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Suniva has the same reasons to flee the U.S. as Evergreen, like higher labor costs at home and unpredictable subsidies (the manufacturing credit for solar was not renewed this year, Ashley said). But it benefits from an intimate relationship with a research university center supported by the Department of Energy. Not every company is so lucky.
"A lot of the work [the center] has done for other companies left our shores from a manufacturing perspective," Ashley acknowledges. "[The U.S.] is great at research and innovation, but we seriously lack the policies in financing to help scale a new industry very quickly."
Suniva exports 80 percent of its production. The White House or Ex-Im Bank would hold this up as thrilling evidence of a globally competitive company. Ashley would add that it also shows a depressing lack of U.S. demand for solar.
"More people would manufacture [solar products] here if demand was here," Ashley says. "We need a renewable energy standard to create a market in the United States. If demand is overseas, then I'll move factories to other parts of the world. That's just good business."
There's more the government can do. First, Ashley asked for an extended manufacturing tax credit for solar ("People talk about support for solar being crony capitalism but 10-times more money goes into fossil fuels"). Second, he called for a national "green bank" to provide quick financing for new companies' proven breakthroughs in clean tech. "We don't have the policies or incentives to help manufacturers scale up," he says. "That's why we've lost manufacturing to the rest of the world." Third, he asked for corporate tax reform to encourage established firms to do business at home.
***
Suniva is a beacon and a warning sign. The company's rapid growth demonstrates that the U.S. can compete in green technology. But not every company can bank on a DOE-funded university research incubator that churns out patents. If this is what it takes to be competitive in solar, then the U.S. government either has to get really serious really fast about ramping up its attention to green energy, or else we need to accept that other countries are going to continue to lead in building the foundation for the clean tech revolution, if and when it comes.
Source: Wikipedia |
Human Capital Theory and Research Productivity A number of studies have successfully applied this human capital model to the research productivity of university faculty. Young faculty members often face intense pressure to publish but, as promotions are gained and years progress, research output often falls. McDowell (1982) finds humped-shaped relationships between age and research output for a sample of faculty members in a cross-section of disciplines. Diamond (1986) and Levin and Stephan (1991) find similar relations for mathematicians and scientists, and Goodwin and Sauer (1995) find the same for a sample of academic economists. Webber (2012) finds that the of years since terminal degree to have negative effect on publication, and Tien and Blackburn (1996) find that publication rates tend to rise as professors approach promotion and fall after promotion. Other authors report similar declines in research productivity in later life (Galenson and Weinberg 2000; Jones 2010; Jones and Weinberg 2011; Oster and Hamermesh 1998; Stroebe 2010). Stroebe (2010) notes several additional factors that might account for the apparent drop in output at later ages. For example, universities might reallocate resources away from older faculty members and toward younger researchers that they hope to attract and encourage. Also, if mandatory retirement looms in the near future, older faculty members might be less motivated to keep current and continue to produce as effectively. Finally, because older faculty members are likely to have the security of academic tenure, they might be more inclined to shirk and relax. Studies also find differences across disciplines and across genders. For example, the rate at which prior knowledge becomes obsolete probably varies by field. According to McDowell (1982) the rate of “literature decay” in hard sciences such as physics and chemistry is significantly higher than that in humanities such as history and English. He also argues that because women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers for reasons such as child care, they tend to gravitate to fields in which knowledge is more durable. If so, women might suffer less than men from declining productivity as they age.
Age and Teaching Effectiveness Although fewer researchers have studied the effect of age on productivity inside the classroom, human capital theory would predict a similar hump-shaped, non-linear relationship. As younger teachers gain experience their classroom performance should improve, but other factors should eventually push in the opposite direction. For example, the teaching prowess of older faculty members might suffer from an inability to stay current in their fields, or they might be allocating relatively more time to administrative rather than classroom pursuits (McPherson et al. 2009). Also, students might find it easier to connect with faculty members closer to their own age. Complaints by older faculty members about not understanding the younger generation certainly ripple through the halls of academia with some frequency. However, measuring the relationship between age and teaching productivity is challenging. The quantity and quality of research outputs can be measured with some objectivity, but defining, much less measuring, the effectiveness of classroom instruction surely ranks among the more controversial issues in education. Most researchers employ various measures of value-added, typically changes in student test scores, but others quarrel with this approach. For example, Corcoran (2010) argues that value-added measures can be biased by a variety of random factors such as family events, student health, the presence of disruptive classmates and even the effect of what students learn in other classes. Baker et al. (2010) find that teacher rankings based on value-added measures can fluctuate wildly from year to year. Since true teacher quality is unlikely to vary significantly from year, these measures probably are biased and unreliable indicators of classroom effectiveness. Rothstein (2015) adds that value-added measures across different tests in the same discipline correlation are only weakly correlated and that the correlation between changes in test scores and other types of performance measures is weaker still. He also contends that teachers can impact value-added measures by teaching to the test and that these measures ignore important non-cognitive skills. On the other hand, recent studies by Chetty et al. (2014a, b) find that such biases are small and that value-added measures correlate well with long-run student success. We do have extensive datasets that allow us to trace and analyze value-added measures through time for elementary and secondary school children and, when included in research studies, teacher experience almost always turns out to be a significant determinant of student achievement (Harris 2009). As predicted by human capital theory, productivity gains seem especially strong in the first few years of a teacher’s career (Clotfelter et al. 2007; Jackson and Bruegmann 2009; Rockoff 2004), but recent studies by Ost (2014), Papay and Kraft (2012), and Wiswall (2013) conclude that teachers continue becoming more productive for a larger number of years. Thus, to the extent that age correlates with experience, K-12 teaching effectiveness does seem to increase with instructor age for at least some period of time. The link between age and teaching effectiveness in higher education has proven to be more problematic. Judging the effectiveness of classroom instruction is quite difficult and the kinds of longitudinal data on test scores used in K-12 studies rarely exist for university-level students. Though quite controversial and subject to potential bias from a variety of factors, most schools rely on student evaluations of teaching (SET) as a primary measure of teaching quality (Denson et al. 2010). However, despite an enormous literature on the subject, the evidence supporting their use is mixed. For example, in his meta-analysis, Clayson (2009) finds a positive, albeit weak, correlation between SETs and various objective measures of value added across different sections of a course but finds no significant relationship for students within a section. In other words, students in sections taught by highly rated instructors do seem to learn more, but those students showing the largest gains in knowledge do not rate their instructors any better than do other students in the same class with smaller knowledge gains. Carrell and West (2010) find that SETs for a sample of instructors at the U.S. Air Force Academy are positively related to contemporaneous student learning, but were negatively related to student achievement in subsequent courses. Galbraith et al. (2012) identify a variety of methodological problems that might bias prior analyses and, using a large sample of business courses, find no significant relationships between SETs and achievement of student learning outcomes. They conclude that there is little reason to believe that SETs serve as a valid indicator of teaching effectiveness. But many other researchers do find positive and significant correlations between SETs and indicators of student learning (Beleche et al. 2012; Centra 1993; Davis 2009; Marsh 1984; Marsh and Roche 1997). Studying a sample of medical students, Stehle et al. (2012) find that SETs have a strong positive correlation with results on a practical examination, even though they were unrelated to scores on a multiple-choice test. Davis (2009) concludes that “students of highly rated teachers achieve higher final exam scores, can better apply course material, and are more inclined to pursue the subject subsequently” (p. 534) and Benton and Cashin (2014) write that “In general, student ratings tend to be statistically reliable, valid, and relatively free from bias or the need for control, perhaps more so than any other data used for faculty evaluation” (p. 12). Other studies have identified additional factors that impact SETs and several (Kinney and Smith 1992; McPherson et al. 2009; Wiswall 2013) have modelled SETs as a function of various instructor and course characteristics. Failure to control for these characteristics might create bias and probably accounts for some of disparate results found in the literature. For example, in addition to age, SETs might be impacted by an instructor’s gender and physical appearance. While there is some agreement that both male and female students tend to give higher ratings to instructors of their same gender (Centra and Gaubatz 2000), the overall effects are not clear. Some early research with high school teachers showed a slight bias for males to receive higher ratings (Bernard et al. 1981), but more recent studies find slightly higher ratings for females (Feldman 1993; Whitworth et al. 2002) or no significant difference at all (Feldman 1992). However McPherson et al. (2009) conclude that male instructors in their sample of economics instructors received higher ratings than females, For better or worse, physical beauty might also matter. According to Hamermesh and Biddle (1994) workers rated as striking or above average in attractiveness earn a wage premium of about 15 % over those rated as below average or homely. Beauty apparently impacts SETs as well. O’Reilly (1987) found that the physical attractiveness of dental school instructors affected student opinions of their teaching effectiveness. Professors at the University of Texas judged as better looking by students also earned stronger evaluations (Hamermesh and Parker 2005). Perhaps surprisingly, beauty had more of an impact on the ratings of male professors than females. Younger students also seem to prefer attractive instructors as even elementary school children tend to rate good-looking teachers more highly (Goebel and Cashen 1979). Feeley (2002) argues that this phenomenon results from a “halo effect” in which the beauty of the instructor creates a halo whose aura spreads to impact student perceptions of other, non-related characteristics. Course characteristics also impact SETs. Other researchers have found that variables such as class size (Green et al. 2012; Hamilton 1980; McPherson et al. 2009), course level (Braskamp and Ory 1994; Feldman 1978), and whether or not the course was an elective (Feldman 1978; McPherson et al. 2009) affect SETs. In addition, numerous authors have studied the relationship between SETs and course difficulty and expected grades. Bowling (2008) finds that SETs are contaminated by differences in course difficulty and that students give higher ratings to instructors in courses they consider to be easy. Moreover, the positive effect of easiness ratings on course evaluations is stronger in public schools with low academic rankings than in more highly ranked private institutions. Though not all studies agree (Centra 2003), many analyses also conclude that higher expected grades correlate with higher SETs (Blackhart et al. 2006; Braskamp and Ory 1994; Krautmann and Sander 1999; Langbein 2008; McPherson et al. 2009). To the extent that students expecting high grades are those who have learned more and rate their instructors highly as a result, SETs can be a valid indicator of teaching effectiveness. However, the more common interpretation is that instructors are able to buy better evaluations by awarding higher-than-deserved grades. In this interpretation, SETs are a biased indicator of teaching quality. Thousands of articles have been published on the validity of using SETs as a measure of teaching effectiveness, and a comprehensive review of these is beyond the scope of this paper. Many different views can be supported by at least one study. Nonetheless, many studies do conclude that SETs can be valid indicators of teaching effectiveness, at least when controlled for appropriate instructor and course characteristics. Moreover, the ubiquitous use of SETs in promotion and tenure decisions is evidence that administrators believe them to be a primary indicator of classroom performance. Indeed, one recent survey found that department chairs weighed SETs more heavily than any other factor in their overall evaluations of a faculty member’s teaching effectiveness (Becker et al. 2012).
Age and SETs Some studies using SETs as an indicator of teaching quality do find them to be negatively related to instructor age (Meshkani and Hossein 2003; Wachtel 1998), but the literature shows no consistent relationships (Blackburn and Lawrence 1986). Ragan and Walia (2010) find that new instructors get lower ratings, but that this disadvantage changes in a relatively few years. Hamermesh and Parker (2005) find no effect of instructor age in their sample of faculty members, nor do Mardikyan and Badur (2011). Spooren (2010) finds that age has a negative but non-significant effect on SET scores in his sample. The effect of age could be confounded with that of experience but, after adjusting for the positive impact of experience, McPherson et al. (2009) still find that age has a negative effect. They conclude that experience raises effectiveness, but older instructors with 20 years of experience do not fare as well as younger ones with 20 years of experience. In perhaps the most extensive study of age and teaching performance in higher education, Kinney and Smith (1992) find non-linear effects of age on SETs that vary across different academic areas. In their sample, SETs for faculty in the humanities tend to fall for faculty up to about age 50 and then increase slightly. They speculate that these departments might place more relative value on teaching effectiveness that, in turn, encourages faculty to continue honing skills through their later years. They claim also that older professors in these fields might start to become more concerned with the intellectual growth of their students relative to their own. On the other hand, they find that evaluations in the sciences rise until faculty age reached the mid-40 s and then decline continually after that. Their results are statistically significant, but the quantitative effects are small. These studies are suggestive but, because it is extremely difficult to obtain or compare faculty evaluation data from multiple schools, they rely on samples from a single university or, in some cases, a single department within that university. More importantly for our purposes, none used samples containing large numbers of faculty past the age of 64.
Rate My Professors Popular websites such as RateMyProfessors.com (RMP) publish student ratings for a broad and diverse sample of college and university instructors. The RMP site allows students to rate professors on three criteria: helpfulness, clarity, and easiness. The site also publishes an overall quality rating that is the simple average of the ratings for helpfulness and clarity. The site imposes almost no restrictions on who participates and, as Davison and Price (2009) report, fraudulent ratings are an issue. Students can log onto RMP under fake names and rate faculty members multiple times, and faculty members can enter the site and rate themselves or their colleagues as well. Moreover, since students with strong opinions about an instructor probably are more likely to take the initiative to log on and provide ratings, the sample of students rating a particular instructor could be unrepresentative of the population. Nonetheless, a growing body of evidence suggests that RMP ratings closely mirror those of university-run evaluations. Kindred and Mohammed (2005) conclude that student postings on the RMP website accurately reflect the opinions of students interviewed in focus groups about the quality of teaching delivered by their professors. Looking at a sample of 426 instructors at the University of Maine, Coladarci and Kornfield (2007) find a strong positive correlation between RMP ratings and those for corresponding questions on the university-administered evaluations and, based on their work with Brooklyn College faculty evaluations, Brown et al. (2009) conclude that RMP ratings are strong predictors of instructor SET ratings. Timmerman (2008) reports that overall quality ratings on RMP correlate highly with the summary ratings for evaluations in a sample of five different universities and, according to Otto et al. (2008), RMP ratings are consistent with “what would be expected if the ratings were valid measures of student learning” (p. 364). Despite their potential defects, RMP ratings apparently do closely track the SETs that, for better or worse, are commonly used to measure teaching effectiveness. |
Scatec Solar ASA, an integrated independent solar power producer, has entered into financing agreements totalling USD 157 million for construction of a 104 MW(dc) Red Hills solar power plant in Utah. When complete, the Red Hills solar project will be Scatec Solar’s largest developed and constructed project in North America.
Total investment for the plant is estimated at USD 188 million—with Google providing tax equity, Prudential Capital Group providing debt financing, and Scatec Solar providing sponsor equity. The power plant will be wholly-owned by a partnership jointly owned by Google and Scatec Solar, which structured and executed the financing for the project. Scatec Solar will manage and operate the plant when it goes into operation.
Google has signed agreements to fund over $1.5 billion in renewable energy investments across three continents with a total planned capacity of more than 2.5 GW (gigawatts).This agreement represents the 18th renewable energy investment project for Google and supports its continued push towards a clean, low carbon energy future.
Prudential Capital Group, a Prudential Financial asset management business, provided term financing for the project.
The Utah Red Hills Renewable Energy Park, set to be built on a site with excellent solar irradiation, will generate around 210 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year, which will be fed into the grid under a twenty-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power, according to the utility’s obligation under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. When operational by the end of 2015, the plant will be Utah’s largest solar energy generation facility, generating enough energy to power approximately 18,500 homes annually. Based on US Environmental Protection Agency estimates, it will produce enough renewable power to prevent nearly 145 thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually—the equivalent to not burning 156 million pounds of coal each year.
The ground-mounted photovoltaic solar facility is being developed on approximately 650 acres of privately-owned land in Parowan, Utah, will deploy approximately 325,000 PV modules on a single-axis tracking system and will interconnect to an existing transmission line.
Scatec Solar is an integrated independent power producer, aiming to make solar a sustainable and affordable source of energy worldwide. Scatec Solar develops, builds, owns and operates solar power plants, and will in 2014 deliver power from 220 MW in the Czech Republic, South Africa and Rwanda. The company is in strong growth and has a solid pipeline of projects under development in Africa, US, Asia, Middle East and Europe. Scatec Solar is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘SSO’. |
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Researchers investigated how quickly 32 different kinds of animals urinate—and big or small, it’s remarkably the same.
Even though an elephant’s bladder is 3,600 times larger than a cat’s—just under five gallons vs. about one teaspoon—both animals relieve themselves in about 20 seconds.
In fact, all animals that weigh more than 6.6 pounds urinate in that same time span.
“It’s possible because larger animals have longer urethras,” says study leader David Hu, an assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).
[related]
“The weight of the fluid in the urethra is pushing the fluid out. And because the urethra is long, flow rate is increased.”
For example, an elephant’s urethra is just over a yard long. The pressure of fluid in it is the same at the bottom of a swimming pool three feet deep. An elephant urinates about 13 feet per second, or the same volume per second as five showerheads.
“If its urethra were shorter, the elephant would urinate for a longer time and be more susceptible to predators,” Hu explains.
The findings conflict with studies that indicate urinary flow is controlled by bladder pressure generated by muscular contraction. The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Hu and graduate student Patricia Yang noticed that gravity allows larger animals to empty their bladders in jets or sheets of urine. Gravity’s effect on small animals is minimal.
“They urinate in small drops because of high viscous and capillary forces. It’s like peeing in space,” says Yang, a PhD student in the George Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “Mice and rats go in less than two seconds. Bats are done in a fraction of a second.”
Using gravity
The research team went to a zoo to watch 16 animals relieve themselves, then watched 28 YouTube videos. They saw cows, horses, dogs, and more.
The more they watched, the more they realized their findings could help engineers.
“It turns out that you don’t need external pressure to get rid of fluids quickly,” says Hu. “Nature has designed a way to use gravity instead of wasting the animal’s energy.”
Hu envisions systems for water tanks, backpacks, and fire hoses that can be built for more efficiency. As an example, he and his students have created a demonstration that empties a teacup, quart, and gallon of water in the same duration using varying lengths of connected tubes.
In a second experiment, the team fills three cups with the same amount of water, then watches them empty at differing rates. The longer the tube, the faster it empties.
“Nature has shown us that no matter how big the fire truck, water can still come out in the same time as a tiny truck,” Hu adds.
Source: Georgia Tech |
Kenya's electoral commission says it has moved the date of the country's repeat presidential elections to October 26.
The commission said in a statement on Thursday that plans to hold the vote on October 17 had to be scrapped because it needs more time to meet the requirements set by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
In its ruling, the court said the electoral commission had failed to properly verify the result of the August 8 vote that declared President Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner but was later invalidated.
It also said the electoral commission had not given the court access to its computer servers to disprove the charge by veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga that hackers infiltrated the commission's system and altered the results.
"There is no doubt that the judgement impacts on the election operations and in particular technology to be deployed," the commission said in its statement announcing the new date for the elections.
"In order to ensure that the Commission is fully prepared to deliver an election that meets the standards set out by the Supreme Court, we wish to notify the public and all stakeholders that the fresh presidential election shall now be held on Thursday, 26th October 2017," it added.
OPINION: Can Kenya pull off a second election within 60 days?
Kenyatta on Thursday denounced the nullification of his re-election as a blow to the democratic ideals Kenyans fought for, calling it "a judicial coup".
But in an interview with Al Jazeera, Odinga said that the Supreme Court was right to void the result.
"I know that I did not lose the election and the results were just manipulated," he said on Thursday.
"This is what we call injustice, and the court did the right thing after examining the evidence we placed before it." |
Jordanian police beat protesters during a demonstration in Amman on July 15, 2011[AFP]
The Jordan Press Association says it plans to sue the police department after 15 journalists, including Al Jazeera's senior journalist in the country, were beaten up as they covered a demonstration on Friday in Amman.
The announcement comes one day after four policemen suspected of attacking the journalists were arrested.
"The union will file individual and collective lawsuits against the public security department," Tareq Momani, the JPA president, said on Sunday at a sit-in outside the association.
At least 17 people, including journalists and policemen, were injured on Friday when police tried to stop clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and government supporters in central Amman.
Yasser Abu Hilala, Al Jazeera's Amman bureau chief, said he was among those targeted by police.
"I was attacked as I was doing my job with other journalists," Abu Hilala said. "Several policemen and thugs tried to pull the cord of the camera and as I tried to stop them they started to punch and kick me."
"Al Jazeera has been singled out from the rest of the media outlets because they see [Al Jazeera] as instigators who highlighted what happened on [Friday 15 in Nakheel Square] ... This kind of brutality against media is unheard of in Jordanian history."
Abu Hilala said four of the injured journalists were still in the hospital and that unofficial pro-government websites had been calling for people to attack and kill him.
'Especially shocking'
Police used batons to break up Friday's clashes outside city hall, assaulting journalists wearing orange vests marked "Press".
"I apologise to journalists for agreeing with the police department to make them wear the vests. This was apparently nothing more than a trap," Momani said.
"The attack on the journalists reflects an alarming hostility by the security forces towards the media," Lamis Andoni, a political commentator, told Al Jazeera. "It is especially shocking because the head of the public security had given gurantees that journalists would be protected by the police."
"So far, people have been demanding reforms but such actions by security forces will only provoke more popular anger and more radical demands," she said.
A statement from the criminal investigation department said "[Chief] General Hussein Majali has formed a committee of inquiry into the attacks on the journalists who were simply doing their jobs".
The results of the probe were to be announced within 72 hours, it said, vowing to "refer to courts those who have a case to answer".
"These police measures are not enough. There are dozens of policemen who should be held accountable," Momani said.
MPs and Islamist leaders took part in Sunday's sit-in, and, during a parliamentary session, issued a statement condemning attacks on freedom of speech and expression, Al Jazeera's Nisreen El Shamayleh, reporting from Amman, said.
The statement stressed that parliament would not tolerate attacks on journalists, and said everyone linked to the violence must be held accountable.
"I salute the journalists. What happened will not silence calls for reform," Hamzah Mansur, head of the opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF), said.
"I congratulate our journalists who insist on reporting the truth about our people's grand aspirations."
Anger at the PM
Protesters are demanding that Maaruf Bakhit, the Jordanian prime minister, face trial over the incident.
About 400 people demonstrated outside his office on Saturday, condemning Friday's violence and demanding the resignation of his government and his trial.
"Freedom, freedom! No to martial laws. We say to the intelligence services that Jordanians are still alive," they chanted amid a heavy security presence.
The protesters carried banners reading: "The people want the downfall of the government. We want to put Bakhit and the attackers of demonstrators on trial."
Since January, Jordan has faced a protest movement demanding political and economic reforms and an end to corruption. |
By Tae Hong
If there’s one thing Justin Chon loves, it’s movies.
For a second-generation Korean American kid growing up in a predominantly white Orange County neighborhood, movies — movies about cartoon rabbits, about Spanish treasure maps, about Neverland and about time-travelling cars — were the shaping blocks of childhood, of dreams.
And if he was sitting in theater seats all those years ago, it’s on the big screen that he now finds himself. Best known for big-name projects like “Twilight” and “21 & Over,” the 33-year-old actor most recently led an ensemble cast in Director Benson Lee’s “Seoul Searching.”
The indie effort, which follows a camp that gathers an eccentric group of Korean American kids in the 1980s in what critics have called “Bibimbap Breakfast Club,” premiered at Sundance Film Festival last month.
Chon, who had known Lee before the film through another project, plays Sid Park, a teen rebel based on Lee’s own experience visiting South Korea as a teenager.
Filming took Chon to the homeland, from which his parents hail and where his father was an actor.
“I like to do movies I care about. It’s not just about commerce,” Chon said. “That’s why I took the role on ‘Seoul Searching.’ I didn’t get rich off of it, I don’t think I’m going to get famous off of it, but I really respect Benson’s work, and I really love the script. As a Korean, and specifically as a Korean American, I thought it was important.”
The Korean cast, comprised of actors from Germany and Spain as well as J-pop star Crystal Kay, filmed for two months in both the Korean countryside and in Seoul.
He fell in love with both the food (“Korean-style fried chicken, Korean beef, insane dry-aged KBBQ.”) and with the cast, which also included veteran Korean actor Cha In-pyo.
“He’s so gracious, such a great person. Great humanitarian. He’s a stand-up guy. I learned a lot from him, not just about acting, but also about life,” Chon said.
The film deals with adoption, the after-effects of the Korean War and each of the kids’ Korean American experience.
“Especially in my own storyline with a Korean dad, it’s very much an issue that all Korean guys grow up with — miscommunication, identity issues, cultures clashing,” Chon said.
His own Korean American experience was a meeting of two worlds, a jam session of H.O.T and Tupac, of Death Row artists and Seo Taiji, of Korean film classic “Friend” and American film classic “Back to the Future.”
A Silicon Valley internship the summer he was 18 years old was enough to convince him that business was not his forte. He turned to acting.
“I didn’t think I would make anything doing it,” he said.
It’s been a 13-year journey through Hollywood since his first acting class, when he was asked to improvise a scene in which his grandmother was dying.
He remembers breaking down and crying, his back to the class, as he tried his hardest to suppress his emotions.
“As I turned, everyone started clapping and cheering. I think it was the first time in my life where I was applauded for being truthful with what I was feeling. No mask, just raw,” he said. “People find that beautiful, and that’s what acting is. It’s shedding light on the human condition. That was the most cathartic thing I had experienced. So I said, let’s do this.”
His end goal isn’t fame. It’s experience he’s after, whether it be a chance to film in places like New Zealand or Russia or taking up roles outside of acting.
Chon recently tried out the director’s chair for a low-budget film called “Man Up,” which he also wrote and produced. He called it the hardest job of his life.
An indie comedy about a teenage slacker who “mans up” after he accidentally gets his Mormon girlfriend pregnant, the film will be featured in upcoming film festivals, including CAAMFest in San Francisco.
It’s a part of a content-creating process he looks to continue, even as he sifts through project offers and a role on the Yahoo series “Sin City Saints.”
“[Films] are the things that shaped my childhood,” he said. “And to be even just a little iota, a little part of that? It’s a total honor. To be able to have that privilege — that’s amazing.” |
A New York Times article Wednesday charged that Energy Secretary-designate Rick Perry didn't comprehend the function of the Department of Energy when he accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer to lead the department.
The article was immediately popular among some media figures and many Democrats who saw it as evidence of the former Texas Republican governor's lack of qualifications for the position and Trump's poor administrative decisions. It was shared and retweeted thousands of times on social media:
However, other observers began questioning the accuracy of the report, noting a lack of evidence to support the conclusions. Sean Davis of The Federalist remarked, "The lede on this garbage story is the epitome of fake news. NYT does not have a shred of evidence to support it."
The article is based largely on a quote from a former member of the Trump transition team. The fourth paragraph of the Times story states:
“If you asked him on that first day he said yes, he would have said, ‘I want to be an advocate for energy,’” said Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who advised Mr. Perry’s 2016 presidential campaign and worked on the Trump transition’s Energy Department team in its early days. “If you asked him now, he’d say, ‘I’m serious about the challenges facing the nuclear complex.’ It’s been a learning curve.”
When the Daily Caller tried to get clarification from McKenna, he said the Times mischaracterized his statement:
McKenna, though, told TheDC that the “headline” and lede of the story “don’t really reflect what I said.” He added that “of course” Perry understood the role of the Department of Energy when he was offered the job. Two-thirds of the DOE’s budget is devoted to maintaining the nation’s nuclear stockpiles. The nation’s primary site for the assembly and disassembly of nuclear weapons is located in Amarillo, Texas, a state Perry was governor of for 15 years.
Perry is set to defend his qualifications at his confirmation hearing Thursday. The Times has not issued a correction or clarification and did not respond immediately to the Daily Caller's emails. |
By Roger D. White; Bruce W. Goodman; Mary A. Svoboda
Mayo Clinic Proceedings
A 54-year-old man with no known cardiac disease collapsed outdoors in a small rural community. The cardiac arrest was witnessed, and immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation was begun by a bystander and a trained first responder who was nearby. The patient was moved into a building across the street for continued resuscitation. First responders arrived with an automated external defibrillator, and ventricular fibrillation was documented. First responders delivered 6 defibrillation shocks, 4 of which transiently restored an organized electrocardiographic rhythm but with no pulse at any time.
Additional emergency medical services personnel from nearby communities and an advanced life support (ALS) flight crew arrived. The flight crew initiated ALS care. The trachea was intubated, ventilation controlled, and end-tidal carbon dioxide tension continuously monitored. Antiarrhythmic and inotropic drugs were administered intravenously. An additional 6 shocks were delivered using the ALS defibrillator. End-tidal carbon dioxide measurements confirmed good pulmonary blood flow with chest compressions, and resuscitation was continued until a stable cardiac rhythm was restored after 96 minutes of pulselessness. The patient was transported by helicopter to the hospital. He was in cardiogenic shock but maintained a spontaneous circulation. Coronary angiography confirmed a left anterior descending coronary artery thrombotic occlusion that was treated successfully. After hospital admission, the patient required circulatory and ventilatory support and hemodialysis for acute renal failure. He experienced a complete neurologic recovery to his pre-cardlac arrest state. To our knowledge, this is the longest duration of pulselessness in an outof-hospital arrest with a good outcome. Good pulmonary blood flow was documented throughout by end-tidal carbon dioxide measurements. |
The Chinese government is complaining about Trump’s aggressive stance on North Korea, but its implementation of U.S.-drafted sanctions Monday suggests it is in fact going along with the U.S. effort.
The Trump administration secured a major victory this month when China declined to use its veto at the U.N. Security Council and voted for strict sanctions against North Korea’s exports—after it had voiced opposition to using sanctions. The sanctions will slash a third of North Korea’s $3 billion exports.
Before the vote, China had indicated they would not support sanctions. U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said that China did not support an “economic blockade,” and scolded the U.S. for being one of two parties that “refuse to move towards what is required by Security Council resolutions.” Days later, China voted for the U.S.-drafted resolution.
But in an apparent toughening of their stance, President Xi Jinping warned Trump over the weekend to exercise “restraint” over his language in relation to North Korea.
“At present, relevant parties should exercise restraint and avoid words and actions that would escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Xi said, according to the statement provided by China’s government.
However, despite the warning and amid concerns that China would approve the North Korea resolution but not actually follow through with it, China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday announced that China would ban imports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead ore, lead and seafood from North Korea—fulfilling China’s implementation of one of the key pillars of the U.N. resolution.
Even with that, the Chinese seemed reluctant, with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi telling Xinhua state news agency, “Given China’s traditional economic links with the DPRK, it is China that will mainly pay the price for the implementation of (the sanctions).”
Meanwhile, the state-controlled Global Times published a furious op-ed criticizing Trump on both North Korea and his reported decision to push for an investigation of China’s trade practices. The op-ed urged China to “turn its passivity around”:
The US frequently sends warships to patrol the South China Sea, and now it’s ramping up trade pressure on China. China should turn its passivity around. China will not act as an aggressive provocateur, but we should make Washington realize that China is not the one to be messed around with.
However, there was no sign of such a turning around from Beijing as it enforced the sanctions well within the 30-day limit set by the U.S.-drafted resolution.
Trump has taken an unusually hard line on China and had been outspoken in his disappointment that China had not worked with the U.S. to clamp down on North Korea.
The communist country’s recent backing down on North Korea may have something to do with Trump’s connecting of trade with the crisis in North Korea.
The Global Times blasted Trump for doing exactly that, calling the linking of the two “illogical.”
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY |
“Modern collectives are confronted with the challenge of creating spatial conditions that enable…the concentration of isolated entities into collective ensembles of cooperation and contemplation. This calls for a new commitment on the part of architecture.” Peter Sloterdijk, “Foam City.” 1
This photo essay is about Foamspace, a temporary and mobile installation built for the 2015 IDEAS City Festival, called The Invisible City, hosted by the New Museum for Contemporary Art, the Storefront for Art and Architecture and the New York City Department of Transportation.
Foamspace speculates on the relationship between decentralized infrastructure and the production of the built environment. The installation consisted entirely of a chain of factory-standard Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geofoam blocks, serving as a visual metaphor for the Bitcoin blockchain: a decentralized and cryptographic public ledger that allows for peer-to-peer monetary settlements without a third party. Echoing philosopher Peter Sloterdijk’s call for architecture to create spatial conditions that enable collective ensembles, this installation offered festival visitors Foamspace Coins—a token of membership for the forming community that could exist on the Bitcoin blockchain as an asset.
Foamspace captured and stored value generated during the festival to organize a new community of architects and mobilize this value on another site—producing the next iteration of the project, as well as a symposium and partner event at the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial. Mobility, in this case, defined not by any particular architectural form, but by the activity it generated.
EPS Geofoam is an omnipresent yet invisible material in our everyday lives—buried beneath the surface of an increasing number of urban projects around the world, from railway and road embankments to retaining walls and amphitheater seating. Weighing approximately one percent of the weight of soil, Geofoam is typically used as a lightweight fill material. In New York, for example, it can be found beneath 1 World Trade Center, Citi Field, Chelsea Pier Park and the New Jersey Turnpike. It makes up the entire foundation of Millennium Park in Chicago.
The Foamspace installation was composed of one hundred Geofoam blocks kept at the product’s standard size: 37” x 49.5” x 97.5.” Because the material was unaltered, it could be sold back to the supplier on the secondary-use market—the unaltered “building block” emphasizing the free circulation of physical matter on the emerging market for reused materials. Building on the 2013 IDEAS City Festival theme, “Untapped Capital,” proceeds were funneled back into Foamspace to fund a future project.
First introduced by the cryptographic digital currency Bitcoin, the blockchain records all activity on the network in chronological order on a public ledger.. In other words, as a peer-to-peer time stamping technology, it enables cryptocurrency to offer a decentralized and mobile means to track, store and distribute information about economic value and exchange on the Bitcoin network. All transactions on the blockchain are published by and processed through a decentralized network of “miners,” who are in turn rewarded for maintaining the network through their computing power.
Spatial and financial tools can be designed to connect to the Bitcoin blockchain. Any organization can issue their own currency and assets, as well as distribute equity and share profits globally to a mobilized and decentralized community.
Before the installation of Foamspace, a free digital “wallet” was created. Anyone could sign up for this wallet in order to obtain a unique address and receive a Foamspace Coin, which could then be traded and tracked on the Bitcoin blockchain—serving as a token of membership in the virtual community.
Because the blockchain is public, one is able to see the number of coins created, the order in which they were distributed and the amount held by each address. A project wallet was created to hold the most coins and was scripted to automatically send a single Foamspace Coin over the blockchain to new users. The wallet was also scripted to send a small amount of bitcoin to each user without their knowledge in order to cover future transaction fees without requiring users to have or understand Bitcoin to engage in the project.
On the day of the festival, the blocks were delivered and installed on the Bowery in front of the New Museum within a tight two-hour deadline. Foamspace community members who helped with the installation were rewarded additional Foamspace Coins to encourage future participation. Information about the platform was disseminated throughout the festival, and the already established digital community amplified content online as it grew.
The installation created multiple spaces for exchanging value and cultivating a community. Some blocks created an urban lounge.
Others created a performance space, stage, workshop space and information kiosk, as well as smaller installations to support festival events.
Foamspace was inspired in part by Superstudio’s Continuous Monument and the work of minimalist sculptor Tony Smith. As an homage to Smith, we replicated his sculpture, Maze—originally described as a labyrinth, not a monument—which consisted of four rectangular blocks arranged in symmetrical opposition to each other. While unseen in everyday life, the blockchain, like the Continuous Monument, is a global megastructure. Foamspace sought to confront the architectural community by displaying this megastructure and provoking conversation about the impact of blockchain technology on the architect’s instruments of service.
The value of temporary architecture is that it generates a community, creates buzz and produces images that circulate like currency. And yet all good temporary architecture comes to an end—its value often slips away. The value and price of Foamspace Coin then became proportional to its salience, loaded with the realized installation and the installation yet to come. The project attracted a lot of attention, but only those truly attracted to its idea found value in their Foamspace Coin and participated in the project’s future manifestation.
At the end of the festival, the blocks were loaded onto trucks. All undamaged material was sold for sixty percent of its initial price to construction projects that required the fill material, the manufacturer serving as the intermediary. While many projects in the cryptocurrency sphere might launch their work with a “Block Sale”—referring to the initial coins mined or sold on the blockchain—Foamspace, made of architectural materials and spaces, had an actual block sale.
The next step of the project ran parallel to a new development in blockchain technology called Ethereum, which enables users to write “smart contracts” among parties—ranging from a conventional contract involving a mortgage to voting systems, reputation protocols, crowd funding and project management. Smart contracts, which are executed automatically and transparently, operate as a programmable world computer. Ethereum, according to Keller Easterling, “hopes to be the place for negotiating almost every kind of commercial, cultural, social, or legal exchange…[it] proposes to replace centralized finance, social networking, law, and governance with a multitude of currencies, communication channels, individual contracts, and decentralized autonomous organizations.” 2
Foamspace’s lack of smart contracts demonstrated its potential and necessity to negotiate and secure agreements between engineering consultants, software developers, teammates and institutions about how the project should proceed.
The social capital (of the community organized) and financial value from Foamspace was first mobilized to a rural upstate town, Callicoon, NY, in the summer of 2015. This retreat of sorts, of Foamspace members and students from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, was part of a pneumatic bubble-making workshop led by Jesse Seegers of the Organization for Spatial Practice and financed by the Foamspace fund. Eight 10’x20’x10’ pneumatic constructs were made, which served as the raw material for the next mobilization of value: an installation at the Chicago Architecture Biennale.
The Chicago Architecture Biennale installation, entitled The Tropical Mining Station, set out to further explore the implications of blockchain technology and smart contracts on the practice of architecture. The installation captured surplus energy, heat and air from custom-designed Ethereum mining computers, purchased with the funds from the block sale, to create a pneumatic space. These “miners,” which secure the network by solving complex mathematical questions consume an enormous amount of electricity to run at full speed—the installation itself sought to address the spatial effects of heat produced by these computers. It spatialized the decentralized Ethereum network within a single, local space. To build on the community of Foamspace formed in New York, an all day symposium, The Art of Economy, was hosted. The day was organized into two panels: Spatial Politics of the Blockchain and Decentralized Labor Practices and Distributed Production Networks.
The value generated from this event continues to be mobilized today—along with the ambition to pursue spatial conditions that enable collective ensembles—in the form of FOAM, a decentralized architecture office. The project will introduce smart contracts to the profession, functioning as a platform for self-initiating and crowd funding architecture projects, distributing shares of equity in the built environment and projecting the security and transparency of the Etherum blockchain.
Ryan John King and Ekaterina Zavyalova are entrepreneurs and founding members of FOAM a decentralized architecture office (ĐAO) working to apply blockchain technology to the production of the built environment. http://foam.space/
Project Credits:
Foamspace by SecondMedia. Design team: Ryan John King, Ekaterina Zavyalova, Betty Fan and Nikolay Martynov.
Project Documentation: Varvara Domnenko.
“Pneumatic Bubble Workshop” initated by Ryan John King, Ekaterina Zavyalova and Nick Axel. Led by Jesse Seegers of O.S.P. Participants included members of the Columbia GSAPP student group A-Frame Bill Bodell, Matt Lohry, Violet Whitney, Valérie Lechêne and many more.
“Tropical Mining Station” by FOAM. Design Team: Ryan John King, Ekaterina Zavyalova, Nick Axel, Kristoffer Josefsson and Varvara Domnenko Generously hosted by Ann Lui and Criag Reschke of Future Firm.
“The Art of Economy” by FOAM. Hosted by Future Firm. Moderated by Nick Axel. Broadcasted and Recorded by The New Centre for Research & Practice. Special thanks for support from the Chicago Architecture Biennale. |
A serious security vulnerability in Windows code is currently being exploited, Google researchers said on Monday.
Google discovered the flaw, which also affects Adobe's Flash media player, on Oct. 21. Adobe issued a fix a few days later, but Microsoft still has not issued its own, according to a Google blog post. Google said its policy is to publish actively exploited critical vulnerabilities seven days after it reports them to the software's creator.
The flaw, which exists in the Windows kernel, can be used as a "security sandbox escape," according to Google. Most software contains sandboxes in order to stop malicious or malfunctioning programs from damaging or snooping on the rest of the computer.
It's unclear how extensively the Windows flaw has been exploited. Google said only that it is being "actively exploited." In a statement, Microsoft acknowledged the security flaw and criticised Google for disclosing it before a fix was ready.
"We believe in coordinated vulnerability disclosure, and today's disclosure by Google puts customers at potential risk," a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. "Windows is the only platform with a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues and proactively update impacted devices as soon as possible."
The company added that it recommends Windows owners use the Microsoft Edge browser, though it did not say whether Edge can prevent the vulnerability from being exploited. Google, meanwhile, said its Chrome browser prevents the exploit.
Citing a source close to Microsoft, VentureBeat reported that the vulnerability requires Flash to be exploited. Since Adobe has already issued a fix for Flash, users with the latest Flash updates may be protected even without a Microsoft fix.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. |
Accordingly, the baggage carried by Steven Mnuchin, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, gives me great pause. The abuses by the IndyMac-cum-OneWest financial institution under his leadership are well-documented.
As a member of the professional tax community, my interest in the goings on over at the Treasury Department is a bit more keen than that of most Americans. And as an American expatriate, I am impacted financially in ways which leave my stateside countrymen and -women largely unscathed (including, for most American resident citizens, the requirement to report foreign bank accounts under threat of severe penalty for noncompliance). Our financial privacy has been seriously eroded. There are severe restrictions on where and how we expats can invest our money. The laws are crippling enough to begin with, but the way they are administered by IRS and the Treasury Department is driving many Americans to renounce their citizenship .
At a Connecticut General Assembly hearing, Ms. Frances Kenneally gave an account of IndyMac/OneWest's abusive tactics in the mortgage mediation process, including being told conflicting stories by IndyMac and OneWest as to the status of her mortgage.
Perhaps the most notorious practice from the recent mortgage crisis was the process called "robo-signing."
Erica Johnson-Seck gained notoriety as the poster child of robo-signers. In some Florida litigation, Ms. Johnson-Seck avered under oath that while serving as a vice-president of OneWest and its previous incarnations (plural), she simultaneously served as an officer of other entities whose interests would normally be inconsistent with those of OneWest/IndyMac
In the Drayton case, a Kings County (Brooklyn), New York foreclosure action, Justice Arthur Schack dismissed the case, but gave OneWest Bank leave to renew, provided that, within 60 days,
OneWest Bank, F.S.B., submits to the court: (1) proof of the grant of authority from the original mortgagee, Cambridge Home Capital, LLC, to its nominee, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., to assign the subject mortgage and note to IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB; and (2) an affidavit by Erica A. Johnson-Seck, vice-president of plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B., explaining: her employment history for the past three years; why a conflict of interest does not exist in how she acted as a vice-president of assignor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., a vice-president of assignee/assignor IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, and a vice-president of assignee/plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. in this action; why she was a vice-president of both assignor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. and assignee Deutsche Bank in Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v Maraj (18 Misc 3d 1123[A], 2008 NY Slip Op 50176[U] [2008]); why she was a vice-president of both assignor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. and assignee IndyMac Bank, FSB in IndyMac Bank, FSB v Bethley (22 Misc 3d 1119[A], 2009 NY Slip Op 50186[U] [2009]); and, why she executed an affidavit of merit as a vice-president of Deutsche Bank in Deutsche Bank v Harris (Sup Ct, Kings County, Feb. 5, 2008, index No. 35549/07); and (3) counsel for plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. must comply with the new court filing requirement, announced by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman on October 20, 2010, by submitting an affirmation, using the new standard court form, pursuant to CPLR 2106 and under the penalties of perjury, that counsel for plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. has personally reviewed plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B.'s documents and records in the instant action and counsel for plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. confirms the factual accuracy of plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B.'s court filings and the accuracy of the notarizations in plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B.'s documents.
In that same judicial opinion, Justice Schack defined a robo-signer as "a person who quickly signs hundreds or thousands of foreclosure documents in a month, despite swearing that he or she has personally reviewed the mortgage documents but has not done so."
The case was not refiled by OneWest.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) believes, apparently with good reason, that Mr. Mnuchin misled the Senate Finance Committee when he denied that robo-signing occurred while he was CEO and chairman at IndyMac/OneWest. The Columbus Dispatch reports that robo-signing did in fact occur during that period.
Some full disclosure is now in order at this juncture: I voted for Donald Trump in the past election, knowing that, like all other candidates for public office, there would be some disappointments from him if he were elected. I do support most of what our president has done thus far.
But I fear that the Mnuchin nomination may well cause the president more than a little bit of damage. The Department of the Treasury is a complex organization, and its CEO, the Secretary of the Treasury, even more than the IRS, wields profound powers over the lives of all Americans, whether individuals or business entities. As Ms. Kenneally's testimony exemplifies, taxation, financial, and economic policies can take a significant toll on the noneconomic aspects of an individual's life, thereby affecting his well-being. Mr. Mnuchin no doubt understands this dynamic on an intellectual level, but how well has he internalized it?
And what of his ability or willingness to control the behavior of his subalterns?
These are serious questions for which I, as an expatriate tax professional, would really, really like to see satisfactory answers.
Kenneth H. Ryesky, now a senior advisor in the U.S. Desk of Ernst & Young's International Tax Services in Tel Aviv, is a lawyer who has taught business law and taxation at Queens College CUNY. He formerly served as an attorney for the IRS. |
happy halloween everyone!
This is just a little thing i sketched on since halloween was approaching and i was thinking of making something for the holiday.
In here i draw cly as a vampire, inspired by carmilla (the vampire from the book, not A's other personality).
Fennel as a kind of poke-frankenstein doctor with her creepy smile.
Aoi in her werewolf form.
and finally A-chan as jason from friday the 13th since i see her as a slasher film serial killer (i had a previous sketch of her in the michael myers mask but it ended up looking weird or not really good)
Placed false prophet since i was thinking of the closest thing to a demon in tpp lore and helix since he is the most lovecraftian thing we have in our history.
Anyways happy halloween and stay safe this night. |
Two sons of former chief rabbis were chosen to be chief rabbis of Israel on Wednesday night, ending months of speculation.
Yitzhak Yosef, the son of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, was chosen as the next Sephardi chief rabbi, and Rabbi David Lau, the son of former chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, was picked as the head of the Ashkenazi rabbinate.
Both candidates are seen as mainstream figures unlikely to rock the boat of the rabbinate or the Knesset. Lau beat out Rabbi David Stav, a professed free thinker with goals of pushing Israel’s rabbinate straight into the 21st century and Yosef won against Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, a hardliner supported by the national religious.
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The chief rabbi was selected in a complex and opaque process by a committee made up of 150 rabbis, mayors, religious functionaries, and government appointees.
Lau’s black hat and legacy connections to ultra-Orthodox rabbis made him a more traditional choice than the knitted-kipa wearing Stav.
His father, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, was known for his ability to connect with both Haredi Jews and the Modern Orthodox.
Lau thanked his father, who stood beside him during a Channel 10 interview, for the educational upbringing that contributed to his victory. He vowed to make the chief rabbinate a more “welcoming” institution, but refrained from specifying what reforms he would enact. When asked whether he would take steps to ease the conversion or marriage processes in Israel, he responded that under his leadership the religious authority would be “appropriate” and “continue tradition.”
The junior Lau, who is currently the chief rabbi of the religiously diverse city of Modiin, pledged the same sort of inclusiveness as his father. Stav, meanwhile, the current chief rabbi of Shoham, had been touted as a modern thinker who could bring about desperately needed change in the rabbinate.
“I represent all kinds of groups, and he represents only a group of the national-religious, this is the difference,” Lau told The New York Times on Sunday in a rare interview. “You need to think about a rabbi who can speak with the other rabbis, not fight with them. To speak is better than to fight, I think.”
On the Sephardi side, the win by Yosef will be seen as a boost for the Shas party. Yosef also beat rabbis Ratzon Arusi, considered a long shot, and Tzion Shalom Boaron, who had the support of current Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
He scraped onto the official list thanks only to an eleventh-hour ruling by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate that extended his authorization to serve as a municipal rabbi, a shingle which all candidates must carry.
Yosef will replace Amar, who did his best, but failed, to finagle a new law that would have allowed him to stay on beyond his term’s 10-year limit.
Yosef’s challenger, Eliyahu, had his candidacy okayed Monday by the Supreme Court following a challenge by Meretz MK Isawi Frej, who submitted a petition claiming the rabbi had incited violence against Arabs and made racist comments in the past. The court said there was not enough time to consider the allegations.
Yosef won with 68 votes, Eliyahu got 49 votes and Boaron got 28.
On the Ashkenazi side, Lau garnered 68 votes, while Stav got 54 and Rabbi Yaakov Shapira 25.
Shapira was the dark horse to fill the Ashkenazi seat unceremoniously vacated by former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who stepped down last month in the wake of a massive fraud investigation.
Metzger, who has been accused of pocketing unspecified amounts of donor cash earmarked for NGOs, denies the allegations but nevertheless chose to take his exit early.
A fourth candidate, Rabbi Eliezer Igra, bowed out of the race after realizing his chances of winning were too slim.
Stav is the co-founder and chairman of Tzohar, an organization committed to helping couples maneuver the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate’s complicated maze of requirements on the path to religious marriage. He serves as the spiritual leader of Ma’aleh, a Jerusalem film school with a religious bent, and his contemporary, moderate take on Jewish life has led to a vicious backlash from more conservative sectors of society. A group of youths attacked him at a wedding in June, and that same month Shas spiritual leader Yosef labeled him “wicked” and “dangerous to Judaism.”
While Stav had been embraced by many Israelis weary of the ultra-Orthodox’s strict, iron-clad grip on Judaism, Lau said that his opponent’s platform of change was not something that should be supported. |
He never said any of this, you guys.
1. Donald Trump never said gun advocates should try to stop Hillary Clinton, you guys. Eric Thayer / Reuters
Despite Trump telling a North Carolina rally on August 9 that "Second Amendment people" may be able to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing judges who would rule against gun rights, he says he actually never said that. As the Trump campaign pointed out, it was the "dishonest media" that mischaracterized his remarks about harnessing the "political power" of "Second Amendment people." "There can be no other interpretation," Trump told Fox News. "Even reporters have told me. I mean, give me a break."
2. Donald Trump never said that Russia should hack Hillary Clinton's emails, you guys. Carlo Allegri / Reuters
Despite Trump telling reporters in Florida on July 27 that Russia should try to go into his opponent's emails to try to uncover her "missing" correspondence, Trump says he actually never really said that. "Of course I was being sarcastic," he told Fox News of his earlier request that “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens. That will be next.”
3. Donald Trump never mocked a reporter with a disability, you guys. Randall Hill / Reuters
Despite flailing his arms about, making a claw with his hand, and stammering his speech while he performed an impression in November of a New York Times reporter with arthrogryposis, which limits the functioning of his joints, Trump says he never actually mocked the journalist. “I spend millions a year, or millions of dollars on ramps, and get rid of the stairs and different kinds of elevators all over [in Trump-constructed buildings] and I’m gonna mock? I would never do that,” he said last month. “Number one, I have a good heart. Number two, I’m a smart person.” Besides, despite telling the South Carolina crowd in November "you ought to see this guy," Trump says he has never actually even seen the reporter. “I didn’t know what he looked like. I didn’t know he was disabled. I didn’t know it, I didn’t know it at all. I had no idea. So I started imitating somebody — I didn’t speak to the guy — somebody that was groveling," he said later.
4. Donald Trump never blamed Megyn Kelly's menstrual cycle for her tough debate questions, you guys. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images/Craig Barritt / Getty Images for Cosmopolitan Magazine and WME Live
Despite Trump telling CNN in August 2015 that Fox News' Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" when she asked him tough questions at a GOP debate, Trump says he never actually said she was being forceful because of her menstrual cycle. He was simply referring to blood coming out of her nose, he tweeted shortly after. “I meant her nose or her ears or her mouth,” Trump said in Florida earlier this month. “But these people are perverted and they thought I was talking about somewhere else." This was despite him also telling a Wisconsin television station in March that his remarks about women are mostly in jest, except for his comments about the Fox debate. "I didn’t say that in jest at all. I said that 100% because Megyn Kelly never treated me fairly and everybody knows it," he said.
5. Donald Trump never said that John McCain is not a war hero, you guys. Scott Olson / Getty Images
Despite Trump disparaging Sen. John McCain for being captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War and saying he was "not a war hero," Trump says he actually "never did that." “I came here because you made a comment to John McCain that you don’t think captured soldiers are heroes,” a man, who was introduced as the father of a soldier who was captured and killed in Iraq, asked Trump at an Ohio rally in March. “Oh, no, no, no, I never did that,” Trump responded. “What I want you to do is just clarify that for me,” the man continued, “because I think it’s important for all … the veterans in Ohio [to hear your answer], because I know what you were doing–” “You knew what I was doing, you knew exactly what I was doing,” Trump said, shaking the man’s hand. “They are heroes just so you understand, real heroes, OK? You know that.”
6. Donald Trump never said he supported invading Iraq, you guys. Carlo Allegri / Reuters
Despite Trump explicitly telling radio host Howard Stern in 2002 that he supported the invasion of Iraq, and writing in 2000 that "Iraq remains a threat" because of its supposed nuclear arsenal, and saying in 2003 that the US-led Iraq invasion "looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint," Trump has said again and again he never actually supported the invasion.
7. Donald Trump never actually supported the intervention in Libya, you guys. Eric Thayer / Reuters
Despite Trump saying in 2011 the US needed to "go in" to Libya "to save these lives," and criticizing the US for "not bringing [soldiers] in to stop this horrible carnage" by Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi, and saying that "if you don’t get rid of Qaddafi, it’s a major, major black eye for [the US]," he says he was never actually in favor of a Libyan invasion. "I never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya? We would be so much better off if Gaddafi were in charge right now," he said in February.
8. Donald Trump never said he supported the toppling of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, you guys. Eric Thayer / Reuters
Despite Trump telling Fox News in 2011 that it was "a good thing" former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power during that country's Arab Spring revolution and implying he was corrupt, the Republican nominee says he never actually supported Mubarak being thrown out of office. “[Obama] supported the ouster of a friendly regime in Egypt that had a longstanding peace treaty with Israel, and then helped bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in its place,” Trump said in April.
9. Donald Trump never said he has a relationship with Vladimir Putin, you guys. Mindaugas Kulbis / AP
Despite Donald Trump saying in 2013 that he has "a relationship" with Vladimir Putin, and despite him saying in 2014 that the Russian leader sent him a present and that the two had spoken "indirectly and directly," and despite him saying at a 2015 debate that he "got to know [Putin] very well" when they were on 60 Minutes together (albeit from different continents), Trump says he never actually met with Putin. "I have no relationship with him," he told ABC in July. "Just so you understand, he said very nice things about me, but I have no relationship with him. I don't -- I've never met him. … I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him."
10. Donald Trump never said he would pay the legal fees of supporters who assault protesters, you guys. Mary Altaffer / AP |
Warriors’ fans should be salivating at the prospect of a prosperous 2014 season if Shaun Johnson’s early season form continues after he orchestrated a devastating 48-4 victory over the Broncos in Dunedin.
Johnson’s silky-smooth skills demonstrated in the Auckland Nines continued into the Broncos trial, while English recruit Sam Tomkins was also instrumental in the nine-try romp.
The fledgling fullback/halfback partnership of Tomkins and Johnson looms as an ominous threat for opposing NRL sides with both players exhibiting exhilarating attacking flair.
With Johnson only required to play 52 minutes, fullback Tomkins saw out the entire match and looked assured under the high ball while demonstrating a desired aggression in his kick returns in a flawless, all-round display.
The Broncos will look to immediately expel what was an deflating performance out of their system before they clash with the Bulldogs in Round 1.
Brisbane were constantly on the back foot due to a lack of possession brought about by a combination of handling errors and missed tackles.
The Warriors gained the early initiative after only four minutes when Johnson sliced through Brisbane’s defence from a scrum base move 10 metres out.
The Broncos managed to strike back in the 14th minute after Ben Hunt launched a bomb that Kodi Nikorima knocked backwards into the path of Jack Reed to plant the ball over the line.
It took the Warriors less than five minutes to extend their lead to 12-4 after Glen Fisiiahi squeezed his way over in the corner with only millimetres separating his right boot and the sideline.
Fisiiahi nabbed a double on the half-hour mark to stretch the score out to 16-4 after lovely lead up play from the Warriors’ outside backs.
A Johnson line break had the Broncos scrambling and home side crossed from the next play with a Carlos Tuimavave pass setting up Fisiiahi.
Brisbane had no answers to the Warriors attack and the home side crossed moments before half-time when Nathan Friend interchanged passes with Feleti Mateo to allow Charlie Gubb to crash over from close range.
Trailing 22-4 at half-time and only enjoying 35 per cent of first-half possession, the Broncos started the second stanza in spirited fashion, but were soon deflated by another Warriors try in the 50th minute.
The Warriors right-side attack was on song again as Tuimavave crossed out wide and Johnson converted to take the score out to 28-4.
Johnson’s sideline conversion was the last action he saw as he was withdrawn by coach Matthew Elliott after 52 minutes.
A quick-fire double by the Warriors piled further misery on the Broncos with David Fusitu’a (64th minute) and Sam Tomkins (69th) both crossing to extend the score to 38-4.
Konrad Hurrell helped himself to a double inside the last 10 minutes as the unrelenting Warriors stretched the scoreboard out to 48-4 at full-time.
Warriors 48 (Glen Fisiiahi 2, Konrad Hurrell 2, Shaun Johnson, Charlie Gubb, Carlos Tuimavave, David Fusitu’a, Sam Tomkins tries; Johnson 4, Chad Townsend 2 goals) def. Broncos 4 (Jack Reed try) at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin. Halftime: 22-4 Warriors. |
The Ottawa Senators preseason schedule this year is head and shoulders above the gongshow that it was last year, and it is a case of the Senators learning from their mistakes.
The double-headers are fun and interesting, and they are a good way to ensure the players keep on the same rhythm in terms of games and off day programs.
Early on, with so many players still in camp, getting as many players the opportunity to suit up for relatively competitive games is a plus, and keeping them all in sync helps camp move along more smoothly.
After tonight’s double-header split-squad games against Toronto, they have 5 days off before heading to Winnipeg and then a couple more days off before finishing their pre-season with back to back games against the Habs on Oct 3rd and 4th.
After tonight, the club can pretty much split into the two groups that will make up, for the most part, those contending for the Ottawa roster and then those likely ticketed for Binghamton or Evansville. Also, you can expect many players to be sent back to junior or released after tonight. Ben Harpur (Guelph Storm), Nick Paul (North Bay Batallion), and Matt Murphy (Halifax Mooseheads) were all returned to their junior clubs after returning home from St. John’s. There are now 54 players in camp, and after tonight you can expect that to be reduced to about 45 or so, and split into the two groups.
Having the double-headers early in the preseason is also a dramatic upgrade over last season, where they played the Islanders in a double header in Ottawa and Barrie, but they were the last preseason games the clubs played.
That meant that, due to NHL veteran requirements in preseason games, the Senators never played a single game as a roster before the season opener. They were all over the place and I am not saying that that lack of cohesion was the reason for the Senators’ slow start to the season, but it definitely didn’t help matters.
Hopefully the way the schedule sets up this season puts the Senators in a better place to get a couple of games in with a majority of the actual roster intact and they can build into the season without interruption and not suffer the same fate as last season.
Those who don’t learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them, and I think the Senators learned from at least one of the ones they made last season. |
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - A southern Michigan school district has reversed its decision to bar students from wearing T-shirts honoring a 12-year-old classmate who died over the weekend following a long battle with cancer.
At least a dozen students showed up to Lakeview Middle School in Battle Creek on Monday wearing blue or orange T-shirts to honor sixth-grader Caitlyn Jackson, who died Saturday after fighting leukemia for years, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported. Blue was Caitlyn's favorite color and orange is worn to honor those like her with leukemia, and some of the shirts were from various benefits for Caitlyn over the years.
When students arrived at school, administrators asked them to change out of the shirts, turn them inside-out or tape over Caitlyn's name.
Caitlyn Jackson passed away on Saturday following a long battle with leukemia. (WWMT)
"They said that they really liked the shirts, but that it just triggered too much emotion for someone who was really close to her," 13-year-old student Alyssa Jaynes told the newspaper.
Students were allowed to make cards for the family, and students wearing blue and orange shirts without Caitlyn's name on them weren't asked to change, said Amy Jones, the school's finance director. Students who were asked to turn their shirts inside-out were told to keep Caitlyn's name "close to their heart."
Caitlyn's mother, Melinda Jackson (right), said she learned about the T-shirt ban while returning from the Ann Arbor hospital where her daughter died. (WWMT)
Jones said the district decided Sunday to not allow the T-shirts in keeping with its crisis management plan, which bars permanent memorials on the belief that they can remind students of their grief and make it worse. Parents weren't informed of the decision.
"Certainly the intent of our decision was good," Jones said. "Probably the ramifications of our decision caused more disruption than if we had let kids wear the shirts in the first place."
Grieving students express their love for Caitlyn. (WWMT)
Caitlyn's mother, Melinda Jackson, said she learned about the T-shirt ban while returning from the Ann Arbor hospital where her daughter died.
"That hurt me to the point that I didn't think I could be hurt anymore," said Jackson, who works for the district as a childcare provider.
After widespread outrage, the school district changed their tune and allowed the shirts. (WWMT)
The district changed its stance after students and parents complained. But on Facebook, some parents were calling for the ouster of those who initially decided to ban the shirts. The district superintendent was out of the country when that decision was made.
District officials met with Caitlyn's family on Monday and planned to review the policies that led to the initial ban.
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Google's digital ad dominance might soon have a very tangible benefit for shoppers — a free taxi ride.
"The tech giant just received a patent linking online ads to free taxi rides paid for by advertisers — an option to bring more people to their businesses." (Via KOVR)
The patent explains Google could use its knowledge of customer locations, route mapping and advertising prices to offer shoppers free or discounted lifts to retailer locations.
An algorithm would track where people are and what they're looking to buy. If it were cost-effective, a retailer could pay Google to offer a potential customer a ride to its store, using messages delivered on smartphones or stationary kiosks.
So no, CNET says, this isn't for the weekly grocery run.
"If someone's searching for cars to buy, then serving an ad that offers them a taxi to speed them to the point of purchase is a very cost-effective notion If they're searching, however, for dental floss, then it might not be worth the advertiser's time and money to offer them a ride in a Prius."
But Ars Technica points out a Google Taxi could eventually get more affordable, especially if Google moves forward with its driverless car project.
"An advertiser paying for a bus, train, or taxi might be a little too expensive today, but imagine a self-driving electric vehicle, where driving around doesn't burn gas or involve paying a taxi driver, and suddenly transportation becomes a lot cheaper."
That is, if the law catches up. Currently only California, Nevada, Michigan, Florida and Washington D.C. have legalized autonomous vehicles. (Via the Center for Internet and Society)
In any case, the project appears to remain in the patent stage for now. Don’t sell your car just yet.
- See more at Newsy |
Civil wars eventually come to an end, even in the Middle East. Lebanon’s civil war began in 1975 and ended after 15 years, with 120,000 deaths. But Syria’s conflict is still raging. It is now in its fifth year with at least 300,000 people dead. Millions more have become homeless, trying desperately to flee. But, incredibly, we may be witnessing the first signs of a breakthrough. As horrific as the Syrian drama has been — will we ever forget the lifeless body of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi lying face down on a Turkish beach? — history may very well remember this week as the moment when the road leading to a compromise emerged.
Refugees and migrants arrive at the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey earlier this month. Europe is grappling with its biggest migration challenge since the Second World War. ( ARIS MESSINIS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES )
There have been two significant developments in recent days. The growing threat of Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq — by threatening the interests of the U.S., Russia, Iran and others — seems to have pushed traditional rivals together. For the first time, Iran has been invited by the United States to join talks in Vienna with the U.S., Russia and several other nations on a possible political resolution to the Syrian impasse. These talks were expected to start on Friday and extend through the weekend. There were also increasing signs this week from American officials that they would allow the despised Bashar Assad to stay on as Syrian president in an interim role if that led to an eventual solution. Both Iran and Russia are Assad’s most powerful backers, and no breakthrough is possible without their support.
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These developments are occurring not long after the groundbreaking nuclear agreement between Iran and the world’s leading industrial powers. They raise hope that Iran can emerge as the “solution,” rather than the “problem,” in dealing with the region’s many crises. But they come as tensions increase on all sides. Many conservative Republican leaders in the U.S. are agitating for more direct American military intervention in Iraq and Syria, as if the lessons of the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and Britain were completely forgotten. In an interview this week with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, former British prime minister Tony Blair offered a qualified apology for the Iraq war. He was asked whether the invasion of Iraq was the principal cause of the rise of Islamic State extremists, and replied: “I think there are elements of truth to that. Of course, you can’t say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.” It is widely believed now that the chaos created by the 2003 invasion enabled the Islamic State extremists to organize. They drew on disaffected members of the former regime and supporters of the al-Qaida faction. But Blair, who many in Britain now regard as a war criminal, was only limited in his apology. Blair felt the decision to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a correct one, although he apologized “for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.” By any measure, those are some of the obvious lessons of the Iraq invasion.
In 2003, the Canadian government was notable in its opposition to the invasion. Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien resisted pressure from Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush. According to polls at the time, the government’s opposition to the invasion was supported by 70 per cent of Canadians. Stephen Harper, who was leader of the official Opposition, supported the invasion. Do you remember two years ago when the newly elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party wondered about the “root causes” behind the bombings at the Boston Marathon? He created an uproar within Canada’s conservative echo chamber.
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Editorialists and columnists huffed and puffed about Justin Trudeau’s “diplomatic maturity,” while Prime Minister Harper accused Trudeau of trying “to rationalize or make excuses” for those responsible for the bombings. A year later, in October 2014, Trudeau spoke about the 2003 Iraq invasion at the “Canada 2020” conference, saying it was sold to the public “with overheated, moralistic rhetoric that obscured real flaws in the strategy and the plan to implement it.” He went on: “It was a mission that destabilized the region, sowed further conflict, cost our allies three trillion dollars and cost thousands of people their lives. The world is still dealing with the consequences of that mistake.” Well, he was right, and we should learn from it. Hopefully, “root causes” in this new Trudeau era may again be in vogue. Tony Burman, former head of CBC News and Al Jazeera English, teaches journalism at Ryerson University. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com .
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Even as the sun with purple-colour’d face
Even as the sun with purple-colour’d face
Had ta’en his last leave of the weeping morn,
Rose-cheek’d Adonis tried him to the chase;
Hunting he lov’d, but love he laugh’d to scorn;
Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him,
And like a bold-fac’d suitor ‘gins to woo him.
‘Thrice fairer than myself,’ thus she began,
‘The field’s chief flower, sweet above compare,
Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a man,
More white and red than doves or roses are;
Nature that made thee, with herself at strife,
Saith that the world hath ending with thy life.
‘Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed,
And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow;
If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meed
A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know:
Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses;
And being set, I’ll smother thee with kisses:
‘And yet not cloy thy lips with loath’d satiety,
But rather famish them amid their plenty,
Making them red and pale with fresh variety;
Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty:
A summer’s day will seem an hour but short,
Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport.’
With this she seizeth on his sweating palm,
The precedent of pith and livelihood,
And, trembling in her passion, calls it balm,
Earth’s sovereign salve to do a goddess good:
Being so enrag’d, desire doth lend her force
Courageously to pluck him from his horse.
Over one arm the lusty courser’s rein
Under her other was the tender boy,
Who blush’d and pouted in a dull disdain,
With leaden appetite, unapt to toy;
She red and hot as coals of glowing fire
He red for shame, but frosty in desire.
The studded bridle on a ragged bough
Nimbly she fastens;--O! how quick is love:--
The steed is stalled up, and even now
To tie the rider she begins to prove:
Backward she push’d him, as she would be thrust,
And govern’d him in strength, though not in lust.
So soon was she along, as he was down,
Each leaning on their elbows and their hips:
Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown,
And ‘gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips;
And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken,
‘If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open.’
He burns with bashful shame; she with her tears
Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks;
Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs
To fan and blow them dry again she seeks:
He saith she is immodest, blames her miss;
What follows more she murders with a kiss.
Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,
Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh and bone,
Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste,
Till either gorge be stuff’d or prey be gone;
Even so she kiss’d his brow, his cheek, his chin,
And where she ends she doth anew begin.
Forc’d to content, but never to obey,
Panting he lies, and breatheth in her face;
She feedeth on the steam, as on a prey,
And calls it heavenly moisture, air of grace;
Wishing her cheeks were gardens full of flowers
So they were dewd with such distilling showers.
Look! how a bird lies tangled in a net,
So fasten’d in her arms Adonis lies;
Pure shame and aw’d resistance made him fret,
Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes:
Rain added to a river that is rank
Perforce will force it overflow the bank.
Still she entreats, and prettily entreats,
For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale;
Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets,
‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale;
Being red she loves him best; and being white,
Her best is better’d with a more delight.
Look how he can, she cannot choose but love;
And by her fair immortal hand she swears,
From his soft bosom never to remove,
Till he take truce with her contending tears,
Which long have rain’d, making her cheeks all wet;
And one sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt.
Upon this promise did he raise his chin
Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave,
Who, being look’d on, ducks as quickly in;
So offers he to give what she did crave;
But when her lips were ready for his pay,
He winks, and turns his lips another way.
Never did passenger in summer’s heat
More thirst for drink than she for this good turn.
Her help she sees, but help she cannot get;
She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn:
‘O! pity,’ ‘gan she cry, ‘flint-hearted boy:
‘Tis but a kiss I beg; why art thou coy?
‘I have been woo’d, as I entreat thee now,
Even by the stern and direful god of war,
Whose sinewy neck in battle ne’er did bow,
Who conquers where he comes in every jar;
Yet hath he been my captive and my slave,
And begg’d for that which thou unask’d shalt have.
‘Over my altars hath he hung his lance,
His batter’d shield, his uncontrolled crest,
And for my sake hath learn’d to sport and dance
To toy, to wanton, dally, smile, and jest;
Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red
Making my arms his field, his tent my bed.
‘Thus he that overrul’d I oversway’d,
Leading him prisoner in a red-rose chain:
Strong-temper’d steel his stronger strength obey’d,
Yet was he servile to my coy disdain.
O! be not proud, nor brag not of thy might,
For mastering her that foil’d the god of fight.
Touch but my lips with those falr lips of thine,--
Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red,--
The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine:
What seest thou in the ground? hold up thy head:
Look in mine eyeballs, there thy beauty lies;
Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes?
‘Art thou asham’d to kiss? then wink again,
And I will wink; so shall the day seem night;
Love keeps his revels where there are but twain;
Be bold to play, our sport is not in sight:
These blue-vein’d violets whereon we lean
Never can blab, nor know not what we mean.
‘The tender spring upon thy tempting lip
Shows thee unripe, yet mayst thou well be tasted:
Make use of time, let not advantage slip;
Beauty within itself should not be wasted:
Fair flowers that are not gather’d in their prime
Rot and consume themselves in little time.
‘Were I hard-favour’d, foul, or wrinkled-old,
Ill-nurtur’d, crooked, churlish, harsh in voice,
O’erworn, despised, rheumatic, and cold,
Thick-sighted, barren, lean, and lacking juice,
Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for thee;
But having no defects, why dost abhor me?
‘Thou canst not see one winkle in my brow;
Mine eyes are grey and bright, and quick in turning;
My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow;
My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning;
My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt.
Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.
‘Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear,
Or like a fairy, trip upon the green,
Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell’d hair,
Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen:
Love is a spirit all compact of fire,
Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire.
‘Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie;
These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me;
Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky,
From morn till night, even where I list to sport me:
Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be
That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee?
‘Is thine own heart to shine own face affected?
Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left?
Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected,
Steal thine own freedom, and complain on theft.
Narcissus so himself himself forsook,
And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.
‘Torches are made to light, jewels to wear,
Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use,
Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear;
Things growing to themselves are growth’s abuse:
Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty breedeth beauty;
Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.
‘Upon the earth’s increase why shouldst thou feed,
Unless the earth with thy increase be fed?
By law of nature thou art bound to breed,
That thine may live when thou thyself art dead;
And so in spite of death thou dost survive,
In that thy likeness still is left alive.’
By this the love-sick queen began to sweat,
For where they lay the shadow had forsook them,
And Titan, tired in the mid-day heat
With burning eye did hotly overlook them,
Wishing Adonis had his team to guide,
So he were like him and by Venus’ side.
And now Adonis with a lazy spright,
And with a heavy, dark, disliking eye,
His louring brows o’erwhelming his fair sight,
Like misty vapours when they blot the sky,
Souring his cheeks, cries, ‘Fie! no more of love:
The sun doth burn my face; I must remove.’
‘Ay me,’ quoth Venus, ‘young, and so unkind!
What bare excuses mak’st thou to be gone!
I’ll sigh celestial breath, whose gentle wind
Shall cool the heat of this descending sun:
I’ll make a shadow for thee of my hairs;
If they burn too, I’ll quench them with my tears.
‘The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm,
And lo! I lie between that sun and thee:
The heat I have from thence doth little harm,
Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me;
And were I not immortal, life were done
Between this heavenly and earthly sun.
‘Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel?
Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth:
Art thou a woman’s son, and canst not feel
What ‘tis to love? how want of love tormenteth?
O! had thy mother borne so hard a mind,
She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind.
‘What am I that thou shouldst contemn me this?
Or what great danger dwells upon my suit?
What were thy lips the worse for one poor kiss?
Speak, fair; but speak fair words, or else be mute:
Give me one kiss, I’ll give it thee again,
And one for interest if thou wilt have twain.
‘Fie! lifeless picture, cold and senseless stone,
Well-painted idol, image dull and dead,
Statue contenting but the eye alone,
Thing like a man, but of no woman bred:
Thou art no man, though of a man’s complexion,
For men will kiss even by their own direction.’
This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue,
And swelling passion doth provoke a pause;
Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong;
Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause:
And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak,
And now her sobs do her intendments break.
Sometimes she shakes her head, and then his hand;
Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground;
Sometimes her arms infold him like a band:
She would, he will not in her arms be bound;
And when from thence he struggles to be gone,
She locks her lily fingers one in one.
‘Fondling,’ she saith, ‘since I have hemm’d thee here
Within the circuit of this ivory pale,
I’ll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;
Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale:
Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.
‘Within this limit is relief enough,
Sweet bottom-grass and high delightful plain,
Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough,
To shelter thee from tempest and from rain:
Then be my deer, since I am such a park;
No dog shall rouse thee, though a thousand bark.’
At this Adonis smiles as in disdain,
That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple:
Love made those hollows, if himself were slain,
He might be buried in a tomb so simple;
Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie,
Why, there Love liv’d, and there he could not die.
These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits,
Open’d their mouths to swallow Venus’ liking.
Being mad before, how doth she now for wits?
Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking?
Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn,
To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn!
Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say?
Her words are done, her woes the more increasing;
The time is spent, her object will away,
And from her twining arms doth urge releasing:
‘Pity,’ she cries; ‘some favour, some remorse!’
Away he springs, and hasteth to his horse.
But lo! from forth a copse that neighbours by,
A breeding jennet, lusty, young, and proud,
Adonis’ tramping courier doth espy,
And forth she rushes, snorts and neighs aloud:
The strong-neck’d steed, being tied unto a tree,
Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he.
Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds,
And now his woven girths he breaks asunder;
The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds,
Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven’s thunder;
The iron bit he crusheth ‘tween his teeth,
Controlling what he was controlled with.
His ears up-prick’d; his braided hanging mane
Upon his compass’d crest now stand on end;
His nostrils drink the air, and forth again,
As from a furnace, vapours doth he send:
His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire,
Shows his hot courage and his high desire.
Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps,
With gentle majesty and modest pride;
Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps,
As who should say, ‘Lo! thus my strength is tried;
And this I do to captivate the eye
Of the fair breeder that is standing by.’
What recketh he his rider’s angry stir,
His flattering ‘Holla’, or his ‘Stand, I say’?
What cares he now for curb or pricking spur?
For rich caparisons or trapping gay?
He sees his love, and nothing else he sees,
Nor nothing else with his proud sight agrees.
Look, when a painter would surpass the life,
In limning out a well-proportion’d steed,
His art with nature’s workmanship at strife,
As if the dead the living should exceed;
So did this horse excel a common one,
In shape, in courage, colour, pace and bone.
Round-hoof’d, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostril wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:
Look, what a horse should have he did not lack,
Save a proud rider on so proud a back.
Sometimes he scuds far off, and there he stares;
Anon he starts at stirring of a feather;
To bid the wind a base he now prepares,
And whe’r he run or fly they know not whether;
For through his mane and tail the high wind sings,
Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather’d wings.
He looks upon his love, and neighs unto her;
She answers him as if she knew his mind;
Being proud, as females are, to see him woo her,
She puts on outward strangeness, seems unkind,
Spurns at his love and scorns the heat he feels,
Beating his kind embracements with her heels.
Then, like a melancholy malcontent,
He vails his tail, that, like a falling plume,
Cool shadow to his melting buttock lent:
He stamps, and bites the poor flies in his fume.
His love, perceiving how he is enrag’d,
Grew kinder, and his fury was assuag’d.
His testy master goeth about to take him;
When lo! the unback’d breeder, full of fear,
Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him,
With her the horse, and left Adonis there:
As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them,
Outstripping crows that strive to overfly them.
All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits,
Banning his boisterous and unruly beast:
And now the happy season once more fits,
That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest;
For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong
When it is barr’d the aidance of the tongue.
An oven that is stopp’d, or river stay’d,
Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage:
So of concealed sorrow may be said;
Free vent of words love’s fire doth assuage;
But when the heart’s attorney once is mute
The client breaks, as desperate in his suit.
He sees her coming, and begins to glow,--
Even as a dying coal revives with wind,--
And with his bonnet hides his angry brow;
Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind,
Taking no notice that she is so nigh,
For all askance he holds her in his eye.
O! what a sight it was, wistly to view
How she came stealing to the wayward boy;
To note the fighting conflict of her hue,
How white and red each other did destroy:
But now her cheek was pale, and by and by
It flash’d forth fire, as lightning from the sky.
Now was she just before him as he sat,
And like a lowly lover down she kneels;
With one fair hand she heaveth up his hat,
Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels:
His tenderer cheek receives her soft hand’s print,
As apt as new-fall’n snow takes any dint.
O! what a war of looks was then between them;
Her eyes petitioners to his eyes suing;
His eyes saw her eyes as they had not seen them;
Her eyes woo’d still, his eyes disdain’d the wooing:
And all this dumb play had his acts made plain
With tears, which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain.
Full gently now she takes him by the hand,
A lily prison’d in a gaol of snow,
Or ivory in an alabaster band;
So white a friend engirts so white a foe:
This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling,
Show’d like two silver doves that sit a-billing.
Once more the engine of her thoughts began:
‘O fairest mover on this mortal round,
Would thou wert as I am, and I a man,
My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my wound;
For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee,
Though nothing but my body’s bane would cure thee.’
‘Give me my hand,’ saith he, ‘why dost thou feel it?’
‘Give me my heart,’ saith she, ‘and thou shalt have it;
O! give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it,
And being steel’d, soft sighs can never grave it:
Then love’s deep groans I never shall regard,
Because Adonis’ heart hath made mine hard.’
‘For shame,’ he cries, ‘let go, and let me go;
My day’s delight is past, my horse is gone,
And ‘tis your fault I am bereft him so:
I pray you hence, and leave me here alone:
For all my mind, my thought, my busy care,
Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.’
Thus she replies: ‘Thy palfrey, as he should,
Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire:
Affection is a coal that must be cool’d;
Else, suffer’d, it will set the heart on fire:
The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none;
Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone.
‘How like a Jade he stood, tied to the tree,
Servilely master’d with a leathern rein!
But when he saw his love, his youth’s fair fee,
He held such petty bondage in disdain;
Throwing the base thong from his bending crest,
Enfranchising his mouth, his back, his breast.
‘Who sees his true-love in her naked bed,
Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white,
But, when his glutton eye so full hath fed,
His other agents aim at like delight?
Who is so faint, that dare not be so bold
To touch the fire, the weather being cold?
‘Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy;
And learn of him, I heartily beseech thee,
To take advantage on presented joy
Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teach thee.
O learn to love, the lesson is but plain,
And once made perfect, never lost again.
‘I know not love,’ quoth he, ‘nor will not know it,
Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it;
‘Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it;
My love to love is love but to disgrace it;
For I have heard it is a life in death,
That laughs and weeps, and all but with a breath.
‘Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish’d?
Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?
If springing things be any jot diminish’d,
They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth;
The colt that’s back’d and burden’d being young
Loseth his pride, and never waxeth strong.
‘You hurt my hand with wringing. Let us part,
And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat:
Remove your siege from my unyielding heart;
To love’s alarms it will not ope the gate:
Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery;
For where a heart is hard they make no battery.’
‘What! canst thou talk?’ quoth she, ‘hast thou a tongue?
O! would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing;
Thy mermaid’s voice hath done me double wrong;
I had my load before, now press’d with bearing:
Melodious discord, heavenly tune, harsh-sounding,
Ear’s deep-sweet music, and heart’s deep-sore wounding.
‘Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love
That inward beauty and invisible;
Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move
Each part in me that were but sensible:
Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see,
Yet should I be in love by touching thee.
‘Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me,
And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch,
And nothing but the very smell were left me,
Yet would my love to thee be still as much;
For from the stillitory of thy face excelling
Comes breath perfum’d that breedeth love by smelling.
‘But O! what banquet wert thou to the taste,
Being nurse and feeder of the other four;
Would they not wish the feast might ever last,
And bid Suspicion double-lock the door,
Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest,
Should, by his stealing in, disturb the feast?’
Once more the ruby-colour’d portal open’d,
Which to his speech did honey passage yield,
Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken’d
Wrack to the seaman, tempest to the field,
Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds,
Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.
This ill presage advisedly she marketh:
Even as the wind is hush’d before it raineth,
Or as the wolf doth grin before he barketh,
Or as the berry breaks before it staineth,
Or like the deadly bullet of a gun,
His meaning struck her ere his words begun.
And at his look she flatly falleth down
For looks kill love, and love by looks reviveth;
A smile recures the wounding of a frown;
But blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth!
The silly boy, believing she is dead
Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red;
And all amaz’d brake off his late intent,
For sharply he did think to reprehend her,
Which cunning love did wittily prevent:
Fair fall the wit that can so well defend her!
For on the grass she lies as she were slain
Till his breath breatheth life in her again.
He wrings her nose, he strikes her on the cheeks,
He bends her fingers, holds her pulses hard,
He chafes her lips; a thousand ways he seeks
To mend the hurt that his unkindness marr’d:
He kisses her; and she, by her good will,
Will never rise, so he will kiss her still.
The night of sorrow now is turn’d to day:
Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth,
Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array
He cheers the morn, and all the world relieveth:
And as the bright sun glorifies the sky,
So is her face illumin’d with her eye;
Whose beams upon his hairless face are fix’d,
As if from thence they borrow’d all their shine.
Were never four such lamps together mix’d,
Had not his clouded with his brow’s repine;
But hers, which through the crystal tears gave light
Shone like the moon in water seen by night.
‘O! where am I?’ quoth she, ‘in earth or heaven,
Or in the ocean drench’d, or in the fire?
What hour is this? or morn or weary even?
Do I delight to die, or life desire?
But now I liv’d, and life was death’s annoy;
But now I died, and death was lively joy.
‘O! thou didst kill me; kill me once again:
Thy eyes’ shrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine,
Hath taught them scornful tricks, and such disdain,
That they have murder’d this poor heart of mine;
And these mine eyes, true leaders to their queen,
But for thy piteous lips no more had seen.
‘Long may they kiss each other for this cure!
O! never let their crimson liveries wear;
And as they last, their verdure still endure,
To drive infection from the dangerous year:
That the star-gazers, having writ on death,
May say, the plague is banish’d by thy breath.
‘Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,
What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?
To sell myself I can be well contented,
So thou wilt buy and pay and use good dealing;
Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips
Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips.
‘A thousand kisses buys my heart from me;
And pay them at thy leisure, one by one.
What is ten hundred touches unto thee?
Are they not quickly told and quickly gone?
Say, for non-payment that the debt should double,
Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?’
‘Fair queen,’ quoth he, ‘if any love you owe me,
Measure my strangeness with my unripe years:
Before I know myself, seek not to know me;
No fisher but the ungrown fry forbears:
The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast,
Or being early pluck’d is sour to taste.
‘Look! the world’s comforter, with weary gait
His day’s hot task hath ended in the west;
The owl, night’s herald, shrieks, ‘tis very late;
The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest,
And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven’s light
Do summon us to part, and bid good night.
‘Now let me say good night, and so say you;
If you will say so, you shall have a kiss.’
‘Good night,’ quoth she; and ere he says adieu,
The honey fee of parting tender’d is:
Her arms do lend his neck a sweet embrace;
Incorporate then they seem, face grows to face.
Till, breathless, he disjoin’d, and backward drew
The heavenly moisture, that sweet coral mouth,
Whose precious taste her thirsty lips well knew,
Whereon they surfeit, yet complain on drouth:
He with her plenty press’d, she faint with dearth,
Their lips together glu’d, fall to the earth.
Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey,
And glutton-like she feeds, yet never filleth;
Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey,
Paying what ransom the insulter willeth;
Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high,
That she will draw his lips’ rich treasure dry.
And having felt the sweetness of the spoil,
With blindfold fury she begins to forage;
Her face doth reek and smoke, her blood doth boil,
And careless lust stirs up a desperate courage;
Planting oblivion, beating reason back,
Forgetting shame’s pure blush and honour’s wrack.
Hot, faint, and weary, with her hard embracing,
Like a wild bird being tam’d with too much handling,
Or as the fleet-foot roe that’s tir’d with chasing,
Or like the froward infant still’d with dandling,
He now obeys, and now no more resisteth,
While she takes all she can, not all she listeth.
What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering,
And yields at last to every light impression?
Things out of hope are compass’d oft with venturing,
Chiefly in love, whose leave exceeds commission:
Affection faints not like a pale-fac’d coward,
But then woos best when most his choice is froward.
When he did frown, O! had she then gave over,
Such nectar from his lips she had not suck’d.
Foul words and frowns must not repel a lover;
What though the rose have prickles, yet ‘tis pluck’d:
Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast,
Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last.
For pity now she can no more detain him;
The poor fool prays her that he may depart:
She is resolv’d no longer to restrain him,
Bids him farewell, and look well to her heart,
The which, by Cupid’s bow she doth protest,
He carries thence incaged in his breast.
‘Sweet boy,’ she says, ‘this night I’ll waste in sorrow,
For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch.
Tell me, Love’s master, shall we meet to-morrow
Say, shall we? shall we? wilt thou make the match?’
He tells her, no; to-morrow he intends
To hunt the boar with certain of his friends.
‘The boar!’ quoth she; whereat a sudden pale,
Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose,
Usurps her cheeks, she trembles at his tale,
And on his neck her yoking arms she throws:
She sinketh down, still hanging by his neck,
He on her belly falls, she on her back.
Now is she in the very lists of love,
Her champion mounted for the hot encounter:
All is imaginary she doth prove,
He will not manage her, although he mount her;
That worse than Tantalus’ is her annoy,
To clip Elysium and to lack her joy.
Even as poor birds, deceiv’d with painted grapes,
Do surfeit by the eye and pine the maw,
Even so she languisheth in her mishaps,
As those poor birds that helpless berries saw.
The warm effects which she in him finds missing,
She seeks to kindle with continual kissing.
But all in vain, good queen, it will not be:
She hath assay’d as much as may be prov’d;
Her pleading hath deserv’d a greater fee;
She’s Love, she loves, and yet she is not lov’d.
‘Fie, fie!’ he says, ‘you crush me; let me go;
You have no reason to withhold me so.’
‘Thou hadst been gone,’ quoth she, ‘sweet boy, ere this,
But that thou told’st me thou wouldst hunt the boar.
O! be advis’d; thou know’st not what it is
With javelin’s point a churlish swine to gore,
Whose tushes never sheath’d he whetteth still,
Like to a mortal butcher, bent to kill.
‘On his bow-back he hath a battle set
Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;
His eyes like glow-worms shine when he doth fret;
His snout digs sepulchres where’er he goes;
Being mov’d, he strikes whate’er is in his way,
And whom he strikes his crooked tushes slay.
‘His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm’d,
Are better proof than thy spear’s point can enter;
His short thick neck cannot be easily harm’d;
Being ireful, on the lion he will venture:
The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,
As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes.
‘Alas! he nought esteems that face of thine,
To which Love’s eyes pay tributary gazes;
Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips, and crystal eyne,
Whose full perfection all the world amazes;
But having thee at vantage, wondrous dread!
Would root these beauties as he roots the mead.
‘O! let him keep his loathsome cabin still;
Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends:
Come not within his danger by thy will;
They that thrive well take counsel of their friends.
When thou didst name the boar, not to dissemble,
I fear’d thy fortune, and my joints did tremble.
‘Didst thou not mark my face? was it not white?
Saw’st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye?
Grew I not faint? And fell I not downright?
Within my bosom, whereon thou dost lie,
My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest,
But, like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast.
‘For where Love reigns, disturbing Jealousy
Doth call himself Affection’s sentinel;
Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny,
And in a peaceful hour doth cry "Kill, kill!"
Distempering gentle Love in his desire,
As air and water do abate the fire.
‘This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy,
This canker that eats up Love’s tender spring,
This carry-tale, dissentious Jealousy,
That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring,
Knocks at my heart, and whispers in mine ear
That if I love thee, I thy death should fear:
‘And more than so, presenteth to mine eye
The picture of an angry-chafing boar,
Under whose sharp fangs on his back doth lie
An image like thyself, all stain’d with gore;
Whose blood upon the fresh flowers being shed
Doth make them droop with grief and hang the head.
‘What should I do, seeing thee so indeed,
That tremble at the imagination?
The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed,
And fear doth teach it divination:
I prophesy thy death, my living sorrow,
If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow.
‘But if thou needs wilt hunt, be rul’d by me;
Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,
Or at the fox which lives by subtilty,
Or at the roe which no encounter dare:
Pursue these fearful creatures o’er the downs,
And on thy well-breath’d horse keep with thy hound.
‘And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare,
Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles
How he outruns the winds, and with what care
He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles:
The many musits through the which he goes
Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.
‘Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep,
To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell,
And sometime where earth-delving conies keep,
To stop the loud pursuers in their yell,
And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer;
Danger deviseth shifts, wit waits on fear:
‘For there his smell with others being mingled,
The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,
Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled
With much ado the cold fault cleanly out;
Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies,
As if another chase were in the skies.
‘By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill,
Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear,
To hearken if his foes pursue him still:
Anon their loud alarums he doth hear;
And now his grief may be compared well
To one sore sick that hears the passing bell.
‘Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch
Turn, and return, indenting with the way;
Each envious briar his weary legs doth scratch,
Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay:
For misery is trodden on by many,
And being low never reliev’d by any.
‘Lie quietly, and hear a little more;
Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise:
To make thee hate the hunting of the boar,
Unlike myself thou hear’st me moralize,
Applying this to that, and so to so;
For love can comment upon every woe.
‘Where did I leave?’ ‘No matter where,’ quoth he
‘Leave me, and then the story aptly ends:
The night is spent,’ ‘Why, what of that?’ quoth she.
‘I am,’ quoth he, ‘expected of my friends;
And now ‘tis dark, and going I shall fall.’
‘In night,’ quoth she, ‘desire sees best of all.’
But if thou fall, O! then imagine this,
The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips,
And all is but to rob thee of a kiss.
Rich preys make true men thieves; so do thy lips
Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn,
Lest she should steal a kiss and die forsworn.
‘Now of this dark night I perceive the reason:
Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine
Till forging Nature be condemn’d of treason,
For stealing moulds from heaven that were divine;
Wherein she fram’d thee in high heaven’s despite,
To shame the sun by day and her by night.
‘And therefore hath she brib’d the Destinies,
To cross the curious workmanship of nature
To mingle beauty with infirmities,
And pure perfection with impure defeature;
Making it subject to the tyranny
Of mad mischances and much misery;
‘As burning fevers, agues pale and faint,
Life-poisoning pestilence and frenzies wood,
The marrow-eating sickness, whose attains
Disorder breeds by heating of the blood;
Surfeits, imposthumes, grief, and damn’d despair,
Swear nature’s death for framing thee so fair.
‘And not the least of all these maladies
But in one minute’s fight brings beauty under:
Both favour, savour hue, and qualities,
Whereat the impartial gazer late did wonder,
Are on the sudden wasted, thaw’d and done,
As mountain-snow melts with the mid-day sun.
‘Therefore, despite of fruitless chastity,
Love-lacking vestals and self-loving nuns,
That on the earth would breed a scarcity
And barren dearth of daughters and of sons,
Be prodigal: the lamp that burns by night
Dries up his oil to lend the world his light.
‘What is thy body but a swallowing grave,
Seeming to bury that posterity
Which by the rights of time thou needs must have,
If thou destroy them not in dark obscurity?
If so, the world will hold thee in disdain,
Sith in thy pride so fair a hope is slain.
‘So in thyself thyself art made away;
A mischief worse than civil home-bred strife,
Or theirs whose desperate hands themselves do slay,
Or butcher-sire that reeves his son of life.
Foul-cankering rust the hidden treasure frets,
But gold that’s put to use more gold begets.’
‘Nay then,’ quoth Adon, ‘you will fall again
Into your idle over-handled theme;
The kiss I gave you is bestow’d in vain,
And all in vain you strive against the stream;
For by this black-fac’d night, desire’s foul nurse,
Your treatise makes me like you worse and worse.
‘If love have lent you twenty thousand tongues,
And every tongue more moving than your own,
Bewitching like the wanton mermaid’s songs,
Yet from mine ear the tempting tune is blown;
For know, my heart stands armed in mine ear,
And will not let a false sound enter there;
‘Lest the deceiving harmony should run
Into the quiet closure of my breast;
And then my little heart were quite undone,
In his bedchamber to be barr’d of rest.
No, lady, no; my heart longs not to groan,
But soundly sleeps, while now it sleeps alone.
‘What have you urg’d that I cannot reprove?
The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger;
I hate not love, but your device in love
That lends embracements unto every stranger.
You do it for increase: O strange excuse!
When reason is the bawd to lust’s abuse.
‘Call it not, love, for Love to heaven is fled,
Since sweating Lust on earth usurp’d his name;
Under whose simple semblance he hath fed
Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame;
Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves,
As caterpillars do the tender leaves.
‘Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,
But Lust’s effect is tempest after sun;
Love’s gentle spring doth always fresh remain,
Lust’s winter comes ere summer half be done.
Love surfeits not, Lust like a glutton dies;
Love is all truth, Lust full of forged lies.
‘More I could tell, but more I dare not say;
The text is old, the orator too green.
Therefore, in sadness, now I will away;
My face is full of shame, my heart of teen:
Mine ears, that to your wanton talk attended
Do burn themselves for having so offended.’
With this he breaketh from the sweet embrace
Of those fair arms which bound him to her breast,
And homeward through the dark laund runs apace;
Leaves Love upon her back deeply distress’d.
Look, how a bright star shooteth from the sky
So glides he in the night from Venus’ eye;
Which after him she darts, as one on shore
Gazing upon a late-embarked friend,
Till the wild waves will have him seen no more,
Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend:
So did the merciless and pitchy night
Fold in the object that did feed her sight.
Whereat amaz’d, as one that unaware
Hath dropp’d a precious jewel in the flood,
Or ‘stonish’d as night-wanderers often are,
Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood;
Even so confounded in the dark she lay,
Having lost the fair discovery of her way.
And now she beats her heart, whereat it groans,
That all the neighbour caves, as seeming troubled,
Make verbal repetition of her moans;
Passion on passion deeply is redoubled:
‘Ay me!’ she cries, and twenty times, ‘Woe, woe!’
And twenty echoes twenty times cry so.
She marking them, begins a wailing note,
And sings extemporally a woeful ditty;
How love makes young men thrall and old men dote;
How love is wise in folly foolish-witty:
Her heavy anthem still concludes in woe,
And still the choir of echoes answer so.
Her song was tedious, and outwore the night,
For lovers’ hours are long, though seeming short:
If pleas’d themselves, others, they think, delight
In such like circumstance, with such like sport:
Their copious stories, oftentimes begun,
End without audience, and are never done.
For who hath she to spend the night withal,
But idle sounds resembling parasites;
Like shrill-tongu’d tapsters answering every call,
Soothing the humour of fantastic wits?
She says, ‘‘Tis so:’ they answer all, ‘‘Tis so;’
And would say after her, if she said ‘No’.
Lo! here the gentle lark, weary of rest,
From his moist cabinet mounts up on high,
And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast
The sun ariseth in his majesty;
Who doth the world so gloriously behold,
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish’d gold.
Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow:
‘O thou clear god, and patron of all light,
From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow
The beauteous influence that makes him bright,
There lives a son that suck’d an earthly mother,
May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other’
This said, she hasteth to a myrtle grove,
Musing the morning is so much o’erworn,
And yet she hears no tidings of her love;
She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn:
Anon she hears them chant it lustily,
And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.
And as she runs, the bushes in the way
Some catch her by the neck, some kiss her face,
Some twine about her thigh to make her stay:
She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace,
Like a milch doe, whose swelling dugs do ache,
Hasting to feed her fawn hid in some brake.
By this she hears the hounds are at a bay;
Whereat she starts, like one that spies an adder
Wreath’d up in fatal folds just in his way,
The fear whereof doth make him shake and shudder;
Even so the timorous yelping of the hounds
Appals her senses, and her spirit confounds.
For now she knows it is no gentle chase,
But the blunt boar, rough bear, or lion proud,
Because the cry remaineth in one place,
Wilere fearfully the dogs exclaim aloud:
Finding their enemy to be so curst,
They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first.
This dismal cry rings sadly in her ear,
Througll which it enters to surprise her heart;
Who, overcome by doubt and bloodless fear,
With cold-pale weakness numbs each feeling part;
Like soldiers, when their captain once doth yield,
They basely fly and dare not stay the field.
Thus stands she in a trembling ecstasy,
Till, cheering up her senses sore dismay’d,
She tells them ‘tis a causeless fantasy,
And childish error, that they are afraid;
Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no more:
And with that word she spied the hunted boar;
Whose frothy mouth bepainted all with red,
Like milk and blood being mingled both together,
A second fear through all her sinews spread,
Which madly hurries her she knows not whither:
This way she runs, and now she will no further,
But back retires to rate the boar for murther.
A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways,
She treads the path that she untreads again;
Her more than haste is mated with delays,
Like the proceedings of a drunken brain,
Full of respects, yet nought at all respecting,
In hand with all things, nought at all effecting.
Here kennel’d in a brake she finds a hound,
And asks the weary caitiff for his master,
And there another licking of his wound,
Gainst venom’d sores the only sovereign plaster;
And here she meets another sadly scowling,
To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling.
When he hath ceas’d his ill-resounding noise,
Another flap-mouth’d mourner, black and grim,
Against the welkin volleys out his voice;
Another and another answer him,
Clapping their proud tails to the ground below,
Shaking their scratch’d ears, bleeding as they go.
Look, how the world’s poor people are amaz’d
At apparitions, signs, and prodigies,
Whereon with fearful eyes they long have gaz’d,
Infusing them with dreadful prophecies;
So she at these sad sighs draws up her breath,
And, sighing it again, exclaims on Death.
‘Hard-favour’d tyrant, ugly, meagre, lean,
Hateful divorce of love,’--thus chides she Death,--
‘Grim-grinning ghost, earth’s worm, what dost thou mean
To stifle beauty and to steal his breath,
Who when he liv’d, his breath and beauty set
Gloss on the rose, smell to the violet?
‘If he be dead, O no! it cannot be,
Seeing his beauty, thou shouldst strike at it;
O yes! it may; thou hast no eyes to see,
But hatefully at random dost thou hit.
Thy mark is feeble age, but thy false dart
Mistakes that aim and cleaves an infant’s heart.
‘Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke,
And, hearing him, thy power had lost his power.
The Destinies will curse thee for this stroke;
They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck’st a flower.
Love’s golden arrow at him shoull have fled,
And not Death’s ebon dart, to strike him dead.
‘Dost thou drink tears, that thou provok’st such weeping?
What may a heavy groan advantage thee?
Why hast thou cast into eternal sleeping
Those eyes that taught all other eyes to see?
Now Nature cares not for thy mortal vigour
Since her best work is ruin’d with thy rigour.’
Here overcome, as one full of despair,
She vail’d her eyelids, who, like sluices, stopp’d
The crystal tide that from her two cheeks fair
In the sweet channel of her bosom dropp’d
But through the flood-gates breaks the silver rain,
And with his strong course opens them again.
O! how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow;
Her eyes seen in the tears, tears in her eye;
Both crystals, where they view’d each other’s sorrow,
Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry;
But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain,
Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again.
Variable passions throng her constant woe,
As striving who should best become her grief;
All entertain’d, each passion labours so,
That every present sorrow seemeth chief,
But none is best; then join they all together,
Like many clouds consulting for foul weather.
By this, far off she hears some huntsman holloa;
A nurse’s song no’er pleas’d her babe so well:
The dire imagination she did follow
This sound of hope doth labour to expel;
For now reviving joy bids her rejoice,
And flatters her it is Adonis’ voice.
Whereat her tears began to turn their tide,
Being prison’d in her eye, like pearls in glass;
Yet sometimes falls an orient drop beside,
Which her cheek melts, as scorning it should pass
To wash the foul face of the sluttish ground,
Who is but drunken when she seemeth drown’d.
O hard-believing love! how strange it seems
Not to believe, and yet too credulous;
Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes;
Despair and hope make thee ridiculous:
The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlikely,
In likely thoughts the other kills thee quickly.
Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought,
Adonis lives, and Death is not to blame;
It was not she that call’d him all to naught,
Now she adds honours to his hateful name;
She clepes him king of graves, and grave for kings,
Imperious supreme of all mortal things.
‘No, no,’ quoth she, ‘sweet Death, I did but jest;
Yet pardon me, I felt a kind of fear
Whenas I met the boar, that bloody beast,
Which knows no pity, but is still severe;
Then, gentle shadow,--truth I must confess--
I rail’d on thee, fearing my love’s decease.
‘Tis not my fault: the boar provok’d my tongue;
Be wreak’d on him, invisible commander;
‘Tis he, foul creature, that hath done thee wrong;
I did but act, he ‘s author of my slander:
Grief hath two tongues: and never woman yet,
Could rule them both without ten women’s wit.’
Thus hoping that Adonis is alive,
Her rash suspect sile doth extenuate;
And that his beauty may the better thrive,
With Death she humbly doth insinuate;
Tells him of trophies, statues, tombs; and stories
His victories, his triumphs, and his glories.
‘O Jove!’ quoth she, ‘how much a fool was I,
To be of such a weak and silly mind
To wail his death who lives and must not die
Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind;
For he being dead, with him is beauty slain,
And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again.
‘Fie, fie, fond love! thou art so full of fear
As one with treasure laden, hemm’d with thieves
Trifles, unwitnessed with eye or ear,
Thy coward heart with false bethinking grieves.’
Even at this word she hears a merry horn
Whereat she leaps that was but late forlorn.
As falcon to the lure, away she flies;
The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light;
And in her haste unfortunately spies
The foul boar’s conquest on her fair delight;
Which seen, her eyes, as murder’d with the view,
Like stars asham’d of day, themselves withdrew:
Or, as the snail, whose tender horns being hit,
Shrinks backwards in his shelly cave with pain,
And there, all smother’d up, in shade doth sit,
Long after fearing to creep forth again;
So, at his bloody view, her eyes are fled
Into the deep dark cabills of her head;
Where they resign their office and their light
To the disposing of her troubled brain;
Who bids them still consort with ugly night,
And never wound the heart with looks again;
Who, like a king perplexed in his throne,
By their suggestion gives a deadly groan,
Whereat each tributary subject quakes;
As when the wind, imprison’d in the ground,
Struggling for passage, earth’s foundation shakes,
Which with cold terror doth men’s minds confound.
This mutiny each part doth so surprise
That from their dark beds once more leap her eyes;
And, being open’d, threw unwilling light
Upon the wide wound that the boar had trench’d
In his soft flank; whose wonted lily white
With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench’d:
No flower was nigh, no grass, herb, leaf, or weed
But stole his blood and seem’d with him to bleed.
This solemn sympathy poor Venus noteth,
Over one shoulder doth she hang her head,
Dumbly she passions, franticly she doteth;
She thinks he could not die, he is not dead:
Her voice is stopp’d, her joints forget to bow,
Her eyes are mad that they have wept till now.
Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly,
That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three;
And then she reprehends her mangling eye,
That makes more gashes where no breach should be:
His face seems twain, each several limb is doubled;
For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled.
‘My tongue cannot express my grief for one,
And yet,’ quoth she, ‘behold two Adons dead!
My sighs are blown away, my salt tears gone,
Mine eyes are turn’d to fire, my heart to lead:
Heavy heart’s lead, melt at mine eyes’ red fire!
So shall I die by drops of hot desire.
‘Alas! poor world, what treasure hast thou lost!
What face remains alive that’s worth the viewing?
Whose tongue is music now? what canst thou boast
Of things long since, or anything ensuing?
The flowers are sweet, their colours fresh and trim;
But true-sweet beauty liv’d and died with him.
‘Bonnet nor veil henceforth no creature wear!
Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you:
Having no fair to lose, you need not fear;
The sun doth scorn you, and the wind doth hiss you:
But when Adonis liv’d, sun and sharp air
Lurk’d like two thieves, to rob him of his fair:
‘And therefore would he put his bonnet on,
Under whose brim the gaudy sun would peep;
The wind would blow it off, and, being gone,
Play with his locks: then would Adonis weep;
And straight, in pity of his tender years,
They both would strive who first should dry his tears.
‘To see his face the lion walk’d along
Behind some hedge, because he would not fear him;
To recreate himself when he hath sung,
The tiger would be tame and gently hear him;
If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey,
And never fright the silly lamb that day.
‘When he beheld his shadow in the brook,
The fishes spread on it their golden gills;
When he was by, the birds such pleasure took,
That some would sing, some other in their bills
Would bring him mulberries and ripe-red cherries
He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.
‘But this foul, grim, and urchin-spouted boar,
Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,
Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;
Witness the entertainment that he gave:
If he did see his face, why then I know
He thought to kiss him, and hath killed him so.
‘‘Tis true, ‘tis true; thus was Adonis slain:
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,
Who did not whet his teeth at him again,
But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;
And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine
Sheath’d unaware the tusk in his soft groin.
‘Had I been tooth’d like him, I must confess,
With kissing him I should have kill’d him first;
But he is dead, and never did he bless
My youth with his; the more am I accurst.’
With this she falleth in the place she stood,
And stains her face with his congealed blood.
Sho looks upon his lips, and they are pale;
She takes him by the hand, and that is cold;
She whispers in his ears a heavy tale,
As if they heard the woeful words she told;
She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes,
Where, lo! two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies;
Two glasses where herself herself beheld
A thousand times, and now no more reflect;
Their virtue lost, wherein they late excell’d,
And every beauty robb’d of his effect:
‘Wonder of time,’ quoth she, ‘this is my spite,
That, you being dead, the day should yet be light.
‘Since thou art dead, lo! here I prophesy,
Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend:
It shall be waited on with jealousy,
Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end;
Ne’er settled equally, but high or low;
That all love’s pleasure shall not match his woe.
‘It shall be fickle, false, and full of fraud,
Bud and be blasted in a breathing-while;
The bottom poison, and the top o’erstraw’d
With sweets that shall the truest sight beguile:
The strongest body shall it make most weak,
Strike the wise dumb and teach the fool to speak.
‘It shall be sparing and too full of riot,
Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures;
The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet,
Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures;
It shall be raging mad, and silly mild,
Make the young old, the old become a child.
‘It shall suspect where is no cause of fear;
It shall not fear where it should most mistrust;
It shall be merciful, and too severe,
And most deceiving when it seems most just;
Perverse it shall be, where it shows most toward,
Put fear to velour, courage to the coward.
‘It shall be cause of war and dire events,
And set dissension ‘twixt the son and sire;
Subject and servile to all discontents,
As dry combustious matter is to fire:
Sith in his prime Death doth my love destroy,
They that love best their love shall not enjoy.’
By this, the boy that by her side lay kill’d
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill’d,
A purple flower sprung up, chequer’d with white;
Resembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood
Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood.
She bows her head, the new-sprung flower to smell,
Comparing it to her Adonis’ breath;
And says within her bosom it shall dwell,
Since he himself is reft from her by death:
She drops the stalk, and in the breach appears
Green dropping sap, which she compares to tears.
‘Poor flower,’ quoth she, ‘this was thy father’s guise,
Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire,
For every little grief to wet his eyes:
To grow unto himself was his desire,
And so ‘tis shine; but know, it is as good
To wither in my breast as in his blood.
‘Here was thy father’s bed, here in my breast;
Thou art the next of blood, and ‘tis thy right:
Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy rest,
My throbbing heart shall rock thee day and night:
There shall not be one minute in an hour
Wherein I will not kiss my sweet love’s flower.’
Thus weary of the world, away she hies,
And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid
Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies
In her light chariot quickly is convey’d;
Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen
Means to immure herself and not be seen. |
Boris Johnson today warned British business it must stop 'mainlining' immigration as the UK quits the EU.
The Foreign Secretary said he was in favour of skilled foreign workers coming to the UK but said the Brexit vote was about 'control' over numbers to ensure British youngsters had a fair chance of work.
Mr Johnson said unlimited immigration from Europe for the past 25 years had left firms addicted to cheap labour from abroad.
Amid a growing row over when the Government should officially start the Brexit negotiations, Mr Johnson also said the process should be underway by May.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson today warned British business had to stop 'mainlining' immigration instead of investing in British workers
Any later and voters will be faced with electing a new group of MEPs in 2019 because Britain could still be a member of the EU.
Mr Johnson told the BBC's Andrew Marr: 'I want skilled and talented people to come to the UK if they want to fulfill their dreams in our country - I have no problem with that provided we have control.
'In the last figures we had, 333,000 people came net from around the world. That's a huge sum, 175,000 net from the EU, in an uncontrolled way.
'Most people in our country would say that is too high.'
He added: 'We have got to invest in our own young people, we have also got to build up the skills of this country.
'For 25 years UK business and industry have been mainlining immigration like a kind of drug without actually investing enough or caring enough about the skills and the training of young people in our country.'
Mr Johnson was slapped down this week by No 10 after insisting Article 50 - which sets out the rules for countries quitting the EU - should be invoked early in the new year.
Mrs May insisted the decision on timing would be hers and has repeatedly told EU officials Britain will not be rushed as it prepares for the two year negotiation period that will follow Article 50.
Interviewed by the BBC's Andrew Marr, Mr Johnson also said the Brexit negotiations should be underway before May to ensure voters are not forced to elect a new cohort of MEPs in 2019
Critics, led by former chancellor George Osborne, have urged Mrs May to delay until after French and German elections next year.
Mr Johnson today insisted the process would not be allowed to 'drag on'.
He said: 'The opportunity is to do a deal that would be very much in the interests not only of the UK but also for our friends and partners in the EU.
'What I am finding interesting talking to other countries is they are starting to see the opportunities from Brexit.'
Pressed again on timing, after former chancellor George Osborne called for a delay to the end of 2017, Mr Johnson said: 'If you think about it there are obviously euro elections coming down the track.
'I think people will be wondering if we want to send a fresh batch of UK Euro MPs to an institution we are going to be leaving.
'So let's get on with it, we are not going to let it drag on as the PM has rightly said.'
Theresa May has insisted Britain will not rush into invoking Article 50 of the EU treaties and made her position clear in talks this week with European Parliament president Martin Schulz, pictured
The Vote Leave champion refused to be drawn in the interview whether he had 'forgiven' or even spoken to Michael Gove, his former ally, since the Brexit aftermath.
Mr Gove was due to run Mr Johnson's leadership bid to succeed David Cameron at No 10 but stunned Westminster by dumping his colleague and making his own bid for power.
Mr Johnson refused to answer a series of questions on his relationship with Mr Gove but said: 'I am very, very happy to be doing the job I am doing.
'People want us to get on and deliver the agenda Theresa May and the new government have set out.'
Pressed again, Mr Johnson insisted: 'People, if I may say so, are probably more interested in the tragic plight of people in Aleppo than the microcosmographia of the Tory party infighting'.
Mr Johnson refused to comment on his relationship with Michael Gove, his former Vote Leave colleague who detonated his hopes for No 10 in the aftermath of the referendum
In another shot across Mrs May’s bows, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will suggest in a speech tomorrow that Britain should leave the single market entirely.
The prominent Brexiteer’s comments will come despite the fact the Government has not yet revealed whether it believes the UK should retain access to the market.
He will tell the World Trade Organisation that the UK should take its place as a full independent member, able to negotiate its own deals outside the EU.
At present, Britain is unable to strike free trade agreements with other nations because it is part of the EU’s ‘customs union’, which imposes common tariffs across the bloc. |
Theresa May is edging towards securing a new withdrawal settlement with the EU amid intense negotiations with both Brussels and her Northern Irish political partners.
While a deal on the first ‘withdrawal phase’ of Brexit negotiations was not confirmed on Thursday night, The Independent understands the UK is on the brink of securing broad approval for a final text.
In a sign of progress, officials scheduled European Council President Donald Tusk to make a statement on Friday morning, while Brussels confirmed Ms May had spoken to the European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker.
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Downing Street are unwilling to speak publicly about any progress until a deal is completely locked in, after being burnt by the Northern Irish DUP’s public torpedoing of her previous effort to secure a settlement. One UK Government source said: “We're not there yet.”
But sources close to Mr Tusk indicated he had agreed to a final text, something which prompted him to set up his statement on Friday.
Meanwhile, members of the European Parliament are also due to meet on Friday to discuss the matter.
Mr Juncker’s spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the Commission President had a telephone conversation with Ms May on Thursday evening and added that an early morning meeting was “possible”.
Shape Created with Sketch. Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Brexit: the deciders 1/8 European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty 2/8 French President Emmanuel Macron Getty 3/8 German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters 4/8 Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA 5/8 The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty 6/8 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images 7/8 Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA 8/8 After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA 1/8 European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty 2/8 French President Emmanuel Macron Getty 3/8 German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters 4/8 Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA 5/8 The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty 6/8 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images 7/8 Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA 8/8 After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA
He tweeted: “We are making progress but not yet fully there. Talks are continuing throughout the night.”
The Independent understands that Ms May’s Europe advisor Olly Robbins has been in constant contact with Sabine Weyand, who works for the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, to agree the final wording of the settlement – specifically around the vexed issue of what will happen to the Irish border.
Ms May had been hoping to make a new offer by Friday on the border to satisfy both Ireland and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her Government.
A mooted agreement between the UK and EU on divorce issues including the Irish border, which would allow talks to progress to the future trade relationship, was blocked on Monday by the DUP.
The party objected to plans for “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Republic to maintain a soft border between the two, arguing it would amount to the drawing of a new frontier with the UK mainland in the Irish Sea.
But as efforts to cement a withdrawal deal continued on Thursday, a senior Irish official said: “It is moving quite quickly at the moment. Negotiations are continuing.
“I think we are going to work over the next couple of hours with the UK Government to close this off. I say hours because I think we are very close.”
The DUP’s chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: “Discussions are ongoing.”
Pressure is mounting on Ms May to see that leaders of the EU 27 member states declare at a European Council summit on December 14 that “sufficient progress” has been made on withdrawal issues to pave the way for trade talks to begin.
If she cannot show that progress on trade is being made by Christmas, business chiefs are warning that companies will activate contingency plans that will cost Britain jobs.
Ms May’s own position will also be put under greater pressure, with rebels in her own party having stated that progress in talks is a key test for her continued leadership.
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Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) CEO said the operator is “not in the mood” to sell T-Mobile US, although he didn’t dismiss the possibility completely, especially in the case of changes in the US regulatory environment following the election of a new president, Reuters reported.
DT has a 65 per cent stake in T-Mobile US and has tried twice in the past five years to sell it, coming up against regulatory objections both times.
However, since then, the US operator has been on a strong upward trajectory: in Q3 2016 revenue surged 17 per cent to €8.28 billion with almost 2 million new customers. Some analysts believe T-Mobile US is DT’s “only opportunity to grow”, the Reuters report said.
According to CEO Tim Hoettges, speaking at a Morgan Stanley event: “We are not in the mood of selling the business. We are not in the mood of: ‘Oh where is the partner we need?'”.
“We are now open to how we could create something beyond our execution, which is creating value,” he said.
However, he also said that “with Trump, the regulatory environment might change. Everybody is expecting this. At least the chance is bigger than it was under the Democrats”.
“I am not afraid about whether a (pure) mobile player can survive in this environment. If there are any options, we are going to consider,” he added.
It should be noted that T-Mobile US’ total revenue is significantly higher than its parent’s domestic business. The German unit’s revenue (fixed as well as mobile) in Q3 was €5.6 billion, a decline of 0.8 per cent. |
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Summertime heat doesn’t only attract people to barbecues and the beach, it attracts pesky, party crashing flies as well.
One in particular — the green-fly — is out in force this year.
As CBS2’s Andrea Grymes reported, one Long Island town is using an innovative approach to trap the seasonal pest in its breeding grounds.
Normally, the last thing Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino would like a handful of is green head flies, or more commonly green flies.
The voracious summertime biters are no threat to anyone because they’re dead, after having been trapped inside a rather innocuous looking wooden box.
“Once they enter the trap they are unable to escape, and then they dehydrate,” Santino (R) said.
Hempstead Town has set up dozens of the green-fly boxes in their breeding grounds in the swampy areas of the Lido preserve.
The flies can enter the boxes from below, but are then trapped by the covering mesh screen.
Every summer, the female green-flies lay millions of eggs in the marsh, but to do so they need to feast on humans.
“They literally need a blood meal to produce more offspring,” Santino said.
Rob Humphreys knows it all too well since he likes to run through the preserve daily.
“You don’t know you’re getting bitten until you feel the pain. You look down, and there’s a nice little hole, blood coming out, and it swells up and it itches like crazy. I hate it,” he said.
The green flies will head anywhere they can find a human host, whether at the beach or poolside.
“In July and August, there’s no wind, and on a hot day and they’re all over the place,” Joseph Chiodi said.
Town managers said there is minimal cost to taxpayers since the wooden fly boxes can be built in-house a cost of $100 each.
Local gardener Kathryn Heneghan said she loves that there are no pesticides involved.
“I prefer that over any chemical treatment because I worry about my kids,” she said.
Town leaders said with sixty fly boxes, they can capture up to 150,000 green flies a day who will never get the chance to bug you.
It’s an approach that may be tried elsewhere, because green flies swarm coastal areas from New Jersey to New England. |
Trae Tha Truth is a national treasure. The Houston rapper was interviewed on Fox 26 today for his efforts in rescuing victims of Hurricane Harvey and he was riding in a boat to help out.
Trae, riding through the flood water, describes how he started saving people with the boat and assisting the fire department with friends to get to victims. When asked by a Fox 26 reporter why he was braving the elements, Trae gave an answer that showed his compassion and how his experience with the hurricane made him want to help others in need. "I felt helpless yesterday when I had to be rescued, so I know that feeling," he said.
Helping hurricane victims isn't the only way that Trae has been giving back this summer. This July, during his 10th annual Trae Day, the Houston rapper donated 75 scholarships to students in partnership with the Houston Public Library. In an interview with a local Houston ABC affiliate , Trae detailed why he gave away the scholarships. “We were trying to find a way to excite the people, because our reading rates are really low,” Trae said of his donation. “Sometimes you gotta give people that push to make them want to do better as a whole.”
He isn't the only rapper helping the victims of tropical storm Harvey either. Drake, Nicki Minaj and others in hip-hop are also taking concrete steps to aid the people of Houston.
Early this year, Trae dropped his album, Tha Truth Pt. 3 . Post Malone, Young Thug, Lil Durk, D.R.A.M., Maxo Kream, Tee Grizzley and Royce 5’9 all make appearances on the LP.
Trae is undoubtedly a hero for his city. Watch the video of Trae Tha Truth helping Hurricane Harvey victims below. |
Sen. Ray White, R-Bedford, has endorsed U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.
"Unlike the other candidates, Ron Paul has been singing the same tune for years – going back to his first term in Congress," said White, a first-term senator for District 9, which includes Bedford and Merrimack. "He has understood and tried to warn us for decades about the economic crisis we now face, and he is the only candidate who understands the gravity of the situation."
White said strict policies that target the "ballooning budget and fiscal irresponsibility" must be made to correct the course the country is on and if that can be done there might be an opportunity for economic recovery.
"Ron Paul's Plan to Restore America is that opportunity. No one else has put forward a plan to dig this nation out of debt and out of trouble in only three years, and only Ron Paul will do it without ransacking the security of seniors, veterans, and the people who have, unfortunately, come to depend on government programs in these tough times.
"The core of an American recovery must be fiscal responsibility from Day 1 of the new administration. And we can trust Ron Paul to deliver."
White, a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Consultant, specializes in employee benefits and financial planning. He announced late last month that , citing fairness to his family and business and the time committment required of a senator that keeps him away from those things.
District 9 serves White's hometown of Bedford as well as Merrimack, New Boston, Mont Vernon, Lyndeborough and Greenfield.
Other state lawmakers who have endorsed Paul include state Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Henniker, and Sen. Jim Forsythe, R-Strafford – Paul's state chairmen. |
Rebel fighters retreated on Sunday as advancing Syrian troops threatened to split them in two
Signs that the dogged resistance to the Syrian Army and Russian airforce in eastern Aleppo may be crumbling have started to appear as thousands of people fled to areas under government control, either due to starvation, the continued air assault or the advance of Syrian troops.
The rebel troops retreated on Sunday, faced by the risk of being split into two due to Syrian army advances.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights initially said about 400 people from the Masaken Hanano neighbourhood sought refuge after it was captured by pro-government forces on Saturday, and that an additional 30 families fled to Sheikh Maqsoud, which is under Kurdish control.
However, the numbers fleeing the Syrian government advance has risen sharply, as up to 3,000 fled through the day.
Syrian army recaptures part of rebel-held east Aleppo Read more
TV reports from Masaken Hanano on Sunday morning showed workers and soldiers clearing debris against a backdrop of bombed-out buildings on both sides of a wide avenue. Masaken Hanano was the first district the rebels took in the summer of 2012, leading to the division of the city into a rebel-held east and a government-controlled west.
It was also reported that the Syrian army had retaken Jabal Badro, suggesting it was on course to divide the Syrian rebel enclave at its narrowest point of Sakhour. Damascus claimed the rebel forces in the north of eastern Aleppo were in mass retreat to avoid being split and as many as 2,000 civilians had reached government-held territory in western Aleppo.
The Observatory said those fleeing had come from al-Haidariya, al-Shaar and Jabal Badro. It claimed the offensive, in its 13th day, had seen 219 civilians killed, but these numbers may well be a big underestimate due to the number of bodies trapped in rubble, and the lack of functioning hospitals.
Reuters quoted Yasser al-Yousef, from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki rebel group, as saying: “The revolutionary forces are reinforcing their defence lines on the edges of Hanano, steadfast in the defence of our people in Aleppo … But the planes have destroyed everything, stones, trees and people, in a systematic policy of destruction.”
It appears that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is planning to take Aleppo beforethe inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump in January, taking advantage of the political vacuum in the US and outgoing President Barack Obama’s refusal to become directly involved.
Trump is appointing national security advisers who are more willing to work with Russia to keep Bashar al-Assad as Syria’s president, focusing instead on driving out Islamic State.
The likely election of François Fillon as the leading rightwing French presidential candidate will also strengthen the diplomatic hand of Moscow since he is regarded as willing to work with Putin to reduce economic sanctions against Moscow.
Last-ditch diplomatic efforts by the UN peace envoy, Staffan de Mistura, in Aleppo have failed, and the UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland admitted last Thursday that food supplies were running low, with no plan B. He said rebel groups had accepted the terms for delivery of humanitarian aid, but no parallel agreement had come from Russia or Syrian officials.
The Russian defence ministry said the UN “did not have reliable information on alleged agreement of the ‘armed opposition’ to delivery of humanitarian aid. There are no names, evidence or documents, apart from Mr Egeland’s words”.
An estimated 250,000 people have been trapped in appalling conditions in Aleppo’s eastern districts since the government sealed its siege in late August. Many are now spending their days underground, as hospitals, schools and homes remain vulnerable to bombardment.
On the diplomatic front, a planned meeting in Paris called by the French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, has not been confirmed and there was near silence from the US Department of State.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, discussed with Putin the loss of four Turkish soldiers killed in northern Syria in a Syrian airforce strike, as well as the humanitarian crisis.
In the UK, 120 MPs including Michael Gove and Andrew Mitchell urged the government to air-drop humanitarian aid into Aleppo. |
PARIS (Reuters) - A French judge has ordered U.S. carrier Continental Airlines and five individuals to stand trial over the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people, a prosecutor’s statement said on Thursday.
Firemen try to extinguish the flames from the burning wreckage of a Air France Concorde which crashed in Gonesse near Paris Roissy airport July 25, 2007. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
The judge said the defendants, including the man who oversaw the development of the Franco-British supersonic airliner, would be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The Concorde crashed in flames minutes after take off from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport on July 25, 2000, killing all 109 on board and four people on the ground.
Investigations concluded that the plane caught fire after one of its tires was punctured by a small piece of metal that had fallen off a departing Continental flight, sending debris flying into the fuel tanks of the delta-winged plane.
Prosecutors say the metal strip had been incorrectly fitted to the Continental DC10 and was made of tough titanium metal, rather than regulation aluminum, which is softer and less likely to cause punctures.
Continental has denied responsibility for the crash and has said it would fight the charges.
Judges have issued an international arrest warrant for a welder named John Taylor, who worked for Continental at the time of the disaster, after he failed to appear for questioning. He and his supervisor, Stanley Ford, will both now stand trial.
Standing alongside them in the dock will be Henri Perrier, head of testing for Concorde before becoming director of the Concorde program, and Jacques Herubel, the plane’s chief engineer in the 1990s.
The fifth defendant was a former head of France’s civil aviation authority, Claude Frantzen.
A judicial report on the crash said the Concorde’s manufacturer Aerospatiale, now part of plane-maker EADS, had failed to correct its design after more than 70 incidents involving the plane’s tires occurred between 1979 and 2000.
Prosecutors say Frantzen was negligent because he was ultimately responsible for letting Concorde take to the skies and had not appreciated the fragility of the plane’s fuel tanks, which were strengthened only in the wake of the 2000 disaster.
The prosecutor’s statement said the Continental workers failed to follow normal procedures over repairs to the DC10. The prosecutor said Continental itself had been negligent over the maintenance of its fleet of DC10 aircraft.
Concorde’s two operators, Air France and British Airways, eventually took the plane out of service in 2003.
French officials said earlier this year that any trial would need massive organization and would probably not begin until late this year or early 2009. |
The defensive end, who broke his leg after playing in 10 games during the 2007 Super Bowl season, was optimistic this injury would subside with time and he could resume playing again this season.
The Kiwanuka move was made so the Giants could sign kick returner Will Blackmon.
Kiwanuka, 27, said he will remain with the Giants until his contract expires at the end of the season. Depending on what transpires with the collective bargaining agreement, Kiwanuka will be looking for a new contract and possibly an opportunity to start at defensive end. The Giants have starters Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck. Rookie Jason Pierre-Paul is also waiting for a chance.
"Like I said before, I felt like, given enough time, I could've made it back this season, but it's the nature of the business," Kiwanuka said in a statement. "The Giants had to move on, and I had to be OK with it. Regardless of what happens to me as an individual, I'm definitely still going to work with the Giants organization throughout the term of my contract."
It seemed inevitable Kiwanuka's season would end on IR. Kiwanuka hasn't played since the team's loss to Tennessee in the third week of the season.
He led the team in sacks through the first three games with four while thriving in Perry Fewell's new system at defensive end and linebacker. But days before the Giants' win over Chicago, he was diagnosed with a bulging disk in his neck, a similar injury to the one that ended Antonio Pierce's season and career.
Kiwanuka spent much of this past month seeing various doctors. It was after a recent visit to spine specialist Robert Watkins that Kiwanuka's injury was diagnosed as a herniated disk, instead of a bulging disk, meaning it had ruptured. But Kiwanuka said doctors told him his disk will heal on its own without surgery due to the slight degree of the herniation and the alignment of his spine. It just requires time.
"I want to avoid surgery," he said. "The consensus is that if I take the proper amount of time off, there is a very good chance that it'll heal on its own. That's what the goal is right now. If it doesn't happen, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Regardless of whether or not it requires surgery, I'll still be back by the opening of training camp."
Kiwanuka is one of Tom Coughlin's favorite players and the head coach said he wants to see the defensive end stay with the Giants next season. Kiwanuka has been one of the team's most selfless players. He switched positions from defensive end to linebacker and back to defensive end. He also played special teams in the past.
"We held out hope as long as we could," Coughlin said. "Finally, by consensus, the doctors came to this decision. You have to make the right choice and the decision was made that he could not play again this season. My concern is for Mathias. He loves the game, he loves to play, he's proven his versatility this year beyond any question. He's given great effort and he has proven that he is a team player. I feel badly for Mathias because I know how important playing the game of football is to him. Let's get him healthy, back on the field, playing for the New York Giants."
Now the Giants move on without their 2006 first-round pick, who was a valuable chess piece in Fewell's schemes. Umenyiora will have to continue his torrid pace. Since Kiwanuka has been out, Umenyiora has seven sacks and six forced fumbles.
"We had to change a little bit when Kiwi went out," Fewell said on Wednesday when asked about how much he had to change schematically without Kiwanuka. "Kiwi is a special kind of guy, so we looked around and we searched for some guys to take over those roles and we have some guys that can assume that role, but not play it like Kiwi plays it, so that's a special little deal."
The Giants have used three safeties on the field quite a bit and safety Deon Grant sometimes lines up at linebacker. Linebacker Keith Bulluck's recent return from a toe injury helps and Fewell will need Pierre-Paul, who was drafted in the first round as a luxury, to continue his progress. Pierre-Paul doesn't have a sack yet but he has impressed coaches with his play on defense and special teams.
"He is making progress for us and we want to get him more involved and he will become more involved," Fewell said. "It just depends on how much more he can handle and execute. So the more he can take on and execute, the more we'll give him. It's up to him."
Blackmon, who played the past four seasons for the Packers, will come in and immediately compete for the kick- and punt-returning duties. Darius Reynaud, who was acquired in the Sage Rosenfels preseason trade from Minnesota, has been a disappointment. Reynaud is averaging 18.4 yards per kick return and just 5.9 yards per punt return.
"Blackmon had a very good workout for us and showed that he has recovered nicely from a serious knee injury," Reese said of Kiwanuka's former Boston College teammate who played in just three games last year due to an ACL injury. "We expect him to get into the mix quickly on special teams. He has experience and production as a return specialist and cover specialist. He also has played both safety and corner, which gives us some flexibility there as well."
Kiwanuka is looking forward to reuniting with his college buddy.
"It's tough, because we were a couple of weeks away from playing together again," Kiwanuka said. "He got his papers from Green Bay, I was excited and heard there was a chance that he might come here, so I've been talking him up around the locker room. Man, he's a great player. I told everybody he's definitely the most talented and gifted athlete that I ever played football with, hands down. He made the switch from DB to wide receiver [in college] and didn't miss a beat, and obviously he is a very talented return guy, too. He can do it all."
Ohm Youngmisuk covers the Giants for ESPNNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter |
Liquid`Snute: Because it Just Makes Sense Text by Liquid`Nazgul Because It Just Makes Jens
It's been satisfying to read the speculation about Snute joining Liquid. I thought that Snute and Liquid were a perfect match, and it was great to see that so many people agreed. It means that we've done a good job showing our fans what kind of vision we have for our players, and that Snute has done a great job in showing everyone the personality that was so attractive to us. It was a no brainer that we were interested in Snute as a Liquid player, and I'm very happy to make it official.
Snute lives up to what I want my players to stand for. He's extremely down to earth, thoughtful, and caring about his fans. He also cares a lot about his position as a professional gamer, and tries to present himself and his industry in a positive manner.
Although I'd love to pick up a non-Korean Terran / Protoss player who's right for Liquid - and I'm sure you all have your favorites among them - for me Snute is the perfect pickup even if it makes us a little Zerg heavy. With how critical Liquid is about its recruits, when the perfect player and person comes along, race can only have a limited impact in the decision. For me it is more important for Snute's character to fit Liquid than his race. There are very few players out there with the skill, potential, and personality to join Liquid, and I wasn't going to let this opportunity get away.
We had been talking to Snute for some time now, and were close to a deal before HomeStory Cup VI. Winning HSC just reaffirmed what we already knew about his skill. There's a popular impression that I don't want to recruit tournament winners, and focus on up and coming players instead. Although I love to be able to scout lesser known players and help them develop into stars on Liquid, it's not an approach I'm stuck with. Just like with race, that's only one of the many factors that end up contributing to a decision. Snute has so much ahead of him still, and we would love to help him achieve all that he can.
Snute will travel to Poland to play his first tournament as a Liquid player at IEM Katowice. After that... One of the things drew Snute to Liquid was that we both wanted him to spend a period in Korea for training. The details are still to be determined, but we will definitely make it happen at some point this year. You can count on seeing Snute in Korea in 2013, and hopefully in the Proleague as well!
Liquid did amazing things in 2012, and we're on pace to do the same in 2013. Welcome to the team, Liquid`Snute.
- Liquid`Nazgul
Connect to Liquid`Snute
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Interview with Liquid`Snute
This is a big day for Liquid. We couldn't be happier to announce the first Norwegian since Liquid`Drone back in 2002.
We sat down to talk to him about his views on practice, StarCraft, and how his life has been since he dedicated himself to becoming a professional gamer one year ago.
Welcome! Could you introduce yourself?
Hi! My name is Jens, I'm 22 years old and have been playing SC2 full-time for one year. I used to be studying music technology at the university in Trondheim, but I quit and became a pro-gamer instead.
Tell us about your gaming experience before starcraft. There might be some people who don't know of your achievements!
Hehe ^^ I used to compete a lot in dance dance revolution, also known as machine dance, and was the Norwegian champion way back somewhere around 2004.
So how did you get into StarCraft?
A friend of mine in elementary school had an older brother that played Brood War, so my friend and I had small LANs where we'd play games like Dark Colony and Brood War. Eventually we introduced it to the boys and girls at school and it became the flavor of the month. At some point there were like fifteen 11year old boys and girls playing brood war and meeting online with dialup modem haha. It was rather casual though. I kept on playing casually for a few years a bit on and off, but quit completely eventually.
In 2011 you started to stream and eventually you would achieve some results in WCG and qualify for ESWC. What made you start to get competetive?
I think what triggered it for me was going on a vacation to Korea with my friend Richard 'GLRiChY', where we played some on iCCup before the release of SC2. I got smashed left and right and some korean BM'd me with a simple line: "You need effort". After that trip to Korea I got a bit of my competetive drive back.
I didn't start playing SC2 right away, but picked it up after a month or so. As some people know from early on I didn't play 1v1, but 2v2 with my teammate RiChY and we would compete together. He always had high expectations and I'd often be holding the team back, so it was natural that I wanted to improve to be a better teammate and not make him upset! xD
However, what sparked my drive to win in 1v1 was definitely the Norwegian LANs and the scene we had in Norway early on. There were so many players that were far better than me, so I did everything I could to beat them. Eventually, I did - just barely - and I qualified for WCG and ESWC where I'd face even greater challenges. I was already quite pumped after winning 3 norwegian LANs in a row but I faced even more resistance abroad. That's when the competetive drive kicked in once more.
Your stream gained what we might call a 'cult following'. Why do you think it became so popular, especially being unfeatured? (Sorry! ^^)
Probably because of the commentary and how I used to play back then, my style would always revolve around mass drops, multitasking, baneling bombs, infestor shenanigans, gold bases, baneling busts, mutalisks, 14/14-speedling baneling pressure/allins/micro in ZvZ, things that are really really fun to watch. Lots of explosions. My IRC channel was also a nice place to chill and hang out and talk to people since there were so few, but consistent viewers, so it was very cozy.
Norway isn't known for its gaming scene, while Sweden is a global powerhouse, and Denmark has some strong players in other types of games. Any theories about why Norway seems to have less of an interest in esports?
You can see the difference from Norway to Sweden in our largest competitions: DreamHack and The Gathering. DreamHack puts a lot of effort into SC2. The Gathering hosted a good competition in 2012, but it was not made into mainstage material. This year, there will be little to none focus on ESPORTS at all at TG.
Spending massive amounts of time playing games is unfortunately still not commonly accepted in Norway. Parents are for the most part negative towards video games because of a lot of negative articles about gaming in mainstream media. Receiving support and acceptance from those around you is tremendously important when you want to dedicate a lot of time to something and get good at it, so I hope that the public opinion of gaming in Norway is going to change for the better.
I think Norway has some interest in esports right now, but more from a spectator side. There are a lot of people going to barcrafts and following international SC2 in their spare time. People love to watch DreamHack and the GSL, but little attention is given to the Norwegian scene, because we don't have any truly major/premier events.You can see the difference from Norway to Sweden in our largest competitions: DreamHack and The Gathering. DreamHack puts a lot of effort into SC2. The Gathering hosted a good competition in 2012, but it was not made into mainstage material. This year, there will be little to none focus on ESPORTS at all at TG.Spending massive amounts of time playing games is unfortunately still not commonly accepted in Norway. Parents are for the most part negative towards video games because of a lot of negative articles about gaming in mainstream media. Receiving support and acceptance from those around you is tremendously important when you want to dedicate a lot of time to something and get good at it, so I hope that the public opinion of gaming in Norway is going to change for the better.
Do you feel extra weight as the most successful Norwegian? Even if you now have more help (or challengers) than you might have a year ago?
I used to, in Norwegian competitions. When I was the only one playing full time and dedicating a lot to it, I'd often be nervous and afraid of losing to part-time players. However, that's exactly what happened quite a few times, at WCS for example. Fortunately I've matured and shifted away from that negative mindset. As long as I do my best to win, it doesn't matter. When it comes to the international scene I don't feel any added pressure.
You made the decision to become a full-time pro at the start of 2012. What prompted you to make that decision?
It was mostly about a gradual decline of interest in studying. I also noticed that I couldn't travel much and study at the same time due to strict absence rules at the uni. After winning the autumn LANs and travelling to WCG and ESWC, I realized I had a greater desire to travel and live as a pro-gamer.
I don't want to regret anything and I spent a lot of time thinking about going full-time. I decided that it would be the best time for me to just quit the studies and enjoy life in solitude practicing and streaming from the mancave in Trondheim and then do everything in my power to improve and attend competitions.
When was the first time you thought; "I might be good enough to keep doing this"?
Definitely after the Norwegian 2011 autumn LAN season and after attending WCG2011. After I made my choice, I never had any doubts. I wanted to play full time for one year to see what it'd be like. I constantly pushed my own limits and slowly but surely I managed to catch up to people I previously considered unbeatable to me. I had my plans set for 2012, no looking back, I just kept practicing focusing on the tasks ahead.
What did your family think? What were the challenges getting started?
My parents were skeptical at first. They wanted me to study. But reasoning goes a long way and most of all parents want you to be happy with what you do in life, so eventually my parents came to accept that it was what I wished for. To me there would be little point in going to University if I wasn't motivated for it.
As for how it is to get started ... it's a bit different. I had just moved to a new city, knew only a few people, and just quit uni before making any close friends. The result was spending months in solitude, sometimes I'd go days without talking to people in person and sometimes it would be a bit awkward to interact with people again. It's more of a funny thing though. Even if I was mostly alone I was happy and I had good flatmates to talk to.
There were very few challenges getting started. Playing full-time from an apartment is a very simple and peaceful existence. I did well in planning out my financial situation carefully beforehand and it all worked out. I didn't expect to make big money to begin with. When you start off as a pro-gamer it's all about putting yourself in a stable and comfortable position where you can let go and give it your all for a given time and then re-evaluate.
Throughout the first half of 2012, you only achieved one notable result, winning the ONOG Invitational. Did you ever think of quitting?
No. I had so many things going on and I always had competitions to look forward to, I wanted to do my best in every one of them. While I didn't show top placings it was simply because I was not supposed to do so yet. Backing down was never an option to me despite the lack of notable results.
You are known among your stream viewers for your work ethic, can you describe the practice you put in throughout 2012?
I guess it would all sum up to self-diagnostics, self-observation and targetted elimination of critical errors and weaknesses while slowly building a stronger fundamental understanding of the game. In the beginning of the year I'd judge myself, point out mistakes, find the biggest one of them and eliminate them one at a time. It was a very simple, meticilous, but also slow approach.
At the start of 2012 I would still win games with tricks, mindgames, opponent-tailored strategies, all-ins and blind counters, abusing multitasking and micro rather than focusing on strong fundamental understandings of the matchups. It gave me a bit of success, but I could also not keep up in a lot of situations. I remained open to things, I knew that I had a lot to learn, and I tried my best to understand the game better. It took a very long time, but I managed to readjust and improve. Especially the time in the Ministry of Win and Korea afterwards added to my skill in the areas I lacked.
The part that changed the most in the later parts of 2012 was the mental aspect which truly allowed me to take advantage of the accumulated experience. I've always been very self-judgemental. In practice it would encourage me and act as a reminder, but it also backfired on my self-esteem. What we could see in the end of the year was me overcoming mental obstacles that had been troubling me at international LANs this year.
Apart from practicing hard I want to be friendly, respectful and just trying to learn from my mistakes. Every time I lose it's because of myself and while it's rough it's also encouraging. Sometimes it's difficult to stay positive, but I have such a strong practice flow that's been rolling for months and months, nothing can really stop me from wanting to practice.
What did you find to be the most effective practice? Was there any period where something really flipped a switch?
I really would like to say something sensationalist here but the simple truth based on what I've observed is that my improvement has been pretty much constant throughout the year regardless of where I've been. There have been marginal differences, but a lot can also be attributed to overcoming certain obstacles that give you a certain boost and it's difficult to know for sure what's up. If there was anything that I perceived as a big switch, it would be my confidence boost after returning from Korea. But to me it seems like natural development and practice paying off over time, I don't think there's anything magical to it.
Your style has changed a bit over time, and it usually hasn't had much to do with what's popular at the time. How do you describe your approach to strategy?
In the beginning of the year I'd usually do fast-paced strategies that were fun to use more than effective, and that trait is still somewhat with me today. But back when I practiced in the MoW I developed a better diagnostics system which helped me change my style to avoid losing trends and strategies so that I could win more games.
My approach to strategy today is still similar to what it was before, it's just more well-rounded and I don't take as many risks as I used to. I still have the approach where I'll strike at someone if I spot a weakness. You can still see me use Nydus worms, unorthodox timings and things that generally are perceived as losing moves. I'm a very dangerous opponent in that regard. Even if I'm not taking risks and gambles as often as I used to, it's still something that I am capable of.
I think my default approach is rather simple: Create a winning pattern, attempt to shut down winning patterns from my opponent, strike unexpected timings, and take advantage of leads to finish off my opponent swiftly. Although my strategies vary as well.
You were one of the pioneers of mass infestor...
Kind of, yes. I had some really strong infestor harassment and deadly tactics. But I don't think people would think of me as a pioneer... only a few people would watch me play back then and I'm not sure if it even inspired anyone but my few stream viewers.
... and now you're not a fan of them? How come?
Actually I like the infestor a lot still, it's very much needed to stay in the game over time. It's more the thing about rushing to the ZvP endgame with broodlord, infestor and spine that is a bit boring. Ling-Infestor used to be one of my favorite combos, it was so strong and fun to play. Neural nerf made it less viable though. It is good that the nerf happened because ling infestor was absolutely ridicilous vs protoss. Now it's not as powerful of an option anymore and less tempting to use, which is a bit unfortunate since it's a very fun style to play. Infestors are still fun to use vs Terran, they are almost always stronger than the Mutalisk. Both are fun to use and viable options.
ZvZ-wise the last GSL finals was all about the infestor, droning up to comfort zone and making roaches. It seems like a lot of modern euro ZvZ revolves around pure roach now though. I think that the infestor is a neccessity to ZvZ in theory, but close map tension makes it a bit difficult sometimes. I've been able to defeat a lot of people using mass roach against greedy infestor play, but it can go both ways.
You were also a pioneer of a particularly imbalanced build on Antiga, care to explain?
Haha, yes ;D I figured that it was possible to take the gold base first vs Protoss and follow it up with a drone transfer from main to gold and abuse a baneling bust timing right before Forge FE Warpgate tech would finish. It was a lot of fun and I am happy that I hopefully contributed to tournaments removing gold bases from their map pools, that's pretty much what I wanted to accomplish with abusing that strategy for weeks on ladder and in an official tournament qualifier. I want to apologize to the protoss players that had to experience it for weeks..
How do you characterize the way you play now? It's not exactly 'standard' anyway. ^^
I don't know. I hear from my colleagues that my style is difficult to play against and that it's not all turtly and stuff, but I still feel like I play rather standard with the one exception of not going up to hive tech all that fast. I'm not doing nearly as many multitasking taxing things and crazy strategies as I used to, I'm far less creative than I used to be, so to me I feel very plain compared to what I used to be. But I'm happy to hear that!
You've had some solid results in the past few months, but your big breakthrough seems to have been Homestory Cup. What was the key to your incredible winning run there?
I'm slowly improving month by month, and in every month I have some fluctuations in shape. I was in good shape at HSC and I had a lot of confidence thanks to my experience, my recent offline tournament results and also the people close to me supporting me so much. Special thanks to my girlfriend.
Where was there room for improvement?
I lost two matches to Stephano. I did a lot of things right but I should focus more on getting my own transitions right. I feel like I improvised a bit more than I should have and it wasn't as crispy as I wanted it to be. With added confidence and preparation, I'll do better. I also need to improve my scouting and not take too many risks and beware of overdroning. The other thing I need to work on is splitting my army and setting up defensive positions more swiftly. Those are the few things I can think of right now.
What are your goals for 2013?
In 2013 I want to become more consistent as a top Euro zerg, if not the best foreigner. I also want to go to Korea and do well for my team. Most of all, I want to give SC2 my all in every moment of practice and work on my attention management and thinking pattern in-game.
Aside from that, exercise more, especially strengthen the back and avoid the typical moderate stress/office pains that I have now. I don't want to experience wrist problems either, so I will bear that in mind while practicing and stretch well. I also started sleeping fewer hours than I used to because I'd oversleep a lot and it takes time and energy away from practice and life.
Liquid is only your second professional team, what brought you to join TL?
I knew that if I was going to join another team it would have to be one of the very best. I played for GamersLeague for over a year and I grew very attatched to them. At the same time I wanted to make sure that I could have the best opportunities available for me to grow as a player. I knew that Liquid would provide me with the opportunities to compete with the very best and be a reliable and encouraging team.
What do you think you can bring to Liquid, and what can Liquid bring to you?
I want to be a great teammate and practice partner. I want to improve and Liquid will bring me plenty of opportunities to practice and prove myself as a competitor. I can also represent the team in Dance Dance Revolution-battles against other SC2 teams if it's ever needed T_T..
What does the Liquid name mean to you?
To me, Liquid has been what the SC2 community is gathered all around and what the community is cheering for, a friendly and mannered team with a strong fighting spirit. I'm very happy to be on the team that is so revered within the community.
As a recent Korean-destroyer, we have to ask you about the difference between Koreans and foreigners. Why do you feel that Koreans have the edge, and how were you able to take it back?
I think there are more Koreans putting a lot of effort into the game than there are foreigners, they also live and support each other in team houses. Most foreigners are hesitant about leaving home. Some of the Koreans also have a lot of experience from competitive Brood War, so that counts too. I was able to take back a bit of the edge because I went full-time and practiced hard.
Thanks so much! Any final words?
Thanks for reading this interview and shoutouts to everyone who's been cheering me on, your support is invaluable. Last year was great but this one will be even better! I'll do my best to show you more great games from all across the world and I'll practice a lot on stream. Don't miss it! Thanks to Liquid for the very warm welcome - it's an honor to be on the team. I also want to show my appreciation to TL's sponsors, The Little App Factory, Razer, Twitch and Barracuda Networks. Thank you!
It's been satisfying to read the speculation about Snute joining Liquid. I thought that Snute and Liquid were a perfect match, and it was great to see that so many people agreed. It means that we've done a good job showing our fans what kind of vision we have for our players, and that Snute has done a great job in showing everyone the personality that was so attractive to us. It was a no brainer that we were interested in Snute as a Liquid player, and I'm very happy to make it official.Snute lives up to what I want my players to stand for. He's extremely down to earth, thoughtful, and caring about his fans. He also cares a lot about his position as a professional gamer, and tries to present himself and his industry in a positive manner.Although I'd love to pick up a non-Korean Terran / Protoss player who's right for Liquid - and I'm sure you all have your favorites among them - for me Snute is the perfect pickup even if it makes us a little Zerg heavy. With how critical Liquid is about its recruits, when the perfect player and person comes along, race can only have a limited impact in the decision. For me it is more important for Snute's character to fit Liquid than his race. There are very few players out there with the skill, potential, and personality to join Liquid, and I wasn't going to let this opportunity get away.We had been talking to Snute for some time now, and were close to a deal before HomeStory Cup VI. Winning HSC just reaffirmed what we already knew about his skill. There's a popular impression that I don't want to recruit tournament winners, and focus on up and coming players instead. Although I love to be able to scout lesser known players and help them develop into stars on Liquid, it's not an approach I'm stuck with. Just like with race, that's only one of the many factors that end up contributing to a decision. Snute has so much ahead of him still, and we would love to help him achieve all that he can.Snute will travel to Poland to play his first tournament as a Liquid player at IEM Katowice. After that... One of the things drew Snute to Liquid was that we both wanted him to spend a period in Korea for training. The details are still to be determined, but we will definitely make it happen at some point this year. You can count on seeing Snute in Korea in 2013, and hopefully in the Proleague as well!Liquid did amazing things in 2012, and we're on pace to do the same in 2013. Welcome to the team, Liquid`Snute. Administrator |
If you have Cherophobia, you suffer from fear of gaiety or happiness or fun. You literally have an aversion to happiness. People with Cherophobia believe that if they become happy, they are inviting something negative in their lives. The word Cherophobia is derived from Greek charo which denotes Joy and phobos which is deep aversion or fear. Needless to say that, a person with Cherophobia is unable to live life fully and appreciate all that it has to offer. Their phobia interferes significantly with their day-to-day life.
Causes of Cherophobia
Cherophobia is a specific phobia. It may or may not have one definite cause. Several factors can play a role in it:
An incident in the past, particularly in childhood . As a child, the individual might have experienced great joy or happiness only to be followed by a traumatic incidence such as death of a near or dear one.
. As a child, the individual might have experienced great joy or happiness only to be followed by a traumatic incidence such as death of a near or dear one. Phobia is also a learned response . A parent or caregiver or an older sibling might caution the individual against being too happy as it ‘invites bad luck’. Worried and anxious parents can also create an environment which can influence the phobic.
. A parent or caregiver or an older sibling might caution the individual against being too happy as it ‘invites bad luck’. Worried and anxious parents can also create an environment which can influence the phobic. Genes also play an important role-some people are simply more susceptible to acquiring phobias like this one.
also play an important role-some people are simply more susceptible to acquiring phobias like this one. Panic attacks in the past upon being happy could have led to an embarrassing situation for the phobic. The individual’s mind then learns to create even more anxiety about happiness/or being a joyful situation again.
for the phobic. The individual’s mind then learns to create even more anxiety about happiness/or being a joyful situation again. Excess stress can lead to anxiety and depression and over the long term could cause the individual to become extremely fearful about being happy. This leads to phobia.
If you are looking to overcome your intense fear of happiness phobia, then it is helpful to try and work out its cause. Sometimes though, there is no simple explanation for it. Avoiding happy situations will only make the fear worse. So it is best to face the object of your fears, in this case, becoming happy.
Loading How afraid are you? Thank you for voting You have already voted on this poll! Please select an option! Not afraid at all
A little afraid
Somewhat afraid
Very afraid
Symptoms of Fear of Happiness Phobia
As with all other phobias, the fear of happiness can produce different symptoms in different people. In severe cases, even thinking about happiness or joy can trigger some or all of the following symptoms:
Dizziness, fainting spells
Pounding heart/ Accelerated heartbeat
Shivering, trembling
Hot or cold flushes
Being unable to breathe-feeling of choking
Numbness or tingling sensation
Feeling disconnected with reality
Thoughts of death or dying
Tightness in chest
Nausea or other gastrointestinal distress.
In patients with extreme Cherophobia, the fear can lead to disabling anxiety. The patient even starts to avoid certain situations, people or places which naturally impacts his/her normal routine. If the phobia symptoms last for more than 6 months, it is very important to seek medical help.
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Above 65
Self help for Cherophobia
Self help is the best way of overcoming any phobia, though you can also seek help of professionals. The key is to learn to manage anxiety and panic when faced with the thought of becoming happy. Many relaxation techniques are proven to help one achieve control over anxiety: deep breathing, meditation are some of them.
Mindfulness is another way of overcoming Cherophobia. When you are mindful and completely in the present moment, you naturally become free of fear which usually comes when you think thoughts of the future or about trauma of the past. The easiest way to become mindful is to bring your attention to your breath. Take a few deep breaths when you start feeling anxious. Also learn to take each day and every moment as it comes. This will prevent excess worrying and anxiety.
Online and offline support groups can also help. When you talk to people and share your fears with others, you feel comforted with the thought that you are not alone.
It also helps to read and educate yourself about your fear. Many self help books are available and they are based on principles of CBT or Cognitive Behavior Therapy which is a proven treatment for many kinds of phobias.
Professional help for Fear of Happiness
If the above self-help techniques do not show results, it is important that you seek help of a professional. You can initially approach your General Practitioner who can refer you to a specialist dealing with phobias. CBT or cognitive behavior therapy is a proven technique to overcome specific phobias like Cherophobia. It aims to identify connections between thoughts, behaviors and feelings. The therapist can help you learn skills to manage your thought patterns that trigger the symptoms of the phobia. Another useful therapy for fear of happiness phobia is Hypnotherapy. You must seek help of a trained hypnotherapist for this treatment. In extreme cases, you may be given drugs (tranquilizers or antidepressants) to manage your anxiety or severe panic attacks. Drug therapy should always be the last resort as most anxiety medicines are known to have severe side effects.
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Friends and family members of the individual also play an important role; they should be supportive and sympathetic to the individual.
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The ratings for last night’s Supergirl premiere were, fittingly, very super.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the series set “a fall new series record of 14 million viewers and a 3.2 rating among adults 18–49.” Supergirl was the second-highest-rated series on TV last night, following The Big Bang Theory.
TV Guide’s Michael Schneider writes that, of the series’ teen viewers, more were male than female:
Interesting stat: #Supergirl did better with male teens (1.7) than female teens (1.4). Either way, No. 1 b’cast show with teens (1.6) Monday — Michael Schneider (@franklinavenue) October 27, 2015
Although it remains to be seen if Supergirl‘s ratings will continue to soar up, up, and away as the series progresses, the excitement over the premiere, despite (or perhaps because?) of the pilot leak back in May, seems to me to indicate an appetite for more female-focused shows like this one.
It’s worth noting that the Jaimie Alexander-starring Blindspot, another lady-led genre show, is also one of the highest-rated series of the fall.
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +? |
Not everything that happens in a neighborhood will automatically pop up in 140 characters or fewer. Sex crimes were excluded, on the theory that Web attention could discourage people from reporting a rape or sexual assault, and domestic violence cases will remain off the Twitter list as well for similar reasons. Drawing attention to a private matter and alerting neighbors, department officials said, could make things worse for the victim.
The reports are also structured with an automatic one-hour delay, aimed at preventing people from learning about an investigation in progress and swarming over to gawk and perhaps interfere.
“This is trailblazing stuff,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. “It shows a willingness I haven’t seen in large supply to really affirmatively make available, warts and all, a clear picture to people of what’s going on.”
But Professor O’Donnell, a former New York City police officer and prosecutor, said he thought there could be unintended consequences. Increased awareness of local crime, he said, could lead people to a greater feeling of vulnerability or to the conclusion that the police are not resolving the local crime problem — even if it is a problem they might not have been aware of had the beat-tweet not informed them.
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The Seattle police have reasons to want to appear forthcoming. The department is in the middle of an internal overhaul as well as a court-directed settlement with federal prosecutors prompted by investigations that found a pattern of misconduct, including excessive force and ethnic and racial insensitivity. The Twitter program is one of 20 initiatives in 20 months announced this year by Mayor Mike McGinn — specifically No. 17, to “provide better information to the public.”
But will residents really want the minutiae of daily police life popping up on their smartphones or other devices? Police officials are not sure, but they say that if it lifts the veil even a bit about what they do, it could lead to more understanding of the rhythms — and sometimes the tedium — of their work.
Consider the “accident investigation” at 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Barton Street reported at 4:01 p.m. last Wednesday. Sounds as if it could be pretty dramatic, right? Officer Scott Luckie, a four-year veteran with the department, thought so, too. The radio dispatcher said a bicyclist and a car were involved, with possible injuries. So he responded with lights and siren, only to find a man sitting on the curb, unhurt, his bicycle undamaged, more angry than anything else, that a driver had cut him off on a corner.
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“I was scared to death,” the bicyclist said.
He and the other responding officers milled around a bit, made sure the bike and biker were O.K., and drove away.
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“A slow day is a good day — it means people aren’t out being stupid,” Officer Luckie said, back behind the wheel.
Critics who track social media trends say an automated community bulletin board like Seattle’s will certainly be fast and cost-effective. But a system run by computers also has the drawback of, well, being run by computers.
If a person responds to a local beat post, say, asking about an incident, or volunteering that he might have important information about a crime, the reply might well be missed. The automated posting system will not be regularly monitored, a spokesman for the department said, because there are so many beats.
The department’s main Twitter site, though, is run by real people, and feedback there about the project has ranged from the enthusiastic to the head-scratching. A resident asked: Who’s doing the posts? Robots, the department responded. Well, not really. “Technically, our computer dispatch system, but robots sounds more exciting,” the department’s reply said.
One follower of the new beats, John Eddy, said he liked the truncated computer-speak of some of the posts. “ ‘Urinating in pub’ is my favorite so far,” he wrote on his own Twitter account.
One law enforcement media expert, Capt. Mike Parker, who oversees the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s sprawling public communications system, said he thought the deeper impact of Seattle’s program could be the message it sends to other police agencies, which he said are in many cases timid or uncertain about how to use the new social media tools.
“It gives confidence to other police leaders as well that it’s O.K. to do that,” he said.
Twitter itself, meanwhile, was suspicious of the idea. The project was delayed for several weeks after Twitter closed down 18 of the Police Department’s new accounts. Lots of new Twitter addresses popping up all at once apparently raised red flags that a spammer might be setting up shop. The crime beat feeds were thus delayed... to prevent a potential crime. |
Final Fantasy: Memory of Heroes is a book consisting of three short stories written by Umemura Takashi, each a retelling of one of the three first Final Fantasy games. It was released on 31st October 2012.[1]
The four Warriors of Light from the original Final Fantasy game are named in the novelization:
Zest, the Fighter
Sauber, the Thief
Floe, the White Mage
Daewoo, the Black Mage
Contents show]
Story Edit
The four Warriors of Light awaken in a field not knowing who they are, where they're from and what they're doing there. Each bears a crystal shard, and they know they can rely on each other. The group decides to head for the nearest human habitation, which turns out to be the city of Cornelia, where they are identified as the Warriors of Light and take on the task to defeat the rogue knight Garland and save Princess Sarah.
After doing so the four are advised to head where the earth is dying. They eventually take control of a ship and reach Melmond. They defeat the Vampire, and discover that more must be done to heal the land. They find Lich by the Earth Crystal who is defeated and the Earth Crystal regains its light. It tells the Warriors that they must bring back the light of the three other crystals as well.
The next destination is Crescent Lake, where the Warriors of Light receive advice from the Circle of Sages. They head to Mount Gulg, take down Marilith, and return the light of the Fire Crystal. Discouraged by the task ahead, they nevertheless unearth an ancient airship with a stone found by the Fire Crystal, and on their way north encounter a huge dragon in the skies.
The dragon presents them a task: to bring proof of their courage from the Citadel of Trials in exchange for more strength to complete their journey. The Warriors succeed, and emboldened by their success, reach Onrac. The city at first offers them nothing, but a strange girl asks if they are going to save the mermaids. After some hesitation, the Warriors agree to follow her, and the girl guides them to a huge barrel they can use to travel to the temple where the Water Crystal lies, the oxyale needed to breathe underwater, and instructions to save the crystal so that the mermaids may live.
Despite their doubts the Warriors soon discover that mermaids do in fact live in the temple, and that in its deepest parts lives Kraken, guarding the crystal. The Warriors head on, chop Kraken to pieces and return the light of the Water Crystal.
Onwards on their journey, the Warriors end up in the town of Lufenia whose people used to rule the skies where the Wind Crystal lies. The Lufenians guide them to the Mirage Tower that was used in ancient times to reach the Flying Fortress they used to live in. The Warriors climb the tower and encounter its guardian robots who have been waiting for a challenger for Tiamat ever since the Lufenians left the fortress.
The robots show the Warriors recorded events of the day the fortress was evacuated by Cid, and activate the teleporter so they can head for the fortress themselves. The Warriors use it, and soon encounter Tiamat. The many-headed dragon is not an easy opponent but it eventually goes down, and the Wind Crystal regains its light. Instead of telling them that their job is done, the crystal urges the Warriors of Light to vanquish darkness from the world.
Stumped, the Warriors exit the fortress and end up at Crescent Lake whose sages guide them to the Chaos Shrine where they find a portal that takes them through time to the shrine 2,000 years in the past. The past world is bright and almost hurts their eyes. At the entrance, the Warriors find the four Chaoses they defeated. Both sides are confused, with the Chaoses accusing the Warriors of Light of having come to destroy the era of light, while the Warriors accuse the Chaoses of plotting to destroy the world.
Garland enters and reveals himself to be the mastermind behind everything, and absorbs the four Chaoses, becoming monster-shaped himself. His powers are unimaginable, and the Warriors are soon defeated. Zest, the warrior, refuses to lose. He rises up and calls for power. The crystal shards respond to his call and form a multi-elemental sword of light, and he defeats Chaos with it.
The Warriors slumber in the light. Before losing consciousness, Zest wishes the four of them the best in their new adventures together.
Destiny must never be left to chance, no one knows what the future holds except the Wild Rose.
A world of light, and a world of darkness, joining forces to stop the Cloud destroying the land.
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This is the only time the original Four Warriors of Light are given names.
Each Fiend has a unique, and in some cases, even graphic death. |
Anyone who mentions the name of the French president around members of Germany's governing coalition at the moment can expect to see plenty of irritated faces. Dubbed the "French general," Nicolas Sarkozy has already annoyed members of Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and their coalition partner, the business-friendly Free Democrats, by not consulting anyone when he sent his fighter jets to patrol the skies over Libya. Didn't the French president once allow "Brother Colonel" Moammar Gadhafi to pitch his Bedouin tent in Paris, they ask? Perhaps, they add, Monsieur Sarkozy wants that little snippet of information to be quickly forgotten -- along with his cosy relationships with other North African despots. Oh, and he is facing elections next year, as well: A determined military operation to defend human rights might do no harm in that respect.
There are not many people in Berlin who have good things to say about the country's western neighbor at the moment, despite the high value that is normally attached to good Franco-German relations. The military operation against the Libyan dictator has put a spanner in those particular works.
The German government considers the military action a mistake, hastily launched without a proper plan. The lack of preparation is, however, compensated for with plenty of rhetoric. France is determined to assume its "role in the face of history," Sarkozy declared. And he went further, cleverly portraying Germany as occupying an outsider role alongside China and Russia. And now Paris also wants to downgrade NATO to the role of a helper rather than giving it command of the operation.
The Paris leadership is getting on the nerves of many in Berlin. The feeling is so strong that FPD floor leader Birgit Homburger made her anger clear on Wednesday: "I cannot see how we can be criticized by those who go it alone themselves."
'Our Relationship Is Markedly Colder'
But the animosity is currently mutual. The French are disappointed with the German abstention on the Libya resolution in the UN Security Council. The Le Monde newspaper said the German government was "lacking solidarity or any maturity." Germany was giving the impression of being a freeloader who wanted to "harvest the fruits of the determination shown by the French, British and American allies without getting their hands dirty."
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was more cautious with his words. "We would have wished that Germany would join us," he said. Other, anonymous sources, however, were far more explicit. "Angela Merkel will have to pay for this for a very long time," a French diplomat was quoted as saying by the newspaper Le Parisien. "Even if they receive the support of their own public, their international image will suffer, and our relationship is getting markedly colder." Le Figaro also quoted a disgruntled high-ranking French diplomat, who described Berlin's stance as "a big mistake which will cost Germany dearly in political terms." The newspaper spoke of a "severe blow to the Franco-German friendship."
Officially, of course, there is no mention of such problems. Following the adoption of the UN resolution, Chancellor Angela Merkel rushed to the Libya summit meeting because she wanted to avoid the impression she was politically isolated. President Sarkozy did not say anything and welcomed Merkel as warmly as ever. The chancellor hastily insisted that the resolution was now "also our resolution" -- abstention or not. Germany naturally stood by its allies, she said. Nonetheless, it was noticeable that, out of the European leaders present, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was the only other head of government who had not offered any military assistance.
Germany on the Sidelines
France will not go out of its way to make sure that Germany is involved in future planning of the operation in Libya. Sarkozy's diplomats are currently working hard in Brussels to prevent leadership of the military operation being transferred to NATO, something the Germans would welcome. Instead, Paris has organized its own political steering committee, which would include representation from all the parties involved in the operation, as well as the African Union and the Arab League. The first meeting will be held in London next Tuesday. The Germans will be on the sidelines.
The French government has tried to downplay the disharmony. Foreign Minister Juppe said it was not the first time Germany and France had been at odds: "That has never put our fundamental solidarity in doubt." Europe Minister Laurent Wauquiez talked of the two countries having different views of the Libya issue. "Does this mean the end of Franco-German relations?" he asked. "Of course not!"
He is obviously right, but the relationship between the two countries is hardly going to improve any time soon. Perhaps Sarkozy and Merkel can start the process of making up on Thursday, when they will meet in Brussels for the EU summit. Libya will take a back seat, with the final scope of the euro-zone rescue fund set to be top of the agenda. That, at least, is an area where Germany and France usually take a joint leading role.
There will, however, be another issue up for discussion which could cause further division between the two countries: the consequences of the nuclear emergency in Japan. The chancellor has announced a joint Franco-German initiative on nuclear power plant security. Sarkozy made clear, however, that he does not agree with Merkel's sudden shutdowns of nuclear plants in Germany. "Phasing out nuclear power is not an option," he said. |
There is a young First Nations man in Thunder Bay who the province of Ontario has kept in a hole for 52 months. His name is Adam Capay. When he was 19 he was arrested on minor charges and sent to jail. There he got into a fight and another man died. We don’t know if Capay is guilty—he has been waiting an incredible four years for his trial.
While he has been waiting, he has been kept in solitary confinement, in a Plexiglas box, in an empty cellblock with no windows, and with the lights kept on for 24 hours. Capay has interacted with so few people over the last four years he is losing the ability to speak.
One thousand five hundred and sixty days in solitary confinement. To put this in perspective, consider that the United Nations has declared this form of segregation should never surpass 15 days. They did this because it is considered one of the worst forms of psychological torture.
How bad is it? In the 1950s, a well-regarded psychologist named Harry Harlow decided to find out. He placed rhesus macaque monkeys in solitary confinement for 20 days and recorded the effects. Every monkey emerged badly damaged. Harlow was universally condemned for his cruel and unethical experiment, and his reputation was permanently ruined. And yet the province of Ontario has effectively conducted this experiment on Adam Capay 78 times in a row.
We don’t know how many other cases there are like this. Incredibly, it appears that the politicians and officials responsible don’t either. Renu Mandhane, Ontario’s chief human rights commissioner has been trying to find out. So far, she has identified 1,383 cases of prisoners being held in solitary confinement for more than 15 days. Twelve of these people have been subjected to this for more than a year.
If this happened in a country that is notorious for violating human rights, like Saudi Arabia, we would be outraged. Discovering this is occurring in Canada is so shocking it is difficult to process.
To find out how this is possible, there are a few men who need to answer some questions. Bill Wheeler is the superintendent of the Thunder Bay jail. When his corrections officers put a prisoner in solitary, protocols dictate he must sign off on an extension after five days. How can he justify extending Capay’s torture week after week, for four years?
If a prisoner with mental health issues (like Adam Capay) is kept in solitary for more than 30 days, the provincial minister responsible for correctional services must be informed, in this case that is David Orazietti. But Mandhane told me she believes he only learned about the case when she raised it with him on Oct. 12. Why did his ministry fail to follow procedures? And what has he done since then to fix it?
Regardless, Orazietti has known about Capay for 13 days now, and yet he remains in solitary. When asked how this is possible he shamelessly told the legislature, “That is a decision that is made by the individuals operating our jails. I will not take individual action on a specific circumstance.”
There is a line that ministers are not meant to cross. Governments are elected to tell the bureaucrats what to do, not how to do it. In this case, Orazietti should not dictate how a particular inmate is treated. But he can tell his department: “You have 24 hours to ensure the province of Ontario is no longer violating the UN mandated limit of 15 days. I suggest you start with the most egregious cases first.” Why didn’t he?
I am informed that in the case of Capay, there is a readily available solution. St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre is specifically designed to house and treat prisoners like Capay who suffer from mental illness and may pose a threat to themselves or others. Superintendent Wheeler, and the senior officials who report to him, starting with deputy minister Matthew Torigian, need to explain why they failed to do so.
Another person who needs to answer questions is Attorney General Yasir Naqvi. How is it possible his ministry has allowed people to be held for four years without trial? How many people are in this situation? He too was informed of the Capay case 13 days ago. What has he done since then to address it?
I am sure each of these four men can explain to themselves and us why they are not responsible for the torture that Adam Capay has endured now for 52 months. They can tell us they didn’t know, that it isn’t their responsibility, that they don’t have the resources. Many times when something goes wrong, this is defensible. The system isn’t perfect. Mistakes are made. But when those mistakes are as horrific as the Capay case, these excuses won’t do. These men failed. They need to be held accountable and if found responsible, resign.
Canadian politics is filled with spurious and cynical demands that officials resign. But, as Adam Capay still sits alone in solitary, is there any way this could be a more obvious case of official incompetence and culpability? |
This article consists of nothing but Daredevil Season 2 spoilers. You don't want want to read this if you haven't seen the episodes yet. We have a completely spoiler free review for you to check out here in the meantime.
NOTE: Hit the dropdown menu at the top and/or bottom of the article to navigate directly to whichever episode you want.
Ready for something that is absolutely not a Daredevil Season 2 spoiler? Here it is. Just like the first one, this season is absolutely packed to the gills with crazy Marvel Universe goodness. Some of it is relatively obvious, but then there's other stuff hidden in the margins that you might miss. Stuff that might clue you in to the future of these Marvel Netflix shows.
So, here's how this works. I'm rounding up every single Marvel Comics reference on Daredevil Season 2. I'm good, but I'm not so good that there isn't gonna be stuff I miss. And that's where you come in. Read and enjoy my deep dive into roughly 50 years worth of Marvel history, but if you spot something that I didn't, or if I'm flat out wrong about something, drop it in the comments or holler at me on Twitter. If it checks out, I'll update this piece and give you a shout!
Now, I have to warn you. I will do my best to keep spoilers for future episodes out of the entries for current episodes, however, some of the stuff I write about might inadvertently spoil stuff for later in the series or future seasons. But also, if you're posting in the comments, I can't control what spoilers you might see from other people who are a few episodes ahead of you. So please read with caution down there if you aren't all caught up yet. There's no way for me to control what comments display for individual episodes, sadly!
Use the dropdown menu at the top and bottom of the article to navigate to whichever episodes you want, but don't read ahead...unless you want spoilers. And from here on out, it's all spoilers!
Alright hornheads, let's do this...
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 1: "Bang"
"In the void left by Fisk's removal, a new threat to Hell's Kitchen emerges. Murdock and Foggy take on a client with a questionable past."
- I'm opening with a little bit of a stretch, I confess. Opening with a heat wave is something of a theme from another Frank Miller work, famously deployed at the start of The Dark Knight Returns. And as I've pointed out ad infinitum in previous Daredevil articles (and will continue to do in this one!), it's Frank Miller's shadow that tends to loom the largest over this show.
- So Daredevil has some new threads, only lightly redesigned from what we saw at the end of season one. He's using his batons more, but we'll get to that in more detail in a future episode.
There's one thing that club could do that this one hasn't yet. Since it was often disguised as Matt Murdock's cane, it had a hooked end. That could be "fired" like a grappling hook, and the club contained rope/wire that Daredevil could then swing from...like Batman or Spidey.
- We do get a fully functioning (or dysfunctional) Nelson & Murdock law firm this time, right down to them getting payments in food from clients who can't afford to pay in cold, hard cash. My current unscientific analysis of this is that it's something we saw foregrounded during the recent (and extraordinarily wonderful) run on the comics by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Paolo Rivera. Seriously, you need to read those. They're not as dark as the show, but they're some of the finest Daredevil comics ever produced.
- The chatty Irish gangster, Mr. Nesbitt, was created by Garth Ennis and Leandro Fernandez in the pages of The Punisher (volume 6) #8 in 2004. He didn't meet his end at the hand of Frank Castle, though. It's a long story, and part of Ennis' notoriously colorful run as writer on The Punisher.
- Focusing on the Irish Mob here is a little bit of a reminder of the actual ethnic history of Hell's Kitchen, which was settled by Irish immigrants and remained a working-class neighborhood until relatively recently. Matt Murdock's Irish heritage places him nicely in that historical Hell's Kitchen, as well. And really, we've had riffs on both the Mafia and the Yakuza on this show already, so it's only fair that the Irish get their criminal licks in, as well.
But really, I know, you want to hear about the Punisher, so...
- The Punisher first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 back in 1974. He was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr.
Punisher spent the early part of his existence as, if not a full-blown Spidey villain, certainly something of an antagonist. He was also nameless (other than, y'know "Punisher") and his tragic backstory was only alluded to. Truth be told, he was kind of boring.
The character came into his own once he started squaring off with Daredevil during Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's legendary creative tenure, and there are moments of that which inform plenty of things we'll see on this show. But he really rose to prominence in the mid-80s when he was given his own headlining slot in a mini-series, the excellent Circle of Blood by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck. He was soon headlining three series of his own and guest-starring in virtually every Marvel book in the early-90s.
- The violence during the Punisher's execution of those goons is like something out of a Paul Verhoeven movie. Holy moley. But this (and we'll see more of it as the episodes go on) also takes its cues from the over-the-top ridiculousness and gore of Garth Ennis' tenure as Punisher writer, often with his Preacher creative partner Steve Dillon on art.
Also, did I hear that this place is the Byrne Club? It's probably a coincidence, but John Byrne is one of the most celebrated Marvel artists of the '70s and '80s.
- We return to Josie's Bar in this episode, a familiar haunt to Daredevil fans (we covered this in our season one viewing guide). I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you want a more authentic Josie's experience while in NYC, go to Billymark's West. Go there and spend lots of money on lots of cheap drinks before NYC replaces it with an artisinal vape shop or a luxury salon for cats or something similarly terrible.
Or you can go to the bar that they actually film in...that would be Brooklyn's Turkey's Nest Tavern. That's if you feel like going to Brooklyn, something that the MTA makes increasingly difficult these days.
Anyway, back to the important fictional stuff...
- It's interesting that they've chosen to make a character like "Grotto" such a central figure in this series. Grotto was really just a low level grunt, and an associate of Turk's (and we'll see more of Turk this year...more on him down below). But he coincidentally first appeared in the same issue that first introduced another central character for this season, Elektra. That would be 1981's Daredevil #168, by (who else?) Frank Miller.
He never had these kinds of run-ins with the Punisher, Nelson & Murdock, or anything else, though. He was just someone else for DD to beat the living crap out of.
- You'll hear the words "war zone" a lot in relation to how things look after Punisher has been around. Funny enough, his third solo title was called Punisher: War Zone. So was his third (and final) movie.
- Is the scene where Punisher has hung these goons on meathooks from a comic? It seems like the kind of outrageous violence that Garth Ennis would gleefully write, but I'm not sure if it's from somewhere specific.
- Officer Brett Mahoney is back, but that isn't much of a surprise. You may recognize him from some minor Marvel Comics, but also from Daredevil Season 1.
- There's a crack about how The Punisher is "not fond of the Irish" considering the number he did on those gangsters. In the comics, it was once revealed that Punisher's last name of Castle was actually a shortening/Americanization of Castiglione, a Sicilian name, so Frank's distaste for Irish gangsters in particular could be a little bit of a play on the old Irish/Italian gang rivalries in NYC.
Or maybe I'm just reading into this too much.
- Turk is back! Turk is basically the bad penny who keeps turning up in Daredevil stories. He's really great on this show, and you almost feel bad for him when he's asking DD to let him go. That's about in line with his portrayal in most comics. His line about how "we both know I'll be back out by the end of the month" could be a sly reference to comics' monthly publication schedule, and how Turk just always seemed to be around, no matter how many times he got his ass handed to him.
I really love Rob Morgan in this role.
- So, we finally have an actual Agents of SHIELD crossover on a Marvel Netflix show. It's not what you expect, though. The Dogs of Hell appeared in Agents of SHIELD season 1, episode 15. That was the one where Asgardian temptress Lorelei came to town to make all the menfolk sweat a little.
- Daredevil and Punisher have a proud history of rooftop fights, but we'll talk more about one of their most famous ones in a future episode. Be patient! The Punisher did shoot Daredevil in one of their earliest encounters (Daredevil #183) but it was with a tranquilizer dart.
So now here's what I'm drawing a blank on from this episode, and maybe you good folks can help me out. I've got nothing on the names Alameda or Jacinto, but if anyone has any ideas where they might fit, I'm all ears. Also, who are the Detectives working the Punisher crime scene? I'm out of ideas, there, as far as potential comic book connections go.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 2: "Dogs to a Gunfight"
"As Murdock recovers from an attack, Foggy and Karen fight to protect their new client from both the law and the Kitchen's newest vigilante."
- Mahoney's joke about how the new vigilante is taking guys out "in a Death Wish way" is amusing. In case you're, I dunno, under 30, Death Wish was a movie starring Charles Bronson, about a man who starts shooting street criminals after his family is attacked. Despite what I wrote earlier about Death Wish having an influence on the creation of the Punisher, I am an idiot. Tomer down in the comments kindly pointed out that Amazing Spider-Man #129 pre-dates the book that Death Wish was based on by several months!
- There's something to be said about Daredevil losing his powers here, albeit temporarily. Superman gave up his powers in Superman II. Spider-Man lost his powers in Spider-Man 2. So here we are in Daredevil Season 2, Episode 2, and Matt is briefly without his enhanced senses after that run-in with the Punisher.
There were two instances during Frank Miller's tenure (both during the Elektra era) where Matt's senses either deserted him or went haywire. Once was in Daredevil #177, and the other in Daredevil #183. Neither appears to have much to do with what happened here, but it was pointed out to me by a nice anonymous person in the comments, and I figured it's worth noting.
I'm kinda glad that they aren't going down that road this time, because seriously, enough.
- Michelle Hurd is back as DA Samantha Reyes. You last saw her on Jessica Jones, though.
- Blake Tower first appeared in Daredevil #124, where he was created by Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown. He's always been one of Daredevil's allies, although he's kinda doing it on the sly on this show. At least for now.
- Karen is starting to allude to her mysterious past again with cracks like "what if I deserve it" and "drawing this stuff my way." I would happily go into detail about this, but it may spoil future seasons of the show, and I'm not sure what's really fair game here. But that all comes to a head in Daredevil: Born Again, a story that absolutely, 100% will make for an incredible season of Daredevil in the future. And a character from Born Again already spent some time with us on Jessica Jones Season 1, too.
- I'm not crazy, and the word "Killdozer" is totally mentioned in this episode after all. There's a really minor Marvel armored character named Killdozer, and Marvel did a graphic novel adaptation of an old sci-fi prose novel, as well. Voice of Reason also reminded me of the band, too. I could kinda see Frank listening to Killdozer, now that I think about it.
Melvin Potter is back! He's still promising "Betsy" that he won't be doing anything illegal anymore. Now, I wrote several entries about Melvin and his possible future as the semi-villainous Gladiator in my notes for season one, but he quickly picks up his trademark circular blades this time, which is one more step towards his Gladiator-dom.
This might be a coincidence, but you can see that one of Frank's Crates has 007 stenciled on it. You know, the guy with the license to kill. Frank, on the other hand, is unlicensed, but that doesn't stop him!
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 3: "New York's Finest"
"Trapped face-to-face with the Punisher, Daredevil wrestles with the morality of vigilante justice. Meanwhile, Foggy and Karen work to save the firm."
- Alright, can this be more spoiler-y than usual here for a minute or two?
The nun who is tending to "Matty" in the dreamlike opening at St. Agnes is almost certainly going to turn out to be Matt Murdock's mother. Whether she's still at St. Agnes or not is another story, but I'd bet good money (actually, I will do no such thing...I'm writer with very little money and I'm an extraordinarily bad gambler) that Father Lantom totally knows what's going on.
- Also...and this isn't a comic book reference or anything, but I need to get it off my chest. Can we please have a moratorium on "good morning sunshine" as a funny/ironic greeting for people who wake up in bad situations? That's some hack-ass nonsense and Daredevil should be better than this.
- Daredevil waking up chained up with the Punisher looming over him is more than a little reminiscent of "The Choice" from 2001's The Punisher #3 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. That's where we end up with the whole "gun taped to Matt's hand" thing.
See? I told you there would be lots of Ennis/Dillon Punisher stuff on this show! We wrote a little more about "The Choice" (and other cool DD/Punisher stories) right here.
- For the first time in the history of this show, Charlie Cox's accent slips a little when he's getting aggravated with Frank Castle.
- Remember what I said earlier about Castle being an Americanization of Castiglione? Of course Frank Castle is a Catholic!
- Frank's comparison of a soldier's mentality to that of someone who wears a mask is actually a fairly apt takedown of the secret identity trope in superhero mythology. As of now, Daredevil and Ant-Man are really the only characters in this version of the Marvel Universe who maintain traditional interpretations of a secret identity (although Spider-Man is about to change that once he comes on the scene in Captain America: Civil War). (thanks to the lycanthropic Lawrence Talbot for keeping me honest here)
- It's not clear quite how serious Frank is about killing that old man on the roof and how much of the gun-cocking is for Matt's benefit. Even in the earliest days of the character, Punisher was borderline obsessed with not harming innocents, even pain-in-the-ass interlopers like Spider-Man.
The old guy he's talking with served in Vietnam, and Punisher was originally conceived as a Vietnam veteran, before Marvel's sliding timeline moved him into more recent wars.
Some of Jon Bernthal's mannerisms in this scene, and maybe even his close cropped cut on the sides is faintly reminiscent of another misguided gun happy NYC icon, Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. We have more on that classic movie right here if you're in the mood.
- It seems that Claire Temple has "pissed someone off" at her current job. This will help facilitate her move out of Hell's Kitchen and into Harlem, where we'll probably see a lot more of her on the upcoming Luke Cage series.
Just as a side note, how completely wonderful is Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson in these hospital scenes?
- The Dogs of Hell are (of course) listening to all-time classic Motorhead song, "The Ace of Spades" (Lemmy, we all thought you were immortal). Any chance that when we finally get to meet Bullseye on this show, he'll be a former Dogs of Hell member? Nah, probably not.
Look, folks, cut me some slack. I'm hard up to see some Bullseye action, so I'm looking for anything that can get me through, so I'm even seeing Bullseye in an otherwise routine song playing in the background.
- And, of course, the epic fight scene that tops this episode off is a kind of homage to the spectacular hallway fight from season 1 episode 2. This one is certainly longer, but I can't help but feel it's a little too self-conscious in its attempt to "out badass" that one. Don't get me wrong, it's cool...but it feels less organic than that one.
Also, for all Matt's talk about not killing anyone, there's simply no way that a couple of these guys who are getting knocked down flights of stairs here aren't sustaining lethal injuries.
- I'm sure I don't have to point out what this x-ray of Frank Castle's head looks like...right?
I didn't find anything on any of the names that Karen mentions to Blake Tower, and I'm pretty sure there aren't any Marvel connections there. But if you know something I don't, throw 'em in the comments or give me a shout on Twitter!
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 4: "Penny and Dime"
"Karen uncovers shocking facts about the Punisher, who finds himself hunted by a powerful force in Hell's Kitchen. Daredevil ponders his next moves."
- This episode wastes no time in introducing Finn Cooley. Finn was created by Garth Ennis (there's that name again!) and Leandro Fernandez in 2004. He was introduced (and dispatched) in the same Punisher story that introduced Nesbitt. Finn sticks around a little bit longer, though.
The Finn of the comics was a little more, ummmm...distinctive looking. More on that in a minute, though.
Can I just point out how happy I am to see Tony Curran return as a villain again? He was nothing less than wonderful as Datak Tarr on Defiance, so this was a pleasant surprise. I really miss this guy.
- You don't take Punisher's dog from him. You just don't do it. Poor, terrified doggie.
- The Punisher making his mobile HQ a van has plenty of precedent from the comics. He used to drive around a mobile command center known as his "battle van." What we get in this episode is a pretty low-key version of it, but it's definitely a piece of his comic book history.
- Now that Melvin is getting paranoid about stuff like the Punisher running around, he's starting to build his own armor, too. Here's another look at what he usually looks like on the page...
(ummmm...he's the one on the left)
I do wonder who his "old contacts" are who are looking for outfits and gear, though.
Also, you can totally spot Stilt-Man's armor and legs in the background of his workshop again, just like we did in season one.
- George Bachs talks about "suits" who came to visit Frank Castle while he was comatose. I have to wonder if any of these might have been SHIELD agents.
- It turns out that Frank Castle is a Navy Cross recipient. That's the second highest honor a soldier can receive, so that should give you an idea of what a supreme and selfless badass Frank was during his time in the military. There are plenty of notable real world Navy Cross recipients, but one in particular (who also happened to be a Marine) stands out: World War II hero John Basilone. Stick with me for a second, and I promise I'll bring this back to something superhero related in a minute.
You may know Basilone's name from HBO's The Pacific. If you're looking for any kind of additional Marvel connection there, I feel there was more than a hint of Basilone's "I'm more use as a soldier fighting the actual war than staying stateside as a propaganda tool" narrative in Steve Rogers' story in Captain America: The First Avenger. By the way, thanks to Bricketh for reminding me that Bernthal also had a role in The Pacific, as Basilone's best friend!
The series is taking a similar approach to Frank's origin story as Jessica Jones did to hers. They're alluding to it and teasing it out throughout the season. It doesn't look like we're going to have to watch Frank Castle's family die in order to know that they did, and that's just fine.
- Remember when I pointed out above that the Finn Cooley of the comics had some, ummm...distinguishing features? This is what I meant:
I don't think Finn is coming back, by the way, but the fact that he took a blast to the face from Frank Castle seems like it's kind of a reference to what Finn's comic book counterpart ended up looking like.
- Frank and Matt have their little heart to heart in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. That place is incredible, and you should totally take a walk through it some time, as some of New York's most famous (and infamous) figures are buried there. You might even spot me visiting some relatives (none of whom are famous or infamous, so don't worry about that).
If this were Cypress Hills cemetery, I'd say that the show is setting up the Danny Ketch version of Ghost Rider, but it isn't, and probably wouldn't be anyway. But wouldn't that be cool?
The shot of DD looming over the cemetery like that reminds me of this Daredevil cover by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, too...
If you want more on Elektra, well, I feel it's more appropriate to save that for the next episode...
As usual, if I missed anything for this one, drop it in the comments or hit me on Twitter, and I'll make the updates as soon as I can.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 5: "Kinbaku"
"A former lover arrives in Hell's Kitchen and turns Murdock's world upside down. Karen digs for truth about the Punisher."
- Alright, we're just gonna go ahead and call this one the Elektra episode, since this is her proper introduction.
Elektra first appeared in 1981's Daredevil #168 by Frank Miller, the same issue that introduced us to the somewhat less influential in the history of comics Grotto. Elektra became a rather transgressive, even subversive character shortly after her original stint in these Frank Miller comics, but that's an entire article in itself, and something that we'll have live on the site (and linked here) soon enough.
The origins of her relationship with Matt are a little different than the comics, but that's not terribly important.
The joyride in the red sportscar, though, is straight out of the after-the-fact origin story expansion Daredevil: The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. That was the same comic that brought us Matt's ninja-esque proto-DD suit in season one.
- Matt overhears one of the party guests saying "I like the way that The Jets are playing this year." That's how you know this is a flashback, because the Jets do nothing but give me agita.
- Sorry to disappoint everyone, Foggy is reading The New York Bulletin in this episode. There's still no sign of The Daily Bugle yet, despite the fact that Spider-Man and his supporting cast are now available to Marvel Studios. I know, I know...it's not really important. I'm just impatient, that's all.
But later in the episode, when Karen visits the Bulletin's offices, you can see some framed headlines on the walls. There's the expected "Battle of New York" front page referencing The Avengers, and a follow up about the new Stark Tower. But you can also spot one that says "Cybertek Settles." Cybertek is the company that created notorious cyborg, Deathlok, and we've seen them show up on Agents of SHIELD. So that's two Agents of SHIELD references this season...three if we choose to believe that the "suits" visiting Frank in the hospital were SHIELD agents, although that's kind of just in my imagination.
UPDATE courtesy of Tyler Parrish in the comments! One of the headlines in the archives reads "Broadway Bimbos Busted," a potential reference to the brothel that a pre-supervillain Typhoid Mary worked at. I'm investigatin this one further, too...
- "It's not like our boy was out collecting for the Red Cross." There's a great line in the original Dirty Harry that mirrors what Foggy says pretty closely, and it's pretty awesome. Check it out here.
- I know it's almost certainly coincidental, but the infiltration of the fictional Yakatomi Building and the cat-and-mouse game that follows just can't help but remind me a tiny bit of Die Hard (which takes place in the fictional Nakatomi Plaza).
- This season does a good job of not over-sexualizing Elektra, without sacrificing the seductive elements of her character. But that awkward and incredibly unsexy sex scene in the boxing ring at Fogwell's Gym seems like it comes out of the very worst parts of Frank Miller's subconscious. So bad that it's giggle-inducing, which isn't something I associate with any of the Marvel Netflix projects.
- We're all familiar enough with fictional evil corporation Roxxon from various Marvel Studios thingies and the comics that I don't have to go into too much detail here, right? RIGHT?!?
But the fact that Asano Robotics is a Japanese arm of Roxxon is, I believe, something new. It's also the second Asano Robotics mention we've had on this show. The first came during season one, episode seven, when one of their logos was visible on a shipping crate in the background:
Cool, right?
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 6: "Regrets Only"
"A lethal foe returns with a vengeance, Foggy and Murdock risk the firm to ensure justice, and Karen sees a different side of the Punisher."
- I believe this is the first time we've explicitly seen Matt's batons convert into his cane, and I'm way more excited than I probably need to be about it. That's right out of the comics. I'll have more detail on this in a bit.
So, you have to stick with me on this one. When Matt and Elektra are creeping around where they shouldn't, you can see a monitor bank, which is monitoring...the 13th floor elevators in the building. Now, having a monitor bank that specifically says "13th floor elevators" tells me something, because those three words don't have to appear in that order. What does it tell me?
That somebody is a fan of this really cool band from the '60s...
Video of 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me (Original Mono Mix)
Now, I'm sure there's a more rational explanation here, mostly about how the 13 is considered unlucky and for awhile, many buildings didn't have a 13th floor, which ties into the mystical weirdness that Elektra is looking to steal here, but c'mon, is there any other site out there giving you some quality garage-psych with your weekend dose of Daredevil nerdery? No. No there is not. Crank this up when you need a break in between episodes.
This one is a quality jam, too.
- And with one line, "who said I was Yakuza" we know that The Hand are in town again to make everybody's lives miserable. Well, not our lives. OUR lives are going to be awesome, because it means there is going to be so much killer ninja action for the rest of this season!
Earlier in the party, Elektra said hello to "Mr. Hiroshi." This is almost certainly Lord Hiroshi, who was the leader of a faction of The Hand for some time.
Anybody have any idea if Mr. Roth, the Public Defender, is supposed to be anybody from the comics? Probably not, but I've got nothing. You know the drill. Drop it in the comments or yell at me on Twitter.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 7: "Semper Fidelis"
"Murdock and Foggy take on the DA in the trial of the century, but their client refuses to play along. Murdock struggles to balance his dual identities."
- I can't even begin to count the times that Punisher has been in prison in the Marvel Universe, so I'm not going to bother. It happens a fucking lot, though.
- You hear the jurors mention both Bernie Goetz and Son of Sam, two famous maniacs with guns from New York City history.
The "Son of Sam" killer was David Berkowitz, who killed six people and wounded seven others, all by gun, between 1976 and 1977. He heard voices of demons who told him to kill and wrote letters bragging about his crimes. Spike Lee made a pretty good movie set around this called Summer of Sam, which is totally worth checking out.
Bernie Goetz was less nefarious, but not necessarily a great dude, either. He shot four guys on the subway when they attempted to mug him. Self defense is one thing, but firing shots on a subway car is something else. Coincidentally, one of the would-be muggers shares a name with a superhero, Barry Allen. The Goetz incident happened in 1984, when NYC was a ridiculously unsafe hellhole, and it's an era that helped spawn the "grim n' gritty" era of comics, of which Frank Miller's Daredevil is a piece, and it coincides nicely with the rise of Punisher's popularity.
- This episode marks the first time we really get some proper Nelson & Murdock courtroom drama. I can almost imagine an alternate universe where Daredevil airs, not on Netflix, but on ABC or a similar broadcast network. Perhaps Earth-2 Daredevil (wait, wrong universe, sorry) has the same cast and reasonably similar production values.
Ah, but that theoretical show isn't a cinematic, binge-watch affair. Instead, it's a network procedural, heavy on the courtroom drama, and comparatively light on the superheroics. I bet it would still be pretty cool, but not as cool as what we have here. Anyway, that was a weird digression, wasn't it?
But the idea of two idealistic lawyers fighting in a seemingly unwinnable case recalls another recent Netflix success story, Making a Murderer. That's probably a coincidence, though. Foggy Nelson is exceptionally good in these scenes, though.
- When DD and Elektra are in the railyard, you can see in the background that the Empire State Building is lit up blue and orange. Since this was shot in late summer/fall of 2015, those lights are in honor of our National League Champion New York Mets. For the record (and this is official, you can look it up), Spider-Man is a Mets fan, and I'm inclined to believe that perennial underdog (and the guy who fights for unwinnable cases in general) Matt Murdock is probably a Mets fan, too.
- This weird conspiracy surrounding the death of the Castle family isn't from any comic book that I've read. If anybody knows something I don't, well, you know what to do!
- This episode gives us our first reference to Elektra's Dad (believe it or not), with Foggy pointing out that she's "a diplomat's daughter." Also, the stuff about how Elektra nearly got Matt expelled is kind of analagous to their tumultuous relationship in the comics, too.
- This episode is the first time in the whole series where we really see how all three sides of Matt's life intersect. We've had his personal vs. superhero stuff before, but we've never had the personal vs. professional vs. superhero element all converge like this. And in classic Marvel Comics fashion, none of them are working properly for him at the moment. It's really great stuff.
- Alright, everyone...place your bets on what's in the hole!
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 8: "Guilty as Sin"
"As the firm's trial spins out of control, a figure from Matt's past returns to deliver shocking revelations about the future of Hell's Kitchen."
- Well, this episode is now pretty safely "The Hand" episode of Daredevil, ain't it? The Hand were first introduced in 1981's Daredevil #174 by (who else?) Frank Miller. Since then, they've become the go-to ninja army of choice for Marvel. Elektra's history is almost inextricably tied to that of The Hand, as well.
The Hand ninjas who were fighting with DD and Elektra around the big hole in the ground, though, well...those are probably undead ones. There's all this talk about the exploration of immortality, and maybe that's what the mysterious "Black Sky" from season one was all about. See? In the space of just a couple of episodes, two mysteries from season one have been re-opened (the other being Asano Robotics).
I was half expecting the young ninja who gets his throat cut to end up vanishing in a puff of smoke and pile of ash or something. They're bound to give us this at some point. I'm also waiting to see if Nobu from season one was indeed intended as this show's Kirigi stand-in, or if we still have time to meet him in the future.
Now, since this episode also brings back our favorite blind asshole, Stick, it makes sense that he's the one to explain to the audience what the hell is going on. This gives us the first official mention of The Chaste, the order that Stick belongs to who are here to keep the Hand from getting out of control.
Remember how there was a big, scary guy that we saw Stick talking to at the end of season one, episode seven? Yeah, that was another member of The Chaste. So of Stick's Chaste crew, we've now met Stick, Stone, and (I guess) Elektra. And maybe whoever was driving Stick's car in this one counts, too. I dunno.
- Elektra is a character who has had a complicated relationship with death throughout her history.
- The incomprable Clancy Brown is here as Colonel Schoonover. Jameson Steed helpfully pointed out that Schoonover appeared in the early issues of Punisher: War Journal by Carl Potts and Jim Lee in 1989, and he's a bit of a footnote to the whole thing. But now that I know what issues these are from (and there have been other helpful suggestions courtesy of Shawn Thompson and others!), I'm going to do some quick reading to try and flesh this out some more.
- I'm not familiar with this tale of heroism that the Colonel relates on the stand. Is this something from some Punisher origin story book that I haven't read? I'm not (as of this writing, at least) all that familiar with Punisher: Born for example. Please enlighten me, internet!
- The Punisher is always such a stoic character, and I've never seen him behave like he does in the courtroom here. Even the ultra-violent Garth Ennis written stuff, Punisher is deadpan, and never lets his anger get the better of him. He's certainly always played low-key on screen, too. Jon Bernthal is quite brilliant here.
- Frank's walk through the prison with everyone letting him know that they know who he is and that he's stuck with them is reminiscent of the opening of excellent Punisher story, Circle of Blood. There's also a hint of Rorschach's prison days in Watchmen.
- As an aside, it would appear that no season of one of these Marvel Netflix shows is complete without a vile surgery scene.
- One other side note, I know the big stairwell fight in episode three was supposed to be the "showcase" action moment for this season, and it was cool, but it was a little bit "look what we can do!" The fight with Matt and the ninja in his apartment I felt was at least as effective and less gimmicky.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 9: "Seven Minutes in Heaven"
"Castle gets an offer he can't refuse. Foggy and Murdock question the future of their firm, but Karen won't give up so easily."
Since there aren't a ton of specific Marvel references in this episode, I'm not going chronologically, I'm just grouping things as they make sense to me, just to make things read a little better. Hopefully. You never can tell with me.
Welcome back to the Wilson Fisk show! Oh man, I didn’t realize how much we were missing Vincent D’Onofrio until he showed up. Kingpin always did look best in white, didn’t he? It's fun that we get another few minutes of "fill in the blanks" for Fisk after the end of last season, and it's also a nice contrast between how Castle was received at the prison compared to Fisk.
I wonder if we'll get to actually see Vanessa again this season, or if she's off the table. Despite being in jail, Fisk certainly isn't "ruined" by any stretch of the imagination, and seems to be in control of his situation. While I'm sure he hates Daredevil plenty, we're probably not in Born Again "I'm going to ruin your life and the lives of everyone you care about" territory...yet. I promise, one of these days I will stop referring to Born Again at every opportunity.
Wilson has spent plenty of time in the can in the comics, but none of the names here ring any bells. Certainly not Dutton. I'll look for some more specific examples for updates soon, too.
I also absolutely love Fisk's fighting style here. I was really let down by the big Daredevil/Kingpin punch-up at the end of Season One. The whole thing felt a little canned, and didn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the series. Having him wail on Frank with that clubbing/free-swinging style was pretty cool. It's all about that size advantage.
Speaking of size, we had some impressions of how strong Fisk is supposed to be in the first season, but holy moley, did you see how much he was putting up on that bench?!? That's one of the things with Fisk. He's a big guy, but it's not fat, it's solid muscle. Showing him benching what must have been about 500 lbs was a nice way to illustrate that.
- Fisk's lawyer is an interesting case, though. He's Benjamin Donovan. Donovan was created by Steve Englehart and Billy Graham in the pages of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire in 1973. The Ben Donovan of the comics was a much bigger, almost super strong guy, though.
I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again when the Luke Cage series hits on September 30th.
- I can't find any references to a villain/drug dealer named "the Blacksmith" but feel free to correct me. There was a minor character called Blacksmith in Dan Slott and Christos Gage's underrated Avengers Initiative comic, but he was a Skrull, and that's probably not what they're going for here. '90s Avengers relic, Rage, aka Elvin Haliday also briefly went by the name of Blacksmith, but again...that's not where we're going, either.
- It's not a Daredevil story until Nelson & Murdock split up!
- Does anyone recognize the weird blood vat thingy that the Hand is working on down in the Roxxon warehouse? I'm drawing a blank.
However, Alan Villegas helpfully pointed out in the comments that the Japanese characters on the vat stand for "rebirth" or "resurrection."
But who cares? We're getting undead ninjas! And Peter Shinkoda is back as Nobu! You know what that means? He's totally Kirigi after all!!! Or maybe not. I feel like I've been chasing Kirigi around these articles since season one.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 10: "The Man in the Box"
"Murdock and Foggy get caught in the crossfire of Punisher's revenge. Karen and Murdock dig for the truth in very different ways."
The title of this episode shares a name with a big hit by Alice in Chains. The tune, "Man in the Box" is supposedly about censorship, but it's general themes seem to run nicely with this episode. For one thing, there's that whole misery/suffering thing that "St. Matthew" here sure loves doing to himself so much.
Video of Alice In Chains - Man in the Box (Official Video)
But the repeated line about eyes being sewn shut could refer to everyone's refusal to see what's in front of them, notably DA Reyes (RIP) trying to cover her tracks as the Castle cover-up gets deeper and deeper. By all means, dig into this for further meaning at your convenience, too.
- Of course Frank and Wilson Fisk are housed in Cell Block D. Legendary super prison Alcatraz held its worst inmates in Cell Block D. But, well...don't be surprised if Matt ends up there one day himself. Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark had a Daredevil story called "The Devil in Cell Block D" (we wrote a little bit more about that one here) and, well, yeah. It's pretty much what you think it is.
- Speaking of which...remember what I said above about Fisk not quite being at the Born Again (I did it again...sigh) point of "fuck this Matt Murdock guy so hard that his ancestors feel it, I swear" craziness? Well, we may have taken a nice step towards that here with Fisk losing his shit like that.
By the way, Matt signs that form with his right hand. I'm calling bullshit, because like lots of great boxers (and also like this writer!), Matt Murdock is a southpaw.
God, this show is just wasting my time if they're not going to bother getting basic details like that right! Why do I even bother?!? (I'm joking, calm down)
- The Blacksmith's actions (if not the Blacksmith himself) with all of these narcotics will probably have some kind of impact on the Luke Cage series. Whenever you're talking about people moving such ridiculous quantities of hard drugs, you have to figure that Luke Cage is going to have to step in to protect his neighborhood.
- It's funny when Karen Page mentions that Frank Castle "has his own internal code." Reyes' reaction, and even Karen's own headshake, are kind of an acknowledgment of how unsustainably real world bugnuts the Punisher's mission would actually be.
Deborah Ann Woll has been brilliant this season, but I have to say, Karen's little crusade to uncover the truth about Frank is starting to irk me. Not because I don't think Karen Page is a smart/strong enough character to handle it or anything like that. But because it just sorta feels like her connection to the New York Bulletin is kind of a "square peg/round hole" situation.
It's like the writers realized how badly they screwed up by killing Ben Urich last year. What's happening right now really screams for the Urich character, and making Karen his stand-in here just...it's not quite right. It's only really a crime, I guess, because we sort of know which character this stuff was really written for, but he's playing a harp and hanging out on a cloud these days, so, yeah.
- You can now add a "Foggy in peril!" chip to your bingo card. I'm surprised it's taken us this long to get a "Foggy Nelson in mortal danger" scene. The better to give Matt existential crises about.
- I got really excited about Jacques Duchamp, thinking that maybe he was Moon Knight's buddy. Then I remembered that's Jean-Paul Duchamp, and there's probably no relation. Then again, Moon Knight is so perfectly suited to this universe that I have to figure he's inevitable. Unless my fellow hornheads out here have any idea who he's supposed to be, I'm out of ideas. Maybe he's Jean-Paul's brother?
Hold the phone! Loran Nagle thinks that perhaps the mysterious Jacques might actually be Jacques Duquesne, known as the Swordsman, the guy who helped train Hawkeye. Is it possible that the subtitles betrayed us here?
Hey, at least we know where Elektra got her sai now, though, so that's cool.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 11: ".380"
"The Punisher's war continues, and so does the body count in Hell's Kitchen. Murdock tries to finish what the DA started."
So this is one of those episodes that makes me wonder if all of these Marvel Netflix shows really need to be a solid thirteen installments every time. There's a fair share of action, and more of Jon Bernthal being brilliant, but an awful lot of time is spent getting Claire Temple out of her current job. Of course, that's in service of getting her up to Harlem to hang out with Luke Cage in September but it's still a little off.
- But if we just focus on the Punisher stuff this time around, it's another story. This is the closest we get to a straight up Punisher episode.
It's kind of amusing that Frank is in the car zoning out to "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind, and Fire. It's a happy tune with fairly optimistic lyrics, although some of them hint at a redemption that surely isn't coming for Frank, "shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be."
Poor bastard.
- The scene in the diner when those two goons come for him, though, well...George Lucas and Han Solo post-1997 could learn a thing or two from Frank here. You always shoot first. Always.
- I thought maybe the second goon with the serious Frank-inflicted facial damage would turn out to be a backdoor origin story for Jigsaw or something but, whoops. Bang.
- Frank heading down to the waterfront to pick goons off one at a time reminded me a little of a scene in the somewhat unfairly maligned Punisher movie that starred Dolph Lundgren. I genuinely like that flick. I wrote much more about it right here.
- Also, aside from the general wonderfulness of ninjas scaling the side of a building with practical effects, and Daredevil fighting ninjas in general, we also get something we haven't seen on this show yet: a midair rescue. And not just any midair rescue. We just don't see enough of Daredevil actually swinging on things on this show.
This one definitely seemed light on the Marvel stuff, so let me know what I missed!
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 12: "The Dark at the End of the..."
"Daredevil goes underground to save an old friend. Karen follows a dangerous lead. The law firm of Nelson & Murdock may have reached its final chapter."
- I got so used to the constant flashbacks in season one that this one, especially coming so late in the series, genuinely threw me for a loop. After the ones we had during Elektra's intro, it was back to business as usual, and now here we get young Elektra...who is a thorough badass, by the way.
During her brutal training sequence, she does that weird little backflip, kick/stomp maneuver that we've seen Matt do a few times this season. That's a nice touch, and it's clearly something that came from Stick's training, not something he came up with on his own.
- It is impossible for me to see ninjas underground and not think of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And with the Hand being so prevalent in this final third of the season, it's best to remind everybody once again that Frank Miller's Daredevil comics were massive inspirations to Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird when they created the TMNT. I mean, it's all right there, the Foot Clan? The fact that Raph basically looks like a turtle version of Elektra albeit an unsexy one? Stick/Splinter?
So yeah, subterranean ninjas = TMNT reference for me. I'm not ashamed of this.
- Does anybody have any ideas who Maya Rosewood's redheaded character is supposed to be? Thomas Moore (via Twitter) hit me up thinking she might be an early version of Typhoid Mary, but there's nothing at all to back that up. But she did just seem to come out of nowhere, didn't she? That would kind of make sense.
- In more concrete news, Laurence Mason as credited as "Star" in this episode. Star is a member of Stick's The Chaste. We actually got a lot of them this year, didn't we?
- But after all this time to learn that Elektra is the Black Sky? Well...that sure was a surprise. But it's a reasonable in-story explanation for one of Elektra's many, many destinies. She has spent considerable time in the Marvel Universe as the leader of the Hand. We're not going to worry about how much of that time was while she was actually a Skrull impostor or anything like that because, dear reader, that way lies madness.
Daredevil Season 2 Episode 13: "A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen"
"In the season finale, Daredevil is backed into the ultimate showdown for his own life -- and the future of Hell's Kitchen."
Well. That was satisfying, wasn't it?
- So, for one thing, we get the most satisfying connection to Jessica Jones (yes, there were namedrops, but those don't really count) thus far. An actual appearance by Jeri Hogarth as she recruits Foggy is pretty awesome. This means that Foggy could very well be dealing with Alias Investigations. Given how well he handled himself in tough situations this year, I think he can stand up to Ms. Jones' withering wit.
- I love that we got a little more time with Turk Barrett before the end of the season. And the fact that Daredevil actually ends up saving Turk is another illustration of their complicated relationship and long history. Turk's never been evil, he's just a lousy, small-time crook.
- So Daredevil's now fully-functional/comic accurate billy club is unsurprisingly designed by Melvin Potter. But in the comics, guess who designed it? Oh, that's right, the guy who had a hand in virtually everything you love about Marvel Studios, Jack Kirby.
See, Daredevil didn't have quite as many bells and whistles as his other Marvel counterparts in the '60s. He had a not-great costume to start with, and despite the blindness and the radar sense, he didn't have something as neat as Captain America's mighty shield or Spidey's webshooters. Enter Mr. Jack Kirby and the billy club, to give DD some cool accessories.
NOTE: This next image isn't by Jack Kirby, it's by Bill Everett, and it appeared in 1964's Daredevil #1...but the club was Jack's idea, as legend has it.
And then what do they do? They give us the billy club/nunchucks/wire swinging thing. "Surely," I said to myself, "there will be no swinging from the wire, though." I love being wrong about stuff like that. I feel strangely vindicated by all of this. I'm really, really happy.
But if you think that's the nerdiest thing I'm going to admit to in this, well, think again.
- It's cool that Punisher gets his costume, right? We can all agree on that. But it's the way that skull logo comes to be that really is making me exceptionally happy this time around. Why? I'm glad you asked!
So, as I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of the Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie. Frank Castle doesn't wear a skull in that movie (but he does have these cool knives with skull handles). But the Marvel Comics adaptation of the movie, which was based on an earlier draft of the script, showed Frank spray-painting a white skull onto a black bullet-proof vest near the climax of the movie. I don't know if this was an intentional nod to that or not, but it's still pretty cool.
- Frank digs out that old disc that says "MICRO" on it. That's a reference to Microchip, a tech guy who spent years assisting Frank in his war on crime. It looks like Frank has decided he can use a little help, so we should get to meet Micro in future installments.
Shane Dobbs also kindly pointed out that this isn't the first mention of Micro in the MCU or the MCTVU or whatever. Agents of SHIELD brought him up in season 2 episode 7 as a hacktivist that Daisy/Skye knew of. Hell, we even noted it in our review at the time!
- Nobu getting chucked off the roof like that is another thing that reminds me of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, notably how Shredder croaks at the end of the incomparably great 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
- Tom Potts pointed out something kinda cool...Nobu's decapitation comes at the hands of someone in a brown trenchcoat (and that's where the sword gets hidden afterwards). Considering this season also had Clancy Brown in it, someone wanted to have an amusing Highlander in-joke in there, and Stick seems to be the guy to deliver it. And c'mon, that's the only way to stop an immortal, right?!?
I've been trying to make Nobu our Kirigi stand-in since last year, but clearly Nobu is just Nobu and not Kirigi. And now he's headless and probably not coming back. But if he comes back again he's totally Kirigi. I don't know what to believe anymore. But Nobu also kind of substituted for another character here...
- While there was no sign of Bullseye, Nobu took over one of that character's primary functions when he kills Elektra. I was fully expecting her to survive this season, until Matt's little "I'll follow you anywhere" speech, at which point, I knew she was toast. Still, really powerful stuff, couched in a spectacular rooftop ninja battle, and you guys know I love me some rooftop ninja battles.
Also, it's good to see this show has been following along with the Frank Miller tradition of "puncture wounds managing to get through everything except that final layer of clothing" (thanks @MTylerJones!) We saw it when Elektra stabbed Stick's driver, for example. And then, of course, there's Elektra's death scene.
- Elektra's burial gown looks more like her traditional comic book outfit than anything she wore in the course of the season. And make no mistake, she will be back, more ruthless than ever, and commanding an army of Hand ninjas, because everything is wonderful.
And remember what we said above about the Japanese characters on the vat standing for "resurrection?" Well, it's safe to say that Elektra will be back for Daredevil season 3.
I'm exhausted now, but I'll be back to update this more throughout the weekend with stuff I missed. Keep 'em coming down in the comments and/or directly at me on Twitter, and we'll make this the most comprehensive, nerdiest article imaginable! |
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Sterling Silver 6 Piece Puzzle Ring
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Face Height: 11 mm (0.43 inch)
Metal Material: Sterling Silver
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DENVER (CBS4) – Legalized marijuana dents the drug’s black market.
That’s one lure Amendment 64 supporters employed in 2012 to entice voters hesitant about legalized pot to cast a ballot for it: Grow it, sell it and tax it legally and there would be fewer instances of back-alley, street-corner deals.
It didn’t take long for CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger to find the black market is still operating. A source provided some phone numbers and one quick call was all it took to set up a prospective deal. A CBS producer with a hidden camera met the dealer on the corner of 12th Avenue and Lincoln Street in Denver.
“What’s that?” the producer asked.
“That’s the skunk. I threw in a bonus bud of Afghan in there,” the dealer replied.
The producer did not accept the marijuana or provide any money.
But drug investigators and Denver Police Department numbers disagree.
“The black market has exploded and continues to,” Ernie Martinez, the president of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association and a Denver police lieutenant, told CBS4. “It’s totally Pollyanna to think it’s gone.”
Martinez says there are several reasons. Customers, he believes, might prefer to buy from their long-time dealers, they trust them and they like the product. But the key reasons are money and supply.
“Bottom line: It’s cheaper,” he said. “And you can get more of it. Unlimited amounts, as long as you have the money.”
Martinez says narcotics officers across the state see that financial undercutting daily.
Drug seizures have increased in the last several months, Martinez says. Distributors continue to haul the drug from Mexico along Interstate 25 and up through southwestern border states and into Colorado on Interstate 70.
“It’s very naïve and, in a lot of instances, it’s very disingenuous to think the cartel or the black market has gone away or been eliminated,” Martinez says.
But a street dealer disagrees.
“It’s destroyed the black market,” says a dealer who agreed to talk on the condition that CBS4 wouldn’t reveal his identity. “Five years ago, millions of dollars were still flowing down I-25 toward Mexico to supply the marijuana for the people who smoked here.”
Now, he guesses, only about 10 percent of the pot market is supplied illegally, down from his estimate of 90 percent before Amendment 64. He says he’s generating only 50 percent of the business he did three years ago.
CBS4 asked Denver police about the statistics. They pointed out they have changed methods of keeping track and many times marijuana sales are often included in other crimes not reflected in those figures.
The dealer, who spent six years in prison on a marijuana conviction before Denver loosened its restrictions, buys medical marijuana with a card and then profits through volume by selling smaller amounts — quarter- and eighth-ounces — for more money.
But if recreational and medical marijuana cost significantly more — at least twice as much as he offered it to CBS4’s undercover producer — how could he see a hit to his business?
“Anyone can go get a medical card for just about any reason. Why they don’t baffles me,” he says.
As prices drop, the black market will, too, he argues.
“It’s just a matter of time before the recreational prices come down and the laws of the marketplace step in,” the dealer says. “Once that price goes down to a fair level, there will be no use for someone like me.”
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This was my first year participating in Secret Santa so I didn't know what to expect. But my Secret Santa was absolutely amazing! He somehow knew exactly what kind of things I would like! First, the letter he wrote me was incredible and encouraged me greatly. And then I found two steam gift cards in the envelope! The wrapping paper was on point, I was so thrilled when I saw it was Star Wars themed. The detachable ornament from the R2D2 Christmas card is going straight onto my tree. The shirt was the perfect mixture of science and Star Wars, what's not to love? I thought "this guy is so cool". Then I found the FULL Cowboy Bebop Series blu-ray. I've had so many people recommend me this show, his gift is the perfect impetus to give it a watch! And last but not least, STAR WARS TRIVIAL PURSUIT! HOW DID HE KNOW THAT TRIVIA IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS?? Now I can kick some padawan ass, just as he suggested. What are the odds that my SS and I had so much in common? He gave me everything I could have wanted and more for my first Reddit Secret Santa experience! What a thoughtful and awesome series of gifts. Thanks so much, S!
-troymen11 |
Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary has rejected suggestions that UK-Israeli relations would suffer if party leader Ed Miliband becomes prime minister in May. She dismissed such claims a bid to “play party politics” with foreign affairs.
Yvette Cooper’s comments were issued in an exclusive interview with the Jewish Chronicle in response to remarks made by Conservative Northern Irish Secretary Theresa Villiers.
Villiers had claimed in January a newly-elected Labour government would have a “chilling” effect on Britain’s relationship with Israel.
Cooper said the suggestion that Britain’s role as a key ally of Israel would be diminished if Labour wins May’s general election is “utter nonsense.”
"It's nonsense to say Labour is anti-Israel", says @YvetteCooperMP. Relationship w/Jewish community “strong as ever” http://t.co/rPe19KKNAy — Marcus Dysch (@MarcusDysch) February 12, 2015
She said Villiers’ bid to play political football with foreign policy issues was “disappointing.”
Cooper acknowledged, however, Miliband’s condemnation of PM David Cameron’s response to the 2014 Gaza conflict was scathing. At the height of the conflict, Miliband had described Israel's military offensive in Gaza as“unacceptable and unjustifiable.”
The Labour chief had also criticized Cameron’s stance on Israel’s actions, accusing the Tory leader of being too ambivalent on the military campaign.
Boycott Divestment & Sanctions: ‘Tactic not principle’
While some backbench Labour MPs have signaled support for Britain’s boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel, the campaign has not been endorsed by Miliband or Cooper.
The British arm of the movement is backed by academics, pro-Palestinian campaigners, and politicians across the UK.
READ MORE:UK MP says Bradford doesn’t want Israeli goods, services or visitors
The BDS campaign, which is supported worldwide, says it seeks to “strengthen and spread the culture of boycott as a central form of civil resistance to Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid.”
Launched in the Occupied Territories in 2005, it is supported by over 170 Palestinian organizations representing exiled Palestinian refugees, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and Palestinian’s who suffer discrimination in Israel.
Speaking to the Jewish Chronicle, Cooper said Miliband has made his position on boycotts against Israel clear.
“Ed does defend Israel, but that’s not to say he will support every decision the Israeli government takes. No one could expect that,” she added.
While addressing the UN in October 2014, world renowned linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky was somewhat critical about the BDS campaign. He argued it is characterized by a set of tactics rather than principles.
“Tactics are not principles. They’re not actions that you undertake no matter what because you think they’re right,” he said.
Decline in neighborhood policing
As part of her role in government, Cooper has worked closely with Jewish groups in an effort to tackle racism and hate crimes in the UK.
Amid a rising climate of anti-Semitism in Britain, the Shadow Home Secretary said government cuts had led to drop in “community-led policing.” Cooper said the decline of a neighborhood police presence in Britain is problematic.
“You need that community-led policing work because people have a right to feel safe on their streets and in their homes,” she added.
A poll conducted in late January indicates Israeli foreign policy has not impacted on the majority of Britons’ resolve that Israel has a right to exist.
Great that PM says antisemitism goes against what UK stands for. Wish politicians would say that for all racism http://t.co/S7WSr1VlpF — rachel shabi (@rachshabi) February 9, 2015
The survey, commissioned by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism, revealed 89 percent of Britons polled said the Middle Eastern state has a right to exist.
The survey suggested Britain’s current rate of anti-Semitism mirrors that of 2005, hitting 4.6 on a scale of one to 10. According to the scale, one indicates anti-Semitism is “not a problem” in the UK, while 10 indicates it is “a serious problem.”
In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, members of the Jewish community in North London’s Stoke Newington told the Shadow Home Secretary they were concerned.
Cooper said high-profile terror attacks and anti-Semitic abuse on the street and on social media platforms can seriously impact people’s day-to-day lives.
“We should never ignore that. We have to take it seriously and provide that reassurance for people,” she said.
The Shadow Home Secretary insisted a newly-elected Labour government would implement measures to counter extremism and the rise of radicalization in Britain. She added a reformed strategy for tackling hate crime in Britain is paramount.
Cooper condemned social media firms for failing to intercept online anti-Semitic abuse, stressing how Labour's Lucia Berger MP was exposed to offensive vitriol from an online troll in 2014. |
From Quanta Magazine (find original story here).
Modern birds descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, whose members include the towering Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors. The theropods most closely related to avians generally weighed between 100 and 500 pounds — giants compared to most modern birds — and they had large snouts, big teeth, and not much between the ears. A velociraptor, for example, had a skull like a coyote’s and a brain roughly the size of a pigeon’s.
For decades, paleontologists’ only fossil link between birds and dinosaurs was archaeopteryx, a hybrid creature with feathered wings but with the teeth and long bony tail of a dinosaur. These animals appeared to have acquired their birdlike features — feathers, wings and flight — in just 10 million years, a mere flash in evolutionary time. “Archaeopteryx seemed to emerge fully fledged with the characteristics of modern birds,” said Michael Benton, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol in England.
To explain this miraculous metamorphosis, scientists evoked a theory often referred to as “hopeful monsters.” According to this idea, major evolutionary leaps require large-scale genetic changes that are qualitatively different from the routine modifications within a species. Only such substantial alterations on a short timescale, the story went, could account for the sudden transformation from a 300-pound theropod to the sparrow-size prehistoric bird Iberomesornis.
But it has become increasingly clear that the story of how dinosaurs begat birds is much more subtle. Discoveries have shown that bird-specific features like feathers began to emerge long before the evolution of birds, indicating that birds simply adapted a number of pre-existing features to a new use. And recent research suggests that a few simple change—among them the adoption of a more babylike skull shape into adulthood—likely played essential roles in the final push to bird-hood. Not only are birds much smaller than their dinosaur ancestors, they closely resemble dinosaur embryos. Adaptations such as these may have paved the way for modern birds’ distinguishing features, namely their ability to fly and their remarkably agile beaks. The work demonstrates how huge evolutionary changes can result from a series of small evolutionary steps.
A Phantom Leap
In the 1990s, an influx of new dinosaur fossils from China revealed a feathery surprise. Though many of these fossils lacked wings, they had a panoply of plumage, from fuzzy bristles to fully articulated quills. The discovery of these new intermediary species, which filled in the spotty fossil record, triggered a change in how paleontologists conceived of the dinosaur-to-bird transition. Feathers, once thought unique to birds, must have evolved in dinosaurs long before birds developed.
Sophisticated new analyses of these fossils, which track structural changes and map how the specimens are related to each other, support the idea that avian features evolved over long stretches of time. In research published in Current Biology last fall, Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and collaborators examined fossils from coelurosaurs, the subgroup of theropods that produced archaeopteryx and modern birds. They tracked changes in a number of skeletal properties over time and found that there was no great jump that distinguished birds from other coelurosaurs.
“A bird didn’t just evolve from a T. rex overnight, but rather the classic features of birds evolved one by one; first bipedal locomotion, then feathers, then a wishbone, then more complex feathers that look like quill-pen feathers, then wings,” Brusatte said. “The end result is a relatively seamless transition between dinosaurs and birds, so much so that you can’t just draw an easy line between these two groups.”
Yet once those avian features were in place, birds took off. Brusatte’s study of coelurosaurs found that once archaeopteryx and other ancient birds emerged, they began evolving much more rapidly than other dinosaurs. The hopeful monster theory had it almost exactly backwards: A burst of evolution didn’t produce birds. Rather, birds produced a burst of evolution. “It seems like birds had happened upon a very successful new body plan and new type of ecology—flying at small size—and this led to an evolutionary explosion,” Brusatte said.
The Importance of Being Small
Though most people might name feathers or wings as a key characteristic distinguishing birds from dinosaurs, the group’s small stature is also extremely important. New research suggests that bird ancestors shrank fast, indicating that the diminutive size was an important and advantageous trait, quite possibly an essential component in bird evolution.
Like other bird features, diminishing body size likely began long before the birds themselves evolved. A study published in Science last year found that the miniaturization process began much earlier than scientists had expected. Some coelurosaurs started shrinking as far back as 200 million years ago—50 million years before archaeopteryx emerged. At that time, most other dinosaur lineages were growing larger. “Miniaturization is unusual, especially among dinosaurs,” Benton said.
That shrinkage sped up once bird ancestors grew wings and began experimenting with gliding flight. Last year, Benton’s team showed that this dinosaur lineage, known as paraves, was shrinking 160 times faster than other dinosaur lineages were growing. “Other dinosaurs were getting bigger and uglier while this line was quietly getting smaller and smaller,” Benton said. “We believe that marked an event of intense selection going on at that point.”
The rapid miniaturization suggests that smaller birds must have had a strong advantage over larger ones. “Maybe this decrease was opening up new habitats, new ways of life, or even had something to do with changing physiology and growth,” Brusatte said. Benton speculates that the advantage of being pint-size might have emerged as bird ancestors moved to trees, a useful source of food and shelter.
But whatever the reasons may be, small stature was likely a useful precursor to flight. Though larger animals can glide, true flight powered by beating wings requires a certain ratio of wing size to weight. Birds needed to become smaller before they could ever take to the air for more than a short glide.
Baby Face
In 2008, Arkhat Abzhanov, a biologist at Harvard University, was elbow deep in alligator eggs. Since alligators descend from a common ancestor with dinosaurs, they can provide a useful evolutionary comparison to birds. (Despite their appearance, birds are more closely related to alligators than lizards are.) Abzhanov was studying alligators’ vertebrae, but what struck him most was the birdlike shape of their heads; alligator embryos looked quite similar to chickens. Fossilized skulls of baby dinosaurs show the same pattern—they resemble adult birds. With those two observations in mind, Abzhanov had an idea. Perhaps birds evolved from dinosaurs by arresting their pattern of development early on in life.
To test that theory, Abzhanov, along with Mark Norell, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, then a doctoral student in Abzhanov’s lab, and other colleagues, collected data on fossils from around the globe, including ancient birds, such as archaeopteryx, and fossilized eggs of developing dinosaurs that died in the nest. They tracked how the skull shape changed as dinosaurs morphed into birds.
Over time, they discovered, the face collapsed and the eyes, brain and beak grew. “The first birds were almost identical to the late embryo from velociraptors,” Abzhanov said. “Modern birds became even more babylike and change even less from their embryonic form.” In short, birds resemble tiny, infantile dinosaurs that can reproduce.
This process, known as paedomorphosis, is an efficient evolutionary route. “Rather than coming up with something new, it takes something you already have and extends it,” said Nipam Patel, a developmental biologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We’re seeing more and more that evolution operates much more elegantly than we previously appreciated,” said Bhullar, who will start his own lab at Yale University in the fall. “The umpteen changes that go into the bird skull may all owe to paedomorphosis, to one set of molecular changes in the early embryo.”
Why would paedomorphosis be important for the evolution of birds? It might have helped drive miniaturization or vice versa. Changes in size are often linked to changes in development, so selection for small size may have arrested the development of the adult form. “A neat way to cut short a developmental sequence is to stop growing at smaller size,” Benton said. A babylike skull in adults might also help explain birds’ increased brain size, since baby animals generally have larger heads relative to their bodies than adults do. “A great way to improve brain size is to retain child size into adulthood,” he said.
(Indeed, paedomorphosis might underlie a number of major transitions in evolution, perhaps even the development of mammals and humans. Our large skulls relative to those of chimpanzees could be a case of paedomorphosis.)
What’s more, paedomorphosis helped to make the skull a blank slate on which selection could create new structures. By erasing the snout, it may have paved the way for another of birds’ most important features: the beak.
Birth of the Beak
The problem with studying something that occurred deep in evolutionary time is that it’s impossible to know exactly what happened. Scientists can never precisely decipher how birds evolved from dinosaurs or which set of features was essential for that transformation. But with the intersection of three fields—evolution, genetics and developmental biology—they can now begin to explore how specific features might have come about.
One of Abzhanov’s particular interests is the beak, a remarkable structure that birds use to find food, clean themselves, make nests, and care for their young. He theorizes that birds’ widespread success stems not just from their ability to fly, but from their amazing diversity of beaks. “Modern birds evolved a pair of fingers on the face,” he said.
Armed with their insight into bird evolution, Abzhanov, Bhullar and collaborators have been able to dig into the genetic mechanisms that helped form the beak. In new research, published last month in Evolution, the researchers show that just a few small genetic tweaks can morph a bird face into one that resembles a dinosaur.
While most other dinosaur lineages were growing, the line that gave rise to birds began to shrink nearly 200 million years ago. Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine. Dinosaur silhouettes are based on the following illustrations: Monolophosaurus by Jordan Mallon, Deinonychus by Emily Willoughby, and Velociraptor by Matt Martyniuk.
In modern birds, two bones known as the premaxillary bones fuse to become the beak. That structure is quite distinct from that of dinosaurs, alligators, ancient birds and most other vertebrates, in which these two bones remain separate, shaping the snout. To figure out how that change might have arisen, the researchers mapped out the activity of two genes that are expressed in these bones in a spectrum of animals: alligators, chickens, mice, lizards, turtles and emus, a living species reminiscent of ancient birds.
They found that the reptiles and mammals had two patches of activity, one on either side of the developing nasal cavity. Birds, on the hand, had a much larger single patch spanning the front of the face. The researchers reasoned that the alligator pattern could serve as a proxy for that of dinosaurs, given that they have similar snouts and premaxillary bones. The researchers then undid a bird-specific pattern of gene expression in chicken embryos using chemicals to block the genes in the middle of the face. (For ethical reasons, they did not allow the chickens to hatch.)
The result: The treated embryos developed a more dinosaurlike face. “They basically grew a bird embryo back into something that looked more like the morphology of extinct dinosaurs,” said Timothy Rowe, a paleontologist at the University of Texas, Austin, who has previously collaborated with Abzhanov.
The findings highlight how simple molecular tweaks can trigger major structural changes. Birds “use existing tools in a new way to create a whole new face,” Abzhanov said. “They didn’t evolve a new gene or pathway, they just changed control of an existing gene.”
Like the studies of Brusatte and others, Abzhanov’s work challenges the hopeful monster theory, and it does so on a genetic scale. The creation of the beak didn’t require some special evolutionary jump or large-scale genetic changes. Rather, Abzhanov showed that the same forces that shape microevolution — minor alterations within species — also drive macroevolution, the evolution of whole new features and new groups of species.
Specifically, small changes in how genes are regulated likely drove both the initial creation of the beak, which evolved over millions of years, and the diverse shape of bird beaks, which can change over just a few generations. “We show that simple regulatory changes can have a major impact,” Abzhanov said.
Bhullar and Abzhanov plan to dig deeper into the question of how the beak and bird skull evolved, using the same approach to manipulate different features of skull and brain development. “We have just scratched surface of this work,” Bhullar said. |
UPDATE: We are now hearing that the business will remain open in 2015, with the closing date pegged at 30 June 2016 unless something changes. Thanks to Simon Smith for checking this out for us..
UPDATE 2 (6 Nov 2015): This story has gone viral, and The Brag and The Daily Telegraph are now running pieces on it. According to the latter, COMIC KINGDOM manager Clayton Wildridge “said the store would continue to trade until existing stock was sold. However, our sources tell us that the store is closing down over a period of 3 months.
Read on below for our original story.
Another one bites the dust. Several sources have reported that Sydney’s oldest comic book store, COMIC KINGDOM, will be shutting its doors after decades in the business. It’s part of a trend that only sees a handful of such stores left open in Sydney.
A staple on the Sydney scene since the 1980s, COMIC KINGDOM‘s distinctive visage at its Liverpool Street location is known for its eclectic display of pop culture items in the front window, and even more diverse range of memorabilia inside. The ground floor was an assortment or ‘stuff’ from television, film, comics and beyond, while the upper floor contained new releases, collections, toys, valuable issues, and an impressive back-issue stockpile room with issues dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.
Some of the ‘stuff’ on the lower floor of Comic Kingdom. Photo source: ComicBookResources
Owner Steve Smith’s store started off as the Bondi Book Exchange in Bondi Junction in the early 1980s, before COMIC KINGDOM opened another store that fans may recall was on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Liverpool. Then offshoot Comics and Cards found a home on Market Street, one that took advantage of the card collecting boom of the 1990s. COMIC KINGDOM eventually bought the multi-tiered building on Liverpool Street , consolidating its collections into one store. It has remained in the area of Sydney now known as ‘the Spanish Quarter’ until now.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, COMIC KINGDOM was part of a vibrant comics community that inhabited the Sydney CBD. Kings Comics, now in a prime location on Pitt Street, once occupied an underground section below street level location in Elizabeth Street across the road from Comics and Cards, with other locations such as Moore Park’s Fox Studios (now the Entertainment Quarter) no longer around. Down on George Street, just around the corner from COMIC KINGDOM, was the epically named The Land Beyond Beyond. As a young lad first getting into comics, this writer spent many an hour of his misspent youth making the trek between these four locations to hunt down bargains or seemingly rare and exciting issues.
Never as flashy as the brightly lit and socially engaged Kings Comics, even the most ardent of Sydney comics fans would argue that COMIC KINGDOM had seen better days. The front display’s manually placed “6” over the original “Open 7 Days” sign has been a long-standing indicator of those finer times. The creaky stairs that led from the street-level doorway flanked visitors with Eeerie and Punisher posters from a more successful time for the store. There was always a sense that you were merely visiting someone else’s spare room, a potential hoarder in the making, but inevitably went home with items that you wouldn’t have bought in any other circumstance. A recent trip looking for a current issue instead yielded The Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives graphic novel from 1989 and a copy of Walt Simonson’s 1983 book Star Slammers.
For Sydney comics fans, it is far from the end of collecting. The aforementioned Kings remains a staple in the city and at the growing convention scene, while the nearby Books Kinokuniya keeps us in bountiful amounts of trade paperbacks and collections. Liverpool’s The Comic Shop still sells current single issues, as does Paramatta’s The Phantom Zone and relatively new plater Superhero Comics in Newtown. There’s also Arcadia Unbound over in Kingsgrove, a shop with arguably the biggest painted doors in all of comic book store history.
So long, COMIC KINGDOM. We may not have visited you as much as we should have, and perhaps we always took you for granted. Yet you will leave a hole in the scene, one that we hope is filled by other keen collectors of ‘stuff’. |
Image caption Thomas Hadley said 11 lambs were still missing and 33 have been killed
A young farmer has spoken of his shock after most of his flock of 56 lambs were killed by two dogs.
Thomas Hadley was telephoned on Friday to say two dogs were attacking his sheep in Risbury, Leominster.
Mr Hadley, 23, said when he arrived the field was "scattered" with dead and injured lambs and the dogs were still attacking other sheep.
Police sent armed officers and seized the dogs. A 64-year-old man has been arrested and bailed.
The man, from Leominster, has been bailed until October on suspicion of allowing a dog to be out of control and allowing a dog to kill or maim livestock. A police spokesman said the firearms officers were deployed as a "matter of precaution".
'Can't trust any dog'
Mr Hadley said 33 of the lambs, who were born in April, died from their injuries or shock or had to be destroyed.
"I haven't slept at all," he said. "We are still missing 11 lambs and these could be fatally injured lying somewhere and we have searched a two-mile radius of this place and haven't found them."
Mr Hadley, who also works as an sheep shearer and livestock agent, has been breeding sheep for three years and said the incident had cost at least £10,000.
"I have lost the breed lines and will have to start from scratch," he said.
"People don't realise that their dogs can do this," he said. "You can't trust any dog around livestock." |
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For updates throughout the day on city and community reaction, click here.
The Department of Justice has found the Albuquerque Police Department has established a pattern and practice in the use of excessive and fatal force that violates the Constitutional rights of those shot or harmed by police officers.
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In a 46-page letter of findings to Mayor Richard Berry, the DOJ reported, “We have determined that structural and systemic deficiencies — including insufficient oversight, inadequate training and ineffective policies — contributed to the use of unreasonable force.”
The Department of Justice reviewed 20 fatal shootings by Albuquerque Police between 2009 and 2013 and found that in the majority of cases the level of force used was not justified because the person killed by police did not present a threat to police officers or the public. The DOJ also reviewed the use of nonlethal force involving significant harm or injury to people by APD officers and found a similar pattern of excessive force by officers against people who posed no threat and was not justified by the circumstances.Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels said in an interview the findings were “pretty disturbing” and that public trust of the department has been eroded.
“A lot of the most troubling incidents involved mentally ill people,” Samuels said.
But the Justice Department said that whether it decides to seek a monitor to oversee changes in the department would depend in part on how willing APD was to make changes. Berry recently called on DOJ to begin negotiations for monitoring of the police department.
Samuels said that there was a “culture of acceptance of the use of excessive force” within APD that stems from “systematic failures” that are department wide.
In some cases, Samuels said, the reckless actions of officers put themselves in a position where force was needed.
The letter thanks city, police administrators and rank-and-file officers for cooperating with the DOJ investigation.
Among the findings:
–Albuquerque police officers too often use deadly force in an unconstitutional manner in the use of their firearms where there is no imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to officers or others. Instead officers used deadly force against people who posed a minimal threat and the conduct of officers heightened the danger and contributed to the need for force.
— Albuquerque police officers use Tasers on people who are passively resisting, unable to comply with officer orders because of their mental state or posed only a minimal threat to officers.
–The use of excessive force by APD officers is not isolated or sporadic. The failure to implement an objective and rigourous internal accountability system has led to force incidents not being properly investigated, documented or addressed with corrective measures.
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–A significant amount of force cases reviewed were found to involve persons with mental illness and in crisis. The department’s policies, training and supervision were found insufficient to ensure officers properly responded to people they encountered with mental illness or in distress.
“A disconnect exists between officers and residents about the perception of overly aggressive conduct by officers. We observed that many officers were dismissive of community concerns. For instance, many officers complained that the media generated the complaints about their perceived aggressiveness in citizen encounters. Some officers complained that citizens were the ones who were aggressive towards them. This perception persists even though the data suggests otherwise. These concerns suggest an unwillingness to embrace community policing. This rejection of one of the basic elements of community policing contributes to the department’s pattern or practice of unjustified force.” (page 40-41 DOJ letter)
The DOJ letter cites the fatal shootings of Andrew Lopez and Dominic Smith in separate incidents in 2009 as examples of excessive force on unarmed men. Later examples include the shooting deaths of Alan Gomez outside a relative’s home in May 2011 and January 2010 shooting death of Kenneth Ellis which led to an $8 million civil settlement with the city.
“We understand policing is a tremendously difficult job and the majority of officers do their jobs without violating constitutional rights,” Samuels said.
But according to the DOJ letter, the culture of accepting the use of excessive force, both fatal and nonfatal, is created by the department’s failure to properly report excessive force incidents, thoroughly investigate those reports and properly discipline officers. Proper training and guidance were contributing factors to the fatal shootings and Constitutional violations in the nonfatal use of excessive force.
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Federal officials made it clear that the recent shooting of James Boyd in the Albuquerque foothills by police is not part of the department’s civil findings and is being investigated separately as a criminal case. A police video recording of that shooting went viral on the Internet and ignited large street protests in Albuquerque.
Key recommendations
Samuels said the findings and recommendations released this morning are the start of discussions with Mayor Richard Berry’s administration on how to fix the problems with APD.
The DOJ findings do not recommend a monitor or special master to oversee implementation of the lengthy list of remedial actions DOJ believes APD needs to make.
Mayor Berry has already asked that independent monitors be appointed and a new deputy police chief was hired this week to work with a DOJ monitor to help implement changes in the department.
“We have used these remedies in other cities and found they work,” Samuel said. “We hope they are willing to work with us.”
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Whether DOJ seeks a monitor or goes to federal court to seek an appointed special master to oversee changes in APD depends on how receptive Berry’s administration is to making the changes the DOJ wants.
“We have found monitors are critical to make sure the changes are successful,” Samuels said.
Justice Department officials said APD has taken some positive steps to correcting problems but that those first steps need a lot of work.
For instance they point to the department’s use of lapel cameras as an important innovation for police in Albuquerque, but the police department fell short in training, policy guidance and discipline on when and how the cameras should be used in dealing with the public.
Another program to reduce police use of force, the formation of the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), also drew praise from DOJ officials but they point out that the department again fell short in how and when the team trained to deal with mentally ill people is used.
“Innovations the department has made are undermined by the lack of clear guidelines,” one DOJ official said. “When is the CIT called? Who is in charge of the scene?”
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The DOJ recommends a nearly complete overhaul of the department’s use of force policies including a prohibition against shooting at motor vehicles and requiring the reporting of all use of force incidents, including the use of choke holds.
Other sweeping recommendations include the reconstruction of APD’s Internal Affairs unit and policies governing it. The DOJ, for instance, wants all department employees to be required to report alleged or perceived misconduct to a supervisor or Internal Affairs for review and an easier system for the public to make complaints.
DOJ recommends that incidents where force is used, whether fatal or not, should be treated as crime scenes were evidence is gathered and witnesses sought out for statements. The DOJ wants all use of force incidents to be reviewed by supervisors but not supervisors who were involved in the incident or ordered the use of force.
DOJ wants the department to re-emphasize community policing after it found that department’s leadership had not made it a priority resulting in a department culture that is hostile to forming partnerships with community groups.
Federal investigators found that the department’s training is too heavily focused on weaponry and scenarios where officers use force and that officers do not get enough training in how to de-escalate situations.
The DOJ letter calls for an overhaul of the Police Oversight Commission, where investigators found the current and past review officers to be more closely aligned with the department than the community. |
To those of us in the news biz, the headline on a new Gallup survey was dispiriting, to say the least: “U.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High”
“Americans' distrust in the media hit a new high this year, with 60 percent saying they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly,” Gallup reported Friday. “Distrust is up from the past few years, when Americans were already more negative about the media than they had been in years prior to 2004.”
That’s a far cry from the 1970s, when Gallup asked the question three times and found trust in the media as high as 72 percent.
It also means that “negativity toward the media is at an all-time high for a presidential election year,” according to Gallup, which is “particularly consequential at a time when Americans need to rely on the media to learn about the platforms and perspectives of the two candidates vying to lead the country for the next four years.”
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There’s a definite political tilt to such findings.
Trust in the media – defined as having a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust – is very low among Republicans (26 percent) and independents (31 percent), considerably higher among Democrats (58 percent). Paradoxically, Republicans are the partisan group most likely to be paying close attention to news about national politics, Gallup finds.
How have things changed since the media’s relative glory days in the '70s and earlier?
Back then, most Americans relied on local newspapers and such much-admired TV broadcasters as Walter Cronkite and Howard K. Smith, whose veracity was rarely questioned. When Mr. Cronkite ended his broadcasts with his signature “and that’s the way it is,” most of us believed him.
Vietnam and Watergate changed that to some extent. (It changed Cronkite, who publicly turned against the Vietnam War.) So did the civil rights movement and the push for gender equality. Establishment thinking and policies came under greater scrutiny, and conventional beliefs were challenged.
Fast-forward to the present, and the source of news (perhaps that should be “news”) has exploded. Many fewer newspapers, but a lot more cable television, radio and TV talk shows, news-based entertainment (Jon Stewart), partisan and ideological web sites, and so many bloggers that it brings to mind the old saw about monkeys and typewriters – what Chris Gaither and Susannah Rosenblatt writing in the Los Angeles Times several technological generations ago (2005) called “the uncensored bastions of ideological chest-thumping.”
Back to that partisan split in perceptions about trust in the media. Are reporters and editors, broadcasters and producers biased in a liberal direction? Is that why Democrats are more likely to trust the press?
That’s certainly the perception among many conservatives. How many times has Sarah Palin decried the “lamestream media?”
The mainstream media these days is nothing if not self-examining.
“When The [New York] Times covers a national presidential campaign, I have found that the lead editors and reporters are disciplined about enforcing fairness and balance, and usually succeed in doing so,” Arthur Brisbane, the newspaper’s ombudsman, wrote in his final column last month. “Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism – for lack of a better term – that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.”
“As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects,” Mr. Brisbane wrote.
Except for Fox News, broadcasters generally went nuts over Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, leading Politico’s Jim VandeHei to observe that “the mainstream media tends to be quite smitten with the Obamas.”
But it’s also true that people tend to dwell in the media echo chamber they’re most comfortable with, whether it’s Sean Hannity and Fox News on the right or Rachel Maddow and MSNBC on the left. Fox News drew many more viewers to the Republican National Convention than the other broadcast or cable networks; NBC and MSNBC led the way at the Democratic National Convention.
It’s also true that the tea party movement and social conservatism have had a profound impact on traditional political conservatism, driving a deeper and angrier distrust of conventional media sources.
“I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican Party platform,” Ms. Maddow quipped in 2010.
Regarding the Gallup survey, Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute (a nonprofit school that promotes excellence in journalism) asks: “Is it possible people considering that question disassociate or exempt the media outlets they like (you have to work pretty hard to not find a news organization that skews toward whatever your views are these days) from the ones they distrust?”
Being down on the press has a long history in the United States.
“Newspapers serve as chimneys to carry off noxious vapors and smoke,” Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thaddeus Kosciusko in 1802.
But for many reporters and editors, who tend to be an idealistic lot, the words of the late, great columnist Molly Ivins still ring true:
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“I have long been persuaded that the news media collectively will be sent to hell not for our sins of commission, but our sins of omission. The real scandal in the media is not bias, it is laziness. Laziness and bad news judgment. Our failure is what we miss, what we fail to cover, what we let slip by, what we don't give enough attention to.”
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Gander Mountain closing 3 Houston-area stores as it files for bankruptcy
File photo of a Gander Mountain grand opening in Laredo. File photo of a Gander Mountain grand opening in Laredo. Image 1 of / 60 Caption Close Gander Mountain closing 3 Houston-area stores as it files for bankruptcy 1 / 60 Back to Gallery
Gander Mountain filed for bankruptcy Friday and said it expects to attract a buyer as the company lowers its operating costs as part of its restructuring.
The company expects to close 10 of its 22 stores in Texas. In the Houston area, that includes stores at 13441 Westheimer Road, 19820 Hempstead Highway and 19890 Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land
In all the St. Paul, Minn.-based chain of 162 stores in 26 states is closing 32 stores over the next several weeks.
Gander Mountain said it is in active discussions with a number of parties interested in a going-concern sale and expects to solicit bids prior to an auction to be held in late April. The company expects to submit the winning bid to the bankruptcy court for approval in early May and anticipates a completing the sale by May 15.
Here's a list of store closings:
Texas (10) - Houston, Killeen, Laredo, Lubbock, Round Rock, San Antonio, Sugar Land, Texarkana, Waco, West Houston
Alabama (4) - Gadsden, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa
Georgia (3) - Augusta, McDonough, Snellville
Illinois (3) - Champaign, Algonquin, Springfield
Indiana (2) - Merrillville, Greenfield
Minnesota (3) - Rogers, Mankato, Woodbury
New York (1) - New Hartford
North Carolina (2) - Raleigh, South Charlotte
Tennessee (1) - Chattanooga
West Virginia (1) - Charleston
Wisconsin (2) - Eau Claire, Germantown |
An Oklahoma senate panel approved a bill Monday to prevent city and county governments from outdoing state laws on employment and public accommodations.
The bill initially prevented local governments from going further than any state law. A committee substitute focused it on employment and public accommodations laws.
Senate Bill 694 author Sen. Joshua Brecheen sparred with Sen. Kay Floyd over the need to preemptively protect business owners' expression of sincerely held religious beliefs through refusing service to LGBTQ people.
"That's what some are asking for, is the ability to object to something but do it in a loving manner and it not be categorized as discrimination with the context of all that word conjures," Brecheen said.
"Does the senator recognize that's exactly the argument that was raised in the Civil Rights movement 50 years ago?" Floyd said.
"I wasn't alive during that argument," Brecheen said.
Brecheen said some small business owners want to be able to act on their religious beliefs without potentially facing a lawsuit. Floyd asked how many Oklahoma businesses have been sued.
"Tulsa is the first city that I'm aware of that has gone down this path toward public accommodations," Brecheen said. "It is already the case in five states that I've named, in Texas."
"Senator, I hate to interrupt, but I really am just concerned about what's going on in our state," Floyd said.
Sexual orientation and gender identity were added as protected classes to Tulsa's fair housing ordinance in 2015, which has not resulted in any lawsuits to date.
Brecheen's Senate bio notes he wants to promote local control. Sen. Stephanie Bice said she doesn’t see that in the bill.
"Our communities are electing council members and mayors to represent them and their needs, and so for this to be a blanket statement, I think, is concerning to me," Bice said.
Oklahomans for Equality Executive Director Toby Jenkins responded to SB694's advancement in a statement.
"Local municipal and county leaders across the state are working to create inclusive and welcoming cities and counties, because state senators and representatives refuse to make it unlawful to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people," Jenkins said.
Brecheen said besides protecting religious freedom, he wants to prevent confusion caused by differences in state and local laws.
The bill passed out of the Committee on General Government 6–4. |
The Tasmanian Tiger
The Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine, was the apex predator of Australia for a time, native to the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea, as well as the mainland. Despite being discovered by the British when they arrived to settle Australia and being taken into captivity, the Tasmanian tiger is incredibly mysterious and wasn’t well studied before going extinct.
A pouch-laden marsupial like the kangaroo, Tasmanian tigers are a little backward—literally. Their pouch opened from the back instead of the front and appeared on both male and female tigers. It got its name from the stripes along its back, though it is entirely unrelated to ordinary tigers.
Tiger Hunting
Though the species was discovered in 1808, it seems that the poor Tasmanian tiger was already struggling to survive. It had become near-extinct everywhere but Tasmania by this time. Adapted to survive in the food-scarce jungles, these tigers prowled the underbrush eating anything they could get their jaws on, including kangaroos, wombats, bandicoots, and emus.
The species proved an immediate threat to the interests of settlers and was superstitiously thought to be a blood drinker, sucking the blood from farmer’s sheep. The added competition of dingoes on the island, as well as the arrival of diseases carried by dogs severely threatened Thylacines. This would-be chupacabra became the target of organized hunts, and possibly a smear campaign that used a staged photo to coerce settlers into pursuing the creatures.
Bounties paying up to £1 per tiger head were issued by the Tasmanian government, and the last wild Thylacine was shot in 1930.
Life in Captivity
A few of the Tasmanian tigers had been placed in zoos, but they didn’t fare well, getting sick, and sometimes refusing to eat. Only one attempt to breed them in captivity was successful. Transferring the animals to zoos outside the continent was difficult and expensive, and some even ended up in sideshows and traveling menageries.
The last tiger died in captivity at the Hobart Zoo in 1936. Nicknamed “Benjamin,” it is believed he died of neglect, being locked outside of his shelter during swelteringly hot days and freezing cold nights.
The Hunt for the Ghost Tiger
Though Benjamin is recognized officially as the last Tasmanian tiger, rumors of their presence and unsubstantiated sightings persisted in Tasmania for another 50 years. The hunt for the Tasmanian tiger since its extinction has been almost as fervent as the hunt that led to its destruction.
Now regarded as a cryptid alongside the Loch Ness Monster and Himalayan Yeti, Tasmanian tiger sightings and photos never pass the muster of thorough examination. Media magnate Ted Turner has even offered a $100,000 reward for proof the animal still lives, spurring a generation of hunters searching for an elusive Tasmanian tiger. They continue their search to this day, and “sightings” are reported every year. |
Easter seems like a good time to put out the results of a poll exploring an issue with clear religious connotations - namely, to what extent do New Zealanders believe in creationism versus evolution. I realise that believing in evolution doesn't necessarily mean you're not religious, and that believing in a God-created universe doesn't necessarily mean that you subscribe to any of the estabilished religions, but religion and creationism are clearly linked. The poll is from June 2012, and compares New Zealand results with those from an equivalent study in the United States (Gallup, May 2012).
We asked New Zealanders which of the following statements came closest to their views on the origin and development of human beings:
A) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process
B) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process
C) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last ten thousand years or so
To keep the write-up clear, I'll refer to Statement A as 'intelligent design', Statement B as 'pure evolution' and Statement C as 'creationism'. I'm not terribly familiar with the finer details of the 'intelligent design' debate, so I'm not sure if Statement A is exactly what advocates of that theory believe in, but it seems like a reasonable way of summing it up.
EDIT: As I thought, I'm not an expert in this topic :). Blog reader Chris Banks wrote to me to let me know that the term I should have been using for Statement A is 'theistic evolution'. He says that "Intelligent Design is a school of thought which, in regards to evolution, holds that the appearance of complexity in nature cannot be explained through natural causes, instead requiring the intervention of a designer." I really appreciate that contribution, and agree that that definition of Intelligent Design is clearly different from the literal interpretation of Statement A. On the other hand, a number of the comments on the blog suggest that people were interpreting Statement A pretty much in line with the definition of Intelligent Design Chris gave me - it seems to me that some people chose Statement A because they believed the general principle of Intelligent Design even if, as Chris said, it's "not generally considered to be compatible with evolutionary theory. Katrin Schwartz makes the same point in the comments - thank you Katrin too. I checked Chris and Katrin's feedback on theistic evolution, and it does look like they're right. Check, for example, these articles: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/te2-cr.htm and http://ncse.com/creationism/general/creationevolution-continuum. I think it's important to keep the original text intact however as it shows the context of the comments - I'll therefore just add 'theistic evolution' after most of the earlier references to 'intelligent design'.
The numbers show that, amongst New Zealanders:
26% believe in 'intelligent design' (edit: 'theistic evolution')
45% believe in 'pure evolution'
23% believe in 'creationism'
6% are unsure.
As you might expect, the American numbers are quite different:
32% of Americans believe in 'intelligent design' (edit: 'theistic evolution')
15% believe in 'pure evolution'
46% believe in 'creationism'
7% are unsure.
So three times as many New Zealanders believe in 'pure evolution', and twice as many Americans believe in 'creationism'.
49% of New Zealanders believe in some level of involvement by God (either 'intelligent design' (edit: 'theistic evolution') or 'creation'), compared with 78% of Americans. That's almost certainly related to the fact that 61% of New Zealanders believe in God (UMR SAYit poll, Sept 2011), compared with 92% of Americans (Gallup poll, May 2011).
In both countries, a belief in 'pure evolution' is related to education, although it makes less of a difference in New Zealand than it does in the US:
49% of New Zealanders with a university qualification believe in 'pure evolution', as do 29% of Americans with a university qualification.
41% of New Zealanders whose highest qualification is from high school believe in 'pure evolution', as do 11% of Americans whose highest qualification is from high school.
It's also interesting to note that, in New Zealand, belief in 'pure evolution' is highest amongst 30-44 year olds, with under 30 year olds being the most likely to believe in creationism.
18-29 year olds: 28% 'intelligent design', 39% 'pure evolution' and 28% 'creationism'
30-44 year olds: 25% 'intelligent design', 51% 'pure evolution' and 19% 'creationism'
45-59 year olds: 28% 'intelligent design', 46% 'pure evolution' and 21% 'creationism'
Over 60 year olds: 23% 'intelligent design', 43% 'pure evolution' and 24% 'creationism'
EDIT: Again, feel free to replace 'intelligent design' above with 'theistic evolution'.
All results in this blog are based on a survey of a representative sample of n=750 New Zealanders aged 18 years or older, conducted by UMR Research in June 2012. |
MS Surface Book Review
The Surface Book was all that I anticipated. It's an amazing laptop first and foremost, but it's also an amazing tablet. The specs on this model make all of the applications load quickly and easily. The display is super sharp with vibrant colors. The key board feels a little larger than most, but when compared to an Dell of the same size there really is no difference. As mentioned, the laptop features are first, but with the touch of a button, the display pulls up from the keyboard allowing you to easily care the device in tablet mode. It runs all of the current Office products (Word, Excel, PwrPoint, etc.,) extremely fast and it's very noticeable. However, you must consider the I7 Inter Processor along with the 16 GB of RAM and the super quick 512 GB SSD. All in all, the MS Surface Book is Microsoft's answer to Apple's hardware and software designs. Good job, Microsoft.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned |
Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, a performance collective from Mexico City, will bring its multi-media work "El Rumor" to CounterCurrent 14. The piece about people who participate in armed political movements in Mexico will be performed in Spanish at Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA). El Rumor de Incendio rancisco Barreiro é é Luisa Pardo é é Gabino RodrÂguez é é é é é CreaciÂn Lagartijas tiradas al sol é CoordinaciÂn Luisa Pardo y Gabino RodrÂguez é InvestigaciÂn IconogrÂfica y diseÂo Juan Leduc é Video Yulene Olaizola é Asistente Mariana Villegas é é é é FotografÂa Andrea LÂpez é ProducciÂn Teatro UNAM Andrea Poceros y Ricardo de LeÂn é ProducciÂn Teatro UNAM é less Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, a performance collective from Mexico City, will bring its multi-media work "El Rumor" to CounterCurrent 14. The piece about people who participate in armed political movements in ... more Photo: Courtesy The Artists Photo: Courtesy The Artists Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Houston to get new performing arts festival 1 / 8 Back to Gallery
Houston may have been lauded last year as one of America's coolest cities, but it's about to get more hip.
CounterCurrent 14, a new festival of experimental performances organized by the University of Houston's Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and a handful of presenting partners, debuts April 9-13.
The festival will feature about a dozen performances, installations and experiences plus lectures, parties and happy hours. All defy traditional boundaries - think mash-ups of dance, music, theater, film, visual art and literature.
"It's really about new art forms, challenging our traditional notions of what arts are," said Karen Farber, the center's executive director. "We're trying to put Houston on the map for new performing arts."
While experimental, the festival's offerings will also be mainstream- and free, Farber said. "We're trying to break down all barriers, so people who typically don't go to see contemporary performances and visual art might encounter them accidentally and end up with a different perception."
With a headquarters in Midtown, the festival will unfold at venues between the University of Houston and downtown, including the university's Quintero Theatre and Blaffer Art Museum, DiverseWorks, Project Row Houses, Hermann Park and Multicultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts.
The events include performances by Mexico City's Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol collective, New York choreographer Jonah Bokaer, New York installation artist Suzanne Bocanegra and Los Angeles filmmaker Wu Tsang. Harder-to-define experiences feature Houston talent, including location-based storytelling by Lacy Johnson and Josh Okun that unfolds via participants' cellphones; a sound art installation by Abinadi Meza; and the launch of a bilingual book by the "experimental language" duo Antena (Jen Hofer of Los Angeles and John Pluecker of Houston).
The cost for the festival will be about $500,000, Farber said. It's being funded through the Mitchell Center's endowment, with some funds coming from grants from the Houston Arts Alliance.
The full schedule and more information will be available soon at countercurrentfestival.org. |
Today I am posting over at Wanda Ann’s blog, Memories By The Mile. You will find me there the 2nd Thursday of every month!
Just a note: This recipe originally appeared as a guest post on Memories by the Mile. I have now posted the recipe here as well for archiving purposes. The recipe is below my original teaser post. Check out Wanda Ann’s site too, she has a ton of great recipes! Enjoy!
Speaking of hot, today I am sharing with you a recipe for Spicy Veggie Quinoa Curry. It is not super-hot, like an August afternoon in southern New Jersey, but it does have a nice little kick to it! Of course, you can dial the spiciness up or down depending on your family’s preferences.
I try to keep it fairly mild for my family, especially for my younger son who seems to be allergic to flavor. Hopefully someday he will outgrow that, but in the meantime I try to not go too crazy with the spices!
Quinoa, of course, is really good for you. If you have not tried it yet, you really should! You can use it like you would use rice, but lots of people also use it in breakfast dishes, like you would oatmeal. It has a slight nutty taste, but the flavor is very mild and so it will take on the flavor of whatever you cook it in.
This recipe is actually vegan, and while not all vegan recipes are good for you, this one really is! You can use this recipe as is and make it a side dish for 4 people or an entree for 2. Or you can double the recipe and serve it as an entree for 4 people.
Spicy Veggie Quinoa Curry Print Recipe Pin Recipe Quick, easy, and healthy quinoa and veggie dish with lots and lots of flavor! Ingredients 1 cup quinoa (rinsed thoroughly)
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 cup vegetable broth
3 tablespoons curry paste (more or less, to taste)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce (more or less, to taste)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup diced bell pepper (use different colored peppers for colorful presentation!)
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced broccoli and/or cauliflower
1 handful fresh spinach Instructions Mix together the quinoa, coconut milk, vegetable broth, curry paste, brown sugar, and Sriracha sauce in a pot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer about 15 - 20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender but not mushy.
Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, then add the garlic, pepper, onion, and broccoli/cauliflower. Saute until vegetable begin to soften.
When the veggies are almost done, add the spinach and stir until wilted.
Combine the quinoa with the veggies and serve. Notes Recipe adapted from Vegangela.com Nutrition Calories: 370 kcal | Carbohydrates: 42 g | Protein: 9 g | Fat: 19 g | Saturated Fat: 14 g | Sodium: 344 mg | Potassium: 603 mg | Fiber: 5 g | Sugar: 7 g | Vitamin A: 64.6 % | Vitamin C: 91.5 % | Calcium: 7.5 % | Iron: 27.6 %
Click here to head on over to Memories by the Mile get the full post, and while you are there, check out some of the other awesome posts on Wanda Ann’s blog!
Recipe adapted from Vegangela.com.
This post contains affiliate links. Check out our full disclosure here |
Today we arrived at the mine to discover a major river running down the slope. With the intense rain and snow melt on the island, all the water had to go somewhere. When we walked down to the dive staging area we were shocked to discover that we had lost more than 20 feet of waterfront. The dock was close to the ceiling and the benches and staging area were submerging. It was simply not safe to use our walkways and dock.
Not to be discouraged, the skeleton team jumped into action. Volunteers were unable to make it across The Tickle on the ferry, so we were a little short handed. All hands moved tanks, tables and gear and deconstructed the lighting system and rest of the infrastructure. Repairs will need to be made when the water level drops. The water came up six feet through the day. With a hard freeze tonight, we are hoping the inflow subsides.
The rushing water also destroyed visibility for a significant distance. Cas Dobbin and I entered the water in another column and groped through 250 feet of zero-visibility muck. When we finally emerged from the clay colored water, we could see white misty in-feeding seeps further polluting the visibility. We made our way down to 130 feet of depth and spent some time shooting equipment near the pumping station. We found a lot more interesting graffiti and even managed to identify one of the people named on the wall. His friends were assisting at the mine and told us about his prowess playing strongman on their hockey team.
Cas and I were the only ones eager to make a second dive. We worked on a video mission and searched for the best area to lay line the following day. The visibility seemed to be best on the east of our entry, as far away as possible from the in-feeding meltwater. Our dive went well until our decompression stop when Cas tore a mouthpiece and experienced what we call a caustic cocktail. Water leaked into his rebreather and mixed with the carbon dioxide absorbent material, creating an alkaline fluid that can burn the mouth. We were in inches of visibility when he quickly switched off his loop and got on open circuit air. He coughed and I reached out to hold him. The scuba air was the same temperature as the water at 3 degrees, so he became quickly chilled. Rebreathers create an exothermic reaction that gives a diver warm moist air to breathe. Traditional scuba is like inhaling freezing air, chilling the diver more quickly. Cas handled the emergency like a really well practiced explorer and managed through the chill to complete his full decompression obligation.
After the dive, we jumped right into our medical tests and learned many more new things about decompression stress. I’ll leave the details for a future blog, but suffice to say, the medical research being done here is incredibly valuable to the team and to understanding extreme dive profiles. We are grateful for Neal Pollock and Stefanie Martina who have to put in days as long as ours to collect the important data. |
Columbus Crew SC today announced that it has loaned defender Kalen Ryden to the Austin Aztex of the USL. The rookie becomes the first Black & Gold player to be loaned to Austin, which was previously announced as Crew SC’s new USL affiliate ahead of the 2015 campaign. Crew SC retains the option to recall Ryden at any point while on loan.
“Our partnership with the Aztex is a strong opportunity for players to gain valuable match experience while continuing to develop,” said Crew SC Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter. “We are certain Kalen will be in good hands with the coaching staff in Austin, led by Paul Dalglish, as they get their season underway on Saturday.”
Ryden appeared in five contests during Crew SC’s preseason, helping the club keep clean sheets against Austin (February 15), London United (February 18) and the Costa Rica Under-23s (February 21).
In college, the defender made 28 appearances (27 starts) over two seasons at Midwestern State. The Mustangs recorded a shutout in 13 of his starts. Ryden led the school to consecutive NCAA Division II postseason appearances, earning NSCAA All-South Central Region First Team honors in 2014. Previously, he spent two seasons at Oral Roberts University.
Ryden was selected in the Fourth Round (69th overall) of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft on January 20. He signed with Crew SC on March 2.
The Aztex begin the 2015 USL season on March 28 against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. A complete Aztex schedule can be found at AustinAztex.com.
TRANSACTION: Columbus Crew SC loans defender Kalen Ryden to the Austin Aztex (USL) on March 26, 2015. Crew SC retains the option to recall Ryden at any point while on loan. |
Ah procrastination, something I constantly struggle with. Don’t we all? I’m fighting it right now – I don’t really enjoy writing these blog posts underneath each comic and I always put it off to until the last minute. I know I must do it, but I really don’t want to. As I sat down to write this, my computer was lagging a bit, so I restarted it. Got up to use the bathroom, decided on the way to the bathroom that I needed to fix myself some tea, then paused to read the mail on my kitchen table and of course I had to check the GREATEST PROCRASTINATION MACHINE THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN: my phone. Next thing I know, one hour has passed and I still haven’t started writing.
At least this is not a new phenomenon – Edgar Allan Poe wrote the above words in 1845 and I’m sure an early homo sapien kept putting off a cave painting he knew he had to do thousands of years ago. This passage is taken from Poe’s short story The Imp of the Perverse, the name he gives the creature who forces us to do things we know we shouldn’t. The story is about a man who gets away with murder, and after inheriting his victim’s estate and enjoying his new life for years he inevitably falls victim to the Imp yet again, as he can’t help confessing his crime. Poe conveys it much more eloquently than I do and you can read the entire story here.
Don’t let the Imp get you today, do what you need to get done!
A new Zen Pencils kids book is released next week, collecting the best kid-friendly comics of my site into one easy to read book, perfect for story time or the classroom. You can find all the details and pre-order info here. |
You couldn’t have had a clearer demonstration of what democracy now counts for in Europe than this week’s immolation of Greece. In January, after five years of grinding austerity imposed by the troika of creditors had shrunk its economy by a quarter and pushed millions into poverty, Greeks rebelled and elected an anti-austerity government.
Following months of fruitless negotiations, the country voted last week to reject the latest cuts, tax rises and privatisations demanded to deal with the disastrous impact of the first phase of austerity. The response of the eurozone’s masters was immediately to ratchet up the pain still further. For the “breach of trust” of daring to put the terms to its people, Athens was to be punished. So on Monday – threatened with expulsion from the eurozone and economic collapse courtesy of the European Central Bank’s cash blockade – the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, bent the knee.
The left must now campaign to leave the EU | Owen Jones Read more
In exchange for what is called a bailout, but is in reality the imposition of new debts to pay existing creditors, the Greeks must hand over €50bn (£35bn) of public assets to an “independent” privatisation fund. On top of that, they have to inject more austerity into a shrinking economy and reverse any legislation deemed unsuitable by the eurozone’s overlords – in other words, the opposite of everything Tsipras and his Syriza party were elected to do.
That’s why European officials were so keen to let it be known that Tsipras had been “crucified” and “mentally waterboarded”. Greece would be turned into an economic “protectorate”, one purred, where all key decisions would be taken by foreign governments and unelected EU bureaucrats. No wonder Greek leaders declared that they had been subjected to a coup, while the ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis compared the “deal” to the Versailles treaty. This is the diktat of a bankers’ ramp that can barely tolerate even a facade of democracy.
That’s been a familiar pattern in the developing world for decades, in the guise of IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programmes. But the eurozone has now given it permanent institutional form. The idea that this crisis has simply pitted one democratic mandate – that of Greece – against the hard-pressed taxpayers of 18 other eurozone members is nonsense.
Not only have the loans that bailed out French and German lenders, rather than Greece, been highly profitable. But the real fear of eurozone governments is that if Greece’s rebellion against austerity is rewarded, other European electorates will want to go the same way. Which is why Syriza must not only be defeated, but utterly crushed.
That this is about politics more than economics should now be obvious. It’s not just that the austerity imposed on Greece has delivered a 1930s-style depression, or that Ukraine was recently bailed out with generous debt write-offs but without any crucifixions or waterboarding. One part of the troika, the IMF – dominated by a US anxious to keep Greece in the Atlanticist camp – has now revealed it is well aware Greece’s debts will never be repaid without massive relief and that this week’s deal could swell them to more than 200% of GDP. In other words, it won’t work. But pre-Keynesian balanced-budget economics has the eurozone’s rulers in its grip, as they seek to overcome the crisis by restoring corporate profitability.
It was Syriza’s commitment to opposing austerity while remaining in the euro at all costs that led to capitulation. What helped win the election became a fatal handicap in office, as Tsipras resisted pressure even to make contingency plans for Grexit. That would have strengthened his negotiating hand, as well as giving Greece the option of escaping indefinite economic depression.
The short-term costs of exit would certainly be harsh. But, combined with measures to take control of the economy and tax the oligarchs, it at least offers the chance of longer-term recovery. That’s now the view of many inside Syriza and beyond, including those who voted against the eurozone diktat in the Greek parliament yesterday, and support is likely to grow as economic asphyxiation resumes. Otherwise, the far right will be the main beneficiary.
Either way, the fallout from what has happened this week is likely to be momentous. Even if the latest deal is softened and holds for a few months – under the formal aegis of a wounded Syriza-led government, or not – it won’t last. Sooner or later Greece will be forced out of the euro, or leave of its own accord. The only question is who will control that process.
Once that happens, and euro membership is seen to be reversible, the future of the wider eurozone will be thrown into question. A half-baked currency union, without fiscal transfers or democratic structures, cannot last. A eurozone nakedly dominated by one state, Germany, enforcing destructive austerity on its vassals with such brutality, can have no enduring legitimacy.
What kind of a union treats one of its members like a recalcitrant colony and dismisses its democracy as an affront?
While it has benefited German capital, 16 years of the euro have delivered flat wages to German workers and stagnant growth and productivity to countries such as Italy. This week has made a mockery of monetary union as a path to a united democratic Europe and opened the way for the eurozone’s breakup.
Once that process begins, expect the future of the European Union itself, with the eurozone at its heart, to be put in question. What kind of a union of partners treats one of its members like a recalcitrant colony, destroys its economy if it steps out of line, and dismisses its democracy as an impudent affront? In fact it’s one that has always ducked democratic accountability, embedded deregulation and privatisation in treaties, and preferred to fix policy – including the race-to-the-bottom Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership – with corporate interests in secret.
British progressives and the European Union: should we stay or should we go? | Letters Read more
It’s hardly surprising that hostility to the EU, which shows no signs of being open to deep-seated reform, is growing across the continent. Or that many progressive people in Britain, previously attracted to what seemed its cooperative internationalism, are moving towards voting no in the planned in-out referendum in the face of its brutal authoritarianism towards Greece. In their zeal to discipline the eurozone, the continent’s elites are killing their European project. |
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The family of a man accused of attempting to detonate what he believed was an explosives-laden van outside an Oklahoma bank says he is a paranoid schizophrenic and that the FBI knew it.
Clifford and Melonie Varnell, of Sayre, Oklahoma, issued a statement late Tuesday that questions the tactics undercover FBI agents used to arrest 23-year-old Jerry Drake Varnell. He was taken into custody early Saturday for the alleged plot to detonate a vehicle bomb in an alley adjacent to BancFirst in downtown Oklahoma City.
Varnell, who lives with his mother and stepfather in Sayre, about 130 miles west of Oklahoma City, is jobless due to his schizophrenia and does not have the resources to carry out such an act alone, according to the family's statement.
Oklahoma man accused of plotting U.S. bomb attack in custody
"The FBI came and picked him up from our home, they gave him a vehicle, gave him a fake bomb, and every means to make this happen," the statement said, adding that authorities "should not have aided and abetted a paranoid schizophrenic to commit this act."
FBI spokeswoman Jessica Rice in Oklahoma City and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Williams declined comment Wednesday.
Varnell "has suffered through countless serious full-blown schizophrenic delusional episodes and he has been put in numerous mental hospitals since he was 16 years old," the family's statement said. It added that his parents are his legal guardians and do all they can "to keep him safe and functional."
"The mental health system has consistently failed us due to the lack of establishments and health care coverage for a person like him," the statement said. Varnell takes medication "but he will never be completely functional in life," it said.
The Varnells say their son is easily influenced and they believe a confidential informant who tipped FBI agents off to the alleged plot may have helped inspire it.
A criminal complaint says the FBI sent an undercover agents posing as an explosives expert who could help Varnell after being tipped off to the alleged plot by the confidential informant, the complaint says. Varnell allegedly claimed to have experience making small bombs, but was convinced by an undercover agent that the agent should provide the supplies.
Ultimately, officials say Varnell was provided with faux bomb making materials. Varnell was monitored closely for months as the alleged bomb plot developed during a long-term domestic terror investigation, federal prosecutors say.
The complaint says Varnell initially wanted to blow up the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C., with a device similar to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, because he was upset with the government.
Varnell allegedly later identified BancFirst in downtown Oklahoma City as his target, according to federal prosecutors. When asked why he switched to BancFirst instead of the government building he originally planned, he said, "Well I don't wanna kill a bunch of people," the complaint said.
Varnell allegedly referenced the movie "Fight Club" when he discussed wanting to "take down a government facility or other structures."
Varnell allegedly claimed to embrace the "Three Percenter" ideology, referring to a far-right anti-government group that has rallied against gun control efforts and pledges resistance to the federal government over the infringement of constitutional rights.
In a series of text messages exchanged with the FBI's informant, Varnell "claimed to have a bunker for when the world collapsed" and indicated he was trying to build a team, the complaint states.
"I'm out for blood," the complaint quotes Varnell's texts as stating. "When militias start getting formed I'm going after government officials when I have a team."
The complaint says Varnell prepared a statement to be posted on social media after the explosion, helped assemble what he thought was the explosive device, and helped load it into what he believed was a stolen van. Varnell then allegedly drove the van to BancFirst, parked it in an alley next to the building and dialed a number on a cellphone he believed would trigger the explosion.
A federal detention hearing for Varnell is scheduled on Aug. 22. If convicted of attempting to use explosives to destroy a building in interstate commerce, Varnell could receive five to 20 years in prison.
His court-appointed defense attorney, Terri Coulter of Oklahoma City, declined comment. |
Mitt Romney has endorsed Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell after her upset win in last night’s GOP Senate primary in Delaware.“Now is the time for Republicans to rally behind their nominee, Christine O’Donnell. She ran an impressive campaign. I believe it is important we support her so we can win back the U.S. Senate this fall,” Romney said in a statement released through his Free & Strong America PAC. The PAC is sending her a $5,000 contribution.
O’Donnell’s win has been met with ambivalence from the party establishment. NRSC chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) announced today that the committee is sending her $42,000, after much talk last night that it would give up on the race. Meanwhile, conservatives have been pummeling Karl Rove for saying that the general election in Delaware “is not a race we’re going to be able to win.”
The latest PPP poll shows Democrat Chris Coons leading O’Donnell 50-34. |
Question Answer Episode Marshall hits Lily with what after he proposes? Pilot Thing Ted pretends he is buying at the store? Purple Giraffe Barney's luggage contains? Sweet Taste of Liberty Name one of the things Ted fondly remembers about Natalie. Return of the Shirt Barney says that there are 24 similarities between women and what? Okay Awesome The Slutty Pumpkin's drink? Slutty Pumpkin Unusual creature in Ted and Marshall's apartment? Matchmaker Place Lily's apartment has been turned into? The Duel Sport Marshall's family has created? Belly Full of Turkey Name of the shot that Carl creates? The Pineapple Incident 'Celebrity' that joins the gang on New Years? The Limo First thing that Marshall and Lily agree about for the wedding? The Wedding Fake name Victoria uses? Drumroll, Please 'I want to know you, like _____ _____ _____.' Zip, Zip, Zip What Barney refers to Ted's embarrassing story as? Game Night Where is Marshall's dream internship? Cupcake The song Marshall and Lily sing? Life Among the Gorillas Who do Marshall, Lily, and Barney hang out with? Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM Cutout Ted and Marshall use on Sandy? Mary the Paralegal What Scooter wants to be? Best Prom Ever What Robin shows Ted to cheer him up? Milk What Ted does to stop Robin's camping trip? Come On The pet George Clinton buys Lily? Where Were We? What Ted orders to cure his hangover? The Scorpion and the Toad What Ted and his dad talk about if things get uncomfortable? Brunch Movie Ted is mad that Robin dislikes? Ted Mosby, Architect Concert Marshall and Brad go to? World's Greatest Couple Who plays the Cougar? Aldrin Justice Show the end of the episode reference? Swarley What Barney has to find to win the game? Atlantic City Name of Robin's hit single? Slap Bet What James does that reveals he's in a relationship? Single Stamina Word that Ted calls Lily? How Lily Stole Christmas Where the gang takes Robin's sister? First Time in New York Name of Ted's annoying ex-boss? Columns Who Barney bumps into on the street? Monday Night Football Where is Ted's interview? Lucky Penny Name of Barney's one-man show? Stuff Name of the song that the Fiero plays? Arrivederci, Fiero One of the names that Barney gives the truck in his Top Ten List Moving Day What Lily's grandmother gives her at the bridal shower? Bachelor Party Show Barney appears on? Showdown Phrase Barney discovers has power at a wedding? Something Borrowed Where Robin ends up after the breakup? Something Blue Ted's tramp stamp? Wait For It What Robin keeps finding everywhere? We're Not From Here What Robin tries using to shave her legs? Third Wheel One of Robin's 'buts' from the episode? Little Boys Name of Ted's date? How I Met Everyone Else Celebrity that Marshall and Jeff see in the restaurant? I'm Not That Guy Name of Barney's crazy date? Dowisetrepla One of the gang's annoying habits? Spoiler Alert Name of the song at the end of the episode? Slapsgiving Fashion Show that Ted and Barney go to? The Yips One of the eight steps of the Platinum Rule The Platinum Rule Item that Ted picks up at the club? No Tomorrow Barney's lie that Stella only likes men with ______. Ten Sessions Website that one of the Final Four women has created? The Bracket Nickname Marshall gives his report? The Chain of Screaming Name Marshall gives to phenomenon when people act differently around old friends? Sandcastles in the Sand Person Barney says wrote the Bro Code? The Goat One of two politicians that Randy tries to insert Bro into? Rebound Bro Animals that Lily's paintings have soothing effects on? Everything Must Go Animal Robin's dog turns into after surgery? Miracles Movie Ted makes Stella watch? Do I Know You? Name of the bank that Barney works for? The Best Burger in New York Place where Robin accepts a job at the end of the episode? I Heart NJ One of the reasons for an Intervention in the episode? Intervention One of the two people Stella doesn't want at the wedding? Shelter Island Robin's middle name? Happily Ever After Any of the names Barney gives to the phenomenon of women looking hotter in groups? Not A Father's Day What does Sven's design for the building look like? Woooo! One of the poses Barney and Ted brainstorm? The Naked Man What Marshall uses to carve the turkey 3-5 years in the future? The Fight Canadian bar that Marshall brings Robin to? Little Minnesota Marshall's euphemism for going to the bathroom at work? Benefits Name of Ted and Barney's bar/band? Three Days of Snow The more common name for iliopsoas tendinitis? The Possimpible Name of Barney's fake wife or son? The Stinsons Name of Ted's high school/college ex? Sorry, Bro
Question Answer Episode What Lily plants in Ted's bed to start the breakup? The Front Porch One of the Canadian celebrities the gang guesses? Old King Clancy The movie the Murtaugh List is based from? Murtaugh What Marshall decides to start to make him indispensable at GNB? Mosbius Designs Name of the security guard who helps Barney and Marshall? The Three Days Rule Song that Marshall makes a chart for? Right Place, Right Time The name of Tony's movie? As Fast As She Can What is on the next door building's roof? The Leap Subject of the class that Ted accidentally goes to first? Definitions Name of any of the three doppelgangers in the show? Double Date Any of the three topics that Robin gets distracted by? Robin 101 Name of the song Marshall writes about the date? The Sexless Innkeeper Name of the energy drink Marshall and Ted have? Duel Citizenship Bagpipes is a euphemism for what? Bagpipes Celebrity that Lily invites to break up Barney and Robin? The Rough Patch The play that involves fake websites, an awesome name, and a smartphone? The Playbook Any of the board games that Mickey creates during the episode? Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap Name of the girl that Ted pursues in the episode? The Window Actor who is Lily's smoking voice? Last Cigarette Ever One of three guest stars in the episode? Girls Versus Suits Robin's phrase that is used as a drinking game? Jenkins Sportscaster who guest stars in the episode? Perfect Week Barney's ringtone in the episode? Rabbit or Duck One of the hot-chick professions in the episode? Hooked Where does Robin go when she's upset? Of Course Herb Barney is allergic to? Say Cheese Marshall claims he's been mugged by what? Zoo or False The guessing game that Marshall plays with the gang? Home Wreckers What Robin leaves in the room when she moves out? Twin Beds The poem that Ted recites twice in Italian? Robots Versus Wrestlers Jed Mosely's catch phrase? The Wedding Bride What Marshall and Lily will do when they find the fifth doppelganger? Doppelgangers Former flame that is at the bar? Big Days Song that Barney, Sam, and James sing? Cleaning House Item that reminds Ted about the GNB building? Unfinished Celebrity that you have to have seen to be a real New Yorker? Subway Wars What Ted says he does for a living to Zoey? Architect of Destruction What Marshall must eat to ensure his child's a boy? Baby Talk Name of Randy's beer Canning Randy Exhibit that young Barney damaged? Natural History Name of Robin's TV show? Glitter Special poultry that Ted has prepared Blitzgiving One of Lily's three rules about going out with another man's wife? The Mermaid Theory Movie that Ted wants to see? False Positive Robin's former co-anchor that reappears? Bad News Movie that Marshall's father tells him to rent? Last Words Celebrity who plays Honey? Oh Honey Movie that is Lily and Marshall's Valentine's tradition? Desperation Day Person who Ted runs into at Hong Kong airport? Garbage Island Guy who Robin begins dating? A Change of Heart Word that Ted can't pronounce? Legendaddy Country where Lily was running off to? The Exploding Meatball Sub Subject of Marshall's rock opera? Hopeless Building that Zoey reveals she grew up in? The Perfect Cocktail App that Robin can't get to download? Landmarks Creature that Lily's vomiting sounds like? Challenge Accepted Theme of Punchy's wedding? The Best Man Game that Pete wants to play with Marshall? The Naked Truth Event where Ted runs into Victoria again? Ducky Tie Class that Ted and Marshall take together? The Stinson Missile Crisis Movie creature that Nora hates? Field Trip Name of Lily and Marshall's doctor? Mystery Vs. History Song Naomi sings to Ted? The Slutty Pumpkin Returns What the sign in front of Maclaren's reads? Disaster Averted Food that Ted and Marshall go to find? Tick, Tick, Tick Name of James' daughter? The Rebound Girl Team that Robin pretends she's sad about not making? Symphony of Illumination Book series that Marshall loved as a kid? Tailgate One of two people who become part of the new group? 46 Minutes Person who is raising bees in Lily and Marshall's basement? The Burning Beekeeper Way that Barney and Ted determine they can enjoy the Drunk Train? The Drunk Train Country where Robin goes in the episode? No Pressure Any of the hobbies Ted uses Robin's room for? Karma Place where Quinn and Barney are going on vacation? The Broath Any of the politicians that the future predicts will be president? Trilogy Time Any of the people that Lily has dream-cheated with? Now We're Even Alcohol that Barney and Marshall take shots of? Good Crazy Middle name that Barney proposes for Lily and Marshall's kid? The Magician's Code - Part 1 Name of Victoria's fiance? The Magician's Code - Part 2 |
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The transformation the tech boom has wrought upon the Bay Area stands in sharper and sharper relief as years of out-migration by those who are priced out cements social inequality. If the Bay Area is no longer for them, who is it for? The easy reply is that the Bay Area is being remade by and for tech workers against the interests of the poor. This idea animates a general antagonism towards tech workers, which manifests in several ways. The protests blockading employee buses in 2013 centered on private usage of public bus stops and lanes, as well as gentrification and tax breaks for tech companies, which undermine public transit — but they contained an undeniable dose of techie hate. A culture war of sorts simmers today. Some on the Left see techies as a rich invasive species that is causing gentrification and deepening inequality. In Rebecca Solnit’s analogy, tech workers are to landlords evicting tenants what ivory buyers are to poachers killing elephants. What’s more, these same tech workers are responsible for creating platforms and services that disrupt the livelihoods of taxi drivers and turn scarce housing stock into hotel rooms. Tech bosses claim that their companies empower people, generate positive energy, make it easier to share (for a fee), and create a more equal world. It is no wonder then that the industry attracts profound skepticism and hostility from those excluded from or displaced by it, not least because its messianic ethos swims awkwardly in a decidedly non-messianic sea of cash. But it’s a mistake to direct that hostility at tech workers themselves. The tech industry’s borders are difficult to define — spanning Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple. It employs miners, call center workers, assembly line operators, and software developers, all around the world. The focus of much media attention and misplaced ire — and of this article — is the software developer, software or hardware engineer, programmer, or interface designer in Silicon Valley. I use the term “tech workers” as a proxy for this cluster of occupations. Of course, tech companies employ many people beyond this narrow definition of a tech worker — service workers, drivers, clerical workers, project managers, as well as temporary and subcontracted workers. They enjoy far fewer of the comforts of the tech worker life, so it is mistaken to see all Google employees as a scourge upon the Bay. But for now, I will focus on the tech workers who are closest to product engineering and development.
What About the High Pay? One thing that makes tech workers such an easy target in the culture wars is their high pay. But the wages in tech are not a collegial gift from the employers or a profit-sharing payout. The current high salaries in tech come from two factors. One is that not a lot of people have these skills, so there’s less competition driving pay down. The other is that workers in this particular job make a lot of money for their employers (as with professional athletes, who are also workers). There is also more fluidity between worker and capitalist in tech than in other economic sectors. Founders of startups are capitalists — their interests align clearly with their investors. On the other hand, even if the first employees receive an ownership stake to compensate for a lower salary, the stake is typically not large enough to enable them to live life as rentiers in the unlikely scenario that the startup succeeds. The truth is, the vast majority of tech startups do not succeed and do not leave their founders and early employees with fortunes. The most likely outcome for early startup employees is that their ownership stakes will be worth nothing, and the next most likely outcome is that they’ll be worth a large bonus but not enough to stop working. Setting aside meaningful ownership stakes, large pay packages can enable tech workers to, over time, accumulate enough wealth to make money off of it, be it through rental properties or financial investments. This isn’t fundamentally different from many other industries in which the most skilled layer of employees can make enough to accumulate wealth over decades of work. The only difference is the higher salaries in tech, so the layer of workers who can escape the necessity of wage labor is larger, and their escapes can happen sooner. Paysa’s data suggests that many tech workers make around $250,000 a year when stock shares are included. Several years of pay at that level will yield much more than a down payment for a house in the Bay Area. Tech workers making this kind of money may eventually accumulate enough wealth to start worrying about it. It is no secret that the equity pay for tech talent, which runs around $100,000 a year at the big tech companies, is meant to be a golden cage. The shares take time to vest, incentivizing the employee to stay at the company even if work conditions worsen or better offers become available elsewhere. In addition, stock shares at some companies aren’t easily convertible into cash, particularly if the company isn’t yet publicly traded, so the value of the shares is subject to significant uncertainty (including the possibility of being worthless). Finally, it is worth reiterating that the definition of tech worker for the purposes of this article is narrow. Most tech company employees don’t get anywhere near this compensation. Most tech workers outside of the West Coast (Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Los Angeles) and Wall Street don’t get these large salary plus equity packages; instead, they enjoy what used to be called a middle class living. That said, a significant minority of tech workers, concentrated at the high profile Silicon Valley firms, make enough in bankable equity to substantively alter their class position, even if they formally remain workers. Their employment relationship aside, concerns about protecting their wealth will push their outlook to align more closely with capitalists and small proprietors, and not with the mass of the working class. Still, tech bosses are doing their best to lower wages by colluding to suppress tech worker pay, moving software design and development work to countries with lower labor standards like India, and automating aspects of tech work itself. Tech workers’ relatively high pay doesn’t mean they’re not workers, and it won’t always protect them from the power of their bosses, though it may free them from the necessity of work.
Workers Are Not “Gentrifiers” Tech workers, especially in West Coast cities, are at the center of debates on gentrification, epitomized by a San Francisco Chronicle article headlined “Tech Workers Evict Kindergarten Teacher from Mission Apartment for ‘Using Appliances.’” As it turned out, the “tech workers” referred to in the headline were a VP of product development and a marketing manager — bosses, not rank-and-file workers. Setting that aside, it was not their position as tech workers which enabled them to evict the teacher — it was their position as landlords. To confront the power of tech workers who own rental properties, we must confront them as landlords, not as workers. This isn’t to say that many tech workers aren’t happy with gentrification. Some are proudly so — arguing for the privatization of public playgrounds or complaining about the homeless ruining the city (though the author of that letter is a founder, not a rank-and-file worker). But their opinions about the transformation of the city are distinct from their power to enact that transformation, which lies squarely with landlords, business owners, and politicians. It is not as though tech workers desire or demand to pay more for a given apartment or meal, nor are they opening fancy grocery stores or buying parcels to develop condos. Landlords can make more money by remodeling apartments and charging higher rents, restaurant owners can profit more by charging higher prices, and now in tech hubs there’s a larger pool of people who can afford to pay those prices. The profit incentive in a booming housing and food market, not a “techie onslaught, is what’s driving gentrification. The solution to gentrification is encroachment on the property rights of landlords. We have to fight for expanded rent control, vacancy control, taxing empty and second homes, further restrictions and a moratorium on evictions, public housing, and housing as a social right — not for tech workers to voluntarily exclude themselves from the rental market. We have to fight for a living wage for all — not for lower wages in tech. Tech workers may be the most identifiable face of gentrification, seen in your bars, your parks, your cafes. But pinning gentrification on them gets the power dynamic wrong and has the convenient benefit of shielding landlords, developers, and small business owners from scrutiny, many of whom have nothing to do with tech themselves — they’re just taking advantage of the boom.
Ruining the World? An additional line of attack on tech workers is that they’re creating tools that are ruining the world. AirBnb accelerates gentrification. Uber casualizes driver labor. Facebook brings more advertising and consumerism into our brains. Blaming this on rank-and-file tech workers is as misplaced as blaming oil-field workers for fracking. Under capitalism, the decision of what to produce and how to produce it rests entirely with the owners of capital, the employing class. Sure, tech workers voluntarily agree to take these jobs, as do oil-field workers, but as a general principle, socialists do not blame workers for seeking out the best wages they can get. And if a particular tech worker is well-off enough to quit their job at Uber over principles, there will be someone else who needs that job — that’s how capitalism works. It’s why (semi-legitimate) coding academies and programming lessons in elementary schools are spreading around the country. There are important shades of difference in the choice of work. If you’re the person designing the newest swarm of armed drones, the latest digital dragnet, or a Muslim registration system, you’re probably lost to the cause of socialism. But that’s not the majority of tech work. Tech workers do get to make meaningful design choices, a rebuttal that has come up repeatedly in this argument. That decision-making ability is shared in common with engineers in almost every other industry, but company executives ultimately set the direction of product design and approve or reject substantive features. It would be hard to argue that dark patterns in application or website design are more pernicious than knowingly selling faulty vehicle ignition switches that kill people. Yet General Motors executives quashed proposals from engineers to redesign the faulty switches and keys, at least in part due to cost concerns. Executives also control design choices in tech, and the responsibility lies with them. Moreover, software engineering does not have the collection of standards bodies (e.g., ASCE, ASME, ASTM) and certifications (e.g., PE) that impose accountability — independent from managers — on auto and other kinds of engineering. That means independence against the boss’s desires, and therefore responsibility, is even weaker among tech workers. Instead of arguing against technology or tech work itself, we should advocate for democratically harnessing technical expertise and engineering know-how to satisfy human needs, alleviate the burden of labor, and fix environmental damage. Engineers tend to be a highly rational bunch, and they may be open to the idea of collectively and deliberately deciding how to apply their talents, instead of remaining subject to market signals suggesting that the world wants another Snapchat clone. The desire for rational application of technical talent can align with the worldview of tech workers themselves, who would have more fulfilling work under socialism. |
Amid all the noise about new satellites and maiden launches, there is something interesting quietly taking place at the Indian Space Research Organization. It is building and nurturing the private industrial capabilities in the country to support its activities. Other than making some big announcements like outsourcing manufacture of an NAVIC satellite to the private sector or privatization of PSLV operations by 2020, ISRO is also making focused efforts to consolidate and enhance participation of Indian industries for production of hardware required for satellites and launch vehicles, such as rocket engines, propellant tanks etc.
Only recently ISRO chief A.S. Kiran Kumar had pointed out that India’s space capacity of 34 working commercial communications satellites is capable of serving barely half of India’s current needs. He said the space agency is severely constrained to meet the ever-increasing demands from over 60 central departments, 29 states, and thousands of private sector companies, while urging the domestic industry to come forward and help augment the manufacture and launch of satellites.
ISRO chief A.S. Kiran Kumar has urged the domestic industry to come forward and help ISRO augment the manufacture and launch of satellites.
“Our current strength is around 16,000 people, which is not enough to achieve the throughput we have aimed at,” Kumar said. “We need the help of industry players to achieve our goals. We are open to startups and smaller companies that meet our requirements. An example would be Bellatrix.”
Around 80% of the development work on launch vehicles had been outsourced, with ISRO doing just the supervision work. Even Chandrayaan II, scheduled to be launched in early 2018, had many sub-systems developed by private players.
“ISRO is encouraging a lot of private industry to come up, as we believe in indigenizing technology and its transfer,” Uday Raj, General Manager RRSC – South and Associate Program Director, Space applications, ISRO, told Geospatial World on the sidelines of a seminar on location based services, organized in New Delhi by Ficci. “We are allowing private players to join hands with us to develop some product and services. For instance, as part of collaboration, MapMyIndia is sharing its huge geospatial database on our Bhuvan platform.”
Private NAVIC satellites
In April this year, ISRO announced that for the first time ever it has partnered with a private player for manufacturing two of its satellites. A consortium led by Bangalore-based Alpha Design Technologies is building two backup satellites for its satnav system. NAVIC has seven satellites in orbit, and the ISRO wants the two additional ones to be launch-ready in case any of these malfunctions.
The move to outsource was taken to expedite the various missions ISRO is working and it was finding too taxing the efforts to make everything in-house. “There is a gap between what we are capable of doing now versus what we are supposed to make. That gap we want to fill up with support from the industry… 16 to 17 satellites we have to make every year. So it is a really-really quantum jump and to fill that gap…, we thought the industry could come in,” M. Annadurai, Director of ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, had said.
READ: ISRO’s Top 5 Upcoming Innovative Programs
Privatization of PSLV operations
Last year the ISRO chief said the agency was in discussions with the government as well the private sector towards formulating a plan and strategy to enhance the capacity and capability of managing the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program on an end-to-end basis. The integration and launch of the rocket will be handled by an industrial consortium through Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO. The tentative date of implementation is 2020.
PSLV-C37 goes up carrying a record 104 satellites from Sriharikota on February 15.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, had said in a written reply in Parliament that ISRO is in the process of exploring the possibility of involving Indian industry in a greater role to meet the increased national requirements and possible commercial demand for launch services.
The main advantage of privatizing the PSLV operations is to increase the rate of launches from 12 to 18 per year.
Private satellites for Digital India
Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has also suggested that ISRO ropes in the private sector to launch satellites in low and medium orbits to expand broadband penetration in the country to further the government’s vision of Digital India.
India had about 31% Internet connectivity and it was estimated that only 450 million of India’s of 1.25 billion people would have internet connectivity by June, a report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India and market research firm IMRB International had said in March. It added that there are potential approximately 750 million users still in rural India who are yet to become Internet users. But currently this is not possible given the status of data penetration in the country, especially the Northeastern parts where laying optic fibre cables is difficult given the rough terrain.
One must mention here that there exists a provision for private players to operate communication satellites on their own in India through an established mechanism called Committee for Authorising the establishment and operations of Indian Satellite Systems (CAISS). Under a policy approved by the Government of India in 2000, only Indian registered companies with FDI not more than 74% may be allowed to establish and operate such a satellite system.
Why this is necessary?
First and foremost, ISRO’s frugal budget. ISRO’s this year’s annual budget stands at around $1.4 billion even after a substantial hike, which are peanuts when compared to NASA’s 19.1 billion. Earlier in the year, the Indian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests had asked for a 50% hike, while ISRO chairman stressed on the need for “for manpower for producing various satellites and also bolster the R&D set up to develop new generation satellite and launch vehicles”.
There was two pressing reasons for an increase in ISRO’s budget. With the Indian government’s aggressive focus on geo-enabling of various sectors, there is pressure on ISRO’s downstream services, which again translates into newer satellites and launch vehicles. Additionally, the tremendous success of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) globally, especially after the record 104-satellite launch, has led to further launch demands.
A written reply by the Department of Space to Parliament acknowledges this: “Considering the enhanced national requirements for launching satellites for earth observation, communication & navigation, the present capacity of launches is a constraint.” In order to step up the launch capacity within the country, ISRO is in the process of exploring the possibility of involving Indian industry in a greater role towards producing integrated systems/subsystems, including assembly and testing by vendor as per ISRO’s design, the statement adds.
Secondly, the move to commercialize is also keeping up with the global trends. There is a concerted move to open up the space sector across the world. While NASA has for long supported private players, under the Trump administration it has taken bold steps towards further commercialization of the sector through legislations like the NASA Transition Act and the recently introduced American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act of 2017. The European Space Agency (ESA) has also been a great proponent of public-private collaboration in space, which according to it is capable of bringing diverse advantages. Under a ‘Space 4.0’ policy, which fosters the transition of ESA from a government-run laboratory in orbit to a commercially driven human and robotic spaceflight economy, a step-wise approach is nurturing new commercial services led by European private companies that strengthens the competitiveness of the space and non-space industrial base, stimulates R&D, and integrates innovative solutions into ESA space exploration missions.
Even in countries such as Canada or Japan, there has been move towards commercialization of the sector. Among the big space powers, perhaps only China can be compared to India in terms government controls and monopoly of the state agency.
The last but not the least is global technology innovation. The launch costs aboard a PSLV is currently the lowest, at a paltry $15 million. In comparison, it currently costs SpaceX about $60 million to send each rocket into space. NASA’s launches cost more than $100 million. Those by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariane-5, Japan’s H-IIA, and the Chinese Long March also cost about the same. A Russian Proton costs $68 million to launch.
However, the PSLV can launch only up to a weight of 1,800 kg. ISRO’s recently launched GSLV MK- III (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III) put a satellite weighing 3,136 kg in the orbit on June 6. But for anything heavier ISRO doesn’t have a solution yet. SpaceX claims its Falcon Heavy, scheduled for launch later this year, is capable of launching 54,000 kg in space, more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Delta IV Heavy, manufactured by United Launch Alliance, is the world’s highest capacity rocket (25,000 kg) currently in operation and costs $435 million per launch (calculated from an Air Force contract of $1.74 billion for 4 launches).
Also, where SpaceX is miles ahead of ISRO (and any other competitor at this moment) is how it has perfected the reusable rocket technology, which allows for a soft-landing of its rocket’s first stage after a launch, which enables re-use of a rocket the second (and possibly third or fourth or nth time) time as it recently proved on March 30. Once the company perfects this technology, the cost for launching a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket would come down to $612,000, or lower. With Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin close on the heels, the day is not far when ISRO could find it difficult to maintain its current USP — low launch costs.
And this is just launch costs. If we add innovation in satellite technologies, hardware costs etc, it would be not only more cost efficient for ISRO to outsource, but also get things faster, better and on time.
The road ahead
Privatizing PSLV operations and outsourcing hardware manufacturing will not just free up ISRO to focus on more nation-building missions, but also create a vibrant Indian space market.
This is very much in keeping with the global trend. Premier national space agencies such as NASA or ESA or JAXA do not engage in commercial manufacture of communications satellites or leasing transponders. They instead focus on building next generation R&D capabilities and possibilities, leaving the private sector to take care of commercialization.
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White House special counselor Ivanka Trump pushed back Tuesday on a German newspaper that called her a “loyal accomplice” to her father, President Trump.
“I don't like the word ‘accomplice’ because in this context, I don’t know that that’s productive,” Trump told NBC News’ Hallie Jackson.
Trump traveled to Berlin, Germany to participate in a women's panel at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is her first trip abroad in an official capacity as a White House employee.
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Berliner Zeitung, a daily Berlin-based newspaper, called Ivanka Trump a loyal accomplice according to a CNN translation.
The first daughter also addressed whether she pushes President Trump in a more moderate direction, saying he is open to “divergent viewpoints.”
“One of the things that I value about my father, as first a businessman and now as the leader of our country, is that he curates ideas and he likes to hear from people with divergent viewpoints. And that’s not always true in politics. It’s actually seldom true,” she said.
More of the interview will air Tuesday night on NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt” and Wednesday morning on NBC’s “Today.” |
Colorado State Senator Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, holds up a black ten-round rifle ammunition magazine with a green capacity extender, as he argues against one of several gun control bills before the Colorado Legislature, at the State Capitol, in Denver, Monday March 11, 2013. Colorado Democrats are advancing gun-control proposals in a state balancing a history of heartbreaking shootings with a Western heritage where gun ownership is treasured by many. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
DENVER (AP) -- Fiercely debated ammunition limits have cleared Colorado's Democratic Legislature and are on their way to the governor, who has said he'll sign the measure into law.
The 15-round magazine limit would make Colorado the first state outside the East Coast to ratchet back gun rights after last year's deadly shooting sprees. Colorado's gun-control debates have been closely watched because of the state's gun-loving frontier heritage and painful history of mass shootings.
Colorado lawmakers decided to keep negotiating on a bill to expand background-check requirements to most private and online gun sales.
The measures are part of a Democratic gun control package that has been the focus of much debate, drawing thousands to the state Capitol over the past week. The GOP has decried the whole package as a bad reaction to last year's horrific shootings in Newtown, Conn., and at a suburban Denver movie theater.
___
Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt |
One of the hardest jobs in politics is coming up with a decent slogan. I say this not with any particular experience of party politics, but rather a weary familiarity with the slogans of yore which fail to inspire. Remember "Back to Basics", for instance? Or "Vote Blue, Go Green?". Utter tripe, both. And what of Labour's corking re-election gambit in 2001, "A lot done, a lot still to do?". That sounded like something Alan Partridge would say at Glastonbury.
And though the competition is fierce, I think the offering plastered on lecterns at the Lib Dem conference this year - "Fairer tax in tough times" - is up there with the best of them. It's the sort of phrase - plodding, witless, earnest - that you might associate with a retired travelling salesman, or a Jehovah's Witness who can't take a hint. More's the pity, because the basic message, being a plea for social justice, is unimpeachable; and so, in the interests of our comrades in Brighton, let me dare to venture an alternative.
It's not quite "Change you can believe in", and it doesn't have the metaphorical allure of Ronald Reagan's seminal "Morning in Britain". But it does make sense and have the virtue of being both simple and something all three parties and the public would support. Plus it's alliterative, which is always good.
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TAX WEALTH NOT WORK. There I said it.
I've banged on about it here before. Tax is a terrible and terribly necessary thing. It should be designed so that, as much as possible, it rewards socially desirable behaviour and disincentivises socially undesirable behaviour. Two things in the former category are: people going to work (especially very poor people, who might otherwise be welfare recipients); and entrepreneurs taking risks to start companies that create jobs. Two things in the latter category are: property bubbles (a chief cause of our economic woe); and old and rich people acquiring, through inflation in property and land value, wealth much faster than the young and poor.
TAX WEALTH NOT WORK.
Herbert Asquith laid out the case marvellously in 1907, and David Lloyd George incorporated it into his People's Budget of 1909: unlike income, property is visible and thereby hard to evade. The total value of land in Britain has been estimated at £50trn; tax that at one per cent and you get £500bn. Nice. If proper taxes on property and land - which make people rich not through effort and industry but good fortune and windfall gains derived from public infrastructure - were combined with radical tax cuts to income tax for all earners, and corporation tax for small businesses, even pleb-hating Tories ought to get behind it.
TAX WEALTH NOT WORK.
Morally and economically necessary, as well as right; capable of generating huge public support; consistent with the crowded centre of British politics; and alliterative to boot. What's not to like?
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Premier League: Villas-Boas insists he has the confidence of Spurs board and players
Andre Villas-Boas denies reports of a rift between himself and the Tottenham players and boardroom. Andre Villas-Boas denies reports of a rift between himself and the Tottenham players and boardroom.
Newspaper reports claimed Villas-Boas was on the brink of being sacked following Sunday's 6-0 thrashing at Manchester City.
After a flurry of bets, one bookmaker made Villas-Boas odds-on favourite to become the next top-flight manager to lose his job, but the Portuguese is adamant his position is secure.
The former Chelsea manager, who spent almost £110m in the summer, admits the Spurs board aired their misgivings about the defeat at the Etihad Stadium to him in a meeting after the game.
However, Villas-Boas bristled at suggestions he was on the verge of the sack at a tense press conference ahead of Thursday's Europa clash with Tromso, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle.
"I have the confidence of the board. I have the confidence of my players and I have to move on to do a proper job," he said.
"The only conversation (the board and I) had recently was two or three days ago.
"The board is of the same opinion that everything went wrong and we hope to get some response in the future.
"It was an ordinary meeting. We only spoke very briefly about the game."
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has not come out to publicly back Villas-Boas, and the Portuguese coach does not want him to either.
"No. No. That's not his style, and neither do I ask for things like that," said Villas-Boas, who says he has become used to rumours and gossip since moving to England for his ill-fated spell with Chelsea.
"I am immune (to criticism) right now," he added. "I used to read a lot into situations like this, into pressure points when I was at Chelsea, but not anymore. I am very indifferent.
"There is only one (area) that I come under pressure from, which is the press."
When queried about alleged problems with his players, the Spurs boss said: "That can only come from creative minds."
Tottenham are three points better off than they were at this stage last season but Villas-Boas admits he is concerned by their form in front of goal.
The north Londoners have had 168 attempts at goal this season, more than any other side in the top flight, but they also have the worst conversion rate - 5.4 per cent.
"The only thing that we can hold on at the moment is the reality that we don't score enough and we are worried about it," said Villas-Boas.
"We have to promote situations where we can do better with our chances. Obviously this is something we are working on and going to continue working on in the future.
"It doesn't mean that problems like this can be solved because sometimes you go through periods, although you try and you create so many chances, you don't actually score.
"We have great scoring ability in our team; we are the team that creates the most chances in the Premier League, so the chances are there but we are not finishing them off.
"We don't put into doubt the quality of our strikers but we haven't found the finishing touch yet. The only thing that we can do is continue to work."
Villas Boas does not expect to sign a striker in January and has no intention of letting Jermain Defoe leave.
"(Roberto) Soldado, Jermain Defoe and (Emmanuel) Adebayor are all proven goalscorers, so we can't really get much better than these three.
"The only thing that we have to do, if we are not scoring from the opportunities we are creating, is making sure that we double the amount of opportunities we create to make sure a couple of them finish in the back of the net." |
Qalandyia checkpoint on the first Friday of the Ramadan, 12 July.
The freedom of movement of approximately 2.75 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is severely curtailed by Israel’s permit regime, wall and system of checkpoints. These movement restrictions prevent Palestinians in the West Bank from freely accessing holy sites in Jerusalem and other cultural and recreation sites and family in the city and present-day Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinians from the West Bank are not able to travel to Gaza, and vice versa, with only rare exception.
Documentary photographer Oren Ziv followed Palestinian families from the West Bank as they attempted to reach al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem for Friday prayers during the recently-concluded month of Ramadan and travel to the sea for the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month.
Oren Ziv is a co-founder of the ActiveStills photography collective.
Palestinian women cross Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem to attend the Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, 12 July.
Palestinian women cross Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem to attend the Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, 12 July.
An Israeli border police officer stands in front of Palestinians as they wait to broad a bus from Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah and travel to Jerusalem to attend Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque, 26 July.
Palestinian men walk near a section of the wall at Qalandiya checkpoint as they cross into Jerusalem to attend Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque, 26 July.
Palestinian youth carry a ladder as they prepare to cross the wall between the West Bank town of al-Ram and Jerusalem, 2 August.
A Palestinian youth wearing a hooded sweatshert to cover his face prepares to cross the wall between al-Ram and Jerusalem, 2 August.
Israeli soldiers remove a ladder used by Palestinians to climb over the Israeli wall in al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, on their way to al-Aqsa mosque in the Old city of Jerusalem to attend the third Friday prayers during the month of Ramadan, 2 August.
A Palestnian medic sleeps on a stretcher at Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, 2 August.
An Israeli border policeman (right) orders a Palestinian man to leave Qalandiya checkpoint as the man was not allowed into Jerusalem, 2 August.
Palestinians use a ladder to climb over Israel’s wall in al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, on their way to Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem to attend the third Friday prayers during the month of Ramadan, 2 August.
A Palestinian couple holds hands at the beach between Jaffa and Tel Aviv, 3 August.
Israeli and Palestinian activists play in the water with Palestinian kids from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh at a beach in the city of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, 4 August. Activists who attend the anti-occupation Friday demonstration at Nabi Saleh took kids from the village for a day of fun at the beach. Palestinian kids under the age of 12 who live in the West Bank don’t need a permit in order to enter Israel during Ramadan.
A Palestinian woman walks with her child at a Tel Aviv beach during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, 8 August. Israel allowed the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into Israel, which they are normally barred from, since the beginning of Ramadan.
Palestinians from the West Bank enjoy a day at a Tel Aviv beach during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, 8 August. Israel allowed the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into Israel, which they are normally barred from, since the beginning of Ramadan.
A Palestinian woman prays at a Tel Aviv beach during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, 8 August. Israel allowed the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into Israel, which they are normally barred from, since the beginning of Ramadan. |
A rural NSW electrician faces life in jail for allegedly using his technical skills to help Islamic State develop "high-tech weapons capability", including the ability to detect coalition guided missiles in Syria and Iraq.
Haisem Zahab, 42, was arrested at his house in Young in southern NSW on Tuesday and charged with two counts of foreign incursion and recruitment which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The charge relates to anyone who "engages in a hostile activity in a foreign country".
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said Zahab's research was sophisticated and credible and officers were "forensically" searching the property for further evidence.
A man was arrested on Tuesday after more than 20 Australian Federal Police officers swarmed a Young property. ()
"We will leave no stone unturned in what we're looking for," Mr Colvin said.
Zahab, an Australian-born citizen, did not apply for bail when he appeared in Young Local Court on Tuesday and it was formally refused.
He's next due to appear in Parramatta Local Court on March 8.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the arrest did not relate to any planned domestic attack and there was no threat to the community.
Tuesday's arrest was the result of an 18-month police investigation. ()
"Police will allege that this individual, in a regional centre, acted with intent to provide ISIL with ... the technical capability, and high-tech capability, to detect and develop missiles," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.
"This highlights that terrorism, support for terrorist groups, and Islamist extremism is not limited to our major cities."
Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the arrest was the result of an 18-month investigation.
Mr Colvin said Zahab allegedly researched and designed a laser warning device to help warn against incoming guided munitions used by coalition forces in Syria and Iraq.
"Secondly, we will also allege that he has been researching, designing and modelling systems to assist ISIL's efforts to develop their own long-range guided missile capabilities," Mr Colvin said.
Zahab is alleged to have networks and contacts in the Islamic State group, although Mr Colvin said he acted alone and had never been to Syria or Iraq.
Mr Colvin said those contacts were not necessarily in conflict zones "but in other parts of the world as well and he has been relying on them to pass this information".
Mr Colvin said Zahab is believed to have been in Young "for a while" and was arrested in front of his family, including children, at a house in the rural town which is known as the cherry capital of Australia.
The community is reeling from the arrest.
"It's a shock, for sure," former mayor Stuart Freudenstein told AAP.
Mr Freudenstein said there was not been a burgeoning Muslim community in the region, despite some media reports.
"I'm not aware of the numbers increasing that much. There are a few that are sprinkled throughout the community," he said.
However, an Islamic school for Kindergarten to Year 8 students is expected to open in the area this year to cater for the local Muslim population.
© AAP 2019 |
Wester Ross (Scottish Gaelic: Taobh Siar Rois) is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right,[2] but is generally regarded as lying to the west of the main watershed of Ross (the eastern part of Ross being Easter Ross), thus forming the western half of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The southernmost-part of western Ross and Cromarty, Lochalsh, is excluded from the definition of Wester Ross by the local tourist organisation, Visit Wester Ross,[3] but included within the definition used by the Wester Ross Biosphere Reserve.[4]
Wester Ross is renowned for the scenic splendour of its mountains and coastline,[5] and the range of wildlife that can be seen.[6] The area is a popular tourist destination, receiving around 70,000 visitors each year.[7] Tourism forms a major part of the economic activity of the area, accounting for 35 % of all employment.[7] Other major economic activities in the area include commercial fishing, renewable energy, agriculture and fish farming.[7][8][9]
The area gives its name to the Wester Ross National Scenic Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure their protection from inappropriate development.[10] Scenic spots including Loch Maree, Inverewe Garden, Corrieshalloch Gorge, Glen Docherty and the Bealach na Bà. Wester Ross was designated as a Biosphere Reserve in April 2016.[11]
Geology [ edit ]
The geology of Wester Ross consists predominantly of Torridonian sandstone and Lewisian gneiss. The latter was formed during the Precambrian period, and is the oldest rock type found in Scotland;[12] indeed the rocks around Gruinard Bay are, at 2.5 billion years old, amongst the oldest rocks in the world.[5] The Torridonian sandstone was formed by the deposition of sediment on top of the gneiss around 750 million years ago. The linear geological feature of Moine Thrust Belt runs northeast across the area from near Kyle of Lochalsh. The area was heavily glaciated during the ice age, with all but the highest peaks being covered by glaciers, leading to the steep-sided glens and deep sea lochs that characterise the area today.[12]
Geography [ edit ]
Location of Wester Ross and Easter Ross within Scotland.
Wester Ross is well known for its spectacular mountain scenery, especially the Torridon Hills which includes such peaks as Beinn Eighe and Liathach.[5] Although many peaks in the Northwest highlands exhibit Torridonian geology, the Torridon Hills are generally considered only to be those in the Torridon Forest to the north of Glen Torridon: the Munros of Liathach, Beinn Eighe, and Beinn Alligin; and the Corbetts of Beinn Dearg, Baosbheinn and Beinn an Eoin.[13][14] Other notable "Torridonian" peaks in Wester Ross include An Teallach and Slioch,[5] in the Dundonnell and Fisherfield Forest in the north of the area, and the hills of the Coulin Forest between Glen Torridon and Strathcarron.[13][14] Torridonian hills exhibit some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the British Isles, surpassed in grandeur probably only by the Cuillin of Skye. The hills sit apart from each other, and are often likened to castles. They have steep terraced sides, and broken summit crests, riven into many pinnacles. There are many steep gullies running down the terraced sides. The summit ridges provide excellent scrambling, and are popular with hill walkers and mountaineers. However, like many ridge routes, there are few escape points, so once committed, the scrambler or hillwalker must complete the entire ridge before descent. Under winter conditions, many walking routes in Wester Ross become serious expeditions.[13]
In contrast to the isolated Torridonian peaks that characterise much of Wester Ross, the mountains of Kintail in the south of the area take the form of peaks linked by ridges that rise steeply from narrow glens and the sea.[15]
Most of the major roads in the area radiate out from the more populated areas of Easter Ross, and link the settlements on the western coast to Inverness. Less major roads link these east-west routes to form a north-south route along the coast between Kyle of Lochalsh and Ullapool. This route has been marketed to tourists as the Wester Ross Coastal Trail,[16][17] and also forms part of the North Coast 500 tourist route.[18] The only railway line in Wester Ross is the Kyle of Lochalsh line, which is operated by ScotRail and provides a link between the southern part of the region and Inverness. Four services a day operate on the line, calling at stations at Achnasheen, Achnashellach, Strathcarron, Attadale, Stromeferry, Duncraig, Plockton and Duirinish, terminating at Kyle of Lochalsh.[19]
Climate [ edit ]
Wester Ross experiences a relatively mild maritime climate (Köppen Cfb) despite being located at a latitude of between 57.2° and 58.0° North due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. The tables below provide data for three locations within the area: Aultbea, located on the coast near Poolewe; Kinlochewe, located in a more inland position at the head of Loch Maree; and the summit of the Bealach na Bà, located 600 m above sea level in a coastal location.
Climate data for Aultbea Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C (°F) 7.6
(45.7) 7.6
(45.7) 8.8
(47.8) 11.0
(51.8) 13.8
(56.8) 15.6
(60.1) 17.2
(63.0) 16.9
(62.4) 15.2
(59.4) 12.5
(54.5) 9.8
(49.6) 8.0
(46.4) 12.0
(53.6) Average low °C (°F) 2.7
(36.9) 2.5
(36.5) 3.5
(38.3) 4.6
(40.3) 6.7
(44.1) 9.2
(48.6) 11.4
(52.5) 11.3
(52.3) 9.6
(49.3) 7.5
(45.5) 5.0
(41.0) 3.0
(37.4) 6.4
(43.5) Average rainfall mm (inches) 170.4
(6.71) 129.4
(5.09) 133.8
(5.27) 74.9
(2.95) 70.5
(2.78) 77.4
(3.05) 74.8
(2.94) 97.3
(3.83) 141.3
(5.56) 164.7
(6.48) 172.3
(6.78) 160.8
(6.33) 1,467.6
(57.78) Source: [20]
Climate data for Kinlochewe Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C (°F) 7.1
(44.8) 7.5
(45.5) 9.1
(48.4) 11.8
(53.2) 15.0
(59.0) 16.8
(62.2) 18.4
(65.1) 18.0
(64.4) 15.8
(60.4) 12.5
(54.5) 9.4
(48.9) 7.1
(44.8) 12.4
(54.3) Average low °C (°F) 0.9
(33.6) 0.9
(33.6) 2.2
(36.0) 3.5
(38.3) 5.7
(42.3) 8.6
(47.5) 10.8
(51.4) 10.5
(50.9) 8.4
(47.1) 5.7
(42.3) 3.1
(37.6) 0.9
(33.6) 5.1
(41.2) Average rainfall mm (inches) 309.3
(12.18) 238.0
(9.37) 236.6
(9.31) 117.5
(4.63) 98.5
(3.88) 100.0
(3.94) 101.5
(4.00) 135.0
(5.31) 191.3
(7.53) 239.2
(9.42) 252.0
(9.92) 263.7
(10.38) 2,282.6
(89.87) Mean monthly sunshine hours 18.0 41.7 67.2 111.1 152.2 123.9 111.3 104.7 80.4 49.4 23.5 14.6 898.0 Source: [21]
Climate data for the summit of the Bealach na Bà Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C (°F) 1.6
(34.9) 1.2
(34.2) 2.2
(36.0) 3.6
(38.5) 6.9
(44.4) 9.1
(48.4) 10.5
(50.9) 10.5
(50.9) 8.7
(47.7) 6.0
(42.8) 3.5
(38.3) 2.3
(36.1) 5.5
(41.9) Average low °C (°F) −2.1
(28.2) −2.4
(27.7) −1.5
(29.3) −0.4
(31.3) 2.1
(35.8) 4.7
(40.5) 6.6
(43.9) 6.7
(44.1) 5.1
(41.2) 2.9
(37.2) 0.1
(32.2) −1.2
(29.8) 1.7
(35.1) Source: [22]
History [ edit ]
Ullapool , founded as a fishing village in 1789.
There are traces of Mesolithic occupation at several sites in Wester Ross, including at Redpoint and Shieldaig. Excavations of a Mesolithic rock shelter and shell midden at Sand on the Applecross peninsula revealed a variety of tools made from bone, stone and antler, together with waste from tool manufacture and food processing.[23] The Mesolithic people were largely nomadic, and permanent settlements were first built during the Neolithic era, when trees were felled to create land for farming.[24]
The area was inhabited by Picts in late antiquity, and was largely Christian by the 7th Century.[25] From the 8th Century Wester Ross, along with much of the western seaboard of Scotland, came under Norse domination, and placename evidence suggests that the Pictish language seems to have been entirely replaced wherever the Norsemen encountered it, with most names considered likely to be of Medieval rather than pre-Norse origin.[26] Following the decline of Norse power in western Scotland after their defeat at the Battle of Largs the semi-independent Lords of the Isles came to dominate the western coast until the 15th century, when Scottish Crown was able to cement its control over the region.[25]
The 16th century marked the height of the Clan structure in the Highlands, and Wester Ross was occupied by different clans, chiefly the Mackenzies and the Macdonalds.[25] Historically the chiefs of the Clan Donald held the title of Lord of the Isles until 1493 and two of those chiefs also held the title of Earl of Ross until 1476.[citation needed] During this period the area was farmed under the communal run-rig system, with people living in small townships, growing oats, bere (barley), and later potatoes. Cattle rearing was the chief economic activity, with cattle being raised in the glens and then driven to market. This trade expanded during the early 19th Century, due to the demands of the new industrial cities and the British armed forces for cattle for beef.[27]
The clan structure began to break down in 18th Century, as clan chiefs came to see themselves as landlords, and the small tenant farmers had no legal answer to a landlord who wished to have them removed. During the late 18th and 19th Centuries, the Highland Clearances saw tenants being forcibly moved to become crofters, a system under which their labour would be available when required by their landlords: they would be workers first and farmers second. Crofters were employed in enterprises such as fishing (Ullapool in the north of Wester Ross was built by the British Fishing Society in the 1780-90s) and kelping (the collection and processing of kelp to create products such as soda ash).[28] In the later stages of the clearances the driver ceased to be industrial enterprises, but simply to clear the land for sheep faming, and later deer forests. At this point emigration was often the only option to those removed from their homes.
Under pressure from the Highland Land League and public opinion a series of inquiries were held into the situation, leading to the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 which put an end to the clearances by granting security of tenure to crofters.[29] However the act did not break up large estates, and Wester Ross continues to consist chiefly of large single-owner estates.[30]
Environment [ edit ]
There are many different habitats in Wester Ross, ranging from the marine and coastal environment to mountain summits over 1000 m above sea level. The area forms one of the Watsonian vice-counties, geographical divisions of the British Isles used for the purposes of biological recording and other scientific data-gathering.[31]
The coastline is mostly formed of cliffs and rocky shores covered with barnacles and seaweed. These cliffs are home to large numbers of seabirds such as puffins, fulmars, kittiwakes, razorbills , guillemots, black guillemots, cormorants and shags, whilst the rocky islets and skerries are important for harbour seals.[32][33] There are also beaches and sand dunes: the dunes at Achnahaird in particular support three plant species (petalworts, dune slack mosses matted bryum and sea bryum) that occur nowhere else in Scotland.[32] There is relatively little machair in Wester Ross compared to other parts of western Scotland.[32]
Whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals area frequently seen in the outer lochs and open waters, whilst the more sheltered sea lochs contain rocky reefs, maerl beds and deep mud banks.[34] Loch Carron is home to the world's largest flame shell beds.[35]
The rivers and lochs of Wester Ross support important populations of Atlantic salmon and sea trout, although numbers of adult fish have declined in recent years.[36] Freshwater pearl mussels live in the gravel beds of clean, fast flowing rivers: the population had declined across Europe as a result of pollution, habitat changes and pearl fishing, and the Wester Ross population is now of international importance.[36] Otters and water voles are both present in strong numbers in the rivers of Wester Ross:[36] water voles populations have been in decline across Great Britain due to predation by non-native American mink, which have only recently been recorded in Wester Ross.[37] The lochs also support internationally important concentrations of breeding black-throated divers, which is at the southern edge of its range in Wester Ross. Besides salmon and trout, Arctic charr can be found in many of the lochs.[37]
There are areas of Caledonian pinewood at Shieldaig, Coulin, Torridon, Beinn Eighe, Rhidorroch, Achnashellach and the islands on Loch Maree. Though small in terms of area, these pinewoods (which are composed chiefly of Scots pine, alongside deciduous species such as birch and rowan) are an internationally important habitat. These woods are genetically distinct from the pinewoods of central and eastern Scotland, and support a highly specialised flora and fauna including rare mosses and lichens, and insects such as the Scottish wood ant. The pinewoods are also habitats for red squirrel and black grouse.[38]
Moorland habitats, which are rare globally, are quite common in Wester Ross. The moors are characterised by blanket bogs composed of sphagnum mosses, and host breeding birds such as golden plover, greenshank and dunlin, along with a resident population of red grouse.[39] The summits of Wester Ross host alpine and sub-alpine heaths comprising mosses, liverworts and lichens, and dwarf shrubs such as alpine bearberry, juniper, crowberry, and cowberry. Beinn Eighe is the only known site for the Northern prongwort in the UK, and represents 75 % of the known world population.[40] Bird species in the montane areas of Wester Ross include ptarmigan, dotterel and snow bunting, along with raptor species such as golden eagle and merlin.
White-tailed eagles were reintroduced into Wester Ross during the 1990s, with 58 birds being released between 1993 and 1998. This was the second phase of the reintroduction of white-tailed eagles into Scotland, following on from the release of 82 birds on Rùm between 1975 and 1985. As of 2014, it was estimated that there were 98 breeding pairs living along the west coast of Scotland.[41]
Conservation designations [ edit ]
The Wester Ross National Scenic Area covers 1635 km2 of countryside and seascape, and is the largest of the national scenic areas in terms of land area (1439km2).[1] It extends from Loch Kishorn in the south to Little Loch Broom in the north.[42] There are two further national scenic areas (NSA) that include parts of Wester Ross: the Kintail NSA and the Coigach portion of the Assynt-Coigach NSA.[43]
Wester Ross was designated as a Biosphere Reserve in April 2016.[11] The designated area is subdivided into three zones:[44]
Approximately 20 % of Wester Ross is legally protected via the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designation.[45]
National Trust for Scotland properties [ edit ]
Inverewe Garden
The National Trust for Scotland, a charity that cares for sites of historic or natural significance, owns seven properties in Wester Ross:
Demographics [ edit ]
The population of Wester Ross[note 1] was 8701 according the 2011 census of Scotland,[55] showing a slight increase compared to 8491 in 1991.[56] The population is generally older than Scotland as a whole, with 22.1 % being aged 65 or older, compared to 16.8 % for Scotland as a whole.[57]
Wester Ross has historically been a Gaelic speaking area, however the language suffered from persecution for many years, and its decline was hastened when schooling became compulsory in the late 19th Century. In the 2011 census 10.6 % of the population reported being able to speak the language, compared to only 1.1 % of the population of Scotland as whole.[58][59]
Government and politics [ edit ]
Wester Ross is part of the registration county of Ross and Cromarty.[60] The counties of Scotland are now used only for statistical purposes, and for local government purposes the whole of Ross and Cromarty is part of the council area of Highland. Wester Ross is united with Strathpeffer in Easter Ross to form a single ward entitled Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh,[61] which elects 4 councilors to Highland Council under the single transferable vote electoral system.[62] Some local decisions are delegated to the Ross and Cromarty Committee, which consists of all councilors representing this ward and the four neighbouring wards that cover Easter Ross and Cromarty.[63][64]
In the Scottish Parliament most of Wester Ross lies within the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross constituency,[65] however the Lochalsh area in the south of the region forms part of the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency.[66] Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election; a further seven additional members are elected from the Highlands and Islands electoral region (in addition to the eight constituency MSPs), to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.[67]
At Westminster Wester Ross is represented as part of the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency, which elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.[68]
In popular culture [ edit ]
Wester Ross is featured in the lyrics to the song Letter from America by The Proclaimers, and Kishorn Commandos by North Sea Gas, which relate the wild lifestyle of construction workers on the Ninian Central Platform in Kishorn.[69][70] Many other songs refer to or are named after areas, geographical features and villages of Wester Ross, notably Loch Maree Islands, which has been recorded by many artists including Calum Kennedy.[citation needed]
Major outdoor scenes in the films Stardust and The Eagle (based on Rosemary Sutcliff's book The Eagle of the Ninth) were shot in Wester Ross. Plockton was used for shots showing Sergeant Neil Howie's arrival at Summerisle in The Wicker Man.[71]
Wester Ross is the location for the adventures of John Macnab in the book by John Buchan.[citation needed]
Places in Wester Ross [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bilbliography [ edit ] |
Tanna (also spelled Tana) is an island in Tafea Province of Vanuatu.
Geography [ edit ]
It is 40 kilometres (25 miles) long and 19 kilometres (12 miles) wide, with a total area of 550 square kilometres (212 square miles). Its highest point is the 1,084-metre (3,556-foot) summit of Mount Tukosmera in the south of the island.
Siwi Lake was located in the east, northeast of the peak, close to the coast until mid April 2000 when following unusually heavy rain, the lake burst down the valley into Sulphur Bay, destroying the village with no loss of life. Mount Yasur is an accessible active volcano which is located on the southeast coast.
History [ edit ]
Cannibal Feast on Tanna by Charles E. Gordon Frazer c. 1885-9 by Charles E. Gordon Frazer c. 1885-9
Tanna was first settled about 400 BC by Melanesians from the surrounding islands. The glowing light of Mount Yasur attracted James Cook, the first European to visit the island, in August 1774, where he landed in an inlet on the southeastern tip of the island that he named Port Resolution after his ship HMS Resolution. He gave the island the name of Tanna, probably from the local name for earth, tana in the Kwamera language.[1]
In the 19th century, traders and missionaries (chiefly Presbyterian) arrived. The Tannese stuck to their traditions more strongly than other islands; there remain fewer Christians in comparison with the other islands of Vanuatu.
Tanna was not a principal site of World War II, but about 1,000 people from Tanna were recruited to work on the American military base on Éfaté. Exposure to First World living standards may have led to the development of cargo cults. Many have died out, but the John Frum cult remains strong on Tanna today, especially at Sulphur Bay in the south east and Green Point in the South West of the Island. A recent documentary Waiting for John (2015) by Jessica Sherry provides a history and overview of the current scene regarding these beliefs.[2]
A secessionist movement began in the 1970s, and the Nation of Tanna was proclaimed on 24 March 1974. While the British were more open to allowing its holdings in Vanuatu to achieve independence, it was opposed by the French colonists and finally suppressed by the Anglo-French Condominium authorities on June 29, 1974.
Flag of the Island of Tanna
In 1980, there was another attempt to secede, declaring the Tafea Nation on 1 January 1980, its name coming from the initials of the five islands that were to be part of the nation (Tanna, Aniwa, Futuna, Erromango and Aneityum). British forces intervened on 26 May 1980, allowing the island to become part of the newly independent nation of Vanuatu on 30 July 1980.
Tanna and nearby Erromango were devastated by cyclone Pam in mid-March 2015, with reports of an unknown number of deaths, complete destruction of the island’s infrastructure and permanent shelters, and no drinking water.[3] Following this, an El Niño-spurred drought further impacted on the people of Tanna.[4]
Culture and economy [ edit ]
Population [ edit ]
It is the most populous island in Tafea Province, with a population of about 29,000,[5] and one of the most populous islands in the country. Isangel, the provincial administrative capital, is on the west coast near the island's largest town of Lénakel.
Tanna is populated almost entirely by Melanesians and they follow a more traditional lifestyle than many other islands. Some of the higher altitude villages are known as kastom villages, where modern inventions are restricted, the inhabitants wear penis sheaths (Bislama: nambas) and grass skirts, and the children do not go to public schools. According to anthropologist Joël Bonnemaison, author of "The Tree and the Canoe: history and ethnography of Tanna," their resistance to change is due to their traditional worldview and how they "perceive, internalise, and account for the dual concepts of space and time." [6]
John Frum movement [ edit ]
The island is the centre of the John Frum religious movement, which attracts tourist interest as a cargo cult.
The first John appeared at night as a spirit at a place called Green Point and told the people to return to their traditional way of life, or kastom. From that time kastom on Tanna has been seen as an alternative to the modernity encouraged by many missionary denominations. Yaohnanen is the centre of the Prince Philip Movement, which reveres Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the prince consort of the United Kingdom. The cult is examined by British writer Matthew Baylis in his 2013 book Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers.[7]
Christian missionary John Gibson Paton served in Tanna in the mid 1800s. Cannibalism was practiced before Christianity swept the island. In the biography of Paton the horror of the pagan practice of abusing and murdering disobedient wives is detailed.
Language [ edit ]
There are three main languages spoken on Tanna: the southern language of Kwamera, the South-Western language adjacent to the slopes of Tokosmera, of which there are many dialects spoken by very small groupings, constitute two of the languages. The remaining majority of Tanna islanders speak four dialects, being North Tanna in the northwest, Lénakel in the west-central area near Lénakel, and the middle bush dialect in the central plateau of the island, which is very close to Lenakel Whitesands in the northeast near Whitesands.
These are generally grouped into the Tanna languages family, which is a subgroup of the South Vanuatu languages, an Austronesian language branch. According to Ethnologue, each is spoken by a few thousand, and Lénakel, with 8,000 speakers, is one of the dialects of Vanuatu with the most speakers. Many people on Tanna also speak Bislama, which is one of Vanuatu's three official languages (together with English and French).
Economy [ edit ]
The island is one of the most fertile in Vanuatu and produces kava, coffee, coconut, copra, and other fruits and vegetables. Recently, tourism has become more important, as tourists are attracted to the volcano and traditional culture.[8] To help preserve the integrity of culture as a tourism asset, only local people are permitted to act as guides. There are various types of accommodation on the island.
The active volcano, Mount Yasur, at dusk.
Children from Yankel Village.
Coast of Tanna after rain.
Cultural references [ edit ]
Five men from Tanna's Prince Philip Movement cargo cult, which considers Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh a god, were brought to the United Kingdom as part of the Channel 4 reality show Meet the Natives in 2007. Part of their itinerary included an off-screen meeting with the prince.[9]
In An Idiot Abroad, Series 2, Episode 1, Karl Pilkington visited Tanna and discussed the Prince Philip Movement and met those who visited Windsor Castle.
In 2009 the Travel Channel aired Meet the Natives: USA, which brought five men from another group from Tanna to the United States.[10] Their tribe reveres Tom Navy, an American World War II sailor who generations ago had taught the inhabitants to live in peace. The Tanna ambassadors were taken across, visiting five states, and eventually meeting former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and verifying with him that the spirit of peace taught by Tom Navy lives on in then U.S. President, Barack Obama. While visiting with a family on Fort Stewart, US Army Major-General Tony Cucolo conferred a World War II Victory Medal and an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal upon the chief in representation of the contribution the people of Tanna in World War II.
Tanna, a film depicting the true story of a couple who decided to marry for love, rather than obey their parents' wishes, is set on the island,[11][8] and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.[12]
Transportation [ edit ]
The island is served by Whitegrass Airport.
References [ edit ] |
Photo: AMC
During season six of Mad Men last year, theories linking Megan Draper to the infamous Manson murders spread quickly after an episode in which Don’s wife wears a star T-shirt identical to one Sharon Tate was photographed in for a 1967 Esquire spread. Along with Megan’s short-lived pregnancy, the image of Peggy stabbing Abe, the Draper children being held hostage by an intruder, and later episodic references to Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, obsessive viewers saw that wardrobe choice as evidence that Megan was totally going to die — something creator Matthew Weiner did his best to quash, while also leaving open the possibility of her demise in the show’s final season.
The action has moved forward in time to late January 1969, roughly six months ahead of the date of the grisly murders that capped off the era of peace and love, and Megan Draper is now living all alone in an insecure home overlooking Hollywood. Given those similarities and a few other loose parallels we’ve noticed (e.g., Megan and Don hear a coyote howling outside her house; Tate’s last meal was at a restaurant named El Coyote Cafe), we thought we’d circle back and see if that theory about the Manson murders will figure prominently into season seven, after all. To help us in our quest, Vulture spoke with Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University and the author of The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation. Topics discussed: Megan’s continued Tate-like wardrobe choices, Folgers coffee, and whether a production logo involving tarot cards means anything.
I combed over the episode to look for anything that might possibly reference the Manson murders. Megan’s still dressing like Sharon Tate, for starters.
That dress, absolutely. That was the first thing I thought. And whatever canyon Megan lives in — Don makes that reference to Megan that she’s isolated, that he’s disturbed by that, and that he’s not sure that she’s safe there. I’m not sure they’re setting her up to be murdered, but she certainly might hear the shots in the night.
And then there’s Megan’s career. The pilot she was auditioning for, Bracken’s World, was a real show about starlets trying to make it in Hollywood.
You could link that back to Valley of the Dolls, which Sharon Tate was in. And that was sort of that lifestyle. Though Megan hasn’t started taking drugs yet. [Editor’s note: Bracken’s World was created by Dorothy Kingsley, who co-wrote the Valley of the Dolls screenplay. Eerie!]
Okay, here’s the big one: Folgers coffee. Peggy and Ted have this big conversation about coffee while Peggy is holding a Folgers can, and then Stan walks in and says something like, “That was not about coffee.”
And Abigail Folger was one of Charles Manson’s victims. She was the heiress to the Folgers coffee fortune and was a friend of Roman Polanski, so she was staying at the house. I think that’s probably a good catch on your part. Because why would they have that coffee room debate?
Last season, the show made pointed references to Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby: Sally was reading the novel, four of the characters saw a screening of the film, and Peggy and Ted pitched an ad campaign based on it. I guess that ties into the general theme of innocence being corrupted in the late 1960s?
Not just corrupted — invaded. And also, advertising is about mind control, and Rosemary’s Baby was all about mind control. If only someone was living at the Dakota! [Laughs.] But advertising, everything they do is about manipulating people through subliminal imagery, and getting them to behave in a certain way. At the beginning of Mad Men, the characters were approaching the ad business like, “We’re doing good things for people, bringing these products into their lives.” But now it’s getting darker and darker, as they realize, this is really just manipulating people and making them do what we want them to do.
You used the word invaded. There was also that strange woman who invaded Don’s home last year and held Sally hostage. And Peggy stabbed Abe because she thought he was a burglar.
Yes, you have a lot of imagery of invasion on Mad Men. There’s a line that Betty had last year, when Sally was suspended from school; she told Don, “The good isn’t beating out the bad.” For the first time she realizes, no matter how hard we try, the bad is winning. And I thought, Oh, is that ever a Manson-esque reference. Because that was the feeling after Manson: How do we protect ourselves against the deranged people who will invade our homes and take our lives? Where’s the protection? It was only when Manson and his group did the home invasions that the whole hippie thing became very dark. And that was right around Woodstock time, which was supposedly about all this peace and love and everybody getting it on. And then Manson happened, and then the concert at Altamont. So really, there’s this whole sense after the Beatles landed, from the mid-’60s on, that things are getting unsafe. And you see that in all the relationships on Mad Men unraveling, that everybody is trying to connect and the connections aren’t working. And that was really the feeling of, how do we put this back together? And nobody has an answer.
You’ve written a lot about the psychology of psychopaths. One of the traits is living a double life — but that applies to everyone on Mad Men!
There are all kinds of themes about doubles. Megan played twins on the soap opera; Don is referred to as bicoastal constantly. And so he and Megan could be doubles for Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate, because Polanski was much older than her, he was cheating on her, there she was trying to be an actress and to be who she wanted to be, but at the same time she’s also trying to be the good wife to this philanderer, essentially. So you have kind of the doubles imagery between the two couples.
Does anyone on Mad Men have the potential to be a psychopath? Is there a character who sets off alarm bells for you?
Oh, Bob Benson. [Laughs.] He’s such an odd duck in terms of his obsequiousness, and his inserting himself into everything — kind of being under the radar, but always present, you know? And Pete Campbell is the one who figured him out — of all people to spot him. Pete Campbell, with all his deviances and deceptions!
I used to think Pete had the potential to be violent, but now I think he’s just sad.
He’s so sad and pathetic. And even with his whole thing in California, there’s this kind of nervous quality about him, and I don’t think it’s just because he’s around Don. I think he’s a misfit. And in this episode, you saw everybody kind of realizing that the lives they’ve been leading have brought them into paralysis. Like that image of Don at the end where he’s sitting outside in the cold, alone; I think he and then Peggy and Pete and Roger, they’re all butting up against their own lives all of a sudden, and finding that what had been working and moving them along has brought them to a standstill, and they don’t really know how to make this work. And that was definitely the feeling after Manson — and again, Manson didn’t happen until August, so they’re a ways away from that — but this feeling of, how did we arrive at the juncture? What we’ve always thought works, doesn’t. And that is, in essence, the feeling after Manson. Things don’t work. Which is different than, say, Betty shaking out all her trash at the picnic in season one and leaving it in the park. The attitude in the early sixties was that somebody would always come around and make it all better.
There’s one other thing that I saw, right as the show was ending — and maybe this is on every episode, but it’s the first time I noticed it: There was a tarot card.
Oh, yeah, it’s one of the production company logos. Why is that important?
Okay, because there was the tarot card massacre in 1970 in California, during the time when Manson’s trial was going on. So when I saw the tarot card, I went, whoa! But no, I think they would have used a different tarot card, because that one looks like The Sun — not dark enough. |
Decided to wait until I had the other three done before uploading them all. Here we have Pinkie Pie as Hawkeye. Again, a difficult choice for me to make with who would fit with Pinkie Pie (considering Deadpool is not an Avengers). Still, I kind of consider Hawkeye sort of the comic relief of the group (though he wasn't much of a joker in the movie). Plus, I like the wordplay, Pinkeye. - Ew. Nothing really funny about Pink Eye. Heard that a nurse was using pinkie crust to make....Okay! Pinkie! No need for the details!Pinkie Pie own and (c) by HasbroHawkeye own and (c) by MarvelArtwork (c) Kenichi-ShinigamiMy Little Avengers -Shining Fury- [link] Captain Equestria- [link] Twilight Widow - [link] Ironmare - [link] Pinkeye - HereRainbow Thor - [link] Flutterhulk - [link] |
By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Editor
(CNN) - Less than a year ago, Mark Driscoll, an evangelical pastor, was flying high.
His hometown Seattle Seahawks were in the Super Bowl, and the brash pastor scored a big, faith-fueled interview with five of the team's top players, including quarterback Russell Wilson.
But in a remarkably fast fall from grace, Driscoll resigned Tuesday as pastor of Mars Hill Church, a congregation he founded 18 years ago and turned into a force in the mostly secular Pacific Northwest.
In a statement, Mars Hills' board of overseers said Driscoll hadn't committed any acts of "immorality, illegality or heresy" - sins that have felled many a powerful pastor.
Instead, the board said, Driscoll is guilty of "arrogance, responding to conflict with a quick temper and harsh speech, and leading the staff and elders in a domineering manner."
Driscoll was not asked to leave, the board added, saying they were "surprised" to receive his resignation letter.
FULL STORY |
Image caption The government has warned that up to 500,000 Australians are at risk of becoming, or are, problem gamblers.
Australia has unveiled plans to ban television and radio broadcasts of betting odds during live sports matches in a bid to curb problem gambling.
Gambling advertisements will no longer appear during live events and around sporting venues, the government said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Australians had become "increasingly frustrated" with the promotions.
The broadcasting industry is expected to submit a revised code to Australia's media watchdog reflecting the changes.
"From the moment that the players step onto the field, to the moment that they leave the field, there will be no live odds," Ms Gillard told a press conference.
"This is good news for families, because families I think have become increasingly frustrated about the penetration of live odds into sporting coverage."
Under the new rules, advertisements would only be allowed before or after a game, or during a scheduled break in play, such as quarter-time and half-time.
'Focus of game'
Promotion of betting odds by bookmakers who appear to be part of broadcast teams will also be banned.
The National Rugby League, which in the past has allowed bookmakers to give odds during broadcasts, said it agreed with the government's plan.
"The overwhelming sentiment is that we do not want to see betting as the primary focus of our game," NRL chief executive Dave Smith said.
"Fans, and particularly young fans, should not be subject to excessive promotion of betting during matches.
"We want young kids to be enjoying the skills of their favourite team, not quoting the odds."
The broadcasting industry is expected to submit a revised code to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, said the government.
It estimates that up to 500,000 Australians are at risk of becoming, or are, problem gamblers. |
The digital currency bitcoin continued its surge on Tuesday crossing $200, more than doubling in value in just over one week. Bitcoin's value at the end of February was just over $30.
Bitcoin allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. There are currently 10 million bitcoins in circulation but the currency is capped at 21 million coins.
Bitcoin's value rise is being ascribed to the uncertainty over other currencies, the fallout from the Cyprus crisis and the intense media speculation.
(Read More: Bitcoin Bubble: How 'Geeks' Sent Prices Parabolic)
Much of that media scrutiny has asked whether Bitcoin's rise is a bubble in the making. Warning signs are evident: the digital currency's value fell $20 last Wednesday when Mt. Gox, the largest trading platform for the currency, suffered an outage for an hour. It also dropped 10 percent in value on Monday without explanation.
David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets, says the rising demand for bitcoin makes it a potential safe haven given that the currency has a limited output – by 2140, all bitcoins will have been generated. "If it's something where there will always be demand, the fact that it's limited should give you security, like with gold," Jones said. "The issue is whether at this stage, where it's gone up 200 percent, there is a lot further for it to go. No one knows."
Not all Bitcoin news has been positive. Yesterday it was reported that a piece of malware on Skype was hijacking computers and forcing it to mine bitcoins. Jones said such stories did make for discomforting reading for bitcoin investors.
(Read More: Bitcoin Great for Narco-Dollar Traffickers: Pro)
"Part of bitcoin's appeal is that there is no regulation, so nobody can come in and force quantitative easing etc.," he said, "but no regulation also means someone could turn on a tap and just create more and more bitcoins. I'm not saying bitcoin's price won't go up any further, but I'm not putting my pension on it."
Jones concluded that while bit coin could indeed rise further in the next few weeks,"my guess is that in a year's time I wouldn't be surprised if we'd stopped talking about it." |
Researchers have discovered a code-injection vulnerability in the Windows operating system that cannot, because of the nature of the operating system, be patched. It could be used to bypass current malware protection solutions in place.
"Unfortunately," writes enSilo researcher Tal Liberman in a report published Oct. 27, "this issue cannot be patched since it doesn't rely on broken or flawed code -- rather it's a flaw in how these operating system mechanisms are designed."
The attack technique has been labeled 'AtomBombing'. It manipulates Windows' underlying Atom Tables mechanisms. Atom Tables are used to hold data strings. Applications place the strings into the table and receive back an 'atom' identifier for the string.
Windows has several different Atom Tables for different purposes. The Global Atom Table can be used to share data between different DDE applications. "Rather than passing actual strings, a DDE application passes global atoms to its partner application. The partner uses the atoms to obtain the strings from the atom table," explains Microsoft's own data sheet.
enSilo has discovered that an attacker can write malicious code into an atom table, and force a legitimate program to retrieve that malicious code. Furthermore, wrote Liberman, "We also found that the legitimate program, now containing the malicious code, can be manipulated to execute that code."
The result is that maliciousness has been passed from an unknown malicious application to a known good application or process. While security defenses are on red alert to detect and block malicious applications, they often whitelist known good applications or processes. That is the attraction of 'code injection' as an attack vector: where it can be achieved, it can be used, notes Liberman, "to bypass security products, hide from the user, and extract sensitive information that would otherwise be unattainable."
Liberman gives two examples of how AtomBomb code injection can help the attacker to access context-specific data. The first is taking screenshots. Processes can only do this from within the context of the user's desktop. Malware, however, usually lands in the services desktop, and is unable to execute user screenshots. AtomBombing would allow the attacker to inject code from the services desktop into a process already running within the user desktop, take the screenshot, and pass it back to the malware in the services desktop.
The second example is access to encrypted passwords. Chrome, for example, encrypts users' stored passwords using the Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI) together with data derived from the current user. Again, passwords can only be accessed from within the user context -- which AtomBombing can achieve. "If the malware injects code into a process that's already running in the context of the current user," writes Liberman, "the plain-text passwords can be easily accessed."
The problem for users is that AtomBombing cannot be fixed -- it's the way Windows works. With no chance of a patch, the solution is some other form of mitigation. enSilo believes the issue is another argument for a shift of emphasis from attack prevention to consequence mitigation. "Under the assumption that threat actors will always exploit known and unknown techniques, we need to build our defenses in a way that prevents the consequences of the attack once the threat actor has already compromised the environment." |
Tony Abbott tells MPs to 'knuckle down' on 'Back to Work Tuesday' as leadership rumblings continue
Updated
Tony Abbott has declared today "Back to Work Tuesday" as he continues to try to quash speculation that his leadership is under threat.
Poor polling for the Prime Minister and the massive swing against the Liberal National Party in Queensland has fuelled calls from within the party to replace Mr Abbott.
The most likely contenders are former leader Malcolm Turnbull, deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop and frontbencher Scott Morrison.
The three are known to be in discussion about the party's woes.
Today Mr Abbott repeatedly sidestepped questions about a reported exchange with Ms Bishop on the weekend, in which she refused to give him a commitment that she would not challenge him for the leadership.
"Julie and I - we're friends. We are part of the leadership team," he said.
"We support each other. We always have and we always will."
When asked if he was prepared to call a leadership spill, Mr Abbott replied "no".
Ministers will meet this afternoon at a Cabinet meeting slated to sit through tomorrow.
Abbott is also facing a backbench revolt over his decision to make Prince Philip a knight under the Australian honours system, with two Queensland federal backbenchers pushing a private members bill to abolish the awards.
This morning, Mr Abbott toured a childcare centre in Sydney, a day after confirming he had dumped his "signature" paid parental leave scheme in favour of a broader "families" package.
Flanked by his wife Margie and Sydney backbencher Craig Laundy, Mr Abbott said his Government was going through a "difficult patch" and called on his colleagues to "knuckle down" to work.
"Instability breeds instability," he said.
"If you want to get away from that, you just end it now, and my message to the people of Australia is this is Back to Work Tuesday.
"We are now focused on doing the right thing by the people of Australia."
Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Andrew Nikolic has written an email to his Coalition colleagues calling on them not to show the same signs of "ill-disciplined introspection" that beset the former Labor government.
"My hope, my plea is that we knuckle down, refocus on what's important and not become the rabble we defeated," he said, in an email published by the Australian Financial Review.
Earlier, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane called on both Ms Bishop and Mr Turnbull to publicly state they would not challenge for the leadership.
"We need to see a situation where the Government governs," Mr Macfarlane told AM.
"I'd call on both Malcolm - who I know is not planning any leadership challenge because he gave me that assurance - but I also call on Julie Bishop to make that assurance," Mr Macfarlane said.
Mr Abbott ousted Mr Turnbull from the top job in 2009, when he won a leadership ballot by one vote.
Colin Barnett accuses Joe Hockey of letting down Tony Abbott
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has taken aim at Treasurer Joe Hockey, accusing him of "letting down" the Prime Minister.
Mr Barnett told Fairfax Radio Mr Abbott has had a "horror summer" because of a series of unpopular policy decisions.
But he also blamed the performances of Mr Abbott's Cabinet, particularly Mr Hockey.
"I think he's been let down by a couple of his colleagues," he said.
"I don't think the Treasurer has done a great job, and that last budget was flawed, and therefore the leader ends up wearing it."
Mr Barnett said while Mr Abbott had made mistakes, he should remain leader.
"He's had a horror summer I guess, [with the] change of position on co-payments on medical care, now the parental leave has been scrapped which I think is not a bad thing because it's not a good policy," he said.
"But I don't think we should develop a pattern in Australia where we change leaders simply because we're down in the polls or they make a bit of a gaffe."
Topics: government-and-politics, family-and-children, child-care, political-parties, liberals, abbott-tony, federal-government, sydney-2000, nsw, australia
First posted |
Image caption Nick Clegg acknowledges the applause at the Lib Dem spring conference
Nick Clegg is preparing to fight his final general election, many of his senior colleagues believe.
Several MPs have told me there is an unspoken assumption that he will stand down as Liberal Democrat leader in the next Parliament - whatever the result in May.
While Lib Dems are fighting for their political lives in constituencies, they are thinking hard about life after Clegg.
Their leader's career could end with defeat in his Sheffield Hallam seat, of course, or in resignation after a terrible election performance.
But even if he manages to prove the polls wrong - as he insists is possible - it would be very natural for him to stand down in 2017, one senior MP says.
It is widely thought he has not asked his wife Miriam to endure more than two general elections, another insists.
Explicit ambitions
Clegg's aides dismiss such talk - he intends to be the leader through the whole of the next Parliament they say.
That is not what plenty of his colleagues expect though, and several are positioning themselves to fight to replace him.
They eye left-leaning Tim Farron with suspicion.
Two campaigns to be the party's president, one successful, have given him much more contact with members - who will elect the new leader - than any of his rivals.
He gets a lot of press.
Image copyright PA Image caption Tim Farron has been putting in the leadership groundwork, colleagues say
MPs use almost identical terms to describe him criss-crossing the country eating rubbery chicken at meals with activists, who he showers with praise.
Some are dismissive - Farron is a good campaigner they say, but "not cerebral". Others use more forthright terms to dismiss his abilities.
The party's former leader Lord Ashdown told 5 Live: "Tim's a very able guy but at the moment judgement is not his strong suit."
His rivals, like the health minister Norman Lamb, are growing increasingly explicit about their ambitions.
If there is a contest, the energy secretary Ed Davey will want to stand, and he too has backers.
Those who are not talking about life after Clegg in public worry they too should give interviews for fear of not being regarded as a contender.
Who else? Jo Swinson, equalities minister, should also be a candidate one well-respected figure tells me, provided she is still an MP after the election.
Lib Dems suspect Treasury minister Danny Alexander of harbouring leadership ambitions, but he too faces a tough fight to hold his seat and many in the party regard him as having grown far too close to the Chancellor George Osborne.
A definitive list is hard to complete though because Lib Dems only need the support of 10% of the party's MPs to stand.
If the general election goes as badly as the polls suggest a would-be leader could comfortably fit the necessary supporters in a cosy phone box.
It could be a crowded contest. |
Newswise — The rate of diagnosis for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the same among all racial groups — one in 110, according to current estimates. However, a study by a Florida State University researcher has found that African-American children tend to be diagnosed later than white children, which results in a longer and more intensive intervention. The reasons for later diagnoses include a lack of access to quality, affordable, culturally competent health care, according to Martell Teasley, an associate professor in Florida State’s College of Social Work who has conducted a comprehensive review of researchliterature on autism and African-American children. In addition, the stigmaattached to mental health conditions within the black community contribute to misdiagnoses of autism, and underuse of available treatment services. “There are no subjective criteria for diagnosing autism. Only brain scans can truly provide appropriate diagnoses, because we are dealing with biological and chemical imbalances in the brain,” Teasley said. “Not every child is going to have access to this kind of medical evaluation, particularly those who are indigent and don’t have health care funding.” Teasley examined ASD diagnosis and treatment strategies, and their effect on African-American families, in “Autism and the African-American Community,” a paper published in a special issue of the journal Social Work in Public Health (Vol. 26, Issue 4, 2011) that dealt with health-care policy issues in the black community related to the human genome. Teasley co-wrote the paper with Ruby Gourdine, a professor of social work at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Tiffany Baffour, an associate professor of social work at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Because of the social stigma, Teasley says that some African-American families might be resistant to accept a diagnosis and treatment. “Less discussion about autism among African-Americans or between African-Americans and health care providers leads to misdiagnoses, a lack of treatment and a lack of services,” Teasley said. “This will lead to greater challenges for families — more stress and anxiety, and poorer developmental outcomes.” African-Americans also might resist a diagnosis and treatment because of a mistrust of mainstream health care providers over past discrimination. “African-Americans are well versed in going to a doctor who might have biases or discriminatory practices, so they may not readily accept what a doctor says,” Teasley said. In addition, a cultural divide between African-Americans and mainstream health care providers can hinder a timely and correct diagnosis. “There are not enough health care professionals who understand the cultural norms and attributes of the African-American community,” Teasley said. African-Americans live in all types of settings, but the majority live in urban areas, which have seen a decline in the number of mental-health care agencies since the 1980s. “This lack of accessibility causes a problem for some African-Americans,” Teasley said. Once a child is diagnosed with ASD, Teasley says both the child and the members of his or her family needs to receive appropriate training and counseling. “The children need behavioral counseling so they can develop the skills to live as independently as possible,” he said. “The families need to learn how to work with children who are autistic. “Intervention for any autistic child needs to start around age 3, so we can get the child to begin to learn how to eat right and develop normal, healthy routines, which will result in a better developmental outcome,” Teasley said. “Later intervention will result in a poorer developmental outcome that can have a lasting impact on the child’s and family’s quality of life.” |
Testimony in a lawsuit against the United States government is set to begin tomorrow as multiple individuals challenge the Homeland Battlefield Act in a New York City federal court.
The lawsuit is being brought by individuals concerned that the work they engage in could now lead the government to accuse them of being an “associated force” of terrorists as a result of the new law that was signed by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve last year.
Those involved in pushing the lawsuit hope Judge Katherine B. Forrest will issue a temporary restraining order so the process of repealing parts of the law can begin. However, they understand such a development is probably unlikely.
The plaintiffs bringing the case against the Homeland Battlefield Act—more commonly known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)—have been dubbed by their attorneys as the “Freedom Seven.” They include: Chris Hedges, a journalist; Daniel Ellsberg, who is known for releasing the Pentagon Papers; Noam Chomsky, a well-known writer; Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir; Tangerine Bolen, founder of RevolutionTruth.org; Kai Wargalla, deputy director of Revolution Truth and founder of Occupy London; and Alexa O’Brien, journalist and founder of US Day of Rage.
All have done work on civil liberties and human rights and are concerned that the law’s language is “dangerously vague” and grants the US government the power to “arrest any American citizen (or anyone, anywhere) without warrant and to indefinitely detain them without any charge.”
In particular, they call attention to Section 1021 of the law. This section defines a “covered person,” who could be subject to detention as “a person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or ‘associated forces’ that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.” What “substantially supported,” “directly supported,” or “associated forces” means is undefined. They see this as a tool that could be used to suspend due process for anyone deemed to have been involved in “hostilities against the United States.” And so, those behind the lawsuit conclude the Homeland Battlefield Act violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eight Amendments of the US Constitution.
Bolen, who helped launch this lawsuit with multiple plaintiffs, says she felt prompted to sue the US government because of her work “defending WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning.” She also has hosted panels with Middle East revolutionaries and activists. “Given the language of the law under the NDAA,” she believes she could be accused of being an “associated force.”
“[It] caused a lot of fear and distress” in multiple activist communities when it passed last year, Bolen adds. “I saw this as an opportunity to seriously stand up and challenge” an egregious assault “on our civil liberties.”
O’Brien explains that she signed on as a plaintiff because she believes her work as a journalist and activist has made her a target of the United States government.
“Because of the passage of the Homeland Battlefield Act, which gives the government frightening new powers, I’ve had to curtail my journalism and activism,” she states.
As a founder of US Day of Rage, she has been subject to false allegations of connections to Al Qaeda that have deeply impacted her ability to conduct her work openly and freely. These allegations have been taken seriously by US government agencies.
Hedges, O’Brien and Wargalla are scheduled to testify in court tomorrow. They each had to be deposed by the government before the scheduled hearing.
Hedges described his deposition by assistant US attorney Benjamin H. Torrance, which took place in a “polite conference room”:
It is in conference rooms like this one, where attorneys speak in the arcane and formal language of legal statutes, that we lose or save our civil liberties. The 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force Act, the employment of the Espionage Act by the Obama White House against six suspected whistle-blowers and leakers, and the Homeland Battlefield Bill have crippled the work of investigative reporters in every major newsroom in the country. Government sources that once provided information to counter official narratives and lies have largely severed contact with the press. They are acutely aware that there is no longer any legal protection for those who dissent or who expose the crimes of state. The NDAA threw in a new and dangerous component that permits the government not only to silence journalists but imprison them and deny them due process because they “substantially supported” terrorist groups or “associated forces.”
Hedges noted the deposition would help the judge determine if he had standing to challenge the Homeland Battlefield Act.
O’Brien says of her deposition, “Having never been deposed before, the process is nerve-wracking. I concur with Mr. Hedges that the exchange is very polite but there is a sense of the very seriousness and the gravity of the matter.” She adds, “It’s not something that one enters into lightly.”
Dr. Cornel West, an author and teacher at Princeton University, and Naomi Wolf, an author, may become plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
In anticipation of the hearing tomorrow, Wolf has an article up at The Guardian, which details several instances where she declined to meet with individuals because of the Homeland Battlefield Law. Here’s one example:
…In November 2011, I declined, in writing, a proposed meeting with Vaughan Smith and Julian Assange, because of statements made by high-level United States officials regarding their belief that Assange is a terrorist, as well as the ongoing Department of Justice investigation, which, as I understand it, could lead to terrorism and/or espionage charges against him…
She also has declined to meet with a group in London that works with former Guantanamo detainees and a reporter who produced a documentary on “the bombardment of Gaza.”
Jonsdottir has produced a video statement but the State Department is attempting to deny her the right to have her testimony heard in court. This is alarming especially when considering the fact that the Justice Department has subpoenaed her Twitter account for information on her association and involvement with staff members of WikiLeaks.
The hearing tomorrow is the first stage of this lawsuit. It is the center of a “Stop NDAA” campaign that the grassroots activism organization Demand Progress has come together with Revolution Truth to advance. So far over 45,000 emails have gone out to US Congress members.
The campaign has a “Round 2” planned which will involve opening up the lawsuit to the “entire US public and the world.”
One person, Ramy Mahmoud of Occupy Miami, is already being considered. On March 14, Miami-Dade cops raided an Occupy Miami “safehouse” after receiving a “bogus terrorism tip.” They asked Mahmoud, “Are you a Muslim?” and “Do you love this country?” as they pointed guns at them and stepped on their backs to see if they had weapons.
The instance may be the first “confluence of Occupy, the idea of terrorism and the NDAA.” The campaign is not sure, but the raid has moved the campaign to consider having Mahmoud sign up as a plaintiff.
Occupy Wall Street has planned a “silent march” from Foley Square to Union Square at 3 pm. Occupiers intend to “show solidarity” with the “Freedom Seven” and their “discontent with an authoritarian piece of legislation that destroys” American civil liberties.
The Occupy movement has shown great opposition to the NDAA since it began to move through Congress and was eventually signed into law. A national day of action was held in January. Occupy Wall Street conducted a flash mob action in Grand Central Station in New York during rush hour that brought attention to the new law.
Much of the backlash in December came from the fact that the law was to grant the military extraordinary powers to detain US citizens without trial. Obama issued a signing statement indicating he had reservations about the new law. But that didn’t remove the reality that this new power given to the military was codified into law.
The federal government claims individuals like the “Freedom Seven” have nothing to fear. “Associated forces” have to be “armed.” But, Carl Mayer, a lead attorney in the lawsuit, told Courthouse News the “armed group” requirement is absent from the text of the statute.
“If it only targeted armed groups, it would say that,” Mayer said in a phone interview, adding that the phrase “substantially support” is also problematic. “Those definitions are so broad and vague that they can encompass, journalists, lawyers, or even the judge, and they are undefined in the statute,” he added. Meanwhile, he says, the U.S. military undermined the alleged “armed group” requirement during hearings for the court-martial of alleged WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning. Prosecutors recently claimed that Manning supported al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula by allegedly leaking 700,000-plus files to WikiLeaks. “It gives the lie to what they’re doing,” Mayer said. “Now, they’re prosecuting Manning, who did not give armed support but leaked documents [to WikiLeaks], allegedly.”
Mayer contends, “The Homeland Battlefield Law is as Orwellian as its name implies. America is not a ‘battlefield’; it is a democratic republic.” Yet, the Homeland Battlefield Act subverts the rule of law to advance perpetual war against an enemy that is so undefined that any citizen could easily be accused of being an accessory to the enemy.
Just this month, the Executive Branch has expanded guidelines for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) so that information on “non-terrorists” (otherwise known as US citizens) can be stored for five years. It has also asserted the authority to execute individuals abroad without charge or trial. When one considers how rapidly the imperial presidency appears to be growing, the lawsuit is the beginning of an important grassroots effort to challenge unchecked executive power in America. |
Time to stock up on the antidote for rattlesnake bites and boost blood supplies.
More than 1 million visitors are expected to flood the state for the solar eclipse Aug. 21 and hospitals in its path are ramping up for the massive influx.
For hospital systems from central Oregon to the coast, it will be all-hands on deck in the run-up and aftermath of the eclipse.
Without a precedent, planners have turned for advice to their counterparts in Sturgis, a town in South Dakota that attracts about a half a million people for a yearly motorcycle rally in August.
"One of the key things that we learned was that the need for acute care services oftentimes just mimics the increase in the population," said Dr. Jeff Absalon, executive vice president of St. Charles Health System in Bend.
That means more patients with food poisoning, broken bones, strokes and heart attacks. It also means more emergency surgeries for traumatic injuries.
Here's what's planned:
CENTRAL OREGON
St. Charles Health System, with hospitals and clinics in Bend, Redmond, Prineville and Madras, has an emergency plan for Aug. 16 to 23. It expects the local population to increase by 280,000, more than doubling.
To meet the demand, the hospital system has canceled elective surgeries, such as hernia operations and joint replacements. It has limited time off and contracted to bring in nearly 60 traveling nurses. Administrators have also moved staff around, shifting doctors and nurses from nonclinical positions to the emergency room.
The hospital system has stocked up on supplies, buying everything from extra gauze and saline solution to pharmaceuticals. It also received extra blood from the Red Cross in Portland, nearly doubling its supply.
The Red Cross declined to provide any details about its contingency plans but said it would have the need for blood covered.
St. Charles Health System also purchased extra antidote for rattlesnake bites.
"It's a little tricky because it has a short shelf life, said Lisa Goodman, spokeswoman for the hospital system.
Clinics in Bend, Redmond, Prineville and Madras will welcome walk-ins, with hours extended from 6 to 10 p.m.
Madras, home to about 6,700 people, is expected to be ground zero.
"It is largely considered to be the very best place in the country to watch the eclipse because of geography and weather patterns," Goodman said.
Hospital staff expect a sixfold increase in patients in the Madras ER around the eclipse.
The hospital will have five physicians, nurse practitioners or physician assistants on duty at the hospital instead of the usual three. But the hospital has only 25 beds.
That means patients will have to be transported to other hospitals in the area or out of the region and the roads are expected to be clogged.
Usually, two air ambulances serve the area. Two more will be added during the eclipse period, Absalon said. The Oregon Army National Guard also will make a Black Hawk helicopter available to transport patients.
Administrators will open hospital parking lots to staff, allowing them to camp out in their recreational vehicles to be closer to work.
Providers have urged pregnant women due around the eclipse to be prepared but the hospital isn't altering due dates by inducing labor or doing C-sections
"There will be some instances where people may need to make alternate living arrangements," Absalon said. "We won't be delivering babies outside the standard time for delivery."
SALEM AREA
Salem Health administrators have been planning for a year for an expected 500,000 visitors to their vicinity.
"We're expecting everything to be up by 25 percent," said Wayne McFarlin, emergency preparedness administrator for Salem Health, with hospitals in Salem and Dallas and clinics in Marion and Polk counties.
The hospital system has increased supplies across-the-board, hired contract nurses, moved staff from nonclinical positions and shifted schedules to ensure that more physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and technicians are available.
"We've increased our emergency department and hospital staff," McFarlin said. "We've boosted nurses in every unit that has in-patients."
In concrete terms, that means an extra 10 professionals in the ER, compared with 65 to 70 usually, to treat perhaps an extra 100 extra patients a day at Salem Hospital.
Administrators will allow staff to sleep onsite if they choose. Salem Hospital has about 70 cots; half have been reserved so far.
The hospital also has available floor space, if needed, for doctors and nurses to sleep over.
Elective surgeries haven't been canceled but only about a third the usual number are booked because patients and providers have selected other dates, McFarlin said.
On the Wednesday before the eclipse, Salem Hospital will set up three air-conditioned tents outside the ER to handle the demand. They will be used as triage centers and sobering stations. Patients will also be treated in the tents, as appropriate, and discharged.
A command center will be set up in the hospital to track patients and to work with 11 other hospitals in the region.
CORVALLIS TO THE COAST
Samaritan Health Services has five hospitals -- in Corvallis, Newport, Albany, Lebanon and Lincoln City – and expects more patients at each.
There could be 150,000 visitors on the coast and as many as 300,000 in the Willamette Valley. Administrators hope to shift demand to urgent care clinics when possible to save ERs for more complicated care.
The hospital system is closing dozens of specialty clinics to move staff to 18 urgent and family care clinics from Sweet Home to Albany to Depoe Bay. From Friday through Monday, some of those clinics will have extended hours. Of the 18, 15 will be converted to walk-in clinics. Details are posted online.
The hospital system has asked staff to work extra hours if possible. They'll be able to sleep overnight at the hospitals or camp in parking lots, provided there's space.
Administrators are also hiring contract nurses.
But with so many other hospitals in need of professionals, there's a limit to how many extra professionals they can hire on a temporary basis, said Joseph Hutchinson, director of emergency management, safety and security for Samaritan Health Services.
"Would we like more? Absolutely," Hutchinson said. "Can we get more? No."
Samaritan Health Services has canceled elective surgeries and bought more food, medications and other supplies.
Like central Oregon, the area serving Samaritan Health facilities will have four air ambulances instead of the usual two and more medical transport vehicles on the ground.
Providers have urged pregnant women to be prepared. But the hospital system has refused requests by women who want to deliver the day of the eclipse.
"If a person is ready to deliver – they will deliver a baby," Hutchinson said. "We are not encouraging or accommodating anyone who wants to have a baby born on the eclipse."
Emergency managers are stationing extra security guards at clinics and they're activating emergency communications, with satellite phones and a network of volunteer ham radio operators.
Planners have tried to think of everything as if they were preparing for a major earthquake or disaster.
"It's an invaluable exercise," Hutchinson said. "You can't get better training for emergency preparedness."
-- Lynne Terry |
Dobson's history of perverse and shocking ideas about raising children is well-documented, but has escaped much media scrutiny.
From Dobson's book "The Strong Willed Child":
"When I told Sigmund [the family dog] to leave his warm seat and go to bed, he flattened his ears and slowly turned his head toward me. He deliberately braced himself by placing one paw on the edge of the furry lid, then hunched his shoulders, raised his lips to reveal the molars on both sides, and uttered his most threatening growl. That was Siggie's way of saying. "Get lost!" "I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me 'reason' with Mr. Freud." . . . "What developed next is impossible to describe. That tiny dog and I had the most vicious fight ever staged between man and beast. I fought him up one wall and down the other, with both of us scratching and clawing and growling and swinging the belt. I am embarrassed by the memory of the entire scene. Inch by inch I moved him toward the family room and his bed. As a final desperate maneuver, Siggie backed into the corner for one last snarling stand. I eventually got him to bed, only because I outweighed him 200 to 12!" ... "But this is not a book about the discipline of dogs; there is an important moral to my story that is highly relevant to the world of children. JUST AS SURELY AS A DOG WILL OCCASIONALLY CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF HIS LEADERS, SO WILL A LITTLE CHILD -- ONLY MORE SO." "[I]t is possible to create a fussy, demanding baby by rushing to pick him up every time he utters a whimper or sigh. Infants are fully capable of learning to manipulate their parents through a process called reinforcement, whereby any behavior that produces a pleasant result will tend to recur. Thus, a healthy baby can keep his mother hopping around his nursery twelve hours a day (or night) by simply forcing air past his sandpaper larynx."
Keep your children far away from Dobson - and anyone who follows his teachings.
On p.15 Dobson tells the story of a mother who spanks her 5 year old daughter and locks her in the garage for throwing some stones at cars. On p.18 he tells the story of a mother who slaps her 18 month old 9 separate times for reaching for a candy dish. On p.20 he tells the story of a mother who counts to three "and if the kids had not minded by then, they would have to face the wooden spoon."
On p.61 Dobson says to spank a 6 year old for calling his parents "hot dog" or "moose" and on p.63 Dobson says to spank a 7 year old for lying. . . . On p. 135 Dobson is asked this question: "Q: How long do you think a child should be allowed to cry after being punished or spanked? Is there a limit? A: Yes, I believe there should be a limit. As long as the tears represent a genuine release of emotion, they should be permitted to fall. But crying can quickly change from inner sobbing to an expression of protest aimed at punishing the enemy. Real crying usually lasts two minutes or less but may continue for five. After that point, the child is merely complaining, and the change can be recognized in the tone and intensity of his voice. I would require him to stop the protest crying, usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears." On p.136 Dobson recommends using a switch or paddle to beat children. (link above) On p.137 Dobson says "The spanking may be too gentle. If it doesn't hurt, it doesn't motivate a child to avoid the consequence next time. A slap with the hand on the bottom of a diapered two-year-old is not a deterrent to anything. Be sure the child gets the message."
One can only imagine with horror what goes in this man's household. Sick and crazy.
More here if you want to be even more throughly repelled.
But this will almost - almost- make you feel sorry for the man:
A recent profile of Dobson sheds some light on these questions. As it turns out, Dobson’s parents physically and mentally abused him as a child, and he once got beaten up in school by a kid even Dobson admits was widely acknowledged to be a “sissy.” The article in a Denver magazine called “5280″ makes Dobson’s mother, Myrtle, sound like a real piece of work. Notes writer Eileen Welsome: Myrtle [tag]Dobson[/tag] was an amiable and social woman, but she didn’t hesitate to whack her son with a shoe or belt when she felt it was required. Consequently, Dobson writes, he learned at an early age to stay out of striking distance when he back-talked to his mother. One day he made the mistake of mouthing off when she was only four feet away and heard a 16-pound girdle whistling through the air. “The intended blow caught me across the chest, followed by a multitude of straps and buckles wrapping themselves around my midsection.” The girdle incident did not dampen his defiance, however. One evening, after Dobson’s mother forbid him from going to a dance, the recalcitrant teenager told her that he was going anyway; she picked up the telephone and called her husband. “I need you,” she said. The article continues: “‘What happened in the next few days shocked me down to my toes,’ writes Dobson.” His father canceled the next four years’ worth of speaking engagements, put the Oklahoma house up for sale, and took a pastor’s job in San Benito, Texas, a small town near the Mexican border. Dobson had two years of high school left, and when he started classes he found himself the target of a couple of bullies. Rather than turn the other cheek, Dobson wheeled around and threw his schoolbooks in the face of one annoying youth. “By the time he could see me again I was on top of him,” Dobson writes. Dobson also tried a little bullying himself, targeting a boy whom he sized up as a “sissy.” But the boy gave him such a thrashing that Dobson concluded bullying wasn’t for him. Elsewhere the story notes that in the Dobson household there were “a million rules…regulations and prohibitions for almost every imaginable situation.” Dobson recalls being “chewed out for using the expression ‘Hot dog!’ and forbidden from uttering ‘darn,’ ‘geez,’ or ‘dad-gummit’ because they were considered shorthand swear words.” Even more alarming, Dobson admits in one of his books that as a child he arranged a fight between two mismatched dogs. The battle involved a tenacious bulldog and a “sweet, passive Scottie named Baby,” and Dobson provoked it by throwing a tennis ball toward Baby. He writes what happened next: “The bulldog went straight for Baby’s throat and hung on. It was an awful scene. Neighbors came running from everywhere as the Scottie screamed in terror. It took ten minutes and a garden hose for the adults to pry loose the bulldog’s grip. By then Baby was almost dead. He spent two weeks in the animal hospital, and I spent two weeks in the doghouse. I was hated by the entire town.” As any child psychologist will tell you, this type of cruelty toward animals is a sign of a serious psychological disturbance.
James Dobson is a sick, sick man. Instead of seeking help for the psychological damage he suffered as a child, he decided instead to inflict evil on others by manipulating them into beating their own children and telling them God wants them to. Talk about dragging Biblical understanding through the gutter.
I will never on any day be listening to anything James Dobson has to say about the Bible or any other subject. Why the media gives his man any credence whatsoever is one of the great mysteries of life that will never be adequately explained. |
Analysis For IBM, storage value is moving to software, with object storage and flash growing while legacy disk and tape products see revenue falls.
In Big Blue’s fourth 2016 quarter overall revenues dropped nine per cent but storage hardware revenues fared worse, dropping 11.1 per cent, with no end in sight.
This continues a trend seen for the past four years. The only bright spots seem to be flash arrays (FlashSystem) and server-based storage but we don’t know how bright. IBM’s financial reporting singles out storage hardware but not flash hardware within it.
IBM doesn’t report server-based storage separately nor identify storage software revenues as a single reporting category; all of which hampers our ability to know what’s going on.
We can see what’s been happening with the storage hardware category generally and it ain’t pretty. Here's four charts showing what’s what.
Chart number one is a look at IBM’s quarterly revenues from 2010 to the end of 2015, with storage hardware revenues separately tracked.
Click chart for larger view
Chart two is a look at storage hardware revenues on their own to make things clearer.
A trendline has been added to show the downward trend
Our third chart summarises this in an annual view.
Four straight years of decline
Chart four abstracts out each quarter and shows its value year by year.
We see a consistent decline in storage revenues here.
The message here is that IBM storage hardware revenues have seen four straight years of decline and there is no end in sight. IBM management does not identify storage hardware as an area needing attention, despite annual revenues having dropped 35 per cent over four years, from $3.7bn in 2011 to $2.4bn in 2015.
Martin Schroeter, IBM’s CFO, said in prepared remarks: “A couple of years ago we laid out our strategic imperatives around big data and analytics, around cloud, and around mobile and security.” In 2015’s final quarter “Our strategic imperatives continued strong performance, up 26 per cent for the year. This now represents 35 per cent of IBM’s revenue.”
Within that: “With 57 per cent revenue growth over the last year, cloud is now a $10 billion business for us. This made us the largest cloud provider in 2015.”
Cloud is the big thing, in Schroeter's view. “To address opportunities we see in this space, in 2015 we made seven cloud acquisitions including Cleversafe for object storage, Gravitant for cloud brokerage services, and Clearleap for cloud video services. We also invested nearly a billion dollars in capital expanding our global cloud data centre footprint to 46.”
It’s not that hardware, per se, is bad, though. In Schroeter's words: “Our Systems Hardware revenue was up, driven by z Systems and Power. … This was the fourth consecutive quarter of growth in both z Systems and Power. … about half of our systems segment revenue in 2015 was to address analytics workloads, or hybrid and private clouds. … Even though the Unix market is declining, by delivering innovation and repositioning the platform, our Power systems have grown four quarters in a row.“
But that apparent determination to grow the non-x86 server business was not paralleled in the storage hardware business; “The growth in our servers was mitigated by a seven per cent [constant currency] decline in storage hardware, which continues to be impacted by weakness in traditional disk and tape.”
Analysis
IBM could exit the commodity x86 server hardware business and focus on its proprietary z Systems and Power Servers. No such exit strategy appears possible in general disk and tape storage, where commoditisation of disk is affecting IBM.
“Value in the storage market continues to shift to software and offering requirements that are driving demand for flash and object-based storage,” said Schroeter. “We are well-positioned in these new areas, with growth in flash, and our recent acquisition of Cleversafe.”
This implies that IBM is not at all well-positioned in the general SAN and filer hardware area, and products here have been left on their own. We can infer that development budgets for these product areas will not be growing.
Will IBM be looking to build hyper-converged infrastructure appliances (HCIA) using its Power servers as a base? We think not, as commodity x86 server-based HCIAs could undercut them on price.
Our thinking is that IBM could be doing well in server-based storage, but may be thinking that capacity-focussed SAN and filer storage is heading towards a commoditised on-premises game, which it doesn’t want anything to do with, or to public cloud provision where its storage software, like Cleversafe, has a role.
Therefore, IBM’s storage hardware business could dip to a $2bn annual revenue run rate by the end of 2016 and fall below $2bn in 2017.
In the fourth 2015 quarter, storage hardware accounted for 32 per cent of IBM’s hardware business. We expect that to fall below 30 per cent this year, and head towards a 25 per cent contribution.
This is, it seems to us, a managed decline, with IBM wanting a smaller, but presumably more profitable, storage hardware business to eventually emerge. ® |
Formerly broadcast on Chicago's 101.1 FM — The Q101 brand is the Bat Signal to Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials. When Q101 is seen and heard in Chicago, people recognize it. Q101 is a warm blanket, a plate of comfort food, or a phone call with a close friend. In an era of over connections, too many social networks, lots of hype, and lots more sizzle than steak…Q101 has managed to mean something to millions of Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials who don’t believe in much, and even more who want to believe in something. Cookie cutter radio stations all but killed the sort of movement that is Q101. Throughout the various trends and fads, Q101 survived and stayed relevant to it’s core audience over two decades. Kiss, Star, Edge, Jack, Buzz, Rock…and now Pandora are all time fillers with nothing that sticks and no longer term connection. They’re great for entertainment in the moment mind you, but no one waits on hold for hours in hopes of winning a Pandora T-Shirt. Pandora like many cookie cutter radio stations is a faceless jukebox void of personal connection. Advertisers who want to sell more products need more than exposures to build businesses and brands. Advertisers want audiences who are connected. Spotify, Pandora, and all the other services are fashion. Q101 is the steward of a generation. |
Facebook bows to pressure from PM and campaigners as it removes graphic video showing woman being beheaded in Mexico
Facebook banned decapitation videos in May due to psychological damage
In U-turn it said users should be able to watch and condemn these videos
Hostage UK, which has Ken Bigley's brother as trustee, slams the move
PM: Decision is 'irresponsible' and Facebook should 'address problem'
Following pressure it's removed gory video of woman being beheaded
Facebook today bowed to pressure from David Cameron and child internet protection campaigners by taking down a graphic video of a woman being beheaded in Mexico.
The Prime Minister had accused Facebook of irresponsibility after it lifted a ban on users posting videos of beheadings - and demanded the social networking site explain its decision to parents.
Critics accused the firm of ‘taking leave of its senses’. Facebook had said that while the images must not be posted for ‘sadistic pleasure’ they should be available for those who wish to condemn them.
Terrible: The filmed executions of people like Ken Bigley, left, will be allowed to be shown on Facebook after they quietly lifted a ban, which David Cameron, pictured today, called 'irresponsible'
Alert: Facebook has begun adding warning messages to videos on its website showing decapitations
However, last night it was revealed Facebook had removed the clip of a woman being beheaded and said it would use a broader set of criteria to determine when gory videos are permitted on the site.
The website had earlier begun adding alerts to videos showing decapitations or other extreme violence, saying: 'Warning! This video contains extremely graphic content and may be upsetting'.
‘When we review content that is reported to us, we will take a more holistic look at the context surrounding a violent image or video,’ a Facebook spokesman said.
Critical: Hostage UK, a charity supported by Ken Bigley's brother Phil, pictured, has accused Facebook of 'playing into the hands of hostage-takers'
‘Second, we will consider whether the person posting the content is sharing it responsibly, such as accompanying the video or image with a warning and sharing it with an age-appropriate audience.’
The change underscores a challenge for Facebook as it seeks to position itself as the go-to online destination where people share up-to-the-minute images and discuss breaking news events.
The US firm acknowledged last night that its previous approach, which permitted the video of the woman's killing in Mexico to remain on its site, was flawed.
‘Based on these enhanced standards, we have re-examined recent reports of graphic content and have concluded that this content improperly and irresponsibly glorifies violence. For this reason, we have removed it,’ the company said.
Suicide prevention charities had denounced the original move to lift the ban on beheading videos, warning that the clips were ‘psychologically destructive’ to teenagers.
Others accused Facebook of double standards for allowing footage of beheadings but restricting what breastfeeding mothers can post and demanding women remove pictures of their mastectomy scars.
Criticism: David Cameron used rival site Twitter to hit out Facebook's new policy
Gruesome videos of people being beheaded are to be allowed on Facebook once again. The social network claims that its users should be able to watch and condemn these videos, but not celebrate them
Facebook’s unpublicised change in policy came to light after it refused to remove a 57-second video showing a young Mexican woman, her hands tied behind her back and on her knees, being beheaded by a masked man in broad daylight. It was posted last week under the title ‘Challenge: Anybody can watch this video?’.
One disgusted viewer commented: ‘Remove this video, too many young innocent minds out there shouldn’t see this.’
Another wrote: ‘This is absolutely horrible, distasteful and needs to be removed... I’m very disturbed after seeing a couple of seconds of it.’
Mr Cameron wrote on Twitter: ‘It’s irresponsible of Facebook to post beheading videos, especially without a warning. They must explain their actions to worried parents.’
Last night one of Facebook’s advertisers, car-sharing companty ZipCar, withdrew its adverts in protest, saying: ‘We do not condone this type of abhorrent content being circulated on Facebook.’
Dr Arthur Cassidy, of suicide prevention group the Yellow Ribbon Program, said: ‘It only takes seconds of exposure to such graphic material to leave a permanent trace – particularly in a young person’s mind.’
The site, which is open to anyone over the age of 13, had banned footage of decapitation on its site in May citing concerns that it would cause long-term psychological damage
Stephen Balkam of the Family Online Safety Institute – a member of the Facebook safety advisory board – urged the site to reverse the policy and Will Gardner, of Childnet International, which also sits on the advisory board, said ‘Such content should be taken down.
There is a need to raise issues happening around the world... but some content is horrific. We would want to see steps to try and protect people from coming across such content.’
Hostage UK, supported by the family of British engineer Ken Bigley – who was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq in 2004 – accused Facebook of ‘playing into the hands of hostage-takers’. Trustee Sue Williams said: ‘It will cause great pain to the families who have lost loved ones who were hostages.’
John Carr, of the UK Council For Child Internet Safety, said: ‘Facebook has taken leave of its senses. Those videos will fuel countless nightmares among the young.’
But Sean Gallagher of Index On Censorship warned about the impact on freedom of expression: ‘Films about beheadings may be deeply upsetting and offensive but they do expose the reality of violent acts that are taking place.’
Facebook had introduced a temporary ban on decapitation videos in May but later removed it, explaining that the site is used to share information about world events, such as acts of terrorism and human rights abuses. |
Michael Buck, a 59-year-old retired art teacher from Oxfordshire, England, managed to build a gorgeous cob house in his garden for a mere £150 (USD $250). Buck adhered to some basic principles to keep costs down—he used only materials that he could find himself, and he made sure that no power tools were used in the home's construction. The rock-bottom price is an inspiration for anyone who feels that home ownership is an unattainable goal.
Buck initially designed the home on the back of an envelope, and then spent over two years collecting local materials that he foraged or salvaged himself. The floorboards were from a neighbor’s derelict boat, while the glass for the windows was salvaged from a scrapped truck. Even the straw used to thatch the rooftop was collected from fields in the surrounding area.
The house has no electricity and no running water, but a nearby creek provides an ample source of fresh water. Buck keeps the house warm with a woodstove, which provides more than enough to heat the house thanks to its insulated cob walls. An artfully crafted spherical pile of stacked wood outside provides fuel for the stove, a chicken coop offers up free food, while a nearby well serves as a refrigerator. And no house would be complete without a composting toilet—this sits in a separate outhouse.
Buck wanted to set an example for others, and only had to pay the $250 when he ran out of straw and nails during construction. As he puts it: “A house doesn’t have to cost the earth, you only need the earth to build it. I wanted to show that houses don’t have to cost anything. We live in a society where we spend our lives paying our mortgages, which many people don’t enjoy.”
+ Michael Buck
Via TreeHugger
Images by Michael Buck |
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- Personal and political divisions over ballistic missile defence were on clear display Tuesday, as a group of parliamentarians gathered on Parliament Hill to discuss the threat posed by North Korea.
Members of the House of Commons' defence committee agreed during a rare summer meeting to a series of emergency briefings in the coming weeks on the government's plan should North Korea attack.
The meeting came as the U.S. Treasury Department upped the ante on North Korea by sanctioning several Chinese and Russian entities for supporting the rogue state's nuclear and missile programs.
There was no immediate word of Canada following with its own sanctions.
Instead, much of the discussion in the hallways before and after the committee meeting centred on whether Canada should join the U.S. continental missile-defence shield, after famously opting out of the system in 2005.
The Trudeau government has sidestepped questions about Canada's intentions, saying only that ballistic missiles are one threat being discussed as Canada and the U.S. look to upgrade North America's defences.
But one Liberal MP said Tuesday that Canada should reconsider its decision not to join the U.S. missile shield, even as the Conservatives danced around the issue and the NDP reaffirmed its historic opposition.
Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen said a lot has changed since then-prime minister Paul Martin decided Canada would not join ballistic missile defence in 2005.
"Personally, I think that we do need to start to look at what Canada's role will be in that," he told reporters after the committee meeting.
"We should be having an ongoing discussion about what our role should be in that. And I think 10 years plus after the fact is a timely opportunity to have that discussion again."
'Cheaper to develop new weapons'
Gerretsen would not comment on the government's official position, or whether his view was shared by many other members of his party.
But fellow Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr, chairman of the defence committee, noted that Canada has limited resources when it comes to defence -- a reference to the fact the U.S. has spent about $100 billion on its missile shield.
Fuhr also played down the threat posed by North Korea, citing military officials and defence experts who told the committee last year that there was no direct threat to Canada from another country.
"Even if we wind back the media in the last 30 days, I don't think Canada was ever mentioned in the rhetoric that was flying back and forth between North Korea and the United States," he said.
Meanwhile, Conservative MPs refused to say Tuesday where their party sits now.
The Liberals were in office when Canada declined to join the defence system in 2005, but Stephen Harper made no move to reverse course during the Tories' 10 years in power.
That was despite Conservatives having pressed for Canada to join while they were in opposition to Martin's government.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan suggested his party would take a position once the defence committee is briefed on North Korea, even as he referenced the fiery debate from 12 years ago.
"You've got to remember the history behind that discussion, the wounds that were created because of the decision by Paul Martin back in 2005. And things didn't change until this summer," Bezan added.
"So from this point forward, everyone is looking at how we can best work with the United States. How we can work through NORAD in dealing with this new threat."
The only party with a clear position appeared to be the New Democrats, with NDP foreign affairs critic Helene Laverdiere calling on the Liberals to reaffirm their opposition to ballistic missile defence.
"It's cheaper to develop new weapons than to develop that kind of defensive system," she said.
"And that kind of defensive system only leads countries like North Korea but also countries like China and Russia, who may feel concerned, to upgrade their systems and it leads to escalation."
Laverdiere called for Canada to take more of a leadership role in finding a diplomatic solution and to support efforts at the UN for full nuclear disarmament around the world. |
Kingdom’s justice ministry announces move to ‘protect the rights of the woman’, ending practice of only supplying document to husbands
Saudi Arabia gives women the right to a copy of their marriage contract
Saudi brides will now get a copy of their marriage contracts, a privilege that was previously exclusive to men in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the kingdom’s justice ministry has announced.
According to a directorate issued by the justice minister, Walid al-Samaani, clerics who register marriage contracts will now have to hand a copy to the bride “to ensure her awareness of her rights and the terms of the contract”.
The suffragettes of Saudi Arabia: 'We try and be reasonable calling for our rights' Read more
The decision aims to “protect the rights of the woman and facilitate procedures for her”, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.
It said the decision took into consideration that a woman would need a copy of her marriage contract in case of a dispute with her husband and in court.
Women need the permission of their male guardians to get married under Saudi Arabia’s interpretations of Islamic law. They also need that permission to travel and work, in a country where they are not allowed to drive and have to cover from head to toe when in public. |
Published
Associate Professor Jacqui Ewart and Professor Mark Pearson from the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science answer key questions about their flagship Reporting Islam Project.
What is this project about?
The Reporting Islam Project is developing user-friendly and readily accessible resources underpinned by research-based evidence to help journalists adopt more mindful practices in stories about Islam and Muslims. It is believed that fair, ethical and accurate reporting on matters involving Islam and Muslim communities will help promote social cohesion and may assist in the reduction of community tensions.
While it is a highly nuanced body of scholarship, the research overwhelmingly highlights the problematic nature of the framing of Islam and Muslims by Western news media. This includes routine negative stereotyping of Islam and its adherents, the incorrect use of key terms in news stories, a lack of Muslim sources or voices in news stories, the portrayal of Muslims as religious or cultural “others” at odds with democracy and Western values, the conflation of Islam with violence and terrorism, and the portrayal of Islam as a religion that condones both.
The independent research project is national in its ambit and has been funded under a competitive grants scheme facilitated by the Commonwealth’s Attorney-General’s Department (about $480,000 has been allocated over the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 financial years).
We completed stage 1 of the project in June 2015. This involved an extensive review of the literature about news media coverage of Islam and Muslim people, an assessment of case studies of news media reportage across media types at national and community levels, interviews with experts in the field, and the distillation of international studies to develop a schema for assessing reportage against world best practice in the area. We recommended the development of a suite of research-driven curricula, training and resources to better equip the news media report more mindfully in this space.
Stage 2 of the project started in mid-2015 and we are due to complete it in mid-2016. Funding for a third stage in 2016-2017 will be subject to a new application process under the Commonwealth competitive grant scheme.
In the current stage of our project we are being supported by a full-time Project Manager (Mr Abdi Hersi), a full-time Principal Research Fellow (Dr Kate O’Donnell) and part-time Muslim researchers and/or trainers.
What resources are being developed?
Our focus is on developing key training and education resources for journalists, journalism educators and journalism students. These are:
A database-supported app for Mac and Android as an easy access tool for information, reporting tips and suggestions for journalists and journalism students; A website to host electronic copies of training and education materials and to provide an interface with identified stakeholders and collaborators via comment streams and social media engagement; Case studies and a range of print materials; Audio-visual material focusing on scenarios/role playing in relation to possible issues that might arise in the research and reporting of stories about Islam and Muslims; A Handbook of Reportage for journalism, focusing on tips and suggestions for covering stories involving Islam and Muslims, as well as suggestions for considering legal issues that might arise in the course of covering such stories.
Who are you consulting with during the project?
Open communications, consultations and meaningful collaborative relationships with a broad range of key stakeholders underpin this project. In 2015 an Expert Advisory Panel was formed to provide input into the Project, shape its direction and influence its outcomes. Members of this panel include key Muslim community members, international academic experts, educators and leading media industry personnel. This panel has been and will continue to be consulted throughout the Project.
Every effort has been made to include Muslims and journalists in the project to ensure that their voices resonate throughout the training and education resources being developed. For example, we recorded an interview with leading foreign correspondent Peter Greste on the need for more mindful coverage of Islam, while Muslim academic and community leader Professor Mohamad Abdalla explains the potential impact of adverse media coverage on Muslim people.
Having successfully trialled the resources, we are now rolling out training for a broad range of media practitioners including editors and news directors, sub-editors and producers, social media editors, digital media professionals, journalists, journalism educators and journalism students at selected locations across Australia.
What are the key research outputs?
There is a strong research dimension to this project, with several conference presentations already presented and planned, a journal article under review and several in progress, and a book proposal drafted. We are running a training session at the International Communication Association Conference in Japan in June 2016 and presenting a paper at the World Journalism Education Conference in Auckland in July 2016.
Where can I get more information?
More information is progressively being made available on the Project’s website. See www.reportingislam.org. |
For a few years now, certain anarchist individuals or groups and the ICC have overcome a number of barriers by daring to discuss in an open and fraternal way. Mutual indifference or rejection between anarchism and marxism have given way to a will to discuss, to understand the positions of the other, and to honestly define points of agreement and disagreement.
In Mexico, this new spirit made it possible for a joint leaflet to be signed by two anarchist groups (GSL and PAM[1]) and an organisation of the communist left, the ICC. In France, recently, the CNT-AIT in Toulouse invited the ICC to make a presentation at one of its public meetings[2]. In Germany as well links are being made.
On the basis of this dynamic, the ICC has begun working seriously on the history of internationalism in the anarchist movement. During the course of 2009 we published a series of articles under the heading ‘Anarchists and imperialist war' [3]. Our aim was to show that with each imperialist conflict, part of the anarchists was able to avoid the trap of nationalism and defend proletarian internationalism. We showed that these comrades continued to work for the revolution and for the world working class despite being surrounded by chauvinism and the barbarity of war.
When you know the importance that the ICC attaches to internationalism, which is a real frontier separating revolutionaries who genuinely fight for the emancipation of humanity from those who have betrayed the proletarian struggle, these articles were not only an intransigent critique of the pro-war anarchists but also and above all a salute to the internationalist anarchists!
However, our intentions were not always well perceived. For a while this series met with a frosty reception in some quarters. On the one hand, some anarchists saw the articles as an outright attack on their movement. On the other hand, some sympathisers of the communist left and of the ICC did not understand our efforts to find a "rapprochement with the anarchists"[4].
Aside from certain errors in our articles which may have irritated some people[5], these apparently contradictory criticisms actually share the same roots. They reveal the difficulties in seeing the essential elements which bring revolutionaries together, above and beyond their disagreements.
Going beyond labels
Those who identify with the struggle for the revolution have traditionally been classed in two categories: the marxists and the anarchists. And there are indeed important divergences between them:
- Centralism/federalism
- Materialism/idealism
- Period of transition or ‘immediate abolition of the state'
- Recognition or denunciation of the October 1917 revolution and of the Bolshevik party
All these questions are certainly very important. It is our responsibility not to avoid them, and to debate them openly. But still, for the ICC, they do not demarcate "two camps". Concretely, our organisation, which is marxist, considers that it is fighting for the proletariat on the same side as the internationalist anarchist militants and against the ‘Communist' and Maoist parties which also claim to be marxist. Why?
Within capitalist society, there are two basic camps: the camp of the bourgeoisie and the camp of the working class. We denounce and combat all the political organisations which belong to the former. We discuss, often in a sharp but always a fraternal manner, and seek to cooperate with, all the members of the second. But under the same label of ‘marxist' there are genuinely bourgeois and reactionary organisations. The same goes for the ‘anarchist' label.
This is not just rhetoric. History is full of examples of ‘marxist' or ‘anarchist' organisations who have claimed with hand on heart to be defending the proletariat, while in reality stabbing it in the back. German social democracy called itself ‘marxist' in 1919 when it was assassinating Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and thousands of workers. The Stalinist parties bloodily crushed the workers' uprisings in East Germany in 1953 and Hungary in 1956 in the name of ‘communism' and ‘marxism'(in fact, in the interests of the imperialist bloc led by the USSR). In Spain, in 1937, the leaders of the CNT, by participating in the government, served as a cover for the Stalinist murderers who repressed and massacred thousands of ...anarchist revolutionaries. Today, in France for example, the same name ‘CNT' covers two anarchist organisations, one which defends authentically revolutionary positions (CNT-AIT) and another which is purely ‘reformist' and reactionary (the CNT ‘Vignoles')[6].
Identifying the false friends who hide behind labels is thus a vital task.
But we should not fall into the opposite trap and believe that we are alone in the world, the exclusive holders of ‘revolutionary truth'. Communist militants are still very thin on the ground today and there is nothing more harmful than isolation. We therefore have to fight against the tendency to stand up for your own ‘chapel', your own ‘family' (whether marxist or anarchist), against the shop-keeper's spirit which has nothing to do with the politics of the working class. Revolutionaries are not in competition with each other. Divergences, disagreements, however profound they may be, are a source of enrichment for class consciousness when they are discussed openly and sincerely. Creating links and debating on an international scale are absolute necessities.
But for this to happen, we have to know how to distinguish between revolutionaries (who defend the perspective of the overthrow of capitalism by the proletariat) and reactionaries (those who, in one way or another, help to perpetuate this system), without fixating on the label of ‘marxist' or ‘anarchist'.
What unites marxists and internationalist anarchists
For the ICC, there are fundamental criteria which distinguish bourgeois from proletarian organisations.
Supporting the combat of the working class against capitalism means both fighting exploitation in an immediate way (during strikes for example) while never losing sight of what's at stake in this struggle on the historical level: the overthrow of this system of exploitation by revolution. To do this, an organisation must never give its support, even in a ‘critical' or ‘tactical' way, or in the name of the 'lesser evil', to a sector of the bourgeoisie - whether the ‘democratic' bourgeoisie against the ‘fascist' bourgeoisie, or the left against the right, or the Palestinian bourgeoisie against the Israeli bourgeoisie, etc. Such an approach has two concrete implications:
1. Rejecting any electoral support or cooperation with parties which manage the capitalist system or defend this or that form of this system (social democracy, Stalinism, ‘Chavismo', etc)
2. Above all, during any war, it means maintaining an intransigent internationalism, refusing to choose between this or that imperialist camp. During the First World War as during all the imperialist wars of the 20th century, all those organisations who supported any of the warring camps abandoned the terrain of internationalism, betrayed the working class and were definitively integrated into the camp of the bourgeoisie[7].
These criteria, outlined here very briefly, explain why the ICC sees certain anarchists as comrades in the struggle, why it wants to discuss and cooperate with them while virulently denouncing other anarchist organisations. For example, we have cooperated with the KRAS (the section of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers' Association in Russia), by publishing and welcoming its internationalist declarations on war, notably the war in Chechnya. The ICC considers that these anarchists, despite our differences with them, are an authentic part of the proletarian camp. They clearly demarcate themselves from all the anarchists and ‘Communists' (like the Communist parties, the Maoists or Trotskyists) who defend internationalism in theory but oppose it in practice by defending one belligerent against the other in imperialist wars. We should not forget that in 1914, when the First World War broke out, and in 1917, when the Russian revolution took place, the majority of the ‘marxists' of social democracy took the side of the bourgeoisie against the proletariat, whereas the Spanish CNT denounced the imperialist war and supported the revolution. During the revolutionary movements of the day, anarchists and marxists worked sincerely for the proletarian cause, and despite their disagreements found themselves on the same side. There were even efforts to develop an organised and wide scale cooperation between the revolutionary marxists (Bolsheviks in Russia, Spartacists in Germany, Dutch Tribunists, Italian abstentionists etc) who had separated from the degenerating 2nd International, and a number of internationalist anarchist groups. An example of this process is the fact that an organisation like the CNT envisaged the possibility of joining the Third International, although it rejected this in the end[8].
To cite a more recent example, in many parts of the world today there are anarchist groups and sections of the IWA who not only maintain an internationalist position but who also fight for the autonomy of the proletariat against all the ideologies and currents of the bourgeoisie:
- these anarchists call for direct and massive class struggle and self-organisation in general assemblies and workers' councils;
- they reject any participation in the electoral masquerade and any support for political parties who take part in this masquerade, however radical they claim to be.
In other words, they stick to one of the main principles of the First International: "the emancipation of the workers is the task of the workers themselves". Those comrades are part of the struggle for the revolution and a world human community.
The ICC belongs to the same camp as these internationalist anarchists who really defend working class autonomy. Yes, we consider them as comrades with whom we want to debate and cooperate. Yes, we also think that these anarchist militants have more in common with the communist left than with those who, under the label of anarchism, actually defend nationalist and reformist positions and are thus really defenders of capitalism.
In the debate which is slowly developing between all the revolutionary groups and elements on the planet, there will inevitably be mistakes, animated debates, clumsy formulations, misunderstandings and real disagreements. But the needs of the proletarian struggle against a capitalism which is becoming increasingly unbearable and barbaric, the indispensable perspective of the world proletarian revolution, a precondition for the survival of humanity, make this a vital and necessary effort, a duty in fact. And today, when we are seeing the emergence of revolutionary proletarian minorities in many countries, who refer either to marxism or anarchism (or who are open to both), this duty to discuss and cooperate should meet with a determined and enthusiastic response.
Future articles in this series will deal with our difficulties in debating and the way to overcome them. We will also look in more detail at the Anarchist Federation in Britain, which we have mistakenly labelled as a leftist group in the past.
ICC 30/6/10
[1] GSL: Grupo Socialista Libertario (http://webgsl.wordpress.com); PAM: Proyecto Anarquista Metropolitano (http://proyectoanarquistametropolitano.blogspot.com)
[2] There was a very warm atmosphere throughout this meeting. Read the report on it written on website: ‘Réunion CNT-AIT de Toulouse du 15 avril 2010: vers la constitution d'un creuset de réflexion dans le milieu internationaliste'
[3] See ‘Anarchism and imperialist war', World Revolution numbers 325-328. All available online, beginning here: https://en.internationalism.org/2009/wr/325/anarchism-war1
[4] In particular, some comrades were initially uneasy about the joint GSI/PAM/ICC leaflet. We tried to explain our approach in a Spanish article entitled ‘What is our attitude towards comrades who are part of the anarchist tradition?' (https://es.internationalism.org/node/2715)
[5] Some anarchist comrades rightly pointed out certain imprecise formulations and even historical errors in these articles. We will return to this. However, we do want to rectify the most glaring errors here:
- On various occasions, the series ‘Anarchism and imperialist war' asserts that the majority of the anarchist movement fell into nationalism during the First World War while only a handful of individuals risked their lives to defend internationalist positions. The historical elements brought to the discussion by members of the IWA, and confirmed by our own researches, show that in reality a large number of the anarchists opposed the war from 1914 onwards (sometimes in the name of internationalism or anationalism, or under the banner of pacifism)
- The most embarrassing mistake (which up till now no-one has pointed out) concerns the Barcelona uprising in May 1937. We wrote in WR 326 that "When the workers of Barcelona rose up in May 1937, the CNT were complicit in the repression by the Popular Front and the government of Catalonia" - the French version used "anarchists" instead of the CNT, but the ambiguity remains in the English version, since in reality, it was the militants of the CNT or the FAI who made up the majority of the insurgent workers in Barcelona and were the principal victim of the repression organised by the Stalinist hordes. It would have been much more accurate to denounce the collaboration in this massacre of the CNT leadership rather than the "the anarchists". This in any case is the real content of our position on the war in Spain, as defended in particular in the article ‘Lessons of the events in Spain' in no. 36 of the review Bilan (November 1936)
[6] Vignoles is the name of the street where their main HQ is located. ‘AIT' stands for Association Internationale des Travailleurs - in English the International Workers' Association
[7] However, there were groups and elements who were able to break away from organisations which had gone over to the bourgeoisie, for example the Munis group or the group which gave rise to Socialisme ou Barbarie in the Trotskyist Fourth International
[8] See ‘History of the CNT (1914-19): The CNT faced with war and revolution', International Review 129, https://en.internationalism.org/ir/129/CNT-1914-1919 |
The leader of Jaysh Assud Al-Sharqiyah ‘Talass Al-Salama’ to DeirEzzor 24: The SDF and Assad’s forces are two sides of the same coin.
In an interview with D24, the leader of the FSA faction Jaysh Assud Al-Sharqiyah confirmed that there are ongoing heavy clashes between FSA and Assad’s forces, being supported by the sectarian militias and Russian aircraft, on the front lines in the Syrian Badiya.
He stated that Assad’s forces have taken more than 300 casualties and more than 60 of their armored vehicles have been destroyed in 45 days of heavy fighting, adding that they also succeeded in shooting down a number of aircraft and helicopters and capturing dozens of soldiers.
When asked about who is providing them with ammunition and weapons, he said that ‘ We are receiving arms and ammo from Al-Muk Operation Room in Jordan.
D24: Is military support still being given to you, despite the ending of CIA program to arms the Syrian opposition by Trump?
Talass: Yes, we are still receiving support and we have not noticed any changes, though the CIA program has been suspended.
D24: There are extreme concerns about a possible intervention by Iraqi Hashd Shaabi militias in Deir Ezzor or advances by Assad’s forces towards it.
Talass: We have already said it ‘The Land is Ours’ and it will be shown in actions, not just words.
D24: But, you are still fighting in the Syrian Badiya.
Talass: We are fighting for Deir Ezzor from Al-Badiyah. If we were not based in the Badiyah, Assad’s forces would have advanced to Deir Ezzor. We are the only force hindering their advances.
D24: The SDF have begun the handing over of some villages in rural Al-Raqqa to the Assad regime. Would this have any impacts on your operations? And what is your opinion on what is going on in Al-Raqqa?
Talass: the SDF and Assad’s forces are two faces of the same coin. The advances of the SDF in Al-Raqqa do not impact our operations in the south.
D24: Who is going to capture the province of Deir Ezzor?
Talass: Deir Ezzor will be liberated by its sons. We are locals from the province, we are Jaysh Assud Al-Sharqiyah.
Assud Al-Sharqiyah is one of the most significant factions in Syria who has been fighting against both Daesh and the Assad regime for years now. |
Image copyright Welsh Government
Welsh Conservatives have pledged to give free bus travel to all 16-24 year olds in Wales, and have urged Labour ministers to do the same.
The Green Card - which the Tories said could cost up to £25m a year - would also give a third off rail tickets.
Education spokesman Darren Millar said young people suffered high car insurance and the lowest wages.
The Welsh Government dismissed the plan as "fantasy economics", saying it would consult on a new discount travel pass.
The current MyTravelPass scheme gives 16-18 year olds a third off bus fares.
Mr Millar said the Welsh Conservatives' "exciting offer for young people" would also protect the environment and help save local bus routes from the axe.
His colleague Russell George, the Tories' economy spokesman, added that travel costs could be a "huge barrier" to education, training and job opportunities.
'Fag packet' economics
"We are committed to building a stronger economy and a fairer society, and we believe that young people should benefit from the same travel concessions offered to Wales' over-60s," he said.
The Conservatives said the scheme would be funded by scrapping the education maintenance allowance (EMA), which they have previously proposed.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "These Tory proposals have been made up on the back of a fag packet.
"To think you can provide 350,000 people with free bus travel and a third off rail fares for £25m is fantasy economics."
The spokesman added that the Welsh Government would be launching a consultation next week on plans to launch a replacement for MyTravelPass in April.
"It will be a discounted travel scheme grounded in reality, that can encourage more young people onto Welsh buses," he said. |
In my preview for the Battery’s match against Toronto FC II last weekend, I said that the magic number was five… and I was off by one. TFC II had only scored 5 goals all season and the Battery ended up tying their goal total for the entire season in one night with 6 total goals (TFCII scored one to take their total to six).
This was a spectacular game for the Battery for many reasons. They stayed on top of the USL Eastern Conference and, with Louisville and Rochester pressing, Charleston put distance between other teams who have played less games passing them in the standings.
Also the Battery now leads the league in scoring with 34 goals (Real Monarchs sit in 2nd with 33). Super Romario Williams jumped to the top of the individual scoring list with his 12th and 13th goals of the season, and with Dante Marini scoring, the Battery have seen eight different players score this season, six scoring more than once.
The Game
To be honest, Toronto FC II should have never stepped on the same field Saturday night. They did have a few chances in the early going, but they were outplayed for the majority of the match and looked more like a JV squad then a Division II professional squad.
The skill level and physical play of the Battery were way too much for TFC II to handle.
The Battery found the back of the net in the 31st minute when Maikel Chang’s corner found its way to Super Romario Williams, and he finished his 12th goal of the season.
11 minutes later, my Player to Watch Forrest Lasso scored his 6th goal of the season and proved once again that on a set piece against the Battery, you have to find a way to try and shut down Lasso.
Many teams have tried but most have failed and when TFCII couldn’t shut him down they found themselves down 2–0 going into the half.
A Second Half Slaughter
When the second half started, I thought TFC II would come out quickly and try to find a way back into the game, but even if that was the plan, it was not going to happen.
The Battery ended up having one of their best halves of the entire season.
It all started when Super Romario scored his 2nd of the night and league leading 13th for the season in the 51st.
He would end up taking a spot in the USL Team of the Week for the 3rd time this season.
Seven minutes later outside midfielder Dante Marini scored his first goal of the season.
The goal is up for USL Goal of the Week and you can vote HERE and help Dante win!
TFCII would get one goal back in the 68th minute from a beautiful diving header on the back post but it would be the only bright spot on the night for the boys from Canada.
Charleston did not wait long to dash any hopes of a crazy come back. Six minutes after TFCII scored Marini put away his second goal of the night.
This time Super Romario found him for Williams’ 2nd assist of the season. Battery supporters, myself included, are hopeful that Williams’ assist numbers will start to grow quickly as many clubs are starting to double team him in the box. This should open some players up the passing lanes for Williams.
The final nail in the coffin was a beauty! Set piece specialist Justin Portillo stepped up and put away another free kick in stoppage time and when the final whistle blew, the Battery won 6–1.
This was a game every Battery supporter will remember for a while. It is not everyday you go to a soccer match and see seven goals scored. |
Copyright by WDTN - All rights reserved FILE - This booking photo provided by the Hamilton County, Ohio Sheriff shows Deasia Watkins in Cincinnati. A Hamilton County judge on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, found Watkins incompetent for trial on an aggravated murder charge. Watkins, 20, is...
Copyright by WDTN - All rights reserved FILE - This booking photo provided by the Hamilton County, Ohio Sheriff shows Deasia Watkins in Cincinnati. A Hamilton County judge on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, found Watkins incompetent for trial on an aggravated murder charge. Watkins, 20, is...
CINCINATI, Ohio (WLWT) - A Cincinnati woman accused of decapitating her 3-month-old daughter pleaded guilty Thursday.
Twenty-one-year-old Deasia Watkins was sentenced to life in prison and will be eligible for parole after 15 years.
Watkins previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 2015 death of Jayniah Watkins.
WCPO-TV reported that if the court finds Watkins not guilty by reason of insanity, she'd be under the court's jurisdiction for life without parole.
Court records show Watkins was diagnosed with post-partum psychosis and had been prescribed anti-psychotic medicatio |
Just days after shutting down a number of HIV/AIDS clinics accused of promoting homosexuality, officials in Tanzania have announced plans to publish the names of gay people.
Deputy Health Minister Hamisi Kigwangalla tweeted on Saturday that his government is investigating “the homosexuality syndicate” and will arrest and prosecute those involved in the gay sex business, reports the BBC.
Uliishakutana na mbuzi ama ndege walio homosexual? Homosexuality is not biological, it is unnatural. I wonder even kuna watu wanatetea! 🙌🏿 https://t.co/n7t93Ho7cN — Dr. Kigwangalla, H. (@HKigwangalla) February 19, 2017
In a series of further tweets, Kigwangalla, a medical doctor by profession, argued that homosexuality only happens in urban areas and is unnatural because there are no gay goats or birds.
If someone chooses to burn your house, he breaks a law! Will you allow that freedom. Or if someone chooses to sodomise your son… https://t.co/Z2QmwkGhvJ — Dr. Kigwangalla, H. (@HKigwangalla) February 19, 2017
He later added:
“I will publish a list of gay people selling their bodies online. Those who think this campaign is a joke, are wrong. The government has long arms and it will quietly arrest all those involved. Once arrested, they will help us find others.”
Earlier this month, Kigwangalla ordered three men he accused of being gay to report to the police for “spreading” homosexual activity through social media.
Hakuna literature hata moja inayosema hivyo. Homosexuality has no any scientific backing! I am a scientist and I read a lot than you think https://t.co/OvNFpknLus — Dr. Kigwangalla, H. (@HKigwangalla) February 19, 2017
Kigwangalla’s outspoken comments on Twitter follow the health ministry’s move last week to suspend the activities of 40 drop-in HIV/Aids clinics.
(Image via Twitter) |
Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors) has said that he was fortunate not to have sustained more serious injuries in his crash on the descent of the Sormano during Il Lombardia on Saturday. Related Articles De Plus cameo hints at future as leading man
De Plus escapes serious injury in dramatic Il Lombardia crash
De Plus diagnosed with knee fracture from Il Lombardia crash
Petilli still in hospital after Il Lombardia crash
Laurens De Plus is looking for a plus-size career in the mountains
The Belgian was the first of four riders to crash on the same bend, and he sustained a small fracture to his right knee when he plunged into a ravine on the roadside while chasing lone leader Mickael Chérel (AG2R La Mondiale).
De Plus' fellow countryman Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) suffered seven broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae in his crash, while Simone Petilli (UAE-Team Emirates) broke his collarbone, shoulder blade, two vertebrae and suffered a concussion.
"I was very lucky," De Plus said, according to Belga. "After my crash, I was looked after very quickly and very well by the race doctors. They did their job well in a very professional way."
De Plus endured an ordeal of a different kind that evening, however, due to a shortage of hospital beds in the vicinity.
"At first, they wanted to transport me to the same hospital as Bakelants, but it was full, so I was brought to Cantù but that was full too. I had to sleep in the corridor because the rooms were full," De Plus said. "I arrived at around 5pm after a long journey by ambulance, and I wasn't taken care of until 8.30pm. I was in a lot of pain. I spent three and a half hours on a stretcher. It was terrible, I was counting every minute."
Preliminary X-rays in Italy did not reveal any fractures but the pain in De Plus' knee was such that he feared he had sustained ligament damage. On arriving in Belgium on Sunday afternoon, De Plus travelled immediately for further examination in hospital in Herentals. It subsequently emerged that De Plus had sustained a small avulsion fracture to the tibial plateau inside his knee, where the tendon pulled away a piece of the tibia in his right knee.
"An operation won't be necessary, it will heal by itself. I'll have to use crutches for 10 to 14 days, but within three weeks, I should be walking normally again," De Plus said.
De Plus has a clear memory of his crash, and said that he feared the worst as the incident unfolded. Although he was aware of the perils of the descent from his pre-race reconnaissance, he pointed out that in a race, "the situation is different".
"It was like a film in slow motion. I realised I was falling and time stopped, everything went very slowly," De Plus said. "I was worried it was going to be a very heavy blow, the end of my career. I even thought that I might die, really. Fortunately, I landed on my legs in the undergrowth. It could have been a lot worse: I could have fallen more heavily, or landed further down." |
Knoxville, Tenn., may or may not be a great place to live, or to spend a month or a week or a couple of days. I have no idea. Should the need arise, however, I can say it’s the perfect place to spend 18 hours.
I did just that on a recent Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., during a bus trip from New York to Kentucky. Why would I take a bus from New York to Kentucky via Knoxville? That’s a story for next week, but getting to hang out in Knoxville was part of the incentive.
In the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, the third-biggest city in Tennessee is not a particularly flashy town, unless you count the University of Tennessee’s bright orange uniforms. I had no vehicle for getting into the mountains, but I did take in two free musical performances, see an unexpectedly cool museum, and have four good beers and two excellent meals. I made at least one new friend, browsed a record store that also sold laser-discs, wandered a historic district of early 20th-century homes and learned something about Dolly Parton. It cost me almost exactly $50, including an Uber ride. (No sale on those laser-discs, though.)
Morning
Just after 7 a.m., I made the short walk from the bus station to South Gay Street, Knoxville’s main drag, and headed to the Old City section, where I found OliBea, a breakfast place with brightly painted walls and plenty of sunlight. It was as cheery a contrast to the crowded, smelly bus that I had just disembarked as I could imagine. For budgetary purposes (and in part because I had bought an ill-advised bag of Combos during a 3 a.m. rest stop), I skipped the breakfast plates (smoked-trout omelet, carnita tostada) and went à la carte: a bracing cup of coffee ($2.50), a biscuit ($1.99) and duck eggs over easy ($2.49). I had never had duck eggs for breakfast before, but I operate under the general philosophy that everything duck is better than everything chicken, so went for it. I was rewarded with creamy, gooey yolks that made a perfect dipping sauce for a silky biscuit already slathered with house-made jam. |
According to an annex to the Minsk Protocol obtained by a newspaper, the area where the airport is located should have been transferred to Donetsk militia.
KIEV, January 25 (Sputnik) — The Donetsk airport, which has been under fire from Ukrainian forces, is located on the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) side of the demarcation line outlined in the Minsk agreements, the Ukrainian Mirror Weekly newspaper reports.
According to an annex to the Minsk Protocol obtained by the newspaper, entitled “line of contact between the parties with reference to locality”, the area where the airport is located should have been transferred to Donetsk militia.
The fact that the airport has to be given to Donetsk militia “is supported by numbers – coordinates set forth in the annex to the [Minsk] Memorandum. Perhaps this is why this document has remained unpublished until now,” the newspaper’s international politics observer wrote.
According to the newspaper’s Kiev sources, the Minsk agreements envisioned that the airport would be transferred to DPR, however, this did not happen as the militia failed to transfer a number of locations to Kiev-led forces, the source said.
A ceasefire agreement and a memorandum outlining the ceasefire’s implementation were signed in September 2014 during meetings of the trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, which comprises representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Both sides have subsequently reported numerous ceasefire violations.
The Donetsk airport has long been a hotspot for fighting between Ukrainian forces and local independence supporters. Fighting intensified last week, with Kiev officially acknowledging that a major security operation was being carried out at the airport. The renewed shelling has destroyed nearby homes and infrastructure. |
Subsets and Splits