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I recently got to travel to Los Angeles to a rather special day-long event. That event was a 20 minute sneak peak at Tron: Legacy (which many of you will now have seen at the various Tron Nights around the world) and the chance to meet some of the actors and film-makers behind this fabulous project! Over the course of the next month (until the film’s release on 17th December), we’ll be bringing you interviews, videos and images from the visit where we packed so much in that I ran out of tape on my video camera (yeah, it is still tape I’m afraid!). The first of the pieces was an interview with Director, Joseph Kosinski where we talk about how he got involved in the project and how he used his computer game commercial background to create such a fine looking film. The second of our interviews was an exclusive chat with Producer, Justin Springer where we talked about his role as Producer and what that actually means on a day to day basis. Then we spoke with one of the stars of the movie, Olivia Wilde who told us how she got involved in the project, how she developed her character and and what she thinks of Twitter and more recently, we spoke with leading man, Garrett Hedlund who told us how he was cast and what was so great about making the movie. Now we get down to my favourite footage that I gathered while I was there – the production design. This is the part of all film making which interests me most. How things are conceived and then brought to life by the clever people working with the latest software to make movies that look like this. While on the blogger day, I was allowed to film the Q&A sessions that were given by Ben Proctor (Art Director), Christine Bieselin Clark (Costume Design), Neville Page (Concept designer – who i then saw a week later at the Avatar event!) and Daniel Simon (Vehicle Designer). Over the course of the next few days / weeks, I’ll bring you a different presentation given by the guys listed here who will show you imagery that you’ve not seen before and talk you through how each part of the movie was conceived, built and ended up looking the way that we now see in the trailers and the finished movie. Part 1 features Ben Proctor talking us through the art direction, how The Grid fits together and how the original concept all pieced together which mainly stemmed from the teaser that director, Joseph Kosinski had put together from ComicCon a year before. Check out the presentation below and keep your eyes peeled for the 3 other parts which will be hitting HeyUGuys over the next few days.

To (Inter)Act or not to (Inter)Act? If you have been reading my blog entries from the last few weeks, you may already know that I am currently in Coastal Carolina's production of The Rocky Horror Show playing the roles of Usherette and Magenta. In addition to our regular two weekends of 7:30 performances, we scheduled two extra 11:00pm performances on the first Saturday and second Friday that are what we are calling "interactive." Because all of our performances sold out, we have added an extra show for the final Saturday night so we can go out with a real bang! If you are familiar with The Rocky Horror Picture Show (the cult classic movie adaption of the stage musical), you are probably aware that there are different call outs, gestures, sayings, etc. that accompany the film. People gather in droves at midnight showings of the movie all over the world where shadow casts of super fans reenact what's happening on the screen behind them. Although the stage show, which many people are surprised to discover actually came first, is not the same as the movie, there are enough similarities that we encourage audience participation at these late night events. In addition to the well-known bits of dialogue that get shouted out, there are also accompanying goodie bags that always go with the films. Upstage- our student run theater organization- created and sold the bags for $5. Although fans of the movie won't be able to throw rice or squirt water pistols (we dance way too much to risk that slippage!) they still received a bag with: -Glowsticks (very Rock of Ages) -Bubbles -Newspaper -Confetti -Rubber Gloves And more- plus… a lollipop ("just in case you need to suck on something"). If you never participated in a Rocky viewing, I will try not to spoil what most of these are used for, but they go hand in hand with the show. We have found that many people also brought their own goodie bags, which is encouraged for the most part. This phenomenon brought me to some interesting thoughts. After our first late night performance last Saturday, my mind was blown. I have performed in shows with great audiences before, but never have I had so much energy and interaction with an audience. Normally shows aren't allowed to be like that. When you go to the theater, you applaud in your seats. You may stand and cheer on occasion, but you don't yell "Where's your neck?!" every time the narrator walks on stage or throw playing "cards for sorrow and cards for pain" at actors when the lyrics to a specific song are sung. As an actor, it was both thrilling and scary. How do I acknowledge the audience like that without completely breaking character? It's still a fine line that I have not 100% defined. Obviously, we as actors on stage can hear what the audience is saying. The question becomes, can the characters? I think in a show like Rocky Horror you just have to believe that they can. Whether it makes sense or not, there's no way you can let that one guy who won't stop blowing bubbles in "Over at the Frankenstein Place" keep going without shooting him a smirk or quick glare. That's not out of the ordinary for Magenta. The show begins with a quick pre-curtain speech from our wonderful director, Robin Russell. At the last late night show, she added a little extra something: "Now for all of your movie fans out there, I just want to remind you that this is the stage show. These are live actors out here, and they are really singing and dancing and acting. And these students are my babies. So… don't screw with them." The mama bear spoke, and the people listened. The crowd was absolutely wild, but also incredibly respectful. We adjusted the show only slightly from what it usually is to tip our hat to the iconic film- because we had to. Although the stage show came first, the movie is what made it a cult classic, and without it's fame we wouldn't be playing to completely sold out audiences- and we certainly wouldn't have a chance to experience the magic of these interactive late night shows. Although a lot of caffeinated tea is needed to belt at 1am, The Rocky Horror Show has been the most thrilling theatrical experience of my life, and it will be hard to see it end. But we have four more shows (in two days!) and I am ready to (inter)act like hell. I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has participated in something like this before? Even if not, what are your opinions on interacting with the audience? Feel free to post below!

Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday accused Israel and the Palestinian Authority of complicity in the deaths of three children killed in a fire that burned down their home, which was apparently started by candles used to light the residence. Haniyeh said the Israeli blockade on Gaza, and the high price charged by the PA for diesel supplies to the Strip, cause power shortages which indirectly led to the children’s death. “Israel’s plane are scorching the earth and Palestinian homes, and those who conspire (to continue) the siege on Gaza are burning Palestinian children,” Haniyeh said at the children’s funerals, Ynet reported. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up Officials from both the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups hold Mahmoud Abbas and the PA responsible for the deaths, Israel’s Channel 2 said. Israel maintains a security blockade on Gaza to prevent Hamas, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, from importing weaponry and materials to build attack tunnels. On Friday Haniyeh said his terror group was not seeking war with Israel but would not tolerate Israeli troops entering the Palestinian territory. “We are not calling for a new war, but we will not under any circumstance accept these incursions,” he said in a prayer sermon in the Gaza Strip, on the fourth day of tit-for-tat exchanges of fire between Hamas and Israel around the coastal enclave. Haniyeh said that Israeli forces had intruded “150 to 199 meters (165 to 220 yards) on the pretext of searching for tunnels.” Israel on Thursday announced it had located a cross-border tunnel extending into Israel and built by the terror group for the second time in recent weeks. “We sent multiple messages that the resistance will not allow the Israeli occupation army to impose new rules within the borders of the Gaza Strip,” Haniyeh said. He said the movement would not accept the “so-called buffer zone,” referring to a 100-meter (328-feet) wide strip along the border but inside Gazan territory where the Israeli army has said it reserves the right to operate. Meanwhile, Palestinian and Egyptian sources told The Times of Israel that IDF troops had withdrawn from the Strip. On Thursday, IDF forces were operating in two areas inside the enclave — around Beit Hanoun in the northern Strip and Rafah in the south, according to the sources. An Egyptian mediator conveyed messages between Israel and Hamas designed to prevent an escalation in hostilities, the sources said. Israel emphasized that it was only working to locate tunnels, and would remove its forces once its operations were complete. Still, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai, stressed that despite reports to the contrary, the IDF would continue its tunnel-detection operations. “The army intends to maintain its activities against Hamas as it continues to breach Israeli sovereignty and build tunnels,” he said. Since Tuesday, IDF soldiers working to unearth cross-border underground passages from the Gaza Strip have been targeted by Hamas mortar fire a dozen times, according to the army. The Israeli Air Force has carried out four raids on Hamas targets in retaliation, most recently on Friday morning. Shells were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli soldiers on Friday, causing no injuries. The soldiers were operating near the southern edge of the coastal enclave, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Israeli jets subsequently targeted a Hamas site in southern Gaza, according to the army. There were no reports of casualties. “The repeated attacks against the IDF activities to locate and destroy cross-border tunnels will not be tolerated. Hamas’s diabolical plan to infiltrate into Israeli communities must be stopped. The IDF has the obligation and a duty to safeguard the people in southern Israel and the sovereignty of our borders, we will continue to do so,” said IDF spokesman Peter Lerner in a statement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday morning convened the high-level security cabinet to discuss the escalation in violence. No troops have thus far been injured in the attacks, although some engineering vehicles have been damaged, according to the army. On Thursday, a Palestinian woman was killed when Israeli tank shells hit her home east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the southern city’s Nasser Hospital. The woman was identified by the hospital as Zeina al-Amour, 54. Palestinian media also reported that a number of people were injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes in the area of Rafah on Thursday, also in the southern Gaza Strip. The IAF confirmed its aircraft hit four military posts belonging to Hamas, the de facto rulers of the Palestinian enclave, Thursday afternoon. Earlier Thursday, the IDF revealed that it had discovered another Hamas attack tunnel burrowing into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. It was the second such tunnel discovered in a month. The second tunnel, which is slated to be destroyed in the coming days, is 28 meters (90 feet) deep and was located just a few kilometers from the location of another tunnel discovered and destroyed last month, the army said. Despite the increased tension along the border with Gaza in recent weeks, the years since the 2014 conflict, known as Operation Protective Edge, have been the quietest in over a decade, in terms of rocket fire and attacks coming from the coastal enclave. Since the discovery of the first attack tunnel last month, the IDF and the Israeli government have stressed there are no indications of an imminent large-scale conflict with the Hamas terrorist organization. Judah Ari Gross, Avi Issacharoff and AFP contributed to this report.

Sociologist Darren Sherkat of Southern Illinois University has taken a close look at the General Social Survey data and found that in 2010, for the first time, more Americans support than oppose same-sex marriage. Sherkat reported these findings in his blog: When you look at that graph, the shift is dramatic; in 1988, just 22 years ago, only 12% of Americans supported gay marriage. In 2010, it was 46%, with only 40% opposed. And it’s even a big shift from 2008 to 2010: support went up seven points, and opposition trended downward seven points. Sherkat tells me: There are no other scientific surveys which have asked questions about same sex marriage over a long period of time. The only other remaining scientific general population surveys are the National Election Surveys, and I don’t think they ever asked a question about that (or if they did it was only in the 2008 version). I can’t stress this enough. In other words, the GSS is the only survey that shows these trends over time, using face-to-face surveys of respondents (as opposed to telephone polls). Sherkat performed the analysis on the GSS data following the publication of his 2010 paper, “Religion, politics, and support for same-sex marriage in the United States, 1988–2008,” published in Social Science Research. That paper concluded (as the above data through 2008 showed) that public opinion was indeed trending upward for support for same-sex marriage and downward for opposition, and noted, “Our findings suggest that in a little over a decade the majority of Americans will support the legalization of same-sex marriage.” While the 2010 data doesn’t show an over-50% majority, it does show, far more quickly than Sherkat expected, support outpacing opposition. Still, though, Sherkat’s paper raises questions about the well-worn myth that younger generations of conservative Christians are more tolerant of LGBT rights: While some scholars have claimed that younger generations of conservative Christians are increasingly tolerant on issues of sexuality . . . we found that the gap between sectarian Protestants, fundamentalists, and people with other or no faith commitments actually grew. Much public commentary has amplified the apparent moderation of younger conservative Christians, particularly with Rick Warren (a popular conservative Christian televangelist minister) replacing figures like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell as the spokesperson for conservative Christianity. However, even self-professed moderates like Warren oppose the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, and believe that homosexuality is a sinful purposeless activity with dire eternal consequences. In other words, while Sherkat found a correlation between youth and tolerance for LGBT rights, that trend was not borne out among younger Republicans and Christian conservatives: [S]hifts in support for same-sex marriage were much greater for respondents born after 1945. Indeed, in every cohort born after 1945, there was significant liberalization between 1988 and 2006–08 – at least for respondents who are not sectarian Protestants or Republicans. Cohort replacement is likely to play a strong role in overall value change in the future. The most conservative cohorts were born before 1940, and these cohorts constituted only 14% of the sample by 2008 – down from 38% of the sample in 1988. Further, the most liberal cohorts, those born after 1965, now comprise 43% of GSS respondents. Still, even in later cohorts, there is substantial, entrenched, opposition to same-sex marriage, and opposition to same-sex marriage in the younger cohorts is rooted strongly in religious and political identifications. (emphasis added). Overall, attitudes are indeed shifting. But the zealousness of political and religious conservatives to continue to battle LGBT rights, even facing an absence of overall public support, makes it unlikely that they will retreat anytime soon.

Major networks are re-tooling their lineups with new shows and new seasons for their current programs. This is a crucial time for TV. Get an early following with your pilot, and you might stay on the air. Botch your show’s debut, and you’ll be looking for work soon. College basketball has a variety of players who are must-see TV, too. When these players are on TV, you should be watching. Trust me on this one. They’re not one-hit wonders. College Basketball’s Must-See Players Trevor Releford (Alabama): He’s listed at 6-foot-1 (I’ve stood next to him and there’s no way he’s that tall). But he plays like he’s 6-10. Releford often charges into the lane as if he’s twice his size. He’s bumped, pushed and hacked by guys who dwarf him. Doesn’t care. He loves the contact. Next play, he goes back into the gauntlet. (He’ll inspire you to go to the gym for pick-up ball and demand the rock in the post even though you’re only 5-6.) You have to love Releford’s heart. He’s averaging 12.8 ppg and 3.2 apg. And he’s as determined as any player in the country. Watch him. Michigan State's Draymond Green has averaged 15.9 points and 9.8 rebounds this season.. James Snook/US Presswire Draymond Green (Michigan State): He’s 6-7, 230 pounds and he’s averaging 15.9 ppg and 9.8 rpg for the Big Ten’s best team. Forget the numbers, though. Green is must-see TV because he employs every legal, physical maneuver to impact the game. You face Green, and you’d better bring bandages. Michigan State is playing Izzo Ball again, because the Spartans have regained their toughness. Green is as tough as they come. Noah Hartsock (BYU): So you’re watching Noah Hartsock play and you’re not overly impressed. He’s not flying through the air for monster dunks every night or gliding above the rim for SportsCenter-worthy swats. Then your buddy hands you Hartsock’s stat sheet and you’re like “Whoa! He went 9-for-12 and scored 21 points?!?!” Suddenly, Hartsock gets added to your “Wait, why aren’t more people talking about this guy?” list. Then, you send me a thank-you email. My reply: “I told you.” Kyle Weems (Missouri State): During his team’s upset at Creighton, Kyle Weems mean-mugged for the entire second half. He wasn’t mad. That’s just how he plays. He’s got that Kobe DNA. He doesn’t hate anyone, but he’s not about to become Facebook friends with every opponent, either. Weems, the Missouri Valley’s’ reigning player of the year, is averaging 16.1 ppg for a Missouri State team with legit NCAA tourney hopes. Don’t expect to see Weems smile much. But that’s a good thing. Michael Dixon (Missouri): Dixon was a late addition to my list. I saw him play in person for the first time during Wednesday’s Iowa State-Missouri matchup. As the Tigers surged late, Dixon got angry. Every time he made a play, he pounded his chest, yelled an expletive and/or turned to his teammates and screamed “Let’s go!” You could probably tell Dixon, a 6-1 guard averaging 12.8 ppg, that he’s won the lottery and his response would involve a lot of screaming and a “Let’s go!” to whoever made the phone call. You wonder how an undersized Missouri team plays so big? Well, the Tigers have a roster full of fiery guys. Dixon is at the top of the list. Anthony Davis (Kentucky): Yes, I know you’ve seen him. But have you DVR’d him? If you DVR a Kentucky game, you can go back and watch Davis’ X-Men-like efforts as much as you want. Further scrutiny will lead to more “Wow!” moments for college basketball fans. Did Kentucky’s 6-10 star just block that shot or did he extend his limb and snatch the ball mid-air even though it was near the top of the backboard? Was that a dunk or a qualifying mark for a spot on the U.S. long jump team? He’s a freakish athlete. I’ve found, however, that if you go back and really pay attention to what he does when he’s on the floor, you’ll come away even more impressed by Kentucky’s double-double machine. Juan Fernandez (Temple): Here’s what you need to know about Temple’s assists leader (4.2 apg). In a crucial matchup against a Top-5 Duke squad, Fernandez threw multiple behind-the-back passes. But they weren’t the forced plays that one might find on some old And1 mixtape. They were natural, like the Argentinian had been competing that way his entire career. He’s had some recent struggles with turnovers. But pay attention to Fernandez when he’s on the court. He always makes the game more interesting. Joshua Smith (UCLA): I know UCLA has been disappointing this season. And Smith’s weight issues have contributed to those challenges. Why watch Smith? Because he’s 6-10, 305 pounds and he’s playing for the Bruins, not the Raiders. Plus, he plays 18 minutes per game, and he has an effective field goal percentage of 56 percent. Ben Howland says the big man is getting into shape, which should be a boost for UCLA. Once a game, some gutsy defender will try to stand in front of Smith, usually after he’s filled out the proper life insurance forms. Smith doesn’t jump very high. But he just commands so much space that the defender struggles to get position to defend him. Or he’s absorbed. Big Man. Big TV. Dion Waiters (Syracuse): I don’t know the young man who’s averaging 12.9 ppg for No. 1 Syracuse. But when I watch Waiters play, I always assume that one of his missions is to embarrass naïve defenders on fast breaks. It always happens so fast. Syracuse forces the turnover, Waiters runs up the floor and because he’s 6-4 and athletic, you anticipate a nice dunk in transition. … And then he finishes with some flush that would have earned a 9.0 in the 2000 NBA dunk contest. But he’s doing this during an actual game. Guys who complete dunk-contest-level slams in games are worth the price of admission.

Ankara, angered by a resolution passed by Germany's parliament in June that terms the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, has denied German MPs access to the Incirclik base. "The German army answers to parliament," Social Democrat leader and Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told the regional newspaper "Mitteldeutsche Zeitung." "And if parliament cannot visit its army, then the army cannot stay there. This is absolutely clear," Gabriel said, adding that all 250 soldiers at the base - part of NATO operations against "Islamic State" (IS) militants in Iraq - could be pulled out. Crucial partners in efforts to stem mass migration to Europe, Germany and Turkey have fallen out in recent months, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan angry over various satirical broadcasts targeting him on German television, most notably an insulting "poem" by comedian Jan Böhmerrmann. The Armenian resolution, which prompted Ankara to recall its ambassador to Germany, has deepened the rift. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel. German forces are currently on missions in 13 countries, including Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as monitoring in the Mediterranean. Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that German MPs must be allowed to visit soldiers at the base, adding that she would try to resolve the issue with the Turkish government. Chairman of the Armed Forces Association Andre Wüstner also warned against withdrawing German troops from Incirlik. "It is completely clear that MPs need to be allowed to travel," Wüstner said on Wednesday as published in the ARD "Morning Magazine." A withdrawal of German soldiers fighting IS would be "extremely detrimental," Wüstner added. Watch video 01:39 Share Armenia resolution: What do Turkish Germans say? Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/1J4gI Armenia resolution: What do Turkish Germans say? jbh/jil (Reuters, dpa)

Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Update: White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday afternoon that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would not be held as an “enemy combatant.” President Barack Obama has previously stated that he “will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens.” The US Attorney’s Office-District of Massachusetts confirms that “Dzhokar Tsarnaev [is] charged with conspiring to use weapon of mass destruction against persons and property in [the] U.S. resulting in death[.]” Before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the attack on the Boston Marathon, was even captured, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wanted the the 19-year-old be held in indefinite military detention as an “enemy combatant.” “If captured, I hope [the Obama] Administration will at least consider holding the Boston suspect as enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes,” Graham tweeted last Friday. In an interview with the New York Times‘ Charlie Savage over the weekend, Graham, who is up for reelection in 2014, elaborated on his reasoning: You can’t hold every person who commits a terrorist attack as an enemy combatant, I agree with that. But you have a right, with his radical Islamist ties and the fact that Chechens are all over the world fighting with Al Qaeda—I think you have a reasonable belief to go down that road, and it would be a big mistake not to go down that road. If we didn’t hold him for intelligence-gathering purposes, that would be unconscionable.” Graham is wrong. The government cannot hold Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant. Under current law, the fact that Tsarnaev shares an ethnicity and religion with other extremists is insufficient grounds to detain him militarily. The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which Graham vocally supported, defines as eligible for military detention “a person who was a part of or substantially supported Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” There’s no evidence yet that the suspects in the Boston bombing acted with the support of or at the behest of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces. Unless that evidence emerges, it wouldn’t be legal to hold Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant, even if he and his brother were motivated by extremist religious beliefs. “It’s actually not a close question,” says Ben Wittes, a scholar with the Brookings Institution and writer at the national security blog Lawfare who supports military detention under some circumstances. “‘Substantially support’ is a reference to providing some material aid to the forces of the enemy…It means giving active aid to the enemy forces, it doesn’t mean taking independent action that happens to be congenial for them.” Even if evidence emerges that the suspects in the Boston bombing acted with the support of or at the behest of a foreign group, the Supreme Court has not settled whether the military can detain people who are apprehended in the United States. Both the Bush and Obama administrations dodged potential Supreme Court cases that would have decided that question, precisely because the odds are good that holding someone suspect of a crime who is arrested on American soil in military detention is unconstitutional. Having the military detain someone captured on US soil could also jeopardize prosecution: In the three cases where Americans or legal residents have been held in military detention, those suspects got lighter sentences than they probably would have otherwise, Wittes says. Graham has said he wants Tsarnaev held in military detention so the suspect won’t “lawyer up.” In other words, Graham would like to deprive Tsarnaev of his constitutional rights before he’s even been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one. “We live in a system where there’s a Sixth Amendment,” says Wittes. “There’s a reason why we have that right, and I can’t do anything about it and I don’t want to.”

Well, that was quick. Once again proving himself to be no ordinary politician, President Trump took a New York minute to deliver on one of the most important promises of his presidential campaign. Make that promises, because Monday’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court fulfills a basket of Trump promises from the campaign trail. It’s an excellent pick on its own terms. Judge Gorsuch has served on the Denver-based 10th Circuit since 2006. A graduate of Columbia University, Harvard Law, and Oxford University — where he earned a doctorate in legal philosophy —Gorsuch is a first-rate scholar and thinker. Just as important, and unlike many so-called intellectuals, his writing is as clear as a Rocky Mountain stream. Those opposing his nomination — and there will be many, given the Democrats’ bellicose approach to Supreme Court nominations — will pick fights with him over law and philosophy at their peril. Gorsuch checks all the boxes candidate Trump laid out when he described the kind of nominee he would be seeking to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat on the high court. Gorsuch would also help Trump keep another important promise made to voters when he was running for the White House: a commitment to religious liberty in the United States. It’s worth noting that Gorsuch was on the list of potential Supreme Court nominees Trump publicized last summer. Republican senators kept the Scalia seat open so American voters in the November election would have a say in the direction of their Supreme Court over the next generation. Trump stressed this issue on the campaign trail, which was savvy: in exit polls, one in five voters said the Supreme Court was the issue that mattered most to them. Second, Trump consistently talked about replacing Justice Scalia with someone in the mold of, well, Justice Scalia. Judge Gorsuch may not possess the rollicking temperament and acerbic wit of “Nino” Scalia, but who does? This was not always a plus in terms of the internal “politics” of the Supreme Court, anyway, but in every way that matters, Neil Gorsuch more than fills the bill. “The great project of Justice Scalia’s career was to remind us of the differences between judges and legislators… ” Judge Gorsuch said in a memorial tribute to Justice Scalia. “[J]udges should instead strive (if humanly and so imperfectly) to apply the law as it is, focusing backward, not forward, and looking to text, structure, and history to decide what a reasonable reader at the time of the events in question would have understood the law to be—not to decide cases based on their own moral convictions or the policy consequences they believe might serve society best." In truth, Gorsuch himself doesn’t need many such reminders in his decisions on the appeals circuit bench. He has consistently based his decisions on the law and Constitution, and not on his own policy preferences or personal feelings. Consider his bracing words in one dissent. The U.S. Department of Labor was attempting to do something that was not in the plain text of the statute. Gorsuch would have none of it. “Maybe the Department would like such a law, maybe someday Congress will adorn our federal statute books with such a law. But it isn’t there yet. And it isn’t our job to write one—or to allow the Department to write one in Congress’s place.” And here’s Gorsuch on the proper judicial approach to the Constitution: “Ours is the job of interpreting the Constitution. And that document isn’t some inkblot on which litigants may project their hopes and dreams for a new and perfected tort law, but a carefully drafted text judges are charged with applying according to its original public meaning.” That’s pure “originalist” Scalia – minus the sharp tongue. It’s an originalist jurisprudence that advances one of the key policy goals Donald Trump championed in his run against Hillary Clinton, but does so squarely within the confines of the Constitution: the protection of religious liberty. Consider Judge Gorsuch’s words in the Hobby Lobby case. This closely held for-profit company argued the Obamacare requirement that forced the chain to provide life-terminating contraceptives for its employees violated the owners’ religious freedom. The 10th Circuit (and later the Supreme Court) overturned the Obamacare administrative ruling. “[Obamacare] mandate,” Gorsuch wrote in a separate Hobby Lobby concurrence, “infringes the [owners’] religious liberties by requiring them to lend what their religion teaches to be an impermissible degree of assistance to the commission of what their religion teaches to be a moral wrong.” Gorsuch was in the minority when the full 10th Circuit refused to take up another religious liberty case (Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell). The Obamacare law required religious organizations to provide contraceptive coverage for their employees. A panel of judges for the 10th Circuit had no problem with this requirement, and the question was whether the full court should take up the issue. Gorsuch joined in a stinging dissent: “The opinion of the panel majority is clearly and gravely wrong—on an issue that has little to do with contraception and a great deal to do with religious liberty. When a law demands that a person do something the person considers sinful, and the penalty for refusal is a large financial penalty, then the law imposes a substantial burden on that person’s free exercise of religion.” The Little Sisters case headed to the Supreme Court, which reversed the decision and sent the case back to the lower courts. Now Gorsuch is headed to the Supreme Court – another victory for religious freedom (and the social conservatives who backed Trump.) Donald Trump has fulfilled his promises with this exceptional nominee. Now, it is time for the Senate to promptly do its part. It’s time for the Senate to give Judge Gorsuch a full and fair hearing and an up-or-down vote so the Supreme Court can get back to work at full capacity.

Washington, D.C. — (RT) The US Senate has voted 61-36 to kill the amendment, proposed by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) which would repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Senate can’t repeal the AUMF without replacing it with a new authorization, said Senator John McCain (R-Arizona). “It would mean that we would immediately need to start winding down” US forces abroad, said Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), who also opposed Paul’s amendment. ‘Unlimited war’ and transgender troops: Amendments seek limits to military spending bill https://t.co/07Fb5JmVCM — RT America (@RT_America) September 13, 2017 Paul had vowed to delay the passage of the $700-billion dollar National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) if he didn’t get a vote on repealing the AUMF. “We have been there for 16 years. It is time for [the wars] to end. It is time for Congress to vote on whether or not they should end,” Paul said on Monday. We have been there for 16 years. It is time for them to end. It is time for Congress to vote on whether or not they should end. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 11, 2017 The Kentucky Republican noted that his protest was for the soldiers, adding that “hypocrites” are happy to “pretend concern over our constitutional duty to declare war” but are happy to “block any vote on ending any of our 7 current wars.” Where is the anti-war left demanding the wars end? Where is the constitional conservative right demanding Congress reclaim its war powers? — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 11, 2017 To fight the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group, the Trump administration relies on authorization for the use of military force that was approved by Congress in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The measure was specifically designed to give the president powers to go after “those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.” Last month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told lawmakers the 2001 authorization provides sufficient authority to wage war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Critics argue it’s a legal stretch at best, as the Islamic State group did not exist 16 years ago and that the US now uses the legislation to carry out military operations in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and other countries. A separate authorization, which in 2002 approved the war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, is also still in force. The War Powers Resolution, enacted in 1973, prohibits US troops from being sent into combat for more than 90 days unless Congress has approved authorization for military force. The war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 as a US response to the 9/11 attacks, is the longest war in US history.

Japanese manga magazines usually have distinct demographic targets narrowed by age and sex. This is usually evident within the title, like Shōnen Magazine, Shōnen Jump, Shōnen Gangan, Shōnen Champion, Shōnen Sirius , and the list goes on. That said, many readers will walk across the aisle and read manga even if it isn't "for" them. There are plenty of men reading shōjo and women reading shōnen manga. A survey carried out by the BookLive! service asked men who purchased shōjo manga between August 29 to September 1 what shōjo series they would recommend to other men. A total of 560 men responded. The winner is Yuki Suetsugu's Chihayafuru , a story about a high school girl named Chihaya who begins participating in the competitive world of Karuta, a card game based on Japanese poetry. Respondents said they thought the series' good mix of romance elements and club activities would be easily received by male readers and the manga has a solid story. The full results are: Chihayafuru by Yuki Suetsugu My Love Story!! by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko Kimi ni Todoke - From Me to You by Karuho Shiina Honey and Clover by Chika Umino Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida Patalliro! by Mineo Maya Natsume's Book of Friends by Yuki Midorikawa Nodame Cantabile by Tomoko Ninomiya Aozora Yell by Kazune Kawahara The poll also looked at what might draw male readers to a shōjo series. 33.6% said they'd read a shōjo series if the main character is attractive while 23.6% said they like "youth manga." The poll then asked if there were any physical gestures in shōjo manga that the male readers would try out, like kabe-don. 18.9% said they would try "asunaro daki" (embracing from behind), 15.4% said they would try "kami kusha" (rumpling hair), 9.3% would try "ago kui" (lifting a girl's chin up), 7.6% would try "kata zun" (leaning his head toward her) and finally, 5.4% would give the aggressive kabe-don (wall block) a try. Women previously gave a list of their favorite romantic gestures, with "asunaro daki" ranking in at #2. Male readers previously weighed in on their favorte shōjo manga last year. Nodame Cantabile topped that list followed by Please Save My Earth and Boys Over Flowers. Source: Mantan Web via Otakomu

342 Am Wriezener Bahnhof 10243 Berlin 030 29360210 Berghain ist eine endlose Liebesgeschichte aber manchmal leider kann nicht rein gehen wie diese woche hab zwei mal versucht rein zu gehen und passt leider nicht aber bleibt doch berghain ist die beste club in berlin für mich , weil ich zu viele clubs gegangen bin aber wie berghain so häftig hab noch nie gesehen danke #berghain Stundenlanges Warten wurden dann auch noch abgewiesen kein Grund angegeben... 7 stunden verschenkt... stinksauer nach Hause Weiß nicht was alle haben, Eintritt easy für ein Stunna. Personal ok, Einrichtung ballert. Publikum verrückt, aber das mag ich ja. Insgesamt ein toller Abend auf jeglichen Designern. 2x mal gefickt Am Sonntag gegen 10:00 Berghain muss man einfach mal miterlebt haben . Es ist einzigartig . Vergleichbar mit der Anfangsszene aus Blade nur größer und mehr Leute . Location ist eine Mischung aus Industrie & stylisch . Die Musik ist im Berghain hart und so muss es auch sein , Panorama bar eher soft im Vergleich . Reinkommen ins Berghain ist keine Kunst sondern einfach nur Glück. Ich habe im Hain schon alles gesehen und erlebt und man sollte schon im reinen mit sich sein wenn man dort hingeht . Dickes Kontra sind die Stammgäste die einem Gast der ab und an mal kommt, zeigen das er nicht dazugehört bzw nicht willkommen ist . Das geht wirklich hart auf die Nüsse ! Genauso die Touristen aus Italien und Spanien(ja nur die Touristen meine ich )sie benehmen sich als wären sie im qdorf oder Matrix ... furchtbar Ansonsten kann man sich das Hain geben aber nicht zu oft . ich hatte den besten Abend meines Lebens. Man muss aber auf passen, das man es schafft nach Hause zu kommen. Das fiel mir noch schwerer als rein zu kommen. Don't forget to go home. Trotz der Schlange ziemlich lamer Sound und lame Party crowd #geilersoundballertanders das was dadrin abgeht wird diesem Hyper, der darum gemacht wird auf jeden fall nicht gerecht. wer lust auf´ ´sich abschießen´ und kontrollverlust hat joa, das geht dort auch, vor Belästigungen und schlimmerem in diesem zustand ist man hier aber trotzdem keinesfalls sicher. Eindücke sonst: viele oberflächliche Modepuppen-menschen , peinliche abgehobene türpolitik, worauf wird sich hier eigentlich etwas eingebildet? Das Berghain, zurecht eine Legende. Obwohl ich mich aufgrund der berüchtigten "härtesten Tür" Berlins schon gegen einen Besuch des Berghain entschieden habe, bin ich eines Samstags doch spontan hin. Die Schlange war lang, aber sehr viel kürzer als erwartet. Nach nur ca. 30-40 Minuten Anstehen war es dann soweit. Ich war völlig nervös. Ich wurde kurz gemustert und der Türsteher nickte kurz - Glück gehabt! Der Club selbst ist einfach extrem cool. Auf den ersten Blick völlig runtergekommen, auf den zweiten Blick urban und total high-tech. Die Soundanlagen sind großartig, die Musik stimmt auch. Hier ist ausschließlich Techno am Start, bin zwar kein Fan, aber an diesem Abend hat es mir super gefallen. Das Publikum im Berghain war extrem gut. Zwar viele krasse Menschen aber keine südländischen Proleten, Assis oder Snobs. Sehr gut gefällt mir, dass man einfach völlig man selbst sein kann. Niemand schaut dich doof an, niemand lässt irgendwelche Kommentare los. Alle hier sind echt höflich! Um im Berghain noch wenigstens minimal aufzufallen muss man schon extrem krasse Sachen machen. Und diese Sachen werden gemacht... Die Kellergegend würde ich meiden. Die Panoramabar ist ebenfalls ein schöner Ort. Die Barkeeper sind (entgegen einiger Berichte) weder langsam noch schnippisch, die Preise sind außerdem völlig in Ordnung. Negativ aufgefallen sind lediglich eine extreme Drogenaffinität eines Teils des Publikums sowie die langen Wartezeiten an den Toiletten (was ja auch irgendwie zusammenhängt). Aber nur hier her kommen, wenn ihr eine Alternative geplant habt. Die Türpolitik ist zwar sehr professionell und entschieden, aber man kann auch einfach mal einen schlechten Tag erwischt haben. für die verrückten sicherlich die beste location in ganz Berlin. Ich werde wohl nichts wieder kommen dafür schätze ich die Stadt dennoch Ich finde das Berghain hat sich um 360° gedreht und voll verändert seit Jahren. Damals zu Ostgut-Zeiten lief noch richtiger Electro. Ich bin heute viel mehr enttäuscht, dass dort immer noch so ein Gehoben-Romantisch Ambiente herrscht. Dabei habe ich mir gewünscht, dass es eher Trendy-Vertraut wird, oder zumindest Romantisch-Hipster. Ohne Kontakte gehe ich nicht mehr hin , da ich mir die Schlange nicht mehr antue . Komme jetzt seit 11 Jahren her u. bin nicht homosexuell. Trotzdem bin ich immer noch total geflasht , ist ja alles gesagt eine "Legende" völlig zu Recht. Die Zeiten als Leute tagelang nicht mehr rauskamen sind inzwischen vorbei, aber als gut aussehender Bengel solltest Du nicht unbedingt in den Kellerbereich gehen. Es lohnt sich mal über das Berghain nachzulesen, wenn man noch nie da war. Er gilt nicht umsonst noch immer zu den weltbesten Clubs. Ein Gesetz keine Fotos, Ihr werdet es an der Tür merken,was im Berghain passiert bleibt im Berghain. Als ich in den Neunzigerjahre von Köln nach Berlin kam ,dachte ich kenne schon alles. Das Berghain kam dann 2004. Ich brauchte Tage um mich vom ersten Besuch zu erholen . Ich will nicht sagen damals war alles toller, aber im Rückblick war schon noch etwas spannender. Inzwischen ist der Laden zu bekannt u. das Publikum etwas angepasster. Trotz der gefürchteten Tür. War jetzt schon an die 10 Mal drin. Sicher ein geiler Club. Das erste Mal noch ein bissl Höhenflug, dann wird man realistischer. Gutes Konzept. Freitag "nur" Panoramabar ist des öfteren ziemlich mainstream. Da lohnt sich das anstehen nicht. Kommt wirklich auf den DH an. Wenn dann Samstag Nacht oder Sonntag Mittag - Musik: Mainfloor super; Panoramabar unterschiedlich - Soundanlage: Super - Publikum: Panoramabar mainstreamlastiger, mainfloor freakig - Personal: nett, 3-stufiger check-up beim Einlass, Ausländer haben's schwerer. - Location: schön viel Abwechslung Auf jeden Fall einen Besuch wert. Das es mit Abstand der beste Club ist, finde ich allerdings nicht. Das war echt ein Abend den ich nicht so schnell vergesse. Das Berghain wird seinem Ruf auf jeden Fall gerecht. Man merkt aber trotzdem das es nicht mehr so Underground ist wie es früher vllt mal war. Aber trotzdem... ein einmaliges Erlebnis! Das Ding ist, man behauptet es wird nicht jeder reingelassen, doch am Ende werden doch immer wieder die selben Druffis reingelassen, die sich nicht unter Kontrolle haben. Ekelhaft. Das war früher nicht so - im Gegenteil. Es wird einfach immer assiger weshalb ich auch wirklich nur zu bestimmten Events hingehe. Ich wollte die Musik live hören von Elliot Moss - in der Kantine. Das Video zu Slip war so beeindruckend, die anderen Beispiele auf seiner Webseite auch. Schon der Sänger im Vorprogramm machte stutzig. Melancholisch, kaum ein Wort zur Begrüßung, dann nur Krach und zum Abschluß als kleine Versöhnung halbwegs hörbares. Elliot Moss verlor auch nicht viel Worte, sondern spielte mit seinen zwei Begleitern- besser, oh ja. Aber was war mit den Bässen los? Die waren so aggressiv, daß wir mehr als vier Lieder nicht aushielten. Schade. Der Klub, hier die Kantine macht auf schrottig. Wenn man genau hinschaut, sieht man die Handwerkerleistungen dahinter. Das Wichtigste an diesem Abend schien uns Lautstärke zu sein. Und besonders stört, daß Leute rauchen. Die Aufsicht scherte es nicht. Hammer Location The best!! Leider leider sehr lange Warteschlange - deshalb komme ich sehr ungern .. Gerade wenn es kalt ist ........................... ........................... ........................... ........................... Definitiv einer der besten Clubs der Welt, wenn man nichts dagegen hat mit/zwischen oberkörperfreien Muskelmännern und Hipstern zu tanzen, die sich ab und an intensiv vergnügen. Definitiv die beste Mischung von Menschen jeden Alters und jeder Art. Vom 80-jährigem Technoopa bis zum Twink - alle tanzen sie friedlich zusammen. Die Friedlichkeit ist sehr besonders. Rempelst du aus Versehen jmd an, entschuldigt sich die Person noch bevor du es kannst. Einzigartig. Die Tür: ja, sie ist hart - aber hat ihren Sinn. Sven & Kollegen versuchen die rauszuhalten, die nicht damit klarkommen würden, dass zB Sonntag um 23:00 Uhr ein Kerl seinen Freund auf den Sofas vor den Klos fickt, sodass es jeder sieht. Sicherlich passieren dabei auch mal Fehler. Aber das ist menschlich. Dementsprechend sollte man sich auch selbst fragen, ob man wirklich in den Club passt. Wenn ja, dann sollte man versuchen an der Tür zu signalisieren, dass man es tut. Hier stimmt einiges! Und der Hype ist absolut gerechtfertigt!!!! Der Club ist sehr professionell organisiert von der Tür bis zur Bar. Die allgemeine Atmosphäre im Club ist sehr respektvoll. Eine negative Sache ist die Situation auf der Toilette. Teilweise steht man rund 15 Minuten an, nur für rund eine Minute Aufenthaltsdauer... Nun ja... Woran das wohl liegt...?!

Gen. Mark Welsh says he doesn’t read blogs. Maybe he should start. Had Welsh opened himself to the awareness harvestable via social media, he might have picked up on something that’s been energetically discussed on airman-centric social media outlets for the past two years: the likelihood of an imminent hemorrhage of aeronautical talent and experience from the Air Force. A drain based not on economics, but on quality of life and organizational conditions. Last year, the Air Force rolled out a beefed up version of its annual Aviation Retention Pay (ARP) program, offering pilots upwards of $225,000 in bonus money to stay in the service for up to an additional nine years. The result should have been a “Master Caution” for senior officials. Just 53% of eligible pilots took the money, the lowest rate in twelve years and a 15% nosedive from the year before. Nearly half of those eligible to receive extra money­ to continue doing what many consider the best job in the best Air Force in the world turned down that opportunity. At the same time, approaching changes to federal aviation employment rules and a surging airline recovery were seen clearly converging to create new competition for experienced pilots. But these trend lines did not ignite concerns about pilot retention or discussions about whether officials had gone too far in scaling back the ranks. Instead, generals at service headquarters insisted that they had pilot manning right where they wanted it. Others in the Air Force aviation community questioned this perspective, characterizing it as incomplete at best and broken from reality at worst. Now, on the heels of Welsh’s controversial admonition to pilots at Creech Air Force Base that they shouldn’t expect any improvement in basic working conditions or quality of life, the service has released its 2015 ARP program. While leaving unchanged the annual payout of $25,000, the Air Force’s 2015 program offers the bonus to more pilots and on longer contract terms than before, and has dramatically expanded the range of those eligible to receive a lump-sum up-front payout equivalent to half the total contract value. It also entices pilots to commit up to a year in advance of eligibility, allows prior contracts to be amended to add more years, and awards some pilots special cash in exchange for a commitment to cross-train into the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) community. It’s a huge program with a price tag estimated between fifty and a hundred million dollars, depending on the rate of participation. The official Public Affairs guidance accompanying the program attributes the drastic changes to posturing “against an improving economy” and denies any “dramatic year-to-year shift in pilot behavior.” But the sense of desperation is as clear as the air of denial. While airline hiring is indeed newly brisk, this shouldn’t be a surprise. It doesn’t explain the inability of the service to retain enough pilots to operate the smallest fleet in its history, something that should ease rather than exacerbate pilot manning challenges. When supplemental compensation programs explode against descending personnel budgets, the hand of panic is usually what pulled the pin. When official guidance is riddled with such inconsistencies, it’s usually because whoever is in charge has lost the plot. The 2015 version of ARP can be seen at once as a signal of panic and a fundamental misapprehension of how to solve the tacitly acknowledged crisis of talent loss in a career field at the strategic core of its duty to national defense. It can also be heard as a warning bell. If the Air Force doesn’t get its act together in such core matters as this, it will not be capable of doing what is expected in the future. The power of propaganda will prevent recognition of this deficiency until it’s too late for a remedy, embedding uncounted risk in the national defense portfolio. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Air Force doesn’t negotiate with its employees. Instead, it speaks to them through policy. Taken together with Welsh’s recent rhetoric at Creech, this year’s bonus program sends pilots the indignant message that working conditions will not be addressed, and that the service will instead try to buy its way to mission capability. It seeks not necessarily to retain the best, most innovative, or most leadership-oriented of its aviators. It simply wants to retain a high enough number of those willing to accept whatever working conditions the institution chooses to impose. This is a dubious approach for a program that purports to retain aviators not purely so they can operate aircraft, but so they can fulfill staff and leadership roles. This sounds a little like mercenary logic, but it’s actually less complicated. Mercenaries get paid for their expertise, but the Air Force doesn’t really check on expertise when it declares a pilot bonus-eligible. Strong performers don’t get more than average performers. Extra qualifications don’t mean extra cash. Commanders can, with considerable justification, stand in the way of a bonus for a demonstrably weak performer, but they can’t limit the number of years or the dollar amount awarded. There’s no calibration. A pilot finds herself in a defined bureaucratic bin and is consequently eligible or ineligible. The Air Force’s personnel staff retains the pilot or doesn’t, and commanders are left to piece together the futures of their communities based on who decided to hang around. In other words, it’s not so much a mercenary exchange as a commodity trading operation, with pilots regarded more like pork bellies than mid-career professionals. The Air Force’s message to its pilots through this policy is clear: you are not a person or a family, you are a unit of production, and we have monetized your retention thusly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The simplistic approach taken by ARP is also economically inefficient. This is because the target population is not a monolithic commodity so much as a collection of differently motivated subgroups, cognizable in three main categories. Free Riders. These are people with long-term service aspirations who never had any intention of leaving the Air Force at the end of their initial flying training commitment. They find themselves beneficiaries of a program so blunt it doesn’t care. Content to rake in free money, they sign a bonus that richly rewards them for a commitment they’d gladly have undertaken for free. (Disclaimer: I was a member of this category from 2008-2013). Grafters. These are the rationalists motivated purely by money, and therefore not by loyalty, values, or leadership aspirations. They do the math and determine whether it’ll pay more to stay in uniform or take an alternative path, and they do as the bottom line commands irrespective of working conditions. Included in this group are some who have not excelled as pilots in the Air Force, and who therefore feel less confident about an airline career than contemporaries further up the performance scale. ARP creates a perverse incentive for these average performers to remain in uniform. Fence Sitters. These are the true targets of ARP – strong pilots who have become ambivalent enough about their Air Force futures that economic considerations could pull them off the fence and into civilian life. For these officers, bonus money helps them justify to themselves and their key relationship counterparts the decision to keep service despite the advantages of leaving and despite their misgivings about organizational life. These categorizations simplify much, even as they demonstrate some of the granularity lacking in the Air Force program and its approach. What they reveal is that the Air Force is pursuing all three groups in order to influence the decisions of just one. In the process, it is giving away millions every year. How many millions? No one can say, because the service doesn’t study the program. It simply pays an outside contractor to tell it what percentage of pilots it should attempt to retain based on an algorithm that analyzes airline hiring patterns and then fields a program based on this single element from among all applicable data. In addition to the economic injury, such an indiscriminate effort creates morale problems within the ranks. Airmen sense that some of their pilot brethren are being lavished with a bonus unnecessarily or undeservedly, and they resent it. The ideal program would pay Group 1 nothing, send Group 2 packing, and manipulate the cost/benefit analysis of Group 3 not with money, but with improvements to working conditions and institutional health such that they become extinct, folding into Group 1. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Air Force spent an estimated $75M last year on ARP, only to turn around and commit itself to actively trying to spend even more this year. For that huge sum, it didn’t achieve the result of stalling the unfolding pilot hemorrhage, let alone buy itself a viable strategy for its most consequential career field. That’s because direct compensation of pilots is not the answer to this riddle. Improving squadron life, providing career stability, and reducing operational tempo to a reasonable level are the answers, as Creech’s pilots told Welsh in his recent visit. For $75M, the Air Force could fund 400 manpower authorizations at the Staff Sergeant level for the next five years to reestablish the organic support squadrons needed to avoid crushing their pilots under the weight of administrative workload. For $75M, the Air Force could pay 250 Warrant Officers to focus and specialize on flying RPAs for five years, which would free 250 fighter and mobility pilots to return to their home communities and alleviate some of the operational tempo at the heart of many separation decisions. Alternatively, the service could shave a million or two off the top and conduct a deployment audit rather than continuing stamp approval on every request for combatant command support in perpetuity. Unnecessary deployments are acidic to morale, and much more responsible for pilot departures than airline hiring. If the service studied the problem in earnest or even just listened to its own pilots, it would know this already. $75M will buy a lot of things, but it won’t buy Welsh or his fellow senior leaders an excuse. There simply is no excuse for the greatest Air Force in the world to mismanage itself into the inability to execute its mission for lack of pilots. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Fortunately, the best advice in this situation is free, and ironically culled straight from the archives of pilot wisdom. It is said that good pilots rely on their superb skill for survival, while great pilots rely on wits and planning to avoid situations that would require superb skill for survival. The Air Force needs to stop performing radical maneuvers every budget year to cobble together a numerically sufficient pilot corps and instead come up with an intelligent, informed, long-term plan to manage its most critical capability in both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. The nation’s defense can’t be allowed to rest on the “superb skill” of an annual pick-up game animated by panic, confusion, and waste.

Equifax lobbied to take away breach victims' right to sue Before Equifax doxed 143 million Americans (but after it had suffered repeated smaller breaches that should have alerted the company to deficiencies in its security), it directed its lobbying body, the Consumer Data Industry Association, to pressure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to exempt credit-reporting bureaux from a soon-to-begin rule banning binding arbitration clauses in user agreements. Equifax took the position that it should be able to confiscate your right to sue the company for injuring you just by making you click through an "agreement." Instead, you'd have to seek reparations through the notoriously business-friendly private courts of America's private arbitration contractors, and would not be able to band together with similarly injured parties (say, 143 million of them) to seek justice. In one section of the letter, CDIA declares that federal regulators “should exempt from its arbitration rule class action claims against providers of credit monitoring products.” The letter asserted that allowing customers to sue companies “would not serve the public interest or the public good” because it could subject the companies to “extraordinary and draconian civil liability provisions” under current law. In another section of the letter, Equifax’s lobbying group says that a rule blocking companies from forcing their customers to waive class action rights would expose credit agencies “to unmanageable class action liability that could result in full disgorgement of revenues” if companies are found to have illegally harmed their customers. Equifax’s lobbying group argued against the prohibition even as it acknowledged that a 2015 government study found “that credit reporting constituted one of the four largest product areas for class action relief” for consumers. Consumer groups countered the claims of CDIA and other rule opponents by saying the ability to file suit is necessary to protect Americans’ legal rights. “The use of forced arbitration clauses has created a closed system where corporations allow court access only when it’s in their interest, where it is functionally impossible for consumers to recover small dollar amounts they are due under law, and where the deterrent effect of class actions has been lost,” wrote the Consumer Federation of America in a 2016 letter to the CFPB. Equifax Lobbied To Kill Rule Protecting Victims Of Data Breaches [Alex Kotch/International Business Times]

The history of AT&T shows how the Internet as we know it was born out of rejecting the policies that are the backbone of 'net neutrality.' Last week’s announcement that the Federal Communications Commission will soon vote to roll back “net neutrality” regulations has produced a lot of hysterical overreaction, with headlines proclaiming, “FCC Is Revving Up to Destroy the Internet as We Know It.” This obviously counts on the audience’s ignorance of history. The Internet started in 1969 (depending on what you count as the Internet), and the Internet “as we know it,” i.e., what we used to call the World Wide Web, has been around for 22 years. For most of that time, the idea that the FCC has anything at all to do with the Internet would have been considered ridiculous (as it still should be). So I don’t think reversing a regulation that was only imposed two years ago is going to DESTROY the Internet. But there’s a deeper ignorance of history involved, one that I discussed a while back with technology entrepreneur Bill Frezza. Bill has lived this history, starting as an engineer with Bell Labs straight out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978, because “if you wanted to be a telecom engineer the only legal place to work was in the Bell System at Bell Labs.” The story he has to tell is that the Internet as we know it was born out of the breakup of the AT&T monopoly in 1982. Specifically, the Internet grew out of rejecting the very policies that are the backbone of “net neutrality.” AT&T gained its monopoly, ironically, from a settlement called the Kingsbury Commitment that headed off an antitrust prosecution. In effect, the government agreed that instead of breaking up AT&T, it would give the government’s backing to its monopoly. In exchange, AT&T agreed to become a regulated utility. The cornerstones of that deal were universal service—a telephone for everyone, no matter where he lived—and equality. As Frezza puts it, the commitment was, “People will be equal before the telephone. Not only will the guy way out there on a farm in Idaho get a phone, he’s going to pay the same prices as a city slicker, even though the city slicker lives in a 100-unit apartment building across the street from the central office.” Sound familiar? This same promise of equality is the central principle of net neutrality. Not only will everyone have access to the Internet, but they will all have the same Internet. No “fast lanes,” no conditions, no playing favorites. Sounds great, right? Well, here’s how it worked the first time around. Frezza puts it in contemporary terms: “AT&T developed seven apps in 70 years.” No, really. I recall the great excitement in the 1970s when most of us got our first touch-tone phones and no longer had to hear the click-click-click of the dial on a rotary phone. Then it was a few decades later, during the very end of the Bell System, that we started to get features like call waiting and caller ID. The slow pace of innovation wasn’t just the result of AT&T being a big, complacent, government-protected monopoly. It was specifically a result of the proto-“net neutrality” requirements of universality and equality. AT&T couldn’t introduce a new service unless it could introduce it for everyone, equally. Frezza describes how this held back the development of an Internet-style data transmission system. “If it has to be available on every pair of copper wires, including the five-mile loop with the load coils going out to the farmer—well, you can’t push more than 9600 baud through.” For those who don’t remember this antiquated terminology, 9600 baud is 9600 bits per second, which is not just a dial-up connection but a particularly slow dial-up connection. Today, we talk about download speeds in MBPS—that is, millions of bits per second, more than a thousand times faster. But all of that became possible because new capabilities didn’t have to be rolled out all at once to everyone, universally and equally. In effect, what AT&T was not allowed to do was to employ the business model that built Silicon Valley and the modern Internet: targeting new technology at the “early adopter”: the tech enthusiast who wants to be on the bleeding edge and is willing to pay a lot of extra money for something that doesn’t necessarily work all that well yet. The early adopters who have the extra money to spend allow people to create a lot of companies fast, to have some of them fail, to take risks and do things on a small scale before companies try to scale it up for everyone. As Frezza sums it up: Progress requires inequality. If you don’t give entrepreneurs the ability to become unequal—not just get rich themselves, but they have to make their customers unequal, they’ve got to give their customers commercial advantage or life advantage. That’s what drives progress. If you take that out of the equation, if you say all traffic has to be treated equal, all customers have to be treated equal—first of all, capital investment in the network is going to go down. We’ve already seen some of that. But so is innovation. Why would you want to give that up? That’s why we should be thrilled to see Internet service providers contemplating “Internet fast lanes” to charge extra for massive data users like Netflix. This would set off a gold rush of investment in infrastructure and innovation that would eventually bring us all much high data transmission speeds. That’s what the actual history of the Internet shows. The exotic, exorbitantly expensive new technologies of a few years ago eventually become the cheap and ubiquitous technologies of today. This is such a commonplace experience that it’s really astonishing that anyone in the tech industry has let themselves be bamboozled by the notion that we’d all be much better off with the business model of a sclerotic, highly regulated public utility. “It’s a tragedy,” Frezza says, “to see people using the same arguments that were used back in 1913 to try to re-regulate the Internet.” If we don’t learn from telecom history, we will be doomed to repeat it.

Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-20 21:54:59|Editor: Yurou Liang Video Player Close BRATISLAVA, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia wants to attract filmmakers throughout the world to choose the country as their location to film, and the country's culture ministry is planning to create a national film agency later this year for this reason, said Culture Minister Marek Madaric. The agency will also be tasked with enabling links between foreign and Slovak motion-picture professionals and lay the groundwork for film production in Slovakia, Madaric announced at a press conference on Thursday. "I believe that this agency will be very helpful both for the promotion of Slovak films and for the ability to provide information on and bring co-production partners and film investors to Slovakia," said Madaric. In addition, the ministry is also easing the requirement for minimum expenditures that filmmakers need to make in order to become eligible for a subsidy from the Audiovisual Fund that would cover 20 percent of their total expenditures. As of August, the minimum level will be cut from 2 million euros (2.3 million U.S.dollars) to 150,000 euros for a single feature, documentary or animated film, and to 300,000 euros for a project involving at least two such films or a television series.

Patriots once again sit atop early AFC 2017 projections By Nathan Jahnke • Jun 20, 2017 We still have several weeks until we even see preseason football, but with other sports seasons wrapped up, the itch for football season to return keeps getting stronger. Of course, plenty of things will change between now and then, it’s never too early to start speculating on how the season might go. After projecting the quality of each team and using them to predict the outcome of all 256 regular-season games, here are the projected standings of each AFC team for the 2017 season (the NFC had its turn Monday if you missed it). 1. New England Patriots (projected record: 12-4) The defending Super Bowl champions will likely remain Super Bowl favorites until something doesn’t go their way. Only 12 running backs had 70 or more carries in 2016 and averaged more than 3 yards after contact per attempt. New England signed two of them in Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead. Brandin Cooks upgrades the wide receiver group, and there was no better free agent cornerback option to replace Logan Ryan than Stephon Gilmore. Their defensive line depth isn’t as strong as it has been in past years, and father time will catch up to Tom Brady sometime. Until then, the Patriots are the team to beat. 2. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5) The Steelers made their way to the AFC Championship game but were unable to beat New England. Few teams had a quieter offseason in terms of player movement. All of their free agent additions will likely be backups, and their biggest loss (of outside linebacker Jarvis Jones) was immediately replaced in the first round of the draft in T.J. Watt. The only team that has two top-10 wide receivers in yards per route run over the last two years is Pittsburgh, with Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant, who is returning from suspension. If there is reason to believe the Steelers can make one more Super Bowl run with Ben Rothelisberger at quarterback, it’s the return of Bryant. 3. Oakland Raiders (11-5) Last year, this article projected the Raiders as the third-best team in the AFC and everything was going according to plan. That is until QB Derek Carr landed on injured reserve. The key to whether the Raiders will take the next step forward is if a few players can play as well as they did a few years ago. Since 2013, Marshawn Lynch has had 245 players miss tackles on his carries, which is by far the most for backs despite not playing in 2016 and missing half of 2015. In 2015, Mario Edwards looked like the next promising front-seven player, but he missed most of 2016. Cornerbacks David Amerson and Sean Smith played well in 2016, but had better seasons in recent years. If those players play at their best, this will be a special season. 4. Los Angeles Chargers (10-6) Maybe the biggest surprise on this list would be the Chargers doubling their 2016 win total. On offense, they welcome back Keenan Allen, who missed most of last year due to injury. He has a 72 percent catch rate since 2013 when he joined the league, which is the best for a wide receiver who doesn’t primarily play in the slot. Mike Williams was also added to the offense as well as a reworked offensive line. On defense, they get back one of the best cornerbacks when healthy Jason Verrett. Since joining the league in 2014, he has only missed two tackles in coverage, leading him to have the best pass-tackling efficiency. With other starts on defense who are either ascending or in their prime like Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, and Casey Hayward, this Chargers team has far too much talent to have another losing record. Join PFF Elite for access to PFF Signature Stats across all positions. 5. Kansas City Chiefs (9-7) Since Andy Reid became the head coach of the Chiefs, they have been a playoff contender every year. 2017 should be no different. The biggest change for them was the loss of Jeremy Maclin. When Maclin has lined up on the outside, he had 1.97 yards per route run. The rest of the receivers on the outside over Reid’s tenure only has had a yards-per-route-run figure of 1.27. Life for Kansas City might be more difficult this year than past due to the quality of the division, but we should still expect more of the same. 6. Tennessee Titans (9-7) After four straight years of losing seasons, the Titans turned things around in 2016, winning eight of their last 12 games. Early in the offseason they added two of the best free agent defensive backs available in Logan Ryan and Johnathan Cyprien to help their biggest weakness. Over the last two seasons, Cyprien has 53 run stops, which leads all safeties. Later in the offseason they added weapons for Marcus Mariota on first-round pick Corey Davis and Eric Decker. The biggest question now is if Mariota — who went through cold stretches to begin and end the season — can improve his consistency to bring Tennessee to new heights. 7. Buffalo Bills (8-8) The Bills managed a 7-9 record in 2016 despite missing some of their best players for large parts of the season. In 2015 when Sammy Watkins was thrown to, the team had a passer rating of 128.8, which was third-best for all receivers, but he was only able to play in 381 snaps last year. Since 2014, interior defender Marcell Dareus has only four missed tackles in the run game, which gives him the second-best run-tackling efficiency in that time frame. While the Bills have some key contributors who are aging veterans, the return of their stars should keep them competitive during the season. 8. Miami Dolphins (8-8) The Dolphins managed the rare accomplishment of double-digit wins last year despite having a negative point differential and just the 28th-best PFF overall grade. Their biggest move in the offseason was the addition of William Hayes, who leads all edge defenders in run-stop percentage since 2014 at 10.81. There were a number of positions that underperformed in 2016, and in some cases they let those players go in the offseason, but didn’t bring in clear upgrades for them. This team should remain average in 2016 and fighting for a wild card spot. 9. Indianapolis Colts (7-9) After three straight years of making the playoffs to begin Andrew Luck’s career, Indianapolis has failed to have a winning record the last two seasons in part due to an aging defense. This offseason, Indianapolis made massive changes to the defense, using six picks in the first five rounds on various defensive players as well as signing a few under-the-radar free agents. For example, outside linebacker Jabaal Sheard has graded above-average in both run defense and pass-rushing in each of the last four seasons. Andrew Luck took a huge step forward for his career in 2016, but it will take yet another step for them to be in the playoff hunt. 10. Cincinnati Bengals (7-9) The Bengals had their worst season in six years in 2016. A big part of the problem was key injuries, including A.J. Green missing the last several games of the season. His 2.86 yards per route run last year was a rate bested by only Julio Jones. While his return is a reason to believe they can do better, their losses on the offensive line suggest they won’t. Andrew Whitworth had the top pass-blocking efficiency for tackles, and Kevin Zeitler was in the top five for guards, and both are in new homes. Andy Dalton’s adjusted completion percentage of 60.6 was tied for fourth-worst for quarterbacks, so Cincinnati may be seeing its second straight season without the playoffs. 11. Baltimore Ravens (7-9) For the first time in over a decade, the Ravens missed the playoffs in back-to-back years. This year could be the same after a few veteran departures they might not be able to overcome. Wide receiver Steve Smith is the only Raven to top 2.0 yards per route run in a season in the past decade. Right tackle Ricky Wagner ended his Baltimore career with eight straight games without allowing a sack or hit. Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil led the team in pass rushing productivity at 10.1. They could have the league’s best run defense, and a great secondary, but their offense and pass rush could hold them back. 12. Houston Texans (6-10) The reason for optimism in Houston is J.J. Watt returning to pair with Jadeveon Clowney, who had his best year in the NFL in 2016. Despite having some of the biggest star power in an NFL front-seven, they did lose their top two defensive backs in A.J. Bouye and Quintin Demps. When opposing quarterbacks targeted one of those two players, they had a passer rating of 55.6 last year, compared to 92.3 when targeting anyone else in the secondary. Either an unproved Tom Savage or rookie Deshaun Watson will start at quarterback, and in either case it’s difficult to expect success in year 1. The Texans have some of the talent in place to make a deep playoff run at some point, but probably not with a first-year starting quarterback. 13. Denver Broncos (6-10) The Broncos roster has been largely unchanged this offseason. They lost their best offensive tackle in Russell Okung, but ungraded at guard with Ronald Leary. Leary was one of just eight guards last year with 400 or more pass blocks and no sacks allowed. Their problem is they are playing in what should be the most competitive division in the NFL, and they aren’t getting any younger. Their only two skill players with a grade above 75 last year are receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, who will both be 30 by the end of the season. The majority of their star defensive players are at a point where they likely have already hit their peak playing ability. If their star players don’t begin their decline and they can get better quarterback play, they can remain competitive in the division. If not, we could see the other three AFC West teams leave Denver behind. 14. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-10) This offseason the Jaguars added several players who could play key roles on the team including Leonard Fournette, A.J. Bouye and Calais Campbell. The only interior defenders with more pressures than Campbell in the PFF era are J.J. Watt and Ndamukong Suh. If this team can take advantage of their new talent and Blake Bortles plays more like he did in 2015 than 2016, this team will have their best season in years. However, with Bortles’ inconsistency, it’s hard to project them to win too many more games than they had been the last few years. 15. Cleveland Browns (4-12) The Browns spent the last few months assembling one of the best offensive lines on paper, adding the best player in the draft in Myles Garrett, and acquiring new starters at multiple positions. Garrett had 50 pressures when lined up on the defenses right side at Texas A&M last year, which was fourth-most for FBS defensive ends. Everything points to things going in the right direction, but with so many new players who lack chemistry together yet, it might not be until 2018 that they can fight for the division or a wild card spot. 16. New York Jets (2-14) The Jets only managed five wins in 2016, and have let more talent leave than they’ve brought in. Among the players with a 70 grade or better who they’ve let go are Eric Decker, Nick Mangold, David Harris, Marcus Gilchrist, Darrelle Revis, and Brandon Marshall. They now only have five players who had a 70 or better grade and 700 or more snaps last year on the roster. When a team lets go of that many veteran players who used to be the stars of the team, it’s a sign that the upcoming year is a rebuilding one.

Was there any chase happening? It sounds like you went from casual date to treating him like a Captain (on demand sex, gifts, not bringing up your relationship goals, etc.) super quickly. I feel like most men, regardless of what they say, don't like when it feels too easy. They want to feel like there's a bit of a chase at the beginning. Once you're in wife mode you have to be 100% loyal and there for him no matter what, but before that point it's totally ok to be a bit cool, to have a bit of your own life, to not always be available, etc. I see a lot of women do this, jump right into girlfriend/wife mode when there's not even an official relationship on the table, and I have never seen it work out well. For a good side by side, I dated my now husband for two months before we were officially a couple, and here was the flow. It's long because I wanted to show the detailed difference in our experiences: MONTH 1- On our first date we went out for drinks and dancing until about 3 a.m. after which he asked me to stay over at his place and I said I couldn't and he walked me home. That week he called again and asked me to dinner, I told him I couldn't go because me and my roommates were having friends over (true) but that he could come if he wanted and bring friends (he did come with two guy friends). We talked and hung out and then he went home. No kissing yet. That weekend he invited me to a party with some of his friends, I went and we made out super hard for the first time, had a great time talking, and then he dropped me off at home really late. I called him next since he'd initiated the first three times, it was super short notice in the middle of the afternoon on a weekend and I just asked if he wanted to go for a walk and grab a sandwich, he said yes! We grabbed a sandwich (I offered to pay, he said no) and walked around a park eating and talking, we held hands and later he wrapped his arms around my waist. After that he told me he had to go do something and I said that was cool because I had plans too (ok that part was a lie, but I think it's well within a woman's rights to play a bit of a game, hehe). He looked surprised that I wasn't mad about him having plans and I didn't even ask what his plans were. More making out in the park. MONTH 2- He called to go to dinner and a movie and made all the arrangements, I said yes obviously! We had a great time and made out a bunch more and there was a definite romantic air to the night. He opened up a bit and so did I and I started realizing I really really liked this guy and I was pretty sure he really really liked me. He walked me home and we made out in front of my house for like 20 minutes before I went inside. I called him next and invited him on a group outing to play pool with friends (guys and girls) he had met at my party the month before. We had a ridiculously good time laughing and hanging out and he got along with all my friends really well. That night I invited him back to my house and gave him a BJ, he stayed over and the next morning I woke up early and brewed some coffee and made breakfast for us. But once breakfast was done I told him I had to go to a fitness class (true), so we left my house at the same time. I made a deliberate decision to not call him after this and see when he followed up after getting a little something. He called two days later and asked to go to a cafe with me, I said yes. He told me that he thought I should know that up until now he had still been dating other women. I was unfazed and said that I didn't think we were exclusive yet. At that point he told me he didn't want to date anyone else, that he'd broken things off with his plates (he didn't use that word obv.) and that he wanted to be exclusive. I agreed, gave him a smile and a big kiss, and that's how we became a couple! If I had not heard back from him for a long time/at all after the night we got physical, I would have taken that to mean I was pretty low priority and moved on. I would have also moved on if the next time I heard from him was for a hookup scenario. I'm a RPW but I will not rearrange my entire life for a guy I'm casually dating, and as into my husband as I immediately was...that's all he was to me at the time. I didn't buy him gifts, give sex on demand, or even go out of my way to do special relationship-y things. I did make sure I looked smoking hot whenever I was around him, and as you can see it's not like I didn't reciprocate, because I did. I showed him I was interested, he met my friends, he got a little glimpse of my homemaker abilities by seeing my apartment coming to a party at my house (I had cooked a lot for the party). I was able to show him what he could have without doing it all specifically FOR him.

Our health care system is broken. Its a sad but true fact. We have become a system that is based on volume of care rather than value, so we now have a healthcare system that is not focused on health! Enter Dr. Rishi Manchanda. A doctor and social medicine advocate who is going to make it right. He is leading the charge with a community of what he calls upstreamists to bring health back into this system and make it more accessible for all. We had the honor to sit down and talk with him outside his home in the LA area where he walked us through his virally successful Ted talk, how he knew he wanted to be a change agent; and most importantly, what it means to go Upstream. The conversation was so informative and enlightening that we recorded twice what we normally do with guests so sit back and enjoy part 1 of our interview with Dr. Rishi Manchanda.

A week-long international conference ended Sunday in Istanbul with a statement that recognizes access to safe drinking water as a "basic human need," but not a "human right," as some delegates had proposed. The statement, coinciding with the United Nations' World Water Day, was issued at the end of a three-day ministerial meeting at the 5th annual World Water Forum in the Turkish city. "We acknowledge the discussions with the UN system regarding human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation. We recognize that access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a basic human need," the statement said. Dissenting countries challenge declaration The lack of binding protocols at the forum, held every three years to safeguard the world's freshwater supplies, prompted about 20 dissenting member countries to issue their own declaration, defining safe drinking water as a human right. Countries that tried to beef up the wording of the official statement were blocked by Brazil, Egypt and the United States, Agence France Presse reported. The Istanbul Ministerial Statement was adopted by ministers and heads of delegations from more than 150 countries. They agreed to better manage water resources, strive to prevent pollution of surface and groundwater and improve water-related monitoring systems. The event was sponsored by the World Water Council, a group made up of water specialists and international organizations. More than a billion people lack access to clean water, and 2.5 billion are without water for sanitation, the UN estimates. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that by 2030, nearly half of the world's population will be living in areas with freshwater shortages. The OECD says most of the people affected will live in China and South Asia. Canadian funding announced for water monitoring On Saturday, Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced the federal government could contribute $2.5 million over five years to the UN Environmental Program's Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS), in addition to the basic operating funding it already receives. GEMS is a Canada-led United Nations water monitoring program that had been floating in cash-strapped limbo for the past three years. The program used to receive a similar sized budget under the Liberals, but the Conservatives did not renew the full amount of funding when they came to power in 2006, spurring criticism from inside GEMS and from environmental advocates. The system is based in Burlington, Ont., and tracks temperatures, metal content and other trends in inland water quality from 2,700 monitoring stations around the world. Several UN agencies rely on the information, and the program offers training and advice for developing countries on how to set up water sampling programs.

The convenience of being able to use ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have made travelling immeasurably easier, especially if you live in a larger city like New York or Chicago. It's cheap, convenient, and just a tap of your smartphone away. If you're an adult on your own or with a few friends, that is. If you're trying to grab a lift with kids, the car seat rules for Uber and Lyft can vary a little, and the last thing any parent wants is to get stuck without a car seat. When you're travelling with kids, as many of us will be doing over the coming holidays, it can be a tricky thing to arrange transportation. Whether you live in a larger city or plan on travelling to one, lugging small children around is usually an entire adventure of its own. Especially if you have to cart around your own car seat, luggage, a toddler who probably won't feel like cooperating, etc. Unfortunately, if you are planning on using Lyft, you will be expected to bring your own car seat in most areas. According to the Lyft website: We're happy to give kids a ride as well as adults as long as your children have the proper car seats that fit legal requirements in your state and city. Plan on providing your own car seat for children that require one. Lyft does, however, offer car seats upon request in New York City for an extra 10 dollars... simply click the car seat option in the app. Uber has implemented Uber Car Seat (also known as Uber Family) for its uberX vehicles. For an extra surcharge, usually around $10, a single car seat will be made available in the few cities that are included in the program. Uber Car Seat is available in New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Orlando. According to the Uber website, there is a small catch; car seats are forward-facing and not suitable for children under 12 months: Uber Car Seat provides uberX vehicles equipped with a car seat. To request Uber Car Seat, tap the 'car seat' option after selecting the uberX vehicle type. A $10 surcharge is added to uberX pricing for Uber Car Seat trips. Uber Car Seat provides one forward-facing car seat for a child who is at least: 12 months old AND 22 lbs. AND 31 inches. A child is too big at 48 lbs. or 52 inches. To access Uber's helpful Uber Car Seat option, you simply open your Uber app, tap the Car Seat button above the uberX option, and set your pick-up location and request. If you're new to Uber, you can sign up and your first Uber Car Seat request will be offered free of charge. The unfortunate reality of ride-sharing services is that, unless you live in one of the four cities where Uber Car Seat is available, you're going to have to get comfortable travelling with your own car seat. You would likely be turned down by a driver if you don't have a car seat for your child, as the legal ramifications for them would be daunting (not to mention the safety concerns). Or if you are travelling with more than one child, a child under the age of 12 months, or smaller than 22 pounds and 31 inches. As convenient, inexpensive, and efficient as Uber and Lyft clearly are, it's still a tough haul for parents with young kids. Because let's face it; if you're planning on a day trip to an amusement park or a museum and want to take an Uber or Lyft, chances are you're going to be chained to that car seat (or car seats, even) all day. Here's hoping both Uber and Lyft start to offer more car seat options in the very near future. Check out Romper's new video series, Romper's Doula Diaries: Check out the entire Romper's Doula Diaries series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

MARATHON (CBSMiami) — Monroe County hospitals are closing ahead of Hurricane Irma. County officials announced all three hospitals in the Florida Keys would close, including Monroe County’s Trauma Star. The hospital closings: • Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon is closing at 7 a.m. Thursday. • Mariners Hospital in Tavernier is closing at 7 p.m. Thursday • Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West is closing on 7 a.m. Friday Visitors to the Keys were told to hit the road and head north as a mandatory evacuation order for non-residents went into effect at 7 a.m. Tuesday. A resident evacuation order went into effect at 7 p.m. Residents who have decided to stay boarded up and prepared for what the county’s emergency management said could be the “worst case scenario.” “We’re expecting something big, which makes people nervous down here. All we can do is hope for the best,” said Henry Budi who owns a gas station in Marathon. Budi is covering windows and wrapping pumps but hoping to remain open. Lots of visitors have already left, others are hoping to get off the island chain before the big rush. “I was supposed to be getting up early this morning to scuba dive,” said George Northover. Northover and his wife Donna got up at 4 a.m. to pack and leave. They’re heading to Orlando. “I’m not going to mess with it. I was ready to leave yesterday but he wanted to stay an extra day, but I put my foot down yesterday and said, “I don’t care! We’re leaving here tomorrow,” said Donna. At the local Re/Max office in Marathon it’s is all about protecting real estate, getting the office shored up so everyone can leave. “We’ll we’re doing a little shuttering here at the office,” said Re/Max employee Joanne Cook. “Last minute, our guy that’s supposed to do the second story bailed on us so we hauled in the crew and we’re getting things shuttered up.” Video Embedd Code – Speaking at the Monroe County Emergency Operations Center, Governor Rick Scott said it’s crucial if you’re told to leave, to do it quickly. “I cannot stress this enough, do not ignore evacuation orders,” Scott said. “Remember we can rebuild your home but we cannot rebuild your life. The storm is massive; the storm surge predicted will go for miles. This is a massive storm. In some instances, it can cover homes and go very far inland.” Martin Senterfitt, Director of the Monroe County Emergency Operations Center, is sharing the same message. “This is a life threatening killer storm,” said Senterfitt. “We can not over emphasize the importance of following the evacuation instructions.” Emergency managers want tourists and residents alike to get out. They’re extremely worried about storm surge with such a powerful storm forecast to barrel through in just a matter of days. “With a Category 5 coming at the Florida Keys we could be looking at wave heights that would literally put the ocean over the islands. We’re got to remember we’re an island community and islands go under water,” Senterfitt said. Monroe County Mayor George Neugent told CBS4’s David Sutta that not leaving would be an “Irresponsible Decision.” “If a rescue is needed for those people only interested in their own situation, we would have to call out first responders to rescue them and that’s not gonna happen once the storm is hitting,” Neugent said. “It would be a bad decision for people not to continue to observe the mandatory evacuation.” When asked to compare Hurricane Irma to a past storm that hit the region, the mayor said no such thing exists. “There is no comparison [to Hurricane Irma]. Hyperboles do not describe this storm because it is such a large and intense storm and its coming our way and the whole state of Florida is watching this. We need to get people out of here. That’s my message. You need to evacuate and get out of the path of the storm.” All schools and government offices in the Keys have been closed through the weekend. The Lower Keys Medical Center is evacuating its patients Wednesday night. The patients will be taken by Monroe County Fire Rescue and Key West Fire Rescue to Naval Air Station Key West’s Boca Chica Airfield and transported to Gadsden Regional Medical Center in Alabama. Monroe County’s two other hospitals, Mariners Hospital in Tavernier and Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon, will be making decisions on when to close Wednesday afternoon. Based on the expectations of the current track, FIU will open a shelter for special needs people in Monroe County at 10 a.m. Thursday. People must register on the Monroe County Special Needs at http://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/index.aspx?nid=148. Also based on expectations of the current track, FIU will open a shelter for general population of Monroe County at 4 p.m. Thursday. This should be a last resort. People should bring their own bedding, food, medication and toiletries. For what to bring at a shelter, go to http://www.monroecountyem.com/index.aspx?nid=120. Monroe County’s pet-friendly, general population shelter will be at the E. Darwin Fuchs Pavilion at the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds and Exposition and open at 5 p.m. Pet owners should bring the pet’s food, medications and vaccination records. Key West International Airport will close Wednesday night due to TSA’s security checkpoint ceasing the screening of airline passengers. All commercial flights at Key West International Airport will be canceled from Thursday morning until further notice. General aviation will continue at Key West International Airport and the Florida Keys Marathon International Airport until conditions become unsafe.

Hyperloop One made the news last month when it launched an open-air propulsion test of its next-gen transport technology, sending: a metal sled tearing through the desert on railway tracks at 115mph in 2 seconds. The company, which, like several others, is working to develop a high-speed mass transport system based on a concept proposed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. As it gets closer to its goal of bringing the idea into reality, its journey is becoming more fascinating by the day to learn about. Hyperloop One CTO Brogan BamBrogan some interesting insights into his company’s progress in an interview on the Science Friday public radio show. BamBrogan opened by reiterating that the company isn’t inventing anything new: Hyperloop can be built right now, but it’d be way too expensive to set up for public use at this point. However, innovation is necessary to bring costs down so the system can be manufactured and deployed widely. BamBrogan added that this rapid transport technology could unlock many more doors than just shuttling people between cities: We think we can deliver things people don’t even know they want yet, and that’s going to manifest itself in a lot of ways. So I think we will see some above-grade systems, we’re definitely going to see tunneled systems and we want to see some underwater systems. He also explained that safety is the biggest benefit of the Hyperloop concept, as it’s immune to problems encountered in traditional methods of transport, like at-grade intersections (like street traffic) and difficult weather conditions. Credit: Hyperloop One And when asked whether Hyperloop will be built like long trains or small buses, BamBrogan noted that it’ll be more like an on-demand system that transports people without interruption: We aim to packetize the delivery of people or cargo. So it’s not going to look like a train; it’s going to feel like a car. Nobody ever arrived at their car early, because your car leaves when you want it to leave. So as we craete small units that are discrete, we can send people exactly when they arrive at the terminals and we can also send them directly to their final destination. Given how basic the first public test was, it’s clear that companies like Hyperloop One still have a lot of work to do. But it’s fascinating to think how we’re fairly close to seeing an entirely new mode of transportation in our lifetimes, and it’s equally amazing to follow the developments up close.

Sudan has captured an alleged avian spook it believes is spying for Israel and broadcasting satellite images back to the Jewish state, several Middle Eastern media have reported. Officials in the North African nation have concluded that Israel fitted a vulture with a GPS chip and solar-powered equipment that can take reconnaissance pictures from a bird’s eye view, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, which cited Egypt’s El Balad website. “[The Egyptian site reported that] the vulture was captured in the town of Kereinek in the Darfur region in Sudan’s west and that the finding prompted Sudanese authorities to announce Israel was using vultures to spy on their country,” Haaretz said. “The report in El Balad does not say who made these claims.” Based on a logo found tagged to the bird’s leg, Sudanese security officials apparently concluded that Jerusalem’s Hebrew University deployed the vulture on a surveillance mission. This is not the first time a bird was accused of spying for Israel — last year, Saudi Arabia “detained” a griffon vulture it assumed was part of a “Zionist plot” — nor is it the first time an animal was believed associated with national defence: Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War, Britain’s The Guardian once reported, and an unknown number of armed U.S. military-trained dolphins may have gone missing during Hurricane Katrina. This latest avian discovery has been outright dismissed by Israel’s nature and parks authority, who told Israeli news site Ynet that vultures are often fitted with GPS for research purposes and are incapable of taking pictures. “This is a young vulture that was tagged, along with 100 others, in October,” Ohad Hazofe, an ecologist with the authority, told Ynet. “He has two wing bands and a German-made GPS chip … This is equipment that can give out distance and altitude readings only. That’s the only way we knew something had happened to the bird — all of a sudden it stopped flying and started traveling on the ground.” Iranian television Press TV and Britain’s The Telegraph both pointed out that in October, Sudanese officials alleged that Israel bombed a Khartoum weapons factory after jamming the country’s radar defences. The Iranian station reported that Sudan’s president said at the time that the “reckless behavior is a manifestation of Israel’s concerns and nervousness about the political and social upheavals in the region and about the progress in Sudan.” National Post kcarlson@nationalpost.com @kblazecarlson

“There’s a reason he has a website called Boring Sean Monahan. It’s because he is boring.” — Brian Burke, Calgary Flames president Sean Monahan is not boring. That is your thesis, your mantra, your challenge when you sit across from the Calgary Flames centre (and a PR man) for a 10-minute interview a few weeks before the puck drops on the 2015-16 season. You know Monahan isn’t boring because his teammate, Kris Russell, told you as much. You know Monahan isn’t boring because half of his left arm is decorated with a giant tattoo and because he just bought a new Labradoodle and because he scored 31 goals as a 20-year-old NHL sophomore. Boring people don’t go get cool crossbreeds and tats, do they? Surely, if you’re even partway competent with your line of questioning, you will uncover some of the exciting and shocking wonders of Monahan’s life. But your gold-panning attempts are too flimsy — no match for the monotone. Repeatedly, digs into some non-hockey topics result in responses that would make perfect tweets if tapped out by the anonymous and hilarious @BoringSeanMonahan Twitter account. On why Monahan named his new dog Samson: “I bought him from a breeder and that’s the name I came up with.” On teammate Sam Bennett’s playoff performance: “He was good. Everybody knows he’s going to be good, and he’s already good.” On his off-season back in Toronto: “I get to come home and spend time with my family and friends. I don’t get to take them to Calgary.” On living across from Rogers Centre and the red-hot Blue Jays: “Donaldson and Tulowitzki, or whatever his name is, are pretty big additions.” You’re not pointing this out to poke fun at the kid. Monahan is polite and a hell of a hockey player. It’s just that, as a follower of one of the best Twitter accounts in the NHL, it’s so uncanny to see life imitating satire. Pressing Monahan on his summertime activities at the cottage, you learn he enjoys canoeing, swimming and wakesurfing. Wakesurfing is not boring. So you fire three questions about the topic. He says he’s not very good and he can’t throw the rope yet and he will improve next summer. The player is, of course, aware of his tedious online impostor. He gets a kick out of it. “It’s gone on for a while now, and it’s pretty funny,” Monahan says of @BoringSeanMonahan. “I think Derek Smith and Chris Butler [run it], but I have no idea to this day.” Turn the topic to hockey, however, and watch Monahan’s answers lengthen. Despite growing up three provinces away, Monahan has been enamoured with the Battle of Alberta since childhood, always awake past the Maple Leafs game on Saturday nights to catch Flames-Oilers tilts. “I’d stay up late and watch those and fight my eyes for a while,” he recalls. “Everyone would be hyped; the crowd would be going crazy. So it’s something that now being part of it is pretty special.” More special was a goal he scored as a rookie in October 2013. Five games into his NHL career, the kid was already riding a three-game goal-scoring streak when one of his heroes stood between him and extending the streak to four. “There was three minutes left, and I ended up getting the winner. My family was there, which is pretty special. It was against Martin Brodeur. Watching him growing up making all those big saves, it was pretty huge to score a goal against him,” Monahan says. “That’s something I’ll always remember.” Monahan doesn’t have the bootstraps journey of Flames captain Mark Giordano. He lacks the carefree, lovable quirkiness of “Shoeless” Jiri Hudler. And Johnny Gaudreau has the cool nickname. But Monahan’s vanilla persona suits the club just fine. Calgary president Brian Burke told The Fan 960 that Monahan reminds him of Hall of Famer Ron Francis — he of 1,798 points — in that the smart centre brings value to every square inch of the ice but won’t be the guy holding court at the All-Star Game. “Not flashy, just good at everything, a true 200-foot player. I used that term a few years ago, and now it’s grossly overused. Sean Monahan is a 200-foot player. He’s a really reliable player in his own end and he scores – but he’s not flashy,” Burke said. “He’s way more mature than a kid that’s 20 years old. He acts like’s he’s 25. And his teammates love him ’cause he keeps his mouth shut and works.” Monahan’s aspirations for Year 3 align with Burke’s assessment. After scoring 30 goals in 2014-15, he hasn’t, for example, set a benchmark of 35 in 2015-16. Offence is not his focus. “If it’s more blocked shots or little things like that,” he says, “I just want to be a better player than I was last year.” More blocked shots? A boring alarm blares inside your brain. So, Sean, are you really as dull as the fake Twitter feed makes you out to be? “Maybe to the media, but other than that, no,” he says. “I don’t think it’s accurate.” Once the recorder is tucked away, you spot Monahan chatting it up with Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. He appears relaxed as the two peers laugh and joke their way down the hall. Whatever they’re talking about, surely it can’t be boring.

Image credit: Permaculture Science Whether learning that I am only 10% human, 90% bacteria, or musing on the concept of composting as animal husbandry, my life has taken a decidedly microbial turn of late. And not without good reason. As the video below argues in no uncertain terms, we owe our very existence to the tiniest of beings around. You'll be astounded at quite how many there are under your feet—assuming you are standing on some healthy soil, that is.I already posted the trailer for Geoff Lawton's Permaculture Soils DVD. but now the movie has been released, I make no apology for following it up with this excerpt about just how much life there is in our soils. As Geoff explains, here can be as much as 40 tons of life actively at work in an acre of soil, and let's not forget that that life is almost completely restricted to the top few inches of top soil. Think about that next time you rent out a rototiller, then maybe give no dig gardening a try... More on Permaculture and Healthy Soils Try No Dig Gardening for Your Backyard Vegetables Soil is Not Dirt: Why Words Matter in Protecting Our Earth Dirty Movie Reveals Secrets of Abundant, Healthy Soil (Video) Composting as Animal Husbandry: Moving Way Beyond Recycling

The full version of this post is available here. COLUMBUS, Ohio — Was Rick Santorum trying to imply that President Obama, who is Christian, actually responds to another theology? At a campaign appearance here on Saturday morning, Mr. Santorum described the “president’s agenda” as being “not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your job.” “It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology. But no less a theology,” Mr. Santorum said, to wide applause. His comments brought a swift rebuke from the Obama re-election campaign, which in the past has tended to focus more on attacks by Mitt Romney. Their quick attention may be an indication that Democrats believe Mr. Santorum’s momentum now means he stands a decent chance of defeating Mr. Romney for the Republican nomination and facing Mr. Obama in the general election this fall. “This is just the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness, and searing pessimism and negativity,” Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. He also described Mr. Santorum’s comments as “a stark contrast with the president, who is focused every day on creating jobs and restoring economic security for the middle class.” In comments later made to reporters here, Mr. Santorum was asked if he believes Mr. Obama was less of a Christian for — in Mr. Santorum’s view — “imposing his values” on the church. “No one’s suggesting that,” Mr. Santorum said. “Obviously, as we all know in the Christian church there are a lot of different stripes of Christianity. I’m just saying he’s imposing his values on the church, and I think that’s wrong.” He added, “If the President says he’s a Christian, he’s a Christian.” Veiled suggestions that Mr. Obama is not a Christian — or not an American — have been an element of fringe politics since the last presidential election. It go sot bad in 2008, in the opinion of Mr. Obama’s general election opponent that year, John McCain, that Mr. McCain took back the microphone from a woman at one of his rallies who asserted that Mr. Obama was “an Arab.” Mr. McCain then corrected the woman. This year, Mr. Santorum has passed up similar opportunities to publicly correct misstatements about the president’s background. Last month, a woman at one of Mr. Santorum’s campaign stops in Florida declared during a question-and-answer session that Mr. Obama was Muslim. According to an account by CNN, Mr. Santorum did not correct the woman’s statement, and he later said it is not his job to correct such statements. “My position is clear, the president’s position is clear, I don’t think the president’s a Muslim, but I don’t think it’s my obligation to go out and repeat that every time someone who feels that way says something,” Mr. Santorum said on CNN, after that Florida appearance.

In order to get Hurricane Harvey relief funds, Dickinson, Texas, residents have been asked to agree to not boycott Israel, The Dallas Morning News reports. The storm, which made landfall Aug. 25, did catastrophic damage along the Gulf Coast and hit Dickinson especially hard. The city started accepting applications last week for money to rebuild homes and businesses from the Dickinson Harvey Relief Fund. A clause in the application states: “By executing this Agreement below, the Applicant verifies that the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement.” Despite claims from the city that it is following the law, ACLU of Texas Legal Director Andre Segura says the requirement is clearly unconstitutional and “an egregious violation of the First Amendment.” She added, “The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression.”

This week, Iran’s minister of sports and youth, Mahmoud Goudarzi, appointed Amir Reza Khadem, former wrestling world champion and member of the Tehran City Council as the ministry’s special representative in the process of privatization of Tehran’s most prestigious soccer clubs, Persepolis and Esteghlal. This appointment was welcomed by leading stakeholders as a positive step in resolving a lasting issue in the country’s soccer scene. Incidentally, the plan to privatize these two popular soccer clubs has been stalled since 2005. In fact, these two entities were put on the privatization list in accordance with the provisions of the fourth five-year development plan. Mohammad Khatami's government then took the first step and authorized the Iran Privatization Organization (IPO) to prepare the two clubs for privatization. However, after the change of government in 2005, the plan was put on hold indefinitely and without any clear explanation. Since 2009, various attempts to present the clubs for privatization faced administrative and legal challenges, mainly due to the fact that they were both major loss-making entities. In fact, none of these clubs could survive without massive financial support from the government. Transparent and audited accounts and financial reports are a prerequisite for the initial price offering of any entity that is introduced into the Tehran Stock Exchange, hence making it impossible for the IPO to technically start the process of privatization. However, the fact that these two clubs were not profitable had more to do with other inner-government financial practices, especially the nonpayment of broadcasting rights to sports clubs by the Iranian Broadcasting Company. The change of government in 2013 raised hopes that a new approach could be adopted to this matter, both in terms of sports clubs being paid a fair share of broadcasting proceeds as well as stadium revenues, but also with regard to privatization plans. However, during his inauguration as minister of sports and youth, Goudarzi stated on Nov. 24, “I don’t believe that the problems of Persepolis and Esteghlal would be solved through privatization. We need to prepare the grounds in cultural and social terms. Our goal is to strengthen these two teams, but with a hasty privatization we may actually lose these clubs.” While this statement irritated many stakeholders, the government produced another surprise by announcing in its documentation for the annual budget bill that both clubs are considered “profit-making.” This announcement has been in sharp contrast to the fact that both were close to being excluded from the Iranian soccer league due to enormously high debts. In the case of Persepolis, the club’s debts to its players compelled the players to go on strike last week. As an angry reaction to the players’ strike, Persepolis head coach, Ali Daei (himself a soccer legend and a successful businessman) criticized the ministry for failing to provide the allocated funds to the club, and also stated that he could ask “his friends” to come and buy the club and rid it from its financial troubles. This comment confirmed the suspicion that the government was impeding the privatization process. A sudden sacking of the managing director of Persepolis, Ali Rouyanian, seems to have been in connection with the club’s financial situation, which may be a result of mismanagement. Rouyanian, the former chief of the Tehran police, represented the country’s military and security network that has always been interested in owning and managing leading sports clubs in the country. The new caretaker managing director, Ali Parvin — himself one of the country’s soccer legends — immediately announced that the club’s debts stood at more than 600 billion rials (about $25 million), i.e., fourfold the club’s annual budget and much higher than the latest valuation of the club that stood at 450 billion rials in 2012. So, if these clubs are loss-making, why are governments hesitant to privatize them? The minister’s reference to “losing these clubs” points to the important fact that the real value of these entities — and other similar clubs — is not of economic nature. Essentially, the main value of clubs such as Persepolis and Esteghlal is their social base. They can easily attract millions of Iranians in social as well as political processes. Therefore, no government has ever agreed to privatize them. Keeping them financially deprived and dependent on the government will allow the government to control the nonfinancial benefits. There are two important aspects: On the one hand, losing control over these clubs will allow the new owners — which could be private entities or military and revolutionary foundations — to utilize their social base for economic objectives, and on the other hand, control over the vast social bases that these clubs have could potentially lead to security concerns for the regime as a whole. This concern explains why the country’s security network around the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been keen to control major soccer clubs by appointing former commanders as the managing directors of such clubs. Rouyanian's sacking and Parvin's appointment as the new managing director of Persepolis can be seen as a reversal of the process that was consolidating itself over the past few years. At the same time, the latest pseudo-privatization of a soccer club transferred the club “Rah Ahan” to the holding company of Babak Zanjani, the Iranian businessman who is currently under investigation for corruption and embezzlement. That transfer in 2011 confirmed another suspicion, i.e., the government would only transfer the ownership of successful sports clubs to its trusted networks and not to genuinely private bidders. (Zanjani was closely affiliated with the previous administration.) In light of all of these issues, it is interesting that the government has started a new process to prepare these clubs for privatization. Even the IPO has publicly commented on the process. IPO President Abdollah Pourhosseini recently said that the financial accounts of these clubs were incomplete and unaudited, hence the organization needed much longer to prepare the entities for privatization. However, he was hopeful that the clubs would be offered to the private sector by April 10. Also, Goudarzi’s decree to Khadem instructed him to provide “transparency of accounts and full cooperation with other responsible authorities.” This new push may be connected to the ongoing criticism and pressure by the Asian Football Confederation that insists governments have to move out of sports affairs and national soccer federations should be nongovernmental. Evidently, as long as Persepolis, Esteghlal and other major clubs such as Tractorsazi and Foulad remain governmental, soccer affairs will be dominated by the government. At the same time, these concerns will lead to hesitations in a genuine privatization process. It remains to be seen whether President Hassan Rouhani's government will manage to liberalize the country’s soccer affairs. The closed nature of the networks that have dominated this important sport have also increased the suspicion of corruption and mismanagement, which has also overshadowed the social and cultural utility of this popular sport in Iran.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is currently undergoing upgrades that will allow it to finally reach its intended top energy of 14TeV. When it comes back online, researchers will use it to probe the properties of the Higgs boson it discovered and to continue the search for particles beyond those described by the Standard Model. But no matter how many Higgs particles pop out of the machine, there's a limit to how much we can discover there. That's because the hadrons it uses create messy collisions that are hard to characterize. The solution to this is to switch to leptons, a class of particles that includes the familiar electron. Leptons present their own challenges but allow for clean collisions at precise energies, allowing the machine to produce little beyond the intended particles. So now, the international physics community is putting agreements in place that will see a new lepton collider start construction before the decade is out, most likely in Japan. Hadrons vs. leptons Hadrons like the proton are composed of a mixture of quarks, gluons, and virtual particles. Their heavy mass makes them easy to accelerate. When fast-moving particles move around curves, some of their energy is lost as radiation; the proportion of lost energy goes down as the particle's mass goes up. So when lightweight electrons were sent through the curved tunnels that now house the LHC, the maximum energy they could reach was just over 100GeV. In contrast, protons can go through those same curves at 7TeV, meaning the collisions have significantly more energy. The problem with hadrons comes from the fact that they're made up of a bunch of individual particles, and there's no way of controlling how the particles are oriented when the collision takes place. Even when two protons smash head-on, the quarks inside them may end up colliding off-center. As a result, only a small fraction of the total energy ends up being available to create new particles. Since there's no way of predicting how much, reconstructing what happened during a collision gets rather complicated, especially since each collision is really multiple smaller collisions. Imagine trying to reconstruct what happened when two trucks used to ship cars collide when you don't know which cars started on what truck. Leptons, in contrast, are fundamental particles; there's nothing inside them, so when they collide, all the energy gets put into a single, simple collision. This means you can see things like the Higgs without accelerating the electrons to anywhere near the energies used at the LHC. It's also relatively easy to collide electrons with their antimatter cousins, the positrons, which eliminates the particles themselves in the process. The end result is a very clean collision and, if it's at the appropriate energy (say, near the mass of a heavy particle), a strong likelihood of producing the particle you're interested in. Since leptons don't like running in circles, the solution is to build a linear collider. If everything moves in a straight line, it's possible to get electrons up to high energies and keep them there. The problem is that a straight line means long tunnels and infrastructure spread along them. All of which means a large expense. ILC vs. CLiC Even while the LHC was still being built, scientists started planning for a next-generation linear collider under the assumption that the LHC would spot the Higgs and physicists would want to study its properties in detail. Two competing camps were formed, one focused at Fermilab, the other at CERN. The CERN group called its effort the Compact Linear Collider, or CLiC. To keep costs under control, CLiC would accelerate leptons within a shorter distance by transferring energy from one beam of electrons to the beams of electrons and positrons used for collisions. The result is a shorter (or, as the name implies, more compact) collider. The downside is that the technology remains unproven, so we don't know whether it would actually work in practice. That dilemma left the focus on the International Linear Collider, which uses extensions of existing technology on a larger scale—a much larger scale. The initial plan for the ILC calls for the hardware to be housed in a tunnel 30km long; to increase the energy later, another 20km may be added. Initial plans were to build it at Fermilab, although the size meant that the tunnel would extend out under some of the neighboring towns. But the US Congress cut the funding for it a few years back, leaving the project in a bit of a limbo. Two factors have changed that: the actual discovery of the Higgs, which gives the collider its purpose, and the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, which freed up money from the Japanese government as part of the country's recovery efforts. (It's worth noting that Japan hasn't been designated the official site yet, but that is an offer that will be hard to refuse. Also worth noting is that the ILC and CLiC teams are partly competitors and partly collaborators.) Last week, the ILC team published its technical design report, which lays out how the accelerator will function and what it might explore. The design calls for two storage rings, one each for the electrons and positrons. Electrons are relatively easy to come by, but the positrons will be made on-site. Basically, the electron beam will be sent on a curved path and lose energy via the production of high-energy photons. These photons will be converted to electron/positron pairs; the electrons will be discarded, and the positrons will be sent into the storage ring. From the ring, the electrons and positrons will be sent 15km in opposite directions, sent around a curve and then fed into two linear accelerators that are 11km long each and pointed roughly at each other. If future higher-energy extensions go forward, they would basically involve extending the tunnels and shifting the point where the electrons go around a bend further out. More accelerator hardware would be attached to the backend of the existing linear accelerator, lengthening it so that the electrons spend more time being accelerated and come out at a higher energy. There's a single beam-collision point at the center of the complex, which means only a single detector can take data from collisions. To provide the reassurance of reproducibility, there will be two detectors on rails, allowing one to be slid out and a second to be slid in to replace it. If there's enough shielding, it should be possible to perform maintenance on one while the second is operating. Since the amount of acceleration can be tuned, the initial range of the accelerator runs from about 200GeV to 500GeV, enough to explore the production of the Higgs with a Z boson and see how the two interact (given that the Z is a relatively massive particle, the answer is expected to be "extensively"). At the high end, a pair of Higgs particles can be produced with a Z, allowing us to determine how the particle interacts with itself. Combinations of the Higgs and two top quarks are also possible (the top is the most massive particle we know about). Extending the energy up to 1TeV would get us more elaborate combinations, but it's hard to see that much money being spent unless the LHC produces some evidence for supersymmetry, additional Higgs particles, or dark matter particles (or some combination of the above). The LHC has plenty of time to get there, as a final site for the ILC hasn't even been chosen yet. It will take a few years to finalize the design specs and then roughly a decade to construct it, so operation probably won't start until the late 2020s. By that time, the LHC will probably have gone through a second round of upgrades and should have thoroughly explored all the particles accessible to the energies it can reach.

At least 77 bills to oppose renewable energy standards, support fracking and the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and otherwise undermine environmental laws were introduced in 34 states in 2013, according to a new analysis from the Center for Media and Democracy, publishers of ALECexposed.org. In addition, nine states have been inspired by ALEC's "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" to crack down on videographers documenting abuses on factory farms. ALEC, Fueled by Fossil Fuel Industry, Pursues Retrograde Energy Agenda For decades, ALEC has been a favored conduit for some of the worlds largest polluters, like Koch Industries, BP, Shell, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil, and for decades has promoted less environmental regulation and more drilling and fracking. ALEC bills in recent years have pulled states out of regional climate initiatives, opposed carbon dioxide emission standards, created hurdles for state agencies attempting to regulate pollution, and tried to stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation introduced in 2013 carries on this legacy. ALEC bills favor the fossil fuel barons and promote a retrograde energy agenda that pollutes our air and water and is slowly cooking the planet to what may soon be devastating temperatures. "Disregarding science at every turn, ALEC is willing to simply serve as a front for the fossil fuel industry," says Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org. "Given the stakes -- the earth's climate -- that's shabby and sad." ALEC Tours the Tar Sands In October of 2012, ALEC organized an "Oil Sands Academy" where nine ALEC member politicians were given an all-expenses-paid trip to Calgary and flown on a tour of the Alberta tarsands while accompanied by oil industry lobbyists. The trip was sponsored by pipeline operator TransCanada and the oil-industry funded American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, and email records obtained by CMD show that after the trip, ALEC urged legislators to send "thank you" notes to corporate lobbyists for their generosity. At least ten states in 2013 have introduced variations on the ALEC "Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline," calling on the president and Congress to approve the controversial project. Environmentalists oppose the pipeline because extracting oil from Canadian tar sands would unlock huge amounts of carbon, increasing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Despite being promoted as a "job creator," the pipeline would only create between 50 and 100 permanent positions in an economy of over 150 million working people. In Nebraska, CMD filed an ethics complaint against state senator Jim Smith, the ALEC State Chair for Nebraska, who never revealed to his constituents that he had gone on the "Oil Sands Academy," and failed to disclose over a thousand dollars of travel expenses paid for by the Government of Alberta, Canada. Sen. Smith has been exceptionally vocal when it comes to his support for the Keystone XL pipeline. For example, he sponsored a 2012 Nebraska law that would -- if it survives a continuing legal challenge -- bypass the U.S. State Department and allow TransCanada to start building the Nebraska part of the pipeline right away, regardless of any future decision by the federal government. ALEC Partners with Heartland Institute for Rollback of Renewables Even more extraordinary is ALEC's push this year to repeal Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), which require that utility companies provide a certain amount of their total energy from renewable sources like wind. "ALEC's long time role in denying the science and policy solutions to climate change is shifting into an evolving roadblock on state and federal clean energy incentives, a necessary part of global warming mitigation," says Connor Gibson, a Research Associate at Greenpeace. In Germany, where the nation has set a goal of getting 35% of its energy from renewables by 2020, public commitment to clean energy technologies is transforming markets, driving innovation and generating huge numbers of jobs. Even in the U.S., where there has been less public investment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says 3.1 million clean energy jobs have been created in recent years. Perhaps because of RPS' job-creating qualities, ALEC's bill to repeal renewable standards, the "Electricity Freedom Act," was too much even for the most conservative legislatures. It failed to pass in every state where it was introduced -- even in North Carolina, where it had the backing of Grover Norquist, and whose Republican-dominated legislature has been rolling multiple ALEC bills into law in 2013. It may be little surprise that ALEC's attack on renewables was spearheaded by one of its looniest members: the bill was brought to ALEC in May 2012 by the Illinois-based Heartland Institute, a group best known for billboards comparing people who believe in climate change to mass murderers like the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. ALEC is usually very secretive about its model legislation and its efforts in the states, but ALEC did not disguise the fact that it had made the Electricity Freedom Act a priority for the 2013 session. ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Director Todd Wynn published blog posts on the topic and was quoted in the press discussing how ALEC was working with Heartland to promote the repeal bills. In many of the states that have proposed versions of the Electricity Freedom Act, the right-wing infrastructure has sprung into action, almost according to a script. The Beacon Hill Institute publishes a study (using discredited analysis) claiming that a state's renewable standards lead to higher energy costs, as it did in states like Maine and Ohio and Wisconsin and Arizona. The David Koch-founded and-led Americans for Prosperity organizes an event to "educate" its members about how renewables are "punishing" consumers, as they did in Nebraska, and perhaps invite a guest from the Heartland Institute to make similar claims, as they did in Kansas. ALEC, the Heartland Institute, and the Beacon Hill Institute all have received money from foundations associated with Charles and David Koch, and each are also part of the State Policy Network, an umbrella group of right-wing organizations that claim adherence to the free market. SPN has received at least $10 million in the past five years from the mysterious Donors Trust, which funnels money from the Kochs and other conservative funders. SPN was also a "Chairman" level sponsor of ALEC's 2011 Annual Conference and ALEC is an Associate Member of SPN. But even though the ALEC/Heartland anti-renewable energy fight found little success in 2013, the group is not giving up. New Avenue Sought to Rollback Renewables "I expect that North Carolina and Kansas will probably pick up this issue again in 2014 and lead the charge across the country once again," Wynn said. ALEC now appears to be modifying its strategy to find a more palatable way to attack renewable standards. At its August 2013 meeting, ALEC will consider a watered-down version of the Electricity Freedom Act with a bill called the "Market Power Renewables Act." That legislation would phase-out a state's Renewable Portfolio Standards and instead create a renewable "market" where consumers can choose to pay for renewable energy, and allow utilities to purchase energy credits from outside the state. This thwarts the purpose of RPS policies, which help create the baseline demand for renewables that will spur the clean energy investment necessary to continue developing the technology and infrastructure that will drive costs down. But, it would satisfy ALEC's goal of preserving reliance on dirty energy from fossil fuels. ALEC Bills Undermine Environmental Regulations, First Amendment ALEC energy, environment, and agriculture bills moving in the first six months of 2013 include: The "Electricity Freedom Act," introduced in six states, repealing (or in some states weakening) Renewable Portfolio Standards. The standards have been a key component driving renewable energy growth -- which threatens the profits of ALEC's polluter members. introduced in six states, repealing (or in some states weakening) Renewable Portfolio Standards. The standards have been a key component driving renewable energy growth -- which threatens the profits of ALEC's polluter members. Variations on the "Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline" (introduced in ten states) calling on the federal government to approve the controversial project to transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada across the United States. It is no coincidence that pipeline operator TransCanada is an ALEC member and funder. (introduced in ten states) calling on the federal government to approve the controversial project to transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada across the United States. It is no coincidence that pipeline operator TransCanada is an ALEC member and funder. The misleadingly-named "Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act" (introduced in five states) which would actually make it harder to find out what chemicals are being pumped underground through the fracking process. The bill, which was brought to ALEC by Exxon Mobil, carves out a giant loophole for "trade secrets" -- potentially concealing the information the public might want to know. (introduced in five states) which would actually make it harder to find out what chemicals are being pumped underground through the fracking process. The bill, which was brought to ALEC by Exxon Mobil, carves out a giant loophole for "trade secrets" -- potentially concealing the information the public might want to know. The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act" (introduced in five states), seeks to sow doubt in the minds of young people about man's role in the warming planet by requiring that educators "teach the controversy" when it comes to topics like climate change, where the science is beyond dispute. (introduced in five states), seeks to sow doubt in the minds of young people about man's role in the warming planet by requiring that educators "teach the controversy" when it comes to topics like climate change, where the science is beyond dispute. The "Environmental Services Public-Private Partnership Act" (introduced in two states) would give for-profit companies control of vital public health services like treating wastewater and drinking water -- the last place where you want a company to cut corners to increase profits. (introduced in two states) would give for-profit companies control of vital public health services like treating wastewater and drinking water -- the last place where you want a company to cut corners to increase profits. The "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" (variations of which were introduced in nine states) have come to be known as "Ag-Gag" bills, as they criminalize investigations into abuses on factory farms and deem videographers "terrorists." (variations of which were introduced in nine states) have come to be known as "Ag-Gag" bills, as they criminalize investigations into abuses on factory farms and deem videographers "terrorists." The "Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act" (considered in seven states) was modeled after a Utah law from 2012 and is an updated version of the ALEC "Sagebrush Rebellion Act," where Western states assert control over federal lands that are being protected as wilderness preserves, in many cases to allow for resource extraction. ALEC Corporations Reap the Rewards The corporations bankrolling ALEC and benefitting from bills advanced by the Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force include: Keystone XL Pipeline Operator TransCanada , a member of the ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force and which sponsored ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit at the "Vice Chairman" level. It was one of the sponsors of the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy" where nine ALEC member legislators were given an all-expenses-paid trip to Calgary and flown around the Alberta tarsands while accompanied by oil industry lobbyists. , a member of the ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force and which sponsored ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit at the "Vice Chairman" level. It was one of the sponsors of the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy" where nine ALEC member legislators were given an all-expenses-paid trip to Calgary and flown around the Alberta tarsands while accompanied by oil industry lobbyists. Shell Oil , one of the largest fossil fuel conglomerates in the world, operates a tarsands extraction facility and sponsored lunch at the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy." Shell has long been an ALEC member and funder, for example sponsoring ALEC's 2011 Annual Meeting at the "Chairman" level (which in the past has cost $50,000) and hosting plenary sessions. Shell is also a member of the ALEC Civil Justice Task Force, presumably to advance legislation that would protect it from liability in case of oil spills or other disasters. , one of the largest fossil fuel conglomerates in the world, operates a tarsands extraction facility and sponsored lunch at the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy." Shell has long been an ALEC member and funder, for example sponsoring ALEC's 2011 Annual Meeting at the "Chairman" level (which in the past has cost $50,000) and hosting plenary sessions. Shell is also a member of the ALEC Civil Justice Task Force, presumably to advance legislation that would protect it from liability in case of oil spills or other disasters. British Petroleum (BP) , the United Kingdom's largest corporation and the company responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, has long supported ALEC, including sponsoring ALEC's 2011 meeting in New Orleans -- not far from the site of BP's oil spill -- at the "Presidential" level (which in the past has cost $100,000). , the United Kingdom's largest corporation and the company responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, has long supported ALEC, including sponsoring ALEC's 2011 meeting in New Orleans -- not far from the site of BP's oil spill -- at the "Presidential" level (which in the past has cost $100,000). Peabody Energy is the largest producer of coal in the U.S. and boasts that it generates 10% of the country's energy, and also has a lobbyist representative on the ALEC corporate board; it was the 2011 winner of ALEC's "Private Sector Member of the Year" award and has sponsored ALEC meetings and events. In 2007, it spun-off coal mines it owned in West Virginia and Kentucky into an independent company, which then filed for bankruptcy and sought to be released from its pension and retirement operations. is the largest producer of coal in the U.S. and boasts that it generates 10% of the country's energy, and also has a lobbyist representative on the ALEC corporate board; it was the 2011 winner of ALEC's "Private Sector Member of the Year" award and has sponsored ALEC meetings and events. In 2007, it spun-off coal mines it owned in West Virginia and Kentucky into an independent company, which then filed for bankruptcy and sought to be released from its pension and retirement operations. Duke Energy is one of the largest electric utility companies in the United States, and has publicly expressed concern about global warming and support for clean energy, but its continued support for ALEC undermines those rhetorical positions. A coalition of environmental groups have been urging Duke to drop ALEC for the past year, so far to no avail. is one of the largest electric utility companies in the United States, and has publicly expressed concern about global warming and support for clean energy, but its continued support for ALEC undermines those rhetorical positions. A coalition of environmental groups have been urging Duke to drop ALEC for the past year, so far to no avail. Koch Industries, the privately-held multinational corporation owned by billionaire financiers David and Charles Koch, is involved in an array of industries including petroleum refining, fuel pipelines, coal supply and trading, oil and gas exploration, chemicals and polymers, fertilizer production, and commodity speculation. Koch Industries has long funded ALEC, sponsored its meetings, and had a lobbyist representative on the ALEC Private Enterprise Board. Charitable foundations associated with David and Charles have also been ALEC funders, with the Charles G. Koch Foundation giving ALEC a half-million-dollar loan in 1996. Average Americans Pay the Price The ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force has not only promoted anti-environmental bills, but also legislation to help industrial farms escape public accountability -- which would prevent a 21st Century Upton Sinclair from going undercover and creating a documentary work like The Jungle, which led to a new wave of food safety regulations in the early 1900s. ALEC's "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" was the ideological ancestor for "ag-gag" laws, introduced in nine states in 2013 to quash the First Amendment rights of reporters, investigators and videographers by making it harder for them to document issues with food safety and animal cruelty. The bills take many forms, but generally make it a crime to shoot video of a farm or slaughterhouse, or to apply for employment at these facilities under "false pretenses." Modern-day Upton Sinclairs have been using similar techniques as The Jungle's author to document food safety issues -- Sinclair got a job at a Chicago slaughterhouse under false pretenses so he could write his book -- but are using 21st Century tools. In 2007, for example, an undercover video investigation by the Humane Society showed sick "downer" cows -- which are banned from human consumption because they were implicated in the spread of mad cow disease -- being pushed towards slaughter with forklifts and cattle prods, leading to the largest meat recall in U.S. history. The ALEC-influenced "ag-gag" bills seek to criminalize this type of investigation. In March of this year, ALEC spokesman Bill Meierling defended the laws, telling the Associated Press, "at the end of the day it's about personal property rights or the individual right to privacy." Utah passed an ag-gag law in 2012, which led to charges against a young woman named Amy Meyer, who did nothing else besides film the outside of a slaughterhouse from public land. Meyer regularly passed the slaughterhouse on her way to volunteer at an animal sanctuary, and began filming when she witnessed what appeared to be animal cruelty with possible public health repercussions: a sick (but still living) cow being carried away from the building on a tractor. The slaughterhouse owner asserted that she had trespassed, despite there being no damage to the barbed wire fence surrounding his property. "This was the first time anyone has been charged under the ag-gag law," Meyer told CMD. "But as long as these ag-gag laws are around, this won't be the last prosecution, unfortunately." Less than 24 hours after journalist Will Potter publicized her story -- but months after she was first charged -- the prosecution dropped its case against Meyer. "The only purpose [of ag-gag laws] is to punish investigators who expose animal cruelty and journalists who report on the ag industry," she said. "These laws are intended to keep consumers in dark and shield factory farms from scrutiny." As written, the ALEC model bill could also criminalize environmental civil disobedience, such as when activists "obstruct" the business operations of a logging or mining facility through tree-sits or road blockades. A bill reflecting these provisions was introduced in Oregon this year to outlaw most civil disobedience against logging operations. Polluters Stand With ALEC Over the past year-and-a-half, at least 49 global corporations have dropped their ALEC membership -- including companies like Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, and Amazon -- but oil and energy companies have stood by ALEC. "Despite its terrible reputation, ALEC is still valued by polluting companies like ExxonMobil, Duke Energy and Koch Industries, which finance and help craft ALEC's state policies to smother competition from clean energy industries and offer handouts to fossil fuel companies at every turn," says Greenpeace's Gibson. "ALEC's guise of 'free market environmentalism' is just a code word for its real mission in our states' legislatures: to allow dirty energy companies to pollute as much as they want, to attack incentives for clean energy competitors and to secure government handouts to oil, gas and coal interests," Gibson says. "That's not a free market." View the full list of 2013 bills from the ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force bills here.

A man sentenced to life in prison without parole for the double-murder of two teenagers used an opportunity to address the families of his victims in court on Wednesday to declare that “black lives matter” and “hands up, don’t shoot.” The kicker: the convicted murderer, Frederick Young, is black, and his two victims, Jourdan Bobbish and Jacob Kukla, were white. Young and his accomplice, Felando Hunter, robbed, tortured, and murdered Bobbish and Kukla in Detroit in July 2012 as the teens were attempting to buy drugs. Their bodies were discovered in a field in East Detroit after a search which lasted several days. Given a chance to respond to the families’ impact statements during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Young made a statement which shocked the courtroom. Young said: “I’d like to say sorry to the families of Aiyanna Jones, Michael Brown, Eric Garner. And I want to apologize to them for not being able to get justice for their loved ones who was murdered in cold blood – and in respect for the peaceful protest, I want to say hands up, don’t shoot. Black lives matter. That’s it your honor.” Jones was a seven-year-old girl from Detroit who was shot and killed during a 2010 police raid. Brown is the 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer. Garner died after being choked and arrested by a Staten Island police officer last summer. All were black. Young’s references to “hands up, don’t shoot” and “black lives matter” are to rallying cries that emerged from the protests over the deaths of Brown and Garner. Some witnesses claimed that Brown held his hands up in surrender and yelling “don’t shoot” when he was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Other witnesses disputed the claim. WATCH: [h/t The Washington Times] Follow Chuck on Twitter

Several popular game capture programs will not work with Destiny 2 on PC, developer Bungie has said, including in this month's PC beta. Some overlays for chat and hardware monitoring will also be blocked from functioning. "The Game Capture mode of applications such as OBS and XSplit is not supported," a new Bungie FAQ page notes. But other methods will work, including hardware capture through Elgato or AVerMedia. This relates to Exclusive Fullscreen, where more of your PC's resources are put towards running the game. Windowed Mode/Borderless Fullscreen does not have these restrictions, and you can use OBS and XSplit here instead. "Other recording applications, such as Dxtory, Razer Cortex, Fraps have similar restrictions to those outlined above," Bungie notes. Voice communication notifications provided by Discord and Mumble via screen overlays will also not work - such as the ones to show who is talking. The same with framerate and stats overlays, such as those provided by Fraps and Afterburner. Why do these restrictions exist? It sounds like Bungie is being extra careful about third-party apps which might insert code into its own game client, in order to prevent exploits which might enable cheating. It's a little confusing - but if you want to try it all out for yourself, Destiny 2's PC beta begins on 28th August. It even has a new Crucible map to play: the sci-fi sounding Javelin-4.

When Stan Musial celebrates his 90th birthday on Sunday he'll have the additional honor of being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the White House. That will complete the "Stand for Stan" campaign launched by the St. Louis Cardinals last May to get Musial the most prestigious honor the U.S. awards to civilians. Other baseball greats to win it are Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Ted Williams. Musial's honor was reported first by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill helped spread the word on her Twitter page. Musial was a three-time MVP (and a four-time runnerup) who played his entire 22-year career with the Cardinals. When "Stan the Man" retired in 1963 he held 29 NL records and 17 for all of MLB. His 3,630 hits still rank fourth all-time, and he won seven batting titles.

composition of fruit and vegetables (Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto) For decades, billion-dollar corporate giants in the food industry successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress to suppress not only constructive action, but also scientific knowledge about the dangers of overconsumption of certain foods. Publicizing certain nutritional dangers could have saved untold lives in Louisville and could have extended the lives of millions of other Americans had U.S. Senate hearings in 1977 not been hijacked by industry lobbyists. Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota chaired the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs that heard testimony that validated the need for our nation to shift toward a diet similar to the primarily plant-based diets of other nations not plagued by chronic diseases associated with high-cholesterol and high-fat sources of protein, and led them to make the following statement: "Too much fat, too much sugar, or salt can be and are directly linked to heart disease, cancer, obesity, and stroke among other killer diseases. In all 6 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, they have been linked to our diet. Those of us in government have an obligation to acknowledge this." However, by the end of the year, the language in the committee's official report supporting a healthier diet for Americans drafted by Chairman McGovern and his committee had not only been turned on its head by lobbyists for the salt, sugar, and dairy industries, but also the chairman was personally demonized and the committee itself was disbanded. While lobbyists won a political game by changing the wording of the report, they lost the moral high ground by their brazen efforts to suppress scientific truths about the relationship of certain foods and chronic diseases. Through billion-dollar advertising campaigns, the corporate-biasing of academic research, and the corrupting of watchdog regulatory agencies, our knowledge of what is healthy to eat has been skewed. Industry lobbying groups persuaded members of the Kentucky General Assembly to help "gut" HB 550 (sponsored by Speaker Greg Stumbo and myself in 2012) in order to remove provisions authorizing a pilot project documenting how a 10-day, primarily plant-based diet lowers the cholesterol and blood pressure of participants. Again in 2014, lobbyists worked to persuade most House members to vote against my simple finding-of-fact amendment to HR77 educating Kentuckians about healthier eating: "Numerous scientific studies confirming that a whole foods diet comprised primarily of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, and nuts, without added oil, sugar, and salt, is optimal for human health, not only preventing a broad range of diseases and illnesses, but also reversing some of the most dangerous chronic conditions. This finding is of the highest importance to the Commonwealth because it communicates truth that has the power to save lives." After the House Speaker appointed me co-chair of the Task Force On Childhood Obesity in 2011, I invited the two doctors whose research persuaded former President Bill Clinton to adopt a diet based primarily on plants to address the task force's final meeting held in the House Chamber: T. Colin Campbell, PhD, author of "The China Study," and Caldwell Esselstyn, MD, author of "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease." The two hours of "classroom-type" lectures on video can be viewed on KET at www.ket.org/legislature/archives.php by selecting "2011 Interim Session" and scrolling to "November 15 Task Force on Childhood Obesity." They are also featured in a high-quality, 90-minute documentary film, "Forks Over Knives," which for two years has remained a top-viewed documentary on Netflix and Amazon.com. My wife, Claudia, and I met both doctors when they presented at a medical school nearly five years ago. We saw our total cholesterol drop approximately 50 points and our blood pressure drop about 25 points after one month of eating a more plant-based diet. Dr. Campbell and his son, Nelson, will be featured in a new health documentary entitled "Plant Pure Nation" that includes film footage of the entire House floor debate on the merits of a primarily plant-based diet that took place at the Kentucky State Capitol in the March 2014 Session of the General Assembly. The trailer of this documentary can be viewed at PlantPureNation.com. Rep. Tom Riner is a Democrat representing the 41st District. His email is RepTomRiner@gmail.com Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/1LlMPm6

If you haven’t yet realized it, the allure of independent watch makers is the watch maker themselves. If the same watches came from large established brands – they would not have the same effect. Some of the watches might actually sell better if they came from the larger brands, but they would not be as memorable and our emotional connection to them would not be as great. The allure of the little guy (or gal) is as much in their personality as it is in their craft. This time around the indy watch maker du jour is unique due to talent as well as the fact that it is a woman. Female watch makers are rare. That doesn’t mean that female watch workers are (you’ll learn that they are quite common if you visit any watch manufacture), but the ones who make their own pieces entirely are. At Basel 2011 while strolling through the AHCI area (where many of the indy watch makers display) I met watch maker Eva Leube and checked out her new piece called the Ari watch. The name was minorly ironic because she named it after her son named “Ari,” and sometimes people call me “Ari” (although technically it isn’t actually short for Ariel). Eva was soft spoken, but confident. Of German descent, she now lives in Sydney Australia. A job with Rolex Australia took her down under a few years ago it seems. Though she is a Swiss trained watch maker. It does seem to be the case that many such souls work for larger brands before spilling off on their own. One personality trait that seems to be common to all of them is the ability to be self-motivated, and be able to manage themselves. What many people don’t know is just how much work it can take to release and industrialize just one watch – and that is before important aspects of a business such as marketing, sales, and customer service. Running and starting a small watch brand is not easy. The Ari watch is a women’s piece, though it is a larger piece. It is more long and skinny on the wrist actually. The manually would movement created by Eva Leube is like a stretched pocket watch movement with a large single mainspring barrel and a large escapement that runs at 18,000 bph. Like the case, the movement is steeply curved to create an arch. In the middle is the display for the time, topped by a subsidiary seconds hand. At the top is the balance spring. For comfort and symmetry, the crown is located at the bottom of the watch. You’ll also find a metal crown guard as part of the strap. The design and layout of the dial is very satisfying – though the inclusion of a power reserve indicator would have really be the icing on the cake. I really do enjoy the design of the movement. It is very classic in form and execution with an emphasis on aesthetic and traditional decoration. On the mainspring barrel you’ll find a hand-engraved “Eva Leube” logo. The question comes up for me “is it a woman’s watch or a men’s watch?” I don’t actually know if it is either. I am inclined to place it in the “unisex” category – a category I dislike. There are three types of watches out there in my opinion. Men’s watch, women’s watches, and men’s watches that a woman would be happy to wear. Though on occasion I have discovered a fourth category which is the always amusing “women’s watch that certain men will wear.” In which does the Ari fall in to? The case is available in 18k gold (various gold colors available) or platinum and is 52.44mm long by 21.6mm wide. In addition, the dial/movement is done in matching gold or platinum. This is narrow for a men’s watch, but makes up for it in length. The design of the movement and dial is more or less masculine in my mind. The attached galuchat strap? In this case it is pretty feminine. Strap on a black alligator strap and you pretty much have a men’s piece. A men’s piece that women can feel more than comfy wearing. In fact, according to Eva Luebe, all Ari watches will come with a custom made strap depending on what the client watches. The curved case style is meant fit over one’s wrist nicely. It is also considered a technical difficulty to design a movement that is wrapped in this manner. I haven’t put the watch on my wrist yet, but it looks comfortable and like a very cool bracelet. Reading it is simple and the large exposed balance wheel is a treat to watch. On the front and sides of the watch are sapphire crystals for a series of really clear views in to the movement. Finishing and decor is rather nice and the overall concept seems satisfying. Unlike a lot of other independent watch maker around, Eva Leube’s first offering is not a spectacle of high-complications and elaborately unorthodox design. Instead, she offers an almost sober timepiece with some unique elements that is sure to be appealing. I look forward to learning more about Eva, and seeing her future work. Much of the watch is customizable depending on the customer. This includes the strap, aspects of the decoration, and the material. Price is 76,000 Euros in 18k yellow or rose gold, 78,000 euros in 18k white gold, and 93,000 euros in platinum. Tech specs from Eva Leube: Ari Watch Case and Dials Case: Available in 18k gold or platinum 950. Crown and buckle in metal to match case Dials: Both dials in 18k gold Crystals: Three anti-reflection sapphire crystals (top and both sides) Crown: Screwed locking crown Bracelet: Leather bracelet custom-made to client’s specifications Engraving: Case/movement hand-engraved by master engraver John W. Thompson Dimensions: 52.44mm x 21.6mm x 8.45mm (height) Movement Balance: Free sprung balance with regulating screws Balance frequency: 18,000 vph/2.5 Hz Balance diameter: 15mm Power reserve: 40 hrs Number of jewels: 18 Number of components: 209 Chatons: 18k gold Gear train: Highly-modified gear train from a Record 302 calibre Finishing: Main plate and bridges in rhodium-plated brass, ratchet wheel hand-engraved ‘Eva Leube’

Image from Frostbite Credit: DC Comics Credit: DC Comics Press Release THE FLASH’S JOSHUA WILLIAMSON SIGNS WITH DC ENTERTAINMENT AND GETS A CASE OF “FROSTBITE” Williamson to Debut a New Vertigo Series Alongside His Take on the Scarlet Speedster BURBANK, Calif. (April 28, 2016) – Fresh off the heels of the DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH event held at WonderCon in Los Angeles in March, DC Entertainment announced today that it has reached an agreement with Joshua Williamson to create comic book content solely for the company’s DC Comics and Vertigo imprints. In addition to launching THE FLASH in June, Williamson will also make his Vertigo debut in September with FROSTBITE, a new six-issue miniseries joining the title lineup. Jason Shawn Alexander (Batman: Arkham City, The Empty Zone) will accompany Williamson on the book, handling art duties. ”Josh is a fantastic writer, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him on board,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee. “He has a knack for telling stories that really grab hold of readers, and it comes through whether he’s writing epic superhero fiction, or more edgy and darker tales.” Image from Frostbite Credit: DC Comics FROSTBITE follows Keaton, a South American woman and a “coyote,” a human trafficker specializing in no-questions-asked transportation of people across dangerous landscapes. Decades earlier, the world entered a new ice age; though the remaining populace has survived and adapted to the frozen environment using new technology, the weather is not their biggest danger. A new disease nicknamed “Frostbite” is making its way across the remaining communities. It literally turns people into ice, slowly freezing the moisture in their cells. Keaton and her crew are tasked with transporting two scientists from Mexico to a science lab on Alcatraz where they are working on a cure. It should be easy; after all, it’s only an elderly man and his adult daughter. But when the transport is attacked Keaton finds out that the scientist and his daughter have a bounty on their heads, and this simple transport job becomes very, very complicated. “For a comic book writer, this is a dream come true,” said Williamson. “There aren’t too many people that get the chance to not only write The Flash, one of my all-time favorite characters, but also work with Vertigo; a publisher that’s been a huge influence on my writing style. DC Comics is an important company to me; I’ve loved these characters all my life and an opportunity to add to their mythology is amazing. It’s an honor to be a part of it.” A self-professed “Flash fan”, Williamson makes his REBIRTH debut on both THE FLASH: REBIRTH (on sale June 8) and THE FLASH (on sale June 22) beginning an all new-story arc, blasting out of the events of May 25th’s DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH Special, written by Geoff Johns (JUSTICE LEAGUE, GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH, FLASH: REBIRTH). The events of the Rebirth Special have left Barry Allen at a crossroads, and issue #1 begins chapter one of “Lightning Strikes Twice,” where a new storm brews over Central City, and disproves the old adage about lightning never striking twice. This time, just when Barry Allen is beginning to feel overwhelmed fighting crime, a new speedster debuts! But where did he come from, and is there more to him that meets the eye? As part of the Rebirth line wide relaunch, The Flash will ship twice monthly, with art by Carmine DiGiandomenico and Neil Googe, at a lower price of $2.99.

Stewards Summary Update #3: FINAL - issued 10th October 2016 at 1830hrs (AEST). Matters from Race 21: The Stewards imposed the following penalties during the Race: A reposition upon Car #15, Rick Kelly/Russell Ingall, for a driving infringement (Careless Driving – causing contact with Car #111, Chris Pither/Richie Stanaway, at Turn 1 on Lap 10); A 10 second time penalty on Car #15, Rick Kelly/Russell Ingall, at its next Pit Stop for failing to reposition as directed; A 10 second time penalty on Car #4, Shae Davies/Chris van der Drift, at its next Pit Stop for failing to engage the pit lane speed limiter while in Pit Lane; A PLP on Car #15, Rick Kelly/Russell Ingall, for a Pit Lane Infringement on Lap 92 (rotate wheels in pit stop); A PLP on Car #888, Craig Lowndes/Steven Richards, for a breach of the Safety Car Re-start procedures on Lap 94 (fail to traverse pit lane when 2 or more laps down at restart); A PLP on Car #23, Michael Caruso/Dean Fiore, for a Pit Lane Infringement on Lap 114 (fail to give way to a Car already wholly in the fast lane); A PLP on Car #22, James Courtney/Jack Perkins, for a Driving Infringement (driving excessively slowly under Safety Car conditions); A 15 second time penalty on Car #88, Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell, for Careless Driving (causing contact with Car #33, Scott McLaughlin/David Wall, at Turn 21 on Lap 150); A PLP on Car #4, Shae Davies/Chris van der Drift, for a breach of the Safety Car Re-start procedures on Lap 156 (fail to traverse pit lane when 2 or more laps down at restart). After the Race, the Stewards received a Notice of Intention to Appeal and the appropriate appeal fee from Triple Eight Race Engineering Pty Ltd in relation to the 15 second time penalty imposed during the Race on Car #88, Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell. Following an investigation and an admission by Car #33, Scott McLaughlin/David Wall, of Careless Driving (unsafe re-entry to the circuit at Turn 22 on Lap 150), the Stewards imposed the penalty of the loss of 25 Championship Points on Car #33, Scott McLaughlin/David Wall. Following an investigation and an admission by Car #22, James Courtney/Jack Perkins, of Careless Driving (causing contact with Car #7, Todd Kelly/Matt Campbell, at Turn 21 on Lap 158), the Stewards imposed the penalty of the loss of 25 Championship Points on Car #22, James Courtney/Jack Perkins. Following an investigation and an admission by Car #88, Jamie Whincup that he failed to obey the direction of an official (to wear his race suit for pre-race activities), the Stewards imposed a fine of $500 on Jamie Whincup. Matters from Warm up: There were no issues. Stewards Summary Update #2: issued Saturday 8th October 2016 at 1900hrs. Matters from Top Ten: There were no issues. Matters from Practice 6: Following an investigation and an admission of a breach of Rule D12.8.9 (rotating wheels during a pit stop) by Car #360, Simona De Silvestro, the Stewards imposed a fine of $1000 on Simona De Silvestro.

Global-warming deniers cherry-pick their facts The cherry-picking season in the Okanagan is over, but it’s alive and well on the letters page of this newspaper, with a classic example via the tired meme: “The planet has warmed very little since 1998.” Hmmm … why would the letter-writer pick 1998, one wonders? Well, it’s one of the warmest years in recent decades, thanks to a major El Niño, so if you pick that as a starting point — as global-warming deniers are wont to do –– ongoing warming looks less imposing. It’s spin, pure and simple. The fact is that Planet Earth is heating up. Every decade since the 1970s has been warmer than its predecessor, driven inexorably upward by human-produced greenhouse-gas emissions. And this year is on track to be the warmest of at least the past 1,000 years. Thomas F. Pedersen Executive director Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions University of Victoria Global-warming deniers cherry-pick their facts

Newt Gingrich has pledged that on his first day as president he will set up a constitutional showdown by ordering the military to defy a supreme court ruling extending some legal rights to foreign terrorism suspects and captured enemy combatants in US custody. The Republican contender told a forum of anti-abortion activists ahead of South Carolina's primary election that as president he would ignore supreme court rulings he regards as legally flawed. He implied that would also extend to the 1973 decision, Roe vs Wade, legalising abortion. "If the court makes a fundamentally wrong decision, the president can in fact ignore it," said Gingrich to cheers. The Republican contender, who has made no secret of his disdain for the judiciary, said that as president he would expect to have repeated showdowns with the supreme court. He said the court would lose because it is the least powerful and least accountable arm of government. Gingrich said the first confrontation would be over its historic ruling, known as the Boumediene decision, that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay have the right to challenge their detention in US courts. "I fully expect as president that there will be several occasions when we will collide. The first one, which is actually foreign policy, the Boumediene decision which extends American legal rights to enemy combatants on the battlefield is such an outrageous extension of the court in to the commander in chief's role. "I will issue an instruction on the opening day, first day I'm sworn in, I will issue an executive order to the national security apparatus that it will not enforce Boumediene and it will regard it as null and void because it is an absurd extension of the supreme court in to the commander in chief's (authority)." Gingrich has said before that he regards the president as above the court when the two branches have fundamentally differing views but he went further in committing himself to setting up a constitutional crisis on his first day in office. The Republican candidate cited what he said were precedents, including Abraham Lincoln's refusal to accept the Dred Scott decision denying that former slaves were citizens. Gingrich's interpretations have previously been met with disdain. President George W Bush's attorney general, Michael Mukasey, has said that a president selectively ignoring supreme court decisions would turn the US in to a banana republic. At the same election forum, Rick Perry, the Texas governor, did not go so far as Gingrich but he did say that as president he would seek to pack the supreme court with judges who would overturn the ruling legalising abortion. "When we have a president that appoints two or three more supreme court justices - that's what the next president of the United States is liable to do - those from my perspective should be individuals who are strict constructionists who look at the constitution and interpret it in a way that our founding fathers wrote it," he said. "Therefore Roe vs Wade would be overturned." While that comment was less contentious than Gingrich's approach, Perry created his own ripple of controversy by once again speaking ill of a foreign country. "Think about 35,000 children every day are aborted in China. That country is destined for the ash heap of history unless it changes its values," he said.

Remember the story of Pippa Bacca, the Italian woman who was going to hitchhike in a wedding dress across the Middle East to promote her message of peace, only to be raped and murdered in Turkey? This moonbat doesn’t: Laurella Willis’ methods are turning heads on Chicago’s South Side, CBS 2’s Audrina Bigos reports. Her methods consist of walking through the ghetto wearing a sign that reads, “Black America I’m Sorry!!” About 20 miles a day, Willis walks with the sign. She says she is sorry about “everything that’s going on in America.” … “I don’t want to continue to see Black American being oppressed, and held down and killed like animals,” Willis said. There are people who actually believe the propaganda relentlessly fed to us by those in charge. Micah Xavier Johnson believed it. So does Laurella. Hopefully she leaves her wallet at home during these strolls. Chicago’s South Side is not the Mr. Rogers neighborhood or a faculty lounge. Then again, maybe she is hoping to be robbed, laughed at, stoned, or worse. That might redeem her for the original sin of being born into the race that so far has done more than the others to uplift humanity. Moonbattery is a strange religion. Not the brightest bulb on the tree. On tips from Bodhisattva and Rob E.

Welcome back once again to weekly power ratings. It’s been a few weeks. I’ve been deathly sick, swamped at work, and taking classes to renew my teaching license. On top of that, I was also on the road playing in Magic tournaments, and it has just been an insane month. A couple of the weeks, I didn’t even really get to draft, so I felt like putting up a power ratings was lame when I had nothing to change or say, and the other weeks were just so hectic. It’s possible that I’m putting in too much explanation on these things, which makes it harder to just put them together week after week. I don’t know. In any case, they are still here, I’m still planning to do them, but just keep in mind that I’m not going to be perfect at getting these out week after week during the middle of the season. First off, I’ve made a change to the color rankings. This one is weird, but I’ve moved black up to the top and moved both red and blue down. Here’s the thing. I still think that in the abstract, if you are coming back to BFZ in five years for a flashback draft for example, that blue and red are both better than black. However, I also think that most players have figured this out and that blue and red are heavily drafted enough that you are often better served by moving in on black. I’ve been in black for several of my recent drafts, and it’s served me quite well. I still like to be in blue whenever I can, but people are snapping up Skyspawners and Clutches so highly that you lose a lot of the value of being in blue. Again, this reflects a lot of my changing opinions on how blue and red are becoming so heavily drafted. Obviously UR is the strongest deck in the format, but when two to four people are in that deck for every draft, it is just nearly impossible to pick up. RB is one of the main decks that I’ve been falling back on, though I also quite enjoy WU, since it makes use of a lot of the blue cards that other decks don’t want as much. I’ve also had a lot of success lately with drafting green. I do think that green is the worst color, and by a fair margin, and I actually agree with Owen Turtenwald’s recent assessment of the value of green and that you should avoid the color in most cases. However, draft is definitely self-correcting, and there are times when it is correct to draft green, and it’s come up for me a lot more often lately. This is for two reasons. First, people almost never want to be in green, so they just let the green cards go around the table, and you can often wheel top green uncommons. Second, people are fighting so hard over the other decks that those decks tend to be more diluted than they were two or three weeks ago. My strategy for drafting green is that I make a note of all the green cards in my first eight packs during pack one. Then I start looking to see which green cards come back on the wheel. If basically all of those cards come back around, letting me know that there is no one else at the table taking green cards, then I will move in on green if I haven’t chosen my second color, if I don’t have a lot other choices in the pack, or if I have a particularly strong reason to be in green. Because this is the second half of the pack, I’m not usually giving up strong cards in the other colors, so I can still abandon green in pack two if I need to, but if I manage to grab some strong green bombs, then I can settle into the color and get all the best cards for the deck, and since everyone else’s decks will be weaker for fighting over colors, I’ll have what comes out as the barely strongest deck at the table. Hardly any changes here. Guardian moves down simply because blue is drafted so heavily, but it is still an amazing card. I still think that people are overrating Grip of Desolation and underrating Coastal Discovery, but I decided to switch those cards around this week because of blue being so overdrafted. I sound like a broken record. I moved Drana’s Emissary up because I feel like the WB deck is becoming a much more important alternate deck when people are drafting Grixis devoid decks so highly. Halimar Tidecaller is just so strong; it should have been on this list a long time ago. Note: Herald of Kozilek fell off the list just because UR is such a hard deck to manage at this point. I think I’ve finally settled on a commons list that I really like. I’ve moved Incubator Drone down a few slots because blue is harder to get into, but it’s still a fabulous card. The main changes here are the inclusion of Sludge Crawler and Benthic Infiltrator. I think that Infiltrator is a card that most everyone can agree is a fabulous common, and it’s always been a hair’s breadth away from making my top ten list anyway, but I’ve finally just moved Lifespring Druid and Sheer Drop off the list, like they probably should have been from the beginning, and made from for Benthic Infiltrator. As for Sludge Crawler, it’s a card that has been moving up and up for me since the beginning of the format, and I’ve finally just decided that the card needs a top ten slot, because it overperforms so much for its mana cost and relative to the format. It’s the kind of card that just does everything, coming down early and enabling processors and then being a large threat in the late game. It’s basically never a dead draw, and I’ve just been taking them earlier and earlier. Thanks for checking out this week’s power ratings. Let me know what you think in the comments! Advertisements

Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? Fourteen years ago, immediately after the Al Qaeda terror attacks in the United States on September 11, the French daily Le Monde published a headline that perfectly expressed the sentiments of grief, shock, and solidarity that so many around the world felt at the time: Nous sommes tous Américains (We are all Americans). In the wake of the Islamic State’s terror attacks on Paris, many of those same feelings flooded the world media, this time for the City of Light (a wave soon followed by rueful acknowledgment that earlier ISIS atrocities, from Beirut to Baghdad and Aden to Ankara, had elicited far less sympathy in the Global North). Adding to the shock this time was the horrifying realization that these terrorists, in targeting random civilians at a sports event, concert, cafes, and restaurants, were attacking not simply a city or a country but the very idea of pleasure, diversity, conviviality—an assault on so much of what makes life worth living. Ad Policy But just as in the United States in the weeks after 9/11, all too many politicians and pundits on both sides of the Atlantic cried out for war and vengeance, demanded draconian new policing and surveillance powers, and insisted on an end to accepting more refugees. French President François Hollande, vowing that “France will be pitiless against the barbarians” of ISIS, went so far as to invoke Article 42.7 of the European Union treaty, which stipulates that all EU nations are obliged to come to the aid of a fellow member who is the “victim of armed aggression.” Republicans and other critics in the United States used the tragedy to attack the Obama administration’s Syria policy, without offering coherent alternatives. Perhaps most despicable was the backlash against those fleeing the civil war, with more than two dozen Republican governors announcing that their states would no longer accept Syrian refugees. Several GOP presidential candidates, echoing the neoconservative pundits, seemed to be in a competition to see who could be the most Islamophobic. There’s plenty to criticize regarding President Obama’s Syria policy, but in his press conference in Turkey, the president was scathing, and admirable, on this point: “When I hear folks say that, well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims; when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which a person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted…that’s shameful. That’s not American…. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.” The Islamophobia is racist, of course, but it also plays right into the hands of ISIS, as does the war fever. The terror group has been quite clear that its strategy is to eliminate what it calls the “grayzone” where Muslims and non-Muslims live in harmony. It aims to provoke Western governments into clamping down on their own Muslim populations, the better to drive them into ISIS’s arms. In its magazine Dabiq, ISIS applauded George W. Bush’s post-9/11 language: “Bush spoke the truth when he said, ‘Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.’ I.e. either you are with the crusade or you are with Islam.” Les extrêmes se touchent. Obama also sharply rebutted demands that he militarily solve what has become the world’s most intractable conflict, pointing out the immense complications of imposing a no-fly zone on Syria, and observing that while a US invasion could probably rout ISIS from its strongholds temporarily, without a local population “pushing back against ideological extremes,” the terrorists would resurface as soon as American forces left. Years of bitter experience demonstrate that US military intervention in the Middle East has done more to provoke extremism than to stanch it. It was the US invasion of Iraq, after all, that led directly to the birth of ISIS. The terrorists know this, which is why they’re doing everything they can to drive the West into deeper military engagement. GET THE LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EACH MORNING SIGN UP! Regarding another crucial driver of not only the Syrian civil war but Islamist extremism throughout the region, the president’s policy—like those of previous administrations and most Western governments, including France—has been disastrous. This would be Washington’s close, decades-long alliance with the Wahhabi regime in Saudi Arabia. As Laila Lalami points out, no force has done more to fund Islamist extremism in the Muslim world than Saudi Arabia. These so-called allies of ours, along with other Gulf kingdoms and the seemingly more moderate Islamist government of Turkey, have showered jihadi groups among the Syrian rebels with arms and money, to the point that they are now the only significant armed forces opposing the Assad regime. There is one ray of light amid the carnage: The attacks have given urgency to international negotiations to end the war in Syria. Russian and US leaders seem to have finally realized that unless they cooperate diplomatically to resolve the conflict, it could destroy the entire region—and continue to spread beyond it. Before the latest round of talks in Vienna, Washington sensibly abandoned its insistence on excluding Iran, as well as its demand that Assad’s immediate departure be a condition of the talks. There are immense hurdles to overcome, but at least both countries now know that as long as this conflict lasts, ISIS will only grow stronger.

click to enlarge Charlottesville's WTJU should be heard locally on FM station 102.9 starting in February. The station will be in the midst of its annual "state of folk" fundraiser. The Cavaliers are riding into the local radio market. Longtime University of Virginia radio station WTJU is in the final stages of a contract to manage WHAN in Ashland, an AM station with an FM translator at 102.9-FM. While the paperwork must be finalized, sources at WTJU say the station’s looking to start broadcasting its original programming locally on Feb. 1. WTJU, which is owned by U.Va., is leasing with an option to buy, general manager Nathan Moore says. As for its range, he says, “the broadcast antenna does reach most of the James pretty nicely.” The tower height is 280 feet, AM is 1,000 watts, FM is 250 watts. Moore didn’t disclose the financial terms of the agreement, but the station has an annual budget of $480,000. It hopes to open a satellite studio here down the road, he says. Also the station is in talks with Virginia Commonwealth University’s student radio station, WVCW, to broadcast its programming weeknights from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. The VCU station hasn’t had access to a full broadcast signal since it began in 1968, Director of Student Media Greg Weatherford says, calling the partnership an intriguing idea: “We’re evaluating the possibility.” “I really want to serve the Richmond public,” Moore says, “and we’re doing our best to incorporate bands and the sounds of Richmond as well.” The Ashland station has been broadcasting since 1962 and changed its call letters to WHAN in 1997. Bill Roberts, general manager and co-founder of the station, says he doesn’t think listeners who are losing local bluegrass and other shows will be disappointed. “I think U.Va. is a good fit because it’s not a large corporate entity out of somewhere else, it’s still local,” he says. Since its founding in 1957, WTJU has been known for exceptionally eclectic programming. “They do everything and it’s always been strongly noncommercial,” says former Style arts and culture editor Don Harrison, who has been host of the WTJU show “Radio Wowsville” for more than 20 years. “This is tried-and-true programming.” The station probably won’t compete directly with local indie station WRIR-97.3 FM during the week because it’s mostly talk during the day. But they’ll be head-to-head on weekends. The station’s well-known classical programming could spell trouble for Richmond’s WCVE-88.9 public radio, Harrison says. Moore says WTJU has wanted to get into the Richmond market for a long time. “There’s no greater concentration of U.Va. alumni than the Richmond market, except maybe D.C.,” he says. “But to buy a station outright is tricky. Radio is not dead, it still reaches 90 percent of all Americans. FM signals don’t come cheap. This one just came along at the right time.” Clarification: An earlier version of this post used the term acquiring to describe the agreement which was unclear. It is technically a local area management agreement of an AM station with a translator at 102.9 FM.

About two months ago, Samsung called third-party designers to develop themes for its new and upcoming smartphones and tablets. A month later, the company revealed more details about how to proceed with partnering with the company on building themes. Now, Samsung has started reviewing and selecting third-party designers for its Galaxy Theme Store. As you can see in the image below, a designer who applied to be a Theme Service partner for Samsung has received an official email from the company stating that they have been selected. The email goes on to explain the preliminary procedures that are required before Samsung delivers the theme editor for Galaxy devices. Now, the designer can start developing themes for Samsung devices and upload it to the Galaxy Theme Store. Read More: Themes Thursday – Ten new themes launched in the Samsung Theme Store today Samsung has already started releasing a bunch of new themes every week, and if you can remember, we have started a new section called Themes Thursday where we’ll write about new themes released each week. Have you been liking the themes released in the Galaxy Theme Store? Do let us know in the comments below.

Enemy #1 in my personal battle to be eco is my own forgetfulness. I leave the house without the reusable grocery bag. I get to my local fair trade coffee shop only to realize I left my reusable cup at home. It starts to rain, and without an umbrella, I'm tempted to buy one of the flimsy one-time use ones from a street vendor. We Live in a Disposable Culture Unfortunately, our society is set up to make forgetting a problem easily solved. We live in a disposable culture, one that is built on convenience. You don't have to bring your own bag, because the bag is there. You don't have to tote your own cup or umbrella, because they are easily within reach. But it's these disposable items that are filling our landfills. According to the World Watch Institute, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags a year, and only .6 percent of plastic bags are recycled. This Waste Has a Global Impact Each one of these bags and each one of these plastic, Styrofoam, or paper coffee cups, requires natural resources such as crude oil and natural gas for production, has a hefty transport footprint, and can cause major damage to natural habitats (sea turtles and birds eating plastic bags for example). Europe's Royal Society of Chemistry says when six tonnes of paper cups biodegrade anaerobically they produce 2370 kg methane and 3260 kg carbon dioxide -- two major global warming culprits. It's habit that is the real problem: I know what I need to do, but I forget! I've been trying out ways to fix this, and maybe the best solution is a "go-bag," something that I can prop by the door, and always grab as I head out. It holds a compact, lightweight disposable bag, my reusable cup, and my umbrella. Do you have a solution for forgetfulness? Comment below!

Listen guys, I get it. You hate the orange guy with the crazy hair. You love the old guy with the crazy hair. You think Hillary is a woman but she sends too many emails. Wow, you’re soooo political. Good for you. I just don’t like to get into that sort of thing. I’d rather abstain from all the petty name-calling and meme-swapping because I believe that life is about more than just politics. (Also, because I’m pretty sure that whatever happens will not affect my day-to-day life in any way because I’m not a member of a historically oppressed group.) I guess politics has never appealed to me because I just don’t enjoy arguing (things I do enjoy: massages, sriracha, extreme privilege as the result of a class system rigged in my favor, NOT ARGUING). I don’t need to spend hours debating what led to the Iraq War—it feels like it went by super fast anyways (since no one in my social circle had to join the military to pay for college). It’s not important to me that I understand the best solution to economic inequality—my great-grandfather invented steel. While some people need to always be right, I would rather always be kind. Maybe if everyone were always kind, we wouldn’t even need politics (I don’t know what poverty is because my father invested in soybean futures). Honestly, if more people were like me (low-key rich, able-bodied), we wouldn’t have to have these fights about things that don’t affect me and never will. Another thing I don’t like about politics is how it divides people. I believe that we are all the same (almost all my friends went to the same college). So I think we should be able to find common ground when it comes to the major issues affecting our lives, whatever those may be. My best friend is actually a socially conservative libertarian and I have never once let that come between us because I have never asked her what that means and she always has weed. If you’ve been on social media lately, you know that it can seem like politics is impossible to avoid. But imagine for a second what would happen if we replaced all the angry rants about healthcare and immigration with pictures of kittens and puppies. I, for one, would definitely feel better. I already have healthcare and don’t know why anyone would want to change countries—it sounds like it would be really difficult!

CNN’s Carol Costello apparently told a misnomer Friday morning on air, likely in an effort to downplay Trump’s job approval rating (INTELLIHUB) — Friday morning CNN’s Carol Costello told viewers that President Trump’s job approval rating is at 36% which is a misnomer. According to the most publicized poll published by Rasmussen Reports, the President’s current approval rating shows that “55% of likely U.S. voters approve of President Trump’s job performance,” which is 19 percentage points higher than CNN is claiming. Was this another attempt by CNN to sweep Trump under the rug, belittling him in front of their audience? Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Read more from Shep’s World. Get the Podcast. Follow Shep on Facebook and Twitter. ©2017. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

Russia and Iran have stepped up coordination inside Syria as they move to safeguard President Bashar al-Assad’s control over his coastal stronghold, according to officials in the U.S. and Middle East, creating a new complication for Washington’s diplomatic goals. Senior Russian and Iranian diplomats, generals and strategists have held a string of high-level talks in Moscow in recent months to discuss Mr. Assad’s defense and the Kremlin’s military buildup in Syria, according to these officials. The buildup is continuing: On Monday, U.S. defense officials said Russian surveillance drones have started flying missions over Syria, and Moscow has sent two dozen more fighter jets to Syria. Much of the activity from both sides in recent months has been concentrated in the coastal region of Latakia, the base of Mr. Assad’s family and his Alawite sect, which has come under pressure from rebel forces to the north, threatening to cut it off from the capital Damascus. Coordinating efforts cited by the U.S. and Middle East officials included a secret visit in late July by the commander of Iran’s elite overseas military unit, the Qods Force. Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani directs Tehran’s military and intelligence support for the Assad regime and is one of the most powerful leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also visited Moscow last month to discuss Syria and other issues with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Such visits “all come within the framework of this coordination,” Syrian Foreign MinisterWalid al-Moallem told state media last week, referring specifically to the trip by Mr. Zarif and a deputy. “There is deep coordination on all levels between us and Moscow, and between us and Tehran, and I can say to whomever wants…they can join too.” U.S. officials said they haven’t unraveled the full extent of the cooperation or its intention. “We assume [the Russian buildup in Syria is] being coordinated with the Iranians,” said a senior U.S. official, who said the U.S. tracked Gen. Soleimani’s trip to Moscow. IRGC military advisers and soldiers are also deployed in Latakia, as well as soldiers from Tehran’s close political and military ally, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, they said. A U.S. defense official said the Pentagon believes Gen. Soleimani’s trip to Moscow was “very important” in relation to the Russian buildup in Latakia. “What we are seeing now is the manifestation of that meeting, and that there is some sort of Iran nexus,” the official said. The coordinated Iranian and Russian support for Mr. Assad poses a formidable obstacle to the diplomatic aims of the Obama administration, which wants to remove the Syrian dictator from power. As support from Moscow and Tehran pours into Syria, the U.S. has moderated its demands that Mr. Assad step down before a transition takes place.

A lot of us, admittedly, myself included, screamed from the mountain tops, "where is Victor Coleman? Why has he not issued a NHL-first amendment to the MOU?" when Mayor Ed Murray told us that there was no such proposition being presented. We have clamored for an NHL ownership group to come forward and match Chris Hansen's contributions to the project so things could get rolling. Recently, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that the NBA would not be examining the idea of expanding for at least four or five more years. Since the league last expanded, the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, there has been instituted a new policy where expansion must be presented as an option and an open bidding process must occur. Cities present their case; their media market, their ownership group, their fan base, and, of course, their arena. The league then decides which teams are the most worthy, and award a franchise. If the NBA were to open this process at the time, they would most likely receive bids from Louisville, Las Vegas, Virginia Beach, Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Vancouver BC, Omaha, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. If Seattle were to bid, it would most certainly lose out to one of those cities, since Seattle does not have an arena, nor a completed plan for one. If the NBA were to award an expansion team without going through the process, they would open themselves up to lawsuits from one, or several, of those cities. Silver also said there were no teams currently up for relocation. He said he wished he had a team for Seattle, but there just aren't any available. He also wondered why there was no arena in Seattle yet. This increased the volume of cries for an NHL-first alternative. According to their commissioner, Gary Bettman, the NHL is also not seriously considering expanding at this time. However, unlike the NBA, the NHL can expand simply by saying yes and deciding on a location. They seem to already be doing their due diligence in Las Vegas to determine if that is one of the locations they decide on, when they do ultimately decide to expand. Most believe that Seattle is already locked in, that the NHL has decided they want to be here and are just waiting on us to build an arena. The common thread between both leagues is that they are waiting on us, waiting on an arena. So if the NHL is ready to put a team here as soon as there's a building, why is there no NHL-first proposition? Well, quite simply, because it's not that time. Not yet. Think of it this way: your mom says you can have a candy bar once you finish your homework. You can sit there and try and decide between a Snickers and a Butterfinger, but ultimately, if you don't finish your homework, you get no candy bar. No Snickers, no Butterfinger, no Hundred Grand, no Whatchamacallit. While we're on the chocolate kick, let's quote Willy Wonka. "YOU GET NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!" Victor Coleman and Chris Hansen seem to be focusing on doing their homework, which is making sure the FEIS gets completed. Unfortunately, there is little they can do at this point other than watch and wait, just like the rest of us. The FEIS could come back with mitigation costs that could alter the amount that an NHL group would need to pay. There is no point in changing the MOU at this point, when there are too many unknowns in the FEIS. So, while we all want answers, the truth is we have to do our homework first. And right now, that means simply waiting for the results of the EIS. Once that's done, then we can see if we can have a Snickers before we move on to getting a Butterfinger instead.

The House Judiciary Committee is seeking to determine whether Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. lied under oath during recent testimony before the panel when he discussed a Justice Department investigation into the newsgathering efforts of a Fox News reporter. The committee sent a letter to Holder on Wednesday asking that he clarify the department's policy on obtaining search warrants for the e-mails of journalists and to explain what he knew about the investigation into Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen at the time that he testified before the committee May 15. Holder's testimony before the panel came just days after the Justice Department confirmed that it had obtained the telephone records of several Associated Press reporters. During the hearing, Holder was asked about the use of the Espionage Act to prosecute journalists, and Holder said that prosecutions against reporters usually do not succeed. He also said that he had never been personally involved in the potential prosecution of a journalist who disclosed sensitive material. "That is not something that I have ever been involved in, or would think would be a wise policy," Holder told the panel. But just days later, The Washington Post reported that when the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators tracked Rosen's telephone and e-mail and security access records at the State Department. As part of the probe, law enforcement officials characterized Rosen as a possible “co-conspirator” for allegedly soliciting classified information from former State Department arms expert Stephen Jin-Woo Kim. Subsequent news reports have confirmed that Holder was personally involved in signing off on the Rosen warrant. In the letter, Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who chairs a subcommittee on crime and terrorism, said they have "great concern" about what Holder said during the hearing. They ask him to clarify whether the Justice Department ever planned to prosecute Rosen under the Espionage Act; to explain his personal involvement in approving the search warrants for Rosen; and to clarify why he said under oath that he had never been involved in the potential prosecution of journalists. The committee asked Holder to respond by next Wednesday. President Obama has ordered Holder to review department guidelines for conducting investigations into reporters and Holder is scheduled to meet this week with news executives to explain how the department is revising its policies. The department said in a statement Wednesday that Holder plans to meet over the coming weeks with “a diverse and representative group of news media organizations,” including print, wires, radio, television, online media and news and trade associations. Follow Ed O'Keefe on Twitter: @edatpost

Image copyright EPA Image caption Men still have significantly more financial access than women in South Asia More than a quarter of people globally still do not have access to banking facilities, a report shows. The World Bank's Global Findex report said more than half of adults in the world's poorest areas still have no access to the financial system. This is despite a global increase of 11% in the last three years of adults owning bank accounts. The increase in account ownership has been driven largely by developing countries and the role of technology. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Technology contributes to increased financial access in Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile money Broader access to the financial system can "boost job creation, increase investment in education" and is "critical to ending global poverty", said the report. It also found that the gender gap in financial inclusion is not narrowing. The largest gap was in South Asia, where 37% of women have an account, compared with 65% of men. Mobile money accounts - making and receiving electronic payments via a mobile phone - in Sub-Saharan Africa contributed to the growth in account ownership, which now stands at 62% of adults globally, up from 51% three years ago. The World Bank said this presents "big opportunities for boosting financial inclusion among women and poor people". World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim said: "Access to financial services can serve as a bridge out of poverty. We have set a hugely ambitious goal - universal financial access by 2020."

EyeWire is a game that helps scientists map the brain. Image: EyeWire Players try to figure out how tangled sets of neurons connect to each other. Image: EyeWire Scientists know very little about how cells in the brain connect to one another. Image: EyeWire The data you produce during gameplay doesn't just get you on a leader board—it's actually used by scientists to build a better picture of the mysterious human brain. Image: EyeWire Mapped J-cells. Image: EyeWire A fully-mapped cell. Image: EyeWire EyeWire is not easy. As you can see, I need a little practice. Image: EyeWire I’m no neuroscientist, and yet, here I am at my computer attempting to reconstruct a neural circuit of a mouse's retina. It’s not quite as difficult and definitely not as boring as it sounds. In fact, it's actually pretty fun, which is a good thing considering I'm playing a videogame. Called EyeWire, the browser-based game asks players to map the connections between retinal neurons by coloring in 3-D slices of the brain. Much like any other game out there, being good at EyeWire earns you points, but the difference is that the data you produce during gameplay doesn't just get you on a leader board—it's actually used by scientists to build a better picture of the human brain. >There's a huge bottleneck in the lab’s research around image analysis. Created by neuroscientist Sebastian Seung’s lab at MIT, EyeWire basically gamifies the professional research Seung and his collaborators do on a daily basis. Seung is studying the connectome, the hyper-complex tangle of connections among neurons in the brain. More specifically, right now Seung and his researchers are reconstructing neural circuits in the retina to get a better idea of how humans perceive directional motions. So for example, when you see something that causes you to look up or down, it's believed that there are certain cells that respond to that stimuli. Seung and his group aren’t exactly sure how those cells work or how they're connected to one another, but they’re trying to find out. “Sebastian likes to say, ‘If we don’t understand how something as simple as motion perception works, how are we going to be able to answer these higher level questions like what happens in learning or mental disorders?’” says Amy Robinson, creative director of EyeWire. The brain is science’s version of the wild west—it’s basically uncharted territory that is waiting to be explored and discovered. But even figuring out something as seemingly simple as motion perception is incredibly time consuming and has led to a huge bottleneck in the lab’s research around image analysis. Robinson says it currently takes the lab around 50 hours to reconstruct one neuron, even with help from artificial intelligence. Multiply that by the 85 billion (the approximate number of neurons in a human brain), and you can see how they might need some help. Turns out, citizen scientists are very good helpers. Humans are more adept at spotting the patterns of neuron connectors than most machines are, which is why every player's moves are recorded and fed to artificial intelligence to help machines get better at this very task. Since EyeWire’s public launch in December, more than 70,000 people have played the game. In total, they’ve colored in more than a million 3-D neuron cubes (each cube represents a tiny chunk of brain), resulting in the mapping of 26 whole cells. “It takes players about three minutes on average to complete a cube,” says Robinson, “So they’ve spent an equivalent of six years of time on EyeWire since the launch.” In the grand scheme of the brain, 26 cells might not seem like much, but that's a testament to the game's emphasis on accuracy (anywhere from five to 25 people will trace the same set of connectors before it's deemed valid). Still, Robinson wants the number of players, the time they spend on EyeWire, and consequently the number of cells mapped, to increase. In order to do that, the EyeWire needs to be fun, which is not an easy feat when your raw material is neuroscience. >Robinson would like EyeWire to be as enthralling as a first-person shooter. So how can you design a game about neuroscience to be as addictive as a game like Angry Birds? The short answer is, you really can’t. At least not without sacrificing accuracy and efficiency. “We haven’t done the best job of making it a viral game interface,” Robinson admits. She’s right. EyeWire is not Candy Crush. The current interface looks like a game you’d play in your biology class, and it takes a lot of practice to get good at it. Other science-minded games that suffer from these problems too. Foldit, a game developed by the Center for Game Science at Washington University that asks players to help solve the mysteries of protein folding, is a brilliant way to use gameplay to tackle a scientific question, but not exactly something you'd play to unwind after a long day at work. The EyeWire team is constantly striving to make EyeWire as engaging as possible. Seung’s lab recently began collaborating with Kevin Slavin, a professor at MIT’s Media Lab with a background in game design and development. Robinson says developers are working to make EyeWire open source so they can take it to hackathons and say, "Here's what we’ve built so far, how would you just totally smash up and remix this game? What would it look like?" Ideally, Robinson says she'd like EyeWire to be as enthralling as a first-person shooter game, though she acknowledges neuroscience as a subject matter does have its limitations. "EyeWire is a great game, but it doesn’t compare to World of Warcraft,” she says. “I think a lot of people play because it’s being a part of something bigger than yourself.” The next big push is to enable multi-player mode, which she hopes will help turn EyeWire into a massive online gaming community. "These are the kinds of things we now have to consider when we’re doing science," she says, referring to the intricacies of game design. "Because, you know, our lab depends on these players. We can't do our research if they’re not playing." An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that EyeWire is a game to map the human brain. It's actually a game that maps a mouse's retina. Don't worry—they'll get to the human brain soon.

The Illusion of Safety/The Safety of Illusion When I see men who look like him or his friends. When I smell beer on a man’s breath. When I smell Polo cologne. When I hear a harsh laugh. When I walk by a group of men, clustered together, and there’s no one else around. When I see a woman being attacked in a movie or on television. When I am in the woods or driving through a heavily wooded area. When I read about experiences that are all too familiar. When I go through security at the airport and am pulled aside for extra screening, which seems to happen every single time I travel. When I’m having sex and my wrists are unexpectedly pinned over my head. When I see a young girl of a certain age. When it happens, I feel this sharp pang that runs right through the center of my body. Or I get nauseous. Or I have to vomit. Or I break into a cold sweat. Or I feel myself shutting down, and I go into a quiet place. Or I close my fingers into tight fists until my knuckles ache. My reaction is visceral and I have to take a deep breath or two or three or more. I have to remind myself of the time and distance between then and now. I have to remind myself that I am not the girl in the woods anymore. I have to try to convince myself I never will be again. It has gotten better over the years. It gets better until it doesn’t. * The first congressional hearing on television violence was held in 1954 and in the ensuing years, the debate about television and violence has been ongoing. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 dictated that televisions needed to include a chip to monitor program ratings. The current television parental guidelines went into effect on January 1, 1997. These guidelines were designed to help parents monitor what their children were watching and get some sense of the appropriateness of a given television program. The guidelines rated television content by age-appropriateness from G (all audiences) to MA (mature audiences only). There were also a second set of guidelines designed to protect children from violence, coarse language, and sexual themes. These guidelines, of course, only work if someone is monitoring what children are watching and is able to enforce a set of standards about what children can watch. Cable boxes and most televisions now allow parents to lock certain channels or shows with ratings they consider inappropriate for their children but there is still only so much a parent can control. How effective, then, are these ratings and guidelines? In “Ratings and Advisories: Implications for the New Ratings System for Television,” Joanne Cantor et. al. note how research shows that, “parental discretion warnings and the more restrictive MPAA ratings stimulate some children’s interest in viewing programs,” and “the increased interest in restricted programs is more strongly linked to children’s desire to reject control over their viewing than to their seeking out violent content.” Even children want a taste of forbidden fruit. At the very least, children don’t want to be told they cannot taste that fruit. Television ratings are like airport security—an act of theater, an illusion designed to reassure us, to make us feel like we control the influences we allow into our lives. We want our children to be safe. We want to be safe. We want or need to pretend this is possible. When I see the phrase, “trigger warning,” I am far more inclined to read whatever follows. I enjoy the taste of forbidden fruit, myself. I also know trigger warnings cannot save me from myself. * When a man enters my office, I am alone, and he closes the door behind him. * Trigger warnings are, essentially, ratings or protective guidelines for the largely unmoderated Internet. Trigger warnings provide order to the chaos; they are a signal that the content following the warning may be upsetting, may trigger bad memories or reminders of traumatic or sensitive experiences. Trigger warnings allow readers to have a choice—steel yourself and continue reading or protect yourself and look away. Many feminist communities use trigger warnings, particularly when discussing rape, sexual abuse, and violence. By using these warnings, these communities are saying, “This is a safe space. We will protect you from unexpected reminders of your history.” Members of these communities are given the illusion they can be protected. There are a great many potential trigger warnings. Over the years, I have seen trigger warnings for eating disorders, poverty, self-injury, bullying, heteronormativity, suicide, sizeism, genocide, slavery, mental illness, explicit fiction, explicit discussions of sexuality, homosexuality, homophobia, addiction, alcoholism, racism, the Holocaust, ableism, and Dan Savage. Life, apparently, requires a trigger warning. This is the uncomfortable truth—everything is a trigger for someone. There are things you cannot tell just by looking at her or him. * When someone comes up behind me unexpectedly. * We all have history. You can think you’re over your history. You can think the past is the past. And then something happens, often innocuous, that shows you how far you are from over it. The past is always with you. It’s understandable that some people want to be protected from this truth. I used to think I didn’t have triggers because I told myself I was tough. I was steel. I was broken beneath the surface but my skin was forged, impenetrable. Then I realized I had all kinds of triggers. I simply buried them deep until there was no more room inside me. When the dam burst, I had to learn how to stare those triggers down. I had a lot of help, years and years of help. I have writing. * When I hear the word slut in a certain tone. * Every so often debates about trigger warnings flare hotly and both sides are resolute. Trigger warnings are either ineffective and impractical or vital for creating safe online spaces. It has been suggested, more than once, that if you don’t believe in trigger warnings, you aren’t respecting the experiences of rape and abuse survivors. It has been suggested, more than once, that trigger warnings are unnecessary coddling. It is an impossible debate. There is too much history lurking beneath the skin of too many people. Few are willing to consider the possibility that trigger warnings might be ineffective, impractical and necessary for creating safe spaces all at once. The illusion of safety is as frustrating as it is powerful. * When I visit the gynecologist. * There are things that rip my skin open and reveal what lies beneath but I don’t believe in trigger warnings. I don’t believe people can be protected from their histories. I don’t believe it is at all possible to anticipate the histories of others in ways that would be satisfying for anyone. There is no standard for trigger warnings, no universal guidelines. Once you start, where do you stop? Does the mention of the word rape require a trigger warning or is the threshold an account of a rape? How graphic does an account of abuse need to be before meriting a warning? Are trigger warnings required anytime matters of difference are broached? What is graphic? Who makes these determinations? It all seems so futile, so impotent and, at times, belittling. When I see trigger warnings, I think, “How dare you presume what I need to be protected from?” Trigger warnings also, when used in excess, start to feel like censorship. They suggest that there are experiences or perspectives too inappropriate, too explicit, too bare to be voiced publicly. As a writer, I bristle when people say, “This should have had a trigger warning.” I think, “For what?” I do not understand the unspoken rules of trigger warnings. I cannot write the way I want to write and consider using trigger warnings. After a while, I would second guess myself, temper the intensity of what I have to say. I don’t want to do that. I don’t intend to ever do that. Writers cannot protect their readers for themselves nor should they be expected to. There is also this: maybe trigger warnings allow people to avoid learning how to deal with triggers, getting help. I say this with the understanding that having access to professional resources for getting help is a privilege. I say this with the understanding that sometimes there is not enough help in the world. That said, there is value in learning, where possible, how to deal with and respond to the triggers that cut you open, the triggers that put you back in terrible places, that remind you of painful history. It is untenable to go through life as an exposed wound. No matter how well intended, trigger warnings will not staunch the bleeding; trigger warnings will not harden into scabs over your wounds. * When. When. When. * I don’t believe in safety. I wish I did. I am not brave. I simply know what to be scared of; I know to be scared of everything. There is freedom in that. That freedom makes it easier to appear fearless—to say and do what I want. I have been broken, so I am prepared should that happen again. I have, at times, put myself in dangerous situations. I have thought, you have no idea what I can take. This idea of unknown depths of endurance is a refrain in most of my writing. Human endurance fascinates me, probably too much. Intellectually, I understand why trigger warnings are necessary for some people. I understand that painful experiences are all too often threatening to break the skin. Seeing or feeling yourself come apart is terrifying. This is the truth of my trouble with trigger warnings: there is nothing words on the screen can do that has not already been done. A visceral reaction to a trigger is nothing compared to the actual experience that created the trigger. I don’t know how to see beyond this belief to truly get why trigger warnings are necessary. When I see trigger warnings, I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel protected. Instead, I am surprised there are still people who believe in safety and protection despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is my failing. But. I do recognize that in some spaces, we have to err on the side of safety or the illusion thereof. Trigger warnings aren’t meant for those of us who don’t believe in them just like the Bible wasn’t written for atheists. Trigger warnings are designed for the people who need them, who need that safety. Those of us who do not believe should have little say in the matter. We can neither presume nor judge what others might feel the need to be protected from. * And yet. There will always be a finger on the trigger. No matter how hard we try, there’s no way to step out of the line of fire.

In a first, Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 7, according to Taiwan’s Central New Agency. Both leaders will travel to Singapore for the meeting. Ma is expected to publicly explain the details of the trip in a press briefing on November 5. The Mainland Affairs Council will also hold a press conference November 4 to discuss the trip. It’s a huge breakthrough for cross-strait relations: the leaders of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China haven’t met since the PRC was founded in 1949. The PRC in particular has been wary about having such a meeting, worrying that it would convey legitimacy on Taiwan’s separate system of government. An official meeting between Xi and Ma as presidents is out of the question from Beijing’s point of view – meanwhile, Taiwanese don’t want to see a meeting under an alternative format, for fear that would undermine their president’s international status. It’s not yet clear what formula Xi and Ma will use when they do meet together, something that will need to be clarified at Ma’s upcoming press conference. Taiwan previously pushed hard for a Ma-Xi meeting at the 2014 APEC summit, which was held in Beijing. The PRC wasn’t willing to host Ma, however; a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office said that an international summit wasn’t the right venue for such a meeting. Given that, it’s interesting that Ma and Xi will indeed meet in a third country. Despite a lack of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Singapore, Ma has already visited the city-state once this year, to pay his respects on the passing of political giant Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore was able to handle hosting Ma without crossing Beijing’s red line of violating the “one China” policy – which may be why the country will host the long-awaited meeting between the leaders of China and Taiwan. Though the meeting will be historic, Ma will have to sell politicians and the general public in Taiwan on the idea by assuring them the meeting will take place on terms acceptable to Taiwan. CNA, citing sources in the Presidential Office, said that Tseng Yung-chuan, the secretary-general of the Presidential Office, will be briefing legislative leaders (including Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, who is also a member of Ma’s party, the Kuomintang (KMT), but is seen as a political rival) on the visit in the next few days. Taiwanese government sources were also careful to specify that Ma will not sign any agreements or issue any joint statements with Xi. “[T]he two leaders will exchange views on consolidating cross-strait peace and maintaining the status quo,” according to CNA. With many on Taiwan rethinking the pace at which economic ties with the mainland have developed in the past eight years, Ma wants to be careful not to seem like he is moving forward on the thorny topic of political relations with Beijing. The meeting will come just under two months before Taiwanese head to the polls for presidential and legislative elections. Currently, the opposition candidate Tsai Ing-wen, chair of the Democratic Progressive Party, is leading in the polls, even after the ruling KMT switched candidates (New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu) in a bid to make the race more competitive. The DPP is already questioning the timing of the visit, according to CNA.

Rudy Giuliani's sad self-destruction: How "America's mayor" became just another GOP sidewalk lunatic There is an important lesson here for us all: How often genuine political promise coexists with puerility and worse White House press secretary Josh Earnest wasn’t just being diplomatic or clever yesterday when he said he feels sad and sorry for Rudy Giuliani, the former “America’s mayor” who’s been raging like a sidewalk lunatic at President Obama. There actually is something sad about Rudy’s long self-destruction, which began before his disastrous presidential primary bid of 2008. Sad, but possibly instructive to the future sidewalk lunatics among today’s Republican presidential wannabes. Maybe you had to be with Giuliani at the start of his electoral career to learn what they and the rest of us should learn from this spectacle: not to gloat or cluck our tongues, but to consider how often genuine political promise coexists with puerility and worse. Throughout the fall 1993 New York mayoral campaign, I tried harder than any other commentator I know of to convince my left-liberal friends that Giuliani would win -- and that he probably should, because Democrats had all but asked for it. Advertisement: In my New York Daily News column, in the New Republic, and on cable and network TV, I insisted it had come to this because racial “Rainbow” and welfare-state politics were imploding, not just in New York and not only thanks to racists, Ronald Reagan or robber barons, but because something had gone wrong with liberal politics itself. You didn’t have to believe all of Giuliani’s “colorblind,” “law-and-order,” free-market rhetoric to want some big shifts in liberal Democratic paradigms and to see that, in New York City, some of those shifts would require a political battering ram, not a scalpel. I spent a lot of time with Giuliani during the 1993 campaign and during his first year in City Hall, and while I criticized him several times for presuming far too much, I defended a lot of his record to the end of his tenure, and still would defend some of it. He forced New York, that great capital of “root cause” answers to every social problem, to get real about remedies that worked, in the world that we had to work with. Some of these remedies turned out to be preconditions for progress of any kind: I saw Al Sharpton blink as I reminded him in a debate that twice as many New Yorkers had been felled by police bullets during David Dinkins’ four-year mayoralty, which preceded Giuliani’s, than during Giuliani’s then-seven years in office (1994-2001). Even as late as July 2001, when Giuliani’s personal and political blunders were beginning to eclipse his accomplishments and he had only a lame duck’s six months to go, I showed in a New York Observer column that he’d facilitated housing, entrepreneurial and employment gains for people whose loudest advocates called him a racist reactionary. James Chapin, the late democratic socialist savant, considered Giuliani a “progressive conservative” like Teddy Roosevelt, who’d been a New York City police commissioner before he’d been president. Yet, even after 9/11 had given Chapin’s comparison real resonance, Giuliani couldn't have carried his methods and motives to the White House without damaging the country, for two reasons that run deeper in him – and probably also in Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry and other wannabes -- than “horse race” liabilities like a loss of one’s temper at a podium. The first serious problem facing politicians like this is structural and political: A man who fought the inherent limits of his mayoral office as fanatically as Giuliani would have construed his presidential prerogatives so broadly that he’d have made George W. Bush’s notions of “unitary” executive power – and, yes, some of Barack Obama’s notions along those lines -- seem soft. Even in the 1980s, as an assistant attorney general in the Reagan Justice Department and then as U.S. attorney in New York, Giuliani was imperious and overreaching. He "perp-walked" Wall Streeters out of their offices in dramatic prosecutions that failed. He made the troubled daughter of a state judge testify against her mother and against the former Miss America Bess Myerson in another failed prosecution charging that Myerson had hired the daughter to bribe her mother the judge into helping “expedite” a messy divorce. The jury was so put off by Giuliani’s tactics that it acquitted all concerned. Advertisement: At least, as U.S. attorney, Giuliani served at the pleasure of the president and had to defer to federal judges, as of course he did also as mayor. Had he become president, however, U.S. attorneys would have served at his pleasure -- a dangerous arrangement in the wrong hands, as we learned when Alberto Gonzalez was George W. Bush’s A.G. As mayor, Giuliani fielded his closest aides like a fast and sometimes brutal hockey team, micro-managing and bludgeoning city agencies and even agencies that weren’t his, like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Board of Education. They often deserved it richly enough to make his bravado thrilling and effective. But Rudy Savonarola wasn’t above cutting indefensible deals with crony contractors and pandering shamelessly to some Hispanics, orthodox and neoconservative Jews, and other favored constituencies.

A woman delivered a "rugby punt" to a police officer's groin and spat "thick globules of mucus and saliva" at him, a court has been told. Judge Richard Watson told Roberta Harrison, 44, in the Napier District Court that never in his 23 years on the bench had he heard of anyone reacting so violently. Harrison, of Maraenui, Napier, launched her first onslaught when her partner was pulled over for suspected drink-driving on Sunday night. She became abusive and was "warned for her vile behaviour in the middle of the street", a police summary said. An hour later, at 8.35pm, she was found driving her partner's car alone in the suburb of Maraenui. Police followed her into her driveway. When a sergeant tried to speak to her, she launched into a "relentless barrage of vile abuse". She refused to take a breath test, or to go to the police station for a breath or blood test. She continued her "vile abuse" and "kicked the sergeant in the testicles with a very forceful right-foot kick, similar to a rugby punt". At this point, her partner tried to restrain her. But the abuse continued and she kicked the sergeant in the upper thigh five times. The sergeant managed to handcuff her and, with her partner's help, got her into the police car. Back-up arrived and it took several officers to restrain her. "During the fracas, she kicked [the sergeant] several times and attempted to kick him 20 times while making threats to assault him, and spat on him with thick globules of mucus and saliva," the summary said. At the police station, Harrison refused to supply her details and continued her abuse. She refused to co-operate with tests and kicked the officer's ankles and knee before trying to kick him in the groin again. She later pushed another officer. She would not explain her behaviour but "continued to abuse police for several hours". Harrison admitted three charges of assaulting officers, as well as resisting arrest, refusing to accompany an officer, refusing to provide blood, and refusing to provide details. Her lawyer, Phil Jensen, said she was "enormously ashamed" and felt the best way of saying sorry was by pleading guilty early. Judge Richard Watson said most people pulled over for breath tests responded in a "civilised and courteous way". "Never in my experience have I read a summary such as this, where you reacted so violently to what these officers were simply doing in the course of their duty to keep our roads safe." He accepted that many traumatic factors caused her to be stressed, but said: "I just don't get it." Harrison was sentenced to 120 hours' community work, fined $200 plus court costs of $130, and banned from driving for six months. She wept throughout her appearance and said "sorry" before being led away.

JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) - Israel will go on fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip even after the army completes its core mission of destroying the cross-border tunnels used by Palestinian militants to attack its territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. As Israeli television showed live footage of some tanks withdrawing from Gaza in an apparent winding down of the 25-day campaign, Netanyahu said Hamas would pay an “intolerable price” if it continued to attack Israel. Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, later escalating into ground incursions. Shelling exchanges continued earlier on Saturday, pushing the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials up to 1,675, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 63 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has also killed three civilians in Israel. Netanyahu’s comments came as Israel signaled it was taking action to withdraw on its own terms, saying it would not attend talks in Cairo this weekend aimed at achieving a new truce. In some areas of Gaza, witnesses saw Israeli tanks pulling back towards the border, while the Israeli military gave Palestinians who had fled one town the all-clear to return. Israel’s main goal in its incursion into Gaza last month was to destroy Hamas’s network of tunnels, and the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) said they were close to achieving that. More than 30 tunnels and dozens of access shafts have been unearthed and were being blown up, the military said. “Our understanding is that our objectives, most importantly the destruction of the tunnels, are close to completion,” a military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, said. Netanyahu said in a televised speech that military action would continue even after that goal is achieved. “After completing the anti-tunnel operation, the IDF will act and continue to act, in accordance with our security needs and only according to our defense needs, until we achieve our objective of restoring security to you, Israel’s citizens,” he said. “PAY FOR EVERY MINUTE” Hamas said it was absurd for Israel to claim to have destroyed all the tunnels. “Netanyahu will pay for every minute he spends carrying out more aggression against our people,” a spokesman said. Several ceasefires between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that dominates the Gaza Strip, have failed to take hold or quickly collapsed, most recently on Friday after two Israeli soldiers were killed and a third went missing in an ambush. Israel accused Hamas of seizing Second-Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, and the United States blamed the group for a “barbaric” breach of the truce. The United Nations was more guarded in its censure of Hamas but demanded Goldin’s release. Israeli forces have been searching for Goldin in southern Gaza, but his family expressed alarm at reports of an Israeli pull-out. “I demand that the State of Israel not leave Gaza until it brings my son home,” Goldin’s mother, Hedva, told reporters. Hamas said it believed its gunmen had struck before Friday’s ceasefire began and that if they captured Goldin, he probably died with his captors in heavy Israeli barrages that followed. In Cairo, a Palestinian delegation arrived for new truce talks, which would include Hamas’s demand Egypt ease movement across its border with blockaded Gaza. Turning its back on those negotiations, Israel said it would not send envoys as scheduled. “They (Hamas) cannot be trusted to keep their word. They cannot stop (firing) because, for them, a ceasefire at this stage, whether by arrangement or not by arrangement, would mean acknowledging the worst possible defeat,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel’s Channel Two TV. Palestinians wheel a woman, whom medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, outside a hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 2, 2014. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Hamas, its guerrillas massively outgunned by a Jewish state it considers an eternal enemy, said it would prevail. Any unilateral pullout by Israel would mean “it has failed to achieve any of its goals and would be a clear defeat for the occupation army and for its leaders,” Hamas’s bloc in the Palestinian parliament said in a statement. “Gaza resisted, endured and will achieve victory.” “EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE” Israel said Palestinians on Saturday launched 74 rockets across the border, most of which fell harmlessly wide while seven were shot down by its Iron Dome interceptor, including over Tel Aviv. Crowded Gazan towns close to the Israeli border have seen devastating clashes and the flight of tens of thousands of Palestinians as tanks and troops swept in to confront dug-in guerrillas. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said 520,000 people had been displaced by the fighting - more than a quarter of Gaza’s population. Israel said on Saturday evacuees from Beit Lahiya, a northern town of 70,000 residents, could return. But fear still gripped the townspeople. “No one has told us to go back,” said Talab Manna, a 30-year-old father of seven camped out at a U.N.-run school serving as a refugee haven. “We can’t risk going back and being bombed by the Israeli forces.” Quoting a senior military officer, Israel Radio said the condition of the missing soldier was not known. It said Goldin was last seen next to the two troops killed by a Hamas suicide bomber - suggesting he may not have survived and his captors had a corpse. Hamas had long threatened to capture Israelis for a prisoner swap. In 2011, Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a soldier snatched by Hamas five years earlier. Israel has twice freed prisoners for the bodies of soldiers held by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. The Rafah clash in which Goldin was reported to have been captured triggered Israeli shelling from the middle of Friday morning that killed 150 Palestinians. By afternoon, Israel declared an end to the truce - which was meant to have lasted 72 hours. Slideshow (16 Images) Rafah residents said they had received recorded telephone warnings from Israel to stay indoors during a barrage that wreaked widespread ruin. “It was like an action movie - explosions everywhere, cars flying up in flames, people crushed under houses that were bombed,” local man Bassim Abed told Reuters.

MUMBAI: A survey conducted on the IIT-Bombay campus for freshmen found 95% students had never had sex, but about 30% of them were in a relationship.Inspired by the Harvard Crimson freshmen survey, IIT-B’s student newspaper — Insight — conducted a survey to appreciate the diversity of a freshman batch welcomed to the campus. The Powai campus for the first time looked at the beliefs and lifestyles of its incoming batch to find that most students were moderately liberal when it came to their political views and 75% of them were comfortable with the idea of homosexuality and/or homosexual marriages.The survey looked at diverse topics such as students’ background before joining IIT, their political and religious beliefs and post-grad plans. In all, 254 of the 875 freshmen who entered through JEE participated in the survey.“The survey aimed to understand the institute’s demographic better. It’s important so we can see how we’re growing as an institute and what demographic we are catering to,” said Shreeyesh Menon, Insight chief editor. The quintessential IITian has changed over the years. A good 60% don’t believe in religious practices and another 30% “somewhat” follow them.But when it comes to the idea of God, 18% are atheist, 35% are agnostic and 47% believe in God. Cellphone, largely a smartphone, is a necessity and spending at least 1.5 hours on a social networking site is on their must-do list.“Halfway into the first semester, every respondent was spending 1.6 hours on Facebook every day. The percentage of people not using Facebook at all decreased from 37.7% to 6%,” the study noted.Kicked off in September, the long exercise included the planning and designing of questions, mailing them, collating information received and analysing it. The results were released on Tuesday.Insight would typically survey seniors. The survey of freshers was conducted for the first time by the new editorial board, so there is no historical data to compare.Life before IIT-B was largely about JEE, with 40% spending four to seven hours daily and 30% dedicating between 7 and 12 hours to prepare. Of those who cracked the exam, 21% took a year’s drop from school to solely train for the JEE.“For nearly all our respondents, their own expectations put pressure on them to crack the JEE,” the survey found. For all the hullabaloo over IIT fees, it is interesting to note that nearly 75% students spent up to Rs 2.5 lakh on JEE coaching. But all that burnt them out and 50% of them, now having entered IIT-B, don’t feel like putting effort into academics.Students plan to study for an average of 1.4 hours every day at IIT-B, the study noted. Later, after passing out, 32% expect their first annual salary to be in the range of Rs 10lakh-Rs25 lakh. Then there are those, about 11%, who expect a yearly compensation of more than Rs 60 lakh. And a decade after graduation, while 72% of them would continue to be in engineering some don’t have a clue and many others want to be entrepreneurs.

HERE's an idea. If CBI Scotland had wanted to focus on the independence referendum at its forthcoming annual dinner without forcing member resignations by taking a political stance, it could have pitched to host the debate Alex Salmond so dearly wants to have with David Cameron. It is difficult to disagree with the First Minister's portrayal of the Prime Minister as a "big fearty", given Mr Cameron was champing at the bit for the television debate with Gordon Brown ahead of the 2010 General Election. Then again, Mr Cameron might feel more comfortable if he felt he were addressing a friendly crowd at CBI Scotland's annual dinner. And the Scottish arm of the Confederation of British Industry would surely feel able to give him the necessary reassurance that the audience at its annual dinner at the Glasgow Hilton on August 28 would be suitably supportive. After all, it is presumably satisfied that its now-official support for the No vote camp reflects the views of at least the vast majority of its members, which fund its operations. And you would imagine most of those members that have taken issue with CBI Scotland's decision to register as a supporter of a No vote with the Electoral Commission will not attend. There has been a string of resignations by corporate members in recent days, after it emerged that CBI Scotland had made its evident anti-independence stance official, with broadcaster STV, Aquamarine Power, and Balhousie Care Group leaving. A raft of Scottish universities have meanwhile resigned from the business organisation. And Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, Skills Development Scotland, and the Law Society of Scotland have also resigned. It is obviously unlikely that Mr Cameron would have a change of heart on going head-to-head with Mr Salmond in a debate about the merits or otherwise of independence, in spite of the Prime Minister's past enthusiasm for important debates in front of big audiences. And the CBI has spelled out why its Scottish arm had to register as a No vote supporter with the Electoral Commission. Those who register such an interest are allowed to spend more than £10,000 on campaigning in the run-up to the referendum. A spokesman for the CBI in London highlighted the fact that spending by the business lobbying group on its annual Scottish dinner and on other planned events north of the Border during the referendum period, which runs from May 30 to the September 18 poll date, would exceed £10,000. It was observed in this column last September that, if anyone had accidentally teleported from outer space into CBI Scotland's 2013 annual dinner, they could have been forgiven for thinking they had pitched up at an anti-independence rally. And you can bet your bottom dollar, or whatever currency you wish, that CBI Scotland will be adopting an even more robust stance on the constitutional issue on August 28, if such a thing is possible. At last September's annual dinner, Nosheena Mobarik, who was stepping down from chairing CBI Scotland, and CBI national president Sir Michael Rake focused on the questions which the employers' organisation wanted answered by the Scottish Government ahead of the referendum. They reeled off a long list of question topics, including currency and financial oversight, European Union membership, and the cost of statehood. The CBI very much gave the impression at that stage that it had made up its mind that potential problems it had identified with independence were insurmountable regardless of the answers. And Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg put in a brief appearance to lend support with a familiar speech. So presumably the view at CBI Scotland is that, if there is going to be a repeat performance, it must register. And it must surely have been aware that registration of a formal position would have major consequences in terms of resignations by members which, in some cases, are duty-bound to adopt a neutral stance in the independence debate. All of that said, CBI Scotland surely did have a choice. It could have invited heavyweight speakers from both the Better Together and Yes Scotland camps to this year's annual dinner. The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland and Scottish Chambers of Commerce are to be commended for an even-handed approach, recognising diversity among their memberships and allowing people to make up their own minds, while seeking information. CBI Scotland is right in pointing out the question of independence raises major economic issues. It is also correct, in the service of its members, to lay out the issues, and seek answers. So would it not be better to let its members hear these issues addressed by both camps at its annual dinner? This would surely be more constructive for everyone, but especially for undecided people in the audience, than the one-sided, familiar and somewhat tiresome diatribes against independence at last year's CBI Scotland dinner. Perhaps CBI Scotland is taking the view that none of its remaining members at this year's dinner will be undecided. But then what is the point of preaching to the choir?

Next month, you'll be able to buy a little bit of space history in Lego form. Starting on Nov. 1, space fans of all ages will be able to buy Lego's Women of NASA set featuring four essential women who made space science history. The new set plays homage to astronauts Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly to orbit. Image: lego The $24.99 set also features computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, who helped write the software that eventually allowed the Apollo astronauts to land on the moon, and Nancy Grace Roman, who helped make the Hubble Space Telescope a reality. The four figures also come complete with three Lego builds. Image: lego "Role-play space exploration from planning to moon landing, beginning with the iconic scene from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 of Hamilton with software that she and her team programmed," Lego said in a statement. "Build the posable Hubble Space Telescope and launch a LEGO version of the Space Shuttle Challenger with 3 removable rocket stages." The set is sure to make space nerds of all ages happy. Image: lego Women of NASA was originally designed by Maia Weinstock and submitted as part of Lego's Ideas program, which allows fans to develop their own ideas for what may become the next sets for the company. Weinstock's initial idea for the set also included Katherine Johnson, the space scientist instrumental in bringing the first Americans to orbit, but the company wasn't able to include her in the final set. “In order for us to move forward with a partner we need to obtain approval from all key people, which was not possible in this case," a Lego spokesperson said. "We naturally fully respect this decision.” Image: lego Weinstock wanted to create this set to give the women of NASA their proper due. "Women have played critical roles throughout the history of the U.S. space program ..." Weinstock wrote in a description of the set. "Yet in many cases, their contributions are unknown or under-appreciated — especially as women have historically struggled to gain acceptance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics." Now at least, these barrier-breaking women will get some of the recognition they deserve in Lego form.

- Advertisement - iZombie Season 2 Episode 2 – ‘Zombie Bro’ iZombie continues where the first episode left off and begins hinting at some of the season long plotlines we’ll be treated with. But what does this mean for the characters and what exactly can we expect from the second season of iZombie? Spoilers The episode starts of with Major feeling guilty about his first hit seen last week. Overall this episode hints at a far greater focus on Major. Major has always been the most transformative character, but this season seems to ramp it up to a far greater degree. With his relationship with Liv still a little messy, and now a drug problem propping up. Even if Ravi seemed to enjoy the Utopium more. Speaking of Ravi, he must be incredibly desperate for the cure if he’s willing to take it directly for “research purposes.” I guess Blaine hasn’t had much luck yet. Speaking of Blaine, he’s had a lot of trouble this episode. Unable to find any tainted Utopium, at least so far. His side business is floundering, and he’s about to start a freaking war to change that. - Advertisement - Max Rager didn’t really do anything this episode, we had some scenes with the secretary, nothing more than a sidekick role so far however. Liv’s family wasn’t in the episode at all, it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Also Peyton hasn’t been seen either. This isn’t surprising, her character was written off due to another project. She had left so suddenly though, that I would be surprised if she doesn’t show up again at some point, but this might have to wait until season three. Season two seems to have some quirks in comparison to its previous season. One being the over-the-top brain’s Liv has been eating. ‘Grumpy Old Liv’ definitely had this, ‘Zombie Bro’ overflowed with it, and the upcoming episode ‘Real Dead Housewife of Seattle’ doesn’t seem to lack any either. It’s unclear whether this is a positive or negative change as of yet. These first two episodes and the personas that came with them have been a lot of fun, but could also wear itself out pretty easily if not handled correctly. The other trend is the focus on more sympathetic crimes. In particular the confession scenes, our killers aren’t just killers, they are portrayed as normal people caught up in emotion. Over the lose (or perceived lose) of a loved one. Given the preview for next week it seems unlikely that this will continue, but it is an interesting observation nonetheless. As for the crime itself, it was interesting. Even if the murder weapon seems to be a knitting needle. Liv’s visions were almost completely useless this episode, which makes sense considering the lack of connection between the murderer and the victim, but it was frustrating for the visions, which really set the crime aspect of iZombie apart, to be severely underutilized this episode. Liv’s frat boy persona was a ton of fun to watch though, Rose McIver continues to show her ability to play many types of Livs. Furthermore, you can tell she has a lot of fun as the role, being able to play with so many different stereotypes. If I were to guess, the season’s plotlines will be as follows: First we have Major with the drugs and zombie killing. Max Rager must have something else up its sleeve, most likely involving Liv more personally. The hunt for tainted Utopium will continue, probably unsuccessfully, Blain’s about to start a war with “The Boss.” Clive is probably going to learn about zombies and Liv’s… diet. Overall the episode continued the status quo in both episodic stories and overarching storylines, but didn’t really do anything to set itself apart. It was a fun episode, if a little forgettable.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com. The New Orleans Saints have a wonderful 50 year relationship with long suffering fans that have supported the team through mostly losing seasons. Unfortunately, the team is putting that relationship in jeopardy with their asinine position on the National Anthem controversy. For some unknown reason, the team’s management and coaching staff have decided to support the right of disgruntled players to protest alleged social injustice during the National Anthem. In week 3 of the season, ten players sat for the Star-Spangled Banner and since that time multiple players have been kneeling prior to the anthem being played. These stunts have been greeted by well deserved boos by upset fans in the Louisiana Superdome. Sadly, the team has not gotten the message that their actions are insulting to patriots who believe this type of protest is disrespectful to not only our veterans, but also to all Americans who love their country. By kneeling, the team is showing solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers Quarterback, who started the National Anthem protest last year. At that time, Kaepernick claimed that he was protesting police brutality and racial injustice. The problem is that Kaepernick wore a t-shirt in support of communist Cuban dictator and mass murderer Fidel Castro. He also wore socks depicting police officers as pigs. Thus, it is mind boggling that any team would allow players to be associated with such an idiot. This week, the controversy was brought to the forefront once again when Retired U.S. Navy Commander John Wells, Executive Director of the Military Veterans Advocacy organization, decided to reject a People’s Health Champion award that was supposed to be presented to him at this Sunday’s home game. The award is given during each game in the Louisiana Superdome to a senior citizen who demonstrates “exceptional achievements.” Although Wells said he was “honored” to be selected for the award, “since this award is tainted with the dishonorable actions of the NFL and its players, I cannot accept it. To do so would be hypocritical.” Instead of privately meeting with Mr. Wells to discuss the issue, the Saints issued a lengthy public statement blasting the retired Navy Commander. According to the Saints organization, Wells chose to “distract from awareness we hoped to build throughout our community.” Really, the team is criticizing a disabled veteran with over 20 years of service to his country for having the audacity to “distract” from their great “awareness” building. Instead of awareness, the team is building community resentment by their disrespectful protests. The Saints also called Wells’ actions “unfortunate and disappointing,” and “sad and divisive.” In reality, the Saints players are disappointing many of their fans and being divisive by allowing these protests to continue. The team is coddling spoiled stars who are paid millions of dollars to play a game. These stars are not the victims of discrimination and most of them are clueless as to why they are even protesting. According to Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro, the players are bringing “awareness to a cause.” What cause is that Kenny, communism or police hatred? The protests have no place during the Saints pregame ceremonies. This is a time for both players and fans to show respect for America, sing the National Anthem, honor our military and first responders, and not engage in political statements. If players want to protest alleged social injustice, they should do it during their free time, not during games that hard working fans pay big money to attend. The NFL owners should have taken a firm stand against these protests at their last meeting. Instead, they took no action and Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a weak statement expressing his desire that players stand for the National Anthem. Unfortunately, it was not backed by any threats of disciplinary action so it was meaningless. According to Commander Wells, “Their (NFL) failure to act is a slap in the face to all of those who have served in uniform. Men and women have fought and died for the flag that the players are disrespecting.” Bravo Commander Wells, you are speaking for millions of Americans who are offended by these demonstrations. Until the NFL gets the message and stops the player protests, the once popular league will continue to self-destruct.

Key Highlights Dash price remained in a heavy bid mode against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. There is a nice connecting bullish trend line formed on the 4-hours chart of DASH/USD (data feed from Poloniex) with support at $90. The price might continue to rise and bound to settle above the all-important $100 level. Dash price remains in a solid uptrend, as the price soared by more than 50% against the US Dollar. DASH/USD now looks set for more gains above $100. Dash Price Looking Super Bullish During the past few days, we saw how Dash price marched higher and climbed above $50, $60, $70 and $80. The price even broke the $100 level recently and traded as high as $102.35. There are many positive signs for more gains in the near term, and DASH/USD is likely to trade further higher. The price is now back below the $100, but remains supported on the downside. There is a monster bullish trend line with support at $90 formed on the 4-hours chart of DASH/USD (data feed from Poloniex). Moreover, the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $48 low to $102.35 high is also around the same trend line. So, we can say that there are a lot of support levels on the downside above $90. So, if the price moves down, it can find buyers on the downside near $90. Only a break below the trend line support could take the price towards 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $48 low to $102.35 high. On the upside, the price may soon break the $100 handle once again and trade above the last high of $102.35. Looking at the indicators: 4-hours MACD – The MACD is placed nicely in the bullish area. 4-hours RSI – The RSI is in the overbought levels and remains supportive of more gains. Intraday Support Level – $90 Intraday Resistance Level – $102 Charts from Poloniex; hosted by Trading View

NEW DELHI: At 63, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been setting a cracking pace, clocking more than 100 rallies a month, even addressing up to five a day in the scorching heat of summer. So, any tips he might be able to pass on to fellow politicians pounding the India beat? Early morning yoga and a simple diet would be a start, apart from the small matter of a burning desire for the country’s top political job.Of course, there’s more to the campaign than that, as became clear from detailed conversations ET had with people close to Team Modi and other BJP leaders. He’s also constantly in touch with his war room and reacting rapidly to developments as aides feed him with information and suggestions on what to say.Unlike the chaos that usually marks an Indian election campaign, a typical day in the life of Narendra Modi is a meticulously planned affair.It starts at 5 am with yoga and a walk, followed by a quick reading of the day's newspapers. Breakfast is a plain dosa and fruits along with some Gujarati snacks. He then takes a chartered plane to his first destination of the day. He keeps himself informed about the latest news and developments until he reaches his destination.If he’s speaking, Modi is handed notes about any development that’s taken place.“He’s given talking points with a heading before each speech by his team. These are on chits of paper and are always in Gujarati,” a BJP leader told ET. Modi can be seen putting these slips of paper into his pocket after a quick reading on stage.These points are worked into Modi’s extempore speeches and are usually written up by AK Sharma, additional principal secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office in Gandhinagar. K Kailashnathan, a former Gujarat bureaucrat and part of his team, also provides inputs for speeches, according to sources.The need for legibility was emphasised by several people.“He wants the notes and talking points to be in neat handwriting,” a Modi aide said.BJP leaders who’ve worked with Modi are in awe of his thorough planning.“He is very methodical and can think with a cool head about various aspects of an issue and the likely ramifications of a decision. The credit for conceptualising several of our key campaigns and the creative thinking behind it goes to Modi,” a party general secretary told ET.Modi will call those organising his next rally if he’s running late so that they can plan accordingly. He also makes sure that the leaders who have to speak at the rally have reached and don’t keep him waiting.He never eats out, especially since last year. His security was tightened after the blasts at a rally venue in Patna on October 27, 2013, which means his food needs to be checked and tasted. To avoid delays, the food for Modi and his team is carried on the plane.“At times he skips lunch and has Gujarati snacks in the plane. Otherwise, his lunch comprises of thepla, curd and the usual meal of rice, chappatis, dal and vegetables,” a BJP leader said.

Microsoft's reveal of the Xbox One S at E3 this year left us with questions. Lots of them. How did the firm graft on 4K support to the existing hardware? Are we looking at a processor shrink and an architectural revamp? What formats of HDR are supported? Can selected titles actually run at a native 4K resolution? Does the support for UHD Blu-ray movies actually require a new and improved BD drive? The list goes on. And on. And then there's the question of just how much extra power the Xbox One S possesses compared to the original hardware, and what form it actually takes: is it extra clocks or unlocked compute units? It's fair to say that this was something of a confused issue at E3 and we wanted to get to the bottom of the issue. During the show, I contacted Microsoft's Albert Penello - senior director of product marketing and planning - with a view of getting the complete picture on a product that was clearly much more than just a console refresh. It's a fascinating story and one that I'm happy to share with you today, along with an in-depth analysis of the spec bump and what it means for Xbox One gaming, plus a full review of the Xbox One S hardware and a round-up of everything we know about Xbox One S. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy this full breakdown of the engineering innovations found in Xbox One S, from discussion on the 16nm FinFET SoC redesign, complete disclosure on just how much more powerful the new console is, plus the exclusive imagery below, taking us beneath the plastic shell all the way down to the Xbox One S's new motherboard and revised processor. Digital Foundry: Slimmer, smaller consoles are often made possible with process shrinks. Xbox One runs with a 28nm processor - does Xbox One S stick with that, or are you using a FinFET process? If you're on a smaller process, can you give us an idea of how much smaller the die is now? Albert Penello: Correct! The SoC in the Xbox One S is designed in the 16nm Fin FET process, which results in a die that is 240mm2; 33 per cent smaller and consumes less power than the 28nm SoC in the original Xbox One. Digital Foundry: If you are at 16nmFinFET for the new SoC, does that confirm you're using TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company - currently producing Nvidia's new Pascal chips] to fabricate the processor as per Xbox One? Albert Penello: Yes, for the Xbox One S consoles shipping this year the SoC is fabricated at TSMC. Digital Foundry: Is the 4K functionality integrated into the SoC, or are you using the existing design with additional external silicon? Assuming a processor redesign, can you outline the changes involved? Are you essentially updating the media blocks but leaving everything else as is? Albert Penello: There are several components required to support the 4K UHD video playback that result in a combination of changes in the new console. First, we added a 4K HEVC decoder to the SoC to render the compressed video streams efficiently in hardware. Next, we updated the video output to HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2. The interface revisions are all integrated into the SoC and enable outputting video at the higher bandwidths required for 4K UHD and HDR formats, as well as the copy protection tech required for protected content. And of course, we updated the optical drive to support the BD-UHD disc format. Digital Foundry: Can developers address a 4K framebuffer? Obviously we can't expect native 4K triple-A gaming, but simpler titles and 2D games could potentially work well - plus existing Xbox One owners would get 2x super-sampling. Albert Penello: If they want to, they can. As you said, if a developer had a game that could use it we are enabling 4K framebuffers, but only on Xbox One S consoles. Here's our video review of the Xbox One S - it's a hardware revision quite like any other. Perhaps most crucially, the Xbox One feels like a real console now. Digital Foundry: Can you give us the technical details on the scaling algorithm used to take 1080p to 4K? Albert Penello: We use the same hardware block and algorithms to scale directly from the game's render resolution to 4K as we do with the current Xbox One when scaling to the TV's input resolution. Digital Foundry: Xbox One shipped with an exceptionally robust cooling solution for the processor. The new console is much smaller - how is it cooled and can we expect similar acoustic performance to the launch unit? Albert Penello: Reducing the power consumption of the SoC opened up opportunities to reduce the size of the chassis significantly. We've been listening to feedback and we know people value smaller size and the convenience of an internal power supply, so these became critical factors when we were designing the Xbox One S. We applied the lessons we have amassed over the years in thermal and acoustic engineering and so we have a design that is not just more compact, but is reliable and quiet enough to blend into the background, whether you are playing a graphically demanding game or kicking back watching a movie. I think people will be just as happy with the volume level of the Xbox One S as they were with the original Xbox One. Digital Foundry: Is the cooling solution scaled down to match the reduced heat output of the processor? It still looks like a good cooler - based on the image, it looks like you've retained the copper heat pipes? How large is the fan? Albert Penello: We designed the console to make sure it had great acoustic performance and reliability for the consumer. The cooling solution uses an aluminum heat sink with two heat pipes and a single 120mm axial fan to draw air through the whole system. Digital Foundry: Are you in a position to talk about power efficiency advantages with the new unit? Albert Penello: The new SoC consumes less power than the original Xbox One across all modes, and we've made improvements in both the hardware and software to hit our goals. I can't really give a specific number, however, because power consumption varies based on the game or app that is running. This is what it's all about. The new SoC - system on chip - sees a shrink from 28nm down to 16nm using 3D FinFET transistors. The size of the chip is down 33 per cent and there are significant power efficiency improvements. Digital Foundry: We've lost the Kinect port and it stands to reason that you would have refined the mainboard design. Are there any other efficiency improvements and modifications there? For example, do you still use 16 memory modules? Albert Penello: The motherboard of the Xbox One S was completely redesigned around the new 16nm FinFET SoC, and to fit in the downsized chassis. The core architecture of the SoC, the configuration and number of memory chips all remain the same to provide consistent performance. The custom south bridge IO chip is the same one used on all previous Xbox One consoles. Removing the dedicated Kinect port allowed us to use a smaller power supply and achieve a very clean layout of the rear panel with no double-stacked connectors required. Digital Foundry: There was some confusion at E3 about faster hardware in the Xbox One S to enable 4K and HDR. This says to us that you've either tweaked CPU/GPU clocks or unlocked the deactivated compute units on the GPU. What is actually happening there? Albert Penello: This is a great question. In the hectic environment of E3 it's not always possible to get into the level of detail necessary to give a complete answer. We stated that the SoC is the same as Xbox One while giving developers access to more power for HDR. The key is that we did not want customers to expect any change in game performance for existing titles. This has caused people to ask more detailed questions which I'm glad we have time to get into. The SoC in Xbox One is the same design as the previous processor. Same GPU, same number of CUs, same memory, same CPU. As we discussed, we did make some refinements for 4K support and to fit in the new chassis. We also used this opportunity to increase the GPU frequency from 853 MHz to 914 MHz. By making this change, developers creating HDR titles do not have to incur any performance hit. We also decided to make the extra six per cent available to all titles. So some games (ones that utilise dynamic resolution and/or unlocked framerates) may see a very minor performance improvement. Our testing internally has shown this to be pretty minor, and is only measurable on certain games, so we didn't want to make it a “selling point” for the new console. Digital Foundry: In a world where most games use HDR internally anyway before tonemapping, what is the need for extra power? Albert Penello: The extra performance is needed to render real-time non-HDR versions of the game for GameDVR, streaming and screenshots. The final production design - it's a significant improvement over the launch model, and even changes made to the pad (including Bluetooth support for PC and textured grips) work out very nicely. Digital Foundry: Would I be right in assuming the GPU clock boost also increases ESRAM bandwidth? Where does that stand now? Albert Penello: You would be correct! Our ESRAM bandwidth scales proportionately with the GPU clock speed increase. That means our peak goes from 204 GB/s to 219GB/s. Digital Foundry: Also, can we confirm that Xbox One S CPU clocks remain at 1.75GHz? Albert Penello: Yes, CPU clock speed is the same. Digital Foundry: Gears 4 and Forza Horizon 3 will ship with HDR support. Meanwhile, in the PC space, developers are looking to release HDR patches for existing titles - we played Rise of the Tomb Raider in HDR and it was beautiful. Will Microsoft follow suit with HDR support for older games? Albert Penello: This is totally up to the developers. Having an HDR TV set myself, I would love to see this happen but it's not something we require. Digital Foundry: Are you using the wider colour gamut (DCI P3) for HDR-enabled titles? Albert Penello: Not currently. We are not supporting WCG for games in Xbox One S. We are supporting the wider Bt.2020 color gamut in Xbox One S for media, however. Digital Foundry: We understand you've opted for HDR 10 support rather than (or in addition to) Dolby Vision. What's the reasoning for this? Was it a factor of what was already built into the AMD media block? Albert Penello: HDR10 is the standard HDR format for the UHD Blu-ray spec, and our understanding is that the majority of consumer TV sets will support HDR10, with Dolby Vision as an option. Dolby Vision looks to be a great technology and we have discussions with Dolby often. To what extent does Xbox One S's GPU spec bump increase general performance? We spent a day capturing a bunch of games with varying performance profiles - here's an extensive analysis of the results we accrued. Digital Foundry: From a software perspective, can you outline what 4K and HDR media support we can expect from Xbox One S on day one and what else may be in the pipeline? Albert Penello: Beyond what we announced at E3, there is nothing new I can talk about now. But you should expect to see a number of media apps and games announced shortly. In addition, I know some fans have asked for new audio functionality including bitstream support and we're evaluating that as a possible feature in a future update. Digital Foundry: Is the support of UHD Blu-ray solely a software thing, or does Xbox One S ship with a more modern BD drive? Albert Penello: Great question. I have seen people online believe that you can do a 'firmware' upgrade to our existing BD drive to support 4K, but that's not true. In addition to DSP firmware updates, the drive in the Xbox One S also includes a new optical pickup to support three-layer UHD Blu-ray format discs. Plus HDMI 2.0 video output with HDCP 2.2 copy protection is also a BD-UHD certification requirement, both of which are included in Xbox One S and weren't implemented on the other Xbox One consoles. Digital Foundry: A more subtle change has been the move to Bluetooth support for the Xbox One controller. Can you talk us through the decision-making process there? Does this introduce any compatibility issues when old pads are used with the new console and vice versa? Albert Penello: Personally, I think we have best controller ever made! To be clear, connection to the Xbox One S still uses our high-bandwidth, low-latency Xbox Wireless protocol. We make that Wireless Protocol available on PC with ourXbox Wireless Adapter for Windows. However, we wanted people to be able to use their same controller more easily OFF the console in tablet and laptop situations. By adding Bluetooth support people playing on a Windows 10 tablet or PC can use the controller 'on the go'. I think our Xbox One Wireless Protocol provides the best experience, and now I love the added flexibility we provide by adding Bluetooth.

Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. The lower house of Spain’s parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to recognize “Palestine” as a state. “I want to express my satisfaction that all (political parties) have decided to vote for this declaration,” said Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo. He added that just as Spanish politicians must arrive at accords in the parliament, “so too we have to arrive at accords in the European Union if we want a foreign policy that’s common and truly continental.”The position of the Spanish government has been to seek recognition of Palestinian statehood as the end result of bilateral negotiations, rather than unilaterally recognizing it outside such a process.Spain’s position takes on a magnified importance heading into 2015, when it will assume a temporary position on the United Nations Security Council, a body whose support is necessary for Palestinians to become a UN member state.Margallo said Monday before the vote “the worst service we can give to the cause of peace in the Middle East is for each country to continue advancing national, isolated solutions and not a joint solution." At a conference of European Union foreign ministers Monday, EU policy chief Federica Mogherini said that creating a Palestinian state was more important than recognizing one.“What we need is not just recognition [of a Palestinian state]. We need the building of a Palestinian state that can live next to the Israeli one in peace and security,” she said.The bill’s main proponent, former foreign minster Trinidad Jimenez, opened Tuesday’s legislative session by restating her “conviction that the solution to the conflict in the Middle East depends on the coexistence of two states.”She said because “negotiations have been cut off again and again,” it is necessary to “take another step forward” towards Palestinian statehood and regional peace.“It’s not against Israel, and it’s not against Palestine,” she said Monday in an interview with the Jerusalem Post. “It’s only to push parties to negotiate, to sit down.”Speaking Sunday with Germany’s foreign minister, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called similar resolutions that passed the British and Irish parliaments this fall counterproductive, saying the “the calls… to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state pushed peace backwards.”“They don’t tell the Palestinians that they have to make their peace with a nation-state for the Jewish people,” he said. They just give the Palestinians a nation-state.”Spain’s Congress of Deputies passed the motion after the largest opposition party, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, led by Jimenez, rejected an amendment from other opposition groups to fix a timeline for the recognition of “Palestine,” Spanish newspaper El País reported.But the more significant compromise was between the opposition and the ruling Popular Party, which added a paragraph promoting an international solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that “takes fully into account the legitimate worries, interests and aspirations of the State of Israel,” the newspaper reported.The motion passed with 319 votes in favor, two opposed and a single abstention.Some in the opposition took positions during Tuesday’s session that went further than the resolution.Basque politician Rafael Larreina took the podium wearing a red, white and green scarf that said “Palestine” in English. He condemned the recent violence in Israel, including a terrorist attack that killed four in Jerusalem and the hanging death of a Palestinian bus driver that Israeli police ruled a suicide, saying those events “lead to the conclusion that it’s urgent” to recognize a Palestinian state.Addressing a gallery of diplomats from the Arab world, Communist politician Joan Josep Noep said Israel, “invades Palestinian land and kills its people,” and called for the urgent recognition of a Palestinian state with “a capital that is called Jerusalem.”Though Noep had been in favor of an amendment recognizing “the historic city” as the Palestinian capital, his party withdrew it and he praised the measure as a clear statement of purpose.Referring to the French parliament’s Nov. 28 vote on Palestinian statehood, he said “the news tomorrow will be that we urge the government of Spain to recognize the state of Palestine, like Sweden has done as well, just like France will do next week, and how other European countries will possibly do following our example.”Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report. 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A New Jersey woman arrested for allegedly putting her 5-year-old daughter in a tanning booth says it was all a big misunderstanding. Patricia Krentcil, 44, told NBC's local New York affiliate that she took her daughter with her to a local tanning salon but that the child was not exposed to the booth's synthetic UV rays. "I tan, she doesn't tan," Krentcil said. "I'm in the booth, she's in the room. That's all there is to it." Krentcil, of Nutley, N.J., was arrested last week, and charged Tuesday with felony child endangerment. She was released on a $25,000 bond and is due in court Wednesday. "It's like taking your daughter to go food shopping," Krentcil said. "There's tons of moms that bring their children in." Police, though, say Krentcil put her daughter in an upright tanning booth. New Jersey state law prohibits children under the age of 14 from tanning booths. Children between the ages of 14 and 17 must be accompanied by an adult. Police were alerted by school officials, who say Krentcil's daughter showed up for school with what appeared to be a sunburn, then told classmates she "went tanning with Mommy." Rich Krentcil, the girl's father, told NBC the teacher misinterpreted his daughter. "This whole big thing happened, and everyone got involved," he said. "It was 85 degrees outside, she got sunburned. That's it. That's all that happened." More popular Yahoo! News stories: • Grandparents allegedly tow 7-year-old behind SUV in toy car while drunk • 'Bullied' dolphin hiding from pushy pod, officials say • Golden retriever guards owner's bicycle, then hops aboard for a ride

The Marlins were dealt a massive body shot this year. There is no getting around that fact. These Marlins would have been a much different team had they not lost their star to a tragic accident. It will be very hard for the team and baseball fans to move past this as the wound was opened when another bright star was ripped from us. But we have to move on and so does the team. Baseball doesn’t wait around. Rotation: Edinson Volquez, Dan Straily, Tom Koehler, Wei-Yin Chen, Adam Conley Grade: C The hole Jose Fernandez left in this rotation is 200 feet deep. The rotation would have been well above average, but now it is barely hanging hanging onto average. There is no one that stands out, and that is bad news for this team if they want to make the playoffs this year. Each of these men will be lucky to have a 3.7 ERA but the problem is that only Dan Straily and Adam Conley were close to that mark. All others were far north of that. Also that was Straily’s career year so it is hard to imagine another year like that from him. This will be hard to watch. Bullpen AJ Ramos, Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa, David Phelps, Kyle, Barraclough, Dustin McGowan Grade: B+ While this bullpen lacks a star, it is built on a firm foundation that we can all appreciate. This reminds me of the Wal-Mart version of the Royals and Yankees bullpens from a couple years ago. Not as good but it will do the job while being a whole heck of a lot cheaper. Despite Brad Ziegler having plenty of closing experience from his time in Arizona, the job belongs to A.J Ramos. Ramos has completed the last two seasons with 30+ saves and last year he topped out at 40 saves. Not bad for a guy who is considered a second- maybe third tier closer. Two very interesting pitchers in this bullpen are David Phelps and Kyle Barraclough. Phelps had his best season ever with a 2.28 ERA, it was the kind of season that went unnoticed because of where he plays but he was certainly one of the better relievers in the game last year. He can provide rotation help if needed and he has some closing experience. He is a utility pitcher that gets the job done. Barraclough, although I would have much rather not mention him to save me from having to type his name multiple times, deserves to be talked about. He has been in the league for two years and has not faltered. This guy had a ridiculous 14 K/9 over his 72.2 innings of work. He could be a closer some day and he will thrive in the role. Infield: 1B- Justin Bour, 2B- Dee Gordon, SS- Adeiny Hechavarria, 3B- Martin Prado, C- J.T Realmuto Grade: B A very underrated infield. They have capable players in each position and it is extremely balanced. It seems like every player excels in an area that compliments the other players in the infield. Bour has average, Gordon has speed, Hechavarria has defense, Prado has utility and Realmuto has contact skills. It is nuts how balanced they are. Of these guys, the one who could have the best season is Dee Gordon due to his ability to hit over .300 with well over 50 stolen bases. If he can stay healthy and out of trouble he will be the best player but there is another that could launch himself into the spotlight. That man is J.T Realmuto. In 2016, he hit .303/.343/.771 with 11 home runs, 48 RBI and 12 stolen bases. That’s not something you see from a catcher. If he can improve his power output and RBI, he will be something very special. *Note: Martin Prado is expected to open the season on the disabled list.* Outfield: RF- Giancarlo Stanton, CF- Christian Yelich, LF- Marcell Ozuna Grade: A I said it on Shockwave Sports’ podcast Sliding into Second. I’ve said it to anyone who asks. I’ve said it to people that didn’t ask. And I’m not backing down. Christian Yelich is going to win the National League MVP. I may be crazy but I also think I’m onto something here. He hit.298/.376/.859 with 21 home runs and 98 RBI. He also added 9 stolen bases. This is a player who has improved every year and his power is coming. This is also a player who was at one point compared to Mike Trout. I think that it is very reasonable that he hits .330 with 20-25 home runs, 110 RBI and 20 stolen bases. If he does that, he will have a very good shot at the the MVP. Drink up, there’s enough Kool Aid for everyone. In right field the Marlins have a guy named Stanton. I’ve never heard of him either. He could hit 50 home runs or he could spend 90 games on the disabled list and hit .210. There is no doubt he can be amazing in 2017 because he can hit a baseball a very long way. He just needs to stay healthy. Marcell Ozuna returned to form last year and if he can improve on those numbers this will be one of the best outfields in baseball. Plus they also still have Ichiro! Key Positional Battle Closer- A.J Ramos vs. Brad Ziegler Having someone breathing down the back of your neck is something that is never comfortable, but A.J Ramos will have to deal with that for the entire season. Ramos outperformed Ziegler in terms of saves, but Ziegler actually had a better ERA at 2.25. Ramos will be on a very tight leash. Projected Lineups Vs. RHP Dee Gordon- 2B Martin Prado- 3B Christian Yelich- CF Giancarlo Stanton- RF Justin Bour- 1B Marcel Ozuna- LF J.T Realmuto- C Adeiny Hechavarria- SS Pitcher Vs. LHP Dee Gordon- 2B Martin Prado- 3B Christian Yelich- CF Giancarlo Stanton- RF Marcel Ozuna-LF Justin Bour- 1B J.T Realmuto- C Adeiny Hechavarria- SS Pitcher Overall Grade: B+ This team has it’s pitfalls, but it is also very strong. It will be a hard fought division but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Marlins wound up in a wild card spot. Baseball needs a playoff team from South Florida. R.I.P. Jose Fernandez

On Sunday night, Moonlight shocked America by defeating heavily-favored Best Picture competitor La La Land. It won for one simple reason: those in Hollywood decided that intersectionality should defeat Hollywood self-aggrandizement this year. Here’s the thing about Moonlight: it’s not a particularly good movie. It’s interesting in the way that all character studies are interesting. It’s a look at a place and at a time and at a person. But it doesn’t truly uplift or soar or do much of anything, actually. It won because the Academy voters preferred not to hear another year of griping about #OscarsSoWhite and because those same voters could feel good about supposedly slapping Donald Trump in the face with diversity. It’s no coincidence that an Oscars ceremony that opened with Kimmel tweaking President Trump -- “Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars was racist?” – ended with the Academy giving the Best Picture Oscar to Brokeback Inner City Miami. This isn't to say there can't be a great movie made about a black, gay coming of age story. There can. But this movie wasn't great. This isn't the first time the Academy has bowed to political correctness rather than quality, of course. And this year’s Oscar battle featured two battling Hollywood priorities: honoring itself, and honoring the most politically correct picture of the year. In recent years, this battle has become nearly the entirety of the Best Picture race. In 2014, Hollywood rewarded its own importance with Birdman instead of the far superior Whiplash or American Sniper; in 2013, Hollywood rewarded the rather forgettable 12 Years a Slave instead of Gravity or Dallas Buyers Club; in 2012, Hollywood gave an Oscar to Argo – yay, Hollywood does foreign policy! – instead of Zero Dark Thirty or Lincoln; in 2005, Hollywood held its largest PC-off in a Best Picture fight between Brokeback Mountain, Crash, and Munich (Capote was a better picture than all three). One of the reasons Hollywood no longer rakes in the big bucks other than on tentpole features is that it sees the only profound movies as those that center on intersectional concerns – upholding the virtue of identity politics – or the importance of art itself, rather than movies that tell stories people actually want to see. La La Land is a far better, more watchable movie than Moonlight. But there were at least three other movies this year that were better than either: Hell or High Water, Arrival, and Hacksaw Ridge. And that doesn’t include what I thought was the most entertaining flick of the year, 10 Cloverfield Lane. Unfortunately for those pictures, they weren’t concerned with black gay children or the wonders of Hollywood. If somebody makes a movie about a half-black, half-Native American bisexual transgender trying to make his/her way in Hollywood, you can hand them the Oscar now. This is how you know Hollywood is dying: instead of telling particular stories with general appeal, Hollywood tells stories that appeal only to themselves. They reassure themselves of their importance every year, either by making movies telling them how important they are, or making movies trying to show how important they are by taking on The Issue Of The Day™ in after-school special fashion. It doesn’t make for good entertainment. Which is why television, which actually tells stories rather than getting hung up on the self-important nonsense of the movie industry, now outranks the movie industry in terms of quality.

Story highlights Kim Jong Un says North Korea "fully ready" to defend itself North Korea stages massive military parade for 70th anniversary of political party Workers' Party of Korea wields power over the state, with Kim Jong Un as its leader (CNN) Presiding over a massive military parade in the nation's capital, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was "fully ready" to defend itself against any U.S. threat. In a carefully choreographed show of strength and celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, hundreds of troops marched in elaborate formations across Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, which was festooned with national and party flags, footage from state broadcaster KCTV showed. Kim watched the extravaganza from a viewing platform and gave a rare live televised speech. Last year, Kim didn't show during a mysterious absence that lasted over a month. "Our party can confidently state that our revolutionary armament today can deal with any kind of war U.S. imperialists ask for, and we are fully ready to persistently defend the country's blue sky and the well-being of the people," he told the gathered crowds. North Korea's regime is fond of saber rattling and has made plenty of threats before . Intimidating words about the United States and South Korea have been more the norm than not for years. Read More

Last month, I bought an e-bike. It’s an Emmo Alien. I got it used on Kijiji for $600. Where I live, it doesn’t require insurance or a license to ride. It costs me nothing to charge since my rent includes utilities. Like pretty much everyone in Canada, I’ve had at least one bike at any point in my life. I never once considered riding it to work. My mental picture of a person that biked to work was a sun-glassed, angry man in really tight spandex. I couldn’t imagine biking all the way to work, sweating the whole way there, angry at other drivers for cutting them off or not knowing the rules. It’s just not for me. It felt like riding a bike to work meant you had to join some sort of environmental cult. The truth is, while I care very much about the environment, I’m a cheapskate. And I’m lazy. Riding an e-bike is free. And I don’t just mean free as in beer. It feels free, as in freedom. I haven’t used my car in so long, a tire went flat from sitting. The insurance on my car (never mind gas or repairs) per year pays for more than two e-bikes per year. I could actually buy a second one, put it into a dumpster, light it on fire, and I would still be ahead. And, do you know what? Riding an e-bike is fun! It’s liberating. My girlfriend finds it empowering. She’s never gotten the hang of riding a regular bike, but she’s learned how to ride the e-bike. We do groceries (it has hooks to put the bags as well as two storage compartments), we go for picnics, we go out and get fresh air, we get some sun. Sure, a cyclist looks ridiculous, but when a driver in a big pickup truck zooms past in a testosterone-filled money-burning pissing contest, who looks more ridiculous? I’m a bit late in posting this, but June is Bike Month in Waterloo Region. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be just June or just Waterloo Region. Have you ever tried biking to work? Do it tomorrow and let me know what you think. If you’re interested in some data, it takes about 7 hours to charge from completely empty to completely full. A full charge lasts me about 2 and a half hours of continuous use, or about 50-70km, depending on whether or not it’s just me or with a passenger. My trip to work (including to McDonalds for breakfast) is 7.5km, each way. I do this trip Monday to Friday, rain or shine.

BOB WOODWARD: On Traffic-gate, or whatever it is -- I mean, what's this about? That's what's so shocking. If you think, there are 200 million Americans with driver's licenses. You get caught in a traffic jam and you go in and you say, oh, there aren't enough roads or there's too much construction or they don't time the lights right. Unthinkable, at least to me, that some politician or some political group is engineering this for political purposes. And George Will always makes the point which is right here there is too much governing. There are people in that office sitting around saying -- I just don't get the idea that anyone could say let's engineer a traffic jam. Fort Lee, New Jersey is in New Jersey and this is the governor's office somehow saying let's penalize these people? It is a form -- JOHN ROBERTS: So you don't buy the whole controversy? WOODWARD: I buy it. I think it's lodged in people's minds because they're saying this is a dirty trick off the charts, we've never seen one like that. And I think the reporting is going to get to the issue of what did Christie know and not know. But it's also going to deal with who -- where was the meeting, the discussion saying let's do this, let's engineer a traffic jam? Was there anyone in that office who said I vote no?

This wasn’t the first negative experience I’d had with French taxis. Before Uber arrived, getting a taxi in Paris used to be a nightmare. Available cars would frequently refuse to take me if my destination wasn’t on their route, and if they did, they would only take cash and somehow never had correct change for my €20 note. Uber and other ride-hailing apps have completely changed the market here, but it hasn’t come without controversy. For the past two years, the company has been locked in a battle with French regulators and taxi unions who claim that Uber is flouting the law. The conflict has erupted in strikes, protests, and roadblocks orchestrated by both taxi unions and Uber drivers alike, and there’s no clear resolution in sight. This morning, Uber shut down its Paris service and joined drivers protesting against new regulations, marking the first time that it has actively engaged in demonstrations. a convoluted game of regulatory ping pong The issues behind the gridlock are arcane and extremely boring, but they essentially boil down to this: taxi companies have enjoyed a monopoly in France for years, thanks to tight regulations that limited the size of their fleets, and they’re upset because Uber is eating their lunch. It’s a convoluted game of regulatory ping pong, albeit one with an intriguing cultural meta-narrative: that of the brash, American startup storming the socialist shores of France, where labor unions and the state still reign supreme. Uber’s aggressive approach has largely paid off in other countries, but in France, it appears to have run head-first into a wall. The service is still up and running, with more than 12,000 drivers, but its future is uncertain, as the government tries to balance the demands of powerful unions and a burgeoning field of Uber-like apps. But even after my taxi robbery, it’s still hard for me to love Uber. Through the course of covering its French operations over the past few years, I’ve spoken to many disgruntled Uber drivers who have grown frustrated with the company’s fare cuts, and there’s a growing sense here, as in the US, that they’re just cogs in a capitalist machine. Some have formed unions and others have tried to create their own Uber-like app, but they appear to have had little impact on Uber’s dominance, because there's no shortage of cheap labor. As great as the app has been for me and others in France, it's sometimes scarily easy to forget about the employee behind the wheel. Yes, taxi unions will have to change and laws will have to adapt, but Uber likely will too. As I’ve learned over the years, France operates by its own rules and cultural norms, and despite the rise of French startups and "Brook-leen"-inspired artisanal burger chains, the Silicon Valley ideal of "disruption" is still viewed with skepticism here. It’ll take more than an app and American bravado to change that.

One of Facebook’s overwhelmed content moderators – who reportedly sometimes have just 10 seconds to decide whether or not a piece of content is appropriate for the site's immense user base or not – appears to have leaked a slideshow outlining the company’s complex rules for governing what Facebook’s 2 billion users can and cannot see to the Guardian. The Guardian published the presentation in a series of slideshows divided into different topics: Sadism, violence, child abuse... One of the slides outlining how the company handles depictions of graphic violence appeared with the following editor’s note: “Some use language we would not usually publish, but to understand Facebook’s content policies, we decided to include it. See for yourself how Facebook’s polices what users post.” It’s important to remember that Facebook’s moderators remove content “on report only,” meaning that millions of Facebook users could see a graphic image or video – such as a beheading – before it’s removed. As one report notes, the guidelines “may also alarm free speech advocates concerned about Facebook’s de facto role as the world’s largest censor. Both sides are likely to demand greater transparency.” Facebook employs about 4,500 “content moderators” but recently announced plans to hire another 3,000, the Guardian reported. Here are some notable excerpts highlighted by the Guardian: Remarks such as “Someone shoot Trump” should be deleted, because as a head of state he is in a protected category. But it can be permissible to say: “To snap a bitch’s neck, make sure to apply all your pressure to the middle of her throat”, or “fuck off and die” because they are not regarded as credible threats. Videos of violent deaths, while marked as disturbing, do not always have to be deleted because they can help create awareness of issues such as mental illness. Some photos of non-sexual physical abuse and bullying of children do not have to be deleted or “actioned” unless there is a sadistic or celebratory element. Photos of animal abuse can be shared, with only extremely upsetting imagery to be marked as “disturbing”. All “handmade” art showing nudity and sexual activity is allowed but digitally made art showing sexual activity is not. Here's a sampling of the more-than 100 slide presentation. Here's an example of the slides relating to guidelines surrounding depictions of graphic violence. It begins, predictably, with a trigger warning: Here are a few slides that explain the site's policies for determining whether threatening language crosses over into being a credible threat. Here's a slide that describe how the site handles threats made about public figures - which it determines as anyone who has over 100,000 followers on any social media website.

5 Questions With ‘The Crazies’ Director Breck Eisner Director Breck Eisner sat down to answer some questions about his latest film The Crazies, which tells the story of what happens to a small Iowa town that is suddenly turned to anarchy and death after a mysterious toxin contaminates the water supply. We asked him about George Romero, the film’s political message, and why it isn’t a zombie flick. Horror fans should note: if this film isn’t on your radar, the Q&A after the jump may convince you to head down to the theater for a viewing. Geeks of Doom: Are you a fan of George Romero and how (if at all) did his previous films influence how you did The Crazies? Breck Eisner: Of course I’m a big fan of Romero. As a kid I watched a lot of movies. before I knew anything about making movies I just knew that I liked watching his. The Crazies I had seen when a friend had brought over a beta max tape when I was 15 and we watched this bizarre movie (called The Crazies). When they approached me about remaking it that memory stuck out in my mind and I figured that was a good thing. Obviously I had to go back and re-watch it to see what was there… it was actually quite good but could stand for having a redo done. GoD: Have you met Romero? What does he think about the remake? BE: We screened him the movie after we finished post production. I called him the next day, which was very nerve racking call and asked him what he thought. It ended up being a really great call. He seemed very positive and has publicly talked about liking the movie. It was a real relief for me. GoD: The original was said to have a political message underneath the surface of the story, do you agree with that and have you done the same in your version? BE: The original had a political message on top of the story and having a political message is important. In the movie that we made I wanted to be a little more buried or subtle just given the broader audience we were aiming for and the market of today. The movie certainly has a political message, very similar but different for the times than the message that Romero was pushing. And we are definitely a socially relevant movie I hope. The political message is there but it’s subtle and it’s background compared to the story and characters, the action and horror, the tension and scope of the movie, which is ultimately a horror thrill ride that gets going early and doesn’t let up. That more than anything, I want the audience to feel scared and tense and excited and anxious in watching this movie. GoD: Our staff writer Vactor made a comment that The Crazies looked better than the $20 million budget would lead you to believe. If you had twice the resources to play with, would you have done anything differently? BE: Yeah definitely. The thing that we were always fighting was time. That was our biggest enemy. Every set piece that was shot I had to cut short from what the [story] boards were. People like the set piece and they worked well but I think they would have worked better if I had been able to shoot everything I wanted. That being said, I think the limitations of budget can help you. There’s a scene with a knife in a guy’s hand and the set piece completely changed because we didn’t have time to shoot what was boarded, drawn, and written. It seems better because of the limitations I think. So it’s a careful balance. I wouldn’t have wanted a bigger budget for this movie — it doesn’t want to be a big budget movie. It wants to be a small budget, subversive, out of left field film but when I was on on the floor shooting the movie I could have used five more extra days. (Time is money) GoD: What would you say to people who would label this a Zombie movie? BE: You hear it’s a George Romero movie and that it’s infected people acting strange. You look at the commercials it’s a 15- to 30-second compilation of fast action, so they say “yeah it’s a zombie movie” and certainly there are elements of the zombie genre if you made it really wide swath. But it’s not a zombie movie. I mean people like us who know the genre, know their zombies. These people are not undead, they’re not acting as a collective whole, not trying to eat brains or trying to infect everyone else. [The Crazies] is definitely about individuals who get infected and it releases this latent anxiety/anger… deep seeded personalities comes out when they’re infected with this virus. They don’t lose their personalities and persona completely. It just lets loose this monster within and it does it differently with each person. That’s what makes it different from a zombie movie. There is one person in the movie who just gets on a little girl’s bicycle — rides around in the street and sings a hymn [and also] a woman just looking to see if somebody called her back. Obviously that’s not great drama to the majority of people, it releases this animalistic rage within. Sometimes its directed specifically towards one person because they’re settling a vendetta or a deep anger inside. Sometimes it’s just about random violence.

“Dumbo” still has a ways to go before its cleared for take off, but at least now we know the final destination. Disney has confirmed Tim Burton’s live-action adaptation of the 1941 animated classic will fly into theaters March 29, 2019. “Dumbo” was just one of Disney’s many attractions at the D23 Expo on Saturday. While Burton was not present at the convention, the director did send in a video message from inside the real life train-car utilized in the original film. He used the clip to confirm that production has officially begun on his reimagining of the high-flying elephant adventure. Colin Farrell, Eva Green, Danny DeVito, and Michael Keaton are now confirmed to star opposite newcomers Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins in their first film roles. Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Sharon Rooney, and Douglas Reith also star. Will Smith was circling the lead role in “Dumbo,” but walked away from a deal due to scheduling conflicts. He has since been cast as Genie in Guy Ritchie’s live-action version of “Aladdin.” Ehren Kruger — who wrote the middle three “Transformers” movies — penned the script, with Katterli Frauenfelder, Derek Frey, Justin Springer, and Kruger producing. Nigel Gostelow is exec producing. The original story followed an ostracized baby circus elephant who strives to achieve his full potential. Burton’s movie will include both live-action and animated elements. The entirety of 2019’s “Dumbo” will be filmed in England. The Disney classic won an Academy Award for best musical score, and was also nominated for best original song for “Baby Mine.”

GREs don't predict grad school success. What does? Summer is just beginning, but before we know it, the graduate school application and admission season will be upon us again. The ostensible goal of that arduous and anxiety-fraught procedure—and of the even more involved process of hiring and promoting faculty members at research universities—is to identify the next generation of productive scientists. But how can the relevant committees accomplish this when no one can really specify the qualities of mind, heart, character, spirit, and background that combine to produce great research? Last month’s Taken for Granted Taken for Granted is a monthly column about training and career issues from scientific workforce expert Beryl Lieff Benderly. The downs and ups of corporate research Read more Taken for Granted This long-standing question has been bothering me since I read a pair of studies about grad school admissions practices, one from the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill and the other from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. (My colleague Maggie Kuo wrote about them when they were published in January.) These papers add to a growing body of information suggesting that widely used “objective” admissions measures, such as GRE test scores and GPA, are exactly the wrong way to go about picking future contributors to scientific progress. Yet, they continue to strongly influence admissions committees—probably to the detriment of individual aspiring scientists who, despite their brilliance, may not look good on paper, and of the entire scientific enterprise. Objective failure Top graduate programs, which receive many more applications than they can accept, often use “objective” numerical criteria as screening devices to shorten their lists of “serious” candidates, explained education researcher Julie Posselt of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gatekeeping. (These criteria also happen to be especially effective at knocking women and members of underrepresented minority groups out of applicant pools.) As the authors of the new UNC study write, admissions committees often assume that “[t]ypical selection criteria [such as] standardized test scores, undergraduate GPA, letters of recommendation, a resume and/or personal statement highlighting relevant research or professional experience, and feedback from interviews with training faculty … correlate with research success in graduate school.” Yet, both the UNC and Vanderbilt studies found that none of the supposedly objective credentials predicted anything recognizable as scientific productivity—not first-author publications, conference presentations, fellowships or grants won, completing the Ph.D., passing the qualifying exam, or proceeding swiftly to dissertation defense or to the degree. Among the Vanderbilt sample, GRE scores turned out to be only “moderate predictors of first semester grades” and “weak to moderate predictors of graduate GPA,” the authors report. There is no convincing evidence of a “relationship between general GRE scores and graduate student success in biomedical research,” they write. At UNC, grades, amount of previous research experience (among students who all had at least some research experience), and faculty interview ratings all failed to foretell grad school productivity. Another supposedly objective criterion that Posselt found to be influential during the screening process, especially with elite graduate departments, is the standing of an applicant’s undergraduate school. But a 2014 study from a professor at the University of California (UC), San Francisco, found that this metric also washed out as a predictor of grad school performance. Even a bachelor’s degree from one of the U.S. News & World Report “top 10 life sciences universities” made no discernible difference. How to spot talent If these widely used measures don’t work, what does? A group of researchers who devise and study metrics of research productivity and success wrote in 2012 that “the best way of predicting a scientist’s future success is for peers to evaluate scientific contributions and research depth.” They see the statistical method they developed as “useful” to “funding agencies, peer reviewers and hiring committees.” But even so, they make clear that, to ferret out that je ne sais quoi that foreshadows outstanding scientific performance, nothing compares to subjective judgments of quality by experienced researchers. This emphasis on expert opinion also happens to align with the conclusions of the studies. The predictor that emerged as most powerful in both the UNC study and the UC San Francisco analysis was letters of recommendation from applicants’ undergraduate teachers—in other words, subjective assessments from people who presumably knew both them and their subjects well. Students who received top recommendations, the UNC co-authors suggest, show a “constellation of characteristics that typically correlate with research success [such as ability to] persevere and maintain focus and optimism in the face of regular challenges.” And if objective measures such as scores and grades don’t work in predicting students’ scientific promise, can objective measures such as numbers of publications do any better at spotting true intellectual promise among faculty candidates? Not according to physicist Peter Higgs, whose work on subatomic particles in the 1960s inspired the long but ultimately successful hunt for the eponymous Higgs boson. As he told The Guardian in 2013, while traveling to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics, for years he had been “an embarrassment to [his] department when they did research assessment exercises.” With fewer than 10 papers published since this 1964 breakthrough, he often responded to departmental requests for lists of recent publications with a simple reply: “None.” Given today’s requirement to publish frequently, he added, “It's difficult to imagine how I would ever have enough peace and quiet in the present sort of climate to do what I did in 1964. … Today I wouldn't get an academic job. It's as simple as that. I don't think I would be regarded as productive enough.” Then there’s mathematician Yitang “Tom” Zhang, who was completely unknown—as in zero peer-reviewed publications and an adjunct teaching job—when, in 2013, at the age of 57 and 12 years out from receiving his Ph.D., he submitted a paper that astounded the mathematical world by solving a long-standing problem in number theory. Now hailed as a “genius” and a “celebrity,” he has since that triumph received numerous major prizes and appointments to two professorships, first at the University of New Hampshire and then UC Santa Barbara. None of this is meant to suggest that every scanty publication list or so-so GRE score conceals hidden brilliance. But it does suggest a more reliable formula for spotting exceptional talent among people who appear not to possess it according to supposedly objective measures of scientific promise. It seems pretty likely that at least some of the people who knew and worked with Higgs and Zhang in their pre-fame days were aware of their abilities. It thus stands to reason that committees evaluating scientific potential, whether in grad school applicants or would-be faculty members, might benefit from paying more attention to what the scientists who know the candidates think of their minds and characters. Reading and considering such testimony would undoubtedly take more time and effort and could feel less “scientific” than looking at numbers, whether test scores, GPAs, or tallies of publications. But it appears more likely to pay off. Read more Taken for Granted stories

The K Type by Input Club This is a semi press release from Input Club, but I was asked to get the word out. I believe this group is valuable to the community and could have good things to offer in the future. Who are Input Club? To those who don’t know, Input Club are the team behind the Infinity and the Infinity ErgoDox. Two keyboards that have successfully run on massdrop. These two keyboards are also accompanied with the KLL (keyboard layout languague) which is designed as a universal keyboard firmware. However, the KLL is actually more of an operating system. To fully understand the capabilities of KLL I suggest reading the spec as it is a bit more involved than you would think. Overall I find the core of the input club to be relevant to the communities interests. They are creating open source hardware and their own firmware to create keyboards that have many use cases. The K Type This is an early render 06/10/15 New Renders The new keyboard project from Input Club is the K Type. The following is the official press release from Input Club. The K Type will be a stock Ten Keyless keyboard. We are also going to include true RGB backlighting behind every key, a USB type C connector, and full programming options. The plate will be aluminium for optimal flex, and all designs will be open-sourced on Github. This will allow after-market manufacturers and hobbyists total flexibility in customization. We are still in the planning phase and want to receive feedback from the enthusiast community. We designed the Infinity Keyboard and the Infinity ErgoDox to test our Keyboard Design Process. This process allows Interest Checks to be created for any layout. This means that within the world of keyboards, anything is possible. We want to make a product that allows the general public to enjoy typing on a keyboard they own. The best keyboard on the market should also be one that is open source and available to everyone. The Keyboard Layout Language which powers our keyboards allows infinite layers of layouts for custom use cases. It is in fact a separate operating system, just for the keyboard. In practice, we will see custom layers for Photoshop, video editing, programming, and for typing in other languages. People will be able to set their keyboards using our configurator, designed by the legendary Matteo Spinelli. We’re excited to begin generating interest for this and we know it’s going to be great. We’ve come a long way since our launch last year, and there are nearly 2000 people who have purchased our keyboards via Massdrop. Thank you for supporting us, we know you’ll love what’s coming next. The major takeaway from this, is the amount of options you will have. KLL gives you full programmability, the design will be open source and it has the best option for backlighting. I was told the source is likely to be released after a successful first round. Here I conducted a small questioning of Input Club that will hopefully give some more insight into the project and its design choices. KLL is referred to as an operating system. I asked, What elevates this from a simple firmware? The KLL is a firmware, but it is also a language to describe keyboard input. First, if you have a deep interest, here is a link to the spec. <https://www.overleaf.com/read/zzqbdwqjfwwf> Currently, all keyboards try and approximate keyboard input with a general purpose programming language. This results in a clunky solution that doesn't have much keyboard specific flexibility. The KLL will transform all keypresses into a series of Triggers and Results. One of the core objectives of the KLL is to allow any Trigger to cause any Result. Both Triggers and Results may be defined by the user using a command prompt or our configurator. This system means that you can transfer trigger / result mapping over between the Infinity 60% and the Infinity ErgoDox, even though the hardware is very different. This is useful, especially for people that use many keyboards, as they can create one keyboard map and use it on different KLL supported hardware. There is quite a bit more than this, specifically in the realm of N-Key Rollover, Macros, Analog Control, and Foreign Language Characters but that is more in depth than your question. The use of a usb type C is also interesting as it is still not that common. I asked Does this have any specific benefits over micro? It has incredible benefits when it comes to power delivery. This will allow for very bright LED's as well as open up the door to things such as solenoids and superior daisy-chaining ability. The solenoids are especially exciting as it will give us more control over the sound and tactile feedback that is emitted when you type. Do you have a price point in mind? With regard to price point, it will likely be more expensive than the Infinity 60% Keyboard, but less expensive than the Infinity ErgoDox. We haven't priced everything out yet, but given what we currently know that is likely a safe range. The plate material (aluminium) was chosen specifically by Matt3o as he believes it to be a great plate material. Matt3o is not a part of Input Club, but always seems to be some way involved with everything that happens in keyboards. You will notice that the KLL configurator, the tool that allows you to customise your keymap with a gui was created by Matt3o. As to where this keyboard will be sold, is still up in the air. Input Club’s history has been with massdrop but this is a new project and nothing is set in stone. That is all the information for now. But I look forward to the future of this keyboard and Input Club in General. Read more at their website. Prototypes will be made available to select keyboard enthusiasts and you must be able to compile, to be considered.

Get the biggest celebs stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email The Great Escape actor Angus Lennie has died in a nursing home, aged 84. The Glasgow-born actor was best known for his role alongside Steve McQueen in the classic wartime escape drama but had also parts in TV favourites including Crossroads, Keeping Up Appearances and Monarch of the Glen. Great Escape actor Angus Lennie died last night in a nursing home in Acton, London, aged 84. Glasgow-born Lennie featured in a number of roles across film and television, including the long-running ITV soap Crossroads. But he was best known for playing Flying Officer Ives "The Mole" in the classic wartime escape drama. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Alongside him in that legendary film were Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough among other big actors. It comes less than a month after Attenborough, who played Big X in the Great Escape, died aged 90. Lennie's film career also saw appearances in 633 Squadron, Tunes of Glory and 1969 musical Oh! What a Lovely War. Oh! What a Lovely War was directed by Attenborough and the cast included Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Olivier.

Situated off the lobby of Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, the Ale & Compass Lounge is a small, yet enjoyable, refreshment venue. Having said that, in spite of being billed as a place to find “fine ale & spirits”, it’s not just a bar! In the mornings, you can select from quite a wide variety of options for breakfast. Take a look! Of course, at its heart, Ale & Compass is a full-service lounge. Starting at 3 PM each day, it serves up some of the best refreshments on property! In fact, supported by the Yacht and Beach Clubs’ great table-service restaurants, it even offers its own little menu of appetizer-type “snacks”! The “Badwich” Pork Sliders really catch our eye. Of course, who wouldn’t be enticed by a bowl of Cape May Cafe’ Chowder? My friends, the Ale & Compass is not the biggest, flashiest bar on WDW property. For Mrs. All in WDW and I, however, we’d say it’s a well-kept secret. Try it! You might just like it!

On Wednesday, the New York State Education Department apologized for including an ‘anti-Israel’ political cartoon on its global studies Regents Exam. The exam was administered to 10th graders back on January 24. In an earlier post on the controversy, we wrote that critics—including students, teachers, and a prominent NY politician—had charged that the cartoon was offensive anti-Israel propaganda. As we highlighted, the cartoon depicts three armed and obese Israeli soldiers huddled behind an overturned table, which they’re using as a protective shield. One says, “I knew this peace table would come in handy someday.” Via a multiple-choice question, students were asked to reflect on the cartoon’s meaning and “main idea.” Initially, as we noted in our post , the Department of Education was unwilling to find any fault with the cartoon. Indeed, a spokesperson initially defended its use in the statewide exam. But this week officials “changed their tune” after meeting with representatives from the American Jewish Congress (AJC). NY State Education Department Issues an Apology A NY State Education Department spokesperson, Jonathan Burman, reportedly confirmed that Jhone Ebert, the agency’s senior department commissioner for education policy, had spoken directly with the AJC about the cartoon controversy. The AJC had started an online petition that drew over 1,300 signatures in less than a week. The New York Post reports: The AJC petition condemned the cartoon as ‘blatantly anti-Israel, disparaging of Israeli soldiers … and is entirely inappropriate to include on a test administered to young minds.’ The petition, sent to Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa as well as the education agency, demanded an apology. After seeing the petition, AJC reported that a top Education Department official called the group to discuss the complaint. The department, according to AJC president Jack Rosen, then issued the following statement: ‘We regret this test question was included in the Regents exam and apologize to those who were offended by it. We are reviewing our internal procedures to vet all questions to ensure inappropriate questions are not included on future exams.’ ‘Political cartoons contained on Regents exams are sometimes very pointed and thought-provoking but they are never intended to represent the point of view of the Board of Regents or the Education Department on a given issue.” The statement doesn’t appear on the NY State Department of Education website or on its social media platforms. However, the veracity of the above transcript was confirmed by agency spokesperson Berman. Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), who as we mentioned in our prior post had demanded that the Department and Board of Regents issues an official apology after he received complaints from teachers who administered the exam, praised the Education Department for “seeing the light”: After a week and half, the NYS Department of Education finally apologized for this heinous political cartoon. Better late than never. How a cartoon like this was approved in the first place is beyond my comprehension. I hope that our educators will be more sensitive in the future and use common sense in selecting appropriate cartoons.” The Apology is Good, But Will There Be Follow Up? It’s good news that my state’s Education Department expressed regret over this incident. STATE APOLOGIZES FOR 'ANTI-ISRAEL' CARTOON ON REGENTS EXAM… https://t.co/Ufn2AnqdeU pic.twitter.com/x1l6e60ZkA — EMPIRE REPORT (@EMPIREREPORTNY) February 9, 2017 As I noted in my prior post, the image isn’t nearly as disgusting as other cartoons that routinely surface and circulate on the internet, maligning the IDF as Nazi-like baby killers. Still, the cartoon is hateful. Basically, it portrays the Israeli soldiers in a highly derogatory manner, managing to depict them as both klutzy louts and aggressive war-mongers. It’s also incredibly biased, placing sole blame on Israel for the absence of peace. This cartoon should’ve never appeared on a statewide exam, as the NY State Education Department now admits So the critics have been vindicated, and got the apology that they deserved. The Education Department did the right thing—even if it did a long time to own up to its error, and the apology seemed to be occasioned only after considerable prodding, mounting public outrage and bad press. All’s well that ends well? Not so fast. As we noted in our prior post, …this cartoon should’ve never been part of the test and the Board of Regents should issue a formal apology for the mistake. But even if it does, that shouldn’t be the end of it. The NY State Education Department should now open a transparent investigation into the incident to determine which teachers found the cartoon online and chose to put it in the test. That’s important because parents and taxpayers have a right to know whether this was a one-off, or if these teachers are disseminating other anti-Israel materials in their classrooms—and not just on this one Regents exam.” Bottom line: The insertion of a blatantly anti-Israel cartoon into a NY State high school exam is concerning: it’s the latest example of how discriminatory and biased messaging appears to be filtering down from America’s college and university campuses into the public education system. Federal, state, and local educators should continue to monitor the ways in which anti-Israel activism is starting to work its way down the education chain, implementing correctives as necessary. Apology is good. But more attention needed, re: how anti #Israel propaganda is seeping into educational programming. FYI @LegInsurrection https://t.co/DRKBpsmU2h — Miriam F. Elman (@MiriamElman) February 10, 2017 Miriam F. Elman is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Robert D. McClure Professor of Teaching Excellence at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University. She is the editor of five books and the author of over 60 journal articles, book chapters, and government reports on topics related to international and national security, religion and politics, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She also frequently speaks and writes on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel movement. Follow her on Twitter @MiriamElman

One of the most persistent myths about Windows is that you need to reinstall the operating system regularly to keep it running at top performance. Let's take a look at the real problem and how to fix it. Today we're talking about the myth that Windows slows down over time, and how to solve the problem. The reality is that Windows doesn't slow down if you just take care of your PC a little more. Follow these procedures, and you won't have to wonder if spending hours backing up data, installing from disc, and re-installing your essential applications is really necessary. Advertisement What Does Slow Windows Down Over Time? I'm not going to sit here and tell you that your Windows PC will never slow down—because for many people, they almost always do. What actually slows your PC down are too many poorly written applications that stay resident in memory and waste CPU cycles, having too many badly written low-level applications that hook into Windows, or running more than one antivirus application at a time. And of course, if you've run your PC's hard drive out of space, you can hardly blame Windows for that. If you aren't getting the picture, the problem is usually the person behind the keyboard that installed too many junk applications in the first place. More gently put, it's often that (very well-meaning) person's gradual easing of their safeguards and cleaning regimens as time goes by. Advertisement Stop Installing Junk Applications Installing software should be thought of like feeding your PC. If you constantly feed your PC garbage apps, it's going to get sick and won't be able to run fast anymore. These poorly written applications clutter your drive with unnecessary DLL files, add always-resident Windows services when they don't need to, bloat up your registry, and add useless icons to your system tray that waste even more memory and CPU cycles. Usually you can get away with using a few terrible applications, but as you continue to install more and more of them, your PC will slow down to a crawl. Be Smarter About What You Do Install Advertisement We feature and recommend a lot of software applications around here, but you should keep in mind that we aren't trying to tell you to install every single one of them at the same time-just install the applications that you actually need and you'll generally prevent the dreaded format and reinstall. Here's a few tips to help you know what applications you should be careful with: Apps that function as an Explorer plug-in , because they directly hook into the shell and any problem will make your entire PC slow or in the worst case, crash repeatedly. , because they directly hook into the shell and any problem will make your entire PC slow or in the worst case, crash repeatedly. Antivirus applications are notorious for slowing your PC down, and you should never, ever, ever use more than one real-time antivirus application at a time. We recommend Microsoft Security Essentials as a free, fast, and awesome antivirus tool. are notorious for slowing your PC down, and you should never, ever, ever use more than one real-time antivirus application at a time. We recommend Microsoft Security Essentials as a free, fast, and awesome antivirus tool. Anything that says it will " Speed Up Your PC " or "Optimize Your RAM" will most likely slow it down, or best case, do nothing at all. Avoid these like the plague. " or "Optimize Your RAM" will most likely slow it down, or best case, do nothing at all. Avoid these like the plague. Make sure to install official system drivers from the manufacturer website. Drivers have a huge impact on performance, and you want to have stable, updated drivers. from the manufacturer website. Drivers have a huge impact on performance, and you want to have stable, updated drivers. Registry cleaners are a mixed bag, and really aren't going to speed up your PC in most cases. The biggest problem, however, is that too many of the commercial registry cleaners set themselves to run at startup in the system tray, wasting your memory and CPU cycles. are a mixed bag, and really aren't going to speed up your PC in most cases. The biggest problem, however, is that too many of the commercial registry cleaners set themselves to run at startup in the system tray, wasting your memory and CPU cycles. You should strongly consider the idea of using portable applications wherever possible, since their self-contained nature means they won't clutter up the rest of your PC with things you don't need. Advertisement Keep Your Computer Clean and Trim Once you've rid yourself of your junk application habit and resolved to only use healthy, useful applications, you'll want to make sure to keep your PC clean of any remaining clutter that doesn't need to be there. You can set up a shortcut to manually run CCleaner silently with the push of a button, but your best bet is to set up CCleaner to run automatically on a schedule, so you don't have to remember to do it. Advertisement Since CCleaner is only going to clean up temporary files, you'll still need a good solution for keeping the rest of your PC clean-and Lifehacker's own Belvedere can help you automate your self-cleaning PC or automatically clean up your download folder. Belvedere Automates Your Self-Cleaning PC Windows only: Keep your desktop or any other folder on your hard drive organized and under control… Read more Read With all of this automated file deletion going on, your hard drive is likely to get a bit fragmented. If you're already running Windows 7 or Vista, automatic defrag comes out of the box and probably shouldn't be messed with, but Windows XP users will need to use Windows Tasks to setup a schedule and automatically defrag their drives. Advertisement Use a Virtual Machine or Sandbox to Test Software Advertisement If you still want to test out all of the latest software, including apps that look a bit rough around the edges, your best bet is to use a virtual machine to test out anything before putting it onto your primary operating system. You can install all of your software in an XP or Windows 7 VM just like it was a real PC, and with the latest VMWare player releases, you can even enable Windows Aero in a guest VM. If you are new to the idea and need some more help, you should check out our beginner's guide to creating virtual machines in VirtualBox, or Windows 7 users can check out our guide to using XP Mode. If you don't want to go the virtual machine route, Windows XP and Vista users can alternatively use Windows SteadyState to protect their PC and roll back all of the changes on a reboot. So what about you? Do you always take the reinstall route, or have you devised your own best maintenance practices? Share your experience in the comments. Advertisement The How-To Geek reinstalls Windows only every few years and has no speed problems at all. His geeky articles can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and Twitter.

SEATTLE — Libya, an oil-rich nation in North Africa with a vulnerable population of over 6.4 million, has been embroiled in a civil war since 2011 following the assassination of leader Muammar Gadaffi after a 42-year rule. The National Transitional Council has struggled to restore order and deal with rebels. The de facto U.N-backed government in Libya, the Government of National Accord, is currently tasked with ending the strife between the various fringe militia groups in the country. The country is lacking in access to primary healthcare, security, sanitation and water. Over 20 percent of the public healthcare system is affected by conflict. Additionally, Libya has been the epicenter of the European refugee crisis and is still struggling to find a sustainable solution to the large-scale crisis. Unfortunately, over 2750 people have lost their lives in the journey from Libya to Italian shores this year alone. An estimated 204,458 Libyans are listed as IDPs, or internally displaced people. An estimated 1.3 million individuals are currently in dire need of humanitarian aid in Libya. A majority of people face the added threat of human rights violations and the peril of modern slavery. According to the International Labor Organization, about 40 million individuals are currently trapped in the slavery practice. Libya has become a dangerous crossing point for refugees and migrants trying to flee to Europe in recent years, with many facing threats from human trafficking smugglers and organized crime rings. At present, Libya’s trafficking hub at Sabratha in Tripoli is becoming infamous for people smuggling. However, Italy and its other EU counterparts have been training and equipping the Libyan Coast Guard to combat the threat by routinely intercepting boats and conducting border checks. Detention centers in Libya are slowly closing down, as conditions are deplorable and individuals are made more vulnerable by the increased risk posed. Recently, despite major funding gaps, more than 40,000 individuals have been reaping the benefits of humanitarian aid in Libya. For example, UNICEF-led aid initiatives pertaining to sanitation are helping communities across Sabha and Tripoli. Rehabilitation centers are also being set up to cater to the needs of school children. On the health front, the WHO is shipping emergency health kits for non-communicable diseases to Libya in 2018. The government is also assisting with the provision of humanitarian aid in Libya by providing medical aid to the city of Derna. The aid is especially focused on supplying vaccinations for children. Recent air strikes are impoverishing the city further. African and European ministers are presently working in collaboration to improve living conditions for migrants in Libya and cracking down on people smuggling and human trafficking. Some of the solutions include opening up new avenues for refugees so that they are given the option of crossing into European countries by legal means. The European Commission also pledged €10 million in humanitarian assistance for people impacted by the instability in the country. The funding is a larger proportion of the resources allocated towards supporting various aid agendas like the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. Moreover, during a meeting on human trafficking, diplomats from the United Nations Security Council implored investigators to focus on slave auctions being conducted in Libya. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres alerted the committee of the dangers for refugees from Syria, Iraq and Somalia. A resolution was recently passed by the UNSC, calling upon countries to enforce anti-trafficking laws, launch investigations and play a greater role in cracking down on organized crime networks. To conclude, humanitarian aid in Libya is benefiting the country to a large extent. It can hopefully build the foundation for more social stability in the future, as it involves the integration of many key stakeholder groups and a combination of both long-term and short-term humanitarian aid in Libya. – Shivani Ekkanath Photo: Flickr

Credit: Photo by L. Brian Stauffer CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers are nebulizing soybean aphids with RNA, which, when incorporated into the body, can hinder the expression of specific genes. The new method of delivering "interfering RNA" in a mist will likely speed the process of discovering the function of many mystery genes in insects, the researchers report in the journal Insect Molecular Biology. The new technique, first tried in a separate study of honey bees using a slightly different protocol, is a vast improvement over other approaches – for example, injecting the RNA, which is quite challenging when working with a creature the size of a pollen grain, the researchers said. Understanding the function of genes is a key to developing new approaches to controlling the pest, they said. The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, is a relative newcomer to the U.S. from its native territory in eastern and southeastern Asia. First found in 2000 in Wisconsin, the aphid quickly spread throughout much of the Midwest United States and into eastern Canada. Heavy infestations can cause yield losses of 40 percent or more, studies have found. "There are different populations of the soybean aphid that differ in their ability to overcome soybean defenses," said University of Illinois entomology professor Allison Hansen, who led the new study with graduate student Margaret Thairu. "If you can knock down certain genes – cause them to express less of a certain protein, for example – it is easier to discover their function," Hansen said. "This can provide information that will aid in the development of new pest-control systems." Introducing RNA into an animal's body can dampen the expression of specific genes. This is sometimes preferable to knocking out the gene altogether, which could kill the animal, Hansen said. Interrupting the protein-building machinery helps scientists understand what individual genes do, Thairu said. She compares it to figuring how a car, truck or train engine works by systematically pulling out engine parts and observing the results. "We take out the spark plug and see what happens," she said. "Does the car run? Does the train move anymore?" But getting RNA into an aphid's body is no easy task. Common techniques involve injecting the RNA, or engineering a plant in the laboratory to produce the RNA in its tissues and getting the insect to feed on it. In the latter case, the RNA is often degraded in the insect's gut, minimizing its effectiveness. Both methods are tedious, expensive and inefficient. As a result, the process of gene discovery in many sap-sucking insects like aphids has slowed to a crawl, Hansen said. "We have all this genomic data we don't know what to do with," she said. "People are just desperate to get something that will work." "By aerosolizing the RNA, we can deliver it directly to the target tissues," Thairu said. The researchers nebulized the aphids with tiny droplets of RNA bound to nanoparticles. They put the insects in a small chamber and doused them with the mixture. "They don't look happy after this, because they don't like water," Hansen said. "They look like sad, wet dogs." The aphids perked up when returned to their host plants, the researchers said. Nebulizing soybean aphids with RNA bound to nanoparticles appeared to block the function of a specific targeted gene, known as "bcat," the researchers found. This gene plays a role in degradation – and perhaps also the synthesis – of branch-chain amino acids. Adult insects exposed to the RNA for bcat were significantly smaller than their unexposed peers and smaller than insects exposed only to the nanoparticles, the researchers found. Using nanoparticles coated in RNA appeared to improve the uptake of RNA through tiny breathing tubes in the insects' bodies called tracheoles. The same technique did not appear to work in other aphid species, however. It also failed to produce a change when targeting a different gene. Hansen calls the new findings a proof of concept that the nebulizing technique can succeed – at least in some sap-sucking insects like aphids, which are notoriously difficult to work with. "This method is going to propel our field forward, especially for insects where other techniques fall short," she said. ### Editor's notes: To reach Allison Hansen, call 217-244-5889; email [email protected] To reach Margaret Thairu, email [email protected] The paper "Efficacy of RNA interference knockdown using aerosolized short interfering RNAs bound to nanoparticles in three diverse aphid species" is available and from the U. of I. News Bureau. DOI: 10.1111/imb.12301 Media Contact Diana Yates [email protected] 217-333-5802 @NewsAtIllinois http://www.illinois.edu

"I was touched by the children here," said Schempp, grinning upon taking the floor after the skit. "First of all, I noticed that they didn't know the Lord's Prayer. You can blame me for that." "He was a real classic American dissenter," says New York University journalism professor Stephen D. Solomon, author of the 2007 book, Ellery's Protest, How One Young Man Defied Tradition and Sparked the Battle over School Prayer. "He felt that his rights were being violated and the rights of his classmates. He stood up in a very unpopular cause." But Schempp, whose life from age 16 to 23 was largely defined by the case, spent much of his adulthood building an identity separate of the young man whose protest became legendary. After graduating from Tufts University and going on to earn a Ph.D. in physics from Brown, Schempp worked as a physicist and manager on superconductor projects, MRI systems, and nuclear waste. He was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and taught as a guest professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He also climbed mountains in Greenland, Switzerland, and Pakistan. He began renewing his interest in First Amendment causes in earnest in the 1990s when he became concerned about the religious right's increasing attempts to put religion back in the schools. Over the years, he had changed from a young Unitarian vague about his religious beliefs to an adult who firmly believed there was no such thing as a supernatural power. Today, he is a Unitarian who also refers to himself as an atheist and secular humanist. Known as relatively quiet and scholarly as a teen, he has become a frank and often humorous advocate for the cause that made him famous and for the rights of non-believers. Schempp never intended to be a lone dissenter in November 1956 when he brought a borrowed copy of the Koran to school. He was a part of a group of honor students who met weekly at an English teacher's house to discuss intellectual issues. At one meeting, Schempp brought up the Bible readings in school and how they violated the First Amendment. Many of his peers agreed to stage a protest, Solomon recounted in his book on the case, but later dropped out because they feared problems with college recommendations or their parents. Schempp's parents, though, backed his idea. And a sense of fairness motivated the teen. He knew his Jewish friends were uncomfortable and believed the same must be true for other religious minorities and non-believers. So Schempp made his protest alone. As his homeroom teacher read 10 Bible verses to the class, Schempp leafed through the Koran. He refused to stand when a student began reading the Lord's Prayer over the announcement system. Nor did he recite the prayer. He sat in nervous silence. When homeroom ended, his teacher confronted him and asked him which book he had been reading. She asked if he planned to repeat his actions again. He said yes.

While refreshing our RapiCover qualification kit, we looked harder for corner-cases and undefined behaviours. One of the more bizarre things we came across is the issue of code before the first case label of a switch statement. Such a simple concept turns out to have some rather unique challenges. Here's a fairly standard-looking C switch statement with five branches (five code sequences to choose among): switch( n ) { case 0: code_reset(); break; case 1: case 2: code_report( n ); code_reset(); break; case 3: code_preset( 1 ); code_report( 3 ); break; case 4: code_preset( 2 ); code_report( 4 ); break; default: code_any(); code_reset(); } The behaviour is reasonably clear: if n is 0, call code_reset . if it's 1 or 2, call code_report(n) . For 3, call code_preset first, then code_report(3) . For anything else, call code_any and then code_reset . Now here's a slight optimization: an additional goto statement looping from cases 3 and 4, back to cases 1 and 2: switch( n ) { case 0: code_reset(); break; report: case 1: case 2: code_report( n ); code_reset(); break; case 3: code_preset( 1 ); goto report; case 4: code_preset( 2 ); goto report; default: code_any(); code_reset(); } We often see this kind of optimization in parsers, regular expression engines, and other state-machine type systems. So the natural next optimization is this: switch( n ) { reset: case 0: code_reset(); break; report: case 1: case 2: code_report( n ); goto reset; case 3: code_preset( 1 ); goto report; case 4: code_preset( 2 ); goto report; default: code_any(); goto reset; } So that got us thinking: now we've inserted something between the start of the switch and the first case label. Is that legal? What else can we put there? What does it mean? So we double-checked and found this note in ISO9899 under the "switch statement": [ EXAMPLE In the artificial program fragment switch (expr) { int i = 4; f(i); case 0: i=17; /* falls through into default code */ default: printf("%d ", i); } The object whose identifier is i exists with automatic storage duration (within the block) but is never initialized, and thus if the controlling expression has a nonzero value, the call to the printf function will access an indeterminate value. Similarly, the call to function f cannot be reached. ] So in general terms, the content at the top of the switch could be: switch( n ) { int j = some_expr; /* j accessible but some_expr never evaluated */ statement_1; /* dead code */ label1: statement_2; /* reachable, but only by "goto label1" */ case 0: /* normal case label */ ... /* note that we can refer to "j" here but it was never initialized */ } Most of the time, such things would be forbidden through the use of a coding standard, but sometimes there is auto-generated code or hand-optimized parsing code that may try to use this code pattern. The issue of some_expr not being evaluated is not limited to weird code in switch statements - it applies whenever code jumps over a declaration, leaving the variable in scope but with an undefined value. For coverage reporting, we decided here to make sure that RapiCover reports on all of the constructs within potentially dead code, requiring the user to supply justifications to address any code that cannot be obtained through test. We do not make any special exception for potentially-skipped initializations or unreachable code. Finally, note that this is all for C. There are some different issues with C++, related to scopes and object initialization, which we hope to address in a future post.

There is only one way I can imagine running a startup, obsessively giving it everything you’ve got. In my opinion its what separates the winners from everyone else, and it’s the only way I’d ever be able to look back on this experience without regret. But that kind of dedication comes with a price. And anyone who has chosen a path of starting a business can tell you the unintended consequences of startups. For the past 2 years I’ve neglected my health, family, and friends.For most of my adult life, I was about 165 pounds.I’m almost 210 pounds these days, and trust me when I say my body’s not meant to carry this much weight. 2 years ago I was running 6 miles a day 3 times a week, and playing competitive basketball and tennis. After we raised our first round of capital I regularly started staying in the office until 2am.I found myself so physically and mentally spent by the weekend that I typically slept most the day on Saturday, before I went back to work on Sundays.I was so inactive, I’m convinced now my muscles started to atrophy and I tore the ligament in my right foot, trying to finally exercise one day.Compensating for that injury I tore my left calf, and it’s been 5 months since I’ve been able to run or jog. It took me a while to admit that I was stressed out, and even longer to realize I would turn to food to compensate for that stress.Over the past year, I’ve become a more solitary person with my thoughts and emotions than I’ve ever been, while increasingly becoming a public figure who’s known as an outgoing social networker and showman.It’s a strange dichotomy. My family has been both incredibly supportive but also upset that I’ve seemingly disappeared. I have three (quite) older siblings, and we’re undeniably close. But while they’re all proud of me, they disapprove of my unbalanced lifestyle. My brother and I share opposing sides of duplex, he’s literally a wall away from me. But I can often go 2 weeks without seeing or talking to him. My sisters are busy raising their kids, so they can relate a bit more. But like so many others, our conversation often come back to them asking me “why don’t you ever want to talk about what’s going on in your life”. My father who I love dearly, isn’t only from another generation/country, he might as well be from another planet.He struggles the most to be supportive; I know he’s at least a little disappointed I didn’t practice law and take over the family real estate business.A lot of what I do is to make him proud and prove to him that all his hard work for his children was not in vain.If it were up to my father, we’d spend everyday together going to lunch and “working” side by side.I get to see him about once a week.He’s almost 80 and every time I see him I try and cherish the interactions, because I don’t know how many will be left. When it comes to my family though, my lack of time affects me most in relation to my mom. My mother has been severely ill for the last 6 years. Due to mental illness that set in later in life, and a very early onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, she can’t hold a conversation, stand, eat, or function at all without full time caregivers. She is the person that has done more for me than anyone else, and was always my biggest cheerleader. She lives about 5 minutes away from my home. She doesn’t always remember my name, but every time I see her she lights up, and when I say “I love you”, she always says it back. I could leave the office every night at 8:00pm and give her a hug and kiss, spend a half hour with her, but I don’t. Our first office was across the street from her (not accidentally), and I’d walk over during the day to check on her. Since we moved further away, I typically go by to see her once every two weeks. It’s a choice I’m not very proud of. Friends are a little bit easier to handle, I’ve have the same ones since I was 5, and you build up a little bit of “friendship equity” after 20+ years. But for a long time they did stop calling me, knowing I always turned down plans for work. It was a little disconcerting to see my closest friends just write me off for the time being as someone who was never free to hang out. But there were also cases of severe strains with some of my close friends. I pulled back from engaging and interacting with them, and felt that if someone wasn’t at that startup with me on a daily basis, that it took too much effort to try and explain the intricacies and emotions of the experience. Dating has been a totally surreal experience.I went from being a hopeless romantic “when harry met sally” type, to literally not even thinking about relationships in the least bit.The extent of my effort with girls for a long time consisted of texting them on a Friday/Saturday night at 11pm to meet up when I had finished my work. I think I’ve reached my breaking point, at least for now, and mostly in regards to my health. Somehow I know my relationships will work out, but I often find myself feeling like I’m working at 40% of my capacity and energy, and I think its due in large part to poor physical habits. In the last year I’ve probably met close to a thousand entrepreneurs.And the ones I’ve consistently bonded with the most, were those folks willing to do whatever it took, and make any sacrifices to be successful.Starting and running a company is the joy of my life right now, and gives me a greater sense of purpose than anything I’ve done before.Its come with a price though, and I know a lot of other folks like me are thinking through and struggling with issues of balance and the unintended consequences of pouring yourself into that which you love and defines you.

Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh ( Dutch: [ˈteːjoː vɑŋ ˈɣɔx];[1] 23 July 1957 – 2 November 2004) was a Dutch film director, film producer, television director, television producer, television presenter, screenwriter, actor, critic and author. Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the short film Submission (2004), which criticized the treatment of women in Islam. It provoked outrage from the Dutch Muslim community. On 2 November 2004, van Gogh was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim who objected to the controversial film. The last film van Gogh had completed before his death, 06/05, was a fictionalized exploration of the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002). It was released posthumously in December 2004, a month following van Gogh's assassination. Early life [ edit ] Theo van Gogh was born on 23 July 1957 in The Hague, Netherlands, to Anneke and Johan van Gogh. His father served in the Dutch secret service ('AIVD', then called 'BVD'). He was named after his paternal uncle Theo, who was captured and executed while working as a resistance fighter during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.[2] Theo van Gogh was a great-grandson of Theo van Gogh, art dealer and brother of painter Vincent van Gogh. Career [ edit ] After dropping out of law school at the University of Amsterdam, van Gogh became a stage manager. His self-proclaimed passion was film-making, and he made his debut as a director with the movie Luger (1981). He was awarded a Gouden Kalf for Blind Date (1996) and In het belang van de staat ("In the Interest of the State," 1997). For the latter, he also received a "Certificate of Merit" from the San Francisco International Film Festival. As an actor, he appeared in the film, De noorderlingen ("The Northerners", 1992). He made numerous films (see below), many on political themes. From the 1990s, van Gogh also worked in television. His last book (2003) was Allah weet het beter[3] ("Allah Knows Best"), in which he strongly condemned Islam. He was a well-known critic of Islam, particularly after the Iranian Revolution and the September 11 attacks. He supported the nomination of writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali for the Dutch parliament, who was elected. Born in Somalia, she had immigrated to the Netherlands to escape an arranged marriage. She became a writer and liberal (former PvdA Labour Party) politician. In the 1980s, van Gogh became a newspaper columnist. Through the years he used his columns to express his frustration with politicians, actors, film directors, writers and other people he considered to be part of "the establishment". He delighted in provocation and became a controversial figure, frequently criticizing Islamic cultures. He used his website, De Gezonde Roker ("The Healthy Smoker"), to express harsh criticism of multicultural society. He said the Netherlands was so rife with social turmoil that it was in danger of turning into "something Belfast-like".[4] Submission [ edit ] Working from a script written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, van Gogh created the 10-minute short film Submission. The movie deals with violence against women in some Islamic societies; it tells the stories, using visual shock tactics, of four abused Muslim women. The title, Submission, is a translation of the word "Islam" into English. In the film, women's naked bodies, with texts from the Qur'an written on them in henna, in an allusion to traditional wedding rituals in some cultures, are veiled with semi-transparent shrouds as the women kneel in prayer, telling their stories as if they are speaking to Allah. In August 2004, after the movie's broadcast on Dutch public TV, the newspaper De Volkskrant reported that the journalist Francisco van Jole had accused Hirsi Ali and van Gogh of plagiarism, saying that they had appropriated the ideas of Iranian-American video artist Shirin Neshat, whose work used Arabic text projected onto bodies.[5] Following the broadcast, both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali received death threats. Van Gogh did not take the threats seriously and refused any protection. According to Hirsi Ali, he said, "Nobody kills the village idiot", a term he frequently used about himself.[6] Personal life [ edit ] Van Gogh was a member of the Dutch Republican society Republikeins Genootschap, which advocates the abolition of the Dutch monarchy. He was a friend and supporter of the controversial Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn,[7] who was assassinated in 2002.[8] Murder [ edit ] Place where Van Gogh was killed Ten years after the murder, the bullet holes were still visible in the bicycle lane in front of Linnaeusstraat 22 (2014) Demonstration at the Dam square after Van Gogh was killed Demonstrators. The sign, translated, says "Theo has been murdered". Van Gogh was shot with a HS2000 and stabbed by Mohammed Bouyeri while cycling to work on 2 November 2004 at about 9 o'clock in the morning. Bouyeri also injured some bystanders and left on the scene a note containing death threats to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who went into hiding. It also threatened Western countries and Jews, and referred to ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra.[9][10] Bouyeri, a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan citizen, was apprehended by police after a chase. Authorities alleged that he had terrorist ties with the Dutch Islamist Hofstad Network. He was charged with the attempted murder of several police officers and bystanders, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiring to murder others, including Hirsi Ali. He was convicted at trial on 26 July 2005 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.[11] The murder sparked outrage and grief throughout the Netherlands. Flowers, notes, drawings and other expressions of mourning were left at the scene of the murder.[12] Funeral [ edit ] The cremation ceremony took place on 9 November. Fearing he might not survive a planned flight to New York, Van Gogh had spoken about his funeral wishes with friends shortly before his death.[13] Maarten van Rossem was asked by Van Gogh's relatives to speak, something he found difficult in that he wanted to avoid sounding apocalyptic.[14] Van Gogh's father suggested that his son would have liked the media attention provoked by his murder.[13] Aftermath [ edit ] The day after the murder, Dutch police arrested eight people allegedly belonging to a group later referred to as the Hofstad Network. Six detainees were Dutch-Moroccans, one was Dutch-Algerian, and one had dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality. The Dutch Complaints Bureau for Discrimination on the Internet (MDI) received many complaints about websites allegedly praising the murder and making death threats against other people. At the same time, starting with four attempted arson attacks on mosques in the weekend of 5–7 November, there were retaliatory violent incidents against Muslims,[15] including a bomb that exploded at a Muslim school in Eindhoven.[16] The Dutch Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia recorded a total of 106 violent incidents in November against Muslim targets. The National Dutch Police Services Agency (KLPD) recorded 31 occasions of violence against mosques and Islamic schools between 23 November and 13 March 2005. An arson attack destroyed a Muslim primary school in Uden in December 2004. By 8 November, Christian churches were reported as targets of vandalism and arson attacks in turn. A report for the Anne Frank Foundation and the University of Leiden, accounted for a total of 174 violent incidents between 2–30 November; it said that mosques were the target of violence 47 times, and churches 13 times. The murder widened and polarized the debate in the Netherlands about the social position of its more than one million Muslim residents. It also put the country's liberal tradition further into question, coming only two years after Pim Fortuyn's murder.[16] In an apparent reaction against controversial statements about the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish religions—such as those van Gogh was renowned for—the Dutch Minister of Justice, Christian Democrat Piet Hein Donner, suggested Dutch blasphemy laws should either be applied more stringently or made more strict. The liberal D66 party suggested scrapping the blasphemy laws altogether. De Schreeuw (The Scream) is a memorial for Theo van Gogh and a symbol of the (The Scream) is a memorial for Theo van Gogh and a symbol of the freedom of speech Geert Wilders, at the time an independent member of the House of Representatives, advocated a five-year halt to immigration from non-Western societies, saying: "The Netherlands has been too tolerant to intolerant people for too long. We should not import a retarded political Islamic society into our country".[17] Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali went into hiding for several weeks. Wilders has been under the protection of bodyguards ever since, and Hirsi Ali eventually relocated to the United States. Theo van Gogh's son claims he has been attacked on several occasions by young people of Moroccan and Turkish descent, and that the police did not provide him with help or protection.[18] The police denied receiving any report of attacks.[19][20] Legacy and honors [ edit ] Reactions [ edit ] In the English-speaking world, controversy arose after Rohan Jayasekera's article on van Gogh was published in Index on Censorship. The Associate Editor of the magazine said that van Gogh was a "free-speech fundamentalist" who had been on a "martyrdom operation[,] roar[ing] his Muslim critics into silence with obscenities" in an "abuse of his right to free speech". Describing van Gogh's film Submission as "furiously provocative", Jayasekera said his death was: A sensational climax to a lifetime's public performance, stabbed and shot by a bearded fundamentalist, a message from the killer pinned by a dagger to his chest, Theo van Gogh became a martyr to free expression. His passing was marked by a magnificent barrage of noise as Amsterdam hit the streets to celebrate him in the way the man himself would have truly appreciated. And what timing! Just as his long-awaited biographical film of Pim Fortuyn's life is ready to screen. Bravo, Theo! Bravo! Both left- and right-wing commentators criticized the article. In December 2004, Nick Cohen of London's Observer wrote: When I asked Jayasekera if he had any regrets, he said he had none. He told me that, like many other readers, I shouldn't have made the mistake of believing that Index on Censorship was against censorship, even murderous censorship, on principle – in the same way as Amnesty International is opposed to torture, including murderous torture, on principle. It may have been so in its radical youth, but was now as concerned with fighting 'hate speech' as protecting free speech. Cohen's account of the conversation was repudiated by the editor of the Index on Censorship, who responded with a letter to The Observer. Works [ edit ] Books [ edit ] Engel ("Angel", 1990) ("Angel", 1990) Er gebeurt nooit iets ("Nothing Ever Happens", 1993) ("Nothing Ever Happens", 1993) Sla ik mijn vrouw wel hard genoeg? ("Am I Beating My Wife Hard Enough?", 1996) ("Am I Beating My Wife Hard Enough?", 1996) De gezonde roker ("The Healthy Smoker", 2000) ("The Healthy Smoker", 2000) Allah weet het beter ("Allah Knows Best", 2003) ("Allah Knows Best", 2003) De tranen van Mabel ("Mabel's Tears", with Tomas Ross, 2004) Filmography [ edit ] Luger (1982) (1982) Een dagje naar het strand ("A Day at the Beach", 1984) ("A Day at the Beach", 1984) Charley (1986) (1986) Terug naar Oegstgeest ("Back to Oegstgeest", 1987) ("Back to Oegstgeest", 1987) Loos ("Wild", 1989) ("Wild", 1989) Vals licht ("False Light", 1993) ("False Light", 1993) Ilse verandert de geschiedenis ("Ilse Changes History", 1993) ("Ilse Changes History", 1993) 1-900 (1994) (1994) Reunie ("Reunion", 1994) ("Reunion", 1994) Eva (1994) (1994) Een galerij: De wanhoop van de sirene ("A Gallery: The Siren's Despair", 1994) ("A Gallery: The Siren's Despair", 1994) De eenzame oorlog van Koos Tak ("Koos Tak's Lonely War", 1995) ("Koos Tak's Lonely War", 1995) Blind Date (1996) (1996) Hoe ik mijn moeder vermoordde ("How I Murdered My Mother", 1996) ("How I Murdered My Mother", 1996) In het belang van de staat ("In the Interest of the State", 1997) ("In the Interest of the State", 1997) Au ("Ouch", 1997) ("Ouch", 1997) De Pijnbank ("The Rack", 1998) ("The Rack", 1998) Baby Blue (2001) (2001) De nacht van Aalbers ("Aalbers's Night", 2001) ("Aalbers's Night", 2001) Najib en Julia (2002), a television play based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and featuring a love affair between a white upper-class girl and a young pizza-delivery man of Moroccan descent. (2002), a television play based on William Shakespeare's and featuring a love affair between a white upper-class girl and a young pizza-delivery man of Moroccan descent. Interview (2003), a film in which a cynical journalist interviews an actress-cum-socialite. (2003), a film in which a cynical journalist interviews an actress-cum-socialite. Zien ("Seeing", 2004) ("Seeing", 2004) Submission (2004) (2004) Cool (2004), a film about young offenders, some of Moroccan descent, who play themselves. (2004), a film about young offenders, some of Moroccan descent, who play themselves. 06/05 (2004), a fictional film exploring the historic assassination of Pim Fortuyn. (2004), a fictional film exploring the historic assassination of Pim Fortuyn. Medea (2005), a modern-day adaptation of Medea. Unfinished projects [ edit ] Bad (A "lesbian road movie"). Production was planned for 2005 (A "lesbian road movie"). Production was planned for 2005 Duizend en één dag ("A Thousand and One Days"). A drama series about young Muslims struggling with their faith. Although this project had not even reached pre-production, van Gogh had already found a broadcaster for the series: Dutch Muslim Broadcasting Organisation NMO. Ancestry [ edit ] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] Buruma, Ian, Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance, London, The Penguin Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59420-108-0 About the movie "Submission" [ edit ]

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Sunday that Iran should re-evaluate its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying a recent report on the country's nuclear programme amounted to "hostility" from Israel and the US. ADVERTISING Read more AFP- Iran must review its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog due to the hostile nature of a report on the country's atomic programme, parliament speaker Ali Larijani warned on Sunday. In an explicit warning to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Larijani said the tone of the report amounted to "hostility and a copy of orders" issued by arch-foes Israel and the US. "The parliament deems necessary to review (Iran's) cooperation with the agency, because it showed with its new approach that cooperation and non-cooperation makes no difference in its decision -- which are unprofessional anyway," he said in remarks made to lawmakers. The UN nuclear watchdog released a report on Tuesday expressing serious concerns about "credible" evidence of Iran working towards the development of nuclear warheads to fit inside its medium-range missiles. Iranian officials immediately characterised the report as "baseless" and hewing to intelligence provided by Israel and the United States. Larijani's warning comes after Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Wednesday Tehran "will continue to comply with its commitments under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" -- which obliges Iran to cooperate. The parliament, dominated by hardliners of the Islamic regime, traditionally takes a tougher stance than the government when it comes to major issues of sovereignty, such as Iran's nuclear issue or relations with the West. It passed legislation in 2010 forbidding the government to abandon uranium enrichment -- the most sensitive part of its nuclear programme -- as Tehran was negotiating with the major powers on an exchange of atomic fuel. Subject to four sets of UN sanctions and several Western sanctions over its enrichment programme, Iran has so far refused to freeze its uranium enrichment activities.

Covered in seaweed and grime Leo Lipp-Neighbours car is brought from the bottom of Nelson Harbour. The skeletal remains found inside a submerged vehicle at a Nelson harbour are those of Leo Lipp-Neighbours, who was missing for seven years. Police confirmed the identification on Wednesday afternoon, marking an end to one of New Zealand's most gripping missing persons cases. Nelson Bays area commander Inspector Mat Arnold-Kelly said: "Police acknowledges that this confirmation brings some closure for the family and extends their sympathies to Mr Lipp-Neighbours' friends and family." SUPPLIED Leo Lipp-Neighbours with his mother Charlotte Lipp. The remains were found inside Lipp-Neighbours' orange station wagon when it was recovered from the water last week. READ MORE: * The agony of losing Leo * How Leo's car was found * Q&A: The Leo Lipp-Neighbours case * Looking for Leo Lipp-Neighbours was last seen leaving his Nelson flat in the station wagon about 4am on January 24, 2010. BRADEN FASTIER The car linked to missing student Leo Lipp-Neighbours is lifted on to a Port Nelson wharf on Tuesday night. He told a friend something like: "I'm going to be at one with nature." And then he disappeared without a trace. He was 19. Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Johnston said the entire police file would be reviewed to assist the coroner's investigation. The police investigation was now focussed on determining how the car came to be in the water, he said. BRADEN FASTIER / FAIRFAX NZ Leo's parents Charlotte Lipp and Colin Neighbours inspect the car wreck with Detective Sergeant Mark Kaveney. Leo's orange Toyota station wagon was recovered from the water at the wharf in Wakefield Quay on April 4. It was covered in seaweed and slime. It looked like it had been underwater for seven years. But to the small crowd that had gathered at the wharf, it was clear that it was a station wagon. Police confirmed the next day that skeletal remains were found inside the car. BRADEN FASTIER/FAIRFAX NZ Police continue to investigate Leo Lipp-Neighbours car after it was lifted from the bottom of Nelson Harbour on Tuesday night. The car was forensically examined and pulled apart by police as they worked to determine how it came to be in the water, only a couple hundred metres from a busy arterial road. Where the car was found only added to the mystery. How did a young man disappear without a trace two kilometres from home? The search for Leo spanned from Marlborough to Golden Bay. His family, friends and volunteers combed the region, looking anywhere a car might be able to leave the road and disappear. MARION VAN DIJK Emma Eagle and her daughter Lily Eagle, 4, place flowers at the Wakefield Quay Port Nelson wharf where Leo Lipp-Neighbours car was found. Divers have worked in that area inspecting ships in the years since. People went fishing off the wharf. Graduates of Nelson Girls' College jump into the water there on the last day of school each year. And all that time, Leo was there. It was a coincidence that his car was found on the morning of April 3. Crew from the super yacht, Fidelis, berthed at the wharf were diving in the water to inspect an anchor when they saw what they thought was a tyre. The chance sighting on the seabed led to commercial diver Bruce Lines being called. On that Monday afternoon he confirmed it was a car that looked to have been there for some time. The car was orange. Nelson's most senior police officers were soon on the scene and it became clear that the discovery in the water was serious. When the car was lifted from the water after dark and placed on the wharf at Port Nelson, Leo's parents and friends gathered for a short ceremony. Prayers were said. Leaves were laid on the front seat. Leo's mother sang "You are my sunshine". Some of the people in the crowd cried. A woman said she knew the parents and her heart was breaking for them. Others said it must be good for the family to have closure, whatever that means for the bereaved. Leo's friend Ben Clark, believed to be the last person to see him alive, said: "The overall feeling was that we are glad he is home."

After Bob Weir’s sit-in on Thursday night in Sacramento on “Friend of the Devil” and “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” John Mayer again tapped into the Dead repertoire, playing an electric cover of “They Love Each Other” at Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheater, a venue at which The Grateful Dead have a storied legacy. In early June, Mayer performed on the same stage as a member of Dead & Company (“They Love Each Other” also made an appearance at the Sunday show), and, on Saturday night, brought his solo act and band back to the California venue. “They Love Each Other” appeared during the second full band electric portion of the show prior to the encore and was one of five covers during the a show that also saw performances of songs by Stevie Nicks (“Leather and Lace”), Tom Petty (“Free Fallin”), Robert Johnson (“Crossroads”) and Pine Top (“Every Day I Have the Blues”). Watch fan-shot video of Mayer’s “TLEO” captured by Christina Reeves: Setlist

A bomb attack targeting an outdoor wedding party in southeastern Turkey has killed at least 30 people and wounded 94 others, authorities say. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the “barbaric” attack on Saturday in the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, appeared to be a suicide bombing. Other officials said it could have been the carried out by either Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists. Photos taken after the explosion showed several bodies covered with white sheets as a crowd gathered nearby. The Gaziantep governor’s office early on Sunday raised the death toll from 22 to 30. It said the number of wounded remained at 94. Turkey has been rocked by a wave of attacks in the past year that have either been claimed by Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party — known by its acronym PKK — or were blamed on IS. In June, suspected IS militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people. The attack comes as the country is still reeling from last month’s failed coup attempt which the government has blamed on US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers. Earlier this week, a string of bombings blamed on the PKK that targeted police and soldiers, killed at least a dozen people. Simsek, interviewed on NTV television, said, “This was a barbaric attack. It appears to be a suicide attack. All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the (Gulen movement) are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome.” Daesh is an Arabic name for the IS group.

Lots of grim, not too much dawn so far. Which is a shame. Dawn’s so pretty. Might lift the spirits after all that zombie-twatting in the gloom. Still, that is what we’ve signed up for: Grim Dawn, an action RPG created by much of the team (and the tech) behind Titan Quest, is here to be our alt-universe Diablo III. No fancy business models (other than Steam Early Access), no unorthodox DRM (other than Steam), no drowning in lore and cinematics, no slickness at the expense of all else: just getting on with the zombie-twatting. Spiders too, naturally. I’ve got to be honest, I find writing about action RPGs hard work. They don’t elicit tales of high adventure or great introspection, because their primary purpose is, even within a medium already broadly dedicated to that purpose, a boredom-killer, a way to make time disappear without feeling overwhelmingly guilty about it. A more technical mind than mine could, I’m sure, could find plenty to say about the feedback, the UI, the balance; me, I’m stuck with that nebulous concept of ‘feel.’ Does Grim Dawn, whose first ‘chapter’ has been out on Early Access for a little while now, ‘feel’ right? Does clicking upon a monster and having it recoil, strike back or die ‘feel’ satisfying and tactile? That is what an action RPG lives or dies on, the pinata concept of hitting something until it splits open and potentially showers candy about the place. Blizzard North defined that feel in the first Diablo decades ago, and any ARPG since cannot help but emulate it. Yes, Grim Dawn feels right. Perhaps not quite as right as Titan Quest did, but that may be because it’s gone for a grubbier, nastier feel, more of a sense of ruin and desperation in the art and which somehow affects the combat too. It feels dirty, and very physical. This is a matter of light and sound creating something that feels very different to the shiny tooniness of Diablo III, even though the essential actions are the same. Indeed, Grim Dawn’s sound is a big part of its snarling charm – sombre music and escalating sword-swipe beats, the muted thunder of kicking open a barrel, the dank sounds of the underground. None of this is new for an action RPG, but the attention to detail is here, and it makes me feel enough like I’m in a place rather than on a numbers hunt. Visually and it terms of written character it seems rather more lacklustre. As you can see, this means it takes an appalling screenshot. While it’s not quite so dully chaotic in practice, there’s too much emphasis on beyond-muted colours and excessive spikiness, which as well as making it actively difficult to work out who’s stabbing who half the time, sadly undermines the careful detail and slightly retro-tiled look of the environments. This approach is especially true when it comes to enemies. They all seem so forgettable, and so short on flavour. A Bone Rat is a rat with spiky bits. A zombie soldier is called a Zombie Soldier. A Giant Mosquito looks like a big mosquito and is described as ‘insectoid.’ No shit, Sherlock. A Giant Spitting Spider is a giant spider which spits at you. Hence, it’s called Giant Spitting Spider. Because it’s a giant spider which spits at you. So it’s called Giant Spitting Spider. Because it’s… well, I kinda worked it out for myself, thanks. Dull names for dull foes. Yeah, it’s Early Access and all that entails/excuses – though it’s one of the slicker, more complete feeling Early Access game I’ve played – but the armchair producer in me says it could really do with a second, more enthusiastic pass on beastie descriptions, even if the deflating, obvious creature design is undoubtedly locked down by this point. I might sound a little anal on this front, but this stuff matters – you want to feel like you’re adventuring in a strange land inhabited by strange beasts, not swiping at stuff that’s rolled right off the Fantasy Action Game production line. There’s no sense of wonder here. Quests feel a little too messy too, though the direction they’re aiming for is a noble one. I really appreciate that objective locations aren’t handed out on a plate, and often require paying some close attention to dialogue and maps – there’s no automaton-trudging to a distant icon, and careful spacing/randomising of quest-specific foes means farming isn’t viable. Against that is too much progress hangs around squinting at the minimap to ascertain the one passage or road that isn’t blocked off, or to find a path that was so narrow or visually obscured you walked right by it. I suppose avoiding that sort of thing is what a sky-high budget and a terrifying amount of QA and focusing grouping are for, and I’d rather imagine Grim Dawn hasn’t enjoyed those. So I won’t begrudge it too much, but it is worth accepting that completing quests can be something of a war of navigational attrition rather than a joyous tally-ho of boss-nobbling. It’s the combat and the skill tree that the Grim Dawn’s most grabbed me and refused to let me go, to the point that this piece is running two days later than intended due to the cheerful curse of Just One More Go. I suspect I’ll be proven wrong in this by more long-term devotees of the game, but I’m finding that levelling seems more geared towards building a character and skillset that I personally enjoy than it is unwavering fealty to specific builds. Clearly I’m referencing Diablo III again, and the constant comparison is a little rude to Grim Dawn, but I do think it’s appropriate rather than lazy. Torchlight 2 was one alternative, going full throttle for excess, whereas this seems like the other other option – more focused on tinkering and self-specialising than either of its rivals-apparent. I don’t want to rip all the fun out of the skilltree by painstakingly describing it, but I think it hits a complexity sweetspot, neither falling into exhausting overload of choice or essentially forcing you down one route or another if you mean to remain effective. My character’s a Witchblade, which, as well as meaning she looks like a member of a biker gang trying to do Warhammer cosplay, involves her having a few skills from the Occultist tree and a few skills from the Soldier tree, thanks to the option to dual-class come level 12. This in layman’s terms means she can twat stuff that with a big club that does mega-damage every third strike, while a summoned raven and a summoned hellhound perform crowd control and heal her. Also she can throw a giant poison eyeball at things. It’s probably a right old mess when it comes to efficiency, but it’s such a thrilling way to be a lazy bugger – all I really need to do is hit stuff over and over and over again, but the presence of my bestial chums and a few tricsky black magic spells means it never feels like a game in which one character hits stuff over and over and over again. I’ve got all kinds of scope to be more tactical or more specialised if I want, but as it is I am completely free from both the worry that I’m not building The Right Character and that I’m coasting through. Moreover, the aforementioned use of sound has all the right melodic thumps and squidgy noises that it feels so satisfyingly physical. The personality that’s a little lacking on the art and description side of things is unquestionably present and correct where it arguably most counts. I’ve also found myself helpessly obsessed with the socketing system, because it has such big effects – bigger even than equipping a whole new weapon or armour piece. You can equip a found magic component to almost any piece of gear, though some are only suited to weapons or armour, and have an immediate effect, but find three matching components, attach them all to the one item and you’ll get a mega-boost which makes a serious difference. In the case of weapons, it’ll often grant you a bonus ability, such as a poison bomb or ice spike. What this means is that there’s a steady flow of change: you’re not simply building to a fixed place on the skill tree, but irregularly mixing it up. Also, the Great Hunt that characterises aRPGs is now focused more on finding specific components than it is on praying for a random weapon to drop with roughly the right stats. It’s a minor deviation from the genre norm, but a meaningful one, enough to give what is, at its heart, the same experience we’ve had since the mid-1990s, a slightly different feel that doesn’t stem from graphics or cutscenes or auction houses. To put all this rather more simply, Grim Dawn’s the action RPG I’ve enjoyed most in quite some time, and I’m very keen to try the later chapters as they’re released. More so than Torchlight 2, which was a bit too much of a sugar rush experience for me, and certainly more so than Diablo III, which regardless of business model controversies seemed to these tired eyes so polished as to be almost ephemeral. Perhaps my enjoyment’s down to having had a lengthy break from games like this, as in recent months I’ve concentrated more on disappearing down the rabbit hole of introspective titles, and now I’m coming up for slap-happy air. Even so, while stylstically Grim Dawn lives up to its name a little too well, I do think it’s a truer heir to Diablo 1&2 than any of its recent rivals and in doing so it’s very adeptly filling a vacuum in our gaming lives. Grim Dawn‘s out on Steam Early Access now, for £21. It’s only the first act for the time being, but I was pleased to find that lasts a good long while, and what’s there has seemed essentially finished and light on bugs.

Pop queen Beyoncé penned an open letter Thursday in response to the police-involved shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile this week, in which she begged law enforcement officers to “stop killing” black people. “We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities,” the Lemonade singer wrote in a letter posted to her website. “It is up to us to take a stand and demand that they ‘stop killing us.'” The letter comes in response to two high-profile police-involved shootings this week. Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police on Tuesday in an incident caught on camera, while on Wednesday, a Minnesota police officer fatally shot Philando Castile. The latter incident was live-streamed in a widely shared Facebook video. “We’re going to stand up as a community and fight against anyone who believes that murder or any violent action by those who are sworn in to protect us should consistently go unpunished,” Beyonce’s letter continues. “These robberies of lives make us feel helpless and hopeless but we have to believe that we are fighting for the rights of the next generation, for the next young men and women who believe in good.” The Grammy Award-winning singer adds: “Fear is not an excuse. Hate will not win. We all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into action. We must use our voices to contact the politicians and legislators in our districts and demand social and judicial changes.” Beyoncé has increasingly weighed in on politically-charged issues around race and policing. The lead single for Beyoncé’s latest album, Lemonade, was the song “Formation” — a pro-Black Lives Matter anthem. The video for the song featured the singer dancing atop a submerged police cruise, and also featured a scene showing a graffiti-tagged wall bearing the words “STOP SHOOTING US.” Beyoncé also performed a Black Lives Matter-inspired Super Bowl halftime show in February that paid tribute to the anti-law enforcement Black Panther Party. The performance spurred numerous protests by law enforcement organizations around the country and included threats to boycott several of her tour stops, including in Miami, Pittsburgh and Arlington, Texas. Beyoncé took to Instagram Thursday to share her statement with her 77 million followers. “We all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into action,” she wrote. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

British actor Idris Elba may have to get used to ordering his Martinis shaken, not stirred, after an email leaked in the Sony hack suggested that a top executive wants him to be the next James Bond. In an email dated Jan. 4, Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment's motion pictures group, wrote to Elizabeth Cantillon, former executive vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, which distributes the Bond films, simply saying: “Idris should be the next bond,” according to a report from The Daily Beast. There has been speculation for some time that Elba, 42, was a possible replacement when the current Bond, Daniel Craig, departs the franchise. A Facebook group called "We Want Idris Elba For James Bond" has 30,000 members. Craig is currently filming “Spectre,” his fourth screen outing as the iconic British spy. He is contracted to appear in one more Bond film after “Spectre,” according to The Guardian. Elba made his name in gritty HBO drama “The Wire,” and has gone on to appear in a number of high-profile Hollywood movies, including “Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom,” and “Pacific Rim.” He has also previously expressed a desire to take up the role. In a Reddit AMA question-and-answer session, he told a poster who asked if he would accept the role: “Yes, if it was offered to me, absolutely.” Elba would be the seventh actor to play the celebrated spy on the big screen, and the first black man to take the role. The Bond movie franchise, which began in 1962, is one of the most successful in cinema history, bested only, in terms of box office receipts, by the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter films.

Sushruta, or Suśruta (Sanskrit: सुश्रुत, IAST: Suśruta, lit. "well heard"[1]) was an ancient Indian physician known as the main author of the treatise The Compendium of Suśruta (Sanskrit: Suśruta-saṃhitā). The Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic text, represents him as a son of Vishvamitra, which coincides with the present recension of Sushruta Samhita.[2] Kunjalal Bhisagratna opined that it is safe to assume that Sushruta was of the clan of Vishvamitra.[3] He is one of a number of individuals described as the "Father of surgery" and "Father of Plastic Surgery".[4][5] The Suśruta-saṃhitā is one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine and is considered a foundational text of Ayurveda. The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, but the translator G. D. Singhal dubbed Suśruta "the father of surgery" on account of the detailed accounts of surgery to be found in the work.[6] The Compendium of Suśruta locates its author in Varanasi. The early scholar Rudolf Hoernle proposed that some concepts from the Suśruta-saṃhitā could be found in the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa, that he dated to the sixth century BCE,[7] and this dating is still often repeated. However, during the last century, scholarship on the history of Indian medical literature has advanced substantially, and firm evidence has accumulated that the Suśruta-saṃhitā is a work of several historical layers. Its composition may have begun in the last centuries BCE and it was completed in its present form by another author who redacted its first five chapters and added the long, final chapter, the "Uttaratantra." It is likely that the Suśruta-saṃhitā was known to the scholar Dṛḍhabala (fl. 300–500 CE), which gives the latest date for the version of the work that has come down to us today.[8] It has also become clear through historical research that there are several ancient authors called "Suśruta" and that they should not be conflated.[8] Citations [ edit ] The Mahābhārata lists Suśruta amongst the sons of Viśvāmitra, the legendary sage.[9] The same connection with Viśvāmitra is also made in the Suśruta-saṃhitā itself.[10] The name Suśruta appears in later literature in the Bower Manuscript (sixth century CE),[11] where Suśruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas.[11] Ancient indian text Sushruta samhita yantra, shows surgical instruments 4 of 4 Ancient indian text Sushruta samhita shastra and kartarika, surgical instruments 1 of 4 The Suśruta-saṃhitā, in its extant form, in 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. The text discusses surgical techniques of making incisions, probing, extraction of foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, tooth extraction, excisions, and trocars for draining abscess, draining hydrocele and ascitic fluid, removal of the prostate gland, urethral stricture dilatation, vesicolithotomy, hernia surgery, caesarian section, management of haemorrhoids, fistulae, laparotomy and management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines and accidental perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principles of fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, apposition and stabilization including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetic. It enumerates six types of dislocations, twelve varieties of fractures, and classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery. See also [ edit ] References [ edit ]

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis confirm that the nation’s economy barely grew in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, despite the weak economy, corporate profits as a share of GDP hit their second highest level ever. Based on the latest data, the BEA revised fourth-quarter real GDP growth upward from an annual rate of 0.1 percent to 0.4 percent, still the second-slowest quarterly growth since the recovery began in 2009. The following table compares the latest revision to the second estimate released last month: NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW Consumer spending was weaker than previously reported, with durable goods accounting for most of the growth that did take place. Fixed investment was a relative bright spot, led by business equipment and computers… However, growth of fixed investment was almost wholly offset by a decrease in non-farm inventories. The BEA data provides no direct indication of the motive for inventory change, but it is easy to imagine that at least some businesses were showing caution about restocking in view of anticipated tax increases and cuts in government spending for early 2013. In fact, as the table shows, fiscal tightening had already started in the fourth quarter. Decreasing government consumption expenditure and gross investment contributed a negative 1.41 percentage points to GDP growth in the quarter. A decrease in defense spending accounted for most of that, but falling state and local spending also accounted for -0.18 percentage points. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW As the following chart shows, government spending (more exactly, government consumption and gross investment) has been a negative factor throughout much of the recovery. In view of the outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations and sequester, that trend will almost certainly continue in 2013. The BEA report confirmed that exports fell in the fourth quarter of 2012 for the first time since the first quarter of 2009, although the decrease was not quite as great as previously reported. The positive contribution of net exports to GDP growth was entirely due to a decrease in imports. (Imports are entered in the GDP accounts with a negative sign, so the positive 0.73 percentage point change shown in the table indicates a decrease.) Despite the generally downbeat GDP data, corporate profits were strong in the last quarter of the year. As the next chart shows, both before-tax and after-tax profits, stated as a percentage of GDP, reached their second-highest level ever recorded, falling just short of their all-time highs of the fourth quarter of 2011. The ability of corporations to squeeze out increasing profits in the face of a stagnating economy has no doubt been one of the factors supporting the strong performance of the stock market. Evidently, investors are expecting that trend to continue in the first quarter of 2013. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW As the BEA press release states, the latest revision of fourth-quarter data does little to change the overall picture of the economy in the period. We will get to see the next batch of data, which will provide a much-anticipated advance look at the first quarter of 2013, on April 26. Ed Dolan is Wall St. Cheat Sheet’s in-house economics professor. He is the author of an acclaimed series of textbooks Introduction to Economics and Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog. Don’t Miss Ed Dolan’s “Quantitative Easing: Your Ultimate Cheat Sheet to the Monetary Policy“.

CA: Oakland Sees Medical Marijuana Dispensary Openings Stalled OAKLAND — A hard-line stance by the federal government on medical marijuana dispensaries and the reluctance of landlords to rent out their space is being blamed for a delay in the opening of new dispensaries after Oakland officials permitted the establishment of four new medical marijuana facilities. Nearly a year after officials gave approval for the four dispensaries, only one has opened, a newspaper reported Saturday. After federal prosecutors moved to seize the property occupied by Harborside Health Center dispensary, landlords became less willing to rent to marijuana dispensaries, city leaders and medical marijuana advocates told the newspaper. Article continues after ad Advertisement In July, federal agents taped a forfeiture notice on the front door of the property rented by the dispensary. That case is still pending, and Harborside remains in business. “Ever since the U.S. attorney took their hard-line stance on property owners, property owners have been hesitant to lease space,” said Arturo Sanchez, the deputy city administrator who oversees the city’s permitting process for marijuana dispensaries. “That was complicated further after the forfeiture action by the U.S. attorney against Harborside.” Last March, officials approved the four new dispensaries, a move that would have doubled the number of pot dispensaries with city permits and, officials said, would have generated $1.7 million in annual tax revenue for the city. But those approvals came just before a crackdown by federal prosecutors on California pot dispensaries. Besides the Harborside case, in April, the founder of a Northern California medical marijuana training school said he was giving up his downtown Oakland-based pot businesses after a federal raid bankrupted him. Article continues after ad Advertisement Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the home of Richard Lee, his Oaksterdam University — a facility that offered classes to would-be medical marijuana providers — and a medical marijuana dispensary he also founded. During the raids, agents confiscated marijuana, computers and files from Lee’s businesses, making it difficult to keep operating, he said at the time. The one dispensary that did open in the past year — Blum Oakland — also faced reluctance from a landlord. The landlord of one proposed site for Blum had wanted a $4 million bond even though the property was worth only $2 million, Sanchez said. Besides the federal crackdown, Oakland places a variety of restrictions on where dispensaries can be located. They have to be at least 600 feet from places frequented by children, including parks, libraries, schools, and other dispensaries. They are banned from residential areas, Sanchez said. Tags: California

Tesofensine (NS2330) is a serotonin–noradrenaline–dopamine reuptake inhibitor from the phenyltropane family of drugs, which is being developed for the treatment of obesity.[1] Tesofensine was originally developed by a Danish biotechnology company, NeuroSearch, who transferred the rights to Saniona in 2014.[2] As of 2015, tesofensine has been discontinued for the treatment of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease but is in Phase II clinical trials for obesity.[1] History [ edit ] Tesofensine was originally investigated for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease,[3] and was subsequently dropped from development for these applications after early trial results showed limited efficacy for treatment of these diseases.[4][5] However, weight loss was consistently reported as an adverse event in the original studies, especially in overweight or obese patients.[6] Therefore, it was decided to pursue development of tesofensine for the treatment of obesity. Tesofensine primarily acts as an appetite suppressant, but possibly also acts by increasing resting energy expenditure.[7] Phase 2 trials for the treatment of obesity have been successfully completed. Pharmacology [ edit ] Metabolism and t½ [ edit ] Tesofensine has a long half-life of about 9 days (220 h)[3] "and is mainly metabolized by cytochrome P4503A4 (CYP3A4) to its desalkyl metabolite M1" NS2360.[8][9] NS2360 is the only metabolite detectable in human plasma. NS2330 is mainly metabolized by cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) into . It has a longer half-life than tesofensine, i.e. approximately 16 days (374 h) in humans, and has an exposure of 31–34% of the parent compound at steady state. In vivo data indicate that NS2360 is responsible for approximately 6% of the activity of tesofensine. As in animals, the kidney appears to play only a minor role in the clearance of tesofensine in humans (about 15–20%). Transporter selectivity [ edit ] Originally it had been reported that Tesofensine has IC 50 of 8.0, 3.2 and 11.0nM at the DAT, NAT and 5HTT.[10] More recently, though, the following data was submitted: IC 50 (nM) NE 1.7, SER 11, DA 65.[[11] cited in [12]] The revised IC 50 's would adequately explain the lack of efficacy in treating Parkinson's disease, i.e. insufficient DRI potency relative to the SERT and the NET. This could also help account for why Tesofensine is not reliably self-administered by human stimulant abusers[13] since it has been believed to be the case that DAT inhibition is necessary for this and not NET inhibition.[14][15] Tesofensine also indirectly potentiates cholinergic neurotransmission[16] proven to have beneficial effects on cognition, particularly in learning and memory. Sustained treatment with tesofensine has been shown to increase BDNF levels in the brain, and may possibly have an antidepressant effect.[11] Clinical trials [ edit ] Phase 2b trial (TIPO-1) results reported in The Lancet[17] showed levels of weight loss over a 6-month period that were significantly greater than those achieved with any currently available drugs. Patients lost an average of 12.8 kg on the 1 mg dose, 11.3 kg on the 0.5 mg dose and 6.7 kg on the 0.25 mg dose, compared with a 2.2 kg loss in the placebo group. All participants were instructed to follow a diet with a 300 kcal deficit and to increase their physical activity gradually to 30–60 minutes of exercise per day. The placebo-subtracted mean weight losses were 4.5%, 9.2% and 10.6% in the 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg dose groups, respectively. This is approximately twice the weight loss produced by medications currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of obesity. NeuroSearch has also reported interim results[7] from a 48-week, open-label, extension trial (TIPO-4) in which 140 patients who completed the 24-week phase 2b trial (TIPO-1) were re-enrolled after an average of 3 months’ wash-out. All were initially treated with 0.5 mg tesofensine once daily but up-titration to 1.0 mg once daily was allowed in the first 24 weeks of the extension study. At this time point, all subjects were continued on the 0.5 mg dose for an additional 24 weeks. The 24-week interim results for those who were previously treated with tesofensine 0.5 mg in TIPO-1 showed a total mean weight loss of between 13 kg and 14 kg over 48 weeks of treatment. Furthermore, TIPO-4 confirmed the TIPO-1 results since those patients who were previously treated with placebo lost approximately 9 kg in the first 24 weeks of the TIPO-4 study. Adverse events [ edit ] In general, the safety profile of tesofensine is similar to currently approved medications for the treatment of obesity. The most commonly reported side effects in the obese population were dry mouth, headache, nausea, insomnia, diarrhoea and constipation. A dose-dependent pattern was observed for dry mouth and insomnia. The overall withdrawal rate due to adverse events in clinical trials in the obese population was 13% with tesofensine and 6% with placebo. Blood pressure and heart rate increases with the therapeutically relevant doses of tesofensine (0.25 mg and 0.5 mg) were 1–3 mmHg and up to 8 bpm, respectively.[7][17]

For the Java-based mobile agent platform, see Aglets Not to be confused with Aiguillette Three different types of aglets: double punched copper, plastic sheath, and inward fold brass An aglet ( AG-lət)[1] is a small sheath, often made of plastic or metal, used on each end of a shoelace, a cord, or a drawstring.[2] An aglet keeps the fibers of the lace or cord from unraveling; its firmness and narrow profile make it easier to hold and easier to feed through eyelets, lugs, or other lacing guides. Etymology [ edit ] The word aglet or aiglet comes from the Old French word aiguillette, the diminutive of aiguille, meaning "needle", which is in turn derived from the Latin word for a needle, acus.[3] History [ edit ] Aglets were originally made of metal, glass, or stone,[4] and many were very ornamental. Wealthy people in the Roman era would have their aglets made out of precious metals such as brass or silver. Before the invention of buttons, they were used on the ends of the ribbons used to fasten clothing together. Sometimes they were formed into small figures. Shakespeare calls this type of figure an "aglet baby" in The Taming of the Shrew. According to Huffington Post editor James Cave, "The history of the aglet’s evolution is a little knotty—many sources credit it as being popularized by an English inventor named Harvey Kennedy who is said to have earned $2.5 million off the modern shoelace in the 1790s."[5] Today, the clear plastic aglets on the end of shoelaces are put there by special machines. The machines wrap plastic tape around the end of new shoelaces and use heat or chemicals to melt the plastic onto the shoelace and bond the plastic to itself.[5] Variety [ edit ] There is a subtle distinction between aglets, which are generally functional, and aiguillettes, which are generally decorative. Aiguillettes usually appear at the end of decorative cords, such as bolo ties and the cords on military dress uniforms. Shoe companies often produce their own shoelaces, for which they manufacture aglets. Many companies prefer to add metal sheaths over plastic aglets for the sake of durability. Some may add logos or pictures to show that the shoelaces are their own products.[4] See also [ edit ]