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Saying that the Pledge of Allegiance has no educational value, an activist group is pushing for Brookline to stop recitations of the pledge in public schools. Members of Brookline PAX are asking the Town Meeting this fall to vote in favor of a resolution calling for the town’s School Committee to rescind its pledge policy and stop it from being recited in the schools. Martin Rosenthal, the cochairman of Brookline PAX, said that although the recitation of the pledge is voluntary, there is subtle and sometimes overt pressure on students, especially younger children, to participate. “It just puts kids in an uncomfortable situation,’’ Rosenthal said. “How do you say that to a 6-year-old? . . . We just don’t think it belongs in the schools.’’ The article Brookline PAX submitted for Town Meeting comes just months after the town’s School Committee approved a revised policy requiring principals to allow a weekly recitation of the pledge during morning announcements. Participation in the recitations is left up to the individuals at the schools. The School Committee chairwoman, Rebecca Stone, said the new policy was approved in the spring after discussion began over saying the pledge at the Devotion School, where recitations were not a regular occurrence. While weekly recitations of the pledge had been held at most Brookline K-through-8 schools, the pledge also was not said regularly at the Lincoln School. Stone said it has been a historical practice to say the pledge. “I agree with [Rosenthal] that it’s not of great educational value,’’ she said. “We’re recognizing established and in some cases revered practices of the citizenry.’’ Misti Jaynes, who has two children in Brookline’s Devotion School, said she is glad that her children began having the opportunity to say the pledge at school in April. Jaynes and several other parents lobbied the School Committee in April for recitations, and she supports saying the pledge to show patriotism and to bring Americans together. “If someone else doesn’t want to say it that is fine, but don’t take it away from my children,’’ Jaynes said. “Don’t take away my rights.’’ Rosenthal, who has a daughter at Brookline High School, called the pledge a loyalty oath loaded with complex issues. “Are you supposed to just say something like this,’’ he asked, “or are you supposed to think about it?’’ Brock Parker can be reached at Brock.globe@gmail.com. © Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

Inside Publishing NO WORD UNSPOKEN Midway through the Confessions, St. Augustine recalls how he used to marvel at the way Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, read his manuscripts: "His eyes traveled across the pages and his heart searched out the meaning, but his voice and tongue stayed still." Scholars have sparred for decades over whether Augustine's offhand observation reveals something momentous: namely, that silent reading--that seemingly mundane act you're engaged in right now--was, in the Dark Ages, a genuine novelty. Evidence abounds that ancient and medieval readers relished giving voice to their favorite texts in order to appreciate more fully the cadences of Homer and Lucian. Of course, we equally enjoy reading poetry aloud. The question is: Could the earliest readers literally not shut up? Paul Saenger thinks so--but his argument for the onetime dominance of the spoken word doesn't rest on Augustine. Saenger, a medieval-manuscript expert and a curator of rare books at Chicago's Newberry Library, believes that reading aloud wasn't a mere preference for the ancients, but a practical necessity. His explanation is simple: Ancientandmedievalmanuscriptslookedlikethis anditwaseasiertoreadthemaloud. In his provocative new book, Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading (Stanford), Saenger argues that the practice of transcribing Greek and Latin manuscripts without spaces, or in scriptura continua, made reading silently a mind-bogglingly difficult task. "It wasn't literally impossible to read silently," Saenger says, "but the notation system was so awkward that the vast majority of readers would have needed to sound out the syllables, if only in a muffled voice." Saenger's book asserts that only at the end of the seventh century, when Irish monks introduced regular word separation into medieval manuscripts, did swift, silent reading become feasible. Why is it so hard to read text without spacing? Just imagine how difficult it would be for your computer's spell checker if you wrote a document in scriptura continua. The program would initially have to determine which syllables to slice into words, and then proceed with its main task. The human brain, fortunately, is more dexterous than a word processor, but the burden of breaking strings of letters into words is, nonetheless, a laborious first step. And therein lies Saenger's thesis: "There is a correlation between a propensity to read orally in both past and contemporary cultures and the duration of cognitive activity needed to achieve lexical access in that culture's script." Saenger, who has a Ph.D. in medieval history, backs up his claims with cutting-edge scientific research. (To his delight, he discovered that psychologists had been testing adult abilities to read English versions of scriptura continua for decades, "without being aware of its real-world precursor.") Clinical tests reveal that the brain processes the reading of spaced text--in which words are essentially digested whole--differently from the syllable-by-syllable decoding of continuous script. In fact, different parts of the brain handle these two tasks: Studies of brain-injured Japanese patients demonstrate that, depending on the site of a cerebral lesion, a person may lose the faculty for reading kanji ideographs, but not Japanese phonetic script, which lacks regular word separation--and vice versa. The implication is that, even if early medieval readers of scriptura continua somehow managed to keep their mouths shut, they were performing a mental task fundamentally different from that of contemporary readers. To modern eyes, the benefits of word spacing seem obvious. What took so long, then? Actually, word spaces can be found in ancient Hebrew manuscripts, as well as in a few of the very earliest Greek papyri. But Saenger doubts those word spaces engendered fluid silent reading at the time. After all, he notes, these manuscripts were all written without vowels, making the use of word spaces a virtual necessity for any kind of deciphering. In any case, following the Greeks' swift incorporation of Phoenician vowels in the ninth century b.c., scribes began crushing all the words together and writing in scriptura continua. Indeed, the entire Greek literary canon, from The Iliad onward, was written down this way. Why? Were the scribes trying to save paper? Saenger offers an explanation for this baffling step backward. "The ancient world did not possess the desire, characteristic of the modern age, to make reading easier and swifter," he writes. "Those who read...were not interested in the swift intrusive consultation of books." The canon was small, and prized texts were typically memorized. Who cared, then, if it was hard to slog through a manuscript the first dozen times? And let's not forget the inherent elitism of Greek and Roman readers. "The notion that the greater portion of the population should be autonomous and self-motivated readers was entirely foreign to the elitist literate mentality of the ancient world," Saenger writes. Fortunately, this situation didn't last forever. While an ambiguous text format "enhanced the mystery and power of clerics," Saenger notes, such awkwardness served no purpose in a scholarly universe in which readers began "to grapple with highly technical concepts" of science, law, and theology. Starting in the fifth century, scribes began to speckle manuscripts with spaces. As Saenger writes, "The introduction of word separation reflected a mentality in which reading was primarily a visual process for which the stylistic virtue of mellifluous sound was subordinate to rapid access to meaning." Most classicists have decried sporadic spacing as a sign that medieval monks didn't fully understand what they were transcribing. But Saenger sees it as a "great leap forward. It allowed the brain to find its bearings." He's even coined a new term, "aeration," to describe such manuscripts. Having spent the past fifteen years combing medieval manuscript libraries on both sides of the Atlantic, Saenger identifies the first properly spaced Latin manuscript as the Irish Book of Mulling, an illuminated translation of the Gospels dating from around 690 a.d. Indeed, he notes, the Irish soon adopted the the verb videre, "to see," as a way to describe reading. In a similar spirit, an Irish monk compared the activity of reading to a cat silently stalking a mouse. Why Ireland? For one thing, Irish monasteries were home to a select collection of Syriac-language biblical texts from late antiquity, all of which featured word spacing (but no vowels). Moreover, the Celtic-speaking monks approached Latin as a foreign language, and word separation greatly aided readers struggling with the vocabulary. (The French, in contrast, didn't think of their vernacular language as particularly different from Latin.) In the end, muses Saenger, "people at the frontiers have always been more open to linguistic innovation and combining things in new ways." Over the next couple of centuries, this Irish innovation spread to other countries--first to England, then to the Low Countries and the rest of Europe. By the twelfth century, reports Saenger, murmuring monks had become a relic of the past. (There's no precise date available, alas, for the first appearance of a SILENCE, PLEASE! sign.) As reading became a silent activity, new types of manuscripts that took advantage of this intimacy were produced, from pocket prayer books to erotica. More important, the intellectual orthodoxy enforced by group readings of manuscripts melted away as scholars retired to private rooms for quiet study. Saenger's book is sure to meet some strong resistance. Many simply refuse to believe that the ancients didn't learn to read scriptura continua silently. In a classic 1968 article, "Silent Reading in Antiquity," Bernard Knox wondered sarcastically, "Are we really to imagine that Aristarchus read aloud all the manuscripts of Homer he used for his edition?" Last year, Russian classicist A.K. Gavrilov dug in his heels, insisting in Classical Quarterly that "the phenomenon of reading itself is fundamentally the same in modern and in ancient culture." Why are some scholars so opposed to the idea that scriptura continua would impose limits on the ancients' reading abilities? "It's funny," laughs Saenger. "Mathematicians have no problem seeing the importance of notation. Newton's contribution in the Principia was both intellectual and notational, with all its symbolic innovations. But classicists refuse to accept that reading has anything to do with the page it's printed on." Of course, classicists aren't the types eager to jump on the interdisciplinary bandwagon. "These folks tend to be tremendously conservative by orientation," Saenger muses. "They tend to be frightened by modern things like psychological research. At one conference, after I laid out my ideas, some classicists called me a Freudian." DANIEL ZALEWSKI

Image caption The government is keen to convince NHS staff of the merits of its reforms The government looks set to increase the amount it spends on advertising and PR to help it sell NHS changes and other policies to the public. Next year's marketing budget is £285m, according to Cabinet Office figures. That is an increase on the £168m spent by the now axed Central Office of Information in its final year. The Cabinet Office says it is not fair to compare the figures and the overall budget is still far below that spent by the previous Labour government. A spokeswoman said not all government marketing money was spent through the COI so it was misleading to compare the organisation's budget for 2010-11 with the projected spend for next year, which will include all marketing activity. In addition, there was no "meaningful" figure for 2011-12, when the COI, which bought advertising space and commissioned public information films on behalf of government departments, was being wound up. Complex changes But marketing industry insiders say the figures, which are included in the government's new marketing plan for 2012-13 released this week by the Cabinet Office, clearly indicate an increase. Oliver Hickson, former PR chief at the COI, said: "My view on this is that spending is going up. We are determined to ensure spend never returns to anything like the highest levels seen before Cabinet Office "The vast majority of central government marketing spend was through the COI. "There was some other spend but I would suggest that was either internal press offices or local authorities, which will still carry on." Part of the planned increase in spending is likely to go on explaining complex changes to the welfare system and trying to convince health service workers and the public of the merits of NHS reforms, says Mr Hickson, who now runs his own public sector PR consultancy. "They are quite big and potentially sensitive issues that you would imagine would need a reasonable amount of money spent on them to talk to stakeholders and the public," he told BBC News. But he says it is "sensible" for the government to spend money on communication, particularly if it is targeted at "hard-to-reach groups" such as young people and pensioners. In its "annual plan for proactive government communications" the Cabinet Office details how departments are being forced to work together on marketing to save cash. Campaigns It also sets out each department's "priority communication activities" for 2012-13. The health department's priorities - in addition to long-running campaigns against smoking, obesity and other public health problems - include "supporting the implementation of the NHS's efficiency and productivity challenge" and "informing and engaging staff groups and stakeholders in the health and care reforms". The department for work and pensions' priorities include "building understanding and positive perceptions of Personal Independence Payments as a fair benefit, personalised to reflect claimants' needs". And the business department plans to spend money on "communicating the government's macroeconomic strategy" and "supporting policies designed to boost enterprise and manufacturing". The COI was axed in April with the loss of 400 jobs as part of coalition efforts to cut the amount of money spent by the government on marketing, which reached more than £500m a year under Labour. A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the coalition was "determined to ensure spend never returns to anything like the highest levels seen before". She said the Cabinet Office was working with the Government Procurement Service to put in place a new system for "accurately capturing, on a monthly basis, all central government communications spend" for the first time.

Why Meditate? Steve Pearl has been meditating for over 40 years since he became a Buddhist in the 70’s in Dharamsala, India. As a child of the 60’s Steve was active in the counter-culture movement in Palo Alto, CA. Bitten by the wanderlust bug, he found a loophole little-known loophole and managed to dodge the draft when he moved to Europe with his mother and brother from Veracruz, Mexico on a frigate ship. He and his brother Andy, drove a red VW van across the former Yugoslavia, a pre-revolutionary Iran, and Afghanistan where they bartered the van for six horses. They made their way to India through Pakistan on these horses with a band of friends. He almost died on a mountain pass along the way. He worked on a pirate ship in Ibiza back when it was still a small fishing hamlet. He even made and sold sandals on the Spanish Steps in Rome. He first came in contact with Buddhism in Dharamsala, India and was a Buddhist monk for well over a decade. He was also a pilot doing aerial photography. Steve is currently retired and has chronicled the adventures of his youth in a book called From Kalamazoo to Kathmandu. Learn more about Meditation: 5 Tips for Getting Started with Meditation

The defunct company that used to own the 747 parked at Quonset State Airport that a New York businessman wants to convert into a replica of Air Force One holds a storied place in aviation lore, including transporting the deposed Shah of Iran, buying Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose and, allegedly, doing work for the Central Intelligence Agency. Evergreen International Aviation got its start in 1960 as Evergreen Helicopters, a company founded in Oregon by Delford M. Smith. By 1975, the company was flying airplanes as well when it bought an aircraft maintenance center outside Tucson, Arizona, that was run by the CIA, according to the Oregonian, Oregon's largest newspaper. In 1980, the company was commissioned by the U.S. government to fly the deposed Shah of Iran from Panama to exile in Egypt, the newspaper reported. In the 1980s, Evergreen transported U.S. troops on drug raids in Central and South America, the paper said. Over the years, company officials denied working for the CIA. When contacted Wednesday by The Providence Journal to discuss Evergreen's relationship with the CIA, a spokesman for the spy agency declined to comment. The company also had contracts to carry U.S. Mail, as well as transporting cargo and personnel for private businesses. Evergreen filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on Dec. 31, 2013, in the Delaware District. While the bankruptcy was pending, the 747 now parked at Quonset, tail identification number N485EV, sat for several years on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where it earned the unofficial title of airport mascot. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the company's aircraft were sold off. The 747 at Quonset was purchased in the bankruptcy proceedings by Jet Midwest Group and is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration by a related company, Mojave Jet Services, which has an agreement with the businessman behind the Air Force One project. The plane began service in 1973 as part of the fleet of Singapore Airlines. It also had been owned by Flying Tiger Line and Pan American World Airways before coming to Evergreen in the late 1980s or early 1990s. (The Spruce Goose is owned by a separate nonprofit arm of Evergreen and was not involved in the bankruptcy.) pparker@providencejournal.com (401) 277-7360 On Twitter: @projopaul

Want to download torrents on iPad at full speed, but afraid of jailbreaking your iOS device? Wondering if you can download torrents on your iPhone without jailbreak? Well, that should not be a problem if you follow the method featured in this article. Introduction Previously, I had written a post featuring the best torrent downloader app for an iPhone. In that I had mentioned a much easier way to download torrents on your iPhone, iPad or even on an iPod touch. But there’s a catch in that. These torrent downloading apps can be installed only on a jailbroken iOS device from third party app stores like Cydia. This can be a problem to some iOS users for whom jailbreaking may be a strict no-no. However, the good news is that, there is a work around to this problem. In this article I am sharing a new idea that would help you download torrents on your iOS device without the need of a jailbreak. What are torrents? Torrenting is a file sharing protocol on the internet that is fundamentally different from all other ways of downloading a file. In the traditional way of downloading a file, a file can only be downloaded from a single source on the internet. However, in torrents’ case, a file can be downloaded, bit by bit, from the source of upload as well as from fellow downloaders. Hence, by using up multiple sources of downloading simultaneously, torrents can potentially increase the speed of download of a file when compared to direct downloads. While downloading a torrent file there are three types of sharing sources that you will come across. Users who have completed their download and are sharing/seeding it for others to download are called seeders. The more seeders a file has, the faster the download is bound to complete. Users who only have a portion of the file, but are uploading it and downloading the rest at the same time are called peers. Peers are very useful in increasing the overall speed of downloading a torrent file. Users who have just started downloading the torrent and have no portion of it to share with the others are called leechers. The torrent files themselves are just trackers that keep track of the different download locations in real time. They manage the seeding and leeching of a file to different computers. Why Torrent? The internet has developed rapidly in the past two decades, but not everyone can afford a high-speed internet connection yet. As a result, slower internet speeds may make it cumbersome for such users to download heavy sized files. In that context torrents have emerged as the easiest means to share large-sized files among multiple internet users. Additionally, the speed of downloading torrents may not be limited to your ISP speed. Using proper porting techniques anyone may get download speeds that are much faster than what they are otherwise used to. No Torrent Clients in App Store Android users have access to loads of torrent clients such as bittorrent and utorrent on Google’s Play Store. These apps can download torrents without jailbreak or root on android devices. At the same time, iOS users struggle to find even a single such app in Apple‘s App Store. The reason? Well, over the years Apple has been keen on implementing copy right infringement laws a tad more seriously than many of its rivals in the tech industry. The curators of Apple’s App Store try very hard not to allow torrenting apps to enter the iOS platform. And they do succeed in their efforts for the most part. That’s where iOS jailbreaking comes into the picture. Jailbreaking unlocks a number of commonly used features that iOS users are otherwise deprived of. One such feature would be the ability to download third party apps like utorrent. But, if you are one of those users who are skeptical of jailbreaking your device then the following guide is for you. Use it to simply download torrents on iPad without jailbreak. How to Download Torrents on iPad (iOS) In this guide we are going to use a download manager such as ‘iDownloader’ or ‘UC Browser’. We shall use this manager to download torrents so that no jailbreak is required as promised earlier. We will also use two other websites in the process to download torrents at high speeds. Requirements before downloading torrents on iPad 1. Install a download manager like iDownloader or UC browser that can be quickly downloaded from Apple’s App Store within a minute or two. 2. Secondly, you will need a torrent website for browsing and saving the torrents you would like to download. For this you will have to look for a torrent website that is online or active. A simple Google search for active torrent sites should suffice. Steps to download torrents on iPad Step 1 : Open iDownloader or UC browser on your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch and open the internet browser given in that app. Browsers of different download managers work differently. Step 2 : Go to any working torrent site. Here, we have used “Piratebay” as an example. You can use any working torrent site of your choice. In that torrent site, search for the legal torrent you want to download. Step 3 : Long tap the Download link of that particular torrent. Step 4 : You will get a pop-up with 3 options – ‘Open’, ‘Copy’, ‘Cancel’. Select ‘Copy‘ by tapping on it. Step 5 : Now, open a new tab on your browser and go to www.zbigz.com. Step 6 : On the Zbigz website you’ll see a URL field. Paste the Torrent link (which you had copied in step 4) in there and tap on the GO button. Step 7 : Wait for a moment. Zbigz will now create the download link. Step 8 : After you get the link, just tap on the download button in the shape of a “down-arrow” which is located beside the file name. You should see these three options – ‘Download’, ‘Open’ and ‘Copy Link’. Choose the ‘Download‘ option in order to download the file to your iPad. Alternatively, you can just tap on the download icon in the shape of an ‘up-arrow’ at the bottom of the page in iDownloader. The downloaded file is stored in the ‘Files‘ segment of iDownloader. That’s it. You have now successfully downloaded a torrent file to your iDevice without having to jailbreak it. Update It is common practice to use ‘Safari‘ in the process of downloading files from sites like ZbigZ. But, the Safari browser sometimes downloads the files and other times streams them directly, which can be a problem. So, sticking to the likes of UC browser and iDownloader can be the better option. Got a question? Please feel free to voice out in the comments below.

Last Thursday night, a gay couple was brutally beaten by a group of two men and six women who were “visibly intoxicated.” NBC Philadelphia reports, “Witnesses say someone in the group asked, 'Is this your f****** boyfriend?' When one of the victims told them yes, the group allegedly attacked them, punching and kicking them in the face, head and chest.” One of the attackers grabbed a victim's bag and fled. At least one of the victims was taken to the hospital for fractures to his face and had to have his jaw wired shut. Generally after an attack of this kind, the investigation can draw out indefinitely. The Philadelphia Police Department said it was looking for as many as 12 people in relation to the attack. But today Philadelphia's ABC News syndicate reported that some of the suspects are expected to surrender to police in the near future. Why the sudden change of heart? A number of good actors on various social media used Twitter, Facebook, and some CCTV footage to track down the attackers and alert police of their possible identities. When the Philadelphia police released grainy CCTV footage of the group of attackers on YouTube on Tuesday, Greg Bennett, a former Real Housewives of New Jersey star, tweeted the video with the message, “Video of the 10-12 pieces of garbage suspected of a gay bashing in Philly. Spread it round.” Bennett, who has hundreds of thousands of followers, received a photo from one of his followers of a group of people at a restaurant in the area who looked similar to the people in the CCTV video. At that point, a Twitter user called @FanSince09 retweeted the image from the restaurant and discovered that the restaurant was called La Viola. The Twitter user then went to Facebook to find out who had checked into La Viola on Twitter on Thursday night and found at least three people who checked into the restaurant and whose faces seemed to match those in the CCTV video. @FanSince09 reportedly took that information to the police, and Philadelphia Detective Joseph Murray tweeted this morning, “S/O to @FanSince09 This is what makes my job easy. Sure, it's up to me to make the arrest but we are all in this together.” Since then, sources have told various news outlets that the people in the photo were former students of a local Catholic high school who were in town for a dinner. NBC Philadelphia said that some of the suspects have lawyered up and told the police department they would surrender today, but they have kept the department waiting, and officers were considering going to the suspects' homes to make the arrests. Use of CCTV footage has often been highly controversial. In the UK, privacy groups balked at widespread CCTV use, which was later shown to not have much of an impact on crime prevention. But occasionally good can come of the ever-watching eye. Earlier this year, a Wisconsin woman was cleared of responsibility in a car crash with a Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office Deputy when CCTV footage was discovered that showed that the Deputy was responsible for the crash. Still, using the hive mind to solve crimes and mysteries doesn't always have a happy ending. In the wake of the Boston bombings last year, amateur investigators on reddit accused several innocent people of being the perpetrators, and the site manager, Erik Martin, issued a public apology for "online witch hunts and dangerous speculation." It's still unclear whether suspects will be arrested and charged—as Detective Murray tweeted today, “Let's be clear here. No arrests made. Central Detectives have done a ton of work and have a lot more to do. (Not a Law & Order episode)”. But it is clear that social media contributed to speeding up the process of justice.

2012 might have been too early for a price cut on Sony's flagging PlayStation Vita portable, but early 2013 is obviously a different matter. Sony Japan announced today that both the Wi-Fi and 3G enabled versions of the system will be lowered to a price of ¥19,980 (around $215) starting on Feb. 28; a price drop of 20 to 34 percent (depending on the model). The reduction comes none too soon to try to revive the powerful portable's standing in the country. After a relatively healthy launch weekend, Japanese sales of the system plummeted in its second week on store shelves. Those sales continued to sag week by week, except for brief spikes surrounding new software launches that weren't sustainable. The system reached a new sales low in November when it managed to sell only 4,021 units across Japan in a week, placing behind even the ancient PlayStation Portable and selling less than 1/46th as much as the 3DS in the same period. Are the US and Europe set to see similar price cuts in the near future? In the US, Sony's descriptions of Vita sales have gone from "exceptional" to "acceptable" to estimates of only 35,000 sales in January 2013, which can only be described as "unacceptable." Europe's Vita sales have looked more like Japan's, falling behind even the PSP and well behind the newer 3DS in the region last year. Sony also scaled back its worldwide sales expectations for the Vita two times last year after the market gave a collective shrug to show less than predicted levels of interest in the system, and Sony President Kaz Hirai said in January that system sales were on the "low end of what we expected." That all points to a system that needs to quickly come down in price worldwide if it's going to have any hope of stopping its downward spiral. Perhaps Wednesday's PlayStation Meeting will include some portable pricing news in addition to word of Sony's future home console plans.

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way. Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way. Logic would lead one to believe that "dyslogistic" is somehow related to the Greek word "logos," from which the words "logic" and "logistics" are derived. In actuality, however, "dyslogistic" is a 19th-century merger of the prefix "dys-," meaning "bad," and "eulogy," referring to an expression of praise. English jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) often used "dyslogistic" in his writings as an adjective to convey dispraise or opprobrium. And even today the word is likely to be encountered in judicial and intellectual writings. Examples The blogger used many dyslogistic adjectives to express his dissatisfaction with the mayor. "One answer lies in ... the dyslogistic school of memoir written by former officials who present themselves as disillusioned innocents." - From a book review by Jacob Heilbrunn in The New York Times, June 22, 2008

We’ve all seen them before. Walk three blocks in Boston and you’re bound to encounter megaphone-wielding “Men of God” telling us we’re all going to Hell. But one little girl in Salem took exceptional offense to a proselytizing loudmouth attempting to ruin the sacred institution of Salem Halloween, so she told him what we’ve all secretly dreamed of saying. I know I wrote yesterday about two Boston kids telling their Mom to shut up and how wrong it was, But I’m willing to make an exception to the “respect your elders” rule when said elder is telling everyone within earshot they’re going to Hell unless they subscribe to his very specific brand of Christianity. And in Salem on Halloween, no less! Let the Pagans have their day of fun in the unholiest of lands, and leave the sermons on every other sidewalk in Boston like you normally do. [h/t Reddit]

Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem and Liam Gallagher set for Malahide Castle Next Year? Ah, the old internet rumour mill. What on earth was life like before you? According to reports on a couple of mammoth Irish digital content pedallers, LCD Soundsystem are primed to play Malahide Castle on Tuesday, June 5, Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz will play Saturday, June 9 and Liam Gallagher (whose debut solo album Christine Costello reviewed for us over here) will play an as-of-yet unspecified date in the month. According to a post by Enjoy Malahide (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t enjoy Malahide?) the shows are provisional and dependent upon successful planning permission. Assuming that’s granted, and these shows are, you know, actually in the pipeline, we can expect three sell-outs right off the bat there.

heic1217 — Science Release Hubble helps find candidate for most distant object in the Universe yet observed By combining the power of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and one of nature’s zoom lenses, astronomers have found what is probably the most distant galaxy yet seen in the Universe. The object offers a peek back into a time when the Universe was only 3 percent of its present age of 13.7 billion years. We see the newly discovered galaxy, named MACS0647-JD, as it was 420 million years after the Big Bang. Its light has travelled for 13.3 billion years to reach Earth, which corresponds to a redshift of approximately 11 [1]. This is the latest discovery from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) [2], which uses massive galaxy clusters as cosmic telescopes to magnify distant galaxies behind them, an effect called gravitational lensing. “While one occasionally expects to find an extremely distant galaxy using the tremendous power of gravitational lensing, this latest discovery has outstripped even my expectations of what would be possible with the CLASH program,” said Rychard Bouwens (Leiden University, Netherlands), a co-author of the study. “The science output in this regard has been incredible.” Along the way, 8 billion years into its journey, the galaxy’s light took a detour along multiple paths around the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0647.7+7015. Due to the gravitational lensing, the team observed three magnified images of MACS0647-JD with Hubble. The cluster’s gravity boosted the light from the faraway galaxy, making the images appear far brighter than they otherwise would, although they still appear as tiny dots in Hubble’s portrait. “This cluster does what no manmade telescope can do,” said Marc Postman (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), leader of the CLASH team. “Without the magnification, it would require a Herculean effort to observe this galaxy.” The object is so small it may be in the first stages of galaxy formation, with analysis showing the galaxy is less than 600 light-years across. For comparison the Milky Way is 150 000 light-years across. The estimated mass of this baby galaxy is roughly equal to 100 million or a billion suns, or 0.1 - 1 percent the mass of our Milky Way’s stars. “This object may be one of many building blocks of a galaxy,” explained Dan Coe (Space Telescope Science Institute), lead author of the study. “Over the next 13 billion years, it may have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of merging events with other galaxies and galaxy fragments.” The team spent months systematically ruling out all other alternative explanations for the object’s identity before concluding that it is the distance record holder. This was important, as nearby objects (such as red stars, brown dwarfs and old or dusty galaxies) can mimic the appearance of an extremely distant galaxy and must be carefully excluded. The area around the galaxy was observed by Hubble through 17 filters — spanning near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths — with the galaxy appearing only in the two reddest filters. This was consistent with a highly redshifted galaxy, but did not fully exclude other possibilities. Images of the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths taken by Spitzer were more conclusive, however: if the object were intrinsically red, it would appear bright in these images. Instead, the galaxy was barely detected, if at all. MACS0647-JD may be too far away for any current telescope to confirm the distance with spectroscopy [3]. Nevertheless, all the evidence points towards the fledgling galaxy being the new distance record holder. The galaxy will almost certainly be a prime target for the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018, which will be able to conduct spectroscopy to make a definitive measurement of its distance and study its properties in more detail. Notes [1] Redshift is a consequence of the expansion of space over cosmic time, which stretches the wavelength of light. This has the consequence of making a distant object appear redder than it really is. Objects with a higher redshift have had their light stretched more, and are more distant. The previous candidate for the most distant object observed has a redshift of 10.3 (heic1103); confirmations of several objects with redshifts between 7 and 9 have been reported using spectroscopy, which gives more robust results (see for example eso1041). This newly discovered galaxy’s redshift has been calculated as being approximately 10.8, with a 95% confidence that it lies between 10.3 and 11.3. [2] The new distance champion is the second remote galaxy uncovered in the CLASH survey, a multiwavelength census of 25 hefty galaxy clusters with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments. Earlier this year, the CLASH team announced the discovery of a galaxy that existed when the universe was about 490 million years old (redshift 9.6), 70 million years later than the new record-breaking galaxy. So far, the survey has completed observations for 20 of the 25 clusters. [3] Redshift can only be precisely measured using spectroscopy, in which an object’s light is dispersed and its colour probed in detail. However, it can be estimated by comparing images made of an object through different coloured filters, a method called photometric redshift. The galaxy will only be visible in some of the filters (having been redshifted out of some filters altogether), and the redshift is derived from the bluest filter in which the galaxy is visible. Photometric redshifts, as used in this study, provide less certainty, but they can be calculated for objects much fainter than is possible with spectroscopic redshifts. For this reason, the paper refers to the object as a 'candidate z≈11 galaxy' More information The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. The international team of astronomers in this study consists of: Dan Coe (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA), Adi Zitrin (Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Heidelberg, Germany), Mauricio Carrasco (Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Heidelberg, Germany and Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile), Xinwen Shu (University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China), Wei Zheng (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA), Marc Postman (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA), Larry Bradley (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA), Anton Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA), Rychard Bouwens (Leiden University, Netherlands), Tom Broadhurst (University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain and Ikerbasque Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain) Anna Monna (Universitätssternwarter München, Munich, Germany), Ole Host (University College London, London, UK and Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Leonidas A. Moustakas (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, La Cañada Flintridge, USA), Holland Ford (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA), John Moustakas (Siena College, Loudonville, USA), Arjen van der Wel (Max Planck Institute for AStronomy, Heidelberg, Germany), Megan Donahue (Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA), Steven A. Rodney (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA), Narciso Bentez (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Granada, Spain), Stephanie Jouvel (University College London, London, UK and Institut de Cincies de l’Espai, Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain), Stella Seitz (Universitätssternwarte München, Munich, Germany and Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany), Daniel D. Kelson (Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, USA), and Piero Rosati (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany) The research is presented in a paper entitled “CLASH: Three Strongly Lensed Images of a Candidate z≈11 Galaxy” to be published in the December 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. Links Contacts Rychard Bouwens Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands Tel: +31 71 527 8456 Email: bouwens@strw.leidenuniv.nl Dan Coe Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, USA Tel: +1 410 338 4312 Email: dcoe@stsci.edu Oli Usher Hubble/ESA Garching, Munich Tel: +49-89-3200-6855 Email: ousher@eso.org

Web comics are a great way to get some much-needed downtime and inspiration, and are a nice, creative way to fill a break in work. Web comics are free and easily accessible, and there are plenty of great ones out there. In this article, we've picked some of the best web comics to explore. Some of the world's most well-known fictional characters were born through the medium of comics. The likes of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man have all won the hearts of successive generations of readers – to such an extent that, despite the rise of the internet, the printed comic industry is still booming. If you're inspired to create your own, take a look at our guides to how to create a comic page, and how to colour comics. Nedroid (pronounced 'NEH-droid') is a web comic by artist Anthony Clark. He has his fingers in a few different comic pies, but is best known for a goofy comic series featuring Beartato – a potato/bear hybrid, of course – that has been running since 2006. James Squires is an illustrator based in New Zealand who describes himself as a 'delusional comic person, coffee drinker, cat owner'. He's the artist behind web comic Moonbeard. These surreal, standalone cartoons often feature surprising twists, and they're well worth a browse. You can also browse his work via his Instagram feed. Webcomic Name first appeared in July 2016 and swiftly became a firm favourite. It's the work of UK-based artist Alex Norris and it never fails to amuse us with its excellently naive artwork, blobby characters and simple jokes, usually topped off with Webcomic Name's staple 'oh no' punchline. It shouldn't really work but it very much does, every single time. Anne Szabla's Bird Boy follows the story of Bali, a 10-year-old Nuru boy who is keen to prove his worth to his tribe. After being banned from the ceremony that would make him an adult, he stumbles upon a legendary weapon and must flee across a dangerous land of gods, men and beasts to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. The story was picked up by Darkhorse comics and has been compiled into graphic novels Bird Boy Volume 1: The Sword of Mali Mani and Bird Boy Volume 2: The Liminal Wood. With a thumbs up from Mike Mignola, it's definitely worth checking out. Canadian comic artist Kate Beaton, blended her expertise in history and anthropology with a talent for visual storytelling to give us this popular webcomic. Kate started the web strip during her breaks from her day job and they were all created in MS Paint (really). Beaton's simple, whimsical style, caricaturing Western historical figures from James Joyce to Ada Lovelace make Hark! A Vagrant a particular favourite of ours, and have won the artist multiple awards. She's no longer adding to the collection, but the archived version is well worth a browse. Written and drawn by Jake Wyatt with a helping hand from Kathryn Wyatt, this ongoing fantasy web comic is the tale of one girl's quest for revenge. This web comic is updated every Wednesday, and has gained popularity for its stunning visuals and engaging story. When the story finishes (we're not sure when this will be yet), there are plans to released by Image Comics as a print version. Run by Lize Meddings and Laura Jayne Cox, The Sad Ghost Club is a web comic with a cult following. "The Sad Ghost Club is a club for anyone who’s ever felt sad or lost," they explain in their manifesto. "It's the club for those who don’t feel like they're part of any other club; we love creating comics and zines to highlight the issues that a lot of ghosties go through." Branching out into tote bags, beanies, T-shirts, badges and more, the duo have come a long way with their tales of a lonely little ghost. Meddings and Cox's approach ensures you'll be smiling through each story, knowing you're not alone in the world after all. Created by Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne, Oglaf is often a very NSFW web comic centred on a medieval fantasy realm which is decidedly sexual in nature. Not for the faint-hearted, Cooper and Bayne bring their world to life through hilarious short stories and inspirational illustrations – just don't let your boss catch you reading it. If you've embarked on role-playing games or dipped your toes into the world of medieval fantasy stories, you'll know that people tend to take both very seriously. The Order of the Stick is a web comic that pokes fun at the subjects with a unique flair. It was created by artist Rich Burlew, who brings the stick figure into the modern age. Artist and writer James Hornsby has been parodying and lampooning professional wrestling culture with his hilarious Botched Spot ever since 2008. Creating his own characters including Olav Orlav and Rad Bad DeBone, this is one of those web comics that anyone can enjoy – whether you like wrestling or not. Deathbulge was initially a comic series about a death metal band, but illustrator and writer Dan came to believe that was too limiting, so decided to draw whatever he felt like. It seems his change in direction worked, as the web comic has become a firm favourite among web comic fans. With out a new issue every Monday, there's always something fresh. Scary Go Round is the home of the web comics of John Allison. There are a few different stories there, all of which form part of a shared universe, and take place around the city of Tackleford. The current comic, Giant Days, follows regular Esther de Groot as she attends university. An inventive web comic with colourful illustrations and witty dialogue that MTV favourite Daria would be proud of. Tom Gauld is a hero of sorts among the illustrator and comic-loving crowd. Based in London, not only does he draw a regular cartoon for the Guardian newspaper, he's also created a number of comic books. Although You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack is indeed, a printed publication, you can sample its delights on his Tumblr. Gemma Correll charts her 'mostly boring' life in her daily diaries Gemma Correll describes herself as a cartoonist, writer, illustrator and all-round small person. It's arguable whether her sketchbook diaries technically count as a web comic, but they're so charming that we just had to include them here. Charting her 'mostly boring' life, cute illustrations teamed with refreshingly honest observations make for some delightful reading. Related articles:

When it came to choosing my first “older” Only the Music choice of 2019 it was very clear which route I’d be taking. Fresh in my memory as I type is the recent launch of Venus Unwrapped, the concert series at London’s Kings Place which will spend the next eleven months throwing a light on the achievements of women composers. That opening event saw soprano Mary Bevan and members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment perform the music of seventeenth century Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi, and by the time the year is out over 100 women composers will have been represented across over sixty events. It should be fascinating, and I suspect many of us will emerge the other end having had previously-held perceptions challenged and changed. So the first track on this month’s playlist is the first movement of French composer Louise Farrenc’s 1847 Symphony No 3 in G minor, a magnificent work that represents a colossal achievement not simply for the fact that it was composed at a time when women were barred from composition classes at the Paris Conservatoire, but also because this was an era during which symphonic music in general was out of fashion on Parisian stages, audiences instead preferring grand opera. Opening with solitary oboe, before quickly and expertly building to a huge full-orchestra climax, this is a brilliantly crafted and thoroughly ear-grabbing work which thoroughly explains why Robert Schumann admired her music so much. It’s Schumann who then tops this month’s three new release choices, in the shape of cellist Gautier Capuçon’s new all-Schumann programme for Warner Classics, after which we have Early Music vocal ensemble Stile antico on Harmonia Mundi, with a programme centred around English Elizabethan composers in exile. Then to finish, a first foray into the recording studio from the young Consone Quartet that’s resulted in a programme of Mendelssohn and Haydn which I’ve no doubt I’ll still be describing in eleven months’ time as one of the most satisfying recording debuts of 2019. Schumann Years in development, Gautier Capuçon’s latest album is an all-Schumann programme of live concert recordings dating between 2009 and 2015, made with some of his longest-standing musical collaborators and champions. Its superlative curtain-raiser is the Cello Concerto (composed so the three movements flowed seamlessly into each other with no breaks, such was Schumann’s dislike of mid-work applause), recorded in 2015 in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitinck (first concert together 1997). Capuçon’s playing here is supremely elegant and unfailingly beautiful of tone. However equally it’s taut with drama, and with a wonderful ever-so-slightly-untamed quality which brings to the fore the turbulence and instability which dominated so much of Schumann’s life and psychological state. Haitink and the COE meanwhile are with Capuçon every step of the way, with a multi-coloured reading imbued with understanding of both composer and soloist. The rest of the album then underlines Capuçon’s status as one of the world’s finest chamber musicians, with recordings made with pianist Martha Argerich (first concert 2002) at her Martha Argerich Project Festival in Lugano: the Adagio and Allegro op.70, the Fantasiestücke op.73 and the Fünf Stücke im Volkston op.102; then the Fantasiestück op.88 for which they’re joined by Capuçon’s violinist brother Renaud (first concert 1997). With all of these it feels every bit as much like perfection every step of the way, with chamber bonding which couldn’t be any tighter, closer or more instinctive. Or indeed more exquisite, when it comes to moments such as the brothers’ dovetailing lines of the op.88 central slow movement. Obviously it’s early days, but I have a feeling this will turn out to be one of this year’s stand-out albums. So lucky us that we get it as early as January. Stile antico This latest beautifully conceived album from Early Music vocal ensemble Stile antico is built around the music of Elizabeth composers who found themselves in exile as a result of their Catholic faith. Sometimes this was textbook geographical exile, with composers such as Peter Philips, Richard Dering and John Dowland effectively choosing spiritual home over physical home by leaving England’s shores for new lives on the continent. For other composers though, such as Robert White and William Byrd, the exile took the form of spiritual exile in England itself. The works Stile antico have chosen span the emotional and stylistic gamut. On the one hand, there’s Robert White’s (1538-1574) affecting Lamentations a 5: a dramatic and individual setting of the Old Testament Lamentations from Jeremiah, meditating on the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem, which would have felt especially pertinent subject matter for an England-based Catholic. But on the other hand there are works such as Peter Philips’ joyous and slightly more archaic-sounding “Gaude Maria virgo”. The Stile antico sound itself is clear and agile, with female sopranos so boy-treble-like of tone that at points you can’t believe that’s not what you’re listening to, and the two tracks I’ve chosen show that off to the full. First, Richard Dering’s Italianate, madrigal-like “Factum est silentium”, which sets a dramatic passage from the book of Revelation. The second extract is then the recording’s only modern piece, from one of today’s finest British composers: Huw Watkins’ 2014 setting of Shakespeare’s poem The Phoenix and the Turtle, which on the surface describes the funeral rites of the phoenix and the turtle dove (symbolic of perfection and devoted love), but which may also have been an allegory about Catholic martyrs. Consone Quartet Every so often a debut recording comes along which absolutely leaps out of the stereo at you as something special right from its first seconds, and this is one of these. Formed in 2012 at London’s Royal College of Music, the Consone Quartet focusses on exploring Classical and Early Romantic period repertoire on period instruments, and their successes to date include winning the 2016 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Prize, and two prizes at the 2015 York Early Music Competition, including a place on the Eeemerging Scheme for young artists at Ambronay. At the centre of this programme now recorded through that same Eeemerging Scheme is the first of Haydn’s late-life op.77 pair of string quartets of 1799, commissioned by the wealthy Viennese patron Prince Maximilian Lobkowitz who at the same time commissioned a set of quartets from the young Beethoven. Bookending this are two Mendelssohn quartets: the String Quartet No 1 of 1829, written by the eighteen year old composer shortly after Beethoven’s death sent shockwaves across the musical world; then the four string quartet movements dating from various periods of Mendelssohn’s life, which after his death in 1847 were grouped together and published (in 1850) as his op.81. It’s Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No 1 you’ll find on this playlist, and the Consone Quartet’s tender and poised reading displays all the qualities you’ll hear across their programme: clean, lucid tone; tonally zinging and tightly superglued ensemble playing; beautifully spun long lines; and a compelling narrative to the phrasing which has you hanging on for their every next musical word.

If antioxidant supplement labels are to be believed, you should stop reading this article and gobble down some pills: Spurred by the rising sales of antioxidant supplements, Pom Wonderful, makers of pomegranate juice, now makes an antioxidant supplement that they claim has "extraordinary health benefits." This proclamation is echoed by numerous health supplement ads in health food stores and on the Internet. For instance, Source Naturals Resveratrol advises on the General Nutrition Centers Web site that taking antioxidants "…may help prevent free-radical damage throughout the body and provide protective support to the cardiovascular system.*" Problem solved. Except a bit of a buzz-kill is delivered by the asterisked footnote: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease." So, do the purported health benefits of antioxidants actually exist? Here's the theory: Just as the name suggests, antioxidants slow down oxidation, a process that is part of normal bodily functions but can also damage cells. Oxidation can even increase the stickiness of cholesterol, upping the risk that it will block circulation and cause heart attacks or strokes. So it at least theoretically makes sense that antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E and other antioxidant compounds found in carrots and other vegetables, are good for you. Ditto antioxidants found in pomegranates, red wine and licorice root. And early studies in the 1990s showed that people who ate more antioxidants had a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. But those findings didn't hold up for antioxidant supplements. In later studies, such supplements did not affect risk of—and in some studies actually increased—heart attacks and strokes. Nancy Cook, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a co-author of one of these studies, suggests two possible explanations for these results: It could be that studies of supplements are using the wrong doses and combinations of antioxidants. Or, people who eat lots of antioxidants—in foods, not supplements—are already doing the kinds of things that lower heart disease risk, namely exercise and, well, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. Biochemist Michael Aviram of the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, suggests another alternative. His research focuses on pomegranates. In a recent study, he found that mice bred to have blockages in their arteries and developed fewer blockages in their arteries after they were fed parts of pomegranates. Because such blockages can cause heart attacks and strokes, he says his studies suggest antioxidants work against such events. And although earlier studies found that vitamin E—another antioxidant—didn't clear such blockages, he found that the kinds of antioxidants in pomegranates do. His theory: there are many sources of oxidative stress—viruses, toxins, physical strain—and each antioxidant might be effective against a particular type of stress, but not the others. In other words, it depends whether the antioxidants you're taking are fighting against the good, normal oxidation in your body or the bad oxidation. "The devil's in the details in a lot of these things," says Andrew Shao of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association in Washington, D.C., representing supplement manufacturers. "If you were to take all the marketing at face value, you might think that the ideal situation is to have no oxidation whatsoever. That is not what you want. It's part of normal biochemistry, part of the immune system." "Most [antioxidants] don't work alone," he adds. "They're not drugs." Like Cook, Shao recommends a diet high in antioxidants and a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise. "That may run counter to what you see in some marketing," he says, although he refused to say which ads he meant. Marketing also makes it difficult for consumers to know what they are getting. "Is the product on the shelf the same one that was studied in clinical trials?" Shao asks. For foods, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission monitor claims made on the label or in advertising, but "it very much depends on the strength and specificity of the language in the claim," he says. A product that claims "antioxidant support" will raise less ire than one that claims to lower the risk of a particular disease. In any case, the research is clear: Large, carefully controlled studies and trials have consistently found no benefit to antioxidant supplements, says Alice Lichtenstein of Tufts University.* "You have to take the totality of the data, and that's what we normally do [in science]," she says. "Why are they popular? I don't know. Maybe because it sounds like the easy answer." With reporting by Willa Austen Isikoff * Note (7/7/08): This sentence has been modified since the original posting.

ArenaNet seems to have a bit of a problem with finding good names relating to the heavily armoured profession that serves as the Monk’s spiritual successor. It’s understandable, really. While the guardian has many similarities with existing archetypes, the precise composition of the guardian is something that doesn’t really have an established name in the genre. While the ‘paladin’ archetype is probably closest, the guardian extends much broader (as I discussed after the guardian’s release) and paladins are typically associated with having a specific religious belief, which would fit poorly with the range of religious positions (or lack thereof) of the playable races. With that said, the term ‘guardian’ has made for a fair label. It may not be as evocative as terms like ‘ranger’ and ‘elementalist’… however, it is functional and descriptive enough for the guardian’s abilities and role, and there aren’t really any more exotic terms that fit. The term ‘dragonhunter’, on the other hand… Skyrim jokes aside, it feels a bit like a development placeholder term that never got replaced. While both terms are somewhat pedestrian at first glance, ‘guardian’ is descriptive to the general (but not exclusive) focus on defensive magic while remaining generic enough that it is easy to expect any organisation to include guardians within its ranks (some more than others, of course). Similarly, each of the other profession names, including the chronomancer specialisation, focus on abilities rather than goals. Unlike the Chronomancer, whose name identifies their abilities, the name ‘dragonhunter’ seems to dictate the character’s objectives and personality while saying little about their abilities. For the dragonhunter, this is turned on its head. The term says little about the character’s abilities, while limiting the character in goals: by its name, a dragonhunter is implied to only be focused on fighting the dragons, rather than pursuing other threats and goals. In the latest Ready Up, in fact, we are explicitly told that dragonhunters focus their efforts on hunting dragon minions, including taking up something of a ‘witch hunter’ aspect in sniffing out Mordremoth-influenced sylvari and other dragon-corrupted individuals among their allies. While it is a reasonable assumption that the PCs would have such a primary goal, it does lead to the impression that ArenaNet is telling us what the personality of the character should be, rather than letting the player come to their own opinion of their character’s goals and motivations. Also, unlike the term ‘guardian’, it does not feel as if there is a lack of other terms that can be used. For instance, one proposal I would be inclined to make would be “Vigilant” – the implied connection to the Vigil can still indicate that it originates from dragon-fighting organisations, while also evoking the image of a sentinel standing watch over a town, ready to defend against interlopers through skilled archery and well-placed traps. Now that we’ve got the complaining about names out of the way, let’s look at the profession itself… What’s Old Is New Again The new guardian elite specialisation feels a lot like ArenaNet is adding a ranger-like option for the guardian. I’ll have to admit that I’ve flip-flopped a bit on my impression of the new specialisation. On initial reaction, the skills do look like they’ll be fun to use. On further reflection, however, while the new chronomancer skills and abilities neatly fit within the general theme of the mesmer, the dragonhunter takes the guardian in a very different direction, the combination of traps and archery feeling very much like a ranger enhanced with guardian magic. With additional thought, however, it struck me that this might actually be the point. One of the main sources of nostalgia from Guild Wars 1 players was the secondary profession system, allowing a character to pick up traits and skills from another profession, even to the point of ‘playing to your secondary’, relying primarily on the skills of a secondary profession combined with the primary attribute of the main profession – a tactic particularly employed by touch rangers and “bunny thumper” hammer rangers, among others. The dragonhunter, then, can possibly be regarded as the first of a new set of specialisations that simulate secondary professions, granting a set of abilities normally associated with another profession while maintaining some of the flavour of the original profession. Come Into My Parlour So how does it all go together? The dragonhunter could prove to play very similarly to trapper rangers. Played in a pure sense, the dragonhunter would likely play very similar to a traditional trapper ranger. Plant a few traps between your firing position and the enemy, and open fire – if the enemy remains at range it may be conceding an advantage to the dragonhunter (especially given that one of the traits increases damage if you maintain a certain distance from the enemy). Conversely, if the enemy approaches, they will need to run the gauntlet of traps – some of which may include potent crowd control effects such as Dragon’s Maw. This is reinforced by the additional effects on the activation of Virtues – Courage allows a period of negating enemy ranged attacks, while Resolve can be used for a quick getaway. One distinction between the dragonhunter longbow and the traditional ranger longbow is a greater focus on striking multiple targets. While rangers have a trait that allows arrows to pierce through targets, this is a fairly narrow line. In practise, even with this trait, longbow rangers tend to focus on a single target at once unless firing upon a closely packed group. The dragonhunter longbow attacks (as well as the Spear of Justice), on the other hand, are more focused on striking multiple targets, whether a circular area or a line, with the basic attack having a requirement to hit multiple targets in order to have the full effect. The line-based effects, however, appear to be more forgiving than the ranger’s Piercing Arrows trait, affecting a broader area, and while the auto attack requires the second target to be behind the first, a fairly wide angle is allowed. The dragonhunter’s bow attacks show a strong focus on area attacks. However, the new features of the dragonhunter do not necessarily need to be combined with the longbow. While the traps have a slight delay when set beneath a target’s feet rather than triggered by an enemy’s movement, it’s still quite possible for an enemy to be caught within the area when used in this manner, especially when combined with other crowd control effects such as Ring of Warding. Meanwhile, the traps that have a crowd control effect themselves can be used to keep the enemy within an area where they can be subjected to symbols and/or melee attacks. The enhanced Virtues, on the other hand, grant additional options that can be useful when combined with any weapon. This last point, in fact, may be a bit of a balance concern. Simply by taking an elite specialisation, a guardian can gain three additional, quite potent skills to their bar, in addition to access to the new skills. While the benefits of traits from the existing core specialisations such as Altruistic Healing and Pure of Voice are not to be underestimated, it could be hard for the core specialisations to compete with a projectile blocker, a leap, and Spear of Justice on top of the rest of the line. No More Tomes? There’s one last thing to note, which from what I’ve seen was missing from the Twitch program: Jon Peters has raised the possibility of dropping the tomes from the guardian elites and replacing them with new skills. Tome of Courage may be replaced with Signet of Courage, which generates regular healing and can be activated to generate Light of Deliverance for an instant full party heal. Tome of Wrath, on the other hand, is proposed to be replaced by the “Feel My Wrath!” elite shout, which grants Fury and Quickness – although it’s not clear if this is just for the guardian, or whether it might affect allies as well (making it potential competition for a mesmer’s Time Warp). I’m of mixed thoughts on this. It’s true that tomes tend not to be used by most guardians in most situations, however, I would be saddened to see that aspect removed. On the other hand, the proposed alternatives would be much more useful in most circumstances and allow for more fluid use than the current tome mechanics. The suggestion of bringing back the tomes in a specialisation may well be the best compromise, giving the core guardian gameplay more elites that do not have the unwieldiness of the tomes, while still keeping the tome concept available (once the tome-focused specialisation comes around) to those who wish to use them.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com. If you prize clarity, then these past weeks were some of the best in memory. 1. When America leads, the world is better. For the first time in eight years, the allies of America and the world's decent people celebrated America's return to leadership. Just about all of them understand that if the United States doesn't exercise its power, the worst regimes on Earth will. The left claims to care about the downtrodden of the world, but this concern is a moral fraud. The downtrodden the left most care about are American blacks, women and gays. And Palestinians. But these groups aren't downtrodden; they are merely a vehicle by which the left attacks America and Israel to gain power. The truly downtrodden -- that is, the most oppressed people in the world, such as Christians living in the Middle East, and the victims of Syrian President Bashar Assad's tyranny -- know who really cares about them: Trump and America's conservatives. 2. The terrible presidency of Barack Obama is beginning to be acknowledged. Following President Trump's order to attack Syria about 63 hours after the Syrian regime seemingly used chemical weapons, even many in the mainstream media couldn't help but contrast his prompt response with Obama's nonresponse to Assad's use of chemical weapons in 2013. And almost every report further noted that Obama failed to do anything after having promised that he would regard the use of chemical weapons by Assad as crossing a "red line." Likewise, Obama's do-nothing policies vis-a-vis North Korea are being contrasted with Trump's warnings to leader Kim Jung Un about further testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles and pressure on China's leaders to rein in the North Korean regime. These contrasts are important for a number of reasons, not the least of which being there is now hope that Obama's star will dim as time goes on. This will come as somewhat of a surprise to those on the left, but many of us who are not on the left believe that Obama did more damage to America than any previous president -- economically, militarily and socially. Regarding the social damage, as the first black president in American history, he could have been an unprecedented force for racial healing but instead left America more racially divided than any modern president. In his repeated citing of Ferguson, for example, he helped spread the lie that a racist white Missouri police officer had killed an innocent black teenager without reason (other than racial bias). He deceived the American people (the "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" assertion and more) in order to pass Obamacare, one of the largest government-expanding programs in American history. He used presidential power in an unprecedentedly authoritarian manner. He showed far more understanding of the Iranian theocracy than of the Israeli democracy. His Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice were politicized in ways reminiscent of corrupt Third World regimes. And he left America fighting a (thus far nonviolent) second Civil War. 3. The interminably repeated left-wing lie that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are in cahoots has exploded. With Trump's military attack on Assad and verbal attacks on Russia, that claim has been shown to be what those with a little common sense knew it to be: a baseless, wholly made-up conspiracy theory meant to explain an election loss with which Democrats still haven't come to grips. In fact, President Trump has shown more backbone with Russia in his first 100 days in office than President Obama did in eight years. 4. Another charge made over and over by the left -- the mainstream media, academia and the Democratic Party -- that the Trump election had unleashed an unprecedented amount of anti-Semitism was proven to be yet another left-wing hysteria based on a left-wing lie. It turned out that bomb threats phoned into Jewish community centers and Jewish agencies came not from Trump supporters and "white supremacists" but from a black radical and a disturbed young American Jew living in Israel. Given that factual and moral clarity are conservatism's greatest allies, we may be witnessing the beginning of a conservative Renaissance, the likes of which we haven't seen since the advent of progressivism.

Using React components in non-React websites Seven leaps Blocked Unblock Follow Following May 5, 2016 This is something that I needed to do recently and I was surprised by how hard I found it to find information on it. A few hours of doubting my ability as a developer and 20+ browser tabs later I discovered that it actually is relatively straight forward using webpack and babel. TL;DR — use this github project as a template to bundle the component The aim: Friends of mine had created a really cool React component, Chat-Template, a configurable component that simulates instant message conversations. I wanted to make this component easily consumable for non-react websites as well. Chat-Template in action on http://mrwgame.com The approach: One thing that was clear from the start is that in order to make the component consumable, I was going to need to package it up webpack. Webpack takes modules with dependencies and generates static assets representing those modules A lot of the examples I seen involved the consumer of the webpacked component including react.js on their webpage, this is something I wanted to avoid. I wanted the consumers of the component to not even need to know what React is! (Maybe they’re living under a rock?) I wrote a node script to wrap the component. It included the component, React and ReactDom and exported a method to display it on a given dom element Node script to wrap the component As this code was to be consumed by browsers, I use babel to ensure the best compatibly. Babel is basically a javascript code compiler that converts EC6 javascript code to the much more widely compatible EC5 I now needed to configure webpack. One thing that was needed was to make the method a global variable, so the showChatTemplate function was available, this was done using the libraryTarget and library configurations. The webpack config looked like this I now had a single javascript file that included everything the consumer needed and could be easily added to a web page. Perfect! Except at 1.08MB, the generated file was a little on the large side! After running webpack with the -p flag and adding some configuration to make sure the production version of react was being used, the file size shrunk down to a much more manageable 0.283MB Conclusion: That’s how I was able to consume a React component in a non-React website. We’ve now added the generated files to Chat-Template so non-React users have the component available to them. If you are interested in doing the same, use this github project as a starting point to wrap whatever component you want. If you have any questions or suggestions I would love to hear them.

Ever want to put your old clothes to use, but are sick of just dropping off piles and piles of fabric to Goodwill and calling it a day, not knowing where any of it is actually going? Enter Cotton Incorporated's Blue Jeans Go Green Program, which has fulfilled its goal of gathering 10,000 denim items and using it all as insulation for 10 homes that were put up in the New Orleans Area Habitat For Humanity. I've got to say — it's probably one of the trendiest initiatives. To start off, AnnaSophia Robb was one of the volunteers at the Habitat For Humanity Build-a-Thon in May in the New Orleans area. Robb herself gave Karen Walter a key to her new home. Robb worked with over 600 other AmeriCorps and various other volunteers from May 20 to May 30, according to WWD. As if it couldn't get cooler, most of the denim pieces were collected in bins located in Madewell stores. People all over the U.S. dropped their items off at store locations, as well as mailed them in. After collected, the denim pieces were converted into "UltraTouch Denim Insulation" by Bonded Logic Inc., their manufacturing partner. Pretty cool. Reminiscent of Pharrell's partnership with G-Star Raw called "Raw for the Oceans" that focused on turning plastic caught in the ocean into fiber, and then using that fiber to make clothing. Another win that Cotton Inc. mentioned was that over the past 40 years, pesticide applications have reduced by 50 percent by cotton growers, according to WWD. Which has also meant a reduction in irrigation water applications. This wonderful movement "brings the environmental gains cotton growers have made in the field and takes them full circle by diverting textiles from landfills and helping to rebuild communities," says WWD. The program, alive since 2006, has produced a significant amount of insulation for Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Since its conception, the movement has collected more than one million pieces of denim from landfills and has created approximately two million square feet of insulation, according to WWD. Andrea Samber, co-director of Strategic Alliances at Cotton Inc. told WWD, “The average consumer owns seven pairs of jeans. Giving just one of them to the recycling drive can make a big difference in a family’s life.” Next time you go through your closet, consider donating to this initiative, cause it's a pretty sweet one. Donate a pair, and change a life. Images: Pexels, hawtcelebs/Twitter

In a new book, Inventing the 20th Century: 100 Inventions That Shaped the World , I read that the inventor of the Slinky, Richard James, joined a cult in Bolivia to which he donated much of his profits. What cult? Do proceeds from sales of Slinkys still go to the cult? Cecil replies: What’s your problem with cults, Ken? Why, just this spring while writing a check I said to myself, this money is going to fund religious zealots bent on subverting everything I hold dear. But I mailed in my income tax anyway. In any case, I don’t know that we want to call Richard James’s coreligionists a cult. Details about the group are scanty, and it’s possible they were just an exceptionally enthusiastic bunch of Episcopalians. Besides, it’s been more than 40 years since any Slinky money found its way into the organization’s coffers. During the 1950s, however, quite a bit did. Here’s as much of the story as I could piece together, based on conversations with Richard’s ex-wife, Betty, a remarkable woman who saved the Slinky company after her husband bailed. It all started in 1943, when Richard, an engineer at a navy shipyard in Philadelphia, noticed a torsion spring fall off a table and wiggle when it hit the floor. In the metallurgical equivalent of Newton’s apple, Richard recognized a toy waiting to be born. Having succeeded in finding steel with the right combination of lightness and springiness — no small feat in wartime — he was ready to take his product to market by late 1945. Realizing that the key to selling the Slinky was showing it in action, he fabricated a display in which the toy walked down steps and persuaded the Philadelphia branch of Gimbel’s department store to let him give demonstrations. Shoppers went nuts, and in 90 minutes Richard’s entire stock of 400 Slinkys had sold out. The thing was a hit at a toy fair the following spring and soon had become a national phenomenon. By the 1950s Richard was pretty flush. He and Betty lived with their growing family on a 12-acre estate near the suburb of Bryn Mawr on Philadelphia’s affluent Main Line. But he wasn’t content and at some point got religion. Previous accounts have been vague on how this came about, and Betty herself doesn’t have a lot of specifics. She doesn’t know what religious organization Richard got hooked up with, only that it was an evangelical Christian sect that she termed a cult. Richard began consorting with what Betty considered dubious characters, made sizable financial contributions, and testified at revival meetings. She attended one and found it mortifying. I asked Betty what had gotten into her husband. She said Slinky sales were slumping in the mid-50s and that Richard, a charismatic man who had gotten used to being a big shot, liked the attention he got while confessing his sins. Wondering what kind of sins we were talking about, I asked: “Did Richard have, ah, personal issues that led to his religious conversion?” Yes, Betty said. He’d been a philanderer. She’d found out about it, they’d had discussions of the sort that usually ensue, but she’d stayed with him for the sake of their six children. Finally, in February 1960, Richard announced to Betty and their two eldest children that he was moving to Bolivia to work for his religious group. They could either sell the business or run it themselves; he was cutting all ties. By July he was gone. What exactly he did in Bolivia, Betty doesn’t know, although there’s no reason to think it was anything along the lines of Jim Jones in Guyana — more like a mission, from the sound of it. At one point she heard he was printing religious tracts. To provide for her family, Betty decided to keep the Slinky business going, but it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Richard had diverted the company’s resources to his religious interests and left millions of dollars in unpaid bills. Betty begged her creditors to be patient, and miraculously they all agreed. She wangled a TV advertising deal, moved the Slinky plant to her hometown of Hollidaysburg in central Pennsylvania, and slowly put the company back on its feet. Every so often she got accusatory letters from Richard urging her to repent. At one point he asked that she leave the children and join him in Bolivia. She never replied. In 1974 she heard that he had died of a heart attack, and that was that. Betty ran James Industries, as the Slinky company was officially known, for nearly four decades. In 1998, having produced close to 300 million Slinkys since the founding of the company, she sold out for a boatload of money to a Michigan company that promised to keep the Slinky plant and its 120-some jobs in Hollidaysburg. Your Slinky buck may have supported some dubious ventures prior to 1960, but it’s been well spent since. Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com.

After the Las Vegas murders, Sen. Brian Schatz Brian Emanuel SchatzDems mock Trump's pitch for Fourth of July celebration Democrats brush off GOP 'trolling' over Green New Deal GOP Green New Deal stunt is a great deal for Democrats MORE (D-Hawaii) urged Congress to “take a stand against gun violence by passing common-sense gun safety laws.” On Monday, after the mass murder in Texas, he wrote, “A simple idea: Anyone convicted of domestic abuse should see their rights under the 2nd Amendment severely curtailed.” On Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Flake Jeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Poll: 33% of Kentucky voters approve of McConnell Trump suggests Heller lost reelection bid because he was 'hostile' during 2016 presidential campaign MORE (R-Ariz.) announced that he and Sen. Martin Heinrich Martin Trevor HeinrichOvernight Defense: Dems aim to block use of defense funds for wall | Watchdog issues new warning on Syria withdrawal | Trump wants to 'watch Iran' from Iraq Senate Dems introduce bill to block Trump from using military funds to build wall Puerto Rico statehood supporters pin hopes on House action MORE (D-N.M.) are writing a bill “to prevent anyone convicted of domestic violence — be it in criminal or military court — from buying a gun. In the spirit of these proposals, here are some ideas for tough federal gun laws — most of which should have been enacted years ago. For people convicted of domestic violence, even a misdemeanor, how about a lifetime prohibition on firearms possession? ADVERTISEMENT Further, a government license should be required for anyone who wants to manufacture, import, or sell firearms. The license should be mandatory not only for formal businesses, but also for individuals who make repetitive transactions for the purpose of profit. This would cover people at gun shows who put up signs declaring themselves to be “unlicensed dealers.” Anyone who engages in the firearms business without a federal license should be punished by up to five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Manufacturers, importers, and dealers who are granted a federal license should have to keep meticulous records of every transaction. Their records and inventory should be subject to warrantless, random inspections by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). If a license-holder goes out of business, all the records of past sales should be delivered to the ATF. Before a gun store can sell a firearm to an ordinary citizen, the citizen should have to get government approval. This should apply not only to storefront sales, but also if the retailer rents a table at a gun show. As for the Internet, retailers can be allowed to advertise there, but the actual transfer of a firearm should only be allowed at the retailer’s place of business. The purchaser should be required to answer dozens of questions certifying her background information. It is important that the government know the purchaser’s race, and whether or not she is Hispanic. Before the sale is consummated, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a state counterpart ought to be contacted for a background check on the purchaser. Any customer who purchases two or more handguns in a week should be automatically flagged and reported to the federal government and to local law enforcement. Every handgun manufacturer should require handgun buyers to purchase a safe storage device for every handgun. Even if the buyer owns a gun safe, the buyer should always be forced to buy a separate locking device. Of course, licensed manufacturers should have to put a serial number on every firearm. If someone alters or obliterates a serial number, the person should face five years imprisonment. Felons should be forever prohibited from owning guns. They should never be allowed to hold a gun in their hands for even a few seconds. The lifetime prohibition should include non-violent felons who have been law-abiding for decades; anyone who was convicted of marijuana possession in 1971 should be presumed to be a continuing menace to society. A lifetime prohibition should also apply to anyone who has ever been committed to a mental institution. Mental illness is not necessarily permanent, but the ban should be. Patients prescribed medical marijuana should be banned, even in states where such use is legal. In fact, all medical marijuana cardholders should be automatically banned, regardless of whether they are current users. Current federal gun laws provide a statutory procedure for prohibited persons to petition the ATF for a restoration of rights. For example, ATF would have discretion to restore the Second Amendment rights of a non-violent felon who has been law-abiding for many years. Congress should enact appropriations riders to prevent ATF from considering such petitions. Only persons over 21 should be able to purchase a handgun at a gun store. That 18-to-20-year-olds defend our country with automatic weapons overseas does not mean that they can be trusted with handguns within our country. A similar law should bar rifle or shotgun purchases by persons who are under 18. Assault rifles must be virtually banned. These, according to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, are “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power.” For example, the Russian AK-47 or the American M-16 rifles. No civilian should be able to transfer or possess any assault rifle that was not already in circulation by 1986. Any of the older assault rifles in citizen hands should be registered with the government. If someone wants to acquire one, both the buyer and seller should have to file an application with the ATF. The tax for a transfer should be $200, to discourage ownership. In the application, the ATF should require fingerprints and two recent photographs. Local law enforcement should be notified. The FBI should conduct a background investigation, and the registration process should take months. If the purchaser is permitted to acquire the assault rifle, she should be required to maintain records proving that the rifle is registered, and notify the government of any change in address. To take the assault rifle out of state, the owner should need written permission from ATF in advance. Assault rifles are one type of automatic firearm, but there are many other types of automatics. All of them should be controlled just as strictly as assault rifles. A violation of the stringent laws on these guns should be a felony with up to 10 years imprisonment—and much longer in cases of multiple violations. The above is just the minimum baseline for federal laws. States should be allowed to enact must more restrictive additional laws. If you think that this legal system would make firearms the most-regulated common consumer product in the United States, you would be correct. Every one of the above restrictions is already federal law, and has been for decades. A few of these date back to the 1980s or 1990s. Most of them are from the Gun Control Act of 1968. The tax and registration laws on automatics are from the National Firearms Act of 1934. For decades researchers have found that many Americans do not understand how strict gun control laws already are. Some elected officials and journalists are similarly misinformed. Widespread ignorance about existing law makes things easier for anti-gun lobbyists who always insist that every notorious crime proves that we need more gun control laws. David Kopel (@DaveKopel) is research director for the Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver, Colorado. Joseph Greenlee (@Joseph_Greenlee) is an attorney in Steamboat Springs.

METAIRIE, La. -- Drew Brees was critical Wednesday of the way NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has handled disciplinary issues in recent years - including the New Orleans Saints' bounty investigation. And Brees said he hopes the NFL's latest controversies will finally lead to a new disciplinary system that is fair, transparent and includes the NFL Players Association and independent experts instead of the "unilateral" system that has been in place with "no checks and balances." "Too many times, I'd say especially over the last few years, a punishment's been handed down and nobody has really seen the evidence except for those in the league office -- supposedly," Brees said. "So decisions were made in kind of a, 'Hey, trust us.' But did the public see any of the facts? Did the accused see any of the facts? In most cases, no." Those were the biggest complaints among Saints players and the NFL Players Association during the drawn-out fight over bounty suspensions in 2012 -- which ultimately led to former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue vacating all of Goodell's player punishments. Saints leaders such as coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis, however, had no such recourse with which to fight against Goodell's severe punishments since Goodell handed out the discipline and heard the appeal. "That's why you have multiple parties to make sure everyone comes together, cooler heads prevail. The decision isn't just based on emotion at the time, which I can say I believe has happened in the past in regards to commissioner discipline. It's been based upon emotion as opposed to maybe the facts," Brees said. "And (a new disciplinary policy would) prevent that from ever happening again." Brees also echoed the sentiment of many former Saints players and media analysts who have pointed out that Goodell has not been held accountable for mistakes made during the investigation of Ray Rice's domestic violence incident. And Goodell is not holding himself to the same standard to which he held Saints leaders to in the bounty punishments. "I think it's a great tie-in because obviously the same things that I've heard, the same things that I feel (about Goodell) are the quotes that were thrown out at members of the Saints organization in regards to why they were being punished," Brees said. "Things such as, 'Ignorance is no excuse,' and, 'if you didn't know you should've known,' are things that would absolutely apply in this case, except the roles are reversed and it's going back at Commisioner Goodell and the league office." Drew Brees said the current disciplinary system lacks 'checks and balances.' AP Photo/David Richard When asked if he feels that Goodell should step down after the way he's handled such issues as the Rice investigation, Brees said, "That's not up to me. I'm more focused on the solution, as far as creating and then maintaining policies that you can be consistent with and open with and transparent with, and bringing together all parties that should be involved. The players association, the NFL league office and independent experts." Offensive tackle Zach Strief, who serves as the Saints' union rep, told reporters that he doesn't believe Goodell should lose his job. But he suggested that a season-long suspension would be a fitting punishment for Goodell since that's what Goodell handed Payton. "What is the precedent for making a colossal mistake?" Strief told reporters. "The precedent has been you missed a season. It's very simple. The exact situation has already happened, and it happened here. There was a punishment and that was the punishment. "Unfortunately for Roger, he set the precedent. He said, 'You made a big mistake, it cost the league, it's harmed the shield.' Here's what it was before. To me, that's the only fair thing. Not that that matters." Strief also agreed with Brees on the need for a more transparent disciplinary process. "That's why the players have forever wanted an independent appeal process or arbiter, because at the end of the day Roger is not perfect. And the system is now in place with that assumption - that Roger is going to know exactly what to do in every situation, and it clearly is incorrect," Strief said. "It's been proven many times over, and to be honest with you, I don't necessarily think that Roger is trying to do the wrong stuff. But he's a human. And saying that he's the end-all, be-all no matter what in any situation is saying that he is always going to be right. It's silly. "So there needs to be a system of checks and balances in place, and I think there needs to be transparency in how that all goes down. I'm tired of this veil of secrecy behind it. You get stuck in a situation where nobody has a clue what's going on, you deal with assumptions, and it's a circus." Brees, who recently stepped down after years spent as a member of the NFLPA executive committee, said this has long been an issue with players. Former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, also a former NFLPA executive committee member, has made similar comments in the past week. "I think that this has been a long time coming," Brees said. "It's really unfortunate that all of this had to happen in order for this to transpire or for this to become evident. "But now the public knows, certainly the fan community knows, and it seems like that's gonna happen, which is a very good thing. And it's the right thing."

What is going on in men’s lifestyle media? One need only look at the recent shuttering of Details, a string of layoffs at GQ (disclosure: I used to work there) and the recent launch of Sweet, a Snapchat-only lifestyle publication from Hearst, to get a sense of the current state of affairs. We had a good run @detailsmag #ripdetails A photo posted by jonmroth (@jonmroth) on Nov 19, 2015 at 1:40pm PST Like the struggles Gap, J.Crew and Urban Outfitters are experiencing in the retail sector, menswear-focused sites find themselves caught in the middle between easily digestible platforms with more quantifiable ROIs for sponsors (sup, Instagram?) and an old media guard that is finally becoming hip to a long-underserved market. The New York Times now has a monthly section dedicated to men’s style; the Wall Street Journal is covering niche men’s trends like the current obsession with ‘90s skate style. New media platforms like Mashable, Business of Fashion and Quartz are seeing the advantages of covering men's style as well, with recent stories ranging from why square-toed shoes should be a federal offense to Helmut Lang’s lasting influence on men’s fashion. But with so many outlets now covering menswear, has it become a saturated market? The New Yorker’s Joshua Rothman thinks so, even positing whether menswear has reached its peak. Brian Trunzo, cofounder of SoHo men’s shop Carson Street, agrees. For one, he says the market’s become inundated. “We feel the need to cover all of it, when in my mind, there’s only so much worth covering," he tells Mashable. Brian Trunzo of Carson Street Clothiers in New York City photographed during New York Fashion Week: Men's. Image: Georgie Wileman/Getty Images Just three years ago the idea of straight men talking about clothes on the Internet was almost unthinkable. It was novel enough that The New York Times featured five men’s style bloggers as examples of a “new breed.” The “#menswear” subculture emerged around this time and took its name from the Tumblr hashtag, once curated by guys like Lawrence Schlossman, whose How to Talk to Girls at Parties Tumblr eclipsed the popularity of his service-oriented menswear blog, Sartorially Inclined. Having a select group of guys dictate what would populate on the hashtag resulted in the formation of a unique groupthink. #Menswear defined itself by its convergence of classic tailored clothing, a healthy love of rap music, and a unique lingua franca in which double monk strap shoes would often be referenced in the same sentence as a Drake lyric about feeling overdosed on confidence. Industry figures like Nick Wooster, a retail veteran with stints at Neiman Marcus, JC Penney and GILT; Eugene Tong, stylist and former style director at Details; and Josh Peskowitz, former fashion director at Bloomingdale’s, became street style celebrities to a very specific set of dudes who couldn’t stop aggregating their photos — partly from outfit-envy, and partly because they just looked damn cool. Josh Peskowitz, former fashion director at Bloomingdale's, attends New York Fashion Week: Men's. Image: Miles Goscha/Mashable But beyond the social platform, its roots began in forum culture. Communities like StyleForum, SuperFuture and Ask Andy About Clothes predated Reddit’s popular Male Fashion Advice subreddit, and provided safe, anonymous spaces for guys to nerd out about pick stitches, fully canvassed suits, Filson bags and Alden Indy Boots alike. Guys were learning how to define themselves with clothes without fear of being judged. But the insider nature of forums made it hard for neophytes to fully dive in. Enter the menswear site circa 2008, a specialized vertical in which the basic tenets of how dudes dress — filtered through forum culture in an online version of "Telephone" — were made all the more digestible. “Sites like Valet, Selectism and Uncrate that were looking to contribute to a conversation about men improving their life and style,” says Cory Ohlendorf, who founded Valet in 2008. “And you had regular guys like Lawrence Schlossman looking to be part of that conversation.” 11/13/15 - Last day A photo posted by Legend (@sartoriallyinc) on Nov 13, 2015 at 2:00pm PST #Menswear’s Judgement Day, the moment a dandified Skynet achieved self-awareness, occurred when Schlossman and Kevin Burrows launched their parody site Fuck Yeah Menswear, a Tumblr that became a book in 2012. Later that year, Schlossman was appointed as the editor-in-chief of Four Pins, which carried the same spirit of the well-dressed snake eating itself. Image: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty “The aim was just to be completely honest that there are no real justifications for buying expensive clothes other than you wanting them,” says Jon Moy, one of Four Pins’ most prolific writers, on the site’s tone. More traditional menswear nerd culture began to converge with hype culture, a digital consumer market obsessed with the latest and greatest obscure Japanese brands and anything emblazoned with labels from cult brands like A Bathing Ape, Supreme or Stüssy. And sneakers, always sneakers. Supreme/The North Face® A photo posted by Supreme (@supremenewyork) on Nov 16, 2015 at 8:09am PST For men, timelessness gave way to trendiness, and style wasn’t just about making yourself look good — it became about looking better than everyone else and being first at it. “By the time a blogger maybe does some research, buys some pieces for himself, tests the look out, and wants to talk to about it, the trend has potentially eclipsed,” says Lawrence Schlossman. “The service angle of the blog — what is that anymore?” Indeed, more and more men are discovering new brands, designers and even ways to wear certain items via Instagram, rather than men’s sites. As a result, context and storytelling are secondary to visual presentation. Learning about a label’s provenance or educating consumers about things like pedigree and history aren’t as important to the modern menswear guy. “The media landscape has shifted so much towards Instagram that you don’t necessary need words,” adds Schlossman. “No one wants to consume directly from a website anymore, which is a bummer.” Nick Wooster, arguably one of #menswear’s most prominent personalities, doesn’t see it as a zero-sum game. While he sees the current state of media as “in flux,” he thinks media companies and retailers just need to add yet another avenue to build brand awareness. “You might learn about something on Instagram the way you learned about it from a magazine 20 years ago, but the way you still consume it or get further information is a traditional channel,” he says. Nick Wooster models for Public School's men's fashion week showing in New York City. Image: Miles Goscha/ Mashable Instagram has also birthed a new generation of menswear bloggers, vastly different than their predecessors. Boasting hundreds of thousands of followers, this new breed of content creator is more than likely a handsome guy who looks good in a suit or whatever featured product is gifted to him, a stark contrast from the clothing nerd of five years ago. In many ways, it’s indicative of a dumbing down of what #menswear stood for, “get the look” versus “get the story.” “A good segment of the audience just [wants to] see how to put something together,” says Ohlendorf. Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images Jeff Carvalho, executive editor at Highsnobiety and Selectism, says one way they’re trying to differentiate themselves from the glut of sites out there is by cultivating a unique perspective and original voice, something he originally avoided when he started at Selectism in 2007. “We try to add a layer of opinion through editorial, through conversation on the site, that takes the story beyond the product that it is,” he says. It gives the site and the featured product a more premium feel, in the same vein a magazine feature would. Though Highsnobiety, along with Hypebeast, have quarterly print products, they are ancillary to their online platforms. Meanwhile, Valet is seeing more traction from posts revolving around men’s lifestyle beyond clothes. Ohlendorf has ramped up the coverage of things like interior design, cooking and cocktails. For many men, clothes functioned as a gateway into better living in general, and this audience shift reflects that. So where does that leave all the dudes that just want to nerd about about clothes online? “Menswear right now feels like that last week of college where you’re super excited for the future, but you’re not really sure what’s going on,” says Moy. “You’re hanging out with your friends and not reminiscing, not talking about the future, but just trying to be in the moment.”

With two games in the books, the 2014 World Series is tied and heading back to San Francisco. Yet, judging by the ratings for Game 1, most of you aren't paying attention to the Royals and Giants battle. Those numbers, per CNN, paint a picture of a dying sport. After all, the lowest Game 1 rating in history can't be a precursor to many viewers over the remainder of the series. The ratings back up poll results earlier in the week. When prompted, over 53 percent of NJ.com voters said they wouldn't watch this year's World Series. Despite the statistics -- including attracting less viewers than "NCIS" and "The Voice" -- baseball isn't dying. In fact, when looking at a much larger and broader sample than World Series ratings on a given night, a snapshot of a healthy sport emerges. Why aren't you watching the World Series? Would you be more interested if high profile teams were in it? Do you believe baseball is actually dying? Watch the video above and sound off below in the comments section with your thoughts on World Series ratings. Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

CLOSE Rural counties in western Wisconsin have become difficult to predict politically. Richland County is one of 19 counties in the U.S. to vote for every winning president since 1980. Rick Wood and Craig Gilbert / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Dan Anderson, who runs Anderson’s Saw Shop outside Richland Center, Wis., describes himself as an independent who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton only because of health care. (Photo11: Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) RICHLAND CENTER, Wis. — Just over a year ago this rural battleground region swung hard for Donald Trump in a clamor for political change. But today that frustration with politics appears undiminished and is aimed in all directions — including Trump’s. “We’re wasting so much time,” said Trump voter Robin DeFabbio, interviewed at Kelly’s Coffee House here. She would like Trump's staff to take his Twitter account away. ► Monday: Analysis: Trump is betting tax cuts will make him popular ► Nov. 7: Trump has tweeted 2,461 times since the election ► Nov. 6: Trump has changed Washington more than Washington has changed him “He’s like a very bad child that I’m glad I didn’t raise,” she said. She laments a do-little Congress, two parties that can’t work together, ceaseless division, the media circus over Trump and a swamp that hasn't been drained. “You just get disappointed on a bunch of levels, not just (with President Trump). Everything's in gridlock, nothing's moving.” Robin DeFabbio, Richland Center, Wis. “You just get disappointed on a bunch of levels, not just (with Trump). Everything's in gridlock, nothing's moving,” she said. “You can’t get anywhere like this." At taverns, churches, bowling alleys and American Legion halls, people here echo that discontent. Hillary Clinton voters are disconsolate and Trump appalls them. Trump voters who are happy with Trump are unhappy with Congress and Trump’s GOP critics. Trump voters who are critical of Trump — and they’re not too hard to find here — display everything from resignation to pique to exasperation with his behavior. Voters of all stripes complain about the political culture, including the media, the parties, and the inability to have a respectful conversation about politics with political opponents. “I am a political science major. I am starting to hate politics. Actually, not starting, I do hate politics: the vitriol and the vulgarity and the lack of willingness to talk to people,” said Kari Walker, co-owner with her husband of the Touchdown Tavern in Reedsburg, Wis. Her county, Sauk, was decided by 109 votes. Just to the west is bellwether Richland, one of 19 counties in the United States and four in the state to vote for every winning president since 1980. ► Nov. 5: One year later, Trump voters blame president's tweets for his troubles ► Oct. 29: Trump's approval rating drops to historic low in new poll They are part of a remarkably picturesque and politically purple patch of Wisconsin —known for geologic reasons as the Driftless Area — that has become a magnet for journalists, academics, political and civic groups trying to digest what happened a year ago and what it means for our politics going forward. A few weeks ago, a Dutch news crew showed up at Jo’s Kountry Bar in Steuben, a Crawford County village with a population of 131 that voted for Barack Obama by a margin of 35 points and then for Trump by 38 — the biggest swing in percentage terms in Wisconsin. This past summer, a New York-based group called Resetting the Table, which specializes in conflict resolution over Israel among American Jews, sat down with hundreds of voters in the Driftless Area to promote dialog across political lines. One thing it found was "just this sense of frustration to the point of repugnance with the ... political class, shared on the left, shared on the center, shared on the right," said Eyal Rabinovitch, the group's co-founder. Why are people watching southwestern Wisconsin? What makes its politics interesting to outsiders? ► Oct. 10: Trump downplays criticism he's steering U.S. into World War III ► Oct. 3: High court shows divisions in redistricting case could reshape U.S. politics It’s not because of its political clout. The seven counties in this rustic corner of the state — Crawford, Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland, Sauk and Vernon — are home to about 220,000 people. It’s not that it’s a microcosm of America, or even Wisconsin. The region is far whiter — 97% — than either and has no cities of any real size. It is a much different battleground than the populous suburbs where Democrats scored victories Nov. 7 in Virginia and New Jersey and hope to make inroads in Congress next year. “Every time I hear anybody say anything about ‘Trump shouldn’t be tweeting. … The thing that immediately comes into my mind is Hillary Clinton is not president, and the United States of America can never thank Trump enough.” Tom Allaback, Richland Center, Wis. What this swingy slice of the heartland does offer is a window into the trends and tumult of the Trump era. Blue-collar white voters, a demographic group that propelled Trump to the White House, are largely its population. Its economy is challenged, often cited as an ingredient in Trump’s election. And it contributed to the huge rural wave that overwhelmingly accounted for Trump’s victory in Wisconsin. But the region is as interesting for the trends it defies as the ones it embodies. Nationwide, rural white communities are overwhelmingly Republican. The Driftless Area that extends into Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota — “Driftless” because the glaciers missed it, leaving a landscape of rolling hills, looping streams and narrow valleys — contains the largest cluster of blue and purple counties in rural, white America. It boasts the nation's greatest concentration of Obama-Trump counties — places that voted for Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016. In a very partisan age, neither party dominates the region. Like its serpentine roads and rivers, its voters wind this way and that. In 2016, five of the seven southwestern counties voted for Republican Trump for president and Democrat Russ Feingold for U.S. Senate. Six of the seven voted for Obama twice before swinging to Trump. Weak party loyalties help explain a history of big election swings. ► Sept. 20: Trump supporters don't mind him working with Democrats, poll says ► Aug. 23: Amid bipartisan concerns, debate over Trump's mental health takes off Two of the past three presidential races have featured mammoth partisan shifts in the region — in a Democratic direction in 2008 and a Republican direction in 2016. Trump won the seven-county area by 3 points, four years after Obama won it by 18. In interviews, it was striking how often voters here bashed both parties and dismissed the value of sticking with one party. Tom Lukens of Viroqua, Wis., was a Clinton voter and says he now can't sleep when he watches TV news. (Photo11: Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) “There should be zero 'party' in America,” said Mark Rooney as he watched a Universityi of Wisconsin Badgers football game at Touchdown Tavern. “I’d be embarrassed to put a sign for either (party) in my yard,” said Dan Anderson, who repairs chain saws in Richland County. He's unsparing about Trump but wasn't happy with either candidate last year, voting for Hillary Clinton because of the single issue of health care. Anderson said he entered the voting booth thinking, “I’m walking in to make a mistake.” In more than 30 interviews over five days here, most voters and political observers — including many Trump supporters — said they viewed what happened this past fall as more of a vote against Clinton than for Trump. Clinton lost badly to Democratic primary opponent Bernie Sanders in this same region of the state. Southwest Wisconsin defies one other stereotype about our polarized politics — that America is increasingly composed of separate red and blue communities. In many places this is true. Metropolitan Milwaukee is a glaring example. Most voters live in partisan enclaves decided by 30 points or more. Not a single city, town or village in the four-county Milwaukee area voted for both Obama and Trump. ► Aug. 20: Voters in three key states Trump won 'embarrassed' by his conduct ► Aug. 15: President Trump trying to reverse Obama's legacy through legal battles Yet more than half the communities in southwest Wisconsin did so. While the region's small cities are bluer than its countryside, its urban-rural gap is far smaller than in most of America. Here, making assumptions about a person's politics based on where they live, how they dress or what car they drive is a big mistake. That could very well be a Democrat sitting next to you at the American Legion Hall or a Republican at the downtown coffee house. “Why can’t we have civilized conversations and not be hollered down?” Ken Ogi, Richland Center, Wis. On a recent morning at Dan Anderson’s saw shop, five guys sporting beards and boots joked about how many guns and chainsaws they owned. None of them voted for Trump. But while this area is less polarized in many ways than other places, it may be experiencing polarization in a more personal way because people are so integrated politically. Trump and Clinton voters are living side by side. “You’re either going to be an enemy or find a way to get along. And (when) you’re friends, you find a way to get along,” said retired dentist Bruce Vermilyea, interviewed over meatballs, lefse (Norwegian flatbread) and whitefish at the annual lutefisk (a preserved fish dish) supper at Five Points Lutheran Church in Blue River, Wis. However, not everyone is getting along. “I wouldn’t keep a friend that voted for Trump. I have a neighbor that I haven’t been able to speak to since," said Tom Lukens of Viroqua, Wis., shopping at the Viroqua Public Market farmer's market in this Crawford County town. ► Aug. 14: Trouble in Trumpland: The president's core supporters begin to worry ► Aug. 2: Manufacturers split on Democrats' get-tough trade plan By many accounts, even local politics are becoming more divisive. Larry Engel, the pastor at Five Points Lutheran, said the divisions surrounding Trump feel even sharper than those around Republican Gov. Scott Walker during the 2011 labor wars and recall fight, divisions that linger today. “The civil discourse has been turned up a notch in terms of its negativity,” he said. Many Clinton voters blame Trump for that. ► July 30: Secret donations are helping to boost President Trump's agenda ► July 26: Could Jeff Sessions still get his old job in the Senate back? Some Trump voters at least partly agree, but they blame the media for wallowing in Trump's outbursts. And they complain that liberals and Democrats dismiss or demonize them for the choice they made. It's, "how can you possibly think that way?" said Ken Ogi of Richland Center, who was at the lutefisk supper. “Why can’t we have civilized conversations and not be hollered down?” The Trump voters interviewed for this story fell into roughly three groups. • Trump enthusiasts embrace both his style and agenda, are happy with his presidency and bristle at all the criticism. “I look at (Trump) as possibly being the savior of democracy for the United States,” said Dick Bartels, a Marine veteran who was guiding cars into the parking lot outside the lutefisk supper. “Every time I hear anybody say anything about ‘Trump shouldn’t be tweeting … He put his foot in his mouth again, blah, blah, blah,’ the thing that immediately comes into my mind is Hillary Clinton is not president, and the United States of America can never thank Trump enough,” said Tom Allaback, interviewed outside an American Legion post in Richland Center. • Committed Republicans wanted someone else to be nominated and continue to wince at Trump's style and rhetoric but support Trump for reasons of party, ideology and a desire to see conservative policies in place. • The most conflicted Trump voters often were self-described independents. They had qualms when they voted for him but couldn’t support Clinton and were drawn to at least one part of the Trump package: his business background or outsider mantle or rejection of political correctness or vow to put America first. These are the Trump voters who are most critical of him today. Some, like Obama-Trump voter Nell Justiliano of Spring Green, Wis., now have meager expectations of his presidency. ► July 25: GOP backlash to Trump attacks Jeff Sessions signals political danger ► July 20: Analysis: Trump isn't changing, and that's both good news and bad news “I did vote for him. It was really hard," she said. "We have been stuck in a political rut on every level." But “I’m so embarrassed by what a (expletive) show it is. Because it is a (expletive) show,” she said, citing the turnover in the administration, deriding Trump’s diplomatic and leadership skills and bemoaning his behavior. Dick Bartels, guiding cars into a parking lot parking outside the annual lutefisk supper at Five Points Lutheran Church in Blue River, Wis., is a Donald Trump voter who said he used to vote Democratic. (Photo11: Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) “You want change, then you just get really discouraged when it doesn’t happen,” she said. Others are waiting and watching. Where these Trump voters land in 2018 or 2020 will hinge on events, the economy, the performance in power of Trump and the GOP Congress, and what alternatives Democrats offer. While voters interviewed here did not clamor for tax cuts, they had a generalized but plaintive cry for less noise and more action. People are "just losing their faith in the ability for (things) to happen" in Washington, Shannon Clark, who runs the electric power co-operative in Richland County, said of the customers he talks to. “I voted for (Trump) because of the options that I had, because I really did want to see a business person in there. ... I knew what I was voting for,” said Ogi, a retired school administrator. "But I’d spank his butt if he was my kid and he was a third-grader doing that. Just shut up!" he said. "The people coming at him aren’t any better. The press, our politicians have digressed to fifth- and sixth-graders. I’m disgusted with the attitude (in politics) and the way it’s being handled — on all sides.” Robin DeFabbio, the Trump voter from Richland Center, doesn't like Trump's style but doesn't think we should be obsessing about it either. ► July 19: Trump directs panel to tackle voter 'fraud' during its first session ► July 16: Analysis: Can Trump turn around struggling presidency? “No matter what his behavior is, he’s the president. Sorry guys! Suck it up,” she said. “I’d like to see all the talk, rhetoric, the Twitter account, everything gone! I’d like to see us move forward,” she said, “I always have hope.” Follow Craig Gilbert on Twitter: @WisVoter Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2AF2t9H

The flag decals that were ordered taken down by Chief Bronaugh. Photographs courtesy Maywood Fire Department. Tuesday, September 9, 2014 || By Michael Romain Today, four Maywood firefighters were sent home, pending disciplinary action, for failure to comply with a direct order, according to Chief Craig Bronaugh. A CBS Local report noted that more firefighters could be sent home tomorrow. The firefighters apparently refused to remove American flag decals from their lockers and helmets. “A representative from Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents the firefighters, met for an hour with Chief Bronaugh Tuesday afternoon, with the union hoping Chief Bronaugh would modify his order. Instead, he ordered the firefighters sent home immediately, pending disciplinary action,” according to the CBS report. “Union spokesman Adam Rosen said he is ‘shocked’ that an agency of first responders would enforce such an order the week of Sept. 11. “The four suspended firefighters said they were told that the order was issued because of racial discord [in] the department. The four, who include two white firefighters, a black firefighter, and a fourth firefighter who is a Cuban émigré, said no such problems exist,” wrote CBS, which also reported that the four firefighters trace the issue “to a decision by several firefighters to replace a tattered American flag last month in one of Maywood’s firehouses. The new flag mysteriously disappeared early Aug. 23. The order on decals was issued last week.” Although the CBS report indicates that the department “has had no such order in the recent past,” an internal memo released by the Office of Chief Bronaugh noted that this kind of conflict has nonetheless appeared before: Under no circumstances at anytime are there to be decals/stickers on Fire Department lockers or helmets. Any decals/stickers are to be removed immediately. No inquiry will be entertained regarding this matter. TO BE READ AT ALL ROLL CALLS THRU SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 This was in response to an inquiry regarding an American Flag being put up in the fire station (replacing a torn and tattered flag that previously existed). That flag was stolen on the very next shift day. Firefighters were upset that the flag was stolen and in response placed American Flag decals on their personal lockers in the stations. This is not the first time that a flag incident has occurred in the Maywood Fire Department. Approximately 10 years ago, all American Flag decals were removed from all of the department vehicles and all physical flags were removed from the back of the engines. These were removed by, then, Lieutenant Scott (he has since been promoted to Captain). He is also the one that recently took the flag down from the station and has not yet returned the flag to its owner. An example of the decals that have been ordered to be removed are the American Flag, and ones that commemorate the FDNY 343 that passed on 9/11. “No one was suspended, they were sent home. This is an issue about insubordination, plain and simple,” said Chief Bronaugh. “They’re trying to make this about the flag and the anniversary of September 11, but this has nothing to do with [either]. This has to do with maintaining the uniformity and the order of the lockers so that we can avoid racial issues.” VFP

Statues of children with Ronald McDonald stand at the entrance to the Oak Brook Public Library. Telling her mother that she wanted to come to the aid of a library under attack, 11-year-old Sydney Sabbagha stood at the podium before the Oak Brook village board. "I used to go to the library knowing there were people there to help me find a book. Now there is no one to help me," Sydney said solemnly. "It will never be the same without the people you fired." Sydney nestled back into her seat, but that didn't stop 69-year-old criminal attorney Constantine "Connie" Xinos from boldly putting her in her place. "Those who come up here with tears in their eyes talking about the library, put your money where your mouth is," Xinos shot back. He told Sydney and others who spoke against the layoffs of the three full-time staffers (including the head librarian and children's librarian) and two part-timers to stop "whining" and raise the money themselves. "I don't care that you guys miss the librarian, and she was nice, and she helped you find books," Xinos told them. "Don't cry crocodile tears about people who are making $100,000 a year wiping tables and putting the books back on the shelves," Xinos smirked, apparently referencing the fired head librarian, who has advanced degrees and made $98,676 a year. He said Oak Brook had to "stop indulging people in their hobbies" and "their little, personal, private wants." Sydney was upset and "her little friend was in tears" after Xinos spoke at the meeting last week, says mom Hope Sabbagha. "I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night," a grinning Xinos says Wednesday, as he invites me for a nearly two-hour interview in his Mercedes-Benz in the gated Oak Brook community where he lives. "This is the real world and the lesson, you folks who brought your kids here, is if you want something, pay for it." Xinos, who unsuccessfully sued to stop the building of the new library, which opened in 2002, sits on one side of the issue. He lost his election bid to be a village board member, but has been president of his home association since 1983 and worked to elect board members who agree with him about the library. On the other side sits Barbara Benezra, the longtime president of the Friends of the Oak Brook Public Library, who considers the library "my third child." "This is the heart of the village," Benezra says as she tours the library and surrounding gardens under a sign sporting a Cicero quotation reading, "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." "We don't have a grocery store," Benezra says. "We have this." While Benezra acknowledges the need for some budget cuts at the library, given the recession, she says, "There's always been a faction of this town that's been anti-library." The librarians, who stereotypically remain hushed for this story, obviously feel a bit threatened. They have turned to the Teamsters for some labor help. Teamster librarians in Oak Brook? Mercy. "We get good contracts for all kinds of professionals," says Brian Rainville, executive director of Teamsters Joint Council 25, which oversees 100,000 Chicago-area Teamsters, from pharmacists to zoo keepers. "They have given us petitions," Village Manager David Niemeyer says of the Teamsters. "Assuming they do become certified, we'll have to negotiate with them." Other village employees are unionized and the village works out contracts with them. "Everybody thinks Oak Brook is rich and has all kinds of resources, but we don't," Niemeyer says. "Oak Brook has very low taxes and that's a point of pride in this town." Begun as a volunteer effort in 1961 with donated books, the library occupied a small space in village hall until it moved into an old school two years later. It stayed there until the village built the new library. The library is a village department funded by the general fund, same as the police, fire department and public works. It has no taxing power. Its budget comes from the village, and much of that money comes from sales tax, as there is no property tax. And sales at the mall and other businesses are down. "We're probably going through what a lot of towns are going through," Niemeyer says of the budget cuts. "None of these things are easy." It's not complicated for Xinos. "You may like the library, but when you call 9-1-1, you want a policeman or a fireman before someone to tell you where the books are in the library," says the man who has talked of privatizing, outsourcing or even closing the library. "I understand that my philosophy is conservative," Xinos says, adding that government just needs to catch bad guys, put out fires, fix the streets and make sure buildings are sturdy. He campaigned, successfully, against a plan to bring subsidized housing for seniors into town by declaring, "I don't want to live next to poor people. I don't want poor people in my town." A poor kid who grew up in Berwyn and worked in his dad's cafeteria in Chicago, Xinos went to law school and served in the Marines. Xinos says he speaks for Oak Brook's view of the Teamsters when he says, "Nobody here likes those kind of people." Xinos, who says he never had children in part because he wasn't sure he'd be able to support them, sprinkles the F-word throughout his conversations. He dismisses a recent library event involving dogs with a blunt three-word rant in which he bookends swear words around the word "that." That attitude doesn't represent the silent majority in Oak Brook, who support the library, Benezra says. "There's been no discussion on the village board about closing the library," Niemeyer notes. "There is great pride in our library. We have an outstanding library." What the library will look like in the 2010 budget depends on Xinos, Benezra, Teamsters, librarians, the village board and the people of Oak Brook. Library:

With input from the 7/20 victims’ families, the city of Aurora this morning collected the temporary memorials located at Sable Boulevard and Centrepoint Drive and at the Aurora Municipal Center fountain. On behalf of the Aurora community, many thanks to all those who visited the temporary memorial and left flowers, toys, words of comfort and other items reflecting sympathy and love. A team of city staff and volunteers boxed and labeled all items to be stored. The Aurora History Museum supervised the removal to ensure the safe and secure preservation of these items. City crews took all organic items, such as wreaths and flowers, to be mulched and recycled for use in the city parks. Families will still have access to the items, at their convenience, at a secured location provided by one of the community partners. The white crosses, which stood at the memorial site, will be delivered or stored, whichever is preferred by the family members. The Aurora History Museum is handling the archival of all items at the memorial, and under the supervision of Jennifer Kuehner, museum executive director, all items will be inventoried, categorized and stored. The public is welcome to view a display of condolences and banners in the lobby of Aurora Municipal Center, located at 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.

While team RWBY meandered through Vale, Weiss felt… jealous. Jealousy was not a feeling that someone such as Weiss should feel, she knew that, it was… beneath her to feel that petty. That she shouldn't feel that way just because her partner spent less and less time with her. That she had been replaced. I don't get it, Weiss watched Ruby lead Blake into an arcade, I thought we were partners, ergo close friends? It made sense to her. Your partner is the person you are closest to, but I don't feel close to Ruby at all anymore. When their first semester had started, Ruby and her were more or less, well, inseparable. Not that Weiss hadn't tried to separate herself from Ruby; it got more than a bit too much for her sometimes having the younger teen constantly trying to interact with her. Looking back at it, as much as Weiss had found Ruby to be annoying it was still nice. It was nice to have someone who genuinely wanted to be your friend and not because of your name. Towards the end of the last semester, it felt like that closeness was slowly receding as Ruby spent less and less time with Weiss and more with another one of their teammates; Blake. It was little surprise to Weiss that Ruby knew about Blake's… heritage, given the amount of time the two had spent together. What did surprise Weiss was the fact that Blake had stayed with Ruby and Yang over the semester break. No, that's not quite right, it didn't surprise me, it also hurts. Her teammates, no, her friends, spent the break together. Without her. Weiss felt alone. At first Weiss had assumed she was feeling needy, that she was perhaps being a bit too harsh on Ruby when they studied and that was what was pushing her partner away. During the break, Weiss had made a promise to fix whatever… issue had come up, to reconnect with her partner. Yet Weiss felt more alone than ever, her partner was off with Blake, almost entirely ignoring her. I suppose I have been replaced. Weiss let out a sigh. Did I screw up? Was it something I did? Or perhaps Blake is just better than me? No, that wasn't the case. Weiss knew the answer all too easily; Ruby had a crush on Blake. Ruby could never be considered subtle, so it was obvious why her partner was spending more time with Blake. It didn't change the fact that the declining absence of Ruby was affecting Weiss. Even with Ruby spending more and more time with Blake, Weiss had hoped that the younger teen would still make time for her. You'd at least think she'd want to spend some time with me, but no, n- "Ow!" Something or rather someone, flicked Weiss in the forehead. Considering that the she only knew one such person who would do such a thing, and she was in the company of said person, it narrowed the choices down. "What was that for Yang?!" "You were staring at the arcade door for like, five minutes." Yang's usual cocky grin morphed into a more concerned look. "And you were sighing like the world was gonna end." "No I wasn't!" A certain lack of black and red alerted Weiss to another issue. "Wait… Where did Ruby and Blake go?" "They're inside, playing DDR last I checked, or at least, they were when I came out." Even as the question rose in Weiss' mind, Yang already had an answer for it; "You were lagging behind and I was curious, what's on your mind?" "I… nothing. Now if you will excuse me-" Weiss made her way towards the door. Or would have, had Yang not have grabbed onto her arm. "Weiss, I'm being serious." There wasn't a hint of the cockiness in Yang's voice, it was closer to the tone that she used when she spoke to Ruby. "What's on your mind?" Weiss sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat. "A lot." Yang's grip loosened on her arm as Weiss turned around, her arms clutching her sides. "Just… a lot." Yang nodded her head, much to Weiss' confusion. "Yup. Looks like we need to talk." "Why are we at McVale's?" "The better question is why you got a salad." Yang gestured towards a pre-made salad in front of Weiss. "Because I don't want to die before I'm thirty?" Weiss raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Which you are probably going to if you eat that… that monstrosity." "Aww, you gotta live a little, princess." Yang pouted before taking a bite out of said monstrosity. Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to not watch her partner's sister eat herself into an early grave, as Yang scarfed down more calories than Weiss probably had in two days in a matter of minutes. "So what's on your mind?" "…" Weiss didn't exactly know how to answer that, I mean how do you? There was a lot on her mind, but the particular issue that Yang was asking about was… sensitive. If I say it out loud, I'm going to sound like a needy little girl. That was definitely an image that Weiss didn't want to give to anyone. So instead, she just sat there, picking at her salad, eating small bites of it. "Come-on, what's bugging you?" Yang pestered her, breaking the silence. "There has got to be something." The white haired girl sighed, I suppose I might as well be honest. "Ruby." "In what way?" Weiss could feel the mood shift as Yang calmly set down her food and leaned forwards, elbows resting on the table, her fingers interlaced. She looked… menacing. No, that's not right. Yang was being serious. "I don't think she wants to be friends with me anymore." Yang's lilac eyes widened in what Weiss could only describe as surprise as she leaned back, the menacing atmosphere evaporating as soon as it came. "Don't be silly, Ruby is your friend. Why wouldn't she be?" "I would not be so sure." Weiss set down the cheap plastic fork, her eyes drawn to it. "We haven't hung out like we used to –mind you, the dolt didn't give me much of a choice- in fact, I barely see her outside of meals and class. We, don't even study together anymore." "That's not necessarily true. You two were hanging out until a while ago." Yang pointed out before sipping on a Dr. Piper. "Just because you don't study together doesn't me-" "No, you don't understand." Weiss glanced up from the fork to find curious lilac eyes staring at her. "Ruby replaced me." It hurt, it physically pained Weiss to say it, to admit it. Yang's head tilted, her long mass of blonde hair moving in sync with it. "Why'd you think that?" "Perhaps because the dolt decided that I was too harsh on her? I don't know, why else would Ruby abandon me?" Weiss had resumed focusing on the cheap fork. "I thought we were close friends, then she stops hanging out with me and then she and Blake become inseparable, how else would you expl- explain…" Yang started to laugh. Not some kind of small chuckle or giggle, but a deep laugh, one that came from the gut. It wasn't some forced expression, or awkward thing, no, there was real mirth behind it. It made Weiss furious. "Well since my situation is so amusing to you, I believe I'll take my leave." Weiss stated coldly as she got up from her seat and headed for the exit. Leaving her salad and teammate behind, Weiss all but broke into a run as she left McVale's behind. The one person that Weiss had hoped, had HOPED would help her reconnect with Ruby, mend their friendship had just laughed in her face at the problem. It hurt even more than being excluded over the semester break. Even with people who don't care about my name, I still can't make friends. Weiss could feel her eyes water as her thoughts progressed. I guess I am completely hopeless. The run slowed down to a walk before a standstill as Weiss found herself in the middle of a sidewalk. I am the loneliest of all, after all. "Weiss?!" A blonde mass of hair weaved throughout the streets. "Hey Weiss, where'd you go?!" Weiss ignored the voice, her standstill slowly turning into a very, very slow walk as she started to make her way towards where Blake and Ruby presumably were, the arcade. "Hey wait up!" Weiss paid the voice no heed as it got closer. Close enough that she could practically hear the footsteps of its owner. "Sorry 'bout that, I was goi-" "I don't care Xiao Long." Weiss stated flatly as the footsteps followed her. "You made your thoughts on the matter abundantly clear. Please leave me alone." The footsteps quickened, the blonde hair entering Weiss' vision as Yang jogged in front of her. "Weiss, just listen to me for a moment, oka-" The footsteps stopped as Yang stared at her. "Are… are you cryi-" "Why wouldn't I be?" Yang winced at Weiss' tone, it was cold. Colder than you'd expect from someone who was crying, almost emotionless. "My closest friend, or at least the person who I am partnered with has all but replaced me! Her oaf of a sister literally laughed at my face when I thought I we were having a serious conversation!" Weiss started to tick them off on her hands. "And the person who replaced me will probably never see me as anything BUT a Schnee, so you tell me Xiao Long, why shouldn't I be crying when none of my teammates will be someone I could consider a friend?" The response was immediate and unexpected; Yang didn't shy away, or yell back at her, no, instead Weiss felt herself suddenly being pulled in a hug from the taller girl. Not some kind of quick friendly hug, but a comforting one. A type of hug that Weiss had never had before. "I'm your friend." "I…but, you were laughing at me!" Weiss tried struggling out of the wall of muscle that was holding her in place to no avail. "Let go of me!" "No." The answer was calm and immediate. No indecision. "I laughed because… well, 'cause you are missing a key thing 'bout Rubes." Weiss could feel Yang take a deep breath before letting it out. "I'm not supposed to say this either, mind you, but Ruby has a huge crush on Blake." Weiss had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. It was something that everyone, even the dunce of a human being, Jaune, could pick up on. "Everyone and their weapon knows that, your point?" "So it doesn't mean you are being replaced!" Weiss wasn't convinced, as evident of her continued struggle to break free. "Ruby still thinks the world of you… she still considers you to be her friend, one of her best friends." The struggling lessened as Yang went on. "If you really are worried, you should talk to her, I promise she'll hang out more with you if you just ask. She just… happens to be spending more time with Blake now is all?" Weiss mulled over the new information after Yang finally let go of her. Perhaps I am just being illogical about this; why not just talk to Ruby directly? It made sense. Weiss groaned, the oaf actually made sense for once. "Well. I feel silly for worrying about it now." Taking a step back from the blonde girl, she started to turn back to the direction of the arcade. "I suppose we should be heading back there no- eep!" The white haired girl felt a familiar sensation as Yang pulled her back into a hug. "Don't forget, I'm your friend too. I always will be." Suppressing her immediate inclination to push Yang away, Weiss instead hugged her back, her thin arms barely wrapping around the tall girl, a small smile stretching her lips. "Thanks Yang." AU: I'm guessing this wasn't what you were expecting at all. Before you ask, I know the question will pop up; No, I am not planning on making this a freezerburn story as well. If it becomes one, that is not my intention to be completely honest. This chapter stems from three things; 1. I wanted to address Weiss since… she would be feeling very left out, especially after their semester break. 2. I really haven't written any Weiss or Yang stuff –at least of any depth- so I wanted to get some practice in. 3. Gotta do some freezerburn stuff for ASouthernRussian (my editor for a lot of my stories). This is the only chapter that I actually seriously edited because, like I said above, this was a exercise in writing characters I normally don't write. Even Yang I only ever write in the context of her relationship with Ruby instead of her acting outside of the big sister role. In the end, this chapter didn't have the feeling I wanted it to have in the end, so I may come back and retroactively edit it… if I do, I'll mention it in later chapter's author's note. Second-to-lastly, I don't plan on having these little interludes very often, maybe every ten or so chapters? Give or take? Finally, how did I do? Like I said, this was an experiment in writing characters I usually never do, so I'm curious to how well/poorly I did with the characterization. Thanks for reading everyone, and expect a actual Blake and Ruby chapter on Sunday! :D

Government plans to outsource official spying, forcing communication service providers like BT to retain personal communications data – records of all phonecalls, emails, texts and internet connections – have been severely criticised by the industry expected to do ministers dirty work for them. In a submission to the Home Office as part of a public consultation, internet firms have candidly labelled the plans as "an unwarranted intrusion into people's privacy" and have suggested people were deceived about the extent of the government's ambitions to monitor the country's communications data. According to the Sunday Times, the London Internet Exchange which represents 330 firms including BT, Virgin, and Carphone Warehouse, says that the proposals are deceptive. "We view the description of the government's proposals as 'maintaining' the capability as disingenuous: the volume of data the government now proposes [we] should collect and retain will be unprecedented, as is the overall intrusion into then privacy of the citizenry." This represents the unanimous view of the firms that are to replace the £12bn data silo planned before the crisis in public finances. The new policy announced in April by the unlamented former home secretary, Jacqui Smith, was presented as a concession to those concerned about intrusion, as well as a response to the new reality of the economic situation. The revised scheme, which has been urged by "Surveillance Central" – GCHQ in Cheltenham – will cost £2bn, still great chunk of taxpayers' money to be throwing around these days. But the cost is not really the issue. The policy is one of the foundation stones of the surveillance state – a society in which data from people's movement, travel abroad, spending habits and communications are retained by government and its agencies – and is an indicator of the profound contempt and mistrust this government has for the public. It represents as great an intrusion as the national identity register, the central database planned with the ID card. "These new proposals," says the industry submission, "suggest an intention to capture anything and everything, regardless of the communications [method] used. We have grave misgivings about the technical feasibility of such ambition." "We are not aware of any existing equipment [an internet company] could purchase that would enable it to fulfil a legal obligation to acquire and retain such a wide range of data as it transits across their network … in some common cases it would be impossible in principle to obtain the information sought." The internet providers make another crucial point. If this system goes ahead, it would represent a mass breach of the Human Rights Act which guarantees a right to privacy. Given the government's failure to respond to European judgments against the retention of innocent people's DNA we can hardy expect another huge breach of the public's rights to bother Home Office civil servants. But we should be really worried. This scheme is among the greatest of the current threats to our free society and it is important that the Internet Exchange has raised concerns about privacy so clearly. As the ISPs point out, there is no guarantee that the methods proposed to store our communications data will be secure, for as soon as you start gathering information in large databases it becomes vulnerable to hackers, abuse by government agencies and of course incompetence. We should remember that the essence of the government's proposal is this: ministers plan to seize our information using our money for their benefit. That's like paying someone, who has broken into your home, to read your private letters.

Two marathons a day To ski to the South Pole in any meaningful sense, you’ve got to start at the edge of the continent, which is a distance of 730 miles. It’s also uphill – by the time you reach the pole you are 9,300ft up. Temperatures range from -50C to -60C, although I had days when it reached -70C. If you feel a tad chilly, you have to put an extra scarf on. It’s a great place if you want to lose some weight because you burn up to 10,000 calories a day, which is the equivalent of running two marathons a day for two months. So you have to get fit. I trained every day, including holidays. A typical working day for me was to get up at 4am and either drag some tyres up and down a hill for three hours or go for a 20-mile run. I’d also go for a mile and a half swim in a loch some days, but only in the winter – it was too warm in the summer. Breakfast would be a massive bowl of porridge, handfuls of dried fruit and a chopped banana on top. I’d wolf that down then eat six boiled eggs and six raw eggs. Then I’d go to work. At noon, I’d do another two hours of training, usually dragging tyres up and down Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh – my employer was very understanding. Lunch would be a whole chicken followed by a pint of cream down in one. The best time of day would be 3pm when I’d eat a whole cake or a couple of packets of biscuits. Then I’d be in the gym for a couple of hours in the evening. It’s that sort of dedication that you need to do a trip like this. Lunch would be a whole chicken followed by a pint of cream down in one. There was one very important thing I needed on this trip and that was someone else to go on the expedition with me. It’s a big decision. One thing you consider is size – two well-built men in a tent is a bit cramped. I got a tip-off in Glasgow about a woman called Fiona Taylor who could be right for the trip. Actually, she was perfect. She had that old-school grit – very determined and mentally tough. She’d never done anything like this before but anyone can get fit enough to do this trip. It’s just a question of putting one foot in front of the other a wee bit longer than normal. I taught her everything I knew: how to ski, how to dress, what to eat and we became a really disciplined team. We practised everything. We did days and days of training together over weekends so everything became second nature and we never had to question ourselves. We just knew what to do. The main thing was that we got along with one another. We became friends and great team-mates. It was also important that she became good friends with Michelle – they got on really well.

(Updates Fox News comment in final paragraph) NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Protesters gathered on Wednesday outside Fox News Channel to denounce what they claim is its racist campaign coverage, including a pundit who called Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama a terrorist. The crowd of some 150 people wielded a petition with more than 600,000 signatures objecting to news coverage by Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp NWSa.N, organizers said. Some demonstrators held signs that crossed out the network’s “Fair and Balanced” slogan and replaced it with the words “Fairly Racist!” Led by activist groups MoveOn.org and ColorOfChange.org, protesters cited incidents on Fox including an on-screen graphic calling Michelle Obama “Obama’s baby mama” and a pundit who confused Obama with Osama bin Laden and joked they should both be assassinated. Another anchor called a televised fist bump between Obama and his wife a “terrorist fist jab,” they said, and talk show host Bill O’Reilly discussed calling a “lynching party” to deal with Michelle Obama after criticizing her patriotism. “Putting racism on national television and calling it news is never funny,” said Andre Banks of ColorOfChange. Joining the protest was hip hop star Nas, who said the Fox coverage inspired a song “Sly Fox” on his new album. “Fox poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try and call it news,” he said. A spokeswoman for Fox said: “Fox News believes in all protesters exercising their right to free speech, including Nas, who has an album to promote.”

American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology released a statement about when and how to resume sex. Two groups are urging doctors to inform patients that sex is possible after a heart attack. (Photo11: Getty Images) Story Highlights Groups: Intimacy is possible after heart attack Sexual health is important, researcher says Advice depends on patient's overall health CHICAGO — Many heart specialists are hardly Dr. Ruth — sex is not something they relish bringing up with patients. But new guidance says they should, early and often, to let survivors know intimacy is often possible after a heart attack. Discussions should involve everything from when and how to resume sex, to what position might be best for some conditions or not advised for others, according to a consensus statement released Monday by the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology. It's billed as the first scientific statement with detailed guidance on resuming sex after a heart attack, stroke or other cardiac condition and is based on a review of medical literature. "Sexual health is an important part of the overall health of the individual," even for the oldest patients, said Elaine Steinke, a researcher and professor of nursing at Wichita State University in Kansas. Steinke was the lead author of the statement published in the heart association's Circulation journal and the European Heart Journal. Co-author Tiny Jaarsma, a professor and heart failure researcher at Sweden's Linkoping University, said in an email that doctors and nurses "rarely discuss sex 'spontaneously', but often wait until the patient brings up questions around sex. Health care providers often are afraid to upset patients or might feel embarrassed themselves." Fears and anxieties about resuming sex are often numerous: Will it cause another heart attack? Can I use Viagra? What if my defibrillator goes off during sex? And many are too shy to ask, so heart doctors, nurses and other health care workers should take the lead and initiate the discussion with men and women patients of all ages and their partners, according to the statement. Many heart patients can safely resume sexual intercourse after first checking with their doctors, and the answers to many questions depend on each patient's overall health, the guidance says. Patients with mild, stable chest pain face a low risk for a sex-triggered heart problem, whereas patients with advanced heart failure should postpone sex until their condition is stabilized. General precautions listed in the statement include: — Before resuming sex, make sure you can engage in moderate physical activity, such as walking briskly up two flights of stairs, without chest pain, breathlessness or other symptoms. — If moderate activity is too strenuous, avoid intercourse but not intimacy: hugging and kissing may be OK. — Have sex in a comfortable, familiar place and avoid things that could add stress to the experience, including extramarital affairs. — Tell your doctor about any symptoms during sex, including chest pain, dizziness or insomnia afterward. — Some positions may not be safe. Heart bypass surgery patients should avoid being on top in the missionary position, and Steinke said having sex in a more "upright position" may be easier for some heart failure patients, whose symptoms may include shortness of breath. Dr. Ruth Westheimer signs a copy of her book April 26, 2012, in New York. The sex therapist says doctors often lack training in discussing sex with patients, but that they should. She says partners are often as concerned as patients themselves. (Photo11: Richard Drew, AP) Ruth Westheimer, the famed 85-year-old sex therapist known as "Dr. Ruth," commented on the study Monday through her publicist from Switzerland, where she was hiking. When hospitals have invited her to speak, she always gives the same message: "Doctors need to ask their patients about sexual functioning," even if both sides are embarrassed by the topic. "When it comes to sex and heart issues, in my experience it's as likely to be the partner of the heart patient who is afraid of having sex because it might cause a heart attack as the patient him or herself," Westheimer said. "What I suggest is that people write down their questions and send it to the doctor in advance of their appointment. That way they'll be sure the question gets asked and the doctor will have had time to get prepared to answer it." Vijay Divakaran, a cardiologist with Scott & White Hospital in Round Rock, Texas, said the consensus statement is important and will change practice. Cardiologists don't get formal training in discussing sexual issues with their patients but the conversations get easier, he said "Sometimes patients don't talk about it, they just Google it, and there's a lot of misconceptions" online, Divakaran said. "Once you start asking them, you would be surprised that it almost always is an issue." Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1e6Daer

Thousands of families are fleeing the rebel-held city of Idlib after the heaviest bombardment in months, coinciding with a separate increase in air strikes in Aleppo province. The developments come as Russia faces charges that its air strikes have killed dozens of civilians across Idlib province, including in an area near a hospital. Despite strenuous denials from Moscow, Turkey has called on the international community to rein in what it called Russia's growing military intervention in Syria. The bombardment is part of a government offensive to take Idlib city, the provincial capital in Syria's northwest, held by al-Nusra Front and its allies since March last year. Al-Nusra Front is not party to a Russian- and US-brokered ceasefire that went into force on February 27 between government forces and moderate rebels. People and Power - Syria: Under Russia's Fist Russian air strikes targeted the city overnight, killing 23 civilians, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Tuesday. "The air strikes are the most intensive on Idlib since the beginning of the truce," SOHR's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency. SOHR said dozens of civilians were also wounded in the raids on Idlib. However, the Russian defence ministry has denied that its aircraft carried out any strikes on the city. "Russian aviation did not carry out any military operations, still less air strikes, in Idlib province," Igor Konashenkov, a military spokesperson, said in a statement. Fighting in the north At least 280,000 people have been killed and more than half of Syria's population have fled their homes since the conflict first erupted in 2011. In recent days, fighting has especially intensified along the country's northern border where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group is targeting a strip of rebel territory. SOHR says thousands of civilians remain trapped there owing to the fighting. It said rebel groups in Azaz, in Aleppo province, tried to launch a counteroffensive on Tuesday but failed when ISIL blocked the attack with a suicide bomber, killing six. SOHR said ISIL swept towards the opposition strongholds of Marea and Azaz on Friday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee. Meanwhile, thousands of civilians are trapped in Marea and Sheikh Issa after Kurdish authorities closed the main road towards the autonomous Kurdish canton of Afrin to the west, according to the UN relief agency. "Due to the closure of the Marea-Afrin road, an estimated 7,000 civilians are effectively trapped in Marea and Sheikh Issa towns," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday. About 2,000 people had already managed to leave Marea and Sheikh Issa before the road was closed on Sunday, OCHA said. It said about 5,000 people in total have been displaced by fighting since Friday, and the situation remains "volatile and unpredictable". Two roads blocked Yacoub El Hillo, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Syria, has called on armed groups to "ensure the unhindered movement and protection of civilians trying to reach safety". However, Kurdish authorities announced on Sunday the closure of the two roads from Afrin to Marea and Azaz in response to shelling of a majority-Kurdish district of the provincial capital, Aleppo city, by Syrian armed groups. SOHR said the groups continued to shell the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood on Tuesday. They have been shelling Sheikh Maqsoud for months after an advance by Kurdish forces into rebel territory west of Marea, SOHR's Abdel Rahman said. An estimated 130 civilians have died in the shelling since February, he said. The UN says clashes have also trapped about 165,000 civilians between Azaz and the closed Turkish border. Pablo Marco, the regional manager of Doctors Without Borders, said on Monday that tens of thousands - many of them already displaced from other areas - were caught less than 5km from the frontline with "nowhere to go". Meanwhile, US-backed Syrian fighters advanced against ISIL in the last tract of territory the group holds near the Turkish border on Wednesday, SOHR said. IN PICTURES: The orphans of Syria's war SOHR said on Wednesday the Kurdish YPG fighters made up the majority of forces involved in the attack, contradicting US officials who said the operation would be mostly comprised of Syrian Arab fighters. Turkey is opposed to any further expansion of Syrian Kurdish influence in northern Syria, where the YPG already controls an uninterrupted 400km. ISIL lost 18 fighters in the fighting on Monday, taking its losses since the start of the offensive on May 24 to 79, he said. Among those killed were 24 child fighters from ISIL's Cubs of the Caliphate recruitment programme. The US has ignored protests from its NATO ally Turkey to back the SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters it regards as the most effective force on the ground against ISIL in Syria. The Pentagon has deployed more than 200 American special forces personnel to work alongside it.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has heralded a "new era" in Japanese - South Korean relations after the two countries reached a landmark deal on the issue of wartime sex slaves. Under Monday's deal, Japan will finance a 1bn yen aid ($8.7m) fund for the Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II, euphemistically referred to as "comfort women". "Japan and South Korea will welcome a new era," Abe told reporters after speaking by phone with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye. "Both countries will cooperate together to open" it, he added. The deal was reached in South Korea's capital Seoul at a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries. "The comfort women issue... occurred with the involvement of the Japanese military... and the Japanese government acutely feels its responsibility," Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida said after a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-Se. Kishida added that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed an "apology and repentance from the bottom of his heart" to the victims. Yun Byung-se said the agreement was "final and irreversible," as long as Japan faithfully followed through with its promises. Strained ties The issue has long been a source of friction between Seoul and Tokyo, with South Korea previously accussing Japanese leaders of repeatedly failing to properly atone for wartime atrocities. Tens of thousands of women from around Asia, many of them Korean, were sent to front-line military brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. In South Korea, there are 46 such surviving former sex slaves, mostly in their late 80s or early 90s. Read more: Finding closure for Japan's wartime 'comfort women' Many survivors of the wartime sexual slavery had urged Japan to issue an official apology, make reparations and include wartime atrocities in Japanese school textbooks. The US sees North Korea as a key rival in the south east Asian region and hopes to benefit from the strengthening of ties between its two allies, South Korea and Japan. The two Northeast Asian countries together host about 80,000 U.S. troops and are members of now-stalled regional talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions in return for aid.

Photo of the Mount Hood summit from the U.S. Forest Service GOVT CAMP, Ore. – A climber died in the hospital after falling nearly 600 feet down steep terrain on Mt. hood on Sunday, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said. The climber, 32-year-old John Thorton Jenkins, fell at about 11:30 a.m. while near the Hogsback climbing area. He suffered severe injuries when he slid down the steep mountainside. A Clackamas County Search & Rescue team worked with Mt. Hood Ski patrol and Portland Mountain Rescue to reach the man. The Oregon Air National guard airlifted the man to a Portland hospital, where he later died of his injuries. Officials will release the man’s name once family members have had time to notify relatives about the death. *Editor's note - Initial information from deputies indicated that the man fell on Friday. They have since said it happened Sunday.

It’s Date Night with the Stoic Templum 2.1 ! Unfortunately, that’s a date between the tent and I… my girlfriend is in China for the week. I knew I was going to need a two-person tent eventually. Love might be in the air, but it’s a cold, hard breakup between my beloved Big Ag Fly Creek 1 Platinum and I. I initially approached finding a 2-person tent as my only shelter, since I still have to budget around $300 for a tent and not much more. I wanted something big enough that it’d make for many romantic forest-bound evenings and group trips with friends or my brothers, but I needed it to be light enough that I could still strap it on the bike for an ultralight 200-mile overnight dash. I failed. That tent doesn’t exist. So, instead, I diversified my holdings. I bought the cheapest tent I could find (above the department store variety, which are a terrible investment) and bought a bivy bag for solo trips. I’ll tell you what I think of the Stoic in a minute. My second shelter was a Borah Gear Snowyside Bivy. The Borah Gear Snowyside Bivy was an equal bargain. This is a new offering from Borah Gear, a small ‘cottage’ company in the United States that makes ultralight tarps and bivy bags. Their Snowyside bivy is pretty customizeable, but it takes about 3 weeks to ship so they can actually sew it up for you. I added taped seams, a side zipper, and a full eVent floor instead of silnylon. What I got is a sub-2lb fully enclosed shelter from all weather when comfort is second to just sleeping dry and packing camp quick. I’ll do a full review of the Borah Gear bivy later; I’ve only got one night in it, shown here at “The Top of the World” in Florida, MA, which is actually just a cell phone tower that happens to be near an overlook. I can do a lot of assuming with a tent because I’ve used ten just like it, but I can’t do the same with the bivy. The Tent The Stoic Templum 2.1 is dirt-cheap (I got mine for $95 with a coupon from its flagship site, Backcountry). During times when they’re rotating old stock on camping gear, like just after the holidays or just after winter/summer ends, you can almost count on finding things marked far below their full retail value, and this tent was a moment like that. At $200 full price, it’s not exactly pricy either, especially considering that the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 2 , the luxurious ultralight equivalent, goes for $400, plus another $60 for the footprint and $30 for a gear loft, if you’re into those. The first thing I did when I opened it was to toss aside all the optional stuff. The tent comes in a stuff sack, with a separate sack for stakes and another for poles. I stripped these off. Then, I set aside the gear loft and footprint, and took just the bare essentials—tent fly, tent body, poles, and stakes— onto my bathroom scale for an estimate. I expected 5 pounds, and got four and change. It ended up weighing 4lbs 6oz for me. This is consistent with the “trail weight” listed by Stoic, so I’ll trust it in lieu of a more accurate scale, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Next, I set it up in my room to get an idea of the floorspace. Since this tent is rectangular, the length x width gives me a square footage of 30.2ft. A Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2 (sorry BA, you’re my comparison today) is 29 square feet, so there’s no skimping on space here. A length of 89 inches is plenty for my 6’1″ self. First thing I did was replace the hook at the top: As it was, the hook had a hard time getting over all three poles (or, adversely, I had a hard time using it right). At either rate, function was lacking, and I had a webbing loop there to work with. I took wire cutters and clipped right through the plastic hook. I have to buy more guylines for stuff like this, but one of the silnylon straps they tied the tent up with during shipping worked perfectly. Any string at all can now be used to tie all three poles together with a really simple shoe-tying bow. Having the cross-pole above the two main poles ended up being really important. Next, I checked out the zipper pulls. Another cut corner to keep price down, but that’s fine; three feet of thin accessory cord will replace all six zipper pulls (two per door, plus the fly vestibules). It’ll be lighter, easier to grab, and won’t hold as much water, so it’s worth replacing. The stitching was great; double stitched and bartacked everywhere it should be, with plenty of reinforcement at pull-points. It wasn’t immaculate like some considerably more expensive tents— you can see some reinforcement fabric that wasn’t cut quite right there at the pole grommet, but it was good enough. Function over form. The fabric itself was smooth and comparatively thick when up against Big Agnes fabrics, but it wasn’t unreasonable and the packed size of the tent was just as small as most other mid-sized tents I’ve used, including the Marmot Aura 2 and the Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 3 . Packed size was also acceptable; about the size of a bowling ball. I’ll probably pack it with some clothes in this dry-bag so the tubular shape would fit better on a back rack when I take it touring. The smaller ball there is the Snowyside Bivy, which is about the size of a small melon. It’s not actually that much smaller, but with no poles or setup, it’s much more convenient. That isn’t to say the Stoic Templum wasn’t convenient; I had it up in the backyard in just a few minutes. Good thing, too, because it was pouring rain. I put a tarp down to keep the tent from drowning in the 1-inch slush layer over my lawn. The weather here is just absolutely horrendous. Once I had it all set up, it looked great! Very sturdy, very stable, and very simple- just the way I like it. The Philosophy of a “cheap” tent is starting to hit me. I know cost is a poor metric of measurement in quality or function, and I don’t want to purport that this Stoic Templum is somehow “better” than the tents that cost 3-4 times the price. It’s not. However, it does make me wonder at the marketing that goes into free-standing tents as a modifier of price. Other than a slightly heavier set of poles, this tent is pretty nearly identical to a more expensive tent. You’re not paying for some brilliant engineering or impossibly rare materials; you’re paying for a DAC logo on your poles and the false security in having the “best” that your money can buy. So, that’s why I’m kind of in two camps at the moment (no pun intended): Option 1: Buy Cottage Gear. There are a ton of great manufacturers. Borah Gear, Mountain Laurel Designs, and Revelate Designs are some of my favorites, and there are many more. Here’s a list. This stuff is going to be absolutely minimalist, ultralight, custom fit to purpose, and the price will be un-inflated. Plus, you get to support American and Canadian businesses. Option 2: Slash price by going with the lowest-common-denominator tent I’m comfortable with, and sacrifice some quality but maintain function. The Templum is functionally the same for me as a Big Agnes. I used to have an Option 3. Option 3 was to go with the highest quality shelter manufactured by the big-box companies as a combination of quality and light weight, but after seeing this tent come so close for a fraction of the price, I no longer think that’s a good idea. I end up paying a lot for something that still can’t match the weight and packability of a cottage-made product, and I pay through the nose for the brand. Consider me reformed? Maybe not yet, but saving money is definitely starting to outweigh having the “best” of everything. I want a product that will last and last, and in lieu of that, I want it cheap enough to be replaced. Remember that overlook I mentioned with the bivy bag? Here it is: If you want to support what I’m doing with the blog, just follow any of the product links and order whatever you want off of Amazon. That’s it! I’ll get a little bonus. Beats the hell out of advertisements…

Prominent atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are paying lawyers to investigate the possibility of prosecuting the pope for crimes against humanity, their solicitor confirmed today. The pair argue that Pope Benedict XVI should be arrested when he visits Britain in September and put on trial for his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. Last week a letter emerged from 1985 in which the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger urged that a paedophilic priest in America not be defrocked for the "good of the universal church". The Vatican has already suggested the pope is immune from prosecution because he is a head of state. But Dawkins and Hitchens believe that because he is not the head of a state with full United Nations membership, he does not hold immunity and could be arrested when he steps on to British soil. This is the advice they have been given by their lawyers – solicitor Mark Stephens and human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC. "I'm convinced we can get over the threshold of immunity," said Stephens. "The Vatican is not recognised as a state in international law. People assume that it has existed for time immemorial but it was a construct of Mussolini, and when the Vatican first applied to become a member of the UN, the US said no. So as a sop they were given the status of permanent observers rather than full members." But the Holy See insists it is a state like any other. Earlier this month, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Vatican tribunal chief, said: "The pope is certainly a head of state and he has the same legal status as all heads of state." Stephens said there are three lines of approach to put the pope in the dock. "One is that we apply for a warrant to the international criminal court. Alternatively, criminal proceedings could be brought here, either a public prosecution brought by the Crown Prosecution Service or a private prosecution. That would require at least one victim to come forward who is either from this jurisdiction or was abused here. The third option is for individuals to lodge civil claims," said Stephens. He said he had recently been approached by seven wealthy individuals who donated money to the Catholic church and were dismayed their money had not only been used to fund abuse but also buy the silence of victims. These people could potentially sue the pope, Stephens suggested. Writing in the Washington Post on Friday, Dawkins described Ratzinger as a "leering old villain in a frock … whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence." Without admitting that he had consulted lawyers he added: "This former head of the Inquisition should be arrested the moment he dares to set foot outside his tinpot fiefdom of the Vatican, and he should be tried in an appropriate civil – not ecclesiastical – court. That's what should happen. Sadly, we all know our faith-befuddled governments will be too craven to do it." Pope Benedict will be in Britain from 16-19 September where he will beatify the theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) Von Miller is headed for a very different kind of offseason. ”For one, I already know that I’m not going to be Super Bowl MVP,” the Broncos star cracked. No, but he could still win his first Defensive Player of the Year award – if voters look past Denver’s offensive-driven nosedive that will leave them out of the postseason party for the first time since 2010. Even though he’s been stuck at 13+ sacks for three weeks, Miller has grown into a well-rounded linebacker : one who can stuff the run, cover tight ends and torment tackles as adroitly as he can knock the ball out of the quarterback’s hand. Miller cringes at the term ”pass rusher” because it describes just one aspect of his job, which he says is to ”make plays, big plays, for my team.” ”That’s interesting that he would answer that question like that way because that tells you how much better a player he’s become,” coach Gary Kubiak said. ”Guys get a lot of accolades for sacks and numbers in this league, but really are you a complete player?” In Miller’s case, absolutely. Denver’s inept offense and poor run defense limited his chances down the stretch to have game-turning plays like he piled up earlier, including sack-strips of Andrew Luck and Blake Bortles that sealed victories and a sack of Cam Newton in the opener that was reminiscent of his spectacular Super Bowl. Miller’s 73 tackles are a career high and more than double what he collected last season (35) before embarking on a big playoff run that culminated with probably the greatest defensive performance in Super Bowl history. At midseason, Miller was just about the only player in the conversation for top defender in 2016. Going without a sack for the last three games has opened the door to others, including Khalil Mack of the Raiders (12-3), who visit the Broncos (8-7) on Sunday. Oakland coach Jack Del Rio said Miller and Mack are similar in their disruptive capabilities but ”Von’s the only guy I’ve ever seen that can look like Gumby going around a corner and an inch off the ground and still be going at full speed.” Miller also faces constant double- and even triple-teams that guys like Mack, Vic Beasley Jr. and Ryan Kerrigan don’t usually have to worry about. Sunday will mark the first time in Miller’s six-year NFL career that the Broncos are playing for pride and not playoff positioning. At this time last year, Miller was preparing for a stellar playoff run that would bring him fame and fortune, from a Super Bowl 50 MVP trophy to a record-breaking contract. His cross-country victory lap: a six-month jet-setting junket of television and dance studios, A-list parties and B-roll appearances. ”Honestly, I did miss my teammates. I love these guys in here. But it was so new and I was meeting new people and it was new experiences,” Miller said. ”And the end of the day, I was like, `Dang, I was supposed to … we had practice today.’ I’m on my Snap and I’m getting messages from my guys like, `Bro, we ready to work out today and you at Six Flags.\'” He compared it to taking a sick day during school and thinking about what his buddies were doing all the time. Miller combined his Super Bowl success and his franchise tag status to enjoy last year’s offseason as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: ”An offseason like that with the contracts, you really only get one of those,” Miller said. ”So, I wanted to take advantage of that.” Miller is preparing for a very different kind of offseason now. ”I’m starting my offseason training on Wednesday,” Miller told The Associated Press. ”I just don’t want to take a break. Right now, I’m in great shape. So, why take a break and lose that? So, while I got January off, I’m just going to hit the workouts hard while I can where I just focus on working out and not appearances or endorsements. I’m heading to the Super Bowl. That’s a month away. I’ve got all of January to just grind it out.” Come April, he’ll report to the Broncos’ offseason program with the rest of his teammates. ”I’ll be here with my guys,” he said. ”I won’t be so all over the place.” He’ll save that for game days. NOTES: C Matt Paradis, Denver’s 2016 Ed Block Courage Award winner, confirmed he’ll have surgery on both hips this offseason. … Kubiak, who had a second health scare in three seasons back in September, was asked about his desire to continue coaching Friday. ”Why, do I look bad?” he said with a laugh, then added: ”I love this league. I love the Broncos. I love to work. I’m all in on the Raiders right now. There will be a time for reflection and all of that stuff next week.” — Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton — For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

In September Dubspot had the pleasure of hosting Deep Medi Musik recording artist Tunnidge for a live streaming workshop. In these Dubspot-produced video recap of Tunnidge’s appearance and workshop, the London producer offers a significant array of production advice, from EQing samples, to mixing and mastering suggestions, and even some tips on how get top DJs to play your tunes! Tunnidge goes in depth on his use of a PAZ Analyzer to clean up samples, Kontakt 5, and the frequency minefield of mixdowns. Some of Tunnidge’s best advice can be heard clearly enough in his music, all of it made to a perfectionist’s ear, each element obsessed over, and sitting perfectly balanced within the mix. Tunnidge’s latest 12” is “Control” b/w “Decay,” released on the Get Darker imprint, sounds like standing outside of a space ship construction zone, the muffled sound of a metal-cutting saw occasionally rising and falling. Tunnidge – “Decay” out now on GetDarker An easy standout release from both the Tunnidge catalog and Deep Medi’s is 2008’s blistering “Geddeon,” which expertly positions a ruff ragga vocal with an ethereal female voice, creating an emotional palette ripe for a heavy drop that bubbles and bounces with a tight, thick bassline.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkA1DcuSkY Tunnidge – “Giddeon” out now Deep Medi Musik In other decidedly gothic and relentless productions like “7 Breaths,” a release for Distance’s Chestplate imprint, Tunnidge unleashes a stomach-turning amount of bass weight that will have anyone near a sub, out of breath. Tunnidge – “7 Breaths” out now Chestplate Purveyor of deep, dark, sub-driven beats, Tunnidge has quickly forged a reputation as a heavyweight of the Dubstep scene. Possessing a murky, cavernous sound as equally hypnotic as it is enlivening he has consistently produced quality progressive music since his first release. And what a first release: still rinsed by the biggest DJ’s in the scene, Geddeon/Face Melt remains a classic 12″ that will batter the best of sound systems and leave the dance floor well and truly slain. What’s more, it’s testament to Tunnidge’s production prowess that this debut came on Mala’s Deep Medi Musik imprint, widely acknowledged as a seminal label and one known for its exemplar releases. Stripping the sound back to its key components of bass and beats, Tunnidge produces a purist’s sound: sub-bass that can be felt from head to toe, alongside a carefully-crafted snare that makes you flinch every time it rings out across the dance floor. Indeed, such is the strength of his sonic identity that a Tunnidge tune is instantly recognisable, with characteristic snares, intelligent use of samples and unmistakeable control over bass line melodies. A perfect example of this, and a highlight of Tunnidge’s production repertoire, is Higher Forces’ (released on established underground label Boka Records), a tune fit for a cold, dank dungeon, with haunting echoic vocals and a relentless, mesmerising kick drum. When in collaboration with producers of a similar stature and style the results have been blistering; The Lights/Ding Ding 12″ produced alongside Cyrus and released on their Origin Audio imprint – a new label set up to support producers still making challenging, sub-low beats – was a top seller in Blackmarket Records, one of the leading bass music shops in the UK, a week after its release. Collaborations with Distance have been fruitful too with the evil, ball and chain sounds of Blame currently receiving heavy play on Rinse FM and other stations dedicated to the best in UK bass music. [read more.]

A little over a week ago Law Enforcement in California launched statewide raids to combat Human Trafficking. The raids yielded hundreds of arrests and dozens of slaves being set free including children who were being sexually exploited. From KTLA5: More than 30 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and task forces, including the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, participated in the third annual “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” enforcement operation, according to a sheriff’s news release. The statewide operation took place over the three-day period between last Thursday and Saturday. In total, 474 arrests were made, including 142 males on solicitation charges, and 36 males on suspicion of pimping, according to figures provided by the Sheriff’s Department. Additionally, 28 commercially and sexually exploited children and 27 adult victims were rescued. “You are worthy of more. And we will work tirelessly with our partners … to provide you services and help you rebuild your life,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell said, addressing the victims during a news conference on Tuesday. The minors who were recovered during the operation were being cared for by various children and family services agencies across the state, according to sheriff’s officials. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking and the Saving Innocence organization were coordinating efforts to help victims in L.A. County.

The family of Egyptian business tycoon Salah Diab used a corporate network made of Egyptian and offshore companies to sign agreements and strike deals with the Egyptian government, according to the second wave of Panama Papers released worldwide on Monday. Asawatmasriya joins international media platforms publishing this second wave of The Panama Papers which is an unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures. The second wave focuses on uncovering Africa offshore empires. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), together with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners, spent a year sifting through 11.5 million leaked files to expose the offshore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals, and details of the hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and more. The trove of documents is likely the biggest leak of inside information in history. It includes nearly 40 years of data from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama. That firm, Mossack Fonseca, has offices in more than 35 locations around the globe, and is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies, corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets. Leaked data obtained by ICIJ reveal agreements involving the petroleum sector in Egypt. One of the agreements between Pico International Petroleum a subsidiary of Egypt’s Pico Group, and the Egyptian government concerned millions in development costs for the lucrative Al-Amal Petroleum Field located in the Gulf of Suez. Tawifk Diab. Photo from his official Facebook account Several partners were part of this deal: the national oil company Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC), Greystone and Pico International. Both Greystone and Pico Group are owned by the Diab family. Greystone is registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) while Pico is registered as an Egyptian company. The project involves the expansion and the development of an onshore processing plant. Certificate of incorporation of Greystone Petroleum (Egypt) Limited. The Egyptian government claimed to be unaware of the offshore activities involved in the agreement. When asked about these deals and the related documents, Tarek Al Hadidy, EGPC’s head said: “We have a concession agreement with them and they are committed to it. We don't know anything about the offshore activities of Pico International Petroleum & Greystone. My company [EGPC] is paying the taxes for Al-Amal field and if the other partner companies are involved in illegal activities, they should be investigated by the authorities, not by me.” The issue of taxes is not as simple: the concession agreement of 2005 issued by law No. 159 allows for various tax exemptions at municipal and national levels and is exempt save for income taxes. Pico International Petroleum is Egypt's largest locally owned oil and gas company. It works on developing smaller or more mature concessions that are a vital component of the country’s oil and gas sector. It is part of the Pico Group,which comprises seven independent sister companies, each enjoys managerial and financial autonomy. Established in 1974, Pico Petroleum Services has grown to become a leading brand in the market segments it operates within, with offices in the Middle East, Europe, the United States, and Mexico. Pico is known primarily as a market leader in agriculture and the shareholders have been active in agriculture since the early 1930s. Pico International Petroleum, directly or through one of its affiliates, owns interests in six offshore oil and gas assets: Zaafarana, Al-Amal, Gemsa, Geisum and Tawila West, West Tawila Marine, and South Ramadan Marine. It had also interests in other countries including Romania and Mexico. Due to local legislation in Egypt, interests in any oil and gas licenses are held by joint ventures (JVs) between the stateowned EGPC, holding 50% of the shares, and a private company holding the remaining 50%. In the JVs where Pico is involved, the company, and/or one of its subsidiaries, detains the majority of the private shares allocated to the contractor members. It is unclear why an offshore ‘foreign partner’ was involved into an Egyptian deal when a local Diab company, Pico, was already there. What value did Greystone add, what income did it earn and what disbursements did it make? Were there any hidden owners present outside of the Diab family? When Pico Group chair Sherif El Ezzawy was contacted for comment, he said: ““Regarding Pico Investment Seychelles and Greystone, I emphasise that both companies were lawfully incorporated following all laws and regulations. They were not, and are not, connected to any wrongdoing.” He further explained: “Pico Investment Seychelles was founded in 2008 to invest in the Gulf area. We chose Seychelles because it offered attractive terms for foreign investors. After its establishment, we decided not to pursue the investment we were evaluating, and therefore had no use for the Seychelles company.” Incorpration certificate of PICO investment limited. El Ezzawy went on to say that the entity was inactive and throughout the period no transactions or transfers were done by Pico’s Seychelles company. Regarding Greystone, he claimed the entity was founded before it was acquired and, ‘inactivated as well in 2013.’ Having an offshore company is not a crime, meanwhile offshore companies are often accused of tax evasion and avoidance, the former illegal and the latter technically legal. El Ezzawy said that offshore companies operating in Egypt are not exempt from taxes for their local activities, specifically in the oil sector. “Taxes are automatically and directly deducted and paid by the regulator on behalf of the partner. Such agreements are completely regulated through Production Sharing Contracts that are passed as a law through the Egyptian parliament.” The documents uncovered by the Panama papers regarding this case do not show any wrongdoing by Diab’s family. However, they raise questions about whether the family benefits from any offshore tax strategies such as artificial management fees or for the use of bank accounts and whether their interests were fully disclosed. Mossack Fonseca law firm sign is pictured in Panama City, April 4, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso The story started in June 2008, when Tawfik Diab, the only son of Egypt’s tycoon Salah Diab, established a company called Pico Investment Limited in Seychelles. Mossack Fonseca’s Seychelles branch was the registering agent logging the company as no: 050605. Minutes of the company registration show that Tawfik Diab was elected as the chairperson of the meeting, and his relative Mohamed A. Kamel Diab acted as the secretary. Mossack Fonseca emails and contracts show that Pico Investment was authorized to open a bank account with JP Morgan Suisse SA in the Swiss canton of Geneva. Tawfik was in charge of completing the transactions on behalf of Pico investment in Seychelles and managing all business with JP Morgan Suisse. Leaked data show that a portion of the shares of Pico Investment were divided between Salah Diab and Kamel Diab – each received 200 shares. Meanwhile, Technoil Limited Inc and Petroleum Ventures International Inc (PVI) each owned 400 shares. In 2013, the company was shut down. Ramon Fonseca, founding partner of law firm Mossack Fonseca, speaks during an interview with Reuters at his office in Panama City April 5, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso Diab’s family was also linked to another offshore company in the BVI, called Greystone Petroleum (Egypt) Limited. Corporate data for Greystone Petroleum (Egypt) Limited (no. 36154) that goes back to 2003 shows Salah Diab and Tawfik Diab as the directors. The company’s authorized capital of $10 million was divided into 100,000 shares and a per share value of $100 each. In February 2013, Mossack Fonseca decided to resign as a registered agent for Greystone Petroleum. Greystone previously had a co-shareholder PVI, also a shareholder in Pico Seychelles. In 2013, PVI’s beneficial owner claimed in an email that his shares in Greystone had been sold to Tawfik in 2004. Greystone was described as a subsidiary of Petroleum Ventures. An internet search of the owner’s name results in senior positions across several Egyptian entities including petroleum and cement companies. A worried Pico employee sent an email, dated 2013, to Mossack Fonseca asking for advice on ignoring 'the BVI rule that majority shareholder consent is required’ and how they could ‘ascertain whether there is a legal/beneficial owner of assets attributable to PVI 599 shares in Greystone Egypt.’ Mossack Fonseca co-founder Jürgen Mossack. So, what was the purpose of the hidden Swiss bank account administered from the Seychelles? Why hold millions of dollars worth of shares in an inactive offshore company? Experts we contacted said that companies are often created solely to host offshore banks accounts. While the Panama Papers do not expose any wrongdoing, it would go a long way to rebuilding public confidence in state and private company partnerships of this kind, if the corporate structure, including ownership, was transparent and not obscured by banks in secrecy jurisdictions. Business tycoon Salah Diab and his son Tawfik. The article has benefitted from ANCIR's assistance

Beaver Island as we know it first appeared out of the ice eleven thousand years ago. Since then, its form has changed considerably because of the rise and fall of Lake Michigan, which has ranged over a differential of 375'. The Lake dropped to a very low level about 8,000 years ago, and stayed down for 4,000 years. During this time, this land was not an island at all but an appendage of the mainland. Then the Lake rose to 30' above its present level, submerging all of Beaver except the central plateau. Next, it dropped about ten feet, producing a slightly smaller version of our present Island. The edge of this configuration was layered with beach gravel. When a logging railroad was built in 1904, it was placed on this firm bed. We know that Native Americans passed by Beaver Island as long ago as 2,200 years. There is no proof that they lived here, but the oral tradition of the Odawas, who have resided here for over 300 years, is that there were small fishing villages in many of the bays when they arrived. Arrowheads, spear heads, and fragments of Woodland-period pottery indicate that at least they came ashore. Fire-cracked rocks mark their cooking fires along the bluff. In 1871 the archeologist Henry Gillman opened some of the mounds in the harbor, and was surprised at the "uncommonly skillful workmanship" of the artifacts he found. The Odawas (Ottawas) migrated westward in the ripples of Native American movement that retreated from contact with the whites, arriving on Beaver Island in the mid-1700s. At times they were recruited to help in skirmishes between the English and the French, but little was known about their lives until Father Baraga came from L'Arbre Croche in 1832 to convert the Indians living on the north shore to Catholicism. He baptized 22 Indians, but those living in the settlement near Whiskey Point remained pagan. A few years later, some of the 199 Indians living on Garden Island, 2 miles north (and the site of over 3,000 Indian graves), were converted by other missionaries. White traders and trappers began to appear in the early 1800s. Trapping, fishing, and cutting wood for the passing steamers allowed men to earn a living at this frontier. By the 1840s, two trading posts were flourishing. Economic power shifted here from Mackinac Island because of Beaver's good fishing, ample forests, and vastly superior harbor. In 1850, 100 people lived in a growing community at Whiskey Point, unaware that the few Mormons already present would soon overwhelm them and force them to leave. James Strang, who would create America's only kingdom on Beaver Island, was born in New York in 1813. He expected great things of himself. He established a law practice at the age of 23, but it failed to satisfy his ambition. When he met Joseph Smith in 1844, he converted to his new evangelical religion as a way of improving his position. Strang's debating skills impressed the Mormon leader, who assigned him to found a branch in Burlington, Wisconsin. While Strang was away, Smith was killed. Shortly thereafter Strang produced a letter naming him as Smith's chosen heir. He was challenged by Brigham Young, who was more solidly entrenched. Strang led those who accepted him to Nauvoo, Illinois, and then Voree, Wisconsin, before deciding that God wanted him to bring his flock to Beaver Island. Producing mysterious brass plates from the ground, and receiving directives from God, Strang formed a colony on Beaver Island in 1848. It grew year by year, and soon had the numbers to elect Strang to the state legislature. Trouble with the "gentiles" led to the "War of Whiskey Point", which the Mormons won by firing a canon at the unruly gang gathered at the trading post. By the early 1850s, most of the non-Mormons had left the Island. The ensuing degree of absolute power went to Strang's head, and rumors spread about Mormon attrocities. Strang had himself crowned king, and began taking additional wives. Attempts to oust him by legal means failed, and in 1856 he was assassinated by two disgruntled follow ers. His people were driven off the Island by an unruly mob from Mackinac Island, which was instigated by speculators eager to grab the land. During their 8-year occupancy, the Mormons cleared and cultivated the ground, built roads and houses, and changed the Island from a wilderness to a moderate outpost of civilization. But fate conspired to keep them from reaping the benefits of their toil. Beaver Island was blessed to be near some of the best fishing grounds in the world. The Mormons had excluded the gentiles from partaking in this bounty, but once the Mormons were gone, Irish fishermen began to appear. They came from Gull Island, Mackinac Island, various port cities on the mainland, and County Donegal in Ireland. Once they settled in, they wrote to their families and friends about "America's Emerald Isle." Over the following three decades, the population grew in surges, taking on a decidedly Irish flavor. Ordinary conversations, as well as services in the Catholic Church, were conducted in Gaelic. Of the 881 residents in 1880, there were 141 Gallaghers, 123 Boyles, and 90 O'Donnells recorded in the census. Closely knit, isolated from the rest of the world during the winter, this community developed a unique identity. Because they controlled the nearby fishing grounds, the economy thrived. By the mid 1880s Beaver Island had become the largest supplier of fresh-water fish in the country. But the invention (1872) and proliferation of the steam tug posed a severe threat. Suddenly fishermen from mainland ports could cross to the grounds, lay five miles of nets, and cross back before dark. No sooner had the Island fishermen adjusted to the loss of their monopoly than a second blow befell them: a sudden drastic reduction in the supply of fish, starting in 1886. Due to overfishing, the harvest declined to half its previous rate by 1893. This problem affected the entire Great Lakes. Michigan started a hatcheries program. This helped, but not enough, so in 1897 a law closing the season during the fall spawning period was passed. The Beaver Island fisherman, notoriously independent, announced that this did not apply to them, so in 1898 a warden was dispatched. He leased a boat in Charlevoix and headed for the Island in the first no-fishing week. A fisherman who was out lifting his nets by the light of the moon saw the warden approach. He tried to flee, but the warden, firing on him with a "Winchester cannon," gave chase. Eventually the fisherman's boat was too damaged to continue, and he was caught and arrested and his equipment confiscated. This became known as "the Battle of the Beavers." Islanders' intractability was reduced, but streaks of it could still be observed for the next hundred years. Beaver Island has had more than its share of charismatic personalities, such as Father Peter Gallagher and "Doctor" Protar. Father Gallagher became the Island priest in 1865. A man of the people, he quickly came to dominate Island life. He settled disputes, loaned money, arranged marriages, carried on with the bachelors, acquired vast holdings, owned the merchant ship Hattie Fisher, and became an avid hunter and fisherman. He won a pair of horses in a marksmanship contest, and challenged a man to a fistfight in the St. Ignatius chapel, forcing its closure by drawing blood. When the Bishop tried to have him removed, the Bishop's men were threatened by the priest's flock. He was always a figure of controversy, but was generally respected and loved until he died in 1898. Feodor Protar had almost the opposite temperament. Arriving five years before Father Gallagher's death, this newspaper editor and talented actor wanted to change his life in order to undertake a spiritual quest. He bought an old cabin on Sloptown Road, where he strove for self-sufficiency. He did everything he could for everyone he met, including performing medical services for those too poor or too distant for the doctor in St. James. Despite his objections, he was known as "Doctor Protar." Somewhat of a recluse, and a follower of the precepts of Tolstoy, this elderly immigrant came to be regarded as a saint. When he died in 1925, his admirers built a stone-and-iron tomb on Bonner's Bluff for their "heaven-sent friend." Despite the Island's poor soil, farming played an important role because of the cost of shipping. Farms near Four Corners and on Sloptown Road, many in fields cleared by the Mormons, operated from the 1860s until the 1950s. In addition, excess crops from the Israelite farms on High Island in the 1910s and 20s were sold on the streets of St. James. Logging too has always played a role, with small groups providing cordwood, cedar ties, and tan bark, but in 1901 the Beaver Island Lumber Company went into business in a way that dwarfed all of the other operations before and since. They hired 125 men, bought and built a complex of docks, erected a mill, and built housing on Freesoil Avenue, some of which still stands. They ran a track to Donegal Bay and then south for over ten miles, and had three steam engines hauling carloads of logs to their mill. Ships picked up shaves, shingles, boards, and slabwood and took these products to Detroit and Chicago. The overloaded trains pushed sideways as they rounded the many curves, widening the tracks. Derailments were common. One time a train tipped over, crushing the engineer. Just as some of those who had built the Island's two lighthouses or worked at the Coast Guard station had stayed after their job was done, so too did some of the loggers when the Lumber Company closed its operation and picked up its tracks in 1916. At the turn of the century the population of the Island began to develop more variety. Father Zugelder, the German priest who replaced Father Gallagher, was well-accepted into the diversifying community. Communities on Garden and High reached their zenith before WW II. Churches, schools, sawmills, docks, stores, and homes were built on each of these nearby islands. Native Americans lived and worked in cooperation with the whites. But rising economic pressures made this way of life increasingly more untenable, and both islands were abandoned. Their trails remain, kept open by the DNR, the Game Club, and an abundance of hikers who occasionally come upon an old car, a grove of apple trees, or the rotting remains of a cabin or barn. The improvements being implemented in other communities in the early part of this century came late to Beaver Island. In 1905 the Island was connected to the mainland with a 200-ton telegraph cable. Regular winter mail service was not instituted until 1926; before that, it was dependent on dog- and horse-sled trips across the ice. A power plant was built in 1939, and Island homes finally could have electricity. Previously the Parish Hall, the Beaver Hotel, and the Coast Guard Station had installed their own small generators. Perhaps because of this backwardness, the Island was always a popular destination for those tourists who were willing to rough it in their search for a more pristine lifestyle. Local merchants promoted tourism as early as 1878. Fast-talking developers sold Island lots in the lobbies of Chicago hotels in the early 1900s. Tracts of beach on the Island's east side were turned into lots for vacation cottages in the 1920s and 30s. Despite this boost, the Island's economy was still dependent on commercial fishing. The harbor at St. James was ringed with docks, net sheds, ice houses, and boat-building sheds. When the lamprey eel began to decimate the trout and whitefish population in the 1940s, the Island was in trouble. It had been losing population anyway as the newer generations went off to make their mark in the world, particularly in Chicago, but now almost everyone left. The once-thriving community of well over 1,000 residents dwindled to less than 200, and people were afraid the school and medical center would be closed and they would all have to leave. But in the late 1970s a new wave of tourism reversed this trend. As the economy of Michigan improved, along with the pressure and tension of taking advantage of it, more and more people discovered Beaver Island, fell in love with it, and bought property or a home. Today, construction is the dominant industry, with carpenters as plentiful as fishermen once were. After years of insularity, during which ideas offered by newcomers were sneered at, the Island residents have become much more accepting of notions from outside. The newcomers have helped raise the standard of living, and made life more interesting, Yesterday's backwardness has given way to an enlightened infrastructure, with progressive planning commissions, an active Chamber of Commerce, Historical Society, Preservation Association, Property Owners' Association, volunteer fire department, and a well-trained emergency medical service. And the time-honored tradition of picking up news at the bar has been replaced, to a great extent, by searching the internet. Daily activities have come to closely resemble those of the mainland, with the primary difference being that they are enacted in a distant place that is proud of its unique and variegated natural endowment.

Political types aren't the only ones descending on Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan for a meeting with the president-elect and his transition team. On Wednesday, Donald Trump met with Hollywood heavyweight Leonardo DiCaprio and Terry Tamminen, the chief executive officer of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which "is dedicated to the long-term health and well-being of all Earth’s inhabitants," according to the foundation's mission statement. "Today, we presented the president-elect and his advisers with a framework -– which LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalism -– that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure," Tamminen said in a statement. Tamminen said the meeting "focused on how [to] create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation." The meeting -- which was not announced ahead of time by the transition team -- also included a discussion about the polarizing issue of climate change. "Climate change is bigger than politics, and the disastrous effects on our planet and our civilization will continue regardless of what party holds majorities in Congress or occupies the White House," Tamminen said. And is seems that the trio will continue their dialogue. "The president-elect expressed his desire for a follow-up meeting in January, and we look forward to continuing the conversation with the incoming administration as we work to stop the dangerous march of climate change, while putting millions of people to work at the same time," Tamminen said. DiCaprio also met with Ivanka Trump and couple other Trump advisers while at Trump Tower, a source with knowledge of the meeting said. On Wednesday afternoon, former NYPD detective and 2017 New York City mayoral candidate Bo Dietl tweeted a photo of DiCaprio and Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of SkyBridge Capital and a member of Trump's transition team, as well as others, dining together. Earlier this week, ABC News confirmed DiCaprio recently met with Ivanka Trump and gave her a copy of his documentary "Before the Flood." The meeting occurred on the heels of Donald Trump's Monday meeting with former Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore. The meeting also comes on the same day a senior Trump adviser said Trump has selected Oklahoma State Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt is a strong critic of the EPA, and his nomination drew swift criticism from some prominent Democrats and environmental groups.

Photo: Maya Robinson and Photos by Corbis Weezer’s new album Everything Will Be Alright in the End, out yesterday, is a course correction for the band after a series of recent missteps. How do we know this? Because since 2001’s Weezer (The Green Album), basically every Weezer album has been pitched as a course correction for the band after a series of recent missteps. (There’s one exception, and the identity of that album may surprise you!) Take a look: All quotes, except where noted, by Rivers Cuomo. The album: Weezer (The Green Album) (2001) The previous missteps: Disappearing into self-indulgence on 1996’s Pinkerton, then disappearing entirely for five years. The correction: Returning to the sound of The Blue Album, with the help of producer Ric Ocasek. “[Pinkerton] is just a sick album, sick in a diseased sort of way … This [new] record is purely musical.” —Rolling Stone “[Pinkerton] is a hideous record. It was such a hugely painful mistake that happened in front of hundreds of thousands of people and continues to happen on a grander and grander scale and just won’t go away.” —Entertainment Weekly The album: Maladroit (2002) The previous missteps: Overreacting to the (still-embarrassing) failure of Pinkerton by creating an album of emotionless sheen. The correction: Embracing the heavy-metal sound that was apparently Cuomo’s first true passion. “After you’ve made a record that’s pretty straight pop stuff, you kinda wanna bust loose on the guitar a little bit … I don’t know what the hell I was thinking [with the guitar solos on The Green Album]. I prefer shredding.” —Guitar World “I grew up on metal, and I learned how to play the guitar by playing metal, and I was always in metal bands as a kid. So, really the aberration was the first two Weezer records. I was very consciously repressing my actual self.” —CDNOW.com “The Green Album was mostly fake girl songs.” —Spin “I don’t like Pinkerton. @#%$ it’s a @#%$ album! I wish people would leave it alone.” —Kerrang The album: Make Believe (2005) The previous missteps: Not trying hard enough, emotionally and professionally. The correction: Writing more from the heart, and getting Rick Rubin to produce. “On Maladroit … the songwriting on my part wasn’t great. … [Pinkerton] has the sound of someone who’s not really in touch with other people, and I don’t know if that’s good.” —L.A. Weekly “On albums three and four, I wasn’t using my feelings to write the songs … I was like ‘Alright, I’ll shut myself down completely, I’ll be like a machine.’” —Alternative Press “I’m a bit confused when I hear [Maladroit]. … I like some of the material on it, but the sound of it doesn’t do much for me.” —Brian Bell, to Alternative Press “[Working with a producer for the first time] is one of the big differences in the quality of this album compared to the album before, on which we didn’t do much pre-production.” —Guitar.com The album: Weezer (The Red Album) (2008) The previous missteps: Falling into a rut, and also kind of hating each other. The correction: Giving the band’s non-Cuomo members more of a voice. “There was one overarching value that remained pretty consistent from the beginning [through] the end of this pretty long album-making process and that [was] the challenge to for each of us to recommit again and again to what makes us excited about music, to try to stick to that and not sell out, give in, or say ‘Let’s just do it Rivers’ way,’ or … ‘Let’s do what our fans want.’” —American Songwriter “We just went ’We’ve gotta make some changes; we have to be a little fresh in our approach, because you can’t do this for 15 years without falling into … the same patterns over and over.” —Patrick Wilson, to American Songwriter “[The bad vibes of Make Believe] seem so irrelevant now, like a different lifetime.” —Scott Shriner, who in 2005 called Weezer “a fucked-up band,” to Spin The album: Raditude (2009) The previous missteps: None! Everything is happy! The course correction: In advance of what is almost universally regarded as the band’s worst album, Cuomo warned listeners to expect something they’d never heard before, which, in this case, meant collaborations with Lil Wayne and Dr. Luke. “If [fans] want to hear a literal dictation of what an artist’s life is like in their songs, then they’re not going to like some of the lyrics on the record. But songs that are complete fantasies and have nothing to do with the literal facts of an artist’s life can be really fun, too.” —Pitchfork The album: Hurley (2010) The previous missteps: Losing themselves in empty escapism. The course correction: Getting their rock sound back, again. (This was also around the time the band did a Pinkerton nostalgia tour and had to take back the mean things they said about it.) “People [who didn’t like The Red Album and Raditude] will be very pleased with Hurley.” —Mother Jones “There’s definitely going to be more raw rock energy on this one again.” —Connecticut Post “I did have a conversation with Rivers about [Raditude]. And he said, to put my mind at ease, that this is just one album out of many more that we are going to make in our career.” —Bell, to The Waster [The Red Album] was a 100% democratic experiment, but on a creative level we’re definitely not a democracy now.” —GuitarCenter.com “Right around 2001, when we put out The Green Album, I said a lot of negative, inflammatory things about Pinkerton … But ever since I’ve been trying to make it clear that, of course, I think it’s a brilliant album. I love it.” —Exclaim The album: Everything Will Be Alright in the End (2014) The previous missteps: General shittiness. The course correction: Returning to the sound of The Blue Album and Pinkerton, with the help of producer Ric Ocasek. They’ve come full circle! “I thought I’d find a new audience, I forgot that disco sucks.” —lead single “Back to the Shack” “[Raditude] was . . . an adjustment. I might have been upset.” —Shriner, to Rolling Stone “[Hurley] was such a weird record. We weren’t exactly swinging for the fence.” —Wilson, to Rolling Stone “This record sounds like it’s going to have the tight structure of Blue Album with a little bit more abandon like Pinkerton.” —Wilson, to Entertainment Weekly “You can’t really take for granted this amazing connection that happens between us and an audience … You can’t really take that lightly and just say [as on Ratitude], ‘Well, maybe let’s do a hip-hop album next time.’” —Guitar World

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder did not stay to see his team lose against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and did something that many would consider very disrespectful. Bertrand Berry, a former Cardinals player and current member of the Arizona's postgame broadcast team with Alexan Balekian, reported Snyder left the game early in the fourth quarter (Balekian tweeted Berry's report), before leaving, emphatically spat on the ground inside the stadium as a visible act of disgust. Berry was headed down early in the fourth quarter to begin work on the postgame show. He happened to be on the same elevator as Snyder and former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams. The Washington owner was leaving the stadium, as he was unhappy with the ruling on the field that led to an Andre Roberts fumble not being overturned when it appeared he might have gotten his knee down before the ball came out. Snyder was complaining about the call as the elevator went down and then, when he got off the elevator, which is a few feet from the stadium exit, he spat on the floor in disgust. Berry said it was done "in a demonstrative way" as a means of disrespect, a way "to leave his mark" on the stadium on his way out. At the time, Arizona only had a 20-13 lead on the Redskins. Berry called out the behavior, saying the attitude of the owner shows in the attitude of the team. He called Snyder's behavior "one of the most disrespectful things you can do." "How can you expect your players to go out there and fight to the end of the game" if the owner don't stay until the end, Berry asked on the air. There is a conflicting report by Rob Carlin of Comcast Sports Net. He tweeted stating Snyder was in fact in the stadium after the game in the locker room. This doesn't necessarily discredit Berry's report. There is no reason to believe Berry wasn't in the elevator with Snyder and Snyder might have stepped out for a few minutes before going down to the locker room. As for the spitting, Carlin doubts it, but there is no reason why Berry would fabricate the story. It is just another embarrassment for an owner who is struggling with public support.

A man holds an envelope of marijuana that he purchased at a pharmacy in Montevideo in this file photo from July 19 ADVERTISING Read more Montevideo (AFP) Uruguay's unique new marijuana industry has run into a hurdle as international anti-money laundering rules are forcing banks to close the accounts of pharmacies legally selling the drug. Uruguayan pharmacies started selling marijuana last month under a 2013 law that made the South American country the first in the world to legalize pot all the way from production to sale. But lenders such as Uruguayan state bank Banco Republica (BROU) now say they must abandon such businesses. Not doing so would "cause BROU and its clients to be financially isolated," its president Jorge Polgar was quoted as saying by El Observador newspaper. That would "prevent it from carrying out any kind of operation with an international counterpart," he warned. Another major bank, Santander of Spain, said it too would close any accounts held with it by Uruguayan pharmacies selling the drug. "As a global bank with clients in various countries, we have to observe the various norms in force in those places," a Santander source told AFP. - Blow to government - Some pharmacies have warned they will have to stop selling marijuana because of the banking restrictions. "The truth is we did not know... that this could happen," Economy Minister Danilo Astori was quoted as saying by La Republica newspaper. "A way will have to be found and we are looking for one." The marijuana law was launched by Uruguay's last president Jose Mujica. He urged his successor and ally Tabare Vazquez to find a solution. "If this gets blocked, then the whole parliament will be blocked," warned Mujica, now a senator, whose Broad Front party has a majority in the legislature. Despite widespread public opposition, Mujica pushed through the law, saying it would stem violence and crime by undermining the illegal drugs trade. "This is a blow to the government and to the Broad Front," said Adolfo Garce, a political scientist at Uruguay's University of the Republic. "Having made so much progress, having planted and harvested the marijuana and delivered it to the pharmacies... not being able to sell it due to an unforeseen problem is a very hard blow." Another of the architects of the law, Julio Calzada, said Uruguay will now have to talk with US banks to seek a way around the restrictions. "There are alternatives," he said, "but not in Uruguay." - Half population opposed - A survey published this month indicated that half of Uruguayans were opposed to selling marijuana in pharmacies. More than 10,000 users have signed up with the authorities to buy the drug legally, according to the Cannabis Control and Regulation Institute. In all, 16 pharmacies have been authorized to sell marijuana under state controls, barely enough to cover a country of 3.5 million people. No major pharmacy chain has agreed to sell the drug. Many pharmacies have been unwilling to participate in the scheme because of concerns about security and doubts that the small market of registered users is worth the trouble. - US laws - Cannabis producers have experienced similar difficulties in the United States, where several states have legalized marijuana for medicinal or recreation use. US federal anti-drug laws forbid banks from letting them hold accounts, obliging the producers to operate in cash. Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's estimates that only 300 of 12,000 financial institutions in the United States do business with producers of the drug. © 2017 AFP

Each Monday, Chris Livingston visits an early access game and reports back with stories about whatever he finds inside. This week, space station simulation in Spacebase DF-9. It’s been a rough week for my little space station. We were boarded by a squad of Kill Bots who, as you might expect, tried to kill all non-bots. A massive fire in the life support chamber nearly knocked out the oxygen supply. Now, an alien parasite has appeared, and even though my security chief easily killed it, I’m left to wonder how the bug even got aboard. Perhaps it burrowed in through that hole in the hull? The one my security chief was just sucked out of to his death? That’s probably how. In Spacebase DF-9, the early-access space station simulation from Double Fine Productions, your first task is to select which portion of the galaxy you’d like your spacemen to die horribly in. A spot near a Warpgate sounds ideal, because you’ll have more visitors, but visitors are often hostile. A spot with a lot of asteroids means you can do a lot of mining, but also means frequent meteor strikes. There are benefits to living in an area with a high frequency of derelict spaceships, but there is also a downside, as anyone who has seen a few sci-fi movies can tell you. After a few hundred thousand years of travel, my pod arrives in my chosen sector and my three astronauts set to work building their new home. I’m not much of a designer, so I just build a giant room and throw some oxygen machines in the corner, figuring I’ll just line the walls with whatever else I need. I soon learn, however, that each room needs to be dedicated to a single purpose: beds can only go in residence rooms, oxygen recyclers can only go in life support rooms, and so forth. Even worse, my room is so large I’ve used almost all the materials on hand to build it. Right off the bat, my little astronauts have exhausted their supplies. I quickly realize I’ve created a major problem for myself. I’ve been mining a nearby asteroid for building materials, but I need a refiner to convert the asteroid hunks into matter to build with. I don’t have enough matter to build the refiner itself, which means I’ll need to cannibalize something I’ve already built and use the resulting material for the refiner. However, the only thing I have on hand to deconstruct, apart from the walls and the floors, are my two oxygen recyclers. And so, a desperate plan is hatched: destroy my oxygen recyclers, use the material from those to build my refinery, then convert my space-rocks into matter and rebuild my oxygen recyclers… before my workers completely run out of air. With the clock ticking, I put the plan in motion. And it works! Okay, it almost works. I get the refiner constructed, convert some asteroids, cordon off a tiny new room, and get the oxygen machines rebuilt. Unfortunately, before my workers can take a deep lungful of recirculated air, they all asphyxiate. Luckily, a passing spaceship discharges a handful of passengers to take up residence in my horrible spacebase of death. Welcome! The new arrivals don’t seem too concerned as they enter the station, remove their space suits, and stroll right by the blue-faced corpses of my crew floating in the airlock. I guess when you’ve been in space for a while, you get pretty used to opening airlocks and finding bobbing corpses wearing expressions of agony and horror. Soon I’ve got six citizens, and my base begins expanding. And exploding. Small asteroids smash into my base, setting my refinery on fire, as my astronauts attempt to stamp out the flames (while others, less concerned, continue their calisthenics). I instruct my builder to install a fire extinguisher, and we all wait while he first slowly welds it onto the wall, then quickly yanks it off the wall and uses it. Soon, I’ve got a couple more things built. A bedroom with one bed for everyone to share. A small room for scientific research, in hopes that I’ll someday have enough residents that I can assign one to science duty. A food replicator, so my residents can eat (I’m thoughtful like that). Then we receive a notification: a derelict ship has appeared nearby. A dark shape is suddenly sitting there, quiet and mysterious, in the space next to us. I dispatch my security team to investigate, right after I create a security team, which I do by telling one guy to stop mining asteroids and start being a one-man security team. Naturally, the moment my brand new security officer enters the airlock, a hostile alien raider opens fire and kills him. I quickly assign a new security chief and she heads over, where she lives up to the memory of my original chief by also dying instantly from lasers. I think the derelict is going to have to wait. My crew, now down to just five, are all miserable, and I wonder if it’s because there’s only one bed on board so only one of them can sleep at a time. I instruct my builder to construct a room with enough beds for everyone. Rather than building the entire row of beds, he builds one and then promptly goes to sleep in it. Desperate to restock my ship with fresh, less miserable crewmembers, I invite the occupants of a passing ship to board. They turn out to be raiders, and moments later they’re stalking through my base, gunning down my defenseless crew. Soon, the only one left alive is my builder, who is still sleeping on the one bed he built, while a row of unbuilt ghost beds stretch out beside him. They represent his to-do list, which I now strongly suspect will never get done. He’s dead moments later, his corpse landing neatly on the same single bed he’d built. My entire crew is dead, but two more are already on their way from a passing ship, and the fresh arrivals manage to fight their way aboard, kill the raiders, and begin the huge task of repairing the damaged base. They’re dead minutes later after another meteor strike takes out life support. After that, no more ships pass by. No one hails my base. Nothing else happens in my little neck of the universe. My base becomes just another derelict, empty, darkened, filled only with ghosts. Ghosts and their beds. As the saying goes, if at first you kill all your astronauts with fire, lasers, and asphyxiation, try try again! This time, I build smarter and more conservatively, I only investigate derelict ships with an actual security team, and everything goes much more smoothly until a massive freighter shows up and forcefully docks with me. Long story short, I am once again left staring at a lovingly constructed base filled with dead bodies and no new visitors on the horizon. So… third time’s the charm? Seems that way. Clearly my biggest challenge has been avoiding mass space-murder, so I put a lot of effort into a strong security detail, and put all my scientific research into weapons and armor. Another hostile ship docked with me: I killed the crew and just added their ship to my architecture. And, as of right now, my current base has over fifty occupants and enough oxygen to support almost twice that many. It has two restaurants, a massive garden, a back-up life support system, and a research wing. And plenty of beds.

By Christine Duhaime | January 2nd, 2017 The questions and answers I’ve been asked the most in 2016 about China: Q: How much money has been removed from China in proceeds of corruption? A: According to the Bank of China, way over US$120 Billion or CAD$160 Billion between the years 1995-2008. China appears to have quit sharing data officially after 2011 because it said at that time that the outflows of proceeds of corruption was severe enough to threaten its economy and its political stability. However, a Chinese Commission later said this: The amount more than doubled in 2010 to US$412 Billion (CAD$553 Billion); In 2011, it was at US$600 Billion (CAD$806 Billion); In 2012, it was at US$1 Trillion (CAD$1.3 Trillion); and By 2013, it was at US$1.5 Trillion (CAD$2 Trillion). China also has something called “grey” income, which means income earned (or acquired off the books – basically handed to someone in the proverbial suitcases) in China that is not reported on income tax reports, and that is held by its richest families. By 2012, the grey income was CAD$1.3 Trillion according to the China Society of Economic Reform. Some of the grey income inevitably ends up in other countries. Money Laundering So, over $2,000,000,000,000 is missing from China and because China says it’s proceeds of corruption, it’s a $2,000,000,000,000 money laundering problem. Bigger than the economies of most countries If you want a sense of how come China said in 2011 that the illegal removal of $2 Trillion from corruption payments threatens its economy, note that, according to Wikipedia, there are only a few countries in the world that have an economy of $2 Trillion or more and they are: US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, China, Italy, Brazil and Russia. Another way of looking at it is that the proceeds of corruption that flew out of China and landed in the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands is more than the entire economies of each of over 100 countries including the economy of Spain, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Turkey or Switzerland. Q: How many Chinese foreign nationals are involved in moving proceeds of corruption out of China? A: According to the Bank of China, about 16,000 to 18,000 officials with ties to the public sector were involved in moving proceeds of corruption illegally from China to other countries. Q: What are the 4 top countries where Chinese foreign nationals move proceeds of corruption? A: According to the Bank of China, US, Canada, Australia and Netherlands. Those four countries accounted for CAD$160 Billion in proceeds of corruption being moved out of China as of 2011, the last date that China was willing to publicly talk about the issue with specificity. There is no reason to believe that the new figure of $2,000,000,000,000 in capital flight from China has shifted to other than those 4 top destinations in any material way. Q: In Canada, where does the money end up and why? A: Vancouver is the preferred destination, by far, because of perceived more relaxed anti-money laundering on-boarding compliance and more importantly, easier access to better schools and lifestyle for children of Chinese foreign nationals. Q: How is the money moved? A: According to the Bank of China, foreign nationals from China create fake business transactions with private companies that acquire bank accounts and the funds are transferred as ostensible business investments to the US, Canada, Australia, and Netherlands and they also buy real estate. Q: Is there anything wrong with taking proceeds of corruption from China in Canada? A: In law, yes. Public officials who are paid significant proceeds of corruption are almost 100% of the time, politically exposed persons from China who use private banking services. Our PEP laws require that banks, when on-boarding them, apply enhanced due diligence procedures to: Determine the identity of all nominal and beneficial owners with access to the banking account (hard and expensive to do properly); Subject them to e nhanced scrutiny to detect financial transactions that may involve the proceeds of foreign corruption; to detect financial transactions that may involve the proceeds of foreign corruption; Determine the source of funds being deposited into the banking account and the purpose and use of such account; being deposited into the banking account the purpose and use of such account; Review the activity of the account to guard against money laundering; and Report suspicious activity that may involve proceeds of foreign corruption. Whether we are dealing with PEPs or not, banks in Canada must close an account where proceeds of corruption from China are parked in the bank account because, firstly, it is an offence to import the proceeds of corruption into Canada from China (and a predicate offfence to money laundering, which makes the proceeds a reportable money laundering offence) and secondly, it is also an offence to transfer, send, deliver, dispose or deal with proceeds of corruption from China with intent to convert it believing it, or part of it, was proceeds of corruption. It is the Criminal Code of Canada, in conjunction with the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, that govern in respect of reporting and closing the bank account. A: And in ethics, yes. Exporting proceeds of corruption bankrupts countries and deprives the people who live there of wealth. The most unfortunate example of how PEP laws are ignored when it comes to proceeds of corruption is Viktor Yanukovych, the former President of the Ukraine, who went from earning $2,000 per month to allegedly earning $200 million per month in five years, and is alleged to have parked over $12 billion in private bank accounts in the EU. That was more money than Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was making and he’s the richest person in the world. Not one financial institution managing Mr. Yanukovych’s private bank accounts thought it was odd that he was earning more than Bill Gates running an impoverished country or took steps to confirm that his incredible newly earned wealth was not proceeds of corruption. They didn’t apply enhanced scrutiny – they applied no scrutiny. Our thoughts here on why an extradition treaty with China will help Canada return the treasury of China back to its people.

In the last week or two I have seen many references in the media, which show a dramatic shift in positive trends regarding Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). Today I saw that Hellman's Mayonnaise is the latest brand going non-GMO, and that Chipotle is the first national food chain that is going non-GMO. One of the largest baby formula makers, Similac, recently said that they would start offering a non-gmo version of their formula. Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are removing all artificial ingredients from their products, with the CEO of Pizza Hut saying that he is making the changes in response to customer demands. Big business invests a great deal in making their desires known to our government. In order to create change we as citizens must use whatever means available to inform our representatives in government of our own desires for health and wellness. Governments Are Starting to Get on Board Vermont is the first state to require the labeling of genetically-modified food. Even though the majority of Vermonters want the labeling, big business is now taking the issue to court. If Vermont wins the case then many states will follow suit. Maine and Connecticut also have the same law, but will only implement them if Vermont wins the case. Ben and Jerry's have also gone non-GMO and the founders of the company are campaigning in Washington, D.C. to encourage our government to support the cause of labeling GMO foods. Neil Young just wrote a song called "Rock Starbucks." A line on the song is "Yeah, I want a cup of coffee, but I don't want a GMO." He is on a campaign to boycott Starbucks until they cut their ties with Monsanto and to go GMO-free. Many Countries and Regions Ban GMOs and Glyphosate More and more countries are going either GMO free or glyphosate (a herbicide that has been recently reported to have cancer causing toxins) free. Shri Lanka and the Netherlands are the latest two countries to ban glyphosate along with Mexico, Russia, South Africa, France, Chile, and Brazil. There is a growing list of countries that are banning the sale of GMOs altogether. Almost every day I get a new Facebook post stating that another region in some country around the world is banning GMOs, which shows public outcry is growing against GMO crops. As I am writing this article I just saw two posts on my Facebook feed. One stating that a judge upheld Jackson County Oregon's ban on growing GMO crops; and another saying Hungary just announced that they are the first EU country to ban GMOs. The Deputy state secretary said that he is convinced that it is the only way to ensure that families have access to safe foods. These changes are a direct result of citizens demanding healthier food. Hopefully, the results will snowball and gather rapid momentum so everyone on the planet can enjoy healthier food. We are however, racing against time. It is urgent to stop the spread of GMOs, as well as all the pesticides that are poisoning the earth. We the people have the power, and must be bold in maximizing that power. We have to reclaim our democracy, but in order to do so we have to vote with our pocket book. People we are on a roll. Let's win this race now!

Attend the leading Bitcoin & Blockchain event series in Canada and meet like-minded people in one of the most exciting industries in the world. The next event will be held at the MaRS auditorium on February 6th and is titled: 'Power of Decentralization'. Be sure to RSVP well in advance as we're expecting to sell out. We've got yet another amazing line up of speakers! ------- AGENDA: 6:00pm (15 minutes): Networking 6:15pm (5 minutes): Brief Intro: Bitcoin & Blockchain SUNNY RAY (http://www.sunny-ray.com), Unocoin (http://unocoin.com) Co-founder & President 6:20pm (10 minutes): Cryptiv (https://cryptiv.com/): Enterprise Blockchain Wallet Systems MAT CYBULA (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matcybula), Cryptiv CEO & Co-founder Mat's talk will be about the various blockchains being used today and how companies must approach security in a world of blockchain. 6:30pm (10 minutes): Ernst & Young (http://www.ey.com): Implications for Bitcoin & Blockchain RAHUL RAINA, HBSc MBA MSc | Senior Consultant | IT Advisory | Financial Services Office | Performance Improvement | EY LLP Rahul is a Senior Consultant focussed on disruptive technologies, including Big Data, and Blockchain at EY Canada. In his previous role, he served as the R&D Advisor for Rubix by Deloitte. He has also previously worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, IBM Canada, and Bell Canada. Rahul holds HBSc in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, MBA from the Schulich School of Business, and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Oxford. He is one of the few Canadians to pursue academic research at a graduate level on Cryptocurrencies from both business and technical perspectives at Schulich School of Business, and the University of Oxford, respectively. Ultimately, the key question that Rahul is trying to answer for the past 5 years is the following: how do we increase the adoption of cryptocurrencies? 6:40pm (10 minutes): BlockGeeks (http://blockgeeks.com/): Share & Grow Knowledge Around Blockchain Technology AMEER ROSIC (http://www.ameerrosic.com/), Co-founder, Blockgeeks. A vast amount of knowledge that could be valuable to many people is currently only available to a few — either locked in people’s heads, or only accessible to select groups. 6:50pm (10 minutes): RUBIX (http://rubixbydeloitte.com/): Blockchain Implementations - Method in the Madness ILIANA ORIS VALIENTE (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilianaorisvaliente), CPA, CA, CBP | Co-Founder, Rubix by Deloitte | Blockchain Strategist 7:00pm (30 minutes): Power of Decentralization TOUFI SALIBA (https://www.linkedin.com/in/touficsaliba), Co-authored fully-decentralized Blockchain protocol, cofounded ToDa Foundation, 6 blockchain companies, had 3 exits in the past, expecting 2 in near future. Loves algorithm, Cryptography, Decentralized Computing, Machine Learning, Game Theory and AI in general. 7:30pm (30 minutes): Bitcoin’s price fluctuations: Bubbles & Facts TONE VAYS (https://twitter.com/Tone_LLT?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), Consultant/Researcher/Trader http://LibertyLifeTrail.com Tone has been working on Wall Street for almost 10 years starting as a Risk Analyst at Bear Stearns and later becoming a VP at JP Morgan Chase in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. His expertise is in Economic Trends, Trading and Risk Analysis. Ever since getting involved in the Crypto Currency ecosystem in early 2013, he has been very active in spreading the relevance and importance of this technology as it helps promote economic freedom. He was formerly Head of Research at BraveNewCoin (http://bravenewcoin.com/authors/tone-vays/) after previously writing about trading and economics at CoinTelegraph (https://cointelegraph.com/authors/tone_vays). Tone maintains a personal website LibertyLifeTrail where you can find his latest research on Bitcoin, Blockchain, sound economics and privacy. Tone holds a Masters Degree in Financial Engineering from Florida State University along with Bachelor Degrees in Mathematics and Geology. 8:00pm (30 minutes): Bitcoin Core Developer: Decentralized Consensus PETER TODD (https://twitter.com/petertoddbtc), Applied Cryptography Consultant (what the cool kids call 'blockchain tech') Learn about how he first got into bitcoin, if he thinks bitcoin is becoming too centralized, his thoughts on scalability and more. 8:30pm (30 minutes): Networking ------- Bitcoin, the first application of blockchain technology, is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money. It uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls it and everyone can take part. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system. Speaking & Sponsorship Opportunities: If you're interested in learning more about sponsoring our events, please check out our sponsorship presentation (https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ls5KiH_T6dWemUNU0dwmrhHvHKatAiVllhQiym_isJI/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=3000) and information package (http://sunny-ray.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FinTechCanadaBlockchainTechEventsNovember20-3.pdf). If you're interested in speaking or sponsoring one of our blockchain events, please email [masked]. - Team FinTech Canada

Republicans and Democrats don’t entirely see eye-to-eye on threats posed by Islamic militants, Iran’s nuclear program, and other dangers. But those differences pale compared with Americans’ massive partisan divide over how they view the threat from climate change, new polling shows. Sixty-eight percent of Democrats see climate change as a “major threat” to the U.S., compared with just 25 percent of Republicans, according to Pew Research Center data released Thursday. That 43-point spread is the largest division in views over any threat that Pew asked about in the poll, which was conducted earlier this month. The data also show that Democrats consider the threat of climate change to be on par with that of the radical group ISIS. Sixty-five percent of Democrats see the group as a major threat to the U.S., compared with 78 percent of Republicans. Similarly, 67 percent of Democrats see Islamic extremist groups like al-Qaida as a major threat, compared with 80 percent of Republicans. According to the Pew poll: “As in prior surveys on international threats, most Republicans say that global climate change is either a minor threat (32%) or not a threat (40%) to the U.S. Among Republicans and GOP leaners, most (62%) who agree with the Tea Party say that global climate change is ‘not a threat.’ Non-Tea Party Republicans are divided: 39% think global climate change is a minor threat, 33% say it is a major threat, and 25% say it is not a threat.” The margin of error for party-specific answers in the poll, which was given to 1,501 American adults, is plus or minus 5.2 percentage points for Democrats, 5.8 points for Republicans, and 7.4 points for the smaller tea-party sample.

The speculative Chinese commodity bubble has begun to reach the mainstream as Citi's warning to "hold on to your hats" today at the surge in trading volumes across Rebar, Iron Ore, Coke, and Copper literally exploded with the former now the most actively trade commodity in the world. The frenzy has become so insane that the head of the largest metals exchange in the world exclaimed at a conference in Singapore today that "I don't think most people who trade it know what it is." We suspect he is 100% correct and judging by the following chart, we know exactly how it will end. As Bloomberg reports, the head of the world’s largest metals exchange said while volumes in China’s commodity futures markets have become phenomenal, it’s possible some traders don’t even know what it is they are buying or selling. “Why should steel rebar be one of the world’s most actively-traded futures contracts?” Garry Jones, chief executive officer of the London Metal Exchange, said at a conference in Singapore on Wednesday. “I don’t think most people who trade it know what it is.” Trading of commodity futures in China from steel reinforcement bars -- a benchmark product used in construction -- to iron ore, coking coal and cotton has ballooned this month on an unprecedented surge in retail investor interest. The jump in volumes has stunned global markets, according to Morgan Stanley, while eliciting concern from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Exchanges in Asia’s top economy including in Shanghai have announced a series of measures this month to cool the frenzy, and said more steps may follow. “If you look at the client base of most Chinese exchanges, it’s heavily retail-focused,” Jones said on a panel discussion addressing commodities and risk management in China. The exchanges there “have very high retail participation. They have a very high velocity of trading,” he said. Now where have we seen this pattern of massive speculative volume rushing in from retail investors chasing a trend? The speculative activities will be vulnerable to a sharp reversal, once the upward price momentum wanes, according to BMI Research, a unit of Fitch Group, drawing parallels with a rally, followed by a slump, in Chinese equities last year. And that did not end well for price action before in 2015... or 2009... And just as expected above...once the volume reaches a crescendo it crashes and The Party's Over As reports from China suggest both major margin increases at the main exchanges and crackdowns on real production: Tangshan city is banning all coke, steel & cement productions for 24 hours starting this noon.

When Ellen DeGeneres recently had Christina Aguilera on as a guest, she decided to ask the singer about one of the most disturbing pictures of her that has ever been taken. This one: “There’s a picture of you — was it you staring at Hillary or you staring at Hillary?” DeGeneres asked… “She was staring at my bosoms,” Aguilera replied. The audience lost it over the image. (NOTE: You’ll probably want to skip ahead to the 2:00 mark.) “It’s amazing, it’s awesome!” Aguilera added. “She supports the girls.” Aguilera then goes on to talk about how she just had a fundraiser for Hillary at her personal home in Beverly Hills. Ew. Just all kinds of ew. And the elite want that woman to be our next president. Related Reads BOMBSHELL REPORT: CROOKED HILLARY TOOK $100 MILLION FROM MIDDLE EAST REGIMES: “MASSIVE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST” THE FOUR LAWS THAT HILLARY CLINTON BROKE (BUT SHE WILL PROBABLY NEVER BE CHARGED FOR) WHAT THE FRONT PAGE OF THE PAPER WILL LOOK LIKE IF HILLARY BECOMES PRESIDENT WHY DOES HILLARY CLINTON ALWAYS CACKLE WITH GLEE AT VIOLENCE, HORROR, AND DEATH? HILARIOUS SUPERCUT OF HILLARY “REINTRODUCING HERSELF” PROVES HOW MUCH LIBERAL MEDIA LOVES HER HILLARY’S OFFICIAL INTERNET TROLL TEAM HAS SPENT MILLIONS TO “CORRECT” PEOPLE WHO “ATTACK” HER ONLINE “SHE’S A F*CKING LIAR”: CAITLYN JENNER DESTROYS HILLARY CLINTON ON TV, CAUSES HEADS TO EXPLODE IF HILLARY ISN’T INDICTED, THE RULE OF LAW AND THE REPUBLIC ARE DEAD WATCH HILLARY CACKLE WITH GLEE AFTER “UNDER GOD” IS REMOVED FROM THE PLEDGE AT HER RALLY Delivered by The Daily Sheeple We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos (Click for details). Contributed by Piper McGowin of The Daily Sheeple. Piper writes for The Daily Sheeple. There’s a lot of B.S. out there. Someone has to write about it.

If epistemic individualism is an adaptation for collective deliberation, there must be some mechanism whereby the products of collective deliberation come to be accepted. Under many conditions at least, epistemic diversity must be ‘transient’ (Zollman 2010), and that, in turn, requires that we are apt to defer to others. Deference is in fact ubiquitous.10 Global warming ‘skeptics’ do not come to their beliefs unaided. Instead, they defer to others (Kahan 2015; Keller 2015). Conversely, liberals exhibit much higher levels of trust in science (Lewandowsky and Oberauer 2016). As a consequence, conservatives and liberals are disposed toward biased assimilation of evidence supporting and opposing their views (Corner et al. 2012). In part, biased assimilation is caused by asymmetrical deference: accepting views from some sources and not others. Asymmetrical deference may be partially explained by reference to message content (Keller 2015). Because responding to AGW very likely requires limitations on free markets, it is highly unpalatable to strong supporters of markets. While ‘solution aversion’ (Campbell and Kay 2014) may explain some of the observed variance, conservative distrust of environmentalism (and support for unfettered markets) appears to arise from, rather than cause, the partisan split. Conservationism has historically been a strong current within conservative thought, and up until recently there was no partisan divide on the environment, either within congress or on the part of the general public (McCright et al. 2014). While message content certainly influences the disposition to defer (Harris 2012), sensitivity to properties of the testifier sometimes trumps content. Israelis and Palestinians evaluated a peace proposal significantly more or less favorably depending upon whether it was presented as coming from Palestinian negotiators or Israelis (Maoz et al. 2002). Similarly, conservative and liberal attitudes to proposals for welfare policies were much more strongly influenced by whether the proposals were said to be supported by Democrats or Republicans than by the content of the proposals (Cohen 2003). In fact, sensitivity to properties of testifiers is able to trump content even when the content of the testimony is disagreeable to hearers. Corrections of false claims are effective when they come from sources that share the ideology of the hearer (Nyhan and Reifler 2013) and also when they come from sources that can be expected to find the claim they affirm contrary to their own ideological interests (Berinsky 2017). Thus, corrections of false claims about Obamacare, for instance, are effective for both conservatives and liberals when they come from conservatives; the former because they share the ideology of the source, and the latter because they know that the source is likely to find the claim unpalatable. These data are powerful evidence that content-based explanations are insufficient on their own to explain deference. This sensitivity to testimony source emerges early in childhood (Clément 2010; Sperber et al. 2010). From a very young age, children show a preference for informants who show signs of being benevolent and competent; scrutiny of informers intensifies around the age of four (Mascaro and Sperber 2009). I suggest that this filter plays a significant role in explaining the different patterns of deference exhibited by conservatives and liberals. The disposition to defer to others with whom we share a political or religious outlook is continuous with the disposition to use benevolence as a cue to reliability; we are disposed to see those with whom we share a political outlook and/or a religious affiliation as those who are benevolent toward us and our interests (or, perhaps, the disposition to use benevolence as a cue to reliability is just a special case of a disposition to defer to those with whom we share values). The use of political and religious affiliation as a proxy for benevolence is adaptive, inasmuch as sharing our values is being disposed to promote the things we value and to oppose the things we disvalue. The use of competence as a proxy for reliability protects us against fools; the use of benevolence as a proxy protects us against exploitation (see Hahn et al. 2016 for a model of how update on testimony is normatively rational as a function of perceived reliability and benevolence of sources). Both sides utilitze these proxies to filter testimony. Thus, conservative Americans come to their anti-consensus views on these topics in precisely the same way in which their liberal counterparts come to their views: by deferring to those they rightly take to be more knowledgeable than, as well as benevolent toward, them. But because the topic has come to be politicized, this disposition to defer ensures that they do not defer to (or their chains of deference will not bottom out in) groups of scientists who espouse a view contrary to theirs. Since opposition to AGW has come to function as a marker of group allegiance, affirming the ‘wrong’ view constitutes a signal of a lack of benevolence and thereby of reliability. That is, since the left has come to be identified strongly with a particular view on AGW, affirming that view is signalling support of a political set of values and thereby a lack of benevolence to conservatives. Whereas for liberals chains of deference trace back to the relevant scientific experts, and therefore to properly constituted collective deliberation, conservatives’ chains of deference end in ‘merchants of doubt’ (Oreskes and Conway 2010), or maverick scientists. Conservatives do not defer to scientists, or to their think-tank intermediaries or more local representatives, because while these sources exhibit cues of competence they fail to pass tests for benevolence. Liberals are epistemically luckier: they are disposed to defer to the most competent individuals and institutions, because these individuals and institutions pass tests for benevolence as well as for competence. Liberals defer to sufficiently large groups of sufficiently expert deliberators to ensure that their beliefs have a high degree of warrant; conservatives defer to a much smaller group of genuine experts and their chains of deference trace back as much or more to non-experts.11 These facts (which are outside the purview of the individuals at the end of each chain) entail that one set of beliefs is very much better warranted than the other. Biased assimilation may thus be individually rational, whether it leads toward better or worse warranted beliefs.12 It should be emphasised that there is nothing about the mechanism that undermines the warrant of conservatives’ beliefs about climate change or evolution that entails liberal invulnerability to it. Liberal trust in science is currently very much higher than that of conservatives, reflecting a loss of trust in science by conservatives since the 1970s (Gauchat 2012). Parallel historical processes could undermine liberal trust in science. Such an erosion would leave liberals vulnerable to individually rational but unreliable epistemic deference.13 At the present time, however, dissent from the scientific consensus seems more often to be seen from those who strongly endorse free market ideology (there are, however, two important issues on which dissent is bipartisan: GMOs and vaccination; Lewandowsky et al. 2013b). Interestingly, the negative correlation between endorsement of free market ideology and rejection of climate change is significantly stronger than the negative correlation between the first and rejection of other well-established facts, such as the fact that smoking causes lung cancer and that HIV causes AIDS (Lewandowsky et al. 2013a). That suggests that content-based mechanisms play an independent role in epistemic deference. Whether the conservative suspicion toward science generalizes to other domains of expertise is currently unknown. It is a further, interesting, question how issues come to be politicised such that espousing the warranted view constitutes a signal of unreliability. One live possibility is that the merchants of doubt, driven by specific commercial interests, undertook a successful strategy of politicising climate science such that it would come to serve as a marker of political affiliation and thereby a cue for benevolence or its lack. A deliberate campaign aimed at identifying AGW with the political and social left may have brought about a situation in which espousing an attitude on the topic constitutes evincing a strong signal of political affiliation and thereby of possessing or lacking reliability. This hypothesis is empirically tractable, though to my knowledge the detailed historical work required to support it remains to be done.

Donald Trump could transform his tens of millions of political followers into a ready-made audience for a new anti-establishment television network called Trump TV if he loses the presidential election. According to reports his son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner, who owns the New York Observer, made an initial informal approach to financiers. As Mr Trump trailed Hillary Clinton by up to 11 percentage points in polls the question of what he would do if he loses has only been addressed briefly by the billionaire himself. Mr Trump recently said he would like to "take a long vacation". But analysts have suggested his next venture could potentially be one of his most influential and lucrative. A Trump TV network would allow him to maintain a major public profile, push his political agenda, and continue to attack the political and media establishment.

At least 730 young children among people shot, burned or beaten to death in Rakhine state between August and September More than 6,700 Rohingya Muslims, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the first month of a crackdown that started in August in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, according to Médecins Sans Frontières. The figures released on Thursday by the humanitarian agency are believed to be a conservative estimate and far exceed Myanmar’s official death toll of 400. “The numbers of deaths are likely to be an underestimation, as we have not surveyed all refugee settlements in Bangladesh and because the surveys don’t account for the families who never made it out of Myanmar,” said Dr Sidney Wong, MSF’s medical director. The majority of the people killed (69%) were shot, while others were burned and beaten to death. “We heard reports of entire families who perished after they were locked inside their homes, while they were set alight,” said Wong. Q&A Who are the Rohingya? Show Hide The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless. Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state. Rights groups accuse Burmese authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP More than 640,000 Rohingya people have fled Rakhine since August. Soldiers, police and local militias burned hundreds of Rohingya villages to the ground, and they are also accused of gang-raping women and children, as well as slaughtering civilians indiscriminately. Western countries have condemned the violence as ethnic cleansing, an allegation Myanmar strongly denies. Officials in the country have laid the blame on “extremist terrorists” belonging to a new Rohingya militant group. A Myanmar government spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. Massacre at Tula Toli: Rohingya recall horror of Myanmar army attack Read more Some of the worst violence is believed to have occurred in Tula Toli, in a village in Maungdaw township, where survivors say residents were rounded up on riverbanks and shot as they tried to flee. The Guardian has seen videos taken by villagers showing the corpses of children washed up on shores. Survivors believe thousands may have died in that village alone. The high death toll tallies with reports from numerous journalists and human rights groups. “The latest report adds to a long list of harrowing accounts that Human Rights Watch has collected from Rohingya refugees who fled the campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in northern Rakhine state,” said Rich Weir, Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The numbers should shock the conscience of the international community and stir them to action. Those responsible must be held to account and sanctions must be imposed on those who are behind these atrocities,” he said. Aung San Suu Kyi has Freedom of Dublin award revoked Read more Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to send Rohingya people back to Rakhine, in a deal that has been criticised by human rights groups as premature and lacking safeguards for the persecuted minority. “Currently, people are still fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh and those who do manage to cross the border still report being subject to violence in recent weeks,” said MSF’s Wong. “With very few independent aid groups able to access Maungdaw district in Rakhine, we fear for the fate of Rohingya people who are still there.” Myanmar insists the reports of mass murder and rape are fabrications invented by the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people now living in squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh. Two Reuters journalists investigating the events were arrested this week. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were detained while carrying maps and documents relating to the region, after meeting police officers for dinner in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon. The US embassy called the detentions “highly irregular”. The Myanmar military has filed charges against the journalists under the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum prison term of 14 years.

Earlier this week I scotch-taped an iPhone 6 Plus to a Galaxy Note 5 and headed into Times Square to test out the cameras, head-to-head. The results are below, lined up as best I could get them. Both have excellent cameras, and though I suppose I'm tempted to give a slight edge to the iPhone, it's not an easy call. Samsung's is tuned to handle low-light a little more aggressively, while the iPhone tends to make its shutter as fast as it can while still bringing in enough light to get a usable image. In bright light, both cameras are great though, with Samsung's Note 5 tending just a little more yellow. In all cases below, Samsung's Galaxy Note 5 is on the left, the iPhone is on the right. For those looking to get nitpicky, know that I cropped the images slightly so they'd line up better in the image sliders below — that will mean some of these are not at the same zoom level, but they're generally pretty close. Both were shot on full-auto. I used Apple's Photos app and resized them with EasyBatchPhoto. For those not looking to get nitpicky, here's the bottom line: both cameras are stupendous, fast, and could legitimately be called the best on the smartphone market (as of this writing, at least). I was also accosted by Spider-Man, who demanded I take a selfie with him instead of simply taking his photo. No Spider-Man. Bad Spider-Man. Just because you can do whatever a spider can doesn't mean that you should.

Media Statement For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 31, 2016 Contact: Media Relations, (404) 639-3286 CDC is investigating how one of its laboratory workers who was recently diagnosed with Salmonella infection may have acquired their infection due to work they performed in a BSL-2 laboratory (a level of lab work involving pathogens that are common and treatable causes of illness). Salmonella is not a select agent. Preliminary laboratory tests indicate that the worker was infected with a strain of Salmonella which matched the strain being worked on in the lab. The worker is well and back at CDC and, based on what we know now, no other staff were exposed. The worker had hands-on training by experienced microbiologists and completed all required safety training. The worker was following standard protocols to perform a basic procedure on a frozen sample in an effort to culture or grow the bacteria. The agency is investigating to see if additional safeguards are needed to prevent exposures when performing this procedure in the future CDC estimates there are 1.2 million cases of Salmonella infection each year in the United States. Salmonella infections are usually acquired by eating contaminated food. People with this kind of infection typically have diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps that go away without specific treatment within 4-7 days. Laboratory science is critical to protect America’s health. However this work carries risks. CDC has implemented numerous steps over the past few years to enhance its laboratory safety program, including standing up the Office of the Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety, reviewing laboratory safety protocols, and establishing the Laboratory Leadership Service fellowship program. The agency has implemented rigorous steps to minimize these risks and to quickly investigate these incidents when they do occur including this recent incident. For the latest reports and updates on laboratory safety at CDC go to: http://www.cdc.gov/about/lab-safety/index.html. ### U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Gov. Mary Fallin on Thursday asked Oklahoma’s Health Care Authority to cut its contracts with two Planned Parenthood affiliates, citing high rates of billing errors. The request by Ms. Fallin, a Republican, comes as Republican governors of several states have moved to cut funding for Planned Parenthood after an anti-abortion group released videos that it said showed Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for fetal tissues from abortions. Planned Parenthood has said that the videos were heavily edited and has said it does not profit from fetal tissue donation. Nico Gomez, the chief executive of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said his office would not take any action until it completed an audit. In 2015, Oklahoma paid the two Planned Parenthood affiliates $100,145 for 19,546 claims. A review showed no improper use of Medicaid funds, but showed a billing error rate of 20.3 percent rate at one and 14.2 percent at the other, the governor’s office said. Officials with Iowa-based Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which operates a clinic in Tulsa, called the move "premature and incredibly disappointing." Ms. Fallin said ending the contracts with the two affiliates, which operate in six locations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, would not interfere with a woman’s ability to have a choice of health care.

Wednesday on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Republican presidential candidate and former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) criticized President Barack Obama on the Iran nuclear deal. Perry said, “It’s of great concern. I saw a very very naive man who does not know how the world works who not put the dots together. And stood in front of the American people and saying I really don’t care if congress likes this or not. I’m going to do it. ” Perry explained in his view Obama “will never get a majority” in Congress to support his deal. However, he said he might be able to convince enough Democrats to “not override his veto.” He added, “Trusting a country that has this long long history of trustworthiness and naively standing up int front of the American people and saying this is the only thing I care about is this very narrow issue of whether or not they are going to get a nuclear capability. I think probably the reason he’s tried to paint it down to that very narrow issue is because he knows he could never get agreement when it came to stopping Iran from being a major exporter of terrorism in the region. He could never get an agreement to allow for true examination of their nuclear capabilities. Again this thing was troubling on so many fronts.” In the second video Perry continued by saying, “Perry: "I don’t want to be over the top, but this is a president that is not dealing with reality"”>”I don’t want to be over the top, but this is a president that is not dealing with reality.” Watch (Part 2): Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Coding Contest Byte: The Square Root Trick Cosmin Negruseri 20 iulie 2012 20 iulie 2012 We're starting a series of articles describing tricks useful in programming contests. Please keep the comments in English. Being flexible and easy to code, the square root trick is pretty popular in the Romanian programming contests community. It even has a name: "jmenul lu Batog" which means Batog's trick :). Bogdan Batog introduced it to a few high school students more than ten years ago and the trick entered romanian coding contest folklore. The idea is that we can use bucketing or a two level tree as some people call it to improve naive data structures or algorithms. The square root part appears when we minimize the function n/x + x , we'll see more about that later on. Let’s check out a few problems that explain how the trick works. Range Sum Given A, an n elements array, implement a data structure for point updates and range sum queries: - update(i, x): A[i] := x, - query(lo, hi) returns A[lo] + A[lo+1] + .. + A[hi]. The naive solution uses an array. It takes O(1) time for an update and O(hi - lo) = O(n) for the range sum. A more efficient solution splits the array into length k slices and stores the slice sums in an array S . The update takes constant time, because we have to update the value for A and the value for the corresponding S . The query is interesting. The elements of the first and last slice (partially contained in the queried range) have to be traversed one by one, but for slices completely contained in our range we can use the values in S directly and get a performance boost. Here is an update example: In update(6, 5) we have to change A[6] to 5 which results in changing the value of S[1] to keep S up to date. query(2, 14) query(2, 14) = A[2] + A[3]+ (A[4] + A[5] + A[6] + A[7]) + (A[8] + A[9] + A[10] + A[11]) + A[12] + A[13] + A[14] = A[2] + A[3] + S[1] + S[2] + A[12] + A[13] + A[14] = 0 + 7 + 11 + 9 + 5 + 2 + 0 = 34 def update(S, A, i, k, x): S[i/k] = S[i/k] - A[i] + x A[i] = x def query(S, A, lo, hi, k): s = 0 i = lo while (i + 1) % k != 0 and i <= hi: s += A[i] i += 1 while i + k <= hi: s += S[i/k] i += k while i <= hi: s += A[i] i += 1 return s Inwe getHere's how the code looks: Each query takes on average k/2 + n/k + k/2 = k + n/k time. This is minimized for k = sqrt(n) . So we get a O(sqrt(n)) time complexity query. This trick also works for other associative operations, like: min, gcd, product etc. Nearest neighbour Given a set S of n points and a query point p , find the point in S closest to p . For uniformly distributed points, a good strategy is to represent the space as a grid and maintain a list of inner points for each cell. For a given query point, we can check the cell the point falls into and its neighbouring cells. For a sqrt(n) * sqrt(n) grid we’ll have one point per cell, on average. On average, finding the point in S closest to p , requires traversing a constant number of cells. Longest common subsequence Given two strings A (n characters) and B (m characters), find their longest common subsequence. (eg. The longest common sub sequence for abcabc and abcbcca is abcbc.) There is a standard dynamic programming solution which uses an array best[i][j] to mean the longest common sub sequence for A[0:i] and B[0:j] , computed as below: if A[i] == B[j]: best[i][j] = 1 + best[i - 1][j - 1] else: best[i][j] = max(best[i-1][j], best[i][j-1]) This algorithm takes O(nm) time and only O(n) space, since to compute a row you just need the previous row. If you must return the actual sub sequence this doesn't work. You can keep an array of parent pointers, so that for each state (i, j) you know the previous state in the solution. The longest sub sequence corresponds to a path from (n-1, m-1) to (0, 0) on the parent matrix. This solution takes O(nm) space. Let's try to use less memory. We solve the problem once and save every kth row from the best matrix and from the parent matrix. We can start from the last saved row to compute the solution path from row [n/k] * k to row n - 1 . Then we go downwards to compute the part of the solution between the row ik and the row (i+1)k . Computing part of the path between row ik and row (i+1)k takes O(km) space and O(km) time. Computing the whole path takes O(n/k (km)) = O(nm) time and O(km) space. Saving the first pass rows takes O([n/k]m) memory. Again, we minimize total memory usage by using k = sqrt(n) . This solution takes O(sqrt(n)m) memory. Caveats There are more efficient solutions for the previous problems, but those are a bit more involved. The square root trick has a good balance between added complexity and algorithm speedup. Additional problems (Josephus Problem) n people numbered from 1 to n sit in a circle and play a game. Starting from the first person and every kth person is eliminated. Write an algorithm that prints out the order in which people are eliminated. (Level Ancestor) You are given an tree of size n . ancestor(node, levelsUp) finds the node’s ancestor that is levelsUp steps up. For example, ancestor(node, 1) returns the father and ancestor(node, 2) returns the grandfather. Implement ancestor(node, levelsUp) efficiently. ( O(sqrt(n)) per query) (Range Median) You are given an array of size n . Implement a data structure to perform update operations a[i] = k and range median operations efficiently. The range median query, median(l, r) returns the median element of the sorted subsequence a[l..r] . O(log(n)) per update and O(sqrt(n)log(n)) O(sqrt(n)log(n)log(U)) per query Hope you've enjoyed it! Try using the trick to solve Range Median and the other problems in the comments section. Categorii:

Tim Hudak is promising to get the government "out of business's hair" by abolishing the College of Trades and shaving away regulations on workers. Standing in a salon east of Toronto, the Progressive Conservative Leader said he would immediately get rid of the body, which regulates over 100 different occupations from hairdressers to bakers. "We don't need an expensive government bureaucracy to tell people where to get their hair cut," he said Tuesday. "Government's job is not to keep bureaucrats busy. It's to focus on what's important like health care and education." Story continues below advertisement The College of Trades' defenders say the organization is necessary to enforce standards in the skilled trades and protect consumers from subpar tradespeople. But Mr. Hudak contends it is simply a useless layer of red tape that is unfairly limiting the number of people who can get into the trades. He pointed to a written exam hairdressers must take to get a licence, as well as a fee salons must pay, as unnecessary measures. "It's getting in the way of people here in this room with a new tax that will toss them out of work," he said. Hairstylist Kailan Ambrose, 30, who attended Mr. Hudak's event, said she has been working as a hairdresser for seven years but could now lose her licence after failing the written test six times. "It's breathtaking, it's very hard, it's a struggle," said Ms. Ambrose, the married mother of a three-year-old. "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life." Mr. Hudak is running on a platform of cutting the size of government, which includes eliminating 100,000 public sector jobs and doing away with one-third of all regulations on business. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement The Liberals, for their part, unveiled a new promise in their platform Sunday to appoint a special advisor to review the College of Trades' application process and how the new regulations are enforced. They will hold off on certification of new trades while the review is happening. Campaigning in Sault Ste. Marie at a Catholic school on Tuesday, Ms. Wynne attacked Mr. Hudak for being too much like former PC premier Mike Harris. Mr. Harris appeared on television Monday to say he had a "pretty good" record as the province's leader and that the Liberals are only dredging up his history to avoid talking about their own scandals. "I really hope Mike Harris keeps talking because Mike Harris reminds all of us of what it was like during those years when he was premier," Ms. Wynne said, pointing to labour disputes with education workers during his reign. "The discord in the education system, 26 million learning days lost because of the strikes and because of the conflict that was in every school … if people liked Mike Harris then they're really going to love Tim Hudak." Ms. Wynne spent the morning promoting a pledge to spend $150-million over three years to buy laptops, tablets, cameras and other technology for schools, as she wrapped up a four-day jaunt through the north. Mr. Hudak, who has not yet visited Northern Ontario during the campaign, again faced questions about his decision to skip the Northern leaders' debate the previous day. Story continues below advertisement "I wish it had worked out. I don't think there's been a leader who's spent more time in Northern Ontario [than me]," he said, referencing his time as Northern Development Minister a decade ago. "I want to make sure that every part of the province of Ontario – the 905, the 416, the 613, Northern Ontario – is firing on all cylinders."

Brazilian hackers have gamed the government logging permitting processs, enabling the wanton theft of Amazon resources. Associated PressBrazilian authorities are investigating a hacking ring controlled by logging companies that allowed harvesters to plunder rain forest resources protected under government quotas. The authorities — who have arrested more than 30 people implicated in the scandal and are said to be eying 200 more — allege hackers from logging and charcoal concerns have unlawfully accessed government logging databases. The intrusions allowed them to obtain extra "transport permits" to remove resources from the Amazon. Permits are tied to a set amount of volume. Environmental group Greenpeace estimates 1.7 million cubic meters of illegal timber has been harvested because of the hacks. The group says that's enough wood to fill 780 Olympic-size swimming pools. Federal authorities are also suing timber companies to recoup an estimated $883 million in purloined resources, Greenpeace said. "Almost half of the companies involved in this scam have other lawsuits pending for environmental crimes or the use of slave labor," federal prosecutor Daniel Avelino said in a statement. Andre Muggiati, a Greenpeace official in Brazil, said that "by hacking into the permit system, these companies have made their timber shipments appear legal and compliant with the forest management plans." See Also:

Knoji reviews products and up-and-coming brands we think you'll love. In certain cases, we may receive a commission from brands mentioned in our guides. Learn more. When the Scientific Revolution began to disprove past ideals and new ideas were shown to the masses, many Europeans experienced trepidation. Despite the advances in science and the efforts of the scientists of the sixteenth and seventeenth century to demonstrate that the world and universe were governed by discernible laws, the Scientific Revolution had little impact on the everyday lives and thoughts of the mass of European citizens. Despite the breakthroughs made in astronomy and physics, most Europeans retained a belief in astrology, mystical processes, ghosts, and magic. German princes often relied on court astrologers as their closest advisers. Indeed, even Johannes Kepler sought to confirm the power of astrology with the results of his work, though he proved unable to do so. Advances in medical theory that proved that there were serious misconceptions about the human body, however many Europeans widely adhered to previous beliefs set forth by Galen. Galen's theory that the human body contained four major fluids--blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm - and that if one of the four fluids were present in too little or too great an amount, predictable illness would result. The most widely experienced materialization of this theory was the use of leeches in the act of bloodletting, Galen's hypothesis that the body had two blood systems and diseases could be cured by looking deeper into the four humors in the body proved to be grossly erroneous, however the Galen principles were still strictly adhered to in medical schools. Europeans had often turned to the church for guidance, and so it seems, the church was able to tell people what to belief. When the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution overturned the tenets of traditional belief systems were only gradually accepted by the general population, and were often rejected by those who found their traditional beliefs easier to comprehend. To put it plainly, Europeans did not want to complicate their lives by thinking outside the realm of what they had been taught in the church. The common people had traditions of thinking and a belief system that that made their living situation stable and their quality of life was almost commonplace. The Scientific Revolution would single-handed prove that their goals or traditions were no longer valid, and this was not something they took lightly. When Europeans experienced the events of the Scientific Revolution they looked upon it as a changing world, although not always open to the origins of the scientific changes. The Revolution became part of society without many even noticing, however for those that did, it was a time of enlightenment. Galileo Galileo Galilei was an Italian that changed the way people saw the Earth and outer space. He discovered that we orbited the sun and not the other way around. He also discovered several moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. He might be one of the most important astronomers in the 17th century. Because of his findings, he was in danger because of the Spanish Inquisition because of the book he wrote arguing against the Copernican theory hypothetically. Galileo learned of new devices in the Netherlands and improved their ability to see distant bodies in space, the telescope. There was a huge discourse between Martin Luther and the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church at the time, and Galileo was placed under house arrest for his publishing of his book. Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler is another important astronomer and scientist of the 17th century. Kepler believed that the planets orbited the sun also, and was widely criticized at first. He also discovered and believed that the orbits of the planets were not a perfect circle. He discovered that Mars did not orbit as Copernicus had thought, but in a retrograde motion. The fact that planets travel on elliptical paths is known as Kepler's First Law. This was known as the Martian problem that no one at the time could account for. Kepler was the first to discover that not all planets orbited the sun in the same way, circular or elliptical. Kepler discovered that not all planets moved around the sun at the same speed, this was known as Kepler’s second law. A decade later, Kepler would discover his third law. This law recognized the relationship between planets, the different times it takes planets to orbit the sun. Kepler also calculated the birth year of Christ, another amazing discovery of Johannes Kepler. Today, amateur radio operators, astronomers and satellite watchers all use what is known as Keplerian Data to figure out the exact track of satellites. More Kepler Discoveries Johannes kepler went beyond astronomy and math with his discoveries, he also discovered many other valuable tools that we all use today. He was the first to determine that refraction drives vision in the eye, and that using two eyes enables depth perception. He created eyeglasses for both near and farsightedness, and explained how a telescope worked. He described images and magnification, and understood the properties of reflection. All in all, these scientists were very amazing during the 17th century.

The recent rash of ContentID claims across YouTube has threatened to strike down a fair number of the site’s channels. For creators who hope to make a decent living off of online video, contesting these claims is a must, but that step requires a dive into the confusing field of copyright law. Luckily, there are lawyers willing to help. New Media Rights is a non-profit organization that, among other duties, provides legal services for online content creators besieged by copyright claims. Obviously, this field requires a thorough knowledge of YouTube copyright law, so we asked to New Media Rights attorney Teri Karobonik for some tips on navigating ContentID. Tubefilter: Are there steps YouTube creators can take in order to ‘safeguard’ their videos from invalid ContentID claims? If so, what are they? Teri Karobonik: It’s hard to entirely prevent a ContentID claim. However, we recommend that creators use only use as much copyrighted content as they absolutely need to make their point. Also, in the wake of the drastic rise in ContentID claims, which involved ContentID matches to in-game music, creators incorporating video game footage in their videos should mute background music in game. When in doubt, get a license or used openly licensed content (like Creative Commons). We have a great guide on finding openly licensed content. TF: How can YouTube musicians protect cover songs from ContentID claims? TK: Cover songs, without the proper licenses, actually violate copyright law and can result in ContentID claims and DMCA takedowns. Some services (like Loudr) have recently popped up to help cover writers get the proper licenses for their cover songs. If you have a written license, it will be much easier to get the situation resolved if your video gets monetized or taken down. TF: How can YouTube creators tell what is considered fair use and what is not? That is, where is the “line” between fair use and copyright infringement? TK: Fair use is complex, and even for experienced lawyers, it’s very hard to tell where the ‘line’ is between fair use and copyright infringement. Unfortunately, most of the easy ‘fair use rules’ are myths; it’s not true that it’s OK to only use 20 seconds of a work, nor is journalistic use always allowed. It’s never a good idea to rely on legal myths when you’re creating your videos. Fair use relies on a complex four-factor balancing test to determine if reuse is OK. If you’re unsure if your use qualifies as fair use, we strongly recommend you speak to an attorney (like the ones at New Media Rights) who can help you navigate the factors. (Ed. note: Here is Teri’s complete explanation of the four factors that determine fair use:) Factor 1 The first factor examines if your work is commercial or non-commercial and also if it is transformative. Works that are non-commercial are more likely to be fair use than commercial works, but if you have ads on your YouTube channel or website that is enough to be considered commercial use. Commercial use can be fair use, it’s just less likely. The first factor also looks at transformativeness, which is the degree to which you transform the copyrighted work you’re using. There are many ways to transform video, but a good rule of thumb is that the transformed work should serve a different purpose than the original work. For example, let’s say you take a bunch of short clips from a long running TV show and mashed them up into a new story that showed how the much beloved main character is actually remarkably racist. That would likely be transformative use. Factor 2 The second factor examines whether a work is published or unpublished and also looks at whether the work is factual or creative. Unpublished works are typically given more protection, so any time material is leaked, it is less likely to be fair use. As for the second part, facts are not eligible for copyright protection. Therefore, the reuse of factual works is more likely to be fair use than the reuse of creative works. Factor 3 The third factor checks how much of the work you used and what part of the work you used. In general, the less you use the better; however, there are times where using a small amount of work is less likely to be fair use. If you use the key moment of a work (like re-posting the minute of American Idol where they announce the winner), do not transform it, and post it by itself it is far less likely to be fair use. Factor 4 The fourth factor looks determines if your video is a market replacement for the video. For example, if you re-posted a music video on your channel your re-post is a direct replacement for the original, it is less likely to be fair use. TF: Do you think there are positives to the ContentID system? If so, what are they? TK: The general idea behind ContentID is good; the main problem is in the execution. If ContentID was nothing more than an easy way for creators to be compensated and negotiate actual licenses when their work is reused improperly, that might be OK. But ContentID simply doesn’t work like that. TF: If you could change the ContentID system, how would you revise it? TK: If I could revise ContentID, I would make two changes. First, I would make ContentID effectively account for fair use. Currently, ContentID has a very difficult time separating out fair use from infringing use of a copyrighted work. The vast majority of the ContentID cases we see at New Media Rights involve works that should not have been flagged because they constitute fair use. While we sympathize that it is challenging to develop a computer algorithm that can tag fair use, we are particularly worried that content owners can financially benefit from and otherwise control creative work of those who utilize legal uses of copyrighted content. Forcing works to be monetized is particularly troublesome for artists who are directly criticizing or parodying the original work. Secondly, I’d make the appeals process easier. The average user and the average large content holders do not understand the appeals process because it isn’t terribly straight forward. Even if the user understands it, the process can quite intimidating. For example, the simple concept of requiring users to enter a telephone number in order to appeal a claim scares some users out of filing an appeal. In addition, the appeals process for fair use asks users to address each of the fair use factors in detail, something that can only properly be done by an experienced attorney, and discourages users from appealing wrongful takedowns. For more information on New Media Rights, check out their website. If you like what they do, don’t forget that New Media Rights is a non-profit and any donations are appreciated. And if you have any questions for Teri Karobonik and the New Media Rights team, please get in touch and we may be able to have them answered for you in a future column.

The IRS announced on January 28th, that individual filers who use form 8863 for Education Credits (Hope Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit and other Education Credits) have to wait until at least ‘Mid February’ before filing. The IRS notice, along with a listing of other forms that can’t be filed until late February or early March can be found at this link. Be sure to check it out to see when you can file your return. Looks like tomorrow is going to be a big day for e-filing returns so expect some delays. Also, the IRS announced earlier there would be delays in processing returns – see my previous blog post for details. If you need some assistance this tax season, don’t hesitate to contact me – information is below. Cheers! Thomas C. Hodge, CPA President The Hodge Group 3040 N. Menard Avenue Chicago, IL 60634 773.237.6369 http://www.thehodgegroup.com Best Tax Preparers Website Friend us on FaceBook here. Connect on LinkedIn here. Follow our Blog here.

CLINTON, Tenn., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Police in Tennessee said a man charged with domestic assault was upset about a picture of an unknown man on his girlfriend's Facebook -- a photo of Mitt Romney. Crystal Gray, 38, of Clinton, told Anderson County sheriff's deputies her boyfriend, Lowell Turpin, 40, confronted her July 22 when he saw a picture of an unknown man on her Facebook page, The Smoking Gun reported Wednesday. The sheriff's report said Gray explained the photo was of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, but she told deputies Turpin remained angry and confronted her for communicating with friends on Facebook. The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel reported Turpin allegedly threw Gray's laptop against a wall and punched her in the face. Deputies said Gray gave them multiple contradictory accounts of the incident. Turpin was charged with domestic assault and jailed in lieu of $1,000 bond.

Fear and Loathing Set Review & Playtesting Guide Introduction: I am going to experiment with a new method of reviewing new sets. Rather than only giving a 1 to 5 rating of cards that none of us have played yet (which gives a higher impression of accuracy than is appropriate for an unplayed card), I am also going to rate each card’s uncertainty. Uncertainty measures how hard it is to ‘guesstimate’ the card’s playability. How much you would have to test the card, in order to get an accurate idea about its actual power level and usefulness. It is a measurement of uncertainty. In general, cards that are not similar to existing cards require more testing in order to determine if they are good. Cards whose effect is very swingy and unpredictable, and could end up either very strong or weak, situationally, require more testing in order to determine a value. The more similar a card is to existing cards, the easier it is to predict its power level. Thus, these cards would have a lower playtest requirement. Something very unique would require more playtesting, especially if it looked to potentially be strong. Finally, I’ll give a verdict on whether the card is worth testing, in my opinion, or whether you should save your time by ignoring it and testing more worthy cards. Of course, if a certain card really appeals to you personally, then you should try it, regardless of what I think. After all, someone has to try out all these cards. If the rest of us miss something, someone out there will play it and if the card really was great, it would catch on. If you ever see a card that you ignored start to get a lot of buzz, then it becomes worth checking out. But since your playtest time is limited, and especially if your goal is to make competitive decks, it’s better to avoid some cards with low potential. Runner cards: Maybe I should start with the corp cards. The runner cards are mostly bad. Oh well. Quest Completed: Uncertainty: Moderate. Expected Power: 1/5 Similar cards: Notoriety. If you initially read this card as requiring a run on R&D, HQ, OR Archives, you are not alone. Most of the players I know did that, and thought it was great, until we looked at it again. But actually, it’s just Notoriety that lets you access something instead of getting a point. This card probably isn’t very good (it’s probably harder to hit all 3 centrals than one remote), but you might consider it in the future if you’re having a huge problem with Caprice Nisei guarded 5/3 agendas in a big remote. (And Ash, and Red Herrings, and Strongbox, and Ruhr Valley, and …) Verdict: Don’t waste your time, unless this card really intrigues you. It’s probably worse than Notoriety, and I’m not seeing lots of Notoriety decks. The point of Notoriety is that you can make points appear when they are not appearing. If you use this card to steal an agenda, that’s great, but you probably could’ve just stolen the agenda by going through the remote. Hemorrhage: Uncertainty: Very High. Expected Power: 3.5/5? Similar Cards: Datasucker, Imp, Desperado. Despite the click to use, the fact that the corp chooses what to discard, and the high influence cost, I think this card is still fairly strong. It rewards running, like Desperado and Datasucker, which is one of the strongest mechanics in the game. Hemorrhage allows pressuring HQ even without running it. Simply running any server allows you to force discards from the opponent. The HQ pressure adds up fast. The corp will feel pressured to spend time drawing cards, and then they will lose a lot of those cards to archives. Since they can’t lose agendas without having them stolen or being force to use Jackson, they will begin to have agendas clogging their hand. Still, it’s not clear to me that Hemorrhage is worth it, I consider this a card that could be anything from terrible to amazing, and without testing we won’t really know. I think that if this was a criminal card, it would probably be amazing, but at 4 influence and in the current weakest runner faction, it’s a lot less threatening. I think that this card has the greatest potential to be panned by most reviewers, but actually be strong. I played several games so far against this card, and it exceeded my initial expectations. Verdict: Definitely requires testing. In my games playing as corp against this so far, it was pressuring me greatly, however I was able to win the games, mostly because I was NBN and could rush through the agendas so they didn’t end up totally clogging my hand. This card could be terrible or great, and you should go play it to find out. However, its influence cost means it is mostly restricted to Anarch right now. (I think thats probably the correct decision, Anarch needs help and Criminal would utilize this card too well). Tallie Perrault: Uncertainty: Moderate Expected Power : 3/5 (Meta dependent) Similar Cards: Activist Support. +Handsize cards. What does Tallie do? Essentially, if the Corp plays Subliminal Messaging, she gives them a Bad Publicity but tags you. If the corp plays a damaging event like Scorched Earth or Neural EMP, she gives them a Bad Publicity but tags you, and also allows you to trash her afterwards in order to draw a card, possibly saving you from a followup Neural EMP! She triggers off of certain other cards as well, like Closed Accounts, at which point you will be broke and have an extra tag (maybe a permanent one, if it was just a Breaking News that let hem Closed you). But here, the Bad Publicity will probably be pretty relevant. Big Brother and Freelancer also count, however, the corp does have the option of trashing her first for these three cards, because if they are playing them, that means you are tagged. Mostly I expect Subliminal Messaging to be the primary source of Tallie triggers, and a bit of Closed Accounts, Neural EMP, and Scorched Earth. Let’s look at how this works: You play Tallie, spending a card, a click, and $2. The corp now has the following options: Never play subliminal Messaging again. Given that you spent at least ‘4’ worth of resources putting her out, this might be reasonable for the corp. Play the Subliminal, taking a Bad Publicity and tagging you. They might do this at a time when the tag would be very BAD for you, such as when they want to play Closed Accounts, or kill you with Scorched Earth! The runner might not even choose to activate Tallie! As a result, I feel that Tallie shouldn’t be played outside of a Tag-me archetype. You could use her in a Reina or Whizzard tagme denial deck with Siphon, Vamp, Plascrete, Joshua B, Data Leak Reversal, etc. She helps counter those Subliminal Messagings that can help the corp get money. In Tag-me Anarch, it’s probably a reasonable inclusion. The new NBN agenda that is worth 3 points to the corp if you are tagged is yet another blow to tagme decks, and Anarch is weaker than Criminal right now. Criminals are the main runners who go tagme, and the probably won’t be willing to spend the 3 influence for this card. Her second use, one that might occur outside of a tagme deck, is as a handsize buffer to prevent death by damage over the course of multiple cards (Scorches/Neurals). For example, after running Jinteki, you are reduced to 1 card. On the Jinteki player’s turn, they play Neural EMP. You use Tallie to give a bad pub, then trash her to draw. Now a second Neural EMP doesn’t kill you. She also might save you from double Scorch in a situation where you have 3 cards and a Plascrete. First scorch you prevent with Plascrete and use her to draw a 4th card. Now the second wont kill you. Verdict: Maybe try it in Tagme Anarch, if you really like that deck, and everyone in your meta starts running Subliminal Messaging. Alternately, use it to help you not die to Neural EMPs. Executive Wiretaps: Uncertainty: Low Expected Power: 1/5 Similar Cards: Expert Schedule Analyzer It’s a 1-use of Expert Schedule Analyzer. If running HQ would have cost you more than $3, or if your MU was full, then this is better, if you only wanted to do it once. I feel that spending a significant amount of money to reveal the corp’s hand is not something the runner needs to do. Even if you see lots of agendas, you still have to run to go get them. Gabe will already have been running a lot on HQ and doesn’t need this at all. Aside: Oh FFG why did you pick this name? In original Netrunner, Executive Wiretaps was a Maker’s Eye for HQ, which was a strong card. This card is coming back in Honor and Profit, under the name ‘Legwork’. Now just watch me play Legwork in the future and call it Executive Wiretaps, and be all confusing! (I do think that the upcoming Maker’s Eye for HQ is going to be a strong card). Verdict: Don’t waste your time with this card. Blackguard: Uncertainty: High Expected Power: 2.5/5 Similar cards: None. Blackguard is an entirely new strategy. One that I hope will not be too strong, because it removes decisions from the corp. Blackguard will require a lot of testing in order to know if it’s good or not, as it is so unique, so if it’s your thing, go nuts! Testing Blackguard in Silhouette, when she comes out, will be one approach, but I am not sure if it’s the only one. After all, Criminal already has a great console, Desperado! I would suggest a second alternative: Shaper with Motivation and Eureka and Snitch. Combine that with Torch, Omega, Femme Fatale, etc, and use Eureka to cheat out big programs and the Blackguard. When Oracle May comes out, this strategy will probably become more viable. My expectation is that this ends up being a fun deck, but not a top tier, tournament deck, but we need to test it to see! There is some chance that it actually becomes a tourney viable deck, with Motivation, Eureka, Oracle May, etc. It might not even happen in Criminal! Verdict: If Blackguard sounds fun to you, go test the hell out of it! If not, try to play against someone who likes it at some point, to gain experience. It’s probably important to play with and/or against this card. But if you don’t want to be the one trying out the Blackguard deck, don’t worry, tons of people are going to try it, and give us their thoughts. Cybersolutions Mem Chip: Uncertainty: Low Expected Power: 3/5 Similar Cards: Akamatsu Mem Chip, Dyson Mem Chip, Dinosaurus, etc. Hey look, it’s possibly the best Shaper Console in the game! The big mem chip is pretty straightforward. You only play this if you are a shaper who very badly needs 2 more memory. The cost is nice for Modding as Kate, at least. If this card is exactly what you need, it does the job. And if it’s not exactly what you need, you aren’t thinking about putting it in your deck. Other factions probably choose Dyson over it, given the influence cost. I’d be a lot more interested in this as a Neutral card. If that was the case, I’d try it out in Andromeda, and be able to fit in Sneakdoors or things like that! But it’s not. Verdict: Most decks won’t want it, but your Sahasrara shaper might. Not much mystery to this card, simply a thing that should exist to open up more options. Do you want to make Sahasrara shaper with tons of programs? Add this. Otherwise? Don’t. Alpha and Omega: Uncertainty: High Expected Power: 2 for Alpha, 3.5 for Omega Similar cards: Crypsis, Atman, Knight These breakers seem like a reasonable way to pressure all servers early on, at moderate efficiency. They are more efficient than Crypsis by $1 and a Click per ice. But less efficient than a Targeted Atman, or a dedicated breaker. Both breakers will get you through a 1-ice server. Having both only helps for 2 ice servers, but then a 3 ice server can still sink you, if you rely only on them. In my opinion, Omega is better than Alpha. Omega is going to be getting you through a certain ice, forever. With Alpha, if you have an ice on a server that is a problem for you, and you are using Alpha to break, the corp can nullify that by placing another ice outside it. (They don’t even need to rez the new ice, just place it!). With Omega however, it always keeps getting you through that certain ice. If the corp places another ice in front of it, they have to actually rez that ice in order to stop you! With an Alpha, they DON’T. Playing both cards together is a bit wasteful. You already had the ability to get through all 1 ice servers. The second only gets you through 2 ice servers. I would rather supplement an early Omega with actual breakers, later in the game when the corp builds larger servers. The names Alpha and Omega are probably going to make people play them together, but honestly I think the best strategy would be to only use Omega, and supplement with other things. These cards would probably be stronger if it wasn’t for Wraparound coming out. Wraparound will be a commonly played ice, and it crushes these breakers, costing $7 for them to get through. Crypsis is a more expensive yet more reliable version, able to actually get you into a 2 ice server by itself, if needed. Knight is a better targeted breaker to handle a certain problem ice, and its movable. In general, I feel there are better options, however I do feel that Omega could be strong in a dedicated ice destruction deck. Keep them at 1 ice per server with parasites, and Omega away, and then pressure hard. This strategy might be a superior version of the ‘Chaos Theory turbo-rig’ strategy. With one breaker you can pressure all early servers. Verdict: Worth testing Omega, in an ice-destruction, early pressure strategy. Playing both feels like a trap to me. However, this is probably worse than Atman, worse than Crypsis, and worse than Knight. If one of these is good, it’s probably Omega being good in Kit. My decent rating is mostly based on the idea that Omega in Kit is probably strong. Blackmail: Uncertainty: Moderate (more a meta-call than something that needs testing). Expected Power: 3 (Meta dependent). At any point in time its either dead or crazy good, and it’s very hard to tell how much time it will be what. Similar cards: Inside Job, Stimhack. Blackmail is a great way to punish Bad Publicity, however the runner doesn’t have good ways to force the corp to get it, so this card is unreliable and meta-dependent on what corp strategies you play against. If all my opponents started playing Bad Publicity decks, I would put this in my deck, at least as a 1-of. If they don’t. If you play this, you might want to try to turn it on with things like Tallie Perrault, but those aren’t actually reliable either. Verdict: It’s a meta card. Play it only if everyone is obsessed with GRNDL or other Bad Publicity giving cards. Corp Cards: Time for some goodies! Blue Level Clearance: Uncertainty: Moderate/High Expected Power: 3.5/5. Similar cards: Green Level Clearance, Mauve Level Clearance, Rainbow Level Clearance. Net result: Spend 2 clicks. Gain +1 card and $3. Move through your deck more quickly. This is similar to clicking to use Jackson Howard to draw 2, and then playing a Beanstalk. (Or playing Anonymous Tip, then Beanstalk). This is like clicking for $2, and then clicking for $1 and a card (like 1 use of Opus and 1 use of Pro Contacts, as Corp!) Blue level is a useful card, but less splashable than Green Level, which probably means it won’t see nearly as much play. It also is worse on turn 1. On the first turn, Green Level is excellent and helps you find a second ice and afford them, to defend HQ and R&D. Blue level doesn’t. Green Level is an easy and common splash in Weyland and NBN, Blue Level isn’t. However, compared to Green Level, Blue Level does net you an extra $1 and a card, for a click, which is a useful trade. Overall, I would probably test this in various corp decks. I expect that in most non-HB decks it will be more problematic than Green Level, especially due to influence cost, however, it’s slightly increased efficiency might end up being worth it. My guess is that it’s a bit worse than Green Level, mostly due to lack of turn 1 usefulness, but it’s probably still playable, mostly in HB. Verdict: Shove it in your decks and try it out, especially HB. It’s a potentially very useful card, so you should experience playing it yourself. I feel that the influence cost is probably too tough for other corps to play it much. Strongbox: Uncertainty: Low Expected Power: 1.5/5 Similar Cards: Red Herrings. Strongbox’ low trash cost and higher rez cost make it pretty weak, imo. It’s usually worse than Red Herrings, unless combined with an Hourglass, or some combination of Bioroids, Jinteki RP, Ruhr Valley, etc. However, the fact that it mostly combos with OTHER weak cards is not a good thing. When two individually weak cards combo together, the result is generally not very strong. I’d personally avoid this one, if your goal is to find good serious decks, unless you find the idea very fun. Verdict: Let that guy in your group who is obsessed with Jinteki make the Jinteki RP strongbox deck, and then play against him. (Hmm, some of you are that guy…are those H&P spoilers great or what!) Toshiyuki Sakai: Uncertainty: Low Expected Power: 0/5 Amazing DOUBLE MINDGAMES Power: 5/5 Similar Cards: Traps. Toshiyuki doesn’t really do anything except allow you to win a DOUBLE mind game, and if you do, achieve the same result as winning a single mindgame. Woo mindgames! You place (and possibly advance) him. This is mindgame #1. Does the runner run him? If they don’t, you have lost the first mindgame, and he is a waste of space, just like a not-run Snare, Edge of World, or Junebug. He will then sit there and rot, not getting to do anything. Let’s say the runner DOES run him. Now, we get to initiate mindgame #2. You swap him with a trap or agenda. Does the runner jack out or continue? If they continue into your agenda, you lose the mindgame (unless it’s a fatal Fetal AI). If they continue into your trap, you achieve a result that is identical to simply placing the trap in the first place, no Toshiyuki required! The only time that Toshiyuki really does something unique is if you replace with an agenda, and the runner jacks out. Then you get to score your agenda. However, most Jinteki decks would rather smash you with a big trap than score an agenda. I’d rather hit you with a double advanced Cerebral Overwriter, than push through a couple points, in many Jinteki decks. What is the upside of Toshi? You get to pick the trap later on, after you see which one would be most damaging. Or alternately, you get to try to shove an agenda through, thinking they will jack out. However, is this worth having to win another mindgame for, and use up a deck slot on? In the end, Toshiyuki doesn’t do much other than require you to win a mindgame TWICE, in order to achieve the result of winning one mindgame. This might be fun, but isn’t competitive. Verdict: Play it in a fun mindgames deck, if that’s your thing. The main thing he does is make the mindgame harder for you to win, because he makes it so you have to win twice in a row to get your effect, instead of once. If successful, you get your pick of effects. Yagura: Uncertainty: Moderate Expected Power: 3.5/5 Similar Cards: Enigma I like Yagura. As an R&D defender, it’s pretty similar to a cheap Enigma. I’d rather force out a Yog with a $1 ice than a $3 ice! And if they play a Gordian or something, and want to break it, it costs $2 to break a $1 ice! I think Jinteki will clearly play this. Replace a couple Enigmas with it, and put it on R&D. Testing is mostly required to determine if it’s worth splashing in other corps. The 2 influence cost is a bit high for a small ice, which will limit its play. Also, when Inazuma comes out later, I expect that will be the more desirable Jinteki codegate for other corps to splash. As to this being defeated by Yog. Yes, a $1 ice is crushed by a $5 breaker that is often a 1-of in people’s decks, so they have to tutor for it. That’s not the worst thing. That’s better than playing an Enigma, paying $3, and having them get a Yog. I would not play lots of these AND lots of Enigmas in a deck. Rather, I see Yagura as a way to replace Enigma, and then spend $2 less to force them to find a Yog. (And if they get a Gordian Blade, then a Yagura on R&D actually costs $2 to break, while an Enigma last click can be only $1). I would NOT play a bunch of Yaguras and a bunch of Enigmas in my deck. If I am playing Yagura, I am probably playing a couple of it, and then no other Yoggable code gates. Verdict: Put it in Jinteki for sure. Try it in your other corps and see if it’s worth the influence. The only real question here to me isn’t ‘is it good’, but rather ‘is it worth 2 influence outside of Jinteki’. Also, is it best as a 1-of? 2-of? You don’t really want to draw more than 1. Restoring Face: Uncertainty: Moderate Expected Power: 2.5/5 Similar Cards: Veterans Program, Elizabeth Mills. A situational but potentially useful card, you would add this to decks that generate bad publicity but don’t actually want to have it. I would primarily consider this for Weyland and Jinteki. This is the best card I have seen for removing bad publicity, if that is what you want to do. You can throw away various 0 cost cards like Jackson Howard, Bernie Mai, or an Akitaro after using him for discounts, and remove the bad publicity you gained from rezzing Grim or from something else. Still, I doubt it will get played much. Decks usually either avoid bad publicity, or try to make it not matter. Verdict: I’d try it out in a bad publicity deck with enough targets for it, if that’s what you’re playing. Most bad publicity decks either try to kill the runner’s breakers, or they try to set up situations where If the runner runs, they die, so that the effect of the bad publicity is minimized. These decks don’t need to worry as much about removing it. Still, if you do need to remove it, this is an effective way. Market Research: Uncertainty: Moderate Expected Power: 4/5 Similar cards: Private Security Force Market Research is another interesting way to add tagme punishment to NBN, and it doesn’t even eat up card slots! It’s like a PSF that needs the tag to be in place when scored, but not later on. It’s another useful Psychographics target, alongside Beale. Overall, this card makes playing tagme against NBN even worse. It even opens up the possibility of playing NBN with tagging cards and essentially no deck slots spent on tag punishment, as you can get an effective tag punishing agenda. Any Midseason deck should probably play this alongside its Astros and Beales. I do think that in many, but not all NBN decks, this will become outclassed in the next set by NAPD Contract, which I think is the best 4+ difficulty agenda ever. However, for now, it’s generally better than a Character Assassination in the majority of NBN decks. Verdict: Definitely fits into certain NBN decks. Once NAPD contract comes out, it fits into less NBN decks, but still some. Wraparound: Uncertainty: Low Expected Power: 4.5/5 Similar cards: Ice Wall Wraparound might be the best ice since core set. At the very least its comparable to Popup Window and Eli. It saves NBN decks influence from having to splash Ice Wall. For Jinteki or HB, Wraparound should be seriously considered as an Ice Wall replacement, if you don’t need an advancement target. Wraparound makes all AI breakers other than Knight worse than they were, and makes Corroder (or another fracter) that much more important. It crushes a fracterless Katman deck that simply planned to Parasite your Ice Walls. It crushes an Anarch deck that relies on Crypsis or Darwin, and has only that single Corroder. It’s even better than Swordsman and stomping AI breakers. All of this for only $1 more than the cost of an Ice Wall. Wraparound also opens up a playstyle focused very heavily on killing the opponent’s corroder, and then simply not letting them access your servers. Power Shutdowns and Archived Memories combine to slaughter low cost programs and kill that Corroder. Grim kills the Corroder and gives a Bad Publicity that hopefully now doesn’t matter, if they cannot get through your Wraparounds. Wraparound is very good in rush decks that play the “Gear Check” strategy. That is: make a server and rush. Can your opponent pass the “Gear Check” of getting Corroder and whatever else they need fast enough? If not, they lose. If so, try to kill it, and keep rushing while they hunt for a backup. Wraparound is the king of the ‘kill your corroder’ strategy. It doesn’t allow backup breakers or parasites to allow the runner to survive their Corroderless state. And even if that’s not your strategy, Wraparound frees up NBN influence that was spent on Ice Walls, replacing it with an ice that is superior against AI breakers and Parasites. Verdict: Doesn’t even really need testing, its simply automatic in NBN. It’s worth trying in most other corps as well. GRNDL: Power Unleashed: Uncertainty: High Expected Power: 3/5 As an ID, GRNDL deserves a lot of testing. Its niche will probably be in decks that punish running heavily, with things like Sea Source/Scorch, Punitive Counterstrike, Midseason Replacements, etc. Your main defense is not ice, it’s the threat of death if the runner runs you. Your starting $10 pool helps to make the Sea Scorch plan or the Punitive Counterstrike plan work early on, and intimidate the runner. My expectation is that GRNDL is scarier early on at threatening a kill if you run, than BABW, but overall is less solid due to the lower influence and the Bad Publicity. However, there is some chance that a low ice, high economy and threat GRNDL deck can simply bully the runner so hard into not running, with the threat of dying, that they don’t really NEED ice. “Sure, R&D is open. Go ahead and take a 3 point Agenda. If you do, you are dead because I have $20 already”. Verdict: You have two choices: either play it a lot, or wait until we get a bunch of OCTGN data. Then, if the win rate is low, you can start ignoring it, and if it’s high, you should probably start playtesting it. Vulcan Coverup: Uncertainty: Moderate Expected Power: 3/5 Similar Cards: Posted Bounty. Treat this as a Posted Bounty which, instead of giving the tag, fills in for one of the Scorches. Similar to how Posted Bounty + 2xScorch was a win against a Plascreteless runner, Vulcan + Sea Source + Scorch is a win. Also, Vulcan + Sea Source + 2x Scorch kills a single Plascrete guarded runner, and that’s easier to find than the triple Scorch that a Posted Bounty required. There is another difference as well. Scoring a Vulcan hurts the runner, even if you don’t follow up, whereas Posted Bounty’s power is only used when you are going to kill. However, if the runner steals Vulcan, then they get the Bad Publicity! As a result, Vulcan is higher variance than Posted Bounty. More upside (2 free damage regardless when you score), more downside. Verdict: If your deck used Posted Bounty, and has enough other good ways to give tags, try replacing the Posted Bounties with these, and see how it goes. GRNDL Refinery: Uncertainty: Moderate Expected Power: 3.5/5 Similar cards: Melange Mining Corp, Thomas Haas. GRNDL Refinery can be a bad Mélange, except in decks where you want to do a lot of “Install Advance Advance”. In those decks, the refinery adds another option to ‘is it a 5/3 or a trap’, and can either force runs or generate money similarly to melange. Here is an analogy: Refinery is to 5/3 ‘slow advance’ decks, as Melange is to 3/2 fast advance or never advance decks. After a play of IAA, AA Use, GRNDL refinery is similar to a Melange, except that its now gone, and the runner doesn’t have to come kill it. Advancing it less than this is simply worse than a Melange. The primary use of this card might come in the future, when the H&P set gives us the Jinteki ID Tennin Institute. You can stick this in play, and then leave it there, and pile counters on it when the runner doesn’t run. Then, you can do Advance, Advance, Use, and take a lot of money. Verdict: It’s a Melange in a lot of the decks we play, but there are probably some decks that will consider it. You should try it out in decks that advance traps or agendas a lot. It’s too bad that the strategy of advancing things and saying GO isn’t more viable than it is. However, this is a slightly buffed reprint of a card that I did use as a 1-of in some original Netrunner decks, so it has the potential to get some play. Edit: Raised my rating a bit after some initial results, it looks reasonable as a Melange replacement in Weyland. Subliminal Messaging: Uncertainty: Moderate/High. Expected Power: 4/5 Similar Cards: None. I’m pretty excited for this card. Free money without spending any clicks is really strong. The drawback is that in some cases, it might actually make your runner opponent play BETTER, by running more instead of being too passive! This card is amazing in decks that heavily punish running, such as many Jinteki decks, and any deck that sits around with Sea Source and Scorched earth, hoping the runner will waste their money on a run. However, if you cannot stop or punish the runner, it might become weak. The best use of this card might be in a deck with Celebrity Gift. Once you manage to return them to your hand from Archives, you have a huge hand, and can Gift without revealing everything to the runner! It essentially negates a lot of the drawback of the Gift. I see this as a staple card in Jinteki, and it should see play in some other decks as well. I, for one, will be testing out TWIY with this and Celebrity Gift. But even if normal decks, that don’t punish running, as long as you aren’t getting completely crushed, it is likely that the runner has some turns when they don’t want to run. Any time this happens, you get a free credit. If this happens at least ONCE, then Subliminal has given you $2 without a click, making it at least as good as a Beanstalk. Once it happens TWICE, the Subliminal is worth $3 without spending a click. That’s basically a Hedge Fund! So far I have been playing 3 Subliminal Messaging in any deck I make, to try it. And so far it is quite interesting. It definitely seems best in Jinteki, who both makes the runner not want to run, and runs Celebrity Gift. I have had some good success with it in an NBN deck with Celebrity Gift, that focuses heavily on locking down centrals to try and get this to recur. Does Subliminal Messaging get worse as you add more of them? A tiny bit worse. If you have 2-3 of them, and the runner doesn’t run you for a turn, you get them all back. And then you get a free $ each turn for the next 2-3 turns. If the runner fails to run for multiple consecutive turns, then the extras are “wasted”. However, its much more common in my experience for the runner to miss one turn of running, than several turns in a row, in which case the extra subliminals are just as valuable. If you have successfully locked the runner out for a long period of time later in the game once you have several subliminals, then you are probably already winning that game! I don’t think that they get much weaker at all as you add multiples. On the other hand, if you have a Celebrity Gift, then returning multiple of them at once is amazing, and allows your Celebrity Gift to still hide several cards! Verdict: This definitely needs testing, it’s a unique and potentially powerful effect. Money just magically appears! And you don’t have to do anything! In my experience so far it is a solid replacement for cards such as Beanstalk or Green Level that you might have had to pay influence for previously. And if your deck is reallygood at making the runner not want to run you, then in that deck they even can become better than Hedge Funds! Go test this card. Its certainly not for EVERY deck, but I think it is good for MANY decks. Conclusion: Overall this set has a number of cards I like, especially on the corp side. On the runner side, Hemorrhage and Omega look semi-promising, but probably aren’t true power cards. Blackguard is probably a good fun-deck card, and Blackmail is a decent meta card. On the corp side, Wraparound gives NBN decks 3 influence back (replacing Ice Wall), Subliminal Messaging is really good for any deck that can make the runner not want to run, and Market Research helps NBN decks gain more tag punishment, without sacrificing deck slots. GRNDL is an interesting ID (probably worse overall than BABW but worth testing – it is much more threatening turn 1 at least). Blue Level Clearance and Yagura are likely playable in-faction.

The results of recent controlled trials documenting the protective effect of male circumcision on HIV infection in young adults pose significant challenges to a country like Israel. Circumcision is performed in close to 100% of new born males, mostly as a religious act in Judaism and Islam. Christian Israelis follow societal norms suggesting that circumcision contributes to better hygiene and cleanliness. Complications in infant circumcision in Israel are rare, despite the surgery being preformed most often by nonmedical circumcisers (a "Mohel") on the eighth day of birth. Reported complication rates are between 0.34% and 2%, with bleeding and infections being the most common. In the last 10 years and due to massive migration of Eastern Europeans into Israel, impressive experience was gained in Israel with adults seeking male circumcision for various reasons including: religious, societal pressure, sexual and economical. Over 21,800 adult male circumcisions have been monitored between 1998 and 2006 alone. Complication rates (mostly bleeding) were 1.75% on an average. This review matches the new data emerging from the African controlled trials with previous observational studies and the Jewish and Israeli experience. We present three challenges to policy makers in Israel: (a) the need to intensify education and information sharing on male circumcision and HIV/AIDS among healthcare workers; (b) developing an information campaign for non-circumcised migrants and adequate service to scale up on potential demand; (c) developing intensified educational campaigns for circumcised males so that they do not abandon other protective interventions (e.g. condoms) when needed for HIV prevention.

Mark Schlabach discusses what transpired at Ole Miss that led to Hugh Freeze stepping down and how "bizarre" the timing is. (1:31) STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The man who helped take down Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze is a lifelong Mississippi State fan who attended his first Bulldogs game 37 years ago and has the university's logo tattooed on his left hand. But he insists he never set out to bring down the Rebels and their coach. It just kind of happened that way. When Steve Robertson was sifting through Freeze's phone records on July 5 as part of his research for an upcoming book he's writing, he discovered phone calls he expected to see. There were mostly calls to recruits and assistant coaches. But when Robertson saw a phone number with a 313 area code, he was stunned by what he discovered in a Google search. A call made on Jan. 19, 2016, lasting one minute, was made to a number connected with several advertisements for female escorts. Robertson then asked his wife to read him the telephone number again to make sure it was correct. The escort service ads came up again. Robertson called Thomas Mars, an attorney who is representing former Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt in his defamation lawsuit against Ole Miss. Mars had been introduced to Robertson through a third party he found while doing online research into Nutt's case. They've since developed a close working relationship, talking on the phone several times a day and sharing what they found in their investigations. "He asked me to fill in some blanks," Robertson said. When Robertson told Mars to enter the phone number in Google, Mars was silent for nearly a minute before yelling an expletive in excitement. Ole Miss had unwittingly provided information that would lead to Freeze's resignation. To understand what has transpired in the last couple of years in Oxford, Mississippi, it helps to know the nature of the rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. While this seems like the kind of scandal that could only happen in college football, it's really the kind of scandal that could only happen in a state like Mississippi. "It's very Mississippi," Bruse Loyd, a Houston-based attorney, told ESPN last month. "It's very William Faulkner." Loyd, who represents former Ole Miss staffer Barney Farrar, and who said he played junior college football with Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, all but predicted Freeze's ouster a month ago. "There's just so much drama and it involves a lot of tragedy," Loyd said. "It's going to get worse and there's going to be a lot more that's coming." In 2014, Mississippi State was ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and Ole Miss was No. 3 after eight weeks of the season. Ever since, the usual high level of vitriol in the rivalry seems to have been taken to another level. As one SEC power broker puts it: "It makes Ohio State-Michigan and Auburn-Alabama look like Sunday school." Robertson puts it another way: "It's the two runt puppies in the SEC West fighting for the hind teat. When you finally get locked on that hind teat, you do whatever you have to do to stay there, even if the other guy has to starve." Steve Robertson, left, helped reveal the phone number which led to Hugh Freeze's resignation. Steve Robertson Robertson would know. In fact, if you're looking for answers as to how Ole Miss finds itself in its current predicament, he's the best person to talk to. He explained how he became so intertwined with the case over lunch at a burger joint in Starkville on Sunday afternoon. It's a story of how what began as a run-of-the-mill college football scandal -- bottom-dwelling team hires upstart coach, five-star recruits arrive, and ensuing success leads to whispers, then accusations, and eventually serious charges by the NCAA -- mushroomed into much more. It initially appeared that the Rebels might have been in the clear with only a slap on the wrist had it not been for a bizarre sequence of events with All-America offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil last year. On April 28, 2016, the first night of the NFL draft, someone hacked Tunsil's social media accounts and published a video of him smoking a substance from a gas mask, as well as text messages in which he asked Ole Miss coaches for money to pay rent and his mother's utility bills. That set in motion the chain of events that brought Robertson and Mars together and culminated in Freeze's hasty resignation last Thursday. Once Mars was made aware of the phone number linked to the escort service, he alerted Ole Miss general counsel Lee Tyner via a July 13 email. "For the benefit of everyone on your end, and particularly Coach Freeze, I'd suggest you and [assistant general counsel Rob Jolly] do a deeper dive on the last set of phone records you gave me," Mars wrote. "If you examine them carefully enough, you'll find a phone call Coach Freeze made that would be highly embarrassing for all of you and extremely difficult to explain. While that call is arguably relevant to the NCAA investigation, we decided to take the high road and not make reference to it in the complaint." Mars said Nutt didn't want him to release the phone records to the media. "Houston had no interest in this information being used to embarrass Hugh Freeze, and he made that very clear to me," Mars said. "He wasn't interested in taking a pound of flesh from Hugh Freeze. He only wanted to clear his name." After receiving Mars' email, Ole Miss officials initially searched only for the phone number in question. They told Mars they didn't find the number in any more of Freeze's phone records. But Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork decided to do a more extensive search of Freeze's phone records going back to shortly after he was hired in December 2011. A review was conducted by Freeze's attorney, a university attorney and an athletic department staff member of more than 39,000 phone calls. Bjork told ESPN last week that they found a pattern of calls that was "troubling." Ole Miss Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, left, and athletic director Ross Bjork announced Hugh Freeze's resignation on Thursday. Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle/AP Robertson, who has covered Mississippi State sports since 2001, said he and Mars stumbled upon the number when they were looking for another call -- a conversation between Freeze and a sportswriter. The call with the sportswriter happened on Jan. 20, 2016, but Mars requested records for the day before and the day after, so the university didn't know exactly what he was looking for. The phone call to the escort service was one of 84 calls over a three-day period included in the records, after Freeze had redacted three personal calls. He failed to redact the call to the 313 area code. Mars, based in Little Rock, Arkansas, was a former general counsel and chief administrator for Walmart, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is one of his clients. Mars lived in the same neighborhood as Nutt when he was coaching at Arkansas, and Bill Clinton's pastor called him in February and asked him to help Nutt in his case against Ole Miss. At the start of his legal career, Mars worked under Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock. Robertson had been butting heads with Ole Miss officials for the past several months, since they denied his open records request for an unredacted version of the notice of allegations the Rebels received from the NCAA in January 2016. Robertson wanted the names of the Ole Miss boosters who are accused of providing improper benefits to recruits, and university officials wouldn't release them. When Mars advised Tyner about the call Freeze made to the escort service, he told him that he'd shared the phone records with Robertson. "Steve is obsessed," Mars said Tyner told him. Editor's Picks Ole Miss' Freeze quits; escort-service calls cited Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze has resigned, effective immediately, the school said Thursday. Matt Luke, co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, has been installed as the interim coach. Whom should Ole Miss hire to replace Hugh Freeze? Ole Miss will have plenty of time to conduct its search for a permanent head coach, but our search firm breaks down what a new coach will be walking into, offers up a list of candidates and makes a final recommendation. 1 Related "Had anybody in this state done their job, I wouldn't have had to do it," Robertson said. "It got to the point where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of it. I was willing to pass the baton to someone, but no one was willing to take it." Robertson filed a complaint with the Mississippi Ethics Commission, which ruled in his favor earlier this month. One of the unnamed boosters -- identified in court records as John Doe -- filed a lawsuit in state court in Jackson in an attempt to block the release of his name. "I don't care if it goes to the Mississippi Supreme Court," Robertson said. "I'm in this all the way. The law is on my side." Mars was preparing to sue Ole Miss and the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation for violating the terms of Nutt's severance agreement, which paid him a lump sum of $4.35 million when he was fired in 2011. Among other things, Ole Miss officials are "not to make any statement relative to Nutt's tenure as an employee [of Ole Miss] that may damage or harm Nutt's reputation as a football coach." Mars claims Ole Miss officials violated that agreement by allegedly defaming Nutt and blaming him for most of the Rebels' NCAA troubles in off-the-record conversations with sports reporters, including from ESPN. Along with Robertson's help, Mars also enlisted the services of Fred Burton, a longtime counterterrorism agent with the U.S. Department of State. Burton, whom Mars has known since the second grade, was involved in several high-profile investigations, including the capture of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. When asked about what Burton did to help in the Nutt case, Mars declined to provide specifics. The fact that a self-described Mississippi State fan helped expose the wrongdoing of a popular Ole Miss coach will only add more bad blood to an in-state rivalry that has been boiling with venom for months. "If it weren't for Steve Robertson, I don't believe this case would have transpired the way it did over the past week," Mars said. Robertson has already received multiple death threats. He shared one with ESPN in which someone wrote on a message board that "he will be lucky if he can ever speak again" and "he won't be around much longer." Even before Robertson helped expose Freeze's alleged misdeeds, Ole Miss and Mississippi State fans had been pointing fingers at each other. Many MSU fans accused the Rebels of cheating in recruiting during their rise to national prominence under Freeze, while some Ole Miss fans believe the Bulldogs helped orchestrate many of the more serious allegations of rules violations. And, of course, they're battling for many of the same high school players in a sparsely populated state. "It's a family feud every day of every year," said ESPN college football analyst Tommy Tuberville, a former Ole Miss coach. "Recruiting is so much more involved and there's a lot more on the line. Auburn and Alabama is more of a rivalry game between the players, coaches and fans. But probably 80 percent of the guys signed by Ole Miss every year were recruited by Mississippi State. It's that cutthroat." Hugh Freeze announced his resignation last week after five years as Ole Miss' head coach. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis Two Mississippi State players -- linebacker Leo Lewis and defensive lineman Kobe Jones -- told NCAA investigators that the Rebels provided them with improper benefits. The players made the charges after they were granted partial immunity by the NCAA. Among other benefits, Jones and Lewis said they received free merchandise from Rebel Rags, a popular Ole Miss clothing and memorabilia store, according to legal filings. Charles Merkel, an attorney who represents Rebel Rags, sued Jones, Lewis and Lindsey Miller, Tunsil's ex-stepfather, who told the NCAA that he also received free merchandise from the store. Merkel sued the trio for making false statements and said he has hundreds of pages of sales records and credit card receipts that prove they're lying. Merkel has requested to depose them under oath to prove it. It doesn't take long to figure out which side Robertson is rooting for. He grew up in Columbia, Mississippi, near the Louisiana border. (He boasts that he and Walter Payton are the only good things to come from there.) Robertson attended his first Mississippi State game on Nov. 1, 1980, when he watched the Bulldogs upset No. 1 Alabama 6-3 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Bumper stickers were made to commemorate the win that read: "I Was There When We Beat The Bear.") A self-described recovering alcoholic and addict, Robertson said he has been sober for 25 years. In 1992, he was convicted of burglary and false pretense and was sentenced to probation. He said Ole Miss fans have publicized his past problems in an attempt to damage his credibility. "I've got to serve a life sentence for something I did when I was 19," Robertson said. "I wasn't one of those people who saw the light; I had to feel the heat." A 45-year-old father of four kids, Robertson also hosts a popular podcast and wrote a book about the Ole Miss scandal, "Flim Flam," which is scheduled to be published next month (the books are being handled by an out-of-state printer to avoid copies being leaked). Robertson is not-so-affectionately known as "Rose Bowl" by Ole Miss fans. In 2001, Mississippi State was ranked in the preseason top 20 under coach Jackie Sherrill, and Robertson predicted it would win the SEC and play in the BCS championship game in Pasadena, California. The Bulldogs finished 3-8. He has been jokingly referring to himself as "Rose Bowl" ever since. When the Rebels self-imposed a one-year postseason ban in February, he started selling "Rose Bowl Was Right" T-shirts. He advertised them on Facebook again when Freeze resigned on Thursday. Robertson will continue to keep a close eye on what's transpiring in Oxford. The Rebels might appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions later this summer in Indianapolis, where they'll attempt to argue that the coach they just forced to resign followed the rules. Freeze is charged with failure to monitor his staff, and Ole Miss is charged with lack of institutional control, the most serious NCAA violation a member institution can face. It's unknown what kind of impact Freeze's resignation will have on the case, but Robertson can't believe it has gotten this far. "If they had just apologized to Houston Nutt, I don't even know who Thomas Mars is and I never have the phone records," Robertson said. "I never find that call."

Tens of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians have come to the UK to work since restrictions were lifted Peter Nicholls/The Times Net migration has reached a record 336,000 as figures published yesterday showed that Romanians are now the third biggest group coming to the UK. Officials said the latest increase was driven by a “statistically significant” rise in the overall number of immigrants, with many of them arriving to take up jobs. The surge was partly because of a 61 per cent rise in the number of Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK for more than a year in the 12 months to June. Romania entered the top five nations sending migrants to the UK for the first time this year, behind India and China, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Net migration is defined as the difference between the number of…

But that, as Detective Hamm can tell you, is easier said than done. The number of black graduates from the Police Academy has dropped to 9 percent this month from 19 percent in 2005, police officials say. Officials have pointed to several factors, including the shrinking black population in New York City; the department’s stop-and-frisk strategy, which increased distrust in minority communities; and administrative hiccups that left some applicants hanging for years without a call from the department after taking the test. The department’s efforts haven’t always been consistent, either. One day after Mr. de Blasio promised that the city would be recruiting black officers “energetically,” police officials acknowledged that 18 of the 20 officers assigned to the department’s recruitment unit had been reassigned to help crack down on gun violence. Police officials said those officers would return to recruitment in the fall. William J. Bratton, the police commissioner, said the city’s hiring efforts were already delivering results. About 16 percent of the recruits entering the academy this month are expected to be black, “a very significant increase,” Mr. Bratton said. He was speaking at a news briefing and praised the Guardians, whose members have been speaking at colleges and community meetings around the city. Detective Hamm, a former elementary-school teacher, said he understood the hesitancy he often encountered. He grew up in the Martin Luther King Jr. Towers, a public housing project in Harlem, and remembers the deaths of Eleanor Bumpurs and Michael Stewart at the hands of the police, cases that seared the city in the 1980s.

Got a question for Philologos? Ask him directly at philologos@mosaicmagazine.com. My previous column dealt with linguistic evidence for Israelite sailors’ having reached India from Palestine in the time of King Solomon. About it, Anson Laytner writes: In Solomon’s day there was no Palestine, so the trip would have been impossible! Seriously, though, if Mosaic’s own team misuses terminology, what about the rest of us? Perhaps it is time for you to write something on the geographical names Judah, Israel, Judaea, Palestine, etc. Seriously, this is a subject that I have written on—and more than once during my years as a Jewish-language columnist. And yet, although I dislike having to repeat myself, perhaps Anson Laytner is right that it deserves to be written about again. Few place names these days arouse quite as much passion as does “Palestine,” nearly all of it directed against Israel. To any Jew who was old enough to read at the time the state of Israel was created, this can only seem grimly ironic, because “Palestine” was once a Jewish word, too. I can’t watch a news clip of anti-Israel demonstrators chanting “Palestine will be free/ From the river to the sea!” without remembering the blue-and-white Jewish National Fund collection box that stood in the kitchen of my parents’ New York apartment in 1947-48, when I was a boy of eight or nine. On it, across a map of the Jewish homeland, was written in flowing letters: “Fight for a Free Palestine!” There was nothing exceptional about this. English and French “Palestine,” German Palästina, Polish Palestyna, Russian Палестина: this was the standard word in European languages, used by Jews no less than by others, for the country whose greater part was renamed Israel after 1948. It had been the standard word since the early 19th century, when it gradually replaced the term “the Holy Land” that had been in use in the Christian world in medieval and early modern times. When, in 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, it proclaimed, “His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Jews, unless they were anti-Zionist, were exultant over this wording. It was the Arabs who weren’t. Sign Up For Our E-Mail List Get the latest from Mosaic right in your inbox Daily Weekly It is true that in speaking or writing Jewish languages like Yiddish, Hebrew, or Ladino, 19th- and early-20th-century Jews did not generally use “Palestine.” Their own term, current since early rabbinic times, was “Erets-Yisra’el,” the Land of Israel. It is also true that when, after putting down the Bar-Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, the Romans officially renamed their administrative province of Judea, which included much of the Land of Israel, as Syria Palaestina, their motives were anti-Jewish. Palaestina was the Pleshet of the Hebrew Bible, the land of the Plishtim or Philistines, the archenemies of the biblical Israelites. By giving the name “Palestinian Syria” to the country that had been unsuccessfully fought for by the Jewish people in two bitter rebellions, the Romans were seeking to deny the Jewish connection to it. Moreover, whereas biblical Pleshet had signified the Philistines’ stronghold of the country’s coastal plain, the name was now extended to the traditionally Israelite hill country that the Philistines had never occupied. And yet many people have names for their countries that are not used by the rest of the world, and some have names for them that are no more historically accurate than was Syria Palaestina. Although Germans call their native land Deutschland, they are not offended when Americans call it Germany and French call it Allemagne, and they unthinkingly use these names when speaking English or French; nor do the inhabitants of Holland protest the absurdity of being called “Dutch” in English when, in their own language (called by them Nederlands or Hollands), Duits means “German.” And while the whole world says “America” just as Americans do, who, Americans included, stops to reflect that this name comes from that of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, to whom the discovery of the American continent was erroneously attributed in 1507 by the German mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller? (Mr. Laytner, I suppose, would retort that America couldn’t have been discovered before 1507, there having been no place by this name prior to that date!) Of course, no Germans are laying claim to Holland because its inhabitants are called Dutch, and no one is demanding the abolition of the USA because it was named for the wrong person, whereas quite a few people favor the dismantlement of Israel because it is on “Palestinian” land. The Palestinian Arab hijacking of the words Palestine and Palestinian goes back to 1948, and Jewish zeal for the new state of Israel, it must be said, bears its share of the blame for this. Inasmuch as the Arabs, following their 1948 defeat that resulted in Palestine’s being divided into two unequal parts, insisted that it was still one country and would return to being one country under Arab rule, it was only natural for many Israelis and Jews to say the opposite—that is, that Palestine no longer existed, its place having been taken by Israel and the Jordanian-controlled “West Bank” of the Jordan. This went on until 1967, when Israel conquered the “West Bank,” too, and all of Palestine fell under its rule. However, since, apart from eastern Jerusalem, it did not annex the West Bank, the word “Israel” continued to refer, even for Israelis, to the pre-1967 state of Israel alone; what was conquered, depending on one’s political point of view, either remained “the West Bank” or came to be called “the territories,” “the occupied [or administered] territories,” or “Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.” (After Israel’s 2005 evacuation of the Gaza Strip, the last became just “Judea and Samaria.”) If one wished to refer to Israel and the occupied territories together, one could do so in Hebrew as Erets-Yisra’el, but what, if determined to shun the word “Palestine,” could one say in English or other languages? And there, Mr. Laytner, is the rub. As a discrete geographical area, bounded on the west by the sea, on the east by the Jordan Valley, on the north by the mountains of Lebanon, and on the south by the Sinai desert, Palestine exists and existed in Solomon’s time, too. What then, if not “Palestine,” are we to call this area in English? “Erets-Israel”? I wish you luck if you think you can sell that. “The Holy Land?” The world isn’t about to go back to the 18th century. “Canaan?” That’s going back to the 18th century BCE. “Cisjordan?” Yes, the French sometimes say “Cisjordanie,” but French isn’t English. I can’t think of any other ideas. And that being the case, we have two choices: either we pretend that the land “from the river to the sea” is not, geographically, one country—or else we assert that it is and call it Palestine. This doesn’t prejudge the question of whom this country, politically, should belong to. One can legitimately claim all of it for the Jewish people. But in order to do so, one needs a word for it, and “Palestine” is the only one there is. Got a question for Philologos? Ask him directly at philologos@mosaicmagazine.com.

President-elect Donald Trump seems to be setting a trend that when he doesn’t like the news about him he cries that it’s fake news. It certainly happened with the Russian hack story and #GoldenShowerGate. A new CNN/ORC poll shows that Trump set a record for the lowest poll numbers (40 percent) for a president on Inauguration Day. According to the poll, only 14 percent of Democrats think that Trump will do well as president and only 4 percent think he’s handled the transition well. In an Associated Press poll of young people, 52 percent of whites, 72 percent of Latinos, 66 percent of Asians and 70 percent of African-Americans think Trump will create more divisions. Another shocking statistic released this week revealed that 74 percent of Americans want to see Trump’s tax returns. Trump’s response was to cry foul. The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2017 Twitter unleashed a hilarious string of mockery for the incoming leader: @owillis @realDonaldTrump President Obama won popular vote by 10 MILLION You'll never be half the man or President he is You're despised — Linda (@GoldieAZ) January 17, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump hillary got more votes than you. you will have to take that with you forever. — Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 17, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump When you need a little help to win the election pic.twitter.com/SoWwnZy3WE — Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) January 17, 2017 Net favorables of world leaders in @CNN poll Trudeau: +29 Merkel: +13 Trump: -9 Putin: -59 (lol. white people don't like you too) https://t.co/O0zdyElNbH — AAmom (@AVD911) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump and @HouseGOP are under fire🔥,and already proving they can't handle this much power(Senate& Exec Office). pic.twitter.com/YXiSWEA5KO — Lil' Kim Ms. G.O.A.T (@killerbee805) January 17, 2017 Seeing Trump supporters not believe the ORC poll because "fake news." pic.twitter.com/ToZHTJegT9 — Emilia🇺🇸 (@emnercessiann) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump and they'll all begin with the word "lowest" unless it is followed by the words "death rate." (2/2) — Danesh (@DaneshWasTaken) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump Polls aren't rigged. You are truly despised. — RJ Palacio (@RJPalacio) January 17, 2017 It's so easy to play this game every time @realDonaldTrump tweets something. https://t.co/uvkfvZMmnN — John Bowman (@johnbowman) January 17, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump Every morning an angry billionaire cries on twitter about his pathetic existence: pic.twitter.com/4HRyXkyXoQ — Zoey Bartlet-Young (@Zoey_Bartlet) January 17, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump It'll be ok. Just lighten up. Why are you always so angry in the morning? pic.twitter.com/IwpqlAIz4Z — Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump You mean the popular election that you lost by 3 million votes to Hillary on? — Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump Your entire image and financial wealth is rigged. Release those tax returns, Don, I dare you. — Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) January 17, 2017 You can't just say everything that opposes you is rigged, @realDonaldTrump. You used that card earlier. – Founder, @TheOfficialPORP — David G. McAfee (@DavidGMcAfee) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump and it might not be a good idea to throw the word 'rigged' about, you know, as it just reminds of Russian interference. — Matt Haig (@matthaig1) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump People are already growing sick of you. — The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump Everyone is lying that doesn't agree with Donald Trump or boost Donald Trump'a Ego. — Trey Pearson (@treypearson) January 17, 2017 @EmmaKennedy "I don't like to hear that so it's fake news!" pic.twitter.com/h4KQQgGVle — Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) January 17, 2017 @realDonaldTrump Dude, real talk: you're our POTUS now. I accept it, but I need you to stop whining and start working. Be presidential FFS. — TJ Fixman (@TJFixman) January 17, 2017

RAMALLAH (Reuters) - The body of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, eight years after his death, in an investigation to establish if he was murdered, a Palestinian official said on Saturday. Plastic sheets cover the mausoleum of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah November 24, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman A French court opened a murder inquiry in August into Arafat’s death in Paris after a Swiss institute said it had discovered high levels of radioactive polonium on his clothing, which was supplied by his widow, Suha. Tawfiq al-Tirawi, in charge of the Palestinian committee overseeing the investigation, told reporters in Ramallah on Saturday “it is a painful necessity” to exhume the body of Arafat, who came to symbolize the Palestinian quest for statehood throughout decades of war and peace with Israel. Tirawi said the Palestinians had “evidence which suggests Arafat was assassinated by Israelis”. Israel denies any involvement. The exhumation and renewed allegations of Israeli involvement could stir further tension between the Palestinians and Israel, which are observing a truce after a week of fierce fighting in Gaza. Any positive results for polonium could rekindle Palestinian hostility toward Israel and suspicions that a local collaborator may have poisoned him under directions from the Jewish state. Allegations of foul play have long surrounded Arafat’s demise. He died in a Paris hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. French doctors who treated him in his final days said they could not establish the cause of death, and no autopsy was performed in deference to his widow’s request at the time, when Arafat died at 75. Eight years is considered a limit to detect any traces of the deadly radioactive substance, according to the Swiss Institute of Radiation Physics. Tirawi said Arafat’s body would be exhumed from its limestone mausoleum in Ramallah, away from the public or media presence, and separate samples will be taken by the French and Swiss forensic teams, as well as a Russian team of experts, who the Palestinians invited to help with the examination. After the investigation “the body of leader Abu Ammar will be returned (reburied) in a military ceremony that is befitting him as a leader of the Palestinian people”, Tirawi said, using Arafat’s non de guerre. Tirawi said results could take up to several months to be announced.

Jennifer Tress begins a presentation at George Mason University with a photograph of her 13-year-old self. She has written a book titled "You're Not Pretty Enough: You Can’t Make Up Real Life." (Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST) Jennifer Tress can’t change who is on the cover of Cosmo. She can’t stop college guys from sharing links from BroBible and Hot or Not. But she can sit in your university’s common room and tell you how her husband cheated on her because, he said, she wasn’t “pretty enough.” And she will tell you how years after their divorce his painful words led her to become what she calls “an accidental body-image activist.” Tress, a consultant for the federal government by day, is bringing her multimedia salons on self-esteem to 100 colleges over the next few months. You’re not pretty enough. It’s not a nice thing to say, or hear, as Tress knows. It’s almost the reverse message of the soundtrack to soothe low self-esteem that college students are used to: One Direction crooning “You’re insecure / Don’t know what for / You’re turning heads when you walk through the door,” or Bruno Mars promising “You’re amazing / Just the way you are.” To Tress, these fluffy anthems of self-acceptance are useful but not as powerful as confronting your shortcomings with honesty. That’s what she offers in her meetings with college students — a chance to talk about societal expectations of beauty, why they’re hurtful and also tough to ignore, and what to focus on instead. Tress’s college tour coincides with the publication of her book of comic stories,“You’re Not Pretty Enough: You Can’t Make Up Real Life.” The book has a retro-looking photograph of her 13-year-old self on the cover, sporting alarmingly bushy eyebrows and a frizzy mullet. Now 42, Tress regularly has her eyebrows waxed. She has thick, frizz-free brown hair that flows over her shoulders, clear skin and a pleasant smile. She’s, well, pretty. “I have been 20, even 40 pounds heavier than this. I like to eat. I like to drink,” she offers while setting up for one of her salons last month at George Mason University in Arlington. “When people hear what I’m doing, they say, ‘I don’t know, Jen, you are pretty, so should you do this?’ ” She relates this anecdote with the breezy confidence of a woman who once had a bad spell, has come out of it and is using her newfound confidence to inspire others. She says she didn’t see “a space that was trying to connect to this really common feeling. So I created one.” She has also launched a video project on YouTube that she hopes will do for young people with body and beauty image issues what Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project does to help prevent suicide among LGBT youths. In some ways, her quest can feel a little naive, even futile, in a world where beauty is an empirically advantageous trait. Good-looking people are paid better, have an easier time getting loans and even get milder prison sentences, according to recent studies by Daniel Hamermesh, a University of Texas labor economist and the father of pulchronomics, or the economic study of beauty. Hamermesh says that even though beauty bias undermines equal opportunity laws, there’s not much we can do to change that inherent discrimination. But that reality is why Tress’s self- esteem salons can feel like salve on a burn. The blistered skin may turn into a scar that will always be there, but the temporary relief is soothing nonetheless. Young women today don’t feel bad just about the face looking back at them in the mirror but also about how they look on Instagram and how many likes their new Facebook profile picture gets. If Generation X dreaded the awkward yearbook shot and the mortifying middle school “glamour shot,” today’s generation has a dozen more platforms to hate themselves on. They’re celebrities in their own mini-worlds — or with their 340 followers — and their bad hair days or drunken dance moves are recorded online, possibly forever. In a 2012 survey that Tress conducted with 450 area college students, most women reported that they wondered if they weren’t attractive enough anywhere from every three minutes to once a day. “It’s not like you can rip up a Facebook photo, so we constantly have to be, like, ‘Please untag me! Please!’ ” shouted Lindsey Wahowiak, 28, who lives in Columbia Heights and came to the recent talk at George Mason. “I really have to wonder why I care. So what if my face looks fat in a few photos? Sometimes, my face looks like that.” These are the types of comments that Tress talks through with the people who arrive at her salons. About 30 joined her on a recent summer evening in a conference room at George Mason, laughing nervously while entering the room marked with a “You’re not pretty enough” sign. Tress led the crowd through exercises to combat negative “self-talk” and encouraged the audience to realize how common feelings of self-loathing can be. There are a few men who come to her sessions, some with eating disorders and others who never felt they were good-looking by mainstream standards. “It’s not easy being a Korean American in Mississippi,” said Chuck Na, one of two men who attended the George Mason event. “I was bullied a lot and just felt like being Asian-looking was this weird thing.” The “YNPE movement,” as Tress calls it, started after she got involved in the live storytelling scene in Washington. While she is now happily married to a D.C. police officer who helps her set up most of her salons, she knows the anecdote about her ex-husband is a story she has become known for, a humiliating crowd-pleaser. It resonated with people, and they would yell out at shows, “Hey, you’re the not-pretty-enough girl,” she said. Soon, she created the Web site yourenotprettyenough.com, thinking it was an inside joke for people who knew the story. But she noticed that the Web site started getting a startling amount of traffic from people Googling variations of the phrase. Around the same time, she heard that tweens and teenage girls were uploading videos of themselves to YouTube and asking the question, “Am I ugly?” “It really hurt me,” she said of seeing these raw videos. “And it just sparked something in me to do something about it.” And the self-esteem salon was born. Aside from leading classic confidence-building discussions, she gets the crowd pumped up by playing music — “So Fly,” by Elle Varner, is a favorite — and comedy videos. But the bulk of the events involves Tress giving salon participants a few minutes of relief — and maybe some tools to use once they leave. “It’s tough out there, and sometimes you have to prepare to be horrified,” said Elizabeth Trabert Piper, 22, a recent graduate of Loyola University who came to the gathering and had started a “Beauty and Women” group at her school. “But I think Tress gives us a chance to at least vent about it. And that’s a good start.”

This article is about Russian and Soviet chess composer. For Russian and Soviet footballer, see Aleksei Troitsky (footballer) A. A. Troitsky Alexey Alexeyevich Troitsky, or Alexei, Troitzky, or Troitzki (Russian: Алексе́й Алексе́евич Тро́ицкий) (March 14, 1866–August 1942) is considered to have been one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies.[1] He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern art of composing chess studies (Seirawan 2003:91). Troitsky died of starvation during World War II at the siege of Leningrad, where his notes were destroyed. One of his most famous works involves analyzing the endgame with two knights versus a pawn, see Troitsky line. John Nunn analyzed this endgame with an endgame tablebase and stated that "the analysis of Troitsky ... is astonishingly accurate" (Nunn 1995:265). Compositions [ edit ] This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. Troitsky was a prolific composer of endgame studies. Irving Chernev included nine of them in his book 200 Brilliant Endgames. The diagram shows one of them. Troitsky, 1909 a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h White to move and win The main line goes: 1. Nb6! Qe8 2. Nd7! Kc4 3. Qxc7+ Kb4 4. Qc5+ Kb3 5. Qc3+ Ka4 6. Qd4+ Ka3 7. Nc5 Qb8 8. Qa1+ Kb4 9. Na6+ and White wins (Chernev 1989:207–8). Books [ edit ] Troitzky, A. (1924), 500 Endspielstudien , Verlag Kagan Berlin , Verlag Kagan Berlin Troitzky, A. A. (1968), 360 Brilliant and Instructive End Games , Dover Publications (reprint), ISBN 0-486-21959-3 Troitzky, A. (1992), Collection of Studies, Tschaturanga Ed. Olms, ISBN 3-283-00114-6. Reprinted in 2006 by Ishi Press, ISBN 0-923891-10-2. The 360 studies above plus a supplement on the theory of the endgame of two knights against pawns. See also [ edit ] Two knights endgame (contains Troitsky line) Notes [ edit ] ^ Collection of Chess Studies, In the introduction to Sam Sloan writes "... Trotzky is considered to have been the greatest composer of chess endgame studies ever." References [ edit ] Troitzky Chess, invented by Paul Byway, a chess variant where checkmate by two knights can be forced.

Mewes is here to talk his new movie, the Clerks legacy, and the future of Jay and Silent Bob. TMS: We typically never talk politics around here. But dude, who do you think you're gonna vote for this crazy election season? JM: Honestly. I haven't been following it. I will actually vote however my wife tells me to vote. So that's gonna be what it is. I hadn't voted up until a couple years ago. Because I had a felony, I was told I was not allowed to vote. I just assumed they were right and I never did any type of research about it, so I just never voted because I thought I wasn't allowed to. My wife researched it and it was somewhat true. You can't vote while you're on probation. But after you're off, you can vote. So, I just started voting when Obama came around. So, I had never voted before and I was like 'Who am I? Am I democrat or am I Republican?'. TMS: I think you're a Democrat. JM: My wife gave me some input about what's what and this year it's the same thing. I'll listen to what she says. I guess I should know a little bit more and should be more supportive about that stuff but I think I'm playing with my baby too much and traveling. When I am home and I have downtime, I read comic books and play video games. Maybe I shouldn't be doing so much of that. TMS: So, how is it being a parent? Seems crazy that Jay has a baby!!! JM: I had no idea how much time a baby takes. I knew but I didn't know. I didn't know that when she started walking I'd be literally chasing her around the house because I'm so petrified that she's gonna fall and hit her head or something. So, I literally chase her around. She wants to go up her slide and down her slide in the living room. She wants to get on her scooter which she's just learning how to get on. It's a blast. I love it. TMS: What's up with Vigilante Diaries? Where can people see it? And what do you want them to know about the movie? JM: This Friday it'll be out on VOD, iTunes, and in some theaters. I'm very excited about it. It started out as a little passion project that my friends Christian and Paul made as a web series. We shot it and put it out there. Someone saw it and really dug it. They said 'Hey man, we wanna make this into a movie'. They gave Christian and Paul some money to make it into a movie. I think they did a great job. So here we have it. I went back and shot some more stuff for my character. They went somewhere like Belize or Brazil, somewhere awesome that I didn't get to go. But the production value turned out fantastic. I was super stoked. TMS: I know it was a seven episode web series. Did they reshoot the entire thing or did they put the scenes they had already shot into the movie? JM: They just shot and they intertwined the web stuff into it. I feel the way they did it worked very well. They used the web footage to keep the flow of the movie which I thought was genius. It wasn't like 'Hey look, this idea is genius, let's scrap the web series!' to start over. They shot the movie and pieced in the web series and it works really well. TMS: I don't wanna spend too much time on the Kevin Smith movies because I'm sure it gets tiresome. But, how do you deal with fans that are incessantly quoting movie lines at you? JM: I dig it, man. I'm flattered. Twenty years later people are still quoting stuff from the movies. And watching those movies. People are coming to our podcast that we do. It's been awesome. I never expected that Jay and Bob would be around twenty years later doing stuff. TMS: Well, Clerks started it all, man. What can you tell us about your experience making that flick? JM: After Clerks I went back to roofing. It's funny cause if you watch Clerks, Jay's not even on the poster. We shot the movie with a couple of friends. I didn't know anything about the world of trying to sell....'like hey, we're gonna bring this to film festivals, people watch it, they can buy it and put it in theaters'. I had no clue. I just thought we shot it. We watched it in the video store with like 15-20 of us. I was like 'Cool. That's awesome. That was fun. We made a movie.' Then all of a sudden Kevin was like 'Miramax bought it. It's gonna be in theaters. I got a deal where I'm gonna make a couple more movies and I'm gonna throw us into the next movie'. So again, I had no idea that I'd do more than one movie and that we'd still be doing it. My point is that I don't mind if people drive by and are like 'Snootchie bootchies'. People come up and show me tattoos of Jay and Bob. I think it's fantastic. I don't get sick of it at all. It's flattering and awesome that people enjoy us. TMS: He's getting ready to make this Mallrats tv series. We thought we were getting another movie but instead it's being turned into a show. Will you guys be returning for that? JM: Oh totally! He definitely planned on us being in the movie. Hopefully all goes smooth and as planned with the tv show. I don't know how he's going to convert the storyline of the script. I'm curious. But I do not that Jay and Silent Bob will be in it. Then hopefully we get to shoot Moose Jaws, part of the True North trilogy. Kevin did Tusk and Yoga Hosers. The third part of that trilogy will be Moose Jaws, which is basically Jaws with a moose. TMS: That's awesome!!! Comic book movies are huge right now. So, why not a Bluntman and Chronic movie? JM: Believe me, I would love that. Honestly, it's Kevin's stuff. If Kevin is willing to make it or wants to make it, I would love to make it. I honestly would. I think if we were gonna make it, we'd need stunt guys running up the sides of a wall, roundhouse kicks, some really cool stuff. But you're right. It could totally work as a superhero/comedy. I'm down with it. If Kevin could write it, it would be amazing. TMS: What's the best comedy of all time? JM: House Party is one of my favorites. It's old school. And Do The Right Thing. Those are two that stand out to me and I watch a bunch. Do The Right Thing is something me and Kevin have been watching for twenty years and always quote between each other. The Movie Sleuth thanks Jay for talking to us. It was definitely an experience!

Labour’s travails with the media are more deadly than it thinks ‘People don’t vote for a divided party; we’ve got to learn some lessons about how we handle the media.’ So said John McDonnell during a recent LSE lecture, and frankly amen to that. Five months in, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has formed a relationship of sorts with the press, but it remains an uneasy one. Talk to lobby journalists and the complaint is not, as Corbyn’s loyal fans imagine, that the wrong guy won. It is that the leader’s inner circle do not understand what reporters want. The rehiring last month of formerly disgraced spin doctor Damian McBride to advise Emily Thornberry will be welcomed by many hacks – if not by the colleagues McBride sometimes briefed against – on the grounds that at least he knows a story when he sees one. Forget the comforting fiction that Corbyn would be polling over 40 per cent if only the wicked Murdoch press/BBC/mainstream media were not out to get him. Nothing good comes of blaming everyone but yourself for being unpopular, and, while a fierce sense of being oppressed by the establishment is hardwired into large parts of the left, there is something faintly surreal about claiming victimisation by the rightwing press even as it moves on to ripping the Tories apart over Europe. The truth is that newspapers thrive commercially by reflecting, not driving, readers’ opinions of individual politicians, and often fall flat on their faces when attempting the latter. Neither Rupert Murdoch nor Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre ever rated David Cameron much – the Daily Mail twice backed Ken Clarke for leader, which did not end well – but so long as their readers liked him, he got a relatively easy ride. Watch them turn the minute that that is no longer the case. That said, Corbynistas are right in their complaint that the rightwing press outguns the leftwing press in terms of newspaper market share. And, with the closure of both Independent print titles, the number of sympathetic outlets for Labour has further reduced. Social media is an increasingly important news source for the JezWeCan generation but Twitter, the liberal left’s favourite meeting place, is shedding users. The BBC is watched and trusted by millions, and since it is statutorily obliged to be impartial, is crucial to levelling an otherwise uneven playing field. But it too faces a potentially existential threat from the licence fee review, a bigger picture seemingly lost on Corbynistas haranguing any BBC reporter deemed insufficiently respectful of their hero. And all this fits into a worrying bigger picture for the groups and institutions Labour has traditionally worked alongside to amplify its voice. Charities’ political activity is being limited by legislation, trade unions undermined, public interest litigation constrained by legal aid cutbacks. The liberal left is basically learning how it felt to be a Conservative in the 1990s: marginalised, defensive, feeling the argument slip away from you. It is a dangerous time for the Labour party to retreat into self-pity. New shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle is right to start by pledging to defend the BBC, and she has her reasons for making the full implementation of the Leveson inquiry a priority. But Corbyn should be extremely wary of expending goodwill he does not have on starting a war over media plurality. It was a huge issue in the 1990s, when Tony Blair rather ingloriously sidestepped it, but times have changed; the coming threat to the liberal media’s survival is not Murdoch but the internet, currently threatening to put everyone out of business. Which leaves the awkward question of how to tackle the Sun. Team Corbyn must be sorely tempted just to wash their hands of it, given the paper’s aggressively personal attacks on him. But one in four Sun readers and one in six Daily Mail readers vote Labour; they cannot just be ignored, like embarrassing relatives. Retreating to your safe space, whining that no other politician ever had it so tough – as if the Sun had not also flayed Neil Kinnock and portrayed William Hague as a dead parrot, as if Gordon Brown was not asked live on television if he was taking pills for depression – changes nothing. Objecting to specific stories that overstep the mark can work; many Daily Mail readers quietly agreed with Ed Miliband that their paper’s attacks on his late father were spiteful. But objecting to the very existence of these papers is pointless when millions of Britons enjoy reading them. Better to try and understand why than recoil from the people you supposedly seek to represent. For purists, the mere idea of running an effective press operation sounds like everything the new politics was trying to escape. But conveying your message effectively to the public is not a betrayal of Labour principles; it is just a means of expressing them. Ken Livingstone was as canny a manipulator of public opinion in his day as Peter Mandelson and it did not make him any less radical, just more successful than his ideological fellow travellers. The coming challenge for Labour, meanwhile, is not getting a fair hearing so much as being heard at all. Already infighting in the parliamentary party is becoming accepted as the norm, barely worth reporting unless it is big. I remember a similar feeling in the Tory wilderness years, when lobby hacks simply got used to tripping over Tory rebels every time we moved. But if the rows soon faded from the front page, so did Tory policy ideas. It was obvious they were never going to win the election, so why waste space analysing things that realistically were not going to happen? As the novelty of Corbyn fades Labour will face the same battle against irrelevance, the same uphill job to get in the papers. And the same creeping realisation (ask a Liberal Democrat, if you do not believe me) that the only thing worse than a daily mauling from the papers is the slow living death of just being ignored. ——————————— Gaby Hinsliff is a columnist at the Guardian ——————————— This article originally appeared in the International Women’s Day special edition guest-edited by broadcaster and former adviser to Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman, Ayesha Hazarika. If you are a woman member of the Labour party, but not currently a member of Progress and would like a free copy of this edition please get in touch. ——————————— Photo

What do you guys know about Nova? Nothing? Unless you love the New Warriors or the cosmic Marvel shenanigans, chances are you haven’t seen this guy cannonballing into the bad guys’ faces. Luckily I’ve got the lowdown on this garishly clad cosmonaut so sit back, relax, and enjoy the read. Firstly, Nova is actually Richard Rider, an all ’round average American teen. In a story that eerily resembles Hal Jordan’s origins, Rider discovers Rhomann Dey, a dying alien and the last centurion of the Nova Corps of Xandar. Dey bequeaths the youngster with all the powers of the Nova Prime (flight, strength, energy blasts, etc.) and Rider starts beating the crap out of the thugs in New York City. To make a long story a little shorter Xandar eventually recalls its centurions, the planet having been reformed, and then Nova starts punching cosmic thugs. After a while Nova gets tired of the endless void and the endless punching (but not really), and after racking up some great rivalries and deadly enemies, he decides to go back to Earth, relinquishing his powers. He tries to live Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream but like a junky, he goes into Nova Force withdrawal until Night Thrasher reawakens the energy inside him and invites Rich to join the New Warriors. For a while he teams up with the Thrasher, Namora, Speedball, and the rest of the gang but it’s not long before he takes to the stars again as a member of Xandar’s finest. If he’d been stateside, things might have gone differently in Stamford on that fateful day that sparked the Civil War. Alas, it was not to be. Rich decides not to pick sides in the war, especially since there are more pressing matters developing at the fringes of the universe. Eventually everything comes to a head when the Annihilation Wave rolls out from the Negative Zone. Nova and his United Front take on the Wave, legion upon legion of Annihilus’ insectile minions, until the psychotic conqueror taps into the power of Galactus. In an all too brief summation of way too many comics composing the Annihilation: Ronan the Accuser is bad ass, millions of worlds are destroyed, Thanos does some crazy shit, Drax kills people and then Thanos, Nova and his pals lose the war, and then in a final showdown with Annihilus, Rich rips his insides out through his freaking mouth! From there he and the Worldmind, the source of the Nova Force, try to rebuild the Nova Corps. They recruit some new members, among them Rich’s younger brother Robbie, the Shi’ar Imperium shows up, massacres some more centurions, and then Nova deals with Cthulu-esque creatures that don’t belong in our dimension. Did I mention he takes on the Phalanx too? Richard Rider’s life = madness. Power-wise Nova has a lot going for him when he’s in possession of the Nova Force. His official moniker – Nova, the human rocket – spells out one of his chief abilities: he can blast through the air with the greatest of ease. He can fly, has super strength, agility, speed, and reflexes. He can survive in the void as long as he’s wearing his suit and the Xandarian Worldmind helps him open stargates and calculate complex plans of attack in seconds. He also has access to powerful energy blasts, can absorb energy directed at him, and has shields that function somewhat like Invisible Woman’s forcefields. Honestly I think Nova looks absolutely solid. I love the fact that he has 3 different level 1 hypers that he can use in the air. He can OTG himself, has a serious beam hyper, projectiles, and some decent speed and power. Also he’s got that flight mode which could substantially increase his combo ability. His animations leave a lot to be desired and like Iron Fist, I’m a little disappointed in his overall presentation. I think he’ll be decent but… If you haven’t seen the release videos yet check them out below! Again ladies and gentleman, if you dig any of this stuff leave me a comment below and let me know what I could improve on. Also don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for more comic book and fighting game goodness – Kingofbreaker Advertisements

06.07.2017 Schalke Mit Oczipka einig – jetzt geht’s um die Ablöse Foto: firo Er gehörte zu den wenigen positiven Erscheinungen in einer ansonsten sehr mäßigen Schalker Saison: Umso schmerzlicher wird man in Gelsenkirchen Sead Kolasinac in der bevorstehenden Spielzeit vermissen. Nun scheint der Fußball-Bundesligist allerdings Ersatz gefunden zu haben für den Publikumsliebling, der sich dem FC Arsenal angeschlossen hat. Radio FFH bestätigte den Informationsstand dieser Zeitung vom Interesse der Königsblauen an Bastian Oczipka von Eintracht Frankfurt und geht sogar noch einen Schritt weiter: Laut dem Sender sind sich Schalke und der Abwehrmann des Pokalfinalisten über einen Wechsel einig, nur bei der Ablöse kommen die beiden Klubs noch auf keinen gemeinsamen Nenner. Laut FFH-Informationen befinden sich Schalke und Frankfurt aber in Verhandlungen über die Entschädigung. Im Gespräch sind 3,5 Millionen Euro – das ist der Eintracht allerdings offenbar zu wenig. Denkbar, dass S04 also noch ein bisschen drauflegen muss für den Kolasinac-Ersatz. Allerdings dürfte Sportvorstand Christian Heidel auch nicht gewillt sein, einen zu hohen Preis zu bezahlen, denn: Der 28 Jahre alte Oczipka hat nur noch ein Jahr Vertrag bei den Hessen und wäre im nächsten Sommer gegebenenfalls für lau zu haben. Die Anfang der Woche bekannt gewordenen Abwerbeversuche aus dem Ruhrgebiet haben bei Eintracht-Trainer Niko Kovac für Empörung gesorgt. Denn er schätzt die Qualitäten Oczipkas sehr – auf und neben dem Platz. Der in Bergisch Gladbach geborene Profi hat sich seit 2012 in 146 Bundesligaspielen für Frankfurt (zwei Tore, 22 Vorlagen) als konstant und extrem zuverlässig erwiesen. Er fiel nicht als Lautsprecher auf, wohl aber als wichtiges integratives Element innerhalb der Mannschaft. Noch vor zwei Wochen hat sich Eintracht-Sportvorstand Fredi Bobic zuversichtlich gezeigt, das 2018 auslaufende Arbeitspapier zu verlängern.

ADVERTISEMENT Tennis fans worldwide were stunned when top player Venus Williams abruptly dropped out of the U.S. Open this week. The reason for her sudden withdrawal was a diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome, a little-known disease with a wide range of symptoms. Here, a brief guide to this condition: What is Sjögren's syndrome? Sjögren's (pronounced show-grens) syndrome is an autoimmune disease — in other words, the body's immune defenses attack healthy tissue. The disease targets the tear ducts and salivary glands, causing dryness of the eyes and mouth. In advanced cases of the disease, it can cause debilitating joint pain, fatigue, and severe rheumatoid arthritis. Other symptoms include acid reflux, sleep disturbances, and numbness in the legs and feet. Who is most at risk for Sjögren's syndrome? The disease affects some four million Americans — 90 percent of whom are women. Symptoms usually appear when people are in their 40s. There's no known cause, though Sjögren's syndrome seems to have a genetic component, since it and other autoimmune diseases tend to run in families. Will Williams return to professional tennis? Hopefully. But there's no cure for Sjögren's. "How the disease will play out for Williams is unclear," says Margaret Steele in USA Today. "Symptoms can remain mild, worsen or, occasionally, go into remission." Patients usually manage the symptoms with drops for dry eyes, anti-inflammatory drugs, and immunosuppressive agents. But let's not worry too much, suggests Dr. Robert Spiera of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, as quoted by MedPage Today. "Most patients with the disorder live very productive lives." Sources: MedPage Today, NY Times, USA Today, WebMD

Among the far-reaching ambitions of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s OneNYC plan, one proposal stood out in the transportation world on Wednesday: the study of a new subway line along Utica Avenue in Brooklyn. The concept is hardly new; it has been debated for at least a century, with no discernible results. A 1910 article in The New York Times, under the headline “Transit Outlook Bright in Brooklyn,” said “a strong movement” was afoot to construct it. Another effort was made in 1928. More recently, an attempt in the 1970s failed after a City Council member from Brooklyn complained that the area did not have a large enough population to support the line. Nonetheless, the de Blasio administration placed the concept back in the spotlight, suggesting that the area was a prime spot for expansion because it is one of the most crowded parts of the city without direct access to the subway. The mayor’s request for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to examine bringing No. 3 and 4 train service down from the Eastern Parkway branch, through East Flatbush, came as a surprise to many.

(CNN) When it comes to shocking developments in the winding probe into President Donald Trump's campaign, the 2016 election, the Russians, hacking, allegations of collusion, and who-knows-what-else, the revelation on Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller had issued grand jury subpoenas somehow managed to feel like an anticlimax. Mueller's particular concern in this case appears to be Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer, among others, at Trump Tower in June 2016. But the real news here has less to do with the particulars than the existence of the grand jury itself -- and where that leads. This investigation, triggered by Moscow's meddling, is now expanding. Mueller is on the money trail, with an eye on Trump and his associates' financial ties to Russia . That is a potential rabbit hole that could lead to some very weird places, including those with no bearing or relation to the 2016 election. So again, while the panel will in theory allow Mueller and his team to expedite their work and help bring about some kind of legally and politically satisfying conclusion to what is -- and who would disagree at this point? -- a generational fiasco, it could also prolong and deepen it. A photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judicary committee September 21, 1998. History would vote for the latter. Just ask former President Bill Clinton. Or the special prosecutor who led the probe that took us from Whitewater to Monica Lewinsky's blue dress. Ken Starr, in an interview on CNN Friday, warned about the danger of Mueller ranging too far from his mandate -- remarks that, as CNN's Chris Cillizza noted, confirmed irony's untimely death . But years have gone by and there is, perhaps, an argument that Starr, as much as anyone, has a sense of precisely how these things can go haywire. We are coming up now on the 19th anniversary of Clinton's big grand jury testimony, the first given by a sitting president into an inquiry focused on his own behavior. Nixon took his turn after leaving office . Clinton answered the Starr team's questions from the White House, his image and voice beamed out over closed-circuit television. Given Trump's predicament, the subject matter that day underlines a certain ironic twist. Starr began his inquiry because of a controversy surrounding Clinton's finances and Whitewater investments. He ended up elbows deep in graphic inquiries about the President's sex life. Mueller, by contrast, was hired to probe the Trump campaign and Russia, and the potential for collusion or other kinds of skullduggery, but he could now feasibly get bogged down in Trump's financial transactions. April 14, 1999: Independent counsel Ken Starr testified to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that the act should not be renewed as, in his view, it is a violation of the separation of powers. (JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/AFP/Getty Images) exchange yielded what Starr would ultimately characterize as The August 1998exchange yielded what Starr would ultimately characterize as three lies -- or instances of perjury. First, when Clinton denied engaging in oral sex (answering the question of whether it was performed on him, "As I understood it, it was not, no."); next when Clinton suggested, "You are free to infer that my testimony is that I did not have sexual relations, as I understood this term to be defined"; and finally that he had implicitly misled prosecutors about when the relationship began. But the interrogation is most famous for Clinton's lawyerly demurrals and deflections. None more so than his response when asked whether "the statement (made by his lawyer) that there was 'no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with President Clinton,' was an utterly false statement"? Clinton replied (and this is just the first couple lines!): "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the -- if he -- if 'is' means is and never has been that is not -- that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement." Whatever else it is, the exchange was a deeply damaging for the President, who had clearly moved on from trying to convince the public to salvaging is job and beating back a potential perjury charge. If you're wondering now what this conversation had to do with Whitewater, the investigation into a bad land deal the Clinton's were involved in back in Arkansas, you would have been in good company in the late 1990s. If you're curious as to how the broader story is relevant today, simply consider how easily the initial focus of the probe switched gears. And that, simply, comes from subjects giving false or potentially false or misleading statements under oath. The grand jury will speed up the process of requesting testimony and documentation. If, in the case of the Trump campaign and its "satellites," conflicts begin to emerge, like in certain parties' recollections (and records) of that June 2016 meeting, the potential for prosecution could arise even if the meeting itself was legally above board. But that's all, in all likelihood, a long way off.

If you are reading this at you computer you are most likely also aware of the fact that keyboards have a tendency to get quite dirty after a while. The slime-like Cyber Clean is a product that “blots out the muck from every crevice of your keyboards with a grime-slapping antibacterial action.” While compressed-air sprays and tiny brushes will just move the dirt around in your keyboards, telephones and other electrical gadgets, this devilish ooze will splurge into every tiny corner, swallow up dead skin, hair and food and absorb it back into itself. Because it’s made from an unique antibacterial formula, the dirt is actually neutralised and sanitised while it’s inside the putty – up to 80% of all germs can be destroyed in this way. You can get a jar of Cyber Clean from Firebox.com for £7.95 (about $14 USD). Update June 2011: Cyber Clean Electronics Cleaning Putty is also available for $8.99 from ThinkGeek. Related Deals: ThinkGeek Coupon

After reading my Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer abilities and crafting guide, it’s only natural you wanted more information on setting up your ability slots. After all, that stuff only makes up the active half of assassination… what about passive effects? Today, we’re taking a look at the perks, streaks, and bonuses available in Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer. Find out what every option does, where it shines, and whether or not you should be using each passive boost available. Combined with our abilities advice, you’ll have an excellent head-start in virtual colonial manslaughter. Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer perks explained Perks are always-on effects you choose that give your persona an advantage in certain gameplay situations. Some are offensive in nature, letting you find and kill your targets more easily. Others are defensive, allowing you to hide and escape from would-be murderers. Yet other perks are fairly neutral, granting bonuses that influence the way you navigate or use your abilities. For each ability set, you may have exactly two perks. For the most part, there’s no downside to filling them right away, so study the advice below and stock up on the passive boons that best resonate with your game mode and personal style. Blender: 4/5 Ideal for the lonely-hearted, Blender ensures you’re never alone. Whenever your persona enters a blend group, if there are no duplicates already within, one will randomly transform into a clone of you. The animation is noticeable, but quick, and the effect lasts indefinitely. If you move to a new blend group, your magically-created copy will revert, and a fresh clone will spring up in your new group. Blender is a strong consideration for Deathmatch, where there are no natural clones of your character. It allows you to constantly create diversions without expending an ability slot, something most perks can’t do. It’s also generally useful whenever you’re on defense, since generating additional twins will always decrease the odds that your pursuers will identify you correctly. While Blender is powerful, it does have its downsides – this perk has no use on offense, and can actually be a detriment when you’re on the hunt. If you move into a blend group with or near your target, he or she is likely to notice the animation of a fresh copy being spawned. Your cover as a real player will immediately be blown, costing you an otherwise high-scoring kill. Copycat: 1/5 Don’t have any good ideas for an ability set? Or perhaps you’re simply too starved for Abstergo points to buy one? No problem. Copycat will duplicate the skill loadout of anyone who kills you, giving you instant access to whatever overpowered abilities led to your most recent demise. With rare exception, Copycat is terrible. Sure, having access to better skills might net you an advantage, but they might also throw off your gameplan. Upon your death, you may find the person who just off’d you is actually in possession of a fairly terrible bunch of abilities. Hell, they might be using the same stuff you are! To that effect, Copycat is a risky way to use one of your perk slots, since odds are it won’t yield anything useful. And, even if your killer does have something cool, how much will it really help you recover? Hot Pursuit: 3/5 With Hot Pursuit active, winning chases is much easier. You’ll get a speed boost whenever you run after your target, giving him or her less time to escape your blade. Additionally, your Approach Meter will deplete more slowly, so even when you do have to run, you won’t lose as many points. Hot Pursuit is a fairly strong option for offensive play, since it basically removes the option of winning chases from your intended murder victims. Additionally, the second, score-boosting effect will net you quite a few more points over the course of a match. It won’t make or break a hotly contested round, but extra experience is never a bad thing, right? Of course, Hot Pursuit doesn’t have any uses for defense, as the speed boost only applies while you’re on the hunt. You can, in theory, attain the acceleration while simultaneously chasing your target and running from your pursuer, but this scenario is highly unlikely to occur. Kill Buffer: 4/5 When you’ve got Kill Buffer, you take your streaks with you upon death. More specifically, Kill Buffer gives you a penalty of -1 instead of resetting your Kill Streak whenever you would normally lose it. So if you’ve built up 6 out of 7 kills/stuns needed to activate your Streak and suddenly get shot, you’ll respawn at 5 out of 7 (instead of the normal zero). Kill Buffer is incredibly powerful when paired with high-cost Kill Streaks, making some that are typically impossible more attainable. Since building up six or more kills/stuns can often be a matter of luck, this perk preserves most of your momentum, making it more likely you’ll land a Mass Morph or Animus Hack. In general, Kill Buffer works better in frantic game modes like Assassinate and Deathmatch, where you’re more likely to be using a higher-requirement Kill Streak. Note that Kill Buffer has limited utility on lower-numbered streaks. For instance, using it with the Silent +250 would be a waste, since it only requires three hits to trigger. If you died with either zero or one stuns, Kill Buffer would provide no benefit. You’d only get a bonus if you were assassinated with exactly two kills in your queue! By comparison, Kill Buffer would offer valuable momentum at anywhere between two and seven kills for the highest-requirement Kill Streak. Overall Cooldowns: 5/5 Easily the most versatile perk in the game, Overall Cooldowns cuts down the delay of your activated abilities whenever you use them. As a result, you’ll get to drop more Smoke Bombs, fire more Throwing Knives, and create more Decoys than you’d normally be able to. There is no time when Overall Cooldowns is bad, since having more frequent access to your skills is a powerful effect. Hell, Overall Cooldowns is actually better in AC3 than it was in Brotherhood or Revelations, since it now affects three abilities’ cooldowns (as opposed to two, previously). It’s important to remember that since Overall Cooldowns applies a fixed reduction in cooldown time, its effect is more pronounced on abilities that already have a shorter cooldown. For example, a skill that goes from a 50 second cooldown to a 40 second one gets a 20% reduction. By contrast, an ability that goes from 100 seconds to 90 only sees a 10% drop in delay. Of course, if those ten seconds save your life even once, it’s probably worth it! Resilience: 3/5 Making a return from Revelations, the Resilience perk cuts the duration of abilities used on you by about half. Tripwire Bombs, Wipe, Throwing Knives, and the like are all greatly weakened against you, making it more likely you’ll escape these traps with your life. Resilience tends to offer the most value in Wanted and Deathmatch, where one-on-one fights typically boil down to “who hits whom first.” If your target throws a Smoke Bomb or launches knives at you from close range, Resilience won’t help… but if he or she flings abilities your way from across the room, odds are they’ll dissipate before you eat a big, fat, fist. Even in other situations, Resilience has its uses, like letting you recover from a Wipe in time to shoot a fleeing opponent. The only real downside of Resilience is that the perk icon displays over your character’s head whenever it takes effect. So yes, you’ll recover from a Tripwire Bomb faster than normal, but your enemies will also be able to identify you in a crowd of NPCs more easily. In most cases this won’t be a factor, but be prepared to get ousted by wayward (reduced duration) Firecrackers every now and then. Resistance: 4/5 The kid brother to Resilience, Resistance instead decreases the time you spend stunned whenever someone slaps you in the face. You’ll spend less time on the ground, shaking off your failures and getting on with life. New to AC3, Resistance also confers a reduction in dizzy time following a Contested Kill. Your character will recover from poorly executed executions more quickly, ready to face down the next foe. Resistance is a very strong pick for offensive team modes and for Assassinate. In matches of Manhunt, for instance, spending less time recuperating from offensive blunders means you have more opportunities to get revenge on the guy who stunned/contested you. In fact, your reduced incapacitation may throw off defenders who didn’t expect you to get up so quickly. In Assassinate, Resistance allows you to plow forward from Contested Kills, which are common due to the mutual locking that so often occurs. The stun recovery isn’t as valuable here, but it might force other players to kill you sooner than they’d like, robbing them of valuable points. Resistance, like Resilience, shows an icon when it takes effect, but unlike Resilience, this perk won’t really give your identity away. Everyone will know you’re a player whenever you get stunned or contested anyway, so your cover will only be blown when you yourself blow it. Sentry: 2/5 If you don’t like letting anything slip out of your grasp, Sentry may be for you. This perk increases the time your synch-lock stays on a character that’s left your field of view. Other players will therefore have a tough time shaking you, giving you an advantage in any scenario where locking on for long periods of time is necessary. Despite its power, Sentry is a relatively narrow boon. You’re not likely to need the extra time in most situations, and even when you do get extra information out of it, just knowing the exact location of an opponent may not be enough to matter in the long run. It’s a shame, because Sentry is a cool idea in theory – perhaps Ubisoft will find a way to buff it for Assassin’s Creed 3, Part 2. There is one particular use for Sentry that should be mentioned: it makes you immune to “corner stuns.” You see, many savvy enemies will run around a corner, count out the default lock duration, and use its expiration as the perfect time to jump out and get a cheap stun on their unlocked pursuer. Since nobody expects you to use Sentry, it can catch would-be corner stunners completely off guard. It’s a very narrow advantage, but something to consider if you find everyone in your lobby is employing this trick. Sixth Sense: 3/5 The opposite of Hot Pursuit, Sixth Sense makes evasive maneuvers easier to achieve thanks to both its bonuses. The first provides you with a visual and audio alert whenever a pursuer enters high profile off-screen. The second drastically slashes the time needed to win an escape once you’ve broken line of sight. In total, Sixth Sense allows you to better spot your killers, then get away from them more quickly once they’ve made their move. Sixth Sense has a very specific use: finding and eluding pursuers. It has no value when you’re tracking down your own quarry, but it is a decent insurance option in Wanted. This perk will basically act as a security alarm, watching your back for killers you can’t see. And, if you’re forced to run, you can complete your escape and get back to pursuing your target faster than you’re used to. It’s not an incredibly powerful bonus, but it will definitely save your skin more often than almost any other perk. Unstoppable: 2/5 In Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Basher sucked. In Revelations, Basher still sucked. Now, in AC3, Ubisoft has combined Basher with another perk to create Unstoppable… and it doesn’t totally suck! In addition to being able to charge straight through NPC crowds without losing steam, you’ll get the ability to reset closed Chase Breakers just by approaching them. Now, nothing can slow you down, except for Throwing Knives! Unstoppable may not be amazing, but it does what it does well. If you’re hunting a particularly escape-happy defensive team in Manhunt, you might find they’re capable of eluding you with the help of chase breakers and dense, digital crowds. Unstoppable, combined with Hot Pursuit, can give you a ridiculous advantage whenever your victims decide to run. You’ll outspeed them, outscore them, and outright trample over anything they try to put in your way. Despite all these positive comments, Unstoppable is still a very narrow perk, hence the score. Most gameplay doesn’t involve winning chases, and when it does, the points yielded aren’t usually worth the effort. Ironically, Unstoppable would have been better in Assassin’s Creed 3 had Ubisoft not given players immunity to chase breakers closed by teammates. With this helpful addition, Unstoppable lost a lot of potential value. As such, it’s a niche perk you probably won’t often use. Kill Streaks explained Just like in Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed 3 multiplayer rewards players who are able to string together a series of undisturbed kills and/or stuns. Players can opt for one Kill Streak per loadout, which grants either a score bonus or a special effect once the requisite number of violent acts have been performed. If a player is killed, stunned, or breaks their streak in another way (performs a non-silent kill while using a Silent Kill Streak), the counter goes back to zero. For this reason, everyone should pick Kill Streaks they can reliably attain – a high-value streak isn’t better than a low value one if you can’t get enough kills to activate it! Streak +250 (5 kills/3 silent), Streak +550 (7 kills/5 silent) Extremely straightforward, the player is awarded +250 or +550 points for performing five or seven kills/stuns in a row. If you opt for the silent version of either Kill Streak, the numerical requirements drop by two. In exchange, you’ll have to perform Silent or Incognito kills to retain your streak progress, which is obviously harder. Don’t get greedy if you’re not sure you can pull off the Streak +550. Getting five or seven kills/stuns in a row isn’t easy, not even with Kill Buffer, so consider Streak +250 a perfectly viable option. You’ll trigger it more reliably, and you’ll hate yourself a lot less when you mess up and lose your momentum. As for deciding between regular are silent versions, try to avoid Silent except for Deathmatch or defensive rounds of team games. In Deathmatch, the small arena size means your targets can’t start chases, so it’s more likely you can score Silent or better kills. On defense, you’ll only be getting stuns (no kills), so the silent restriction doesn’t even matter. You might as well take the lower stun requirements and consider it a bonus for playing pacifist a little while. Mass Morph (6 kills/4 silent) When activated, 15 nearby personas will suddenly become your #1 fans, insofar as they’ll decide to completely copy your look. Suddenly, your area of the map is swimming with duplicates, making it significantly harder for opponents to sniff you out of the crowd. For most game modes, Mass Morph sucks. In Wanted, Assassinate, Domination, etc., you’re moving around the map too much to gain major value from a local pocket of lookalikes. And, half the time, you’ll be on the hunt, meaning a large blend crowd doesn’t really even help you. Mass Morph is basically only useful in Deathmatch and in some defensive team modes. In Deathmatch, the ability to create copies at all (since they don’t spawn naturally) is powerful, and can often confuse enemies enough to net you free stuns. In Domination or Manhunt, having an army of clones standing around can intimidate pursuers, though it’s unlikely the advantage you gain will outweigh the benefits of using another Kill Streak instead. Animus Hack (8 kills/6 silent) The Animus Hack turns you into a sort of cyber god, granting you 30 seconds of indiscriminate killing power. Once this nasty, high-end streak is activated, you’ll be able to kill any character at any range on the map. It doesn’t matter if they’re your target, your pursuer, or a hapless neutral victim… you’ll be able to extinguish them with the press of a button, instantly. Additionally, you’ll see an increasing score the more bodies you pile up, with each kill worth more than the last. It’s not unheard of to earn a few thousand points at the end of a well-timed Animus Hack! While incredibly powerful, Animus Hack is basically restricted to Deathmatch. This mode’s close quarters means it’s easy to target every player on the map, and the fact that there are no duplicate personas means you can identify prime targets quickly and without hesitation. In other game modes, you’re unlikely to find yourself near lots of players when your Animus Hack gets triggered, meaning you’ll net few points, if any. Additionally, Animus Hack has less value any time your adversaries can simply avoid the section of the map you’ve got locked down. Loss Bonuses Loss Bonuses activate when you’re doing your worst, typically after you’ve died or lost your contract several times in a row. As such, it’s important to think of Loss Bonuses as a comeback tool – something that will help you make up for your multitude of mistakes in a row. Unlike in previous versions of Assassin’s Creed multiplayer, all Loss Bonuses now end on either a kill or a stun. As such, the power of several defensively-minded bonuses has dropped considerably, as they cannot be used to fuel stuns. Overall, most Loss Bonuses are actually quite bad. As you’ll see below, only two or three even worth your consideration. Ability Switch: 1/5 Once activated, Ability Switch allows you to change your ability set whenever you lose a new contract. In other words, it gives you the opportunity to compensate for your (clearly) failing strategy. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to magically turn the match around for you in most circumstances (same with the Copycat perk). Sure, it could be marginally useful in Manhunt if you accidentally picked your “offense” loadout when you meant to pick “defense,” but that’s a rare occasion. More importantly, you can switch ability sets at any time for 60 Abstergo credits anyway! On Xbox 360, you simply hold the Back button and press A. While burning pretend money to get this option kind of sucks, it means you won’t have to use up your Loss Bonus slot to have this flexibility. Not only that, the pay-to-change option can be done whenever you want, making it significantly more convenient than relying on misfortune to strike. Boost Cooldowns: 3/5 One of the best Loss Bonuses from ACB and ACR, Boost Cooldowns resets your abilities and greatly shortens their timer delays for as long as it’s activated. If you’re falling behind in score, getting your Throwing Knives and Poison reset can drastically improve your odds of recovering. In Brotherhood and Revelations, this could also be used to turbo charge your Smoke Bomb, Mute, Charge, and other defensive abilities to pump out stuns. In Assassin’s Creed 3, however, this power has taken a hit, since stuns now end the effect. As such, it can still be used to generate insane ability frequency, but you’ll have to get inventive. Running Bodyguard, Decoy, Morph, or Disguise could (for instance) give you nearly infinite sources of Lures and Escapes. That’s not as useful as infinite stuns, but it’s still significantly more worthwhile than most other Loss Bonus choices. Minor Hack: 2/5 With Minor Hack, you can kill your contracted target at any distance. Like Animus Hack, you’ll gain an infinite-range assassination prompt that strikes your victim down with a crack of digital thunder. Unlike Animus Hack, you can’t use this prompt to defeat your pursuers, and you won’t get a streak of kills that piles up points. While Minor Hack can be useful for eliminating roof runners or other unsavory targets, it’s only for the bare minimum score and won’t help you recover from a game that’s slowly getting away from you. On top of that, this bonus’ narrow, offensive scope means it’s useless in any scenario where being killed is your main problem, not eliminating your target(s). Revelation: 3/5 When Revelation activates, you’ll gain the supernatural power to see exactly who all your pursuers are. Would-be killers are highlighted with a red marker, making it incredibly easy to stun or avoid them. As with Boost Cooldowns, this bonus is less powerful in AC3 than previously, since stunning someone will end your psychic abilities. That said, it’s easily the best defense-focused option, since it becomes impossible for your pursuers to sneak up on you. In modes like Wanted, this means you’ll be protected from getting picked off at inopportune times. It also means you can plan and win chases significantly more successfully. Scavenger: 1/5 Haven’t gotten a kill in a while? Scavenger tries to make up for it by increasing the bonus for Ground Finishes from +50 to +200. So when you’re running around and getting table scraps, they’re at least a little more tasty than normal. Of course, the situation where you’re piling up Ground Finishes is not a common one, and even then, banking on them for points isn’t exactly a winning strategy. There are a few situations where accumulating a large number of 200-point stomps could win the game, but in most scenarios, you’d be better off just getting 200+ point kills instead. Score x2: 5/5 Easily the best overall Loss Bonus, Score x2 doubles the value of your next kill. Yes, doubles. When you think about it, it’s easy to understand why this bonus is so good: it activates when you’re falling behind (like other bonuses) and gives you the means to climb back to the top. With a well-timed Incognito, Poison, Hidden kill, you can easily rake up 1600, 2000, or more points (with insane luck, potentially 3k!), which is usually enough to at least give you a chance at taking the lead. Now that most other Loss Bonuses have taken a big hit, Score x2 is far and away the best choice for almost every situation. Of course, it’s useless if you’re on defense in Manhunt, or if you’re on the capping side of Domination and Artifact Assault. But nothing says “comeback kid” in Deathmatch, Wanted, or Assassinate like a 2400 point assassination. Shadow Approach: 2/5 With Shadow Approach, you’ll go from Discreet to Incognito more quickly, filling your approach meter at an enhanced rate once you’ve found your target. As a result, you’ll be less likely to accidentally trigger a chase. And, once you do kill your opponent, you’ll get a higher score than you’d normally earn. Sadly, Shadow Approach is still fairly weak. It does offer a score boost, which is more than most Loss Bonuses give you, but in 90% of situations, you’d get more points by using Score x2. In the instanced where Shadow Approach would be more beneficial than the #1 point pushing option, you’re chasing your quarry. That’s not exactly ideal, and hell, I’d rather have Minor Hack for those cases anyway. In other words, Shadow Approach is outshone by other, more viable picks. Vision: 1/5 The opposite of Revelation, Vision shows you exactly where your targets are, even if they’re currently on the other side of a building. You’ll get an x-ray view of anyone you’re eligible to kill, making it impossible for them to hide. Of course, there are already tons of active abilities that do pretty much the same thing: Firecrackers, Money Bomb, Wipe and Morph. As such, Vision is pretty much a waste unless you’re really, really bad at finding and identifying targets. Even then, you’re probably also bad at actually killing them (hey, you did just trigger a Loss Bonus after all!), so good luck approaching them with eating a stun or Contested Kill. There just simply isn’t a situation where using Vision is a good idea. Rely on your gaming skills and in-game abilities to identify your targets instead, and reserve your Loss Bonus slot for something that makes your kill more rewarding upon execution (hint: Score x2).

Jürgen Klopp can't wait for his latest taste of the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United having whetted his appetite with last season's Europa League meetings between the sides. The Reds are back at Anfield on Monday evening for a hotly anticipated Premier League clash with their foes from the other end of the East Lancs Road. Klopp will be hoping for a repeat of his team's European success against United last term, when a 2-0 win on Merseyside and 1-1 draw at Old Trafford saw LFC through to the quarter-finals. And he expects a typically raucous atmosphere when Jose Mourinho's team are welcomed again. “We are really looking forward to what will be a fantastic game at Anfield,” he told the Liverpool Echo, speaking at event in support of the 'Seeing is Believing' campaign. “Those Europa League games were really nice. Both games were intense and competitive. “We were better in the first game at Anfield. We had a fantastic atmosphere and the players were inspired by that. “It was my first time at Old Trafford for the second leg. Maybe people don’t like to hear it, but there was actually quite a good atmosphere there too! “It changed the game a little bit and it was real proof of what an atmosphere can do. United were on top but we killed that atmosphere with Philippe’s wonderful goal in the 45th minute. From then on it wasn’t that difficult any more. “It’s a perfect moment for ‘Seeing is Believing’ because this game will have to be seen for people to believe what will happen.” LFCTV GO: Relive Philippe Coutinho's performance at Old Trafford After a good start to 2016-17, Liverpool are five places and as many points better off than they were at this point last season in the Premier League. Reflecting on his team's development over the last 12 months, the boss added: “It’s been a busy, intense year. “There have been a few ups and a few downs but always with a really optimistic view about the future. I think that’s what we still have. “It’s a job we have to do. We all enjoy working together and it’s much better when you enjoy it. “From my side, it feels like a short year! It’s gone like this (clicks fingers). Hopefully I will have many more years here. “I’ve never thought about the speed or the tempo of our progress, I only knew that we had to get better – that’s how life is. “Even when you are good, you need to get better because the teams around you all get better too. To stay in the race, development is everything.”

“Climate change” is a bland generic label that can mean anything, and therefore means nothing A Short Primer on the Global Warming Scam As of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris Accord and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country. — Donald J. Trump 45th President of the United States The Paris Climate Treaty has nothing to do with “climate” and everything possible to do with economics, globalism and the controlled redistribution of economic wealth as constructed through decades of advanced policies of multinational financial interests. Posted by Sundance “Multinational Banks and Corporations Trigger Immediate Angst Over Trump Withdrawal From Paris Treaty” Caution: If you are a global warming enthusiast then I strongly advise you to stop reading, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and retreat to your nearest safe-space immediately. Otherwise you will get triggered, guaranteed. With that out of the way, let me get into the meat of this article, which is, as the title suggests, a short lesson on a few of the more egregious lies connected with the global warming scam. Just a day spent on the Internet doing due diligence on this topic with an open mind will convince anyone with half a brain that global warming is a criminal shakedown of historic proportions. Rather than go at the topic of global warming with hammer and tongs I will just briefly visit a few of its more popular talking points – simply to steer any interested readers in a profitable direction. The Science is Settled Balderdash! (My inner editor/censor instantly popped to attention at my initial, sadly deleted, remark and insisted on a quick fix). The science (and “science”) surrounding global warming, or climate change, or whatever the term du jour is, is NOT settled – it is, in fact, far from being settled. This is as good a place as any to point out that the word science does not possess the hard and fast definition that most of us think it does. There is a whole branch of philosophy that deals with just that question – what science is, and what it is not. This is a topic that is apt to induce a bout of narcolepsy in a number of my readers, so I will hurry on and wrap this segment up. Let me just say that if we accept a very general definition of science – that it is a search for what is true and factual in the physical realm – then most of the “science” behind global warming is no science at all. It is agenda-driven pseudo-science—not true open-minded scientific research so much as an attempt to funnel findings down a profitable (and prestigious) channel to a predetermined end. Is climate change a real phenomenon? Of course. No sensible person would argue otherwise. But is it primarily caused by humanity, or are other factors more to blame, such as electromagnetic solar activity and radiation, volcanic eruptions, oceans, and so forth? After studying some of the various deceitful ploys used by global warming “scientists” over the years, I simply no longer trust their word about anything. Which is a shame, because I have no doubt that many, perhaps most, of the scientists promoting man-made climate change are sincerely concerned about the earth. That doesn’t mean that they are right though, and it does not excuse the many lies used to force-feed us global warming. Carbon Dioxide is a Dangerous Pollutant Balderdash again! NEWS FLASH: The earth has experienced much higher carbon dioxide levels in the past—long before any “Industrial Revolution.” The idea that increased CO2 levels are something new, or inextricably linked to fossil fuels alone is simply rubbish. Periodically, carbon dioxide levels have been considerably higher throughout earth’s long history, and humanity didn’t have a darn thing to do with it. And what’s more, the increased CO2 levels did not ruin the planet. In fact, plant life flourishes under increased CO2 levels. If carbon dioxide is truly a dangerous pollutant, then the earth would have suffered grievously eons ago. Climate Change “Climate change” is a bland generic label that can mean anything, and therefore means nothing. Does weather change? Of course it does—yesterday it was raining and today it’s sunny. What’s your point? The point, such as it is, is to have a term so amorphous that it can cover any eventuality. If the climate gets warmer, that’s climate change; if it gets colder, that’s climate change too. All bases covered—it’s a wonderful thing, if you’re into spineless duplicity. I recall when the term “climate change” first gained wide popularity, around the year 2012 or so. Until then all we had heard about was “global warming” or AGW (Anthropocentric Global Warming). Then it got colder, and when those pesky temperatures started dropping, the AGW “scientists” put on their thinking caps and explained to us how things were getting colder because they were getting hotter. The globalist faithful accepted this dubious proposition at face value, but the rest of us scratched our heads and thought “Hmm, I don’t think that makes sense actually.” So, going back to the drawing board the “scientists” came up with the generic, one-size-fits-all, term “climate change.” “Just you try denying that one!” Don’t buy into their hogwash though—it’s just the same old crapola in a new container, that’s all. Climate Change Deniers Are Guilty of Hate Speech First of all, as I point out above, no one is saying that the weather doesn’t change. I’ll gladly swear on a stack of Bibles that, yes, the weather does indeed change from time to time. I noticed that all on my own some years back. What is in question, however, is the hypothesis that climate change is primarily caused by carbon dioxide, fossil fuels, and/or humanity as a whole. Also, there is no doubt that climate change “science” has put its thumb on the scale in order to promote its one-sided and debatable claims. That is not hate speech. It is simply what common sense, logic, and due diligence have shown me to be the truth. Unfortunately, the truth is all too often obscured and twisted, when it is not being ignored or hidden, by the more nefarious proponents of AGW. If I were to engage in hate speech you would know it, trust me. You would have no doubt whatsoever about where I was coming from. The truth is only “hate speech” to those who hate the truth—a simple meme, but nonetheless true. Conclusion I will conclude by saying that I thank God every day that we have a president who cares more about what is good for the United States and its citizens then catering to political correctness and kissing globalist butt. May God continue to guide, bless, and protect President Trump, his family, and his aides. Only YOU can save CFP from Social Media Suppression. Tweet, Post, Forward, Subscribe or Bookmark us Born June 4, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1974 in both UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL Team Two. Worked as a commercial diver in the waters off of Scotland, India, and the United States. Worked overseas in the Merchant Marines. While attending the University of South Florida as a journalism student in 1998 was presented with the “Carol Burnett/University of Hawaii AEJMC Research in Journalism Ethics Award,” 1st place undergraduate division. (The annual contest was set up by Carol Burnett with money she won from successfully suing a national newspaper for libel). Awarded US Army, US Navy, South African, and Russian jump wings. Graduate of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School, 1970). Member of Mensa, China Post #1, and lifetime member of the NRA and UDT/SEAL Association. Please adhere to our commenting policy to avoid being banned. As a privately owned website, we reserve the right to remove any comment and ban any user at any time.Comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence and death, racism, anti-Semitism, or personal or abusive attacks on other users may be removed and result in a ban.-- Follow these instructions on registering

New USC survey finds region’s escalating home prices hindering senior-level recruitment LOS ANGELES (April 11, 2017)– Housing costs are deterring top-talent from entering the Los Angeles job market, and leading to higher costs in recruiting and retaining employees, according to a new survey released today by Raphael Bostic, a USC Price School of Public Policy Professor and the newly appointed head of the Atlanta Federal Reserve. Bostic led a team of USC researchers in surveying major L.A. employers accounting for nearly 200,000 jobs in key sectors including utilities, healthcare, education, government, engineering and finance. The resulting report, The Affordable Housing Crisis in Los Angeles: An Employer Perspective, released in partnership with the Los Angeles Business Council, focuses on how the high cost of housing in the region has affected employers and puts forth key recommendations. “This study shows that high housing costs are burdening our leading employers, either by having to develop special hiring packages, or subsidizing transportation and relocation costs,” said Bostic. “Though we have yet to see a critical mass of businesses priced out of the region, this is an area of concern. There’s ample evidence to show that the time is now to implement strategies to reduce housing costs.” Nearly 60% of employers surveyed cite the region’s high cost of living as impacting employee retention, and 75% cite housing costs specifically as an area of concern. The impact of high housing costs is most apparent when employers try to recruit top talent: 64% of employers report that they include cost of living when negotiating hiring packages for high-level employees. “It’s concerning that high housing costs could lead to Los Angeles losing its competitive edge in recruiting top talent. That would be devastating to our economy,” said Mary Leslie, president of LABC. “This survey underscores the need to think outside the box and tackle our city’s high cost of living problem.” To address the strain on L.A.’s limited housing supply, the report recommends examining successful employer-sponsored housing projects, such as the LAUSD affordable housing apartments completed in 2016. It also makes a strong case for investing in higher-density housing at a range of prices near key transit centers. Other recommendations include: reducing parking requirements for new development, identifying single-story buildings that could be modified to support housing, exploring innovative transportation solutions, and encouraging employers to engage with community and government groups around housing construction projects that could benefit their workers. “This report provides compelling evidence for the need of well-designed, affordable homes connected to quality transportation, education and jobs,” said Jacqueline Waggoner, Vice President and Southern California market leader of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. “The burden of high housing costs not only impacts our quality of life, it threatens our economic foundation. With affordably-priced homes, employers will have a greater ability to recruit senior employees and retain current employees at all levels. ” The problem is not unique to Los Angeles— nearly every metropolitan area is burdened by high housing costs. According to the report, nationwide, over 10 million households pay more than half their income in housing costs. Besides impacting employers’ bottom lines, housing costs negatively affect employee’s satisfaction and productivity. Pushed out of housing markets closer to jobs, workers have to undergo long and taxing commutes. Nearly every employer surveyed reported that more than 25% of their employees spent more than 90 minutes getting to and from work. “This is further evidence that L.A.’s housing crisis is dire, and provides more reasons for business, civic, and community groups to work together to tackle this serious problem,” said Erin Rank, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles. While the negative impact of high housing costs on lower and middle-income families has been long studied, this report is one of the first to look at housing costs from an employer perspective. “This report should be seen as a call to action,” said Ann Sewill, Vice President, Housing and Economic Opportunity, of California Community Foundation. “We need to do all that we can to increase people’s access to affordable housing by incentivizing new affordable housing and preserving existing stock.” The Los Angeles Business Council and USC conducted the study in partnership with JPMorgan Chase, California Community Foundation, Enterprise Community Partners, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and Habitat for Humanity. The report is a follow-up to LABC’s influential Los Angeles Employer Assisted Housing Handbook released in 2009. About the LABC Institute The LABC Institute is a forward-thinking research and education organization dedicated to strengthening the sustainable economy of California, particularly the Southern California region. Founded in 2010, the LABC Institute provides a bridge between the business, government, environmental, labor and nonprofit communities of Southern California to develop policies and programs that promote investment, jobs and business development. We are the research and education arm of the Los Angeles Business Council, one of the most respected business advocacy organizations in Southern California.

Liver regeneration is the process by which the liver is able to replace lost liver tissue from growth from the remaining tissue. The liver is the only visceral organ that possesses the capacity to regenerate.[1][2] The liver can regenerate after either surgical removal or after chemical injury.[3] It is known that as little as 25% of the original liver mass can regenerate back to its full size.[2][4] The process of regeneration in mammals is mainly compensatory growth because only the mass of the liver is replaced, not the shape.[5] However, in lower species such as fish, both liver size and shape can be replaced.[6] Mechanism [ edit ] Liver regeneration involves replication of the liver cells, mainly hepatocytes, followed by other cells such as biliary epithelial cells and sinusoidal endothelial cells. Once cell proliferation is completed, the newly divided cells undergo restructuring, angiogenesis and reformation of extracellular matrix to complete the regeneration process.[2] In most cases, liver function is only partially affected during liver regeneration. Whereas certain specialized functions such as drug metabolism decrease, many other primary functions such as albumin and bile production are not substantially affected.[1] Liver regeneration is a highly controlled process regulated by a complex network on highly redundant signals. Several signaling pathways are known to stimulate regeneration in the liver including cytokines, growth factors, hormones, and nuclear receptors.[1] Discovered and studying in vivo some natural multicomponent liver regeneration substances – hepatic stimulator substance,[7] hepatic regeneration set,[8] augmenter of liver regeneration.[9] Function [ edit ] The ability for the liver to regenerate is central to liver homeostasis. Because the liver is the main site of drug detoxification, it is exposed to many chemicals in the body which may potentially induce cell death and injury. The liver can regenerate damaged tissue rapidly thereby preventing its own failure. However, a predictor of the true speed of liver regeneration depends on whether Interleukin 6 has overexpression[10]. Liver regeneration is also critical for patients of liver diseases where the partial removal of the liver due to fibrosis or tumor is a common therapy that utilizes the ability of the remaining liver to generate back.[citation needed] Experimental models [ edit ] Two main types of models are used to study liver regeneration, including surgical removal, also referred to as partial hepatectomy (PHX), and chemical-induced liver damage. Whereas the mechanisms and kinetics of liver regeneration in these two models are different, many of the same signaling pathways stimulate liver regeneration in both pathways.[11] References [ edit ]

Bisexuality is the tendency to be sexually attracted to both men and women. To some, this may sound like a superpower doubling one's romantic options (and odds). But in real life, bisexuality can be an awkward to have, creating a challenge truly fitting in with either the “straight" or LGBT communities. But most important, bisexuality tends to be quite misunderstood. Myths and stereotypes about bisexuality abound, some even contradicting one another. Straight and LGBT people alike can hold such stereotypes, compounding the difficulties bisexual people can have fitting in. Luckily, an increasing number of researchers have been producing research improving our of bisexuality. Here are three examples of how science has worked to combat misconceptions about bisexuality: Myth 1: "There's no such thing as bisexuality." This is especially laughable. How can you tell a group of individuals that they don’t exist? But the idea that all people have to be either straight or gay is pervasive and persistent, especially when it comes to men. Frustratingly, even within the most LGBT-friendly circles, you encounter the idea that “there’s no such thing as a bisexual man.” Researchers have quite clearly laid this myth to rest with a study recently published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior(1). Researchers recruited straight, gay, and bisexual men, and exposed them to a variety of erotic film clips. Not only were participants asked to rate their subjective feelings of arousal in response to the clips, they were also connected to physiological equipment that measured changes in genital arousal. As would be expected, heterosexual men responded with much more subjective and genital arousal to films containing women rather than men, and vice versa for gay men. However, bisexual men were aroused relatively similarly by videos of both men and women. They were also more aroused by bisexual clips—for example, two men and one woman—than were the other two groups. Importantly, these differences were in both their reported arousal and the objective measurement of their genital arousal. It is clear from this study that these individuals were not “pretending” to be bisexual. Myth 2: "Bisexuality is just a phase." With this myth, bisexuality is represented as a state of experimentation or confusion—stereotypically experienced during the college years—that occurs before a person settles on their “true” identity. Lisa Diamond has conducted some very sophisticated work on this topic, in which she examined the sexual identities of women over long periods of time. In a paper published in Developmental Psychology(2), she reports on a sample of women she followed over a period of ten years. Her results clearly showed that bisexuality was not a transitional period: Very few women who had identified as bisexual in changed their identity to either straight or lesbian by the end of the study—only 8% of that group did so. Rather, bisexual women were consistently sexually fluid over time, maintaining attractions to both genders, to varying degrees, over the course of a decade. Myth 3: "Bisexual people can’t be faithful to their partners." This myth—arguably the most pernicious one—stems from the assumption that one partner can not fully satisfy a person who is attracted to both genders. Sooner or later, other people assume, they’ll yearn for someone of the that their partner is not. In studies, people tend to perceive bisexual individuals as being more likely to partners than heterosexual, gay, or lesbian individuals(3). In reality, a great many bisexual individuals have happily monogamous ; for example, by the end of Diamond’s 10-year study(2), 89% of bisexual women were in monogamous, long-term relationships. Further, research suggests that bisexual individuals who do desire multiple sexual partners may typically achieve this goal by negotiating open relationships with their partners, not by sneaking around behind their partners’ backs(4). I could find no research supporting the idea that bisexuals are any less faithful, or less honest, with their partners than people of other sexual orientations. Insights on identity The growing field of research on bisexuality is promising, in that it counteracts many myths and misconceptions while also providing some interesting insights into in general. Unlike pop culture sources, these scientific studies suggest that bisexuality is a relatively stable, consistent sexual identity. We still need more research to better understand the ways in which bisexuality is similar to monosexual (heterosexual, gay, lesbian) identities, as well as the ways in which it might be unique. Source: Aliaksei Smalenski/Shutterstock Follow Samantha on Twitter or visit her website. This article was originally written for Science of Relationships: a website about the psychology of relationships that is written by active researchers and professors in the field. 1. Rosenthal, A. M., Sylvia, D., Safron, A., & Bailey, J. M. (2012). The male bisexuality debate revisited: Some bisexual men have bisexual arousal patterns. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 35-147. 2. Diamond, L. M. (2008). Female bisexuality from adolescence to adulthood: Results from a 10-year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 44, 5-14. 3. Spalding, L. R., & Peplau, L. A. (1997). The unfaithful lover: heterosexuals’ perceptions of bisexuals and their relationships. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 611-625. 4. McLean, K. (2004). Negotiating (non) monogamy: Bisexuality and intimate relationships. Journal of Bisexuality, 4, 83-97.

VIDEO=>CBS News Reporter Major Garrett Has On Air Tantrum Over Trump ‘Birther’ Press Event CBS News reporter Major Garrett went ballistic following Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s press event Friday at the new Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. The event featured Medal of Honor recipients and other veterans endorsing Trump and was also billed as where Trump would make a major announcement on the President Barack Obama ‘birther’ controversy. Major Garrett reports from Trump press event, image via screen grab. At the end of the half-hour event following the endorsements by the veterans, Trump made a brief statement that he believes Obama was born in the U.S. and then left the podium without taking questions from the press. This caused the assembled reporters to go into a rage. One example is Major Garrett, who seethed with anger during his live stand-up report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieaZLdqGdhw Garrett’s fellow reporters stood on chairs and screamed at Trump for five minutes following the press event. In protest of Trump’s treatment of the press, Washington bureau chiefs voted to delete news video taken during Trump’s guided tour of the new Trump hotel.

An iPhone app that teaches you proper cunnilingus technique – A new app called Lick This offers to “train your tongue” in the art of oral sex because “practice makes pleasure.” However, to use the app, you have to be willing to lick your phone screen. If you're concerned about germs (which wouldn't be unreasonable, because our phones are covered in them), I guess you could wrap your phone in Saran wrap first. If you’ve always wanted to get past second base with Siri, this app may be your dream come true. The most realistic sex dolls money can buy – Forget blow-up dolls, a company called Sinthetics is now offering “life size, fully articulated, anatomically correct” sex dolls (or “manikins” as the company calls them). These are probably the most life-like sex dolls money can buy (check out some sample images on the Sinthetics website), and they can be completely customized to your personal likes and (if applicable) fetishes. Breasts and penises come in all sizes, you can say where you want hair and where you don’t, and you can even give your new friend things like tattoos, piercings, and tan lines. Oh, and elf ears and monster eyes are options too. Manikins start at $5,500, but if you want a completely custom body or head, expect to spend quite a bit more. Pleasure your partner (or yourself) with remote-controlled underwear – blueMotion, developed by OhMiBod, is a set of vibrating panties that you can control from your smartphone via a Bluetooth connection. An app on your phone lets you control the speed and intensity of the vibrations. Learn more here. And, no, I don’t know when the wi-fi model is coming out! Turn ordinary household items into dildos in an instant – Have you ever looked at an object around your house and said, “I wish I could turn that into a dildo?” If so, Dildomaker is the device for you. It quickly and easily transforms everything from vegetables to hot dogs to candles into dildos. It works kind of like a pencil sharpener: just stick the tip in, crank the device, and presto! A perfect dildo every time. Check out a few examples here. The robot that helps you masturbate – Finally, for that guy in your life who thinks masturbation is just too much work, here is a prototype of a robot that can literally give him a hand. This robot basically holds a plastic tube over your penis and moves it up and down while you wear a pair of virtual reality goggles that displays a sex scene. The robot moves its arms in time with the thrusts you see on screen. Check out the video below for a closer look at how it works, complete with a truly uncomfortable anime sex scene.

I've had Deus Ex MD sitting on my shelf since Day 1 (I got it for a deep discount on day 1, like twenty-something dollars, but it's way cheaper now). I only booted it up to check out HDR when I finally got the Pro and a 4kTV and that was it. The only way I'd probably end up playing it now is if it was digitally installed on my system ready to be played at the drop of a hat if I feel like it, so this is a good thing for me even though I own it. Also, thinking about the PS+ service with taking console life into perspective, I think PS+ on PS4 has actually been better than PS+ on PS3 for new games. It just launched late on PS3 so we had to only wait two years until big games started showing up frequently, but that was really almost 6 years into the PS3's life. We currently just passed the 4 year mark for PS4.

An 77-year-old was murdered in a Fairfax County retirement community, and police are searching for a suspect. WASHINGTON — A 77-year-old was murdered in a Fairfax County retirement community, and police are searching for a suspect. Cong Huu Nguyen, 77, was found dead in his apartment in the Little River Glen Senior Retirement Community, located at 4003 Barker Court in Fairfax Thursday morning. Nguyen had trauma to his upper body. On Friday, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the trauma to his upper body caused his death, which was ruled a homicide. It is not yet clear if someone forced entry into Nguyen’s apartment, said Fairfax County police spokesman Don Gotthardt. Police also do not know if this was a random act or not. “We have to classify it or characterize as a threat to public safety at this point because we don’t know any different,” Gotthardt said. Detectives are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying anyone responsible. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 703-246-7800 or 703-246-7810. Little River Glen Senior Retirement Community has 120 one-bedroom apartments in four residential buildings, according to information on the Fairfax County website. The facility is operated by the county. Ashley Montgomery, director of public affairs for Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development, said the community is in the process of notifying residents about what took place. Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority Chairman Robert Schwaninger said the agency is working to make sure residents of the senior community are safe and their families are informed about updates in the case, too. “Our hearts go out to Mr. Nguyen’s family for their loss, and they will be in our thoughts. Little River Glen is a wonderful, safe and welcoming community where our residents can age with dignity in a home they can afford. We have an outstanding police department, and we have every confidence in their ability to make an arrest in this case,” Schwaninger said in the statement. Editor’s note: Fairfax County police corrected that Nguyen was 77 when he died. WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report. Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others. © 2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.

The surge in borrowing in October was fueled by a 9.9% increase in revolving credit outstanding, which mostly consists of credit-card loans. U.S. consumer borrowing rose in October at the fastest rate in 11 months, reflecting heavy credit card spending. The Federal Reserve said Thursday that total consumer credit increased $20.5 billion to a record seasonally adjusted $3.8 trillion, climbing at an annual growth rate of 6.5%. It was the second straight strong monthly gain in consumer borrowing after a revised $19.2 billion in September, down only slightly from the prior estimate of a $20.8 billion. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a $17.2 billion increase in October. Revolving credit outstanding, which mostly consists of credit-card loans, accelerated to an annual rate of 9.9% in October, up from the 7.3% gain in September. Nonrevolving credit outstanding, mainly student and auto loans, rose at a 5.3% annual pace compared with 5.7% the previous month. “The hefty above-trend gain in consumer credit in October was likely aided by the post-hurricane surge in auto sales,” MarketWatch said, adding that the increase in revolving credit may boost holiday sales. According to Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, non-revolving credit has been decelerating, in part because the low unemployment rate is attracting younger people into the labor market and reducing the demand for student loans. “While some of the increase in credit-card debt could be related to spending following the hurricanes, the strength of consumer sentiment surveys suggests there could be a greater willingness on the part of the consumer to re-lever modestly,” T.J. Connelly, head of research at Contingent Macro Advisors, said. Household debt totaled $12.955 trillion in the third quarter, up 0.9% from the spring, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said last month. That was the most on record, though the figure wasn’t adjusted for inflation. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported last month that household debt reached a record $12.955 trillion in the third quarter, up 0.9% from the spring.

CLOSE On Thursday afternoon, Woods and about 100 students rushed Davis' cash register to surprise her with an oversize check for nearly $2,500, printed on an image of the blues, pinks and greens of the Aurora Borealis. Watch Vicke Davis receive $2,500 to see the Northern Lights in Canada below. ASU sophomore Chase Ebiner (left) hugs from dining room cashier Vicke Davis after she received a $2,350 check for her dream trip on Jan. 21, 2016, at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University in Tempe. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic) Vicke Davis, 59, is something of a celebrity among students at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. “Everyone knows her,” junior Alysa McCormick said. “She remembered my name before I remembered her name.” As an employee in the college's dining hall in Tempe for the last three years, Davis has asked about the students’ lives before every breakfast, lunch and dinner. And because she cares, she remembers their answers. She knows if they’re a freshman or senior, how their classes are going, where they went on vacation. “Vicke is obviously a star component of the Barrett experience,” sophomore Hannah Houts said. “She knows all my family. … She sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to my dad once even though it wasn’t his birthday — because he was getting cake.” One chilly fall day last semester, junior Quintin Woods handed Davis his meal card to buy lunch and, as she swiped it, asked about her “dream trip." Without hesitation, she replied “the Northern Lights,” the bands of light that appear in the sky at night, especially in arctic regions. She heard that if you sing or whistle, the colorful streaks will dance with you. On Thursday afternoon, Woods and about 100 students rushed Davis' cash register to surprise her with an oversize check for nearly $2,500, printed on an image of the blues, pinks and greens of the Aurora Borealis. NEWSLETTERS Get the AZ Memo newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Get the pulse of Arizona -- Local news, in-depth state coverage and what it all means for you Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for AZ Memo Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters As Woods handed her the check and a camera to document her travels, Davis began to cry. “See, that’s why I love my babies,” she yelled to the crowd of students surrounding her. “No wonder I was seeing you all today; I haven’t seen you all in a year!" “I love my Barrett babies” “A lot of freshmen come here and live in the complex, and they don’t get mom’s home-cooked meals anymore, but they get Vicke saying, ‘How you doing baby? How my Barrett babies doing?" McCormick said. "It’s so welcoming in a place that doesn’t necessarily feel like home at first." “She always brings this extremely positive, extremely nurturing, caring spirit here,” McCormick said. Davis regularly engages with students on Facebook and Snapchat – she’s been featured dancing or skateboarding on ASU’s daily Snapchat story many times – and she’s always posting about her “Barrett babies.” “I told them the first day, I left all my babies in Chicago, so they my babies now. I love my babies. They’re sweet,” Davis said after she finished hugging every student that showed up for the surprise. Davis is from Chicago and began working at ASU in 2013, she said. “Each one of them is gonna get a whooping. They could use that money on themselves,” she said, laughing. “Y’all spoil me, but y’all my favorite babies and you know it. I gotta bring back a lot of key chains.” $2,000 in two days ASU junior Quintin Woods (left) surprises dining room cashier Vicke Davis with a $2,350 check for her dream trip on Jan. 21, 2016, at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University in Tempe. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic) Woods, 20, created the fundraiser on GoFundMe.com on Christmas Eve. Within 48 hours, more than 150 people had raised his goal of $2,000. “It’s not necessarily surprising because I know how well-liked she is, but still," he said. "It's pleasantly surprising that it was an immediate ‘boom’ effort." Two fraternities – Pi Kappa Phi and Lambda Chi Alpha – each donated about $250. One student donated $150 on her own; another gave $100. Donations trickled in after, eventually topping out at $2,486. The money will cover travel expenses for Davis to go to Canada over ASU’s spring break in March. While in Canada for the first time, more than 1,000 miles from her cafeteria, Davis plans to eat. “I want real food. ... I’m from Chicago – very picky anyway – and a lot of the restaurants that say 'Chicago style'… nuh-uh. So I’m gonna do a lot of eating.” Before the hubbub died down, Davis ran off to clock out for lunch and stand in line for food alongside the students. “I only got 30 minutes off, I can’t kiss everybody,” she said, laughing. “Y’all gonna have me crying in my sushi.” Thank you to everyone who made this possible 😍 we love our Barrett momma pic.twitter.com/lGzhYzwnSB — P Fitz (@paigefitzgerald) January 21, 2016 Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1RCvJnE

Without completing the statutory public hearings in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar has done away with a stop-work order against the Polavaram dam, allowing construction work to resume. He did so at the personal request of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and without informing Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Also, the orders of the environment ministry have not been put in the public domain. The project is expected to displace about 200,000 and affect 300 villages, according to the 2010 environmental clearance order which uses data of 2001 population of these villages. The population over the decade and a half has risen considerably. It is to irrigate about 300,000 ha of agricultural land, store 550 million cubic metres of water and generate 960 Mw of power. The project is to be built on the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. But the water is expected to inundate many tribal villages in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, too. Construction has to be carried out for the project in these states, too. A July 3 letter by Javadekar to Naidu, reviewed by Business Standard, reads: "I have your letter dated April 25 regarding continuation of works of the Indira Sagar Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh. I have got the matter examined in my ministry... with the anticipation that the pending public hearing will be resolved through discussions and persistent engagement with Odisha and Chhattisgarh, my ministry has taken the decision to keep the 'stop-work order' in abeyance for a period of a year. A copy of the office memorandum in this regard is enclosed for your information." The letter attaches executive orders from joint secretary Biswanath Sinha, dated June 23. It says, "This ministry has decided to keep the stop-work order in abeyance for a period of a year." It conceded public hearings hadn't been carried out in the two states and that both had approached the Supreme Court against the project and the verdicts were pending. The order is marked to principal secretary (irrigation) in the Andhra Pradesh government. Baijendra Kumar, principal secretary to the Chhattisgarh chief minister, told Business Standard, "We have not been informed of this order. We have filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the project. Mandatory public hearings have not been conducted in the state. Sometimes, they say four villages in our state will be submerged and sometimes they say 40. How can we know the exact situation till studies are done and public hearings are carried out in our state as well? We are surprised how the Centre keeps permitting work be carried out like this. The project has been almost completed like this, illegally." Pradeep Kumar Jena, Odisha's water resources secretary, confirmed the state hadn't been informed of the decision, though the Centre was aware the state had taken strong objections to the project. While Chhattisgarh has a BJP government, headed by Chief Minister Raman Singh, Odisha has a Biju Janata Dal government, under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. A detailed questionnaire sent to Javadekar did not elicit a response till the time of going to print. Oddly, the executive order from his ministry reads, "During the first three-six months of this period of one year, the government of Andhra Pradesh shall ensure public hearings are conducted in the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and submit the outcome of the public hearings to the environment ministry." This is despite the fact that public hearings in the two states cannot be organised by the Andhra Pradesh government; these have to be carried out by the respective state government, through the state pollution control board concerned. The Environment Protection Act makes it mandatory for public hearings to be held for all areas impacted by a project. Only after the hearings can an environment-impact assessment be conducted. A positive appraisal of the assessment permits the Centre to give a nod. Construction on the project can take place only after this and other clearances. In 2005, the Andhra Pradesh government secured a clearance for the project component falling within its territory. In 2010, the state sought clearance for the parts of the project in the two other states. The Union environment ministry gave its approval that year. However, in 2011, it issued a stop-work order when Chhattisgarh and Odisha protested that their areas would also be impacted, adding no studies or hearings had been conducted. Subsequently, the two approached the Supreme Court separately against the project. The executive order of the environment ministry says, "The government of Andhra Pradesh has assured it will bring about changes in the design and operating parameters of the project in case warranted as a result of public hearings in Chhattisgarh and Odisha and such changes would be carried out in consultation with the CWC (Central Water Commission) and the consent of all states. In that case, change in design or/and operating parameters might be required to ensure the area falling in the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha does not come under submergence due to impounding of the project reservoir." It wasn't explained how the project could be retrofited once near completion. An executive order of the ministry has to operate within the legal provisions of the environmental laws governing clearances. The law provides only for a prior-informed consent for the project. The ministry order says a similar order to let work on the Polavaram project continue had been issued on January 1, 2014, for six months. Business Standard had asked the environment minister under what provisions and on what legal grounds the stop-work order for the Polavaram project had been withdrawn, and whether Chhattisgarh and Odisha had been consulted on the matter before the decision or informed of it after the decision was taken.

New screenshots from a preview build of the upcoming Fall Creators Update for Windows 10 have shown off the new Mixed Reality Viewer app, giving us a glimpse of what Microsoft plans for supporting the range of mixed reality headsets which are due to launch alongside the update on October 17. The images, posted on the Aggiornamenti Lumia blog, show how the existing View 3D app has been rebranded into the Mixed Reality Viewer. It allows users to open 3D models inside Windows 10 and view them with a mixed reality headset, or through a standard 2D monitor. The screenshots of the app were taken on a computer running Windows 10 that's been signed up to the Insider’s Program with ‘Fast Ring with Skip Ahead enabled’. This gives users a chance to download an early version of upcoming Windows updates to test out before they are finished. Image 1 of 3 Image credit: Aggiornamenti Lumia Image 2 of 3 Image credit: Aggiornamenti Lumia Image 3 of 3 Image credit: Aggiornamenti Lumia Trying out the new features The blog post explains some of the new features of the Mixed Reality Viewer app, including a new logo and interface. These images show how mixed reality content will be handled in Windows 10 in the future. While it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed to feature in the Fall Creators Update, we’re hoping that it will be included, or shortly afterwards. The blog also hosts a download of the new app for people to try out, but we'd recommend holding fire and waiting for the final version to appear on the Windows Store in the future. Microsoft has made a big deal of supporting mixed reality, so to have a flagship app included in its next major update of Windows 10 will be a good indication of just how serious it is about MR. For the fastest results in Windows, upgrade to the best wireless router