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“Here we are again.” That was Rev. Janie Spahr’s reaction as the Presbyterian Church (USA) lodged new charges against her for performing same-sex marriages. Spahr has been in this hot seat before. She’s been in and out of trouble for presiding over ceremonies for same-sex couples since 2006. The worst punishment she has received was a rebuke in 2008… “the lightest possible punishment.” Church authorities decided that since the marriages were “not marriages, she did not violate the church’s constitution.” This time, things are a little different. The 16 same-sex marriages she’s accused of presiding over in the new charges were legal since they were performed “during the five-month period in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal in California.” Spahr’s defender in the case, Scott Clark, said the church is “trying to sanction a minister for performing legal marriages. This is unprecedented.” JoAn Blackstone, who is the prosecutor, said the distinction is immaterial. The marriages may well have been legal under state law, she said, but were “expressly prohibited” by the same ruling that acquitted Spahr in 2008. Blackstone said the case hinges on “a narrow issue of church law” and is unrelated to the public debate over same-sex marriage. Unfortunately for the church, the public debate over same-sex marriage is precisely the issue. For a clergy person to be forbidden from performing a wedding ceremony that is legal, then to be brought up on charges after performing a legal ceremony is outrageous. It is another example of the conflict between church and state—and the impossible, and seemingly immoral, positions the church continues to put its clergy into. While it is true that church law considers marriage as “a civil contract between a woman and a man,” at the time Spahr married these 16 couples, the state of California considered marriage a “civil contract” between a couple made up of opposite or same genders. The key here is that marriage is a “civil contract”—under the legal auspices of the state and not the church. For the church to claim they “have no wiggle room” on the charges pending against Spahr is disingenuous at best, and sad at worst. Either the church is, once again, exerting its conservative muscle to make an example of one of its own as a warning to other clergy who may step out of line, or the church is in such a sad state that it feels it has no choice but to defend a law that continues to exclude and harm a segment of God’s children. The law Spahr is accused of violating is unjust and as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” To Spahr’s credit, she has no trouble following that advice, telling the Press Democrat: “It’s a real faith issue for me,” she said. “I think I would be in jeopardy if I didn’t do it.” Spahr will go on trial sometime in August or September.

SAN ANTONIO -- Overtime victories on back-to-back nights in different cities left the San Antonio Spurs spent. Fidgeting with a game book, Danny Green widened his gaze upon noticing he hadn't played 38 minutes "in a long time." To Green's right, LaMarcus Aldridge slouched in his locker wrapped in towels and jokingly wondered whether he'd "be able to walk" the next day. Across the room, Kawhi Leonard stood up and pulled on a hoodie. "It is what it is," he said. "Everybody plays back-to-backs." It's tough to complain when this is what Leonard craved all along. Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports From David Robinson to Tim Duncan, Duncan to Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and now on to Leonard, the Spurs continue to transition from one superstar to the next, all the while never missing a beat. San Antonio clinched its 20th consecutive postseason berth Saturday by defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 97-90 in overtime, and for the first time in 19 seasons they accomplished the feat without Duncan. The Spurs belong to Leonard now, and he has snatched the proverbial torch from The Big Fundamental on the way to setting the league on fire. "They've been very smooth," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told ESPN.com in explaining the team's various transitions over the years. "The fact they've been so smooth is just a testament to the character of the people involved. Their awareness of the situation they're in, their ability to have gotten over themselves and know where they are at that point in their career, and to look around and be knowledgeable enough to know what the newcomer can give -- well, that's what we've had all the way down the line. Those guys understanding that and wanting that to happen. "They'd rather play for 10 more years, but realize that's not going to happen. When they see the obvious abilities of the younger guys coming along, they've actually helped them and created an environment where they can be successful. So it's really a tribute to their character and their understanding of what's going on." Not prone to hyperbole, Popovich apparently knew all along what the Spurs had in Leonard. In responding to a question from a fan in a Spurs mailbag going into Leonard's second NBA season in 2012, Popovich wrote: "I think he's going to be a star. And as time goes on, he'll be the face of the Spurs I think." That time is now. MVP candidate Leonard is one of just three players in league history, along with Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, to win NBA Finals MVP and NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He joined more elite company on March 1, when he scored 31 points against Indiana to become the fourth player in franchise history with 20 or more games with 30-plus points in one season, joining George Gervin (7), David Robinson (4) and Tim Duncan (1). Leonard now has 23 such games after Monday night's heroics vs. Houston. Against Indiana, Leonard backed down Paul George to hit the winning basket of a 100-99 thriller. The shot improved Leonard to 3-for-5 over the past two seasons on potential go-ahead attempts in the final 5 seconds of a game, which registers as the best percentage in the NBA on such shots (minimum five attempts) in that span. "He is a really unique player. You don't want to say Michael Jordan, but it's that type of situation, where you've got a really, really good offensive player and a tremendous defensive player." Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry on Kawhi Leonard's impact on the NBA Leonard relishes those opportunities. "I work all summer and throughout the whole season to be prepared for the challenges that I have to face," he said. "You just have to keep going. If you play bad or go 0-for-10 in the fourth, whatever, you've just got to keep pounding and going and going, and not give up if you want to become that guy." That's one attribute Popovich loves about Leonard. The coach said very few athletes possess that mentality. "He handles the responsibility well. Most importantly, he knows that things are not always going to be positive in the sense of win, lose, or make or miss a shot," Popovich said. "And that's what's been very good about him, because some people don't understand that, and they're afraid to have that responsibility night after night after night. You think of Kobe [Bryant], you think of LeBron [James], you think of Michael [Jordan], and you think of all these guys that had to do that. They got to the point where they realized the shot wasn't going to go down all the time, or they might even turn it over. But they come right back. They don't shy away the next time. They want it again. Kawhi has that knack. He has that ability, and that's important because very, very few people have that." Leonard ranks No. 2 in the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating at 28.68, behind Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook's 29.81, though Leonard's Spurs are winning games at a much higher rate than Westbrook's Thunder -- .790 for the Spurs compared with .556 for the Thunder. Kawhi Leonard lets loose the winning shot over Indiana's Paul George, capping a 31-point effort in the Spurs' victory on March 1. Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports Leonard also ranks third in win shares (11.3), just behind Harden and Kevin Durant. Leonard and Durant are the only players in the league to rank in the top three in both win shares and PER, and they are the only two players to rank in the top 10 of both offensive and defensive win shares. Leonard is averaging a career-high 26.1 points per game, and according to Elias Sports Bureau, he is one of just three players to increase his scoring average in each of the past five seasons, joining Gordon Hayward (six straight) and Jimmy Butler. Leonard has also produced five games this season in which he poured in 30 points to go with four steals or more. No other player has produced more than two such outings. "He is a really unique player," New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "You don't want to say Michael Jordan, but it's that type of situation, where you've got a really, really good offensive player and a tremendous defensive player. He impacts the game. There's very few guys in this league that can impact the game on both ends of the floor like he can. For the last 15 years, they've been flying under the radar. So it's nothing new. They're just a very good team, and they got a very great player. And, yeah, where they are record-wise and everything, he definitely has to be heavily in the conversation for MVP." Last year's runner-up in the MVP voting, Leonard said he isn't concerned about where he'll fare in a race that also includes James Harden, James, Durant and Westbrook. In fact, Leonard said "it's pretty easy" for him to block out the outside noise. "I don't watch ESPN, don't listen to the radio," Leonard said. "I just go home and deal with my family." But even they have to be discussing what's expected to be a heated MVP race, right? "It depends on who I'm with, but we don't really talk about it," Leonard said. "I'll just be chillin'. We could talk about it, but we've got to wait and see really." Waiting to be 'the guy' Waiting seems to be what Leonard has done most of his career in the shadow of Duncan, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. But Leonard never became impatient. "I was just coming in and doing my role, and that's basically it," Leonard told ESPN.com. "I was working, hoping that I could get an opportunity to be able to lead. That's all it was, just being focused, and just trying to be the best player I could be at the time." Teammates certainly took notice. Editor's Picks Drug test can't wait after Leonard lifts Spurs Kawhi Leonard elevated his candidacy in the MVP race Monday night. His reflections were then made to wait, as the Spurs forward was tabbed for a random drug test after the win over Houston. "It's been good to watch, because he's taken the necessary steps to be able to get to where he is today. He didn't jump any steps," Patty Mills said. "He went through the route in terms of learning from Timmy, learning from Tony [Parker] and Manu [Ginobili] and understanding what it takes to be able to be who he is now. He really learned and evolved into the player he is by doing all the little things, understanding what this culture is all about, understanding who he is as well in trying to work all that in together. "So it's been good to watch, because he's deserved it. He really has. He's understanding what his expectations are from the coaching staff and from the whole organization, and he's just been a professional about it. He's fallen into that category of no hurrah like Timmy, and has just gone about business day in and day out. I wasn't here at the beginning years of Timmy, but I've heard the stories about him just getting up every night for a game and producing. Well, that's what Kawhi has been doing this year. In that sense, it's really impressive to watch." After San Antonio's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs in 2014-15, Leonard discussed with Popovich the improvements he needed to make for 2015-16. Popovich, expecting opponents to start regularly fronting and double-teaming Leonard, asked him to become more comfortable in the post. So Leonard learned to improve his decision-making in the post and spent that summer watching film of Charles Barkley to learn all the aspects of post play. After last season's loss to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semifinals, Leonard spent the summer improving his ball-handling and moves on catch-and-shoot situations. All the work continues to manifest itself on the court. "I've been here watching him throughout the years blossom and grow, which has been kind of fun for me and interesting," Green said. "Each year, he's always come back with something new, something better, and he's always gotten better. He's worked on his game. He has more poise and is better at decision making. You can tell he wants to be one of the greats in this game, and he works at it." Popovich agreed, saying Leonard has handled all the new responsibilities "fantastically." "He's really quiet as we all know, very respectful as we all know. But he has a hunger in him as far as wanting to be a great player," Popovich said. "Everything that I've given him, he's taken it seriously, and he handles criticism because he wants to learn. He just adds something to his game every season." Having been involved in San Antonio's continuous passing of the torch since the age of 19, Parker, now 34, is fine with Leonard now carrying the load. Such is the circle of life in San Antonio. "I love it," Parker said. "I think the evolution of anybody's career is as you get older, you have to adjust to who are the main guys on your team [and] try to be a factor just like Manu did, just like Timmy did. I just try and do the same thing." Someday, Leonard will find himself in a similar situation. But until then, the plan for Leonard is to continue to ascend in his new leadership role, and hopefully -- like Robinson, Duncan, Ginobili and Parker before him -- take the Spurs on a few more championship runs. After all, this is what Leonard has always wanted. Leonard let out a rare laugh when asked whether the enormity of this current undertaking ever scared him. "There's nothing to be scared of," he said. "We're playing basketball. The only thing that could happen is you failing. But as long as you're going hard, there's nothing to be scared of for me. I don't know what there is to be scared of."

Welcome to Mt. Pulaski The City of Mt. Pulaski is a quaint town situated on a slight hill in Central Illinois, overlooking the surrounding acres of productive farmland. Mt. Pulaski is at the forefront of renewable energy with their newly constructed Hilltop Wind Farm which consists of approximately 70 turbines. Mt. Pulaski is a community of progressive thinking and has many amenities for its residents and visitors to enjoy. The town square is the center for government, commerce, and civic events. Mount Pulaski has its special place in American history and is named after Casimir Pulaski, a Brigadier General in the Revolutionary War. During the prohibition, Mt. Pulaski earned its’ well-known nickname,” Vinegar Hill” and has a vast array of history. It is home to one of only two original courthouses where Abraham Lincoln practiced law on the 8th Judicial Circuit. Mt. Pulaski is also home to famous people such as Vaughn De Leath (first female to sing on the radio) and John Schlitt (lead singer of Head East and Petra). Mt. Pulaski, a Purple Heart Community, is a few miles west of the Geographic Center of Illinois and is in southern Logan County. Main highways such as Illinois Route 54 and State Highway 121 along with County Highways 1 and 10 passes through the outskirts of town. These highways give residents and visitors the ease of traveling to and from surrounding cities such as Lincoln, Bloomington, Decatur, Springfield, Clinton, and villages such as Elkhart and Illiopolis. Mt. Pulaski is a short distance from major interstates such as I-55, 155, I-72, and U.S. Route 51. Mt. Pulaski is home to the Mt. Pulaski Grade School (Bruins & Honeybears), Mt. Pulaski High School (Hilltoppers) and parochial school, Zion Lutheran (The Crusaders). Mt. Pulaski School District #23 is ranked in the top 100 schools in Illinois. The 2018 U.S. News Scorecard ranked Mt. Pulaski at 64% in Mathematics Proficiency and 83% in Reading Proficiency which is considerably higher than the state average. District #23 focuses on academics first and foremost but has also built a strong foundation for extracurricular activities. Mt. Pulaski has sustained itself, due to the hard-working residents that volunteer in the array of community organizations. These organizations strive to preserve the historical and social culture of Mt. Pulaski and keep the towns’ traditions vibrant. Mt. Pulaski’s vast majority of its 1500 residents share common Midwestern values, have an immense sense of community pride, are supportive of their neighbors, friends, and family, and are welcoming to visitors and new residents. Mt. Pulaski provides residents and visitors alike the opportunity to discover new things, new friends, and live a great quality of life.

Boffins at NATO have managed to ratify, across the entire alliance, the first ever official standard for underwater digital communications. “This marks the first time that a digital underwater communication protocol has been acknowledged at international level and opens the way to develop many exciting underwater communication applications,” said the alliance in a statement. NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) had the new standard, called JANUS, ratified by all of the alliance’s 28 members in late March. It was developed over the last eight years, with the main paper describing the standard having been published (requires registration) in the journal Underwater Communications and Networking in 2014. The specification is open and “deliberately simple to allow easy adoption by legacy equipment”. More details are available here. JANUS is mainly focused on allowing underwater drones to communicate with mother ships and each other. "Robots can behave intelligently and act as a team," said João Alves, a principal scientist and project leader at CMRE. “For example, one of the robots could find some interesting feature and call the rest of the team.” “This is particularly important for search-and-rescue operations,” added John Potter, a scientist at the CMRE Strategic Development Office and one of the authors of the 2014 paper. “Autonomous vehicles are relatively inexpensive and of course unmanned, so they can be sent to do dirty, dangerous jobs.” Janus was the two-faced Roman sentry god who stood watch over doorways and portals. “That’s why it is called JANUS,” said Potter, “because this language opens the portal between two domains, two different operating paradigms, through which they can talk.” The Portuguese Navy has been working with NATO on perfecting JANUS, particularly for data exchange with submarines. For typical data movement activities, submerged submarines can either receive very low frequency (VLF) broadcasts from shore stations (but cannot transmit without surfacing) or must surface for two-way communications with nearby ships. NATO hopes that JANUS will be adopted by the civilian maritime industry as well as navies, as the paper makes clear. The alliance’s press statement gives use-case examples of scuba divers approaching the surface and needing to be aware of nearby ships and boats, or underwater survey drones communicating with oil rigs in real time. It also suggests the standard could be used “for harbour protection, maritime surveillance, mine detection, surveying offshore wind farms and pipelines, or even underwater archaeology.” ®

In 2005, MIT professor Richard Schrock won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing catalysts for a reaction that is widely used to produce pharmaceuticals, fuels and other synthetic chemicals. That reaction, known as olefin metathesis, involves breaking and making double bonds between carbon atoms to produce new types of carbon-carbon double bonds. One limitation to the metathesis reaction is that it had not been possible to control the configuration of the olefin products, which can occur in one of two configurations. However, Schrock and his collaborator Amir Hoveyda at Boston College have now developed a catalyst that yields almost exclusively the more desirable configuration, known as cis. In a paper appearing in the Nov. 3 issue of Nature, the researchers report using their new catalyst to generate the cis form of two natural compounds that have been of great interest to scientists because of their potential as cancer drugs. They expect that the catalyst, which contains tungsten, could also be useful for controlling the configuration of hundreds of other natural products, as well as new variants of those natural compounds. “Sought by many investigators for almost two decades, this milestone achievement will be welcomed by the synthetic community as a major advance in organic synthesis,” says K.C. Nicolaou, a professor of chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute, who was not involved in this project. Lead authors of the paper are Miao Yu, a graduate student in Hoveyda’s lab, and Chenbo Wang, a postdoc at Boston College. Oxford University researchers Andrew Kyle, Pavol Jakubec and Darren Dixon are also authors of the paper. Making rings In the Nature paper, the researchers focused on synthesizing macrocycles — compounds that contain large rings of nine or more atoms. Compounds of this type often have potent biological activity, making them useful as drugs, says Hoveyda, a professor of chemistry and the principal author of the paper, in whose laboratory the organic chemistry was carried out. The researchers were able to synthesize two naturally occurring macrocycles, epothilone and nakadomarin. Epothilone, originally found in a soil-dwelling bacterium, blocks cancer cells from dividing by interfering with the cell skeleton; several variants of the compound are now in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. Nakadomarin, first discovered in a marine sponge, has both anticancer and antimicrobial activity. Both compounds can be made in about 16 chemical steps, the last of which is a metathesis closing of the ring through formation of a double bond between two carbon atoms. Metathesis, whose mechanism was first proposed by Yves Chauvin in 1971, requires a catalyst — a special compound that consists of a metal atom attached to one or more organic structures known as ligands. In 1986, Schrock, now MIT’s Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry developed the first catalyst that could perform this reaction. Chauvin and Schrock shared the 2005 Nobel Prize for chemistry with Robert Grubbs, who later developed different catalysts for metathesis that contain ruthenium. When each of the two carbon atoms in the double bond has another carbon atom attached to it, the attached carbons can point in the same direction (the cis configuration) or in opposite directions (the trans configuration). The cis configuration is found in most naturally occurring compounds. Hoveyda speculates that the cis configuration might be better able to interact with biological structures such as cell receptors, or is better able to cross the cell membrane. Unfortunately, most metathesis reactions produce a mixture of cis and trans, with trans usually predominating (up to 80 percent). Mixtures of cis and trans products are very difficult to separate. ‘An efficient solution’ The team’s new catalyst steers the reaction toward predominantly the cis form due to the size and shape of one of the ligands attached to the metal in the catalyst. This ligand is so large and bulky that it prevents any carbon atoms attached to the intermediate in the reaction from pointing toward it, forcing them into a cis configuration. Using this catalyst, the researchers were able to generate the cis configuration of epothilone and nakadomarin more than 95 percent of the time. “It turns out to be a surprisingly efficient solution, but nobody’s ever done it before,” Schrock says. Another advantage of the tungsten catalyst is that tungsten is much more abundant than ruthenium, which is a precious metal used in other, more popular metathesis catalysts. Ruthenium’s worldwide annual production is only about 12 tons, and one kilogram costs about $10,000. In contrast, about 60,000 tons of tungsten are produced worldwide per year, at a cost of about $50 per kilogram. Schrock and Hoveyda have started a company called XiMo to work with clients, particularly companies that synthesize drugs or other chemicals such as polymers, pesticides and fragrances, to develop new catalysts to make their production processes more efficient.

A few weeks ago, we showed the in-line editing prototype we had built for Spark, which has now blossomed into Edit module. Additionally, we also pointed out that we were in the process of selecting the WYSIWYG editor to use in Spark. This selection process was performed in the public Spark issue queue, in order to gather community feedback and to attempt to reach consensus. 73 people followed that issue, about two dozen of whom contributed to the discussion as well. Spark has a well-defined goal for its choice in WYSIWYG editor: we want authors to be able edit content directly on the page while it has the exact same styling that it will have when it is being viewed by a site visitor, also known as “true WYSIWYG.” However, Spark’s WYSIWYG editor also needs to support a more “traditional” WYSIWYG model which injects the editor into a textarea form field, such as on the node add/edit form. We want to use Aloha Editor for in-line editing, but also on the back-end — I think nobody is looking forward to having to use two WYSIWYG editors. On the back-end, it of course can’t be “true WYSIWYG”, it will be “structural WYSIWYG”. Today, we’d like to share our WYSIWYG editor choice for Spark: Aloha Editor. After several feedback rounds from the community in the aforementioned issue, the consensus started gravitating towards Aloha. We then had a call with Aloha’s development team that answered many of the community’s questions and concerns. They have even offered to host a sprint in their offices in Vienna in mid-July for key members of the Spark and Drupal community to collaborate with their development team on making Aloha Editor integrate more cleanly with Drupal. Aloha Editor is definitely not perfect, and to correct the biggest problems (most notably: its sheer size), the Aloha team currently have some major changes underway — much like Drupal. The biggest change is a move to jQuery UI from ExtJS, which will drop the code base size considerably. Next they plan to make sure it’s possible to not load the additional JavaScript that is needed for compatibility reasons only. This means that e.g. Google Chrome users will need to load far less data. As the internet population moves on to newer and better browsers, we’ll need to load fewer files! Despite not being as mature an editor as some other contenders such as TinyMCE or CKEditor, Aloha Editor does have much going for it. It has solid cross-browser support (including IE8), a very complete feature set, great support for pasting from Word, RTL support, a proven plug-in system, the ability to completely override the UI, an abstraction for dealing with “islands of content” inside textual content for e.g. image captions, media and tokens (Aloha Blocks — this is what shows the flexibility of their plug-in system), unit tests, and asynchronous loading (they use RequireJS) for performance. If you’d like to learn more about Aloha Editor, or have questions or criticism, please see the two aforementioned issues. The issue summaries should guide you to the information you’re looking for. Soon, we’ll start working on integrating Aloha Editor with Drupal in Spark. Keep an eye on the Edit module and Spark distribution project pages!

The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed that eight refugees were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) “during the initial health screening or within 90 days of the refugee arrival” in the four years between 2012 and 2015. This data was not included in the Reported Tuberculosis in the United States documents published annually by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) between 2012 and 2015. Those reports confirmed 1,565 cases of active TB diagnosed among refugees in the 46 states that reported immigration status upon first arrival among foreign-born residents of the United States diagnosed with active TB. Illinois is one of four states that do not share this data with the CDC. Arizona, Virginia, and Washington are the other three states. “Illinois reports all data elements required by the CDC. It would be inaccurate to try to compare the Illinois data to the data in the CDC report due to different reporting methodologies,” spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) told Breitbart in an emailed statement. “Background information-the IDPH Refugee Health Program does track TB among refugees,” the spokesperson added, noting: The IDPH Communicable Disease Control Section does not report refugee TB data to the CDC in the same manner as some other states, but Illinois does report all data elements required by CDC. In some states, the refugee program is part of the communicable disease section. That is not the case in Illinois. The reporting methodology is different, therefore comparing Illinois data with the CDC report would be comparing apples to oranges. The Illinois Refugee Health Program captures active TB cases during the initial health screening or within 90 days of the refugee arrival. This is one reason why Illinois’ data is not included in this CDC report. The data provided in the CDC report comes from our Communicable Disease Control Section. While the IDPH Communicable Disease Control Section tracks foreign-born cases of TB as this information is important for evaluation, testing, and treatment decisions, the Section is not required to collect and report refugee information to the CDC. “However, it would be inappropriate to try to compare the Illinois data to the data in the CDC report due to different reporting methodologies. 2015 – 4 TB cases (calendar year), 2014 – No TB Confirmed Cases Reported (Federal Fiscal Year), 2013 – 2 TB cases (Federal Fiscal Year), 2012 – 2 TB cases (Federal Fiscal Year),” the spokesperson noted. Twenty-six thousand four hundred and six refugees were resettled in Illinois by the federal government between 2003 and 2015, according to the Department of State. Surprisingly, CDC does not require Illinois or any other state to provide data related to immigration status upon arrival for patients diagnosed with active TB for its annual Reported Tuberculosis in the United States. “CDC encourages states/jurisdictions to provide as complete information as possible, but there is no requirement that they provide immigration status as part of routine surveillance,” a spokesperson told Breitbart News on Monday. Limiting reporting of cases of TB diagnosed upon arrival, however, fails to capture the majority of the refugee TB cases which develop and are diagnosed more than a year after their arrival. As the annual Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2015 stated, only 17 percent of the 6,350 cases of active TB diagnosed among foreign-born residents of the United States that year, or 1,003 out of 6,350, were diagnosed less than one year after their arrival in the United States. Twenty eight percent of those cases, or 1,779 out of 6,350, were diagnosed more than one year after but less than ten years after their arrival, 19 percent, or 1,240 out of 6,350, were diagnosed more than ten years but less than twenty years after their arrival, and 26 percent, or 1,682 out of 6,350, were diagnosed more than twenty years after their arrival. (Nine percent of cases were classified as “unknown/missing.”) In Illinois, 18 percent of foreign-born TB cases diagnosed in 2015, or 43 out of 243, were diagnosed less than one year after their arrival in the United States. Nine percent those 43 foreign-born cases, or 4 out of 43, were refugees. Eighty two percent of foreign-born TB cases diagnosed in 2015 in Illinois, or 200 out of 243, were diagnosed one year or more after their arrival in the United States. If nine percent of those 200 cases were refugees, that would mean there were 38 additional cases of refugee TB diagnosed in Illinois that year. Discovering that information, however, seems problematic, since “the IDPH Communicable Disease Control Section tracks foreign-born cases of TB as this information is important for evaluation, testing, and treatment decisions, the Section is not required to collect and report refugee information to the CDC.” The eight cases of refugee TB reported to Breitbart News by Illinois, combined with the eleven cases in 2015 reported to Breitbart News by the state of Washington, brings the total known cases of active TB diagnosed among refugees in the United States between 2012 and 2015 to 1,584. This latest estimate understates the true number of refugee TB cases in the United States during these four years because Arizona and Virginia do not collect refugee TB data or report it to the CDC, New York City and Washington, D.C. do not report this data to the CDC (and have not commented to Breitbart News whether they collect it), Illinois does not track cases of TB diagnosed in refugees after their initial medical screening in the first year after their arrival, and the state of Washington has not provided refugee TB data to Breitbart News for the years 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Growth hacking. It’s a term that’s becoming more and more popular – especially in the start up and technology world. But, what exactly is it? Essentially, growth hacking is a new twist on digital marketing that is more applicable and more effective in today’s overwhelmingly digital age. Growth hacking is basically a way that very small or brand-new companies use analytical tools to analyze who is using their product, and how, and then relentlessly pursue growth for their businesses. The ultimate outcome of growth hacking is that your marketing work will get a lot of users, those users will spread word about your product or company to more users, those users will spread the word to more users, and so on. So, where did growth hacking begin? Its origins are usually traced back to the small technology start up that began popping up in the early 2000s, when companies became less focused on creating an appealing brand or image to sell their company, but rather sought to spread its popularity by simply getting people talking about it and getting big numbers of users. What’s ingenious about growth hackers’ work is that the tools to market and build the company are often built right into the programs or websites they’re developing so that once the product is created, the users do the work themselves – for instance, how Pinterest requires users to share the product with other prospective users before they can actually use the site. Growth hackers often take any road to finding more customers, whether it’s clearly “legit” or not – for example, Airbnb hacking Craigslist to get email addresses of potential users. Growth hacking is definitely the marketing tactic of the future, particularly when social media is everyone’s main source of news, entertainment and social interaction. Are you interested in learning more about what growth hacking is, how it works, what growth hackers are like, and how to become one or work with one? Then, check out the list below. These 20 sites are great resources for anyone looking to grow their company virally or understand how other companies did. General Growth Hacking Information These sites contain some really helpful information about the basics of growth hacking: how it began, how it works, and how you might approach becoming a growth hacker or deciding to work with one. 1. How Growth Hacking Came To Be This article about the origins of growth hacking, written by expert Aaron Ginn, explains the history of the digital marketing scheme and how it came into existence. Ginn’s story makes the emergence of growth hacking make sense in the context of the rise of social media and Internet marketing. 2. Sixteen Ventures Successful growth hacker Lincoln Murphy has a blog that is full of useful tips about marketing your SAAS business. Yeah, he is technically the competition but he writes good posts and knows his stuff so we think its worth your while checking out his blog. 3. Startup Marketing Sean Ellis, the brain behind Startup Marketing, is often considered the godfather of growth hacking; in fact, he coined the term. Startup Marketing contains useful marketing tips for any start up, and it separates all of its posts into categories, so you can check out marketing resources that are most applicable to your company without having to parse through every post. 4. Mashable – The 5 Phases of Growth Hacking Mashable is a site with tons of diverse content. This page contains a useful guide to the different phases involved in growth hacking. It gives a clear outline so users can understand the basics behind creating a page or product and getting it to the viral stage. 5. The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking was written by Neil Patel, a digital marketing consultant and expert on growth hacking. Patel founded successful analytics companies KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg. The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking is a long, comprehensive examination of growth hacking, including information about the growth-hacking process, what growth hackers are like, and different tactics to get and retain users and members. 6. Defining a Growth Hacker Ever wondered what makes a growth hacker different from a marketer or very enthusiastic start up employee? This page, written by expert Aaron Ginn, outlines many myths people believe about growth hackers – and then debunks them. 7. Growth Hacker Is the New VP Marketing Andrew Chen is often credited with making the term growth hacker popular. In this article, Chen explains the place of growth hackers in a company and how they work within a business. 8. The 6 Best Growth Hacks to Get Customers Without Having to Pay for Them Great analytics site KISSmetrics explains some easy growth hacks for companies. This site is a terrific basic start for anyone who wants to head down the road to virality. 9. Become a Growth Hacker Are you interested in becoming a growth hacker? Then, check out this site that reviews Growth Hacker TV, a service that teaches growth hacking skills and provides instruction and interviews about growth-hacking techniques. This overview can help you decide what route you want to take to learn growth-hacking skills. 10. The Difference Between Growth Hacking and Marketing Want to get a better understanding of how growth hacking actually differs from regular marketing schemes? Check out this article on TheNextWeb.com. It’s a clear list of how the strategies, staff and ultimate outcomes of hacking and marketing are different. Real-World Growth Hackers And Growth Hacking Stories So, now you have a better understanding of how growth hacking works and how it came to be. But are you curious about how it works in the real world – and whether it really works? If so, check out these real-life growth-hacking stories. They are proof of the strategy’s success, when you get it right. 11. Meet the Growth Hacking Wizard Behind Facebook, Twitter and Quora’s Astonishing Success This profile of Andy Johns in Forbes outlines how he helped successful sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Quora seemingly exploded in popularity overnight. It’s an inspiring story that can make you believe in the power of growth hacking. 12. Real Examples of Growth Hacking in Action Dailytekk.com includes stories of real-life growth-hacking success in this article about growth hacking in action. It has firsthand accounts from people like Josh Elman of Twitter and Aaron Ginn of StumbleUpon. 13. 5 Classic Examples of Growth Hacking This page contains some more real-world, classic examples of how growth hacking works. It’s a great resource to understand how sites like Airbnb, YouTube and Hotmail got so popular so quickly. 14. 19 Growth Hacker Quotes Want to hear more straight from the mouths of growth-hacking experts? This slideshow from SlideShare contains 19 quotes from growth hackers that give a little insight into their philosophies on marketing and expanding businesses. 15. BuzzFeed’s Brazen, Nutty, Growth Plan BuzzFeed is one of the most popular sites on the Internet today. In this article, you can learn more about its nontraditional marketing tactics, and how it has developed a way to translate its pages within hours, making it a globally viral site. Hiring A Growth Hacker Are you interested in hiring a growth hacker for your company? These links include information about what knowledge and qualities a growth hacker should have. They are also useful resources for developing a viral marketing strategy of your own. 16. How to Find a Growth Hacker Want to find a growth hacker who can take over marketing your website? This article has some helpful information about where to look for experts and what qualifications they should have. 17. So, You Want to Hire a Growth Hacker? If you’re looking to hire someone to manage your growth hacking, this article is a definite must-read. It outlines some very important, specific qualities growth hackers should have in order to attract the most customers and work well at a tech company. 18. Hire a Growth Hacker, Not a Marketer This article out of the UK explains multiple reasons that a company hoping to go viral with a program or website should follow a growth hacking trajectory and not a traditional marketing strategy. 19. How to Hire a Growth Hacker This step-by-step guide to hiring a growth hacker is written by Aaron Ginn, one of the world’s leading growth-hacking experts and the growth hacker behind companies like StumbleUpon. Growth Hacking Products 20. Hacker Bundle Lots of growth hacks are built into programs and sites, so that they work inherently as the product works. However, if you’re interested in growing your already-existing product virally, this hacker bundle includes a bunch of really useful marketing tools at a very affordable price.

The Modern Masters 2015 full spoiler is now available and the first thing I like to do to evaluate a set in Limited is look at each archetype. UW Artifacts This is a returning archetype from the first Modern Masters, except we now have metalcraft. Building a good deck will require finding the right balance between non-artifact cards such as Somber Hoverguard, Dispatch, Thoughtcast, Myrsmith and cheap artifacts such as Darksteel Citadel, Court Homunculus, Flayer Husk, and Everflowing Chalice. WB Spirits and Arcane Oh nostalgia, I started drafting Magic in Kamigawa block. This deck gets a major upgrade from back then… Nameless Inversion! Not only does it trigger cards like Waxmane Baku and Thief of Hope, but you can rebuy it with soulshift. Prioritize Waxmane Baku, Thief of Hope, Moonlit Strider and Scuttling Death when building your deck, don’t forget that some rather unexciting cards such as Kami of Ancient Law, Terashi’s Grasp, Waking Nightmare, and Otherworldly Journey are all Spirit/arcane related and become better filler cards than you think. WR Equipment and Double Strike This strategy is very linear and there seem to be more than enough double strikers in the set to reliably have the amount you need. Mighty Leap and Blades of Velis Vel are at their best here. Kitesail and Apostle’s Blessing both found a home. Darksteel Axe is your #1 equipment, but there’s a chance Cranial Plating is also stellar if you picked up enough artifacts. WG Tokens The game plan is easy, flood the board and cast Fortify, Overwhelm, or Sigil Blessing. Kozilek’s Predator and Nest Invader are both awesome commons on their own and in any deck, this one is no exception. I’m not sure about Root-Kin Ally, but it’s probably good enough. This archetype in a draft would be fighting with BG tokens and sacrifice decks for all the green tokens producers, so make sure you’re not seated next to someone stealing them! UB Value I wonder what the designers were trying to do with this color combination—it is obviously bloodthirst, -1/-1 counters, and proliferate, however it’s very unimpressive. Besides bloodthirst, everything this color is trying to do is play good value cards such as Dimir Guildmage and hopefully premium cards like Mulldrifter, Air Servant, and Spread the Sickness. None of those fit particularly well with aggressive bloodthirst cards because they are slow. I’m not saying this can’t make a good deck, but it’s going to lack synergy. I suspect you end up in this deck when you have a bunch of premium cards, draw spells, and removal. UR Elemental Versatile creatures and ways to play them faster. You can make this color combination more aggressive by going heavy-red with Ashenmoor Gouger, bloodthirst creatures, and just a small touch of blue for tempo with Vapor Snag, Repeal, Narcolepsy, and Aethersnipe. On the other hand, playing with Smokebraider is SUCH a blast. They even put Incandescent Soulstoke at uncommon. Grab your favorite: Cloud Elemental, Water Servant, or Inner-Flame Igniter and have some fun ! UG Proliferate Graft Most of these are rather crappy of their own, despite that, they are insane with each other. Imagine playing Steady Progress that puts a counter everywhere AND draws you a card. Thrummingbird gets out of hand—graft becomes insane and Tumble Magnet, good on its own already, is crazy with proliferate. Thrive is a card that might be good in this deck, but I’m still hesitant. BR Bloodthirst I expect this strategy to be among the best, it doesn’t mess around and is lightning fast. Daggerclaw Imp is at its best here, it’s aggressive and should be able to enable bloodthirst most of the time. Mortarpod and Kitesail are also both great enablers. You could maindeck Wrap in Flames as Magmatic Chasm with upside. This deck is basically M12 Limited and Goblin Fireslinger was incredible back then—prioritize him and Vampire Lacerator. BG Sacrifice This one is my favorite, it’s close to an Aristocrats deck and the color combination is extremely deep. Many underwhelming cards like Reassembling Skeleton, Tukatongue Thallid, and Culling Dais are actually great in this deck. You can even try to ramp up to Ulamog’s Crusher and other Eldrazi by sacrificing Cathodion and Eldrazi Spawn. Mortarpod is astonishing. There are a lot of premium cards that other people will take like Bestial Menace, Scatter the Seeds, Pelakka Wurm, and the green Eldrazi Spawn producers, still, you are left with Scavenger Drake, Algae Gharial, Bone Splinters, and Bloodthrone Vampire that should go late because it mainly only fits in this archetype. RG Domain Splashing seems to be very rewarding and if you have most of the good fixing you’re having access to the domain and sunburst cards as well. Sylvan Bounty is not exciting, but you’re going to need your land drops and colors. Don’t pick up too many win conditions, Worldheart Phoenix and Dragonsoul Knight should be go very late and those are enough to close a game. You want to build primarily around fixing, ramp, and excellent removal spells. Splashing a 3rd color? Even if the most obvious ones are 2-color archetypes, the format allows easy splashes in the form of Wayfarer’s Bauble, Sphere of the Suns, Alloy Myr, Evolving Wilds, and bouncelands. Don’t be shy to add these amazing spells: Oblivion Ring, Dismember, Mulldrifter, Lightning Bolt, Arrest, Burst Lightning, Narcolepsy, Nameless Inversion, Sunlance, Tribal Flames, Agony Warp, Electrolyze, Necrogenesis, Pillory of the Sleepless, Savage Twister, Vengeful Rebirth, Wrecking Ball and obviously some of the rares and mythics.

SAN FRANCISCO — Setting the stage for another battle over Uber’s business model, a federal judge refused to let the ride-hailing company off the hook for sexual assaults allegedly committed by its drivers — in part because of plausible evidence that those drivers are Uber employees. Uber had argued that the company is not liable for assaults reported by two passengers last year in Boston and Charleston, South Carolina, because the accused drivers are independent contractors, not employees. But a San Francisco federal judge wasn’t convinced and rejected Uber’s early attempt to throw out claims brought against the company by the victims. “It may be that facts will ultimately be revealed that disprove plaintiffs’ allegations or that tilt the scales toward a finding that Uber drivers are independent contractors,” U.S. District Judge Susan Illston wrote in a Wednesday ruling. “However, taking the allegations in the amended complaint as true, plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts that an employment relationship may plausibly exist.” Illston’s ruling moves the case one step closer to trial, but it doesn’t guarantee that the plaintiffs will prevail or that the Uber drivers ultimately will be deemed employees. Uber’s reliance on a workforce of independent contractors has been challenged by drivers who want employee benefits such as minimum wage, overtime pay and reimbursement for driving expenses. Uber agreed to pay up to $100 million to resolve a high-profile class-action lawsuit over the issue in April, two months before the case was scheduled to go to trial in San Francisco. That deal doesn’t require Uber to change its business model, but neither does it resolve the larger issue of whether the company’s drivers are employees. Instead, the deal leaves the door open for other judges, such as Illston, to weigh in. If the two drivers in the sexual assault case ultimately are found to be Uber employees, the company wouldn’t automatically be forced to change the status of all drivers. But such a ruling could be used as effective ammunition for other plaintiffs trying to upend Uber’s business model. “Judge Illston is a senior judge — she is very well respected,” said San Francisco employment attorney Daniel Hutchinson. “Whatever reasoning she would have one way or another I imagine would be very persuasive to any judge dealing with similar issues.” But San Francisco attorney Kathy Huibonhoa, who represents employers in workplace disputes, pointed out that the factors the court considers when determining employee status for a sexual assault case might be different from those it uses for a wage-and-hour case. “I don’t think it would have broader impact,” she said of Illston’s case. Uber declined to comment. Plaintiffs in the sexual assault case, referred to in court filings as “Jane Doe 1” and “Jane Doe 2,” brought claims against Uber in October that include assault, battery, false imprisonment and negligent hiring. Jane Doe 2 claims her driver demanded oral sex as payment for her ride, then locked the car doors, drove to a remote parking lot and “proceeded to viciously rape her.” Plaintiffs claim the driver accused in that Charleston attack, Patrick Aiello, had been convicted of assault in 2003 — a fact that was overlooked by Uber in his background check. Uber called the conviction a “12-year-old disorderly persons offense that could have been expunged.” But Illston ruled there are sufficient facts to suggest that Uber should have known about Aiello’s criminal history and allowed the plaintiffs to proceed with their claim that Uber was negligent in hiring him. The sexual assault case is one of many challenging Uber’s use of independent contractors. In the two weeks since Uber announced its settlement worth up to $100 million, the company has been hit with at least two similar class-action lawsuits in other states. But because Uber asks drivers to agree to resolve disputes out of court using a private arbitrator, it may be difficult for such cases to proceed to a jury. Over the past month, courts in Arizona, Florida and Maryland have forced other contractor cases into arbitration. “It is very difficult to change companies’ behavior directly through this litigation,” Boston-based attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents drivers in the San Francisco case that settled, wrote in an email, “so oftentimes the effect we can have is indirect — we win important concessions (like we did in the Uber settlement).” Marisa Kendall covers startups and venture capital. Contact her at 408-920-5009. Follow her at Twitter.com/marisakendall.

On Dec. 26 of last year, a bunch of trippers on the Internet saved the life of a complete stranger. The man went into an online chat room with a confession. He had taken a large number of Xanax, wandered into his local pub, started drinking heavily, and was waiting to pass out in the hope that he would never wake up. In most random corners of the Internet, such a confession likely would have been met with an incredulous shrug or the flood derisive snark that’s so often comes in response to an obvious plea for attention. But the man didn’t wander into just any IRC chatroom, he came into Tripsit—a forum staffed by volunteers dedicated to helping people navigate intense drug experiences, both good and bad. Immediately, the Tripsitters jumped into action. “We take any and all suicidal threats and dangerous drug combinations very seriously and this incident is no exception,” explained Tripsit founder Eric Hoftiezer explained. “For those who might not know, mixing benzodiazepine drugs with alcohol is extremely dangerous. Mixing any two CNS depressants is dangerous since the actions of one CNS-depressant tend to potentiate the other one. It’s not uncommon for users mixing benzodiazepines with alcohol to enter black-out states or even die.” One Tripsit volunteer messaged the man. She determined that he lived in the U.K. and promptly got his name, location, and phone number. She gave that information to another member who called EMS. As they waited for the ambulance to arrive, she talked to him half a world away, via Skype. When he was told help was on the way, the man became anxious about what he had done. The volunteer reminded him that the Tripsit community had worked hard to help him in his moment of need and they weren’t about to let him down now. She didn’t get off the phone until she heard a paramedic say his name and he disconnected the call. Tripsit began life as an eponymous community on Reddit in September of 2011. It was a place where drug users could talk about their experiences without fear of condemnation. Eventually, it grew into a repository of information about safe drug use and resource for counseling people through drug trips. The following year, Tripsit expanded into its own independent website and IRC chat forum because Reddit proved to be an inefficient venue for providing people with immediate assistance. Hoftiezer said that Tripsit has called ambulances for people, but they’ve never called the police. “There’s no reason to get somebody in legal trouble for possessing or consuming mind altering substances,” he explained. The goal, he insists, is to avoid a repeat of what happened to Brandon Vedas. Vedas was a 21-year-old man working in tech support at the University of Phoenix who went into a “#shroomery” IRC chatroom one day under the screenname Ripper, turned on his webcam, and began shoveling prescription pills into his mouth. Other people in the chatroom encouraged him—at least, until they realized he had overdosed. An argument ensued about whether to call 911. But, before anyone actually did anything, Vedas died. All the while, an automated bot repeatedly interjected, “Ripper is a gangster!!!” Macabre doesn’t even begin to cover it. Today, the Tripsit subreddit is a mixture of advice about what cool visuals to look after taking a large dose of acid to people in the midst of the bad trip begging for help. It’s also peppered with posts of people thanking the community for talking them through particularly hellacious drug experiences. Hoftiezer explained that the key to Tripsit is keeping everything as non-judgemental as possible. “The human race has been altering their consciousness since the dawn of time, only recently has this practice been deemed illegal. Making substance use taboo is only causing further harm when these individuals have few or no options to turn to in order to better their life,” he said. “A majority of these users then resort to different or more potent substances, and the cycle continues. Tripsit is one of the few places in the world where drug users can come to get guidance on how to better their lives, without being cast out as an addict or abuser.” Correction: The story has been updated to clarify the timeline of the U.K. intervention. Photo by epSos.de/flickr

Bill Gates has been almost prophetic in his past predictions: his 1999 list was hauntingly accurate, foreseeing the advent of price comparison websites, smartphones, social media, and bots. Over the last few years, in interviews and annual letters, he has continued predicting: here are a selection of seven of his insights. 1. In the next 15 years, 33 million people could be wiped out in less than a year by a pathogen. At the Munich Security conference, Gates warned that “epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year.” This could be due to mutation, accident, or terrorist intent. While this may seem outlandish, similar events have occurred before: the most obvious example is the Black Death, which killed almost a third of Europe, but more recently, in 1918, the Spanish Flu wiped out between 50 and 100 million people. 2. Africa will become entirely self-sufficient in terms of food production. He believes Africa will achieve the goal due to a number of structural changes: First, better fertilizers and crops being developed will cause an upward spiral of greater nutrition leading to greater productivity. Second, developments in infrastructure that are already taking place, such as Ghana increasing the width of highways connecting production zones to distribution zones and Senegal removing checkpoints that cause delays. Third, as phones become more widespread, this will allow the communication of information such as weather reports and market prices. 3. The lives of the poor will be transformed by mobile banking. Electronic banking systems will allow the poor to store and protect money digitally: he said in his 2015 annual letter that “by 2030, 2 billion people who don’t have a bank account today will be storing money and making payment with their phones.” 4. In the year 2035, poor countries will no longer exist. Gates cites how much the world has changed during his own lifetime — moving from a world segmented into the Soviet Union, the Western Allies, and “everyone else” to the world we see today — as a precedent for how much it has the potential to change. He wrote in his 2014 letter that “aid is a fantastic investment, and we should be doing more. It saves and improves lives very effectively, laying the groundwork for […] long-term economic progress.” 5. By 2030 there will be a clean energy breakthrough that will revolutionize our world. In a slightly more recent prediction, made in 2016, Gates does not name any existing method of renewable energy as the panacea, but he thinks the key is investment in young people. He has already invested $2 billion in alternative technologies. 6. Countless jobs will be lost to automation. In an interview with Quartz, Bill Gates envisages, as many industry leaders do, a world in which humans are put out of work by robots. Gates, though, has provided a possible plan of action: to tax robots in order to fund more jobs that can only be performed by humans, like taking care of the elderly or working with children. 7. Polio could be eliminated worldwide by 2019. In his 2013 Annual Letter, Gates revealed statistics showing that the prevalence of polio has been reduced from impacting millions of people in hundreds of countries to now being active in only three countries worldwide. The key, he states, is measurement: “You have to measure accurately, as well as create an environment where problems can be discussed openly so you can effectively evaluate what’s working and what’s not.”

“I’m standing next to a guy who is the most blatantly dishonest answers I can remember in any presidential race in — in my lifetime.... I don’t know how you debate a person with civility if they’re prepared to say things that are just plain factually false.” — Newt Gingrich, Jan. 29, 2012 The slugfest between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich comes to a head Tuesday in Florida, where Gingrich is running behind because of a deluge of negative campaign ads by Romney and his allies and the perception that Romney bested him in the last two debates. It’s tough to keep up with the various charges the two men have thrown at each other — Gingrich even brought up an ancient Romney veto concerning kosher food on Monday — so here is a guide to their most recent and most frequent claims. (In addition to various columns on attack ads and charges, we previously looked at some of Romney’s claims about Gingrich when the battlefront had first moved to Florida.) “His experience as speaker of the House end[ed] so badly, with an ethics scandal and him having to resign in disgrace and with his own members, 88 percent of them Republican members, voting to reprimand him.” — Romney, Jan. 30, 2012 Here, the former Massachusetts governor echoes one of his TV ads, which we have already labeled as misleading. Gingrich was reprimanded, but he did not resign until two years later for reasons that had nothing to do with the reprimand he received from the House over an ethics issue. That issue involved whether it was proper for a tax-exempt foundation associated with the speaker to finance a college course that he had put together. Instead, Gingrich resigned because House Republicans unexpectedly lost seats during the 1998 midterm elections. The Romney campaign sent us a few news clips making reference to the ethics probe when Gingrich resigned but neither The Washington Post article nor the New York Times article on his resignation made any mention of it. In fact, as our colleague Karen Tumulty noted, shortly after Gingrich’s resignation, “the Internal Revenue Service — having conducted its own investigation--determined that there was nothing illegal about the arrangement. The IRS concluded that the course was indeed “educational in content” (as opposed to political), and that the Progress and Freedom Foundation’s support for it was “consistent with its stated exempt purposes.” “We nominated a moderate for president in 1996 and he lost, badly. We nominated a moderate for president in 2008 and he lost, badly. If we nominate a Massachusetts liberal, I don't see how he defends 'Romneycare' as being different from 'Obamacare.' I don't see how he defends his gun control as being different, his pro-abortion position as being different, or for that matter his tax increases being different.” — Gingrich, Jan. 30, 2012 Gingrich, after weeks of calling Romney a “Massachusetts moderate,” now calls him a “Massachusetts liberal.” But Romney is no John Kerry, Michael Dukakis or Ted Kennedy. He ran as a relatively moderate Republican when he sought Kennedy’s Senate seat and won the governorship, but since then has staked out more conservative positions. Here Gingrich is echoing some of the points made in a humorous cartoon ad, imagining a debate between Romney and President Obama, produced by the pro-Gingrich super PAC, Winning Our Future. We previously awarded One Pinocchio to that ad. As we noted, Romney’s positions on abortion and gun control are now different, but Gingrich, particularly in this statement, suggests they have not changed. The reference to tax increases references another Winning the Future cartoon ad, in which the imaginary Obama congratulates Romney for disguising tax increases with phrases such as loopholes and fees. That charge is accurate. We have previously given Romney One Pinocchio for claiming he did not raise taxes as governor. “Romney as governor eliminated kosher food from retired Jewish senior citizens on Medicaid and he has no understanding of the importance of conscience and importance of religious liberty in this country.” — Gingrich, Jan. 30, 2012 The Hill amusingly said that in the primary’s waning hours, Gingrich threw the “kosher kitchen sink” at Romney. While we are not sure what this claim says about Romney’s understanding of religious liberty, it turns out that in 2003 he did indeed veto $600,000 in spending to run Massachusetts’s eight kosher nursing home facilities. Romney’s campaign said he was practicing fiscal restraint in a time of fiscal crisis, but his veto was quickly overridden by an unanimous vote in the House and an overwhelming vote in the state Senate after tales emerged of people in their 80s and 90s faced with having to leave their homes or break kosher tenets for the first time in their lives. The New York Post resurrected this story in an article last week. (About our rating scale) Check out our candidate Pinocchio Tracker Follow the Fact Checker on Twitter and friend us on Facebook . Track each presidential candidate's campaign ads .

Will Tye couldn’t get off the bench at Florida State and wasn’t even invited to the NFL Scouting Combine last winter. Last Sunday, the Stony Brook University product was catching key passes in a close game against the defending Super Bowl champions. Yes, to say the Giants’ rookie tight end took an unconventional path to the NFL would be a massive understatement. “I feel like I’ve been walking around in a big fog because it’s so unbelievable,” Tye said this month. “But I’m loving it. Every minute of it has been a thrill so far, because it feels like I’m part of something special.” The Giants, in return, think they might have stumbled on a diamond in the rough in the undrafted Tye. The Middletown, Conn., native was promoted from the practice squad in October out of desperation — Big Blue was running out of tight ends because of injury — but has made that move look savvy in seven appearances. Tye is coming off his best game as a pro in last week’s 27-26 loss to the Patriots, with five catches for 56 yards that included a 31-yard catch and run just before halftime that set up a touchdown. Tye has had some drops but is a contributor with 15 catches for 152 yards in seven appearances overall, giving the Giants production they weren’t expecting after tight ends Daniel Fells and Larry Donnell were lost to injury early in the season. “The game is not too big for him,” Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo said last week. “He seems to play with a calm mind, plays at a good speed, [has] soft hands, and when there’s a lot of moving and shaking going on out there, it doesn’t seem to disrupt him much.” Pro football didn’t seem like such a pipe dream for Tye as recently as 2011, when he was a four-star Florida State recruit with visions of stardom dancing in his head. Tye quickly found out he was just a dot in the sea of talented recruits in Tallahassee, including one at his position — current Bills practice-squad member Nick O’Leary — who kept Tye nailed to the bench en route to winning the 2014 John Mackey Award as the best tight end in the country. Tye was long gone by then, though, having transferred to Stony Brook the year before after realizing his hopes of an NFL career weren’t going to happen if he couldn’t get on the field in college. The move to Long Island paid immediate dividends, as Tye caught 79 passes for 1,015 yards and nine TDs in two seasons for the Seawolves, earning second-team All-Colonial Athletic Association honors as a senior. That wasn’t enough to get the 6-foot-2, 262-pound Tye an invitation to the scouting combine in Indianapolis, however, leaving him to try to make the NFL a reality by way of his pro day and the dreaded nationwide tryout route. The Giants were one of Tye’s tryout teams after they saw him run the 40-yard dash in 4.47 and 4.50 seconds at his pro day. Those two times would have made Tye the fastest tight end at the combine if he had been invited and replicated them. Tye was among the last players cut by the Giants out of the preseason and feared he would be mired on the practice squad until Fells and Donnell went down, prompting the call from the Giants that no one would have predicted as recently as the run-up to the NFL draft last April. “I always felt like he had it in him to be a good player,” Giants tight ends coach Kevin M. Gilbride said of Tye. “He’s young, he’s green, his development is what still needs to take place, and it shows. “But I’ll tell you what,” Gilbride added, “he’s made some big plays for us, too, and I think down the stretch, he’s going to make a lot more.”

written by – Rangers Report This aim of this Analytical Match Report is to enhance the analysis of Rangers performance by providing a variety of advanced stats from the game. Explanations of these stats can be found in our tutorial for these reports. Expected Goals: Rangers 2.3 Dumbarton 0.3 Dumbarton knew it has little, to no chance of gaining points on Saturday so they went all-in on playing for a 0-0 draw. Surprisingly, especially considering the final score, it did kind of work for a little while. The home side always had 9-10 men behind the ball, defending in layers & Rangers did struggle for a while to create chances. However, Rangers have gone through this routine before, stuck with their game-plan & obviously it paid off right before half-time. Shot Quality Breakdown: Of the shots that Rangers took, 60% came from within the penalty box & 45% came from High/Very High Danger areas (the heart of the box). Rangers turned 75% of the possession into 91% of the totals shots on goal. Those shots translated into Rangers earning 90% of the Expected Goals in the match & 100% of all the shots on target. In a road match… Shots Shots on Target Sh Acc Sh% Rangers 20 13 0.650 0.462 Dumbarton 2 0 0.000 —– The league average for shooting percentage this season is 0.305, meaning 31% of all the shots on target have beaten the keepers in the Scottish Championship. Prior to this match, Rangers shooting percentage was a league best 0.389 – which you would expect. So when Rangers put six past the keeper, you’d look for a shooting rate that was off the charts & while beating the goalie on 46% of the shots on target is high – it’s not ‘drop your jaw’ high. It is not unheard of for Rangers to get 20 shots (they average 17.5) but what’s most impressive is the 13 shots on target. The difference was that against Dumbarton 65% of their shots were on target when normally they get 42% of the shots on target – which is fifth best in the league. If this is the beginning of a new trend then we have pinpointed a real area of improvement for Mark Warburton’s team. Rangers Report Shot Chart: Rangers only had six shots going into half-time, well below their normal rate. Of course, Dumbarton has zero shots at the half so…there was that. When Kenny Miller got the second goal it was the 11th shot in just under an hour. That seemed to really deflate the home side as they were outshot 9-0 in the next thirty minutes. Special note: normally Goalkeeper Distribution Ratio is tracked for these reports. However, I decided to track Zone Exits instead for the first time. As readers of the blog know, Controlled Zone Entries into the final third are tracked for each game & for this match I decided to also track who was getting the ball out of the defensive third & how they were doing it. Given that Rangers have been victimized on the counter attack on multiple occasions this season, the need to analyze the team’s defensive plan was glaring. Look for a post on the Zone Exits in the next day or two. Individual Outliers Lost in the headlines of Kenny Miller’s hat trick was the performance of James Tavernier. He had a hand in four of the six goals & led the team with 13 controlled entries into the final third. It is safe to say he has rebounded strongly from his dip in form. The day before the match I tweeted out that Kenny Miller was due to score given he had the biggest differential in Expected Goals & actual goals on the team. Well, three goals later & I felt like a damn genius. Interestingly enough, Andy Halliday was next on the list. #fancystats While Barrie McKay’s only contribution to the official score sheet was one shot – when you factor in secondary assists (the pass before the primary assist) you see that he actually directly contributed to a third of the goals. Another typical outing for Martyn Waghorn who also added a secondary assist to his final line of stats. You can follow Rangers Report on Twitter @TheGersReport Advertisements

Owen Jones appeared yesterday on Novara Media. For those readers from outside the UK, Novara Media is a “autonomous media collective” based in London that currently manifests itself as an hour long radio show on weekly at 1pm GMT on Fridays on Resonance FM but that in the near future hopes to expand to internet TV. It provides really excellent analysis of political conditions, interesting interviews with leading left-wing writers and thinkers and excellent analysis of events as they unfold. Worth tuning in every week or subscribing to their podcast. Their archive is also really worth listening to – all their shows are on their website. Jones is a commentator for The Independent newspaper and a writer who is also a member and activist on the left of the Labour party. During the programme, Owen outlines his reasons for supporting the Labour party and mainstream unions. What interests us here is how much he concedes and shares with the analysis of the presenters of Novara, an analysis which finds much of its basis in the stream of Italian autonomist Marxism which began in the mid-1960s – detailed in a number of previous shows. Perhaps unknown to him and certainly not in theoretical terms he would endorse, Owen ends up on much the same page about the way in which the working class now looks, yet still believes in the mass organs of working class born and constituted by and for a composition of the working class that no longer exists. The question is: why? Italian autonomist Marxism has a long and complicated history that flows from the early theory of Operaismo in the 1960s (workerism in journals Quaderni Rossi and Classe Operaia), through to the larger organisations until the mid-to-late 1970s (Lotta Continua and Potere Operaio especially) to Autonomia Operaia and then “post-Workerism” that includes analyses made famous by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in works such as Empire and Paolo Virno’s (superior) Grammar of the Multitude. One continuity between these brands of Italian Marxism is the idea of analysing “class composition”, understood as centrally important to organising the working class against capitalism (see note). In its workerist period where it was most cleanly articulated, class composition called for attention to the close relationship between what they called the technical composition of the working class and its political composition. The technical composition – the way in which work was organised, the flow of the working day, the manner in which communication was allowed on the shop floor – resulted in a particular political composition of the working class – the manner in which they would struggle against the working conditions imposed upon them by capital. As Wright points out, this characterisation can sometimes appear rigidly mechanistic, but this was related to another classical workerist analysis, the so-called “Copernican inversion” instituted by the Operaist theorist Mario Tronti. Just as Copernicus had inverted the relationship between the Earth and cosmos, Tronti that the ruling classes respond to working class struggle, which is primary, rather than the other way around. Previously Marxists had written history from the perspective of capital – the point was to read it from the perspective of the living labour subjugated by capital, to which capital responded by changing. Thus the technical discipling of one era of the working class is the result of their struggle in the preceding era. This leads to an alternative history of the struggles between classes which can be extended to the digital sphere. This means that careful attention was paid to the way the working class as they actually existed and struggled against capitalism in their day to day lives. This meant that this understanding of that life was to be finally the task of the workers themselves, with only the help of theorists and left sociologists – the idea of the ‘worker’s enquiry’ was central to workerist and then autonomist analyses. Since this early period analysts working in the tradition have paid close attention to the changes in the way work is composed, offering a series of new understandings that operate under the unstable, sometimes over wrought but provocative categories of post-Fordism, immaterial labour, affective labour, precarious labour, the Multitude, the cognitariat and so on. What is centrally important here though is that if the working class is to struggle, it must be understood as it is now. The problem with the political organisations of the day, the early workerists theorised, was that they had a view of the working class that was radically out of date, so they were totally unable to respond to its needs. The mass organisations of the unions and the Italian communist party (the PCI) could no longer represent in their idea of the working class, the new ‘mass worker’, partially formed by unskilled migrant labour and forced into an accelerated rate of production, that directly much of its rage against the idea of work itself. The figure of the proud skilled worker collecting their just reward and the unions promoting the dignity of work that flowed from this were out of date for the situation the real working class found itself. Jones’ first book Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class is sometimes taken as a rather nostalgic book, pining for the days prior to Thatcher. However, as is clear from his Novara interview, Jones is rather more astute in his analysis of how class reproduces itself today. As Jones says, more people are now employed in call centres than were employed down the mines. The class composition of the working class has profoundly changed, which Jones seems to admit “If the miner was one of the iconic jobs of post-war Britain, then today, surely, the call centre worker is as good a symbol of the working class as any”. For the autonomist Marxists, these changes result in the need for a different approach to political organisation, the germs of which emerged in the Italian experience of the ‘movement of 1977’. Some post-autonomist theorists – such as Hardt and Negri – have been rather over enthusiastic about the political possibilities of this type of communication worker as being intrinscally collaborative and ‘communistic’ – something that has been heavily criticised. Those influenced by the autonomist tradition have published extremely detailed analyses of call centre work – the most famous being Kolinko’s Hotlines. Indeed, the best moments of Chavs are the descriptions of daily work that could well flow from one of these organisations. So, the problem with Jones’ analysis is that on one hand he agrees with the idea that the working class has fundamentally changed in the UK under the conditions we might call “post-Fordism”, but that the organs of the working class must look to are still the organs of the period preceding it. Owen repeats that the times where working people clustered around a similar place, all doing the same job and therefore represented by the mass union have concluded, but then looks to the same things now to do the same job now. It is frustrating – why praise the organisational innovation of UKUncut then claim unions could do anything approaching this? When Jones’ details the numerous defeats for the Left inside the Labour party, he then places the burden of proof on the person who claims that maybe the Labour party isn’t the best place for a genuinely left wing project. Yet surely that burden should be on Jones to explain why now given all the preceding history, the Labour party could work out this time, especially given its current formation. Perhaps those attempts outside the Labour party would had had more success without these kind of arguments being produced? Despite all his pessimism of the current state of the Left, Jones believes the situation that preceded (say) the smashing of the unions by Thatcher can be restored. How when the form of work that allowed their formulation no longer exists as he himself admits? The same goes for the terminal decline in the membership of political parties as such, including the Labour party. In short, Owen would be better served following the arguments of his own work to the logical conclusion, genuinely “starting where people are” as workers and abandoning hope in the mass organisations of the working class that serve a class that no longer exists. Come on outside Owen – the autonomia’s lovely! Note: The best history of the early development of this period is Storming heaven: class composition and struggle in Italian Autonomist Marxism by Steve Wright. Wright’s book strikes a remarkably pessimistic tone – this review by one of the subjects of the book Sergio Bologna being an interesting counterpoint alongside an afterword to the Italian edition by participants. He has also written shorter articles on the subject and interviews.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is preparing to become the first U.S. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents. The city’s Health Commission voted Tuesday to create a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. San Francisco already provides transgender residents with hormones, counseling and routine health services, but has stopped short of offering surgical interventions, Public Health Director Barbara Garcia said Thursday after the vote was announced. The idea for a new program that included surgeries came out of conversations between public health officials and transgender rights advocates who wanted mastectomies, genital reconstructions and other surgeries that are recommended for some transgender people covered under San Francisco’s 5-year-old universal health care plan. At the urging of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center, the commission agreed this week to drop sex reassignment surgery from the list of procedures specifically excluded from the Healthy San Francisco plan. But Garcia described the move as “a symbolic process” for now because the city currently does not have the expertise, capacity or protocols in place to provide the surgeries through its clinics and public hospital. “The community felt the exclusion on Healthy San Francisco was discriminatory and we wanted to change that as the first step,” she said. Instead of expanding the existing plan, the Health Commission approved the establishment of a separate program that covers all aspects of transgender health, including gender transition. Garcia hopes to have it running by late next year, but said her department first needs to study how many people it would serve, how much it would cost, who would perform the surgeries and where they would be performed. “Sex reassignment surgery is not the end all. It’s one service that some transgender people want and some don’t,” she said. “We can probably manage this over the next three years without much of a budget increase because we already have these (other) services covered.” San Francisco in 2001 became the first city in the country to cover sex reassignment surgeries for government employees. Last year, Portland, Ore. did the same. The number of major U.S. companies covering the cost of gender reassignment surgery for transgender workers also doubled last year, reflecting a decades-long push by transgender activists to get insurance companies to treat such surgeries as medically necessary instead of elective procedures. Kathryn Steuerman, a member of a transgender health advocacy group in San Francisco, said the city’s latest move would help residents avoid going into debt to finance operations related to gender transition, as she did. “I am filled with hope and gratitude that we are achieving this level of support for the well-being of the transgender community,” Steuerman said.

The poll reveals that the gap between those who want independence and those who don't is widening and if a referendum on Catalan independence took place, the "no" vote would be 50 percent while the "yes" vote would be 42.9 percent. The study was carried out by the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO), Catalonia’s opinion polling office and will be unpleasant reading for pro-independence supporters, including President of the regional government of Catalonia, Artur Mas. The latest poll shows an increase in the percentage of Catalans who would vote “no” to independence; in the previous poll, published in March 2015, the "no" vote was at 48 percent while the "yes" vote was 44.1 percent. The survey also shows voter intentions in the upcoming Catalan regional elections. The pro-independence CiU-ERC would win the most votes, with 13.3 percent, followed by Podemos, the left-wing protest party that is barely more than a year old, with 10.8 percent. Catalonia is home to 7.5 million people and accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy. Proud of their distinct language and culture, many Catalans, including the region's conservative leader, Artur Mas, want to create a new state in Europe in defiance of the Spanish government. But support is continuing to wane; in June three ministers from the junior party in the coalition that runs Catalonia pulled out of the regional government due to disagreements over its push to break away from Spain. And the rise of Podemos, a protest-party that grew out of the Indignados (the Outraged) movement, is also blowing independence plans off course. Barcelona recently voted in its first woman mayor, left-wing candidate Ada Colau who replaced staunchly pro-independent Xavier Trias She ran for office at the head of Barcelona En Comu (Barcelona In Common), an alliance of grassroots groups including members of the left-wing party Podemos. Many pro-independence Catalonians believe Colau will put the breaks on the independence movement.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images New England Patriots running back Dion Lewis seemingly has emerged from crumb rubber, musket smoke and pixie dust, so we are inclined to chalk him up to mystery. How else can we explain an undersized running back leading the NFL's best offense in rushing yards after being cut twice and sitting out of football for almost all of last season? A mystery this is. But every mystery has clues, if you know where to look and who to talk to. This week, Bleacher Report has tracked down many of the people with insight into Lewis' past and progress to figure out just how he has arrived as such a surprising force in the Patriots' backfield. Clue No. 1: Lewis had shown extraordinary talent in the past In the fall of 2008, there were rumors on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. LeSean "Shady" McCoy, the team's star running back, might leave school early and apply for the NFL draft. If he did, the Panthers were going to need a replacement who could step in the following season, and they didn't have one on the roster. Dave Wannstedt, then the head coach, gave his assistants an assignment: Find a running back who could start for the team next year. Jeff Hafley, the secondary coach, was in charge of recruiting New Jersey. He placed a DVD on Wannstedt's desk of a running back from Blair Academy. He needed to explain something, though. "Coach, he's only 5'5", 180," Hafley said, almost apologetically. That was why Lewis was not being heavily recruited by others. He would be offered scholarships from just two other schools, Miami of Ohio and Tulane. Wannstedt watched the DVD anyway. After just eight plays, he hit the stop button on his remote control. "Get him in here," Wannstedt said. "If he is the type of person we want, we will offer him a scholarship." Streeter Lecka/Getty Images Lewis replaced McCoy the following year, breaking McCoy's record for most points by a Pitt freshman and breaking Tony Dorsett's record for most rushing yards by a freshman in the Big East. It did not take long to see Lewis had special talent. "Barry Sanders was the quickest I ever saw in terms of making a guy miss in a hole," Wannstedt said. "Dion isn't Barry Sanders, but he had some of that same make-a-guy-miss-in-a hole quickness. Plus he had 4.5 speed to outrun you. He could catch. He did things you can't coach." Lewis was about more than just quick feet. Buddy Morris, the strength coach for Pitt at the time, gave his players a test that measured pound-for-pound strength. Morris said Lewis bench-pressed twice his body weight and squatted more than 500 pounds, making him the strongest pound-for-pound player on the team. Clue No. 2: There was a reason many overlooked Lewis At the 2011 scouting combine, Lewis measured 5'7" and weighed 193 pounds. Those numbers spoke loudly to NFL ears. Despite his stats at Pitt, including once carrying the ball 47 times in a single game, Lewis would not be considered durable enough to be an every-down NFL back. Lewis' small frame did not diminish the enthusiasm of Joe Banner, then the president of the Eagles. The loudest voice in the Philadelphia draft room pushing for the team to select Lewis was Banner's. But even he had tempered expectations. He thought Lewis would be a change-of-pace back in the NFL. The Eagles subsequently targeted Lewis as a fifth-round pick, and they were pleased to select him there. "There is a prejudice in the NFL against smaller players, and for good reason," said Banner, now an ESPN analyst. "Most smaller players don't overcome the size challenge. But that stereotypical thinking cost a lot of teams a chance at a guy with a lot of talent. He is a good example of that." Smaller running backs almost always are backups in the NFL. And most coaches want backups to have special teams value. Lewis has not been a return man, and he isn't big enough to block or play coverage on special teams. Lewis understands his lack of size has cost him opportunities. "Some people might not want a smaller back on their team, but I don't think of it that way," he said. "I've always been one of the smaller guys on my team, my whole life, so I'm used to it. I knew what I wanted to do and I wasn't going to let anybody tell me I couldn't do something." Clue No. 3: Lewis was held back by circumstance Lewis just wasn't in the right place at the right time early in his career. The Eagles weren't right. Lewis' arrival in Philadelphia coincided with McCoy's arrival as a premier back. In 2011, Lewis' rookie season, McCoy led the NFL in touchdowns and was voted First Team All-Pro. He took 73 percent of the running back touches that year. "When Dion had opportunities, he was outstanding," said Marty Mornhinweg, who was the Eagles offensive coordinator. "But he was behind LeSean." Michael Perez/Associated Press The following season, Lewis stayed behind McCoy and fell behind two rookies—Bryce Brown, who checked in at 5'11", 223, and Chris Polk, who was 5'11", 222. It did not help that Banner, who had been Lewis' football godfather, had been phased out in Philadelphia. Banner went from Philadelphia to Cleveland, and one of his first moves was to call the Eagles to ask if they would trade Lewis. Banner acquired Lewis a second time in a deal for linebacker Emmanuel Acho. The Browns weren't right, either. Lewis appeared to be on the verge of breaking out in Cleveland the summer of 2013. Then he fractured his fibula in the second preseason game. "I would say he was going to play a great deal if he had not been injured," said Norv Turner, who was the Browns offensive coordinator that year. "After [the Browns traded] Trent Richardson [in September], Dion would have definitely been the starter." Instead, Lewis spent the season on injured reserve. He came back in the summer of 2014, but most of the people who had traded for him were gone. In camp, Lewis did not look like the same player he was before the injury, and the Browns' new regime prioritized size in the backfield. Lewis was cut as the Browns elected to retain Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell and Ben Tate, each of whom stood 5'11" and none of whom weighed less than 220. The Colts weren't right. They picked up Lewis one week into the season. The plan was to develop a specific role for him and work him into the offense. Many coaches see him as the type of player who is best utilized in a specific package. But days later, the Colts lost defensive tackle Art Jones to an ankle injury. They needed a roster spot to replace him, so Lewis was let go. The Colts will get their first look at him since last September on Sunday when the Patriots come to town. After Lewis was cut, the Giants and Patriots had him visit for workouts. Neither team needed a running back at the time. Both were interested in signing him down the road, after the season. Lewis checked the transaction wire dutifully and made frequent calls to his agent, J.R. Rickert, to assess the landscape. But as far as NFL teams were concerned, Lewis was either too small, not durable enough or not capable of being plugged into their system. Clue No. 4: Lewis changed the way he trained After last season ended, Lewis came to a realization. Whatever he had been doing in the past in terms of training and preparation was not enough. So he spent six weeks at the Fischer Institute in Phoenix working harder and smarter than he ever had. With bands, boxes, medicine balls and sleds, he worked on acceleration, deceleration and agility for functional running back movements. Lewis was surrounded by others with similar goals. His college roommate, Jon Baldwin, accompanied him, and they became roommates again in Arizona. Others who were regulars at the Fischer Institute included Aaron Dobson, Logan Ryan, Julio Jones and Tyrann Mathieu. Chip Gosewisch, the sports performance director at the Fischer Institute, said Lewis was "aggressively focused" on preparing himself for this season. "When he put his cleats on to do the agility drills, there wasn't any rest," he said. "He didn't go through anything less than 100 percent. He wasn't ever going through the motions." Lewis came to realize how precious an opportunity can be. "He won't forget when he was sitting on the couch," Rickert said. Last year was not easy, but Lewis is better for having survived it. "I was discouraged a little bit through the process, not getting picked up," Lewis said. "But I kept my head held high and worked hard so I could make the most of my opportunity when I got one." Those who know him well say Lewis appears to be playing with more explosion than before. "I feel stronger," Lewis said. "I think I got better at everything." Clue No. 5: The situation was finally right It became apparent very quickly that Lewis fit perfectly in the Patriots' offensive puzzle. Before the team took a single snap this season, Tom Brady told NBC broadcasters Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth that Lewis would become a cult hero in New England. Three games into the season, the Patriots signed Lewis to a two-year contract extension that reportedly includes $1.8 million in incentives. Lewis has been nicknamed "Jitterbug" by teammate Julian Edelman. Cowboys defenders Barry Church, Jack Crawford, J.J. Wilcox and Corey White understand why after each whiffed on Lewis during a catch and run that went for a 10-yard touchdown last Sunday. According to Pro Football Focus, Lewis has forced a league-leading 29 missed tackles in just 59 touches. Lewis, with a little help from one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, has defeated defenders in many ways. Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on his WEEI radio show this week: One of the most impressive things about Dion is how versatile he's been. He's caught balls out of the backfield. He's caught running back-type routes on linebackers, but he's also caught some receiver-type routes from being extended—gos, double moves, slants, things like that. It's not all slip-screens or hitches or that type of thing. They are actually receiver-type routes. In the running game, he has shown he can run inside. He has shown he can run outside. He has shown he can run with power…put his shoulder down and push the pile for a couple yards. And then he has shown he is very elusive in space with his quickness and change of direction. Sometimes [defenders] don't even hit him. He has good balance and good strength to break tackles, and the quickness to avoid them. Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli believes Lewis will be a special NFL player. "They use him very well," Marinelli said. "They get the ball to him in different ways. Some of the ways they run the ball allow him to use his vision. He gets upfield so quickly. He sees it really well. He's kind of like a [Darren] Sproles with more of an inside dimension. He's physical, and his change of direction is something else. He's pretty unique in that way." The mystery of Dion Lewis? It's not where he came from anymore. It's how to contain him. Dan Pompei covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.

New Skins Heartseeker Varus 1350 RP Here's Galetta with a Heartseeker Varus! "Love wounds and inflames the heart! Love is in the air as Heartseeker Varus flutters onto the PBE! Surrender to love or feel the sting of his arrow! This skin includes: New model and texture! With the addition of white angelic wings! With the addition of white angelic wings! New particles! Hearts! Glitter! Pink ribbons! Rose petals! Hearts! Glitter! Pink ribbons! Rose petals! New recall animation! New SFX on his spells and his recall! This skin will be 1350rp! Your feedback and bug reports are extremely helpful to us, so please check out Heartseeker Varus and let us know what you think! Feel free to drop any bugs you find in this thread as well! See you on the Rift! Note: The SFX are still a work in progress so some spells may not have the updated sounds!" Note: Heartseeker Varus also now uses the Here'swith a bugs and feedback thread forNote:also now uses the same voiceover as Arclight Varus , which takes away the extra filter effects of his base voiceover. Marauder Ashe 750 RP [Video outdated as of 1/28] Marauder Warwick 750 RP [Video outdated as of 1/28] KateyKhaos with a Marauder Ashe and Marauder Warwick! Here'swith a bugs and feedback thread forand "NOTE: 1/27: We're aware of an issue where Marauder Warwick's VO isn't playing. We're working on a fix! Victory by destruction! Decimate any enemy who gets in your way on the Rift with Marauder Ashe and Marauder Warwick! Marauder Ashe and will be Marauder Warwick 750 RP each and include: All new model and texture (complete with shiny new armor)! Marauder Ashe and Marauder Warwick are now available to play on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our best to answer them!" Warden Nautilus 750 RP [Video outdated as of 1/28] Warden Sivir 750 RP New Summoner Icons New Ward Skin Riot has also added a new Heartseeker Ward skin! Heartseeker Ward 640 RP Here's Riot KateyKhaos with aHeartseeker Ward! "See your enemy's love (or gank) coming from a mile away with the Heartseeker Ward! The Heartseeker Ward is 640 RP each and includes: All new model and texture ! ! New particles ! (Oooh, pink sparkles!) ! (Oooh, pink sparkles!) New animations ! ! New sounds! The Heartseeker Ward is now available to play on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our test to answer them!" Here'swith a bugs and feedback thread for the Symbols added to Summoner's Rift A set of strange symbols have been added various places on Summoner's Rift. Texture Rebalances Kennen Deadly Kennen Swamp Master Kennen Karate Kennen Kennen M. D. Arctic Ops Kennen Infernal Mordekaiser Lord Mordekaiser Veigar White Mage Veigar Curling Veigar Veigar Greybeard Leprechaun Veigar Baron Von Veigar Superb Villian Veigar Fiddlesticks Spectral Fiddlesticks Union Jack Fiddlesticks Bandito Fiddlesticks Pumpkinhead Fiddlesticks Fiddle Me Timbers Surprise Party Fiddlesticks Here's a video compare for the Fiddlesticks texture update and his skins: Incoming Update for Match History in the Client MattEnth "Hey everyone, Last year, we introduced Match History to the web and soon we’re bringing a good chunk of that functionality to the client. While the web experience will remain the place to go for shareable (show-offable?) links, runes, masteries and item build orders, we’re bringing the lion’s share of Match History to the client: 20 viewable matches, up from the previous 10 A more complete scoreboard that now shows trinket, creep score, and total kill and gold breakdowns per team Match timelines with timestamped neutral objectives, tower falls, and kills Gold advantage graphs Kill maps that show the location of each and every kill for each player This update shifts what types of matches will show up in the client. As a reminder, we believe competitive matches should be open information, so everyone’s ranked games (even Bjergsen 's) will be up for analysis through Match History. Your less tryhard normal queue matches will only be viewable by you and your friends, just like Match History on the web We still have a few minor changes to make before going to live and don’t expect this to make it into 5.3. We just wanted to put it on the PBE early to hear your thoughts. MattEnth " Camera Lock Mode Option Fixed Offsetvs Per-Side Offseton Blue Fixed Offset vs Per-Side Offset on Red In the set of screenshots above, my character is standing in the same place but notice the "Fixed Offset" option has them centered (how it works now) and the "Per-Side Offset" shifts the camera slightly depending on which side you are on. Battle Boosts up for testing in Nemesis Draft on PBE L4T3NCY "Heya guys, For our upcoming Featured Game Mode, Nemesis Draft, we're looking to re-activate 'Battle Boosts' which saw their first outing back in One For All: Mirror Mode.For those of you who might not remember, Battle Boosts let you temporarily unlock all currently available skins for yourself and your allies. The purchaser of a Battle Boost will now also get a one game 200 IP boost, while the rest of the team receives a 100 IP boost. For testing purposes on the PBE, we've left the price at 1RP. When Nemesis Draft goes live, Battle Boosts will be available for 125RP (down from the original OFA:MM price of 150RP). Of course, on PBE, everyone has almost everything unlocked already, so the impact will certainly feel diluted, but we're looking to catch any bugs before we roll it out. Feedback welcome on both this version of Battle Boosts or other features you'd like to see added!" Friends List Improvements Miscellaneous The default ward skin now has a spawn animation - it "wiggles" when you put it down! Thedefault wards, that were originally added in the The new spawn and death animations for thewards, that were originally added in the 1/29 PBE update , have been removed. Balance Changes * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes. * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These areofficial notes. Champions Ahri Orb of Deception (Q) mana cost increased to 60/70/80/90/100 from 55/60/65/70/75 Orb of Deception (Q ) mana cost [lowered] to 65/70/75/80/85 from 60/70/80/90/100 ) mana cost [lowered] to 65/70/75/80/85 from 60/70/80/90/100 [ Note : This is still a change vs her current live value, which is 55/60/65/70/75 mana ] : This is still a change vs her current live value, which is 55/60/65/70/75 mana ] Fox Fire (W) damage decreased to 40/65/90/115/140 from 50/80/110/140/170 damage decreased to 40/65/90/115/140 from 50/80/110/140/170 Fox Fire (W) cooldown lowered to 8/7/6/5/4 from 9/8/7/6/5 [Reverted] [Reverted] Fox Fire (W) Range decreased to 600 from 750. Azir Base AD increased to 52 from 49 increased to 52 from 49 [Soldier autoattack range reduced to 325 from 400 ] reduced to 325 from 400 Conquering Sands ( Q ) damage lowered to 65/85/105/125/145 from 75/105/135/165/195 damage lowered to 65/85/105/125/145 from 75/105/135/165/195 Arise (W) damage to towers lowered to 60+10 per level (+.4 AP) from 90 +15 per level (+.6 AP) Diana Moonsilver Blade (passive) now has an buff bar indicator Pale Cascade (W) [now spins around Diana much faster] Gnar The time in which you can not gain rage after transforming from Mega to Mini increased to 15 seconds from 13 seconds. [ Total transform time reduced? While the tooltip on live says "15 seconds" is actually lasting around ~20 seconds. This has been reduced down to ~15 seconds on PBE.] Gragas Barrel Roll (Q) movement speed slow increased to 40/45/50/55/60% from 30/35/40/45/50% Kassadin Null Sphere (Q) damage reduced to 70/95/120/145/170 from 80/105/130/155/180 damage reduced to 70/95/120/145/170 from 80/105/130/155/180 Nether Blade (W ) passive damage changed to 10/15/20/25/30 from 20 at all ranks Kennen Electrical Surge ( W ) tool tip now includes it can be used on targets "caught in Slicing Maelstrom or afflicted by Mark of the Storm" rather than just afflicted by MotS Sona Base HP increased to 497.6 from 482.36 increased to 497.6 from 482.36 HP Per Level decreased to 70 from 77 decreased to 70 from 77 Base attack damage increased to 52.04 from 50.04 increased to 52.04 from 50.04 Movement Speed increased to 330 from 325 increased to 330 from 325 Base mana regen reduced to 1.6184 from 1.8 reduced to 1.6184 from 1.8 Mana regen per second per level increased .13 from .08 Varus Chain of Corruption (R) missile width increased to 120 from 100. Zyra [Tooltip] Deadly Bloom (Q) now notes Thorn Spitter has 750 range. [Tooltip] Grasping Roots (E) now notes Vine Laster has 400 range. To go along with this, her plants now also show a range indicator! Zyra and her allies can see them, enemies can NOT see them. Items Greater Stealth Totem Now has charges and stores a charge of every 60 seconds, up to a total of two. [Rengar's Bonetooth Necklace variant has also been updated to include this effect. Upgrades at 20 trophies.] Farsight Orb Tooltip update to includes "Also places a visible ward in the area that lasts 60 seconds." This ward has 1 HP and takes 1 hit to kill. [Note: This change does not seem to be functioning in-game yet! They did add a new icon for the Farsight Orb's ward though.] This change is now hooked up and working on the PBE! Oracle's Lens Upgrade Price reduced to 250 from 475 Spectre's Cowl Unique Passive changed to 150% base HP regen for up to 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion from 100% To kick off the 5.3 PBE cycle we have total of five new skins, including the lovely, Marauder skins for, and Inquisitor skins forandToday's update includes a new summoner icon to go along with our other upcoming Valentine's Day themed content,and Sweetheart Annie We also have two new summoner icons featuring a masked Teemo! No details yet but these icons heavily resemble the Masquerade icons we saw last year We also have a new Ziggs themed summoner icon, likely for the upcomingmode.There are a total of five of them placed around the map - one near mid, two at top and bottom.They also light up! When mousing over them, they emit a little swirl of light, grows bright, then fades away.Going away then back will make it just sort of simmer, leaving it less bright then the first time.After that it just fades back to no glow until you come back around it.Here's a video of the symbols lighting up in spectator mode.Uncertain what they are for. I can not get them to trigger in-game organically, only in spectator mode. If you walk beside one in game and switch your environment settings around, they will trigger and stay on (although this is probably not intended).The files are named "MM_". There is also a reference to "Bard_Symbol",Here's a preview video for thetexture rebalances:Here's a video compare for thetexture update and his skins:No texture rebalances fororNo texture rebalances forHere's with info on the update to Match History in the client:Here's a look at the update, which allows you to click into each match within the client:There also a new "" in the option menu.This change is only when you play with your cameraor when you recenter your camera using the space bar.Here are some examples of the "" vs "" on each side:Here'swith information on the return of, which will available for the upcomingfeatured game mode:: As of the 2/4 PBE Update, these have been.]When you hover over a friend on your friend list or in a chat room, there is now a pop up window that tells you their current status, their last played champion, and "playstyle".The "" option has been split into mouse and keyboard options.The HUD files were updated to include a music note and a crossed out music note. They don't appear to be enabled anywhere in-game yet. [UPDATE: These are for's Q sound effects, which are bugged on live/5.2, have been fixed.

About Get YOUR Kicks on Route 66! I have launched this Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a documentary film about 5 superstars of the Scottish music scene as they play their way across America. No matter where you live in the world, you can help this film become a reality. U.S. Highway 66 -- popularly known as Route 66 or the Mother Road -- holds a special place in American consciousness and evokes images of simpler times, mom and pop businesses, and the icons of a mobile nation on the road. Running through the nation’s heartland from Chicago to Santa Monica, the legendary road passes through many picturesque places, including my own home town, South Pasadena, California. In April an all-star cast of bagpipers and drummers is taking to the road on a historic tour down Route 66, performing concerts and teaching workshops in what is being dubbed “Pipes & Sticks on Route 66.” Pipers Stuart Liddell, Willie McCallum, and Angus MacColl and snare drummer Jim Kilpatrick MBE, all from Scotland, are being joined by bass drummer and percussionist Mike Cole from Chicago. (click on names to see each player's video) The five players are considered to be “the best of the best” in the world of piping and drumming. Each member of the group has won every important solo piping and drumming award several times. The players are well-known for their incredible talent and for their entertaining way on the stage. Concerts will consist of traditional tunes as well as crowd-pleasing numbers frequently requested. Humor will be an integral part of the concerts and audience participation is expected. The guys approached me and asked if I’d like to make a documentary about the adventure. I didn’t have to think too hard about it as it seemed like the trip of a lifetime with all the potential of being a really entertaining film. My previous feature documentary, ON THE DAY: The Story of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band, was totally funded by contributions from the piping and Scottish community from around the world – and that was before I knew about Kickstarter. Last summer, I launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the On The Day 3-Disc Collector’s Box Set, so now I’m reaching out to you again to make this project a reality. Make sure you watch the video at the TOP OF THE PAGE and check out your rewards to the RIGHT >. ABOUT THE GOAL AMOUNT I want you to know that the $66,000 goal is the bare bones minimum amount to get the documentary shot and into the first phase of post-production, but does not cover the full budget of close to $200,000. Every penny will go into the production with no contingency and no salary to me. I hope the pledges will take us beyond the minimum goal so that the film will have even more production value, and I can be paid for my many months of work. And remember, Kickstarter is an all or nothing proposition: if the goal is not met, I get nothing and you pay nothing! April 5 Chicago MEET & GREET Mo Dailey's Pub & Grille April 7 Chicago CONCERT Irish American Heritage Center* April 8 St. Louis JAM SESSION The Scottish Arms April 10 Tulsa CONCERT Oklahoma State University* April 11 Oklahoma City MUSIC TRIBUTE Memorial Park April 12 Lubbock CONCERT Cactus Theatre* April 14 Albuquerque CONCERT El Rey Theatre* April 15 Albuquerque WORKSHOP for pipers & drummers April 17 Flagstaff CONCERT American Legion Hall April 18 The Grand Canyon April 20 Pasadena PUB CRAWL on Colorado Blvd., Old Pasadena April 21 Pasadena WORKSHOP 12pm-4pm for pipers & drummer April 21 Pasadena CONCERT Westminster Presbyterian Church* * Click the link to order your tickets now! Like us on FACEBOOK. What if you want more rewards than those offered at your pledge level? The answer is at the bottom of the page under FAQ's. More rewards will be added in the weeks ahead. So keep checking back in. You can donate again and again to get more rewards! Thanks!

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

Is this proof near-death experiences ARE real? Extraordinary new book by intensive care nurse reveals dramatic evidence she says should banish our fear of dying The Ascent of the Blessed, detail from a panel of an alterpiece of the Last Judgement. Historic texts are filled with accounts of near-death visions. Are they to be ignored so readily? As a nurse, I’m always cheered when I see a patient who appears to be making a good recovery. That certainly seemed the case with 60-year-old Tom Kennard, who’d been suffering from sepsis after surgery for cancer. After a couple weeks in the intensive care ward, he was well enough to be moved from his hospital bed to a chair. Moments later, however, he suddenly slumped into unconsciousness. There was no doubt at all that he was out cold. He responded neither to my urgent questions nor to the painful pressure of my Biro on his fingernails. Worse still, his skin became clammy, his oxygen levels dropped and his blood pressure plummeted — clear signs that his condition had become critical. As I quickly gave him extra oxygen, I called out to the other nurses in the intensive care unit. Four of them immediately flocked to Tom’s bedside, and we gently helped return him to his bed as we called for a doctor urgently. He was still unresponsive when the doctor arrived, followed a few minutes later by a consultant. Indeed, Tom didn’t regain full consciousness for another three hours. Yet, during those three lost hours, he had apparently gone on a life-changing journey. His first sensation, he told me afterwards, was of ‘floating upwards to the top of the room. I looked down and I could see my body on the bed. It was lovely, so peaceful — and no pain at all.’ In the next moment, the hospital ward had disappeared and he’d entered a pink room, in which his father was standing next to a man with ‘long black scruffy hair and nice eyes.’ For a time, Tom talked telepathically with his father. At some point, he became aware that something was touching him. Once again, he was back on the hospital ward ceiling — looking down at me and the doctor. I was putting a lollipop-shaped instrument into his mouth to clean it, he recalled later. He could also see a woman beyond the cubicle curtains, who kept twitching them to check on his condition. Indeed, I can personally verify that everything Tom ‘saw’ while unconscious was 100 per cent accurate — down to the swab I used to moisten his mouth and the names of the consultant and of the physiotherapist lurking behind the curtains. While all this was going on, Tom heard the man with the scruffy hair say: ‘He’s got to go back.’ This came as a blow: he remembers desperately wanting to stay. Shortly after that, he told me, ‘I was floating backwards and went back into my body on the bed.’ Fear: Is death so terrible that we need to mute it and delay it with drugs and machines? His pain was excruciating, but he could still vividly recall how peaceful he had felt in that pink room. ‘Pen,’ he told me, ‘if that’s death, it’s wonderful.’ This near-death experience had two significant effects on his life. First, Tom says, it completely removed any fear of dying. Even more extraordinary is what happened to his right hand, which had been frozen since birth into a claw-like position. (This had been noted on his hospital admission form, and his sister has since signed a statement confirming it.) Yet, in front of me, soon after his near-death experience, Tom opened and flexed that same hand. This should not have been physiologically possible, as the tendons had permanently contracted. What had caused this sudden, seemingly spontaneous healing? Even now, science has no answers. But when you study near-death experiences, as I have for the past couple of decades, you grow used to phenomena that defy all rational explanation. Take, for instance, the case of Fred Williams, a Swansea pensioner in his 70s who was suffering from the final stages of a terminal heart problem. One night in hospital, he lost consciousness and we feared he was about to die. But he somehow managed to keep his faltering grip on life. And when he eventually came to, I noticed at once that he looked very happy. My colleagues also remarked on this. All the time this was happening, I felt fine: full of joy, peaceful, gently floating towards brilliant light. By the following morning, Fred had recovered sufficiently to see his anxious relatives. To their astonishment, he told them that he’d been visited — while unconscious — by his mother and grandmother, both of whom were dead, as well as by his (living) sister. They’d just stood by his bedside, keeping vigil. ‘I couldn’t understand why my sister was there as well,’ he remarked. Unknown to him, his sister had actually died the week before. Fearing the news might jeopardise his recovery, his family had kept it from him. Poor Fred never learned the truth, and died a week later. But possibly the most extraordinary case I know of personally is that of a Moroccan woman in her late 30s, who ran a clothes business. In November 2009, Rajaa Benamour had an anaesthetic injection for minor surgery, after which she found herself mentally scrolling through her entire life, right back to her birth. This was followed by what she could only describe as a rapid review of the creation of the universe. After being discharged from hospital, she started trying to find books about what she’d learned during her vision. Eventually, she realised that she had somehow acquired an in-depth understanding of quantum physics — despite never having previously known anything about the subject. This motivated her to study the subject at university level. The professor in charge of her studies was astounded. The knowledge she’d already acquired, he said, could not have come either from studying student textbooks or taking a quick course. Stranger still, he was puzzled by some of her scientific theories — yet they’ve since been confirmed by papers published in physics journals. Penny Sartori began her eight-year study as a cynic. But by the time it ended, she was convinced that near-death experiences are a genuine phenomenon As a staff nurse who’s worked in intensive care at British hospitals for 17 years, I’ve seen thousands of patients die. Some were heavily drugged or hooked up to numerous machines; many were no longer able to speak. Back in 1995, I began to wonder: is death so terrible that we must do everything in our power to delay it with powerful drugs and machines? What is death, anyway? What happens when we die? Why are we so afraid of it? So I began reading about death — and eventually came across the concept of near-death experiences, or NDEs. People who’d experienced these strange and intense visions all seemed to be saying the same thing: death is nothing to fear. Could they be right? My scientific training told me that NDE’s were almost certain to be hallucinations. Or wishful thinking. But, in the end, I decided to embark on a PhD on near-death experiences, while continuing to work in intensive care. I began my eight-year study as a cynic. But by the time it ended, I was convinced that near-death experiences are a genuine phenomenon. So what exactly is a near-death experience? At its simplest, it’s a clear and memorable vision that occurs when people are close to death — though only a small percentage of us will have one. Researchers now agree that each vision will contain at least one of several recognised components, such as travelling down a tunnel towards a bright light, meeting dead relatives, or having an out-of-body experience. As the person ‘leaves’ his body, he may hear a buzzing, whistling, whirring or humming sound, or a click. Another common component of NDEs is a beautiful garden with lush green grass and vividly coloured flowers. There may be a stream or river in the background. Some people enter the garden, while others reach a gate or barrier — and know that they’ll die if they go through it. Throughout an NDE, hearing and sight become more acute, and awareness is heightened. Often, the experience has been described to me as ‘realer than real’. As oxygen levels reduce in the blood, the brain becomes increasingly disorientated, confused and disorganised. Time ceases to have meaning. In many cases, it feels as if the vision has lasted for hours though the person may have been unconscious for only a few seconds or minutes. Sometimes, it feels as if time speeds up; sometimes it goes slower. After I started talking in public about my own work, hundreds of NDE survivors started writing to me with their own personal tales — and all of them had similar elements. Far from being attention-seekers, most of the people I interviewed had previously told only one or two people what had happened to them. Indeed, it’s often the case that people who’ve had NDEs are afraid of being ridiculed or disbelieved. Some who’ve reported an NDE have been misdiagnosed as having a psychiatric illness — often post-traumatic stress. And I know of one woman who was told she had unresolved emotional conflicts and ordered to take tranquilisers. Yet NDEs are not a new phenomenon at all; they’ve been reported throughout history. They also feature in some of the greatest books in history — including the Bible; The Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato; and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an ancient religious text about the interval between life and rebirth. It’s only in the past few decades, however, that scientists have tried to discover what causes NDEs. The most common theory is that they’re a quirk of the brain when it’s starved of oxygen. But this now seems extremely unlikely. As oxygen levels reduce in the blood, the brain becomes increasingly disorientated, confused and disorganised. I’ve witnessed this happening many times. And I can assure you that when most patients regain consciousness, they’re usually dazed and bewildered. This is in complete contrast to those who’ve had an NDE. With great clarity, they report structured experiences that, in many cases, remain vivid in their minds for decades. In other words, not at all what one would expect from a disorganised brain with greatly reduced blood flow. In any case, if near-death experiences are due to lack of oxygen, then all patients who had a cardiac arrest would have one. In fact, they do seem more likely than anyone else to have an NDE — but even in this group, the experience is comparatively rare. Researchers agree each vision will contain at least one of several recognised components, such as travelling down a tunnel towards a bright light, meeting dead relatives, or having an out-of-body experience In my own study, for instance, just 17.9 per cent of people who survived a heart attack had been through an NDE. Another nail in the oxygen theory is that two patients in my own study actually had blood extracted at the time of their near-death experience. Their oxygen levels were perfectly normal. Could NDEs, instead, be a side-effect of high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood, which can be another sign of approaching death? Again, unlikely. Although patients with high carbon dioxide levels can have out-of-body experiences and feel euphoric, their muscles twitch and jerk spasmodically while this is happening. That does not occur during a near-death experience. Are NDEs merely hallucinations caused by drugs? Clearly not — as 20 per cent of the patients in my sample, including Tom Kennard, had received no drugs at all. Indeed, when I analysed my research, I found that pain-killing and sedative drugs, particularly at high levels, seem to make it less likely that a patient will have an NDE. In other words, well-meaning doctors who over-sedate dying patients may be denying them a natural and comforting final vision. Furthermore, I also interviewed 12 patients who’d had drug-induced hallucinations. These were random and often frightening — such as being chased and stabbed with needles by drug dealers — but they bore absolutely no relation to NDEs. Another theory is that near-death experiences are caused by endorphins, the opiates made by the body itself. But long-distance runners have high levels of endorphins — and none of them have experiences comparable to NDEs. Moreover, if the body releases endorphins when we die, you’d expect everyone close to death to have a near-death experience. Nor is it at all likely that NDEs are merely a kind of wish fulfilment, as it is sometimes suggested. Well-meaning doctors who over-sedate dying patients may be denying them a natural and comforting final vision Most occur when a patient is taken ill unexpectedly, rather than contemplating their own death — so the individual simply doesn’t have time to think about what’s happening. One thing is clear: research has shown that near-death experiences often lead to a spiritual reappraisal. Some people undoubtedly become more religious after experiencing one — in a few cases even training for the priesthood. Others feel that their particular religion no longer adequately supports what was ‘revealed’ or felt during their NDE. Regardless of what they believe, though, they generally become more considerate of others. Marie-Claire Hubert, a nurse who had an NDE when she was hospitalised with meningitis, went through a tunnel and emerged to find dead family members, former patients and even long-dead pets. Now, she says: ‘I know for certain we do meet our loved ones eventually. It’s made me a better person and I try to do at least five kind things a day for other people.’ For some, their experience of what has been described as ‘unconditional love’ makes them re-evaluate what they do with their lives. Quite a few have actually retrained to become nurses or doctors or started doing voluntary work in a hospice. Pam Williams from Swansea had an NDE when she haemorrhaged after childbirth. While unconscious, she ‘saw’ a doctor bang on her chest, breathe into her mouth and insert a needle into her heart. ‘All the time this was happening, I felt fine: full of joy, peaceful, gently floating towards brilliant light. ‘Suddenly, in the distance, I heard my eldest daughter shout, “Mam”. I remember thinking, ‘Oh dear, Jacquie needs me,’ and I came back with a jolt. ‘I’m not a religious person but I [now] believe there’s a warm, peaceful, beautiful place after death.’ At the time of her NDE, Pam was an uneducated miner’s wife with four children. Afterwards, she says, she felt ‘a need to help and support others’ — so she trained as a nurse and, ten years later, became a sister on the coronary-care unit of a hospital in Sheffield. One woman has stopped wearing watches because they no longer work on her wrist. Another 'blows' light bulbs regularly Two lesser-known after-effects of NDEs — reported by many researchers — are that some people develop a new sensitivity to electricity or have problems with their wristwatches. Sometimes they don’t even connect the fact that their watch can’t keep time — or stops altogether — with what they’ve been through. When I started asking the people I was researching if they’d experienced this, I discovered that many had. One was a nurse — a colleague who’d had an NDE — who told me she’d stopped wearing watches after her own experience as they invariably didn’t work. Those who’d had particularly intense NDEs reported even more problems. One woman told me that she ‘blows’ light bulbs regularly when switching them on — so much so that this has become a standing joke in her family. ‘I’ve also been thrown backwards and right across a room several times when using or touching electrical appliances,’ she said. Disturbing in a different way were accounts from people who’d developed psychic tendencies after having a near-death experience. One woman told me she could subsequently foresee ‘bad things’ that were going to happen, and even predict when people were going to die. This has so traumatised her that she now rarely goes out — and then only when wearing headphones so that she can play loud music to distract her from her thoughts. A colleague of mine who had a NDE at nine years old claims to have similar powers. She says that ever since her vision, she’s been able to ‘read other people’s minds’ — which distresses her because she feels it’s morally wrong. Can all these people — and the many more that I’ve interviewed — be delusional? Or could there be far more to approaching death than scientists have ever acknowledged?

After an international break which seemed like an eternity, next up for Liverpool is a difficult away trip to Stamford Bridge. We are of course no strangers to Chelsea considering the amount of times we have played them in the league and Champion’s League over the last number of years. So expect some players to be quite familiar with each other by this stage. I would expect this game to be a cracker given the fact that both Villas-Boas and Dalglish are two managers who like to play attractive, attacking passing football. It certainly is set up to be the game of weekend. But will it be a Super Sunday for Liverpool? Liverpool go into the game on the back of a poor performance and poor result against Swansea at Anfield. All though a lot of credit must be given to Swansea for putting in a great display of football. Sometimes you have just got to put your hands up and say the opposition played well. Our last six reads DWDDWW. One thing noticeable in that form is the lack of defeats we have had over the last number of games. In fact our last defeat came back on 18th September, that infamous 4-0 loss to Tottenham. Again, as I mentioned in my last article, if we could just turn some of those draws into wins we would really be in the mix at the top of the table. We sit sixth in the table on 19 points, only 3 points behind Sunday’s opponents Chelsea who sit in fourth place. Chelsea having a 5+ better goal difference, so a 0-3 win on Sunday would see us climb above them in the table (Editor’s Note: We can dream can’t we?). We have the joint second best defence in the league this season, with ourselves and Man City conceding 10 goals apiece. This season’s surprise package, Newcastle United, so far top that list having only conceded a paltry 8. Added to that, Pepe Reina has kept 4 clean sheets in total and you can see we are gradually beginning to gel at the back. Chelsea go into the game on the back of an away 0-1 win at Blackburn, with Frank Lampard having scored the only goal of the game. Their form guide and last six reads WLLWWW. Those two defeats include a 0-1 away loss at QPR and that incredible game and 3-5 home loss to Arsenal. A game which may be held up as a template of how to beat Chelsea for the rest of the season. Chelsea sit in fourth place in the table, 3 points behind Newcastle (resisting the urge to say ‘surprise package’) in third and only 4 points behind Man United in second place. With Newcastle playing Man City away this weekend, Chelsea will see it as a great incentive to get 3 points and climb above them in the table. Chelsea Scouting Report So let’s take a look at how Chelsea may set up, their formation and some of their key players so far this season. Andre Villas-Boas is a manager who is more interesting than most in the Premier League. At aged 34 it is a phenomenal achievement to manage a top club like Chelsea. He is also a manager who has become accustomed to success, and at his previous club Porto had some fantastic successes, winning a treble of Portuguese Cup, League and Europa League. So we are dealing with a man who knows his football, his formations, and his tactics. His preferred formation of course is well known, and that is a 4-3-3 system. See graphic below: I expect the back four to be Cole, Terry, Ivanovic and Bosingwa as above, with both the full backs essential in providing some width to Chelsea’s attacking play. Mikel will play the holding role in front of the back four and as the game develops when the full backs sometimes get stranded up the pitch, expect Mikel to drop almost in between Terry and Ivanovic (as a third centre back) with both the centre backs finding themselves sometimes pushed out wider to cover in behind for the advancing Cole and Bosingwa. Lampard and Ramires will fill the more advanced central midfield positions and provide support for the front three. Expect both of them to make runs beyond the front three at points in the game, namely when either or both of Mata and Sturridge have not advanced into front positions quick enough to support the ball and Torres. Take a look at my graphic below, this is the Chelsea players average position for the entire game against Arsenal. A few things to note: how close Mata is to Torres, how advanced Lampard and Ramires are, how advanced their full backs are, and how high up the pitch both central defenders are. Chelsea will approach the game with their own well known tactic, which relies on players playing a high pressing game and winning the ball back as soon as possible, and preferably winning that ball high up the pitch. This is a fantastic tactic with the right players, quick players, mobile, with fleet of foot and technically gifted. Do Chelsea have these type of players though? I think the Arsenal game put some question marks over players such as Lampard, Ramires, Terry, Ivanovic and Bosingwa. Have these players got the attributes to play this high pressing game? Lampard, Terry and Ivanovic certainly aren’t quick, mobile and fleet of foot. It’s open to interpretation I suppose. Of course a natural consequence of playing high up the pitch is your defenders have to play a high line. And with that comes the very risky tactic of playing the offside game against their opponents. Chelsea are third in the table with 43 offsides provoked this season. Only Stoke, in first place on 54, and Arsenal in second place on 47, have used this tactic more often so far this season. See the chart below for an overview. Off course with Andre Villas Boas in charge his team obviously like to pass the ball. With 5387 total accurate passes (including throws and goal kicks) they outshine everyone else in the Premier League so far this season. Their nearest rival in the passing stakes are Man City with 108 less accurate passes with a total of 5279. See chart below for the full breakdown: Furthermore, on a percentage basis, when we look at Chelsea’s open play pass percentages they also come in joint first with Man City with an open play completed pass percentage of 86%. See chart below. So we can expect Chelsea to approach the game not only putting plenty of pressure on our players when they lose the ball but also using the ball intelligently with plenty of accurate passes when they are in possession. So let’s take a look at the stats of Chelsea’s key men in attack. As their central pivot front man they have Torres, Drogba or Anelka to choose from if that is they way they want to play. Mata and Sturridge usually play either side of Torres to make up Chelsea’s front three, and in behind the two central midfielders charged with getting forward and providing support are Lampard and Ramires. The table below indicates who the danger is amongst these players: Any highlighted green in the above table indicates that that is best stat in any particular category. For example: Frank Lampard has the best chance conversion rate at 35% and best shooting accuracy rate of 65% in the table. It’s clear from taking a quick glance at the table that Lampard, at aged 33, has more green highlighted than any other player. Rumours of his demise are greatly exaggerated perhaps? So we will have to watch out for the attacking runs of Lampard in behind our defence as he has 6 goals scored all ready this season, which is an excellent return for any midfielder. With Mata playing slightly to the left of Torres he has created more chances from open play than his front colleagues in the table at 16 chances created. Mata also has attempted more crosses at 14 than anyone else. Both Drogba and Anelka with only 7 appearances between them this season really don’t figure much on the table. So in summary Chelsea’s danger men are Lampard, with his goal return, shooting accuracy and excellent chance conversion ratio, and Mata with his chance creating and crossing skills. Special mention goes to our former player Fernando Torres with not one green category highlighted. Ouch. Liverpool Offensive/Defensive Formation By now I think we all know that Kenny likes his 4-4-2 formation. Or any variant of it such as 4-4-1-1. But for the Chelsea game I would really like him to change this to a 4-2-3-1. Something similar to how Arsenal lined up against Chelsea when they beat then 5-3 a couple of weeks ago. Here is my proposed line-up for the game against Chelsea: I think this is a system best suited to playing against Chelsea’s 4-3-3 system. With Chelsea overloading the midfield and with Mikel, Ramires and Lampard in there we are going to concede a lot of possession and territory if we have to rely on Charlie Adam breaking from midfield to provide our players with support. I believe we need both Adam and Lucas to sit in there and provide cover in front of Skrtel and Agger. Chelsea are quite fluid as an attacking force. With Lampard, Ramires, Sturridge and Mata all making runs beyond our back four and darting between the lines to create chances it is essential we don’t leave gaps in between the lines. Yes this may make us a little bit more defensive than usual, however with playing 4-2-3-1, the three behind Suarez of Downing, Bellamy and Kuyt should make up for that lack of attacking threat in the pivotal central midfield area. Chelsea are going to put us under a lot of pressure at the back with their high pressing game. So it will be extremely important that our back four are composed on the ball and try and keep passing the ball out of defence rather than knocking it long. If we panic and knock it long then Terry and Ivanovic will have a field day against the smaller Suarez up front and we may see the ball coming back at us and under waves of pressure. So Enrique and Johnson will have to make space on the wings to provide an outlet for the ball as Chelsea’s front three close our defenders down. So how do we score against Chelsea. I could write an essay on it. But simply, just ask Arsenal. Chelsea have conceded 15 goals this season and have only kept 2 clean sheets. I believe with the right tactics and formation this game is there to be won for us. I alluded to Chelsea’s high line in my scouting report of them, and this more than any other tactic is giving me hope that we can come back from Stamford Bridge with a positive result. Chelsea play such a high line it is open to be played through. If your going to play a high line and press up the pitch to condense the space it is imperative you put pressure on the ball. I don’t believe some of Chelsea’s players are suited to this tactic. Offside is a very difficult tactic to play. You need a really good, organised and consistent back four, who know each others movements inside out. This is extremely hard to maintain in the modern era. Especially with squad rotation, injuries, the amount of games played, language problems and different cultures and nationalities, all reasons that offside as a tactic is almost impossible to maintain. Below are both graphics stills I took from the Chelsea V Arsenal game. They are phase 1 and 2 of an attack by Arsenal in which they almost scored. This type of scenario happened time and time and again in this game. Chelsea are obviously in blue and Arsenal in red. The white represents where the ball broke down and is about to be played to Gervinho who is hugging the left touchline. Notice the position of the three Chelsea defenders, who are marking Van Persie. They couldn’t be further up the pitch. The next graphic is taken from when Gervinho received the ball. As you can see Gervinho now has the ball. But where are Chelsea’s three defenders? They are still in the same position. Instead of running backwards towards their own goal to prevent the ball going over the top of them they continue to hold the line and try to play offside. Its obvious to anyone what happens next. Gervinho plays the ball through the Chelsea defenders and Van Persie runs in on goal to create a clear cut chance. My next graphic illustrates what might happen with our proposed line-up above. As you can see this is my reason for playing Bellamy with Suarez. If both or either of Bellamy can isolate Terry or Ivanovic with a a ball over the top from the likes of Downing or Adam then Chelsea are going to find themselves in a lot of trouble. In a straight race for the ball over the top or through the lines with either Bellamy or Suarez there is only going to be one winner. The amount of space illustrated in blue in the above graphic that Chelsea leave in behind is incredible. If they continue to play such a high and dangerous line against us then in my opinion we need to exploit that with Bellamy and Suarez’s pace. You can see from the Guardian chalkboards heatmap above how much time both Terry and Ivanovic spend high up the pitch in the area just inside their own half. It’s also noticeable from this graphic the amount of time they spent in the full back positions covering for their comrades. So let’s take a look at the Chelsea defence compared to our own in the following stats table: Most of the Chelsea defenders compare very favourable to our own. And to be honest looking at the table there are not that many stats that are interesting or stand out. Highlighted in green is the worst stat for any particular player in any particular area. It’s noticeable that Ashley Cole is the one that stands out here. He makes more ground 50/50’s (101) than anybody else in the table yet has the lowest ground 50/50 win ratio at 44%. Hence my reason for picking Kuyt on the right handside of our line-up. Traditionally in these games Kuyt does well against Ashley Cole, and with Kuyt’s fighting ability and his height advantage it might be an area we can exploit. Especially as, unsurprisingly given his height, that Cole has only won 36% of his aerial 50/50 duels. As a side note, it’s worth noting here in red the amount of interceptions the Chelsea back four have made compared to our own. 99 between them compared to our lowly 37. Again this maybe a natural consequence of playing such a high line. You always need to be on the front foot with a high line, and cutting out through balls between you and your fellow defenders. Of course any LFC analysis can’t be complete without mentioning our poor chance conversion ratio. A lot has been made lately about it lately. It is worth noting that the quality of these chances are something that is not telling from the stats. It is also worth noting, to give it it’s proper name, that this is really a shot assist statistic. As you can see from the graphic below it is still at a poor 9%. Joint second bottom with WBA, QPR and Wolves. Relegation company some might say. So it really is becoming our Achille’s heel this season. If we are to get anything from this season it really is important that this statistic is improved over the next few games. As of now, it is becoming a worrying trend. As a final note, we should really end on some positive statistics. And while our chance conversion ratio is very poor we have the best ground 50/50 win percentage in the league so far this season. Something that is worth pointing out before we go into the game against Chelsea where the midfield battle will be pivotal to who wins the game. As you can see from the chart above, we have a ground 50/50 win percentage of 54%. Our nearest rivals in the table are Spurs at 53%, and our opponents on Sunday Chelsea on 51%. Will this enable us to dominate the midfield though? If Adam and Lucas sit then maybe as in my proposed line-up above then maybe. Here’s to 3 points and a win on Sunday. I’d appreciate any feedback on this post. Please do leave a comment! You can follow me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/artful_dodger74

The ACLU has intervened in the case of a lesbian high school student in Alabama whose principal has forbid her from attending prom with her girlfriend: "Cynthia Stewart, a 17-year-old junior at Tharptown High School in northern Alabama, is a member of her school’s prom planning committee, had personally raised over $200 for the prom, and created the theme her classmates had chosen for the dance. She is also an out lesbian. When Cynthia approached her principal to ask if she could bring her girlfriend with her to the prom, he said no. He also made Cynthia remove a sticker she was wearing that said, 'I am a lesbian,' telling her, “'You don't have that much freedom of speech at school.' Cynthia’s aunt and guardian, Kathy Baker, then appealed the principal’s decision to the school board. But the board let the decision to bar Cynthia from bringing her girlfriend to the prom stand." The school has apparently threatened to cancel the prom for everyone should Stewart bring her girlfriend. UPDATE: School reconsidering request!

An online portal called Newslaundry.com recently published a fact check report on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent interview to Arnab Goswami. Living up to the standards of Indian media, the “fact check” report is based on old data points, subjective interpretation of PM’s statements and even author’s personal opinion passed as facts. Here is a fact check of Newslaundry’s fact check (Note – This is NOT a rating of PM’s interview; this is just a fact-check score of what he said.) On the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: - Advertisement - - Article resumes - Narendra Modi: “I had said that within a given timeframe, we will open bank accounts for the poor. For something that had not been done for 60 years, setting a timeframe for it was in itself a risk.” Newslaundry: The Prime Minister’s claim that “something had not been done for 60 years”, referring to opening bank accounts for the poor, is patently false. Former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee launched a similar scheme in 2011 called Swabhimaan under the UPA government. While presenting the Union Budget for 2011-2012, the finance minister announced that under the scheme, banking services would be provided to 20,000 villages in the first year. Ultimately, the scheme ended up being merely an account-opening exercise. Modi has definitely brought renewed vigour to the scheme – along with rebranding it – but to claim that this is the first time bank accounts were opened for the poor is factually incorrect. Fact Check: While both Swabhimaan and Jan Dhan Yojna are financial inclusion schemes, there are several differences between the two pertaining to the target segments, coverage and facilities. While Swabhimaan was focused only in rural areas with population >2000, PMJDY aims for “comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country” (emphasis on ‘all’). And the results speak for themselves. As on 22 June 2016, 22.18 crore Jan Dhan accounts have been opened. So Jan Dhan is, in fact, the first pan India comprehensive financial inclusion scheme. Comparing it to Swabhimaan is an apples-to-oranges comparison. (Source – http://www.pmjdy.gov.in/account) Score – PM – 0.75 (-0.25 for he could have chosen better words) Newslaundry – 0.25 (-0.75 for selective interpretation) Narendra Modi: “The bank that he was seeing from afar, now he is able to enter that bank. This brings about a psychological transformation. Looked at in another way, did you ever imagine that 40 thousand crores could be injected into the banking system by contributions from the poor?” Newslaundry: This claim is correct. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana deposits, as of May, 2016, stand at Rs 38,048 crore. Fact Check: Newslaundry is correct. The latest data says that the total balance in Jan Dhan accounts is Rs. 39152.86 crore as on 22 June 2016. (Source – http://www.pmjdy.gov.in/account) Score – PM – 1 NL – 1 On the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana: Narendra Modi: “Now, like the initiative we have taken, we have started the Mudra Yojana. More than three crore people in the country comprise washermen, barbers, milkman, newspaper vendors, cart vendors. We have given them nearly 1.25 lakh crore rupees without any guarantee. Now just think, when three crore of these small businesses have got access to finance, they must have expanded their work. Now all this is not in the Labour Department’s registration. Three crore people have expanded their work.” Newslaundry: The government too has claimed that under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), 3.5 crore beneficiaries have availed loans worth Rs 1.22 lakh crore. However, the effect the scheme has had in boosting entrepreneurship and providing employment in the unorganised sector cannot be measured, as the Prime Minister himself suggests. Fact Check: The PM never quantified the employment generation effect of PMMY. So NL’s fact check should have been limited to verifying the loan amount and number of beneficiaries quoted by him. But NL deducted 0.5 from the score, saying that the effects of PMMY cannot be measured. I would recommend NL writers to do a course in basic economics before making such assertions. Government spending, regardless of the form of spending, always has a positive effect on employment opportunities, especially when the nature of spending is diversified (PMMY is not limited to any specific sector). Score – PM – 1 NL – 0.5 On the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana: Narendra Modi: “After Independence, for the first time, we have brought in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana which can cover maximum number of farmers.” Newslaundry: Crop insurance schemes have existed in India since 1985, when the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS) was launched by the Congress-led government. Since 1999, the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) have been functioning. Claiming that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana (PMFBY) is the first such scheme since Independence is thoroughly misleading. As for the claim that PMFBY “can cover maximum number of farmers”, it’s not possible to verify it as enrolment is still going on for the scheme. Fact Check: NL selectively chose only the first part of PM’s statement. For fact check, the statement must be considered in its entirety – After Independence, for the first time, we have brought in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana which can cover maximum number of farmers.” The last part of the sentence is important. CCIS was implemented only in 15 states and 2 UTs. NAIS and MNAIS, had failed to address the issues of high premium, linkage to crop loans and cap on claims. Due to the abysmal coverage they provided, most farmers were hesitant to subscribe to them. PMFBY aims to address these issues and will be a pan India scheme. So the PM is right in saying that this is the first scheme after independence which can cover maximum number of farmers. Score – PM – 0.75 (-0.25 for he could have chosen better words) NL – 0.5 Narendra Modi: “The farmer will have to pay only 2%, the government will take care of the rest.” Newslaundry: Under the scheme, farmers will have to pay a premium of 1.5-2% for food grains and oilseed crops. Also for cotton or horticultural crops, the premium can be as high as 5%. In contrast, under NAIS, premium rates were 1.5-3.5% for food grains and oilseed crops. Also, under MNAIS, premium rates were 2-15% (actual premiums under MNAIS could run up to 57%). Fact check: Newslaundry’s research is correct. Score – PM – 1 NL – 1 On development of infrastructure: Narendra Modi: “You must have seen that the maximum electricity generation since Independence has occurred this year.” Newslaundry: The Prime Minister’s claim is true, but PM Manmohan Singh could have made the same claim in 2007, 2012 and 2013, as could Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002. According to this government report (which traces the growth of India’s electricity sector), installed generating capacity has increased with every five-year plan from 1947-2015. Fact check: Newslaundry tactfully shifts the goalpost to installed generation capacity from actual power generation. While all governments deserve credit for capacity addition, India has always faced power shortage, primarily due to coal shortage and mismanaged discoms. Modi govt tackled this challenge head on and as a result, for the first time in history, India will not have power deficit situation. Score – PM – 1 NL – 0.25 (-0.75 for shifting the goalpost) Narendra Modi: “The maximum amount of coal mined has been in this year.” Newslaundry: According to this report from the National Statistical Organisation, production of coal and lignite has increased year-on-year between 2005 and 2014. Growth in coal production slumped between 2011 and 2012, but historically, production has yet to fall in absolute terms. Fact Check: NL again fails to read the statement in the context of what Modi govt inherited from UPA. Coal sector was plagued with scams and inefficiencies. Piyush Goyal introduced transparent practises like e-auctioning of coal blocks and removed bottlenecks. Result – Average coal stock in power plants increased by 200%, coal imports reduced, fuel costs for power plants are likely to go down and for the first time CIL is looking at commercially exporting coal to other countries. Score – PM – 0.75 (-0.25 for he could have given more details on coal reforms) NL: 0.25 (-0.75 for shifting the goalpost) Narendra Modi: “The maximum length of roads being constructed daily is happening in this year.” Newslaundry: Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari too has claimed that the government is building roads at an all-time high rate of 20 kilometres per day. The data, however, says that since the NDA government came to power in 2014, the highest rate of road construction was 15.70 km/day between April 2015 and January 2016. Moreover, this rate was matched by the previous UPA government in 2012-2013. Fact Check: The construction of highways touched an all-time high of 6,029km during 2015-16. UPA had achieved maximum of 5,732 km of national highways during 2012-13. Moreover, as of June 2016, NDA govt is on course to construct 28 KM of highways per day. Score – PM – 1 NL – 0.25 (-0.75 for using old data points) Narendra Modi: “The fastest loading and unloading of steamers at sea ports is happening now.” Newslaundry: Data for container traffic (unloaded/loaded) is not publicly available beyond 2013-2014, so it isn’t possible to confirm the Prime Minister’s claim. There is, however, information available about the total cargo traffic at India’s major ports for 2015. The tentative estimate for total cargo handled in 2014-2015 is 5,81,344 thousand tonnes — against 5,55,487 thousand tonnes in 2013-2014, a projected growth of 4.65%. In absolute terms, the amount of cargo moved is the highest since 1994-95. Fact Check: The average turnaround time in 2013-14 was 2.32 days, which reduced to 2.12 days in 2015-16. Source – http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/shipshape-performance-at-india-s-12-major-ports-116021501268_1.html Score – PM – 1 NL – 0.25 (-0.75 for poor research) On food inflation: Narendra Modi: “You see the fast pace at which prices were rising under the previous government, today that speed has decelerated a lot. You can see the statistics, you will find it there.” Newslaundry: While the PM is correct that food inflation is not as high as it was under the previous government, inflation for the month of May, 2016 was at 7.55%, the highest it has been since August, 2014. Two years of drought have definitely pushed the inflation up, but the government also had the advantage of historically low oil prices. Moreover, inflation has also been kept under check due to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) inflation policy, which involved keeping repo rates high, for which the Governor attracted criticism from the PM’s party. Fact Check: Newslaundry’s fact check on PM’s statement is not a fact check, but an opinion. While the author agrees that PM was factually correct, he tries to credit low fuel prices and RBI policies for low inflation. I fail to understand how this changes the fact that the inflation has reduced. Score – PM – 1 NL – 0.25 (-0.75 for trying to pass an opinion as a fact) Overall score – Narendra Modi – 9.25/10 Newslaundry – 4.5/10 Perhaps Newslaundry needs a lesson or two in research and fact-checking. Share This Post and Support:

What if the battery is not calibrated to begin with? You can delete batterystats.bin while its charging. Batterystats will get recreated if you were to unplug it. Otherwise, it get recreated at the boot logo before the animation. So you can delete it while it's charging, let it charge it up to 4200mV + 15 minutes or so. Leave it plugged in. Shut down, take out the battery, start it up and you get a battery screen with the ? and then pop the battery back in and it will show 60% at first and if it's fully charged, it will show 100% soon enough. Not sure if it works on other phones, but on droids and milestones you can boot the phone up without the battery. This way to calibrate is pretty cool. After deleting and charging, reboot phone normally but take the battery out before the logo and the phone keeps on booting. Then you pop the battery back in at the lock screen and you can monitor everything with battery monitor widget. Anyway, full guide in in my signature.

Martin Sichert, Alexander Tassis und Mirko Welsch am letzten Dienstag in Nürnberg (Bild: Youtube-Screenshots Kanal AfD Nürnberg) 21. Mai 2016, 10:51h, Bei einem entlarvenden Auftritt der "Homosexuellen in der AfD" in Nürnberg wurde gegen "schrille" Schwule gepoltert. Mirko Welsch bezeichnete Volker Beck als "Krebsgeschwür der Schwulenbewegung". Von Norbert Blech Bei Vorträgen ausgerechnet zum Internationalen Tag gegen Homo- und Transphobie haben die führenden Vertreter der "Homosexuellen in der AfD" am Dienstag in Nürnberg gezeigt, wie egal ihnen die Belange und Rechte von Schwulen und erst Recht von Lesben oder gar Transsexuellen sind. Die Veranstaltung am 17. Mai unter dem Titel "Schwule und Lesben gegen den Genderwahn" war vorab mit einem Banner in Regenbogenfarben auf dem rechten Hetzportal "Politically Incorrect" beworben worden und wurde im kleinen Saal der Meistersingerhalle von der AfD Nürnberg durchgeführt. Deren Kreisvorsitzender Martin Sichert, den der frühere Parteichef Bernd Lucke noch wegen revisionistischer Aussagen aus der Partei werfen wollte, behauptete zur Einführung, dass sich viele Homosexuelle an seine Partei wenden würden, da sie sich von Organisationen wie dem örtlichen LGBT-Zentrum Fliederlich nicht vertreten fühlten, "sondern gar in ein schlechtes Licht gerückt sehen: Sie wollen schlicht, ganz normal, Teil der Gesellschaft sein. Sie wollen nicht ihre Sexualität zum Markte tragen, vor allem nicht in einer schrillen Form." Ein Homosexueller habe ihm berichtet, wie "verstörend" diese Schwulen für ihn seien: Sie sorgten für "Unverständnis" in der Bevölkerung, weil diese Zurschaustellung vielen Menschen "zu schrill und zu belästigend" sei. Während also Schwule möglichst unauffällig sein sollen, beklagte Sichert "Denk- und Sprechverbote" u.a. durch ein Gender Mainstreaming und durch (vermeintlich) linke Organisationen, die in Wirklichkeit einer Diskriminierung Homosexueller Vorschub leisteten, indem sie gegenüber dem Islam und im Rahmen der Zuwanderungswelle "eine falsch verstandene Toleranz" zeigten. Errungenschaften von Jahrzehnten stünden auf der Kippe, so Sichert. "Und die Haute-Volée diskutiert weiter um Ampelweibchen, Unisex-Toiletten, die richtige Ansprache von Leuten, die sich nicht entscheiden können, welches Geschlecht sie haben." Gegen die "spätrömische Dekadenz" des Gender Mainstreamings Mirko Welsch, einer der beiden Bundesvorsitzenden der "Homosexuellen in der AfD", berichtete in seinem Vortrag, er habe in der Innenstadt einen Fliederlich-Stand gesehen und sich "fremdgeschämt" über die "Berufsschwestern", die sich "selbst vermarkten" und damit angeblich Geld verdienten, weil "sie selber sonst nichts auf die Reihe kriegen". Das reiht sich ein in eine lange Reihe von plumpen Angriffen Welschs gegen LGBT-Organisationen. Nach den jüngsten Landtagswahlen ließ er etwa auf einem Motiv den LSVD und die Zeitschrift "Männer" und queer.de wegkehren. Im Mai forderte er, dem LSVD und Aids-Hilfen die staatlichen Fördermittel zu streichen, da diese als "linksgrüne Parasiten" konservative LGBT ausgrenzten. Die Rhetorik ist bis ins Absurde hart – in Nürnberg bezeichnete Welsch etwa Volker Beck als "Krebsgeschwür der Schwulenbewegung in Deutschland". Sie überbietet sogar noch die LGBT-feindlichen Töne der offiziellen Parteivertreter. Die AfD-Homos bieten sich hier nicht nur als Feigenblatt an – Vorwürfe, die AfD sei homophob, konterte Welsch in seinem Vortrag lediglich mit Verweisen auf Homophobie bei Marx, Engels oder Fidel Castro. Sondern sie treiben die homophobe Politik auf die Spitze. So setzte sich Welsch auf dem Bundesparteitag vor wenigen Wochen, bei dem es mehrere LGBT-feindliche Positionen in das neue Grundsatzprogramm schafften, für einen schärfer formulierten Antrag gegen die "Propagierung der Homo- und Transsexualität" im Unterricht und für die Streichung aller Antidiskriminierungsgesetze ein (queer.de berichtete). "Gender Mainstreaming" sei "Dreck" und "sozialer Wohlstandsmüll", meinte er dazu über das Saalmikrofon. Auch in Nürnberg beklagte Welsch eine "Frühsexualisierung" durch Bildungspläne, die nur Pädophilen nützten. Welsch log sich da die Realität noch mehr zurecht als die "Demo für alle" oder Birgit Kelle: Was habe es mit der Erziehung zu Toleranz zu tun, fragte er, wenn Kinder in Kindergärten lernten, "sich gegenseitig den Finger in den Popo (zu) stecken?" Als "Homosexuelle in der AfD" sei man zudem die einzige Homo-Organisation, die "Ja zur traditionellen Familie als Keimzelle der Gesellschaft" sage. Jede "gesunde Gesellschaft" lebe davon, dass ein Kind bei Vater und Mutter aufwachse. "Und wenn ich mir dann anschaue, wie im Rahmen von Gender Mainstreaming Vater und Mutter abgeschafft werden sollen, zu Elter 1 und Elter 2, oder wenn ich sehe, dass man auf Facebook inzwischen aus 70 verschiedenen Geschlechtsvariationen auswählen kann: ( ) Das ist doch nicht mehr normal. Auf was lassen wir die zukünftigen Generationen los? Wie wollen wir eine zukünftsfähige Gesellschaft sein, wenn wir beginnen, eine solch spätrömische Dekadenz zu entwickeln?" Mit einem Einsatz für mehr LGBT-Rechte fiel Welsch in Nürnberg nicht auf. Im Gegenteil kritisierte er eine "Marktschreier-Mentalität" bei schwul-lesbischen Organisationen: Ständig werde Neues gefordert, "ohne zu fragen, ob wir Homosexuelle das wollen". Die Bevölkerung sollte stattdessen die Gelegenheit bekommen, sich an einen "Status Quo" zu gewöhnen. Ein Kampf auf der Seite von Kuby & Co. Während Welsch in der Meistersingerhalle den pöbelnden Haudegen der "Homosexuellen in der AfD" gab, versuchte sich der andere Bundesvorsitzende, der Bremer Bürgerschaftsabgeordnete Alexander Tassis, an einem intellektuellen Überbau. So lehnte er "Gender Mainstreaming", wie auch Multikulturalismus, ab "Konstruktivismus" ab. Freilich sind es die Gegner von LGBT-Rechten, die da überhaupt erst etwas konstruiert haben: Unter die Schlagworte "Gender Mainstreaming" und "Gender-Ideologie" vermischen sie erst die unterschiedlichsten Bereiche und Akteure von Frauen-Emanzipation, LGBT-Rechten, Wissenschaft und Philosophie zu einem großen Ganzen. Dieses umfassende und sich ständig weiter entwickelnde Narrativ geht zurück auf das Buch "Die globale sexuelle Revolution" der fundamentalistischen Theologin Gabriele Kuby, das von "Demo für alle", "Besorgten Eltern" oder Birgit Kelle ebenso als Anleitung zum Kampf genutzt wird wie von christlichen und kirchlichen Kreisen und rechtsextremen bis konservativen Parteien. Tassis, der das wissen müsste, kämpfte in Nürnberg selbst auf populistischer Front gegen angeblich "widerwärtigen, perversen Dreck" und "verschmutzte Quellen" in Lehrplänen und gegen den "Gender-Krimskrams": Alle Gender-Professuren seien aufzulösen, forderte er etwa. Das sei möglich, schließlich habe man nach 1945 auch alle Rassen-Lehrstühle aufgelöst. "Ich möchte das Gender Mainstreaming mit solchen Wahnideen des Nationalsozialismus explizit vergleichen. Es ist keine Wissenschaft, es ist Humbug, es ist Konstruktivismus und dient völlig anderen Zwecken." Die AfD sei eine Partei, "die alle, auch Schwule und Lesben, vor Sexualisierung durch Pornographie und Prostitution schützt", so Tassis. Homophobie sei in Deutschland kaum noch ein Problem, wichtiger seien "mutige Mütter und Väter, die sich wieder öffentlich zu ihrer Ehe und zu ihrer Familie bekennen". Die traditionelle Familie stelle aus "natürlicher Sicht eine einzigartige und hervorgehobene Harmonie" dar, die priviligert werden müsse. Die AfD sei aus Gegnersicht keine Gefahr, weil sie homophob sei – "das sind vorgeschobene Dinge" – sondern weil sie "die erste nationalkonservative Partei ist, die wieder glaubwürdig einen Patriotismus für alle Menschen" biete, "egal ob sie homosexuell oder transsexuell oder eben gewissermaßen normal veranlagt sind", sagte Tassis. Die Nation und der Volksgedanke seien eine ewige Konstante der Menschheit wie die Familie aus Vater, Mutter und Kindern. Der Männerbund als Gegenmodell zur aktuellen LGBT-Bewegung In Abgrenzung zur aktuellen LGBT-Politik ("Es ist eine Schande, was die Linken aus unserer Homosexuellenbewegung gemacht haben") entwickelte Tassis in seiner Rede eine Gesellschaftsutopie basierend auf dem "Wertekanon" im Deutschland des 16. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Die erste Homosexuellenbewegung sei eine "deutsche Leistung" gewesen, im Rahmen der "deutschen Denkleistungen" wie der Reformation. Er empfahl Basilius von Ramdohrs (1757-1822) Roman "Venus Urania" über das Liebesleben der Menschen für den Unterricht, als Teil "der deutschen Kultur". Als Karl Heinrich Ulrichs 1867 beim Juristentag eine rechtliche Anerkennung homosexueller Partnerschaften forderte, sei er "danach nicht gesteinigt worden und auch nicht vom Hochhaus geschubst worden", so Tassis. Ulrichs sei ein "großer Deutscher", ein "großer Patriot" gewesen. Man müsse "stolz" sein auf die "nationalkonservativen Denker" jener Zeit. Tassis ignoriert freilich, dass der vermeintliche Patriot Ulrichs Deutschland entnervt von einer zunehmenden Repression gegenüber Homosexuellen den Rücken kehrte und ins Exil ging. Während Tassis auf Magnus Hirschfeld und sein Schicksal nicht einging, bemühte er als Beispiel für die großen deutschen Denker einer homosexuellen Emanzipation noch dessen Zeitgenossen Hans Blüher. Er fasste ihn so zusammen, dass der Sinn von Homosexuellen sei, Heterosexuellen den Wert des christlichen Familienbildes und des Kinderkriegens bewusster zu machen. Was Tassis bei diesem zurückgenommenen Plädoyer für eine Duldung nicht sagte: Blüher, "Wandervogel"-Chronist und Idealist eines homosexuell angehauchten, staatslenkenden Männerbundes, war Antisemit, Antifeminist und antidemokratisch-elitärer Adelsanhänger. Ein Volk werde nur durch einen Führer zum Volk, schrieb dieser "Denker" 1918. Nach dem Krieg hielt er fest, dass er dem Nationalsozialismus als "konservative Revolution" zunächst wohlwollend gegenübergestanden habe, diese Haltung aber nach der Ermordung des "freien Männerhelden" Röhms und der danach einsetzenden Homosexuellenverfolgung änderte. Hitler habe sich damit "gegen den deutschen Adel und die Oberschicht und für den Neandertaler und seine Provokateure" entschieden. In Nürnberg, der Stadt der Reichsparteitage, ist man weniger geschichtsvergessen als Tassis. Die jährliche Demo zum Internationalen Tag gegen Homo- und Transphobie am 17. Mai führte traditionell entlang der Gedenkstätten der Stadt. Am Dienstag ging sie weiter bis zur AfD-Veranstaltung in der Meistersingerhalle; wenige Meter davon entfernt erinnert ein Dokumentationszentrum an die Reden und Massenaufmärsche der Nationalsozialisten auf dem ehemaligen Parteitagsgelände und an ihre Folgen.

World of Warcraft will be reaching a significant milestone with their 10 year anniversary this November. To think that 10 years ago we were just figuring out how to play the class you randomly chose and exploring Azeroth. The game has evolved greatly since those early days and has seen four expansions with a fifth on the way. At it’s peak WoW maintained 12 million subscribers, but has seen a steady decline since 2011 and now only has a mere 6.8 million subscribers. That’s nearly half of the players leaving, but still leaves it as one of the most played games in the world. Well, for those that still love to play WoW or have been looking for something fun to happen, Blizzard is going to tap into your nostalgia by bringing back a bit of the past. For a limited time only, Blizzard will run a new Battleground in the spirit of Tarran Mill and Southshore wars from the past and add a 40-man Raid Finder version of Molten Core for max level players. Oh and they are going to light some Corgis on fire… Hmmm? Alright, they aren’t actually setting Corgis on fire. Instead, just by logging in for the event, you will receive your very own Molten Corgi. Anyone who logs in during the 10-year anniversary event will also be able to claim a feisty, fiery new pet: the Molten Corgi! Just think of the corgi-parade potential when you and your friends summon these wee waddling balls of fire for a walk. Tarren Mill vs. Southshore: The Rematch In the early days of WoW, there were a few places where the Horde and Alliance would clash. One of those places was in a mid level zone where a Horde town (Tarren Mill) and an Alliance town (Southshore) were close together and had quests for both factions in the area. This was also a contested zone on PvP servers which meant just being in the zone allows the opposite faction to attack you. Do to the proximity of the two towns, and a reasonable amount of hate towards the opposite faction, players would grieve low levels players and cause an all out war between factions in the area. This was before the implementation of Battlegrounds and was a good source of PvP if you craved to fight the Horde or Alliance. Blizzard is going to attempt to recreate that with their new Battleground Tarren Mill vs. Southshore: The Rematch. If you engaged in PvP early on in WoW, you might have fond memories of—and perhaps a few scars from—the endless tug-of-war between Horde and Alliance players at Tarren Mill and Southshore. To recapture that feeling, we’ll be opening a Team Deathmatch–style Battleground based on that timeless struggle. However, unlike the old days of Tarren Mill vs. Southshore, there will be a clearly defined victor, so you’ll need to work as a team or face crushing defeat. One of things not mentioned about the new Battleground was how many people would be able to play it? Luckily, Holinka took to Twitter to answer that question. 100 v 100 is an amazing number and should bring back some of the feel of PvP 10 years ago with multiple 40 man raids battling it out near Tarren Mill. Holinka also noted that the old Honor System will be in affect and allow players to level up to higher ranks and be worth more points. Just so you know, you need to kill A LOT of people to make it to Grand Marshal or High Warlord…trust me…I know. As players earn honorable kills, they level up through the original honor system. The higher rank you are, the more points you're worth. — Holinka (@holinka) August 6, 2014 Molten Core Gets Boosted Molten Core was the first true raiding instance in WoW and for some it is either a fond memory or a nightmare from long ago. Molten Core was a 40-man instance that introduced new boss mechanics (living bombs, curses that need to be cleansed, spatial awareness, etc.), attunement, Tier 1 gear, and rep grinding to unlock the final boss. Guilds would spend weeks upon weeks farming the instance to gear up 40 people to even have a chance at taking down Ragnaros. They had to craft and farm fire resist gear and plan out fire resist buffs so that players could even stand in his presence. The raid also depended on the majority of the 40 people not fucking up so that the entire raid wouldn’t wipe on a boss and reclear trash. To commemorate that struggle, Blizzard is introducing a 40-man Raid Finder version of Molten Core for max level players. Molten Core provided many WoW players with their first taste of WoW raiding. For the anniversary celebration, max-level players will be able to participate in a special 40-player Raid Finder version to relive the experience of hunting down Ragnaros and his minions within his fiery lair. Downing the Firelord will earn you an Achievement and a special Core Hound mount reward (fireproof leg armor not included). Once you defeat the new and improved Molten Core, you’ll receive and outrageously large Corehound mount for your troubles along with an achievement. But remember that this is for a limited time only, so come November by ready to take on the Firelord so you can claim your prize. Sources: MMO-Champion, Curse, Blizzard

The basic audio mixing workflow So what’re the mixing basics? Just like most processes — and especially in audio mixing — everyone has their own opinions. Right or wrong, who knows? That’s fair. But there are essential mixing basics that everyone should follow. The right mix to work with Believe it or not, you should be mixing before you mix. Lost? I’ll explain. What are the main textures you’re looking for in your track? What kind of space are you trying to create? Upfront and punchy? Or distant and reverberant? Work on bringing the most character out of your sounds while you're in the early stages of recording. Think about the big picture while recording or choosing your initial sounds. Push the original recordings as far as you can without heavy processing. Get an early sense of where you are heading for the final mixdown. Commit to good sounds early and avoid endless tweaking later in the mixing stage. Cut the fuss. Use a bus. Picture a yellow school bus. Now picture it with a bunch of sounds riding it. This is what a bus is in a mix. By sending multiple sounds to one track (the bus) you can apply the same processors to them all at once. It’s very handy. Try it out on a drum bus. This allows you to process all your drum sounds as one unit. Treat them with the same reverb to give the perception that they’re all in the same space. Or Set up a delay or compression bus. Experiment with which sounds you send to what bus. I guarantee you’ll get some very useful results. HOT TIP: Commit to good sounds early and avoid endless tweaking later in the mixing stage. Balance your levels Time to give your mix a little haircut. A little snip here, a little trim there. Balance those levels and don’t be afraid to give parts the big chop. Drop the drums for a bar, crank up that vocal for a verse. Get loose. Get a basic balance of your levels before you go crazy with effects processing. Trim ‘em so they don’t clip later. Think about headroom early. Keep a final goal in mind as you balance all of your tracks. This will give you a rough idea of how each track will eventually fit together. Processing will smooth out your rough ideas. Planning on panning So what is panning? Panning helps you control the width of a mix. It’s the left to right breadth of the stereo field. Panning allows for sounds to be placed in your mix properly. Either to the left, or the right of the stereo center. Keep your heavier or lower sounds near the centre. This means the bass or the kick. Use them as a centring force that you can work around. If everything is panned centrally, your mix will sound flat or crowded.

The late, great manager Sparky Anderson once said, “You give us the pitching some of these clubs have and no one could touch us, but God has a way of not arranging that, because it’s not as much fun.” Rockies fans can certainly relate, though they might not be laughing. When they flock to Coors Field and watch a team stocked with talented young position players they can’t help but wonder, “If we only had some pitching … ” Jeff Bridich can relate, too. On Sunday, he’ll arrive at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, D.C., to begin his third winter meetings as Rockies general manager. Acquiring a first basemen will be near the top of his off-season to-do list, but finding more reliable arms will be front and center on his hot stove burner. The major moves Bridich has made — from trading star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto for three pitching prospects in 2015, to recently hiring former big-league pitcher Bud Black as Colorado’s new manager, to retaining Steve Foster and Darren Holmes as pitching coaches — illustrates Bridich’s constant quest to improve the Rockies on the mound. That said, some of Bridich’s most high-profile miscues have come trying to fill holes on the pitching staff. In February 2015, he signed veteran right-hander Kyle Kendrick to a one-year, $5.5 million contract. It was a disaster. Kendrick went 7-13 with a 6.32 ERA. Last winter, Bridich signed right-handed relievers Jason Motte (two years, $10 million) and Chad Qualls (two years, $6 million). The duo combined for just 56 innings pitched and a 5.14 ERA. Bridich remains undaunted. “One of the major goals of the last two years is to find ways to, in a multitude of different ways, better ourselves from a pitching depth standpoint,” he said. “The goal is to utilize all our assets looking at pitching and looking at, “Who are the good young pitchers? If we’re going to make trades, who are the types of guys we should go take chances on?'” Translation: Bridich knows more moves are necessary to upgrade a bullpen that posted a 5.13 ERA last season, worst in the majors, and end a cycle where the Rockies have averaged 92 losses over the past six seasons. New pitching philosophy Dig deeper than the won-loss record and it’s clear Bridich is overhauling the franchise’s pitching blueprint. Long gone is the four-man piggyback rotation. The Rockies also have scrapped the idea that only a certain type of pitcher — a sinkerball specialist as a starter, or a flamethrower out of the bullpen, for example — can tame the beast that is Coors Field. “We talked about that in my (job) interview,” Black said. “Is there a certain style that works here? I don’t think so. You know what works here? Good pitching, and making pitches and getting outs.” The four returning stalwarts of the Rockies rotation illustrate Black’s point: Right-hander Jon Gray is a power pitcher who racks up strikeouts; left-hander Tyler Anderson is a control artist with an excellent changeup; right-hander Chad Bettis utilizes four different pitches and right-hander Tyler Chatwood’s sinker induces a lot of groundballs. “I think any style can work at Coors, if the pitcher makes his pitches,” Black said. Mark Wiley concurs. Entering his 48th year in professional baseball, Wiley has been Colorado’s director of pitching operations since 2013. He oversees pitching from the minors to the majors and helped design a top-to-bottom pitching plan for the entire organization. “When I first returned here, there was definitely a focus on guys who could throw sinkers or guys who would throw two-seamers,” said Wiley, who was with the Rockies previously as assistant to player development from 2006-07 and as director of player personnel in 2000. “There was definitely an effort to acquire guy that threw a two-seamer or had a special sinker. “But as time evolved, we realized that there is a value to guys who throw sinkers, but there is also a big value to guys who have power fastballs, who can pitch up in the strike zone. And value to guys who have a real good changeup. It really isn’t that much different than any other place.” Bettis is thrilled with the change in philosophy. “It’s great, especially coming from the guys upstairs, understanding that we aren’t robots and that every guy is different,” he said. “I mean, what I have isn’t what Gray has, and what Gray has isn’t what Anderson has.” Bridich and Wiley, along with Doug Linton and Darryl Scott, the team’s minor-league pitching coordinators, have installed a strict set of criteria that young pitchers must follow in order to move up. The education begins with rookie ball in Grand Junction. Right-hander Jeff Hoffman, the centerpiece of the Tulowitzki trade, is a prime example of how the system works. Fans would see Hoffman’s prowess at Triple-A Albuquerque — a seven-inning, five-hit, 11-strikeout performance vs. Reno last June, for instance — and wonder why he wasn’t in the big-league rotation. But the Rockies wanted Hoffman to improve such things such as his pitch command and controlling the running game. “It’s not only about game awareness at the big-league level, it’s about mastering pitches,” Wiley said. “For example, guys that don’t have what we classify as a quality, big-league changeup yet, they have to work on it. We make them use it and develop it.” Results of the Rockies’ system-wide plan have been decidedly mixed, tainted by the bullpen’s multiple meltdowns last season that resulted in 28 blown saves, third-most in the National League. Yet there is promise, too. Opponents hit just .257 against Rockies last season, the fifth-best mark in franchise history and Rockies pitchers had 1,223 strikeouts, second most in club history. Counting on rotation Gray, Anderson, Chatwood and Bettis, the four starters who will form the core of the 2017 rotation, have a chance to become one of the best rotations in club history. The foursome went a combined 41-33 (.554 winning percentage) with a 4.28 ERA, the best mark since the 2009 rotation that led the Rockies to their last playoff appearance went 67-48 (.582) with a 4.05 ERA. “I think I speak for all four of us, when I say we can be really good,” Bettis said. “It’s a lot of fun, and what’s great is that we are still young and we are pushing each other.” What Wiley likes about the Rockies’ current crop of pitchers is their attitude. “Jon Gray is tough. Tyler Anderson is tough. Chad Bettis is tough. ‘Chatty’ is really tough,” Wiley said. “One of the first things we talked about when I came back here was, ‘If you weren’t tough, you are not going to be around.’ Because there is always going to be adversity (at Coors Field) … “We want guys who can handle it and don’t back away from it. We want guys who can win a game 6-4. We want a guy who can give up four runs in an inning and then battle through to the seventh inning.” Toughness, however, must be paired with talent, and Colorado’s bullpen lacked proven talent last season. While Bridich said he expects rebound seasons from left-hander Jake McGee, as well as Motte and Qualls, the Rockies will likely make moves to prop up the bullpen. Bridich has acknowledged free-agent talks with veteran closer Mark Melancon and left-hander reliever Mike Dunn, but he’s also said there are in-house candidate for late-inning roles. Those include right-hander Adam Ottavino, who took over as closer at the end of last season after recovering from Tommy John surgery; McGee, who’s trying to come back from a knee injury in June and show he can still bring the heat; and rookie right-hander Carlos Estevez, who was prematurely forced into the closer role in midseason because of injuries. “We are getting a lot of young guys through they system who are going to be able to help us in the bullpen,” Wiley said. “We didn’t have a lot of those guys before.” PITCHING PROGNOSIS The Rockies will be looking to improve their pitching this winter, either through free agency or a trade. Their major focus is the bullpen, which posted a major-league worst 5.13 ERA this year. The Denver Post Rockies beat reporter Patrick Saunders offers a snapshot of the team’s current crop of pitchers and top prospects: Established starters: LHP Tyler Anderson: The 2011 first-round pick blossomed in 2016 into a crafty control pitcher with a solid 3.54 ERA. RHP Chad Bettis: Staff workhorse won 14 games and went 7-2 with 3.75 ERA over last 14 starts. RHP Tyler Chatwood: Wonderful on the road (8-1, 1.69 ERA) but erratic at Coors Field (4-8, 6.12 ERA) RHP Jon Gray: Consistency is necessary next step for the Rockies’ strikeout king and most dominant pitcher. Fifth-starter candidates RHP Jeff Hoffman: Product of Troy Tulowitzki trade flashed talent but was uneven in six big league starts. RHP German Marquez: Began his season at Double-A; a September callup who shows promise as a starter or a reliever. Bullpen returners RHP Carlos Estevez: Erratic flamethrower who made 63 appearances but was 11 of 18 in save chances. Rookie was erratic. RHP Jordan Lyles: Appears best suited as a middle reliever after going 3-3 with a 4.42 ERA in 35 appearances. LHP Jake McGee: Huge disappointment with a 4.73 ERA and diminished fastball velocity, due in part to an injured knee. RHP Jason Motte: Shoulder problems limited his workload; 4.94 ERA made his two-year, $10 million, free-agent deal look bad. RHP Adam Ottavino: Returned from Tommy John surgery, but struggled, blowing five saves in 12 chances. RHP Chad Qualls: Injury and illness limited Qualls to an ineffective 44 appearances and an ugly 5.23 ERA. LHP Chris Rusin: Versatile and reliable, he’s become Colorado’s best long reliever. In limbo RHP Eddie Butler: Former first-round pick posted ugly 7.17 ERA this year. RHP Miguel Castro: Showed dynamite stuff early, but shoulder woes limited him to 14 ⅔ big-league innings. RHP Jairo Diaz: A talented, hard thrower missed the 2016 season with Tommy John surgery; figures to be late inning reliever in 2017. RHP Scott Oberg: Sustained blood clots in right arm; Rockies hopeful he can make full recovery. On the horizon RHP Yency Almonte: Has a 95-96 mph fastball, hard slider; projects as No. 4-5 starter or long reliever. RHP Shane Carle: Moved to reliever in AAA and posted 3.60 ERA with 18 strikeouts and four walks in 15 innings. RHP Matt Carasiti: His 9.19 ERA illustrates his rocky two months in the majors, but he didn’t allow a run in final eight outings. LHP Kyle Freeland: Posted a 3.91 ERA in 12 Triple-A starts and likely will make his MLB debut in 2017. LHP Sam Moll — Struggled at AAA, posting a 4.94 ERA. He projects as a possible left-on-left specialist in the majors. RHP Antonio Senzatela: Dynamic fastball/slider combination brought him to Double-A by age 21; lost most of 2016 season due to shoulder inflammation. BRIDICH’S BUSINESS Jeff Bridich, 39, has been the Rockies general manager since Oct. 8, 2014. Following are the major player moves made during his tenure: 2014 Signed RHP Jair Jurrjens as a free agent @ Traded RHP Rob Scahill to Pirates for RHP Shane Carle % Signed LHP John Lannan as a free agent # Signed RHP Jose Ortega as a free agent # Signed OF Jason Pridie as a free agent @ Signed LHP Aaron Laffey as a free agent @ Signed RHP Brett Marshall as a free agent # Signed RHP Justin Miller as a free agent @ Signed C Audry Perez as a free agent # Traded RHP Juan Nicasio to Dodgers for minor-league outfielder Noel Cuevas + Traded infielder Josh Rutledge to Angels for minor-league RHP Jairo Diaz % Signed outfielder Matt McBride as a free agent @ Signed LHP Buddy Boshers as a free agent # Signed infielder Daniel Descalso as a free agent @ Signed RHP Jason Gurka as a free agent @ Signed outfielder Roger Bernadina as a free agent # 2015 January Signed catcher Nick Hundley as a free agent @ Signed RHP Rafael Betancourt as a free agent @ Traded catcher Jose Briceno and catcher/outfielder Chris O’Dowd to Braves for RHP David Hale @ and RHP Gus Schlosser # February Signed third baseman Josh Vitters as a free agent # Signed RHP John Axford as a free agent @ Signed RHP Kyle Kendrick as a free agent @ March Released RHP Jhoulys Chacin @ July Traded RHP LaTroy Hawkins and SS Troy Tulowitzki to Blue Jays for RHP Jesus Tinoco +, RHP Miguel Castro %, RHP Jeff Hoffman $ and SS Jose Reyes @ November Traded RHP Tommy Kahnle to White Sox for RHP Yency Almonte % Traded RHP Rex Brothers to Cubs for LHP Wander Cabrera + December Signed RHP Jason Motte as a free agent $ Signed RHP Chad Qualls as a free agent $ Signed 1B Mark Reynolds as a free agent @ Signed outfielder Alex Castellanos as a free agent # Signed LHP Yohan Flande as a free agent @ 2016 January Signed 1B/OF Stephen Cardullo as a free agent $ Signed OF Gerardo Parra as a free agent $ Traded 3B Kevin Padlo (minors) and OF Corey Dickerson to Rays for RHP German Marquez $ and LHP Jake McGee $ February Acquired catcher Tony Wolters off waivers from Indians $ March Signed utility infielder Ryan Raburn @ June Released SS Jose Reyes @ KEY $ Currently on Rockies’ active roster % Currently on Rockies’ 40-man roster + Currently in Rockies minor-league system @ Played for Rockies, no longer with team # Never played for Rockies

There has been another delay in the disciplinary proceedings for former Victoria police chief Frank Elsner. Elsner was scheduled to appear for a disciplinary hearing on Monday on allegations of workplace harassment, but that has now been moved to Nov. 6. His previous lawyer was appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court. and he has new counsel. Elsner has another hearing scheduled on Nov. 21 related to allegations that he gave misleading information to an investigator looking into inappropriate Twitter messages sent to the wife of a Victoria police officer. In May, Elsner resigned as police chief after being suspended with pay in April 2016 for sending sexually charged social media messages to a female of another police force. A B.C. Supreme Court judge later tossed out two of five allegations against Elsner, but a probe continues into allegations Elsner contacted witnesses related to the complaint and gave misleading information to investigators. With files from The Canadian Press

RN In general we regularly produce reports on the socioeconomic impact of the crisis. We use different methodologies. But essentially we make a comparison between our baseline scenario — as if the crisis had not happened — and what has actually transpired. Basically, the economy has been systematically destroyed. First, Syria’s capital stock is lost. There has been direct destruction as a result of the armed conflict, and there is currently a great deal of idle capital in Syria due to the security conditions. The second point is the loss of human capital, either because of displacement, migration, or because of death and injury. We have lost a lot of skilled workers. And we have lost a huge amount of human capital in Syria. Third, there has been a loss of infrastructure: there was a huge infrastructure for health, education, telecommunications, industry — we have lost it, and we have lost the networks between some Syrian markets and other markets both inside and outside Syria. Furthermore, especially after the armed conflict began, people migrated out from Syria, and there has been outflow of capital, especially private capital. The only reliable remaining network for the economy has been government salaries. The government continues to pay its salaries. So this is one part of the economy that continues to function. The other part is the agricultural sector, which continued producing well until last year. But then it took a turn for the worse, and as a result food security deteriorated greatly in the country. All the basic pillars of the economy have been partly destroyed. And these used to be, at least to a large extent, its sources of growth. This is one aspect of the economic problems. The other part is the creation of a violence economy — a lot of people have started to contribute to the fighting, and they now have incentives from smuggling, killing, and widespread theft across the country. And the institutions which had been central to long-term growth are in bad shape. And of course this social movement, which started as a peaceful movement, has been diverted from the main road and now we are facing a loss of social capital. Furthermore, there has been a deterioration in social services, such as education. We have lost some of Syria’s main strengths, like an educated population. Now most of the new generation is outside the educational system, and outside the reach of the health services, too. Fragmentation within Syria as a result of the armed conflict is pervasive, and now we have the phenomenon of fundamentalism. We call those contributing to the armed conflict subjugating powers. They are not just inside Syria. They are inside and outside, and they are financing and supporting the influence of tyranny and fundamentalism. This is destroying the social fabric of the Syrian people, the culture of Syria, and of course destroying the idea of a future. Most people are trying to leave the country, and so stabilization is not possible.

On issues of environment and energy development, the opinions of Albertans are diverging sharply from the rest of the country, according to a new Forum poll for the National Post. The Forum Research survey, which questioned 1,863 Canadians and 682 Albertans across the country at the beginning of April, found a deep ideological split between the country’s oil-rich region and the other provinces. “There’s been some speculation about the differences between the east and the west and I guess this confirms that. But when when we say those differences are in the west, they’re more centred in Alberta,” said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research. A majority of Albertans, for example, supported construction of the contentious Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines. A full 72% of Albertans surveyed believe in climate change, but they were less likely to attribute the phenomenon to human activities than Canadians elsewhere. Of the 545 Albertans who believed in climate change, only 55% said it was caused by human activity. That was on par with respondents in Atlantic Canada, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but very different from Quebec and B.C., where 78% and 72% respectively attributed the change to non-natural phenomena. About 64% of Ontarians surveyed believed the same. While it should probably come as little surprise to see Albertans favouring policies that serve their own economic interests, the rest of Canada seems just as ready to do the same. While the rest of the country overwhelmingly opposes Keystone XL and Northern Gateway, they seem to have no compunctions about benefiting from the wealth those pipelines and the oil in them would help generate. About 60% of Canadians believe provincial resource extraction revenues should be shared equally. In Ontario 72%, felt this way, as well as 69% of Liberal supporters. Approximately a third of Albertans tend to welcome the idea of sharing the wealth. “[Central Canada] wants to eat their cake and have it too, right. You have to forgive people who want to do that, I think. It’s kind of a human trait,” Mr. Bozinoff said. “That probably bothers people in the industry and in Alberta. People in the east are consuming plastics and everything else.” [Central Canada] wants to eat their cake and have it too The survey found Canadians are split more by their region on these issues than by income, gender or education. Following other polls, the survey also recorded an emergent Justin Trudeau. Canadians were asked which leader was best able to represent the interests of their respective regions. On the whole, they were about equally split between the new Liberal leader and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. About a quarter of the respondents said Mr. Harper was best able to represent their region. That tracked with the 27% who awarded the distinction to Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Harper remains the favourite in Alberta, while Mr. Trudeau has the edge in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. NDP opposition leader Thomas Mulcair did not lead in any individual region. While most of the poll questions centred around the oil industry, Mr. Bozinoff said Albertans have always tended to march to the sound of a different drummer. This is as true in politics and economic issues as in anything else. That said: “If you look at the NDP or the Liberals, even in Alberta you saw in the recent Calgary Centre byelection that there are national currents … that do affect the province.” The poll also found about a third of Canadians believe the western provinces are an equal partner in Confederation. Fewer than that, 31% said they were a less dominant partner. About one in five respondents believe the west dominates the country. In Alberta, about half said the west is not dominant. As many as 41% of Conservatives believe the west still “wants in.” That compares to 26% of Liberals and 29% of NDP supporters. The poll, conducted through an interactive recorded telephone survey on April 3 and April 8 is considered accurate within a margin of error of between +/- 3%. National Post

I went in thinking I would prefer the Porsche. I generally like Porsches, because they're subtle, and understated, and they don't like to be the center of attention, just like me. I wear old t-shirts. Porsches are for people who wear old t-shirts. Ferraris are for people who wear form-fitting silk shirts with dragons on them. So I drove the Porsche, and I loved it. Of course I loved it. I generally love older Porsches, and I had driven this particular model of Porsche before, and it was just as good as I remembered. Next up, I would drive the Ferrari. I knew I would enjoy it, sort of, and then I'd film a scene where I tell people that the Ferrari is cool and all, but it's also annoying for about 47,000 reasons, so I personally prefer the Porsche. Then I drove the Ferrari. The Ferrari is cool and all. It's also annoying for about 47,000 reasons. But I'm not so sure I prefer the Porsche.

An international conservation group says Alberta should get rid of bounties on wolves. Several municipalities and some private hunting groups pay the bounty, but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature says it's not an effective way to control the population. Carolyn Campbell of the Alberta Wilderness Association agrees, arguing the Alberta government has to find a better method. "It should be leading the scientific management of wolves, not a bunch of private hunting groups or local municipalities that may be well-meaning but are not actually addressing the problem in a modern way." Campbell says Alberta Fish and Wildlife's own scientists have also said bounties are not effective and the province needs a more scientific method to deal with problem wolves. Lu Carbyn, a retired wolf biologist and a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, agrees the bounty system used in Alberta is flawed. “It’s an archaic and old-fashioned way of managing wildlife,” he said. “It’s a blanket approach, it’s open for abuse. There’s no way that you can control how the animals were killed, where they come from. You can be bringing in wolf carcasses from, you know, Saskatchewan and you can present them here for sale as bounties.” Carbyn says Alberta should instead use predator control officers to specifically target wolves that are preying on livestock. Officials in Idaho and Wyoming have had good success going after problem wolves using aerial hunting, he said. One reason wolves are thriving in Alberta is that the deer and elk populations are also doing well, according to Carbyn.

With Zapad 2013, Russia's answer to NATO's Steadfast Jazz military exercise, continuing in parts east, ERR News profiles a piece that originally ran on February 13. One year ago, Russia unveiled a new doctrine: then presidential candidate Vladimir Putin openly avowed an intention to radically expand and upgrade the Russian military. As of February 2013, the country continues to pursue the biggest military buildup in years in its western military district, which is flush up against Baltic borders and already easily the country's most powerful in conventional military terms. These developments mark the culmination of a process going back to 2009, a crucial period in the year after the Russia-Georgia war. While the US pursued a "reset" in relations, Russia made changes in its laws on protecting its diaspora, and generals once known for eccentric pronouncements (General Nikolai Makarov's comment about Finland from last summer being a good recent example) moved into the inner circle of the Putin administration, where their language is increasingly indistinguishable from the official line, say experts. Daily life in this part of the EU remains the same, of course, with relations on the external border said to be improving and the main concerns being issues like visa freedom, not the first batch of Iskander missiles that Russia installed in 2011. But government circles in Estonia have taken notice of the movements, such as Russia's improving capabilities for operations in places with developed road infrastructure, such as the Baltics. And there's the big geopolitical fact that Russia chooses to contain much bigger and more militaristic China using traditional nuclear deterrents while arming itself to the hilt against a bloc of democratic nation-states. It's unclear how much NATO's own actions are driving the escalation, but only one side (Russia) has mentioned a "pre-war state," which has drawn a response. You can't miss the stories in the Estonian media about 10-year defense plans being revised, the emphasis on terms like "total defense" and "primary response" - both of these related to the crucial two days before NATO ground forces can arrive - and plans to increase the number of rapid response Defense Forces personnel to 21,000 and the number of reservists to 90,000 by 2022. The Ministry of Defense has ramped up its public relations efforts, sending out press releases about base renovations and such, all of which presumably is meant to have an added deterrent effect - it's not hard to imagine scenes from the Winter War and a deadly efficient, mobile and responsive Estonian army patrolling the forests and fields. With a bit of a lag time, even the Latvians, who have been considered much more passive on national defense, are sitting up. Uudised.err.ee reported last week on concerns in their defense ministry over an increase in Russian air force activity. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, in delivering a national defense report to the country's parliament last week, said, no doubt speaking for many in the region: "We've noticed that in the last year, Russian military activity has increased in the Baltic Sea region - both at sea and from the air. It is important that the objectives of Russia's higher military power be transparent." Gliding in for a landing As candid as Putin's programmatic articles are, there may be more to transparency than a straight reading of speeches. Vladimir Juškin of the Baltic Center for Russian Studies in Estonia is probably the local researcher who has shed the most light on - and through - what Estonia's big, not-technically-an-enemy but gruff bear of a neighbor really wants. If there's one unit in the Russian military that you should be aware of, according to Juškin it's the VDV - the Airborne Troops - which has proud traditions. At its head is Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov. Since Shamanov was appointed in 2009, a long-running theme in the Kremlin was Shamanov vs Serdyukov - the former pushing for restoring the VDV to its Soviet glory days while Defense Minister Anatoli Serdyukov argued for cutbacks. Serdyukov resigned in November. In an interview with ERR News, Juškin relates the reaction, quoting a retired colonel: "On the floors and in the offices of the Ministry of Defense, the news of the resignation Serdyukov was accepted just as our fathers at the time accepted the news of the victory over Nazi Germany." Remember Putin's flight of the cranes a bit earlier that year? It was widely lampooned as yet another macho feat by Putin, and took on a life of its own on Facebook. But it wasn't about taming the wild, says Juškin - it was really signals about military funding. "When Vladimir Putin flew a motorized ultralight glider ahead of a small flock of cranes, it was called a presidential PR stunt," he says. "But for more insight, one should presumably refer to an interview given by Gen. Shamanov on February 24, 2012 where he complained that the VDV had a major shortage of motorized ultralights. I am sure the situation will now change." Gliders are a focus of Russian military innovation. In 2010, at a tactical exercise, a massive landing of spetsnaz units on controllable parachutes was staged. The units succeeded in traveling about 20-30 km after jumping out of the aircraft. "Shamanov was not very happy - Israeli special forces can travel a distance of 40 km under similar conditions," says Juškin. "It is 35 kilometers from Pskov to the Estonian border," Juškin adds. Preparing for 'war with the West' For a year now, the main theme in the Russian military doctrine has been a "prewar situation." "It took just three years for the 'prewar state' meme to make it from a retired colonel’s interview to a speech delivered by the President to the Federal Assembly. There is a huge distance separating a retired colonel [Pavel Popovskikh] and the president of the country. But the mentality of two professional Soviet officers, if it is different at all, is only 25 millimeters," quips Juškin, referring to the distance between the little stars on the uniforms of high-ranking officers. In a piece written for the magazine Maailma Vaade late last year, Juškin identified the key events in the development of the "prewar" theme during the 2009-2012 period. The following are excerpts: May 2009 - the "prewar meme" is first articulated by Pavel Popovskikh, a head of intelligence for the VDV in the 1990s: "The situation is a prewar state. The NATO bloc is on Russia’s borders in the Baltics, Poland and the Czech Republic and has only become stronger in the last few decades. They are making active preparations for war with Russia. [...] The war, for which the army must be prepared, will start with special operations by special forces, and it is not ruled out that such operations will become its main activities.” 27 May 2009 - Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov is appointed commander in chief of the VDV. Famously, in accepting his appointment he demands that Anatoli Serdyukov’s programme for reductions in the VDV be changed. Furthermore, the airborne forces are increased by one attack squad in the Moscow military district and the a third airborne regiment is formed in the Pskov 76th division of the VDV. September 2009 - Operational and strategic exercises “Zapad 2009” are held. The premise was that the Polish army (though pseudonyms were actually used in the exercise) had invaded Belarus in a territorial dispute; altruistically the Russian army rushes to the victim’s assistance. The scope of the exercise was 1,500 kilometers, from Belarus to the Barents Sea, and it ranged over 300 kilometers from east to west. 30 October 2009 - President Dmitri Medvedev introduces amendments to Section 10 of the federal Defense Act. It allows the formations of the armed forces to be used for operations outside Russian territory in four cases. 1. Repelling an attack on Russian Federation armed forces abroad. 2. Repelling or pre-empting aggression against another country (if requested by that country). 3. Protection of Russian Federation citizens abroad. 4. Fighting piracy. Under the legislation, use of the army is decided by the president, but the Federation Council must within two days (i.e. ex post facto) approve the decision. A “Baltic support area” is legally specified as a place where the army can be introduced (for protecting Russian Federation citizens). 18 December 2009 - Shamanov says in an interview: “By 2015, there will be 21 tactical groups in NATO’s rapid response forces, each one with up to 1,500 men. The NATO tactical group is roughly analogous to a Russian airborne regiment. Considering the size of the VDV and units and the squads under the command of the military region, the Russian armed forces have total parity with the NATO - 1:1. Thus our current concern is not sheer numbers, but the equipping the units with modern weapons and vehicles. [...] To significantly increase the army’s mobility, 15-20 percent of the airborne’s armored vehicles are on wheels. In places where there is developed road infrastructure, wheels are to be preferred over caterpillar treads.” 3 May 2012 - General Staff commander Nikolai Makarov says at a missile defense conference in Moscow: “Russia can pre-emptively attack NATO’s European missile defense systems.” Thereafter experts started talking about GRU spetznaz that was said to have been formed for this purpose. But the discussion was quickly hushed up. Two days later, in Helsinki, Makarov says that cooperation between Finland and NATO is a threat to Russian security. He shows a map where the boundary between the zones of interest of Russia and NATO passes through the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. That would mean Finland and the Baltics would be in Russia’s strategic interest zone. Mid-July 2012 - Col. Gen. Vladimir Tchirkin, commander in chief of the army, announced that the Defense Ministry had decided to put a large part of the armored vehicles on wheels instead of caterpillar treads. This meant that artillery, zenithal missile batteries and zenithal equipment as well as light tanks would be transitioned to wheeled systems. August and September 2012 - Joint exercises of units from the Western Military District and the VDV were held. "Estonia would be wise to pay attention to two particularities of these exercises," wrote Juškin. "First of all, tactical helicopter paratroop landings. From this year on, such landings are practiced at all military exercises. Second of all, for the first time, Western Military District intelligence and reconnaissance staff began to be trained using a new methodology. Officers and instructors who have combat experience in the previous decades in local armed conflicts are now teaching the military to operate in behind enemy lines and to make independent decisions if they are not in contact with the CinC staff." 8 August - Vladimir Putin announced that long before the conflict in South Ossetia, Russia had prepared a special plan that was used as the blueprint in August 2008. He said the plan was put in place in late 2006 or early 2007 by the General Staff and approved by himself. The logical future Could a similar plan already be in place for the Baltics? In a way, Juškin says, it is. "Does the Russian General Staff have a special plan for protecting Russian citizens abroad if needed? Certainly," he wrote. "Not for nothing did Dmitri Medvedev organize an expanded meeting on security issues on May 11, 2011, where he assigned the task of developing an algorithm for protecting Russian citizens in case of an extraordinary situation." "Still, the current situation is unfolding along the lines of the main (peaceful) scenario, which has an historical analogue" in 1930s Finland. "The best scenario for the Kremlin would be the rise to power in Estonia of a political party loyal to Moscow." There is also a worst-case scenario, says Juškin, though he is quick to caution no "fuse" has been found. There would be four acts to this play, as he sees it. And the last act stars the VDV. 1. An operation is launched to destabilize the socioeconomic or international situation in a region with a compact Russian-speaking population, with many Russian citizens. Such a region might be Narva, Estonia or Crimea, Ukraine. 2. Widespread demonstrations among the Russian speaking community would take place, led by professional provocateurs. 3. In response, the government uses force against the demonstrators. 4. A landing of paratroopers would be mounted under the guise of a peacekeeping operation. In the interview with ERR News, Juškin seemed less alarmist, and balanced his comments by noting that Russia is cash-strapped and facing the same obstacles to military funding as other European countries. Still, the emphasis on limited special forces operations is a "danger," he said. "Serdyukov's resignation suggests that dissatisfaction of the generals with the current military reform had come to a dangerous point," he said.

Donald Trump fans in the Hudson Valley are being offered free tattoos to show their support for the Republican presidential candidate. It's one thing to put a lawn sign on your yard or a bumper sticker on your car. But what about permanently inking your body with your favorite candidate's face? A Hudson Valley tattoo parlor is offering up their services to Trump supporters who want to show just how dedicated they truly are. Doyle and his business partner, John Newell, say that they believe in Trump's message and want to give other supporters a way to display their solidarity with the Republican candidate. Sean Doyle is an eight-year veteran of the Marine Corps and part owner of Anarchy Tattoo. Doyle and his business partner, John Newell, say that they believe in Trump's message and want to give other supporters a way to display their solidarity with the Republican candidate. Doyle revealed to us that he was never much into politics before Trump came along. In fact, At 33 years old, this will be the first time Doyle casts a vote in a presidential election. The former Marine told us that politicians have always sounded like a broken record to him, saying the same things over and over without any real message. Trump's business experience, straightforward talk, support for the troops and ideas about foreign policy all appeal to Doyle. In fact, he was the very first person to receive Trump ink at Anarchy Tattoo. The photo above is of Sean's leg. Newell, on the other hand, is still deciding between a tattoo of Trump Tower, a Trump train or The Donald's face. Another challenge for Newell is finding room on his body for the ink, which is already pretty much full of tattoos. The biggest hurdle for customers getting a Trump tattoo is the fear that their candidate might not actually win. According to Doyle, those who worry about "tattoo remorse" can take comfort in knowing that Newell is extremely talented at covering up unwanted tattoos. The business owner says his tattoo artistry could easily transform Trump into a "zombie Trump or cover him up with a tiger or a rose." As for Doyle; win or lose he'll be keeping his Trump tattoo, honoring who he calls a "man of the people." For those of you interested in getting your free Trump tattoo, you can visit Anarchy Tattoo on Route 6 in Slate Hill. Operating hours, directions and contact information are all available on their website .

Genome Biology has published research investigating the effect of lifetime stressors on DNA methylation-based age predictors. We asked co-author Anthony Zannas to explain more about what it means. Stress may change DNA methylation patterns Flickr What is meant by epigenetic aging? Epigenetic aging is a measure that uses DNA methylation levels to predict an individual’s age. It takes into account the methylation levels of many sites from different parts of the genome. What these sites have in common is that they correlate strongly with chronological age. Several DNA methylation-based predictors of age have been developed. The most widely used is the multi-tissue predictor developed by Steve Horvath. Using this marker, DNA methylation-predicted age correlates strongly with chronological age at a population level. However, in some individuals DNA methylation age differs substantially from the actual age, and we posit that the difference between the two is a measure of accelerated aging. This epigenetic age acceleration appears to be a promising biomarker for aging research, as it has now been linked with a number of aging-related diseases, including physical and cognitive decline, obesity, lung cancer, and all-cause mortality. Can you briefly describe how stress factors can lead to altered DNA methylation? Stress has many ways of ‘getting under the skin’. Stress has many ways of ‘getting under the skin’. One way is through the secretion of glucocorticoids, hormones that are secreted from the adrenal gland into the blood when people are under stress and affect nearly every organ and cell in the body. The main glucocorticoid in humans is cortisol, which binds to and activates glucocorticoid receptors that act as transcription factors. Specifically, these receptors bind to specific DNA response elements and regulate the expression levels of a large number of target genes. Interestingly, glucocorticoid receptors not only affect gene transcription, but upon binding to target genes they can also change their DNA methylation state, and in some cases these changes can last long after cessation of the stressor. What were your main findings? We examined a highly traumatized cohort of African American individuals and found that exposure to more stress throughout the lifetime was associated with accelerated epigenetic aging. This effect was not seen with only childhood or recent stress and the effects were most pronounced in older individuals, so it appears that stress exposure accumulates to eventually affect the epigenome as one grows older. This effect was also more evident for personal stressors – stressors that affect the individual directly, for example; divorce, unemployment, and financial stressors. Whereas it was much weaker for network stressors – stressors affecting the individual’s social network, such as knowing someone who was robbed. Moreover, we also found that many of the age-related DNA methylation sites used to calculate epigenetic aging are located at glucocorticoid binding sites and undergo changes in methylation when individuals are exposed to a synthetic glucocorticoid, called dexamethasone. So it could be that high levels or dysregulated cortisol secretion in individuals exposed to more stress are driving these effects on epigenetic aging. Lastly, we found that genes near these age-related sites also undergo changes in expression following dexamethasone and many of these genes are implicated in aging-related diseases, including coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, and leukemias. How does this build on what is currently known from the literature? It has been known that chronic or excessive stress can increase the risk for aging-related diseases, but the molecular mechanisms that explain this relationship have been unknown. It has been known that chronic or excessive stress can increase the risk for aging-related diseases, but the molecular mechanisms that explain this relationship have been unknown. So how does stress ‘get under the skin’ to increase the risk of certain diseases? It is also known that DNA methylation changes occur with increasing age and are associated with aging-related diseases. So it seemed likely that the effects of stress on aging-related disease could be in part mediated via changes in DNA methylation induced by glucocorticoid receptor activation. Our study supports this hypothesis, since it shows that stress accelerates epigenetic aging, and further suggests that this effect could be mediated by the molecular effects of cortisol. What are the implications of your findings? Our findings suggest that epigenetic changes could be an important, but by no means the only, contributing factor to the detrimental effects of stress on declining health as one grows older. These effects can be cumulative and lasting, and they might be evident in particular vulnerable populations such as those prone to high levels of stress. For example, we know that individuals exposed to high levels of childhood maltreatment are also likely to have high levels of adult stress later in life. This lifelong accumulation of stressors in highly traumatized individuals may eventually exceed the capacity of the epigenome to maintain itself and contributes to worse physical health that is observed in these populations. Monitoring epigenetic age may be a possibility to target early intervention in high-risk individuals. Understanding the mechanisms of accelerated epigenetic aging could also allow the development of strategies for prevention or even reversal of such effects and, hopefully, a reduction in stress- and aging-associated disease risk.

Help! How do I know? How do you tell a scientist from a non-scientist? Where does science end, and propaganda, politics, and opinion begin? You only need to know one thing: … … Straight away, this sorts the wheat from the weeds. We don’t learn about the natural world by calling people names or hiding data. We don’t learn by chucking out measurements in favor of opinions. We don’t learn by suppressing discussions, or setting up fake rules about which bits of paper count or which people have a licence to speak. A transparent, competitive system where all views are welcome is the fastest way to advance humanity. The Royal Society is the oldest scientific association in the world. Its motto is essentially, Take No One’s Word For It. In other words, assume nothing; look at the data. When results come in that don’t fit the theory, a scientist chucks out his theory. A non-scientist has “faith”, he “believes” or assumes his theory is right, and tries to make the measurements fit. When measurements disagree, he ignores the awkward news, and “corrects”, or statistically alters, the data–always in the direction that keeps his theory alive. Page 13 TURN THE PAGES (Links in red will become active as pages are published). You are on the page in the Red Square. This is page 15 of The Skeptics Handbook II. A 20 page PDF NOTES: This page was created as part of the booklet Global Bullies Want Your Money (The Skeptics Handbook, vol. II). It was inspired by requests from people who were obviously frustrated. They wanted a formula, a checklist, or a table: a way to know which side was right. The people who normally like to trust authority are the ones most likely to run into a brick wall in this debate. They trust the scientific method, but also trust the institutions, the processes, and the politics that have risen up to supposedly carry this method from it’s pure form into it’s practical output. And the two sides are at loggerheads. I trust the scientific method, but not the human institutions (they are subject to ambition, personality, money, and conflicts of interest). In the end, the only real way to decide is to look at the evidence. But, if you have to figure out who to trust, if that’s your chosen short-cut, then at least this is a more systematic approach than trying to weigh up the resumes on each side. VN:F [1.9.22_1171] please wait... Rating: 10.0/10 (7 votes cast)

Well, we didn’t see this coming today. Jelly Bean is coming to Verizon’s Motorola XOOM 4G LTE. Soak test invites are currently rolling out to those enrolled in Motorola’s feedback program, so this means we will soon see a larger roll out of the update to everyone who still owns the OG Android tablet. To clarify, this version of Jelly Bean is probably the 4.1 build and not the 4.2, which even Google has stated won’t come for the device. Here is the invite being sent to owners. Hi, Thanks for joining the Motorola Feedback Network. We are inviting owners of the Motorola Xoom on Verizon to participate in an early preview of a new Jelly Bean software release, and provide feedback. If you are not currently using a Verizon Xoom, please excuse and ignore this email. Click this link “link retracted” to take the enrollment survey if you wish to take part. Note that you must be a member in good standing of the Motorola Owners’ Forums to be included. The registration window could close without notice so please respond as quickly as possible. This is a confidential test under the terms of the Motorola Feedback Network. Do not post any details or information about this on any public sites. Thanks — please understand that start times are always fluid. We ask for your patience if you register but don’t hear from us right away. Matt Motorola Owners’ Forums Motorola Feedback Network Who here is still rocking the XOOM? Cheers M and J!

Glenfiddich Distillery Wooden barrels stacked outside the main reception. The Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15-year single malt scotch whisky. Glenfiddich is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky owned and produced by William Grant & Sons in Dufftown, Scotland. Glenfiddich means "valley of the deer" in Scottish Gaelic, which is why the Glenfiddich logo is a stag.[1][2] Glenfiddich is the world's best-selling single-malt whisky[3] and also the most awarded at the International Spirits Challenge.[4] History [ edit ] The Glenfiddich Distillery was founded in 1886 by William Grant in Dufftown, Scotland, in the glen of the River Fiddich.[5] The Glenfiddich single malt whisky first ran from the stills on Christmas Day, 1887.[6] In the 1920s, with prohibition in force in the USA, Glenfiddich was one of a very small number of distilleries to increase production. This put them in a strong position to meet the sudden rise in demand for fine aged whiskies that came with the repeal of prohibition.[7][8] In the 1950s, the Grant family built up an onsite infrastructure that included coppersmiths to maintain the copper stills, and a dedicated cooperage that is now one of the very few remaining in distilleries.[9] In 1956 the Grant's brand launched the now-iconic triangular bottle, designed by Hans Schleger.[10] Following difficult times in the 1960s and '70s, many small, independent distillers were bought up or went out of business. In order to survive, W. Grant & Sons expanded their production of the drink, and introduced advertising campaigns and a visitors' centre.[11] In this period they also took the decision to begin marketing single malt as a premium brand in its own right, effectively creating the modern single malt whisky category.[4] Later, W. Grant & Sons was one of the first distilleries to package its bottles in tubes and gift tins, as well as recognising the importance of the duty-free market for spirits. This marketing strategy was successful, and Glenfiddich has now become the world's best-selling single malt.[12] It is sold in 180 countries,[6] and accounts for about 35% of single malt sales.[13] Glenfiddich is currently managed by the fifth generation of William Grant's descendants.[14] In September 2014, William Grant & Sons agreed to acquire Drambuie for an undisclosed price rumoured to be in the region of £100 million.[15] Production [ edit ] Glenfiddich whisky is produced at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Dufftown, Moray. Glenfiddich is a single malt Scotch whisky, this means the whisky was distilled at a single distillery using a pot still distillation process and must be made from a mash of malted grain. Onsite there are 32 distinctively-shaped "swan neck" copper pot stills. These stills are smaller than those now in use at most other major distilleries. All stills are handmade and Glenfiddich employs a dedicated team of craftsmen and coppersmiths to maintain them.[16] These stills have a capacity of around 13,000,000 litres of spirit. The water source for Glenfiddich Whisky is The Robbie Dhu springs nearby to the distillery. Glenfiddich is matured in many different casks such as: Rum casks from the Caribbean Bourbon whiskey barrels from America Sherry butts from Jerez in Spain Once the spirit has matured, the casks are emptied and the whisky is "cut" with pure Robbie Dhu spring water. Glenfiddich has a dedicated bottling hall onsite along with a large bottling plant in Bellshill. Whiskies [ edit ] Glenfiddich Age-Statement Whiskies, by years of production, since 1992 Age 1992–1994 1994–1996 1996–1998 1998–2000 2000–2002 2002–2004 2004–2006 2006–2008 2008–2010 2010–2012 2012— 12 Year Old Caoran Reserve Glenfiddich 12 Year Old 14 Year Old Glenfiddich Rich Oak 15 Year Old Classic Solera Reserve Glenfiddich 15 Year Old 15 Year Old 15 Year Old Cask Strength (renamed Distillery Edition) 18 Year Old Excellence Ancient Reserve Glenfiddich 18 Year Old 21 Year Old Millennium Reserve Havana Reserve Gran Reserva Glenfiddich 21 Year Old 30 Year Old Glenfiddich 30 Year Old 38 Year Old Glenfiddich Ultimate 38 40 Year Old Glenfiddich 40 Year Old 50 Year Old Glenfiddich 50 Year Old 64 Year Old 1937 Rare Collection Core Range [ edit ] Glenfiddich 12 year old Glenfiddich 15 year old Glenfiddich 18 year old Glenfiddich 21 year old Liqueur [ edit ] Glenfiddich Malt Whisky Liqueur - Until 2011 Glenfiddich produced a liqueur that was 40% alcohol by volume, and sold in 50 cl (500 ml) bottles. Swan necked copper stills in the distillery. Critical acclaim [ edit ] Glenfiddich's whiskies have performed well at international spirits ratings competitions. The 12, 15, 18, and 21-year offerings have all rated well in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the Beverage Testing Institutes' reviews.[17] On balance, the 15-year whisky has performed the best, receiving three double-gold medals (in four years) at the 2007–2010 San Francisco competitions and a score of 91 with the Beverage Testing Institute.[18] Glenfiddich Awards [ edit ] Started in 1970, Glenfiddich promoted the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards to honour distinguished writing and broadcasting in the fields of food and drink in the UK. In 2008, Glenfiddich decided to discontinue distributing Food and Drink Awards, reviewing their "strategy, scope and potential application in some of Glenfiddich’s key markets outside the UK." Started in 1998, Glenfiddich promoted the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards. The Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards were annual awards given to notable Scottish people. Glenfiddich sponsored the event, in association with The Scotsman newspaper. Nine awards were distributed for art, business, environment, food, music, screen, sport, writing and "Top Scot". A consulting panel nominated four people in each category, with the winner decided by a public vote. The "Top Scot" is an open award, with the public able to nominate anyone. The awards haven't been hosted since 2014. In popular culture [ edit ] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Coordinates:

The Who will perform during halftime at this year’s Super Bowl, according to reports. The band, led by surviving members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, are all set for Super Bowl XLIV Feb. 7 in Miami, according to Sports Illustrated. The NFL hasn’t confirmed the booking, saying only that, “When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it.” But the choice of the renowned British rockers makes sense, since CBS uses Who songs as intros for all three of its “CSI” shows: “Who Are You” (“CSI“), “Baba O’Riley” (“CSI: NY“) and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (“CSI: Miami“). The Super Bowl — which draws TV’s biggest annual audience — is traditionally a huge showcase for A-list acts during the halftime show. In past years, the roster of performers has included Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson (and her infamous “wardrobe malfunction”), Paul McCartney, U2, The Rolling Stones, Prince and Bruce Springsteen. CBS officials had no comment yesterday.

As the tide of locavorism continues to rise around the world, more and more people are looking closer to home for their food with the idea that, by reducing food miles, they are solving the world’s problems. Instead of seriously questioning the eating of animals, and taking the compassionate approach of veganism , people simply shift the source of their consumption habits instead of actually changing them for ethical and environmental reasons. One of the most popular components of the local foods movement in recent years is backyard chickens in urban settings. Not contented with buying the flesh and eggs of chickens from local farmers, people of all sorts are setting up flocks in their backyards. And city ordinances are changing to meet the demand — in big cities like New York, Denver, Seattle, and others, as well as countless smaller cities and towns throughout the United States. The many debates around backyard chickens usually follow the same script, focusing on health and disease, public nuisance, separating “country” activities from “city” life, and so forth. None of these debates, or the ordinances that result from them in cities that do allow urban chickens, really questions the ethics of keeping and using animals primarily for food purposes. Looked at in this way, one can easily see that there are a number of reasons not to open up additional opportunities for people to exploit chickens by “going local” and keeping them in their backyards. Whatever the practical and policy issues associated with backyard chickens, there are a number of ethical problems with approving animals to be kept for use as food. One concern with backyard chickens is inadequate welfare protections. As it is, a LOT of people have a hard enough time providing their dogs and cats with proper care, including shelter and medical attention. Wherever one travels, one finds dogs who are left tethered outside for hours as if they are lawn ornaments. My local shelter has one of the highest euthanasia rates in the state, and there are a number of rescue groups in the Shenandoah Valley (much as everywhere else) trying to help with the deluge of unwanted pets in need — while there continue to be signs along the street or advertisements online for newly bred puppies and kittens. Some people argue that we still allow people to have kids, dogs, and cats even though some individuals treat them badly, so why not chickens as well? The problem with this argument is that dogs and cats are protected under federal, state, and local animal welfare laws, but chickens are not. Chickens are kind of oranges to the pet-species apples because culturally they are viewed solely (or primarily at least) as food animals, not as members of the family. This is why city ordinances rarely, if ever, include welfare regulations meant to protect chickens against abuse. Local welfare regulations such as these, if they existed, would be going beyond any federal or state regulation on animal welfare. The federal Animal Welfare Act excludes all livestock and other farm animals from its definition of “animal,” meaning that they have zero protections from abuse and negligence. This is also true of the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which excludes fowl while covering other livestock. States make the same omissions and bow to “standard industry practice” — meaning that industrial practices set the “norm,” including debeaking and other frightening practices. The backyard chicken ordinances I have reviewed all deal mostly with nuisance issues rather than humane treatment. (I should clarify here that, even with welfare provisions added into a city ordinance, I would still not support backyard chickens; I think the lack of welfare protections is only part of the problem… and indicative of the root problem.) This attitude towards chickens is also evident when it comes to vet care. For most people (other than animal rescuers and sanctuaries), the idea of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on vet care for a sick chicken whom they are keeping merely for eggs or meat is an absurdity — as would be spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on adequate shelter, high-quality feed, and proper protection from predators. Another concern about backyard chickens is that many owners get their chicks from hatcheries, just as most industrial “growers” do. If they are egg-laying hens, the hatchery they came from almost certainly engaged in the practice of male culling — meaning that any male chicks were separated and then killed. And the chicks are usually shipped by mail in boxes, sometimes enduring the better part of a day or more in transit…. Third, chickens can easily live for eight years or more (some sources say up to twenty). Backyard chickens live longer than their industrial kin in most cases, but their lives are still only a fraction of their natural lifespan. One useful example of this reality is from a famous local farm. Polyface Farms, run by Joel Salatin, slaughters its “broiler” birds at 8 weeks of age; industrial birds are usually killed after 6 weeks. Polyface’s egg-laying hens are slaughtered, as “stewing hens,” after about two years, when their productivity declines. Not surprisingly, many backyard chicken-keepers follow these “standard industry practices,” most alarmingly DIY slaughtering. All of us should be horrified at the idea of untrained people slaughtering live animals next door. We should be equally horrified at the idea of getting live chicks delivered and then kept as food animals or other anthropocentric purposes. Of course, there is always the question of avian influenza issues — passing from chickens to local wild birds, or even from chickens to humans. Many sources say the risks of transmission are low, but outbreaks are occurring now in China. Also disturbing in this regard is the fact that the measures to prevent infection are largely related to proper housing — which, in most city ordinances, is not spelled out whatsoever. The Center for Disease Control also has some interesting information about the potential health risks from backyard chickens for salmonella infection (see links below). While all of these problems with backyard chickens should lead to serious questioning of this trend, the central issue here is the ethics of eating animals. No matter how “well” they are treated or the strength of regulations covering their production, animals cannot be viewed as means for human ends — whether that end is a morning omelet or pest control in the garden. Just because the eggs or meat come from a nearby farm does not make them more ethical, more sustainable, or compassionate than industrial (“factory farm”) products — and this is just as true if they come from your backyard. Fortunately, the opportunities that urban residents have to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, and even grains and legumes in city limits are ample… and growing. Cities such as Seattle Portland , and San Francisco (to name a few) are revising their city codes to allow urban horticulture and the growing of plants for personal consumption or for sale. More and more towns are creating community gardens, and people are growing plants in containers, on green roofs, and even on public property via “guerilla gardening” methods. Backyard chickens offer no real solutions to the complex problem of building a sustainable, ethical food system. Only by making the transition to a vegan lifestyle can one address the most damaging components of modern food production. By choosing instead to grow more plants and support urban horticulture, urban residents can combine the benefits of veganism (for animals, for people, and for the planet) with the benefits of going local. Links:

The role of the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys in North Queensland was taken to a whole new level today when club CEO Greg Tonner announced the establishment of the Cowboys Community Foundation. A registered charity, the Foundation will draw together a number of education-based community programs that the club has previously run itself. “While the Cowboys Community Foundation is a new venture for us, we’ve been working on it for over a year,” Mr Tonner said. “Our community programs and initiatives have always been a huge part of the life of the club. We couldn’t exist without our members and community support and, from day one, the club has always sought to pay that support back – both on the field as the boys did so amazingly last year and off the field as well.” The Foundation will have four areas of focus: encouraging school attendance, particularly in the primary years; inspiring positive life choices during the junior secondary years; supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to complete secondary school; and providing access to a secondary education for young people from remote Indigenous communities. “Much of the work that the club has done in these areas in the past has been very reliant on government funding. Establishing the Foundation will enable us to broaden our funding base, making the programs more sustainable and enabling us to deepen their impact across North Queensland,” Mr Tonner said. The Foundation is registered as a deductible gift recipient charity with the Australian Tax Office, and individual and corporate donations will be tax-deductible. Speaking at the launch of the Foundation today, Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston said: “One of the things I love about the Cowboys is our work in the community and with students, young people and those who are doing it tough or don’t have the opportunities most of us take for granted.” “Setting up the Cowboys Community Foundation as a charity now means that the whole community can become part of the team and help support the club’s work with the young people of the North.” The charity’s first major fundraising initiative was also announced today. “We are pleased to announce Weather Lottery as our inaugural fundraising partner,” Mr Tonner said. “As the only not-for-profit online charity lottery that donates all profits directly to its charity partners, Weather Lottery is a natural fit for the Cowboys Community Foundation.” Weather Lottery spokesperson Joanne Edgar said the partnership provided supporters with a fun and exciting way to donate to the Foundation. Explaining how it would operate, Ms Edgar said: “Monday night will be the Cowboys Community Foundation’s Weather Lottery night. Members and supporters can simply go to the Weather Lottery website at weatherlottery.com.au and guess the weather in each Australian capital city for that day. If a player correctly picks all seven numbers in sequence, as published by the Bureau of Meteorology, they win $1 million and one in every three players wins a prize.” “Australia has a long tradition of lotteries supporting charities; some of the country’s longest standing and best known lotteries started out as charity lotteries,” Ms Edgar said. “Following the privatisation of these lotteries by state governments, the direct links to charity have diminished. Weather Lottery restores this historical relationship and allows charities to raise substantial funds in a timely and cost-effective way.” Cowboys’ legend Matthew Bowen was also excited about the Foundation and its partnership with the Weather Lottery: “This is the perfect game for North Queenslanders. We all think we are experts on the weather so I’m sure many North Queenslanders will want to get on board and show their skills.” Hinting that there was more to come from the Cowboys Community Foundation, Greg Tonner also said: “We’re expecting to make another big announcement later in the week about the Foundation’s first major initiative in the community.” Main image: Joanne Edgar (Weather Lottery), Matthew Bowen, Johnathan Thurston, Greg Tonner

Let me preface this article with an interesting story that came from a tabloid I had read back in the mid 1990’s. It pertains to the following article and attests to the nature of the mighty Vikings. According to the account an ancient record that was handed down describes a UFO encounter from the distant past experienced by the Leif Erickson’s crew who were on their way to North America. I am not sure about what medium that this historic account was recorded in as the Vikings did not supposedly have a written language. Even though the Norsemen were considered incredible craftsman, weapon makers, and accomplished artists, there was no written word. Perhaps these accounts came as a result of pictograms or engraved images. Who were the Norse gods really? The Vikings have quite a colorful mythology with a number of different deities like many other religions leading some to speculate that Gods such as Thor with his mighty axe striking lightning in the heavens might represent ancient man’s interpretation of missiles or death rays. According to this uncovered tale from antiquity, Erickson’s crew had been paced by a bright nocturnal aerial object for several nights as they crossed the forbidden waters of the North Atlantic that loomed before them. Now for Leif Erickson and his men to cross the Atlantic, it was not only the fear of falling off the edge of the earth that haunted them, but also the presence of sea serpents capable of capsizing their ships that also terrified them. However, the Norsemen rarely feared anything, and were just audacious enough to challenge the superstitions of their culture and brave the long and perilous voyage. Guided to the new world by a UFO It is said that finally this glowing airborne vessel hovered over the Viking ship and from beneath it came an entity who stood upon the deck of the Viking boat. The response of the Norsemen was to attack, which they did. It is well known that the Vikings tooled magnificent swords, knives, and hatchets. They feared no one and quickly dispatched their enemies with skill and savagery. However, they were no match for this other-worldly being, who disintegrated his attackers with what we would now know to be a ray gun of some kind. Accosted by an entity When the Vikings saw that they were outmatched their next tactic was to befriend the alien who had just demonstrated his technical superiority. They reportedly feasted with him and drank. It appears that the Norsemen though brutal were also practical. “If you can’t beat’em join’em”, and apparently they did. After sharing their merriment with the being of fantastic powers, a deal was struck. The aerial object that had paced them for several nights would now lead them to the North American continent which they were soon to land on. History had to be re-written as a result of the fact that it was the Vikings who discovered North America first, yet the other more fantastic evidence of extraterrestrial intervention seems to have been intentionally overlooked. The actual discoverers The Vikings succeeded several hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus in 1492 in the discovery of North America. In the year 1000 AD evidence shows that Leif Erickson and his men discovered, what is now the northern shores of Canada, and moved further south along the coastline to more wooded lands with bountiful resources. They named North America Vinlandia after vines they discovered and harvested. Leif Erickson and his 35 man crew overcame the rigors of an Atlantic crossing and cultural superstitions that had stubbornly persisted through-out Europe for hundreds of years afterword that the very edge of the world laid at the end of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere at the horizon. A past not as we were led to believe This feat is amazing enough in itself, but if accounts of what transpired on that voyage are to be believed at all, then we must also embrace the fact that the Vikings encountered an entity that descended to the deck of their vessel. This mysterious being defeated the Vikings who attempted to kill him, and once befriending the Norsemen, led them to the North American continent. Once again in the unwritten pages of history is evidence in a milestone for humanity, we find the past is not as we were taught. The ubiquitous appearance of a UFO that intervenes in the affairs of man demonstrates that sometimes fact can even be stranger than fiction. Click here for Part II

Eating Your Way To A Healthy Heart (If You're A Python) Enlarge this image toggle caption Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images/AFP Pythons' huge meals strengthen their hearts, and scientists hope it will help them learn how to treat human heart diseases. Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images/AFP It's a huckster's dream: "Try the new Burmese Python Diet. No calorie counting or special foods. Eat whatever comes along, up to a quarter of your body weight. Not only is it good for your waistline; it's good for your heart." Trouble is, what works in pythons probably won't work for humans. Pythons employ what scientists call a "sit and wait foraging tactic." In other words, they lie around in a jungle and wait for the food to come to them. And of course, this can mean months between meals. Still, these infrequent but humongous meals are actually normal for the python. A python's heart gets far larger and stronger after it gorges, and scientists are trying to understand how that happens, and whether it can help humans with heart diseases. Heart growth isn't always a healthy thing. A diseased heart can get larger as well. But like any other muscle, the heart will grow larger and stronger after it gets a prolonged workout. "Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps undoubtedly have huge hearts," says University of Colorado biologist Leslie Leinwand. But the growth a human heart is capable of is nothing compared with what a Burmese python can do after it eats a big meal. "Within two to three days [the snake] can get anywhere between a 30 and 40 percent increase in the mass of the heart," says University of Alabama snake expert Stephen Secor. The growth comes following a meal, because the large meals pythons infrequently eat send their metabolism through the roof and put huge demands on their hearts. Secor and Leinwand have a paper out in Science Saturday in which they show that it is the ratio of three fatty acids in the blood that prompts the heart growth in snakes. They found that the same ratio of fatty acids injected into a mouse will cause its heart to grow as well. So why won't eating a large meal cause a human's heart to grow? Part of the answer is the scale of our meals relative to our size. "Could you swallow a totally intact meal that weighs a quarter of your body mass?" asks Secor. In other words, could you eat a 30- or 40-pound pig in a single sitting? "If you could, I guarantee you your metabolic rate would go through the roof," says Secor. Of course we're not designed for such meals. But even if we could consume a whole pig we'd have to digest bones, hair and all. And that could cause some major problems — most food we do eat undergoes some amount of processing that makes it possible to eat. So even though we're all keen on stronger hearts, we'll probably have to leave the Burmese Python Diet to the Burmese python.

With all the chaos surrounding the President-elect this week (see Donald Trump Body Slams BuzzFeed, CNN For Fake Russian ‘Report’ and Trump Campaign BLASTS Unsourced, Unsubstantiated Russian ‘Intelligence’ Report), people were caught off guard by this tweet about L.L. Bean: Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean. @LBPerfectMaine — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017 Seems Trump might have referred to the wrong Bean by his phrasing. @LBPerfectMaine is indeed Linda Bean, but it isn’t L.L. Bean’s Twitter account*. Regardless, I’m now in the mood for some Maine lobster. What happened, apparently, is that L.L. Bean was added to a list of stores to boycott over “the store’s support of Trump.” The rub is it wasn’t the company as a whole as much as one member of the family being a vocal Trump supporter. This is usually the part of the story where the company caves, bans that family member from Christmas dinner and cuts a check to Planned Parenthood or Al Sharpton. All while promoting “love, diversity, and tolerance.” Hugs and gay kisses. Instead, L.L. Bean pushed back… So to “Grab Out Wallet,” the store basically says this… Seriously, what a breath of all organically sourced, free range fresh air for a company to stand up to the bitter left. The bitter left, which is now going plaid over Trump’s tweet about L.L. Bean. I’d totally shop there on principle now if I liked their clothes at all. This is one step forward. Here’s the thing, what L.L. Bean did by defending their own (in contrast to places like FireFox), saying their board, their team, their employees have different opinions, and we stay out of politics, is only going to buoy their reputation and their sales. It was smart. There will even be some intellectually honest liberals who will agree with L.L. Bean here, and “Grab Your Wallet” will lose. Bad form. Yes, there are intellectually honest liberals. Be sensible. Have you seen Donald Trump thug life? The next four years hold some fun… *Correction made about Linda Bean’s Twitter account. NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THE PODCAST? FIX THAT! IT’S COMPLETELY FREE ON BOTH ITUNES HERE AND SOUNDCLOUD HERE.

(NaturalNews) It turns out that there is another globalist player at the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiating table –– and if things go the industry's way, all competition will be crushed, and the world will be at its mercy.According to, which cited newly leaked annex documents, the Obama Administration is no longer seeking protection for Big Pharma prices under the 12-nation deal, folding to pressure and resistance from the industry and the other nations involved in the talks. At the same time, U.S. negotiators are pressing negotiating partners to open up the process that establishes reimbursement rates for drugs and medical devices.But the way the deal is being structured, the largest pharmaceutical firms will essentially be put in a position to destroy much of their competition, which is why public health officials, generic drug makers and others are opposing the deal. They "contend that it will empower big pharmaceutical firms to command higher reimbursement rates in the United States and abroad, at the expense of consumers," the paper reported, adding that the TPP could also expose international markets to direct-to-consumer advertising that Americans have suffered."It was very clear to everyone except the U.S. that the initial proposal wasn't about transparency; it was about getting market access for the pharmaceutical industry by giving them greater access to and influence over decision-making processes around pricing and reimbursement," Deborah Gleeson, a lecturer at the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University in Australia, who has seen the leaked document, told the. And despite the fact that it has been toned down somewhat, she still added, "I think it's a shame that the annex is still being considered at all for the T.P.P."Other opponents have said the Pharma annex, if allowed to stand, will permit Big Pharma giants – most of them based in the U.S. – to protect profits over the best interests of public health, especially in the poorest of countries where neither governments nor consumers can afford to pay what the West pays for medicines.The agreement "will increase the cost of medicines worldwide, starting with the 12 countries that are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership," Judit Rius Sanjuan, a lawyer at Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian organization that provides medical care in more than 60 countries, told theBut none of that seems to matter to the industry, which is taking its typical fall-back position: "Weto charge outrageous prices for our medicines because of all the time and money it takes to develop them" (all while earning record profits and receiving funding from taxpayers).What's more, judging by the newly released annex, it appears as though U.S.-based Pharma companies are seeking to extend their monopolies around, so they can earn even more. After all, that's the keep people dependent on the industry for their "livelihood" as opposed to actually curing disease and alleviating suffering.And of course, the drive is being supported at all levels of the federal government, especially at the "regulatory agencies" in charge of "overseeing" Big Pharma. That would be the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission, the former of which has gone to great lengths to bury data and obscure Big Pharma's misdeeds, and the latter of which punishes natural health advocates who champion alternative treatments for common ailments.But few want to speak publicly about this collusion and corruption, which, as stated by then-Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who was running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination at the time, was akin to being "in bed together.""The insurance companies and the drug companies, whether it's Democrats or Republicans reforming the medical care system, these corporations run the show," he said during a press conference . "You know, they support it, it's because the government doesn't take it over. It's the corporations that end up taking over. So, it's well intended but I think it always backfires on us and that the people we're wanting to regulate end up writing their own regulations."Now we have TPP, theexpansion of the Medical Mafia.

Defcon X was formed on the belief that efficient communication and effective cohesion can overcome overwhelming odds. We have a maximum player cap of 144 and prefer quality players over quantity of players. Not everyone will be accepted into our outfit. The formula for our outfit is: ⦁ Training (e.g., 1v1/squad scrims, flight/ground school, and leading) ⦁ Operations (highly organized play) ⦁ Farming (fun and casual play) Our Doctrine On the battlefield, change is constant, and targets of opportunities appear and disappear quickly. We believe in a Quick Reaction Force that can quickly adapt to the change on the battlefield. A QRF can strike targets deep in enemy territory or stop a incoming attack by destroying High Value Targets that disrupts the enemies supply chains. This QRF is team focused, highly organized, and comprised of highly motivated individuals. These individuals tirelessly train towards specialized warfare yielding loadouts designed specifically to counter enemies and their movements. In a QRF, each individual is given a unique assignment and responsibility that ensures the success of their squad/platoon/outfit goals. Our Code Conduct: Respect - Treat others with dignity, humility, and professionalism. Adaptability - Be willing to change to the challenges in front of you. Responsiveness - Be able to quickly disseminate information and react with appropriate action. Personal Development - Be willing to continuously improve your skills and level of gameplay. Join Teamspeak - We use Teamspeak to maximize communication up-time and to foster our community. Follow orders from your platoon and squad leaders - Never question the order, this creates chaos and is a detractor to any order given. Communicate appropriately - Battle Comms/Clear Comms/Loose Comms. Requirements

Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Often, when wrestling reporters cover mixed martial arts or vice versa, their readers revolt, wondering what the hell the sport and the pseudo-sport actually have to do with each other beyond the occasional crossover athlete like Brock Lesnar, Ken Shamrock, or CM Punk. The reality is that the history of MMA is inextricable from the history of wrestling. The earliest proto-MMA promotions of note, Shooto and Pancrase, were in fact formed by disgruntled pro wrestlers who wanted to test themselves and the catch wrestling that they had learned over the years, and there have been long periods when the lines between real pro wrestling and fake MMA were blurred to the point where it wasn’t always clear which was, in reality, more authentic. The deep entwining of the two forms, though, found its ultimate expression in the early history of Pride Fighting Championships, which ran its debut card 20 years ago this week. To understand it in its full context, you need to understand the history of Japanese pro wrestling. Pride FC, which would eventually become the most important MMA promotion in the world, home to legends like Fedor Emelianenko and Wanderlei Silva and the highest-level hand-to-hand fighting the world had yet seen, was launched with a card that featured a not just legitimate MMA fights, but also worked bouts—pro wrestling matches, essentially, if performed in a more realistic style than you would see on Monday Night Raw. This only made sense, because the Japanese fighter headlining the card was Nobuhiko Takada, who had become one of the country’s biggest sports stars as the ace of UWFI, one of several pro wrestling promotions that did shoot-style matches: More or less realistic pro wrestling billed as a legitimate alternative to what the “fakers” in New Japan Pro Wrestling and elsewhere were putting on. Advertisement Takada, though, didn’t come out of nowhere. He started in NJPW in the first place, as did some of his shoot-style peers like Kazuo Yamazaki. Debuting in 1981, he started the same way that all of the company’s trainees did, performing basic matches in plain black trunks and black boots, with the idea being that everyone would master the business’s fundamentals before heading abroad for seasoning. (The closest American comparison I can muster off the top of my head, since there isn’t really a good one, might be Shawn Michaels, someone who was marked for brilliance in the ring from the start and ripe for stardom outside of it thanks to his striking good looks.) After accompanying boss and top NJPW star Antonio Inoki—who had his own ties to proto-MMA, most famously involving a legitimate match against Muhammad Ali—on a 1983 trip to Calgary, he started to get more exposure, culminating in a consensus match of the year candidate against Yoshiaki Yatsu in April 1984. Takada appeared to be poised to be one of the company’s next big stars, but instead bolted to a new promotion, the UWF, in the aftermath of Inoki being accused of embezzlement. Initially just a new promotion featuring NJPW-style wrestling, it had shifted towards a more realistic style at the behest of top stars like Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Satoru Sayama, both legitimately gifted catch wrestlers. The new style was a huge hit in Tokyo, but nowhere else, and so the promotion closed. Sayama left wrestling to develop a new sport, which eventually led to the formation of Shooto, his proto-MMA promotion, while the other key native Japanese stars went to NJPW for a years-long feud . Advertisement There, Takada picked up where he left off, getting pushed as a top junior heavyweight and tag team wrestler. He put on numerous great matches, to the point that calling him the best performer in the whole business wouldn’t be a huge exaggeration. But when his closest ally, Akira Maeda, decided to cheap-shot top star Riki Choshu by breaking his orbital bone, the cycle repeated itself, with a new UWF forming and all of Maeda’s allies—Takada included—leaving with him. This UWF did better than the original, but mismanagement and limited growth led to the company being shuttered at the end of 1990. At that point, instead of anyone going back to NJPW, the company split three ways: Takada and his faction formed UWF International; Maeda launched RINGS; and Fujiwara (who got an assist from a billionaire eyeglass magnate) started Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, which loosely translates as Fujiwara Family. While UWFI and PWFG continued doing the same basic UWF style—more recognizable as a style of traditional pro wrestling performance, heavy on kicks, suplexes, and low-defense grappling—RINGS claimed to be another sport entirely. (It would eventually evolve into a legitimate MMA promotion, featuring the likes of Emelianenko, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Randy Couture.) This alphabet soup of “shoot” and shoot-style pro wrestling got even more complicated when PWFG saw mass exoduses in 1993 and 1996, the former of which led to the creation of Pancrase, which was, at least nominally, actually real, and which produced Ken Shamrock, soon to be one of MMA’s first breakout stars in the UFC. UWFI and RINGS both thrived almost immediately, even with their dramatically opposite approaches. While Maeda’s RINGS sought out Russian and Dutch sambo players and kickboxers without existing pro wrestling connections to fill out the roster, Takada’s UWFI was a mix of established UWF stars, new trainees, and known American pro wrestlers who had some kind of amateur pro wrestling or judo background. This meant that, at least early on, the UWFI booked everyone from The Iron Sheik to Allen “Bad News Brown” Coage to guitar-playing journeyman J.T. Southern, leading to a surreal mix of flamboyant pro wrestling pantomime and reasonably authentic fighting technique. At the main event level, Takada, with his movie star looks and quick, powerful kicks, was given the most credible athletes of the lot, like Bob Backlund, the former WWF champion with a background as a serious amateur. Gary Albright, a Nebraskan collegiate standout who had turned pro without much success in the late ’80s, became his big rival. Dispatching the likes of Backlund and Albright in impressive if relatively conventional pro wrestling matches wasn’t enough for Takada. Some of his most notable and impressive wins, like a “mixed rules” bout with boxer Trevor Berbick, who walked out on the match claiming that the rules had been changed on him, came under just plain weird circumstances. Others, like the match where he legitimately knocked out sumo grand champion turned pro wrestler Koji Kitao with a high kick, were reported in the wrestling media as double crosses. (One Backlund match ended with an accidental knockout win for Takada, but if it hadn’t come out of nowhere a few minutes into the match, resulting in pissed-off fans, it would probably get lumped in with the Kitao match.) This is perhaps not surprising; after all, Takada was a long-time running buddy of Maeda, who had developed a reputation for this kind of thing. In any event, these were instances of the fundamental blurring of the lines between reality and fiction in wrestling and MMA. Which was more real: A Pancrase fight that, boxing-style, featured legitimate competition with one fighter taking a dive, or a UWFI wrestling match in which one fighter took advantage of and legitimately injured the other? Advertisement Between the tension and drama this kind of question raised and Takada’s charisma and abilities as a performer, UWFI did tremendous business, including packing baseball stadiums. Unfortunately for Takada, though, in the mid-’90s, some fans started to look at the promotion in a different way due to the rise of Pancrase and the UFC. Sayama had also started running full-on MMA (then called “no holds barred”) cards in the form of Japan Vale Tudo, a Shooto affiliate. Next to real fights, semi-real fights based on pro wrestling rules, and even the more grounded pro wrestling in in RINGS, the UWFI looked very much like regular pro wrestling. This was nowhere more evident than on April 2, 1995, where the magazine Weekly Pro Wrestling ran a show at the Tokyo Dome featuring one bout each from 13 major promotions. The shoot and shoot-style groups’ matches were all slotted back to back, and with PWFG seemingly giving up on shoot-style by booking a match with comedy wrestler Don Arakawa, the UWFI offering was the shadiest looking of that portion of the card. It probably didn’t help that it was a six man tag team match, but compared to the (probably?) real Pancrase match and RINGS’ brand of stoicism, the UWFI just looked, well, fake. The in-ring style wasn’t the only issue, though. Rickson Gracie, purportedly the best fighter of Brazillian jiu jitsu master Helio Gracie’s many sons, had won the 1994 version of Sayama’s Japan Vale Tudo Open. All things considered, even if Gracie was clearly the class of the tournament—as he was when he won again in 1995—he arguably had a tougher field than most early UFC tournament winners did. (After all, the Shooto connection meant that there were more fighters in the field with submission grappling knowledge.) Still, the UWFI decided to take Gracie head on, issuing grandstand challenges for him to fight Takada in the UWFI. Gracie, not wanting to muddy the waters, issued a statement saying that he wouldn’t go to the UWFI because they didn’t have real fights, but would gladly take on Takada on a Japan Vale Tudo card. The UWFI contingent continued the public shit-talking, with Takada disciple Yoji Anjoh, considered the best fighter on the roster, offering to fly to California to challenge Rickson at his gym, something that local martial artists were often invited to try. His famous last words were that he was “200% sure” that he would win. Advertisement If you know anything about MMA and/or jiu-jitsu, this sounds completely ridiculous, but there is a lot of context that needs to be considered. Most importantly, the NJPW and then UWF/UWFI wrestlers had been trained in catch wrestling—a completely legitimate form of grappling successfully used in high-level competition by the likes of Ken Shamrock and Josh Barnett—for years, and it was considered something like a secret art tightly held within pro wrestling. That training in a form of wrestling and submission work no one outside the business understood surely meant something, right? Further, while pro wrestling performances aren’t necessarily a good gauge, if you watch UWFI footage, Anjoh does incorporate more diverse techniques than most of his peers, including Muay Thai-style clinching. It’s not a stretch to think that he was one of the the more learned martial artists of the bunch, and even if there were future legitimate MMA standouts Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura in the gym, Anjoh had size and stature, which likely played a role in him getting the nod over his smaller peers. Finally, in hindsight, the idea of someone from this stable thinking that he could beat Rickson Gracie seems less preposterous when you consider how Sakuraba, then a less experienced UWFI trainee, would systematically defeat Gracie’s brothers and cousins using what he learned there. When Anjoh got to Rickson’s gym, he wasn’t there, so he drove over after getting the call, taping his fists on the way. After asking the assembled Japanese media to leave, Gracie took Anjoh down, mounted him, and beat the everloving crap out of him. Anjoh had no chance, and his battered, swollen face was all over the sports pages and wrestling magazines over the course of the next week. (He later showed a good sense humor about it—donning a mask as “200% Machine” to poke fun at his promise to win the gym fight—en route to eventually becoming an effective preliminary-level heel in more conventional pro wrestling promotions.) Advertisement Given prevailing norms in Japanese combat sports, Nobuhiko Takada was immediately expected to avenge his protege’s defeat by returning the favor and smashing Rickson Gracie. There was one small problem with that: Takada couldn’t fight a lick. Just how Takada could be so bad at fighting, especially compared to his peers and his proteges, is a question that has never really been properly answered, at least in English-language media. But he knew that he was a fraud, and that he had nothing for Rickson Gracie. He left the issue alone. UWFI business suffered, and with financial problems mounting, the promotion cut a deal to feud with NJPW, aided by previous grandstand challenges to their world champion. The first NJPW vs. UWFI show, in October of 1995, saw NJPW given full booking control, and it was a massacre, with the host promotion winning almost every match over the alleged shooters. The exclamation point saw Takada lose the main event via a highly symbolic submission to Keiji Mutoh: The latter won with his signature figure four leglock, a worked hold in that it’s basically impossible to apply without cooperation, exposing Takada as just another “faker.” The feud continued to do big business, inspiring WCW’s even more successful NWO angle, and Takada even won Mutoh’s IWGP heavyweight championship in January; still, the expiration date on the whole program was clearly set at the first show. Takada dropped the belt three months after he won it to Shinya Hashimoto, who had the strongest “tough guy” aura of NJPW’s top stars, and the UWFI was over. A few outside dates at a five-figure price tag aside, Takada was done with pro wrestling proper, even as the wrestlers from his dojo started a new promotion, Kingdom. The saving grace, though, soon became clear: Even though he hadn’t avenged Anjoh, nobody really knew that he couldn’t fight, so if he took on Rickson in an honest-to-God fight, it would draw a ton of money. He found some backers—presumably the same way anyone in Japan finds backers for a fighting promotion—and they announced Pride for October 11, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome. With the real story being about just about everything else leading up to it, there honestly isn’t much to say about the fight itself. Takada looked sad and terrified during his entrance, and he was right to be. Gracie ran through him en route to securing a submission by armbar. Advertisement The event was enough of a success that with the next card, which lacked Takada, drawing badly by comparison, building him back up for a rematch was of the utmost importance. His bout with random American kickboxer Kyle Sturgeon was, thus, like all of Takada’s wins, a total work, something he later admitted in his memoir. The “fight” was typical of what became a pattern with Takada’s wins: They looked like abbreviated UWFI matches, with pro wrestling-style selling and other theatrics. His most infamous “win,” over legitimate heavyweight MMA legend Mark Coleman, even saw the former Olympian, even featured Coleman, caught in a heel hook, dramatically selling and teasing that he didn’t want to give up before tapping out. Setting aside what a pro wrestling trope that is, it’s also the hold you would least want to hold out in. As much as Takada knew he was fucked going into the frst Rickson fight, he did try to get better training to put up more of a fight the second time. Sure, he might lose, but he wouldn’t embarrass himself. He went to California to train at Beverly Hills Jiu Jitsu Club, which housed one of the sport’s best MMA teams at the time. Going into his training camp, one could consider the possibility that Rickson, being legitimately one of the greatest Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners of all time, just beat Takada because he would be a tough out for a lot of fighters in the early days of MMA. When Takada got there, it turned out that was not the case. The man once believed to be the greatest fighter in Japan, who had been training submission wrestling in some form for almost two decades, was getting caught in a submission and tapped out every time he rolled. But that wasn’t when he was training with pro fighters. That was what was happening when he was rolling with the white belts, the beginners who had nowhere close to the amount of training he had. With a potential disaster of a squash match seemingly on deck for the rematch, Rickson took his time instead of going for the quick finish. At least Japan’s greatest fighter could say he held on longer this time. And his destruction at the hands of Gracie would set the stage for MMA to reach unprecedented heights, as the undersized UWFI wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba avenged the honor of pro wrestling by running through the Gracie family in spectacularly compelling and entirely legitimate bouts that built Pride into a monolith whose direct influence is felt in every aspect of MMA today. But that is an even stranger story, for another time.

In today’s Election Countdown 2012 segment: In Quebec, it’s not the fees, it’s the debt; Walker’s win smacks Wisconsin protesters who started recall; a map shows half the nation returning to past employment levels and the other half not, and more. D – 94 and counting* “Politics ain’t beanbag.” –Finley Peter Dunne Reader note: In this series, there are three main tracks: (1) Occupy and Occupy-like movements (e.g., Montreal), (2) State and local actions or events, especially those to do with resource extraction (e.g., fracking), and (3) electoral politics, especially the Obama vs. Romney. Most people, when they say “politics,” mean the last track: the horse race. In fact, all three tracks are “politics,” and the first two can be empowering and even joyful. Also, too, in crises, the tracks will correlate. I’m very interested in curating reliable sourcing from on the ground for occupations and state or local news; please mail me. Montreal. Jean Charest and his big brother, Vladimir Putin: “[A minority of] Russia’s lawmakers … fought hard and long against a bill that would impose huge fines on protesters” (like Bill 78 in Qeubec; here, here, here). June 6 is casserole night. “Amir Khadir, the sole member of Quebec solidaire in the legislature, was among dozens of people rounded up in Quebec City during a night time march.” “Anarchopanda is taking his fight against Montreal’s controversial anti-mask bylaw from the streets to the courtroom.” Anarchopanda: “The panda costume allows me to do things that I couldn’t do otherwise, like hug police officers.” Anarchopanda’s lawyer: “The [anti-mask] bylaw is just really unclear to begin with. [You’re] forcing everyone to justify why they’re wearing a mask even if they have no criminal intent.” Charest’s trap: “Charest is preparing to use the same ploy [as Trudeau on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in ’68; provoking violence]. He refuses to come to an agreement with student leaders on tuition fees despite a 13-week strike. Law 78 has instigated a social crisis. The noise of casseroles has become a daily one. All he needs now is a riot to call voters to the polls in a re-election attempt just before the findings of the Charbonneau commission on corruption in the construction industry are revealed. Students know to avoid the trap, but how can troublemakers be prevented from taking the bait?” Education Minister Michelle Couchesne: “There are no negotiations planned. No. Absolutely not.” It’s not the fees, it’s the debt: “Students today graduate from post secondary education with more debt (inflation adjusted) than the generations before did. … This debt is exempt from all bankruptcy laws. I could borrow 50 thousand dollars to start a business bedazzling jean jackets tomorrow and if it didn’t work out be free and clear of that debt in seven years, but if I wanted to be a scientist and things didn’t work out I’d be stuck with that liability for the rest of my life. This makes education literally the riskiest investment a person can make.” “I know some of you are scared. You have every reason to be. But we cannot let that fear win. If the fear of the police keeps us at home, they have already beaten us. Be peaceful, be joyous, be loving. Stand together and be strong. They cannot arrest us all. There is strength in numbers, and there is strength in each other.” Occupy. Occupy Albany: Adopts “red patch” as logo: “It comes from the French phrase “carrement dans le rouge”, [FB] or “squarely in the red,” referring to those crushed by debt.” Occupy Riverdale: “[Riverdale Mobile Home Community] is the site of the proposed construction of a water withdrawal site for frack operations in the Jersey Shore/Williamsport region–one of the current epicenters of the fracking universe. Aqua America/PVR bought the land from the landowner in the early Spring, and thereby commenced the evictions of the park’s residents.” Occupy Homes: “‘The neighbors have a concern. They don’t want their neighborhood to be a staging ground for protests,’ says [D Minneapolis Mayor R.T.] Rybak. Many houses dotting the area around the Cruz home have the signature red sign that reads, ‘STOP FORECLOSURES, STOP EVICTIONS.’ Many neighbors support the Cruz’s and their efforts to stay in the house.” Colorado. “There are currently 22 central [evaporation ponds for oil and gas drilling] in CO, and officials say they aren’t sure which chemicals are being stored.” Tinpot Tyrant Watch: “Police in Aurora, CO., searching for suspected bank robbers stopped every car at an intersection, handcuffed all the adults and searched the cars.” Florida. “Although [Friends of the Everglades] was briefed on the broad outline of a plan to reduce pollution by phosphorous in the Everglades to acceptable levels, including promises of money from the State of Florida, Friends of the Everglades has yet to see details.” Iowa. “An Iowa State University scientist found evidence that sick hens at farms owned by an Iowa egg producer were ‘almost certainly’ laying eggs contaminated with salmonella months before one of the nation’s largest outbreaks of food-borne illness came to light, newly released records show.” “Iowa City forms new plan of attack for landfill fire” which should have been out this week (TTH). Michigan. Why don’t Detroit journos write about Cotter’s fraudulent ballot qualifying signatures from the district perspective? North Carolina. “[Charlotte] released a protest route Monday that is clear of where President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at Bank of America Stadium but comes within two blocks of the main convention site at Time Warner Arena.” New York. “My senior prom date had a gas well on her farm, about 100 yards across the road. … So yes, let’s pay the extractive industry folks a lot less by using less of what they’re selling. We also need to accept that it’s going to take a while…” “Banking on the long-term prospects of shale development in NY, a PA drilling company has purchased mineral rights to 160,000 acres in the Finger Lakes region from Chesapeake Energy.” Ohio. “OH law requires political parties to include a disclaimer when posting information on the internet in support or opposition to a candidate or issue. A new website [here] from the OH Republican Party … lacks any type of disclaimer.” Pennsylvania. “John Perzel, an R from Philadelphia and Bill Deweese, a D from Greene, share the distinction of both having served as Speaker of the Pennsylvania State House. … Now they’re both at Camp Hill state prison, and they’re sharing the same cell.” Sweet! Wisconsin. Pierce: “What we have here is a fight, out in the open, without nuance or euphemism, between two ideas of what self-government should look like, who it should serve, and how, and how wide the parameters of participation will be. That is serious business. It ought to be contested fiercely and to the last and without cosmetic conciliation.” Reuters head: “Walker’s win smacks Wisconsin protesters who started recall.” “[I]t’s worth pondering how similar the intensity of emotions are on each side of the divide. That anger won’t be relieved after Tuesday.” Chuck Todd: “Most important result from the exit poll: the 60% who said recalls are ONLY appropriate for OFFICIAL misconduct.” Walker: $30M. Barrett: $3.9M. (“We did it with wealth.”) “Please, please, please, remain engaged, remain involved because we will continue to fight for justice and fairness in this city and this state.” (And we get?) Activist Colette Brown: “Recalling Walker is important, but it isn’t good to lose momentum by diverting all energy into the recall campaign to elect a Democrat” (dcblogger). Inside Baseball. Thomas Edsall: “[W]e still are a nation of Republicans and Democrats.” HCR, Kaiser survey: “35% of non-white respondents believe [ObamaCare] will benefit their family. 14% believe they will be worse off ([and] 39% don’t think it will make much difference).” Whites: “18% believe the law will leave their family better off, compared to 38% who believe they will be worse off.” Full of win! HCR, WI voter, Pierce: “The problem is that, when you start handing out free health care out to teachers, that annoys me to no end. I never got free health care. My brother’s wife is a teacher and I once asked her, when I was getting my teeth worked on, what it cost her and she said, ‘Nothing.’ It should never get to that point where somebody’s getting free health care. Something’s way out of whack there.” Horse race teebee ad money: 60% in FL, VA, and OH. Top 10, largest first: FL, VA, OH, NC, CO, IA, PA, NV, NH, and MI. NSF poli sci funding: “[T]he issue isn’t whether there would be social science funding. There would be. The question is whether, given the agendas of its private funders, the research would be as publicly valuable. I do not think so.” “In Fast & Furious, Phoenix-based ATF agents used watch-and-wait tactics on cartel-linked gun purchasers and lost track of over 2,000 weapons… Two of those weapons were recovered … at the murder site of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.” Oopsie. Atlantic’s secrets for success: “Hire smart people who aren’t jerks.” OK, explain Megan McArdle. Robama vs. Obomney Watch. Clinton: “[Romney] would be in my opinion calamitous for our country and the world.” Romney “adopted Europe‘s economic policies.” Romney: “[W]e’re so close to economic calamity. We see what’s happening in Europe and we’re following them.” On the same day! (Everythings Jake) Romney: “What he’s very good at is finding other people to blame.” Obama blames “his predecessor, the Congress, the one percent, oil companies, and A.T.M.s. True! Obama surrogate Cutter: “They’re saying don’t hold Mitt Romney accountable for the first three years he was in office, because he inherited a bad economy. Yet these same people blame the president for job losses that occurred in January 2009, the very month he was inaugurated, and months before any of his policies took place.” Also true! Jawbs. “[T]he new poll finds the number of Americans saying they have been hearing mostly bad news about jobs has spiked, from 38% in March to 55% currently.” “Most of the 15 states where the [American Petroleum Institute] has been holding its meetings will be important battlegrounds for the presidential election, and in three of them – OH, CO and PA – oil and gas are playing an increasingly important role in their economies. We haven’t seen the Republicans using it as a wedge issue, but I can see it becoming one,” Professor Sracic said. “Ohio is going to be very, very close and little things can mean a lot.” Keen map shows half the nation returning to past employment levels and the other half not. “Energy and farm states outperformed the nation, as did states near the nation’s capital.” Yes, a petro-state (farming being oil-driven). Romney. “And according to the tipster who claims to have hacked [Romney’s email account] by guessing Romney’s favorite pet in response to a “security” questions, it’s still active today.” No, it couldn’t be. “Seamus”?! The emails are about ObamaRomneyCare, among other things. Obama. Obama: “[Romney] has a theory of the economy that basically says, if I’m maximizing returns for my investors, for wealthy individuals like myself, then everybody’s going to be better off.” (Saw LaBolt try this riff out yesterday.) Capitalism? Did I not get the memo? And “maximizing returns” is wicked professorial. Clinton (Bill) says we’re in a recession: “[G]overnment spending levels … look high because there’s a recession.” Clinton says “no problem” with extending Bush tax cuts temporarily. Obama must want the money bad, to let Clinton wander off the reservation like this. * 94 days ’til the Democratic National Convention feasts on poutine for all on the floor of the Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC. 94 is the atomic number of Plutonium.

Win tickets to see Save Ferris and Stacked Like Pancakes on Thursday October 26th, 2017 at Music Box! Ticket Price: $25 advanced & day of show Parking: Street parking and paid lot parking available. TableReservations / VIP: vip@musicboxsd.com / (619) 836-1847 Box Office Hours Monday – Friday 11:00am – 4:00pm Enter your email below for a chance to win! Contest ends October 23rd, 2017. Winner will be notified by email. WIN TICKETS TO SAVE FERRIS WIN TICKETS TO SAVE FERRIS 0 Your Entries 35 Total Entries Ended Days Left Win tickets to see Save Ferris and Stacked Like Pancakes on Thursday October 26th, 2017 at Music Box! Contest ends October 23rd, 2017. Winner will be notified by email. This contest expired. Good luck! — Save Ferris WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Save Ferris is a ska-punk band formed in Orange County, California circa 1995. Their name is a reference to the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Lead by the inimitable front-woman Monique Powell, the band enjoyed mainstream success in the late 1990s with radio hits, constant touring and appearances on a variety of television shows and movies. The band released their debut EP “Introducing Save Ferris” on Powell’s own Starpool Records, in 1996. They ended up selling close to 20,000 copies of their EP out of the trunks of their cars, thanks to loyal fans and huge support from Orange County independent record shops. That same year, Powell provided vocals on the Reel Big Fish song “She Has A Girlfriend Now” on their album “Turn the Radio Off” (Mojo). As favorites of KROQ radio’s legendary Rodney on the Rock, Save Ferris became a regular presence on LA’s KROQ radio. Later that year, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave the band a Grammy showcase award for best unsigned band, earning them a recording contract with Epic Records (SONY). The band released their debut full-length album for Epic in 1997. “It Means Everything” featured several re-recorded tracks from the EP, several new songs, a cover of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen,” which the band released as their first official single, and what was to become their most successful single. With two singles in the Billboard top 100 and full rotation on alternative radio all over the world, “It Means Everything” went platinum internationally. In April 1998, Save Ferris made made their seminal on-screen appearance in the cult classic teen film, “10 Things I Hate About You”. After a thunderously successful main stage tour with the Vans Warped Tour, the band began writing their follow-up to “It Means Everything”, the appropriately-titled “Modified”. Released in October 1999, the album saw the band mix their ska-punk roots with pop-punk stylings. After almost fifteen years, Save Ferris will make their long awaited return to the music scene in 2017. Following a successful PledgeMusic campaign, the band’s new EP – Checkered Past – will be released on February 10th. The EP, produced by Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila, embraces Monique’s ska and dub roots and also features a guest appearance by Neville Staple of the Specials on the first single “New Sound.” February 10th also marks the start of the band’s first full tour of the United States. The tour will take the band’s energetic show around the country starting in Santa Barbara and finishing at the new House of Blues in Anaheim, California with support from Vista Kicks on the West Coast and Baby Baby on the East Coast. “Since this incarnation of Save Ferris first played together, the band and I have been working on new music, arranging schedules and selectively playing local shows to get ready for a tour. I have had to tell our fans to ‘be patient, I promise it’ll happen’ for too long now! But now here we are. I can’t believe we’ve made it this far….and now you get to see us in a town near you. For the first time in 15 years, Save Ferris is coming to get you! Are you ready?” – Monique Powell Stacked Like Pancakes Reinvigorating the sounds of classic ska, Stacked Like Pancakes (SLP) piles on boisterous horns and punk rock attitude to create high energy music synthesizing the vibes of Reel Big Fish, twenty one pilots, Foo Fighters, and an untraceable amount of other artists and genres. Since 2007, SLP has shared the stage with national and international acts, toured on the Vans Warped Tour, headlined their own self-booked tours, and in December 2015 released their latest crowd-funded 15-track monster-album THIS IS US. The token with this group is their live performance. Concert venues and music patrons alike should be prepared for the stage to shake, the crowd to be wild and unpredictable, and the show to be a deliberate fusion of spontaneity and precision. Their community fan base – the #PancakeNation – is hungry for their band to grow. Stacked Like Pancakes epitomizes a tough DIY band despite a meaningless band name, and are rightfully on the rise to claim an international stage of their own.

Relatives of Arif Fayyaz Majeed meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh. (Source: IE photo: Deepak Joshi) Arif Ejaz Majeed, one of the four young men from Kalyan near Mumbai who were thought to have joined insurgents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has reportedly been killed in fighting in Iraq. Advertising Arif, an engineering student, was one of four men from Kalyan who went missing from their homes in May. Arif’s family — along with the families of the other three men, Fahad Tanvir Sheikh, Aman Naim Tandel and Saheem Farooq Tanki — went to the police some days after they disappeared. The Indian Express first reported the disappearances on July 14. Iftikhar Khan, an uncle of Fahad Sheikh, said the news of Arif’s death in Iraq was conveyed by Saheem Farooq Tanki, who called his family in Thane on Tuesday night. “Saheem called us at 6 pm on Monday and told us about Arif’s death. He was sobbing throughout and asked us to go and inform Arif’s family. He later called us at once again in the night to check if we had informed his (Arif’s) family,” Kashif Tanki, a relative, said. Advertising Saheem’s family passed on the information both to Arif’s family and to the Kalyan police. Friends of Arif’s family said that his father, who is a doctor, was shattered by the news and was inconsolable. The family performed Arif’s last rites in absentia on Wednesday. The Indian Express first reported the disappearances on July 14. “The Ghaibaana Namaaz-e-Janaaza, which is a funeral prayer for times when the body is not available, was offered after the Zuhr (afternoon) namaaz by the family,” said a resident of the housing society in which the Majeed family lives. Members of the families of the other three youth were present at the namaaz, neighbours said. The Bazaarpeth police have recorded the statements of Saheem’s family, and were on Wednesday attempting to verify the report of Arif’s death. “Saheem said that he had made inquiries about Arif’s whereabouts and well being, and learned that he had died. Saheem did not have any more details. There has been no official confirmation yet from any of the investigating agencies,” Iftikhar Khan said. The four families live in the same Dudh Naka-Govindwadi area of Kalyan (West). The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had picked up laptops and pen drives from the youths’ homes on the evening of July 14. Late on July 18 evening, Arif’s father, Ejaz Badruddin Majeed, had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi, and handed him a letter, reportedly seeking action against the people who had radicalised his son and persuaded him to join the jihadis in the Middle East. The Indian Express broke the story on July 14, 2014. Before leaving home, Arif had left behind a letter saying “fighting has been enjoined upon you”, and telling his mother that the “angel of death” will ask him why he didn’t migrate to “Allah’s land”. In the letter, the son told his family, “May we all meet in Paradise.” ISIS, the ruthless Sunni extremist militia which Arif, Fahad, Aman and Saheem were believed to have joined, now calls itself the Islamic State (IS). It shocked the world this month by uploading on the Internet a video of the grisly beheading of American journalist James Foley. Police sources had told The Indian Express last month that the four men flew to Baghdad on May 23 as part of a group of 22 pilgrims intending to visit religious shrines in Iraq. Arif had called his family from Baghdad on May 24, apologising for having left without telling them. He had claimed he had travelled in the hope of finding a job there. He had phoned again on May 25, this time to reassure his family that he was well. Later that evening, other pilgrims on the trip told investigators, Arif, Fahad, Aman and Saheem had hired a taxi to Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad which has emerged as the epicentre of Iraq’s deadly insurgency. The four Kalyan men had gone silent thereafter. Iraqi intelligence had found Arif’s cellphone connected to a tower in the Mosul area before going dead — and on Wednesday, intelligence sources in India said Arif’s death had likely occurred in the same area. “The radicalisation of the youths seems to have taken place online,” a Maharashtra Police official had told The Indian Express in July, “with news of atrocities in the region inflaming their passions”. Last year, Pakistani al-Qaeda ideologue Asim Umar had called on Indians to join the global jihad. The ISIS has cited India as a key concern for global jihadists. In Internet chatrooms where Islamists congregate, messages have been posted calling on Indians to join up, to prepare themselves for what is being described as the coming communal apocalypse. Internet propaganda has drawn thousands of young people from distant countries to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Hundreds of volunteers from Europe, the UK, US and Australia have been reported to be participating in the wars, along with some numbers of Pakistanis. Foley’s murderer is said to have had a South London accent. In his letter, Arif appeared to reject his family’s values. “I cried when I saw you all sinning, smoking cigarettes, taking interest, watching TV, illegal sexual intercourse, living luxurious lives, intermingling of sexes, not praying, not growing beards.These things will lead to you burning in the hell-fire,” he said. He had harsh words, in particular, for his sister, and female cousins, who all watched television, “a professional way to ensure nudity, lewdness, obscenity and disbelief prevail. It is a major sin. In it is music, which is an instrument of Satan”. “He was a good boy,” Arif’s father had said then. “He was very religious, never spent time in bad company, never chased after girls, never seemed attracted to violence.” Advertising “O Mother,” Arif wrote. “The sun is setting in the backyard of our house, behind the mountain and I have told my friend that we will meet there for our greatest journey. It is a blessed journey for me because I don’t want to live in this sinful country. At the time of my death, the angel of death will ask me why I did not make hijra (migrate) to Allah’s land, which is spacious.”

Liberstad: Norway’s First Private City Where You Can Pay Using Bitcoin A non-profit organization, Liberstad Drift AS, has launched a tax-free private city named Liberstad. Located in Tjelland, which is part of the Municipality of Marnardal in rural Norway, the city is based on Libertarian principles and highly encourages the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Liberstad Drift AS is composed of a small team headed by John Toralf Holmesland. The purpose of the non-profit is to establish and develop Norway’s first private city; Liberstad Drift will function as the initial operator of the city, as well as provide and facilitate public service. Holmesland explained the motivation behind building a private city stating: “We want a society where people decide over themselves and can live together without government authorities. We want a society without government coercion, blackmail, surveillance or unnecessary violence.” City development was launched on June 1 prior to which parcels of land had been sold to willing participants through its website. The sale of land within Liberstad was facilitated through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as well as the Norwegian Krone. The city is based on the principles of natural rights, private property, self-ownership, the principle of non-aggression, anarcho-capitalism, voluntaryism, and free market capitalism. These principles are meant to govern interactions between members as well as provide direction when it comes to dealing with differences. In addition, these principles are also intended to govern the provision of public services by both individuals and businesses. In order to conduct business within the private city, members are required to register on the Liberstad internal-market business registry (LIMBR) after which they can provide goods and services. However, to avoid dealing with the Norwegian commerce rules, business must be conducted in currencies other than national currencies. To conduct business using national currencies, members must register with the Norwegian government; this is where cryptocurrencies come into play. Liberstad’s founders believe cryptocurrencies are a way to ensure the growth of a strong free market within the city. In order to encourage the use of bitcoin, the team will provide discounts to members who use the cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services. In addition, the city-operator plans to use blockchain technology to securely store information pertaining to the city, its members, and commerce such as IDs, title deeds, and contracts. The team is also considering developing its own cryptocurrency in order to facilitate faster transactions. This local coin would be tied to the value of bitcoin and will be for use within the Liberstad community.

Ash Carter announces extra personnel and criticises allies in Middle East for not doing enough in fight against Isis The US defence secretary has announced that 200 more military personnel will be sent to Syria to strengthen the fight against Islamic State in its stronghold of Raqqa. Speaking at talks on Middle East security, Ash Carter said Barack Obama had approved deployment of the extra troops, who would include special forces trainers, advisers and bomb disposal experts. Three hundred US special forces are already in Syria working with a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters who are attempting to capture the city. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) has been gaining ground in areas north of Raqqa, the caliphate’s Syrian capital. The US has mostly been supporting the effort through airstrikes. Carter also made one of his most direct attacks yet on other Middle Eastern countries for not lending more military muscle to the fight against Isis while complaining about American efforts. In a speech on Saturday at a security conference in Bahrain, Carter said the additional troops would “continue organising, training, equipping, and otherwise enabling capable, motivated local forces” to take the fight to Isis. He went on to criticise America’s Middle East partners for failing to help in the broader campaign to defeat the group and counter-extremism. He suggested US politicians had been irritated by what he saw as disingenuous criticism from “regional powers here in the Middle East”. Carter said: “I would ask you to imagine what US military and defence leaders think when they have to listen to complaints sometimes that we should do more, when it’s plain to see that all too often, the ones complaining aren’t doing enough themselves.” He said it was not unreasonable for Washington to expect regional powers who opposed extremism in the Middle East to do more to help fight it, “particularly in the political and economic aspects of the campaign”. Carter noted how many Sunni-led Gulf countries had expressed concern about the spread of Iranian influence in the region. “The fact is, if countries in the region are worried about Iran’s destabilising activities – a concern the United States shares – they need to get in the game. That means getting serious about starting to partner more with each other, and investing in the right capabilities for the threat.” He added that Russia, Syria’s main ally, had “only inflamed the civil war and prolonged suffering”. Carter said Obama had approved the extra troop movements last week. It is thought they are needed in the urgent efforts to train Arab volunteers who are joining the Raqqa push. “By combining our capabilities with those of our local partners, we’ve been squeezing Isis by applying simultaneous pressure from all sides and across domains, through a series of deliberate actions to continue to build momentum,” he said. The military push is complicated by the role played by local Kurdish fighters, the most effective US partner against Isis in Syria, but who are viewed by Turkey, a US ally, as a terrorist threat. Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, was in Paris on Saturday meeting European and Arab foreign ministers to discuss Syria, a conflict he described as the worst catastrophe since the second world war. He was due to hold talks afterwards with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, a day after admitting to US embassy staff in Paris that he was “tired” of trying to negotiate with the Russians over the civil war in Syria. “I know people are tired of these meetings. I’m tired of these meetings,” Kerry said. “And people are sort of: ‘Oh, another meeting. OK. This one will end the same way the other one did.’ I get it, folks. I’m not born yesterday. But what am I supposed to do? Go home and have a nice weekend in Massachusetts while people are dying? Sit there in Washington and do nothing? That’s not the way you do business.” Kerry has struggled to make progress since Russia intervened militarily to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s regime. On Friday in Aleppo, pro-regime forces were claiming to occupy 85% of the city, much of which has now been reduced to ruins. Lavrov announced on Wednesday a temporary “humanitarian pause” to the bombardment of Aleppo to allow civilians to leave, and on Thursday 10,500 fled the city. The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said on Saturday that an estimated 100,000 people remained, squeezed into an “ever-shrinking” pocket of resistance to Assad’s forces and without access to food, water or medicine. De Mistura said the expected government victory in Aleppo would not end the war, as has been predicted. “A serious discussion about the future political set-up of Syria” was the only way to achieve peace, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

I was out of the box early on the dust-up around the survival of the Export-Import Bank, but haven’t weighed in since it’s heated up, so allow me to briefly revisit. (You’ll recall that the Ex-Im Bank provides government-backed guarantees to private loans made to other countries under the condition that they use the credit to buy our exports.) Note the figure in the link above, showing a pretty remarkable drop in Boeing’s share price on the day of Rep. Cantor’s surprise loss to Dave Brat (Cantor’s a supporter of the bank, and Boeing depends on the bank to boost its international sales; Brat’s a strong opponent). That blip says a lot: Brat had a point when he connected Cantor to Wall St., and Boeing is clearly dependent on the Ex-Im Bank. Brat and the Tea Party are by no means alone in their opposition to the bank’s reauthorization. From what I’ve seen in recent days, punditry opposition from left, right, and center is outpacing support by a wide margin. At this point, I’m not sure if even Tim Howard could save the bank. Not that the bank obviously needs saving, but neither is the case against it as slamdunkity as opponents claim. For example, running through the critiques is the assertion that the subsidies which the bank provides to American exporters are wasted: they’d make the same sales without them. That may be the case, but I’ve seen nothing but assertions and no analysis. Keith Henessey, who doesn’t just want to end the bank—he wants to “Kill” it!—makes a point I’ve made as well: “Deep and liquid private credit markets exist today that did not exist when the Export-Import Bank was created in the 1930s.” Certainly true. The global supply of loanable funds is much greater and cheaper than it was in the past. But neither he nor I nor anyone else knows if that means a developing economy can get an affordable loan of the magnitude needed to buy US-made airplanes. The Ex-Im Bank exists to offset the premium associated with that credit risk and it has done so effectively, in the sense of pricing its loan guarantees to account for the risk (i.e., it has not, on net, lost money on defaults). That doesn’t mean it’s efficient or even that it deserves to live on. I join the opposition in their major critiques: it’s not clear why Boeing, GE, and other large American exporters need the subsidy, nor why rich countries need the USG to backstop their loans. But assertion is not proof, and it would be better to test the international credit waters rather than do an experiment with full withdrawal, especially at a time when we very much need the labor demand generated by exports–and remember, we’re talking manufactured goods. Phase-out is also a better strategy given the other main defense of the bank, which is that as long as our competitors for international sales keep their similar credit-providing institutions up and running, we’re at a disadvantage if we drop out of this market. As one critic wrote, that’s not a principled defense, but I think it’s a pragmatic one.

What you should know about a new law that will make it tougher for consumers to clear their debts. More on bankruptcy • • • • QUICK VOTE Do you think people abuse the bankruptcy laws? Yes No View results Video More video President Bush talks about what the new bankruptcy law will require. Play video NEW YORK (CNN/Money) � President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a bankruptcy reform bill that will make it harder for individuals to clear their debts through bankruptcy. So, experts say, if you were thinking about filing for bankruptcy, you might think twice -- or act twice as quickly, since major provisions of the law will go into effect six months from the day the law is signed. Individuals filing for bankruptcy usually do so either under Chapter 7 or under Chapter 13. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your assets (minus those exempted by your state) are liquidated and given to creditors, and many of your remaining debts are cancelled, giving you what's known as a "fresh start." In 2004, over 1.1 million people filed for Chapter 7, accounting for roughly 72 percent of non-business bankruptcies. Since many Chapter 7 filers don't have assets that qualify for liquidation, credit card companies and other creditors sometimes get nothing. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you're put on a repayment plan of up to five years. Any debts not addressed by the repayment plan don't have to be paid. Last year, there were 445,574 Chapter 13 filings. Under the new law, fewer people will be allowed to file under Chapter 7; more will be forced to file under Chapter 13. Lawmakers who favor the legislation argue that it will prevent consumers from abusing the bankruptcy laws � using them to clear debts that they can afford to pay. But consumer advocates argue that the new law is a gift to creditors � particularly the credit card industry, which may receive $1 billion or more from repayment plans due to the expected increase in Chapter 13 filings, according to Robert McKinley, CEO of CardWeb.com. "The bill simply doesn't balance responsibility between families in debt trouble and the creditors whose practices have contributed to the rise in bankruptcies," said Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America in a written statement. Key changes Here are some of the major changes for consumers under the new law: A qualifying test: Currently, it's up to the court to determine if your case qualifies for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Under the new law, your income will be subject to a two-part means test. First, it will be subject to a formula that exempts certain expenses (rent, food, etc.) to determine whether you can afford to pay 25 percent of your "nonpriority unsecured debt" such as your credit card bills. Second, your income would be compared to your state's median income. You won't be allowed to file for Chapter 7 if your income is above your state's median and you can afford to pay 25 percent of your unsecured debt, said California-based bankruptcy attorney Stephen Elias, who is coauthor of the book "How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy." But, he said, you may be allowed to file for Chapter 13. If your income is below the state's median but you can pay 25 percent of your unsecured debt, you may be able to file Chapter 7, but the court can still require you to file Chapter 13 instead if it believes that you would be abusing the system by filing for Chapter 7, Elias said. Under current law, the court has great latitude in deciding whether debtors may file for bankruptcy in consideration of their personal circumstances. Under the new law, there will be few if any exceptions made to the means test, no matter how sympathetic your case, said Leon Bayer, a bankruptcy attorney in Los Angeles. Determining what you can afford to pay: Currently, if you file for Chapter 13 today, the court determines what you can afford to pay based on what you and the court deem to be reasonable and necessary expenses. Under the new law, the court will apply living standards derived by the IRS to determine what is reasonable to pay for rent, food and other expenses to figure out how much you have available to pay your debts. The IRS regulations are more stringent, and to contest them means asking for a hearing from a judge, which can mean more time and expense, Elias said. Tougher homestead exemptions: Currently, if you declare bankruptcy, the state where you file may allow you to protect from creditors some or all of your home equity. In Florida, for instance, your home may be entirely exempt, even if you bought it soon before filing. In Nevada, you may exempt up to $200,000. The new law, however, places more stringent restrictions on the homestead exemption. For instance, if filers haven't lived in a state for at least two years, they may only take the state exemption of the state where they lived for the majority of the time for the 180 days before the two-year period. Filers may only exempt up to $125,000, regardless of a state's exemption allowance, if their home was acquired less than 40 months before filing or if the filer has violated securities laws or been found guilty of certain criminal conduct. Unlike most of the other provisions, the new homestead exemption rules go into effect immediately. Lawyer liability: Under the new law, if information about a client's case is found to be inaccurate, the bankruptcy attorney may be subject to various fees and fines. What that means for consumers is it will be harder to find a bankruptcy attorney willing to file because of the liability and the additional work required to verify a client's information, Elias said. Those who are willing are likely to charge more. Credit counseling and money management: Under provisions of the new law you must meet with a credit counselor in the six months prior to applying for bankruptcy. And before debts are discharged, you must attend money management classes at your expense. What should you do? For those people who have considered bankruptcy, the time to act may be now, consumer advocates say. Talk to a good bankruptcy lawyer, Plunkett said. If together you decide bankruptcy is the right call, you might consider speeding up your plans to file since most of the main provisions of the new law won't go into effect until six months from now. Typically, it can take a couple of weeks to file for bankruptcy, said Bayer. See Money magazine's 9-step program for tackling your debt problem. Money 101: Controlling debt Debt reduction planner

Hi! Hi! Today we are happy to share with you photos from recent PilsenKit exhibition. This time it was in a different place, so everyone was wondering how it will be. I can say that hall now is roomier and can fit more models with people. :) The only thing which might be improved - amount of sellers, because this time kits choice wasn't that big. Nevertheless, you are here for the photos, so enjoy. Привет! Сегодня мы рады поделиться с вами фото с прошедшей выставки PilsenKit. В этот раз она прошла в другом месте, поэтому каждому было интересно, как всё выйдет. Могу сказать, что помещение теперь более просторное и может вместить больше моделей с моделистами. :) Единственное, что хотелось бы улучшить - количество продавцов, потому что выбор моделей был небольшим. Тем не менее, вы явно пришли сюда за фото, поэтому не буду вас задерживать. Не забудьте поставить лайк нашей странице Facebook, чтобы вовремя получать свежие статьи .

Foto: kapitalac.wordpress.com AKO STE porezni obveznik u Hrvatskoj, odnosno ne primate plaću iz državnog proračuna već radite za privatnika (ili ste sami privatnik), dajem vam na znanje sljedeće Da ste pripadnik manjinske skupine građana. Poreznih obveznika u Hrvatskoj je manje od milijun, a stanovnika je 4,3 milijuna. Od 3,7 milijuna glasača samo je 28% poreznih obveznika. Ostatak od 72% glasača svoje prihode bazira na državnom proračunu odnosno na novcu kojeg država oporezuje poreznim obveznicima i daje njima. Oni se nazivaju porezni konzumenti. Porezni konzumenti su predstavnici Vlade RH, saborski zastupnici, birokrati, javnosektoraši, primatelji poticaja iz državnog proračuna (kronisti, nevladine organizacije itd.) i mnogi drugi. Porezni konzumenti pišu zakone! Odbor za Ustav RH je na prijedlog sindikata i “nevladinih” organizacija predložio zabranu referenduma koji se odnose na pitanja o državnom proračunu i porezima Sabor je u petak podržao prijedlog Odbora za Ustav RH (točka 5.) U Ustav će se ugraditi zabrana referenduma o porezima Pitanje za razmišljanje: Nakon što se poreznim obveznicima Ustavom zabrani da referendumom odluče o manjoj poreznoj presiji što će ih više štititi od mogućnosti da ih proračunski korisnici ne eksploatiraju do mile volje? A kako je do svega toga došlo? Što se događalo prije nego je Sabor izglasao izmjene Ustava Tekst se nastavlja ispod oglasa Nije prošlo niti mjesec dana otkako sam komentirao prijedlog sindikata i nevladinih organizacija (na papiru nevladinih, u praksi vladinih produženih ruku), udruženih u prijedlozima upućenima na javnoj raspravi o promjenama Ustava u dijelu referendumskih pitanja, a Odbor za Ustav Sabora RH već je prihvatio njihov prijedlog i to u cijelosti onako kako su ga je skrojila družba interesnih skupina. Pitanja o kojima se uskoro više neće moći odlučivati referendumom: koja se odnose na ograničavanje ili smanjivanje ljudskih prava i temeljnih sloboda sadržanih u Glavi III. Ustava, koja se odnose na obveze koje proizlaze iz međunarodnih ugovora, osim potvrđivanja, otkazivanja ili povlačenja iz tih ugovora, koja se odnose na donošenje i izvršenje proračuna i porezni sustav, koja se odnose na obranu i nacionalnu sigurnost, koja se odnose na izbore i imenovanja u djelokrugu Hrvatskoga sabora. Referendumskih inicijativa u dogledno vrijeme možemo očekivati više jer je potreban broj za raspisivanje referenduma smanjen sa 10% ukupnog broja birača (oko 370.000) na 200.000. Dakle biti će lakše inicirati referendum jer će za to biti potrebno 45% manje potpisa nego danas. Ipak, referendum može proći tek ako se odazove definiran postotak ukupnog broja birača na biračkom popisu, ovisno o prirodi promjene koja se traži. Među gomilom nevladinih organizacija koje su uputile prijedlog ograničenja referendumskih pitanja pred Odbor našao se i GONG, a u Odboru se našao glavom i bradom izvršni direktor GONG-a g. Dragan Zelić. Na zasjedanju odbora proteklog tjedna, gdje se diskutiralo o predloženim ograničenjima, i došlo do zaključka da su ograničenja blagotvorna za slobodu građana i proces demokratskog odlučivanja, manifestirala se zanimljiva nakana. Naime predsjednik Odbora Peđa Grbin predložio je da se za odluke koje Sabor donosi dvotrećinskom većinom, traži natpolovična većina od svih upisanih u popis birača, za organske zakone 40 posto, a za izmjenu tzv. običnih zakona 30 posto. Na to je reagirao g. Zelić: Bojimo se da će uz ovakve uvjete, gdje se, na neki način, olakšava pokretanje referenduma, biti puno pokrenutih referenduma, ali da će se odluka na referendumu vrlo teško donositi. Novac će otići u zrak i vjetar. To će biti jedna zanimljiva igračka građanima od koje neće biti nikakve koristi … pa predložio da se prag za ove “obične” zakone spusti na 25%. Nakon Zelićeve ingeniozne argumentacije Odbor je prihvatio prijedlog, a što god da oni sami sebi predložili ionako im ne može ići na štetu. Niži prag prolaznosti znači tek da će se putem referenduma češće trgovati idejama na štetu poreznih obveznika i za korist interesnih skupina. Koliko god se ovo prezentiralo kao pozitivna stvar u demokratskom sazrijevanju u cijeloj priči radi se o predstavi iza čijih kulisa interesne skupine trguju slobodama građana i njihovom imovinom. Vidimo to u slijedećem: GANG-u i ostatku parazita ne odgovara da porezni obveznici, koji čine tek 28% biračkog tijela, imaju pravo odlučivati o tome u kojoj mjeri će ih porezni konzumenti eksploatirati stoga su to pitanje ograničili prijedlogom u trećoj točki (pitanja koja se odnose na donošenje i izvršenje proračuna i porezni sustav). Naime kada bi porezni obveznik mogao postaviti referendumsko pitanje o smanjenju porezne presije nad njime tada bi to značilo da parazitska gomila ostaje zakinuta za svoje pravo da ih putem države eksploatira. 72% birača su porezni konzumenti i žive na račun oporezivanja imovine 28% poreznih obveznika. Porezni konzumenti su zakonodavac, državna uprava, javni sektor, nevladine organizacije i mnogi drugi koji svoje prihode temelje i ostvaruju iz državnog proračuna. Njima je važno da je državni proračun velik i stabilan jer to im jamči stabilnost osobnih prihoda. O tim pitanjima oni jednostavno ne žele raspravljati sa onima koje eksploatiraju, štoviše oni će zabraniti eksploatiranoj skupini da se na ikoji način odupre toj ideji. Nažalost, porezni obveznici takvi kakvi jesu, uglavnom nezainteresirani za političku borbu, jer se nastoje baviti produktivnim aktivnostima vjerujući da će od toga imati koristi, propustili su prije mjesec dana pobuniti se na prijedlog ograničenja referendumskih pitanja koja se tiču njihovih osobnih sloboda i imovine, tobože zaštićenih glavom III Ustava RH. Propustili su isto učiniti i prekjučer kada su mediji izvjestili o zasjedanju i odluci Odbora za ustav koji je podržao ograničenje njihovih elementarnih prava i sloboda. U trenutku kada će saborski zastupnici podići ruke u znak prihvaćanja izmjena Ustava na vrata Sabora neće pokucati niti jedan porezni obveznik i suprotstaviti se donošenju odluke na njegovu štetu. kapitalac.wordpress.com (preuzeto uz dozvolu)

We’ve seen rallies and demonstrations against Washington’s new voter-approved background check law. But now a gun rights group is planning a “we will not comply” gun show. It’s dubbed the Arms Expo. It’s scheduled for the weekend of June 20 in the Yakima area at a location yet to be announced. A website bills the event as a gun show and “patriot campout for the whole family.” And it promises “no background checks, no paperwork, no infringement.” “We will be exercising what I would refer to as constitutional sales where there’s no background check of any sort,” organizer Sam Wilson said. Wilson said anyone who attends the expo and sells or purchases a firearm without a background check does risk arrest. But he predicts law enforcement won’t intervene. Phil Watson with the Second Amendment Foundation criticized the “we will not comply” movement as a “clique of gadflies.” His organization is challenging portions of the background check law in federal court. Another gun rights event is planned at the Washington capitol for Saturday, February 7. Participants plan to protest a new ban on openly-carried guns in the public viewing galleries of the Washington House and Senate. That ban also extends to public hearing rooms.

Story highlights Teresa Gilmete Badger is an elementary schoolteacher At least two people were hospitalized after eating the food, police say At least one person tested positive for THC, marijuana's intoxicating ingredient A 15-year-old got sick after eating leftovers from the party Police in Northern California have arrested an elementary schoolteacher after she allegedly brought marijuana-laced food to an after-hours employee potluck dinner. Teresa Gilmete Badger, a 47-year-old teacher at Matthew Turner Elementary School in Benicia, was arrested Friday afternoon on suspicion of poisoning after a six-week-long investigation, said Lt. Frank Hartig of the Benicia Police Department. After the late-November get-together in the Bay Area town, several people reported feeling ill, a police statement said. "One of the partygoers was rushed to the hospital with severe reactions; she was hospitalized," Hartig told CNN affiliate KPIX . "The very next morning, another partygoer was taken to the hospital, because she continued to feel like she was under the influence of something." JUST WATCHED Obama, Perry backpedals on marijuana Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Obama, Perry backpedals on marijuana 05:25 At least one of the women tested positive for THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the principal intoxicant in marijuana, police said. A 15-year-old also got sick after someone at the party brought leftovers home, according to police. During their investigation, police said they were told that Badger had "allegedly confessed her involvement to individuals who were also in attendance at the party." She was arrested Friday and booked into Solano County Jail in Fairfield. Bail was set at $15,000. Badger chose not to speak to arresting officers, Hartig said.

Childlessness Falls, Family Size Grows Among Highly Educated Women Among women in the United States, postgraduate education and motherhood are increasingly going hand-in-hand. The share of highly educated women who are remaining childless into their mid-40s has fallen significantly over the past two decades. Today, about one-in-five women ages 40 to 44 with a master’s degree or higher (22%) have no children – down from 30% in 1994, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data. The decline is particularly dramatic among women with an M.D. or Ph.D. – fully 35% were childless in 1994, while today the share stands at 20%. Not only are highly educated women more likely to have children these days, they are also having bigger families than in the past. Among women with at least a master’s degree, six-in-ten have had two or more children, up from 51% in 1994. The share with two children has risen 4 percentage points, while the share with three or more has risen 6 percentage points. This trend has likely been driven by demographic and societal changes. It coincides with women’s growing presence in managerial and leadership positions and suggests that an increasing share of professional women are confronting the inevitable push and pull of work-family balance. Previous Pew Research analysis has found that overall women devote fewer hours to paid work with each additional child they have. On average, a working-age woman with no children spends 27 hours per week in paid work, while a woman with three or more children spends 18 hours working. In addition, working mothers are more than three times as likely as working fathers to say that being a working parent has made it more difficult for them to advance in their career (51% vs. 16%). Fueled in part by the increases in motherhood among highly educated women, childlessness among all women ages 40 to 44 in the U.S. is at its lowest point in a decade. In 1994, 18% of all women at the end of their childbearing years had not borne a child. That number rose to 20% by the mid-2000s before declining to 15% in 2014. At the same time, the average number of children that U.S. women have in their lifetime has remained quite stable over the past 20 years, at about two children. The fact that completed family size has changed little since the mid-1990s may seem counterintuitive, given the amount of attention often directed toward the so-called “Baby Bust” in the post-recession U.S. It is true that analyses based on changes in annual fertility rates have shown consistent declines in childbearing since 2007, suggesting that fertility is at an all-time low. However, these analyses are capturing fertility at one point in time, as opposed to the cumulative measure of lifetime fertility used in this analysis. Part of what accounts for the low fertility indicated by annual rates is the fact that many women are putting off having children until later in life, both due to broad cultural changes (such as increasing education), and due to the Great Recession, which intensified delayed childbearing, particularly among younger women. What remains to be seen is whether these declines in annual birth rates will continue, and will translate into lower lifetime fertility for women at the end of their childbearing years. Some experts suspect that, as with past economic downturns, women may ultimately “catch up” on their fertility, though one recent analysis suggests that fertility delayed due to the Great Recession may in fact be fertility foregone. Regardless of short-term fertility patterns and their implications, there is no denying that the longer-term trend has been toward much smaller American families. Looking back to 1976, the first year for which data are available, the average woman in her early 40s in the U.S. had given birth to three children, and 36% of women in this age range had four or more children. By 2014, the large family sizes that prevailed in the 1970s had been fully supplanted by the two-child family. Now 35% of all women ages 40 to 44 have two children, while just 12% have four or more. At the same time, one-child families have gained ground – today 18% of women at the end of their childbearing years have an only child, up from 10% in 1976. About 20% of women have three children, a number that has remained virtually unchanged. These findings are based on a Pew Research Center analysis of civilian women near the end of their childbearing years, using data from the 1976-2014 June Supplements of the Current Population Survey. The June Supplement is typically conducted every other year, and produces a nationally representative sample of the non-institutionalized population of the U.S. While the overview and first section of this report analyzes childlessness and fertility among all women, the final section examines mothers only, focusing on trends and variations in the number of children that they have had in their lifetimes. Other key findings: While fertility trends among highly educated women show a clear pattern of less childlessness and bigger families, the trends among less-educated women are not as clear-cut. Childlessness is down among women lacking a high school diploma and among women with a bachelor’s degree, but otherwise family size for these two groups has changed little since 1994. And among high school graduates, the share of women ages 40 to 44 with one child has increased, but there has been no change in the share with bigger families. The educational “gaps” in childlessness and in family size have narrowed in the past two decades, but they do persist. The more education a woman has, up to a bachelor’s degree, the less likely she is to become a mother. And among mothers, those with more education have fewer children than those with less education. For instance, just 13% of moms lacking a high school diploma have one child, while fully 26% have four or more, while among mothers with a master’s degree or more, 23% have only children and just 8% have four or more. Fertility patterns differ significantly by race and ethnicity. Some 17% of white women ages 40 to 44 are childless, compared with 15% of black women in the same age group, 13% of Asian women and just 10% of Hispanic women. Hispanic and black mothers ages 40 to 44 are especially likely to have large families. Fully 20% of Hispanic moms have four or more children, as do 18% of black moms. In comparison, just 11% of white mothers have four or more children, as do 10% of Asian mothers. Since 1988, there has been a dramatic decline in the share of mothers with four or more children among Hispanics, blacks and whites.

Post: #5 Re: Are e-cigs Evil ? - Channel 5 phone in show ! Can you comment on the fb page about the show then? (I am allergic to fb so don't use it) maybe everyone could slam the comments with loads of facts and references before the show goes out? If nothing of use is referred to in the programme then we can be safe in the knowledge that it was going to be hysterical bias from the start and there is nothing we could have done about it anyhow. Maybe a point could be made about them not all looking like ciggies, cos you can bet your life the argument of it encouraging kiddies to smoke will come up...... Probably repeatedly with wails of 'but the children.... Won't somebody think of the children' It's time for Action! http://nnalliance.org/ http://www.theindefatigablefrog.blogspot.co.uk/ @caeruleansea @caeruleansea

As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney closed a big deficit with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, but he never raised tax rates. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Mitt Romney has portrayed himself as a tax cutter when he served as governor of Massachusetts -- slashing taxes 19 times. His opponent Newt Gingrich and others have said Romney raised taxes. So which is it? This is politics, so there is hyperbole on both sides. And there's always disagreement about what can be categorized as a tax increase or cut. The bottom line is that Romney cut some taxes as governor. But he also faced a big budget deficit when he took office in 2003, so he raised revenue as well. (State tax changes on the way in 2012) The cuts: Among Romney's cuts was a one-year delay in a capital gains tax increase enacted before he took office. That resulted in a one-time savings of $250 million for Massachusetts taxpayers. Other tax cuts or breaks Romney gave his stamp of approval to: --a biotech manufacturing jobs tax rebate; --prescription drug and property tax relief for seniors; --tax breaks for commuters and veterans; --and a deduction for businesses that install automatic sprinkler systems. He also extended or made permanent some temporary tax breaks and signed into law two sales tax holidays, each of which lasted a day or two. The Romney campaign did not provide an overall estimate of how much the 19 measures saved taxpayers. And the independent Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation didn't have one. The new revenue: But since the tax cuts were relatively small, the revenue taxpayers saved was "vastly less" than the roughly $700 million in additional annual revenue the foundation estimates was raised because of other measures Romney signed, according to Michael Widmer, the foundation's president. Romney's opponents call many of those measures tax increases; he says they weren't tax increases but rather corporate loophole closings and fee increases. "A loophole is when someone takes advantage of a tax law in a way that wasn't intended by the legislation," Romney said at a campaign stop in Iowa last summer. He noted that when he took office some Massachusetts banks were calling themselves real estate companies and getting a special tax break intended for real estate enterprises. "We said no more of that. You're not going to game with the system," Romney said. Fair enough. But Romney did more than close loopholes, Widmer said. For example, he noted, the state's revenue commissioner was given unprecedented power to scrutinize corporate returns and decide if a transaction may have been engaged in strictly for the tax benefit rather than a business-related reason. As for fees and penalties, sometimes they're just that. For instance, Romney increased the penalty for engaging in abusive tax transactions, said Kathleen Thies, a state tax analyst for tax publisher CCH. But some of Romney's moves were a direct bid to boost revenue, especially in his first year when he needed to close a $2 billion budget gap, Widmer said. A number of fees affecting individuals went up, including fees on home buyers and various license fees. Romney also proposed several new fees. "I think there is an argument to be made that these changes were, in fact, tax increases. However, since they were not rate increases per se there is more wiggle room," Thies said. Indeed, during Romney's tenure, individual and corporate income tax rates did not go up. The verdict: Gov. Romney cut select taxes while in office. And he even proposed some new tax cuts that didn't pass the legislature -- like a 0.3 percentage point reduction in the 5.3% state income tax rate. But he also had an obligation to balance the state's budget every year, and when he came into office he was facing a big deficit that he plugged using a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. "He solved for a $2.1 billion problem. Half of it came from revenue," Widmer said. "He brought a balanced approach." The tax plan Romney has proposed in his bid for the White House would preserve today's income tax rates, but also lower investment taxes and eliminate the estate tax. His plan would reduce federal revenue by an estimated $180 billion in 2015 alone, according to a Tax Policy Center analysis.

In Paris, France, last year, governments agreed to confine global warming to well below 2 degree Celsius. What’s the driving force behind this? ‘As Martin Luther King put it, “the fierce urgency of now”. We probably have underestimated this urgency to some extent, even in the scientific community. Years ago, I introduced the concept of so-called tipping elements. This refers to critical components of the earth system like the Greenland ice sheet, the Amazon rainforest or the Indian summer monsoon that could at some point of continued perturbation be tipped from one state to another – we call this highly non-linear behaviour. Crossing critical thresholds would cause comparatively abrupt and perhaps irreversible environmental changes. And we know that beyond 2 degrees global warming the risk of tipping increases. Now there is new evidence based on historic reconstructions that shows climate sensitivity is probably higher than estimated in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This could mean we can emit even less CO2 if we want to stay within the temperature range agreed to in the Paris Agreement. ‘If we keep doing what we’re doing so far, in a business-as-usual scenario, this could mean about 5 degrees warming by the end of the century. It’s not hard to imagine that this could mean the end of the world as we know it. The changes we’d face would be profound. So we seem to be at a highly critical moment in our time where we have to get almost everything right in order to avoid most severe consequences. This worries me, especially when I look at recent developments like in the United States with a President-elect Donald Trump, possibly planning to leave the Paris Agreement behind. He will probably also invest trillions in building roads and other infrastructure with concrete and steel, which will churn out billions and billions of tonnes of additional CO2. This is the tragedy of many civilisations, as can be seen in history. When societies got into trouble, far too often the response was not to change the system, change the paradigm, but more of the same.’ How do we go about changing the paradigm? ‘What we need is a roadmap towards decarbonisation, with decadal steps bringing down emissions to almost zero by 2050. Because that is the only chance we have to stay within the 2 degrees limit, even though it would probably not be enough to keep warming below 1.5 degrees. But if you want to go down that road by mid-century, that means that by 2020 emissions globally have to peak. That may sound like a tremendous effort, but it also means turning back to many solutions we already have. It means repairing the European Emission Trading System and boosting efficiency measures everywhere. People have kept on talking about the low-hanging fruits, but they never pluck them. Now is the time. ‘In the next decade, until 2030, there are two essential shifts that should happen from my point of view. A phase out of coal-fired power stations, completely and worldwide. That means stopping building new ones, but also shutting down some of the existing ones. And we should get over the combustion engine in automobiles, because it is about time to completely replace it with much smarter alternatives. ‘Then, in the decade after that, we also need to have a number of major breakthroughs, technology breakthroughs. Think of super-smart grids connected by super-conductivity cables. People are working on this already, as this could transport electricity over long distances without any losses. Think of cities not being built anymore with concrete or cement, which is highly climate-damaging. These might be cities built from wood again, which was dominant over thousands of years, next to stone and clay of course. Already, in a city like Berlin (Germany), there are five-storey apartment buildings mainly constructed from wood. Young entrepreneurs are working on very innovative ways to treat wood to make it more flexible and fireproof. Building in wood would help us… even (reduce) carbon (usage). While cement production is a huge source for CO2, wood can be used as a carbon sink, absorbing and storing CO2. ‘And that is the other, much brighter side of the coin. If we embrace this challenge and turn climate stabilisation and a sustainable future into the new narrative of modernity, not only would this be a fantastic project for humankind, creating new jobs, it would also shape a world of new life opportunities, new cultural development, and so on. We still have the choice, as we are standing at the crossroads. This could give our modern times a new meaning, enabling us to use all the available potential, whether it is intellectual, whether it is physical, whether it is resources. So it is a very interesting point in time, we either go for the bright side of a sustainable future, or we might go for the dark ages again.’ For climate research, where should the focus be as the EU prepares its next funding programme to follow on from Horizon 2020? ‘In order to get a real grip on the climate problem we need a strategic approach, something like an Apollo project, that focuses all available resources and potentials on a common goal. You would need some kind of a roadmap, mapping out… the low-hanging fruits, like energy efficiency, as well as technological innovations in strategic areas like new material for construction, also carbon-negative technologies. But there are many other areas as well with great potential, like agriculture. You could very simply avoid a lot of emissions from agriculture by no-tillage approaches where you do not plough the soil. ‘Commissioner Moedas (the EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation) has set up this new high-level panel for European decarbonisation pathways… and I am chairing it. And there, my intention is to work out precisely such a roadmap. Not a narrow-minded, technocratic document, but an open plan with a number of important milestones. And here is the important thing. Innovations don’t need to be only physical, chemical or whatever. There are many social innovations that also help us to go for a more sustainable world.’ What kinds of social innovations do you mean? ‘Let me give you an example: the carmaker BMW told me once about their electric car, the i3. I drive an i3 today as my private car, but I’m one of very few people who own one. What did the company do? They set up a collaboration with partners including the City of Berlin for a very popular Berlin vehicle-sharing scheme. You can find available cars on your smartphone, and they have created a fleet of these i3 cars which you now find everywhere on the streets of Berlin. The city will support this by reviewing their public parking-space policies. 'People have kept on talking about the low-hanging fruits, but they never pluck them. Now is the time.' Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany ‘The biggest social innovation might be to set up some kind of transformation fund - like the sovereign wealth fund in Norway - where you strategically invest in new infrastructure, and where the funding could come, for example, from a carbon tax or trading scheme. Some countries already have carbon taxes, and if the revenues would go directly into a transformation fund earmarked for climate innovations, this would be a completely new way of dealing with the climate challenge. So from simple individual behaviour up to fiscal institutions, you can go through a whole series of possible innovations.’ You have been credited for coming up with the 2 degrees threshold that the world is working towards. Yet it is becoming clear that the climate could be more responsive than we thought, is this level low enough? ‘We have not completely understood the climate system yet, and particularly the non-linear behaviour associated with tipping points should be researched further. Many scientists tend to be a bit conservative, staying on the safe side, avoiding what could be misunderstood as alarmism, thereby sometimes underestimating the dynamics. Only recently, I published a paper together with colleagues in Nature Climate Change about critical thresholds when you turn up the heat globally. The question is, when do we reach these critical thresholds? There are still some uncertainties but, as it turns out, limiting warming to 2 degrees will not be enough to avoid all tipping points. The tropical coral reefs will probably completely die back, even if we limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. The Greenland ice sheet might also be at risk. ‘So 1.5 degrees clearly is the better target, but I think it could only be achieved by overshooting the available emissions budget temporarily and then later coming back to within the budget range - which means you have to work with substantial negative emissions, a very difficult concept. I think it could only be done if we turn global agriculture into a carbon sink and actually build all our future cities from carbon-negative materials. That is the only scale where we could achieve it, so the answer is, 1.5 would be much better in terms of climate impacts than 2 degrees. But 2 degrees already requires an industrial revolution at the planetary scale. In contrast, I think 1.5 degrees requires almost a miracle. But of course sometimes miracles do happen.’ You say miracles do happen, but you’ve also mentioned the drastic changes that need to take place such as getting rid of the internal combustion engine and revolutionising agriculture and the way we build cities. It seems like an enormous challenge. ‘Mind-boggling, yes. But the crazy thing about it is, these things can be done. People pursue nuclear fusion, which might be a benefit in the end, but it is a tremendous challenge with no end in sight so far. Yet it seems to be ok for the EU to pour money into that endeavour, and I accept that because it is an exciting intellectual enterprise, even though it will probably not save the world. However, we already have a perfectly working powerful fusion reactor – the sun. Solar energy comes without any cost, it is absolutely safe. We just have to harvest it. We do not have to bend the laws of physics to make use of the sun and to use wood as a carbon sink and so on. So, in a way, our society is in a strange state of schizophrenia. On the one hand we go for highly, highly utopian technologies and are willing to fund them. At the same time, we say that things that are already proven in principle are impossible to achieve, and this has to do with vested interests of course, and also with human inertia. People would rather go for the fairy tale that we will drive the whole economy by fusion energy by 2050, which is of course impossible, but at the same time they tell us that it is absolutely impossible to run a country like Morocco from solar energy. ‘I am from Germany, a country with lots of renewable energy production. But if you conduct an analysis of the sunshine potential of Germany, it is comparable to Alaska (US). So how much easier would it be for Italy and Greece and the United States of America, let alone Africa, to run their countries on sunshine? I think we need to get rid of all the myths that are, in a way, congesting our brain, and once we have done that, yes then the answer is I think it is achievable still.’ If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.

The former "Boston Legal" star will not return for a ninth season of the still highly-rated NBC comedy. James Spader will not be returning to The Office. In another shake-up at NBC’s long-running comedy, the Boston Legal actor has opted not to be part of the series’ ninth season, assuming one is ordered, NBC confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. Spader has offered the series a dose of star power since veteran star Steve Carell (Michael Scott) exited the series. In the months since, Spader has replaced Kathy Bates’ character as the fictional company's new chief executive, Robert California. To hear Office executive producer Paul Lieberstein tell it, Spader already has contributed far more to the series than he had planned. The actor had signed to play a two-scene role in the season-seven finale, but the “life and intrigue” that he brought to the part made two scenes become a full season. "James always wanted this to be a one-year arc, and he now leaves us having created one of the most enigmatic and dynamic characters in television,” adds Lieberstein, who plays Toby Flenderson on the show. “He’s been a great friend to me and the show, helping us successfully transition into the post-Michael Scott years, and I’m grateful for that.” The news of Spader's exit comes as other members of The Office's staff — on-camera and off — are toying with departure. Head writer Daniel Chun inked an overall deal with rival ABC Studios in late February, mere weeks after his fellow Office writer and star Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor) had her comedy project ordered to pilot at Fox. If the latter is picked up to series, Kaling, whose Universal Television deal expires in June, is expected to depart the Office and focus on the new show. Although sources have downplayed its likelihood in recent weeks, NBC is also said to be eyeing a potential midseason spin-off centered on Rainn Wilson’s quirky Dwight Schrute character. The idea, which Wilson has since confirmed, is to further explore the Schrute family farm, with multiple generations of Schrutes involved. If the network opts to move forward with it, Wilson, too, likely will pack his bags. Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose

BenDeLaCreme Talks About Going to Hell and Why He’s Not on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars A Q&A About Inferno A-Go-Go, & the Drag Star's Latest Solo Show In Inferno-A-Go-Go, she plays a tourist wandering through hell. Jason Russo Where are you at this moment and what are you doing? I've heard you've been in hell. I'm currently in Provincetown, Massachusetts—the dreamy little LGBT vacation destination on the tip of Cape Cod. Beach in the day, performance in the evening, a wealth of mind-blowing queer artists and musicians to soak in all night. It's grueling. Your new show is based on Dante's Inferno. Tell me about it. Oh, you know how I roll—grappling with the pitfalls of moral absolutism through songs, puns, and puppets! BenDeLaCreme has decided to descend into hell in Dante Alighieri's footsteps, with only the vaguest understanding of what that might entail. Along the way, she sings and dances—and meets harpies, centaurs, and sodomites. It uses a vaudevillian format as a structure to tell the story, so it's a lot of ridiculous, campy fun. It's a show and a story for everyone—but if you've read Inferno, there are a few little treats just for you. This show opened in New York City, and now you're bringing it back to your hometown, Seattle. What's hotter in summertime—hell or New York City? Well, hell isn't seasonal, but I guess it's the difference between sitting on the subway in a pool of your own sweat versus standing in an actual hole full of fire, so I'll choose the former. I'd always rather sit. This isn't the typical order we see shows out here. Do you always try out your ideas in New York City and only then bring them to Seattle? So far I have, but that's more a scheduling thing than a calculated move. There's no "safe place" to premiere a show. I want it to be the best it can be no matter where I am. New York audiences can be notoriously critical and unforgiving. On the other hand, I've been performing in Seattle for a decade now, and I want to bring my best to the audience that has supported me on my way up—so six of one, you know? But the bulk of my process happens before opening night. I work more like a theater maker than a cabaret artist: Very little is improvised. I'm not usually working out new material onstage to see if it lands. Fortunately thus far it's worked in my favor! Are you changing anything after the New York run? Actually no. There were a few small tweaks opening weekend, but overall this show has hit exactly as I hoped it would. This is only the third solo show I've written, and with each one I feel my vision and voice becoming clearer. Not really changing but becoming more well-honed. This time around I had a wonderful guide in Scott Shoemaker (my Virgil!), who I have worked with over the years in Freedom Fantasia and Homo for the Holidays, and of course he's making waves with his brilliant Ms. Pak-Man shows and in Ian Bell's Brown Derby Series. For lack of a better term, I've been referring to him as my dramaturge. He's so brilliant and funny—I bounced ideas off him throughout the whole process, and he helped me tease them out and supported all my research and writing. My fullest ideas get developed in conversation rather than in a bubble—and Scott was an indispensable part of that process. Jason Russo Have you read Dante's Inferno? I have—but only after choosing the theme, which is how I generally work. I'd been racking my brain for a subject for my next show, and I was on a plane home from performing at the World Buskers Festival in New Zealand when the idea randomly popped into my head. I like adapting preexisting material, both because it defines the parameters of your subject and because it can inform some structural guidelines. I was also drawn to the way that through the nine circles of hell the story is inherently divided into sections, which speaks to my desire to deal with both narrative and a segmented cabaret/variety structure. Then of course I thought: "Oh, sins! Sins are funny and fun!" When I landed at LAX, I walked into the bookstore and Inferno was actually sitting right there on the shelf. Only one copy. AT AN AIRPORT BOOKSTORE. I don't believe things happen for a reason, but I believe in humans' ability to create reason out of anything that happens. And it was settled. Of course, as soon as I started reading, and the horrors of 2016 began unfolding, I thought, "Oh shit, sins are super not fun." I was faced with the heaviness of having chosen a subject riddled with death, murder, the way that humans betray and hurt other humans, and the way we decide the value and worth of each other's lives. But then I realized this was exactly the reason to be working on this right now. We all have to make sense of these horrible events, of the hell we are living in. You know what doesn't make sense? You not being on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. I just watched the first episode. Why aren't you on there? Did they ask you? Take another look. Those TV producers are willing to ruin friendships, professional relationships, feelings of self-worth—all for some cheap entertainment. You won't remember the details of that episode in a week. Those queens may have to work through that experience for years. I'm grateful for the experience I had [on season six of RuPaul's Drag Race], but I've already been through hell in my new show—I don't need to go through it on theirs. Okay, sorry to talk TV, back to literature. Is there a river of boiling blood in your show? Yes. Do you believe in Satan and hell and all that stuff? I believe in the hells that we create—but I'll save my thoughts on that for the show.

SCRIBA, N.Y. - The outlook for Central New York nuclear plants has slipped from prosperous to perilous. Experts say two of the region's four nukes - FitzPatrick in Oswego County and Ginna in Wayne County -- are at risk of shutting down prematurely if the financial picture does not improve in the years ahead. Syracuse.com ran a story about the problem Sunday, citing analysis by Wall Street firms and other experts. In case you missed it, here's a recap of the five biggest problems facing Upstate nuclear power in general, and FitzPatrick and Ginna in particular: 1. The wholesale price of electricity has fallen by half since 2008, mostly thanks to cheap natural gas that can be burned in generators. Unlike utility-owned nuclear plants, which can turn to regulators for rate increases when times get tough, nukes in New York state depend on competitive market prices for their revenues. 2. Power prices Upstate are extra low. There is twice as much generating capacity as demand for electricity in Central New York, and too few transmission lines to move power to higher-priced Downstate areas. By contrast, two nuclear reactors in the lucrative Downstate market - Indian Point Units 2 and 3 - face political opposition but make plenty of money. 3. Nuclear plants are heavily staffed, capital-intensive organizations with high fixed costs to operate. If electric prices stay low for the next few years, as predicted, they may fall below what some nuclear plants need to cover their costs. 4. Three of the four Upstate nuclear plants are among the oldest in the country, putting them at increased risk of costly repairs. Example: FitzPatrick's owner, Entergy Corp., is evaluating whether to proceed with a "substantial investment'' to replace the reactor's condenser tubes. 5. Both FitzPatrick and Ginna are single-reactor facilities. Stand-alone units are more expensive to operate than nuclear plants with more than one reactor, such as Nine Mile Point Units 1 and 2. Exelon Corp. owns Nine Mile Point station and Ginna. Could a sale or joint venture someday unite FitzPatrick with the Nine Mile Point reactors to improve efficiency? Bill Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, offered no specifics but said options such as selling FitzPatrick or partnering with Exelon are on the table. What will happen next? Energy prices are always difficult to predict with certainty, but the real wild card in all of this is politics, many observers say. Oswego County and its state legislators are generally supportive of the nuclear industry, which provides high-paying jobs and millions in property taxes. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others are fighting Entergy's efforts to extend the operating license of Indian Point, the company's most profitable asset. If chart below doesn't work on your computer/device, try this one. Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 315-470-3023 or on Twitter @TimKnauss.

Many mask unmanageable emotion, can be helped with right therapy Movie villains from Norman Bates to Hannibal Lecter have popularized the notion of the psychopath as cold, cruel, lacking in empathy and beyond the reach of treatment. A new study in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology suggests that this monolithic view, shared by some treatment professionals, is not only wrong but prevents many diagnosed with psychopathy, or precursors of it, from receiving therapies that could help them live happier, more productive lives. The study focused on 150 male and female youth housed in juvenile detention centers, aged 11 to 17, who were classified as callous and unemotional, or CU, exhibiting severe anti-social behaviors that put them at risk of developing psychopathic traits as adults. While some in the research sample did fit the classic definition of psychopathy, a significant subgroup did not, said Tim Stickle, professor of Psychology at the University of Vermont, who co-authored the paper with Andrew Gill, a graduate student at the university. "They appear callous and unemotional to others but are actually very distressed, have high levels of anxiety, higher levels of depression, higher levels of emotion," he said. "We think of these harmful, antisocial, aggressive kids as being immune to fear, immune to negative feelings, but in fact we're showing a whole group of them are not only not immune, but are very susceptible." The hopeful implication, said Stickle, is that this set of psychological issues is treatable with approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy that teach strategies for managing emotions. Conventional treatments for aggression and psychopathy emphasize rewards and punishments to change unwanted behaviors. "There is an opportunity to do things differently and more effectively," Stickle said. Savings of $3 million over lifetime Effectively treating youth at risk of developing psychopathy as adults has value on a societal as well as an individual level. "Untreated callous unemotional traits put these youth at risk for becoming lifelong criminals," Stickle said. Preventing one high risk youth from developing lifelong antisocial behavior will save approximately $3 million across the youth's lifetime, according to a study conducted in 2007. Other recent studies have confirmed that this emotionally distressed subgroup also exists among adults with psychopathic traits. Key advance: a comprehensive diagnostic test that reveals differences The study's ability to identify subgroups within the CU research sample was made possible by the psychological testing instruments the researchers used, which gathered information from subjects on a wide variety of personality and emotional traits. Psychopathy is usually identified with a far narrower checklist of traits and behaviors. "It's not just one characteristic that allows clear identification of who falls in which group; it takes a wide range of traits," Stickle said. The multidimensional testing tools the study employed should be widely adopted in the future, said Stickle, to ensure that those in the secondary psychopathy subgroup receive the appropriate therapy. "Using a wide range of measures of emotional experience and expression is very important to clearly identify who these individuals are so they can be helped," he said. Girls more vulnerable The study is first to find that CU girls are especially likely to fall within the group that suffers from significant emotional distress and unregulated negative feeling. "These traits are particularly prevalent in adolescent females in the juvenile justice system," Stickle said. The study also breaks ground in showing that callous and unemotional youth are at risk of developing clinically significant levels of depression. ###

Journalists follow the presentation of Huawei's smartphone, the Mate S, ahead of the IFA Electronics show in Berlin, Germany, in this file picture taken September 2, 2015. Journalists follow the presentation of Huawei's smartphone, the Mate S, ahead of the IFA Electronics show in Berlin, Germany, in this file picture taken September 2, 2015. Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke The new Huawei P10 picks up where its predecessor left off the year before. It’s an improvement over the Huawei P9 in nearly every facet, including camera, design and display protection. But when it comes to battery performance, how far off are the two P series siblings? Huawei P9 - Battery specs and features The Huawei P9 is powered by a robust and non-removable 3,000 mAh battery. The P9 has rapid charging support and is able to provide about 40 percent of power in just 30 minutes of plug time using 9V/2A charger. Unfortunately, the handset comes with a regular 5V/2A charging unit, so those who want fast charging will have to purchase the 9V charger separately. During GSMArena’s battery test, the Huawei P9 scored a pretty good rating. The phone battery can endure a few hours north of three days if the user does an hour each of phone calls, web browsing and video playback per day. The P9 has three power modes: Performance, Standard and Ultra Power Saving. The Performance mode goes all out and does not enforce any kind of limit whatsoever on the hardware while the Standard mode supplements an additional couple of hours of use. The Ultra Power Saving keeps the handset going for a significant amount of time. There’s also the ROG power saving option that takes down the native screen resolution to 720p to provide more battery life and extend playing time. Huawei P10 - Battery specs and features Meanwhile, the Huawei P10 houses a 3,200 mAh battery, sealed just like its predecessor. The bundled charger is strapping, tough enough to churn out 5V/4.5A, 4.5V/5A and 5V/2A. P10 owners have to use the handset’s charger and USB cable together in order to fully take advantage of the numbers, though, as the charging speeds considerably drop off when another cable is used. The P10 is able to provide about 55 percent of battery life in just 30 minutes of plug time using the bundled charging accessories. Although the new P series smartphone has a slightly more powerful cell than its older brother, it provides roughly the same performance as the P9. Huawei P9 vs Huawei P10 – Battery performance test When TechRadar pitted the P9 and the P10 against each other in a series of rigorous battery performance tests that involved an hour and a half each of web browsing, gaming, YouTube playback and native video playback, the P10 came out on top. After 90 minutes of web browsing, the P9 had 57 percent remaining battery life while the P10 had 67 percent. Following the YouTube playback test, the older handset’s battery level further stumbled to only 17 percent while the new phone hung on with 38 percent. Both handsets didn’t even get to complete the gaming portion. The Huawei P9 finished with a total performance time of three hours and 20 minutes while the Huawei P10 lasted four hours and 10 minutes. RELATED STORIES: LG G6 vs Apple iPhone 7 camera review and comparison [VIDEO] Apple iPhone 8 / Edition to sport front and back glass, but may scrap Touch ID due to production difficulties

Story highlights Mayor of Moore does not expect death toll beyond 24 Ja'Nae Hornsby, 9, is among the children killed at the school, her father says Authorities revise death toll downward to 24, including nine children Crews going "board by board" in search for survivors, victims, official says A search-and-rescue effort to find survivors of a monster tornado that pulverized a vast swath of the suburbs of Oklahoma City shifted Tuesday to one of recovery, officials said. No new survivors or bodies have been found since the early hours after the tornado carved a trail 17 miles long on Monday afternoon. "We feel like we have basically gone from rescue and searching to recovery," Glenn Lewis, the mayor of hard-hit Moore, told CNN's Anderson Cooper. Lewis said he didn't expect the death toll to climb any higher. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed, according to the state medical examiner's office. "I think that will stand," Lewis said. Earlier reports of at least 51 deaths were erroneous, said Amy Elliot, chief administrative officer for the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In the chaotic aftermath of the tornado, Elliot said it appeared some of the dead were counted twice. Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A message is left by a homeowner who lost his home in the May 20 tornado on Monday, May 27, in Moore, Oklahoma. View more photos of the aftermath in the region and another gallery of aerial shots of the damage Hide Caption 1 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Left to right, Jaqi Castro, Angelica Morris-Smith and Cetoria Petties walk through a tornado ravaged neighborhood handing out supplies to residents and fellow volunteers on May 27. Hide Caption 2 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Residents gather in the First Baptist Church for the Oklahoma Strong memorial service on Sunday, May 26, to honor victims of the recent deadly tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. Hide Caption 3 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Preschooler Keltin Marazzi, front center, stands on stage with other school children during the memorial service. Hide Caption 4 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin addresses the audience on May 26. Hide Caption 5 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Tornado victims Christa and Russell Smith hug their children, Evan and Justin Smith, as the service takes place. Hide Caption 6 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Plaza Towers Elementary School teacher Jennifer Doan is comforted by her fiance, Nyle Rogers, on May 26. Hide Caption 7 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – President Barack Obama is greeted as he tours the tornado-ravaged area near Moore, Oklahoma, on Sunday, May 26. Hide Caption 8 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteers bow their heads in reverence on Saturday, May 25, in front of a memorial at the Plaza Towers Elementary School where seven children died during the devastating tornado, in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20. Hide Caption 9 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Mike Hitch prepares to pull a classic Corvette from under the debris of a home destroyed by Monday's tornado on May 25. Hide Caption 10 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Mike Hitch loads a salvaged Corvette pulled from the rubble onto a tow truck in Moore on May 25. Hide Caption 11 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Eunice Lassiter sits in the driveway of a friend's tornado-damaged home on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 12 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A volunteer signs a cross on May 25 at a makeshift memorial outside of the destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary School where seven children were killed in Monday's tornado in Moore. Hide Caption 13 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteers unload donated items for tornado victims at the Yellow Rose Theater on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 14 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteer Brittany Pendergraft organizes donated tornado relief items inside the Yellow Rose Theater on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 15 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Eddie Jones of the Christian Life Center in Rolla, Missouri, cooks for residents and volunteers helping with tornado relief on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 16 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Carol Kawaykla holds a picture of her mother she found in the rubble of her tornado-devastated home in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 24. Hide Caption 17 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – The sun sets over debris from houses littering the ground in Moore, Oklahoma, on Thursday, May 23, three days after the town was damaged by a tornado. Hide Caption 18 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Debris is scattered across a driveway on May 23. Severe thunderstorms barreled through this Oklahoma City suburb at dawn Thursday, complicating cleanup efforts. Hide Caption 19 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Lightning strikes during a thunderstorm as people search for items that can be saved from their devastated home on May 23. Hide Caption 20 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A devastated neighborhood is seen on May 23 in Moore. Hide Caption 21 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman searches for belongings at a home on May 22 in Moore. Hide Caption 22 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Michael Pritz swings a golf club while taking a break from helping his friend to salvage belongings on May 22. Hide Caption 23 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Debris litters what remains of a classroom at Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Seven children died at the school in Monday's tornado. Hide Caption 24 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A makeshift shelter stands next to a home destroyed by the tornado on May 22. Hide Caption 25 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Casey Angle walks on the bunk bed she shared with her sister Sydney, who was among the students killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School during the tornado. Hide Caption 26 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Tara McDonald shows some items salvaged from her home on May 22. Hide Caption 27 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A swing set sits warped at Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Hide Caption 28 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Plaza Towers Elementary School students Monica Boyd and Lavontey Rodriguez sit at the parking lot of their tornado devastated school. Hide Caption 29 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Travis French and his wife, Amy, of Capitol Hill Baptist Church hand out fresh fruit, water and hygiene packs to Thomas and Kelcy Trowbridge. Hide Caption 30 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Teachers from Fairview Elementary School help clean up former school counselor Kay Taylor's home in south Oklahoma City on May 22, two days after an extremely powerful tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma. Hide Caption 31 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Jake English, 12, cleans up retired school counselor Kay Taylor's home on May 22 in south Oklahoma City, just west of Moore. The storm was part of a tornado outbreak that began in the Midwest and Plains on Sunday, May 19. Hide Caption 32 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man talks on his cell phone in front of a destroyed house on May 22. Hide Caption 33 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man looks through a pile of clothing at a roadside relief camp on May 22 in Moore. Hide Caption 34 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteers form a chain to retrieve clothing and other household items on May 22. Hide Caption 35 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Jon Booth moves a piece of debris from his mother's destroyed home across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Hide Caption 36 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Matt Johnson salvages items from his grandparents' home on Tuesday, May 21. Hide Caption 37 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – An aerial view of the destruction on May 21. Hide Caption 38 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – The storm, which touched down near Newcastle, Oklahoma, spanned 1.3 miles. Some areas along the path were completely flattened. Hide Caption 39 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Two men fold an American flag found in the debris of a house on May 21 in Moore. Hide Caption 40 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A young girl stands among the rubble outside Briarwood Elementary School on May 21. Hide Caption 41 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A doll covered in dirt is among the rubble scattered throughout a neighborhood in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 42 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Bonnie Lolofie, left, and Ashley Do carry belongings from their apartment, which has no power, on May 21. Hide Caption 43 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Residents salvage belongings from their demolished homes in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 44 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Kelli Kannady weeps after finding a box of photographs of her late husband in the rubble near where her home once stood in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 45 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Tufts of pink insulation hang from the rafters of a store in Moore on May 21 that was destroyed in the storm. Hide Caption 46 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Natalie Johnson searches through her mother's destroyed car outside Briarwood Elementary School in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 47 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Rescuers dig out a house in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 48 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – June Simson embraces her cat Sammi after she found him standing among the rubble of her destroyed home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 49 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man stands on the roof of a destroyed home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 50 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man helps move a resident's belongings from a destroyed home on May 21 in Moore. Hide Caption 51 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Air Force Airman First Class Justin Acord sifts through the rubble of his father-in-law's home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 52 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – People recover belongings from the rubble of a home in Moore. Hide Caption 53 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – People sort through a leveled home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 54 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Debris lies among headstones in the Moore Cemetery on May 21. Hide Caption 55 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Workers clean up the Warren movie theater in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 56 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett surveys damage in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 57 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Piles of debris lie around the north side of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 58 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – As dawn breaks, storm clouds roll in over a devastated neighborhood in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 59 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Members of the Oklahoma National Guard look for survivors in rubble in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 60 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A National Guardsman assists in the search for victims on May 21. Hide Caption 61 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A rescue worker leads a horse from the wreckage of a day care center and barns on Monday, May 20, in Moore. Hide Caption 62 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Men tie an American flag on debris in a neighborhood off Telephone Road in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 63 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Children wait for their parents to arrive at Briarwood Elementary School in south Oklahoma City on May 20. Hide Caption 64 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary School on May 20. Hide Caption 65 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Teachers lead children away from Briarwood Elementary School on May 20. Read more about the photo. Hide Caption 66 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A fire official drives through the rubble of Moore Medical Center on May 20. Hide Caption 67 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Abby Madi, left, and Peterson Zatterlee comfort Zatterlee's dog, Rippy, on Monday, May 20, in Moore. Hide Caption 68 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman is treated for her injuries on May 20 at a triage area set up for the wounded. Hide Caption 69 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Two girls stand in rubble in Moore. Hide Caption 70 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Rescue workers help free one of more than a dozen people who were trapped at a medical center in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 71 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Oklahoma City firefighters check on Gene Tripp on May 20 as he sits in his rocking chair where his home once stood. Hide Caption 72 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A nurse helps an older man who suffered a head injury on May 20 in Moore. Hide Caption 73 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Cars marked with an orange X, meaning they have been checked for occupants, are piled up in front of the entrance to the damaged Moore Medical Center on May 20. Hide Caption 74 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Jim Routon hugs his neighbor, 7-year-old Hezekiah, after the tornado strikes on May 20. An earlier version of this caption incorrectly stated that Routon was Hezekiah's teacher. See an interview with the pair. Hide Caption 75 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – People look through the wreckage of their neighborhood after a tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20. Hide Caption 76 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Dana Ulepich searches inside a room left standing at the back of her destroyed house in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 77 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Residents look through the debris in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 78 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man looks through the remains of a home after the massive tornado struck Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 79 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman is transported on a stretcher after she was rescued from the damaged medical center in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 80 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman walks through debris in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 81 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man is taken away from the IMAX Theater in Moore that was used as a triage center on May 20. Hide Caption 82 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A girl wraps herself in a blanket near the Moore Hospital on May 20. Hide Caption 83 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A nurse walks by the destruction at a Moore hospital on May 20. Hide Caption 84 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Destroyed cars scatter the landscape in Moore, Oklahoma, where hundreds of homes and buildings were put to ruin on May 20. Hide Caption 85 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman with an arm injury is helped on May 20 in Moore. Hide Caption 86 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Extensive damage from the tornado destroyed cars and demolished structures in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 87 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Onlookers stop to view a portion of the destruction left behind on May 20 in Moore. Hide Caption 88 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Overturned cars are among the rubble from the tornado that hit Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 89 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman is comforted after the May 20 tornado in Moore. Hide Caption 90 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A shredded tree stands amid debris in the aftermath of the storm in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 91 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A shopping center parking lot is covered with debris and damaged cars on May 20. Hide Caption 92 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Law enforcement officers block a roadway in Moore where there was extensive damage from the tornado. Hide Caption 93 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A massive tornado approaches Moore on May 20. The storm first touched down to the west of the city near Newcastle, Oklahoma. Visit CNN.com/impact for ways to help the victims. Hide Caption 94 of 94 JUST WATCHED Teacher used music game to calm class Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Teacher used music game to calm class 04:36 JUST WATCHED Reality sets after deadly tornado Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Reality sets after deadly tornado 02:11 JUST WATCHED Woman reveals grandparents missing Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Woman reveals grandparents missing 03:50 'One of the strongest storms' Damage assessments conducted Tuesday showed the tornado packed winds, at times, between 200 and 210 miles per hour, making it an EF5 -- the strongest category of tornadoes measured, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. Teams are still evaluating the destruction, and the rating released Tuesday is preliminary. So far, they've found that the tornado's width spanned 1.3 miles -- the length of more than 22 football fields lined up end-to-end. Given its breadth and power, it ranks among some of the strongest storms ever to strike the United States, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. Hardest hit was Moore, Oklahoma -- a suburban town of about 56,000 and the site of eerily similar twisters in 1999 and again four years later. The scene -- block after block of flattened homes and businesses, the gutted remains of a hospital and hits on two elementary schools -- left even seasoned veterans of Oklahoma's infamous tornadoes reeling. The devastation was so complete, the mayor said city officials were racing to print new street signs to help guide rescuers and residents through a suddenly twisted and unfamiliar landscape. A search-and-rescue team was sent from nearby Tinker Air Force Base, which also provided search lights, vehicles and water trucks, while neighboring Texas sent an elite 80-member urban search team. The American Red Cross sent 25 emergency response vehicles. Rescue crews were expected to complete a search for victims by late Tuesday, Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird told CNN. "We will be through every damaged piece of property in this city at least three times," Bird told reporters. "And we hope to be done by dark tonight." More than 230 people were injured, according to authorities. Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Rescuers search through rubble in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on Monday, May 20. A tornado outbreak hit in the Midwest and Plains on Sunday and Monday, the deadliest hitting Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Massive piles of debris cover the ground after a powerful tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20. View photos related to the Moore tornado. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A deadly tornado destroys cars and demolishes structures in the town of Moore, near Oklahoma City, on Monday, May 20. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A volunteer helps clean up a mobile home on May 20 after it was overturned on a day earlier near Shawnee, Oklahoma. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Jean McAdams' mobile home near Shawnee, Oklahoma, lies overturned on May 20. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin from the Oval Office on May 20. The president expressed his concern for those who have been affected by the severe weather. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Tom and Ronda Clark get help with cleanup on May 20, after their property near Shawnee was damaged by a tornado on May 19. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Lonnie Langston says his garage was swept off the concrete pad next to his house by a tornado near Shawnee. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Shawnee residents embrace on May 20 as they search through the remains of their home. Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A home in Shawnee sits in ruin after being hit by a tornado on Sunday, May 19. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A twister stretches toward the ground near South Haven, Kansas, on May 19. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Residents repair the roof of a neighbor's damaged house after a tree fell on it in Shawnee on May 19. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A woman waits to be allowed back to her home after a tornado swept through Shawnee on May 19. Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Storm chaser and videographer Brad Mack records a tornado touchdown in South Haven, Kansas, on May 19. Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A tractor-trailer lies on its side on Interstate 40 while another is broken open on the road below after falling from the overpass after a tornado strike near Highway 177 north of Shawnee on May 19. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A tornado touches down near Wichita, Kansas, on Sunday, May 19. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Debris from a mobile home park west of Shawnee litters the ground on May 19. An estimated 300 homes were damaged or destroyed across Oklahoma, Red Cross spokesman Ken Garcia said. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Lightning strikes in Clearwater, Kansas, on May 19. Hide Caption 18 of 18 JUST WATCHED Oklahoma Lt. Gov.: Death toll is small Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Oklahoma Lt. Gov.: Death toll is small 02:19 JUST WATCHED CNN iReporter steps in to rescue victims Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH CNN iReporter steps in to rescue victims 02:42 JUST WATCHED Inside a personal tornado shelter Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Inside a personal tornado shelter 02:26 'Can't believe this' Some residents of Moore returned home to piles of debris, hoping to find pictures or some memento. "You just wanna break down and cry," Steve Wilkerson told CNN, holding a laundry basket that contained the few, intact belongings he could find. "But you know, that's how it goes," Wilkerson said, his voice shaking. "You gotta be strong and keep going." Wilkerson has been through tornadoes before, but nothing like this one. "I still can't believe this is happening," he said. "You work 20 years, and then it's gone in 15 minutes." All that remained in some places were "sticks and bricks," Fallin told reporters, calling the storm one of the "most horrific storms and disasters that this state has ever faced." Police, firefighters, volunteers and nearly 180 National Guard troops joined forces Tuesday in searching the rubble and securing areas hit by the storm. The weather wasn't cooperating with their efforts: National Weather Service crews surveying the damage in Moore reported rain, half-inch hail and 45-mph winds over the debris field. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol asked motorists to steer clear of Interstate 35 near Moore to free up lanes for disaster response resources streaming into the area. And so many people were showing up to volunteer that authorities had to plead with would-be rescuers to stay away. Path of devastation The tornado struck at 2:45 pm C.T. on Monday -- only 5 minutes after the first warnings went out, according to the National Weather Service. Moore residents had about 30 minutes before the massive storm entered the western part of the city, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said. Among the many buildings struck by the storm were two schools: Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementaries. Of the nine children killed by the storm, authorities said seven died at Plaza Towers Elementary School where the tornado ripped the roof off and collapsed walls. Among the dead is 9-year-old Ja'Nae Hornsby, who was killed at Plaza Towers, her father told CNN's Anderson Cooper. About 75 students and staff members were hunkered down in Plaza Towers when the tornado struck, CNN affiliate KFOR reported. At one point, an estimated 24 children were missing from the school, but some later turned up at nearby churches. On Monday, a father of a third-grader still missing sat quietly on a stool outside. Tears cascaded from his face as he waited for any news. Even parents of survivors couldn't wrap their minds around the tragedy. "I'm speechless. How did this happen? Why did this happen?" Norma Bautista asked. "How do we explain this to the kids? ... In an instant, everything's gone." 'It's heartbreaking' JUST WATCHED Heroic teacher saves kids in bathroom Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Heroic teacher saves kids in bathroom 03:30 JUST WATCHED Boy, neighbor embrace after tornado Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Boy, neighbor embrace after tornado 03:53 JUST WATCHED Man videos and dodges tornado Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Man videos and dodges tornado 03:13 JUST WATCHED Victims risk returning to homes Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Victims risk returning to homes 01:49 James Dickens, a gas-and-oil pipeline worker, grabbed his hard had and joined other rescuers at Plaza Towers Elementary School. "I felt it was my duty to come help," he said Tuesday after a long night of searching. "As a father, it's humbling. It's heartbreaking to know that we've still got kids over there that's possibly alive, but we don't know." Moore, and the Oklahoma City region, are far too familiar with disaster. In 1995, 168 people died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. In 1999 and then again in 2003, Moore took direct hits from tornadoes that took eerily similar paths to Monday's storm. The 1999 storm packed the strongest wind speeds in history, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said. "We're a tough state. This is a tough community," Lamb said. "There is hope. We always have hope. We always have faith." President Barack Obama, pledging whatever federal aid Oklahoma would need, praised teachers who protected their students. "If there is hope to hold on to -- not just in Oklahoma but around the country -- it's the knowledge that the good people there and in Oklahoma are better prepared for this type of storm than most," he said. "And what they can be certain of is that Americans from every corner of this country will be right there with them, opening our homes, our hearts, to those in need, because we're a nation that stands with our fellow citizens as long as it takes." More trouble brewing The storm system that spawned Monday's tornado and several other twisters Sunday isn't over yet. Southwest Arkansas and northeast Texas, including Dallas, are under the gun for severe weather Tuesday. Those areas could see large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. A broader swath of the United States, from Texas to Indiana and up to Michigan, could see severe thunderstorms. "We could have a round 3," CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said. "Hopefully, it won't be as bad."

Image copyright National Museum of Nature and Science Image caption Researchers previously tried out a straw boat in the waters off Japan in 2014 A team of scientists is planning to recreate the perilous ocean journey that brought early human settlers to Japan. The researchers, led by the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, have launched a crowdfunding campaign to build either a primitive boat made of bundled grass or a bamboo raft of the kind believed to have been used by the first settlers, The Japan Times reports. They're hoping the make the first voyage between Yonaguni and Iriomote - two outlying islands in Japan's extreme southwest - in July this year. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper says that the team is planning to cover the 75km (46.6 mile) stretch of water in 25 hours using millennia-old technology. The next stage of the project will take the scientists on a longer and more dangerous trip from neighbouring Taiwan to Yonaguni in July 2017. This will recreate one of the three routes believed to have been taken by early settlers some 30,000 years ago, says Yosuke Kaifu, who runs the project. "We hope to solve riddles about the origin of Japanese people," he tells a news conference. "We wonder whether they could see Yonaguni from Taiwan and whether they were affected by the Black Current. What they did was very challenging," he adds. The Black Current, also known as Kuroshio Current or Japan Current, is similar to the Gulf Stream and is active in the western part of the northern Pacific Ocean. The project will cost around 50m yen ($435,000; £300,000), of which 20m yen will be covered by donations from the public. If the team doesn't reach its target by 12 April, the donations will be returned, The Japan Times says. It adds that this is the first venture into crowdfunding by a Japanese national museum. Next story: Slovenian town goes ahead with beer fountain plan Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.

Author: arkayn Nice post. I wanted to add to it a little bit... While those exact percentages are not really that hard to calculate or remember, sometimes it's hard to translate on the fly to what that really means to me in the decision making process. I usually think of an even rougher breakdown of the odds for at least a first pass at eliminating choices... Basically, I break the odds down to: not likely, coin flip, and very likely. 1 AV: coin flip to kill a 1 life unit (or wound a stronger unit) 2 AV: very likely to kill a 1 life unit coin flip to kill a 2 life unit (very likely to wound) 3 AV: very likely to kill a 1 or 2 life unit unlikely to kill a 3 life unit 4 AV: very likely to kill a 1 or 2 life unit (overkill vs. 1 life) coin flip to kill a 3 life unit unlikely to kill a 4 life unit 5 AV: very likely to kill a 1-3 life unit (overkill vs. 1 life) coin flip to kill a 4 life nearly impossible to kill a 5 life Yes, that coin flip for a 2 AV killing a 2 life is much worse coin flip than a 1 AV killing a 1 life, and when it comes down to two coin flips that are equally helpful to my position, I might remember the real odds and go from there. And yes, that "very likely" for a 3 AV to kill a 2 life unit is awfully close to the "coin flip" for a 1 AV to kill a 1 life. But there have to be breakpoints somewhere, and even 67% is decent odds, I still prefer to be a little pessimistic. But basically, "very likely" is something I can more or less count on. Try not to put myself in a position where a "very likely" failing will completely screw me, but taking risks for a "very likely" is generally OK. "unlikely" means don't even try it if it puts me in a bad position - or only try it if it doesn't cost anything or I have a backup plan. "coin flip" means don't count on it, try to have a contingency plan, but generally worth risking or spending moves to set up.

16th October 2016 The world's first nation state in space At a press conference in Paris this week, plans were announced for the creation of 'Asgardia' – the first nation state in outer space. Credit: Asgardia Named after the city of the skies in Norse mythology, Asgardia is a space-based nation proposed by Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, founder of the Aerospace International Research Centre (Vienna), and Chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space committee. The concept is aimed at creating a new framework for how space activities are regulated and owned, ensuring that "the future of space is peaceful and done for the benefit of humankind." Dr Ashurbeyli, one of the Russian Federation's most distinguished scientists, has consulted globally renowned scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and legal experts on the development of the concept. The project's official website is currently requesting people to register for "citizenship" with the aim of applying to the United Nations for official recognition as a nation state. Already, hundreds of thousands have signed up. As a first step, the organisation plans to crowd-source a satellite for launch in 2017, sixty years after Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite. This will mark a new era in the space age, the organisation claims, as the satellite will be independent of any current nation state on Earth: the satellite will comprise the nation itself – creating its own legal system, flag and other symbols of nationhood. "The project's concept comprises three parts – philosophical, legal and scientific/technological," Dr Ashburbeyli explained. "Asgardia is a fully-fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations – with all the attributes this status entails. The essence of Asgardia is 'Peace in Space', and the prevention of Earth's conflicts being transferred into space. "Asgardia is also unique from a philosophical aspect: to serve entire humanity and each and everyone, regardless of his or her personal welfare and the prosperity of the country where they happened to be born. The scientific and technological component of the project can be explained in just three words – peace, access and protection. The scientific and technological envelope of Asgardia is a space arena for the scientific creativity of its citizens and companies in developing a broad range of future space technologies, products and services for humanity on Earth and humanity in space." In recent years, access to space has been opening up, but the process remains slow and is tightly controlled by states on Earth, restricting commerce and scientific developments by private enterprise. Of the 196 nation states, just thirteen (China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia/former USSR, South Korea, UK, Ukraine, USA) and one regional organisation (the European Space Agency, ESA) have independently launched satellites on their own indigenously developed launch vehicles. Professor David Alexander, Director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University in Texas: "As low-Earth orbit becomes more accessible, what's often called the 'democratisation' of space, a pathway is opening up to new ideas and approaches from a rich diversity of participants. The mission of Asgardia to create opportunities for broader access to space, enabling non-traditional space nations to realise their scientific aspirations is exciting." Under current international space law, including the widely adopted Outer Space Treaty, states are required to authorise and supervise national space activities, including the activities of commercial and not-for-profit organisations. Objects launched into space are subject to their nation of belonging and if a nation launches an object into space, that nation is responsible for any damage that occurs internationally and in outer space. Asgardia aims to create a new framework for ownership and nationhood in space, adapting current laws governing responsibility, private ownership and enterprise so they are fit for purpose in the new era of space exploration. By creating a new "space nation", private enterprise, innovation and the further development of space technology to support humanity could flourish, free from the tight restrictions of state control that currently exist. Professor Ram Jakhu, Director, Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University, Montreal, Canada: "An appropriate and unique global space legal regime is indispensable for governing outer space in order to ensure it is explored on a sustainable basis, for exclusively peaceful purposes and to the benefit of all humanity – including future generations living on planet Earth and in outer space. The development of foundational principles of such a legal regime ought to take place at the same time as technological progress is being made." One of the early developments planned by Asgardia's team will be the creation of a state-of-the-art protective shield for all humankind from cosmic manmade and natural threats to life on Earth such as space debris, coronal mass ejections and asteroid collisions. There are estimated to be more than 20,000 traceable objects of man-made space debris (MSD) including non-active spacecraft, upper-stage rockets and final stage vehicles, as well as fragments of craft that potentially pose a danger in near-Earth orbits. The impact of the Chelyabinsk meteorite which crashed over a Russian town as recently as 2013, injuring 1,100 people and damaging 4,000 buildings, is a reminder of the threat that natural objects pose to life on our planet. Whilst steps have already been taken by the UN and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) to identify potentially hazardous scenarios, Asgardia will build on these developments to offer a more comprehensive mechanism. Dr. Joseph N. Pelton, former Dean of the International Space University in Strasbourg, France: "The Asgardia project, among other things, may help prepare better answers to the future governance of outer space – a topic of major concern to the United Nations. The exciting aspect of this initiative is its three phase approach to providing broader access to space; promoting peace in outer space; and addressing cosmic hazards and planetary defence." The Asgardia Project Team will comprise a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort from leading experts around the globe which it is envisaged will grow over time as the project evolves. But as well as expert involvement in the project, Asgardia is looking to capture the wider public imagination by crowd-sourcing key aspects of the missions and involving members of the public in competitions – for example, to help design the nation's flag, insignia and other symbols of nationhood. To coincide with the press conference, a website with further details was launched at www.asgardia.space. The project can also be followed on Twitter where updates will be provided, along with interaction between the Asgardia team and members of the public. --- • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook Comments »

Reliving Wild 2015 4OT Auburn Win How wild was it Oct. 24, 2015 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium? Here’s what happened Behind an electric crowd of 72,008 and a clutch performance by senior quarterback Brandon Allen, Arkansas downed Auburn 54-46 in four overtimes. Overtime Auburn struck first with a touchdown in the first overtime period, putting the Tigers up by seven. Fast forward a few plays and the Razorbacks were facing a 4th-and-3 from the 6-yard line when Allen connected with Drew Morgan through a tight window across the middle. PAT good, tie game. Double Overtime The Razorbacks kept possession of the ball in 2OT and took just three plays to punch it in. From three yards out Kody Walker ran it up the gut to put the Hogs back on top. Triple Overtime Here’s where things got really interesting. After back-to-back Auburn touchdowns on consecutive possessions in 2OT and 3OT, Arkansas had its back against the wall again, trailing by eight points. After Allen hit Morgan on a short pass down to the 4-yard line the Hogs faced a 4th-and-2 from the 4. Offensive Coordinator Dan Enos continued his hot streak of dialing up just the right play at the right time. Counter flip to the left and Walker walks into the end zone. Touchdown. Not tied yet. Needing a 2-point conversion to tie the game, Allen rolled out right —rolled some more, hesitated, kept rolling– before rifling it to Jeremy Sprinkle near the front pylon in the end zone. TIE GAME. Fourth Overtime On the first play of the fourth overtime, Allen connected with Morgan for a 25-yard go-ahead touchdown pass that would be the game winner. On the Tigers’ next possession, the Razorback defense shut down the run on first down and forced three straight incomplete passes to close out the contest.

Image: Composite via evisionarts and prwatch.org Without a doubt, farmers markets have got a good thing growing. Unfortunately, sneaky copycats have been cropping up as they try to get their paws on the green that comes with that success. In June, Safeway supermarkets in Seattle set up stacks of fruits and veggies outside of their own stores with signs announcing a “Farmers Market.” The mangos on display, however, didn’t stack up with Washington weather and pressure from local groups prompted the stores to change the posters to read “Outdoor Market” instead. The grocery stores may argue, what’s in a name? But they know exactly what’s in a name: a popular cash flow. And something about an important reconnection with how our food is grown, blah blah, wah wah. The Wall Street Journal takes note of the trend: “About 200 Albertsons stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho put up their own “Farmers Market” signs next to their produce stands. The same groups complained to local Albertsons managers about the promotions, but a spokesman for the chain’s owner, Supervalu Inc., said the Albertson stores may repeat them in the future if the chain deems them effective … Supervalu spokesman Mike Siemienas said the Albertson signs were justified because all the produce advertised came from local farmers.” However, just because you walk into a farmers market without a grocery chain backdrop, don’t start feeling complacent. The “farmers” themselves may be serving you a side of local bullsh*t with their bald-faced brocco-lies, as an investigation in LA found. Heads-up, farmers-market-wannabes! Like Heidi Montag’s entire body, we can tell you’re faking it. Like what you see? Sign up to receive The Grist List, our email roundup of weird, offbeat, and/or just plain funny green news, sent out every Friday.

Should Ron Paul win the Iowa Caucuses, the media narrative is the Republican Party establishment will go scorched earth on the quirky libertarian Texas Congressman, just as they did Pat Buchanan back in the day. But unlike that successful kamikaze mission of yesteryear, this one won’t work. In fact, if the Republican Party establishment chooses to go down that road they might just propel Paul to the nomination. That’s because Ron Paul isn’t Pat Buchanan, and the environment this go-around is dramatically different than it was back then for two reasons. First of all, Paul’s campaign apparatus is dramatically superior to anything Buchanan ever had. His Iowa Caucus campaign is a well-oiled machine, and the envy of the entire process. They’re running the best commercials. They’re the best organized. They’re the most loyal. And look beyond Iowa, too. Paul wins straw polls all over the country, including CPAC and even at the 2011 Values Voters Summit. I know several of these people who are the masterminds of Paul’s organization, and these folks don’t put their phasers on stun when it comes to their opponents and know what they’re doing. They’re not kooks, they’re sharp cookies and losing is not an option in their strategy. They have no problem burning down the entire system, because they distrust it anyway. Buchanan still needed the system. He still needed jobs on cable news networks or help publishing/selling his books and columns. Paul isn’t running to reform the system. He’s running to reboot it. Buchanan has never had an organization this good. In fact, no insurgent candidate in modern American political history has had an organization this professional and well-funded. Second, voter angst and anger towards Washington and Republicrats in general is at an all-time high. In 2004 the voters gave George W. Bush and the Republicans control of Washington. In 2006 they made Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House. In 2008 they made Barack Obama President of the United States. In 2010 they fired over 700 Democrats running for re-election around the country. Meanwhile, marriage continues to remain undefeated at the ballot box whenever pro-homosexual activists attempt to challenge it, but at the same time the American people seem content with normalizing homosexual behavior in popular culture. That’s a schizophrenic swing of energy and emotion in less than one decade. In just six years the American people voted for a quasi-socialist welfare state they didn’t want to have to pay for, and a return to Judeo-Christian moral values they themselves don’t want to be accountable to. That tells me the American people are looking for someone – literally anyone – to show some leadership on the issues. Voters aren’t satisfied after trying both parties’ milquetoast ruling class, and are looking to drain the swamp. Enter Ron Paul. Paul has already been heavily vetted. He’s a national figure, who has run for president several times and has been running for the last five years. His quirks are known. His positions are known. Believing the American people will not vote for someone who wants to return us to 1789, is like believing the American people will never vote for someone who wants us to look like West Germany circa 1978 when they just did. We are a confused people. We know what we’re supposed to be and supposed to look like, and yet we have no idea for how to get there. We lack the spiritual and moral foundation to rebuild the wall, if you will. Minus a Nehemiah showing the way, a civilization will either choose one of two paths—self-indulgence and ultimately self-destruction, or hit the control-alt-delete button in order to start over again. The liberals represent the former, and Paul and his libertarian brigade represent the latter. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Make no mistake—voters are desperate. Therefore, trying to give Paul the Buchanan treatment will actually entrench Paul’s support all the more, because voters don’t trust the source of the attacks. It’s impossible to underestimate how little regard the American people have for political parties, and the Republicrat ruling class and its crony capitalism. They will see Buchanan-type attacks against Paul as the system trying to defend its indefensible self, and rally to him all the more. Folks are much angrier and desperate then they were during Buchanan’s presidential runs. Thus, the crankier and crazier Paul sounds the more they’ll love him. He’ll be getting attacked by all the people they can’t stand and don’t trust. The peasants want to storm the Bastille, and in many respects the philosophy Paul is espousing of individualized liberty for the sake of self is right out of the French Revolution—so it fits the mood of the country perfectly. This brings us to how to defeat Paul. Paul is a man with powerful ideas, some very good and some very bad. If human history has taught us one thing it’s that bad powerful ideas can only be defeated by good powerful ideas. Instead of trying to cram milquetoast flip-floppers down voters’ throats, the Republican Party needs to champion candidates who have good powerful ideas about how to return to the roots of the American Revolution—which begins with the premise individuals have liberty and rights from God alone, and the role of government is to protect those God-given rights and then get out of the way to allow liberty to flourish. The more Rudy McRomneys the Republican Party serves up, the more popular someone like Paul will become. Frustrated voters will use Paul as a blunt instrument, or maybe even a sharp object, to attack a failed system with. The Republicrats deserve Ron Paul. The ruling class created the Ron Paul phenomenon by its own actions. And the more they persist in being tone-deaf to voters’ angst, the more likely they are to suffer at his hands. And as much as I disagree with Paul, I’d choose him over the Republicrat ruling class any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

For the first time in 25 years, staff at the Smithsonian's National Zoo are making preparations for the highly anticipated birth of an endangered Bornean orangutan. With a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan (SSP), the 19-year-old parents to be, female Batang and male Kyle, bred in January. On Feb. 2, a common human pregnancy test confirmed that Batang had successfully conceived. Earlier today, the Zoo announced Batang's pregnancy through a broadcast via Facebook Live of her ultrasound; it will continue to provide weekly updates on Batang through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #OrangutanStory. Zoo veterinarians have conducted bi-weekly ultrasounds since Feb. 2 and are encouraged that the ultrasounds have shown fetal growth and development, heightening hopes that Batang will give birth for the first time. They are cautiously optimistic that she will deliver a healthy baby around mid-September. However, just like any animal pregnancy, there is a possibility that miscarriage, stillbirth or a complication could occur. All of our perseverance and planning paid off when we confirmed Batang's pregnancy, said Meredith Bastian, curator of primates and member of the Orangutan SSP Steering Committee. Watching her fetus develop over the past few months has been incredibly exciting, and we're making every effort to ensure our efforts come to fruition. For the past three years, keepers have been acclimating Batang to the experiences of motherhood and training her to care for an infant. Building upon behaviors Batang has learned through routine training sessions, keepers presented her with a plush, bean-shaped pillow and an orangutan stuffed animal to simulate a baby. Keepers trained her to hold the fake baby upright, carry it around the enclosure and return the pillow baby to keepers through a specially designed baby box when asked. Should animal care staff need to evaluate a real orangutan baby's health, this training would help staff retrieve the infant in a way that is safe and not stressful for the animals. Batang has also been trained to use a breast pump for milk collection in the event she is unable to successfully nurse. Training increases the likelihood that orangutan mothers will care for their infants said Becky Malinsky, assistant curator of primates.This training is especially important for a first time mother, like Batang. It is our goal for the infant to be raised by her mother, learning how to be an orangutan from Batang and the other orangutans at the zoo. In the event that Batang is unable or unwilling to care for her infant, keepers are training females Bonnie and Iris to act as surrogate mothers. They receive similar training to Batang, but with a slight twist: keepers ask them to bring the pillow baby and present it to the keepers for bottle feedings. Batang is also trained to present the infant for bottle feedings if she is unable to nurse. As a last resort, keepers will prepare a nursery in the event it is necessary for them to hand-raise the baby with the goal of returning the infant to its mother or surrogate as soon as possible. Native to Indonesia, orangutans live in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. For the past seven decades, humans have cleared land that was originally orangutan territory in order to meet the growing demand for palm oil products, fast-growing pulp wood and food crops leaving orangutans in competition with one another for space, food and mates. Scientists estimate that in the past 75 years, the number of wild orangutans has decreased by 80 percent. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Bornean orangutan as endangered and the Sumatran orangutan as critically endangered. Visitors can see the Zoo's six orangutans daily at the Great Ape House and the Think Tank. At the Great Ape House, visitors can meet a great ape keeper to learn about the fascinating world of apes at 11:30 a.m. daily. At Think Tank, staff and interpretive volunteers perform daily demonstrations and lead discussions on research in cognitive science, highlighting current and ongoing National Zoo studies at 1:30 p.m. Visitors can also see the orangutans traveling on the O-Line on warm-weather days in the late morning and early afternoon. Download photo set

James Clapper: Our Institutions ‘Are Under Assault’ Both Externally and Internally Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says the United States’ political institutions are currently “under assault” both externally and internally, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s firing of ex-FBI Director James Comey. “The developments of the past week are very bothersome, very disturbing to me,” Clapper said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “I think in many ways our institutions are under assault, both externally — and that’s the big news here, the Russian interference in our election system — and I think as well, our institutions are under assault internally,” When asked if he meant if those institutions were “under assault” internally by the president himself, Clapper said “exactly” and added that he believed Trump was undermining the checks and balances inherent to the U.S. political system. ROBERT STEELE: There was a time, in the 1990’s, when I admired James Clapper. He was (no longer) easily one of the most intellectual flag officers I have ever known, in the top five out of roughly 70. Then he lost his integrity. The crap he is spouting today confirms his dishonesty — on the one hand, he is absolutely right, our Deep State institutions are under attack (and I am leading that charge with help from Cynthia McKinney and others soon to be identified) and on the other hand, he is so full of shit as to make me wonder if he could not receive a mental health examination. The Russians did not hack the US election — Hillary Clinton tried and failed to hack the election, and James Clapper committed treason on multiple occasions by allowing his notional subordinate Saudi Arabian whore and traitor John Brennan, to engage in all manner of domestic subversion. James Clapper is a traitor with no moral compass. If I were advising our legitimate president, which I am not, I would suggest that James Clapper should be stripped of his clearances and denied access to all forms of classified information. This will make him unemployable — any company employing him without clearances should be denied eligibility for government contracts. His current “non-profit” employer should of course be denied any additional grants from the government. This is the man who spent over a decade leading $70-100 billion a year in waste that was never able to satisfy more than 4% “at best” of what a major commander needs in the way of decision-support (and nothing for everyone else, least of all the troops on the front line). This is a man who oversaw mass surveillance by NSA, spying on and blackmail of our politicians by NSA and CIA, drone assassination and torture & rendition by CIA, mind-control operations at a scale that will one day rival the Nuremberg trials, and more. Good-bye, James Clapper. See Especially: #UNRIG – the End of the Deep State See Also: Deep State @ Phi Beta Iota Robert Steele with Sarah Westall on Trump, Comey, the Integrity Revolution Robert Steele: The Soft Coup Collapses – Blackmail Revealed – What Next? CIA was bluffing, produced no evidence – Russians did not “hack” the election. Is this the beginning of the end of the Deep State in the USA? Can Trump clean house & wage peace? Robert Steele: UNHINGED: drone assassination – American suicide Robert Steele: UNHINGED — Two Books on Terror Reviewed (Rebuttal, a Book of Lies & Broken!, Truth as Fiction)

Equifax’s former chief executive Richard Smith repeatedly deflected questions from a Senate panel Wednesday about a $7 million IRS contract the company recently received to help prevent fraud and whether the company could profit from the hack that exposed sensitive data of 145 million people. “Can you explain to the American people, not just as consumers who have been exposed and breached here, but as taxpayers, why in the world should you get a no-bid contract right now?” asked Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). Smith responded that he didn’t know the specifics of the contract but that he thought it was for work the company was already doing and that the contract was just being renewed. “You realize to many Americans right now that it looks like we’re giving Lindsay Lohan the keys to the mini bar,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). Smith stared at Kennedy for a few seconds then said he understood the appearance. Under the $7.25 million contract, Equifax is to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud for the Internal Revenue Service. Smith endured the barrage of tough questions as he faced the second of four congressional committees he is set to visit this week as lawmakers probe the company’s massive data breach and its bungled response. After 12 years at the helm of the company, Smith stepped down as CEO last week, and is the only company representative slated to appear before lawmakers. Behind him sat former senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) who occasionally stood up to whisper in Smith’s ear. Farther back, but within camera shot, was an apparent critic mocking Smith in a black top hat, white mustache and a monocle that resembled a character in the Monopoly board game. The hard-charging former CEO helped transform Equifax from simply a credit-rating company to a massive data manager that employs artificial intelligence and machine learning to help companies determine whom to lend money to. Smith was heralded on Wall Street for his aggressive expansion of the company, including starting to collect employment data, such as consumers’ salaries. But that business model came under repeated attack Wednesday by the Senate Banking Committee. Equifax could actually profit from the breach, warned Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The company, for example, is providing consumers free fraud alerts for one year, she said. But if victims want to extend that coverage after a year, they will have to pay Equifax. Warren quoted a speech Smith had given touting that fraud was a huge opportunity for the company. “This breach has created more business opportunities” for Equifax, she said. Equifax “did a terrible job of protecting our data because they didn’t have a reason to protect our data.” In an interview outside the hearing room, Warren called for a host of reforms to the credit reporting industry as well as new rules on data security. Consumers should own their own data and control who has access to it, she said. “This is a whole industry right now where the incentives are in the wrong place,” she said. “The incentives are to collect as much data about people as possible and then pump it out for sale.” Smith repeatedly apologized for the breach, acknowledging the company struggled to respond quickly to consumers’ concerns. Equifax’s call centers initially had only 500 employees and grew to 3,000 in two weeks, he said. “I apologize to this committee and all Americans for this breach,” Smith said. “I am in no way skirting the issue of this horrific breach, and it was a horrific breach.” Separately Smith repeatedly defended three Equifax senior executives who sold nearly $2 million in stock after the company learned of the breach but before it was disclosed publicly. The executives did not know about the breach when they sold their stock and the sales were approved by the company’s general counsel, he said. “These are three men I have known for a long time. These are honorable men who followed the protocol,” Smith said. That defense was met with skepticism by several lawmakers. The company wants the public to believe the executives were “the three luckiest investors” who managed to sell their stock before the company’s stock price fell by more than 30 percent, said Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). “I find that hard to believe,” Scott said. There may have been no intention to commit insider trading, said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), but “this really stinks. I mean it really smells really bad. And I guess smelling bad isn’t a crime.” In testimony this week, Smith revealed that Equifax missed an opportunity to prevent the breach. In early March, the Department of Homeland Security alerted Equifax about a critical vulnerability in its software. The company sent out an internal email requesting that the problem be fixed, but that was not done, Smith told lawmakers. By May, hackers found the software vulnerability and used it to gain information to millions of consumers’ sensitive information. It was not until late July that the company detected the breach. The company then struggled to respond to the backlash. For several days, the company’s Twitter account directed consumers in search of help to a fake site pretending to be Equifax. It initially required consumers to agree not to join a class-action lawsuit to get some form of help before dropping that demand. “In the rollout of our remediation program, mistakes were made, for which again, I am deeply apologetic,” Smith said. “I regret the frustration that many Americans felt when our websites and call centers were overwhelmed in the early weeks. It’s no excuse, but it certainly did not help that two of our larger call centers were shut down for days by Hurricane Irma.” Hamza Shaban contributed to this report. Read more: Before the breach, Equifax sought to limit exposure to lawsuits Equifax suffered another breach in March Equifax asks consumers for personal info, even after massive data breach

Remember why unions were formed in the first place — to protect workers from being taken advantage of? Nowadays, the rank-and-file mostly need protection from their own leadership. Daniel Hughes, former head of the Field Supervisor Association representing Port Authority workers, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court this week to looting $300,000 in members’ dues over five years. The union heavyweight allegedly used the money for Queens hotel trysts with hookers, casino getaways and high-priced dinners. A rare occurrence? Hardly. Last May, ex-Central Labor Council boss and former Queens Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin was sentenced to 10 years for embezzlement — including from the electricians union he once ran. Other examples abound. A not-exhaustive rap sheet — partly tracked by the DC-based National Legal and Policy Center — includes: * Aug. 5, 2009: Michael Forde, ex-head of the city’s District Council of Carpenters, was hit with a 29-count indictment for taking bribes from members — in exchange for allowing them to avoid mandatory contributions to their pension funds. Forde beat similar charges several years before. * Feb. 11, 2010: Anthony Rumore, ex-president of Scarsdale’s Teamsters Local 812, pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements related to extorting free labor out of his membership. * Feb. 16, 2010: Thomas Pokrywczynski, former secretary-treasurer of Buffalo-area Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1342, pleaded guilty in federal court to theft of $254,000 in union funds. * Feb. 17, 2010: Melissa King, former benefits administrator of the “Sandhogs” tunnel-digging union, was indicted for embezzling some $40 million from three benefit funds she oversaw. * April 21, 2010: Wayne Mitchell, ex-president of Communications Workers of America Local 14170 (representing mailroom workers), pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to embezzling $200,000. * April 23, 2010: Mitchell’s immediate successor, Larry DeAngelis, pleaded guilty to stealing $60,000 from the union. * May 11, 2010: Peter Thomassen, assistant supervisor of the above-mentioned carpenters union, resigned after a report showed huge amounts of spending on lavish parties, junkets and steak dinners. An indictment is anticipated. An epidemic? So it would seem. Rank-and-file members can be forgiven for suspecting that there’s something about organized labor that attracts leadership of a criminal bent.

What's the truth about the origin of the term "American Indian"? Schoolchildren have long been taught that Columbus thought he had reached the Indies, and therefore called the inhabitants "Indians." But lately I've been hearing the story that: (a) The Indies weren't even called the Indies at the time, but Hindustan; (b) Columbus didn't call the locals "Indians" but referred to them as "una geste in Dios", meaning "a people in God"; (c) somehow this caused people in Spain to start using the term "Indians"; and (d) Europeans then started using the geographical term "Indies" through back-formation. This explanation sounds like wishful thinking to me, with (c) and (d) particularly hard to swallow. Yet I've seen this stated as fact on some Indian Web sites, and it's doubtless being taught as fact in some schoolrooms. Is it possible to find the truth in this matter? George replies: The best way to determine the truth in cases like this, Steve, is to go to the source–in this case, Columbus’s original letter, through which word of the new lands and their inhabitants was disseminated throughout Europe (see links below). In this letter Columbus repeatedly refers to India and Indians, and says nothing whatever about "a people in God." First, let’s get the supposed phrase right. The Spanish word for people is gente, not geste. Note that the supposed derivation requires Columbus to have made an error in spelling, since "in" in Spanish is en; the word in doesn’t exist in the language. I’ll have more to say on this point later. Second, let’s dispose of the notion that India was called something else at the time. The name, derived from the Indus River (from Sanskrit sindhu, "a river"), goes back to antiquity. Alexander the Great referred to the Indus (Indos), and to the region’s inhabitants as Indikoi, as early as the third century B.C. The name passed from Greek into Latin and thence into other European languages, the earliest citation in English being in 893 A.D. by King Alfred the Great. At the time of Columbus’s voyage, "India" or "the Indias/Indies" was often used to refer to all of south and east Asia. Columbus carried with him a passport from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, written in Latin and dispatching him "toward the regions of India" (ab partes Indie) on their behalf. Martin Beheim’s globe of 1492, which predated the voyage, clearly labels the region as "Indie." "Hindustan," also derived from the Indus River, is a much later term, not appearing in English until 1665. In any case, in Spanish that name is not Hindustan but Indostan. Third, let’s look at what Columbus actually said. The admiral wrote a letter, in Spanish, detailing his discoveries while off the Azores during his homeward voyage. He forwarded this to the royal court, then at Barcelona, shortly after his storm-driven arrival in Lisbon on March 4, 1493. The original manuscript has not survived, but a printed copy made shortly after its receipt has. In the first paragraph Columbus says "In 33 days I passed from the Canary Islands to the Indies" (en 33 días pasé de las islas de Canaria a las Indias). His first reference to the inhabitants comes in the second paragraph: "To the first [island] which I found I gave the name San Salvador . . . the Indians call it Guanahaní" (A la primera que yo hallé puse nombre San Salvador . . . los Indios la llaman Guanahaní). In all he makes six references to India or the Indies, and four to Indios. Nowhere in the letter does he use a phrase resembling una gente in Dios. He says little of the spiritual beliefs of the people–at one point he states, "These people practice no kind of idolatry; on the contrary they firmly believe that all strength and power, and in fact all good things are in heaven, and that I had come down from thence with these ships and sailors;" at another he says "they are very ready and favorably inclined" to be converted to Christianity–but that’s about it. Shortly after Columbus’s arrival, a copy of the letter reached Rome, where it was translated into Latin, and printed in early May. This version rapidly became a "best seller" throughout western Europe, with no fewer than eleven editions being produced in Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands in 1493 alone. Of course, the fact that the news was circulated in Latin and not Spanish by itself pretty much puts paid to the supposed derivation. (The phrases corresponding to the ones quoted above are Tricesimotercio die postquam Gadibus discessi: in mare Indicû perueni and primeque earum: diui Saluatoris nomê imposui . . . Eam vero Indi Guanahanyn vocant.) The only hint of plausibility in the story is that "in" is in fact in in Italian, and so might be the kind of slip one could expect the Genoa-born Columbus to make. However, oddly enough, Columbus almost never wrote in Italian (and then, not more than a phrase or two), writing even to his family and Genoese friends in Spanish. Born poor, he appears to have been virtually illiterate when he left Genoa as a young man, not learning to read and write until he settled in Portugal. According to Samuel Eliot Morison’s Admiral of the Ocean Sea, "he wrote Castilian with Portuguese spellings, especially in the vowels, which prove he spoke Portuguese before he learned Castilian." And in Portuguese, "in" is em. Actually, the land that Columbus most eagerly sought was not India itself, but "the noble island of Cipangu [Japan] . . . most fertile in gold, pearls, and precious stones." Who knows? If Columbus had managed to convince himself he had actually reached Japan, today Ohioans might well be rooting for the Cleveland Cipangans. For an English translation of Columbus’s letter: www.usm.maine.edu/~maps /columbus/translation.html For the Spanish text: ensayo.rom.uga.edu/antologia/XV/colon/ For the Latin text: www.usm.maine.edu/~ma ps/columbus/transcription.html Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com. Related STAFF REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, CECIL'S ONLINE AUXILIARY. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS ARE EDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.

Who was Albert Pike? Tell Me More About Albert Pike Albert Pike's Background Jump to Albert Pike and Three World Wars. Very few outsiders know about the intimate plans of Albert Pike and the architects of the New World Order. In the 19th Century Albert Pike established a framework for bringing about the New World Order. Based on a vision revealed to him, Albert Pike wrote a blueprint of events that would play themselves out in the 20th century, with even more of these events yet to come. It is this blueprint which we believe unseen leaders are following today, knowingly or not, to engineer the planned Third and Final World War. About Albert Pike Albert Pike was born on December 29, 1809, in Boston, and was the oldest of six children born to Benjamin and Sarah Andrews Pike. He studied at Harvard, and later served as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, Pike was found guilty of treason and jailed, only to be pardoned by fellow Freemason President Andrew Johnson on April 22, 1866, who met with him the next day at the White House. On June 20, 1867, Scottish Rite officials conferred upon Johnson the 4th to 32nd Freemasonry degrees, and he later went to Boston to dedicate a Masonic Temple. Pike was said to be a genius, able to read and write in 16 different languages, although I cannot find a record anywhere of what those languages were. In addition, he is widely accused of plagiarism, so take with a pinch of salt. At various stages of his life we was a poet, philosopher, frontiersman, soldier, humanitarian and philanthropist. A 33rd degree Mason, he was one of the founding fathers, and head of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, being the Grand Commander of North American Freemasonry from 1859 and retained that position until his death in 1891. In 1869, he was a top leader in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Incidentally, Freemasonry itself is a fascinating subject and I could devote an entire website to it. Simon Gray, a Freemason, has compiled a stunning amount of information on Freemasonry that I recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about it. Pike was said to be a Satanist, who indulged in the occult, and he apparently possessed a bracelet which he used to summon Lucifer, with whom he had constant communication. He was the Grand Master of a Luciferian group known as the Order of the Palladium (or Sovereign Council of Wisdom), which had been founded in Paris in 1737. Palladism had been brought to Greece from Egypt by Pythagoras in the fifth century, and it was this cult of Satan that was introduced to the inner circle of the Masonic lodges. It was aligned with the Palladium of the Templars. In 1801, Issac Long, a Jew, brought a statue of Baphomet (Satan) to Charleston, South Carolina, where he helped to establish the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Long apparently chose Charleston because it was geographically located on the 33rd parallel of latitude (incidentally, so is Baghdad), and this council is considered to be the Mother Supreme Council of all Masonic Lodges of the World. Pike was Long's successor, and he changed the name of the Order to the New and Reformed Palladian Rite (or Reformed Palladium). The Order contained two degrees: Adelph (or Brother), and Companion of Ulysses (or Companion of Penelope). Pike's right-hand man was Phileas Walder, from Switzerland, who was a former Lutheran minister, a Masonic leader, occultist, and spiritualist. Pike also worked closely with Giusseppe Mazzini of Italy (1805-1872) who was a 33rd who founded the Mafia in 1860. Together with Mazzini, Lord Henry Palmerston of England (1784-1865, 33rd degree Mason), and Otto von Bismarck from Germany (1815-1898, 33rd degree Mason), Albert Pike intended to use the Palladian Rite to create a Satanic umbrella group that would tie all Masonic groups together. Albert Pike died on April 2, 1891, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, although the corpse of Pike currently lies in the headquarters of the Council of the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Washington, DC. see The Deadly Deception, by Jim Shaw - former 33rd degree Mason and Past Master of all Scottish Rite bodies.) The Albert Pike Monument Albert Pike made his mark before the war in Arkansas as a lawyer and writer, but as a Confederate Brigadier General, he was, according to the Arkansas Democrat of July 31, 1978, a complete "WASH-OUT," not a hero. Yet, Gen. Albert Pike is the only Confederate general with a statue on federal property in Washington, DC. He was honoured, not as a commander or even as a lawyer, but as Southern regional leader of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The statue stands on a pedestal near the foot of Capitol Hill, between the Department of Labor building and the Municipal Building, between 3rd and 4th Streets, on D Street, NW. More background on the colorful history of the statue can be found at the Masonic Info website. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Lyndon H. LaRouche and his vice presidential running mate, the Reverend James Bevel, launched a mobilization to remove the statue of General Albert Pike from Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square. On February 1, the campaign drew an angry attack from freemasonic leader C. Fred Kleinknecht, who attempted to defend both Pike and the Ku Klux Klan from LaRouche and Bevel's attack. A speech by Anton Chaitkin entitled 'Why Albert Pike's Statue Must Fall' can be found here (September 21, 1992). The Illuminati and Albert Pike Adam Weishaupt (1748 - 1811) formed the Order of Perfectibilists on May 1, 1776 (to this day celebrated as May Day throughout many western countries), which later became known as the illuminati, a secret society whose name means "Enlightened Ones". Although the Order was founded to provide an opportunity for the free exchange of ideas, Weishaupt's background as a Jesuit seems to have influenced the actual character of the society, such that the express aim of this Order became to abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil government. An Italian revolutionary leader, Giusseppe Mazzini (1805-1872), a 33rd degree Mason, was selected by the Illuminati to head their worldwide operations in 1834. (Mazzini also founded the Mafia in 1860). Because of Mazzini's revolutionary activities in Europe, the Bavarian government cracked down on the Illuminati and other secret societies for allegedly plotting a massive overthrow of Europe's monarchies. As the secrets of the Illuminati were revealed, they were persecuted and eventually disbanded, only to re-establish themselves in the depths of other organizations, of which Freemasonry was one. During his leadership, Mazzini enticed Albert Pike into the (now formally disbanded, but still operating) Illuminati. Pike was fascinated by the idea of a one world government, and when asked by Mazzini, readily agreed to write a ritual tome that guided the transition from average high-ranking mason into a top-ranking Illuminati mason (33rd degree). Since Mazzini also wanted Pike to head the Illuminati's American chapter, he clearly felt Pike was worthy of such a task. Mazzini's intention was that once a mason had made his way up the Freemason ladder and proven himself worthy, the highest ranking members would offer membership to the secret 'society within a society'. It is for this reason that most Freemasons vehemently deny the evil intentions of their fraternity. Since the vast majority never reach the 30th degree, they would not be aware of the real purpose behind Masonry. When instructing Pike how the tome should be developed, Mazzini wrote the following to Pike in a letter dated January 22, 1870. Remember that Freemasonry wasn't started by Pike - rather it was infiltrated by the Illuminati who were looking for a respectable forum in which to hide their clandestine activities: "We must allow all the federations to continue just as they are, with their systems, their central authorities and their diverse modes of correspondence between high grades of the same rite, organized as they are at the present, but we must create a super rite, which will remain unknown, to which we will call those Masons of high degree whom we shall select. With regard to our brothers in Masonry, these men must be pledges to the strictest secrecy. Through this supreme rite, we will govern all Freemasonry which will become the one international center, the more powerful because its direction will be unknown."1 In 1871, Pike published the 861 page Masonic handbook known as the Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. After Mazzini's death on March 11, 1872, Pike appointed Adriano Lemmi (1822-1896, 33rd degree Mason), a banker from Florence, Italy, to run their subversive activities in Europe. Lemmi was a supporter of patriot and revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, and may have been active in the Luciferian Society founded by Pike. Lemmi, in turn, was succeeded by Lenin and Trotsky, then by Stalin. The revolutionary activities of all these men were financed by British, French, German, and American international bankers; all of them dominated by the House of Rothschild. Between 1859 and 1871, Pike worked out a military blueprint for three world wars and various revolutions throughout the world which he considered would forward the conspiracy to its final stage in the 20th Century. In addition to the Supreme Council in Charleston, South Carolina, Pike established Supreme Councils in Rome, Italy (led by Mazzini); London, England (led by Palmerston); and Berlin, Germany (led by Bismarck). He set up 23 subordinate councils in strategic places throughout the world, including five Grand Central Directories in Washington, DC (North America), Montevideo (South America), Naples (Europe), Calcutta (Asia), and Mauritius (Africa), which were used to gather information. All of these branches have been the secret headquarters for the Illuminati's activities ever since. You might be interested in the following external links: Albert Pike Defense: Defenses of certain Pike assertions taken from Walter Lee Brown, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his book "A Life of Albert Pike," published by the U. of Arkansas press, 1997. Freemasonry Inside Out: This sensational analysis of the Masonic brotherhood examines the basic question asked for almost 300 years by the general public and surprisingly by many masons themselves. “If Freemasonry is simply a fraternal and charitable organisation, why is there an almost fanatical obsession with secrecy and mysterious rituals? CD-Rom. Layout of Washington D.C. and discussion of how President Andrew Johnson considered himself to be the subordinate to Albert Pike, the leader of North American Freemasonry. Looking for pictures of Albert Pike? Books by Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Beyond the Law : The Religious and Ethical Meaning of the Lawyer's Vocation Beyond the Law : The Religious and Ethical Meaning of the Lawyer's Vocation Book of the Words Book of the Words Digest Index of Morals & Dogma 1909 Digest Index of Morals & Dogma 1909 Esoteric Work of the 1 Degree - 3 Degree, According to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Esoteric Work of the 1 Degree - 3 Degree, According to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Evil Consequences of Schisms and Disputes for Power in Masonry and of Jealousies and Dissensions Between Masonic Rites, 1858 Evil Consequences of Schisms and Disputes for Power in Masonry and of Jealousies and Dissensions Between Masonic Rites, 1858 Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren General Albert Pike's Poems 1900 General Albert Pike's Poems 1900 Historical Inquiry in Regard to the Grand Constitutions of 1786 - 1883 Historical Inquiry in Regard to the Grand Constitutions of 1786 - 1883 Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda Irano-Aryan Faith and Doctrine As Contained in the Zend-Avesta Irano-Aryan Faith and Doctrine As Contained in the Zend-Avesta Lectures of the Arya Lectures of the Arya Lectures on Masonic Symbolism and a Second Lecture on Symbolism or the Omkara and Other Inefable Words Lectures on Masonic Symbolism and a Second Lecture on Symbolism or the Omkara and Other Inefable Words Legenda and Readings of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Legenda and Readings of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 4 Degree - 30 Degree Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 4 Degree - 30 Degree Liturgy of the Blue Degrees Liturgy of the Blue Degrees Lyrics and Love Songs - 1899 Lyrics and Love Songs - 1899 Magnum Opus or the Great Work: The Complete Ritual Work of Scottish Rite Freemasonry Magnum Opus or the Great Work: The Complete Ritual Work of Scottish Rite Freemasonry Masonic Baptism: Reception of a Louveteau and Adoption Masonic Baptism: Reception of a Louveteau and Adoption Masonry of Adoption: Masonic Rituals for Women Complete With the Verbatim Degree Lectures and the "Secret Work" Masonry of Adoption: Masonic Rituals for Women Complete With the Verbatim Degree Lectures and the "Secret Work" Meaning of Masonry Meaning of Masonry Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie - 1835 Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie - 1835 Old Cashier of the 33d Degree Old Cashier of the 33d Degree The Point Within the Circle: Freemasonry Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols The Point Within the Circle: Freemasonry Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols The Porch and the Middle Chamber: Book of the Lodge The Porch and the Middle Chamber: Book of the Lodge Prose Sketches & Poems Written in the Western Country - 1834 Prose Sketches & Poems Written in the Western Country - 1834 Pythagoras and Hermes Pythagoras and Hermes Rituals of Old Degrees Rituals of Old Degrees What Masonry Is & Its Objects; Ancient Ideals in Modern Masonry - 1919 Footnotes 1. Lady Queensborough: Occult Theocracy, pp. 208-209. 2, 3, 4. Cmdr. William Guy Carr: Quoted in Satan: Prince of This World.

When The Magazine ceases publication this December, owner Glenn Fleishman will be closing shop on an ambitious two-year experiment in digital publishing. It’s not a total surprise — subscriptions were already on a downward trend when Fleishman transitioned from editor to owner of The Magazine after purchasing the publication from Marco Arment last year — and it’s not a total bummer, either. In fact, Fleishman says he’s feeling pretty good about stopping here: he’s met his obligation to provide Kickstarter backers with their one-year subscriptions, and he’s ending this fascinating experiment while it’s still profitable. “I’m even able to pay myself an ever-declining hourly rate for my time,” said Fleishman, who spoke with Cult of Mac about what went right, what went wrong, and his feelings about pulling the plug on a project that was his full-time job for the last year and a half. For Fleishman, this is a thoughtfully planned ending rather than a forced, last-minute exit. He counts this period of his career as one long learning process, for himself as well as for the folks behind the publishing platform he used, TypeEngine. (He even learned quite a bit about book publishing when putting together the crowd-funded print archive The Magazine, Year One.) Nevertheless, The Magazine is shuttering, and there’s no single reason for the publication’s failure. The following are nine hard lessons he learned that contributed to the tough decision. Topical drift can hurt: When it first came out, The Magazine was a unique thing. “It was a really great, unique idea — it was independent, it was paying people,” he said, “and it was the only one on Newsstand that was compact and lightweight. People subscribed out of interest.” The Magazine pulled in almost 35,000 subscribers on launch (the title currently only has 7,000 to 8,000). To contrast that, Rupert Murdoch’s experiment in digital publishing, The Daily, attracted 80,000 subscribers, a sixth of what the media giant said he needed to break even. The Magazine started out publishing a lot of personal essays that were about technology, by app developers and other folks in technology, who were also the target audience. Fleishman and Arment quickly realized that kind of content couldn’t sustain the publication. “We started doing reported features and we started stretching,” Fleishman said. Many of the original readers weren’t interested in these new stories, even though Fleishman thinks everyone would have gotten bored by too many tech-focused personal stories. “It would have become too blog-like over time,” he said, “with stuff like you could read elsewhere.” Newsstand changed for the worse: “iOS 6 Newsstand was good for the publication,” said Fleishman, “but iOS 7 Newsstand was bad.” Apple, he said, lost interest in its iOS publishing hub. “They hid it, they made it sort of ugly, and they suppressed the screen previews in the interest of flatness,” he said. Loyal subscribers canceled subscriptions, he said, because they forgot that new issues existed, even with Notifications and email reminders. It wasn’t in their face enough, something Fleishman attributes to the lack of publication-supportive design in Newsstand, which lost the little dot and any active cover previews of new issues. “Apple’s disinterest in the Newsstand didn’t doom The Magazine,” he said, “but it certainly meant that people who were already subscribers forgot it existed, and contributed to the drop in subscriptions.” Notifications aren’t always helpful: Apple sent out emails to subscribers reminding them that their subscriptions were about to renew. Fleishman notes that this counter-intuitively made people unsubscribe: If folks weren’t reading The Magazine because they forgot it had new issues, a reminder that they were “wasting” money each week didn’t help. Targets can be too broad: Another thing Fleishman thinks contributed to The Magazine’s loss of subscribers was that the complement of content was just too broad. The original tagline, “For curious people with a technical bent,” was hard to pitch to both advertisers and potential readers, the latter of which consisted of tech-savvy people unhappy with the quirky stuff The Magazine was publishing as well as less-savvy folks. The garden was walled: The publication’s website wasn’t really built out until June of last year. “We failed to capture readers early that way,” said Fleishman, “and many people still don’t realize they can read it online with a login.” Subscribers can download .epub and .mobi versions of the issues, but most didn’t take advantage. Making a Newsstand app is labor- and cost-intensive. Fleishman isn’t sure he’d decide to go the same route today if he was commissioning a publication like The Magazine. “I would have avoided the expense of a native app,” he said, “and focused entirely on a backend with super-responsive design and eventually restyle as an app, or adopt a platform like TypeEngine.” Not enough flash: Fleishman put in thousands of dollars and an equal number of hours designing parts of the app, but never was able to do the serious work of making the app interesting enough for people who like the flash and bang of modern media apps. People lost interest in the app itself at the same time that Newsstand was side-lining publications, making The Magazine lose subscribers faster than it was picking them up. Not everyone can be an Internet personality: “If I were Guy Kawasaki,” said Fleishman, “I’d have 100,000 subscribers right now, but, sadly, I’m not.” Attention, he said, is an extremely scarce commodity — he was unable to attract enough interest in the writing quality alone to really bring and maintain attention to The Magazine. Original content is tough: Building an all-commissioned digital magazine is time- and labor-intensive. The Magazine started as a publication and then became a website. Fleishman suggests it would have been better using Web content to populate a digital magazine (and points out that some sites, like Cult of Mac and The Loop, are already doing this). That way, he said, readers get all their content in one well-designed space without a publisher having to split their already beleaguered staff into yet another content stream. People love to get content in a different reading experience, he said. Ultimately, notes Fleishman, all these factors combined to lead to the shuttering of The Magazine. Anyone starting up an independent digital magazine like it these days would be best served using a platform like TypeEngine, he said, and effectively keeping startup costs low. The Magazine has been profitable. Nobody lost any money in the venture, which has paid out a half-million dollars to its writers. Because of that, Fleishman is not unhappy at all about having to end this part of his career, though he would do it differently if he started today. “I would rather bring [a digital magazine] into being and make it flower,” he said, “as opposed to starting at a super-high point but with an extremely expensive and time-consuming infrastructure.” Fleishman is currently finishing a The Magazine: The Book (October 2012 to October 2013).

Tech / Help Deep dive: What makes the Demon so wicked? by Patrick Rall At a small Detroit media event, SRT powertrain boss Chris Cowland laid out all of the fine details of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. The 2018 Challenger Demon had two simple guidelines during development – to run a 9-second quarter mile and to lift the front wheels off of the ground on launch, both in street legal trim. Once the Demon was given the green light, Dodge added a few initial requirements, including an engine power increase of 10% over the Hellcat Hemi, and launch forces at least 20% greater than the standard Hellcat Challenger. At the same time, the Demon had to be emission-legal in all 50 states (meeting LEV160), meet pass-by noise requirements, and pass strict SRT durability testing. The result is a 4,200 pound muscle car which will run a 9.65 quarter mile and lift the front wheels off of the ground on a hard launch with an 840 horsepower Hemi – which meets all emission and noise requirements set for by the industry and the company. Most importantly, the new Demon is 100% street-friendly, so in addition to being the quickest production car in the world, it can also serve as a comfortable daily driver. This was achieved by introducing a new version 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi, with 62% of the content changed from the original Hellcat Hemi — including a new block, crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, and supercharger assembly. That 840 horsepower Hemi is mated to a new 8-speed automatic transmission which has been heavily upgraded with a new torque convertor and trans brake. From that stronger transmission, the power travels through a stronger driveshaft to a stronger rear differential with a steeper gear ratio and stronger axles – reaching the ground by means of the lightweight 18” wheels and the Demon-branded Nitto NT05R tires. We knew all of that when the car was introduced back in April, but below, you will find a detailed rundown of how each key component of the drivetrain in the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon differs from the Hellcat Hemi. Induction system The Air Grabber Hood is a functional hood scoop system which feeds a high volume of cold air to the airbox, along with dual air catchers in the grille (replacing the fog lights) — all feeding the 14.8 liter air box. A new oiled conical air filter has a 72% increase in filtered air, compared to the standard Hellcat air filter (712 cm2 in the standard Hellcat, 1,224 cm2 in the Demon). After the air filter, the air passes through a low restriction air intake system, with 25% less resistance than the Hellcat intake setup at full power, and into the new 92mm throttle body. This whole system has been tuned to offer the best flow possible, while meeting all pass-by noise rules. Supercharger and Drive System The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon features a new 2,700cc supercharger housing, with 320cc more air volume than the Hellcat supercharger. This increase in volume was achieved by adding longer rotors, both of which are 28mm longer than the Hellcat blower. The air being sucked into the 2,700cc IHI supercharger passes through a revised front bearing housing, so the air enters the supercharger more easily while providing some cooling effect for the front bearing assembly. When coupled with the dual integrated charge coolers and the electric bypass valve, the maximum boost pressure rises from 11.6 in the Hellcat to 14.5psi in the Demon, as the 2.36:1 drive ratio leads to a maximum supercharger speed of 15,340rpm (at 6,500 engine rpm). To get an idea of how much air we are talking about, Dodge points out that on a quarter mile run, the Demon’s Hemi will take in around 173 cubic feet of air – or the lung capacity of 816 human lungs. Also, at the 800-foot mark of a quarter mile run, which takes only 7.35 seconds at wide open throttle, the Demon could effectively suck all of the air out of the 105 cubic foot cabin. The Cooling Module The Demon features a high tech cooling module which works with the water-to-air heat exchangers integrated into the supercharger housing. The cooling module includes the “normal” engine coolant radiator (high temp loop), the low supercharger cooling system (low temp loop) and the components of the SRT Chiller system. With the auxiliary cooling pump, the supercharger’s cooling system can move around 45 liters of coolant per minute – allowing the system to reject around 258kW at full power. In other words, the amount of energy during the cooling process is equivalent to 258kW or heat energy – enough to boil a quart of water in 1.2 seconds. That is about as much thermal power as 250 electric toasters. The Fuel System The fuel system of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon starts with a set of larger fuel injectors with 67g/s flow at full power. These injectors are optimized for a high flow supercharged engine, with 20 degree bent spray and a 17 degree cone. These injectors are fed by a pair of high volume in-tank fuel pumps, which allow a 27% increase in peak pressure compared to the Hellcat. At full power, the Demon’s fuel system peaks at 510lb/hr, or around 1.36 gallons per minute. The showerhead in your bathroom likely flows around 2 gallons per minute, so the Demon uses almost as much gasoline in one minute as you use water in one minute of showering. Cylinder Heads and Valve Train The cylinder heads of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon are, of course, a hemispherical (Hemi) design, with a 34.5 degree valve angle and M14 spark plugs. These heads are constructed of high strength, high thermal conductivity aluminum alloy (A356) with heat, quench, and solution treatment. They have single groove collets for improved stability, with revised design valve springs and top retainers; 33% more oil cooling for the valve springs and the rocker tips work to keep the system cool at high RPM. When combined with the high temperature resistant cylinder heads, the two piece valves (hollow intake valves, sodium filled exhaust valves) are good for continuous heat loads of 800°C. The Demon’s gun-drilled steel camshaft has different profiles from the original Hellcat. The newest supercharged Hemi has intake and exhaust lift of 14.25mm and 14mm, lobe centers of 109° and 137°, and durations of 224° and 240° at 0.050” of lift. This camshaft is paired with hydraulic roller tappets (no MDS) and hydraulic actuated variable valve timing, with a total variation of 17°. The Engine Block The Demon’s unique red-painted engine block is constructed of high strength cast iron with 4-bolt steel main caps. The engine has been deck plane honed to minimize engine bore distortion at high RPM while the revised design main bearing cap bolts with increase clamp load and the increased cylinder head clamp load (52kN to 80kN) afford the Demon peak fire pressure in the combustion chamber of 135 bar (1,958psi) when running on race gas. The Rotating Assembly The supercharged Hemi of the 2018 Challenger Demon has a heavily revised rotating assembly, including a forged allot steel crankshaft with a 90.9mm stroke and revised balancing which is secured against induction hardened crank bearing surfaces running in high load capacity beatings with individual journal optimized main bearing clearances having as much of a difference as 10 microns compared to the Hellcat. The Demon’s pistons are comprised of forged high strength alloy with an inclined box wall for added support; piston cooling jets provide 100% more oil flow cooling to each cylinder. The revised connecting rods feature an enlarged big end and enlarged shank with a tapered small end, along with high tensile fasteners on the rods – resulting in a capacity of 210,000psi. At full power, the rotating assembly faces 11.1 tons of force on compression stroke and 3.2 tons of pressure on the exhaust stroke- each 50 times per second. (For comparison, an assault rifle fires a 25 gram projectile at 2000 G; the pistons in the Demon, which weigh 695 grams, accelerate at around 2,600 G). The Lubrication Circuit The Demon’s Hemi is kept oiled by a high flow, 25cc/revolution oil pump driven off of the crankshaft nose. In addition to the normal oiling flow through the engine, the Demon includes 8 high flow piston cooling jets with check valves, with up to double the oil flow of the Hellcat system. The top end flow to the springs and rocker arms arrives with 33% more volume than the Hellcat. To deal with the 1.8Gs experienced during a hard launch, the Demon has a unique windage system in the oil pan to keep the Pennzoil/SRT 0W-40 oil under control. Exhaust System The Demon’s exhaust begins with a set of double wall, insulated, high temp tubular stainless steel exhaust headers which lead to a set of high temperature close-coupled catalysts and a 73mm diameter low restriction dual exhaust system. This system has a custom-engineered exhaust note via the electronic valves, reducing backpressure to just 66kPa at full power. Transmission Like the standard Hellcat, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon has a heavy duty 8-speed automatic transmission with shift paddles; unlike the ordinary Hellcat, the Demon uses an upgraded 151k torque convertor, with an 18% increase in torque multiplication and an 11% increase in stall speed. When in Drag Mode, the Demon’s transmission moves from gear to gear in just 400 milliseconds while the Track Mode shifts take 200ms. The transmission could actually shift faster and harder in Drag Mode, but to put the most torque to the ground as efficiently as possible, the engineers found that the 400ms shifts has the best performance. The Demon’s integrated TransBrake locks the output shaft at an engine speed of up to 2,350rpm. This leads to a 110% increase in engine stall torque on launch compared to a simple brake torque launch – yielding 18% more torque at the rear tires when this beast leaves the line. The Driveline The entire driveline of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon has been revised to handle the extreme power and the extreme loads during launch. This begins with an upgraded driveshaft with 20% thicker high strength steel tubes and stronger steel stub shafts. From there, the power heads into the uni-directional, limited slip differential in an upgraded housing which holds a new 230mm ring gear and 3.09 gear set. Between the differential and the Demon’s lightweight wheels is a set of upgraded half shafts with 8-ball cross glide inner and outer joints, an increased diameter barshaft with 41 end spline count and high alloy steel inner/outer stub shafts. The culmination of these unique components is a 4,200-plus pound Dodge Challenger which packs 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque – enough to propel it down the quarter-mile track in just 9.65 seconds. As Dodge pointed out, the Demon makes more horsepower by 4500 rpm and more torque by 2300 rpm than the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. It makes more horsepower by 3,800 rpm and more torque by just 1,300 rpm than the Nissan GTR – Japan’s top performance car – and it beats the McLaren 720S by 131 horsepower and 202 pound-feet of torque. Released today: How they kept the secrets of the Demon • Hear the Demon roar, watch it fly Dodge Challenger Demon • Demon Reveal • Behind the hints • Colors • Original Demon

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have painted the clearest picture yet of the history of the Kazakhs of the Altai Mountain Range, providing insights into the heritage of a wide swath of people in Central and East Asia. Kazakh hunters wearing national clothes hold golden eagles during the 'Solburun' hunting festival [Credit: Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP/Getty Images] Using genetic techniques, Theodore Schurr and doctoral student Matthew Dulik, both of the Penn Department of Anthropology, worked with Ludmila Osipova from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk. Schurr’s team’s research was published in the open access journal PLoS One. These findings are a continuation of work that Schurr and colleagues have been conducting in the Altai region for a decade. “It’s a key area because it’s been a crossroads and conduit for people for thousands and thousands of years,” Schurr said. “People not only moved out of it to settle much of Siberia and probably did so more than one time, but it is also possibly the ancestral homeland of Native Americans.” Future research by Schurr and his team will attempt to trace the movement of these lineages as they crossed the Bering Strait into North America. While this study examines the paternally inherited Y-chromosomes of self-identified Kazakhs in Russia’s Altai Republic, the researchers previously published a similar study looking at ancestral lineages in the region using mitochondrial DNA, which is maternally inherited. Adding the male dimension to the historical picture of Altai Kazakhs was especially important, however, given the role that the 13th-century expansion of the Mongol Empire played in the formation of ethnic Kazakhs. “The sweep of people coming in from Mongolia was largely male,” Schurr said. “They left their imprint on much of Central Asia, including Kazakh populations, and we’re able to see that more clearly with paternal lineages than maternal ones.” Because women do not have Y-chromosomes, sons receive all of the genetic information contained within them directly from their fathers. These paternal lineages can be used to extrapolate male connections through many generations of fathers and sons. Testing modern populations for certain Y-chromosome markers can determine the paternal lineages to which present-day men belong. Combining that genetic data with archeological, linguistic and climatological findings allowed the researchers to map Kazakh population groups within time and geographic space. While some of these lineages can be traced thousands of years into the past, the most significant influence on both Altai Kazakhs and their countrymen to the west occurred within the last eight centuries, during the Mongol expansion. “There are a couple of lineages associated with the Mongol expansion, including one called C3*, which is specifically associated with Genghis Khan and his male relatives,” Schurr said. “Where we see that lineage, we see the influence of Mongol men and can reconstruct the westward Mongol expansion. We’d expect to see that the newest mutations are the farthest west and the oldest ones are in the Mongol homeland, which they in fact are.” This archeogenetic analysis also allowed the researchers to examine the genetic influence that indigenous Altai populations had on other groups and, as result, inform the kind of nomadic lifestyle they practiced. “We use the same techniques to analyze the Altai lineages themselves and determine whether they were brought in from elsewhere or expanded from their source area into places north, west and east,” Schurr said. “We can see these connections throughout much of Siberia because it’s a very dynamic area, and, even though they live in small groups, they are moving around a great deal.”

"(a) cartographical gem" -The Wall Street Journal - Great New (Armchair) Travel Reads "An utterly exquisite object: atlas as Wunderkammer and bestiary, bound in black cloth and sea-blue card...makes a magnificent case for the atlas to be recognised as literature, worthy of its original name - theatrum orbis terrarum, "the theatre of the world". -Robert Macfarlane, The Guardian (UK) "This beautifully illustrated atlas reveals that cartography and the creative imagination have always intersected, spurred on by human wanderlust." -NPR's 2010 Favorites pick "'Paradise is an island. So is hell.' Or so says Judith Schalansky in the introduction to her charming, spooky and splendid Atlas of Remote Islands." -The New Yorker's Book Bench "...absolutely magical." -Conde Nast Traveler- CNTraveler.com "The first five times (or so) that I paged through the Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will, I fell deeply in love with the book... Each of author and artist Judith Schalansky's maps--hand-drawn in shades of gray, black, white, and brilliant orange on cadet blue paper--transported me to a, usually, remote island..." -NationalGeographic.com "... A testament to the transformative power of maps. Atlas of Remote Islands is a celebration of what can still be accomplished with imagination, paper and ink. Holding it, you feel as if you've stolen the composition book that dreamy girl in the back row of our high school English class is always scribbling into. You page through it and think, Oh, my God. She's a genius." -Anthony Doerr, TheMillions.com "That impossible-to-please friend, that cranky relative, that coffee table begging for something more interesting that last Sunday's New York Times Magazine- worry about them no more. Here is your holiday gift, your birthday present, your living room's conversation-igniter." -HeadButler.com "The most beautiful and powerful book I have ever seen like this is the Pennyroyal Caxton (King James) Bible, with haunting engravings by the genius Barry Moser. The second most beautiful and amazing book like this I have ever seen arrived, slim and stunning, on my desk days ago: Atlas of Remote Islands. For a child itching to see the world, for the child inside an aged and creaky vessel, for all of us who never stopped dreaming of faraway islands draped in amazing languages and wild stories and a wholly new angle of light, this is the perfect gift." -Brian Doyle, The Oregonian "... hand-drawn maps of the remote islands and the fascinating stories that go alongside are utterly captivating..." -The South Mississippi Sun Herald "... one of those books that you can easily spend a day dreamily paging through. Beautiful stories are crafted from these remote islands histories, giving character to the pieces of land that could be easily overlooked or forgotten. You want this book." -World's Best Ever blog www.theworldsbestever.com "Is it possible to confuse a romance novel for an atlas?... I opened the pages to maps that looked as though they were painted in the Middle Ages. They are clear, artistic, and true to scale. I approached the text and continued my love affair." -GoNomad.com "Judith Schalansky's pseudo-tome- the product of a lifetime of studying maps, typography, art and design- is a charming romp through 50 of the most remote islands in the world. But this book is about so much more than maps... it's beautiful...it's charming, fanciful and is part of a near-perfect construction of a book that captures the romance of travel... This is a great coffee table book, perfect for history buffs, dreamers of anyone who sticks pins in their maps and obsessively uses "GTrot" on Facebook." -LostGirlsWorld.com "Gorgeously illustrated and with color maps throughout... Judith Schalansky lures us onto fifty remote islands... and proves that the most adventurous journeys still take place in the mind, with one finger pointing at a map." -Publishing Perspectives "When we dream of escaping from frantic modern lives into another more perfect kind of existence, the image of an island often comes to mind, a refuge where time slows down, the living is easy and we can at last find inner peace. It's a fantasy, practically a Jungian archetype now... Schalansky's book won a prize in Germany as the most beautiful book of the year. It deserves to win several more. Atlas of Remote Islands is a stunningly accomplished piece of work, as well as being a rare feat of total authorship." -Rick Poyner at the Observer's Room blog "The first five times (or so) that I paged through the Atlas of Remote Islands, I fell deeply in love with the book. Each of author and artist Judith Schalansky's maps transported me." -Intelligent Travel blog "Last night I devoured the most beautiful book... It's wonderful: it's like Borges' eccentric encyclopedias. It is, in a word, great." -Caustic Cover Critic blog "Judith Schalansky's Atlas of Remote Islands perfectly merges the experiences of reading Calvino's Invisible Cities and pouring over an atlas as age eight. I really can't imagine recommending a book more highly." -Harry Schwartz Eats The World blog "...what has to be the coolest book released all year. Totally amazing." -Survival of the Book blog "Atlas of Remote Islands is a book that opens like a trunk of dusty letters in an attic- full of the promise of the unknown, and the discovery of small delights. There is poetry in the book's simplicity, and a reminder of the beauty of print." -emagazine.com "If you ever wonder what kind of place 'real' books will have in an increasingly electronic world, the Atlas of Remote Islands is the perfect example of the power wielded by a physical artifact. This book is a rare gem. It's like your favourite children's fantasy book come to life... it's a little like Lost, and it is like traveling to the moon." -Writer's Pet blog "It's a delight... a weird and wonderful assortment." -Lonely Planet blog "With hand drawn detailed topographic maps and intricate local histories, each of the islands comes alive through stories about marooned slaves, lonely scientists, lost explorers, mutinous sailors, confused lighthouse keepers, and forgotten castaways." -Perceptive Travel blog "An armchair traveler's delight." -The Philadelphia Inquirer

To one watching the advance of Chinese science and technology, or to me anyway, several things stand out. First, the headlong pace. Second, the amount of it that appears aimed at making China independent of the West technologically and getting the United States off Beijing’s back. Third, the apparent calculated focus. It looks like intelligent design, as distinct from America’s competitive scrabbling for profit by special interests, the hope being that this might inadvertently benefit the country as a whole. In short, the Chinese seem to Have Something In Mind. As I have mentioned before, China came out of nowhere to become the world leader in supercomputers. Also in high-speed rail, of strategic importance in its plan to united Europe and Asia economically. Heavy investment in solar power offers to ameliorate its dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf, vulnerable to blockage by the US Navy. Then there is DF21D terminally guided ballistic missile, specifically intended as a carrier-killer in what China regards as its home waters. The list could go on at length. In much of America, the Chinese are dismissed as being “unable to innovate,” inventiveness being thought of as unique to white men. Thinner ice has perhaps never been trod. The Chinese are smart. They are certainly capable of high-grade engineering and scientific research. (Eg., Beijing Genomics Institute) The line between imaginative engineering and invention is blurry. Note that on the numbers China can potentially bring to bear five times as many engineers as America can and, while they are well short of this, twice as many would be–is?–the beginning of a new world. While Beijing works to benefit China, rapidly increasing its techno-industrial clout, Washington spends insanely on weaponry. It is trying to apply a military solution to a commercial problem. America crumbles economically, politically, culturally, but has the very best bombers. Example of non-inventiveness: Step One, From a while back, “China Activates World’s Longest Ultra Secure Quantum Communication Network..” Beijing to Shanghai. Quantum communications is based on the behavior of entangled photons. Said behavior is obviously impossible, but apparently nobody has told the photons, so they do it anyway. (Unless all the world’s physicists are smoking Drano. This possibility is worth considering. If interested, quantum entanglement. Also Quantum Key Distribution.) The point is that if anyone tries to intercept the transmission, it becomes obvious. A weakness is that you need repeaters every sixty miles, which reduces security. Unless you do it in space: Step Two: China launches world’s first quantum satellite. Having done the landline, they move to orbital experimentation. Step Three, Bingo! “China Just Took the Lead in the Quantum Space Race” This being a big deal, I clip from Asia Times: On Thursday, a team of Chinese scientists released findings from a breakthrough study that makes China the indisputable leader in the field of quantum communication, an achievement that could be of immense strategic importance. The study, led by Pan Jianwei and published in Science magazine, successfully demonstrated the ability to distribute entangled photons across unprecedented distances, from space to earth, opening the door for the practical application of cutting-edge, ultra-secure communication. The unprecedented distance was 1200 kilometers. Beijing might be regarded as trying to establish world-wide communications secure against NSA and, eventually, a whole internet proof against Fort Meade. Whether one regards this as engineering development or innovation doesn’t seem to make much difference. “Chinese Solar-Powered Plane Flies at 65,000 feet” It apparently could stay aloft for months. The stories dealing with it suggest that the purpose might be long-term surveillance of countries, meaning spying. In any event, it is a neat technological trick, especially from people who can’t innovate. Then we have, from Phys.org, “China launched its most powerful rocket ever on Thursday, state media said, as the country presses on with a program which has seen it become a major space power.” The point here is not that China is ahead of America in space–it isn’t–but that it is coming on fast. Engineering, engineering, engineering. Dismissive Americans point out that the US was on the Moon in 1969 and that China is piggybacking of American technology. True. And Irrelevant. From the National Interest: “The World’s New Leader in Super Deadly Hypersonic Weapons: China?” Chinese Quantum Radar Quantum radar is another application of entangled photons. The link gives a semi-technical overview. The important point is that in principle it allows detection of stealth aircraft. The Chinese assert that they can now detect stealth aircraft at 62 miles with enough accuracy to compute a fire-control solution. This means that radar stations with slightly overlapping fields of detection, say a hundred miles apart, could detect incoming aircraft with easily enough time to shoot them down. If this report is true, it is potentially devastating for the US Air Force. So far as I am aware, Chinese claims of technical results have heretofore been accurate. The Air Force has invested very, very heavily in stealth. In bombers, the hugely expensive B2 and the planned hugelier expensiver B21 are dead meat if detached. In fighters, the F22 and the F35 Bankruper—Lightning II, I meant to say—will lose their main selling point if detectable. The F35 in particular has made compromises in performance to make it stealthy and, if detectable, is just a so-so fighter. Next: “Enter the Nimble Dragon: China sees nuclear future in small reactors” “SMRs (small modular reactors) have capacity of less than 300 megawatts (MW) – enough to power around 200,000 homes – compared to at least 1 gigawatt (GW) for standard reactors….” “China is aiming to lift domestic nuclear capacity to 200 GW by 2030, up from 35 GW at the end of March, but its ambitions are global.” Small reactors (a bit larger than a bus) are important if you want to electrify a remote city without the overkill of a standard plant or the expense of long transmission lines. China is not the only country working on mini-nukes (or on anything else mentioned in this column), but it can now play with the big boys. Again, small reactors are an abrupt entrance into a major technical field. Note “global ambitions.” A Reuters piece describes “an ambitious plan to wrest control of the global nuclear market.” Planning and doing are not the same thing, but if I were a nuclear market, I would be uneasy. For whatever reasons, the American media do not much cover technological advance in China. Ignorance? Arrogance? Is it just the American tendency to regard the rest of the world as unimportant? Maybe a little attention would be a good idea. A steady stream of advances comes out of the Middle Kingdom. In some fields, the Chinese lead the world. In others, they are behind but not be much, and gaining. Could be important. Especially if they learn to innovate.

The AMD Radeon Fury X powered by Fiji XT has just smiled to the camera for one more time ahead of its launch next week. Yesterday we managed to confirm the specifications for AMD’s upcoming “ultra-enthusiast” Fury line of graphics cards. The AMD Radeon Fury X and Radeon Fury powered by AMD’s largest, most powerful and most advanced GPU to date code named Fiji. At this point we know pretty much everything about the upcoming arrivals from the red team. Needless to say these newcomers will be AMD’s fastest graphics chips to date. The Fiji GPU, both the XT and Pro variants, form the foundation of AMD’s new ultra enthusiast “Fury” brand. There are several reasons as to why AMD decided to resurrect the “Fury” brand name with Fiji. Chief among which is that with Fiji AMD will be introducing the world’s first GPU featuring 3D stacked High Bandwidth Memory, otherwise known as HBM. Another reason is the sheer performance of the chip, which AMD has proclaimed to be the fastest in the world. To crown these achievements AMD decided that a simple numerical product name will not do this chip justice and thus they brought back Fury. More AMD Radeon Fury X Pictures – Liquid Cooling, Backplate And Red LED Lit Radeon Logo Today we’re sharing with you a few more photos of Fury showing off the back of the card as well as the led lit Radeon logo and the liquid cooling unit designed by Asetek. Something which we have exclusively pointed out many moons ago. In the photo above we ca see an illuminated red “Radeon” which is engraved into a metal plate. Slightly above that there’s a dual BIOS switch. Which can come in handy whilst overclocking or when flashing the BIOS. The length of the card is 19cm or 7.5inches and in terms of width the card is a dual-slot design but will occupy slightly less than two PCIe slots. Finally the card is rated at a 300W TDP as we had disclosed yesterday and is powered by two 8pin PCIE power connectors. The compact design of the card can be better appreciated in the photo above. We can also see on the left side the opening where the tubing as well as the pump and fan wires come out. If we look at the PCIE x16 connector we can also tell that the PCB is matte black, which would look quite sharp on its own even without a backplate. Despite that AMD decided to go ahead and include a full clean black backplate anyway, which I think many gamers will appreciate. In this image we can appreciate the compact design even better. We can also see that he radiator is actually of standard thickness. Included with the radiator is a Scythe Gentle Typhoon fan. One of the absolute best radiator fans both in terms of static pressure and noise. In this picture we can also see that the tubing has been sleeved to look like power supply cabling. Which should allow the tubing to blend in with the rest of the system’s interior. Adding to that clean homogeneous look with the card is installed. You can check out the full specs of Fury X and Fury here and the estimated performance of Fury X here. WCCFTech AMD Radeon R9 Fury X2 AMD Radeon R9 Fury X AMD Radeon R9 Nano AMD Radeon R9 Fury AMD Radeon R9 290X GPU Fiji XT x 2 Fiji XT Fiji XT Fiji Pro Hawaii XT Stream Processors 8192 4096 4096 3584 2816 GCN Compute Units 128 64 64 56 44 Render Output Units 128 64 64 64 64 Texture Mapping Units 512 256 256 224 176 GPU Frequency TBA Up to 1050Mhz Up to 1000 MHz Up to 1000 MHz 1000Mhz Memory 8GB HBM (4 GB Per Chip) 4GB HBM 4GB HBM 4GB HBM 4GB GDDR5 Memory Interface 4096-bit x 2 4096bit 4096bit 4096bit 512bit Memory Frequency 500Mhz 500Mhz 500 MHz 500Mhz 1250Mhz Effective Memory Speed 1Gbps 1Gbps 1Gbps 1Gbps 5Gbps Memory Bandwidth 1024 GB/s 512GB/s 512GB/s 512GB/s 320GB/s Cooling Liquid Liquid, 120mm Radiator Air, Single Fan. Custom AIB Solutions Later Air, Custom AIB Solutions Air, Single Blower Fan Performance (SPFP) 17.2 TFLOPS 8.6 TFLOPS 8.19 TFLOPS 7.2 TFLOPS 5.6 TFLOPS TDP TBA 275W 175W 275W 250W Power Connectors Dual 8-Pin Dual 8-Pin 8-Pin Dual 8-Pin 6+8 Pin GFLOPS/Watt TBA 31.3 47.1 26.2 19.3 New Prices TBA $649 $499 $549 $299 (Retail) Launch Date Early 2016 24th June 2015 7th September 2015 10th July 2015 24th October 2013

While ‘realpolitik’ has often been understood negatively, associated primarily with Henry Kissinger and used to denote cynical approaches to foreign policy, this new book by John Bew, Realpolitik: A History, offers a more nuanced history of the term by tracing its development from its initial conception in mid-nineteenth-century Germany to the present day. Robert Ledger applauds this expertly written and fascinating text for showing the importance of considering ideas as embedded within particular, and changing, social contexts. Those who read this work will view ‘realpolitik’ in a new light. Realpolitik: A History. John Bew. Oxford University Press. 2016. Realpolitik: A History , the new book by John Bew, is a study of a much-used, and little understood, term that is deployed generically to denote a cynical foreign policy, and often linked with Henry Kissinger. The author describes the development of realpolitik from its original conception in mid-nineteenth-century Germany through to its association with US foreign policymakers from the 1970s up until the present day. Realpolitik is absorbing history as well as an important examination of political ideas and labels. John Bew teaches history and foreign policy in the War Studies Department at King’s College, London. His previous books include Castlereagh, a biography of the arch-strategist of British foreign policy at the Congress of Vienna. Realpolitik starts a little later, in the wake of the European revolutions of 1848. German writer and liberal Ludwig von Rochau published The Foundations of Realpolitik in 1853, primarily with domestic politics in mind. The insights he described included that the ‘law of the strong is the determining factor in politics’; that ‘the most effective form of government is one that incorporates the most powerful social forces within the state’; that ideas matter depending on how they influence society; and finally that public opinion or the Zeitgeist (the ‘spirit of the age’) is crucial in determining a nation’s direction (32). For Rochau, utopianism was folly but liberal ideals were important. Originally realpolitik had an analytical element, whereby political realities had to be taken into consideration before longer term goals could be reached. Rochau believed that the pursuit of higher aims was compatible with short-term goals (54). Realpolitik then explores how these initial principles developed, through German unification and the foreign policy of Bismarck, into the twentieth century. A consistent theme is that the nuances of Rochau’s Foundations were quickly lost, becoming synonymous with value-free pragmatism and a cynical, Machiavellian pursuit of power. A number of German thinkers adopted the term realpolitik, and all deviated from Rochau’s principles. Heinrich von Treitschke, for instance, popularised realpolitik and infected it with his anti-Semitism and nationalism. By the turn of the century there was also a linkage with German weltpolitik (overseas expansion) and machtpolitik (the politics of force). How interpretations of realpolitik became absorbed into the lexicon of political discourse in the English-speaking world is discussed at length. The British came to see it as interchangeable with German skulduggery during the First World War years and later, in the 1930s, as a return to Castlereagh’s statecraft in pursuing fascist appeasement. Bew points out how hypocrisy was never far away, for instance in Britain and France’s 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, which carved up the Middle East. Perhaps most important was the influence of German realpolitik on writers and politicians in the United States. Whereas in Britain the term had been viewed mainly in a negative fashion, Americans saw things differently. During the First World War, journalist Walter Lippmann set out how the US could deploy self-interest and ‘robust liberal internationalism’ to reshape the global order in its own favour (130). This line of thinking came to influence Cold Warriors such as George Kennan – who famously outlined a policy of containment towards the Soviet Union – and Dean Acheson, Secretary of State under Harry Truman. Concurrently, the new discipline of international relations, and in particular the ‘realist’ school, made an impact on US foreign policy. Realists such as Hans Morgenthau, Reinhold Niebuhr and Kenneth Waltz were all prominent during this period. Bew describes how these thinkers shared some lineage with German realpolitik as well as significant differences. For instance, Waltz’s scientific realism – sometimes called structural or neo-realism – puts little emphasis on historical and cultural factors. Image Credit: US Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger uses the telephone in Deputy National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft’s office to get the latest information on the situation in South Vietnam, 29/04/1975. White House Photographic Office. (NARA) This will be enlightening for those of us who have tended to use terms such as ‘realpolitik’, ‘geopolitics’ and ‘realism’ interchangeably. In addition, many readers will most readily identify the concept with the policies of Henry Kissinger, as National Security Adviser and then Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Although Kissinger rarely used the term himself, his grand strategy as well as his academic career were obviously linked to the tradition. A number of policies under Kissinger’s watch seemed to favour political contingency over human rights: for instance, backing authoritarian allies from General Pinochet in Chile to the Shah of Iran, as well as bombing North Vietnam to the negotiation table. Jimmy Carter’s emphasis on human rights was a reaction to the dark arts of the Kissinger years. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that the third ‘basket’ of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act was signed while Kissinger (however sceptical he may have been) was still in office and made provisions for human rights protections, a factor some have identified as a precursor for the people power in the communist bloc a decade later. In this respect, it was pure Rochau: a short-term compromise with one eye on a long-term ideal. As well as being a fascinating and unique historical work, Bew’s book is an important study of the development of political ideas and the terms they encapsulate. Ideas must be considered in the context of time, location and cultural factors. Realpolitik aptly demonstrates how ideas are manipulated and polarised, in this case into realpolitik and anti-realpolitik strands. The reality is one of graduation and interpretation. Neither ideals, self-interest nor political reality can be absent from domestic or foreign policy. Bew concludes by returning to Rochau’s original realpolitik. As an analytical tool, it is highly relevant and hard not to escape the conclusion that these principles would have proven useful in a number of contemporary scenarios, the Arab Spring being just one example. Realpolitik: A History is an expertly researched and written book. It will appeal to academics and students interested in nineteenth- and twentieth-century European and US history, foreign policy and the history of international relations. Having read it, you will never use the term in quite the same way again. Robert Ledger has a PhD from Queen Mary University London in political science, his thesis examining the influence of liberal economic ideas on the Thatcher government, and an MA in International Relations from Brunel University. He has worked in Brussels and Berlin for the European Stability Initiative – a think tank – on EU enlargement and human rights issues. He has published widely on European and British politics, edited the Journal of International Relations Research and is also a regular contributor to Global Risk Insights, a political risk group. Read more reviews by Robert Ledger. Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics.

Contin­ued use of drones a barrie­r to global peace, says Ramsey Clark. KARACHI: Former Attorney General of United States of America Ramsey Clark on Monday urged the Pakistani media to be more forthright in preaching “the criminality of US drones”. Speaking as chief guest at an award ceremony of the Pakistan American Democratic Forum, Clark stated that the US should cease using this ‘vicious’ technology, adding that the use of drones is primarily a US innovation in warfare and their use is a violation of all international laws. The former US attorney general went on to say that there will be no peace on earth with the looming threat of drone attacks from one country to another. ‘Free Afia Siddiqui’ Earlier, Ramsey Clark said that he came to Pakistan after 20 years with a singular purpose of raising his voice over the injustice meted to Dr Afia Siddiqui. “She was kidnapped from your country. It should not have happened, should not be allowed to happen, she lost her youngest child in the kidnapping bid, and was tried and convicted for no fault” he said. Ramsey Clark categorized Afia Siddiqui’s case as “tragic” and “outrageous”, and stressed the importance of her release and return to Pakistan. The former US Attorney General cut short a meeting with the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry at the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to attend this award ceremony at Karachi Press Club. Dr Fouzia Siddiqui of the Dr Afia Movement in her brief address thanked Karachi-based journalists for their support in the movement for the release of Dr Afia Siddiqui. She attributed the release of Dr Afia’s daughter and son from US captivity to the efforts made by the journalists of Karachi who, she said, duly highlighted the plight of Dr Afia’s family. Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2012. Read full story

2 President  rump has laid out our princi ples or tax reorm: First, make the tax code simple, air and easy to understand. Second, give American workers a pay raise by allowing them to keep more o their hard-earned pay checks. Tird, make America the jobs magnet o  the world by levelin g the playing field or American businesses and workers. Finally , bring back trillions o dollars that are currently kept offshore to reinvest in the American economy. Te President’ s our princip les are consisten t with the goals o both congression al tax-writing committees, and are at the core o this ramework or fixing America’s broken tax code. oo many in our country are shut out o the dynamism o the U.S. economy, which has led to the justifiable eeling that the system is rigged against hardw orking American s. With significan t and meaningul tax reorm and relie, we will create a airer system that levels the playing field and extends economic opportunities to American workers, small businesses, and middle-income amilies. Te rum p Administration and Congress will work together to produce tax reorm that w ill put America first. OVERVIEW

Pebble shipped its new all-metal "Steel" smartwatch earlier this week, and now reveals that app store updates for its iOS companion software will roll out on Monday (the Android version is about to launch in beta and will follow soon after). Until now, wearers have had to hunt through a myriad of app developers and third-party sites to download new watchfaces or apps. Once the apps (and older Pebble devices) get updated and paired wirelessly over Bluetooth, you'll only need a Pebble account and two clicks to load new software from a phone or tablet. Since the watch itself can only have up to eight apps loaded at any given time, easily managing the thousands of choices available is an important new feature. We took a long look at the store and its apps (including software from ESPN, GoPro and Foursquare) in our review of the Pebble Steel, owners should keep an eye on their mobile devices Monday for access.

President Trump early Tuesday appeared to take credit for a $9 billion investment in U.S. facilities by Ford Motor Company — an investment that was originally announced in its 2015 contract with the United Auto Workers. "Big announcement by Ford today. Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants. Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!" Trump tweeted. Big announcement by Ford today. Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants. Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017 ADVERTISEMENT The investment, which includes creating or retaining 8,500 jobs and investing in U.S. facilities through 2019, was announced in 2015, according to CNBC. Ford gave more details on its plans Tuesday, announcing that it would put $1.2 billion into three Michigan plants and would create or retain 130 jobs at one of those facilities. Top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also touted the announcement. Two weeks after @POTUS met with auto execs...Ford plans ‘significant’ investments in 3 plants https://t.co/HRjFkZx0ft via @detroitnews #jobs — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) March 28, 2017 It's not the first time the Trump administration has trumpeted previously announced job growth or investment plans as the result of the president's "buy American, hire American" push. Last week, Trump took credit for the creation of 20,000 jobs by telecom company Charter Communications, a deal that was originally made in 2015.

CAIRO — With bulldozers and dynamite, the Egyptian Army on Wednesday began demolishing hundreds of houses, displacing thousands of people, along the border with Gaza in a panicked effort to establish a buffer zone that officials hope will stop the influx of militants and weapons across the frontier. The demolitions, cutting through crowded neighborhoods in the border town of Rafah, began with orders to evacuate on Tuesday and were part of a sweeping security response by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to months of deadly militant attacks on Egyptian security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula, including the massacre of at least 31 soldiers last Friday. That assault was the deadliest on the Egyptian military in years, and a blow to the government, which has claimed to be winning the battle against insurgents. The resort to a harsh counterinsurgency tactic — destroying as many as 800 houses and displacing up to 10,000 people to eliminate “terrorist hotbeds,” as Mr. Sisi’s spokesman put it — highlighted the difficulties the military has faced in breaking the militants as well as the anger that operations like Wednesday’s inevitably arouse. “Our house in Rafah is more than 60 years old,” Hammam Alagha wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, detailing his family’s eviction in a series of widely shared posts. After an army officer told the family to evacuate — and Mr. Alagha said he refused — the officer “said tomorrow we will bomb it with everything in it.”

+1 Share 2K Shares Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the premier pediatric hospital systems in the southeastern U.S., announced Tuesday that they would be able to support a plan by State Representative Allen Peake (R-Macon) to introduce a medical marijuana bill. While not a rousing endorsement of medical marijuana, Children’s says they are in support of the bill because of the research opportunities that will come along with it. In a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Children’s said “there has not been enough evidence-based research around the use of (cannabis oil) studying its safety and tolerability in children with seizure disorders and thus should not be used generally.” However, they said they were “in support of legislation that would allow clinical research by academic institutions to further investigate this compound for the treatment of intractable seizures in children.” Rep. Peake was expected to introduce his bill today but that got postponed when snow started falling and the House of Representatives adjourned until 1:00 PM Wednesday. It is expected that Rep. Peake’s bill will place a heavy emphasis on medical marijuana in the form of CBD drops and tinctures.

With the national football team still unable to make the top 100 in the world, there appears to be a big question mark hanging over the rapid growth that the Thai Premier League has enjoyed in recent years. A strong domestic league is a foundation for a successful national team, according to one of the sport’s oldest cliches. However, that doesn’t apply to the Thai case. While the TPL, the country’s top-flight division, has continued to grow by leaps and bounds, the national team is languishing in 135th with no hope of breaking into the top 100. A quick glance at the Fifa rankings shows that Thailand have been slipping down the chart since 2009 when the TPL underwent a major overhaul that sparked an upsurge in its popularity among local fans. Figures for the Thai team’s success on the international stage over the same period make for even more unpleasant reading since the boom in domestic football coincides with the national side’s long title drought. For a country once regarded as the region’s top dog, Thailand have failed to claim a title since the revamping of the TPL, though they came close to ending the drought in December when they fell at the last hurdle in the Asean Championship, going down 2-3 on aggregate against Singapore in the final. Gone are the days when that trophy was clinched almost on a regular basis by the Thais, whose last taste of regional glory was in 2007 when they won the SEA Games for the eighth time running. It came as no surprise that they lost their status as the region’s No 1, with Vietnam sitting six ranks above them at 129th. Despite the massive growth the TPL has enjoyed of late, Thai clubs have fared little better than other teams from Asean countries in the continent’s elite club competition, the AFC Champions League. The fact that no Thai side has survived beyond the group stage since BEC Tero Sasana reached the final in 2003 makes a mockery of Thai football authorities’ claims that the TPL is among the top five on the continent. Many probably wonder why the TPL’s growth has failed to yield the outcome seen in traditional powerhouses Japan and South Korea, whose club sides have won six of the last seven Asian Champions League titles since 2006. A close look at the TPL exposes the brutal fact that, while the league has grown – especially in financial value thanks to cash flowing in – still lacking is proper management, which is the fundamental problem when it comes to league development. Appointed as head of the TPL company to organise the league in 2009 when the Thai FA implemented professional standards for domestic football along with the AFC’s “Vision Asia” strategy, Vichit Yamboonrueng reckons institutional problems remain a major issue. “There’s no doubt our league is now No 1 in Southeast Asia even though we still have far fewer spectators than Indonesia. Overall, the TPL’s image is good despite some complaints about refereeing standards. “We have started improving, which has made our league more interesting. But we still trail far behind Japan’s J-League. We’re on the right track but we still have problems in management. There’s no way we can develop if we manage things poorly. “We need to create more good things than bad. Ideally, we all want to see only the good things. If we don’t start correcting the problems we’ll never solve them. But we’re now unable to tackle problems due to a lack of resources, most of which belong to the Thai FA. “What the association needs to do is open up more competition, internally. The problem is the institution is weak and that’s why we cannot progress. Power is monopolised by a single group of people and there is vested interest inside the association,” Vichit told The Nation. Newin Chidchob, president of Buriram United, believes the league would improve if there were an overhaul of management not only of the Football Association of Thailand but also in the TPL company. “While players and football clubs have improved, management of the two organisations remains unprofessional and there is no transparency. All decisions [to manage the league] should come from club members, not from the FAT or a few people. “Thai football does not progress as it could because there are two kinds of people in the sport. One that only wants to take credit but do nothing and another that wants to seek benefits but does nothing to develop football,” he said. Pinit Ngarmpring, president of fan group Cheer Thai Power, agreed good governance was the most important thing for league management. There’s a need to restructure the TPL company to make it more transparent by welcoming outsiders to take part in management. “Many people want to invest Bt1 billion-Bt2 billion in the TPL but are not confident that their money will be safe. They think they are not part of the inner circle. Decisions often depend on only one person,” Pinit said, without mentioning a name.

Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to take the most detailed picture to date of a large, edge-on, gas-and-dust disk encircling the 20-million-year-old star Beta Pictoris. Beta Pictoris remains the only directly imaged debris disk that has a giant planet (discovered in 2009). Because the orbital period is comparatively short (estimated to be between 18 and 22 years), astronomers can see large motion in just a few years. This allows scientists to study how the Beta Pictoris disk is distorted by the presence of a massive planet embedded within the disk. The new visible-light Hubble image traces the disk in closer to the star to within about 650 million miles of the star (which is inside the radius of Saturn's orbit about the Sun). "Some computer simulations predicted a complicated structure for the inner disk due to the gravitational pull by the short-period giant planet. The new images reveal the inner disk and confirm the predicted structures. This finding validates models, which will help us to deduce the presence of other exoplanets in other disks," said Daniel Apai of the University of Arizona. The gas-giant planet in the Beta Pictoris system was directly imaged in infrared light by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope six years ago. When comparing the latest Hubble images to Hubble images taken in 1997, astronomers find that the disk's dust distribution has barely changed over 15 years despite the fact that the entire structure is orbiting the star like a carousel. This means the disk's structure is smoothly continuous in the direction of its rotation on the timescale, roughly, of the accompanying planet's orbital period. In 1984 Beta Pictoris was the very first star discovered to host a bright disk of light-scattering circumstellar dust and debris. Ever since then Beta Pictoris has been an object of intensive scrutiny with Hubble and with ground-based telescopes. Hubble spectroscopic observations in 1991 found evidence for extrasolar comets frequently falling into the star. The disk is easily seen because it is tilted edge-on and is especially bright due to a very large amount of starlight-scattering dust. What's more, Beta Pictoris is closer to Earth (63 light-years) than most of the other known disk systems. Though nearly all of the approximately two-dozen known light-scattering circumstellar disks have been viewed by Hubble to date, Beta Pictoris is the first and best example of what a young planetary system looks like, say researchers. One thing astronomers have recently learned about circumstellar debris disks is that their structure, and amount of dust, is incredibly diverse and may be related to the locations and masses of planets in those systems. "The Beta Pictoris disk is the prototype for circumstellar debris systems, but it may not be a good archetype," said co-author Glenn Schneider of the University of Arizona. For one thing the Beta Pictoris disk is exceptionally dusty. This may be due to recent major collisions among unseen planetary-sized and asteroid-sized bodies embedded within it. In particular, a bright lobe of dust and gas on the southwestern side of the disk may be the result of the pulverization of a Mars-sized body in a giant collision. Both the 1997 and 2012 images were taken in visible light with Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph in its coronagraphic imaging mode. A coronagraph blocks out the glare of the central star so that the disk can be seen.

Windows startup sounds have been ubiquitous fixtures for PC users for over 20 years. Less known are the musical minds that composed these sound snippets—and they are some famous ones at that. Let’s have a look at the notable stories behind several Windows startup themes. Windows 95 / Brian Eno: In 1994, Microsoft needed something less obnoxious than the much-maligned Windows 3.1 TA-DA! for introducing its new operating system. The company approached legendary ambient artist and rock producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, Coldplay) to compose the start-up ditty for Windows 95. Eno obliged the job despite his stated preference for using Macintosh computers. “I’ve never used a PC in my life; I don’t like them,” Eno said in an interview with John Lloyd and Sean Lock on the BBC’s ‘The Museum of Curiosity’ in 2009. Eno was handed a long list of Microsoft-like adjectives for basing the composition—words like “inspiring, universal, optimistic, futuristic”—and it was to be no longer than four seconds. From Eno’s own account, he likened the task to “making a tiny little jewel” and that it helped him break out of the artistic rut he was in at the time. Later that year, his collaboration with Luciano Pavarotti, “Miss Sarajevo,” charted in the UK Top 10. Windows Vista / Robert Fripp: I find it ironic that Microsoft tapped virtuoso guitarist Robert Fripp to compose a four-second startup theme. Fripp’s band, King Crimson, was famous for penning 20-minute progressive rock epics in the late-‘60s and ‘70s. The Vista startup sound, as well as 45 other sounds coded into the operating system, were taken from recording session Fripp conducted at the company’s Redmond headquarters. It featured the guitarist tracking a soundscape of ambient loops and volume swells on his Les Paul. He was joined by TV and film music composer Tucker Martine and Microsoft engineer and musician Steve Ball who also contributed sounds and editing. The final production has a deliberate “Win-dows Vis-ta” rhythmic progression, with four chords representing the four squares and colors in the Windows logo. Apparently, Microsoft thought it fit “Win-dows Sev-en” as well—the company reused the Fripp startup for its next operating system. Other startup sound notables: Microsoft staffer Ken Kato composed the Windows 98 theme. He went on to work with 343 Industries studio that enlisted Massive Attack’s Neil Davidge for the awesome Halo 4 soundtrack. The Windows XP chime came about from a collaborative effort between composer Bill Brown and Emmy-award winning sound designer Tom Ozanich, whose credits include American Sniper and Kill Bill. In my opinion, the best Windows startup sound of the bunch is Windows NT with its alien mothership vibe. Its unnamed composer remains a mystery.