text:
Phoebe Griswold
Foundation honors Phoebe Griswold, two congregations
By: Solange De Santis
The Episcopal Church Foundation, celebrating its 60th anniversary on May 28 at a benefit dinner in New York, recognized two dynamic congregations and honored a leader who said she's spurred into action when she asks, "What is missing?"
Foundation chair H.M. "Mac" McFarling presented the...
Phoebe Griswold Episcopal Church Foundation
Faith, feminism and women's work
By: Episcopal Life Archive
Editor's note: In advance of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women gathering, Associate Editor Nan Cobbey talked with these two church leaders about women's work.
EPISCOPAL LIFE: Phoebe, every year you bring more women here … You hear more stories. What have you learned...
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) Katharine Jefferts Schori Phoebe Griswold
She found her call
By: Sharon Sheridan
Hours after her husband was elected presiding bishop in 1997, Phoebe Griswold spoke of needing to find new work as she assumed a new role. Now, reaching the end of her time as the church's "first spouse," she finds she cannot let go of this work – or that it won't let go of her.
Phoebe Griswold Episcopal Church Women (ECW)
Equality in leadership
By: Marie Panton
Cultural contexts continue to challenge women's efforts to join equally in church leadership, Phoebe Griswold said after returning from meetings with women during a two-week trip to Asia.
"Traditionally, cultural values place women in a secondary role, especially, particularly, as that...
Phoebe Griswold Asia and the Pacific
ECW sits down with Phoebe Griswold
By: Susan Johnson
Phoebe Griswold has a deep concern for people who are suffering, a concern that has been with her most of her life.
Those attending the ECW Welcoming Dinner Wednesday were treated to a rare look at the life of the wife of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold during an in-depth interview...
General Convention 2009 Episcopal Church Women (ECW) Phoebe Griswold
Griswolds' Nigeria visit called 'incredible gift'
By: Jan Nunley, By: Emmanuel Adekola
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold says his visit to the Church of Nigeria January 15-23 'exceeded any expectations I might have had' and called the trip 'an incredible gift' of insight into the challenges faced by Nigerian Anglicans.
Griswold, his wife Phoebe, and four Church Center staff...
Church of Nigeria Frank T. Griswold Phoebe Griswold


Arabian Youth Whom the Almighty hath graciously chosen for His Own Self.
surging high at the behest of the incomparable Lord. Chapter XXIV.
concealed at the point of ice amidst the ocean of fire. Chapter XXIX.
people unto a new and Divine Book, and to new and Divine laws, hasten unto Him,"


Boracay is home to one of the world's best beaches. Locals and foreigners flock the island to hit the waters, lay under the sun and party the night away. It is my third time at this island that never sleeps- this is where I have decided to spend my birthday week.
In Boracay, there is a wide array of accommodations that one can choose from. From luxury hotels to backpackers hostels, beach front or by the main road, big rooms or one with decent size, or something that fits the budget- looking for the perfect respite maybe a little tedious.
At my recent trip to Boracay, we found solace at Agos Boracay Rooms + Bed. Located at Main Road Station 2, the place is some walking distance to the White Beach and Bulabog Beach.
A flight of stairs led us to Agos Boracay. A nice garden with lush greens welcomed us as we entered this apartment hotel. On our first day, we stayed at their family room. Located at the breezy 4th floor sun deck, it was love at first sight. I already knew we will have a great time here.
Modern Asian vibe is the over-all appeal of the room. The 40 sqm family room had 2 single beds with pull-out and a double bed at the loft. It can accommodate a maximum of 6 persons. The room is air-conditioned, is equipped with a cable LED TV and a mini-ref- perfect for those drinks or perishable stacks.
The spacious family room features 2 single beds with pullout.
The oar at the wall add an island feel to the room.
The room has a dining table and a mini-ref.
The stairs leading to the loft.
The toilet and bath was clean. It has a hot and cold shower. Toiletries and towels are also provided. And yes, there's a hair dryer! Complimentary water and coffee are also provided. We were also given mango shake as welcome drinks.
After beach bumming and dancing the night away, it was nice to take refuge in our cozy room. The sheets smells fresh and clean, the mattresses and pillows-soft. The AC unit works perfectly fine.
The best thing about having to stay in their family room is its location. The deck gives one a panoramic view of the White Beach or Bulabog Beach- our view being the latter. The deck is perfect for coffee and book mornings. From there we also get to see kites flying from Bulabog beach.
We got a very nice view of Bulabog Beach from this spot.
Starting my day with a nice read and a mug of coffee. Don't you love the nice clouds?
Before we hit the beach, it was nice to share some coffee lovin'.
On our second day, we transferred to their deluxe room at the second floor. The family room is really big for a company of three.
The room has two decadent double beds. It also comes equipped with an AC unit, a LED TV and a mini- ref. I love how big the T and B was- it was even bigger than the one that we had at their family room! It has an open area- perfect for hanging clothes after getting wet from swimming. Basic bath essentials like toiletries, towels and hair dryer are provided. There's also complimentary water and coffee.
The two double beds are perfect for 2-4 persons.
The room has a sink and a mini-ref. Complimentary water and coffee are also provided.
I love the life- size mirror. And yes, their signature oar are in every room!
We got a really big T and B at this deluxe room.
We were surprised to have received these in our room! The staff sure know how to entertain their guests!
Agos Boracay doesn't have an in-house restaurant. Breakfast are served at The Rising Sun, a food joint just beside their place. Our stay at Agos Boracay comes with a complimentary plated breakfast with free coffee or juice. And yes, the food was yummy and was enough to fuel our tummy for the morning!
Tip: You can also request the resto to cook for you! We passed by this seller and bought a half kilo of shrimp. And ta-daaaa! We had a buttered garlic shrimp for lunch!
This guesthouse has 28 rooms with full length windows which can be opened.
The lobby and veranda gives one a homey feel.
Wi-fi connection is a breeze at the lobby.
Interesting book titles are in this shelf.
Aside from the daily stays, they also offer weekly/ monthly or long term stay.
The talcum soft sands, pristine waters, glorious sunset and energetic vibe of this island had me coming back at this paradise. Our Boracay getaway had been more fun with our stay at Agos Boracay. The rooms provided relaxation and comfort. The staff were ultimately helpful and very much accommodating. I also like that Agos Boracay is tucked at the main road, away at the party and street noise- you bet we had a peaceful sleep.
With its convenient location and well-rounded facilities and amenities, Agos Boracay is the perfect Boracay sojourn one will experience!


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Sign in to make your opinion count. The attack model not only works with Grindr but also with Jack'd  and "Hornet".


text:
Q: redux-persist resets the state when updating the page I use redux-persist in my Next js project. The status is saved in localStorage when the store is changed, but it is reset when the page is changed. What could be the problem? One of the reduser. I'm not sure, but maybe this problem is caused by SSR
import { createSlice, PayloadAction } from "@reduxjs/toolkit"
import { HYDRATE } from "next-redux-wrapper";
import { searchStateType } from "../../models/reduserModels/reduserModels";

const initialState: searchStateType = {
   dataBar:
   {
      location: '',
      date: {
         from: undefined,
         to: undefined
      },
      number: {
         adults: 1,
         child: 0,
         rooms: 1
      }
   }
}

const searchDataSlice = createSlice({
   name: 'search',
   initialState,
   reducers: {
      searchbar: (state, action: PayloadAction<searchStateType>) => {
         state.dataBar = { ...action.payload.dataBar }
      }
   },
   extraReducers: {
      [HYDRATE]: (state, action) => {
         return {
            ...state,
            ...action.payload.search
         }
      },
   }
})

export const { searchbar } = searchDataSlice.actions
export default searchDataSlice.reducer

store
const makeStore = () => {
   const isServer = typeof window === "undefined";

   const rootReduser = combineReducers({
      search: searchDataReduser,
      userData: userDataReduser,
      regions: regionsIdReduser,
      loading: visibleLoadingReduser,
      hotelsRegion: hotelsRegionReduser,
      hotelsId: hotelsIdReduser,
      room: roomBookingReduser,
      webRoom: webRoomBookingReduser,
      bookingRoomData: bookingRoomsUserDataReduser,
   });

   if (isServer) {
      const store = configureStore({
         reducer: rootReduser,
         middleware: (getDefaultMiddleware) =>
            getDefaultMiddleware({
               immutableCheck: false,
               serializableCheck: false,
            }),
      });
      return store;
   } else {
      const persistConfig = {
         key: "nextjs",
         storage,
         whitelist: ['search']
      };

      const persistedReducer = persistReducer(persistConfig, rootReduser);

      const store = configureStore({
         reducer: persistedReducer,
         middleware: (getDefaultMiddleware) =>
            getDefaultMiddleware({
               immutableCheck: false,
               serializableCheck: {
                  ignoredActions: [FLUSH, REHYDRATE, PAUSE, PERSIST, PURGE, REGISTER],
               },
            }),
      });

      (store as any).__persistor = persistStore(store)

      return store;
   }
};

export const store = makeStore()
export type RootStore = ReturnType<typeof makeStore>;
export type RootState = ReturnType<RootStore['getState']>;
export type AppThunk<ReturnType = void> = ThunkAction<ReturnType, RootState, unknown, Action>;
export type AppDispatch = typeof store.dispatch

export const useAppDispatch: () => AppDispatch = useDispatch
export const useAppSelector: TypedUseSelectorHook<RootState> = useSelector

export const wrapper = createWrapper<RootStore>(makeStore);

please help me solve this problem

A: const searchDataSlice = createSlice({
   name: 'search',
   initialState,
   reducers: {
      searchbar: (state, action: PayloadAction<searchStateType>) => {
         state.dataBar = { ...action.payload.dataBar }
      }
   },
   extraReducers: {
      [HYDRATE]: (state, action) => {
         let search = { ...action.payload.search };
         delete search.PERSISTED_FIELD

         return {
            ...state,
            ...search
         }
      },
   }
})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home / News + Politics / World / Switzerland votes to legalize same-sex marriage
Switzerland votes to legalize same-sex marriage
The European nation also made it easier for some transgender people to have their gender legally recognized
By Riley Gillis on December 22, 2020
Gay married couple's hands – Photo: Nick Karvounis / Unsplash
In a major win for the LGBTQ community, Switzerland lawmakers approved the legalization of same-sex marriage last week.
At the same time, the law also allowed transgender people to alter their legal gender at civil registry offices in the country and allows lesbian couples to conceive children using donated sperm, Reuters reports.
Despite passing parliament, the same-sex marriage law may have to pass a national referendum in the coming year. However, activists expect a potential referendum to succeed, after a recent survey found support for marriage exceeding 80% in Switzerland.
Campaign group Marriage For All posted a statement on their website declaring, "This is not only a milestone in the fight for the rights of the Swiss LGBT population, but also an important victory for their dignity, their acceptance and their inclusion in society."
Prior to the passing of the landmark legislation, Switzerland fell short of other countries in western Europe with regards to LGBTQ rights — three of its five neighbors had previously legalized same-sex marriage, for instance — and the landlocked nation only banned discrimination based on sexuality this year.
Related: European Union reveals plan to tackle rising anti-LGBTQ discrimination
Alongside marriage equality, trans people will now be able to change legal documents to reflect their correct gender identity by declaring the change at civil registry offices.
Transgender Europe, an advocacy group, says that Switzerland is now the eighth country to allow transgender people to "self-ID" without requiring approval from a doctor or court.
Previously, trans Swiss people had to sue in court to have their gender legally recognized, and the Swiss Government found in 2018 that legal proceedings could be "inconsistent" and "unnecessarily protracted and expensive."
However, the law introduced a potential barrier to some trans people by introducing a parental consent requirement for those under the age of 16.
Trans advocates noted that the limit is arbitrary, given the current system doesn't require parental consent for those under 16, and medical treatments related to transitioning also don't require consent.
Alecs Recher, head of legal services at Transgender Network Switzerland, told Reuters, "On the one hand, we're super happy there will be this legal gender recognition based on self-determination, in a very quick and simple procedure. But, on the other hand, it's a major step back for those under 16."
In order to trigger a referendum on the new law, opponents would need to collect 50,000 signatures within the next 100 days.
Anti-LGBTQ Republican says drag queens reading books to children is "child abuse"
Grindr reveals which country has the most tops in 2020 recap
← Previous Story Grindr reveals which country has the most tops in 2020 recap
Next Story → London police fine gay men cruising in park for breaking COVID-19 rules
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Montana lawmakers will consider two anti-transgender bills this session
COVID-19 vaccine appointment turns into surprise marriage proposal
Related Itemseuropegay marriagegender identitymarriagemarriage equalitysame-sex marriageSwitzerlandtickertranstransgender

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Watch: A.C.E Performs Impressive Relay Dance Version Of Debut Track "Cactus"
by J. Lim
A.C.E has made quite a splash with their debut and they've treated fans to a special dance version of their debut track "Cactus"!
On June 10, M2's official YouTube channel posted a video of A.C.E performing a relay version of "Cactus." The members stood in a single line and took turns dancing, and their past of busking performances of dances by groups like BTS and EXO definitely shined as each transition between the members was seamless.
Watch the video and let us know if you're loving this debut by A.C.E! Also, don't forget to check out the original music video for "Cactus," as well as a dance practice version that was filmed at 1MILLION Dance Studio.


text:
Boston Renegades Women's Football Boston's Five-Time National Champions in Women's Tackle Football
2019 Press Box
2015 Coaches and Staff
<< back to roster page
Andrea Fullmore, #14
Inspired by her grandma for her support and advice, Fullmore was a three-time varsity basketball MVP and a phenomenal competitor in track and field for Wayne County (Jesup, Ga.) High School. As of this writing, she still holds Wayne County Yellowjackets' all-time track records in long jump and triple jump, and top five records in 100 meters, 4×100 relay, and 4×400 relay. She won a state championship in long jump, and four regional championships in long jump and triple jump. She was also recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as a national honoree for Division II outdoor track & field.
At Albany (Ga.) State University, Fullmore expanded her track and field repertoire by adding a regional championship in javelin, in addition to collecting a regional championship in 4×100 relay. She was named MVP of the track team in 2014 while also being recognized off the field with an Academic Achievement Award.
"It's like a dream come true I can finally play," says Fullmore of joining the Renegades. "It's always been a sport I have wanted to play, but was told no because I am a female." In addition to her service with the US Air Force and playing football for the Renegades, Fullmore keeps busy coaching basketball and developing her own clothing brand.
Position: Defensive Back
Resides: New Bedford, Mass.
Original hometown: Jesup, Ga.
Current occupation: US Air Force security forces
Boston Renegades 2019 -
Lemay, Maureen
Seiles, J.J.
© 2015-2019 Boston Renegades • Website and Store Policies


text:
I sogni... (titolo originale Ëndërrimet...) è la seconda raccolta poetica dello scrittore albanese Ismail Kadare, pubblicata a Tirana (Albania) nel 1957 in 2000 esemplari dalla casa editrice Ndërmarrja Shtetrore e Botimeve (Impresa Statale delle Pubblicazioni e stampata presso la tipografia Mihal Duri.

L'opera si compone di 132 pagine e comprende, oltre alle poesie, anche due poemi, uno dei quali (lungo circa 800 versi) dà il titolo alla raccolta.

Bibliografia
 Belluscio G., Per un'edizione integrale dell'opera poetica di Ismail Kadare, l'esempio di Endërrimet... (1957), in A. Ndreca (a cura), Kadare: leximi dhe interpretimi, Tiranë: Onufri, 197-211. ISBN 9789928186478

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home » Newsroom » NPG Music Publishing to oversee Prince's music legacy
NPG Music Publishing to oversee Prince's music legacy
Prince has created his own in-house publishing arm for his music legacy. Formally managed by Universal Prince has created NPG Music Publishing to independently administer key songs from Prince's huge back catalogue
NPG Music Publishing
Prince has created his own in-house publishing arm for his music legacy. Formally managed by Universal Prince has created NPG Music Publishing to independently administer key songs from Prince's huge back catalogue in order to include them into movies, television, video games and other commercial mediums. The new outfit will administer the fees and grant rights for others to use his songs commercially. The deal will not cover all songs, but mainly the hits, some of which include the most familiar songs of the 1980s and 90s. The first job of the new arm, announced on 4 April, was to grant rights to Fox to feature the song Fallinlove2nite in the New Girl television show what was aired on 2 February. Prince promised that the team behind NPG Music Publishing will be headed "by some of the best talent in the industry."
Prince in partnership with Epic Records?
Warner Bros. to release remastered Purple Rain Deluxe


text:
Q: split php string into chunks of varying length I am looking for ways to split a string into an array, sort of str_split(), where the chunks are all of different sizes.
I could do that by looping through the string with a bunch of substr(), but that looks neither elegant nor efficient. Is there a function that accept a string and an array, like (1, 18, 32, 41, 108, 125, 137, 152, 161), and yields an array of appropriately chopped string pieces?
Explode is inappropriate because the chunks are delimited by varying numbers of white spaces.

A: I would use unpack():
$str = "?ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890....";
$array = unpack("a1first/a26second/a10third/a*rest",$str);
print_r($array);

This returns:
Array
(
    [first] => ?
    [second] => ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
    [third] => 1234567890
    [rest] => ....
)

A: Just for future references the regular expressions method @jay suggested goes like this:
 $regex="/(.{1})(.{18})(.{32})(.{41})(.{108})(.{125})(.{137})(.{152})(.{161})/";
 preg_match($regex,$myfixedlengthstring,$arr);

where $myfixedlengthstring is the target string and $arr gives you the result

A: There is nothing in PHP that will do that for you (it's a bit specific). So as radashk just siad, you just have to write a function
function getParts($string, $positions){
    $parts = array();

    foreach ($positions as $position){
        $parts[] = substr($string, 0, $position);
        $string = substr($string, $position);
    }

    return $parts;
}

Something like that. You can then use it wherever you like, so it's clean:
$parts = getParts('some string', array(1, ... 161));

If you really wanted to, you could implode it into a regular expression:
^.{1}.{18} <lots more> .{161}$

would match what you wanted.

A: A slightly more flexible variant, useful to parse ASCII tables with fixed-length records:
function ParseIrregularString  ($string, $lengths)
{
$parts = array();

foreach ($lengths as $StringKey => $position)
    {
    $parts[$StringKey] = substr($string, 0, $position);
    $string = substr($string, $position);
    }

return $parts;
}

Submitting the following:
$string = "abcdefghiklmnopqrstuvz";
$lengths = array ("field1"=>4, "field2"=>3, "field3"=>5, "field4"=>2);
print_r (ParseIrregularString ($string, $lengths));

returns:
Array ( [field1] => abcd [field2] => efg [field3] => hiklm [field4] => no )


text:
Time to End the Madness around March Madness
Legalizing Sports Wagering Will Increase Consumer Safety and Protect State Sovereignty
Michelle Minton • Steven Titch • 03/01/2017
View Full Document as PDF
This March, millions of Americans will join friends, relatives, and coworkers in the annual rite of betting in pools structured around the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball Tournament, known colloquially as March Madness.
Some will spend the days leading up to the tournament poring over arcane statistics and weighing relative team strengths. Others will debate prognostications from media sports analysts. Still others will make their picks based on team names or the funniest mascots. They may wager thousands of dollars or as little as five bucks. The one thing they will all have in common, save for those living in Nevada, is that they will be breaking the law.
Their wisdom as public policy aside, most "sin laws" focus not on eliminating the supposedly "sinful" behavior, but rather on protecting those who choose to engage in it and on mitigating its effects on society. Gambling prohibitions, on the other hand, function as a form of social engineering that seeks to stamp out a certain behavior entirely. Worse, gambling prohibitions that bar states from legalizing, and adults from voluntarily engaging in, certain wagering activities undermine state sovereignty—and thereby the Constitution's allocation of powers between the states and the federal government—and exacerbate any social ills that might arise from gambling by driving the activity underground.
To illustrate the absurdity of gambling prohibitions, take the example of tobacco and alcohol. While legal for adults to purchase, their use is prohibited in most workplaces, to varying degrees, either by law or company policy. On the other hand, gambling on sports is widely accepted and even endorsed in some workplaces, as everyone from the company CEO to the mailroom employee participates in NCAA bracket pools. Even former President Barack Obama openly discussed his bracket picks, and there likely will be pools among staffers in Congress—where elected representatives passed laws against such activity. So how did we get to this nonsensical junction?
The Origin of the Sports Gambling Ban. By the late 1980s, at least 13 states had considered proposals to legalize sports gambling, most in the hope that legalizing and taxing the activity would fill increasingly large budget deficits. That so worried gambling opponents—such as lawmakers and sports league officials who feared gambling would compromise the integrity of sporting events—that Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA). Once enacted, PASPA prohibited states that did not already allow sports betting from licensing, promoting, or authorizing the activity. In effect, PASPA blocked all states, save for Nevada, from legalizing and regulating bets on the outcome of individual sports contests.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), was championed by the commissioners of the four major sports leagues, who testified that such a law was necessary to prevent "a cloud of suspicion" over athletes and games and to avoid sending "a regrettable message to our young people." Congress justified intervening in what had traditionally been viewed as a matter for state regulation by declaring sports gambling "a national problem. The harms it inflicts are felt beyond the borders of those states that sanction it. The moral erosion it produces cannot be limited geographically. … Without federal legislation, sports gambling is likely to spread on a piecemeal basis and ultimately develop an irreversible momentum."
However, even as Congress debated prohibiting states from legalizing the activity, illegal sports gambling was rampant. "Not since prohibition have Americans so readily engaged in an illegal activity as they do with sports betting today," Washington Post columnist Andrew Beyer wrote in 1991 when the illegal sports betting market was estimated to be around $40 billion a year. "Under the circumstances, it would seem inescapably logical for cash-strapped state governments to legalize sports betting and let the revenue from it flow to legitimate purposes instead of criminals. … [E]ssentially what the states did when they created lotteries and virtually eliminated the illegal numbers game," Beyer argued.
Since the early 1990s, perspectives have shifted. Despite the prohibition, Americans spent an estimated $9 billion on the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. And it is not just March Madness. Americans wagered almost $5 billion on Super Bowl LI, according to some estimates. We spend upwards of $95 billion each year on professional and college football. And while it is unknown how much money Americans bet on sporting events across the board, estimates range from $150 billion to $400 billion a year. Some 95 to 99 percent of this economic activity takes place through illegal channels or on websites based offshore, which deprives American consumers of the protections found in a legal market. That fact, along with greater social tolerance of sports betting, poker and daily fantasy sports (DFS)—an online fantasy sports betting platform that allows players to bet on games occurring within a 24-hour period—has been building momentum for legalization.
Furthermore, state lawmakers and legal scholars have increasingly raised questions about the constitutionality of the current ban, which blocks states from legalizing sports gambling within their own borders. This is why the Supreme Court is currently considering hearing a case that might overturn the law. The case involves a suit, Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, in which the State of New Jersey alleges that PASPA—which the NCAA and other leagues have argued forbids New Jersey from repealing its own ban on sports gambling—violates the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which holds that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved for the states and individuals.
In particular, the suit argues that PASPA violates the 10th Amendment by preventing states from modifying their own laws in violation of the "anti-commandeering" doctrine. This doctrine, created and upheld by previous Supreme Court rulings, holds that the 10th Amendment also protects states from being compelled to cooperate with the enforcement or implementation of federal law. While states may not expressly legalize something made illegal by federal law, they may decriminalize certain activities, as they have done with marijuana possession and sales. The case filed by New Jersey argues that PASPA, by prohibiting the state from amending its own laws in order to decriminalize, but not legalize, sports gambling, is in violation of the anti-commandeering doctrine. Then in January 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court requested a brief on the matter from the U.S. Solicitor General, which indicates the nation's highest court is considering hearing New Jersey's appeal. When a statute is arguably in violation of the Constitution, unquestionably a violation of individual rights, widely and openly flouted by the population, and counter-productive to its goals, it is time to repeal the law.
Rather than seek to enforce a futile and counterproductive ban based on subjective moral qualms, it is long past time that government policy recognize that gambling—whether it be buying a lottery ticket, betting on the big game, or playing poker online—is a legitimate means of recreation. Good federal policy would treat citizens like adults, respect individual choice, and preserve the right of states to regulate and profit from the gambling activities conducted within their borders.
Opposition to Legal Sports Betting Breaks Down. Today, with the illegal sports gambling market somewhere between $150 and $400 billion a year despite the passage of PASPA, professional sports leagues are also softening their long-term opposition to legalization.
In a 2014 New York Times op-ed, National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver was the first major professional sports executive to come out in favor of legalizing sports wagering, saying: "[D]espite legal restrictions, sports betting is widespread. It is a thriving underground business that operates free from regulation or oversight. Because there are few legal options available, those who wish to bet resort to illicit bookmaking operations and shady offshore websites." He concluded: "I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated."
Just a few months later, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said it was time to give "fresh consideration" to legalizing sports betting.
Only the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Football League (NFL) remain adamant in their stand against legalization. However, it appears the NFL has made some official concessions to reality. The league's policy requiring teams to disclose player injuries and their likelihood of playing is designed to prevent gamblers from gaining an advantage from inside information. DFS strategies are discussed on programming on the NFL Network, the NFL-operated cable channel. Two team owners, the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones and the New England Patriots' Robert Kraft, own stakes in DFS companies. Network commentators, who are approved by the NFL, regularly offer game predictions. While they generally avoid mention of the point spread—the number of points by which a team must lose in order for bettors to make money—commentators often offers forecasts of specific final scores, which all but telegraphs their opinion on the actual betting line.
Popular Support for Legalized Sports Betting Grows. Changing public attitudes also lend support for a change in policy. In a September 2016 poll of 1,019 adults, 48 percent favored changing federal laws to allow states to legalize sports betting (39 percent opposed), up from 39 percent who supported legalization in a similar 2010 poll. Support for legalization is strongest among young adults, with 60 percent of respondents aged 35 and under in favor of a change to federal law.
In a January 2016 poll by the market research firm the Mellman Group, 80 percent of respondents said that sports betting should either be legal nationwide or left up to the states, while just 17 percent said sports betting should be illegal nationwide. In the same poll, 72 percent of respondents said they thought legalization would make consumers safer to some extent. Fifty-four percent said that legalization would either very likely or somewhat likely make sports betting safer for consumers, while an additional 18 percent said it almost certainly would.
Objections to Sports Betting Expansion. Traditionally, concerns about expanding legalized gambling center on its possible effects on morality and on vulnerable individuals such as those with compulsive gambling disorders. However, proponents of the current national sports betting ban were primarily motivated by protecting the integrity of the games from corruption such as match fixing and point shaving. Twenty-five years later, it is clear that PASPA has failed on all accounts. It does not protect the vulnerable. It has turned millions of otherwise lawful Americans into criminals. And it has made the market more susceptible to corruption.
Game integrity. As the name of the bill implies, Congress enacted PASPA supposedly to protect games from the corruption of match fixing. Match fixing occurs when players or officials seek to alter the outcome of a game in a way that benefits criminals who bet large amounts of money on those "fixed" games. Participants may be motivated by gifts and money—or, more rarely, coerced. Those doing the "fixing," often organized crime rings, benefit by betting big money on underdogs and winning. In order for the caper to be attractive to both the game participants and the fixer, the potential gains must outweigh the possibility of being caught.
As described in a recent study by University of Liverpool economics professor David Forrest and UK Sports Integrity Panel Chairman Rick Parry, two conditions create the highest risk of corruption in sports: low paid athletes or officials who are more susceptible to bribery, and a highly liquid yet unmonitored market.
In many ways, sports betting lines operate like financial markets. For example, when international open market trading is done in commodities, attempts at manipulation become much easier to detect because anomalies will be noticed and analyzed quickly. The same holds for sports betting. Betting lines do not shift much. An extreme fluctuation, which might occur if large amounts of money was suddenly being bet on a longshot underdog, would set off alarm bells. The smaller the market the easier it is to notice money suddenly being bet on what was previously considered an underdog.
This is exactly what happened during the "Black Sox" scandal, when several members of the Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series. It was the strange, sudden shift in betting odds that first alerted sportswriters and others that something fishy was going on. Bookmakers originally had the Sox as 7-5 favorites, with rumors that the odds might go as high as 2-1 by the time of the game, but a sudden swing in betting in New York—an unusually large amount of money being bet on the underdog Cincinnati Reds—put the odds at even money by Game 1. The odds shift occurred, it turned out, because gangsters had bribed several members of the heavily favored White Sox to throw the Series. Rumors about a fix were rampant well before the Series' first pitch.
The "Black Sox" went on to become the most infamous sports betting scandal in history. As a result, nearly 100 years later, gambling remains virtually the only unpardonable sin for an active player, coach, or manager in any sport. Players who have used performance-enhancing drugs or have been found guilty of criminal acts ranging from assault to illegal dog fighting have returned to the field. Gambling on games, on the other hand, almost always results in lifetime bans for athletes and officials. This is a formidable disincentive for players to be involved with gamblers or game fixing. Yet, few remember today that it was the bookmakers—those taking bets on the game—who first caught the scent of something fishy going on with the World Series. An examination of modern match-fixing demonstrates this is far from an anomaly.
In modern sports around the world, there are periodic examples of corruption that, almost without fail, are flagged first by the bookmakers. Unfortunately, their warnings often go unheeded. For example, in 2016 professional tennis was racked by the exposure of a world-wide match-fixing scheme that entangled no fewer than 37 players—29 of whom ranked in the top 50—and matches as prestigious as Wimbledon and the World Open. As alleged by Italian prosecutors, the Tennis Integrity Unit, a global anti-corruption tennis governing body, failed to act on the "hundreds of alerts from the gambling industry about suspicious betting," which may actually include evidence that as many as 100 tennis players were involved in illicit gambling on the sport. Though the Integrity Unit downplayed the claims, saying that the gambling industry's alerts "weren't evidence," years later two Italian players, Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace, confessed to their role in the gambling ring, and it became clear that much of the bookmakers' suspicions were well founded.
In Europe, following a number of match-fixing scandals in sports from soccer to snooker, licensed bookmakers even acted to set up their own "early warning system" for corruption in sports, known as the European Sports Security Association (ESSA). ESSA's core mission is to protect the integrity of sports by utilizing the data supplied by hundreds of bookmakers to spot suspicious gambling activity, which they then voluntarily and at no cost share with authorities. This reflects the financial incentive that licensed bookmakers have in protecting the sport: match-fixing scandals tarnish the whole industry, and as confidence in the integrity in the games wanes and gamblers lose confidence in the fairness of their bets, bookmakers lose money.
After a particularly damaging and highly public incident of match-fixing in German soccer, known as the Hoyzer Scandal (named after the referee involved), the German Federation and the Bundesliga (the highest soccer league in Germany), established an agreement with Sportradar, a data company that supplies bookmakers with betting odds. The agreement allowed Sportradar to provide the leagues with information, acting as an early warning system to alert authorities of suspicious gambling activities. In February 2017, soccer's world governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, best known by its acronym FIFA, signed onto a similar agreement with Sportradar, heralding it as a means of improving game integrity.
In the United States, we have come a long way from the bad old days of the Black Sox scandal. Professional athletes today can secure far more lucrative contracts than their predecessors, making potential bribes seem paltry by comparison. Though college players are unpaid and may be more susceptible to bribery, "point-shaving" schemes, whereby criminals suborn a player or players to beat a point spread, have proved unreliable in amateur games because one or two players cannot control the outcome, let alone the final score of the game. Additionally, as with professional athletes, college players face serious consequences for betting on games, divulging insider information, or altering their game in any way in exchange for "gifts." Penalties for violating these conditions can include losing scholarships and financial aid, and loss of edibility to play, jeopardizing not just a student athlete's academic career, but also his or her eligibility to play professionally.
By criminalizing sports betting, PASPA actually increases the risks of match-fixing and corruption. Unlike the betting market in Europe and much of the world where sports betting is legal, bookies are incentivized to share with authorities odd betting patterns that might signal corruption. This is not the case in the U.S., where this information remains inaccessible to and unexamined by sports authorities. This, along with the billions wagered illegally, leaves sports in the U.S. more exposed to corruption than those in other nations that have embraced bookmakers as their early warning system. By contrast, in the U.S., the law disincentivizes gamblers from alerting authorities to suspicious betting that might indicate match fixing, lest they open themselves up to investigation.
Gambling disorders. In addition to failing to stop or even spot instances of match fixing, creating a black market for gambling does nothing to protect vulnerable individuals with compulsive or disordered gambling behaviors.
Opponents of legalized gambling often overstate the percentage of the population susceptible to gambling disorders. In reality, national estimates put the prevalence of clinical-level gambling disorders at about 1 percent of the population. Addiction experts believe as much as 3.5 percent of the population have trouble controlling themselves while gambling, but their behavior falls short of being classified an actual disorder. And, despite an "unprecedented increase in opportunities and access to gambling," Howard Shaffer, a psychology professor at Harvard and one of the nation's leading addiction specialists, found the rate of pathological gambling has remained remarkably stable in the U.S.
Though a serious health problem, gambling disorders are too rare to justify a ban. For comparison, the prevalence of alcohol abuse disorders is at about 7 percent of the adult population, yet states do not ban the majority of adults from purchasing a product the vast majority can imbibe responsibly. States should treat their citizens as adults, and allow them to take responsibility for their own behavior, just as they do with alcohol, tobacco and in a growing number of states, marijuana.
Furthermore, legalizing gambling activities—far from encouraging abuse—affords authorities the opportunity to spot and address disordered behavior, while black markets sweep such problems under the rug. For example, in the states that have recently legalized online gambling, laws require the sites to recognize "self-exclusion lists," as many land-based casinos are now required to do. Consumers who know they have a gambling problem can voluntary add their name to a list that blocks their access to gambling sites and ensures they will not receive enticements to play. States may also choose to set aside a portion of gambling taxes to address associated health issues. Researchers have noted that players who sign up for these lifetime exclusion bans had significantly reduced gambling-related problems. Further, states that license sports gambling can require authorized bookmakers to track player behavior to spot and address problematic behavior.
The tools to address problem gambling and spot suspicious betting activity already exist, as countries with legal gambling have demonstrate. But, without a legal market where operators are incentivized to work with authorities and protect vulnerable consumers, there is little opportunity to employ them.
Morality. Some people believe gambling is immoral for religious or ethical reasons. They say it encourages indolence by promising "something for nothing." Since wagers are zero-sum—the winner's gains come at the expense of a loser—gambling offers no net social productivity. These are valid reasons not to engage in gambling, but they represent personal opinions and decisions. It is not the government's role to enforce them, particularly when so many Americans believe there is nothing wrong in engaging in a bit of NCAA bracketology. Furthermore, even if someone losses $5 or $100 gambling on a game, it may not be a "loss" to the person who placed the bet. For bettors, the added excitement of having a few dollars on the game may be worth the money they spend betting—even if they lose. While someone else might derive pleasure from buying a luxury car or expensive clothes, another may find more pleasure and thus more worth in betting on sports.
Besides, the government already permits other forms of gambling, up to and including state-run lotteries in 44 states and the District of Columbia. To permit one form of gambling while banning another is inconsistent, hypocritical, and unfair to those who prefer one type of wagering over another.
Moreover, given the billions of dollars being wagered illegally on sports contests, it is difficult to argue that prohibition has worked. Quite the opposite, when millions disregard the law without a second thought, it undermines the rule of law.
Arguments for Legalized Sports Betting. As noted, the question of the "morality" of gambling has been largely answered in the U.S., with all but one state permitting—and profiting from—some form of legalized gambling. Even Hawaii, the lone holdout, is currently considering legislation to legalize in-state online poker games. Quite simply, governments, either federal or state, should not seek to prohibit adults from voluntarily spending their money as they see fit.
Furthermore, the case continues to build that maintaining a federal prohibition on gambling violates not only individual rights, but also critical constitutional principles, by depriving states of their right to object to federal dictates and thwarting their ability to benefit from commerce occurring within their borders.
State Autonomy and Revenue. Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Maryland have introduced legislation to legalize sports betting this year while New York, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Mississippi have all expressed an interest in similar legislation.
In 2011, New Jersey voters overwhelming approved a constitutional amendment to allow sports betting in the state, which the legislature followed up by enacting a law to regulate the activity. That law, however, was struck down by a district court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that PASPA was constitutional and that New Jersey's laws violated the federal law. In a renewed bid to circumvent PASPA, the Garden State legislature opted instead to repeal all of its laws that prohibited sports gambling. The hope was that by merely decriminalizing sports betting without expressly authorizing it, the activity could be monitored and taxed under existing state gambling laws. PASPA, which prohibits states from "sanctioning" sports gambling, has been used—once again—as the basis to challenge New Jersey's decriminalization bill.
The leagues, joined by the U.S. Department of Justice, argued that even this would be a violation of PASPA. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the leagues twice, first 2-1 in a three-judge hearing, and then again in an en banc hearing before the entire court. As noted, New Jersey has since appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has expressed some interest in the case as indicated by its request for an opinion from the U.S. Solicitor General. As sports gambling legal scholar Daniel Wallach has noted, the Court almost always hears cases on which it requests a Solicitor General opinion.
Key to New Jersey's argument is the contention that PASPA violates the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the states from unwarranted federal interference in state matters. It was the potential violation of this Amendment that prompted the Department of Justice to testify against PASPA when it was first considered by Congress. As noted, the case involves the integrity of the anti-commandeering doctrine. This principle was established in 1842 in Prigg v. Pennsylvania, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Fugitive Slave Act did not require enforcement by the State of Pennsylvania because it precluded Pennsylvania state law, which prohibited taking people out of Pennsylvania and into slavery. In subsequent cases, the Court has upheld the anti-commandeering doctrine, which concludes that while the federal government may directly regulate interstate commerce and even require or prohibit certain acts, it "lacks the power directly to compel the States to require or prohibit those acts." If New Jersey prevails its appeal, it would be a validation of federalist principles from the Supreme Court, and would restore states' ability to decide for themselves what their laws should be concerning sports gambling.
PASPA is part of a legal morass that bogs down any legislative movement on sports betting. If the courts do not clarify the issue, Congress should repeal—or at least amend—three harmful gambling laws currently on the books: PASPA, the 1961 Wire Act, and the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA). These outdated, ambiguous, and constitutionally dubious statutes have created legal and regulatory headaches for both state and federal authorities, as states continue to assert their constitutionally guaranteed powers to regulate in-state commerce. Repealing all three would allow Congress and the states to institute rational and effective measures to regulate gambling activities, both on and offline.
The Wire Act prohibits the use of telecommunications to transmit interstate wagering information related to sporting events or contests. For decades, this made the most common method of sport betting, via the phone or telegraph, illegal. Even so, during the 1990s and early 2000s, Internet gambling flourished as U.S. citizens placed bets on websites that operated legally in foreign countries.
While it remains legal to place bets on offshore sites, UIGEA, passed in 2006, prohibits U.S. banks from knowingly transferring funds to these sites or their agents. As it is currently worded, the Act prohibits banks and credit processors from processing payments related to unlawful Internet gambling, but it does not specify what types of gambling qualify as "unlawful," leaving that up to the states and other federal statutes to determine. Thus, so long as it is authorized or not specifically prohibited by state or federal law, online gambling activities are considered lawful under UIGEA. However, this ambiguous language has created confusion for banks and payment processors—most of whom have chosen to err on the side of safety by not handling payments related to any form of gambling. UIGEA also gives federal prosecutors the power to prosecute and seize funds from anyone who accepts or transfer wagers that have passed through any U.S. financial institution.
However, in December 2011, the Office of Legal Counsel within the Department of Justice, issued a memo clarifying that the Wire Act applies only to interstate wagering. Thus, states like Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware moved ahead with proposals to legalize and license intrastate online gambling. The DOJ memo, plus the general willingness of states to permit DFS contests (nine have legalized the activity with 12 more considering legalization proposals in 2017), have set the stage for greater liberalization of sports betting.
Legalized Sports Betting Will Spark U.S. Business. Legalized sports betting would create a value chain that would present opportunities to U.S. technology entrepreneurs. While MGM Resorts and William Hill are recognized as major players in sports wagering, legalization may create opportunities for other companies in the technology sector. Microsoft, Sony, Reuters, and Wall Street financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, along with various individual entrepreneurs, all either hold or have applied for patents for ways to integrate wagering systems, payment systems, and other such tools onto handheld devices, remote terminals, and social media platforms.
Some analysts speculate that U.S. companies would eventually dominate the global sports betting market were Congress to give sports betting the green light. "In 10 years' time, I expect sports betting to be part of major telecommunications companies and data companies," Chris Eaton, an integrity monitor and former investigator for Interpol, told ESPN. "I see the large international conglomerates—Bloomberg, Google, the massive data companies—swallowing up most of the sports betting operations around the world and operating an international platform, with all of sports betting being essentially offered on the mobile device, the mobile platform."
Beyond the business of taking bets, a secondary market is likely to emerge for software and algorithms that crunch statistical data to assist bettors. This has already occurred with DFS, which is now a $3 billion industry in the U.S., and online gambling, which has reached $200 million in revenue in New Jersey, where it is legal.
Source of Tax Revenue. The current federal sports betting ban, though it clearly does not stop the activity, prevents states from collecting tax revenue on this billion-dollar industry. Instead, those funds are funneled into foreign sportsbooks. Since offshore websites pay taxes to their respective governments, money from Americans that could be invested in their home states ends up funding government projects and programs in other countries.
If this economic activity were brought into the daylight, it would mean millions of dollars for cash-strapped states. In New Jersey, for example, illegal sportsbook makers prosecuted in the late 1990s had an annual volume of around $200 million. Global gaming research firm GamblingCompliance projects that a fully developed legal American market—where bets are placed at casinos, online, and at retail bookmaking shops—would produce $12.4 billion in annual revenue, five times bigger than the U.K.'s sports betting market and 11 times bigger than Italy's. All of which would be subject to tax. Tapping into this new source of revenue would not even require new laws for most states, as the federal government already requires people to report earnings from gambling and even allows them to write off gambling losses up to the amount that allows them to offset their winnings.
Marijuana legalization has demonstrated practical results that may be instructive in the area of sports wagering. The $70 million Colorado raised in 2015 from taxing marijuana sales demonstrates that there is genuine economic benefit to legalizing and taxing over prohibition. Furthermore, legalizing the drug gave consumers the opportunity to purchase from legal distributors held accountable for the quality and safety of their product. Currently, those who want to place bets on sports outside of Nevada have no other option but to do so with criminals. As marijuana legalization reduced the risks for marijuana consumers, legalizing sports betting will eliminate the need for bettors to take the risk of dealing with criminals. It will also encourage offshore sportsbooks to set up operations in the U.S.
Another example can be found in legalized online gambling, which did not exist prior to 2013. Since legalizing Internet gaming, New Jersey, one of three states that licenses casino-style online games, has seen tax revenue from its previously faltering casino industry increase for the first time in a decade. According to New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, online gambling generated $196.7 million in revenue for casinos and nearly $30 million in tax revenue in 2016—money that had previously vanished into the ether of the black market.
Given the opportunity, most people would prefer doing business with legal bookmakers. Consumers would be protected by existing legal and regulatory structures, and less money would flow to criminal enterprises. Like casinos, legal sports books would be required to report big payoffs to the Internal Revenue Service (via W-2G forms). In this way, the state and even the federal government could draw revenue from legalized sports betting that would otherwise go unreported while citizens can lawfully engage in the voluntary act of betting their own money on sports without running afoul of the law.
Conclusion. Legalizing sports betting would produce substantial social and political benefits by exposing billions of dollars in economic activity to the sunshine of legitimacy. Decriminalization would renew respect for the law by individuals who see gambling on sports as a valid form of entertainment for adults. Allowing bookies and authorities to work together to stop match fixing—which is in both of their interests—would bolster the integrity of sports.
Like any other form of gambling, sports betting can be regulated and taxed, but first the law must treat consumers like adults. By legalizing the activity, states can institute safeguards to protect consumers and the vulnerable and sports authorities can have access to the information that will help them spot and deal with corruption.
From a constitutional perspective, Washington lawmakers should treat sports betting as a federalism issue, like other forms of legal gambling. PASPA should be repealed or revised to allow states the discretion to legalize and regulate sports betting on their own terms.
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G.I. Joe Meets The Transformers
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Full Force Podcast continues to produce some fantastic G.I. Joe and related collectible content
by generalsjoes | May 5, 2018 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 3, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Podcasts
Anyone who hasn't been listening to the Full Force podcast is doing themselves a disservice. They've been right on top of the latest G.I. Joe news and bringing some really fun stuff to the podcast world.
Just over the past few days, they've posted a couple of different news bursts, including a great interview with Hasbro designer Bobby Vala talking specifically about his work on the G.I. Joe Collectors' Club Figure Subscription Service 8.0 as well as other G.I. Joe oriented product.
Also, I joined Chris and Erik from Boss Fight Studio to talk about recent rumors surrounding G.I. Joe "Ever Vigilant" (if that is it's real name). Some good stuff and considering the relative dearth of G.I. Joe news, they manage to be relevant, entertaining, and just plain fun.
Make sure you're staying well up to date on the Full Force Facebook Page, their YouTube Channel, and over at Podbean.com.
What's on Joe Mind Exclusive Interview with Hasbro
by generalsjoes | Jun 23, 2016 | G.I. Joe, JoeCon 2016, What's on Joe Mind
The 2016 G.I. Joe Convention is now in the bag, and the What's on Joe Mind crew has posted a veritable barrage of content straight from Loveland, Colorado!
There are a bunch of links coming up, all of which can be found on the What's on Joe Mind Podbean page. No doubt the highlight of the Con was the crew's exclusive interview with Hasbro representatives Mark Weber and Derryl DePriest. After the jump you can also check out "One Shot" shows from the Con floor as well as the Shut out the Lights wrap up panel from JoeCon itself.
Check out the Hasbro interview below.
Exclusive Interview – Mark Weber and Derryl DePriest
G.I. Joe Convention Day Three – Here is where it all happens
by generalsjoes | Jun 18, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, JoeCon 2016
You wouldn't know it from the absolute flood of news stories I posted this morning, but Saturday is typically when things really start moving at JoeCon.
The Hasbro Team panel happens today at 11:00am Mountain Time (1:00pm Eastern) and Mark Weber has promised some very cool things to excite G.I. Joe fans. The Crossword puzzle has been driving us all crazy for a couple of weeks now, it will be awesome to see it filled in right before our eyes. You can bet even though I couldn't be in Loveland, I'll be right here spinning out updates as I can catch them, and greatly looking forward to seeing what's in store for us for the remainder of 2016.
Then at 3:00pm Mountain time (5:00pm Eastern) the G.I. Joe Collectors Club will be holding their roundtable where they will likely reveal the line up for the very last Figure Subscription Service and perhaps shed some more light on the upcoming Transformers/G.I. Joe 5 Pack.
It's a bittersweet day, where the news is fast and furious, but you blink a couple of times and it's all over. Saturday is no doubt my favorite day at JoeCon with the absolute flurry of activity (plus the after hours events always tend to end strong) and while it will be painful to be watching from the sidelines, I'm excited to see what's to come.
From the sounds of things, we've got some great stuff to look forward to this year, and as G.I. Joe seems to be preparing for the next stage in its eventual evolution, we should all recognize and embrace the greatness of the Real American Hero and marvel at its longevity. It's tough to tell what might come next, so hopefully we can take some time to appreciate the three decades of stuff we've enjoyed and all the great times we've all shared at JoeCon over the years.
G.I. Joe Convention Update – Friday
by generalsjoes | Jun 17, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, JoeCon 2016
While package pickup was late last night, the first official day of the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention is today! Already we've seen the parachute drop and panels by Adam Riches and James Kavanaugh, Jr., and some great updates are over at the G.I. Joe Discussion Group on Facebook. Dave Tree's Action Man panel is hot on their heels.
Hot ticket item for the Con this year appears to be the carded Pythona, which was apparently sold without limits and burned through very quickly in the Club store.
G.I. Joe Con attendees will be getting their first sneak preview at the sales floor today at 2:00pm Mountain time, which includes the Hasbro booth, but don't be alarmed if there isn't much to look at there yet. Generally Hasbro puts out most (if not all) of their new product AFTER their panel, which happens tomorrow morning at 11:00am Mountain time.
It does look like someone got an advanced sneak peek at the Hasbro booth, and so far they're just showing the SDCC set (priced at $99.99) but as I said, we can anticipate seeing much more than that tomorrow after their panel.
Hasbro G.I. Joe Q & A at ComicCon
by generalsjoes | Jul 13, 2015 | 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Kre-O, G.I. Joe Toys, IDW, SDCC
During the chaos of San Diego ComicCon, friend of GeneralsJoes Chris Polansky took some time to stop by the Hasbro booth and spoke with Mark Weber, Derryl DePriest, and John Violette about their roles in the latest iteration of G.I. Joe. They talk 50th Anniversary, IDW Comics, Kre-O, and all sorts of other topics. It was a great conversation, which I've transcribed below. Big thanks to Chris for taking the time out of his trip to help out. Enjoy!
Categories Select Category 12″ Scale 30th Anniversary 5 Page Previews 50th Anniversary Articulated Icons Boss Fight Studio Combiner Wars Comics and Cartoons Complex Base Building Dime Novel Legends Dio-Stories Eagle Force Exclusives G.I. Joe G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation G.I. Joe 3 G.I. Joe Battleground G.I. Joe Classified 6″ Line G.I. Joe Collectors Club G.I. Joe Comic Reviews G.I. Joe Comics G.I. Joe Convention G.I. Joe Kre-O G.I. Joe Kre-O Reviews G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys G.I. Joe Reviews G.I. Joe Strike G.I. Joe Toys G.I. Joe Video Game G.I. Joe War on Cobra G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout G.I. Joe: Renegades G.I. Joe: Resolute G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes G.I. Joe: The Movie Hasbro Cinematic Universe Hasbro PulseCon HasCon 2017 IDW Jada Toys Jazwares Domez JoeCon 2015 JoeCon 2016 JoeCon 2017 JoeCon 2018 Kick Ass Custom Kindle Worlds Legends of the West Life Marauder "Gun Runners" Masters of the Universe Other Toys Podcasts Pursuit of COBRA review-no-frontpage Roll Out Roll Call SDCC Show and Convention Coverage Sunbow Toy Fair 2016 Toy Fair 2020 Toy Reviews Transformers Uncategorized Web Stuff What's on Joe Mind Zica Captain Action
Hasbro PulseCon 2021 is HERE!
GeneralsJoes Reviews Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe: Origins) Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow!
Snake Eyes ComicCon at Home Panel – Plus new character profiles!
Motion Posters bring characters to life for Snake Eyes – G.I. Joe: Origins
Christos Gage and Reilly Brown talk Batman vs Snake Eyes – Exclusive Interview from The Full Force
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Connecticut Huskies: Who Are Hugh And Michele Millen? Cale Millen Parents Age Gap And Family Ethnicity
ByBimal Waiba December 20, 2022 December 19, 2022
Cale Millen Parents are being searched and explored on the Internet as his popularity as a National Football League player is playing for the UConn Huskies.
Cale Millen is a professional football player in the National Football League(NFL) who is presently playing in the position of Quarterback.
Cale has always remained a dedicated and passionate NFL Player who has played football from the age of eight in Snoqualmie, Washington.
The sportsperson started his football career remaining Redshirted in 2019 before playing for Oregon Ducks in three games during the 2020-2021 season in Mount Si High School.
After successfully playing for the Oregon Ducks shifted to Northern Arizona State University, striving to play as a Quarterback in the team Northern Arizona LumberJacks playing the 2021-2022 season.
Later, Cale Millen shifted towards the University of Connecticut, playing for the Uconn Huskies and playing his 2022-2023 season or even more extending contract.
Cale has many achievements at this young age, including the rank of No.2 player in Washington and No.19 among the pocket-passing quarterbacks nationally by ESPN.
The young football player may showcase his abilities and skills in the upcoming matches skyrocketing his stats in the league.
Cale Millen Parents: Who Are Hugh And Michele Millen?
Talking about Cale Millen's parents, he is the son of Hugh Millen and Michele, who raised him with love and care and supported his football journey.
It may be unsurprising to the fans of Cale Millen that he has the skills and knowledge playing football from his father, Hugh Millen.
If going through the details of Cale Millen Parents, Hugh Millen is a former professional football quarterback in Nationa League Football.
Hugh Millen is the father of Cale Millen. (Source: The Settle Times)
Moreover, the father of Cale has played for the Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, New Zealand Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, and Denver Broncos.
Hugh was one of the fine National Football League aging the award of NFF Scholar-Athlete Award back in 1985.
Cale's father is a football analyst for KJR-AM radio and KCPQ television in Seattle after taking a break from his football career.
However, the mother of Cale seems to be a model, but there are few details available regarding his mother on the Internet for now.
Michele Millen must be conservative about her details and is not interested in sharing detailed information in the media or other sites.
Learn more: Who Are Phil Foden And Claire Foden? Phil Foden Parents, Family And Net Worth
Cale Millen: Age and Family Ethnicity
Cale Millen is one of the rising Quarterbacks of the NFL, but the birth details are yet to be explored by different Internet Sites and have not been shared for now.
The sportsperson may be at the age of 20-21, looking at the appearance.
However, Cale spent his childhood with his brother Clay Millen in Snoqualmie, WA, and the player's ethnicity is kept under wrap.
The brother of Cale follows in the footsteps traced by his father and plays in the same position as the Quarterback played by his brother.
The son of Hugh Millen is staying quiet or may be shy to share the details of his family on any sources or media platforms.
The Net Worth of Cale Millen
Cale Millen is the uprising National Football League Player whose net worth is not available on the Internet or shared by the player himself.
However, Cale may be making money from his professional sports career, making $800 thousand yearly or even more playing in the position of Quarterback.
Cale Millen earns money from his professional National Football League Career. (Source: Sports Illustrated)
The salary range may cross over a million dollars from his performances in the later year season, making a considerable signing contract.
No other income-generating sources are disclosed by the player adding money to his net worth.
On the other hand, the father of Cale Millen holds a net worth of $5 million following the information of Famous Birthdays.
Get to learn: Who Are Stephen Twitch Boss Parents And Where Are They From? Family And Ethnicity
Post Tags: #Cale Millen Parents
Bimal Waiba
Bimal Waiba is a freelance writer for Celebdoko. He is a tech lover and loves to explore different things related to technology and the latest trends happening around the world.
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Mark Ingram Illness And Health Update: Is New Orleans Saints RB Playing Today?
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Who Is Deiondra Sanders Mom Carolyn Chambers? Father Deion Sanders And Family Tree
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Deiondra Sanders is a well-known reality TV star and model, appearing on shows like "Deion's Family Playbook" and "Delon & Filar Sanders: Prime Time Love." She is also the founder of "Love Me Extensions" and co-owner of "House of Sole." Sanders has made a name for herself in the entertainment and business worlds. In this…
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Have you ever wondered why it sometimes feels like you are doing everything that you can think of in your business and working endless hours, simply to look back at the end of the year and feel like nothing has really changed? Or why your competitors seem to keep going and growing, even though they're facing the same issues as you?
If that sounds like you, you're not alone. In my line of work as a business coach, it's something I hear from owners of small businesses and big businesses alike. Let me share with you a perspective that might make things clearer.
Then further suppose that all of the things that you know are contained in the blue wedge. This wedge could include thing like: your name, how to calculate your profit, your wedding anniversary… hopefully all of those!
b. We don't even know that we don't know it!
When the things in this area directly relate to us or our business, we call them blind spots. When we are stuck in a rut or have been trying in vain to achieve an elusive result, I can tell you with absolute certainty, the solution exists in this grey area – In one of your Blind Spots.
What can we do to help identify Blind Spots and even grow from them?
The impact of having blind spots affects us all and presents as frustration! Although, I prefer to focus on the impact of identifying our Blind Spots.
I can tell you that in my professional career coaching businesses, all of the most profound results in businesses that are spinning wheels or drifting come directly from helping business owners and executives identify their blind spots.
Start by mixing it up! Any way that you can! Maybe you can take a different way to work for the next week, swap jobs with one of your staff for a day, try a new restaurant, support a different football team for a round… Too far? You get the idea.
Invite someone that you know and trust to give you an honest appraisal. Find someone who can be a sounding board; you'll be surprised at just how much difference it makes to ask for help on this.
Free yourself from the past and open yourself up to the future. Move past "the one that got away" or forgive to let go, call a shunned friend or family member or even write them a letter (you never have to send it).
Ask new questions. More often than not, unlocking an answer is simply about asking the right question. To discover some new questions, download the Tenfold 5 Minute Business Health Check and let it open up a whole new world of possibility for your business.
Once you become aware of your blind spots, it's easier to check them and drive a clear path to the outcome you want.


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Introduces FSP Technologies's Host Token platform and provides a fresh review and comparison of several mobile payment technologies under this lens. Technologies included are: Softcard, HCE, Paydiant, Apple Pay, and FSP's own RCD Host Token platform.
To succeed in creating value in the mobile wallet ecosystem, it helps to understand the roles, ambitions, strengths, and weaknesses of the marketplace. This ebook tends towards the payments side of the wallets rather than brands and discusses Card Controllers, Merchants, Carriers, Device Manufacturers and Consumers.
FSP Technologies's analysis of the existing mobile wallet ecosystem including the following use cases such as Check-In, Push, HCE and FSP Technologies.
This paper establishes a baseline for consumer adoption of a secure mobile wallet.


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Szwajcarska Partia Pracy – szwajcarska partia socjalistyczna.

Partia została założona w 1944 roku w miejsce zdelegalizowanej Komunistycznej Partii Szwajcarii. 21 maja 1944 roku na konferencji w Bazylei potwierdzona założenie partii, a oficjalna inauguracja PdA nastąpiła na pierwszym zjeździe partii 14 października tego samego roku. Na pierwszego  prezydenta partii został mianowany Léon Nicole.

6 października 1947 roku odbył się drugi kongres partii. Wówczas partia liczyła 20,000 członków, którzy wszyscy spotkali się na trzecim kongresie partii, który odbył się w Zurychu.

Pierwsze wybory z udziałem PdA odbyły się w 1947 roku. Wówczas partia otrzymała 5,1% głosów.

W 1950 roku partia zdobyła łącznie zdobyła ponad 260,000 podpisów pod sztokholmskim apelem w sprawie całkowitego zakazu używanie broni jądrowej.

W latach 1952-1964 odbyły się trzy kongresy partii, które ukształtowały obecny charakter oraz ideologię partii.

W wyborach w 2005 roku partia zdobyła łącznie 0,8%, lecz ich kandydaci nie wystartowali we wszystkich kantonach.

Ugrupowanie uczestniczy w działaniu ugrupowania Alternatywna Lewica.

Wybory w 2007 roku
W 2007 roku odbyły się wybory parlamentarne, w których uczestniczyła PdA w połączeniu z partią Solidarities. Mimo że obie partie współpracowały ze sobą, a liderzy partii wystartowali z list w największych szwajcarskich miastach, partia otrzymała zaledwie 0,7% głosów, co jest takim samym wynikiem jak w roku 2003. Jedynym członkiem PdA, który dostał się do parlamentu został Josef Zisyadis.

Wyniki partii w wyborach parlamentarnych w historii

Linki zewnętrzne
 Oficjalna strona niemieckojęzyczna
 Oficjalna strona francuskojęzyczna
 Oficjalna strona włoskojęzyczna

Szwajcarskie partie socjalistyczne i socjaldemokratyczne
Partie antykapitalistyczne


PARIS – France's defense minister says he is seeking support from European counterparts for joint action in Libya to stem violence and uproot terrorists who have established a foothold there.
Islamist-allied militias have cemented their control over Libya's capital after the worst bout of violence since an international coalition championed by France helped rebels oust Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is quoted in an interview in Tuesday's Le Figaro as saying, "we must act in Libya and mobilize the international community."


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Automola är ett släkte av tvåvingar. Automola ingår i familjen Richardiidae.

Kladogram enligt Catalogue of Life:

Källor

Tvåvingar
Automola


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Joshua Salmons blogs, swims upstream and avoids bears n' stuff.
Well it's the last day of 2006. I hear tomorrow will be the first day of 2007.
I spent most of the year at war, so I don't remember most of it as actual time–more like the seconds before a doctor sticks you with a needle. You sort of hold the whole damn enterprise at a wincing arm's length distance.
There's a small burning pain and you're done–either in good health or dead. That's the way war is if you're lucky. Otherwise you hold on to the memories, the smells, the sights, and it hangs on and stains you like melting wax.
Now that we're back, some people talk about it like it was a bit of initiation and use the fact that newly arrived personnel didn't go with us, and so aren't as "in" as we are. You can rail on about how people who brag about war weren't really AT war, but that's beside the point. Damage done, point conceded, people make up their own minds, regardless of reality.
My neighbor talks about losing a few friends and his platoon leader, sitting on our porch, dragging the moment's cigarette in the evening drizzle.
"Hot for December, eh?" I say after a bit of reflection. "Yeah, I don't mind it, though, and my daughter is traveling, so I'd rather it not snow." I see him and I a bit more pensive than we should be, in light of comfortable America and excess.
Here's to leaving 2006 in the past. God help those still there.
I'm writing a huuuuuge, mammoth article for work. It's supposed to summarize and capture the innovative way the unit approached "log" (i.e. logistics) while in Iraq.
As a testament to how dull I've become, it's all sort of interesting. I got to learn a little more about all the acronyms I always heard during the hundreds of hours of briefings I had the…um…pleasure to sit through. I had to go out and interview nearly every field-grade officer in the brigade and sift through six and a half hours of interviews to glean the whys and wherefores of our entire year at war.
Never mind that I already wrote several "Year in Review" pieces as we wrapped up our deployment. I guess command didn't check them out.
No biggie. It has kept me very busy. The Fridays just keep coming as hours pour out of the month like water from a sponge in a vice.
Sponge being me. Vice being the incredible sense of urgency that follows every request by military seniors.
I guess it might be the same everywhere, but those in charge in the military routinely come up with grand ideas that send subordinate commanders screaming to their NCOs to get cracking on projects.
Each and every one belted out by an officer standing over your desk, driving you in to the same consternated fervor that the major himself was in a tiff over just minutes prior in the colonel's office.
Problems also arise when you belong to a special staff section like Public Affairs. There, every commissioned officer and sergeant major can come to you with requests for projects. We get everything–promotion announcements, requests for promotion photos, story ideas, gripes over why a person isn't in the newspaper more, requests to put together unit history reports, requests to make PowerPoints for ceremonies or meetings…on and on. All of them interrupting our normal series of tasks given to us by our higher Public Affairs echelons of command, who exist in a whole other world of objectives and priorities.
"PAO! The colonel wants you," says the command group secretary. I stop looking at the cover design, grab my notepad and head in to the big man's office.
"Sit down Sgt. Salmons," the colonel says. I do. "How are we on that 'Year in Iraq' story?" he asks.
Well, today came and went and that meeting was moved from 0900 to 0930, then to 1030, then to Tuesday, and now to Thursday. Two weeks became one. Joy of joys.
And just as the others cycled in giving the requests, they'll all cycle back, wanting to know why things aren't done, and then making cute remarks about how PAO doesn't do any work. Everything is a priority. Everything has to be done right now! And, when I first joined the Army, I took that to heart. I honest-to-God would come in on Saturdays and work late to do everything. I thought it was the right thing to do.
But eventually it wore me out. When everything is so GD important, it all assumes an equal level of urgency. And since a good chunk of the service could give two sh*ts about doing anything beyond the minimum effort required for promotion; there are two choices given to the average soldier when facing the hailstorm of "AAAAAAAGH! Now now now!": freak out or don't care.
I went to see Mel Gibson's new flick, Apocalypto, on Friday.
Billed as an "action adventure" piece, it's really a heady statement about civilizations in decline. I had heard a couple of reviews of the movie earlier that day. All decried the film's ghastly level of violence that seems to be Gibson's penchant. From Mad Max to Braveheart to Patriot to Passion of the Christ to this; the man loves to bathe in blood. And, sure enough, Apoc won't disappoint. There is everything from skewered people to beheadings to hearts being cut from chests to mountains of corpses; and enough throats sliced and gallons of blood to sate everyone.
Even kids, which is really the point of this post.
It really bothers me that parents take their toddlers and children to movies like this. It also is sad that theaters are all to happy to take money from parents pushing strollers to see Apocalypto. The kicker, however, was this one family I sat right in front of.
It was a young couple with two children. One was just a young toddler while the other I'd say was about four or five.
At which point the four-year-old follows suit and screams out "I want to die!!!" And everybody in the theater has a laugh.
The father was one of those commenting types, yelling out "Aw, sh*t don't go out, dummy!" "Yeah, get some!" "Ooooh, yeah that's what I'm talking about" every few seconds. I had to move seats.
The central message of the movie (that I could figure out) was that this great Mayan civilization was on the brink of collapse because of some plagues and such, but were deserving to die out because of what they had become. They had reached a point where they were a people who didn't value life and rejoiced in violence and human sacrifices just for pure sport. They loved to see blood and didn't care about who they exploited to get their kicks….
…Which were the exact characteristics of every one in that theater. What's even more confusing was that the film contradicts its own message.
If, as it seems to assert, a society no longer deserves to exist once it gladly indulges in violence and makes the ending of human life a form of entertainment; then what validity does that message possess when it uses undue violence to indulge its audience?
If you want to rid the world of AIDS, you don't infect people with AIDS to spread the word about the disease, do you? Moreover, there's teaching in Scripture that people wanting to do good are foolish if they think they can make goodness look better by doing evil.
Then again, I can't be the one to talk. I'm a soldier–an engine of violence. My main purpose is to end life. So all the contradictions just rattle around in my head a bit.
Anyway, go be good Americans and see it. It's what our high priests in Hollywood have brought to us this week. Take the family too!
Earlier this evening I was peck, pecking away at my keys when there came a knock at my door.
Now, no one knows where I live, really. About 99 percent of my socializing goes on at work. My domestic seclusion is partly voluntary (to avoid "hey you!" sorts of details that pop up in the military when you're too available) and partly not (most have families), so the fact that someone was at my door in the cold of the evening was very unexpected.
"Hey there man–oh, sorry to bother you while you were eating–," said the guy at my door. I was holding a plate of pizza rolls, just out of the microwave. He was a white guy garbed up in a normal hip-hop getup–logo-ized stocking cap, pulled low, and a zirconium "bling" encrusted dog-tag chain, long shirt, etc.
"About…ummm, four years," it took me a minute to think.
"Nope," ah yes, I've been though this routine before.
I'm more naive than I thought. I thought, honest to God, that he was out meeting people, whether it was for some religious reason or maybe some quirky social experiment…I guess because I could see myself doing something like that. But, nope, just out to get some money. I felt like a moron for investing in the conversation. Next time I should, what? Just close the door? That's not very neighborly.
I passed the board and will be promoted January 1st.
Preparing for a board is like betting on roulette. All of your perceived worth is put on the line for a number that might or might not come up.
Normally you have a few weeks to prepare, so you study and study your arse off, memorizing regulation numbers, the distance between patches and seams, the body fat requirements for troops, the muzzle velocity of the .50-caliber machine gun…on and on until chapters, paragraphs and weapon weights blur into a hopeless mass of random integers.
The day of the board arrives. You trim your uniform, cut off the loose strings (which are many on the ACU), adjust your velcro, steam or smooth out any wrinkles. PT goes by quickly as your mind is set on nothing but the board. Self doubt trickles in–what will they ask? Will they be in a good mood? How many people will go before you? Will you be able to eavesdrop and hear some questions before you go in? Do you remember the NCO Creed?
Then comes the convening time for the board and, eventually, your turn to go in. You knock, enter, and give the standard reporting procedure. The ball is dropped and starts its clink-clink-clink thing…black 8, red 12…then they start with the questions.
And again, like roulette, either you're right or completely wrong.
That's the rub with boards. There is just SO much they want you to be able to rattle off in a moment's notice, that it's hardly worth actually spending the 12 hours per day necessary to fully commit all of the information to memory. The odds are against you knowing what they'll actually ask you. And so you will have spent days, weekends, and months of your life, just to look like a moron when they ask you the six aspects of Army life you didn't spend extra time on.
Part of the game is confidence, superiors always say. They know you're not going to know everything. They just want to see how you hold up to the barrage, to see if you sweat when all of your winnings are swept aside when black 2 comes up when you swore to the heavens the next hit would be black 24.
Still, it takes considerable effort to not look like a complete moron, and so you strike a balance between winging it verses the life-ending amount of time it would take to answer every question. It's sort of like statistics–you just want an 80 percent certainty rate, or some such. In boards, it's not even that. It's just looking like a winner. In the Army that means being "motivated," which means being loud.
So I shouted my picks and took my licks. I am officially retired from boards. This was my last one.
Come January 1st, I will be Staff Sergeant Salmons. Nifty, eh?
Hey there! I'm a former Army print journalist and DoD social media zealot. I spend my days in the public relations and marketing worlds, chatting about technology and working on fun side projects.
I write, dance and do most things.


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