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The women’s game has truly hit new heights. This has been a FIFA Women’s World Cup of fabulous goals, wonderful games, and a sporting tournament that has truly made an impact across the globe. The #FIFAWWC has inspired girls & women around world. Ask your Federation how to get involved. http://t.co/jTyEQmI8Cc pic.twitter.com/4oEjZAqlg8 — FIFA Women'sWorldCup (@FIFAWWC) July 5, 2015 In the United States, television audience records have been set. In Africa, nations like Nigeria and Cameroon have held their heads high. In the UK, the traditionally hard bitten media has finally been turned to shine a light on the game. And here in Australia, the Matildas have garnered press attention, commercial TV mentions, and created a little bit of Australian football history into the bargain. They have even knocked Tim Cahill off the Australian cover of FIFA 16. From the perspective of SBS, this has been a ground-breaking month: every match available online, 41 matches broadcast live in high definition on TV, and a nightly highlights show. It’s been the most comprehensive coverage of women’s team sport ever seen on free-to-air television. The results have been hugely encouraging: growing, engaged audiences, not just jumping on the “Aussie” bandwagon, but sticking around to see what Cameroon, Canada, China and Netherlands have to offer, too. On Sunday, nearly 350,000 watched Australia fall to Japan in the quarter-finals, with the Women’s World Cup surpassing AFL and NRL activity on Twitter. Overall SBS's coverage is approaching 2.5 million viewers, and it’s all been led by three women: Lucy Zelic, Sally Shipard and Joey Peters. The feedback has been tremendous. Online, you’ve joined us in your tens of thousands, too, for live match streams. You’ve shared our content across your own social media pages and been part of some terrific conversations online that have only served the stand up the women’s game as the excellent spectacle it is. As an example, when we shared that winning Matildas moment against Brazil on The World Game’s Facebook page, thousands of you shared it with your own friends and family, and hundreds of thousands of you watched it. FIFA Women's World Cup Round of 16 RESULTBrazil 0-1 AUSTRALIAReport:... Posted by SBS The World Game on Sunday, June 21, 2015 The World Game website hit almost 1 million unique users through the World Cup month of June while our man on the ground, Vitor Sobral, was glowing in his praise of coach Alen Stajcic and the entire playing group declaring they were 'wonderful to work with' as he played his part in bringing you all the latest from the Matildas camp during their Canadian odyssey. However, as good as the numbers have been, it was never the point. We didn’t decide to show the whole tournament to gain huge viewing figures or garner some sort of commercial success. We did it because it was the right thing to do. At SBS, we are uniquely placed to offer alternatives. We can provide services that other media outlets simply would not bother to. We want to inspire and encourage passion communities and promote diversity and multiculturalism. We want to make a difference. To this end, the FIFA Women’s World Cup can be held up as a figurehead for our purpose, for what we are about. And it's all those things that we are hugely proud of. There’s a school of thought that women’s sport doesn’t interest people. People say it’s always going to be inferior to the games played by male counterparts. If that were the case, then this country would only ever show NRL, AFL, and cricket. Women would be relegated to cheerleaders and WAG’s. “Pass us a beer love, the footy’s on.” How sad. No Cathy Freeman moment. No Dawn Fraser. No Opals, Hockeyroos, thrilling netball finals. No Anna, Sally, Steph, Kerryn, Leisel and Libby. Perhaps most importantly, no role models for our young kids. I have a daughter. She’s 7 years-old, going on 17. She swims, plays netball and football, and even cricket sometimes. She cheers on Spurs, Sydney FC and Wests Tigers (rarely) and the Socceroos. But this month I’ve been able to show her another side, an actual team she could get into. I’ve shown her a team of players she can relate to and aspire to, and that is priceless. The groundswell of support for the Matildas has also opened up many debates around coverage, pay and acceptance. It’s also opened many eyes. The challenge now, for us at SBS as much as anyone, is to keep those eyes open as the stardust of the World Cup fades. When it’s back to 'normal' there are no guarantee. Yet for the first time, in forever, I get a real sense of change in the game, a sense that there’s a feeling of something significant building. The Era of the Matildas is on its way.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) unveiled a new bill this week requiring all groups that spend money independently of campaigns, candidates, or parties to influence a federal election or nomination to disclose their donors. Although we have concerns with the bill, the senators' hearts are certainly in the right place, and they should be applauded for actively soliciting input during the drafting process from interested parties on all sides of the debate. The "Follow the Money" Act does several things better than competing proposals like the DISCLOSE Act. For instance, it removes the disclosure requirements for ads that simply mention a candidate close to an election or primary. It also raises the threshold for reporting of direct contributions to candidates from the exceedingly low $200 to $1,000 and creates two options for groups looking to preserve donor anonymity, which are similar to existing law. Groups can either create a safe harbor account seeded by donations below $1,000 (donors to which stay anonymous), or they can create a separate account for covered spending (and only contributors to that account have to be disclosed). Unfortunately, like all of the recent disclosure proposals, the Wyden-Murkowski bill fatally fails to clearly define the type of expenditure that would trigger disclosure. The heart of the bill is the creation of a new definition of "independent federal election-related activity expenditure," which I'm going to imaginatively call an IFERAE. IFERAEs are defined as any expenditure that "considering the facts and circumstances, a reasonable person would conclude is made solely or substantially for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the nomination or election of any individual to any Federal office." The definition is not, as is usually the case, limited to just advertising and could cover independent polling, research, or messaging. If you make IFERAEs over $10,000—no matter what—you automatically have to disclose all your donors. The only exceptions are the separate account options I mentioned above, which are certainly welcome but may not be feasible for smaller or single issue advocacy groups who often have to rely on large donations from fewer contributors. There is also a waiver for donors who contribute less than $5,000, which may be hard for groups to secure in practice. The vagueness of the IFERAE definition creates two main problems. First, this bill is going to cover a lot more political activity and speech. It almost certainly will sweep in pure "issue ads" by groups like the ACLU, the Sierra Club or the Humane Society. For instance, a similarly vague provision in the 1971 campaign finance law was cited in the decision by the New York Times to refuse to publish an advertisement by the ACLU in the New York Times criticizing President Nixon for his position on busing. The ad itself did not call for Nixon's defeat, but the Times feared that its harsh tone would open it to liability for publishing an illegal campaign ad. Second, the bill is going to open the door to selective enforcement. Groups critical of the government or who support unpopular causes will find that their expenditures are more likely to be covered by the definition. There is no question the public has a legitimate interest in knowing who is corruptly spending scads of cash trying to influence voters and lawmakers. But the public should also be able to anonymously support advocacy organizations that engage on the issues of the day, even if they praise or criticize candidates or nominees for their positions on those issues. Absent anonymity, some donors—on both the left and the right—will simply not donate out of the legitimate fear they will be harassed or retaliated against for their advocacy. Importantly, it's not clear—and it needs to be clear—that anonymous political donations to independent issue advocacy groups are actually corrupting. During the last election cycle, there was significant outcry over so-called "dark" money: political expenditures by groups that do not publicly disclose their donors. But, when you look at the facts, dark money made up a relatively small percentage of all outside spending, and even groups that support expanded disclosure find that it had little concrete effect on the ground. In many tight Senate races, for instance, it was actually the incumbency advantage in direct fundraising by Democrats that made the difference. Before we vastly expand disclosure requirements for issue advocacy, we need a record of real harm, which we just don't have right now. The campaign finance issue is hard because reform is actually being pushed in response to a real problem: large, self-interested agglomerations of wealth that can and do wield an outsized influence in the political process. That's something that we need to address, but the real question is how. As Justice Brandeis famously said, "[t]he greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." In other words, sometimes the urge to just "do something" about a problem results in serious unintended consequences. Donor disclosure is one of the areas where we need to be very careful of those consequences. Learn more about campaign finance reform and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

There’s no denying that we live in a golden age of personal vaporizers and mechanical mods. The market is full of devices of every kind of size, shape and function. We’ve come a long way from the simple e-cigarette just a few short years ago. In no small part, we can thank the incredibly creative small businesses and individuals who have raised the bar with innovative designs. However, the massive availability and affordable prices can be traced to overseas manufacturers shamelessly copying these devices and selling them at a fraction of the price of the genuine article. Along with this choice on the market comes one of the great schisms in the vaping community. There seems to be camps who believe that the so-called clones are harming the innovators in the industry. The other camp tends to believe that makers of the high-end devices charge too much for their products. The most commonly duplicated devices are mechanical mods. All mechanical mods essentially are a method to connect a battery as directly to an RBA as possible. So why should a dead simple device cost so much? To be perfectly honest, I can see both sides of the argument. I also think many people on one side of the fence or the other tend to over simplify the situation. There’s a lot of moving parts there that are often overlooked in some of the heated arguments. Obviously, I have, in the past reviewed clone devices. Many of which are flat-out copies of originals all the way down to logos and certificates of authenticity. I’m personally bugged by versions that ape the logo and include a fake serial number. That’s quite honestly uncalled for. I do, however, think that there is a place in the community for a discussion, and I don’t believe simply refusing to review them would solve anything. It’s a personal choice. I get why some folks choose to not give press to these devices. I’ve honestly struggled with the question personally myself. Some folks have even gone so far to tell me that they would stop paying visits to this site if I continued to cover these devices. I completely respect that. I’ve made my choices, they’ve made theirs. I of course regret I couldn’t do something that would make everyone happy, but you rarely can. I don’t think any less of anyone who makes a stand for his or her beliefs. [Tweet “There’s a lot of moving parts there that are often overlooked in some of the heated arguments.”] I’ve stated my views on the clones several times in some of the reviews I’ve done previously, so I don’t intend to make this post a rehash of such things. No, what I’m interested in hearing is what you think about this whole topic. Specifically, you as readers of this site. I’ve seen all the arguments and fights in the forums, so I’m not interested in starting any of those. I want to know what you as readers think on the topic. The comment system below is awaiting your response. Pick your favorite platform and let your feelings be known!

SWAK — And Baked Goods! For Christmas, my grandparents sent me a gift card to Williams Sonoma. That afternoon, I scoured the store’s website, as excited as a kid in a candy store as I browsed page after page of rolling pins, cookie cutters, and grill pans. During my search, I discovered two differed sizes of pretty gold loaf pans that, with tax, added up to almost the exact amount on the card. But at the mall, too many other post-Christmas shoppers liked the smaller loaf pan and snatched all of them off the shelves before I even set foot in the store. Disappointed, I still bought the larger size and resolved to send my thank-you card once Williams Sonoma restocked the mini pans. Unfortunately, life turned into a whirling tornado of activity shortly after the holidays, and I have yet to drive back to the store—or mail my letter. But I finally mixed up a moist batter to break in the first pan, and if I hadn’t devoured the entire loaf, I would have slipped a few slices into a box to send along with the belated thank-you card. Pear and Applesauce Quick Bread serves 16 This quick bread is extremely moist, perfect for breakfast, a snack, or even a sweet treat after dinner. Substitute apples for the pear if you prefer. 2 c. whole-wheat flour ½ c. granulated sugar 2 tsp baking powder ¾ tsp baking soda ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg ¾ c. unsweetened applesauce ¼ c. agave nectar 2 tsp vanilla 1 pear, diced Preheat the oven to 325° and coat an 8×4” baking tin with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg). Add in the applesauce, agave, and vanilla, stirring just until moist. Gently fold in the pears. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, and bake at 325° for 45-60 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check after 30-35 min; if the top is browning too quickly, cover the tin with foil and continue baking until done. Cool in the pan for 10 min before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cover the bread in plastic wrap and tin foil, and refrigerate for 8 hrs or overnight to allow the flavors to deepen. Advertisements

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Training young children in spatial reasoning can improve their math performance, according to a new study. The researchers trained 6- to 8-year-olds in mental rotation, a spatial ability, and found their scores on addition and subtraction problems improved significantly. The mental rotation training involved imagining how two halves of an object would come together to make a whole, when the halves have been turned at an angle. [sources] Past research has found a link between spatial reasoning and math, but the new study is the first to provide direct evidence of a causal connection—that when children are trained in one ability, improvement is seen in the other. The findings are published in the Journal of Cognition and Development. Kelly Mix, professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University, says the findings suggest spatial training “primes” the brain to better tackle calculation problems. Mix authored the study with Yi-Ling Cheng, a doctoral student in the College of Education. “What’s shocking is that we saw these improvements in math performance after giving the students just one 20-minute training session in spatial ability,” Mix says. “Imagine if the training had been six weeks.” Understanding the connection between spatial ability and math, she says, is especially important in the early elementary grades because many studies indicate early intervention is critical for closing achievement gaps in math. Spatial ability is important for success in many fields, from architecture to engineering, to meteorology, according to a Johns Hopkins University paper. An astronomer must visualize the structure of the solar system and the motions of the objects in it, for example, while a radiologist must be able to interpret the image on an X-ray. Some education experts have called for including spatial reasoning in the elementary math curriculum. But there are many forms of spatial ability and Mix says it’s important to first figure out how each of them may or may not relate to the various math disciplines. To that end, Mix is leading a larger study that tests elementary students on different forms of spatial ability and math performance. The Institute of Education Sciences, which is the research arm of the US Department of Education, funded the research. Source: Michigan State University

TL;DR Perl already won once - in the nineties it was the technology that powered the whole web. It got a market share that none of the 'cool' languages will ever be able achieve - be that Python, or Ruby, or Go, or Node, or whatever. Be that backed by Google, Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist or Booking.com. PHP is coming close, but it won't achieve it, exactly because of the cool new programming languages, because of the much larger internet market and of the diversity of software developers. I believe the main reason haters gonna hate Perl forever is because their language of choice will never achieve its dominant adoption. Transition to Perl Having those list, scalar, string, or void contexts is pretty confusing when you're first exposed to them. The types of variables are totally different from anything that I've seen that far - scalar, array and hash type. It was also hard to get along with the TIMTOWDI (There Is More Than One Way To do It) principle which is everywhere - should the $customer->orders method return undef when no orders are present, or should it simply return, or should it return an empty array or maybe an empty array ref - this is just one question that I found myself asking over and over again. I came for the money and stayed for the robustness I decided to switch from Progress because there was only one company in Cluj-Napoca that was using it. While you would normally expect, as an extremely specialized technologist, to earn a bigger salary because of the scarcity of experts in a certain field, the opposite was true - I earned a smaller than average salary, exactly because I could do nothing about it (ie I didn't had where to go). Although I wanted to switch to Java, the first opportunity I had was Perl. Given that we had at that time about 5 companies that were doing Perl development in Cluj, and that the salary this company offered, as a junior Perl developer (I wasn't able to even code the 'hello world' without googling it), was bigger than the one I got as a senior Progress developer with a commitment of salary negotiation after one month with the company, signaled me that there had to be something good with the language that I've only heard about it looks the same before and after it is encrypted. While I worked as a Progress developer, I was doing the whatever part time project I wanted to work on using technologies like PHP, Ruby and Python, mostly because of the high costs of running a Progress app (at that time they were charging even for the runtime VM, I don't know if that still applies). I don't have any public project since that time. When I switched to Perl I decided to use it for everything I do - I wanted to see if that's possible, without losing any productivity and in order to become more proficient in the language. The right tool for the right job Since 2010 when I started to develop in Perl, I found out that Perl has everything that I needed, some more and they're all rock solid pieces of software: Want a RoR like framework? go with Catalyst Want a Sinatra like framework? choose between Dancer2 and Mojolicious Want an uber ORM? - go with DBIx::Class (dbic) That's why Perl became my Young but wise the average Perl developer has 12 years of software development experience. What kind of code would you prefer in your business critical, money making software products? one written by people with an average of 12 years experience in the language of choice, or one written in a language that appeared on the radar in the last decade: I think that the average age of a Perl developer is about 35 years (I have no official data for this, my hunch is based on the people I saw at numerous YAPC s I had the opportunity to be present at). Assuming this is true and assuming a dev enters into production at 23 years old, it results thatWhat kind of code would you prefer in your business critical, money making software products? one written by people with an average of 12 years experience in the language of choice, or one written in a language that appeared on the radar in the last decade: Ruby on Rails, the framework that made Ruby popular was launched in late 2005 NodeJS is not yet at version 1, having its first version launched in May 2009 In my imagination a language that is dying does not have frequent releases, nor it has modern frameworks and it doesn't inspire other languages also. A short story I currently work on a project written completely in Perl for a company that sells economic reports - lets call it X, because I don't have their permission to use their name. The project was started around 1998 and for about 8 years there were less than 3 developers who supported the whole online division of the company. The company that I currently work for (an outsourcing one) started to assist the X company with the project around 2008. If I remember correctly, between 2008 and 2012 there were no more than 5 developers assigned to the project from my company at any one time. In late 2012, a new CIO was hired by the X company in order to help with modernizing their so called legacy codebase. It was indeed legacy - the whole website was done entirely with CGI.pm. The new CIO promised to rewrite the whole system in .NET in just one year, because you know, how much functionality can be implemented by an average number of 3-4 developers in a technology that is so old and rusty as CGI, while also maintaining the core, business critical and money generating, functionality? So, in November 2013 they started to lay out the business logic that takes place in the online app in order to be able to start implementing it in early 2013 so it would be done by the end of 2013. It was March 2013 when the CEO decided to stop the idea of rewriting the app in .NET because they weren't able in those 4 months to even define the scope of the project. The CIO was out. My company made the commitment to rewrite the whole app using Modern Perl and to also respect the original schedule, compensating the time lost because of the unsuccessful .NET rewrite attempt. I remember my department manager saying after he came back from company X with the project "I might have made the most stupid commitment ever, but it might also be the best". Long story short - by October 2013 we rewrote 90% of the old application using Catalyst and DBIx::Class on the backend and Bootstrap from Twitter on the front end. By the mid of 2014, the old application, the CGI one, was taken out of production. There was no business interruption because of the rewrite. Conclusion Watch out for whoever says that Perl is an ancient technology, because they're either ignorant and completely clueless about what's really happening in the world of computer programming, or they have hidden agendas. I know, this might be a biased post - I love Perl, but so are the posts that people wright when they say it is irrelevant. Let me ask you a few biased questions: Why do you love Perl? How did Perl helped you in your profession? How did Perl helped your company? How do you intend to use Perl in the next years? As a result, I currently have 2 extra projects that I work on and have real users www.eatfab.com (a food ordering application) and www.prforge.com (a crowd speaking platform).Since 2010 when I started to develop in Perl, I found out that Perl has everything that I needed, some more and they're all rock solid pieces of software:That's why Perl became my golden hammer Regarding youth, Perl's last stable version is 5.20.1, released in 14th of September 2014. The Dancer2 framework had its first release in 2013 and it had 37 more releases since then. Mojolicious reached version 1 in December 2010, now it's at version 5.72 - have a look at the frequency of releases In my imagination a language that is dying does not have frequent releases, nor it has modern frameworks and it doesn't inspire other languages also.Watch out for whoever says that Perl is an ancient technology, becauseand completely clueless about what's really happening in the world of computer programming, orI know, this might be a biased post - I love Perl, but so are the posts that people wright when they say it is irrelevant. Let me ask you a few biased questions: This post is a response to the Yet Another Perl Rant article which appeared on hackernews Without being a special kind of paranoid or conspiracy theory adept, I can't help myself noticing that from time to time an article appears which tries to convince us that Perl is dead and there are no reasons to learn it.I started programming in Perl in 2010, after 4 years of professional software development (in progress ) and after I did some projects in PHP, Ruby and Python.I have to admit, as a programmer it wasn't really easy to start with Perl:

The year is ninety-four, in my trunk is raw In my rear-view mirror is the motherfuckin' law Got two choices y'all, pull over the car or (hmm) bounce on the Devil, put the pedal to the floor And I ain't tryin' to see no highway chase with Jake Plus I got a few dollars, I can fight the case So I, pull over to the side of the road "Son, do you know why I'm stoppin' you for?" Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low Or do I look like a mindreader, sir? I don't know Am I under arrest or should I guess some more? "Well you was doin fifty-five in the fifty-four; license and registration and step out of the car -- are you carryin a weapon on you? I know a lot of you are" I ain't steppin out of shit, all my papers legit "Well do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?" Well my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back And I know my rights, so you gon' need a warrant for that "Aren't you sharp as a tack! You some type of lawyer or somethin, somebody important or somethin?" Child I ain't passed the bar, but I know a little bit Enough that you won't illegally search my shit "Well we'll see how smart you are when the canine comes" I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one Hit me! Fairly valid, although it depends on the state; I'm not familiar with the laws of 1994, and the location is unspecified, but from the video, possibly Brooklyn, NY.Here's my take on the song:Not running from the police seems like excellent advice.In general, not volunteering information at a traffic stop is great advice.Unless the cop can testify to reasonable suspicion [RS] that the defendant is armed -- in which case he can search the driver and immediate vicinity for weapons for self protection -- you shouldn't need to get out of the car. Pushing back on this makes sense, if only to ensure whatever RS grounds would be documented, so they can get the case thrown out later. If the RS was invalid or not present, all evidence coming after that is "fruit of the poisoned tree" and discarded.Consenting to a voluntary search is never a good idea, especially if you have felony weight on you. The standard to search the glove compartment is actually fairly low in California, since it's accessible to the driver. Even though it is locked, the tenth circuit court of appeals has found that during a protective search of the vehicle (i.e., looking for weapons with RS), the glove box can be searched since it being locked may not prevent the driver from gaining control of a weapon. (1) The trunk can be opened if the car is impounded, for inventory reasons, which is a common way to get evidence. However, a locked case inside the trunk will not be opened (depends on the state).A canine can only be used during a routine traffic stop if it doesn't unduly delay the driver -- it's reasonable to walk back to your cruiser to get a dog, but you can't wait to call one in. This all goes out the window if reasonable suspicion is developed.(1) US v. Palmer, 360 F. 3d 1243 - Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit 2004

The rift between President Obama and FBI Director James B. Comey over the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement deepened Thursday, with the White House again disputing Mr. Comey’s assertion that it’s the cause of spiking crime in major cities. “We just need to make sure that our policy approach to addressing this situation is rooted in evidence and facts,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “It’s clear that we don’t have enough evidence at this point.” For the second time in recent months, Mr. Comey said Wednesday that he believes a spike in violent crime in many cities may be due to officers’ fears of appearing on Internet videos confronting suspects. He told reporters that a “viral video effect” is leading to less aggressive policing that “could well be at the heart” of an increase in murders in many cities. “There’s a perception that police are less likely to do the marginal additional policing that suppresses crime — the getting out of your car at two in the morning and saying to a group of guys, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’” Mr. Comey said. Although violent crime rates nationwide are near historic lows, a surge in more than 40 big cities is causing concern across government agencies trying to understand and respond. Crime rates have risen in those cities in the first three months of 2016, according to a briefing the FBI director received on Wednesday. He said two cities that stood out especially in the latest tallies were Las Vegas and Chicago. In Chicago murders are up 54 percent and shootings up 70 percent over the same period last year. “I don’t know what the answer is, but holy cow do we have a problem,” he said. “It’s a complicated, hard issue, but the stakes couldn’t be higher. A whole lot of people are dying.” Last fall, Mr. Comey referred to the trend as “the Ferguson effect,” a reference to the Missouri city where a white officer shot unarmed black teen Michael Brown, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement, with which the president has expressed support. Mr. Earnest said Mr. Obama last year directed the Justice Department to work with communities affected by the surge in violent crime, resulting in a program to capture more violent fugitives. “That six-week initiative resulted in the arrest of more than 8,000 gang members, sex offenders and other violent criminals,” Mr. Earnest said. “That is an indication of the important role that federal law enforcement can play in supporting the work of local law enforcement in these communities.” But he said Mr. Comey really doesn’t know the reasons for the surge in urban crime. “The FBI director actually made clear that he didn’t know exactly what was going on either,” Mr. Earnest said. “The president’s point is we need to make policy decisions that are based on facts and evidence and not anecdotes. There is still no evidence to substantiate the claim that the increase in violent crime is related to an unwillingness of police officers to do their job.” Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Sebastian Gorka had already raised eyebrows as President Trump’s deputy assistant and one of his chief advisers on foreign policy due mainly to his long history of associations with fringe anti-Muslim groups, many of whom indulge in Islamophobic conspiracy theories. Numerous critics have argued that Gorka’s background disqualifies him from a White House post. The scrutiny became intense in recent weeks due to revelations in the Jewish magazine Forward that Gorka and his family had longstanding ties to a Hungarian nationalist society, Vitézi Rend, that was allied with Nazi forces during World War II, and had a history of anti-Semitic activity. The questions raised the possibility that Gorka could face an investigation over his immigration papers due to the revelations. However, it seems that Gorka’s past includes other issues that raise questions about his role as a presidential adviser. According to Hungarian publications, Gorka failed to pass Hungary’s national-security test in 2002 when he applied for a seat on a commission investigating the activities of the sitting prime minister. Gorka, who was born in London to Hungarian parents and lived in Hungary from 1992 to 2008, worked in the Hungarian Ministry of Defense during the 1990s tenure of József Antall, the nation’s first post-Communist prime minister. He became active again in 2002 while attempting to join a parliamentary committee investigating the postwar activities of the new prime minister, Petr Medgyessy. Medgyessy had been an undercover officer in the Secret Police, the organization that had maintained the previous dictatorship and played a central role in crushing the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. According to the Hungarian news site Magyarnarancs, Gorka was denied a spot on the committee after failing the national security test. According to the article, Gorka was member of the British army for three years and had excellent contacts with the British intelligence services, as well as with U.S. intelligence services; these connections may have been responsible for his failure to pass the test. Gorka nonetheless played a prominent role in the Medgyessy inquiry, telling a British newspaper at the time: "Medgyessy makes these Alice-in-Wonderland claims that he was the only deep cover secret policeman who never spied on people, who rarely wrote reports and then only about the economy of Communist Hungary. It is patently clear that his account to us cannot be equated with reality, given the testimony of senior former secret police officers and the declassified documents from that time." Gorka’s associations with Hungarian far-right elements remain murky. First, the Forward reported that Gorka had associated with anti-Semitic leaders in Hungary – especially during the period following his involvement with the Medgyessy investigation. Gorka’s involvement with the far right, the report said, “includes co-founding a political party with former prominent members of Jobbik, a political party with a well-known history of anti-Semitism; repeatedly publishing articles in a newspaper known for its anti-Semitic and racist content; and attending events with some of Hungary’s most notorious extreme-right figures.” A follow-up story reported that Gorka had sworn a lifetime loyalty oath to the Hungarian pro-Nazi group Vitézi Rend. Gorka initially issued a generic response: “I’ve been a committed opponent of anti-Semitism, racism and totalitarianism all my life. Any suggestion otherwise is false and outrageous,” Gorka said in a statement sent from the White House. Later that week, he issued another statement: “I have never been a member of the Vitézi Rend. I have never taken an oath of loyalty to the Vitézi Rend. Since childhood, I have occasionally worn my father’s medal and used the ‘v’ initial to honor his struggle against totalitarianism,” Gorka told Tablet Magazine. In the meantime, James Lobe has been steadily reporting on Gorka’s background, including his recent revelation that Gorka’s mother at one time worked as translator for notorious Holocaust denier David Irving. Additionally, the Hungarian Free Press reported that Gorka attended a far-right convention led by Jobbik in 2007. Gorka himself has dismissed all the allegations as partisan attacks on the Trump administration. In a Breitbart News interview, he said: “Of course, the attacks we’ve seen in the last month are outrageous and dishonest, but I don’t really take it personally. These attacks aren’t about me, really; they’re about making sure that the American people don’t get the policies they resoundingly voted for.” He added: “We’ve come to a place, unfortunately, where elements of the media are waging a scorched earth campaign against the president by trying to throw everything they have at anyone associated with his administration. … And in the end, as the son of parents who survived the Nazi takeover of Hungary and then the nightmare of Communism, these attacks have no power over me.”

The wave of unrest that erupted in the Arab world last year reached Syria in March, with widespread protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Assad's troops began a series of harsh crackdowns, in some cases shelling and occupying residential areas. The UN estimates more than 5,000 Syrians have been killed in the past 10 months. Thousands continue to protest, despite the threat of government snipers in the streets and alleged incidents of torture and execution by Syrian forces. The Arab League, Europe, and the United States have all imposed stringent trade sanctions against Syria, and the Arab League has sent in a team of observers to monitor the situation -- but nearly 150 Syrians have reportedly been killed since the observers arrived two weeks ago. The Arab League mission will issue a full report on January 19, possibly referring the issue to the United Nations. However, Russia and China oppose UN action, and the U.S. and Europe do not appear to be planning any Libya-style intervention. Gathered here are images of the unrest in Syria over the past several weeks. Many of these photos have been made available despite harsh government restrictions on reporting.

They say breast is best when it comes to nurturing a baby. That message doesn’t translate well when it comes to baked goods. An unnamed mother has stirred up outrage on Facebook after she made brownies with breast milk for a school bake sale. A post on the Sanctimommy Facebook page revealed the mother’s dilemma when she ran out of cow’s milk as an ingredient for her baking and decided to use her own breast milk as a substitution. “I didn’t have time to run to the store and didn’t think it was a big deal (some of those kids could use the nutrition let’s be honest),” the mother wrote. “And it wasn’t even that much.” The mysterious mommy stated another parent found out about the secret ingredient and was “blowing it way out of proportion.” The woman foolishly turned to the Internet for suggestions. Let’s just say the reaction to the post – which has garnered 921 shares and more than 1,000 comments on Facebook – has been mixed and emotional. “Honestly this is actually a damn near criminal offense,” one outraged commenter stated. “Breast milk, like blood or semen, can carry diseases, which is why legit donation services screen the milk before passing it along to moms and their babies.” “Secretly feeding children that aren’t yours baked goods with your bodily fluids in them is gross, shady and borderline psychotic,” another angry commenter wrote. While most of the comments were hateful, some people were confused over the situation. “But…milk isn’t even one of the ingredients for brownies…human or cow,” wrote a confused commenter. Others found humour in the situation. “But was it homogenize?” joked one person. “‘Susan. These brownies are DELISH! What’s in them? …me,’” another humourously chimed. While breast milk is good for babies, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that HIV and other serious infectious diseases can be transmitted through the liquid.

Clear your calendar for 12/23 at 5 pm, well . . . then you might as well clear your calendar for Christmas Eve, too, because you’re going to need some serious recovery time after you see what Gerard Robertson at Coalhouse Pizza in Stamford has planned for you. Yes, it’s true: some of New England Brewing’s best beers will be on tap for this special night (we’ll update with the time when we get it). Think of it as Gerard’s Christmas present to you. First of all, Fuzzy Baby Ducks will be on tap! You’ve probably heard about it, and you’ve probably seen that it’s been popping up here and there at great bars and restaurants that love good, craft beer. So, whether this is is your first time or 12th time having FBD, you’ll want to see what the #5 ranked IPA in the COUNTRY by Beer Advocate tastes like! Yes, #5. Secondly, Gerard (that lucky fuzzy duck) was able to snag some Zapata Bot! This beer was released in bottles in a very limited batch (only 1,000), but he’s got it pouring for you on 12/23. Why Zapata? They age their DIPA Gandhi-Bot in tequila barrels! We’ve been dreaming about trying this, so now we get to! Thirdly, you’ll have to come and see what mysterious cask that NEBCO is giving to Coalhouse. We don’t know, you don’t know, but we’re sure that we’re going to love it! What would you want it to be? Lastly, their classic brews will be pouring out too: 668 Neighbor of the Beast Elm City Lager Ghost Pigeon Porter Imperial Stout Trooper Sea Hag See you there, people and seriously consider hiring an Uber, this is gonna get messy!

According to an article posted on The Recorder Online by Chris Demorro, the Toyota Prius, the most popular hybrid is not actually that efficient. Their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer. In order to fully understand this argument, you need to know the overall architecture of the Prius powertrain. The car consists of two engines, a 1.5L gas engine and an electric motor. The electric motor is capable of propelling the car up to 25mph and from there the gas engine kicks in. Therefore the car saves fuel by turning the gas engine off when it is idling and driving in traffic. The battery for the electric motor is recharged through the braking system. When the current Prius was released for the 04′ model year, Toyota boasted about the car’s estimated 60 mpg in the city and 51mpg on the highway. Consumers ate this information up and flocked to Toyota dealers in droves. Soon after its release consumers began to complain about the fact that their cars were not achieving the claimed mpg. This was due to the out of date EPA tests that the government uses to estimate a car’s mpg. (The new tests will be applied to 2008 models) In most real world applications the Prius only manages to achieve 45 mpg, which is not much higher than most subcompact economy cars (Aveo, Yaris, Scion). That is the first main issue with the current Prius. Second is the issue with the actual production of the batteries for the hybrid cars. It is only slowly being revealed that the nickel batteries that hybrids use are not environmentally friendly. The nickel for the Prius is produced in Sudbury, Ontario. According to Demorro, " This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles." Toyota produces 1,000 tons annually. The production of the batteries does not end in Canada, the nickel is then sent off to a refinery in Europe and then off to China and finally it ends up in finished form in Japan. This in turn uses more energy to create the batteries since it involves many factories all over the world. When you factor in all the energy it takes to drive and build a Prius it takes almost 50% more energy than a Hummer. In a study by CNW Marketing called "Dust to Dust", researchers discovered that the Prius costs and average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles (the expected lifespan of a hybrid). On the other hand the Hummer costs $1.95 per mile over an expected 300,000 miles. Which means that the Hummer will last three times as long and use less energy than the Prius. ( I am not sure about the claim that the Hummer will last three times longer…) This also doesn’t take into account the problem with disposing of the used batteries. Most of the hybrids have not been on the market long enough to be disposed of yet, but when it does happen there are going to be more environmental implications. Basically to sum this up, the Prius and all hybrids for that matter are not exactly what the public perceives them to be. Hybrids for the most part do not have huge gains in gas mileage over their gas powered counterparts. There is also a premium to buy a hybrid and there is a large chance that the premium will not be offset by the time you get rid of the car. According to Demorro, "It takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses." Then there are the issues with the batteries and their effect on the environment. Basically if you want to save gas and pollute less you should buy a subcompact with a PZEV rated engine. It will save you more money in the long run and the earth will thank you. This may all change in the coming years as technology gets better and the price of hybrids drop. Full Article: The Recorder Online by Chris Demorro

More than 70 Humber College students at a campus residence fell ill Thursday night with some type of gastrointestinal illness, but the cause of the sudden outbreak remains unknown. The students all live at the one residence on the north campus at Highway 27 and Finch, and started reporting feeling ill late in the afternoon, according to Andrew Leopold, director of communications. More students fell ill as the evening wore on, he told CBC Toronto early Friday morning. The school's dean of students later told reporters that of the 77 students in total who got sick, 30 were taken to hospital. "All students who were transported were treated and released and returned to residence throughout the night," Jen McMillen told reporters outside the school. Toronto Public Health investigating The students were all suffering from symptoms like vomiting and abdominal pain, she said. Some of the school staff members who were helping students at the residence through the night have also developed the symptoms, according to McMillen. More than 70 Humber College students at a campus residence fell ill Thursday night with some type of gastrointestinal illness, but the cause of the sudden outbreak remains unknown. 0:24 The source of the illness has not yet been determined, she said when asked whether food poisoning may be to blame. To her knowledge, food was still being served on campus. The school notified Toronto Public Health (TPH), McMillen said. The city agency focused on food poisoning when addressing CBC's questions on Friday. Dr. Michael Finkelstein, associate medical officer of health, said TPH has opened an investigation, which includes speaking to officials at the hospital where students were treated, as well as health-care personnel at the school. "TPH will be reaching out to the students who reported that they were ill today to gather more information such as where they ate and what food they ate before they became ill and if they attended any specific functions where food was served before they became ill," Finkelstein said in a statement provided to CBC. 'Nobody wants to come out of their rooms' Students who were outside the residence Friday described the atmosphere in the building. "Nobody wants to come out of their rooms," Duncan Lotoski told CBC. Lotoski was in bed around 9:30 p.m. ET when he noticed flashing lights through his window. When he looked out, he saw a number of ambulances. "Then you hear supervisors in the halls handing out masks saying, 'Wash your hands, wash your hands,'" he said. "I just stayed in my room for the rest of the night." Jazz McClean said friends who have fallen ill are convinced they got food poisoning. "It was wild," he said of what it was like inside the residence building overnight. "There were people on the floor." Meanwhile, classes and other services on campus were not affected on Friday, McMillen said. Students are being instructed to rest, drink lots of fluids and to "practice good hygiene," she said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ohioans who buy their own health insurance should see an average out-of-pocket savings on premiums of 21 percent because of taxpayer subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new study by the Rand Corp., a widely respected think tank. Without the health care law, Ohioans who bought individual policies would pay $3,973, on average, in premiums in 2016, the study shows. But the subsidies, or tax credits, will bring the individuals’ costs down to $3,131. These people will buy their insurance through a computerized marketplace, or “exchange,” where insurers will compete for business. The study, done for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, covered ten states that together were considered representative of the nation. A number of its findings are likely to please supporters of the health care law, known widely as Obamacare. But the study also somewhat supports a claim by Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, an Obamacare critic who leads the state Department of Insurance. Taylor said in early August that the Affordable Care Act will drive up premiums by an average of 41 percent . She based this on rates that insurers submitted to the state for policies to be sold on the exchange in 2014. This was for the same kind of policies studied by Rand: those bought by individuals who don’t have employer-provided coverage and who in 2014 will buy their policies on the exchange. Taylor’s figure did not account for buyer subsidies, nor for the wide variety of policies that are now available, some with deductibles of $10,000 and even $25,000, that will no longer be sold. Obamacare will require a change in coverage for many, with more exams and medical conditions covered, and will eliminate some of the high-deductible, bare-bones policies now sold and used in Taylor’s comparison. Figures from the Rand study suggest that on price hikes, Taylor was correct in theory -- if excluding these key factors -- but that her numbers were off. Without factoring in subsidy offsets and the policies that people are likely to buy, premiums for individual policies in Ohio will average $5,312 in 2016, according to figures from Rand. That’s 34 percent higher than the average for individual premiums without Obamacare, Rand’s figures show. But that, too, is a high estimate that does not factor what kind of coverage people will actually buy on the exchange (there’s a choice of four levels of coverage -- bronze, silver, gold and platinum), the actuarial value of that coverage and how age and tobacco use will play into premiums and choices. Insurers have had to weigh this for their rate-setting calculations. Christine Eibner, a senior Rand economist and lead author of the study, told us in a telephone interview this afternoon that she considers this is a realistic way of comparing premiums. It compares premiums for coverage people will get on the exchange with coverage they have or would have had without Obamacare. Based on that calculation, the average premium for individual policies in Ohio would rise by $900, or 22.65 percent. That's nearly half of Taylor’s unweighted calculation. The price hike would be offset for many Ohioans by the taxpayer subsidy. Either way, here’s how costs would break down on average in 2016 under the Rand analysis: The policy buyer would pay $3,131 in annual premiums. Another $2,181 would come from a tax credit, paid for by the act’s taxes, fees and offsets. Tax credit eligibility will be determined by income, phasing out after 400 percent of the poverty level. Some 67 percent of exchange enrollees in Ohio will be eligible, Rand found. By 2016, 9.9 percent of Ohio’s non-elderly population will be enrolled, the study estimated. This is likely to boost business for insurers, Rand data suggest. Fifteen percent of non-elderly Ohioans are now uninsured, and that will go down to 6.2 percent by 2016, the study estimated. Nearly 63 percent of those expected to enroll in Ohio would not have had insurance without the Affordable Care Act, Rand said.

LAFD Firefighters and Arson investigators were very busy through the night, extinguishing and investigating a series of eight fires in the North Hollywood and Sun Valley areas that may have been intentionally set. The suspected arson fires broke out beginning around 3 a.m. Sunday, October 25, 2015. The fires ranged from dumpster bins that were set on fire to a burning mattress laid against an automobile to small structures near a large commercial building that were set on fire. Fortunately, due to firefighters’ quick efforts, all fires were swiftly extinguished minimizing damage and no one was injured. Six on-call arson investigators responded to the rash of fires, canvasing areas and combing through debris. They detained and questioned one person of interest, however, that person was released and the cause of the fires remain under active investigation. We are asking the public to assist. Anyone with information they feel may assist in determining the cause, or any suspicious activity noted in the North Hollywood and Sun Valley areas around 3 a.m. this morning are encouraged to contact the Arson Counter/Terrorism Section at (213) 893-9850. Anybody even contemplating starting a fire in the act of arson in L.A. better think twice. The LAFD considers the crime of arson to be one of the most egregious crimes committed in the city and we will utilize all of our resources to investigate and prosecute the responsible parties.

LINCOLN SQUARE — Police are warning of robberies of businesses in the area, citing three cases where offenders with guns escaped with cash from registers. The robbberies all occurred on Jan. 20th. "In these casesm two offenders or three offenders entered the business, displayed a blue steel handgun and demanded money from the register," police said in an alert. "The offenders moved the victims to the rear of the store or into a storage area and took money, alcohol, cigarettes and other property." The Jan 20th incidents occurred: • 4900 block of north Damen Avenue at 7:53 p.m. • 2500 block of west Lawrence Avenue aty 9:45 p.m. • 4600 block of north Kedzie at 9:55 p.m. Police describe the suspects in the first case as three black men, 19 to 22 years old, 5'8 to 5'10 and wearing dark clothes, gloves and a covering over their face. In the two other cases, the suspects are black men, 17 to 25, 5'6 to 5'8. They also wore dark clothing and gloves and had their faces covered, police said. The Damen robbery was reportedly Windy City Liquors. Surveillance camera footage obtained by ABC7 showed the robbers storming into the business and overwhelming the clerk. Brazen armed robbery caught on video in Ravenswood: https://t.co/gkhREaT252 pic.twitter.com/b8fAMz9C1T — ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) January 22, 2016 Police urge anyone who may have information about the crimes to contact the Bureau of Detectives - Area North at 312-744-8263. For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Captain HMS Captain was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 November 1787 at Limehouse. She served during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars before being placed in harbour service in 1799. An accident caused her to burn and founder in 1813. Later that year she was raised and broken up. French Revolutionary Wars [ edit ] At the start of the French Revolutionary War, she was part of the Mediterranean fleet which occupied Toulon at the invitation of the Royalists in 1793 before being driven out by Revolutionary troops in an action where Napoleon Bonaparte made his name. During this operation Captain was deployed in the Raid on Genoa. In June 1796, Admiral Sir John Jervis transferred Captain Horatio Nelson from HMS Agamemnon into Captain. Jervis appointed Nelson commodore of a squadron that was first deployed off Livorno during Napoleon's march through northern Italy. In September 1796, Gilbert Elliot, the British viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, decided that it was necessary to clear out Capraja, which belonged to the Genoese and which served as a base for privateers. He sent Nelson, in Captain, together with the transport Gorgon, Vanneau, the cutter Rose, and troops of the 51st Regiment of Foot to accomplish this task in September. On their way, Minerva joined them. The troops landed on 18 September and the island surrendered immediately. Later that month Nelson oversaw the British withdrawal from Corsica. In February 1797, Nelson had rejoined Jervis's fleet 25 miles west of Cape St. Vincent at the southwest tip of Portugal, just before it intercepted a Spanish fleet on 14 February. The Battle of Cape St Vincent made both Jervis's and Nelson's names. Jervis was made Earl St Vincent and Nelson was knighted for his initiative and daring. Nelson had realised that the leading Spanish ships were escaping and wore Captain to break out of the line of battle to attack the much larger Spanish ships. Captain exchanged fire with the Spanish flagship, Santísima Trinidad, which mounted 136 guns on four decks. Later Captain closely engaged the 80-gun San Nicolas, when the Spanish ship was disabled by a broadside from Excellent and ran into another ship, the San Josef of 112-guns. With Captain hardly manoeuvrable, Nelson ran his ship alongside San Nicolas, which he boarded. Nelson was preparing to order his men to board San Josef next when she signalled her intent to surrender. The boarding of San Nicolas, which resulted in the taking of the two larger ships was later immortalised as 'Nelson's Patent Bridge for Boarding First Rates.' Captain was the most severely damaged of the British ships as she was in the thick of the action for longer than any other ship. She returned to service following repairs and on 6 May 1799 sailed for the Mediterranean, where she joined Captain John Markham's squadron. After the Battle of Alexandria, the squadron under Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée, consisting of the 40-gun Junon, 36-gun Alceste, 32-gun Courageuse, 18-gun Salamine and the brig Alerte escaped to Genoa.[3] On 17 June 1799 the French squadron, still under Perrée, was en route from Jaffa for Toulon when it encountered the British squadron under Markham in Centaur.[3] In the ensuing Action of 18 June 1799, the British captured the entire French squadron, with Captain capturing Alerte. Markham described Alerte as a brig of 14 guns and 120 men, under the command of Lieutenant Dumay.[4] Napoleonic Wars [ edit ] In 1807 it had been one of the escorts for the expedition leaving Falmouth that would eventually attack Buenos Aires. Turned back north once the expedition reached the Cape Verde Islands. Captain shared with Amaranthe, Pompee, and Morne Fortunee in the prize money pool of £772 3s 3d for the capture of Frederick on 30 December 1808. This money was paid in June 1829.[5] Captain took part in the capture of Martinique in 1809. In April 1809, a strong French squadron arrived at the Îles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland invaded and captured the islands. Captain was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.[Note 1] Fate [ edit ] Later that year, Captain was put into harbour service.[7] On 22 March 1813, she was accidentally burned in the Hamoaze, off Plymouth, Devon.[8] At the time, she was undergoing conversion to a sheer hulk. When it was clear that the fire, which had begun in the forecastle, had taken hold, her securing lines were cut and she was towed a safe distance away from the other vessels so that she could burn herself out. Even so, orders were given that she be sunk. Ships' launches with carronades then commenced a one-hour bombardment. She finally foundered after having burned down to the waterline. Two men died in the accident.[7] The wreck was raised in July and broken up at Plymouth.[2] Notes, citations, and references [ edit ] Notes ^ [6] The prize agent for a number of the vessels involved, Henry Abbott, went bankrupt. In May 1835 there was a final payment of a dividend from his estate. A first-class share was worth 10s 2¾d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 1d. Seventh-class (landsmen) and eighth-class (boys) shares were fractions of a penny, too small to pay. Citations; References

Public Square’s big-ticket greening, updating and newfound popularity may shape the future of a 22-story office building bordering it that Optima Management Group has started to market for sale. The Miami Beach-based property owner has listed 55 Public Square for sale, potentially as a redevelopment property with CBRE, said David Browning, the real estate brokerage’s Cleveland managing director. Browning also confirmed prior reports that CBRE has a listing to sell the AECOM Building, 1300 East Ninth St. “Optima made a huge (financial) commitment to Cleveland,” Browning said. “Right now is probably a great time to bring some things to market. With 55 Public Square’s location and the renovation of the square, we’re very excited about being involved with it. We’ve had a lot of interest, both from the usual local suspects and capable local groups as well as regional and out-of-town developers.” If Optima succeeds in unloading the properties, it may be able to execute the classic play in real estate: buy when few are buying and sell when prices are climbing. However, changes in office building fundamentals due to the trend of office downsizing and slow office-job growth may make that difficult. Optima also will have to see how much a developer wants to pay for a building such as 55 Public Square that needs substantial repairs as well as the expense of converting it to residential use. AECOM Centre, which has some vacancy, will have to find an owner willing to work on the property and not just collect rent checks, always a bigger challenge in the Midwest than on the coasts. An affiliate of Optima paid $34 million for 55 Public Square in 2008. That is a big number to beat to essentially rebuild the property. Another Optima-linked firm paid $46.5 million for AECOM in 2010. Alec Pacella, managing partner of NAI Daus, said selling each building will take some hard negotiating. “Big picture, it’s a good time to sell. The national spotlight is on Cleveland with the Republican National Convention,” Pacella said. “It’s a good time for Optima to recycle some capital. 55 Public Square has a great location as an apartment conversion. AECOM also has some vacancy. It’s hard to get paid for vacant space. Sellers can get paid as much as possible for leased space, but getting paid for empty bricks and sticks means finding a different kind of value. Which building will be easier to sell? It’s hard to say.” Pacella pointed out Optima is not marketing its One Cleveland Centre office building. “That’s no surprise. It’s their best performing building,” he said. Continued ownership of One Cleveland and a big stake in the Westin Cleveland make it technically incorrect to say the low-profile, media-shy Florida investor is exiting Cleveland. Chaim Schochet, Optima’s Cleveland investment executive, did not return three calls about 55 Public Square and has left a total of seven calls unreturned this month. The 55 Public Square building, once the home of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., which now is part of FirstEnergy Corp of Akron, dates from 1958 and signaled what is regarded as the beginning of Cleveland’s modern office building era. It was the first multitenant office building erected with air conditioning in Cleveland. Its vintage also means that it may qualify for federal and state historic preservation tax credits to help finance renovation and conversion expenses.

Planning on filing your taxes on time? Feeling like a sexy San Franciscan? Lucky you! Trojan, the trusted condom company that caused quite a buzz when they announced they'll be giving away free vibrators on tax day earlier this year, will be doling out grown-up toys on Friday, April 12 at The Box in SoMa. According to the good people over at SFist, all you have to do is show up at the event space some time before noon and 4 p.m. and mention you've filed your taxes. No proof necessary -- just your own enthusiasm. A plethora of other national chains -- mainly of the fast food variety -- will also be handing out Tax Day freebies to upstanding citizens, as our friends at HuffPost Money noticed. But this is San Francisco, after all, so you're obviously getting the most bang for your buck at The Box. Just be sure to proceed with caution.

Thou who seek solitude. We breathe gently. We watch the unexpected; We smile cleverly, We kindle the most intended. Then what does the prophecy proclaim? Our thoughts are haunted, Our actions are wounded. We live with no freedom. We move with permission; We cry with no reason, We bonded with discretion. One run away from memory. Other mocked on his grave; Millions follow the decree, Solitude is all thou crave. The Star of Hope then shines in the sky, Thou shall not live with fear, Thou shall not believe what thy hear. Decades have withered away, Now cast yourself from the most desired clay. Walk into the realm of oneself. Its awaiting; Learn to know more of your self. Its still awaiting. Thou who seek solitude. Shall seek happiness; Nothing could be more happier than to know oneself. Breathe-in closed doors. Let your mind explore; Awaken your guilt. Awaken your fear, Awaken the memory you ignore to hear. Thou shall then seek the answers to all, What prophecy had proclaimed, you shall have it all. Your thoughts will not stale, Your actions will harmlessly inhale. Thou who seek solitude. Shall always seek freedom; (and) Nothing could be more free-er than to cherish your own wisdom. Gravity-Shatters now has its own Facebook page.Join our community for Inspired Living! facebook.com/gravityshatters.

Image copyright Oxford University Image caption These images produced by the researchers were 0.07mm across - smaller than the width of human hair Scientists have patented a new way to make ultra high-res displays that can bend and are thousandths of a mm thick. They used a miniscule layer of a phase-change material, that flips between two chemical states when hit with current. By sandwiching it between transparent electrodes, they made pixels just 300 nanometres across and produced images smaller than the width of human hair. The design, published in Nature, could be useful in wearable technology, smart contact lenses or foldable screens. According to Prof Harish Bhaskaran, who led the research at Oxford University, it will be "at least five years" before any applications appear. But as far as Prof Bhaskaran is aware, the resolution of the images his team produced is among the highest ever achieved. "I haven't seen any other technology that approaches 100 or 200 nanometre resolution," he told the BBC. You could roll out your screen from inside a pen Prof Harish Bhaskaran, Oxford University Phase-change materials are commonly used in heat management, because they absorb or release heat in switching between an orderly, crystalline state and a more chaotic "amorphous" state. Because their optical properties change with these states as well, they have also proved useful in data storage, such as rewritable DVDs. The key to the new design is a very thin layer of one of these materials: an alloy containing germanium, antimony and tellurium (Ge2Sb2Te5, or "GST" for short). Instead of using GST to encode ones and zeros within the rings of a DVD, Prof Bhaskaran's team sandwiched it in between two layers of a transparent material that conducts electricity, producing a three-layered film no thicker than 0.0002mm. Then they painted a picture into the GST, pixel-by-pixel, by delivering current to different points across the film. Electrical current causes the GST to switch states - and change colour. In this way, the researchers produced a number of microscopic images. Image copyright Oxford University Image caption The team produced films that were flexible and semi-transparent They also demonstrated that the technique could produce different colour changes, by using different thicknesses for the outer layers of the sandwich. None of the pictures move - yet - but the team has filed a patent because of the potential to develop a new generation of flexible, thin, high-resolution displays. "The cool part about this is that the functional part is very thin," explained Prof Baskaran. "Because of that you could actually have displays that are non-intrusive, because you can keep the electronics far away." This contrasts with current LCD displays, which require transistors immediately behind the screen to switch the colour of the pixels. "Think of having a pen - and you can roll out your screen from inside the pen, but the electronics are contained within the pen," Prof Baskaran said. Other mooted applications include smart glasses or contact lenses, and even synthetic retinas, if the technology could be rejigged to convert pixels of light into electrical impulses. The design could also offer big energy savings, because the pixels would simply stay put until they need to be changed. Image copyright Oxford University Image caption A microscopic image of a well-known Oxford landmark, made up of 150x150 300-nanometre pixels "Unlike most conventional LCD screens, there would be no need to constantly refresh all pixels, you would only have to refresh those pixels that actually change," said Dr Peiman Hosseini, the study's first author. "This means that any display based on this technology would have extremely low energy consumption." Dr Stephen Kitson runs the Bristol display technology company Folium Optics, developing other strategies for flexible, high-resolution displays, and is also a visiting professor at the University of Western England. He said the findings were promising. "It's a really challenging area, to get something that's bright," he told BBC News. "There's a way to go, to see if they can get the dynamic range that you'd need - in other words, can you switch from really bright to really dark. "They've got some interesting colour switches there, which is a brilliant first step." Prof Bhaskaran agrees this is only the first stage. "We're showing that we can combine thin-film effects with a super-thin layer of phase change material, and get colour out of it," he said.

I review a few dozen speakers each year, and listen to a bunch more. Most are pretty decent, a few are dreadful, and fewer still are truly remarkable. This year the ELAC Debut B6 bookshelf and Magnepan .7 panel speakers topped my list as terrific values, but the Harbeth 40.2 is the one I'll remember 10 years from now. It's that good. I favorably reviewed Harbeth's Super HL5Plus speakers earlier this year, so when the US importer Fidelis AV offered the new Harbeth 40.2 top-of-the-line speaker for review, I jumped at the chance. The 40.2 is unabashedly big, it's 29.5 x 17 x 15.3 inches (750 x 432 x 388mm), and weighs a rather substantial 83.8 pounds (38 kg). The speaker has twin bass ports on its front baffle, and all-metal cable binding posts on its backside. It's big for a reason, there's no way a smaller speaker could present music's unrestrained dynamics, scale and power that come so easily from the 40.2. That's why I couldn't resist playing the 40.2s louder than usual, they sounded better and better the louder I played them. Jim Holden When I chatted with Harbeth's owner and designer Alan Shaw, he told me his biggest export market is Japan. I was taken aback by that factoid, Japanese homes are usually rather small, but those guys love the big Harbeth speakers. Japanese audiophiles are also among the world's most demanding of build and sound quality, and the fact that Harbeth does so well there says a lot about the company. The 40.2 speakers sell for $14,990 per pair in Cherry in the US, $15,990 for Rosewood, Eucalyptus and Tiger Ebony 40.2s. My samples' real Rosewood finish was impeccable. UK prices start at £9,995 and AU$21,190 in Australia. Behind its removable black cloth grille the 40.2's front baffle hosts a 12-inch (300 mm) Radial woofer, 8-inch (200 mm) Radial midrange, and 1-inch (25 mm) soft dome tweeter. The woofer and midrange drivers are proprietary designs, made in Harbeth's factory in Sussex, England (the tweeter is made by SEAS in Europe). The 40.2's impedance is listed as 6-8 ohms. I used Resonant Woods 16 inch (406mm) tall floor stands with the speakers. Shaw's top priority for all of his speakers is proper reproduction of the sound of the human voice. Seems straightforward, but a lot of otherwise excellent speakers either add too much "chest" that makes voices sound deeper than they really are, or thinner than they do in real life. So when I played Rosanne Cash's "10 Song Demo" CD, the 40.2 brought new life to the sound of her voice and guitar. I've played this music on hundreds of speakers over the years, but the 40.2 was the most lifelike. Most speakers shrink, contain and limit the sound of singers, at least that's what I felt after spending time with the 40.2. I can't say the sound was perfect when I first set the speakers up, I found the 40.2s rather finicky about placement: the distance from the wall behind them, from me and from each other. I spent weeks moving them to and fro, before I found the best spots in my room. I put tape marks on the floor to mark each position, before I settled on their final resting places. I used my Pass XP-20 preamp, Pass XA100.5 power amp, dCS Puccini CD player, and VPI Classic turntable for most of my listening tests. I also substituted a VPI 299D tube integrated amp (review in the works) for the Pass amps a few times, and felt the 40.2 speakers also worked quite well with tube electronics. Listening to Miles Davis playing trumpet, I'm noticing more of the way he plays his horn, his breath, his dynamics and the way he holds onto some notes. With the 40.2 speakers, I'm hearing a lot deeper into Davis' music. There was more soul-stirring life to the sound of his music, that's what really grabbed me. With "Punk 45: Extermination Nights In the Sixth City," a collection of Cleveland-based punk tunes from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, amply demonstrated the 40.2s' stamina when cranked nice and loud. The onslaught of raucous guitars, gutsy bass and impassioned vocals plastered a big, fat smile on my face. Picasa Late in the review process I hooked up the VPI 299D tube integrated amp to the 40.2 speakers. The sound from this 38 watt per channel amp was even more vivid and sensually developed than the solid-state amps. The sound really moved something in me, I was enjoying the sound so much it was hard to stop listening. Familiar recordings all sounded better than I thought they were. Summing up: The Harbeth 40.2's effortless treble clarity, full-bodied midrange, as well as its robust, visceral and finely tuned bass are all magnificent. The 40.2 speakers are expensive, but the best stuff always is. I won't soon forget the 40.2 speakers' sound, but I've felt that way about all of the other, less expensive Harbeths I've tested, including the terrific little P3ESR.

Saracens' Tim Streather tackles Dion Jones of Scarlets Anglo-Welsh Cup Scarlets (0) 17 Tries: Allen, McBryde Cons: Maynard, McBryde Pen: Maynard Saracens (18) 32 Tries: Tompkins, Gallagher, Ellery, Whiteley Cons: Malins, Whiteley 2 Pens: Malins Saracens all-but ended Scarlets Anglo-Welsh Cup hopes with a bonus-point win in Llanelli. The visitors were 18-0 up at the break with Nick Tompins and Matt Gallagher going over. Morgan Allen struck back for the hosts, but Mike Ellery's touchdown kept the hosts at bay. Billy McBryde came on to score as Scarlets again threatened, but Tom Whiteley sealed the bonus point with Saracens' fourth try. Saracens rose to the top of Pool One while Scarlets remained third in Pool Four. Scarlets: Dion Jones; Tom Williams, Steff Hughes, Gareth Owen, Corey Baldwin; Jack Maynard, Declan Smith; Dylan Evans, Emyr Phillips (capt), Nicky Thomas, Josh Helps, Rynier Bernardo, Jack Condy, Josh Macleod, Morgan Allen Replacements: Torin Myhill, Gethin Robinson, Peter Edwards, Phil Day, Tom Phillips, Connor Lloyd, Billy McBryde, Richard Smith. Saracens: Matt Gallagher; Mike Ellery, Tim Streather (capt), Nick Tompkins, Rotimi Segun; Max Malins, Henry Taylor; Titi Lamositele, Scott Spurling, Petrus Du Plessis, Nick Isiekwe, Mark Flanagan, Joel Conlon, Will Fraser, Samu Vunisa. Replacements: Jared Saunders, Jack Culverhouse, Billy Walker, Kyle Baillie, Ben Earl, Neil De Kock, Tom Whiteley, Dominic Morris.

A split-second decision by woman to get back in a vehicle with a man after he’d exchanged gunfire with a Department of Public Safety trooper resulted in her being charged with a first degree felony, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Ashley Elesha Simpson, 20, and Marcus Christopher Lott Jr., 23, the accused gunman and driver during the resulting 20-mile chase, are both charged with attempted capital murder of a peace officer. They were being held Thursday with no bond at the Ector County Detention Center. The charges are in connection to shots fired at DPS trooper Max Honesto after he stopped a 1994 blue Toyota Camry for speeding Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 20. Simpson and Lott Jr. are both residents of Radcliff, Ky., where Lott Jr. has outstanding warrants. According to public records, Lott was convicted of a 2006 aggravated robbery in Shelby County, Tenn., on Aug. 27, 2007. Radcliff Police Department Public Information Officer Bryce Shumate said Lott had an outstanding warrant for possession of a handgun by a convicted felon in Radcliff. Shumate said Lott fled from police on Nov. 30 and threw a Glock .45 while being chased. “This is a bad man who knows how to get guns,” Shumate said. The third person inside the vehicle and original driver, Alfonso Butler Jr., 3800 Ruth Road, Richland Hills, Texas, was being held at the Ector County Detention Center with no bond on a parole violation. All three were in a Toyota Camry when Honesto pulled the vehicle for speeding near mile marker 95 while eastbound on Interstate 20, an arrest affidavit stated. Honesto first talked to Butler, the driver, who told the trooper he was on parole for possession of a firearm in a weapon free zone, the affidavit stated. Honesto then talked to the front passenger, Simpson, and could smell marijuana, the affidavit stated. Honesto then asked Simpson and the passenger in the back seat, Lott, get out of the vehicle, Barton said in a news release. While Honesto was conducting a pat-down on Lott, Lott pulled out a handgun, later identified as a .22 revolver, and shot Honesto once, the affidavit stated. Texas Department of Public Safety Public Information Officer Trooper John Barton said Lott hit Honesto in the arm, the bullet getting lodged in his back. Honesto fired at Lott in return, the affidavit stated. Barton said the bullet went through Lott’s left knee and was lodged in his right knee. After the shots were fired, Lott and Simpson got back into the vehicle and fled the scene, the affidavit stated. Alfonso, however, stayed at the scene. “He surrendered to troopers when backup arrived,” Barton said. During the chase, Lott threw the gun out of the window around mile marker 115, which was recovered later, the affidavit stated. The chase finally ended after the vehicle rolled over spike strips, popping the tires and causing the Camry to run into a pole at the entrance to Comanche Trail Park, Barton said. A search of the vehicle found two bags of marijuana, a pound of marijuana and two firearms, Barton said. Possession of between one to five pounds of marijuana classifies as a state jail felony. Honesto, an eight-year DPS veteran, is stationed in Big Spring. He was released Wednesday evening from Medical Center Hospital. Lott Jr. and Simpson had also taken to MCH, where they were released Wednesday afternoon. @OAcrime

Photo: John Rogers/Northwestern University A soft, skin‐mounted microfluidic device for capture, collection and analysis of sweat. Advertisement Editor’s Picks Sweat Sensors Will Change How Wearables Track Your Health Sweat could be the next thing wearable devices sense to track your health, researchers say. A new microfluidic skin patch capable of collecting and analyzing sweat has survived tests that included a grueling 104-kilometer bike race. And the next-generation wearable device has attracted the attention of companies such as cosmetics giant L’Oreal and a major sports beverage maker—not to mention the U.S. military. It could even pave the way for a painfree, bloodless method of prescreening people for diabetes in the future, according to its inventors. The flexible sweat sensor collects sweat in a tiny tubing system as it’s worn against the skin. Different sections of the sensor slowly change color as they react to different levels of certain chemicals found within sweat. Any smartphone with the right app can take a picture of the sweat sensor to automatically interpret the color changes and biochemistry of the sweat as certain health signs. To tests the device’s ruggedness, volunteers even wore the sweat sensor during a long-distance, outdoor bicycling race. “This is radically different from current-generation wearable devices that are a block of electronics strapped to the body,” says John Rogers, a physical chemist and materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “This allows a clinical-like precision measurement of health markers that physicians know how to interpret.” Rogers’ group has previously developed soft electronics such as flexible, dissolvable brain implants. In this case, they minimized the use of electronics in the skin patch to ensure that it could be resilient and cheap enough for one-time use. The details on their work with an international team of South Korean and Chinese collaborators appeared last week in the online edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine. The biggest challenge in making the sweat sensor was balancing the softness, thinness, flexibility and comfort of the device with its functionality as a health sensor, Rogers explains. The researchers ensured that the device could create a water-tight seal with the surface of the skin so that it could remain in place during even the most high-intensity exercise. Photo: John Rogers/Northwestern University A soft, skin‐mounted microfluidic device for capture, collection and analysis of sweat But they also needed to figure out how to make a functional sensor without relying on either cheap but rigid electronics or more expensive, flexible electronics. Their solution was to use a microfluidic system of tiny tubes to channel the sweat toward different absorbent sections capable of chemically reacting to the presence of the different sweat components. By comparison, today’s athletic research facilities currently use absorbent pads or paper and bulky benchtop lab equipment to collect and analyze sweat. “Our device uses microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip type approaches in sweat capture and analysis, and simple colorimetric chemistries for detection,” Rogers says. “Much different than previous approaches that rely on less sophisticated fluid capture schemes and more expensive electronic-based readout schemes.” The readings collected by the sweat sensor seemed comparable to the current lab-based standards during a trial involving nine volunteers doing indoor cycling. Health readings included sweat rate and sweat loss, pH (an indicator of hydration levels), and concentrations of lactate, glucose, and chloride. A separate trial tested the sweat sensor’s ability to hold up during a 104-kilometer bike race called the El Tour de Tucson. Marvin Slepian, an interventional cardiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson who worked with Rogers’ team, enlisted the help of several cyclist friends—a total of 12 healthy volunteers—to carry out the outdoor trial. The resiliency of the devices under such tough conditions was a testament to the flexibility and ruggedness of the microfluidic tube system, which had been extensively modeled by research collaborators at Northwestern University in Illinois and Zhejiang University in China. The sweat sensor can hold captured sweat for about 125 hours after being peeled off the skin as long as all the sensor channel openings are sealed. Even with open channels, the captured sweat remains for about 75 hours after removal from the skin. Rogers and his collaborators believe it’s possible to eventually turn the experimental sweat sensor into cheap, disposable commercial devices. The disposable or recyclable design avoids complications such as cleaning and possible contamination during reuse. Their current goal is to make the sweat sensor into a device costing just $1 or $2. Sweat sensors gets truly exciting when imagining the medical possibilites. Rogers’ lab has been in talks with a biomedical company about how such sweat sensors could eventually enable bloodless prescreening for diabetes. But first, the researchers need to boost the sensitivity range of the glucose sensing and nail down the correlation between glucose in sweat and in blood. But even the current generation of flexible sweat sensors holds much promise for many different companies. L’Oreal, for example, played a large role in organizing and funding this particular study. The company is interested in using the sweat sensors to replace the bulkier research tools for understanding sweat chemistry and odor so it can develop new products. “As a cosmetics company, they’re basically a skin company when you think about it,” Rogers says. Rogers’ lab has also been conducting additional exercise and physiology studies with an unnamed sports beverage company. And the U.S. Air Force has gotten on board with testing more advanced versions of the sweat sensors as worn by active-duty airmen at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. The researchers have already developed and begun testing several different versions of sweat sensors beyond the one described last week; a consequence of the time lag between publishing research results and making progress in the lab. “At this point we’re two or three steps beyond what is being reported in this paper,” Rogers says.

1 in 6 Nodes Now Support Bitcoin Classic The Bitcoin block size debate is still in effect as we speak, and things are heating up once again between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Classic supporters. Now that a working client for Bitcoin Classic users has been released, various Bitcoin nodes seem to be favoring this solution over Bitcoin Core. However, the battle is far from over, as not everyone is for supporting blocks that are larger than 2MB in size. Also read: Bitcoin Summer School Announced in Greece Bitcoin Classic Nodes on the Rise By taking a look at the number of Bitcoin Nodes active on the network right now, the picture becomes clear for anyone to see. Bitcoin Core nodes are still in the lead, with close to 4,000 nodes in operation at the time of publication. Keeping in mind how easy it has become to run a Bitcoin Node off of any device these days, that number could rise higher shortly. At the same time, Bitcoin Classic is starting to make its presence felt on the Bitcoin nodes list as well. With over 850 nodes in operation, Bitcoin Classic is gaining a lot of support from people who seem to favor a much larger block size shortly. However, this situation might not be viable for the Chinese miners, due to Internet restrictions in the country. This is one of the main reasons why Chinese mining pools have reluctantly agreed to increase the block size to 2MB for now, as the Bitcoin Core approach is far less taxing on their infrastructure. Mining Bitcoin requires a stable internet connection, and with Chinese connectivity being rather on the slow end, a major block size increase is not favorable. A recent post has surfaced on the Bitcoin.com forums, explaining how it is possible to run a Bitcoin Classic on a Synology device. Needless to say, these devices are always powered on and connected to the Internet, making them a perfect solution to run a node off of. Plus, Synology devices are housing tons of hard drive space, which removes any friction when it comes to storing the Bitcoin blockchain. But there is another interesting factor to take into account in this game of Bitcoin nodes. Up until a month ago, Bitcoin XT seemed to be the main contender to Bitcoin Core regarding increasing the block size. However, ever since Mike Hearn left the digital currency space, things have gone eerily quiet regarding that project. As a result, the number of Bitcoin XT nodes is dropping to just above 130, putting Bitcoin Classic in the second spot on the charts. Convincing the Miners is More Difficult While it is interesting to see so many people taking a liking to the idea of running a Bitcoin Classic node, it will not change matters much unless miners are on board as well. An interesting discussion thread has started on Reddit, asking users what it would take to switch to Bitcoin Classic as a miner. Changing the mind of mining pool operators may prove to be a daunting task, though. In a recent Bitcoin Roundtable letter, Bitfury, BTCC, F2Pool, BW Pool, and Ghash.io rejected the Bitcoin Classic solution altogether. This solution would hard fork the Bitcoin code, which could lead to two separate versions of Bitcoin competing with one another in the not-so-distant future. Keeping in mind how a successful adoption of Bitcoin Classic requires 75% – or more – of the hash power to activate the new block size, the debate is far from resolved. The increase in Bitcoin Classic nodes will certainly be interesting to watch, but ultimately, it will be up to miners and mining pools to choose whether they will adopt this solution. What are your thoughts on the number of Bitcoin Classic Nodes increasing? Let us know in the comments below! Source: Reddit Images courtesy of Bitcoin Classic, Shutterstock

Adil Charkaoui (in Arabic عادل الشرقاوي born 1974) is a Morocco-born Canadian citizen who was arrested by the Canadian government under a security certificate in May 2003.[1] Before issuing the certificate, evidence was submitted that he had trained in an anti-Soviet Jihadist camp in Afghanistan. The court was also not satisfied with his reasons for visiting Pakistan for six months in 1990. Evidence that he practiced Karate was also among the submissions. Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) testimonies included opinions that he would also "have been trained in such areas as: operating rocket-propelled grenade-launchers, sabotage, urban and assassination." CSIS also alleged that "[i]t was noteworthy that one of those who participated in the hijacking of [the September 11 attacks in 2001] had taken martial arts training in preparation..." and suggested that Charkaoui represented a sleeper agent.[2] This led to the issuance of the security certificate by the two responsible government ministers after which he was detained, and such evidence was also enough to uphold the certificate by Federal Court upon review. Personal history [ edit ] Born in Morocco in 1973, Charkaoui joined his sister and parents in moving to Montreal, Quebec in 1995.[3] He has been a Canadian citizen since July 2014.[4][5] Charkaoui graduated with an MA from Université de Montréal and is an Arabic-language teacher, who now styles himself as a sheik,[6] and an imam.[7] He is married and has three children, and is a combat sport group leader, as well as a skilled backwoodsman.[7] He is also the director at the Centre communautaire islamique Assahaba.[3][7] Charkaoui is the President of the Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia,[8][9][10] an advocacy rights group he established in 2013. In the late 1990s, Charkaoui associated with hard-line Montreal Muslims who had turned up in Bosnia, Afghanistan, the Sudan, and other violence-prone areas.[11] In 1998, he flew to Pakistan to study religion for a book he was hoping to write;[12] the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) believes he slipped across the border into Afghanistan and attended Khalden training camp under the name Zubeir Al-Magrebi, although he denies the allegation.[13] According to friends, he knew Raouf Hannachi well enough that the two would "shake hands when they crossed paths".[13] The government later stated that he had not accounted for "a period of his life, from 1992 to the end of that decade".[2] Arrest and release [ edit ] Adil Charkaoui is represented in a 2004 protest outside the Toronto office of CSIS. From 2001 to 2003, Charkaoui operated a Montreal pizzeria, where the CSIS first approached him in the wake of 9/11. He refused to account for his whereabouts or reason for travel to Pakistan. Moroccan authorities stated that Charkaoui provided funds and resources to an Islamic insurgent group.[11] Charkaoui was arrested under a security certificate in May 2003, which was co-signed by Solicitor General Wayne Easter, and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre.[14] He was detained without charge or trial in Rivière des prairies Detention Centre. The Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui was formed in defense of his rights, with Coalition launching a campaign for his release. He was released from prison on C$50,000 bail on 18 February 2005. His bail conditions included a curfew, electronic monitoring, designated chaperones for leaving his home, restriction to the island of Montreal, 24-hour police access to his home without warrant, and a prohibition on access to the internet, on the use of cell phones and on the use of any telephone except the one in his home. Not long after his release, Charkaoui unsuccessfully tried to help Bloc Quebecois candidate Apraham Niziblian defeat Coderre in the Canadian federal election, 2006, saying:[15] “ It's not a question of being anti-Coderre. We are citizens before anything, we have the right to have political ideas and to have choice. Gone is the time when the Liberals could take the ethnic vote for granted. ” Restrictions on his conditional release were gradually lifted to be cancelled in September 2009.[9] A helpful timeline of his arrest and events subsequent was produced by The Globe and Mail,[16] on his final release order by Federal Court Judge Danièle Tremblay-Lamer: "There will be an order all conditions be revoked immediately."[11] Charkaoui opened on 22 February 2010 a $24.5 million lawsuit against the Canadian government in Quebec Superior Court in which he demanded compensation for wrongful arrest and detention. He sent a letter asking for an apology, Canadian citizenship and compensation for lost income and legal fees after a federal judge quashed a security certificate against him. Past federal ministers Denis Coderre and Wayne Easter, Diane Finley and Stockwell Day were named in the suit.[17][18] Defender of unpopular causes [ edit ] In August 2013, Charkaoui defended the right of two foreign Islamic hate-preachers to spread their message in Montreal, even if they held sexist and misogynist views of women in society. Citing security concerns, the event was cancelled by the convention centre where it was supposed to be held. Charkaoui maintained that it was Islamophobia to ban their visit to Canada.[5] Activities at Collège de Maisonneuve [ edit ] For a time prior to 2015, Charkaoui rented classroom space every Sunday from Collège de Maisonneuve, a Montreal Cegep near the Olympic Stadium, for Muslim education and Arabic language studies,[6] which he calls l'École des compagnons.[7] Charkaoui also rented classroom space at the nearby Collège de Rosemont, also a Cegep.[7] It was reported in February 2015 that six of his young students had absconded to Syria, allegedly with intent to join an Islamic terrorist group, either ISIS or the Nusra Front.[6] Of these, four students were following his guidance at the de Maisonneuve location, and at least one teenager, Mohammed Rifaat, he knew through the Rosemont location.[7] Before the week was out, Charkaoui threatened to sue both Colleges because they had terminated the arrangements under which he leased the classroom spaces.[7][10] At a press conference, he deemed the termination unacceptable and dishonest.[10] An interview of Charkaoui by ICI RDI's Anne-Marie Dussault sparked quite a bit of controversy the following week.[19] Dressed in a djellaba, Charkaoui presented himself as a victim and rejected calls for him to condemn violent jihadism and the Islamist project.[20] Instead he accused occidental politicians of promoting violence against Muslims in a degenerate, Islamophobic culture.[20] Charkaoui maintained that ISIS was a creature of the US government, and on his website he hyperlinks to other websites that offer praise of Osama bin Laden.[20] He rejects any interference of the wider community in which he lives on his religious rights; he finds this argument to be nefarious.[20] One commentator was shocked because of what his position meant in the context of his pedagogical pursuits.[20] Court challenges to security certificate [ edit ] Charkaoui has consistently denied the allegations against him and has challenged the legitimacy of the security certificate regime. Canadian authorities and the Federal Court have refused to disclose the case against Charkaoui, relying on provisions in the security certificate process that allow evidence to be kept from the defence and the public. Charkaoui's certificate has not undergone a court review and thus has not been upheld. The case has been suspended since March 2005, pending a new decision on protection by the Minister of Immigration. Charkaoui has been at the centre of a public campaign against the extension of state power in the name of the "war on terror". In February 2006, Amnesty International reminded Canada, "His fundamental right to liberty and security of the person accords him the right to due process or release from the restrictive bail conditions that have been imposed on him." In February 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision of Charkaoui v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) on the appeals Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei, and Mohamed Harkat. The Court ruled that the certificate process violated sections 7, 9 and 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and struck down the security certificate legislation (sections 33 and 77 to 85 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act). However, the judgment will not take effect for one year. In March 2007, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a second challenge by Charkaoui, this time relating to the destruction of evidence in Charkaoui's case. Government lawyers revealed in January 2005 that CSIS had destroyed evidence in Charkaoui's file. The situation raised concerns about the accuracy of the secret evidence before the court. The Supreme Court will hear the challenge in January 2008. In April 2007, Charkaoui submitted a leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in a third challenge; in this instance to the law permitting deportation of non-citizens when there is a risk of torture. The Canadian government's position is that legal safeguards against being sent to torture do not apply to people who are subject to a security certificate, basing this policy on their interpretation of the 2002 Supreme Court Suresh decision. Charkaoui is challenging the legal framework permitting deportation to torture, the lack of due process, as well as the fact of being subject to the threat of deportation to torture and excessive procedural delays. A CSIS agent identified only as J.P., the Deputy Chief of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation in the Ottawa Regional Office as of 2005, testified against the petitions for release by Hassan Almrei, Mahmoud Jaballah and Charkaoui.[21] In June 2008, Charkaoui managed to have the Supreme Court of Canada overturn as unconstitutional the security certificate. The ruling is known as Charkaoui v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) 2008 SCC 38. CSIS was ordered by the SCC to stop destroying its tapes and notes in terrorism investigations. For the previous 25 years CSIS had interpreted their constitutional law as obliging the destruction of such records - a procedure that largely kept CSIS intelligence out of open court - but this was ruled by the SCC a fundamental mistake. Given spies were becoming closer to police in the post-9/11 world, they had to disclose their investigations just like police do. The judges ruled "The only appropriate remedy is to confirm the duty to disclose Charkaoui's entire file to the designated judge and, after the judge has filtered it, to Charkaoui and his counsel."[11] In motions filed the next summer in Federal Court, lawyers arguing for CSIS said it could not abide by such vast disclosure without jeopardizing its source and methods, which CSIS considers the lifeblood of national security. The Crown pulled all of the wiretaps it used against Charkaoui, and half of its human sources, leaving it with insufficient evidence to meet the security certificate's test that there is a "reasonable suspicion" that Charkaoui is a threat to Canadian national-security. The judgment proceeded accordingly in September 2009.[11] In May 2013 federal prosecutors produced evidence that Charkaoui may have been plotting a terrorist attack in the Montreal metro in 2002. The memo also mentions CSIS surveillance where Charkaoui was spotted stealing valuables from parked cars.[22] Ahmed Ressam withdraws his allegations [ edit ] Fabrice de Pierrebourg of the Journal de Montreal testified in Federal Court on 22 August 2007 that, in correspondence, Ahmed Ressam had withdrawn his allegations against Adil Charkaoui;[23] the former had written to the latter, who is also known as the Millennium Bomber for his failed plot to bomb LAX airport,[11] in the course of writing a book about terrorism in Montreal. Ressam was convicted in the United States and held under an unusual arrangement whereby he was offered a reduced sentence in exchange for information. Under this arrangement, over a period of some years, he fingered 130 people as "members" of the "extremist Islamist network linked to Bin Laden". Two cases in the United States were dismissed after Ressam's evidence proved worthless. Earlier in Charkaoui's case, Charkaoui's lawyer introduced an arrest warrant for Ahmed Ressam for an incident that occurred in Montreal at a time when Ressam claimed, under oath in another case, to have been in a training camp in Afghanistan. Ressam is known to have suffered a mental breakdown while in prison. After learning that Mr. Ressam was supposed to have named him, Charkaoui repeatedly asked to be able to cross-examine him in court, but the motion was not granted. In the original charges against Charkaoui, two government ministers mistakenly referred to martial arts having been used by a hijacker aboard "American Airlines Flight 93", a mistaken reference likely meant to refer to United Airlines 93 or American Airlines Flight 11.[2]

Image caption The participants in Channel 4's The Undateables The world of disability and dating is being examined in new series The Undateables. But what are some of the dating complexities that disabled people face, asks Damon Rose. It goes without saying that you can't lump all disabled people together when discussing this most personal of all subjects. The barriers to dating, and having a successful relationship, are different depending on your disability and circumstances. Adrian Higginbotham, 37, is blind and explains that for him, the difficulties start with making first contact, the starting point for any relationship. "You can't do that casual walking into a room and making eye contact thing. You can't smile at someone you have seen twice before walking down that same street." Anybody blind doesn't know if the person sitting on the train next to them is the one they sat next to yesterday or if they're someone who works in their building three floors up. Image caption Adrian Higginbotham, who is blind, says dating difficulties start with making first contact They can't have nodding relationships that could go further. "A blind person I know used to deliberately wear odd shoes to try and get people to comment on it to see if anyone would say to him: 'Do you realise you've got odd shoes on?,'" says Higginbotham. "He was trying to engineer a social interaction, though I hope he was being slightly tongue-in-cheek." When thinking about the basic blocks of relationship building, little can be more basic than choosing who you spend your time with. But not everyone has that choice. Channel 4's The Undateables features many people with learning difficulties and introduces us to a dating agency, Stars in the Sky, which helps put people in touch with each other. Lydia Jones is one of their chaperones - she makes sure that clients get to the date venue safely and that they meet the right person, but she also helps tackle lulls in conversations. Love at no sight Though love at first sight may happen for people blessed with eyes, love after first discussion is the closest you'll get to it if you can't see. I've often thought that "sighties" might be just a little bit disabled by having vision. I've seen friends chasing people for their looks yet getting hurt very badly because their beauty is only skin deep, their personality somewhat rotten. But good looks and attraction can be complex for blind people. And oh how I'd love to be able to sit here and tell you that blind people are without prejudice: not caring if you're a prince or whether you're plug ugly and that we don't care about such superficial matters. Sadly, that's just not true. Read the full Magazine article by Damon Rose from 2009 "Quite often, people with learning disabilities are forced into sharing relationships with people who they don't have a choice about being with," says Jones. "Their peers are the ones they meet at a day service or in supported living accommodation." Stars in the Sky is a small charity which has organised more than 180 dates since starting in 2005. So far it has been the catalyst for one marriage, one same-sex ceremony, three engagements and about 15 longer-term relationships. Physical access gets top billing in terms of importance for wheelchair user Shannon Murray, a model who was the face of a recent publicity campaign for Debenhams. She doesn't intend to get caught out by a date who might see her struggling up steps and be put off before the date even starts. "I keep a shortlist of restaurants and bars on my Blackberry which don't just have accessible loos but also have completely flat entrances. On a first date I am worried that guys come to the table believing I'm needy or not independent. I need to be completely in control." She feels that some of her relationships may have failed because of "over-independence" and her drive to never show vulnerability. "I've gone too far the other way; it's hard to get that balance right," she says. Image caption Shannon Murray says physical access is paramount on dates Disability campaigners believe changes to benefits under the Welfare Reform Act will make things harder. In a recent entry for the Liberal Conspiracy blog, campaigner Lisa Egan suggests the changes make it harder for disabled people to have relationships. Employment Support Allowance (ESA) will now be taken away from someone if they have a partner who earns more than £7,500, she explains. "It's going to mean that someone like me who's not currently in a relationship will never be able to live with a partner, because after one year of being together I would lose my income. I am one of the most determinedly independent characters on the planet. I could never put myself into a situation where my partner was expected to 'keep' me." The Undateables programme has been vigorously discussed on social media over the last few weeks but mostly because the title is a provocative one. No-one likes to think that they're "undateable" but it is accepted that, for various reasons, being disabled can decrease the chances of romance. Disability talk on Twitter Mel says: "Don't go out with her, you'll end up being her carer" Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson says: "I've never been out with someone in a chair but if it doesn't work out with the other girl, I'll take you out" Helen says: "I pretend my epilepsy meds are vitamins. Nobody wants a one-night stand with an epileptic" Though many disabled people are happily married or dating with no difficulties, others do face a complex range of reactions. Those with a disability date a variety of people - both disabled and non-disabled. But occasionally there can be strange attitudes from the latter. Lisa Jenkins, 38, had been set up on a date with a friend of a friend who didn't know she had cerebral palsy. "We entered a bar and he walked straight down the steps in front of us. I tried to walk down but I just couldn't, there was no rail to hold onto." Jenkins's date asked if she was all right, at which point she had to tell him about her cerebral palsy. When I was a teenager, guys would offer me a drink and ask me straight away: 'Can you still have sex?' Shannon Murray "I could see the change in his face; he was immediately less attracted to me. It was quite interesting really. "I've had guys who fancied me but thought there was something wrong with fancying me. You're supposed to fancy the birds who are 5ft 9in and blonde, after all." Then there is just downright weirdness. One potential date told Jenkins: "I've always fancied some kinky sex." The strangeness of his attitude was clear. "He considered me slightly freaky," Jenkins explains. A 2008 poll for the Observer found that 70% of those surveyed would not have sex with a disabled person. Murray, who is in her 30s, agrees that sex is often at the heart of what people are thinking and, after 20 years of being disabled, still seems taken aback by the comments she receives from would-be dates. Image caption Lisa Jenkins, who has cerebral palsy, has encountered unusual attitudes "When I was a teenager, guys would offer me a drink and ask me straight away: "Can you still have sex?'" When internet dating became popular, many disabled people took to it thinking they could hide their disability. But it was soon appreciated that if you want to actually date someone, you can't hide behind your laptop forever. A new complexity developed - should you be upfront and tell people you are disabled, or let them get to know your real personality first and reveal the disability later? Murray has done both. "When I first started road-testing online dating, I couldn't decide whether to declare my disability or not. In the end, because I was nervous, I didn't say, and any photos were just waist up." From Ouch! with love Ouch! is the BBC's disability affairs blog and podcast. Read highlights from the entry on dating and disability. Eschewing specialist disabled sites, Murray used only mainstream dating services. "Guys would get in touch and we'd email back and forth, and I'd wait until there was a definite chemistry and then say look I've got to tell you something. Only one guy ever backed out at that stage, saying that was slightly more baggage than he could deal with ... which was honest at least, if a little narrow minded." But Murray wanted to try another more direct approach. "I did it again about a year later and this time I made sure you could see the chair in the photo. In my profile I put something light-hearted like - if their interests were hiking up Everest I wouldn't be able to join them but I'd wait around at base camp and try to keep the tent warm. "Once I put my disability 'out there' I expected less interest, but I got more response than when hiding the chair. I went into the top five most liked women of the week." The Undateables starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday 3 April at 21:00 BST. Here is a selection of readers' stories on dating and disability.

To hear Telltale tell the tale, The Walking Dead wasn’t built to be a wildly acclaimed game of the year award magnet. A good game? Yes. A great story? Clearly. But not a bowling ball catapult into zombified super stardom. With all eyes suddenly on the once-unassuming developer, “that Fables game” has an incredibly tough act to follow. But The Wolf Among Us is a) about a gruff, nicotine-addicted werewolf detective and b) not about gazing sullenly out the window while protesting, “No, it’s just the rain/my allergies/this waterfall we’re standing under.” It takes place in a mad fantasy reality where anything can happen – except, um, the undead apocalypse. It’s maybe a bit different. So, where does Walking Dead’s DNA end and Wolf Among Us begin? What about Fables-specific issues like mystery-solving, a pre-established main character, wolfed-out combat, and a somewhat controversial creator? I spoke with Telltale president Kevin Bruner about all of that and more. RPS: The Wolf Among Us takes place in pseudo-modern times, but under a premise that’s far more surreal. Walking Dead was at least grounded in… Bruner: Real people in a zombie apocalypse. RPS: Whereas this is a lot more outlandish and crazy. How are you embracing and leveraging that? What are the biggest changes? Bruner: In a lot of ways I think Fables is the hardest thing we’ve ever done to date. In Walking Dead, Lee and Clem were inventions. They could be things that were convenient for the game world. Their backgrounds, their personalities, the way they react to things. We could craft those characters in a way that was fun to role-play as and fun to interact with. With Fables, you play Bigby Wolf. He has to be Bigby Wolf. Snow has to be Snow. The world has a stricter set of rules than Kirkman’s zombie world. The role that you play, as a kind of detective and the sheriff of Fabletown, isn’t as life and death as “I am protecting Clementine from being eaten by zombies.” The bar is set a lot higher for us as far as how we make all that work. [pullquote]I think Fables is the hardest thing we’ve done to date.[/pullquote] But we really have embraced it. We’ve come up with new storytelling techniques. We call it the evolution of choice. A big thing in Walking Dead was going where the story took you, and we would throw these choices at you, but you couldn’t really determine what was going to happen next. Whereas in Fables, the choices you make in the moment are all there, like in Walking Dead, but there are places where it branches timeline-wise. Two events are happening at the same time and you have to choose which event you’re going to interact with. When you get there, you make the same kind of in-the-moment choices, but there’s stuff happening somewhere else at the same time. Not only do you get to choose what to say and how to treat people, but you also get to choose when and where you’re saying it. If you go one way, people will be like, “Where were you? We were over here and we could have really used you.” You have to explain why you weren’t there. These are all new role-playing aspects that we’re using as tools to help us stay within the bounds where Bigby Wolf can be Bigby Wolf and the Fables universe can stay consistent. RPS: Is that how you’re handling the issue of ownership of a pre-established character? Like you said, Lee was your own invention. Bigby’s an animal of an entirely different (and literal) sort. Bruner: It’s interesting. He’s the sheriff, right? Your first instinct is that it should be a crime-solving game. We’ve done a bunch of forensics games at Telltale before. Where we landed was, he’s the sheriff of Fabletown, and there’s a crime, and it’s a story about a sheriff figuring out what’s going on with a crime, but the gameplay isn’t [necessarily crime]. That’s the backdrop. That’s what happens. But the gameplay is about relationships. It’s about how Bigby and Snow start to come closer together. There, in canon, Snow isn’t the deputy mayor yet. You can see how Crane treats her. You can start to form some opinions about… Bigby can express to Snow, “Well, don’t do that,” or “I’m gonna go and kick his ass.” Those kinds of things. We let you explore that level of detail, in the context of this narrative of this crime and this event that happens in Fabletown. That’s the backbone that you ride along. The gameplay is about something different. It’s not like an L.A. Noire crime-solving game. But the story is about investigating and interviewing and things like that. RPS: Aside from those moments where you can choose to go to one event or another, is this story by and large fairly linear? Or is there more exploration to it? Bruner: There’s more non-linear areas in each episode than there are in Walking Dead, but certainly early on in the episodes, they all end in the same place that you can share with your friends. RPS: You recently mentioned that Telltale sort of “begrudgingly” adds adventure game-y elements to its stories. You’re trying to,er, tell tales first and foremost. Compared to Walking Dead, is this even less puzzle-heavy? Bruner: Yeah, I’d say it’s less puzzle-heavy, but that’s because the core narrative, being a mystery, has more intrigue built into it. I think some of the same questions that a puzzle, in a more traditional adventure games, might pose in your head, like “How am I going to do this?”, it’s more like, “What does this information that I have right now mean?” In some ways it’s like a whodunit kind of thing. I think you feel a lot of the same things you might feel if there were more puzzles, but it’s not a puzzle game, in the same way. I think it’s mentally challenging in the same way as a puzzle game, but that’s more because of the whodunit nature of the tropes. RPS: How does the whodunit part function? Can you make a wrong call? Can you accuse someone who’s entirely innocent? Bruner: A big part of the choices that you make is how you interpret the information that you know right now. That’s one thing that’s going to be a lot of fun. The game certainly isn’t set up in a way where it rewards or punishes you for making a call. If you say, “I think all the events that I saw mean this, or this other thing,” it just allows you to express that. The world comes back and says, “Well, if it means that, then this follows.” But it’s very non-judgmental. The story allows all that space to exist. It feeds that kind of detective story whodunit intrigue. Okay, you saw this, what does it mean? What we want is for you to say, “I don’t know what it means.” Narratively you don’t have enough information to know exactly what it means. You could say, “I think it might mean this,” and then the story will start telling itself. If that’s what you think it means, we’ll give you a bit of information that reinforces that, or maybe a bit of information that will make you question that, and we’ll take it from there. I think that makes it really engaging. It feels cool. RPS: Bigby is also, at heart, a gigantic wolf monster. He fights, right? How are you approaching combat in this one? I’m guessing you’ve evolved it quite a bit from Walking Dead. Bruner: Yeah, the fight sequences are completely over the top. They’re fables, right? They’re hard to kill. One of the things we didn’t want to do was make it feel like it turned into a superhero game. When fights break out, we want you to get excited. You feel the fight coming and you have the controller in your hand, and then the fight gets so over the top that you’re like, “Whoa, hold on, that’s not exactly what I was going for there.” Bigby, when he becomes the wolf, he’s out of control. We want to convey that to the player. The level of control and the things that you can do when Bigby is the wolf aren’t exactly the expected things. You’ll be like, “Yeah, I’m totally going to be a big badass right now and punch that guy in the face.” So you punch that guy in the face, but you punch his face off. There’s blood everywhere. It’s totally brutal. As a gamer, we want you to be like, “OK, that’s not exactly what I meant. I meant I wanted him to be a big badass hero. Then I obliterated this guy in a horrible way.” That’s kind of like Bigby being out of control and when he wolfs out, he doesn’t always do [what you’re expecting]. [pullquote]Bigby’s a wolf – not a superhero. He’s being his DNA, what’s inside him.[/pullquote] He goes a little overboard most of the time. It’s a reflection of the Fables thing. They’re not Superman and Batman fighting. He’s not a kung fu master. He’s a wolf. It’s very animalistic. He’s not being a superhero – he’s being his DNA, what’s inside him. RPS: With the combat, how direct is the control for the player? Is it just a few little QTE button inputs, or are you fully moving him around? Bruner: It’s cinematic combat. It’s kind of QTE-ish. More like what we did in Walking Dead. It’s not like an Arkham Asylum kind of combat, where you can target people and things like that. The sequences are scripted in a way so that they’re timed and dramatic. You shouldn’t feel like you’re getting scored. There’s not a power meter or anything like that. It’s still very cinematic. We want to be telling stories all the time. Coming back and putting a power meter up, for us, is not narratively the right thing to do. RPS: But I saw in another report that you can get beaten up, and people will actually react to your battered appearance. Bruner: Yeah, you can succeed to varying levels when you’re in a fight. You can lose fights. Sometimes you can intentionally lose a fight, if you think that’s the right thing to do. Then, if your face is all beat up and bruised and you go back to Snow, she might be like, “What the hell happened to you? I thought you were a tough guy?” Or she might say, “What the hell happened to you? C’mere, let me warm up to you a little bit, get a little closer.” You can kind of use the fighting narratively as a tool if you want to. That’s more what getting beat up is about. RPS: It’s interesting that you’re approaching combat from the narrative perspective first and foremost. Combat is one of gaming’s main means of interaction, but gratifying violence is always the end goal. What’s it like reinventing a very common game trope for an entirely different purpose? Bruner: It’s pretty hard. How do we do it cinematically? How do we look at really great fights in the movies and more linear mechanisms? Why are they compelling? Why do you care what’s happening in a fight? We’ve been working on it all through Jurassic Park, all through the zombie attacks and the different activities you do in Walking Dead, and I think Fables is our next iteration of it. But the fighting in Fables is definitely a result of different combat prototypes that we’ve done over the years. It’s hard, because in games, in skill-based gaming, you have arena fighting games, which is all about dexterity and memory and button combos. They’re really compelling to play. The line gets really close between video game fighting, for skill-based rewards, and a fight in a story-based game that is narratively important. That’s a really fine line to tread, a difficult line to tread. RPS: For all its fantastically brutal emotional and narrative beats, Walking Dead didn’t look so great. It moved really robotically, and the art style kind of clashed with everything else. Wolf Among Us is quite a looker in still shots, though. Is fluidity and animation getting a similar treatment? Bruner: We get pretty maniacal about making things look the way that they’re supposed to look when we get into various IP. We have what we call a “living ink” look for the game. When we released the first round of screenshots, there was a lot of, “Holy crap, is that concept art?” It’s the game. The game really looks like that when it’s moving. It’s not cel-shading in the more traditional cartoon cel-shading. It’s a very flat look that looks more like inked comic books. We’ve invested a lot in some technology to make it look like a comic book, like a newsprint comic. Then we keep iterating on what our actors can do, trying to make our animations look better. But we’re always challenged by the amount of content that we do. Every game is like trying to do an animated feature film, a five- or six-hour animated movie on a very small budget in a very short amount of time. We have a lot of tricks up our sleeves to do that. We keep trying to get better at it. But on this one, I think the art direction is very bold, very cool. The overall look that comes out is very unique. I haven’t seen anything that quite goes to the extent of looking like a regular printed comic the way Fables does. RPS: Are seasons of Wolf Among Us and Walking Dead going to run concurrently, or will it be one and the other alternating? Bruner: We’re not announcing any release dates for anything other than Fables right now, but certainly we’re gearing up to have multiple games or shows running simultaneously. We’ll have an episode of one thing coming out at the same time as an episode of another thing, which we’ve never done before. We’re definitely getting prepared for that. You talked about the technical problems. One of the things that we want to make sure of is that, before we get two games going simultaneously, we get one game going without people having saved game problems and technical issues like that. That’s our immediate goal, to get Fables out there, get it clean, feel confident that if we have two of these things going simultaneously, we have the bandwidth to support it properly. We feel pretty confident that we’re there, but the proof’s in the pudding. We’ll have to wait until Fables launches. RPS: I’ve only recently gotten into Fables myself, but I keep hearing of controversy attached to its creator. He’s said some things about Israel apparently, and he even alluded to it in the comic once. But do you think that stuff’s really an issue – especially for your game and your story? Bruner: I don’t think our story is overly conservative or has any kind of personal political slant to it or anything like that. Bill [Willingham] has been great to work with. I’ve heard similar things, but in our interactions with him, he doesn’t seem like he has an agenda or anything like that. He just seems like he wants to tell a great story with these characters. RPS: It’s always an interesting thing to see, when people just will not remove a creator’s work from the creator themselves. In some cases it’s maybe warranted. Case in point: Orson Scott Card. But is that at all a concern for you guys? Bruner: It hasn’t really come up so far. Fables is a comic book. Fables doesn’t have a TV show. The really hardcore Fables audience is still relatively small. We feel like one of the things that we’re trying to do is to get a lot more people introduced to Fables. So I think everyone’s aware that, for a lot of people, the Fables game is going to be their first contact with the franchise. We feel like we have a lot of heavy lifting to do, just about Fabletown and the Mundies and all that. When we get to that level of, “Is there an agenda to it or not?” you have to get pretty deep into the IP. Most of our effort is focusing on people who are new to the franchise and explaining why these fairy tales live in New York and how long they’ve been there and what the relationship is with the mundane world. We have an enormous amount of expositional ground-level work to do. RPS: Especially relative to The Walking Dead, because even if it’s its own universe, it’s still like, “This is the world. Now there are zombies in it. That’s pretty much it.” [pullquote]We’re gearing up to have multiple games or shows running simultaneously.[/pullquote] Bruner: If you say it’s a zombie story, you have a big head start, whereas the Fables universe is really sophisticated and really complicated. Getting people up to speed with enough of it that they understand how the game is working has been a real challenge. We’ve deliberately focused on just a few aspects of the world to start with, because if you try to go wide and explain everything – which we did contemplate at one point, having a big speech at the beginning of the game where we figured out a way to dump as much information as possible, like at the Remembrance Day festival or something like that – [it’s too obvious]. We’ll talk about the Mundies. We’ll talk about glamours. We’ll talk about how they got to Fabletown. And we’ll leave the rest of it for episode two [laughs]. RPS: Personally, I think that’s probably the better way to go. Usually, when there’s an exposition dump, most people can pick up on it. People are pretty story-savvy. Bruner: Yeah. We want to be clever about it. The Remembrance Day is a great time to talk about the past. Can we squeeze that into two minutes and feel like people understood what they were doing, though? We explored that for a little while, and we said, “No, let’s just start small.” Start small, start intimate, try to get people engaged in what they’re doing, and let the story get bigger as it goes along. RPS: For better or worse, I think all eyes are on you right now, because Walking Dead was such a success. Admittedly, the follow-up to Walking Dead is Walking Dead season two. But a lot of people will look at Wolf and say, “That’s the follow-up to Walking Dead,” because it’s the next thing sequentially. When you have that kind of comparison, how do you manage it? How do you manage the fact that a lot of people are going to be coming to your game because they liked The Walking Dead? Bruner: You do two things. You continue to do the best work you can possibly do, and then you run in the corner and hide as much as possible [laughs]. It’s tough coming on the heels of such a successful and an important game to people, saying, “Hey, do you want to try this other thing?” We think a lot of people who played Walking Dead will really like Fables. It may not be for all of them, because it’s a different context. Maybe some people who never played Walking Dead, Fables will be their thing. But we believe that Fables is the right kind of world for us to play with. It works really well for the kind of games that we want to make. We didn’t know Walking Dead was going to be what it was, so hopefully, as long as we stick to our guns and the same things we thought were important with Walking Dead… If we’re doing that with Fables, hopefully it will resonate the same way with people. Check back tomorrow for part two, which digs deep into Telltale’s super-duper secret (and very interesting) experimental projects. Complex non-combat AI, being able to say whatever you want to characters, atypical games that bridge the gap between seasons – those sorts of things. Also, we talk about why King’s Quest ended up falling by the wayside.

A gay couple on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging Michigan's refusal to recognize their out-of-state marriage. Bruce T. Morgan and Brian P. Merucci, who married in New York last year, argue that a separate ruling currently on hold striking down Michigan's ban on gay marriage means the state must recognize their nuptials. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati stayed the lower court's order in March after roughly 300 gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows in Michigan. Republican Governor Rick Snyder declared the marriages valid but refused to recognize them pending an appeal. Morgan and Merucci say Snyder failed to address the marriages of gay couples performed elsewhere. Stephanie D. Myott, the couple's attorney, told MLive.com that “Snyder only addressed the couples who married in Michigan after the DeBoer ruling.” “No one is talking about the thousands of couples in Michigan who were married in another state, like Bruce and Brian. The Constitution protects their fundamental rights as well,” she said. “Unlike the same-sex marriages performed in Michigan on Mach 22, 2014, the legality of Bruce and Brian's marriage is in no way dependent upon the decision in the Sixth Circuit appeal,” the couple's complaint states. “Bruce and Brian's marriage was legal when performed in New York. When judge Friedman found the Marriage Amendment and its implementing statutes unconstitutional, Section 2 of DOMA no longer allowed Michigan to deny Bruce and Brian their state marital rights and benefits, which were vested in them pursuant to the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Even if the Sixth Circuit overturns Judge Friedman's decision, Bruce and Brian's state marital rights and benefits are vested in them and cannot be taken away.” Morgan, who is battling a 2011 diagnosis of inoperable brain cancer, said he wanted the marriage recognized so that hospital staff will recognize “the decisions [Merucci] makes regarding my care.” “I know that Brian will be by my side during this difficult time, and I want him to be recognized as my spouse when he does because that is who is he is,” Morgan said.

[Haskell-community] Next Steps in Downloads Page Discussion Hi all. Let me try to sum up the state of the discussion and propose next steps -- please feel free to disagree with my summary if you are so inclined. I'm trying to capture the current state and help move discussion, so if people feel this doesn't capture it, its good to know sooner rather than later. == Key Points == * We distinguish between "download method / installer" and "getting started". We add a new page "Getting Started" with links at the top level just like "Downloads / Community / Documentation / News". * The Downloads page points to the minimal platform installer (however named) that includes GHC, stack, cabal-install, and a few other binaries (but no extra global libraries). Below that we can have links to other mechanisms as well, but the minimal platform is the clearly distinguished recommended way. * The "Getting Started" page proceeds to describe next steps for new users to get up and running right away after installing the minimal platform. Since many people have made the case that for someone who hits the page without some prior guide, a stack workflow is the easiest to get running on and best documented at this time, I imagine this workflow will be stack-oriented. == Additional Considerations == * People have pointed to some issues in the windows platform installer. We are going to work to resolve these. A patch for one (which improves stack behavior when it can find ghc but not msys) is already submitted. Sorting out the other (which pertains to enterprise installs, not single-user installs) is underway. * As in the past, we shouldn't focus our discussions on what the answer is "for all time" -- tech will change, things will evolve. We should think of this as something that does the job reasonably well for say the next six months, give or take. == Next Steps == * There is a mock-up of a new download page already on github (Thanks so much Jacco!): https://github.com/haskell-infra/hl/issues/176 Under its "getting started" I would propose something like: 1. Download and run the Haskell Toolchain installer 2. Follow the _getting_started_guide_ to start running some code! with the latter linking to the new getting started page. I hope this is acceptable to people? Maybe some other bullet points should be there too... * I would like to solicit a kind volunteer or two to draft up what they think a "getting started guide" should look like so we can spawn a separate discussion on that. Given that we've decoupled this guide from the download page, it can afford, I think, to have a bit more text than just how to compile and run "hello world"... == a few other thoughts == We've had a productive discussion on this list, I think. But as many probably know, not all the discussions over this have been so positive. I just want to make a general point that has been nagging at me, and apologies for the sappiness that follows. While there is some commercial support, Haskell is an open-source language and community at heart that historically has and currently still relies on people volunteering their time. Be it in writing code, writing documentation, teaching others, and especially in working on tooling and infrastructure. (This goes all the way up to GHC which also runs on donated time and effort in many ways). Being run on volunteer steam is great in many ways. But it has one important caveat. People have to want to volunteer, because they enjoy the technical challenges, but especially because they want to help others, and because they find it rewarding to contribute to things which bring joy and benefit to others. All of us, working on installers, working on fundraising efforts, working on documentation, working on compilers and libraries, or trying to sort out weird issues with mailservers and proxying content delivery networks or php bugs impacting wikis or google-analytics tokens or whatever else, we're all here not because we have to be, but because we want to be. And that's great! But it is also precarious and fragile, because if it becomes not fun, or not rewarding, or we feel that what we do is being disparaged and attacked (and this goes for everyone, i think, on all sides of recent discussions) or diminished, then we change our calculus, and we stop wanting to participate, and stop wanting to fix things for others. And that's understandable. So, if we let our discussions or language play out in a way that can hurt others, can make them feel that their work is no good, or not appreciated, then they have no reason to want to help anymore. And they won't. And I can't blame them. And if we all start to hurt one another too much, it will become no fun for any of us, and then the whole endeavor falls apart. So I want to extend my gratitude and thanks to everyone working on any element of our open-source tooling and infrastructure, or even lending a voice to give insight into how to improve it. And I also want to ask us all to remember this in our interactions with one another, and to remember that people will say things we find unbelievably wrong at times, and discussions may stall at times, and things may get stuck for longer than we'd like. And we have every right to get frustrated when that happens. But we can't let our frustrations at difficult _situations_ turn into words that diminish other _people_, other potential collaborators, others also freely giving of their time trying to improve and help others, whatever our disagreements. I have more to say, but I'm not sure how, and this is long and inarticulate enough. Anyway, onto the next steps (I hope), and please everyone consider stepping forward to help with this stuff, in drafting language, or helping with design and implementation of the actual changes to the site (on which more volunteers welcome -- please email me!), etc. (By the way I want to put out more calls for help on more concrete infra stuff soon, not at all web related -- but in the immediate future, if you have experience running a mail server and dealing with the many painful hassles therein, and are willing to help a bit, please contact me soon). Best, Gershom

Train traffic is again moving this morning after a 13-car derailment near Peers, west of Edmonton early Sunday morning. Patrick Waldron, a spokesperson for CN Rail, said the train derailed around 1 a.m. MT Sunday near Peers in Yellowhead County, about 180 kilometres west of Edmonton. Waldron said the 137-car train was en route from Prince George to Edmonton when it derailed. One of the derailed cars is a dangerous goods tanker carrying sulphur dioxide. The other 12 cars were loaded with lumber. The dangerous goods car is upright and not leaking, said Waldron, who added there are no environmental concerns or threats to the public at this time. Fire officials from Yellowhead County have been in touch with CN and have assessed the crash site, but firefighters were not needed. CN Rail crews are on the scene. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation; however, the Transportation Safety Board said it will not be sending investigators. Nearby residents first thoughts were of Gainford Sunday's incident occurred along the same tracks as the 13-car derailment near Gainford only two weeks ago. The two derailments occurred about 90 kilometres apart. The TSB is still investigating the cause of that crash, which forced about 100 people from their homes for several days while crews worked to put out flames on two cars containing liquefied petroleum gas. Theresa Lytle, who works in Peers, told CBC’s Laura Osman her first reaction to the derailment was bafflement. “Really? So soon after the one at Gainford?” she said. Lytle said she was relieved to realize the derailed cars were primarily lumber, unlike the petroleum gas and crude oil that complicated the situation in Gainford. But she did say the derailment gave her pause for how the community would have been impacted should the incident have been more serious. “I was kind of wondering with the one at Gainford if it would happen here, with the houses being so close to the railroad.” Resident Erville Lennon echoed Lytle’s concerns, saying his first thought was concern for the people and environment near the derailment. “You wonder what’s going on: are they maintaining their tracks or not maintaining their tracks for that to happen that quickly?” Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka said Sunday's derailment did not impact his faith in CN. (Doug Steele/CBC) Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka said he’s aware the community got off relatively easy. “We only had a few issues arise from it," he said. "There was no loss of life, we didn’t have to shut down any major highways, we didn’t have to have our fire departments involved in this – so there were some benefits.” And while he said the crash will likely spur CN to look more closely into their operations and day-to-day maintenance, he said he’s not too worried about future trains crossing through the county. “I do put a lot of trust and faith in CN,” he said. “I feel they’ve done a very good job keeping the train on the rails. I believe it’s always going to be a concern but hopefully it doesn’t ever happen – a derailment such as the one that happened in Quebec, for instance.” Call to action Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema spoke out Sunday afternoon about the recent string of derailments. "This is another derailment that we're dealing with in a province that has already seen its fair share of derailments in the recent months. There really is a lot that we need to be doing to improve rail safety that is not being done." Hudema suggested Ottawa conduct an independent review of petrochemical transportation across the country. He said the public should also be told about the dangers associated with hazardous materials moving through their communities. "It's time that the federal government actually steps up and does its job."

Hillary's Espionage and the Statute of Limitations Alger Hiss was a U.S. State Department official who was accused in 1948 of being a Soviet spy. Hiss's indictment stemmed from alleged espionage in the form of secret State Department documents spirited out of Foggy Bottom and into the hands of persons "not authorized to receive" them. "The Pumpkin Papers" consisted of sixty-five pages of retyped secret State Department documents, four pages in Hiss's own handwriting of copied State Department cables, and five rolls of developed and undeveloped 35mm film. Being charged under the Espionage Act was appropriate for those who obtained any information relating to the national defense and delivered that information to someone who was not authorized to have it. The former State Department official, Alger Hiss, typed classified information on his office typewriter, slipped the copies into a briefcase, removed classified information from the State Department, and provided all of this to his Soviet handler, who photographed and microfilmed it. The FBI wished to prosecute Alger Hiss for espionage, but the Justice Department indicated that the statute of limitations had run out, and Hiss was convicted of the lesser crime, perjury, for lying to the FBI. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton insisted that she "had broken no rules" to conduct government business through the use of a private email service in lieu of the U.S. government's unclassified system, the Non-Classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network (abbreviated as NIPRNet) and the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet). These are a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information. The U.S. government has spent billions of dollars developing, deploying, and protecting its internet protocol router networks to enable authorized government officials to conduct the business of government, properly exchange information, and intelligence, up to and including information classified SECRET, with others in the government (and their contractors) who are authorized and entitled to have it. Mrs. Clinton purposely avoided using the government's networks through the use of a homebrew server. That she found a way to transmit countless classified documents, up to and including special access program material, to her personal server has been made public and is not in question. The former Democratic presidential candidate disclosed that she and her aides had deleted more than 30,000 emails she deemed "personal." For a frame of reference, 30,000 emails printed out represents a stack of 60 reams of paper, a stack 11 feet tall. When the FBI retrieved the spools of microfilm, the Alger Hiss "Pumpkin Papers" printed out to a stack four and a half feet tall. Hillary Clinton and the FBI have learned much from the Alger Hiss case. The American public will not be able to read a transcript of Hillary Clinton's interview with the FBI, because the bureau did not transcribe it. Furthermore, Mrs. Clinton was also not placed under oath during the three-and-a-half-hour interview. When Mrs. Clinton wasn't placed under oath, she could not be charged with lying to the FBI, as Alger Hiss was eventually charged with and convicted of. There doesn't seem to be a race against the clock for the Trump DOJ to charge Mrs. Clinton with espionage. Alger Hiss escaped prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917 due to the statute of limitations having expired. Also, there was no appetite by the DOJ to charge the former senior State Department official and Democrat lawyer. Although federal statute USC 3282 provides for a five-year statute of limitation for the vast majority of federal crimes, this statute of limitations does not necessarily stand in the case of espionage prosecution. It is generally agreed by legal scholars that acts of espionage can be prosecuted for at least ten years after the alleged act. I wish Congressman Trey Gowdy could give Attorney General Sessions a lesson on Spoliation of Evidence, with which attorneys fresh out of law school are familiar. Hillary Clinton's deletion of 30,000 emails is a classic case. When parties fail to produce relevant evidence within their span of control, evidence they are otherwise naturally expected to possess, the U.S. legal system allows and even mandates that unfavorable presumptions be drawn against them. So when some item of relevant evidence – whether documents, physical objects, or data relevant to an ongoing legal matter – is destroyed, discarded, or modified in some way, the U.S. legal system allows us to presume that the missing evidence was unfavorable to that party and allows us to draw conclusions accordingly. The classic junior high school excuse, "the dog ate my homework," isn't valid under the law when the disappearance is suspicious. Spoliation of evidence is prohibited by an array of laws and regulations. Also, anyone who destroys relevant evidence or assists in such destruction is subject to criminal prosecution, civil fines, tort liability, exclusion of testimony, and dismissal of claims, as well as adverse evidentiary inferences. We have little way of knowing if any one of the 33,000 missing documents under Mrs. Clinton's control could have been used "to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." The Trump DOJ should be making all possible efforts to retrieve the missing 33,000 emails and determine once and for all: "was it espionage or was it yoga?" "You don't use BleachBit for yoga emails or for bridesmaids emails," Congressman Trey Gowdy said in an interview to Fox News. "When you are using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see." The cabal of President Obama, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI director James Comey did everything they could to protect Hillary Clinton from the politically explosive charge of espionage when it was obvious to anyone in the intelligence community what she was doing. There is sufficient and obvious evidence that like the Soviet spy Alger Hiss, Mrs. Clinton should be charged with espionage before the statute of limitations runs out.

[JURIST] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that probable-cause warrants are not required to access cell phone location information. In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit reversed lower court decisions that said the location data was protected by the Fourth Amendment [Cornell LII backgrounder]. The court stated that warrantless access is “not per se unconstitutional” because mobile location data is “clearly a business record” and therefore unprotected by the Fourth Amendment. Authorities were requesting cellphone data under the Stored Communications Act [Cornell LII backgrounder], part of the Electronics Communications Privacy Act, which the court stated gives authorities the option of obtaining a court order, but does not require the higher standard necessary for a search warrant. The Fifth Circuit is the third federal appeals court to allow authorities to track mobile devices without a warrant. Courts and lawmakers remain divided on what types of warrants are required to perform cell phone searches. Last week the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that police must obtain search warrants before obtaining tracking information from cell phone providers, marking the first time a state supreme court has recognized a Fourth Amendment protection for cell phone location data. Earlier this month the Maine Legislature [official website] voted in favor [JURIST report] of a new law requiring police to obtain a warrant to track a cell phone. In May the Florida Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] that police need a warrant [JURIST report] to search a defendant’s cell phone at the time of arrest. In 2012 the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] that a warrantless search [JURIST report] of a suspect’s cell phone to collect its phone number does not constitute a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Our original plan was to go to the schools on Monday. But there happened to be a district wide strike called. The schools are in Morigaon which is about 1.5-2 hours one way from Guwahati and traveling the long distance during the strike was not recommended. We headed out on Tuesday and were completely floored at the welcome we received upon our arrival. As we arrived at the Morigaon Jatiya Vidyalaya school gate, we saw a beautiful banner the school had made welcoming Kids on Computers. The entire school was outside waiting for us. They greeted us with a small Puja and each of us received a hand-woven shawl with a design that is unique to Assam. As we saw the kids and their eager, smiling faces, I couldn’t help but get tears in my eyes. Morigaon is a rural district with miles of beautiful farm land and rice paddies. Cows and goats roam the roads as if it were their own. It is also the poorest district in Assam and has a literacy rate of 69.37% as of 2011. These computer labs have been a long time in the making and we are so happy to finally set them up. We first visited the room that had been set up for the computer lab. We determined the room was too small (we tested by having students come in and sit and saw that it would be difficult to have 12 computers running in there). We decided to use a larger room the school had. The school personnel and electrician proceeded to discuss what would need to take place in the next 2 days to convert the room into a computer lab. After this discussion, we then visited each classroom and were greeted with a huge “Hi!” and “Namaskar!”. This school has classes from Kindergarten to 10th grade. There is one class for each grade, except for Kindergarten which has two, and approximately 15-30 students per class. The teachers had prepped the students and instructed each of them to greet us formally. The classroom walls were constructed from woven bamboo. The students sat at simple desks and benches. You could see the joy in their eyes as we spoke to them. In the afternoon, we headed out to the second school – Jatiya Vidyalaya Charaibahi. This school is about twenty minutes away and in a more rural area. Both schools are privately run by an NGO which hires the teachers, sets the student tuition (100 rupees (~2 USD)/month for younger students and 150 rupees for older students), and makes decisions on what courses are taught. The committee which runs the NGO meets monthly. We worked with Nilutpal Kakati, the committee Secretary, on the creation of these labs. The reception at the second school was just as grand as the first one. We were again presented with custom hand-woven shawls. As they presented them to us, they said Namaskar to us. We quickly adopted to saying it back to them. The whole school had assembled outside – the students had carried their school benches outside. We were all asked to sit at a make-shift stage with a canopy, tables and chairs facing the students. There were microphones and speakers set up for us. Nilutpal gave a small introduction and we were then all asked to say a few words. Afterwards, a group of students sang a beautiful song accompanied by live music. The students then went back to class carrying their benches back. We went to view the computer lab and then visited each classroom here as well. As we walked back outside, we saw that a group of parents had convened outside the school gate. We proceeded to go back to the first school. When we got back, the computer vendor from Guwahati had arrived with the computers. To be more streamlined, we decided to use the small room as a staging room where all the computers would be installed. This way, we could work on software installations while the larger room was being prepared and the second school’s computer room was being made more secure. This first school will receive twelve computers. The second school will have six as their computer room is much smaller. I was eager to test out the OS install via USB pen drive so we pulled out one computer and put it together. Success! We were able to get Lubuntu 13.04 on there – everyone cheered for joy (well, maybe only in my head). What an amazing day! We were so excited to come back and install the computers the next day. KOC’s goal is to provide access to education and learning materials via technology to kids who don’t otherwise have access. We believe and hope the content we put on the computers will open more doors and provide for more opportunities for the kids (and adults) and they will be able to improve their own communities with this knowledge.

Family members among 157 asylum seekers being detained on the high seas in separate rooms on a customs vessel are allowed out for meals and ''approximately three hours'' of daylight a day, according to a document lodged with the High Court on Tuesday. While it was previously stated 153 asylum seekers were on a boat that was intercepted off Christmas Island more than three weeks ago, the document says there are 157. Scott Morrison arriving for talks with India's Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Rajnath Singh. Credit:Jason Koutsoukis A document filed by the government reveals the national security committee of cabinet decided on July 1, two days after the boat was intercepted, that those on board ''should be taken to a place other than Australia''. The document says the asylum seekers are permitted ''approximately three hours' outside during the day in natural light for meals'', but says it would be unsafe to give them unrestricted movement.

The jihad sisters: Bubbly and exceptionally bright, these twins with 28 GCSEs were set to train as doctors. Now they're in Syria 'training to be killers' Twins Salma and Zahra Halane left their parents’ home in middle of night They then caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border to Syria Sisters appeared to be typical teenagers, pouting for selfies and shopping Now they are feared to be training for battle in footsteps of elder brother Twin schoolgirls who followed their jihadi brother to Syria were hard-working students who hoped to train as doctors. Sixteen-year-olds Salma and Zahra Halane, who last summer achieved 28 GCSEs between them, left their parents’ home in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border. Police said the pair are thought to have followed their elder brother, who ditched his own ‘excellent’ academic career to join the ISIS terror group around a year ago. Scroll down for video Salma (left) and Zahra Halane (right), who last summer achieved 28 GCSEs between them, left their parents’ home in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border Friends said the twins had appeared to be typical teenagers, pouting for selfies and shopping at Primark – but they are now feared to be training for battle. Last night a rebel fighter boasted that he was teaching girls as young as 16 how to fight. Yilmaz, a Dutch national who has been in Syria for two years, told Sky News: ‘It’s extremely easy to get here. People go on holiday ... they end up in Syria.’ The twins’ parents raised the alarm last month, after finding the girls’ beds empty and their passports and clothes missing. A former neighbour said the couple had been ‘quite strict’, and did not allow the girls to ‘mix with other children on the street’. Others recalled that the twins wore headscarves when they were as young as nine. But Rhea Headlam, who sat next to Zahra in primary school, said they were ‘just normal teenage girls’. ‘I’m really shocked – I used to bump into them at Primark,’ she added. ‘They were both really clever.’ Selfies: Zahra, left, and Salma, right, pose with friends in pictures taken not long before they fled the UK Schoolgirl: Zahra Halane kneels in front of friends when she was in Year 6 at her primary school Last summer Salma achieved 13 GCSEs – 11 of them at grades A* to C – while Zahra passed 15, of which 12 were A*-C. The results put them in the top 10 per cent of their year group at Whalley Range High School for Girls in Manchester. They went on to study at Connell Sixth Form College, where fellow students said they hoped to follow in the footsteps of their elder sister Hafsa, 25, who is at medical school in Denmark after graduating from Manchester University. ‘The twins both have aspirations to become doctors – that is their ambition,’ said one. Another claimed it was ‘typical’ of the girls to head to Syria ‘after they had finished term’, adding: ‘They wouldn’t want to mess up their education. ‘I’m shocked they have gone. They didn’t seem to be radical or extremist in their views.’ Support: Visitors arrive at the family home yesterday, but the girls' parents have not spoken publicly It emerged yesterday that the girls’ devoutly Muslim Somali refugee parents and their 11 children had been moved from an estate made famous by the TV series Shameless to an upmarket suburb, after telling the council they needed more bedrooms. They were given a six-bedroom end-terrace despite the protests of the existing tenant. Yesterday the large back and front gardens were strewn with discarded household items and children’s plastic toys. The house's previous resident - a 40-year-old Army heroine who served in Bosnia - said last night she had been booted out of the house by Manchester City Council so the twins and their family could move in. Former lance corporal Dawn Benjamin told The Sun she had thought the house - her childhood home - would be 'going to a good family'. She added: 'I lost my life, memories, everything I'd grown up with, to house jihadi wannabes'. Ms Benjamin and her young son had to move out after they were served with a court order. The council confirmed the house had been needed for a larger family. Police probe: Officers were seen leaving the house. The large back and front gardens were strewn with discarded household items and children's plastic toys Neighbours said the twins’ parents were keen to share elements of Somalian culture with them, taking round dishes of traditional delicacies for them to try. The twins’ father Ibrahim is understood to teach at a nearby mosque, where leaders this week issued a statement repudiating extremism and opposing violence of all kinds. Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadan Foundation, said the family were moderate Muslims who know all about the dangers of war-torn countries. ‘They were desperately unhappy to discover [their son] had gone to Syria, and they thought they were keeping a watchful eye on their other children. Then this happens,’ he said. Sources believe Salma and Zahra were inspired by their brother’s transformation into a jihadi fighter, and became radicalised themselves while viewing extremist Islamist material online. According to police sources, their brother also travelled to the family’s native Somalia, where he may have linked up with another Islamist terror group al-Shabab. A friend told The Sun the brother was known for his ability to recite long passages of the Koran. Officers are investigating how the girls funded their own trip, over fears they have been bankrolled by jihadi fighters who want them as their wives. As many as 1,500 Britons may have travelled to Syria to fight alongside rebels. Many of them have posted messages online promising to use their ‘terror skills’ if they return to Britain.

The Tanzanian prosecutor investigating worldwide misconduct by BAE, Britain's biggest arms company, confided to US diplomats that "his life may be in danger" and senior politicians in his small African country were "untouchable". A leaked account of what the head of Tanzania's anti-corruption bureau, Edward Hoseah, termed the "dirty deal" by BAE to sell Tanzania an overpriced radar system, is revealed in the US embassy cables. BAE is to appear in court in London tomorrow, when their system of making secret payments to secure arms contracts, exposed by the Guardian, will be officially detailed for the first time. Every individual involved in the BAE scandal in Britain and Tanzania has escaped prosecution. But the arms giant agreed with the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to pay £30m in corporate reparations and fines, provided the word "corruption" did not appear on the indictment. A corruption conviction would debar the company from EU contracts. The former overseas development secretary, Clare Short, said at the time: "It was always obvious that this useless project was corrupt." Hoseah met a US diplomat, Purnell Delly, in Dar es Salaam in July 2007, and claimed (unrealistically it turned out) he would be able to prosecute guilty individuals in the BAE case. The US cable reports: "He called the deal 'dirty' and said it involved officials from the Ministry of Defence and at least one or two senior level military officers." Hoseah spoke gloomily about the prospects for Tanzania's anti-corruption struggle and his original hopes to prosecute the "big fish" of corruption. "He told us point blank ... that cases against the prime minister or the president were off the table ..." The cable then details allegations against former leaders and their inner circles, saying they would be "untouchable". "He noted that President Kikwete does not appear comfortable letting the law handle corruption cases which might implicate top-level officials." The cable then says Kwitke "does not want to set a precedent" by going after any of his predecessors. There were "widespread rumours of corruption within the Bank of Tanzania", Hoseah said, and the island region of Zanzibar was also "rife with corruption". The diplomat noted: "Hoseah reiterated concern for his personal security ... saying he believed his life may be in danger ... He had received threatening text messages and letters and was reminded every day that he was fighting the 'rich and powerful'." He might have to flee the country. He warned: "He said quietly: 'If you attend meetings of the inner-circle, people want you to feel as if they have put you there. If they see that you are uncompromising, there is a risk.' " The US embassy noted in a "cynical" aside, that probably the only reason Hoseah felt obliged to attempt a BAE prosecution was because the SFO had presented him with "a fully developed case file, brimming with detailed evidence". Today's court appearance by BAE is the culmination of lengthy attempts to bring the company to justice since the Guardian exposed its worldwide secret payment system. The prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, intervened in 2006 to halt an SFO investigation into payments to members of the Saudi royal family. The US department of justice has had more success than the SFO, forcing BAE to pay $400m (£260m) in penalties under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. £28m radar deal 'stank' Tanzania, on Africa's east coast, is one of the poorest states in the world, formerly controlled in turn by Arab slavers, German colonists and the British. At the time of the radar deal, life expectancy was 45. Tanzania was forced to apply for debt relief from the west and was heavily dependent on aid. It is ravaged by HIV/Aids and its GDP per head is just $723 (£465). President Benjamin Mkapa, whose regime did the deal, was succeeded in 2004 by his political colleague Jakaya Kikwete. Tanzania, which has no air force, bought the military air defence radar from BAE in 2001 for £28m. It was claimed the Commander system, which was portable and festooned with anti-jamming devices, could also be used for civilian air traffic control. The country borrowed the cost from Barclays, adding to its debt burden. Both the World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation called the purchase unnecessary and overpriced. In London, the then development secretary, Clare Short, temporarily blocked aid payments in protest. "It stank," she now says of the sale. She urged an export licence be withheld, but was overruled by Tony Blair himself. Robin Cook, then foreign secretary, recorded bitterly in his diary that Dick Evans [of BAE] seemed to have "the key to the garden door of No 10 [Downing St]". In January 2007 the Guardian disclosed that BAE had used an offshore front company, Red Diamond, to secretly pay £8.4m, 30% of the radar's ostensible price, into a Swiss account. The account was controlled by Tanzanian middleman Sailesh Vithlani. His "consultancy" agreement was, it is alleged, formally signed off in London by Evans.

Fargo revels in parables and symbolism, and one of the recurring images in the series so far has been the presence of fish, whether in the background or front and center. I’ll be upfront with you, dear reader, I’m stumped, I don’t have a fucking clue what exactly the fish mean. Seven episodes in and writer Noah Hawley has kept throwing them into the show, but with nothing in the way of explanation. So this is less of an analysis and more cataloging the trend. Sometimes it feels like the symbolism is hitting us in the face. And sometimes it’s more subtle. Then in the sixth episode, “Buridan’s Ass”, we open with the fish, as one of them is served up for the Fargo gang’s boss. However by the end of the episode, it looks like the fish have turned the tables, as they take their scaly revenge on mankind. WHAT’S WITH ALL THE FISH FARGO!!! Advertisements

Please enable Javascript to watch this video Authorities said a Virginia Beach man is being kicked out of the country after his mother was convicted of creating a fake family. It’s been a dramatic fall for Natallia Liapina. A year ago, the woman from Belarus was married to a doctor, living in Virginia Beach with her teenage son. She landed a job as a Russian teacher at Tallwood High School, where her colleagues adored her.But then came the prosecutors. They said all this was a hoax, an elaborate fraud to get Natallia a green card. Previous: Man fighting deportation due to accusations of marriage fraud against family Prosecutors said Natallia’s husband, Armando, was actually in love with Natallia’s oldest son. The two men carried on a romantic relationship, the prosecutors said. And to please Danil, prosecutors claimed Armando agreed to marry Danil’s mother so she could live in America. Natallia and her sons deny all of this. Danil said there was no romantic relationship with Armando. He was already married to an American woman named Victoria. And Ivan, Natallia’s youngest, said this was a real family. No one who worked with Natallia at Tallwood believes any part of the government’s case. Teachers stepped forward to tell NewsChannel 3 Natallia was not only a good teacher, but a good person. “It’s so upsetting because it is the opposite of who she is. They are telling her that you are dishonest in all that you did here, and she was the epitome of honesty and integrity in everything that she did,” says one of the teachers. All of this happened, Ivan says, because his sister-in-law got jealous. Danil and Victoria split up. According to court records and interviews, when Victoria found out there was another woman, she went to the authorities and declared the marriage a fraud. She essentially turned herself in, and said her marriage to Danil was fake. Danil told us that even after his wife reported him, they got back together and remarried. But that didn’t end the investigation. In fact, it broadened to include Natallia. Danil’s family says jailhouse phone calls between Danil and Victoria reveal a real marriage. The dozens of calls show they fought, a lot, about money mostly. They talked about sex. And Victoria revealed she was angry Danil had left her for someone else. None of this was allowed in court. According to court testimony, Victoria helped prosecutors after they promised not to charge her. She would not agree to an interview for this story. Prosecutors said there were at least three other Americans involved in this conspiracy, but no one else was arrested. In the end, these teachers say the school system has lost an excellent instructor to a prosecution that, in their eyes, was way off the mark. They are hoping Natallia can appeal and one day return to teaching. “It’s unfair because I know all my family, including me, including Vanya, including Danil, worked hard in this country,” says Natallia. As for Ivan, whom his mother calls Vanya, he worries he’ll be forced from the country. The government says if his mother’s immigration paperwork is fake, then his isn’t valid either. The Liapin family has set up a fund to pay for an appeal. Facebook page for the Liapin Family Defense Fund Statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, on why none of the four accused Americans were prosecuted in this case: “Over the past five years, the Eastern District of Virginia has charged more than 120 people with marriage fraud, including both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. Decisions on whether to bring charges in a criminal case are guided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Principles of Federal Prosecution. While we do not disclose the reasons why a person associated with a case may not be charged, these principles state that we must consider the evidence at hand, the person’s culpability in connection with the offense, their previous criminal activity, and their willingness to cooperate, among several other factors.” I’d also point you to what we stated in our sentencing position paper for Mr. Lyapin: Danil Lyapin tried no less than four times with fraudulent marriages to get permanent residence in the United States. Mr. Lyapin deliberately broke down his spouses through repeated mental attacks which from time to time had a physical component. During these “green-card” marriages, Mr. Lyapin continued to date other women and carry on other relationships that further caused mental damage to some of his “wives” and girlfriends. One of these relationships was with Armando Figueroa. Mr. Lyapin and Mr. Figueroa, who was several decades his elder, carried on a romantic relationship for a period of years to allow Mr. Lyapin to use Mr. Figueroa resources to bank roll his lifestyle. Mr. Figueroa bought Mr. Lyapin cars and a restaurant. Still, as the evidence showed, this was not enough. Mr. Lyapin caused Mr. Figueroa to marry the defendant Ms. Liapina so she could also obtain a green-card. Ms. Liapina never had a bonafide marriage with Mr. Figueroa. Mr. Lyapin admitted to agents that Mr. Figueroa only married his mother as a favor to Mr. Lyapin. The defendant’s conduct during the investigation far exceeded most of the other approximately 120 offenders the government has prosecuted over the past five years. This defendant was the only one to enter into three distinct marriage frauds. This defendant was particularly hard on his spouses and his girlfriends who were smart enough not to marry him. This defendant made fraudulent filings and set up at least fraudulent marriage with his mother. Statement from Danil Lyapin’s wife, Victoria, (Natallia Liapina’s daughter-in-law), in declining to participate in this story: I think it is highly inappropriate to air any story concerning me and my life, you know nothing about me and my life. However I respect freedom of speech do whatever you chose, those who know me and care for me know what the truth is, those who don’t, I’m unconcerned what they think they know about me. Until they have walked a mile in my shoes they cannot begin to know anything about me and my life. Do what you feel is best. I have certainly in my life, in every aspect of it. Written by Mike Mather, WTKR.

I often wonder why riders who say they want to win or be better riders never utilize the one thing, the one FREE thing that is at their disposal all the time. Riding outside the ring. I hear every excuse in the book, and I could care less what yours might be, but riding outside the ring is the of the most underutilized tools of becoming a stellar rider, and stellar horse, especially pertaining to the hunter rings. Yep—that “cross-country” term that brings people to firmly shake their heads, quiver in their boots, and refuse to even consider. Yet, those who are keeping an open mind about progressing as a rider and actually do venture out into a field or woods, quite often have better equitation and better instincts in the actual show ring. And it costs absolutely nothing. Your heels automatically go further down—those thousands of dollars you are tossing out the window to hear your instructor/trainer/coach to remind you to put your heels down 10,000 times a year is basically achieved after one month of going outside of the ring, up and down hills, and standing in two-point for a gallop (or brisk trot out, whatever). Your body has reflexes, and when you don’t want to lose your stirrups as the horse you are on is jumping sideways from a bird, guess what? Permanent Heel Down Syndrome. It is a proven science, trust me. Walking a mile back home on your own two feet is not normally an appealing option. Speaking of reflexes, your other body parts sharpen drastically as they learn natural movements of the horse outside of the ring. A horse going around in his natural element is friskier, livelier, more on the defense from predators such as bunny rabbits, and believe me, you start to read his mind at every shudder, shake and start. Once back in the ring, everything will seem so much easier, you will be able to control the spooking before it even happens, and know to turn your horse’s head away from whatever is catching his attention. Position. If you didn’t understand the three types of seats you are supposed to learn before going cross-country, you will understand them by the time you get back. You need the two point for going up a steep incline, you need a half-seat when you cross tricky terrain or a water crossing, and you fully comprehend deep seat when starting down any descent. Want to up the difficulty level? Drop your stirrups. Have you ever been told you look down too much? Another 10K repeat from your trainer is my guess. I’ll give you a hint—looking down is kind of not a viable option for people riding outside the ring. Not only are you looking for every hazard known to man and beast, your life greatly benefits from you keeping a very keen relationship with the horizon. On the horizon could be lurking any potential suspect which might disrupt a perfectly sane outdoor experience. Your eyes will be up and in navigation mode. Permanently. Confidence. This should be self-explanatory, but I can tell you about a hundred thousand stories of riders and horses gaining confidence merely by attempting a trek across a field, through the woods, over a log, and the giddiness that ensued. It has literally changed lives, and soaked up a fairly large portion of my monthly iPhone data with snaps, texts, and Facebook or Instagram tags. Frankly, there is not much more rewarding than someone frantically trying to recap every thrilling moment in their 15-minute escape around the farm on one of their favorite borrowed horses. I don’t now, maybe it is just me, but those moments are priceless. So why don’t Americans go ride outside? Ten million reasons. But what a waste. The ultimate resource in advanced horsemanship and perfect position is completely accessible to thousands of young and old riders alike. No one seems to want to venture outside the gate, experiment with a trail ride, (or even hire trail horses), borrow friends ponies, sign up for an eventing clinic with Jimmy Wofford, or Dom Schramm, yet those same riders want to qualify for a medal final, win a derby, or compete at a league final. It makes no sense. There are thousands of exercises with cavaletti, poles, gymnastics and other tools suggested or sold to riders to try and improve your balance, reflexes, and sense of timing, when all you need is to find a local hunter pace or cross-country course to school, and might cost at the most $20, if that. Your trainer might frown upon your experiments, but I can guess why. Money. Maybe he or she cannot financially benefit from improvements you can make on your own. Whenever someone doesn’t want me to do something I always ask, why not? It usually is about money. Or maybe time. Time. So many horses to be ridden in that busy stable before 5 o’clock, there just isn’t enough time. You have soccer practice to get to. Well, when you or your parent writes that check to the horse show, how much time and money goes into that weekend? Did you win? Did you want to? How much was that check written for? I can see the backlash now, “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly allow my six-figure imported horse to take a step in grass. He might go lame.” He could go lame for any reason, but sure OK, whatever you want to believe. I personally think it is fun to teach an imported horse how to go up and down hills for the first time. Most of them come from the very flat Holland or Belgium or the part of Germany without inclines or turnout, and it is highly entertaining when a young horse experiences one of our hills. One descent and climb at the walk usually leaves them completely winded! It is comical for them to figure out how to navigate hills at the walk, trot, or canter, and then eventually become masters of descent! With the increase in derby classes I thought for sure I would see an increase in our hunter riders jumping cross-country, but instead I have only seen people build crazy spooky courses in an indoor or fenced-in arena where a horse is less likely to show his true colors. So what happens when the real derby asks the right questions? A whole lot of faults? I don’t know actually, maybe this would answer my frustrations with the handy classes, when we are seeing horse after horse spooking at the trot jump. Instead of having a schooling jump, maybe the horses need to just school cross-country before showing at the most prestigious show of the year. Ugh, so many questions, so little opportunity for change. Last year, while in Gulfport over the winter, I saw a couple of riders accessing the hill out by the trailer parking lot, and thought, “How smart!” There is only one hill on the show grounds, but this father/daughter team was taking full advantage of conditioning their horses on that slight incline during their six-week duration in Mississippi. Stumble or trip every once in a while? Probably, but they were out there for a reason, and it probably had to do with the benefits for horse and rider. I would imagine they were able to teach the horses how to overcome the occasional trip or stumble by changing the balance and placing more focus on the hind end rather than the forehand. Genius really, but then again, they were from Maryland, maybe it was just born into them. I know, I know, not everyone has access to the outdoors in an outdoor sport, but there are still loads of people NOT taking advantage of natural terrain even though they can, and that is a real shame for our sport. Not to mention the fun factor is literally being tossed out the window along with all those lesson dollars. #makesnosense. #bringbackfun If you are fortunate enough to be exposed to fox chasing, take full advantage of it, those tools learned last a lifetime. ^^same kid both pics^^ By the way, for fun I used the Google for locating state parks that allowed trail riding? Guess what, every state has one. Hunter/jumper trainer Deloise Noble-Strong runs her business out of her family farm in Upperco, Md. She follows in the footsteps of many generations of horsemen in her family. Deloise has spent time living in Belgium, Holland and Germany and imports, trains and sells many hunter prospects. She also speaks her mind on her personal blog, Deloise In America.

Bellman is a Rust-language library for building zk-SNARKs — small, cheap-to-verify zero-knowledge proofs of arbitrary computations. The goal of bellman is to make it easier for the general public to use and experiment with zk-SNARKs, and also as a step forward for improving the security and performance of Zcash’s next major release, Sapling. Bellman contains an implementation of the BLS12-381 elliptic curve construction that we described a couple weeks ago, which will appear in an upcoming paper by our scientists. This construction was designed specifically for efficiently building zk-SNARKs, while maintaining a high security margin. This week, I’ve added a primitive implementation of a new zk-SNARK proving system designed by Jens Groth. Secure in the generic group model, the new design produces smaller proofs that can be constructed faster and with less memory. Overview of zk-SNARKs If you’re interested in how zk-SNARKs work internally, Ariel Gabizon has been writing a series of blog posts about the underlying math that you should check out! For now, we can understand them on a surface level. zk-SNARKs are powerful proofs that, unlike other zero-knowledge proving schemes, are very small (a couple hundred bytes) and cheap to verify (several milliseconds), even if the statement being proven is large and complicated. Their zero-knowledge property allows the prover to hide details about the computation from the verifier in the process, and so they are useful for both privacy and performance. The only such schemes known to be efficient are preprocessing. In a sense, this means that a kind of “environment” must be constructed which allows the prover to evaluate the statement and produce a proof. There is no known way to construct such an environment without necessarily being temporarily in possession of information that would allow you to construct false proofs. Zcash, which uses zk-SNARKs for its shielded transactions, uses parameters that were constructed in a sophisticated multi-party computation ceremony that you can read about here. zk-SNARKs are also useful in the designated verifier model, where the verifier itself constructs the needed parameters, and so neither the prover nor the verifier are concerned about its integrity. In many zk-SNARK schemes, the statement being proven is reduced to what is called a rank-1 quadratic constraint system, or R1CS. In this system, the prover is given a system of arithmetic constraints over a set of variables (elements in a large prime field :math:`\mathbb{F}_r`), and asked to produce an assignment to the variables which satisfies the constraints. Overview of Bellman Bellman is currently in its infancy, but we can already use it to construct these kinds of proofs. Currently, only a very low level API is available, upon which we can construct DSLs and various abstractions for synthesizing circuits. If you want to experiment with it, grab the bellman crate from crates.io. All of our circuit abstractions are written generically over an Engine trait that handles the elliptic curve and finite field arithmetic. Central to circuit synthesis is the ConstraintSystem trait: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 pub trait ConstraintSystem < E : Engine > { /// Allocate a private variable in the constraint system, setting it to /// the provided value. fn alloc ( & mut self , value : E :: Fr ) -> Variable ; /// Enforce that `A` * `B` = `C`. fn enforce ( & mut self , a : LinearCombination < E > , b : LinearCombination < E > , c : LinearCombination < E > ); } There are two important design decisions here: All variable allocation, assignment, and constraint enforcement is done over the same code path. This differs from the design of libsnark’s gadgetlib, for which it was too easy to potentially forget a constraint or notice bugs in existing abstractions because of the separation. This approach makes it easier to write abstractions and perform code review. All variable allocation and assignment are done simultaneously, and the existing assignments cannot be queried or modified. This encourages better gadget design, and prevents gadgets from accidentally using the assignments to “communicate” with each other. This also has a performance benefit: since all variables are already assigned, constraint enforcement during proving is directly synthesized into the underlying witnesses to avoid having to keep a constraint system in memory at all. As an example of a kind of gadget implementation, here’s how a boolean constrained variable could be implemented, along with XOR: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 #[derive(Clone)] pub struct Bit { var : Variable , value : bool } impl Bit { pub fn alloc < E , CS > ( e : & E , cs : & mut CS , value : bool ) -> Bit where E : Engine , CS : ConstraintSystem < E > + ? Sized { // Allocate the variable let var = cs . alloc ( if value { E :: Fr :: one ( e ) } else { E :: Fr :: zero () } ); // Enforce (1 - var) * var = 0, which requires // var to be either 0 or 1 cs . enforce ( LinearCombination :: one ( e ) - var , LinearCombination :: zero ( e ) + var , LinearCombination :: zero ( e ) ); Bit { var : var , value : value } } pub fn xor < E , CS > ( & self , e : & E , cs : & mut CS , other : & Bit ) -> Bit where E : Engine , CS : ConstraintSystem < E > { let new_value = self . value ^ other . value ; let new_var = cs . alloc ( if new_value { E :: Fr :: one ( e ) } else { E :: Fr :: zero () } ); // 2a * b = a + b - c cs . enforce ( LinearCombination :: zero ( e ) + self . var + self . var , LinearCombination :: zero ( e ) + other . var , LinearCombination :: zero ( e ) + self . var + other . var - new_var ); Bit { var : new_var , value : new_value } } } Building a circuit is a matter of implementing the Circuit and Input traits: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 pub trait Circuit < E : Engine > { type InputMap : Input < E > ; fn synthesize < CS : ConstraintSystem < E >> ( self , engine : & E , cs : & mut CS ) -> Self :: InputMap ; } pub trait Input < E : Engine > { fn synthesize < CS : PublicConstraintSystem < E >> ( self , engine : & E , cs : & mut CS ); } This design splits up circuits into a Circuit implementation, which provers instantiate to construct proofs, and a Input implementation, which provers and verifiers use to perform input allocation and related circuit synthesis. This differs from libsnark, where these code paths are redundant, use different utility functions and require careful code review to ensure consistency. Once we actually do have an implementation of Circuit and Input , we can use the functions provided in the groth16 module: create a keypair (with some randomly selected trapdoors), construct a proof, and perform verifications: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 // Create a proving key and verifying key let ( pk , vk ) = { let tau = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let alpha = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let beta = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let gamma = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let delta = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let c = DummyCircuit ; groth16 :: keypair ( e , c , & tau , & alpha , & beta , & gamma , & delta ) }; // Construct a proof let proof = { let r = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let s = E :: Fr :: random ( e , rng ); let c = DummyCircuit ; groth16 :: prove ( e , c , & r , & s , & pk ). unwrap () }; // Prepare the verifying key let pvk = groth16 :: prepare_verifying_key ( e , & vk ); // Verify proof assert ! ( groth16 :: verify ( e , | cs | { DummyInput }, & proof , & pvk )); Future work These lower level foundations are all that is available in Bellman right now. In the future we will be writing tools which allow us to build things like hash functions and stream ciphers. Bellman is still under development and shouldn’t be used in production software yet. In fact, its API deliberately does not expose anything that would allow you to actually use it! It currently serves as an excellent learning opportunity for constructing zk-SNARKs safely and efficiently, and the lessons we learn from building it will shape the future of Zcash. We’re also excited to be writing Bellman in Rust! If you’re a Rustacean and you’re interested in zk-SNARKs or Zcash, we invite you to check out our project, join our community chat or look at some of the various things we’ve written in Rust before, like our multi-party computation ceremony code.