that may spark additional consolidations, some analysts contend.
“It’s one of the most competitive environments in the world,” said Smart Mobile Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hundt. “To have eight cell phone providers for a country of 15 million people, I don’t know of another country where the ratio is like Cambodia’s.”
The spoils of competitive mobile-phone provider warfare have been good to the kingdom. Deals abound as providers pivot for more customers, and mobiles are always on the cheap, some going for only $5.
Between 2009 and 2010, the number of mobile-phone connections in Cambodia more than doubled, leaping from 4.2 million telephone numbers to 8.5 million, according to the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. Six years ago, when far fewer network providers did business, there were only 690,000 numbers.
Things, as a result, have gotten a little silly. The sight of someone talking on two phones at the same time isn’t uncommon.
People pester business card designer Souk Srey Mom into cramming all five or six of their telephone numbers onto a single card, despite her admonishments that “it won’t be beautiful — a mess!”
Others vie for “lucky” telephone numbers, designated as such based on complicated calculations or seemingly arbitrary distinctions. The estimated price of the number “017999999”? Three grand.
“Yes, I have a lot of cell phones,” related Lim Sihvuy, remarkably enough, over the phone. “This is so because it is very easy and very convenient with so many phones and they are so modern and so beautiful.”
That’s just the thing, said a spokesman at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, who asked to remain nameless. They’re easy. They’re convenient. They’re modern. In a country rushing to develop, the mere act of owning mobile phones says more about your stature than whether you have money left over to actually pay for service. Thus a country of inoperative telephone numbers and unreturned calls. Too many mobiles; not enough money to use them. Countless numbers hang in ether.
Statistics are vague at best. No one knows the exact percentage of Cambodians using mobile phones, though governmental estimates usually hover around 50 percent. Yet, every available statistic and anecdote suggests there will soon be more mobile-phone shops, more telephone numbers, more confusion.
In rural Kampong Thom province, Lim Vuthy, a slight monk who smokes thin cigars, owns eight — count 'em — eight mobile phones.
On a recent Monday afternoon at his pagoda he reclined on wooden furniture, his full arsenal before him. Virtually every mobile brand and service provider present and accounted for.
Each telephone is absolutely necessary, he said, referring to situations when he receives three urgent calls at the same time and conducts the conversations simultaneously. Ah, the social responsibilities of today’s monkhood.
“It’s difficult to talk on three cell phones at the same time,” Lim began to explain, before he was interrupted by a phone call. Looking
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The price of oil has fallen by half in the past two years, to just over $10 a barrel. It may fall further—and the effects will not be as good as you might hope
OIL is cheaper today, in real terms, than it was in 1973. After two OPEC-induced decades of expensive oil, oil producers and the oil industry as a whole have more or less given up hope that prices might rebound soon. The chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, Mark Moody-Stuart, three months ago unveiled a five-year plan that assumed a price of $14 a barrel. He has since publicly mused about oil at $11. Sir John Browne, chief executive of BP-Amoco, is now working on a similar assumption.
Consumers everywhere will rejoice at the prospect of cheap, plentiful oil for the foreseeable future. Policymakers who remember the pain of responding to oil shocks in 1973 and in 1979-80 will also be pleased. But the oilmen's musings will not be popular with their fellows. For if oil prices remain around $10, every oil firm will have to slash its exploration budget. Few investments outside the Middle East will any longer make sense.
Cheap oil will also mean that most oil-producing countries, many of them run by benighted governments that are already flirting with financial collapse, are likely to see their economies deteriorate further. And it might also encourage more emissions of carbon dioxide at just the moment when the world is trying to do something about global warming.
Yet here is a thought: $10 might actually be too optimistic. We may be heading for $5. To see why, consider chart 1. Thanks to new technology and productivity gains, you might expect the price of oil, like that of most other commodities, to fall slowly over the years. Judging by the oil market in the pre-OPEC era, a “normal” market price might now be in the $5-10 range. Factor in the current slow growth of the world economy and the normal price drops to the bottom of that range.
That the recent fall in prices has been so precipitous merely confirms that, for the past 25 years, oil has been anything but a normal commodity. Although the Middle East contains two-thirds of the world's proven oil reserves, it produces less than a third of the world's oil. If production were determined by cost and quality alone, most oil would come from these countries. Oil in the Gulf is cheap to extract—barely $2 a barrel, a quarter of the cost in the North Sea. Unlike the heavy crudes of Mexico or Venezuela, it is of high quality and high value. Much of the world needs fancy technology and expensive rigs to extract oil; in Arabia, as the old hands say, “you just stick a straw in the ground and it gushes out.”
The Gulf countries are to blame for their small share of the market. By nationalising their oil industries and doing their best through the OPEC cartel to keep prices high in the 1970s and 1980s, they encouraged oil development elsewhere. With oil so profitable, prospectors searched inhospitable parts of the world. The perverse result is that high-cost regions (such as the North Sea) have been exploited before low-cost ones (such as Iran).
The oil industry is like a ship with its centre of gravity above the water line, says Jeremy Elden of Germany's Commerzbank. It can sail smoothly for years, but capsize suddenly in rough seas—and do so quite rapidly. An unprecedented combination of excess supply and weak demand has created just such rough seas in the past year. The finances of the Gulf states are suffering, as budget cutbacks and recent talk of defence cancellations have shown.
Yet if the Gulf producers thought that oil prices would remain low for some years, it would pay them to abandon all attempts to boost oil revenues by propping up prices, and instead to increase production. The result would be a world in which supply and demand were determined not by geopolitics and cartels, but by geology and markets—meaning that, in today's conditions, the price would head down towards $5. That sounds appealing. But it carries also a less happy corollary of a world that depends upon a highly unstable region for half its oil, with the proportion rising all the time.
Well down
A new report by Arthur Andersen, an accounting firm, and CERA, an energy consultancy, argues that the present price collapse is fundamentally different from the previous one, in 1986. Then, high prices had choked off demand; but as soon as oil became cheap again, the thirst for it returned. This time demand has barely picked up, even though the price has fallen by half.
One short-term reason is yet another unseasonably warm winter in the northern hemisphere. A more lasting one is the economic troubles of Asia, the region that had been expected to
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drive oil-company profits for years to come. Even such sceptics as David O'Reilly, one of Chevron's bosses, who continues to pooh-pooh what he calls a temporary “price siege”, still worry that, because of Asia's crisis, demand might not rebound. Demand may fall further if and when America's record-breaking growth comes to an end.
There is another threat on the demand side: worries over global warming. Although the science remains inconclusive, rich countries agreed at the Kyoto summit in 1997 that it is worrying enough to warrant pre-emptive action. So they have agreed to binding targets to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. Whether or how countries will hit these targets is unclear. But demand for oil (though not for cleaner gas) in the rich world is likely to be one casualty.
The supply situation is even gloomier for producers. Unlike 1986, oil supplies have been slow to respond to the past year's fall. Even at $10 a barrel, it can be worth continuing with projects that already have huge sunk costs. Rapid technological advances have pushed the cost of finding, developing and producing crude oil outside the Middle East down from over $25 a barrel (in today's prices) in the 1980s to around $10 now. Privatisation and deregulation in such places as Argentina, Malaysia and Venezuela have transformed moribund state-owned oil firms. According to Douglas Terreson of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, an investment bank, this has “unleashed a dozen new Texacos during the 1990s”, all of them keen to pump oil.
Meanwhile OPEC, which masterminded the supply cuts that pushed prices up in the 1970s and 1980s, is in complete disarray. The cartel will try yet again to agree upon production cuts at its next meeting, on March 23rd, but, partly thanks to its members' cheating on quotas, the impact of any such cuts will be small. OPEC members fear that Iraq, whose UN-constrained output rose by 1m barrels a day in 1998, may some day be able to raise production further. Last week Algeria's energy minister declared, with only slight exaggeration, that prices might conceivably tumble “to $2 or $3 a barrel.”
Nor is there much chance of prices rebounding. If they started to, Venezuela, which breaks even at $7 a barrel, would expand production; at $10, the Gulf of Mexico would join in; at $11, the North Sea, and so on (see ). This will limit any price increase in the unlikely event that OPEC rises from the dead. Even in the North Sea, the bare-bottom operating costs have fallen to $4 a barrel. For the lifetime of such fields firms will continue to crank out oil, even though they are not recouping the sunk costs of exploration and financing. And basket-cases such as Russia and Nigeria are so hopelessly dependent on oil that they may go on producing for some time whatever the price.
And $5?
All this explains why oil prices will remain low. But there needs to be a shift in the policy of the world's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, for them to be halved again. The kingdom has for years restrained output to support prices. However, if its rulers think prices are going to remain low anyway, their calculation may change.
“If it weren't for politics,” insists Euan Baird, head of Schlumberger, the world's biggest oil-services firm, “every barrel of oil would be pumped out of the Gulf—especially Saudi Arabia.” Politics is not dead yet, as troubles in so many oil countries, from Venezuela to Russia to Nigeria have made plain—indeed, it may be the very prize of oil that has created these countries' problems. But a new kind of politics may now be at work to make Mr Baird's assertion come true.
The latest oil-price shock has come at a sensitive time for the Saudi ruling family. Power is passing from the ailing monarch, King Fahd, to his brother, Abdullah. The autocratic family has had problems with dissent in radical Islamist quarters. Low oil prices crippled the Saudi economy in 1998: output shrank by nearly 2%, both the current-account and the budget deficits soared to nearly 10% of GDP and debt approached 100% of GDP. This year will be worse.
The choice is simple. Either the Saudis must cut back their welfare state, by slashing benefits and raising taxes, or they must find a way of increasing oil revenues. But the ruling family's delicate domestic situation makes the first option difficult. So instead the Saudis may now do what once would have been unthinkable: throw open the taps. That, according to McKinsey, a management consultancy, would certainly herald an era of $5 oil.
It would also destroy OPEC. But the cartel is already moribund, and
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In this story
When cabinet’s number-crunching committee with responsibility for finalising the budget convened in recent weeks for its first few meetings, it was Malcolm Turnbull rather than treasurer Scott Morrison who chaired the sessions.
As part of his pitch for the leadership, Turnbull made it clear that he felt Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey had failed to sell an economic message and that he was best qualified to rectify this.
“They’re both focused on the mix of politics and the policy. There’s also a big focus on what is actually implementable.”
So it is that Turnbull has thus far taken the lead in the expenditure review committee, as his government prepares for its first significant economic statement in December and begins to plot a budget strategy and wide-ranging tax package.
The prime minister is always nominally the chair of the ERC, but it usually falls to the treasurer to run it. In due course, Morrison is expected to take the reins as the committee gets down to detail.
Still, Turnbull’s role is significant and an early marker of how his relationship with Morrison may unfold. As Turnbull says he’s leaving it to his ministers to run their portfolios, it is clear he sees drafting and selling the government’s economic message as part of his own job.
Even if Morrison is only in sixth spot in the formal cabinet rankings – behind Turnbull, Warren Truss, Julie Bishop, George Brandis and Barnaby Joyce – his relationship with the prime minister is perhaps the most important for the government’s fortunes.
1. Early tests
And the relationship goes back a long way. Just over a decade ago, Turnbull and Morrison faced a make-or-break test that could have ended each of their political careers before they had begun.
Turnbull, the investment banker and the Liberal Party’s federal treasurer, was impatient for a spot in parliament and had resolved to challenge first-term Liberal MP Peter King for the prized seat of Wentworth.
Morrison, as state director of the Liberal Party in New South Wales, oversaw what came to be known as the Great Wentworth Stack, as King and Turnbull competed in late 2003 to sign up new members to support them in the preselection battle the following March.
“[Morrison] ran a very orderly ship as state director,” recalls Liberal senator for NSW Bill Heffernan.
“It was a big test of the state director to have a sitting member in a prominent seat being challenged and to have all that happening without the bottom falling out of the ship.”
When Morrison spoke publicly about the preselection stoush, he focused on the rigorous vetting of membership applications, amid allegations of skulduggery from either side.
“Compliance has been very high,” Morrison was quoted as saying as some 3300 new members were rapidly signed up in the affluent seat in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. “Both camps have been making sure things are according to Hoyle before submitting applications.”
As for the candidates, both were, he said, “outstanding”. No favouritism there. It was an approach that was deemed by Heffernan and others to be entirely appropriate for a party official.
It would, says another party insider, have been outrageous had Morrison in any way actively supported Turnbull’s effort to dislodge a sitting MP. Yet it is also true that Morrison did not intervene to protect that MP against challenge. “He was supportive of Malcolm having a go,” says another senior Liberal. “He didn’t bend the rules to support Malcolm as opposed to Peter, but a state director working against a new candidate can be a problem and it wasn’t a problem in this context.” Indeed, some of King’s supporters remain bitter about how the preselection was run. Publicly at least, Morrison took a hands-off approach, allowing events to unfold.
2. Staying hands-on
Now in the role many assumed was his goal from the start, Turnbull has given Morrison the crucial treasury portfolio. However, it seems unlikely Turnbull’s approach will be hands-off.
Turnbull and Morrison talk every morning, to co-ordinate messages and ensure they don’t contradict each other. Abbott and Hockey were often at odds in public comments. Traditionally, the treasurer’s role is to be the government’s economic hardhead while the prime minister focuses more on politics. Abbott on several occasions overruled Hockey for political reasons, for instance on changes to superannuation tax concessions, the GST and negative gearing.
This partnership is different.
With his business background, Turnbull is confident in his grasp of economics. Morrison, for his part, has considerable political experience. “This sets up
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an interesting dynamic between the two of them,” says a senior government source. “They’re both focused as a result on the mix of politics and the policy. You don’t want a situation where your two senior people are pulling in opposite directions. There’s also a big focus on what is actually implementable. It’s a very pragmatic approach.”
The way this senior government source portrays it, it seems close to what shadow treasurer Chris Bowen sketches in his recent book, The Money Men: Australia’s Twelve Most Notable Treasurers, as the desirable dynamic between a prime minister and treasurer, though Bowen may well differ on the outcomes of their deliberations.
“Successful treasurers work in partnership with a supportive prime minister,” writes Bowen. “A prime minister and treasurer do not need to be friends. They may even have once been rivals. But they must work together. A successful partnership will involve a prime minister and treasurer jointly developing and agreeing on an economic plan. A treasurer needs the support of the prime minister to implement reforms. A good treasurer pushes the envelope and argues for a robust approach to vital reforms; to be successful, they do not need to win every argument, but they do need to win most.”
3. Working in tandem
Still, if Turnbull and Morrison are working in tandem now, reinforcing each other, this dynamic is certainly one to watch in the years ahead, should the partnership and government endure. For if both men are effectively trying to do the same job, then surely there could be room for rivalry.
Indeed, successful PM–treasurer relationships are rarely without friction. And that’s clear from the role models – one Labor and one Coalition – nominated by key Turnbull supporter Arthur Sinodinos. Just days after Turnbull toppled Abbott and before he revealed his cabinet, Sinodinos explained how the team of PM and treasurer must carry the government.
“I think he [Turnbull] has got a good capacity to get into the economic debate in a more thorough-going way,” Sinodinos said during a podcast interview with veteran journalist Michelle Grattan, now with The Conversation. “We need a return to the sort of style of Howard and Costello, Hawke and Keating, where both the prime minister and the treasurer were central players in the economic debate.
“When you have your two most powerful articulate spokesmen out there selling the message and engaging in a national conversation, that’s your best chance of dominating the conversation and selling the message.”
Morrison has sold a few messages in his time, with varying success. As state director of the Liberals, for instance, he was involved in crafting election messages.
Ben Franklin, who was campaign director for the Liberals’ successful 2004 campaign for the federal seat of Greenway, recalls Morrison’s acuity in discerning the mood of the electorate, which is based around Blacktown in Sydney’s west and had always been held by Labor.
“It wasn’t just that he had a real keen political sense – he was head and shoulders above everyone else in terms of instinctive understanding of the political dynamic – but it was also that he had a deep understanding of what people cared about,” says Franklin, who is now a Nationals MLC in NSW.
“He understood this at a really visceral level, from the first positioning statement, to defining the message, to identifying the issues we were to run on, which were predominantly cost of living. It was before cost of living had become as significant an issue as it is now. It was before ‘working families’ and Kevin Rudd.”
The next message he sold proved more controversial. After the 2004 federal election, Morrison was appointed by Hockey, who was then tourism minister, to a lucrative job heading up the government’s new Tourism Australia body, responsible for attracting international visitors. There was a whiff of cronyism, though Morrison did have experience in the industry, having worked in the 1990s for lobby group the Tourism Task Force and as director of the New Zealand Office of Tourism and Sport.
Years later, Morrison is still defensive about his role in approving the “Where the bloody hell are you?” advertising campaign, which fell foul of regulatory regimes in some key target markets. “It was a campaign designed, you know, to get attention, get recognition, and to cut through, which it certainly did,” he said recently, insisting the backlash was anticipated and the campaign stimulated tourism spending. But there were tensions with the board and he clashed with Hockey’s successor, Fran Bailey, who had him removed from the role.
Morrison entered federal parliament in 2007 after his own complicated preselection in the Cronulla-based seat of Cook, which lacked the high-society buzz of the
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This is my niece Amira, she is 7yrs old, she is bright, she is funny, she is loving, she is imaginative, she is independent, she is amazing!….oh, did I also mention that she is Autistic but that in no way defines who she is? This is the story of the ongoing battle to get her the support and education she needs and deserves.
The full story from the very beginning can be found here…www.moosmindovermatter.blogspot.com but, once again we have hit a sticky patch with the council, their arbitrary decisions and the impact they have on real people, on children who ask for nothing more than a chance to access the education they are entitled to as a basic human right and we need all the support we can get!
Way back in April 2012 Amira was excluded from her mainstream school as they just couldn’t cope and were at ‘crisis point’, they decided that the only option was to kick her out pending a further review, referral for diagnosis and full SEN statement (a process which had already started months earlier), she was 5yrs old! … After a further 6 whole months of battles with panels, doctors, therapists, local councils and even MP’s Amira was finally allocated a place at a fantastic Special Needs School in October 2012, and although the ride was by no means easy she settled in and has made outstanding progress in the time she as been there. However, she has yet to attend school for a full day, this is due to ongoing transport problems for which the local council are responsible.
The official diagnosis is Severe Autism (Core) with ADHD and PDA, she also has problems with gross motor skills and can’t walk for more than around 50yds before becoming extremely fatigued. When she started at school she received 2:1 support until she gradually moved on and was able to change over to 1:1, recently she has started to be integrated into a classroom with another small group of children but with her support worker still by her side. Amira is generally a very happy little girl but one of her major trigger points are ‘transitions’ and change which can cause her to become extremely anxious and distressed, often leading to a major meltdown and the accompanying violent outbursts. To help combat this as part of the care package her school and therapists implemented a transport system where she is picked up from home by a bus with just a driver and her highly skilled and experienced 1:1 support worker, this allows around a 10 min gap between home environment/parent and school giving enough time for her to adjust and prepare for the day ahead…..perfect, exactly what she needs, sounds simple, yes?
Well not quite, up until now the school have provided this transport arrangement on an ad-hoc and temporary basis…. fast forward 13months and because the council STILL haven’t agreed to release the funding required the school are still providing it themselves, using their own resources, time and money which they are unable to continue. The school have been fantastic and in addition to their outstanding work with all of the children they have really gone out of their way to support Amira’s overall well being and development. However, as this arrangement was never supposed to be permanent it has meant that Amira has to wait until all of the other children are sorted out before there is a bus and driver free to collect her and the opposite at home time, she needs to leave earlier to allow the bus to get back to take everyone else home so for over a year Amira’s school day runs from 10am til 2.30 pm….a full 2hrs per day less than any other child attending school (mainstream or otherwise).
After yet more months of battle, ignored phone calls, unattended meetings and pressure from the school the council have FINALLY come to a decision today…in their infinite wisdom they have concluded that the funding WILL NOT be released to provide any transport for Amira!! Their reasoning is that she cannot have 1:1 support and travel it has to be one or the other so basically if they provide the transport they will withdraw the 1:1 and vice versa.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong but this seems grossly unfair to me! Access to education is within a child’s basic human rights and failure to provide this is not only in direct opposition to that but also in breach of several laws not to mention the morality of it. Amira is coping well at school, with full 1:1 support, by withdrawing that the council would be denying her this access as she would not be able to cope with the demands of school without it, however, by removing the transport facility this also has the same effect by setting her up for failure from the outset as she struggles with these transitions already, this is specifically outlined in her statement of special educational needs, which legally should be adhered to by all service providers
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Being an illustrated run through the basics.
What happened was, for our recent South American tour I wanted an Android architecture overview graphic. I ran across, among the Android SDK documentation, a page entitled What is Android?, and it’s perfectly OK. Except for, I really disliked the picture — on purely aesthetic grounds, just not my kind of lettering and gradients and layouts — so I decided to make another one.
I thought I’d run it here and, since I’ve been spending a lot of time recently explaining What Android Is to people, I thought I’d provide my version of that as well, in narrative rather than point form.
First of all, as Dan Morrill memorably explained in On Android Compatibility, “Android is not a specification, or a distribution in the traditional Linux sense. It’s not a collection of replaceable components. Android is a chunk of software that you port to a device.”
Linux · Underneath everything is a reasonably up-to-date Linux kernel (2.6.32 in my current Nexus One running Froyo), with some power-saving extensions we cooked up; the process of trying to merge this stuff into upstream Linux has been extended and public and is by no means over.
Android runs on Linux, but I’d be nervous about calling it a distro because it leaves out so much that people expect in one of those: libraries and shells and editors and GUIs and programming frameworks. It’s a pretty naked kernel, which becomes obvious the first time you find yourself using a shell on an Android device.
If it were a distro it’d be one of the higher-volume ones, shipping at 200K units a day in late 2010. But nobody counts these things, and then there are a ton of embedded flavors of Linux shipping in unremarkable pieces of consumer electronics, so there’s a refreshing absence of anyone claiming to be “the most popular Linux”. I like that.
Dalvik · The next big piece is Dalvik, comprising the VM and a whole bunch of basic runtime essentials. Its design is fairly unique, and judging by recent history, seems to be working out pretty well as a mobile-device app substrate.
All the standard APIs that you use to create Android apps are defined in terms of Dalvik classes and interfaces and objects and methods. In fact, some of them are thin layers of Dalvik code over native implementations.
It’s possible, and common practice, to call back and forth between Dalvik and native code using the JNI protocol, which is a neat trick since what’s running on Dalvik isn’t anything like Java bytecodes on a Java VM.
How It’s Generated · Native code is currently produced more or less exclusively by compiling C or C++ code; but there’s no reason it has to be that way. Dalvik code is currently produced by generating Java bytecodes and translating them; but there’s no reason it has to be that way.
I want to emphasize this point a little. Android apps are defined as code that runs on the platform and uses the APIs. As long as an app does these things properly, it’s really nobody’s concern how it got generated.
Special Apps · The picture is a little misleading, because some of those Dalvik-based apps are provided by Google and sometimes are seen as “part of Android”. I’m talking about the Dialer and Contacts and Calendar and Gmail and Chat and so on. Most of them are open-source and replaceable (and have been replaced by handset makers); a few are closed-source and proprietary, like Google Maps and Android Market.
That Open-Source Thing · In the big picture above, most of the stuff in green is Apache-licensed. The rest is a mixture of GPL and LGPL and BSD, with some Apache in there too. This excludes some low-level device drivers and of course the majority of non-Google apps, which are closed-source.
The Framework · This is the stuff that uniquely defines Android; more or less everything that Google wrote and you wouldn’t expect to find on a reasonably-configured GNU/Linux box. Its proper use is the subject of all the many pages on display at developer.android.com and of endless mailing lists, sample sites, and a growing number of books.
I like it; but you already knew that.
Libraries · The word “standard” here means “generally available to programmers working in an open-source environment”. The picture isn’t comprehensive.
Quite a few people, including me, have over-emphasized the role of the Harmony libraries. To start with, the Android
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Theresa May sprung a massive surprise on the nation and her own ministers today by announced a snap general election for June 8 - after having a moment of clarity on a walking holiday in Wales.
In a dramatic statement on the steps of Downing Street, the Prime Minister fired the starting gun on a poll that she hopes will deliver her an unassailable majority to shape the country's future.
She blamed opposition parties who have been trying to frustrate Brexit for her sudden change of heart after months insisting she will not hold an election - singling out Nicola Sturgeon's efforts to exploit the situation to tear the UK apart.
The bold move took even Cabinet members by surprise, having been kept a closely guarded secret between a handful of the premier's closest allies and aides.
Brexit Secretary David Davis and Chancellor Philip Hammond have been jointly pressing the PM to call an early vote for some time, and were informed of Mrs May's decision at a meeting yesterday. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd are understood to have been told this morning shortly before the gathering of her top team in No10.
Scroll down for video
A beaming Theresa May leaving Downing Street after making her dramatic announcement on the steps of the famous building today
Mrs May said weakness in Westminster would weaken her hand in the Brexit negotiations - knowing an election against Jeremy Corbyn could hand her a huge Commons majority
Mrs May revealed the shift was driven by soul-searching while she hiked in Snowdonia with husband Philip over the Easter break.
On another high-octane day in UK politics that could have repercussions for decades to come:
Jeremy Corbyn declared Labour will back holding a snap election despite polls showing it could deliver a 140 majority for Mrs May. MPs including former home secretary Alan Johnson and Tom Blenkinsop announced they will stand down rather than fight for their seats again.
MPs will hold a 90-minute debate in the House of Commons tomorrow before voting on whether to scrap the Fixed Term Parliaments Act timetable for holding the next election in May 2020.
Tory aides were left scrambling to work out the impact on local elections due to be held next month, while the by-election in Manchester Gorton due for May 4 is now likely to be abandoned.
Mrs May has been accused of 'bottling' TV debates after it emerged she will not agree to take part in TV debates during the campaign.
The leader of the socialist bloc in the European Parliament, Gianni Pitella, condemned Mrs May's decision to stage an election as 'immoral' and accused her of exploiting concerns about Brexit.
The media were given barely an hour's notice of the speech this morning, and there had been no rumours at Westminster about her change of heart. Even as the Cabinet meeting began this morning, aides to senior ministers were still sending out updates on other areas of government business.
Mrs May said Britain needed strong leadership to navigate the fraught divorce talks with the EU, insisting she was now convinced an early poll was in the 'national interest'.
She said 'every vote for the Conservatives' would give her a stronger hand when she sits across the negotiating table from the EU's presidents and prime ministers to hammer out a Brexit deal.
The election is an astonishing U-turn from the Prime Minister who has repeatedly said she would not call another ballot before 2020 - insisting it would cause instability and hurt the country.
Theresa May has announced a snap general election will be held on June 8 in a shock revelation that stunned Westminster today. The PM said she needed a Brexit mandate that have her a strong hand in the negotiations with the EU
Mrs May addressed the nation via a huge pack of reporters who scrambled to Downing Street after the surprise speech was announced at around 10am
Mrs May walked back into No 10 following her historic statement, which lasted about seven minutes
Mrs May's election call was made in the knowledge a series of polls have shown the Conservatives with historic leads in a series of opinion polls. The most recent YouGov at the weekend showed a 21-point lead
The most recent polls suggest Mrs May could get a huge Commons majority of 140. She leads Jeremy Corbyn by more than 30 per cent when voters are asked who would make the best PM.
A survey carried out by ICM for the Guardian after the news was delivered this morning found 55 per cent of the public back her call for an early ballot. Just 15 per cent opposed it.
The PM discussed her plans for an early election with Queen by telephone yesterday. Her Majesty is expected to dissolve Parliament ahead of the poll on May 3.
Political guru Sir Lynton Crosby - who masterminded David Cameron's shock 2015 victory - is set to run the campaign for the Tories.
But she has suffered a blow with the announcement that No10 communications chief Katy Perrior is leaving.
The Premier made the announcement immediately after a long Cabinet meeting with her
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top team.
MAY MUST GET THE CONSENT OF MPS TOMORROW NIGHT Theresa May will call a vote in the Commons tomorrow night to confirm her election timetable. The vote will carry with Labour support, confirming the poll for June 8. A vote is needed because the Fixed-term Parliaments Act stripped the Prime Minister of the power to call a general election at a point of her choosing. Under this law, the next general election would be expected in May 2020 - subject to a tiny number of exceptions. Under the law, Mrs May must get a two third majority supporting the election in the Commons tomorrow night. This is 435 MPs - far fewer than the combined force of 559 Conservative and Labour MPs. Once tomorrow's vote is passed, the next key date will be May 3 when Parliament is officially dissolved. The day after, on May 4, many voters will go to the polls in local and council elections - and the Manchester Gorton by-election. Advertisement
MPs will hold a 90-minute debate tomorrow before voting on whether to scrap the timetable in the Fixed Term Parliaments Act - which would have meant no election until 2020.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he will vote for an early election even though the polls suggest his party will be routed - making the vote a formality.
It means Britain will go to the polls in just seven weeks, little more than two years after the last election in May 2015.
Mrs May said: 'Our opponents believe that because the government's majority is extremely small that they can weaken our resolve and persuade us to change course.
'I am not prepared to let them endanger the security of millions of working people across the country.'
Let us tomorrow vote for an election... and let the people decide.'
The premier added: 'If we do not hold a general election now, their political game playing will continue as the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most pivotal stage in the run up to the next general election.
'Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit, and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country.
'So we need a general election and we need one now.'
'The decision facing the country will be all about leadership.'
She said: 'We need a general election and we need one now, because we have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin.'
Asked in an interview with ITV News later if there was a'moment' when she changed her mind, Mrs May said: 'As we were going through the Article 50 process the opposition attempts to jeopardise or frustrate the process in future became clearer.
'Before Easter I spent a few days walking in Wales with my husband and thought about this long and hard.
'I came to the decision that to provide that stability and certainty for the future this was the way to do it, to have an election.
'I trust the British people.'
Labour leader Mr Corbyn confirmed he would back the early election - but suffered an immediate blow as Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop said he would quit Parliament rather than stand under Mr Corbyn.
Mr Corbyn said: 'I welcome the Prime Minister's decision to give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first.
'Labour will be offering the country an effective alternative to a government that has failed to rebuild the economy, delivered falling living standards and damaging cuts to our schools and NHS.
'In the last couple of weeks, Labour has set out policies that offer a clear and credible choice for the country.
'We look forward to showing how Labour will stand up for the people of Britain.'
The Premier made the announcement immediately after a long Cabinet meeting with her top team. MPs will vote on holding the election tomorrow
Mrs May emerged from No 10 with her announcement still a closely guarded secret after she shocked Westminster by announcing the speech just an hour ahead of time
Mrs May directly blamed Jeremy Corbyn (pictured left in London today) and Nicola Sturgeon (pictured in Edinburgh today) for forcing her to take the nation to the polls
Even Remainer Tory MPs like Anna Soubry welcomed the PM's decision to call an election - although the feeling in the wider country may be less positive
POUNDS LEAPS AS MAY CALLS ELECTION After Theresa May made her speech, the pound regained the ground it lost against the US dollar this morning and then rocketed higher The pound rocketed higher as Theresa May called for a snap General Election on 8 June, in what is being regarded as a show of strength for the Prime Minister. Sterling had dropped 0.3 per cent this morning on news of a surprise announcement by the Prime Minister, falling to $1.251, but as she gave her speech it
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recovered and then shot up to trade higher at $1.266. Traders are expecting a volatile two-and-a-half months before voters go to the polls, with the Tories expected to win a greater majority in an election but also the possibility that they could lose ground and Brexit could be stalled. Advertisement
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: 'This election is your chance to change the direction of our country.
'If you want to avoid a disastrous Hard Brexit. If you want to keep Britain in the Single Market. If you want a Britain that is open, tolerant and united, this is your chance.
'Only the Liberal Democrats can prevent a Conservative majority.'
The Liberal Democrats claimed to have recruited 1,000 new party members in the first hour after the election announcement.
Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said: 'The Tories see a chance to move the UK to the right, force through a hard Brexit and impose deeper cuts. Let's stand up for Scotland.'
The surprise move was endorsed by David Cameron, Mrs May's predecessor at No 10 who won a surprise election victory in 2015.
He tweeted: 'Brave - and right - decision by PM Theresa May. My very best wishes to all Conservative candidates.'
As recently as last month, Mrs May ruled out holding an early election despite record breaking polling leads over Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.
It is widely believed the Prime Minister would be able to secure the two-thirds majority among MPs needed to overturn the provisions of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act which require a five-year period between elections.
The other EU leaders meet on April 29 to agree their own position. Little can then happen before French presidential election ends on May 7.
But Mrs May's official spokesman told a Westminster media briefing on March 26: 'There is no change in our position on an early general election, that there isn't going to be one... It is not going to happen.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pictured today on GMB, has welcomed the general election but Nicola Sturgeon, pictured right in Edinburgh today, said the PM was putting party before country
'There is a Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.
'We have been clear that there isn't going to be an early general election and the Prime Minister is getting on with delivering the will of the British people.'
Mr Corbyn had repeatedly confirmed in public he would be prepared to vote for an early general election, despite his grim and deteriorating position in the polls.
As recently as March 26 he insisted Labour was ready for a poll.
With polls regularly giving Conservatives a double-digit lead over Labour, some Tory MPs have argued an early election would give Mrs May an opportunity to secure a comfortable majority in the House of Commons.
MASTERMIND BEHIND CAMERON'S 2015 POLL VICTORY IS TO RUN TORY CAMPAIGN Sir Lynton Crosby will be running the Conservative campaign The politcal guru credited with delivering David Cameron's shock majority in 2015 is being drafted in to run Theresa May's election campaign. Sir Lynton Crosby will be running the Conservative campaign. The Australian maestro was credited with forging Boris Johnson's career by running his successful bid to become London Mayor. Mr Cameron rewarded him for his role in the election battle two years ago with an honorary knighthood. Sir Lynton famously used to play Queen's One Vision at high volume in Tory HQ to raise morale among activists. But he opted to stay out of the historic EU referendum battle last year. Advertisement
They warn that her precarious 17-seat working majority will leave her vulnerable to rebellions during the protracted process of negotiating withdrawal from the EU.
Even Remain-supporting Conservatives have voiced support for the PM's dramatic move today.
Browtowe MP Anna Soubry, who rebelled over some Brexit Bill amendments, compared Mrs May favourably with Gordon Brown - who notoriously backed away from holding a poll in 2007 after allowing speculation to run riot.
'Winning a GE gives PM the mandate & authority she needs especially for Brexit negotiations. TM no Gordon Brown! She is brave & principled,' Mrs Soubry tweeted.
There was widespread delight as it emerged Sir Lynton Crosby, who masterminded Mr Cameron's surprise election victory in 2015, will be running the Conservative campaign.
Sir Lynton was credited with forging Boris Johnson's career by running his successful bid to become London Mayor. But he opted to stay out of the historic EU referendum battle last year.
Meanwhile, Ms Perrior is leaving the post of director of communications at 10 Downing Street and is not expected to play any part in the upcoming campaign.
Her departure sparked speculation that Mrs May's chief of staff Fiona Hill will run communications for the Tory campaign, but party sources said they were not discussing staffing at this stage.
Ms Perrior said she supported Mrs May's decision to call
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a poll but had always said she would not stay on for an election.
'Always said I wouldn't stay past an election,' she told the Guido Fawkes website.
'Good decision, right choice. A vote for Theresa May and a Conservative Government is the only route forward. As for me - new opportunities ahead. Exciting times.'
A former Conservative Party staffer who worked as Mrs May's press officer in opposition, Ms Perrior founded the PR company iNHouse Communications in 2006 and was recruited to head the new PM's communications team at Number 10 following her elevation to the premiership last year.
The PM has been boosted by new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), upgrading its growth expectation for the UK economy this year by 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent.
The organisation has also pushed up its estimates for next year by 0.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent, despite warning of uncertainty around the Brexit negotiations.
Mrs May spoke to EU council president Donald Tusk today to let him know her decision.
But Mr Pitella, the leader of the powerful socialist bloc in the European Parliament, accused her of 'immoral' behaviour.
'Theresa May is playing the same game that David Cameron played some years ago by exploiting Brexit to strengthen her political grip within her party and the country. It is immoral in a way. It is unacceptable to exploit such a sensitive issue as Brexit,' he said.
A huge media scrum scrambled to Downing Street after No 10 made a mysterious announcement of a speech from Mrs May at around an hour's notice.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Aid Secretary Priti Patel arrived in Downing Street for today's Cabinet, after which Mrs May spoke to the nation to reveal her election plans
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was seen arriving into Downing Street for the Cabinet meeting earlier today
Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire and Brexit Secretary David Davis arrived at No 10 for the regular Cabinet meeting this morning
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling were also in Downing Street this morning
Corbyn faces losing a THIRD of his MPs in election catastrophe but is STILL picking fights with moderates over demand for reselection votes
Jeremy Corbyn faces losing a third of his MPs in a general election catastrophe - but is still picking fights with moderates for control of the Labour Party.
Polls show the veteran left-winger is headed for disaster in the ballot being called by Theresa May for June 8 - with around 70 seats forecast to be surrendered.
The exodus from the party gathered pace after the PM's announcement with grandee Alan Johnson saying he will not stand again in Hull West and Hessle.
Corbyn critic Tom Blenkinsop has also said he will not run in the national vote.
Jeremy Corbyn is picking another fight with Labour moderates despite facing losing up to a third of his MPs in the looming general election
Labour MP and Corbyn critic Tom Blenkinsop (left) announced he would not be standing for re-election. Labour heavyweight Alan Johnson will also not seek re-election
But despite the growing turmoil Mr Corbyn is set to escalate tensions with moderate MPs by demanding they face re-selection.
Normal practice would be for sitting MPs to be automatically adopted when an election is called at such short notice.
But the leader is expected to press for all the politicians to go through a trigger ballot process, which would mean they would need more than 50 per cent of votes in their local party.
The issue could go before Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) as early as tomorrow.
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Mr Blenkinsop said 'irreconcilable differences' with Mr Corbyn's team meant he would not seek re-election, while Mr Johnson told party members he wanted to 'do other things with my life'.
Mr Johnson has previously said Mr Corbyn is 'not up to the job' of being leader of the opposition and his decision not to stand is a further blow to the party.
As a widely-admired politician, who has often been encouraged to run for the party's leadership, he was one of the few senior figures in the party who maintained a broad appeal.
The former Home Secretary Mr Johnson told local Labour party members: 'I've decided that going now will give me the opportunity to do other things with my life and is therefore in the best interests of me and my family. I also think it's best for the Party.'
Speaking of his 20 years as MP for West Hull, he said: 'Every day has been a privilege and a pleasure but it can't go on for ever and the electoral cycle means that each incumbent has to think again about what's best for them, the constituency and the Party.'
Nicola Sturgeon blasts Theresa May's decision to call an early
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