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NAFTA negotiations could affect avocado and beer prices Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved FILE - Corona beer (Nexstar Photo) Future of NAFTA deal unclear FILE - Corona beer (Nexstar Photo) prev next
KFTA - WASHINGTON (KFTA) -- Negotiations surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement are on uncertain footing after the first series of meetings in December, as changes to NAFTA could fundamentally alter the way the U.S., Canada and Mexico trade goods.
One state that has the potential of being greatly affected is Texas, Mexico's nearest neighbor. Congressman Will Hurd said changes in NAFTA could cost the prices of imports to skyrocket, which would unfortunately include beer.
Hurd said 17 percent of the beer consumed in the U.S. comes through his district.
"Mexico is Texas's number one trading partner," Hurd said. "And you know if we get this wrong we can see an increase in the price of beer when we go out. I don't think anybody wants that."
But if the US, Canada and Mexico cannot come to an agreement, it's possible that NAFTA could be repealed.
The most recent round of negotiations regarding NAFTA ended this month, but they did so with no solid plans for the future of NAFTA negotiations. The future is clouded additionally by the fact that Mexico is soon to host a new election, which could potentially void negotiations made under the previous administration.
Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar said NAFTA eliminated tariffs, which made certain goods coming into the US less expensive. If NAFTA is repealed, prices could go up.
"We want to get it modernized but we can't throw it away," Cuellar said.
Cuellar painted the possibility of a NAFTA repeal in vivid terms, suggesting that some of the things Americans enjoy coming from Mexico could become much more expensive. And if the thought of beer alone doesn't frighten you, then perhaps threats to avocados will.
"I mean name it: It's avocado, it's Corona beer, it is other things that we buy from Mexico that are just going to go up because then different tariffs are going to come in and who is going to pay for it?" Cuellar asked. "It's not the companies, they are going to pass it on to the consumers, you and I."
The next round of NAFTA negotiations take place in January, and will be hosted in Mexico.
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Methylone, 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), and mephedrone are psychoactive ingredients of 'bath salts' and their abuse represents a growing public health care concern. These drugs are cathinone derivatives and are classified chemically as β-ketoamphetamines. Because of their close structural similarity to the amphetamines, methylone, MDPV, and mephedrone share most of their pharmacological, neurochemical, and behavioral properties. One point of divergence in their actions is the ability to cause damage to the CNS. Unlike methamphetamine, the β-ketoamphetamines do not damage dopamine (DA) nerve endings. However, mephedrone has been shown to significantly accentuate methamphetamine neurotoxicity. Bath salt formulations contain numerous different psychoactive ingredients, and individuals who abuse bath salts also coabuse other illicit drugs. Therefore, we have evaluated the effects of methylone, MDPV, mephedrone, and methamphetamine on DA nerve endings. The β-ketoamphetamines alone or in all possible two-drug combinations do not result in damage to DA nerve endings but do cause hyperthermia. MDPV completely protects against the neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine while methylone accentuates it. Neither MDPV nor methylone attenuates the hyperthermic effects of methamphetamine. The potent neuroprotective effects of MDPV extend to amphetamine-, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-, and MPTP-induced neurotoxicity. These results indicate that β-ketoamphetamine drugs that are non-substrate blockers of the DA transporter (i.e., MDPV) protect against methamphetamine neurotoxicity, whereas those that are substrates for uptake by the DA transporter and which cause DA release (i.e., methylone, mephedrone) accentuate neurotoxicity. METH (a) enters DA nerve endings via the DAT, causes leakage of DA into the cytoplasm and then into the synapse via DAT-mediated reverse transport. Methylone (METHY) and mephedrone (MEPH; b), like METH, are substrates for the DAT but release DA from cytoplasmic pools selectively. When METH is combined with METHY or MEPH (c), DA efflux and neurotoxicity are enhanced. MDPV (d), which is a non-substrate blocker of the DAT, prevents METH uptake and efflux of DA. Therefore, bath salts that are substrates for the DAT and release DA (METHY, MEPH) accentuate METH neurotoxicity, whereas those that are non-substrate blockers of the DAT (MDPV) are neuroprotective.
© 2015 International Society for Neurochemistry.
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[Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, shakes hands with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a signing ceremony in Kyiv on Monday. AP/Efrem Lukatsky]
The Trudeau government has cut off the Ukrainian military from accessing Canadian satellite imagery used for high-resolution surveillance, which one expert says is a sign of a possible shift in Canada-Ukraine relations.
In 2015, the Harper government revealed it was sharing information from Canada’s RADARSAT-2 with the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the fight against Russian-backed rebels, a decision it said it had made in December 2014.
The satellite, run by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) in Richmond, B.C., is used by Canada’s government and military for coastal and marine surveillance, and can scan the Earth day or night through any weather, according to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland, then in opposition, said in February 2015 that the Liberals supported providing the satellite data to Ukraine. Today, Canada’s foreign affairs department under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the country is no longer doing so.
“As of May 6, 2016, Canada no longer provides satellite products to Ukrainian authorities,“ wrote Rachna Mishra, a spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada, in an email to Yahoo Canada News.
"The decision was made after carefully considering the utility of this contribution — compared to Canada’s many other forms of assistance to Ukraine.”
MDA corporate communications manager Wendy Keyzer referred Yahoo Canada News back to the government for a response.
An article posted on state news service Ukrinform on June 1 quotes Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Shevchenko as stating that Canada “recently decided to stop providing such images for reasons of budgetary constraints,” and that Ukraine hoped it could “find other collaboration tools.” The Ukrainian embassy wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Ivan Katchanovski, who teaches political studies at the University of Ottawa, said budgetary considerations were unlikely to be the real reason for the decision.
“I think this was a sign of a possible change in the Canadian stance toward Ukraine,” said Katchanovski, who specializes in the politics of Ukraine and Russia.
Trudeau wrapped up a six-day trip to Eastern Europe this week where he announced the signing of a free-trade deal with Ukraine, as well as new contributions to boost Ukraine’s security — but he did not say whether Canada would be extending its military training mission there past the end date of March 31, 2017, despite a request from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Canada could be following signals from NATO of a shift in policy toward the eastern European country, said Katchanovski. At a recent NATO summit, leaders welcomed a “deeper” relationship with Ukraine but did not include the country in a list of those “that aspire to join the alliance.”
The use of the satellite, which Poroshenko had asked the Harper government for in order to beef up Kyiv’s battle intelligence against Russian-backed separatists, also proved controversial last year. Documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen showed the military was facing a “critical shortage” in funding access to the satellite imagery.
Paul Calandra, who was parliamentary secretary to Harper at the time, said in an April 2, 2015, statement to Parliament that the decision to share imagery with Ukraine “has had no negative effect on Canada’s ability to use RADARSAT-2 for other purposes, including those supporting the defence and security of Canada.”
Calandra had said the space agency, the Department of National Defence and the military, the foreign affairs department and the office that provides non-partisan support to the prime minister had all participated in discussions about sharing the imagery.
Global Affairs says Canada has committed more than $700 million in support to Ukraine since January 2014, which includes “over $43 million in security and stabilization programming.”
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Story highlights Russian athletes deny their 'kiss' was a symbol of gay defiance
Kseniya Ryzhova and Yulia Gushchina caught on camera on victory podium
Two athletes part of Russia's women's 4x400m relay gold medal team
Russia has invoked strict new law concerning gay propaganda for minors
Two Russian athletes issued angry denials Tuesday that their exchange of a kiss on the victory podium at the world championships was a protest against their country's strict new anti gay propaganda law.
Kseniya Ryzhova and Yulia Gushchina were part of the Russian quartet who won the women's 4x400m relay Saturday in the Luzhniki Stadium, beating the favored United States team.
All four embraced as they received their gold medals, but Ryzhova and Gushchina were pictured kissing each other on the lips, prompting reports that it was a symbol of defiance in face of the controversial new laws.
Ryzhova told a media conference in Moscow that she and the three other members of the team had merely been overcome with emotion after finally topping the podium after a series of near misses.
"For eight years we have not won a gold medal. You can't even imagine what it was like, when we understood that we'd won," she said, addressing reporters in Russian.
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"It was a wave of unbelievable feelings and if somehow, completely by chance, while we were congratulating each other, our lips touched, I don't know in whose fantasy this all gets thought up."
She added: "Myself and Yulia are both married and we are not having any kind of relationship."
Earlier in the championships, Russia's pole vault gold medal winner Yelena Isinbayeva defended the new legislation, speaking in English at a press conference.
"If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people," Isinbayeva said.
"We just live boys with woman, women with boys."
She also criticized two Swedish competitors who had painted their fingernails with rainbows in support of gay rights, claiming them to be "disrespectful."
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Isinbayeva, an ambassador for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, later back tracked and said her comments had been "misunderstood" as English was not her first language.
They prompted a storm of international criticism, but Gushchina claimed Tuesday that she had not been aware of the controversy.
"I simply did not hear or read about it because I was totally focused on my performance at the championships," she told gathered reporters.
Both Russian athletes complained that the media spotlight on their kiss had taken the shine off their victory celebrations.
"These victories are hard to come by and we were happy. I don't understand how everything could be tarnished in such a way," Gushchina said.
The legislation banning the promotion of "gay propaganda" among minors came on to the Russian statute book in June as Vladimir Putin embarks on his third term as president.
It has prompted calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Games and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which is also to be staged in Russia.
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One of the more maddening aspects of Barack Obama’s policy toward ISIS is its conspicuous reluctance to label what it is doing to ethnic and religious minorities as genocide. By any definition, the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, sexual slavery, and the destruction of religious and cultural artifacts that the Islamic State is engaged in should be considered genocide as much as anything that the Nazis did. The House of Representatives has weighed in and has voted 393 to 0 to declare that what the terrorist army is going is, in fact, genocide.
Secretary of State John Kerry has been dithering for months over whether or not to issue a formal declaration that genocide is taking place in the Middle East.
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He has a conundrum. If he decides that such as not happening, he will lose all credibility in Washington and on the world stage. But if Kerry does make the formal declaration, the United States will be under the obligation, under United National treaty, to do certain things that the Obama administration has demonstrated a reluctance to do, including hunting down and prosecuting those in ISIS who are responsible and even resorting to military intervention to stop the atrocities.
Apparently the Obama administration would prefer to run out the clock and leave the problem of ISIS and the genocide it is committing to the next president to wrestle with. The attitude is fraught with a great deal of cravenness and a reluctance to face responsibility for the administration’s actions.
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It was, after all, the zeal with which the Obama administration closed out America’s role in Iraq, started with the 2003 invasion, that led to the rise of ISIS to begin with. Ever since, President Obama has been in denial about the threat posed by that terrorist state within a state, at one time even sneering that it was “the JV team.”
The “JV team” has proven not only the ability to commit biblical level outrages in the Middle East but to exert its awful influence worldwide, as the people of Paris and San Bernardino, California found out to its cost. The response of the Obama administration has been, to put it mildly, tepid at best. It clearly hopes that no policy at all is the best way to deal with the problem.
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Gary Sims of Fowling Around SimsFarm talks about the variety of breeds available through the Rent The Chicken program. The six-month rental includes two laying hens, feed and a coop complete with egg boxes, a roost and a yard.
Want fresh eggs every morning, but not quite ready to commit to a flock of chickens?
A New Mexico farm has the answer: chicken rental.
"The idea is to kind of introduce what it's like to have chickens in your yard," said Gary Sims of Fowling Around SimsFarm in Corrales.
The farm, which breeds chickens and sells fresh eggs at the Corrales Growers Market, recently became a Rent The Chicken affiliate and now offers options to keep laying hens for six months.
The $450 price tag is about how much a standard chicken owner would spend on housing, feed and other supplies to raise two hens to laying age.
"We deliver eggs right off the bat," he said.
The Simses provide customers with two hens, a portable coop, local organic chicken feed, a waterer and a book on chicken care, reported the Albuquerque Journal. The 6-by-3-foot coop includes a yard where the birds can roam, along with an indoor section that offers shelter from the sun, two egg boxes and a roost. A small door separating the outside and inside sections can be closed at night to protect against predators.
Sims said the movable coop, which he builds himself, lets chickens feel like they're at home, despite moving far away.
"It's their home," he said. "They're used to it."
The rental program comes just as Rio Rancho approved an ordinance allowing up to six chickens in lots of at least a half-acre in residential areas. Bernalillo is also considering an ordinance to allow chickens and other small farm animals.
The two hens produce about a dozen eggs per week, though production slows in the winter. Families in need of more eggs can rent more hens.
The Simses deliver within 50 miles of Corrales. Customers outside of that area can still participate, though they must pay a delivery fee.
Customers who fall in love with the hens have the option to adopt the birds after rental. Gary Sims said that they can purchase the coop, or the birds, or the whole package. He said one of their first rental customers has just opted to adopt the hens and they're in the process of working out the details.
"We just kind of work with them and what they're trying to do," he said.
The farm also offers incubator rental under the Hatch The Chicken program. That program provides customers with seven fertile eggs, an incubator and the supplies to keep baby chicks for two weeks after they hatch.
Jennifer Sims, also of Fowling Around SimsFarm, said the program is perfect for classrooms, assisted living centers and other groups who want incubate eggs, but don't have space for grown chickens.
"This way, they can hatch them and send them back to the farm," she said.
Jennifer Sims said that though they see it often, she and Gary still love to watch the babies as they hatch into tiny bouncy chirping chicks.
"We think everyone should experience it," she said.
The Simses also want everyone to experience fresh eggs. Gary said backyard chickens are a clear solution for a state that struggles with hunger.
"We are a society that has hunger within our cities," Gary Sims said, adding that chickens provide a daily protein option at a low cost. "It's an inexpensive way to give people access to really important food."
He said chickens are a natural extension to a backyard garden, they provide fertilizer and another connection to food.
"It's critical that we have a better understanding of our food source, and where it comes from and how it's produced," he said.
Rent The Chicken, according to its website, is a chicken rental service with affiliates across the U.S. and Canada that are managed by local families and small farms. They take orders and phone calls, and offer nationwide marking to their affiliates; in exchange, they get a percentage of each affiliate's profits.
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Brooklyn Law School offers partial tuition refund to unemployed graduates
At a time when many college graduates are facing mounting debt and limited job prospects, Brooklyn Law School is now offering to alleviate this burden -- by offering graduates a refund.
As part of the Bridge-to-Success program, the school will begin refunding graduates 15% of their paid tuition if they are still searching for a job nine months after receiving their degree, the school announced on July 13, 2015. According to the school’s website, the program is designed to serve as “both a boost while graduates conduct their job search and as a safety net if the process takes longer than anticipated.”
RELATED: Top 5 things to do about your student loans after graduation
To qualify for the refund, graduates must be actively seeking employment and working closely with the school’s career services center. They must also be planning to take the bar exam.
Moot court room @blsadmissions #lawschool A post shared by Brooklyn Law School (@brooklynlawschool) on May 30, 2013 at 8:20am PDT
Nicholas Allard, president and dean of BLS, says that the program was created because of the long and expensive process that many law school graduates endure on their way to becoming lawyers.
“When they graduate, law students typically have to pass the bar and in order to do that they often have to often pay for an expensive bar review class and forego working in many cases,” Allard says. “And then when they take the bar exam, they have to wait months to get the results.”
As this process drags on, the debt begins to add up as well.
RELATED: N.J. bill proposes lottery to pay off college debt
“This length of time makes it challenging in many cases to pay your bills and to find jobs, so some people just need more time than other people,” Allard says. “We want our students to not only have the counseling support, but have the financial support they may need in some cases to find a good job that they feel is worthwhile and a good way to start their career.”
Based on statistics presented by the school, the program likely won’t affect many graduates. BLS — which has a total enrollment of 1,119 — states on its website that it had a 90% job placement rate in 2014.
According toCNN Money, the maximum cost of full tuition at the school is $130,000, which means that the most the school can refund unemployed graduates is $19,500 — assuming students paid completely out-of-pocket.
And Allard says that he isn’t worried that graduates will try to take advantage of the program to receive a refund even after finding a job, adding that he believes that his students will take a job over a check.
“Our students are our paying customers,” Allard says. “My concern is not that the customers rip us off. My concern is that we do everything within our power to make sure that our students graduate and believe they got value from the legal education and that it empowers them to get meaningful jobs.”
Bridge-to-Success is the latest initiative in a series of steps that the school has taken to help its current students as well as its alumni. BLS recently announced a 15% tuition reduction that will go into effect this year for all students. Last year, the school introduced a 2-year J.D. program -- the first of its kind in the New York City area, according to a report by CNN Money.
Trent Crabtree is a student at The University of Oklahoma and a summer 2015 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent.
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2w6B5Rr
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In August, Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN won its case against The Pirate Bay, and the court ordered the defendants to block access to Dutch visitors. The case was appealed today and rightly so. It appears that the evidence presented by BREIN was faked in an attempt to mislead the court.
In an attempt to take The Pirate Bay offline, BREIN took three of the tracker’s ‘founders’ to court. BREIN won the case and Fredrik, Gottfrid and Peter were ordered to block Dutch users within 10 days or face thousands of euros each day in penalties.
After the verdict was made public, the three defendants immediately announced they would appeal.
Lawyer Ernst-Jan Louwers represented the Pirate Bay defendants in the appeal today, and he revealed that BREIN brought in documents that are apparently faked in an attempt to mislead the court.
BREIN submitted a report on Reservella to the court. Reservella is the company that planned to sell The Pirate Bay to Global Gaming Factory, and according to the report that was apparently written by UK company Experian, one of the Pirate Bay founders is the company’s CEO.
However, the defendants lawyer presented several facts that showed that the report is not what it claims to be.
“The report is an attempt to mislead the Court,” Louwers said, adding that the Court should reject it since it’s “fake, deceptive and completely unreliable.”
The lawyer went on to argue that the anti-piracy outfit is merely trying to save face, and that BREIN will do all it can to succeed in their crusade against the three defendants. He then goes through a list of several points that show why the evidence is fabricated.
First of all, the Experian report on Reservella seems to have copied the Whois data of the Pirate Bay domain. It lists defendant Fredrik Neij as the CEO and the formation date for the company is identical to the date when the domain was registered.
This makes no sense, as Reservella was founded less than a year ago according to official information from the Seychelles Government, and Neij is not linked to the company as the report claims.
If that isn’t enough already, the company ID number as reported in the document is incorrect, and the claims that Fredrik Neij is a citizen of the Seychelles are even more absurd.
Former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde is outraged by BREIN’s attempt to cheat their way into a victory, and will press charges against BREIN and its director Tim Kuik.
“I consider what they have done as criminal. Much more severe than any ‘aiding with potential copyright infringement’ could ever be,” he writes, adding “Maybe then we can finally have the real criminals shut down and put in jail!”
In his writeup Peter himself sums up various other points showing that the document is apparently false.
All in all there seems to be clear evidence that the report is highly inaccurate. Even if all the errors can be attributed to the research company, BREIN should have known better since they have been tracking The Pirate Bay’s every move for years.
Developing story…
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The one thing that the spirit of tolerance of our day cannot tolerate is intolerance, because relationships have become more important than truth. Now what’s at stake here, if I understand the New Testament where the Apostle Paul writes the Galatians and says, “If anybody, anybody, if it’s Peter, if it’s Barnabus, if it’s an angel from heaven teaches any other gospel—let him be anathema.” That’s not Sproul, that’s not MacArthur, that’s not Kennedy, that’s not Ankerberg—that is the Apostolic position, and Paul wanted to make sure that he made himself clear so he repeated that.
And then he goes on to say that he had to resist Peter himself, as Peter started to crack and compromise and negotiate the gospel. Now think about the people in the first century who got that letter—they were horrified. They said the last thing we can have happen is a break-up of fellowship and unity between Peter and Paul! All I have listened to for ten months is “Oh, my goodness, what would happen if we saw a split among people like Colson, Packer, and Sproul, and MacArthur—we cannot have that happen! Well, I am the last person in the world to want to have that happen—I can’t stand that either, these people are my friends, my comrades and everything. But John, what he [John MacArthur] is saying here, the Catholic Church understood in the 16th century, and Trent and Rome placed its unambiguous anathema on the Protestant doctrine of “Justification by faith alone” and has never, in any magisterial sense removed that anathema.
The Roman Catholic Church condemns “sola fide! (L.)” Now if, please understand this, if “sola fide (L.)” is the gospel, then the Roman Catholic Church has condemned the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, nobody who went to the Council of Trent, as a delegate, went there with the intention of condemning the gospel. The theologians of Rome really believed that they were defending the gospel and that the Protestants had in fact committed apostasy. And I admire the Church, the Roman communion of the 16th century for at least understanding what apparently people don’t understand today, and that is what is at stake here. That they understood that somebody is under the anathema of God! And we can be as nice, and as pleasant, and as gentle, and as loving, and as charitable, and tolerant as we can possibly be, but it’s not going to change that folks. Somebody is preaching a different gospel! And when Rome condemned the Protestant declaration of “Justification by faith alone” I believe, Rome, when placing the anathema on “sola fide (L.),” placed the anathema of God upon themselves. I agree with his [John MacArthur] assessment, that the institution [Roman Catholic Church] is apostate! (Irreconcilable Differences: Catholics, Evangelicals, and the New Quest for Unity)
R.C. Sproul
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The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday that it had approved two cellular base stations – one each from Ericsson and Nokia – to use LTE-U, marking the first official government thumbs-up for the controversial technology.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement that the unlicensed spectrum – historically, the territory of Wi-Fi – can now be used to help ease the load on carrier mobile networks.
“This is a great deal for wireless consumers,” he said. “It means they get to enjoy the best of both worlds: a more robust, seamless experience when their devices are using cellular networks and the continued enjoyment of Wi-Fi, one of the most creative uses of spectrum in history.”
[ Now see the hidden cause of slow internet and how to fix it.]
MORE:Quiet rumblings, but few fireworks, at LTE-U gathering
T-Mobile has already announced that it will be deploying LTE-U technology, having participated in testing last year, and other networks are likely to follow suit.
Aside from equipment vendors like Ericsson and Nokia, the only companies likely to greet the news of LTE-Us approval with enthusiasm are the carriers themselves and Qualcomm, which essentially invented the technology. Other major tech sector players, including Google, Comcast, Microsoft and many others, have expressed serious concerns that LTE-U doesn’t play as nicely with Wi-Fi as advertised, though collaborative testing has ratcheted tensions down of late.
Pai is seen to be close with some of the industries the FCC is supposed to regulate – more so than outgoing chair Tom Wheeler, who had urged the various parties in the LTE-U debate to work together, rather than risk government regulatory intervention. That possibility appears to have vanished, given the FCC’s approval today, but proof of LTE-U’s compatibility will come – or not – with large-scale deployment.
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The Trump administration called for cutting Obamacare’s next enrollment period in half as it took the first steps Wednesday to “stabilize” the health insurance marketplace, trying to give insurers some certainty even as Republicans try to figure out a repeal-and-replace strategy.
Republicans say the changes are needed to shore up markets beset by rising premiums and dwindling choices.
Major insurer Humana announced this week that it will pull out of the marketplace at the end of this year, and the CEO of Aetna, another big player, said the Affordable Care Act “is in a death spiral.”
“I think you will see a lot more withdrawals this year,” Mark Bertolini said at a Wall Street Journal forum Wednesday. “There isn’t enough money in the ACA today as it’s structured, even with its fees and taxes, to support the population that needs to be served.”
With companies already skittish, the Trump administration said they needed more certainty about who could apply and when.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said customers who are behind on their premiums can’t re-enroll next year. It also wants consumers to have to prove extenuating circumstances if they sign up outside of the shorter open-enrollment period.
Insurers say too many people, rather than paying premiums over time, have been able to sign up once they become sick and rack up costly bills.
Democrats blame Republicans for the chaos because of its murky strategy for replacing Obamacare.
They said the moves to tighten enrollment place insurers ahead of patients. Democrats say their preferred solution to repair Obamacare includes more generous subsidies and a government-run “public option” to compete with private plans.
“If the Trump administration and congressional Republicans truly wish to inject greater stability into the health insurance market, they ought to abandon their schemes to repeal the Affordable Care Act without replacing it,” said House Minority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat.
Republicans say the sorry state of the initiative left them no choice but to prop up the 2010 Affordable Care Act before killing it so there isn’t more chaos during the handoff.
“This is their problem. We are trying to repair the damage and to provide relief,” said Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican.
Hoping to entice young, healthy enrollees who have shirked Obamacare, Mr. Trump’s rule said insurers should be able to offer plans with slightly lower premiums and bigger deductibles.
A bigger fight looms over which services insurers are forced to cover.
Senate Republicans met Wednesday with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and though they emerged with few details, they said the Trump administration is “fully engaged” in the joint effort.
“They’re not forgetting about it. They’re not walking away from it, but they’re going to work with us to make sure that we have the votes necessary to get it across the finish line,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican.
The Republican replacement will likely include a transition phase, so insurers and other stakeholders are still planning for a 2018 enrollment season under the law.
The Trump administration proposal will allow enrollments from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 — half the time of the sign-up period, from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it wanted to prevent customers from signing up for care they needed at the beginning of the year and then dropping out.
The changes also would give insurers an extra month of premium payments, “and it’s fairly consistent with how other programs work,” said Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University who closely tracks the health care debate. “It’s not a revolutionary change, but I think the big question is whether they will push enrollment and let people know it’s a shorter period, so you’d better get in there.”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
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Tennessee offensive lineman Venzell Boulware in the final seconds of the loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016. Vanderbilt won the game 45-34. (Photo: AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
Tennessee redshirt freshman offensive lineman Venzell Boulware is academically ineligible and will miss the Music City Bowl.
Tennessee coach Butch Jones made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
“Venzell is great young man. He will be better for it and he has still practiced and has had one of the best bowl practices that we had,” Jones said. “But due to academics, he will not be available.”
Boulware didn't pass enough hours for the fall semester to remain eligible. He will be able to return to the team for spring practices. Jones said Boulware is the only Tennessee player impacted by an academic issue for the bowl game.
The 6-foot-3, 306-pound Boulware played in seven games this season, making three starts at guard. His third start came in the regular-season ending loss to Vanderbilt.
Jones met with Boulware and is confident he will learn from his mistake.
“He has a great mother and a great foundation and he understands. Going back and (asking) where did we go wrong? How do we make things better,” Jones said. “And the thing is, what I like about him, he’s been very realistic and upfront and we all know he’s a great person. Like I said, it’s just like your children. Sometimes it takes something like this, and he will be better for it and I know he’ll bounce back.”
Jones said Boulware’s absence won’t have a major impact on the offensive line rotation when Tennessee (8-4) plays Nebraska (9-3) on Dec. 30 (TV: ESPN, 3:30 p.m. EST) at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
“It doesn’t really change much obviously. I think another individual who has had a very good two weeks of bowl preparation has been Jack Jones," Jones said. "I think Jack Jones has really done a very good job, and then obviously getting Dylan Wiesman back as well, who had to miss a couple of games with injuries. Having him back has helped us in moving forward.”
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A leading newspaper publisher is claiming that the local and regional press have been denied access to next year’s Olympic Games.
The British Olympic Authority invited applications for passes from all UK media outlet last year for the 2012 Games which get under way next July.
But regional publisher Newsquest says it has allocated no passes to local or regional titles who will have to rely instead on syndicated material from the Press Association.
Now a number of Newsquest editors in London are writing to local MPs and London Assembly members demanding a review of the decision.
Andrew Parkes, group managing editor for Newsquest South and West London, said: “This has always been marketed as the ‘local games.’ All the way along the line, it has relied on the goodwill of Londoners who have paid for these Games.
“But the so-called local games will have no local media presence. The people who rely on us for their information will be told nothing about the event taking place on their doorsteps.”
“As things stand we simply can’t cover these Games properly and it’s plainly wrong that big media organisations, with no interest in the local perspective on these Games, will swan into their stadium seats on 27 July leaving us stood at the gate.”
The News Shopper in South London is among the Newsquest titles now publicly calling for a review of the decision.
Its editor Richard Firth said: “This was supposed to be the ultimate local event, but the local media have received a collective slap in the face.
“The BOA says it received thousands of accreditation applications from all over the world but we believe the local media should be allowed in to cover the Games from a local perspective.
“They’ve offered us generic material from a national news syndication service but that’s no good to our readers.
“We want to write the stories which will be of genuine interest but they’re stopping us.”
A BOA spokesman said 3,000 applications had been received for the 400 passes available but could not confirm whether any regional or local newspapers were amongst those who had been successful.
He said: “We had a media accreditation committee made up of individuals to represent types of newspapers and agencies to help with the allocations.
“The Press Association has been appointed as the host for national news, with that role comes all coverage of Great Britain sporting events.”
A second tranche of press places may be allocated but it is not known how many, on what basis they will be allocated or when it will be announced who will get them.
The Newspaper Society, which represents the local and regional press industry, had previously urged Games organisers not to forget the local press when allocating passes.
In July 2010 it held a meeting with Jayne Pearce, head of press operations at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, to discuss plans for press access and accreditation, and also raised the issue informally with ministers.
At the meeting, the NS said the needs of the local and regional press should be given ‘considerable emphasis’ so the Games would be truly national, rather than just focused on London.
The NS said at the time that journalists from regional newspapers who wanted to be accredited should be given equal priority with other media applicants.
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It doesn’t matter how big or influential a company is, bacteria and biofilms don’t discriminate between multinationals like Dole with its tens of thousands of employees and operations like Hudson Valley Farms, where 10 or fewer people work.
Both of those companies have had close encounters with Listeria, which ongoing research is showing can be even tougher to kill than previously thought. When the microorganism has time to set up housekeeping in a biofilm in crevices on equipment or around drains and cracks in floors it is even more difficult to evict.
The consequences of so-called resident bacteria in a food production or packing facility are strong enough to rock a big ship like Dole and far-reaching enough to send ripples out from a small operation like Hudson Valley Farms across the nation as multiple companies initiate recalls because of potentially contaminated ingredients.
Dole is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice after bagged salads from its Springfield, OH, plant sickened at least 33 people in the U.S. and Canada in 2015 and 2016 developed infections from the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes that was found at the plant.
Hudson Valley Farms, based in New York with a production plant about two hours north of New York City, produces nuts and nut butter products. Listeria in its plant is behind at least three of seven product recalls in recent days. As of the posting of the recalls this past week, no illnesses had been reported in connection to the granola, protein bars and other foods recalled because Listeria was found in the Hudson Valley Farms facility.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that annually 1,600 people in the United States develop listeriosis from eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. About 260 of them die. It is particularly dangerous for the elderly, children and pregnant women, and it can be difficult to diagnose because it can take 70 days after exposure for symptoms to develop.
The 2011 outbreak of listeriosis linked to Listeria on whole, fresh cantaloupe from Jensen Farms in Colorado sickened at least 147 and killed at least 33, according to the CDC. It also bankrupted the family farm where the cantaloupe were grown because the Listeria was traced to its packing shed.
Helping the Listeria bacteria maintain a hold on surfaces such as packing tables, conveyor belts and food processing equipment, biofilm provides the microscopic bugs get comfortable and reproduce.
Biofilm formation involves a multi-step process that includes electrostatic forces, complex polymers and extracellular polymeric substances. The process results in a microscopic layer of adhesive that allows bacteria to stick to equipment and other surfaces safely.
The result is a metropolis for pathogens. The proteins, nucleic acids and lipids in biofilms give a superstructure to the bugs, with scaffold formation and highly permeable water paths. The paths allow newborn bacteria to travel to other nooks and crannies in equipment and on food-contact surfaces.
Enter the emerging weapon of choice against Listeria — bacteriophages. Often referred to as simply phages, bacteriophages are basically viruses that infect bacteria.
Research is showing that phages are more efficient than traditional sanitizers. Unlike the traditional sanitizers, phages are not affected by food debris, which can interact with oxidizing sanitizes and weaken their effect.
Phage sanitizers are not neutralized by the proteins in biofilms, making it possible for them to pierce the outer layers of biofilms to get to the bacteria below.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)
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One of the biggest esports events in the world—The International—may be moved away from the United States in the face of visa uncertainty from recent moves by the U.S. government to regulate immigration. This includes, but is not limited to, an executive order signed by President Trump that has seen multiple professional esports players prevented from entering the country.
At a roundtable discussion with journalists at Valve’s headquarters in Seattle, Gabe Newell—the company’s founder—and Erik Johnson talked openly about concerns with potential immigration changes in the United States. Valve has been working hard with state authorities to acquire visas for players as they travel to Seattle to compete in the massive event. Now that the visa program may be changing, Valve is considering moving the event elsewhere.
“Any pressure on visas for getting into the United States is worrisome for us,” said Johnson per VentureBeat, “Ideally, we’d hold [the event] here. There’re a lot of advantages to it being close to our office. But the events going to happen. So yes, if [acquiring visas for players becomes] too difficult, we’d have to find a way.”
Newell elaborted, explaining how, despite recent gains entering the mainstream in the last few years, esports still isn’t big enough to get exceptions from authorities.
“This is a case where your average esports competitor does not look like — y’know, if you’re an opera singer, it’s pretty easy to get a visa,” said Newell, “The State Department kinda understands who these people are. If you’re a Nobel prize winner, they kinda know who you are. When you’re an unemployed [teenager from Syria] without strong ties to this country, it’s more challenging.”
The executive order is currently facing multiple legal challenges, and its unclear where the policy will end up. However, even uncertainty about the future is enough to throw plans into chaos. As we outlined in a story about Vainglory player Hamza “IraqiZorro” Najim, strict limits on immigration can seriously alter the course of a career.
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Eight women have been arrested in Iran for dressing up as men so they could watch a football match.
Islamic law in the country bans women from attending live matches when men are present and the group were detained at Tehran's Azadi Stadium.
They had attempted to disguise themselves in order to watch Esteghlal FC and Persepolis FC on February 12 this year, but now face legal action.
Two of the eight women understood to have been arrested for trying to get into a football match dressed as a man
Alireza Adeli, head of security for the Tehran municipality, said it was not the first time it had happened.
He told Memri: 'The ban is aimed at preserving their honor, because the stadium's atmosphere, commotion, and crowds are no place for them.
'Women who wish to watch the match can do so on TV, which broadcasts the games and gives everyone a way to watch them live.'
The women now face charges.
As well as banning women from football stadiums, Iran's strict laws extend to prohibiting women from cycling in public.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently issued the fatwa banning women from riding bikes in public, saying that it would attract the attention of males and is therefore forbidden.
Among the other seemingly innocent acts that can result in being reprimanded include women uploading a photograph of them without a headscarf and posting a video of themselves singing.
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Sally Morrow/RNS John Scott, originally from New Jersey, has been living on the streets of Philadelphia for over a year, as the city prepares for the arrival of Pope Francis.
PHILADELPHIA (RNS) As crowds move into the city for Pope Francis’ large public Mass on Sunday (Sept. 27), the homeless are heading out — part of a high-security lockdown forcing people off the streets.
The displacement of the homeless people comes amid the pope’s repeated calls for greater income equality and social inclusion of the poor.
He told members of Catholic Charities during his Washington, D.C., stop Thursday that there was “no justification whatsoever for lack of housing.”
Then the pope lunched with homeless people in the nation’s capital, forgoing an invitation to dine with members of Congress.
More than 1 million people are expected on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for Sunday’sMass, an area where thousands live in makeshift shelters, homeless advocates said.
In all, about 5,500 people live on the streets of Philadelphia, according to Project Home, an advocacy group for homeless people.
Alex Jacobi/RNS Jason Taylor, a homeless man in Philadelphia.
Police said everyone, not just the homeless, was being evacuated from certain areas and said it was for “security purposes.”
Yet some within the homeless community felt targeted.
Jason Taylor, a homeless Philadelphian, was collecting donations Thursday to take a train to New Jersey or suburban Philadelphia. He was hoping to avoid the police sweep, he said.
Others aren’t leaving quite so easily. Joe McGraw, who’s been on the streets since Pope John Paul II visited in 1979, said this year’s security is much more intense.
“It wasn’t like this,” McGraw said. “They (now) shoo us away.”
Alex Jacobi/RNS Dan Messing, left, and Joe McGraw are homeless in Philadelphia.
McGraw said he understands the irony of homeless people being forced to make way for an event by a champion of the poor.
Sue Smith, vice president of residential and homeless programs for Project Home, said police are working with homeless advocates for a smooth transition.
“It is not a matter of keeping homeless people out of the parkway,” said Smith who was helping the police with the effort. “It is just an unusual protocol.”
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Most indie filmmakers understand what it takes to get your movie done no matter what. Often "what it takes" is lots and lots of time as working off favors and good wishes can take a while to pull off. Such is the case with today's guest Sam Carter whose film Good Grief Suicide Hotline plays at the Plaza on March 23rd at 9:30 PM!
Sam and his team finally pulled it together and now he fruits of their labor will be seen at the festival. In our chat he talks about the epic journey making the film, his time on big budget movies like Selma, and why more money might not necessarily make for a better film!
Remember we're doubling up episodes to squeeze all our content in so look for another episode on Wednesday. That one will feature the filmmakers behind Satanic Panic 2: Battle of the Bands!
Announcements Mentioned in the Episode
Film Bar Monday tonight March 9th is at Joystick. Next week, March 16th, it's at Argosy. The next Film Bar Wednesday is March 18th at Johnnie MacCracken's in Marietta.
The Atlanta Film Festival formally announced that Zombie Cat Productions' TV pilot Pepper's Place is playing on March 28th at 10 PM at the Plaza. Grab your tickets ASAP as this will surely sell out!
Want to support the podcast? Shop through our Amazon affiliate link:
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Alexis Sanchez feels “very proud” to be part of the Arsenal team and privileged to play alongside the “spectacular” Santi Cazorla.
The Chilean international has had a fine first season in English football, scoring 22 goals and being nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award. And according to Alexis, his new team-mates are even better than he expected.
“When I arrived at the club I didn't know the players that well, but I was really surprised by everyone's quality,” he told Arsenal Player.
“I am not saying this just because it's my obligation to do it as a club player. Every Arsenal footballer has amazing quality. Being part of a team like this makes me very proud. I am willing to win many titles here.
“Santi Cazorla is a spectacular player. You never know whether he will kick the ball with his right or left foot. Also, he moves with short but quick strides, which is a remarkable trademark too.
“Although I knew about his quality, playing alongside him makes me very happy.”
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttarakhand is looking at ancient Hindu religious texts to find a replacement for the ceremonial robe introduced by the British for college graduation ceremonies.
The black robe-and-cap attire has been a subject of debate since a long time with many denouncing it as a relic of India’s colonial past and has gained currency since the BJP-led government assumed power at the Centre in 2014.
Uttarakhand’s higher education minster Dhan Singh Rawat said the government was in touch with experts to find out the attire people wore during academic convocations in ancient India.
“We are finding out about the dresses that were sported in Takshila,” he told HT on Saturday, referring to one of the earliest known universities dating back to 1000 BCE. Takshila is situated in present-day Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
“Moreover, in the Skanda Purana, there is a mention of an acharyakulam (school based on Vedic education) in Uttarakhand. It would be interesting to know what ceremonial dresses were in fashion in those times,” he added. The Skanda Purana is one of the earliest Vedic religious texts.
He said the government will form a form a committee that would give suggestions on a suitable dress for convocations.
The state government’s move came days after chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat refused to wear the ceremonial robe during the convocation of the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies in Dehradun.
The CM’s refusal had stunned dignitaries including Rawat, Union human resource development minister minister Prakash Jawedkar and governor KK Paul, who had donned the ceremonial dress.
In a series of tweets, the CM asked people to suggest whether the traditional ‘pichoda’ (women’s dress) and ‘payjama-kurta, jacket and cap’ (men’s dress) could be a substitute.
“I also made it a point to not wear academical dress traditionally worn during convocation- i feel we need to have our own indic dress! (sic),” Rawat tweeted on Saturday.
Though the education minister said the state “will lead by example” on the issue, Uttarakhand is not the first to implement such an idea.
Earlier this year, another BJP-ruled state Madhya Pradesh said it will introduce a ‘Bhartiya Paridhan’ – Indian dress -- for convocations of universities of the state.
This week, students of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur also attended their graduation ceremony in ethnic Indian wear.
The debate over the convocation robe started in 2010 when former environment minister Jairam Ramesh shrugged off the dress in a convocation ceremony of IIFM in Bhopal, terming it as a “barbaric colonial practice”.
First Published: Jun 17, 2017 19:35 IST
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Google-owned robotics lab Boston Dynanics has debuted new video of its 6’2″ Atlas robot, also known as “Ian.” The hulking mass of metal, which weighs a whopping 330 lbs, has been programmed to recreate a key scene from the 1984 film The Karate Kid.
Ian is part of an ongoing robotics project that seeks to create automatons that can replace humans in hazardous roles like firefighting. Ian has already demonstrated a variety of abilities, including traversing difficult and uneven terrain, carrying objects such as firehoses, and even to get into a car and drive it. It can also use both its hands and feet to climb over the most treacherous obstacles.
Ian’s head is made up of two cameras and a laser rangefinder that provide it with the necessary depth perception to accomplish many tasks that most other robots simply wouldn’t be able to. It can turn its head to get a better view of its surroundings. It has a total of 28 moveable joints throughout its body.
The Atlas robot is powered by an electric generator that must be near the robot and connected through a cable. However, Boston Dynamics has said that this restriction will eventually be able to be eliminated. The Atlas model was originally revealed in 2013 and has received several major upgrades since then.
You can check out the full video of Ian recreating the Karate Kid scene below. A word of caution: you may want to turn your speakers down before hitting play.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH0k2hFHzyc]
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Image caption Can brain cell death be prevented in a range of diseases?
The tantalising prospect of treating a range of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, all with the same drug, has been raised by UK researchers.
In a study, published in Nature , they prevented brain cells dying in mice with prion disease.
It is hoped the same method for preventing brain cell death could apply in other diseases.
The findings are at an early stage, but have been heralded as "fascinating".
Many neuro-degenerative diseases result in the build-up of proteins which are not put together correctly - known as misfolded proteins. This happens in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's as well as in prion diseases, such as the human form of mad cow disease.
Turn off
Researchers at the University of Leicester uncovered how the build-up of proteins in mice with prion disease resulted in brain cells dying.
They showed that as misfolded protein levels rise in the brain, cells respond by trying to shut down the production of all new proteins.
It is the same trick cells use when infected with a virus. Stopping production of proteins stops the virus spreading. However, shutting down the factory for a long period of time ends up killing the brain cells as they do not produce the proteins they actually need to function.
There are good reasons for believing this response, identified with prion disease, applies also to Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases Prof Roger Morris, King's College London
The team at the Medical Research Council laboratory in Leicester then tried to manipulate the switch which turned the protein factory off. When they prevented cells from shutting down, they prevented the brain dying. The mice then lived significantly longer.
Each neuro-degenerative disease results in a unique set of misfolded proteins being produced, which are then thought to lead to brain cells dying.
Prof Giovanna Mallucci told the BBC: "The novelty here is we're just targeting the protein shut-down, we're ignoring the prion protein and that's what makes it potentially relevant across the board."
The idea, which has not yet been tested, is that if preventing the shut down protects the brain in prion disease - it might work in all diseases that have misfolded proteins.
Prof Mallucci added: "What it gives you is an appealing concept that one pathway and therefore one treatment could have benefits across a range of disorders.
"But the idea is in its early stages. We would really need to confirm this concept in other diseases."
'Fascinating'
Image caption Alzheimer's brain on the left showing shrinkage, with a healthy brain on the right
The study has been broadly welcomed by other scientists although many point out that the research is in its infancy.
Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at King's College London, Roger Morris, said it was a "breakthrough in understanding what kills neurons".
He added: "There are good reasons for believing this response, identified with prion disease, applies also to Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases.
"And because it is such a general response, we already have some drugs that inhibit this response."
Prof Andy Randall, from the University of Bristol, said: "This is a fascinating piece of work.
"It will be interesting to see if similar processes occur in some of the common diseases with such deposits, for example Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
"Furthermore, if this is the case, can modulating this same pathway be a route to new therapeutic approaches in these more prevalent conditions that afflict many millions of sufferers around the world? Ultimately only more research will tell us this."
Dr Eric Karran, the director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "The findings present the appealing concept that one treatment could have benefits for a range of different diseases; however the idea is in its early stages.
"The research focuses on the effects of the prion protein and we would need to see the same results confirmed in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to really strengthen the evidence."
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Take a really close look at your face and you’ll probably find that two microscopic relatives of spiders and ticks dwell there. The usually benign mites, Demodex folliculorum and D. brevis, wriggle into skin pores and hair follicles, including eyelashes. And every adult may harbor these hitchhikers, researchers report August 27 in PLOS ONE.
Scientists analyzed DNA from skin gently scraped off the noses and cheeks of 29 North and South Americans. They detected genetic material from Demodex mites in skin samples from all 19 adult subjects and 70 percent of 18-year-olds. In earlier studies, researchers pulled the arachnids off 100 percent of human cadavers but only 10 to 20 percent of the living. The new findings suggest that everyone harbors the mites post-puberty, Megan Thoemmes of North Carolina State University and colleagues say.
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Mumbai: Saddled with high bad debt and weak corporate demand, credit growth plunged to a whopping six-decade low of 5.08 percent in the financial year 2016-17, as against 10.7 percent a year ago, according to the Reserve Bank data.
For the year to March, banks' outstanding credit stood at Rs 78.81 trillion compared to Rs 75.01 trillion as of 1 April, 2016, show the central bank data.
The numbers are surprising as the economy has been clipping at close to 7 percent during the year under review and interest rates have been heading south.
One main reason for the massive plunge is the rising corporate bond market from where companies are tapping funds even for working capital as most of them could have been turned away by banks due to their over-leveraged balance sheets.
It can be noted that the credit growth in financial year 2016-17 is the lowest since 1953-54 when it had inched up by a paltry 1.7 percent, according to the apex bank data.
In the year to March 2016, banks reported a credit growth of 10.69 percent at Rs 75.30 trillion.
According to domestic rating agency Icra, the outlook on the asset quality of the banking sector seems to be weak even as the fresh non-performing asset (NPA) generation rate continues to show signs of moderation.
The annualised fresh NPA generation declined to 4.1 percent during the third quarter of 2016-17 compared to 10.7 percent during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2015 -16, 6.1 percent during the first quarter of 2016-17 and 5.8 percent in the second quarter of 2016-17, Icra had said in a report.
Fresh NPA additions to gross NPAs during Q3 of fiscal 2017 inched down to Rs 26,400 crore compared to Rs 1.36 trillion during the first nine months of the fiscal 2017, partly aided by higher write-offs during the last quarter.
Icra has projected gross NPAs to increase to Rs 7.5-7.7 trillion or 9.7-10 percent for March 2017 and Rs 8.2-8.5 trillion or 9.9-10.3 percent for fiscal 2018 with upside risks in case of slower resolution of SDR accounts, leading to higher slippages.
Warning of more pains on the restructured accounts, specially those under the 2/25 scheme, Icra said, of the 40 large borrowers with a total debt of Rs 3.16 trillion, 29 percent of the debt turned NPA till December 2016.
Bank deposits, however, grew by 11.75 percent during fiscal 2017, helped by large flow of funds into the banking system after demonetisation of high value notes last November.
Outstanding bank deposits stood at Rs 108.05 trillion as of 31 March, 2017 as against Rs 96.68 trillion on 1 April, 2016. Last financial year deposits grew 9.72 percent.
It can be noted that the banking system is saddled with close to Rs 14 trillion of bad loans, including those turned dud after restructuring. This is almost 15 percent of the system.
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Nov 16, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk (13) and Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) battle for the puck in front of Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard (35) in the first period at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The Montreal Canadiens (36-15-4) are in Detroit on Monday to face the Red Wings (31-13-10) at Joe Louis Arena. The game starts at 7:30 and airs on RDS and Sportsnet East.
Match Up
This is the third of four meetings between the Habs and Wings this season, and the last in Detroit. The Canadiens already have a pair of wins in the first two games of this series, one in regulation, one in overtime. Tomas Plekanec and PK Subban each have a goal and two assists in two games against the Red Wings this year, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk have two points each.
What to Watch
Canadiens: Carey Price has given up just one goal in each of his last three starts and has allowed one or fewer in six of his last nine. Price and Pekka Rinne are locked in a two way race for the Vezina trophy with very little to separate them. Rinne has a slight edge in GAA, 1.97 to 1.98, but Price has saved a slightly higher percent of shots, .934 versus .931.
Red Wings: For Detroit, the old guard is almost ready to be replaced by the new. Veterans Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk still lead the Wings in points with 49 and 42 respectively, but right behind them are youngsters Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist, who rank first and second on the team in goals. In his second full season with the Wings, Tatar has already set a new high for points with 41 on the season, he finished last year with 39 points in 73 games.
What’s at Stake
The Canadiens don’t have many four point games left on their schedule, but their matches against the Wings and Lightning definitely stand out. The Habs have built a nice four-point cushion over Detroit with an extra game played, but a win on Monday would help widen that gap and relieve the tiniest bit of pressure with just under 30 games left in the season.
Who’s Out
Sergein Gonchar was knocked out of Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs with an apparent upper body injury, and Sunday, Greg Pateryn was recalled from the Bulldogs, signalling the injury to Gonchar could be serious. P.A. Parenteau (concussion) remains out as well.
The Red Wings are missing Johan Franzen (concussion) but are otherwise healthy heading in to Monday’s game. Jimmy Howard returned to action last week after a groin tear kept him out of the lineup for about a month.
What Else
PK Subban played a season high 35:21 in Montreal’s 2-1 shootout victory over the Maple Leafs on Saturday, his most by far this season. He had set his previous high for the year just two games prior, 31:18 in the team’s 2-1 OT victory against the Flyers. The increased duties has PK averaging 25:55 per game, sixth most in the league
The Question Mark
The Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators have already started to make trade deadline moves this past week. Which team do you expect to be most aggressive this year and which playoff contender will be quietest?
As always, we’ll be going over your answers on the Montreal Hockey Talk Habs Pregame Show, starting an hour before each Canadiens game on montrealhockeytalk.com.
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Popular project management application, Trello has announced integration with Microsoft Teams allowing Teams users to easily access their Trello boards from the Microsoft Teams app or on the Web.
All you have to do is to add a new integration – Trello, in this case. Once done, authenticated, and after you’ve chosen a board, you can create new cards, monitor the activity on the board, and manage and move cards – just about everything you’d need to do on Trello.
Trello is a pretty neat addition to Microsoft Teams. The integration is first of many clearly, as Teams competes with services like Slack which offer integration with several collaboration and productivity apps and services.
Incidentally, Trello competes with Office 365 Planner, a new service from Microsoft which is also integrated in Microsoft Teams. The Planner though offers limited features at the moment.
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Further reading: Microsoft Teams
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PARIS (AP) — Residents of a sleepy French village in Bordeaux have been left dumbfounded after discovering their local 18th-century chateau was completely bulldozed "by mistake."
The mayor's office in Yvrac said Wednesday that workers who were hired to renovate the grand 13,000-square-meter (140,000-square-foot) manor and raze a small building on the same estate in southwest France mixed them up.
"The Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac's pride and joy," said former owner Juliette Marmie. "The whole village is in shock. How can this construction firm make such a mistake?"
Local media reported that the construction company misunderstood the renovation plans of the current owner, Russian businessman Dmitry Stroskin, to clean up the manor and restore it to its former baroque glory.
Stroskin was away when the calamity occurred and returned home to discover his chateau, a local treasure boasting a grand hall that could host some 200 people, as well as a sweeping stone staircase — was nothing but rubble.
"I'm in shock ...I understand the turmoil of the community," local media quoted Stroskin as saying.
He told them he plans to build an exact replica of lost manor on the site.
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Follow Thomas Adamson at —http://Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP
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The Largest Man-Made Accidental Explosion
On today's date in 1917, an explosion ravaged Halifax, killing 2,000 people an injuring 9,000 others. But this mass disaster was not triggered by natural events. The explosion was, entirely, man-made.
Just before 8:45 A.M. on that day, the SS Imo, an empty Norwegian passenger and freight ship, and France's SS Mont Blanc, collided. The Mont Blanc, a cargo ship, was loaded with munitions aimed at supporting French efforts in World War I. The Mont Blanc caught fire, and while its crew safely made it to shore, the language barrier -- them, French; native Halifax residents, English -- probably prevented any warnings given from being heeded. Twenty minutes later, amid hundreds of onlookers, the Mont Blanc's payload caught fire. The ship exploded, as pictured right.
The explosion's intensity was roughly one-fifth that of the atomic bomb which struck Hiroshima. The Mont Blanc itself was instantly vaporized; a fire plume shot up over a mile in the air. Roughly one square mile around the blast area was destroyed and rendered inhabitable, while structural damage to buildings was recorded as far away as ten miles from the epicenter of the explosion. An earthquake-like shake was recorded 75 miles away and the explosion could be heard over 100 miles north and 200 miles west of the blast. The blast was so powerful that a half-ton piece of the ship's anchor mast shot through the skies, landing over two miles from where it came. (The fragment is now part of a monument placed roughly near its landing spot, as pictured here.)
The after-effects were also considerable. The explosion set off a tsunami, which struck the waterfront with 60 foot high waves. It also caused a black, sooty "rainfall" for ten minutes after the blast; survivors were covered in debris. And the Canadian military lost one of its key buildings, as the Royal Naval College of Canada was destroyed in the explosion.
The catastrophe is widely considered the worst man-made accidental explosion in history, when factoring in not just the size of the blast but also the number of causalities, the radius of the damage, and the loss of property. The death toll was so immense that more Nova Scotians died in the explosion than otherwise in World War I.
Bonus fact : The Mont Blanc (cargo ship) got its name from the Alpine mountain of the same name, on the French and Italian border. In 1886, Theodore Roosevelt lead an expedition to its peak -- while vacationing in Europe on his honeymoon.
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Butter a 2-quart, round, high-sided baking or soufflé dish; set aside. Place the pressure cooker rack in a stovetop or electric cooker; pour in 2 cups water.
Set a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the bacon and fry until crisp, 3 to 4 minutes, turning occasionally. Transfer to a cutting board; chop the bacon into bits. Toss these in a large bowl with the bread pieces.
Whisk the eggs, milk, syrup, and nutmeg in a second bowl until smooth. Pour over the bread mixture and toss well to coat. Pile the mixture into the prepared baking dish; press down to compact somewhat, submerging all the bread into the liquid. Cover the baking dish with a piece of parchment paper, then seal with aluminum foil. Make a foil sling for the baking dish, then lower the sealed dish onto the rack in the pressure cooker. Fold the ends of the sling so they’ll fit inside the cooker.
Lock the lid onto the pot.
STOVETOP: Set the pot over high heat and bring it to high pressure (15 psi). Once this pressure has been reached, reduce the heat as much as possible while maintaining this pressure. Cook for 12 minutes.
OR
ELECTRIC: Set the machine to cook at high pressure (9–11 psi). Set the machine’s timer to cook at this pressure for 18 minutes.
Use the quick-release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal.
Unlock and open the cooker. Use the foil sling to transfer the hot baking dish to a wire rack. Uncover the baking dish, cool a few minutes, then scoop out servings in big spoonfuls.
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Real Madrid Almost half of Real's set-piece assists come from playmaker
There wasn't a great deal to read into Real Madrid's victory over Stade de Reims on Tuesday night but Toni Kroos once again proved just how much of a master he is when it comes to the delivery of set-pieces with a duo of assists.
Sergio Ramos and Nacho both headed goals from Kroos corners and while this may only have been a pre-season friendly, since arriving at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu the German international's delivery has been imperious.
In the two seasons spent with Real, 31 of the 70 goals to have come from set-pieces were provided via the boot of Kroos, an impressive 45 percent.
It's also a figure which would surely be higher, were it not for the number of free-kicks taken by Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale around the penalty area.
While Kroos has been so dominant in assisting, his success has seen Luka Modric's contribution drop to 8.5% in the two seasons they have played together.
Real had a total of 125 assists in the 2014/15 season and 108 in 2015/16 with Kroos delivering 10.4% in the first season and 10.18% the season after.
In addition to his value from set-pieces, Kroos has provided for a further eight goals from open play leading to his two seasons with the club being in the top three of highest number of total assists in the past eight years.
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Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards says flanker Dan Lydiate "probably" needs to play in the South Africa warm-up to be considered for the first Test.
But Edwards says Lydiate is so important that Wales may risk him in the first Test on 14 June even if the Racing Metro player fails to face Eastern Province Kings on 10 June.
Lydiate's hamstring strain kept him out of Friday's trial in Swansea.
Edwards also said prop Samson Lee (shoulder) should train this week.
With open-sides Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric injured, British and Irish Lions back-row Lydiate could switch from blind-side to fill the gap at seven.
Wales' tour of South Africa 10 June: Warm-up match v Eastern Province Kings in Port Elizabeth 14 June: First Test, Durban 21 June: Second Test, Nelspruit
Versatile Scarlets back-rowers Aaron Shingler and Josh Turnbull have also played at open-side in the past, as has regular Wales number eight Taulupe Faletau.
But 35-cap Lydiate, 26, would appear to be favourite to cover for shoulder injury victims Warburton and Tipuric.
Wales' warm-up match against Eastern Province Kings in Port Elizabeth will be followed by Tests in Durban on 14 June and in Nelspruit a week later.
"I think Dan Lydiate probably needs a bit of a run-out before then [the first Test]," said Edwards. "So whether he's involved in the first game I'm not sure, but we'll decide that later.
"To give him confidence I think it would help him to have a little bit of game time. But Dan Lydiate is the kind of player who's an integral part of our team, maybe we'd even take a chance with him without playing in that game."
Scarlets tight-head Lee joined fellow Probables Jamie Roberts (shoulder) and Ken Owens (leg) in coming off in the trial against Wales Possibles at Liberty Stadium.
"We think they'll all be training later in the week and even Samson Lee is a positive scan," said Edwards.
"We'll re-assess him later in the week, but he seems pretty positive in himself. At first we feared the worst with Samson."
WALES SQUAD
Forwards:
Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Paul James (Bath), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Matthew Rees (Cardiff Blues), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (capt, Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Perpignan), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), Dan Baker (Ospreys).
Backs:
Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhodri Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), James Hook (Perpignan), Steven Shingler (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Jordan Williams (Scarlets), Matthew Morgan (Ospreys), Liam Williams (Scarlets).
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Set aside your political affiliations for the moment, and check out this little gem on eBay: President Barack Obama’s old Chrysler 300C is reportedly up for auction.
He may roll deep in an eight-inch thick armour-plated Cadillac-badged super-limousine replete with shotguns - which promptly got stuck on a speed bump in Dublin last year - but back before he threw his name into the Presidential hat, Obama used to run this Chrysler. Apparently.
The seller reckons he’s got Obama’s name on the car’s paperwork, so take it how you will. For reference, there was a lot of buzz around this car a few years back when it was offered up on eBay the first time.
Still, you have to give the Pres’ a nod of respect for running a 5.7-litre Hemi V8 as a Senator (he traded it in for a Ford Escape Hybrid when he ran for the White House), in which he covered around 20,000 miles. It packs 340bhp and 390lb ft of torque, which is nice. Shame we’re not getting a V8 in the new 300C…
Anyway, this is all fine and dandy, until you get to the starting bid. The seller, listed as cubfanatic23, has put that starting bid down as $1,000,000. Yes, Obama’s old 300C, if indeed it is, is a cool thing, but a million bucks cool?
Check out the listing here - relisted as of this morning when nobody bid on it before - and let us know what you think below.
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Despite having been exposed as a complete farce, the idiocy of Date A Gamer/Shag A Gamer continues. These so-called dating sites, which rely on bought-in profiles and enormous quantities of spam, are once again trolling to suggest they’re there to help gamers get laid. One third of gamers, they claim, are virgins. As if that’s a bad thing. As if it’s a disease they need to cure. They are arseholes. And as such they’ve created a series of videos explaining to gamers how to get dates/laid.
I’m not linking to their sites, mostly because I can’t be bothered with the “you’re just giving them the attention they want” complaints, when what I actually want to do is highlight that these people are shits, and that being a gamer who has not had sex is a perfectly normal and acceptable thing. Antithesis to their kindergarten-drop-out thesis.
There are five tawdry videos released to promote the site, in which two women in revealing t-shirts awkwardly read out an astonishingly sexist script.
“Even though we’re not the brains behind the computer games,” says one hired model, referring to all of womankind, “if it wasn’t for our kind of nature, you boys would be nowhere.” Proof of this remarkable claim is demonstrated because a footballer mentioned his mum once. No, really. She continues,
“Some men think us women are high maintenance. They obviously haven’t played Diablo 3.”
Er, what?
Their “please don’t kill my family” delivery goes on to give some of the most banal advice imaginable (“Leave the Hawaiian shirt at home.”), intercut with shots of the women’s breasts, and smacking their own bottoms. The third video promises to instruct “How to impress a Girl into Bed after the first date” (sic). “Don’t be afraid to connect with them hot girls, and don’t have no preconceptions,” we’re advised. The assurance of all irony being left outside comes when one model says, “Don’t let them eyes go wandering,” as the camera instantly cuts to a long-holding close-up of her breasts. And then, well, it doesn’t give a single piece of information about how to get a girl to sleep with you on the first date. Likely because everyone involved in its production wouldn’t have the faintest clue.
All the way through it sounds a bit like a dad trying to use the hip, groovy terms of the young people, with misplaced attempts to script “fragged” and “beat-em-ups” appearing throughout. “Overload my buffer,” we’re told. The result is an overwhelmingly sad affair, disinterested women saying badly written nonsense, while the camera leers over their legs and tits.
It bears repeating that both their sites are farcical, as brilliantly exposed by PCGN’s Steve Hogarty. The site really has nothing to do with gaming nor gamers, but instead bought-in profiles from White Label Dating, and a great deal of spam. You discover this after you’ve signed up for a £20/m account, which Hogarty discovered can only be cancelled by calling a phone number, at which point they might even force you into an extended stay followed by another humiliating phone call to make later.
Which is all to say, while a dating site for gamers would absolutely be no bad thing, this isn’t one, and looks to me like a pretty bad thing. And the ridiculous notion that being a virgin is automatically an issue is a ghastly attitude that causes nothing but shame and harm. It’s obviously perfectly normal, and nothing to be ashamed of.
I’ve embedded by far the most verbally offensive, and the least visually naughty video below. It’s not really safe for work. It beggars belief.
In short, stay far away from both Date A Gamer and Shag A Gamer. They aren’t dating sites for gamers at all.
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He is a very, very rich man – and will soon profit from very, very generous German hand-outs…
Spiros Latsis, who according to ‘Forbes’ has a fortune of €4 billion, is the wealthiest man in Greece.
He lives a life of luxury enjoyed in private. He mingles with leading lights from the world of entertainment and business. And politics!
The 63-year-old made his money through oil, shipping, housing – and banking. He lives by Lake Geneva and has villas in numerous European cities as well as yachts and private jets.
“He lives discretely and shuns publicity,” wrote the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ newspaper.
With his EFG Group, Latsis helped bail out the Greek government amongst others in 1998 by buying the bankrupt Kretabank from the state for a surprisingly high sum of money.
Afterwards, the government let him come on board with oil giant Hellenic Petroleum.
In Greece this doesn’t surprise anyone – you help each other out.
Just like when Latsis’ bank took on €12 billion high interest government bonds under very beneficial circumstances. That helped the Greek state make ends meet again – and boosted the billionaire’s bank account by no small amount thanks to the high interest.
And that effect is ongoing and will soon pay dividends again thanks to German taxpayers…
The IMF and the Eurozone countries, above all Germany, will help out Greece to the tune of €45 billion in new credit. That will allow the essentially-bankrupt country to pay interest and old, running out debts on time – amongst them Latsis’ government bonds.
“His bank might hold the largest amount of Greek bonds of all,” one Frankfurt banker told BILD.
And so starting from next week, the German taxpayer will be handing over cash to a Greek billionaire – practically filling up the bag for him.
More politics news
A €750bn aid package has been agreed to help out Germany's bankrupt neighbours - it looks like we are the schmucks of Europe yet again!
There are new health fears surrounding German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble after he was taken back to hospital.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York City Police Department on Friday released a security camera video showing ex-tennis star James Blake being tackled, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by an undercover officer in a now infamous case of mistaken identity.
Ex-tennis star James Blake is shown tackled by a NYPD officer James Frascatore (L) in front of the Grand Hyatt hotel in New York on September 9, 2015 in this still image from a security camera video released on September 11, 2015. REUTERS/NYPD/Handout
The incident occurred as Blake, formerly the world’s fourth-ranked player, was calmly standing by the entrance of a midtown Manhattan hotel, waiting for a car to take him to the U.S. Open.
Blake, 35, standing alone by the entrance of the Grand Hyatt hotel on 42nd Street on Sept. 9, was rushed by the officer who gave no warning or identification.
Blake is black while the officer, James Frascatore, is white. The incident revived questions over excessive police force that has reverberated around the country after a series of police killings of unarmed black men.
After giving no resistance to the Frascatore, Blake was handcuffed and led out of the view of the camera. The video was released by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which said in a brief statement that they had interviewed Blake and given his lawyers a copy.
“The investigation is still ongoing,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis said in a statement accompanying the video.
Police have said Blake had been mistakenly identified by “a cooperating witness” as being involved in a ring dealing in fraudulently purchased cellphones. They added that allegations of excessive force would be investigated by internal affairs.
The video, one minute in length, shows passersby on the street glancing over at the incident as it unfolded but not stopping. Only one person pauses to tell the officer something has dropped out of his pocket.
Blake, in a statement released through his lawyer Kevin Marino, said he believes the vast majority of police officers are dedicated public servants who operate appropriately, but what happened to him “is not uncommon.”
Both NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio have publicly apologized to Blake. Frascatore was placed on modified assignment. Bratton has questioned the tactics Frascatore used while other media have reported the officer has had five civilian complaints filed against him.
“But extending courtesy to a public figure mistreated by the police is not enough. As I told the Commissioner, I am determined to use my voice to turn this unfortunate incident into a catalyst for change in the relationship between the police and the public they serve,” Blake said.
He called upon the city “to make a significant financial commitment” toward improving that relationship.
In a joint statement issued late on Friday, de Blasio and Bratton defended their approach to improving relations between the police and the community, citing nearly $29 million spent on police retraining programs.
“And we are beginning to see results, with complaints to the CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) down to the lowest levels in 14 years,” the statement said, adding: “And we both stand ready to meet with Mr. Blake to further discuss these issues and initiatives.”
Bratton said he was concerned that no report had been made of Blake’s arrest and detention, a violation of department policy.
Blake was released within roughly 15 minutes, but suffered a cut to his left elbow and bruises to his left leg. He was on his way to make a scheduled corporate appearance at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in the borough of Queens.
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Florida may ease bottle law Senate votes for measure to lift size restrictions Apr 23, 2001 - The Florida Senate has passed a measure -- by a resounding 37-2 vote -- that would lift size restrictions on beer bottles and cans. The bill goes to the House, where a similar bill awaits floor action. ADVERTISEMENT
Existing Florida law limits beer and other malt beverage containers to 8, 12, 16 or 32 ounces. It does not apply to containers over 32 ounces. The law keeps many imports and American microbrewed beers out of the state because they are sold only in containers, often metric, of other sizes. Rep. Tom Lee first introduced legislation in 1999 to change the law, which was enacted in 1965. The Florida Beer Wholesalers Association mounted a quick and powerful campaign that year to make sure the measure went nowhere. They argued that the existing law is for "consumer protection," and that consuemrs might be confused by new sizes and drink too much. They said prices could go up because they would need more trucks and stores would have to add to shelf space. Lee has continued to press for the law change not only because it would increase consumer choice. In researching the 30-year-old law Lee said he learned, among other things, that it had been enacted to benefit one brewer (Anheuser-Busch) at the expense of a rival (Miller). "Even if it's a trivial matter in the overall scheme of things," Lee said. "The more you get into it, the more incensed you get that there's stuff like this in the statutes."
Search The Real Beer Library For More Articles Related To: bottle sizes
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Representatives from the Club have requested all parties to the investigation to guarantee confidentiality and to afford natural justice. Breaching this confidentiality directly undermines the trust in the process and selective disclosure of information relating to the investigation appears to be deliberately threatening the integrity of this process.
For the reputation and integrity of senior coach James Hird to be questioned without the right to due process, is extremely disturbing and inappropriate in the circumstances.
Today, The Age reported that James Hird received a ‘warning’ after he had been ‘investigating the anti-doping status of certain peptides.’
This is factually incorrect. Until the ASADA investigation is completed the full context of this particular meeting should not be the subject of innuendo.
On Monday night on Channel 9’s Footy Classified program and on Tuesday night on 3AW’s Sports Today program, Caroline Wilson, referring to the Club’s supplements regime falsely asserted that James Hird was the “main architect.” This is just factually wrong.
Ms Wilson also asserted that James Hird was Mr Dank’s initial champion. This is also factually wrong. Mr Dank was brought to the club at the insistence of Dean Robinson with whom he had worked previously.
Essendon Football Club has been limited in what we can comment on, and more than anything else, we want the ASADA investigation to be completed.
Despite the extraordinary media commentary and speculation, the Club has maintained its commitment to this process.
However, the Club will not continue to allow the reputation of its players, coaches, staff and the Club itself to be questioned by factual inaccuracies.
Essendon Football Club would like to make the following statement in relation to an article in The Age newspaper today and comments made by journalist Caroline Wilson in the media recently.There has been a disturbing amount of inappropriate and factually incorrect information being reported regarding senior coach James Hird and the ASADA/AFL investigation at the Essendon Football Club.At all times, Essendon players, staff, officials and coaches have fully cooperated with the ASADA/AFL investigation and the Club has repeatedly stated that the ASADA investigators must be allowed to complete their investigation.As requested by ASADA investigators, Essendon coach James Hird has agreed not to disclose matters discussed at his interview until the completion of the investigation.Today, The Age reported that “sources close to the joint investigation by ASADA and the AFL” have provided information to The Age.
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Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color is, in the company’s own words, “the reader’s tablet.” It looks like a tablet, it checks your email like a tablet, and it can get you online like a tablet. From a hardware standpoint, the Nook Color stacks up well against other 7-inch tablets, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Acer Iconia Tab A100. But unlike those other tablets, it doesn’t run full Android, which means you don’t get access to the 200,000-plus Android Market apps. For the full benefit of Android, you have to add it to the Nook Color yourself.
We’ll show you three ways to transform your Nook Color to an Android tablet. Two of these methods let you choose whether you want to run different versions of Android or the Nook OS each time you boot; the other leaves most of the Nook customization intact, but adds Android Market access and a few clever Android features on top. None of the three methods is irreversible, none will break your Nook Color (unless you try really hard), and none will take you longer than an hour. They are, however, almost certain to void the device’s warranty, so proceed with caution.
You’ll need three things to get started: a Nook Color, either an N2A card (see below), or a blank microSD card along with a computer or card reader that accepts microSD cards. It’s important that your microSD card be at least a Class 4 card, and preferably Class 6 or higher; two of these methods boot and run the Nook Color from the card itself, so you’ll want a fast card. Also, make sure to get a card with a minimum capacity of 4GB, though 8GB or higher is ideal. You’ll use nearly 4GB just for the Android OS, and you’ll want extra space for your own apps and files.
First up: the simplest way to get Android running on your Nook Color.
N2A Cards
The easiest way to turn your Nook Color into an Android tablet requires no technical knowledge and only about eight seconds of your time.
It involves nothing more than inserting a microSD card from a company called N2A (they’re available in 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB models, respectively priced at $34.99, $49.99, or $89.99) into your Nook Color’s card slot. Every time you power on the device, you’re given the option to boot into either Android or the Nook OS. If you decide you don’t want Android after all, just turn off the Nook Color; take out the N2A card, and you’ll never even notice it was there in the first place.
We’ve reviewed the N2A card, so I’ll spare you the gritty details, but in essence: N2A uses a well-known Android ROM called CyanogenMod, which is based on Android 2.3 “Gingerbread.” It’s a solid operating system, adding a variety of apps and features as well as access to the entire Android Market. This version has been customized to run on the Nook Color, but it’s not as tablet-friendly as Android 3.0 “Honeycomb.” (For more, check out our review of the N2A Card.)
N2A cards are certainly the easiest and least-risky solution, but you’re essentially paying a convenience fee—N2A does nothing you can’t do yourself. N2A will even help you do it yourself, if you’d like; the company has detailed instructions on its website.
N2A lets you use either the Nook OS or full-fledged Android. But what if you want the best of both worlds? That’s where nooting comes in.
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Image copyright ImaQh Image caption Qahtani (centre) and Hamid (right) at an earlier hearing
A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced two human rights and political activists to lengthy jail terms for setting up an illegal organisation and rebelling against the authority of the king.
Mohammed al-Qahtani was given 10 years, while Mohammed al-Hamid's earlier sentence of six years was upheld and a further five-year term added.
The court also disbanded their organisation, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA).
An appeal will be heard next month.
Correspondents say the trial in Riyadh has been conducted with a transparency unusual for Saudi Arabia, with fellow activists able to attend and describe court proceedings.
However, security officers had to clear the courtroom after supporters of the men denounced the verdict as politically motivated.
ACPRA has called for greater democracy and has documented allegations of human rights abuses in the country.
The ultra-conservative Saudi kingdom does not allow political protests.
The defendants were accused of spreading "false information" via social media.
After an earlier hearing in September, Qahtani said: "We have been doing our work for several years. The authorities kept quiet for a long time, but now they are coming after us hard. We are not going to be silent. We will continue to do our work."
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The FBI arrested eight people Tuesday, charging them with allegedly concealing more than $3 million in assets from federal bankruptcy court in Miami.
The five cases allege the eight people hid assets or illegally transferred them out of their name before filing Chapter 7 bankruptcies. In so doing, the indictment alleges, they shielded assets from creditors and avoided repaying outstanding debts.
Neighbors of Yechezkel, 39, and Tamar Nissenbaum, 35, couldn’t believe a small army of FBI agents arrived at their high-rise condo building at 4101 Pine Tree Dr. in Miami Beach early Tuesday morning. Agents walked out them out, through the lobby, in handcuffs.
“It comes as a huge shock when someone who’s cared about, who’s a member of the community, gets taken into custody like that,” neighbor Alex Strassman told Miami Herald news partner CBS4.
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According to allegations in the indictment, the couple liquidated a certificate of deposit worth approximately $141,829 in 2010, and then filed a joint petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. When asked about the accuracy of her disclosures in the bankruptcy petition, Yachezkel Nissenbaum “made false representations,’’ according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The couple has three young daughters who are now in the care of the Department of Children and Families.
“Great family, see them around the building all the time. Total shock,” Strassman said.
Among the others arrested:
▪ Walter Lista, 43, of Pinecrest. According to the allegations in the indictment, Lista transferred and concealed a Jeep Wrangler, a 34-foot boat, The Isabella, approximately $41,200 in cash and his interest and roles in companies he owned. The indictment alleges Lista failed to disclose the transfer of these assets, valued at more than $160,000, when he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 30, 2013.
▪ Rolando Garcia, 52, and Aileen Crespo, 43, of Miami. According to allegations in the indictment, they transferred assets held jointly to Crespo in a divorce settlement, before filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Among the assets allegedly concealed: properties in North Carolina, valued at $336,300; $36,000 in cash used to buy a Jaguar valued at approximately $80,000; and $100,257 in cash from the sale of a condo in the Bahamas.
▪ Rebecca Solemani-Appelbaum, 50, of Boca Raton, who is accused of liquidating approximately $102,445 from her IRA account and transferring the money into a family member’s account, according to the indictment’s allegations. She is accused of not disclosing this transfer in her bankruptcy petition and various amended filings.
▪ Gregory Lee Cutuli, 65, and Kathleen Anne Smith Cutuli, 65, both of Plant City, who are accused of transferring Kathleen’s $1.8 million federal income tax refund to Gregory and concealing the transfer in their Chapter 7 filing in Miami bankruptcy court, according to the indictment’s allegations. The indictment alleges Kathleen declared bankruptcy to avoid paying money to her former business partner. Investigators said the couple also failed to disclose furs, jewelry, household goods and cash.
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The Time Square Ball bringing in 2008 had more than 9,500 LED bulbs displaying 16 million colours while consuming power equivalent to about ten toasters. This compares to 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs adorning last year's Ball.
Easy to forget that most mobile devices used by Time Square revelers were behind IPv4 NAT's and that always on applications such as Instant Messaging, Push e-mail, VoIP or location based services tend to be electricity guzzlers. It so happens that applications that we want always to be reachable have to keep sending periodic keepalive messages to keep the NAT state active. Why is that so? The NAT has an inactivity timer whereby, if no data is sent from your mobile for a certain time interval, the public port will be assigned to another device.
You cannot blame the NAT for this inconvenience, after all, its role in live is to redistribute the same public addresses over and over; if it detects you stopped using the connection for a little while, too bad, you lose the routable address and it goes to someone else. And when a next burst of data communication comes, guess what? It doesn't find you anymore. Just think of a situation we would loose our cell phone number every time it is not in use and get a new one reassigned each time.
Luckily there's a way around but it requires a constant stream of keepalive message sent at preset intervals, often 30 second or so. These dummy messages give the NAT the illusion that the communication is still on and it doesn't disturb your address. Only drawback is that this happens to drain the battery and shorten standby time considerably. Just try leaving IM off instead of on to see the difference.
How much could this possibly drain the battery? In their excellent study [PDF], Nokia's Haverinen, Siren and Eronen tackled the issue. In a 3G environment, 20 second interval keepalive messages result in an average current of 34mA and this goes down to 6.1mA if no keepalive messages sent. If we know consider a Lithium Ion battery which is 3.6V and remember that Volt times Ampere gives Watts, this looks like 100.44 milliwatt saved. Imagine 3 billion 3G phones in 5 years time or so and bingo, roughly 300 megawatt of useless keepalive message. If we assume that all 3 billion 3G phones would be in use two hours a day on average, this still leaves 275 megawatt wasted.
How many power plants does it take to generate 300megawatt?
How many tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to produce 300 megawatt?
An article in EE Times Europe estimated that mobile networks consume 61 billion kwh and that this could double by 2011. Do cell phones in standby draw less power from the base station than if they communicate all he time? A higher density of phones per cell site conceivable if inactive phones in standby instead of a quasi permanent state of excitement? Who knows, this could maybe save some additional megawatts, this time by the operator.
And while on the power topic, all of us running major networks or content server farms take note of their electricity bills. Jonathan Koomey of National Livermore Laboratories estimates in his study [PDF] that servers worldwide consumed a cool 123 billion kwh in 2005 for a total electricity bill of 7.2 billion dollar!
Did anyone recently voice the opinion that IPv6 and energy saving was just marketing hype? The Time Square Ball LED light bulb initiative sure must have had its detractors too.
Happy New Year!
Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these articles are solely those of the author and are not in any way attributable to nor reflect any existing or planned official policy or position of his employer in respect thereto.
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In Japan, there’s an adorable Shiba Inu who’s winning hearts not only when he’s awake, but also when he’s sound asleep!
Maru is an 8-year old Shiba Inu that’s just like any other Shiba Inu. Sweet, lovable, popular on the internet. But what sets him apart is that whenever he goes to bed, he always has his stuffed polar ball – who could be his doppelganger – with him.
What’s even cuter is that the two sleep in the same position (almost) every time. Whether it’s on their backs, on their bellies, or on their sides. They’re so irresistible, they already have more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram!
See more of Maru and his adventures (or non-adventures) here.
A photo posted by Shinjiro Ono (@marutaro) on Nov 18, 2015 at 7:08am PST
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A photo posted by Shinjiro Ono (@marutaro) on Nov 3, 2015 at 7:02am PST
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch may qualify as the largest garbage dump in the world, with 3.5 million tons of trash – 90% of which is plastic debris – swirling around between Hawaii and California.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex or Eastern Garbage Patch, consists of waste such as toilet seats, camera cases, and oil drums, floating in the middle of the Pacific ocean. The trash accumulates from all over the world and as it moves into the ocean, it becomes trapped at the center of a system of rotating ocean currents known as the North Pacific Gyre.
Twice the size of Texas – though some scientists have argued that its mass has extended to twice the size of the United States – a majority of the garbage is comprised of tiny bits of plastic, barely visible to the human eye. Due to the small size of much of the garbage and its location floating 10 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, the garbage patch does not show up in satellite images.
More than 200 billion pounds of plastic are created every year and at least 10% of it ends up in the ocean. Land-based plastic comprises 80% of the garbage patch and from the west coast of North America, it takes roughly five years for the plastic debris to travel in the ocean and get caught in the gyre, and about one year from the east coast of Asia.
As it travels, the non-biodegradable plastic continues to disintegrate into tinier and tinier pieces, even down to the molecular level. The smaller the plastic breaks down, the higher chance it has of being ingested by aquatic organisms. Much of the larger plastic is covered in barnacles, making the area a popular destination for scientists studying the impact of plastic on the ecosystem.
Scientists had suspected the existence of the plastic patch since 1988, but it wasn’t confirmed until Charles J. Moore, a California-based sea researcher, stumbled upon the area in 1997 on his way home from a sailing race. Moore, who once described the area as plastic soup, released a study in 1999 indicating that the area contained six times more plastic than plankton. Recently, some samples have shown 48 parts plastic for every 1 plankton, meaning the levels of plastic concentration may have increased fivefold in just over a decade.
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In a show of support to activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Santa Monica City Council moved forward with plans to end the City’s banking relationship with Wells Fargo bank.
The City currently has $1 billion in annual transactions with the bank, including deposits and payments, according to spokeswoman Constance Farrell. Santa Monica’s investment portfolio includes $4.6 million in Wells Fargo bonds.
During a midnight discussion and a lengthy public comment period, Mayor Ted Winterer reminded supporters of the divestment that applause is forbidden at City Council meetings, so when five out of seven members voted to move forward with the motion a wave of jazz hands shot up into the air – a vigorous sign of approval from attendees who pushed for the motion into the early morning hours.
“I’ve been to Standing Rock twice. I was on the frontline every time. It made me very angry to see my people treated in such a manner,” said Walter Ruiz, also known as Graywolf. Ruiz was one of 25 activists who spoke to support cutting ties with Wells Fargo. He runs the Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks.
“I’ve always heard that Santa Monica was a very progressive city but I didn’t realize how progressive. I am surprised.”
With the passage of the motion, staff in the City’s finance department will look into removing funds from Wells Fargo and issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to other banks. A new RFP is scheduled for spring 2018 but may be expedited, according to City Manager Rick Cole.
Wells Fargo is one of 17 banks providing credit to Energy Transfer Partners in order to build the pipeline, according to financial documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other creditors include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Compass, HSBC, Citibank and Morgan Stanley among others.
Native Americans who live on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation say the pipeline threatens their sacred lands and water supply. Protesters from across the country have traveled to the reservation to help keep the Army Corp of Engineers from beginning construction. They have also focused on the creditors behind the pipeline. So far two other West Coast cities, Seattle and Davis, have moved to cut ties with Wells Fargo.
The motion for Santa Monica to change banks came from Councilmembers Tony Vazquez and Terry O’Day.
“If you’re paying any attention to national media today or in fact global, you know one of the most symbolic fights for our future is happening at Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline,” O’Day said. “It is a fight over sovereignty and respect for native people. It is a fight over the respect of humanity and the future of humanity.”
The City Council received more than thirty emails in support of the motion and just one in opposition. All five Councilmembers who were present for the vote supported the motion. Councilmember Pam O’Conner went home before the vote and Councilmember Sue Himmelrich recused herself because both she and her husband have represented Wells Fargo as attorneys.
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All it took was a lost railcard and a £40 fine for me to abandon my heroic resistance to the surveillance society. One brush with a ticket inspector and I am giving Transport for London full access to my travel schedule. If democracy dies in darkness, privacy perishes with penalty fares.
For reasons that probably make little sense to a rational person, I had always resisted registering the pay-as-you-go Oyster card that Londoners use to get around on public transport. My objections spring from a libertarian view that there is no reason for any state organisation to have a log of my every recent journey.
This is, I recognise, a dogmatic approach. For one thing, since I use a credit card to top up the Oyster, it would not take Inspector Morse to map my travels should anyone wish to do so. For another, since I have no immediate plans either to commit a crime or have an affair, there is no reason to worry about whether TfL knows my route to work. But the harvesting of personal data by both state actors and private companies has long bothered me, and so I took my small stand. Oh yes, I am the Pancho Villa of the struggle against Big Data. Pity the phone app that asks for access to my location. (OK, the Pancho Villa of the struggle may be overdoing it, but I’m certainly the Aston Villa.)
Related article FT Weekend Festival Robert Shrimsley will be among the speakers at the FT Weekend Festival on Saturday September 2, Hampstead Heath, London. Details and tickets: ftweekendfestival.com Saturday, 29 July, 2017
But there is a price to pay for principles. And indeed as my lost card proved, there are at least two good reasons why I should have wanted to register the card. It would have proved I had not dodged a fare, but had lost the card after tapping into the station, and it would probably have allowed me to get a refund on the lost card. All in all, my principled stand will cost me between £20 and £60, depending on whether I successfully appeal. And, somewhere between £20 and £60 turns out to be the price of my principles. This week I bought and duly registered a new card.
Now that I am on the grid, I may take a few added precautions — emailing the head of TfL each night with details of journeys, just to let him know I’ve arrived safely. I imagine he worries.
The conventional argument against paranoids like me is that the innocent have nothing to fear. Then again, the penalty fare system suggests otherwise. Guilt is assumed. I may have been travelling with a witness who saw me tap in at a station where you need to do so to gain entry, but the onus is on me to prove my innocence. In this case, the data might have helped me (although I still do not see why the onus is on me to prove that I am not guilty, rather than the other way round). But we have seen enough miscarriages of justice to feel uncomfortable trusting the police with every detail of our lives.
My surrender is, however, typical of how the battle against surveillance is lost. There is always a good reason for giving up personal information. There is always a trade on offer. Register your travel card and protect yourself against loss. Compulsory national identity cards? Well, they help fight fraud and — according to some enthusiasts — will help prevent terrorism (although since none of our homegrown terrorists have attempted to hide their identity, I have yet to hear a single convincing reason why this may actually be true). Give your location to apps and you may get a discount on a product you want. Tell Snapchat your location and stalkers (sorry, friends) can find you.
Individually, none of these things much matters, but add in the CCTV on so many streets and the fact that your mobile phone is a GPS transmitter, and suddenly your every movement can be recorded and held on a file somewhere. Once your data is held, it can be demanded. As we move to a cashless society, all purchases will be recorded. Privacy has to be fought for in the good times because in the bad times there are fewer mechanisms to defend it. In democratic societies, freedoms are lost in increments rather than in one draconian crackdown.
And yet despite these views — which I know will seem absurd to some — I have succumbed at the first whiff of trouble for the sake of an easier life. In the battle to erode privacy, convenience is a deadlier weapon than coercion.
Illustration by Lucas Varela
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July 24, 2014
TORONTO, ON – Aristotle said, “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” Poetic as it is, thinking that you and your partner were made in heaven for each other can hurt your relationship, says a new study.
Psychologists observe that people talk and think about love in apparently limitless ways but underlying such diversity are some common themes that frame how we think about relationships. For example, one popular frame considers love as perfect unity (“made for each other,” “she’s my other half”); in another frame, love is a journey (“look how far we’ve come,” “we’ve been through all these things together”). These two ways of thinking about relationships are particularly interesting because, according to study authors social psychologists Spike W. S. Lee of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and Norbert Schwarz of the University of Southern California, they have the power to highlight or downplay the damaging effect of conflicts on relationship evaluation. Here’s why. If two people were really made in heaven for each other, why should they have any conflicts?
“Our findings corroborate prior research showing that people who implicitly think of relationships as perfect unity between soulmates have worse relationships than people who implicitly think of relationships as a journey of growing and working things out,” says Prof. Lee. “Apparently, different ways of talking and thinking about love relationship lead to different ways of evaluating it.”
In one experiment, Profs. Lee and Schwarz had people in long-term relationships complete a knowledge quiz that included expressions related to either unity or journey, then recall either conflicts or celebrations with their romantic partner, and finally evaluate their relationship. As predicted, recalling conflicts leads people to feel less satisfied with their relationship—but only with the unity frame in mind, not with the journey frame in mind. Recalling celebrations makes people satisfied with their relationship regardless of how they think about it.
In a two follow-up experiments, the study authors invoked the unity vs. journey frame in even subtler, more incidental ways. For example, people were asked to identify pairs of geometric shapes to form a full circle (activating unity) or draw a line that gets from point A to point B through a maze (activating journey). Such non-linguistic, merely pictorial cues were sufficient to change the way people evaluated relationships. Again, conflicts hurt relationship satisfaction with the unity frame in mind, not with the journey frame in mind.
Next time you and your partner have a conflict, as Profs. Lee and Schwarz would advise, think what you said at the altar, “I, ____, take you, ____, to be my husband/wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward ‘till death do us part.” It’s a journey. You’ll feel better now, and you’ll do better down the road.
The study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
For the latest thinking on business, management and economics from the Rotman School of Management, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/NewThinking.aspx.
The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is redesigning business education for the 21st century with a curriculum based on Integrative Thinking. Located in the world’s most diverse city, the Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables the design of creative business solutions. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.
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Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
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DENVER - Coors Field is preparing to get some use outside of the regular baseball season.
On Feb. 29, the public will have a chance to lace up some skates and hit the ice during two public skate sessions at the Colorado Rockies baseball stadium. The first session goes from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by a later session from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
The cost is $50 per person and includes a $10 concession credit. It’s recommended that participants bring their own skates, though a limited supply will be available for rental.
Spectators can take in the view of the ice rink from normal stadium seating.
All skaters will be required to sing a waiver prior to being allowed to skate.
Tickets for the different skating sessions can be purchased online.
(© 2016 KUSA)
Copyright 2016 KUSA
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Writer Ghislain Gilberti and his son were savagely attacked on Saturday by a group of men shouting “filthy white”, seemingly Islamists enraged by one of his novels, police in France have heard.
Mr Gilbert and his 12-year-old son were attacked in Belfort, France on Saturday following harassment and attempted break-ins. Though an active antifascist, the writer and his family have received death threats from Salafists displeased that the prologue title of the novelist’s bestseller is “jihad”.
Police are investigating after Mr Gilberti was taken to hospital with a broken arm by firemen, following a reported street attack by Salafist Muslims.
Mr Gilberti said he received blows to his back before being called a “filthy white” by four men aged between 20 and 30 years, who held him down while attacking.
The author reported the men also kicked his 12-year-old son in the head and stomach, shouting “it’s the same price for you” and “we don’t forgive, we don’t forget” at his 11-year-old daughter who was also present.
The thriller novelist lost consciousness during the beating and, following the attack, will again request full police protection, Mr Gilberti’s publisher broadcast on Facebook.
Police say they are aware of the incident, have interviewed witnesses and that they are currently trying to determine the circumstances of the assault.
L’est Republicain reported that Salafists began threatening the author and his family, and harassing them in their own home following the paperback release of Mr Gilberti’s novel The Feast of the Snake.
The book features a fictional jihadist group who finance their actions by means of international drug trafficking. The novelist was assigned temporary police protection following incidents in March.
Mr Gilberti said he suspects Muslim critics who denounce his novel as “insulting [their] cause” are unintelligent. He remarked: “The authors of the threats have not read the book, or they have just skim read it. I did not insult Islam in the book. I am rather a defender of all faiths and I combat racist acts in an anti-fascist movement.”
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Two Canadian companies have entered into a global preferred service provider agreement that will bring “affordable and reliable” British Columbia-developed earthquake early warning system (EEWS) technology to countries with high seismic risk that currently do not have proven systems in place to protect lives in the event of a major earthquake.
Vancouver-based Weir-Jones Engineering Ltd., and Mississauga, Ont.-based SGS Canada Inc. announced the agreement on Tuesday. The EEWS technology, known as ShakeAlarm, can provide up to a 90-second warning of a pending earthquake by determining magnitude before it hits, Weir-Jones Engineering explained in a press release.
Developed by Weir-Jones Engineering and operational at the George Massey Tunnel in Richmond, B.C. since 2009, the EEWS is designed to shut the tunnel down and allow traffic to clear to curtail any potential danger. “For more than seven years, this system has operated without any false alarms, a reliability level of better than 99.99999%,” Weir-Jones Engineering said in the release.
James MacFarlane, vice president of industrial services for SGS Canada Inc., said that the product “will save lives and we are going to move it forward internationally through our vast global network,” which includes more than 1,800 offices and laboratories around the world.
The release explained that there are two waves generated when an earthquake occurs. The first wave, the ‘P’ wave, is a very fast-moving, non-damaging compression wave and ShakeAlarm can provide the “on-site analysis of ‘P’ waves in less than 200 milliseconds,” MacFarlane said. The second wave is the ‘S,’ or shear, wave and it is the wave that is felt and does all the damage in a major earthquake. “The ShakeAlarm system proprietary technology developed by Weir-Jones measures the ‘P’ wave, analyzes it in a fraction of a second, and immediately sends out warnings of the coming ‘S,’ or shear wave.”
This signal will save lives, the release said. Depending on site, facility or population needs, the signal can trigger specific actions such as turning off gas lines and shutting off water and electrical utilities. If applied to emergency services, it gives first responders an early warning that can also be used to automatically open fire hall doors so firefighters can get their equipment out, turn on generators at hospitals and bring systems like B.C.’s SkyTrain and Canada Line to a controlled stop or to the nearest transit station.
Weir-Jones Engineering owner Iain Weir-Jones said in the release that “working together with SGS means that our technology expertise will be offered internationally. As partners, we will always work to improve on the system and to ensure its reliability and advancement.”
Weir-Jones Engineering has been providing custom data collection, analytical services and project management solutions to clients in the resource, civil construction, marine and defence industries since 1971. Based in Vancouver with a satellite office in Fort McMurray, Alta., Weir-Jones Engineering is able to provide complete system design, manufacture and commissioning services to meet each client’s specific needs, the release said.
SGS is an inspection, verification, testing and certification company. With more than 85,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,800 offices and laboratories around the world. SGS Canada Inc. is part of this global network, operating in nine business lines with a team of 2,000 employees in 70 locations across the country.
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Alphabet was briefly the most valuable company in the world. You'd think it would do anything it wanted to, but there's one thing it can't do: upset the U.S. wireless carriers. That's why you aren't going to see Google's Project Fi expand much beyond what it's doing now.
There are four major wireless carriers in the U.S.: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. If you want to start your own service, you can start an "MVNO"—a virtual carrier that uses one of those networks. Maybe you'll also lean on Wi-Fi a lot, like Republic Wireless does, but ultimately, you'll need to make an MVNO deal. There's no way around it—there just aren't enough GoTennas in the world to fill in the big gaps between Wi-Fi networks.
Your MVNO deal will have specific terms. But it'll also have unspoken terms. That's what upstart US Mobile ran into this week, as its CEO Ahmed Khattak inadvertently tested T-Mobile's patience with a very loud, public rollout of Xiaomi and Meizu phones.
In US Mobile's case, Khattak got a call from someone at his enabling carrier—which, for contractual reasons, he never actually says is T-Mobile—saying that they wanted those phones to go through some additional testing. Khattak didn't have to comply, of course, but it's generally not a good idea to be on the wrong side of the folks providing your network service. Things could happen. So US Mobile is doing what T-Mobile strongly suggested it do.
Nice MVNO, Wouldn't Want Anything to Happen To It
And so we get to Google Fi. It combines Sprint, T-Mobile and Wi-Fi, and is a technology demonstration of how Google can intelligently knit together heterogenous networks and get all the handoffs and billing straight. From the Sprint and T-Mobile perspective, it may also be an experiment at seeing whether roaming on each others' networks makes a good nationwide alternative to having to roam onto the larger, but more expensive AT&T and Verizon networks.
But Fi can't go from being a beta to becoming a revolution. The biggest virtual carrier, TracFone, was allowed to get so big because it's seen as serving a low-income market that the major carriers otherwise wouldn't be easily able to tap. (TracFone also has at least one weird, old contract that couldn't be duplicated today, insiders have told me.) Other MVNOs tap into other niches, such as people who do a lot of international calling. Remember that Boost, Virgin, Cricket and MetroPCS aren't virtual carriers; they're just parts of the big guys.
Fi customers, as owners of expensive phones who use a lot of data, are generally pretty high-revenue users. The carriers don't want to lose those users from their own more expensive postpaid brands, so they're only willing to let Google try its experiment up to a point. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a maximum user figure built into Google's MVNO contract, after which the rates it would pay to T-Mobile and Sprint would get much higher. Even if there isn't an explicit rule, there's almost certainly an unspoken agreement.
It's actually easier to build an ISP than a wireless carrier, because mobile phones move. Google Fi can go city by city. WISPs such as Starry could even roll out neighborhood by neighborhood. But with a wireless carrier, it's either go nationwide, or you're stuck paying through the nose to the big carriers for roaming. This is the painful math that has gobbled up every regional carrier other than U.S. Cellular.
All this goes to say that they who own the spectrum and run the towers make the rules, and you shouldn't look for a revolution from anyone who doesn't own their own spectrum and run towers. This also emphasizes why we can't let any of the big four carriers merge with each other: as there's nobody else buying nationwide spectrum and building out towers across the country, no truly disruptive upstarts will rise up any time soon.
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Praying has been an important resort for Australia’s top-order batsman Usman Khawaja during tough times and the southpaw believes that it has helped him gain his long-running form and secure spots in all three formats for his country.
“The game can be quite tough at times and stressful and emotional,” he said in an interview to ESPNCricinfo.
“I pray. That’s what keeps me centered. The number one most important thing in my life is religion,” he added.
In 2011, Khawaja became the first Muslim cricketer to play for Australia when he made his Test debut in an Ashes Test at Sydney.
Ahead of a tri-nation series in the West Indies, Khawaja looked back upon the harsh times of his cricketing career.
He failed to impress in the initial stage of his international career and was dropped subsequently.
But, that did not weigh down on the left-handed batsman. In 2014, a knee injury which he received just a few weeks after Phil Hughes' on-field death, ruled him out for six months.
“We obviously lost Hughesy and I did my knee in the space of two weeks, so it was a pretty rough time,” said Khawaja.
However, Khawaja made a remarkable comeback in the international arena with a staggering 174 and 9-not out in a Test against New Zealand at Brisbane in November 2015 and from that point there was no looking back for the striker.
He entered the triple digits thrice after his comeback in the longer version of the game and has maintained an average of 101.85 since November last year.
Khawaja managed to cement his place in the Australian lineup in all three formats after he captained Australia ‘A’ in 2015 during their tour of India.
In the two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) this year, Khawaja has scored 50 and 44 against New Zealand.
Khawaja’s phenomenal run in Australia’s domestic T20 competition, Big Bash League (BBL), earned him a place in the Australian T20I side this year.
He scored 143 runs in four matches, including a fifty, at a strike rate of 137.
In four BBL matches for Sydney Thunders, the Islamabad-born scored 345 runs at a massive average of 172.5. His 40-ball 70 in the final bagged Thunders their first ever BBL title.
Khawaja fires in Big Bash
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BY: Follow @charleswrussell
The City Council in Sacramento, Calif. last week unanimously approved the controversial "Advance Peace" program, through which the city offers cash stipends to gang members who remain peaceful.
The 9-0 council vote came after a violent weekend in California's state capital during which a 49-year-old father was gunned down at Meadowview Park, Fox40 reported.
The victim, Ernie Cadena, was in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when he was shot and killed by a man believed to be a gang member.
"It was his only day off from work, and he just came to the wrong place at the wrong time,"said Aliseah Cadena, the victim's daughter "He was a wonderful father, and he was a soon-to-be father. And I wish I could have him back."
Four others were shot along with Ernie Cadena, but he was the only fatality.
The homicide prompted Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg (D.) to push for a quick vote on the Advance Peace program.
The program offers gang members cash stipends to graduate from college and not engage in violence. The city of Sacramento will have to pay half the program's costs, $1.5 million, out of its general fund.
Councilwoman Angelique Ashby has criticized the Advance Peace program's language and often clashed with Steinberg prior to the vote.
"In multiple places in the resolution, we say it's a four-year contract, in the contract, we call it a three-year contract, those are key critical terms, they don't agree," she said.
Ultimately, all members of the council got on board with the program, which "claims success" in dropping crime rates in Richmond, Fox40 noted.
But some of Ernie Cadena's friends do not know how the vote is going to change anything in the city. One friend, Allen Brown, called approving the program "senseless."
"How's the vote going to change anything? It's up to the community to change. You know what I mean? It's just senseless," Brown said.
The City Council vote occurred the same night of a candlelight vigil for Cadena. City staff are now reworking the language of the program's contract.
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More than 100 people have been killed in the cold snap across Europe, with temperatures plummeting and snowfall causing chaos from Moscow to Milan.
In Poland, where temperatures have dropped to as low as -20C in some areas, police appealed for tip-offs about people spotted lying around outside. At least 42 people, most of them homeless, died over the weekend.
In Ukraine 27 people have frozen to death since the thermometer dropped last week. Authorities in Romania said 11 people had succumbed to the chill, and in the Czech Republic the toll was 12. In Germany, where temperatures have fallen to -33C in certain parts, at least seven people are known to have lost their lives in the freezing weather.
For millions of others across the continent, the cold snap has brought severe disruption, with flight cancellations and traffic jams thwarting pre-Christmas travel plans.
The resumption of Eurostar services brought some relief to passengers travelling between France, Belgium and England, but many trains across Europe were delayed or cancelled.
Airports were struggling to cope with icy runways, with Ryanair and Easyjet among several airlines to cancel some flights.
In Frankfurt, where snowfall prompted delays and cancellations, 3,000 people were forced to spend last night inside the terminals at the city's main airport. "It is totally chaotic today … no one knows what's going on – neither us nor the staff," Dorothee Schaefle, waiting in line, told Die Welt newspaper.
Roads were not exempt from the chaos. After a weekend that brought the heaviest snowfall in about 100 years, Moscow was gridlocked, with tailbacks snailing around the Russian capital.
In Italy, where winters are usually mild, motorways in the north-east were closed and the Ministry of Defence dispatched helicopters in Sicily to bring medical aid to those in need.
In Milan hundreds of soldiers worked through the night to clear the snow- and ice-covered streets.
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This tournament is full, stay tuned for next weeks tournament which will be a 40 K RP + skin tournament
When: Tuesday 29th October
Time: 19:00 GMT +2
Type: Best out of 1 (If you loose you're out) the final 2 teams will be playing best out of 3 games
Teams: Max. 8-16
Prize: 4200 RP to the winning team
If you don't have anyone to play with or missing a few players, make a post here (http://nordic-gaming.com/index.php/forums)
Please read the rules before you register
Register here: http://www.nordic-gaming.com
Unsure about the tournament process ? Watch this video (http://youtu.be/g1rQODhs9tw?t=1m28s)
Please Like, follow and subscribe for more upcoming tournaments
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This tournament is full, stay tuned for next weeks tournament which will be a 40 K RP + skin tournament
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption George Osborne: GDP figures "major milestone" in economic plan
The UK economy has returned to pre-crisis levels by expanding 0.8% in the second quarter of this year.
On an annual basis gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.1%.
The figures show the economy is now worth 0.2% more than it was at its peak in 2008, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The service sector is the only part of the economy that has passed its previous 2008 peak, although that accounts for almost 80% of UK output.
The contribution of shoppers to the recovery remains immense - and the retail trade made the biggest contribution to the latest quarter's services surge
Other key sectors, including construction, industrial production and manufacturing, have yet to outstrip levels reached in 2008.
The UK economy is forecast to be the fastest growing among the G7 developed nations, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On Thursday, the IMF predicted the UK would expand by 3.2% this year, up from a previous forecast of 2.8%.
Productivity
Chancellor George Osborne said: "Thanks to the hard work of the British people, today we reach a major milestone in our long-term economic plan."
But shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, said people were not feeling happier: "With GDP per head not set to recover for three more years and [with] most people still seeing their living standards squeezed this is no time for complacent claims that the economy is fixed."
Analysis: Anthony Reuben, BBC head of statistics
Let's take a pinch of salt with these figures.
First of all, this is the preliminary estimate, so it's an educated guess based on about 40% of the economic activity that will go into later estimates.
But also, in two months the ONS will revise these figures for a once-in-15-years change to the methodology.
It will change the treatment in the GDP figures of things like spending on research and development by companies and the government buying weapons.
So the trend is almost certainly right - we can say that there was considerable growth in the economy in the second quarter - but 0.8% is unlikely to be the eventual figure.
And it may turn out that we have not yet reached the 2008 peak, or indeed that we did so a while ago.
'Marred'
Output per head is not expected to reach its pre-crisis level until 2017, partly because productivity from those in work remains weak, along with the fact the population as a whole has grown.
The news was given a muted welcome by Chris Williamson, Markit's chief economist: "Any celebrations will of course also be marred by the fact that the milestone reminds us that it has taken some six years for the country to merely regain the economic might it had before the financial crisis struck."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Matthew Hall, Par Homes: Improvements still not being seen in mid-Wales
Other countries recovered the output lost to the crisis much earlier than the UK. Germany regained its peak in 2010, with the US and France following a year later.
Set against that are changes due to be made to the way the ONS calculates its figures, which will be brought in in September. These may show the economy was actually stronger in 2008 than had been thought, and therefore the ground was made up sooner.
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Hilarious: lefty flips out over billboard explaining consequences of $15 minimum wage
The left-leaning tech blog Pando seems to be angry about a lot of aspects of reality.* Witness David Carr flipping out over this billboard that he spotted in San Francisco, “walking home from Pando’s office a few nights ago.” photo: Paull Carr, Pando The billboard just educates people about reality. If you raise the cost of labor, then it becomes economical to replace labor with automation, in this case touch screens, which are declining in cost as labor prices itself out of the market through high minimum wages.
Seems pretty basic. But Carr goes a little nuts, throwing around words like “screwing,” and impugning a person linked to the billboard. Hey, reality bats last. *see for instance, this: The techno-libertarians of Silicon Valley should think twice about aligning with climate deniers, which uses the discredited notion that polar bears are declining in number because of “global wamring” (that hasn’t happened for 17 years now). But hey, when you are fighting reality, you need to lie, call names, and manipulate emotions. Hat tip: iOwnTheWorld.com
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Courtesy of Dean Sawyer
A new road sign is coming to Kenmore Square — but it won’t tell drivers the quickest way to Cambridge or Brookline.
Instead, it will direct motorists to a coastal community 3,365 miles away.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials Thursday plan to install a Route 20 highway marker in the heart of the busy square that points traffic to the city of Newport, Ore.
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Little-known fact: Route 20 is the longest continuous road in the country, beginning in Kenmore Square and ending in Newport.
The green sign, which will read “20 West, Newport, OR, 3,365 miles,” will be placed at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue westbound and Kenmore Street, at the eastern end of Kenmore Station, MassDOT officials say.
The inspiration to post the sign connecting Massachusetts to the Pacific Northwest came from elected officials on the other side of the country.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Newport City Councilor Dean Sawyer said State Representative David Gomberg had visited West Sacramento, Calif., where he saw a similar mileage marker referencing the distance to Ocean City, Md.
“He came back to Oregon, got hold of the transportation department, and said, ‘We need a sign that says Boston is 3,365 miles away,’ ” Sawyer said. “So they did it.”
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Soon after it was installed, Sawyer decided to reach out to MassDOT Highway Administrator Thomas J. Tinlin. The two spoke over the phone, and Tinlin, Sawyer said, agreed to put up a corresponding sign in Boston directing people to Newport.
“They are going to put one up,” said Sawyer, a retired police sergeant in the community of about 10,000. “I’m just really glad [Tinlin] decided to do this. It helps both communities connect, and maybe we could have more connections over the years going forward.”
Mass DOT
Tinlin said he was at first confused when he picked up the phone and Sawyer identified himself. But after hearing the Newport councilor’s pitch about similar signage in Boston, he got on board.
“We do all kinds of real serious business every day, and so you want to keep your eye open for something that’s fun and something that’s educational,” Tinlin said.
This, he said, checked off both boxes.
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“I think it’s a pretty cool thing,” Tinlin said. “There’s a lot that divides this country, but Route 20 connects it.”
Route 20 is not the only extremely long road that begins in Boston. Interstate 90 (also known as the Massachusetts Turnpike in the state) starts near Logan International Airport and goes all the way to Seattle. At 3,085 miles, it is the longest interstate, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Although Newport’s Route 20 sign has been up for at least two weeks, the two cities are going to hold official unveilings of their respective signs on the same day.
Sawyer said already the sign in Oregon has inspired people to want to take a road trip to Boston, a city Sawyer last visited himself 10 years ago.
“I think it’s generated . . . a lot of interest in visiting Boston on our end,” he said. “I think hopefully it will obviously do the same there, but that’s not really the end goal. We do hope people in Boston will see the sign and say, ‘Where’s Newport?’ And then look us up and if they’re on vacation, stop in.”
But Tinlin thinks it will be the other way around.
“We do have the overarching concern that we’re going to see an increase in traffic volume on Route 20, when they realize they can escape the beautiful town of Newport, Ore., and get to Boston,” he said.
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Steve Annear can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @steveannear
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Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn was in Hamilton Thursday to highlight a section of the proposed Fair Workplace legislation that would allow victims of domestic or sexual abuse to take time off work without fear of losing their jobs.
"The last thing victims and their families need to worry about is whether they can take time off" to deal with such "tremendously difficult circumstances," Flynn said in a news conference at the Hamilton YWCA.
The leave, part of the Liberal government's amendments introduced in August to Bill 148 — the proposed Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs Act — is a direct result of public feedback, Flynn said.
If the amendment passes, it would make Ontario the second province to adopt such a leave, he said.
In Manitoba, the Domestic Violence and Stalking Act — which includes sexual assault — went into effect on June 1, 2016. It gives job protection, with pay for up to five days, to victims of domestic violence.
In Ontario, the domestic or sexual violence leave would be unpaid, but Flynn said the province would work with the federal government to try to make it, or parts of it, qualify as paid leave.
"We believe that those people who experience domestic or sexual violence simply shouldn't have to worry about how they are going to pay the rent or buy groceries or all the necessities of life that most of us just take for granted."
While Manitoba spells out the terms of leave under employment standards, Flynn said some of the Ontario regulations would still need to be worked out.
The leave would allow up to 17 weeks off, with 10 days that can be taken one day at a time for things like medical appointments, or up to 15 weeks intermittently for things like moving.
Lia Grimanis, a survivor of sexual and physical abuse, spoke after Flynn about "how dramatically our lives can come to a screeching halt" when victims experience such violence.
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A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked after a misconduct hearing found he formed an "inappropriate relationship" with a 14-year-old girl.
Pc Robert Nicholson met the girl in October 2009 while she was in custody and exchanged text and Facebook messages which had "sexual elements".
He then met the girl when he took her out of her care home in east London.
The constable, who was 27 at the time, faced a trial for sexual activity with a child but was found not guilty.
Reported missing
An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found he first met the girl at Bethnal Green Police station, where he was working as the jailer, when she had been arrested.
Pc Nicholson's actions were a disgraceful abuse of his position Deborah Glass, IPCC commissioner for London
After Pc Nicholson got her number they exchanged hundreds of messages and regularly spoke by phone.
On 16 December 2009 he drove from his home in Colchester, Essex, to meet the girl at her care home in Romford.
Staff at the home reported her missing and one of the girl's friends told staff she was with a police officer. The officer returned her near to the home later the same day.
Deborah Glass, the IPCC commissioner for London, said: "We expect the police to protect us and our families, yet Pc Nicholson's actions were, from the outset, a disgraceful abuse of his position.
"Although he met the girl while she was in police custody, and there can be little doubt he knew her age and vulnerability, he exploited his position as a police officer to pursue her sexually.
"I am glad he is now no longer in a position to do this to anyone else."
Pc Nicholson stood trial on two counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old child last November.
This related to allegations arising from the time the girl was away from the care home in December 2009.
He was found not guilty of both charges after a five day trial.
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Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza is an American improvisational comedy television program that aired in the United States on the Game Show Network (GSN). Produced at the Hollywood Theatre at the MGM Grand in Paradise, Nevada, the series was hosted by Drew Carey, host of the original American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, a similar show that featured several of the same cast members. The show premiered on April 11, 2011, airing 40 episodes in total. The series completed its eight-week run on June 3, 2011. Critical reception was generally positive, with one reviewer finding the show a natural successor to Whose Line.
Format [ edit ]
Drew Carey , host of the series and one of its performers
Similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, the program features the performers acting in improvisational comedy sketches in front of a live audience using suggestions and participation from the in-studio viewers. Many of the U.S. Whose Line alumni return for this show. Each episode consists of three or four improv games, each one introduced by a different cast member, with each game taking up an entire segment. Unlike Whose Line, the series is filmed at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. Carey himself is a performer and takes part in games with the other cast members.[1]
The series also interacted with the viewing audience by allowing viewers to enter a sweepstakes to win a trip for two to Las Vegas and a stay in the MGM Grand Hotel. One random winner was selected per day for each episode aired.[2]
Cast [ edit ]
In addition to hosting the show, Carey also serves as one of the main performers. Other members of the cast include Heather Anne Campbell, Jeff Davis, Chip Esten, Kathy Kinney, Jonathan Mangum, Sean Masterson, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Ryan Stiles,[1] and series musician Bob Derkach.[3] Guest performers include Wayne Brady,[4] Charlie Sheen,[5][6] Steve Kamer,[3] series announcer Rich Fields,[3] and The Price Is Right models Rachel Reynolds, Manuela Arbeláez, Gwendolyn Osborne.[7]
Production [ edit ]
The series, its cast members, and its premiere date were announced on January 10, 2011.[1] On February 16, GSN announced that the show would premiere alongside Love Triangle.[8] The show premiered on April 11, 2011, at 8 p.m. EDT.[9][10]
On August 25, 2011, Carey announced through Twitter that the show was effectively canceled as GSN would not be ordering any more episodes of Improv-A-Ganza.[11] From November 16, 2012 to January 4, 2013, reruns of the show aired on GSN. The two-hour time slot allowed GSN to air the entire 40 episodes in a 10-week stretch.[12] Laff acquired the rights to the show in 2015, airing it on Saturday nights.[13] The series has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray, nor has it been made available through online streaming services.[14]
Reception [ edit ]
The A.V. Club's Ryan McGee believed fans of improv would enjoy the show, writing, "what escapes through this series' run should give fans of improv enough pleasure to justify checking in whenever possible."[4] Melinda Houston of The Sydney Morning Herald found the premise of the show "deceptively simple", but she was "in awe of the intellectual effort involved." She added, "When the laughs do come, they're all the more satisfying for being so surprising and spontaneous. Thoroughly entertaining."[15]
See also [ edit ]
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DAYTON. Ohio (WDTN) - We've learned new information about a Dayton Veterans Affairs employee, who police say falsified records.
Detectives have spent nearly a year investigating this case, after 62-year old Calvin Coleman, a Middletown Veteran was found dead. The employee who said he visited that veteran has a criminal background, but was hired by the VA anyway.
Now officials hope what happened in March, doesn't happen again.
"When the officers responded they found Coleman had a mark on his face, an abrasion. There was also skin peeling off of his legs. Due to the suspicious circumstances investigators and the coroner's office came out" said Lt. Scott Reeve with the Middletown Police Department.
It turned out the veteran died of heart disease. After reviewing records, officials found a Dayton VA home health care worker assigned to Coleman's case lied about records.
"We did question him a couple of days ago, but he is still sticking to his story" said Lt. Reeves.
Not only that, the health care worker had a criminal history - including burglary and domestic violence.
The VA's background checks look 5 years into someone's past. The employee's criminal record dated past that....
Police expect to charge the Dayton VA employee with negligence, falsifying records and possibly theft this week.
The employee reports he visited Coleman the day before his body was found, but according to the coroner that's not possible.
"Due to the amount of decomposition to Calvin's body, they knew this could not have happened. He died three or four days before his body was discovered" said Lt. Reeve.
Statement from the Dayton VA:
"We take these allegations seriously and have launched an internal investigation, including a 100% review of the employee's records and conducting interviews with all other patients on the employee's caseload. We are also cooperating fully with the Office of the Inspector General and the Middletown Police Department to the extent that we are permitted by law. The employee has been detailed to a job which does not involve face-to-face patient interaction while these investigations continue."
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American voters dislike Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
A record 61 percent have a negative view of the likely Democratic nominee, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday. That’s up from 58 percent in March.
Fifty-six percent have an unfavorable view of Trump -- though that’s actually good news for Donald. Because it was 65 percent two months ago (that was a record high).
Thirty-seven percent have a favorable opinion of Clinton, down two points from 39 percent in March, establishing a new low. The likely Republican nominee’s favorable jumped over the same time period: 41 percent view Trump positively, up from 31 percent in March.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
“The standard for unpopular presidential candidates has been Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980, but we have two new champions,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “Clinton and Trump rate lower than disastrous candidates like Mondale or Dole.”
Among women, one in three views Trump positively (33 percent), while nearly twice as many view him negatively (63 percent). That’s little changed -- even going back to last fall. He was underwater by more than 30 points among women in September: 31-62 percent.
It’s a different story among self-identified Republican women. The poll finds they are almost twice as likely to have a positive opinion of Trump. And it keeps improving. Currently, 65 percent of GOP women view him favorably, up from 55 percent in March -- and 49 percent in September. Thirty-one percent view him negatively today.
For comparison, Trump’s net -30 rating among women is better than Clinton’s net -44 rating among men (27 favorable vs. 71 unfavorable). She even has a net negative rating among women: 46 favorable vs. 53 unfavorable.
Voters like their current president more than either of those most likely to replace him. Half have a favorable opinion of Barack Obama (50 favorable vs. 47 unfavorable).
Currently, 48 percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 49 percent disapprove. A month ago it was 49-47 percent.
The View among Partisans
Clinton receives a 74 percent favorable rating among Democrats. It’s about the same for Trump among Republicans -- 72 percent. That’s up significantly from 55 percent in March.
Those ratings seem perfectly fine, until compared to Obama. Democrats give him an 80-point net positive rating: 89 percent favorable vs. 9 percent unfavorable.
Twenty-three percent of independents view Clinton favorably. And although majorities have unfavorable views of Trump, his favorability among independents (40 percent) is comparable to Obama’s (42 percent).
Republicans rate House Speaker Paul Ryan positively with a 51-26 percent rating. Another 23 percent can’t rate him.
Overall views are mixed on Ryan: 36 percent favorable vs. 36 percent unfavorable. More than one voter in four either has no opinion (11 percent) or has never heard of the 2012 Republican vice-presidential candidate (17 percent).
Pollpourri
Voters view the Democratic Party more positively than the GOP.
Opinion of the Republican Party is upside down by 13 points (40 favorable vs. 53 unfavorable), while the Democratic Party is in negative territory by two (47 favorable vs. 49 unfavorable).
Part of that comes from in-house: 90 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of their party, while just 72 percent of Republicans say the same about the GOP.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,021 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from May 14-17, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.
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Are you always looking for easy to do, but fun projects? We took some rocks we found down by the river on a hike, grabbed some miniatures from the Miniature Shoppe, and little hot glue and my kids produced these great little Rock Stars (as we call them) for their rooms.
Great as paper weights, table decorations, or in my case, a way to remind the kids in their later years about the lazy, hazy days of summer in 2013. They grow too fast and this is one of those simple little projects that gets them away from the TV and computer and five years from now, will be a great glimpse back into their past about being a kid and hanging with Dad.
Rock Stars, fun, easy and lasting!
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Originally published December 8, 2012 at 6:44 PM | Page modified December 9, 2012 at 3:16 PM
There may not be a second chance to make a first impression, but Seattle will get its first chance at redemption against Arizona on Sunday.
There may not be a second chance to make a first impression, but Seattle will get its first chance at redemption against Arizona on Sunday.
This was the team the Seahawks faced in the season opener three months ago. That was back when the city was divided on whether Russell Wilson should be the starting quarterback, Seattle's offense was conservative enough to be mistaken for a red state and the Seahawks ran seven plays inside Arizona's 20-yard line in the final minute only to wind up 4 yards short of the game-winning touchdown.
How far have the Seahawks come since then? We'll see on Sunday.
"It will be a good comparison," coach Pete Carroll said.
And a good way to start the final quarter of Seattle's schedule, which features three rematches against NFC West opponents, all to be played at CenturyLink Field. For the first time this season, Wilson prepared for an opponent he has faced before. That doesn't mean he's the same, though.
"I have 12 times the experience," Wilson said.
That game in Arizona was a starting point for Wilson, and he spent most of that afternoon fleeing from a pass rush that was simply unrelenting. Not only was Seattle starting a rookie at right guard in J.R. Sweezy, but he was a converted defensive tackle. The Cardinals' pass pressure poured up the gut of Seattle's offensive line.
The Seahawks got the ball inside the Cardinals' 20-yard line four times in that game yet scored only a single touchdown.
It set the tone for the first third of Seattle's season, the Seahawks failing to score 20 points in four of their first five games. That season opener also gave Wilson a pretty good idea of the fourth-quarter nail-biters that have been a constant in this Seahawks season.
"That first game helped me improve," Wilson said, "helped me win some games at the end of the game, throughout the season so far."
Wilson has led three game-winning drives since that season opener, and Seattle has scored more than 20 in each of the past five games. Now comes this measuring stick of a game against an opponent the Seahawks have already faced.
"I'm excited to see," receiver Golden Tate said. "That was Game 1, and watching that game even just in film, I can see how much better we are, how much more disciplined we are and how we've grown as an offense and as a whole team.
"It's going to be exciting. It's going to be a hard-fought game as expected."
Don't snicker. The Cardinals are 4-8, having lost eight in a row, but Arizona's defense is anything but a pushover. Not only have the Cardinals allowed the seventh-fewest points in the league, they have forced 27 turnovers, fourth-most in the league.
Back in Week 1, the Seahawks had 139 yards passing, and Wilson completed just one pass for more than 20 yards.
On Sunday, he'll have a chance to show just how much he — and the rest of Seattle's offense — has improved since that opener.
"The first time out I wish I could have done something just to win that game there at Arizona," Wilson said. "Now we're playing at home, playing at CenturyLink the second go-around at it, so we'll have to figure out what we did well, what we didn't do so well, figure out what they did really well, and figure out how we can attack them."
Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or [email protected].
On Twitter @dannyoneil
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Screenwriting 101: Dennis Lehane
Scott Myers Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 5, 2011
START WITH CHARACTERS: “The plot is just the vehicle by which the characters are revealed. You create a bunch of characters and let them start bouncing into one another. That’s how a good story happens.”
KEEP ’EM MOVING: “My agents has a great line: ‘Alice was down the rabbit hole at the end of page one.’ A story is about movement. If you’ve got more than one page with a character sitting in a room, get him out.
FORGET THE PAST: “What your characters did before today is irrelevant. Flashbacks tend to be an alarm bell that your story isn’t working. If you want to see a great example of character in action, go rent THE VERDICT with Paul Newman. You know almost nothing about his character’s past.”
MAKE EVERYTHING COUNT: “Every scene needs to have a point. As David Mamet says, ‘A scene ends when a character gets what he wants or doesn’t get what he wants.’ Everything else is extraneous.”
HIDE, DON’T SHOW: “Suspense tends to be best delivered offstage — it’s delivered by withholding information rather than showing it. The specter of what could happen is far more interesting than what actually does happen.”
GET TO THE END: “A professor said to me once, ‘Just finish the damn book.’ If you never complete a draft, you’ll never know how to do it.”
REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE: “That first draft is just spaghetti on the wall. I rewrote my first book eight times in two years — that’s where you make yourself a genius.”
— Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, The Wire)
Comment Archive
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We all know about vampires and werewolves, or at least we think we do. The legends and myths that inspired these monsters are sometimes surprisingly different, but no less chilling. In this series of posts, Monster Monday, we’ll investigate the monsters that have informed our modern notions, as well as some lesser known monsters. Today, we talk about the Klabautermann.
The Klabautermann is a fairy-like creature from the folklore of northern Germany and the Baltic region. He lives on boats and assists sailors when they are out to sea. He is a diligent worker and an expert at repairing watercraft as well as navigation and sailing. He also rescues sailors who fall overboard. Thought generally benevolent, he is not above playing tricks from time to time and can sometimes act similarly to a gremlin.
The Klabautermann is depicted as a small man wearing a yelow sailor suit, smoking a pipe and carrying a caulking hammer. However, no one aboard a ship with a Klabautermann ever sees him as he performs his duties. He only becomes visible to the crew of a ship that is doomed.
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Mortgage lenders want federal regulators to exclude most home loans from new requirements that would force lenders to keep a portion of those loans on their books.
The Dodd-Frank financial overhaul passed over the summer requires lenders to retain a 5% stake in loans packaged and sold to investors. The idea was to force lenders to keep some “skin in the game.” As a result, lenders would be less likely to repeat the shoddy lending practices that led to the housing bust.
Regulators now must define which loans are safe enough to be excluded from these new restrictions, known as risk retention rules. They are to issue the rules by April 2011 at the latest. The Mortgage Bankers Association said in a letter to federal housing regulators Tuesday that mortgages with adjustable rates should qualify for an exemption from the risk-retention rules. Adjustable-rate mortgages should qualify, the group said, as long as they have an initial fixed payment period of at least three years.
The trade group also said that interest-only loans, in which borrowers do not make principal payments for several years, should be allowed. They should be permitted only if borrowers can prove that they can afford payments after the interest-only period expires.
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Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 22, 2016, 9:51 AM GMT / Updated July 22, 2016, 9:51 AM GMT By The Associated Press
Officials told residents of a small Colorado community not to drink or shower in tap water Thursday because one of the town's wells may have been contaminated with THC, marijuana's intoxicating chemical.
No illnesses have been linked to the water in Hugo, a town of about 730 people some 100 miles southeast of Denver, said Lincoln County Public Health Director Susan Kelly.
THC was detected in tests conducted with field kits, although other field tests were negative, sheriff's Capt. Michael Yowell said.
Investigators found signs that one of Hugo's five wells had been tampered with, but they hadn't determined whether someone deliberately tainted the water, Yowell said.
The FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation are helping with the case, he said.
Hugo prohibits marijuana cultivation, product manufacturing, testing facilities and retail marijuana stores, although those activities are legal elsewhere in the state.
Peter Perrone, owner of a marijuana testing facility in the Denver area, expressed doubt that THC could be in the water. The chemical isn't water-soluble, he told The Denver Post http://tinyurl.com/h8s9z5u
He said a company that administers employee drug tests was the first to detect THC in Hugo's water. A tester sampled tap water, assuming it would be negative, but it was positive.
It's unlikely that consuming pot-tainted water would cause lasting health effects, said Mark Salley, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health and Environment.
The effects of drinking THC-laced water would depend on the concentration, the amount consumed and how quickly it was consumed, and officials don't yet have that information, Salley said.
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Political analysts say that Kurdistan’s stability, inside a region in turmoil, has raised its status as a secure anchor to promote greater peace in the Middle East. Photo by Zhenar Omar
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Within five years the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq will have declared independence, according to a senior energy advisor at the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"Kurdistan is going to be rid of its status as a region within Iraq,” said Ali Balu,former head of Iraqi parliament's oil and gas committee. “A plan is underway for Kurdistan to be an independent state in the near future," he said.
Balu believes that plans and preparations are being made on the international stage aimed at declaring independence, which he says will be driven by Kurdistan’s geostrategic position and rich energy reserves.
He said that Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani’s participation at the World Economic Forum in Davos paves the way for international recognition of Kurdistan as an independent state.
An MP from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) also believes that oil plays a crucial role in making the case for Kurdish independence from Iraq.
“The existence of international oil companies has put the Kurdistan Region on the radar,” said the MP from the Kurdish legislature. He said oil had raised Kurdistan’s international political and economic standing.
Political analysts say that Kurdistan’s stability, inside a region in turmoil, has raised its status as a secure anchor to promote greater peace in the Middle East.
"The Kurdistan Region is not a state, but it has a role in stabilizing the Middle East,” noted Dr. Jutyar Adil, a professor of political science at Salahaddin University.
The Kurdistan Region sits on some 45 billion barrels of oil reserves and more than 110 trillion cubic feet of gas. It has granted oil and gas concessions to some of the world's biggest energy companies, including ExxonMobil, Gazprom Neft, Total and Chevron.
Last year, the Kurdish enclave also signed a multibillion-dollar energy package with neighboring Turkey, which includes construction of a second oil pipeline and one for gas.
Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani has repeatedly warned that the Kurds would seek independence if Baghdad continues to violate their constitutional privileges, including the right to export oil and receive 17 percent of the national budget.
The KRG and Baghdad have been at loggerheads over oil, the budget, Kurdish Peshmarga forces and disputed territories claimed by both sides.
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti must resume his part-time duties as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve with a stint on Saturday and Sunday at a military facility near the 710 Freeway in Bell.
Since 2005, when he enlisted, Garcetti has worked about 40 days a year on training and exercises with the reserve's intelligence service, juggling his military obligations with his full-time job as a member of the City Council -- and now, as mayor.
"While serving in the Navy, he's also mayor of Los Angeles, and is in contact with his staff and the Police and Fire departments, and is ready to act just as if he were doing any other activity over the weekend," spokesman Yusef Robb said.
Garcetti, whose specific assignments are classified, plans to work all day Saturday and Sunday at the Navy Operational Support Center in Bell, but spend Saturday night at his family's home in Silver Lake.
"If something were to happen, he can break away," Robb said.
Garcetti abandoned a trip to Washington and returned home this week after violence and vandalism broke out in Los Angeles as protesters vented their anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Florida killing of teenager Trayvon Martin. On Saturday morning, civil rights groups are planning a "Justice for Trayvon" vigil and rally outside the federal courthouse downtown.
Garcetti's eight-year commitment to the Navy Reserve ends in September. During his campaign for mayor, he deferred several weekend training sessions that he was going to have to make up after the May 21 election.
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Tucker writes: "But the demise of some of the Hill's worst Islamophobes - including Rep. Joe Wals (R-IL), who called for 'godly men and women' to 'stand in the face of the danger of Islam' - will help to tamp down the bigotry that has left law-abiding Muslim Americans fearful and depressed about their country. That's reason enough for celebration and hope."
West was elected as part of 2010's tea party wave. (photo: Reuters)
Let Us Be Thankful That Congress Has Fewer Tea Party Cranks
By Cynthia Tucker, National Memo
pparently, some of my fellow Americans want to secede from the union, undaunted by the disastrous result of that infamous attempt back in the 19th century. They are likely congenital cranks, destined to be dissatisfied.
But that troublesome sort - a few hundred thousand who have petitioned the White House to form a separate country - represents just a tiny fraction of the nation's voters. Most of us are happy to turn the page on a poisonous presidential campaign and usher in a season of reconciliation.
Here's a gift to help get us started: Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida has been defeated in his bid for re-election. That alone will help us resume an attitude of charity toward those with differing political views and open room for a re-emergence of the idea of a common good. West was a one-man siege on Fort Sumter.
It's not clear how a man who was once a distinguished Army lieutenant colonel came to be a caricature; a bilious, bigoted bomb-thrower who used only words of disrespect to describe Democrats and only rhetoric of hate and disdain to describe Muslims. Nor is it clear what American principles he fought for - remember the First Amendment? - in Iraq.
As a black Republican, West represented an opportunity for the GOP to open its tent to more people of color and to show that it could accommodate conservatives who were proud of President Obama's ascendency. Instead, West was contemptuous of the president, as he was of all Democrats.
Last April, stirring the paranoia that is rampant on the fringes of American politics, West channeled the infamous red-baiter Joseph McCarthy. At a campaign event, he declared his belief that "there is about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party." He offered no evidence for the charge.
But perhaps West was at his most unhinged with his vicious and utterly baseless attacks on Islam and its followers. He was in tune with one of the odder obsessions that grip right-wing voters - the notion that the United States, its Constitution notwithstanding, is vulnerable to a takeover by those who practice Sharia law. West claimed the covert assault has already begun.
In a public appearance in March 2010, he launched into a tirade against an insipid but harmless bumper sticker that graces many vehicles, the one that has symbols of the three major religions and the word "Co-Exist." West claimed that motorists who promote such tolerance would "give away our country … Would give away who we are, our rights and freedoms and liberties."
The congressman rode the Tea Party wave into Congress that year, but he was defeated on Nov. 6 by the more diverse electorate that usually votes in presidential years. It included not only blacks and Latinos but also Muslims, agnostics and atheists. They propelled West's challenger, Democrat Patrick Murphy, to a narrow victory.
West's loss won't end the ugliness in Congress or the gridlock that grips Capitol Hill, of course. There are plenty more men and women in Washington willing to speak of their political rivals as un-American lackeys who are aiding and abetting the enemy.
But the demise of some of the Hill's worst Islamophobes - including Rep. Joe Wals (R-IL), who called for "godly men and women" to "stand in the face of the danger of Islam" - will help to tamp down the bigotry that has left law-abiding Muslim Americans fearful and depressed about their country. That's reason enough for celebration and hope.
As a GOP congressman, West enjoyed inviting his political rivals to leave the country. But that sort of rhetoric has no place in nation struggling to find a way back to compromise and bipartisan solutions, so I won't treat West to a dose of his own medicine. It's enough that he was forced to leave the House of Representatives.
Cynthia Tucker, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a visiting professor at the University of Georgia. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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Darcy Gardiner has impressed as a tall defender in the young Lions outfit
BRISBANE Lions defender Darcy Gardiner has capped a memorable few days by being named the round 19 NAB AFL Rising Star nominee.
Fresh off signing a contract extension last Friday, Gardiner played a key role in the Lions' scrappy 23-point win over Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The 191cm backman took a career-high 12 marks opposed to Jack Watts, Chris Dawes and James Frawley.
He also collected 18 possessions – which he used at an elite 94 per cent efficiency – to earn the Rising Star gong.
"That was one of the pleasing bits of it my ball use was a lot better than it has been at times, especially getting a bit more of it than usual," Gardiner told AFL.com.au.
"The way Melbourne played allowed us to get a bit more involved as defenders."
The 18-year-old becomes the third Lions cub to receive a Rising Star nomination this season after James Aish in round six and Lewis Taylor in round nine.
The diminutive Taylor, 19, and Gardiner were recruited from the Geelong Falcons via draft picks the Lions received for the "Go Home Five", who requested trades at the end of last season.
In a major boost to the rebuilding club, the duo have followed fellow 2014 draftee Nick Robertso n by putting pen to paper on new deals tying them to the club until the end of 2016.
The 2012 class of Marco Paparone, Sam Mayes and Michael Close have also been locked away to multi-year deals.
Gardiner, the Lions' second pick at No.22 overall last November, said it was a relatively simple decision to extend his stay in Queensland.
"You have a little think about it. But there wasn't much hesitation there once they put something out to us," he said.
"I was pretty happy to get it done and move on."
The versatile big man wasted no time proving his worth after making his debut in round five against Richmond.
The Lions plunged to a 0-5 start, but Gardiner has helped tighten up a leaky defence in his 13 games.
He's averaged 11 disposals and four marks and played in five of the Lions' six wins.
"We're pretty happy with how we've gone after that start to the year," Gardiner said.
"For the second half of the season we're just trying not to get blown out like we were in that first half towards the end of games.
"We'd run out of puff so it's been good to show how we've improved over the course of the season.
"With all those contract extensions - there's been a few throughout the year with the younger boys - I reckon everyone's pretty excited about the next couple of years."
Junior club – Queenscliff TAC club – Geelong Falcons
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Teen slain in Hayward was recent graduate, aspiring Marine
A man walking on a Hayward street was shot to death early Tuesday near Art Avenue and Morningside Drive. A man walking on a Hayward street was shot to death early Tuesday near Art Avenue and Morningside Drive. Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Teen slain in Hayward was recent graduate, aspiring Marine 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A teenager walking on a Hayward street with a female friend was shot to death early Tuesday when a confrontation broke out with several men they crossed paths with, police said.
The victim, 17-year-old Kionta Murphy, graduated two weeks ago from Mount Eden High School in Hayward, where he was on the wrestling and football teams. He had planned to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
“He was a really good kid,” said John Taylor, the president of the local school board. “This is a loss for all of us on Hayward.”
Kionta and his friend were walking near Art Avenue and Morningside Drive about 1 a.m. when they came across a group of men, police said.
After a brief exchange of words, one of the assailants pulled a gun and shot Kionta, who was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The shooter and the rest of his group reportedly fled in a silver SUV. No arrests have been made.
Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @henryklee
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Democratic candidate Andrea Ramsey stated that she was unaware of the settlement made between her former employer LabOne and Gary Funkhouser, the worker who filed a lawsuit against her. (Courtesy of Andrea Ramsey for Congress)
One of the first prominent female politicians accused of sexual harassment is dropping her bid for Congress due to the accusations.
Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House from Kansas, is ending her campaign Friday due to allegations she sexually harassed a male subordinate more than a decade ago.
The Kansas City Star first reported Ramsey's decision, referencing a 2006 settlement made between LabOne – where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources – and Gary Funkhouser, the worker who filed a lawsuit. Funkhouser alleged Ramsey sexually harassed and retaliated against him when he rejected her advances.
"After I told her I was not interested in having a sexual relationship with her, she stopped talking to me," Funkhouser wrote in the complaint, obtained by the Star. "In the office she completely ignored me and avoided having any contact with me."
Ramsey vehemently denied his claims and described Funkhouser's termination as "non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory." She said she was unaware of the settlement.
"Had those allegations, those false allegations, been brought against me directly instead of the company I would have fought to exonerate my name. I never would've settled," Ramsey told the Star. "And I would have sued the disgruntled, vindictive employee for defamation."
But given the current environment, in which countless stories of sexual harassment and abuse have been brought to light in the media, entertainment and political industries, her situation was untenable.
Backed by prominent abortion rights Democratic group Emily's List, Ramsey was among the top recruits in the country to take on a Republican incumbent. But both Emily's List and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee agreed with Ramsey's decision to step aside.
"In its rush to claim the high ground in our roiling national conversation about harassment, the Democratic Party has implemented a zero tolerance standard," Ramsey wrote in an open letter Friday. "For me, that means a vindictive, terminated employee's false allegations are enough for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to decide not to support our promising campaign. We are in a national moment where rough justice stands in place of careful analysis, nuance and due process.
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Small changes to your habits can improve your health—without getting in the way of your work. The Healthy Programmer gives you a daily plan of action that’s incremental and iterative just like the software development processes you’re used to. Every tip, trick, and best practice is backed up by the advice of doctors, scientists, therapists, nutritionists, and numerous fitness experts.
We’ll review the latest scientific research to understand how being healthy is good for your body and mind. You’ll start by adding a small amount of simple activity to your day—no trips to the gym needed. You’ll learn how to mitigate back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, headaches, and many other common sources of pain.
You’ll also learn how to refactor your diet to properly fuel your body without gaining weight or feeling hungry. Then, you’ll turn the exercises and activities into a pragmatic workout methodology that doesn’t interfere with the demands of your job and may actually improve your cognitive skills.
You’ll also learn the secrets of prominent figures in the software community who turned their health around by making diet and exercise changes. Throughout, you’ll track your progress with a companion iPhone app.
Finally, you’ll learn how to make your healthy lifestyle pragmatic, attainable, and fun. If you’re going to live well, you should enjoy it.
Read the slashdot review here
Disclaimer
This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own healthcare provider including Physician, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Registered Dietician, and other licensed professionals.
Keep in mind that results vary from person to person. This book is not intended as a substitute for medical or nutritional advice from a healthcare provider or dietician. Some people have a medical history and/or condition and/or nutritional requirements that warrant individualized recommendations and, in some cases, medications and healthcare surveillance.
Do not start, stop, or change medication and dietary recommendations without professional medical and/or Registered Dietician advice. A healthcare provider should be consulted if you are on medication or if there are any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. Do not change your diet if you are ill, or on medication except under the supervision of a healthcare provider. Neither this, nor any other book or discussion forum is intended to take the place of personalized medical care of treatment provided by your healthcare provider.
This book was current as of January, 2013 and as new information becomes available through research, experience, or changes to product contents, some of the data in this book may become invalid. You should seek the most up to date information on your medical care and treatment from your health care professional. The ultimate decision concerning care should be made between you and your healthcare provider.
Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the author, editor or The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC. The author, editors and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
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Instant ramen's gonna get you — into college. (Apologies to John Lennon.) Photo: Givaga/iStockphoto
Talk about essay prompts: A student from Fuzhou, Fujian province, turned his unabashed love of instant ramen noodles into a compelling piece that helped land him a place in the University of Rochester’s class of 2018. The senior, identified only as Wang, his surname, reportedly attends Fuzhou No. 1 Middle School in China, and gleefully posted his acceptance letter on the social network Sina Weibo, almost instantly turning him into something of an online celebrity. In its response, Rochester’s admissions department singled out Wang’s enthusiasm for ramen as a clear sign he is poised to make an impact on campus.
Wang didn’t post the contents of his essay, but he did share on the micro-blogging site that it was a narrative about discovering a life-altering local brand of noodles in Singapore. “I tried the noodles during my trip to the country, and my whole worldview changed the moment I ate it,” he wrote.
The experience inspired a quixotic-sounding journey to sample “nearly all flavors of noodles from Asian brands,” a process that must have occupied a major portion of Wang’s life for the past few years.
The university advises applicants to “prize clarity and honesty above rhetorical flourishes,” and the approach must have worked. Here, an excerpt from the acceptance letter:
Our emphasis on freedom makes us unlike other colleges, so the committee and I reviewed your application for much more than grades and scores.
I’m glad to know you’re ready to embrace your independence, delve deeper into your interests, and study what you love.
Each Rochester student makes a critical, personal contribution to campus from day one. The counselors recommended that you be admitted in part after reading about your enthusiasm for Ramen noodles. The committee and I are confident you will both stand out and grow stronger as part of the Rochester family.
Let’s hope the selection of instant ramen available in upstate New York includes some obscure Cup Noodles flavors, choice Shin Ramyun varieties, and hopefully some Prima Taste Curry La Mian.
Love of instant noodles gets guy into US college [ECNS]
* This post has been updated throughout.
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“Growing up,” Juac says, “I was pretty much happy. There’s nothing that I didn’t like.”
He recalls being 7 when they returned home one day and saw smoke. The war had spread and now reached his village; mercenaries were seizing livestock and most anything else of value, torching everything else. Resisting villagers were killed or held captive, and by the time Juac reached the outskirts, his group was intercepted by rebel soldiers, instructing them to walk in the opposite direction.
Eighty boys were in that first group, Juac estimates. Two of his cousins were separated from the pack, never to be seen again, and one of his brothers would go missing for about a month before he and the family were reunited. They kept walking, and the group swelled. One hundred boys and, after a week, Juac says, there were about 300 children traveling together. About 20,000 children would be displaced throughout southern Sudan; many were orphaned, and some would die of starvation or exhaustion along the way.
How far did you go before stopping? Two days’ walk. Where were you going? We did not know.
When his group rested for the first time since leaving the village, the rebel soldiers instructed the barefoot children to sleep where they stood, whether it was soft soil or a bed of jagged pebbles. Many of the boys were injured or dehydrated. Juac watched as the older boys buried one sick child who collapsed, and when it was finished, the survivors kept moving.
They lost sense of time and distance, crossing into Ethiopia and measuring their journey by watching the moon expand and become full; four full moons came and went, Juac says, before they stopped after walking hundreds of miles. Then, when Ethiopia’s government was overthrown in 1991, they were forced, under the threat of being shot, to turn and walk back toward Sudan.
One day Juac’s group approached the Gilo River, which is near the border of the two nations. Ethiopian militia soldiers were shooting stragglers or lonely wanderers, hurrying the boys toward the waterway. Can you swim? a boy asked Juac as they stood on the bank, and Juac knew enough to say no. Few Sudanese children had been exposed to the water, and the rare swimmer was seen as a potential savior; panicked boys would hold on to the swimmer, eventually pulling him under, too. But no matter their ability, the boys had no choice but to try.
“Either die of a gun,” Juac says, “or you die of the water.”
They went in. Juac used the lessons he learned alongside his cousins back in Paliau and paddled his way across. When the group reached the other side, Juac found that half of the group was gone. Those who made it kept walking.
Although Juac says he has no idea how far he actually walked, most of the Lost Boys are estimated to have traveled upward of 1,000 miles. Juac says he saw so much death that, after a while, he was no longer shocked when a boy fell ill or died along the path.
After five years of wandering into and out of war zones, his group settled into the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, weeks turning to months and then years. “Then,” he says, “it becomes home.” The United Nations delivered food rations, about a gallon of corn, every two weeks; in Juac’s group, that amounted to about a cup per person. “The way to survive is to eat once a day,” he says.
On rare occasions the aid workers brought unusual items: wheat flour the group used to make bread or a deck of playing cards. He says he was about 19 when the board games arrived, checkers and dominos and chess. He liked the way the dominos looked, but he was enamored of the chess pieces, each with a personality and a set of limitations, working in concert to protect the king.
During the day Sudanese soldiers played the game, and Juac stood silently and watched, learning the pieces and their movements. At night when the men went dancing, Juac and a friend sneaked into the game room and set up the board; they shook hands before and after each match and said nothing in between. “Talking,” he says, “distracts you from thinking.”
And thinking, he found, distracted him from remembering.
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Dumped Test batsman Adam Voges has been granted a prestigious honour by being named captain of the Prime Minister’s XI side to face Sri Lanka next month.
Voges will lead the side in the T20 fixture, to be live streamed exclusively on cricket.com.au, at Canberra’s Manuka Oval on February 15 ahead of the Australia-Sri Lanka T20 International series against Australia.
“It’s a tremendous honour to be selected to captain the Prime Minister’s XI and captain alongside the likes of past greats including Brett Lee, Mike Hussey, Ricky Ponting and Chris Rogers,” Voges said.
“Having played last year, I know how important this fixture is on the Australian cricketing calendar, and it is a great tradition.”
After failing to pass 50 in 11 consecutive innings, the 37-year-old lost his spot in the Test side in the wake of South Africa’s series-clinching innings victory over Australia in Hobart in November.
Voges nonetheless still holds a Test average in excess of 60, earning him selection in the International Cricket Council’s team of the year in 2016.
The PM’s XI match will be the second match in a double-header, with Papua New Guinea set to take on an ACT XI in a curtain-raiser.
“I’m delighted that Adam Voges will be available to Captain the PM’s XI,” said the Prime Minister, The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP.
“This is my second PM’s XI and I’m looking forward to a fierce contest against Sri Lanka.”
The Prime Minister also announced that the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and Lord’s Taverners ACT would become the official charity partners of this summer’s match.
Sri Lanka’s three-match T20I series begins on February 17 at the MCG before games in Geelong on February 19 and then Adelaide on February 22.
The rest of the PM’s XI squad is expected to be named early next month.
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A scandal at British Airways – sexy pictures of stewardesses stripping off have been found on a hardcore porn website!
Please bring your seat into the upright position, fold your table away and fasten your seatbelts. You will be in for a ride with these hot trolly dollies...
The air hostesses' uniforms were obviously too warm for them so they performed a sexy striptease show in the cabin.
Here is the naked truth: they lifted up their skirts to expose their firm backsides and sexy suspenders.
One stewardess smiled into the camera as she lay in the overhead baggage compartment. They even posed erotically in front of the British Airways logo and in the cockpit.
It was clearly only for a bit of fun among colleagues.
But the striptease stewardesses were given a shock – the photos appeared on a hardcore sex website.
“They were never intended to get out and it would never have occurred to the girls they would end up on a porn site,” an insider told 'The Sun'. “Some of the girls are worried their actions will rebound on them.”
British Airways isn’t amused by the saucy pics.
The scandal photos went round after the airline had announced a cut in cabin crew jobs. A strike was already in preparation.
An investigation will be launched into any employee found to have been posing for the sexy snaps, although British Airways insisted there was no proof any of the girls were actually employees of the airline.
BILD has blurred out the girls’ faces in the photo gallery above.
More news
Stewardesses at crisis-hit Japan Airlines may soon be laid off – so some have sold their JAL air hostess uniforms to the fetish sex industry!
India's famous hippy paradise has turned prudish! Carefree holiday-makers will now need to cover up after the state of Goa banned beach nudity.
A brazen couple was caught on camera having sex in the middle of the street in a German town.
By day it's a haven for art lovers, by night it's a swingers' club – visitors to a Vienna museum have been shocked by a group sex orgy exhibition!
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FILE--In this Aug. 25, 2016, file photo, former National Guard soldier Darryl Lee Wright leaves a courtroom at the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Wash. Prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison sentence Thursday, June 1, 2017, for Wright, who lied his way to a Purple Heart and hundreds of thousands of dollars in government benefits. (AP Photo/Gene Johnson, file)
SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former soldier who lied his way to a Purple Heart to three years in prison and ordered him to repay nearly $650,000 in stolen government benefits.
Darryl Wright, 48, a former Idaho National Guardsman, feigned injuries from an explosion in Iraq in 2005 and doctored statements from fellow soldiers to obtain two awards, a Combat Action Badge and a Purple Heart, which is reserved for those wounded in action.
The Army has since revoked the awards, though Wright still has the medals.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud last year. Prosecutors were seeking a prison term of five years, and they wanted the judge to order Wright to return the medals and a Purple Heart license plate.
Settle declined to go that far, but he did order Wright to serve three years, followed by three years of supervised release, and to repay $646,300 in benefits.
Wright's attorney, Christopher Black, called it "the right sentence."
"He acknowledged responsibility for the bad decisions that he's made and apologized for them," Black said.
He described the defendant as a "complicated man" with psychological issues, but said he has been doing well in therapy.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Reese Jennings and Gregory Gruber said Wright parlayed the medals he received to obtain "every possible benefit that might be available to a wounded veteran," including a wide range of disability benefits and the forgiveness of more than $40,000 in student loans. Prosecutors said he defrauded 16 state, federal, local and private agencies, programs and organizations.
"This guy was a master at weaponizing his phony status as a Purple Heart Veteran," Jennings said.
In applications for benefits, Wright claimed to be so severely disabled that he could only focus his attention for five to 10 seconds, and he said he needed a live-in caregiver. In reality, he served as chairman of the planning commission in Snoqualmie, a city east of Seattle where he lives; coached high school basketball; and had held a full-time federal government job in Seattle.
His fraud came to light because a co-worker in the U.S. Commerce Department discovered in 2009 that he had fabricated National Guard orders in an effort to be paid for a week of skipped work.
Wright accused the co-worker, Cristina Jackson, of violating his privacy, and the department initially tried to punish her instead of him. Eventually, she reported what was going on to the department's inspector general, whose findings against Wright eventually made their way to federal prosecutors.
"I can finally say it's over," Jackson said after the sentencing Thursday. "I still think the judge was way too lenient and gave him more credit than he deserved, but for me it was enough that it was all memorialized in court."
Wright claimed to have been injured in a rocket attack in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Aug. 30, 2005. Then a first lieutenant with the Idaho National Guard, he was near a battalion headquarters building when two rockets landed about 100 yards away. Initial reports filed by him and by others in his unit referenced no casualties.
"As far as anyone on our team getting hurt, no, that didn't happen," then-Capt. Mark Moeckli told The Associated Press last year.
But in 2010, Wright successfully applied for a Purple Heart. In his paperwork, he claimed he "was violently thrown and knocked unconscious from the percussion of the rockets' impact."
Wright also claimed Social Security disability benefits, insisting he was frequently bedridden. The VA paid his sister to be his live-in caregiver, though investigators said she performed no such service. By May 2013, the siblings were bringing in benefits totaling $10,000 a month, prosecutors said. The sister later pleaded guilty to related charges.
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What is OmiseGo (OMG)
Crypto fans are very enthusiastic about OmiseGo and we believe it has more than the ‘OMG’ abbreviation of the token, they are attempting to unbanked the banked through a public Ethereum-based financial technology.
First of all who are Omise?
Omise are an online payment platform founded in 2013, they already have over 130 employees based in Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore. They offer a user friendly payment solution which works easily across multiple devices. There tag line is “We believe online payment is a necessity to develop any kind of business on the internet” and with the launch of their new ICO it looks like they may be using blockchain technology to make this happen on a much broader scale.
OmiseGO will be connected to the Ethereum mainnet and will allow anyone will be able to conduct various financial transactions such as:
Payments
Remittances
Payroll deposit
B2B commerce
Supply-chain finance
Loyalty programs
Asset management
Trading
And many more
On top of this everyone will be able to use OmiseGo to transition seamlessly from using fiat currency to using cryptocurrencies.
Overall this could be revolutionary for so many on such a broad scale, for example thos who do not have access to financial services like everyday banking will now be able to access those facilities, consumers and merchants will be able to trade directly without the need for a trusted third party, those in less economically developed countries will not need to be paid directly in cash as they now have a much better alternative, and these are just a few examples. They believe they can therefore solve some of the fundamental problems amongst payment processors, gateways and financial institutions.
OmiseGO (OMG) recently finished their ICO and raised over $25,000,000, and at the time of writing this article the price is currently at £5.35/$6.89 which is up over 900% since it began trading on popular exchanges. Not only that but it is seeing huge amounts of trading already and today has had over $200 million volume of trading across the top 10.
Let us know your thoughts on OmiseGo, will you be investing?
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Fast-tracked international trade deals have led to exploding U.S. trade deficits, soaring food imports into the U.S., increased off-shoring of American jobs, and an "unprecedented rise in income inequality," according to new data released Thursday by the watchdog group Public Citizen.
The report, "Prosperity Undermined" (pdf), compiles and analyzes 20 years of trade and economic data to show that the arguments again being made in favor of providing the Obama administration with Fast Track trade authority—effectively handing over extensive new executive powers and delegating away core congressional constitutional authorities—have repeatedly proved false.
As an example, Public Citizen points to the damaging consequences of a 2011 trade deal with Korea, which expanded on the NAFTA model:
Since the Obama administration used Fast Track to push a trade agreement with Korea, the U.S. trade deficit with Korea has grown 50 percent—which equates to 50,000 more American jobs lost. The U.S. had a $3 billion monthly trade deficit with Korea in October 2014—the highest monthly U.S. goods trade deficit with the country on record. After the Korea FTA went into effect, U.S. small businesses’ exports to Korea declined more sharply than large firms’ exports, falling 14 percent.
President Barack Obama is expected to push Fast Track for the corporate-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has been negotiated largely in secret—with significant input from Wall Street and big business interests. Even in the face of evidence that prior trade deals are not working, Public Citizen says, Obama has "doubled down on the old model with TPP."
"It’s not surprising that Democrats and Republicans alike are speaking out against Fast Track because it cuts Congress out of shaping trade pacts that most Americans believe cost jobs while empowering the president to sign and enter into secret deals before Congress approves them," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. "In their speeches and commentary, the administration, corporate interests and GOP leadership disregard the real, detrimental impacts that previous fast tracked trade deals—which serve as the model for the Trans-Pacific Partnership—have had on America’s middle class over the past 20 years."
President Obama is likely to use next week's State of the Union address to push for TPP passage and Fast Track authority, Dave Johnson predicts in an op-ed published Thursday. Echoing many of Public Citizen's criticisms of NAFTA and the Korea-U.S. trade deal, Johnson notes: "The reason our trade policies are working out this way is because the beneficiaries of this kind of trade deal are the ones controlling and negotiating these trade deals."
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He continues:
The giant, multinational corporations and Wall Street make money from offshoring U.S. jobs and production—partly because our tax laws encourage this activity. The rest of us, including our "Main Street" businesses and the country at large, are net losers. This is obvious to anyone who drives through much of the country or who talks to regular, working people. This is obvious to anyone who looks at the timeline of that trade deficit chart and compares that to the economic shifts of our last few decades. Our trade negotiating process is rigged from the start. Giant, multinational and Wall Street corporate interests are at the negotiating table. Consumer, labor, environmental, human rights, democracy, health and all the other stakeholder representatives are excluded and the results of these negotiations reflect this. A rigged process called "fast track" is used to essentially force Congress to pre-approve the agreements before the public has a chance to analyze and react to them. Obviously the giant, multinational and Wall Street corporations would want the public to believe that everyday small businesses gain from our trade deals, when in fact they do not. It is less obvious why President Obama would want to present at the State of the Union the story of one small business that does not reflect the reality of the trade deals he is promoting.
While Public Citizen's report focuses on Fast Track authority, it is at its core opposed to the so-called free trade pacts that authority is designed to promote.
"Economists across the political spectrum agree that trade flows during the era of free trade pacts have, in fact, contributed to rising U.S. income inequality, including Vice President Joe Biden’s former economic adviser, Jared Bernstein," the analysis reads. "The only debate is the extent of the blame to be placed on trade. Even the pro-NAFTA Peterson Institute for International Economics has estimated that 39 percent of observed growth in U.S. wage inequality is attributable to trade trends."
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Mexican-American preschoolers lag behind their white peers when it comes to early language and literacy development, but their social-emotional skills are just as strong, according to new findings from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
The researchers found that Mexican-American children between the ages of 2 and 3 demonstrated language and cognitive skills that were seven months behind those of white peers, whether they were assessed in English or Spanish. That gap lasted through the beginning of kindergarten. At the same time, however, the researchers found that the social skills of these same children rival those of their white peers, despite their lagging literacy and despite coming from more impoverished households.
Those findings build on other recent research that has shown that immigrant mothers—particularly those of Mexican heritage—provide stable, loving parenting that leads to strong social-emotional skills for their young children. These same mothers, however, are less likely to read to their young children than their white counterparts.
The new report—which appears in the Maternal and Child Health Journal—tracked a national sample of 4,700 children who were born in 2001 over a three-year period, when they were between the ages of 2 and 5, and not yet enrolled in kindergarten. Two-thirds of the children in the sample were Mexican-American.
Nearly half of Mexican-American children were read to once a week or less, the researchers found, compared to just 14 percent of white parents who read to their children that infrequently.
Researchers said the findings challenge widespread assumptions about the early development of Hispanic children and should make teachers, pediatricians, and other health care providers cautious about assuming that Mexican-American children who display delays in language or cognitive development are also lagging in social-emotional development. These findings should certainly help early-educators and advocates make the case for more programs such as "Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors" that specifically target Latino parents and help them address those early-learning gaps in their children.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) - A Metro Nashville School Board member is defending her social media words Friday morning where she referred to President Trump as a "Cheeto Satan," a "Habanero Hitler" and a "Sunkist Stalin" along with several other references to the newly-inaugurated commander-in-chief.
She prefaced the tweets by saying, "Some of the names for DT I have heard & will adopt myself."
In a statement to News 2, Christiane Buggs defended the tweets about the 45th president by saying, "In a community such as Nashville with many languages, religions, and races, I must speak for the communities who woke up today fearful for the future of our country."
She went on to say, "Many of us are approaching the inauguration with humor or satire, but also determination to stand up against the campaign promises that threaten the very fabric of our democracy. Now that he has taken his oath, we can only pray that he will use his presidency to unite rather than divide and make a break from his commitment to ostracize subgroups."
Copyright by WKRN - All rights reserved (Courtesy: Twitter)
Another school board member who has long been an active Twitter user News 2 defended Buggs' freedom of speech.
Will Pinkston, who represents a South Nashville district, said, "A lot of people are frankly worried right now and everyone is expressing their opinions in different ways. Taking to Twitter is a way to both mourn and satirize the situation. This is a Democracy and people are free to speak their minds."
Davidson County Republican Party Chair Bob Ries said the school board member's comments were "very, very serious," but said he was in the midst of the celebrating the Trump inauguration and wanted the weekend to write an appropriate response.
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ASICS Celebrates Valentine’s Day With Strawberries And Cream
4.45 / 5 61 VOTES This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The opinions and information provided on this site are original editorial content of Sneaker News.
We’ve already seen two new Valentine’s Day sneakers from ASICS, and now it looks like there’s a third colorway of the GEL-Lyte III to gift to your sweetheart this February. In unisex sizing, the shoe is inspired by strawberries and cream, with a pink and white colorway appropriate for the holiday of love. The premium construction features a soft nubuck upper in the tasty pink hue, with white-to-pink faded side stripes and speckling on the midsole and laces. Get an exclusive look at the “Strawberries & Cream” GEL-Lyte III here, and then find them at select ASICS Tiger retailers on February 6th for plenty of time to purchase before Valentine’s Day.
ASICS GEL-Lyte III “Strawberries & Cream” Release Date: February 6th, 2016
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Security forces on Saturday foiled a infiltration bid in the Machil sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district and killed two terrorists, ANI reported. According to the report, the encounter is still underway in the area.
#FLASH: Infiltration bid foiled in Machil sector of J&K's Kupwara district; two terrorists gunned down. Operation underway. pic.twitter.com/5rLlf6d9DO — ANI (@ANI) September 16, 2017
"An infiltration bid has been foiled in Machhil sector and two terrorists have been killed," defence spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia said.
Kalia said troops noticed suspicious movement along the LoC and challenged the intruders, leading to a gunfight in which the two militants were killed. Weapons have been recovered from the slain militants, the spokesman said.
The latest development came just hours after Pakistan violated the ceasefire in Arnia sector, killing livestock and damaging several properties.
IANS reported that the Pakistan forces also resorted to shelling and firing using mortars, automatics and small arms.
On 5 September, the Border Security Force (BSF) had recovered the body of a militant killed in an infiltration bid along the International Border (IB) in Arnia sector of Jammu district.
"The body of a militant, killed by the troops when they foiled an infiltration along the IB in Arnia sector on Monday, was recovered on Tuesday," a BSF officer said.
On 8 August, the army had foiled a major infiltration attempt by militants to cross over from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into the Machhil sector, killing five ultras in the ensuing shootout.
"A major infiltration bid was foiled in the Machhil sector by alert troops," a defence spokesman had said in Srinagar.
Thirty-eight militants were killed as the army foiled a total of 22 infiltration bids along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir until June 2017. According to the army, infiltration attempts were foiled at Gurez, Machhil, Naugam and Uri sectors between 6 and 8 June, in which seven armed intruders were eliminated.
"In the current year, 22 infiltration attempts have been foiled and 34 armed intruders eliminated on the LoC," a senior army officer had said in June this year.
With inputs from agencies
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A while ago I worked for Johnson&Johnson (Hello Dimitris Agrafiotis and the others!) and I had to design some complex dialogs using the .Net WinForms. By default any static or edit-box text was set something like Tahoma, 10pt. But I all the time had to worry about some "extra space" in the end of the text line, because when changing the resolution it sometimes didn't fit the given width and used text wrapping. In these cases the forms became totally unusable. So, if you take care of the proportional scaling, you have to design your forms in a very ugly way, keeping a lot of empty space just in case. The other way is to take a hammer, and nail the text size to pixels. Namely, set something like Tahoma 14px. It means a lot. It means that your software cannot be used at high resolutions. No matter how well Windows Vista supports text scaling: the bad thing already happened. There is a lot of software that relies on a fixed resolution, which prevents the manufacturers from developing higher resolution displays. There is simply no motivation! Do not blame me, do not blame many other software developers and designers. Blame Microsoft for their brutal text hinting, which results in unpredictable overlapping between text and other graphic elements.
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Image copyright AFP Image caption The suspect was arrested in Parliament Street on Thursday
A terror suspect arrested near the Houses of Parliament is Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali, the BBC understands.
The 27-year-old was detained as part of an intelligence-led operation after a concerned family member is believed to have contacted the police.
He was held on Thursday on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and preparing for acts of terrorism.
Mr Ali is thought to be a UK national - but born overseas - and to have gone to school in Tottenham, north London.
He is still being held in custody at a south London police station.
Gaza convoy
He was known to the police and the security service MI5. Police are still searching addresses linked to him.
Seven years ago, Mr Ali travelled to Gaza as part of an aid convoy.
He was one of 10 aid workers travelling there by sea when their ship was diverted to Athens after a dispute with the captain.
The activists said the ship captain had become irritable over money and held the group against their will.
He was arrested in Parliament Street, at the junction with Parliament Square, following a stop and search as part of an ongoing operation, police said.
They added that knives had been "recovered from him" but said there was "no immediate known threat" as a result of the arrest.
A witness described having seen two knives on the ground, one of which he said was a large bread knife.
Meanwhile, a woman has been shot during a raid on a house in Willesden, north-west London, another house raided in Kent and six people arrested, in an operation to foil what police said was an active terror plot.
Neither operation was said to be linked to the arrest of Mr Ali in Westminster.
How does this fit into the bigger picture?
Image copyright EPA Image caption Police forensic officers at the scene of the Westminster arrest
By BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani
Two counter-terrorism operations in the space of a few hours. This is a fast-moving story - new facts are emerging all the time.
The official threat level from international terrorism in the UK is "severe", which means that security chiefs think that attacks are highly likely.
That is obviously a truism given events in Westminster five weeks ago.
Despite these two separate operations in the last 24 hours, officials have not ratcheted up the threat level to the highest status of "critical", meaning an attack is imminent.
That means the police and MI5 are confident that their current intelligence of known threats - and "known" is the operative word here - is good.
Read more from Dominic here
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1. Erin Andrews insults Marshall Henderson for drug use in 2013
He mocking anyone now? RT @GaryParrishCBS: Marshall Henderson's suspension is related to a failed drug test, a source told @CBSSports. — Erin Andrews (@ErinAndrews) July 10, 2013
2. Marshall vows revenge
@ErinAndrews ima save that and you will be the first person ill mock — marshall henderson (@NativeFlash22) July 10, 2013
3. Two long years pass
Marshall Henderson finishes playing at Ole Miss. He plays basketball in Italy and Qatar and Iraq. Erin Andrews probably completely forgets her Twitter beef with Marshall Henderson. Marshall does not forget.
4. Marshall takes his revenge
After Erin's boyfriend, Kings forward Jarret Stoll, was arrested for drug possession.
@ErinAndrews .... lol wassup with your boyfriend?! — marshall henderson (@NativeFlash22) April 20, 2015
This is the best Twitter Long Play since DeMarcus Cousins' five-year wait to zing Clay Travis.
★★★
SB Nation presents: The dunk you need to see to believe
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Cover Oregon logo (Photo: Provided)
The State of Oregon does not have a fabulous track record when one considers technology projects. Even discounting Cover Oregon, there's a long list of projects that have been very difficult to implement, and many agencies have never even gotten to start the projects they need to.
For example, the Department of Corrections badly needs an electronic medical records system. Its prisons are scattered all over the state, and inmates often move from one facility to another. Their medical charts, however, are all in big paper folders that are unwieldy to move. It's also impossible for two doctors in different prisons to look at the same chart simultaneously.
It's not an unreasonable or unusual need. Hospitals all over the country are adopting electronic records. So why can't the state?
The obstacles to doing so aren't just money or political will. Technology projects like that need people to build them and then maintain them, and that is what governments are lacking, a recent study found.
The report, done by Freedman Consulting LLC, was paid for by the Ford Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. It's a study inspired by the problems the federal government had in creating the national health care exchange website.
However, its findings will probably be relevant to Oregon state workers, whose departments have often struggled with a technology project or needed one that never got off the ground.
Here's what the study said:
• Government lacks technology experts. Government employees told researchers there aren't enough people working in the public sector who understand computers, electronic data or the Internet. Even if you have an amazing technology setup, it won't run itself. Without enough people who know what they're doing, projects stall or never get off the ground.
• It's really hard to hire (and keep) technology experts. The most common obstacle people mentioned was money, but they also talked about government's lack of flexibility. It's hard to pursue groundbreaking work or do anything that might be considered disruptive, they said. But new technology often is disruptive in the workplace, and it usually requires people to change how they do their jobs.
• On a related note, the public sector doesn't pay well. Technology experts get paid very, very well in the private sector. The private tech sector also offers an environment of innovation and creativity. (Think of Google's ping pong tables and open "campus" layout.) In contrast, the government doesn't usually offer those perks. It doesn't pay nearly as well, and it's certainly not known as an alternative Google. It can be hard to attract people to work in technology for the government when there is such a large opportunity cost attached.
• Government should take notes from other fields. Not every company has trouble hiring technology experts, and employees who were interviewed said the public sector should learn from success stories elsewhere.
• There are ways to attract young talent. Government agencies should offer internships, fellowships and other training opportunities to young people entering the technology field in order to get them familiar with the public sector and what it's like to work there.
• The culture needs to change. Government agencies need to be more open to using technology at work and more comfortable with experimentation and disruption. Greater comfort with changes in technology will make everything go more smoothly.
The problems at Cover Oregon were complicated and diverse. But no one can deny that the people involved did play a role. Only state employees know how much these points apply here in Oregon, but they're worth further discussion.
[email protected], (503) 399-6719 or follow at twitter.com/HannahKHoffman
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President Obama waded into the controversial politics of marijuana in an interview published Sunday, saying he’s not convinced pot is “more dangerous than alcohol” and arguing it’s “important” to allow recent legalization efforts in Colorado and Washington State to proceed.
“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life,” the president told the New Yorker’s David Remnick. “I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.”
The president even argued marijuana is less dangerous “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”
Still, “It’s not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy,” he added.
The president also said he’s troubled by racial disparities in the application of marijuana laws.
“Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” he explained. “And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.”
Mr. Obama ascribed some element of hypocrisy to lawmakers who’ve stiffened penalties against pot use despite some probable experimentation of their own.
“We should not be locking up kids or individual users for long stretches of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing,” the president said.
Recreational marijuana shops open across Colorado
Mr. Obama seemed to welcome recent efforts to legalize the drug for recreational use in Washington and Colorado “because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished.”
Despite the fact that marijuana use is still illegal under federal law, the government announced in August last year that it would not halt the legalization efforts then underway in those two states – part of an effort to re-prioritize drug enforcement resources.
In the interview, the president also lent credence to opponents of legalization, however, saying advocates of full legalization have likely overstated their case by framing the change as a “panacea” for many social ills.
And he nodded at the “slippery slope” argument commonly voiced by foes of more permissive drug laws, wondering where the line will eventually be drawn.
“When it comes to harder drugs, the harm done to the user is profound and the social costs are profound,” he said. “And you do start getting into some difficult line-drawing issues. If marijuana is fully legalized and at some point folks say, ‘Well, we can come up with a negotiated dose of cocaine that we can show is not any more harmful than vodka,’ are we open to that? If somebody says, ‘We’ve got a finely calibrated dose of meth, it isn’t going to kill you or rot your teeth,’ are we O.K. with that?”
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We witnessed the first minutes of Xenoblade Chronicles X two E3s ago, thanks to the Nintendo Treehouse broadcast that the Japanese company came up with to make the previews that were shown at the event available to players all around the world. In that video (the first one's embedded in this article), we learnt of the game's premise: Earth has been destroyed by aliens and humanity has been scattered all across the galaxy. A huge ship that carried a small replica of the city of Los Angeles is attacked and sent crashing down onto the surface of a planet called Mira.
After our first hours with the new Xenoblade we can confirm that this is indeed a massive game, even bigger than its predecessor Xenoblade Chronicles. We can also confirm that it takes some of the key features that made the first game unforgettable - the combat system and the level design - to a whole new level. It's true that, unlike the Wii and New Nintendo 3DS titles, the plot in X takes its time to kick in properly, so we'll wait until we write the full review to provide more detail on that.
In order to get familiar with planet Mira, some initial tasks are entrusted to us in order to aid New Los Angeles. They mostly deal with exploration, installation of exploratory probes, and defeating enemies in the area of Primordia, the first of the five continents that make up the expansive surface of Mira.
The map of Xenoblade Chronicles X is so huge that if we press R + B we're given the option of having our character walk automatically. In one of our first expeditions we jumped into the sea to swim out to where we supposed there'd be an invisible barrier that would send us back to a checkpoint. We were wrong. With no loading time whatsoever, we were able to visit virtually every nook and cranny of the five continents that form Mira: either slowly making our way across the water where there are less dangers, or risking our lives on land, where, in most cases, huge high level enemies work as a "natural" barriers against our desire to explore.
Each enemy, it doesn't matter how simple it is, has two or three specific body parts that we can attack during combat. If we manage to destroy them we won't only obtain different materials and objects once the battle is over, but we'll also nullify the attack or special ability the enemy had assigned to that specific part of their body. For example, there are robots with great defence and armour, but we can destroy their arms and that'll render them completely useless. To do this, we can use both melee and ranged weapons, as well as give basic orders to our group members so that they attack a specific area, maintain their distance, or take a more defensive approach.
One aspect in Xenoblade Chronicles X that is of importance right from the beginning is the brigades. Almost everything we do gives us experience points, whether it's during a mission or simply when free-roaming. That said, in New Los Angeles there are eight different brigades (see the second video embedded in this preview) that we can join depending on what kind of tasks we prefer. For instance, the Interceptors are a perfect fit for one's first steps of the game, as they get more experience for completing missions and eliminating monsters. However, if what we like is finding and eliminating magnos, the largest and strongest monsters in the game, the perfect brigade would be the Harriers. Making a good choice as to which brigade we join at the beginning is important to progressing faster and to gaining access to high-level missions sooner.
We've left out a lot of things in this final preview, like the class system that allows us to be one kind of warrior or another, the importance of the game's climatology during combat, the mission system and structure, the customisation features, weapon research and upgrades, exploration with SKELLS (previously known as DOLLS which you can see in the third video below), the affinity, the use of beacons and the online gameplay. There's so much content in Xenoblade Chronicles X that the 19GB it takes up in our hard drive comes across as small in comparison. Monolith Soft has done a great optimisation job with this Wii U exclusive.
In just a few weeks we'll come back to share our final verdict. Until then, we'll keep going over the ruthless planet Mira for many more hours, because right now we don't feel like leaving at all.
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Alabama voters, peppered by slick ads, outside influences and dueling endorsements during a fierce six-week campaign, get the last word today when they pick a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate.
They will choose between former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and Sen. Luther Strange in a race that brought President Trump and other political heavyweights to Alabama.
The president again tweeted his support for Strange early Tuesday morning.
Donald Trump tweets 'finish the job for Big Luther' "Luther Strange has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement. Finish the job - vote today for "Big Luther," Trump tweeted about an hour before polls were to open.
Today's winner advances to face
on Dec. 12.
The prize is the Senate seat Jeff Sessions left to became Trump's attorney general.
Strange has held the seat on an interim basis since accepting the appointment by former Gov. Robert Bentley in February.
Polls open at 7 a.m. statewide and close at 7 p.m.
Trump endorsed Strange before the Aug. 15 primary and spoke at a nationally televised rally for Strange on Friday night in Huntsville. A super political action committee controlled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spent heavily on ads attacking Moore.
Alabama Senate runoff is today: What they are saying nationally about Moore vs. Strange Alabama Senate runoff is today: What they are saying nationally about Moore vs. Strange
Strange has made the Trump endorsement the centerpiece of his campaign, touting what he says is a close relationship with Trump that bodes well for the president's agenda and for Alabama.
"I believe we're going to support our president by voting for me on Tuesday," Strange said during the only debate of the runoff campaign last Thursday night.
Moore has pledged to support Trump's agenda, as well, and says he's confident Alabama voters won't yield to the influence of the Senate establishment that backs Strange.
During the debate Thursday night, Moore challenged Strange to explain the circumstances of his appointment by Bentley, which came while Strange was attorney general and Bentley was under investigation for possible ethics violations.
Strange ignored Moore's question and said Moore lacked a firm grasp of issues.
Strange has previously said he made no deals with Bentley and noted that Bentley ultimately resigned from office under a plea deal.
Strange says he built a strong record fighting corruption, including the prosecution of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard at the time Hubbard was one of the state's most powerful politicians.
Crossover voting ban: Who can't vote in today's Republican runoff Crossover voting ban: Who can't vote in today's Republican runoff
Strange also emphasizes his record of joining with other Republican attorneys general in challenging initiatives of President Obama on the environment, immigration and religious liberty.
"I'm proud of that record," Strange said. "That's a common sense conservative record."
Moore entered the Senate race after the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended him for the remainder of his term last year. The court found Moore violated judicial ethics by directing probate judges to enforce the Alabama ban on same-sex marriage despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states had to allow and recognize gay marriage in the case Obergefell v. Hodges.
Moore makes no apologies and criticized Strange for not fighting the Supreme Court.
"As soon as Obergefell came down, he caved," Moore said during the debate. "He did not stand."
The Court of the Judiciary also ended Moore's first term as chief justice in 2003 after Moore refused to follow a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument that Moore had placed in the state judicial building.
Moore said he has proven that he will fight "liberal judges," just as he fought as a West Point graduate in the Vietnam War.
Trump said one reason he came to campaign for Strange is because he thinks Strange is more of a safe bet to defeat Democrat Jones in December.
Trump said if Moore wins the primary he will be "campaigning like hell" for Moore to defeat Jones.
The race is important for the balance of power in the Senate, with Republicans now holding a slim majority with 52 seats.
Moore led a nine-candidate field in the Aug. 15 primary with 164,000 votes, 39 percent, to 139,000 for Strange, 33 percent.
Seventy-two percent of those who voted in the primary voted on the Republican side.
A new state law prohibiting crossover voting is in effect for the first time today. Those who voted in the Democratic primary will not be allowed to vote in the Republican runoff.
The new law won't have any effect on the Dec. 12 election or any general election. It only applies to party primary runoffs.
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Orioles reliever Darren O’Day said Saturday that the club has expressed interest in retaining him beyond this season, but that discussions haven’t gone far beyond gauging his interest in returning.
“Just feelers to see where my interest is and to see if I’m interested in coming back,” O’Day said. “And yes, I am, so that’s where we’re at, really.”
O’Day, one of the Orioles’ six pending free agents, has long expressed his desire to stay in Baltimore. But he is coming off his first All-Star appearance and has assembled a strong resume in his four years with the Orioles as one of the game’s top setup men.
Free agency — and a significant payday — beckons, and it’s an opportunity for O’Day, who said he never thought he would remain in the game this long. O'Day was not drafted, overcame injuries and didn't find a long-term home until joining his fourth organization in Baltimore.
“You know, I’ve already been in the game for so much longer than I ever thought I would be," O'Day said. "Just to be able to play this game this long, it is exciting. I never thought I’d get to my seventh or eighth [season]. In that aspect, it is exciting.”
While any discussions about remaining with the Orioles have been only preliminary, O’Day (6-2 with a 1.54 ERA this season) said he hopes those talks will continue through the offseason.
“They’ve expressed interest,” O’Day said. “I know they like me as a pitcher and as a person, so, yeah, I’d love to come back if they’d like to have me back, so we’re going to continue talking about that. I’ve had a good run of things the past four years and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t keep talking about it.”
Contracts for setup men as successful as O’Day have become lucrative in recent years.
Before the 2014 season, the Los Angeles Angels signed sidearm setup man Joe Smith to a three-year, $15.75 million deal. That was two years ago; O’Day's contract easily could surpass that in both years and dollar figures.
O’Day’s 2.7 wins above replacement is the third-highest mark among major league relievers with at least 55 appearances. It is the highest mark among free agents and 0.3 higher than former Orioles reliever Andrew Miller, who received a four-year, $36 million deal from the New York Yankees last offseason and has assumed the role of closer.
O’Day, 32, also has acquired some recent closing experience. He has a career-high six saves this year, including saves in three straight games last week against the Nationals in Washington while filling in for closer Zach Britton. O’Day, however, said he doesn’t need to close in his next contract.
“I don’t feel like I need to be a closer to be validated," he said. "But if somebody wants me to do that, then I’d be glad to do it. I enjoy what I do [in the] seventh, eighth inning. Sometimes those situations in the seventh and eighth are harder situations to get out of than the ninth. I appreciate what closers do. I’m not saying their jobs are easy. … If they want me to close, want me to set up, I’ll do whatever they want me to do.”
[email protected]
twitter.com/EddieInTheYard
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Five days after teasing a return to the Octagon on Jan. 14, Bethe Correia underwent an emergency eye surgery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that will keep her sidelined for the rest of the year.
Correia was booked to meet Irene Aldana at a UFC Fight Night card in St. Louis, Mo., but sustained a left eye injury and had to go under the knife. A couple of weeks after leaving the hospital, Correia spoke with MMA Fighting about the injury and her recovery.
“I can work out a bit, but the doctor said I can’t have any contact for two months,” Correia said. “You can’t train MMA with no contact, so I will only be able to return to training in January.”
This is not the first time Correia has had eye surgery.
In Oct. 2014, two months after finishing Shayna Baszler at UFC 177, “Pitbull” had to take care of an injury to her right eye and was forced to turn down an early 2015 bout with then-UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, when offered to replace Cat Zingano at UFC 182.
The first eye surgery kept Correia away from training for six months, but this time it’s a simpler issue.
“It might be related to training,” said the Brazilian, admitting that she dropped the ball on the situation. “The doctor told me I have to visit the ophthalmologist from time to time to check my eyes. If I had gone after my fight with Holly (Holm), he would have probably fixed it right away with no need of surgery, but fighters are so focused in training that they don’t pay attention to their health.”
Correia lost to Holm by third-round knockout in Singapore back in June, dropping to 1-3-1 in her last five UFC appearances. Pitbull had just returned to Brazil, back from a few weeks of training in Texas and Thailand, when she had to undergo surgery.
“I had a fight booked with Irene and was super excited because I have a lot of fans in Mexico,” Correia said. “I spent some time training in Texas, and there was a lot of Mexicans there so I think it was going to be nice, but we’ll see what happens next. I’ll come back to training in January and hopefully fight in March.”
“I didn’t want people to see the same old Bethe, with the same attacks, fighting the same way, so I went to Thailand to train,” she continued. “I was involved in important fights and everyone wanted to fight me, so people will be impressed next time I fight. I will use everything I’m going through as a motivation in my next fight.”
Correia is still interested in a fight with Aldana, who lost back-to-back decisions to Leslie Smith and Katlyn Chookagian in the UFC after racking up a 4-1 record under the Invicta FC banner.
“It would be cool to fight Irene because Mexicans love me, and they will love me even more after this fight,” Correia said. “Mexicans are warriors, so this fight would be a war, but I’m open to fighting anyone in the UFC. They know how to promote fights and put on the best match-ups.”
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Bitcoin Foundation chief scientist Gavin Andresen has proposed increasing the number of transactions allowed on the bitcoin network by raising the maximum block size by 50% per year.
Doing so would require a hard fork and “some risk”, Andresen conceded in a new Bitcoin Foundation blog post, but he concluded that such proposals are necessary for the long-term viability of bitcoin as a global payments system.
Entitled A Scalability Roadmap, the piece builds on Andresen’s past statements regarding how he believes the bitcoin network can be scaled to handle more transactions. While the near-term need to do so may not seem apparent, Andresen wrote, an opportunity to address the bitcoin network’s scalability needs shouldn’t be missed.
Andresen suggested that the bitcoin development community’s consensus-driven decision-making process might result in an alternative solution or even multiple fixes to scalabiilty. Still, he argued that the limit on bitcoin transactions has been identified in the past as a weakness in need of addressing.
Andresen wrote:
“Agreeing on exactly how to accomplish that goal is where people start to disagree – there are lots of possible solutions. Here is my current favorite: roll out a hard fork that increases the maximum block size, and implements a rule to increase that size over time, very similar to the rule that decreases the block reward over time.”
Andresen added that the development community has always intended to raise the block size, but that a long-term scalability fix has yet to take place.
Bigger blocks are better
The bitcoin network is currently experiencing 50,000–80,000 transactions per day. As Andresen noted, however, the data needs being placed on the bitcoin network aren’t huge, making the 1-megabyte block size sufficient for use today.
In the long-term, though, this block size may lead to issues, Andresen wrote, arguing that the need to take action makes sense not only from a practical perspective but also an ideological one.
Andresen said that a hard fork to increase the block size is in line with the spirit of bitcoin, arguing:
“I think the maximum block size must be increased for the same reason the limit of 21 million coins must NEVER be increased: because people were told that the system would scale up to handle lots of transactions, just as they were told that there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins.”
Andresen suggested that the inflection point for the bitcoin block chain may come during a future price upswing, an event that has historically been associated with an increase in the number of bitcoin transactions.
Any fix needs time
Acknowledging the challenges involved, Andresen conceded that the process won’t be easy. However, he said that such work is inevitable, noting:
“Getting there won’t be trivial, because writing solid, secure code takes time and because getting consensus is hard. Fortunately, technological progress marches on, and Nielsen’s Law of Internet Bandwidth and Moore’s Law make scaling up easier as time passes.”
Andresen posited that the 50% annual growth rate he suggested would enable the distributed network to facilitate as many as 400 million transactions per day if implemented now. After 12 years, the bitcoin network’s estimated transaction capacity would reach 56 billion transactions per day, according to Andresen’s initial calculations.
This, Andresen said, would put the bitcoin network in a position to serve as a truly global value exchange system.
“Even if everybody in the world switched entirely from cash to bitcoin in 20 years, broadcasting every transaction to every fully-validating node won’t be a problem,” he concluded.
Image via Shutterstock
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Chef Benoit Violier, whose 3-star restaurant in western Switzerland with its game specialties recently topped a list of the world's best, has been found dead of a likely self-inflicted gunshot, police said Monday. He was 44.
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Police said in a statement that Violier was found dead in his home late Sunday afternoon in the municipality of Crissier, near Lausanne, home of his prestigious Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville.
An investigation has been opened to determine the exact circumstances of the death, but police are "99 percent certain" the cause of death is suicide with a firearm, police commissioner Jean-Christophe Sauterel said by phone from Lausanne. He said police and prosecutors would give no other details.
The Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville, one of the three 3-star establishments in Switzerland, serves dishes such as saddle of Pyrenean young lamb, crispy Landes duck foie gras and a so-called "back from winter hunting" dish depending on daily deliveries. The French-born Violier was granted Swiss citizenship two years ago.
Last year, the eatery was ranked first on a French government-sponsored list of the world's top 1,000 restaurants. Another renowned and influential guide of best restaurants, GaultMillau Suisse, had declared Violier the best chef of 2013, citing his "new and staggering" cuisine and granting him an exceptional 19/20, the same score as his famous predecessor and mentor in the Hotel de Ville, Philippe Rochat, who died last year.
Violier died a few hours before the much-feared Michelin Guide released its 2016 edition for France. The awards ceremony on Paris' chic Place Vendome began with a minute of silence for him. The Swiss edition comes out in October.
Violier, who was born in the western French city of Saintes, near Cognac, was only 20 when he started to train in the finest cuisine with world-famous chefs such as Joel Robuchon, the Lenotre and Fauchon luxury catering houses, with the famous Hotel Ritz and restaurant La Tour d'Argent in Paris. He arrived at Crissier's Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville in 1996, two years before it got its third Michelin star, the most coveted award in the culinary world.
Violier took over the establishment in 2012 with his wife Brigitte and managed to keep the top position in the famous red guide. He won world appreciation for finely and deliciously conveying his passion for hunting into the art of cooking game. He was the author of two reference cooking books.
His brutal death at the height of his fame recalls that celebrated French 3-star chef Bernard Loiseau, owner of the restaurant La Côte d'Or in the Burgundy region, who was found dead beside a hunting rifle in 2003. Loiseau's death followed the downgrading of his establishment by the Gault-Millau guide and rumors he could also lose one of his three stars in the Michelin guide.
The now-renamed Bernard-Loiseau Relais in Saulieu, owned by his widow Dominique Loiseau and chef Patrick Bertron, finally lost its third star on Monday when the 2016 Michelin guide was released.
Some chefs have complained of living under the pressure and judgment of these guides that call the shots in the closed circle of the world's best tables.
In a statement, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said France "is losing with Benoit Violier an eminent ambassador of 'a la francaise' taste and know-how" and an "iconic chef."
(AP)
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Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) is the type of elected official who should come to the forefront of the Republican Party. Not only is he a conservative, he is a conservative who is able to explain his positions with ease and clarity. In response to Jay Carney's gibe about what he would say to workers furloughed because of the sequester, Rep. Pompeo offered this statement on his facebook page:
Mr. Carney doesn’t understand that not every public official is willing to play games with lives of hard-working Americans for political gain like his boss, President Obama. I said that the sequester is a home run not because it is good politics, but because it begins to put America back on the right fiscal track.
“I would welcome the opportunity to tell the 90,000 furloughed workers, the ones President Obama is choosing to let go of, that they need to know several things:
“First, the sequester does not have to mean furloughs. The President is choosing to make this minor reduction in spending painful—by furloughing people—in order to pursue his twin goals of raising taxes and increasing the size of the federal government. The President wasted $1 trillion dollars of stimulus money that did nothing to grow our economy and create jobs. Now, he is needlessly using a decrease in federal spending amounting to less than a few percent to harm even more American workers and their families.
“Second, there are fewer Americans working in America today than when the President took office. I find it bizarre that Mr. Carney would ask me about talking to furloughed workers. I’ve been talking to and representing thousands of furloughed and laid-off workers in Kansas who have lost their livelihood because of this President’s failed economic policies and his consistent attacks on the general aviation industry. Before President Obama’s reckless deficits, general aviation was a robust manufacturing jewel providing high-paying jobs in the Air Capital of the World. Today, he continues to cause it pain.
“Third, Mr. Carney says that this isn’t a home run for average Americans. He is wrong. While there will surely be dislocations, the President’s $6 trillion in new federal debt have been a strikeout for our country. Most Americans understand the need to stop year-on-year trillion dollar deficits. For them, we should have done even more to reduce the size of our federal government. The sequester is a solid first step. Growing American prosperity will require us to hit a grand slam on reducing spending, taxation, and regulation. I look forward to being part of making that happen.
“Finally, the President proposed, signed, and threatened to veto changes to, the sequester. It was his plan. Not once, but twice, Congressional Republicans have provided alternatives. We have seen nothing from Carney’s boss. If it is really that bad, why has he not sent a different set of cuts? The President’s actions—claiming to be upset about the sequester and traveling to Virginia to confuse workers there—are at best disingenuous and at worst just plain mean.”
Nicely done. And to offer a visual counterpart to Rep. Pompeo's statement, here is a chart that highlights, in graphic form, the size of the cuts the President is claiming will bring America to its knees:
I suspect few individuals or institutions in this country during the Obama presidency have had the luxury of having to "endure" cuts of such miniscule size.
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Bad skin can change quickly from an affliction to an obsession. Hours are lost before the magnifying mirror, considering—or, more often, tampering with—the evidence. Whatever conclusion you reach about your lesions, the readiest cure will be a trip to the store, where five or ten bucks can buy some kind of hope. If one product doesn’t work, there are always plenty more, each its own unique promise of success—a scientific term like Coenzyme Q10, a satisfying graphic of an emptied-out pore. And yet consumers and cosmetics brands are often at cross purposes: we want to find a product that works; they want to sell as many products as possible. Acne and wrinkles are presented as scourges to be punished, visible marks of shame upon the face. We want ointment to sting so that we know it is working. We smile at the thought of ripping pore strips from our noses and studying the unplugged debris in the light.
On Skincare Addiction—a Reddit forum for skin-care enthusiasts—amateur dermatology is less punitive, more pedantic. For a project maintained by three hundred thousand strangers, the site is very tidy. A sidebar is full of accessible fact sheets on topics ranging from stretch marks to paraben safety. Skin imperfections are revealed to have names—papules, pustules, milia, cysts—and to respond to certain treatments. I learned that the so-called blackheads on my nose were, in actuality, sebaceous filaments—a normal accumulation of sebum and dead skin. One recommendation was “Stridex in the red box”—a cheap solution for mall-rat acne, beloved for its exfoliating beta hydroxy acid. Real skin-care addicts read the back of the bottle. On Skincare Addiction, I learned that I might predict how a product will behave by reading its list of ingredients like a horoscope. An occlusive, like silicone, will form a film on the skin, trapping natural moisture inside. An emollient, like shea butter, spackles the cracks between cells, yielding a temporary smoothness. Responding to an industry that profits from mystique, the posts on the forum read like drugstore cheat codes.
If you are new to Skincare Addiction, you might start by following the basic ScA Routine: wash your face with a gentle cleanser, then moisturize afterward to restore hydration. Skip the harsh acne washes, the microbead soaps, the St. Ives scrub, and the Pinterest lemon cocktails. Now add any of the more advanced steps: removing your makeup with micellar water, applying a U.V.A./U.V.B. sunscreen, preaching to friends about Vitamin C serums, ordering hyaluronic acid from Japan, and, finally, posting to the forum for yourself. As the name suggests, Skincare Addiction is a progressive condition. Posts tagged “Before & After”_ _promise a quick fix but are almost always dull: a before photo has acne; an after does not. I prefer the posts of those who’ve gone too deep—the man who worries that his multi-step routine might make him look weak if discovered by a girlfriend; the woman with perfect, glowing skin who swears that she sees a faint green shadow on her lip.
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